San Diego Jewish World, May 29, 2007

Zionist Organization of America finds Pew
survey of American Muslims 'disturbing'

NEW YORK (Press Release)—The first nationwide survey of Muslim Americans, carried out by Pew Associates, has revealed that more than a quarter of Muslim Americans (26%) under the age of 30 believe that suicide bombings to defend Islam are justified in at least some circumstances. According to this Pew Global Attitudes survey, "younger Muslims in the U.S. are much more likely than older Muslim Americans to say that suicide bombing in the defense of Islam can be at least sometimes justified."

Other findings in the Pew Survey:

Only 40% acknowledge that Arabs orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks, while 32% declined to answer the question.
16% of Muslim Americans believe that the rights and needs of Palestinian Arabs cannot be taken care of as long as Israel exists.
Only 26% of Muslim Americans believe that the war on terrorism is a "sincere effort," compared with 67% of the general public.
60% of Muslim Americans under the age of 30 regard themselves as Muslim first, Americans second, while only 25% regard themselves as American first (47% of the entire population of Muslim Americans regard themselves as Muslim first and American second, with only 28% regarding themselves as American first).
Only a small majority – 58% – of Muslim Americans have a very unfavorable view of Al-Qaeda. Also of great concern is the fact that over a quarter of Muslim Americans declined to indicate their view of Al-Qaeda).
Only a slight majority – 51% – of Muslim Americans are concerned about the rise of Islamist extremism around world. (jump to continuation)

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Jerusalem Diaries
         Judy Lash Balint
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The Russians have come! The Russians have come!

JERUSALEM—The courtyard of the late 19th century Sergei Building is an oasis of tranquility in the midst of downtown Jerusalem. Tonight the two-story stone walls surrounding fragrant greenery and an array of casually displayed sculptures reverberate with the sound of a talented octet of classical musicians—the Pearls of Music Ensemble.

The concert is one of a series of free events under the rubric of the annual two-week Israel Festival. In addition to the regular ticketed performances that fill the city’s concert halls with musicians, dancers and actors from all over the world, some of Jerusalem’s more unique venues play host to free events every night.
Was it by chance that Israel Festival planners scheduled the Russian-speaking immigrant players of Pearls of Music to play at the Sergei Courtyard? If so, the black-clad musicians seem thoroughly at home in the stately setting of the building named after Prince Sergei Romanov, who visited Jerusalem in 1889.

Sergei Courtyard
In a day that started for me at a press briefing on the Forty Years of War, where Natan Sharansky, amongst others, discussed the ramifications of the Six Day War on the modern world, the significance of the influence of Mother Russia on contemporary Israel is quite striking.

Sharansky views the Six Day War in terms of the beginning of the fall of the Soviet empire. In his view, the 1967 war brought with it the sobering realization for the Soviets that they would not dominate the Middle East, as well as the emboldening of Jewish national identity amongst Soviet Jews who would begin to agitate to leave the Soviet Union creating a movement
                                                                                                                      Sharansky
that undermined the very notion of the idyllic worker’s paradise and caused the foundations of Soviet society to crumble. (Jump to continuation)

Jews in the News
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Like you, we're pleased when members of our community are praiseworthy, and are disappointed when they are blameworthy. Whether it's good news or bad news, we'll try to keep track of what's being said in general media about our fellow Jews. Our news spotters are Dan Brin in Los Angeles, Donald H. Harrison in San Diego, and you. Wherever you are, if you see a story of interest, please send a summary and link to us at sdheritage@cox.net. To see a source story click on the link within the respective paragraph.
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*Frieda Birnbaum, 60, has returned with her two new babies from a maternity ward to her home in Saddle River, N.J., saying everyone is feeling "fine." The Associated Press story is included in a column of briefs in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Richard Blum, husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, has holdings in URS Corp., a company that is now purchasing Washington Group International for $2.6 billion to create an engineering and construction powerhouse. In the past Feinstein has been accused of a conflict of interest for being on a military constructions appropriations subcommittee which approves military contracts, including those with URS. Feinstein has denied any conflict. The story by Evelyn Iritani is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Retired Israeli Gen. Shlomo Brom, in a paper published by Tel Aviv University, concludes there is no sure-fire way to suppress the firing of Qassams from Gaza short of Israel reoccupying that territory—which would force Israel to once again become responsible for Gaza's 3 million inhabitants. The Associated Press story by Karen Laub is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*With the third installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean so successful at the box office, there is little question that Jerry Bruckheimer is planning a fourth installment. The story by Josh Friedman is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*As president of Disney, Michael Eisner commanded a global empire with 125,000 employees. After his ouster in 2005, he has adjusted to downsizing. His small office in Beverly Hills has just five employees. The story by Laura M. Holson of the New York Times News Service is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan), appearing on television's Face the Nation, disagreed with Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama who said troop reductions are possible in September after General David Petraeus submits a report evaluating the effect of the recent troop surge. Levin said there's no reason to wait until then; "we've got men and women dying in Iraq right now." The story by Robin Fields is in today's Los Angeles Times.

*Radio talk show host "Dr. Laura" Schlesinger had sold out audiences for two nights at the 1,523-seat East County Performing Arts Center, but otherwise attendance at its events has been disappointing. Liz Neely has the story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*A side issue in the Phil Spector murder trial is the question of what impact the trial will have on the reputation of Henry Lee, an ace criminologist who has been accused of removing evidence from the scene where Lana Clarkson's body was found. The story by Matt Krasnowski of the Copley News Service is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*Bataan Death March survivor Lester Tenney was among World War II veterans at the La Costa Glen retirement home relating war experiences on Memorial Day. The story by Chris Moran is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.

*The mammoth compromise bill continuing funding for the War in Iraq and other Defense and Veteran related issues was stripped of a provision sought by California Democrats to prohibit the administration from leasing or selling the Veteran's Administration property in West Los Angeles. U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) said the removal of that provision at the behest of the Bush administration was "an unfortunate setback." The story by Martha Groves is in today's Los Angeles Times.

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The Jewish Grapevine

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CAMPUS WHIRL—The University of Haifa will award an honorary doctorate of philosophy on June 5 to Younes Nazarian of Los Angeles, a philanthropist, industrialist, businessman and leader of the Iranian-American Jewish community. Haifa University President Aaron Ben-Ze'ev said the honor is for Nazarian's philanthropic activities in the United States and Israel, in particular "his generous support of the IDF, the State of Israel and the University of Haifa."

COMMUNITY ROUNDUP—We have the names of the women in the winning foursome in the recent 16th annual golf and tennis tournament sponsored by The Guardians to benefit Seacrest Village Retirement Communities. They were Sheri Hallis, Kay Weiss, Terry Cohler, and Lynn Gordon, who are shown in that left to right order in the adjoining photograph....

CYBER-JUDAISM—Hillel Mazansky sends along a beautiful Power Point slide show about Rishon Lezion. Once it comes onto your screen, you may advance through the photos, by using the space bar on your computer.

JEWISH LICENSE PLATE—Melanie Rubin, our top Jewish license plate spotter, found one in Hebrew slang. Literally translated, Ma Petom means "What suddenly?" Colloquially, however, it's more like "You've got to be kidding!" To see our growing Jewish license plate collection, please click here.

MICHAEL MEDVED LECTURE—Have you ever wondered what the person behind the radio voice looks like, and whether he or she is tall or short, slender or heavy, dark hair or light? Those attending a special program featuring Michael Medved sponsored by Chabad at La Costa won't have to wonder anymore. The event at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) night at the Lyceum Theatre at Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego still has tickets available, advises Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort. In fact, he says, "the $25 and $36 tickets are being offered at half price for
today and tomorrow only. We hope you choose to buy the Patron tickets, which
cost $90 and include the pre-lecture VIP Reception and a signed book from
Michael." Either way, the Lyceum Theater Box Office at (619) 544-1000 would be the place to call.

POLITICAL SCENE—California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner today invited news media to a private home in the Scripps Ranch area of San Diego to demonstrate how people who live in potential fire areas should make a digital photo inventory of their possessions, and then store that inventory in a safe place away from their homes. Poizner said that a consumer guide may be obtained from his department by calling (800) 927-HELP. ... A new group called the American Freedom Alliance has announced an all-day seminar June 10 at Pepperdine University in Malibu on the topic "The Collapse of Europe, the Rise of Islam and the Consequences for the United States." Among the panelists at the $250 per-person seminar are Daniel Pipes and Dennis Prager. According to Avi Davis, AFA senior fellow: "European democratic values have been severely tested in recent years as growing internal Muslim restiveness and intimidation have imposed a virtual code of silence on the continent's politicians and media who fail to address Muslim conduct and theology particularly when they contradict Europe's democratic traditions." Registration information is on the conference website.

SAN DIEGO— What a pleasure to find Columnist David Amos’s very interesting article yesterday “Just What Do We Expect from Music? A good question….and I have several answers. It depends upon who I am and what I’m doing with the music.

Personally, as a dancer, the music is everything. However, dance doesn’t need music to “be” – dance can happen without music, it did initially. Merely, stamping feet or clapping hands, or even in time with one’s own breath and heartbeat. There are some choreographers who compose the dance first and then seek out music. Personally, I find that amazing as for me it is the music that compels my dance. It frames it, impels it, speaks through it and finally ends it. It is the scaffold, the bridge, the house and the cloak. Music sets the entire tone. This becomes clear in an example such as the opening chords of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet – the scream of oncoming tragedy is announced from those chords. We are warned. All else, including dance, follows.

It is possible for great music to overwhelm dance, but only if the choreographer is not up to the standard of the composer. Such a piece of music is Bach’s Toccata
and Fugue in D Minor – until Paul Taylor choreographed Promethean Fire. It is also possible for great dance to be under whelmed by music such as Michael Smuin’s ballet Song for Dead Warriors (San Francisco Ballet). Excellent choreography, terrific dancers, dead music – and so the entire thing died.

As a ballet teacher, the music for class must carry the work, inspire the students and yet not distract them from the business at hand, which is studying the technical values of the dance. This is truer for the beginner rather than the more proficient student. For the beginner, the music needs to be simple, and unassuming. “There," but not intrusive. For the more proficient student, the music should begin to inform and challenge the dancer.

In ballet (and other dance genres, too) the energy of both the music and the teacher carries the class. If either fails the class dies. In the ballet world there are several major syllabus regimes – I won’t go into them now – but they are structured systems by which to teach ballet. They are very popular abroad, less so in the United States. I rejected the opportunity to be mentored into one the major syllabus systems for a number of reasons but largely because the music was preset. The same exact music for the same exact class. No deviation. This for me meant mental, emotional and pedagogical death. I would be bored past tears to have to dance/teach everyday to the same music. I need the stimulation of the music to dance. The same sequence (enchainement) of dance steps takes on an entirely different meaning when danced to a suite from Carmen rather than Beethoven’s Pastoral. The retards, rests, arpeggios, grace notes, add layers, breath, meaning, emotion to the dance. A waltz in a major key is quite a different entity from a waltz in a minor key.

A pianist who plays for ballet class is a true artist, and is never taken for granted. His music changes for the mood of the day, for the class at that moment. It changes not only for the form of the dance (waltz, mazurka, adagio, petite allegro, grand allegro, etc), but for each dancer. I remember all these decades later a superlative ballet pianist who was a specialist in the field – he “felt” each student’s impetus and played for each one individually. The same notes infused with different breath. It was a study in musicianship.

I once had the unique experience of teaching private ballet class to a totally deaf adult student. I set the tempo for her by clapping my hands which she could visually mimic. But I realized I had to have music for myself – I simply couldn’t demonstrate what I wanted her to do without having music playing for myself. It was an interesting illustration to me of how much I was dependent upon it.

Some dancers are “counters” and some are “breathers.” Some simply count the music constantly while others never count. Most do both – more counting with modern music, more breathing with classical composers. But, even for the “breathers” – there is an inner metronome. I found when I had spent hours of the day dancing and teaching, it was hard to turn that metronome off!

As for when I’m not dancing, just listening, working at my craft table, driving, or writing, I can’t bear to listen to music that doesn’t suit my mood. Sometimes I’m in a waltz mood, sometimes Klezmer. If the “wrong” music is playing its like nails on a chalkboard – even if it’s something I ordinarily would like.

For the most part, I am much more of a classicist than into new music, I find it much too repetitive. It also doesn’t seem to have form – or at least I can’t detect any. It sort of wanders around, while I seek structure. I can’t help thinking it would make Mozart cry. The only time new music works for me is if it is expertly choreographed and truly fits the dance. But, I can’t listen to it alone – without dance – simply for itself.

One of my biggest complaints, however, is the volume. Music that makes my theater seat vibrate either causes me to use my ear plugs or leave. Music is not about volume for me – it is about mood. Not necessarily the mood I’m in, but the mood I would like to be in.

The survey, which estimates the U.S. Muslim population to be 2.3 million, emphasized the more positive findings, describing Muslim Americans overall as "middle class and mostly mainstream," socially assimilated and happy. Yet, however prosperous and settled Muslim Americans may be, these findings reveal a disturbing level of extremism in a large segment of American Muslims.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, "We have reason for profound concern at these findings about the attitudes of Muslim Americans. Despite being in the main a settled, prosperous community, Muslims are clearly not mainstream in their general political and moral views. A community in which a quarter of the people justify the abomination of suicide bombings is one that poses a potentially serious threat to the lives of other Americans. When the views held are so extreme, it is no reassurance that only a minority of people in a given community hold them, especially when that minority is large, not merely a tiny fringe.

"One other important and easily missed statistic emerges from this survey – the Pew survey puts the size of the Muslim American population at around 2.35 million – far less than the 6 -7 million that is routinely announced by some Islamist organizations, like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The Pew survey research, which uses Census Bureau data on immigrants' nativity and nationality, is also broadly consistent with other recent reputable studies, such as the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, which found a total of 1.8 million Muslim Americans, and that by the University of Chicago's Tom Smith, whose 2000 study put the Muslim American population at 1,886,000. In fact, it is possible that the latest Pew study even somewhat overestimates the present number of Muslim Americans. Be that as it may, the Pew survey figure is an important statistic for the media that often uncritically accepts whatever claims are made by Islamist organizations, which have an obvious interest in inflating the figures.

"We at ZOA, will do everything we can to make Members of Congress and the American public aware of these disturbing results which show that Muslim Americans may not be as mainstream and moderate as all of us had hoped."

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Russians...
(continued from above)

Sharansky explained in passing how the compulsion of Soviet Jews to excel in their professional lives was an expression of their identity in a society where nearly all of them were completely disconnected from knowing what it meant to be a Jew in any other way.

Today, more than one million Jews from Russian-speaking countries live in Israel. Their presence has changed the face of Israeli society in many spheres—they’re the brains behind our bio-tech and hi-tech industry; hospitals and clinics are full of Russian-speaking doctors and technicians; Israel would have few world class sports figures or sports trainers without the Russian speakers and our arts scene is filled with musicians, artists and actors trained in the academies of Moscow and St Petersburg.

Back at the Sergei Courtyard the strains of Bach and Mozart waft over the appreciative audience seated in the area that once housed the stables for the upper-class Russian pilgrims who lodged in the building. There are a few remaining buildings scattered through the city erected by various European empires in the waning colonial era, designed to accommodate Christian pilgrims and shore up the prestige of the regimes back home. The Russians were merely the most prolific of the builders. Just in back of the elegant Sergei structure whose grand entryway features an elegant turret and crenellated parapets, sits another building designed and erected by 19th century Russians--the prison known simply as the Russian Compound, where Arab terrorists, Jerusalem thieves and political demonstrators all pass their first interrogation.

After a pleasing series of classical pieces, the ensemble leader introduces Dr. Alexander Rosenberg, a forty-something accordionist who could be mistaken for a boxer. Rosenberg joins with the string players in an astonishingly versatile selection of Brazilian and French numbers, each painstakingly introduced in heavily accented Hebrew.

As Rosenberg takes in the applause, an audience member yells out in Hebrew, “Play some Russian tunes.” Without missing a beat, the middle-aged blonde lead violinist shoots back: “In Russia…”

Introducing the next piece, the ensemble leader announces, “Now we’ll play some nice Russian music.” They launch into Scott Joplin’s Ragtime.

In the end, with smiles on their lips, they can’t resist playing some classic Russian music. Prince Sergei would have been proud