Roundup

Roundup from page 10

'NaziSexyMouse' Poster
KRAKOW (JTA) -- A huge outdoor art
poster that features Mickey Mouse's
image with a swastika and a nude worn-
an's body has outraged Jewish leaders
and others in a Polish city.
The poster, which went up in June in
the western city of Poznan just steps
from a synagogue, is an Italian artist's
take on what he calls the "horrors" of
the American lifestyle.
"NaziSexyMouse," by Max Papeschi, is
one piece in a contemporary art exhibi-
tion opening in the fall.
The head of Poznan's Jewish com-
munity, Alicja Kobus, 64, said she was
repulsed by the poster. She first saw the
poster after taking Jewish visitors from
Holland to the synagogue, which the
Nazis turned into a swimming pool.
"It is a shock for people who are still
scarred by the hell of the Holocaust," she
told the Associated Press.
Prosecutors say the poster is art and
does not violate the country's laws
against glorifying Nazism.
Gallery director Maria Czarnecka
said, "Art should be provocative and
controversial," she told AP, insisting that
the poster does not seek to propagate
Nazism, but instead wants to explore
"symbols and how they work."
"The Mickey Mouse head and swas-
tika are on the same level — they don't
mean anything, and they are both part
of the globalized world," Czarnecka said.
Papeschi explains on his website that
the series, which he dubs "Politically-
Incorrect," is intended as a commentary
on the United States, revealing "all the
horror of this lifestyle."

'Dancing Auschwitz' Video
SYDNEY (JTA) -- A YouTube video of a
family singing and dancing at Auschwitz
has received more than half a million
hits and mixed reaction.
Australian artist Jane Korman filmed
her 89-year-old father Adolek Kohn, a
former inmate at Auschwitz, and her
three children dancing outside the infa-
mous death camp in Poland, as well as
at the Dachau concentration camp in
Germany, Terezin in the Czech Republic
and other Holocaust memorial sites in
Europe to the tune of Gloria Gaynor's "I
Will Survive."
The video, posted originally last
December, has received mass viral
attention now, skyrocketing to more
than 500,000 hits on the popular video-
sharing website. The video also has
generated more than 3,000 responses,
many of them sympathetic. But some
were scathing; the video also has been

12 July 22 • 2010

exploited by neo-Nazi websites.
Korman, of Melbourne, posted a own
message defending her work.
"To those that I have offended — I
am sorry:' she wrote. "My intention was
to present a fresh perspective to younger
generations who have often become
desensitized to the horrors of the
Holocaust. I hope 'Dancing Auschwitz'
helps keep the lessons of the past alive
so they will be forever remembered."
When she first posted the video
online, Korman wrote, "This dance is
a tribute to the tenacity of the human
spirit and a celebration of life. It is an
affirmation that man can triumph over
the darkest of circumstance and still
strive to find beauty and peace."
In an interview with the BBC this
week, Korman's father said first the fam-
ily prayed for the martyrs. "The dancing
was also very important because we are
alive; we survived," Kohn said.
Not everyone agreed. Kamil Cwiok, 86,
told the Daily Mail, "I don't see how this
video is a mark of respect for the mil-
lions who didn't survive nor for those
who did. It seems to trivialize the hor-
rors that were committed there:'

Israelis Mark Tisha B'Av
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israelis flocked
to Jerusalem's Old City to observe Tisha
b'Av, the fast day that commemorates
the destruction of the Holy Temple.
A new poll released before Tisha b'Av
showed that some 22 percent of Israelis
would fast on the day and another 52
percent would refrain from going out
with friends.
Israeli law requires that recreational
spots be closed on Tisha b'Av; 18 per-
cent of poll respondents called that
"religious coercion."
The Ynet-Gesher poll surveyed 505
Hebrew-speaking Jewish Israelis. It has
a margin of error of 4.4 percent.
Jewish tradition says that the Temple
was destroyed because of baseless
hatred; the poll asked which groups are
the most hated in Israeli society. Fifty-
four percent of respondents answered
Arabs, 37 percent named the haredi
Orthodox, 8 percent religious and 1 per-
cent Tel Avivians.
Some 42 percent of respondents said
they believed that the religious-secular
issue is the worst source of tension in
Israeli society, while 41 percent said it
was the Jewish-Arab situation. Another
9 percent said the worst source of ten-
sion is between settlers and the rest of
the country, while 8 percent said it was
the tension between rich and poor.

Israeli Aces Poker Tourney
LAS VEGAS (JTA) -- A native Israeli
won first place in an event at the World
Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Tomer
Berda, who now lives in Menlo Park,
Calif., where he owns a software research
and development company, took the gold
bracelet in the no-limit hold 'em event.
Berda defeated 197 others to take the
$825,976 first prize.
Ynet reported that Berda was the first
Israeli to win a World Series of Poker
event.
According to the World Series of Poker
website, Berda started playing poker in
2003, and enjoys playing online, but has
started playing more live tournaments in
the last year.
Berda previously had two final table
appearances and four cash wins at the
World Series.

AJCongress In Limbo
NEW YORK (JTA) -- The American
Jewish Congress has suspended its
activities after running out of funds.
The suspension of the venerable Jewish-
American advocacy organization's
activities, confirmed to JTA on Sunday by
acting co-executive director Marc Stern,
comes after months of rumors that the
organization was on the verge of collapse
after losing most of its endowment in the
Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.
The Jerusalem Post had reported in April
that the AJCongress lost as much as 90
percent of its approximately $24 million
endowment in the Madoff scam. Richard
Gordon, the AJCongress president, told
the Post that the group has money in the
bank, but cannot access it now due to the
constraints of its constitution.
The 92-year-old organization is
rumored to be in merger talks with the
American Jewish Committee.

Campus Anti - Semitism
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Members of
Congress signed a letter expressing con-
cern about how the federal Department
of Education is responding to anti-
Semitism on college campuses.
The Zionist Organization of America
lobbied for the letter, which was signed
by 36 lawmakers and sent last week to
Department of Education secretary Arne
Duncan. The letter raised questions
about the department's Office for Civil
Rights' enforcement of Title VI of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In 2004 ZOA requested that the civil
rights' office investigate anti-Semitic
incidents at the University of California,
Irvine. In 2007, after looking into the
allegations, the office concluded that

it could not take action because the
incidents were not based on students'
national origins.
The lawmakers' letter denounced this
decision, saying that the Office for Civil
Rights was not abiding by its own policy
statement.
The office's policy statement says that
it will enforce Title VI for groups that
exhibit both racial and ethnic character-
istics, such as Jews. Title VI ensures that
recipients of federal funding, including
public and most private universities, keep
their programming free from racial and
ethnic discrimination.
University of California President Mark
Yudof said the ZOA's claims were exag-
gerated.
"[I will] do everything in my power
to protect Jewish and all other students
from threats or actions of intolerance he
said in a July 6 statement.
The letter was written following a
briefing for congressional staff about
anti-Semitism on college campuses orga-
nized by Robert Klein, D-Fla., co-chair-
man of the Congressional Task Force on
Anti-Semitism.
Speakers at the briefing included rep-
resentatives from ZOA, the American
Jewish Committee and Hillel: The
Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.

Would Obama Concern Herzl?
Congregation Beth Ahm in West
Bloomfield, invites lifelong learners to
hear Prof. Howard N. Lupovitch, explor-
ing the life of Zionism's founder, Theodor
Herzl, born 150 years ago.
The next lecture, 7:30-9 p.m. Tuesday,
July 27, is on Herzl's role
as a student of interna-
tional diplomacy: "Herzl
as Diplomat — Would
He Be Concerned About
President Obama?"
The following week's
lecture, "Herzl and the
Future of American
Professor
Jewry — Optimist
Lupovitch
or Pessimist?" is on
Tuesday, Aug. 3.
The series concludes Aug. 10
with "Herzl as Founder/Organizer
— How Important was the First Zionist
Congress?"
Each lecture can be attended indepen-
dently. Advance registration is encour-
aged. If registering on the night of the
lecture, arrive 15 minutes early. Payments
may be made in cash, check (payable to
Beth Ahm), MasterCard or Visa.
To register, contact Nancy Kaplan:
(248) 737-1931, or nancyellen879@att.
net.