Gaithersburg applauds Arab-Americans
At Monday’s mayor and council meeting, Mayor Jud Ashman and the City Council issued two proclamations designating days in April for commemorating the contributions and struggles of different groups.
The first proclamation designated April 2015 as Arab-American Heritage Month in the city, in recognition of the contributions of Arab-Americans to the national and local economy and culture.
“Montgomery County is home to a thriving Arab-American community whose valued presence has added to the rich cultural mosaic of our community,” the proclamation read in part. Juliet Francisco, a longtime volunteer for Gaithersburg’s Multicultural Affairs Committee, accepted the proclamation.
On April 20, the Multicultural Affairs Committee will host a free public celebration at the Activity Center at Bohrer Park where Gaithersburg students will showcase achievements of Arab-Americans in the fields of science, entertainment, politics and sports.
The evening’s second proclamation designated April 12-19 as “Days of Remembrance” to honor the memory of the millions of Jewish victims murdered during the Holocaust.
“The history of the Holocaust offers an opportunity to reflect on the moral responsibilities of individuals, societies and governments,” read the proclamation. Jacob Blumenthal, Rabbi of Shaare Torah Congregation, and Connie Liss, Shaare Torah’s Executive Board President, accepted the proclamation.
“My mother was a survivor of one concentration camp, my father another,” Liss said. “As I grew up in their household, one was a speaker of her history, the other not so much. What I came to learn throughout my childhood and into my adulthood is how important it was to remember it and to learn from any and all experiences that we can, and so I thank the city and the council for using this as an opportunity to bring this to our attention, to learn from it and to teach with it.”
On April 15, Shaare Torah will host a documentary screening of “Blue Tattoo,” which chronicles the experiences of Liss’ mother as an inmate at Auschwitz and her efforts to teach others about the experience after the war.
The morning after the mayor and council issued the proclamation, police found 11 swastikas spray-painted on the walls of the Shaare Torah synagogue. Gaithersburg police are conducting an investigation to determine the identity of the person or people responsible.
Aaron Rosenzweig, a Gaithersburg resident who owns five pet chickens and has launched a petition to repeal the city’s ban on owning roosters, testified for the eighth time Monday in support of this cause, joined by his son Akiva and daughter Rachel.
“I ask you tonight, if all my immediate neighbors are happy with my family and our choice of pets, why did Animal Control visit us five times?” Rosenzwieg said in his testimony. “Why did Animal Control try to take our birds away? Why did the city harass us? If you cannot come up with an adequate explanation, then I beseech you to change our laws so this does not happen again.”
“A city, by definition, is a large group of people living together,” Rachel Rosenzweig said in her testimony. “It is a melting pot. A strong city embraces diverse cultures and lifestyles. If people live in communities that are not part of an HOA (homeowners association), they should expect to see freedom of expression. In our Westleigh community, our next-door neighbor plants pumpkins on his front lawn. Up the street, a family built a jungle gym on their front lawn that everyone enjoys. We put our pet chickens on the front lawn and shared them with our neighbors. It is a friendly place where people stop and chat with each other. If you live in a place without an HOA, you must learn to respect your neighbors.”
Source: www.thesentinel.com