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The opinions expressed on this webpage represent those of the individual authors and, unless clearly labeled as such, do not represent the opinions or policies of TBS. Guns or no guns at synagogue? Recently, the US antisemitism envoy, Elan Carr, stated that guards should be posted at every synagogue and Jewish community center in the US. The question was asked: Should the guards be armed? By MICHAEL MASTERS national director and CEO of the Secure Community Network August 1, 2019 There were 27 mass attacks in public spaces in 2018, according to the United States Secret Service. One of those occurred on October 27 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where 11 people were murdered. Exactly six months later, an individual walked into another synagogue in Poway, California, and opened fire with an assault rifle. His attack was interrupted and he fled. The reality of these attacks has…

The opinions expressed on this webpage represent those of the individual authors and, unless clearly labeled as such, do not represent the opinions or policies of TBS. Coffee Houses Open on Shabbat… With Rabbinic Approval Records from 18th century Prague show that the opening of Jewish coffee houses on Shabbat enjoyed the approval of the city’s rabbinic leadership. Dr. Maoz Kahana | June 16, 2019 |     A Game of Draughts at Cafe Lamblin by Louis Leopold Boilly In the middle of the eighteenth century, religious life in the Jewish community of Prague was at its high point, with nine well-known synagogues and dozens of study houses. But at the same time that the learned men of Prague were producing vast Torah scholarship and the yeshivas were bustling with students, another institution was gaining popularity – the coffee house. Coffee houses became popular soon after coffee’s arrival in Western…

The opinions expressed on this webpage represent those of the individual authors and, unless clearly labeled as such, do not represent the opinions or policies of TBS.                        ANTISEMITISM THEN AND NOW                  Dedicated to Robert Wistrich and Vidal Sassoon With the growth of Worldwide and Domestic Jew Hatred/Antisemitism not seen since the “30s,” Paul Weinberg of ALDEN FILMS* delivers an hour long talk on how Antisemitism started and why it’s become an issue again 74 years after the Holocaust. Also discussed are responses to this avalanche of hate.  https://youtu.be/h7fO0D0jLD8 *ALDEN FILMS distributes the lectures on DVD of the Vidal Sassoon International Institute For The Study Of Antisemitism Of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ALDEN FILMS has published a catalogue available online and in print on Antisemitism   Antisemitism, that cruel word that evokes visions of the Holocaust, pogroms, expulsions, ghettos, and the stark Jew hatred of the Gentile…

The opinions expressed on this webpage represent those of the individual authors and, unless clearly labeled as such, do not represent the opinions or policies of TBS. Shavuot: The lesson of the cheesecake I remain inspired by the biblical figure of Naomi in the book of Ruth, the story we read each Shavuot. By DIANA BLETTER - June 9, 2019        A cheesecake. (photo credit: PIXABAY)   Every Shavuot – the biblical harvest festival when it is customary to eat dairy foods – our small beach village in the Western Galilee used to hold a cheesecake contest. A few years ago, my New York-born younger son, Ari, decided to enter his New York-style cheesecake. Not from me did his inspiration come: my idea of a perfect homemade dessert is always one that is baked by somebody else.Ari, then a soldier in the Israeli Army and on home leave,…