What???

The Netherlands Spied on Jewish Holocaust Survivors, Considering Them a Danger to Democracy

Interesting fact (and an opinion)

In Arabic, 'Hamas' means "zeal", "strength", or "bravery". In Hebrew, it means "violence".

The portion of the Torah for this week that is read in synagogues, from Noach (the Hebrew book named after Noah in the Jewish scriptures) contains the word Hamas.

My friend, who was watching services this morning, pointed it out to me. It's getting a lot of attention on the Internet given the current events in Israel.

I just think this whole thing is a tragedy. What happened with the attacks on Jews in Israel was horrible, and unforgivable. The response, attacking civilians who are already corralled in Gaza and who have nowhere to go, the history of supplanting Palestinians [who, incidentally, are a nationality, not a religious group, as there are both Muslims and Christians who are Palestinian], so there could be a Jewish state (regardless of it being their ancient homeland) has roots going back a century-and-a-half and breeds extreme emotions and violence on both sides. And that is tragic.

My friend's synagogue has members in Israel. They are thankfully safe, and I am so glad for this. His friends from the congregation in general were shocked and expressed extreme grief at the deaths. I also heard a young man asking a lady on the bus with whom he had class how she and her family were. She said they were relieved her brother was safe, as he'd been at the hospital which was bombed, thinking it would be safer like so many. I nearly cried at her words. I can't imagine how either side feels in terms of lack of safety (even here in America there is fear of attacks for both) and the fate of loved ones. I pray for those affected on both sides who are not the instigators themselves, the ones who viciously began this war.

It's just all so sad.

So sorry to hear this, but what a life!

Nicholas Winton, 106, savior of Jewish children, dies

Nicholas Winton, a Briton who said nothing for a half-century about his role in organizing the escape of 669 mostly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II, a righteous deed like those of Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg, died Wednesday in Maidenhead, England. He was 106.

It was only after Mr. Winton’s wife found a scrapbook in the attic of their Maidenhead home in 1988 — a dusty record of names, pictures and documents detailing a story of redemption from the Holocaust — that he spoke of his all-but-forgotten work in the deliverance of children who, like the parents who gave them up to save their lives, were destined for Nazi concentration camps.

An amazing story

Hero Discovers He's In The Room With 80 People He Saved From Nazi Concentration Camps 50 Years Prior

Sir Nicholas Winton is now 105 years old. But back in 1988 he was persuaded to go onto a television programme after his wife discovered scrapbooks detailing his efforts to save 669 children, mostly Jewish, in Czechoslovakia from the Nazis. Haunted by his inability to save many, he went 50 years without talking about it. While on the programme, they surprised him with many of the audience members being children he had saved, leaving him overcome with emotion.

For more of Winton and the others who made such a difference in saving Jews from the Nazis, check out the Wikipedia entry for him, or read The Rescue of the Prague Refugees 1938–39, which, while out of print, may be available from your local library or through interlibrary loan. IT is also available as an e-book from Google Play. Winton was said to be 'delighted' with it. Again, thanks the George Takei for sharing this. I had heard of Winton's work, but had no idea he was still alive or the full story.

This is so very disturbing...

Leaflet tells Jews to register in East Ukraine

World leaders and Jewish groups condemned a leaflet handed out in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk in which Jews were told to "register" with the pro-Russian militants who have taken over a government office in an attempt to make Ukraine part of Russia, according to Ukrainian and Israeli media.

Jews emerging from a synagogue say they were handed leaflets that ordered the city's Jews to provide a list of property they own and pay a registration fee "or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated," reported Ynet News, Israel's largest news website, and Ukraine's Donbass news agency.

Secretary of State John Kerry said the language of the leaflets "is beyond unacceptable" and condemned whomever is responsible.

"In the year 2014, after all of the miles traveled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable — it's grotesque," he said. "And any of the people who engage in these kinds of activities — from whatever party or whatever ideology or whatever place they crawl out of — there is no place for that."

It's scary that here at the time of Passover (Pesach), anti-Semites are rearing their ugly heads by trying to bully Jews in the Ukraine in a move reminiscent of 1930s Germany. Although the leader of the pro-Russian faction in Donetsk did say they were distributed under his organisation's name, he denied responsibility for them. But even if they were meant to scare the Jewish community and were not backed up with force, it is still disturbing. And if it is ever made policy, we could have a very serious situation on our hands. Anyone with an ounce of understanding of history should be concerned. As the anti-Semitic shootings in Kansas recently show, hatred for Jews is still quite alive and well here in the United States in 2014. For Eastern Europe, the history of anti-Semitism and pogroms is far longer. I hope nothing comes of the Ukrainian story, but I fear there will be more like this if the region destabilises. And may there be justice in the case in Kansas.

Thanks to my friend Jody for posting the Ukrainian story on Facebook.

I've had a quiet night enjoying being alone and having some 'me' time

relaxing to a Pandora channel for Loreena McKennitt and then watching the last two episodes of series one of 'Downton Abbey'. I really must watch the other two before I encounter many more spoilers--there was a trailer for series four on Facebook this morning that managed to give away something major and I'm going 'lalalalalalala' to make sure it doesn't really sink into my brain.

I must get up very early in the morning and take a friend to an appointment before work, so I'm going to keep this brief. Just wanted to check in. Turns out last night I got home and just didn't feel like going onto the computer. I'd had a nice meal of Chinese food from Jin Jin and a couple of episodes of 'Alphas', so it was a nice night, I was just tired. Oh, speaking of Chinese food, I saw two things on Facebook today that were hilarious. The first relates to Chinese food (can't vouch for the numbers):

Then there was this. Even our local YMCA shared this one (although like the other, I first saw it from George Takei):

Today I got a book on fitness for all everyone by the Mayo Clinic. It's full of useful info like how to start a cycling or walking programme, how to exercise for different conditions, etc. Now the trick is going to the Y and putting some of that into practice. I'm going to try to go after my gynaecology appointment tomorrow if I can.

Okay, that's enough for one night. Hope your week is going well. I'll try to write tomorrow. Good night.

Glenn Beck annoyed me greatly

Which probably isn't surprising. What an ass. You don't have to be Jewish to recognise how wrong this is, posing Michael Bloomberg (who is Jewish) in an armband giving a Nazi salute in a graphic before the NRA national convention.

Jewish groups furious after Glenn Beck depicts Bloomberg doing Nazi salute

Abraham Foxman, a Holocaust survivor and national director of the Anti-Defamation League said that Mr Beck's implication that Mr Bloomberg is turning New York into a Nazi-like state was 'outrageous, insensitive and deeply offensive on so many levels.'

'Glenn Beck should know better,' he added. 'He has drawn similar inappropriate analogies to the Holocaust before. We wish he would stop trivializing the history of the Holocaust to score partisan political points.'

and then there was this...

Sharpton And Guests Take On ‘Stunning, Offensive’ ‘Zombie’ Obama Target From NRA Convention

MSNBC’s Al Sharpton went off on Zombie Industries Monday evening for displaying a life-size target that bears a striking resemblance to President Obama at this past weekend’s NRA convention in Houston, Texas. The NRA did eventually ask the company to remove the figure, nicknamed “Rocky,” from its booth, but it is still for sale, for $89.95, on their website.

I don't agree with Al Sharpton a lot, but he was dead right on this--these are racist and offensive target models that look like a sitting president, where people are encouraged to shoot at the target, which spills 'blood' when hit. Would we have a zombie George W Bush, or Abraham Lincoln, for example? No, of course not. Part of the patriotism that I was taught as a child includes respecting the President of the United States (even if you don't agree with the current holder of office). It's not about selling people targets that look like the president in preparation for that armed rebellion that many people on the right seem to think they're going to be part of soon. It scares me that people holding such extremist views happen to also often have guns, and makes me feel less safe as a citizen. It scares me just how many whackadoos are out there who still think Obama is a Muslim, that armed rebellion will be necessary to 'take back the country', etc., etc. Yet everyday the President still manages to actually carry on despite being reviled by these people.

Something to check out

. . . Congress Disposes: ‘FDR and the Jews,’ by Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman

FDR AND THE JEWS
By Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman
Illustrated. 433 pp. The Belknap Press/Harvard University Press. $29.95.

Franklin Roosevelt enjoyed the overwhelming support of American Jews during his presidency, and the reasons are clear. In his three-plus terms from 1933 to 1945, he led the war against Hitler, supported a Jewish homeland in Palestine, appointed a Jew to the Supreme Court, chose another to be his secretary of the Treasury and surrounded himself with Jewish advisers who helped shape the laws that revolutionized the role of government in American life — what some critics sneeringly called the “Jew Deal.” Then, of course, there was Eleanor Roosevelt, whose concern for minorities fused the bond even tighter. When Roose­velt died in 1945, the Rabbinical Assembly of America described him, almost supernaturally, as an “immortal leader of humanity and a peerless servant of God.”

Born to Protestant wealth and privilege, the Roosevelts were hardly immune to the prejudices of their time. Before entering the White House, Eleanor described the future Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter as “an interesting little man but very Jew” and, after attending a function for the Wall Street financier Bernard Baruch, complained: “The Jew party was appalling. I never wish to hear money, jewels and sables mentioned again.” Franklin went even further, using anti-­Semitic banter to charm world leaders like Joseph Stalin who were known to fear and hate Jews. Indeed, it was the ability of the Roosevelts to set aside these prejudices that seemed to distinguish them from so many others of their class. When it mattered most, their nobler instincts took over.

This seems to be a well-researched and balanced look at what FDR did (and did not do) to mitigate the Holocaust, according to The New York Times. The Kindle version is $9.88. I'm considering purchasing it.

A lady of science, at a time women were discouraged from going to school

Her discoveries earned her the Nobel Prize and also paved the way for studying dementia and other brain disorders as well as cancer.

Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini, a Revolutionary in the Study of the Brain, Dies at 103

One of four children, Rita Levi-Montalcini was born in Turin on April 22, 1909, to Adamo Levi, an engineer, and Adele Montalcini, a painter, both Italian Jews who traced their roots to the Roman Empire. In keeping with the Victorian customs of the time, Mr. Levi discouraged his three daughters from entering college, fearing that it would interfere with their lives as wives and mothers.

It was not a future that Rita wanted. She had decided to become a doctor and told her father so. “He listened, looking at me with that serious and penetrating gaze of his that caused me such trepidation,” she wrote in her autobiography, “In Praise of Imperfection” (1988). He also agreed to support her.

She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Turin medical school in 1936, the same year that Mussolini issued a manifesto barring non-Aryan Italians from having professional careers. She began her research anyway, setting up a small laboratory in her home to study chick embryos, inspired by the work of Dr. Hamburger, a prominent researcher in St. Louis who also worked with the embryos.

In 1941, the family fled Turin for the countryside during heavy bombing by Allied forces, and in 1943 the invasion by Germany forced them to Florence. The family returned at the close of the war, in 1945, and Dr. Hamburger soon invited Dr. Levi-Montalcini to work for a year in his lab at Washington University.

Cool

Origin of the Romani People Pinned Down

Europe's largest minority group, the Romani, migrated from northwest India 1,500 years ago, new genetic study finds.

The Romani, also known as the Roma, were originally dubbed "gypsies" in the 16th century, because this widely dispersed group of people were first thought to have come from Egypt. Today, many consider "gypsy" to be a derogatory term.

The Indian theory has been around for awhile, but has now been backed up through genetic testing. The Romany people have suffered discrimination throughout Europe and, like the Jews, were targeted by the Nazis during World War II and sent to death camps. In some post-war Communist countries, there was forced sterilisation. Even outside Europe there is a lot of prejudice against the group. The phrase 'I was gypped', for example, comes from the term 'gypsy' and relates to the perception of thievery and trickery of the often nomadic people. This, to my mind, is as offensive as the phrase 'to jew a deal', which is used to a lesser extent by the ignorant around here and beyond. Most people know enough not to use the latter expression. They don't realise the origin of the former, though, and the Romany are sparse enough here that thoughtless words don't get corrected. While I never heard the latter phrase growing up, I did grow up with the former, and I try to make sure I do not use it.

Having studied European history more thoroughly than American

I was not familiar with General Orders 11, a wartime order by Ulysses S. Grant, or its Kentucky connexion in terms of Paducah. But having a background with a major in History with a minor in Judaic Studies, and being born in and a resident of Kentucky, this seemed interesting.

The Exodus From Paducah, 1862: ‘When General Grant Expelled the Jews,’ by Jonathan D. Sarna

Excellent article; I want to read the book

The 'Iranian Schindler' who saved Jews from the Nazis

Thousands of Iranian Jews and their descendants owe their lives to a Muslim diplomat in wartime Paris, according to a new book. In The Lion's Shadow tells how Abdol-Hossein Sardari risked everything to help fellow Iranians escape the Nazis.

Fariborz Mokhtari's book is available on Kindle right now, and in print in April 2012.

Is this a shameless attempt to shake off the anti-Semite image?

What Is Happening? Mel Gibson To Make Jewish Historical Epic With Joe Eszterhas

We’ve heard about actors or filmmakers trying to do some course correction to rejuvenate or repair their ailing career, but this is ridiculous. Deadline is reporting that Mel Gibson has teamed up with Joe Eszterhas to produce and potentially direct a script about revolutionary Jewish historical figure Judah Maccabee, to be produced under his Icon shingle and released by Warner Bros. Huh?

The story of Maccabee does fit within the Gibson wheelhouse, with its wide historical scope, morally outraged warrior protagonist and bloody battle sequences. Maccabee led a Jewish revolt against the Greek-Syrian armies that conquered Judea in the second century B.C. The sticking point for most, though, will be the hero’s religion, especially after Gibson the filmmaker was lambasted for the palpable anti-Semitism in “The Passion of the Christ,” not to mention his drunk rants which included such memorable gems as “Fucking Jews… The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” The question remains: is Gibson trying to get back in the game or just recover some of the luster from his tarnished image?

Count me as an unbeliever. Gibson has proved over and over again to be an ranting anti-Semite. I shudder to think what he'll do with the Maccabeean story.

An important, if terrible, document

Landmark Hitler letter on Jews unveiled in New York

Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said that the organisation bought the letter for $150,000 (£90,000) from a private dealer last month.

He said the letter - the existence of which has long been known to scholars - was a critical document from World War II because it "ties Hitler directly to the destruction of the Jews".

"In 1919, when he was a nobody he writes a letter... we need not emotional pogroms, we need legislation, we need a national government that would be ruthless enough, to do what? Total removal of the Jews from society," he told the BBC.

When it was written, Hitler was serving in the German army, and had had a tendency to stir up troops with his anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Well, isn't that nice of him?

I don't recall anyone particularly asking to be exonerated, though, especially for the 'crime' of 'killing' a figure that may or may not have existed. Oh, and then there's the fact that no one's been leading pogroms against the Romans all these years. Glad he can clear up a few things, I guess, not that I expect it will do one bit to lessen anti-Semitism, but I also wouldn't expect anyone to be overly grateful. Granted, I'm not Jewish (although if he existed, Jesus WAS), so I can't speak for an entire people. I'm just saying...

In new book, pope exonerates Jews for Jesus' death

This is great--and so true

A Very Special Message: David Mamet Draws a Cartoon, a link I got from Joe.My.God, is wonderful. Click on the link to see the actual cartoon, which says (in case you have trouble reading) [spelling is exactly as it is on the image]:

The Chinese Restaurateurs' Assn.
of the United States
would like to extend our thanks
TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE.
We do not completely understand
your dietary customs
but we are proud and grateful
that your God
insists you eat our food
on Christmas

I think it's hilarious. (It works for Pagans, too. However, I've noticed as time goes by that more Chinese restaurants in this area seem to close for Christmas, including my favourite, The Great Wall.)

Intriguing

Awful Library Books--which looks at books that should be weeded from public library collections--is an entertaining blog which took a look at a book that wasn't so much an awful library book as an intriguing one whose theme matched today's Talk Like a Pirate Day. I'll have to see if my library has a copy. [Alas, I just did, and they don't.] If not, the Kindle edition of Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom--and Revenge is less than $10. It's such a great title. :) Avast ye maties! Find it! Read it! Or ye walk the plank!

Of course young people in America should be able to see this vital documentary

Mystery surrounding documentary film set inside Warsaw Ghetto

Almost seventy years ago a Nazi propaganda film was shot inside the Warsaw Ghetto. It depicted the lives of Jews, most of whom went on to perish in a German concentration camp. Much of the film has been shrouded in mystery. The Nazis never completed it and it is not clear why they made it.

One Israeli filmmaker was determined to explore the origins of the film and this week her documentary investigation is being released in American cinemas.

Restrictions have been placed on the film in the United States for disturbing images, including emaciated corpses, hindering it as a tool of education of the Nazi treatment of the Jews and how film can be used as propaganda. I hope this is reconsidered.

The original footage was unfinished, its purpose not completely understood. The Israeli documentary director has put together not only the film, as well as outtakes later discovered, but the testimony of Germans involved in filming and Warsaw Ghetto survivors' reactions to the film. It sounds like a very powerful combination. The Nazis apparently wanted to show the disparate worlds between the Jewish rich and poor of Warsaw, and to perhaps to record this for posterity of a people only known of in Europe in the past, should their annihilation programme succeed.

Last night

I had two vivid dreams I kept coming back to, both of which involved complex plots within plots. One was science fiction, where a man uncovered (with guidance from a young girl) of a conspiracy to eradicate Jews on a ship that in itself was alive. In that timeline, there had never been a Hitler or Holocaust. But this was being done more Mafia-style, and there were mysterious disappearances. The dream was from the perspective of the man, therefore I experienced things from his point of view.

The other involved a mediaeval institution where Christians, Jews, and Muslims had different statuses but that was changing. The elite were opposed to a change in the status quo, except for the king, who was carefully managing small changes to bring about equality. In fact, a Jewish teenager (who looked like YKWIA) was knighted there in front of the elite, to their consternation. That was experience more like watching the tableau. Indeed, at times the dream shifted and a young woman was watching this like some sort of art film. She was being sought by other people for her magical gifts, which she'd carefully concealed but the others had uncovered. They wanted to help her, but she was running away from them, for magic was not accepted outside a few small groups. I did experience the dream from her perspective.

I don't know where these came from. There's a lot of sense of persecution. I would say it's been spurred by some of the events recently in the Middle East, but although I am very pro-Jewish, I believe the actions of Israel are wrong in dealing with the Palestinians, so I'm not quite pro-Israel.

Now I'm awake and we're having a storm. I feel groggy and want to sleep some more, but its time to get ready for work.

Interesting

Lost Jewish tribe 'found in Zimbabwe'

The Lemba people are easy to distinguish from most other Zimbabweans - they wear skull caps, pray in a language which is a mixture of Hebrew and Arabic, and put the Star of David on their gravestones.

Their oral traditions claim that their ancestors were Jews who fled the Holy Land about 2,500 years ago.

It may sound like another myth of a lost tribe of Israel, but British scientists have carried out DNA tests which confirm their Semitic origin.

These tests back up the group's belief that a group of perhaps seven men married African women and settled on the continent.

Also...

They wear skull caps, practise circumcision, which is not a tradition for most Zimbabweans, avoid eating pork and food with animal blood, and have 12 tribes.

They slaughter animals in the same way as Jewish people, and they put the Jewish Star of David on their tombstones.

Members of the spiritual leaders of the Lemba, a clan known as the Buba, were even discovered to have a genetic element also found among the Jewish priestly line.