Holocaust music video resonates with online viewers. [YouTube]
In an effort to re-engage young Jews and others to the loss and legacy of the Shoah, an audiovisual collaboration between composer Cecelia Margules and director Daniel Finkelman is quickly making the rounds. Since January 25th, the YouTube video has received over 51,000 hits.
Hadassah organization investigating allegations of fraud [Forward]
Whistleblowing. Misuse of funds for buying favors. Two leading members of the Hadassah organization, an international collective for female Zionists, are under investigation following allegations of financial abuses. But that’s not all. The Jewish Daily Forward explains:
“The allegations came in a letter sent to the organization’s board members on January 12 by Larry Blum, Hadassah’s top staff member. Blum was placed on administrative leave in November amidst separate charges relating to his alleged misuse of his corporate credit card. He declined comment.
In his letter, Blum accused Hadassah national president Marcie Natan and former national president Nancy Falchuk of misusing Hadassah funds. Both declined to comment on the charges through a Hadassah spokesperson.”
Can Jews agree on climate change? [Zeek]
In an exploration of the scientific implications of continued global climate change on Israel’s environmental progress, author Jay Michaelson makes an argument for elevated, international, interdenominational discourse when Jewish groups talk about the natural world.
“In the Jewish community, climate change is often seen as a pressing problem, but rarely is the intersection with Israel mentioned. But it should be. Food prices were the ‘invisible hand’ that brought down Arab dictators, and food security and water security are pressing 21st century issues for Israel. Imagine if the Israel’s friends in America understood climate change not as a peripheral political or spiritual issue, but as a serious economic and security threat to the Jewish state – and helped persuade the United States to finally catch up to the rest of the Western world, ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and commit to reducing our wasteful emissions. A major strategic vulnerability could become a serious economic asset.”
Are Israeli liberals scared of religion? [Tablet]
If the Israeli left will continue to make an impact on the face of the nation’s political and social climate, it must do so in conjunction with the Jewish religion, says a new analysis. In a piece by Liel Leibovitz of Tablet Magazine, the deteriorating comfort level between Israeli’s left and Jewish practice is explored.
“It’s easy for me to understand Misgav and Levy. Like them, I consider myself a proud member of the battered and decimated tribe known as the Israeli left. Like them, I look with horror as brutes of all stripes—from hill-dwelling Jewish terrorists to Avigdor Lieberman and his comrades in Knesset—trample democracy’s core values. But in their disdain for and fear of religion, Misgav, Levy, and the lion’s share of the Israeli left fail to understand not only their past but also, more troubling, their future. Unless the Israeli left learns how to stop fearing and start loving—or at least understanding—religion, its chances of advancing a popular agenda are slim.”
