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NEWSBRIEFS ISRAELBRIEFS
Third Graders Told to Reenact Holocaust Scenes
A STAFF MEMBER at a Washington, D.C., elementary school
instructed students to reenact scenes from the Holocaust on Dec.

17, JTA reported, citing The Washington Post.

When the third-graders at Watkins Elementary School asked
why the Germans killed Jews, the staffer said it was “because the
Jews ruined Christmas.”
The woman reportedly told a Jewish student to play the role of
Adolf Hitler and to pretend to commit suicide. Another was told
to pretend that he was on a train headed to a concentration camp
and then to act as if he were dying in a gas chamber.

The staff member told students not to talk about the reenact-
ment, but they told their homeroom teacher.

The staffer was placed on leave that day. School Principal
Scott Berkowitz condemned the incident in an email to
parents. He said the students met with the school’s mental
health team.

Plan Approved to Nearly
Double Petah Tikva’s Size
THE CENTRAL DISTRICT
Planning and
Building Committee approved a plan that
would add 63,500 housing units
in Petah Tikva, increasing the
population of the city northeast
of Tel Aviv from 266,000 residents
to 460,000, Globes reported.

Many of the housing units will
be in Sirkin, a new neighborhood on
the army base being vacated there,
and the Yoseftal neighborhood is
set to be demolished and rebuilt.

A new road from Sirkin exiting
toward Jerusalem will be built.

The plan will encourage
urban renewal in industrial
zones and proposes adding 3.8
million square meters of office
and commercial space, while
also improving the transporta-
tion infrastructure.

Founded in 1878, Petah
Tikva was the country’s first
Jewish agricultural village.

AIPAC Gets Into Fundraising Business
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC,
which is the country’s largest pro-Israel lobby, is getting into the
fundraising business, JTA reported.

The AIPAC name has caused confusion for years, as PAC
typically stands for political action committee.

On Dec. 16, AIPAC launched a regular political action
committee to funnel donations of up to $5,000 to designated
candidates per race, and a super PAC, which can raise unlimited
money per candidate. The regular PAC will be named AIPAC
PAC; the super PAC hasn’t been named.

“The creation of a PAC and a super PAC is an opportunity
to significantly deepen and strengthen the involvement of the
pro-Israel community in politics,” AIPAC spokesman Marshall
Wittmann said. “The PACs will work in a bipartisan way.”
Forty-seven Percent of
Arab-Israelis Speak Only
Some to No Hebrew
A 2020 survey by Israel’s Central
Bureau of Statistics revealed
that 47% of Arab-Israeli respon-
dents said they speak “medium”
to “almost zero” Hebrew, The
Jerusalem Post reported.

The 53% of Arab-Israelis who
rate their Hebrew as “good” to
“very good” compares to 91% of
Jewish Israelis.

In October, a $2.84 billion
initiative was launched to
reduce gaps in education among
Arab-Israelis, including a
program to improve Hebrew
literacy, develop more relevant
educational content, promote
after-school education and reduce
dropout rates.

The initiative also pledges $760
million to build classrooms in Arab
regions and an additional $2,211
investment per Arab student. l
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
Financial advice
from a
knowledgeable neighbor.

Torah Scroll Sections Reappear in Germany 83 Years
After Kristallnacht
A German Protestant minister handed over segments of a
long-lost Torah scroll to the city of Görlitz in southeast Germany,
83 years after his father, a town policeman, came to possess them,
JTA reported.

The Torah hadn’t been seen since Kristallnacht on Nov. 9 and
10, 1938.

Pastor Uwe Mader, 79, the minister who turned the fragments
over, said his father, Willi Mader, was a young police officer in
training when he was called to the synagogue.

Uwe Mader said his father never spoke about what happened
that night, so it is unclear how the four Torah fragments
ended up in his hands. Uwe Mader believes they must have
been cut out by someone who could read the Torah and
select certain passages, including the creation story and the
Ten Commandments.

The fragments changed hands several times over the years
of Nazi and later Soviet rule, eventually winding up with
Uwe Mader. l
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
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Israeli Landline Phone
Service Price to Drop 40%
Landline phone service in Israel
will be reduced by about 40%
in the next two years, saving
the public about $126.3 million
annually, the Communications
Ministry announced on
Dec. 22, The Jerusalem
Post reported.

Landline service prices are
expected to drop from about
$16-$19 a month to an average
of $9.50-$12.60.

The change is expected to
benefit the elderly and ultra-Or-
thodox populations the most
because they are the main
landline phone users. The price
changes are based on the advice
of Communications Ministry
officials who found that Israeli
telecom provider Bezeq makes
exceptional profits.

The price changes are
the first to landline phones
since 2003.

JEWISH EXPONENT
DECEMBER 30, 2021
7