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Speaker to be brought here April 24 by Jewish Federation stripped by Israeli government of her title as Israel’s “Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and Delegitimization of Israel”

By BERNIE BELLAN
For more than two months now the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg has been advertising an event featuring someone by the name of Noa Tishby. Now, to be honest, the poster featuring a picture of Ms. Tishby was certainly likely to draw most readers’ attention. After all, in 2007 she was voted “Sexiest Woman in Israel.”
In a press release issued by the Jewish Federation which ran in our March 29 issue, the Federation explained why Ms. Tishby was being brought here:
“On April 24, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg will welcome Israeli-American star Noa Tishby to address the troubling rise in antisemitism to a Winnipeg audience at the Centennial Concert Hall.
“Noa Tishby is an artist, producer, author, and activist. In April 2022, she was appointed as Israel’s first-ever Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and Delegitimization of Israel. She is a keynote speaker and panelist and has spoken at the United Nations General Assembly and was named one of the 50 Most Powerful Jews in the World.
“In 2021, Noa published her first book, ‘Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth.’ A Peabody Award winner and Emmy and Golden Globe nominee for her work on the HBO show In Treatment, she recently had a high-profile appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher to address antisemitism and the delegitimization of Israel.”

Information on Noa Tishby’s own website provides even more information about how she came to be involved in Israel advocacy and how she has come to be recognized as a prominent defender of Israel:
“In 2011 Tishby founded the first Israel-focused online advocacy and rapid response organization, Act For Israel, and became a powerful voice for Israel and the Middle East. In 2014 she initiated a partnership between The Schusterman Foundation and Summit Series and co-created Reality Israel, a series of leadership trips to Israel for Jews and non-Jews alike. To date, Reality has brought to Israel thousands of professionals in tech, music, food, sports and the arts and sciences. She was recognized as one of the 50 Most Powerful Jews in the World and was on Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Power list of international executives.
Tishby is a keynote speaker and panelist at events around the world and has appeared in such venues as the United Nations General Assembly, where she has discussed everything from BDS to Israeli innovation. She is a contributor to publications such as The Huffington Post, Jerusalem Post, The Jewish Journal, Tablet and Ynet, where she writes about policy, culture and international relations.
“After years of speaking and writing about Israel, both publicly and privately, Tishby has deciphered how to explain the complexities of Israel in a clear and relatable way. Her first book Israel: a Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth, was published in 2021 by Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
“Tishby served in the Israeli army for two and a half years and can, when needed and if pushed to do it, kick some serious ass. She divides her time between Los Angeles and Tel Aviv, and is a proud Jewish momma to her son, Ari.”

Yet, on April 2, Ms. Tishby was fired by the Israeli government as its Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and the Delegitimization of Israel. (It should also be noted that Prime Minister Netanyahu announced the same day that he was firing Israel’s Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, but apparently Minister Gallant was never handed an official letter of dismissal; he has remained in his post.)

The Israeli news site 21C reported why Ms. Tishby was fired:: “An Israeli actress tapped by the Israeli government to serve as a special envoy has been fired after she spoke out publicly against the judicial reform plan.
Tishby called the current Israeli government ‘extreme,’ and publicly criticized the judicial reform plan, telling Bill Maher that the reforms are opposed by a majority of Israelis and are unlikely to pass.”
On Sunday, March 31 (sic. the actual date was April 2), Ms. Tishby announced “that the Israeli Foreign Ministry had fired her from the position.
“Tishby said that while she was not given a reason for the loss of her title as envoy, she strongly suspects it is tied to her recent public comments against the judicial overhaul.
“ ‘It is not possible for me to know if their decision was driven by my publicly stated concerns about this government’s ‘judicial reform policy.’ But given the reality that antisemitism continues its dangerous rise globally, and the threat to Israel’s existence through delegitimization policies has not slowed, it is difficult to come to any other reasonable conclusion.’
“ ‘When I accepted the Special Envoy position from former Foreign Minister Lapid, I did so because the threat to Jews around the world is as significant today as any other point since the Holocaust, and the risks to Israel are as great today as they have been since our nation’s birth. As an advocate for justice and equality, I felt an obligation to stand with the many others united in the fight against hate.”
“ ‘That does not mean I must suppress my views and my decision to speak out was not taken lightly. I voiced concerns because I believe absolutely in the importance of an independent judiciary in safeguarding the democratic system. Open and honest debate with those in government is at the core of Israel’s long-term well-being and our status as the region’s single consistent democracy. True patriotism involves standing up for the values and principles that form the foundation of our nation, even when it means questioning or opposing policies implemented by this or any government.”
“I am disappointed by their decision but remain steadfast in my commitment to fighting antisemitism and the delegitimization of Israel on the global stage. It has been an honor to work with incredible partners and organizations dedicated to promoting understanding, tolerance, and respect for Israel and the Jewish people. As an advocate, an artist—and most importantly as an American-Israeli citizen and a Jew—my work will continue in our joint effort to create a brighter future for Israel and the Jewish people.”

Now, while Ms. Tishby may have garnered a reputation as an ardent defender of Israel – and has earned quite a few speaking engagements as a result, the fact she was fired from her position as Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and Delegitimization of Israel does raise some interesting questions.
For one, we wondered whether the Israeli Consulate in Toronto had anything to say about Ms. Tishby’s firing. We posed this question to the Consulate:
“Does the Consulate have a position with regard to Noa Tishby speaking about antisemitism in various cities – since the Israeli government fired her as the special representative on antisemitism?”
We received this response: “I’m afraid I cannot answer your question. We have no position on this issue and are not privy to the details.”

As well, in looking at the website for the organization which handles booking speaking engagements for Ms. Tishby, we noted that she charges a fee of from $30-50,000.
On Wednesday, April 5 we sent this email to various representatives of the Federation:
“I’m puzzled as to why the Federation is bringing in Noa Tishby as a speaker.
“From what I can see on her agency website, she charges between $30-50,000 for an appearance. Can you confirm that you’ve paid somewhere in that amount?
“Also, what particular qualifications does she bring? I’ve read some of her writings on the subject of antisemitism and watched a couple of videos of her.
“I don’t see that she has anything fresh to say – or anything that hasn’t already been said so many times before. Is there something I’m missing?
“Finally, in your most recent press release you continue to refer to her as Israel’s Special Envoy on antisemitism. Are you simply deliberately ignoring the fact she was fired from that position on Sunday for criticizing the Israeli government’s position on judicial reform?”

We received this response from Adam Levy, Public Relations & Communications Director for the Federation:
“We are excited to welcome Noa to Winnipeg on April 24. Noa remains an expert on combating antisemitism, and we look forward to her direct and engaging perspective on this topic as she addresses our community and a broader Winnipeg audience.
“Although Noa is no longer Israel’s Special Envoy on Antisemitism, it was a position that she held for a year and has brought heightened awareness of antisemitism to social media, as well as to communities and college campuses across North America. Noa also provides relatable understanding and context regarding Israel, and its past, present, and future.
“Our event has been fully sponsored by concerned community members who believe that the rise in antisemitism warrants a strong response. Noa remains a strong spokesperson in the fight against it.”

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Working with late night talk show stars Colbert and Stewart dream job for former Winnipegger

By Myron Love When the Jewish Post last touched base with Raffie Rosenberg in the summer of 2020, she was back in Winnipeg for a few months during the Covid lockdown reconnecting with her father, Lewis Rosenberg (her mother, the late Dr. Fran Steinberg passed away ten years ago) and other relatives while looking forward to returning to New York in the fall to continue her studies at Columbia University.

As far back as she can remember,  she noted in that earlier interview, she has had her sights squarely set on a career in the entertainment industry.   “I started dancing lessons when I was two years old,” she recalled.  “I loved it.”

She added that her interest in the theatre was also stimulated by her parents, both of whom had been involved in the arts. Prior to pursuing a career in medicine, her mother studied at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.  She also taught dancing and further studied dance at York University.  Her dad also has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree – Theatre Design and Technology – from the University of Minnesota.

Having graduated previously (in 2016) from Western University’s  Ivey School of Business, Rosenberg earned her second degree – an MFA – with a focus on theatre management and producing –  from Columbia in 2022.

And she is very happy to report that, over the past two years, she has had the opportunity to work behind the scenes with two of her heroes in the entertainment business – none other than the king of late night television, Stephen Colbert, and his predecessor, Jon Stewart.

She got on with Colbert’s “The Late Show” as a production intern during her final semester at Columbia shortly after graduation from Columbia for a five-month period (January-May, 2022) and followed up on that coup by being hired as a production assistant on Stewart’s return to the air waves via Apple TV with “the Problem with Jon Stewart,” a weekly series featuring hour-long single subject episodes.  The show launched in the fall of 2021.  Rosenberg joined the production team in the fall of 2022. 

(The show was recently cancelled.)

Those were my dream jobs,” Rosenberg notes – “to work with both Stewart and Colbert on televised shows that include elements of live theatre (such as a studio audience and band).”

She points out that entertainment internships are difficult to get – especially in late night. “The team at Colbert is really proactive about interviewing a huge number of candidates and taking a look at people from the online applicant portal,” she reports. “I got lucky and the timing was right for that internship.” 

She notes that, being in an entry level role at The Late Show and at The Problem, she didn’t work with either host directly.  “The staff of The Late Show is over 100 people and at The Problem there were around 60 of us,” she says, “but both Jon and Stephen are incredible bosses. They’re kind, focused, and great leaders. Even though I never worked with either directly, being able to work on their shows was a huge highlight and definitely a childhood dream come true.” 

Her role was different for each of the shows – reflecting the different responsibilities in her job titles and the fact that Colbert is nightly and Stewart’s show was weekly.

As a production assistant, I was more involved in areas such as research, working on the podcast and deeper dives into current events ,” she points out.  “Also, we were working with a longer lead time on Jon’s show – which gave us more room to expand on individual subjects.”

In her independent work as a creative producer, she points out, she is more involved in sourcing funding to help get the project off the ground, crafting the narrative, working with the script writers and hiring lead actors and the director.

For the past two summers,  Rosenberg has produced the Arts in Action Festivals for the Broadway Advocacy Coalition.  The BAC was founded in 2016 by a group of actors and activists with the goal of using the arts to try to create as a vehicle to help create a more just world.  The two-day Arts in Action festivals present workshops, performances, panels and screenings in furtherance of its goals.

With the conclusion of production for the “The Problem With Jon Stewart” last fall, Rosenberg is open to new projects – one of which is a collaboration with a couple of other Jewish artists on a coming-of-age comedy.

It would seem that Raffie Rosenberg has a bright future to look forward to in theatre and film production.   

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Husband and wife team of Russel and Rori Picker Neiss bringing different aspects of Jewish learning to Limmud Winnipeg

Rori Picker Neiss (left) and Russell Neiss

By MYRON LOVE Rori Picker and Rusell Neiss say they are excited about their upcoming first visit to Winnipeg.  The couple, Jewish educators – originally from New York, who have been living and working in St. Louis for the past ten years – will be here on the weekend of March 9-10 – as presenters at our community’s 14th annual Limmud Fest.

Russel Neiss is promising Limmud attendees that those attending his presentation will be in the first audience to view the digitized version of “The Story of Purim,” an award winning Jewish educational filmstrip which is part of a recently rediscovered lost cache produced by the NY Bureau of Jewish Education in the 1950s.  

“We’ll view the slides and table-read the script together as we see how much the field of Jewish engagement and education has (and hasn’t) changed over the last 70 year,” notes Russel Neiss.

Russel is a 2005 graduate of City University of New York.  The recipient – in 2020, of the prestigious Covenant Award (which recognizes educators who have made a noticeable impact on Jewish lives through innovative educational practices and models), served for several years as vice-principal of a Jewish day school in the New York area.

In 2014, Russel changed careers. He became a software engineer specializing in the development of software programming for Jewish educators for an organization called Sefaria.  The nonprofit organization is dedicated to digitizing the entire body of Jewish religious writings in order to make them available so that anyone can engage with the textual treasures of our tradition.

“A couple of years ago,” he reports, “I came across a cache of film strips produced by the New York Bureau of Jewish Education in the 1950s.  These films would have been shown to students in the 1950s and ‘60s. They have not been viewed for more than 60 years.”

At Limmud, he will be showing a film called “The Story of Purim.”  “We’ll view the slides and table-read the script together as we see how much the field of Jewish engagement and education has (and hasn’t) changed over the years,” he says.

His second presentation – on Sunday afternoon – will focus on “what the atheist computer scientist Richard Stallman can teach us about how Torah learning can thrive in the world today while delving into the interplay between Hacker Culture, the Free Software Movement and the teachings of great Jewish thinkers like Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.”

Rori Picker Neiss will also be doing two presentations – one of which will be a study of leadership as exhibited by Moshe Rabbenu in the matter of the Golden Calf. For those who may not know or remember the story in the Torah, some days after leaving Egypt, Moshe climbed Mount Sinai to commune with Hashem. After some time had gone by and he didn’t return, the frightened Hebrews, believing that he wasn’t coming back, gathered together everything they had that was made of gold and created a golden calf to worship – an act of blasphemy that resulted in  severe divine consequences – including the Israelites having to wander in the desert for 40 years until the last of the offending generation had died out.

“What we can take away from this episode,” Rori observes, “and what Hashem made clear to Moshe- is that leadership is not about the leader and fame and glory. Leadership should be about doing what is in the best interests of  the people.”

Her second presentation will be an exploration of what the early rabbis thought about Jesus and Christianity as seen through a censored Rabbinic passage.

Rori Picker Reiss has the distinction of being one of the first half dozen  Orthodox women to be ordained  – through the Yeshivat Maharat organization – founded in 2009 – to serve as clergy.

“I welcomed the opportunity to study Talmud and our religious texts,” she says of her decision to enroll in the Maharat program.  ‘My ordination presented me with a number of different ways to serve our community.” 

In St. Louis Maharat Rori served as Director of Programming, Education and Community Engagement at the modern Orthodox Bais Abraham Congregation. She was also Rabbi in Residence at Holy Communion Episcopal Church, chair of the cabinet of Interfaith partnership of Greater St. Louis and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

Previously, she worked as acting Executive Director for Religions for Peace-USA, program coordinator for the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, assistant director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, and secretary for the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations.  

While there may be some among the Orthodox community who may be uncomfortable with the concept of women serving as clergy, Rori reports that she was generally well-received in St. Louis and was able to build many relationships both within the Orthodox and the wider communities.

Rori and Russel have recently moved back to New York City where Rori has been appointed the Senior Vice-President for Community  Relations for the Jewish Council for Public affairs.

For more information about this year’s Limmud and to register, please visit www.limmudwinnipeg.org or contact coordinator@limmudwinnipeg.org  or 204-557-6260

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Three organizations join forces to mount Mission to Israel in May

By BERNIE BELLAN In response to many requests received from members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community to organize a volunteer mission to Israel, for the first time ever three different organizations have joined together to organize just such a mission – from May 20-28.
Titled “HINENI 2024,” the mission is being mounted by the Jewish National Fund, Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, and Bridges for Peace.
The mission will include five days of intensive volunteering and visits to various sites in Israel. It will also include three meals a day and ground transportation.

There will be an information night at the Asper Campus on February 28 but, in advance of that information night, we contacted JNF Manitoba-Saskatchewan Executive Director David Greaves to ask whether he could provide some details about the planned mission prior to that information meeting and describe how it all came about.
Greaves said that both the JNF and the Federation were thinking of organizing missions in May, so it was only natural that they would combine efforts.
“The Federation has organizational experience, and they’ll be able to handle the registration process,” Greaves explained, while “the JNF will be able to handle the logistics on the ground,” such as arranging accommodation, transportation, and meals.
And Bridges for Peace was able to step up and negotiate some very good pricing for air fares for anyone who would want to fly on specific flights – details for which will be announced in the coming days. (Greaves noted that flights have not been included as part of the package as many individuals indicated that they wanted to make their own arrangements getting to Israel.)

Yet, unlike any other mission that the JNF has mounted in years past, Greaves wanted to make it clear that the May mission will be a “volunteer” mission, during which participants will be expected to “be on their feet four-five hours a day” engaging in tasks whose exact nature is still being formulated – in conjunction with various Israeli organizations.
“We’re looking at volunteering primarily in the south,” Greaves said, including picking fruit and vegetables. As of this moment, he added: “We’re still investigating various volunteer possibilities.”
Included in the mission tentatively, accordiing to Greaves, will be visits to the site of the Nova music festival, where 364 primarily young Israelis were massacred (along with 40 abducted), as well as visits with families of hostages and a visit with the mayor of Sderot.

As far as accommodation is concerned, Greaves wanted to make it clear that mission participants will not be staying in four or five star hotels.”Most likely they will be three star hotels,” he noted. And, when you take into account the cost of providing three meals a day along with bus transportation and other ancillary costs, Greaves suggested that the mission cost, which will be no more than $3,000 (exclusive of air fare), is quite reasonable, especially when you take into account typical costs associated with visiting Israel and the relatively low Canadian dollar. As well, Greaves said that couples travelling together will probably pay somewhat less per person – around $2500 per person, he suggested is likely.

I asked Greaves how many people they were hoping to have participate in the mission. He said that they’re looking at around 40. Although it would be great if there were a larger response, he added, the logistics of having to hire an additional bus would make it difficult to plan a mission with two buses unless the number of participants warranted that.
“If response is overwhelming, we’d get a second bus,” he added though.
I asked Greaves whether there are JNF missions of a similar nature being planned in other Canadian cities and he said there were – “in Toronto and Vancouver,” but he also wanted to emphasize that they are both being planned locally – unlike every other JNF mission, which has always been planned at the national level – until now.
In addition to the combined organizational efforts of the JNF, Jewish Federation, and Bridges for Peace, five Winnipeg congregations are also lending their support to the mission, helping to promote it among their respective congregants.
If you would like to obtain further information about the mission and are unable to attend the February 28 information evening, contact either David Greaves at the JNF at david.greaves@jnf.ca or Abby Flackman at the Jewish Federation at aflackman@jewishwinnipeg.org.

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