nation / world
Polish City Throws Children’s
Bubble Party on Top of Jewish
Graves The chief rabbi of Poland sent an angry
letter to the mayor of Kazimierz Dolny,
condemning the eastern Polish town for
throwing a festive children’s bubble party
Children at a bubble party in
on the site of a former Jewish cemetery
Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, for
where the dead are still buried, JTA.org
Children’s Day on June 1
reported. Kazimierz Dolny authorities filled the former cemetery with bubbles for Children’s
Day, a holiday celebrated on June 1 in many European countries.

In the letter sent to Mayor Artur Pomianowski on June 6, Michael Schudrich wrote,
“The party organized on the yard, which was after all fun on the graves, proves that
for the municipal authorities, respect for human burial is not an important value.”
Schudrich said that it was “outrageous” that Pomianowski posted a video of the
bubble party on his mayoral Facebook page.

Bartłomiej Godlewskia, Kazimierz Dolny’s deputy mayor, sent a letter in response.

“I regret the wrong decision to organize Children’s Day. We share a common
history and a common home, and it was never our intention to hurt feelings — it
was human error. I hope that this event will not interfere with our dialogue and
cooperation in the future,” he wrote.

The former cemetery, now a children’s play area next to an elementary school, was
demolished roughly 50 years ago, but the bodies were not removed.

State Department Calls Roger Waters Concert ‘Antisemitic’
The State Department has condemned Roger Waters, calling the former Pink Floyd
frontman’s recent concert in Berlin “antisemitic,” JTA.org reported.

A reporter asked at a press briefing on June 5 whether the department agreed
with recent comments from Deborah Lipstadt, the department’s envoy for combating
antisemitism, who tweeted criticism of Waters.

“The concert in question, which took place in Berlin, contained imagery that is deeply
offensive to Jewish people and minimized the Holocaust,” the department wrote in a
response to the question, the Associated Press reported. “The artist in question has a
long track record of using antisemitic tropes to denigrate Jewish people.”
Waters is a leader in the call to culturally boycott Israel, often promoting the cause
of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, or BDS. Jewish leaders around
the world have long said his harsh criticism of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians
crosses the line into antisemitism.

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jewishexponent.com/econfirmation/ Screenshot from YouTube/Kan via JTA.org
City of Miami Beach to Pay $1.3M to Settle Jewish
Congregation’s Discrimination Claims
The city of Miami Beach has agreed to pay $1.3 million to a small Orthodox
synagogue that accused it of discrimination by sending inspectors more than once
a week on average for two years, JTA.org reported.

At the same time, Congregation Bais Yeshaya D’Kerestir agreed to make changes
to its parking and noise practices.

The agreement ends an extended dispute over whether the congregation,
which meets in a single-family home owned by its rabbi, Arie Wohl, was a religious
institution or a private gathering.

The congregation argued that because its services are invitation-only, the
building’s use is similar to that of any other private home and so should not be
subject to scrutiny by city inspectors. It sued in April 2022, claiming that city officials
visited more than 126 times over two years to enforce various city laws, including 60
times to enforce pandemic restrictions on large gatherings.

The congregation also claimed that the city installed a video camera in 2021 that
surveilled only its property, not neighboring buildings. ■
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
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