Judaism

This comes from the Jewish Heritage E-Report (June 27, 2008)
World News about Jewish Art, Architecture & Historic sites from the International Survey of Jewish Monuments (ISJM)
Edited by Samuel D. Gruber / Contact and send news items to
samuelgruber_at_gmail.com

Jamaica: Documentation of 18th Jewish Cemetery at Hunt's Bay
(Ainsley Henriques, Rachel Frankel, Anne Hersh and Samuel Gruber contributed to this article)

In January (2008), Caribbean Volunteer Expeditions (CVE) sponsored a successful project to inventory and document existing conditions of the historic Hunt's Bay Jewish Cemetery, the oldest known Jewish cemetery in Jamaica. ISJM provided logistical support and funds to purchase equipment necessary for the survey. The cemetery was the burial place for Jews, many fleeing the Inquisition and anti-Semitism in Europe. They came to Port Royal, the 17th century entré port, a desolate sandy spit at the end of what is now known as the Palisadoes peninsula enclosing Kingston Harbor. They found freedom to worship with few restrictions (but higher taxes).

This is an interesting item from the Jewish Heritage E-Report Edited by Samuel D. Gruber (For more info contact samuelgruber_at_gmail.com ):

Jay Waronker Continues Documentation of Sub-Saharan Africa Synagogues

(ISJM News) American Architect Jay Waronker, who documented synagogues in India in the 1990s, will be in East Africa this summer (2008) continuing his documentation of the synagogue architecture of Sub-Saharan Africa begun with a Fulbright grant in 2006. A trained architect, Waronker is especially known for his highly detailed by evocative watercolor paintings of Indian Synagogues which have been
exhibited widely. His choice to supplement more conventional means of building documentation with paintings links him to a long traditional of architectural illustrators who have recorded synagogue architecture since the 17th century. This summer's work is supported by a grant from the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation.

Waronker also helped organize the permanent exhibition in the recently restored former synagogue of Chennamangalam (Kerala), India. This summer Waronker will be working in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. His account of the 1926 Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Maputo Mozambique can be read on-line at: http://www.kulanu.org/mozambique/maputo.html

As John McCain is lying to try and get Jews to vote for him, it might be a good idea to review the facts about Obama and McCain from a Jewish perspective. This comes from the National Jewish Democratic Council:

OBAMA STANDS WITH PROGRESSIVE VALUES ON DOMESTIC ISSUES

• He supports reproductive rights and will uphold Roe v. Wade.
• Obama cosponsored the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007.
• He will provide affordable access to health insurance for every American.
• He has fought for increased investment in renewable fuels.

OBAMA PERFECT PRO-ISRAEL VOTING RECORD

The pro-Israel community has always used voting records to determine whether a candidate is “pro-Israel.”
• He has voted in favor of foreign aid to Israel every time.
• He has signed onto numerous pro-Israel letters and resolutions.
• When in the State Senate, he cosponsored a bill authorizing the state of Illinois to invest in Israel bonds.

OBAMA BELIEVES ISRAEL’S SECURITY IS PARAMOUNT

• Obama said, “Israel’s security is sacrosanct [...] I will also carry with me an unshakable commitment to the security of
Israel and the friendship between the United States and Israel.” – New York Sun, 2/25/2008

Every year at Passover I write a diary focused on the origins of Jews. This year I have one new insight into the origins of Judaism, and it comes from a direction that isn't quite what I was expecting, and it both goes along with and maybe modifies what is in the bible. So if you have read this before, keep with it, because I caught on to one of the earliest signs of something new in "Israel" originating in Egypt...just like the Passover legend suggests.

Passover celebrates, supposedly, the escape of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. This escape is considered one of the defining moments in Judaism, perhaps THE defining moment. Into this event is placed the entirety of the ancient Jewish identity, supposedly divided into "12 tribes," as well as the defining of Jewish religious law. That is a lot to put into one holiday!

The problem is that the bible account is internally inconsistent and is clearly a mixture of several traditions and myths. That does not mean that there aren't kernels of truth in it, but it is not clear how many events are covered by the Exodus story and what times those various events took place, or if any of the characters involved were real people. What is clear is that the story was written LONG after the events it claims to describe took place, which is common for ancient legends. The bible cannot be taken literally because it is often internally contradictory. That is odd if it is the revealed word of God…but it is very understandable if it is the collected lore of a small group of semi-nomadic people (Hapiru? Shasu Bedouins?) who eventually established a small state or collection of tiny states and were desperately trying to define their identity in relation to their often much stronger and very aggressive neighbors.

In 1943 Jews were responsible for the destruction of one of the worst Nazi death camps. You probably haven't heard of Sobibor. Sobibor was designed specifically and solely to kill. It wasn't a camp where they worked people to death. It was a camp where they killed people. Mengele sorting who died and who lived for awhile longer was kind compared to the brutality of Sobibor

Two of the six Nazi death camps, Treblinka and Sobibor, were destroyed as a result of Jewish uprisings. These events were suppressed not only by the embarassed Nazis, but also by some Jews who felt ambivalent about resistance and by some Israeli who, until the revelations of the Eichman trial, felt those who remained in the Diaspora had, by not moving to Israel, been partly responsible for their fate. I think the memory of Jewish resistance against the Nazis is extremely important to keep alive.

Sobibor was almost the forgotten Nazi Death Camp. It was almost forgotten because the SS themselves tried to eradicate all traces of the camp. The camp had become an embarrassment after nearly half the Jews at the camp rebelled and escaped.

That rebellion happened today in 1943.

Sobibor was one of the actual "Death Camps" where extermination was the primary goal. Most concentration camps focused on working the prisoners to death. The "Death Camps" focused on killing them as fast as they could. There were six death camps, all located in Poland: Aucshwitz II, Bełżec, Chełmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka. More than 250,000 people were murdered at Sobibor alone. Both Treblinka and Sobibor were destroyed thanks to Jewish uprisings.

Awhile back I wrote a diary about a Jewish cemetary in Vilnius, Lithuania, that was threatened with destruction due to development. It proved a controversial diary and I have gotten any emails and comments over the months about this cemetery. The comments seemed to break down into two categories:

1. Non-Jewish Lithuanians (some who lived in Vilnius) who claimed there WAS no Jewish cemetery there, that it had been destroyed by the Soviets, and that the story was in fact a lie.

2. Jews NOT from Lithuania who insist the story is true.

I have been on and off trying to follow up this story to find out the truth.

Choral synagogue in Vilnius

An old photo of the Jewish quarter.

There once was a thriving and highly respected Jewish population in Lithuania. Vilnius was called the "Jerusalem of Europe" by Napoleon, so great was the fame of its Jewish scholars. One of the greatest Orthodox Jewish sages, Elijah ben Solomon (called the Vilna Gaon) came from Vilnius and had a profound effect on yeshiva teaching. There even seems to be a modern Lithuanian museum dedicated to the Vilna Gaon.

The National Jewish Democratic Council is eyeing Mike Huckabee as quite possibly the most dangerous and fanatical of all the Republican presidential hopefuls, combinging Christian fundamentalism with corruption.

The rise of Huckabee should be a major concern both for Republicans (who now have another very failed candidate as their potential nominee) and for Democrats (who should be concerned whenever an extreme candidate gets a whiff of the Presidency).

...Here are a few concerns about his record:

- In June, Huckabee issued a call to arms to religious conservatives, urging them to vote on the very social issues that are undermining the wall between church and state.

- Also in June 2007, Huckabee said that "most of our prisoners would love to be in a facility more like Guantanamo ..."

- In May 2007, Huckabee went on record as not believing in evolution.

- In October 2006, Huckabee joked that he lost weight because Democrats put him in a concentration camp.

- In 1998, Huckabee called on the religious right to "take this nation back for Christ."

So some of my diaries seem poised to become traditions. This comes from last year almost without change. Hell, it has been thousands of years since this story was first told, so it is not surprising I have little reason to change it from year to year.

Passover celebrates Moses leading "his people" out of Egypt, the reception of "THE LAW" and the entry into the "promised land."

So just who was this "Moses?" What kind of name is "Moses?" And just who are his "people?" Well, it seems that "Moses" may be a pseudonym or, really, just half a name, the rest having been suppressed. Yes, suppressed because of some dark secret! His people seem to have been a rag-tag bunch of dispossesed ne'er do wells who may have heard about the idea of "one god to rule them all" from a heretic Egyptian king whose memory was being suppressed at the time that someone like Moses might have existed. And the Exodus? It may not have been so voluntary. Maybe they were trouble makers kicked out for subversive beliefs! So just what is this Passover thing anyway?

Passover celebrates, supposedly, the escape of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. This escape is considered one of the defining moments in Judaism, perhaps THE most important defining moment. Into this event is placed the entirety of the ancient Jewish identity, supposedly divided into "12 tribes," as well as the defining of Jewish religious law. The problem is that the bible account is internally inconsistent and is clearly a mixture of several traditions and myths. That does not mean that there aren’t kernels of truth in it, but it is not clear how many events are covered by the Exodus story and what times those various events took place, or if any of the characters involved were real people. The bible cannot be taken literally because it is often internally contradictory. That is odd if it is the revealed word of God…but it is very understandable if it is the collected lore of a small group of semi-nomadic people who eventually established a small state or collection of tiny states and were desperately trying to define their identity in relation to their often stronger neighbors.

Today marks the juxtaposition of the first night of Passover (starting today at sundown) and what Americans celebrate as April Fool's day.

What few Americans know is that April Fool's Day has its origins in the Passover story. It became dissociated with Passover when it was adopted to the Gregorian calendar, switching it from a lunar holiday like all Jewish holidays to a solar holiday and fixing the date.

April Fool's Day derives from the Jewish holiday called A'fikomen, which originally came 8 days before Passover. Passover, of course, celebrates the Exodus, as everyone knows. And everyone knows that before the Jews left Egypt, Moses tried convincing Pharaoh of the validity of the Jewish religion by matching wits with the priests of Amun, a manifestation of the Egyptian sun god. This famous battle of tricks, called the A'fikomen in ancient Hebrew, did not convince Pharaoh. It took the ten plagues sent by G_d to do that, thus symbolizing the futility of human actions in comparison with the power of G_d.

The battle of tricks between Moses and the priests of Amun were celebrated in a kind of foolish, children's holiday 8 days before Passover called A'fikomen. During this time parents would hide treats and toys and children would have to find them.

This holiday of tricks was condemned by early Christians as belittling the sanctity of Passover (now being transformed into the Christian Easter) and being incompatible with the Christian holiday. But as anti-Semitism grew, the silliness of the holiday was seen as a way of belittling Judaism, so Pope John John III in the 11th century revived the holiday, fixing the time of its observance at April 1st according to the solar calendar and renaming it April Fool's Day.

Passover is rapidly approaching, the day we celebrate freedom from slavery and a supposedly seminal event in our history. Well, the historical basis for this is uncertain. But for Jews around the world this holiday is a major part of our year and Matzah plays a central role.

My family is not so religious, as people have probably gathered. One Passover we spent with a friend that ordered a massive amount of Chinese food for our celebration. The eggroll of our affliction...and pork products did play a role in the seder.

And when it comes to Matzah, my family is ecclectic. We often get egg and onion...usually Streits. My son loves "yellow Matzah" meaning Goodman's egg Matzah. Plain Maztazh is fine. Everything Matzah (Manishevitz) is a bit much, but not bad. The only one we were left a bit flat by, though we appreciated the effort, was Manishevitz "Mediterranean" Matzah didn't quite work.

This year we happened to buy a 5-pack of Matzah for Passover. We tend to eat Matzah on a regular basis...all of us. So buying in bulk around Passover makes sense.

This year we happened to grab the Osem "Israeli Matzah," subtitled "Matzah with a Mitzvah" because they donate some tiny amount of gelt to plant trees for every 5-pack people buy. Planting trees is good. So we bought it even though we realized it was a touch of a scam.

Then we tasted it. THIS is what Matzah should be.

All four of us agree...this is some of the best Matzah we have ever tried. A bit dry, but that is what you expect. PERFECTLY fresh, crisp and tasty. I love it. My wife loves it. My 12 year old step daughter, who currently disparages the world, loved it. My son...he ate it. We are not sure if it's his favorite, but it sure pleased him.