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THE VIEW FROM JINSA
Barak unhappy with U.S. military advisors
By Shoshana Bryen
 WASHINGTON, D.C— JINSA in yesterday's edition made clear its unhappiness with the intimacy of the relationship between American generals acting on behalf of the State Department and members of the Palestinian Authority security services. It appears we are not alone.
Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak sent a senior political/military affairs advisor to a meeting with one of the American generals and the Palestinian Prime Minister, rather than attend himself. According to an Israeli source, another of the American generals had criticized Barak personally and the IDF at an earlier meeting with consular staff at the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem. Barak, according to the source, said complaints should be addressed to him directly, not "laid before (American consular) officials not directly involved in the dialogue... some of who are openly hostile to Israel."
He is right and more than right.
The American generals appear to have three complaints - Israel is not sharing enough intelligence with the Palestinian Security Services; IDF security operations in the West Bank are driving terrorists into the Palestinian-controlled areas, accounting for the inability of the Palestinian Authority to maintain order; and Israel refuses to institute new security procedures (removing checkpoints) as "peace negotiations move forward."
This is a blatant American attempt to a) interfere with the Israeli government's obligation to secure the people of Israel, and; b) blame Israel for the increasing anarchy in the West Bank. We strongly believe it is the result of demands by the State Department for the military envoys to make "progress" toward the independent Palestinian State to which the administration is committed - regardless of circumstances on the ground.
The American military professionals appear frustrated by their inability to create any kind of reliable security force among the Palestinians. That they can't is understandable, but that isn't Israel's problem. Israel has to deal with a well-understood threat to its people and cannot subcontract out the work to semi-reformed terrorists in Fatah.
Reflexive protection of Abu Mazen is understandable too, if not acceptable. But it is outrageous to blame Israel rather than Hamas, Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade (an arm of Abu Mazen's own Fatah, which has denounced him and openly prefers Hamas), or the PIJ and their Iranian and other sponsors. All of these organizations - and several that don't have names yet - are actively seeking to conduct terrorism in Israel and bring Hamas's rocket capabilities to the West Bank for the purpose of killing Jews.
Politics are politics, but we applaud the Defense Minister's determination not to remain involved in a U.S.-sponsored security charade with potentially dire implications for the citizens of Israel. We wish American generals weren't involved in it either.
THE JEWISH CITIZEN
Secrets of synagogue and shaving rituals
By Donald H. Harrison
 SAN DIEGO—As I was shaving in my usual manner, starting near my right ear and working my way in parallel vertical lines across my cheek, I found myself thinking about a story that the late Rabbi Aaron S. Gold enjoyed telling about the ritual at a certain synagogue.
Whenever Torahs were taken from the Ark, and paraded around the synagogue, the people carrying the Torahs would stop for a moment at the steps leading up to the bima, then would bow their heads, and then climb the steps of the bima to either place the Holy Scrolls on the reader's table or back in the Ark.
Visitors often asked why congregants made this little bow following the hakafot. Thiis was not a custom known in their own synagogues. Proudly, the congregants answered that this was their synagogue's way of showing an extra measure of reverence to God, whose presence was represented by the Holy Ark in which His word was stored.
So many times was the story retold that members of the congregation became as familiar with the explanation for this minhag as they were with the story of the Exodus that they told annually at their Passover seders. Impressed by the custom, some other congregations even imitated the practice of stopping and making a little bow just before mounting the bima.
One day a distinguished visitor came to the congregation—none other than the old rabbi emeritus, who had served the congregation for 30 years before his retirement. He had helped to raise the funds to acquire the synagogue building in the first place; he had been there in the year of the major renovations to the sanctuary and the adding of a Torah school and playground. He was a walking history book.
At a kiddush following services, another visitor asked a congregant the meaning of bowing in front of the bima, and, as the old rabbi heard the answer, he covered his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud . However, the congregant pointed to him and said, "See, here, this is the very rabbi who implemented the custom. Tell us, rabbi, how you thought of it."
Now the rabbi was in a spot. He did not want to contradict anyone about how the custom started, for indeed it had become a beautiful tradition. On the other hand, he had to be a truthful man.
"The meaning of the custom as it is today is exactly as described," he said. "However, it was started not by intention but by accident. Come with me back to the sanctuary." The visitors and congregants followed him to the foot of the bima. "Look up!" he said. "Do you see that circular spot in the ceiling, where it seems to be a slightly different color?"
"Yes," said the congregants, who had seen the discoloration many times but never gave it much thought.
"Before the sanctuary was remodeled, there used to be a very nice chandelier hanging from there. The problem was that it was too low, and many of our congregants had to duck their heads to avoid brushing against the bottom of it. It became a habit for us to do that whenever we approached the bima. Eventually, we became so accustomed to this little pause that we continued to do it, even after the chandelier was removed!"
So, what does this have to do with shaving? The telephone in my bedroom seems to have a device in it that senses the moment that I have lather on my face. That's when it rings. Whenever I picked up the receiver, I left shaving cream on it, which I later had to go back and clean off. At some point it occurred to me that if I shaved the right side of my face first, then it might be lather-less when the telephone rang. So, I began shaving in that sequence to save myself a lot of trouble.
My six-year-old grandson, Shor, has a bladeless razor.Sometime, he likes to lather up his face, just like his grandpa, and with that practice razor, shave just the way I do. Of course, he also starts near his right ear, working in parallel vertical lines across his face. Someday, we may not have telephones as we know them today—there will be a ringing from a microphone somewhere in the room—and we will command, "Answer call" whereupon we will be connected, and we will be able to speak hands-free from anywhere in the room. When we are done, we will tell the device "End call."
So by the time Shor's grandchildren are practice shaving, telephones as we knew them may be forgotten devices—things like washboards that you see only in museums. If Shor's grandson asks him why they always start shaving near the right ear, he may tell them the story I have just told you. Or he might answer,"The men of our family have always done so. In a way it is an acknowledgment of our Jewish tradition, because we shave our faces in the same direction that we read Hebrew—from right to left!"
REFLECTIONS
The Boychik and the Leprechaun
By Sheila Orysiek
 A boychik and a leprechaun
Met in a gladed wood
The leprechaun was green
The boychik naked as he stood
The leprechaun was offended
“You should be dressed in green”
The boychik smiled impishly
“Then in a glade I’d not be seen”
The leprechaun was angry
He didn’t like the boychik’s smirk
He thought him a smart mouth,
An impudent little jerk
He set a price upon the head
Of the mischievous little kid
Other leprechauns gathered hastily
And each began to bid
But the boychik had a plan
To get the leprechauns noshin
So, out of a bag he pulled
A dozen green Hamentashen
And while they happily ate
Boychik quickly ran away
The leprechauns were sorry
Now they wanted him to stay
The moral of this story
If ever leprechauns you meet
Always keep with you
A Hamentaschen treat.
—Sheila Orysiek, San Diego, March 19, 2009
THE JEWS DOWN UNDER
Better police response to hate crimes sought by Jews after attack on Hindus
By Garry Fabian
 MELBOURNE—Recent attacks on a Hindu Temple in Melbourne’s south have prompted a renewed call for improved police procedures to deal with attacks on minorities.
A Jewish communal organisation dedicated to fighting racism and antisemitism says the attacks on the Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Carrum Downs are a disturbing example of increasing violence against religious minorities.
The B’nai Brith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) said members of the Jewish community were deeply concerned about the attacks on Hindu worshippers and worried that Victoria Police are not doing enough to recognize and combat hate crimes.
“When there’s a religious or racially motivated attack the coppers on the beat don’t always recognise that what they are dealing with is a hate crime. We need the police to understand the particular problems of hate crimes and to make sure they have procedures for dealing with them,” said ADC chairman John Searle.
The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) and ADC have called for training to improve police cultural awareness. The NSW Police Force has a hate crimes coordinator and NSW police are directed to recognise as hate crimes “any crime committed where the motivation was wholly or partly motivated by a bias or prejudice towards a person from or believed to be from an identified group.”
Victoria Police use the Security Intelligence Group to investigate possible hate crimes but Searle said many incidents were not referred to the unit for investigation. “Police can’t properly respond to hate crimes if they don’t recognise them. An offensive racist attack is not the same as other kinds of vandalism or assault. It needs a sensitive response that understands how traumatic hate crimes are for Australians of minority backgrounds.”
The temple attacks include a violent incident in which a devotee who chased a group of teenagers away after they attempted to steal monetary offerings from the temple was pelted with beer bottles. Eggs have been thrown at the shrine and the temple manager.
Searle said Australian Jews had strong sympathies with the Hindu worshippers as there has also been an increase in anti-Semitic incidents, including a recent violent attack on a man waiting at a tram stop and a number of incidents where eggs have been thrown at people walking from synagogue.
Legal no-Show hits racist attack victim
MELBOURNE--A Jewish man who has relentlessly pursued a football team who racially abused him has been hit with a $7,500 penalty.
Menachem Vorchheimer will not give up what he describes as a fight for justice, despite three of the men involved being fined between $750 and $1,000.
Vorchheimer has launched many claims in various forms against the State Government, Victoria Police and the off-duty policeman who was driving the bus containing the football players.
But he suffered a setback this week after his legal team failed to attend a hearing at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), leaving him with an order to pay $7,500.
Vorchheimer claimed the occupants of the bus had breached the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act and that Mr Moore, the driver of the bus, as a policeman was obliged to intervene.
VCAT vice-president, Judge Marylin Harbison said it was unacceptable that Vorchheimer's legal team had not attended the hearing, ordering him to pay Victoria Police $4,000 and Moore $3,500. The hearing has been adjourned to a date to be fixed.
Mourning for Jerusalem shooting victim
MELBOURNE—The Bnei Akiva shaliach in Australia, Ori Meir, said his overwhelming emotion was sadness after hearing that his former neighbour Yonadav Hirschfeld had been shot in Jerusalem.
Hirschfeld was a 19-year-old student studying at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva. He had been a student at Merkaz Harav high school and had decided to stay on after completing school to continue his Torah studies.
He was in the library at Merkaz Harav when a gunman opened fire, killed eight students and injured nine others before being shot dead himself.
Meir, who attended Merkaz Harav from 1989 to 1993, said he did not believe the gunman randomly selected the time and the location.
He said that students traditionally gathered in the library on Thursday night to do some extra study. That study usually continued into the wee hours of Friday morning when the students would leave to buy fresh challah.
He explained that the fact that the gunman visited on Rosh Chodesh Adar, a traditionally happy time when the month of Adar, the time of Purim, is ushered in probably means the attack was calculated and well-planned.
Meir lived next door to Hirschfeld in 2002 . His parents still live next door to the Hirschfeld family. The shaliach, who is now based in Melbourne, said he was more sad than angry at the young man’s death.
It has been a particularly difficult time for Meir, whose first cousin Achikam Amichai, an elite Israeli soldier, was shot by terrorists in December last year.
“Unfortunately I have experienced hearing horrible news like this too many times,” Meir said.
“It [terrorism] is part of Israeli reality, of Jewish reality now in the world.”
Search for new principal
PERTH—This city’s only Jewish school is looking for a new principal after the board decided not to renew current principal Lorraine Day’s contract, which ends in December this year.
Carmel School president Michael Levitt said that Day’s five-year contract as principal was due to end this year and the board decided to “take a new direction for the school”.
“It was a very hard decision because she has been amazing to the school. It took the board almost 12 months to make the decision, and even though we were aware that she could walk out if we told her, we felt that we should be straightforward with her, as she has been to us,” Levitt said this week.
“The impression that one might gain is to think that there is friction and trouble at the school, but she has avoided that completely. There is a real sense of sadness for Lorraine from everyone involved.”
Levitt declined to comment on the reason for the board’s decision, saying that it would be discourteous to Day, who had served the school with pride.
The school has engaged the services of a professional recruiter to find its new principal, but believes the candidate will come from either Australia or South Africa.
“Perth’s Jewish community is not like Melbourne and we are not as big as Mount Scopus. The general feeling is that we will be able to find an outstanding applicant, Jewish or otherwise, within Australia. We are hoping it will be completed by July.”
Plans for pre-summit for Australian Jews
CANBERRA--Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has invited the Australian Jewish community to send 50 people to a symposium in Sydney next month, ahead of the 2020 summit that clashes with the first two days of Pesach.
In a letter to ECAJ president Robert Goot, the prime minister offered his sincere apologies for scheduling the summit over a major Jewish holiday and admitting the clash has been an inadvertent error by the Federal Government.
"I recognise that members of the Jewish community have a very important contribution to make to the summit,” Rudd stated
All leading Jewish organisations and community groups will be invited to nominate participants for the April 14 symposium.
"I think that it's a positive outcome for the community that will provide a proper opportunity for members of the Jewish community to participate in and contribute to the deliberations for the summit. It enables the ECAJ to nominate 50 such participants and for members of the Jewish community to self-nominate as well", Goot said.
While he recognised it would not be the same as attending the summit, Goot conceded that the alternative offered by the prime minister was a real opportunity and a very positive result for the community.
But the timing of the clash with Pesach has drawn criticism from the Jewish community. While no explanation for the clash has been forthcoming from the government, it is believed that summit organisers did not realise it was an unusual year in the Jewish calendar, in which Easter and Pesach do not coincide.
Governor-General to visit Israel
CANBERRA—Australia’s Governor-General Michael Jeffery and his wife Marlena will travel to Israel in late April to represent the Australian people and their government at the 60th anniversary of the state.
Jeffery was invited by Israeli President Shimon Peres and the visit is the first by an Australian head of state.
“Australia greatly values its strong and long-standing friendship with Israel, a friendship based on shared democratic values, strong cultural ties and commercial relations,” Jeffery said.
Dor Shapira, spokesperson of Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Yuval Rotem, said the first official visit of the governor-general to Israel was a historic occasion.
“We are working closely to plan his visit to Israel,” he said, and added that the governor-general’s state visit showed the “unique friendship that exists and will continue to exist between Israel and Australia.”
The governor-general and his wife will also participate in a range of World War I commemorative events, including the official opening by Governor-General Jeffery and President Peres of The Park of the Australian Soldier in Be’er Sheva on April 28.
The central feature is a sculpture by renowned Australian artist, Peter Corlett, which commemorates the charge of the Australian Light Horse Division’s 4th Brigade against the Turkish positions at Be’er Sheva on October 31, 1917. The charge of the 4th Light Horse was a significant Australian military event.
SAN DIEGO JEWISH WORLD THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C.: Is U.S. impinging on Israeli sovereignty with three generals assigned to Mideast?
Cynthia Citron in Santa Monica, California: Dietrich, Chevalier subjects of new musical
Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: An Irish shpiel for St. Patrick's Day
Fred Reiss in Winchester, California: Kugel explores scholars' biblical criticism
Judy Lash Balint in Jerusalem: Israel's 60th Anniversary celebration will highlight Nigerian Christian tourists
Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: A Purim shpiel: how Esther was changed back into the queen she was meant to be
Sheila Orysiek in San Diego: Two cities: two different rains
Peter Garas in Canberra, Australia: Some people are rude and others are RUDE
Donald H. Harrison in Ramona, California: Getting lost may become too great a luxury
Rabbi Baruch Lederman in San Diego: An impromptu memorial service on a bus
Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem: Is Mahmoud Abbas 'a Dead Man Walking?'
Carol Davis in Carlsbad, California: Dancing at Lughnasa: An Irish 'Fiddler'?
Peter Garas in Canberra, Australia: Skypes! Now long-lost cousins can get back in touch easily, join in family web log
Yvonne Greenberg in La Jolla, California: Rafi Malkiel: cantor's son likes folk, jazz, Latino, Afro, Israeli; in fact world music
Sheila Orysiek in San Diego: The Purim Chef: Queen Esther in an apron
Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal in San Diego: Amaleks, Hamans still pursuing us Jews
Peter Garas in Canberra, Australia: Genetic manipulation may be required
to deal with a world gone out of control
Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: Cook-off aids Mexican cancer victims
Sheila Orysiek in San Diego: The Mist (a poem)
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