While not quite 2013’s Thanksgivukkah, 2023’s combination of American Thanksgiving with the Japanese 勤労感謝の日Labor Thanksgiving Day represents a unique celebration of sorts. American Thanksgiving commemorates a harvest festival shared between Pilgrims and the Wampanoag People which presumably included cranberry sauce and corn. Japanese Thanksgiving memorializes a similar event when the first Nihonjin to land on...
The Blood Libel. An absurd, confusing, massively injurious accusation against Jews that refuses to remain in the dustbin of history. For those who may not remember their AP Euro classes, a blood libel occurs when the Jewish population of a town is accused of having kidnapped a non-Jew, usually a child, for blood to use...
בן שבעים לשיבהSeventy represents fullness of years-Pirkei Avot/Ethics of our Ancestors 5:21 The Jewish Community of Japan celebrates our 70th anniversary this Shabbat. The JCC is a communal institution unique in many ways within the larger Jewish world. For one, you will never hear a member complain at a board meeting “When my grandfather laid...
The town of Worms, Germany hosts the oldest extant Jewish cemetery in Europe. No grave in Worms is more famous than the 13th century Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, usually referred to by the honorific Maharam or ‘Our Great Teacher, Rabbi Meir’. Directly adjacent to Maharam’s eternal resting place stands the headstone of a Jewish noble,...
Our hearts are in Israel. Our thoughts never leave Israel. The tenor of the newsletter will certainly change during such a tragic period for the Jewish people. At the same time, this week we are blessed to celebrate Kenny Schamisso’s Bar Mitzvah. With the intention of bringing more light into what is at the moment...
We are postponing our 70 year anniversary gala celebration in light of the war in Israel. Instead, we will hold a special afternoon event on Saturday, November 11 including Shabbat services and a kiddush luncheon to honor and memorialize the soldiers and civilians we have lost in the war. This special event will also highlight...
A message from Gilad Cohen, Ambassador of Israel to Japan: I am writing to you in the midst of difficult times for the State of Israel, perhaps the most difficult since the establishment of the state. Israel is at war, a war for our home, the peace of our children and citizens, and for our...
“Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours” are the wise words of Sir Elton John. Join us for a performance by Ukranian-born, Berlin-based folk-pop singer Maria Raykhman for an opportunity to bring us together in unity and provide healing at this time when we...
In 1923, 40% of the proceeds from the sale of the Beth Israel synagogue in Nagasaki went to organizations helping Jews settle the Land of Israel. Thirty years later, Minister of Israel in Japan Joseph Linton went on a real estate tour of Tokyo for the new Israeli Legation. He wrote in the JCC’s 5718/1957-1958...
Whether you’re at a Long Island Shabbat dinner or a Palm Beach beauty parlor, it would not be unusual to hear a version of the following Jewish-exceptionalist trope: ‘Well just look at how many Jewish Nobel Prize winners there are. Must be something to that whole chosen people thing huh?’ Put aside the absurdity that...