Apr 19
Jeanette Friedmanhistory, Holocaust, judaism
Today is April 19, the 68th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and my Uncle Yaakov Rabinowitz’s (spelling varies in our family) yahrzeit. According to witness Hillel Siedman and Jurgen Stroop’s own report, my uncle was the only person killed on First Seder Night (April 19, 1943), 24 were wounded and 580 were captured. He was the son of a distinguished Hasidic rabbi, the Parcever, Rabbi Nosson Dovid of Sedlice, and brother to a number of well-known rebbes, most famous of them the Munkacser Rov. The article below appeared in the Jewish Standard in 2008 and every year the family Seder is dedicated to him, and a yahrzeit candle is lit for him and the Six Million murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. Just click on the images to read more.
Dec 10
Jeanette Friedmanbook review, commentary, Internet, Jews, judaism, people
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF: Can We Talk?
By Kenneth Applebaum with an intro by Jeanette Friedman
THIS WAS WRITTEN IN 2003
The Jerusalem Report called him an atheist because he is an iconoclast, but then, the writer who was so supremely critical of this young, 42-year old deep thinker, Douglas Rushkoff, obviously doesn’t understand the second of the Ten Commandments. Jews are the original iconoclasts. That’s why everyone else hates them—for that and providing the world with the rest of the Ten Commandments. But people don’t get it. Douglas Rushkoff, author of Nothing Sacred, does get Judaism, very, very well. And because he does, more and more institutional Jews and Jewish institutions see him as a threat to their well-being.
Why? Because he asks good, hard questions and understands that we might not like what happens when we get the answers. And as anyone who ever read or saw Yentl knows, you are judged by the questions you ask. Many of us know from our own Hebrew School and Yeshiva experiences that we really aren’t supposed to ask questions, because a: our teachers (rabbis) might not have the answers or b: they don’t want you to know the answers, c: they are afraid of the answers. It seems they want to be the exclusive holders of the supreme knowledge and interpretation of the Torah.
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Dec 10
Jeanette Friedmanholidays, judaism, life cycle events and celebrations
BY JEANETTE FRIEDMAN
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
In the secular country that created Santa Claus, not too far from the North Pole, where the nights start early and are bitterly cold and long, Rabbi Binyomin Wolff of Chabad Finland lit a giant Chanukah menorah made of ice near the city’s railroad station, at 3 in the afternoon. More important than the traditional latkes and donuts were the gallons of hot chocolate that warmed the fingers and bellies of 400 folks from all over, including statesmen and politicians, who blessed the Chanukah lights. The hot cocoa is a sweet lure — for in Finland, light has strong meaning and plays an important role in society. It sustains the Finns — and the message will last at least as long as the menorah does. It won’t melt until March.
read more here
Dec 06
Jeanette Friedmandomestic violence, feminism, israel, judaism, politics, social action, women in america
Naomi Graetz, the biblical scholar and author of groundbreaking books on the sources for coping with discomfiting Jewish topics like wife-beating, talked about slavery and trafficking at the Rabbis for Human Rights North America Conference on December 6. Graetz, who lives in Omer, a Beersheva suburb, came to the States for that meeting and a biblical scholar’s conference in Atlanta.
Graetz explains that slavery and trafficking resonate from biblical times. Poverty and circumstance have always forced some women into the trade — where they are dehumanized. And while there are those who say prostitution is the world’s oldest profession, Graetz notes that pimps came first, and it is a very lucrative trade, indeed. According to the U.S. State Department, 12.3 million people are in slavery and forced prostitution around the world — most of them women and children. “The practice of closing one’s eyes to a social phenomenon with distressing overtones creates denial — and that prevents the establishment from responding effectively to trafficking,” she said.
read more here.
Nov 30
Jeanette Friedmaneducation, holidays, Jews, judaism
By Jeanette Friedman, Chabad.edu
Nov 30, 2010 9:00 AM
Tufts University was founded in 1852 to be a shining light on the hill – Medford, Mass.’s Walnut Hill, to be exact – and nestled on its New England campus stands the eternal flame that burns 24/7 at the Chabad House Jewish Student Center, where Rabbi Tzvi and Chanie Backman offer a home away from home for the university’s Jewish members.
Wednesday night, hundreds of them will gather at the center of campus as the folks at Jewish Jumbo, as the Chabad-Lubavitch center is affectionately known, celebrate the Festival of Lights by lighting a giant Chanukah menorah with the assistance of University President Lawrence Bacow.
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