Fania Brantsovsky, last living Vilna ghetto partisan resistance fighter, dies at 102

Recommendable! R.I.P. A heroine!

"Lithuania’s Jews and Yiddishists around the world are mourning the passing of Fania Brantsovsky, the last surviving member of the Jewish underground in the Vilna ghetto and a keeper of the flame of the city’s once glorious Yiddish past, who died at the age of 102 on Sunday in Vilnius.

Brantsovsky escaped the ghetto in 1942 and fought against the Nazis and their local collaborators in the Rudninkai forest with a group of Jewish partisans under the command of Abba Kovner. ...

It was a role that brought her world-wide acclaim and eventually local hostility, when Lithuanian nationalists began to equate her Soviet liberators with the Nazis, and tried to discredit partisans like her who had once considered the Russians their allies. ...

As a young girl, she was active in the rich Jewish life of Vilnius [Polish back then]. At the time [about 1927], Vilnius was home to more than 60,000 Jews and boasted over 100 synagogues, the largest of which had seating for more than 2,000. With a Jewish community that had been flourishing when Napoleon passed through the city in the 18th century, Vilnius was more than just a religious center. It was home to a rich cultural and political scene, all in the Yiddish language. ..."

Fania Brantsovsky, last living Vilna ghetto partisan resistance fighter, dies at 102 - Jewish Telegraphic Agency "Remaining in Lithuania after the war, she became a keeper of the flame of the city’s once illustrious Yiddish culture."

Are Jews Rich?

Very recommendable! Begins with the contrast of antisemitism and philosemitism.

AI facial recognition tech identifies rocker Geddy Lee’s mother in anonymous Holocaust photos

The story speaks for itself!

Note this technology is still in its infancy. E.g. kinks etc. are still being ironed out (what a beautiful old fashioned idiom in the age of AI 😄).

I recently discussed here the pros and cons of face recognition.

"Rockstar Geddy Lee found never-before-seen photos of his mother’s family thanks to a new effort to apply artificial intelligence facial recognition technology to photographs from the Holocaust.

Lee’s mother, Holocaust survivor Mary Weinrib, died last summer at 95 years old. But the researchers of the AI technology, From Numbers to Names, managed to find a photo of Weinrib from her time at the displaced persons camp in Bergen-Belsen — a photo that then led Lee to find other photos of his mother’s extended family from the Yad Vashem photo collection. ..."

AI facial recognition tech identifies rocker Geddy Lee’s mother in anonymous Holocaust photos - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Moscow's chief rabbi in exile after refusing to back Putin's war on Ukraine, relative says

There are protests in Russia against Putin the Terrible's war of aggression against the Ukraine, but they are too few it seems! This is just an example.

"... “Can finally share that my in-laws, Moscow Chief Rabbi @PinchasRabbi & Rebbetzin Dara Goldschmidt, have been put under pressure by authorities to publicly support the ‘special operation’ in Ukraine — and refused,” Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt tweeted on Tuesday. ...

Contacted by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Goldschmidt declined to comment or to answer questions about whether he believes that he will return to Russia, where he was reelected as the leader of the Moscow Choral Synagogue on Tuesday.

Goldschmidt has not been a vocal critic of the war, though Le Figaro reported that he was sufficiently concerned about it that he reached out to rabbis in neighboring Moldova in mid-February, days before Russia invaded Ukraine, to warn of a potential flood of refugees.

Other top rabbis in Russia, including the country’s chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, have stayed in the country even after criticizing the war. ..."

Moscow's chief rabbi in exile after refusing to back Putin's war on Ukraine, relative says - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Volodymyr Zelensky was a Jewish comedian. Now the world's eyes are on him.

Simple clothing instead of suits! Unpretentious and with humor! Best of luck and success to him and the Ukrainian people! May he have the strengths and fortitude to resist the Russian invasion.

Is this Jewish man the reason why Putin the Terrible wants to "denazify" the Ukraine? (I admit, a bad joke)

"Four years ago, Volodymyr Zelensky was an actor on the humorous Ukrainian TV show “Servant of the People,” starring as an unlikely president of the Eastern European country. ...
Over the course of a few years, Zelensky — who is the first-ever Jewish president of Ukraine, a country with a long and complicated Jewish history — has quickly become one of the most consequential and prominent Jewish world leaders in recent decades. And given his nonpolitical roots, one of the unlikeliest. ...
Zelensky was born in a Russian-speaking area of eastern Ukraine to Jewish parents, a mother who was an engineer and a father who is a computer scientist. His father’s father, Semyon, served in the Soviet Red Army during World War II; Semyon’s father and brothers were all murdered in the Holocaust. ..."

Volodymyr Zelensky was a Jewish comedian. Now the world's eyes are on him. - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Volodymyr and his wife in better times!

The Jewish doctor who escaped the Nazis and founded the Paralympics

What a great idea to give disabled people an opportunity to compete like non-disabled people! This is very inspiring to see what disabled people are capable of doing!

I am not at all surprised that a Jewish man founded the games. Yiddish: Ein Mensch sein!

"... That evening [Kristallnacht], 64 people came to the [Breslau Jewish Hospital] seeking refuge from the pogrom and the Gestapo. Guttmann admitted them all. The next morning he was called down to the hospital by the SS.

“I went to the hospital and there were three SS officers sitting there,” Guttmann recounted. “‘Sixty-four people were admitted. How can you explain this?’ I discussed every case, and of course I invented all kinds of diagnoses, you see. Out of the 64 people, I saved 60.” ..."

The Jewish doctor who escaped the Nazis and founded the Paralympics - The Jerusalem Post Unlike the Olympic Games, the Paralympics have an inspiring Jewish origin story — thanks to its founder, Ludwig Guttmann.

No more 'bar' mitzvah: Synagogues changing ways to support LGBTQ youth

The circus of LGBTQ continues to infiltrate the Jewish community!

Yes, indeed think again about this propaganda and demagoguery! Well, if there is no LGBTQ youth perhaps it suggests you need to convert at least one youth to LGBTQ, right? (Caution: Irony)!

No more 'bar' mitzvah: Synagogues changing ways to support LGBTQ youth - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Keshet staff doing an LGBTQ sensitivity and inclusion training session in a New York synagogue

Rebellion | Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire | BBC Documentary

Not recommendable! Way too much reenactment for a documentary! This is almost an action movie!

What is truly remarkable that the Jews were such formidable foes of the Roman Empire around 60-70 AD also known as the First Jewish-Roman War!

Jews and Trade in the Medieval Period with Henry Abramson

Recommendable! The far flung international trade routes among Jewish people thanks to the diaspora and common language and legal system is amazing! Abramson also touches the subject of Jews involved in slave trading.

Jews and Finance in the Medieval Period with Henry Abramson

Recommendable!

The First Crusade and the Jews with Henry Abramson

The crusaders were not exclusively going after Muslims in their pursuit to conquer the Holy Land. About 5,000 Jews were massacred along the way, in particular, in Germany in the Rhineland region! Jews sought refuge with catholic bishops. Some of the bishops were willing to help, but they were in the end too powerless to stop the massacre. Jews defended the Holy City with Muslims and were massacred for it.

Jewish Life in the Dark Ages with Henry Abramson

Recommendable! Among other things, Abramson contrasts the legal tradition of the Talmud with the trial by ordeal of the Dark Ages (hint: one reason why this historical period was called the Dark Ages)

How Golden was the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry?

Very recommendable! With Henry Abramson

The last known Jew in Afghanistan is leaving

This could be a bad omen for Afghanistan! Jews are like the proverbial canary in the coal mine!

"The man who has been known as the last Jew in Afghanistan for well over a decade is leaving for Israel, fearing that the U.S. military’s promise to leave the country will leave a vacuum to be filled with radical groups such as the Taliban. ...

Simantov, 61, said he will leave after this year’s High Holidays season in the fall. His wife, a Jew from Tajikistan, and their two daughters have lived in Israel since 1998. ..."

The last known Jew in Afghanistan is leaving - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Henry Abramson: The Jews of Ethiopia to 1862

Very recommendable! Fascinating story!

Telling the forgotten story of Osnat Barzani from Kurdistan, the first female rabbi who lived 400 years ago

Recommendable! Some of her story is quite remarkable! Asenath Barzani was born in Mosul(?), Kurdistan!

"... But centuries earlier, Osnat was born in Kurdistan in 1590. Her story is an astounding one — she was the daughter of a yeshiva leader from Mosul, Rabbi Shmuel b. Netanel Ha-Levi. Osnat inherited her father’s curiosity about Judaism and convinced him to teach her to read and let her independently study the Jewish religious texts. She was considered to be a master of Torah, Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah and Hebrew. After the deaths of her father and husband — who was a student of her father, and who married her under the condition that she not be bothered with housework and be allowed to continue her studies — Osnat was made the head of the yeshiva and given the title tanna’it, a rabbinical title that is equivalent to the one her father carried (tannai).

Information about Osnat is scarce. Most of it comes from a few letters, manuscripts and wonderfully enough, Jewish amulets that tell of her supernatural powers. According to the Jewish Women’s Archive, these included “her ability to limit her childbearing to two children so that she could devote herself to her studies.” ..."

Telling the forgotten story of Osnat Barzani, the first female rabbi who lived 400 years ago, is a win for Mizrahi representation - Jewish Telegraphic Agency: As a Mizrahi Jew whose family hails from Baghdad, Sigal Samuel had never seen a female rabbi who looked like her. Then she discovered Osnat Barzani.

As an infant, she was airlifted to safety. Today she's bringing Ethiopian culture alive in Tel Aviv

Melting pot Israel!

"Born on a roadside during Operation Solomon, which airlifted over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1991, Ashager Araro’s start to life was far from conventional. Her name, meaning “going forward” in Amharic, is fitting, given the nature of her birth en route from her family’s small village of Gondar in Ethiopia to the capital of Addis Ababa in hopes of rescue.

One of approximately 160,000 Ethiopian Jews now residing in Israel, Ashager is part of an integral thread in the Jewish state’s historically rich fabric. ...
Graduating at the top of her class as a lieutenant paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces, much of Ashager’s tenacity springs from time spent in a male-dominated unit. ..."

As an infant, she was airlifted to safety. Today she's bringing Ethiopian culture alive in Tel Aviv. - Jewish Telegraphic Agency Ashager Araro says "owning and narrating our own stories has the power to educate, inspire and fend off discrimination — often born from ignorance.”

‘Last Jewish cowboy’ of Arizona passed away

Unfortunately, the last Jewish cowboy of Arizona Harvey Dietrich just passed away! May he rest in peace! In Memoriam: Harvey Dietrich, 1934-2020

"Harvey Dietrich discusses how he got started in the meat packing and cattle industry in Los Angeles during the 1950s. He talks about some of the companies he has worked for, including the Globe Packing Company in Los Angeles and Highland and Highland Meat Packing Company in Arizona.  ..."

‘Last Jewish cowboy’ couple honored with newly named award | Honors | jewishaz.com

Here is some captured oral history about this cowboy:

Oral History with Harvey Dietrich, April 7, 2011

This 118-year-old Jewish bakery in India is a hit on Christmas

On the lighter side of life! A Christmas carol of sorts!

"... Known for its delectable fruit cakes and its selection of Christmas baked goods, Nahoum & Sons is a testament to Kolkata’s once significant Baghdadi Jewish community, of which less than 20 members remain. ..."

This 118-year-old Jewish bakery in India is a hit on Christmas - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

The Story Of The Jews By Simon Schama

Very recommendable! See also Wikipedia entry same title book and film.

"Simon Schama presents this epic series exploring the extraordinary story of the Jewish experience from ancient times to the present day. Both deeply historical and utterly contemporary, this is a compelling film about distinctiveness and difference, separation and isolation, tolerance and prejudice. It is also a celebration of the ways in which Jewish thought, imagination, and achievement have transformed the world for us all."

The Story Of The Jews 1 - In The Beginning - video dailymotion

The Story Of The Jews 2 - Among Believers - video dailymotion

BBC The Story of the Jews 3of5 A Leap of Faith - video dailymotion

This episode covers Baruch Spinoza, the Mendelssohn family, enlightenment and much more. Simon Shama disappoints here that he does not mention Emile Zola's J'accuse article and similar articles by French authors in defense of Dreyfus during the infamous Dreyfus Affair. I think, this is a bit disingenuous of him and disappointing!

BBC The Story of the Jews 4of5 Over the Rainbow - video dailymotion

This video contains memories of Shama's family living in Lithuania. Or experience Kosher Gospel.

BBC The Story of the Jews 5of5 Return - video dailymotion