The Dayton Jewish Observer, January 2015

MLK weekend commemorations p. 3 January 2015 Tevet/Shevat 5775 Vol. 19, No. 5

Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton

The Miami Valley’s Jewish Monthly • Online at JewishDayton.org

Livni’s move to Labor

5

Miriam Alster/Flash90

Tzipi Livni

Kosher vegetarianism

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Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton 525 Versailles Drive Dayton, OH 45459

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23

Moses at the movies

More evidence of King David

12

Hollywood’s depiction of the Exodus spans nine decades Earliest extrabiblical reference to the House of David, on exhibit at Met

Meidad Suchowolski

DAYTON

Friendship Village Retirement Community

You’re Invited

Sylvia Linsker arranges candles on the menorah at the JCC Active Adults/ Jewish War Veterans Chanukah brunch on Dec. 7 at the Boonshoft CJCE.

To our next monthly Friday Night Shabbat featuring a traditional Shabbat dinner with all your favorites.

Beth Abraham Synagogue’s Souper Sisters prepare gallons of soup — beef kielbasa and harvest vegetable — for donation to The Castle in Centerville, which provides full-day services for adults with mental illnesses and disorders.

Shown here (L to R): Joan Marcus, Roberta Zawatsky, Susan Chudde, Dr. Judy Chesen, Beverly Louis.

Souper Sisters volunteer under the guidance of caterer Greg File.

Program led by Joe Bettman

Friday, Jan. 16, 5 p.m.

In The Atrium Dining Room

Friday Night Shabbat is $10 per person.

R.S.V.P. to 837-5581 Ext 1274.

How to protect your assets against identity theft

Members of Beth Jacob Congregation Sisterhood make winter scarves for children at St. Vincent de Paul. (L to R): Dorothy Urszuy, Ruthie Davis, Eleanor Felman, Lynn Freed, Sis Litvin, Tammy Evans, Eleanor Brown, Bernice Bomstein.

Tuesday, Jan 27, 2 p.m. in the Convocation Room.

For more information, call Pam Hall, 837-5581 ext. 1269.

The Temple Beth Or Brisketeers prepare 130 lbs. of brisket for Beth Or’s Chanukah bazaar (L to R): Dave London,

Join our Alzheimer’s Support Group

Alex Pearl, Neal Kahn, Bill Fried, Walter Pupko, Ed Wolf, Mark Gruenberg. Not pictured, Scott Segalewitz, leader of the Brisketeers.

Their recipe won Chabad’s Kosher BBQ Cookoff in 2013. The men sold all their brisket — and chopped liver — at the bazaar.

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 5:30-6:30 p.m.

We meet the third Wednesday of each month in our conference room near the Coffee House.

Please enter at Door 18. For more information, call Pam Hall, 837-5581 ext. 1269.

Join our Diabetic Support Group

Entebbe raid commando at Chabad

Tuesday, Jan. 13, 10:30 a.m. & 6 p.m. (2nd Tuesday each mo.) with Gem City Home Care Certified Diabetes Educator Mara Lamb.

Reuven, an IDF Red Beret paratrooper who participated Friendship Village in Sassy For more information call Pam Hall, 837-5581 ext. 1269.

Israel’s July 1976 raid on Entebbe to rescue Jewish hostages, will be the guest speaker for Chabad of Greater Dayton’s Shab7 a.m. - 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. baton dinner on Friday, Jan. 30 at 5:30 p.m. Reuven will talk about Operation Thunderbolt step by step. For reservations to the dinLocated directly inside the Atrium ner, call Chabad at 643-0770. entrance. Stop in & join us for a cup of coffee & Friendship Village Hospitality.

Sassy Reuven

IN THIS ISSUE

Volunteer opportunities available — call Bridgett at ext. 1299 for details.

Call Pam Hall today for details

937-837-5581 Ext 1269

The coffee shop is open for area Seniors to come enjoy FREE coffee, conversation, socialization, and the Friendship hospitality!

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The Coffee House is located just inside the Atrium entrance at Door 18. Watch for the Friendship Coffee House sign.

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Ar ts & Culture..........................26

Leshon Ima......................................23

Calendar of Events....................17

Opinion...........................10

Fa m i l y Ed u ca t i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1

O b i t u a r i e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Internet.............................23

Religion...........................19

Kve l l i n g Co r n e r. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 8

Wo r l d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

DAYTON

Beth Or MLK weekend celebrates commemorations 30th anniversary On Jan. 25, 1985, Temple Beth Or held its first Shabbat service, led by Rabbi Judy Chessin.

The Reform congregation will celebrate Chessin — who continues on as Beth Or’s senior rabbi — and Beth Or’s 30th anniversary, with two events. Beth Or will commemorate its first Shabbat service, on Friday, Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m. followed by a gala Oneg.

Rabbi Judy On Saturday, Chessin Feb. 7 at 6 p.m., Beth Or will host The Pearl Ball dinner with live music, at NCR Country Club. The cost is $100 per person, with additional giving levels available.

To R.S.V.P. for the dinner, call Beth Or at 435-3400 by Jan. 20.

Seminar on origins of religious freedom

Chabad of Greater Dayton’s Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin will present the mini conference, Kabalah, Talmud and the First Amendment: How Christian Scholars, Rabbis and Rabbinic Texts Built the Foundations of Religious Freedom, on Thursday, Jan. 15 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Antioch University Midwest Auditorium, 900 Dayton St., Yellow Springs. The cost is $35. R.S.V.P. to Springs Gate Ministries, at 937-767-9262.

Rabbi Joshua Ginsberg

Pastor Dr. P.E. Henderson

Rabbi David Sofian

The Dayton area’s Jewish community will offer three ways to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January.

Pulpit exchange

For the 23rd year, Temple Israel and Omega Baptist Church will host a pulpit exchange over the MLK weekend.

On Friday, Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m., the Revs. Vanessa and Daryl Ward will deliver the sermon at Temple Israel’s Shabbat service, to be followed by an Oneg. Temple Israel Senior Rabbi David Sofian will deliver the sermon at Omega Baptist Church’s service on Sunday, Jan. 18 at 11:15 a.m.

Interfaith Shabbat

Members of Corinthian Baptist Church and Beth Abraham Synagogue will join together at Beth Abraham on Friday, Jan.

Rev. Vanessa Oliver Ward

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16 at 7:30 p.m. for an MLK Interfaith Shabbat. Pastor Dr. P.E. Henderson and Rabbi Joshua Ginsberg will co-officiate, with music provided by Corinthian’s choir and praise band, Beth Abraham’s band, and a combined choral piece. An Oneg will follow the service.

Community Relations Council to join walk

The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation will participate in Dayton’s 2015 MLK Memorial March and Rally, on Monday, Jan. 19 at 10 a.m. March participants will assemble at 1323 W. Third St.; the rally is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at the Dayton Convention Center.

To walk with the JCRC, call Jewish Federation Director of External Relations Cheryl Carne at 610-1778.

Must present coupon at the time of purchase. Excludes lunch special, other offers/promotions, and alcoholic beverages. One coupon per table.

Does not include tip or gratuity. Exp: 3/31/15

With purchase of $50 or more Must present coupon at the time of purchase. Excludes lunch special, other offers/promotions, and alcoholic beverages. One coupon per table.

Does not include tip or gratuity. Exp: 3/31/15

With purchase of $100 or more

Open House

Tuesday, Jan. 20th - 1:00 to 2:30pm Desserts and wine will be served

Friends of IDF fund-raiser

Avi Melamed, an intelligence and Middle East affairs fellow with the Eisenhower Institute, will lead a briefing for a Friends of the Israel Defense Forces fund-raiser on Thursday, Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. at the home of Julie and Dr. Rob Bloom. R.S.V.P. by Jan. Avi Melamed 4 to BuckeyeJLB@aol.com. FIDF plans to expand its Ohio Chapter to the Dayton area. For more information, contact Ohio FIDF Director Lane Schlessel at lane.schlessel@fidf.org.

Bark Mitzvah Boy in Israel

The Gap Year

Best part of Israel in January?

Masada at 54 degrees.

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c O 2015 Menachem

From the editor’s desk

Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings is historic. It marks the first time Hollywood has bet on Moses and bombed: critically and financially. The celebrated director assembled a Marshall first-rate cast and relied on the Weiss most sophisticated CGI effects to create jaw-dropping spectacles of ancient Egypt, the plagues, and the sea tumbling on Pharaoh’s charioteers. But it just didn’t come together. Yes, it tampered with the original narrative, but so have all biblical films. I suspect it’s less about adjustments to the plot and more about the absence of a message that doomed this movie. If there’s a positive aspect to this venture, it’s that people who have seen Exodus: Gods and Kings might go to the original text to learn how it compares. I’ve read several articles across mainstream media that parse the plot of the movie against the original Torah narrative. Doesn’t seem like a bad thing.

One Lincoln Park residents pictured L to R: Dottie Rosenbaum, Lois Solganik, Russ Remick, Sarah Pavlofsky

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

PAGE 3

What do you stand for?

THE WORLD

Seeing need, Jewish-Christian fellowship expands aliyah International Fellowship of Christians and Jews

Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss MWeiss@jfgd.net 937-853-0372 Contributors Dr. Rachel Zohar Dulin Rachel Haug Gilbert Candace R. Kwiatek Mark Mietkiewicz Advertising Sales Executive Patty Caruso, plhc69@gmail.com Proofreaders Karen Bressler, Rachel Haug Gilbert, Joan Knoll, Pamela Schwartz Billing Jeri Kay Eldeen, JEldeen@jfgd.net 937-853-0372 Observer Advisor Martin Gottlieb

At The Miami Valley School— Dayton’s only independent day school—we stand for personal excellence, experiential learning, intellectual curiosity, leadership development, individuality, and community.

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Here, they become.

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Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Judy Abromowitz President David Pierce President Elect Melinda Doner Vice Pres.

Mary Rita Weissman Vice Pres.

Bruce Feldman Vice Pres.

Cathy Gardner CEO

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein arrives in Israel with the first group of immigrants brought by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Dec. 22

By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA Citing failures by the organization traditionally responsible for bringing Jews to Israel, the founder of a Jerusalem-based interfaith charity said his organization would begin bringing more Jews to Israel from Europe — starting with Ukraine.

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, accused the Jewish Agency for Israel of not responding quickly enough to demand for aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel) sparked by violence in Ukraine, prompting the fellowship to launch its own aliyah operation in the country.

The first group of 226 Ukrainian Jews brought to Israel with the fellowship’s help arrived Dec. 22 at Ben Gurion Airport. Two additional flights are expected in coming weeks, Eckstein said.

“More and more Ukrainian Jews are open to moving to Israel and going on aliyah,” Eckstein said. “But there were too many blockages in the system, too much bureaucracy in the system to enable them to go quickly enough.”

Eckstein has sparred in the past with Jewish Agency officials over what he said was a lack of recognition of his organization’s contributions.

The fellowship has given the Jewish Agency $170 million since 1994 — donations that Eckstein has repeatedly threatened to suspend over what he said was an attempt to obscure the Christian source of the funds.

The Jewish Agency denies the claim. The agency’s spokesman, Yigal Palmor, said his organization cherished the contribution of the fellowship, but said it must go through the Jewish Agency to become involved in aliyah.

“We will gladly share the Jewish Agency’s infrastructure with any group or individual who wishes to cooperate rather than compete with our efforts,” Palmor said.

Earlier in December, Israel implemented special procedures to speed up the immigration process for people with Jewish origins from Continued on Page 10

The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 19, No. 5. The Dayton Jewish Observer is published monthly by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, a nonprofit corporation, 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459.

Views expressed by guest columnists, in readers’ letters and in reprinted opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Dayton Jewish Observer, The Dayton Jewish Observer Policy Committee, the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton or the underwriters of any columns. Acceptance of advertising neither endorses advertisers nor guarantees kashrut.

The Dayton Jewish Observer Mission Statement To support, strengthen and champion the Dayton Jewish community by providing a forum and resource for Jewish community interests.

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

THE WORLD

Move to Labor part of rough political decade for Livni that she’s interested only in her he split with Likud in 2005 to

By Ben Sales, JTA own career. form the centrist Kadima.

TEL AVIV — In a December “The unholy alliance between Livni became foreign minepisode of Israel’s satirical show Herzog and Livni breaks a new ister when Kadima won the State of the Nation, the zingers record of political cynicism,” 2006 elections, and rose to lead aimed at Israeli Prime Minister Likud lawmaker Yariv Levin the party in 2008 after Prime Benjamin Netanyahu weren’t Minister Ehud Olmert resigned. wrote on Facebook. “Livni’s coming from the comedians.

But she lost the 2009 elections to journey of switching from Likud Tzipi Livni, who until Noto Kadima, from there to Hatvember was Netanyahu’s justice Likud and left Kadima in 2012 after losing in the party primary. nua and now to the Labor party, minister, called the prime minshows that a loss of direction, Ahead of the 2013 elections ister a “zero” on the program despair and small politics have Dec. 13 and promised to Miriam Alster/Flash90 she founded Hatnua, taken over the Israeli left.” promising to depose “take out the trash” in Despite the criticism, the the Likud government the March election. and sign a peace accord union with Labor seems to But her most brutal have elevated Livni’s public with the Palestinians. jab came when she deBut when Hatnua took standing. Recent polls show the fended the recent union Labor-Hatnua list as the leading only 5 percent of the of her center-left Hatparty heading into the elections. vote, Livni joined a nua party with Labor, Before the merger, polls showed Likud-led coalition. led by Isaac Herzog.

That government broke that Livni would barely have The parties will run as a Tzipi Livni up in November when garnered enough votes to enter joint slate in the upcomNetanyahu fired Livni from her the Knesset. ing national elections and, if Shlomo Avineri, a political post as justice minister, and she victorious, Herzog and Livni science professor at Hebrew united with Labor a week later. would each serve two years as Throughout the changes, Liv- University, said voters might prime minister. ni has sought to portray herself not mind Livni’s maneuvers “I thought a rotation of two because party switching has bepotent prime ministers is better as a principled leader who has come a mainstay of Israeli polistayed the course as the politithan one prime minister who’s tics. Sharon helped form Likud cal ground has shifted beneath impotent,” Livni said. “In my in 1973 only to leave it, rejoin her. She advocates for minority new pairing with Herzog, rights, tough security measures in 1977 and leave again in 2005. we’re going on a new path that and territorial compromise with Former President Shimon Peres will give hope to the nation of was a member of three parties the Palestinians — policies, she Israel.” during his nearly 60-year politisays, that a rightward-shifting The Labor agreement is one cal career. Changing loyalties, Likud has mostly abandoned. more stage in what has been a Avineri said, has become more “Likud is escaping to the extumultuous political decade for treme right,” she said on State of frequent in recent years.

Livni.

“The last 10 years have been the Nation. “Others are going to A former minister of the characterized by some very cendelusional places. I’m continuright-wing Likud, Livni is jointrist people in the Likud leaving ing with what I believe.” ing her fourth political party the Likud and moving toward a Livni’s opponents in Likud, in nine years and leading a more centrist position,” Avineri campaign to replace the current quick to document her zigzags said. “People in the center are across the political spectrum, Likud government with a leftusually not party loyalists. They counter that her willingness to wing coalition. can go either way.”

Her allies say her progression discard party loyalties shows reflects a steadfast commitment to sensible policies amid a chaotic political landscape. Critics say the party switching reeks of opportunism.

“At this point in time, party institutions are weak, so we’re in a place where every candidate makes his own calculation KEVIN A. BRESSLER, CFP®, MBA for every election,” said YohanFinancial Advisor an Plesner, a former lawmaker CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner who served with Livni in the Kadima party and now heads • 29 years of experience the Israel Democracy Institute • Ameriprise Hall of Fame think tank. “The lines blurred, • Ameriprise Exceptional Client so it allows much more flexibilSatisfaction Award, 2014 ity in people moving between 10050 Innovation Drive, Ste 310 parties.”

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

PAGE 5

THE WORLD

Israeli group aims to help Arabs — and contain them

By Ben Sales, JTA LOD, Israel — He says he’s a leader of a “Zionist settlement” movement, but Raz Sofer’s home is no West Bank outpost.

Sofer, 25, is the manager of a 100-member student village in this mixed Jewish-Arab city in central Israel. The village, comprised of several apartment complexes, offers students cheap rent in exchange for volunteer work with Lod’s poor residents, many of them ArabIsraelis.

Sofer is fluent in Arabic and is proud of the students who volunteer in Arab kindergartens or run extracurricular activities for Arab youth. He loves when local Arabs come to the nonprofit bar he and other students founded on the ground floor of their apartment building.

But he also believes that despite their shared Israeli citizenship, “the conflict is not over.”

“They don’t see themselves as Israeli,” Sofer said. “If they see themselves in a certain way, and that conflicts unequivocally

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PAGE 6

Ben Sales

with the values I have, we have a conflict.”

The Lod village is the largest of 13 such communities across Israel, all of them located in the economically depressed areas that Israelis refer to as the “periphery.”

A student village built by the Israeli organization They are run by Ayalim in the embattled southern town of Sderot Ayalim, an organi- will house 300 students later this year zation with a dual that mission, but say it’s not a mission whose components problem as long as Arabs accept might appear to be incompatthe idea of being a minority in a ible.

In exchange for reduced rent, Jewish state.

“There’s tension, and maybe students volunteer at least two you can live with it,” said hours each week in their comAyalim co-founder Effy Rubin. munities, often serving their Arab neighbors. But their pres- “Our state contains many conence there is inspired by a belief flicts, but the Zionist movement is very young. We want Jewish that Arab-Israelis represent industriousness in the land of a demographic threat to the Jewish state — a threat that can Israel, and we also know how to embrace the minorities who be countered by bringing Jews are here.” to settle areas in which Arabs Ayalim’s founders employ constitute a majority. the language of Israel’s West Ayalim’s founders acknowlBank settlement movement, edge the tension inherent in insisting that a physical Jewish presence — what settlers often Staffing Needs? Call The Professionals! call “facts on the ground” — is the best bulwark against threats to Jewish sovereignty. But the threats they are countering are not from West Bank Palestinians clamoring for statehood Noble Staffing but Arab citizens of Israel.

Solutions 228-0060 Rubin says that if the state 228-8271 neglects to ensure a Jewish Jeff Noble majority in the south, it could www.mridayton.com • email: info@mridayton.com create a power vacuum that will lead to Arab-Israelis insisting on independence from Israel.

“In the place where we won’t be a majority, it won’t be ours,” Rubin said.

But Rubin also says he is a defender of Arab-Israeli rights and faults the government for giving them scant resources.

Though he deems them a threat, Rubin believes his work is crucial to their welfare.

“Even though we’re super Zionist, we’re really not antiArab, anti-Bedouin,” Rubin said. “They have no less of a right to this land. They need to be here and have total equal rights.”

Activists say Ayalim can’t have it both ways. Improving the lot of Israel’s Arab communities should be done by direct investment, not treating them as a fifth column.

Continued on Page Eight THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

THE WORLD

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Temple Emanuel

conversations with

By Uriel Heilman, JTA Gardenswartz. But she Within days of floatconfirmed that R.A. rules ing a proposal that mandate the expulsion would have made Rabbi of any member who Wesley Gardenswartz violates the rule against of Temple Emanuel in officiating at intermarNewton, Mass., the first riages. prominent Conservative “What I see in our clergyman to break with members is very consisthe movement’s irontent reaffirmation of this clad rule against rabbis standard,” Schonfeld told performing intermarJTA. “It’s not just that we riages, the spiritual leader of one of the na- Rabbi Wesley Gardenswartz of Temple Emanuel in won’t; we can’t. We don’t see the performance of tion’s largest Conserva- Newton, Mass., told his congregation he’d like to synagogue policy so that interfaith couples intermarriage as sometive synagogues decided change are treated the same as Jewish couples thing rabbis can do.” to reverse course.

This idea received many negaShe also noted that synaIn a recent email to congregogues affiliated with the Unitgants, Gardenswartz attached a tive reviews, especially from our interfaith families whom ed Synagogue of Conservative proposal for a new shul policy we were trying to reach by it.”

Judaism cannot retain rabbis that would enable him to ofAccording to Gardenswartz, who perform such weddings. ficiate at interfaith weddings in The angst surrounding cases where the couple commits who has been at Temple Emanuel since 1997, congregants said intermarriage and the mixed to a “Covenant to Raise Jewsuch a covenant would be “ask- reactions from congregants to ish Children” and asked the ing too much, too soon.”

Gardenswartz’s proposal are a congregation consider it.

They also said it did not acreflection of the struggles of a “Conservative clergy cannot count for those unable to have movement with declining numofficiate at or attend an interbers that frowns upon intermarfaith wedding. But we welcome children or past child-bearing age, would be unfair to require riage but in which nearly four the interfaith family to our only of interfaith couples, and in 10 members marry outside shul,” Gardenswartz wrote. would be unenforceable and the faith, according to the 2013 “But I am worrying whether therefore a mere formality.

Pew Research Center’s survey that response has grown stale, “These objections persuaded of U.S. Jews. and whether a new response “The reality of modern-day would better serve the needs of me that the Covenant is not Judaism is that almost all of us our families and of our congre- workable,” Gardenswartz wrote. are touched by this,” Lisa Hills, gation.”

In the email, the rabbi also Temple Emanuel’s president, Among the high-powered members of Temple Emanuel’s reassured congregants that Continued on Page Eight he would not take renegade board of trustees are NFL owner Robert Kraft of the New actions that would sever the congregation’s affiliation with England Patriots, Massachuthe Conservative movement. setts state treasurer Steven But Gardenswartz said the Grossman and Michael Bohnen, congregation would explore the president of casino magways to be more welcoming to nate Sheldon Adelson’s family interfaith families both before foundation.

The rabbi is also said to have and after the wedding and treat interfaith couples exactly the sent his proposal to the Rabsame as all-Jewish couples — binical Assembly, the rabbinic with the exception of wedding group that sets Conservative officiation. policies and standards.

It’s not clear what role fear But just days after Gardenthat he or his congregation swartz floated the idea, he would be ousted by the Conabruptly backed down from servative movement played its most controversial element: that he be permitted to perform in Gardenswartz’s change of heart. He declined JTA’s reinterfaith weddings.

“The Covenant to Raise Jew- quests for an interview.

“There is a range of opinish Children will not work,” ions with our congregation,” Gardenswartz said in a subsequent email sent to congregants synagogue board member Joanne Linowes Alinsky told and shared with JTA. “In my initial proposal, I had JTA. “Some people are thinking this is exciting, groundbreaking written that I would perform stuff, and others are thinking it an intermarriage if the interis too far from tradition.” faith couple would, by signing Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, a written Covenant, affirm executive vice president of the that, if God blessed them with children, they would raise their Rabbinical Assembly, declined to discuss any details of her children exclusively as Jews.

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PAGE 7

THE WORLD

Help/contain Continued from Page Six “Essentially they’re relating to a part of the population in Israel as a threat and not as citizens,” said Haia Noach, executive director of the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality. “It doesn’t bother me that Jews come to the Negev, just like it doesn’t bother me that Arabs live in the Negev. It’s strange that a state decides it has to be scared of its citizens.”

Such criticism hasn’t stunted Ayalim’s growth. Founded in 2002 by two Israeli students living in a trailer in the southern town of Ashalim, the group now houses more than 1,000 students in its 13 villages. A new village in the embattled southern border town of Sderot will house an additional 300 students next year.

The group has received funding from several mainstream Jewish and Israeli organizations, including the American federation system and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Most of its 2015 budget is coming directly from the Israeli government, which has made assisting the south a priority.

Nor does the demographic mission deter Arab-Israeli members from join-

ing. Students appreciate the cheap rent — Sofer pays less than $150 a month for a room in a comfortable, renovated apartment — and they say the villages foster a sense of community and do important work with underserved populations.

“I like the organization’s activism,” said Habeeb Hajaj, an Arab resident of the Lod village who says he doesn’t enjoy the occasional group lectures on Zionism but values his volunteer work with Arab youth. “In general it does good because it gives so many solutions and responses to people around it, and it starts with the students.”

Ayalim doesn’t expect to turn ArabIsraelis into Zionists, but the group does hope to demonstrate to them that Israel is here to stay.

Eventually Ayalim hopes to grow into a larger movement for settlement in the periphery and is building 120 residential units for young people across the north and south. The entire effort, Rubin says, aims to resurrect the pioneering spirit of the early Zionists.

“We have young people who come in concentrated groups, go to faraway places for an ideology and make the desert bloom,” Rubin said. “Aside from the demographic problem, the significance of Ayalim is that we created a national movement of young people.”

Conservative rabbi considers intermarriage ban Continued from Page Seven said of intermarriage. “If it’s not in our nuclear family, it’s somewhere in our extended family.”

The response within the movement generally has been to discourage interfaith unions yet welcome such couples once they are married. But many are worried that this approach alienates Conservative Jews and their non-Jewish partners, driving them away from Jewish tradition entirely or into the arms of alternative rabbis and movements that allow intermarriage, prompting them to abandon the Conservative movement.

“I think our movement in terms of colleagues is tremendously divided between doing what we’ve been told -by the R.A. 45 years ago in establishing standards of practice — and serving our members and creating Jewish families,” said Rabbi Charles Simon, who is executive director of the movement’s Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs and helps Conservative synagogues be more inclusive of non-Jews.

Simon said the move by someone of Gardenswartz’s stature to review policy on interfaith unions could be a game changer for the movement.

“I think this is the beginning of a huge paradigm shift,” Simon said. “By writing a paper and sending it to the R.A., this changes the playing field.

“In terms of congregational rabbis, Wes is unique. I can’t think of anybody else who is out there in the same way.

I’m very excited because this can potentially create tremendous opportunities PAGE 8

in the movement for growth, for attracting families.”

For now, Gardenswartz’s redrawing of the proposal to his congregation precludes his officiating at interfaith weddings. But he has made clear that he will not frown upon interfaith unions.

“Temple Emanuel will treat an interfaith couple as a Jewish-Jewish couple except that its clergy cannot officiate at the interfaith wedding,” he wrote in his email.

In this regard, Gardenswartz is not alone in his movement. Other Conservative rabbis struggling with the movement’s ban on intermarriage have found their own ways of welcoming interfaith couples — and even blessing their unions.

At Congregation Kneses Tifereth Israel in Port Chester, N.Y., for example, Rabbi Jaymee Alpert offers a public blessing to interfaith couples before their wedding in an adaptation of the traditional pre-wedding Shabbat aufruf celebration.

Alpert also presents interfaith couples with the same synagogue gift bestowed upon Jewish couples.

At Temple Aliyah in Los Angeles, Rabbi Stewart Vogel celebrates interfaith couples, acknowledging them on “anniversary Shabbats” along with the Jewish couples.

At Temple Aliyah in Los Angeles, Rabbi Stewart Vogel celebrates interfaith couples, acknowledging them on “anniversary Shabbats” along with the Jewish couples.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

THE WORLD Joe Raedle/Getty Images

For Cuban Jews in U.S., rapprochement with Castro regime cause for concern benefits and freedom to the Cu- were born. When you don’t

By Uriel Heilman, JTA see it with your own flesh, it’s For many Cuban Jews — the ban people or just benefit the Cuban government and their different. But I think it would majority of whom now live in be immoral to accept what has the United States — it has been bunch of thugs?”

Brook has not been back to been happening.” a bittersweet December.

Cuba since she left. Her parents That generational divide is Like countless Jews around came to the United States three evident within Grobler’s own the world, they cheered the refamily. Grobler says his son has lease of Alan Gross, the Ameri- years later, after the two stores talked to him about wanting to can Jewish telecommunications and eight-story building they owned were confiscated by visit Cuba; visits by Americans contractor who had been held Castro’s Communist regime. have been permitted to the in a Cuban prison for the last There is something of a genisland nation for some time, so five years. long as they take place under But then there’s the matter of erational divide among Cuban Americans when it comes to certain conditions, such as reestablishment of diplomatic the question of the embargo. under religious or journalistic relations between Washington Many younger Cuban auspices. Grobler says he has and Havana.

Americans say ending the long no problem with his son going For those old enough to U.S. embargo may provide new to see the place his father grew remember the most brutal opportunities to change life in up and visiting the local Jewish years of the Castro regime, the Cuba for the better. community, but he himself idea of rapprochement with But those who witnessed the won’t go until the Communist a country still ruled by the dictatorship has been reCastro family (Fidel’s brother, Win McNamee/Getty Images moved.

Raul, is now president) is “I refuse to go to Cuba,” more cause for concern than Grobler said. “I refuse to do celebration. business with them. I will go And while there’s some the day prior to the day there acknowledgment that endwill elections in Cuba.” ing the embargo may bring In the Perelis family, too, some benefits for the Cuban the generational divide is people, it is surpassed by evident. abiding concern that the deal “In general, younger President Obama announced Cuban-Americans (myself Dec. 17 will extend the life of included) see the embargo as a brutal dictatorship whose a stupid policy which only crimes can be neither forgotgives the Castro regime an ten nor forgiven.

Alan Gross, freed from a Cuban prison enemy to blame and excuses “Castro is being saved today by Obama!” bemoaned earlier in the day, with his wife, Judy, at a for their incompetence and news conference in Washington, Dec. 17 absence of human rights,” Joseph Perelis, who came to said Joseph Perelis’ son, Ronthe United States in 1961, two regime’s crimes firsthand gennie Perelis, who is a professor years after Fidel Castro took erally believe there can be no of Sephardic studies at Yeshiva power in Cuba. “In the terms rapprochement with a CastroUniversity and was born in the I see, this will allow Castro to led government.

United States. “Nixon went to maintain his grip on power.”

“The older Cubans, both China. We have had diplomatic The newly announced deal Jewish and non-Jewish, are and military relationships with Washington, he said, mostly against because they with dastardly regimes from likely would enable Cuba to suffered: They had to abandon the Saudis to (the late Chilean adopt the Chinese model: a Cuba, they saw a lot of injusdictator Augusto) Pinochet.”

Communist regime where tices,” said Sergio Grobler, a Yet Ronnie Perelis acknowlthe army and the party are past president of the Cuban edges some ambivalence about enriched by capitalist enterHebrew Congregation of Mithese announced changes. prise while the cheap labor of ami, Temple Beth Shmuel. “The “Clearly the embargo has the people is exploited for the younger Cubans mostly are for been a failure and perhaps benefit of the regime and its an easing of the relationships openness can open a new way trading partners. between Cuba and the U.S., forward,” he said. “The chance “The old 1959 political because the most horrifying of person-to-person contact refugees want a democratic things happened before they changing things in small ways regime change: free press, free elections, free Internet, a real improvement for the Cuban people,” Perelis said.

Nancy Brook, who left Cuba in 1961 when she was 12, expressed similar concerns, even as she acknowledged the failure of America’s Cuba policy to dislodge the Cuban regime.

“It is obvious that the so-called embargo has not worked,” she said. “But will these new measures bring

in the island is not insignificant.”

But, he added, the change may also “simply leave the regime in a stronger position to continue their control of the population without any democratic change.”

People outside the Little Havana restaurant Marcos Kerbel, a Versailles in Miami on Dec. 17, as they absorb the news that Alan Gross was released from a Cuban past president and prison and that U.S. President Barack Obama now chair of the wants to change the United States Cuba policy finance committee at the Cuban Hebrew Gross,” Kerbel said. “I don’t Congregation in Miami, says take political sides. We see in the community is taking a Congress there are some dewait-and-see attitude for now. bates about the new policy. My “We’re all extremely happy attitude right now is wait and about the release of the Alan see what’s going to happen.”

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

PAGE 9

Aliyah

Continued from Page Four Ukraine’s conflict zones.

Eckstein said the fellowship decided to become involved in aliyah because of delays in getting Jews out of embattled areas of Ukraine, adding that he may begin to help organize emigration from Russia, Muslim countries and elsewhere.

“The Jewish Agency has only one representative to Ukraine,” Eckstein told JTA. “The Israeli Embassy was closed for business during critical times.

That’s not the way I work. I put together a team and we started working.”

Palmor said the Jewish Agency’s efforts resulted in the aliyah of more than 5,100 Jews from Ukraine in the first 11 months of 2014, more than double the figure for the whole of 2013. He declined to comment further on Eckstein’s criticism.

“We are interested in overcoming the unnecessary tensions that may have arisen while this flight was being put together, and in cooperating for the greater cause of encouraging aliyah,” Palmor said. “The Jewish Agency is working intensively in Ukraine and elsewhere and is thankful of the contribution of its partners, including the fellowship led by Rabbi Eckstein.”

Perhaps mindful of the millions Eckstein contributes, Jewish Agency officials would not criticize him on the record, though one did note that emigres received a $1,000 grant from the fellowship on the condition that they flew with the group flight on Dec. 22.

“They are ready to accept the money but not to say thank you, and we won’t tolerate it anymore,” Eckstein said.

“We’ve been trying to get the Jewish Agency to acknowledge our donors publicly, but it hasn’t happened so we took our own route.”

Hear this week’s Jewish news with Radio Reading Service

Goodwill Easter Seals Miami Valley Radio Reading Service provides audio access to newspapers, magazines and other print media for those unable to read on their own. Listeners tune in with special radio receivers to programs including The Jewish News Hour.

If you know someone who might qualify to receive a Reading Service radio, call 528-6525 PAGE 10

OPINION

New U.S. group warns Israel on ‘who is a Jew’ Support of next-gen Jews is at risk over continuing Orthodox monopoly, high-powered coalition suggests

By Gary Rosenblatt New York Jewish Week Few if any American Jewish aspirations for Israel seem as unlikely — or as important — as achieving religious freedom and equality in the Jewish state.

But a new, high-powered American Jewish coalition, led by the American Jewish Committee, has been formed to do just that.

Calling itself the Jewish Religious Equality Coalition (J-Rec), it is made up of leaders of the Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements as well as several liberal Orthodox groups (Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance) and national Jewish organizations (National Council of Jewish Women, New Israel Fund and National Policy Forum).

They seek to work with a similar coalition in Israel to “create alternatives to the exclusive control of the Chief Rabbinate over personal-status issues,” including marriage, divorce, conversion and burial, according to the group’s “strategy paper.”

And while members are well aware of the long odds against changing the status quo on these rites of passage, JRec is making the case that the issue is a matter of national security for Israel and will damage the very future of Jerusalem’s relationship with world Jewry.

At a three-and-a-half hour meeting at AJC at the end of November, about three dozen coalition members discussed the approach from a variety of angles, including ethical, ideological, financial and, most pragmatically, political.

(I was one of two journalists in attendance; we were left to our discretion as to whom to quote and to what extent.)

A key element of the strategy is to convince Israel’s political leaders, and especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that Jerusalem stands to lose vital support from the next generation of American Jews, 90 percent of whom are non-Orthodox, if the Orthodox monopoly continues.

“We are trying to convey to the prime minister that he’s playing with fire,” asserted Dov Zakheim, chair of the new coalition as well as the AJC Commission on Contemporary Jewish Life. He noted that “if enough Jewish leaders here tell leaders in Israel that this is a huge problem and that they are losing” a younger generation of American Jews who feel alienated from Israeli policies, both domestic and foreign, it could make a difference.

“We need to convey this urgently,” he said.

The coalition members recognize that their battle will likely take many years, given that the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate in Israel dates back to the days of the Ottoman Empire.

But they believe several key factors are working in their favor. Among them: increasing numbers of Israelis have sharply negative feelings about the rabbinate’s control; the current coalition has no haredi parties; and many of the 300,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union holding Israeli citizenship (with Jewish ancestry but not halachically Jewish) would be willing to convert to Judaism if the attitude of the rabbinate were embracing rather than restrictive.

Israeli groups challenging the status quo note that the most vulnerable personal-status issue in the state is marriage, with surveys showing 66 percent of Israelis favoring civil and non-Orthodox marriages.

Therefore, coalition members said they would work with their Israeli partners and first focus on freedom of marriage and divorce, though conversion is the issue that resonates most with American Jews.

There was consensus in the room on the goals at hand, and much of the day’s discussion focused on framing the issue in a positive way in seeking to galvanize support among American Jews. That translated into asking them to call for Jerusalem to strengthen its democratic ideals.

The group also established committees to help find other partners and funding for the coalition, which hopes to raise $1 million over the next three years.

At the outset of the meeting, Rabbi David Ellenson, former president and now chancellor of the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College and vice chair of the coalition, offered an overview of the group’s approach. He pointed out that “many younger Jews,” particularly liberals, “feel critical and distanced from support and connection to the state of Israel.”

If no solution is found to personalstatus issues that would find many of them disqualified as Jews by Israel’s current standards, their alienation would be accelerated, he said.

He asserted that the issue is one of “discrimination against non-Orthodox Jews in Israel,” noting that “with increasing intermarriage” in the U.S., it is naïve to think that conversions here, most of which are in the liberal movements, won’t “impact negatively on American Jewish support for Israel.”

Ellenson cited the writings of Rabbi Chaim Amsalem, a learned Sephardic rabbi and former member of Knesset, who believes there is ample halachic (Jewish legal) precedent to make it easier for the large Russian population in Israel to convert. Amsalem views them as zera Yisrael, or the seed of Israel, given their Jewish lineage and the fact that they live in Israel among Jews, speak Hebrew, serve in the army, etc.

“According to traditional Jewish law, not only can we convert these immigrants, we must convert them,” the rabbi wrote in The Jerusalem Post.

As a result of these and other views, like encouraging yeshiva kollel students in Israel to find employment, Amsalem was banned from the Shas party he represented.

Still, Ellenson said, “halacha allows this inclusive position” and it should be made known more widely, though it was acknowledged at the meeting that mainstream Orthodox organizations in this country are not on board, insisting that the Jewish fabric of Israeli society would be ruptured by changing the status quo.

It was noted that the Jewish Federations of North America, which had been approached to participate, was not represented at the meeting. JFNA has begun its own effort, called iRep (Israel Religious Expression Platform) to promote freedom of choice in Israel, and may join forces with the coalition in the future.

The group will need all the support it can muster in the ongoing struggle to promote religious equality in the Jewish state. But there are long-term issues to consider. Not only do various surveys indicate decreasing levels of attachment to Israel among younger Jews, but that pattern is certain to increase if Jerusalem does not respond to heartfelt calls for more religious tolerance from Disapora Jews, the great majority of whom are not Orthodox.

Cynical Israeli politicians may conclude that Diaspora Jews don’t vote in Israeli elections. That’s true, but without strong support — personal, political, financial and moral — from American Jewry, Israel, already embattled, may find itself even more alone.

Gary Rosenblatt is editor and publisher of the New York Jewish Week.

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

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  Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Temple Beth Or and Our Founding Rabbi, Judy Chessin   

                            

  

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

PAGE 11

THE WORLD

Rock adds evidence of David’s existence

By Menachem Wecker, JTA NEW YORK — Dimly lit, the stone slab, or stele, doesn’t look noteworthy, especially when compared to the lavish sphinxes, jewelry and cauldrons one encounters en route to the room where it is installed.

Indeed, in a Twitter post this fall, art journalist Lee Rosenbaum described the nearly 13-by-16 inch c. 830 BCE rock, which resembles an aardvark or elephant, as “homely.”

B R E A K F A S T

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What’s significant about this stone — on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of its Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age exhibit running through Jan. 4 — is its inscription, which is the earliest extra-biblical reference to the House of David.

“There is no doubt that the inscription is one of the most important artifacts ever found in relation to the Bible,” Eran Arie, curator of Israelite and Persian periods at the Israel Museum, wrote in

L U N C H

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Biblical Archaeology Society website.

Steven Fine, a professor of Jewish history and director of the Center for Israel Studies at Yeshiva University, agrees that the exhibit catalog. As is to be expected the lack of attention is curious. with a rock nearly three millennia old, “It’s astonishing how little the Jewish the slab is missing considerable portions, press has noticed it,” he said. and Arie’s translation of the remainAlthough the inscription has received ing 13 lines of text is full of ellipses and bracketed additions. What is clear is that scant attention, Fine says he has observed widespread public interest in Aram-Damascene King Hazael brags biblical-era artifacts. When he led tours of having killed 70 kings, including of as curator of the University of Southern Israel and of the “House of David.”

California’s archaeological collections in The breaks in the stone neither the 1980s, Fine reported hearing many obstruct nor obscure the “bytdvd,” or “oohs” and “aahs” when he showed an House of David, inscription, which remains “absolutely intact and clear,” said oil lamp from the First Temple period.

“Why? Because they heard about King Ira Spar, professor of history and ancient studies at Ramapo College in New Jersey David,” Fine said. “They care about biblical history…and it’s part of the grapand a research Assyriologist at the Metpling with secularization that makes this ropolitan Museum. so important to some people.”

Epigraphers and biblical historians Meidad agree almost unanimously that the letSuchowolski ters “bytdvd” refer to the House of King David, according to Spar.

“While it is clear that David was king of Israel, the archaeological evidence for the extent of his kingdom remains unclear,” he said.

Despite its “extraordinary inscription,” the rock, a seventh century BCE Annals of Sennacherib that tells of a siege The David inscription of Jerusalem mentioned in the Bible, and is featured in Assyria to a 10th-century BCE Taanach Cult Stand Iberia at the Dawn of the that may feature a depiction of the JewClassical Age, on view at ish God, have been “curiously” ignored The Metropolitan Museum of in reviews of the Met’s exhibit, notes the Art in New York through Jan. 4

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

Annual Campaign Launches New Format “100 Days of Tikkun Olam” to kick off fundraising in May

Jewish Federation of GREATER DAYTON Monday, January 19 › MLK Dayton Walk with JCRC Commemorate the courageous words and actions of Rev. Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. by participating in Dayton’s annual MLK March and Rally. For more information, contact Director of External Relations Cheryl Carne at (937) 610-1778.

Sunday, February 8 › Nuts About Green 11:30AM - 2PM @ Temple Israel (130 Riverside Dr., Dayton) A community-wide celebration, explore the roots of Tu B’Shevat with a Torah session, a visit from the UD RiverMobile, and enjoy an eco-friendly “Farm to Table” Tu B’Shevat seder in a family friendly setting. $5 per person.

Sunday, February 15 › PJ Library Shayna Punim Party 10:30-12:30PM @ Run Around Fun Town (1218 East Stroop Rd., Kettering ) Join PJ Library and Shalom Baby for a welcome brunch for the new tiny tots of our community, followed by a concert with local musician Marc Rossio. Please RSVP by Feb. 4. Adults: $10 in advance/$12 at the door, Children: $6.

Presidents’ Dinner Sunday, May 3 @ the Dayton Art Institute

RSVPs are due at least 1 week before event. Events with no price listed are free.

PLEASE CONTACT KAREN STEIGER REGARDING ALL EVENTS UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE: 610-1555, ksteiger@jfgd.net

R

ecently, our Jewish Federation paused to consider how to accomplish the critical job of fundraising in our community. A “Financial Resource Development Task Force” was convened to review how we conducted the Annual Campaign.

Many thanks to those who participated on the task force: Judy Abromowitz, Joe Bettman, Joel Frydman, Debby Goldenberg, Andy Schwartz and Mary Youra.

What resulted from these brainstorming sessions is the new format for our Annual Campaign. There are three new concepts we will launch this year. ›› CALENDAR YEAR CAMPAIGN – we will be raising funds for the 2015 campaign during the 2015 calendar year. Hopefully, this will address any confusion there might have been in previous years. ›› 100 DAYS OF TIKKUN OLAM – is the focus of

our Annual Campaign. As the words “Tikkun Olam” describe “Repairing the World”, so do the activities of the Jewish Federation.

During a 3-month period, we will share stories of how your support contributes to these precious acts of tzedakah.

›› PRESIDENTS DINNER – Every project should have an auspicious and meaningful beginning. Our “100 Days of Tikkun Olam” initiative will open with a signature campaign event (May 3, 2015) that is open to the entire community.

This inaugural year we have secured an inspiring Jewish speaker, David Gregory, previously with NBC News and Meet the Press. While many may not realize his connection to Judaism, he is deeply committed to his faith. In the past several months he has been working on his book about faith and how it has affected his life. The Past Presidents of the Jewish Federation have helped to create a wonderful event.

Mark your calendar now and join me for what we anticipate will be a sparkling evening.

Cathy L. Gardner

Temple Israel & JFGD come together for a GREEN cause On February 8, Temple Israel and the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton are teaming up to present “Nuts about Green: A Community Tu B’Shevat Celebration.”

This celebration will include a Tu B’Shevat seder and farmto-table style luncheon, educational programs and activities for all ages, and interactive displays by “green” vendors and organizations.

Planning is well underway, with the efforts led by Temple’s Greening the Synagogue, Greening the World Committee and the Young Adult Division of the Federation. The afternoon is sure to be fun for everyone!

For the knowledge seekers, educational offerings include a session on Biblical texts on the environment, and second one on innovative ways that Israel has an impact on repairing the world through technological advances and other best practices.

For the young (or young at heart), age-appropriate hands-on activities and crafts will instill the values of the Jewish holiday and caring for our earth.

For those seeking ways to be more earth-friendly in their daily lives, vendors and exhibitors will have a range of products and information at the event. There is no charge for the educational and activity sessions, but the cost is $5 for the seder and luncheon. The fun begins at 11:30am at Temple Israel.

This event is made possible through the Innovation Grants of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.

University of Dayton’s RiverMobile will make an appearance at the “Nuts About Green” Tu B’Shevat celebration.

PJ Library Families Recieve Tzedakah Boxes That Help Make Giving Fun

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton

JCRC JOINS IN DAYTON’S MLK MARCH Please join the Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council on Monday, January 19 to participate in Dayton’s annual MLK March and Rally at 10AM. We hope you will join us in commemoration of the courageous words and actions of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the greater Dayton community.

For more information, please contact Cheryl Carne, Director of External Relations at 610-1778.

This month, PJ Library families will recieve a special Tzedakah Box that helps children learn how fun philanthropy can be! Included in the box is a card game to engage the young ones, as well as a social media initiative, encouragning parents to share photos, stories and lessons via the hashtag #kidsgive

JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | JANUARY 2015

What is Dayton BBYO? The Teen Perspective

Jewish Community Center of GREATER DAYTON ›› Tai Chi & INSANITY continue through early spring ›› Mah jong classes start January 6!

Thursday, January 15 › JCC Speaker Series 10:30AM @ the Boonshoft CJCE Interactive session on personal safety and awareness.

Sunday, January 18 › JCC Yiddish Club 1:30PM @ Oakwood Starbucks (2424 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood) Contact Judy Woll at 470-0113.

Monday, January 19 › School Days Out 8:45AM - 3:45PM @ the Boonshoft CJCE Grades K-6 roll around SkateWorld and make a puppet friend with MadCap Puppets. $45 (after Jan. 8 $55).

To me, BBYO means “More Jewish Teens, More Meaningful Jewish Experiences” says Adam Guadalupe, Vice President of Membership for Weprin Kadima Chapter. “Jewish teens can be doing anything from competing with regional chapters in a basketball tournament, to volunteering at a local homeless shelter, to going out to eat. We find meaning and value in congregating with fellow Jews and discovering more about ourselves and each other. BBYO is about the experience of sharing Judaism with other youth from the entire city and the KIO region. We can all get together and be part of a Jewish community”.

According to Deborah Liberman, Vice President of Membership for Hatikvah Chapter, “BBYO has helped me connect with Judaism and to meet other Jewish teens in the area. Dayton BBYO has created a group of people that I can always rely on for advice and have fun. I have a sense of belonging in my community. Not only will you make life-long friends, but you will become involved in your community. You never know how BBYO is, until you try it! Join BBYO, it was the best decision I made”.

For additional information on Dayton BBYO and teen programming, feel free to contact Yale Glinter at yglinter@jfgd or 937-401-1550.

PLEASE CONTACT KAREN STEIGER REGARDING ALL EVENTS UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE: 610-1555, ksteiger@jfgd.net

VEGAS

J C C O F G R E AT E R D AY TO N ’ S ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

FEBRUARY 28 7 P M –1 1 P M @

the Boonshoft CJCE HERE’S THE DEAL: THE ODDS ARE IN YOUR FAVOR! Help raise money for JCC programming by trying your luck at our prize-winning activities & games.

(Separate entry fee and prize payout)

OSU TICKET DRAWING BLACK JACK BEER, WINE, SODA, DESSERTS: SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE, 21+!

visit jewishdayton.org or contact Rachel Wilson at rwilson@jfgd.net or 401-1541 by Feb. 18

Sunday, January 25 › Family Skate with the JCC 5-6PM @ Kettering Ice Arena (2900 Glengarry Ave., Kettering) $8 per person (after Jan. 18, $12).

RSVPs are due at least 1 week before event. Events with no price listed are free.

in

SILENT AUCTION RAFFLE TEXAS HOLD ‘EM TOURNAMENT

Saturday, January 24 › Beavercreek Community Theatre: Things My Mother Taught Me 8PM @ Beavercreek Community Theatre (3868 Dayton Xenia Rd., Beavercreek) Group rate: $14/adults, $11/seniors & students.

Thursday, January 29 JCC @ The Cincinnati Museum Center at NOON Mummies of the World exhibit and Omnimax film, Jerusalem.

Cost varies, please contact Jane Hochstein for more information.

A Night

› Mamaloshen

A little bit of Yiddish to share with friends, courtesy of the JCC Yiddish Club, in memory of Lynda A. Cohen.

Fleysh: \ FLEYSH\ Noun Meat; flesh.

EARLY CHILDHOOD: Giving Thanks for a (kid-sized) Bountiful Feast

Brachot Cheder friends, wearing their own feather headdresses created during class, feast with friends in Shabbat Nerot. The Thanksgiving Feast is an annual event for Early Childhood. PHOTO CREDIT: MARSHALL WEISS

JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | JANUARY 2015

Expressions with fleysh:

1. Dos tepl baym oreman vert keyn mol nisht fleyshik - The poor man’s pot never becomes meaty (i.e., no meat is ever cooked in it).

2. Es veyst di katz, vemens fleysh zi hot oyfgegesn Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind (lit., The cat knows whose meat it devoured).

3. Vu es iz do fleysh un fish, dort iz a freylecher tish - Wherever there are meat and fish, there is happiness (lit., a happy table).

Active Adults Join the JFS Family Starting in 2015, Active Adults joins Jewish Family Services programming!

Bigger families are always the most fun, so don’t miss out on the wonderful activities we have to offer! RSVP to Karen Steiger at 610-1555 Active Adults Dine Around Thursday January 22 @ 11:30AM at the Hollywood Gaming Casino (777 Hollywood Blvd. Dayton 45414) Enjoy a delicious lunch at Dayton’s only casino in the Skybox Restaurant.

After lunch, feel free to see if you are “lucky.” Cost of lunch is on your own.

The Totally Talented Tap Dance Review Tuesday January 27 @ 1PM at Beth Jacob Synagogue (7020 North Main Street) The Dayton Tap Dance Company struts their stuff for an afternoon of twinkling delight. Light refreshments to be served. No charge.

February 2 @11:30AM Tu B’Shevat Seder & Lunch at the Boonshoft CJCE, conducted by Rabbi Judy Chessin Join us as we celebrate Tu B’Shevat and enjoy a light lunch. Be thankful for the trees that give us shade, food and lumber.

Kosher lunch available with advance request. $8.00 advance $12.00 at door.

Your payment is your reservation.

2014: A SOUPER YEAR FOR VOLUNTEERS

Jewish Family Services Jewish Foundation ofof GREATER DAYTON GREATER DAYTON Tuesday, January 6 12:30PM @ Covenant Manor Women of Woodland, Presentation by Angie Hoschouer, Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum.

Friday, January 9 NOON @ Covenant Manor Fresh Friday delicious home cooked meal. Prepared by Bernstein’s Fine Catering.

12:30PM Bingo Tuesday, January 13 12:30PM @ Covenant Manor Life Simple Seven: How to Live Heart Healthy, presented by the American Heart Association Miami Valley Chapter Tuesday, January 20 12:30PM @ Covenant Manor Afternoon at the Movies with refreshments Friday, January 23 NOON @ Covenant Manor Fresh Friday delicious home cooked meal. Prepared by Bernstein’s Fine Catering.

TOP LEFT: Simone Sofian, JFGD Grant Writer and gardening aficionado, picks the last of the lettuce for the season from the Camp Shalom community garden. The lettuce was distributed to the residents at Covenant Manor. PHOTO CREDIT JANICE KOHN. TOP RIGHT: 1000 volunteer hours were given by our “Souper” volunteers and JFS board members. PHOTO CREDIT JANICE KOHN. BOTTOM LEFT: John Hoover, JFS “Souper” Handyman and Dave Leedy, “Souper Hero” motivational speaker. PHOTO CREDIT JANICE KOHN. BOTTOM RIGHT: Kyle Neff and Josh Tye, “Souper” Food Pantry volunteers strike a pose with “Souper Hero” Dave Leedy. PHOTO CREDIT AMY BOYLE.

PLEASE CONTACT CHERYL BENSON REGARDING ALL COVENANT MANOR EVENTS : 854-6319

JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | JANUARY 2015

Innovation Grants

Jewish Foundation of GREATER DAYTON

Applications for Innovation Grants will be available beginning January 2, 2015. Grants are considered for programs that meeting one of the following core priority areas: 1. Programs designed to reach out to and engage young adults and families within the greater Dayton Jewish community.

Did You Know?

2. Programs or events designed to bring the entire Jewish community together.

In addition to scholarship opportunities, the Jewish Foundation of Greater Dayton offers

3. Programs and projects that are collaborative efforts between multiple organizations and/or individuals.

INTEREST FREE STUDENT LOANS to eligible college students to help defray the costs of college education.

Contact Joyce Anderson at janderson@jfgd.net or 937-853-0377 for more information.

›› ››

In addition, programs should aim to enhance life in the greater Dayton Jewish community. Dayton area Jewish non-profit organizations or individuals whose program will be sponsored by a Jewish non-profit organization are welcome to apply.

Completed applications are due February 27, 2015.

Awards will be announced in April 2015. ›› If you have any questions, or would

like to request an application, please contact Jodi Phares at jphares@jfgd.net or 937-610-5513

I

SCHOLARSHIPS

t’s hard to think about traveling through Israel this summer or children enjoying overnight camp when it’s snowy and cold outside. But now is the time to start thinking about that and more! On January 2, 2015, applications will be available for the following scholarships:

›› Residential Camp Scholarship: Funds are available for local youths planning to participate in a Jewish residential camp program during the summer of 2015. This scholarship is made possible through the Joan and Peter Wells Family, Children and Youth Fund and by a generous donation from Carole and Bernie Rabinowitz. ››

Travel to Israel Scholarship: Dayton area Jewish teens and young adults, ages 14-21, are invited to apply for the Wolfe Marcus Trust Youth Travel to Israel Scholarship.

Applicants must demonstrate financial need and plan to travel to Israel during the summer of 2015.

››

College Scholarship: Since its creation in 2006, the Vicky & Robert Heuman Scholarship has been awarded annually to an undergraduate or graduate student who demonstrates both academic achievement and financial need. The scholarship is open to Jewish Dayton area residents.

If you have any questions, or would like to request an application, please contact Alisa Thomas at athomas@jfgd.net or 937-610-1796.

Completed applications and supporting documentation must be received by March 27, 2015.

Awards will be announced in May.

Legacies, Tributes, & Memorials FEDERATION

ANNUAL CAMPAIGN IN HONOR OF › Engagement of Josh Handel to Arielle Mann Bobbie and Jerry Kantor Beverly and Jeffrey Kantor Brenda and Professor Scott Meadow IN MEMORY OF › Ross Pincus, brother-in-law to Renee and Dr. Frank Handel Bobbie and Jerry Kantor Beverly and Jeffrey Kantor Brenda and Professor Scott Meadow THE TALA ARNOVITZ FUND IN MEMORY OF › Gloria Saeks Cathy Gardner HOLOCAUST PROGRAMMING FUND IN HONOR OF › Thanks to the Yom Hashoah committee and my friends for the cards, rides and meals Beverly Farnbacher › Angela and Joel Frydman being honored at Beth Abraham Donor Dinner Helene Gordon Bernice and Jack Bomstein

IN MEMORY OF › Mother of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Rubinfield › Morris Frydman Helen Gordon and Joe Fodal › Morris Frydman Cathy and Marc Gordon PJ LIBRARY FUND IN HONOR OF › Marilyn and Larry Klaben receiving the Outstanding Philanthropists Award Cheryl and Rick Carne JCC

JOAN AND PETER WELLS FAMILY, CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND IN MEMORY OF › Yale Holt Cathy Gardner CULTURAL ARTS/BOOK FAIR IN HONOR OF › Mimi and Stuart Rose generously sharing their rare books with the University of Dayton › Special birthday of Stuart Rose Barbara and Joseph Hollander

JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | JANUARY 2015

FAMILY SERVICES

SENIOR SERVICES IN MEMORY OF › Leonard Solganik › Gilbert Unger › Charles Weprin Bobbie and Jerry Kantor Beverly and Jeffrey Kantor Brenda and Professor Scott Meadow SOCIAL SERVICES IN HONOR OF › Special birthday Paul Kulback › Special birthday Gail Rouda › Marriage of Fran and Ralph Schwartz’s daughter › 50th anniversary of Henry and Marleen Maimon › 60th anniversary of Erika and Felix Garfunkel Susan and Jonas Gruenberg IN MEMORY OF › Gloria Saeks Jean and Bert Lieberman SPECIFIC ASSISTANCE IN HONOR OF › Get well Terry Pinsky › Get well Ernestine Levine › Sarah Naomi Weiskind Hyla and Dr. Raymond Weiskind

FOUNDATION

JEREMY BETTMAN B’NAI TZEDEK FUND IN HONOR OF › Good health and speedy recovery of Jayne Caras Jean and Todd Bettman IN MEMORY OF › Yale Holt Jean and Todd Bettman BEN AND DOROTHY HARLAN CHILDREN’S FUND IN HONOR OF › Birth of grandchild to Teri and Dr. Dan German Marla and Dr. Stephen Harlan IN MEMORY OF › Yale Holt Marla and Dr. Stephen Harlan ROBERT L. AND RITA Z. CLINE BIKUR HAVERIM ENDOWMENT FUND IN HONOR OF › Birthday of J.E. Cherney Meredith A. Cline-Marks IN MEMORY OF › In Yarzeit Memory of Milton A. Marks Meredith A. Cline-Marks

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Classes

Temple Beth Or Classes: Sundays, Jan. 11 & 25, 10:30 a.m.: Tanach Study w. Rabbi Chessin. Sundays, 1 p.m.: Adult Hebrew w. Rabbi Chessin. Wednesdays, 6-9 p.m.: Israeli Folk Dancing w. Janifer Tsou. Wed., Jan. 7, 7 p.m.: Men’s Circle w. Rabbi Burstein. Thurs., Jan. 8, 1 p.m. Socrates Café. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 4353400.

Temple Israel Classes: Sundays, 9 a.m.: Tanach w. Rabbi Sofian. Mondays, 1:15 p.m.: Knitting & Crocheting. Mondays, 1:30 p.m.: Advanced Biblical Hebrew w.

Rabbi Bodney-Halasz. Tuesdays, 6 p.m.: Modern Conversational Hebrew w. Sara Faust. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.: Lattes & Legends, Dorothy Lane Mkt., 6177 Far Hills Ave. Wednesdays, noon: Talmud study.

Wednesdays, 2 p.m.: Advanced Beginner Hebrew w. Judy Heller. Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.: Torah study. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.

496-0050.

Discussions

Temple Israel Ryterband Lecture & Brunch Series: Sundays, 9:45-11:45 p.m. $5 each. Jan. 11: Rabbi Bernard Barsky, The Language of God and the Language of Adam. Jan. 25: Marshall Weiss, The First Biblical Movie Epic, DeMille’s 1923 The Ten Commandments. 130 Riverside Dr. 4960050.

JCC Speaker Series: Thurs., Jan 15, 10:30 a.m.: Personal Safety w. Miami Valley Crime Prevention Assoc. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. R.S.V.P. to 6101555.

Women

Chabad Women’s Circle: Sun., Jan. 11, 10 a.m.: Movie Shekinah and breakfast. Sun., Jan. 25, 10 a.m.: Torah & Tea Class. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. For more info., call 643-0770.

Beth Jacob Sisterhood: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30 a.m. Let’s Walk Group.

7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. 274-2149.

Children

Chabad’s Kids in the Kosher Kitchen: Thurs., Jan. 8, 5-7 p.m. Monthly for ages 7-11. Prepare traditional Shabbat dinner to be served at Family Shabbaton, Fri., Jan. 9, 5:15 p.m. Free with CKids annual membership of $75. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. R.S.V.P. to 643-0770.

JCC School’s Day Out: Mon., Jan 19, 8:45 a.m.-3:45 p.m. Grades K-6 with trip to SkateWorld, and puppet making. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. $45 by Jan. 8, $55 after Jan. 8. R.S.V.P. to Karen Steiger, 853-0372.

Teens

BBYO Teen Nights: Wed., Jan. 21, 6 p.m.

105 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. For more info. call Yale Glinter, 610-1555.

Family

JCC Family Skate Night: Sun., Jan. 25, 5-6 p.m. Kettering Ice Arena, 2900 Glengarry

Ave. $8 by Jan. 18, $12 after Jan. 18.

R.S.V.P. to Karen Steiger, 853-0372.

Fitness

Tai Chi @ the CJCE: Tuesdays. Beginners 3:30-4:30 p.m. Advanced 4:45-5:45 p.m. $5.

525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. R.S.V.P. to 610-1555.

Temple Israel’s Shabbat Shalommm Yoga: Fri., Jan. 23, 6 p.m. w. Cathy Hackett & Courtney Cummings. Bring yoga/exercise mat. $5. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 4960050.

Insanity Workout: w. Lauren Baumgarten.

Mondays & Wednesdays, 4 p.m. $5.

Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. R.S.V.P. to 610-1555.

Seniors

Jewish Family Services Events: See Federation newsletter in center spread.

JCC Lynda A. Cohen Yiddish Club: Sun., Jan. 18, 1:30 p.m. Oakwood Starbucks, 2424 Far Hills Ave. R.S.V.P. to Judy Woll, 470-0113.

SHARING

traditions

JCC Active Adults Trip to Cincinnati Museum Center: Thurs., Jan. 29, noon.

Mummies of the World exhibit, Omnimax film, Jerusalem. For info., call Jane Hochstein, 610-1555.

Community Events

FIDF Briefing: w. Avi Melamed. Thurs., Jan. 8, 7 p.m. At home of Julie & Dr. Rob Bloom.

R.S.V.P. by Jan. 8 to BuckeyeJLB@aol.com.

Temple Israel 5th Annual Chili Cook-Off Dinner: Fri., Jan. 9 following 6 p.m. Shabbat service. $5 adult, $3 ages 4-12, 3 and under free. Bring a pot of chili (no pork) or a side, dessert or salad. 130 Riverside Dr. R.S.V.P. to 435-3400.

Chabad Shabbaton w. Entebbe Commando Sassy Reuven: Fri., Jan. 30, 5:30 p.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood.

R.S.V.P. to 643-0770.

Temple Beth Or 30th Anniversary Shabbat: Fri., Jan 30, 7:30 p.m. Followed

by Oneg. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 435-3400.

MLK Weekend

Beth Abraham/Corinthian Baptist Church MLK Interfaith Shabbat: Fri., Jan. 16, 7:30 p.m. At Beth Abraham Synagogue, 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.

Temple Israel/Omega Baptist Church Pulpit Exchange: Fri., Jan. 16, 7:30 p.m.: The Revs. Vanessa & Daryl Ward deliver sermon at Temple Israel, 130 Riverside Dr. Sun., Jan. 18, 11:15 a.m.: Rabbi David Sofian delivers sermon at Omega Baptist Church, 1821 Emerson Ave. 2015 MLK Memorial March & Rally: Mon., Jan. 19, 10 a.m. Assembling at 1323 W. Third St. To walk with Jewish Community Relations Council, call Cheryl Carne, 6101778.

Mah jongg cards available through Hadassah The Dayton Chapter of Hadassah is taking orders for 2015 mah jongg cards.

Proceeds benefit the Dayton chapter. Those placing orders will receive new cards in the mail by the end of March. The cost is $8 for regular size, $9 for large print. To order, send your name, address and phone number — along with a check payable to Hadassah — to Dayton Hadassah, P.O. Box 292815, Dayton, OH 45429.

Illuminating the past, inspiring the future Share with us: New Hebrew classes begin Jan. 5 Shabbat service & Chili Cook-off - Jan. 9 at 6pm MLK Exchange with Omega Baptist Church - Jan. 16 & 18 Shabbat Shalommm Yoga - Jan. 23 at 6pm Shabbat service & Kiddush luncheon - Jan. 24 at 10:30am

Temple Israel • www.tidayton.org • 937-496-0050 130 Riverside Drive, Dayton, OH 45405 A Reform Synagogue open to all who are interested in Judaism.

Childcare provided during Friday services and Sunday school.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

PAGE 17

KVELLING CORNER Dr. Corinne Wright graduated from Wright State University with her Ph.D. in human factors and industrial organizational psychology on Dec. 13. Her dissertation, Bridging the Gap: Exploring the Need for Better System Representations in Higher Education, examined how universities can use web page

Rachel Haug Gilbert 1132 Brown Street, Dayton, Ohio 45409 Easy access parking behind the Shoppe 937-224-7673

design to improve information sharing. In August, Corinne was named CEO of ShadowBox and deputy senior scientist and managing director of MacroCognition. Both are research and consulting firms founded by Helen and Gary Klein, researchers in the field of cognitive psychology.

Dr. David Novick was selected to serve with the inaugural class of Fellows in the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases for his significant contributions to the science and practice of hepatobiliary diseases.

Bring in this ad and receive $10 off your next in-store purchase of $60 or more* Expires 3.31.2015. *Some exclusions apply. Not valid on wine, candy, or delivery.

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David practices with Digestive Specialists in Kettering and Springboro.

Marilyn and Larry Klaben were named 2014 Outstanding Philanthropists by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Greater Dayton Region Chapter. The award was presented by David R. Hopkins, president of Wright State University, at the 25th Annual National Philanthropy Day Awards and Luncheon, held in November. The Klabens were recognized for their dedication to the arts and innovation in Dayton, supporting organizations through their business, Morris Home Furnishings, and individually through their active roles on several local boards.

Ohio Jewish Communities, which represents the legislative agendas of Ohio’s eight Jewish Federations — both in Columbus and in Washington, D.C. — has announced that its longtime Executive Director Joyce Garver Keller will retire on June 30. Joyce will be succeeded by Howie Biegelman, who joins OJC on Jan. 1 as assistant executive

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director. OJC was founded in 1980 and Joyce has served as its executive director since 1990.

Howie is the former director of state affairs for the Orthodox Union. OJC is planning a retirement celebration for Joyce this summer.

Taft, Stettinius & Hollister has hired Mark Feuer as a partner in the firm’s tax, private client and business and finance practice groups.

In November, Cantor Jerome Kopmar, cantor emeritus of Beth Abraham Synagogue, relocated his vocal studio to Beth Abraham after many years of teaching at St. John’s Lutheran Church in downtown Dayton.

Miami Valley School senior Sarah Gaglione directed the high school’s production of A Mad Breakfast, which was performed on Dec. 12 and 13.

Sarah selected the play and cast the roles. She has helped with stage management and lighting for MVS productions since she was in sixth grade.

Sarah’s parents are Dr. Elaine and John Gaglione; her grandparents are Joan and Dr. Charlie Knoll.

Send your Kvelling items to kvellingcorner@gmail.com or to Rachel Haug Gilbert, The Dayton Jewish Observer, 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, OH 45459.

Visit Our Web Page WWW.SCENE75.COM OR CALL 937-619-3201 for more information

Please book at least 48 hours in advance.

Bouncing parties excluded.

Expires 2/28/15.

2313 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood 937-293-1196 www.oakwoodflorist.com family owned and operated military discount

Friday, Jan. 16, 7:30 p.m.

Join us for a unique interfaith service filled with uplifting music and inspiring Joshua Pastor Dr. P.E. words, featuring Rabbi Ginsberg Henderson the Corinthian Baptist Church Choir and Beth Abraham musicians. Oneg following the service.

Beth Abraham is Dayton’s only Conservative synagogue, affiliated with PAGE 18Synagogue of the United Conservative Judaism.

We are an enthusiastically

2315 Far Hills Avenue Oakwood • 299-5282

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

RELIGION

CONGREGATIONS Beth Abraham Synagogue Conservative Rabbi Joshua Ginsberg Cantor/Dir. of Ed. & Programming Andrea Raizen Monday through Friday 6:50 a.m. & 5:30 p.m. Fri., 5:30 p.m. Sat. 9 a.m.

Sundays at 8:30 a.m. 305 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood. 293-9520.

BethAbrahamDayton.org Beth Jacob Congregation Traditional Mornings: Sun., Mon., Thurs., 7 a.m. Sat. 9:30 a.m. Evenings: Sun. through Fri. 7 p.m.

7020 N. Main St., Dayton. 274-2149.

BethJacobCong.org Temple Anshe Emeth Reform Sat., Jan. 31, 10 a.m. led by Rabbinic Intern Tina Sobo.

320 Caldwell St., Piqua. Call Eileen Litchfield, 937-5470092, elitchfield@woh.rr.com.

Correspondence address: 3808 Beanblossom Rd., Greenville, OH 45331. ansheemeth.org Temple Beth Or Reform Rabbi Judy Chessin Asst. Rabbi/Educator David Burstein Fridays 7:30 p.m. Tot Shabbat 4th Friday, 5:30 p.m. Saturdays 10 a.m.

5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 435-3400. templebethor.com Temple Beth Sholom Reform Rabbi Haviva Horvitz See Web site for schedule.

610 Gladys Dr., Middletown.

513-422-8313. thetemplebethsholom.com Temple Israel Reform Rabbi David M. Sofian Rabbi/Educator Karen Bodney-Halasz 1st & 2nd Fri., 6 p.m. Other Fri., 7:30 p.m. Tot Shabbat 4th Fri., 6 p.m. Sat., 10:30 a.m.

130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.

496-0050. tidayton.org Temple Sholom Reform Fridays 6 p.m.

2424 N. Limestone St., Springfield. 399-1231. templesholomoh.com

ADDITIONAL SERVICES Chabad of Greater Dayton Rabbi Nochum Mangel Associate Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Youth & Prog. Dir. Rabbi Levi Simon, Teen & Young Adult Prog. Dir. Rabbi Hershel Spalter.

Beginner educational service Saturdays 9 a.m. adults, 10 a.m children. Sundays 9 a.m. Tuesdays & Wednesdays. 6:45 a.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave. 643-0770. www.chabaddayton.com Yellow Springs Havurah Independent Services 1st & 3rd Saturdays, 10-noon. Antioch College Rockford Chapel. Contact Cheryl Levine, 937-767-9293.

Saying a prayer, again and again

By Abby Sher, JTA As I lay in the hospital bed with my new daughter Sonya’s slippery skin pressed to mine, I knew this would be the scariest day of my life. It was the first day in 25 years that I ever willingly skipped prayers.

I’d been in treatment for severe obsessive-compulsive disorder for most of my 34 years.

Perspectives I’ve cut myself, starved myself and scrubbed my hands raw. I kiss our apartment mezuzah one, two, sometimes 50 times, and our family is hardly observant.

But daily prayer is the one healthy practice I’ve kept the longest, and it’s grounded me when I feel most unmoored.

It’s also been the hardest to explain.

Growing up, we belonged to a Reform synagogue and had chicken soup and challah for Shabbat every week.

My mom taught my brother, sister and me to say the Shema prayer before bed each night.

It gave closure to each day and made my mom smile, and that was all I needed.

But soon one Shema wasn’t enough for me. When I was 11, my aunt and father died in short succession.

I was sure it was my fault, and I had to atone before I

struck again.

After my mother would tuck me in, I added five, 10, 20 recitations, a song of thanks and a list of sick people I needed to heal.

I remember nights when I woke up frantic and hot, furious that I’d fallen asleep despite more prayers to say, kisses to blow to the heavens.

In high school I snuck into dark closets not to kiss boys but to chant Psalms.

I went on medication briefly in college, but took myself off fearing it was blasphemous and my mom would die next.

When I moved in with my future husband, Jay, he watched me kiss my mezuzah urgently.

“I just wish you felt like you had to kiss me 250 times when you walked through that door,” he said, his sadness palpable.

Now in the hospital with a newborn crying for milk, I had someone I could actually take care of with my hands instead of my prayers.

I looked through the hospital window and smiled shyly at the sky: I wanted Him to know I was so wildly grateful for this child that no words could suffice.

I held Sonya tightly and babbled at her to fill the empty space that was my fear.

Those first 24 hours were a terrifying relief. No one died.

In high school I snuck into dark closets not to kiss boys but to chant Psalms.

January • Tevet/Shevat Shabbat Candle Lightings

Torah Portions

January 2 5:06 p.m.

January 3/12 Tevet Vayechi (Gen. 47:28-50:26)

January 9 5:12 p.m.

January 10/19 Tevet Shemot (Ex. 1:1-6:1)

January 16 5:20 p.m.

January 17/26 Tevet Vayera (Ex. 6:2-9:35)

January 23 5:28 p.m.

January 24/4 Shevat Bo (Ex. 10:1-13:16)

January 30 5:36 p.m.

January 31/11 Shevat Beshalach (Ex. 13:17-17:16)

But the bliss of those first coos and milky grins soon hardened.

On Sonya’s fourth day, I left her upstairs with Jay while I went down to our basement and sat on a pillow, sore and shaky.

I wanted desperately to thank Him for this miracle, to pray with an honest, open heart, no mindless repetitions and rituals.

I was too evolved, too in love with this new human to simply follow a pattern blindly.

And yet, motherhood could never be a remedy for OCD. I left Sonya in Jay’s arms each morning so I could pray regularly, insistently.

My life outside the basement became a series of new, unwavering practices, too. Repetition was supposed to be comforting for children, I reasoned.

Every evening I massaged Sonya’s toes and sang a series of lullabies.

When I felt too exhausted and cut off a verse, the tug of fear closed in.

If I don’t sing to her, I’m unfit to be a mother. If I don’t beseech God, Sonya will disappear, too.

At first, Sonya seemed oblivious: She fell asleep in the middle of a meal or refused to nap in her carrier.

One night I tried to light the Shabbat candles with her and she banged on her highchair howling until I blew them out.

She had her own rhythm, her own needs, completely out of sync with mine.

Each time she squirmed away during massage, I pinned her down and started again, both of us whimpering.

I coped the only way I knew how — by adding more rituals and repetitions. Sonya followed my lead, and as she grew, I watched her running headlong into the spiral I knew too well.

Our bedtime routine turned dramatic. After the bedtime story, I had to kiss her stuffed animals, then her.

Then we added a kiss for each palm, in case she got up in the night and needed another.

Then there was the butterfly kiss and the kiss through the

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

bars of her crib.

Finally, the kiss called Last Kiss. We said, in unison, “I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you” (five times) as we leaned in to touch lips. A tight, fast hug. Then I closed the door to the sound of her wails.

“Last one,” I repeated. I leaned down to give her one more.

But she still screamed as I left. Some nights I went up there three or four more times, trying to slay both our demons.

Other nights I sat at our kitchen counter and came up with all the fatal illnesses she could have.

Hours after I’d been up, I heard her mumbling, “Lastkisslastonelast…”

It was too familiar. I remembered myself as a child whispering in half-sleep those prayers and how I could never find the end of the Shema.

So I worked with my doctor to find sanity not only for myself but my child, too.

And there did come a day — when she was close to 3 — when I was able to tuck my daughter into bed, read her two books, sing her a lullaby and walk toward the door.

“Wait!” Sonya yelped. “Last —!”

“If you say last kiss, it has to mean last kiss,” I said calmly.

“Otherwise it’s just words.”

“But that kiss wasn’t a good one, it was...”

“Stop.”

I cut us both off. We waited in the dark, hearing each other pant. And then I landed on not an answer but a question.

“What do you think happens after last kiss?” I asked.

This was the unknown she had witnessed in me every day — the tension and also the hope.

Sonya thought about it and said, “Mama, go to sleep and have a cup of tea.”

“Exactly,” I told her proudly.

Chronology and logic were unimportant. It was the trust.

That we were both here for each other, that the world would keep spinning, and it was safe to close our eyes.

Abby Sher is a writer and performer living in Brooklyn.

PAGE 19

PAGE 20

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

JEWISH FAMILY EDUCATION

Mishpacha & Menschlichkeit The Jewish Family Identity Forum

Between the cracks Myths and Misconceptions series

My father-in-law, Jack Kwiatek of blessed memory, had an unusual habit when out for a walk: he would scrutinize the sidewalk cracks.

Why, you might ask, as I did on numerous occasions — usually when I was in a hurry.

Candace R. Kwiatek He would always answer, “Because that’s where the most interesting things can be found.”

On the afternoon before he passed away, he showed me his favorite acquisitions from a recent family trip to the Bahamas, recounting again how “he found these interesting treasures between the cracks.”

I see in Jack’s final words a very important message. We spend our time building great edifices, pursuing notable achievements, and acquiring significant rewards from our hard work. And that’s all good, when done justly.

But the most interesting things in life are often found elsewhere, between the cracks.

And sometimes that’s where the most significant things are found in the Torah as well.

What are the first things that come to mind when you think about the biblical tales?

Great edifices like the pyramids and palaces of Egypt? Notable achievements as in Joseph’s rise to power in Potiphar’s court

and Moses’ successful leadership across the wilderness?

Significant rewards, such as the covenant with Abraham and the elevation of Joshua to command?

These are the events we typically visualize: the big picture, the storyline of the Israelite saga.

And if you ask the same question of a random assortment of passersby, nine times out of 10 their answers will mirror yours. Edifices.

Achievements. Rewards. And all male characters.

I’m no classical feminist. But multiple readings of the biblical stories do seem to reinforce the stereotype of grand malecentered sagas with women in limited supporting roles. Then again, what might we discover about biblical women by peering between the cracks?

Eve

In Genesis 2, we read that Eve is created to complete Adam, to provide his corresponding other half (ezer k’negdo).

Shortly thereafter in the garden scene with the serpent (Gen. 3), Eve is seemingly portrayed as gullible and guilty, not a particularly complimentary other half.

Only by looking between the cracks at those same chapters do we begin to appreciate Eve’s real qualities. Adam, the rule-follower, is content with the status quo and apparently unmoved by his choices.

Eve, on the other hand, is a values-pursuer, seeing wisdom

Literature to share In Praise of Intransigence: The Perils of Flexibility by Richard Weisberg. Using examples from history, religion, and current events, this short scholarly work challenges the notions that flexibility and compromise are always good.

Weisberg suggests that a sense of emergency and a culture of open-mindedness often lead us to unwisely abandon our most closely-held values and traditions. An unexpected and worthwhile discovery. Recommended for serious adult readers and book groups interested in provocative subject matter.

Chik Chak Shabbat by Mara Rockliff. A delightfully modern Shabbat tale, Chik Chak celebrates varied traditions, friendships, and the value of caring. The simple lyrics and amusing illustrations are perfect for engaging the preschool and kindergarten set. Try making the vegetarian cholent recipe at the back of the book.

as desirable even above obedience or eternal life.

Adam stands silent (right next to Eve, according to the Hebrew text), while Eve engages with challenging ideas and the possibility of change and growth.

Ultimately, in her choice to eat the forbidden fruit, Eve elevates humans by imparting to them the more godlike capacity for knowing good and evil and making moral choices.

As a consequence, Rabbi Yitzchak Hirshfeld suggests, Eve also impels God to insert mercy (rachamim from the Hebrew word rechem, womb) into the imperfect world to balance judgment (din).

Eve between the cracks: she’s a rather amazing other half.

Hagar

downtrodden, the unprotected, the needy, and those of whom society takes no notice.

This theme will later be echoed in the oft-repeated refrains, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt,” and “Do not oppress the stranger, the orphan or the widow in your midst.”

Through Hagar, we learn that God loves and protects all people, not just the Chosen People, reinforcing the message that chosen does not mean superior.

When she names God (the only person in the Bible to do so), Hagar also introduces the notion of the all-seeing God, a significant theme of the Jewish High Holy Days season.

Hagar between the cracks: she enlightens us about God.

Behind the scenes, biblical women quietly go about their lives making significant contributions

In Genesis 16, when the pregnant Hagar runs away into the wilderness, God’s messenger comes to comfort and encourage her, promising a bright future for her offspring and assuring her that God has taken notice of her difficulties.

Hagar then names God El Roi (God of Seeing).

In this short scene between the cracks, Hagar accomplishes a number of biblical firsts. Long before the Exodus, she introduces the idea that God takes special note of the

Dinah

“Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had born to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land (Gen. 34).”

In that single sentence, the self-assured, inquisitive, friendly and outgoing Dinah sets into motion a series of events that echoes into the future.

The rest of Dinah’s story — the princely seduction, her brothers’ promises of marriage, circumcision through trickery, and a vengeful murder of the men of Shechem — is like a

chain of dominoes as her brothers’ (Simon and Levi) destructive responses undermine two tribal lines instead of building a new community.

On his deathbed, Jacob curses the brothers for their anger and resultant revenge killing, stripping them of blessing and birthright and minimizing their tribal portions in Israel.

With the first three of Jacob’s sons out of the running for leadership, it falls to Judah to inherit.

From this tribe, the kings of Israel and the Messiah will arise. This tribe will also give its name to the Israelites: Judahites or Jews.

Dinah between the cracks: she sets in motion events that will establish the reign of Judah’s kings, the ancestry of the Messiah, and the very name of the people of Israel: Jews.

While the biblical plotline generally features the patriarchs with their obvious edifaces, achievements, and rewards, behind the scenes, biblical women quietly go about their lives making significant contributions and having farreaching impacts.

It is just as a wise man once told me: it’s between the cracks where the most interesting things can be found. We just have to remember to look.

Family Discussion: What surprised you when looking between the cracks? What do you discover when looking deeper into the stories of other biblical women?

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

FOOD THE JEWISH INTERNET

LESHON IMA - MOTHER TONGUE

Considering kosher vegetarianism? Reshit, the beginning Some food for thought Chanukah is over. And we’re stuffed. So what better time to look at food — the meatless kind. If you want to cut down or cut out meat in your diet while observing kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), there are many sites on the web with advice.

At the same time, there are others who suggest living a Jewish life requires the eating of meat.

How does Jewish vegetarianism differ from the standard

Adam so that they would be available for his table, just as a king prepares food in advance for his most favored guest (bit. ly/jveg14).”

Supporters of vegetarianism point to Rav Abraham Isaac Mark Kook, the first Ashkenazi chief of British Mandatory PalMietkiewicz rabbi estine, and himself a vegetarian.

He argued that man was indeed given permission to eat kind? That question is admeat after Noah and the Flood dressed in If Lettuce is Lettuce, — with reluctance on God’s What is Jewish Vegetarianism? part. Given the violence and Several Jewish sources are depravity of the generation of cited for following a vegetarian the Flood, it was necessary to way of life such as pikuach nefesh make allowances for humanity’s — to save a life — in this case, moral frailty. the duty to guard one’s health; If the prohibition against and tsaar baalei chayim, the com- meat had remained in force, mandment not to cause sorrow then when the desire to eat to living creatures (http://bit.ly/ meat became overpowering, jveg11). there would be little distinction The Vegetarian Mitzvah contin- between feasting on man, beast, ues, “Just as we were strangers and fowl (bit.ly/jveg16). in Egypt and Rabbi Yossi freed from our Levertov disslavery, aniagrees. “I’ve mals need to be heard vegetarians freed from their say, ‘God saw slavery, sufferthat man is evil ing, torture, and and he can’t help untimely death, (eating meat), so in order to feed he allowed them the whole world to eat meat.’ That with the spirit is the most riof compassion, love, life, and diculous statement that anyone liberation. Meat begins with can make — that God is allowviolence; meals don’t have to! ing the world to pull Him by Vegetarianism offers compasthe nose, so to speak,” contends sion, respects the stranger, reLevertov. “There were a lot of duces suffering, and saves lives (other) temptations that we everyday (bit.ly/jveg13).” struggled with and (God) didn’t Benjamin Blech, professor of allow us to get away with it, so Talmud at Yeshiva University, that is not a sound argument says the idea that all of God’s (bit.ly/jveg17).” creatures have the same right to Richard Schwartz is one of live out their years is “a noble the most outspoken and prolific thought, ethically motivated, proponents of a Jewish vegetarand yet — supremely un-Jewian lifestyle. In Must We Be Vegish!…Jews do eat meat. In fact, gies, he maintains “that committhe Talmud teaches, that’s what ted Jews are not only permitted transforms an ordinary meal but are obligated to be vegetarinto a Sabbath or holiday feast. ians (bit.ly/jveg19).”

Simcha, true joy, can be attained In his Dialogue Between a only with bassar v’yayin, meat Jewish Vegetarian Activist and and wine. Animals, says the a Rabbi, Schwartz actually Midrash, were created before fabricates a discussion with a

How does Jewish vegetarianism differ from the standard kind?

fictional rabbi because he says he has been unable to start a respectful dialogue in the Jewish community (bit.ly/jveg23).

I don’t know if Schwartz has ever met Levertov, but he is certainly one rabbi who doesn’t agree with him. Levertov mentions a Chasidic view that by eating kosher animal flesh, we are helping the animal to achieve a “spiritual elevation” that the animal cannot achieve on its own.

If you’re doing it for a mitzvah and in the right way, “then you’re elevating the godly element that’s in there.”

Dr. Jay Lavine doesn’t buy into that theory. He points out that there is no specific blessing for eating meat and that we don’t recite the Shehecheyanu blessing upon purchasing a new garment made of leather.

He suggests that using products derived from animals is not considered a desirable thing because of the suffering that went into the production of those products (bit.ly/jveg24).

As you visit these various websites, you may find it confusing when you come across terms referring to what people choose not to eat.

What is the difference between a vegetarian, a vegan and a pescetarian? Here’s a good Vegetarian Glossary (bit. ly/jveg27).

Rabbi Jonathan Klein has compiled a list of famous Jewish vegetarians: Albert Einstein (toward the end of his life), Bob Dylan and Israeli author S.Y. Agnon (bit.ly/jveg31). When Isaac Bashevis Singer was asked if he was a vegetarian for health reasons, he would reply, yes, for the health of the chicken (bit.ly/jveg26).

So far we’ve thought about food. We’ve reasoned about food. And we’ve debated food.

Next month, we eat.

Mark Mietkiewicz may be reached at highway@rogers.com.

the reigns of kings Jehoiachim and Zedekiah and it means the start of.

There are a few idiomatic phrases where bereshit is used to indicate either genesis or original placement.

First and foremost, or as we say in Hebrew, reshit kol, we should mention the term maaseh bereshit, the act of genesis or cosmogony, referring to God’s creation of the universe (Chagigah 2:1).

In that wondrous universe, mibereshit, from the onset, God created chayot berashit, the primordial animals, and placed them in yearot bereshit, the priDr. Rachel meval forests.

Moreover, the term Chatan Zohar Dulin Bereshit is used to indicate the first reader of Torah on Simchat Torah and Shabbat Bereshit is the secular year, let us examine the Shabbat in which the reading of Torah begins anew, from the word reshit and its many uses.

Torah portion Bereshit.

In the Bible, reshit is menWe should also mention tioned more than 50 times. It the term reshit chochmah, first means beginning, inception, outset, commencement, choice, wisdom (Ps. 111:10), and colfirst action, first fruit, and best. loquially to begin with or first condition.

Reshit is derived from the Finally, in modern literature word rosh, which also has multiple meanings. Rosh means we find the term anshai bereshit, the people of the beginning, head, leader, summit, beginused as an honorary title for the ning, section, principle, founfirst Zionist pioneers in Israel. dation and more. Reshit can We’ll end our short survey be either a noun or an adverb with the biblical proverb, Reshit depending on context. chochmah k’neh chochmah, the beMost notably, reshit conginning of wisdom is to acquire nected to the preposition be, wisdom (Prov. 4:7), meaning, meaning in, forms the adverb bereshit, the word that launches the first step toward becoming wise is to imbibe the teaching the Hebrew Bible (Gen 1:1). of wisdom even before underNot all scholars agree as standing and acting upon it. to the exact translation of the As we welcome the year word, but bereshit is usually 2015 let me, mibereshit, from the translated as in the beginning, onset, wish all our readers a pointing to the genesis of the happy and healthy year. cosmos.

The word bereshit appears Dr. Rachel Zohar Dulin is a four more times in the text of professor of biblical literature at the Bible, all in the Book of Jeremiah (26:1; 27:1; 28:1; 49:34). Spertus College in Chicago and an adjunct professor of Bible and There it is used in a historical context, referring to the onset of Hebrew at New College of Florida.

Our secular calendar received its final form in the year 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII after multiple changes over many years. January is named to honor the two-faced Roman god Janus, who guarded the gates of Rome. It is possible that the two faces eluded to the past and to the future, to the year that ended and the year which is about to begin.

The Hebrew word for beginning is reshit. This word is used in the Hebraic culture in several meanings. In honor of the new

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PAGE 23

OBITUARIES Carmen M. Appel, age 107, of Dayton, passed away Dec. 10 in her own home. Mrs. Appel was the oldest member of Beth Abraham Synagogue.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Lydia and Max May; her beloved husband, Bert; and son-in-law, Charles Frydman. Her good deeds and volunteerism with every Jewish organization and many secular ones were legendary.

Mrs. Appel was, over a period of many years, president of B’nai B’rith Women, United Order of True Sisters, Covenant House Auxiliary, Beth Abraham Sisterhood and on the boards of Dayton Hadassah, the PTA, State of Israel Bonds, and the United Jewish Campaign. She was the first Jewish woman on the boards of the YWCA and the League of Women Voters. Her fund-raising abilities extended to many charities, and Mrs. Appel also performed many good deeds on a person-toperson basis. Infinite numbers of people benefited from her assistance and wise council.

She could find solutions to the most perplexing problems and, especially after World War II, she nurtured Holocaust survivors and later, Russian emigres. They were all assisted

by Mrs. Appel in finding jobs, apartments, new apparel, doctors and anything else to make them feel welcome and to adjust to their new surroundings. She did this all as a volunteer one-woman welcoming committee. Her awards were many, but that was never the purpose of her volunteerism. It was to reach an outstretched hand to those she felt needed a lift up, and

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to do so while maintaining each individual’s dignity. An outstanding human being, Mrs. Appel will be greatly missed by her daughter, Renate, son, Brian, 10 grandchildren and their spouses, and many great- and two great-great grandchildren. May the gates of Heaven open wide for her to enter in peace. Interment was at Beth Abraham Cemetery. If desired, memorial contributions may be made to Beth Abraham Synagogue or The Hospice of Dayton in Mrs. Appel’s memory.

Dorothy Gordon, formerly of Dayton, passed away Nov. 25 at Wexner Heritage Village in Columbus. Mrs. Gordon was born in Poland to the late Morris and Riva Frydman. She was a Holocaust survivor, a longtime member of Beth Jacob Synagogue and its sisterhood.

Mrs. Gordon was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 50 years, Harry Gordon; brother, Abe Frydman; sister, Cecilia Richter; and son-in-law, Mike Greenberg.

She is survived by her daughter, Marsha Greenberg of Columbus; sons and daughters-in-law, Jeff “Steve” and Nancy Gordon of Union, Mark and Kathy Gordon of Waynesville; sister and brotherin-law, Pera and Gary Bodas of Columbus; grandchildren, Vikki Levine, Abra and Randi Greenberg, Joshua Gordon; great-grandchildren, Zev Greenberg, Mya and Ilan Levine; other relatives and friends. Interment was at Beth Jacob Cemetery. If desired, memorial contributions may be made to the Holocaust organization of your choice in Celebrating 150 years of serving the Greater Miami Valley. More families have entrusted than any Serving theDodds Jewish other monument retailer.

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Mrs. Gordon’s memory. The family wishes to thank Jennifer Powell and her staff with Mt. Carmel Hospice and the nurses and aids at Wexner Heritage Village, Nutis Wing, for the loving care they provided to Mrs. Gordon.

Jack Kwiatek, known to many as “Captain Jack,” passed away suddenly but peacefully in Kettering on Dec. 1 (9 Kislev).

Born in Kansas City, Mo. in 1924 to Polish immigrants Samuel and Jennie Kwiatek, Dr. Kwiatek grew up sharing a single room with his parents and siblings at the back of his father’s grocery store. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant on the battleship U.S.S. California in the Pacific.

After the war, he completed his college education, the first in his family to do so, receiving a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois. There he met the love of his life and wife of nearly 57 years, Lottie West, who had fled from Nazi Germany with her family. He went on to receive a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at Cornell and spent the majority of his career at U.S. Industrial Chemicals (later Quantum). There he published numerous research papers and was granted many patents, especially in the area of catalysis, polymers, and plastics. In 1974, he was named chemist of the year for the Cincinnati section of the American Chemical Society.

An early and ardent Zionist even before the creation of the state, he was instrumental in obtaining the support of Gerald Swope — a former

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In the late 1960s he moved his family to Israel, where he worked at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot. During the two years of his sabbatical there, he was engaged in research and the training of graduate students. Throughout his life, he was an avid collector of Israel’s stamps, coins, and medals. A founding member of Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Cincinnati in 1964, he served in numerous leadership roles and was particularly noted for his many thoughtful sermons over the years. He was also a strong supporter of Jewish education, in particular at Yavneh Day School in Cincinnati. In his retirement years, he tutored synagogue students in Jewish studies and public and private students in high schools around the city in math and chemistry. Known as a humble man, he was a willing donor to many worthy causes and an active volunteer with the food bank, meals on wheels, senior transportation, and other local activities in Cincinnati and later in Dayton, where he lived close to family for the past decade. He delighted in simple pleasures — movies, good food, local festivals, and unexpected finds at garage sales. Through his actions, he taught his extended family to treasure family above all, to be generous with time and resources, and to express gratitude every day. He was beloved by everyone he met — from restaurant servers to CEOs — for his gentle manner, his clever humor, his upbeat attitude, and his ability to savor every moment.

Dr. Kwiatek was preceded in death by his wife, Lottie, brother, Benjamin (Kansas City, Mo.), and sister Ruth Lubliner (Denver). He is survived by three children: Sandra Simenhoz (Haifa, Israel), Kim (wife Candace, of Centerville), and Sharon Gadoth (husband Doron, of Detroit). Continuing the generations are five grandchildren: Keren Stick (Jeremy), Oren Kwiatek (Keri), Aliza Kwiatek, Adva Gadoth, and Daphna Gadoth; and two great-grandchildren: Elijah Samuel Kwiatek and Kyla Kwiatek. Contributions may be made in his memory to Jewish National Fund, American Cancer Society, or The Technion.

David C. Michaels, age 23, of Dayton, passed away unexpectedly Dec. 9. Mr. Michaels was a graduate of Northmont High School and attended Wright State University with a technical theatre major. He worked as a performing artist and was an improvisation teacher. All who knew him were brought together and overjoyed by his slapschtick, high-brow comedy, and eyebrow comedy.

Mr. Michaels’ passions and pastimes included movies, motorcycles, sports, music, outdoor adventure, and sharing time with friends and family. He was preceded in death by his mother, Ivy J. Michaels; paternal grandparents Jerome and Mardelle (Levin) Friedberg; maternal grandparents Don and Anne (Rayburn) Parris; and uncle, Stephen Friedberg.

Mr. Michaels is survived by his father, Howard Michaels of Dayton; sisters, Lauren Michaels (Nisan Earnest) of Los Angeles; Lisa Michaels of Dayton; uncle, Gary Friedberg of Pittsburgh; great uncles, Louis Levin (Sarah Litwin), and Allen Levin, great-aunt Karen Levin; cousins, Malcolm and Marsha Segelin, Ryan Levin, Danielle Young, Jonathan Soper, and numerous other relatives and friends. Internment was at Beth Abraham Cemetery. The family requests donations in Mr. Michaels’ memory be made to The Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, www. bbrfoundation.org, 1-800-8298289, 90 Park Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10016.

Ellin A. Oppenheimer, age 84 of Dayton, passed away Dec. 15 at The Hospice of Dayton. Mrs. Oppenheimer was a retired school teacher for Dayton Public Schools with 35 years of service, a graduate of Marshall University, member of Beth Abraham Synagogue and its sisterhood, and Hadassah. She was preceded in death by her husband of 40 years, Charles, in 1992. Mrs. Oppenheimer is survived by her sons and daughter-inlaw, Scott Oppenheimer of Denver, Jon Oppenheimer and Janelle Higgins of Golden, Co., many other relatives and friends. Interment was at Beth Abraham Cemetery. If desired, memorial contributions may be made to Beth Abraham Synagogue or Hadassah in Mrs. Oppenheimer’s memory.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

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Arts&Culture

Paramount

After Gods & Kings, 10 ways to get your Exodus on You don’t have to wait until Passover to dig into Judaism’s founding liberation narrative

It’s pretty clear that Scott doesn’t present the boy as God himself, since Moses refers to him as a messenger, and he’s listed in the credits as Malak.

In Hebrew, malak means angel or messenger. The Torah’s Exodus narrative at the Burning Bush begins when “an angel Watch the original...For his 1923 The Ten Commandments, Cecil B. DeMille hired newly arrived (malak) of the Lord appeared

By Marshall Weiss, The Observer Jewish immigrants as extras to play Israelites, shown here with Theodore Roberts as Moses to him in a blazing fire out of a If Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and said Kirsch’s book was his go-to source ket on April 4, 1739. bush.”

Kings left you feeling stood up at the for character development.

In this work for orchestra, chorus, But the text indicates that when MoTabernacle, you’re not alone. Rottentoand soloists, Handel sculpts in music ses turns aside to look, God himself then matoes.com indicates that 72 percent of 5. Michelangelo’s manly Moses the plagues and the crossing of the sea. communicates directly with Moses. The mainstream media critics have panned If Bale’s extreme self doubt and If you don’t have the patience to Torah later describes God and Moses this CGI leviathan of a film. nervousness as Moses didn’t do it for listen to a full baroque oratorio, take in talking “face to face,” with no intermeWhether something seemed missyou, Google “Michelangelo’s Moses” the rousing final number, Miriam’s song diaries. ing or you did feel a connection to this to see the self-assured, manly image of at the sea — Sing ye to the Lord — with Could it be that Scott, an atheist, uses latest cinematic biblical epic, here are 10 the lawgiver that shaped the Western soprano soloist and chorus. an 11-year-old boy to express the imways to get your Exodus on — either as concept of Moses’ appearance until mature nature of Israel’s still evolving an antidote or for a better sense of what Charlton Heston came along. Heston 7. Watch the original God? director Scott might have been after. may have even gotten the part because Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 The Ten ComIn any case, the presence of angels of his resemblance to the 16th-century mandments is not the original; it was or messengers of God in human form 1. Maimonides on miracles sculpture for the tomb of Pope Julius II. the director’s remake of his 1923 The are replete in the Bible: from the three “From Moses to Moses, there has Michelangelo’s Moses sports biceps Ten Commandments, the silent version visitors Abraham hosts to the being who been no one like Moses,” we are told that are well-defined even by today’s that ushered in the genre of the biblical wrestles with Jacob, and the angel who in Jewish tradition. Rabbi Moses ben standards, no doubt from carrying the movie epic. tells Samson’s parents of his coming Maimon (Maimonides), the great metwo stone tablets, tucked under one of It’s hard to describe how wildly sucbirth. dieval Jewish philosopher and physiMoses’ brawny arms in the sculpture. cessful and celebrated this film was in Find out what Judaism says about ancian, is the author of the Less inspiring are the horns atop this its day.

The Cairo Museum/ gels in the 2000 book A Gathering Mishnah Torah, a key guide Wikipedia Commons Moses’ head, the result of the misDeMille made his 1923 version in two of Angels: Angels in Jewish Life and to Jewish law. In his Comtranslation of the Hebrew word, karen parts: a 40-minute prologue of the ExoLiterature by Morris B. Margolies. mentary to the Mishnah, — emitting rays of light — in the Latin dus story culminating with the Golden Maimonides writes that translation the Catholic Church used in Calf scene at Mt. Sinai, and a contempo3. I want my mummy the splitting of the sea those days. rary jazz-era morality tale of how a man Seeing Egyptian mummies was “programmed in” to who breaks The Ten Commandments is viscerally shows ancient Egypt’s nature. Exodus director 6.

Handel’s Israel In Egypt then broken. cultural and religious obsession Scott goes in this direction After the remarkIt’s worth the 40 minwith death and its priority of with his depiction of the Wikipedia Commons able display of Ridley utes to at least screen the afterlife over this life. The opening of the sea as the Scott’s tsunami turning the Exodus prologue, Torah of the Israelites places as result of a tsunami. back on Pharaoh’s parts of which were its highest value a moral life of In Maimonides’ view, charioteers in the sea, filmed in an early verobedience to God’s Covenant, in there is no contradiction we see the Israelites sion of Technicolor. this world. between science and Jewsafe on the opposite For exterior shots Google “Mummy of Ramses ish religious belief. An shore, quietly sitting of the Exodus and the II,” the pharaoh most commonly excellent starting point to around like they’re at crossing of the Red associated with the Exodus Mummy of Ramses II learn more about Maia turnpike rest stop.

Sea, DeMille hired 250 narrative, now part of the Cairo monides is the 2008 book Where’s the celebraOrthodox Jews from Museum collection, and look him in the Maimonides by Sherwin B. Nuland. For tion?

The awe?

Los Angeles — mostly eye. those up for a deeper exploration, read Be of good cournew immigrants from the 2013 Maimonides: Life and Thought by age. When Prince Eastern Europe who 4. Read Moses: A Life Moshe Halbertal.

George of Hanover, couldn’t speak English In 1998, Jonathan Kirsch pulled Germany was made — along with 2,000-plus together a kind of Reader’s Digest con2. Angels in our midst king of England in extras for three weeks of densed version of the Moses narrative One of the more startling aspects of 1710, he brought with filming at the Nipomo found in the Torah, Midrash (rabbinic Exodus: Gods and Kings isn’t the scope him his court comDunes at Guadalupe, commentaries and narratives about of the battle scenes or plagues, but a poser, George Frideric Calif. At the location’s biblical personalities), and other faith mouthy 11-year-old boy (Isaac AnHandel, who would camp city, DeMille protraditions. drews) who shows up as God’s spokesbecome Britain’s rock vided the Jewish extras Midrash relates that before his calling man at the Burning Bush after Moses is star in his day. with kosher meals, and to free the Israelites, Moses was a noted clobbered over the head in a rock slide.

Handel presented even a synagogue.

Egyptian general.

DeMille’s 1956 The Ten Together, they bicker, argue, talk the premiere of his In DeMille’s autobiCommandments draws on this backstory strategy, and lose their patience with oratorio Israel in Egypt ography he wrote, “We as does Scott’s new film. each other. The boy comes and goes in London at King’s believed rightly that, In media interviews, Christian Bale, with God’s messages throughout the Theatre in the Haymarboth in appearance the Moses of Exodus: Gods and Kings, Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses movie.

PAGE 26

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

and in their deep feeling of the significance of the Exodus, they would give the best possible performance as the Children of Israel.”

8. Dare to contemplate Schoenberg’s opera

Scaling the Mount Sinai of intellect in the arts, Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg first abandoned Judaism in 1898 at the age of 28 but returned to his faith with the rise of Nazism in 1933.

His challenging, never completed German opera, Moses und Aron, grew out of a play he wrote in 1926-27 about the spread of antisemitism.

The focus of the opera is conflict between Moses and Aaron over how to worship God, who is without image and “unknowable.”

Moses rails against Aaron, who provides the Israelites with the Golden Calf, a concrete object for their worship.

Schoenberg finished two of the opera’s planned three acts.

The work, rarely performed, had its premiere in 1957, six years after the composer’s death.

9. Pick up Biblical Archaeology Review

To dig into findings from the ancient world as they relate to our knowledge of biblical text, start with Biblical Archaeology Review (biblicalarchaeology. org), the bi-monthly magazine of the Biblical Archaeology Society.

Its editor, Hershel Shanks, founded the society in 1973 as a nonprofit, nondenominational institution. The publication presents findings of major scholars in an accessible format for a general readership.

10. Read the original

As the Jewish world continues its annual cycle of reading the Torah in synagogue, Saturday, Jan. 10 marks the beginning of Shemot, The Book of Exodus.

This is the perfect opportunity to read the original text, a section at a time, follow the commentaries on the Torah text in the margins, and hear what local rabbis have to say about the narrative.

All movements of Judaism have eblasts with commentary on the Torah portion of the week as well. Sign up for one or many.

Hollywood’s depiction of the Exodus spans nine decades

from The Walt Disney Company and songs written and composed by Stephen Schwartz, DreamWorks SKG released its animated feature musical The Prince of Egypt in 1998.

The Prince of Egypt is one of only two animated features not released by

By Marshall Weiss Disney to gross more than The Observer $100 million in the United Hollywood has had its States. share of big-budget bibliIt continues on as a cal flops, but until now, staple, shown to children the Exodus narrative has at home and in religious not been among them.

Studios have brought (L to R): Theodore Roberts in The Ten Commandments (1923), Charlton Heston in The school settings as an introMoses to the big screen Ten Commandments (1956), Moses voiced by Val Kilmer in The Prince of Egypt (1998), duction to the Exodus. and Christian Bale in Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) The main characters sparingly, but in ways — Moses, Ramses, Aaron that defined the image World War. And now a blooddays of production. and Miriam — are depicted and character of Moses for drenched, bitter world — no It wasn’t lost on those who as decidedly young adults each generation of audiences. longer laughing — cries for a worked on the movie — parthroughout, perhaps to resoway out.” ticularly the young, Jewish nate with a new generation and The first biblical epic composer of the film’s score, its children.

In 1923, director Cecil B. Cold War Moses Elmer Bernstein — that DeMille One appeal of the gorgeously DeMille left it to the American After years of receiving was filming in a country that animated film is the sense of public to decide the subject of letters urging him to remake sought to destroy the new state wonder we often catch in the his next movie for Paramount.

The Ten Commandments for the of Israel. face of Moses, as voiced by Val DeMille received a letter sound era, DeMille approached Far from slow of speech and Kilmer. from a mechanic who suggestParamount’s board in 1953 of slow tongue, Heston’s Moses As with Heston’s Moses, ed he take on The Ten Comwith the concept; they balked. is the great communicator of Kilmer’s has a mind-altering mandments.

Audiences, one board member the story, almost not in need of revelation at the Burning Bush Despite opposition from said, wanted “modern, happy Aaron (John Carradine) as his and from that moment, he’s all studio executives who didn’t spokesman. in. think audiences would connect pictures.”

As Katherine Orrison relates When Heston tells Yul BrynHeston and Kilmer, each with a Bible story, DeMille got in Written in Stone: Making Cecil ner, “Let my people go,” you in his own time, provided the the green light. For the role B. DeMille’s Epic The Ten Comcan almost hear Ronald Reagan voice for God in their respecof Moses, he cast 61-year-old mandments, Paramount founder 30-some years later exhorting tive movies, following a Theodore Roberts, a popular Adolph Zukor chastised them.

Mr. Gorbachev to “tear down Midrash (rabbinic commentary) character actor present in most The 80-year-old Hungarian this wall.” that God spoke to Moses in a of DeMille’s previous films.

It’s no accident. DeMille voice that would be familiar Roberts played the role with Jew raised his hand for silence and stood up. threw down the anti-Commuand comfortable to him. a down-to-earth charm, por“Well, I find it embarrassnist gauntlet in his Ten Comtraying an 80-year-old Moses ing and deplorable that it mandments curtain speech, For an age of anxiety on an important mission, who takes Cecil here — a gentile, shown in theatres at the openConsidering what little is approachable at the same no less — to remind us Jews of ing of the 1956 movie. direction Ridley Scott’s Moses time.

“The theme of this picture,” receives from God or God’s On the Israelites’ journey out our heritage! What was World War II fought for anyway? We DeMille intones, “is whether messenger boy, Malak (Isaac of Egypt, a child approaches should get down on our knees men are to be ruled by God’s Andrews), Christian Bale preshim for a hug. When Moses and say ‘thank you’ that he law or whether they are to be ents a character who is rightly sees the Israelites cavorting at ruled by the whims of a dictaanxious and anguished in the Golden Calf, his heartbreak wants to make a picture on the life of Moses.” tor like Ramses. Are men the Exodus: Gods and Kings. is palpable.

Charlton Heston was not property of the state, or are In this script, the Israelite Although the biblical story DeMille’s first choice for the they free souls under God? This God pretty much keeps Moses of Moses and the Israelites part. With the biblical image same battle continues throughin the dark on how all will comprises only the 40-minute of an elderly Moses to lead out the world today.” move forward, except to ask prologue to this feature film — the Exodus in mind, DeMille In the script, Heston is given Moses to be God’s general. set in then-modern 1923 — the wanted 58-year-old William more than a few lofty monoA former military leader in sequence resonated with silent Boyd, who had worked with logues. Though this Moses is Egypt’s army, this Moses relies film audiences of the day, and DeMille on earlier films. pained to know Egyptians will on his wartime skills to rally broke box office records. TheIn the 1950s, Boyd had suffer in the plagues, he’s still the Israelites into the beginatregoers flocked to it across achieved success as Hopalong more of a monument then a nings of revolt, a small-scale America for more than a year.

Cassidy on television. He fully-fleshed person. war of attrition.

It didn’t hurt that in 1922, turned down DeMille’s offer, This does help Yvonne When that doesn’t work, news of Howard Carter’s disGod tells the now Robin Hoodcovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb thinking it would interfere with DeCarlo’s interpretation of his Hopalong image.

Zipporah, Moses’ wife, when like Moses, “for now, you can and its cache of treasures creDeMille’s associates urged she utters, “I lost him when he watch.” God then takes charge. ated a frenzy in the American him to consider the 31-year-old found his God.” Scott brings a knack for conpublic for all things Egyptian.

Heston, showing DeMille Hesveying the ancient world as a But DeMille himself put ton’s headshot next to images Celebration of youth pretty rough neighborhood. forth another explanation for of Michelangelo’s sculpture of When Hollywood moguls But this Moses doesn’t get a the subject’s significance.

Moses.

Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey sense of where it’s all heading; Title cards at the opening of Even with Heston secured, Katzenberg, and David Gefthat doesn’t leave much room the film tell the audience: “Our when DeMille’s crew began fen formed their own studio, for the audience to follow. modern world defined God filming on location in Egypt in DreamWorks SKG, in 1994, Will theatregoers anoint Bale as a ‘religious complex’ and 1954, Boyd surprised everyone they decided in short order to as this generation’s Moses? The laughed at the Ten Commandwith a visit to the set — pospresent their version of the Exo- answer is as hard to decipher as ments as old fashioned. Then, sibly DeMille’s version of a dus narrative. a message in Exodus: Gods and through the laughter, came safety net during those first With Katzenberg’s expertise Kings. the shattering thunder of the Paramount

Paramount

20th Century Fox

DreamWorks

Moses at the movies

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2015

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