Greetings from Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people.
Several months ago, our community received an invitation to the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism from Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. If you haven’t been following the Jewish blogosphere, the conference proved immensely controversial before it even began due to the invitation of European politicians traditionally seen to represent the far right. Several organizations and individuals pulled out including the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom Ephraim Mirvis and the Anti-Defamation League although ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt sent a video message.
Less out of ideology and more out of not wanting a massive, expiration date laden flight credit on El Al, the Jewish Community of Japan trudged ahead. The JCJ was tasked with representing Asia, yes the continent of Asia what with its nearly 4.7 billion people, as no other attendee hailed from the land mass (Israel’s being in Asia notwithstanding).
The upshot of the two-day affair is that East Asia is a pretty good place to be Jewish. Hearing stories from mostly American, Canadian and French Jews about attacks on Jewish communal infrastructure, intimidation of Jews in public spaces especially on college campuses and myriad other threats…it kind of makes you want to stand up and start singing Kimigayo. Although lacking in many of the resources high-density Jewish populations offers, East Asia lets Jews be Jews and no amount of kosher pizza shops can compensate for that. Also, have you tasted kosher pizza? Usually a hard pass unless you see some emerge at a JCC Kiddush.
Far and away, the most impactful part of the conference was a visit to Kibbutz Be’eri. Thomas Hand, a non-Jewish Irishman who made Israel his home decades ago led the tour. Thomas was rescued by the IDF at 11:30pm on October 7 only to be informed that his 8-year-old daughter Emily likely perished in the attack. Several days later, he was told Emily was alive and held by Hamas in Gaza and then in mid-November Emily returned to her father. The Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar was widely panned for his insensitive tweet that ‘an innocent child who was lost has now been found’ taking great care to sanitize the conditions of Emily’s captivity. Baruch Hashem, Thomas shared that Emily is doing well and hopes to one day meet her idol, Beyoncé.
If you haven’t visited Israel since October 7, you would be shocked at the country’s resilience. There is a sense of moving forward together as one nation. Although dueling protests on Jerusalem’s streets demonstrate that not all Israelis are of one mind on the best way to prosecute the war and rescue the hostages, there is widespread agreement about the importance of those two aims.
Although the content of each speaker’s remarks varied wildly depending on their political perch, everyone concluded with the same three words. Am Yisrael Chai. The Jewish People Live On.
Announcements
Mazal Tov once more to the Chapman Family on Elly’s Bat Mitzvah. Both longtime residents and short-term tourists agreed that last Saturday was one of the most beautiful simchas they’d ever attended. Otsukaresamadeshita!
Our seder signups and Passover goods page is live with Early Bird Discount pricing set to expire on April 5: https://jccjapan.jp/passover/
Baird Beer’s 10% off code JCC10 is now live in its e-shop at bairdbeer.com We still have 10% off coupons to the Taproom if you want to pick one up for a post-Shabbat nightcap. We are planning to celebrate the end of Passover at Baird Beer’s Nakameguro Taproom on April 20 (woot 420) at 7:00pm. Details to follow in a future newsletter.
Regards from Dan Mariaschin, the CEO of B’nai Brith International and second cousin to past JCC President Dan Turk. Dan Mariaschin was seen and photographed being pressured/invited by a group of Chabad rabbis at the conference to put on tefillin…which he did.
Yiddish Club with Jack Halpern: Please contact Jack at jack@cjki.org if you are interested to join. All levels are welcome, from beginner to advanced. Much more than just language, the club’s monthly meetings explore Yiddish culture as well.
Shabbat Parshat Pekudei
Candle Lighting: 5:41pm
Havdala: 6:39pm