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In this week’s Shabbat Table, we reflect on how Joseph’s advice to Pharaoh to sustain Egypt during a famine with the surplus set aside in years of plenty suggests how we can endure challenges. Perhaps we can draw on reserves of joy and memories of togetherness to get through the final clutches of the global pandemic and the dark winter ahead. We also remember the ouster of Jews from Spain – one of many expulsions of Jews from European countries during the Middle Ages, but the most notorious as it was not fully rescinded until 1968. And we provide some discussion prompts about Belgium’s ban on kosher slaughter, which was upheld this week by the European Union’s highest court, despite the long history of similar bans linked to antisemitism.

European countries, in cooperation with the United States, must stand firm in their opposition and take an approach that reflects our strategic interests, convictions, and values.

Educational changes reflect recognition of the necessity to effect a positive change in the mindsets of young people in the Arab world in particular, and in the Muslim world as a whole, in order to promote peace and advance wellbeing in their own countries and their place in the commonwealth of nations. They reflect the exciting growing appreciation of the remarkable legacy of Jews in Arab lands and of the unique connections and parallels between Islam and Judaism, as integral to the heritage of Abraham.

Whatever one’s view on the Trump era, his administration made notable headway in the Middle East, writes AJC CEO David Harris in his new Times of Israel blog.

Facilitating historic agreements between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco, taking a tougher approach regarding Iran and its malign behavior, moving the U.S. Embassy to its rightful place in Jerusalem, and messaging the Palestinians that time is not necessarily on their side if they continue to reject two-state deals, are significant developments that the incoming Biden administration should consider in thinking about the region as it is today.

On the second commemoration of the Tree of Life shooting in late October, American Jewish Committee, of which our organization, Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC, is a regional office, issued its State of Antisemitism in America 2020: Survey of American Jews and Survey of the General Public. Among its many other findings, 88% of Jews found antisemitism to be a problem in the United States today, but only 62% of the general public agreed. More awareness and education are necessary.