Cottage industry

Say cheese! Dairy farmers take part in Jerusalem march.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Diary Farmers in Jerusalem March (photo credit: Courtesy)
Diary Farmers in Jerusalem March
(photo credit: Courtesy)
AFTER SUCCESSFULLY fighting attempts at mass imports of dairy products, scores of local dairy farmers and their families joined in the Jerusalem March last week. The farmers wore blue T-shirts emblazoned with a white slogan “For me, only Israeli milk.” They brought along extra shirts, which they distributed to the crowd, and presented one to Mayor Nir Barkat, stressing the importance of promoting blue-and-white products.
Christian marchers who were in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles dedicated their participation in the march to the release of Gilad Schalit.
YET ANOTHER example of how the best laid plans of mice and men can go awry was experienced by David Prager, who had been scheduled to lecture this week at Beit Avi Chai to the Israel Branch of the Jewish Historical Society of England. Prager, who is an expert on the British exponents of cantorial music, was on his way to Heathrow Airport to take a plane to Israel when the taxi in which he and his wife were traveling crashed, and the couple suffered multiple and complex injuries. The two were hospitalized, but the prognosis is encouraging. Prager e-mailed JHS secretary Leonard Roselaar from his hospital bed in London to tell him that, following surgery, the prospects for full recovery are excellent and that once he is out of the hospital he will make further contact to reschedule the lecture.
Meanwhile, JHS branch chairman Gabriel Sivan advises history buffs to save the date on Tuesday, December 27, which is the last night of Hanukka, a propitious date on which to discuss “Four Christian Clergyman Who Changed the Course of Zionist History.” The lecturer will be Yanky Fachler.
It appears that Christians are not the only missionaries who want to convert Jews to another faith. According to a report in Yeshiva World News, a group of Muslims stood at the Western Wall last Saturday morning distributing Hebrew pamphlets under the title “The Path to Happiness.”
The pamphlets looked like those frequently disseminated by Breslav Hassidim, thus worshipers who congregated at the Wall did not think twice about accepting them. But after reading them, they discovered that they contained many contradictions to Jewish beliefs and advocated Islam as the path to spiritual happiness and enlightenment.
Yad L’Achim, founded in 1950 by Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber Lipshitz, who died this year, is at the forefront of anti-missionary activities and claims that there are more than 100 Christian missionary congregations in Israel. Now it may have to expand its work to include Muslim missionaries. Yad L’Achim is already familiar with the Muslim community, having engaged on numerous occasions in helping Jewish women who want to opt out of their marriage to Muslim men.
THE ADELSON Family Charitable Foundation is a generous and long-standing supporter of Yad Vashem. Exactly five years ago, Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson gave Yad Vashem a grant of $25 million, which was the largest donation that Yad Vashem has ever received from a single donor. The Adelsons have continued to be supportive in areas of outreach and education and were the sponsors of this week’s seminar for some 30 Chinese educators, including university professors, high-school teachers and research students, from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, for in-depth study of the Holocaust and how to teach it in the classroom. The group met with Holocaust survivors, toured the Holocaust History Museum and the Valley of the Communities and dialogued with leading Israeli educators and historians on Holocaust-related topics.
A similar seminar last year inaugurated Yad Vashem’s ongoing activity in China; and since then Yad Vashem experts have been to China to hold seminars there as well. Miriam Adelson is the president of the Council for the Promotion of Israel- China Relations, and Sheldon Adelson has extensive casino and resort hotel in interests in Macao.