Dance Lessons
Bob and Bernice teach dance at the New Haven Jewish Community Center. To view some YouTube videos of some of their steps, click here. Dances shown include Bolero, Foxtrot, Hustle, Rhumba, Samba, Tango and Waltz. Note the numbers of views shown are really undercounts, since earlier videos of most dances have been deleted as newer versions with more steps have been added.The PRIMER Blog
PRIMER-Connecticut recently started its own blog. It's worth checking out.AIPAC Policy Conference
Notes from the AIPAC Policy Conference, March 2007.A Journey Home
Zoya Kalmanovsky writes about her voyage to the Eretz Yisrael in February, 2007.Hannah and Sol Stein
My parents, who lived long – although not long enough – and fulfilling lives.Save Darfur
The genocide being perpetrated in Darfur is currently the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. We need to insist our government and the United Nations stop sitting by and finally act to end the dying and suffering. The Connecticut Coalition to Save Darfur has been formed to promote awareness and encourage our government to take effective action.Alderman By District
Elections for the Board of Aldermen in Waterbury are conducted at large, resulting in a system where, in normal election years, nomination by a major party is virtually tantamount to election, leaving aldermen unresponsive to voters.This system makes no sense and must be changed. It is up to the Board of Aldermen to establish a Charter Revision Commission to propose a suitable system for adoption by the electorate.
The Waterbury Coalition for Better Government has been set up to work for reforming this system of electing public officials and has a Facebook page.
Spotlight on AIPAC
The Steins attended the 2005 AIPAC Policy Conference. This is a report on the conference.2005 May Be the Most Important Year for Israel Since 1967
The Israeli Consul General spoke with a group of supporters of Israel's aspirations for peace and security at Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford on March 10, 2005.The Only Holocaust Memorial
Robert Arbetman expresses some brilliant thoughts about Holocaust memorials.My Father's UFT Dance Class
My father is the world's best folk dance teacher. These are some photos of a class he taught for the UFT.A Clash of Generations
Two-time Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres lectured at Central Connecticut State University April 14, 2003 and expressed the need to teach less history but more about the future, since "at the end of the Twentieth Century, the world has changed forever."Understanding the Breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations
This analysis by IDF intelligence officer Lt. Col. Jonathan D.H. was released by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.Sample Letters to the Editor
Copies of letters that have been sent to editors of various newspapers. Readers have permission to adapt them for submission to their own local newspapers.Israel Fairs & Festivals
When Yasser Arafat launched the Palestinian Arab terrorist campaign after rejecting a generous offer at the start of the millenium, tourism to Israel dropped and businesses which depended on tourism suffered. Groups began hosting Israeli merchants, organizing Israel Fairs & Festivals throughout the United States. We put together a comprehensive listing of those fairs. The need for those fairs has diminished, but we have an archive of fairs that were held along with listings of Israel merchants along with American vendors selling Israeli products.Ehud Barak at Yale
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak returned to Connecticut October 10, 2002 to deliver the 2002 David and Goldie Blanksteen Lecture in Jewish Ethics at Yale University.Community Relations
After a long period during which Jewish Communities of Western Connecticut had no Community Relations Committee, the CRC was reinstituted several years ago and became active until I was fired as chair and it again became moribund. Community relations remains an important area of Jewish life in the Greater Waterbury area and the activities that should be organized by a CRC are now being undertaken by individuals privately.
Stories from Israel
I recently spent a week and a half in Israel, celebrating a cousin's Bar Mitzvah in Beer Sheva and visiting friends in Connecticut's Partnership 2000 partners of Afula and Gilboa. My wife wrote some interesting articles about our visit. We also have a host of photographs.Partnership 2000, SNEC, Afula and the Gilboa Region
SNEC, the Southern New England Consortium, consisting of Connecticut, Western Massachussetts and Rhode Island, is partnered with Afula and the Gilboa region in Partnership 2000. This site has links to maps, photographs and the Jewish Agency's general Partnership 2000 site along with its Afula/Gilboa section.Disturbing Info From Tel Aviv Meeting With CNN's Andrea Koppel
David J. Blumberg recently had an interesting encounter with CNN's Andrea Koppel in Tel Aviv. He described it in a letter which has achieved a degree of distribution and led to follow up exchanges with CNN management. Mr. Blumberg has kindly given permission to post the items here.
Crash Course on the Arab-Israeli Conflict
A collection of facts about the Arab-Israeli conflict often ignored in the media.
Anatomy of a Violin
I recently absconded with one of my father's violins, had some repairs made and had the very accomodating String Doctor take some photographs of the inside of the violin when it was taken apart. You may find them fascinating.
Concerned about the future of the Conservative Jewish experience in Waterbury, a group of families joined together to form a new chavurah. Chavurat Achim will hold informal Shabbat services monthly and try to make sure the Waterbury community is not abandoned when Beth El Synagogue moves to Southbury.
Resources for Pro-Israel Peace Advocates
A fairly concise collection of online resources available for those interested in peace in the Middle East. A new addition is a selection of letters sent to newspapers.
Mitchell Bard has put one of the most valuable guides to the Arab Israeli conflict online.
Myths and Facts has 22 chapters covering everything from Israel's roots to each of the wars to the current uprising. Because it is online we can now respond rapidly to new myths with accurate facts. All of the information is hyperlinked to the Jewish Virtual Library, the world's most comprehensive online encyclopedia of Jewish history and culture.
This is a work in progress and Dr. Bard welcomes comments and suggestions.
The Anti-Defamation League has created a tremendous resource for advocates of Arab-Israeli peace in the Middle East. A printable version may be downloaded and published copies may be obtained from the ADL.
HonestReporting is a fast-action website dedicated to ensuring that Israel receives fair media coverage. It scrutinizes the media for anti-Israel bias and then mobilizes subscribers to complain directly to the news agency concerned.
My Mideast Peace Plan -- Early in 1995, in response to a question on an Internet discussion list, I put together an outline for a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace plan. Not much has changed since then-other than it becoming obvious to everyone that Yassir Arafat never had any intention of agreeing to a peaceful settlement-and the plan is almost as appropriate today as it was then.
In October, 1995, I had the dubious pleasure of hearing Yassir Arafat
speak at a meeting with Jewish leaders. It's interesting to look back and
compare my observations then with today's reality.
Click
to read my observations.
Not long after that came the string of terrorist bombings in Israel. My daughter was in Israel during that period and I wrote some observations at that time. Click here to read my observations about the bombings.
A Letter to France
In the midst of Yasser Arafat's terrorist campaign against Israel and a spate of anti-Semitic attacks on Jews in France, French President Jacques Chirac was kind enough to note that "Israel needs to be convinced that peace is better than war." In appreciation, David Tsal wrote a thank you note to France that is worth reading.
GenKey© The Family Tree Editor
I've put together a Java application called GenKey© for keeping track of my family tree. The application itself and the source are both available for anyone who may find them either helpful or just plain fun.American Family Immigration History Center -- Includes passenger records from the ships which carried over 22 million immigrants to Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924.
I've been involved with the global Jewish network for a long time now. I remember when there was a small group of us trying to convince the machers in the Major Jewish Organizations (MJOs) that there was a powerful tool called the Internet that could be put to good use by the Jewish community.
I'm delighted to still be part of Shamash. Over the years, I've collected links to lots of Jewish and non-Jewish religious resources, and lots of and other Middle East resources that I personally find more useful to me than the numerous more comprehensive lists lying around simply because my lists more quickly get me to the particular sites I like to visit.
I have a more general home page located at the institution that pays my bills, The University of Connecticut at Waterbury. That's where you can find my Question of the Week and lists of things I find New and Noteworthy, but you can check out all my other resources, including academic, computer, mathematical, news and travel resources, right from here.
While you're here, don't miss my challah recipe. It's a variation of an excellent recipe from The Jewish Catalog.
And don't forget to check out Greater Waterbury Classic Concerts, which my wife helped to start and which produces chamber music concerts in Waterbury as well as running a summer music institute. If you need an instrument repaired, check out Steve Fredericksen, The String Doctor.