Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified on Wednesday that the passage of a measure that allows Jews to return to northern Samaria settlements that were removed in 2005 will not result in new construction there.

"The Knesset's decision to repeal parts of the Disengagement Law put an end to a discriminatory and humiliating act that prevented Jews from residing in northern Samaria, which is part of our historical homeland," the Prime Minister's Office said, noting that "it's no coincidence that senior officials of the Opposition supported this move." The statement stressed that despite the passage, "the government has no plans to re-establish settlements there."

The US expressed its displeasure with the repeal in multiple occasions on Tuesday, including during a meeting between the second-most senior official in the State Department with  Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog, during which the former expressed "concern" over the Knesset rescinding the 2005 West Bank disengagement law.

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"The Deputy Secretary conveyed US concern regarding legislation passed by the Israeli Knesset rescinding important aspects of the 2005 Disengagement Law, including the prohibition on establishing settlements in the northern West Bank," the statement said.

Earlier on Tuesday, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the administration was "extremely troubled" by a move by the Israeli parliament that paves the way for Jewish settlers to return to four West Bank settlements that were part of Israel's Disengagement Plan.

Patel said the amendment of a 2005 law was "particularly provocative and counterproductive" to efforts to restore calm ahead of the Ramadan, Passover, and Easter holidays. The Disengagement Plan was conceived by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and was endorsed by President George W. Bush with a special letter that guaranteed Israeli interests.

Its main component was the eviction of thousands of settlers from the Gaza Strip in the hopes of stopping Hamas' rocket attacks and creating legitimacy for Israeli action. It also included a similar measure in northern Samaria involving the razing of four Jewish communities, which now could be reversed following the passage of the new measure.

The move came just two days after Israel reaffirmed a pledge to pause discussion of new settlements and authorizations of outposts, Patel said, a reference to a joint statement between Israeli and Palestinian officials following talks in Egypt.

"The US strongly urges Israel to refrain from allowing the return of settlers to the area covered by the legislation, consistent with both former Prime Minister Sharon and the current Israeli government's commitment to the United States," Patel said.

"We have been clear that advancing settlements is an obstacle to peace and the achievement of a two-state solution."

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Ukraine's Jewish communities are preparing for an unusually tense Shabbat, without knowing if they will be under Russian or Ukrainian rule when the Sabbath is over, or what the war will bring.

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Synagogues in the country were under heavy security for fear of looting and antisemitic attacks.

"I don't have the faintest idea what will happen here on Shabbat. The last time sirens sounded in the city was probably during World War II," said Rabbi Ariel Markovitch, head of the Israeli congregation in Kyiv and the son of Chabad House Rabbi Jonathan Markovitch.

Rabbi Ariel, his family, and other people were at Kyiv's Chabad House, which was stocked with food and extra mattresses.

The head of security at the Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine, an umbrella organization that represents 160 Jewish communities throughout the country, urged Ukrainian Jews to stay at home in accordance with local government instructions and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's request that all Ukrainians do the same.

The federation recommended that "everyone pray at home this Shabbat."

Rabbi Baruch Efrati explained that because Ukraine is in a state of emergency and lives are at stake, the principle of pikuach nefesh is in effect, making it permissible to leave cellular phones on during Shabbat, and if there is no alternative, radios.

"Jews living in war zones can reach an agreement with non-Jewish friends or neighbors that if anything unusual happens that demands movement or organization, they will call. Therefore, cell phones can be kept on for Shabbat. If there is no non-Jew, or concern that they will not inform Jews, then a radio can be kept on if tuned to a station that mainly provides news," Efrai said.

In an emergency meeting held Thursday, community rabbis in Ukraine decided to stay in their cities to help the local residents at this difficult time. The meeting also decided that families of emissaries would also remain, because it would be safer for them to stay in their homes than be on the roads.

Federation head Rabbi Meir Stembler said, "We're staying, and praying for it to be all right. Our job is to be with the communities, to help and calm them as much as possible during this war. We are already feeling shortages. People are hysterical because despite everything, no one believed that there would be an all-out offensive against Ukraine. We are organizing medicine, water, and food – including flour and dry goods – to last for a few weeks and distributing them to Holocaust survivors, the elderly, the disabled, and the poor so they can stay at home as much as possible."

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Ahead of Passover, which this year begins the evening of March 27, workers at the Western Wall on Tuesday conducted a biannual clear-out of all the notes stuck between the stones in the past six months.

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The notes are traditionally collected twice a year – before Passover and before Rosh Hashana. Mindful of public health regulations, workers wore gloves, masks, and used disposable wooden sticks to remove the notes. The notes will be collected and buried on the Mount of Olives, along with holy materials deemed too worn out to use.

Rabbi of the Western Wall Shmuel Rabinowitz oversaw the ceremonial clear-out and recited a prayer for the burial of the notes.

Video: Reuters

According to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the COVID pandemic and the unique difficulties it created for Jewish communities has led to a spike in the number of notes e-mailed to the Wall by Jews all over the world. Since Passover 2020, over 71,000 such notes have been emailed to the foundation, many times more than it saw prior to COVID.

The countries that sent the most notes were the US, Brazil, France, Canada, Germany, Spain, Poland, Argentina, and Mexico, as well as the Lapland region of Finland.

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation also said it was preparing for Passover prayers, including the traditional Priestly Blessing, which traditionally draws tens of thousands of worshippers. Last year, only 10 kohanim were allowed at the Western Wall. This year, the prayers will be held in accordance with Health Ministry instruction, which as of March 17 allow for public prayer in capsules. The prayers will be live-streamed for the sake of those who are not able to participate.

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The World Organization of Orthodox Synagogues has warned of a dangerous combination of increased activity inside synagogues due to the growing number of people inoculated against the coronavirus and lax adherence to pandemic guidelines among those who have yet to receive the vaccine.

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The organization called on the government to open synagogues to worshippers that have either been vaccinated, recovered from COVID-19, or tested negative for the virus 72 hours before entering the temple to pray.

According to existing lockdown guidelines, up to five people are allowed to gather in a closed space, and up to 10 are allowed to convene in open areas. In effect, these restrictions prevent worshippers from praying in a minyan – a quorum of 10.

As a result, the organization noted, many people have begun to either ignore or bend the rules on the number of worshippers allowed to gather in one place.

"Unfortunately, we are seeing worshippers, including those who do not have a green passport, beginning to pray in closed spaces. We fear the phenomenon will grow and threaten the health of many," the organization said in a statement.

"Worshippers must adhere to the guidelines and immediately get vaccinated as all the experts have advised. This is both a halachic and moral obligation," the organization said.

According to the framework, the number of worshippers allowed inside the synagogue would be determined by experts to maintain the necessary distance between people. In addition, mask-wearing and hygiene would be enforced. Each synagogue would appoint a coronavirus chief with enforcing the guidelines and limiting entry to green passport holders. Those without a green passport would be allowed to pray outside and in adherence with social-distancing and other pandemic guidelines.

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Diaspora and Israeli organizations and communities representing millions of Jews around the world will participate on Saturday in a mass Kaddish (Jewish mourners' prayer) and say a specially designed azkara (memorial prayer) for Jews buried in inaccessible Arab countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

More than 100 organizations and communities have signed up thus far for the Kaddish Initiative, slated for Nov. 28, the date of the Shabbat closest to Nov. 30, which Israel in 2014 designated the Day to Commemorate the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from Arab Countries and Iran. Since then, it has been marked by Jewish communities around the world.

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The Kaddish Initiative was launched in 2018 by Iraqi-Jewish Canadian Sass Peress. According to British philanthropist David Dangoor, during the project's first year, 12 communities participated; by the next year, participation had grown to 50.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year the prayers will be recited mainly online.

Groups already registered for the event include the Israeli umbrella organization for Jews from Arab countries, representing millions of people in the Jewish state; Maccabi World Union, the Jewish organization with the largest active global membership; the European Jewish Congress, the organization representing all Jewish communities in Europe; the American Zionist Movement, representing dozens of Zionist organizations across North America; and the umbrella organizations for US, British, Canadian and Australian Jewry.

More than 11,000 rabbis and community leaders from every continent and all strains of Judaism and ethnic origin have downloaded the azkara prayer from the Kaddish Initiative website.

The Kaddish and azkara prayers are "far more" than just a religious undertaking, Dangoor explained in an oped he published on Nov. 15.

"It is about creating awareness of the history and plight of our people still suffering because of the ramifications resulting from the exodus of Jews from Arab countries in the 20th century. Whole communities of almost 1 million Jews, living in these areas for millennia, were emptied within a few short decades, with very little left of their presence or existence. … [T]here needs to be a greater sense of awareness of the history, culture and tradition of these communities," he wrote.

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The aliyah figures for August 2020 tell the whole story. North America saw a 238% year-on-year rise in the number of requests to make aliyah. Britain saw a 165% year-on-year rise. Applications from South Africa doubled. All in all, twice as many aliyah applications were opened in western nations than in 2019. 

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"This is the tip of the iceberg," Herzog tells Israel Hayom. 

"We need to add the 100,000 requests for information about aliyah received since the beginning of the year, double the number of aliyah files in English-speaking countries and over 150% in French-speaking countries. In other countries, Jews aren't necessarily doing any better. People are afraid for the future in the Diaspora and interested in fulfilling the aliyah dream.

"In light of all this, we need to be especially appreciative of the fact that 9,000 new immigrants from 70 countries made aliyah during the coronavirus crisis. These are people who need to go into quarantine in a new country where they don't know the language, sometimes with young children and everything – and all to fulfill the Zionist dream. Despite all the restrictions, 450 people made aliyah the week before Rosh Hashanah, including arrivals from countries it would be better not to mention." 

Q: You are expecting a massive wave of 250,000 new olim over the next three to five years. It sounds significant, but is it feasible? 

"Absolutely, yes. We need to look at the rare opportunity before us in a historical context. The government must rise to the challenge and approve a national aliyah absorption plan, quickly. The bright spot of the pandemic is the inevitable wave of aliyah that is headed our way, and we need to embrace it. It won't be easy, but we must.

"In the early 1990s, we took in about a million olim and they created an enormous change. Israeli society benefited as a whole from that aliyah. Of course, it requires practical cooperation between the various government ministries – particularly on issues of housing and incentives to move to the periphery, the Negev and the Galilee. I can tell you that we have mayors and local authority leaders standing in line asking that some of the new olim be directed to their towns." 

Herzog says that about 40% of the new immigrants who have arrived so far this year – despite the restrictions of the COVID pandemic – are young, aged 18-35. Many are college-educated. 

"All the parameters we have indicate that this aliyah wave, which is just starting, is of rare quality. Even now there is demand for twice as many ulpans [immersive Hebrew instruction] for young people than currently exist. We need to encourage entrepreneurship, employment, and integration into the industrial sector. But for that to happen, I need the government to be a true partner. Let's take advantage of this opportunity as part of the process of rebuilding ourselves after the fallout from the [coronavirus] pandemic." 

Herzog, who spent plenty of years in Israeli politics, knows it won't be easy to get public attention and government support for such a big wave of new olim, especially given the country's current economic situation. But he is optimistic: "I'm convinced that the moment the government adopts the right plan, aliyah will become one of the tools to help us out of the crisis." 

"Based on our experience, every wave of aliyah carries with it economic recovery and growth. This is a huge opportunity for Israel, both in terms of society and the economy. We need to put growth engines in place, just like we did for the high-tech sector in the 1990s, while also supporting everyone who needs help until they can get back on their feet and support their families. It's also important to provide emotional support at this difficult time," he says. 

Q: And do you see real interest on the part of the government? 

"It is necessary, the historic opportunity demands it. We are working closely with the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, and I've raised the subject to representatives of the Treasury. The prime minister is aware of it and mentioned it at a cabinet meeting. Of course, right now it's urgent to handle the epidemic, but at the same time, we need to think strategically and prepare for this dramatic aliyah. So the prime minister needs to put all his weight and a group of ministers behind agreeing on a work plan. If the government doesn't respond to the challenge, it could be a historic miss and nothing less than a national tragedy."

Q: Some Jewish communities have suffered critical blows during the COVID crisis, and community life collapsed. 

"The Jewish community in Italy was the hardest-hit at the start of the pandemic. I can't get something that Ruth Dureghello, president of the Jewish community in Rome, said out of my head: 'Everything is collapsing around us. We haven't seen anything like this, other than the Holocaust, in the last 100 years.' You hear something like that here, far away in Israel, and you try to think about how to help as quickly as possible. We have an obligation not only to the Jewish communities living there now, but also to preserve the glorious legacy of the Jewish people in the Diaspora." 

Q: There was a need for a fast and efficient response. In your opinion, did it happen as expected? 

"The Jewish communities abroad center around community life and all of a sudden everything came to a halt – synagogues, schools, retirement homes, cemeteries, the community institutions and of course help for the needy. At that moment, the Jewish Agency went into emergency mode: we set up a situation room to provide instant aid to prevent them from collapsing. With the Keren Hayesod and the Jewish Federations of North America we set up a foundation to save Jewish communities all over the world, which provided immediate loans to those hurt by the pandemic, without interest and on special terms. Our envoys turned into social workers." 

Q: There is inherent tension between Israel's obligation to take care of its own needs vs. its obligation to the Jewish world. Where do you fall on that spectrum? 

"First of all, it's important to me to note that during this crisis, we have helped enlist the Jewish people take part in missions in Israeli society, such as helping the elderly and Holocaust survivors … But part of our role is to convince Israeli society and the government that we also have a responsibility for everything that happens in the Jewish world – whether it's in educating toward unity, the fight against anti-Semitism, or the very connection between Jews and Israel.

"It's important to note that a dramatic shift has taken place in [Israel-Diaspora] relations, nothing less than a paradigm shift. If in the past Jewish communities were the ones who helped Israel at times of crisis and war, now Israel is the one that needs to help them and thereby strengthen ties. This is a long-term process." 

Q: The world has been living with the virus for over six months. Are you satisfied with what has been done for Jewish communities? 

"On the whole, yes, even though that's a complicated question. One step worthy of note is what Aliyah and Integration Minister [Pnina Tamano-Shata] did to ensure the future of the Jewish people in the Diaspora, by having a plan approved in the cabinet. That is an important statement and a signal to the Jewish world that Israel is aware of its responsibility." 

Q: Has the COVID crisis suppressed the tensions between Israel and US Jewry? 

"The human mosaic is very complex, so it's hard to answer. For example, you can't ignore the impressive growth in the Haredi population that is taking its place … as well as the challenge that keeps popping up with the young generation, the ones defined as progressive, who are asking complicated questions about Jewish identity and no less important – how they can bridge that gap. There is an immense love for Israel abroad, which I've been exposed to throughout the pandemic, and I see proof of that especially during this crisis, which real concern for Israel expressed in thousands of messages." 

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Talk with the public, not to it

Q: How difficult is it for you, as both a citizen and a representative of the Jewish state in the Diaspora, to see how the government is behaving during the crisis? 

"We are seeing dozens of deaths a day from COVID, and it's horrifying. If, heaven forbid, they had died in terrorist attacks, Israeli society would be on its legs and demanding results. We should understand that we are at war, and we need to act accordingly, while preserving the basic rules of a democratic, functioning society. 

"I look at what is happening among the people and I'm very worried. The leadership of every camp has a responsibility to keep things from getting worse. We don't have the privilege of being torn apart from within and wrecking the Zionist enterprise. The public's faith in elected officials, in functionaries, in decisions, in the rules of the democratic game is being trampled. Without it, we cannot form a functioning state or a healthy society." 

Q: What can be done about that in the short term? 

"You need to talk with the public, not to them. Enlist them to we can all get through the COVID crisis together. Make the severity of the situation clear and be consistent in making decisions." 

Q: There is one bright spot these days: the peace agreements with the United Arab Emirates and the start of normalization. 

"That's an amazing historic development … We are already working with the major Jewish communities in the UAE, most of whom are not from there originally. They're Jews who went there to work."

Q: Does the 'outing' of the relations between Israel and the UAE close a circle for you? 

"At the end of 2015 and the middle of 2016, as Opposition leader, I was talking to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the matter. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair laid the idea of a regional coalition out for me. He proposed moving ahead with the initiative with me serving as foreign minister … It was clear that the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran shocked them deeply. In the end, the move failed for reasons of internal Israeli politics, and Blair told me, 'Don't be sorry. The train has left the station.' Time showed that he was right. To my regret, I couldn't reveal it at the time, and now, the relations are out in the open. I could be at the [signing] ceremony for personal reasons, and I watched it at home. I was excited, like all the Israeli people." 

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The Jewish world in the age of coronavirus – A special Israel Hayom project

Part VIII: How the pandemic is forcing Jewish philanthropy to recalibrate 

If things don't change drastically, and soon, we can most likely expect a drop in Jewish philanthropy to come after heartwarming Jewish enlistment earlier this year.

Why? Because Jewish foundations and philanthropists are invested in stock markets or are attached to fields that are seeing their dividends dry up because of the global economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

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"I assess that Jewish philanthropy that goes to Jewish and Israeli causes will undergo two main changes," says Hagay Elitzur, Deputy Director-General of the Diaspora Affairs Ministry.

"First, the foundations and philanthropists will focus their donations more and invest their resources in fewer recipients. The second change is that the foundations and philanthropists will look for more cooperation. Philanthropy will seek out collaboration with the Israeli government both in terms of joint investment in social recipients in Israel and in terms of joint investment in educational and community challenges facing Jewish communities in the world," Elitzur said.

Shira Ruderman, executive director of the Ruderman Family Foundation, thinks that Israel has an enormous opportunity when it comes to the Jewish people worldwide.

"Israel has two main roles: its obligation to all its citizens, and its existence as the national state of the Jewish people. Israel knows how to function in emergency situations – and this is where it can loop Jewish communities in in terms of strategy. This is exactly where the philanthropic world can help, and help a lot. Philanthropists can be the immediate partners and also advisors on relations," Ruderman says.

Ruderman wants to see changes in how philanthropists communicate with the government, as well as between themselves.

"The role of philanthropists during the crisis is to foster new long-term partnerships between Israel and the Jewish world," she says.

"We need to fix the patronizing experiences on both sides," she notes.

Elitzur agrees: "It's very important to understand that strong Jewish communities in the world are feeling coronavirus in a very different way form how we in Israel are experiencing it. Sadly, that includes a lot of deaths, as well as the destabilization of basic community institutions. That changes the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora, making it much more mutual in a lot of ways.

"That will have a lot of influence on how Jewish philanthropy operates and cooperates, as well as where it invests. So I think that the trend of moving philanthropic investment from Israel to local communities will continue," Elitzur adds.

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No US aid will go to the Palestinian Authority. Since the United States cut aid to the PA in March 2018 and under the Taylor Force Act, the PA's program of rewarding terrorists and their families is not being supported.

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Up to $30 million is allocated to boost reconciliation programs for Israelis and Palestinians.

There is also no US funding for the UN Human Rights Council, which the United States withdrew from in June 2018.

The legislation does not include the $175 million requested by the Trump administration for economic assistance to the Palestinians as part of its Mideast peace plan, the economic part which was introduced at the Bahrain summit in June. The rejection was solely due to budgetary considerations, reported Haaretz, citing a source close to the budget negotiations.

The bill consists of $90 million for the US Department of Homeland Security's Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) that seeks to protect nonprofit institutions, including synagogues. This is a 50% increase over last year's $60 million funding.

The NSGP provides grants of up to $100,000 each to nonprofits at risk of terrorist attacks so they may improve building security by acquiring and installing items ranging from fences, lighting, and video surveillance to metal detectors and blast-resistant doors, locks, and windows. Funding may also be used to train staff and pay for contracted security personnel.

The NSGP has become more critical for the Jewish community in the aftermath of the Oct. 27, 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life-Or L'Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 Jewish worshippers were killed, and six months later, the April 27 shooting at Chabad of Poway in Southern California, where one woman was killed and three others injured.

"The many attacks on our Jewish communal institutions highlight the tremendous need for additional measures to keep our community safe," said Orthodox Union president Mark Bane in a statement. "We have a responsibility to protect people whether at prayer, at school, and in other potentially vulnerable places."

The bill expresses support for collaboration between Israel, Greece, and Cyprus, especially in the energy sector. The East-Med pipeline will connect Israel and the European Union. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been involved in the talks between the three allies, meeting with the leaders of the three countries back in March.

Finally, around $60.39 million is allocated for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum through 2022.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

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A new ethnic-studies curriculum under proposal by the California Department of Education is being widely condemned by pro-Israel and Jewish groups, California lawmakers and activists for its "blatant bias against Israel."

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"The Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum is deeply troubling – not only for its shocking omission of any mention of Jewish Americans or anti-Semitism or its blatant anti-Israel bias and praise of BDS, but for its clear attempt to politically indoctrinate students to adopt the view that Israel and its Jewish supporters are part of 'interlocking systems of oppression and privilege' that must be fought with 'direct action' and 'resistance,'" Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, co-founder and director of the California-based AMCHA Initiative, told JNS.

California lawmakers have begun to raise alarms over the proposed curriculum, the result of a 2016 law calling for the creation of a model ethnic-studies curriculum by the state's board of education.

The proposed curriculum is currently going through public comment and is expected to go through revisions, followed by being approved next year by the board.

Jewish groups, including in California, have also been monitoring the curriculum proposal with concern.

"We have concerns that include the curriculum's omission both of Jews as an ethnic group and of anti-Semitism as a concept. The curriculum should reflect the true diversity of California's population," Jeremy Russell, director of marketing and communications at the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, told JNS.

"We are also concerned by the curriculum's inclusion of the divisive BDS movement, which is inconsistent with the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Guidelines to 'create space for all students regardless of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality or citizenship, to learn different perspectives.' "

Russell said that the JCRC, as part of a coalition headed by the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, has "communicated these and other serious concerns to the Instructional Quality Commission of the Department of Education of California."

From anti-Israel rhetoric to provocative songs to troubling legislation

The proposed curriculum section on "Arab American Studies Course Outline" contains a number of passages concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as "Direct Action Front for Palestine and Black Lives Matter," "Call to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Israel" and "Comparative Border Studies: Palestine and Mexico." It also includes studying national figures such as Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the late Columbia University professor Edward Said, Women's March leader Linda Sarsour, the late radio personality Casey Kasem, actress Alia Shawkat and the late White House correspondent Helen Thomas – all of whom are associated with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric, and in the case of the congresswomen, a push to enact legislation punishing Israel.

According to the sample course models, students also are introduced to concepts like the Nakba, defined from Arabic as "the catastrophe," which is used to describe the establishment of the state of Israel in May 1948 and the displacement of Arabs that occurred.

The curriculum also includes songs and poems containing questionable lyrics in relation to the Middle East.

One is a rap son by Iraqi-Canadian rapper Narcy: "The Real Arab Money." Lyrics include, "In Palestine, kids can't shop at these malls. … My nation on my back, look how proud we are. … America bustin' nuts on Saudi Riyals."

Another song, by Shadia Mansour, reads: "Get out Yankees from Latin America, French, English and Dutch, I love you, Free Palestine."

The course goes over Arab stereotypes, including one that views Palestinians as "terrorists" who "blow up airlines," try to "destroy Israel" and attempt to "drive the Jews into the sea." It also has a song with the lyrics, "I love you, Free Palestine," and "As the saying goes, 'The situation must be threatened, but in reality, the situation must stop'; For every free political prisoner, an Israeli colony is expanded."

The song also implicitly refers to Jews in saying that Israelis, most of whom are Jews, "use the press so they can manufacture," a classic anti-Semitic trope that Jews control the media.

Currently, the curriculum is in a public comment period until Aug. 15, where residents can voice concerns.

'A disaster for all Jews in California'

"This is nothing more than an attempt by fringe activists to hijack the model ethnic-studies curriculum for California high schools in the service of radical political goals," Seth Brysk, the Anti-Defamation League's central pacific regional director.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center told JNS that if this curriculum is left unchallenged, it would "be a disaster for all Jews in California."

"BDS is the tipping point of a global campaign to demonize, weaken and ultimately do away with the Jewish state. Its fundamental anti-Semitism has been called out by the German Bundestag. It is opposed by the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans," he said.

While Cooper said his organization is not opposed to a curriculum about ethnic groups, he is concerned about the imbalance with the specific Palestinian narrative in this case.

"There much more than Palestinian talking points, whose leaders have institutionalized victimhood as their core identity. All this comes at a time when many Arabs from the Gulf are beginning to normalize their interaction with the Jewish world, including Israelis. Any curriculum should focus on all Arab nations and celebrate those that have religious tolerance as a norm, like Bahrain – not, unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority."

"I hope," said Cooper, "that the very diverse Jewish community here in California will oppose any state-mandated curriculum that validates or promotes anti-Semitism."

Similarly, StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein said that the Jewish people should also be included in any ethnic-studies curriculum as a historically oppressed people.

"It is outrageous that an effort to teach students about marginalized communities is being used to promote a campaign of hate against Israel," she told JNS.

In a statement, the American Jewish Committee remarked that the curriculum excludes Jews and others, in addition to being historically inaccurate.

"The proposed mandatory ethnic-studies curriculum inexplicably snubs Jews and other ethnic groups as it falls woefully short on inclusiveness of California's diverse population," AJC Los Angeles chief of staff Dganit Abramoff and AJC Northern California Rabbi Serena Eisenberg told JNS.

"It mischaracterizes Jewish history and identity, especially Mizrahi Jews, who comprise a significant portion of the state's Jewish population; neglects the history and scope of anti-Semitism; and demonizes the State of Israel."

"We are now witnessing the result of decades of complacency and passiveness in our society when it comes to discrimination against the Jewish community," she continued. "This is not a Jewish issue; this should be a concern for every American. We must act before anti-Semitism becomes institutionalized in our public schools."

Club Z launched a Change.org petition think week, calling on the California state legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom to not adopt the proposed curriculum. At press time, it had 182 signatures.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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His presence only grows stronger. The store of video and audio recordings he left behind continue to nurture the next generations, but they don't need the visual experience. Neither do they need the famous portrait of the rebbe that hangs in millions of Jewish homes and has already become an international cultural icon. The rebbe is still, and apparently will always be, the lifeblood of Chabad. But he doesn't belong to Chabadniks alone, and his influence in numerous areas continues to increase.

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The Chabad hassidic sect seeks to emphasize that it is a general "Jewish home" and categorically rejects political involvement. But its army of "diplomats" – thousands of emissaries in hundreds of countries – are making it into a major political force. Last Monday, hours after I landed in New York, I was already visiting the Lubavitcher rebbe's gravesite. Despite the late hour, dozens of Jews and gentiles were there. They came to plea, to pray, to wonder, to sense the atmosphere. There were Sanz, Vizhnitz, and Bobov Hassidim, and even a few from Satmar, alongside traditional Jews, Modern Orthodox Jews, and young secular Jewish boys and girls dressed scantily, as well as a young African American woman with a special supplication.

The next day, at 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, known as "770" and the center of the world Chabad movement, I encounter Mendel Alperowitz, a new Chabad emissary in South Dakota, who has extended Chabad's presence to all 50 US states. He was with the emissary from Alaska, Mendy Greenberg. The emissaries to the northern state are nicknamed "The Frozen Chosen."

In a modest room Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, chairman of the educational arm of the World Chabad movement, awaits me. He started off as an emissary of the rebbe in the 1950s, when he was sent to provide encouragement to Kfar Chabad after a terrorist attack at a school there killed six people. Later, he served as the rebbe's personal chauffeur, and then as his spokesman. Today, at 86, he holds the highest position in the hassidic sect but he remains behind the memory of the rebbe. Chabad opts to write its future with the ink of the past, and the past, for Chabad, provides inspiration for the future.

Rabbi Krinsky grew up in a Chabad family, the son of parents who arrived in the US at the start of the 20^th century.

"My parents made a vow between them that if God would bless them with children, they would do everything they could possibly, and more than possibly, do to see that they were 'shomrei Torah ve'mitzvot' [observant Jews.] And they succeeded. They built a very Jewish home in Boston. I'm the youngest of nine children. When the previous rebbe in the '20s and '30s would send the 'shluchim' [emissaries] from Russia and Poland to America, they would always stay with us. So I grew up in this kind of warmth, 'hachnasas orchim' [hospitality], davening, learning. I was going to public school. There were no yeshivas, no Jewish schools in America."

'Do you have a driver's license?'

He first met the rebbe shortly before his bar mitzvah. "My parents decided they wanted to take me out of public school and send me to New York, to Lubavitch. This was in 1946. I came to New York with an older brother of mine, he was still a student. That's when I really saw the rebbe for the first time. I was taken by it. I was mesmerized. I said to myself, I want to be with this person, live with him, learn from him. After the [Sukkot] holidays, I registered at the yeshiva. I was one of just a few boys in the dormitory. Most of the students came from the area, New York.

The rebbe would tell some of the older students, 'If you see Yudel Krinsky, tell him I would like to see him.' So every few days, I would get this message. All the mail would go through him. When it came to my mail, he would put it aside for me. He knew who I was – I didn't know he knew who I was. I used to go to his prayers, stand and listen to him. That sense of awe never passed, even after I had worked for the rebbe for decades. Every time I had to go into his office my hands would shake a little.

"One night, I'm sitting in the beit midrash [study hall], it was after 11 o'clock, when my chaver [study partner] was studying Talmud, and one of the people in the office comes running into the shul [synagogue]: 'Do you have a license? Well, then, quick, the rebbe wants to go, so get a car and take him.' There was a Lubavitcher young man a few blocks away who had a car rental, so I got a car and took the rebbe. Don't ask me how I felt, because I couldn't explain it. From that time on, almost exclusively, I drove him."

Q: Did you feel that the rebbe should engage in politics?

"The rebbe never engaged in politics. I can tell you, being in the office 24/7, for 40 years, all kinds of people, candidates from political parties from all sides, would come to see him. And he would spend time with them, but he never, ever supported any individual candidate."

Q: On the other hand, Chabad is so clearly felt in Israeli politics. How can you explain that?

"You have to ask the Israelis. There was one time that the rebbe supported 'Gimmel' [United Torah Judaism], for some reason. And I think it [the party] went from two [seats] to five and was close to six. Someone calculated that the number of seats the rebbe brought to all the parties was six. There was a religious reason for his intervention."

Q: How have things changed since 1957, the year you started serving as part of the rebbe's staff and head of his news service? How do you engage people in this digital age in a way that is in line with Orthodox teaching and values?

"First of all, people change. The numbers of people change. Today, in my estimation, Chabad-Lubavitch is the largest Jewish organization in the world. You have over 3,500 Batei Chabad [Chabad Houses] all over the world, and along with spreading Torah and mitzvot, our people save people in natural disasters. That's how it was in Nepal and in the big tsunami [in 2004]. They save non-Jews, too, always help. They're very, very successful. It's the most active Jewish organization in the world, the most genuinely concerned. The worry about the Jews' situation, 24/7."

"As far as the digital age – you have no alternative. The internet has a lot of dangers but also great potential. The reality is that it's become part of our lives, so we need to be very careful, and use it for good things. I remember when I started in 1957 with the newspapers, it was tough. There were no computers. If you wanted to send out a press release, you had to type it up and put it in an envelope and put a stamp on it and go to the post office. Today, we're very far ahead because of our involvement with public relations. I remember when the rebbe's addresses were going to be sent by satellite – in 1980! We started very early. You needed massive equipment for it to happen. [Now] you don't have to do anything, you just need a computer, you press a button."

'Don't fight, just bring light'

In 2008, with the series of major terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, it became clear that the work of the Chabad emissaries was not only difficult but also dangerous. Six people were murdered in the Mumbai Chabad House, including Gabriel and Rivka Holtzberg.

Q: How did the Mumbai attack change your organization, in terms of the emissaries?

"There's a lot of things that still go on in terms of security for the shluchim, wherever they are. I can't tell you more about it. We have to pray to God that nothing untoward happens, like what you mentioned before, and we had something in Poway [California] a few months ago."

Q: When you started to work here with the rebbe, a shooting in a synagogue in California – was that something you could have imagined?

"Anything can happen, and you need to be ready for anything."

Q: America is a place that greeted Chabad, that greeted Jews. Seeing anti-Semitic acts in America now, is that something you would have expected?

"In America, every single day there are shootings. Chicago is like a battlefield. We just have to hope and pray that God will protect us. That shooting [in Poway], and the way the shaliach [the emissary, who lost a finger in the shooting] reacted to it, captivated the media and the United States from coast to coast. That week, college students were nailing mezuzas onto the doors of their rooms to show they weren't afraid."

Q: A lot of people blamed the Trump administration for the shooting attacks against Jews. Do you in Chabad think it makes sense to accuse the president of being an anti-Semite?

"I don't understand it at all. You have to ask the Democrats. He's not an anti-Semite. It makes no sense to accuse him of that. You can't understand why they call him that. He's not an anti-Semite and blaming him for the shooting is absurd.

Q: The rebbe never visited Israel. Did he have a spiritual need to visit the Western Wall?

"That's a good question. I had the same question for man, many years and I was asked by many journalists. I wasn't going to ask the rebbe, I didn't have the chutzpah. It wasn't my job. So I wrote the rebbe a note, saying that journalists were asking me this question. He answered me that he hadn't found a dispensation to leave once you go to Eretz Yisroel. If you go, you can leave under only two circumstances: to marry or to study Torah. Since he was already doing those two things, he couldn't come to Eretz Yisroel and then leave."

Q: How worried is Chabad about assimilation? How hard are you willing to fight it?

"If anyone's doing anything about it, it's the rebbe, the shluchim. I don't think there's any other organization that has the expanse and the wherewithal, and people are genuinely concerned. I'm sure they've gone a far way to stem the tide, but it [assimilation] is increasing."

Q: And what about the fight against anti-Semitism?

"I was there the first time [now Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu came to see the rebbe. He had just been appointed an ambassador to the UN. He came to the rebbe during hakafot [Simchat Torah celebrations]. The shul was wall-to-wall human beings. I was standing near the aron kodesh [Holy Ark] and he [Netanyahu] found his way up there and introduced himself to the rebbe. The rebbe spoke to him for 40 minutes, this was in the middle of the hakafot, and everyone was waiting to continue, and this young man came up and 'took' 40 minutes of his time."

"The rebbe told him that the United Nations is a house of darkness. So you have to put on a light. 'A little light casts out a lot of darkness,' so your [Netanyahu's] obligation was to bring light. Not to fight, just make it light. That lives with him [Netanyahu] in his heart. I believe this was the rebbe's approach to anti-Semitism – you can't fight it."

One of the most important world leaders to maintain close ties with Chabad is Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rabbi Krinsky says that in conversations with Putin, the Russian leader asked him where in Russia his parents were from originally.

"He said he grew up in St. Petersburg, in a Jewish area, and he was the Shabbos goy. He didn't use that term.  [He said] he knew all about it. He said about Chabad, he knows Chabad is very active. He spoke about Chabad like a shaliach."

Q: Everywhere you have Jews, even one, you have a shaliach. You have them in all 50 US states. Will you send one to Iran?

"There were two things the rebbe made conditional before a shaliach goes out to a country. There should be a mikveh, and there should be no political upheaval."

Q: You, all of you, have worked with the rebbe, knew the rebbe, met the rebbe. But you have grandkids who've never seen the rebbe. They'll only hear stories. Don't they also deserve a rebbe?

"I think they do. There are so many writings from the rebbe. His talks and his letters and correspondence – there are 35 volumes of his correspondence covering all kinds of questions and answers [about] almost the whole gamut of life. Then his talks, and there are 1,500 of his articles on hassidic issues. Lots of people have been deeply influenced by them. Secondly, I thank God that in the 1970s I started filming the rebbe at events, despite the high cost. There are also recordings from the satellite broadcasts. Today we can watch these videos and see the rebbe's care and passion. The kids see that and it gets into their hearts."

Q: What was different about the rebbe? Why do Hassidim from sects other than Chabad come to visit his grave?

"The rebbe touched people. I know that the different groups of Hassidim, and the misnagdim – when certain things happen in the world today, especially about the situation in Eretz Yisroel, they ask, 'What would the rebbe say?' Years ago, they wouldn't listen to the rebbe, but now they feel like he's answering the important questions."

Q: Is the legacy of the rebbe that in every one of us there is a little bit of Chabad, given the fact that so many kinds of people are drawn to him?  

"I would say 100%. Chabad, especially the rebbe's teachings, helps everyone connect to the essence of Judaism."

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