Mar 18
Jeanette FriedmanHolocaust
Holocaust educators donate library to THS
By Howard Prosnit, Teaneck Suburbanite
Thursday, March 18, 2010
On the day after Halloween in 1979, Jeanette Friedman Sieradski was dropping off her children for pre-school at B’Nai Yeshurun when she saw that the synagogue had been defaced with swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti.
Friedman, whose parents survived Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, was appalled. But the experience changed her life, marking the beginning of three decades of Holocaust research and education.
Soon after the encounter, Friedman, an Ogden Avenue resident at the time, founded the first Second Generation Group of the children of Holocaust survivors in New Jersey. In 1980, she was appointed by Gov. Thomas Kean to the New Jersey Holocaust Education Commission. Locally, she began working with former Teaneck social studies teacher Ed Reynolds to revise the Holocaust curriculum used in the schools.
At the time, Teaneck schools used the Teaneck-Vineland curriculum, which Friedman found objectionable.
More
Mar 17
Jeanette Friedmanagunot/chained women
I happen to be the case behind NY’s Silver Get Law, and I can tell you stories, but you don’t want to hear them.
I didn’t go to the JOFA Conference this year, because, for me, it’s become a waste of time. Blu Greenberg’s statement, “if there is a halakhic will there is a halakhic way” is true. Unfortunately, the halakha is there, but there is no halakhic will. Solutions do exist, but rabbis have other fish to fry and they simply wore JOFA out. What are people supposed to think when the Israeli rabbinate shuts down an agunah conference where Orthodox rabbis were going to grapple with the issue?
More
Mar 15
Jeanette Friedmanlaw, politics
New York City—There’s a new word in town: ”lawfare.” Truth is, it’s been around for a while—used primarily by policy wonks, government lawyers and NGOs. But now this term—an extension of warfare in which international law is used to attack one’s enemies in the courtroom–has become the new WMD (weapon of mass distraction). The goal in many of these cases is not to win—that would be a bonus—but to distract the defendants, limit their actions and deplete their funds.
The heads-up took place recently at the New York County Lawyer’s Association (NYCLA) headquarters on a street that borders Ground Zero. More than 300 lawyers, law students and activists came to sit at the feet of the crème de la crème of the legal profession, diplomats, think tank members and academics to learn about the ways courts of law can be used to limit the ability of a sovereign nation to defend itself, and, at the same time, to create negative propaganda to manipulate the news cycle. It was also a call to action. As one observer noted, “This isn’t a matter of right or left. It’s a matter of common sense and survival.”
Among those on the distinguished roster were The Boss, himself, retiring DA of the Southern District of New York, Robert M. Morgenthau; the former Canadian Minister of Justice and now member of Parliament, Irwin Cotler; and Ambassadors Gabriella Shalev, John Bolton, Dore Gold and Pierre Prosper. The list of professors and experts, including some of the policy wonks referred to above, spent an entire day explaining precisely what lawfare is, who uses it, what purpose it serves and teling their colleagues that something needs to be done about it because it’s more dangerous than it seems.
More
Mar 15
Jeanette FriedmanHOLOCAUST SURVIVORS
BROOKLYN, N.Y—One of the most remarkable and poignant things about the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust survivors and their families in Jerusalem in 1981 was a wall plastered with notes from survivors and their children looking for lost family members and friends.
Those were the days before the Internet was a twinkle in all but a few eyes, and what was on that wall was a continuation of a hunt that had begun in the waning days of the Holocaust. For years after the Shoah, The Forward and Morning Journal would be packed with search ads, and the International Tracing Service was overwhelmed with requests.
As our parents leave us behind as the guardians of their history, the searches still don’t stop. And while there are those who scoff at what they think is futile fantasy, the searches continue to this day, 70 years after World War II began. Astonishingly, people do find each other and are able to bring the distant past into the present, triggering yet even more memories for us to remember for them.
More
Mar 15
Jeanette Friedmanholidays
NEW YORK (JTA) — Seder night is a challenge. There’s just so much to do and so many things to put on the table!
With so much “stuff” there, who is going to notice those gorgeous new napkin rings or your gleaming flatware and crystal glasses?
In addition to a formal setting — charger, dinner plate, appetizer plate, water glasses and wine glasses, four kinds of forks (salad, fish, meat and dessert), two knives (one for fish, one for meat), three spoons (appetizer, soup and tea), and dinner napkins — there are ceremonial foods and objects that need to be available to the seder leader.
Sometimes making enough room means adding leaves to the table, putting two tables together or putting a round table at the end of a rectangular one.
Keep things as simple as possible. Use rectangular tables and get the smallest folding chairs you can find. You can get sturdy folding tables at Home Depot or Lowe’s, or use hollow core doors on saw-horses.
More
Older Entries Newer Entries
Twitter
Facebook
RSS
