Kol Hadash Spring 2013

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SPRING 2013 • NISAN / IYAR / SIVAN /TAMMUZ 5773

The Earthly and Heavenly Jerusalem

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We all have a responsibility to enter the earthly Jerusalem, each in our own way, and I also hope and pray we cultivate that longing for a heavenly Jerusalem, whatever that may look like for each of us.”

RABBI FELICIA L. SOL

It was 1995, and I was spending the summer studying Talmud at PARDES, an egalitarian yeshiva in Jerusalem. I was living with three close friends from camp in an apartment on Rachel Imeinu St. in the heart of the German Colony. The summer was heavenly—the learning, Shabbat, the exploration, and the closeness of the friendships. One Shabbat, following shul, we hosted lunch in our apartment. The balcony was enormous, and you felt you could see the entirety of the city from it. We had prepared a delicious meal (with food bought that Friday morning from Mahane Yehuda), ate, and then in the heat of the Jerusalem sun, we talked and sang Shabbat away for hours until it was time for Havdalah. It had been truly been a taste of the world to come—as Shabbat is supposed to be, and I was profoundly unsettled as I was moved and grateful. It was the first time I had considered aliyah seriously, wondering if this kind of holistic religious experience was possible outside Israel. It was actually due to that experience that my religious observance became more rigorous in an attempt to test my assumption whether it was possible elsewhere.

Flash back six years earlier. The summer before I started college I went to Israel for the first time. It was a six-week NFTY (Northeast Federation of Temple Youth-Reform Movement) trip. I went with my brother Adam and about 40 other college-age kids. One of my most vivid memories of the trip was our visit to the Kotel. As I approached the women’s section, I wrapped my shawl over my shorts, passed by the guard, and made my way up to the Wall. I put my little note in, I said a prayer, and walked backwards to exit the section. I met my brother and sat down next to him. He asked, “What did you think?” and I responded, “I thought it would be bigger.”

Expectation meets reality. What I thought it would be and what it was. What I thought I would feel and what I did feel.

PHOTO: SHOSHI ROSENBAUM

On the January, 2013 Teen Service Learning Trip to Far Rockaway. See story and more photos on pages 4-5.

I felt disappointed that the most religious place in all of Jewish history had failed to make its imprint on me, and it was not at the time due to issues of gender equality or religious pluralism.

I just hadn’t had “the moment” that I thought I would have or that I thought I “should” have.

I had many other “moments” that summer, waking up every morning for two weeks to the sound of the roosters crowing on Kibbutz Eyal, watching my Israeli counselors translate into English the Hebrew of Arab Israelis whom we met in a village up north and the complexity of those moments, sitting at the Tayelet (the Promenade) taking in the most picturesque view of Jerusalem, and most important, time and time again feeling a deep sense of home, even as it was all so new.

This month Israel will celebrate 65 years of its statehood, and we will celebrate with it. It’s hard to believe that the summer of 1989, when I took my first trip there, Israel was only 41 years (continued on page 9

Social Action/Social Justice. . . . . . 2-3 Youth & Family Education. . . . . . . . 4-5 Limud. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

inside:

Communications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Calling For a Just Recovery in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy..................................... 2

Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Lessons Of Devastation: Teens Enounter Superstorm Sandy .................................... 4

History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Yom HaShoah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Mekusharim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Mother as Student...................................................................................................... 5 Prayer In and For Israel: A BJ Trip............................................................................. 8

Announcements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Lost Worlds Found: Recovering Our Family History................................................. 12

Contacts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Two Views of the High Line....................................................................................... 14

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

new voIce • KOL HADASH .

SPRING 2013

Social Action/Social Justice

Calling For a Just Recovery in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy

By Channa Camins, Director of Social Action/Social Justice and Larissa Wohl, Social Action Program Assistant urricane Sandy was a devastating blow to New York City, among other Northeastern communities. It is six months after the storm, and the city and its residents are still recovering. Most New Yorkers have returned to work and normal commutes, they have had their electricity and heat restored, and people have resumed the routines of daily life.

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However, on the outskirts of each borough, life simply is not the same. As of midJanuary two-thirds of the buildings whose owners applied for assistance with the City’s Rapid Repairs program 1, had not been fixed.2 In addition, we have a mold and mildew crisis brewing, especially if remediation remains incomplete as the weather becomes warmer. Homeowners are still waiting for insurance claims or are repealing rejections.

Rental tenants are in limbo waiting on repairs without much ability to affect the quality or speediness of rehabilitation. Kids are traveling from their temporary homes to their home school districts, and parents have to accommodate that additional travel, while

also getting to work on time.

It took Congress two and a half months to pass a comprehensive hurricane relief bill.

New York City has a long way to go before it sees the impact of that aid and continues to need volunteers and advocates alike to ensure that we rebuild and recover justly.

This storm has been traumatic for everyone in its wake, whether you lost your second home or your primary residence; a home can be a sacred place and it is horrible to suffer these losses. During such an emotionally trying time, everyone, regardless of his or her personal means, needed and was buoyed up by the assistance of volunteers.

This need continues to be present, and we should be mindful of the work that we still must do. B’nai Jeshurun members showed a tremendous outpouring of support through their countless hours of volunteering and generous donations to the Sandy relief effort in the three weeks following the storm. The community’s immediate, thoughtful, and meaningful response reflected our strong

values of supporting those in need, not just in our own community but in our greater community across the city. To read about these volunteer efforts please visit www.bj.org/sandyblog.

The home was in better shape than some, but not habitable for her family of four.

The contractor wouldn’t go in and do the work because Rapid Repairs had cut the drywall at 2 feet off the floor, but sheetrock is sold in 4 ft wide pieces. She’s had to commute from a rental apartment elsewhere in Queens to get the work going and bring her kids to school in Far Rockaway. The work we did helped their family a lot—also because insurance only paid for half the cost of their needed work. The work our kids did will make it possible for the Whites to move back into their home much sooner than would have been the case without our help.

— B’nai Jeshurun volunteer Marjorie Vandow speaking about the home of Lanette White, a member of the Community Church of the Nazarene, where BJ teens worked Page 2, bottom, and page 3, top: BJ Volunteers at Community Church of the Nazarene, Far Rockaway, Sunday, November 25. Page 2, top: Judith Trachtenberg sorting clothing donations .

Page 3, bottom: Judith Trachtenberg, Sharon Anstey, Eliran Abekassis, Carol Gelles, Rose Bell, and Esta Rose unload donations from Henry Meer to Sandy Relief effort.

1. The Rapid Repairs program sends sub-contractors to assess and restore heat, hot water, and electricity.

2. Durkin, Erin and Smith, Greg B. “Mayor Bloomberg’s Rapid Repairs has completed work on just one in three buildings enrolled in program.” New York Daily News, NYDailyNews.com.12 Jan. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.

3. Chen, Michelle. “In Sandy’s Wake, New York’s Landscape of Inequity Revealed.” In These Times. In These Times And The Institute For Public Affairs, 1 Nov. 2012.

Web. 13 Feb. 2013.

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synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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Sadly, for many of us, it takes a disaster the magnitude of Hurricane Sandy to remind us how fortunate we are to have a home to go to, food to eat, proper clothes to keep us warm in winter. And as I watched the grim faces of people arriving at the facility on that bitterly cold morning and helped them search through the mountains of baby food, diapers, clothing, and basic household necessities for what they needed to simply survive at that moment, I couldn’t help but think that there were those among them who had been robbed of their dignity long before Hurricane Sandy came along.

For them in particular, it was going to take a very long time to get back on their feet. Some of them never would.

It was humbling, to say the least.

— Ellen Perecman, BJ member As a congregation that is committed to social justice and recognizing the racial and economic disparities that exist among New Yorkers, we work to end inequality through direct service and advocacy. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge the poverty and want that this storm laid bare in communities like Far Rockaway where BJ members have been volunteering.

This is even more reason for us to continue our participation in Hurricane Sandy Relief and advocacy for a just city.

“It’s true that Sandy’s path of destruction was to some extent an equal opportunity assault, pummeling the trendiest downtown

Here, with photos and testimony, we share a bit of the volunteer work that BJ members did the Sunday following Thanksgiving at

enclaves and blighted neighborhoods alike.

But residents’ levels of resilience to the storm—the capacity to absorb trauma—will likely follow the sharp peaks and valleys of the city’s economic landscape.” 3

the Community Church of the Nazerene in Far Rockaway. This church is located in an area where more than 20% of families live below the poverty line, which exacerbated the already devastating effects of the storm.

BJ member Marjorie Vandow and her husband Richard Fields helped bring BJ’s volunteer work to the church, where they were connected through a beloved caretaker, whose family was directly affected in Far Rockaway. They continue to work with the church on Sandy relief. n

To help Sandy victims in Far Rockaway, BJ sent a caravan of cars and a 15-passenger van the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We crammed into vehicles on a chilly dreary day and headed to a church warehouse in Far Rockaway where Channa led us as we unpacked all the goods and sorted and rearranged the storehouse. A volunteer leader from the Church helped us set up tables of coats, clothing, children’s items, toys, blankets, and food. We staffed the tables and restocked them as people arrived to pick up goods. When our morning volunteer group left, another BJ team arrived with Roly to help. On the way home we drove through the area and we saw the massive destruction ... sand covered the roads and many smaller buildings; the boardwalk was ripped up; mounds of refuge stood in the background from the destruction of the houses; water marks were all over the buildings showing the flooding; streetlights didn’t work; destruction everywhere.

— Esta Rose, BJ member

PHOTOS, PAGES 2 & 3: Channa camins

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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YOUTH & FAMILY EDUCATION

Lessons of Devastation: Teens Encounter Superstorm Sandy First Hand

By Shoshi Rosenbaum, Cantorial Intern and Teen Coordinator rom January 17 through 21, 2013, 29 of BJ’s eighth- and ninth-graders went to the Church of the Nazarene in Far Rockaways, New York, to participate in a Service Learning Project with Rabbi Roly Matalon, Director of Education Ivy Schreiber, Teen Coordinator Shoshi Rosenbaum, and B’nai Mitzvah tutor/teen educator David Lieberman. In the past, our Domestic Trip has taken the teens to New Orleans to help with rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. However, following Superstorm Sandy, it became obvious that where the most work needed to be done

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Images from the Teen Service Learning Project at the Church of the Nazarene in Far Rockaways, New York, January 17-21, 2013.

PHOTOS: SHOSHI ROSENBAUM

was in our own backyard. Several teens took the time to reflect on their work in the Rockaways upon their return: Even those who are privileged suffered in this storm. For someone who was out of power for two weeks, it is insane to think of a scenario where my house would be out of power for two months.

Some of these people, almost completely neglected, got hit the hardest. And of course they are taking the longest to recover. As a person of privilege, I could recover from a loss like this much quicker than someone of a low socio-economic status or someone who was already struggling before the storm.

One woman told us the story of a man whose house was on fire, so he left his house. When he stepped outside, the water was rushing, and he drowned in the chaos. He made such a simple mistake that under normal circumstances would make sense.

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Because people weren’t prepared, people were lost in the storm. Hazards become disasters at a time of vulnerability.

— Rachel Bass, ninth grade Today a woman came up to me as I was passing out milk to the needy people. As I asked her if she wanted milk or water she said, “No thanks. I got five babies but I don’t need no milk because I already got some.”

And off she walked.

It amazed me how she was in need of assistance but did not want to take any more than what she needed. Yes, she had milk at home. But instead of taking a bit extra, she would rather save it for someone who had even less than she did.

— Alex Baren, ninth grade (continued on page 5)

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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Mother as Student

By Paula Weiss don’t have very fond memories of my early Hebrew school years: Sunday mornings, lots of rote memorization and little understanding of what I was being taught. In sixth grade my parents enrolled me in a progressive Jewish Day School with a Zionist orientation. They wanted us to learn all about our Judaism, yet our practice at home was relatively limited, and I couldn’t fully share all that I was learning without making other family members uncomfortable. Over the years, my Zionism grew, but my Judaism began to wane.

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Then I found B’nai Jeshurun, and I even met my husband Jeff here. My identification with Judaism began to slowly rekindle. But when our son Eli was born 10 years ago, Jeff and I realized that we had to take stock, knowing that the choices we would now make about our Judaism and practice would become the DNA of Eli’s own observance. For him to positively identify with his Judaism, we were going to have to step up our participation and step out of our comfort zone of knowledge and observance.

We first became Tot Shabbat groupies and now regularly attend Junior Congregation.

We light candles most Friday nights and celebrate holidays and observances well in excess of what we did as children. We relish watching Eli and his friends feel utterly at home in synagogue, knowing it as “their place” and that they are unafraid to high-five rabbis and teachers along the way.

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PHOTO: MAX ORENSTEIN

Over time, Eli’s involvement in B’nai Jeshurun and its Hebrew School has transformed our lives. We embrace every opportunity—volunteering, class trips, retreats, plays, carnivals, and learning.

Rather than be ashamed of what I don’t know, I use Eli’s weekly Hebrew lessons to relearn—and perhaps truly appreciate for the first time—the lessons I had forgotten decades before.

We befriended other BJHS families who have become dear friends. We gather periodically for communal Shabbat dinners or Havdalah and pizza nights, giving children—and parents—an opportunity to practice the prayers learned in school. We don’t always get it right, but we figure it out together, parents and kids, side by side.

In the fall of 2011, BJHS announced that it would offer a class for parents on how to read Torah. I was so tempted, yet terrified.

I had opted not have a Bat Mitzvah, for very good reasons at the time. But as a parent, how could I now expect Eli to work at becoming a Bar Mitzvah if I didn’t understand what was being asked of him? Was this my chance? With excitement and trepidation, I enrolled.

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After a tiring day of work it was invigorating to go to class and to open my mind to the challenge of learning this ages-old system. ”

For six wonderful weeks, I and seven other BJ members “tripped over Trop.” Guided by our amazingly patient and gifted teacher, Shoshi Rosenbaum, we sang, squeaked, practiced, and faltered, but we always tried our best and supported one another in the process. After a tiring day of work it was invigorating to go to class and to open my mind to the challenge of learning this agesold system. At home, Eli began to record my practice sessions on his iTouch and would replay them until we were satisfied with the result.

On June 16, 2012, I was called to read from the Torah for the first time and in the best possible place—Junior Congregation. Jeff, Eli, and my wonderful teacher Shoshi were by my side as I looked out at the loving faces of friends and family. I chanted in memory of my dad, who had died just before I began to study, and in honor my son Eli and his terrific group of friends for their enthusiastic love of learning, Judaism, and B’nai Jeshurun.

It was one of the happiest days of my life.

I realized that in trying to be the teacher I had become the student. Thank you Eli. Sheheheyanu. n Paula Weiss has been a member of B’nai Jeshurun since 2002 along with her husband Jeff. Their son Eli is in the fourth grade at BJHS, and they love participating in the many events and activities that BJ has to offer.

Lessons of Devastation continued from page 4 When I arrived in Far Rockaway on Thursday, my thoughts consisted of topics that were small and somewhat meaningless in the moment. It is now Sunday, and my thoughts are totally different.

Now I’m thinking about the people I have met here, Sean Adams, the White family, Anthony, the Pastor, as well as all people I have said, “Have a nice day,” to after handing them a few cartons of milk.

On Thursday evening we drove about 30-45 minutes from our safe, comfortable homes with roofs, drinkable tap water, Internet access, and families that are healthy and can afford nice things, to a place with suffering people, homeless people, and hungry people.

I walk around here wishing I could give my jacket to someone with no heat in their home. I begin to feel awkward and a bit upset about all my nice things. But I also remember that my dad always tells me that you need to use your privilege to help those who are less fortunate.

— Eve Gertzman, ninth grade

Gutting the woman’s house, I heard her walk in and gasp with surprise. She was extremely appreciative of the work we’d done. I felt such great joy from helping her, and I have fun with the work, too. Helping other people is something I can really connect with. When I go back home, one thing I can do to continue helping others is volunteering and getting supplies to others who have been devastated from a disaster.

— Daniel Lerner, ninth grade n

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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LIMUD

Get Ready for Membership and High Holy Days 2013-2014 (5774)

Davening 101

By Jonah Geffen, BJ Rabbinic Fellow he impact of prayer must outlast its set time to enable the spiritual and sanctified to hallow life’s total pursuit of the true and rightful.”

— Rav Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook

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How do you feel when it gets dark?

Comforted? Tired? Thrilled? Scared?

Nightfall stirs up the emotions. For the rabbis of the Mishna and Talmud, night was the source of a slew of emotions. Evidenced from the first words of Tractate Brakhot, the question of how to respond to the disappearance of the sun was paramount.

And so too for Davening 101 at BJ. Many of the prayers of the evening are related to a fear of the night, rooted in the very real dangers that came with darkness in antiquity.

How then do we respond today when so much light is present, even when the sun sets? Through the words of the evening tefillot our class confronted this question.

The lights went out during Hurricane Sandy, and we were scared, some recalled. People related nighttime ruminations and childhood memories of being afraid of the dark. We realized that even today, for us, the night is still a time when we are left unsure, unsettled. Enter the words of the rabbis, reminding us that night is all part of God’s design.

Giving us words of prayer and comfort, the evening tefillot are a response to the uncertainty of darkness that still speak to us.

Each Thursday night in the conference room of the BJ offices, a small minyan forms.

We come together to study tefillah, to delve deeper, striving to better understand the words we are saying (or singing) and how we relate to them. This year we have been studying Aravit/Maariv, the weekday evening service. Word by word we have translated the brakhot, piecing together these ancient, holy formulas.

As the surface meaning of

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We come together to study tefillah, to delve deeper, striving to better understand the words we are saying (or singing) and how we relate to them. ”

the tefillot begins to come through; with great openness and honesty we share the reactions and feelings that bubble up within us. We have found so much beauty that we never realized was there, we have found faith that we didn’t know we had, and we have found that some of what we say does not exactly represent all that we believe. The text of the tefillah is complex. In a way that is its purpose. It holds us and inspires us, but it also frustrates and confuses us. And yet, we daven. Every week, after confronting the words and their meaning, after gaining greater understanding of the structure of the service, after sharing our hopes and dreams, successes and failures of our experience of prayer—we daven. Each class ends with Maariv, where we get the opportunity to put into practice all we have learned. Come and join us. n

Jonah Geffen and the Davening 101 class

Spring is here, which means it is membership renewal season! This year, the High Holy Days are the week of Labor Day, so we encourage you to renew early before heading out for summer vacation. You don’t want to miss an opportunity to get entrance cards for services.

Visit the BJ website at www.bj.org during the last week of May for 20132014 membership applications and information about dues and High Holy Day locations. You’ll also receive a package in the mail containing these materials.

Questions? Contact Belinda Lasky, Assistant Executive Director, at x224 or blasky@bj.org. n

PHOTO: DENISE WAXMAN

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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COMMUNICATIONS

By Denise Waxman, Director of Communications

Meet the Board of Trustees Online

The BJ Calendar: Making it Your Own

In partnership with its Rabbis and staff, BJ’s Board of Trustees works hard to ensure that BJ continues to thrive, innovate, and maintain its traditions for generations to come. Now you can see their faces and read a little about each of them on the BJ website.

Take a look under About Us/Leadership and Administration when you have a chance. We encourage all of you to introduce yourselves to the board members at services and events.

We also hope that you will take the time to share your thoughts and ideas about BJ with them, either in person or via the Contact Us form on the website. n

If you manage your life using online calendars offered by Google, Apple, or others and rely on them to get you to the right place at the right time, please make sure to add the BJ services and events you plan to attend to them. And do it the easy way.

Use BJ’s online calendars, one for BJ Services and another for BJ Events, which can be found at www.bj.org/calendar.

You can copy an event your own calendar with a single click. Just click on an event name to pull up it’s details and click on the “copy to my

calendar” link that appears at the bottom. No typing needed. If BJ changes the event, those changes will show up instantly in your own calendar. No rechecking needed.

If staying up to speed on everything BJ is really critical to you, then subscribe to one or both BJ calendars by clicking on the “Subscribe to Calendars” link at the top right of our calendar page. Within your own calendar you will be able to turn the BJ calendar(s) on and off as needed. This is the best way to make sure you don’t miss anything. n

Quick Links: Making BJ Easier Your child is getting married, and you want to have the simha listed in the Community Announcements. You’ve decided to sign up for Jonah’s Davening 101 class. You want to check this week’s KJ. You want to sponsor a kiddush to celebrate your wedding anniversary. You want to make a donation in memory of your father. You want to purchase The Music of Pesah at BJ to accompany your Seder.

You need the Quick Links section on the BJ website, which can be found at the top of every page at www.bj.org. Click there to see all these options, and more, and get it done fast.

Using our online forms benefits both members and staff. You can use them whenever you like, not just when the office is

open. You can print a copy for your records. Finally, and most important, the information you provide will be complete and more accurate than when taken over the phone.

Receiving a request in digital form is more efficient for staff. Be assured, if we need more information we will be in touch.

In case you are asked by friends, relatives, or acquaintances about visiting BJ, be sure to remind them that a Quick Link will get them information about getting here, BJ customs and more. We also have a registration form for visiting groups.

If there is something you can’t find easily on the website, or you have a suggestion, remember that you can submit these via a Quick Link too. Just click on “Contact Us.” Quick Links do a lot, but if they don’t answer your questions or meet your needs remember that we are still happy to take your phone calls. n

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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ISRAEL

Prayer In and For Israel: A BJ Trip

By Orli Moss, Director of Israel Engagement ne of the numerous reasons BJ members love the community so well is the many and varied opportunities BJ gives people to visit Israel in ways that are meaningful and eye-opening to them. Between service learning trips to chances to work in a field on a kibbutz to treks to sites of biblical and traditional significance to in-depth text study to davening with Israeli friends, BJ brings people to Israel for many rewarding reasons and changes its members’ lives by the transformative and engaged experiences on site. And now, after almost 20 years of close and growing relationships with the partners at HaMidrasha and the young community at Nigun Halev in Nahalal and at Beit Tefilah Israeli no one needs to feel that he or she is a stranger. If you are from BJ, by definition you have friends in Israel.

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The latest trip organized by B’nai Jeshurun took place in November 2012—a weeklong journey to explore prayer (in the largest sense) in the holy land. Roly led the trip, and 20 BJ members went along. As those of you who have heard or read about Roly’s 2011/2012 sabbatical in Israel, he returned to New York with a renewed commitment to developing ways to engage with the very

challenging task of seriously practicing Jewish prayer. The principal goal of this journey was to share some of these ideas and learning and songs and prayers in the land that inspired them and among BJ congregants.

The BJ group, which arrived in Israel Nov. 11, was scheduled to meet over the next several days with a series of colleagues, friends, and teachers Roly had studied and davened with over his many years loving experience of the state of Israel, some of them old friends, some of them newer partners in Jewish prayer focus and exploration.

Here’s a short excerpt from the trip blog of Harriet Goren from early on in the trip: An amazing morning. After Shaharit (today we focused on “lefanekha,” the root of which is “panim,” and the interpretation that we stand in front of one another with the reflection of God in our faces), we took a short bus ride to Kfar Etzion to study with Rabbi Dov Zinger, the gentle, wise head of Makor Chaim Yeshiva.

It’s Orthodox and traditional, with a big beit midrash full of boys studying in spirited hevruta. (R. Dov kept the door open to our little room even though we had trouble hearing one another: “The noise of learning at some point

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BJ brings people to Israel for many rewarding reasons and changes its members’ lives by the transformative and engaged experiences on site.”

becomes music.”) Two students shared how they were transformed by their studies, which focus on the relationship with God and one another in honest conversation. I admit that I was skeptical, and wondered if they were simply parroting the party line; these teenagers sounded more emotionally mature than many adults I know. … We moved to a small room away from the music of words, and I soon understood that the boys were sincere.

This is typical of the kind of encounter the BJ group had: prayer discussions, sometimes exercises, deep talks with people who have thought about prayer long and hard—in short, the kind of encounter that can sometimes prove elusive in the United States for Jews trying to know Jewish prayer life.

The wide swath of religious life in this land also offers opportunities to meet and talk with Israelis who engage with sacredness, with kedusha, in ways we are less familiar with. Medical and healing issues (with leaders at Shaaray Tzedek Hospital), community service (with Bet Yisrael Urban Kibbutz), as well as searches for roots and sense of home—our BJ congregants experienced all these and more. When an initiative has a human face, when a person can share his or her own challenges and inspirations, the message gets across in a different, more powerful way. The people the

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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Israel continued from page 4 one of BJ’s partner communities in Israel , where BJ members have visited and davened for years when visiting the seaside city. The ceremony took place at HUC in Jerusalem, where Esteban has been studying for the past four years. Of the trip as a whole and the semikha in particular, Judy Geller-Marlowe said:

BJ voyagers interacted with were open and interested in extending to fellow Jews (of any origin and kind of participation in Jewish life) insights on their experience of what their own Jewishness and Jewish responsibilities entail.

A high point of the trip was the rabbinic ordination of Esteban Gottfreid, Leader, now Rabbi, of Beit Tefilah Israeli in Tel Aviv, also

This trip was an incredible opportunity to experience Israel through the eyes of Roly’s Israeli hevra. Each day brought new spiritual opportunities with every teacher we encountered. But as I look back on the trip perhaps the evening that was a true synthesis of it all for me was the HUC ordination. I did not know anyone at all graduating or being ordained but my heart was exploding with unexpected joy and fierce pride. The passion and hope in the exquisite language of the newly minted rabbis’ speeches made me cry.

And Judy Stern said: I do not speak, read or understand Hebrew, yet I understood in a deep and profound way everything that was said and done tonight.

The Ordination was remarkable for many reasons. In terms of our study during this trip, it was an example of the pluralistic evolution in Israel. Three women were among those ordained and multiple streams of Judaism were represented.

This journey, normal only in the sense that every BJ journey to Israel is predictably amazing in one way or another, was characterized by fully engaged Jewish exploration, the kind that some say can really only happen in the state of Israel. n

Page 8, clockwise from bottom: BJ members tour a synagogue in Nachlaot with Rabbi Benjy Levin; Tel Aviv as seen from the hotel; Makor Chaim Yeshiva. Above: Roly and Rabbi Benjy Levin on a Nachlaot street.

PHOTOS: HARRIET R. GOREN

The Earthly and Heavenly Jerusalem RABBI FELICIA L. SOL old (the same age I am now). Our longing for Israel began with the promise made to our ancestor Avraham in the Torah. Our ancestors of old lived and walked the land of Israel until the exile, and for 2,000 years the desire to return to the land remained at the core of our identity. The dream that Theodor Herzl had for a Jewish State expressed in “If you will it, it is not a dream” became a catalyst for the debate of the vision of the future Jewish State and the impetus for so many to ground their dreams in reality by making aliyah prior to the birth of the State of Israel in 1948. All the longing that began with Avraham, that continued with the exile that was answered with the birth of the state, that continues with the hope for a safe, secure and democratic Israel, remains so deep in the DNA of the Jewish people and in each and every one of us in our own way.

Longing is at the core of the religious experience. Longing for a connection with God, longing for community, longing for understanding and acceptance, longing for a more perfect world, longing for healing

and peace, amongst so many others.

Gratitude is also at the core of the religious experience, and in no uncertain terms we have an extraordinary amount to be grateful for that Israel was born in 1948 and has survived and thrived in these 65 years in so many ways.

Thus said Rabbi Yohanan: The Holy Blessed One said, “I will not enter heavenly Jerusalem until I can enter the earthly Jerusalem.” Babylonian Talmud, Masekhet Ta’anit The 65 years that we will celebrate this month is the reality of the earthly Jerusalem, the one that lives and breathes on a daily basis, that speaks the holy language in everyday reality, that’s weekend is Shabbat, that has welcomed Jews from all over the world to form the diversity of Israeli society, that debates and discusses the most challenging issues that it faces in the open, that is both religious and secular and finally something in between with a new organic Israeli Judaism that is being born,

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that is on the forefront of so many issues from technology, to medicine to water issues—the Israel that is both a tiny nation in the midst of a volatile Middle East and a strong nation with one of the most powerful militaries in the world.

As a Jewish people, we must find a way to enter and build relationships and visit this earthly Jerusalem, whether it is the Kotel that moves us, a transformative Shabbat, or the other moments in which we feel that profound sense of connection, and as a religious Jew with all my gratitude and love of this homeland and relationships there, I will not give up on the longing for that heavenly Jerusalem. The heavenly Jerusalem being the place of the dream, the vision, the “ought” and not the “is.” We all have a responsibility to enter the earthly Jerusalem, each in our own way, and I also hope and pray we cultivate that longing for a heavenly Jerusalem, whatever that may look like for each of us. It is the longing that got us home in the first place. It is the longing that keeps the dream alive. n

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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HISTORY

Sharing BJ’s Sacred Space

By Denise Waxman efore pulling out his professional cameras and lenses to capture the interior of the BJ sanctuary in a series of nearly 100 gorgeous high resolution images, he graciously posed for me and BJ’s modest point and shoot camera. Then he and I chatted about the life path that brought him to New York City in February 2011 to shoot at BJ and a half dozen other area synagogues. And then he took pictures of BJ.

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Click. Click. Click.

Just a few months earlier, in November 2011, an email proposal from Jono David, a British-American freelance photographer and writer based in Osaka, Japan turned up in my inbox. His offer was a simple one; in exchange for access to photograph BJ’s sanctuary and permission to take

PHOTO: DENISE WAXMAN

Jono David

describes himself as “just a guy with passions for travel, photography, and writing who, over a period of time and through many adventures, fostered an interest in documenting Jewish life where ever I happen to be.”

The story goes that his years of photographing Jewish life around the world began when he read an article about the Jewish community of Manaus, Brazil in the Washington Jewish Week. A synagogue in the Amazon struck him as most unexpected so he added a stop to his South American travel itinerary set for the

“I do this work not just because it is important, but because it has given direction and purpose to my life. My work is therefore very personal. And because it is personal, my mission has become a part of my identity”, he explains.

Judging by the photos at HaChayim HaYehudim (“The Life of the People”) Jewish Photo Library, www.jewishphotolibrary. com, the ever-growing repository he created for his images I suspect he can’t be more than 2 degrees of separation from every (continued on page 11)

photographs to which he would retain copyright, he would provide BJ with all the digital image files and a license to use them for our own purposes. After exploring the website where he displays and licenses the images he has made of Jewish religious life from around the world, we agreed.

Jono, who was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland

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year-end university recess. The photos he took there were later published in the article “One Man’s Fight to Keep Judaism Alive in the Amazon” in The Jewish Telegraph (UK).

Documenting that far-flung community sparked a commitment that continues to this day. Jono’s photographs and articles have appeared in a number of notable newspapers and magazines and books.

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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(continued from page 10) Jew on earth. It is an amazing collection of more than 61,000 photographs of synagogues, cemeteries, Holocaust, memorials, Jewish museums, Judaica, people, stained glass and more from 87 countries and territories on 6 continents. Organized into categories including Diversity, Highlights, Synagogues, Holidays and Events, People, Stained Glass, Toroth, Siddurim, Tallitot, Kippot, Holocaust, Cemeteries, and Architecture/Details, the site is easy to use and fun to browse.

And now it includes photos of BJ’s magnificent sanctuary. n PHOTOS, PAGES 10-11 (EXCEPT AS NOTED): JONO DAVID

Pages 10-11: the BJ sanctuary at 88th Street. More images by Jono David may be viewed at www.jewishphotolibrary.com.

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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YOM HASHOAH

Lost Worlds Found: Recovering Our Family History

By Susan Sanders am 8 years old and have a class assignment to report the birthplaces of my parents. The fact of my mother’s German birth is a surprise; this is new information, and she provides no further details. Sometime after, my family is watching Hogan’s Heroes, set in a German POW camp during World War II. Trying to put this new information to use, I venture, “I know who mom wants to win; she wants Germany.” The swift and decisive response of my parents leaves no doubt that I am wrong, that there is no national pride but something else; something dark, terrible, and unknown.

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Years later, home for a visit from graduate school in California, I am reading about the artist Charlotte Salomon, who had not survived the war but whose work is attracting a global audience. My mother, reading over my shoulder gasps and says; “Charlotte painted the pictures in the living room.” These works of art, mysterious objects, always the first to be hung whenever we moved, were given to my mother by Ottillie Moore, the American woman who saved 10 orphaned Jewish children in the south of France and also provided refuge to Charlotte and her grandparents. Most of this I had yet to learn.

It is 1987 and I have begun a job at Maimonides Community Mental Health Center in Boro Park. Shortly after, my mother uncharacteristically offers up some information. “I want to tell you something,” she says. “My mother did not die in a concentration camp. She became depressed after Aunt Toni was born and had to go to a hospital.” I knew of the Nazi extermination of psychiatric patients but was hearing its relationship to my family for the first time. My grandmother, after whom I am named, is still officially listed as “Missing.”

“

The fact of my mother’s German birth is a surprise; this is new information, and she provides no further details.”

I did not grow up surrounded by survivors, where talk and information was easily shared. My mother’s early life was traumatic and filled with drama. She grew up in an observant home in Essen, Germany, the oldest of three daughters, surrounded by a large extended family. After being separated from her parents, she never saw them again. She did not speak of it. With no context and no explanation of the fate of our maternal grandparents, we grew up in silence, afraid to ask questions.

As an adult, I developed an overwhelming need to know our family’s past. One of my proudest achievements was convincing my mother to attend the 1991 Conference for Hidden Children. Unbeknownst to us, the Florida press had a list of local attendees and sought her out for an interview.

Although immediately declining, with my sister’s encouragement she did speak and wound up on the front page of the Palm Beach Post. In the days after, I received the following: “Dear Susie, I want to thank you again for taking such an interest in the conference. I am very grateful that you had sent me that article. I

primarily went because of you and Debbie and it turned out to be a most wonderful experience ‘no more hiding.’ ” Two days later she wrote again, “I’m getting a lot of attention here—everyone apparently has read the article. It does make it somewhat difficult but I guess it will all blow over soon.”

My mother, Dora Sanders, died on Oct. 6, 2009. With her passing, I thought all hope for recovering our family history was gone.

And then … through the miracle of the Internet, we were contacted by Alain Dressou from Brussels, a grandson of the Jewish family who sheltered my mother and aunt in Belgium until they themselves were forced to flee which is when my mother and her sister were sent to Ottillie Moore in the south of France. We corresponded and met in New York. We were invited to visit and to go back to the home in Courtrai where his family had taken in two Jewish orphans.

And then, a second miracle; we connected with cousins who had been searching for my mother and her sisters since the war ended. One cousin, Mirjam Weitzner, living in Haarlem, near Amsterdam, grew up with my mother in Essen, and I determined to make the trip with my teen-age sons, Gabi and Daniel, this summer.

After my mother’s death, I found her passport from a trip taken back to Belgium in 1952, another surprise since she’d never told us of her return to Europe after the war. The Dressou home, 47 Ave St. Sebastian, Courtrai was listed as the contact address. We drove to this home, about an hour from Brussels. We took photos, made a video, and spent roughly 30 minutes there; no one answered our knock on the door, and it was time to go. Gabi, in deep thought, said, “This is our March of the Living.” I wanted to leave something at the home but what? Stones were not right, for this was not a cemetery; it was a place of life, where good people had saved lives.

As I was pondering the appropriate tribute, Daniel spotted a tree across the street and picked some flowering branches. We scattered them on the front porch and left.

PHOTO: Susan Sanders

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synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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Page 12: Mirjam Weitzner in front of her husband, Sybren Bosch, with Susan Sanders’ sons, Gabriel Weintraub (L) and Daniel Weintraub (R) in Haarlem, Holland. Below: Susan Sanders with her sons, Gabriel and Daniel in front of 47 Ave St. Sebastian, Courtrai where Susan’s mother was sheltered. Right: The writer’s sons with Alain Dressou and family in Brussels.

PHOTO: Martine Dressou

had hidden Jewish children resonated to this day as I introduced her to Alain, whose very Belgian family was instrumental to the survival of my own.

PHOTO: Susan Sanders

I asked Alain what he thought his family’s motivation was in taking in Jewish children.

He said “They had to do it. If they hadn’t, someone else would have.” I’m not so sure.

The actions taken on my mother’s behalf are the reason that I am standing before you today.

That night there was a large family dinner, including one sister who traveled from her home near the German border. Discussing our individual experiences I heard, “Alain did not tell us he was searching. He kept it a secret until he found you.” “I am very happy to meet you but was not searching.”

I understood, since there are those in my family who feel the same. I don’t know what accounts for the differences in our need to remember. Nonetheless, our festive toasting, exultant spirits and another dinner two nights later attested to the strength of our collective history.

I overlapped in Brussels for one day with BJ member Myriam Abramowicz, whose film As If It Were Yesterday I’d seen many years ago, when I knew little of my mother’s time in Belgium. Her film about Belgians who

And we visited my mother’s cousin Mirjam Weitzner in Holland. Mirjam, so full of life, who speaks to Dutch schoolchildren about the Shoah, survived Westerbork, BergenBelsen, Theresienstadt, and Auschwitz.

She remembered my mother as a child and knew my grandparents; the one person I could ask, “What were they like?” I brought photos of my mother at all stages of her life, trying to re-introduce the person she had last seen as a child. In turn I was shown family photos, including one of her sister who had not survived. It was taken on her wedding day in 1942, and affixed to her clothing was the telltale Yellow Star. This picture broke my heart.

What did I hope to accomplish with this trip?

Meeting the Dressou family, our cousin Mirjam, and other family has fulfilled my lifelong, impossible wish to repair what had been destroyed. Although we were sadly unable to make these connections in my mother’s lifetime, I am overjoyed that for my sons, silence will be transcended by memory. Meeting these individuals was truly improbable and miraculous; the moments spent in their company an unexpected blessing. Shehekianu. It is my deepest hope that our trip and these new

relationships will help Gabi and Daniel embrace the Jewish history that is theirs.

At the Anne Frank house, I read a letter from Otto Frank to Eleanor Roosevelt, thanking her for writing the introduction to the English version of Anne’s diary. He concludes “only love not hatred can build a better world.” At the end of the visit, our cousin Mirjam said “Have a good life.”

And on the brink of a new year, I will end on that note of hope. May love triumph over hatred, and may we all be inscribed in the book of life. G’mar hatima tova.

Susan Sanders rejoined BJ in 2009 and is very happy to be back. She is a social worker at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and a psychotherapist in private practice. Susan lives in Brooklyn with her sons.

At BJ it is traditional for a survivor or family member of a survivor to offer a personal story during Eileh Ezkerah (These I Recall), the portion of the Yom Kippur Musaf service that recalls the martyrdom of the ten sages of Israel by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd Century and, since the Shoah, the tragedy of the Holocaust. Susan shared a slightly longer version of this story on Yom Kippur in 5773.

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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MEKUSHARIM

Two Views of the High Line: On 88th Street and on the Scene

By Elizabeth Cohen, Shirley Feder, and Nancy Freireich

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embers of BJ’s Mekusharim group seized the opportunity in October to get two very different—but definitely close-up—views of the High Line on Manhattan’s west side. The goal of Mekusharim (which means “connections”) is to connect adults ages 55+ to one another and to the community through various activities. These two events did exactly that.

The first close-up was led by David Karnovsky, general counsel to the New York City Department of City Planning and a member of BJ (as is his wife, Sue Kaplan).

With the aid of slides, David showed members gathered in BJ’s sanctuary the High Line’s past, present, and future, including a preview of the final phase of the project at the Eastern and Western Railyards of Hudson Yards, the site of residential and commercial development to rise between 30th and 33rd Streets between 10th and 12th Avenues.

Describing the complex and dramatic negotiations needed to bring the project to fruition, David provided an insider’s look at the genesis and evolution of what is now a park with tracks aplenty—but tracks transformed by colorful grasses and flowers, artwork and wondrous cityscapes.

In his presentation, David explained how the West Chelsea rezoning was established in 2005 not only to permit new housing bordering the High Line but also to restrict residential development on the mid-blocks of particular cross-streets to protect the integrity of the existing art gallery district.

We also learned how the city worked with developers and community groups to achieve economic, social, and aesthetic goals. Citing one example, David related how the design of a building in the new

KOL HADASH

Hudson Yards will include a unique portico over a section of the High Line, providing a shaded respite for strollers on a sunny day.

The second program dedicated to the High Line, now one of the city’s top destinations, could hardly have been more of a close-up.

The 24 “tourists” arrived at the 14th Street entrance to the High Line with bright enthusiasm that matched the sparkle of the clear, perfect day. The Mekusharim

Elizabeth Cohen has been a BJ member since 1999, is involved with Mekusharim, and enjoys New York’s many cultural activities.

Shirley Feder has been a member of BJ since 2004 and enjoys time with her grandchildren.

Nancy Freireich, a longtime member of BJ, enjoys planning Mekusharim events as well as taking her baby grandson to Bim Bam.

committee members handed out their own special guide containing a map plus detailed information on the sculpture, installations, and imaginative landscaping, all gleaned from the High Line website. Committee members were identified by the balloons on a stick they held up high. It worked! We had no trouble finding one another in the throng.

We strolled in small groups that morphed from one to another so that we all got to know fellow BJers and share our love of the city. By brunch-time we were eager to share a meal and enjoy even more conversation and camaraderie. n

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The Kol Hadash is published four times a year. We would love to print your stories and articles about BJ! For submission guidelines, contact communications@bj.org. All material is the property of B’nai Jeshurun and cannot be reprinted without permission.

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PHOTOS: NORMAN BLECKNER

The Kol Hadash is printed using soy-based inks on 50% recycled paper by an online, eco-friendly printer at a substantial cost saving compared to traditional printing methods.

Designer: Harriet R. Goren

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Condolences (through March 1)

Mazal Tov To the following members and their families on their B’nai Mitzvah (January, February, and March): Jonathan Katzman Emma Caligor Noah Kulick Noa Berkman Mintz Maya Rubin Noa Zhukovsky Susannah Boyar

Cassidy Soloff Alex Eisert Philip Schneider Julian Neuman Natan Shaviv Samantha Braffman

To the following members and their families (through March 1): • Claudia Green and Noah, Max and Ella Kroloff on the birth of their son and brother, Ben Kroloff.

The community of B’nai Jeshurun mourns the death of our members: • Steven Dikman, and we extend our sincere condolences to his wife Carol Dikman, their son Andrew Dikman, and their entire family.

• Bella Rector, and we extend our sincere condolences to her entire family.

• Sheila Schwartz, and we extend our sincere condolences to her entire family.

• Linda Levine, and we extend our sincere condolences to her daughters Lauren, Audrey, Hilary and their families, Steve Stulman and his family, and all of Linda’s loved ones.

• Erika Balin. and we extend our sincere condolences to her daughter Ruth, her son Fred and his wife Anne, and their entire family.

• George Zook, and we extend our sincere condolences to his wife, Amy Zook, and their entire family.

• Karen Weinstein and Laurent Ohayon on their engagement.

The community of B’nai Jeshurun extends sincere condolences to the following members and their families:

• Alison, Joshua, Jonah and Eden Holden on the birth of their son and brother, Tate Elijah.

• Judith Felsenfeld on the death of her uncle, Abe Mokover.

• Oriyan, Jonathan, and Maya Schwartz on the naming of their daughter and sister, Rena.

• Kathy and Terry Grossman on the marriage of their son, Max Benjamin, to Holly Sharpless.

• Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein and Karina Zilberman on their marriage.

• Jenna and Seth Shaifer on the naming of their son, Aidan.

• Elaine Nevins on her grandson, Zachary Himmel, becoming a Bar Mitzvah at Huntington Jewish Center.

• Liz Bennett and Benjamin Ross on the birth of their son, Reuven Saul Bennett Ross.

• Amy and Jason, Susan, Larry and Emily Chinitz on the birth of their daughter, granddaughter and niece, Bayla Rose Chinitz.

• Adam Janvey and Emily Cooper, Rae, Richard and Dan Janvey on Adam and Emily’s wedding.

• Jeremy Hamburgh and Lisa Markman on their engagement.

• BJ musician Daphna Mor, Daniel Freedman, and Alona on the birth of their daughter and sister, Aya. • David Zagorski and Michele Rubin, Zachary and Jason Zagorski on David and Michele’s wedding.

• Marion Koltun Dienstag, and Alan, Ruby and Emmett Dienstag on the death of Marion’s father, Jacob Koltun.

• Nora Gaines on the death of her stepmother, Eugenija Pleskyte.

• Zelda Weiss on the death of her brother, Harold Prensky.

• Alan Bernstein, Carol Bowen, and Benjamin Bernstein on the death of Alan’s mother, Esther Bernstein.

• Karen Sussan, Herb, and Rachel Fischer on the death of Karen’s mother, Toby Reznick Sussan.

• Marcia Riklis on the death of her sister, Mona Ackerman.

• James Posner and Jill Prosky on the death of James’ brother, Lawrence Posner.

• Jennifer Hirsch, John, Isaac and Jacob Santelli on the death of John’s mother, Helene Santelli.

• Ami Weil, Todd, Sasha and Eden Chanko on the death of Ami’s father, Warren Weil.

• David, Alexandra, Parker and Harrison Stern, Isabel and Rebecca Ackerman on the death of David’s mother, Harriet Wise.

• Adam Wallach and Sofia Hubscher, their daughters Margalit and Rina, and their entire family on the death of Adam’s father, Robert Wallach.

• Jonathan, Orli, Elliot, Rebecca, Benjamin, and Leah Silver on the birth of their twin grandsons, sons, and nephews, Ethan and Zachary Silver.

• David and Laurie Pauker, their sons Michael, Johnny and Andrew Pauker and their entire family on the death of David’s father, Richard Pauker.

• Ruth Lazarus, Michael Feldberg, Rachel Levin, James Levin, Anabelle Levin, Jesse and Ben Feldberg on the birth of their granddaughter, daughter, sister and niece, Ava Lazarus Levin.

• Samantha, Marc, and Allison Berman on the death of Samantha’s father, Arnold Falleder.

• Jerry Korman on completing a Masters Degree in Music Education at Lehman College.

• Bill Schwartz, Lucy Chudson, and their daughter Alexandra Schwartz on the death of Bill’s mother, Ida Schwartz.

• Bill Platt on his engagement to Debra Lusman.

• Zipora and Bernard Weber, and their daughter Daniela Tisch on the death of Zipora’s mother, Esther Baron.

• Barbara Schwimmer and her entire family on Barbara becoming a Bat Torah.

• Ruth Acker, Paul Heller, and their son Michael Heller on the death of Ruth’s mother, Helen Acker.

• Steve, Lynette, Caroline, and Sarah Koppel on Sarah’s marriage to Joshua Smith.

• Deborah and Larry Fraser, and their daughters Molly and Rebecca, on the death of Deborah’s stepfather, Michael Gordon.

• Susan Pereira on being selected for inclusion in the 5th International Shalshelet New Jewish Liturgical Music Festival.

• Rabbi Stephen Roberts, and his husband Ron Hellman, on the death of Stephen’s father, Hyman Roberts.

synagogue: 257 W. 88th St. • office: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), Suite 203, New York, NY 10023 • tel : 212.787.7600 • fax : 212.496.7600 • website : www.bj.org

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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 530 New York, NY

2109 Broadway (Ansonia) • Suite 203 • New York, NY 10023

new voIce • KOL HADASH . ­ YNAGOGUE: S 257 West 88th Street OFFICES: 2109 Broadway (Ansonia), #203 Main Telephone Number 212-787-7600 Fax Number (2109 Broadway) 212-496-7600 Website www.bj.org Rabbis: J. Rolando Matalon Marcelo R. Bronstein Felicia L. Sol Hazzan and Music Director: Ari Priven

Committees & Services: Accounts Payable........................227 Accounts Receivable...................237 Adult Education Information..... 233 Bar/Bat Mitzvah..........................223 Bikkur Holim...............................233 BJ Reads.....................................272 Communications.........................275 Community Programs................255 Conversion..................................261 Daily Minyan................................232 Development & Donation Information.........228

88th Street Rental.......................255 Family Activities: Hotline............318 Hakhnasat Orhim........................255 Havurot.......................................255 Hevra Kadisha . ......................... 233 Homeless Shelter...................... 272 Interfaith Committee ................ 379 Kiddush Scheduling....................255 Kol Jeshurun................................275 Kol Hadash...................................275 Life Cycles...................................233 Lunch Program...........................272 Mekusharim................................224

Membership Information............224 Panim el Panim..........................259 Ralph Bunche School Partnership........................... 272 Social Action...............................259 Teen Programming.....................242 Torah/Haftarah Reading.............232 Tze’irim ..................................... 250 Ushering.....................................233 Visiting Groups............................250 Volunteer Information................255 Youth & Family Education..........225

Director of Israel Engagement: Orli Moss, x229

Board of Trustees: Jeannie Blausteinº President

Judith Trachtenberg Emily Weiss Anna Winderbaum Michael Yoeli

Director of Development: Lisa Steinberg, x228 Director of Communications: Denise Waxman, x275

BJ Rabbinic Fellows: Jonah Geffen, x262 Adam Roffman, x261

Chief Financial Officer: Alyce Gunn, x226

Cantorial Intern and Teen Educator: Shoshi Rosenbaum, x242

Director of Facilities: Roma Serdtse, x258

Executive Director: Steve Goldberg, x266

Assistant to Rabbi Matalon and Executive Director Steve Goldberg: Monique Rucker, x234

Assistant Executive Director: Belinda Lasky, x224 Director of Education for Youth and Family: Ivy Schreiber, x225 Director of Social Action/ Social Justice: Channa Camins, x259 Director of Events: Guy Felixbrodt, x255

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Assistant to Rabbi Bronstein and Hazzan Priven: Naomi Goodhart, x240 Assistant to Rabbi Sol: x233

Jonathan Adelsbergº Chair Sally Gottesmanº Vice President Joel Kazisº Vice President Robert Buxbaumº Vice President Irv Rosenthalº Treasurer Andrew Littº Secretary Anne Ebersman Nancy Freireich Moshe Horn Sofia Hubscher Franklin Kern Debbie Lerner Henry Meer Bernie Plum Jack Stern

Honorary Trustees Virginia Bayer* Ted Becker* Frederic Goldstein Marcy Grau* David Hirsch* Richard Janvey* Robert Kanter Joan Kaplan Susan Kippur* Sara Moore Litt* Naomi Meyer Judith Stern Peck* Stephen Stulman General Counsel Richard Kalikow Hebrew School Advisory Members Katie Boyar Melanie Sherman Tze’irim Representative Jason Herman º Executive Committee Member * Past President