09/25 Links Pt2: Judea Pearl: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on ‘Being Jewish’; The inevitable consequences of false history; UN Human Rights Council Ignores Real Abuses to Attack Israel

From Ian:

Judea Pearl: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on ‘Being Jewish’

In 2003, when my wife, Ruth, and I were editing the book I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl (Jewish Light Publishing, 2004), we asked more than 300 prominent Jewish personalities to contribute an essay, a note, or a paragraph on what the words “I am Jewish” meant to them.

Some responded with outright rejection, saying that in a world heading toward globalization, there is no point dwelling on ethnic distinctions. Some apologized for not being able to treat such complex question in less than two or three volumes. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg did not hesitate for a moment, and sent us a 300-word piece we knew right away will strengthen the spines of Jewish youngsters for generations to come.

We assured her that she would be remembered by that piece, especially by the millions who will forever associate Jewishness with the Biblical command “Tzedek, tzedek, tirdof” (Justice, justice, you shall pursue … — Deuteronomy 16:20).

Now that Ginsburg no longer is with us, it is time for us to fulfill our promise and make her essay available to the general public.

The following is the essay Ginsburg wrote for I Am Jewish, a book inspired by the last words of our son, Danny, before his murder by terrorists in 2002 in Pakistan:

Former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg once said, “My concern for justice, for peace, for enlightenment stems from my heritage.” Justice Stephen Breyer and I are fortunate to be linked to that heritage, and to live in the U.S.A. at a time when Jews residing here face few closed doors and do not fear letting the world know who they are.

For example, I say who I am in certain visible signs. The command from Deuteronomy appears in artworks, in Hebrew letters, on three walls and a table in my chambers. “Zedek, Zedek tirdof,” “Justice, justice shalt thou pursue,” these art works proclaim; they are ever present reminders to me of what judges must do “that they may thrive.” There is also a large silver mezuzah mounted on my doorpost. It is a gift from the super bright teenage students at the Shulamith School for Girls in Brooklyn, N.Y. the school one of my dearest law clerks attended in her growing-up years.

A question stated in various ways is indicative of what I would like to convey. What is the difference between a New York City garment district bookkeeper and a Supreme Court Justice? One generation. My life bears witness, the difference between opportunities open to my mother, a bookkeeper, and those open to me.

I am a judge, born, raised and proud of being a Jew. The demand for justice runs through the entirety of the Jewish history and Jewish tradition. I hope, in all the years I have the good fortune to serve on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, I will have the strength and courage to remain steadfast in the service of that demand.

Jonathan Tobin: The inevitable consequences of false history

The results of a new survey of knowledge and awareness about the Holocaust in the United States were sobering. It turns out that despite a massive effort put into educating Americans about the mass murder of European Jewry by the German Nazis and their collaborators, a sizable %age of millennials (defined as those aged 18 to 39) know little or nothing about it or actually believe anti-Semitic canards about this atrocity being the fault of the Jews.

Many Jews are understandably expressing dismay about those numbers and calling for greater efforts to be made to increase and improve Holocaust education. But it's likely that many of them are the same people who are dismissing President Donald Trump's concerns about the way the teaching of American history is being distorted or trashed by those peddling false narratives about the country being irredeemably racist.

Trump's concerns, stated in a Constitution Day speech given last week in which he vowed to create a commission to combat this trend, were widely dismissed as either electioneering or racist. Anything a president says while running for re-election can be regarded as political. Yet his attempt to call attention to the importance of the ongoing fight over American history didn't seem to resonate among those who are the first to decry the implications of the lack of historical knowledge about the Holocaust.

The fact that 15% of millennials think that Jews caused the Holocaust, 41% agreed with the claim that people talk about it "too much," and 12% think that it was either a myth or exaggerated is shocking. It's all the more troubling since those polled grew up in an era when Holocaust education has proliferated and is mandatory in many states. Indeed, the study, which was sponsored by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, showed that there was no correlation between living in states where Holocaust education is mandatory and having a firm grasp of the history.

The problem isn't just a function of requiring schools to teach about this crime, but that what is being taught isn't necessarily helping to correct the situation, let alone dealing with a rising tide of anti-Semitism. As scholar Ruth Wisse writes in National Affairs, instead of merely doubling down on curricula that may be hurting as much as they are helping, we need to rethink Holocaust-education programs that were flawed from the start.

Arsen Ostrovsky: UN Human Rights Council Ignores Real Abuses to Attack Israel

This week, while world leaders and heads of state spoke by video at an unprecedented annual United Nations General Assembly meeting, their ambassadors met at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

However, instead of focusing on China's ethnic cleansing of Uighur Muslims, Iran's merciless execution of wrester Navid Afkari or Russia's poisoning of pro-democracy opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the council will once again focus its attention on the democratic state of Israel with a series of predictable condemnations.

In 2018, when the United States announced its withdrawal from the UNHRC, citing the council's "unconscionable" and "chronic" bias against Israel, Ambassador Nikki Haley noted it had become "a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias."

She was entirely right.

Just last year, the Council elected Nicolás Maduro's Venezuela, one of the world's most repressive and human rights abusing regimes, as a member. This is not a joke. This is inexcusable and unconscionable. It is also on par for the UN's top human rights body, which according to reports, is now set to elect China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia this October.

The Human Rights Council was formed in 2006 to tackle human rights abuses in light of the failures of its discredited predecessor, the UN Human Rights Commission.

The commission was widely criticized for its one-sided obsession with Israel and the make-up of its membership, which included some of the most atrocious regimes in the world. At one point in 2003, Libya—then still ruled by Muammar Gaddafi—even chaired the commission.

Hopes were high that the council would herald the dawn of a new era, when the persecuted would finally have a voice and their persecutors would finally be held to account for their crimes.

Instead, the council has continued its unrelenting obsession with the state of Israel, condemning it almost as often as all other countries put together. The council reserves a spot on its agenda to condemn the Jewish state—the sole country-specific item—whereas human rights issues in the entire rest of the world are shoved into one solitary agenda item.

The council of course has never passed a resolution condemning the Palestinian Authority over its repulsive "Pay to Slay" policy of paying terrorists and murderers of Israelis.

AOC Reconsidering Participation in Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Event After Tweet From Anti-Israel Journalist

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is reconsidering her participation in an upcoming memorial event for the assassinated late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the freshman Democrat said on Friday.

After being questioned on Twitter by an anti-Israel journalist, Alex Kane, about her planned attendance at the Americans for Peace Now ceremony, which will mark the 25th anniversary of the murder of Rabin by a far-right Jewish zealot angered by his efforts to make peace with the Palestinians, Ocasio-Cortez said, “Hey there – this event and my involvement was presented to my team differently from how it’s now being promoted. Thanks for pointing it out. Taking a look into this now.”

A story in 3-acts.

1) AOC is invited to an event from Americans for Peace Now remembering Rabin, the Israeli PM who was assasinated for trying to make peace.

2) Online Anti-semites object.

3) AOC suggests she might not attend. pic.twitter.com/sFX515r7nK

— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) September 25, 2020

In his tweet, Kane had highlighted Rabin’s role as Israel’s defense minister during the First Intifada in the late 1980s, claiming Palestinians remembered him “as someone who reportedly ordered the breaking of Palestinian bones.”

Replying to Ocasio-Cortez, former Israeli Labor MK Stav Shaffir tweeted, “When we stand for peace, there will be those who will tell us it’s impossible, even threaten us. Rabin stood strong & signed the first agreement with the Palestinians as he believed peace was the only hope. He was assassinated for it. I hope you’ll have the moral courage to attend.”

US Jewish journalist Yair Rosenberg commented, “If @AOC can’t even do an event with *Peace Now* remembering Yitzhak Rabin, the general turned peacemaker killed by a far-right extremist for trying to make peace with the Palestinians, it suggests caring more about Twitter than good real world outcomes. Hope that’s not the case.”

In a tweet on Thursday announcing the Rabin event, Americans for Peace Now said Ocasio-Cortez would “reflect on fulfilling the courageous Israeli leader’s mission for peace and justice today in the US and Israel.”

StandWithUs: The Antisemitism of Louis Farrakhan

WATCH: Racism is racism. Hate is hate. When people like Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan spew antisemitic conspiracy theories and call Jews 'satanic,' it encourages hate to grow and spread at an alarming rate.

We need to stand together if we're going to end the scourge of antisemitism and hate sweeping through the United States, and the world.

Donny Deutsch On MSNBC Attacks Jewish Trump Supporters, Compares Trump To Hitler in Hateful Rant

Danny Deutsch, who earned a name for himself for marketing and advertising, after being cancelled multiple times on l CNN and MSNBC due to microscopic ratings, still makes appearances on political talking head shows.

One must question why would a man with a history of failed ratings and limited scope of knowledge in regards to politics , still be invited on talking head TV shows? One can assume the management of these low brow disinformation outlets, like what Deutsch brings to the table: hate and division.

In his latest unhinged rant advocating for Democrat Joe Biden, Danny compared Trump to Hitler and went after Jewish Trump supporters.

In an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Deutsch compared Trump’s latest campaign rally in Moon Township, Pa. to a “rally from the early ‘30s” saying there was “not one person of color anywhere.”

“But what was going on in the early ’30s Germany? Basically you had a destruction of belief in the free press, you had blurring between the executive branch and the Justice Department, you have creating an other, whether it’s Muslims, whether it’s Mexicans, whether it’s congressmen who weren’t born in this country, and then you have the destruction of free elections,” he said.

He continued: “And we’re here and what is the difference between Adolph Hitler and Donald Trump? I’m not saying there is a Holocaust but when you look at the tactics, that is where we are right now.”

Deutsch, who is Jewish, went on to attack Jewish Trump supporters, asking “How dare you?”

“With what our people have gone through in history, and you see a man who is a dictator, and once you give a man absolute power he’s possible of anything, and if you are a Jew in this country and you are supporting Donald Trump, you are not looking back at our history and you are blind and you are walking like a lemming off a cliff. It is time to wake up!” he said.

Jewish Politician in Gibraltar Targeted With Antisemitic Dual-Loyalty Slur

Politicians in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar have united in condemnation of a series of antisemitic barbs directed toward an opposition member of parliament who is Jewish.

Marlene Hassan Nahon — the leader of the Together Gibraltar Party — said she had been the target of an “orchestrated campaign” in recent days, following her strong criticism of the government’s handling of the impact upon Gibraltar of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.

Nahon said that the comments attacked both her and her late father, former Gibraltar Chief Minister Sir Joshua Hassan, negatively highlighting her links with the State of Israel.

“Of particular concern in the latest barrage of abuse is the age-old antisemitic trope of dual loyalty with Israel that has been lobbed at me for being Jewish,” Nahon said.

She said the accusation was “a new and dangerous phenomenon in Gibraltar politics and I urge the chief minister and leader of the opposition to condemn this discourse immediately.”

Chief Minister Fabián Picardo readily complied, decrying the campaign against Nahon in a statement on Thursday.

“We must all denounce members of a small minority who disqualify themselves and disappoint all of us by making racist and antisemitic statements about a member of our parliament based on their religion,” Picardo said. “Making racist and antisemitic remarks as part of an alleged political debate is just anathema and alien to the Gibraltar I know and love.”

University of Illinois Student Government Buries BDS Provision in Racial Justice Resolution

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's student government buried a boycott, divestment, and sanctions provision in a resolution opposing violence against blacks.

On Sept. 23, the UIUC student government passed a motion calling on the school to divest from companies such as Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Company, Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar Inc., and Elbit Systems Ltd. for allegedly partaking in "human rights violations" in "Palestinian lands." The BDS resolution was placed inside a larger resolution that called out anti-black violence on campus and supported efforts for racial justice. The university's Hillel center called the referendum an "antisemitic litmus test" and accused the student government of forcing Jewish students to pick between their Zionism and condemning violence against black people.

"After five failed attempts in as many years to pass BDS, student activists enshrouded calls for divestment within a resolution opposing anti-Black violence," a statement from Illini Hillel reads. "This was an attempt to paint Israel and Jews as the obstacle to racial equity, amidst the holiest time in the Jewish calendar."

According to the Jewish News Syndicate, the resolution called out each company for its alleged role in human-rights atrocities and called for a student representative from Students for Justice in Palestine to work on a task force with the university chancellor. The task force would be "charged with divesting from corporations and index funds that violate human rights and reinvest in socially and environmentally responsible companies and index funds."

Jewish Students at University of Illinois Decry Passage of Anti-Israel Divestment Resolution During High Holidays

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s student government on Wednesday night voted in favor of a pro-BDS resolution calling for divestment from a number of companies over their alleged involvement in human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Companies mentioned in the resolution — titled “Human Rights Violations in University Investments and Police Forces” — included Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Company, Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar and Elbit Systems.

The issue was complicated by the inclusion of language in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, which placed pro-Israel students in the position of appearing to vote against racial justice, something many saw as a deliberate tactic.

In response, several Jewish students wrote a declaration of principles, which they read into the record before the vote was taken via Zoom.

“We are steadfast in our commitment to stand up for Black life and against antisemitism,” they said. “As Jews who have been targets of white supremacist hatred and feel the pain of antisemitism, we stand proudly in support of racial justice.”

“The conflation of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement with the movement for racial justice distracts from the root cause of systemic racism in America,” they added. “The introduction of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions tactics against Israel into the movement for racial justice is a brazen attempt to give Jewish students an impossible choice between renouncing Zionism or selecting a position inconsistent with our support for human rights and the quest for equity.”

The resolution was passed by 22-11 margin, with seven abstentions.

.@AMPalestine appointed Mohamad Habehh as National Development Coordinator but he was pretty open about his ideal working conditions: “If you work with the yahood [jews] idc if you're Muslim or atheist you're a kalb [dog] and you deserve the worst in life"https://t.co/crnXkU6e8X pic.twitter.com/M66CnhpRda

— Canary Mission (@canarymission) September 25, 2020

Glad to see you and @JVP have quality researchers on staff. How long did it take you to find information that is readily available on JINSA's website? Our participants are all listed here: https://t.co/tZvbg2yvhz

Our call invitation was promoted here: https://t.co/VNUqYBtPsl https://t.co/Ebfe21yzX1

— Leo Nayfeld (@LeoNayfeld) September 24, 2020

BBC News economical with details in Burgas bombing convictions report

On September 21st the BBC News website published a report headlined “Bulgaria court convicts two over 2012 Burgas bus attack on Israelis” in which readers found the usual euphemism employed by the corporation to describe persons or organisations that target Israelis, along with amplification of a terrorist organisation’s claims.

A Bulgarian court has sentenced two men to life in jail over a bus bombing in 2012 that killed five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver. […]

Prosecutors linked the attack to militant group Hezbollah. It denied involvement.

Hezbollah has been accused of carrying out a string of bombings and plots against Jewish and Israeli targets, and it is designated a terrorist organisation by several Western states and Israel.

The EU put Hezbollah’s military wing on its terrorism blacklist after the bombing.”

Clearly that reference to “several Western states” does not adequately clarify to BBC audiences that Hizballah is also designated a terrorist organisation by the Arab league, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Bahrain, the UAE, Japan, Argentina, Honduras and Paraguay, among others. The recent designation by Serbia has not yet been reported to BBC News website audiences.

The caption to the image illustrating the report reads “Bulgarian prosecutors said the evidence linked the defendants and the attack to Hezbollah” and readers are later told that:

“Prosecutors accused them of providing the explosive device and logistical support to El-Husseini, and said the evidence linked them to Hezbollah.”

🔴 WATCH: The BBC portray Israel's most important archeological site as a settlement.

2/4 pic.twitter.com/CHekgMuJPG

— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) September 24, 2020

A case study in hypocrisy : criticism of Soros against criticism of Abramovich

The people now criticising Abramovich - a proud Jew for investing in Israel (where he is now a citizen) are the very same people who say that anybody who criticizes atheist ‘Jew’ Soros for funding anti-Israel organizations is ‘antisemitic’.

Moreover, David Collier has done a fine expose of the Abramovich 'story'. It really is driven by the usual antisemitic, anti-Israel narrative and lies. Why is the well-funded Board of Deputies not doing this kind of research? Oh of course they are among those who call criticism of Soros "dog-whislte antisemitism":

Facebook's Israel policy head says platform takes antisemitism seriously

Facebook takes the war on antisemitism very seriously, Jordana Cutler, Facebook’s head of policy for Israel and the Jewish Diaspora, told The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference.

Cutler, who was included in the The Jerusalem Post’s list of the 50 most influential Jews in the world, is at the forefront of the social media giant’s efforts to control incitement and hate speech online.“My job is to be a representative in Israel for Facebook, and to speak at Facebook on behalf of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora,” she said.

Does Facebook listen? “Of course they do, and that’s one of the most exciting aspects of my job,” Cutler said.

In one example, Cutler noted a recent amendment to Facebook’s community standards to ban implicit hate speech, meaning that in addition to forbidding a statement that a particular race is inferior, you also can’t claim that a race is superior, or runs the world, banks, or the government. This change was the direct result of Cutler’s findings in her meetings with Jewish community leaders, she said.

Cutler noted that Facebook’s speech detection algorithms are always improving, and said that in the recent quarter, 85% of hate speech was automatically removed before it was reported by a user. That being said, she noted that “people don’t realize how much power they have to report content on Facebook.”

“Just one user report can bring down a violating post,” she added.

Most of the lead actors here, playing Jews, in a story about anti-Semitism, aren’t Jewish. I’m fine with that. But it wouldn’t be fine for the BBC to cast like this with any other minority. https://t.co/har8qts0CB

— David Baddiel (@Baddiel) September 25, 2020

Dutch city names as its poet a rapper who called Holocaust a ‘joke’

A Dutch city named as its resident poet a rapper who in a 2012 song called the Holocaust a “cover up for dumb sheep” and a “joke” compared to slavery.

The office of Jos Wienen, the mayor of Haarlem, a city of about 160,000 residents that is the capital of the Dutch province of North Holland, announced Darryl Danchelo Osenga’s title of city poet on Wednesday, sparking passionate protests from Dutch Jews and non-Jews.

Osenga, whose stage name is Insayno, “will give the institution of city poet a new direction,” the statement on the honorary nomination read. “His poems overflow with love for language and for the city of Haarlem.” The city gives the honor every other year to a different artist.

In a statement, the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, or CIDI, expressed its “shock” at the decision, citing his 2012 song “Black Page,” among other objections.

In that track, Insayno says: “Only talking about the war. The Holocaust is just a cover-up for dumb sheep. I see you think, this can’t be: Eight million Jews? I’m talking about 18 million slaves. The treatment at the concentration camps is just a little joke in comparison with our slave trade. Gassing people, that’s also sad but just for laughs you should learn about torture.”

The municipality of Haarlem said in a reaction to the protests that the mayor spoke with Insayno on the subject and that he had apologized and distanced himself from the poem. “He deserves a second chance,” the statement said.

CIDI called the song a perpetuation of anti-Semitic stereotypes and “marginalization of the Holocaust.”

French Jewish TV Presenter Confronted by Assailant Angered by Her Denunciation of Antisemitic Rapper Freeze Corleone

Police in France have arrested a man for an attempted assault on a Jewish TV presenter at the Paris studio where she works.

The unnamed man was taken into custody on Tuesday after he entered the studio and confronted Valerie Benaim over her trenchant criticism of Freeze Corleone — a French rapper whose hit debut album is steeped in “antisemitism, conspiracy theories, and apologies for Hitler, the Third Reich and [Afghan Taliban commander] Mullah Omar,” according to one leading French anti-racist organization.

Appearing on the live talk show “TPMP” on Sept. 17, an angry Benaim denounced Corleone for lyrics such as, “I arrive determined like Adolf in the 1930s,” and, “Every day I f_k Israel like I live in Gaza.”

“I’m going to try to be very calm, because the words of this boy touch my heart, because I am a Jew, I belong to the Jewish religion,” Benaim declared. “He speaks about humanity, but when you attack a black person, a Jew, a Muslim, you attack humanity.”

According to TPMP producers, Benaim received an “avalanche” of hateful messages on social media in response to her comments — including several posts written by the man arrested by police at the show’s studios on Tuesday.

After complaint, tiny Swastika, NY, decides nothing wrong with town’s name

The rural upstate New York hamlet of Swastika is keeping its name, despite a complaint that it symbolizes the hate and intolerance of the Nazi regime.

The unincorporated crossroads in the Adirondack Mountain town of Black Brook, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of the US-Canada border, has been known as Swastika for more than a century.

But town council members considered a name change after a visitor from New York City said it was offensive, and disrespectful to the memory of the World War II veterans buried in graves in the nearby countryside. Michael Alcamo said he was bicycling through the area this summer when he came upon Swastika.

“I was stunned that the people who live there wouldn’t have a meeting and pick a different name sometime after 1945, if not prior,” Alcamo said Thursday.

Council members met September 14 and unanimously nixed a name change.

“We regret that individuals, from out of the area, that lack the knowledge of the history of our community become offended when they see the name,” Black Brook supervisor Jon Douglass wrote in an email Thursday. “To the members of our community, that the board represents, it is the name that their ancestors chose.”

Moscow Cops Arrest Man for Antisemitic Vandalism at Jewish Educational Center

Police in Moscow arrested a man on Thursday for vandalizing the offices of a Russian Jewish organization in an antisemitic attack.

According to eyewitness reports, the man — who had been drinking heavily — arrived at the headquarters of the SHAMIR center, a Jewish educational institute in eastern Moscow that serves a community of 20,000 Jews.

The man shouted antisemitic epithets as he attempted to break through the door of the building. When he failed to do so, he reportely broke the SHAMIR nameplate on the mailbox and then toppled a large decorative menorah. He also did minor damage to the rabbi’s car before being arrested.

Jewish community members locked their doors and alerted law enforcement who detained the vandal at the local police station.

Rabbi Berel Tsisin — director of SHAMIR — said in a statement that it was rare for the community to experience antisemitic hate crimes.

Shade-giving fabric that lights up at night nets Israeli int’l prize

An Israeli designer was named Thursday as one of four winners of an international women’s climate tech challenge for her development of an outdoor fabric for urban shading that is embedded with organic solar cells to provide lighting at night.

The challenge, now in its second year, was organized by Women4Climate, a group of mayors, entrepreneurs, innovators, students, scientists and activists that aims to enhance women’s participation and leadership in building a sustainable future.

Anai Green’s “Lumiweave” is designed for off-the-grid soft linear light and shade. It can be used in a range of applications, from umbrellas to large canopies.

Green will pilot her material in her home city, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, one of this year’s four hosts of C40 Cities. C40 brings together more than 90 world cities taking action against climate change. The other three innovators to win will trial their products in Lisbon, Stockholm or Los Angeles.

The four will split a $50,000 cash prize, sponsored by the VELUX Group.

Reacting to the win, Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai said, “One of the most pressing issues of concern regarding climate change in Tel Aviv-Yafo is the rising temperature, a great challenge that we will be contending with in the coming years. Lumiweave’s solar shading structures can bring a unique solution to this problem. We are excited to work with Anai Green to test the solution where it is most needed.”

Singer Lenny Kravitz on His Jewish Upbringing: ‘It Was All About Tradition and Keeping That Alive’

American singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz discussed how his Russian Jewish father made sure his upbringing was deeply rooted in Jewish tradition in a new interview with The New York Times.

The Grammy-winning artist, who recently released a memoir titled “Let Love Rule,” described his father, the late TV news producer Sy Kravitz, as “a self-assured Jewish man” whose parents refused to attend his wedding to Caribbean-American actress Roxie Roker, Lenny’s mother. Sty’s family came around only after Lenny was born and named after Sy’s deceased brother, Pfc. Leonard M. Kravitz, the singer previously said.

“I am deeply two-sided,” the “American Woman” singer, 56, wrote in his new memoir. “Black and white. Jewish and Christian. Manhattanite and Brooklynite.”

When asked whether his father had an interest in educating him about Judaism, the singer told The New York Times, “No, he wasn’t that kind of a communicator with me. And he wasn’t religious. As with many Jews in my family at the time, it was all about tradition and keeping that alive, especially after what people in the family had gone through in World War II. But I still got exposed to it, from going to temple and spending the High Holidays with my family at their houses.”

Lenny’s father threw him out of the house when he was 16 and he had no stable home for a few years. The two made peace before Sy died in 2005, “but I can’t say that I understood everything, or accepted it,” the singer noted.

“In writing this book, I got to understand him as a man, instead of looking at him as my father who screwed up in different arenas,” he added. “I ended up liking and loving him even more.”

Hebrew U receives world's largest collection of Holy Land postcards

A collection of 130,000 postcards depicting current-day Israel and Judea and Samaria since the 19th century has been gifted to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the institute said Thursday.

David Pearlman, an 82-year-old retired accountant, began collecting English comic cards as a boy before turning his attention to postcards.

"When I began to see some different cards around the world, I could see that there was a big subject... so I gradually moved over to looking only for cards that featured Palestine," he told Agence France-Presse from his London home.

The collection's first picture postcard dates to 1892. In the years prior to the invention of the telephone, postcards were first and foremost a means of communication, before becoming a way to promote businesses or ideas.

"Most countries were allowing postcards to be sent through the post, half the price of a letter," Pearlman said.

"In the 1890s, as the hotel trade began to grow in Palestine, a number of organizations were beginning to produce cards that portrayed or featured their hotel or business establishment."

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