The Jewish High Holydays

As we are celebrating another Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, it is a good time to talk about the singularly most important play/musical about Judaism. Fiddler on the Roof.

No creative work by or about Jews has ever won the hearts and imaginations of Americans so thoroughly as the musical Fiddler on the Roof.

Everyone enjoys this show, whose musical numbers—“Tradition,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “To Life,” “Matchmaker,” and others—not only enliven Jewish weddings but are commonly understood to represent something essential about Jews and Jewishness. Jeremy Dauber opens his new biography of Sholem Aleichem with Fiddler because Fiddler is how the beloved Yiddish author is known—if he is known at all—to English readers. “Forget Sholem Aleichem,” writes Dauber, “there’s no talking about Yiddish, his language of art, without talking about Fiddler on the Roof. There’s no talking about Jews without talking about Fiddler.” And Dauber ends the book by tracing the stages through which Sholem Aleichem’s stories of Tevye the Dairyman and his daughters were transformed by successive translators and directors into what, by the time the movie version of Fiddler was released in 1971, the New Yorker’s normally severe critic Pauline Kael would call “the most powerful movie musical ever made.”

My grandfather was a dairyman in Ukraine too. He brought his family to America around the year 1905. That was the year fictional Tevye brought his family to America.

The Hate Goes On!

America has a serious problem. It’s called HATE. Every minority in the United States lives in constant fear of being attacked.

The New York Post reported Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dished out wild COVID-19 conspiracy theories this week during a press event at an Upper East Side restaurant, claiming the bug was a genetically engineered bioweapon that may have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.

Kennedy floated the idea during a question-and-answer portion of raucous booze and fart-filled dinner at Tony’s Di Napoli on East 63d Street in NYC.

“COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,” Kennedy said. “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”

“We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact,” Kennedy hedged.

I guess the disease mistook me as a Caucasian because I do not have a Jewish surname. Both my wife and I (both Ashkenazi Jews) contracted COVID-19 after we were inoculated. My wife is suffering from Long Covid. I wonder who is a Caucasian?

A CNN poll last month showed that about one-fifth of Democratic voters supported Kennedy’s run for president. Some 60% planned to support Biden, and 8% favored Williamson.

Passover 2023

It starts tonight.

Is Israel becoming a theocracy?

Israel is a thriving democracy that has been the source medical and computer technology. Israel’s primary exports are Cut diamonds, refined petroleum, pharmaceuticals, machinery and equipment, medical instruments, computer hardware and software, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel.

The ultraorthodox Jews in Israel want to impose their views of social behavior on the entire population. To achieve that goal they want to take control of the country’s judicial system. Large demonstrations against the take over have developed over the past week. However there have also been large demonstrations supporting the government’s plan to impose religious law on everyone.

In other words it is a battle between a secular society similar to the United States or a society similar to Iran. Iran’s formal name is Islamic Republic of Iran. Israel might then be titled the Jewish State of Israel.

CNN reports

Israel’s contentious judicial overhaul legislation will be put on hold until the next session of the Knesset, after the Passover recess in April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.
His statement followed a nationwide protest that brought Israel to a standstill. The strikes and mass protests were sparked by Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defense minister after he spoke out against the far-reaching legislation.
The nation’s largest labor union called an end to the strike after Netanyahu’s announcement, but warned there would be more if the “prime minister returns to aggressive legislation.”
Under the proposals, the government would have control over the appointment of judges, and parliament would gain the power to override Supreme Court decisions. Opponents say the plan threatens the foundations of Israeli democracy.

American Jews are becoming appalled over the impact that the ultraorthodox in Israel are having on how the country functions.

The best example of the orthodox interference with the lives of its citizens is marriage law. The issue of civil marriages is a major issue for secular and non-Orthodox Jews, as they are required to follow Orthodox practice to marry in Israel.

As an American Jew I am appalled but what ever the majority want that is what they will have.

Tevye has died

Israeli actor Chaim Topol, known for his iconic role of Tevye in the film “Fiddler on the Roof,” has died at the age of 87.

A cause of death was not revealed, however his son told the Israeli press last year that his father was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Raised in Tel Aviv and revered as a top actor in his native land, Topol appeared in over 30 movies across Israel and the United States. He earned two Golden Globe Awards, one for the role of Tevye in the 1971 film production of “Fiddler on the Roof” – he originated the role on London’s West End in 1967. He was additionally nominated for a Tony Award when he revisited the part in the 1991 Broadway revival.

In 2015, Israel celebrated 67 years of independence, honoring Topol with the Israel Prize for his lifetime achievements.

One year earlier, the University of Haifa gave Topol an honorary degree, recognizing his cultural impact for more than 50 years.

Topol was also a musician, recording several singles and albums. He was featured on the “Fiddler on the Roof” movie album, as well as the London cast album from 1967. One of the songs his character Tevye sings is the notable “If I Was A Rich Man.”

Countless Israeli leaders shared their sorrow for the loss of Topol, acknowledging the legacy he left behind.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Topol’s “contribution to Israeli culture will continue to exist for generations.” .

Israel’s ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, said Topol was “one of the most outstanding Israeli actors,” who “filled the movie screens with his presence and above all entered deep into our hearts.”

GOP removes Rep. Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs Committee

Citing her comments on Israel and Jews the Republican-led House Thursday voted along party lines to remove Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over previous comments she had made.

Born in Somalia, Omar fled the country’s civil war when she was eight. The family spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before arriving in the United States, according to her congressional biography. In 1997, she moved to Minneapolis with her family, living in the city that she now represents in Congress. Omar is a Muslim. She has been a fierce critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and routinely questions U.S. aid to Israel.

Omar faced criticism in 2019 from both sides of the aisle for comments she made during a town hall and for controversial Twitter replies.

During the town hall event, Omar suggested Israel demands “allegiance” from American lawmakers, adding that “a lot of our Jewish colleagues, a lot of our constituents, a lot of our allies, (think) that everything we say about Israel (is) anti-Semitic because we are Muslim.”

If it was up to me I would expel her from the House of Representatives along with others who have made racist remarks. Omar was just re-elected and so her constituents want her to continue serving. This is how democracy functions.

GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed Wildfires on Secret Jewish Space Laser. Greense was re-elected too.

Sadly Omar’s hate is no joke.

Israel is Becoming a Theocracy

This is complicated.

Israel’s biggest foreign supporter has been American Jews and American Jewish organizations. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States.

The number of Jews worldwide stands at approximately 15.3 million compared to 15.2 million in the 2021, according to newly released statistics from The Jewish Agency for Israel. Among the global Jewish population, the number of Jews in Israel is 7 million. Approximately 6 million Jews live in the United States. Clearly the American Jewish population is a significant part of the total.

The Right of Return has been the most important part of creating the Sate of Israel. Israel is the one place I can go when the crimes against Jews appears to resemble Hitler’s attacks on Jews prior to WWII. Now extreme Jews in Israel want to change that law. Candidates for Religious Zionist parties have long argued for closing a “grandfather clause” that allows the descendants of Jews to immigrate to Israel provided they have one Jewish grandparent. As part of Netanyahu’s prospective coalition, the traditional religious and Religious Zionist leaders alike have started to lobby to cancel this clause. This, too, would be a major change in Israel.

More than 300 U.S. rabbis have put their signatures to a letter warning that Israel’s new government under incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could do “irreparable harm” with extremist policies.

The letter cautions against policy proposals from extreme Jewish nationalist members set to join Netanyahu’s Cabinet and government, calling them “anathema to the tenets of democracy.”

The rabbis argue the policies could erode women’s rights, expel Arab Israelis and override Israeli Supreme Court rulings, among other actions they say could run counter to the country’s values.

If implemented, the policies “will cause irreparable harm to the Israel-Jewish Diaspora relationship, as they are an affront to the vast majority of American Jews and our values,” the letter reads.

The Washington Post reports Religious Zionist leaders already pursuing plans to restrict the rights of minorities, alter the system of governmental checks and balances, hollow out the Israeli judiciary, exert influence over the army and security forces, and allow harsher treatment of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories. AIPAC and other American Jewish organizations will have a difficult time receiving support of American Jews and other supporters of Israel.

Thousands of menorahs in Billings, Montana

Billings, Montana is not the home of a large Jewish population. I found there are estimates of 5,000 Jews in all of Montana.

Jews light the menorah during Hanukkah to remember the miraculous triumph of the Maccabee in ancient times, lighting one candle each night for eight nights. Classical Jewish texts recommend placing menorahs in windows of homes to publicize the celebration of a miracle.

“In that way, in a sense, the light will be spread,” says Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. “The light of understanding, the light of tolerance, the light of Jewish identity, all of those.”

But will a menorah in a window really make a difference in the fight against antisemitism?

It can – and has.

Look no further than the town of Billings, Montana, whose citizens fought back in 1993 after someone launched a brick through the window of then 5-year-old Isaac Schnitzer’s bedroom. A menorah in the window sparked the attack, according to The New York Times. The Billings Gazette published a menorah drawing in response, and thousands hung these makeshift menorahs on their windows. Jews and non-Jews alike.

The Billings Gazette is recreating the full-page menorah ad this year and will ask the community to repeat history and place them in their windows. The move comes after swastikas and threatening messages recently appeared at a local high school.

“It’s important to mark this anniversary because we don’t ever want to forget the power of love,” Cole says. “Common decency is more powerful than hate.”

Billings is working with Shine A Light, a coalition of organizations raising awareness about antisemitism. In addition to engaging several local communities like Billings, the group has partnered with corporations like Google, iHeart Media and Airbnb.

All this begs the question, about 30 years later, “what’s the wider community able to do to make Jewish families and the Jewish community feel more secure, at a very insecure moment?” asks Jacobs.

Menorahs in public spaces this time of year suggests solidarity.

“It’s a statement against antisemitism broadly given what has been happening,” Neufeld says. “It’s a sign of allyship to Jews, that they are not alone, and that these attacks affect everyone. It’s also a deep recognition that antisemitism doesn’t just affect Jews, but affects everybody, that it is part of the conspiratorial glue, that is key to so much of hate in society today.”

Jewish Right to Return is under Assault

American Jews should be frightened about the rise of anti-semitism and where would Jews go if the hate becomes intolerable. Would American Jews be welcomed in Israel? It appears the right to return is under assault by Israel’s ultra-orthodox Jews.

Religious Zionist Party (RZP) MK and Otzma Yehudit faction head Itamar Ben-Gvir, expected to be a senior minister in the upcoming Israeli government, has made a number of statements over the past few days regarding his intentions for policy changes. The most concerning is Prioritizing Orthodox Judaism over other denominations. It would also mean no recognition by the Israeli government of Reform and Conservative conversions, as well as no more general support for these movements.

Most American Jewish groups voice their delight that Israel is a democracy but many are now voicing their concern of RXP’s participation in the Israeli government. The Washington Post reports “Criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government has been heard from American Jews for a while now, but a simple 20-word tweet from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the largest American Israel lobby, has sent shock waves through the political establishment in Israel.”

“The views of Otzma Yehudit are reprehensible. They do not reflect the core values that are the very foundation of the State of Israel,” AJC wrote in its statement. “The party might conceivably gain enough votes to enter the next Knesset, and potentially even become part of the governing coalition.”

AIPAC’s tweet simply said it agreed with the AJC and added that it “has a long-standing policy not to meet with members of the racist and reprehensible party.”