Points of Jew

Rabbi stamp of approval

France has put one of its most famous rabbis on to a stamp.

European Jewish Press reports:

The French postal service have paid tribute to one of the country’s greatest chief rabbis, Jacob Kaplan, by producing a stamp bearing his image.

The stamp was made available in all French post offices on 15 November.

Kaplan was born on 5 November, 1895 in Paris to an Orthodox family from Latvia. Both his father and grand-father were rabbis.

Help the helpers of Zaka

I spotted this and so did Jewschool. Zaka is one example of a project that should get some Israeli government support given the service they provide.

From the Daily Telegraph:

Israel's disaster squad on brink of bankruptcy

A Jewish charity whose bearded, skullcap-wearing volunteers rush to the scene of every suicide bombing in Israel is facing bankruptcy following the decline in Palestinian terrorism.

Members of Zaka were among the first to arrive at every atrocity, sifting through wreckage to gather the body parts of victim and bomber alike, in accordance with Jewish law.

"The perception is that our workload has gone down, and so we have seen a decline in the growth of our private funding," said Yehuda Meshi Zahav, the founder and chairman of Zaka.

"But the reality is that our workload has gone up and so, until our funding catches up, there is a problem."

Mr Meshi Zahav appears older than his 44 years but when he explains his workload it is easy to see why.

His group responds to all non-natural deaths in Israel. This does not just include terrorist incidents but murders, suicides and accidents, currently averaging around 35 each week.

Gefilite fish war going on in Israel

There's a gefilte fish war going on in Israel between local producers and importers. The importers claim that Israeli-made gefilte is not subjected to the same standards that imported gefilete is, hence:

Ynetnews reports:

As it turns out, gefilte fish is subjected to specific regulations. According to the relevant standard (number 841for those who care) for preserving fish, applicable to carp preserved in gefilte fish sauce, each piece is supposed to be made of carp alone.

But importers claim that in reality, the standard is not being applied to local producers and is only being enforced against them.

“It turns out that the stuffed fish pieces suffer from serious discrimination in Israel,” a statement by the importers said.

Thanks to Jewlicious for that tasty story.

Jesus freaks copy Jewschool

Is there no shame to Jesus freaks who try to convert Jews?

From misleading people through to other underhand tactics they employ when trying to convert, now comes a new one - take a leading Jewish website and copy its style and name.

Jewschool is a great site which engages all sections of the Jewish community.  Run by Dan S, it has been going for several years and is a leading resource for 20-something Jews.

Now, some schmucky Jews for Jesus style person or persons has created True Jewschool.  While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, something like this is really nasty.  And shows once again how the converting Jesus freaks will do anything to try and mislead people. At first, they even stole his logo, but have since now changed that design.

In an email Dan says:

Members of Jews for Jesus have just launched a blog to counter Jewschool.com.  It's called TrueJewschool.com and it completely infringes upon my brand identity.  50 Shekel is prominently advertising  it on his site.  I think this is the next step in his personal vendetta.   However, it's also interesting to see the way JFJ is now attempting to co-opt Jewish institutions online.  Jewschool is one of the most highly trafficked websites online. Are they intentionally aiming to capitalize on "likelihood of confusion"?  Or is this just a personal jab at me?

Anyway, read all about it here.

Battle over JNF name continues

Just when you thought there was some hope that JNF UK and its JNF Israel counterpart would settle its differences and avoid further costly legal costs over the use of the JNF name in the UK, both groups are still playing silly buggers.

TotallyJewish takes up the story:

Hope for an amicable settlement between British JNF and its Israeli counterpart received a blow this week after officials on the Israeli side insisted they would not meet if the British charity’s President was present.

The two sides met in the High Court last week as the UK-based JNF, which is properly known as the JNF Charitable Trust (JNFCT), sought to prevent Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael from using the JNF brand name in the UK.

The court refused to grant a temporary injunction against Keren using the name and urged the two sides to arrange a mediated meeting to iron out their differences without resorting to spending donors’ money on expensive litigation.

So until this matter is resolved, my advice is, don't support either group. Support Israeli groups direct. At least that way, you'll know your money will be doing direct and won't be used to pay either sides legal and other associated costs.

Jewish urban myths - number 232

Is this just an urban Jewish myth or could it actully be true?

Miriam at Bloghead writes about how some ultra-orthodox folks are having their kids booted out of frum schools because the school is being a bit sneaky and checking to see if they have a TV in their home. In those communities a TV set is a no no.

Miriam writes:

It is rumoured that [a certain haredi school in the UK -- MS] has been ringing up the TV Licensing Authority masquarading as certain parents in order supposedly to check that their licence is still valid. Of course, if the TVLA confirms this, then they bring in the parents for a severe talking to or to suggest that their children may be better off at another school.

Quite apart from the appalling ethics of this, I suspect it could be illegal for reasons of data protection if nothing else. There are other issues relating to identity theft etc.

Expect this story to develop over coming weeks as more bloggers look to flesh it out. 

If it turns out to be true or has some element of truth in it, any wonder why anti-semites have a great time attacking us?

We seem to just give them stuff you couldn't make up if you wanted to which they then base their attacks on ius with. Although in this case, it could well be made up which means, we seem to add some credibility to this stuff.  It's tough being a Jew!

Or maybe this is the outline for a comedy sketch?  It's too funny to be true, or is it?

Google video rocks for Jews

If it wasn't for Google Video, I wouldn't be able to see some great things that celebrate all aspects of being Jewish.

From the fun to the serious, Google Video offers a great selection of showing aspects of Jewish life.

Where they get the videos from, I have no idea but suspect they index them from other sites as at the moment, there doesn't appear to be a user submission option.

So what is there?

Well, check out these frum folks having a fun time at Purim.

There's even a great interview with William Shatner talking all about his Jewish roots, his family and other great stuff.

In fact, why not just do a search on the word Jewish at Google Video and find out for yourself.

More UK Jewish bloggers wanted for Points of Jew

Points of Jew wants you.

From the left to the right, from the athiest to the ultra orthodox, from the Sephardi to the Askenazi, from the Levy to the Cohen  - Points of Jew is pretty much about being an inclusive blog reflecting Jewish news, current affairs and issues from a UK Jewish perspective.

Points of Jew is here to provide a way for Jewish voices to be heard, both inside our own community as well as outside of it.

A lack of real Jewish media has left the Jewish community without a means to express itself. What media there is, is out of touch and out of date with it readers. It refuses to tackle issues of importance to the community and becomes its own worse parody.

Points of Jew aims to provide the perspective, views and insight you don't see in existing Jewish media. We are about connecting with the community and the community connecting with us.

So if you are interested in being part of Points of Jew, write to us: leslie@pointsofjew.com

Choosing the wrong day?

The Fabian Society is holding a conference called Who Do We Want To Be? The Future of Britishness on 14 January 2006.

Interesting idea.

Described as:

"Join over 40 speakers and 800 delegates as Britain’s biggest think-tank conference unpacks the highly-charged themes of British identity, citizenship, diversity and integration."

And then you see the date:

Saturday January 14 2006.

Yes, it's on a Saturday and thereby eliminating anyone who is Jewish orthodox from attending on Shabbat.

One of the things all of us want from The future of Britishness is to see a more inclusive society.  That means more thought into the needs of people and making sure such events are actually inclusive by choosing a date that is suitable.

Surely, it could not have been difficult to choose a mid-week date to host this?

96 years later

Thanks to Jewschool for letting us remember it was on November 22 1909, that sweatshop operators in New York got a wakeup call from Jewish women sick and tired of being exploited.

On November 22nd, 1909 — the International Ladies Garment Workers Union began a fourteen week strike of 20,000 shirtwaist makers in New York City. It was the first mass strike by US women.

The strike showed that women had enough of being treated badly.

At a series of mass meetings on November 22, after the leading figures of the American labor movement and socialist leaders of the lower east side – Meyer London, Morris Hillquit, Joseph Barondess, and Samuel Gompers – spoke in general terms about the need for solidarity and preparedness, a teenaged worker, Clara Lemlich, rose to speak about the conditions she and other women worked under and demanded an end to talk and the calling of a strike of the entire industry. The crowd responded enthusiastically and, after taking a traditional Yiddish oath – "If I turn traitor to the cause I now pledge, may this hand wither from the arm I now raise" – voted for a general strike. Approximately 20,000 out of the 32,000 workers in the shirtwaist trade walked out in the next two days.

Throughout her life Lemlich was an active campaigner against those who exploited others. She even took an active stance against butchers and the price of meat.

Wikipedia reports:

In 1929, after the Communist Party created a Women's Commission, Lemlich launched the United Council of Working Class Women, which eventually had nearly fifty branches in New York City, as well as affiliates in Philadelphia, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit. The organization recruited among CP members but did not identify the Council with the CP or press non-Party members of the Council to join the party as well.

The UCWCW led a widespread boycott of butcher shops to protest high meat prices in 1935, using the militant tactics of flying squadrons of picketers that shut down more than 4000 butcher shops in New York City. The strike became nationwide and the UCWCW won support outside the Jewish and African-American communities to which it had been limited in New York.

Anyone in the community willing to do something like that these days?