Your Daily Spiel is The CJN‘s daily roundup of trending stories in the Jewish world
CANADA
In the latest instalment of Rabbi to Rabbi, Rabbi Adam Cutler and Rabbi Adam Scheier discuss if it’s okay to get drunk on Purim, which takes place on Wednesday/Thursday.
Toronto Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter is set to speak at a Winnipeg high school’s annual Holocaust symposium in a bid to educate students about the Shoah. This year’s event is being held on a different date than usual in order to attract more students.
A non-Jewish student and outspoken advocate for Israel recently lost in the election for student government at Trent University in Peterborough, just days after anti-Semitic graffiti against him appeared on campus. Corey LeBlanc said the graffiti that read “Just not Corey” (featuring swastikas inside the ‘o’) was “disturbing” and an example of “intolerable behaviour” that has no place on campus.
UNITED STATES
A group of some forty rabbis, mostly Reform and Conservative, are expected to boycott Donald Trump’s speech at Monday’s AIPAC conference in Washington DC, over his allegedly racist policies and hate speech.
The governing board of California’s flagship public university system, University of California, will vote next week on a statement that condemns anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism. Recently, there have been several reported instances of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric being shared on University of California campuses. If adopted, it would be the first such policy statement by the leadership of a major U.S. educational institution.
ISRAEL
Two attempted stabbing attacks were thwarted in the West Bank today within minutes of each other. In the first, a Palestinian man attempted to stab soldiers before he was shot and killed. In the second, two Palestinian youths were arrested after they approached soldiers carrying knives. No shots were fired.
Israel’s Government Press Office (GPO) has publicly condemned TIME Magazine for reporting on a Palestinian terrorist who killed three (including an Israeli-American) as a graphic designer who “was killed by Israeli security forces after allegedly trying to carry out an attack in Jerusalem.” His victims were not mentioned. The GPO says the story ignores the victims and humanizes the attacker. It makes a good point.
Benjamin Netanyahu said that controversial left-wing NGO Breaking the Silence crossed the line after an investigation revealed it was gathering classified information on the IDF. Other lawmakers also criticized the group, including Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, who said, “While Israel is fighting terror, Breaking the Silence is taking information and using it against the state.”
While Donald Trump vodka was discontinued years ago, there’s one country where it still has a following, albeit only for a few weeks every year: Israel. Apparently, since the vodka is made with potatoes, religious Jews buy the vodka for Passover (but otherwise it doesn’t really sell). “I don’t recommend it,” said one shopkeeper. “It has a pungent flavor.”
WORLD
Poland, fighting accusations over its role in the Holocaust, opened a new museum yesterday in honour of the righteous gentiles who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis. The museum is named for Jozef Ulma and his family, who were murdered by German police in 1944 after sheltering a Jewish family. Yad Vashem recognized the Ulma family as righteous among the nations in 1995.
A heated debate is stirring over the UN’s alleged decision to tap notorious anti-Israel professor Penny Green as its special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories. Whoever holds the position of rapporteur is supposed to be neutral and unbiased, writes Tim Marshall, yet Green has publicly voiced her extremist opinions against Israel on several occasions, including when she asked why Brits and Americans aren’t ‘bombing” Israel “for its massacres.” She sounds great. Definitely neutral.
Lawmakers from thirteen Caribbean and Latin American countries have signed a resolution in support of Israel and against the BDS movement. The resolution, written in Spanish, states that the signatories “unequivocally declare, personally, our support for the Jewish people to live in peace, safety and security in the Land of Israel” and that “strong relations between the Western Hemisphere and Israel are crucial to the spread of freedom, democracy and justice around the world.”
CULTURE
After 29 years, Carlos Santana and his band are coming back to Tel Aviv for a performance this summer. Welcome back, senor. Santana has a new album, Santana IV, that comes out in April.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyWzrKjeeAQ
British rock band Duran Duran are also in talks to perform in Israel this summer. Stay tuned for details.
After learning that the world’s oldest man is a 112-year-old Israeli Holocaust survivor, sex therapist Dr. Ruth asked, “Is he single?” The doctor, who is also a survivor, said, “I’m looking for somebody who can dance the whole night, and who goes to events and who does good things for other people.”
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