September 2011 - Jewish Federation of New Mexico

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4 The New Mexico Jewish Link A Se rv i c e o f t h e Je w i s h Fe d e r at i o n o f Ne w Me x i c o September 2011 Statement Regarding Immigration Enforcement from the Jewish Federation of New Mexico As leaders of New Mexico’s Jewish community, we react with sadness and concern to the recent announcement from Governor Susana Martínez that she sent letters to at least 10,000 New Mexico residents ordering them to report to MVD to recertify residency in the state, identity and identification number, in essence having to reapply for a driver’s license. Although the Governor has stated that the letters are going to “foreign nationals,” we know that many citizens and permanent residents are also receiving these letters, as citizens and permanent residents could also apply for a driver’s license without a social security number from 2003-2008. Jewish tradition, along with many other faiths, teach that we are all created B’tzelem Elokim, in the image of God, and we are taught to always remember that we were strangers in a strange land. We are told in Exodus and Deuteronomy to be kind to strangers, to love them and not to oppress them. The Governor’s actions, however, are contrary to these values. The repeated and continuing failure of Congress to enact legislation to fix our country’s outdated and ineffective immigration system has spurred surrounding states, and local legislators to enact their own immigration laws. We only have to look to Arizona and the passage of SB 1070 to see the chilling economic impact in addition to the divisiveness and xenophobia that such ALLOCATIONS . . from page 1 policies foment. We need to continue to recognize that our laws should be respectful of human rights and never become a tool for unwarranted suspicion and discrimination. Given our history as Jews, our community knows only too well the slippery slope these types of laws could take our nation down. We are all concerned about public safety and issues of fraud, but Governor Martinez’s actions to do away with drivers’ licenses for immigrants is counterproductive. If there is a perception that being ordered to the DMV may lead to deportation of license holders, we may find undocumented persons and their family members, including US citizen children, driven further underground, reluctant to report crimes committed against them, or to serve as witnesses. Locally, immigrant advocates are reporting an unprecedented level of fear and desperation among these individuals and families. We urge Governor Martínez to seek a more pragmatic, sensitive and productive solution to this issue. New Mexico has a long, proud history of passing laws which encourage the integration of immigrant communities, and we must work together to ensure that our policies continue to do so. We cannot forget that it was not so long ago that many of us were also strangers in this great nation and that we hoped that our neighbors also recognized that we are all created B’tzelem Elokim. New Mexico, JFNM allocated $3,000 to the Jewish Community Council of Northern New Mexico to sponsor a Day of Jewish Learning for Santa Fe, Las Vegas and Los Alamos Jews. Funds were also committed to Seniors Reaching Out, a new eldercare initiative of Temple Beth Shalom in Santa Fe, and the JFNM continued its historic support of the Taos Jewish Center with an allocation. In addition to the direct allocations to agencies, JFNM made an internal budgetary provision of $37,000 to serve community programs throughout New Mexico including: youth education via Hillel at the University of New Mexico; grants to Jewish students to attend programs, and outreach to the Jewish communities in Roswell, Carlsbad and Las Vegas. JFNM also allocated funds to Keshet Dance Company for an Israel- Albuquerque dancer exchange to take place at the Jewish Community Center’s 2012 Israel Independence Day celebration. The allocation process culminated a historic year for JFNM during which the 2011 campaign surpassed First Time Special Opinion Will You Demonstrate? By Sherwin Pomerantz $1,000,000 as a result of a bequest from the estate of Irving and Hertha Auerbach The JFNM board voted to apply funds from this bequest to pay-off an outstanding land repurchase for the Jewish Community Center with Presbyterian Healthcare, with $83,000 placed in JFNM reserves. $41,667 was earmarked to establish the Irving and Hertha Auerbach Fund for Jewish Identity,with the Jewish Community Endowment Foundation of New Mexico in support of PJ Library, camp scholarships and Birthright/Taglit. The clock is ticking before the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York and the vote a day or two after that on Palestinian statehood. One of my readers asked if demonstrations are planned in New York during the period of the General Assembly to protest the drive for statehood by the Palestinian Arab leadership? A search of the web turned up nothing although I hope that will not really be the case as the date draws closer. Do you remember December 6, 1987? That was the Sunday when over 250,000 people descended on Washington from all parts of the United States to demonstrate on behalf of Soviet Jewry. It was, at the time, the largest outpouring of support for that movement and was timed to occur a day before Gorbachev and Reagan were scheduled to meet in the nation’s capital. The organizers never expected that more than 150,000 people would participate in the middle of winter, yet representatives of over 300 community groups in the US braved the cold and made their voices known, insuring that the issue of human rights in the Soviet Union would be placed on Reagan’s “front burner.” The members of the American community who care about values and the respect for the right of those of us living here to live fruitful lives in the national homeland of the Jewish people need to do as much this year as well. Many of you know that fully 20% of the US Congress will have visited Israel last month. I won’t deal here with the propriety of legislators leaving their desks when the country is in so much economic turmoil, as others smarter than me have spoken about this. But they are here nonetheless and last week, at a meeting in Ramallah with Mahmoud Abbas, he shared with the visiting legislators his vision of a Palestinian state, and it was not pretty. His main point was that if he succeeds in creating an independent Palestinian state it will have no Jewish settlements. In his zeal to achieve ethnic cleansing of Jews presently living in Judea and Samaria, he is speaking about the eviction of over 500,000 Jews from everywhere over the “green line” including Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Ramot, Gilo, Ramat Shlomo and, of course, the large settlement blocs of Gush Etzion, Ma’ale Adumim and Ariel. After that, he added that if multi-national forces were to enforce a future peace, those forces could also not contain any Israelis, whether they lived in Israel or abroad (a bit of moderation over his earlier statement that they could not contain any Jews). So the message is clear. The simple fact that Jews might live in a Palestinian state is a humiliating thing for the Palestinians. Of course, if the shoe were on the other foot and we said that after a peace treaty no Arabs would be allowed to live in Israel the world would become one ball of fire with anti- Israel demonstrations everywhere. We dare not blind ourselves to the possibility that the real desire of the Palestinian Arab leadership is not to make peace with Israel but to see to our ultimate expulsion from this part of the world. While I do not believe, and certainly hope, that this will not happen, vigilance is critical. So thinking Americans, Jews and non-Jews, should be on the barricades in New York in mid-September to make it clear to the UN and the world that the intransigence of the Palestinian Arab leadership in not being willing to even come to the negotiating table, will not be rewarded by a declaration of statehood one of whose aims is to make the resultant country Judenrein!! There must be a demonstration that will make Washington in December 1987 look like amateur night. Edmund Burke was right when he said “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” We need to internalize that lesson. Sherwin Pomerantz is Director of ATID E.D.I. Ltd and New Mexico’s Contractor for the NM-Middle East Trade Office based in Jerusalem. 2011-2012 Approved JFNM Allocations Agency Amount Jewish Family Service of New Mexico ............................................................. $67,000 Israel & overseas ...................................................................................................... $41,815 New Mexico Jewish Historical Society ...............................................................$6,000 NM Holocaust & Intolerance Museum ............................................................ $27,000 Jewish Community Center .................................................................................. $28,600 Rabbinic and Cantorial Association ....................................................................$1,000 Temple Beth Shalom ................................................................................................$3,000 Taos Jewish Center ....................................................................................................$5,650 HaMakom .....................................................................................................................$1,500 Creativity for Peace ...................................................................................................$2,000 Congregation Nahalat Shalom................................................................................. $700 Keshet Dance Company ..........................................................................................$5,650 Jewish Community Council of Northern NM....................................................$3,000 Kol BeRamah Santa Fe..............................................................................................$1,000 SSDS ............................................................................................................................. $47,000 Hillel at the University of New Mexico ............................................................ $19,465 JCEF .................................................................................................................................$2,000 Youth Conclaves ........................................................................................................$3,200 Statewide Outreach ..................................................................................................$6,000 “The Link is a community newspaper, published as a service by the Jewish Federation of New Mexico, that focuses on Jewish life in New Mexico. It is committed to seeing Jewish life thrive.” — Since 1971 Publisher: Jewish Federation of New Mexico (JFNM), 821-3214 Link Staff: Sara Koplik, Ph.D., Sam Sokolove Writers: Marcia Torobin, Peter Weinreb, Diane J. Schmidt, Shea Fallick, Boaz Fletcher, Meredith Root, Ron Duncan Hart, Lyn Berner, Phyllis Wolf, Janet Yagoda Shagam, Dorothy Corner Amsden, Sherwin Pomerantz, Deborah Brin, Peter Fisk, Tori Lee, Julia Linder Bell, Alexander Ellis, Jacob Ellis, Rich Lieberman Production: Christine Carter, Envision Graphics Wire service: Jewish Telegraphic Agency Advertising manager: Anne Grollman, 348-4472, fax 821-3351 E-mail: anne@jewishnewmexico.org Advertising deadline: The 15th of the month preceding publication. Address: The New Mexico Jewish Link 5520 Wyoming Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109 Submission Policy: Letters to the editor, articles, calendar entries or other information to be considered for publication must be typed with return address and phone number and signed by the author. E-mail submissions are preferred. The editor reserves the right to edit or deny publication to submissions. Materials sent to The Link will not be saved or returned unless accompanied by self-addressed, stamped envelope. All letters, readers forums and opinion pieces solely reflect the opinions of the authors and not the opinions of The New Mexico Jewish Link, nor of its publisher, the Jewish Federation of New Mexico. These serve as a forum for the New Mexico Jewish community and The Link strongly urges submissions. Send submissions via e-mail to sarak@jewishnewmexico.org or via post to The New Mexico Jewish Link, 5520 Wyoming Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Submissions to editor deadline: The 15th of the month preceding publication. The New Mexico Jewish Link is published monthly with a bi-monthly June/July issue for $36 per year Postmaster: Send address changes to JFNM, 5520 Wyoming Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109. 306-4080 Sweet Wishes for the New Year Anne, Stephen & Maya Grollman L’Shana Tova! Sam Sokolove, Eva Buchwald and Sarea Sokolove
September 2011 A Service of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico The New Mexico Jewish Link 5 The Summer of Our DisconTent By Boaz Fletcher I remember a time, not too long ago, when a man could pitch his tent on a main avenue and not attract hundreds of copycats and the TV cameras that inevitably follow. – Facebook posting, mid-August Just How Expensive is it to Live in Israel? As the Arab Spring waxed into the Arab Summer with a sleepy eye on fall, with former presidents strapped into moveable beds and caged for their own show-trials, and with the Syrian army playing war games with its own citizens, our small corner of the Eastern Mediterranean seemed a little too quiet. It had been a few months since anyone tried to breach a border, a few Lebanese soldiers were confused by the meaning of cease-fire, and here and there were rumblings and mumblings about September. In a panic, someone realized that cottage cheese had suddenly become outrageously expensive and started a whole protest movement dedicated to not buying cottage cheese. Labaneh and plain yoghurt were unaffected. This was soon followed by a sympathetic protest movement to not buy gasoline – also horrifically expensive. This was a hugely successful protest for the day it lasted, the streets littered with stalled cars whose owners were, in any event, not on the way to the supermarket due to solidarity around the high price of chunky, somewhat liquid, cheese. Many people rediscovered their feet, which perhaps they hadn’t seen in a while due to the unfathomable quantities of cottage cheese they had previously been consuming. The combination of cheese and gasoline fomented discontent. (Any other combination of gasoline and cheese, well, that’s just gross.) The middle class was wondering what else they could protest, since the middle class, by virtue of its being in the middle, has to pay for everyone else. And then on a hot, muggy, Tel Aviv night, someone put up a tent. They were tired of paying more than a third of their net income in order to rent a small apartment that had no air conditioning and minimal utilities and realized that they could, for no fee at all, set up a TENT with no air conditioning and minimal utilities. And so they did. Right in the middle of the pedestrian path which cleaves one of Tel Aviv’s main thoroughfares and historic streets, home of many of the country’s elite financial institutions: Rothschild Boulevard. And they saw it was Good, and by the Third Day, others saw it was Good as well. So they brought tents. Word got around and more people brought tents. By this point, it was starting to get confusing, so people brought couches. They also started writing their names on their tents since all tents pretty much look alike, although their spouses do not, and this was a protest movement, not a rock festival. Hmm, except that it was, as you will soon see. It is written somewhere that it isn’t a protest if no one’s singing a protest song. Now, with the proper conditions in place – a captive audience, padded furnishings, and sultry evenings – the rock stars could come out. Israeli rock stars, who make a decent living and probably don’t live in tents, are mostly real people just like you and me. Some, however, tend to wander the streets with guitars slung over their backs, just in case they come upon groups of people who want to exercise their fundamental right to sing-alongs. Word got out that music was being sung for free which attracted more tent-people. Word that there were more tent-people attracted more troubadours. Word reached people in other cities that they could stop ripping music off the internet and still get it for free if they pitched a tent in a park, and it was so. The Summer of DisconTent movement was underway. Among the bites of sushi, smoking of water pipes, and special song dedications by the rockers – who at this point were forced to perform on stages and not in loungers – came suggestions of a Cause. And they called it Social Justice. And with the words Social Justice, out came the politicians. There are many things that ail the State of Israel, and especially its middle class. It is disproportionately expensive to live here, relative to income and other developed economies. The middle class carries the brunt of reserve duty, pays the majority of both direct and indirect taxes (about 50% of the cost of gasoline goes to the government), pay more than a third of their net income in rent or mortgage payments, make ends meet (mostly) but have no savings, although pay less for a cup of good coffee than you pay for those dregs you get at Starbucks. When the politicians of all stripes and flavors come out and declare their unanimous support for the Cause, at least some of them must be wrong, and according to all of them, it’s the fault of the other ones. When nefarious NGOs throw in their financial support and quietly whisper their agenda in the ears of the organizers, the Cause turns into a circus, or more aptly, street theatre. An estimated 350,000 people hit the streets all over the country on a Saturday night to wave banners, chant slogans, listen to really expensive rock musicians (not the wandering-minstrel kind) play on big stages, and wave at the TV cameras. Maybe post a picture or two to their Facebook profile. The Summer of DisconTent will play itself out. Come September there will be other small things to worry about and perhaps bigger things as well. The government will move some money around to appease certain groups, but it won’t fall. Most people will go home, having camped out for free during the summer. A few will be left. In some months one of the television news channels will do a follow up on someone who had a few moments of public glory. But Rothschild Boulevard is not Tahrir Square, there is no revolution here, just discontent. By Jessica Steinberg JERUSALEM (JTA) -- What began in Israel in June as a Facebook-driven rebellion against the rising cost of cottage cheese, then morphed in July into tent encampments protesting soaring real estate costs, has since turned into a full-scale Israeli social movement against the high cost of living in the Jewish state. From Tel Aviv’s tent-filled Rothschild Boulevard to marches in Beersheva, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have participated in one protest or another. The movement’s targets have expanded from housing and cheese prices to everything from the costs of child care and gas -- not to mention salaries. All this begs the question: Just how expensive is it to live in Israel? A close examination of some key metrics show that compared to the United States and Europe, Israeli costs of living are a mixed bag. Salaries are lower, but so are health care costs. Consumer goods and services costs are nearly double those in the United States, and owning a car can run about six times as much relative to one’s salary. So how do Israelis make it? Israeli retailers and banks offer easy credit on everything from big-ticket items like summer vacations to everyday purchases like groceries; all can be paid in monthly installments. The result is that many Israelis are perennially in debt and are increasingly frustrated by their inability to cover costs with their monthly paychecks. Here’s a closer look at some of the costs of living in Israel. Housing The most expensive and desirable places to live in Israel are in the center of the country, where the vast majority of the population resides and works. According to figures from the real estate company RE/MAX Israel, apartment prices in central Tel Aviv run $5,714 to $7,142 per square meter. In Jerusalem, the peripheral neighborhoods of East Talpiot and Kiryat Hayovel offer housing from $4,285 to $5,714 per square meter, while prices in the tonier neighborhoods of Baka, the German Colony and Rechavia range from $7,000 to $8,571 per square meter. That means that in Baka or the German Colony, a typical two-bedroom apartment starts at $428,571, according to Alyssa Friedland, a broker for RE/MAX. In the peripheral neighborhoods, some of which are built on territory captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War, a two-bedroom apartment runs for about $343,000. According to RE/ MAX figures, two-bedroom apartments in Beersheva, Haifa, Hadera and Afula cost between $143,000 and $286,000. Mortgage rates are about 4.5 percent, according to Friedland, but the required down payment is usually about 40 percent. “Young couples are getting the money from their parents because they don’t typically have savings like that,” she said. As the economist Daniel Doron noted recently in The Wall Street Journal, “A small apartment can cost the average Israeli worker 12 years in annual salary.” See ISRAEL. . Page 6 Manzano Day School Manzano Day School admits students without regard to religion, race, color, creed, gender, gender identification, disability, age, sexual orientation or ethnic background. Joy in Learning ® Since 1938 Accepting Applications for the 2012-2013 school year Independent, non-prot pre-kindergarten through grade ve Bus service available from the Westside & NE Heights 1801 Central Avenue NW | 505-243-6659 www.manzanodayschool.org L’Shanah tovah tekatev v’ techatem Pearl F. Gross Shanah Tovah to all from the Gottlieb family. Let’s make it a great year. Wishing a healthy & happy New Year to our New Mexico friends and family ~~ L’Shana Tova Jill Bulmash & Linda Friedman La Shana Tova Sabra Minkus & Family Shana Tovah to our new community! Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld & Michele Hope
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September 2011 - Jewish Federation of New Mexico

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