Tell us why @ http://tinyurl.com/cool4th and enter to win the
Cool Jew 4th of July Gift Box.

This prize package–valued at $100–contains:

* A Rotem Gear diversity t-shirt that reads, “It takes all of us to make the land bloom,” from Jean Roth
* Alan Orich’s latest Jewish Hero Corps comic book
* “We Can Rise” music CD by Chana Rothman
* Cool Jew book by Lisa Alcalay Klug
* “No Limit Texas Dreidel” game invented by Jennie Rivlin Roberts and Webb Roberts
* “Salud!” Dreidel Drinking Game from ModernTribe.com

A winner will be chosen from the answers and announced on Friday, July 3rd.

No purchase is required to enter. Sorry froylein, ck, themiddle and everyone else outside North America, this contest is only open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.

Take a Moment for Fun and Enter Now

The show airs tomorrow, Wednesday, July 1st, at 1 pm or 7 pm EST at XMRadio.com. Tune in to Channel 156, Oprah Radio, and hear Dr. Maya Angelou discuss how she appreciates and identifies with the tragedies and triumphs of the Jewish people in her own inimitable way.

FYI: The show lasts about an hour and this Jewie segment comes on about 20 minutes before the close.

If you’d like to hear a sample or have only five minutes to spare, check out this snippet of the program online. There’s no XM subscription required for this sample.

Again, if you want a free trial, you can sign up here. Best of all, it’s economic downturn-worthy. No credit card required.

Last September in the LA Times, James Marcus interviewed 75 year-old author Philip Roth about his new book, “Indignatgion.” During the conversation, Marcus and Roth discussed movie adaptations of his novels:

Indignation will be the fifth of Roth’s novels to be made into a film. I ask what he thought of the earlier adaptations, and he gives high marks to Jack Klugman and Ali MacGraw in Goodbye, Columbus, while ruefully acknowledging the cartoonish tone: “A little vulgarity goes a long way, and they did lay it on pretty heavily.” And what about Ernest Lehman’s version of Portnoy’s Complaint, which brought back Richard Benjamin for a second turn as the author’s cinematic proxy? “Unspeakable,” Roth declares. “It’s a movie about shouting. Jewish shouting.” (He proceeds to give a brief, comical example, which strikes me as a specimen of literary history, like Thoreau demonstrating how to peel the bark off a birch tree.)

Marcus seems to have been very impressed by Roth’s subsequent sound bite because he then remixed it into a short dance number that has been described by the Guardian as “the ringtone of choice among hip literary types this summer.” The mix been posted online by US independent publisher Melville House, which as Marcus describes, is always “on the alert for booty-shaking literary artefacts”. Marcus promises that should the mp3 file become popular enough, he will turn it into a 15-minute dance track and soon we will be entertained by the image of David Kelsey, Muffti and Eli Valley body rockin’ to the insane ululations of a 76 year old Jew writer. So yeah, listen to and download the track here!

The annual ROI Summit is set to begin today. One hundred and twenty young Jewish innovators from Israel and around the world will get together near Tel-Aviv for 5 days of brainstorming, networking and skill building sessions. There’s much talk in the organized Jewish community about fostering innovation, but gosh darn it, for the past 4 years the Schusterman Foundation has put its money where it’s mouth is. The Jewlicious Festival has received funding from the Schusterman Foundation for the last 2 years and Jewlicious.ru, our Russian language site, is itself a project that evolved out of and was partly funded by ROI. Thanks to ROI, we managed to see innovative projects get implemented and succeed, like Jerusalem.com, Oleh Records, G_dCast etc. and we look forward to seeing that process continue to have an impact on all our daily lives.

So yeah, I hope that didn’t sound like I was brown nosing too much, but we’ve really been enriched on so many levels by ROI that I can’t overstate the point enough. I know a number of the new crop going into the summit this year and I can’t hardly wait to see what awesomeness transpires. Stay tuned I suppose, we’ll be keeping you updated on that. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Sasha Perry’s first ROI related video above. Sasha is part of this year’s ROI video team and she is also a Jewlicious Festival veteran and a frequent resident of Beit Jewlicious here in Jerusalem. Yay!

Oh and the twitter hash tag for ROI is #roicom. I was shooting for #ILoveBeto but cooler heads prevailed I guess…

Our Shabbat dinner table however, was lively but peaceful. Sarah and Leah helped make Matbuchah which we will turn into Shakshuka come Sunday morning. In doing so they learned first hand of the perils of cleaning hot peppers by hand (sorry ladies!) and there was tons of yummy food for all. We went around the table and made introductions and when it was my turn, I quoted the first line of Pirkei Avot (The Ethics of our Fathers). Rashi commented on the line and wondered if it meant that all of Israel, by mere virtue of being Jewish, had a share in the world to come (or whatever the penultimate goal of Judaism is). That kind of didn’t make sense - why follow the laws then? What’s the incentive to be righteous? The answer was that the sentence isn’t meant to be taken literally. What it means is that when all the Jews are united, only then are they worthy of a portion in the world to come.

Gazing around our table, far from the anger and hatred on the streets of Jerusalem that only further divisiveness, I knew that we were, in some small measure, doing our part to merit inclusion in the world to come. As we sang our Shabbat songs, even those who didn’t know the words joined by tapping a beat on the table and I knew that we had managed to carve out our own slice of Olam Haba around our modest table.

Desert

Abandoned Syrian base, View of a minefield, Golan Heights, 2007

Shai Kremer is the photographer. A true and gifted artist.

Shabbat shalom!

Yesterday marked the three-year anniversary of Shalit’s abduction by Hamas. An Israeli soldier captured during a border raid on Gaza, Hamas is holding Shalit captive. He became the first soldier captured by Palestinian terrorists since Nachson Wachsman was abducted in 1994; tragically Wachsman, z’l, was ultimately murdered. Shalit served in the IDF’s Armor Corps, and at the time of his abduction, held the rank of corporal. The IDF has subsequently promoted him to staff sergeant.

Hamas has barred the International Red Cross from seeing Shalit, demanding that Israel free 1,000 terrorists in exchange for his release. Israel has agreed but negotiations have deadlocked on the number of so-called “heavyweight” prisoners. Shalit holds French citizenship, but both France and the European Union have also been unable to secure his release.

When he was 11, Shalit, wrote a story about two enemies, a shark and a fish, who become friends.

A new YouTube project shows people all of all ages reading his story, in a multi-lingual campaign initiated by the Consulate General of Israel in New York that stresses the universality of this issue.

In 2008, the French town of Raincy and the city of Paris named Gilad an honorary citizen. Rome did so in April, 2009, when Mayor Gianni Alemanno said that the Shalit affair does not concern the state of Israel alone, but the whole of humanity. This week, both Miami and New Orleans followed suit and claimed Gilad as their citizen as well. At a recent rally in Tel Aviv, Israeli singer/songwriter Aviv Geffen called him “everyone’s child.” As Geffen sings, Gilad belongs to all of us.

Please join efforts to appeal for Gilad Shalit’s release. Express your support to President Obama. Write your representatives in Congress. Ask your city to embrace Gilad as its own citizen. Spread the word and share the message. Pray for the release of Gilad ben Aviva and keep this issue alive. Release Gilad Shalit!

This interview was given on June 12th and was part of the ongoing US Administration’s push after Obama’s Cairo speech. Of course, since then many things have happened to point out that Obama’s approach with Iran is entirely off the mark, but I don’t think Hillary’s hedging about US support for Israel as the new policy is going to change.

By the way, Dennis Ross has been removed from his position as envoy to Iran. Some say that it was his own request, some say it’s because the Iranians refused to engage a Jewish envoy, but I wonder whether the following exchange is related.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Your own envoy, Dennis Ross, has said one way to strengthen the position of the United States going into these negotiations is to make it very clear that, if Iran used nuclear weapons against Israel or any U.S. ally, that would be met as an attack on the United States, full response. Now, that was your position during the campaign, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I would make it clear to the Iranians that an attack on Israel would incur massive retaliation from the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is it U.S. policy now?

CLINTON: I think it is U.S. policy to the extent that we have alliances and understandings with a number of nations. They may not be formal, as it is with NATO, but I don’t think there is any doubt in anyone’s mind that, were Israel to suffer a nuclear attack by Iran, there would be retaliation.

STEPHANOPOULOS: By the United States?

CLINTON: Well, I think there would be retaliation. And I think part of what is clear is, we want to avoid a — a Middle East arms race which leads to nuclear weapons being in the possession of other countries in the Middle East, and we want to make clear that there are consequences and costs.

The video of this exchange is available here and is worth watching.

(Hat tip: Jewish Newswire)

The consequences of an attack have consistently left me apprehensive about the great risk involved for Israel. With Obama coming to power in the US, the notion of an attack became remote because he was clear that he intended to talk the Iranians down. The events of the past two weeks, with the probable theft of the election by the present Iranian government as backed by the imams and the mini-revolt that has followed, change the dynamic regarding the US.

First of all, Obama looks weak, indecisive and unsupportive of natural democratic rights of Iranian citizens. Second, as the current government proceeds to squash opponents and eventually to retain power, his assertions about talking to them being a sufficient method of achieving a compromise on the nuclear arms program appears weaker and weaker as a strategy. If anything, it preempts any such talks because it makes clear that there is nobody with whom to talk.

This, in some strange way, re-opens the door for a possible Israeli attack. After all, it will be hard to contest the Israeli claim that the current government is dangerous and cannot be approached diplomatically. Still, the dangers are so great that I cannot imagine such an attack and the implications for Israel. I cannot imagine any Israeli leader actually approving such an attack since it would surely be a suicide mission for many of Israel’s pilots.

To make the situation even more complicated, I saw an article in MEForum that truly captures the dangerous intentions emanating from Iran. The article effectively highlights how the language coming from Iran’s leadership over time addresses Israel from a genocidal perspective. Looking at this list, one can only imagine how the world viewed Hitler as somebody who could be talked down even as he was outlining precisely what he intended to do.

Timeline of Statements by Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders (2000-2008)

Dec. 15, 2000 Khamane’i
Iran’s position, first expressed by the imam, and stated several times by those responsible, is that the cancerous tumor called Israel must be uprooted from the region

Jan. 15, 2001 Khamane’i
“the perpetual subject of Iran is the elimination of Israel from the region” translated by journalist Kasra Naji: “mission of IRI is to erase Israel from the map of the region.”

Dec. 14, 2001 Rafsanjani
“If one day … the Islamic world will be equipped with weapons available to Israel now … the employment of even one atomic bomb inside Israel will wipe it off the face of the earth but would only do damage to the Islamic world.”

Sept. 22, 2003 Banner on Shihab 3 missile (photo)
“Israel must be uprooted and wiped from history.”

Oct. 2005 Iranian regime
Iranian publishers display English edition of Protocols of Zion at a Frankfurt book fair

Apr. 2005 Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani
“One should fight the Jews and vanquish them so that the conditions for the advent of the Hidden Imam will be met.”

Oct. 26, 2005 Ahmadinejad
“Our dear Imam [Khomeini] ordered that this Jerusalem occupying regime must be erased from the page of time. This was a very wise statement.” “Soon this stain of disgrace will be cleaned from the garment of the world of Islam, and this is attainable.”

Oct. 27, 2005 Ahmadinejad
“Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury.” Any Islamic leader “who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world.”

Oct. 30, 2005 Hossein Shariatmadari
“We will be satisfied with nothing less than the complete obliteration of the Zionist regime from the political map of the world.”

Apr. 14, 2006 Ahmadinejad
“Israel heading towards annihilation.” “a dried, rotten tree that will collapse with a single storm.”

June 9, 2006 Mohammad Ali Ramin
“Among the Jews, there have always been those who killed God’s prophets. … it was said that they were the source for such deadly diseases as the plague and typhus. This is because the Jews are very filthy people. For a time, people also said that they poisoned water wells belonging to the Christians and thus killed them.”

Oct. 22, 2006 Resalat (Tehran)
“Great war is ahead of us, perhaps tomorrow, or in a few months, or even a few years. The nation of Muslims must prepare for the great war, so as to completely wipe out the Zionist dream, and remove this cancerous growth.”

Nov. 2006 Banner on bus at military rally
“Israel should be wiped off the face of the world!”

Dec. 2006 Ahmadinejad
“the Zionist regime will be wiped out, and humanity will be liberated” — freed, that is, from the “acquisitive and invasive” minority.

Sept. 2007 Ahmadinejad
“brutal Zionists”
“Zionist regime”
“Palestine and Iraq will be liberated from the domination of the occupiers, and the people of America and Europe will be free of the pressure exerted by the Zionists.”

Oct. 4, 2007 Shariatmadari
“Death to America and death to Israel are not only words written on paper, but … a symbolic approach that reflects the desire of all the Muslim nations.”

Feb. 5, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“A people falsified, invented. [Israel] will not last, they must leave the territory.”

Feb. 12, 2008 Ahmad Jannati
“[We have] bigger crowds, slogans more enthusiastic, ‘Islamic Republic of Iran’ regime getting better and better.”
“The blind enemies should see that the wish of these people is the death and destruction of America and Israel.”

Feb. 18, 2008 Mohammad Ali Jaafari
“In the near future, we will witness the destruction of the cancerous microbe Israel by the strong and capable hands of … Hezbollah.”

Feb. 18, 2008 Manoucher Mottaki
“even after 60 years, the Zionist regime has neither gained any legitimacy nor played any role in this region.”

Feb. 23, 2008 Yahya Rahim Safavi
“with God’s help, the time has come for the Zionist’s regime death sentence. … the death of this unclean regime will arrive soon following the revolt of the Muslims.”

Feb. 23, 2008 Haddad Adel
“The countdown has begun for the destruction of the Zionist regime.”

Feb. 20, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“they [the global powers] have created a black and filthy microbe called the Zionist regime.”

Mar. 14, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“the Zionist regime is on its way out [destructible].”

Apr. 17, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“The region and the world are prepared for great changes and for being cleansed of Satanic enemies” [referring to the Great Satan (USA) and Little Satan (Israel)]

May 13, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“global arrogance established the Zionist regime.” “[which is] a stinking corpse”

May 13, 2008 Mohammad-Reza Khabbaz, member of the central committee of National Trust reformist party
“Creation of Israel only served the purpose of creating a cancerous tumor in the body of Islamic society.”

June 13, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“terrorist and criminal state … backed by foreign powers … regime to be swept away by Palestinians.”

June 14, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Israel’s days are numbered … peoples of region know there is the narrowest opportunity to annihilate this false regime.”

July 2, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Thanks to God, your wish will soon be realized, and this germ of corruption will be wiped off the face of the world.”

July 24, 2008 Esfandiar Rahim Masha’i
“Israel is a cancerous tumor.”
“Israel will soon disappear.”

Sept. 23, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“The Zionists are the eternal enemy of ‘the dignity, integrity, and rights of the American and European people.”

“Although they are few in number, the Zionists have been dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centers as well as the political decision-making centers of some European countries and the United States in a deceitful, complex and furtive manner.”

“Even some presidential or premier nominees in some big countries have to visit these people, take part in their gatherings, swear allegiance and commitment to their interests in order to attain financial or media support.”

Even “the great people of America and various nations of Europe” are caught in the clutches of Jewish power.

They “need to obey the demands and wishes of a small number of acquisitive and invasive people. These nations are spending their dignity and resources on the crimes and occupations and the threats of the Zionist network against their will.”

“Today … the Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse. There is no way for it to get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters.”

Sept. 25, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Zionism … is the root cause of insecurity and wars. … What commitment forces the U.S. government to victimize itself in support of a regime that is basically a criminal one?”

Nov. 26, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Iran will support Hamas until the destruction of Israel.”

Dec. 25, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“If Christ was on Earth today, undoubtedly he would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists, and bullies the world over.” [Iran hangs nine individuals before 12/24/08 bringing the yearly total to 244.]

Dec. 30, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“the real Holocaust is now taking place in Gaza Strip and Palestine.”

Source: Genocide Prevention Now World Situation Room of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem, and Genocide Prevention Program of the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Published with the permission of Genocide Prevention Now website. An expanded version of this paper and timeline will be posted on the Genocide Prevention Now website.

This is a complex situation, but one that nobody should take lightly.