JEWISH WORLD

4 JEWISH WORLD • NOVEMBER 18-24, 2022 By MENDEL HOROWITZ S torytelling is a central fea- ture of the Passover holiday. The imperative for Jews to retell our history ensures that our children will never forget it. During the Holocaust, tradition- al Passover seder texts were hand- written in ghettos from memory. Survivors illustrated Holocaust- themed Haggadahs in displaced persons camps after the war. “In every generation, they stand above us to destroy us,” laments the tradi- tional narrator, “and the Holy One, blessed be He, rescues us from their hands.” On our Passover table, to accompany the familiar narrative, heirlooms link my children tangi- bly to their past. Incorporating our ancestors’ material objects into our rituals is both an homage to their determination and a prayer for the perpetuation of our children’s through their faith. Ideally, we can meet the bear- able challenges of our times by appreciating how our predecessors confronted the unbearable difficul- ties of theirs. In a time of uncer- tainty and inconvenient isolation, these relics can help to put social distancing in perspective and encourage us to maintain resilience and hope. A s the coronavirus spread in March 2020, my daughter and I transported an heirloom set of Rosenthal china in two overweight carry-ons and one bulging knap- sack on a flight to Israel from New York. Before escaping the carnage of Europe for the United States in 1949, Zaidy Victor and Bubby Bella had the presence of mind to purchase quality German china manufactured in the U.S. Zone. Traumatized in ways I could not imagine, these two refugees made their way to Philadelphia with two young children and enough plates and saucers for a family of 12. Wrapped snugly in bubble-wrap cocoons, the delicate gold-rimmed dishes were making their second transatlantic journey. In honor of the past, we were transporting the relics to a sovereign Jewish state after survivors of genocide salvaged them from a country that had sought their anni- hilation. Symbols of perseverance and desire, the dishes would adorn By ANDREW E. HARROD A ssistant Professor of Afri- cana studies Noura Erakat demands that self-professed progressives share her Israel-hatred, lest they become “Progressive Ex- cept for Palestine” (PEP). She made this point during a March 3 webinar with Marc La- mont Hill. who famously lost his job at CNN for approvingly reciting the BDS mantra “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea,” and Mitchell Plitnick, whose recent book Except Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics is dedicated to Erakat’s terrorist cousin Ahmed Erekat, killed last June by Israeli border security after committing a car-ramming attack that injured a guard. H ill, a professor of communica- tions at Temple University, and Plitnick, former co-director of the radically anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and former vice president of the equally hostile Israel Foundation for Middle East Peace, joined Erakat on a “book talk” presented by Chicago’s leftist Haymarket Books. Both invoked the tired canard that Israel “racial- ly” oppresses Arabs, both its own citizens and those living in the ter- ritories. Hill absurdly claimed that PEP is just as unacceptable as “Progressive Except for Slavery.” Erakat praised the infamous United Nations World Conference against Racism, held in Durban, Africa in 2001, which quickly degenerated into a hate-fest against Israel. She had a tangential connection to the con- ference, as a resear- cher for a paper deliv- ered there, titled, “The Forgotten ‘ism’: An A r a b - Am e r i c a n Woman’s Perspective on Zionism, Racism, and Sexism.” “Global, grassroots coalitions” went to Durban, she boasted, “intent on holding up the banner that Israel is an apartheid state.” The U.S. Durban delegation, led by America’s first Black Secretary of State, Colin Powell, thought continued on page 24 Are you “Progressive Except for Palestine”? CANDLE LIGHTING continued on page xx 115 Middle Neck Rd. Great Neck, NY 11021 516-594-4000 The award-winning independent Jewish newspaper of Long Island Publisher & editor-in-chief Jerome Wm. Lippman Assistant Editor Jeff Helmreich Features Editor Barbara Weinblatt Travel Editor Tania Grossinger Contributors Douglas M. Bloomfield, Shira Dicker, Lawrence J. Epstein, Marcelle Sussman Fischler, Ezra Goldstein,, Sandy Portnoy, Joseph R. Rackman, Erica Rauzin, Walter Ruby, Lawrence H. 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Local Offices: 1441 President Street Brooklyn, N.Y. 11213 311 W. 37th Street New York, N.Y. 10018 Passover, COVID, Memory Re ections on yet another restricted seder Ideally, we can meet the bearable challenges of our times by apprecia ing how our survivor predecessors confronted the unbearable dif culties of theirs. A webinar presented by a leftist bookshop stars three popular anti-Zionist academics who let loose a volley of hateful propaganda at the Jewish state. continued on page 24 Victor and Bella Rubinstein, identi ed in the story as “Bubby and Zaide,” emerged from the Holocaust strong and ready to face life in the United States. (Right) China bought by author’s survivor in-laws in Germany are at his seder, to inspire his family. A Sinister PEP Talk ANALYSIS FIRST PERSON Noura Erakat (bottom) and Israel bashers Professor Marc Lamont-Hill (top left) and Mitchell Plitnick, former co-director of the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Friday, March 26 Candles 6:56 pm Saturday, March 27 Candles 8:27 pm First Passover Seder Sunday, March 28 Candles 8:28 pm Second Passover Seder Friday, April 2 Shabbat Candles 7:04 pm For Shabbat and 7th Day Passover Saturday Night, April 3rd Light Candles 8:35 pm For Sunday 8th Day Passover Sunday, April 4 Passover ends 8:40 pm Friday, November 18 Candles 4:16pm Shabbat ends 5:17pm Friday, November 25 Candles 4:12pm Shabbat ends 5:14pm I I some of our most important civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, the Leadership Confer- ence on Civil and Human Rights and the Student Nonviolent Coor- dinating Committee (SNCC). When, between 1910 a d 1940, more than 2,000 Black primary and second ry schools and 20 col- leges w re established in whole or in part by the Jewish philanthro- pist Julius Rosenwald – that’s Jew- ish power. When Jews comprised half of the northern young people who participated in the Mississip- pi Freedom Summer in 1964, and Jewish leaders were arrested with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he protested Southern racism – that was Jewish powe . Jewish wisdom as applied to the civil rig ts movement was perhaps most eloquently described when continued on page 25 By ALYZA LEWIN The following was adapted from the keynote addres delivered by Lewin at the Installation Dinn r of the Brandeis Association, a Jew- ish bar association, in Great Neck, New York, on Oct. 24, 2022. J ustice Louis D. Brandeis taught Americans that it was possible to be both American and Zionist. He explained that Zi- onist ideals were synonymous with American values. As he once said, “I began gra u- ally o realize that th se 20th-cen- tu y ideals of America, of democ- r cy, of social justice, of longing for righteousness, were ancient Jewish ideals. … That that which united as one. Today, however, some seek to divide them and falsely claim that they can’t coexist together. They categoriz Zionism as evil. It is increasingly common today to hear people say: I’m not an- I was striving for, as a thing es- sentially American, as the ideals for our country, were the Jewish id als of th usands of years.” For Justice Brandeis, Jewish, Zionist and American ideals were ti-Jewish, I’m only anti-Zionist. But is that even possible? Is it possible to support Jews but oppose Zionists? The answer is no. Why? Be- cause Zionism is an integral part of Jewis identity. Judaism is more han a religion. Jews share ot ly a faith and re- ligious traditions, but also a deep sense of Jewish peoplehood. The Jews’ history, ancestry, theology and culture are inextricably inter- twined with the Land of Israel. Jus- tice Brandeis embraced the right of the Jewish people to self-determi- nation in their ancestral homeland. Yet today, on campus and be- yond, Jewish students who demon- strate pride in their Jewish ethnic heritage by expressing id ntifica- tion with Isr el ar shunned, mar- ginalized and excluded from stu- dent clubs, support groups, social Jew-Baiting College Kids “Anti-Zionists” torment Jewish students It is increasingly common today to hear people say, “I’m not anti-Jewish, I’m only anti-Zionist.” But Zionism is an integral part of Jewish identity. For too many Jewish students, it’s just another day on campus. ANTI-SEMITISM continued on page 18 By DAVID SUISSA W hat is the Jew-hating notion of “Jewish pow- er?” When superstars with millions of followers on so- cial media like Kanye West and Kyrie Irving promote anti-Semitism, more often than not the hostility revolves around a sinister view of Jewish power. Jews are the boss- es. They own the record labels, the movie studios and the sports teams. They run the world. These stereotypes are not just sinister and anti-Semitic, but ig- nore genuine Jewish power, ne that has nothing to with conspir- acy-ba ed anti-Semitism and ev- erything to do with Jewish wis- dom and universal values. The Judaic teachings, “What power, the kind that moves hearts and souls. Practical expressions of “Jewish power” were implemented by those Jews ho helped found is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor” and that all of God’s chil- dren are “created in His imag ,” are manifestations of the faith’s ethical On Jewish Power It’s all about ethics, not “control” When Kanye West and Kyrie Irving promote anti-Semitism with hurtful words, the hostility mostly revolves around a sinister view of Jewish power over Black people. ANALYSIS Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld of Cleveland was beaten with tire irons by two white segrega- tionists while canvassing for voter registration, July 10, 1964.