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1. This Shabbat is Shabbat Hebron - Thousands Expected
by Elad Benari
Thousands of Jews are expected to visit Hebron this Shabbat to mark "Shabbat Hebron".
The Shabbat on which the parasha Chayei Sarah is read is known as "Shabbat Hebron" since it takes place in the city of Hebron. According to the story, Sarah lived 127 years and died in Hebron. Abraham asked the Hittites to intercede for him with Ephron son of Zohar as he wanted to buy from him the Cave of the Patriarchs (Me'arat HaMachpela in Hebrew) at full price in order to bury Sarah there. Abraham paid Ephron 400 shekels of silver for the land, and later buried Sarah in the cave. The site is considered the second holiest site to Jews after the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
It has become a tradition for Jews from Israel and around the world to spend Shabbat Chayei Sarah in Hebron. Everyone gathers together for prayer services in the Cave of the Patriarchs. Tours of the towns and projects in the area also take place.
2. Kashrut Alert: No to Grape Children's Liquid Tylenol
by Chana Ya'ar
Kosher consumers are being warned to avoid Canadian-produced Children's Liquid Tylenol due to a change in the formula.
Only the Canadian-produced, grape-flavored version of the sweet-tasting medicine, produced by McNeil Consumer Health, is no longer kosher, according to the Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc) and New Square Kashrus Council kosher supervision agencies. Tylenol is a popular medication for reducing fever and symptoms of cold and flu. It is used worldwide and also imported to Israel.
The reason for the alert is due to the glycerin used in the product, which is produced from non-kosher sources, specifically pork and other non-kosher meat.
Liquid Tylenol and Motrin produced in the U.S. were known to use kosher glycerin, but have been off the market for a few months. Liquid Tylenol is now being imported from a Canadian plant, which informed the cRc that their product contains the non-kosher animal glycerin. Accordingly, the product is not kosher; thus it is recommended that consumers consult a competent rabbi to find out whether the product may be used.
It is noteworthy that (a) the liquid Tylenol produced for adults does not contain any glycerin and (b) there is a new Triaminic Fever Reducer which contains the same active ingredient as Tylenol and is certified kosher by the OU. (Orthodox Union)
Currently there is no grape-flavored Children's Liquid Tylenol produced in the United States, and that which is being distributed comes from the Canadian plant. The company voluntarily recalled its liquid children's products in the U.S. in April and ceased production pending reorganization of the plants.
Although there are no kashrut considerations attached to the U.S. product, the manufacturer is not expected to resume U.S. production until 2011. It is recommended to consult one's doctor and rabbi for advice with regard to appropriate substitutes on all medical issues.
3. IsraAid Team Heads to Haiti as Cholera Outbreak Looms
by Chana Ya'ar
The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid – IsraAID – is sending a team to Haiti Thursday night to check the progress of its work on that quake-struck island.
Since January 16 – four days after an earthquake rocked Haiti, destroying much of the infrastructure in the island's capital city of Port-au-Prince – Israeli medical professionals and others have worked to help local residents recover from the disaster.
Now a cholera outbreak is threatening the city and its surrounding communities. Thus far, some 200 people have already succumbed to the epidemic.
The IsraAID medical staff has been meeting with United Nations personnel to discuss the impact of the cholera outbreak on associated programs in the region, including those of the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development (NISPED) and Tevel B'Tzedek.
From Haiti, the team will travel to New Orleans to participate in the upcoming Jewish General Assembly, where IsraAid will present a unique exhibit of an IDF field hospital tent used during this year's crisis in Haiti. The tent was later donated to IsraAid by the IDF, which transformed it into the first official school operating in the camps of Port-au-Prince.
Participants at the Jewish General Assembly will have the opportunity to see drawings, photos and videos of the Israeli operation in Haiti.
Services provided over the past 10 months to the island population by the IsraAid staff, beyond the basic emergency medical care, included primary family medical care, medical rehabilitation, informal education, food production, women empowerment and children's safe-space programs.
4. Israeli-Arab Human Rights Leader: 'I Spied for Hizbullah'
by Chana Ya'ar
An Israeli-Arab human rights activist has confessed to spying for the Hizbullah terrorist organization.
Amir Makhoul headed the Israeli-Arab organization Ittijah, a group that has rejected anti-terror clauses in funding agreements. The Haifa-based organization, established in 1985, describes itself as “the network for Palestinian non-governmental organizations in Israel.” At present, his brother Issa – a former Israeli-Arab Knesset Member – heads the organization.
Amir Makhoul, who was convicted Wednesday, confessed to charges of espionage and aggravated espionage, according to a statement issued by the Justice Ministry. Under the terms of a plea bargain deal, Makhoul also pleaded guilty to charges to “contact with a foreign agent and conspiracy to aid the enemy in time of war.”
Sentencing will take place in December, with the prosecution seeking a prison term of 10 years, and defense attorneys hoping for a maximum seven-year sentence.
Makhoul was arrested by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) earlier in the year, together with Omar Radwan Said of Kafr Kana. Both were accused of spying for the Lebanese-based terrorist group, and both denied the accusations at the time.
The arrests set off a wave of angry protests in Haifa's Arab community. The Arab advocacy group Adalah charged at the time that the arrests were politically motivated because the suspects were not members of mainstream political parties.
Prosecutors for the state said that Makhoul's admission has put an end to accusations of political persecution.
Said is a member of the Balad political party, once headed by former Knesset Member Azmi Bishara, who fled Israel to avoid indictment on charges of selling classified information to Hizbullah during the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Said's attorney and state prosecutors reached a plea bargain deal in which Said was sentenced to seven months in prison on charges of “working for an illegal organization.” Said completed his jail term and was freed last month.
During Israel's 3-week Operation Cast Lead counter terrorist war in 2008-2009 against the Hamas rulers of Gaza, Ittijah issued a statement accusing Israel of conducting a campaign of genocide.
In an interview with researcher Jonathan Dahoah-HaLevi, Makhoul stated that he sees Hamas as a legitimate political group, and added that he believes terrorist attacks targeting Israeli civilians are not a war crime.
5. Report: German Foreign Ministry Cooperated with Hitler
by Hillel Fendel
Contrary to popular belief, Germany’s Foreign Ministry did not oppose Hitler, but rather acted to further anti-Semitism in the world. A new report by an international commission of inquiry debunks a long-standing myth of German Foreign Ministry “fairness” during the Hitler era.
"As time goes by, the Germans are learning that there was no area in Germany at the time that was not tainted with and involved in the plan to destroy the Jews."
The report reveals for the first time that Foreign Ministry officials on all levels were actively involved in planning and carrying out the Final Solution. Even before World War II, they advanced extreme proposals for what they called at the time a “German or pan-European problem” - namely, the Jews.
Fischer Appointed the Committee After Ministry Honored Nazis
The committee was appointed by former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer back in 2005, after he discovered that a Ministry publication included obituaries for Ministry officials who were former Nazis. He decided to establish an international committee to investigate the history of the Ministry’s involvement in the Holocaust crimes of the Third Reich and in pursuing post-war justice.
The nearly 900-page document will be presented today to Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who is planning to include it in the syllabus for diplomatic training.
Four historians were on the committee: Prof. Moshe Zimmerman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Professors Norbert Frei and Eckart Conze of Germany, and Dr. Peter Hayes of Northwestern University in the U.S. “For many years,” Zimmerman explained, “the Foreign Ministry in Germany attempted to create an image amidst the German public that it played ‘fairly’ vis-à-vis the Jews during World War II.”
In fact, however, the report shows that not only did the officials defend the Nazis’ anti-Semitism around the world, but they even viewed the Ministry’s job as one of dissemination of anti-Semitism around the world. “Diplomats stationed throughout Europe and even in eastern Asia,” according to Zimmerman, “became organizers, perpetrators and partners in the campaign to destroy the Jews.”
One document uncovered by the committee unabashedly explained the purpose of an official trip by a Foreign Ministry official to Belgrade as follows: “Liquidation of Jews in Belgrade and talks with Hungarian envoys in Budapest,” in the words of the official himself.
Other documents show the great involvement of then-Foreign Ministry Director, Ernst von Weizsacker – father of recent German President Richard von Weizsacker– in the Final Solution. Contrary to his reputation as a strong opponent of Hitler, the committee found documents with his signature authorizing the deportation of Jews from France to the Auschwitz death camp.
Another finding: After World War II, many Nazi diplomats remained in the Foreign Ministry, and many were stationed in Arab countries or in Latin America, where their presence would arouse little opposition.
Even Before Hitler
The report also reveals that the Ministry had “Jewish affairs experts” whose anti-Jewish schemes pre-dated even those of the Reich Security office. One Ministry official formulated a plan in January 1939 to persecute Jews around the world. This was even before Hitler’s famous Reichstag speech of that month, in which he threatened clearly: “Europe will not have peace until the Jewish question has been disposed of… If the international-finance Jewry inside and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations into a world war yet again, then the outcome will not be the victory of Jewry, but rather the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!”
“As time goes by,” Zimmerman summed up, “the Germans are learning that there was no area in Germany at the time that was not tainted with and involved in the plan to destroy the Jews. Even people thought to be very fair, such as in the Foreign Ministry, are now seen to have been involved in the execution of the Final Solution.”
6. Most Popular British Name: Mohammed, Muhammed, etc.
by Hillel Fendel
The most common name given to baby boys born in England in 2009 was none other than Mohammed, in its various forms.
The name Mohammed is spelled 12 different ways. The most popular spellings were Mohammed and Mohammad, which were the given names of 3,300 and 2,162 babies, respectively. Other spellings include Muhammed, Mohamed, Mahamed, and even Mohmmed. In total, the name was given to 7,549 British baby boys in 2009 - 185 more than were named Oliver.
A report issued by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in London indicates that the second-most popular name was Oliver, followed by Jack, Harry and Alfie. Next-most popular were Joshua, Thomas, Charlie, William, James, and Daniel.
The ONS does not recognize the various spellings of Mohammed as being the same name, and therefore pronounced Oliver the most popular name of 2009.
Muslims make up roughly 3% of Britain’s 58 million people, but their birth rate is higher than the norm for England..
The most popular girl’s name in Britain last year was Olivia, followed by Ruby, Chloe, Emily and Sophie.
7. Official: Jewish Agency Has Not 'Abandoned Aliyah'
by David Lev
Reports of the demise of the Jewish Agency's Aliyah programs are highly exaggerated, says Michael Jankelowitz, a senior spokesperson for the organization. “We're not moving out of Aliyah,” he says. “Instead, we're undergoing structural changes that we believe will strengthen the cause of Israel, Jewish identity, and Aliyah even further.”
Aliyah has been a confusing subject for many immigrants from North America – perhaps now more than ever, as several programs for new immigrants from the U.S. and Canada run by different government ministries are canceled or revamped. Jankelowitz understands that confusion – and believes that the Jewish Agency can go a long way to clarifying it, making itself more efficient and effective.
“Natan Sharansky, who now directs the Jewish agency, is as committed to Aliyah as anyone, but he realizes that without identification with Israel and the Jewish people, American Jews are not going to come here. We've refocused our strategy to ensure that we can build that identification, which we believe is the best – maybe even the only – way to encourage Jews to move here,” says Jankelowitz.
The new direction
The new focus, as described in a document called “Securing the Future: Forging a Jewish Agency for Israel and the Jewish People,” entails expanding educational and identification programs among diaspora Jewish communities, and encouraging youth to get to know Israel via programs like Taglit (Birthright) and Masa. The program was approved last June and put into operation this week.
From a practical point of view, the plan entails the closure of the three independent units that made up the Jewish Agency – the education, Aliyah, and Israel departments – and rolling all their functions into a single unit. As a result, the Agency has been attacked by Mks and several Israeli newspapers, who accuse it of “giving up” on Aliyah.
But nothing could be further from the truth, says Janekelowitz. “Instead of having three director generals, we will now have one, who will coordinate all of the Agency's resources for a single goal – encouraging connection with Israel, and from there, encouraging the next step, which is Aliyah.” Clarifying the mission will help makes things clearer to participants in programs, and to workers in Israel and abroad – as well as to those making Aliyah, who will know what to expect from each element in the Aliyah process.
Not NBN's fault
Why the change? “Let's face it, what we had until now just wasn't working,” a source close to Sharansky told Israel National News. “Even with the best efforts of Nefesh B'Nefesh – which is doing fantastic work - no more than 4,000 Jews have made Aliyah from the U.S. in any single year. And its not the fault of NBN, the Jewish Agency, or anyone else. We are spending millions, even tens of millions, and Aliyah has been, and continues to be, statistically next to zero. In 2009, the number went up from 3,000 to 4,000 – and that was at the height of the financial crisis in the U.S.”
Whatever motivates western Aliyah, says the source, it isn't persecution or economic privation.
So what does motivate Aliyah? “We have been poring over reports and studies done by the top sociological researchers in the American Jewish community, and we've made some interesting observations,” says the source. “The most successful Aliyah program in history from North America is Masa, which takes college kids and young adults and sends them to Israel for a semester of study, work and touring. Seventeen percent of Masa participants, who generally did not have a strong Jewish education, end up making Aliyah.” What's more, the source says, 92% of non-Orthodox Jewish communal leaders in the U.S. under 40 years of age have been on Masa or other fourth month-plus programs in Israel.
“We've seen studies that show a clear connection between participation in Taglit and increased participation in Jewish community activities,” the source continues. “It's clear that the first step to get them to make Aliyah is to interface with Israel, and in order to get them to do that, you have to connect them to the Jewish community and to Israel. That's what this plan is all about.”
In any event, says Jankelowitz, the Jewish Agency remains formally in charge of Aliyah. “We take care of the filing of paperwork and approval, which we are legally bound to do, and once olim get here, they take advantage of the Agency's programs for new immigrants. But we need to refocus – we need to be relevant to the needs of Jewish communities today. Fifty or sixty years ago, the old system with shlichim [Aliyah emissaries - ed.] and knocking on doors was appropriate for a new state, and it still works fine in Russia. But the U.S. is different; the old system was clearly not working, and since 80% of Jews are in the U.S., we need to adjust our strategy to work with them,” he says.
And with the revamping, money that was formerly spent on organization structure can now be spent on programs to encourage identity and Aliyah. “Imagine if we could bring 100,000 kids on Masa instead of just 10,000,” says the source close to Sharansky. “We would have no Aliyah problems to speak of.”
8. Romania: Jewry Down, Israeli Companies Up
by Hillel Fendel
Romanian Jewry – which numbered over ¾ of a million in 1930, and was the third-largest Jewish community in Europe, including Russia – has now dwindled to 3,000 people, according to a recent report. Some say it will soon disappear altogether.
The most obvious sign of the decline is in the number of synagogues. There were 20 synagogues in the capital city, Bucharest, before World War II, and there are now two.
It is not precisely clear how many Romanian Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Common estimates run to around 280,000, but more recent evaluations count no fewer than 420,000. Even more telling, as Raul Hilberg wrote in his work “The Destruction of the European Jews,” no country other than Germany “was involved in massacres of Jews on such a scale.” Many of the victims did not die in German camps; half of the 200,000 Jews in Czernowitz and Iasi were killed in pogroms, as were 120,000 of Transylvania's 150,000 Jews.
Following World War II, between 322,000 and 428,000 Jews remained in Romania, and they began emigrating in large numbers. From 1948 until 1960, more than 200,000 Romanian Jews went to Israel, reducing the Jewish population in Romania to less than 100,000 by the 1960s. In the 1970's, as well, Romanian emigration to Israel continued steadily. It is common knowledge that Israel paid Romania in cash and other aid for the Aliyah.
The Israel Air Force has been training with the Romanian Air Force in Romania since 2004. An IAF helicopter crashed into a mountain there this summer, killing all seven passengers – six Israelis and one Romanian.
Many Israeli companies have a presence in Romania. Over 20 companies attended the 10th edition of the Romania-Israel Hi-Tech Business Cooperation Forum last year.
Romania's Jewish population is today generally estimated at under 10,000, though a recent visitor there reported on Ynet that the number had dwindled to only 3,000. The question of whether one of the objectives of Zionism was to “put an end to the Diaspora” remains an open one – but the case of Romania appears to be a point for that point of view.
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