2007 March | Peoplehood.org

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/100940.html

Ethiopia closing the Jewish compound in Gondar before Passover is a crude move. The lack of outcry by the Israeli government, JAFI, JDC and others speaks volumes about the wink the Ethiopian government received prior to this move. This is shameful and unPeoplehoody. Let’s finish the aliya with dignity, not with dirty tricks. There are roughly 7-8,000 on the list for Gondar, and another probably 7-8,000 in the villages.

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JTA has now released the full series in a special section, which includes six articles, a photo essay, a podcast interview, and links to resources. Click here for the full treatment. May this Passover mark the time when the prisoners are released and the situation is resolved. Let’s all remember that what we see here in Israel (340 refugees) is only the ripple effect of the continuing genocide in Darfur, which the world continues to allow.

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Next week the Association for Educational Publishers will announce the finalists in a variety of categories for educational magazines for kids. For the second time in a row, BabagaNewz is a finalist in FOUR categories, against the likes of Time for Kids, National Georgraphic for Kids, etc. Mazel tov to the whole BabagaNewz team and the AVI CHAI Foundation. Here’s the finalist roundup for BabagaNewz:

Article Design – Jeff Schwartz of Timberland

Play – Zionism without Zion (early zionist congress)

Department/Column – News n’ Views (monthly news column that is values-based)

Interview/Profile – Justice Ginsberg

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ADVISORY: The final 2 parts of the JTA enterprise series on Sudanese refugees in Israel will be sent today. To recap, the series, “A Troubled Exodus” includes:

Part 1: The Israeli quandary
Part 2: Refugees visit Yad Vashem
Part 3: American Jews and Israelis partner on the issue
Part 4: Egypt’s role in creating the crisis
Part 5: The possible options
Part 6: Sudan’s role in the Ethiopian aliyah

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(for my ground-breaking coverage of the Law Committee’s debate, which nearly had me expelled from JTS, click here)

Arnold Eisen, Chancellor-elect of JTS, is about to announce the following:

To the JTS Community:

>I write to announce that, effective immediately, The Jewish Theological
>Seminary will accept qualified gay and lesbian students to our
>rabbinical and cantorial schools. Read more

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|The early Zionist thinkers clearly had an understanding of the universal aspirations of the Jewish people in the context of their own pursuit of Jewish particularism. Here is a great one from the founder of the modern Zionist movement.

“There is still one other question arising out of the disaster of the nations which remains unsolved to this day, and whose profound tragedy only a Jew can comprehend. This is the African question…I am not ashamed to say, though I may expose myself to ridicule in saying so, that once I have witnessed the redemption of the Jews, my people, I wish also to assist in the redemption of the Africans.”

Altneuland (Old-New Land), 1902

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Funders Hope Philanthropy Can Teach Teens About Peoplehood

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http://picasaweb.google.com/yosefabramowitz/DarfurExodusToIsraelPhotos/photo#s5036336172406407314

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The Jerusalem Post is running the JTA series, which it launched today it its print edition (not yet internet one) with a full page and great photo. More tomorrow.

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לָמָּה לִהְיוֹת יְהוּדִי? (מַ�?ֲמַר מוֹמֶנְט)

יוֹסֵף �?ַבְּרָמוֹבִיץ’
בְּכָל ש�?ַבָּת, בְּדַרְכִּי הַבַּיְתָה מִבֵּית הַכְּנֶסֶת ש�?ֶבּוֹ הִתְפַּלַּלְתִּי בִּירוּש�?ָלַיִ�?, נָהַגְתִּי לֶ�?ֱחֹז בְּיָדוֹ הַלְּבָנָה, הַשּ�?ַבְרִירִית, ש�?ֶל נַפְתָּלִי, וּלְלַוּוֹת �?וֹתוֹ בַּהֲלִיכָה �?ִטִּית בְּדַרְכּוֹ לְבֵיתוֹ. בְּכָל ש�?ָבוּעַ נָהַג יְדִידִי, בִּש�?ְנוֹת הַשּ�?ְמוֹנִי�? לְחַיָּיו, לִש�?ְ�?ֹל �?וֹתִי מָה �?ֲנִי עוֹשֶׂה לְפַרְנָסָתִי.
“�?ָה, �?ַתָּה עוֹבֵד עִ�? תַּלְמִידִי�?. זֶה יָפֶה”, הוּ�? נָהַג לוֹמַר. וְ�?ָז הָיָה ש�?וֹ�?ֵל: ” לָמָּה בּוֹרְחִי�? צְעִירִי�? כֹּה רַבִּי�? מֵהַמּוֹרֶש�?ֶת ש�?ֶלָּהֶ�??”
בְּכָל ש�?ָבוּעַ הָיִיתִי עוֹנֶה לוֹ וַרְיַ�?צְיָה �?ַחֶרֶת ש�?ֶל �?וֹתָהּ הַתְּש�?וּבָה, דְּהַיְנוּ ש�?ֶדֶּרֶךְ מְסִירַת הַיַּהֲדוּת לַדּוֹר הַצָּעִיר �?ֵינָהּ רֶלֶוַנְטִית וּמַש�?ְמָעוּתִית. �?ָז הָיִיתִי ש�?וֹ�?ֵל �?וֹתוֹ מֶה הָיָה עָלַי לוֹמַר לַתַּלְמִידִי�?. לָמָּה לָהֶ�? לִהְיוֹת יְהוּדִי�??
בְּכָל ש�?ַבָּת כְּש�?ֶשּ�?ָ�?ַלְתִּי �?ֶת הַשּ�?ְ�?ֵלָה, הָיָה נַפְתָּלִי עוֹצֵר לְפֶתַע מִלֶּכֶת, פּוֹנֶה �?ֵלַי, מְהַדֵּק �?ֶת �?ֲחִיזָתוֹ בְּיַדִי וְקוֹרֵ�? כְּנָבִי�?

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