Tzw 32015 print final by The Jewish Word

Volume II, No. 2

Nisan 5775 / April 2015

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Contents Anti-Semitism Is Never Solely About the Jews

Jews are the handiest target in a campaign to destroy the free societies that jihadists abhor . • Page 6

AMIT, OU and RZA Religious Zionist Delegates: Nathan Diamond, Allan Fagin,Farley Weiss, Rabbi Mark Dratch, Martin Nachimson, Martin Oliner, Rabbi Leonard Matanky, Steve Savitsky, Debbie Isaacs.

The 37th World Zionist Congress

How Orthodox American Zionists Need to and Can Aim Higher

In Italian Universities, Israel is Out

The US Orthodox community spearheaded the fight for Soviet Jewry – and it can do it again for Judea and Samaria. • Page 12

The Orthodox Zionist Spectrum

What do Sinatra and Voight have in common?

European Jewry's dilemma: leave or wait it out?

Poison has infected Italian universities where anti-Semitism looks in the mirror and sees antiZionism. • Page 18

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Religious Zionists of America, Publisher Martin Oliner, Editor Rochel Sylvetsky, Deputy Editor Uzi Baruch, Ari Soffer, Shulamit Melamed, Senior Editors Rabbi Dr. Solomon Rybak, Seymour Shapiro, Liaison editors Board of Directors: Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Rabbi Dr. Sol Roth, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, Bert L. Kahn, Jack Nagel, Rabbi Simcha Krauss, Honorary Presidents Rabbi Yosef Blau, President Martin Oliner, Chairman of the Board Dr. Jonathan Halpert, Honorary Chairman of the Board Dr. Ernest Agatstein, Isaac Blachor, Esq., Martin Cohen, Dr. Chanania Gang, Rabbi William Kanter, Rabbi Dr. Solomon Rybak, Seymour Shapiro, Vice Presidents Asher Brukner, Treasurer Mark S. Cohen, Esq., Secretary Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, Beit Din Hakavod

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The Jewish Word brings together leading journalists, opinion-makers and experts to provide you with a unique window into Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, from a Religious-Zionist perspective. The Jewish Word is an independent newspaper and any opinions presented are solely those of The Jewish Word and its editors.‫‏‬ For questions and enquiries: jewishword@gmail.com Editorial offices: 500 7th Avenue - Second Floor , New York, NY 10018 Telephone: (212) 465-9234 , Fax: (212) 465-9246

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The unimaginable is happening now

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On Jewish Survival "What will become of the Jewish people?" asked renowned Torah leader and spiritual mentor Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, the man the New York Times called a "once- in-a millennium scholar", in an oft-quoted speech. The speech was delivered some twenty years ago in New York.

of connectivity to their Jewish roots. How can we inoculate our college kids to the challenges of life on campus, and imbue them with greater commitment to their birthright of Sinai? There are also questions about how best to approach the dilemmas facing European Jews. Should mass Aliyah be encouraged, as Prime Minister Netanyahu had advocated in the immediate aftermath of the tragedies in France? If not, how best to combat not just the terror, but the fear?

Rabbi Steinsaltz’s concern was that the very elements of America that endowed Jews with equality, freedom and opportunity were contributing to the growing irrelevance of the vast majority of American Jews to the future of Judaism.

Within Israel there are also grave questions about how to deal with the challenge of those wanting to divide Jerusalem. How should we best engage our own representatives and senators about this? Is there anything that we can do about academia's unashamed demonization and delegitimizing of both Jews and Israel?

“While Jews are successful as individuals in America,” he continued, “they are failing as a people. Only Orthodox Jews have created a community whose continuity is inherent in its cultural makeup.”

All of these and more have entered into the 21st century version of the Rabbi’s question -"What will become of the Jewish people." Today more than ever, there is a need to join the conversation and act proactively in order to help set the focus on where our people’s collective thoughts, activities, and funding should be directed.

The rest of American Jewry was suffering a loss of an inner sense of Jewish identity. The loss of Jewish identity contributed to a concomitant rise in both assimilation and intermarriage. Rabbi Steinsaltz exhorted the Orthodox to assist in creating a significant Jewish culture that can engage the rest of American Jewry, leading them to want to ensure that future generations continue to be Jews.

All are discussed in this issue of The Jewish Word. While Israel is the main center for developing a sense of identity and pride, American Jewry has to rebuild Jewish consciousness, so that it can meet Israel from the position of a second center, giving a new national, spiritual and intellectual dimension to the connection between the Diaspora and the Jewish State.

From the Editor Martin Oliner

The World Zionist Congress will convene this October. The World Zionist Congress is a multinational deliberative body for the Jewish Diaspora, and is the one method where the voice of Jews in the Diaspora can be heard regarding matters that are essential to our people. In the past, crucial initiatives have been passed because caring Jews who are passionate about Judaism took to voting. The fact that the World Zionist Congress developed a Jerusalem Project in and of itself has been crucial in preserving, thus far, an undivided Jerusalem since 1967.

These words were spoken two decades ago. Today, Jewish continuity is still the greatest challenge facing Diaspora Jewry. But the resurgence of anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism, has added another dimension to Rabbi Steinsaltz's existential question, as well as placing further responsibilities upon the shoulders of Orthodox Jewry. Twenty years later, we in the Diaspora are experiencing newer and ever greater challenges.

Jerusalem has been the focus of Jewish prayer since the Men of the Great Assembly formulated a blessing in the Shmoneh Esreh, and even before. It is a central value and tenet of Judaism. If other movements or philosophies are allowed to take over and set the agenda of this body of Jews, we could see a reassessment of this value and ideal.

Specifically, there is a dearth of genuine defenders of the Jewish homeland. The landscapes of college campuses across the nation have visibly changed. What was once a radicalism specific to a UC Berkeley or a Colombia University, has now migrated to college campuses in virtually every state of the country. The BDS movement is embraced by professors, students and college administrations. How can we best stem this rising tide?

We cannot allow well meaning but misguided brothers and sisters to give up our legacy. 1948 was a tragedy, when we did not succeed in holding onto all of Jerusalem. 1967 was a triumph when the Temple Mount and the Kotel came back to Jewish hands, after almost 2000 years of foreign subjugation. If we truly care about Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, the Kotel and the values and ideals of Torah, we dare not let others not similarly committed make these decisions.

Another challenge involves the rise of false flag pro-Israel organizations. How best to expose them? Further challenges we face involve the growing apathy to the values and ideals of Judaism. The day school system yields almost nothing if students do not choose to continue their Jewish education in Jewish high schools. Indeed, without a year or two in Israel, even many Jewish high school graduates who proceed directly to university experience a loss TheJewishWord

Read the magazine and make your voice heard. Torah values must be injected into the agenda of Jewish organizations, no matter where you stand.

Vote today. Strengthen the position of Religious Zionism in the upcoming World Zionist Organization elections. 3

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religious Zionism and American secular left-liberalism. Evangelical Christians and conservatives in America love and support the Jewish state as do Orthodox Jews. For many left-liberal Jews, the bottom line is a series of demands for human rights: women’s rights, minority rights, gay rights, equality rights - and the separation of religion and state. For left-liberal Jews, “repairing” the world (‘tikkun ha’olam”) takes precedence over obeying patriarchal Jewish tradition and remaining insular. For religiously committed and/or Zionist Jews, Israel and Judaism are the bottom line issues. They are concerned with survival. Rabbi Hillel famously asked: “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when? Zionist Jews are answering Rabbi Hillel’s first question; left-liberals are answering his second question. Neither group is answering both questions. The Israel-firsters are not committed to a secular human rights agenda. The left-liberals are not viewing this moment in history as perilous. Given the hot and relentless nature of anti-Semitism/anti-Zionism today, should the world’s Jews simply pack up and leave wherever they are on Planet Earth? Should they go to Israel, to America, or somewhere else?

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Given all the genocidal threats made against the Jewish state, should Israel pioneer space travel so that those Jews (and our allies) who believe that wherever we are has become “Egypt” can leave a world in which Jewhatred has become the signature calling card of Islamic terrorism and anti-Western barbarism? This question now belongs to us all, not only to Jews. Should civilians everywhere flee the path of oncoming Islamist barbarianism? Where can they go? Where is “safe?” Is any single place now “safe” for anyone, since Islamist terrorists have designs, not only on Israel, but on Europe, North America, the entire Middle East, Africa, Central and South Asia, the Far East, and Australia? All those who refused to acknowledge that Israel was suffering a “slow motion Holocaust” in the 21st century, have now all become Israelis. The kind of Jihad that Israel once faced alone has now been unleashed against the entire world. No one place is safe. Both lone and indoctrinated jihadists: ISIS, AlQaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban, and Boko Haram, have attacked and enslaved civilians on every single continent. ISIS is destroying humanity’s history, even in Nineveh, where God sent the prophet Jonah.

kind of Muslim, apostates, and infidels appear almost daily on our TV and computer screens. The current American president prefers not to name this as such. The American people increasingly disagree with him. The Israeli people disagree with him and have just elected Benjamin Netanyahu to another term as Prime Minister Our ancestors suffered in exile for nearly two thousand years, and while we are privileged to live in a time when our homeland has been restored to us, and in which America is the land of the free, it was foolish to have thought that Jew-hatred would suddenly become extinct or that Israel would not remain under permanent siege. We are told that in every generation Amalek will rise up against us… As Jews, as Israelis, as members of a nation holy unto God, we must understand, and never forget, that ours is an eternal struggle. Prof. Phyllis Chesler, Fellow at the Middle East Forum and recipient of the 2013 National Jewish Book Award, is the author of fifteen books, including "The New Anti-Semitism."

Muslim leaders today are the world’s largest practitioners of colonialism, imperialism, slavery, anti-black racism, conversion by the sword, religious and gender apartheid - and video-taped torture-deaths of the “wrong” 5

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Anti-Semitism Is Never

Solely About the Jews Radical Islamists attack Jews as the handiest target in a campaign to destroy the free societies that jihadists abhor • By Ruth Wisse | Photos: Flash90

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security of free and open societies depends increasingly on intelligence services. To find the sources of terror attacks originating in the Middle East, investigators track recruits back to their leaders in mountain or desert lairs. The intelligence agencies have become good at their work—though never good enough—but so far they seem not to have focused on the trail leading to the ideology that set terror in motion. The Times of Israel offered a promising line of inquiry in its report on events in Paris under the headline, “First They Came for the Jews, Then They Came for the Cartoonists.” This echoes the famous words of Protestant pastor Martin Niemöller, a victim of the Nazis during World War II who connect-

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ed the dots between the successive targets of his attackers. Like those who came for the cartoonists, those who came for the pastors in the 1940s had been after the Jews. The unspecified “they” of back then and now locate in the Jews the handiest target on the way to subjugating the free and open society that is their ultimate foe. These links through time also exist across contemporary time zones. The terrorist attack on the Har Nof synagogue in Jerusalem in November killed four Jews, just as the attack at the kosher supermarket in Paris killed four more. Since the start of this millennium there have been attacks on Jewish houses of prayer in Düsseldorf, Brussels, Minsk,

Mumbai, Istanbul, London and Caracas. There are fewer than 4,000 Jews in Mumbai, about 9,000 in Caracas, more than 170,000 in London, and a half-million in Jerusalem. Disparate local factors cannot account for the single-minded choice of targets. If we mistakenly imagine that this is “about” the Jews, however, we fall into the trap that anti-Semitism sets for us by deflecting attention from perpetrators to victims. The trail of terror leads not to the Jews but from those who organize against them. Fingering the Jews—in their homeland or elsewhere—is a pretext. In every case, Jews are convenient targets standing in for the liberalizing aspects of individual freedom, democratic gover-

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nance and modernity complete with its anxieties. Anti-Jewish politics aims at the tolerant societies in which Jews flourish. One of those societies is Israel. Adjusting our sights, if we follow the trail of Middle East terror back, past its current practitioners—Islamic State, al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah and various offshoots and affiliates—we arrive at the Palestine Liberation Organization. The PLO was founded in 1964—three years before the war launched by the Arab states from which Israel emerged in possession of some disputed territory on the west bank of the Jordan River. Until 1967, the PLO and its offshoots had existed in Jordan but been suppressed; after the war, as the PLO focused its terror exclusively against the Jews, money began to flow to the organization from the Arab states. A pure product of ideological anti-Semitism, the PLO and its terrorism formed but one weapon in the Arab war that was failing to destroy Israel by other means. Here we reach the heart of the matter. Opposition to Israel was the unifying feature of an otherwise splintered Arab League that found in anti-Zionism the same ideological energy that Europeans had found in anti-Semitism. Other ideologies pit left

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against right; religious against secular; reactionaries against progressives. Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism unite otherwise contentious parties against a common target. After World War II, Arab leaders in Syria, Egypt and elsewhere welcomed fleeing Nazi officers for their military, technological and political expertise. The radical differences between the two cultures did not preclude collaboration in a unified strategy focused on the same Jewish target. Those Arab leaders made a poor choice. With their countries almost unscathed by the war, they might have concentrated on regional improvement, following the lead of Jordan’s King Abdullah I, who was prepared to settle for the lion’s share of Mandate Palestine. Instead they found in Israel a scapegoat and, in the Palestinians, a pawn whom they condemned to perpetual refugee status as a pretext for their own perpetual belligerence. No doubt they believed they could control potential domestic unrest by channeling popular anger at a foreign “invader.”

itism and follow the Jews’ example. The recovery of Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel showed, and continues to show, the possibilities of creative renewal. Who knows what Arab societies could accomplish if they likewise had the confidence to look inward and undertake serious reform? For their own safety, those already living in free societies have to hunt down the terror cells to destroy them. But beyond them, what needs to be confronted is the ideology that brought terrorism into being. Only the incubators of this fatal hatred can accomplish that. The rest of the world can help by refusing to join the diversion of condemning Israel and by urging Arab and Muslim leaders to make up for seven lost decades of blame. Ms. Wisse a former professor of Yiddish and comparative literature at Harvard, is the author of “Jews and Power” and “No Joke: Making Jewish Humor”.

But deflecting dissatisfaction does not arrest it. Ignoring crises does not eliminate them. Appeasing terror does not defeat it. Arab leaders would have done better to resist the temptations of anti-Sem-

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We Hear You,

Michael Douglas We lost the big voices, the glamour voices that speak for Israel, and we need them today to stand for Israel, not just to fight against anti-Semitism. • By Jack Engelhard | Photos: Flash90

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Douglas needs no introduction. He is big enough and famous enough to take care of himself. But something happened. Not to him, but to his son, Dylan, and that’s when it really hurts. Somewhere in Europe, as Douglas described it for the LA Times, 14-year-old Dylan came crying to his father about a verbal attack that took place at a swimming pool. A man took note of Dylan’s Star of David and proceeded to launch an antiSemitic tirade. Imagine the pain. This happened last summer and still today, Douglas is worked up with indignation. He says something must be done about antiSemitism. Agreed. He says this can only happen in Europe. Here I totally disagree. First of all, there is plenty of that going around within the United States, if we dare come to terms

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with what’s really happening on our campuses. Second, we need voices exactly like that, like those of the Hollywood rich and famous, people like Michael Douglas, to speak up, yes, to denounce anti-Semitism – but it is not enough to be against something. That gets you nowhere. More important is to be FOR something, and to be for Israel would be a good place to start. Immediately another Douglas comes to mind – Kirk Douglas, Michael’s dad. If any Hollywood actor needs no introduction, this is the man, and what a man. Thank goodness we still have him with us at 98 years old. He is the final link to Hollywood’s Golden Age – and he is a Zionist. He was a Zionist when everybody was a Zionist – and damn, how times have changed! Back in 1960, Otto Preminger gave us “Exodus” starring Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint. Let’s not quibble about the details. This was a Zionist film. Hollywood was not afraid to make it and there were no boycotts against the film, or against Israel.

Did I already say times have changed? Try making “Exodus” today. Let me know how it goes. Good luck. The mood was so different back then because Israel was presented as a romance, a love story between a Land and its people. That’s the theme of every Hollywood movie…boy gets girls, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back. The Jewish people get Israel (Biblically), lose Israel, win her back. What a story, and back in the 1950s and 1960s it was a story that could be told, and nobody told it better, in 1966, than Kirk Douglas in “Cast A Giant Shadow.” This film gave it all, the pioneering spirit of the early founders, told with facts and emotion. Who else was in that terrific movie? Frank Sinatra. Only Herzl himself was more of a Zionist than the Italian Kid from Hoboken. Sinatra's profound dedication to Israel was at a time when Israel was popular - and why was it popular?

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Because we had people like Sinatra and Kirk Douglas and Marlon Brando and John Wayne… and so many others who stood tall for Israel. To stand for Israel is different from standing against anti-Semitism. People – especially the young – need a cause. Against something is not a cause. For something is a cause. At some point, from the 1960s forward, the mood changed. It’s for another time to discuss what happened and how it happened and why it happened – though for me, it started right after the 1973 War when Israel woke up late and a perceived weakness gave the anti-Semites an opening. But that’s too simplistic. Radical Liberalism was on the move and it’s still moving and as we have learned to our dismay, Radical Liberalism and anti-Semitism – this is a marriage made in hell. In short, we lost the voices, the big voices, the

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glamour voices that speak for Israel.

geshrei in The New York Times.

Jon Voight, bless him, yes, and who else?

Nobody said it would be easy. These are tough days and tough times to be Jewish, and it’s even tougher to be pro-Israel.

That something like 80 percent of the Jewish vote went for Obama twice, that tells you something. That Barbra Streisand and her Hollywood claque keep funding-raising for Obama, that tells us something maybe even bigger. In America, pop culture IS culture, and when Israel can find only one or two friends within the Hollywood elite, somebody else must step up. Let it be Michael Douglas. Or let it be David Mamet. This Pulitzer Prize winner is our foremost playwright and a top-notch screenwriter. One day he decided that enough was enough. He quit toying with the façade of being “a brain-dead Liberal” and announced himself squarely as a Conservative and staunchly on the side of Israel. He lost friends. You should have heard the

We can’t wait for an end to anti-Semitism. This will always be with us. But for a start to reinvigorate Jewish pride, Jewish muscle, there is only this… Love of Zion. Let’s hear it expressed resolutely from voices that count – while we still have a voice. Yes, before it’s too late. Novelist Jack Engelhard wrote the international bestseller “Indecent Proposal” that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. His latest work is “The Bathsheba Deadline.” He writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva.

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The Five Points on the

Chareidi Zi The following article delineates five different philosophies that have developed within the past century and a half within the observant Jewish community in terms of how they view and interact with Zionism. It is important to understand these five different views so that unnecessary confusion will not develop and so that we all develop a better understanding about who we are, and where other people in the political spectrum in Israel actually stand. We should also note that it is possible that a person can stand somewhere in between these five points. One can be a 1.5 or a 4.5. But let’s begin. We will start with Group One. Members of Group One are people that view Zionism as, essentially, a force of evil. They honestly feel that Zionism is responsible for the destruction of much of Judaism, and that after the holocaust, Hashem would have brought the Messiah were it not for the fact that the Zionists had grabbed hold of Israel and declared it a state. They would never join the government in Israel and spurn any funding that the Zionist government would offer. Members of Group One include both Satmar groups, the Neturei Karta and other constituents of the Eida HaChareidis. Members of Group Two are people who view Zionism negatively, but are willing to work with them politically. They will “hold their nose” so to speak and join in coalitions with Zionist parties and other political parties too. They will accept funding from the Israeli government, and indeed, will actively pursue such funding. We will skip Group Three for now and come back to it at the end. Members of Group Four are people who view Zionism as the beginning of the redemption of Israel. They hold the view that the Zionist movement is the vehicle that Hashem will use to bring the redemption. They, therefore, recite Hallel on Yom Ha'atzamut with a bracha. This group is known as Chardal which stands for Chareidi Dati Leumi. Members of this group are completely observant. Members of Group Five are people that also view Zionism as the beginning of the redemption, but are more lenient in their observance of religious practice. They do not describe themselves as Chardal, but rather as Dati. The men will wear yarmulkas but they will not necessarily wear tzitzit. They will observe Shabbat and keep to a regular hechsher of Kashrut. Now we arrive at Group Three. Members of Group Three are very supportive of the State of Israel. They will donate to Israel, pray for the well-being of soldiers, and a small percentage of them,

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i Zionist Spectrum

From anti-Zionist to religious Zionist, with a hybrid in the middle • By Rabbi Yair Hoffman | Photos: Flash90 if they are living in Israel, will even join the IDF. The Nachal Chareidi movement, prior to the rise of Yesh Atid, was growing steadily and was comprised of Group Three people. It is this author’s contention that the overwhelming majority of American Chareidim lie somewhere between 2.6 and 3.6 on this spectrum. Most of the Rebbeim of members of group Three were Group Two members, and some were Group One.

If one publicly identifies a Gadol as a member of Group Three, people in the Group Two world may become angry and accuse the author of Lashon Harah, etc. Nonetheless, it is clear that Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, and Rav Elya Meir Bloch were adherents to the platform of Group Three. It is possible for a person to vacillate between different groups as well. There were great Rabbis who, prior to the rise of the Nazis were closer to one than to two, but later ended up a strong two.

Group Three members do not have a name. One can create a name such as Nationalist Chareidi, or Chareidi Leumi, but this probably will not be effective at all because most people in Group Three do not wish to disassociate themselves from the label “Chareidi.” Some use the term “American Chareidi” even though that will also subsume Group Two American Chareidim. Also, it does not include the Group Three Israeli Chareidim who have no ties to America. Perhaps a term like “Chareidi Kvutza Gimel” may emerge in the future.

It is this author’s view that in the Chareidi world Rav Shteinman was closer to a Group Three than any other leading sage in recent times. Rav Chaim Kanievsky, who in this author’s opinion was previously closer to a Group Two, has thrown his entire support to Rav Shteinman because his father-in-law Rav Elyashiv had backed Rav Shteinman.

Group Three members suffer from bad public relations. Their view has not been articulated publically for a number of factors, beyond the scope of this analysis.

The political reality of a viable Group Three emerging was nearer than ever before. Of late,though, there has been much tension between the Group Twos and Group Fours. Perhaps members of Group Four and Group Five, rather than attacking and lumping all Chareidim together, should rather encourage and help create an infrastructure for Group Three Chareidim for a number of reasons, including making a stronger and more united Eretz Yisroel, and a more economically vital one too.

There are a number of Gedolim that one might have associated with Group Two who, in fact, are Group Three. Rav Elya Meir Bloch zt”l of the Telze Yeshiva was probably a Group Three member, by virtue of his forceful stance in attending the Israeli Day Parade. It is my theory that Group Three Gedolim did not necessarily raise their voice to the banner of Group Three because they did not wish to unnecessarily alienate their Group Two peers.

Rabbi Yair Hoffman is author of over 10 sefarim, is a well respected Torah figure whose articles appear in Jewish publications.

It is my experience that many members of Group Two who live in Israel will avoid Seforim written by those who associate themselves with Group Four. Group Threes in Israel do not have any significant infrastructure to speak of. They have no school system and do not really have a community to fit into, other than their own groups of social peers. When American Chareidi families move to Israel they generally enroll their children in Group Two schools. They will, however, often react negatively when they hear their child come home and speak negatively about secular Zionists. They will say, “Hey, this wasn’t the Yeshiva education I received!” Depending on how frustrated they get, they may move back to America, or frantically look for a school that is closer to a 2.5. Some will make the jump to full Group Four schools. TheJewishWord

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How Orthodox American Zionists Need to and Can Aim Higher By Rabbi Dov Fischer | Photos: Flash90

We are a sleeping tiger, we the American Jewish Orthodox Zionist community. Our voices barely are heard. Our numbers barely are rallied. Yet, with vision and determination, we can change the face and values of American Zionism. And we have to do it immediately. In the aftermath of Israel’s recent elections — with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud and Naftali Bennett’s Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) parties garnering enough votes, together with other Orthodox religious parties and the Kulanu party that focuses on social issues, to command a powerful religiousnationalist majority coalition in the Knesset — an historic window of opportunity presents itself. Yet, at precisely the same moment in time, Israel never before has faced in America so determined an opponent of Jews living in East Jerusalem and in the rest of Judea and Samaria as sits now in the White House. This is American Jewry’s moment of historical challenge: can we, who so often speak of our great importance to Israel’s enterprise, stand up and meet the challenge that history places in our laps? The overwhelming majority of American Jewry are not capable because they are paralyzed in a state of denial. They cannot accept or even grasp that the President, for whom they voted in overwhelming numbers twice, now threatens to bring anti-Israel measures into the United Nations or to stand passively by, refusing to exercise America’s Security Council veto, while others do so. That their guy, the icon for whom 85% of them voted, is about to impose impossible demands on Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders, creating yet another Islamist terrorist entity on Israel’s eastern front. Under Obama’s

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pressure, the Netanyahu Government is being criticized by the “J Street” sorts and others who bail out at the first sign of tension. So it falls on us to tackle the challenge, at first alone. If we succeed, others will follow, as they always have. If we fail, there is no safety net. We must lead on Judea and Samaria. We American Orthodox Jews have the entire infrastructure in place. Children and teens in yeshivot. Their parents and grandparents, their uncles and aunts, and their parents’ friends and relatives in American Orthodox Zionist shuls. Summer programs and camps. Youth groups. College campus organizations. Orthodox Union. Rabbinical Council of America. Religious Zionists of America.

community — so successfully forced the Soviet Jewry issue onto the American Jewish communal agenda that others jumped in, taking credit, and leading the way. We had changed the paradigm of American Jewry — from the fear that inhibited public street protests during the Holocaust years to a forthrightness in marching on Washington in our hundreds of thousands by the 1980s. It is time to recreate that moment for Israel. We have the people, resources, and institutions. All we need are the leaders and vision of what we can achieve.

In time, we — the American Orthodox Zionist

Yesha is Ours First, we American Orthodox Zionists, in overwhelming numbers, oppose any talk of a “Two-State Solution.” We believe that Yehuda and Shomron (Judea and Samaria) are ours and must remain so. We support Jewish communities throughout Yesha, and we do not even call them “settlements.” Nor do we speak of a “West Bank.” It is time for us to go on the offensive and change the American Jewish paradigm, to help American Jews outside our orbit learn, as our evangelical Christian neighbors already know, that there is no Palestine and that Yesha is ours. Orthodox American Zionist rabbis must start speaking openly and forthrightly from their pulpits. Every Shabbat, tens of thousands of us gather in shuls throughout America. We should dedicate four Shabbatot each year — one every three months — on which every one of our pulpit Rabbis commits to speak on this theme. Like the power in every Jew in the world reading the same weekly Torah portion, so there is power if every RCA rabbi and OU shul devotes four specified

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How we saved Soviet Jewry We have so much power, so much strength. This became clear forty years ago as we fostered the Soviet Jewry struggle, forcing it from invisibility and anonymity onto the front burners of American Jewry’s conscience. It was we — “The Orthodox.” Orthodox Jews from our camp, including Jacob Birnbaum z”l and — yibadlu l’chaim — Glenn Richter, Rabbis Shlomo Riskin and Avi Weiss, founded the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry. Orthodox Jewish lay leader Malcolm Hoenlein oversaw the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry. Rav Meir Kahane, z”l, founded the Jewish Defense League with others in the Orthodox community. The Soviet Jewish demonstrations were attended primarily by Orthodox demonstrators, kids from yeshivot. I was there; I saw.

Shabbatot per year to hammer home the messages: Judea and Samaria are ours. There is no Palestine. There must never be — and there never will be — a “Two-State Solution.” Begin with Parshat Chayei Sarah, coordinated with Avraham’s purchase of a cave in Hebron. No one ever has done this. We have to launch this program on a coordinated national basis. IDF and Terror Victims Memorial Day Next: Except for a very few outliers, American Jews — until now — overlook Yom HaZikaron, Israel Memorial Day. That can and must change. Tragically, several wonderful, young and idealistic, American Jews have been victims of terror in Israel.

Every yeshiva high school in America should devote a significant program — even citywide, busing in students from all other yeshivot in the city, filling an auditorium with hundreds, even thousands — on Yom HaZikaron. Photos of American teens from that very city, or from other cities or Israel, should be enlarged, as students assemble to hear these young martyrs’ invited relatives tell their stories. Memorial plaques and photos should be mounted each year in the yeshivot to commemorate past programs. The newsmedia should be called. And, at TheJewishWord

the end of the program, all students should be given pen and paper, instructed to write a letter to their Congressional Representative and U.S. Senator, asking for action in moving America’s Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. At colleges, Orthodox Jewish students should be at the forefront of two movements:(i) demanding that the respective universities boycott, divest, and sanction Saudi Arabia because of its persecution of women, social liberals, and Christians; and (ii) petitioning that each university increase its investments in companies that deal with Israel.

be expanded, with every effort aimed at attracting non-Orthodox young people to come to Israel on Orthodox-operated Birthright programs. The difference between an Orthodox Birthright program, and one that is not, is like the difference between night and day, in building passion for Israel. In time, there will be much more to do. These first steps will plant the seeds. Now is the time.

The wonderful Birthright efforts need to

“It is time for us to go on the offensive and change the American Jewish paradigm.“

Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer, a member of the National Executive Committee of the RCA, is Rabbi of Young Israel of Orange Country, Ca. and an adjunct professor of Law. He is the author of "General Sharon’s War Against Time Magazine" and "Jews for Nothing".

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All Roads Lead to - or From –

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well over a century, one of the State of Israel, the Knesset, the Government most sizzling topics – and there and the Supreme Court" … Worldwide export But there was one close friendTitle – intelligent of this Article have been many – in religious Jewish circles of Torahcan and Judaism teachers to Jewish and committed to Judaism and the Jewish has been that of Aliyah to Israel. Intense communities… First-time Jewish visitors here be up to this limit People - who really startled me. Intent on discussions have centered around the extent rediscovering their roots… Destruction of the justifying his intention to remain in New York, to which it is a Biblical commandment; the Iraqi nuclear reactor… first-ever peace he declared: "Don't you IDF increases presence 21 IDF increases presence 18see that the United treaty with the largest ofA Israel's degree to which it might hover above and/or enemies, States is the center of Judaism today? This is facilitate all others; the difficulties it presents; Egypt, leading to destruction of Jewish where it's happening – not in Israel!" Israel's importance to the Jewish People towns and searing introspection in terms of and its future – these and many more have the historic Jewish return … Dramatic IDF This was, say, around 1980, 1985. I had long been issues that we attempt to resolve rescue of 100 hostages in Entebbe… Mass heard many claims and counter-claims around our Shabbat tables, in symposiums, rescue and Aliyah of Ethiopian Jewry and on the topic, and I'd thought that nothing Stuff/Credit and elsewhere time and again, with relative its reattachment to the Jewish Nation after could surprise me. Israel not the center of lack of success. 2,500 titleyears name … Export of Jewish agricultural Judaism?! Let's see: What was going on at andtitle other nameknow-how to underdeveloped the time in Israel? Just this: countries… title nameInventions and technologies that In theThe circles singles in their horns The two cars then two carsofthen slowedand downnewlyweds and began ramming Rockets Attack The continuing build-up of the largest array of affect the entire world … which slowed I traveled inbegan my ramming youth, Aliyah was down and their horns v The two cars the Torah study in history… A Knesset law, for the title name certainly "on the table," and many insisted 00-87984652 title name first time in nearly two millennia, stating that they were only x months or years away from No expert on Jewish life in New York, I am "united and complete Jerusalem is the capital doing it. Rare were those who admitted, confident nevertheless that whatever of Israel, [and the] seat of the President of the a p eon r 1 ya r 1 4 , 5 7 7 2 / S u n d ay, M ay 0 6 , 2 0 1 2 "Living in Israel is justPnot myI agenda." fascinating and profound issues of Jewish Paper 1

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thought and life were occupying several thousand Jews there at the time were of but ephemeral value in comparison to the dynamic Ingathering of the Exiles and their rebuilding of the modern State of Israel in G-d's Holy Land. What significance does this disagreement hold for us, 30 years later? Question and Answers I recently asked several religious Jews living in the United States: "Why do American Jews not live in Israel?" One said that it is too hard to give up one's community and comfort zone. Another largely agreed and elaborated: "The answer is 'comfort.' [We have] sufficient means to travel to Israel often enough to feel connected to Israel and feed our neshama [soul] when we are in Israel." A third answered defensively: "Because Israeli society is too polarized, and forces me to make choices I do not have to make when living here." The question reached some people who had made Aliyah, and one answered, "Religious Jews are part of a galut (Exile) thousands of years old, which has planted within them justification for living where they live. When economic conditions and religious freedom are available at an all-time high, as in the present galut, it is nearly impossible to uproot them…" This non-representative sampling indicates a distinct pattern – and, all things being equal, the situation does not appear likely to change any time soon. In France, for instance, where Jews face objective dangers, many have responded by moving to the Promised Land – but many times more have not. Israel's offers of material benefits to new Olim have also not made a big difference. Appealing to either extreme – danger and "new immigrant benefit-baskets" – is not the solution. What, then, can help rectify the absurd situation in which the Knesset's third-largest party is the United Arab List, with 13 MKs, while religious Jews who could vote into the Knesset a similar amount of MKs remain rooted in the Diaspora?

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Two More Ingredients Let us concentrate on two additional aspects that must be tallied up in the broader picture: Jewish identity abroad, and assimilation in Israel. Back in 2010, the Knesset Research and Information Center publicized the following shocking statistic: In close to 92,000 families in Israel, out of a total nearing two million, one of the parents is not Jewish. This large number is still minuscule compared to the rest of the world. Removing Arab families from the equation, some 3% of married Jews are married to non-Jews. But in France, England, and South America, the rate is 3545%, and in the U.S., it's 55%! The reasons for the phenomenon both here and there are similar, according to the Yad L'Achim anti-assimilation organization: "Gaps in knowledge of Jewish tradition and history, and weak Jewish identity." It is thus reasonably believed that education and fortification of Jewish identity could slow down assimilation. Would this also help increase Aliyah? The Assimilation/Aliyah Equation Several years ago, Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky made a first-of-its-kind announcement: "The Jewish Agency's main priority is no longer to bring Jews on Aliyah, but rather to help preserve Jewish identity worldwide." He explained that Jewry's "main challenge in Russia, Ukraine, Argentina and elsewhere is how to bring more kids to informal Jewish education." The WZO's David Breakstone elaborated at the time: "There won't be any Aliyah of choice without Jewish education… The best way to [achieve Aliyah is] by increasing budgets for Jewish education… The centrality of Israel is an inviolable principle, [and Israel] needs to be concerned with enriching Jewish life everywhere and not only attracting Jews to it." Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein agrees: "We have to maintain the [approach of] strengthening Jewish identity and the bond with Israel. That does not mean we should neglect Aliyah; quite the opposite… The decision to make Aliyah should not be made because of terror attacks or pogroms, but out of a sense of conviction, Jewish identity…"

The RAJE Model One example of a successful Jewish identity program in the U.S. that also focuses on Israel is RAJE: Russian American Jewish Experience. Its specific target audience is the 18-30 age group of Russian-speaking Jewish immigrants to the US, and attempts to upgrade their sense of Jewish identity and involvement. It can be adapted to suit other Jewish populations. How is this measured, and how is it accomplished? It is fascinating to note that it is accomplished via Israel, but measured mostly not in terms of Israel. RAJE Director and founder Rabbi Mordechai Tokarsky came up with four basic standards by which to gauge Jewish identity and behavior. The organization asked two-year RAJE veterans if they were now more likely to: Establish a Jewish household? Affiliate with and be involved in Jewish communal life? Fulfill spiritual needs through the study and practice of Judaism? Develop a strong connection to the State of Israel? The RAJE semester-long program consists of 250 hours of high-level Jewish educational programming, featuring a two-week trip to Israel, 45 hours of sessions, two weekend retreats, and more. By all accounts, RAJE has been successful – cutting down intermarriage among its participants to only 6%! In addition, 82% gave charity to a Jewish organization, 52% read a Jewish book over the past year, and 78% lit Hanukkah candles. Note that though making Aliyah was not a goal, nor was there any apparent arousal to do so, the highlight of the program was a twoweek trip to Israel – and this was arguably where much of the inspiration came into play. Conclusions: There are no quick fixes for either the Aliyah or assimilation problem, but the two are intertwined. Strengthening Jewish identity is critical, but a strong Israel anchor seems instrumental in doing so – and can then lead to Aliyah. Hillel Fendel, former Senior News Editor for Israel National News, is author of One Thing I Ask on the siddur Vo l u m e I I , N o. 2 N i s a n 5 7 7 5 / A p r i l 2 0 1 5

Is Europe,

Bereft of its Jews, No Longer Europe?

Is the Europe Jews are being urged to leave- or not to leave - still the same Europe? By Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld | Photos: Flash90

number of leading European politicians have declared recently how important it is that the Jews keep residing in their various countries. Government leaders also claim that they will do the utmost to protect their Jewish communities against a rising tide of antiSemitic attacks. The primary reason for such declarations is the rise of lethal attacks on Jews by Muslim Europeans. The most recent are the murders which took place in Brussels, Paris, and Copenhagen and other acts of anti-Semitic violence, perpetuated for the most part by Muslims, such as the attacks on synagogues and shops in France and England. Yet another factor is the increase in the

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actual emigration of European Jews, mainly from France, combined with a greater interest in meeting with Israeli aliyah officials. Another influence is the prevailing discussion regarding whether or not Jews have a future in Europe. Finally, there are the calls from various Israelis including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, that Israel is the natural home of European Jews. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has been the most outspoken of the European leaders who believe that Jews should remain in Europe. Jewish filmmaker Claude Lanzmann wrote an article titled, “France without Jews would

not be France”, which Valls referred to after the Paris murders in a major speech at the French National Assembly. Valls said, “Claude Lanzmann wrote a wonderful article in Le Monde, yes, say it to the face of the world, a France without Jews is not France.” French President François Hollande said,“Jews have their place in Europe, and France in particular. It is for us to ensure for all Jews of France, more broadly all citizens of France, security, respect, recognition and dignity." There was a crucial admission lacking in all of these statements. No one said: “France is no longer France, since it let in, non-selectively, millions of Muslims from

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countries where anti-Semitism is rife.” These include immigrants from Algeria where 87% of those polled by the ADL expressed anti-Semitic views, Tunisia where 86% of respondents held anti-Semitic views, and Morocco, where 80% polled were antiSemitic. One reaction to this mass Muslim immigration is that the extreme-right National Front is France’s leading party, according to many current polls. And there is a second point. Hypothetically, even if the entire Jewish community were to leave France, how much of an impact would that actually make on French society? The positions of the departing lawyers, doctors, journalists, politicians, philosophers, shopkeepers, artists, and so on would be filled up quite rapidly. We saw a macabre precedent for such a phenomenon in Europe during the German occupation. Still, such a massive departure of Jews would have a great symbolic impact on France’s image and add an additional dimension to France’s character as a failing democratic republic. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also came out on the subject and said, “We are glad and thankful that there is Jewish life in Germany again, and we would like to continue living well together with the Jews who are in Germany today.” The real psychological importance of the Jewish presence in Germany – comprised mainly of immigrants from Russia - is far greater in that country than in France, even though they make up a much smaller percentage of the general population. The presence of Jews serves as a major image-enhancer that today’s Germany is not only different in nature from Nazi Germany, but that it is a healthy democracy. Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said that the Jewish community in Austria should grow. “We have to do everything to guarantee their security, so that Jews should not be forced to emigrate. Europe without Jews is not Europe.”

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Danish Prime Minister Helle ThorningSchmidt said, following the lethal February terror attack at a Copenhagen synagogue, that, "the Jewish community has been in this country for centuries. They belong in Denmark, they are part of the Danish community and we wouldn't be the same without the Jewish community in Denmark.” UK Prime Minister David Cameron limited himself to saying that Britons should be “incredibly vigilant,” and implemented increased security measures . Several of these statements by the European leaders were direct reactions to Netanyahu’s calls for European Jews to immigrate to Israel. Netanyahu had said, “This wave of terror attacks can be expected to continue,

are welcome. Various Jewish leaders have declared that their community members have no intention to emigrate and that their natural place is where they presently live. This is broadly true to the extent that whatever emigration there will be, as far as numbers are concerned, only pertains to a small percentage of the local Jewish populations. The Europe of today is far from being the Germany of the 1938 Kristallnacht. At that time, the government was behind the anti-Semitic violence. Current European governments want to prevent anti-Semitic violence, however may only be moderately capable of doing so. And the remarks of the European leaders are welcome, despite their

including anti-Semitic and murderous attacks. We say to the Jews, to our brothers and sisters, Israel is your home and that of every Jew. Israel is waiting for you with open arms.” One may wonder whether it was wise of the Israeli Prime Minister to make such a statement. Perhaps Israel should not contribute to the discomfort of many Jews residing in Europe. It would be enough to say that those Jews who want to come to Israel

being, for the most part, exercises in rhetoric.

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Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld is former chairman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and author of over 20 books. His newest, soon to be published, is "The War of a Million Cuts: The Struggle against the Delegitimization of Israel and the Jews".

In Italian Universities, Israel is Out By Giulio Meotti | Photos: Flash90 Italy's universities recently hosted a two day campaign by Omar Barghouti. He is the founder of BDS, the international movement for the boycott of Israel. He is thus the godfather of all the recent campaigns that pushed banks, companies, churches, trade unions, universities and corporations to divest from the Jewish State. Barghouti wrote the manifesti of the anti-Israeli movement, "Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions".

the anthropologists' appeal to boycott Israel. Many professors of Ca' Foscari University in Venice signed a petition which included the statement that “my conscience doesn't permit me to collaborate with official Israeli institutions, including universities". An Israeli student at the University of Turin, Amit Peer, confessed to Italian newspapers that “the

Barghouti's first stop in Italy was the Italian Chamber of Deputies, then the University of Roma Tre (its Department of Political Science), and finally the University of Turin. Many Italian NGOs joined in this anti-Israeli initiative, from the leftist Arci to the Christian Pax Christi. The rectors of these universities should have refused an audience to Barghouti. He is not, in fact, an intellectual critic of Israel, for in that case he would have been protected by freedom of expression. Barghouti is the leader of a movement denying Israel's right to exist. He has charged the Jewish State of "apartheid", "war crimes and crimes against humanity", "ethnic cleansing" and even of "Nazism". Barghouti's choice of the Israeli companies to boycott reveals a hatred for the very existence of Israel. In fact, his target is the Jewish people, not the Israelis of Judea and Samaria. His BDS cohorts boycott companies that simply carry the label "Made in Israel". This is a poison that should have not entered my Italian universities. But I was not surprised, since anti-Semitism has grown dramatically in these places of higher learning. Last October, many Italian professors signed

Languages and Literatures of Turin, was a victim of the climate of "psychological terrorism" which is spreading in the Italian universities, to use an expression of Riccardo Pacifici, President of the Jewish Community of Rome. The teacher was accused of "Zionist propaganda" by a body of students, who interrupted her lecture, lit smoke bombs and threw eggs amid insults and threats. In Turin's University, in culmination, Omar Barghouti declared: "The Israeli regime has no right to exist". The academic boycott goal, in fact, is the same as that of two other Barghouti family members, Marwan and Abdullah, the first the planner of the Second Intifada and the second the master bomb maker who killed 67 Jews:

"A teacher was accused of 'Zionist propaganda' by students, who lit smoke bombs and threw eggs... " Jews here are hiding their own identity because they risk becoming a target”. Israeli attaché Shai Cohen was prevented from speaking at Pisa University after an attack by students, who called him “butcher”. Israeli ambassador Ehud Gol fled Florence University after another protest. Daniela Santus, an associate professor of cultural geography at the Faculty of Foreign

It is wiping Israel off the map. And proclaiming it boldly in front of the Italian academia without fear of a negative reaction. In Italy in 1938 the Italian Union of Mathematics replaced its representative in the committee of the German magazine Zentralblatt fur Mathematik, the famous Jewish scientist Tullio Levi-Civita, with two Aryan mathematicians, Francesco Severi and Enrico Bompiani. Levi-Civita lost his chair and was banned from all the Italian scientific academies. It was a prostitution of science and culture. Now, once again, we are witnessing a similar capitulation against Israel. Giulio Meotti, an Italian journalist with Il Foglio and Arutz Sheva, is the author of "A New Shoah" and "J'Accuse: the Vatican Against Israel" He has been titled "A Righteous Gentile" by Bar Ilan University Professor Hillel Weiss.

HOLD THE DATE - Religious Zionists of America Mission to Brazil, November 2015 Call Monica 212-4659234 msokol@rza org TheJewishWord

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Three Angels on Friday Night By Duba Kellerman | Photos: Flash90

In March 2008, a terrorist entered the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva library in Jerusalem and murdered eight unarmed young students who sat there studying Torah. One of them was Yochai Lifshitz, Hy"d, whose grandmother wrote this poem for his yahrzeit. Written in Hebrew, it has been translated here for the first time. R. Jose son of R. Judah said: Two ministering angels accompany man on the eve of the Sabbath from the synagogue to his home, one good and one evil. And when he arrives home and finds the lamp burning, the table laid and the couch covered with a spread, the good angel exclaims, 'May it be even thus on another Sabbath,' and the evil angel unwillingly responds 'amen'. But if not, the evil angel exclaims, 'May it be even thus on another Sabbath" and the good angel unwillingly responds, 'amen'. (Tractate Shabbat 119b).

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Three angels accompany

Is alone and ashamed.

The father to his home on Shabbat One good and one evil

As the father sings to the angels

And the third one â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

The third one cries

How tall he is!

"Bless me my father I must leave, the time has come"

And they find the candles lit

And the mother keens

And the table set

"Bless me my son

And a line of pain etched

When will you come once again?"

On the mother's forehead. But the third angel answers The third one sees

"On the Shabbat we do not mourn

A portrait of himself

For our consolation is at handâ&#x20AC;Ś"

On the wall That has not changed

And the parents respond

Since the hour he was called to his Maker -

"May it be so"

And his only chair

And the good and evil angels

Is mute in its emptiness

Have no choice but to say

And his kiddush cup on the shelf

Amen.

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Top Ten Myths about the Middle East Conflict by Jonathan S. Tobin Sixty-one years after the birth of the State of Israel, the Jewish state continues to be assailed by its enemies. From the halls of the United Nations to the classrooms of major universities and in the pressrooms of major newspapers and magazines, attacks on the legitimacy of every move by Israel -- and even of the state's existence itself -- continue to be made. What lies behind the calumnies and canards that are constantly thrown at the one Jewish state on the planet? In the Arab and Islamic world, the notion that any portion of the Middle East could be placed under Jewish sovereignty is anathema. Elsewhere, some of the brickbats thrown Israel's way stem from prejudice and hatred rooted in classic anti-Semitism. But what about the American press, much of which is Jewish, and other American opinionmakers for whom the anti-Semitic tag doesn't really apply? The reasons for much of the slanted commentaries about the Middle East and biased news coverage has less to do with the ancient hatreds based in Europe than it does with sheer ignorance. For all too many members of the press (as well as other Americans who like to think of themselves as being informed about the great issues of the day), lack of knowledge about the underlying facts of the Middle East conflict is commonplace. Myths about the State of Israel, its origins and its actions have found their way into general discourse in the academy and the media. Those who seek to stand up for Israel need to recognize that many of the problems that Israel has in getting its case across stem from a failure to debunk these myths and to answer them with the truth. So here is a list of the top ten myths about Israel and the Middle East conflict. This list is by no means comprehensive, but it is a good start to understanding the heart of the problem. Myth #1: Jews have no historic connection to Israel/Palestine. A key element of Arab and anti-Zionist attacks on Israel is the notion that the Jewish presence in the country is a remnant of 19th century imperialism in which Europeans colonized and TheJewishWord

exploited parts of the third world. But far from being outsiders there, the Jewish ties date back 4,000 years to the very beginning of Jewish history recounted in the Bible and verified by much of the evidence of archeology that has been discovered.

some sort of partition of the Western portion of Palestine. Though all of these schemes involved painful concessions for the Jews, the leadership of the Zionist movement and subsequently the Jewish state always accepted this principle of sharing the country.

Though the Romans expelled most of the Jewish population from the country, Jewish settlement continued without interruption throughout the last 2,000 years. In all this time, the Land of Israel remained a constant in thoughts and the hearts of Jews throughout the world, as it was remembered in their daily prayers and in their dreams.

Myth #4: The lack of an independent Palestinian Arab state is the fault of the Zionists.

Myth #2: Jews have no unique claim to the ancient and holy city of Jerusalem. Though both Christianity and Islam have holy sites in the city, the Jewish ties predate that of any other existing religion. King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel 3,000 years ago -- 1,700 years before Islam was even founded. Jerusalem never served as even a provincial capital during the centuries of Muslim rule. The entire city is sacred to Jews; only the Dome of the Rock has religious significance to Muslims. Moreover, in the modern era, Jews have been the majority of the population of the city since the 1840s. As for freedom of worship, the only period during which all faiths have been free to worship in peace has been since 1967 when the city became unified under Israeli sovereignty. Myth #3: The Zionist movement was never prepared to share the land. From the very start of the Jewish return to their historic homeland in the late 19th century, it has never been the goal of the Zionist movement to uproot the Arab population or to create a state where only Jews could live. In 1922, the League of Nations' Mandate for Palestine was partitioned by Britain, with the east bank of the Jordan River reserved for Arab rule (it eventually became the Kingdom of Jordan), and the area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan being designated as the Jewish National Home. Dating back to the 1930s, every subsequent peace plan that has been proposed involved 20

In 1947, the United Nations approved the partition of Palestine between a Jewish state and an Arab state. The response of the Palestinian Arabs, as well as the rest of the Arab and Muslim world, was a categorical rejection of any scheme that allowed a Jewish state on any part of the land, no matter what its borders might be. No effort was made to set up an independent Arab state in the part of Palestine allotted for that purpose. In the aftermath of Israel's War of Independence, in which it repelled the invasion by five Arab armies, the West Bank, Gaza and half of Jerusalem, were left in Arab hands. But for the next 19 years when these territories remained under Arab control, there was never any consideration given to creating an Arab state there. On the contrary, the focus of the Arab world was on extinguishing the fledgling state of Israel that existed in the truncated borders left by the 1949 armistice lines. In the years after the 1967 war, Israel has maintained a willingness to negotiate a peace deal based on the concept of "land for peace." Indeed, at Camp David in July 2000 and the following January at Taba, Egypt, Israel offered the Palestinians a state in these lands as well as part of Jerusalem. The answer from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was "no," and he followed up that refusal by launching a terrorist war of attrition that resulted in over a thousand Jewish deaths and even more suffering on the part of his own people. Myth #5: The plight of Palestinian refugees is a special case of dispossession that must be redressed by international action. In the aftermath of World War II, millions of refugees were created by the partition of India, Vo l u m e I I , N o. 2 N i s a n 5 7 7 5 / A p r i l 2 0 1 5

the re-drawing of the map of Europe, as well as by the war brought on by the Arab refusal to accept the UN's partition of Palestine. Only in the case of Palestinians who fled their home during the course of Israel's War of Independence, was there a failure to re-settle the refugees. The Palestinian refugees, whose exit from the country was caused more by a general fear of the war sweeping over the land than by any action on the part of the Israelis, were the only refugees who were kept in camps and not allowed to integrate into the populations of the Arab countries that received them. They were kept homeless as a means of maintaining the illusion that the creation of Israel could be undone. Subsequent generations of this population have been raised in these camps and inculcated in an irredentist ideology whose premise is the rejection of any Jewish state. They remain the wards of a UN agency (the United Nations Relief Works Agency) that is devoted to perpetuating their status as refugees at a cost of billions of dollars on international aid. On the other hand, several hundred thousand Jews living in Arab countries were evicted from their homes during this same era and forced to flee to safety in Israel or the West -- where they were integrated into society. Myth #6: The occupation of eastern Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights in 1967 was the result of an Israeli war of aggression. In May 1967, Egypt launched a blockade of Israel's southern port of Eilat. Egyptian and Syrian forces massed on Israel's borders. Egypt demanded, and got, the UN peacekeeping force that separated their army from Israel in the Sinai, to withdraw. Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdul Nasser and other Arab leaders told their peoples that they would soon launch a battle of annihilation that would result in Israel's destruction. When international diplomacy failed to get the Arabs to back down, Israel decided that it would not wait to be attacked and launched a defensive war to forestall the Arab assault. After the war ended in a sweeping Israeli victory, Israel stated its willingness to make peace, but an Arab summit conference a month later answered with three no's. No peace. No recognition. No negotiations. Myth #7: Jewish settlements are the main, if not the sole, obstacle to peace in the Middle East. Though many legal sources claim that Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal, the fact remains that the right of Jewish settlement in those lands was guaranteed by the Mandate for Palestine of the League of Nations. This TheJewishWord

territory was never part of any other sovereign state and its final legal status is subject to negotiations that must be concluded between the competing parties. Until such time as there is a peace accord which gives one side or the other sovereignty in this territory, it is inaccurate to refer to this land as belonging to one side or another. Twice before, Israel has shown a willingness to uproot Jewish communities for the sake of peace: in the Sinai (given back to Egypt in the 1979 Peace Treaty) and in Gaza (from which Israel withdrew unilaterally in 2005). The existence of settlements in these areas is no bar to a peace deal under which they might be withdrawn. Myth #8: The failure of the Oslo peace process was the result of actions by hardline Israeli governments. The Oslo process was embraced by Israel in the hope that an offer of land would be met with genuine peace. However, the result of years of negotiations and various Israeli withdrawals has not been peace. From the start of Palestinian Authority rule in the West Bank and Gaza in 1994, Palestinian leadership has encouraged terrorism against Israel and fomented hatred against the Jewish state -- while "peace education" is promulgated in Israeli schools. Throughout the 1990s as Israel signed several agreements that gave the Palestinians more autonomy, the corrupt PA leadership continued to tolerate and even fund terror groups. In 2000, Yasser Arafat refused Israel's offer of a Palestinian state in virtually all of the West Bank and Gaza as well as part of Jerusalem -- and launched the terror offensive known as the Second Intifada. Though all Israeli governments have, at times, been forced to reply with force to terrorist attacks from Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank, all have stated a willingness to negotiate a peace. Today the Palestinians are split between the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas which is too weak to make peace and Hamas, the rulers of Gaza, who reject it under any circumstances. Both factions reject the legitimacy of a Jewish state. Myth #9: The Arab-Israeli conflict is the key to all of America's political, diplomatic and military problems in the Middle East. The battle over Israel/Palestine is but one of many disputes in the Middle East. The rivalry between the two great Muslim religious strains, Shia and Sunni, has been the source of more wars and more bloodshed than any battle between Arabs and Jews. Similarly, the tensions between Persians (modern day Iran with its Islamist rulers and nuclear ambitions) 21

and Arabs is another perennial conflict that predates the renewal of Jewish sovereignty in the region. Even more to the point, the conflict between radical Islamists who seek to impose their religious and political views on the rest of the Muslim world, and those who oppose them in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, has nothing to do with Israel or the Palestinians. It is this schism which is at the core of the rise of Al Qaeda and the Taliban. It is this battle for the soul of Islam that gave the impetus to the 9/11 attacks, not the dispute over the borders of the Jewish state. Though Israel's foes claim that resentment over its creation fuels Arab and Islamic resentment of the West, such sentiments long predate the rise of Zionism. The clash of civilizations between Islam and the West was the cause of wars between European nations and Muslim countries for centuries with no Jewish involvement. Linking world peace to a resolution of the Palestinian conflict is just another tactic of rejectionist groups bent on perpetuating the conflict and diverting attention from the real issues. Myth #10: American support for Israel is the result of the manipulations of the U.S. government by Jews. Support for the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland dates back to the very beginning of American history. Sympathy for the idea of a renewed Jewish state is rooted in the faith of most Americans, as well as in their belief that the persecuted Jewish people were entitled to find a new life in their old home. From the very beginnings of the Zionist movement, it found both a welcome and support from large numbers of Americans. In the aftermath of the Holocaust that support became even greater. Today, the overwhelming majority of Americans of all faiths and both major political parties see Israel as a friend and an ally. They need no prodding from a Jewish lobby to understand that the alliance with the Jewish state is based on common values and a shared belief in democracy. While Israel's supporters in Washington are vocal and proud of it, their financial clout is dwarfed by that of an oil industry and other factions with a vested interest in appeasing Arab dictators and monarchs. But the American people's identification with Israel and their sense of solidarity with it have prevailed because these ideas are rooted deeply in American history and tradition. Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of Commentary magazine Vo l u m e I I , N o. 2 N i s a n 5 7 7 5 / A p r i l 2 0 1 5

The 37th World Zionist Congress A Wake Up Call to all Orthodox communities By Isaac Blachor and Dr. Francine Stein The 37th World Zionist Congress (WZC) will take place, be”H, in October, 2015 in Israel. We call upon the entire Orthodox community to organize and to register and vote for the Vote Torah slate. The voting period ends as of April 30, 2015, and we need to register and vote prior to that deadline. First the facts: 525 delegates representing Jewish communities from around the world will assemble at the Congress, the parliament of the Jewish people. 145 of the delegates will come from the United States. These delegates and their alternates, will be elected and the ongoing election period will continue until the end of April, 2015.

under the banner of Vote Torah. This slate is headed by Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University. The slate includes local community leaders from Orthodox institutions and communities throughout the United States. On Long Island, the slate includes, among other leaders, Rabbi Hershel Billet, Rabbi Kenneth Hain, Ben Brafman, Bernie Fuchs and Lawrence Mayor, Martin Oliner. In New Jersey, the slate includes, among other leaders, Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, Asher Brukner of Teaneck and Rabbi Shlomo Rybak of Passaic and in Westchester County, Amit National

The WZC will, in turn, elect the leadership and determine policies for the World Zionist Organization (WZO), the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) through the election of 50% of the JAFI Board of Governors and 50% of the JAFI General Assembly, the Keren Hayesod (KH) and the election of the General Assembly and leadership of the Keren Kayemet L’Yisroel (KKL).

In the Chicago region, the slate includes Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, Rabbi Leonard Matanky, Rabbi Jerold Isenberg and past RZA president, Bert Kahn. There are Orthodox leaders from the West Coast, including OU President, Martin Nachimson and Rabbi Dov Fischer on the slate. This is a national slate which is supported by the RZA, Amit, Emunah, YU, Touro, the National Council of Young Israel, the Orthodox Union, RCA, Bnei Akiva and the Torah MiTzion Kollelim. Each one of these organizations has its representatives on the official slate. Furthermore, in full compliance with the rules of the WZO, 25% of the delegates are now “Youth Delegates” between the ages of 18 and 30. They are among the finest examples of the vibrancy of Orthodoxy and they all deserve our full support. What are these allocations and why should our communities be concerned? The reasons are many. Here are just a few.

Through its control of RZA Convention Benjamin Brafman, Rabbi Solly Sacks, Bernie Fuchs, Rabbi Kenneth Hain, these agencies, it will Mohsen Sazegara, Martin Oliner, Rabbi Shlomo Rybak, Judy Rosen, Asher Brukner. have a major impact There is a Department on the more than one of Religious Affairs for billion dollars of funding the Diaspora, funded through the WZO budget. President Deborah Isaac. that these agencies are able to allocate. The It supplies Torah based educational materials, allocations will be proportionate to the strength without cost, to yeshivas and day schools. In our of the various Zionist factions that are present at In New York City, the slate includes Rabbi local Long Island communities, that has been the WZC. All told, there are 11 slates competing Haskel Lookstein, YU President Richard Joel, of benefit to HANC, HAFTR, SKA, Rambam, TAG for votes in the United States and the Orthodox RZA President Rabbi Yosef Blau, OU leaders and South Shore, as well as to other educational community is represented by the Religious Zionist Rabbi Steven Weil and Allen Fagin, Touro College institutions in our community. In the New Jersey slate, whose position as slate # 10 on the ballot President Dr. Alan Kadish and Rabbi Kenneth region, the list of schools that benefit includes was determined by a lottery. This slate is running Brander. Moriah, Yavneh, Noam, Ben Porat Yosef, Frisch, TheJewishWord

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TABC and Maayanot. The current leadership of the department is its chair, Rabbi Yechiel Wasserman and its Director General, both of whom come from the Religious Zionist faction, and were appointed to their positions by the Religious Zionist faction at a prior Congress.

the 4 kibbutzim in the Etzion Bloc totaled about 500, when Israel was forced to evacuate that area. Today, the Jewish population in that area approaches 90,000. Imagine if they were forced out of their homes and communities because the funding and services needed were cut off. One way to help prevent that from happening is to register and vote for the Vote Torah slate.

The Reform and Conservative movements have tried for years to gain control of this key department. They would like to impose their own form of educational materials and literature for distribution to our yeshivot and day schools and only our continued strength at the Congress can help prevent that from happening.

Recently it was learned that the Reform movement, through its Zionist arm, ARZA, had reached out to non Jews to vote in the election and to support ARZA. One women tweeted that she was Catholic, saying she took “a stand” and voted for the Reform slate and she was urging all of her non Jewish friends to follow her lead. While the rules state that only Jews are eligible to vote, the fact that social media is showing non Jewish voters voting and supporting the Reform slate should be a wake up call to the entire Orthodox community to register and vote, less we be inundated by a non Jewish voting campaign whose consequences we can only imagine.

Orthodox communities throughout the United States benefit from Schlichim (Emissaries) sent by the WZO and JAFI, to help local Jewish communities, especially the smaller Jewish communities. Schlichim give shiurim, serve as role models and are often the glue that helps build up these smaller communities. Religious Schlichim and their families are recruited and trained by the WZO and JAFI, and in order to sustain this program, we must turn out and support the Vote Torah slate, which is the only slate committed to maintaining the strength and numbers of these religious schlichim.

The registration fee is $5.00 for those between the ages of 18 and 30. All others pay a $10.00 fee, and the fees pay for the services of supervising the elections by Election America.

The WZO is the agency that allocates the funds that support Jewish communities in Israel. The Vote Torah slate is the only slate committed to maintaining that support for all Jewish communities, including those established across the 1967 cease fire lines in Israel.

It is not too late to seize the moment and vote for the Vote Torah slate. Please go to VoteTorah.org and follow the links until you have received confirmation that your vote for VoteTorah has been recorded. In this way, your voice will be heard at the Congress.

J Street is pouring money into this election, supporting the slates that will seek to cut off all such funding and services. Heaven forbid that they succeed, and established Jewish communities lose this important funding source from the Settlement Division. In 1948, the total Jewish population of

Isaac Blachor is a Vice President of the Religious Zionists of America (RZA) and Dr. Francine Stein is a past National President of Amit. Both are on the Vote Torah list of delegates to the World Zionist Congress

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