Page 34 - Jewish News_July-2020

34 July 2020 COMMENTARY

The Torah teaches us proper behavior and respect for all

was not resisting. Later I saw on TV pelled from middle school should not On Shavuot we celebrate the rev- By Rabbi Jonathan R. Katz, Community Chaplain
that Omar Jimenez of CNN was ar- be part of the public discourse. elation of the Torah at Sinai. On Sha-
From rested. He did not get an answer when when restraint is necessary. For over vuot we rejoice that the Torah teaches
Fuel is being poured on the fire
he asked why he was arrested. The
us proper behavior and respect and
the arresting officers later said they were half a century we preached a nonvio- concern for all.
Bimah obeying orders. This was the excuse lent approach. Just because it didn’t Crossword Puzzle
given at the Nuremberg trials. I sighed
bring about the desired result, doesn’t
with relief when Omar Jimenez was mean a violent approach will work. Solution to puzzle on page 27
released. I don’t want to articulate the Anger does not have to be destructive
fears that went through my mind. or denied. Righteous indignation can
Rabbi Stephen L. Sniderman George Floyd and Omar Jimenez drive us to creative responses.
Temple Beth Israel have something in common. We Jews have had our history of

did not have a nice weekend. I Hatred, bigotry and discrimination having violence directed at us. We have
know it is just an expression to are not restrained. We hear that police had to instruct our children how to avoid
I hope that someone has a nice officers, and not just police officers, certain confrontations. We, too, were
weekend, but this year the extended need to take special courses and need told that we had to change our behavior
weekend of Shavuot and Shabbat was special training to deal with minorities. before we could obtain civil rights. It
not nice or pleasant or restful. This shouldn’t be necessary. Proper be- pains me that certain prominent groups
My pain is profound. I saw a po- havior should be part of the moral fiber fighting for the oppressed today would
lice officer kill a man. George Floyd of all of us. Words and expressions that exclude me from their ranks because I
was unarmed. He was handcuffed. He would get someone suspended or ex- am a Jew, worse a Zionist.

BRIEFS Orthodox volunteers packing food bas- a real Israeli,” 65% of Arabs said they water, thought to be linked to Jewish
kets for Arabs so they could break their
agree completely and 33% somewhat
practices of ritual purity,” IAA archae-
ologists said. (Amanda Borschel-Dan,
agree. (Idan Zonshine, Jerusalem Post)
fast for Ramadan with a proper meal,
and Arabs from eastern Jerusalem who Times of Israel)
continued from previous page 2,000-YEAR-OLD, 3-ROOM
volunteered to purchase medication for
JERUSALEM’S RESIDENTS the elderly, from all sectors, who could COMPLEX UNCOVERED NEW STUDY: 70 PERCENT
COME TOGETHER DURING not leave their homes. (Shai Doron, NEAR WESTERN WALL OF CORONAVIRUS CASES
CORONAVIRUS CRISIS President of the Jerusalem Foundation, IN JERUSALEM IN ISRAEL STARTED IN U.S.
As the Coronavirus crisis unfolded in Jewish Chronicle - UK) A two-millennia-old subterranean sys- More than 70% of Coronavirus patients
Jerusalem, the civil society organiza- POLL: ONLY 7 PERCENT tem of three rooms was recently uncov- in Israel were infected by a strain that Incorporating Jordan Valley and settlements
tions so active in the city changed their OF ISRAELI ARABS ered near the Western Wall, chiseled by originated in the U.S., according to a
priorities, programs and activities with hand out of bedrock prior to the fall of new study published by Dr. Adi Stern of into Israel proper
only one aim: to make sure that no Je- DEFINE THEMSELVES Jerusalem in 70 CE, the Israel Antiqui- the School of Molecular Cell Biology
rusalemite was left alone. AS “PALESTINIAN” ties Authority (IAA) announced. and Biotechnology at Tel Aviv Univ. By Harold M. Halpern
At the Jerusalem Foundation we The proportion of non-Jewish people The complex was hidden for cen- The remaining 30% of infections month ago, rivals Benjamin
had to change our direction overnight in Israel who define themselves pri- turies under a 1,400-year-old Byzan- in Israel were imported from Belgium A
Netanyahu and Benny Gantz
from major capital projects to support- marily as “Palestinian” now stands at tine structure’s mosaic floor. (8%), France (6%), England (5%), agreed to a coalition govern-
ing the city’s most vulnerable popu- 7%, down from 18% a year ago, ac- Inside the rooms are what looks to Spain (3%) and 2% each from Italy, the ment. Their agreement provides that
lations: children with special needs, cording to a survey conducted by Prof. be niches for shelves and storage, as Philippines, Australia and Russia. dealing with the Coronavirus is its
at-risk youth, children in women’s Camille Fuchs of Tel Aviv University well as doorjambs and lantern niches, Stern and his team of research- priority for six months. Gantz agreed
shelters, people with disabilities, fami- for the Jewish People Policy Institute. chiseled into the bedrock. ers mapped the spread of the virus by with one exception. The government
lies who found themselves without 51% self-identify as “Israeli Arab,” “We found clay cooking vessels, decoding the genomic sequence of the could consider from July 1 on, whether
money to buy food, and the elderly, the while 23% define themselves primarily cores of oil lamps used for light, a Coronavirus strain in Israel and compar- to incorporate the Jordan Valley and
population most at risk. as “Israeli,” a sizable increase from 5% stone mug unique to Second Temple ing it to 4,700 genomic sequences taken all West Bank settlements into Israel
It was amazing to see situations that last year. Period Jewish sites and a fragment of a from patients around the world. (Maay- proper (annexation).
we couldn’t have anticipated of strict Asked how much they “feel like qalal – a large stone basin used to hold an Jaffe-Hoffman, Jerusalem Post) During the three elections of the
past year, Netanyahu promised he
would annex the properties, removing
them from any claim of the Palestinian
Authority (PA)
for inclusion in a
Palestinian State.
Practically
FUNERAL SERVICES speaking, annex-
ation could never
take place with-
out U.S. explicit
The Area’s ONLY Jewish Owned & Operated Funeral Home Harold M. Halpern or tacit approval.
Historically, ev-
ery U.S. administration opposed uni-
lateral action by Israel until President
Specializing in local burial, out-of-state transfers, Trump presented his Peace Plan.
The Plan proposes that the Jordan
and burial in Israel Valley and all Israeli settlements in the

West Bank be annexed by Israel and
that the remaining 70% of the West
• REFORM • CONSERVATIVE • ORTHODOX • Bank become a Palestinian State. At-

Sarasota County Democrats issue joint resolution
• Chevra Kadisha
• Pre-need Trusts condemning local crimes of anti-Semitism

• Cremations By Jayne Wallace for Sarasota County Democratic Party

• Free Burial Plots 2426 Bee Ridge Road alling the horrific defacement
at Sarasota’s Temple Emanu-
for Veterans/Spouse Sarasota, FL 34239 CEl last month as a part of the
“long history of anti-Semitism that ex-
tends beyond physical acts of violence,
24 Hour Information at (941) 955-1075 Michael, David, Pati and Steven Gross discrimination and even genocide,”
the Sarasota County Democratic Party
HebrewMemorialSarasota.com (SCDP) and the Sarasota County Dem-
ocratic Jewish Caucus (SCDJC) have
jointly issued a resolution, connecting
the vandalism to “the reckless rheto-
ric of…Trump and those in power that
have fanned the flames of bigots and
MOVING?

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