THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010 24 NISSAN, 5770 SHABBAT: FRI 7:51 – SAT 8:51 CINCINNATI, OHIO VOL. 156 • NO. 37 SINGLE ISSUE PRICE $2.00
INTERNATIONAL Rebuilding a synagogue where Jews resisted Soviets Page 8
Kosher foods will remain at Remke by Avi Milgrom Assistant Editor Following Remke Market’s announcement of an agreement to purchase six, Cincinnati bigg’s stores and pharmacies last week, concern has arisen within the Jewish community about the fate of the kosher section at the bigg’s on Highland Avenue. According to Remke Markets spokesperson, Pat Iasillo, Remke will continue to operate the kosher section in the Highland Avenue biggs. He indicated that the kosher section is a good source of sales. The only other major source for kosher foods in Cincinnati is
the Blue Ash Kroger. This acquisition expands Remke Markets to 13 stores in Ohio and Northern Kentucky. At this writing, questions remain about whether the bigg’s stores will become part of the Remke brand. The bigg’s locations that will be acquired are as follows: 3240 Highland Ave., Columbia Township; 5071 Glencrossing Way, Westwood; 5218 Beechmont Ave., Anderson Township; 3872 Paxton Ave., Oakley; 9600 South MasonMontgomery Rd., Mason and 5025 Delhi Rd., Delhi Township. The following stores that are not part of the purchase agreement
will be closed by the owner of bigg’s, SUPERVALU INC., before the end of May: 4450 Eastgate Blvd, Union Township; 10501 New Haven Rd., Harrison; 8340 Colerain Ave., Colerain Township; 4824 Union Center Blvd., West Chester and 4873 Houston Rd., Florence. At this time there is no information on how the closings and purchase will affect the pool of bigg’s jobs. SUPERVALU INC. is one of the largest grocery companies in the U.S. with estimated annual sales of $41 billion. Throughout the U.S., it owns a network of approximately 4,290 stores composed of approximately 1,200 traditional and premium stores, including 850 in-store
pharmacies; 1,180 hard discount Save-A-Lot stores, of which 860 are operated by licensee owners; and 1,910 independent stores serviced primarily by the company’s traditional food distribution business. SUPERVALU has approximately 170,000 employees. Remke Markets’ 13 stores will be supplied by the SUPERVALU distribution center in Xenia, Ohio. The company has been in the grocery business for more than 113 years and is employee-owned. Stated Remke, “This purchase, and the ability to work with SUPERVALU via our supply relationship, will allow our entire organization to expand...”
A life-changing experience for two Christians by Avi Milgrom Assistant Editor
ISRAEL Land Day march highlights dilemmas facing Israel and its Arab citizens Page 10
DINING OUT Apsara Asian Cuisine offers tastes of Pacific rim Page 14
In addition to the various trips to Israel for young people, there is another that attracts Jews and nonJews alike. These trips are organized by Volunteers for Israel (VFI) in the states and administered in Israel by Sar-El. For travelers between the ages of 18-27 on Taglit–birthright Israel, flight tickets may be extended to permit a longer stay with the tab for room and board paid. VFI’s mission is “…to connect Americans to Israel through volunteer service.” The service is to spend two to three weeks living and working in an army base or
Splendid St. Petersburg: palaces, parks and a midnight sun Page 20
Mike and Jean Thurman in Jerusalem, Israel.
CHRISTIANS on page 22
In Germany, confronting the Nazi perpetrators by Toby Axelrod Jewish Telegraphic Agency
TRAVEL
hospital in Israel. Volunteers work Sunday through Thursday and get Friday and Shabbat off to explore Israel. Group excursions are often part of the trips as well. Originally the program was developed during the 1982 war with Lebanon; it attracts volunteers from all over the globe. Volunteers do have to pay for round-trip airfare, various fees and other expenses, but during the workweek, expenses are covered and volunteers often enjoy Shabbat with host families. Two non-Jews who enjoyed participating in this program are
BERLIN (JTA) — It isn’t easy facing the cold stare of a Nazi perpetrator, even in a photo. Increasingly, however, memorial sites in Germany are making the confrontation possible, opening a door that long has been sealed. A new exhibit at the former Ravensbrueck women’s concentration camp in the ex-East German state of Brandenburg is the latest example. “The Fuehrerhaus: Everyday Life and Crimes of Ravensbrueck SS Officers,” opened March 20,
allowing a glimpse into the life of camp commandant Max Koegel and his SS underlings through informational panels arranged in his former villa, steps away from the barracks that once housed thousands of prisoners. On April 18, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to visit the memorial for the first time to mark the camp’s liberation 65 years ago by Russian Red Army soldiers. During a recent preview, members of the restoration crew and their spouses entered the peakroofed house of Koegel, passed through the former dining area with its large fireplace, climbed the pol-
ished wooden staircase to the second floor and stepped out onto the balcony from which Koegel himself could survey the camp below. The spheres of SS and prisoner “were two completely separate worlds,” exhibit curator Alyn Bessmann said. “We hope this [dichotomy] will be more tangible to the visitors now.” The contrast “should make people think,” said restorer Dietmar Gallinat, 46, standing on the balcony. Koegel, notorious for his eagerness to punish prisoners for the slightest transgression, “was probably no different from the town
baker” who ignored the brutality around him. “And there are still people who think this way today.” “The whole thing has a kind of nightmarish atmosphere,” said painter Karsten Neumann, 46. “It is astonishing that people were capable of spreading such misery … and it is important to name these people.” “When I think that they lived normal lives in these rooms, I feel sick,” said Neumann’s wife, Ulrike. “I felt I had to wash my hands after leaving the house because I did not want to touch what they had touched.”
GERMANY on page 21
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‘Just’n Time’...tunes, tales by Justin Miller at Ohav Shalom On Sunday, April 25, Congregation Ohav Shalom will host Justin Miller for an evening of music and stories. A guitarist and mandolin player, Miller tours worldwide and has produced three CDs. At Ohav Shalom, he will perform a wide variety of music from an array of genres: classical pieces, a Brazilian bossa nova, selections by Jewish American popular songwriters, such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers, a Beatles tune
as well as his own version of Hatikvah. Regarded as a gifted storyteller, Miller will intersperse his music with stories on a variety of subjects, including the many people he has interviewed in the world of entertainment, such as Duke Ellington and Eubie Blake — who was 98 at the time of the interview. Miller will be accompanied by a bass player and a percussionist. Chairperson Ken Germain commented, “I’ve seen Justin
Miller in concert and in a discussion setting. In both instances, he was absolutely entertaining as a stellar musician and as a totally engaging storyteller, especially when he recounted tales of his first-hand interactions with music superstars.” The event includes a cash wine bar, a silent auction at 6:15 p.m. and, after Miller’s performance, a dessert and coffee buffet. For information on patron and general tickets, call Ohav Shalom.
AJC’s tribute dinner to honor Kay Geiger Key Geiger, regional vice president of PNC bank, will be honored on April 27 with the American Jewish Committee Cincinnati Regional Office 2010 Civic Achievement Award, in its annual tribute dinner. The award recognizes Geiger’s professional and civic accomplishments as well as her philanthropic commitments. In addition to working as a board member of the Miami University Board of Trustees, Geiger’s community work includes service on the boards of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and the
Kay Geiger will be honored on April 27 at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherlands.
Anthony Munoz Foundation. Also, she is actively involved with YWCA, Bridges for a Just Community, and the Fine Arts Fund. She was named a YWCA Woman of the Year and Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber Corporate Woman of the Year. The dinner at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza Hall of Mirrors will not only salute Ms. Geiger, but will raise funds for the global advocacy and human rights work of AJC as well. Keynote speaker is Dr. David C. Hodge, president of Miami University. The dinner will take place at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza Hall of Mirrors. For ticket information and reservations, contact the AJC Cincinnati office.
Best Wishes for a Joyous Passover Season
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Big Friday evening at NHS, April 16 Young Jewish Adults to Hold Kickoff Event The “Young Jewish Adults of Greater Cincinnati” will hold its first event — “An Unforgettable Evening”— with Shabbat services and dinner at Northern Hills Synagogue-Congregation B’nai Avraham on Friday, April 16. Services will be ConservativeEgalitarian with a few tunes fondly remembered from Jewish day camp. The dinner will include “recipes from home:” baked chicken, noodle kugel and a fresh
garden salad. The group’s mission is to enrich the lives of young Jewish adults through service to the community, Judaic study and involvement in religious exploration. “We created this organization to offer not just an opportunity to network and socialize but also to explore our Jewish heritage and the influence it has on our daily lives,” said Daniel Goodstein, Michigan native and founding member. There is a fee for the event.
Later, a look at Jewish Humor Jewish humor will be the topic of NHS’s Third Friday adult education series for April. Dr. Gila Safran Naveh, director of the Department of Judaic Studies of the University of Cincinnati will be the featured speaker. The program will be held as part of Friday evening services on April 16. Dr. Naveh received her Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of California at San Diego. She teaches courses in
Jewish Humor at the University of Cincinnati, as well as Women’s Humor, Literature of the Holocaust, and Jews in Film and Salon Culture. In her career, she has also focused on Holocaust and genocide studies, critical theory, Freud and Judaism, and gender issues. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Northern Hills Synagogue at 931-6038. For more information on both events, call NHS.
National Council of Jewish Women celebrates 115 years in Cincinnati The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), Cincinnati section will celebrate 115 years of service to children, women and families of Greater Cincinnati on April 15 with a luncheon at Cedar Village. NCJW, whose new motto is “a faith in the future, a belief in action,” will initiate grants to social service organizations or projects in Cincinnati that reflect NCJW’s goals – protecting children, advancing women’s rights, defending freedom, strengthening Israel and pursuing progressive
reform in America. It is called “The NCJW Cincinnati Fund.” NCJW will present the inaugural grants, totaling $27,000 to nine organizations: Cedar Village, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Council on Child Abuse, Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati, Jewish Early Learning Cooperative, Jewish Family Service, Planned Parenthood, Pleasant Ridge Montessori and United Cerebral Palsy of Cincinnati. About one year ago, NCJW Cincinnati section found itself at a
crossroads. The section did not have the volunteers and the wherewithal to continue. Some 10 volunteers and past section presidents, developed the Cincinnati Fund as a pilot project. “Life in NCJW will be different, but if NCJW is about anything, it is about change. You can see that affirmed in the founding vision of Hannah G. Solomon, which was to ‘further the best and highest interests of humanity in fields Religious, Philanthropic, and Educational’, through the many years under our old motto, ‘faith
and humanity’ to the principle that guided us to our new identity – ‘a faith in the future, a belief in action,’” said Andrea Herzig, Cincinnati section president, Since its founding in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Exposition, NCJW’s array of services and advocacy has cut a broad swath across many needs including those of blind and deaf, Jewish immigrant children, children with disabilities and the unemployed. The April 15 luncheon is open to all. Contact NCJW for information.
Former Rockette to talk at Chabad Jewish Center, April 25 Chabad Women’s Chavura will host an evening of “Glamour and Inspiration,” featuring Darlene Wendy Frank, a former Radio City Music Hall Rockette and national spokesperson for the dancers. Darlene will talk about her life and Jewish roots. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Darlene began dancing lessons at the age of 8. By the time she was 18, Darlene had begun her career as a professional dancer, eventually joining the famous Radio City Rockettes. Darlene has performed for Presidents Bush and Nixon, danced on the David Letterman Show, Entertainment Tonight, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Yankee Ticker Tape Parade, Super Bowl Half Time, and has appeared with celebrities Placido Domingo, Billie Crystal, Elizabeth Taylor, Whoopi Goldberg and Liza Minnelli. Darlene has been interviewed on ABC & CBS news, has broadcast the weather on NBC, and has modeled for Leggs Pantyhose and Clairol. She traveled throughout the world, living a glamorous life of
Darlene Wendy Frank will discuss discovering her Jewish roots.
adventure and stardom, and has shared her exciting story with newspapers such as the NY Times and the Chicago Tribune. Currently, Darlene lives in Forest Hills, N.Y. where she combines her unique background as a Rockette with her expertise as a professional certified fitness instructor. In addition, she has become a popular inspirational speaker, discussing her glamorous life and journey toward spiritual fulfillment through her exploration of her Jewish heritage. “Participants will have the opportunity to get the once-in-alifetime experience of trying those famous eye-high kicks,” said Yana Duke, Chavura president. “I am excited that the Women’s Chavura is able to host this unique personality for the Jewish women in our Cincinnati community to enjoy,” she added. The evening is sponsored in part by Anita Schneider in memory of her dear mother, Evelyn Fidler. Call the center for reservations and information.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
The oldest English-Jewish weekly in America Founded July 15, 1854 by Isaac M.Wise VOL. 156 • NO. 37 Thursday, April 8, 2010 24 Nissan, 5770 Shabbat begins Fri, 7:51 p.m. Shabbat ends Sat, 8:51 p.m. THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE CO., PUBLISHERS 18 WEST NINTH STREET, SUITE 2 CINCINNATI, OHIO 45202-2037 PHONE: (513) 621-3145 FAX: (513) 621-3744 publisher@americanisraelite.com editor@americanisraelite.com articles@americanisraelite.com production@americanisraelite.com HENRY C. SEGAL Editor & Publisher 1930-1985 MILLARD H. MACK Publisher Emeritus NETANEL (TED) DEUTSCH Editor & Publisher AVI MILGROM MICHAEL McCRACKEN Assistant Editors ALEXIA KADISH Copy Editor JOSEPH D. STANGE Production Manager JUSTIN COHEN Advertising Sales LEV LOKSHIN JANE KARLSBERG Staff Photographers JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor ROBERT WILHELMY Restaurant Reporter MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM RABBI A. JAMES RUDIN RABBI AVI SHAFRAN Contributing Writers CHRISTIE HALKO Office Manager
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Musical performed by children at the J on April 13, 15 “Tell me a Story” will be performed on Tuesday, April 13 and Thursday, April 15, at the JCC. An original musical production, it will be performed by third through sixth graders in the JCC “Center Stage” Musical Theater Company. (“Center Stage” was a popular JCC program for many kids growing up in Cincinnati, and it’s now making its debut at the JCC.) “Tell Me a Story” is a fairy tale in which two babysitters tell a story that comes alive on stage. A little girl hears the tale of a magical kingdom (with a princess and prince destined to meet), an enchanted pomegranate tree, an ugly witch and her helpers, and
three unfortunate frogs. The cast of “Tell Me a Story” includes: Elyse Baden, Sophie Bloomfield, Emma Burstein, Jenna Caller, Emily Fox, Ethan Gabbour, Emily Glazer, Charlie Goldsmith, Alayna Hatfield, Nina Hayutin, Emma Heines, Claire Lefton, Leah Mossman, Shane Setna, Quinn Stiefbold, and Alex Woosley. The production was written and directed by Marlene Foreman Shmalo, with musical direction from Paul L. Rogers and choreography by Courtney Cummings. Shmalo has been a performing arts teacher for more than 35 years, and has a master’s degree from the UC College Conservatory of Music (CCM). Recently, she directed the
“350th Anniversary of Jews in America,” and she has taught at UC for the past 31 years. She is also the former Director of Performing Arts at the JCC in Roselawn. Professional pianist, Paul L. Rogers, is a graduate of CCM as well. He has performed and taught piano for many years, and currently teaches at the Musical Arts Center in Cincinnati. Courtney Cummings has a master’s degree in music from the Eastman School of Music, more than 12 years of dance experience, and is currently the Cultural Arts Coordinator at the Mayerson JCC. “Tell Me a Story” is open to the public. For more information, contact the JCC.
Constructing Holocaust memories: Where mind meets museum by Edmon J. Rodman Jewish Telegraphic Agency LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Are you a Holocaust avoider? Not a denier, just someone like me who struggles with thinking about destruction, death and genocide. Do you sometimes catch yourself thinking, “Can’t I just think about this another time?” Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, is observed on April 11; what should you do? There are lectures, symposia and memorial concerts. You could attend a service, read a book or talk to a relative about someone who perished. You could visit a museum. The new Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is nearing the final stages of construction. I drive by the site every couple of weeks and wonder, how will a new museum help me and others to face the tragedy? Seeking an answer, with Holocaust Remembrance Day approaching, I set out to the site for a walk-through with the museum’s executive director, Mark Rothman. Putting on a hard-hat, it wasn’t the unlikely potential of falling masonry that concerned me, it was falling spirits; Holocaust museums really depressed me. The trip would take me down ramps, past underground girders
and large trapezoidal windows, through gray concrete-lined and shadowy spaces, and back into the light of day. I was hoping that a walk through a yet-to-be finished museum could somehow help me reconstruct my own perceptions of this imponderable period. Located on a rise at the far end of Pan Pacific Park, across the street from the Grove and Farmer’s Market, two of L.A.’s biggest shopping and tourism draws, the museum promises to be a very public place. To magnify this sense of accessibility further, admission will be free. The museum is located in the midst of a Jewish neighborhood that also has perhaps L.A.’s largest number of Holocaust survivors. Its subtly curvilinear structure, built into a hillside, has a low profile and “green” roof. Rothman and I entered via a downward ramp into a large exhibit space that is mostly below ground level. Rothman says the exhibit space, arranged in a horseshoe, will dim gradually to represent the darkening series of events represented in the museum. For a museum exhibit designer, presenting the Holocaust is a complicated task. The story urgently needs to be told, but how? With fading memory but still with a desire to reconnect, the public wants documentation, the alltoo-gruesome facts: How many,
how, what was the timeline? Too much detail or too graphic and you are faced with the issue that has always thwarted me in these spaces: What draws you in is what pushes you away. “You can’t get out of the context of the tragedy,” Rothman said later. “We need to be aware of our history, even if it’s dark and tragic.” MUSEUM on page 19
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Why we wrote ‘Why Should I Care?’ by Jeanette Friedman Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW MILFORD, N.J. (JTA) — There are hundreds of books about the Holocaust on classroom and library shelves, but my co-author, David Gold, and I decided that books and videos that hit people on the head with huge numbers of dead people — and even survivor memoirs — weren’t always reaching students. All you had to do was look around to see we were failing. People didn’t seem to understand that the Holocaust’s main lessons were about the way people treated each other, how they made decisions, and what they believed when they read newspapers and listened to the radio. Rare was the course that made students understand they had to have values and take responsibility for their own actions. So we sat down in front of our computers, clicked on Googletalk and together wrote “Why Should I Care? Lessons from The Holocaust,” a “living” book that is constantly revised on the Internet and in paperback. It is designed to grab young peoples’ attention and make them think about the world and their role in it. For me, the journey began 31 years ago in Teaneck, N.J., during the first oil crisis. I drove my kids to nursery school and found swatiskas and anti-Semitc graffiti scrawled on the beige brickwork. I was furious,
Jeanette Friedman
but there was no one to blame. Before 1979, relatively few people knew about the Holocaust, and more didn’t care. As the Jewish student adviser at William Paterson College, I decided I wanted to do a program for the students. In those days Holocaust education was rare in any school system, Jewish or secular. There was scant material to use in classrooms. There were few statewide or national observances or commemorations. Teachers went to film catalogues and chose the shortest film they could find because they had just 40 minutes to make the point. Most chose a 28-minute documentary by Alain Resnais called “Night and Fog,” but it closed down conversation. Piling horror on top of horror did not work. It’s
even worse now — in the age of HDTV, hi-res violence, blood and gore hit student’s eyeballs daily, and grainy black-and-white images from the past hardly moves them. When Holocaust education was incorporated into national social studies standards, I realized students were getting too little too late. Already hard-wired for bullying and hatred, it was hard to undo damage by showing “Schindler’s List” and expect a paradigm shift in behavior and values. Today there is erosion, misinterpretation, trivialization and, perhaps worst of all, exploitation of the Holocaust as a fund-raising tool and political bludgeon. So what good is studying the Holocaust if no one cares — or doesn’t know how to care? In 1982, it already made sense to me to start in first grade with Disney’s “Dumbo the Elephant” because the film could be used to teach values and character by showing that those designated as different can get hurt, especially if “good” people around them do nothing to stop it. I was told it was a desecration to think that way, but as time passed I was convinced I was right. A little more than three years ago I visited Gold, my old college buddy from Brooklyn, when he was sitting shiva for his mother. We talked and decided to work together to create a new approach. The perspective we offer in
“Why Should I Care?” came from continued study and personal experience. He was a Judaic studies instructor on the university level; served as director of the National Commission on Youth for the American Jewish Congress; was a founding director of The American Endowment School in Budapest; and served on the board of the Endowment for Democracy. In 1979 I founded Group Project for Holocaust Education, which became Second Generation North Jersey, the first such group in the state. I was Second Generation Education Liaison to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council and served on the first state commission on Holocaust Education in the nation, as well as the Goldberg Commission on American Jews and Rescue during the Holocaust. I was familiar with lots of the material being produced for classrooms. At the same time I was mothering three teenagers in New Milford High School, then a hotbed of bullying and anti-Semitism. That’s where my son Dan was barred from entering a classroom because a student decided “No Jews Allowed.” Dan was told he was going to hell for killing Jesus, and that Anne Frank’s diary was a lie. The principal told me the Holocaust was a matter of opinion, and what did I mean the Jews didn’t kill Jesus? Fifteen years after the state made teaching the Holocaust mandatory, my son’s classmates sneered their way through “Schindler’s List.” That had to change. David and I realized we needed to use students’ vernacular and the context of their lives to break through their cyni-
National Briefs Attack on building is hate crime, N.Y. court rules (JTA) — A person can be guilty of a hate crime even if his victim is a building and not a person, a New York court found. The state’s Court of Appeals affirmed Tuesday that Mazin Assi’s conviction under New York’s hate crimes statute for throwing firebombs at a Bronx synagogue in 2000 was valid. Assi was convicted in 2003 of attempted arson and criminal mischief as hate crimes and sentenced to five to 15 years in prison. In an appeal, Assi claimed that his conviction under the hate crimes law should be reversed since he attacked property and not a person. “It is self-evident that, although
cism. With brand-new media and communication tools at our disposal, we wanted to reach students imbedded in pop culture and the Internet. And so we link to hundreds of sites that make points true to the legacy that Holocaust survivors want to leave behind. We use a cultural framework the students understand. At its worst, Holocaust education creates disdain for Jewish people, ramps up the Victim Olympics and creates old-fashioned antiSemitism with a modern twist — the exact opposite of what the survivors want. At its best the result is a caring, responsible human being who understands what the Holocaust really stands for. “Why Should I Care?” is written in short takes that show how the unprecedented Holocaust reappears on a smaller scale in genocides today. We use Borat and Bono, the National Geographic Genome Project, Harry Potter and genocide survivors’ stories as means to engage students, to get them to think critically and challenge them to care. Yes, academic research and documentation of the Holocaust must continue, for the scholars are the engines that generate the stories containing the values needed to “repair” the world. They allow us to translate that material into language, form and perspective that works for students, survivors and people of good will. There may be those who disagree, but David and I believe “Never Again” is not a slogan for Jews only. “Why Should I Care?” is written precisely to make that point. the target of the defendant’s criminal conduct was a building, the true victims were the individuals of Jewish faith who were members of the synagogue,” Judge Victoria Graffeo wrote in the court’s opinion, according to the New York Daily News. Bullock’s estranged husband shown posing as Hitler (JTA) — Sandra Bullock’s estranged husband is seen in a US Weekly photo posing as Adolf Hitler, wearing a German soldier’s cap and giving a Heil Hitler salute. The 2004 photo of Jesse James was taken before his marriage to Bullock and released this week amid the couple’s marital problems, which caused James to check into a rehabilitation clinic. James’ attorney, Joe Yanny, told CNN that the Nazi hat was a gag gift from James’ Jewish godfather. James also lived for a month on a kibbutz in Israel, Yanny told CNN.
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PBS
“Among the Righteous” chronicles a scholar’s search for Arabs — like, from left, Si Ali Sakkat, Hamza Abdul Jalil and Khaled Abdul Wahab — who aided Jews at risk from Hitler’s troops in North Africa.
Shoah week on PBS by Tom Tugend Jewish Telegraphic Agency LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The Public Broadcasting Service will offer U.S. television viewers a concentrated history lesson during Holocaust Remembrance Week, with seven films and documentaries on Jewish death and defiance in the past and on the genocides of the present. Four main films will be aired in prime time by 365 member stations, starting April 11 with a broadcast of the British version of “The Diary of Anne Frank” at 9 p.m., sponsored in part by the Jewish Federations of North America (check local listings to confirm date and time). The story of the high-spirited Jewish girl in hiding from the Nazis for two years in a crowded Amsterdam attic, while at the same time facing the highs and lows of adolescence and first love, is too familiar and revered to permit tampering with the plot. However, director Jon Jones does allow himself to vary the relationships among the key characters. Ellie Kendrick (one of the young school girls in “An Education”) gives us an Anne with all her exuberance, as well as occasional orneriness and chutzpah. But the major surprise is Otto Frank, Anne’s father, as portrayed by Iain Glen. In her intimate diary, Ann was not uncritical of her parents, and Otto has been frequently pictured as cold and ineffectual. By contrast, in the current production, Otto is very much the central and dominating figure, who keeps his family and their friends from falling apart amid the crowded tension and boredom of their tight quarters. It is also Otto who enforces a degree of normalcy in the most abnormal of circumstances. The three adult men in the attic dress in jacket and tie, and in the celebration of a joyous Chanukah the actors seem to convince themselves and the viewers that all is (or soon will
be) alright with the world. “Among the Righteous,” airing April 12 at 10 p.m., documents the dogged search by historian and writer Robert Satloff to track down and verify any instances in which Arabs aided their Jewish neighbors while Hitler’s Afrika Corps swept across North Africa. Satloff, the executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, embarked on his quest after noticing during a visit to Yad Vashem that there was not a single Arab listed among the Righteous Christians and, mainly Albanian Muslims, who sheltered or saved Jews during the Holocaust. His research turned up evidence of 100 forced labor and concentration camps in Tunisia and Morocco, one so notorious that it was known as the “Buchenwald in the Desert.” Satloff finds his hero in Khaled Abdul-Wahab, a prosperous Tunis businessman, who, like Oskar Schindler, entertained Nazi officials to cover sheltering Jewish families on his family farm. There is also a brief testimony by Tunisian-born Sivan Shalom, Israel’s former foreign minister, on the help extended to his father by Arab friends. “Blessed Is the Match,” scheduled for April 13 at 10 p.m., recounts the bravery of Hannah Senesh, a young poet and diarist. In 1944, Senesh joined an elite group of Palestinian Jews to parachute behind Nazi lines and rescue Jews in her native Hungary. Senesh was caught, tortured and executed by the Germans, but her name lives on in the annals of Israeli heroism. Turning from the horrors of the past to the bloody present (and future), historian Daniel Goldhagen (author of “Hitler’s Willing Executioners”) premieres his book and documentary feature, “Worse Than War,” on April 14 at 9 p.m. on PBS. Looking at the sorry record of the last 100 years, Goldhagen counts 100 million civilians, mostly women and children, killed in geno-
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www.americanisraelite.com cides in Turkey, Ukraine, Nazioccupied Europe, China, Cambodia and on to Guatemala, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. That staggering figure, he says, exceeds all the military deaths in all the wars of the century. Followed by a camera crew, Goldhagen last year went to 10 countries in Asia, Africa, the former Soviet Union and Central America, interviewing survivors, perpetrators and families of victims. Amid horrifying footage and testimony, Goldhagen tries to make some sense of it all, seeking the causes — and possible solutions — to prevent future “ethnic cleansings.” or, the term he prefers, “eliminationism.” Also during Holocaust Remembrance Week, a limited number of public broadcasting stations will carry two more documentaries, “Holy Lands: Jerusalem & The West Bank” and “House of Life: The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague,” as well as a play-within-aplay, “Imagine This.” The cinematic version of a recent London stage musical, “Imagine This” is arguably the most startling and complex of the week’s offerings. It opens with a group of bourgeois Jewish families in Warsaw enjoying an outing at a merry-goround, when Nazi dive bombers interrupt the idyll. Next, crammed into a ghetto, Daniel, the leader of the Jewish inmates, decides to buck up their spirits by putting on a play. The presence of a flourishing theater, and even an orchestra and library, most notably in the Lodz Ghetto, is historically correct and was dramatized in Joshua Sobol’s memorable “Ghetto.” For his production, Daniel chooses the last stand of the Jews against the Romans at Masada, with obvious similarities to the “actors’” present situation. In parallel, the characters as ghetto inmates and Masada resisters are faced with the choice of surrender or defiance.
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NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
Jewish group to Glenn Beck: Haik U by Ben Harris Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK (JTA) — If Glenn Beck has his way, many American Jews would be abandoning their synagogues. If one Jewish group has its way, the popular right-wing talk-show host will be drowned out by a wave of haikus. The popular right-wing talk show host — who has called the health care reform legislation “an assault on the republic” and the first African American president a “racist” — is urging people to quit their churches if the term “social justice” appears anywhere on their Web sites. “I beg you, look for the words ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site,” Beck said on his nationally broadcast radio program March 2. “If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words.” To illustrate the point further, Beck, on his television show, held up cards imprinted with a swastika and the hammer and sickle. Social justice, Beck said, was tantamount to Nazism and communism. Christian leaders of various stripes were outraged. But surprisingly, considering that a good number of synagogues in the United States would be shuttered if American Jews followed Beck’s advice, Jewish groups haven’t had much to say. The exception was Jewish Funds for Justice, which last week launched a Web site, “Haik U Glenn Beck,” in which users are invited to respond to Beck — poetically. “Hurling expensive/coffee at the expensive/TV screen now, Ahhh,” wrote the novelist and Daily Beast columnist Christopher Buckley in one of nearly 1,000 haikus submitted during the site’s first week of operation. The Beck controversy comes at a moment when social justice, for years a growing — and minimally controversial — area of communal activity, has emerged as something of a dividing line between Jewish liberals and conservatives. Jack Wertheimer, a professor and former provost of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, sparked a minor uproar last month when, in the March issue of Commentary magazine, he criticized the diversion of community resources to projects aimed at helping non-Jews under the guise of social justice. More recently, Jennifer Rubin, also writing for Commentary, called President Obama’s Passover message, with its emphasis on a universal social message, “off-key, hyper-political, and condescending.” Obama’s “secularized spiel,” Rubin wrote, denies the holiday’s
uniquely Jewish message. At the same time, liberal Jewish bloggers sided with the president, arguing that the retelling of the Exodus story is meant to inspire Jews and others to combat injustice. Such talk, but especially Beck’s comments, are a sign of desperation, said Mik Moore, the chief strategy officer at Jewish Funds for Justice. “It’s part of a broader assault, in this instance, on faith communities that put social justice at the center of their work,” Moore said. “It stems from a fear that the side that rejects the relationship between Judaism and social justice, that they’re losing.” It’s noteworthy that the tension between Jewish particularism and wider social concerns should come to a head around Passover, perhaps the most expansively understood and universally resonant of all Jewish holidays. Passover seders have long been an occasion for interfaith dialogue, and Jewish groups routinely organize seders around such diverse themes as labor rights, children’s nutrition, and the civil rights struggle. Jewish conservatives, for their part, don’t call for Jews to abandon wide social causes altogether, but rather to find a better balance between them and the specific needs of the Jewish community. “Nobody here is claiming that we need to expunge a universalist frame of reference from our Jewish point of view,” said Jonathan Tobin, the executive editor of Commentary, who asserted that putting Beck and Wertheimer in the same category is “screwy.” “What we’re saying is, when things get out of whack, when you are primarily interested in the universal agenda, then the Jewish end of it can suffer,” he said. Newer Jewish non-profits often claim that social justice is a greater animating cause for younger Jews than the issues traditionally associated with older, more established Jewish organizations. But Tobin believes that if Jewish affiliation and donations to specifically Jewish causes continue to decline, then all Jewish institutions will suffer — the social justice groups included. “The idea that only Jewish universalism will survive while Jewish parochialism goes down the tubes is, to me, a remarkably foolish point of view,” Tobin said. For his part, Moore accepts that. Jewish Funds for Justice, he said, wouldn’t be training rabbis and working with synagogues if it was unconcerned with strengthening the Jewish community. “But,” he added, “we’re doing it in a way that is meaningful to them and yet is genuinely rooted in Jewish history and tradition.”
Anna Rudnitskaya
Jews in Malakhovka celebrate the opening of the Moscow suburb’s new synagogue, March 23, 2010.
Rebuilding a synagogue where Jews resisted Soviets by Anna Rudnitskaya Jewish Telegraphic Agency MALAKHOVKA, Russia (JTA) — In Soviet times, the small town of Malakhovka, less than 10 miles from Moscow, was the center of Jewish underground activity. In 2005 its old wooden synagogue was burned down in a fire — for the second time. Five years later, the shared effort of local authorities and wealthy Moscow Jews have enabled the building of a new synagogue. “There’s a silver lining to the cloud,” one of Russia’s chief rabbis, Berel Lazar, said at the recent opening ceremony, referring to the ‘05 blaze. “Malakhovka Jews have always been God fearing, and He wanted them to have a decent building to organize Jewish life. Now we can see this happen.” The synagogue was built with the financial backing of Moscow businessman Alexander Kaplan, who said he felt a break in tradition upon learning that the old synagogue had been burned down and wanted to bring it back. Kaplan had grown up in Moscow, but his relatives lived in Malakhovka, and as a child he spent summers with them. Local authorities had allowed the Jews to pray in the former administration building — they did not miss a single Shabbat service, one of the community leaders, Mikhail Glimcher, told JTA. The officials also endorsed a plot of land to build
a new synagogue without delay. “They understand it’s better to be friends with us because elections happen,” said Glimcher, the former community head who is seen as the main force behind the new construction. Representatives of the local authorities were on hand for the opening ceremony. The head of administration of Malakhovka, Alexander Avtaev, presented the community with a big gilded key and Lazar with a bunch of white roses. All the citizens of Malakhovka “were upset to know that the synagogue had been burned, and looked forward to the opening of a new one,” Avtaev said. The building also will house a community center, a mikvah, dining hall, and chess and women’s clubs for a Jewish community of approximately 400. The synagogue sits in a Moscow suburb known for two reasons: Malakhovka has played host to the summerhouses of many famous artists, and historically it has been populated by Jews. Old-time residents recall that some 50 years ago, one could hear Yiddish spoken in local shops. In a town of about 18,000, some streets were populated entirely by Jews. It isn’t clear why Malakhovka became such an attraction for Jews, but it’s likely that Jews had begun to settle here, inside the Pale of Settlement, even before the 1917
revolution. Some speculate that local authorities were loyal to Jews. Today’s Malakhovka residents prefer to think that the Jews chose Malakhovka simply because of its beauty. Surrounded by pine groves, the town wins high marks in real estate ratings. Also, trains make it easy to reach the center of Moscow. Another popular conjecture is that Jews liked the place because of a big market held here on weekends. “When a morning train would come on Sunday, local anti-Semites would go to the platform shouting ‘Berdichev has come!’” recalls Eugenia Umanova, 79, who has spent her whole life in Malakhovka and worked as a doctor at a local clinic. Berdichev is a small town in Ukraine inhabited mainly by Jews. From 1919 to 1922, Marc Chagall taught here in a Jewish orphan colony. In the late 1920s, the sixth Lubavitcher rebbe spent three weeks in Malakhovka, living in the house of a Lutheran woman who let Jews pray at her place. In 1932, a synagogue was built near the house of a local Jewish activist, Noah Alterman. To circumvent Soviet-era restrictions on religious organizing, the building was registered as a “shed for household equipment.” Five years later the owner of the house was arrested and subsequently executed for “anti-Soviet activity.” SYNAGOGUE on page 21
INTERNATIONAL
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
International Briefs Canadian businessman donates $2 million to World ORT TORONTO (JTA) — A Canadian entrepreneur has donated $2 million to World ORT, the largest gift ever from a Canadian to the global Jewish educational organization. Seymour Schulich’s gift will establish the Schulich Canada Smart Classroom Initiative, which “will bring a new dimension to teaching, generating class interaction with educational software, Web sites, and other resources,” according to a March 31 news release from World ORT. The initiative, part of Kadima Mada, World ORT’s programming arm in Israel, will launch 411 — smart classrooms— in northern Israel. It will include equipment, teacher-training programs, development of learning materials, upgrades and maintenance. Schools selected for the project have been identified by Israel’s Ministry of Education and Ministry for the Development of the Galilee and the Negev as being in areas of “economic and social distress.” The classrooms will be provided with laptops that connect to a wireless network linking students’ computers to the teacher’s workstation and whiteboard. Some 40,000 students are expected to benefit from the initiative. Teachers also will be equipped with hand-held tablet computers so they can walk around classrooms. “Smart classrooms” also will be able to access World ORT’s videoconferencing network. “I am extremely grateful to Seymour Schulich for this outstanding donation,” Robert Singer, director general and CEO of World ORT, said in a statement. “Today, education is the best investment in the future for the Jewish people and for the future of the State of Israel.” Schulich’s gift was partnered through UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. The donation will be matched by an additional $9.75 million from World ORT, the Israeli ministries of education and of the Negev and Galilee, local authorities, and ORT donors. Schulich, of Ontario, is well known for his philanthropy, notably to Canadian universities. Vatican official sorry for anti-Semitism comparison ROME (JTA) — A Vatican official apologized for comparing criticism directed at the Catholic Church over a widespread pedophil-
ia scandal to anti-Semitic attacks on Jews. “If — and it was not my intention to do so — I hurt the sensitivities of Jews and victims of pedophilia, I am truly sorry and I ask for forgiveness,” the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the papal household, said in an interview published Sunday in the Corriere della Sera newspaper. Jewish groups had slammed Cantalamessa for his remarks made during a Good Friday service in St. Peter’s Basilica attended by Pope Benedict XVI. The pope had not been aware of what he was going to say during the prayer, Cantalamessa told the Italian daily. Cantalamessa, noting that Passover and Easter fell this year in the same week, quoted during the service from a letter he said was from a Jewish friend. The friend, Cantalamessa said, wrote that he was “following the violent and concentric attacks against the Church, the pope and all the faithful by the whole world.” He quoted the friend as adding that “the use of stereotypes, the shifting from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt, remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.” The chief Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the comparison was not “appropriate” and that Cantalamessa’s statement did not represent official Church thinking. Stephan Kramer, the secretary general of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, told the Associated Press that Cantalamessa’s remarks were “repulsive, obscene and most of all offensive towards all abuse victims as well as to all the victims of the Holocaust.” The New York Times reported that Rome Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, who hosted Benedict during a historic visit to the Rome main synagogue in January, “laughed in seeming disbelief” when informed of Cantalamessa’s comparison. Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center called the remarks “hurtful.” They “were made in the presence of the pope, and the pope himself should take responsibility and apologize for them,” he said. “To invoke the issue of persecution against Jews as a lever to try and deflect attention from the crisis inside the Catholic Church is not only unfortunate but simply stunning,” AJC executive director David Harris told Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News last Friday. The Church and the pope have been under heavy fire in recent weeks for the alleged mishandling of hundreds of cases of sexual abuse by priests against children over several decades in several countries. Media reports have accused the pope and other Church officials of covering up the molestation and
negligence in disciplining some of the perpetrators. Budapest Chabad stoned during seder (JTA) — A Chabad house in Budapest was stoned during a
Passover seder. The home of Rabbi Shmuel Raskin was stoned twice during the seder on Tuesday night, according to Israel Radio. Police came after the first incident, and the second incident reportedly took place after the
9
police left.The incident comes amid an election campaign in Hungary some have described as worrisome due to the expected rise of the far-right Jobbik party. No suspects were reported arrested in the attack.
10
ISRAEL
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
Israel Briefs
Uri Lenz / FLASH90 / JTA
A Bedouin youth in the southern Israeli village of El Araqib takes part in the 34th annual “Land Day” protest, March 30, 2010.
Land Day march highlights dilemmas facing Israel and its Arab citizens by Leslie Susser Jewish Telegraphic Agency JERUSALEM (JTA) — A mass demonstration by Israeli Arabs highlighted the core contradiction at the heart of the Israeli-Arab experience: demands for greater equality within Israeli society amid a growing alienation from the Israeli state. An estimated 50,000 demonstrators marched in two long columns March 30 to the Galilee town of Sakhnin to commemorate “Land Day,” an annual protest against unequal distribution of land resources and in memory of 19 Arabs killed in clashes with Israeli security forces in 1976 and 2000. In the first Land Day demonstration in March 1976, six Arabs protesting the expropriation of around 5,000 acres in the Galilee were killed; 13 died in Land Day rioting following the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada in the fall of 2000. This year’s protest was one of the biggest and best organized to date. For the first time, large numbers of Arab women took part, there was no police presence along the route, and no violence. The message, however, was not uniform. While speakers focused mainly on land allocation, thousands of demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, emphasizing
their own Palestinian identity and suggesting identification with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. A few masked men went further. As the procession passed, they hoisted large photographs of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and slain Hezbollah operations chief Imad Mugniyeh, an expression of support for the hostile Iranian-backed Shiite militia. The Hezbollah supporters, however, proved to be very much in the minority. After angry exchanges with the marchers, they were confronted by Sakhnin municipal stewards and, after a brief scuffle, forced to leave. Although public support for Israel’s enemies is rare, there can be little doubt that Israeli Arab alienation from the Jewish state is growing. In late 2006, the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee — the Arab community’s main representative body — published its “Vision Document,” calling for a large measure of Arab political and cultural autonomy. Israeli Jews saw in this a radical demand for separation from the state; Arab leaders countered that it was more a plea for help, and a warning of what might happen unless the Jewish majority makes a genuine effort to integrate the 20 percentstrong Arab minority as fully equal citizens. The main Arab charge on Land
Day was that the government continues to destroy illegally built Arab homes, mainly in the Wadi Ara area of central Israel and the Negev desert in the south, without giving the Arabs a chance to expand their villages, towns and cities legally. According to the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, by not drawing up new master plans that allow for growth of Arab urban and rural areas, the government is effectively choking them. The ensuing tensions have been exacerbated by a string of legislative initiatives by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s hawkish Yisrael Beiteinu party, the latest of which is a proposal to open the foreign service only to people who have done military or national service — effectively disqualifying most Arabs. Lieberman’s argument is that Israeli Arabs must be made to realize that sharing in the benefits of Israeli life comes at a price: loyalty to the state. Israeli Arabs, however, see this as discrimination on ethnic grounds. And pointing to Lieberman’s key position in government, Arab Knesset members charge that racism has become a central tenet in Israeli political life. Other Arab leaders take a more conciliatory line. Writing in Yediot Achronot, Mohammed Zeidan, MARCH on page 21
Gaza teen reported dead returns home alive JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Gaza teen reported by Palestinian officials as killed by Israeli troops returned home alive. Mohammed al-Farmawi, 15, reportedly had been killed Tuesday during clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli troops on the Gaza border during Land Day protests. Gaza health officials had said Farmawi was struck and left to bleed for several hours before his body was collected, according to reports. It was reported Saturday that the teen returned home on Friday after sneaking into a smuggler tunnel in Rafah with a group of friends and trying to escape to Egypt. Farmawi was captured and held by Egyptian security officials, according to The New York Times. Kerry meets with Assad in Syria (JTA) — In a visit to Damascus, U.S. Sen. John Kerry told Syria’s president that it was time to reengage with the West. Kerry (D-Mass.), following his April 1 meeting with Bashar Assad, said in a statement that the United States and Syria have “a mutual interest in having a very frank exchange on any differences that may exist, but also on the many, many agreements that we have about the possibilities of peace in this region.” The visit by Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, came as the U.S. Senate prepared to take up the nomination of America’s first ambassador to Syria since 2005. The United States withdrew its envoy that year to protest the assassination of Lebanon’s thenprime minister, Rafik Hariri. Syria was seen as behind the killing. Jerusalem restaurant picketed for selling chametz JERUSALEM (JTA) — Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men demonstrated outside a Jerusalem restaurant that sells chametz during Passover. Sunday’s demonstration, which was evacuated peacefully, marks the third year in a row that the Iwo Burger restaurant has been targeted during the holiday. Police dispersed the protesters after they had prevented employees from entering the restaurant and tore down signs.
Under Israel’s chametz law, merchants are not permitted to display a chametz product for sale in public. A judge in 2007 ruled that the burger restaurant, as well as four others, did not violate the law by selling chametz since it was done inside the establishments and was not visible from the street. Spying for Israel death sentence upheld in Yemen JERUSALEM (JTA) — An appeals court in Yemen upheld a death sentence for a citizen convicted of spying for Israel. The court on Saturday upheld the conviction of Bassam alHaidari, who was sentenced to death in March 2009 after being accused of contact with an enemy state for sending an e-mail in 2008 to then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Haidari sent an e-mail that read, “We are the Jihad Organization and you are Jews but you are honest and we are ready for anything,” the Yemen News Agency reported Saturday. In response, according to the news agency, the Prime Minister’s Office said that Israel was willing to “support you as agents.” Two others were convicted in the case; all three defendants had pleaded not guilty. The sentence for one man was reduced from five years to three years. The court upheld a threeyear sentence for the third defendant. Christians mark Easter in Jerusalem JERUSALEM (JTA) — Christians from around the world marked Easter in Jerusalem. Thousands took part Sunday in services in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is known as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. This year, both the Eastern Orthodox and western Christian denominations marked Easter on the same day, causing even more demand for seats in the church. Jerusalem police increased security in the days leading up to Easter and remained in a heightened state of alert on Sunday. Police officers, ambulances and fire crews were set up throughout the Old City and near the church to assist Christian worshipers. Despite a closure of the West Bank until the end of Passover on Tuesday, Israel reportedly issued some 10,000 permits for Christian Palestinians to enter Jerusalem from the West Bank. Another 500 Christians from Gaza also received permits to travel to Israel and the West Bank for the holiday, according to Israel’s military.
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Steven Eric Werman and Sherry Beth Barsman
ENGAGEMENT ark and Marsha Barsman are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Sherry Beth to Steven Eric Werman son of Howard and Gwen Werman of Columbus. Sherry is the granddaughter of Norman and the late Gladys Hosansky of Columbus and Marvin and the late Barbara Barsman. Steven is the grandson of Eileen and the late Jerome Zanar and Rabbi Marilyn Werman and the late Paul Werman. Sherry and Steven reside in Chicago where Steve is employed by KPMG and Sherry is a first grade teacher for Chicago Public schools. A July wedding is planned in Cincinnati.
M
R E F UA H SHLEMAH Frieda Berger Fraida bat Raizel
Andrea Lavine Chana Sara bat Esther Enya
Rozlyn Bleznick Rachel Boymel Rochel bat Pesia Fruma Daniel Eliyahu Daniel ben Tikvah Mel Fisher Moshe ben Hinda Edith Kaffeman Yehudit bat B’racha Roma Kaltman Ruchama bat Perl Murray Kirschner Chaim Meir ben Basha
Al Markovitz Avraham ben Charna Ravid Sulam Ravid Chaya bat Ayelet Bill Ziv Zev Shmuel ben Malkah Rachel Edward Ziv Raphael Eliezer Aharon ben Esther Enya
SOCIAL LIFE
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BAR/BAT MITZVAH 2010 SPECIAL SECTION
If your business or organization wants to reach the Greater Cincinnati Jewish Community regarding Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, this is the issue to do it!
Publishes on May 6 Deadline is April 29 For more information or to advertise, call Ted Deutsch at 621-3145 or send an e-mail with “Bar/Bat Mitzvah” in the subject line to publisher@ americanisraelite.com
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DINING OUT
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
Apsara Asian Cuisine offers tastes of Pacific rim by Bob Wilhelmy Restaurant Reporter Probably, you will find no other restaurant in all the tri-state the equal of Apsara Asian Cuisine and Sushi Bar. For one thing, the décor is like none other in this area. Behind an expansive sushi bar is the face of ancient Asian ruins with water seeping down from above. The wall gives the whole place the ambiance of a steamy tropical jungle that might be stumbled into in a primitive swath of Southeast Asia. The sushi served from that bar is anything but primitive, however. It is leading edge, and one person at the bar, who claimed to know sushi from a taste-bud standpoint, gave it his endorsement as the best in our region. Apsara is where ill-fated Watson Bros. brew pub crashlanded a few years ago, on Lake Forest Drive, but fronting Pfeiffer Road in Blue Ash between Kenwood Road and ReedHartman Highway. The sushi bar truly is an experience. We watched Sushi Chef John Lee prepare the champagne glass sushi “cocktail” seen in the photo. In addition to being a tasty sushi salad, it is a work of art as well. The photo does not do the preparation justice. Asked what the hottest sushi items are, the word is that it depends. For my money, the rainbow roll, comprised of salmon, whitefish, tuna and avocado, all on top of a California roll ($8.95), is one definite winner. Also, try the zombie roll, tuna roll, salmon roll, Philadelphia roll, Alaskan roll, veggie roll, spicy tuna roll or the Blue Ash roll, ranging from $6.95 to $12.50. The menu is Asian-American fusion, according to Kenny Smith, general manager. That means Thai, Cambodian, Sri Lankan, Vietnamese, Peruvian (as in South American!) and North American dishes, some with cross-over spices and herbs. For instance, one entrée is a New York strip, American as apple pie, but dusted in Asian flavors, topped with Asian gravy and served over a bed
Seated around glamorous dishes at Apsara Asian Cuisine are: left, Kenny Smith, GM, and Aree Wongsamon, chef, who prepares dishes such as the delectable grilled salmon entrée.
of mixed vegetables with a spicy dipping sauce, for $22. Another house special is the fried eggplant, stuffed with chicken, then floured and sautéed in a sweet brown sauce and served over a bed of Chinese broccoli, for $16. Several fish dishes are ideal for the Jewish diner. Among these is the Asian grilled tuna, grilled very rare unless you specify otherwise, finished with a wasabi sauce served on a bed of mixed vegetables, for $24. A second seafood choice is the banana-leaf steamed Chilean sea bass, a healthy portion, done up in Asian herbs and served with Napa cabbage and a coconut sauce, for $27. Also, there
is golden halibut ($25), grilled salmon ($19), and sweet and sour walleye ($26) in the fish category. For those with a taste for curry, there is an entire menu page devoted to those Polynesian, Thai, Indian and other spicy specialties. The spice level starts at three, so know that in advance. There are red, green and yellow chicken curries, all at $15. A massaman chicken or beef curry features peanuts, baby corn, carrots, pineapple, onions and potatoes simmered with the beef or chicken in the massaman curry sauce, for $16. A vegetarian curry is the Jack fruit for $12, featuring jack fruit, green chiles and onions stewed in
a sweet red curry. Also, there is an Panang curry with roasted duck, with cashews, pineapple, Kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil in a Panang coconut curry, for $20. Apsara is an independent restaurant, owned by Chandaka DeLarerolle, whose other properties include Longworth’s, the Mt. Adams Fish House, the Celestial Steakhouse and Teak Thai, all in Mt. Adams. Apsara retains the giant bar area in the center of the main room, with a long series of draft beer pulls. There is an extensive wine list and wide variety of appetizers to be enjoyed, along with a bar-only Happy Hour from 8:30
p.m. to close. A Happy Hour menu is available, spelling out the drink and sushi specials during the bargain time, and most are about onehalf price. Apsara is open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; and for dinner every evening, with hours 4:30 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and from 4 to 9 p.m. on Sunday. Apsara Asian Cuisine & Sushi Bar 4785 Lake Forest Drive Blue Ash, OH 45242 513-554-1040
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THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
DINING OUT
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OPINION
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
Point of View
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
by Rabbi James A. Rudin
(Rabbi Rudin is the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser.)
Dear Editor, Are We Jews Our Own Worst enemy? Is part of our Jewish problem such that too many of us never know when we have it good? Under the administration of President George W. Bush, the State of Israel enjoyed its’ warmest relationship with the White House in US/American history. The Bush administration allowed Israel total autonomy, recognized Israel’s right to exist, recognized Israel’s plight against the terror attacks from the Iranian proxies, supported and nurtured the young State, financed it and supplied it with key armaments in order to survive. The Bush administration greatly respected Israel’s plight (living in this tough neighborhood) and allowed it to deal with the hostility of its’ enemies the way Israel thought best. And there was a quid pro quo. Israel reciprocated wholeheartedly with its’ technological accompishments both in military and industrial technology. So what did we do as a collective community (nationally)? We dismissed this President, mocked and cajoled him, and ridiculed him to a point that it was only testament to his good character and statesmanship that he did not forsake his belief in Israel.
In return, we supported the election of a new President, clothed in the Democratic banner, totally ignoring his past (association to Jeremiah Wright et al, and all the anti-Semitic diatribe that he was subjected to for 22 years), refused to hear what the opposition was saying about this controversial man with no experience. But because he was flying under the banner of the Democratic Party, all the information about him was negated by deaf ears. We still cling to our grandparents and parents love and embracing of Franklin D. Roosevelt, despite the voluminous evidence of his weakness of having accepted the antiSemitic postures of his State Department with regards to Jews in America, Jews in the Diaspora and the State of Israel (as a fledgling concept). Could someone explain to me why the very word ‘Republican’ engenders such a visceral hatred among too many of the Jewish community? I have asked this question a million times. All I hear really, are two answers: 1) I want the right to choose (as in abortion) 2) I fear the Christian Coalition (as in their want to convert us to Christianity) As far as the right to choose (abortion) is concerned, I will not enter that argument, because this letter really concerns Israel and the American relationship.
As far as the Christian Coalition is concerned, there is no better friend to Israel at this time in history as them. They support Israel financially, spiritually and morally far more than many of us do as Jews. And what do they want? They believe that when the Messiah arrives (for the second time), all people will convert to Christianity. Perhaps this is a deal that the smarter amongst us might consider, given all the impracticalities associated with this concept. Israel needs all the help and support from this country at this time and we should not dismiss any genuine support from wherever it comes. I ask in in all good conscience: Are these two issues really worth sacrificing Israel for? And for those who answer in the affirmative, let me caution you, if Israel should fall, there are none of us here who will be secure. Whether you recognize it or not, the strength of Israel is what enables us as Jews to walk this walk with pride and dignity. Don’t abuse it. Please wake up and truly understand what is happening. Past loyalties evolve just as history does. Friends change, and loyalties change with the times. Wars do indeed make strange bedfellows. (At the time of going to press, it is worth noting that LETTERS on page 22
T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: HAGADDAH b.) Four cups of wine c.) Matriarchs: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah
1. “Who knows one”? a.) Hashem b.) Torah c.) Moshe 2. Who is three?? a.) Matzos b.) Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob c.) Passover, Matzo, and Maror 3. Who is four? a.) Four sons
4. What is five? a.) Books of the Torah b.) Orders of the Mishnah c.) Days of preparation for Passover 5. What is thirteen? a.) Stars b.) Attributes of Hashem c.) Principles of Faith
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
Answers
(RNS) — Can you answer these questions? Unfortunately, no prizes are given for correct responses. 1. Which city, called “Faust’s Metropolis,” was famous for its superb literature, dramas, music, films, art, science and medicine in the early years of the 20th century before it became the capital of a radically evil regime? 2. Which city during the 1930s was home to the well-known religious leaders Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer? 3. Which city, just three years after nearly being destroyed by Allied forces, was rescued from a Soviet blockade by those same air forces in an airlift that lasted 11 months? 4. Which city had its infamous wall of separation come tumbling down about 20 years ago? (Hint: it wasn’t Jericho.) 5. Which city is witnessing the rebirth of a vibrant Jewish community 65 years after history’s worst anti-Semite committed suicide in the same city? The answer to all of the above, of course, is Berlin, the capital of Germany. Eugene DuBow, the American Jewish Committee’s senior advisor for German programs, has called the rebirth of German Jewry “a miracle,” just two generations after the end of Nazism and Adolf Hitler’s suicide. By DuBow’s estimates, the German Jewish community may soon become the largest in Central and Western Europe. The Jewish renaissance, he says, “is good for Germany and wonderful for Jews.” Needless to say, it’s not something many people would have expected. One aspect of the “miracle” is the growing number of young Orthodox Jews in the former Nazi capital. Every Friday evening at the onset of the Jewish Sabbath, men and women in their 20s and 30s — many of them from the former Soviet Union — walk past Berlin’s glittering shops and cafes on their way to religious services at the Rykesstrasse synagogue. The spiritual leader of the burgeoning Orthodox community is 39-year-old (and Baltimore native) Rabbi Joshua Spinner,
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4. A 5. B They are listed in Shmot:34:6-7 Hashem is patient, forebearing, and full of kindness, etc
An unlikely renaissance
supported by the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation. Lauder’s mother, the late Estee Lauder, headed the cosmetic company that bears her name. Biblical and Talmudic study centers abound in Berlin, along with a Jewish kindergarten and a rabbinical academy. Spinner is especially pleased about the increasing number of weddings among his youthful congregation. Progressive Judaism, too, is growing in Berlin. A few years ago, Rabbi Walter Jacob of Pittsburgh, who fled Nazi Germany with his family as a youngster in the 1930s, established a seminary in Berlin that recently ordained its first graduates to serve German-speaking congregations in Europe. Jacob is a third-generation rabbi, and the new Berlin seminary is his tribute to the Jewish communities destroyed during the Holocaust. Rabbis Spinner and Jacob are following the example of the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah who, about 50 years after the Babylonian destruction of Judaism’s first Temple in 586 B.C., led exiled Jews back to Jerusalem where they reconstructed a viable Jewish community. While reverently remembering the past, today’s German Jews confidently look ahead. It is often difficult for people living outside Germany to understand this sense of optimism after the horrific events of the Holocaust. What Jew, after all, would want to live in the blood-soaked land of Hitler, Goring, Himmler, Goebbels and Eichmann? The answer, it seems, is about 20,000 in Berlin, and nearly 250,000 in all of Germany. That ambivalence is almost as old as Judaism itself. It was first described in the book of Ezra when the older generation remembered the bitter past before the Temple was destroyed, while the young expressed joy about the future. “The old men who had seen the Temple standing wept with a loud voice, but many others shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not distinguish between the shouts of joy (about the future) and the noise of weeping (about the past),” the Bible tells us. There’s one more thing worth remembering. German-born Rabbi Emil Fackenheim taught that rebuilding Jewish communities — especially in Germany — after the Holocaust was a tangible way of denying Hitler a posthumous victory.
1. A Hashem is one, like in the prayer Shma Yisrael 2. B The Talmud Brachot says there are only 3 Patriarchs and 4 Matriarchs for the Jewish people. 3. C.
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JEWISH LIFE
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
MODERN ORTHODOX SERVICE
17
Daily Minyan for Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv, Shabbat Morning Service and Shalosh Seudas.
Sedra of the Week by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Kiddush follows Shabbat Morning Services
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Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Shemini Leviticus 9:1-11:47
Efrat, Israel — “And a fire came forth from before the Lord and consumed them (Nadav and Avihu, the two sons of Aaron) and they died before the Lord… And Aaron was silent” (Lev. 10:2,3). Many commentaries attempt to explain and even to justify the premature death of these two young priests on the eighth and final day of the festivities celebrating the consecration of the Sanctuary. Was it because they had brought a “strange fire” (esh zarah) which they had not been commanded to bring (Lev 10:1), an extra, added sacrifice which has the echo of “strange service” (avodah zarah – idolatry)? Was it because they had entered the Sanctuary in an inebriated state, insinuated by the prohibition which immediately follows this story, “Do not drink intoxicating wine, neither you nor your children with you, when you enter the Tent of Meeting, so that you will not die…” (Lev.10:8, 9)? Was it because they were jealous of the seniority of Moses and Aaron, and were impatient to take leadership of the nation (Midrash Tanhuma, ad loc)? Or was it because they were more righteous and more pure than anyone else – even than Moses and Aaron – and they were therefore chosen to be the most sanctified sacrifice for the dedication of the Sanctuary (Vayikra Rabbah 12: 2 and Rashi on Lev 10:3)? Whichever explanation we offer, none of them seem to justify the enormous tragedy and untimely death of young men, and such suffering of the innocent Aaron at the climax of his week as High Priest dedicating the Sanctuary! But if the Bible doesn’t present us with a satisfying explanation, it does provide us with a dignified response: “Vayidom Aharon — and Aaron remained silent.” This restrained and regal silence of Aaron in the face of inexplicable tragedy has reverberated throughout the generations as a signpost for parents silently weeping at the gravesites of their beloved children. I was present, as a very young boy, at the first Sabbath circumcision of the Klauzemberger Hassidim in the temporary home they made for themselves in New York – their way-station between the European destruction and the rebirth of their community, in Kiryat Zanz, Netanya. The Rebbe
intoning the time-honored verse, “Then I passed and I saw that you were rooted in your blood, and I said to you, ‘by your blood shall you live’”(Ezekiel 16:6), as he blessed and named the newly-circumcised child entering the covenant of Abraham. At the conclusion of his blessing, the Rebbe commented, “I always understood these words from the prophet Ezekiel, ‘be’damayikh hayii’ to mean ‘by your blood shall you live’, because of the sacrifices the Jews have forced to make for our God and our faith, we merit the covenantal gift of eternal life. However, now that we have suffered the unspeakable tragedies of the European conflagration, it seems to me that Ezekiel’s ‘damayikh’ comes not from the Hebrew dam, blood, but rather from the Hebrew dom, silence, as in ‘Vayidom Aharon — and Aaron was silent’. It is because we held back from battering the gates of heaven with our cries, because we swallowed our sobs and continued to pray and to learn and to build and to plant, because we utilized our energies not to weep over our past losses but rather to recreate our communities, our synagogues, our studyhouses, here in America and please God soon in Israel, that we continue to live and even to flourish…” But it took an experience some 54 years later to teach me how truly apt the Rebbe’s interpretation actually was. Mordecai and Anne Goodman, beloved congregants and faithful friends, tragically lost their beloved son Yosef, a courageous paratrooper in the Maglan unit of the Israel Defense Forces. I had to find Mordecai and break the terrible news. It was one of the most difficult tasks I have ever done in my life. That evening an army representative came, to explain to the family the incredibly brave and selfless way in which the young soldier met his death. Mordecai simply couldn’t bring himself to join the family group to listen. He went up to his bedroom. I followed him up; I embraced him, and we sat together in silence. After a while, when I got up to leave for home, Mordecai walked me to his bedroom door. “Rabbi,” he said, “when you give your eulogy tomorrow, just don’t say ‘that is the price for aliyah.’ It’s not the price we pay; it’s the job of aliyah….” I didn’t understand what he meant and all that night I mulled over his words. And then I realized that Aaron did not merely remain silent; “They (Aaron and his
remaining sons) did not leave from the door of the Tent of Meeting” (Lev 10:7), they remained in the Sanctuary; they continued to lead the services. Now, I understood Mordecai. To say that such a sacrifice is the price for aliyah would be inappropriate; after all, one could think that the price is too high and choose another, cheaper product — live elsewhere where there is less danger. A job, a Godgiven task, has got to be completed, even if danger is integral to it. And if you are really astute and dedicated, you might even see it as a privilege, despite the risks. For the last 2,000 years, we couldn’t do this job, we didn’t have the ability to fight back or to train for future battles in a standing army as Yosef did. A year later, shortly before Israel’s Memorial Day for its Fallen Soldiers, I learned that my interpretation of Mordecai’s words was correct. He and Anne came to see me with a difficult question. “Yehuda, our next son in line is entering the IDF. He wants to enter Maglan; Yosef’s unit. It requires our signature – and we don’t want to sign. But he very much wants to go…” I took a deep breath, and responded that we cannot make moral decisions for our children; we must let them take their own decisions, even if it causes us much pain. Anne and Mordecai both wept, and left my house. I ran after them. “I believe in what I told you,” I said. “But I want you to know that if I had to decide whether or not to sign the permission document for my own son; I cannot tell you what I would do…” After the Memorial Day ceremony, Mordecai escorted me to his home; where there was a pizza and ice-cream “party,” for all of Maglan to welcome Yehuda into their unit. “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din,” I said to Mordecai. “Our children are better than both of us,” he answered me. I say to you, “be’damayikh shall you live, be’damayikh shall you live,” by your silence and by your sacrifice, by your resignation and by your commitment, with tears and with pride, with tragedy and with privilege. Aaron never left the Sanctuary and neither did Mordecai and Anne. With such parents and children, we in Israel will not only survive, we will prevail! Shabbat Shalom Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi — Efrat Israel
Over 125 years in Cincinnati and 10 years at Cornell. 8100 Cornell Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45249 (513) 489-3399 • www.ohavshalom.org
3100 LONGMEADOW LANE • CINCINNATI, OH 45236 791-1330 • www.templesholom.net Richard Shapiro, Interim Rabbi Marcy Ziek, President Gerry H. Walter, Rabbi Emeritus April 9 6:00 pm Shabbat Nosh 6:30 pm Shabbat Evening Service
April 16 8:00 pm Shabbat Evening Service Quinquennial Marriage Reconsecration
April 10 10:30 am Shabbat Morning Service
April 17 10:30 am Shabbat Morning Service
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JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist TUBE ENTERTAINMENT HIGHLIGHTS “American Idol” star ADAM LAMBERT, 28, stars in the season finale of the VH1 cable series, “Unplugged.” The hour-long concert airs Friday, April 9, at 11 PM. Check schedules for encore showings. Lambert, whose mother is Jewish, identifies as Jewish. The HBO dramatic series, “Treme,” premieres on Sunday, April 11, at 10 PM. The series takes place three months after Hurricane Katrina where the residents of New Orleans, including musicians, chefs and ordinary New Orleanians try to rebuild their lives, their homes and their unique culture. “Treme” was cocreated by DAVID SIMON, 50. Simon was also the creator of “The Wire,” also on HBO, and the NBC TV series, “Homicide: Life on the Street.” Kathy Griffin, Tracey Morgan, and Nathan Lane are the three celebs appearing on the April 8th episode of “The Marriage Ref” (NBC, 10 PM). Produced by JERRY SEINFELD, the gently humorous show is a throwback to a more tasteful era. It doesn’t feature the tawdry lives of real life people or celebrities acting badly. Rather, each week a panel of 3 witty celebrities is called upon to give an opinion about the minor marital disputes of three likable real-life couples. (The celebrity panel changes each week.) The show’s host, Tom Pappa, makes a ruling as to “who is right” after consulting the celebs. All three couples get a nice vacation trip for participating Griffin and Seinfeld go way back: In the early ‘90s, Griffin, a stand-up comedian and actress, had a small part on a “Seinfeld” episode. She asked Jerry to sign an autograph. He was a bit surly about it and she used the incident in her (real-life) stand-up routine. Jerry liked being kidded — and Griffin’s character was brought back for another “Seinfeld” episode. In the second episode, Griffin’s character had launched a new career as a stand-up comedian and a large part of her routine was about what a jerk Jerry Seinfeld was. ARAB SCHINDLERS The documentary, “Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust in Arab Lands,” airs on PBS on Monday April 12, at 10PM. It is based on a 2006 book
of the same name by DR. ROBERT SATLOFF. The press release says: “Did any Arabs save Jews during the Holocaust? Seeking a hopeful response to the plague of Holocaust denial in the Arab world and, in the wake of 9/11, Rob Satloff, head of a Washington policy center, set out on what would become an eightyear journey to find an Arab hero whose story would change the way Arabs view Jews, themselves and their own history. Along the way, Satloff found not only the Arab heroes for whom he started his quest but a vast, lost history of what actually happened to the half-million Jews of the Arab lands of North Africa under Nazi, Vichy and Fascist rule.” By the way, Satloff is interviewed on the United States Holocaust Museum Web site and two complete chapters of his book can be read on the site. CELEBRITY PASSOVER BITS The popularity of Twitter and blogs written by celebrities has resulted in a boomlet in Passover related items. Fashion designer and model WHITNEY PORT, 25, the star of the reality show, “The City,” tweeted: “Missing my family on Passover. I’m going to make haroset in honor of them. (Port’s parents live in Los Angeles — she lives in New York.) Conan O’Brien, who isn’t Jewish, posted this funny tweet: “If you celebrate Passover on top of an overpass, you go back in time.” Actress ELIZABETH BANKS, 36, a convert to Judaism, tweeted: “Great Seder last nite. Outfoxed though by scrappy kid in hunt for the Afikomen.” Actress GWYENTH PALTROW, 37, who was raised in her father’s Jewish faith, posted this on her personal blog — which is heavy on diet advice: “Keeping kosher will be easy this year now that I have discovered CLAUDIA RODEN’S brilliant book, ‘The Book of Jewish Food.’ I have to say that irrespective of religion, culture, or background, this is one of the best books I’ve ever cooked out of. The flavors are outstanding and all of the recipes I have tried have been simple to prepare and quick. I included some of my favorites, which are great for Passover….In keeping with our theme, we have two different versions of matzo brei for brunch and FINALLY, we have found two gorgeous kosher wines from the Napa Valley that are sure to take your Seder (meal) up a notch.”
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
FROM THE PAGES 100 Years Ago Mrs. Sarah Minster, widow of the late Morris B. Minster, and sister of Joseph, Sam’l and Henry Rollman, died Friday evening and was buried Sunday afternoon at the United Jewish Cemetery. The deceased had a large number of friends and was held in great esteem. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Rollman, and is survived by a son, Leonard Minster. The funeral took place from the residence of the deceased, on Alaska Avenue, Avondale, Dr. Grossmann
officiating. Cincinnati friends of Joseph B. Strauss, son of the artist, Strauss, have received word that his design for a bridge over the Neva River, directly in front of the Czar’s Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia, had been accepted by the Russian government. Work will be started on the structure at once, and it is expected that it will be opened for traffic within two years. His design for a bridge has also been accepted by the Danish government
for a bridge in the Copenhagen harbor. Young Strauss was graduated from the University of Cincinnati a few years ago, being a civil engineer. He invented what is termed a trunnion bascul bridge that lifts entirely out of the way, allowing water craft to pass without danger of being impeded. It is a hinged bridge that swings perpendicularly. He has also built many bridges in the United States. One of his bridges spans the canal at Lockland. — April 7, 1910
75 Years Ago Mr. and Mrs. Ben Lyon (Bebe Daniels), movie celebrities in Cincinnati this week with their little daughter, Barbara Bebe Lyon, were entertained by their cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Max M. Gugenheim, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard R. Kramer and Mr. and Mrs. Claude Jacobs with an after-theater party Monday evening, April 8th at the Neteherland Plaza. Mr. and Mrs. Lyon are appearing in person in “Hollywood Holiday” at the Cox Theater.
The Misses Ann and Helen Trounstine and Alcie Moch, and Messrs. Julien Benjamin, Harry and Louis Heyn, and James Weiler are members of the cast of Sutton Vane’s Pulitzer prize play, “Outward Bound,” to be given by students of the high school department at the University School Friday evening, April 12. Miss Berth Chasanov was guest of honor at a shower at the Hotel Sinton Sunday afternoon, April 7,
tendered by Miss Esther Lebenshon of the Sinton. Miss Chasanov will be married to Dr. David L. Graller, resident at the General Hospital, on Wednesday, May 1. Announcement has been made of the marriage in Rabbi James G. Heller’s study on Friday, April 5, of Miss Fanny Levine, daughter of Mr. Abraham Levine, to Mr. Joseph Leinwohl, son of Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Leinwohl. — April 11, 1935
50 Years Ago The 100th birthday anniversary of the late Samuel Ach, former president of the Cincinnati Board of Education, will be celebrated at a public meeting Sunday, April 24, at 3 p.m., at the Samuel Ach Junior High School, Reading Road and Rockdale Avenue. Max Hirsch, chairman of the committee planning the observance, said today that Stanley McKie, president of the Board of Education, will speak. Former Mayor Murray Seasongood will preside.
Sigmund M. Cohen was elected secretary of the national Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) at the close of the organization’s 1960 biennial national convention on April 3. JWB is the national association for more than 300 Jewish Community Centers and YMYWHA’s and the governmentauthorized agency for serving the religious and morale needs of Jewish personnel in the U.S. Armed Forces and in VA hospitals. A 30% increase in contributions at the March 30 “Leading
Lady Luncheon” of the Women’s Division highlighted the past week of activity in the 1960 Jewish Welfare Fund Campaign. Honored by the Women’s Divison was Miss Frieda Bohn, executive secretay of the division and administrative secretary fo the Associated Jewish Agencies. She will retire June 30. A presentation of a silver coffee service was made by Mrs. I. Mark Zeligs and Mrs. Joseph Hoodin, on behalf of the women.— April 7, 1960
25 Years Ago When WLWT news anchorman Jerry Springer left for Ethiopia last month on a medical relief mission made up of doctors, elected officials and media personnel, he wanted to show the tangible effects of pubic charity. As the son of Holocaust survivors, he also was fighting against the crime of silence. “This past week,” he said in a news commentary the evening before the delegation left, “we covered the
story of the various ceremonies commemorating the 40th anniversary of the freeing of Auschwitz. . .” Mr. Springer’s commitment to the success of the medical airlift was a personal one from the beginning. As someone whose parents narrowly escaped becoming victims of Nazi Germany by fleeing Berlin for England in 1939, he said, “I’m determined that it won’t happen again. I don’t ever want to be in that position
where people say to me in 20 years, ‘You knew what was going on, what did you do?’” Mrs. Herbert S. Landaman announced the engagement of her daughter, Julie, to Mr. Michael Salinger. Julie is the daughter of the late Herbert S. Landaman. Michael is the son of Mr. and Mrs. James A. Salinger. A July 6 wedding in Cincinnati is planned.— April 4, 1985
10 Years Ago Mary-Bob and Jack Rubenstein announced the engagement of their son, Scott Rubenstein, to Amy Harrod, daughter of Claudia Harrod and Robert “Chip” Harrod and Terri Harrod. Scott is the grandson of Maxine Rubenstein and the late Samuel Rubenstein, and Martha and William Matthews of Cincinnati and East Jordan, Mich. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado and his Juris
Doctorate from the University of Cincinnati college of Law. He is an assistant prosecuting attorney in the appellate Division of the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office. Amy attended Ohio State University and is currently a student at D.A.P. School of the University of Cincinnati. She is a design assistant with Nancy Ross Interiors. Rebecca Golder, 101, passed away on March 24, 2000. Mrs. Golder was born in Cincinnati,
Ohio. She was the wife of the late Oscar Golder. She is survived by a son and his wife: Sylvan and Faith Golder. Surviving grandchildren are Stuart (Peggy) and Dr. Philip (Pat) Golder and four great-grandchildren: Elizabeth, David, Adam and Aaron Golder. Mrs. Golder was the sister of the late Nathan, Martin, Albert, and Elizabeth Silverman; as well as the late Sarah Kadis. She also leaves nieces and nephews. — April 6, 2000
CLASSIFIEDS
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS Big Brothers/Big Sisters Assoc. (513) 761-3200 • bigbrobigsis.org Beth Tevilah Mikveh Society (513) 821-6679 Camp Ashreinu (513) 702-1513 Camp at the J (513) 722-7226 • mayersonjcc.org Camp Livingston (513) 793-5554 • camplivingston.com Cedar Village (513) 336-3183 • cedar-village.org Chevra Kadisha (513) 396-6426 Halom House (513) 791-2912 • halomhouse.com Hillel Jewish Student Center (513) 221-6728 • hillelcincinnati.org Jewish Community Center (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org Jewish Community Relations Council (513) 985-1501 Jewish Family Service (513) 469-1188 • jfscinti.org Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (513) 985-1500 • shalomcincy.org Jewish Foundation (513) 792-2715 Jewish Information Network (513) 985-1514 Jewish Vocational Service (513) 985-0515 • jvscinti.org Kesher (513) 766-3348 Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund (513) 793-2556 The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education (513) 487-3055 • holocaustandhumanity.org Vaad Hoier (513) 731-4671 Workum Summer Intern Program (513) 683-6670 • workum.org CONGREGATIONS Adath Israel Congregation (513) 793-1800 • adath-israel.org Beit Chaverim (513) 335-5812 Beth Israel Congregation (513) 868-2049 • bethisraelcongregation.net Congregation Beth Adam (513) 985-0400 • bethadam.org Congregation B’nai Tikvah (513) 759-5356 • bnai-tikvah.org Congregation B’nai Tzedek (513) 984-3393 • bnaitzedek.us Congregation Ohav Shalom
(513) 489-3399 • ohavshalom.org Golf Manor Synagogue (513) 531-6654 • golfmanorsynagogue.org Isaac M. Wise Temple (513) 793-2556 • wisetemple.org Isaac Nathan Congregation (513) 841-9005 Kehilas B’nai Israel (513) 761-0769 Northern Hills Synagogue (513) 931-6038 • nhs-cba.org Rockdale Temple (513) 891-9900 • rockdaletemple.org Temple Beth Shalom (513) 422-8313 • tbsohio.org Temple Sholom (513) 791-1330 • templesholom.net The Valley Temple (513) 761-3555 • valleytemple.com EDUCATION Chabad Blue Ash (513) 793-5200 • chabadba.com Cincinnati Community Kollel (513) 631-1118 • kollel.shul.net Cincinnati Hebrew Day School (513) 351-7777 • chds.shul.net HUC-JIR (513) 221-1875 • huc.edu JCC Early Childhood School (513) 793-2122 • mayersonjcc.org Mercaz High School (513) 792-5082 x104 • mercazhs.org Reform Jewish High School (513) 469-6406 • crjhs.org Regional Institute Torah & Secular Studies (513) 631-0083 Rockwern Academy (513) 984-3770 • rockwernacademy.org ORGANIZATIONS American Jewish Committee (513) 621-4020 • ajc.org American Friends of Magen David Adom (513) 521-1197 • afmda.org B’nai B’rith (513) 984-1999 Hadassah (513) 821-6157 • cincinnati-hadassah.org Jewish National Fund (513) 794-1300 • jnf.org NA’AMAT (513) 984-3805 • naamat.org National Council of Jewish Women (513) 891-9583 • ncjw.org State of Israel Bonds (513) 793-4440 • israelbonds.com Women’s American ORT (513) 985-1512 • ortamerica.org.org
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MUSEUM from page 5 Walking though the yet completed exhibit areas, and listening to Rothman’s explanation of what was soon to fill them, new connections unexpectedly began to form: personal extensions of the exhibits that would soon fill the hall. At what will be the “Rise of Nazism” exhibit, I recalled as a child that we never discussed the Holocaust much in my home. We did have show-and-tell though. My father, a World War II Navy veteran, once showed me a war “souvenir” — a belt with a swastika on the buckle. He explained that he joined the Navy to kill Nazis. It wasn’t until much later, as a teenager, that I understood why. The next gallery, now a blank concrete floor and wall, will hold an exhibit dedicated to the onset of mass extermination. Recently I had begun to read the book “The Holocaust Odyssey of Daniel Bennahmias, Sonderkommando,” a lesser-known Holocaust story of destruction and survival of the Greek community of mainly Sephardic Jews, sent to me by my relative and the author, Rebecca Fromer. Daniel and his family were sent to Auschwitz by train. Their trip won’t be forgotten; the museum will include a representation of a cattle car.
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513-531-9600 As we entered the gallery area slated for the labor, concentration camps and death camps, I remembered my friend of blessed memory, Rose Baumgold, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Forced into slave labor sewing German uniforms, she fought back when she could by sewing the seams so they would quickly pull apart. Along the wall and area that will be dedicated to the world response to the Holocaust, resistance and rescue, I thought, “This is where Uncle Don will fit in.” Donald Segel, my wife’s uncle, during WWII was a member of the Rainbow Division (42nd Division of the U.S. 7th Army). Imprisoned much of the war as a POW, he later became a division historian. Over the years he has taken pride in explaining to many groups his division’s and the U.S. Army’s role in liberating Dachau. Looking up, I saw the glass double doors that will lead outside to the green of the park and the granite triangular columns of the museum’s already existing Holocaust memorial. Light filtered through, lifting the bare concrete gloom, sharpening the shadows. Even in an empty museum, images I had avoided for so long became clear. (Edmon J. Rodman is a JTA columnist who writes on Jewish life from Los Angeles.)
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TRAVEL
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
Splendid St. Petersburg: palaces, parks and a midnight sun Wandering Jew
by Janet Steinberg Travel Editor Part 3 of a series Disembarking from Seabourn Pride in the city known as “Venice of the North,” I was delighted that The Yachts of Seabourn had thoughtfully arranged a 3-night stay for its passengers in St. Petersburg, Russia. “Venice of the North” might be considered somewhat of a misnomer. Except for the plethora of bridges and canals, the cities are quite different. Absent is the summer warmth of a Mediterranean sun. Present is the summer light of a midnight sun…that period of romantic “white nights” when the midnight sun keeps the city aglow for almost 24 hours a day. Tsar Peter I built this “Pearl of the Baltic” in 1703 after draining swampland on the Gulf of Finland. Though somewhat threadbare, this elegant and aristocratic city became the capital of Imperial Russia from 1712 to 1914. In 1914, St. Petersburg’s name was changed to Petrograd (after St. Peter, not Peter the Great). In 1924, this city on the Neva River (pronounced Nay Vah) was renamed Leningrad. In 1991 after decades of Communism, Russia’s secondlargest city reclaimed its original name of St. Petersburg. On our first evening in this somewhat melancholic city of pale yellow, orange, ochre and robin’s egg blue hues, I felt like a member of the Imperial Russian Court. Seabourn Pride had arranged a private opening of the Catherine Palace and Palace Grounds for an “Intimate Evening at Catherine Palace.” Following a 17-mile journey south to Pushkin, we arrived at the Baroque Catherine Palace, a lavish aqua and white facade that stretches 1000–feet long. Greeted by Royal Guards, we were then given a tour of the palace, viewing Romanov family portraits and private chambers. The tour culminated in the world-famous Amber Room with its glowing amber panels in tones from lemon to deep red. Having been destroyed by the Nazis in W.W.II, the room was restored to its original splendor after the war. We then proceeded to the gilded
Throne Room where a period-costumed Catherine II greeted us. A champagne reception, complete with string quartet and dancers, followed. From there, we descended the main staircase to the park where Imperial Guards paraded and a courtly couple arrived in a horse-drawn carriage to dance for us. The evening ended in another wing of the palace where we enjoyed an elegant dinner and a Russian folkloric performance. Our remaining two days in St. Petersburg were spent in sightseeing. Of great interest to passengers on the Seabourn Pride was The Grand Choral Synagogue, the second largest synagogue in Europe. Founded in 1893, it remained open even during the Communist years. The synagogue, bombed by the Nazis during the Siege of Leningrad between 1941 and 1943, has since become the center of Jewish life in St. Petersburg. In 1999, the Safra family donated $5-million to restore the synagogue to its former beauty. Thus, it was formally renamed The Edmond J. Safra Grand Choral Synagogue. Services are performed daily and the synagogue is filled on High Holidays. There are two Jewish day schools, kindergartens, a Yeshiva, a Wedding Hall, gift shop and a soup kitchen that feeds senior citizens daily. On April 19, 2005, Mikvah, designed by Israeli architect M. Gorelik, was inaugurated. Also not to be missed is the golden domed St. Isaac’s Cathedral, St. Petersburg’s most famous church and one of the world’s largest domed structures. It took 220 pounds of gold to gilt the dome. Decorated with Russian mosaics, lapis and malachite columns, and 14 kinds of minerals and semiprecious stones, the Soviets converted this cathedral into an anti-religious museum in 1931. They explained the decor as “incidents from Christian mythology.” The cathedral has been returned to the Orthodox Church and services are once again being held there. The splendid Hermitage, occupying the North side of the elegant Palace Square actually consists of five buildings: The Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Big Hermitage, Hermitage Theater and New Hermitage Museum. We entered the Hermitage by ascending the magnificent Georgian marble staircase. If you have years to spare, you can explore the museums 1,500 rooms and climb its 117 staircases. We settled for just a few rooms and staircases! On the outskirts of the city lies Peterhof, a former summer residence of the Imperial Court. Peterhof, formerly known as Petrodvorets, is some 20 miles west of St. Petersburg. Inspired by
(Above) Seabourn Pride’s shore excursions avoid admission lines to the Hermitage Museum. (Left) The unique pair of Rostral columns formerly served as lighthouses. (Right) An “Intimate Evening at Catherine Palace” transformed Seabourn Pride’s passengers into royalty.
Versailles, it contains what might well be the most exquisite water display in the world. The Grand Cascade, with its 64 water jets and 37 gold statues provides a spectacular setting for the renowned Samson Fountain. The lavish Great Palace has been skillfully restored to repair the W.W.II damage. Other major sites of interest within the city include: Peter and Paul Fortress; Mariinsky Theater (formerly the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theater); the two red Rostral Columns; the Admiralty, and Nevsky Prospekt, the city’s 3mile shopping street. Don’t be surprised when you see a Louis Vuitton shop and a McDonald’s (written in Cyrillic). If possible, take a ride on the Metro from the Vladimirskjya Street Station. The price of admis-
sion is worth twice the price, even if you just take the 4-minute ride down...down...down...down the escalator. (The same price gets you back up if you don’t have time for a ride.) Also, try to find time for a boat ride on the Neva River. Seabourn Pride’s guests, who opted for private car and driver as opposed to a group bus tour, could also partake of a meal at SevenForty (AKA Sem Sorok or 7:40), a kosher Jewish restaurant styled after the home of a folksy Jewish family. In 2009, a successful Russian businessman changed the city’s popular 7:40 restaurant from nonkosher to strictly kosher. The restaurant’s proprietor stated that the restaurant’s goal was not to earn as much money as possible, but to make kosher food available
to all Jews of St. Petersburg. The meat-based, dairy-free restaurant now bears the kosher certification of the city’s Chief Rabbi and features entrees priced 30-40 percent below prices on the old menu. Since shopping time is always at a premium, you can do very well (and be assured of authenticity) if you shop at the museum and palace gift shops. Skolko stoit? (How much does it cost?) Trust me, it costs much more than it did on my previous three visits over the last three decades. Russia has most definitely gotten into capitalism and the inflated prices in the stores reflect that move. Gone are the Beriozka (“Little Birch Tree”) dollar stores of the Communist era. TRAVEL on page 22
NEWS
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
GERMANY from page 1 Ravensbrueck reportedly is the third permanent exhibit on Nazi perpetrators mounted at a concentration camp memorial in Germany. The first, about female camp guards, opened at Ravensbrueck in 2004. The second, also about guards, opened at the Neuengamme camp memorial near Hamburg in 2005. At both sites, scholars thought it was time to confront perpetrators as a way to help Germans gain insight into a horrid chapter of their own history and prevent future crimes. The resulting exhibits highlight the victim’s perspective. “The first thing you hear in the exhibit [about female guards] is former inmates speaking about these guards,” said Insa Eschebach, director of the Ravensbrueck memorial. Major hurdles had to be overcome to launch the exhibit. Skeptics, including survivors and their advocates, said such sites should be solely dedicated to the memory of victims. Some feared that exhibits about perpetrators might attract neo-Nazis or feed an unhealthy fascination with horror. Eschebach counters that it was high time to confront the perpetrator after years of suppression. In the former West Germany, memorials had been dominated by “a kind of religious intention,” she said, so chapels were built at such sites as Dachau, near Munich. And in the former East Germany, remembrance took on an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist tone. “If there was any mention of perpetrators, it was to say they were all sitting in West Germany,” Eschebach said. After German unification in 1990, memorials started “providing historical documentation,” Eschebach said. “And with that came the question: Who were the perpetrators?” New information centers opened in the early 1990s, including the “Topography of Terror” archive at the site of the former Gestapo headquarters in Berlin and the House of the Wannsee Conference, a villa outside Berlin where high-ranking Nazis met in January 1942 to map out the genocide of European Jewry. A trove of archival material was suddenly available, and retired schoolteacher Werner Schubert was among those who took advantage. At Wannsee, Schubert, now 85, learned that Rudolf Lange, one of the Nazis at the infamous conference, came from his own hometown, Weisswasser, in former East Germany. Schubert’s work exposing the biography of Lange and naming other local Nazi criminals led a town leader to accuse him of “nailing perpetrators to the wall.”
“I answered that the perpetrators themselves are long dead, but they have children and grandchildren, and … they should deal with the past,” Schubert told JTA. Increasingly, descendants of Nazi perpetrators have sought information themselves. At Neuengamme, a discussion group was started for them, said historian Oliver von Wrochem. “The need to confront our own history is relatively large today, much more than 10 years ago,” von Wrochem told JTA. “That is partly because most of the perpetrators are no longer alive, so one can deal with this more intensively and more easily.” But it is also because this history “is a part of their biography and they have started to think about it again.” The daughter of a camp commandant and a granddaughter of a camp doctor once told Bessmann that “they very much wished to love their relatives and that they could not. And I think that this is something quite central in the country from which the perpetrators come,” she said. But in a sense, all Germans might feel “related” to the criminals. “In that moment when I stand before the perpetrator, I have a personal relation to him,” said Schubert, a former Wehrmacht soldier, though never a Nazi Party member, he said. The perpetrator “becomes like a neighbor. And when a personal relation is there, it is always hard.” Empathy is a natural risk. Many debates have been heard in recent years in Germany as to whether films portraying Hitler, Goebbels or other high-ranking Nazis are too humanizing. Bessmann isn’t concerned, having learned years ago from Israel’s Holocaust memorial at Yad Vashem “to show the perpetrator as a person whom we must confront.” “And as a normal person, you just have to distance yourself from them,” said Schubert. At a reception following the recent preview tour of the new exhibit, one of several roofers having a few beers together said he resented the fact that “we as grandchildren are still paying” for the crimes of the past. Another said he wanted his own grandchildren one day to learn about the past, “but it should not be exaggerated.” Such views are not uncommon in Germany. But the resources are there for those who actively seek to know more. “The confrontation with the perpetrator is so fundamental and important in this country,” Bessmann said, and “increasingly, people are ready.” Today, however, the closest they may come to a confrontation is with a photo on the wall.
SYNAGOGUE from page 8 The synagogue became state property, and Malakhovka Jews continued to pray secretly. “My father was a baker,” said Serafima Gorinova, an elderly participant in the synagogue’s opening ceremony. “There are several dozens Jews around us, and allegedly no KGB officers — though you never know, of course.” Gorinova lowers her voice instinctively and leans down to
MARCH from page 10 chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, insisted that the Israeli Arab struggle was not anti-Israel and had just two goals: equality within Israeli society, especially with regard to land ownership and use; and a just peace between Israel and the Palestinian people, based on two states along the 1967 lines. “Our central message on Land Day is that we are part of Israeli society and we are struggling to remain part of it,” he wrote. Some Israeli right-wing politicians focused on the hoisting of the Hezbollah photographs and the potential threat a radicalized Israeli Arab community could
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whisper in a reporter’s ear: “Half of Moscow Jews came here to buy his matzahs.” In 1959 the synagogue was set ablaze for the first time. The Jewish community reconstructed the building in the 1970s, and in 2005 it became the community’s property. But just two months later the building was burned down again: A drug addict broke in looking for valuables and then set the house on fire to cover his tracks. At the opening ceremony for the new synagogue, community head
Aaron Kogan said, “I hope we’ll see as many people here each Shabbat as we see now.” That’s unlikely: Shabbat services in the old synagogue typically attracted 20 to 30 worshipers, with the average age of participants being well over 60. Asked whether he attends services at the synagogue, Glimcher said, “I was once awarded the best school director prize for organizing atheistic propaganda at school. But I will go there. Life is full of wonders.”
pose to the Jewish majority. Likud Knesset member Ophir Akunis called for tough measures against the masked Hezbollah supporters, arguing that a democracy under threat must defend itself. Avishai Braverman, a member of the Labor Party and the minister in charge of minority affairs, agreed that the men who hoisted the photographs should be punished, but insisted that most Arabs want to be part of Israeli society. Braverman argues that integrating Israeli Arabs as equals in Israeli society is a major strategic interest, for both security and economic reasons. A former World Bank economist and president of Ben Gurion University, Braverman has set up a
$40 million fund for projects in Arab communities, and intends to raise more, partly from Diaspora Jews — just as he did in transforming Ben Gurion University from a backwater college into a major academic institution. He argues that would be money well spent in defusing what might otherwise become a major existential threat. “When I go round the country Arabs say to me: ‘Braverman, we finished the university, now we want jobs here, because we have nowhere else to go.’ On the other side, there are people creating fear and talking about a fifth column,” he told JTA. “If we don’t want the Israeli Arabs to turn against us, we must embrace them.”
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OBITUARIES
DEATH NOTICES STECHENBERG, Mildred, age 88, died on March 29, 2010; 14 Nissan, 5770. KAUFMAN, Dr. Enrique, age 76, died on April 1, 2010; 17 Nissan, 5770. SCHNEIDER, Renate Strauss, age 86, died on April 1, 2010; 17 Nissan, 5770. GOTTESMAN, Rose Z., age 94, died on April 3, 2010; 19 Nissan, 5770.
OBITUARIES KAUFMAN, Dr. Enrique Norberto CHRISTIANS from page 1 Mike and Jean Thurman from the Cincinnati area. They contacted the American Israelite newspaper to share their experiences in Israel. Their attachment to Israel began some 30 years ago, when Mike met another non-Jew who loved Israel. He found her story very intriguing. The woman had gone to Israel 22 times; 18 of those were through VFI-Sar-El. As she spoke, Mike said “something started happening.” Thus his interest, and his wife’s, in Israel began. Ten years ago in 2000, the LETTERS from page 16 AIPAC asked 327 members of the House of Representatives to sign a petition to the Administration asking that “Israel be dealt with as an ally, and to deal with them in private, rather than a public scolding.” 158 Democrats (out of 253 or 62 percent) signed this and 169 Republicans (out of 178 or 95 percent signed it). Julius Kassar Kenwood Dear Editor, There is a special relationship between the US and Israel. President Obama is now demanding that Israel stop building in Jerusalem, release Palestinian terrorists from jail as a gesture of goodwill to the PLO, define what the final Palestinian borders with Israel will be, define the status of the Palestinian refugees, define Palestinian TRAVEL from page 20 However, for variety and quality, it still makes sense to buy handicrafts in Russia. Russian lacquer miniatures painted on boxes, brooches,
Dr. Enrique Norberto Kaufman, age 76, passed away on April 1, 2010 – the 17th day of Nissan, 5770. Born on November 4, 1933 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he was the son of the late Fishel and Berta Kaufman. After growing up and receiving his medical degree in Buenos Aires, Dr. Kaufman moved to Israel in 1958, where he practiced internal medicine and served as a medic in the Six Day War. Along with his wife, Shoshana, and two children (a third child was born after the move), the family moved to the United States in 1968 so that Dr. Kaufman could pursue a residency in psychiatry. He ultimately developed a successful private practice as a psychiatrist. Dr. Kaufman and his family were longtime members of Adath
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
Israel Synagogue. He contributed to various Jewish organizations, including helping to found Halom House, being a generous supporter of Yavneh Day School (now
Rockwern Academy), the National Yiddish Book Center and the Jewish Federation. Dr. and Mrs. Kaufman recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on March 20, 2010. He loved opera, the arts, collecting glass sculptures, playing tennis and racquetball and traveling around the world. Dr. Kaufman was preceded in death by his son, Ehud “Udi” Kaufman. Surviving relatives include his wife, Shoshana Kaufman; his children, Oran (Danielle Barshak) Kaufman of Leverett, Mass. and Gil (Stephanie) Kaufman; his grandchildren, Shira, Gabriel, Emmett and Grace; and his sisters, Rachel (Reuven) Vardi of Israel and Nellie Brisanoff of Argentina. At the funeral service, the son
of one of Dr. Kaufman’s best friends said something so simple yet captured him and echoed what others said in various ways: “I loved that man!” Funeral services were held for Dr. Kaufman at Weil Funeral Home on April 4, 2010, and were officiated by Rabbi Irvin Wise of Adath Israel Synagogue. Interment was at Adath Israel Synagogue Cemetery in Price Hill. The family would appreciate any memorial contributions to the Dr. Enrique and Shoshana Fund at Adath Israel Synagogue, 3201 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236, (513) 793-1800; or to the National Parkinson Foundation, 1501 N.W. 9th Avenue / Bob Hope Road Miami, Florida 33136, 1800-327-4545.
Thurmans visited Israel on a “Holy Land Tour.” “When we stepped from the plane our hearts melted with a compassion for the land and the Jewish people. It was a tremendous life-changing experience…,” explained Mike. Then in 2005 they both volunteered for Sar-El. In that trip they began to develop a sense of what Israel is like through relationships with soldiers “Compassionate…considerate…the nicest,” said Mike. One of the soldiers who looked after them during their stay in the army barracks was the granddaughter of a couple from Cincinnati.
The Thurmans tell a story about a soldier charged with removing a family from their home in Gaza. The family didn’t want to leave. But the soldier in charge persisted in reminding them that they had to and that time was running out. After the family had left, “the husband went back to the home and found the soldier crying,” explained Mike. The soldiers that comprise one of the best military operations in the world, discovered the Thurmans, are “not aggressive…not blood thirsty.” They recalled a visit to Arizona when a stranger in line with them at a store spoke ill of the IDF. It angered them. “The Israelis are
not aggressive and go over and above to not hurt their enemy,” said Mike. During their last trip to Israel in 2006 — they’re planning another — the couple stayed in an apartment in Jerusalem for a month and volunteered in a soup kitchen, while spending off-hours exploring. The Thurmans, who are both retired — he from years doing assembly work for Milicron and she from the post office — were struck by the poverty they found in Israel. “It was heart-wrenching,” said Jean. There they served 40-80 people
each day. No particular pattern of need — no one sex or age — was apparent. Another was the overall standard of living in Israel: They were struck by the small homes and absence of luxury cars. Nonetheless their love for the country remains. Self-described as “of the Christian faith,” Mike spoke about one of their most memorable moments in Israel: During morning formation, volunteers are permitted to raise the flag of Israel, stand back and salute it. Said Mike, “It was one of the most wonderful events of my life.”
Jerusalem as a capital for Palestine, and with a set timetable. All this with no prid quo quo! While the announcement of a new Israeli housing permit in East Jerusalem was poorly timed with VP Biden’s visit to Israel, to be clear, this new process was not illegal and in fact had won approval in the Israeli court system, after systematic appeal by Arab and Jewish parties. All part of a democratic process, the only one in the Middle East! Against this backdrop, the Palestinians were busy celebrating naming a square in Ramallah after one of the most notorious homicide bombers of the 2nd intifada. Dalal Mughrabi was the 19-year-old leader of a Palestinian squad that sailed from Lebanon and landed on a beach between Haifa and Tel Aviv. They killed an American photojournalist (and Jew), hijacked a bus and commandeered another, embarking on a bloody rampage that left 38 Israeli civilians dead, 13 of
them children. Ms. Mughrabi and several other attackers were killed. Rather than honor physicians, writers, scholars, and even imams who contribute positively to a society, the Palestinian leadership once again showed their true colors and what is most important to them—killing Jews. Israel is now celebrating the rededication of the Hurva synagogue, one of several synagogues destroyed by the Jordanian Army in 1948 and laid to ruin in the current Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. After four years of reconstruction the synagogue reopened while Palestinians and the Arab League protested this event as a provocation and humiliation, and claimed the Jews will now destroy the Al Aksa Mosque! Moslem racism has no bounds. And President Obama turns a blind eye. The Obama administration can somehow condemn Israeli legal actions in Jerusalem and make systemic demands undermining her democratic system of
law (akin to Kennedy’s destabilizing Diem’s Vietnam), while turn a blind eye from honoring murderers. Is this the new “special relationship” between Israel and the U.S.? One has to wonder what exactly is the Palestinian Arab claim to Jerusalem? Prior to 1948, the majority population was Jewish. Jerusalem was always the holiest site to Jews. In 1948, despite the UN creating a broad swath of land to be the International Free City of Jerusalem, the war’s outcome showed only the Jews to practice free access. Jews had no access to the Old City and Christians needed special “visas.” And the world, including the U.S. said peep. Of course in the history of the region there was never a Palestinian Arab capital! The outcome of the 1967 war, brought on by Arab attacks, enabled a victorious Israel to open East Jerusalem to all religions. So, please tell me what is the Palestinian claim? I guess Obama never took the antidote to cure the
Reverend Wright odious infection for promoting Israel insecurity. We hope Obama’s actions do not encourage Palestinians to initiate a 3rd intifada. The blood will be on his hands. BTW—it’s not too late to write to your Congressman!
books and plaques have become treasured possessions of collectors around the world. Those from the village of Palekh are the finest, the most detailed and the most expensive. Rostov Enamels, produced in
the 8th century town of Rostov Yaroslavsky, have found their way into museums throughout Russia. These vibrant, inspiring paintings on boxes, brooches, earrings, plates, panels and plaques, are still
as delightful as they were in the 17th century. Amber, the “resin of the ages” or “sunny stone” is taken from the Baltic Sea and turned into jeweled body adornments such as earrings,
necklaces, etc. Though plentiful in Russia, the quality of workmanship is better in neighboring Scandinavia.
Dr. Enrique Norberto Kaufman
Ray Warren Amberley Village Dear Editor, You are too liberal in your reporting! Your liberal ideas are put before the interest of Israel! Obama is an anti-Semite but since he is a radical liberal you put his destruction of Israel second to your ideology. Your paper sucks dreck! Supporter of Israel, Jay Hyman Erlanger, KY
(JANETSTEINBERG is an award-winning Travel Writer and Travel Consultant.)
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