Need to Know for May 22

Bernie Sanders, Pope Paul VI, Shoshana Cardin and more

Sen. Bernie Sanders announces reelection bid

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, who ran for president in 2016, announced that he is running for reelection to the Senate. The Sanders campaign made the announcement on May 21. It also appeared on Sanders official Twitter page. “These are frightening and unprecedented times. We have a president who is not only a pathological liar, but someone who is trying to win votes by dividing our nation up based on the color of our skin, our country of origin, our religion, our gender or our sexual orientation,” Sanders tweeted. “If reelected, you can be sure that I will continue to be the fiercest opponent in the Senate to the right-wing extremism of Trump and the Republican leadership,” he also tweeted. Sanders has served in the Senate since 2006, and before that in the House of Representatives from 1990. Sanders was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis is suspected in a school shooting at a Texas high school that left at least 10 people dead. (Facebook)

Texas school shooting suspect posted photo with Nazi cross

The suspect in a school shooting at a Texas high school that left at least 10 people dead had posted a photo of a symbol associated with Nazism on social media. On May 18, at least 10 people were killed and 10 wounded at a shooting at Santa Fe High School, outside Houston, The New York Times reported. The suspect was reportedly identified as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old student, by a law enforcement official. Pagourtzis made disturbing and violent posts to social media, including images of a gun and a knife and a photo of a shirt that said “Born to Kill,” the Daily Beast reported. Another photo included a coat decorated with an Iron Cross. The symbol has associations with Nazism and white supremacy, although it is sometimes used for shock value or to symbolize rebellion without the association of those ideologies, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The Reform movement called on Congress to enact gun reform in a statement addressing the shooting. “The Reform Jewish Movement refuses to accept a reality in which school shootings are routine,” said Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. “We demand more from elected officials who continue to offer empty thoughts and prayers in lieu of substantive gun violence prevention legislation.”—JTA

Vatican announces sainthood for Pope Paul VI for October

Pope Paul VI, the first pontiff to visit Israel and open the Roman Catholic Church to formal dialogue with the Jewish world, will be canonized on October 14. The Vatican made the announcement of Paul’s impending sainthood on May 19. Paul will be canonized along with the assassinated Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, an activist for the poor who was shot dead in 1980 while celebrating mass. Paul VI, who reigned from 1963-1978, visited Jerusalem in January 1964 on a brief trip to Israel and Jordan. It marked the first time a reigning pope had visited the Holy Land, but at the time the Vatican did not recognize Israel as a state, and Paul did not pronounce the word “Israel.” Israel and the Holy See established full diplomatic relations in 1993. Pope Francis visited Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority in 2014, in part to mark the 50th anniversary of Paul VI’s trip. Paul also closed the Second Vatican Council and began overseeing the implementation of its reforms. These included the landmark Nostra Aetate declaration of 1965 that opened the way to formal Catholic-Jewish dialogue. –JTA

Jewish Community Leader Shoshana S. Cardin Dies at 91

Shoshana Shoubin Cardin, an iconic figure in global, national and local Jewish organizational and philanthropic circles, died on May 18. Mrs. Cardin, who was in failing health for the past couple of years, was 91. Funeral services will be held at Chizuk Amuno Congregation, 8100 Stevenson Road in Pikesville, on May 22, at 1 p.m. “Shoshana’s impact is immeasurable — globally, locally and personally,” said Debra S. “Debs” Weinberg, chair-elect of the board of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and former executive director of Acharai: The Shoshana S. Cardin Leadership Development Institute. “Her legacy will continue to shape our community through her efforts and the leaders she has inspired.” Mrs. Cardin’s passing comes a little more than a week after the deaths of such local Jewish communal leaders as Baltimore County Executive Kevin B. Kamenetz and former Jewish Community Services Executive Director Barbara Levy Gradet.

Americans and the Holocaust

While Nazi brutality was sweeping Europe in the 1930s and ‘40s, Americans tended to focus inward. Go back in time with the United States Holocaust Museum and local experts to find out what Marylanders knew. The program, which takes place on May 23 at 7 p.m. at The Gordon Center, features speakers Joanna Wasserman of the U.S. Holocaust Museum and historian Deborah Weiner, co-author of “On Middle Ground: A History of the Jews of Baltimore.”

Reserve free tickets here.

J-Word of the Day:
Milchig (Yiddish)
Meaning: Pertaining to dairy products
Usage: “Esther, don’t worry about my kugel — it’s all milchig!”

JBiz

Jmore’s special 13th issue will be out on newsstands in June. Read more about it at jmoreliving.com/jbiz and find out information about our June 13 networking event at jmoreliving.com/jbiztix.

Go to facebook.com/JMORELiving every Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. to watch Need to Know—JBiz edition.

The May 22 guest is Alan Hirsch of Donna’s.