Around the Jewish World

By JTA

article created on: 2009-02-15T00:00:00

THE NATION

Ginsburg has surgery

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish woman to serve on the Supreme Court, underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer.

Ginsburg had the surgery Feb. 5 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and likely was expected to remain in the hospital for a week to 10 days, according to a statement released by the Supreme Court.

Ginsburg, 75, had no symptoms prior to the “incidental discovery” of a lesion during an annual checkup last month. Further tests revealed a small tumor, approximately 1 centimeter across, in the center of the pancreas. The statement said the cancer was apparently in an early stage.

Ginsburg was appointed to the high court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, the second woman to serve on the court after Sandra Day O’Connor.

CAJE to shut down

NEW YORK (JTA)—The Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education will close at the end of February.

The Feb. 9 e-mail announcement comes a month after CAJE, for 30 years the primary professional development organization for congregational and Hebrew school teachers, said it would not hold its annual conference.

CAJE said in the e-mail that it could no longer survive in this economic climate.

Its annual conference on Jewish education drew some 1,000 educators, but in January CAJE said it would not hold this year’s event because local Jewish agencies could not afford to send teachers to participate and the organization could not drum up enough funding to pay for the conference.

In the e-mail, CAJE said it was seeking funds to pay off some $500,000 in debt incurred to hold conferences over the past several years.

Obama taps Saperstein

WASHINGTON (JTA)—A leading Reform rabbi reportedly will be named part of a new advisory council to the White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

The Associated Press reported that Rabbi David Saperstein, director and counsel of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, would be part of the council, which will meet at least twice a year and include leaders from the religious and secular worlds who have experience in social services.

Others reportedly tapped for the council include evangelical Christian the Rev. Joel Hunter; Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America president and CEO Judith Vredenburgh; and Bishop Vashti McKenzie, the first female bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Saperstein was in Portland over the Feb. 7 weekend.

Rabbi Noah Weinberg dies

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Rabbi Noah Weinberg, the founder and dean of Aish HaTorah Institutes, died at his home in Jerusalem.

Weinberg, who was treated late last year with chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and who recently broke his leg and shoulder, was 78 when he died the morning of Feb. 5.

Aish HaTorah, which Weinberg founded in 1974, operates 27 full-time branches throughout the world, with 100,000 people attending its programs annually in 77 cities in 17 countries. Aish HaTorah operates a rabbinical training college at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, as well as a Hesder Yeshiva where students combine military service with Torah study.

“Rabbi Weinberg dedicated his life to bringing a renaissance within Jewish people, to reach out to every Jew and reconnect him to the depth and meaning of our heritage,” a statement from Aish HaTorah read. “The Jewish people are meant to be a light unto nations; Rabbi Weinberg undertook the task to galvanize the Jewish people and inspire us to live up to our mission and be Kiddush Hashem—to sanctify God’s Name in this world.”

Obama comments on faith

WASHINGTON (JTA)—President Obama told the National Prayer Breakfast that faith should not be divisive.

“Far too often we have seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another, as an excuse for prejudice and intolerance,” Obama told the annual gathering here Feb. 12.

“There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same,” he said. “But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate.”

He added that the Golden Rule is the “one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself.’ The Torah commands, ‘That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.’ In Islam, there is a hadith that reads ‘None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.’ And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists.”

New boss at Labor panel

WASHINGTON (JTA)—The Jewish Labor Committee named a B’nai B’rith official as its new executive director. Sybil Sanchez, most recently the director of United Nations affairs at B’nai B’rith International, will succeed acting director Rosalind Spigel.

Sanchez, who also has worked in the Balkans, has a background in Jewish communal organizing, strategic advocacy and international work, according to a statement released by the organization.

U.S. cardinal slams rehabilitated bishop

WASHINGTON (JTA)—A top U.S. Roman Catholic clergyman described the Holocaust denial of a rehabilitated bishop as “deeply offensive.”

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued the Feb. 10 statement in the wake of Pope Benedict XVI’s removal last month of the excommunication of four conservative bishops, including Richard Williamson of Britain.

Williamson has said that accounts of 6 million Jewish deaths during the Holocaust are vastly exaggerated.

“No Catholic, whether layperson, priest or bishop, can ever negate the memory of the Shoah, just as no Catholic should ever tolerate expressions of anti-Semitism and religious bigotry,” George said in the statement, which expressed sympathy for the “understandable outrage from within the Jewish community.”

THE MIDEAST

Ahmadinejad says Iran
ready to talk with U.S.

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he is ready to talk to the United States.

The Iranian president said Tehran was ready for “talks based on mutual respect and in a fair atmosphere,” The New York Times reported.

Ahmadinejad made the remarks during a televised address to a rally celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution. They came several hours after President Obama, in his first White House prime time news conference, said his administration was looking for diplomatic openings in which to engage Iran in the coming months.

“The new U.S. administration has announced that they want to produce change and pursue the course of dialogue,” Ahmadinejad told rally participants. “It is quite clear that real change must be fundamental and not tactical. It is clear the Iranian nation welcomes real changes.”

Report: P.A. stops payments to Israeli hospitals

JERUSALEM (JTA)—The Palestinian Authority has stopped paying for the Palestinians’ treatment in Israeli hospitals and the patients have been sent home, The New York Times reported.

The Palestinian Authority stopped paying partly in anger over Israel’s military operation in Gaza, the newspaper reported Feb. 9. Palestinian health officials have instructed families to place their children in facilities in the West Bank, Jordan or Egypt, according to the Times.

The Palestinian health minister, Fathi Abu Moghli, told the Times that the Palestinian Authority pays Israeli hospitals $7 million a month for patient care.

“Since the first day of the Gaza aggression I said that I will not send to my occupier my injured people in order for him to make propaganda at my expense and then pay him for it,” Moghli said.

There are 24 hospitals in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, according to the Times.

An Israeli clinic set up by the army and Magen David Adom on the Israeli-Gaza border on Jan. 18, the same day Israel announced a cease-fire, already has been closed. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority refused to allow Palestinians to be treated there.

U.S. student stabbed
in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (JTA)—An American Jewish student was stabbed in Jerusalem by three men believed to be Palestinians, according to reports. The 19-year-old male student, said to be enrolled at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was admitted to the hospital after the incident late Feb. 7 with stab wounds to the face and neck.

The student had asked the men for directions, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told Ha’aretz.

More rockets hit Israel

JERUSALEM (JTA)—A rocket fired from Gaza landed in Ashkelon.

The rocket fired early on the afternoon of Feb. 8, which caused no injuries or damage, was the second to strike Israel that day. Earlier, a Kassam rocket struck a parking lot in a western Negev kibbutz, damaging several cars.

On Feb. 6, two rockets landed near Ashkelon. Israel retaliated with airstrikes on several tunnels in southern Gaza.

Israeli war planes struck several targets in the southern Gaza Strip in response to the rocket fire.

The Feb. 9 strikes were aimed at two Hamas outposts, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Palestinian sources said that a member of Islamic Jihad was injured in the attack and later died. The military denied the report, saying the Palestinian did not sustain his injuries at the same time as the attack, Ha’aretz reported.

New residence OK’d for PM

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel’s Cabinet approved a $162 million budget to construct a new official prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem. The design of the building approved Feb. 8 included an official residence, meeting rooms and offices, as well as venues for the Supreme Court and the Knesset. The presentation called the new building a “national complex,” and said it would save money on renting space throughout the city for offices and on shuttling the prime minister from his residence to his office.

Hamas negotiators leave without cease-fire deal

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Hamas negotiators left Cairo without agreeing to a long-term cease-fire with Israel. Israeli Defense Ministry negotiator Amos Gilad, head of the Diplomatic-Security Bureau, left for Cairo Feb. 5 for a briefing on the Hamas negotiations. Negotiators for Hamas said the group wanted more answers over opening border crossings; they did not set a date to resume negotiations.

Olmert orders cash to Gaza

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered the transfer of about $43 million to Gaza. The money, from banks in the West Bank, is earmarked for the salaries of Palestinian Authority employees. The transfer, announced Feb. 5, was to occur immediately. P.A. workers have not been able to receive their salaries in Gaza since Israel’s military operation and requested the cash transfer from Israel, which holds taxes collected from the Palestinian Authority. Hamas has been paying its own workers, however.

Israeli navy boards ship

JERUSALEM (JTA)—The Israeli navy intercepted and boarded a cargo ship carrying humanitarian supplies and activists from Lebanon to Gaza.

Eighteen naval gunboats surrounded the ship, which was towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

The Feb. 5 incident was the second time the navy tried to turn back the ship. The first time, the ship indicated that it would sail to Egypt and instead tried again to make it to Gaza.

The ship, sailing under the flag of Togo, sailed from Tripoli a few days ago and stopped overnight in Cyprus before leaving for Gaza on Feb. 4. It was said to be carrying 50 tons of medical supplies, food, clothing and toys, as well as activists and journalists.

Israel’s navy made direct contact with the vessel on Feb. 5 evening, telling the crew that the ship would not be permitted to enter Gaza’s coastal waters.

Though some media outlets are reporting that the ship was fired on, a statement from the Israel Defense Forces said that “No gunshots were fired on board during the boarding and capturing of the cargo boat.”

The IDF release emphasized that “any organization or country that wishes to transfer humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip can do so via the established crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip with prior coordination.”

THE WORLD

Alleged Venezuelan synagogue vandals arrested

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Seven police officers were among 11 people arrested for involvement in an attack on a Venezuelan synagogue.

One of the arrested men is reported to be a guard at the synagogue.

In an attack on the Tiferet Israel Sephardic synagogue in Caracas last month, vandals threw Torah scrolls on the floor and damaged them, and painted epithets such as “death to the Jews” on the synagogue’s walls. A roster of member families also was stolen.

The attack is seen as an outgrowth of anti-Semitic rhetoric by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that grew increasingly strident during Israel’s military operation in Gaza. Chavez also accused his political opposition of staging the attack.

“What a coincidence, the gang leader is a metropolitan police officer who for the last four years was the personal bodyguard of the synagogue’s rabbi,” Chavez said in an interview Feb. 8 with the Venevision TV station, Reuters reported.

Chavez broke diplomatic ties with Israel on Jan. 6, while the Gaza operation was ongoing, expelling its ambassador and staff.

The alleged vandals were arrested during weekend raids and are scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 9.

“We thank the authorities for the quick detention of the suspects,” Elias Farache, president of Venezuela’s Jewish Association, told the Associated Press.

Jews in Odessa,
Vancouver USA connect

KIEV, Ukraine (JTA)—Members of the Vancouver, Wash., and Odessa Jewish communities connected via a live Web cast.

The Jewish Business Network in Vancouver and Odessa Jews met via the World Wide Web on the evening Feb. 8, the eve of Tu B’Shevat.

Vancouver participants learned about life in and the development of Odessa’s Jewish community.

Children from the Ohr Avner Chabad Day School and the Good Family orphanage were among the Odessa Jews on hand at the hall of the Central Synagogue of the Chabad Shomrey Shabbos JCC of Odessa.

The initiative stemmed from Rabbi Shmulik Greenberg of Chabad of Clark County, who once lived and studied in Odessa.  

Each year, the Jewish Business Network does something special for the children of the Good Family Orphanage. This year, the proceeds of its fund-raising efforts will help with expensive medical procedures for the children there.

Ukraine’s economic crisis has given rise to a concomitant increase in the number of homeless children. Estimates of homeless children in Ukraine range from 100,000 to more than 3 million.

Jews attacked in Azerbaijan

MOSCOW (JTA)—Twelve residents of a Jewish apartment block in Azerbaijan were hospitalized with injuries, including knife wounds, after a spate of robberies.

Azerbaijani officials are calling the Feb. 9 robberies an “attack on the Jewish people” in the predominantly Muslim country.

The attacks occurred in the town of Sumqayit on the coast of the Caspian Sea, according to the AzerTopNews Web site.

There have been tensions between the country’s small Jewish population and the Muslim majority at times when conflicts erupted between Israelis and Palestinians.

Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, the head of a prominent mosque in the region, denounced the attacks.

“Between our two peoples [Jewish and Azerbaijani], there has not and there will not be any misunderstanding, that we don’t dream of acts of violence against the Jewish population of our country,” he said.

Local officials convened an emergency meeting to address the violence and seek ways to find and punish the assailants.

ADL: European attitudes toward Jews little changed

NEW YORK (JTA)—A study from the Anti-Defamation League found little change in European attitudes toward Jews over the past two years.

The study, released Feb. 10 and based on telephone interviews with 3,500 respondents in seven European countries, found that in six of those countries anti-Semitic attitudes had changed little since a similar ADL study was conducted in 2007. In the seventh country, the United Kingdom, there was a “marked decline” in the percentage of respondents who believe that at least three of four anti-Semitic stereotypes presented are “probably true.”

The margin of error for the survey is 4 percent in each country.

In announcing the study, the ADL noted that “millions” of Europeans believe in classical anti-Semitic stereotypes, including that Jews have too much power in business and finance and talk too much about the Holocaust. It also said that nearly half of those surveyed “believe Jews are not loyal to their country,” a finding based on a question that asked if Jews are “more loyal” to Israel than to their country of residence.

Overall, the study found that anti-Semitic feeling was most prevalent in Poland, Hungary and Spain, countries in which nearly half the respondents surveyed responded “probably true” to at least three anti-Semitic stereotypes.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom had the lowest such percentages, at 20 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent. Those countries also have the largest Jewish populations in Western Europe.

Filmmakers protest festival

BERLIN (JTA)—Berlin’s international film festival is a purveyor of anti-Semitic propaganda, a filmmakers organization says.

The Club of Iranian and European Filmmakers were to protest Feb. 12 outside the screening of “Letters to the President,” a film about Iranian citizens writing to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In an announcement Feb. 10, the club called festival director Dieter Kosslick “a willing supporter” of hate propaganda for including the film by Czech director Petr Lom in the 59th Berlin International Film Festival.

British diplomat arrested
for anti-Semitic remarks

LONDON (JTA)—A senior British diplomat was arrested following a complaint about anti-Semitic remarks he made while working out.

Rowan Laxton, the head of the South Asia Group at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, was watching television reports on Israel’s military action in Gaza while using an exercise bike at a London gym.

According to the Daily Mail, staff and other gym members allegedly heard him shout “fing Israelis, fing Jews,” as well as that Israeli soldiers should be “wiped off the face of the earth.”

Scotland Yard spokesman said a 47-year-old man was arrested in connection with an incident on Jan. 27 following a complaint received by police from a member of the public. He said the man was bailed out pending further inquiries and is due to return at the end of March to a central London police station.

Arrests of those making anti-Semitic remarks are rare in Britain. By law, the maximum penalty for inciting religious hatred is seven years in prison, a fine or both.

Laxton served in the Middle East and is considered an expert on the area.

A  Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman said the issue is a police matter and thus the office cannot comment at this stage.