EJA Advisor Oliver Bradley Honoured in Brandenburg for Dedication to Social Cohesion at Antisemitism Awareness Event

November 5, 2024

EJA’s advisor and coordinator for Germany, Oliver Bradley, accepted an invitation by the State Association of Jewish Communities in Brandenburg (Landesverband der Jüdischen Gemeinden Land Brandenburg) as guest speaker for the opening ceremony of the state of Brandenburg’s “Education and Action Weeks Against Anti-Semitism”, yesterday.

During the course of the evening, the Association also included Oliver Bradley among its honorees for “…resolute committente to cohesion and respectful coexistence in our society…”
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At the Brandenburg state capitol building (Landtag Brandenburg), in Potsdam.

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New Jewish European campaign seeks to house Jewish refugees from Ukraine

“The history of the Jewish people is one of displacement, either because of pogrom or war,” said Rabbi Menachem Margolin, EJA chairman. “We are only too aware of what it means to be forced to up and leave at a moment’s notice. In almost every one of our communities you will hear such stories. We, the Jewish people, are especially attuned to these catastrophes. And because we are so attuned, we are pre-programmed to help our Jewish neighbors, just as we always have.

“I have faith that this campaign will deliver. Since the war started, Jews from all over Europe have been getting in touch with us to see what can be done to help their Ukrainian Jewish brothers and sisters in need. We are providing them with the vehicle to do just that, by offering shelter, food and clothing to those who left in a hurry, often with nothing but the clothes on their backs.”

Rabbi Menachem Margolin the chairman of EJA (credit: EJA)Rabbi Menachem Margolin the chairman of EJA (credit: EJA)

Another European Jewish organization very active on the ground is the Conference of European Rabbis, which announced this week that Israeli technology investor Yuri Milner has donated $3 million to the CER to help Jewish refugees from Ukraine.

“As we witness the terrible human suffering in Ukraine, the Conference of European Rabbis would like to announce a special donation of $3m. from the foundation established by Yuri and Julia Milner,” said the conference. “Yuri is an Israeli technology investor and science philanthropist.”

The emergency funds will support humanitarian efforts to help Jewish refugees from Ukraine who, like so many vulnerable civilians, are in need of urgent assistance.

“The CER is grateful to Yuri and Julia Milner for their long-standing support and for this latest commitment to the Jewish community at this perilous time,” said CER President Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-700758?fbclid=IwAR2yLD2JGbS7tCP5k3V7SblC-mEcqpkkWByXPlxN0m8H2x8xnW0K8kTcsLs

Fondazione Prada called on to remove ‘artful’ antisemitism on display in Venice by European Jewish Association.

“I call on the Foundazione to remove all of the elements of this installation. Linking the themes of money and power to Jews and Israel is pure antisemitism, however artful it professes to be,” EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin. 

(Brussels 13 September) A number of Jewish and Israeli visitors to the Fondazione Prada in Venice have been left offended at an exhibition with clear antisemitic undertones that is on display.

The Fondazione is exhibiting an installation by Christoph Büchel, entitled “Monte di Pietà” which, according to the Fondazione “is a deep dive into the notion of debt as the root of human society and the primary vehicle by which political and cultural power is exercised.”

The installation includes documents, historical and contemporary artworks related to property history, credit and finance. Amongst these are previously classified documents from the British Government relating to ‘war bonds’ loaned to the then state of Palestine, there are also two bags of cement with Hebrew writing on them amid mangled concrete, and a monitor displaying images of the Gaza and Lebanese borders, as well as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, behind this monitor is a postcard in Hebrew with Lord Balfour’s head, and the November date in which the Balfour declaration was signed.

The Brussels-based European Jewish Association, that represents hundreds of Jewish Communities across the continent, and which is actively engaged in combatting antisemitism, was made aware of the content by numerous sources – all Jewish – who felt that the exhibition had all the hallmarks of antisemitism, and rehashed tropes of powerful Jews, and that the concrete suggested that Israel was profiting from destruction. Those who saw the exhibition also felt that that the war bonds documents and the Balfour postcard suggested the exhibition sought to link the creation of the State of Israel as a sordid, secret and financial matter.

The Chairman of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin said today in a statement,

“The parts of this installation that bring Israel into focus are clearly suggesting that Jews and Israelis have the money and the power, and that any wars whether Gaza, Lebanon or in the creation of the state of Israel have all been to the Jewish financial interest.

“This installation, however subtle it may try to be, is simply rehashing some of the oldest antisemitic tropes. What makes this particular installation even more sinister is that it attempts to wrap these tropes under the mantle of “art”, for people to stop and consider and ponder. It seeks to convey an idea that is antisemitic at its very root, in the same one that one stops and absorbs a famous painting.

“This is extremely dangerous and irresponsible given the record rises of antisemitism as a result of the October 7th Massacre and the ongoing war in Gaza.  

“I cannot understand how the Fondazione Prada failed to see the clear antisemitic tropes on display in this installation. Whether they did or did not is neither here nor there, every Jew and Israeli who saw the installation knew exactly what it was conveying because we have seen it throughout our history.

“I call on the Foundazione to remove all of the elements of this installation. Linking the themes of money and power to Jews and Israel is pure antisemitism, however artful it professes to be.”

Ends

Message of Rabbi Margolin on International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019

“The ‘Group of the Elders of Zion’ and Mayer AmschelRothschild, the skilful founder of the famous dynasty that still today controls the International Banking System, led to the creation of a manifesto: ‘The Protocols…’”

Looking at the above quote, you would think that it was written by a Nazi in the 1930’s, right? 

Wrong. This was posted this week by Senator Elio Lannutti, of the Italian Five Star Movement on Twitter. 

On the 27th January we will have marked International Holocaust day.

Senator Lannutti reminded us why we must continue to mark international holocaust day, and why we can never assume such a horrendous calamity could never be inflicted on us again. 

Antisemitism is as stubbornly rooted as ever. Try and rip it up and its seeds will travel somewhere else. From France to Spain, or Belgium to Belorussia, the political winds that carry it can be strong, or a barely perceptible breeze, but still they blow. 

Deborah Lipstadt knows this. She describes where we are right now as a “perfect storm”.  

Lipstadt is best know for the libel suit filed against her, by the Holocaust denier David Irving. In her latest book “Antisemitism: Here and Now,” she examines the recent rise in anti-Semitism in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe. 

In an interview with the New Yorker this week, she summed the situation up as follows:

“On some level, it is the same old, same old. The construct is the same, the stereotypes are the same. But I think what is different today is that we’re seeing a perfect storm, in that usually it comes from either the right or the left politically. Today we’re seeing it from the political right and the political left, and we are seeing it particularly—not only, but particularly—in Europe from Islamist extremists, or jihadists, or whatever term you’d like to use.”

Why is anti-Semitism still with us? I believe that it is so deeply embedded, that it operates almost at a subconscious level in most people. After all, when things go bad, economically, politically or otherwise, we are to blame. But if any other random group had these accusations laid at their door, such as pizza delivery people or cyclists, everyone would say it was nuts. 

Yes, it can sometimes feel like a heavy burden, but Ann Frank, displaying a wisdom far beyond her tender years,summed it up neatly: 

“Who has made us Jews different from all other people? Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now? It is G-d that has made us as we are, but it will be G-d, too, who will raise us up again. If we bear all this suffering and if there are still Jews left, when it is over, then Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example. Who knows, it might even be our religion from which the world and all peoples learn good, and for that reason and that reason alone do we have to suffer now. We can never become just Netherlanders, or just English, or representatives of any country for that matter; we will always remain Jews, but we want to, too.”

I want you to take this message to heart. 

Empires come and go, War turns to Peace, and back again, yet still we are here, giving the world the shared totality of our many talents, expertise and wisdom. Not for ourselves but for everyone. 

We want to remain Jews. Because we are. Because we can be no other. Because not being so is like asking us not to breathe. Yes, we are leaders in science, the arts, and yes, Senator, in Banking too. 

It is not arrogance or self-serving interest that drives us on, as the antisemites would have it. 

In fact, it is the exact opposite. Our task was and remains to this day, the same task that each of us were given at Sinai by the Almighty: To make the world a better place. This responsibility rests on every Jew, from Rothschild the banker to Rosenbaum the street cleaner. It is not for our benefit that we do our best, but to honour the task that G-d gave us, for the benefit of all humanity.

We must never lose sight of this. And we must never relent in our task. I will leave the last word to Winston Churchill.  Let it be your call to action, and a reminder to us all on dark days such as Holocaust Memorial Day: 

“Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and most remarkable race which has appeared in the world.” 

May G-d continue to bless us all. 

COVID Diary- Reflections from Our Advisory Board Member Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs

Every Day during the Corona crisis our Advisory Board Member Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs (NL) writes a diary, on request of the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam, which is published on the website of the NIW, the only Jewish Dutch Magazine. Rabbi Jacobs is the head of Inter Governmental Relationships at the Rabbinical Centre of Europe. We will be regularly publishing a selection of his informative, sometimes light hearted, but always wise pieces.
For our Dutch readers you can follow the diary every day at NIW home page: https://niw.nl
Diary October 26, 2020
This is, and sometimes I forget the fact, a diary in corona time. I felt that ‘corona time’ particularly today. It is not only the nagging feeling of uncertainty, but also the media that never stop talking about it and, naturally enough, the discussion within the Jewish community itself.
Incidentally, that discussion taking place both within and outside of the Jewish community will be completely identical.
I think we have roughly three schools of thought on Covid 19. The ultra-orthodoxy, the moderates and the apostates.
Ultra-Orthodoxy almost compulsively adheres to the rules, does not take any risks and tries to convince others to live in isolation.
The apostates think everything is nonsense. Nobody knows anyway and you cannot prevent it, and it is all chronically exaggerated.
I count myself among the second school of thought, the moderates, who try to stay calm, not to exaggerate, but who refuse to downplay reality. But there was a crack this morning in that staying calm. And then what do I do? I WhatsApp’ed my professor. Who is my professor? The husband of a former student with whom I have regular contact about all kinds of things, but especially about legal matters. Just an example of such a contact: that former student of mine, now a middle-aged lawyer, has a bit of the same problem as I do.
She can’t say no! And so, when I have something on my mind again, I get her on speed dial.
Years ago, I met an old man who was quite young at heart. He looked like my grandfather in appearance. He was one of the few who survived Auschwitz as a child. He was friendly, easy-going, reliable. The kind of person I wouldn’t think twice about asking to bring € 100,000 in cash from A to B.
However, he had a tricky problem: he had a habit of stealing! Not just because, but only when he needed something. This is how he managed to survive Auschwitz.
After the war, as I have written before, the welcome-home-in-the Netherlands was not always warm (understatement!). His parents had been murdered, he had no family and he had no possessions, no roof over his head and no form of income. And so, if he needed anything, clothing or food, he continued his learned survival technique and had no qualms about stealing.
And now he got caught. He had, if I remember correctly, Fl. 4000 received from the WUV, the Persecution Victims Benefit Act (a fund paid in compensation by Germany for Dutch Jewish citizens who suffered under the Nazis), for the purchase of an electrically adapted disabled car. He had managed to get that car for Fl. 2000 (cash, no receipts) and the remaining Fl. 2000 he had put in his pocket. Busted! And so, a lawsuit. I engaged my former student and there we stood in the courtroom in front of three honourable people in togas.
At the request of the defendant’s lawyer, my former student, I was asked to say a few words at the very end of the trial. Your Honour, I can still hear myself say, of course theft is punishable. You have a duty to enforce the law. But do you realize that the same legal system that correctly indicates that the defendant did something against the law, do you realize that the same system sent him to Auschwitz?
And to the representative of the fund, who was present as plaintiff, I said that I refuse to understand how, as the body responsible for making amends, he would take it into his head (I had phrased it a little more sharply) to give this survivor the indignity of standing in court. The judges got it: immediate acquittal.
That former student is now a mother and married to a professor. And that’s my professor. We actually only know each other via WhatsApp and telephone, have never had any real contact, but he is now my point of contact for all information about corona. What is nonsensical conspiracy theory and what is correct. Where the boundary between ultra-Orthodox, moderate and apostate actually lies.
And so, this morning, when I was just at a low ebb and contemplating switching from moderate to ultra-orthodox, it just took a WhatsApp to my medical spiritual counsellor the professor, and see, I am one of the moderates again.
I do feel the link to the war strongly. I am beginning to realize that our Lockdown is in no way comparable to the two years and eight months that my father was locked up, without a laptop, without a phone, without any contact with the outside world that was life-threatening. I feel guilty that I never felt that. I now understand very well that my father, like almost all fathers of my generation, never mentioned their Lockdown.
They couldn’t and wouldn’t talk about it. After the death of my dear and sensible father, I wanted to talk to his niece, Aunt Wies, who was also at the same hiding address, about their period in hiding. Please, she said, don’t do this to me. I can’t and don’t want to think about it!
But because my professor, who is always available for me and regularly calls me back from the operating theatre, had put me back on the right mental track, I was able to quietly answer a number of phone calls from people who sought support from me. And there were more than usual today, unfortunately.

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