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Reform leaders warn Netanyahu over Orthodox takeover of Zionist institutions

October 22, 2020 By Judy Maltz/Haaretz

Representatives of Reform Jewish communities across North America warned Thursday that the implementation of an agreement that would effectively strip the progressive Zionist movements and parties of influence in key institutions would have dire consequences for Israel’s relations with the Diaspora.

Agreements on the divvying up of positions and departments in the Zionist institutions have traditionally been reached through widespread consensus among all the parties and movements represented in the congress.

More than 1,600 leaders and members of Reform congregations in the United States and Canada, many of them key donors to the movement, issued the warning in an urgent letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sent a few hours ahead of a pivotal vote on the agreement at the World Zionist Congress.

“We know that you are well aware of the implications of the agreement that is currently being formed in the World Zionist Congress,” they wrote. “It is an extreme agreement that will bar the liberal Jewish Zionist movements and organizations from all positions of influence, leaving a large part of the Jewish people around the world unrepresented.”

The so-called “coalition agreement,” drafted by leaders of the right-wing and rigidly Orthodox delegations to the congress, “rattles the hearts of Diaspora Jews,” the letter said.

The World Zionist Congress was supposed to have voted on the agreement on Tuesday, the first day of its proceedings. Faced with opposition from key Jewish organizations in the Diaspora – among them B’nai B’rith International and Hadassah – a decision was taken to postpone the vote for two days in the hope of reaching a compromise.

A final agreement had yet to be reached as of Thursday afternoon.

Reform leaders warn Netanyahu over Orthodox takeover

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In Argentina, a Jewish businessman starts a kosher meat price war

October 22, 2020 By JTA Staff

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — The Jewish owner of a large Argentine hypermarket chain has started selling kosher meat for far less than competitors this month, claiming that the country’s kosher supervision industry has artificially driven up costs for consumers.

Roberto Goldfarb, the founder and CEO of Diarco, first announced his intentions in a call in May with El Lazo, a Jewish youth center associated with the Chabad Lubavitch movement. On the call he called the kosher supervision industry a “mafia” that cons buyers and charges more than necessary “with excess of weight, fat, bones.”

“I can sell a kilo of asado [a traditional Argentinian meat cut used in barbecuing] for 290 pesos and then someone comes to tell me that the price for the kosher asado has to be 800 pesos … I’m not going to accept that,” he said.

Earlier this month, Diarco stores began selling kosher meat for several hundred pesos less than the usual prices seen around the country. Goldfarb said some farmers have stopped working with him over the price decrease.

On Monday, Clarin, Argentina’s largest news site, chronicled the quarrel and quoted both Goldfarb and rabbis involved in the kosher supervision of meat.

Samuel Levin, a rabbi who works with the Gorina supervision group, said “I work with 30 people, 10 ‘shochatim,’ who are specialists. That’s why you pay.”

The Latin American Rabbinical Seminary based in Buenos Aires released a statement last week titled “Kosher means suitable, not expensive.” The statement was also signed by the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis.

“In recent decades, a brutal overpriced business has been generated in Argentina, in flagrant violation of Jewish Law and reasonable practices, based on the industry of rabbinical supervision of food. Rabbis have made people hostage of their ‘halachic’ decisions, and together with some businessmen they have created a mafia in the provision and price of Kosher food,” the statement reads.

Without mentioning Diarco, the statement ends saying that on behalf of both institutions, “We support and encourage any new initiative that, within the framework of Jewish Law, seeks to end abuses and help people.”

In Argentina, a price war over kosher meat

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NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio: I regret how I handled that Orthodox funeral in April

October 21, 2020 By Shira Hanau

(JTA) — With tensions high between Orthodox Jews and New York officials, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio expressed regret Tuesday for how he handled a large Hasidic funeral in the pandemic’s early days.

Back in April, after a large funeral for a local rabbi in Brooklyn drew thousands of Orthodox Jews into the streets of Williamsburg, de Blasio visited the scene himself and called out “the Jewish community.” His tweet was widely criticized and damaged what had been a relatively close relationship between the mayor and the city’s Orthodox community.

Now, with Orthodox neighborhoods again among the city’s virus hotspots and residents chafing at restrictions imposed to curb the disease’s spread, de Blasio says he regrets what he said — and how he said it.

“I look back now and understand there was just more dialogue that was needed,” de Blasio said during a press conference Tuesday. “I certainly got very frustrated at times when I saw large groups of people still out without masks but I think more dialogue would have been better so I certainly want to express my regret that I didn’t figure out how to do that better.”

The comments came in response to a question about a call he held with Orthodox leaders from Brooklyn and Queens Monday night, which he said was meant as a “reset” in the relationship between city government and Orthodox communities.

De Blasio noted that he had previously expressed remorse over his reaction to the gathering, but he said he would seek to improve communication going forward.

“That one night in Williamsburg I let my frustration and concern get away with me and I should have been more careful in my language and I’ve expressed my apology for that before,” de Blasio said Tuesday. He added, “The No. 1 takeaway from the meeting is more dialogue. More communication is the way forward.”

De Blasio regret handling of Orthodox funeral in April

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Top Garcetti aide will ‘take a leave’ after sexual misconduct allegations

October 20, 2020 By Sarah Brown

Rick Jacobs, a top political aide to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced he will be taking a leave from his nonprofit and political engagements after a second person came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against him.

“For the past 17 years, I have dedicated myself to advocacy and public service. I do not want this to be a distraction.Therefore, I will take a leave from my non-profit work and my volunteer political work with the Mayor,” Jacobs said in an emailed statement to the Los Angeles Times on Oct. 20.

The statement follows allegations made on Monday evening by freelance journalist Yashar Ali, who wrote in a first-person article that Jacobs “used to forcibly kiss me on the lips” when Ali encountered Jacobs through his previous work in politics from 2005 to 2015.

“Jacobs would grab my face and kiss me on the lips—always twice—and he would turn to other people who witnessed it and say, ‘He has the softest lips’” Ali wrote.

Garcetti also issued a statement to the Los Angeles Times Tuesday night:

“I take seriously all allegations of harassment. Rick Jacobs has stepped away from his non-profit and volunteer political work,” Garcetti said.

Garcetti, like Jacobs, is Jewish, and has enjoyed strong backing from the Jewish community.

Jacobs, longtime political advisor and close friend of many years to Garcetti, was also accused of sexual harassment earlier this year when a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, Officer Matthew Garza, filed a lawsuit against the city. Garza, who worked on Mayor Garcetti’s security detail, alleged that Jacobs repeatedly harassed him and made crude sexual comments while the mayor looked the other way.

“Garcetti was present on approximately half of the occasions when Jacobs behaved in this way, and witnessed Jacobs’ conduct, but he took no action to correct Jacobs’ obviously harassing behavior,” the suit alleges.

A Garcetti spokesperson issued a response saying the mayor “has zero tolerance for sexual harassment and unequivocally did not witness the behavior that Officer Garza alleges.”

After hearing of Garza’s suit, Ali immediately contacted one of Garcetti’s top aides to share his experience, hoping that action would be taken on Garza’s complaint. But after hearing his allegations, Ali said no one from Garcetti’s office contacted him to follow up. Ali reached out again prior to publishing his article and received a similar general statement from Garcetti’s office.

Ali also wrote that multiple sources he spoke with, prior to publishing his own allegations, had shared similar experiences about their encounters with Jacobs — some sources saying that said Garcetti would observe Jacob’s behavior and “laugh it off.”

“Sources I spoke to told me that some of Jacobs’ alleged harassment and assault had been dismissed in a similar fashion by people in Garcetti’s circle—that his behavior was ‘just how gay men behaved,’” Ali wrote.

Jacobs is widely known as one of the mayor’s closest confidants and advocates. During Garcetti’s 2013 mayoral campaign, Jacobs formed an independent pro-Garcetti committee that raised upwards of two million dollars, subsequently earning him the position of deputy chief of staff for Garcetti’s first mayoral term. Although Jacobs is not currently a city employee and does not hold an official title in the mayor’s office, he currently serves on the board of directors of the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles.

While Garcetti has remained silent about the allegations against his top aide over the summer- aside from the general statement issued by his spokesperson- he has been serving as a co-chair for the Joe Biden campaign. Various outlets have speculated that Garcetti could be named to a high position within a future Biden administration based both on his relationship with the campaign and his previously-expressed White House aspirations.

After receiving Garcetti and Jacob’s statements, Yashar took to twitter to share his thoughts:

“This is only happening because I wrote a story. This is not a compliment…it should not have taken my writing a story for @ericgarcetti to take this step.”

Neither Jacobs nor Garcetti have responded to direct requests made by the Forward.

Garcetti aid takes leave sexual misconduct allegations

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37 states have a Jewish school — and more from the latest schools survey

October 20, 2020 By David Ian Klein

A foundation that has surveyed American-Jewish education every five years for the past two decades has just released its latest report, which shows that there’s been growth in Jewish education, but only among the Orthodox.

The current census is based on data from the 2018-2019 school year and therefore does not take into account the major disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has had on education.

There are over than 100 more Jewish day schools than there were 10 years ago

That brings the current total to a little over 900; however, almost all of the growth is within what Avi Chai describes as “the fervently Orthodox sector,” also known as ultra-Orthodox.

Most day school students attend “fervently Orthodox” schools

Out of the nearly 300,000 Jewish day school students in the country, two-thirds of them went to ultra-Orthodox schools.

Non-Orthodox schools are stronger outside of the New York area

Some 87% of Jewish day school students attend an Orthodox school. Nationally, only 10.5% of schools identify as non-Orthodox. They are either pluralistic “community” schools or belong to the Conservative movement, such as the Solomon Schechter school system, or to the Reform movement.

The other 2.5% were in categories that don’t fall out on denominational lines such as special needs schools, or immigrant group and outreach schools.

However, outside of New York and New Jersey, non-Orthodox schools make up 35% of all students.

“This is a meaningful statistic” says the report, “indicating that non-Orthodox schools are maintaining a meaningful presence outside the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area.”

A majority of U.S. states have at least one Jewish day school

While the vast majority of Schools are in the New York area, there are Jewish schools in at least 37 states. Most of those states had an enrollment increase since the foundation’s last survey 5 years ago. The majority of those states had an enrollment of more than one hundred students in Jewish schools.

There are more classrooms, because they are smaller

The report documents a trend toward smaller schools and classrooms among one particular group; Avi Chai divides what they call the “fervently Orthodox” into a variety of groups, including Hasidic, and what they call the “Yeshiva World” which is a term for largely non-Hasidic Ultraorthodox Jews, whose schools follow the historically ‘Lithuanian’ yeshiva tradition of intensive Talmud study.

According to Avi Chai, Yeshiva World schools and Hasidic Schools have roughly the same number of overall students, however, The Yeshiva World has nearly double to the number of schools.

“These schools, usually called mesivtas, tend to be small because the preference of educators and parents is to have one class per grade.” the report said.

Takeaways from the latest Jewish day school census

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