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Never Forget That #everynamecounts
A new initiative of the German-based
Arolsen Archives, the largest repository of documents related to Holocaust victims and survivors anywhere in the world, is asking volunteers, especially students, to take to their computers to ensure that #everynamecounts. It’s a timely reminder with the approach of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is observed on January 27.
Launched in March 2021, #everynamecounts (arolsen-archives.org/en) is an international crowdsourcing effort to create the largest digital memorial and searchable database of every victim and survivor of the Nazi regime. Beyond remembrance, noted Floriane Azoulay, director of the Arolsen Archives, is the chance for younger generations to engage with this crucial history. All volunteers need is a computer and internet connection. Arolsen provides a web portal with instructions—in English, German, French, Spanish and Polish— on how to transcribe scanned materials from their archives into new database entries.
Since the launch, more than one million documents, including concentration camp prisoner registration cards, train manifests and execution records, have been digitized, but the archives contain about 30 million more documents that reference the fate of almost 17.5 million people awaiting transcription. Azoulay said that the sheer scope of the work necessi-
A displaced person’s identity card, one of millions of documents in the Arolsen Archives
tates reaching out to communities worldwide, sometimes in coordinated virtual events.
For example, during the “Long Night of the Digital Memorial” held on November 9 to mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht, universities came together virtually to participate in an evening of uploading to the #everynamecounts database. In the United States, the Arolsen Archives has partnered with the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art to promote similar events.
“Many of these names are not memorialized anywhere,” said Rachel Stern, the society’s director and CEO. “If we can build interest in even one person, then we can restore their dignity and humanity and help close the holes in our family histories.” —Cathryn J. Prince
Tu B’Shevat, Shmita and the Carob Tree
When I was a child, the
Tu B’Shevat holiday—the new year for trees, which begins this year on January 16—was all about watching my grandfather bite into a hard black pod that he called bokser in Yiddish. Years later, I learned that bokser means carob—charuv in Hebrew.
Five species of this flowering evergreen grow in Israel. Carob, a type of legume, primarily is used to make a cocoa substitute or locust bean gum, a common thickener in products such as ice cream and baby formula.
Mentioned in Talmudic lore, today the carob is the subject of a research project by the Israeli company CarobWay and the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish
Food scientists are developing 14 products from carob.
National Fund (KKL-JNF). They’re using Israeli irrigation and pollination innovations to grow high-yield carob trees nationwide.
“Carob is highly nutritious and flavorful, low in calories and high in energy. But its true potential has yet to be realized,” said CarobWay co-founder and CEO Udi Alroy. Indeed, the company’s food scientists are developing 14 products from carob.
“Some carob species with a higher sugar content and low glycemic index could provide viable sugar alternatives,” noted Alroy. “Other trees bear more seeds, well-suited for locust bean gum. The germ, or protein, of the flower is highly functional and can be used in the gluten-free market. Other parts of the plant are beneficial for gut health or oral health. Carob honey, for instance, is a good antibiotic mouth rinse.”
Carob also has potential for weight-loss products because it provides a feeling of satiety, said Alroy.
Meanwhile, KKL-JNF Chief Forest Officer Sohel Zedan explained that Israeli carobs are a “highly sustainable, low-maintenance crop, well acclimatized to extreme weather and other environmental changes.”
All the carob trees for the research project were planted before Rosh Hashanah. That’s because the Jewish New Year 5782 ushered in a shmita year when the land is left fallow, and any produce grown must be shared rather than sold. Therefore, CarobWay will make carob honey from this year’s experimental crop and distribute it to schoolchildren through KKL-JNF’s educational arm.
“The whole idea of Tu B’Shevat,” added Alroy, “is to plant what is native to Israel and compatible with its environment—fruits such as carobs, dates and olives.” —Jordana Benami
Young Jews Fight Back on Instagram and TikTok
With antisemitic incidents
making up 57.5 percent of religious bias crimes according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2020 hate crime statistics, it’s no surprise that digital savvy young Jews are combating antisemitism in a forum native to them—social media. Indeed, many Jewish content creators and influencers are using their platforms to tackle antisemitism, anti-Zionism and misperceptions about themselves, their community and Israel.
But doing so comes with a cost. Their posts routinely attract thousands of negative comments as well as a few death threats— which is why the two women interviewed for this story chose not to share their last names or
Correcting misperceptions on social media, Chloe (above, @thatpersianjew) and Naomi (@jewishpridealways) tackle antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
LOOKING TO FOLLOW MORE PRO-JEWISH ACCOUNTS? HERE ARE SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR:
@yourjewishlife @blackjewishmagic @jewishoncampus @challahbackgirls @rootsmetal @jewishliberal @progressivejews @noatishby
@therealmelindastrauss @sj_rachel @adielofisrael @frumjewishblackboy where they attend school.
Naomi, better known as @jewishpridealways across social media, originally intended to share “light-hearted content,” like cute memes, when she started her profiles in August 2020—but the fun was short lived. That same month, after the Chabad center at the University of Delaware was set on fire by arsonists, she quickly rebranded her feeds, which she used to lambast both the crime and what she perceived as a disheartening lack of coverage in mainstream media.
“I wanted to contribute as a Jewish voice to social media—to be able to share more positivity about the Jewish community and stand against antisemitism,” said Naomi, a college student at a different university. “From then on, I have focused my accounts around spreading Jewish pride, positivity, knowledge and standing against antisemitism.” In one example, in a post during the fall, Naomi cautioned those on the left that “you’re not actually progressive if you’re antisemitic”—a message she signed, “A Jew who is tired of antisemitism being disguised, excused and even encouraged under the guise of ‘social justice.’ ”
Similarly, @thatpersianjew, aka Chloe, who is also a college student, couldn’t have imagined what her online presence would become when she posted a video on TikTok from the 2020 Washington conference of the proIsrael group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), just days before Covid-19 changed life as we knew it. Almost instantly, the video—a clip featuring young Jews singing “Hatikvah” in an attempt to drown out proPalestinian protesters calling for an intifada—went viral.
But that video, said Chloe, “led to hundreds and probably thousands of antisemitic comments.” Once pandemic lockdowns were enacted, she said, “no one had anything else better to do than make content and be antisemitic online, or respond to antisemitic comments. So I started creating content and started growing on TikTok.”
“For the negative comments that I receive,” Naomi said, “I either ignore them, turn them into ‘learning’ moments or try to turn them into something positive.” —Jacqueline Weiss
