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Standing beneath the statue of John Harvard, graduating Harvard Law School students Alexander Chester (r) and Darrell Bennett (l) made the case for the University's divestiture from Iran in the December 11, 2009 The Harvard Crimson. They then lobbied the 37 Harvard alumni who are members of Congress last February for their support. |
W J O’Reilly’s video commentary on politics, education and the media are often seen on CNN. He is a partner of Harvard College’s Center for Public Interest Careers and a Professor of English at Touro College in NYC.
When Harvard pulls its endowment money or divests itself from companies that do business with nations that are on the wrong side of human rights issues—like the Sudan or South Africa in the days of apartheid—others watch, and they may well follow suit. Today, it is Iran’s nuclear brinksmanship which makes a persuasive argument for divestiture, and a group of budding lawyers, undergrads and alumni are pulling for just that.
The group is hoping to push the University to divest from companies that do business with Tehran’s energy sector and slow the clock on its ability to produce nuclear weapons. That would be a good thing. At present, Morehouse College is the sole divestor from Iran among American colleges. Many believe Harvard’s divestiture will create the momentum that will produce a domino effect eliciting support among American and international universities.
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Ambassador Dr. Peter Wittig, Permanent Representative of Germany to the UN.
Photo: Gloria Starr Kins
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Germany’s UN Ambassador, Dr. Peter Wittig’s Speech at the UN Holocaust Remembrance
Mr. Under-Secretary-General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Martin Weiss and his eight brothers and sisters grew up in a Jewish family in the village of Polana in Slovakia. When he and his family were deported to the extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944, he was 15 years old.
He later recounted their arrival, and I quote, “If you ever saw bedlam, or if you could imagine hell, that must have been it. Because everybody was trying to hold on to their children; they tried to hold on to each other.”
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Nechama Tec, a survivor, shown in top photo, with her son, Roland. Both are the producers of the hit movie “Defiance”.
Photo: Gloria Starr Kins |
Speech by Prof. Nechama Tec, Keynote Speaker, UN Holocaust Memorial Ceremony and Concert at the General Assembly Hall
I welcome this opportunity to reconnect my personal Holocaust experiences to my Holocaust research which concentrates on the less known aspects of the Holocaust such as compassion, altruism, self-preservation, rescue, resistance, cooperation and gender.
I was born in Poland in a city called Lublin that in 1939 had a Jewish population of 40,000. In 1945 only 150 Jews returned. Among these returnees there were only three intact families. My family was one of them.
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By William Rapfogel, CEO and exec. dir. of Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty
Met Council Opens the Third Kosher Soup Kitchen in NYC |
Jews have historically cared for the needy and sheltered the poor, through charitable giving and through founding and supporting organizations that fed, housed, visited, cured and lifted those who could not help themselves.
But what about the poor Jews - the lonely widows, the misbegotten immigrants, the large families that struggled for food - are they sufficiently sheltered and taken care of? In our persistent belief in the wealth and strength of the Jewish community, have we forgotten about the high numbers of Jews who are poor?
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JCRC’s Executive Vice President, Michael Miller.
Photo: Gloria Starr-Kins |
With over 60 Jewish organizations under its umbrella, the Jewish Community Relations Council-New York (JCRC) exhibits great influence and implementation of the Jewish consensus on key issues. And while Jews make-up a tiny proportion of the world's population, the Big-Apple boasts of a big Jewish population. So the JCRC sure has its work cut out for it. Question: How does the JCRC juggle its many divisions and subdivisions and maintain as well as grow its out-reach and goodwill efforts? Answer: through dedication to bettering the Jewish community and raising awareness of problems and bridging the gap and easing the tension within and among communities --and of course its personable, passionate touch.
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Bill Gates at the Hebrew University |
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases has received a $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for research into visceral leishmaniasis. The project will be led by Professor Alon Warburg, a vector biologist at the Hebrew University's Faculty of Medicine, and will include experts from Hebrew University’s Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.
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Members of the Assembly, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters,
On April 11, 1995, 50 years to the day of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp, I was invited to Buchenwald, very near Weimar - the city of culture in Germany, eastern part of Germany. Buchenwald was a suburb of Weimar. It is an eight-minute walk from the National Theatre of Weimar, the city centre, to the gate of Buchenwald, where a slogan is written on the gate: "Everyone to His Destiny".
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It is with deep emotion that I stand here on this world stage to tell my story. Thank you for an invitation that honors not only those who are here, but the memory of those who are not. For all Holocaust survivors, this is a moment of ultimate redemption. I still cannot fathom the mysterious coincidence of January 27th being proclaimed by the UN as the International Day of Holocaust Commemoration, and how amazing it was to receive an invitation to testify on this very date. Because it was on January 27th 1942 - exactly 67 years ago - that I was left an orphan alone in the world. Read More...
"The things we all aspire to, they did." So said Ruthie Golan, friend of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Goldberg, Chabad-Lubavitch leaders in Mumbai,
India at an evening of remembrance for them
and the Indians killed by the Muslim terrorist
attacks throughout the capital recently In a
program sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council [JCRC], held at Queensborough Community College, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Jews showed unanimous solidarity with Mumbai. A joint statement was signed "as a beacon of hope and as a voice of defiance to unbridled hatred." Read More...
