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Why This Year’s Shavuot Is One of the Most Important Ever
Shavuot. Ruth in Boaz’s Field by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, oil on canvas, 1828; National Gallery, London. Photo: Wikipedia.
Beginning Tuesday evening, June 11, Jews all over the world celebrate Shavuot and commemorate the day they received the Torah and its commandments at Sinai.
The Talmudic Sages, apparently familiar with Alan King’s classic summary of the Jewish holiday — they tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat — recognized that some may not consider the reams of obligations placed on the Jewish people as cause for celebration. The Sages were especially insistent that Jews demonstrate otherwise and eat really well on this day.
Particularly now, this celebration is essential for two reasons. First, this year has headlined the experience of Jewish suffering, reviving the harsh reality that for millennia, the Jewish people have been despised, harassed, and persecuted. Still, rather than drive Jews away, the disorienting isolation that American Jews are experiencing has brought them closer together and awakened their desire for connection to Judaism and Jewish community. Jews are craving to celebrate their Jewishness, not just their survival.
Second, the Jewish people are a nation, a religion, and a family — but most significantly, they are a community of values. Their mission since Abraham has been to teach and to model both faith in God and loving kindness towards others. That story continues to this day, as despite the centuries of persecution, the Holocaust, and the constant existential threats that Israel has faced since its rebirth, the Jewish people refuse to turn bitterly inward and remain committed to being a source of blessing to the world.
Nevertheless, the twisted narrative promoted in academia, the media, progressive and far-right spaces, and international forums, has cast the Jewish people everywhere as genocidal, oppressive, and hateful, radically increasing the physical threats of antisemitic violence facing Jews everywhere. But — even more perniciously — this also makes Jews embarrassed of their Jewish identity. The celebration of Shavuot is an opportunity to proudly reaffirm the Jewish people’s core identity and mission as a community of values dedicated to faith and goodness.
The current nightmare began on October 7, Simchat Torah — a holiday when Jews everywhere gather in synagogues in joyous celebration of the completion of the annual cycle of Torah reading. Carrying their children on their shoulders and Torah scrolls in their arms, participants sing and dance in a joyous celebration of family and faith, and — most of all — the values that define them as a community.
The words — the value statements — sung repeatedly on that day express deep appreciation for the blessings of true Jewish identity, and for the good fortune to continue the mission of Abraham and the Jewish people to do good, to be good, to study, to live by God’s word, and to bring light to the world. They sing, they dance, they conclude the reading of the Torah, and then they immediately begin studying it again, demonstrating their true character as the People of the Book.
Eight months ago, that day was shattered as darkness was brought upon the world by the Hamas terrorists and their supporters, who continue to seek to physically destroy the Jewish people. That darkness has since significantly intensified thanks to those defending and even celebrating the attacks, and has been further deepened by those who speak in the name of justice, humanitarianism, and civil rights while denying the morality of Jews and of the very existence of Israel. Antisemitism is alive and well.
But so are the Jewish people — committed as ever to their values, to their goodness, to their faith, to their purpose, to each other, and to the light that they will never stop working to bring to the world.
Happy Shavuot. Let’s eat.
Rabbi Moshe Hauer is the Executive Vice President at the Orthodox Union.
The post Why This Year’s Shavuot Is One of the Most Important Ever first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Washington Warns UK, France Against Recognizing Palestinian Statehood
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy leaves Downing Street, following the results of the election, in London, Britain, July 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville
i24 News – The United States has warned the UK and France not to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state at a UN conference scheduled for June 17 in New York, the Middle East Eye reported Tuesday.
France and Saudi Arabia will co-host this conference on the two-state solution, with Paris reportedly preparing to unilaterally recognize Palestine. France is also pressuring London to follow this path, according to sources from the British Foreign Office.
French media reports indicate that French authorities believe they have the agreement of the British government. Meanwhile, Arab states are encouraging this move, measuring the success of the conference by the recognitions obtained.
This initiative deeply divides Western allies. If France and the UK were to carry out this recognition, they would become the first G7 nations to take this step, causing a “political earthquake” according to observers, given their historical ties with Israel. The Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer threatened last week to annex parts of the West Bank if this recognition took place, according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
In the United Kingdom, Foreign Secretary David Lammy publicly opposes unilateral recognition, stating that London would only recognize a Palestinian state when we know that it is going to happen and that it is in view.
However, pressure is mounting within the Labour Party. MP Uma Kumaran, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the government was elected on a platform that promised to recognize Palestine as a step towards a just and lasting peace. Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, believes that there is no legitimate reason for the United States to interfere in a sovereign decision of recognition, while highlighting the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump on this issue.
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Police, Shin Bet Thwart Suspected Iranian Attempt Perpetrate Terror Attack
A small number of Jewish worshipers pray during the priestly blessing, a traditional prayer which usually attracts thousands of worshipers at the Western Wall on the holiday of Passover during 2020, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 12, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun.
i24 News – The Shin Bet security agency and Israel Police thwarted another Iranian attempt to recruit Israelis, according to a statement on Tuesday, arresting a resident of East Jerusalem for allegedly carrying out missions for the Islamic Republic.
Iranian agents recruited the suspect, who in turn recruited members of his family. He is a resident of the Isawiya neighborhood in his 30s, and is accused of maintaining contact with a hostile foreign entity to harm the state by carrying out a terrorist attack against Jews.
The suspect had already begun perpetrating acts of sabotage and espionage, including collecting intelligence about areas in Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and Mahane Yehuda Market. He also hung signs, burned Israeli army uniforms, and more in exchange for payment totaling thousands of shekels.
He was also charged with planning a terror attack in central Israel, including setting fire to a forest, and was told to transfer weapons to terrorist elements in the West Bank.
The suspect’s sought the help of family members, including his mother. A search at his home revealed sums of cash, a spray can used in some of his activities, airsoft guns, suspected illegal drugs, and more.
His indictment is expected to be filed by the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.
The statement said that the case is yet another example of Iranian efforts to recruit Israelis. “We will continue to coordinate efforts to thwart terrorism and terrorist elements, including those operating outside Israel, while attempting to mobilize local elements in order to protect the citizens of the State of Israel,” the Shin Bet and Police said.
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Pro-Russian, Anti-Israeli Hackers Pose Biggest Cybercrime Threats in Germany
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt holds a chart showing the development of antisemitic crime, during a press conference on Figures for Politically Motivated Crime in the Country, in Berlin, Germany, May 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Cybercrime in Germany rose to a record level last year, driven by hacker attacks from pro-Russian and anti-Israeli groups, the BKA Federal Crime Office reported on Tuesday as the government said it would boost countermeasures to combat it.
“Cybercrime is an increasing threat to our security,” said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt. “It is getting more aggressive but our counter-strategies are also becoming more professional,” he said.
Some 131,391 cases of cybercrime took place in Germany last year and a further 201,877 cases were committed from abroad or an unknown location, a BKA report said.
The actors behind the hacker attacks on German targets were primarily either pro-Russian or anti-Israeli, said the BKA, adding targets were mostly public and federal institutions.
Ransomware, when criminals copy and encrypt data, is one of the main threats, said the BKA, with 950 companies and institutes reporting cases in 2024.
German digital association Bitkom said damage caused by cyberattacks here totaled 178.6 billion euros ($203.87 billion) last year, some 30.4 billion euros more than in the previous year.
Dobrindt said the government planned to extend the legal capabilities authorities could use to combat cybercrime and set higher security standards for companies.
The post Pro-Russian, Anti-Israeli Hackers Pose Biggest Cybercrime Threats in Germany first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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