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Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement. Now also a Blogger on the Times of Israel. Look for my column

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Why I Will Continue to Celebrate George Washington, Despite His Flaws

By Alan M. Dershowitz

Amidst the calls to cancel George Washington and tear down his statutes, we must remember George Washington's unparalleled contributions to Jewish equality not only in the United States but in the world at large. Yes, Washington, like most wealthy Virginians in his time, owned slaves — they were freed upon his death and that of his wife — but he should not be judged by that flaw alone. His contribution to the full equality of American Jews, which ultimately spread throughout much of the world, is understated in most histories. A bit of background and context is required to fully understand what Washington did.

Most American Jews and many non-Jews, are familiar with Washington's famous letter to the Jewish synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island in August 21, 1790. He wrote the following about the equality of Jews in our new nation:

All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support…May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.

What is not widely understood is the state of the law in Britain and its colonies regarding Jews up through the middle of the 19^th century. Not only did Jews lack equality in Great Britain, they also lacked equality in the colonies, including the American colonies. In 1753, Parliament enacted "The Jew Bill." The law provided that Jews residing in Britain or in any "of his majesties colonies in America" may become citizens "without receiving the sacrament of the Lord's supper." I own an original copy of that revolutionary law that promised to pave the way to legal equality for Jews. Before that law, Jews were anything but equal in Great Britain. Recall that they had been expelled in 1290 and returned in relatively small numbers only during the reign of Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century. Discrimination against them was still rampant.

Jews celebrated their equality under the law after the passage of the 1753 legislation, but their celebration would be short-lived.

The reaction to "The Jew law" was virulent antisemitism from the media, from members of Parliament and from many British citizens. Within months there was a movement to rescind the law and soon thereafter it was, in fact, completely rescinded, thus leaving Jews in the situation they were in before its enactment. This meant that no Jew — whether in Britain or America — could be a member of Parliament, or even a British citizen, unless they renounced their faith and adopted Christianity. Infamously, Benjamin Disraeli, who was born a Jew, had to convert to the Church of England before he could become a member of Parliament and ultimately the Prime Minister.

The American Revolution, with its Declaration of Independence, pronouncing that all men are created equal, was followed by the adoption of the Constitution which provided that no religious test should be required to hold office "under the United States." But several states still had religious tests that excluded Jews from some of the most important benefits of citizenship. That is where the status of Jews stood when Washington wrote his influential letter in 1790. It declared, in no uncertain terms, that discrimination against Jews will not be tolerated and that Jews must be treated as first-class citizens for every purpose. It was the first such broad and detailed pronouncement in the history of the world.

The Bill of Rights, adopted in 1791, further protected the free exercise of religion and precluded the federal government from establishing any form of Christianity (or any other religion) as the official religion of the government. But individual states were still free to "establish" various denominations of Christianity as their official religion. It took decades for Jews to achieve real equality all through the United States, but it might not have happened without George Washington's bold and unequivocal pronouncement.

So I for one will continue to celebrate Washington, while criticizing his ownership of enslaved people. No one should be surprised that our founding fathers and mothers, like the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of our Torah, were imperfect great human beings.

Let The Shofar Blow- Shofar Blowing Ceremony from Mount of Olives

The Shofar is mentioned in the bible more than any other musical
instrument.

The voice of God on Mount Sinai;
The sound of liberty in the Jubilee year;
The ammunition in the hands of Joshua's people conquering Jericho and of
Gideon's army fighting the Midianites;
The music of King David accompanying the Holy Ark to Jerusalem;
The coronation ceremony of anointing King Solomon;
The prophetic cry out to God in distress;
Victories, rituals, sanctification, inagurations, going to war,
assembling the People, burial;
From the heralding call declaring the redemption of Zion, Jerusalem and
Israel all the way to ushering in The Messiah.

The prophet Joel repeats again and again that in times of unprecedented
universal challenges, the people are to blow the shofar in Zion.
Today we are facing an unprecedented worldwide pandemic, that has
brought on economic and social crises.

We have been blessed that in our age the Jewish People have returned to
their homeland, Jerusalem has been declared the undivided capital and
foundation stone of all faith, and the Temple Mount is in our hands.

Now the time has come to demand:
LET THE SHOFAR BLOW!
Let the Shofar blow on Mount Zion, the throne and castle of The Lord.
Let the shofar blow from all over the planet.
Let the shofar blow and call out to the Lord in the name of all
humanity.
Get your own Shofar and support Shalom Jerusalem Foundation blowing the
shofar of redemption all over the world!

Democrats Destroyed New York Once. They're Doing It Again.

By Daniel Greenfield

During the 1980s, the place where George Washington stood with his men as the Declaration of Independence was read out loud, had become a grimy hellhole full of junkies, crazies, and muggers.

City Hall Park, nestled between the Woolworth Building, once the tallest building in the world, and the modest capital building of what had been the greatest city in the world, had become the tragic symbol of its decline. Under Democrats, the park was dirty and unsafe during the day, and even worse at night. Tourists couldn't believe that junkies and muggers prowled right outside the halls of city government.

"When I was United States Attorney from 1983 to 1989, almost every day I would look out my window and see City Hall Park. And I would see a park that looked terrible. And it seemed to me that people say something about themselves when they let the most important area of their city look bad and deteriorated," Mayor Giuliani said at the park's rededication.

The renovation put up a replica of the 1820s fence, brought in a Victorian fountain, and restored the statue of Nathan Hale, the patriot who was hung elsewhere in Manhattan, though many other patriots were executed by the British on a gallows a few hundred feet away. The renovation remade City Hall Park from a symbol of despair to hope and symbolized the rebirth of New York City.

Now, garbage and filth are spread out everywhere, along with posters of George Floyd and BLM graffiti.

"I promised then that we would restore City Hall Park to the beauty that it had in the 19th century, so that it could symbolize the regeneration, the rebirth, the reinvention of the city of New York," Giuliani said in his speech, calling it a "a final gift from the 20th century to New Yorkers of the 21st."

The gift has been rejected by the radicals and racists who have taken over New York and hate beauty.

The sidewalks have been defaced, everything is covered in graffiti, and the sacred ground over which the grass lies is littered with tents, sleeping bags, and soiled with worse things by Occupy City Hall.

The walls of the beautiful Surrogate's Courthouse's building, a Beaux Arts confection inspired by the Paris Opera, have been covered in hateful Black Lives Matter slogans, including "Kill Pigs", and if you stop by at the right time, you can see a dummy in a police uniform and a pig mask being hung.

The occupiers renamed the historic park, Abolition Park, demanding the abolition of the NYPD, while behind them are the ghosts of two fallen towers where so many of New York's Finest gave their lives.

Instead, great buildings are scrawled with the names of criminals who died in confrontations with police.

The resurrection of City Hall Park was a symbol of hope, its transformation into Abolition Park by its new occupiers is a symbol of darkness and despair. While the Democrats and their media allies cheered the defilement of the park, the consequences of turning back the clock on New York City quickly kicked in.

One of the occupiers went after a camera crew and a reporter was hit in the face with a 2-by-4.

That was one of a number of violent encounters between the occupiers and the media. City Hall Park has become so dangerous that government employees and local residents who had paid top dollar to live in some of the area's new luxury skyscrapers avoid it. And the occupiers, many of whom are vagrants and junkies, have taken to staging violent battles with each other in full view of the police.

The occupiers claim that the problems are the result of "unlearning and relearning" things like ownership and safety. What they're actually relearning is the same thing that their nearby Occupy Wall Street predecessors had learned about what happens when you set up an illegal encampment.

Get rid of the police, and the junkies, the pushers, and the crazies come back.

In the City Hall Park area, the police have been defunded, and are referring all complaints to Mayor Bill de Blasio's office. Local residents claim that the NYPD has been told by De Blasio not to interfere.

City Hall Park has a long history of violent unrest by Democrat thugs.

During the Civil War, a mob of Democrats had descended on the New York Tribune building, currently the site of the Pace University tower on the other side of City Hall Park. Horace Greeley, whose statue is one of those still standing in the park, had run the preeminent Republican newspaper of the day.

Democrat thugs had attacked police precincts and were coming for the Republicans in the Tribune.

Henry Jarvis Raymond, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, and co-founder of the New York Times, set up Gatling guns to take on the Democrat mob.

The rioting and looting tore apart the city because New York's Democrat leaders, like their successors today, had made common cause with the mob and were hoping that the unrest would contribute to Lincoln's defeat. While the Democrats were willing to let the city burn, President Lincoln acted.

The military set up artillery at City Hall Park, business owners armed their workers to protect their stores, and forty-pound bombshells from the Navy were even set up to be launched. Soldiers used bayonets and howitzers and broke the Democrat mob rioting and looting across New York City.

Governor Seymour, the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and the party's future presidential candidate, who had called the rioters, "my friends", went down to defeat next year.

That is how Republicans used to deal with Democrat riots.

"I stood on the steps of City Hall and I looked out at this park, as I had done many, many times, and what I saw was not the kind of park that New York City should have," Giuliani said at the rededication. "That day I led everyone in reciting the Athenian Oath of Fealty, to the city of Athens," And the final words of that oath are, 'To pledge to transmit this city, not only not less, but far greater and more beautiful, than it was transmitted to us.'"

Bill de Blasio, a crony of Dinkins, whose support for rioters and criminals had brought the city to its knees, came to office with a very different message that declared that New York City was racist.

The era of New York City's rebirth, of public safety, of clean streets and nice parks, was over.

Giuliani had left City Hall Park as a legacy of what he had stood for. De Blasio is leaving City Hall Park, with its needles and human waste, its hateful Black Lives Matter graffiti and violent fights, as his legacy.

But it's not just Bill de Blasio's legacy. It's the legacy that the Democrats have always left. Whether it was in 1863 or 1963, the urban legacy of the Democrats is crime, riots, and blight. And if you doubt that New York City is a Democrat hellhole once more, look at a photo of City Hall Park now and then.

That's not just what the Democrats have done to the place where George Washington once stood.

It's what they've done to the great cities of this nation. And it's what they intend to do to America.

Once again, just as in 1863, Republicans are the only thing standing between the Democrats and the utter ruin of a great city and a great nation at the hands of violent mobs and its Democrat leaders.

US Department of Justice Takes Action Against New York Village Targeting Orthodox Jews

By Faygie Levy Holt

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York sent a letter Monday notifying the Village of Airmont in Rockland County, N.Y., that they plan to file suit against the village on the grounds that are violating terms of the Federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA).

RLUIPA, as the law is commonly referred to, was created in part to ensure that municipalities did not create zoning or landmarking laws that would discriminate against religious institutions or "unreasonably" limit religious structures or assembly within in a jurisdiction.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said in its letter that the Village's zoning code "substantially burdens, discriminates against and unreasonably limits the practice of religion by the Village's Orthodox Jewish community."

In a statement, Agudath Israel of America said it is "grateful that the [U.S.] Justice Department is prepared to take all steps necessary to fight religious discrimination and ensure religious liberty."

The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Committee also praised the move. In a statement, the OJPCA said that "the Village of Airmont was created three decades ago essentially to abuse government power against Orthodox Jews. Time and again, the DOJ stepped in to stop it, and here we are again because the essence of the village has not changed."

The Village of Airmont is no stranger to allegations that it discriminates against Orthodox Jews. Its establishment in 1991 was considered by some as a way to take control over local zoning ordinances and limit the construction of houses of worship. Since Torah-observant Jews don't drive on Saturday (Shabbat) and most Jewish holidays, they often live within walking distance of a congregation.

By denying the construction of synagogues, many believed that village officials were effectively trying to keep out the Orthodox.

In fact, the federal government's first lawsuit against Airmont was in 1991 under the Fair Housing Act when officials claimed that the village had been "incorporated for the purpose of excluding Orthodox Jews through zoning restrictions on their places of worship."

The U.S. Attorney's letter also notes that Airmont is the subject of two federal lawsuits claiming religious discrimination—Central UTA (United Talmudic Academy) v. Village of Airmont and Congregation of Ridnik v. Village of Airmont.

It further states that the village violated a previous judgment against it to "recognize the category of 'residential place of worship,' a category which has been removed from the Village's zoning code."

"We will briefly delay filing the complaint if the Village is willing to negotiate a resolution of this matter through a consent decree that would be filed simultaneously with the complaint," Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss wrote, adding that the lawsuit will be filed no later than Sept. 15. "We hope to solve this matter through an amicable settlement, rather than through potentially costly and protracted litigation."

Attorney Brian Sokoloff, partner and co-founder of Sokoloff Stern, LLP, which is representing the Village of Airmont, said that it doesn't comment on pending or threatened litigation. He also replied with "no comment" when asked if he was surprised that issues regarding RLIUPA continue to be at issue.

Sokoloff said that the Village had won a previous lawsuit filed by the United Talmudical Academy in state court. He added that the federal court has dismissed "large portions" of the Central UTA lawsuit. Sokoloff Stern has also made a motion to dismiss the case by the Congregation of Ridnik.

Hebrew University Uncovers Secrets of Mysterious Brain Structure

By Jewish Press News Desk

Do you remember where you were when you first heard that two planes had crashed into New York's Twin Towers? Or where you had your first kiss? Our brains are wired to retain information that relates to the context in which highly significant events occurred. This mechanism also underlies drug addiction and is the reason why hanging out in an environment or with people associated with memories of drug use often leads to relapse.

How our brains create this strong association, however, is less clear. Now, new research by Professor Ami Citri and PhD student Anna Terem at Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)'s Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Science, shows that a relatively obscure brain region known as the claustrum plays a significant role in making these connections. They published their findings in the latest edition of Current Biology.

The researchers' findings fit the idea of "incentive salience," the process that determines the desirability of an otherwise neutral stimulus. For example, a candy store façade becomes very attractive to kids after repeated associations with the rewarding treats that lie within. In time, children unconsciously learn to "want" to see the store stimulus, which is separate from their "liking" the actual candy reward. Taking a closer look at how context becomes associated with cocaine, the researchers found a group of neurons within the claustrum that lit up during cocaine use. Further, these neurons are pivotal in the formation of an incentive salience that links context with the pleasure of cocaine.

To determine when and how the claustrum participates in incentive salience, Citri and his team employed a conditioned-place preference (CPP) test for a group of lab mice. During this test, the mice learned to associate reward with context. The researcher administered cocaine to the mice and placed them in an area with distinctive flooring (rugged) and wall patterns (dots), ones that a mouse would notice, as the drug started to kick in. After a few times of this, when placed in a room where the mice could choose either to hang out in a region similar to the one paired with cocaine (rugged floors and dots wall) or a neutral area (smooth floor and striped walls), the mice would quickly congregate in the area where their drug high had played out.

To test the claustrum's involvement in how a context becomes associated with a given reward, Citri and his team observed the changes in mice behavior when they inhibited these claustral neurons. They found that the inhibition of these neurons inhibited the mice's behavioral responses to cocaine, meaning they no longer preferred hanging out in the cocaine-paired environment. On the other hand, activating these neurons—even in the absence of any cocaine—caused the mice to develop a preference for this context.

Importantly, the team found that the activity of the claustrum was not necessary for retrieval of the cocaine memory. Once the mice had been placed in a cocaine-paired context several times to enjoy their cocaine high, the memory for this context was encoded and inhibition of the claustrum had no effect on their preference for the cocaine-paired context. "These findings boosted our confidence that the claustrum is indeed integral to incentive salience, heightening the awareness of the mouse to the context in which it experienced the drug high" shared Citri.

As the number of deaths caused by drug overdose increases from year to year, this new study has wide-ranging implications towards a better understanding of the nature of addiction and the importance of breaking contextual cues before they develop. "By recognizing that the claustrum plays a pivotal role in creating a context association for reward, it becomes a structure of interest for the field of addiction. We hope this knowledge will lead to the development of new diagnostic tools to identify populations susceptible to addiction, as well as new therapeutic approaches," concluded Terem.