Blogger: Point of no return
Article: Adly St celebrations herald more renovation works
Originaly Posted On: 2007-11-12 09:42:00

Swan song, or a new beginning for the Jews of Egypt?
The celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the newly renovated Shaar Hashamayim synagogue on Adly St in Cairo brought forth mixed feelings. Here is an edited account of the celebrations by Yves Fedida, co-founder of the Association Internationale Nebi Daniel, set up in 2002 to preserve Egypt’s Jewish heritage, on whose restoration more money is to be spent (with thanks Alec, Roger):

“October 30th and 31st marked the Centennial Celebration of the Adly Synagogue (in fact 102 years old) and the inauguration of an annex to the restored Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fostat. This was organised by the Jewish Community of Cairo. It was also the occasion to celebrate the work carried out by the Supreme Council of Antiquities on the Facade and the Tebah of the Adly Synagogue. The annex of Ben Ezra now contains a number of exhibits donated by the Genizah Team at Cambridge University. USAID and the Egyptian Water Works financed the building. All along Mrs (Carmen) Weinstein (president of the Jewish community) supervised relentlessly the work to meet the deadline she had set.

“You can watch about 20 short videos of this occasion to give you a feel of the events. You can also watch Egyptian Jewish Heritage videos.

“Our Nebi Daniel Association was a sponsor of the events, alongside the Joint JDC (USA) and Casa Sefarad Israel (Spain) who, remarkably, sponsored the 25 people making up the Jewish choir from Salonika. Three Nebi Daniel Council Members attended at their own cost. M. Roger Bilboul, co- founder and President of our Association, delivered a stirring speech.

“Many dignitaries ranging from the current and previous Israeli ambassadors, the USA ambassador, the British Ambassador, the French Consul and a minister counsellor to the Spanish Embassy, stood alongside Assistant Ministers of the Foreign ministry and Directors of Jewish Antiquities of the Supreme Council.

“There was press coverage, through the Haaretz correspondent. Various Arab medias relayed the event. Le Figaro, Arouts Sheva and other media such as AOL, also reported the event which brought together about 150 people.

“M. Marc Elfassi sent shivers through my spine when, ending the ceremony, he blew the shofar, in what sounded like a wake-up call to Jews from Egypt and their heritage. That is why three aspects personally saddened me, casting a shadow on this otherwise truly exceptional event:

- The absence of ex-Jews from Egypt (less than 15 were in attendance), many of them would have attended if informed. The organisers took a view not to inform. This would have been a true mark of celebrating the Heritage of Jews from Egypt.

- The lack of any Jewish prayer, in spite of the rather exceptional presence of a Minyan, in what is after all a place dedicated to that purpose. This would have been a true mark of a Jewish celebration in Egypt.

- The evident small number of the present community and the need to think of the future. A participant described the event as ‘a swan song’, a rather bleak perspective, unless we reach out to, rally and reconcile ex-Jews from Egypt with their past.

“Bravo to Mrs Weinstein for her efforts in organising and leading the ceremonies as well as for the social invitations that accompanied them. All - I was told - were up to true Egyptian Jewish hospitality standards.

“For the past few years Mrs. Carmen Weinstein, President of the Jewish Community of Cairo, has been (pushing for the restoration of the synagogues of Cairo and) steadily overseeing and working on the preservation of Jewish heritage there.

“It was an even a greater joy when an on-going comprehensive restoration programme including the extensive work to be done on the Rambam synagogue* was confirmed to the American Jewish Committee and to the Nebi Daniel Association by M. Zahi Hawass, Head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and M. Farouk Hosny, Minister of Culture. The time-frame set is a relatively short-term one.

“Make no mistake, do not berate or underestimate. This is a MAJOR development.

“Our gratitude extends to the current Egyptian government. We should ask ourselves how many Arab countries have actually done the same, or for that matter how many examples exist across the world, of non- Arab countries, doing the same. This is a win-win. It is good for Egypt and it is good for the Jews.

“It heralds the basis on which the Memory of the Jews from Egypt can be built. The development of a Museum of Jewish Heritage in Egypt is a confirmed and accepted proposal. Contents, location and form have to be suggested and of course implemented.

“We are also hopeful that our fundamental, essential goal, namely the copying and free access to the community registers and archives will be met in this process of Modern Egypt revisiting its past. Already there are encouraging signs of a more attentive and open and friendly understanding of this issue by the Foreign and Culture Ministries.

*The 19th century Maimonides synagogue stands adjacent to a 12th c. Yeshiva

Blogger: The Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights
Article: Birth of Baha?u’llah - November 12
Originaly Posted On: 2007-11-11 15:29:37

Baha’u’llah was born in Tehran, Iran, on November 12, 1817. His given name was Husayn-‘Ali. His father was Mirza Abbas of the province of Nur, and often referred to as Mirza Buzurg. He was a prominent and wealthy man who had been a minister at the court of Fath-’Alí Shah and subsequently the governor of Burujird and Luristan. When Fath-’Alí Shah died in 1834, his son Muhammad Shah carried out a purge of government in which Mirza Buzurg was stripped of his title and his government salary but retained the family estates in Nur.

Baha’u’llah’s early life reflected his well-to-do circumstances. He received the education typical of a child of the minor nobility: riding, calligraphy, study of famous Persian literary works, and learning Arabic based on reading the Qur’an. Yet unlike many privileged children, he developed no attachment to wealth and ease.

There are a number of stories regarding Baha’u’llah’s childhood, which indicate he was not an ordinary child. One tells of a dream that Baha’u’llah related to his father. In this dream, he was in a garden while large birds attacked him from every side, though unable to harm him. He had other ones involving the fish in the sea following him by his hair. On hearing these, his father summoned a famous seer to interpret the dream, and was told that his son would become the founder of a great cause and would be attacked by the leaders and learned men of the world. However, they would be unable to harm him, and he would be victorious over them all.

Baha’u’llah developed a keen sense of justice and fairness at a very young age. Throughout His life, he would display these qualities, but perhaps one of the most remarkable demonstrations of this came while He was still a teenager. He witnessed three confrontations between his father and a tax collector who was “in a cruel and unjust manner” demanding payment. Incensed, Baha’u’llah rode to Tehran, a journey of two days, and sought the dismissal of the tyrannical tax collector. Incredibly, he was successful in his quest.

The youthful Baha’u’llah’s wisdom and insight were also often remarked. It was said that he could resolve problems nobody else could, and his deep knowledge of the Qur’án and traditions astounded many learned men. The well-known scholar Shaykh Muhammad-Taqi, once asked a large gathering of students to explain a particular tradition (hadith). None were able to reply until Baha’u’llah, who had received no seminary training, gave an explanation that left the great man silent. The next day he berated his students, who had had many years of instruction, for failing to explain what Baha’u’llah had elucidated so well.

His generosity was also noted. Indeed, as a young man he became known as “the Father of the Poor” for His extraordinary generosity and regard for the impoverished. It seemed that the trappings of wealth held little importance for him, even though he had grown up surrounded by them. The things of the spirit were always his focus in life.

That life, as it turned out, would be very much like his childhood dream. He embraced the Bab’s new religion immediately upon reading a few pages of the Bab, relayed by a trusted courier, Mulla Husayn. He became one of the Bab’s most active followers and suffered a brief imprisonment and torture as a result. Some months after the Bab’s execution in 1850, a group of the Babis decided on assassination of the Shah and revenging the death of their Master. This ill-conceived plan went badly and many Babis suffered death. Baha’u’llah himself was imprisoned, his property confiscated and his residence sacked by a mob.

In early 1853, after four months of captivity, he was released from prison only to be exiled to Baghdad in Iraq. His revelation, born in the prison in Tehran, would be shared with a close circles of followers ten years later and publicly in 1867-68. The exile to Baghdad was followed by a brief transfer to Istanbul, and forced banishment to Edirne and eventually to the penal colony of Akka.

Throughout these forty years of imprisonment and exile, Baha’u’llah would be beset by enemies in governments of Iran and the Ottoman, the clergy and even by his half-brother. Several attempts on his life would leave their marks upon him. Yet through it all, he remained as he had been in his childhood: a person of deep spiritual insight and wisdom, dedicated to justice and integrity, full of goodness and generosity. In short, he was one through whom the light of God illuminated the world.

For Bahá’ís, the birth of Bahá’u’lláh is a Holy Day celebrating the rebirth of the world through the love of God, just as Christmas is for Christians.

We wish our Baha’i friends throughout the world a most joyful celebration of the birth of the Baha’u’llah – a man who brought hope to the world.

Blogger: Chaldean Thoughts
Article: Togetherness
Originaly Posted On: 2007-10-30 18:49:00

Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I, and you are you. Whatever we were to each other that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way you always used. Put no difference into your tone, wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as you always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me. Pray

Blogger: Point of no return
Article: Jew blames non-Bahrainis for anti-Jewish violence
Originaly Posted On: 2007-11-02 08:28:00

Donald Macintyre in The Independent seems astonished to discover that there are Jews in Bahrain whose first language is Arabic. Here he profiles Houda Ezra Nonoo, the only member of Bahrain’s 40-person Jewish community to sit in Parliament. Interestingly, she blames non-Bahrainis for the anti-Jewish violence of 1948, which led to the exodus of most Jews.

“Houda Ezra Nonoo is a pillar of Bahrain society. Her first language is Arabic and she was appointed by the King to sit in the parliament’s upper house. It is only her middle name that gives away the fact she is a proud member of one of the Middle East’s most surprising minorities.

“Ms Nonoo belongs to Bahrain’s tiny Jewish community, which, uniquely in the Gulf States, has managed to survive the massive upheavals that confronted Jews in Arab countries in the second half of the 20th century.

“Her family moved from Iraq to Bahrain – they were on their way to India but decided to stay – in the 1880s and her grandfather Abraham, who was a child when he arrived, went on to build a flourishing foreign exchange business that she and her husband still run today.

“As Ms Nonoo points out, the now tiny Jewish community was much larger until the Arab-Jewish war of 1948 and the establishment of the state of Israel, somewhere between 800 and 2,000. But while there were riots and the synagogue was attacked, she says: “I don’t think it was Bahrainis who were responsible. It was people from abroad. Many Bahrainis looked after Jews in their houses.”

“Her view is supported by Sir Charles Belgrave, formerly a political adviser to the government of Bahrain – then a British protectorate – who recalled in a memoir: “The leading Arabs were very shocked … most of them, when possible, had given shelter and protection to their Jewish neighbours… [the riots] had one surprising effect; it put an end to any active aggression by the Bahrain Arabs against the Bahrain Jews.”

“There is a paradox: on the one hand, Ms Nonoo cannot telephone, let alone visit those of her family who left for Israel after the 1948 war. On the other, ministers and members of the royal family here have often publicly welcomed the continued presence of Bahraini Jews.

“Almost from the first, the Jewish community, now only about 40 strong, has nevertheless been relatively low profile – so much so that the Jewish mother of one boy at the school in Manama attended by Ms Nonoo’s son was astonished to find out – when Ms Nonoo casually told his classmate – that his family was Jewish. “She didn’t realise until then that there is no problem and that it is OK to say you are Jewish.”

“Since 1948, the synagogue has not been used – even though at one point the Crown Prince offered to build a new one on the same site – and there is no rabbi.

“But Ms Nonoo says. “We keep Rosh Hashana [New Year] and Pesach [Passover] and the other holidays in our homes. When my son had his Bar Mitzvah, I flew a rabbi over from London for it.” Now she says arrangements are being made to link up for worship with the few Jews stationed at the Bahrain base of the US Fifth Fleet.

Read article in full

Blogger: Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead
Article: Muslims Healing Non-Muslims in L.A.
Originaly Posted On: 2007-11-03 15:26:26

There’s a health clinic here in Los Angeles called, UMMA, which is run by a group of Muslims. It was started by a group of volunteers who wanted to help the city’s impoverished residents. Their efforts and clientele stem from a variety of ethnicities and faiths, making it a model of interreligious cooperation, yet the founders are motivated to do this specifically because of their own Islamic beliefs. According to the clinic’s executive director, “It’s a place to give and receive blessings, regardless of faith.”

It grew out of the 1992 [Rodney King - PV] riots, a vision by a small group of Muslim medical students to bring charitable, high-quality healthcare to the needy residents of South Los Angeles.

Eleven years later, the UMMA clinic on Florence Avenue has served nearly 20,000 patients, the great majority of them non-Muslim. It has become a mainstay of its largely low-income neighborhood, sponsoring blood drives, literacy promotions and even tax return workshops, along with its medical services.

And in an era when Middle Eastern conflicts and terrorist attacks have often brought uncomfortable attention to America’s Muslim communities, the clinic has become a source of considerable pride for Muslims in Southern California and nationwide.

Even before the riots left large sections of South Los Angeles devastated, the students had talked among themselves and with professors about starting a clinic, or at least a mobile healthcare unit that would circulate through low-income areas of the city to offer blood pressure exams and other services.

But after the riots, “we saw that there was such a huge need in South L.A.,” said Rushdi Abdul Cader, a clinic co-founder who was then just beginning his training as an emergency room physician. “It also was such a time of intolerance, with the city literally on fire.

“We wanted to do something to help, and also to start something that would promote better relations between people.”

The founders, who also included Abdul Cader’s wife, Nisha, now a pediatrician, were motivated by their Islamic faith, and by what they described as Prophet Muhammad’s call to try to correct whatever one finds wrong in the world.

From its earliest days, the clinic has been a model of interfaith cooperation, according to those involved. For instance, the man several of the founders described as their faculty mentor during their UCLA years, former UCLA professor Dr. Richard Usatine, jokes that he was the “Jewish advisor to their Muslim organization.”

A majority of the clinic’s board remains Muslim, but most of its staff members are non-Muslim, drawn from the community the clinic serves. Medical Director Dr. Steven Murphy is Roman Catholic.

Of the patients UMMA serves, about 98% are non-Muslim; about 70% are Latino and about 25% are African American, with the rest being Caucasian and Asian.

Read the whole thing here

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