We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Sarah Milgrim (z"l) and Yaron Lischinsky (z"l), who were murdered outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.. The shooting emphasizes how the demonization of Israel and Jews fuels rising antisemitism, with devastating consequences. This horrific attack underscores the urgent need to call out and reject hate in all its forms. Words have consequences. Silence is not an option.

Michael Koplow of the Israel Policy Forum wrote, "This was an unspeakable act of violence targeting Jews ostensibly carried out in the name of Palestinian solidarity. Support for Palestinians confers no legitimacy to attack Jews, Israelis, or anyone."

We are reminded why our work -- to protect, to support and to stand together -- is more important than ever.

Here is a video of a briefing about the shooting and community security coordinated by Jewish Federations of North America. In addition, here is a statement calling for support from the United States government for enhanced security measures signed on by 43 national Jewish organizations.

Last Saturday night was the finals of the Eurovision song contest. It is a kitschy/campy song competition that includes 37 countries from across Europe and elsewhere (based on if your country is covered by the European Broadcasting Area). Eurovision has been happening annually since 1956.

Famous past winners include Abba (Sweden) with “Waterloo” in 1974, Celine Dion (Switzerland) in 1988 with “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi,” and the group Milk and Honey (Israel) in 1979 with “Hallelujah.” I also encourage you to watch the Will Ferrell movie, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga on Netflix to get a good feel for the competition.

Israeli singer Yuval Raphael placed second this year with her song, “New Day Will Rise.” It is an operatic pop ballad with a music video that references concertgoers fleeing the Hamas attacks on the Nova Music Festival. She herself survived the October 7, 2023 festival massacre, where she hid in a bomb shelter for eight hours. Following her father’s advice over the phone, she played dead. Of the roughly 50 people in the shelter, only 11 survived. Nineteen months later she represented Israel at Eurovision.

Eurovision’s scoring is a combination of jury votes from each participating country (who cannot vote for their own country), and a public televote. After the jury vote, Israel was in 14th place. 

The public televote points are allocated based on whoever has a plurality of public votes from that particular country. People are allowed to vote up to 20 times each. Israel received the top ranked public vote from 12 countries: Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and “The Rest of the World” vote. Israel received partial points from the public in 22 other countries. The public vote from three nations— Armenia, Croatia, and Poland — did not give Israel any points. 

This is the third year in a row the Israeli contestant won the public vote.

Interestingly, the Irish public broadcaster tried to get Israel banned from the competition. The televote from Ireland gave Israel 10 of their 12 votes. Spain started their broadcast of the event with a sign on the screen that said, “Justice for Palestine.” All 12 of the public votes from Spain went to Israel.

The Hamas-Israel war has caused deep polarization – perhaps the polarization has become stronger? Meaning, if you support Israel in the war – you support Israel even more. And the same for those who do not support Israel.

What is interesting about how the competition works is that if you want to express your support for Israel, then you vote for Israel. However, if you want to see Israel lose, who do you vote for? Anti-Israel voters diluted their impact while the pro-Israel vote was fully unified, lifting Yuval into second place, despite the jury votes.

Did people vote to support Israel? Did people vote solely on the merits of the song? Did people identify with Yuval as a victim of terror? No matter the reason, it was heartening that Israel received so much support from across Europe.

Now, I will share that Israel’s success in the public voting has prompted some countries (Ireland and Spain included) to call for an audit of the televoting. Eurovision organizers, the European Broadcasting Union, said the vote had been independently checked and verified, and they took the concerns seriously.

Dutch public broadcasters later issued a statement saying the contest was "increasingly influenced by societal and geopolitical tensions. Israel's involvement raises the question of whether Eurovision still truly functions as an apolitical, unifying, and cultural event.”

It is my hope that the fun, joy and “country pride” continues with Eurovision. It is truly something to behold.

Last week, I was published in the Times of Israel blogs. You can read the full blog post here. It centered around the “Teaching Palestine” curriculum that has been advocated for by the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) and the Beaverton Education Association (BEA), which held a workshop for teachers on the curriculum.

My wife, a high school teacher in Beaverton, attended the workshop. She found it quite troubling. But what upset her the most was, “We do not proactively tell our own story about the history of Israel – instead, we react to the pro-Palestinian narrative. Rethinking Schools managed to create an entire book in one summer and launch a slick website with loads of articles and ready to go curriculum. Where is our “Teaching Israel” curriculum guide and teacher resource book?”

She was right. With so many talented Jewish educators, historians, and Jewish educational institutions, why has the national Jewish community not developed our own comprehensive Israel-centered curriculum that can be instantly shared with teachers? That should be our priority.

On a lighter note, here are nine incredible Jewish inventions – these include the pregnancy test, the fax machine, stainless steel, and my childhood favorite, Mr. Potato Head. By the way, did you know Mr. Potato Head was introduced on April 30, 1952, when it became the first toy ever advertised on television. The television commercial aired during "The Jackie Gleason Show.” The original toy cost $0.98 and included: hands, feet, ears, two mouths, two pairs of eyes, four noses, three hats, eyeglasses, a pipe, and eight felt pieces resembling facial hair.

Shabbat shalom and have a safe and meaningful Memorial Day weekend.