SAN DIEGO (SDJW) Although Chanukah doesn’t begin until the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 25, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue of New York symbolically lit a chanukiah at President Joe Biden’s last White House celebration of the Jewish holiday. Biden said above all, he has learned one message from Jewish people: “We can never lose hope.”
He added: “Next week you’ll light the eight candles on your menorahs. My final Chanukah message to you is this: As president, this is to hold onto that hope. Shine your light. Shine the light of optimism. And above all, keep the faith.” …
Jewish Insider reported that Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff vowed, “Tonight I am rededicating myself to fighting antisemitism and hatred of all kinds. I’m going to continue to show up for our community when these challenges persist.”
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Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee), who had polio as a child, said on News Nation that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “embrace of vaccine conspiracies and fears and his talking about connection to autism and vaccines which apparently the president [Trump] has bought does not exist. The theory that was debunked in the 90s by some tainted and fraudulent study in Denmark, he still talks about it.” … Dr. Peter Salk, son of polio vaccine discoverer Dr. Jonas Salk and himself a professor of infectious diseases and public health, told CNN he was pleased that Trump and Kennedy have voiced support for the polio vaccine, which “has done such a wonderful job.” He also said that there is no cause and effect between vaccines and autism. “Autism begins in the womb before a child is ever immunized against anything,” he said.
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Rahm Emanuel served as the White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration, then as mayor of Chicago, and currently as U.S. ambassador to Japan. In an OpEd for The Washington Post, he wrote that Donald Trump seized upon a “groundswell of resentment (that) had been simmering for years” over inflation, wages and wealth inequity. In contrast, the Democratic party has been blind to the rising sea of disillusionment. In today’s America, aspiration and ambition have been supplanted by anger and animosity. Talk about missing the moment.”
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Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) gave up his position as ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee to run for a similar position on the House Judiciary Committee, from which Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) has agreed to step down. Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia) defeated Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) by a margin of 131-84 in a Democratic caucus vote to choose Raskin’s Oversight and Accountability successor.
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Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego) was the only Jewish member of Congress among 20 who signed an appeal to halt weapons shipments to Israel in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The two Muslim members of Congress, Democrats Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, signed the letter as did Democratic “Squad” members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Ayanna Presley, and Jamal Bowman. The letter promulgated by Rep. Greg Cesar (D-Texas) and Summer Lee (D-Pennsylvania) said, in part, “We believe continuing to transfer offensive weapons to the Israeli government prolongs the suffering of the Palestinian people and risks our own national security by sending a message to the world that the U.S. will apply its laws, policies and international law selectively. Furthermore, a failure to act will put Israeli lives in danger by prolonging Netanyahu’s war, isolating Israel on the international stage, and creating further instability in the region.” The letter comes as Israeli, U.S., and Arab sources have expressed optimism that a Gaza ceasefire may be in the offing before the end of the month.
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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a visit to the Syrian side of Mount Hermon said Israeli forces will remain there “until another arrangement is found that guarantees Israel’s security.” Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu was a soldier who in 1971 patrolled the same place. He said “Its importance to Israel’s security has only been reinforced in recent years, and especially in recent weeks with the dramatic events taking place here below us in Syria. We will determine the best arrangement that will ensure our security.”
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Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Tuesday, “After we subdue the military and political power of Hamas in Gaza, Israel will exercise security control in Gaza with full freedom of operation, exactly as in Judea and Samaria. We will not allow any organized terror against Israeli settlements or Israeli citizens from Gaza. We will not allow a return to the situation before October 7.”
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U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken stating: “Sudan is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the continuing conflict is slowly extinguishing the light of hope for tens of millions of Sudanese inside and outside the country.” He urged Blinken “to take the opportunity to ensure the UNSC (United Nations Security Council) moves beyond discussion and begins to pursue more meaningful action to save lives and prevent further atrocities in Sudan.” The U.S. holds the rotating presidency this month of the U.N Security Council. A meeting on Sudan is scheduled on Thursday.
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Sara Funaro, daughter of a Catholic mother and a Jewish father, at 26 formally converted to her father’s Judaism. Today, she is the first woman and the first Jew to be the mayor of Florence, Italy. Her maternal grandfather Piero Bargellini was Florence’s mayor in the 1960s. According to the Jewish Telegraph Agency, Jews account for approximately 1,000 people among the city’s population of 350,000.
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Gary Weitzman, president and CEO of the San Diego Humane Society, responding to concerns that his agency releases into neighborhoods cats that could otherwise be adopted by families, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the society is “deeply committed to the welfare of animals and our community, and we stand firmly behind the science and the expertise of animal welfare professionals that demonstrate the value, effectiveness, and legality of our Community Cat Program.”
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Preceding compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff,