Tag Archives: Lawyer

Jew of the Week: Adolphe Crémieux

The French Abraham Lincoln

Isaac-Jacob Adolphe Crémieux (1796-1880) was born in Nimes, France to a wealthy Sephardic Jewish family. He became a lawyer and, following the Second French Revolution of 1830, moved to Paris to enter politics. In 1848, he was appointed minister of justice. One of his first acts was to abolish slavery in all French colonies, for which he has been called “the French Abraham Lincoln”. Crémieux was made a life senator in 1875. Meanwhile, he was always a passionate defender and advocate for the rights of Jews. In 1834, Crémieux became vice-president of the Central Consistory of the Jews of France, a role he held for the rest of his life. In 1860 he was co-founder of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, with a mission to protect Jewish rights and Jewish communities around the world, and a special mission to help impoverished Sephardic and Mizrachi Jewish communities across the Ottoman Empire. Crémieux served as president of the Alliance for nearly two decades. The Alliance was most famous for its top-notch schools (meant for Jews but open to all people), the first opening in Morocco in 1862, the second in Baghdad in 1864, and then a school in Jerusalem in 1868. Ironically, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, founder of the Palestinian Arab resistance (and terrorism) movement—a Nazi sympathizer and good friend of Adolf Hitler—studied at the Jerusalem Alliance school in his youth! In 1870, with permission from the Ottoman government, the Alliance started a network of agricultural schools in the Holy Land, going on to play an instrumental role in the Zionist movement and the establishment of the State of Israel. By 1900, the Alliance ran 101 schools with over 26,000 students across the Middle East and North Africa. Crémieux was famous for defending Jews around the world. When the Jews of Saratov, Russia were accused of a blood libel in 1866, he travelled to St. Petersburg to defend them, and won the case. In 1870, his “Crémieux Decree” finally granted citizenship to all Jews in Algeria. Today, there are streets named after him in Paris, Tel-Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem.

Haj Amin al-Husseini meets with Adolf Hitler in Germany, 1941.

From Gaza Mosque to IDF Soldier

Why the Dome of the Rock is the Perfect Monument to Islam

The Spiritual Significance of the Coming Solar Eclipse

Words of the Week

Human life is undoubtedly a supreme value in Judaism, as expressed both in Halacha and the prophetic ethic. This refers not only to Jews, but to all men created in the image of God.
– Rabbi Shlomo Goren

Jew of the Week: Annamie Paul

Canada’s First Black and Jewish Party Leader

Annamie Paul, leader of the Green Party of Canada

Annamie Paul (b. 1972) was born in Toronto to parents from the Caribbean islands of Nevis and Dominica. She was interested in politics from childhood, and at the age of 12, started working as an assistant in Ontario’s provincial parliament. From there, she became an assistant in Canada’s Senate. She went to law school at the University of Ottawa, passed the bar in 1998, and also got a Master’s in Public Affairs from Princeton. It was while studying at Princeton that Paul took a greater interest in Judaism, and started learning with the head of the university’s Center for Jewish Life. Soon, she decided to convert, and although she studied primarily with a Conservative Jewish rabbi, went on to do a full Orthodox conversion. Paul married international human rights lawyer Mark Freeman, and the two made sure to put their kids through Jewish schools, and continue to keep a kosher home today. Meanwhile, in 2001, Paul founded the Canadian Centre for Political Leadership, an organization focused on getting more minorities and more women into government. She was also part of Canada’s Mission to the European Union, and worked at the International Criminal Court. She has won a number of awards for her human rights work and social activism. In 2019, Paul became a member of the Green Party of Canada and, earlier this month, was elected its leader. That makes her the first Jewish and first black woman to lead a political party in Canada.

Words of the Week

Just call to mind all those terrible episodes of the slave trade, of human beings who, merely because they were black, were stolen like cattle, taken prisoner, captured and sold. Their children grew up in strange lands, the objects of contempt and hostility because their complexions were different. I am not ashamed to say, though I may expose myself to ridicule for saying so, that once I have witnessed the redemption of the Jews, my people, I wish also to assist in the redemption of the Africans.
– Theodor Herzl

Jew of the Week: Dalya Attar

Highest-Ranking Orthodox Jewish Woman in America

Dalya Attar (b. 1990) was born in Baltimore to a religious Sephardic family of Iranian and Moroccan heritage. She studied at a Bais Yaakov school, and always knew she wanted to be a lawyer. Among her inspirations are Joe Lieberman and Sarah Schenirer. Attar studied criminal justice at the University of Baltimore, then moved on the University of Maryland School of Law (during which time she married and had two kids). After passing the bar, she worked in the office of Baltimore’s State Attorney, first as a juvenile prosecutor and then as a narcotics and firearms prosecutor. She was asked by Baltimore’s Jewish community to run for the state legislature, and realized she could make a bigger impact if she had a seat in government. Despite having no experience or connections in politics, and running against twelve other candidates in a district that is only 5% Jewish, Attar won a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates. She assumed office in January of 2019, becoming the highest-ranking Orthodox Jewish women in American history. Attar has used her position to help all communities in her district. She has co-sponsored and voted for legislation to reduce crime in Baltimore (which has among the highest crime rates in America), and sits on the House Opioid Workgroup to put an end to the opioid crisis. This year she introduced legislation to help Jewish women whose husbands refuse to grant them divorces. She is also working towards opening up job opportunities for people coming out of prison, and to get landlords to reduce the risk of lead poisoning. Attar has campaigned for more funding for religious schools, better pay for teachers, and voted against granting people the right to suicide. In her book, “morals and ethics come first”.

Lag b’Omer Starts Monday Night – Chag Sameach!

The Hidden History of Lag b’Omer

Words of the Week

He who looks at things objectively, with an open mind, will see and recognize truth and understand the proper meaning of the Torah. The narrow-minded person, stubborn in his prejudiced self-righteousness, will see no more than what he wants to see.
– Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet