Blog Archives - B'nai B'rith International

Jewish Exponent: A Jewish Basketball League Of Their Own

11/24/2014

via Jewish Exponent, Photo by Amishai Gottlieb

B'nai B'rith was founded on principles of inclusion, providing all manner of community identity and fellowship opportunities over the years. One such opportunity can be found in Philadelphia, with the B’nai B’rith Basketball League.

Playing games every Sunday morning, the inter-generational, co-ed league provides a chance for athletes of any religious background to play a game of hoops. The fees required to participate go back to fund local charitable work by B'nai B'rith, including Project H.O.P.E. around the holidays.

Read more about the league, courtesy of the Jewish Exponent. Find highlights from the story, below:

Three generations of one family are busy working a B’nai B’rith Basketball League game at the Abington Friends School gym on a recent Sunday.

[...]

“Every Sunday, I pick up my father, I pick up his bagel and his coffee, and he watches the game for four-and-a-half hours with me,” says Felt, who lives in Dresher and works in insurance and financial planning. “My nephew happens to be on my team by luck.”

Felt started the league at age 23 with Bruce Lefkoe when some of the guys from their B’nai B’rith softball team expressed interest in playing basketball.

Hal Bailer came in to help get things running during the league’s first 25 years, and what started as an afterthought morphed into a successful adult league that has managed to keep a high level of enrollment over more than three decades. They currently have eight teams playing in their Sunday league, run by Felt, and six teams apiece in their evening and summer leagues, which are run by Joshua Waters.

Participants pay anywhere from $350 to $450 each year to play, $150 of which goes toward lodge dues to the local B’nai B’rith chapter — even though most of them aren’t otherwise involved with the organization and a few aren’t even Jewish.

The lodge, one of few remaining local chapters of what was once a dominant Jewish fraternal organization in America, has about 180 members and currently runs its main endeavor, Project Hope, a mitzvah project that helps feed those in need, according to Felt. The rest of the fee covers expenses for renting the high school court and hiring professional referees.

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Video: Kristallnacht Commemoration Ceremony In Uruguay (Spanish)

11/21/2014

B'nai B'rith International joined forces with B'nai B'rith Uruguay to host an interfaith Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) Commemoration Ceremony in Montevideo.

Speakers included the Archbishop of Montevideo, Monseñor Daniel Sturla; B'nai B'rith Uruguay President Morris Segal and B'nai B'rith International Director of Latin American Affairs Eduardo Kohn.

Asuntos Públicos published a full video recording of the ceremony. Watch below (Spanish):

B'nai B'rith Statement To OSCE On Combating Anti-Semitism Today

11/20/2014

Eric Fusfield, deputy director of the B’nai B’rith International Center for Human Rights and Public Policy, spoke at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Berlin conference last week.

The conference evaluated the ongoing struggle against anti-Semitism in Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Read his remarks below:

"Madam Chairwoman, distinguished delegates:

"2014 is a year marked by one important anniversary and many horrifying reminders.

"As we honor the 10th anniversary of the OSCE Berlin conference and the historic declaration that emerged from that gathering, evidence abounds that much work remains to be done. The conflict in Gaza this year has given rise to a wave of anti-Israel demonstrations throughout the OSCE region; these gatherings have typically featured blatantly anti-Semitic themes and have often turned violent. Attacks on Jewish individuals and institutions have increased in frequency and intensity, as the landscape from Belgium to Bulgaria, Germany to Greece, Holland to Hungary, and Ireland to Italy has witnessed violence against Jewish targets. This spread of hatred has been accompanied by a corrosion of the public discourse with respect to Jews and Israel and has left European Jewry fearful for their safety and security.

"The rise of anti-Jewish hatred has also resulted in a proliferation of anti-Semitic propaganda, much of which is directed against the State of Israel. Tragically, the demonization and delegitimization of the Jewish state has become a daily occurrence, as Israel’s enemies repeatedly accuse it of being a Nazi-like occupier and an apartheid state that disenfranchises the Palestinians. Falsehoods about Israel are repeated so often that they become widely accepted in the popular culture and sometimes impact government policy. The effort by Israel’s relentless critics to denigrate the Jewish state is not only evidence that anti-Semitism is alive and well nearly 70 years after the Holocaust – this new variation of the world’s oldest social illness actually poses a security threat to the Jewish state by intensifying its international isolation.

"For more than a decade, the OSCE has taken up the urgent struggle against rising anti-Semitism. High-level conferences in Vienna in 2003 and Berlin in 2004, as well as later conferences, have focused a needed spotlight on this and other forms of intolerance.

"The historic 2004 Berlin Declaration, which provided a series of important recommendations for governments to follow in combating anti-Semitism, specifically addressed the growing problem of anti-Semitic attacks being committed by opponents of Israel’s policies. The passage stating that “international developments or political issues, including those in Israel or elsewhere in the Middle East, never justify anti-Semitism” stands as an important rebuff to those who try to justify hate crimes with politics.

"Permanent Council Decision No. 607, which preceded the Berlin Conference, and Ministerial Decisions Nos. 12-04 and 10-05, which followed it, represent vital affirmations of the OSCE’s commitment to fight anti-Semitism and related forms of racism and xenophobia. That pact has been bolstered by the creation of ODIHR’s indispensable tolerance and non-discrimination unit, which carries out this important work each day and which includes an expert advisor on anti-Semitism, and by the appointment of the Chairman-in-Office’s three personal representatives on combating intolerance.

While much has been done to fight anti-Semitism in the past decade, much work remains. The need for practical and effective strategies to combat and defeat this pathology is still crucial. To this end,
We must continue to affirm commitments made at the landmark 2004 conference and assess the implementation of those commitments.
We should widely promote, within the OSCE, the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency’s comprehensive working definition of anti-Semitism.
We must enhance funding for ODIHR’s Tolerance and Non-Discrimination unit, which has now become a fixed and integral part of the OSCE’s work. We must enable the TND unit to sustain and expand its critical activities, which include educational programs on anti-Semitism in more than a dozen countries.
We must extend, for the foreseeable future, the terms of the three personal representatives on intolerance.
Member-states must fulfill their reporting requirements with respect to hate crimes data. Far too few governments have done so until now.
Finally, we must strongly reinforce the crucial principle declared at the 2004 Berlin Conference – That no political position, cause or grievance can ever justify anti-Semitism – and make clear that the demonization and delegitimization of the Jewish state is often none other than a pretext for the hatred of Jews themselves."

JBS: B'nai B'rith Outraged By Deadly Synagogue Attack In Israel

11/19/2014

B'nai B'rith International was featured on JBS (formerly Shalom TV), denouncing Tuesday's murders of innocent Jewish worshipers in a synagogue in Jerusalem. Five Israelis were murdered by the axe, knife and gun-toting terrorists, while five remain hospitalized.

The issue of incitement is ever present as reports indicate public praise for the attackers and a celebratory atmosphere in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Palestinians.

To attack people as they pray is the height of depravity. These synagogue murders continue a string of terror attacks against Jews in recent weeks.

The story begins at the 3:30 mark in the video:

B'nai B'rith Remembers Gettysburg Address And Its Adaptation

11/19/2014

United States President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, one of the most iconic speeches in American history, on the afternoon of Nov. 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery on the battlegrounds in Gettysburg, Penn.

On the 151st anniversary of the oration, B'nai B'rith International remembers the enduring legacy of the Gettysburg Address. Gettysburg was considered a turning point for the Union in the American Civil War and a reaffirmation of the principles upon which the nation was founded 87 years before.

At the time, B'nai B'rith, founded in 1843 in New York City, was just 20 years old. Nearly 86 years later, B'nai B'rith would celebrate its 107th birthday with a sermon by Rabbi Herman M. Cohen in St. Paul, Minn., who adapted the language of the Gettysburg Address to celebrate B'nai B'rith.

That speech was included in the April 1951 edition of B'nai B'rith's National Jewish Monthly magazine.

The text from both addresses can be read in their entirety, below:

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

"We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

"It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Cohen's B'nai B'rith Address:

"Five score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new organization conceived in unity, and dedicated to the proposition of benevolence, brotherly love and harmony.

"We are met to rededicate ourselves to the lofty ideals of developing and stimulating the culture and moral character of the people of our faith.

"It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

"It is for us, as Jews and as American citizens, to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that we here highly resolve that this organization of B'nai B'rith shall, under God, have a new birth of devotion, and that the faith and traditions of the Jewish people, by the Jewish people and for the Jewish people shall not perish from the earth."

Tablet Mag: Remembering Meir Engel, B’nai B’rith Chaplain Awardee

11/19/2014

In celebration of Veterans' Day, Tablet Magazine ran a story on Lt. Col. Meir Engel, a Jewish Chaplain in the United States military for World War II, as well as the Korean and Vietnam wars.

As the story details, Engel died while serving his country 50 years ago in Vietnam, but not before making a profound impression on Pvt. Richard Eisenberg, a member of the military police.

Engel earned awards for his service in each war, along with two Bronze Stars, two Army Commendation Medals and B’nai B’rith’s Four Chaplains Award.

Read an excerpt from his story, below:

[...]

Jewish Chaplains Memorial—that’s what the articles called the rounded-off plaque mounted on stone. On Chaplains Hill in the country’s most revered graveyard, on the banks of the Potomac, a new monument had been dedicated on Oct. 24, 2011, joining those memorializing the 150 Protestant and the 65 Catholic chaplains who’d died in service.

The Jewish plaque, plain but elegant, said tons by saying so little: just 14 names, 14 dates of death, 14 titles of rabbi. The men represented the Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox branches of Judaism and had died while serving the U.S. military during the period running from World War II through the Korean War and on to Vietnam.

Only one of the 14 served in all three wars.

Meir Engel.

The program the Jewish Chaplains Council published for the ceremony stated that Engel earned an award for his service in each war, along with two Bronze Stars, two Army Commendation Medals and B’nai B’rith’s Four Chaplains Award.

One commendation medal was for serving at Fort Dix, where he remained until 1962, two years before Eisenberg got there for basic training.

Four of the men memorialized on the new plaque died during the Vietnam War.

But calculating how many American Jewish military chaplains served in Vietnam then is “tricky,” says Albert Slomovitz, author of the book The Fighting Rabbis: Jewish Military Chaplains and American History, because some may have been based elsewhere, like in Japan, and dropped in periodically or were reservists called up for short-term service.

Those based in Vietnam and on full-time active duty were “probably under a minyan’s worth,” he says, fewer than 10.

Eisenberg Perez didn’t know this, but she saw the rabbi’s name mentioned in several articles—his surname, anyway. That’s because a man named David Engel spoke at the Arlington ceremony, but his connection wasn’t stated.

Eisenberg Perez guessed at David Engel’s identity. She went onto Facebook and typed his name. A posting she read mentioned his being Meir’s son.

“Oh, my God!” she thought. “He has living sons!”

[...]

Tablet Magazine

JBS: B'nai B'rith Condemns U.N.'s Continued Silence On Terror Attacks

11/18/2014

Last week, B'nai B'rith International was featured on JBS (formerly Shalom TV), denouncing the silence of the international community following weeks of deadly terror attacks on Jews in Israel.

On Nov. 10, an Israel Defense Forces soldier was stabbed multiple times in Tel Aviv while returning to his military base. He later died of his wounds.

Hours before, a woman was fatally stabbed and two more were injured in Alon Shvut. The attack was allegedly carried out by Maher Hamdi A-Shalmon, who was jailed from 2000 to 2005 for throwing fire bombs at Israeli troops.

Those attacks followed two car-based terror attacks at Jerusalem light-rail stations. Earlier today, gun and axe-toting terrorists murdered four Jews and seriously wounded at least six others praying at a synagogue in Jerusalem.

The story begins at the 0:37 mark in the video:

B'nai B'rith Housing Opens Coolidge at Sudbury (Boston)

11/16/2014

In just two months, more than 85 percent of the units are already filled at B'nai B'rith Housing's new affordable housing development in Sudbury, Mass. When fully occupied, the building will be home to more than 70 seniors.

B'nai B'rith is the largest national Jewish sponsor of federally subsidized housing for the elderly in the United States. For more than 40 years, in a cooperative partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, B'nai B'rith has made rental apartments available for senior citizens with limited incomes.

B'nai B'rith senior housing is open to all qualified individuals as defined by HUD, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, handicap or national origin.

Read what some of the staff and residents are saying about B'nai B'rith's newest senior housing center:

Recap: B'nai B'rith Latin America Remembers Kristallnacht (Spanish)

11/14/2014

Floriano Pesaro

On the 76th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the "Night Of Broken Glass" that set the Holocaust into action in Germany and Austria, B'nai B'rith hosted a number of remembrance events in Latin America.

B'nai B'rith Uruguay hosted its annual Act to Commemorate the Kristallnacht. The main speech was delivered by the Archbishop of Montevideo Daniel Sturla.

Read more about the event via the Uruguay Press.

B'nai B'rith Argentina hosted a major interfaith gathering at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires.

The message of the meeting was simple: remember and honor the victims of the tragedy, and work together to ensure that so heinous of an act can never occur again.

According to an article in Iton Gadol, Rabbi Fabian Skornik of Lamroth Hakol addressed the crowd, saying:

"As human beings we are always invited to learn, and if we learn, we grow. The passage of time does nothing but transform the events and facts involved into learning experiences. But when confronted with an event like the Holocaust, one of the greatest atrocities ever faced by human beings, it is difficult to draw lessons."

Religious and political leaders in attendance included: Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig, Archbishop Oscar Ojea, Israeli Ambassador Dorit Shavit, Germany Ambassador Konrad Georg Graf von Waldersee, Italian Ambassador Teresa Castaldo, Greek Ambassador Eleni Leivaditou.

Read highlights of the event from Radio JAI, Iton Gadol (linked here, here and here), Palermo Online and the Jewish News Agency, below (Spanish):

Uruguay 'Act to Commemorate':

El rabino Dr. Leo Baeck, gran líder espiritual del judaísmo alemán de aquellos años sostuvo que "mil años de vida judía en Alemania habían llegado a su fin".

Además de las sinagogas destruidas, casi un centenar de judíos murieron en la ocasión; miles fueron deportados a "incipientes" campos de concentración. La denominación "noche de los cristales rotos" se debe a que, además de las sinagogas fueron rotos los vidrios de gran cantidad de tiendas, locales y negocios; tal vez, esa noche debería denominarse "la noche de las sinagogas destruidas".

Si bien antes del año 1938 hubo actos de violencia "la noche de los cristales rotos" marca un momento decisivo en la carrera antisemita nazi.

Argentina Interfaith Recap:

En la Catedral Metropolitana de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, organizada por la Comisión de Diálogo Interconfesional de B’Nai B’Rith Argentina y la Comisión Arquidiocesana de Ecumenismo y Diálogo Interreligioso del Arzobispado de Buenos Aires, con la adhesión de la Diócesis de San Isidro y la comunidad Lamroth Hakol, se efectuó ayer, domingo, al anochecer, una conmemoración del 76º aniversario de la “Noche de los Cristales Rotos”, el pogrom que los nazis efectuaron en la noche del 9 al 10 de noviembre y denominaron “Kristallnacht”.

El rabino Fabián Skornik, de Lamroth Hakol, agradeció la presencia de la concurrencia “para recordar a las víctimas de una tragedia enorme”.

“Como seres humanos estamos siempre invitados a aprender, y si aprendemos, crecemos; no tiene que ver con el paso del tiempo, sino con transformar la experiencia vivida y los hechos estudiados en experiencias de aprendizaje”, pero “cuando nos enfrentamos a un hecho como la Shoá, una de las barbaries más grandes que tuvimos que enfrentar los seres humanos, es difícil extraer enseñanzas”, aseguró.

[...]

Serving A Painful Reminder:

El diputado nacional por Pro Federico Pinedo (foto) aseguró ayer, domingo, a la Agencia Judía de Noticias (AJN) que eventos como la conmemoración del 76º aniversario de la “Noche de los Cristales Rotos” en la Catedral Metropolitana le provocan una doble sensación de “dolor y recuerdo”.

“Me gustó que se dijera que ‘recuerdo’ es volver a pasar por el corazón; entonces, estas ceremonias sirven para volver a pasar por el corazón el dolor del horror, de lo que es inimaginable que el hombre pueda hacer, pero hace e hizo”, prosiguió.

Jewish News Agency

A Respectful Attitude By All:

[...]

A un año de los incidentes, el 76 aniversario del pogrom nazi recordado como “La noche de los cristales rotos” se conmemorará nuevamente en la catedral metropolitana con un acto interreligioso.

El año pasado, la recordación de la "Kristallnacht" estaba prevista para las 18.45 en la Catedral metropolitana. Sin embargo, apenas había comenzado la ceremonia, un grupo de 40 personas empezó a rezar con actitud provocadora y a los gritos, con intención de interrumpir la ceremonia.

Durante media hora, pese a que los asistentes les gritaron “nazis”, no cesaron con su actitud. Luego, con la presencia de la Policía, decidieron abandonar la Catedral, lo que permitió poder comenzar el acto.

El hecho fue considerado un acto antisemita y recibió el repudio de toda la sociedad.

[...]

One Of The Best Attended Events:

[...]

Este año, la Kristallnacht será conmemorada el próximo domingo con tres importantes actividades en Argentina: el acto organizado por la B’nai B’rith de Argentina, en esta oportunidad en la Catedral Metropolitana, a partir de las 18.45, con la participación del cardenal Mario Poli, arzobispo de Buenos Aires; el rabino Fabian Skornik, de la Comunidad Lamroth Hakol; y el Coro Sharim de la Sociedad Hebraica Argentina.

[...]

Archbishop Mario Poli's Prayer

Real Estate Weekly Spotlights B'nai B'rith Monthly Luncheon

11/12/2014

Caption: B'nai B'rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin discussed “Issues Facing World Jewry Today” at the October B’nai B’rith Real Estate luncheon at the The Cornell Club in New York City.

Pictured (L-R): Robert Shapiro, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, Gerald Morganstern,Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP, Pres. Allan Jacobs, B'nai B'rith International, Mariaschin, Lydia Sklar, Sklar Realty Group, Greg Kraut, Avison Young, Jeff Mitzner, First American Title Insurance, and Harry Zlokower, Zlokower Company Public Relations.

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