Points of Jew

UK Jews help Kashmir relief

SomethingJewish is reporting on help the British Jewish community has given to those who suffered as a result of the Kashmir earthquake.

As can be seen, when people are in need, religious and cultural barriers should never be an issue when someone can offer help and support.

A Jewish humanitarian organisation has teamed up with a Kashmiri relief group to assist in the construction of much-needed housing for the survivors of the South Asian earthquake.

The catastrophic earthquake that struck Kashmir on October 8th, is estimated to have claimed the lives of 100,000 people, the entire housing stock in the region has been completely wiped out, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

World Jewish Aid, a London-based charity affiliated to World Jewish Relief - has pledged £35,000, for the construction of about 75-80 houses in the District of Bagh, and surrounding villages. These houses will be built in collaboration with Human Aid Focus.

Jewish community helps with housing in earthquake Pakistan

The Pak Tribune is running a story on how the UK Jewish community through World Jewish Relief is helping those in Pakistan who suffered as a result of the earthquake on October 8.

Pak Tribune reports:

A Jewish humanitarian organisation has teamed up with a Kashmiri relief group to assist in the construction of much-needed housing for the survivors of the South Asian earthquake.

The catastrophic earthquake that struck Kashmir on October 8th, is estimated to have claimed the lives of 100,000 people, the entire housing stock in the region has been completely wiped out, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

World Jewish Aid, a London-based charity affiliated to World Jewish Relief - has pledged £35,000, for the construction of about 75-80 houses in the District of Bagh, and surrounding villages.

No Chanukah at Number 10

Looks like there are no plans to have another Chanukah celebration at 10 Downing Street.

Last year, PM Tony Blair had a menorah and lighted the candles with a variety of guests. This year, it just isn't happening.

TotallyJewish reports:

A Number 10 spokesperson told the TJ: “It is doubtful that the Prime Minister will be lighting candles this year.It was never intended to be an annual event. However, he added: “It is not being ruled out in the future though.”

Iranian leader "holocaust a myth"

Is there no end to the mad comments that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes in order to attack Israel and in the process also attacks Jews around the world?

The latest via Yahoo News:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad escalated his anti-Israeli rhetoric Wednesday, calling the Holocaust a "myth" used by Europeans to create a Jewish state in the heart of the Islamic world.

"Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in the southeastern city of Zahedan.

So what happened at Islam Channel event

Looks like the Islam Channel event that recently took place was a success, but also seems to have caused offence to some of those who attended.

Picked Politics takes up the story:

Last week the Islam Channel organised a “global unity” event at Excel where Muslims came in their thousands. The BBC covered it here. But was it really how it was made out to be? What was it really like inside? And were reports in the Jewish press justified? One of our (Muslim) readers writes in with comments on the event.

Danish Muslim boycott of "Jewish" cookies

You know it is nonsense season why you see a story like this:

Courtesy of European Jewish Press:

A group of Danish Muslims refuse to eat traditional “Jewish” cookies because they feel offended by the name. According to the daily Danish newspaper B.T., Ole Poulsen, head of the public food consumer department said that the Muslim refusal to buy the cookies could have an effect on sales.

"If this will be the case, then we would be obliged to do something about it," he declared.

Of course, this story only has quotes from the paper and doesn't actually name a single Muslim who refuses to eat these cookies.

European Jewish Press further adds:

Jewish cookies, which are made with cinnamon and hazelnuts and actually have nothing particularly Jewish about them, are very popular in Denmark during the pre-Christmas period.

So what is the point of this story? Sometimes Jewish media can be just as bad as others in jumping to all sorts of conclusions without actually checking facts and not actually backing up a story like this with some real facts.

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.

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.

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?