ADL Director Abraham Foxman Discusses Jews And Money At Hartford Mandell JCC



Photo: INA / Rebecca McCann

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

West Hartford, CT ---- May 7, 2011 ...... The Mandell JCC Jewish Book Festival recently invited Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the ADL, to speak about his new book Jews and Money, The Story of a Stereotype.

Abe Foxman is one of perhaps a handful of real Jewish heroes living outside of Israel.

Foxman, who was born in Poland in 1940, survived the Holocaust with the help of Catholics who baptized and raised him as a Catholic. He and his parents arrived in America in 1950. Foxman was a member of the President’s United States Holocaust Memorial Council, appointed by Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton. He has also been a participant of official Presidential delegations to special events in Europe and Israel, as well as having had six audiences with Pope John Paul II. Mr. Foxman is a passionate supporter of the State of Israel and a voice for peace in the Middle East.

Today, Abe Foxman serves as the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), leading the war on racist hatred and discrimination across the world.

"In the past few weeks we have witnessed some very important acts of good over evil," Foxman told a packed audience in West Hartford, Connecticut.

"Pope John Paul II speaking at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel paid open homage to the millions of Jewish people who were murdered in the Holocaust. We have witnessed the death of master terrorist Osama bin-Laden who was responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and Washington. But even with these recent major deeds, anti-Semitism continues to grow."

"One of three people in Europe believe that the current global recession was created by the Jews, while one of five Americans blame the Jews for the recession," says Foxman.

"We have witnessed how Bernard Madoff was mentioned as a Jew three times in one news story by the New York Times as the story of his fraud scheme started to unravel. We have seen how the work of Shakespeare in his book the Merchant of Venice has in the past and continues today to create a stereotype of money hungry Jews. We have witnessed how Hitler and the Nazis portrayed the Jews as being responsible for the economic downfall of Germany after World War One."

"What I say is do not buy into it. When you hear a disparaging remark about Jews and their so-called obsession with money, speak out, confront and educate those who you meet that this is not true, that this is not funny, this is not reality. That this is racist speech and it hurts us."

- ADL National Director Abraham Foxman

Foxman continues: "What I say is do not buy into it. When you hear a disparaging remark about Jews and their so-called obsession with money, speak out, confront and educate those who you meet that this is not true, that this is not funny, this is not reality. That this is racist speech and it hurts us."

Foxman’s new book, Jews & Money: The Story of a Stereotype, highlights the current struggle by the US to recover from financial crisis and the search for blame as it intensifies. Foxman warns that this is an especially dangerous time for certain anti-Semitic sentiments to rise – namely, false and slanderous beliefs about the Jewish people and money.

The 18th Anniversary of the Mandell JCC Jewish Book Festival and the Abraham H. Foxman event included the premiere of "Off The Page" 18 Years of Memories - Mandell JCC Jewish Book Festival: A Documentary. The film is being produced and directed by Pat Kazakoff and Eliane Freund, with cinematography by Melanie Rosenberg.

The Abraham H. Foxman Jewish Book Festival event, on May 4, 2011, was made possible by these Mandell JCC Partners as of 03/23/2011: Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Webster Bank, The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford, BNY Mellon Wealth Management Group, LAZ Parking, Xerox, Residence Inn of Downtown Hartford by Marriott, Headline Hair Designers, The Jewish Book Council, and the Greater Hartford Arts Council.

The Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913 "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all." Now the nation's premier civil rights and human relations agency, ADL fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all.

A leader in the development of materials, programs and services, ADL builds bridges of communication, understanding and respect among diverse groups, carrying out its mission through a network of 30 regional and satellite offices in the United States and abroad.

 


 

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