Shabbat Shalom, Gesher Shalom!

SHABBAT SHALOM, GESHER SHALOM!

January 18th, 2020

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Shabbat Times:

Candle Lighting

Evening service at CBIOTP

Morning Service at CBIOTP

M inha at CBIOTP

4:37 pm

7:00 pm

9:30 am

4:15 pm

Forecast: 35/cloudy

IN THIS ISSUE...

Schedule

Interesting Reads

Israel

BDS/ Antisemitism/ AntiZionism

Iran/syria/hezbollah

The Palestinians

Hi-Tech

Pop Culture

What

Does

$3.3 billion in U.S. security assistance for Israel.
$500 million for U.S.-Israel missile defense cooperation.
$13 million for new counter-drone cooperation.
6 million for energy and water cooperation.
$2 million for homeland security & cybersecurity cooperation.
A 2-year extension of the U.S. weapons stockpile in Israel.
A 5% withholding of U.S. funds to U.N. agencies acting against American and Israeli national security interests.
Dollar-for-dollar reductions for prisoner or terrorist-related payments by the Palestinian Authority.
Funding for Israeli-Palestinian security and humanitarian programs.
Funding for people-to-people initiatives and joint research cooperation between Israel and its neighbors

What You Can Do

Join me and other shul members at the annual Policy Conference in DC, March 1-3.

Please call me for details. kas

___________

14 months and still no egalitarian access to Western Wall stones - The Jerusalem Post

Conservative and Reform Movements Petition Israeli Top Court Demanding Equal Pay for Rabbis - Ha'aretz

International outrage as rabbi grilled for officiating Masorti weddings - The Jerusalem Post

I n Israel, a Conservative rabbi's arrest reopens religious freedom debate - Religion News Service

____________

Dear Friends:

These are just a few of the headlines we have seen come out of Israel in recent times. There is no doubt that despite the significant growth of the Conservative/Masorti Movement in Israel - over 80 Kehillot and close to 800,000 people who affiliate with non-Orthodox Judaism - that we continue to have to fight for our vision of Israel as a homeland for all Jews. A homeland that promotes the values of pluralism, equality and democracy.

Many of you are involved in organizations and causes that support these values in Israel - giving of your time and money. We are not asking for your money today - we are asking for YOUR VOTE. By voting for MERCAZ | Slate #6 in the World Zionist Congress election beginning Tuesday, January 21, you have a chance to directly impact the future of Israel. Indeed, this election is the ONLY time American Jews have a formal mechanism to give input into decisions being made in Israel.

Your vote will help elect MERCAZ | Slate #6 delegates to the World Zionist Congress. The Congress - and its affiliate organizations - control over $1 billion in spending annually. This is our opportunity to influence how this money is spent and to gain our share of funding for Conservative/Masorti programs in Israel, and around the World. This is our opportunity to loosen the religious foothold in Israel and send a message about the type of Israel we want to see.

Do not let this opportunity pass you by. Let us know you are voting with us today by going to MERCAZ2020.org. We need you with us!

L'shalom

A REMINDER:

Our daily minyanimare all held in our Office Chapel:

Sunday - Thursday evenings at 7:45 p.m.

Monday - Friday mornings at 7:00 a.m.

Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m.

All our Shabbat servicesare held in the CBIOTP building:

Friday evening at 7:00 p.m.

Shabbat morning at 9:30 a.m.

Shabbat afternoon/evening (mincha, s'uda sh'lishit, ma'ariv, havdalah)

currently at 4:15 p.m.(but the time will change/vary with sunset)

Torah Rea ding 317 Haftarah 343

SH'MOT

In the years following Joseph's death, the Israelites became a sizable group within Egypt. Pharaoh, worried about a potential fifth column in the event of a war, enslaved the Children of Israel and had them build store-cities. He also ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill all newborn Israelite males, but the midwives disobeyed at the risk of their own lives. Thereupon, Pharaoh ordered all newborn sons to be drowned in the Nile.

One Israelite couple, from the tribe Levi, spares their newborn son. When they can conceal him no longer they set him afloat in the Nile in a basket, while his older sister, Miriam, watches from a distance. Pharaoh's daughter finds the boy and adopts him as her own. She names him Moses, and at the suggestion of Miriam, who has now come forward, she engages the boy's mother as his nursemaid.

Moses grows up in the royal palace, but he retains a compassion for the enslaved Israelites. He slays an Egyptian overseer who is beating a Hebrew. The next day he intervenes in a quarrel between two Hebrews, and one of them asks if Moses will slay him, too, as he had the Egyptian.

Moses realizes that his life is in danger and he flees to Midian where he works as a shepherd for Jethro, a Midianite priest. Moses marries Jethro's daughter, Tziporrah, and they have two sons.

While out shepherding, Moses sees an unusual sight - a bush is covered in flames but otherwise undamaged - and he approaches it. God speaks to Moses at the bush and tells him that he will be God's messenger to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of bondage. God reveals his personal name to Moses and equips him with the power to perform certain wondrous deeds with which he will convince both the Israelites and Egyptians of his divine mission. These serve to reassure a reluctant Moses to return to Egypt.

The enslaved Hebrews welcome Moses' message from God and take courage, but Pharaoh rejects Moses' demand for the release of the people and he subjects the Israelites to increased hardships. The Israelites accuse Moses of worsening their plight; Moses is disheartened, but God reassures him that ultimately God's might will prevail against Pharaoh.

Tonight: Evening service at 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow morningat 9:30 a.m.

Minha, Seudah Shlishit, Ma'ariv & Havdalahat 4:15 p.m.

During Seudah Shlishitwe will continue reading this fascinating article (part analysis; part memoir):

Finding Terrorist Needles in the Internet Haystack - An Interview with Arik Barbing, former head of the Shin Bet security agency's cyber department

This Week's Yahrzeit Observances

We hope that our weekly listing of yahrzeit observances will serve 2 purposes:

1) To remind those who have the yahrzeit for a second time, much closer to the date of the actual observance

2) To alert friends and acquaintances that someone they know is observing a yahrzeit. We hope that you will show them your support by joining them at our minyanim, and helping to assure that Kaddish can be recited with a minyan

Kenneth Eisenstein will be observing yahrzeit for his mother, Rose Eisenstein on Friday evening, January 17th

Harvey Fishman will be observing yahrzeit for his father, George Fishman on Saturday evening, January 18th

Joseph Hyman will be observing yahrzeit for his mother, Sarah Hyman on Saturday evening, January 18th

Alex Salit will be observing yahrzeit for his brother, Seymour Salit on Saturday evening, January 18th

Niles Burton will be observing yahrzeit for his mother, Roslyn Burton on Sunday evening, January 19th

Phyllis Breit will be observing yahrzeit for her mother, Pearl Schinder on Sunday evening, January 19th

Alvin Cohen will be observing yahrzeit for his uncle, Abraham Margolis on Sunday evening, January 19th

Roberta Mathes will be observing yahrzeit for her father, Frederick Mathes on Sunday evening, January 19th

Irene Eisenstein will be observing yahrzeit for her mother, Ruth Cohen on Monday evening, January 20th

Matis Fermaglich will be observing yahrzeit for his brother, Joseph Fermaglich on Wednesday evening, January 22nd

Carolyn Tauber will be observing yahrzeit for her grandfather, Bernard Lippel on Wednesday evening, January 22nd

Yetta Maidenberg will be observing yahrzeit for her husband, Bernard Maidenberg on Thursday evening, January 23rd

Ann Bloch will be observing yahrzeit for her cousin, Clarice Weill on Thursday evening, January 23rd

MLK

A Prayer in Honor of Martin Luther King Day

Please read the transcript of this powerful and inspiring conversation with Dr. King at the Rabbinical Assembly Convention, just days before his assassination:

Theological Affinities in the Writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King, Jr. by

Dr. Susannah Heschel

Important/Interesting Reads

The 75thanniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz is on January 27... I re-print this review in recognition of the "milestone", and urge those of you who have not seen the exhibit, to make plans to do so.

Review: Exhibit Reminds Us the Holocaust Wasn't Long Ago or Far Away "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away" at the Museum of Jewish Heritage speaks to the horror of the Holocaust and the courage and determination of its survivors.

The Gates of Hell: Auschwitz 75 Years On

The Nazi death camp where more than one million people perished was liberated on 27 January 1945. As one survivor, now aged 90, prepares to commemorate the date, she explains why the Holocaust must never be forgotten ... especially in an age of rising antisemitism and nationalism

Deborah Lipstadt, Etgar Keret and Ilya Kaminsky Take Home National Jewish Book Awards

Bari Weiss: The Commentator the Left Loves to Hate

Below is information on events taking place at the UN as part of their annual (and this year, expanded) commemorations and observances.

kas

2020 Holocaust Remembrance Calendar of Events

75 years after Auschwitz -

Holocaust Education and Remembrance for Global Justice

2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the ending of the Second World War, and the ending of the Holocaust. 2020 also marks the establishment of the United Nations, formed in response to atrocity crimes of the Holocaust and the Second World War, with the aim of building a world that is just and peaceful. Acknowledging the milestone year, the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme has chosen as the theme for Holocaust education and remembrance in 2020, "75 years after Auschwitz - Holocaust Education and Remembrance for Global Justice". The theme reflects the continued importance, 75 years after the Holocaust, of collective action against antisemitism and other forms of bias to ensure respect for the dignity and human rights of all people everywhere.

Monday, 27 January 2020

United Nations Holocaust Memorial Ceremony

Venue: General Assembly Hall

Time: 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

The ceremony, taking place 75 years to the day of the liberation by the Soviet forces of Auschwitz Birkenau Nazi German concentration and extermination camp (1940-1945), will be hosted by Ms. Melissa Fleming, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. Invited speakers include the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, the President of the seventy-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Permanent Representatives of Germany, Israel and the United States to the United Nations, Mr. Castro Wesamba, Chief of Office, Office on Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect, and Mr. Dan Pavel Doghi, Senior Adviser on Roma and Sinti Issues, OSCE/ODIHR. Holocaust survivors Mr. Shraga Milstein and Ms. Irene Shashar will share their testimonies. Judge Theodor Meron, who served as the President of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, will deliver the keynote speech. Cantor Shulem Lemmer will recite the memorial prayers. Mr. Itzhak Perlman will deliver a musical contribution.

Exhibition "Seeing Auschwitz"
Venue: United Nations Visitors Lobby
Time: 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
REGISTER NOW (by 21 January)
The exhibition Seeing Auschwitz challenges the viewer's understanding of the largest killing centre in human history. How Auschwitz is 'seen' is informed by a relatively small number of photographs taken from an even smaller number of sources. Together, the pictures are vital evidence of the Nazis' crimes. Through a display of photographs taken by perpetrators and in one instance, by the victims themselves, the exhibition encourages the viewer to explore more fully what the photographs reveal about the photographers, and their intentions, and how this informs the viewers' understanding of the meaning of "Auschwitz". The exhibition was created and curated by Musealia, Spain, in collaboration with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Poland. The exhibition will be on view until 24 February 2020.

Panel Discussion
"Safe Haven: Jewish Refugees in the Philippines"
Venue: Conference Room 4, UNHQ
Time: 3:00 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
Contact: [email protected]
B'nai B'rith International and the Philippine Permanent Mission to the United Nations, in cooperation with the US-Philippines Society, will host a program on Jewish refugees who fled Europe and found safe haven in the Philippines before World War II. Guest speakers will discuss Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon's "Open Door Policy" in 1938. RSVP required by 17 January 2020.

Tuesday, 28 January 2020
Exhibition "Crimes Uncovered:
The First Generation of Holocaust Researchers"
Venue: United Nations Visitors Lobby
Time: 1:15 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
REGISTER NOW (by 21 January)
This exhibition examines Jewish historians and academics of various nationalities and backgrounds who documented and safeguarded evidence of the actions taken against the Jewish people during the Holocaust and lobbied to draw attention to what was happening in Nazi-occupied Europe. By so doing, these historians and academics resisted the Nazi plan to destroy all Jewish people and culture and pioneered the establishment of an international legal framework accompanying the establishment of the United Nations. The first generation of Holocaust researchers shaped the foundation of our current knowledge of the Holocaust. The exhibition was curated by the Memorial and Educational Site House of the Wannsee-Conference in Berlin in cooperation with the Berlin branch of the Touro College and the Wiener Library in London. It has been sponsored by the Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. The exhibition will be on view until 24 February 2020.

Exhibit "Lonka Project"
Venue: 1B Corridor, United Nations
Time: 3:00 p.m.
REGISTER NOW
The Lonka Project is a photographic tribute to the last Holocaust survivors with us today. Throughout 2019 some 250 of the world's leading professional photographers, in some 24 countries, generously contributed their time and talent, each capturing a Holocaust survivor in the context that makes a unique and memorable statement about their lives. The exhibit will be on view from the 27th January 2020 until the 7th February 2020, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Wednesday, 29 January 2020
Exhibition "Some were Neighbours:
Choice, Human Behaviour, and the Holocaust"

Venue: United Nations Visitors Lobby
Time: 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
REGISTER NOW (by 24 January)
The exhibition "Some were Neighbours" addresses one of the central questions of the Holocaust: how did it happen? The exhibition examines the role of ordinary people in the Holocaust, and the variety of motives that influenced individual choices. These influences often reflect fear, indifference, antisemitism, career concerns, community standing, peer pressure, or chances for material gain. The exhibition considers individuals who did not give in to the opportunities and temptations to betray their fellow human beings, reminding us that there is an alternative to complicity in evil acts - even in extraordinary times. The exhibition was created and curated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The exhibition will be on view until 24 February 2020.

Thursday, 30 January 2020
Civil Society Briefing "Hate speech, Holocaust denial
and distortion: why challenging it matters"
Venue: Conference Room 2, UNHQ, NY
Time: 11:00 a.m.- 12:30 p.m.
REGISTER NOW (by 24 January)
Holocaust denial and distortion dismisses the irrefutable and established facts that the Holocaust happened and belittles the suffering of the victims and survivors of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis and their accomplices. Denial and distortion of history is an important tool in the arsenal of hate speech. Hate speech encourages the dehumanization of individuals and groups and is used to justify discrimination and other acts of violence. 2020 marks 75 years since the end of the Second World War, and the Holocaust, yet antisemitism continues to occur. This briefing will provide an historical overview of Holocaust denial and distortion and will explore measures being taken to identify and counter denial and distortion, and to challenge hate speech. The discussion will be moderated by the United Nations Department of Global Communications.

Book Signing
"Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal"
Venue: United Nations Bookshop
Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
REGISTER NOW
A conversation with the Renia's younger sister, Holocaust survivor, Elizabeth Bellak and Elizabeth's daughter, Alexandra. The event will be moderated by journalist, Robin Shulman.
The long-hidden diary of a young Polish woman's life during the Holocaust, translated for the first time into English. Renia's diary became a record of her daily life as the Nazis spread throughout Europe. Renia writes of her mundane school life, her daily drama with best friends, falling in love with her boyfriend Zygmund, as well as the agony of missing her mother, separated by bombs and invading armies. Renia had aspirations to be a writer, and the diary is filled with her poignant and thoughtful poetry. When she was forced into the city's ghetto with the other Jews, Zygmund is able to smuggle her out to hide with his parents, taking Renia out of the ghetto, but not, ultimately to safety. The diary ends in July 1942, completed by Zygmund, after Renia is murdered by the Gestapo.

Film Screening
"The Accountant of Auschwitz"
Venue: German House (871 United Nations Plaza)
Time: 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
REGISTER NOW (by 21 January)
The Accountant of Auschwitz follows the trial of Oskar Gröning, who was charged with being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 Jews at Auschwitz. During the Holocaust, Gröning had recorded and tallied the cash and personal valuables seized from Jews arriving at the camp. The trial began in 2015 when Gröning was 93. The Accountant of Auschwitz traces the history leading to Gröning's trial and the race against time to bring to justice last living Nazis. Directed by Matthew Shoychet, and produced by Ricki Gurwitz and Ric Esther Bienstock, the documentary weaves archival footage, contemporary trial coverage, and interviews with survivors and human rights advocates to offer compelling investigations of history, conscience, and justice. The screening will follow by a Q&A session with Ricki Gurwitz, Ric Esther Bienstock and Mr. Thomas Walther. The event is organized with the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations.

Israel

Israeli Trauma Experiences Are Helping Heal the World

Gas Begins Flowing from Israel to Egypt

Israel Announces New West Bank Nature Reserves (all in Area C, under complete Israeli control)

Netanyahu Pressuring Bennett to Bring in Far-Right Party

Right-wing Party Ditches Kahanists to Join Broad Union as Israeli Parties Submit Final Rosters

Naftali Bennett tells the Prime Mnister, ""if you want Peretz so much, reserve a spot for him with you in Likud."

BDS / Anti-Semitism / anti-Zionism

The Campus Anti-Israel Craze (published in the NYT; authored by 2 prominent Reform Rabbis)

Meet a Jew Pop-Up Tent in Harlem

Field Trips to the Museum of Jewish Heritage Coming as City Boosts Anti-Hate Crime Effort

Are High Rates of Mental Illness Connected to a Spike in Anti-Semitic Violence?

Okay, he oversimplifies Jewish history. It wasn't 2500 years of good times in Baghdad and then things only got rough in the past 100 or so. And there were a number of anti-Semitic attacks in the U.S. in the past 209 years, etc....

The Fear of Being Jewish

South Dakota Governor Signs Executive Order Prohibiting Israel Boycotts

Iran / Syria / Hezbollah

U.S. Iran Envoy: The Intelligence Was Very Clear that Soleimani Was Plotting Large-Scale, Mass Casualty Attacks Against Americans

How the U.S. Killed Soleimani

Report: Syrian Official Gave U.S. Intelligence on Soleimani's Location

IDF Spokesperson: Israel "Had No Role in Soleimani Killing"

The Restoration of Deterrence: The Iranian Example

Versus:

Trump's Code of Dishonor - He lacks a clear moral or strategic framework

Pictures are worth a thousand words:

At a Mosque in Ahvaz, Iran: Majority of Iranians Refuse to Put Their Shoes on the American & Israeli Flags In Opposition to the Regime

France, Britain, Germany to Trigger Iran Deal (JCPOA) Dispute Mechanism

There is some very damning information contains in the article of which I was not previously aware (but I'm not surprised) kas

The Nuclear Deal with Iran Was a Charade Right from the Start

Report: Unidentified Aircraft Strike Iranian Militias in Syria

Syria Says Israel Struck T-4 Airbase near Homs

Airstrikes Cause Extensive Damage at T-4 Military Airbase in Syria

Iran's Only Female Olympic Medalist Defects

The Palestinians

Hamas MP: George Washington Killed Indians Because They Were Muslims

Hi-Tech

New Iron Dome Boasts 100 Percent Success Rate in Trials

Pop Culture

She Was the First Jewish Actor to Win an Oscar

OscarsSoBoring: What the Nominees Tell Us About 2020

The Secret Jewish History of Dr. Dolittle

Israeli Culture in New York
Thursday, January 16, 2020 Upcoming Cultural Highlights

Music
Benjamin Hochman, piano & Friends
January 24 | 8 PM
Buttenwieser Hall, 92nd Street Y
The "elegant, polished, and heartfelt" (The Boston Globe) pianist Benjamin Hochman begins a two-concert exploration of the influence of words on music with purely instrumental works which take their inspiration from, by turns, a folk ballad, a poem, and a novel.

Art
Adi Nes: Lecture and Presentation
January 19 | 6 PM
Fotografiska New York
Lecture and Presentation by Photographer Adi Nes. Followed by a celebratory concert with Yula Beeri and friends. Adi will describe his personal artistic language and touch upon issues hidden within the layers of his photographs.

New York Jewish Film Festival 2020
Through January 28
An interview with director Nimrod Eldar, towards the New York Premiere of his debut feature The Day After I'm Gone.
NYJFF runs at Film at Lincoln Center, through January 28.
How was your personal experience overall, working on this film?
This experience can be compared to a rock I've been trying to push up a mountain for many years, and only now have I been able to push all the way. I'm now ready to move on to the next rock, and that's really what my life is: pushing one big rock after another. I can't really call it life without engaging in this process, over and over again.

How was the film received around the world?
This film was screened in over 30 festivals in five different continents. Its aesthetic and nature is of a kind that is generally received as what you would call "a festival movie." This label doesn't bother me. In the climate of today's popular cinema, pensive films like mine turn to smaller, more focused audiences, and that is fine.

How was it to work with an accomplished actor like Menashe Noy?
I love the charisma he brings to the screen. Working with him was a fascinating process. We'd spend hours, day and night, digging deep, talking about anything and everything. He's a captivating person, and a very funny one too.

It is not very common that a film's director is also its sound designer, as in your case. What were your intentions with the sound design of the film?
I love working with sound a lot; I actually always have. A film's soundtrack is a psychological element influencing the viewers without them being aware of it. If someone, for example, closes a door in the movie, there are a million ways for the sound itself to exist in the film's world; it can be a small sound or a big one, thick or thin, warm or cold, and so on. This element, which is usually perceived as an integral part of the visuals, is actually directing the viewers in a most nuanced way, and influencing their experience. For me, that is incredible!
The Day After I'm Gone will be screened on January 20 at 9:15 PM and January 26 at 1 PM. Overall, eleven Israeli films will be screened at the festival. Access the full schedule here.

Music
The Daniel Zamir Quartet
January 22 | 7:30 PM
January 23 | 7:30 PM
Jazz at the Mansion
Born and raised in Petah Tikva, saxophonist Daniel Zamir is Israel's best-selling jazz artist of all time. Playing on the saprano sax, his blend of modern jazz draws as much from klezmer, liturgical, and Hasidic traditional music, the rhythms of India and West Africa, as it does from jazz.

ART
Tichy: Light Shop
Opens January 22
Fotografiska New York
Lecture and Presentation by Photographer Adi Nes. Followed by a Celebratory Concert with Yula Beeri and friends. Adi will describe his personal artistic language and touch upon issues hidden within the layers of his photographs.

Art
Tsibi Geva: SUBTRATA
Through February 15
Albert Benda Gallery
The exhibition features a new body of work created over the past two years, defined by the artist's focus on deconstruction and abstraction to convey the emotional and cultural tenor of his surroundings. Motifs of terrazzo tiles, stone walls, and latticework, which have been prevalent in Geva's paintings since the nineteen-nineties, are now pushed to the forefront.

Music
Roni Gal-Ed at Jupiter
January 20 | 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
Described as "one of the finest oboe players in the country" by The Jerusalem Post and "Outstanding...the star soloist of the evening" by The New York Times - Roni Gal-Ed will be playing two concerts with Jupiter - a chamber music series to acknowledge and perpetuate the legacy of conductor Jens Nygaard.

Art
Growing a Garden for an Unknown Lover by Boaz Aharonovitch
Opening night:
January 23 | 6 PM
ZAZ10TS
Friends of Bezalel present Israeli artist Boaz Aharonovitch's photo-diary, artfully documenting a gardening project that took place in his studio. The outcome of the process is a meditation on the fleeting nature of the garden as a metaphor for the passage of time and longing. Curated by Aya Goshen. Through February 28.

Film
Skin: Screening and Discussion
January 23 | 6:30 PM
Temple Emanu-el
Skin, Guy Nattiv's Academy Award Winning Short Film, is a bio-drama set in the United States, and a powerful parable about a neo-Nazi skinhead and his son, about the sins of a father and the awakening of a child. It is a lesson in history repeating itself in different guises. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers.

Art
Materialness
Opening Night:
January 28 | 6 PM
Parasol Projects Gallery