Just found out this book exists. Sad I didn’t get it in time for the holiday.

and Happy Easter

Enjoy Jesus Shaves by David Sedaris or this shorter live version

Rosh Hashanah / New Year greeting card, originally uploaded by Center for Jewish History, NYC.

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The Sipping Seder

Plus an awesome link to  The Sipping Seder.

Chag Sameach!

Spending Rosh Hashana with family and friends, wishing you the above and more…

We invited the family over for dinner on Monday night to celebrate Purim. Everyone was awesome and came in costume. We had pirates, a bunny, Ali G., Pocahantas, a surfer, a lollypop lady, a monkey and a teletubby. Full set of pictures here.

Food was mushroom soup with bread, salad, lasagna (also plain pizza for young fussy eaters) and oznei haman with ice cream and a bit of golden syrup. Usually when we have people over we are still making the food when they arrive. This time we stayed up till 1:30 AM making it the night before so it just had to be heated up on the evening. The only reason it took this long was the mystery of never-ending oznei haman dough.

Made Mishloach Manot deliveries today and am off to see Gesthemane at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle.

Posted belatedly.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

• 6-7 cups of flour
• 3 sticks of margarine (approximately 300gr)
• 2 cups of sugar
• 3 yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• Rind of 1 lemon
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla Sugar
• 21/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 whole egg

Filling:

• Jelly / Jam – strawberry or apricot flavor
• Ground walnuts (or almonds)
• Sugar
• Sweet red wine
• Fine bread crumbs

Preparation:

1. Mix all of the ingredients for the pastry together. I put them all in a massive bowl, mixed briefly with the dough hooks on a hand mixer and then kept going with my hands.
2. In a separate, small bowl, mix all the ingredients for the filling together. There are no exact amounts, I tried getting my mother to be specific for each of the ingredients and she said “a little.” I don’t like walnuts in general, except for ground walnuts in cakes. I couldn’t find ground walnuts here, and didn’t want to take the time to bash whole ones so I used ground almonds and it worked fine.
2. Cover your work area with a light dusting of flour and take a bit under half the dough and roll flat with a flour covered rolling pin.
3. Cut out circles. I used a cup that had an approximately 3-inch diameter at the top to make the circles. Knead the scraps of dough from around the circles back into the larger batch still in the bowl.
4. Put about a teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle. Fold the circle down on three sides to make a triangle, pinching the corners to seal it.
5. Bake on a greased cookie tray at 190 degrees between 10 and 20 minutes (varies with the oven), until they start to brown up.
6. Keep doing this until you run out of dough. While you are in the middle it will seem like the dough is multiplying because every time you separate half you still end up with more in the bowl. It does run out eventually – makes 50-60 Oznei Haman.

Posted belatedly, but useful for next year.

I brought back an external hard drive with me from my recent trip to NY. It is filled with all sorts of randomness including scans of assorted ephemera including this recipe for shakshouka written in Hebrew from my time living in Tel Aviv.

On Ibn Gvirol Street, where I lived, every other shopfront seemed to belong to hairdresser. Among these was Yossi, a sweetheart, who I would drop in on from time to time. One day while I was hanging out, he made the most amazing shakshouka. The owner of the kiosk nearby brought some fresh bread and the group of us had a great meal dipping the bread into a communal shakshouka.

If you happen to be in Israel, you can always go to Dr. Shakshouka in Yafo for a nice meal. Or if you come across a Hebrew recipe you want to try here is a link for translating Hebrew or Yiddish spice names.

Ingredients:

• Olive Oil
• Sliced Chilli Pepper
• 3 Garlic Cloves (however you like them)
• Salt
• 1 Cup Water
• Tablespoon of ground paprika
• 4 Grated tomatoes
• Eggs (2-6)
• Additional Chilli Pepper (optional)
• Red and/or Green Bell Peppers (optional)

Preparation:
1. Fry oil, chili pepper, garlic, salt, 1/2 cup of water, ground paprika for 10-15 minutes.
2. Add 1/2 a cup of water and the grated tomatoes.
3. Cook on large flame for 5 minutes.
4. Turn down the flame and break the eggs over the mixture.
5. Cover the pan and let cook for a bit.
6. If you want it super spicy you can add an additional chilli pepper. This dish also works with red and green bell pepper strips or pieces thrown in.
7. Serve in the frying pan with a thick white bread for dipping.

For thos of you who can read the recipe you will see it is not very specific. I find it hard to tie people down to specific amounts when they are dictating a recipe they have made for years. This is the case with the next recipe I will post, an Oznei Haman recipe from my mom. Posted belatedly, but I do want to have a Food Friday post written for every Friday of this year.

We who have lost our sense and our senses – our touch, our smell, our vision of who we are; we who frantically force and press all things, without rest for body or spirit, hurting our earth and injuring ourselves: we call a halt.

We want to rest. We need to rest and allow the earth to rest. We need to reflect and to rediscover the mystery that lives in us, that is the ground of every unique expression of life, the source of the fascination that calls all things to communion.

We declare a Sabbath, a space of quiet: for simple being and letting be; for recovering the great, forgotten truths; for learning how to live again.

May the brightness of these candles banish all gloom, anxiety, and care from my heart and from the hearts of my loved ones.

May this Shabbat festival bring us peace and serenity, joy and rest. Keep aglow within us, O God, the spirit of gratitude for Your many blessings, so that we may know the sweet taste of contentment and the rich harvest of sharing.

Kindle in our home and temple a deeper love for one another, for our people, and for all Your children.

Amen

The quoted bit in the middle is from “Only One Earth,” a United Nations Environment Programme publication for “Environmental Sabbath/Earth Rest Day,” June 1990; UN Environment Programme, DC2-803 United Nations, New York, NY 10017.

The full text was given to me by a colleague on a Taglit-birthright israel program as a reading before lighting Friday night candles. I am looking at different texts as I create my own traditions for my home. Please comment with any additional texts, links or traditions you find or practice.

Links
Traditional Candle Lighting Blessing in Song with text
Shabbat Blessings on the Union for Reform Judaism Site (sound files)
Candle Lighting Blessing in Feminine and Masculine God/dess forms
How to Light Shabbat Candles Flash Presentation
Ladino Women’s Prayer for before candlelighting with translation
Yiddish Prayer in translation for before candllelighting
Traditional Yehi Ratzon prayer for after candlelighting FAQ on Shabbat blessings and rituals
Find out Candle Lighting Times and print out Jewish Calendars at HebCal
Find out candle lighting times in additional cities all over the world on the Chabad website

Buy on Amazon »

I am baking challahs for the first time for the Jewish New Year – Rosh Hashana which starts tonight. I am using a great book, The Secret of Challah by Shira Wiener and Ayelet Yifrach.

Many of of the recipes are for baking multiple challot (plural of challah) so some of them call for 2 kilos of flour! I found a nice recipe calling for 1 kilo of flour that should make 10 small rolls. It doesn’t have any sugar in it, instead calling for 2/3 cups of honey. I am waiting for the dough to rise and I hope it will come out ok – I forgot to put the honey in with the liquids at the beginning and only added it after the flour bit :-)

At the end of a chapter on the art of braiding challahs, is a list of various customs for assorted shapes for holidays. The Rosh Hashana list is also on their website (which also has some of the recipes):

* Rosh Hashana round challah: It has become the widespread custom in many communities to bake round challahs in honor of Rosh Hashanah. The round shape symbolizes the yearly cycle and the “wheel of time,” the ascents and descents that a person experiences during his life. It also symbolizes perfection and infinity, expressing our hope for a perfect year, free of troubles and tribulations, a year of unlimited blessings.

* The traditionaly round challah of Rosh Hashanah is sometimes adorned with a “crown” made of a small braided ring of dough, commemorating the prayers of Rosh Hashanah proclaiming G-d King over the universe.

* Eastern European Jews used to bake challah in the shape of a ladder to symbolize that on Rosh Hashanah G-d decides “Who will be humbled and who will be elevated,” as is stated in the prayers of Rosh Hashanah.

* In some European communities, the custom was to bake round challah reminiscent of a bird peeking out of a nest (known as “foigel challah,” bird challah, in Yiddish). The reason for the custom: Just as G-d shows mercy to birds, so should He have mercy on us.

* Lithuanian Jews had the custom to bake challah shaped like outstretched palms of the hand. The shape was meant to symbolize the hands of the kohens raised to bless the people during the Priestly Blessing (Birkat Kohanim).

* The Jews of North Africa used to bake challah in the shape of a fish or a “chamsah,” a five-fingered hand, symbolizing good luck.

I will try making a few of the shapes…pictures to follow if I am not ashamed of the results. Wishing you and yours a healthy, happy, joyous year filled with love and laughter.

Challah dough

Freshly baked challah out of the oven

I had the privilege to meet Chris Schwarz through my work. He was an extraordinary human being. If you are ever in Krakow, go to the Galicia Jewish Museum to see his amazing, life’s work.

From the Galicia Jewish Museum website, a description of the museum and their permanent exhibition. [The catalogue of the permanent exhibition Photographing Traces of Memory is beautifully produced in English and Polish and is highly recommended.] :

The Galicia Jewish Museum exists to celebrate the Jewish culture of Galicia and to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, presenting Jewish history from a new perspective.

The permanent exhibition, Traces of Memory, is a contemporary look at the Jewish past in Poland.

The exhibition features the work of photographer Chris Schwarz, with texts by Prof. Jonathan Webber (UNESCO Chair of Jewish and Interfaith Studies, University of Birmingham, UK). Over a period of twelve years, they traveled together town by town and village by village, gathering material that offers a completely new way of looking at the Jewish past that was destroyed in Poland. The exhibition pieces together a picture of the relics of Jewish life and culture in Polish Galicia that can still be seen today, interpreting these traces in a manner which is informative, accessible, and thought-provoking.

The exhibition is divided into five sections, corresponding to the different ways in which the subject can be approached:

Section 1 is entitled Jewish Life in Ruins, with all the sadness of confronting the past.
Section 2, Jewish Culture as it Once Was , displays remaining signs of the original culture.
Section 3, Sites of Massacre and Destruction shows the horror of the Holocaust.
Section 4, How the Past is Being Remembered recognizes the efforts to preserve the traces of memory, and
Section 5, People Making Memory Today, shows people involved in recreating the memory of the Jewish past in Poland today.

A talented photographer, Chris came to Poland on an unrelated job, filming a documentary. He noted that the remains of Jewish life in Galicia were going undocumented. He was concerned that the existing iconography of the Holocaust and Jewish life [in Poland] were very limited. He then proceeded to make it his life’s work to rectify the situation.

In addition to producing and hosting high quality exhibitions and housing an excellent bookstore, the gallery has since become a center of community life, with concerts and classes, and a newsletter that chronicles local Jewish activities and culture.

I hope they continue to go from strength to strength in fitting tribute to Chris.

Chris Schwarz went about his chosen path in a thoughtful, humble way, with a sense of humor and irony, a clear purpose, and a wonderful, sensitive way with people. He was a special human being. He will be greatly missed.

Found an old website of his which describes work he has done.

Update: From the August Newsletter of the Galicia Jewish Museum:

Messages of condolences can be sent to
info@galiciajewishmuseum.org
from where they will be taken and placed in the official Book of Condolence at the Museum.

Obituary from The Times Online

Obituary from The Boston Globe (NY Times News Service)

Recently this week, UK removed The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it “offended” the Moslem population which claims it never occurred. This is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.

Here’s a link to an older blog post The UK does Teach about the Holocaust where I have included the response of the Holocaust Education Trust in London. This forward is untrue. If you receive it please correct the sender.

My friend did not want to send the link above to correct information because she felt embarrassed for sending a hoax. She had received the email from people she thought were reputable. It seemed like a good message to send on and she did so to people near and far (some she was close to, and some not). Remember the people who were murdered in the Holocaust and don’t give in to Holocaust deniers. Who can argue with that?

Especially in times when Holocaust denial exists, and Survivors of the Holocaust will not be around for much longer, we must be ever-vigilant to be accurate with the information we send.

These email forwards are especially bad. They vilify the entire Muslim community in broad strokes. Definitely not the way to build bridges.

If one person from the long list forwards it on, the myth gets perpetuated. Any email, especially one with absolutes, should be checked with a quick google search. If you want you can also bookmark purportal.com which lets you search hoax, fraud, scam, phishing and misinformation resources from one place.

By furtive glances, I noticed her eyes and that she was dozing a bit as I do in the mornings with her bags in her lap. Her two gloves were mismatched colors (dark blue and black) and underneath her long dress as she got off the train I noticed she had on white socks.

Told my Israeli coworker Naomi about this….her response: they’re crazy….I said it was similar to religious Jewish women covering up….she agreed but retorted….they’re crazy too….they are alike….

So we just have to get people to see their similarities…or an ingenius plan I heard in a recent documentary I went to see Encounter Point about workers for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict….make all the smokers get their cigarettes from either the territories or Israel whichever is the home of The Other and people will get along in service of their nic fits…

I think it’s neat that except for a glance or two, at the odd sight of it, people went about their business. It’s one of the things I like about NYC…The countdown to leaving has begun so of course I have to appreciate it before I go.

my flickr: Swimming in Auschwitz Set

Went with Jason to see the NYC / East Coast Premiere of Swimming in Auschwitz at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan.

It is a documentary about six vibrant, amazing women who survived the infamous Nazi death camp of Auschwitz.

Director Jon Kean was in attendance along with Renee Firestone one of the women featured in the film. [Photo above.]

It was really magnificent, I highly recommend it. Editor Anne Stein did a fantastic job seamlessly blending stock footage and the stories of these women so that their narratives kept a collective, cooperative flow.

Director Jon Kean prefaced the screening by stating his view of the difference between how men and women tell stories. A man will tell you the facts of what happened. Women will recall the quirky details.

After the screening the pair came on stage and answered audience questions – my notes below.

Renee Firestone describes the first time she ever spoke about her experience. (She is an educator for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.) It was at a Mormon Temple and they screened the very graphic French documentary Night and Fog (1955) [I remember seeing it in high school.]. She was hoping people would leave. She was surprised that nobody moved and was told by Rabbi Cooper that she must speak. She started to talk and has no idea where the strength came from.

In response to a question about seeking retribution she states that there was very little retribution. They just wanted to live lives. And, telling stories is revenge.

An Israeli woman asks how she feels about 70,000 Jews marching to Washington to protest Darfur but not protesting Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, who has called for Israel’s destruction. The woman, it seemed, equated this to ignoring Hitler.

Renee Firestone responds that she has been involved in protesting every single genocide. We have lived in the bloodiest century. When she sees footage (of Darfur), she sees herself in Auschwitz and asks her interlocuter what she has done?

[Jewish organizations have protested Ahmadinejad. Others have kept busy with other issues, feeling that to protest him on a grand scale would be giving him power and more of a platform on the World stage or that it might be viewed as inflating the risk for political purpose.]

When asked about the reaction of German audiences to the film Renee Firestone describes her involvement with One By One an organization that facilitates dialogue between descendants of victims, perpetrators, bystanders and resisters. She spent a week together with a Nazi in Berlin. She was glad she went. She learned how easy it is to be indoctrinated, brainwashed or just give in to peer pressure. She does not know what she would have done and relates that one can never know unless placed in a situation. Similarly, one doesn’t know how much strength they have until it is called upon.

Director Jon Kean recommends seeing The Last Days, another documentary that Renee Firestone is featured in. During filming, they found documentation related to a doctor who experimented on her sister and she finds and confronts him at the end of the film.

A young woman who is reading Elie Wiesel’s Night asks if she ever has flashbacks to her experiences. Renee Firestone replies, all the time, plus she speaks about her experiencees every day. Sometimes a flash of an experience will hit her out of nowhere. Director Jon Kean adds that when Survivors agree to be interviewed they relate that the next 2 or 3 nights after an interview will be especially difficult.

He is asked how he came to the project and responds that he began the project to study laughter as a survival tool. Men would say sometimes there was humor, and they would laugh, but could not pin down specific details for him. He became enamored of how these women told stories.

She is asked her opinion of God’s role and about faith. She responds that she has so much faith she doesn’t believe God had anything to do with the atrocities. She relates the story of Noah and the Flood and the promise given by God that he will never destroy the world again…she quips that it’s a shame he did not extract the same promise from Noah / Man.

She responds to a question about survival saying it was pure luck. Director Jon Kean adds three elements that helped people to survive according to Michael Berenbaum based on previous events they had done together. [Berenbaum was supposed to be moderator for the evening but couldn't make it due to bad weather.] Assessing Risk, Finding Meaning, Having people to support you are three elements that repeat in tales of survival. They’re not bad things to have in general.

One man in the audience whose father was a survivor originally from Muncacz [Hungary] asked about the responses of former neighbors after the War. His father’s experience were incredulous responses of “You’re still alive?!” “Can’t Believe they didn’t get you!”…Her husband is originally from Muncacz and there is footage in the film of people dancing from Muncacz…Renee Firestone relates meeting her next door neighbor after the war who was about 10 at the time and wondering what his family said about her family being taken away. He said they were sorry her sister died. But, she relates bitterly that nobody asked at the time. Nobody cared. This is one of the only points in the evening that this amazing woman gives in to negativity. Director Jon Kean adds that some may have been sorry their neighbors were gone but it did improve their lives economically.

A woman in the audience asks about the cruelty of female Nazis which is not depicted in this film about women. Renee Firestone agrees that the capacity of women for cruelty was worse and recalls a guard from Auschwitz C Lager who was hung after the war. I believe the reference was to Irma Grese who was hung at the Belsen trial.

To conclude the evening the question of retribution is raised again and how she felt when one of the other women in the film relates that at liberation she was given the chance to kill one of her persecuters but does not take it…Renee Firestone replies we are not killers though she wouldn’t be sorry if someone else killed them. This last bit said with the smile of someone who has survived, amazingly, with her sense of humor intact.

I overheard a woman in the bathroom complain that the film made light and didn’t show what really happened, children being torn from their parent’s arms. She may have been a Holocaust survivor and I would not try to dispute her response to the film. My take on it was quite different. It was a unique perspective on the horrors that occurred. I hope I would never have to confront such horrors and if I did I hope I would be able to keep my humanity intact via my sense of the absurd. Also, there actually is some very graphic documentary footage in the film. You are not hit over the head with the brutality that occurred but the footage is there and it is a subcurrent running throughout the film which should be viewed in advance before showing it to young people.

Upcoming screenings are taking place in London, England and Salt Lake City, Utah. You can check the official website for additional screenings or just buy the DVD (there’s a link for purchase on the site) for $20 via Paypal.

I am torn about writing a summary of the film as opposed to the evening because I think it should be viewed so for now am not going to do so.

Article on the film here.

Just Married

Just Married by director Ayelet Bechar was really good. It documents the difficulties of two couples Israeli Arabs who marry Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank. As of 2002 there is a law prohibiting family reunification.

Suhad and Rabia are a young couple that met at university. To be together Suhad becomes an illegal resident in Jerusalem. The film depicts her change from vibrancy to depression as she stays in her home most of the time so she is not caught. In a depressing bit of circular beaurocracy, her husband Rabia (the one with legal status in Israel) requests a permit for her and is told he must file for Family Reunification but that no requests are being taken at this time and she cannot be given any other sort of document because she needs the one of family reuinification.

For the older couple on the film Kifach and Yazeed, the solution is to stay in Berlin until the law changes and they can go home. Kifach struggles to learn German and at the same time, she must be in Israel for part of the year so she does not lost her status as is threatened in one municipal office. She had been very active in the struggle for coexistence in Israel and has many photos with major Israeli political figures such as Shulamit Aloni and Ehud Barak. Her husband views Barak as slime and does not want to see the photo, there is elegant symmetry in the film as Kifach later confronts Barak at a conference in Berlin about this law keeping families apart.

There is also a beautiful symmetry as the film ends with both families giving birth to children.

It is a complex issue. The situations these people are in are terrible. They are being kept from having a family with the person they love in their homes. The Israeli government believes that this horrible law may be saving someone’s life; it feels it must ignore the fact that it is also adding much misery to many innocent civilians.

The law was ammended so that women above the age of 25 and men above the age of 35 may now apply for family reunification. The director was at the screening and gave the update that Suhad was about to have her birthday and would more than likely obtain family reuinification and that Kifach’s struggle continues as well.

It makes me feel lucky that all I have to deal with is a bunch of paperwork and a $1000 fee for a fiancee visa to the UK. Our revolution was a really long time ago. (Though, it does suck that the price doubled as of April 1st of this year.)

There is a great summary of the Israeli law involved from a recent Jerusalem Post article (Background: Terror plot may have blown family reunification By DAN IZENBERG, April 11, 2007) :

“Prohibitions on family reunification were first introduced by the Interior Ministry on April 1, 2002, following the suicide bombing at the Matza restaurant in Haifa’s Neveh Sha’anan neighborhood in which 15 Israelis were killed. The driver of the car bomb was a Hamas terrorist who had married an Israeli and carried a blue identity card.

Initially, the freeze on family reunification was total. No Palestinian who married an Israeli could begin the five-year process for obtaining residential rights or citizenship, and those who were in the middle of the process could not advance.

On July 31, 2003, the Knesset turned the administrative decision into a one-year law, which was periodically extended.

On July 27, 2005, the law was amended so that Palestinian women above the age of 25 and men above 35 could live with their Israeli spouses if they met security criteria. Younger Palestinians were still barred from living in Israel.

On March 21, 2007, the law was amended again and extended until July 2008. The current law provides a humanitarian committee to consider exceptional requests for family reunification from women under 25 and men under 35, but toughens the security criteria and extends the restrictions to spouses from countries classified as enemy.

The law in all its forms has been harshly criticized by human rights groups in Israel and abroad. In May, the High Court narrowly rejected a petition to overrule it in its second version. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On and the Israeli-Arab rights group Adalah have already declared they will petition against the newly amended law.

The human rights groups claim the law violates the fundamental right of every citizen to a family and is motivated by Jewish demographic concerns. The law prevents roughly 20,000 Palestinians from living in Israel with their Israeli spouses and also prevents them from raising families in Israel.

The government insists the temporary law is based on security considerations. Granting Palestinians Israeli identity cards and the right to unrestricted freedom of movement throughout Israel is dangerous, officials say.”

UPDATE: 29 Oct. 07: Israel to approve some 3,400 requests for family unification in one-time action

Full story in short at Snopes and the Holocaust Educational Trust in London‘s response below.

From Holocaust Educational Trust in London:

After recent rumours regarding Holocaust Education in UK schools. We feel we have no option but to release the following statement.

16th April 2007

Dear Friend,

Over the past weeks there have been a number of rumours circulating via email regarding Holocaust education here in the UK. The emails suggest that the UK Government are removing Holocaust education from the National Curriculum and that in general British schools steer away from teaching what they might consider a ‘controversial’ subject. We want to make it clear that our understanding is the Holocaust is and will continue to be on the National Curriculum and therefore continue to be taught in all UK schools.

Background

These rumours stemmed from a piece that featured in a number of newspapers including the Daily Mail, the Guardian and Telegraph at the beginning of April. See the following links:

Daily Mail Link

Telegraph Link

Guardian Link

The news stories came about as a result of a report commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and undertaken by the Historical Association. The report, ‘Challenges and Opportunities for Teaching Emotive and Controversial History 13-19 (TEACH)’, addresses both the challenges teachers face, as well as the good practise that is occurring when teaching all emotive and controversial historical issues such as slavery, the Crusades and the Holocaust. The full TEACH report is available on the Historical Association website:

http://www.haevents.org.uk/PastEvents/Others/Teach%20report.pdf

In light of this story the Holocaust Educational Trust would like to clarify what to our knowledge is the situation in the UK.

Holocaust Education in the UK:

• The Holocaust became part of the National Curriculum for History in 1991. It is statutory for all students in England and Wales to learn about the Holocaust at Key Stage 3 usually in Year 9 History (aged 13-14).

• Many students will study the Holocaust in Religious Studies, English and Citizenship lessons.

• The UK holds a national Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27th (marking the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau), and this is marked widely in primary and secondary schools across the country.

• The UK has a permanent Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London, visited by thousands of people each year.

• The British Government sponsors two students (16–18 year olds) per secondary school/ further education college to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau through the Holocaust Educational Trusts Lessons from Auschwitz Project (This is due to a £1.5 million grant from the Government every year from 2006-2008)

• School groups and private individuals visit the permanent Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, the Jewish Museum, London, and The Holocaust Centre, Beth Shalom in Newark, and educational establishments work with resources and educational programmes provided by other important organisations such as the Anne Frank Trust (UK), London Jewish Cultural Centre, and the Wiener Library.

• Teacher training ensures that hundreds of newly qualified teachers are provided with skills and materials to ensure effective Holocaust education for their students.

• Existing teachers participate in training around the UK, and specialist programmes run by Holocaust education organisations including the Holocaust Educational Trust, Imperial War Museum and Beth Shalom.

Within the TEACH report from the Historical Association, there is one particular line relating to Holocaust education which has been the focus of the press and various alarmed emails. It features in the section addressing why teachers avoid teaching certain subjects and states: ‘… a history department in a northern city recently avoided selecting the Holocaust as a topic for GCSE coursework for fear of confronting anti-Semitic (sic) sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils’. (p15)

The key points regarding this statement are:

• This does not refer to Holocaust education on the National Curriculum-it is a post- 14 History GCSE course (publicly examined course)

• History at GCSE is not compulsory (only one third of pupils opt for history post-14) • This is an anecdotal response from one teacher in one school out of four thousand five hundred secondary schools in the UK. While we cannot say what happens in every single school, our understanding is that this is highly unusual and not general practise of teachers around the country.

• All schools can choose which history topics they wish to study for coursework at GCSE level.

• There is no suggestion that this or any other school is failing to cover the National Curriculum in teaching about the Holocaust at Key Stage 3, Year 9 (age 13–14). At no point does the report from the Historical Association suggest that the Holocaust be removed from the National Curriculum for England and Wales.

Obviously we and all Holocaust related organisations in the UK take this very seriously, however on this occasion we want to allay all fears and impress upon everyone that the Holocaust is not being removed from the National Curriculum. This particular incident does of course merit further investigation but in no way represents all the good work in our schools across the country.

Please do circulate this far and wide to all who have shown an interest in this particular issue and Holocaust education in general here in the UK.

Should you require further information please do contact us at the Holocaust Educational Trust

You fool!

Inside message says: “Hope everything’s kosher for your holiday celebration! Happy Easter! Happy Passover!” Card available at Papyrus.

Happy Passover!

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Songs:

Korin Allal and Eran Zur – Cshe’zeh Amok – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal and Eran Zur – Tmuna Impressionistit – Hebrew Lyrics
Eran Zur – Parparei Ta’atu’a – Hebrew Lyrics
Eran Zur – Leilot Shel Yareah Maleh – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal – Motek – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal – Ein Li Eretz Aheret – Hebrew Lyrics – Was kinda fun to listen to this song in a roomful of Israelis who have chosen to live in NYC.
Korin Allal – Hataba’at Nafla – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal – Zan Nadir – Hebrew Lyrics – Not Zan Adir
Korin Allal – Eretz Ktana Im Safam – Hebrew Lyrics

Dateline Israel: New Photography and Video Art

Went to a preview of Dateline Israel: New Photography and Video Art at The Jewish Museum. Got free tickets through Dor Chadash. Went with Jocelyn and we both agreed to go in quick, check out the stuff, and leave before anyone gave a speech.

The image in the postcard is Pavel Wolberg‘s “Qualqilya (Outskirts)”, 2002. It is a small exhibit with some quality stuff. Though “New” is a bit relative here, most of the works are from the early 2000′s, I had seen many of the works in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem when I was living in Tel Aviv from ’99-’03. Among the artists featured are Pavel Wolberg, Miki Kratzman and Gillian Laub. I was surprised not to see any works by Adi Nes and I’m pretty sure I was at the protest featured in the film by Amit Goren.

The museum has free admission on Saturdays if you want to check it out through August 5th, 2007.

Khalifa Natour

Saw In Spitting Distance a one man show written by Taher Najib, performed by Khalifa Natour and directed by Ofira Henig as part of the Israel Non-Stop Festival 2007. Official description: “Winner of the first prize in Israel’s TheaterNetto Festival, this moving and ironic personal drama touches on all the complexities of the Israeli/Palestinian situation. Experience a rare collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian artists in this humorous yet painful story of a Palestinian actor with an Israeli passport trying to travel from Paris to Tel-Aviv to Ramallah on September 11, 2002.”

Winning first prize at the Theaternetto festival is a big deal. It is a really amazing international theater festival in Tel Aviv for one-person shows.

The show itself is funny, in the everyman against spirit-crushing beaurocracy to the point of the absurd where the only reaction you can have is to laugh in the face of it. Reminiscent of this recent story about US immigration officials. I could definitely picture it as a short film (the words and acting were really vivid) and told the actor so after the show.

Ofira Henig the director and Khalifa Natour the actor were on hand for questions after the show.

The first question, more of a comment, related to what big important statement they were making = how wonderful…She said: “I am an artist before I am an Israeli.” This had me wondering how long it takes before you can say that earnestly without a shred of self-doubt. So at this moment I wanted to hate her but I really enjoyed the rest of the comments so good on her. She commented that they did not want to be seen as an example of coexistence – a thing she believes does not exist. This is their story, a personal story, art, no conclusions should be drawn to either side from it and this is the most important political act they could do.

The next question asked if the play wasn’t too kind to the horrors that exist in the region. Her response was that this was a Palestinian’s playwright’s story. She was not directing the story of the Palestinian People, only the story of Taher and Khalifa. She continued to the questioner: You are looking for a demonstration, maybe. But Art shouldn’t be propoganda, it shouldn’t give answers. It should be more complicated than that and should make you ask questions.

Khalifa joins the conversation a bit late. They both relate that in Palestinian theater the question of who is telling whose story is important. They would like to perform the play more but they are both involved in other projects and the play was produced independently, not as part of a theater company’s repertory.

She likens theater that demonstrates its politics to being sick on an audience. She does this less so in her later work even though she feels she is more radical than ever. She feels you have to touch the audience. You can’t punch or browbeat them. You need to make them feel something. I appreciate this sentiment a lot. I hate being at a performance and feeling like I am being hit over the head with a sledgehammer with the MESSAGE. She continues that they both work on works by Oscar Wilde, Chekhov and Shakespeare. Again she views this as the most political act one can do. That there should be issues of aesthetics and sophistication in art not just what you think.

When asked about the minimalism of the direction she responded it was a lesson in modesty. Not everything has to be Broadway. A good actor, text, lighting and music – you don’t really need anything else.

When asked about the play’s effect on Israeli and Palestinian audiences (It is performed in both Hebrew and Arabic) the response is that it has a big effect on Israelis because of the questions it raises within them. Is it about them, it makes them smile, theyr elate to it. That enjoyment raises questions and it’s quite strong though usually it is the people who are already convinced who attend.

The Palestinians feel immediate empathy. At the Arabic premier in Acco (Acre) there was a full house and from the very first word the audience was with him, identifying with his character immediately. They laugh really hard and empathize. They are laughing at themselves.

In Switzerland was the first performance they ever had abroad. There was complete silence. There were no Israelis or Palestinians in the crowd – all Swiss. They were panicked. It turns out they were really into it. They remembered every word but they didn’t allow themselves to laugh at the situation and to find the irony and humor in it.

There is a fine tradition of Gallows Humor. While this play is about facing beaurocracy rather than death – it comes from that same place where you can cry (with defeat or rage) or laugh so why not laugh or at least giggle hysterically.

Light a Virtual Menorah:
Virtual Menorah

Fun alterna-rock Hanukkah Songs:
myspace: The LeeVees
theleevees.com

Hanukkah Hey-Ya Video:
Hannukah Hey-Ya Vid

More Hanukkah Sounds:
Hannukah Sounds at huji

On Jelly Donuts:
wikipedia:Sufganiyah
marthastewart.com: recipe

Virtual Dreidel Game:
virtual dreidel game

Good Musical Hanukkah Gifts:

Hanukkah Rocks (Music) Artist:The Leevees Manufacturer:Reprise / Wea Released:25 October, 2005

Barenaked for the Holidays (Music) Artist:Barenaked Ladies Manufacturer:Warner Bros / Wea Released:05 October, 2004

Unorthodox (Music) Artist:What I Like About Jew Manufacturer:WILAJ Records Released:11 April, 2006

Youth (Music) Artist:Matisyahu Manufacturer:Sony Released:07 March, 2006

The Darien Dilemma

Then I went to see a great documentary, The Darien Dilemma, at Makor as part of their Reel Jews festival. A father and his filmmaker son explore the previously untold story of 1,000 Viennese Jews stranded on the frozen Danube River in 1941 as they awaited their would-be rescuer, Ruth Klieger, an agent of the newly created Mossad.

Erez Laufer weaves together interviews with the survivors, archival film, dramatic re-enactments (including scenes of the actors’ preparation – it seems like they stand in for the audience while they get inside the characters’ heads.) and footage of his father the screenwriter.

The director Erez Laufer was at the screening. He notes that the footage of a ship in the film is actually from a ship that set sail a few months prior to the Darien that was shot by a Hungarian sailor, but photos (of youth groups and a massacre) are original and directly linked to the story. Both in the film and in person he explains that his father started looking at archives to find out more about his own history and how his mother escaped Europe with him as a small child.

His father then became intrigued by this story of Ruth Klieger and partially with her reported beauty and alleged affair with David Ben-Gurion. She remained in Israel, worked as a PR person for shipping company ZIM and died in Tel Aviv in 1979.

The film is about her, and not less so about the filmmaker’s father. Through this film many survivors who were interviewed learned a fuller story of what happened when they were brought to Palestine.

It is worth seeing – it is made in an interesting way and tells a compelling and little-known story. Note to documentary filmmakers: Include your notes, interviews, arguments with your father the screenwriter…realize how much central characters may not know about what happened to them….You can buy tickets for December screenings on Makor’s website.

After the film I met Jocelyn and Lee at Bistro 60 for dessert. We had Tarte Tatin – Apple tart with crème fraîche. This is an amazing dessert. We devoured it – moaning all the way. Learned that Hebrew for “to moan” is גניחה – Geniha. Lee was shocked we didn’t know this word. Jocelyn’s response – I’m more of a screamer.

my flickr: The Beautiful South at Cake Shop

Link 1 from AISH

Link 2 from Project Genesis

Dear Friends and Supporters,

The High Holy Days are upon us and we wish “Ramadan Kareem” to our Muslim readers, I wish I could write to each of you personally, but must be content to write to all of you collectively.

…

Below you will find some of my thoughts on Rosh HaShana Eve, however, I must unfortunately begin with an urgent funding appeal. We have been “victims of our own success” this past year. Our successes have required unbudgeted expenses. Because of the generous financial component of the Niwano Peace Prize we had sufficient funds for this year. However, next year our projected income falls some $160,000 short of what we need just to maintain existing programming. There is a very direct and harsh relationship between cutbacks on our part and peoples lives:

Our lawyer in Hadera preserves the economic lifeline of the poorest and weakest Israelis whose support is threatened by the Israeli Wisconsin Plan. We were just asked if we could run a similar program in Ashkelon. However, our lawyer does not have enough hours to represent everybody who needs her in Hadera. A lack of sufficient hours translates directly into more Israelis going hungry or literally reduced to begging in the street.

Our Olive Tree Campaign allows Palestinians to access lands they had not been able to reach for years. In order to fulfill our obligations to the expanding list of villages that ask for our help, we are going to go $20,000 over budget this year on transportation alone. Again, the formula is harsh. When we are not present, people do not get to their land. When we are not present, people get hurt.

There is a waiting list of pre-army academies who want us to run a year long course on Judaism, democracy and human rights based on Tractate Independence. Each of our students will be a soldier who will face moral dilemmas in the course of his/her service.

When our legal department intervenes, home demolitions are prevented and complaints about settler harassment are taken seriously by the police. This in turn translates into a change in settler behavior. If our lawyers aren’t available, more homes will be demolished and more Palestinians will be harassed.

The true test for RHR may be our impact on policy, but our successes this year changing the State Budget and winning a High Court victory regarding agricultural access are directly related to our grass roots work in Hadera and in the olive groves.

Your financial support (In the U.S. tax deductible through RHR-North America) directly and concretely translates both into policy change and making people’s lives better. If you can make a gift now it will influence our planning and budgeting discussions over the next few months.

Two thoughts for Rosh HaShana:

1. On Saturday night the slikhot service where I prayed was one of the most beautiful and moving I can recall. However, I couldn’t help but notice that most of the prayers and piyutim were asking God to intercede and wipe out our sins. We recited the rote vidui (confession), but there was no commitment to changing our ways or rectifying the wrongs we have done to our fellow human beings. (The Rosh HaShana prayers will address the changes we need to make, and Yom Kippur even more so.)

I don’t know whether the authors of the slikhot services were more interested in pardon than in genuine change, or whether they felt that our sins are so overwhelming that there was no possibility of sufficient change and therefore the only hope was begging for mercy.

Many of the prayers implore God to hear us. I couldn’t help but wonder, with all of the thousands of words that many of will pray through Yom Kippur, whether we will find the time to hear God. I hope that, as overwhelming as the changes are that we need to make both on the individual level and the societal level, these coming days will be a time of clarification for us. I pray that we will come through this period with a clearer sense of what we must and CAN do to effect tikkun (repair.)

I hope and pray that we will neither run from the words of the Makhzor (High Holy Day prayer book) nor let them get in the way.

May each of our souls be open to hearing the God of justice and compassion.

May we feel that we are a part of God’s Unity that unifies all human beings and all creation.

May we utilize these precious days to gain a clearer vision of how we can give that Unity _expression in our personal relationships, in our relationship to the earth, and in the way we build a society that honors the dignity and human rights of all.

May we be God’s partners in making this a sweeter year for those Israelis forced into the Israeli Wisconsin Program, for the Dari family and all the others living with the daily fear of their house being demolished, for foreign workers being forced to work in reprehensible conditions, for the women forced into prostitution, for the growing number of victims of the resurging nfor Palestinian farmers kept from their land because of the Separation Barrier or settler violence and army collusion, for the residents of unrecognized villages and the S. Hebron Hills being threatened with expulsion, and for the single parents, elderly and others whose pensions and allocations are far from what is needed to live with dignity.

May our commitment to giving _expression to this Unity lead us to sweeten the lives of those whose neighborhoods became killing zones this year in Israel, Lebanon, Gaza and so many other places around the planet.

2. Humility. This has been an amazingly successful year for RHR and an extremely difficult year for the Middle East.

In the past year RHR made significant changes in Israel’s state budget improving the lives of many of the poorest and weakest Israelis. RHR and our coalition partners opened an office in Hadera, allowing us both to impact on the public debate on the “Israeli Wisconsin Plan” and to help individual Israelis to preserve economic safety net. RHR, along with ACRI and local councils, won a major High Court appeal regarding the state’s obligations to provide and protect the access of Palestinians to their agricultural lands. (See the following links regarding just how important this victory was: Haaretz Article 1; Haaretz Article 2 (link to Akiva Eldar column in Hebrew from August 29th, see second subject)

Our Olive Tree Campaign is now helping over 30 villages. RHR’s legal project has changed the behavior of both police and settlers. Our educational programs continue to expand and influence a widening circle of Israelis, many of whom find themselves in key positions in Israeli society or the army. Our work received recognition through the prestigious 2006 Niwano Peace Prize.

I speak of our successes with a sense of humbleness. Although I continue to believe that the human rights work we work on at the micro level affect the macro issues of peace in our region, we saw this summer how the macro can overwhelm us, overshadow and even reverse in an instant achievements slowly attained after years of hard work. I thought of the old Spike Lee film, “Do the Right Thing,” in which the relations between the residents of an African American neighborhood and the white pizza parlor owner who had stayed long after all other white people had fled, unravel in an instant. As we prayed on Tisha B’Av in a Kiryat Bialik bomb shelter and then handed out toys to children, we were reminded that no one individual or organization can control all events or effect Tikun Olam by themselves.

For this reason, our High Holy Day liturgy envisions us forming Agudah Ekhat L’Asot Ratzonkkah BaLevav Shalem, “A United Community of Faith and Purpose dedicated to doing Your Will with all our heart.”

At this time of crisis, when much of what we have dreamed and prayed and worked for is being called in to question, I am urgently asking for your renewed and strengthened commitment to a United and Powerful Community of Faith and Purpose dedicated to building the Israel we believe in. In light of the tremendous expenses of this war and recovery, the promises to allocate additional resources to the poorest and weakest Israelis are being forgotten. We must be a Community of Faith and Purpose to ensure that the poor are not forced to disproportionately bear the burden. Our High Court achievement held out great promise, but the post-war national mood is likely to be much more tolerant of settler violence, home demolitions and the prevention of Palestinian access to their lands. We must be a Community of Faith and Purpose ensuring that the missiles that rained down on us dם not continue to explode in our hearts, destroying our humanity and our ability to honor the Image of God in all. In a country searching for answers, our Community of Faith and Purpose must be able to reach as many Israelis as possible through our educational programs, especially those for soldiers and those about to enter the army.

We are more aware than ever that we need a partnership with you, our members, volunteers and supporters, in the pursuit of our common dreams.

If you believe that we must be an Agudah Ekhat, please, as indicated above, make an extra effort this year to support us financially as generously as possible. However, please also make an extra effort to write letters when we call upon you, and to join us here to harvest and plant. Please invite me or another RHR representative to your community. If you are a rabbi, I hope to see you at RHR-NA’s rabbinic conference on Judaism and Human Rights December 10-12 in NYC.

For a Sweet New Year United in Faith and Purpose, Shabbat Shalom, and Ramadan Kareem to our Muslim supporters,
Rabbi Arik Ascherman
Executive Director
RHR

Additional information about The First North American Rabbinic Conference on Judaism and Human Rights For Rabbis, Cantors, and Rabbinic and Cantorial Students – December 10–12, 2006 / Kislev 19–21, 5767

Rabbis for Human Rights – Yom Kippur Vidui

Donate money to Rabbis for Human Rights

http://www.happybirthdaysara.org

Paper Dolls

Paper Dolls is a new documentary film by Tomer Heymann (Tomer VeHasrutim, Aviv) playing at the Film Forum through next week. Originally a 6-part television series, it is about Phillipino homecare attendants in Israel caring for old people in the orthodox Bnei Brak who are also transexual and preform drag shows as the Paper Dolls in Tel Aviv at night. It is a really good and touching film. It touches on their status in Israel, the place of foreign workers, has one deportation and one bombing, and most notably the very touching relationship between Sally and her patient Chaim. He gives her the poetry of Yehuda Amichai to improve her Hebrew skills and they have a genuine and beautiful filial relationship. Go see this if you can.

There is a podcast with the director at the Film Forum site.

Kav La’oved is a non-profit that works with foreign workers in Israel.

Do They Catch Children Too? is an amazing documentary on the plight of the Israeli-born children of foreign workers.

I have sent an email to Donald Wiseman, editor of the website of Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter and Archives.

It is a useful site for people researching Jewish life and geneology in the Northeast of England. They have a section about the Jewish Cemetery in Hartlepool. It is not always online so I have decided to reprint details here with links to my photos of the graves taken on August 20, 2006.

The photos I have uploaded so far can be found here as a group:
Flickr Set of Photos of Hartlepool Jewish Cemetery

There will be more uploaded. Below are details and links to individual photos. On Flickr when you are on a photo’s page you can click on “All Sizes” and get larger sizes of the photos and you can download them.

Individually:

Abraham Barnett and Freda Barnett (Father and daughter)

Gravestone for Abraham Barnett who died Jan. 23, 1918 (age 44) and for his daughter Freda who died Feb. 25, 1919 at the age of 14. His Hebrew name was Avraham ?? son of Dov. Her Hebrew/Yiddish name was Freda.

Grace Barnett

Died November 7, 1984 (age 87). Her Hebrew name was Gitel daughter of Avraham. (KMBRO doesn’t have the date listed on its site nor a record of the stone.)

Jacob Barnett

Gravestone of Jacob Barnett who died April 13, 1945 (age 70). His Hebrew name was Yaakov son of Shaul.

Yetta Barnett

Gravestone of Yetta Barnett who died December 7, 1957 (age 77). Her Hebrew name was Yetta daughter of Yechezkel.

Samuel Benjamin

Gravestone of Samuel Benjamin who died July 2, 1881 (age 50). His Hebrew name was Shmuel.

Israel Broady

Gravestone of Israel Broady, husband of Shiphrah Broady, who died September 16, 1902 (age 85). His Hebrew name was Yisrael son of Yitzhak.

Morris Cohen

Gravestone for Morris Cohen son of Solomon and Rachel Cohen who died August 30, 1877 at the age of 23 months. His Hebrew name was Meir son of Yehoshua Shlomo.

Wolf Golt and Fanny Golt

Gravestone in memory of Wolf Golt who died May 11, 1939 (age 67) and Fanny Golt who died June 10, 1923 (age 47). Their Hebrew names were Ze’ev son of Chaim and Fredel daughter of Tuvia.

Hyman Hirschfeld

Half of the gravestone of Hyman Hirschfeld who died September 24, 1877 (age 58). His Hebrew name was Chaim son of Yehuda.
Photo of Gravestone as It Was

Sarah Hush

Gravestone of Sarah Hush who died July 10, 1882 at age 3 months. She was the daughter of Isaac and Henrietta Hush. She was from nearby Middlesbro.

Abram Jacobs and Rosie Jacobs

Gravestone for Abram Jacobs who died Nov. 25, 1928 (age 68) and Rosie Jacobs who died November 16, 1930 (age 72). Their Hebrew names were Avraham Yaakov son of Chaim Shlomo and Raizel daughter of Arye. [Name listed on stone as Abram (not Abraham).]

Annie Kaufman

Gravestone of Annie Kaufman who died in 1932 at the age of 32. Her Hebrew name was Chana daughter of Yisrael.

Isaac and Rachel Kaufman

Monument to Isaac and Rachel Kaufman who passed away in 1907. Hebrew names were Yitzhak son of Shalom and Rachel.

Hinda Levi

Gravestone of Hinda Levi who died August 21, 1878 (age 59). Her Hebrew name was Hinda daughter of Yehuda.

Solomon Isaac (Sol) Levinson

Gravestone of Solomon Isaac (Sol) Levinson who died May 11, 1993 (age 74). His Hebrew name was Shlomo Yitzhak son of Yaakov. His wife Betty still lives in town and makes a nice cup of tea.

Annie Levy

Gravestone of Annie Levy who died November 10, 1883 (Date gotten from Hebrew date). Her Hebrew name was Chana daughter of Yitzhak.

Harry Levy

Gravestone of Harry Levy who died March 7, 1922 (age 49). His Hebrew name was Aharon Tzvi son of Shlomo Halevy.

Louis Levy

Gravestone of Louis Levy who died on April 15, 1876 (age 56) (or April 4, 1877 – depending on if the last letter of the year is a Vav or Zayin – based on Hebrew date). His Hebrew name was Yehuda son of Arye Halevy.

Marian Levy

Gravestone of Marian Levy (widow of Jacob Levy) who died Feb. 4, 1914 (age 84). Her Hebrew name was Miriam daughter of Elyakum Arye. (Kmbro has her listed as Miriam.)

Calmer Lotinga

Gravestone of Calmer Lotinga who died on June 25, 1904 (age 96). His Hebrew name was Klonimus son of Moshe Halevi.

Maurice Michel Michelson

Gravestone of Maurice Michel Michelson who died at the age of 6 months. His Hebrew name was Moshe son of Asher.

David Morris

Gravestone of David Morris who died Nov. 27, 1963 (age 67) . His Hebrew name was David son of Yisrael Moshe.

Kate Nathan

Gravestone of Kate Nathan (widow of Benjamin Nathan) who died October 30, 1883 (age 61). Her Hebrew name was Gitel daughter of Eliezer Hacohen.

Joyce Barbara Rachkind

Gravestone of Joyce Barbara Rachkind who died April 20, 1972 (age 46). Her Hebrew name was Shayna Basha daughter of Avraham.

Sidney Rose and Esther Rose

Gravestone in memory of Sidney Rose who died April 29, 1963 (age 61) [KMBRO has this listed as May.] and Esther Rose who died August 16, 1978. [Listed on Stone in Hebrew Date.] Their Hebrew names were Zussman son of Avraham and Esther daughter of Yaakov.

Louis Smith

Gravestone of Louis Smith of Middlesbrough who died January 8, 1880. His Hebrew name was Eliezer son of Yechezkel.

Jacob Stockton

Gravestone for Jacob Stockton who died in 1879 at the age of 12. The only legible parts are the name Stockton, The acronym for May his soul be bound up in the bond of life (from Samuel I, 25:29) and the Jewish year 5640 which translates to 1879.

Graves I can’t identify:

General pictures of the cemetery:

Update: Featured in Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter No 22 November 2006 page 12 (of 12)

Update:

The time has come to harvest olive trees and when Palestinian farmers have been trying to do so they have been harrassed by some nearby settlers. An article by Gideon Levy in Ha’aretz from earlier this month called “Bitter Harvest” describes. According to news reports some settlers have been stealing olives and attacking farmers in a number of locations, with one murdered so far. Yossi Sarid the leader of the opposition in the government wrote a scathing op-ed entitled “Greater Sodom and its daughters.”

Rabbis for Human Rights, a pretty amazing group – everything Judaism should ideally be about, sent out a call for action. Whoever could clear their schedule was asked to join the farmers of Yasuf at 7.00 am. The goal was for Israelis and other international activists to run interference so the farmers could harvest. I woke up at 4.40, took a cab to Ra’anana from Tel Aviv where I got a ride to the gas station at Kufr Kassem where a mini bus took those who had arrived to help. Breakfast was shakshuka (an egg and tomato dish) in a pita (bread pocket) with some hummus (spread made out of chickpeas) at about 6.00 am from a falafel (fried balls made out of chickpeas and spices) stand near the gas station that caters to early rising workers.

There weren’t very many of us. There were a couple of reporters, an independent filmmaker, and a few Israelis.
There was also Diamond the dog, very friendly, and an old hand at activism. We rode from Kufr Kassem to near the village of Yasuf. There was no checkpoint, however there was a road block. The difference being a road block is unmanned. So the mini bus was left near it and we continued on foot. In the distance we could make out a pretty inspiring sight. In the last few days small numbers of farmers had come out. On this day about 300 showed up with donkeys or mules (not really sure what the difference is) to carry loads, men and women (no children), waiting for us to take part in this non-violent action.

As we were walking towards the farmers we were met by Angie Zeltser from the International Women’s Peace Service – Palestine (She is mentioned in the Gideon Levy article “Bitter Harvest” – see above.). She explained that the farmers had gotten official permission to harvest and the IDF – Israel Defense Forces had promised to be there. She pointed out what an amazing sight it was for all these villagers to have come to harvest. The course of action was to be as follows. One representative was chosen from the Israelis to be the Hebrew language spokesperson for the group. The mayor of the village was the Arab spokesperson. Angie was to be the English spokesperson representing the international group. Israelis were to split into groups of no less than two. We weren’t that many so this meant very few groups as the reporters didn’t count. We were to walk around and stay alert for trouble. If anything violent would happen it was agreed among the villagers that they would sit down. The Israelis were then supposed to attempt to be on the outside perimeter.

As we were talking, a settler came by in his truck. He asked what was going on. Our Israeli spokesperson went over to him and explained we were there for a peaceful harvest and that all necessary authorizations had been obtained. The settler responded that this was a long-standing contested issue – that the settlers maintain that these are people that harbor terrorists and who want to kill them [the settlers/Jews] and so should not be allowed to harvest their olives. An Israeli (not the spokesperson) decided to get involved – and asked dramatically – what gives you the right to steal their olives? Does that give you the right to steal their olives? It was not helpful and the response I believe was a somewhat muffled yes.

More settlers showed up. They came with rifles. One man came on a cart with four German shepherds wearing a Kahane (1, 2) t-shirt. Some wore tefillin while holding their rifles. This looked extremely bizarre. Although the English word phylacteries comes from a word meaning safeguard or amulet – and I guess they were being worn as protective gear. Mostly I have seen these only during prayer services and this was far from it. Then we heard there was trouble.

Someone said there had been shots fired. I can’t confirm this. We were told to go and find the problems and keep an eye on them. I ran with the Israeli I was teamed up with. This was on a hill so we could see a settler below pointing a gun at some farmers. The person I was with yelled “Torid et Haneshek” – Put down your weapon. Twice. I did as well once. We started running towards him. He had begun throwing rocks. We got pretty close to him. He threw some rocks at us. And threatened to kill us if we touched his weapon. Mostly this was a very scared man – who didn’t want to hurt anyone and just wanted us to leave. He calmed down eventually. We followed him and other settlers and just kept a watch on them.

We heard the same things over and over from the settlers. You’re here with our enemies. Traitors. Jewish antisemites. They don’t want peace. They don’t want us to be here. We were shot at two weeks ago and the more personal I was shot at. I just want to protect my family – my wife and kids who are scared to travel in the area. Some of the settlers tried to break cameras that were filming. Some were dressed in outfits similar to soldiers so for the uninitiated it took a few minutes to distinguish the difference.

And then there was my favorite, dubbed by the internationals as “Brooklyn” – a settler from my hometown. A young guy wearing a t-shirt in Hebrew that said “I only buy from Jews.” He threatened everyone. I’ll fuckin’ kill you. And other assorted trash talk. All I could think was – couldn’t you have become some disaffected youth in to thrash metal in a black t-shirt with skulls or something? It was a bit less funny when he pulled a knife on someone.

In case you’re wondering where the soldiers were in all of this…there just weren’t all that many of them at first and they were powerless. They asked us to move up the hill and sit down until more soldiers arrived. Also that they couldn’t arrest anyone – only the police could do that so we would have to wait until they arrive for the criminal acts that had already occurred. So there were a few settlers with assorted guns standing. A few soldiers watching them. And a few Israelis and internationals amid a large group of Palestinian farmers sitting down. From what I understand there was another location with exactly the same situation.

This is long but I still feel like I’m painting with broad strokes. I don’t want whoever reads this to think of the settlers as one monolithic group. Some of the settlers seemed to get off on violence. The man who had earlier thrown the rocks seemed genuinely scared. While we were sitting he yelled at his fellow settlers for not staying alert and watching the sitting farmers who in his mind could pull out a weapon at any second. There were some who were there because it was just the place to be in a pretty relaxed and casual way.

As for the activists. Some are unbelievably impressive in the calm they display in the face of threats. And some seem incredibly naive and not all that bright saying things like “I’m everybody’s friend.” or “Peace man” to people in an agitated state who believe that their lives are in danger. And some also get off on the violence and an exaggerated sense of purpose and meaning.

Back to the story – one soldier was chitchatting with an international about which beaches he should visit. Some farmers found it a bit ridiculous. Settlers complained that the soldiers should be watching the Palestinians and not them. One soldier responded to a threatening settler that he shouldn’t mess with him because he (the soldier) is connected to a well-known crime family. One soldier said to one of the religious looking settlers that what he was doing was hilul hashem (a desecration of god) – had he heard of it?

One settler spoke into his walkie talkie to someone back at the settlement (I guess) who asked what was going on. He told him – well there are a bunch of Palestinians who say they have permission to harvest. The soldiers have confirmed that but because we’re here they’re sitting. The one back home asked – well if they have permission why aren’t they harvesting? what do they care if you’re there?. I could’t resist and I told the settler – if he wants to know it’s because you guys have threatened us and thrown rocks and it was deemed unsafe. This was translated to the person back home as “They claim…”

Eventually more soldiers arrived. The police too. I did not see the police but from what I understand five people were arrested. As for the soldiers’ attitudes – I think it was summed up by the obese commanding officer speaking into his communication device – (a rough translation) I’m in shit with crazy settlers, the Palestinians and the worst of the peace makers. Pretty much as far as they’re concerned everyone they have to deal with in this quagmire is miserable.

The other settlers went away. And then after some hours we finally got down to what we had come to do. We harvested olives. Tarps are spread out under the tree. Olives are picked off of the tree and allowed to fall on the tarps to be gathered later into sacks. There were ladders for the upper parts of the trees and olive trees are ridiculously easy to climb so you had people in the tree, on ladders and on the ground. Sometimes one of the men would sing from the top of a tree – I was told he was singing about the land being Palestinian.

I ended up working with one family. With a few words of Arabic, some broken English and the occasional Hebrew we got along fine – with a lot of smiles. There were young married women in their 20s with five children. They expressed sympathy for me because I had come with short sleeves and had gotten my arms all scratched up. It’ll heal, besides I would have been miserably warm in jeans, a long dress and head covering. The funny part was their outfits in concept were not so different from the outfits being worn by settler women.

In the middle of the day it was time for lunch. A large amount of food was brought out. Pitas, hummus and other spreads, vegetables, cheeses, fish and meat and tea. Some of the women picked fresh za’atar which has a really strong and pleasant smell. They told me it can be put in tea for the aroma.

We continued to work. The older mothers with their wide bodies were the most industrious of all and chided their daughters for not being as thorough. You didn’t need to understand the language to get it.

At about three it was time to leave. As we were leaving some settlers returned to make sure everyone was going. The group I was with stayed to make sure that everyone would be able to leave safely. There were a few additional Israelis who had arrived in the middle of the day. The reporters had left early. Someone said they thought they heard a gun shot from the direction of the settlement – I didn’t hear it.

People were asked to stay in the village for the following morning’s harvest. Also anyone with video footage of settlers was asked to share it. The following day, Friday, I had to be in at work and didn’t stay. It was also a bit odd – those who stayed could get a ride back into a city via a settler bus.

In the end we saw that many sacks of olives had been harvested. Many of the families’ livelihoods depend on this. It was useful for us to come out. Ultimately I don’t know how much good it does.

This day did not even make in to the papers. This was just a normal everyday sort of thing. No one was too seriously hurt. Life goes on. The settlers cannot look and see peaceful farmers. And the Palestinians can’t see a better future past the bearded men with rifles.

I came away with some sore muscles, a minor sprained ankle, some scratches and a renewed sense of how awful things are 45 minutes away from where I’m living.

Originally posted in 2002 on terrortubby dot 0catch dot com [do not recommend going to the link -  lots of popups!]

It looked like this on the original site:

I took photos of the actual harvesting (not the tension) with a crappy disposable camera.

I also had a list of links related to the Olive Harvest story on the original website. I’ve updated links where possible and removed the ones that don’t go anywhere.

Settlers attack Palestinian olive harvesters, kill one
By Arnon Regular, Amos Harel, Baruch Kra in Ha’aretz. The article that brought the issue to my attention

Twilight Zone: Bitter Harvest
By Gideon Levy in Ha’aretz.

Greater Sodom and its daughters
By Yossi Sarid in Ha’aretz (op-ed). He is the leader of the opposition in the Israeli government.

Settlers attack olive pickers
By Amos Harel and Arnon Regular in Ha’aretz. I was told by Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights that there is an inaccuracy in the article. There were actually about 300 Israeli activists and not the “dozens” mentioned.

Cartoon
By Geva in Ha’aretz.

It’s the Pits – Humiliated farmers, angry landowners, human rights activists and army personnel: A confrontation in an olive grove
By Amira Hass in Ha’aretz.

Settlers injure five in attack on olive pickers
By Arnon Regular in Ha’aretz.

Activists heading to West Bank to support Palestinians during olive harvest
By Malcolm Foster for Associated Press. Via Google.

Olive harvest intensifies conflict
By Peter Hermann in The Baltimore Sun. Via Google.

Settlers defying Israeli law
By Charles A. Radin in The Boston Globe. Via Google.

Olive branch a symbol of strife
By Ben Wedeman on CNN.com. Via Google.

Peace hopes wilt among the olive branches
By Chris McGreal in Guardian, UK. Via Google.

Israeli injured when settlers fire at Israeli and Palestinian olive pickers
By Tovah Lazaroff in Jerusalem Post.

Police question Israeli in West Bank for slaying of Palestinian farmer
By Margot Dudkevitch in Jerusalem Post.

This Year’s Palestinian Olive Crop is Stained by Blood
In The Palestine Chronicle. Via Google.

Families fear bitter harvest
By Jessica McCallin in Sunday Herald, UK. Via Google.

Purim is a Jewish holiday that you’re supposed to get dressed up for. Another custom is bringing food baskets to friends. Just because I had to be at work – didn’t mean I wasn’t going to enjoy it. So of course the rational thing to do is put a plush red teletubby head on as a silly hat and bring food baskets to work along with fuzzy antennas and assorted other props so co-workers could get into the spirit. The rest of my outfit was not as festive. Regular comfort-gear olive green cargo pants, and a black t-shirt. This being Tel Aviv in 2002 – someone thought I looked suspicious.

All of a sudden I was grabbed from behind by a police officer. At first I couldn’t see who had grabbed me and my heart raced about a mile a minute. He asked if he could search my bags and that someone had reported a suspicious looking person in military pants and a strange hat. I asked – what do you mean? Have they never heard of Purim? He said – well, you know with the situation people aren’t celebrating as much this year. He apologized and was really nice about the whole thing.

I’m female and pale, a bit tall, but not usually the first person suspected of things. Made me kinda thankful for that.

So now you know the truth. They’re not gay – they’re a terrorist cell.

I imagine this is what a terrortubby would look like. Maybe a black flag as the antenna these characters seem to require.

Republished from original post on terrortubby dot 0catch dot com [do not recommend going to the link -  lots of popups!]

My first attempt at a website looked like this…

This also happened a few days after I met my husband Kev. I had joined Radio Paradise a few days before this happened. So I tend to think of Purim as the anniversary of when we met. A photo of us from 2005 with me wearing the teletubby head when we met up with some RPeeps in NJ.