Here is a calendar of upcoming events, up and down the country. Some are organized by us, others by like-minded organizations and groups.
We’re holding a sausage sizzle at Shirley Bunnings on Marshland Road.
Each sausage sizzle has been a wonderful opportunity to meet the public, raise awareness of Israel, the Middle East and Jewish culture.
The funds will go toward furthering Holocaust Education and fighting racial intolerance.
If you can help out for a morning or afternoon, then feel free to email Rebecca Marchand, our Secretary, on rebecca.marchand@nzfoi.org or call her on (021) 0224 2515.
You are invited to a the Christchurch premiere of the documentary “Whose Land Part 1: Foundations”?
A century after the Balfour Declaration of November 1917, the argument over the land – then known as Palestine – rages on.
Politicians, Clerics, school teachers living in the Gaza strip, the West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem, teach their children, teenagers and young adults that the Balfour Declaration was illegal, and that the whole of the land – now known as Israel – in fact belongs to the Arab people who known today as the Palestinians.
The Palestinian claim goes on to assert that the Jewish people have no historic connection with Jerusalem, that they are in fact trying to judaize the Holy City and that the Jewish presence there is illegal.
Moreover this claim is now becoming widely accepted among many in the Western world. So what historical and legal claim do the Palestinian Arabs have over Jerusalem and the Land of Israel?
Do the Jewish people have historic and legal rights? If so, when and where did they originate?
In the first of a two-part documentary “Whose Land?” Richard Kemp, together with a group of historians and international lawyers, examine the conflicting claims of the Palestinians and the Israelis through the eyes of verifiable history and international law.
Presented by Col Richard Kemp CBE (ret’d). Produced and directed by Hugh Kitson.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Colonel Richard Kemp CBE is a retired British Army officer who served from 1977 to 2006. He was Commander of British Forces Afghanistan, an infantry battalion Commanding Officer, worked for the Joint Intelligence Committee and COBR and completed 14 operational tours of duty around the globe.
Kemp testified before the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, denying allegations that Israel engaged in war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza War in December 2008 to January 2009. Kemp based his assessment on publicly available information from both sides, press reports and his 30-year experience of counter-terrorism operations and planning.[22] In June 2009, Kemp wrote “HAMAS, THE GAZA WAR AND ACCOUNTABILITY UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW” for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. In this paper, Kemp accused Hamas of deploying women and children as suicide attackers, and wrote that “women and children are trained and equipped to fight, collect intelligence and ferry arms and ammunition between battles”.
In October 2009, Kemp made a presentation to the United Nations Human Rights Council in response to the introduction of the Goldstone report in which Israel and Hamas were accused of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the Gaza War. Kemp spoke to the UN HRC on behalf of UN Watch.[24] Kemp said: “Of course innocent civilians were killed. War is chaos and full of mistakes. There have been mistakes by the British, American and other forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq, many of which can be put down to human error. But mistakes are not war crimes… Based on my knowledge and experience, I can say this: during Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in the combat zones than any other army in the history of warfare.”
On 11 March 2015, Richard Kemp visited the University of Sydney in Sydney, New South Wales to deliver a lecture on “Ethical Dilemmas of Military Tactics” and the complexities in dealing with violent non-state actors like ISIL. This lecture was interrupted by a group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators led by Associate-Professor Jake Lynch, the Director of the University’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. Following a heated exchange between the protesters and audience members, the pro-Palestinian protesters were evicted by security guards. In response to the incident, Richard Kemp wrote a letter to the University of Sydney criticising Lynch’s behavior and accusing the latter of anti-Semitism. The University of Sydney has since commenced an investigation into the incident.
You’re invited to an evening with the Ambassador of Israel, Dr Itzhak Gerberg.
Deputy Mayor Mr. Kelvin Clout and the Ebenezer Emergency Fund are sponsoring his visit and we expect a large number at Holy Trinity Church on the corner of Devonport Road and 3rd Avenue, Tauranga at 7 pm sharp start. There will be a light supper and a koha will be taken for defraying expenses and supporting Aliyah.
If you have interested people who would like to come, please feel free to invite them but there will be no notice in the paper.
Come for a great evening with music and dance as well as hearing the Ambassador who will have a Q&A session also.
Date and Time: Monday, December 4, 7pm sharp.
Venue: Holy Trinity Church, 215 Devonport Rd, Tauranga
Contacts:
Susan Bell – (021) 143 7262
Dorothy Finlay – (07) 570 1196
Hosted by Ebenezer Emergency Fund, NZ — Operation Exodus.
You are invited to a Hanukkah celebration.
To mark Hanukkah, RockHaShalom are going to give a talk about modern Israeli folk dance, give a demonstration of some dances and then anybody can join in the fun of learning some new moves.
Admission is free but a collection will be taken to help defray event expenses. Please bring a plate of Hanukkah-themed finger food for afternoon tea. Coffee and tea provided.
Dance is a time honored way for societies to express themselves in ways that other methods such as prose and poetry cannot. Dance captures emotions, feeling and even history.
Hanukkah (sometimes transliterated Chanukkah) is a Jewish holiday celebrated for eight days and nights. It starts on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev, which coincides with late November-late December on the secular calendar.
In Hebrew, the word “hanukkah” means “dedication.” The name reminds us that this holiday commemorates the re-dedication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in 165 B.C.E.
Every community has its unique Hanukkah traditions, but there are some traditions that are almost universally practiced. They are: lighting the hanukkiyah, spinning the dreidel and eating fried foods.
- Lighting the hanukkiyah: Every year it is customary to commemorate the miracle of the Hanukkah oil by lighting candles on a hanukkiyah. The hanukkiyah is lit every night for eight nights. Learn more about the hanukkiyah in: What Is a Hanukkiyah? | How to Light the Hanukkah Menorah | Hanukkah Candle Lighting Blessings.
- Spinning the dreidel: A popular Hanukkah game is spinning the dreidel, which is a four-sided top with Hebrew letters written on each side. Read The Hanukkah Dreidel to learn more about the dreidel, the meaning of the letters and how to play the game. Gelt, which are chocolate coins covered with tin foil, are part of this game.
- Eating fried foods: Because Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of oil, it is traditional to eat fried foods such as latkes and sufganiyot during the holiday. Latkes are pancakes made out of potatoes and onions, which are fried in oil and then served with applesauce. Sufganiyot (singular: sufganiyah) are jelly-filled donuts that are fried and sometimes dusted with confectioners’ sugar before eating. Learn more about Hanukkah food traditions: Hanukkah Food Traditions | What Is a Latke?
You’re invited to Hanukkah in the Park at the Botanical Gardens, Soundshell in Wellington.
Bring your picnic blankets and the whole family to Hanukkah in the Park.
There’s going to be a Candle lighting ceremony, kosher food, live music, children’s entertainment and games.
There’s going to be plenty of Sufganyot (doughnuts)!
Admission: Free
Date and time: Sunday, December 17, 11am-2pm
Sponsored by the Israeli Embassy to New Zealand.
We were pleased to sponsor Hanukkah in the Park this year…
Purim (Hebrew: 
פּוּרִים (help·info) Pûrîm “lots“, from the word pur פור,[3] related to Akkadian pūru) is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire where a plot had been formed to destroy them. The story is recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther (Megillat Ester מגילת אסתר in Hebrew).
According to the Book of Esther, Haman, royal vizier to King Ahasuerus (presumed to be Xerxes I of Persia[4][5][6]), planned to kill all the Jews in the empire, but his plans were foiled by Mordecai and his adopted daughter Esther who had risen to become Queen of Persia. The day of deliverance became a day of feasting and rejoicing.
Based on the conclusions of the Scroll of Esther (Esther 9:22): “[…] that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor” Purim is therefore celebrated by:
- Exchanging reciprocal gifts of food and drink known as mishloach manot.
- Donating charity to the poor known as mattanot la-evyonim.[7]
- Eating a celebratory meal known as a se’udat Purim’.
- Public recitation, usually in synagogue, of the Scroll of Esther known as kriat ha-megillah.
- Reciting additions to the daily prayers and the grace after meals known as Al HaNissim.
- Other customs include drinking wine, wearing of masks and costumes, and public celebration.[8]
Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar (and on Adar II in Hebrew leap years that take place every 2 to 3 years), the day following the victory of the Jews over their enemies. In cities that were protected by a surrounding wall at the time of the Biblical Joshua, Purim is instead celebrated on the 15th of the month of Adar on what is known as Shushan Purim, since fighting in the walled city of Shushan continued through the 14th day of Adar.[9] Today, only Jerusalem celebrates Purim on the 15th of Adar.
CHRISTCHURCH: The Joy of Hosting Israeli Travellers
2pm, Sunday 11 March 2018
Clubrooms, Northwood Villa Cres, Northwood. (-43.465134, 172.617633)
New Zealand is one of the top travel destinations for Israelis. To Israelis it is a much talked of country full of huge contrasts from their own: peaceful, temperate, green and offering spectacular vistas.
At the same time, many New Zealanders who support Israel and fight anti-Semitism, meet very few Jews and have had very little contact with them.
HIT is a homestay programme that allows young Israeli backpackers to meet New Zealanders in their homes and experience Kiwis in their own environments.
You are invited to an afternoon with Omri Jaakobovitch, founder of HIT. Hear about how you can participate in this programme and how it is growing internationally.
Admission: A collection will be taken to cover expenses; A plate of finger food for afternoon tea. Please no pork, bacon or seafood ingredients.
Passover or Pesach (/ˈpɛsɑːx, ˈpeɪsɑːx/;[4] from Hebrew פֶּסַח Pesah, Pesakh), is an important, biblically-derived Jewish holiday. Jews celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in ancient Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible, especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. According to standard biblical chronology, this event would have taken place at about 1300 BCE (AM 2450).[5]
Passover is a spring festival which during the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem was connected to the offering of the “first-fruits of the barley”, barley being the first grain to ripen and to be harvested in the Land of Israel.[6]
Passover commences on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan and lasts for either seven days (in Israel and for Reform Jews and other progressive Jews around the world who adhere to the Biblical commandment) or eight days for Orthodox, Hasidic, and most Conservative Jews (in the diaspora).[7][8] In Judaism, a day commences at dusk and lasts until the following dusk, thus the first day of Passover only begins after dusk of the 14th of Nisan and ends at dusk of the 15th day of the month of Nisan. The rituals unique to the Passover celebrations commence with the Passover Seder when the 15th of Nisan has begun. In the Northern Hemisphere Passover takes place in spring as the Torah prescribes it: “in the month of [the] spring” (בחדש האביב Exodus 23:15). It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays.
In the narrative of the Exodus, the Bible tells that God helped the Children of Israel escape from their slavery in Egypt by inflicting ten plagues upon the ancient Egyptians before the Pharaoh would release his Israelite slaves; the tenth and worst of the plagues was the death of the Egyptian first-born.
The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord knew to pass over the first-born in these homes, hence the English name of the holiday.[9]
When the Pharaoh freed the Israelites, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread dough to rise (leaven). In commemoration, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten, for which reason Passover was called the feast of unleavened bread in the Torah or Old Testament.[10] Thus matzo (flat unleavened bread) is eaten during Passover and it is a tradition of the holiday.
Historically, together with Shavuot (“Pentecost”) and Sukkot (“Tabernacles”), Passover is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals (Shalosh Regalim) during which the entire population of the kingdom of Judah made a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.[11] Samaritans still make this pilgrimage to Mount Gerizim, but only men participate in public worship.[12][13]