Looking back on 2018

Posted

 January

 

Mystery box from Israel provides a sweet lesson for Cohen School students

What’s more exciting than getting a surprise package in the mail? Getting it from Israel! The Cohen School at Torat Yisrael participated in an interactive “What’s in the Box” Israeli program. Providence native Rabbi Elan Adler, who now lives in Israel, shopped for Israeli treats and trinkets to mail to the school children.

Upon seeing the box the students determined from the Hebrew words that the box was from Israel. There was an extra surprise for the school – in addition to filling the box, Rabbi Adler donated the box and all its contents in memory of Wendy B. Adler, a Sunday School teacher, and his sister-in-law, who passed away in 1997.

 

R.I. Army National Guard’s first Jewish chaplain

Capt. Aaron Rozovsky, 31, who has just been appointed the Rhode Island Army National Guard’s first Jewish chaplain in its 380-year history.

“No matter where I’ve lived, I have always considered Rhode Island to be home,” Rozovsky said. “I joined the military because I love everything this country stands for – our incredible religious, racial and political and cultural diversity, the freedoms of religion, speech, press, and assembly.”

February

Parkland students begin to heal at Jewish conference

in New York

Seven survivors of the Parkland school shooting were among thousands of Jewish high school students who attended the annual conference of the Chabad movement’s youth group. Responding to the Feb. 14 shooting became an impromptu theme of the conference, which was hosted in New York City by CTeen, the teen arm of the Hasidic outreach movement. The shooting, which killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, has galvanized a youth-led movement for gun reform.

Ginsburg delights audience

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was at Temple Beth-El for a public conversation with U.S. Appeals Court Senior Judge Bruce M. Selya.   

Selya asked questions that prompted Ginsburg to talk about various stages of her life and legal career, which has included teaching at Rutgers’ and Columbia University’s law schools and a stint on the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The liberal justice was appointed to the Supreme Court by then President Bill Clinton. She was only the second woman on the court and the only Jewish person at that time.

March

Bringing joy and therapy to hospice patients through Jewish music

Hospice care, is playing an increasingly central role in end-of-life arrangements. It’s music therapy brings human dignity back into the picture. A growing body of scientific evidence supports the use of music therapies in various medical settings, from neonatal intensive care units to end-of-life and palliative care.

Security campaign funds 26 projects at 15 institutions

In response to the upsurge in religious and racial acts of hate and violence the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island kicked off a Community Security Campaign last fall, raising $80,000. With an additional $100,000 from the Jewish Federation Foundation and an anonymous donor, the fund total was nearly $265,000.

“It is important to the committee that we fund these security upgrades. Meeting the community’s immediate needs is crucial,” said Harold Foster, chairman of the Community Security Committee.

April

Former Touro rabbi told the truth on game show in 1959

When Theodore Lewis, the Dublin-born Orthodox rabbi who served as spiritual leader of Newport’s Touro Synagogue for 36 years, passed away in 2010, obituaries from Colorado to Rhode Island and Ireland noted that among other events in his storied life, he had been a guest on the popular American television game show “To Tell the Truth.”  The episode, aired on CBS on the evening of June 30, 1959.

Its celebrity panel was tasked with determining which of three guests was “the only Irish-born rabbi in the United States.” Each of the three men wore a suit and tie, sported a large black yarmulke, and claimed to be Theodore Lewis.

After asking the three men questions, all four panelists correctly identified which of the three was “the real Rabbi Theodore Lewis.”

Students find 1,400-year-old oil lamp inscribed with menorah

JERUSALEM – Students working to build the “Sanhedrin Trail” in Israel’s Galilee unearthed a 1,400-year-old oil lamp bearing the symbol of the Jerusalem Temple’s menorah, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. “The discovery of a lamp decorated with a menorah, is without doubt exciting, especially at a site with such a unique heritage in part of the Sanhedrin Trail,” archaeologist Dr. Einat Ambar-Armon, said.

The nearly 45-mile long trail running from Beit She’arim to Tiberias across the lower Galilee is divided into five sections and traces the movements of the sages of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish tribunal that met in the ancient Land of Israel.

May

URI Hillel members lend a helping hand in Houston

In March, four students from the University of Rhode Island Hillel traveled to Houston for an Alternative Spring Break Trip coordinated by Nechama, a Jewish disaster relief organization. During this once-in-a-lifetime experience, these students helped repair homes that were damaged by Hurricane Harvey. Each student returned to Rhode Island with memories that they will never forget.

 Israeli firm a global innovator in medical cannabis

A pioneering Israeli company named Tikun Olam is bringing a new dimension to the practice of repairing the world (in Hebrew, tikkun olam) by delivering health benefits from breakthrough strains of medical cannabis. Tikun Olam’s medical cannabis (marijuana) has been taken by more than 20,000 Israelis to relieve chronic pain, inflammation, anxiety and a variety of other symptoms. The use of medical cannabis in Israel is highly regulated by the Ministry of Health.

In the U.S. to date, 29 states have approved cannabis for medical use (nine states have legalized it for both medical and recreational uses). Cannabis remains classified as a Drug Enforcement Administration Schedule 1 drug – considered to have a high potential for abuse and no medical value – and the Justice Department is committed to preserving this status.

 

June

March of the Living: walking the walk

More than 15,000 Jews from around the world participated in the 30th anniversary of the March of the Living in 2018. This annual educational program consists of a week in Poland, followed by a week in Israel.

This year, 10 local high school students were a part of this life-changing trip, which was made possible thanks to the generosity of the Ross Family Fund along with Touro Fraternal Association, the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center, and the Jewish Alliance.

Rabbi Meyer talks about  the Jewish obligation to help refugees

Members of Providence’s Jewish community met at Temple Emanu-El to honor the memories of Jews who died in 1939 when the S.S. St. Louis was forced to return to Europe after being denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada.

Rabbi Rachel Grant Meyer, the director of Education for Community Engagement at HIAS, presented a talk about the current refugee crisis and an overview of the work HIAS is doing to address it.

HIAS is providing on-site services internationally, support that includes legal services, psychosocial support and job training. The second part of HIAS’s work is: domestic resettlement in the United States. This includes helping people to find housing, enroll in schools and other educational programs and access health care. The third part of HIAS’s work involves advocating for refugee rights directly on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and mobilizing American Jews to fight for refugee-friendly policies and laws.

August

PepsiCo to acquire Israel’s SodaStream for $3.2 billion

PepsiCo plans to maintain the Israeli company’s current base of operations in the Negev. SodaStream will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary. The American multinational agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of SodaStream International Ltd. for $144 per share.

SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum and his leadership team have built an extraordinary company that is offering consumers the ability to make great-tasting beverages while reducing the amount of waste generated.

“Worth remembering: PepsiCo boycotted Israel until 1991. Today it bought an Israeli firm for $3.2B and pledged it will continue to operate from Israel.”

Jewish Collaborative Services up and running in one building

The merger of the Jewish Seniors Agency and Jewish Family Service into Jewish Collaborative Services continues as the two agencies moved into one building, at 1165 N. Main St. in Providence, at the end of July.

The new building will house the newly relocated Louis & Goldie Chester Full Plate Kosher Food Pantry. Jewish Collaborative Services will still operate the “West Bay Campus,” which includes The Phyllis Siperstein Tamarisk Assisted Living Residences and The Shalom Apartments, in Warwick, and the two Kosher meal sites, one in Providence and one in Cranston.

“We hope it will help people know where to go and help us to make appropriate referrals,” said Patty Harwood, chief of programs.

Facebook’s denial dilemma

Holocaust experts want to meet with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the social network’s unwillingness to automatically remove anti-Semitic and Holocaust denial material.

In late July, Zuckerberg said in an online interview that he would not automatically remove Holocaust-denying posts from the social network he founded. “Facebook must not allow complete and utter falsehoods about the Holocaust, and about the Jewish people, to go systematically unchecked,” the letter dated Aug. 7 to Zuckerberg says.

Zuckerberg had told tech journalist Kara Swisher: “I’m Jewish, and there’s a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened. I find that deeply offensive. But at the end of the day, I don’t believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong.” Zuckerberg later clarified his comments, saying “I personally find Holocaust denial deeply offensive, and I absolutely didn’t intend to defend the intent of people who deny that.”

 

September

Israel bans entry of Sukkot-related plants citing agricultural disease control

Israel is keeping plants said to celebrate Sukkot from coming into the country. The Agriculture Ministry said the ban on the lulav, leaves from the myrtle tree and willow branches is rooted in the need to prevent the spread of plant diseases and pests rather than any protectionist policy.

Israel is the only country in the world that exports all three plants, and one of a handful where the lemon-like etrog, the fourth of the species, is grown commercially. Inbound passengers may bring a single specimen of the etrog pending an inspection by Agriculture Ministry experts for plant diseases.

Number of terrorist attacks on Israelis rose by 15% in July`

Israeli security services documented 255 attacks in July, including 11 in Jerusalem, the Israel Security Service, or Shin Bet, said in its monthly report published recently. The June tally was 220 incidents. Despite the increase, the figures in July were well below those of May, when 365 incidents were documented – the highest number in more than two years of terrorist attacks on Israelis.

Nearly two-thirds of the attacks recorded in July involved firebombs.

Pedaling in Providence

Recently a bike rack popped on Elmgrove Avenue, across from the Dwares Jewish Community Center. Soon red bikes appeared in the racks. They are JUMP bikes, an electric bike share sponsored locally by Tufts Health, Lifespan, the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority and the city of Providence. A Brooklyn, New York-based start-up, JUMP has bikes in 10 U.S. cities.

The e-bikes, which arrived in Providence at the beginning of September, have electric assist, which offers a boost when you pedal. According to the JUMP website, you download the JUMP app, locate a bike and unlock it and ride away.

You end your ride by locking the bike to a designated rack or hub. Monthly memberships as well as pay-as-you-go plans are available.

Too few Jews, Pew!

The Pew Research Center’s new typology of religion puts Americans into seven broad categories ranging from Sunday Stalwarts (“active in their faith and congregations”) to Solidly Secular (“hold virtually no religious beliefs”).

In between are the Relaxed Religious, who say religion is important but don’t hold much with traditional practices; the Diversely Devout, who believe in that old-time religion but also psychic crystals and other new age enchantments; and the Spiritually Awake, who seem to believe in heaven and hell.

Most interesting about the typology is the way Jews seem to blow it up. According to Pew, “Jewish Americans are the only religious group with substantial contingents at each end of the typology.” In other words, while most evangelicals are deeply religious, and Catholics and Mormons tend to cluster toward the believer side of things, about one in five U.S. Jews are, Shabbat Stalwarts, and 45 percent consider themselves nonreligious.

Every recent study shows that Jews are divided among the affiliated and the unaffiliated, the engaged and unengaged, the Alan Dershowitzes and the Adam Sandlers. That’s a quirk of Jewish identity, which allows a Jew to be defined by belief, biology, religious practice, peoplehood and nationality. It’s why we call Judaism a family.

 

October

Temple Sinai celebrates its 60th anniversary

On Nov. 3, Temple Sinai celebrated its 60th anniversary. Phil Segal, 92, the temple’s second president, still lives in the same house in Cranston as he did 60 years ago, and he’s as dedicated to the temple now as he was in 1958, when 10 couples, including he and his wife, Barbara, attended a series of exploratory meetings. “We all wanted a Reform [Hebrew] school for the kids. We wanted a local temple,” Segal said of his and Barbara’s motivation. Founder Ada Winsten, 83, and her first husband, the late Jordan Tanebaum, also had personal reasons for joining the undertaking. “I wanted my children to have a Jewish community,” Winsten recalled. Winsten, who arrived in the United States at 15, after her family fled Nazi-occupied Poland in 1939, traveling first to Lithuania and then to Shanghai, has never looked back.

The founders’ perseverance eventually led to a ground-breaking on June 4, 1961, and to the temple being dedicated on May 10, 1963. “We kind of just grew from there,” Segal said, adding that they received help from many sources, including Temple Beth-El, in Providence, which loaned the fledgling congregation a Torah and prayer books.

Jeffrey Goldwasser, the rabbi since 2014, is upbeat about the temple. “This year, we introduced a new model for our religious school to keep it active and engaging. In addition to religious observances and the religious school, Temple Sinai has a sisterhood, a brotherhood, the Kosher Senior Café, an adult chorus, a tikkum olam (social action) organization, a biblical garden, a youth group and a social worker.

Tamarisk resident donates his hand-carved work of art to Temple Sinai

Sam Nelson is a man of many talents, and at age 99, his creative spirit remains strong. Nelson recently gifted one of his most cherished creations to Temple Sinai, in Cranston – a wood carving in relief that he made several years ago, depicting a 19th-century Jewish wedding held under a huppah.

Asked how he went about creating the artwork, Nelson said,  “I saw a beautiful picture and carved it entirely by hand into a single block of wood.”

Nelson’s artwork is displayed at the Banyan Springs Club, in Boynton Beach, Florida, at Tamarisk, and now at Temple Sinai.

New Hanukkah stamp issued at Touro Synagogue

The U.S. Postal Service issued its new Hanukkah stamp, a joint issue with Israel, on Oct. 16 at Touro Synagogue.

The American and Israeli stamps share the same artwork, a papercut created by the American artist Tamar Fishman.

During the issuance ceremony, Postal Service Judicial Officer Gary Shapiro observed that papercutting is a traditional Jewish art, and he described Fishman’s techniques and other symbols in the artwork, which is on display in the Loeb Visitors Center at the synagogue.

This work of art celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights will travel on millions of letters and packages, throughout America and around the world,” Shapiro said.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin calls for ‘reverse Birthright’

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin called for a “reverse Birthright” one that would take Israelis to see the American Jewish communities firsthand.

Rivlin made his remarks Oct. 22 at the opening of the General Assembly, the annual conference of the Jewish Federations of North America, in Tel Aviv.

Titled “We Need to Talk,” the conference focused on the divisions between Israeli and Diaspora Jews. More than 3,000 participants were on hand for the event.

Several controversial events in recent years have created rifts between the views of U.S. Jewish organizations and Israeli government policies. The groups have objected to, among other things, the government’s freezing of a plan meant to expand a non-Orthodox prayer area at the Western Wall; the passage of a law this year officially defining Israel as the nation-state of the Jews; a proposed reform of Israel’s conversion policy that would have given more power to Israel’s haredi Orthodox Chief Rabbinate; and a 2017 law barring entry to supporters of the movement to boycott Israel.

“We need to create wider circles of answers here in Israel,” he said. “For many young Israeli Jews, being a Jew means being Israeli. We must increase their exposure to your schools, camps and communities. They need to realize and to feel that they have a family, a family that [they] must take into account.”

Eric Goldstein, the federation’s CEO, said “The Jewish identity of many young American Jews is reflected through the lens of tikkun olam, social justice values, and they experience a mental discomfort when they use that lens to look at many current Israeli government policies: settlement policy, nation-state law, treatment of asylum seekers, marriage equality and marriage rights – more broadly, the monopoly that the Orthodox has over religion and state in Israel.”

In the beginning: the story of Holocaust education in Rhode Island

The Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center (SBHEC) is a well-established organization known throughout Rhode Island for using the lessons of the Holocaust to educate about the dangers of hate, discrimination and indifference. But, like many big successes, the SBHEC came from humble beginnings.

Arthur Robbins has been deeply involved in the SBHEC since the beginning, and recently shared some recollections of the early days. “Back in early 1981, I was friendly with Ray Eichenbaum. Ray and Lenka Rose had an idea of creating a Holocaust memorial,” Robbins began. On April 30, 1981, a meeting was held and a committee was formed with Eichenbaum, Rose, Robbins, Zelermyer, Jason Cohen, Sam Kesterman, Louie Rubenstein, Peter Bardack and Mike Fink.

The committee reconvened in May 1981. At that meeting, they decided to create, as Robbins describes it, “a living Holocaust education center with four elements.” Those elements were to be an education exhibit, a resource library, an outreach program and a central focal point that people could visit. Today the SBHEC is housed in the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center, but at first they “had a devil of a time trying to determine where the center would be located,” Robbins recalled. But one thing they were sure of: they wanted a prominent spot in Providence that would serve as a broad-based point for the public to come and learn about the Holocaust.

“The main thrust of the organization has always been education. The founders also never conceived of the participation of people from outside the Jewish community, such as Providence College professors Judith Jameison and Arthur Urbano, and Cranston educator Barbara Wahlberg. In the early days, Robbins said he never thought it possible that “someday there would be Christians on our board. Robins likens that early effort to “planting a seed, an acorn that puts down roots and grows into a beautiful tree with branches spreading in many directions.”

November

Anti-Semitism in a new era gets personal

Anti-Semitism has always been around in our country, and it probably always will be; it just didn’t always carry with it deadly consequences for those exercising their First Amendment right to pray as they see fit.

Until now, that is, when in this age of lunatics amassing huge caches of weapons, a mad man and hard-core neo Nazi/anti-Semite burst into a Sabbath service that ironically included the quintessential welcoming-of-a-new-life into this world ceremony, a bris, and gunned down 11 people and wounded six others. That anti-Semitism escalated to such a heightened level of violence thankfully remains shocking in the United States, but make no mistake: anti-Semitism has thrived here for decades.

While hatred directed at Jews has always been a part of society, its recent deadly incarnation at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh has escalated it to a frightening level. The rapid spread of anti-Semitism on social media is an especially powerful source of bigotry as the suspect in the Pittsburgh massacre, Robert D. Bowers, 46, had posted a slew of anti-Semitic slurs on websites favored by neo Nazis.

Above all, we as Americans – from the president down to the voters – must be put on notice to pay more than lip service to words such as “civility,” “respect” and “tolerance.” If we ignore that warning, we face years of hatred ripping us apart.

A community comes together at prayer and action vigil

Elmgrove Avenue outside the Dwares Jewish Community Center, Oct. 29, was packed with more than 1,000 people looking for solace in community. The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island sponsored the early evening vigil honoring the victims of Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

As the sun set, leaders from all faiths in Rhode Island, as well as members of the local political delegation, stood on the stairs outside of the JCC and spoke about ending hate and standing together as a community to combat its ugly outreach.

Rabbi Sarah Mack, president of the Rhode Island Board of Rabbis, gave an impassioned speech about combating the rise of hate. “Look around,” she told the crowd. “This is how we combat hate.”

Eleven candles were kindled in memory of the victims. The crowd began to disperse to the music of “If Not Now.”

Local security on the increase

In Rhode Island the Jewish Alliance is working with synagogues, day schools, agencies, Chabad Houses and university Hillels to make sure security is at the highest level.

The Providence Police Department’s Homeland Security Bureau and Special Response Unit have been instrumental over the past two years in providing guidance and resources that enable us to be a resource not only for the Providence Jewish community but for the Greater Rhode Island Jewish community.

We also rely on the expertise of SCN, Secure Community Network, the national homeland security initiative of the Jewish Federations of North America. With the rise of anti-Semitism in the past two years our partnership with these agencies has reached a new level of security.

One of the measures taken by the Alliance to help its partners was the 2017 security campaign, where almost $300,000 was raised thanks to the generosity of our community members.  

It is difficult to estimate what costs will be going forward, but, we know they will be high.

Diplomat says innovation is the key to peace

Nadav Tamir, who served several years ago as Israel’s consul general to New England, spoke about the “Peres Legacy and Vision of Peace and Innovation – How Israel Became a StartUp Nation and How It Will Eventually Achieve Peace.”

Tamir discussed Peres’ vision, which he is working to implement both at the Peres Center and at Peres & Associates Global Advisory LTD. Peres did not believe that peace can be imposed from the top leadership down; instead, he believed that peace begins at the bottom, between people, and works its way up to government.

Peres also believed in innovation and risk-taking, which are among the chief strategies Israel has used to become a success, Tamir said. Since these are also tools for creating peace, he added, the center will open a public innovation center in Jaffa in February.

He believes that Israel today is stronger than ever. The rockets, ISIS, Hamas, the Islamic jihad and Iran are all major irritants, he said, but they are not existential threats to Israel:

The real threat would be losing its identity as a Jewish and democratic state. If Palestinians do not get their own state, the Jews could become a minority in a nation that is neither Jewish nor a democracy, he said.

“Israel is the homeland of all Jews, not just of Israelis or the ruling religious parties. Israel must not treat Jews of the diaspora and of Reform and Conservative backgrounds as second-class citizens,” said Tamir.

 

December

New partnership gives the Jewish Federation Foundation more resources

A new partnership with Rhode Island’s largest community foundation will enable the Jewish Federation Foundation (JFF), to better serve its donors and its community. JFF will invest its nearly $60 million endowment with the Rhode Island Foundation – giving JFF access to an investment pool that earned 17.3 percent in 2017 and has an average annual return of 8.4 percent for the 20-year period ended Oct. 31, 2018. The Rhode Island Foundation will also provide operational support services to JFF.  

The new relationship is the product of three years of talks with the Rhode Island Foundation. The Jewish Alliance’s board of directors has ratified the agreement, which gives JFF access to the resources that an organization with $1 billion in assets can offer. 

JFF will continue to provide personalized customer service and stewardship to its fund-holders. The Rhode Island Foundation also will help JFF roll out an enhanced online fund management tool, making it even easier for donors to fulfill their philanthropic objectives.

JFF’s mission is to support the work of the Alliance and to enhance the quality of Jewish life in the greater Rhode Island community and worldwide.

Netanyahu: Hezbollah tunnels a ‘concrete threat’

Hezbollah is building tunnels “with direct support and funding from Iran” in an effort to capture northern Israel’s Galilee region, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “Capturing parts of the Galilee by Hezbollah is a concrete threat he said in a televised news conference from the country’s defense headquarters in Tel Aviv about Israel’s operation to shut down the tunnels. “The operation will continue until the outcome is achieved.”

Netanyahu said the tunnels are being built by Hezbollah “with one purpose in mind – to attack and murder innocent Israeli men, women and children. He added, “Lebanon bears a heavy responsibility for allowing such acts terror on its territory.”

The tunnel was built in a civilian neighborhood in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is sacrificing your well-being to serve the aggressive purposes of Iran,” Netanyahu said. “Israel holds the Lebanese government accountable for all terror activity emanating from Lebanon against Israel.”

Professor details how the Holocaust gives rise to international human-rights law

Bryant University Prof. Michael Bryant spoke about the influence of the Holocaust on the development of international law at this year’s Baxt Lecture, a program of the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center. Professor Bryant began his Nov. 4 talk with the assertion that, “From the point of view of international law and human rights, warfare is humankind’s greatest teacher. Nearly every major international law, treaty and innovation has been a reaction, in some way, to a major calamitous war.”

The Crimean War, in the mid-19th century, led to the first Geneva Convention and the Red Cross. World War I gave birth in 1919 to the League of Nations; to the Kellogg-Briand Pact, in which countries renounced aggressive warfare as an instrument of national policy; and to the Geneva Conventions adopted in 1929, which became the basis for the Nuremberg trials, in the wake of World War II. “No war in history has more decisively impacted international law and human rights than World War II,”

For example, in 1938, victims of the Night of Broken Glass had no national remedy to pursue damages. They could not hire a lawyer and sue the German government. And, prior to World War II, there was no way to pursue a transnational legal remedy after an event such as Kristallnacht.

Before World War II, how a state treated its own citizens within its territory was strictly a domestic matter. “Whatever rights people had were entirely dependent on the nation to which they belonged. The international community had no right to intervene to help you. And this was the situation as the world teetered on the brink of World War II in the late 1930s,” Bryant said.

By 1945, that situation had drastically changed as policymakers and political leaders around the world came to understand that traditional international law had failed to protect the rights of individuals. This realization was largely driven by the Holocaust.

In the years and decades following the creation of the U.N., in the shadow of the Holocaust, there were efforts to come up with more viable ways to defend human rights. In December 1948, the U.N. published the Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted as non-binding resolution. Prof. Bryant stated, “This is one of the great cornerstones in the history of human rights.

“Prior to the Holocaust, none of this was on anyone’s radar,” Bryant said. “Governments today find it nearly impossible to divorce human rights considerations from political and economic decision-making. Such considerations rarely weighed on the minds of political leaders before World War II.”

As the end of 2018 quickly approaches, so does the last biweekly issue of The Jewish Voice

Some may have had a wonderful 2018 and some may be glad to see its’ end. We at the Jewish Voice look forward to new beginnings in January, 2019, as we work feverishly to publish the Jewish Voice’s last issue and scramble to get all of our ducks in a row, as we launch a new monthly newspaper.

Excitedly, we look forward to bringing you a paper with a new name, a new format, covering more in-depth issues and leaning more toward a magazine format. We will be expanding our website and also launch a new monthly newsletter.

To receive the new newsletter please be sure to send us your email. It will cost you nothing, but will keep you up to date and informed on what’s going on in your Jewish community.

Look for the new paper around January 11 and monthly thereafter.

We at the Jewish Voice wish all of our readers and advertisers a very happy and healthy new year.

Year in Review