The Vicious Babushka

Activists Try to Save Old Warsaw Ghetto Building

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — It was the place where Jewish women did their ritual bathing. It was a tuberculosis clinic. It survived the German onslaught and became a gathering point for Holocaust survivors.

Now "the white building," the headquarters of the Jewish community and one of the few surviving remnants of the infamous Warsaw Ghetto, could be torn down to make way for a multistory tower that would fit seamlessly into a modern city skyline.

The building's fate will soon be determined by the Culture Ministry, which has been asked by advocates of historic preservation to declare it a historical monument, a classification that would ban its destruction. It's not yet clear how officials will decide, though previous rulings by other state offices had declared the building not worth saving. Now those for and against destroying the old building are anxiously awaiting a verdict.

What is perhaps unexpected in this case is who is fighting for what: Warsaw's Jewish community, which owns the dilapidated three-story building, is making the case for its destruction. The community leaders argue that a bigger building is needed to accommodate a Jewish community that is re-emerging in the young Polish democracy after the Holocaust and decades of communist repression.

The white building, in the heart of the city's business district, is the place where the Jewish community gathers for lectures, Shabbat dinners, holidays, even sports. Jewish leaders argue that it is too cramped, bleak and fungus-infested to continue serving the needs of a community that has roughly tripled in number in the past decade.

Today, it can no longer accommodate all those who want to join Shabbat dinners after Friday evening prayers. There is no room for festive celebrations on the holiday of Purim. And a new Reform congregation, which embraces a modern style of worship different from the Orthodox services held in the Nozyk synagogue, must meet across town in rented rooms.

Read more at NPR.

Yiddish is Not a Dying Language (Forward Targets Yiddish-Speaking Hasidim)

The fate of Yiddish is something of a question mark — perhaps fitting for a culture famous for answering questions with questions.

Its use is popularly believed to be fading as Holocaust survivors and the people who learned Yiddish at the kitchen tables of their immigrant parents die off.

But scholars say not to write off Yiddish just yet. Many contend it has a brighter future as young people take up the language in some 30 college programs and institutes around the country. More significant, the ranks of ultra-Orthodox Jews, for whom it is the lingua franca, continue to mushroom.

It is this more sanguine outlook that explains why The Forward, the 115-year-old Jewish newspaper, is expanding its ambitions. Three decades ago, the paper trimmed back the schedule of the Yiddish-language newspaper from a daily to a weekly, and in 1990 it tried to win new readers by printing an entirely separate paper in English.

Now, encouraged by what it sees as renewed interest in Yiddish among younger people, The Forward will introduce a rejuvenated and enhanced Yiddish Web site (vebzaytl in Yiddish) on Feb. 4, complete with blogs and links to Facebook (Face-bukh). Because of a declining readership, however, the publication schedule of the print version of the Yiddish-language newspaper will be cut back to every other week.

In addition to featuring articles from the Yiddish newspaper, which the bare-bones Web site already does, the remodeled site will have a daily podcast of about 10 minutes rotating among Yiddish-speaking correspondents in Moscow, Jerusalem, Paris, Warsaw, Melbourne, Buenos Aires and New York.

There will be a blog called Vayter (Further) geared to students studying Yiddish, which will offer folk tales and Yiddish phrases, intended to provide lively reading matter and allow students to connect. By clicking on an unfamiliar Yiddish word, students can see a pop-up translation, something they cannot do in the newspaper.

There will also be a blog for Hasidim and other Haredim — ultra-Orthodox Jews — written by Haredim who will probably use pen names. (Haredim are discouraged from reading secular newspapers, though many privately read news on the Web). It will be called “Yiddish mit ayn Aleph” — a reference to the distinctive way Hasidim spell the language’s name.

“We’ve always had a minority of Haredi readers,” said Sam Norich, publisher of the English and Yiddish newspapers. “Some of them read the printed edition underneath the Haredi newspaper. But online there’s greater participation.”

The new Web site will continue some old traditions, like featuring videos on how to cook East European delicacies, like stuffed cabbage, and on international travel, but these will now have English subtitles. A new blog called “Yidishe parnose” (“It’s a living”) will consist of conversations with Yiddish speakers working in various professions, from cobblers to investment bankers.

Read more at NY Times.

Considering the Forward's anti-Orthodox bias, it has a tough hill to climb before it will be able to attract Hasidic readers. Maybe if they would write something nice about us once in a while I might become a subscriber. 

World Leaders Mark Holocaust Memorial Day

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Holocaust survivors, politicians, religious leaders and others marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday with solemn prayers and the now oft-repeated warnings to never let such horrors happen again.

Events took place at sites including Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former death camp where Hitler's Germany killed at least 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, in southern Poland. In Warsaw, prayers were also held at a monument to the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943.

Pope Benedict XVI, speaking from his window at St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, warned that humanity must always be on guard against a repeat of murderous racism.

"The memory of this immense tragedy, which above all struck so harshly the Jewish people, must represent for everyone a constant warning so that the horrors of the past are not repeated, so that every form of hatred and racism is overcome, and that respect for, and dignity of, every human person is encouraged," the German-born pontiff said.

Not all words spoken by dignitaries struck the right tone, however.

On the sidelines of a ceremony in Milan, former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi sparked outrage when he praised Benito Mussolini for "having done good" despite the Fascist dictator's anti-Jewish laws. Berlusconi also defended Mussolini for allying himself with Hitler, saying he likely reasoned that it would be better to be on the winning side.

The United Nations in 2005 designated Jan. 27 as a yearly memorial day for the victims of the Holocaust — 6 million Jews and millions of other victims of Nazi Germany during World War II. The day was chosen because it falls on the anniversary of the liberation in 1945 of Auschwitz, the Nazis' most notorious death camp and a symbol of the evil inflicted across the continent.

"Those who experienced the horrors of the cattle cars, ghettos, and concentration camps have witnessed humanity at its very worst and know too well the pain of losing loved ones to senseless violence," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement.

Obama went on to say that like those who resisted the Nazis, "we must commit ourselves to resisting hate and persecution in all its forms. The United States, along with the international community, resolves to stand in the way of any tyrant or dictator who commits crimes against humanity, and stay true to the principle of 'Never Again.'"

Read more at NPR.com.

London "Sunday Times" Observes Holocaust Memorial Day with Ugly Cartoon

London - The Sunday Times marked Holocaust Memorial Day in a less-than-traditional manner, running a virulently anti-Israel cartoon depicting a big-nosed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu paving a wall with the blood and limbs of writhing Palestinians.

The cartoon included a caption beneath the image entitled “Israeli elections- will cementing peace continue?” Drawn by Gerald Scarfe, the cartoon appeared in the national paper on Sunday.

“This cartoon would be offensive at any time of the year, but to publish it on International Holocaust Remembrance Day is sickening and expresses a deeply troubling mindset,” said European Jewish Congress President Dr. Moshe Kantor. “This insensitivity demands an immediate apology from both the cartoonist and the paper’s editors.”

“Amazingly, as this cartoon was published days after the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel, underwent fully democratic elections, as others in the Middle East were being butchered by the tens of thousands, the Sunday Times focuses its imagination solely on the Jewish State.  This contravenes many of the criteria laid out in EUMC’s Working Definition of Antisemitism and is part of a worrying trend to legitimize the growing assault on Israel by opinion-shapers.”

British anti-Semitism has made headlines throughout the week after Liberal Democrat MP David Ward accused “the Jews” of inflicting violence on Palestinians on a daily basis,” and questioned how they could do this so soon after their “liberation from the death camps.”

He issued something of a backtrack on Saturday evening, in response to condemnation from his party and a huge backlash on social media. “I was trying to make clear that everybody needs to learn the lessons of the Holocaust,” the MP posted on his website.

“I recognize of course the deep sensitivities of these issues at all times, and particularly on occasions of commemoration such as this weekend [Holocaust Memorial Day],” he said.

He added that his criticisms of Israel “remain as strong as ever.”

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton paid a special tribute to Holocaust survivors on Sunday, in a statement released on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Read more at Jerusalem Post.

 

Your Guide to the Israeli Elections (Info Graphic)

Israel Voting Guide

Broad Jewish support for Obama’s gun proposals

Uniformity of Jewish response to gun control proposals contrast to Republican opposition to Obama's suggested measures.

WASHINGTON - US President Obama's new gun control proposals drew broad Jewish communal support.

The uniformity of the Jewish response to the proposals unveiled Wednesday stood in contrast to Republican opposition to many of the suggested measures, including a ban on assault weapons and tighter background checks on gun purchasers.

Supportive statements came from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella for public policy groups, as well as Reform, Conservative and Orthodox umbrella groups.

Obama said he plans to issue 23 executive orders while his vice president, Joe Biden, attempts to shepherd parallel legislation through Congress in the wake of the massacre last month of 20 children and seven adults in Newtown, Connecticut.

A number of the proposals, including hiring security officials for schools, are not controversial. But most fall on the fault line of the gun control debate that has for decades exercised the American public.

"We recognize that this is a complex issue," Rabbi Steve Gutow, the JCPA's president, said in a statement. "The memory of Newtown is still fresh, and so is Aurora, Tucson, Fort Hood and other massacres that remind us that something must be done -- and that there isn’t a single solution to preventing mass violence.  We appreciate the administration’s understanding that there are multiple causes which must be addressed. It is crucial that passions not ebb nor our country return to complacency."

In its statement, the Orthodox Union said that it understood from conversations with White House officials that the security officials hired for schools would be available to parochial establishments as well.

"The Orthodox Union has been informed by the White House that the funding proposal may be used to place the new officers in Jewish and other nonpublic schools to provide security, counseling, and safety education," it said in a statement.

Other organizations welcoming the initiative included Jewish Women International, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Reform movement's Religious Action Center, B'nai B'rith International, the National Jewish Democratic Council, the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly, Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice as well as leading Jewish lawmakers, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.).

Read more at Jerusalem Post.

Haredim as the next wave of tech entrepreneurs?

Yitzchak Crombie

In the minds of many people, the terms “ultra-Orthodox” and “high-tech entrepreneur” are two that don’t match up. The former are open to new ideas, experiment with advanced technologies, show independent spirit, and are at home on the Internet — quite the opposite of the average ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi Jew, according to the image many Israelis have.

But is that an accurate image? To hear Haredi entrepreneur Itzik Crombie tell it, it is not. Crombie, a Habad (Lubavitch) hassid who could be called a “serial entrepreneur,” has started several business, the latest of which, iSale Global, won an award last year for an app it developed to help salespeople sell more. Crombie doesn’t see himself as an exception, but as a pioneer.

“Haredim are just as creative and imaginative, and as willing to succeed, as are secular Israelis. In fact, from what I have seen among those in the high-tech world, they are even more ambitious,” Crombie told The Times of Israel. “The problem is that they don’t have role models to show them how to navigate the business world and get to the point where they can build their own businesses.”

To that end, Crombie organized, along with venture capital fund Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), the first Haredi Hi-Tech Forum, in which ultra-Orthodox businesspeople, industry leaders, and business experts will present ideas on how to take a high-tech idea and run with it, getting financing and backing, and achieving business success. The event will be held at JVP’s Jerusalem headquarters on Tuesday.

While most Israelis don’t realize it, ultra-Orthodox Jews are already well-entrenched in the business world, especially the high-tech world. But the vast majority are working at low-level programming and data entry jobs, said Crombie. “Today there are many courses that teach basic computer skills that are attended by Haredi women, and increasingly by men.”

Read more at Times of Israel.

"The Daily Show" Rips Detroit Bridge Troll Matty Moroun

 

Leave it to "The Daily Show' to find the absurdity in one of Detroit's oddest political battles.

A segment on the comedy news show hosted by Al Madrigal looked at the plan to build a new bridge to Canada -- free to Michigan taxpayers -- and the surreal opposition to it that's been powered by billionaire Matty Moroun, who happens to own Detroit's other bridge to Windsor.

Watch the video above to see Madrigal go where others can't, as he pokes fun at Detroit, pesters a toll booth operator in search of Moroun, calls out a "soccer mom" for her Canada hating and asks one famed local activist with the New Black Panther Nation why he's working for the man.

"Mo' bridges, mo' problems, am I right?" Madrigal says.

Read more at Huffington Post.

 

IDF Nahal Haredi Soldiers Rescue Palestinians from Flooded River

Ultra-Orthodox troops use civilian tractor to pull Palestinians trapped in car; 669 unit helicopter boards family trapped on roof surrounded by water, power lines

Lifesaving cooperation occurred Tuesday between haredi IDF troops and Palestinians who were trapped in a stream growing violent due to the stormy weather.

Soldiers of the IDF's haredi battalion Netzah Yehuda managed to rescue three Palestinian men before the fierce currents washed over them. Ynet obtained a documentation of the rescue.

The IDF troops were called to an area near the Nablus River, where, they were told, cars were stranded with their drivers trapped in a constantly intensifying current.

The storm was too severe for helicopters to arrive at the scene, and the battalion commander resorted to utilizing a Palestinian's tractor that was passing by.

The commander mounted the tractor, as he and the owner drove toward the trapped cars, rescuing three men. A fourth man is known to have also been trapped in the river, but he was not found and was reported missing.

The tractor exited the flooded area just before the asphalt started collapsing. The soldiers gave the rescued men initial medical care at the scene.

Throughout Wednesday, Netzah Yehuda rescued some 33 people, of whom 30 who were trapped in a bus. In many of the rescues, the troops worked in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority's rescue forces.

Read more at YNet.

Obama to Name Jack Lew for Secretary of the Treasury

Jack Lew and President Obama

President Obama plans to nominate White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew as his next Treasury secretary, choosing a trusted adviser with deep experience in the nation’s budget challenges and in the legislative warfare that will test Obama’s second term, according to people familiar with the matter.

The selection of Lew, 57, is an acknowledgment that at least the next several months will involve a sustained conflict with congressional Republicans over the nation’s finances. The government is likely to face a deadline to raise the federal debt ceiling no later than March 1 — as well as a series of deep and automatic spending cuts set to begin around the same time.

Lew’s appointment signals continuity between Obama’s first and second term and suggests that the president would not be taking a significantly different approach to governing. Lew has served as Obama’s budget director and the No. 2 State Department official. He also was budget director during the Clinton administration and has been negotiating compromises over taxes and spending since the 1980s, when he was a top aide to then-House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.).

Lew’s appointment would finally allow Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to depart — something he has wanted to do for over a year. Geithner, the president’s longest-serving economic adviser, stayed on after a personal plea from the president.

The nomination is subject to confirmation by the Senate, where many Republicans do not like his negotiating style. But there has been no groundswell of opposition in recent weeks, since Lew was reported to be a candidate to lead the Treasury Department.

The White House on Wednesday did not confirm Lew’s nomination but did praise him.

“Jack Lew has been and continues to be an extremely valuable adviser to the president,” press secretary Jay Carney said. “Over the past quarter of a century, Jack Lew has been integral part some of most important budget and fiscal agreements in Washington.”

While Geithner came into office amid a financial crisis and recession, Lew’s challenges would be of a different type. He would start off as part of a team trying to lift the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling. He would also be trying to raise taxes to shrink budget deficits and avoid deep spending cuts that could crimp the nation’s economic growth or threaten the social safety net.

Read more at Washington Post.

Now what are all the people going to say who screamed that President Obama is an "Anti-Semite" because he named Chuck Hagel ("an Anti-Semite!" because he once said something about AIPAC or something) for Defense.

What could they say: "This proves he's an Anti-Semite because only an Anti-Semite thinks that Jews are good with money!1!")

When was the last time an Anti-Semite appointed a Jew as Treasurer? Oh yeah, Pharoah.

Israel Wants to Keep Its Place as Diamond Capital of the World

Diamond polishers in Tel Aviv (Working next to a woman)

RAMAT GAN, Israel (Reuters) - Diamond manufacturing is a dwindling trade in Israel. The country has one of the world's hottest diamond exchanges, but polishers and cutters of the precious stones have been replaced by cheaper workers in newer hubs like India and China.

Israel wants to bring them back. To do so, it plans on recruiting a legion of ultra-Orthodox Jews, who because of their dedication to prayer and study, have been unable or unwilling to join the work force, putting a heavy weight on the economy.

The job of a diamond polisher, however, is unique, said Bumi Traub, president of the Israel Diamond Manufacturers Association. It need not disrupt their pious lifestyle.

"The profession is fitting. You deal with the rock, and if you need to go pray, no one will bother you," he said.

The door to Traub's office requires a fingerprint scan. Security is tight in the four-building exchange where annual turnover of trading reaches $25 billion each year.

About a third of rough diamonds produced in the world each year pass through the Jewish state and diamonds account for more than a fifth of the country's industrial exports.

It was a natural sector to develop when Israel was founded 64 years ago, since the small stones have been choice merchandise for generations of Jews who had to quickly flee from riots and persecution.

The plan to revitalize manufacturing will cost millions of dollars and the diamond sector, for the first time, is turning to the government for help. The government, eager to get as many ultra-Orthodox working as possible, is on board.

Read more at Yahoo News Reuters.

Former Neturei Karta Member Sues Antwerp Girls' School for Not Accepting his Sons as Students

The famous Kiss! (They have broken up)

Antwerp - Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Friedman, notorious for his involvement with the Neturei Karta and the 2006 anti-Zionist and Holocaust-denial conference in Iran, has again found himself at the center of a controversy – this time in Belgium.

At the end of 2011, Friedman relocated his wife and seven children from New York to Antwerp, but because of what Friedman calls “revenge” on the part of the Jewish community for his “opinion and good contacts with world leaders”, he has been unable to find a yeshiva which will admit his children. As such, Friedman said he had no choice but to apply for admission for his sons, ages 8 and 11, to the all-girls, Orthodox Jewish Benoth Jerusalem School in Antwerp.

According to a report in the local Belgian paper, Gazet van Anwerpen (http://bit.ly/VblYff), when Benoth Jerusalem denied admission to his sons, Friedman sued citing a recent decision from the Commission on Students’ Rights which held that a child cannot be denied admission to a school on the basis of their gender.

A Belgian judge ruled that because yeshivas are subsidized by the Flemish community, Benoth Jerusalem must admit the boys or face a $2,600 penalty per child for each day the boys are not permitted to attend.

The school board argued that Orthodox Judaism requires the separation of the sexes for educational instruction. Moreover, the board said it is not equipped to educate male students as it does not have male teachers on staff and lacks basic infrastructure such as separate restrooms.

Read more at Vos Iz Neias.

Actually the boys will probably get a better education since the girls' schools teach secular subjects.

"Praying Hitler" Displayed as "Artwork" on Site of Warsaw Ghetto

Another "artwork" by an attention freak

WARSAW – If you look through the bars of the locked gate at 14 Prozna Street in Poland’s capital, a place that was the center of the Jewish ghetto 70 years ago, you may spot a small statue of a figure kneeling in prayer. That figure is Adolf Hitler.

“Amen,” a new exhibition by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, which includes the praying Hitler, has caused outrage among the Jewish community in Poland as well as among Jewish and Catholic organizations worldwide that regard the exhibit as extremely offensive.

Cattelan, 52, an Italian-born sculptor living in New York, is known for his controversial work. One of the most famous is “La Nona Ora” (“The Ninth Hour”) depicting Pope John Paul II being struck down by a meteorite.

Last month, Cattelan opened a show at the Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw.

Most of the exhibits are displayed inside the museum, which is elsewhere in Warsaw. Only the praying Hitler has been placed in the middle of the former Jewish ghetto.

The Center for Contemporary Art has a description of Cattelan’s exhibition on its website: “In a Warsaw ravaged by the cataclysmic 20th century, Maurizio Cattelan’s works take on a particular dimension; they become an artistic commentary on the Catholic credo. What, in fact, does love thy enemy mean? What does forgive those who trespass against us mean? Evoking the traumas of history, they deal with memory and forgetfulness, good and evil.”

Cattelan’s decision to put the Hitler figure in the former Jewish ghetto has angered many in Poland, Jews and Christians alike. The organizers of the international film festival Human Docs being held in Poland and dedicated to human rights, have decided to hold a debate on the question “What’s Hitler up to in Poland? The moral impact of provocation in art.”

Historians and artists have tried to explain Cattelan’s decision to place the figure in one of the most sensitive places for Jews in Poland and to resolve the question of whether it is a legitimate art exhibit or an offensive provocation. Some said the kneeling figure appears to be vulnerable and ambiguous. On one hand, the hero is an icon of evil; on the other, the view of Hitler kneeling may evoke sympathy in the viewer. Viewing this object, they say, provokes mixed feelings.

A few days after the Hitler figure was placed in the yard of 14 Prozna Street, someone covered its face and hands in an attempt to obscure its identity, perhaps fearing the reaction it would produce.

Another sign of the strong emotions the figure has raised is that, despite there being no public access to the exhibit, the museum’s management has mounted 24-hour security around it.

Read more at Jerusalem Post.

DOOFUS OF THE DAY: Columnist Blames Teh Eevil Jooz for the "War on Christmas"

Scary Jew Shadows and their Hanukkah Menorahs Everywhere!

Burt Prelutsky screeches in World Nut Daily:

I never thought I’d live to see the day that Christmas would become a dirty word. You think it hasn’t? Then why is it that people are being prevented from saying it in polite society for fear that it will offend?

Why, after 60 years, is the city of Santa Monica, Calif., no longer allowed to erect its traditional crèche in the palisades overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and why is the governor of Rhode Island insisting on calling the state’s Christmas tree a holiday tree?

Schools are being forced to replace “Christmas vacation” with “winter break” in their printed schedules. At some major retail chains, the word is verboten, replaced as a matter of policy by the generic Happy Holidays. Carols, even instrumental versions, are verboten in certain locales. All across the country, grammar schools are banning Christmas pageants.

How is it, one well might ask, that in a Christian nation this is happening? And in case you find that designation objectionable, would you deny that India is a Hindu country, that Turkey is Muslim, that Poland is Catholic? That doesn’t mean those nations are theocracies. But when the overwhelming majority of a country’s population believe Jesus to be their savior, only a darn fool would deny the obvious.

Although it seems a long time ago, it really wasn’t, that people who came here from other places made every attempt to fit in. Assimilation wasn’t a threat to anyone; it was what the Statue of Liberty represented. E pluribus unum, one out of many, was our motto. The world’s melting pot was our nickname. It didn’t mean that any group of people had to check their customs, culture or cuisine, at the door. It did mean that they, and especially their children, learned English, and that they learned to live and let live.

That has changed, as you may have noticed. And I lay a great deal of the blame at the feet of my fellow Jews. When it comes to pushing the multicultural, anti-Christian agenda, you find Jewish judges, Jewish journalists and the largely Jewish funded ACLU at the forefront. What makes them even more obnoxious is that, by and large, the Jews who are leading the crusade against what is, we should never forget, a national holiday, are secular. So it’s not even a question of their religion being shortchanged; they hate their own, as well. They’re the pinheads who pretend that “separation of church and state” appears in the Constitution.

THIS "GEM" STANDS OUT:

I am getting the idea that these self-righteous secular Jews won’t be happy until they pull off their own version of the Spanish Inquisition, forcing Christians to either deny their faith and convert to agnosticism or suffer the consequences.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/the-jewish-grinch-who-stole-christmas/#Pwu70GKGg9rKAgyo.99 (WARNING: This link goes to a site that is run by delusional stupid crazy people. You may lose brain cells.)

The mind boggles. I thought it was supposed to be Muslims and their "stealth Sharia" who were leading the War Against Christmas! There is so much wrong with this diatribe that I don't even know where to begin. Let's begin with the hysterical claim that wishing somebody "Happy Holidays" is the equivalent of burning somebody to death in an auto-da-fe. Uh, no it's not.

Also, nobody is even being FORCED to say "Happy Holidays." It's just a generic greeting, like "How are you today?" People who say "How are you today?" are not expecting a full run-down of your medical condition.

Now is is possible that some people are concerned that public funds or public space are being designated for religious objects that are not inclusive of many citizens. At the same time, the same "conservatives" who are in such horror of a "War on Christmas" also complain that the White House is spending too much money of holiday decorations during a time of recession and unemployment and OMG a Blackity Black Man is President!

I can look all around and see Christmas symbols everywhere! My favorite TV shows are either pre-empted for Christmas specials, or else have a Christmas episode, but it is very rare to see a TV program that has a Hanukkah episode. Which reminds me, "South Park" has not done a Christmas Special since the infamous "Woodland Critters" episode. I haz a sad!

 

$500 Million in Checks Found at Jerusalem's Western Wall

The checks were squashed between the stones.

Someone praying for financial security at the Western Wall had their prayers answered on Wednesday, when a man found an envelope containing checks worth more than half a billion dollars. 

The man said he saw the envelope resting up against the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, where Jews traditionally leave notes in the cracks of the stones. When he opened the envelope, he found 507 checks from around the world, each worth about a million dollars, signed but not made out to anyone. 

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby said the man immediately brought the checks to a lawyer in downtown Jerusalem, who turned them over to the Jerusalem police's lost and found unit. Ben Ruby said police opened an investigation to determine if the checks are real or forged. 

The checks are currently waiting at the downtown police station as to police investigate their authenticity, so anyone who has just realized he or she has lost half a billion dollars can still retrieve them. 

The Rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz said many of the checks were Nigerian. There was no comment on whether or not the checks could be from the notorious "Nigerian prince," one of most prolific email scammers, who suddenly had a change of heart.

Read more at Jerusalem Post.

"Dancing Rabbis" are Boffo at Houston Rockets Game

 

White House Hanukkah Reception

 

Menorah from Synagogue Damaged by Hurricane Sandy to be Lit at White House Hanukkah Party

Menorah from Temple Israel, Long Island

A 90-year-old menorah from a temple on Long Island that was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy will be displayed at a Hanukkah party hosted by President Obama as a symbol of perseverance and hope for the holidays.

The brass menorah survived a 10-foot storm surge that destroyed a chapel, a library, numerous religious books and six Torah scrolls at Temple Israel in Long Beach, according to the congregation’s rabbi, David S. Bauman.

Rabbi Bauman said the White House contacted him about two weeks ago seeking a menorah that survived the storm’s onslaught. He said he took a photograph of the menorah, one of two that were located on the upper floor of the temple’s sanctuary, and sent it to a White House official.

“The next thing I know I’m talking to the White House curator and the Secret Service,” he said. “It’s an incredibly humbling experience.”

The White House was led to Rabbi Bauman’s congregation by the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, an organization that helped communities in New York City and on Long Island in Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath. The group informed the White House about the menorah at Temple Israel.

Rabbi Bauman, 41, who is also a reserve chaplain in the Marine Corps, will travel with the menorah to Washington for the Hanukkah party, which will be held on Thursday.

The White House has a tradition of selecting menorahs with some kind of meaningful history. Last year, the menorah displayed at the Hanukkah party was one built at a displaced persons camp in Europe after World War II. In 2010, officials selected a menorah salvaged from a synagogue destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Read more at NY Times.

President Obama Wishes Jews a Happy Hanukkah

President and Michele Obama at White House Hanukkah party in 2011.

Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to all those celebrating Hanukkah around the world. 

This Hanukkah season we remember the powerful story of the Maccabees who rose up to liberate their people from oppression. Upon discovering the desecration of their Temple, the believers found only enough oil to light the lamp for one night. And yet it lasted for eight. 

Hanukkah is a time to celebrate the faith and customs of the Jewish people, but it is also an opportunity for people of all faiths to recognize the common aspirations we share. This holiday season, let us give thanks for the blessings we enjoy, and remain mindful of those who are suffering. And let us reaffirm our commitment to building a better, more complete world for all.   

From our family to the Jewish Community around the world, Chag Sameach. 

From Whitehouse.gov.

The photo is from the White House Hanukkah party in 2011, where kosher food was served much to the chagrin of M.J. Rosenberg. (CORRECTION: MJ actually had a meltdown over the White House serving kosher food at a Passover seder which is actually even more of a sad FAIL) This was the first of many reasons that Babushka decided to vote for Barack Obama last Election Day.

Happy Hanukkah from Israel!

Swedish artist uses Jewish Holocaust victims' ashes for "Artwork"

Artwork created using Holocaust victims' remains

Carl Michael von Hausswolff mixed the ashes from the infamous Nazi facility with water to compose a small painting of grey streaks. The work now hangs in a gallery in the Swedish city of Lund.

But Salomon Schulman, a leading voice in Sweden's Jewish community who lost many relatives to the Holocaust, has condemned the painting as "revolting".

"Who knows," he wrote in a letter to a local newspaper. "Maybe some of the ashes originated from my relatives. No one knows where they were deported: all my mother's siblings and their children, and my grandparents.

"I will never go to this gallery and it as view the desecration of Jewish bodies," he added. "I am sickened by his work and obsession with necrophilia."

Mr Von Hausswolff took [STOLE--VB] the ashes during a 1989 visit to Majdanek, which, during its 34 months in operation from 1941 to 1944, claimed around 79,000 lives, the vast majority of them Polish Jews. The artist said the ashes appeared to "contain the memories and the souls of people: people tormented and murdered by other people in the most viscous [sic! Telegraph typo, not Vicious Babushka's] war of the 20th Century".

Read more at Telegraph.

Someone should steal this "painting" and bury it.