Helen Grigoriou comforts her son Antonios who was allegedly beaten by Muslim students at his school. Picture: Jeff Herbert
A SYDNEY couple has withdrawn their two
children from a public primary school, claiming their 11-year-old son
was bullied by Muslim students because he ate a salami sandwich during
Ramadan.
Andrew
Grigoriou said yesterday he complained to the school and to police
after his son Antonios was chased and later assaulted by Muslim
students after a confrontation over the contents of his lunch, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Antonios,
a Year 5 student of Greek-Australian background at Punchbowl Public
School in Sydney's southwest, said he and a friend had to be locked
inside the library for an hour after being chased by a group of Muslim
boys offended by his choice of food while they were fasting.
The Grigoriou family said the following exchange took place:
Muslim student to Antonios: "Why are you eating ham, it's Ramadan?"
Antonios: "My mum packed this for lunch today."
Muslim student: "Don't eat that. How can you eat pig, it's disgusting."
Tonight at sundown Yom Kippur begins. It is the holiest day of the year for Jews.
To my Jewish readers, may you be blessed with an easy fast.
I was heartened to find out that my beloved Rabbi, who serves a predominately liberal congregation, will be speaking about supporting Israel. I am sure there will be many at services troubled that the sermon will not cover health care reform but I am relieved and delighted and hopeful.
Wafa Sultan is a Syrian-born American psychiatrist who was named as one of TIME Magazine’s
most influential people in 2006. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks,
she has participated in many political discussions through various
media outlets, including Al Jazeera and CNN. She became famous as the
first Arab Muslim woman on Al Jazeera who demanded to be heard. You've got to watch the whole thing, she rocks!
The Khilafah Conference 2009 is scheduled to be held July 19, 2009 at the Hilton Oak Lawn hotel.
A group committed to establishing an international Islamic empire and
reportedly linked to Al Qaeda is stepping up its Western recruitment
efforts by holding its first official conference in the U.S.
Hizb
ut-Tahrir is a global Sunni network with reported ties to confessed
9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Al Qaeda in Iraq's onetime
leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It has operated discreetly in the U.S. for
decades.
Now, it is coming out of the
shadows and openly hosting a July 19 conference entitled, "The Fall of
Capitalism and the Rise of Islam," at a posh Hilton hotel in a suburb
of Chicago.
Hizb ut-Tahrir insists that it
does not engage in terrorism, and it is not recognized by the State
Department as a known terror group.
But some terrorism experts say it may be even more dangerous than many groups that are on the terror list.
"Hizb
ut-Tahrir is one of the oldest, largest indoctrinating organizations
for the ideology known as jihadism," Walid Phares, director of the
Future of Terrorism Project at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies, told FOXNews.com.
Phares said
that Hizb ut-Tahrir, rather than training members to carry out
terrorist acts like Al Qaeda, focuses instead on indoctrinating youths
between ages of 9 and 18 to absorb the ideology that calls for the
formation of an empire — or "khilafah" — that will rule according to
Islamic law and condones any means to achieve it, including militant
jihad.
Hizb
ut-Tahrir often says that its indoctrination "prepares the infantry"
that groups like Al Qaeda take into battle, Phares said.
"It's
like a middle school that prepares them to be recruited by the high
school, which is Al Qaeda," he said. "One would compare them to Hitler
youth. ... It's an extremely dangerous organization."
In the morning, we plan to be directly across the street from the entrance to the Oak Lawn Hilton Hotel on the sidewalk near the Charter One Bank
(closed on Sunday) on West 94th Street in the morning from about 9 to
11 AM to stand defiant to those HTA supporters driving to the
conference (appx. at 4755-4761 West 94th Street area.)
After the 11 AM start of the HTA conference, we will move to the corner
of West 94th Street and South Cicero Avenue to address more of the
traffic in the area. The corner
of West 94th Street and South Cicero Avenue is at the front of the
Charter One Bank public sidewalk area. It’s address is 9401 S. Cicero
Avenue, Oak Lawn, IL 60453; we also plan to be on the side of bank area
public sidewalk as well.
We have discussed our specific protest plans with the Oak Lawn
Police Department and they have no problem with the exercise of our
First Amendment rights to protest against Hizb ut-Tahrir’s conference
across the street from the Oak Lawn Hilton Hotel. We have also advised the Oak Lawn Police Department of the nature and ideology of the Hizb ut-Tahrir
organization, in the event there are any confrontations. We have also
advised the Oak Lawn Police Department of our plans to use R.E.A.L.’s
small amplified sound system, and they have no problem with that. In
addition, we discussed our plans with Oak Lawn Police Department
Commander Tom Simon, who is also fine with our plans. For our
information, he pointed out the Oak Lawn Municipal Coderegarding “parades,” which requires a permit if we have 10 or more individuals at our rally. Right now, we are expecting about 4 to 5. The Code also defines general standards of conduct for “parades” that might generally apply to a First Amendment protest.
We urge those in the Chicago area, and those with the means to
travel to Chicago for the day (as Oak Lawn is a 10 minute shuttle ride
from Chicago’s Midway Airport), to join us on July 19 so that this
first major public event by the Islamic supremacist Hizb ut-Tahrir is
publicly opposed by those of who believe in democracy and who are
Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
April 20th is Holocaust Remembrance day,
also known in Israel as "Yom Ha Shoah". It is a day of mourning. No
stores are open, no commercials are shown on TV, few people go to work. Every year, there is a moment of silence in Israel, in remembrance of those who perished in the Holocaust. A siren rings throughout the country and every citizen stands at a attention no matter where he or she may be.
On this holiday, Jews all over the world, retell the story of the Exodus and celebrate G-d leading our ancestors out of Egypt, out of slavery. We also remember those around the world who are not free today. May we continue to work towards repairing the world (tikkun olam) and bringing peace and freedom to those who are oppressed.
Purim is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar.
It commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved
from extermination. My favorite thing about the holiday is that we are commanded to give gifts of food and one of the foods that is traditional is the pastry you see here called Hamentashen. The villain of the Purim story is Hamen and these pastries resemble Hamen's three cornered hat, thus the name Hamentashen.
I baked these all weekend and filled them with a variety of fillings; chocolate chips, Nutella, and jam. They are like snowflakes; no two are alike!
The other tradition that I love is that Purim is a holiday where people dress up in costumes. When I was little, I always dressed up as Queen Esther; I mean, what little girl doesn't want to be Queen Esther, right? This year, our synagogue had a Purim party and the theme was the 60's. Easy and I must confess, my very favorite part of my costume was...the false eyelashes! Seriously, I wish I could wear them every day without looking like a cougar or mental patient! They were very Cher in the 60's and Liza with a Z, in her 60's! Ironic that the Purim story deals with a foiled attempt to exterminate the Jews. Four thousand years later, people still want to exterminate us. I don't think it says as much about the Jews as it does about those who hate us. No matter; it's Purim and time to party!
Tu B'Shevat,
the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar -- celebrated this year on
Monday, February 9, 2009 -- is the day that marks the beginning of a
"New Year for Trees." This is the season in which the earliest-blooming
trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.
Legally, the "New Year for Trees" relates to the various tithes that
must be separated from produce grown in the Holy Land. These tithes
differ from year to year in the seven-year Shemittah cycle; the point at which a budding fruit is considered to belong to the next year of the cycle is the 15th of Shevat.
We mark the day of Tu B'Shevat by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah
in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs,
pomegranates, olives and dates. On this day we remember that "Man is a
tree of the field" (Deuteronomy 20:19) and reflect on the lessons we can derive from our botanical analogue.
My monkey was given an assignment in his Jewish Rituals class. He was to read several passages from the Torah and interpret each one. He was also to find an illustration that expressed the message, as well. It was a lengthy process and I loved that it got us all talking about some of the concepts in the Torah; what is it to be holy, loyal, sanctimonius, etc. When it came time to find images for each concept, Ivan got very creative. He had great success until he got to the concept of sanctimoniusness. We discussed its meaning and I made a suggestion; how about an image of 'The One.' I didn't think there was a need to worry about offending the teacher; he is an Orthodox Jew and as such, likely a Republican. If you click on the image, you will see Obama dressed as a monk. Not the image I would have chosen but it is Obama and that was the point. I have yet to find out how Ivan's project was received and I will be curious as to how the teacher grades the thing. Personally, I am just over-the-moon-happy that my monkey is going to a school where a class that is designed to teach my kid about Torah is taken as seriously as his Chemistry class. Can I get an 'Amen'?
In Judaism, the 10 days between Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur are considered the High Holy Days, Days of Awe. We are to atone for sins against another
person, which means you must first seek reconciliation with that person, righting the
wrongs you committed against them if possible. All of this is to be done prior to Yom Kippur.The name "Yom Kippur" means "Day of Atonement," and that pretty much explains
what the holiday is. This year it begins at sundown on Wednesday and concludes at sundown on Thursday. It is a day set aside to "afflict the soul," to atone
for the sins of the past year. We are commanded to fast and while I do okay with the lack of food, going without my morning coffee is ridiculously difficult for me! I will say that while seeking reconciliation and righting my wrongs is no picnic, the three hardest words to say are not, "I am sorry." In my experience, the hardest words to say, and mean, are "I forgive you." While forgiving is very liberating, getting over one's emotions attached to being wronged requires discipline, something I do not have an abundance of. I have had a perfectly awful year; the worst since I was orphaned as a teenager and I have never shed as many tears as I have this past year. I am so grateful it's behind me. As I leave my dark and dreary days behind me, I feel renewed and pray for clear skies ahead. And to all of my Jewish readers, I wish you an easy fast.
Jews around the world celebrate the beginning of the year 5769 on
the Jewish calendar starting at sundown tonight. Rosh Hashanah, the
two-day Jewish New Year celebration, also marks the beginning of
Judaism's High Holy Days. The 10-day period of repentance culminates in
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
I am wishing all of my readers a very happy and sweet new year.
It is the 1st day of creation, on which The Almighty created existence, time, matter, darkness and light.
Rosh Hashana, which in Hebrew, means, literally, "head of the year"
or "first of the year," is commonly known as the Jewish New Year. It is
the day on which we mark "the beginning of Your works," and is actually
the 6th day of creation. On this day, the world attained the potential
for the realization of its purpose, with the creation of the first man
and woman, Adam and Eve.
Rosh Hashana is therefore the day from which the Jewish calendar
begins to count the years of history; the 1st day of creation thus
occurred on the 25th of Elul of what is termed -1 from creation.
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