WOMEN'S LENS - Un coup d'oeil féminin: August 2009

August 31, 2009

This Week in Jewish History

Jewish Women's Archive - This Week in History

WEEK OF AUGUST 31

AUGUST 31, 1990

Rabbi Bonnie Koppell, the first female Jewish chaplain in the U.S. military, was profiled in the "Omaha Jewish Press." more >>

SEPTEMBER 3, 1910

Actress, singer, game-show panelist, and arts advocate Kitty Carlisle Hart was born. more >>

SEPTEMBER 4, 1654

Early in September 1654, a group of Jews, described in the public records as "23 souls, big as well as little," arrived on the docks of the new world Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. more >>

SEPTEMBER 4, 1893

"Women elbowed, trod on each others toes" to hear the speakers at the first-ever Jewish Women's Congress that met in Chicago. more >>

August 30, 2009

Olmert becomes 1st PM to be indicted

Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz filed an indictment against former prime minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday, marking the first time in the state's history that criminal charges have been brought against anyone who has held that office.

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert.
Photo: AP

Olmert's close aide for several decades, Shula Zaken, was also cited in the indictment, which covers four separate investigations - the so-called Rishon Tours affair; Olmert's relations with his close friend, attorney Uri Messer, and US financial backer Moshe Talansky; his alleged deceptions of the State Comptroller's Office; and Zaken's alleged wiretapping of Olmert's conversations.
The indictment was filed in Jerusalem District Court after Olmert's battery of lawyers, headed by Eli Zohar, waived their right to a hearing before Mazuz.
Olmert's spokesman, Amir Dan, issued a statement after the indictment was filed declaring that "after they forced a prime minister to step down in the middle of his term, it is obvious that the attorney-general and the state attorney do not have, and never had, any choice but to file an indictment against Olmert. The court, on the other hand, is free of extraneous considerations. Olmert is convinced that in court, he can and will prove his innocence once and for all. more>>

The 'not so good' old days

sent by Claude Hoffmann

ed: I couldn't resist but offer some commentary on the pictures below

I actually saw one of these with my own eyes! It's called a typewriter. Enough to give this generation cardiac arrest.

You know that you have become a real woman when you can wear one of these aprons and show off your cakes, or buns for that matter. This was a sure fire way to induce your husband to make love to you that evening.

I admit that I had a hula hoop. And I used it with wild abandon. But when I think about it, we positively looked retarded, especially with multiple ones.

Be careful; you'll scratch the record! what's the matter with you? don't you know that when it gets to the end, you have to pick up the arm, and rest it on its stand?

This is a glass of milk. See the glass? I am now handing it to you because you lazy son-of-a-bitch, you are acting as if you're crippled and you can't drink it with your own two hands. Milk and burgers.....not kosher.

This was called exercise back in the day. If the woman lifted enough pans, she developed biceps, and then she was just not feminine enough.

The woman who is ironing is not too bright; they had fans in those days, so why doesn't she have one facing her? And if not a fan, then why not call the makwagi?

Who didn't have a pair of these pants in Alexandria we now call Capris? and those monstrous machines that used to dry our hair which was tightly rolled with pins that went through rollers that pierced our skulls? so that we could look awesome?

The Real Story of 1979 Islamic Massacre in Iran - British & USA's Political Mistake

sent by Clément Dassa

ah, those lunatics on Fox News!

Tour of Jewish Shanghai

Shanghai 2009
Written by Anna Greenspan

The best introduction to Jewish Shanghai is provided by a tour run by Dvir Bar-Gal. Offering a history lesson as much as a tour, Bar-Gal has perfected a succinct explanatory narrative. He is able to deal with vast areas of Chinese history (from the First Opium War to the Cultural Revolution and beyond) in a few minutes and in such a way that those with little background are educated without patronizing those already familiar with the broad outlines of the topic.
The focus of his narrative, of course, is the Jews of Shanghai. He tells the story of all the main characters (such as the Sasoons and Kadoories) but also attends to lesser known figures, like Silas Hardoon who came to Shanghai as a penniless teenager and left as Asia’s richest man and Dr. Feng Shan Ho, a Chinese ‘righteous gentile’ who issued thousands of travel permits to Austrian Jews.
Bar-Gal also peppers his tour with tidbits on Chinese culture and offers interesting insights into the most popular pets, the issue of face, the problem of relocation and the history of lilongs. more>>

Photo exhibit shows breadth of Mexican synagogues

Photographer Moy Volcovich was born in Mexico City in 1963 to an Ashkenazi father from Poland and a Mexican-born Sephardic mother. At the time, this was a highly unusual pairing among Jewish couples in his country, Volcovich says.
And to some extent, he adds, it still is.

Moy Volcovich

Volcovich has spent much of his adult life capturing images of Jewish communities across Mexico. He suggests a divide still remains among Mexican Jewish sects. “In Mexico, most Jews want to keep their community very close and avoid conversion or assimilation,” Volcovich says from Canada, where he now lives. “But things are starting to become more open.”
He believes Mexican Jews are realizing that “we need to have respect for all of the Jewish communities in the country.”
With more than 450,000 Jews in Mexico and some 30 synagogues in Mexico City alone, there’s plenty of variety to be found. Volcovich makes this easy to see in his exhibit, “Mexican Synagogues — Sinagogas de Mexico,” opening Tuesday, Sept. 1 at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. continued>>

August 29, 2009

Problèmes de société - Israel

envoyé par Albert Soued

(ed: le texte original est beaucoup plus long, et ce sujet ne représente qu'une partie du Tsedek d'Albert Soued)

- Une majorité d'hommes orthodoxes s'adonnerait à la pornographie par internet, ce qui provoque des problèmes familiaux. Le site www.guardyoureyes.org créé par un certain Yaakov a pour but d'aider ces "accros" à retrouver leur esprit, en leur montrant comment se défaire positivement de leur manie, sans se sentir avili.

- Dr Danny Kaplan, psychologue et sociologue, a créé à l'Université Bar Ilan un cycle de cours sur "la masculinité", appelé "Men studies", cycle unique en Israël, mettant en exergue les dérives du machisme et du monopole mâle dans certains domaines comme la politique.

- La Knesset vient d'interdire l'usage de toute amphétamine et de la "hagigat" (type de khat) ou cathinone, utilisées comme des "stimulants naturels" et considérées par le Ministère de la santé comme des drogues dangereuses pour le système immunitaire, le foie et les reins.

- Dans le cadre d'une enquête menée Panels Institute auprès de 516 adultes pour le compte de YnetNews.com et Gesher pour mesurer l'impact de la religion, il ressort que 97% connaissent le sens du jeûne du 9 Av (en mémoire de la destruction du Temple), 64% souhaitent la reconstruction du Temple contre 36%, 80% trouvent normal de commémorer des événement vieux de 20 siècles contre 13%

Oseh Shalom

sent by Barbara Kallman

On 24th November 1984 one of the most famous music recordings in history, "Band Aid", took place at a studio in North London. On 30th April 2008, this arrangment of Oseh Shalom was recorded in the very same studio.
Featuring the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom Sir Jonathan Sacks, this song is the finale to the Home of Hope double CD featuring music and words to celebrate Israel's 60th Anniversary.

La plume du poète

Vous étiez venus
(écrit le 12 juillet 2009)

Vous étiez venus partager
Votre savoir faire , participer
A l'essor et la construction
De l'Egypte sur l'invitation
De Mohamet Ali. Vous étiez
Reconnaissants à ce pays hospitalier
Qui vous avait donné une chance
De prospérer dans la tolérance.
Juifs, chrétiens, grecs, arméniens
Italiens coopéraient avec les égyptiens
Pour créer un climat unique
Où des communautés diversifiées
Vivaient dans le respect, la paix.
Juifs du Nil, vous avez été nourris
Et appreciés ce pays qui vous a fourni
Pendant plus de cent années un havre
Sécurisant à l'abri de l' hostilité âpre
Subie ailleurs. Vous avez aimé
Cette terre nourricière , imbibés
Par la sagesse , la sérénité unique
De cette époque spéciale critique.
Qui a marqué vos pensées, votre destin.
Forcés de quitter vous avez pris le chemin
De l'exil sans haine, rancune, résilient
Vos avez gardé en mémoire le bien
Reçu, ignorant les injustices et torts
Que vous avez subis par la suite. Forts
De votre savoir vous avez poursuivi
Ailleurs avec résilience votre vie

En décidant de ne pas blâmer, en rejetant

La haine vous avez accepté sans

Colère, avec raison votre situation

Loin de cette terre aimée avec passion.

Dr Elie K Mangoubi

A Child of the Amazon Shakes Up a Nation’s Politics

Andre Vieira for The New York Times

MADAM CANDIDATE Marina Silva, who went from taking rubber from rainforests as a child to protecting them as an adult, at her office in the Brazilian Senate

excerpt:

Illiterate and seriously ill from hepatitis, Ms. Silva left her home when she was 16 and headed by bus to the city of Rio Branco seeking medical care and an education. There she learned how to read and write, graduated from college and became a teacher and a politician.

She worked closely with her friend Chico Mendes, the rubber tapper and environmental activist, before he was gunned down in 1988 by ranchers opposed to his activism. When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected Brazil’s president in 2002, he picked Ms. Silva to be his environmental minister, and on her watch Brazil devised a national plan to combat deforestation and created an indigenous reserve roughly the size of Texas.

Last week Ms. Silva shook up Brazilian politics by announcing that, after nearly three decades, she was leaving Mr. da Silva’s Workers’ Party to join the Green Party, where she is likely to be its candidate in next year’s presidential election.

Her story — that of a humble woman who overcame extreme poverty and illness to become a force in Brazilian politics — could prove an inspiration to Brazilians in their search for a president to replace the popular Mr. da Silva, himself a product of humble beginnings, political analysts said. Read the entire article>>

August 28, 2009

For Afghan Women, Rights Again at Risk | Anti-Gay Gangs Terrorize Iraq

August 17 - 21, 2009

Women attend an election rally in Kabul on August 12, 2009.

"For Afghan Women, Rights Again at Risk" by Rachel Reid

Published in the Washington Post

When the United States and its allies went to war against the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, "liberating the women of Afghanistan" was often cited as one of the reasons to seek "regime change." More than seven years later, however, the situation for Afghan women remains dire.

"Anti-Gay Gangs Terrorize Iraq" by Scott Long

Published in The Guardian

Most survivors pointed to Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army, the largest Shia militia in Iraq, as the driving force behind the killings.

Tell Obama: Hit the gas on Middle East peace

sent by Isaac Luria of J Street

Tell President Obama:

Hit the gas on a two-state solution and Middle East peace

Aimee --

The rubber hits the road on President Obama's push for a two-state solution this September.

All signs point to an important Presidential announcement around the September 24th meeting of the UN General Assembly.

At this precise moment, President Obama and his key advisers are weighing what exactly to do.

Should the President hit the gas by re-launching negotiations with active American participation and a time frame? Or should he hit the brakes and leave a right-wing Israeli government and a divided Palestinian Authority to their own devices?

You can bet the usual suspects have told President Obama and his staff to slow down, think small, and back off. Email smears are already swirling, accusing President Obama of planning to "ambush" Israel at the UN, even though American leadership right now is Israel's best hope. [1]

Now is the time the President needs to hear our support for strong American leadership to resolve the conflict.

Click here to tell President Obama and Middle East Peace Envoy George Mitchell to hit the gas on efforts to reach a two-state solution.

We'll deliver your messages directly to the President's staff when we tell them about the 50,000 actions we've taken in August to support the President's leadership.

The President has shown real leadership on the only path to secure Israel's future, calling for an end to Israeli settlement construction, an end to Palestinian incitement and violence against Israel, and for Arab states to take steps toward normalization with Israel.

The President can still secure an unprecedented settlement freeze agreement from the Israelis, as well as appropriate steps from the Palestinians and Arab states.

Now he needs our support - and encouragement - to drive forward on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations with the goal of achieving a two-state solution in his first term.

Israel's future as a Jewish democracy can't afford any more delays - so please encourage President Obama and Middle East Peace Envoy George Mitchell to stay strong and hit the gas on the two-state solution.

Click here to write to President Obama and Special Envoy Mitchell.

We're just 16,000 away from hitting our August Action Challenge goal of 50,000 actions during August. So don't waste a moment - and put us over the top!

Thanks so much for all you do.

- Isaac

Isaac Luria
Campaigns Director
J Street
August 27, 2009

[1] "Alert: Obama Planning Israel Ambush at Opening of UN." OneJerusalem, August 25, 2009.

----------

J Street is the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement.

Come to J Street's first national conference.
Driving Change, Securing Peace. October 25-28, 2009. Washington, DC.

Mitisyahu, the Hassidic Jewish Rap performer

from Justin Ferate

Dear Friends,

Perhaps in deference to "equal time," Laurence Frommer sends these videos of Mitisyahu, the Hassidic Jewish Rap performer.

Oy veh!

http://onemansblog.com/2007/07/25/matisyahu-the-hasidic-jewish-rapper/

http://themusicsnobs.wordpress.com/2008/12/06/matisyahu-tonight-headliners/

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Justin Ferate
Tours of the City
235 East 49th Street, #12-A
New York, NY 10017
T: 212-223-2777 | F: 212-758-7893
jferatetours@earthlink.net
http://www.justinsnewyork.com/

The Governor of New York and the New York State Tourism Council honored Urban Historian Justin Ferate as "New York's Most Engaging Tour Guide." || Mr. Ferate was selected as the author of the Official New York City Tour Guide Licensing Examination.|| "The AAA Guide to New York City" declared Mr. Ferate's tour of Grand Central Terminal, "New York's Best Walking Tour!" || Time Out New York selected Mr. Ferate as "One of New York's 50 Essential Secrets!"

"Bild" donne à Benyamin Nétanyahou des plans originaux d'Auschwitz

Le Premier ministre israélien était, le 27 août, à Berlin, dernière étape de sa tournée européenne. A cette occasion, Kai Diekmann, le rédacteur en chef de Bild, lui a transmis des plans originaux du camp d'extermination d'Auschwitz que le quotidien populaire allemand avait acquis en 2008. Ils devraient maintenant être confiés au mémorial de l'Holocauste de Yad Vashem, à Jérusalem. Sur le plan diplomatique, Nétanyahou s'est entretenu avec la chancelière Angela Merkel, qui lui a demandé de geler la colonisation des Territoires occupés.

Rencontre AAHA - La Grosse Pomme - Octobre 2009

par Viviane Lévy Acker

Hello Eskandarani,

I hope that you have had a pleasant Summer, sometimes rainy and dreary ( nothing like the Mediterranean Summer months!!!), and that this email will find you in rather good health and a positive frame of mind.

I just wanted to remind you to save the date for our next reunion - SUNDAY OCTOBER 25th, 2009, for Brunch (12:00 - 4:00 P.M.). I am still working on all of the details, but I wanted to let you know that we will most likely be meeting in Astoria, Queens, at an Egyptian restaurant.

As soon as I settle all of the nitty-gritty, I will get in touch with you and let you know about the exact location and the exact fee, in an attachment, to be mailed to me.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

A bientot,

Viviane Levy (Acker)

August 27, 2009

Au coeur de la Palestine, des Israéliens

Nadir Dendoune est journaliste indépendant. Durant son périple en Israël et Palestine, il décrit ce qu’il vit et ressent. Aujourd’hui : rencontre avec "M", militant israélien pour la paix.

Des gens courageux, il en existe partout, même si, comme ailleurs ils ne courent pas les rues. L’être humain, en général, aime tourner la tête de l’autre côté, fermer les yeux, ou se boucher les oreilles. En Israël, les « braves » sont marginalisés, in the only democracy in the middle east, il ne fait pas bon de dénoncer le racisme d’Etat, la majorité de la société considère ces « valeureux » comme des traîtres, des vendus, des naïfs, des « à côtés de la plaque » parce qu’ils s’insurgent contre la politique raciste et colonialiste de leur gouvernement, parce qu’ils militent pour la Paix et parce qu’ils considèrent les Palestiniens comme des frères, ce qui est loin d’être une connerie Simone.

Menaces de mort, graffitis-insultes sur les portes de leurs maisons, des méthodes d’intimidation classiques, et pourtant ces vaillants israéliens continuent leur combat, certains d’avoir raison. A Sheikh Jarrah, dans la partie est de Jérusalem, où les enfoirés de Colons acquièrent gratis des villas palestiniennes, des pacifistes israéliens dotés de burnes énormes n’hésitent pas à aller jusqu’à l’affrontement physique avec la police.

Plusieurs d’entre eux ont d’ailleurs été arrêtés et jetés en prison comme l’auraient mérité plusieurs proches de Sarkozy, le Président d’origine hongroise. Il y en a d’autres, qui travaillent à l’ombre du soleil, parcourant le globe, tentant de mobiliser la Communauté Internationale (toujours aussi lâche), conscients que la solution ne peut venir que de l’extérieur, bien au courant que la plupart des Israéliens soutiennent la politique fasciste de leur gouvernement. Je rencontre, quelque part en Cisjordanie, M, un Franco-Israélien. Il se définit comme un militant anticolonialiste car selon lui, il y a en Palestine, « une présence militaire qui opprime la population indigène et un rapport de pouvoir qui vise à étendre les frontières vers l’Est ». lire la suite>>

August 26, 2009

Yahoo to Buy Arab Portal Maktoob.com to Reach the Middle East

Yahoo agrees to acquire leading Arabic portal Maktoob.com for an undisclosed sum. Maktoob boasts more than 16.5 million unique users, or a third of the total users in the Middle East. Yahoo plans to offer Arabic versions of the Yahoo home page, Yahoo Search, Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo Mail, and eventually local versions of Yahoo News, Sports and Finance content and services. Yahoo needs to keep expanding and innovating to continue to challenge Google, Microsoft and Internet upstarts Facebook and Twitter.

Yahoo moved to make its biggest geographic expansion in years Aug. 25 when it agreed to buy leading Arabic Web community Maktoob.com for an undisclosed sum.

The Yahoo of the Arab world, Maktoob boasts more than 16.5 million unique users, or a third of the total users in the Middle East, Yahoo said in a statement. Maktoob.com, which offers news, finance, research and sports content along with Web-based mail, search, payments, gaming and an auction site, is accessed by users in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. continued>>

August 25, 2009

Arab world celebrities 'swindled of millions by Egyptian fraudster'

sent by Elie Kheder

Actors, actresses and businessmen were victims of a Dubai-based Egyptian accused of fraud and of stealing millions of dollars from his clients, it emerged Wednesday.

A list of some of Nabil al-Boushi's alleged victims was published Wednesday, one day after the Egyptian billionaire was arrested in the United Arab Emirates. More than 35 complaints were filed against al-Boushi, who owns a brokerage company, by Egyptian and Emirati claimants.

They accused him of taking about $37 million with the alleged aim of investing them in the London and New York stock markets, after promising them a 40 percent monthly profit.

The list includes famous actress Laila Olwi, said to have lost more than $500,000 dollars, Mervat Amin, another cinema star, losing almost the same amount, and her ex-husband, actor Hussein Fahmi, who lost $2 million. more>>

Too Arab Looking for Israel

sent by Mathew Posner

This is a blog called: Dissident Veteran for Peace. It is written by an anti-war, anti-zionist blogger. This post was of particular interest, since it echoes the sentiment endorsed by Women's Lens.

posted on 8/25/2007
I've written two previous posts about European/Ashkenazi Jewish racism against Mizrahi Jews here and here. The photo at right is of Israeli pop singer, Liel Kolet. Kolet is a Mizrahi Jew who was a contender for representing the Jewish apartheid state in theEurovision song contest this spring. However, one of the judges told fellow judges, apparently referring to Kolet, that "Israel should avoid choosing a performer with an 'Arab look.' " And that they did. Kolet was not selected and a group with a rather lower average melanin endowment went to Helsinki instead. Of course, none of them should be there in any case as their appearance violates the growing cultural boycott of Israel.

La sombre histoire de l'hôtel Shepherd

envoyé par Viviane Paolini

Source: JPost

La réponse sans équivoque de Netanyahou aux Américains, hostiles à l'édification d'habitations juives dans le quartier de Sheikh Jarrah, à Jérusalem, pourrait bien clore un chapitre long de 90 ans du conflit israélo-arabe et rétablir une certaine justice. "Nous ne pouvons accepter l'idée que des Juifs se voient refuser le droit de vivre et d'acheter des logements où bon leur semble à Jérusalem", a déclaré le Premier ministre.

Trop longtemps, Etats arabes, groupes terroristes et Arabes palestiniens ont cru pouvoir engager des guerres "à responsabilité limitée", d'abord contre les Juifs de Palestine, puis contre l'Etat hébreu. Ils caressaient le fantasme de lancer en toute impunité des attaques visant à supprimer l'Etat juif, sachant qu'une défaite les ramenerait au statu quo antérieur et leur permettrait d'obtenir par voie diplomatique, ce qu'ils n'avaient pu gagner sur le champ de bataille : les territoires acquis par Israël seraient rendus, et non annexés, les chefs terroristes honorés, et non condamnés, et les Juifs et Israël blâmés, et jamais dédommagés. lire la suite>>

August 24, 2009

The Women's Crusade

Katy Grannan for The New York Times

Saima Muhammad, shown with her daughter Javaria (seated), lives near Lahore, Pakistan. She was routinely beaten by her husband until she started a successful embroidery business.

IN THE 19TH CENTURY, the paramount moral challenge was slavery. In the 20th century, it was totalitarianism. In this century, it is the brutality inflicted on so many women and girls around the globe: sex trafficking, acid attacks, bride burnings and mass rape.

Yet if the injustices that women in poor countries suffer are of paramount importance, in an economic and geopolitical sense the opportunity they represent is even greater. “Women hold up half the sky,” in the words of a Chinese saying, yet that’s mostly an aspiration: in a large slice of the world, girls are uneducated and women marginalized, and it’s not an accident that those same countries are disproportionately mired in poverty and riven by fundamentalism and chaos.

There’s a growing recognition among everyone from the World Bank to the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to aid organizations like CARE that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism. That’s why foreign aid is increasingly directed to women. The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution. continued>>

This Week in Jewish History

WEEK OF AUGUST 24

AUGUST 24, 1855

The first issue of "Die Deborah," a German-language newspaper focused on serving women's interests, was published. more >>

AUGUST 24, 1861

Eugenia Levy Phillips was arrested as a Confederate spy. more >>

AUGUST 26, 1970

A massive "Women Strike for Equality" march in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the 19th amendment took place in New York City and other cities. more >>

AUGUST 26, 1980

Three generations of activist Seaman family marched together in the tenth anniversary celebration of the New York Women's Strike for Equality. more >>

AUGUST 27, 1940

Hadassah activist Alice Seligsberg died. more >>

AUGUST 28, 1997

The launch of a Virtual Archive as one of the first major public programs of the Jewish Women's Archive was described in an article in Boston's "Jewish Advocate." more >>

AUGUST 29, 1976

The first Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education began. more >>

AUGUST 29, 2003

Louise Glück was named poet laureate of the United States. more >>

138 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA 02446

TEL 617.232.2258 FAX 617.975.0109 WEB jwa.org

Egypt unveils restoration of famous synagogue, denies link to culture minister

sent by Liliane Saltiel

An antiquities worker performs restoration work on the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue in the neighborhood of Old Cairo, in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009. The head of Egyptian Antiquities on Thursday unveiled restoration work being carried out at one of Egypt's most famous synagogues, a project he denied was meant to assuage Jewish anger at the country's culture minister. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

OMAR SINAN Associated Press Writer

3:40 p.m. EDT, August 20, 2009

CAIRO (AP) — The head of antiquities on Thursday unveiled restoration work under way at one Egypt's most famous synagogues, a project he denied was meant to assuage Jewish anger at the country's culture minister.

Culture Minister Hosni Farouk, who is campaigning to be the next head of the U.N. office that promotes cultural diversity, outraged many Jews with his comments in April 2008 vowing to burn any Israeli books found in Egypt's famed Library of Alexandria.

The Egyptian government has rallied around the 71-year-old culture minister, but the country's head of antiquities, Zahi Hawass, said the decision to restore the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue in Cairo had nothing to do with Hosni's candidacy.

"I believe these rumors were started to hurt Farouk Hosni's bid to become the next director general of UNESCO," said Hawass, who reports to the culture minister. "The Jewish monuments are Egyptian monuments ... they are part of us and part of our culture."

The synagogue was named after Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, a famous physician, philosopher and Torah scholar who was born in Cordoba, Spain, in 1135 A.D. He eventually moved to Cairo, where he died in 1204 and was buried inside the synagogue. The remains of the rabbi, who is known in the West as Moses Maimonides, were later transferred to the Holy Land.

The synagogue was built in an area called Haret al-Yahoud, or "The Jewish Quarter," a reflection of how medieval Cairo was divided up into religious and ethnic neighborhoods. It was declared an antiquity in 1986 due to its historic architecture and religious importance, Hawass said.

The area around the synagogue is now known as el-Gamalia. It used to be a slum filled with garbage-covered dirt streets until the government recently cleaned up the area to attract tourists.

Hawass said the synagogue sustained serious damage over time from earthquakes and ground water. The restoration is part of a national project to refurbish ten Jewish synagogues across Egypt, he said.

The synagogue is divided into three parts: an area dedicated to prayers and rituals, another for Ben Maimon's tomb and a third that included a women's prayer section.

The restoration, which started in mid-June and is expected to last a year, includes a plan to rebuild the synagogue's heavily damaged walls and reconstruct the interior. Hawass showed reporters a restored wooden door from one of the synagogue's entryways, which was painted with a gold Star of David and topped with a carving of a date palm.

This Way Up

This is a story about a wall — the separations it's meant to enforce, and the unintended ones it gives birth to. The security wall being constructed by Israel on the West Bank has divided Palestinian families and communities. It has also isolated the Catholic-run Our Lady of Sorrows nursing home outside of Jerusalem, leaving its feisty residents to face old age in the throes of one of the world's most bitter conflicts. With beautiful imagery, moments of laughter and use of a quietly eccentric older guide, This Way Up examines the social, economic and religious barriers that arise from physical ones.

Watch the film on your public TV station : Tuesday, August 25 at 10:00 PM (60 minutes)

For upcoming shows on PBS, click here.

One good thing about Venezuela

Their women are beautiful..

Miss Universe 2009 Stefania Fernandez, of Venezuela, smiles during an interview with The Associated Press in Nassau, Bahamas, Monday, Aug. 24, 2009. Venezuela won the 2009 Miss Universe crown for the second year straight and the sixth time since the pageant's creation. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

Women were the first Navigators

sent by Mathew Posner

Women were the first navigators, and Pulap was the first navigator island. It started with a kuling bird (sandpiper), which was a ghost and not just a bird. The kuling flew from the Marshall Islands to Pohnpei, Chuuk, and Pulap and ate everyone along the way but not the people of Pulap.

The kuling said to the chiefs daughter, If you feed me enough, I won't eat the people here. The girl told her father this, and he said, Take her a piece of wot (taro) and a coconut. The girl did, and the kuling ate until she was really full. Then she said, Tell your father to build me a house so I can teach you to be a navigator.

Every evening, the girl learned from the kuling. She learned more and more. Then one day, the father said to the girl, I know the story of the kuling and do you know how we will kill her? Tell the kuling not to leave yet we are going to give her something.

The chief told the women of Pulap to get many baskets of wot and the men to get many coconuts. They loaded everything onto the kuling bird. The kuling took off and flew between Chuuk and Pafang, but then she fell down and changed into an octopus. Every navigator always protects himself from this octopus by using pwanur (a mystical way that navigators use to protect themselves from danger).

THE BLUFFER'S GUIDE TO GOING TO SHUL

sent by Liliane Saltiel

THE BLUFFER'S GUIDE TO GOING TO SHUL

Worried about looking like a lemon in shul? Finding the shul service impossible to follow?

Many people suffer from what is known in religious circles as "Mainstream Judaism". No need to worry, however. Our team of spiritual healers have devised a cure, and we are making it available to you exclusively today. Please pass it on to anyone you know who may be suffering in silence.

"Shul Rules" is your handy-dandy ten-step guide to supreme synagogue confidence:
1. If you arrive after the start don't sit down right away, but instead open the book near the beginning and spend 2 or 3 minutes turning slowly through the pages while mumbling under your breath. If you recognize any of the Hebrew words, say one or two of them a little louder so those around you can hear.

2. Find a seat just behind someone who looks like he knows what's going on. (You can tell who this person is because he is likely to be mumbling to himself under his breath). Make sure this person is using the same prayer book as you. Keep a note of what page he is on by glancing casually over his shoulder every now and again. A pair of strong magnifying glasses may help here.

3. When putting on the tallit, wrap it around your head for a few seconds while mumbling under your breath.

4. Liberally sprinkle your time in shul with more barely audible mumbles as you look intently at the pages of your siddur. Again, the odd word, phrase or line spoken accurately and a little louder than the rest goes down very well.

5. Don't jump up whenever the person in front does so. He may be stretching his legs. Instead, wait a moment until a significant proportion of the congregation are standing In this way, even if they are all stretching their legs you won't look stupid.

6. See those guys near the front that are wandering around with an air of assurance? These are the shammosim. AVOID EYE CONTACT WITH THESE PEOPLE or you may find yourself being asked to do something strange and unfamiliar like opening the doors of the Aron HaKodesh or, heaven forbid, saying something in Hebrew out loud to everyone.

7. The easiest way to look the part is to shockel. I have met people who have won international shockelling competitions without having a clue about where in the service they were. Advanced shockellers will even shockel when everyone else is sitting. (may be a disguised leg-stretch).
Shockelling is an entire lesson in itself, but there are two basic forms. The "lateral swing" is usually seen in ultra-orthodox congregations. Here the practitioner is perfectly still from the waist down (feet together, naturally), while the top half of the body repeatedly twists at speed.

The "Hammerhead" is more prevalent in mainstream orthodox shuls, and, as the name suggests, the congregant looks as if he is trying to bang a nail into the floor with his head. (I say "his" because women prefer to use this time for kibitzing or kvelling over how wonderfully their grandson shockels.)

Shockelling mainly takes place during the silent Amidah This is about 10 pages during which you have no idea where everyone else is. All you do know is that if the others were really reading all the prayers involved they would be contenders for the world speed-reading record.

You know when it starts because everyone takes three steps back, then three steps forward, then they bow. This is your cue to start shockelling while turning the pages of your prayer book approximately every 15 seconds.

The end of the silent Amidah is signaled by everyone taking three short steps back, bowing to the left, the right and the center and then looking around to see if they won.

8. Is the Rabbi speaking in English, and yet you don't begin to understand what in the world he's babbling on about? If so, this is the sermon, and it's your job to look alive. Paying attention to the sermon is a skill that may take many years to master rather in the way that one learns how to solve cryptic crosswords. The formula for this particular puzzle is fairly simple: The narrative of Torah portion you have just heard plus something from local or national news equals "you should go to shul more regularly" or "your home isn't kosher enough".

9. Feel free to talk to people near you at any time. Business and sports are particularly appropriate topics of conversation. Seeking kavanah and listening to the sermon will be regarded with deep suspicion in most communities.

10. If you can keep your cool until the end of the service you will be rewarded. At last something that is familiar, and a chance to clear your throat and give it some "oomph" as you belt out Ein Kelohaynu and Adon Olam just like you did at cheder all those years ago.

One final word of warning: If it goes well, and you feel confident enough to go back for a second week running, you will be immediately and automatically classified as a regular. This means there is a very good chance you will be asked to be the next synagogue President.

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NO POSTS THIS WEEKEND

Due to an unusually heavy workload, there will be no new posts on Women's Lens this weekend.

Back next week.

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Alexfest from 17-31 October 2009,
The first event on the calendar of international festivals in Egypt. We hope it becomes a major feature of the Egyptian and Mediterranean calendar.

The Festival will set out to re-introduce the city of Alexandria to the world community, using the strength of its long history and its unquestioned capability led by its new world class global library and energetic city leadership to embrace the challenges of the 21 century. It will set out to attract to Alexandria foreign visitors; Egyptians possessing holiday homes on the Mediterranean coast near the city; and its citizens both young and old. The Festival will include events to attract all those communities so that all can share the experience and excitement of living in a Festival City which offers a wide range of different activities. The event will seek to be inclusive so all these groups will wish to participate in the following year.

It contains lots of activities for all of the family like… music, arts, fashion, human chess, sports, culture, history, cinema, youth activities, theater, water events.... and so on
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And we hope you join us in this important event

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Barr justified her questionable conduct.

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