Obama Calls For Confrontation of Anti-Semitism

President named Ambassador for Humanity by USC Shoah Foundation

By Hannah Dreyfus|May 8, 2014 2:31 PM in tabletmag.com  LINK HERE

President Barack Obama spoke about the need for ”confronting a rising tide of anti-Semitism around the world” in at the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation on Wednesday night, JTA reports. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who created the the Shoah Foundation, presented Obama with the Ambassador for Humanity award at the event, which was emceed by Conan O’Brien.

“We see attacks on Jews in the streets of major Western cities, public places marred by swastikas,” the U.S. leader said. “From some foreign governments we hear the worst kind of anti-Semitic scapegoating.”

The president also spoke out in support of the state of Israel, saying it’s “up to us to speak out against rhetoric that threatens the existence of the Jewish homeland and to sustain America’s unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security.”

The award raised $4 million to help the foundation compile video testimonies of 52,000 Holocaust survivors, liberators, and other witnesses. “The purpose of memory is not simply to preserve the past, it is to protect the future,” Obama said about the video testimonials. ....LINK HERE....

Behind the Scenes at the Obama Seder

NOTE: we live in a time of much hatred, name calling and "my side" versus "your side". Sad. That said, if I'm not wrong, Barack and Michelle Obama were the first President and First Lady to host Seder at the White House and they do it every year. In fact, the tradition started on the Obama campaign trail. You may have an opinion or two, but it sure is nice to see the President at the seder table. 

Why this night was different from all others:  A hyper-contemporary menu of gourmet holiday foods and a #Passover #selfie tweeted from inside the seder by former presidential aide Arun Chaudhary... 
Washington, DC - With rain pouring down and high winds ripping the newly opened magnolia blooms off the historic trees surrounding the White House, President Barack Obama andFirst Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday evening welcomed 21 guests--friends and current and former staffers--for their sixth annual Passover seder.
  
The closed-to-press dinner made with beloved family recipes offered by the guests and some elaborate specialties created by the White House chefs--beef brisket, seared salmon, Tuscan kale, wilted spinach, and quinoa were part of the mix--began at 6:30 PM in the Old Family Dining Room, an intimate, yellow-walled dining room on the State Floor. 

"On Tuesday, just as we have every year of my presidency, my family will join the millions taking part in the ancient tradition of the Seder," Mr. Obama said in his Passover message.  

"We will enjoy the company of friends and loved ones, retell a timeless story, and give thanks for the freedom we are so blessed to enjoy."

Mr. Obama is the first President to mark Passover at the White House, and most of his guests on Tuesday--including former Senior Advisor David Axelrod, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Chicago friend Dr. Eric Whitaker, and former bodyman Reggie Love--have previously attended his seders.  Jarrett and Whitaker sat side by side at the head of the table.

Wearing a dark suit and no yarmulke, Mr. Obama sat in the center of his guests, across the antique mahogany table from Mrs. Obama, who wore a black and white jersey print dress, her hair pulled into a bun.  Click to Keep Reading

Obama’s Middle East fallacy

By Jackson Diehl, Sunday, March 16, 7:52 PM E-mail the writer

Washington Post March 16, 2014 

Two weeks ago President Obama took time off from the crisis in Ukraine to pursue the foreign policy cause that, together with nuclear disarmament, has been closest to his heart: Israeli-Palestinian peace. Having invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, Obama welcomed him by publicly declaring to Bloomberg View’s Jeffrey Goldberg that Israel “could face a bleak future — one of international isolation and demographic disaster — if [Netanyahu] refuses to endorse a U.S. drafted framework agreement for peace,” as Goldberg summed it up.

Fair enough, you might say: An April 29 deadline for obtaining agreement to the framework is getting close, so it’s time for a little presidential arm-twisting. It follows that when Mahmoud Abbas troops into the Oval Office for his meeting on Monday, he should be met with equally dire predictions of Palestinian doom if he fails to accept the framework. KEEP READING

NOTE: Do you agree? Too harsh? What really goes on in these meetings???

White House Statement on Purim

NOTE: Includes 2 really great recipes! 

Read Here