Boston

2024-05-08

(New York Jewish Week) — reigned over from his father’s abdication in 1918 — after Bulgaria’s defeat in World War I — until his mysterious death at 49 in 1943. A controversial leader who was nonetheless beloved by his people, the tsar is most remembered today for an action many historians don’t even credit him with: saving the lives of some 50,000 Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust. Despite this feat, the king’s relationship with the Jews under his rule was a complicated one. While Boris III is believed to have been horrified by the Nazis’ antisemitism, he was pressured into signing a law that sent to concentration camps. However, public sentiment against this edict — it is widely believed that Bulgarians knew the fate for Jews sent to Germany and Poland was grim — convinced Boris III to reverse his decision. And now, a new play explores the complicated history of this controversial leader. “The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria,” whose North American premiere runs at 59E59 Theaters through June 2, doesn’t determine who deserves credit for saving Bulgaria’s Jews. Rather the play — which, despite its heavy subject manner, is an irreverent comedy — encourages audiences to draw their own conclusions. Bulgarian-American actress Sasha Wilson, who co-wrote and acts in the play alongside her partner, Joseph Cullen, was inspired to create the piece when she and Cullen stumbled across a biography of Boris III, “‘Crown of Thorns” by Stephane Groueff, on her grandfather’s bookshelf in 2017. Wilson grew up in Boston and traveled to Bulgaria every summer, yet she had never heard the story of the tsar and how he thwarted the Nazi’s deportation of the country’s Jews. People attend a candlelight vigil for remembrance and solidarity with Israel in front of the Monument of the Salvation of the Bulgarian Jews in Sofia, Bulgaria, October 10, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/SPASIYANA SERGIEVA) “World War II is such a well-trodden period of history, and the UK and the US have very staunch ideas of their own involvement in it,” Wilson told the New York Jewish Week. “It just was so shocking that neither one of us had heard [about Boris III] and, especially me as a Bulgarian, that no one had mentioned it.” “King Boris was genuinely loved by his people, as no other ruler had been in prewar Europe,” Groueff writes in his book’s intro. “But he was also accused of bringing Bulgaria into the German camp during World War II and criticized for exercising a ‘personal rule’ during the last eight years of his reign.” Cullen and Wilson spent three years reading every book about the controversial Bulgarian monarch they could find. Ultimately, the play, a production of the Out of the Forest Theatre, which focuses on “misremembered or forgotten stories from history,” premiered at London’s VAULT Festival in March 2020 and later was staged at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Arcola Theatre, where it was a smash success. “Boris III” details the monarch’s life story, homing in on World War II as Hitler attempts to make Bulgaria an Axis ally and force the nation to give up its Jews. Boris, meanwhile, is caught between his sense of morality and the need to appease the Nazis and his pro-German war cabinet. The play also spotlights the everyday Bulgarians who worked to save the country’s Jewish population. The play reaches its turning point as Boris secretly signs an edict to send 20,000 Jews to death camps, until righteous gentiles protest and hide Jews in their homes and shops. In the play — as in real life — King Boris eventually reverses the edict as a result of public pressure. Instead, he forces all able-bodied Jewish men to build roads, saving them from deportation to Nazi concentration camps. “The real heroes in this story are not the leaders like Winston Churchill, but the people on the ground who are really doing the work, and putting their lives on the line,” director and dramaturg Hannah Hauer-King, whose brother is Jonah Hauer-King, the Jewish star of “The Little Mermaid” and “The Tattooist of Auschwitz.” King Boris III’s legacy remains up for debate among Bulgarian and Jewish historians. Some, like Groueff, believe he was a good man put in an extremely difficult position. And yet, despite the number of Jews saved in Bulgaria proper, the scale of death under his rule cannot be ignored: In exchange for regaining the territories of Thrace, Macedonia and Pirot from the Axis Powers, the 11,343 Jews living in the region were sent to Treblinka and Auschwitz. Only 12 survived. Cullen, who stars as Boris, said that he makes sure not to play the tsar as a strong man but rather “a weak man who finds moments of strength.” Throughout the play, as he grapples with his decision to strip Jews of their citizenship and passes laws to prevent Bulgaria from being “corrupted” by Jewish influence, he asks the audience: “What would you do?” Meanwhile, faced with pressure from his war cabinet, Boris III descends into a caricature of antisemitism on stage, trying to justify his behavior against the Jews while his actions simultaneously devour him. “Bulgaria sits in a place where they are physically being torn from all sides and so you’ve got this central figure who has to make a series of really difficult decisions,” Cullen said. “He [Boris] obviously had fascistic tendencies, and yet, as a result of events that happened while he was the leader, nearly 50,000 lives were saved. Over 11,000 lives were also lost. And so our play asks, how could you possibly reduce this question down to ‘was somebody a good guy or a bad guy?’” “I want audience members to reflect on the way that stories of history are told and feel struck by the complexity and how history doesn’t operate in black and white,” Hauer-King added. Hauer-King, whose credits include feminist plays like “The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs” and “The Swell,” said she was drawn to the script because it highlighted everyday women’s efforts to save Bulgaria’s Jews. “This is my first full-length play where my Jewishness is part of the experience and that has been really profound,” she said. “My relationship with my Judaism and my community is constantly changing, so I think being able to bring that into a rehearsal space has meant everything to me.” The play features Slavic and Jewish music — including Bulgarian folk music, klezmer and cantorial tunes — performed by a live band on three-string instruments and a flute. “This is a Jewish and Bulgarian story, so we wanted to marry those different musical styles,” Wilson said. “The tonality of Bulgarian folk music is extremely similar to the Jewish melodies we were bringing into the room. I think that thematically speaks to the content of the work.” Despite its implications of life and death, “Boris III” is a comedy, albeit a dark one. Slapstick and modern slang brings a lightness to the production. Cullen said humor can help make unsavory moments in history feel accessible. “Certain stories are reserved for those in higher education and there’s not enough effort made to make sure that anybody could learn from a particular topic,” Cullen said. “We want everyone to leave and think, ‘This story’s for me.’” “The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria” will be performed at 59E59 Theater’s Theater A (59 East 59th St.) through June 2. For tickets and info, click here.  ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-05-04

(JTA) - Yom HaShoah, Israel’s , begins Sunday night, marking the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and serving as a memorial day for the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis. This year, as the Israel-Hamas war enters its seventh month, the day takes on added symbolism: It is the first Yom HaShoah since , which was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Yom HaShoah, which was first observed in Israel in 1951 and became enshrined into law later in the decade, is viewed by many Jewish communities around the world as their primary day for Holocaust remembrance. The United Nations’ International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls annually on Jan. 27, often draws attention from non-Jews, offering an opportunity for Holocaust survivors and Jewish groups to reach a wide audience. With as many as 100 living , and pro-Palestinian protests roiling college campuses across the United States, this year’s Yom HaShoah arrives during a particularly tense moment for global Jewry. Boston’s Jewish federation is calling it “the most significant Yom HaShoah in the last 76 years.” For Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial and museum, the theme of this year’s Yom HaShoah commemoration, which was planned prior to October 7, has taken on a new meaning. Billed as “A Lost World: The Destruction of Jewish Communities,” Yad Vashem will host its annual ceremony on Sunday evening, featuring Holocaust survivors lighting six torches to represent the 6 million victims. “The whole subject matter of this year’s theme is very much reminiscent of October 7,” Yad Vashem spokesperson Simmy Allen told The Times of Israel. Yad Vashem’s artist-in-residence, Shai Azoulay, said he had incorporated themes from the current conflict into his artwork. A Holocaust survivor and family member light the torch during a ceremony held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, as Israel marks annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. April 17, 2023. (credit: ERIK MARMOR/FLASH90) “We experienced … a sample of the Holocaust,” Azoulay said. “We got a sense, as a people, of what it means to experience a pogrom, and we were in shock, as though our limbs had been amputated, and it was a wake-up call.” The International March of the Living, the annual educational pilgrimage to Auschwitz, has also adopted a new approach to this year’s Yom HaShoah. The march will be led by 55 Holocaust survivors, including seven who were also affected by the October 7 attacks. Some double-survivors have drawn connections between the two experiences, while others have cautioned against such comparisons. The organization that puts on the event has also invited American and Canadian university presidents and chancellors to participate in the commemoration, according to a press release. The cohort will be led by former US Secretary of Education John King, who is now the chancellor of the State University of New York, as well as Yeshiva University President Rabbi Ari Berman. The group will include leaders from public, private, Catholic, Evangelical and historically Black colleges and universities. “In this period of crisis, it is more important than ever that university presidents of moral conscience are joining together to honor the memory of all Holocaust victims, pledging to stand against antisemitism and all forms of discrimination and hate,” Berman said, according to the release. “Serving as witnesses to the horrors of the Nazis will give context to the roots of antisemitism and help inform why we must continue to condemn antisemitism, from Eastern Europe to US college campuses.” For the Israeli-based AI transcription company Verbit, the October 7 attack and ensuing war have added urgency to Holocaust remembrance and preservation efforts. In partnership with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, known as the Claims Conference, Verbit has embarked on a years-long project to transcribe Holocaust survivor testimony - with the ultimate goal of 8 million minutes. According to Verbit, 400,000 minutes are now accessible and searchable. Verbit is also working with Yad Vashem to transcribe portions of the museum’s archives. “In light of events following October 7 in Israel, it’s become abundantly clear that preserving first-hand survivor testimonies has become more critical than ever before,” the company said in a press release. Some Yom HaShoah initiatives and gatherings are expecting large turnouts, in part because of the recent reported rise in antisemitism. The global Jewish organization Olami is partnering with the Harvey and Gloria Kaylie Foundation on an initiative to encourage lighting memorial candles to honor Holocaust victims. The project offers printable labels for more than 300,000 victims, and because of an expected uptick in participation this year, it shipped more than 10,000 labeled candles throughout the US and Canada. In New York, Temple Emanuel-El and the Museum of Jewish Heritage are collaborating on the Annual Gathering of Remembrance, which will feature music, a candle-lighting ceremony and remarks from Jewish leaders, clergy and US Rep. Jerry Nadler. Organizers are expecting thousands of attendees this year. And in Australia, the klezmer band Chutney marked the holiday by sharing its rendition of “Avinu Malkeinu,” the High Holiday prayer that often accompanies sad or painful moments in Jewish tradition. “This Yom HaShoah cuts us more deeply than any before,” the band wrote in an email to its followers. “Things that we and the world vowed would happen ‘never again’ were committed against us - again.” ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-04-30

A Jewish student at the University of California, Los Angeles, shared footage on Monday of being denied access to his on-campus class by pro-Palestinian activists occupying the college. Instagram user Eli Tsives shared footage of him showing his student ID to the activists, who repeated "We are not engaging" while blocking his attempts to walk to his class.  The activists are recorded lining up in front of Tsives, preventing his bypass.  "They didn’t let me get to class using the main entrance! Instead, they forced me to walk around. Shame on these people!" the student wrote.  On Sunday, two demonstrators broke through the barriers separating pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrations, NBC News reported. The incident quickly Members of both factions shoved one another and shouted slogans and insults, and in some cases traded punches. Pushing and shoving persisted for some time among pockets of demonstrators, but campus police armed with batons eventually separated the sparring groups. Only a few days prior, a , by the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, while holding a sign which read: "Hamas supporters are not welcome on native land." In the past two weeks, across the US, triggered by the mass arrest of over 100 people at Columbia University more than a week ago. Since then, hundreds of protesters from California and Texas to Atlanta and Boston have been arrested as they emulated the encampments used by Columbia students to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Administrators, including those of Columbia, have said the protests, as unauthorized, break school rules, disrupt learning and have fostered harassment and antisemitism. Protesters are demanding a ceasefire in the war with Hamas and the divestment of university assets in companies involved with the Israeli military, and an end to US military assistance to Israel. ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-04-28

Amid escalating anti-Israel protests at universities across the United States, more than 200 pro-Palestinian students and demonstrators were arrested in recent demonstrations at Northeastern University in Boston, the University of Arizona, and Indiana University.  Over the past ten days, amid growing protests against the conflict in Gaza, approximately 700 individuals have been arrested on U.S. campuses.  One of the largest demonstrations occurred at Columbia University, where 108 people were arrested last week. Despite the university administration's deadline to dismantle protest tents set up on campus, demonstrators have yet to evacuate them. The American administration has affirmed its commitment to freedom of expression, entrusting the management of these protests to local authorities. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby emphasized the importance of maintaining calm protests and ensuring the safety of all involved. However, Kirby condemned anti-Semitic remarks heard at some protests on behalf of the administration. Meanwhile, Israeli academic leaders have expressed grave concerns over anti-Semitic incidents during protests and the harassment of Jewish students.  In a statement released on Friday, presidents of research universities in Israel pledged to welcome Jewish scientists and students to universities across the country. While American university leaders are working to address these protests, Israeli leaders have said that the situation may require actions beyond the typical scope of university administrations. ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-04-28

were arrested on a handful of US university campuses on Saturday, as activists vowed to keep up the movement, seeking a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, among other demands. The Indiana University police department in Bloomington said in an emailed statement that 23 protesters were arrested there. Indiana State Police and Indiana University police told demonstrators they could not pitch tents and camp on campus. When the tents were not removed, police arrested and transported protesters to the Monroe County Justice Center on charges of criminal trespass and resisting arrest. The police statement read, "The Indiana University Police Department continues to support peaceful protests on campus that follow university policy." Pro-Palestinian protests have spread to college campuses across the US, stoked by the mass arrest of over 100 people on last week. Students and pro-Palestinian supporters occupy a plaza at the City College of New York campus, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in New York City, U.S., April 27, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado) In addition to a ceasefire, protesters are demanding that their schools divest from companies involved with Israel's military and seeking an end to US military assistance for Israel along with amnesty for students and faculty members who have been disciplined or fired for protesting. School leaders at several universities have responded in the past week by asking police to clear out camps and arrest those who refuse to leave. While saying they defend free speech rights to protest, the leaders say they will not abide activists infringing on campus policies or camping out on university grounds. Massachusetts State Police said in statement that they helped cleared out a protest encampment at Northeastern University in Boston and that 102 protesters who refused to leave were arrested and will be charged with trespassing. Northeastern University said in a statement on social media that it decided to call in police as "what began as a student demonstration two days ago was infiltrated by professional organizers with no affiliation to Northeastern." At Arizona State University, campus police arrested 69 protesters early Saturday, the school said in a statement. The university said "a group of people – most of whom were not ASU students, faculty or staff – created an encampment and demonstration" and were arrested and charged with criminal trespass after refusing to disperse. ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-04-27

“Not many Jews, but a very nice place to live,” is how Jordan Weil describes her hometown of Fort Myers, Florida. Judaism, however, was very important to her family. She was raised as a “” by her American-born mother and Argentina-born father whose parents’ decision to leave Europe at the dawn of World War II saved them all.  “My dad’s father went to Argentina from Germany when his parents saw a writing exercise from his school that said ‘The Jews are our disgrace.’ His [future] stepfather went to Bolivia from Vienna when he was eight, after he was kicked out of school following ,” Weil says.  “On his mom’s side, his grandmother was the first female journalist in Vienna. She knew what was going to happen, and went to Argentina to meet a man she was writing letters to,” Weil relates.  “There was an international Jewish prostitution ring active in Buenos Aires at the time, so she married the man on the docks of the port to gain entry. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have let her in because of the suspicion she was involved in the prostitution ring.” New immigrants arrive in Israel, (credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90) As a child, Weil asked her father why he didn’t go to Israel after leaving Argentina at about age 30. He jokingly answered that he had to meet her mother in the United States. “I felt that since he didn’t come to Israel then, it was my part of the story to finish. It felt really natural to me,” says Weil. “I always felt it was a responsibility to at least try to live in Israel.” She muses that perhaps the timing was meant to be. “I’ve been able to make a very comfortable life for myself in Israel, and maybe it took generations for that to be able to happen, for me to build a realistic life here.”  Weil visited Israel twice during high school – once on a summer program with Tzofim Israel Scouts, and once when her step-grandfather on her father’s side took everyone on a sort of family “Birthright” tour when he turned 80. “Every time I left Israel, I always felt I would come back. After high school, I thought about doing the army but it didn’t work out. I went to the University of Miami like my mom, and like everyone in my family I studied business,” says Weil.  “I had a mentor, a marketing professor who was Orthodox, and he turned me on to Jewish learning. He’d also spent time in Israel, so that was another strong influence.” She was living and working in Boston after college when the corona pandemic hit, and she realized she could go back to Florida and work remotely. Then things started to unravel. She was no longer happy with her job, and she was involved in an unproductive relationship. Worst of all, her parents’ house was destroyed in a hurricane.  “After a few weeks of helping them put their lives back together, I thought it was time to put my life together, too.” She boarded a plane to Israel, intending to stay for six months. On the advice of a good friend in Israel who hosted her when she arrived, she decided to adopt a mindset that she was here to stay. With the help of Nefesh B’Nefesh, she eventually completed her aliyah paperwork and made it official.  Though she interviewed for jobs in Israel, her family’s business lending company needed her, and she was “very fortunate I was able to fall into that; I didn’t plan on it.” Nor did she plan on a war. But once it started, she threw herself into what she calls “a frenzy of volunteering.” She sorted donations and food, traveled to army bases with musicians, visited the wounded in hospitals, tied tzitziot for soldiers, and did a lot of cooking.  “If you’re in enough WhatsApp groups, you’ll find ways to volunteer,” she says.  One of the groups with which she got involved is JLIC Tel Aviv, led by Rabbi Joe Wolfson and his wife, Corinne Shmuel. “His network was looking for people to serve food to the reservists at the Kirya [military headquarters in Tel Aviv]. I thought it was so cool to check that out, and I was there at least once a week,” she says. Another project Weil joined is , which cares for Holocaust survivors mainly in the Tel Aviv area. Two days after the war began, she and other Adopt-A-Safta volunteers brought food and cheer to hospitals and communities of the South. “There was so much energy in these volunteer projects, and it was a really cool way to meet people,” she says. In fact, she met her boyfriend at the first Hostages and Missing Families Forum vigil on Kaplan Street. “He was facilitating it and later moved it to the square outside the museum, and it really took off.” Her boyfriend doesn’t speak English, which gives her an opportunity to perfect her Hebrew skills.  “I wasn’t sure my Hebrew would be up for it, but I love it,” she says. “My grandparents are immigrants, and my grandfather always said that when you live in a place, that’s your place. I don’t want to hold on to my Americanism. I’m fascinated by his Israeliness, and I embrace it.” Weil has since had to cut back on volunteering and go back to work, “but as opportunities arise and are accessible, I am keen to seize them,” she says.  Once a week, she and her boyfriend go to the shuk in Netanya. “That’s really fun and totally different for me; but kind of comically, I miss the awesome shopping experience of Target. Mostly, I miss my family and would like to see them more often,” she admits. However, she adds, “I love living in Israel. I love living in a place where Jewish is the default, where even the news anchors are wearing a Magen David. There’s a sense of family here and a common baseline, as opposed to the US where it’s such a big place and what do you have in common? The familiarity here is amazing.”  Jordan Weil, 29 From Florida to Tel Aviv, 2022 ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-04-25

, the historically Jewish school outside Boston, has extended its transfer application deadline in a bid to appeal to students who are unhappy with their own schools’ responses to The university announced the decision on Monday as encampment to campuses across the United States. The protests, which take aim at the schools’ ties to Israel, are spurred by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and have, in some places, included rhetoric that veers into antisemitism. Jewish groups and some Jewish students say the protests have left Jewish and pro-Israel students unsafe and unable to take part in campus activities. “As a university founded in 1948 by the American Jewish community to counter antisemitism and quotas on Jewish enrollment in higher education, Brandeis has been committed to protecting the safety of all its students, and, in the current atmosphere, we are proud of the supports we have in place to allow Jewish students to thrive,” Brandeis President Ron Liebowitz wrote in an email to the community. “Due to the current climate on many campuses around the world, we are now expanding the opportunity for students to seek the learning environment of our campus by extending the transfer application deadline to May 31.” Brandeis made headlines shortly after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and triggered the war when a portion of its student government failed to pass a resolution condemning Hamas. Students continue to maintain a protest encampment in support of Palestinians on the Columbia University campus, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in New York City, U.S., April 24, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/CAITLIN OCHS) But the broader student government soon reversed course, and in November, the school became the first to ban its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, saying that the group “openly supports Hamas” — a departure from other schools that have since suspended the group for technical offenses against protest policies. About a third of students at Brandeis, which is nonsectarian, identify as Jewish, according to Hillel International. “Students elsewhere should know we welcome all — Jews and students from every background — who seek an excellent undergraduate education and an environment striving to be free of harassment and Jew-hatred to apply,” Liebowitz wrote. ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-04-22

More than forty protesters were arrested at Yale University Monday morning, according to the . A video posted to social media showed police officers warning students, "We have been given a few minutes to clear the area," and telling them, "If you do not leave, you will be arrested." Other videos, uploaded shortly thereafter, showed students being led onto shuttles in zip-ties.  The student protestors at Yale are being zip-tied and loaded into a university shuttle. The arrests come following the erection of a protest encampment in the model of the tents set up at Columbia University earlier this week, where police before the demonstration quickly reconstituted itself. Two protesters have been charged with criminal trespass in the first degree, the Daily News wrote.  The arrests came as condemnations poured in of similar demonstrations in New York City, where student protesters have been recorded expressing and the October 7 attacks and calling for "intifada." Jewish leadership has responded to the situation on the Columbia campus by providing round-the-clock police presence as well as police escorts for Jewish students, and returning home for Passover not to come back to campus until their safety could be guaranteed. A student walks on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut November 12, 2015. (credit: REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON) Another encampment was erected Sunday night at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. Video of protesters erecting the demonstration recorded chants (in Arabic) of "From the water to the water, Palestine is Arab."  Other sites where Boston demonstrations were conducted along the Columbia model were Emerson College and Tufts University. An indoor encampment has been erected at the New School in downtown Manhattan as well.   ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-04-20

Raizi and the Passover Plans is a children’s book that will also have adults rolling with laughter – and shedding a sentimental tear or two.  The story takes place during the week before Passover when the wacky, fictional Rosenberg family from Tekoa in prepares for the Passover holiday. The antics of Raizi, Lili, Rikki, and Shmuli will keep readers focused until the last line. The author, Sara-Rivka Yekutiel, grew up in Boston, skipped high school (and has since home-schooled five children in Israel), and graduated from Boston’s University of Massachusetts at the age of 38. She is a 6th-dan black belt in karate and a former five-time US Amateur Athletic Union (USAAU) champion. The highest-ranking female martial artist in Israel, Yekutiel was featured in the book Great Jews in Sports. In 1982, she made international media headlines by refusing to compete on . I would highly recommend this spirited book, illustrated by Eliana Hagbi, as an afikomen present that all the family can enjoy. Below are excerpts from the first chapter of Raizi and the Passover Plans, for your delectation. “I’ll get it,” yelled both Lili, my 12-year-old sister, and Shmuli, my 14-year-old brother, simultaneously. They were in the living room, watching Shmuli’s boa constrictors (an adult male and an adult female) slither around on the couch.  VIEW OF Tekoa, 2021. (credit: FLASH90) The boas, Bibi and Sara, lived in separate cages in Shmuli’s room, along with a tarantula, a Black Widow spider, a river crab and some mice... ... “There was a crackle on the line and I heard Grandpa shout, ‘Hello?’”... ... “Hi Grandpa!” I yelled. “Raizl, is that you?” he yelled. “Yes! It’s me!” “Why are we shouting?” he shouted back. Well, you started it, I thought, but that wasn’t polite to say to a grown-up, so I said, in a normal voice, “I’m not shouting.” Before I relay the rest of the conversation, I should explain that I was Grandpa’s favorite grandchild. If you asked him in front of the other kids, he’d say that he loves us all the same, but this was definitely not true. For one thing, he’s a middle child and I’m a middle child. For another, we both love money. Also, Grandpa loves ballet (he has season tickets to the Boston Ballet), and I’m a ballerina! I’m named after his mother, who died way before I was born, which is super special. Plus, I am the only one who is willing to participate in his fake stock market game. I will now back up four years to explain. I STARTED first grade here in Tekoa when I was six years old, but only lasted a couple of weeks. “It’s so boooooring!” I complained to Imma. “The teacher screams and yells, but no one listens. There’s no decorum! And the kids are so mean to each other!” My parents had a weird concept of democracy. Shmuli called it “hypocrisy-democracy.” We had family meetings every week, after Havdalah, in which we were supposed to discuss our feelings, chores, allowances, and other important topics. There would be a proposal, for example, “Let’s go on vacation! Let’s go to Disneyland!” We would discuss the pros and cons, then vote. The problem was, the adults had veto power. We never did get to Disneyland, which would have involved flying all the way to California, although we went to Superland once a year, which is much closer, in , about an hour and a half drive by minivan, and even got to eat cotton candy despite Imma’s strict anti-sugar policy. So, when I said, “I have an agenda item. I want to be homeschooled like the Schwartz kids,” I expected them to veto it. To my great surprise, Imma said, “Actually, I was speaking to Keren Schwartz about that the other day...” She never finished the sentence. Lili and Shmuli, who found all sorts of ways of worming out of school whenever possible, including, but not limited to stomach aches that disappeared by lunchtime, fake fevers and red cheeks caused by doing burpees in their pajamas, and so on, started jumping up and down and cheering, and Rikki, who was just a baby and had no idea what was happening, squeaked as if to say, “Me too, me too.” We didn’t even bother voting; it was unanimous. Imma and Abba bought an encyclopedia and signed us up for every after-school activity there was (so we would be socially “normal”). We took: piano, ballet, pottery and chess club. The good part was, no more school. The bad part was that suddenly both parents got picky about chores. “My goodness,” Imma said, “the mess! I never realized what a respite school was from the constant mess-making.” So, yes. I learned to do my own laundry when I was only six. Luckily, we had a dryer. Most of our neighbors didn’t. The book is in stock at Pomerantz in Jerusalem, or online through Amazon (or Mazo Publishers, for Israel only).  ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-04-16

Pro-Palestinian activists across the world engaged in protests Monday, seeking to cause economic disruption for their host countries to coerce them into adopting anti-Israel policies. The protest was primarily focused in the United States, where it was planned to fall on Tax Day, the deadline to file income tax returns. The A15 organizers were in 29 cities, but autonomous groups planned the event allegedly in over 50 cities. “A proposal to coordinate a multi-city economic blockade on April 15th in solidarity with Palestine recently received overwhelming commitments to participate around the US and internationally,” said the anonymous A15 website. “The proposal states that in each city, we will identify and blockade major choke points in the economy, focusing on points of production and circulation with the aim of causing the most economic impact, as did the port shutdowns in recent months in Oakland, California and Melbourne, Australia.” a pro-Palestine protest (credit: DAN MARGOLIS) In San Francisco, footage published by the Arab Resource and Organising Center showed activists linking arms and raising banners across the Golden Gate Bridge to stop traffic. “Stop the world for Gaza,” read a large banner stretching across the The main coordination account for the blockades said on social media that entry into Chicago's O'Hare airport was disrupted. According to the US Palestinian Community Network, 11 Protesters from the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine were arrested for protesting in the city’s Federal Plaza. at the Chicago Police Department to demand the release of the detainees, chanting, “CPD, KKK, IOF [IDF], you’re all the same!” The Seattle-Tacoma Airport was also blockaded for three hours, according to organizers, leading to around 40 arrests.  In Boston, activists threw fake bloody dollar bills inside Chase Bank branches across the city, according to BDS Boston, because “JP Morgan Chase is one of the top shareholders of Israel’s largest weapons contractor, Elbit Systems.” In Virginia, Occupation Free DC and other groups blockaded the lobby of the Lockheed Martin office, forming a human chain across the doors. Activists erected a paper mache model of a Palestinian olive tree breaking what was supposed to be a Lockheed Martin jet plane. In Portland, Oregon, the April 15 organizers said they blocked entrances to an Intel building. In the UK, Palestine Action painted BNY Mellon’s Manchester office with fake blood and spray painted it with “child killers” and “drop Elbit.” The group also said that it blockaded entry into Kent’s Discovery Park by laying on roads, saying that they were targeting an Elbit factory there. Another group of activists interrupted a Somerset City Council meeting to read the names of Palestinian children allegedly killed by the IDF during the war with Hamas. Protesters blocked the entrance of the European Commission Building in Dublin because, according to organizers, “People living in Ireland are disgusted that the EU continues to be the biggest trade partner with Israel.” In Genoa, activists reportedly protested at a Carrefour retail location, placing “free Palestine” stickers on products and linking shopping carts with bike locks. According to Greek pro-Palestinian activist Jodie Jones, Spanish groups blocked ports in Barcelona and Tarragona, as well as the Athens port.  In Adelaide, , on April 15, organizers said that protesters demonstrated at Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office by pouring blood over fake corpses while dressed as the politician. The Disrupt Wars group claimed on Instagram to have been part of 19 different events in Australia, which they said had resulted in thousands of dollars in fines. According to Fight Together for Justice, protesters closed a Melbourne shopping mall and blocked British Petroleum officers. A15 Action published footage on Instagram that it said was of a Nigerian pro-Palestinian protest led by the country’s Islamic Movement. They also claimed that a group blockaded the Taiwan-Israel Congressional Association in Taipei. They also published pictures of a sparse Seoul protest in which the activists read poetry in honor of Palestinians. Amersfoort for Palestine said that they blockade roads in Utrecht, Amsterdam, because checkpoints were the daily reality for Palestinians.  ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-04-03

Music has the power to unite, which is exemplified by the (JYC), which for years has worked to change lives and promote tolerance. The chorus was scheduled to perform in last October, but the trip was cancelled as a result of the October 7 massacre and subsequent outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. However, the trip was rescheduled for 2024, and will tour in four cities in North America: Washington, Boston, Los Angeles, and Vancouver for TED 2024. Despite the hardships stemming from October 7, the group continued to meet for weekly rehearsals in Jerusalem. Members have worked together to coordinate safe transportation and to guarantee a safe space for youth from both West and east Jerusalem to meet, talk, and sing together.  After the cancelation of the North American tour, JYC leadership collaborated with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to organize a virtual concert and workshop in LA, Chicago, Washington DC, New York, and Boston. In this special event, JYC had the opportunity to share its ethos of music, dialogue models, and safe spaces for healing amid .  This upcoming spring, JYC is set to collaborate with the One America Movement, which works with communities of faith in America to fight polarization and equip American audiences to communicate during divisive times.  Orchestra members from the Don Bosco Youth and Choir Orchestra participate in a practice in San Salvador, El Salvador April 20, 2016. (credit: JOSE CABEZAS/REUTERS) “The mission of the Jerusalem Youth Chorus has never been more vital - to demonstrate a viable alternative to violence in Israel-Palestine and sing out for peace, justice, inclusion, and equality," said Micah Hendler, the chorus founder and artistic director of JYC. ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-03-31

The Israeli military announced Sunday that it has begun recruiting for the March-April 2024 cycle amid the war in Gaza. Men comprise 61.8% of these new recruits, while women comprise 38.2%. The IDF reported an increase in soldiers , Russia, and Ethiopia.   Of the 883 enlisting in the IDF, 557 are men, and 326 are women. Additionally, 646 lone soldiers are enlisting, of which 370 are men and 276 are women.  Bulgaria, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Luxembourg, Singapore, Czech Republic, Ireland, Denmark, South Korea, Lithuania, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Cyprus, and Turkey are countries where one individual immigrated to Israel to enlist in the IDF, respectively.  The new recruits are men and women designated for service in significant combat positions. They will be stationed across military installations in places such as Tel Hashomer (34.9%), Haifa (16.8%), Jerusalem (22%), Beer Sheva (17%), and Tiberias (9.3%).  The four sisters from Boston who serve or will serve as lone soldiers in the IDF. (credit: YOSSI ZWECKER) The recruitment plans were adapted to the needs of the military in all units and brigades to continue providing an ongoing operational response in combat and to fulfill the variety of tasks necessary in the IDF, the military added.  Comprehensive training bases have been established to accommodate and train the new recruits, with a special unit organized to care for those affected by the war. The unit offers personal support and assistance to new soldiers.  ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-03-21

A 62-year-man with end-stage renal disease has become the first human to , doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston announced on Thursday. The four-hour surgery, performed on March 16, “marks a major milestone in the quest to provide more readily available ,” the hospital said in a statement. The patient, Richard Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts, is recovering well and expected to be discharged soon, the hospital said. Slayman had received a transplant of a human kidney at the same hospital in 2018 after seven years on dialysis. Still, the organ failed after five years, and he resumed dialysis treatments. Doctor implanting pig's kidney in 62 years old man in US (credit: MASS GENERAL) eGenesis of Cambridge, Massachusetts, provided the kidney from a pig that had been genetically edited to remove genes that could harm a human recipient and add certain human genes to improve compatibility. In addition, the company inactivated certain viruses inherent to pigs that could infect humans. Researchers reported in October in the journal Nature that kidneys from similarly edited pigs raised by eGenesis had successfully been transplanted into monkeys that were kept alive for an average of 176 days, in one case for more than two years. Drugs used to help prevent the patient's from rejecting the pig organ included an experimental antibody therapy called Tegoprubart, developed by Eledon Pharmaceuticals ELDN.O. The pig kidney procedure moves the field of xenotransplantation – the transplanting of organs or tissues from one species to another – closer to becoming a potential solution to the worldwide organ shortage. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 100,000 people in the U.S. await an organ for transplant, with kidneys in the greatest demand. ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-03-08

President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on Thursday sparked t across the United States, with activists asking him to push for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and do more to curb Israel's attacks in Gaza. Protesters blocked traffic in Boston and Los Angeles. Over 50 arrests were made in Boston, according to one activist group and a local media report. Ahead of , dozens gathered near the White House, prompting the police to block off a nearby road. "We are here today because enough is enough," said Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. The Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group said the speech was Biden's "best and perhaps last chance" to announce steps to reduce Palestinian suffering in Gaza and win back support of Arab, Palestinian and anti-war Americans disappointed with his policy. Senior US administration officials said beforehand that Biden would discuss US plans to build a port in Gaza to ship in humanitarian aid. A pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag while marching to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during a protest in Washington, U.S., March 2, 2024. (credit: Bonnie Cash/Reuters) Hours before the speech, the US Capitol was ringed with a high wire fence as is typical ahead of the annual presidential speech to both houses of Congress. A Palestinian flag hung from the balcony of a congressional office building, and small groups of protesters chanted "Ceasefire now" on street corners, some wearing keffiyehs, the traditional Palestinian scarf. Biden swept the Democratic nominating contests this week on Super Tuesday, however Minnesota and six other states lodged protest votes against his staunch support for Israel. Michigan Democrats staged a similar protest last week. Some Democrats in Congress were expected to wear pins with the word "ceasefire" to the address. Centrist Democrats have urged the president to do more to address the suffering in Gaza. Representative Cori Bush, a Democrat of Missouri will bring Palestinian dentist Intimaa Salama, a graduate student from St. Louis University, as her guest. In recent weeks, protests demanding a ceasefire have occurred across the US, including at Biden speeches and campaign stops and events attended by other US politicians. ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال:

2024-02-26

The rate of Israelis getting their annual shots against influenza is very low, apparently because they (and others around the world) are tired of the multiple vaccinations against COVID-19. As a result, more than 700 Israelis, including children, are now hospitalized due to , and some of them are even in intensive care.  Now, a first large-scale analysis in Boston of optimal timing for flu shots finds October is the best month for children to get vaccinated against the flu. The study of 800,000 visits to pediatricians identified links among children’s birth month, , and vaccination timing. Children born in October are most likely to be vaccinated for the flu in October and are least likely to be diagnosed with influenza, according to results of the first large-scale study of optimal timing for the . “There are a lot of variables when it comes to the timing and severity of flu season or a person’s risk of getting sick, and many of those are out of our control,” said healthcare policy Prof. Anupam Jena of Massachusetts General Hospital, and senior author of the study and Harvard Medical School and critical care Prof. Christopher Worsham of Massachusetts General Hospital. “One thing we have some control over is the timing of the shot,” Jena said, “and it looks like October is indeed the best month for kids to get vaccinated against the flu.” Last month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported over 150,000 hospitalizations and 9,400 deaths due to flu as of the time of the report and noted that high demand for hospital care for the flu has contributed to strained hospital capacity in some parts of the country. Over the past decade, almost 200 US children have died of influenza each flu season. Across the years, most children who die are not fully vaccinated against the flu.Doctor giving a vaccine to a patient (illustrative) (credit: INGIMAGE) Part of the reason the timing of the shot is tricky is the way the immune system responds to a vaccine. If a person gets the shot too early, their immunity may fade by the time flu season peaks. If they wait too long, their body may not have time to build immunity strong enough to protect against the peak level of infections. Public health recommendations in the US have long promoted September and October flu shots, but Jena said there has never been a randomized clinical trial to test the best timing nor a large-scale effort to see how likely people who get vaccinated in other months are to get sick. When Jena was at a late summer meeting in 2022, he mentioned that his arm was sore from getting his flu shot. A colleague asked whether he was concerned about his immunity waning before flu season. “It hadn’t occurred to me to check if one month or the other might make a big difference,” Jena recalled. “When we looked at the science, we were surprised that no one had ever looked at the question in a big population.” Young children in the US tend to get their yearly checkup around their birthday, and that’s also when they get most of their vaccines. Children with spring and summer birthdays often don’t get the flu shot because it’s not available when they go for their annual visit, and many parents don’t make an extra trip for it. The findings suggest that US public health interventions focused on vaccination of young children in October may yield the best protection in typical flu seasons, the authors insisted.   ...قراءة المزيد

الكلمات المفتاحية المذكورة في المقال: