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What would the late Yoram Hamizrachi have made of the lack of discussion of Israeli government policies within our Jewish community?
By BERNIE BELLAN Many readers are undoubtedly aware of the name “Yoram Hamizrachi,” a.k.a. Yoram East. Yoram was a big man and his somewhat menacing appearance belied his warm nature. For several years Yoram was also a columnist for the Jewish Post – when my late brother, Matt, was editor.
Yoram Hamizrachi was born in Jerusalem, Israel on February 20, 1942. He worked for many years as a newspaper, radio, and TV journalist for Israeli and foreign media in Israel and abroad (South Africa, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, and Germany).
Yoram also spent many years of his life in the service of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). As a reserve officer, he took part in the Battle of Jerusalem during the Six-Days War. After the war of Atonement in 1973, he moved with his family to northern Israel where he rejoined the IDF and became the first Israeli commander of the now defunct South Lebanon Security Belt (from Mount Hermon in the east to the Mediterranean in the west).
Yoram immigrated to Canada (Winnipeg) in 1982 and in 1984 played a crucial role in the rescue of Ethiopian Jews – ‘The Lost Tribe’.
Premiers, mayors, elected and high-level officials from all levels of government actively sought out Yoram’s wise counsel on many issues. He was a personal advisor to several Canadian foreign ministers on counterterrorism and a sought-after expert on terrorism, instructing courses for the Canadian and US military and police forces across North America.
Throughout his time in Winnipeg, he was a leading voice of Zionism and defender of Israel, and he initiated the annual Remembrance Day service for Jewish veterans.
But Yoram was also an iconoclast, often challenging the accepted wisdom of the day. In May 1991, shortly after the first Gulf War, during which a coalition of forces led by the U.S. expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait – which Iraq had invaded in 1990, Yoram spoke to a gathering at the Gwen Secter Centre.
The event was sponsored by the United Jewish People’s Order. (In fact, Hamizrachi spoke several times at events sponsored by UJPO. He also spoke on occasion to the Winnipeg chapter of “Peace Now.”)
To be sure, while Hamizrachi was an advocate for peace between Israel and her Arab neighbours, he was also totally realistic about the obstacles that stood in the way of peace.
At that May 1991 talk, my late brother noted how controversial some of Hamizrachi’s views were – and how eager several in the audience that day were to pose questions to Hamizrachi.
The title of Matt’s article was “The question askers’ take on Yoram Hamizrachi’, with the subtitle: “When the provocative former Jewish Post columnist spoke to a local Jewish crowd, some were ready and willing to challenge him.”
Here are some excerpts from that article:
‘The ‘question askers’ were out in full force May 13 for Yoram Hamizrachi’s lecture on the Gulf War and its aftermath.
“The question askers in Winnipeg’s Jewish community aren’t always the same, although three or four show up at almost every community event where Israel is the topic.
“They come partly to hear the lecture. But at least as important is the ‘question and answer session’ that follows.
“The burly Hamizrachi has a controversial reputation in Winnipeg’s Jewish community.
During the time he was a columnist for the Jewish Post, Matt wrote, “He delighted in taking aim at Israeli targets some more conservative elements in Winnipeg’s Jewish community considered off limits – subjects like some of the more bizzare practices of the Israeli ultra-Orthodox.”
At one point during his talk, Hamizrachi took aim at then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, saying “Shamir is contributing to President George Bush’s heart condition: ‘Every time his hear beats, it goes Shamir, Shamir’.”
“But when the speaker aimed a more stinging barb at Shamir, he fell into a trap,” Matt continued. “The ‘question askers’ were ready and waiting.
” ‘Shamir is still stubborn and vicious,’ Hamizrachi said. ‘His agenda isn’t changed – It’s ‘We love peace, we want to negotiate peace. We’d like to have peace with the Palestinians, but what our conditions? Our conditions are that nothing will change.’
” ‘Why don’t you criticize the Syrian leader?’ a heavyset, whitehaired man in the audience bellowed.
” ‘ What do you think of dividing Jerusalem?’ someone else in the audience demanded – ignoring calls from the somewhat timid moderator to ‘wait for the question and answer session.’
“Hamizrachi answered again. He was born there and fought to capture East Jerusalem during the Six Day War. He was in favour of giving that back for the sake of peace. if that were possible.
” ‘What will be the economic future of an independent Palestinian state’ another audience member asked.
” ‘I asked Arafat the same question,’ Hamizrachi replied. ‘He said: “The same as yours. The Americans are helping you (Israelis). The Arabs will help us.
” ‘Do you think Palestinian brainpower is any less than Israeli brainpower?’ Hamizrachi asked the audience.
” ‘Yes!’ a question asker snapped back.
” ‘I say it’s the same,’ Hamizrachi replied.
” “So why don’t they use it?’ the questioner demanded.
At that point the lecture and question and session were over, and audience members were “invited to stay for coffee and cookies, and ask Hamizrachi more questions.
” ‘I am ready for my execution,’ he said jokingly.”
My point in excerpting from an article written 34 years ago is to show readers that there was a time when someone extremely well respected within not just the Jewish community, but the wider community as well, could challenge accepted dogma on Israel. Here was someone who had fought for Israel, but who still respected Palestinians. Even further, he was someone who had fought to liberate Jerusalem, but who was ready to give it back for the sake of peace.
Of course, that was many years ago, but Israel had already begun its rightward tilt, which has only continued and become even more extreme under the current Netanyahu-led government. One wonders what Yoram Hamizrachi would have to say today, if he were still alive, about Israel’s never ending war in Gaza – and the absolute silence that our Jewish Federation, along with other establishment Jewish organizations, insist on maintaining when it comes to criticism of Israeli government policies?
Yoram Hamizrachi was someone who retained an open mind about issues – and insisted on looking at events through as clear a lens as possible. One can only imagine what he would have thought about how the Jewish Federation forced the resignation of BB Camp co-Executive Director Jacob Brodovsky – over Brodovsky’s alleged “anti-Israel views.” Finally, what would he have thought about how his son, Ron East, has taken it upon himself to be the self-styled “protecter” of Winnipeg Jews, also someone who is eager to swat down anything Ron labels “antiZionist?”
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The one Jewish value everyone should hold dear in the age of AI
As friends, relatives and even colleagues dive headlong into our AI future, I’ve been stuck nervously on the platform’s edge. I’m not a skeptic of technology by nature, but by experience. I’ve watched too many shiny new toys come along, promising to make society smarter or better connected, only to become superspreaders of confusion, alienation and disenfranchisement.
So when you tell me a machine can summarize any book, draw any picture or write any email, my first thought is going to be, What could possibly go wrong?
This, too, was the reaction of the Haredi rabbis who declared a communal fast over AI last month.
“If at the push of a button, I can get a hold of a d’var torah for my Shabbos meal from AI, to us, that’s a problem,” a Haredi leader told me at the time. “No, no — I want you to open the book and read it and come up with a question and come up with an answer. That’s part of what’s holy about learning Torah. It’s not just end result. It’s the process.”
Curious about their logic, I spent some time tracking down Lakewood’s gedolim to learn more. This was no straightforward task — I found it easier to get a hold of their wives than the great rabbis themselves. Even at dinner hour, these titans of Torah study were still in the beit midrash. But eventually I got through to three — thanks to my cousin Jeffrey, who knew a rav who knew a rav — and that was fortunate, because I came away with the Jewish skeleton key to our brave new world.
That key is the Jewish value of עֲמֵילוּת (ameilut), or toil. As far as Jewish values go, ameilut is an obscure one. It lacks the celebrity swagger of its better-known peers like chesed and tzedakah or the political power of tikkun olam. It was never associated with a biblical matriarch or carved into a golem’s forehead. Yet I believe it is just as crucial. Yes, toiling is a mitzvah. And in the age of AI, ameilut can be a human road map.
The word’s root appears a couple dozen times in the Hebrew Bible — unsurprisingly, it’s a recurring theme in Job — but its salience comes not from the Torah but from commentary on Leviticus 26:3, which establishes ameilut as a sacred endeavor. When God implores Israel to “walk with” the commandments, Rashi, an 11th century rabbi whose commentaries are considered authoritative, reinterpreted this to mean that God wants Jews to be ameilim b’torah — toiling in Torah study. He is reinterpreting God’s command that we walk and move forward to also mean that we should take time to stand still, turn over (and over) the same words to find new meaning and view getting stuck as a sign of progress.
For Haredim — who pronounce it ameilus — the notion that struggle can be its own reward underpins a life spent poring over sefarim in the beit midrash (and missing phone calls from the Jewish press). It follows that ChatGPT, which transforms knowledge from something developed to something consumed, is anathema to their approach. They’ve realized that making learning easy has actually made learning hard.
To be sure, the goals of the Haredi world are not exactly the same as mine. Those communities are famously insular, wary of the internet and especially cognizant of secular society’s pernicious influence. I’m basically the opposite: I love to mix it up (including with Haredi Jews) and am extremely online. A little narishkeit is good for the soul, as far as I can tell.
But I’ve found that ameilut-maxxing translates pretty well to non-religious life, too. It’s an imperative to embrace the challenge. As a notoriously limited chef, I’m now toiling in cookbooks; as a writer, I can cherish the blank page. Reframing the hard part as the good part, then, is a reminder that the toil is actually our divine right. Because ameilut is something AI can’t experience, replicate or understand. It is the very essence of what it means to be alive.
The post The one Jewish value everyone should hold dear in the age of AI appeared first on The Forward.
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Mistrial Declared in Case of Students Charged After Stanford Anti-Israel Protests
FILE PHOTO: A student attends an event at a protest encampment in support of Palestinians at Stanford University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Stanford, California U.S., April 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
A judge declared a mistrial on Friday in a case of five current and former Stanford University students related to the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests when demonstrators barricaded themselves inside the school president’s office.
Twelve protesters were initially charged last year with felony vandalism, according to prosecutors who said at least one suspect entered the building by breaking a window. Police arrested 13 people on June 5, 2024, in relation to the incident and the university said the building underwent “extensive” damage.
The case was tried in Santa Clara County Superior Court against five defendants charged with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass. The rest previously accepted plea deals or diversion programs.
The jury was deadlocked. It voted nine to three to convict on the felony charge of vandalism and eight to four to convict on the felony charge to trespass. Jurors failed to reach a verdict after deliberations.
The charges were among the most serious against participants in the 2024 pro-Palestinian protest movement on US colleges in which demonstrators demanded an end to Israel’s war in Gaza and Washington’s support for its ally along with a divestment of funds by their universities from companies supporting Israel.
Prosecutors in the case said the defendants engaged in unlawful property destruction.
“This case is about a group of people who destroyed someone else’s property and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. That is against the law,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement, adding he sought a new trial.
Anthony Brass, a lawyer for one of the protesters, told the New York Times his side was not defending lawlessness but “the concept of transparency and ethical investment.”
“This is a win for these young people of conscience and a win for free speech,” Brass said, adding “humanitarian activism has no place in a criminal courtroom.”
Protesters had renamed the building “Dr. Adnan’s Office” after Adnan Al-Bursh, a Palestinian doctor who died in an Israeli prison after months of detention.
Over 3,000 were arrested during the 2024 US pro-Palestinian protest movement, according to media tallies. Some students faced suspension, expulsion and degree revocation.
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Exclusive: FM Gideon Sa’ar to Represent Israel at 1st Board of Peace Meeting in Washington on Thursday
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar speaks next to High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas, and EU commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica as they hold a press conference on the day of an EU-Israel Association Council with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
i24 News – Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will represent the country at the inaugural meeting of the Gaza Board of Peace in Washington on Thursday, i24NEWS learned on Saturday.
The arrangement was agreed upon following a request from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will not be able to attend.
Netanyahu pushed his Washington visit forward by a week, meeting with US President Donald Trump this week to discuss the Iran situation.
A U.N. Security Council resolution, adopted in mid-November, authorized the Board of Peace and countries working with it to establish an international stabilization force in Gaza and build on the ceasefire agreed in October under a Trump plan.
Under Trump’s Gaza plan, the board was meant to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump thereafter said the board, with him as chair, would be expanded to tackle global conflicts.