Fight BDS: The Video
Flipping BDS On Its HeadThe Best BDS Campaign You've Ever Seen
Posted by Young Israel of Jamaica Estates on Monday, March 28, 2016
Purim 2016
FIGHT BDS THIS PURIM WITH MISHLOACH MANOT 2016
How often do we see Israel attacked and feel helpless to do anything about it? Innocent Israelis are attacked walking the streets, missiles are launched from Gaza or from Lebanon and then when the IDF responds, Israel is attacked again in the media. Here in America, there is not much we can do in response to these attacks other than grow increasingly frustrated.
There is another attack on Israel taking place in the form of BDS. This movement seeks to undermine Israel’s very existence and attempts to damage the Israeli economy. This is an attack that we in the United States have an opportunity to counter.
The YIJE Purim Committee is asking all shuls to unite and prepare their mishloach manot in the theme of supporting Israeli commerce. We have initiated a BDS-revised theme, (Buy Israeli, Deliver, Shalach Manot). The goal is to have as many shuls as possible prepare and package their Mishloach Manot exclusively with products that are made in Israel. We hope that the impact of so many shuls buying so many items at about the same time will be big enough to be felt in Israel. At the very least, it will send a message to our brothers and sisters in Israel that we are with them.
Participation is simple; either order products directly from Israel or just go to your local supermarket and order Israeli made goods that you desire to include in your Shul packages.
In addition, we are supplying a BDS-revised-logo tag to include on the Shul mishloach manot packages that are participating in this project. You can see a sample of this logo on our website at www.Yije.org (this page -- scroll down to see the image below). This tag will be provided free of charge on behalf of YIJE. The tag will let recipients know that they have played a small role in combating BDS.
If your shul desires to participate in this endeavor, please contact us ASAP. The deadline is February 15, 2016. Please email the YIJE Purim Committee at: Rivkyorlow@aol.com and place in the subject matter "your Shul name, & we join you in the project!" Please indicate how many packages you will be preparing so that we can order the correct amount of tags for your Shul.
The YIJE Purim committee is looking forward to this joint venture with your shul!
For more information about this program and how to participate emailRivkyOrlow@aol.com.
To download the image below simply drag it to your desktop.
Order "Boycotted" Israeli Wine
Are you or your synagogue planning to include wine in your Mishloach Manot this year? Consider including high-end wines from Israel's finest wineries and show your disapproval of BDS at the same time. Our partner, the BDS Wine Club, can help you select and purchase the best wines for any budget. Join the Young Israel anti-BDS campaign for special discounts.
SodaStream Discount Coupon
Latest Anti-BDS News
We are pleased to announce that SodaStream has joined our Purim anti-BDS campaign. For a limited time, all participants will be able to order SodaStream products at a 20% discount. Synagogues participating in the campaign will be able to include printed cards with a message from SodaStream and the discount offer. Check back on this page where we will post the discount code that you will need upon checkout.
Anti-BDS Featured in the Jewish Week
Purim Baskets With A Political Punch
image: http://www.thejewishweek.com/sites/default/files/images/2016/02/03b-0.feature_580x320.jpg
The leaders of the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates came to Rabbi Shlomo Hochberg with a question last year.
The sisterhood leaders told their synagogue’s spiritual leader that they wanted participants in the Young Israel’s annual mishloach manot project, which sends food baskets to hundreds of recipients on Purim, to make a political and financial statement by only including Israeli products.
The activist Queens congregation, which sponsors a series of social action programs on behalf of Israel and the synagogue’s local community, had completed a five-year-long project, conducted at Purim, which raised funds for refurbishing a Torah scroll for an Israeli army base.
This year’s project would be a strike against the international BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement and serve as economic support for Israeli businesses, they told Rabbi Hochberg. They asked him how they could expand it beyond their congregation.
The rabbi contacted the National Council of Young Israel, which endorsed the idea – the National Council is urging its 150 member congregations to have congregants fill their mishloach manot packages exclusively with items from Israel on Purim, which begins on the evening of Wednesday, March 23.
Mishloach manot (Hebrew for the sending of portions), is based on a commandment derived in a verse in the Scroll of Esther; mishloach manot drives have become a popular Purim-time activity in many Jewish homes and congregations.
This year, said Rabbi Hochberg, his congregation’s project will feature anti-BDS tags explaining the provenance of each package’s products, “To show our moral support” for Israeli businesses that are the target of the BDS movement.
“They’re on the front line,” he said.
Participants can order products directly from Israel or from local vendors — as long as items come from Israel proper or from businesses in the West Bank across the Green Line that separates Israel from the Palestinian territories, Rabbi Hochberg said, noting that Young Israel doesn’t differentiate between the two areas.
As a facet of BDS, some supporters, including the European Union, have begun to label items made on the West Bank, which they consider subject to Israeli “occupation.”
“The message” of the Young Israel campaign “is about showing a connection between Jews” in the diaspora and those in the Jewish homeland, said Rabbi Hochberg.
“We must battle against the Hamanic decree of the BDS movement,” said Rabbi Binyamin Hammer, director of rabbinic services at the National Council. “Rabbi Hochberg and his congregation … are our modern-day Mordechais and Esthers.”
Rabbi Hochberg and his wife Karen, who during 25 years at the Young Israel congregation have pioneered such activities as a Memorial Day Run for Israel and a collection of blankets for homeless people in their area, will be honored at the synagogue’s annual journal dinner Saturday, Feb. 6 at the Old Westbury Hebrew Congregation.
Members of Rabbi Hochberg’s congregation will send at least 1,000 mishloach manot packages on Purim next month, he said. His family’s will probably include a bottle of grape juice, some crackers and some candy.
“Everything will be from Israel, he said.”
For information about the Young Israel of Jamaica Estate’s mishloach manot project contact Rivkyorlow@aol.com.