Shlock Rock to perform at JCC
Workum accepting BB/BS celebrates applications for 2011 past, looks to summer interns future with JFS The Workum Fund is accepting applications for the 2011 summer internship program. The mission of the Workum Fund is to provide cultural and educational advancement to young men and women in the greater Cincinnati area through the intern program. “We feel that in today’s competitive employment market we are helping students gain experience that will distinguish them when interviewing upon graduation,” said Esther L. Zimmerman, former chair. The paid interns work in Cincinnati Jewish community agencies for 30 hours a week over eight weeks. Applicants must be permanent residents of the greater Cincinnati area and have completed at least one year at any college or university.
Big Brothers/Big Sisters Association of Cincinnati, a charter member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, celebrates its 100-year anniversary on Wednesday, Nov. 17, and they also look forward to a new plan and merger with Jewish Family Service effective Jan. 1, 2011. The Big Brothers/Big Sisters vote on the final merger agreement will take place at the board meeting on Nov. 17. The anniversary celebration will take place at the Mayerson Jewish Community Center on Nov. 17. The gala begins with a 6 p.m. reception followed by the program and dessert. Over the past few years, Big Brothers/Big Sisters has worked collaboratively with the United Way of Cincinnati
On Sunday, Nov. 14, from 4-5:30 p.m. at the Mayerson Jewish Community Center, Cincinnati will have an opportunity to experience a Jewish band that has rocked the world for decades–Shlock Rock. Shlock Rock is a Jewish rock band that teaches Jewish ideas through music using song parodies, original music in both English and Hebrew and children’s songs. Lenny Solomon started the ball rolling in 1986 and since then the band has released more than 30 albums. Their mission is to encourage Jewish pride, identity and awareness and help promote Jewish continuity through music. Shlock Rock has performed over 2,000 shows in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Israel and England. Educators in both formal and informal settings have used the music to spark discussions and activities. Inspirational stories continue to emerge that testify to the fact that Shlock Rock songs have helped both individuals and Jewish families get closer to their heritage.
WORKUM on page 19
BB/BS on page 21
JCC on page 19
By LeeAnne Galioto Assistant Editor
By LeeAnne Galioto Assistant Editor
Cantor could help GOP take the House, but can he win over the Jews? By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency WASHINGTON (JTA) — Eric Cantor has spent a lifetime relishing in wearing the other hat. Among Jews, the Republican congressional whip from Richmond, Va., likes to play the genteel Southern conservative, the posture that won over his wife, a socially liberal banker from New York. Among southerners, he’s the nice Jewish boy who belongs to an Orthodox synagogue and graduated from Columbia University, but who has an easy familiarity with NASCAR, country music and evangelical beliefs.
It’s an approach that has Cantor poised to become the highest-ranking Jewish member in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives. If the Republicans take the House, as the pundits and polls are predicting, he is expected to rise to the position of majority leader. Maybe even House speaker, as the buzz goes, if the new wave of Republican lawmakers decide to dump Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), who some conservatives see as too close to lobbyists and establishment interests. Cantor, the only Jewish Republican lawmaker in the Congress, denies that talk. CANTOR on page 21
Duo celebrating bar mitzvah of counting Jewish athletes By Edmon J. Rodman Jewish Telegraphic Agency LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Down in Texas, the Rangers have an All-Star second baseman who has added flavor and flair to the 2010 season, helping propel his team to the World Series for the first time in its history. And with a name like Ian Kinsler, he might just be ... Well, there’s no Star of David-shaped asterisk next to Kinsler’s name in the media guide or program. On the field he wears a cap, not a kipah. So how can you know for sure? Ask Shel Wallman and Ephraim Moxson, co-publishers of The Jewish Sports Review, a bimonthly publication that has made it its
Courtesy of Edmon J. Rodman
Bobblehead doll of Shawn Green, once of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a player the Jewish Sports Review has covered since his high school playing days.
ATHLETES on page 22
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Plenty of Jews on board Cali’s bid to legalize marijuana
Talking peace and the Diaspora, do Jews outside of Israel have a role?
Golf Manor Synagogue’s Annual Blood Drive
Rascals—Return of the Jewish Deli
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NHS Hazak program will discuss Medicare issues Northern Hills Synagogue Congregation B’nai Avraham HaZaK program will focus on Medicare on Wednesday, Nov. 10. The program will begin at noon and take place at the synagogue. Lunch will be served. The guest speaker will be Phyliss Shubs, who has been trained as a Medicare specialist by the state of Ohio. Shubs has had a long
career in human resources and has made assisting Medicare applicants and recipients an important priority. “HaZaK” is an acronym, with the letters standing for the Hebrew words “Hakhma” (wisdom), “Ziknah” (maturity), and “Kadima” (forward). The monthly 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 contact Northern Hills Synagogue.
Two HUC events held in Nov. Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion will hold two free events for the public in November. On Thursday, Nov. 11, at6:30 p.m., HUC is hosting a publication celebration of Dr. Jason Kalman’s recent book: “Canada’s Big Biblical Bargain: How McGill University Bought the Dead Sea Scrolls.” On Sunday, Nov. 14, at 4 p.m., HUC will present “We Jews on Broadway; A Sing-along History of the American Musical.” On Nov. 11 at 6:30 p.m., Dr. Kalman will discuss the intrigue surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls. He will also debunk many of the myths about them including the allegations of the Vatican’s
involvement in hiding the texts from scholars, the idea that they contained earth-shattering revelations, and the status of the infamous international editorial committee who limited access to the texts. Dr. Kalman will also give an account of the international relations and religious negotiation of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The lecture will be held at the Klau Library, and a tour of the library or the Ellenson Rare Book Room will be given at 5:45 p.m. Refreshments will be served. On Nov. 14, at 4 p.m., Rabbi Ken Kanter and the HUC Band will present “We Jews on Broadway” at the Scheuer Chapel at HUC. This sing-along history of
the American musical takes a look at over a century’s worth of music. They will cover Romberg and Friml operettas from the Gay ‘90s through Berlin, Kern, the Gershwins, and Rodgers and Hart from the Roaring ‘20s. The audience will be taken on a musical journey to “Oklahoma,” Maria and Tony’s “West Side Story” and the New York of “Guys and Dolls.” Finally, they will cover the Broadway of today with Sondheim, Mel Brooks, Kander and Ebb. People are invited to arrive at 3 p.m. for a tour of the Skirball Museum and a private reception with Rabbi Kanter immediately following for Skirball members.
B’nai Tzedek to honor two women on Sunday, Nov. 7 On Sunday, Nov. 7, Congregation B’nai Tzedek will honor two women, Susan Farber and Barbara Taggart-Milberg, who have enriched the congregation in a myriad of ways. The congregation will pay tribute to them with a reception at the synagogue from 24 p.m. The event will feature a musical performance by the Lyric Arts Ensemble and be followed by an elegant dessert buffet. Congregant Jane Cohen is in charge of planning what will no doubt prove to be a gala afternoon. The public is welcome to join in honoring these two women and should contact the synagogue to participate. Both Farber and TaggartMilberg are longtime members of B’nai Tzedek and have been enormously active in congregational matters over the years. As vice president, Lynn Haber observed, “what jumps out about Barbara is that she is so hard working. She can and has, for example, led virtually every part of the service. Similarly, Susan is very thorough,
whether it be gardening and landscaping around the building, working in the kitchen, or organizing events. Susan is always willing to lend a helping hand.” Both have held a variety of synagogue offices. Currently TaggartMilberg serves as ritual committee chairperson, and as co-director of the B’nai Tzedek choir. She is a former sisterhood president. Farber is president of the sisterhood and a member of the choir. B’nai Tzedek is a congregant-led synagogue and both Farber and Taggart-Milberg are frequently involved in leading services. Former B’nai Tzedek president, Alex Cohen, observed that “Barbara is from a reform background and has grown enormously in terms of Jewish feeling. It is very impressive to realize how much she has grown by doing.” Farber, he commented, “is from a more traditional background and is also among the first to volunteer and willing to do everything. Both women have an enormous amount of energy that they devote
to the synagogue.” When not found at B’nai Tzedek, Taggart-Milberg, a graduate of Indiana University’s music school, is active in several community orchestras and works in the computer field. She has just become an empty-nester as the youngest of her three daughters is a freshman at Bowling Green State University. In recent years Farber has been doing advance work at the University of Cincinnati, and just this month, completed her dissertation and earned her doctorate in education from UC. Farber and her husband James have two children, Adina and Jared. Congregation president, Russ Rosen, speaks for many congregants when he observes that “Congregation B’nai Tzedek is pleased to honor two of its women who have given so much to enhance our spiritual experience. Their dedication to and love for our congregation has enhanced our religious experience for decades. We thank Barb and Susan with humility and love.”
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Special kid, tween events at the JCC Two of the Mayerson Jewish Community Center’s most popular weekend youth programs will be held this November and December. These Saturday night parties for two different age groups, grades K–5 and grades 6–8, are open to the public and make it easy for parents to enjoy a night out while their kids have an entertaining evening of their own. Hang at the J is on Saturday, Nov. 13, from 7–11 p.m., for children in grades K–5. Kids will have hours of fun with friends enjoying games, swimming, making crafts, dinner and a movie. In response to the heavily attended Kids New Year’s Eve Overnight held at the JCC last winter, there will also be a special sleepover version of Hang
at the J starting at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 11, and continuing through 8 a.m. the following day. The JCC Tween Scene was introduced earlier this year as an exciting program planned by and for tweens (girls and boys in grades 6–8). This new program has been so well-received that the JCC has decided to host another Tween Scene on Saturday, Dec. 4 from 7–10 p.m. The Tween Scene committee meets to plan their own night of entertainment with Danny Meisterman, JCC Youth and Teen Coordinator. The plans often include themes like “Color Wars” featuring friendly competitions in swimming, sports, arts and crafts, video games, and more traditional
games like air hockey and foosball. Any child in grades 6–8 can join the Tween Scene committee. Contact Danny Meisterman at the JCC to get your child(ren) involved. 11-year-old Alex Woosley attended and helped coordinate the JCC Tween Scene in October. “Being able to plan this event with kids my own age was a great idea!” she said. “I really liked meeting new friends and playing games like scavenger hunts and slide races. I can’t wait to start planning for the next one on Dec. 4!” Also available in November and December are JCC School Break Camps for children in grades K–6. Veteran’s Day Camp is held at the JCC on Friday, Nov.
12. Thanksgiving Break Camp is available on Wednesday, Nov. 24. It’s the perfect way for kids to enjoy a day off from school while their parents prepare for the holiday. Winter Break Camps will run at the JCC on Dec. 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29 and 31. The JCC also offers two day trips to Perfect North Slopes on Thursdays, Dec. 23 and 30. To register your child(ren) for Hang at the J, Tween Scene, and/or School Break Camps at the J, contact the JCC at least one week in advance. Reduced rates for siblings are available for Hang at the J and JCC School Break Camps and details for all youth programs are available on the JCC website.
Chabad of Mason Mitzvah Day, Nov. 28 In honor of “Chabad of Mason Mitzvah Day,” proclaimed by the City of Mason to be commemorated each year on Nov. 28, Mason’s “Center for Jewish Life” has launched a “Food for Friends” drive. Initiated by Laura Rossey and a volunteer group formed to raise awareness of the Mason Mitzvah Day mayoral proclamation, “Food for Friends” encourages participants to bring nonperishable food items and place them in the container outside the Jewish Discovery Center building in Mason. The food collected will be distributed at the end of November to area families in need. “We want to draw attention to this important day by honoring the
victims of that fateful massacre [in Mumbai],” said Rossey, the Mitzvah Day Committee Chair. “The Chabad Jewish center there, known for its hospitality, was targeted. Our response is to flood the world with more goodness and random acts of kindness.” Students of the Chai Tots Early Childhood Center and the Discovery Hebrew School, educational programs run by the Jewish Discovery Center, are leading the charge by collecting canned goods from friends and family to distribute to local friends in need. Two years ago, the world watched in horror as a small, but organized group of terrorists hit Mumbai, India, with a series of coordinated attacks throughout the
city claiming nearly 200 innocent lives, leaving scores of others maimed and wounded. Among the terrorists’ chosen targets was the local Chabad House, known as the “Nariman House.” The casualties there included Chabad representatives Rabbi Gavriel Noach and his wife Rebbetzin Rivkah Holtzberg, and their four guests. In response to the horrific events, the city of Mason’s Mayor Tom Grossmann proclaimed Nov. 28, “Chabad of Mason Mitzvah Day,” calling upon citizens to increase in acts of goodness and kindness in memory of the Mumbai massacre victims. The proclamation was presented to local Chabad representative,
Rabbi Yosef Kalmanson of The Jewish Discovery Center, at the city’s meeting of city council. On the second anniversary of the massacre, the rabbi is reiterating the Mayor’s call to honor those who lost their lives with increased acts of goodness and kindness. “What better way to honor the memories of our colleagues who died while on the front lines of a raging spiritual battle, radiating love, kindness, and inspiration to the far-flung corners of the earth,” said Rabbi Yosef. “When terror strikes, our response is to put more good into the world. If 10 people can perpetrate so much evil, imagine the good 100,000 people can accomplish.”
NEW YORK (JTA) — The Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs are launching a multimillion-dollar joint initiative to combat anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns. The JFNA and the rest of the Jewish federation system have agreed to invest $6 million over the next three years in the new initiative, which is being called the Israel Action Network. The federations will be working in conjunction with JCPA, an umbrella organization bringing together local Jewish community relations councils across North America. The network is expected to serve
as a rapid-response team charged with countering the growing campaign to isolate Israel as a rogue state akin to apartheid-era South Africa – a campaign that the Israeli government and Jewish groups see as an existential threat to the Jewish state. In fighting back against anti-Israel forces, the network will seek to capitalize on the reach of North America’s 157 federations, 125 local Jewish community relations councils and nearly 400 communities under the federation system. “There is a very, very high sense of urgency in [fighting] the delegitimizing of the State of Israel,” the JFNA’s president and CEO, Jerry Silverman, told The Fundermentalist. “There is no question that it is among the most critical challenges facing the state today.”
In fact, Silverman added, Israeli leaders identify this as the second most dangerous threat to Israel, after Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Under a plan approved in late September during a special conference call of the JFNA’s board of trustees, the JCPA’s senior vice president, Martin Raffel, will oversee the new network. He will be working in concert with the head of the JFNA’s Washington office, William Daroff. Over the next several months, Raffel will be putting together his team, including six people in New York, one in Israel and one in Washington. The network will monitor the delegitimization movement worldwide and create a strategic plan to counter it wherever it crops up. It will work with local federations and community relations councils
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Federations, JCPA teaming to fight delegitimization of Israel By Jacob Berkman Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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to enlist the help of key leaders at churches, labor unions and cultural institutions to fight anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns. Organizers of the network are looking at the response to an attempted boycott of the Toronto International Film Festival last year as a model for how the system could potentially work. When the festival organizers decided to focus on filmmakers from Tel Aviv, more than 1,000 prominent actors and filmmakers signed a statement saying that the organizers had become part of Israel’s propaganda machine, and they threatened to boycott the event. In response, the UJA Federation of FEDERATIONS on page 22
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Jews at Jon Stewart’s ‘sanity’ rally find plenty of like-minded
Courtesy of NIF
Members of the New Israel Fund express their desires in two languages during Jon Stewart’s Rally for Sanity in Washington, Oct. 30, 2010.
By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency WASHINGTON (JTA) — When “Saturday Night Live” alum “Father Guido Sarducci,” delivering the benediction at Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity, ran through a list of religions seeking the true faith, Judaism received the biggest applause. That didn’t surprise Rivka Burstein-Stern. “There were a lot of Jews there,” she said of Saturday’s rally. “But when it comes to rallies and social activism, you’re going to have a lot of Jews.” Jewish participants — many from the Washington area, some from farther away — seemed to comprise a hefty proportion of the estimated crowd of 250,000 attending the event conceived by Stewart and fellow Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert, the faux conservative host. At least three liberal Jewish organizations — J Street, the New Israel Fund and Jewish Funds for Justice — were represented on a sunny Saturday in a crowd that spilled over the National Mall. Jewish Funds for Justice used the occasion to launch its “Fear Not” campaign aimed at convincing voters to tune out political forces depicting President Obama and his allies as a threat to the nation. All three groups chose to emphasize Stewart’s overarching message of keeping down the shouting and keeping up the listening. The NIF fielded posters saying, in Hebrew and English, “Sanity, Sanity, Thou Shalt Pursue,” a play on the justice commandment in Deuteronomy. Naomi Paiss, the NIF spokeswoman who headed her group’s delegation, said many of the queries from attendees were from participants who recognized Hebrew.
“Some other people said, ‘What language is that?’ ” said Paiss. “Everyone we explained it to was very supportive. We thought the message of lowering the temperature and civil discourse and not demonizing the opposition was an appropriate message.” Participants said the message was appropriate to a Jewish upbringing, although they recognized that Stewart (who is Jewish) and Colbert (reportedly a devout Catholic) sought an ecumenical appeal. During the past three years, much attention has been focused on the fear in some Jewish circles that President Obama is hostile to Israel and bent on tilting U.S. policy toward the Muslim world. But the run-up to the Stewart-Colbert gathering and the increasing predictions of Tea Party-fueled Republican gains has shifted the spotlight onto what past polling suggests is the more common brand of Jewish anxiety — fear over the rise of a potent conservative political movement dedicated to rolling back nearly a century’s worth of liberal gains and willing to employ inflammatory rhetoric aimed at minority groups, including Muslims and illegal immigrants, not to mention Democratic lawmakers. Jennifer Helburn, a Washington gardener, said she joined the rally partly as a statement for those she described as “refusing to be open to facts that contradict what they want to believe.” “It’s very disturbing to me,” she said. “Especially for Jews, we’ve been targeted by groups who have determined they know who we are.” Helburn cited the issue of the planned Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York. “And here are Jews doing the same thing,” she said to a number of Jewish bloggers and groups that
have targeted the center. Josh Pudnos, a graduate student in political management at George Washington University here, also cited the Islamic center controversy as a factor spurring him to apply for a ticket to sit up front. “The Tea Party and the religious right really worry me,” said Pudnos, 22, referring to the conservative insurgent movement that seems likely to propel Republicans back to power in Congress. “Using extreme terms like calling the Manhattan mosque ‘terrorist,’ that’s a little extreme.” A number of participants regretted that the rally wasn’t more political. Stewart, they said, could have hewed to an apolitical line and still rallied participants to vote. “They focused on the media,” said Burnstein-Stern, 26, who works at an educational nongovernmental organization. “But politicians are also a big part of the problem.” Bess Dopkeen, a Pentagon analyst who hosted her brother and a friend for the rally, said the point was to gather with the like-minded. “The overall fun was seeing all the great signs,” she said. Dopkeen flooded Facebook friends with photos of her favorites, including “Ditch fear, choose puppies,” “God hates these signs,” and a man, dressed as Indiana Jones, bearing a placard that read, “No one in American politics is a Nazi. Trust me, I know Nazis.”
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Plenty of Jews on board Cali’s bid to legalize marijuana By Sue Fishkoff Jewish Telegraphic Agency OAKLAND, Calif. (JTA) — Ed Rosenthal has been working to legalize marijuana in California since he moved to the state in 1972. Vindication may finally be at hand for the Bronx-born former yippie. On Nov. 2, California voters will consider Proposition 19, a ballot initiative to legalize the cultivation and possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use, and empower local governments to regulate and tax its sale. Medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996, and is legal now in 13 other states and the District of Columbia. But if Prop 19 passes — recent polls show opposition and support running neck and neck — California will become the first state to legalize pot for general use. Plenty of Jews are throwing their weight behind the initiative. “This has been a long time coming,” said Rosenthal, 66, a longtime marijuana activist and the author of books on everything from growing the herb to avoiding jail time. Rosenthal, a columnist for High Times magazine, is sitting in his office -- a small, cluttered room in the Oakland home he shares with wife, Jane Klein. An ashtray on the desk is filled with roaches, and a lifetime achievement award for his drug policy reform work hangs on the back wall. He makes no secret of his own
Courtesy of Ed Rosenthal
Activist Ed Rosenthal, shown in an undated photo in a marijuana greenhouse, says “Jews have a special affinity to marijuana.”
marijuana use, saying that he smokes it, drinks it, eats it and puts drops of it under his tongue. Rosenthal no longer grows the stuff, however, acting now as a consultant, developer of a new her-
bicide and an organic pesticide, and executive director of Green Aid, a medical marijuana legal defense and education fund. “Jews have a special affinity to marijuana,” he mused. “It’s an intel-
lectual drug, not a drug that takes you outside your senses like alcohol or opiates. And a lot of marijuana research comes out of Israel.” THC, the active hallucinogenic ingredient in cannabis, was first isolated in 1964 by Raphael Mechoulam, now a professor of medicinal chemistry at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. Other studies of the drug’s effect have been conducted at Israeli institutions. “A lot of my parents’ friends in Boca Raton use it,” chimed in Klein, an active member of Oakland’s Temple Sinai. “My aunt’s husband was diagnosed with liver cancer. I gave [pot] to her and said this isn’t just for him for after the chemo, it’s for you because you’re going through stress. She’s in her 80s, and it gave her back her appetite.” Even if Prop 19 passes, Rosenthal points out, marijuana is still illegal under federal law, putting those who wish to grow, sell or possess it at risk of federal prosecution. That’s the case in states such as California where marijuana is legal for medical use. In 2002, federal agents arrested Rosenthal in Oakland even though he had been deputized by the city government to grow marijuana for medical use. He was convicted the next year by a jury that was not told of his connection to the city — an omission that later caused many of the jurors to denounce their own verdicts. A sympathetic judge sentenced him to one day in prison, time served. In February 2003, a group of supporters from Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos, a Silicon Valley Reform synagogue, handed out “Ed Rosenthal — Hero” buttons to delegates at the Reform movement’s West Coast regional biennial. The campaign was organized by policy analyst Jane Marcus, who headed the congregation’s Medical Marijuana as Mitzvah project, itself launched to support medical marijuana on the grounds of Jewish values of social justice and compassion for the sick. Jewish institutional support for legalizing marijuana has been spotty and limited to tentative support for its medicinal use. In 1999, Women for Reform Judaism passed a resolution calling for greater research into its pain-relief properties, and urging the U.S. Congress to permit physicians to prescribe it for critically ill patients. A similar resolution was passed by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Reform rabbinical association, in 2001. In 2003, the Union for Reform Judaism passed a “resolution on the medicinal use of marijuana” urging federal legislation to permit the drug’s medicinal use under a physician’s supervision, and calling upon Reform congregations to
advocate for such legalization at the local, state and federal levels. The Reform movement thus became the first religious body to call for such legalization, followed soon by the Presbyterians. No other Jewish denomination has come out publicly for or against marijuana’s legalization. No Jewish institutions, including any Reform bodies, support Prop 19. But individual Jews have been vocal in their support, including mega-philanthropist Edgar Bronfman, who penned an Oct. 20 editorial for the San Jose Mercury News urging its passage on the same grounds that Prohibition was repealed 77 years ago. “Prohibitions of widely desired products or services don’t work,” he wrote, adding that taxing and regulating marijuana along the lines of alcohol will fund badly needed social services, free up the jails and court system, and bring rationality to an argument that is often anything but. A state report values California’s marijuana crop at $14 billion annually. Marcus, who is on the board of Women for Reform Judaism and a member of the URJ’s Commission on Social Action, last week sent a letter in support of Prop 19 to all the Reform congregations in the state. Noting that she was “speaking as an individual,” she urged Jews to vote yes on Prop 19 in the name of social and racial justice (a preponderance of those arrested for drug use are non-white), compassion for the ill, social and financial stability (taking a multibillion-dollar crop out of the hands of drug cartels and taxing it for the country’s benefit), and general good sense. “I keep going back to the issue of Jewish values,” Marcus told JTA. “The Just Say No generation didn’t allow us to be honest with our kids about the relative dangers of alcohol versus marijuana. Our country’s drug policy is wrong — addiction should be treated medically, as an illness.” Ethan Nadelmann is executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit he founded in 1994 that supports legalization and regulation of marijuana, among other drug policy reform issues. He was in California last week stumping at a San Francisco Reform synagogue on behalf of Prop 19, as well as taking part in a conference call with the leadership of the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center. “Is this good for the Jews?” he asked JTA, speaking rhetorically. “It’s good for individual values and social justice, so yes, it’s good for the Jews. The alternative -- the war on drugs -- is grounded in ignorance, fear, prejudice and profit, values one would like to believe are [anathema] to Jews.”
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Steinsaltz completes Talmud translation, but not without controversy By Sue Fishkoff Jewish Telegraphic Agency SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — On Nov. 7, noted Talmud scholar and teacher Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz will formally conclude his Hebrew translation of the Babylonian Talmud, a monumental task that has occupied him for the past 45 years. While he marks the day in a hadran, or completion ritual, in Jerusalem, hundreds of Jewish communities around the world will celebrate a Global Day of Jewish Learning, coming together in synagogues, Jewish community centers, and schools to study Jewish text and build community. But as scholars and Jewish leaders herald his remarkable accomplishment, Steinsaltz himself has become a figure of controversy, criticized in some Orthodox circles. Five years ago he found himself outside the Orthodox consensus for accepting the post of nasi, or president, of a modern-day Sanhedrin, a re-creation of the ancient Jewish legal body that set ritual observance for the Jewish people. Steinsaltz resigned the post in 2008 out of concern for the direction the organization was taking and potential breaches of halachah, or Jewish law. Others have criticized Steinsaltz’s translation as problematic. Rabbi Yosef Blau, spiritual adviser to students at Yeshiva University, said there was no way Steinsaltz could complete a task as overwhelming as translating the Talmud on his own without some controversy. “We’re talking about a complex legal work put together over hundreds of years by generations of scholars, and one person wants to translate it? It’s not surprising that people will question,” Blau said. The author of nearly 60 books, Steinsaltz, 73, also has established a network of schools in Israel and the former Soviet Union, and has taught widely around the world. In 1988, Steinsaltz won the Israel Prize, the country’s highest honor, for his work in Jewish education. Steinsaltz began his translation project in 1965, motivated by the desire to make the Talmud more accessible to Hebrew speakers, primarily the secular Israeli public. Whereas reading the Torah is not difficult for a native speaker of modern Hebrew, the Talmud is written in an arcane AramaicHebrew jargon and is notoriously
difficult to navigate, daunting for those not trained in its way of dialectical argument. “The language is a barrier for people looking to master the Talmud,” Blau said. “By translating it into Hebrew, Rabbi Steinsaltz made the Talmud available to be studied by people stymied by that language barrier. That is a massive accomplishment.”
Courtesy of Aleph Society
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: “I tried to make pathways through which people will be able to enter the Talmud without encountering impassable barriers.”
For Steinsaltz, the Talmud is not a rarefied tome that should remain in the hands of experts, but the foundational text of Judaism itself. As a teacher who has spent his life bringing Jewish knowledge to students around the world, most notably through the Aleph Society he founded, Steinsaltz says he could not ignore the challenge of opening the Talmud for as many Jews as he could. “The Talmud is the central pillar of Jewish knowledge, important for the overall understanding of what is Jewish,” he told JTA. “But it is a book that Jews cannot understand. This is a dangerous situation, like a collective amnesia. I tried to make pathways through which people will be able to enter the Talmud without encountering impassable barriers. It’s something that will always be a challenge, but I tried to make it at least possible.” A major part of studying Talmud is working through the accompanying rabbinic commentaries, which guide as well as confound those who tackle the books. In addition to his straight translation of the original Talmud text, Steinsaltz added his own commen-
tary, in Hebrew, alongside the text, as his contemporary take on the ancient debates. Steinsaltz spurred criticism in some Orthodox circles for altering conventions because he placed his commentary in the space traditionally reserved for Rashi, the pre-eminent Talmud commentator; added new notes in place of certain Tosafot, or additional commentaries; and changed the traditional layout and pagination in his translation. “That may seem a mere format quibble, but it may have struck some as misguided,” said Rabbi Avi Shafran, spokesman for the haredi Orthodox Agudath Israel of America. David Kraemer, a professor of Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary, doesn’t consider it a problem. He notes that the Talmud’s page format was set only when printing was invented and did not exist in earlier, handwritten manuscripts. “Any translation is an interpretation,” Kraemer said. “To translate [Talmud] in both the literal and nonliteral sense, you have to add to it, which means making judgments. I don’t criticize that at all — that’s what all reading is, what all commentary is.” Steinsaltz’s Hebrew Talmud is not the only modern translation. Soon after he launched his project, a team of Orthodox scholars began work on their own English translation. Published by ArtScroll, the Schottenstein Babylonian English-language Talmud is used now by students around the world. The ArtScroll team has completed 63 of 73 volumes of its Hebrew translation and expects to finish in June 2012. Some tractates are also available in French. “There is some indication that this was done in response” to Steinsaltz, Blau said of the ArtScroll translations. “It was done by committee, and was authorized by certain parts of the Orthodox community,” Blau said. “Some elements in the Orthodox community wanted a translation that met their requirements.” In the late 1980s, Steinsaltz began publishing his own English editions of the Talmud, working from his Hebrew translation. He completed 22 volumes — about four or five tractates. The books are out of print, but he hopes to embark on a complete English translation of the Talmud that will be substantive and accurate, he says.
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Speakers take aim at Israel By Adam Kredo Washington Jewish Week WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week) — “Balance is in the eye of the beholder,” John Duke Anthony, CEO of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, told an audience of policymakers shortly after a panel discussion that faulted Israel for a range of offenses in the Middle East. “We’re not in the hostage-taking business, of forcing people to come for the sake of balance,” Anthony said recently after a panel of Middle East experts and government representatives blamed Israel for everything from the stalled peace talks to the Gaza Strip’s anemic economy. Nearly all seven experts invited by the NCUAR to discuss “The Palestinian Future” at its 19th annual policy confab—held Oct. 21 and 22 in Washington—took aim at the Jewish state. They included the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s U.S. representative, the director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s New York office and a former CIA analyst. “It is no secret today to anyone in this room that the party which is “sabotaging current peace negotiations is Israel,” declared Ma’en Areikat, the PLO’s representative to the U.S. “Israel has refused to extend the so-called moratorium” on settlement construction, he said, and that has “led to the breakdown” in talks.
Areikat then criticized “Israeli intransigence and refusal to comply with existing agreements” before taking to task the American “proIsrael lobby” for its role in the process. “You don’t want to clash with the pro-Israel lobby in this country, so once again we are seeing those apologists and supporters of Israel trying to discourage the [Obama] administration from continuing their efforts” to broker peace, Areikat said. He went on to note that as current negotiations crumble, the Palestinians might consider new courses of action to secure their statehood. “We really need to contemplate other avenues, of course short of violence, to deal with this issue,” Areikat said, alluding to steps beyond direct negotiations with Israel. Meanwhile, Andrew Whitley, outgoing director of UNRWA’s New York office, sought to “bring the refugee dimension into this discussion.” Palestinians, Whitley said, should abandon the hope that they’ll be granted a “right of return,” or guaranteed residence in Israel for them and their descendants. It would be wise to “start a discussion soon with the refugees, for them to consider what their own future might be, for them to start debating their own role in the societies where they are rather than being left in a state of limbo, where
they are helpless, but preserve rather the cruel illusions that perhaps they will return one day to their homes,” Whitley said. The senior UNRWA official also indicated that “all governments— whether they admit it or not—have had some contact with Hamas,” which the United States considers a terrorist organization. The ex-CIA analyst on the panel, Kathleen Christison, blasted the Obama administration for legitimizing what she termed an empty and “hopeless” peace process. “Each attempt is a little more hopeless and each time America is a little more blind about why it is hopeless,” said Christison, who has written extensively about the Palestinians. “The U.S. arms one side in the negotiations,” she said, referring to U.S. military agreements with Israel. “The U.S., in fact, is an interested party in one side” —that being Israel—and cannot truly be an “honest broker.” Observers, she added, “refuse to see that Israel ... will never agree to genuine Palestinian independence or ending the occupation.” Current negotiations are merely “a road to disaster, meaning most likely disaster to the Palestinians.” The Obama administration is “caught in an induced ignorance and blindness” when it comes to the situation in the Middle East, Christison said, and that “ignorance is the work of the Israel lobby.”
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In Argentina, Jewish community jobs’ program not just for Jews wins praise By Diego Melamed Jewish Telegraphic Agency BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Rarely if ever had an Argentinean president praised work done by the Jewish community in front of so many people. An employment program launched more than 35 years ago by AMIA, the main Jewish community organization in Argentina, has been a godsend for thousands of Argentineans—and like most of AMIA’s programs, the beneficiaries haven’t just been Jews. “AMIA is a formidable ally of this government, and AMIA’s Employment Network is an honor for all of Argentineans,” President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner told an audience of 800 earlier this month at the annual fundraising dinner for the program at the Buenos Aires Hilton Hotel. The Employment Network, now Argentina’s largest, started in 1974 as part of AMIA’s Social Service Department to help unemployed Jews looking for jobs and provide a free hiring service for Jewish-owned businesses seeking personnel. During the Argentinean economic crisis of the late 1990s, the program grew rapidly and widened the range of beneficiaries to nonJews. It also became vital during the economic crisis of 2001, when Argentina experienced an unemployment rate above 25 percent and an estimated 40 percent of the country fell below the poverty line. “You don’t have to be a member of the Jewish community to benefit from the services,” said Pablo Devita, who found a job through the network. “This is something highly remarkable.” The program’s work during the 2001 economic crisis was supported by the Inter-American Development Bank, which helped enlarge its jobs network with a budget of approximately $3.5 million. Half is provided by the InterAmerican Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund and the rest is financed by AMIA. Between 2002 and 2008, 16,000 placements were made at more than 9,000 companies. The Employment Network now has 10 offices throughout Argentina and an estimated budget of $1 million for this year. In addition, it works with companies and nongovernmental
organizations on joint actions to help the unemployed. Juan Heredia was one of them. He lost his job when his security doors company Pentagono downsized, and turned to the Employment Network for a course in facilities and electricity appliance. Eventually he landed a job as chief of maintenance in a major community center called the Hurlingham Club, in the facilities areas. “We are not Jews and they never asked us if we were,” Heredia’s wife, Silvina, told JTA, adding that “I am very grateful to the job service of the Jewish community.” Heredia lost 46 pounds because of the depression he fell into during his two years without a job. “Juan not only regained selfconfidence but also thanks to this new job, we were able to keep our house,” Silvina said. Some 10,000 people a year now use the network’s free services and workshops, and about 2,000 find a job through the service—on average nine a day. The Employment Network has a database of more than 600,000 job seekers. Within the Employment Network, the Subsidized Employment Program is one of the more unusual initiatives. It matches unemployed people who have registered in AMIA’s database with companies that are looking to hire. The program subsidizes 30 percent of the new employee’s salary for the first six months and covers the cost of recruitment. AMIA provides a team of expert interviewers who assess the profiles of candidates according to companies’ needs. The team presents its choices to the companies and based on the information, the companies decide which candidate suits them best. “They have the final say,” said Veronica Albajari, the program’s leader. Since 2004, some 1,500 people who have come to AMIA asking for social assistance and food have ended up also finding a job through the program. For those in need that were offered a job and rejected it, AMIA discontinued the social assistance. The Employment Network has become a model for employment agencies, the director of AMIA’s Employment Department, Ernesto Tocker, told JTA.
ISRAEL
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010
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Talking peace and the Diaspora, do Jews outside of Israel have a role? By Dina Kraft Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Courtesy of Rose Inbal
Participants in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure walk through the streets of Jerusalem on Oct. 28, 2010 to raise awareness about breast cancer.
In war on breast cancer, Israel leads By Dina Kraft Jewish Telegraphic Agency JERUSALEM (JTA) — Irit Paneth, in and out of remission from breast cancer for more than a decade, was among the thousands who wound their way like a giant pink-and-white ribbon through Jerusalem’s streets in the first Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Race for the Cure held in Israel. “What’s important here is to raise awareness,” Paneth said during the Oct. 28 march, wearing the pink T-shirt reserved for breast cancer survivors. The shirts are a signature of the Komen foundation, which has become the global leader in the war against breast cancer and co-sponsored last week’s event with Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, and the city of Jerusalem. The route of the 5-kilometer race that ended in the valley of Ben Hinom, in the shadow of Jerusalem’s Old City walls, tread on especially fertile ground: Israel has one of the highest breast cancer rates in the world. It’s the most prevalent disease among Israeli women, with about 4,000 diagnosed every year. Genetics are partially to blame. Ashkenazi Jews are 10 times more likely than the general population to carry the BRCA genes, mutations that often lead to breast cancer. Iraqi Jews also carry the genes in higher numbers. Meanwhile, the number of cases has risen among Arab Israeli women, for whom the disease once was rarely found. New studies show that Israeli women have nearly a one in seven chance of developing breast cancer; in the United States it’s closer to one in eight. Beyond the bleak numbers, there
is some positive news out of Israel concerning breast cancer: The country is a world leader in survival rates and cutting-edge research. One of the two BRCA gene mutations was discovered as part of a collaboration that included Tamar Peretz, the director of Hadassah Medical Center’s oncology department. Israel has become a model for other countries. Hospitals offer targeted therapies for specific types of tumors based on in-house and international research as well as holistic treatments—including psychologists trained to counsel cancer patients and their families. The national health system provides free mammogram screening for those over 50 or considered a high risk for the cancer. Some women from around the world come to Israel for treatment. With about 70 percent of Israeli women diagnosed at an early stage, survival rates are over 90 percent, according to Miri Ziv, director of the Israel Cancer Association. This year, she said, new breast cancer cases were reported to be on the decline. Outreach to communities that in the past may have missed out on detection has been improved with the help of the Israel Cancer Association’s mobile mammogram clinic, which travels throughout the country. Other organizations reach out to haredi Orthodox, Arab and Russian immigrant communities to help ensure they get screenings. Among the haredi and Arab populations the problem is especially acute because of cultural taboos that make discussion of the disease, let alone treatment, difficult. Israelis and Palestinians are cooperating in the breast cancer battle. BREAST on page 19
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Cloistered away in a snug meeting room with stone-faced walls and arched doorways across from Jerusalem’s Old City, some of the most important Jewish communal leaders in the world came together recently to wrestle with a question: Is there a role for the Diaspora in Israel’s decision making on peace? The answer: Yes and no. The forum was part of the annual conference of the Jewish People Policy Institute, a think tank organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel that identifies and evaluates challenges facings Jewish communities around the world. The consensus of the participants was that while ultimately it was up to the Israeli government and the Israeli public to decide the outlines of a peace deal, input from the rest of the Jewish world should be considered. In particular, several participants said, the issue of whether or not to divide Jerusalem is a matter that requires input from the Diaspora. Furthermore, most in the forum of about 25 people agreed that the creation of a Palestinian state is not only Israel’s best hope of one day emerging from the conflict, it would be a boon for Diaspora communities as well. “The achievement of a peace
Courtesy of Shamayim Productions
Members of the Jewish People Policy Institute at its annual conference in Jerusalem: Glen Lewy, left, a board member and past board chairman of the Anti-Defamation League; Dani Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council; and Ami Ayalon, retired Israeli general and former government minister, Oct. 21, 2010.
agreement would be tremendously liberating for the global Jewish people,” said Barry Rosenberg, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis. “It would allow us to devote our energy to other major priorities facing the Jewish people and the liberation of resources would be quite powerful,” Rosenberg said. “It would also come with significant risks and potential trauma, like the withdrawing from some territory.” The challenge remains for the
JPPI to move away from being an A-list talk shop to affecting policy on the ground. To that end, one of the recommendations that emerged from the two days of talks was for the creation of a small forum of Diaspora figures to discuss final status issues with the Israeli government — a “go-to” team that the government could consult with, as the institute’s founding director, Avinoam Bar-Yosef, described it. DIASPORA on page 22
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Palestinian gambit for statehood puts Israel against wall By Leslie Susser Jewish Telegraphic Agency JERUSALEM (JTA) — With talks at a stalemate and no agreement from the Israelis to reinstate a settlement freeze, the Palestinians are playing a new card: an end game to statehood through an appeal to the international community. The card hasn’t actually been played, but the mere threat that the Palestinians would push for international recognition of a state from the United Nations has been enough to push the Israeli government to reconsider options to return to the negotiating table. On Sunday, partly to pre-empt a Palestinian move toward statehood that would bypass negotiations with Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is working intensively with the Obama administration on a formula to restart the stalled peace process. “We are in close contact with the American administration with the aim of restarting the peace process,” Netanyahu said at his weekly Cabinet meeting. “Our aim is not only to renew the process, but to renew it in such a way that it won’t collapse in a few weeks or in two months, but that we will go into a full year of serious negotiations on the core issues in an effort to reach a framework agreement on the way to a peace deal. “Any attempt by the Palestinians
to circumvent this process by going to international organizations,” he said, “is not realistic, and will not in any way advance a genuine peace process.” Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. leaders all say publicly that a negotiated peace deal is much preferred to unilateral steps that could spark a sharp response from the other side. But the Palestinians warn that if the direct peace talks remain on hold, they will consider approaching international bodies for recognition of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with eastern Jerusalem as its capital. It isn’t clear whether this is merely a tactic to frighten Israel back to the peace table—talks that were renewed in early September broke down four weeks later over Israel’s refusal to extend a building freeze in the West Bank—or part of a new strategy aimed at achieving a better deal for the Palestinians through the international community. Either way, given Israel’s precarious position on the international stage and the lack of international support for its West Bank settlement construction policy, the Palestinian threat carries weight and is being taken very seriously in Jerusalem. Much depends on the American stand, which gives the Obama administration added leverage over Israel. The new Palestinian thinking
Courtesy of Issam Rimawi/Flash90/JTA
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, seen here greeting Finnish President Tarja Halonenin in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Oct. 14, 2010, may appeal to the international community for recognition of statehood.
has been evolving over the past few years and is based on two key principles: winning enhanced international support for Palestinian goals and, in parallel, building the institutions of a functioning Palestinian state from the bottom up. The idea is that if the Americanmediated peace process with Israel proves fruitless, the Palestinians can invoke Plan B: Gaining the world’s approval for an already functioning Palestinian state, on conditions favorable to the Palestinians, at a time of their choosing. With Palestinian confidence in
the Israeli government on the wane and Israel’s international standing in decline, Plan B has emerged as a genuine threat to Israel. Last week, the Palestinians made their first significant move for recognition as a state by approaching the International Criminal Court at The Hague to urge recognition of the Palestinian Authority as the equivalent of a full-fledged state government. That designation would enable the Palestinian Authority to press war crimes charges against Israel for its conduct in the 2008-09 Gaza War because only states have standing before the court. Recognition of the Palestinian Authority by the international court not only would open a crack for the possible prosecution of Israeli civilian and military leaders, it also would hand the Palestinians a major PR victory in their quest for internationally recognized statehood. The Palestinians would be able to cite the court’s recognition as legal backing for their case for a state. Last week the court’s prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, heard arguments from legal experts, backed up by nongovernmental organizations, from both sides. The Israeli side argued that the Palestinian Authority is not a state and therefore cannot claim standing before the court, and that in any event, the court is not empowered to prosecute a state like Israel, which has effective and credible legal mechanisms for dealing with suspected war crimes. A decision is not expected for several weeks. If the Palestinians do press ahead in earnest with Plan B, the United Nations will be the main battleground. Given the certain backing for a Palestinian state by the non-aligned and Muslim states, the Palestinians easily would be able to secure a majority in the
General Assembly—the same body that granted Israel international recognition in November 1947 by a vote of 33 to 13. But the Palestinians want more than mere recognition: They want a binding allocation of territory based on the 1967 borders. For that they will likely seek a resolution from the U.N. Security Council, whose votes are binding. Such an effort likely would be blocked by the United States, which has veto power in that body. Therefore, for such a gambit to work, it would need to have the backing of the Obama administration. That’s unlikely. In the run-up to a crucial Arab League meeting in early November that will discuss the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, PA President Mahmoud Abbas has been canvassing Arab leaders on his U.N. strategy. The Palestinians see an important convergence in early November of key events for the future of the peace process: the Arab League meeting and the U.S. midterm elections. They believe that after the midterm elections, President Obama will have a freer hand to deal with Israel and will press Israel to return to the negotiating table on the Palestinians’ terms to head off any U.N. strategy. For Israel this constitutes a major headache. The Netanyahu government fears that many countries, including the Europeans, would go along with the Palestinians and recognize a Palestinian state based on the pre1967 border between Israel and Jordan. If Israel remains in control of large swaths of the West Bank after a Palestinian state is declared and recognized, even if it’s just in the General Assembly, it would further sink Israel’s international reputation and provide additional fodder for the campaign to delegitimize Israel. “The Palestinians will declare a state. Virtually the whole world will recognize it. And we will be left without security arrangements,” Israeli Trade and Industry Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer said Monday. Israel’s response to the challenge has been a combination of defiance and diplomacy. “Like Ben-Gurion, Netanyahu will not allow the United Nations, or any other organization, to dictate our borders,” Israel’s U.S. ambassador, Michael Oren, said last Friday. “They will be determined through negotiations.” Privately, some Israeli Cabinet ministers have been proposing unilateral Israeli responses, such as Israeli annexation of a significant part of the West Bank or redeploying inside the large settlement blocs to create a de facto border along Israeli terms.
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Rascals—Return of the Jewish Deli By Marilyn Gale Dining Editor
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Where, oh where is Rascals? Or, what is this quirky named place? It’s the resurrection of the deli, where hard salamis happily swing from the ceiling, halvah sits comfortably on top of the counter, ready to be purchased and savored in chunks, where huge puffy New York Cheesecake reigns inside the glass counter, beckoning you, luring you to taste the sweet white creamy dessert. Forget the diet, choices are many and portions are large (plan on lunch the next day). The rye bread that accompanies the sandwiches makes great crispy toast the following morning. The chicken soup is not too salty. It is sweet and shreds of white meat chicken float gracefully to the top of the broth. Potato pancakes are crisp, not greasy or overcooked, and luscious when dipped gingerly into pink applesauce mixed with the faint taste of red-hot candies. They don’t use pressed turkey in the tower size sandwiches. Real turkey, real food! Rascals, located in Blue Ash on the corner of Cooper and Kenwood Roads, has a menu that made me chuckle. Entering the ‘50s-style restaurant complete with sturdy, durable chrome chairs coordinated with vinyl upholstery and high pressure laminate table tops, I definitely had a walk down memory lane—oops I’m showing my age— of Chicago and New York delis. Now at Rascals, I once again see middle-aged men gathered together in the middle of the afternoon, eating those killer mile-high sandwiches, kibitzing about the latest sports fiasco. I suspect they are questioning the blighted wisdom of our politicians as they munch on half sour pickles sprinkled liberally with specks of dill. The secret to a captivating deli is the smell—the aroma of corned beef, dill pickles, baked goods, tongue, stuffed cabbage and stuffed knishes fill the air inside Rascals. As I stood in front of the L-shaped counters, I was mesmerized by the choices of fish, meats, salads and desserts lying in wait underneath the clear glass. Some tantalizing menu items were Schmaltz & Gribenes—with a side comment, you know you are dying for it, please provide a note with your physician’s approval. How about Kasha Varnishkes? “Even if you don’t love this, it’s fun to say” is written under this menu item, which is toasted buckwheat groats sautéed with onions and mushrooms and served with bowtie pasta – $2.95 Any sandwich can be wrapped in lettuce or in a low carb tortilla wrap. Aha, the owners, Gary Zakem, a Dayton native, and
Clockwise: Morris Zucker (left) and Gary Zakem (right) are your hosts; Hefty NY style cheescake makes an easily shared dessert; Sixties decor gives a comfortable ambience to Rascals NY Deli.
Morris Zucker, a Brooklyn transplant, are in style and bow ever so slightly to the current eating trends. Meat loaf and sweet and sour meatballs are made from turkey. Rascals has a vegan plate, bulging with tabouli, hummus and vegetables. Israeli salad, garden fresh diced cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers & scallions in a lemon dill marinade ($2.75) and Farmer’s Chop Suey, a medley of tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots & bell peppers in a cottage cheese-sour cream mixture ($3.75) are also on the menu. There is matzo ball and kreplach soup, beef and barley and mish mash—matzo balls stuffed with kreplach meat—I am told the latter was created by Zucker’s mother when her arthritic fingers could no longer manage that temperamental kreplach dough. For the coming flu season, try chicken in a pot,— a half chicken in chicken noodle soup, with matzo balls, two kreplach and soup vegetables, plus two additional side dishes, for $13.95 – I suggest shar-
ing this entrée, followed by a hefty piece of plump New York style cheesecake. Gary Zakem, owner, creator and alchemist for the dying deli era, talked about his fascination with bringing back this unique dining style. He has been studying the ingredients for seducing diners to return to favorite foods from yesteryear—when the immigrants came to this country and made use of every part of the edible cow and chicken. Delis arose out of poverty on the backs of immigrant Jews from New York (and other urban areas in the New World), and became a gathering place for them. “We are inspired by some of the greatest delis in the country. Everyone from Katz’s and the Carnegie in New York, Corky & Lenny’s in Cleveland, Detroit’s Bread Basket and the Stage Delicatessen in Detroit. What do they all have in common? Great rye bread, pastrami, corned beef and brisket. Matzoh ball soup. Lox and whitefish. Chicago style hot dogs.
Homemade soups and desserts. Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda. “We sought out the best products available. Nova from New York’s Acme Smoked Fish. Corned beef from Sy Ginsberg in Detroit. Hard crusted rye bread from Detroit. Not to mention our own creations – chopped liver, blintzes, knishes and kugel to name a few,” said Zakem. Try tongue or chopped liver with schmaltz – at your own risk, of course, jokes Zakem. Rascals will gladly cater any event. We welcome Rascals to our community and wish it long life and happiness. Baby boomers, go back briefly in time and feast heartily upon old school delicatessen. Doctor’s orders. My Chicago ancestors are smiling, laughing really. It is about time. Rascals NY Deli 9525 Kenwood Road Cincinnati, Ohio 45242 513-429-4567
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GUEST APPRECIATION NIGHTS
OPINION
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by Rabbi James A. Rudin
Faith communities must change with the times Our nation’s faith communities face extraordinary challenges in the new, soon-to-begin decade. But many clergy are in a state of denial, or worse still, believe their old ways will continue to work in a rapidly changing America. Peter Steinfels, the former New York Times religion writer and an astute observer of the Catholic community, recently noted that one of three American Catholics has left the church. Steinfels bemoans that bishops often fail to acknowledge the hemorrhaging that is taking place. While the decline of the mainline Protestant churches has been analyzed and reanalyzed, the membership decline has not abated. Criticisms include: too much emphasis on social justice issues to the exclusion of authentic spirituality, an aging membership that is not being replaced by younger people, and bland worship services. The most serious criticism is that some national church bodies contain a whiff of anti-American feeling, blaming the U.S. for many of the world’s problems. The once burgeoning evangelical community has hit a membership plateau. Some prominent church leaders have been involved in sexual scandals, while former lions of the movement, including Billy Graham, James Dobson, and Pat Robertson are aging or ill. The news that the Rev. Robert Schuller’s famed Crystal Cathedral in California is filing for bankruptcy is an apt metaphor for the evangelical community. The cathedral once symbolized the American megachurch: an architectural landmark and a huge television audience. But a bitter battle to succeed
Schuller is wracking the church. The growth of megachurches remains an open question. NBCTV reports that nine percent of all Protestant worship services now take place within homes, rather than in tall-steeple churches or big-box buildings. Inside the American Jewish community, the centralist Conservative religious movement is being crushed by the Reform and Orthodox streams. And while Jews remain committed to Israel’s quest for security, a sense of exhaustion with the peace process and the threats coming from Israel’s hostile neighbors has set in. Even black churches are facing real challenges. Not long ago, ministers were the de facto leaders of the African-American community. The next decade will likely see a diminution of clergy leadership roles, and an increase among political figures, scholars and business leaders. The black church will remain a central institution, but decision-making will continue to move away from the pastors. The Islamic community in the United States has three distinct membership groups: Arabs, African-Americans, and Muslims from non-Arab countries. The controversy surrounding the proposal to build an Islamic community center near Ground Zero, and the anti-Islamic remarks of American political leaders has created a sense of insecurity and high anxiety among many Muslims. This menu of problems is more serious than the usual gloom and doom articulated by anti-religion critics. On the contrary, this list of challenges—and there are many more—will severely test the strength of each faith community and represents a real and present danger to religious vitality in America. The new decade will require the talent and leadership skills of America’s clergy. Will they succeed in effectively addressing the problems, or will the country’s religious life become a smorgasbord of personal whim, capricious choice and mindless babble? Stay tuned. Rabbi Rudin is the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser.
T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: TOLDOT (BRAISHIT 25:19—28:9) 1. Whose “generations” does it speak about it in the Parsha? a.) Abraham b.) Isaac c.) Jacob
a.) He and Esau kissed b.) Paid him money c.) Made him swear that the purchase was final. 4. Where was Gerar? a.) In the land of the Philistines b.) Egypt c.) Near Hebron
2. Why did Isaac love Esau? a.) He was his first born son b.) He was a great warrior c.) Esau was a great hunter and gave what he caught to Isaac 3. How did Jacob finish the purchase of the birth rite? then Jacob sold it for money or the bowl of lentils. 4. A 26:6-9 5. C 26:23,24 Hashem told Isaac not to fear his adversaries, even though he fought with them over his wells. Rashbam
Point of View
5. What happened in Be'er Sheva? a.) Isaac blessed Jacob b.) Esau married his wives c.) Isaac received prophecy from Hashem ANSWERS 1. B 25:19 Isaac's generations were Jacob and Esau 2. C 25:28 According to the Midrash, Esau “hunted” Isaac by deceiving him with his words. 3. C 25:33 Ramban explains that first Esau swore not to contest a sale,
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Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010
JEWISH LIFE
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Sedra of the Week by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT TOLDOT GENESIS 25:19-28:9
Efrat, Israel - “These are the generations of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham begat Isaac” (Gen 25:19). The Bible describes the miraculous conception of Isaac, leaving no room for confusion about his parentage, so why does it now inform us twice in the space of one verse that Isaac was the son of Abraham? What is it teaching us about the lives of the patriarchs? Family can be a source of support and comfort, but it can also be a source of terrible jealousy, fostering a lifetime of enmity. This is as true of the Biblical families as it is of our own. Perhaps we get an indication of that from the opening verse of this week’s portion which describes Esau and Jacob as: “the generations of Isaac, son of Abraham”. These boys will battle against each other from their mother’s womb and “the events of the patriarchs will foreshadow the experiences of their descendants”, leading to an ongoing conflict between their descendents throughout the generations. But what is the source of this sibling enmity? Perhaps the end of our verse hints that the answer lies in the complex relationship between the first patriarch and his son.— “Abraham begat Isaac.” Abraham is a world leader of great stature. He is a successful businessman with plenty of land and livestock, a fearless warrior. He is a pioneering philosopher and the founder of ethical monotheism. Most important of all, he is chosen by G-d to bring blessing to all the nations of the world. Isaac is born into this household of awe inspiring royalty. He knows that as the only son of Sarah and that his birth was foretold by the angels, he is Divinely destined to be Abraham’s heir. This is a heavy responsibility and a difficult role. So perhaps Isaac felt overwhelmed by the duty to replicate his father’s accomplishments, which may explain why he sometimes acted like the passive son of a creative and determined father. But Isaac’s challenges do not end here. He also lives in the shadow of his elder half-brother Ishmael, a much more aggressive “wild ass of a man, whose hands are on everything and everyone”. (Gen 16:12) Isaac is deeply troubled by this boy whom
Abraham is a world leader of great stature. He is a successful businessman with plenty of land and livestock, a fearless warrior. He is a pioneering philosopher and the founder of ethical monotheism. Most important of all, he is chosen by G-d to bring blessing to all the nations of the world. Abraham had wished to maintain as part of the household, requesting of G-d that “Ishmael live before Him”, even at the expense of Sarah’s miraculous conception. Isaac may even have feared that Ishmael was the more likely heir, suspecting that their father had subconsciously interpreted G-d’s instructions at the Akeda as “sacrifice” your son rather than merely “dedicate” him; he thought that perhaps his father had wished to remove him from the family, leaving Ishmael ascendant. Perhaps this is what led to the apparent estrangement between father and son after the Akeda. You will note that Isaac is missing from his mother’s funeral and from the familial home constantly wandering to and from Be’er Lehai Roi. Apparently Isaac is obsessed by the place in which G-d revealed himself to Ishmael and bestowed upon Ishmael great blessings. Perhaps this also explains why, when Isaac bestows the mantle of the first born, he favors the more aggressive hunter Esau to the more passive “dweller of tents” Jacob. Maybe this is what led Jacob to imitate the more extrovert and aggressive characteristics of his brother Esau; deceptively masquerading as his older brother in order to gain Isaac’s love and acceptance, so that the next heir apparent will resemble the initial path-breaker Abraham rather than the quieter Isaac. At the end of this three-generational sequence, Jacob finally becomes Israel. He understands that the truest and most worthy heir to Abraham’s legacy must express compassionate righteousness and moral justice rather than duplici-
tous deceptiveness and aggressive entrapment. (Gen 18:19) This marks his victory over the “spirit” of Esau enabling him to return to his brother the blessing which he gained by deception! (Gen 33:11) Moreover, history and theology is much kinder to Isaac than he may have been to himself. Managing and maintaining a successful company requires very different skills to the risk taking and often impetuous conduct necessary to found the company. So it is with religious movements as well. For Judaism to take root, the heir to the pioneering path-breaker could not be a carbon copy of his father; he had to be a consistent continuer. Thus Isaac opened the very same wells which his father had dug and Avimelekh had stopped up, and he worked and tilled the same sacred soil which his father had received from G-d. Isaac became the symbol of a tradition, a handing down from generation to generation without which Abraham’s traditions could never have endured. Parents must not attempt to clone their children in their image, and children must not strive to be clones of their parents. Each must have their own identity, “taste” and “texture”. In the differences between the generations lie the unique contributions of each. Ultimately, so long as one’s central mission remains compassionate righteousness, moral justice and obedience to G-d’s laws; “to thine own self be true.” 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 Miriam Terlinchamp, Rabbi Marcy Ziek, President Gerry H. Walter, Rabbi Emeritus November 5 6:30 pm Sholom Unplugged Musical Shabbat and Light Dinner
November 12 7:00 pm Shabbat Evening Service Rabbi Terlinchamp Installation
November 6 10:30 am Shabbat Morning Service Samantha Ziegler Bat Mitzvah
November 13 10:30 am Shabbat Morning Service
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JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
Jewz in the Newz By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist OF FEUDS AND TALENT “Morning Glory,” a romantic comedy, stars Rachel McAdams as Becky, a local TV producer who is hired by a network morning news program with very low ratings. Becky decides to shake things up and convinces her network boss (JEFF GOLDBLUM, 58) to let her hire Mike Pomeroy (HARRISON FORD, 68), a legendary “hard news” anchorman. Pomeroy proves to be a handful— he refuses to do “soft stuff,” like celebrity news, and he’s at odds with Colleen Peck, his former beauty queen co-host (Diane Keaton). She loves doing celeb and fashion stories. Pomeroy and Peck first clash behind the scenes, and then on-air. Meanwhile, Becky’s romance with another producer (Patrick Wilson) suffers as the feuding between the coanchors escalates. (Opens Wednesday, Nov. 10.) The original script is by ALINE BROSH MCKEENA, 43, a Harvard grad who is now one of the hottest and best-paid film screenwriters following the box office success of her last two films, “The Devil Wears Prada,” and “27 Dresses.” Frankly, I’m really curious whether “Glory” will show that Brosh can really write a witty and critically wellreceived film or is just a sharp “hack.” Brosh’s Jewish parents met in Israel, but this didn’t stop her from taking LAUREN WEISBERGER’s original “Prada” novel and exorcising the Jewish background of the two lead characters (the aspiring young writer and the legendary fashion magazine editor). The young writer went from being a witty and tough Jewish woman to an almost milquetoast gentile. However, the director (DAVID FRANKEL) paced the film very well; Meryl Streep brought out colors in the fashion editor not in her dialogue; and Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt scored in supporting roles. The end result was a box office hit that goosed Brosh’s career. (Before “Prada,” she’d written two original film comedies that were critical and boxoffice duds.) “27 Dresses,” from an original screenplay by Brosh, starred Katherine Heigl as a woman who is “always a bridesmaid, never a bride.” Almost all critics panned the flick, with many saying that it seemed to be sewn together from every contemporary romantic comedy cliché. Still, it found an audience and made a lot of money. Two hits in-a-row means a lot in
Hollywood and Brosh now has a lot of big projects lined-up. But the jury’s still out on her talent. DUE DATE: DIRECTED BY THE “WORST JEW”? Opening in theaters on Friday, Nov. 5 is “Due Date,” a comedy/drama. Robert Downey, Jr. stars as Peter, an expectant firsttime father whose wife is five days away from her due date. Circumstances force him to take a wild car ride home with an aspiring actor (Zach Galifianakis). The director is TODD PHILLIPS, 39, who had a huge hit with “The Hangover,” also co-starring Galifianakis. Two weeks ago, Phillips said that he had cast Mel Gibson in a small, but important role in the “Hangover” sequel, now filming. Galifianakis publicly objected to Gibson’s casting, on “moral grounds,” and he was joined behind the scenes by others. On Oct. 24, Phillips said he was surprised at the “lack of empathy” for Gibson, but that he would bow to the opposition of the “Hangover family.” (He replaced Gibson with Liam Neeson.) The next day, Galifianakis, appearing at an awards show, said that “Todd Phillips is the worst Jew in Hollywood.” He quickly followed that up by exclaiming: “That’s an inside joke!” Phillips did damage control late last week, telling “People” that Gibson “wasn’t fired…that Mel was doing [him] a favor and it didn’t work out.” Meanwhile, the whole controversy took on a surreal character when former boxing champ Mike Tyson, an African-American who had a funny cameo in the original “Hangover,” told the NY Post that he would work with Gibson: “I’m not going to ever in my life point my finger at anyone. I don’t live in a glass house. None of us do. I work with anybody, as long as they’re respectful.” So, a convicted rapist (Tyson) is more than willing to work with the anti-Semitic, “N” word using, woman-hating Gibson. Puts a whole new spin on Brotherhood Week, doesn’t it? GWYNETH DOES COUNTRY GWYNETH PALTROW, 38, who proved she could sing in the karaoke movie, “Duets” (1999), will appear on the Country Music Awards (ABC, 8PM, Wednesday, Nov.10). She’ll make her live singing debut as she performs the title number from her upcoming film, “Country Strong,” in which she plays a legendary country singer just out of rehab. (The movie opens in late Dec.)
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FROM THE PAGES 100 Years Ago On the Avondale street car lines, which are in use by so many of the Israelite’s city readers, there are a number of conductors, most of them elderly men, who know their business and are polite to passengers, more especially to women. Unfortunately they are but a dwindling minority, the large and increasing majority of the fare collectors on these routes are a lot of such offensive brutes that one wonders where the Traction company gets them, or
why it employs them, inasmuch as they help exasperate the passengers, who are already irritated by the unavoidable delays and other annoyances growing out of the ridiculous delay in the repavement of Reading Road. The Traction company will act wisely if it gives the matter its attention. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin May celebrated the forty-fifth anniversary of their wedding day at the home of their son and daughter-in-law, Mr.
and Mrs. Max B. May, Greenwood Court, Avondale, on Tuesday evening. Although a purely informal affair some thirty relatives were present to extend congratulations. Mrs. May is the oldest daughter of the late Dr. Isaac M. Wise, and was married at the old home near College Hill, the ceremony being performed by Dr. Wise, assisted by the late Dr. Max Lillienthal, in the presence of almost the entire membership of the two congregations. — November 3, 1910
75 Years Ago Announcement is made of the engagement of Miss Barbara Ann Jacobs to Mr. Richard C. Lauer. Miss Jacobs is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Simon M. Jacobs, formerly of Boston, and now of 750 Avon Fields Lane, Cincinnati. Her father is the managing director of Rollman & Sons Co. She is a graduate of the Columbus (O.) School for Girls. Mr. Lauer is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence D. Lauer, 2324 Park Avenue. He is vice president of the
Sterling Glass Co. Dr. and Mrs. David Lerner (Sadie H. Israel), who were married Sunday, Oct 20th, have returned from their honeymoon and are at home at 2535 Burnet Avenue, where they will be glad to see their friends. Dr. Lerner is associated with Dr. Samuel Rothenberg. Mr. and Mrs. William Greenebaum were recent guests in New York City. Mrs. Greenebaum is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Julian
Morgenstern. Mrs. Ettie Franklin Rypins, wife of Rabbi Isaac L. Rypins, died Thursday, Oct 30th at the home of a sister, 810 N. Crescent Avenue. She was 71. Besides her husband, she leaves three sons, Dr. Harold L. Rypins, Dr. Stanley I. Rypins, and Dr. Russell F. Rypins; two sisters, Misses Bluma and Sophie Franklin, with whom she made her home, and a brother, Rabbi Leo M. Franklin. — November 7, 1935
50 Years Ago Fred H. Roth has been named a trustee of Antioch College, Yellow Springs, O. The appointment was announced by James P. Dixon, Antioch president. He is a treasurer and a trustee of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and a trustee of the Community Chest, Community Health and Welfare Council and Associated Jewish Agencies. Mrs. Sarah Cohen, 1715
Northcutt Avenue, passed away Friday, Oct 28. Funeral services were held at the Weil Funeral Home, Sunday, Oct. 30, Rabbi Fishel J. Goldfeder officiating. Interment was in Schachnus Cemetery. Survivors include her husband, William; daughter, Mrs. Ira Dinerman; son, Hebert Cohen; two sisters, Mrs. Jack B. Siebler and Miss Eva Epstein; two brothers, Dave and Herman Epstein, and two
grandchildren. Mr. and Mrs. Marvin L. Warner are program chairmen for the Diplomats’ Ball, to be held Nov. 23 at the Netherland Hilton by the Cincinnati Committee for Israel Bonds. Mr. Warner, a former chairman of the local Bonds for Israel campaign, is president of the Jewish Community Center. Mrs. Warner also is active in the Bonds campaign. — November 3, 1960
25 Years Ago Halom House, a group home for mentally retarded adults, providing an atmosphere of Jewish tradition, was formally dedicated on Oct. 30. Dagmar Celeste, wife of Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste, was the special guest at the reception. Also attending were Dr. David L. Jackson, director of the Ohio Department of Health and interim director of the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities; and
Sally Fellerhoff, vice mayor of Cincinnati. Mrs. Celeste congratulated the Jewish community on the establishment of Halom House. “Your community stands way ahead in the way you take care of your own. . .There’s only so much that can be done for a community and then a community has to stand up and do for itself.” Dr. Myron C. Schuman of San Diego, formerly of Cincinnati, passed away Oct. 23.
Dr. Schuman was a dentist in Cincinnati for 35 years and served as president of the Cincinnati Dental Society. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; two daughters, Marilyn Mulholland and Carol Radin; three stepchildren, Carol Steuer Esterson, Ina Bawer, and Dr. Norman Steuer; a sister, Hilda Knoll; a brother Mayor Schuman; 10 grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. — November 7, 1985
10 Years Ago Arthur Basofin, 84, passed away Oct 17, 2000. Mr. Basofin was born in Chicago, Ill., as the son of Louis and Lena Basofin. Mr. Basofin was pre-deceased by his spouse, Gertrude Basofin. He is survived by his children, Peter Basofin and his spouse Deborah Cohen, both of Sacramento, CA.: and Richard and Dianne Basofin of Cincinnati. He is also survived by his grandchildren: Rachel Basofin and Joshua Basofin, also
both of Cincinnati. The deceased is also survived by many nieces and nephews and other extended family. Cedar Village has opened its own full-time medical practice, the Cedar Village Physician’s Group, under the direction of Dr. Gordon Margolin, Dr. Peggy Gennantonio, a geriatrician, will be medical director of Cedar Village, and Dr. Douglas Behrman will also be part of the practice. “The Betagole Medical Clinic
was in the original plans for Cedar Village so that people living at Cedar Village could be treated on site,” said Margolin. “To date, the clinic has been used by multiple medical specialists from the community and now will be utilized on a regular basis with the addition of primary care service provided by a qualified geriatrician. This rounds out the medical offerings available in-house for our residents and tenants. — November 2, 2000
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010
CLASSIFIEDS
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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 Fund (513) 899-1836 • 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 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
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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 Jewish War Veterans (513) 459-0111 • jwv.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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EDUCATION Cincinnati Hebrew Day School (513) 351-7777 • chds.shul.net Chabad Blue Ash (513) 793-5200 • chabadba.com 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
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production@ americanisraelite.com JCC from page 1 Shlock Rock has gone where no Jewish bands have gone before: Trivial Pursuit, Imus in the Morning, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal and Entertainment Tonite, and Shlock Rock has gone straight to the hearts of Jewish famWORKUM from page 1 Interns are selected based on ability, leadership, maturity and academic qualification. Interns gain career-related work experience while working at American Jewish Archives, Cedar Village, Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education, Hillel, Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Family Service, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, Jewish Vocational Service, Mayerson Jewish Community Center, Adath Israel or Isaac M. Wise Temple. BREAST from page 9 The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s Israel office has worked with a Palestinian nonprofit organization to create support groups for women diagnosed in Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli oncologists from Hadassah and their Palestinian counterparts at Augusta Victoria in eastern Jerusalem consult with one another and visit each other’s patients. During last week’s Komen race, secular and religious Jewish women could be seen walking alongside Druze and Arab women. Nancy Brinker, who founded
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513-531-9600 ilies everywhere. Their lively tunes are even used in classrooms of the JCC Early Childhood Program. Shlock Rock’s performance has been made possible through a partnership between the JCC and the Golf Manor Synagogue. A kosher dinner will follow the concert. For ticket and dinner information contact the JCC. “Workum Interns gain a heightened awareness of the organized Jewish community. We are pleased to have been able to help them with their college expenses along the way,” said Zimmerman. The Workum Fund is non-profit and receives support from the Jewish Federation and donations. For more information contact Workum Fund program director, Brett Pelchovitz Stern. Applications are available at the Workum Fund website and are due Dec. 10. Interviews will take place over winter break. the Komen Foundation in 1982 after her sister’s death from breast cancer, told JTA that she was excited about bringing the race to Israel. "I’m Jewish and I have the BRCA gene, and my sister probably did as well,” she said. Brinker’s recently published memoir, “Promise Me: How a Sister’s Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer,” tells the story of the promise she made in 1980 to her older sister, Susan G. Komen, then 36 and dying of cancer, to do all she could to eradicate breast cancer. Since its founding, the organization has raised $1.5 billion for research, treatment and awareness.
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LEGAL/BUSINESS
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Silencing Miranda Legally Speaking
By Marianna Bettman Contributing Columnist The Miranda warnings are so ingrained in our culture most kids can probably recite them by heart. One of those warnings is the right to remain silent. A suspect in custody need not talk to the police. And if a suspect who is being interrogated invokes his Miranda rights and tells the police he doesn’t want to talk to them, the questioning must stop. What isn’t so well known is that the U.S. Supreme Court has been systematically cutting back Miranda’s protections in recent years. At the end of its term in June the high court continued this trend in Berghuis v. Thompkins. Here’s what happened. Two men were shot outside a mall in Southfield, Mich. One died, but the other recovered and later testified. Thompkins, who was a suspect in the shootings, fled. He was arrested about a year later in Ohio. Two Michigan police offi-
cers came to Ohio to question Thompkins. What happened during this period of interrogation is what this case is all about. Thompkins was questioned for about three hours. At the beginning of the questioning, one of the officers gave Thompkins a form containing the Miranda warnings. To make sure that Thompkins could read and that he understood English, the officer had Thompkins read the final warning out loud, which he did. The officer read the other four warnings out loud, and asked Thompkins to sign the form to show that he understood his rights. Thompkins refused. The evidence was then in conflict about whether Thompkins did or did not verbally confirm that he understood the rights listed on the form. During the nearly three hours of questioning, Thompkins said almost nothing other than an occasional “yeah” or “I don’t know.” Toward the end of the questioning, though, when one officer asked Thompkins if he believed in God, whether he prayed to God, and whether he prayed to God to forgive him for “shooting that boy down,” Thompkins answered yes to all three questions. But then Thompkins refused to make a written confession. Thompkins was charged with first-degree murder and some related offenses. He moved to suppress the statements made during his interrogation on the grounds that he had not waived his right to remain silent, and
the statements he made were in violation of that right. The trial court refused to suppress the statements. The confession he had made was allowed into evidence. The jury convicted Thompkins. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which sits in Cincinnati, reversed, finding that Thompkins’ “persistent silence” for almost three hours was a clear invocation of his right to remain silent and that he did not wish to waive that right. The U.S. Supreme Court took up the case. All parties in the case agreed that there was nothing wrong with the initial Miranda warnings given to Thompkins. The dispute was over whether Thompkins invoked his right to remain silent, and whether he waived that right. The prosecution bears the burden of proving both. A sharply divided 5-4 Court (Justice Stevens sat on this case which was released before his retirement) found that there were no Miranda violations in this case. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. The Court first found that an accused who wants to invoke the right to remain silent must do so unambiguously and unequivocally. The police should not have to infer the invocation of this right from the fact that the suspect being questioned does not answer any questions. At no time did Thompkins say he wanted to remain silent or that he
did not want to talk to the police, so the Court found that he had not invoked the right to remain silent. In other words, simply remaining silent during questioning does not invoke the right to remain silent. But even if an accused does not invoke the right to remain silent, the prosecution must still prove that the accused knowingly and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights when making the incriminating statements. Voluntary means free from coercion. Knowing means made with full awareness of the nature of the right and the consequences of giving up that right. Justice Kennedy conceded that there is language in the original Miranda decision which could be read “to indicate waivers are difficult to establish absent an explicit written waiver or a formal express oral statement.” Still, the Court held that the waiver need not be expressed, but could be implied. So when the Miranda warnings have been given and understood, and the accused makes an uncoerced statement, an implied waiver of the right to remain silent is established. Kennedy wrote that “as a general proposition, the law can presume that an individual who, with a full understanding of his or her rights, acts in a manner inconsistent with their exercise has made a deliberate choice to relinquish the protection those rights afford.” Thompkins knew what he was giving up when
he spoke. And there was no evidence that he was coerced. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissent in the case—considered by many to be her most significant since joining the Court. In her view the majority decision literally turns Miranda on its head—in order to invoke the right to remain silent, the accused must speak. And she also disagrees with the majority that a suspect who utters a few one word responses after sitting silently for nearly three hours of questioning has waived the right to remain silent. She thinks past precedent of the Court has established that a waiver cannot be presumed from a suspect’s silence or from the fact that a confession was eventually obtained later. Time and again in her dissent she talks of the heavy burden on the prosecution to prove a knowing and intelligent waiver of the right to remain silent. “Today’s decision turns Miranda upside down. Criminal suspects must now unambiguously invoke their right to remain silent— which counterintuitively requires them to speak. At the same time, suspects will be legally presumed to have waived their rights even if they have given no clear expression of their intent to do so…Today’s decision bodes poorly for the fundamental principles that Miranda protects,” Sotomoyor wrote. She was joined in dissent by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer and Stevens.
Hagit Limor installed as SPJ president The Society of Professional Journalists announces the installation of its 2010-11 president, Hagit Limor, an investigative reporter for WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her induction took place on Tuesday, Oct. 5, the final night of the 2010 SPJ Convention National Journalism Conference, when Limor became president of the most broad-based journalism organization in the country. Limor was president-elect during the past year and will serve as president for one year. She replaces immediate past president, Kevin Z. Smith, a journalism instructor at James Madison University. “Here I am standing before you and I’m truly humbled but look forward to a year of service,” Limor said. “We’re all here for a reason. We have all been drawn to this room at this moment by a common denominator. We’re fighting for a way of life (journalism).” Among her plans, Limor will push access training across America and continue to explore creating international chapters of SPJ. She also wants to explore creating a Black Hole Award, opposite of the Society’s Sunshine
Award, to recognize the worst in access to public records. “We have future generations to rely on us for factual information,” Limor said. “Only we watchdogs can prevent the worst of history from rising again.”
Hagit Limor
The greatest challenges ahead for SPJ, Limor says, are twofold: to help SPJ members develop the skills they need to work in today’s environment and to reaffirm the basics of journalism such as fact checking, objectivity and ethical decision making. “We also are reaching out to non-journalists, people who are just getting into, perhaps, citizen
journalism,” she says. “Because while some people want to make distinctions between who is a real journalist, I say anyone who offers information to their community on whatever level, I welcome to learn to do journalism the right way.” Limor’s experience with SPJ includes stints as Greater Cincinnati Pro chapter president and membership chairwoman; national Membership Committee member, national Finance Committee chairwoman, and board member of the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, SPJ’s associated educational arm. Outside of SPJ, she is WCPOTV’s Emmy and national awardwinning investigative reporter. Limor is regarded as a “do-it-all” journalist. She has served as an anchor, general assignment reporter, and now helms the award-winning I-Team. Her abilities as a writer and reporter have garnered Limor dozens of national, state and local awards. She and videographer Anthony Mirones won first place in the 2008 National Headliner Awards for “Resurrection,” a four-year investigation into pollution from the local international airport.
Limor and Mirones also won a 2008 Emmy Award for “Solid Gold Weddings,” a consumer investigation into a wedding video company that brides across the nation claimed did not deliver the videos it promised. Limor and producer/videographer Phil Drechsler won second place in the 2008 National Association of Health Care Journalists competition for “Care-less Denials,” about lack of access to mental health care by a national insurance company. Limor says her family history influenced her decision to become a journalist. Her father, from Poland, survived the Holocaust. “My father is the victim of a crime that went unreported by the media for seven years,” she says. “No one covered the Holocaust. Governments knew about it but it wasn’t covered. I think that’s why a lot of Jewish people do get into the press and media jobs, because I think it’s ingrained in us: if you’re going to shout Never Again, then you have to be part of making sure, Never Again.” Her mother was born in British Mandate Palestine. “Her family immigrated from Russia in the
early 1900s after the Bolshevik Revolution,” Limor says. “They were among the original settlers who irrigated the desert. After World War II, my father came over on a boat, very much like the Exodus story, and fought in the War for Independence. He was shot in the eye very much like Moshe Dayan.” Limor was born in Israel and moved to Nashville, Tenn. at age 8. Limor is active with Cincinnati’s Chabad along with her husband, Jeff, and their 5year-old son, Jake. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. Her term as SPJ president will last through the joint SPJ/Radio Television Digital News Association conference Sept. 25-28, 2011 in New Orleans. Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a wellinformed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.
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BB/BS from page 1 and the Jewish Federation on a plan to strengthen their program and increase the number of children served. During that time, the number of children served has increased by 50 percent. Despite this growth, Big Brothers/Big Sisters feels they are limited as a small, stand-alone agency, especially with the current state of the economy. In order to serve even more children effectively and efficiently, the association looked for a partner, which they found in JFS. The boards of JFS and Big Brothers/Big Sisters Association have both passed unanimous merger resolutions. “The youth mentoring services offered by BB/BS are in perfect alignment with the mission and vision of JFS,” said Beth Schwartz, JFS executive director.
Merging with JFS provides many benefits to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. First, JFS will continue to run the program under the high standards set forth by Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America serving all of our current matches. In addition, the partnership will help to recruit more Bigs and Littles within the Jewish community, provide a wider range of counseling services to our clients and make it possible to lower the cost per match as they leverage the resources of a larger organization. “We are confident that this new partnership will enable us to strengthen our program, delivering the high quality mentoring services and family support that have always been the hallmark of our agency,” said Jennifer Adut, executive director. Another benefit of the merger with JFS is a hopeful end to brand
confusion with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati. The Greater Cincinnati organization has about 800-1000 matches, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters Association of Cincinnati has about 60 matches. Big Brothers/Big Sisters wants to continue its long tradition of helping children. They matched children with Bigs during the Great Depression and even matched Holocaust survivors with mentors. These matches have had lasting effects. Some matches have grown so close that they have kept in touch for 30 or more years. Some of the Littles that they have helped are now in their 60s, and they are still involved with the organization. Big Brothers/Big Sisters Association, a precursor to the United Way, is the oldest big brother agency in Cincinnati. Irwin Westheimer, a young Cincinnati businessman, founded the Big
CANTOR from page 1 At the same time that Cantor, 47, stands on the verge of what could be his greatest victory in his young career, he faces what also might be his greatest test: reconciling the liberal tendencies of the smaller, Jewish community in which he grew up with the sharp swing right in the larger, conservative community he has embraced. He insists it’s not such a big deal. “The American Jewish community is not unlike others in this country,” Cantor told JTA this week in a quick phone interview from the campaign trail, where he was been spending a frenetic summer and fall in hopes of helping his party win as many as 90 seats from the Democrats. “Jews are frustrated at their own economic circumstance.” Cantor said that American Jews have nothing to fear from the Tea Party, the disparate conservative insurgency that appears ready to propel the Republicans to victory. “Tea Party individuals are focused on three things: One, limited, constitutional government; two, cutting spending, and three, a return to free markets,” he said. “Most Americans are about that, and the American Jewish community is like that.” In the same interview, Cantor laid out a proposal on funding for Israel that could test exactly how “like that” is the American Jewish community — or at least its organizational leadership. Cantor said he wanted to pull the $3 billion Israel receives in funding from the foreign operations budget so that GOP lawmakers — who in recent years have been voting in increasing numbers against the foreign funding bill — may vote their conscience: for Israel on one bill, against countries perceived as anti-American on another. “Part of the dilemma is that Israel has been put in the overall
Courtesy of House Republican Conference
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), left, is expected to become majority leader if the Republicans win the U.S. House of Representatives. He could even become House speaker if Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) loses favor with GOP lawmakers.
foreign aid looping,” he said. “I’m hoping we can see some kind of separation in terms of tax dollars going to Israel.” Other Republicans have suggested putting the Israel funding in the defense budget, noting that most of the money is for defense assistance. Prior to that statement, a number of pro-Israel officials had told JTA on background that they feared exactly such an initiative. However, the expectation was that it would come from Tea Partiers and not the GOP leadership, whom the proIsrael officials expected to be an ally in making the case for foreign funding in January when the new Congress is inaugurated. Repeated attempts by JTA in the wake of Cantor’s comments to reach the same figures — among them, some of the most voluble pro-Israel advocates — went unanswered. The silence itself was not unusual — no one in a non-partisan role wants to stand directly against an entire party a week before Election Day. But it signaled the chasm with
Republicans that pro-Israel groups may be looking at come January. Democrats and their allies were not so shy in reminding Cantor of the traditional pro-Israel argument for wrapping spending on Israel into the broader foreign aid budget. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the foreign operations subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, called Cantor’s proposal “outrageous.” “Manipulating aid to Israel in this way would dangerously threaten continued bipartisan agreement on national security policy and programs other than direct assistance to Israel that aid in its security,” she said in a news release. The funding, Lowey said, promotes diplomacy and alleviates the factors that create a fertile ground for terrorist recruiters. “Because it is inextricably linked with broader U.S. national security goals, separating assistance for Israel in order to make it easier for Republican members to vote against the foreign aid bill would be counterproductive,” she said in her
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Brother Association of Cincinnati in 1910. In 1903, Westheimer became a trusted mentor and friend when he reached out to help a young boy growing up in poverty and neglect. He wanted to help more boys in similar circumstances and began organizing an “association with the view of bettering the conditions for the large number of neglected or delinquent Jewish boys in Cincinnati.” Westheimer was a German Jew so the program was founded as a Jewish agency, and it has always been very assimilated. The association’s priority continues to be the Jewish community, but they work to help children of every religion, race and creed in the northeastern part of Hamilton County. In 1904, Ernst Coulter thought similarly to Westheimer. As a court clerk in the First Children’s Court of New York, Coulter saw an
increasing number of young boys come through the courtroom, and he believed that the influence of caring adults could help many of these children. He set out to find volunteers and consequently began the Big Brothers movement in New York. Westheimer and Coulter pushed for a collaboration between different agencies and formed the first federation of Big Brother agencies in 1921. Around 1905, various women’s groups organized similar plans to help young girls stay out of trouble. These women’s groups eventually took shape as Big Sisters International in 1970, and seven years later the two national organizations joined together as the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Big Brothers Big Sisters of America includes over 400 affiliates around the country and in 12 countries around the world.
statement. Cantor outlined a much different view: Israel was not like other nations, he said. “Israel’s survival is directly connected to America’s survival,” he said. “Israel’s security is synonymous with our own.” Bridging divides is not new to Cantor. His conservative posture on social issues — he is against gay marriage and abortion — place him on the opposite side of most Jewish voters. And Jewish advocates for the elderly strongly oppose several proposals in his new book, “Young Guns,” co-authored with two other youthful conservatives, Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). The Republican trio calls for opening up Social Security and Medicare to private companies and raising the eligibility age for both plans. In addition, the book extols the GOP leadership’s voluntary freeze last March on earmarks, which Cantor wants to make permanent — and extend to Democrats, should the GOP win the House. Jewish groups have relied on earmarks, the funds lawmakers set aside for their districts, to fund programs for the elderly. Still, Cantor is always a welcome presence at Jewish communal events, associates say. “He always has gotten community support, even though the Jewish community is mostly Democratic,” said Jay Ipson, a retired auto parts dealer who has known Cantor since he was a boy. Cantor, who has a reputation for tirelessness, makes himself available to the Richmond Jewish community when he is home, Ipson says — visiting its institutions and working on its behalf. Cantor’s intervention on the state level helped Ipson establish the city’s Holocaust museum, which opened in 2003. Richard November, a former president of the Jewish Community
Federation of Richmond, said Cantor was typical of a younger generation of Southern Jews who refused to be circumspect about their Jewishness and would wear their identity with pride even as they ventured into the broader community. November recalled tracking Cantor, who was the same age as his daughter, Debra, as he grew up. “In my day — I graduated high school in 1956 — it was more isolated if you would, the Jewish kids stuck together,” he said. “During my daughters’ high school years, there was a greater acceptance of the Jewish students, the Jewish students were more aggressive in becoming involved in things that were not just Jewish.” Cantor was well turned out early, he recalled. “He always had a certain demeanor that most people don’t have at that age,” he said. It helped win over his wife, Diana, six years his senior and a Goldman Sachs employee when he courted her while he was at Columbia. “I said, ‘I thought you were Jewish?’I’d never met someone who was Jewish and Republican,” she told The Washington Post in 2008. In Washington, Cantor has made the Jewish community’s case to the Republican leadership, particularly as it applies to funding for safety net programs, said William Daroff, who heads the Jewish Federations of North America Washington office. “He’s been helpful with legislative matters where there have been funding issues, issues around regulations, particularly with Jewish family service agencies,” Daroff said. Some Jewish Democrats see Cantor as a friend and appreciate his outreach on Israel. “We disagree on domestic issues, but when it comes to Israel there are no disagreements,” said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.). “His heart is in the right place when it comes to Israel.”
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OBITUARIES
DEATH NOTICES AZMIER, Jane Sally, age 94, died on October 29, 2010; 21 Cheshvan, 5771. SACHS, Jackie, age 67, died on October 29, 2010; 21 Cheshvan, 5771. KAPLAN, Bernice B., age 90, died on October 31, 2010; 23 Cheshvan, 5771. ADLER, Leah Ruth, age 84, died on November 1, 2010; 24 Cheshvan, 5771. ATHLETES from page 1 business to research and name the Jewish players. Their verdict: Kinsler qualifies as an heir to Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax. “Ian came up to the big leagues in 2006,” Wallman says. “Early in the season his uncle contacted FEDERATIONS from page 4 Greater Toronto and the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles worked together to come up with a counter statement supporting the festival. The counter statement won the signatures of even more prominent Hollywood figures, including Jerry Seinfeld, Natalie Portman, Sacha Baron Cohen, Lisa Kudrow, Jason Alexander and Lenny Kravitz. “The partnership started last year around the Toronto international film festival,” said Ted Sokolsky, president of the Toronto federation. “We jointly produced an ad saying that we don’t need DIASPORA from page 9 But Elliot Abrams, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and deputy national security advis-
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Martin Abramowitz, who puts out the Jewish Major Leaguers baseball cards. Martin called me and I called the uncle, who then contacted his brother, Ian’s dad.” Wallman discovered that Kinsler, whose father is Jewish, had “had no objections” about being included in the magazine. For 13 years, Wallman and Moxson have been helping to define the relationship between Jews and baseball by connecting the “just gotta know” fan with what he or she desires most: the names, teams and stats of Jewish ballplayers. In its bar mitzvah year, the printonly Review quietly rounds the bases waving an “ultimate guide” of “who’s a Jew” in American baseball. Its pages often are the place where the words “Jew” and “baseball” come together around a player’s name for the first time. To keep their 1,000 paid subscribers in the know, in addition to updating each issue with Jewish baseball items, they pack two issues a year with annotated lists of every
Jewish player from high school to pro that they can identify. “We’re on the prowl for Jewish athletes,” Wallman says from his Manhattan home. That’s why he started the publication — to satisfy his “curiosity to
know who the Jewish athletes are,” he explains. “We make the calls” about who’s Jewish and who’s not, Moxson says from his home in the Pico Robertson-area of Los Angeles, cautioning that “you can’t
identify the Jewish player by name alone.” “Somebody once called complaining about David Eckstein,” Moxson recalls. “They wanted to know why with such a Jewishsounding name, we didn’t include him. He adds, “Not every player with a last name of Schoenfeld, or even Levine or Cohen, is a Jew.” Moxson says he attempts to make contact three times with each prospect, noting that “Not every Jewish player wants it to be known they are Jewish.” “We respect that,” he says. “Most like the attention, though.” Before Wallman and Moxson could publish which players were Jewish, acting like a sort of baseball beit din, or religious court, they needed to draw a definitional line of “Who is a Jew.” “One of the player’s parents has to be Jewish,” Moxson says. “The player also has to acknowledge their Judaism. And they can’t be practicing any other religion.”
another blacklist.” Sokolsky went on to say, “I spoke to Jay [Sanderson, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles] and said, ‘Here, there are a lot of prominent Hollywood types on the delegitimization protest. Can you reach out to the Hollywood community and find some pro-Israel leadership?’ He reached out to some key leadership in Hollywood. And it was like waking up a sleeping giant. Then we realized we can’t all fight this alone.” He added that “It was a great lesson and set a template on how to respond because clearly, the other side is running a linked cam-
paign with international funding and global strategy but local implementation.” When similar delegitimizing attempts erupt, leaders of the new network plan to respond early, according to Silverman. “If the community in Chattanooga all of a sudden is faced with [a boycott of] Israeli products in the mall, they should be able to call the [Israel] Action Network and have response and implementation within 12 hours, and not spend time thinking about how to do it,” he said. “We should be able to do that in every community.” Toronto and Los Angeles are
two of the largest federations in the JFNA system, but the smaller federations feel that the network will benefit them as well. Michael Papo, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis, said that Indiana has not yet witnessed a full-fledged anti-Israel boycott campaign. “But it could happen,” he said. “It could happen quickly. It could happen on our college campuses, and it would be helpful to have that national network to call for help.” Papo said he sees the network as being able to provide guidance when his federation has to face situations such as the one it faced
several years ago, when the Presbyterian Church (USA) pursued a divestment strategy against Israel. At that time, he and his colleagues were able to influence local Presbyterian churches in Indiana to vote against the divestment campaign at their national convention. “As a Jewish community, we have a huge range of contacts in the general community,” he said. “We are connected politically, culturally, socially, academically and in the business world — anyplace we work and live, we have connections with neighbors. … If and when we need support, we are quite capable.”
er under President George W. Bush, pointed out the difficulties of forming such a group. “Who do you call? Who represents the Diaspora? Who represents even American Jews ideolog-
ically? Politically?” Abrams asked. Rosenberg echoed that view: “The overwhelming feeling is that there is a role for the Diaspora, but how?” Indeed, consensus was often elusive among the 120 participants, who represented academia and Jewish organizational and Israeli political leadership. In addition, some of those attending criticized the absence of women and participants under the age of 50 at the conference — something organizers said they were working to improve. The challenges are not dampen-
ing the ambitious vision of the JPPI’s chairman, Stuart Eizenstat, the former U.S. diplomat who assumed the post after Dennis Ross, a former U.S. Middle East peace envoy, stepped down in order to work for the Obama administration. Eizenstat said a key goal of his was for the think tank to have “more of a policy impact” on peace issues and other topics affecting the future of the Jewish people. One move in that direction was the institute’s decision to summarize the various teams’ findings on
several issues into pithy, actionminded policy position papers for use by both the Israeli government and Jewish organizations. Among the issues dealt with at the conference: peace efforts, the delegitimization of Israel, conversion, European Jewry and IsraelDiaspora relations. “What’s important is the effort to come to grip with the potential impact of the peace process on Diaspora Jewry,” said Daniel Kurtzer, who has served in the past as U.S. ambassador to both Israel and Egypt. “There was lots of talking, lots of discussion … and at some point it needs to be translated into something more concrete. Is there action? An agenda to bridge the gaps and find specific ideas?” For example, during discussions about the future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, sharp divisions emerged, with Danny Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council, the umbrella leadership of the settler movement, saying that it is a Jewish imperative to keep the settlements in place.
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Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers qualifies as an heir to Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax, Jewish Sports Review co-publishers Shel Wallman and Ephraim Moxson have determined.
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