Blog Archives
Jew Roundup
The Phoenix New Times has reached a new low in its publication of Jew Roundup by Michael Lacey. At the request of a congregant, my Rabbi wrote the following response, Letter to the Editor, to the Phoenix New Times and encourages others who find the material as reprehensible as he does to contact them, complain about the article, and demand an apology and retraction of the material.
In addition to calling the Phoenix New Times at 602-271-0040, you can also email the editor by clicking this link.
As Rabbi Lavinsky points out, it is not the racism of this post alone that is troubling, but also,
The publication of this article just a few days before Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, highlights just how clueless the New Times is to the sensibility of a people that has already done more than their share of suffering over the years.
Jew and non-Jew alike, please take a moment to read Rabbi Lavinsky’s Letter to the Editor, and contact the editor yourself.
We must not be silent.
Euthan Simpson
After much curiosity and a desire to satisfy it, I found information about two of the ships my grandfather Euthan Ambrose Simpson served.
The first was the USS Wasp (CV-7). Info can be read about it here. It was torpedoed and sunk September 15, 1942.
Surviving the attack, he was immediately transferred to the USS Hornet (CV-8). It can be read about here. My grandfather fought on the ship in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. This ship was attacked on October 26, 1942 and sunk the next day.
I can’t imagine what he went through. The fire on board the Kennedy was scary, but it is difficult to imagine surviving two attacks, much less one, and staying in the Navy afterward. He was a very quiet man, and now I understand why.
If you happen to have any information about these ships please post in the comments or contact me.
Neo-Nazi march blocked in Dresden
Here’s a really cool article from the JTA about 10,000 protestors stopping a neo-nazi march in Germany’s eastern town of Dresden. You can read the full article here.
While most of the protestors were peaceful and simply formed a human chain to prevent the neo-nazis from moving forward some became violent, physically blocking their progress by burning trash bins and destroying the vehicles they had traveled in. This is my favorite part of the article,
Ultimately, police informed the right-wing marchers that authorities could not guarantee their safety, and urged them to call off the march.
I love reading these types of things and am especially thrilled by this because it happened in Germany. It’s poetic that the nation that caused the destruction of 6 million Jews has stopped what Lena Roth calls “the biggest neo-Nazi march in Europe.”
What’s even more amazing about this is that it all happened on the 65th anniversary of Dresden’s bombing, killing an estimated 25,000 civilians. At a time when it would be so easy to let the gears of war turn, 10,000 people turned the gears of peace.
