Jewish Observer - August 22, 2013

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16 ELUL 5773 • AUGUST 22, 2013 • VOLUME XXXVII, NUMBER 20 • PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID, SYRACUSE, NY

JMAC Festival to be held on Jewish Observer now online Sunday, September 29 The 14th Annual Jewish Music and Cultural Festival will celebrate the Jewish community on Sunday, September 29, from noon-6 pm, on the campus of the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse. There will be no admission charge for the festival and it will be open to the community. There will be an expanded selection of Jewish foods, in addition to past options.

The afternoon of music will include internationally-known artists such as the Guy Mendilow Ensemble, as well as Zetz!, Farrah, West of Odessa and local performers such as Keyna Hora Klezmer Band, Jonathan Dinkin and Klezmercuse, and the Kenesseth Shalom Singers. For more information, visit http:// Syracusejewishfestival.com.

By Judith Stander The Jewish Federation of Central New York recently announced that the Jewish Observer of Central New York is also now accessible on the Federation website, www.jewishfederationcny.org. The entire paper, as published, will appear on the website the day after it is delivered in homes. This is intended to make sharing articles easier. JO advertisers will have additional exposure on the Federation website. To access the JO site, visit www.jewishfederationcny.org. Go to the “Jewish

Observer” tab and click on JO Online and then the date of the issue. During the non-publication weeks of the JO, there is a bi-weekly e-mail update about what is happening in the community. To receive a free “Community Happenings” e-bulletin, contact Judith Stander at jstander@jewishfederationcny.org. In addition to the “Community Happenings” e-Bulletin, subscribers will also receive obituary notices announcing deaths in the community as soon as the information is received from area funeral directors.

Abbas: Final-status issues discussed at first round of peace talks By JTA staff (JTA) – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel and the Palestinians discussed all the final-status issues in the first session of peace talks held in Jerusalem. Abbas made his comments on August 15 following a meeting with U.N. SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon in Ramallah, The Jerusalem Post reported. The first round of talks was held the previous day in Jerusalem

under a veil of secrecy. Abbas said he hoped the talks would be concluded within six to nine months. Finalstatus issues are understood to be borders, Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, security and prisoners. “It’s premature to say whether we have or haven’t achieved something,” Abbas said. “We hope that the coming days would bring us answers that we could present to all.”

Ban, who traveled to Israel on August 16 to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, said in Ramallah that he hoped Israel would “create the appropriate atmosphere by halting settlements which we and the world consider illegitimate.” He also said the Palestinians have “sincere intentions.” But Netanyahu told Ban that the root

of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians “doesn’t have to do with the settlements,” the Post reported. “That’s an issue that has to be resolved, but this is not the reason that we have a continual conflict. The conflict preceded the establishment of a single settlement by half a century, and when we rooted out all the settlements in Gaza, the attacks continued because of this basic opposition to the Jewish state.”

preparing for the high holidays Yemeni Jews secretly airlifted to Israel By JTA staff (JTA) – Seventeen Yemeni Jews were airlifted to Israel in a covert operation. Four Jews were flown directly from Yemen to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on August 14, and two couples and a young child arrived through an unidentified third country. The rest were taken clandestinely from Buenos Aires after being smuggled to the Argentinian capital by a group of Satmar Chasidim in August 2011 and living in the Satmar community there. The Satmars, who are anti-Zionist, have

been involved in smuggling Jews out of Yemen for several years, according to Haaretz. Several of the Yemenis reunited with family members in Israel, including parents with their young children. The operation – a coordinated effort among the Jewish Agency and the Israeli ministries for the interior, foreign affairs and immigration absorption – was prompted by growing concern for the safety of the Jews in Yemen, according to the Jewish Agency. Antisemitic violence has been a growing problem since the 2011 ouster of

President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The airlift brings to 45 the number of Yemeni Jews who have been brought to Israel this year and 151 since 2009. “Tonight we had the honor to conduct a rare operation that combines the saving of souls, family reunification and immigration to Israel,” Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said. “Behind this operation is the dedication and expertise of the Jewish Agency and other organizations who contributed to the success of the operation.” Sharansky added that the Jewish Agency will expedite the aliyah of any of the remaining Jews in Yemen if they express interest in leaving. Fewer than 90 Jews remain in Yemen, with about half of them living in a guarded structure in the capital, Sa’ana, Haaretz reported. Moshe Nahari, a ritual slaughterer and Hebrew teacher in the town of Raydah in northwestern Yemen, was killed in December 2008 by an Islamist extremist who reportedly had demanded that he convert to Islam. Last May, Aaron Zindani, a Jewish community leader, was stabbed to death in Sana’a. The 17 Yemeni Jews will be housed in

Yemenite children reunited with their parents after a two-year wait. (Photo by Moshe Brin/The Jewish Agency for Israel) Jewish Agency immigration absorption centers in southern Israel. Some 49,000 Yemeni Jews were brought to the nascent state of Israel in Operation Magic Carpet in 1949-50.

C A N D L E L I G H T I N G A N D P A R AS H A

New Yemenite immigrants awaited their children’s arrival. (Photo by Moshe Brin/The Jewish Agency for Israel)

August 23.................7:38 pm..............................................................Parasha-Ki Tavo August 30.................7:26 pm...........................................Parasha-Nitzavim-Vayelech September 4.............7:17 pm..................................................... Erev Rosh Hashanah September 5.............after 8:17 pm.....................................................Rosh Hashanah September 6.............7:14 pm.............................................................Parasha-Haazinu

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Congregation notes

Epstein High School

Holiday services

Area congregations are gearing The Epstein High School courses Local synagogues announce their up for the start of their religious this year include Café Shore, ethics Selichot programs and High Holiday schools; and more. and modern Israel. services. Story on page 4 Stories on page 5 Stories on page 8

PLUS Prep. for Rosh Hashanah......8-9 Calendar Highlights................10 B’nai Mitzvah............................10 Obituaries.................................. 11


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