OPINION: A Journey Through Time
By Rabbi Craig H. Ezring
Spiritual Leader of Temple Beth Israel of Deerfield Beach, FL
Observer Newspaper
I was invited to a genocide commemoration last week. But this was not a commemoration of the Shoah, this was a commemoration (the very first in the United States) of the 100th Year of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.
Most of you who read my column know that I have a passion for dance. So when I heard that the program would include a performance by the Sayat Nova Dance Company …well, how could I stay away? But there was another reason that I needed to be there.
On Shabbat, just before the event, I sang a song during my sermon. The lyrics go something like this:
I am bound for the Promised Land …
Oh Lord, I am bound for the Promised Land …
Oh who will come and go with me …
I am bound for the Promised Land …
Who will come and go with me?
Which is it, are we coming or going? The same question was asked by the Sages in regard to what G-d tells Moses about a trip to pharaoh. You see, the Hebrew word, Bo, can mean, “go” or it can mean, “come.” So was G-d telling Moses to “go” to Pharaoh or was He telling him “come to Pharaoh?” If I asked you to go to the store, I would be asking you to go in my stead. But, if I asked you to come … that is what G-d was saying to Moses, “Come with me … I will be with you every step of the way.”
And that is why I felt I had to come to the Armenian Genocide Commemoration. As a Jew, I have a duty to remember the Holocaust and to see to it that it never happens again. The problem is that, before the Holocaust, there was a genocide perpetrated against the Armenians and there have been others since then in places like Darfur and Rwanda. So how could I not be there to remember the horror that happened to my Armenian brothers and sisters?
The dance program took us all on “A Journey Through Time.” The performers weaved the story of the Armenians from ancient days to the Genocide, to their rebirth. With each step the dancers took on stage, I could feel the connection between the Armenian Culture and the Jewish Community. We each went through an amazing religious transformation; each of us had and have those who would like to see us annihilated; and each of us not only miraculously survived an attempt at extermination, but both cultures have found a way to go on. No, each has found a way to do more than that; each has found a way to live, to laugh and to dance.
As I looked around the audience and saw so many children with parents and grandparents, I realized that the Armenians have the same aspirations that we have … to make our progeny knowledgeable of our past, of our traditions, of our culture and to be proud of being who we are. And, with the help of people like Arsine Kaloustian and the AGC (The Armenian Genocide Commemoration), may we be vigilant to speak out against any and all attempts at the Genocide of any people.
To Arsine and to all my Armenian brothers and sisters, we will not forget!
Shalom my friends.
This article originally appeared in the Observer Newspaper on February 5, 2015, and is reposted with the expressed written consent of the author.
University of Florida Partners With Virginia Tech to Help Armenia’s Workforce Transition to Market Economy
Virginia Tech to Lead USAID Grant in Armenia
By Taniel Koushakjian
FLArmenians Managing Editor
Virginia Tech has won a $2.5 million federal contract to help Armenia improve the competitiveness of its agricultural workforce, Public Radio Armenia first reported. Program funds will benefit college students in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, who are studying to assume leadership roles in the food and agribusiness sector.
The five-year program, InnovATE Armenia, is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The work will take place at the International Center of Agribusiness Research and Education, which is affiliated with the Armenian National Agrarian University.
“Armenia, situated in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia, is emerging from decades as a command economy,” said Tom Hammett, Professor of Sustainable Biomaterials at Virginia Tech and Director of the InnovATE project. “The grant is designed to give young people skills that will make them competitive in the new, market-based economy,” Hammett said. The curriculum will cover food safety, food production, and food processing, and including training in business, economics, marketing, and management.
“A big part of our work will be to provide students the opportunity to construct a skillset that is required in a free market economy,” said Angela Neilan, program manager for the venture. Along with the hard skills, soft skills – defined as traits relating to one’s emotional IQ, as well as communication ability, teamwork, and professionalism – are needed as well. “A participatory system means people also assume responsibility for the challenges,” Neilan said.
Program activities include:
- Designing a business plan for the center to increase revenue;
- Building ties with local farmers and agribusiness producers throughout Armenia;
- Organizing a summer camp for American college students; and
- Helping to build a wine academy — a venture that could also help develop tourism.
“Our charge is to make the program self-sustaining,” Hammett said.
Virginia Tech will lead the program, in partnership with Pennsylvania State University, the University of Florida (UF), and Tuskegee University.
This will be the University of Florida’s second venture in Armenia. From 2011-2013, UF staff went to Armenia in a project entitled “A Multilateral University Consortium to Strengthen Tourism Education, Research, and Industry Outreach.” That project, led by UF in partnership with Dokuz Eylul University (DEU) in Turkey and the Armenian State University of Economics (ASUE) in Armenia, successfully concluded in 2013.
Florida Armenians 