Jewish Federation Wise Temple of Cincinnati’s graduates from annual meeting CRJHS
Annual Monte Carlo Night at Ohav Shalom
News of significant growth, new opportunities for community connections
Congregation Ohav Shalom is hosting its annual Monte Carlo Night on Sunday, June 13. This will be a lively summer evening of food, fun, drinks and games. Starting at 5:30 p.m., guests will enjoy an all-you-can-eat barbeque buffet with varied and assorted snacks. Then at 6:30 p.m., the gaming will begin, using Ohav Bucks. The event is co-chaired by Irv Fox and Aaron Schechtman. Co-chairman Fox says, “There was such a tremendous turnout last year, we decided to make this an annual event. Join us for poker, blackjack, roulette, craps, bingo Texas Hold’em, and the Big Wheel.” At the end of the evening, players will have the opportunity to redeem their Ohav Bucks winnings for raffle tickets. Players will place their raffle tickets into the coffers of their choice, with each coffer representing an enticing prize.
CINCINNATI — With a crowd of over 300 community members, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati held its 113th Annual Meeting— “From Recovery to Growth”—on Tuesday evening, May 25 at the Mayerson Jewish Community Center in Amberley Village. The event began with a video report by outgoing president Beth Guttman. Guttman reviewed how the community came together and responded to the increase in emergency needs within the community during the economic crisis. As a result of the economic downturn, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati convened a Community Efficiencies Group — out of which significant new cost-savings structures were created and implemented.
The Isaac M. Wise Temple is proud to celebrate with the 28 high school seniors who recently completed their studies with the Cincinnati Reform Jewish High School. “This is an incredibly impressive group of students,” commented Rabbi Lewis Kamrass. “Each of them has given so much to our community. While we will definitely miss them next year, we know that they are all off to great things. We wish them continued success and fulfillment, and trust that they know that they always have a home here at Wise Temple, no matter where they are in life.” The students marked their official graduation from the Cincinnati Reform Jewish High School on two different occasions. On Sunday, May 23, they joined their fellow students from other congregations in the school’s joint ceremony. In addition to this, the students came together for a
MEETING on page 22
CRJHS on page 22
OHAV on page 19
Grant pushes historic partnership of seminaries by Jacob Berkman Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK (JTA) — Spurred by a major grant from one of the largest Jewish foundations, the rabbinical seminaries of three major synagogue movements are forging a groundbreaking partnership to train Jewish educators. The Jim Joseph Foundation announced Monday that it was giving a combined $33 million to the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute for Religion, the Modern Orthodox Yeshiva University and the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary of America. The grant is aimed at helping the three seminaries attract more
teachers to the field of Jewish education and offer them better training. As a stipulation for receiving the money, each school will be required to use $1 million of the roughly $11 million it receives over the next four years to work with the other schools on figuring out how to market the field of Jewish education to prospective teachers and incorporating modern technology into Jewish pedagogy. “The presidents of the three institutions, thanks to the Jim Joseph grant process, have spent more time together in the past two years than our predecessors did in the previous decade,” said JTS Chancellor Arnold Eisen. “I think it is historic that you have these
Rabbi David Ellenson
three institutions and their leaders working together in this fashion. I think it is good for the Jews and it is a moment.” Partnerships have become a driver for JTS, which announced in early May that part of its new strategic vision included finding new allies in the education sector. Hebrew Union College has become a natural ally for the Conservative movement’s seminary. The schools are in the third year of offering a combined fellowship funded by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation that brings together rabbinical students from both seminaries for a joint seminar, and they also are now offering some joint classes as part of their
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DINING OUT
For Manning-Kaplan duo, Jewish nonprofits are the ties that bind
Flotilla raid stokes debate on price of Gaza blockade
17th Annual AJC Community Intergroup Seder
Andy’s Mediterranean Grill full of Middle Eastern delights
JTA Photo
respective cantorial programs. But Yeshiva University historically has been a tougher match for both HUC and JTS because of intense theological differences between the Orthodox institution and its non-Orthodox counterparts. Under the new initiative, each school will continue to teach its own brand of Judaism, but they will cooperate on elements of the educational process that impact all of the institutions. It’s a message that YU’s president, Richard Joel, is very careful to make: that the schools are working together on practice and not content. GRANT on page 19
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HUC-JIR to hold rabbinic ordination at Plum Street Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) is proud to announce the ordination recipients of the Class of 2010. HUC-JIR, the nation’s oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual and professional development center of Reform Judaism, prepares men and women for service to American and world Jewry as rabbis, cantors, educators and communal service professionals and offers graduate and postgraduate degree programs for scholars of all faiths. Eleven new rabbis will be
ordained Saturday, June 5 at 9 a.m. at Plum Street Temple at the 135th ordination ceremony of HUC-HIR Cincinnati. The following students will be ordained as rabbis: Barbara Block, Emily Dunn, Jean Eglinton, Jason Holtz, Emily Huebscher, Amy Ross, Scott Segal, Dena Shaffer, Sarah Smiley, Michael Weinstein and Benjamin Zeidman. Dr. David Aaron, professor of Bible, will deliver the ordination address. These new rabbis will be serving Reform Jewish congregations and community organizations around the country and share the
skills and knowledge of an unparalleled Jewish education. They will enter the Jewish professional ministry and reflect HUC-JIR’s unsurpassed program of scholarly training at the frontier of the Jewish Reform movement. Rabbi David Ellenson, HUC-JIR president, said, “The Class of 2010 emerges from the College-Institute imbued with leadership skills, steeped in knowledge, strengthened by a commitment to service, and dedicated to bringing hope and healing to our troubled world.” Please see the national invitation for full event details.
HUC-JIR graduation to honor Jewish leaders, alumni and graduating class of 2010 Rabbi David Ellenson, Ph.D., president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), has announced the class of 2010, who will be ordained and graduated this spring in Cincinnati. HUC-JIR is the nation’s oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism. Communal leaders, relatives and friends will gather at Isaac M. Wise Temple on June 6 at 1 p.m. for the HUC-JIR Cincinnati graduation ceremonies of the 135th academic year. The Presidents’ Medal will be awarded to Major General Sidney Shachnow, Holocaust survivor and former Commander of U.S. Army Special Forces Command, and Major General, U.S. Army (Ret.) The Founders’ Medallion for Graduate Studies Alumni will be awarded to Bill T. Arnold, Ph.D., Bryan Beyer, Ph.D., and John I. Kampen, Ph.D. Doctorates of Humane Letters, honoris causa will be awarded to Bishop E. Lynn Brown, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Cincinnati; Presiding Prelate, Second Episcopal District, Judy Chicago, Artist, Author, Feminist, Educator and Dr. Mildred S. Dresselhaus, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of
HUC-JIR is the nation’s oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism. Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Doctorates of Divinities, honoris causa, awarded to HUC-JIR alumni in honor of the 25th anniversary of their rabbinic ordination, will be conferred upon Rabbi Judith Z. Abrams, Ph.D., Founder of Maqom: A School for Adult Talmud Study; Rabbi Eric J. Bram, of Kol Ami in Beachwood, Ohio; Rabbi Lewis H. Kamrass, of Isaac M. Wise Temple in Cincinnati; Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar, of Congregation B’nai Johoshua Beth Elohim in Chicago, Ill.; Rabbi Jonathan Magidovitch, of Congregation B’nai Torah in Highland Park, Ill.; Rabbi Eric R. Slaton, of Beth Israel Synagogue in Hamilton, Ohio; and Rabbi Susan Gail Warshell, freelance rabbi and artist working in Highland Park, Ill.. This honorary degree commemorates their efforts in the advancement of the Reform
Movement and the enhancement of its value in greater American Jewry. Doctorates of Philosophy will be awarded to graduates Scott Ashmon, Ed Gallagher, Russell Mack, David Musgrave, David Palmer, Andrew Riley and Jason Soenksen. Masters of Philosophy in Hebraic and Cognate Studies will be awarded to graduate Young Bok Kim. Masters of Philosophy will be awarded to graduates Brian Gault, Ben Noonan, Carl Pace and Sun Jim Park. Masters of Arts in Hebrew Letters will be awarded to graduates Sandra Bellush, Barbara Block, Laila Haas, Emily Huebscher, Joshua Leighton, Aaron Miller, Ari Plost, Scott Segal and Michael Weinstein. Please see the national invitation for full event details.
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The oldest English-Jewish weekly in America Founded July 15, 1854 by Isaac M.Wise VOL. 156 • NO. 45 Thursday, June 3, 2010 21 Sivan, 5770 Shabbat begins Fri, 8:42 p.m. Shabbat ends Sat, 9:42 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
This picture features (from left to right, bottom to top): Cantor Deborrah Cannizzaro, Karen Goldstein, Jennifer Seelig, Emily Jodice, Jennifer Rissover, Mackenzie Baird, Talia Warm, Allanah Jackson, Johanna Wegner, Brittney Delev, Sarah Jaye Goldschneider, Sarah Finer, Elissa Hoffman, Rabbi Ilana Baden, Barbara Dragul, Ryan Youkilis, Max Krieger, Andrew Gelwicks, Benjamin Kleymeyer, Jonathan Moskovitz, Max Kadish, Daniel Westheimer, Benjamin Casuto, Daniel Sachs, Michael Levy, Michael Craig, Rabbi Lewis Kamrass, Rabbi Michael Shulman, Sara Estes, Carly Edelheit, Emily Gilgoff, Maximillian Johnson, Ethan Stieha, Alexandra Benmayor, Lilyan Cohen, Mariah Schweiger, Julie Tieger, Abby Richter, Samuel Casuto, Seth Gold, Leigh Fidler, Molly Loftspring, Ariana Knue, Samuel Zobel, Kaleb Brill, Jainie Winter, Jacob LaFrance, Matthew Kaltman, Alexander Burte, Maxwell Eichel. (Not pictured: Emma Rosen)
Wise confirmands celebrate accomplishments After a year of intense study and activity, over 40 10th graders took their place on the Plum Street bimah and declared their commitment to the Jewish faith and community during Isaac M. Wise Temple’s Confirmation ceremony held on Saturday, May 22, 2010.
As part of the curriculum, the students explored many pertinent issues and themes, including Jewish community, covenant, choice and strength. In addition to the classroom sessions on Sunday evenings, students participated in social action projects, such as working in the Over-the-
Rhine Soup Kitchen and the Free Store Food Bank. They also convened at Camp Campbell Gard for a two-day retreat in October. On Friday, May 21, the confirmands and their families attended Shabbat evening services at Plum Street Temple, where the
students were invited to the bimah for individual blessings. On Saturday, May 22, the group reconvened for the service that the students had compiled. Each confirmand took part in leading the liturgy. Following the worship, the Confirmation class and guests celebrated with a luncheon.
Jewish Discovery Center to dedicate Torah honoring Sam and Rachel Boymel Dedicated by Sam and Rachel Boymel, Holocaust survivors and renowned international philanthropists, the Torah will be inaugurated with a special ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June 6, at the Jewish Discovery Center in Mason. Sam Boymel realized that for the rapidly growing Jewish community in the Mason area to survive and thrive, they must have a Torah of their own around which to rally. It would unite the Jewish community in the region and become the focal point of Jewish worship and study each week at the Jewish Discovery Center. The Boymels’ Torah is gifted to the Mason-area Jewish community in
honor of their parents who perished in the Holocaust and will be housed at the Jewish Discovery Center. The ceremony will honor the Boymels, who will be presented with a gift for their communal leadership. “I feel like I survived for a reason,” Mr. Boymel said. “I have made it my responsibility to look after Jewish education and to ensure Jewish continuity.” Written by hand on parchment according to a specific tradition over 3,300 years old, the Torah scroll is the most precious Jewish article, according to Rabbi Yosef Kalmanson, the center’s executive director.
“Each letter in the scroll is unique and an invaluable part of the entire Torah,” he said. “One damaged or incorrect letter can render the entire scroll invalid. It’s the same with the Jewish people. Each one of us has our own unique talents that we contribute to the world and it’s our responsibility to make sure every fellow Jew is living up to his or her potential to help perfect G-d’s creation.” At the inauguration a qualified scribe from Florida will apply the final touches to the Torah with quill on cowhide. Participants will have the opportunity to personally partake in the writing. The family oriented program will include
interactive education for children and adults on the unique art of scribing, a hands-on demonstration on how a Torah scroll is made and a dessert reception. The kid friendly event also will feature a stilt-walker, juggler, face painting, a “moon bounce” inflatable, popcorn, cotton candy and prizes. Live music will promote dancing and celebrating with the Torah upon its completion. The planned Torah inauguration represents monumental growth for Judaism in the Mason area. The unique celebration is open to the entire community and religious affiliation is not a factor to attend the interactive activities.
BARBARA L. MORGENSTERN MICHAEL McCRACKEN Assistant Editors ALEXIA KADISH Copy Editor JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor STEPHANIE DAVIS-NOVAK Fashion Editor MARILYN GALE Dining Editor MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM RABBI A. JAMES RUDIN RABBI AVI SHAFRAN Contributing Writers LEV LOKSHIN JANE KARLSBERG Staff Photographers PATTY YOUKILIS JUSTIN COHEN Advertising Sales JOSEPH D. STANGE Production Manager CHRISTIE HALKO Office Manager
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Northern Hills HaZaK to focus on Jewish music of the Mediterranean Jewish Music of the Mediterranean will be featured when Northern Hills Synagogue Congregation B’nai Avraham hosts its monthly HaZaK program for seniors on Wednesday, June 9. The program will take place at the synagogue beginning at noon and lunch will be served. The featured performer will be Cantor Sharon Hordes of Kenesseth Israel Congregation in Louisville, accompanied by Claire Lee. Cantor Hordes grew up at Northern Hills Synagogue. She received her B.A. in classical voice at Indiana University, and
National Briefs Jewish men’s club offers helping hand to bombed mosque (JTA) — A Jewish men’s club has offered to help repair a Florida mosque. Some 60 people were inside the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida earlier this month when a firebomb exploded outside the Jacksonville mosque. After hearing about the attack, the Jacksonville Jewish Center Men’s Club offered its assistance, according to ABC First Coast News. “We have a group of guys who like to do carpentry, painting or whatever we can to help out,” club representative Ken Organes told ABC. The Islamic Center also received letters of support from a local rabbi and the Anti-Defamation League. Islamic Center spokesman Ash Shaikh in speaking to ABC praised “the very fact that someone of another faith tradition is going to take the time and is so concerned to show his compassion and the compassion of his community.” U.S. wants ‘full and credible’ Israeli inquiry into flotilla clash WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Obama administration wants Israel to conduct a “full and credible” investigation into a clash that left nine people dead when Israel commandoes boarded a flotilla shipping aid to the Gaza Strip. “The United States deeply regrets the tragic loss of life and injuries suffered among those
her master’s in sacred music from Gratz College. Cantor Hordes was the first cantor ordained by the Rabbinic Reconstructionist College in Philadelphia. Claire Lee received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the University of Cincinnati’s CollegeConservatory of Music. An active member of Cincinnati’s musical community, Lee plays keyboard in a Dixieland group and flute in a wind quartet. “HaZaK” is an acronym, with the letters standing for the Hebrew words “Hakhma” (wisdom),
“Ziknah” (maturity), and “Kadima” (forward). The HaZaK programs are for adults 55 and older, and are open to the entire community. In addition to members of Northern Hills, many attendees have come from the Jewish Community Center, Cedar Village, Brookwood Retirement Community and throughout Greater Cincinnati. There is no charge for the program and lunch, but donations are greatly appreciated. For reservations or more information, please call the Northern Hills Synagogue office.
involved in the incident today aboard the Gaza-bound ships,” P.J. Crowley, the State Department spokesman, said in a statement. “We are working to ascertain the facts, and expect that the Israeli government will conduct a full and credible investigation.” Israel’s Navy intercepted six ships early Monday morning about 70 miles off Gaza’s coast in international waters. The ships were among a fleet of nine carrying humanitarian aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists. The Gaza “Freedom Flotilla,” organized by the pro-Hamas Free Gaza group, had left last week from ports in Ireland, Greece and Turkey. Upon boarding the largest ship, the Marmara, run by IHH, a Turkish humanitarian relief fund with a radical Islamic anti-Western orientation, the naval forces were attacked with metal clubs and knives, as well as live fire, according to the Israeli army. Officials with groups backing the flotilla denied such attacks, although the army released video evidence. In addition to the activists who died in the rioting, tens of protesters were injured and evacuated to Israeli hospitals. Seven Israeli soldiers were reported injured; two listed in serious condition were upgraded later to moderate. In his statement, Crowley said the incident underscored the need for assistance to reach Gazans, as well as the hindrance posed by Hamas, the terrorist group that controls the Strip. “We will continue to work closely with the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, along with international NGOs and the UN, to provide adequate access for humanitarian goods, including reconstruction materials, through the border crossings, while bearing in mind the Government of Israel’s
legitimate security concerns,” he said. “However, Hamas’ interference with international assistance shipments and work of nongovernmental organizations, and its use and endorsement of violence, complicates efforts in Gaza.” Crowley also implicitly rebuked freelance efforts to deliver assistance. “Mechanisms exist for the transfer of humanitarian assistance to Gaza by governments and groups that wish to do so,” he said. “These mechanisms should be used for the benefit of all those in Gaza.”
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In the shadow of Nazi classic ‘Jew Suess’: director’s kin speak their minds by Tom Tugend Jewish Telegraphic Agency LOS ANGELES (JTA) — German director Veit Harlan may have made 29 other films between 1935 and 1962, but his 1940 antiSemitic classic “Jew Suess” guaranteed his position as the favorite director of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Even to this day the film casts its baleful shadow over his descendants and a Germany still wrestling with the legacy of the Holocaust and its perpetrators. So 70 years after its premiere comes “Harlan: In the Shadow of ‘Jew Suess’” by the German historian and documentary filmmaker Felix Moeller. “Harlan” is not so much a reappraisal of “Jew Suess,” or even of its considerable wartime impact — the film was a box office hit that SS chief Heinrich Himmler ordered shown to his SS subordinates and concentration camp guards. Rather “Harlan” is primarily a fascinating examination of how the director’s descendants, still largely associated with the film industry and the arts, are accepting or denying the work and character of their notorious father and grandfather. Moeller, 44, has included only a few brief scenes from “Jew Suess,” for screening the original is illegal under German law. Even
Zeitgeist Films
Zeitgeist Films — Veit Harlan, left, directs actor Werner Krauss as Rabbi Loew in “Jew Suess,” a Nazi-era propaganda film.
a subsequent documentary can show only five minutes worth of outtakes. In its full length, “Jew Suess” was a twisted version of Lion Feuchtwanger’s historical drama of the same title. In the Harlan “adaptation,” the 18th century Jewish banker Joseph Suess Oppenheimer worms himself into the favor of the Duke of Wuerttemberg, cheats and corrupts everyone, rapes a pure Aryan
maiden, and is finally hanged for treason amid jubilant mob scenes. Harlan cut some financial corners by using Jews from the Lublin ghetto as film extras. In his personal life, Harlan’s first wife was Dora Gershon, a Jewish actress whom he divorced in 1924 after a six-month marriage. She was killed in Auschwitz in 1943 and, according to Moeller, there is no record that Harlan, then a favorite of the Nazi hierar-
chy, tried to help her or that she sought his intervention. Harlan would marry twice more, the third time to the star of many of his movies, the Swedish actress Kristina Soederbaum. The filmmaker died in 1964, and his direct descendants included five children, eight grandchildren, one niece and one nephew. Harlan’s son Thomas has turned completely against his father, to the point of trying to burn down theaters showing his postwar films. Thomas Harlan lashes out against the judge who acquitted his father in two postwar trials for committing crimes against humanity. Another son, Kristian, defends his father and rages against the “disloyal” family members who have turned against their progenitor. Three granddaughters, in their 20s and bearing the Harlan name, find it difficult to grasp the impact of “Jew Suess,” which one dismisses in “Harlan” as “cheesy and banal.” Two of Harlan’s daughters and a niece married Jews. One of the daughters, Susanne Koerber (she adopted her mother’s maiden name) married Claude Jacoby, a Jewish photographer whose father perished in the Holocaust, and converted to Judaism. She committed suicide in 1989. Their daughter, Jessica Jacoby, identifies as fully Jewish and works as the film critic of a German-Jewish newspaper. She judges Harlan harshly, considers him clearly anti-Semitic, and asks the viewer to consider her position — one grandfather was complicit,
at least indirectly, in the extermination of her other grandfather. Nearly as bizarre is the history of Harlan’s niece Christiane, who married the famed AmericanJewish filmmaker Stanley Kubrick in 1958. Kubrick, his widow recalls, also wanted to make a film about Harlan, showing the day-by-day mechanics of producing a movie under Goebbels’ watchful eyes, but the project never came together. Despite the testimony of Harlan’s kin, it is difficult to define the man. His children, though they did not see much of their workaholic father for long stretches of time, apparently loved him and the privileges they enjoyed due to his status. One son adamantly denies that the filmmaker could have been an anti-Semite because “he had many Jewish friends and his doctor was Jewish,” though presumably in the pre-Hitler days. Harlan himself never apologized or showed any public remorse for his role in the Nazi propaganda machine. During his two trials, his chief defense was that he had no choice but to accede to Goebbels’ demand that he direct “Jew Suess.” Moeller, who spent two years on the film project, including months convincing the Harlan family members to speak on camera, doesn’t think his subject was “a committed Nazi or anti-Semite. He was more of an opportunist, mixed with a bit of cowardice and conviction, who saw his chance for advancement. “Once he took on the ‘Jew Suess’ assignment,” Moeller said, “he wanted to make it the best and most effective film possible.” Moeller comes from a noted lineage of prominent movie directors: His mother is Margarethe von Trotta and his stepfather is Volker Schlondorff. All three family members are working on separate films on the Holocaust and its aftermath, indicating the profound and continuing grip of the Nazi era on the German imagination. Moeller is doing a documentary on Operation Reinhard, the Nazi plan to murder Poland’s Jews in a string of extermination camps. In July he will travel to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem for additional research. Von Trotta is working on a feature film about political scientist Hannah Arendt and the Adolf Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, while Schlondorff’s next film will be about the Nazi occupation of France.
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For Manning-Kaplan duo, Jewish nonprofits are the ties that bind by Jacob Berkman Jewish Telegraphic Agency PALM BEACH, Fla. (JTA) — It’s a cool spring night, and Kathy Manning and Randall Kaplan are battling their way out of the west lawn of the sprawling bay-side mansion of Jane Goldman and Benjamin Lewis. Manning, the chairwoman of the Jewish Federations of North America, and Kaplan, the chairman of the board of governors of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, have just spent a few hours schmoozing with 80 donors, a handful of boards of trustees and several members of Hillel’s board trying to make the case for their organizations. If there is a power couple in the world of Jewish nonprofits, Manning and Kaplan are it. Manning is the lay leader atop the umbrella organization for the multibillion-dollar per year Jewish federation system, the world’s largest Jewish charity. Kaplan is the top lay leader at the $90 millionper-year network of centers for Jewish life on 500 college campuses around the world. And here they are standing back to back alternately taking questions from Hillel donors and pitching their respective organizations as they work their way past waiters offering desserts trying to get out the door to a dinner reservation. “It was fun last night,” Manning would tell JTA in a wide-ranging interview with Kaplan over breakfast the next day. The power spouses — who live in Greensboro, N.C. — often spend time at events for each other’s respective causes. “I am Kathy Manning’s husband,” Kaplan jokes of his role at Jewish Federation events. This Hillel gathering, however, marked the first time they had actually headlined an event together. Though there are plenty of differences between the two organizations, both are facing the same challenge: figuring out how to engage the next generation of Jews so that ultimately they pick up charitable responsibility for maintaining Jewish infrastructure. Hillel often serves as the last opportunity for the organized Jewish world to reach out to young Jews for a decade or more between college and having children. If it is going to succeed, then it must figure out how to get as many students into its local chapters as possible. The federation system faces a similar challenge in trying to figure out how to make itself known and relevant to an 18-to-36 cohort of
Courtesy of Hillel
Kathy Manning, chairwoman of Jewish Federations of North America, and Randall Kaplan, chairman of the board of Hillel, attend a fundraiser in Palm Beach with her parents, Elaine and Mervyn Manning, March 8, 2010.
some 1.2 million Jews, of which some 20 percent do not even know the term Jewish federation. Manning likens the challenge to the different ways that her generation and that of her children use the computer. “When we work on a computer we have one window open. We work on that and go to the next,” she says. “Our kids might have four windows open and they are very comfortable going from one window to the next and they also have messages popping up — and they can answer those at the same time. They are unbelievable at multi-tasking. “Just like they are comfortable with all those different windows, they are comfortable with lots of different identities. So our task is to make sure that at least one of those identities is being Jewish.” It’s a heavy task — one that occupies about 70 percent of the couple’s private conversations, they say. Fortunately the two seem to share a healthy banter about their work. Over breakfast, Manning playfully tells a reporter not to believe her husband when he says that something she said is “brilliant.” Kaplan implies that his wife is long-winded. Manning, who spoke first on the panel the previous night, explained how Jewish Federations was attempting to reach out to young Jews by recognizing that Jews now are on the move, have more choices than ever, are accepted by mainstream America as Americans as opposed to rejected as Jews, and are incredibly individualistic. “She kept stealing my lines,” Kaplan says. “I am not letting her go first next time.” Manning grew up in the large, powerful Jewish community of
Detroit. Kaplan is from Greensboro, where he was one of only five Jews in his high school class of 550. They met in law school, started dating after graduation, then were engaged and moved to Washington, where they weren’t too Jewishly involved. Manning gave birth to the first of the couple’s three children (girl, boy, girl). The family moved to Greensboro, where Manning was hired by the city’s biggest law firm, and Kaplan joined his family’s business, Kay Chemical Company (these days he’s CEO of the Capsule Group). One reason for the move, Kaplan says, is that they wanted to be part of a smaller Jewish community — but they didn’t have any friends in Greensboro. Then they got a call from the federation asking them to join its local young leadership council. The call came right at the beginning of the Soviet Jewry movement, and Manning and Kaplan were able to take a leadership role in an emergency campaign that raised more than $1.5 million in the tiny Greensboro community of 3,000 Jews to help bring Jews from the former Soviet Union to Israel or the United States. The people they met in those early days are still their closest friends. “The story then was easy because it was so compelling,” Manning says. “Now it is tougher to make the Jewish connection and the Jewish story as compelling and as urgent as it is in times of trouble.” They might operate one window at a time online, but off the computer they do plenty of juggling. In addition to their Jewish communal involvement, both are highly active in non-Jewish philanthropic circles, too.
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Conservatives’ ethical seal nearing kosher marketplace by Amy Klein Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK (JTA) — “We will not put a hechsher on pork products.” Counterintuitive as the need for that statement about kosher certification might sound, it was just one of the points about the Conservative movement’s planned ethical seal that the group responsible for the certification wanted to clarify at this week’s gathering of Conservative rabbis in New York. The Hekhscher Tzedek Commission announced at this week’s Rabbinical Assembly convention that it had hired a social auditing firm to compile standards for what the seal will represent. The Magen Tzedek certification has been in development for three years following multiple scandals at the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant, Agriprocessors of Postville, Iowa. Beta testing with two companies will be finished by the end of 2010. “Over the course of the next year we will be in the marketplace,” promised Rabbi Morris Allen, the Hekhsher Tzedek project director and spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Jacob in Minnesota. Joe Regenstein, an adviser to the Hekhscher Tzedek Commission and professor of food science at Cornell University, said
the new certification will cover five areas: wages and benefits; health and safety of workers; animal welfare; environment and sustainability; and a broad category of corporate responsibilities, such as nutritional labeling and good practices. At the convention panel at which the certification was discussed — “Moving Magen Tzedek Into the Marketplace: How the Conservative Movement is Seating Itself at the Kosher Table,” the co-chairman of the Hekhscher Tzedek Commission, Rabbi Michael Siegel of Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago, urged the dozens of rabbis in the room to make the commission’s projects known to their communities. The commission wants each synagogue to appoint one socially aware and active member to work directly with the commission for a year. Siegel also urged the audience to make sure that their synagogues and Jewish organizations are in compliance with the ethical standards espoused by the seal, such as using fair labor practices for workers and ensuring that outside contractors, like catering companies, adhere to the standards. “We have to set the right example in our own synagogues. It’s a serious issue,” he said. “This will be our Achilles heel if we don’t address it.” The commission hired Social
Accountability Accreditation Services (SAAS) for help in coming up with the standards a food company must meet in order to be approved for the Magen Tzedek, or star of justice. The commission
Hekhscher Tzedek Commission
The new certification seal by the Conservative movement’s Hekhscher Tzedek Commission: the Magen Tzedek, or Star of Justice.
posted draft standards at the Magen Tzedek Web site for three months, inviting public comment, and now the standards are being finalized. “We think that social justice in the marketplace is something that we can make happen,” said Eileen Kaufman, executive director of Social Accountability International, which accredits and monitors organizations as being in compliance with social standards.
“What we do at SAAS is take creditable standards and put them in a structure that enables them to be carried out and used as criteria for purchasing. That proves as incentive for organizations to follow them.” At first the label will be targeted toward U.S. kosher food product companies, Regenstein said, estimating the number at about 10,000. It will include only products that already have been certified as kosher, including nonfood items like detergents and aluminum foil, as well as products that do not require kosher certification, such as fruit and vegetables. Even though some companies might adhere to the social justice practices enumerated, if they are not kosher, they cannot get the seal. “We are a Conservative Jewish organization. We will not put a hechsher on pork sausages. That’s just not who we are,” Regenstein said. The Magen Tzedek is “tied to Jewish ethics and to Jewish law. The companies have to meet a minimum of Jewish law.” Regenstein prefers to call the accreditation the Magen Tzedek rather than use the term hechscher. “The word hechsher means kosher certification, and this program is not kosher certification,” he said. “This is a social justice program attached to previously recognized kosher certification.” Regenstein added that the term
hechsher made the Orthodox community nervous. “They thought, and perhaps rightfully so, that we were going into the kosher certification business,” he said. “We are going into the ethical certification business.” For now the seal will not apply to restaurants. Other organizations, like Uri L’Tzedek, certify kosher restaurants as ethical. Eventually the Hekhscher Tzedek Commission hopes to certify catering companies. After the SAAS criteria are finalized, the commission will conduct an economic feasibility study to determine the cost of accreditation, Regenstein said. He noted that it might prove economically desirable for kosher companies to acquire the seal because it will widen the market for their foods to those who care about ethics even if they don’t keep kosher. “By tying it to kosher products, you will have more Reform and Conservative Jews looking at products that are kosher,” Regenstein said. “They can reach the entire Jewish community and people outside the community looking for a framework to choose ethical products.” The seal may even help people become kosher observant, he said. “All of a sudden it’s not just people who keep kosher” who will be eating kosher products, Regenstein said, “but people who are interested in social justice.”
Congress delays sanctions bill, with AIPAC blessing by Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency WASHINGTON (JTA) — In a sign of closer White House-congressional coordination on Iran, Congress is delaying an Iran sanctions bill several weeks to give the Obama administration time to shepherd new sanctions through the U.N. Security Council. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee blessed the delay, in part because an array of parallel measures are under consideration that would stiffen existing sanctions aimed at getting the Iranian regime to stand down from its suspected nuclear weapons program. “We have always said that tough multilateral sanctions are the most effective means to persuade Iran to cease its efforts to develop a nuclear weapons capability — a demand repeated time and again by the international community — and we applaud the efforts of President Obama and his
national security team to unite the other permanent members of the Security Council behind this urgent goal,” said a joint statement by U.S. Rep. Howard Berman (DCalif.), the chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. The statement predicted passage by the “latter half of June.” Both the House and Senate have passed versions of enhanced unilateral sanctions that would target third parties — including countries, individuals and companies — that deal with Iran’s energy sector. The bills are undergoing reconciliation, and congressional leaders had said they would pass this month. The Obama administration has lobbied hard to delay the congressional sanctions, fearing that they could alienate the major powers it has persuaded to join the Security Council’s multilateral sanctions. The enhanced Security Council sanctions, targeting Iran’s banking
sector and mandating inspections of Iranian ships, lack the bite of the congressional measures. However, they broaden multilateral sanctions to encompass whole sectors — banking and shipping — as opposed to individuals and entities. That would lay the foundations for future sanctions that could more broadly target the regime. “AIPAC supports this decision and endorses Chairmen Dodd and Berman’s firm, public commitment to get tough, comprehensive Iran sanctions legislation on the President’s desk before the July 4th recess,” the lobby said in a statement. “We urge President Obama to sign and implement that legislation immediately upon its arrival on his desk.” AIPAC was assuaged in part by plans to insert language in other bills that would inhibit presidential waivers on existing sanctions. Recent reports have revealed that U.S. businesses that have illicitly traded with Iran have done $107 billion in business with the U.S.
government. The businesses got away with the double dealing because successive presidents have not used sanctions at their disposal since Congress passed sweeping legislation in 1996. House appropriators announced Tuesday that they would attach language to a supplemental appropriations bill that would require contractors to certify that they are not doing business with Iran. The sanctions would still be subject to a presidential waiver, but on a case-by-case basis, and on condition of certification to Congress that the waiver was necessary for national security. “One of the most effective things we can do to compel compliance with the Iran Sanctions Act is use the power of the purse,” said Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who worked on the legislation with fellow appropriators Reps. Steve Rothman (DN.J.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Ben Chandler (D-Ky.) under the auspices of Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), who chairs the foreign operations appropriations subcommittee.
Israel told JTA that he was sensitive to Defense Department concerns that some companies discovered doing business with Iran also might be providing critical aid to U.S. troops, for instance with antiexplosive device materiel. “Then the president should tell Congress, but it shouldn’t be done in the dark, it shouldn’t be behind closed doors,” he said. Israel called attaching the language to the supplemental appropriations bill a “shot across the bow.” He was hoping to attach it eventually to all 12 appropriations bills in Congress. Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) launched a parallel effort to attach similar language to defense authorization bills. His amendment would suspend for three years business with contractors that falsely certify that they are not doing business with Iran. Authorization bills permit the government to carry out programs; appropriations bills fund the programs.
INTERNATIONAL
THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010
International Briefs Torah scrolls stolen from Antwerp synagogue BERLIN (JTA) — Several Torah scrolls were stolen from Antwerp’s main synagogue in what may be the largest such theft ever reported in Belgium. Congregation members arrived for morning services on Saturday to find that four to six Torah scrolls had been taken overnight Friday from the synagogue on Oostenstraat. One of the missing scrolls is more than 200 years old and was hidden by a Jewish woman held in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Community leaders suspect that the thieves had inside information on how to reach the ark through a hallway door into the sanctuary. Pinchas Kornfeld, head of the city’s Jewish community, told Ynet that “the last people to leave the synagogue closed the seminary, and the first ones to arrive in the morning noticed that the holy ark had been broken into.” Police have investigated the scene and are seeking possible images captured on video surveillance cameras in the area, according to the Belgian Jewish newspaper Joods Aktueel. Experts have suggested that the thieves are more likely to demand a ransom for the Torah scrolls rather than try to sell them, as buyers want to know the origin of a scroll and the stolen scrolls are easily identifiable, Joods Aktueel reported. During World War II, 10 Torah scrolls and hundreds of prayer books were thrown out of the synagogue into the street and burned. Israel officially joins world economic group PARIS (JTA) — Israel’s economic status received a boost with its official entry into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Following more than 16 years of trying, Israel joined the 31 wealthiest nations and became the first Middle Eastern member of the OECD at a ceremony Thursday in Paris. “We in Israel are deeply honored by your invitation to join this club,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during the ceremony. “We see this not only as recognition of what we have achieved but as a vote of confidence for the future.” Estonia and Slovenia also were welcomed into the group, which includes the world’s most developed countries. New members must still go through a detailed ratification process that
can take a few months. Membership can mean an increase in investment in a given country, but it also involves coordinating and sharing economic policies with other members. Israel was accepted into the group by a unanimous vote of the 31 member states. Israel’s GDP grew slightly in 2009, compared to an average decline for OECD member states. Its high per capita exports in technology and new legislation to curb bribery also were among reasons Israel was invited to join. Israel’s “most dynamic” technological exports per capita were “quite amazing,” said OECD General Secretary Angel Gurria, considering the country’s short life span. The Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister had urged the OECD not to invite Israel because of its, “aggressive and racist practices against the Palestinian people.” Pro-Palestinian groups have held protests in Paris to contest the invitation to Israel. Yet France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, defended Israel’s OECD membership Thursday, calling it a decision based on “objective criteria” established by the group. As an OECD member, Israel will be held accountable to strict review of its economic practices. In a January report, the OECD warned Israel that it must lower its 20 percent poverty rate, especially high among Arabs and ultraOrthodox Jews. Jewish civil servant was discriminated against, board rules TORONTO (JTA) — The Canadian government discriminated against a Jewish civil servant because she followed the rules of her religion, a federal adjudicator ruled. The ruling agreed that Valery LaBranche’s workplace at the Ottawa headquarters of Passport Canada was poisoned by antiSemitism, the Ottawa Citizen reported. The decision found that LaBranche’s colleagues discriminated against her because she would leave work early on Fridays to observe the Sabbath and took off Jewish holidays, and that “her bosses did little or nothing to help her,” the Citizen said. LaBranche, who converted to Judaism in 1997, said she had been deeply traumatized by her treatment, had to seek medical treatment and take time off work. She launched her grievance in January 2007. According to the adjudicator’s decision, obtained by the Citizen, LaBranche became ill and unable to work after anonymous anti-Semitic messages were sent to her superiors.
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Passion Play Oberammergau 2010
This scene in the Oberammergau Passion Play, showing Jesus’ crucifixion, perpetuates the charge against the Jews of deicide, some Jewish critics say.
Oberammergau Passion Play better, but not good by Toby Axelrod Jewish Telegraphic Agency BERLIN (JTA) — It’s a tradition that goes back hundreds of years in the Bavarian village of Oberammergau, nestled in the German Alps. After witnessing it in the 1930s, Hitler reportedly proclaimed, “Never has the menace of Jewry been so convincingly portrayed as in this presentation of what happened in the time of the Romans.” Today, however, the Oberammergau Passion Play — which depicts Jesus’ final days, involves nearly half of Oberammergau’s 5,000 residents in the production and is expected to draw roughly half a million visitors for its 102-performance run through October — looks a little different. Director Christian Stuckl and deputy director Otto Huber have incorporated new elements to showcase Jesus’ Jewish observance, including one scene in which Jesus and his disciples lift the Torah at the Jerusalem Temple and recite the Shema. For some Jewish critics, however, the play — which through the centuries of its performance has sparked deadly pogroms against Jewish communities in Europe — is still dangerously anti-Semitic. In the scene where Jesus is crucified, hundreds of Jews scream and clamor for his execution. Noam Marans, the American Jewish Committee’s associate director of interreligious and intergroup relations, called the scene “bone chilling.” “Under the leadership of Oberammergau reformers Christian Stuckl and Otto Huber, the director and deputy director of
the Passion play, the 1990, 2000 and 2010 editions are less offensive to Jews and concerned Christians than earlier versions,” Marans wrote in an Op-Ed distributed by the AJC. But, he noted, “In addition to worrisome stereotypes, the play regrettably still perpetuates the slanderous deicide charge that has historically sparked violence against Jews.” “Most disturbing,” said the Anti-Defamation League’s director of interfaith affairs, Rabbi Eric Greenberg, is the “false accusation that ‘the Jews’ were responsible for the crucifixion.” Nevertheless, the ADL and AJC were among the groups that noted that this year’s performance — the production is staged every 10 years — is not as anti-Semitic as in years past. As if to underscore the point, during the intermission in one of the play’s first performances this year, the actor who depicts Jesus sat drinking beers with a group of American Jews. The Americans had come to Oberammergau to meet with the Christians in the performance to discuss the play — and the violent anti-Semitism it inspired throughout the ages. They came as part of a seminar sponsored by the AJC and the Berlin-based Germany Close Up program. Marans initiated the program. “There has clearly been tons of progress” in recent decades, said Elissa Sagor, 23, one of 15 American Jewish students and young professionals who spent 10 days this month in Germany. “The old costumes on the Jewish high priests had horns,” said Sagor, who works for the AJC in New York. “Now they are attempting to Judaize Jesus.”
During the participants’ visit to Oberammergau — part of a trip that took them to Berlin to meet with theology students at Humboldt University, to a Christian ecumenical conference near Munich and to the memorial at the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp — they were hosted by local Christian families. The Passion Play runs from May 15 to Oct. 3, and features more than 2,000 local residents playing all the roles. The covered auditorium in which the performance is held seats 4,700 and faces an open-air stage framed by soaring mountains. Virtually all the local men have let their beards and hair grow out for the performances. “It’s like a Passion Play Disneyland,” Sagor said. Elliot Leffler, 30, a graduate student in theater at the University of Minnesota, said he didn’t think the play shows that the Jews killed Jesus. “I recognize, of course, that many of the bad guys in the narrative are Jews,” Leffler said. “But many of the bad guys are also gentiles, and many of the important Jews are likeable, admirable, empathetic characters. This is not only good for Jewish-Christian relations; I imagine it also has significant theological ramifications for how Christian audiences make sense of Jesus’ death.” David Rees, director of the Munich Synagogue choir, Shma Koleinu, said he was impressed by how Stuckl “succeeds in placing the Passion story squarely in a Jewish context.” He said Stuckl’s production “belongs to a world altogether different from the Passion Play’s antiSemitic past.”
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ISRAEL
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Flotilla raid stokes debate on price of Gaza blockade By Dina Kraft Jewish Telegraphic Agency ASHDOD, Israel (JTA) — The blurry black-and-white video footage was not what any Israeli wanted to see: elite navy commandos armed with paint balls (the pistols were only to be used as a last resort) dangling by a rope onto a boat filled with activists wielding metal bars and knives. In one scene, an Israeli commando is thrown to the deck below by the mob aboard the ship. “It’s not just appalling footage, it’s a national humiliation and a blow to Israel’s deterrence,” military analyst Amos Harel wrote in the Israeli daily Haaretz a day after the deadly confrontation between Israeli commandos and pro-Palestinian activists aboard the Gaza-bound ship that left nine activists dead. “The question is why the soldiers were put in this situation in the first place.” As Israeli officialdom begins the process of reckoning — the Navy is expected to conduct an inquiry and there have been calls for Defense Minister Ehud Barak to resign — analysts tried to untangle the strategy behind the botched raid on the Free Gaza movement flotilla. Many in the Israeli media are describing the raid as an intelligence, operational and political failure. The massive diplomatic fallout triggered by the flotilla confrontation also has ratcheted up the debate in Israel over the efficacy of Israel’s policy of blockading Gaza. “Three years of a failed strategy brought us to the events of today,” said Yossi Alpher, co-editor of BitterLemons, an IsraeliPalestinian Web site. “We could have dealt with this differently had we thought better strategically in advance about the consequences of our failed strategy in Gaza.” Military sources said that although the commandos knew a confrontation was possible on the ship they boarded, the Mavi Marmara, they were surprised by the attempts to kill Israeli troops. Despite the violent result of the raid, government officials said Israel had little choice but to find some way to confront and halt the six-ship flotilla because of the risk that there could be weapons in the uninspected cargo that could reach Hamas, the terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip. “This is the ninth effort to get boats into Gaza,” said Andy David, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. “The first three were allowed through, but then we began to see it was becoming like a leaking faucet we had to put an end to because, as we have seen, Hamas is doing all it can do in its power to smuggle in weapons.”
Kobi Gideon / Flash 90 / JTA
An Israeli student brandishes her identity card in a demonstration outside Jerusalem’s Hebrew University in support of the Israeli Navy raid on ships bound for Gaza, June 1, 2010.
David added, “If they had wanted to really deliver humanitarian aid, they could have done it through the Ashdod port.” Passengers aboard the ships, however, said they did not trust that Israel — which has enforced a three-year blockade of Gaza, since Hamas militants wrested control of the territory from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in a bloody coup — to deliver the aid. The government also was wary about who was on board the ships, Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich told reporters during a briefing overlooking the Ashdod port as the ships in the flotilla were brought in for inspection Monday. “You don’t know who is on board such ships and whether they might be a security threat or not,” she said. Above all, the government appeared anxious to make an example of this six-ship flotilla — the largest effort to date to break the blockade of Gaza — to show the world that it would not tolerate efforts to break the blockage, international condemnation notwithstanding. The government made it very clear that it was not going to allow the passage of these ships and, in turn, wrote veteran commentator Nahum Barnea in Yediot Achronot, “committed itself, for all intents and purposes, to a con-
frontation.” Some Israelis are saying the strategy was a mistake, that it would have been better to ignore the ships rather than give more fodder to pro-Palestinian activists trying to mobilize anti-Israel and anti-blockade sentiment. “If the siege had any international legitimacy, today it lost a great deal of it,” said Meir Javedanfar, an independent political analyst. “Yes, Israeli citizens have a right to live in peace, but they have to find other ways of doing it. The siege hurts Israel more than Hamas because of the
political costs it pays in terms of isolation, the damage of its relations with its allies and Europe and how it helps demonize Israel.” The blockade on Gaza has been a public relations burden for Israel ever since it began three years ago in an effort to isolate and weaken Gaza’s Hamas rulers, help bring home captured soldier Gilad Shalit, end Hamas rocket fire on Israel and halt the flow of weapons into Gaza. Though when it began the blockade had the backing of the United States, Egypt and even the Palestinian Authority, it has been
Moti Milrod / Pool / Flash90 / JTA
The Israeli Navy, seen here approaching one of a flotilla of Gazabound ships, clashed with Turkish activists aboard one of the ships.
criticized as collective punishment for Gaza’s population. Even in Israel, some have called it a policy failure, complaining that the overly strict siege has blocked even legitimate humanitarian and civilian materials from reaching Gaza’s residents. After Monday’s incident, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, and the commissioner general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, Filippo Grandi, issued a joint statement scolding Israel. “We wish to make clear that such tragedies are entirely avoidable if Israel heeds the repeated calls of the international community to end its counterproductive and unacceptable blockade of Gaza,” the statement said. But proponents of the strategy for dealing with the flotilla and of the blockade itself said that allowing the ships to pass would have opened a new access route for Iran to send rockets to the strip. “If there was no siege at all, they can bring whatever boats they want,” Israeli lawmaker Aryeh Eldad of the National Union Party told JTA in a telephone interview. “They will bring tanks, cannons, long-range missiles — exactly what we see in hands of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where we have no control whatsoever. If we stop the siege we will see the mirror image of Hezbollah in the Gaza Strip.”
SOCIAL LIFE
THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010
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BARRY KAPLAN
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ENGAGEMENT en Frankel of Elyria, Ohio and Sarah Frankel of Sheffield Lake, Ohio announce the engagement of their daughter, Tammy Frankel, to Dustin Heldman, the son of James G. Heldman and Wendy Saunders Heldman of Amberley Village. Tammy is a 2003 graduate of Elyria High School and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2007 and Masters in Education from Cleveland State University in 2010. Tammy is currently working as the elementary gifted language arts
K
teacher in the Sheffield/Sheffield Lake, Ohio school district. Dustin is a 1998 graduate of Walnut Hills High School and received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Duke University in 2002 and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 2007. Dustin is currently the Senior Biomedical Engineering Researcher at Cleveland Medical Device Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio. The couple currently lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio. A July 2011 wedding is planned.
R E F UA H S H L E M A H Frieda Berger Fraida bat Raizel
Edith Kaffeman Yehudit bat B’racha
Andrea Lavine Chana Sara bat Esther Enya
Rozlyn Bleznick
Roma Kaltman Ruchama bat Perl
Alan Schwartzberg Avraham Pesach ben Mindel
Pepa Kaufman Perel Tova bat Sima Sora
Ravid Sulam Ravid Chaya bat Ayelet
Mina Kamkha Malka bat Baila
Edward Ziv Raphael Eliezer Aharon ben Esther Enya
Rachel Boymel Rochel bat Pesia Fruma Daniel Eliyahu Daniel ben Tikvah Mel Fisher Moshe ben Hinda
Murray Kirschner Chaim Meir ben Basha
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CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE
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17 ANNUAL AJC COMMUNITY INTERGROUP SEDER TH
Rabbi Ilana Baden and her daughter Ellie, a third grader, who chanted the Four Questions.
Table host Julie Weisser answers questions of student from St. Ursula.
Sandy Kaltman chaired the 17th annual AJC Community Intergroup Seder, helped by dozens of AJC volunteers.
Table host Jay Price pours grape juice for a student from St. Ursula.
THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010
CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE
13
AJC president, Patti Heldman, prepares table hosts for the Seder. From the left, Richard Behrman, Jim Heldman and Michael Heldman.
From left, standing: Rabbi Gary Zola, who led the AJC Seder; LaVaughn Henry, vice president and senior regional officer, Federal Reserve Bank Cincinnati; Alfonso Cornejo, Cincinnati board president, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Seated: Richard Schade, honorary consul of Germany; Juan Solana, consul of Mexico; AJC director, Barbara Glueck; Marek Dollar, honorary consul of Poland; Kay Geiger, regional president, PNC Bank; AJC president, Patti Heldman; Catherine Bradford. The three consuls read the Four Questions in their native languages.
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DINING OUT
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Andy’s Mediterranean Grill full of Middle Eastern delights by Marilyn Gale Dining Editor When contemplating dining at Andy’s, be prepared to have a brief vacation without the hassles of airlines, hotels and the need for strong walking shoes. Travel to Walnut Hills, near Eden Park, and have an adventure in dining and drinking. Experience the exotic atmosphere of the Middle East right inside the Queen City. Andy’s Mediterranean grill has a new menu, brimming with the secret and not so secret healthy ingredients that make the Mediterranean diet magical with the lure of longevity and rosy cheeks, good circulation and a robust sense of living. Andy Hajjar is the one to promote healthy cuisine. A native from Lebanon, he has been in the culinary business for nine years where he started his business as a simple carryout and neighborhood deli. Now, less than a decade later, Andy’s boasts a full service restaurant and bar, with two patios, one indoor and one outdoors on the sidewalk, bringing a uniqueness to urban dining. Friendly Andy and his family have a fine restaurant in the middle of the city, catering to professionals from the University and hospitals as well as clientele that cultivate palates demanding fresh ingredients, exotic seasonings and wine and beer from all over the world. Andy himself is prominent in the restaurant, his large smile, ready hand shake and yellow t-shirt with the restaurant logo convey a warm, home cooking presence. In fact, it is the rare patron who can exit the restaurant without clasping the man’s hand. Cooking is Andy’s passion and feeding contented customers is his goal. When asked the secret to his astounding success, he quickly replies “honesty.” According to Andy, honesty yields satisfied customers—they tell their friends, friends come into the city, try his hummus or award wining baklava, and they keep coming back, if only to marvel at the growth of this ethnic restaurant. Andy adds that being a creative chef helps, too, in transforming the carryout into a dining mecca in urban Cincinnati. With a broad grin, Andy jokes about being the
Andy Hajjar, owner and executive chef, demonstrating the traditional Lebanese water pipe.
greatest chef of all time, welcoming a reality show challenge to demonstrate his culinary magic. Walking into the restaurant, the patron will notice the gold oak wood paneling, wines from different countries nestled into holders on the wall, and the bar stocked generously with every variety of vodka known this side of the Mississippi. Andy’s other passion is creating new drinks. While I was there, I tasted his guava daiquiri, strangely fresh and different. He says he is running a special on daiquiris, only $3. The flavors are alluring; mango, rum, guava. He wants to make a drink with milk, honey and banana to commemorate his birthplace, calling Lebanon the historic land of milk and honey. I watched him experimenting with the right ingredients as I sat at the
bar and listened to his stories. I admit, I had a few sips of this comfort drink. The new menu is easy on the eyes with bold, swirling letters on a background of deep, earthy red. Andy’s bill of fare boasts more vegetarian choices, a growing favorite for the going green clientele. Since warm weather is upon us, the abundant salad choices tantalize even the most sophisticated palate. Start with the Israeli salad, a mix of fresh vegetables, romaine lettuce, baba ghannouj and Andy’s secret house dressing. Or, if you want to be more daring, try the refreshing Macedonian Tzatziki salad, a mixture of yogurt, cucumber, garlic, lemon juice and mint. Perhaps you want to sink deeper into the Middle East and dine on the Egyptian falafel salad, a delec-
table combination of diced tomato, cucumber, bell pepper and parsley, topped with falafel patties and tahini sauce. Moving through the large menu, Andy has doubled his lamb offerings. He suggests trying the Lamb Shanks, thick chunks of meat served over Lebanese style couscous or sticking with a favorite, Kibbeh, chopped lamb, onion and bulgar wheat, served with a house salad. The chicken dishes continue to be popular. You better arrive early on a Saturday if you want a chance to get the shawarma, sautéed chicken breast topped with tahini and served over rice. But don’t fret, if it already has been sold out, you can order the award winning Shish Tawook, four skewers of marinated and charbroiled chicken breast served on a bed of rice, you can
order it in full, or half size. There are a number of interesting vegetarian entrees as well as a children’s menu with child friendly selections such as cheese pizza and chicken with fries. Freshly baked pita bread is prepared daily from Andy’s ovens. Choices for liquid refreshment are abundant. Andy’s selection of wine—coming from all around the world—seemed to number 75 and counting. He also offers beer from all over the globe. And now for dessert. The baklava recently won a Merit Award in the dessert category at this year’s Taste of Cincinnati. The large gold triangle—big enough for two— is coated so heavily in honey that when you bite into it, the golden sweetness drips onto your lips. I suggest you order it to go if you are full from dinner. One advantage of eating it at home is that you can’t go back for seconds, which you might be tempted to do if you eat it at the restaurant. Andy also serves Lebanese coffee. He suggests you consider adding Baileys Irish Cream for the perfect after dinner drink. You have the option of increasing the richness of your dining experience by ordering the traditional Lebanese water pipe, the hookah pipe. There is no tar or nicotine in the tobacco and Andy’s has a choice of scent. I sniffed the double apple but there is also molasses and strawberry aromas. If you are dining here on the weekend, Andy provides belly dancers starting at 8 p.m. Another benefit for those who have been hit by economic rough spots or for others who can’t pass up a culinary bargain is Andy’s stimulus package, a 3-course dinner for two at only $25. For an additional $15 you get a bottle of house wine. Lunch has its own stimulus special, three items for $8. These specials are available every day of the week. So, Cincinnati, give yourself a brief vacation and come to Andy’s where the international flair will transport you to lands beyond the Midwest. Andy’s Mediterranean Grill Intersection of Gilbert and Nassau 513-281-9791
LUNCH - DINNER - COCKTAILS - CARRYOUT Free Valet Parking available
Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30-3 Dinner: Mon-Thu 5-9:30 Fri 5-10:30 • Sat 4:30-10:30
8102 Market Place Lane Cincinnati, OH 45242 794-0057 • 794-0235 (fax) www.sukhothaicincy.com
REGENCY 2444 MADISON ROAD, CINCINNATI, OH 45208
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DINING OUT
THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010
15 Dine-In / Take-Out / Delivery
DINING OUT Andy’s Mediterranean Grille At Gilbert & Nassau 2 blocks North of Eden Park 281-9791
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Tandoor 8702 Market Place Ln Montgomery 793-7484
Embers 8120 Montgomery Rd Montgomery 984-8090
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the Palace 601 Vine St Downtown Cincinnati (in the Cincinnatian Hotel) 381-3000
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Parkers Blue Ash Grill 4200 Cooper Rd Blue Ash 891-8300
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OPINION
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Point of View
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
by Rabbi James A. Rudin
Mainline Protestants Let’s be honest: You guys are facing serious problems: loss of “market share,” aging membership, complaints of bland worship services and wide policy gaps between national leadership and the people in the pews. One focus group called you the “General Motors of Christianity,” offering a wide variety of options but few sought-after “products.” Like GM, you once dominated American religious life with your “tall steeple” showrooms, but things went awry with two words: choice and decentralization. Many Americans, facing a myriad of religious alternatives, want comforting churches with a progressive theology. However, our research shows you often come across as cold, self-righteous and a little too zealous in the quest to be “prophetic” and “cutting edge.” Try this for a motto: “The church with the tall steeple, still warmly welcomes people.” Evangelical Protestants You had everything going for you: rapid growth, big-time media presence, political clout, and lots of megachurches.
Black churches Recent reports indicate many young people are abandoning the churches that were historically the center of your community’s spiritual, political, cultural and social lives. Once standing-room-only services now attract only a handful of the elderly — mostly women — as some congregations merge or close altogether. Focus groups want you to go beyond the signature sermonizing and stirring music; don’t weaken the tradition, but add vocational training, academic tutoring, professional affinity groups, seminars on aging, and a host of other services. A watchword? Try: “The black church, where it’s still happening!” Judaism Humor, food, music, and saying “I feel Jewish” only go so far in maintaining continuity. Focus groups want intermarried couples and their children to be welcomed and educated in synagogues. Today’s ugly return of international anti-Semitism is old bitter wine in newly designed bottles, but you’ve dealt with that for thousands of years, and you can do it again. The survival and security of Israel is a key issue, but simply talking about historical Jewish rights, United Nations resolutions, and the complexities of the endless “peace process” aren’t enough. Try this slogan: “Israel is real.” Zero in on Israelis’ personal lives, achievements, problems, needs and successes. Go back to the basics: the human story. Islam Focus groups showed that Muslims face a range of tough issues that often don’t apply to other religious groups: widespread suspicion after 9/11; anti-Christian/antiJewish/anti-American sermons from some imams and an uneasy transition into American life for too many Muslim immigrants. Let’s try this, with the caveat that turbulence lies ahead: “We’re Also Mainstream, Part of the American Dream.”
Dear Editor, During the past 12 months a number of different contributors have sent in editorials that have inspired thought, sometimes anger, and various responses to the contributions. Gerald Schwartz’ editorial of May 27, 2010 was most disappointing. One of the great aspects of a debate is its ability to stimulate passion on both sides.
For Gerald to cry “uncle” right when the going gets good, is just like our pal “Stevie” taking his baseball and bat, and running home when he strikes out. Faced with facts, logic, truth, justice and the American way (Superman?), Gerald has folded like a cheap lawn chair from WalMart. Gerald, I encourage you to not retire. I thoroughly enjoy present-
ing your emotional arguments with the facts. Don’t quit on me now. P.S. Thanks for reminding me that Barack Obama is the POTUS. For a while there, I thought the White House had turned into “Romper Room” with Barry “O,” Uncle Rahm and “Davey Boy” Axlerod. Paul Glassman, Deerfield Twp.
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T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: SHLACH (BAMIDBAR 13:1—15:30) own eyes c.) Israel is the center of the world
1. What qualification was needed to become a spy? a.) Torah scholar b.) Community leader c.) Person of importance d.) Righteous
4. Who said,”Hashem who is patient and full of kindness..” a.) Hashem b.) Moshe c.) Joshua
2. Did the spies travel together? a.) Yes b.) No 3. What does the term “eye by eye” mean? a.) The spies would give a report only what they saw b.) The Children of Israel saw miracles with their that Hashem could not defeat the nations of Canaan 4. B 14:18. This is part of Moshe’s prayer to save the Children of Israel from the sin of the spies. 5. B,D 15:39 The eyes see and the heart desires. Rashi
Roman Catholics You have a time-tested tradition and brand name that has survived for 2,000 years with a large number of clients (sorry, “faithful”). But you need to bridge the growing alienation between the consumers (err, “followers”) and the Vatican and its local franchises (sorry, again): the dioceses and parishes. Focus groups frequently mentioned concerns about the clergy sexual abuse scandal, but the overwhelming majority of members want to stay with you. However, they want tangible evidence of — dare we say it?—“transparency” and “user-friendly” leadership from the top on down. A suggested new catchphrase, courtesy of English poet Robert Browning: “Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.” It, like you, is an oldie but goodie.
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5. What two parts of the body can lead to sin? a.) Hands b.) Heart c.) Legs d.) Eyes e.) Head
the plural, except for Caleb’s journey to Hebron. Also they carried the fruit of Eshkol back together. 3. B 14:14 The Children of Israel saw Hashem’s help directly with their own eyes. Therefore, if Hashem did not bring them to Israel, it would appear to the nations
The advertising wizards of Madison Avenue get paid millions to make sure we buy their products and feel good about doing it. That’s why everyone knows that Wheaties is the “Breakfast of Champions” and “With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good.” America’s faith communities generally don’t have the budgets for glitzy ad campaigns, but if they were to hire PR gurus to help them navigate these difficult times, I imagine the recommendations would look something like this:
But membership has plateaued, prominent leaders are plagued by sexual infidelity and inappropriate politicking, and many of your most visible faces seem only interested in soliciting financial contributions. Meanwhile, many people think you ignore the environment, sexual and gender discrimination, immigration, and sometimes even civil rights. We suggest resurrecting your ageold commitment to church-state separation and repudiating the widelyheld belief that “GOP” stands for “God’s Own Party.” People care about critical issues in daily life, and don’t always worry whether the Bible is inerrant or What Would Jesus Do? Your new slogan: “We are not enslaved about being saved.”
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
ANSWERS 1. B 13:2 They Torah says “men” meaning men of importance. Rashi. At the time they were chosen they were righteous. Rashi 2. A Chapter 13 The Torah always describes them in
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JEWISH LIFE
THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010
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Sedra of the Week by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
SHABBAT SHALOM: PARASHAT SHELACH NUMBERS 13:1-15:41
Moses Greatest Gift and Saddest Tragedy Efrat, Israel — “‘… And you shall strengthen yourselves, and you shall take from the fruits of the land’. And the days were season of the first grapes.” (Numbers 13: 20) Between the lines of the Bible, we glimpse the profound difficulties — and even tragedy — of Moses, the greatest prophet in history, as a leader who sees himself losing the fealty of the Hebrew nation. Moses feels that he is failing to direct the people he took out of Egyptian bondage toward the very goal of their exodus; the conquest of and settlement of the land of Israel. Where has he gone wrong, and why? From the very beginning of his ministry, when the Hebrews were at the lowest point of their Egyptian oppression, G-d instructs Moses to raise their depressed and despairing spirits with five Divine promises: “Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt, I will save you from their slavery, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm…, I will take you to Myself as a nation… and I will bring you to the land which I have sworn to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; I shall give it to you as a heritage; I am the Lord.” (Exodus 6:6-8). Now Moses has already succeeded — thanks to the Divine miracles — in fulfilling the first four Divine “redemptions.” Only the final one is lacking: the entry of G-d’s nation into His land. What causes the Israelites to delay and even demur in fulfilling this final stage of redemption? It cannot only be that the 10 scouts — each princes of their respective tribes were frightened by the superior strength of the Canaanite residents (Numbers 13:31 “We cannot go forward against these people… they are too strong for us”), since a war against the Canaanites was no greater trial than standing up to the superior power and might of Egypt, or diving into the Reed Sea? If G-d (through Moses) had demonstrated His ability to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians, why do they now balk at taking on the Canaanites? Apparently, something has changed during the intervening year between the splitting of the Reed
Sea and the proposed conquest of the Promised Land. As we have seen in last week’s commentary, the Hebrews have intensified their complaining not only asking for water — an existential need — but now by lusting after a more varied menu, from meat to fish and from cucumbers to garlic! (Numbers 11:4, 5). Moses is at his wits’ end; can it be that the Hebrews — after all the trials that they have successfully overcome — are now whining for the stinking sardines which they used to gather at the foot of the Nile during the period of their persecution and enslavement? (ibid 11:5) He feels totally inadequate to deal with them, preferring death at G-d’s hands to responsibility for leading such an ungrateful people (ibid 11:11-15). G-d commands Moses to assemble 70 elders in the Tent of Communion, appointing them as his assistants in leading the people. G-d will cause some of Moses’ spiritual energy to devolve upon them, enabling the greatest of prophets to share his awesome responsibility of leadership (11:16,17). At the same time, G-d will send quails to allay the people’s lust for meat. But then, in this week’s Biblical portion, Moses seems to make a gross miscalculation by sending out a reconnaissance mission, either initiated by G-d as an initial foray in order to map out the Israelites route toward conquest (Numbers 13:1, 2), or instigated by the people who wanted a report about what kind of enemy awaits them on their way to Israel (Deuteronomy 1:22). Moses apparently felt that this “new” Israelite mentality of kvetching and lusting was indeed impelled, even inspired, by food. He therefore exhorts them as they survey the terrain of the land and of the nature of the enemy – to “strengthen themselves, and take from the fruits of the land” to show to the Hebrews (13:20). Hopefully, the nation will be so excited by the huge and luscious grapes that they will embark on their conquest with alacrity! Apparently, what is actually now grabbing their attention is a gourmet diet. What Moses fails to appreciate, I believe, is that the real problem lies not with an Israelite drive for nutritional pleasure but with his own form of “distance” leadership – whether from the lofty heights of Mount Sinai or the inner sanctum of the “Tent of Communion.” You will remember that Moses had initially rejected G-d’s offer of leader-
ship because “I am a man who is heavy of speech and heavy of tongue” (Ex 4:10). This cannot simply mean that he stuttered and stammered — because G-d immediately answers by saying, “Is it not I who gives (or takes away) speech?” Nevertheless, Moses continues to re-iterate his problem of being afflicted by “stopped up lips” (aral sfatayim). I would maintain that Moses is actually saying that he is a man of heavy speech rather than friendly small talk, a prophet who is in almost constant contact with the Divine in issues of theology and law, morality and ethics. Moses is not a man of the people, a man of small talk and infinite patience who can “sell” G-d’s program to the Israelites by sugar–coating it. As the Bible itself testifies, “The Israelites did not listen to Moses because of his (Moses’!) lack of patience (kotzer ruah) and difficult Divine service” (Ralbag’s interpretation to Ex 6:9). Moses, the “man (or husband) of G-d” (Deut. 33:1) as well as the “servant of the Lord,” remains “distant” from the people; he is a prophet for all the generations more than a leader for his generation. Indeed, Moses never walked among the people in the encampment; instead he dedicates his time to speaking to the Lord in the Tent of Communion, far removed from the encampment (Leviticus 1:1, Numbers 7:89). It is Eldad and Medad, the new generation of leader-prophets, who prophesy from within the encampment itself – and in the midst of the people (Numbers 11:26). Moses’ greatest asset – his closeness to G-d and his ability to “divine” the Divine will — is also his most profound tragedy, the cause of his distance from the people, his remoteness from the masses. A congregation needs to constantly be re-inspired and re-charged with new challenges and lofty goals if they are to be above petty squabbles and materialistic desires. The kvetching is not because they really want the leeks and the onions; it is because they don’t know what they want. As they prepare to enter the Promised Land, they actually need, as we all need, a mission, a purpose for being. This, however, will have to await a new leader, who may be less a man of G-d but more a man of the people. Shabbat Shalom Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi — Efrat Israel
MODERN ORTHODOX SERVICE Daily Minyan for Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv, Shabbat Morning Service and Shalosh Seudas. Kiddush follows Shabbat Morning Services
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3100 LONGMEADOW LANE • CINCINNATI, OH 45236 791-1330 • www.templesholom.net Richard Shapiro, Interim Rabbi Marcy Ziek, President Gerry H. Walter, Rabbi Emeritus June 4 6:00 pm HUC Pre-Ordination Service at Temple Sholom
June 11 6:00 pm Shabbat Nosh 6:30 pm Shabbat service to honor Emily Dunn and Scott Segal
June 5 9:00 am HUC Ordination Service at Plum Street Temple (No service at Temple Sholom)
June 12 10:30 am Shabbat Morning Service
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JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist ALDOUS SNOW REDUX/ BIT OF BERGER The 2008 hit comedy film, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” featured English comedian Russell Brand as the delightfully quirky Aldous Snow, a British rock star who woos away the girlfriend of the film’s hero, played by JASON SEGEL (who also wrote the film). Most of the cast of “Sarah Marshall” was Jewish, as was its director, NICOLAS STOLLER. This isn’t a surprise since the flick’s producer, JUDD APATOW, employs a lot of Jews in all his projects. So much so that Stoller joked that he felt that he was joining the “Jew-Tang Clan” when he first worked for Apatow in 2000, directing a TV episode (Stoller was playing off the name of a very popular rap group called The Wu-Tang Clan). Stoller, 34, wrote and directs “Get Him to the Greek,” which opens Friday, June 4. Russell Brand is back as Aldous Snow. The story has it that Snow’s career is ruined after he puts out a song and music video about Africa that everybody but Snow takes as incredibly offensive. He starts seriously abusing drugs and drink. Enter Aaron Green (JONAH HILL, 27) a record company intern who proposes a comeback performance for Snow at Los Angeles’ Greek theater. The record company likes the idea — the rub is that Green is made responsible for getting the addled Aldous to the theater. Full of raunchy humor and drug/sexual references, “Get Him” definitely deserves its “R” rating. But TV shows don’t have such clear ratings and you might want to watch the new MTV series, “The Hard Times of R.J. Berger,” before letting the kids do so. At first glance, it seems like another show about a nerdy Jewish teenager. But it goes as far into “raunch” as a basic cable show can — and the title refers not just to Berger’s problems — but also to his (cough) over-average natural endowment. (Premieres Sunday, June 6th, at 11PM.) THE BOXING RABBI-INTRAINING On Saturday, June 5, after the sun has set and Shabbos is over, YURI FOREMAN, 29, an Orthodox Jew and the current holder of the World Boxing Association (WBA) Super welterweight championship, will enter a
ring in the middle of Yankee Stadium. He will box Miguel Cotto, the holder, at various times, of three boxing championships. They will fight for the WBA junior welterweight title (154 pounds). The bout will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET / 7:15 p.m. PT. There is no clear favorite in this match, which is the “main event” of the night. Cotto, who is of Puerto Rican background, has fought better competition than Foreman. But he has not been boxing that well in the last few years and he is fighting at a weight that is higher than usual for him. Foreman has attracted enormous attention in the Jewish/secular press for obvious reasons — he is an Orthodox Jew who can fight; he is well along in his studies to be a rabbi!; he’s good looking and his wife, LEYLA LEIDECKER, 29, is a pretty professional model, a documentary maker, and a former top pro boxer who trained Hillary Swank to box for “Million Dollar Baby.” Foreman was born in Belarus and moved to Israel when he was 9 and learned to box in an Arab gym in Israel. He moved to the States in 2000 and turned pro in 2002. Neither he, nor Leidecker, were religious when they met in 2003 and fell in love. However, they both felt something was missing from their lives and not long after they started dating — Leyla “googled” for Kabbalah classes — which led, in a roundabout way, with them both taking classes about Judaism with an Orthodox rabbi. It was a gradual process — but they both got more and more into the study of Judaism and Leyla, who wasn’t born Jewish, converted to Orthodox Judaism in 2006. They both follow virtually all Orthodox strictures, such as keeping kosher and not working on Shabbos. A recent New York Daily News profile of the couple provided a sidelight that made me laugh. The News reported that Yuri and Leyla trained with each other in the ring until she left boxing to direct documentaries. She told the News: “It wasn’t much fun. We are not the same size. [He’s 154 pounds, and she’s just 125 pounds] I like to spar with guys who are smaller. It is hard to spar with someone much bigger.” Jeez, when you hear that a married couple are “sparring partners” — you assume something is going wrong. Here is a couple who were literally (loving) sparring partners!
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FROM THE PAGES 100 Years Ago Mr. Alvin Lindenberg and Miss Reba Markstein, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. Markstein, were married Wednesday evening at the Sinton Hotel. Dr. Grossmann officiated. Mrs. Hazel Wise, of South Crescent Avenue, Avondale, returns from Vassar on Saturday, for the summer vacation. She will be accompanied by her two guests, Miss Rena Wilson, of New York, and Miss Helen Blitz of Detroit. Mrs. Benjamin E. Pollak, Miss
Leah Rosenthal, and Mrs. Fred A. Johnson called upon Mayor Schwab, Tuesday, to urge him to endorse a “sane Fourth.” They did not ask for the proscription of fireworks, but for the regulation of their use. The ladies were acting as a committee of the Council of Jewish Women. The Association of Jewish High School Graduates gave an informal reception in honor of this year’s graduates at the Jewish Settlement. About 150 were in
attendance. The settlement was decorated in school colors and banners from top to bottom presented a very striking appearance. Alfred. M. Cohen and Dr. Boris Bogen were the principle speakers for the evening. A number of addresses were delivered by the graduates and post-graduates, after which a musical program was rendered. A banquet, with toasts and speeches, completed the evening’s entertainment. — June 2, 1910
75 Years Ago Services for Mrs. Hannah Auer Jaffe, 62, wife of Jacob Jaffe, managing director of the President Apartments, were held Sunday, June 2, in the Weil Funeral Home, Rabbi Samuel Wohl officiated. Interment was in United Jewish Cemetery. Besides Mr. Jaffe, she leaves four children, three brothers and three sisters, Her children are: Lester A. Jaffe, Stanley Jaffe, Mrs.
Lee H. Baum and Mrs. Joseph Thurman. The brothers and sisters are: Charles S. Auer, Jack N. Auer, Sam Auer; Miss Lena Auer, Mrs. Richard Dana and Mrs. Fannie Lischkoff. Mrs. Justin Rollman has returned from a stay with her mother, Mrs. Leopold Freund, in Grosse Pointe, Detroit. Mrs. Freund will soon open her summer home at
Mackinac Island, where Mr. and Mrs. Rollman and their family will enjoy part of the summer. Mr. Benedict J. Frenkel, of New York City, is in Cincinnati this week, visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jonas B. Frenkel. Mr. and Mrs. Norbert Covy were home informally, Sunday evening, June 2nd, in honor of their 10th wedding anniversary. — June 6, 1935
50 Years Ago Sigmund M. Cohen was re-elected president and other officers were chosen to head the Associated Jewish Agencies for 1960-61 Thursday, May 26, at the Terrace Hilton. New trustees-at-large, elected for a three-year terms expiring in 1963 are: Albert J. Butchkes, Edward Jacobs, M. Herbert Oettinger, Mrs. I. Mark Zeligs. New trustees-at-large, elected for a one-year term ending May 1, 1961, are Henry H. Hersch and
Harris K. Weston. Mr. and Mrs. Ben Kuresman, 1558 Shenandoah, invite their relatives and friends to worship with them at the bar mitzvah of their son, Kenneth Mark, at Wise Center, Saturday, June 4, at 10:45 a.m. A kiddush will follow. No cards. Kenneth is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Kuresman and Mr. and Mrs. Harry Getzug, all of Cincinnati. Mrs. Fanny Polinsky Young, 835 Glenwood Avenue, passed away
Saturday, May 28. Mrs. Young is survived by: her daughter, Mrs. Ben Lowenthal; a son, Edward A. Young; three sisters, Mrs. Ida Marcus of Indianapolis, Mrs. Anna Marcus of Kansas City, and Mrs. Minnie Duhme, of Cincinnati; a brother, Clarence Pollins, of Indianapolis; a granddaughter, Mrs. I. E. Robinson of Philadelphia; a grandson, Leon H. Lowenthal, of Cincinnati; and two great-grandchildren. — June 2, 1960
25 Years Ago The wedding of Miriam Y. Kniess and Jerome A. Gordon took place May 18 at the Marten House, Indianapolis. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Kniess of Indianapolis. The bridegroom is the son of Mr. Jerome A. Gordon and Mrs. Lynne Meyers-Gordon, both of Cincinnati. He is the grandson of Mrs. Samuel H. Gordon and Mr. Phillip M. Meyers. Steven Goldman of 265 Compton Road passed away May 20. He is survived by: his wife, Brigid Kennedy; his mother, Marjorie
Goldman; two brothers, Michael and Jeffrey; three sisters, Betsy Resler of Cincinnati, Nancy Boynton of Minneapolis, and Sally Goldman of Philadelphia; and a grandmother, Edna Bergstein. Mr. Goldman was a member of Valley Temple. He served on the citizens’ advisory board of the Pauline Warfield Lewis Center and was a board member of Talbert House. Special tribute will be paid to six board members emeriti at the annual meeting of the Jewish National Fund at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 6, at Temple
Sholom. The honorees who will be recognized for their years of service to JNF are: Becky Doll, Alisa Goldfarb, William Hyman, Leah Kasfir, Clara Rosen and Mabel Zacharia. Florence Lieberman has been nominated to succeed herself as president. Nominees also include vice presidents Dr. Louis Claybon, Louis Peerless, Stephen Rosedale, Leo Wilich, and Jay Wittenbaum; Peter Seldner, treasurer; and Roz Gildenblatt, secretary. — May 30, 1985
10 Years Ago Kim Heiman was elected the 44th president of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati on Tuesday, May 23, at the Federation’s Annual Meeting held at Cedar Village. Heiman is the second female president of JFC. Rut Zeligs, whose term of office began in 1974, was the first. “The combination of being the second woman president and being just 43 years old signals the influx of new leadership that will lead Federation into this new century,”
explained Heiman. “I am looking forward to working with the outstanding seasoned Federation leaders and watching younger members of our community take on leadership roles as heads of agencies, synagogues, and organizations.” Fannie Zelcer of Lilah Group of Hadassah has been named a recipient of the Fourteenth Annual Hadassah National Leadership Award. This award honors members for leadership accomplishments with
Hadassah and other civic, educational and cultural organizations that reflect Hadassah’s dedication to the principle of the volunteer ethic. Award recipients are selected by their peers and represent a wide range of achievements. Fannie was Chief Archivist of the American Jewish Archives at Hebrew Union College. She served our country well as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Forcer during World War II. — June 1, 2000
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THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 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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Shomer Shabbat OHAV from page 1 Schechtman explains, “There will be one lucky winner for each prize, and this year’s list of prizes is fantastic, thanks to so many community donors.” To keep the energy going, the evening will culminate with the big annual sweepstakes, which offers a GRANT from page 1 “There was a time a couple of generations ago where liberal Judaism was viewed as a threat because most people were at least nominally Orthodox, and liberal Judaism was seen as giving Jews a reason to leave Orthodoxy,” Joel said. “But I don’t think that is the reality today. The issue isn’t that liberal Judaism will steal people from Orthodoxy. Now it is viewed as something that continues to urge Jews to know something about their story.” In recent years, even before the Jim Joseph grant, the leaders of the three schools had begun to appear on panel discussions together — something that would have been unheard of for much of the last century. When the economy hit a low last year, Jim Joseph stepped up with $12 million to help the struggling schools provide scholarships to students and launch their working relationship. YU will use about $700,000 per year to help defray the cost of education for students at its Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration and the education program at Stern College, its women’s college. JTS will use approximately $1 million per year to provide scholarships to its nondenominational William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education. And HUC will use about one-third of its grant on financial aid for students seeking master’s degrees at its New York and Los Angeles campuses. Outside of the interschool part-
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top cash prize of $2,500. Second prize is $500, followed by two $250 prizes. Winners need not be present. Sweepstakes tickets are $100 each, or two for $150, and are available from Steve Segerman. The event is open to the general public, and all attendees must be at least 21 years of age. Free childcare services will be available. nerships, each institution will use the bulk of its grant money on training better teachers. For YU, that means continuing to beef up its Azrieli school, which has gone from one faculty member to 11 since Joel’s arrival in 2003. The school now has more than 160 students seeking master’s degrees in education. JTS will use a significant portion of its money to better its early childhood education, including forming a partnership with the Bank Street College of Education, a non-Jewish teachers’ college renowned for its early childhood education. It also will try to set up informal Jewish education programs at congregational and day schools modeled after successful efforts at the Conservative movement’s Ramah camp system. HUC is planning on starting an executive master’s program and three new certificate programs in Judaica for early childhood educators, Jewish childhood education and adolescence and emerging adulthood. Jim Joseph hopes the schools will graduate 700 to 1,000 teachers during the duration of the grant. “This partnership should have a significant impact on the number of future Jewish educators and the skills they will bring to their professions,” the foundation’s president, Al Levitt, said in a news release announcing the grant. “With the help of these grants, we know the institutions can reach their full potential and produce teachers who continue to positively shape the lives of Jewish youth.”
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LEGAL/BUSINESS
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How long can I sue? Legally Speaking
by Marianna Bettman Contributing Columnist People who file lawsuits don’t have forever to file them. Statutes of limitations exist, which establish the time in which suits must be filed, or the right to do so will be lost. The reason statutes of limitations exist is to discourage the bringing of stale claims. As time passes, memories fade, witnesses die, documents get lost. Statutes of limitations are to protect against the unfairness of defending oneself long after the injury-causing event occurred. Different kinds of claims have different length statutes of limitations. For example, claims arising from injuries in an automobile accident have a two year statute of limitations. Claims arising from contract claims have a six year statute of limitations if the contract is verbal; 15 years if it is written. Libel and slander have a one year statute of limitations. On the criminal side, felonies have a six year statute of limitations; misdemeanors two years.
Who sets the length of statutes of limitations? The state legislature. But the courts have an important role to play in this area, because what can be unclear about a statute of limitations is when it starts to run. In the 1970s and 1980s the Ohio Supreme Court began to consider the unfairness of the one year statute of limitations in medical malpractice cases where the patient was not even aware during that year that he or she had suffered an injury. For example, a doctor may have left a sponge or a clamp in the patient’s abdomen, but years passed before the former patient discovers this. So the courts developed what is known as the discovery rule. The discovery rule means that the statute of limitations doesn’t start to run (the legal word is “tolled”) until the person injured discovered or through the exercise of reasonable diligence should have discovered the injury and who was responsible for it. The Ohio Supreme Court’s decision in the recent case of Pratte v. Stewart involves a particularly interesting application of tolling, of the discovery rule, and of the interrelationship between the General Assembly and the courts. The subject is an allegation of child sexual abuse. Amy Pratte, the plaintiff in the case alleged that she had been sexually assaulted by Rodney Stewart when she was a child, most recently in the fall of 1984. But she did not file a lawsuit against him until 2008, when she was 33 years old. According to Pratte, the reason for
this long delay was that she had completely repressed all memories of this alleged abuse until a news event triggered the recovery of the memories. She filed the suit within one year of the recovery of these memories.
her father, alleging that she had been sexually abused as a child, but had repressed all memories of the abuse. In the Ault case, the Ohio Supreme Court held that where the victim of childhood sexual abuse represses memories of the abuse,
Statutes of limitations are to protect against the unfairness of defending oneself long after the injury-causing event occurred. The tort involved in the incidents described by Pratte is a battery. (Battery is both a tort and a crime; in tort law the victim seeks monetary damages.) The tort of battery has a one year statute of limitations. Usually the statute of limitations for a battery tort starts to run when the battery happens. For minors, the statute is tolled until their 18th birthday. In the past, in cases of child sexual abuse, the high court has held that as long as the person allegedly abused knew, as a child, the identity of the perpetrator, there would not be any further tolling of the statute of limitations. In that situation, that individual had to file suit within one year of his or her 18th birthday. But then, in 1994, in the case of Ault v. Jasko, the high court was faced with a case like Pratte’s—one in which a 29 year old woman sued
the statute of limitations is tolled until the victim discovers or recalls that she has been abused. Two things happened next, one in the courts, one in the legislature. In 2006, in the child sexual abuse case of Doe v. Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the Court again held that as long as the alleged victim knew at the time of the abuse who the abuser was, the victim had only one year from his 18th birthday to file suit. While this case was pending, the legislature, significantly motivated by the mounting scandal involving so many priests in these kinds of cases, took action. The legislature decided that child sexual abuse cases were special kinds of battery cases, and needed their own statute of limitations. So a bill was passed by the legislature which became law August 3, 2006, creating a 12 year statute of limita-
tions for all actions involving child sexual abuse. For minors, that statute begins to run on their 18th birthday. Those alleged to have been sexually abused as children have until their 30th birthday to file suit—durationally a very long limitations period. This brings us back to Pratte v. Stewart, our case at hand. Pratte argued that she should get the benefit of the 12 year statute of limitations, plus the additional tolling of the statute of limitations until she recovered her memory of the alleged abuse, as established in the Ault case. Stewart argued that the only statute of limitations that applied in Pratte’s case was the 12 year statute of limitations, and because she had not filed suit by age 30, her claim against him had to be dismissed. A unanimous Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Justice Maureen O’Connor, sided with Stewart and upheld the dismissal of Pratte’s case. The Court held that the legislature had not included a tolling provision for repressed memory in its 12 year statute of limitations, and the high court refused to judicially add that provision into the law. There is no question that this current Court is far more deferential to the legislature than was the Court that decided the Ault case over a decade ago. This Court has consistently stepped back from the separation of powers turf wars that characterized the Court in the 1980s and 1990s.
Michael Fisher awarded United Way’s McElroy Award for Resource Development Leadership Amberley Village resident Michael Fisher, president and CEO of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, was presented with the Neil H. McElroy Award for Resource Development at United Way’s Leaders & Legends luncheon May 5. The award is named for Neil H. McElroy, who demonstrated extraordinary energy and commitment to his many years of fundraising for United Way. The award honors his leadership legacy in financial resource development. Michael’s commitment to United Way most recently includes chairing United Way’s Tocqueville Society in 2009, challenging United Way staff, campaign volunteers and the community to respond generously to the region’s growing needs. Following his chairmanship, United Way’s Tocqueville Society received United Way Worldwide’s
Michael Fisher with his son, Max
2010 United Way Worldwide Fleur-de-Lis Award for Overall Excellence. The Overall Excellence Award recognizes eight category awards, including most Tocqueville members, net increase in membership, and most Tocqueville dollars raised for community impact. Michael also co-chaired the Tocqueville Society in 1999, drawing in what was a record 289 members giving $5.1 million dollars at that time. He and his wife, Suzette, chaired the 2003 United Way campaign, the first ever husband-andwife team to take on such a task. Their leadership helped raise $60,518,000 for education, income and health in Greater Cincinnati. More than 600 people attended the Leaders & Legends event, which also showcased United Way’s highlights of 2009 and other volunteer honorees.
AUTOS
THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010
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A prestigious luxury SUV
2010 Cadillac Escalade ESV
Car buyers looking for a luxurious SUV with a great ride and plenty of power, need look no further than the 2010 Cadillac Escalade ESV. The 2010 edition of the Escalade ESV adds a USB port for the audio system as well as Active Fuel Management (AFM) to the 6.2 liter V-8. AFM automatically shuts down up to four cylinders when demand on the engine is light. Also new for 2010 are two additional trim levels: Luxury and Premium, between the base model and the top-of-the line Platinum. The 2010 Cadillac Escalade ESV comes in four trim levels: base, Luxury, Premium and Platinum Edition. All are available in either rear-wheel drive or allwheel drive. Standard features on the base model Escalade ESV include: 18inch wheels, xenon headlamps, a power liftgate, adaptive shock absorbers and park assist. The interior boasts three-zone automatic climate control, leather upholstery, heated seating all around, remote starting, Bluetooth and a navigation system with realtime traffic updates. OnStar and a 10-speaker Bose premium stereo are also standard. At the Luxury trim level, the buyer gets: 22-inch chromed alloy wheels, adaptive headlamps, a sunroof, a heated steering wheel, power-release second-row seats and the Magnetic Ride Control (MRC) suspension system. MRC offers even more advanced handling than the base suspension. The Premium trim level adds: power-retractable running boards and a rear-seat DVD entertainment system. The top-of-the-line Platinum Edition includes: LED
headlights, heated/cooled cupholders and additional DVD screens mounted behind the front headrests. All 2010 Cadillac Escalades are powered by a 6.2-liter, 403 hp V8 that produces 417 pound-feet of torque. The transmission is a sixspeed automatic with a manualshift mode. The towing capacity for the AWD model is 7,800 pounds and the vehicle can go from zero to 60 in around seven seconds. Standard safety equipment on the 2010 Cadillac Escalade ESV includes: stability control with a rollover sensor, antilock disc brakes, traction control, side curtain airbags and OnStar. All versions — other than the base model — come equipped with a blindspot monitor that helps the driver to avoid dangerous lane changes. In government testing, the Cadillac Escalade received a top five-star rating for front- and sideimpact crashworthiness. The Escalade ESV offers the driver a unique interior design with touches that include alloy trim and wood inlays. At the upper trim levels, even the third-row passengers get an entertainment screen to watch movies on a long trip. Depending on how the driver configures the seating, the Escalade can accommodate seven or eight occupants. The ESV offers a maximum cargo capacity of 137 cubic feet, with 46 cubic feet still available if all the seats are up. The 2010 Cadillac Escalade ESV has plenty of power and torque on tap and it handles very well. The 2010 Cadillac Escalade has an MSRP starting at $65,100.
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DEATH NOTICES CAPLAN, Sylvia, age 75, died on May 27, 2010; 14 Sivan, 5770. REVELSON, Jill, age 65, died on May 28, 2010; 15 Sivan, 5770. MEETING from page 1 Additionally, Guttman outlined the innovative strategy that was put in place to grow and engage the community’s young adults. She also reported on the community’s efforts to strengthen its connections to Israel through leadership and trade missions. “During these times we have witnessed how our community pulled together to come out stronger like never before,” said Guttman. “This experience should take our community to a new, even more committed level that will ensure us that the community that has enriched our lives and our children’s lives—will be passed along to future generations.” The evening’s keynote speaker, Doug Moormann, Vice President of Economic Development at the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber
of Commerce who traveled to Israel to attend The Jewish Agency for Israel’s (JAFI) B2B conference and Israel’s Globes Conference in 2009, told those gathered that he is looking forward to returning to Israel in November with members of Cincinnati’s business community to forge new business relationships in Israel. Citing the fact that Israel has more start-up companies than anywhere else in the world, Moormann said that many Cincinnati-based marketing and advertising companies providing services to some of the world’s global brands will be highly attractive to many of these Israeli startup concerns who must look to outsource their worldwide marketing needs. “My job is to open up new markets for Cincinnati business,” said Moormann. “And while we have had our eye on Israel as an attractive market for quite some time, my trip last year with Steve Shifman and Shep Englander to the Globes Business-to-Business Conference in Israel was powerful proof that now is the time.” Shep Englander, CEO of the Jewish Federation, reviewed the accomplishments of the past year — even as the community struggled through the economic crisis.
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Englander said that the status quo is not sustainable in the long term, and that being innovative in responding to changing norms is essential if our community is to remain whole and vibrant. He reminded the attendees that the community is well positioned to achieve these objectives as the nation’s mid-sized Jewish community with the highest reported synagogue membership and visits to Israel per household. “This will provide a strong platform for achieving the Federation’s immediate goals which include ensuring our Jewish community’s demographic sustainability, increasing the engagement of a large percentage of our community in Jewish life by providing diverse, inclusive, accessible, affordable, and attractive opportunities for participation; and providing opportunities for each member of our Jewish community to develop a positive Jewish identity and acquire Jewish learning,” continued Englander. “By focusing on key goal areas, our Cincinnati Jewish community will earn a national reputation as a great place to raise actively engaged Jewish families.” During the annual meeting, Bret
Caller was installed as the Jewish Federation’s new president. Caller charged the gathering to view the work of the Jewish Federation as Jewish values made real: Committing to making the world a better place and seeing to the welfare of our community through volunteerism, leadership and support of the annual campaign. He issued a “call to action” by outlining key focus areas of his new administration: • Increase the donor base • Engage young adults • Grow the community endowment • Enhance community awareness of the mission of the Jewish Federation • Forge relationships and connections “Why is Federation so important, why must we each take an active role?” Caller asked the attendees. “It is simple. Our parents, grandparents and their parents were incredible dreamers! Our fathers and grandfathers fought our wars, endured the Holocaust, paved the way for Israel and committed themselves to secure our future. It is now our turn, we must be the forge for the future.” Also during the annual meeting,
the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati recognized PNC Bank for its generous matching grant to the 2010 Community Campaign. Awards were also presented for outstanding community volunteers and professionals. Honorees included: Rabbi Yuval Kernerman — Harris K. and Alice F. Weston Sr. “Avodah” Award for outstanding Jewish Communal Professionals with 10 or more years of experience in the community. Lindsey Wade — The Harris K. and Alice F. Weston Jr. “Avodah” Award for outstanding Jewish Communal Professionals with 10 or more years of experience in the community. Fred Kanter — The Robert V. Goldstein “Volunteer-of-the-Year” Award for volunteer leadership that has made a significant impact on the Jewish Federation and on the Cincinnati Jewish community at large. (The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati brings our community together to care for Jews in Cincinnati, in Israel, and around the world, and develops opportunities for each of us to embrace a Jewish life.)
CRJHS from page 1 congregational celebration on Friday, May 7 as part of the Wise Temple Shabbat worship service. In preparation for the Shabbat experience, the students were asked to write about what Judaism means to them. These writings were compiled into a booklet that was distributed to the congregation at this service. The students wrote about the importance of Jewish community. As Peter Hull noted, “To me being Jewish means that I am always connected to a culture and no matter where I go, I know that there will be a community to support me.” The students also addressed how much they enjoyed and learned from various Jewish experiences and activities. These include their early education in Wise Temple’s Open Room program, their trips to Israel, their summers at Jewish overnight camps, and their work as madrichim (teaching assistants) at the Wise Temple Religious School. Brianna Pecsok reflected, “Being Jewish is synonymous to who I am. I am Jewish, and I love being Jewish. I attribute this to the outstanding opportunities I have had in the Jewish community throughout high school to lead, learn and explore.” As the students prepare to move on to their next chapter in life, they anticipate continuing their commitment to Jewish learning and engagement. Josh Brennock shared, “Judaism has provided a strong backbone in my life as I have grown up in Cincinnati. I look forward to journeying out into the
Wise Temple CRJHS Graduating Seniors Photograph May 2010 - Front Row: (L to R) Barbara Dragul, Max O’Leary, Maddie Slutsky, Allison Lazarus, Jamie Fischer, Matthew Craig, Maddie Elkus, Dani Tsevat, Joshua Levine, Phil LaFrance; Middle Row: (L to R) Rabbi Ilana Baden, Sophia Wall, Nicole Lefton, Grace Elkus, Nancy Cohen, Rachel Myers, Leah Zimmer, Brianna Pecsok, Ellen Pittman, Rabbi Lewis Kamrass; Back Row: (L to R) Rabbi Michael Shulman, Mathew Adams, Charlie Schreiber, Molly Cramer, Emma Weinstein, Peter Hull, Jake Jackson, Ryan Ebstein; Not Pictured: Joshua Brennock, Nikki Cohen, Emilee Kraus, Logan Waterman
world and hope to get a clearer understanding of Judaism and how it best fits into my life.”
The 28 students will be attending a wide range of colleges and universities, including the Ohio
State University, Princeton and Yale. Wise Temple will keep in touch with each of these students
through monthly e-mails, holiday packages, and rabbinic visits to the nearby colleges.
2010 CALENDAR Special Issues & Sections J ANUARY
F EBRUARY
M ARCH
7
4
4
Cincinnati Jewish Living - Winter 2010
Wonderful Weddings
14
11
21
18
28 Mature Living/Senior Lifestyles
25
A PRIL
M AY
J UNE
1
6
3
Cincinnati Jewish Living - Spring 2010
Kids/Summer Camps
11 18 25
Purim
Bar/Bat Mitzvah Planning Issue
The Car Issue
8
13
10
15
20
17
22
27
29
Passover
24
Celebrations
Lag B’Omer
J ULY
AUGUST
S EPTEMBER
1
5
2
Cincinnati Jewish Living - Summer 2010
Back to School
8
12
9
15
19
16
22
26
23
29
Rosh Hashanah Jewish Year in Review
30
Mature Living/Senior Lifestyles
O CTOBER
N OVEMBER
D ECEMBER
7
4
2
Gift Guide
14
11
9
Gift Guide
21
18
16
28
25
23
Cincinnati Jewish Living - Fall 2010
30
Chanukah
Year in Review
1st week: Legal | 2nd week: Trav el | 3rd week: Ar ts & Enter tainment | 4th week: Business | 5th week: Varies DEADLINE
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