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Roundup from page 8
Her most well-known composition,"Mi
Shebeirach," a Hebrew-English version of the
Jewish prayer for healing, is now part of the
Reform liturgy. She was named to the School
of Sacred Music faculty in 2007.
HUC's cantorial school in New York was
established in 1948 and has invested 462
cantors.
'Veto U.N. Resolution'
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- U.S. House of
Representatives leaders urged President
Obama to veto a proposed U.N. Security
Council resolution that slams Israel on settle-
ments and urges a return to direct Israeli-
Palestinian talks.
"We are deeply concerned about the
Palestinian leadership's decision to reject
the difficult but vital responsibility of
making peace with Israel through direct
negotiations, and instead to advocate for
anti-Israel measures by the United Nations
Security Council and other international
forums," says the letter sent Jan. 26.
The letter was initiated by Rep. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of
the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and
signed by Reps. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the major-
ity leader; Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the minority
leader; and Howard Berman, D-Calif., the
ranking Democrat on Ros-Lehtinen's com-
mittee as well as the lead congressman on its
Middle East subcommittee.
"We respectfully request that the
Administration continue and increase
pressure on the Palestinian leadership to
return, immediately and unconditionally,
to direct negotiations with Israel," the letter
says, "continue and increase pressure on
the Palestinian leadership to cease pursu-
ing anti-Israel measures in international
forums; declare that Palestinian failure
to take these steps would have significant
negative consequences for United States
policy towards the Palestinians; and pledge
in response to this letter to veto any U.N.
Security Council resolution that criticizes
Israel regarding final status issues."
The resolution in question, reportedly
drafted by the Palestinian delegation, does
not address final-status issues and urges a
return to direct talks.
The Obama administration has said it
opposes the resolution, but has not said it
will veto it. The Anti-Defamation League on
Friday urged the administration to make
public its intention to veto the resolution.
St. Martin Synagogue
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) -- The Jewish com-
munity of St. Martin opened its first syna-
gogue since the 18th century.
The synagogue, part of a new Chabad
Center on the Caribbean island operated by
Rabbi Moshe and Sara Chanowitz, is based
10 February 3 y 2011
in a 1,200-square-foot office space that
once housed a church. Opening ceremonies
were held Jan. 3.
The Chanowitzes moved to the Dutch-
owned island in 2009 to serve its 300
Jewish residents. The Jewish population
swells to 1,000 or so during the tourist
season.
Jews first came to the island as refugees
from the Spanish Inquisition, and the com-
munity grew during the 16th and 17th cen-
turies. The lone synagogue was abandoned
in 1781 and later destroyed by a hurricane.
A historic Jewish cemetery also was
recently discovered, according to chabad.
org.
Giffords Condition Upgraded
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Rep. Gabrielle
Giffords, her condition upgraded to "good,"
has been moved from a hospital to a reha-
bilitation center.
Giffords, D-Ariz., who was shot in the
head on Jan. 8 while meeting constituents
in Tucson, was moved from a Houston
hospital Jan. 26 to the city's Institute for
Rehabilitation and Research. Doctors said
her condition was now "good."
Giffords, accompanied by her husband,
Mark Kelly, had watched from her hospital
the previous evening as President Obama
sent her best wishes at the outset of his
State of the Union address.
Jared Loughner, who was arrested after
the shooting, has pleaded not guilty to
federal charges. Six people were killed in
the attack and 13, including Giffords, were
injured.
Giffords is the first Jewish woman elected
in Arizona to federal office.
LGBT Workplace Policies
NEW YORK (JTA) -- A national initiative is
underway to examine gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender workplace policies at
Jewish nonprofit organizations.
The Human Rights Campaign
Foundation, which advocates for LGBT
equality, announced an extension of its
workplace equality project in the Jewish
nonprofit sector. Organizations will be
examined for their workplace policies
regarding LGBT employees; and areas that
need education will be highlighted.
The HRC notes that employees can be
fired for their sexual orientation in 29
states, and for their gender identity or
expression in 38 states. Information on
current practices at nonprofits is largely
unavailable.
This project will serve as a pilot to
expand workplace equality into other non-
profits and small employers.
"The continued marginalization of
LGBT Jews in some quarters is especially
disheartening for those of us who believe
Kosher Subs In Southfield
Micky Klein and Henna Klainberq, both from Southfield, customize their
submarine sandwiches at the newly opened Jerusalem Subs, three doors down
from Jerusalem Pizza at Greenfield and Lincoln in Southfield and under the
same ownership. The 28-seat kosher restuarant features vegetarian and meat
subs, soups, salads and cookies. Its phone number is (248) 423-4400 and its
menu can be perused at jsubsonline.com .
— Shell! Dorfman, senior writer
in the power of a fully inclusive Jewish
community that embraces every person as
having equal and infinite merit," said Lynn
Schusterman, chair of the Charles and Lynn
Schusterman Family Foundation, which
provided the lead grant for the project.
Supporting grants come from Morning
Star Foundation, Stuart Kurlander and an
anonymous donor.
An initial report is expected in 2012
NHL Religious Discrimination?
LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- A Jewish hockey
player has sued the National Hockey League's
Anaheim Ducks for religious discrimination
and harassment based on religion.
Jason Bailey, 23, in a Jan. 25 lawsuit filed
in California's Orange County Superior
Court, accused the coaches of one of the
Ducks' affiliate teams of making anti-
Semitic remarks and harassment.
Bailey said he was subjected to "a barrage
of anti-Semitic, offensive and degrading
verbal attacks regarding his Jewish faith"
by Martin Raymond, head coach of the
Bakersfield Condors. The suit says assistant
head coach Mark Pederson also made anti-
Semitic remarks about Bailey.
The suit claims that Bailey was the vic-
tim of religious discrimination, harassment
based on religion, intentional infliction of
emotional distress and retaliation. It asserts
that he lost income, benefits and suffered
humiliation, according to CNN.
Bailey was drafted by the Ducks in 2005,
but has not played in the NHL. He was
traded last year and now plays right wing
for the Binghamton Senators, a farm team
for the Ottawa Senators.
European
Anti-Semitism
BRUSSELS (JTA) -- With
anti-Semitism on the rise
more than six decades
after the liberation of
Auschwitz, Europe should
be fighting harder against
Moshe Kantor
hate, Moshe Kantor said.
The president of the European Jewish
Congress, who spoke on Jan. 25 in Brussels at
a Holocaust remembrance ceremony hosted
by the European Union Parliament, brought
this message to Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orban, president of the E.U. Council.
According to Kantor, who organized the
Holocaust remembrance event, the two met
earlier in the day to discuss how to deal with
Hungary's anti-Semitic, far-right Jobbik
party, as well as Orban's controversial new
media watch-dog law, which critics consider
anti-democratic.
Dina Porat, head of the new Kantor Center
for the Study of Contemporary European
Jewry in Tel Aviv, said anti-Semitism was
particularly problematic in Western Europe,
which has a larger Muslim population than
the central and eastern European countries.
"Most of them want to live their lives like
anyone else," she told JTA. But the radicals
among them tend to pick up Christian anti-
Semitic motifs.
And in democratic countries, where you
have media freedom, such propaganda can
proliferate," Porat explained.
Democratic countries cannot afford to be
"tolerant of intolerance,' Kantor said, adding
that Europe should have "zero tolerance" for
anti-Semitism.