Before there were a bevy of imitators, Jewlicious Festival originated a unique blend of programming music and fun, that simply is unlike anything else at this price. Thanks to very generous donors, we can offer the Festival for a fee that is simply a steal. Everyone will be there – will you?

This will undoubtedly be the most memorable Festival yet! Did we mention that it’s on a boat? A really BIG boat? Bigger than the Titanic even! This new venue allows for all kinds of exciting programming possibilities and the entire ship is amazing to explore. We have negotiated great rates on cabins for 2/3/4 people to stay on board in the Queen Mary Hotel starting at a very affordable $99. These actual cabins were used for transatlantic voyages in the 1920s and 1930s and are updated with flat-screen TV’s and all the usual luxury amenities. Pre-sale Festival tickets are just $36 as long as supplies last. So grab a ticket and come aboard!

We will be rolling out lists of presenters, sponsors, and most importantly musical artists starting in January. But don’t let that get in the way of you ordering a PRESALE!

Tickets below!

@tabletmag recently released their list of “Top Ten Jewish Tweeters”, who are defined as Jews who have the most followers on Twitter. Topping the list are @pink @chelseahandler and @drake.

This brings to mind the JTA’s 2010 Jewish Tweeter List. This was arrived at my a complex process of anylizing tweeters with Twitalizer, which ranks influence. ” It represents a metrics-based approach to Twitter usage of a select group of individuals over a particular period of time who were nominated by their peers.” Twitalizer reports, “Influence is the ability for someone to persuade others to drive a certain action, be that to retweet, share information, drive action or contribute to charity.” They listed @MASisMore @JewishIdeas and @daroff — but there was controversy. And currently, @masismore has 58 followers and something seems amiss in Twiiterland.

The Huffington post in July published their own list too called aptly “Jews on Tiwtter”. Their list criteria are about Jewish voices. “Here we have scoured the Twittersphere (and our own @HuffPostRelig feed) for some of the best Jewish voices on Twitter. These individuals provide commentary on current events around the world, daily Jewish life, holiday traditions, scripture — even addiction and recovery.” Topping their list is: @dialogueeditor @rabbidan and @recoveryrabbi – their list is dominated by rabbis, this rabbi-writer-tweeter excluded.

Then their are the tweeter analyzers. If you type Jewish into Croudstatus you see that @daroff @jyuter and @yeahthatskosher are at the top of the list.

Klout is another platform for analysis. “Klout is a San Francisco based company that provides social media analytics to measure a user’s influence across their social network.” @pink has a 74, @chelseahandler has 73 @drake has a 90.

According to Klout – the top Jewish tweeters on topic of Judaism topic are: @jewishdaily (clout score 54 @jewishweek (41) and @frumsatire (61). For the record @Matisyahu is 55

According to Klout the top Jewish tweeters on topic of Jewish are: @chabad -(51) @jewishtweets (44) and ….. @jewlicious (58)

For the record – klout lists @daroff with 66, @sarahksilverman with a 76 and and @kingsthings with a 66. Which means that William Daroff and Larry King have the same amout of Klout on Twitter though they have vastly different numbers of followers. And @biz co-founder of Twitter has a 67. Our friend @mobius1ski has a 57 which is not too shabby at all. And all around Jewish pundit @estherk has a 67.

Last but not least, Wefollow has listed the most influential tweeters under topic Jewish as: @jewishtweets @jtanews and @Jewlicious as the 1,2,3 in Jewish Twitterland. And based on number of followers: @jidf @israel and @jewishtweets .

Firstly, why do Jews rough it in the Sukkah for the Festival? Wouldn’t it make more sense to celebrate in a pub, club, or frat house?

On Sukkot there is a special mitzvah, an obligation, to rejoice and be happy. What makes me truly happy? Is it a new car, season premiers or the iPhone 4S? Sukkot is a remedy for my faith in possessions to make me happy. Surrounded by the walls of our temporary dwelling place, I remind myself that focusing on our friends, family and relationship with God can sustain my happiness.

More recently, as Jewish communities do not feel the constant threat of tyrants and anti-Semitism, Sukkot encourages me to help the many people who live on a constant basis without permanent shelter.

Another deeper lesson of Sukkot can best be understood by another name of the Festival. The holiday of Sukkot is also called the Festival of the Harvest – commemorating the time when we gather our crops and fill our storehouses.

If one has been blessed — our profits outweigh our expenditures, our portfolio has grown and our wine cellars are full and satisfaction and trust fill our soul — it is at that moment that the Torah tells us to leave our home and dwell in a Sukkah. The frail booth teaches us that neither wealth, good investments, IRA’s or even real-estate are life’s safeguards. It is God who sustains us all, those in palaces and those in tents. Any glory or wealth we posses came to us from God, and will endure so long as it is God’s will.

And if our toil has not resulted in great blessing — our investments went south, we lost our job and nest-egg, our cellars are empty, and we face the approaching winter with mounting debt and bills, living off credit from month to month, forlorn and fearful for how we will survive— then as we enter the sukkah we find rest for our troubled soul. Divine providence is more reliable than worldly wealth which can vanish in an instant. The sukkah will renew our strength and courage, and teach and inspire us with joy and perseverance even in the face of affliction and hardship.

Sukkot humbles the rich, for it can vanish in an instant. Comforts the Poor, a week to enjoy the embrace of the sukkah.

Sukkot hit at an interesting time, just as #OccupyAmerica is gaining steam.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Jedwabne is a tinderbox sparking all kinds of debate about Polish-Jewish relations. While anti-Semitic graffiti and racists vandalism incidents occur across America each week, they never make the papers. Jedwabne on the other hand, it always will.

No one questions whether the Jews were herded into the barn and burned in one of many such incidents during the WWII. The question Poles debated was who did it? The Nazis, Soviets, and Polish neighbors were all suspect.

The government wanted to settle the matter, and an excavation of the barn was ordered. Forensic anthropologists who had investigated mass graves in Balkans began a painstaking excavation.

In order to ensure that any human remains were treated according to Jewish law, I supervised the site several times on behalf of the Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland.

After the excavation and interviews with residents and witnesses, it was determined that the barn was burned by local residents who then tried to bury the victims in a hastily dug trench next to the burned barn. Eyeglasses, shoes, and thousands of bones remained interred next to the site of the barn.

The entire area was then entombed in concrete and covered and a large monument. I was on hand when, in an unprecedented moment in Polish-Jewish relations, the Polish President himself apologized to the Jewish community on behalf of Poles and unveiled the monument.

In addition to the vandalism in Jedwabne, Police are investigating neo-Nazi vandal attacks aimed at minority groups in the past few weeks in eastern and northeast Poland.

In Orla, anti-Semitic slogans and Nazi symbols were found on the former synagogue. In Bialystok, they broke into the Islamic Center and attempted to set the building on fire.

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said “There is no room for such behavior in Polish society — even if it is the work of but a small group of extremists. We stand in solidarity with all those who feel personally affected by these despicable acts.”

I want to echo his words: there is no room for such behavior in any society.

I’m not sure any other cabinet-level minister of another European country would issue a condemnation so quickly over an anti-Semitic incident in a tiny town without Jews.

The victims of Jedwabne and other infamous murders never seem to get any rest.

Just when we think that the wound has healed, someone comes along and rips it open to remind us that our work in riding the world of racism has a long way to go.

I have been in Kiev since Sunday in order to participate in the 2nd annual Muslim Jewish Conference. The MJC brings together a diverse group of Muslims and Jews from around the world for 5 days of inter-faith dialog and activities. I first found about this event a couple of weeks ago during the ROI Conference where I ran into one of the participants, Ilja Sichrovsky. Ilja, a native of Austria, founded the MJC last year. He presented his project at ROI and when the opportunity came up to go to Kiev and experience the MJC firsthand, I took it.

Mother Ukraine Welcomes You. Don't be afraid! We don't kill Jews anymore!!

I’m sure some of you might be rolling your eyes, imagining some kind of hippie-dippy kumbaya thing, set in the rollicking capital of Ukraine,, but that would be inaccurate. Don’t get me wrong – there’s been plenty of weirdness, mostly involving cultural gaps between our Ukrainian hosts and everyone else. Apparently chicken in dill sauce served to a frenetic and booming Euro-pop beat… for breakfast, is a normal thing in Ukraine. Don’t get me wrong, our Ukrainian staff has been responsive and friendly and they even inadvertently helped create group cohesion, so its all good.

So far the conference has been interesting. The group of about 70 participants is a diverse one. There are Israelis, Europeans, Pakistanis, Egyptians, Crimean Tatars, converts, you name it. Everyone has been pretty friendly and Ilja and his staff have done a great job creating a space that is comfortable and conducive to the task at hand. It’s actually been quite delightful. Mohamed, who prior to this conference, had never been out of Pakistan, upon hearing that I lived in Israel, showed me an inscription on his passport. It read “Valid for travel in all countries of the world, except for Israel.” We both laughed and I was thankful that at least it was acknowledgement of Israel’s status as a country. It was then noted that despite this outward stance, Pakistan and Israel’s extensive clandestine relations were an open secret.

Why Ukraine? I guess it just worked out that way. Someone asked how many Muslims lived in Kiev. When someone answered “30,000,” I thought to myself “Oh that’s just 5,000 less than the number of Jews murdered in one day at Babi Yar, which we drove past on the way to a party.

Of course the Muslim participants seem more educated and liberal than “man on the street” Muslims. Of course the majority of the Jewish participants tend to be fairly secular as well. A cynical person might think that this is an echo chamber, preaching to the choir and all that. And yet? We’re discussing those issues as we speak.

Mazel Tov Ilja! Today you are a man!

Last night Jews and Muslims rocked out to Klezmer music at a gala ceremony at the Rus Hotel. Come on… you gotta love that! Thanks to ROI 2007 Alum Dasha Privalko who popped by and helped me decipher the power dynamic of the Ukrainian Jewish Community (sponsors of MJC). Anyhow, stay tuned for more later!

Apparently, there was a point at which the French, which had divided control of the Middle East with the British in the early part of the 20th Century, and who ended up with Syria on their part of the map, considered creating an Alawi state.

When the French took over Greater Syria after World War I (including modern Lebanon and parts of modern Turkey), they flirted briefly with the idea of creating a highland Alawi state of 300,000 people separate from the cities of the plains—Homs, Hama, Damascus, and Aleppo—with their dominant Sunni majorities. The French rightly believed that the Sunni majority would be most resistant to their rule. Like other minorities the Alawis, as they preferred to be called, saw the French as protectors.

It appears that the Alawis favored this outcome and sought to encourage it as time went on and France was intent on providing independence to Syria. To that end, a number of their luminaries, including Sulayman al-Assad, the father and grandfather of Hafez and Bashar, respectively, wrote a letter to Leon Blum in 1936. Blum, a Jewish Prime Minister of France, was the best address to influence French decision-making. The six authors of the Alawi letter provided information about why it would be prudent to keep the Alawis separated from the majority Sunnis in Syria. As one of their key points, they sought to show what happens when a minority, even one that contributes to a society, is faced with a hostile opposing majority. Here is what they wrote about the Jews of Mandatory Palestine (bold italics mine).

We can sense today how the Muslim citizens of Damascus force the Jews who live among them to sign a document pledging that they will not send provisions to their ill-fated brethren in Palestine. The condition of the Jews in Palestine is the strongest and most explicit evidence of the militancy of the Islamic issue vis-à-vis those who do not belong to Islam. These good Jews contributed to the Arabs with civilization and peace, scattered gold, and established prosperity in Palestine without harming anyone or taking anything by force, yet the Muslims declare holy war against them and never hesitated in slaughtering their women and children, despite the presence of England in Palestine and France in Syria. Therefore a dark fate awaits the Jews and other minorities in case the Mandate is abolished and Muslim Syria is united with Muslim Palestine…the ultimate goal of the Muslim Arabs.

My, my, how times have changed…

This two-night musical journey is put together by the team behind the award-winning Jewlicious Festival, which started in 2005 promoting independent rising stars with great success. Jewnfest’s first evening will be dedicated to sounds of the rising indie folk-rock revival made huge by Mumford & Sons. The second evening will be a high energy evening of local musical wizards.

Featured artists for Jewnfest include Independent Music Award Nominee Hyim , rising Indie Music sensation, Yael Meyer, and The Wellspring, fronted by Blue Fringe’s Dov Rosenblatt , passion & latin flavor of Klezmer Juice, and rising indie star Lauren Barth.[ more artists to be announced soon].

Tickets for Jewnfest can be purchased online or at the door, space permitting. Pre-sale tickets are $10 per night,or 2 nights for $15. Doors open at 7pm, with music from 8-11pm each evening. The Mint is located at 6010 W Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035. The shows are for adults 18+. Support for Jewnfest comes from The Jewish Community Foundation Los Angeles, Asahi Beer and JConnect.

JEWNFEST TICKETS

Both Nights $15.00 Tu. Jewn 14 $10.00 We. Jewn 15 $10.00

 

CAMP JEWLICIOUS TICKETS CLICK HERE

FEATURED ARTISTS AT JEWNFEST

HYIM

HYIM’s music is pop/rock world fusion with a twist of urban flavor, and sounds like Coldplay, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Manu Chao and Dave Matthews. His music influences include Bob Marley, Peter Gabriel, Chopin, Bob Dylan, Chris Martin and his Dad. Born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland, CA, HYIM is an acclaimed singer, songwriter, producer, pianist, performer, poet and activist. He is the next generation’s music “fusionisto,” and was called by the San Francisco Chronicle “a formidable talent…spellbinding.” HYIM began playing piano at age three and studied sitar in India, clave in Cuba, and classical guitar in New Zealand. He also studied Turkish rhythms, Persian poetry, and the Torah, and he “blends the rhythms of the world as chariots for his song.” His solo performances command the stage with a major party vibe, and he has performed at numerous charitable events around the world. Currently, he is nominated for the Oakland Soul Award at the 5th Annual Oakland Indie Awards. Sample some tracks and see what all the fuss is about at www.hyimvibe.com.

LAUREN BARTH

Lauren Barth is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist currently living and creating out of Oakland, California. The California native performs intimate folk songs, country songs, and tunes in the traditional American style. She is currently playing mandolin, guitar, and singing in a folk-americana quartet called Grandville based out of San Francisco, CA. This lover of Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, The Grateful Dead and Joni Mitchell can be seen pickin’ tunes from New Orleans to the Big Island of Hawaii.

Gustavo Bulgach of Klezmer Juice

Klezmer Juice

Klezmer Juice is the real thing – vibrant Yiddish soul combined with youth and musical style. Bringing together some of L.A.’s finest musicians from all walks of life. While many of us associate this music with European immigration to the United States, Jews at the turn of the century were settling all parts of the Americas, and they and their descendents have a rich history in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and many other Latin American countries. Klezmer Juice bandleader and clarinet player Gustavo Bulgach was born and raised in one such community in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A part of the large and active Jewish community there, he learned Klezmer music from his family at a young age. Inspired by the religious and secular life of the Argentine community, Bulgach, who now lives in Los Angeles, has traveled around the globe, finding that Klezmer music is the “soundtrack of the Diaspora.” Bulgach has managed to forge a new klezmer sound with one ear to tradition and the other locked on the now.

The Wellspring

Yael Meyer and her band

Apparently you can leave your heart in San Francisco, but your foreskin is going home with you. — Lewis Black

Will voters in SF have a choice on the ballot put forth by “intactivists” about whether or not the practice of circumcision for boys is illegal? Likely. According to KPCC, A San Francisco group has gathered over 12 thousand signatures, more than enough to put a measure on the November ballot, that would ban performing circumcision on males under 18 in that city. The measure seeks to amend an existing law that prohibits genital mutilation on females by including protection for males as well. Those who violate the law would face a fine of up to $1000, and up to a year in jail. As can be imagined, this is a touchy issue. Many religious groups have spoken out against the proposed law, calling it unconstitutional because it violates religious freedom. Larry Mantle, the veteran host of AirTalk, recently interviewed Jonathon Conte, a member of the Bay Area Intactivists Group and spokesperson for the San Francisco Male Genital Mutilation Bill.

Backers of a November ballot measure that would ban circumcision of males under 18 years old in San Francisco say they have enough signatures to bring the proposal to voters.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/04/san-francisco-circumcision-ban-makes-november-ballot#ixzz1LF7DQ1up

BTW The Examiner uses a photo of an instrument NOT USED by Jewish mohels – that contraption would scare anyone.

While Jews and Muslims could join together on this issue – both communities have the tradition – I doubt that a joint Jewish-Muslim Foreskin Teach-In will be in the works any day soon.

Let’s see if the courts let this one on the ballot.

Reports are still unclear surrounding the death of a Jewish pilgrim, Ben Yosef Livnat, on the way to pray at Joseph’s Tomb on Passover. The man, a nephew of Culture Minister Limor Livnat, was with a group of other Breslov Hassidim on their way to pray in Nablus. The murder and shooting have already triggered an avalanche of accusations and riots, but scant mention on CNN or Fox News.

Syrian forces are murdering unarmed protestors, again, without signs of that the US and Europe will intervene. In Morocco, the streets are full of anti-Government protests too. Libyan forces continue to bomb Mistrata making the coalition look pretty ineffective, whatever one thinks of the international intervention. Thousands are joyous at the US deal to get Yemen’s President an early retirement, after decades in power.

Thousands of Christians worshipped in peace in Jerusalem to celebrate Easter. And no one killed them.

Opponents of the eruv in the Hamptons — and generally the major opponents of the eruv in other metropolitan areas— are fellow Jews who can’t stand Orthodox Jews. The Daily Show does a great job of teasing out the racism of this anti-eruv group.

Last week, I visited the haven for youth-seeking yentas, South Florida, with my cousin the Jewess comic artist Aline Kominsky Crumb. We met Hollywood Salon owner Cookie, who is 62 and, thanks to the good work of her dermatologist, looks like a Barbie doll.

“After you are 50, you are invisible,” Cookie bemoaned, though she still turns heads with her big boobs, plump lips, long blond hair, high heels and Britney-Spears-meets-Farrah-Fawcett face.

“I have had all kinds of face work done,” Cookie told us. “I had a face lift, my eyes done, my lips. I want to stay desirable ’til the day I die, because I am a woman! You don’t want to give that up. I feel great. I feel vibrant. But I’m not ready to be grandma yet… even though I am.”

I posted Cookie’s photo up on Facebook and the reaction was harsh. My friends thought she actually looked older than 60 and insisted women should grow old gracefully.

“I bet all the critics are under 45, because I was so judgmental about this when I was younger,” Aline responds. “Because when you are still beautiful, you don’t think about it… and then you get older. One day you look in the mirror and think, ‘Who the hell’s face is this? Where am I? I have dog jowls and I don’t feel ready for this.’ You want to postpone the aging and if the technology is there, some people do. It’s really mean to be judgmental about it.”

Jewish women like Aline have always been a self-conscious bunch. Deep down, I think there is part of us that wants to look like goyishe Barbies. She was the image of popularity, happiness and she gets the hottie Ken — how could we not?

Aline had her own face lift years ago, much to the chagrin of some of her artist friends in her tiny village in the South of France. What, she should grow wrinkles and be tired-looking?

I accompanied Aline to get her first taste of face fillers, and held my camera up close as Dr. Joseph Seiber stuck needles into her forehead lines and mini lip wrinkles. I documented the whole procedure for a video we are making about anti-aging in Florida.

An hour later and after Cookie added some light blond highlights to Aline’s fiery red hair, years had disappeared from her face. She looked like a sophisticated sex pot artist, nothing like that crazy yenta Joan Rivers.

“Although after you are here in South Florida, you realize that this society is so excessive, so superficial and so external, it does disgust you after a while,” Aline added.

It’s true some of the boomers down in South Florida take their surgeries to extremes. We met a woman who claimed to have had everything done on her face and body that money can buy — and was proud of it. Her lips, outlined in a overly-dark violet liner, looked as large as her visor cap. Maybe she is taking our culture’s obsession with youth to a new level… but her mensch husband seemed to love the new her, so who really cares?

While I am still au natural at 35, nose job-free and never enamored of the Barbie look, until I hit 45+ and am faced with the wrinkled woman in the mirror, I’m keeping my mouth shut. That’s right: Until I’m in a woman’s orthopedic shoes, who am I to judge? If older woman want to use modern technology to peal off a few years, let them be.

Maybe I’ll be ready for a few touch ups one day as well. Especially since I know a great doctor and have seen the results in action! Really, as long as I’m happy as Florida sunshine on the inside, some outer beauty is just icing on the fat free, kosher cake.

Here are some of this year’s Jewish Oscar contenders. Well, the major ones anyway:

Natalie Portman – nominated for her role in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, which featured a steamy sex scene between her and co-star and fellow Jewess, the newly single Mila Kunis. Portman is engaged and pregnant with the baby of some French dancer guy she met on the set of the movie. Here are 100 photos of Natalie Portman laughing. Enjoy.

Darren Aronofsky – nominated for best Director for Black Swan. That’s pretty hot right? Well, ladies, freshly separated from his wife Rachel Weisz, Aronofsky is successful, straight and single! Mazel Tov on the 5 Oscar nominations!

Jesse Eisenberg – Received his first Oscar nomination ever for his portrayal of another Jew, facebook founder and recent victim of spoofing (NOT hacking) Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.

Aaron Sorkin – The writer behind The West Wing got the an Oscar nod for his work on The Social Network script.

James Franco – Don’t be fooled by that last name, reminiscent of a certain Spanish dictator. Franco’s Mom is Jewish and he’s been nominated for his role in the movie 127 Hours where he played some guy stuck on a mountain. No. Not Moses.

Joel and Ethan Coen – This screen writing/producer duo got 10 Oscar nominations for their latest movie True Grit, a murder mystery set in the Wild West.

David Seidler – One of the 12 nominations for The King’s Speech went to this Limey Jew screenwriter.

Debra Granik – This native of Cambridge, MA and graduate of Brandeis received an Oscar nomination in the adapted screenplay category for Redneck rampage flick Winter’s Bone.

So there you have it. The members of the Hollywood Jewish Media conspiracy. Yay Jews!

Actually, I don’t really care. I mean are these good Jews? What is a good Jew? The only reason these people are listed here is for their professional achievements in the film industry. The fact that they are Jewish just feeds into that whole thing we do where we take irrational pride in the accomplishments of our fellow tribe members. Given the diverse, some would say fractured nature of Jewish identity these days, can we still be considered a tribe? Or do we really still need reassurances that our position in American society is secure? As if a fellow Jew bedding down with the daughter of a former President isn’t enough reassurance? Whatever. Maybe it’s just celebrity envy. Call me Star (of David) Fucker!

Is there a special relationship between Jews and trees? There must be.

Planting a tree in Israel today, even if you’re the most secular Jew in the Diaspora, is a noble act and represents a strong connection to Israel.

Fact: Albert Einstein planted a tree in Palestine.

Another tree case in history, take the famous Jewish philosopher Martin Buber in his work “I and Thou”. There, Buber chooses to talk about five types of human relations with the world through examples of human relations with tress.

In Israel we have a strong national tradition of planting trees and bringing ‘green’ into our native landscape. Additionally, as Jews, we have a pattern to act and initiate change in post crisis situations.

About a month passed since the Carmel Fire of 2010, the worst wildfire in the Israel’s history. In the heat of the disaster more than 17,000 people were evacuated from there homes and 44 people died. In addition, the fire tore through the natural forest reserve of Israel, consuming over 5 million trees and 50,000 dunams of land (12,355 acres and ~1/3 of the nature reserve).

Fear, the emotion associated with fire, comes from our primal instincts and is powered by adrenaline and cortisol, drugs that can paralyze us or give us superhuman strength.

As an immediate response to the disaster and in efforts to counteract the fear that this will happen again, donations of trees and volunteers offering to replant Israel’s forests poured in from around the world. The Jewish National Fund raised upward of $1 million towards the Carmel cause and the head of the organization, Russel Robinson, vowed to replant the burned trees.

Not long after the immediate reactions and offerings there was a pause and a discussion that rather decided to wait and see first how the forest will regenerate itself. Hence this disaster provoked the people to re-evaluate the urge for immediate replanting and brought change and awareness to our national consciousness.

The shift from a tree-planting nation on Palestine’s bare hills to today’s genetic changes is an amazing metaphor to the transformation of the Israeli society. To clarify, according to Prof. Gabriel Shiller, a respected forest researcher, “the next generation of the native pine trees has genetic marks that do not belong to Israel.” (Ref. Article “The Day That After, The Day That Before”, by Gili Sopher, Masa Acher journal, #232, January 2011.)

From the first days of the Europeans’ arrival in the land of Levant, the settler’s dream was to make the land green and rich with foliage. By planting trees, these immigrants were also planting their dreams and, more than anything, their roots in this land. Roots play a key role in human life. Yet, just as not all greenhouse trees survive genetic alterations and transplants to foreign soil, there were also many immigrants who remained physically uprooted in the new land.

Some say that changing its landscape was a process of conquering the new land. This seems right, but it’s deeper than that. It reflects on the idea of “woods” in the psyche of these European pioneers. In Europe at the time, woods or forests provided warmth, food, and shelter to the people. Most European folklore was associated to woods. For instance the sacred and wise men were dwellers ‘deep in the woods.’ On the other hand, the desert for a European mind represents an idea of Nothingness. Perhaps this desire to turn our ancient land into Something-ness was an important drive in planting trees in sand and making the desert bloom.

Since, generations have passed, giving way to the new species of Israeli born Jews. Many will argue that Israelis have few remaining traits identifying with Diaspora Jews. Take, for instance, the worldwide-accepted archetype of a Jewish math and science genius. Then equate that mind to native-born Israelis where about half of the last generation’s children suffer from dyslexia. At least there are also positive examples to the Israeli-Jew phenomenon. But we’ll leave those for another entry.

Back to our tree analogy – metaphorically, we discussed a new nation raised on new soil, with a new root system, while undergoing the evolution of stress factors resulted in new genes to its people. Thus, if and when we look at the genome transformation of the Carmel reserve there are amazing symbolic connections to Israeli Jews.

In the earlier mentioned article, Masa Acher, one is stricken by the complexities of Carmel’s forest genetic fabric and fire consequences for the genome of the ecosystem. There were about 500 fires on the Carmel since 1978, each time disrupting the biometry of the forests and causing new tree plantations. Today, there is a fear of loosing the native pine tree of the forest. Already most of the pine trees on the Carmel Mountain are Jerusalem pine trees. These Jerusalem pines have what is known as the Mediterranean genome, unlike the native pine tree. The Jerusalem Pine naturally took over the land, as it is a stronger species genetically with a high heat resistance. This man made issue in addition to pollination details with the native pines on the mountain point that the next generation of the native pine trees will biologically have genetic marks that do not belong to Israel.

Sound familiar? Is this not a type of Darwin-like change, which if applied to humans and environment makes the world stronger and more resistant? Apparently not, because, “for the gene pool,” says Prof. Gabriel Shiller, “fire is a disaster for the reserve. Unlike humans, in the vegetable kingdom the purity of genes is essential for healthy ecosystems.”

In conclusion, although there is a connection between Jews and trees, it’s about time to acknowledge the environmental ethics of each ecosystem to make our relationships with trees deeper. I believe we are now in a right direction.

Original article published on Leadel.net

There is nothing improper and certainly nothing anti-Semitic in Sarah Palin using the term to characterize what she reasonably believes are false accusations that her words or images may have caused a mentally disturbed individual to kill and maim. The fact that two of the victims are Jewish is utterly irrelevant to the propriety of using this widely used term.
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Palin has every right to defend herself against these kinds of attacks . . . [s]till, we wish that Palin had not invoked the phrase “blood-libel” . . . . While the term “blood-libel” has become part of the English parlance to refer to someone being falsely accused, we wish that Palin had used another phrase, instead of one so fraught with pain in Jewish history.
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Instead of dialing down the rhetoric at this difficult moment, Sarah Palin chose to accuse others trying to sort out the meaning of this tragedy of somehow engaging in a “blood libel” against her and others. This is of course a particularly heinous term for American Jews, given that the repeated fiction of blood libels are directly responsible for the murder of so many Jews across centuries—and given that blood libels are so directly intertwined with deeply ingrained anti-Semitism around the globe, even today.
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The term “blood libel” is not a synonym for “false accusation.” It refers to a specific falsehood perpetuated by Christians about Jews for centuries, a falsehood that motivated a good deal of anti-Jewish violence and discrimination. Unless someone has been accusing Ms. Palin of killing Christian babies and making matzoh from their blood, her use of the term is totally out-of-line.

Palin herself said:

It goes back to the Jewish people being falsely accused…A group of people being falsely accused of having blood on their hands.

Personally, Muffti thinks this whole pogrom is ridiculous. Sarah is right – mere rhetoric is not the problem and getting rid of it would be no final solution. The lamestream media has attempted a babi yar on right wing commentators and Muffti just hopes that the Gifford tragedy doesn’t end up being seen in retrospect as a kristallnacht for poor Palin. Her treatment is comparable to Dreyfus’. Fear not friends; this holocaust of accusations will end soon.

After Golda Meir came for a visit to the White House, the following was recorded:

An indication of Nixon’s complex relationship with Jews came the afternoon Golda Meir, the Israeli prime minister, came to visit on March 1, 1973. The tapes capture Meir offering warm and effusive thanks to Nixon for the way he had treated her and Israel.

But moments after she left, Nixon and Mr. Kissinger were brutally dismissive in response to requests that the United States press the Soviet Union to permit Jews to emigrate and escape persecution there.

“The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy,” Mr. Kissinger said. “And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.”

“I know,” Nixon responded. “We can’t blow up the world because of it.”

In the Atlantic, Jefferey Goldberg writes, “Holy shit.” in his blog post tonight: Henry Kissinger to Soviet Jewry: Drop Dead.

I would love to see Kissinger bumping into Sharansky right now.

Through the centuries, Jewish and Christian travelers and pilgrims often visited the site near Bethlehem and remarked on its pillar, made of eleven stones symbolizing the tribes of Israel, named after the sons of Jacob (excluding the twelfth and youngest, Benjamin, the ordeal of whose birth occasioned his mother Rachel’s death).  Of course, we cannot know whether the site is “really” the burial place of Rachel, the “eternal mother,” but it was firmly engraved as such in Jewish and Christian consciousness….

It is true that Muslims are not alone in the impulse to deny Jews their past: consider the regularity with which Jewish cemeteries continue to be vandalized in Christian Europe. But Islam seems especially intent on erasing Jews from history on theological grounds. Flashpoints like Rachel’s tomb (or “Ezekeiel’s tomb” near the site of ancient Babylon) are especially vulnerable because they represent personages specifically claimed by Islam, but they are joined by houses of worship like the Great Synagogue in Oran, Algeria, seized and converted into a mosque in 1960, and communal buildings like the Haim Benchimol hospital in Tangiers, suddenly seized and torn down this year. Admittedly, there are showcase exceptions: the Maimonides synagogue in Cairo, the tiny Jewish communities in Morocco and Tunisia, preserved as if in amber for their considerable value as tourist destinations. But the vast number of sites that formed the living fabric of Jewish life—the cemeteries, synagogues, and schools, not to mention homes and places of work—are forever lost.

Registration is open for the 2010 New Moon Century.

JConnect is back on two wheels this fall for the most fun kosher-friendly distance ride in Southern California. The route? A beautiful, stunning and remarkable journey through the mountains, valleys and coastline of the Santa Monica Mountain Range. Riders come from all backgrounds and demographics.

This year we are continuing raising money and awareness about local hunger issues, through our partnership with the Jewish Federation’s Fed Up With Hunger campaign, and to support the rescue of sea mammals in the Gulf of Mexico.

We encourage interested riders to register and to be in touch with us by emailing James Parlevliet, ride director, james@jconnectla.com to help create ride teams from synagogues, temples, and other groups. Companies, organizations, and individuals that are interested in sponsoring this year’s ride are also encouraged to contact James.

Date: 10-10-10
Cost – $45 — Metric Century, $36 for 36 mile ride

Includes t-shirt and gift bag and more!
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

I, also, wanted to share my two favorite quotes from the conference:

“Religions don’t deserve states; nations do. To read us as [just] a religion is to misrepresent what we are. The Jewish people deserve a state” –Dan Merridor.

“[The] perception of Israel by the West is that they are radical is only because they [the West] have never experienced this threat [terrorism]. Once they start to experience this threat, like we have in Bosnia, they will see that Israel is not radical. Need to call evil by its real name” — Dr. Darko Trifunovic

Dr. David Passig – spoke on “The Next Possible Major Land Maneuver in the Middle East”. There are, he maintained, a series of intersecting driving forces; “fears driven by geography, fears driven by topography, by demography, by new science, by etc.” The first trend he discussed was that of exponential population growth. In 2010, there are approximately seven billion people on earth and initially, according to Passig, 11 – 15 billion are expected by 2050. However, he notes, there is likely to only be nine to ten billion. By the end of the 21st century, Passig states, the human population will shrink back to five to six billion. One problem is the world’s gender ratio. Worldwide, for every 100 females, there are approximately 117 males. This, he argued, is the first time in human history that there are more males than females. This phenomenon, he believes, will impact societies, particularly when they don’t have a biological future. Looking to the past, he noted that such situations generally bred cruelty, invasion, slaughter, and slave-taking. (This trend, he noted, is not true for all countries, as most of the democratic states are fairly gender balanced). A second issue is that, for every 100 mothers, there are only 64 young girls up to the age of 18. This he interprets to mean that human kind is not producing enough females for the future. Egypt, he noted, has 5% more males than females, Jordan 6%, and Saudi Arabia 20%. This is a reversal, he said, given that, in the past, there were always more females than males in Islamic countries. Fundamentalism, he believes, is partly a result of this trend. Moreover, the world is now entering into, what he termed, a “demographic winter.” For millennia 15% of the population was under 5, and 15% over 65, but estimates show that by 2030, a drastic change will be seen, with 17% over 65, and 4% under 5. While it is still unknown what this trend will mean in society, it is clear, he claimed that the world population will be on the decline, particularly given that worldwide fertility rates have dropped by around 50% from 1950 to 2050. Most of the world, he noted, has dropped below 2.1, which is the replacement rate. This, he argued, will lead to the destruction of cultures. This fear, he believes, will likely result in “devastating actions.” Looking at world Jewry, he noted that in 1800, there were approximately three million Jews, and 18 million in 1938. In 2010, there are 13 million Jews, and by 2050, there are expected to be 18 million Jews. Regarding Israel, in 1948 there were 600,000 Jews in Israel, six million in 2010, and by 2050 there are expected to be 15 million. In the past, he claimed, the patterns of invasions due to population growth occurred first out of Africa, but since then, from East to West. This pattern, he believes, is still occurring, which is resulting in a clash in Eurasia. In conclusion, he believes that Turkey will, once again, become a regional superpower, after it awakens from an 80 year sleep. Syria and Lebanon, he stated, will be backed by Russia to start an asymmetric war against Israel, in which Israel will fight back, and Turkey, backed by the U.S., will eventually contain Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, as failed states, which will result in a regional peace treaty between Israel and her neighbors with Turkey as the guarantor.

Mr. Michael Balboni – wore a blue hard hat for his presentation (Awesome!). Balboni argued by arguing that a precaution which is a minimal cost for the benefit potentially gained is not always a good idea. Just as it appears foolish that one would wear a hardhat while presenting because five years prior a bolt had fallen onto a speaker’s head, so too is it foolwing that the U.S. (and only the U.S.) still requires airline passengers to remove their shoes in airports, because five years ago Richard Reid attempted to detonate a shoe bomb. So why does the U.S. do this? In Balboni’s opinion, it is because the U.S. is fighting a reactive war, preparing for the last attack. After 9/11 there was this sense of panic and overnight, every first responder in “every home, town, and village, in the US,” was expected to make the country safer, and immediately, no matter the cost. There are two side of the Homeland Security coin, according to Balboni, “hardware (gates, guards, guns, and gadgets),” and “software (planning, training, exercising).” The goal was to “make every firefighter, sherriff, deputy, etc. ready and able to respond to and/or prevent a terrorist attack. “But when you try to protect everything, you end up protecting nothing.” In the United States, he noted, there are 17,000 law enforcement agencies, 30,00 fire dept, 15,000 ERs, 5,500 hospitals, 18,000 county and parish government, all of which have some autonimity, resulting in a lack of uniformity. This is a prime example, he argued, of why there needs to be federal administration of the capabilities required for the different locations. The private sector, he believes, can offer some excellent solutions to protecting the nation. Many local governments do not understand some of the problems facing counter-terrorism and “the private sector can close that gap and add value to the discussion.”

Prof. Bill Banks – discussed the ways in which the United States has attempted to counter the terrorist threat since 9/11. The United States took 9/11 as an act of war which, according to Banks, resulted in a war paradigm. Congress’ determination to do something (or anything) led to the passing of the AUMF (the Authorization for the Use of Military Force), authorizing the Commander and Chief to use “all necessary and appropriate force against those responsible for September 11 in order to prevent any future acts of terrorism against the us by such persons”. AUMF, however, Banks contends, has become a bunt instrument. The absence of location and time limit contributes have resulted in ambiguities regarding its scope. While some changes have occurred, in actions taken over the last nine years, the majority continue to rely upon the same mechanisms of military force, drone strikes (“in numbers far outstripping previous administration, including the targeting of an American citizen), extraordinary rendition, the State Secrets Clause to keep secrets, the maintainence of the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, military commission trials (which, when the Supreme Court ruled that the Bush military order to try enemy combatants by military commission violated the Geneva conventions, Congress counteracted by creating the Military Commissions Act), and Predator drone strikes.

Lt. Gen Giovanni Marizza – Italy, Marizza noted, has suffered from terrorism in the past. In 1969 there was a big bank bombing in Milan. In 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped and murdered the chairman of some political party. From 1968 to 1986, Palestinian terrorist groups carried out 565 terrorist attacks worldwide, with 64 of them, 11%, being perpetrated in Italy. Separatist violence in Italy, from 1956 -1988, included 361 bombing attacks, resulting in the deaths of 21 people, four of whom were terrorists, and 57 injuries Italy has experienced leftist terrorism, nationalist terrorism, and separatist terrorism. In contending with these threats, Italy has, according to Marizza, adopted a carrot and stick approach. The carrot, he stated, has been to grant privileges to those who renounced terrorism and provided intelligence to government agencies. The stick, he explained, was criminal prosecution, with courts issuing sentences of life imprisonment. Today, in Europe, the primary task, Marizza argued, is to contend with the terrorist threat without infringing upon human rights. Hard power on its own, he contended, is insufficient, just as is soft power; the answer lies in a combination of the two. Turning to the Middle East, Marizza mentioned the need for multinational initiatives in order to help persuade states like Lebanon and Syria from avoiding a war with Israel in 2020. Concluding with Afghanistan, the problem, he said, is that NATO is using a small stick and big carrot. NATO, Marizza argued, should have “promoted regime change and given it immediately to the local people but instead pretending to export democracy in a Stone Age-like country and staying there for decades provokes a feeling of occupation, [and] feeds insurgency.”

For more, you can follow the conference on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.