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Essays and viewpoints
PURELY COMMENTARY
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A Busy Body
Agoal for us all is to remain as active as possible. Doing so has many positive physical and mental ramifications. If, however, you find your mind is willing, in this instance, but the flesh is weak, you may want to hone your language skills to include as much of your body as you can. Lend me your ear.
Do not keep your head in the clouds; that is not practical either literally or figuratively. Doing so may find you in over your head in situations.
To have a really good time, you may be requested to let your hair down. (These days, I wish I could!) Caution: Try not to get in someone’s hair. Off the top of my head, that is the best advice I could come up with.
Being a sight for sore eyes means you are bringing joy to someone; good way to go. If they let you in on a secret, be sure to keep your lips sealed.
It is not usually a sound idea to stick your neck out for a cause or person. In return, you may get the cold shoulder, especially if money is involved. Then you may have to cry your heart out just to get it off your chest. Finding a shoulder to cry on may be a difficult task if folks are not sympathetic and that may eat your heart out.
Someone really bothering you? Ask him to get off your back. Don’t get involved in anything that will cost you an arm and a leg. When
Sy Manello
Editorial Assistant confronted, say your hands are tied. Making a promise of financial aid can sometimes have you put your foot in your mouth.
Always remember to play it by ear.
letters
The Scourge of Hate
I am a 72-year-old Jewish woman whose heart is broken for Sofia Bat Sarah (“Detroit’s Youngest Tichel-Maker,” May 19, page 38). I am very sad that that she was attacked by antisemitic people and took her site down. What is happening to our country and world? It is such a scary place.
Growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, our family lived in northwest Detroit. My schools were very integrated. We Blacks and Jews stuck together. I still have many of my Black and Jewish friends from my early years. I grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust, which frightened me along with the lynchings down South. I personally experienced hateful people when I was out of my realm.
Sofia, who sounds like a wonderful young woman, I am so sorry that you had to experience hate. All this hate in our country and world is horrifying. This is not how I grew up. We are going backwards, and it is terrifying. The white supremacists march at night like the nazis did and look how that turned out. I refuse to capitalize their names. It’s an assault on humankind. Some people will never learn, and I say never again.
— Gaye Tischler Via the web
Our Teachers Deserve Respect
As you mention in your introduction (“Educators of the Year,” May 19, page 22), teachers are often not recognized for the vital contribution they provide to our students and, in turn, the culture at large.
As a retired teacher in the arts field, the return on my efforts came in light of the transformation of the middle school student from day one through graduation. This alone was often a sufficient personal reward.
It is apparent that there are many educators in the Jewish community that are commended for their skills.
Thank you for reporting on this usually invisible effort! What a great resource! What encouragement!
— Laura Gumina Via the web
Bill Cohodas’ Legacy
As daughters of Willard and Lois Cohodas, we were particularly grateful to see your recent article about our father, Bill, in the William Davidson Digital Archive column (“‘The UP’s Jewish Soul’,” May 19, page 118). How proud my dad would be to read of your appreciation of his dedication and efforts! Our mother, who is 104, was deeply touched by this article.
We both agree that Dad would have been thrilled with the Governor’s Council on Genocide and Holocaust Education that was passed a mere four months after his death.
Thank you for continuing my father’s sterling legacy.
— Lynn Cohodas Stahl Nancy Cohodas Oberman
student’s corner
A ‘Hidden’ Holiday
So here we are: The end of the Hebrew month of Iyar is around the corner, with it possibly already having passed by the time this article has been published in the Jewish News. The 2021-2022 school year will be coming to a close, with the summer being in sight. The seniors at FJA have already graduated, with April 29 being their last day. They embarked on a trip to Israel on May 15. My own class, the freshmen of FJA, went to Montana to visit the Northern Cheyenne, who are a group of Native Americans residing slightly northeast of Yellowstone National Park.
With all of the distractions and events out of the way, it’s about time to reveal the main focus point of this article: the upcoming and recent Jewish holidays.
To start, there have been three modern Jewish holidays and memorial days that have been commemorated recently: Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut. This year, all three of them fell on dates when we had school, so we got the chance to commemorate them during school. The schedule was adjusted to set aside time for special ceremonies and activities.
However, unlike the three holidays/memorial days mentioned above, the next holiday is one where there is no school (if one attends a Jewish school that is). Shavuot has always been one of those obscure holidays to me. My family doesn’t typically do anything special during this time except to go to a friend’s house for a meal.
For most other yom tov holidays (like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, certain days of Passover, etc.), my family will either go to services or do something at home for them. This is not the case for Shavuot, which is spent like a normal weekend or snow day when there’s no school.
Furthermore, because the holiday is in close proximity to the end of the school year, school trips, other important events/days and more, the
Brody holiday often feels like it is Fleishman glossed over, with not much attention being put on it. It’s not like this is a small holiday either. It is one of the three harvest festivals, or Shalosh Regalim, with the other two being Sukkot and Pesach. In addition, we count down to Shavuot with the Omer, which is a 49-day period from the second day of Passover to Shavuot. There is an additional
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reason as to why Shavuot is more obscure than other holidays. When compared to celebrations such as Passover and Chanukah, Shavuot is not commercialized in the slightest. While these holidays see entire sections of stores dedicated to them, community events for children and more, Shavuot rarely, if at all, gets any of these.
However, even though the signs don’t point to it being an important date, it actually is. As mentioned earlier, it’s one of the three harvest festivals; although this was a bigger deal in ancient times, this would in theory put it on a similar level to Sukkot and Pesach. In addition, Shavuot is when the Jewish people received the Torah, a momentous occasion to say the least.
To end, I would like to pose a question: Why do you think Shavuot is more of a “hidden holiday” even though it has such a significant background and meaning? What can we do to bring hidden holidays like Shavuot into the spotlight?
Brody Fleishman is a freshman at Frankel Jewish Academy and a graduate of Hillel Day School.
Yiddish Limerick
Shavuot
Men zogtaz mir alle in Sinai gevayn Un Moishe Rabeinu mir alle gezayn. Un Naase v’nishma gezogt with no fear Farvos undzer Torah was always so dear. Un in yeder Shavuottzu shul mir vel gayn.
Men zogt- they say az mir alle inn Sinai gevayn- that we all were in Sinai mir alle gezayn- we all saw Un naase v’nishma- And we’ll do and we’ll hear gezogt- said Farvos undzer Torah- Bbecause our Torah Un in yeder Shavuot- And in every Shavuot tzu shul mir vel gayn- to synagogue we will go.
By Rachel Kapen
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Save the Date
Yad Ezra’s 32nd annual fundraising event at at Royal Oak Farmer’s Market
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Honoring Roz & Ray Rebeck
Thursday, September 15th, 2022
Yad Ezra is a 501 (c)(3) organization
PURELY COMMENTARY
opinion
Why There’s No Peace in the Middle East
Recent Congressional proposals seek to prohibit Israel’s use of American funds or military equipment to maintain control of the West Bank. Such proposals reflect a (by no means uncommon) belief that Israeli insensitivity to Palestinian aspirations is the main reason peace has never been achieved. If only Israel would commit to withdraw from the West Bank and adopt a more conciliatory approach, Palestinians would accept a two-state solution along the 1967 lines — and the conflict finally would end.
Those assumptions, I fear, have little historic justification. Since its creation in 1994, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has faced conflicting imperatives. On the one hand, it cannot remain in power without military support from Israel — including regular raids on Hamas cells in the West Bank — and financial support from the U.S., Europe and Arab states. The PA cannot ignore demands from those parties that it remain open to a twostate solution.
On the other hand, Palestinian popular opinion has always been, and is now more than ever, opposed to the existence of a Jewish state. Eliminating Israel, polls show, remains the cherished objective for 70%-80% of Palestinians. The PA, therefore, cannot accept a two-state solution without risking a total loss of legitimacy or an uprising such as allowed Hamas to drive the PA from Gaza in 2007. What then does the PA do? It refuses to say yes to any proposal. It refuses to say no. Indeed, it refuses to say anything, however generous
Victor the settlement may appear Lieberman to outsiders. That was what the PA did in 2000-2001, 2008 and 2014. On those occasions, in return for recognition, Israel offered to withdraw from territory equal to 96-100% of the West Bank, to divide Jerusalem, to accept a limited refugee return and to arrange generous compensation for the rest. Those offers met almost everything the PA President Mohammed Abbas says he wants. But Palestinian popular opinion demanded not only that those offers be rejected, but also that they be rejected with violence: bombs in Israeli cities in 1993-1996, the second intifada of 2000 to 2003, Hamas-initiated wars in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021; all such attacks issued from territory Israel had evacuated in an effort to reduce tensions. True, of course, Israel also had and has diehard opponents of compromise. Nevertheless, three Israeli prime ministers — Rabin, Barak and Olmert — were able to marshal pro-peace majorities for which there was no Palestinian counterpart.
REFUSAL TO ACCEPT A JEWISH STATE
I would emphasize that refusal to accept a Jewish state has defined Palestinian politics for generations. It was the bedrock position of Haj Amin al-Husayni (the Palestinian leader from 1922-1948, who allied with Hitler), of the PLO’s charter and, today, of Hamas and its patrons, Iran and Hezbollah. Twentyfirst-century rejection of peace offers awarding Arabs extensive or total control of the West Bank had precedents in 1937, 1939, 1947 and 1968.
Virtually everything of which Palestinians complain — refugees, West Bank annexation, the security wall, settlements, the Gaza blockade — began as a defensive response to Palestinian-initiated or -supported violence,
If all past efforts at reconciliation have failed, by what logic are they likely to succeed now — when Hamas, with Iranian support, is more popular than ever? If elections were held today, polls agree, pro-Hamas candidates would trounce Mahmoud Abbas’ PA by at least four-to-one. Hamas leaders vow they will not only destroy Israel but will expel all Jews whose families arrived after 1914, i.e., 99%.
Refusal to accept what Palestinians see as the Jews’ historic theft of their land is understandable. In effect, Palestinians had to pay the price for European antisemitism for which they bore no responsibility. Yet understandable though Palestinian grievances may be — and I can recite those grievances as well as any Palestinian — the fact remains that the demand for Israel’s destruction has been and remains incompatible with a two-state solution.
But imagine for a moment that Congressional legislation effectively prohibited Israeli forces from operating in the West Bank. The PA would then face two grim alternatives. Most probably, as I just suggested, it would lose power to Hamas, either through an election or an uprising. Hamas, and quite possibly Iranian forces, then would be on the doorstep of major Israeli cities. That almost certainly would lead Israel to reoccupy the West Bank, triggering violence on a scale not seen in the last 55 years.
Or, to retain power, PA authorities, like Bashar al-Assad in Syria, would mount a savage repression of their own people that also would make a mockery of American dreams of a peaceful, prosperous region. Either outcome would be far worse than a continuation of the status quo.
POTENTIAL OUTCOMES
Of course, no one can predict the future with certainty, but such outcomes are far more likely than a scenario in which one-sided American pressure on Israel yields a mutually
PAID ADVERTISEMENT Originally published on Forward.com opinion section, 5/24/22
https://forward.com/opinion/letters/484513/members-of-congress-including-aipac-allied-condemn-comments-rep-andy-levin
Members of Congress, including those AIPAC-allied, condemn group’s comments about Rep. Andy Levin
To the editor:
As former and current members of Congress and supporters of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, we are all too familiar with how differing policy approaches to ending the Middle East conflict have been used to divide and polarize us as a community, especially during elections. That’s why at a moment when so much is at stake in not only defending our own democracy, but defending democracy around the world, we are dismayed by the shockingly unhelpful and unfortunate attacks leveled against Congressman Andy Levin that have occurred, questioning his support for Israel.
It is fair to disagree on and debate policy approaches. But it is out of bounds to malign the only Jewish candidate in this race by impugning Andy’s love for the State of Israel or his community bona fides, which run strong and run deep. Andy helped organize a trip of Jews, Christians, and Muslims to Israel and the Palestinian territories in 1990. Upon his return he penned an op-ed in the Detroit Jewish News calling for immediate support of a two-state solution to end the conflict.
And as Sandy Levin’s son and Carl Levin’s nephew, Andy has grown up sharing the deep and passionate commitment to Israel that was a hallmark of their respective congressional careers. It is that very commitment that animates Andy’s work on these issues.
Andy’s vision for a safe, secure and prosperous Israel coexisting in a lasting peace with a Palestinian state has been central to his work. In Congress, Andy has been a strong supporter of Israel, whether it’s voting for security assistance for Israel in annual spending bills or supporting the replenishment of funding for the Iron Dome.
It is also true that Andy has been a staunch defender of human rights, which enables him to bridge divides in the Jewish community and exemplify support for Israel in a way that resonates with many younger voters who care deeply about protecting human rights for all peoples.
As current and former members, we also understand the tremendous courage it takes to stake out a principled position like this. Even more, we understand the fortitude it takes to stick by it in the face of outrageous personal attacks for the sole, cynical aim of dividing the Jewish community. They are taking a page right out of the playbook of those who have sought, unsuccessfully, to drive a wedge between Jews and the Democratic Party. We call on others who share Andy’s and our commitment to Israel’s survival and security as a Jewish and democratic country to reject these divisive and counterproductive attacks on Andy.
We should welcome and not fear a Jewish member willing to express his support for Israel by taking up policy questions so seriously and thoughtfully and seeking dialogue across the spectrum. Especially as Congress continues to evolve, Levin will continue to play an essential role in advocating for a Jewish and democratic state in a context where Palestinian rights can also be fulfilled through a two-state solution.
Finally, we hope this race can focus on priority issues ingrained deeply within the fabrics of American Jewish life, guided by the spirit of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world: supporting workers’ rights, expanding access to health care, promoting equity in public education, protecting the environment and advancing the cause of human rights.
Sincerely,
Former U.S. Senator Al Franken Former U.S. Representative Barney Frank Former U.S. Representative Sam Gejdenson Former U.S. Representative Paul Hodes Former U.S. Representative Mel Levine U.S. Representative Steve Cohen U.S. Representative Sara Jacobs U.S. Representative Alan Lowenthal U.S. Representative Jerry Nadler U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin U.S. Representative John Yarmuth
PURELY COMMENTARY
opinion
Aprominent editor of a Jewish publication once pointed out to me that the United States had never seen the emergence of mainstream and institutionalized antisemitic politics. My response was simple: Not yet. A few months ago, he wrote me and said that — unhappily — I had been proven right.
I take no pleasure in being right, but there is also no sense in denying it. It is clear that antisemitism in the United States has become a social movement that is swiftly metastasizing into mainstream institutional politics. It has captured large sections of the Democratic Party, especially its progressive wing, and essentially taken over America’s institutions of higher learning. It is ubiquitous in the activism that drives left-wing politics in the U.S. And it has now entered Congress, the citadel of American democracy itself.
The entrance of systemic antisemitism into mainstream national politics marked a milestone when, on May 16, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) introduced a House resolution demanding official recognition of the nakba — a term used to lament the Arabs’ failure to commit genocide against the Jewish population of thenPalestine in 1947-48.
The resolution is too long for a full accounting here, but suffice it to say that it is an entirely predictable but nonetheless remarkable document. It is predictable in that it parrots almost word-for-word the rhetoric of hardline Palestinian nationalism — it is closer to Hamas than the Palestinian Authority — but also remarkable in its honesty.
In particular, it openly advocates the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state via the Palestinian “right of return.” It asserts that international law “recognizes that descendants of refugees retain their rights as refugees;” that “a just and lasting resolution requires respect for and the implementation of Palestine refugee rights;” and demands that the United States “support the implementation of Palestinian refugees’ rights.”
What this means, beyond the polite euphemisms and sophistic use of the vocabulary of progressivism, is quite simple: Millions of refugees must be returned to the territory of the State of Israel, rendering its Jewish population a demographic minority and swiftly turning it into a Palestinian supremacist state. It means, in other words, the realization of the Palestinian national movement’s most
treasured ambition: to rid the fatherland of the Jews, or at least reduce them to the second-class status to which Islam has always relegated them. The resolution, in other words, reeks of racism and hate of a type that, if targeted at any other people, would be grounds for censure and expulsion from the House. Benjamin Kerstein JNS.ORG Indeed, as the PLO’s Charter once said of Zionism, Tlaib’s resolution is “antagonistic to all action for liberation and to progressive movements in the world. It is racist and fanatic in its nature, aggressive, expansionist and colonial in its aims, and fascist in its methods.”
SYSTEMIC ANTISEMITISM
This is morally horrendous in and of itself. But perhaps more important is what it means for American Jews. It means, one regrets to say, nothing less than the first step toward the institutionalization of systemic antisemitism in the American political establishment.
This is proven by the fact that Tlaib was by no means alone in introducing her resolution. It has a host of co-sponsors: Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Marie Newman (D-Ill.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.). They are all progressives in good standing, with substantial influence in the Democratic Party, and at their core lies “the Squad”—the group of hard-left congresspeople consisting of OcasioCortez, Omar, Pressley, Tlaib, Bowman and Bush. Tlaib’s resolution, in other words, is not the ranting of a lone racist, but the mutual expression of an entire caucus.
This caucus is the result of a years-long campaign by antisemitic activists and organizations to burrow deep into the American establishment. Groups like CAIR, IfNotNow, Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, American Muslims for Palestine and numerous others have been on a long march of slander, defamation and demonization directed at Israel, its American supporters and indeed all American Jews. It seeks to break their spirits, intimidate them into silence and exile them to the apartheid margins of American life.
But it also seeks to break their very bodies. This was conclusively proven last May, when MuslimAmericans across the U.S. committed horrific acts of violence and intimidation against Jews from New York to Los Angeles, largely without condemnation. My own father’s business in a Jewish suburb of Boston was vandalized multiple times because he sells Israeli products. In a display of epic hypocrisy, the long marchers
continued from page 10
— and “the Squad” itself — so quick to accuse anyone and everyone of racism on the slightest pretext, remained all but completely silent throughout.
This pogrom did not erupt merely because Israel was involved in a conflict with Hamas at the time. It was the product of years, decades of work by these activists and organizations. The idea that their incitement and defamation did not poison the Muslim-American community against not only Israel but all Jews is absurd. And that it resulted in mob violence — a pogrom — should be no surprise. For this alone, the MuslimAmerican establishment, the anti-Israel progressive left, the numerous activists who support them and the Squad itself stand condemned.
Tlaib’s resolution should not be seen, then, as mere anti-Israel politics, nor as a simple expression of pogromist ideology. It is the pogrom. It seeks to further the pogrom on another level. It attempts to institutionalize the pogrom, to enshrine it in American law and, through it, American society. We have seen, in other words, the emergence of the Congressional Pogrom Caucus.
This is all quite monstrous, of course, but it also reveals an important truth: The pogromists know that they cannot break the State of Israel without also breaking the Jews. Especially American Jews, who they see as the true source of what they genuinely believe to be Israel’s omnipotent power. They are prepared to do almost anything in service of this goal and will not stop unless they are stopped by any and all legal means necessary.
This means, above all, that American Jews must wake up. Often sympathetic to progressive politics, they do not want to believe that such a thing could happen among those they view as admirable allies. But denial never works, and now it represents an existential danger.
American Jews may be in sympathy with the ideology of “the Squad,” but they must understand that these people hate you. And however progressive, compassionate, empathetic and idealistic they may seem, when the chips are down, they will eat you alive.
So, remember their names: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Betty McCollum, Marie Newman, Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush. They are not finished. They will be back. And you must be ready for them.
Benjamin Kerstein is a writer and editor living in Tel Aviv.
MIDDLE EAST from page 8
agreed, live-happily-ever-after two-state solution. The rest of the world, we easily forget, is not like the U.S. The assumption that other peoples, in their heart of hearts, really want to be like Americans, that they instinctively favor Western political institutions, underlay the disastrous U.S. nationbuilding exercises in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. In every case, American intervention, rather than promote peace and compromise, dramatically increased violence, extremism and suffering.
That the PA, not to mention Hamas, could embrace compromise and democratic norms is very unlikely. Both organizations, military dictatorships, refuse all free elections, routinely torture and/or execute political opponents, and forbid free speech or civil liberties. The most respected ranking of global democracy, the Britishbased Economist Democracy Index (with No. 1 the best, No. 167 the worst) ranks Israel No. 23, the U.S. No. 26 — and Palestine No. 109.
What then is to be done? Rather than declare, “After 75 years our patience is finally exhausted, and we are going to settle this problem now once and for all”; rather than penalize Israel for an impasse rooted chiefly in Palestinian refusal to accept Israel’s right to exist; rather than ask Palestinians to tolerate something they have long regarded as intolerable, America should seek to modify the status quo gradually and quietly.
BIDEN’S APPROACH
In fact, this is a rough description of President Joe Biden’s approach. Specifically, the U.S. should build upon the Abraham Accords, promote economic development in Palestinian territories, and do what it can to strengthen the PA in the hope that moderation somehow might ultimately prevail.
But blithely to wish away the past, to penalize the party that has been most in favor of compromise while rewarding the party most opposed, can only whet Hamas’ ambition and convert chronic low-level violence into yet another massive explosion. (Space precludes discussion, but any attempt to impose a one-state solution, which even Congressional advocates of sanctioning Israel deem unrealistic, would almost certainly hasten that explosion.)
If history teaches anything, it teaches that America cannot impose solutions on peoples of very different cultural background without risking unforeseen, deeply unwelcome consequences.
The Two-State Solution Act, though perhaps wellintentioned, promises to do precisely that. Some problems, history avers all too sadly, can be contained, but are not amenable to rapid solution.
Victor Lieberman is the Raoul Wallenberg Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan, where he teaches a course, the most popular in the department, on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
