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CINCINNATI, OH Candle Lighting Times Shabbat begins Fri. 6:44p Shabbat ends Sat. 7:45p
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The Jewish Zen of Steve Jobs
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Should my sukkah have a debt ceiling?
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New Cedar Village fundraisers, Sue and Jerry Teller A husband and wife who are longtime leaders in the Greater Cincinnati Jewish community are heading a campaign to generate funds for the rehabilitation center at Cedar Village Retirement Community. Jerry and Sue Teller of Amberley Village are raising money to further expand the rehab unit, which will include an aquatic therapy center. “Doing fundraising together just seems natural,” Jerry Teller said. “We each come up with different ideas and strategies. We’re able to calmly discuss and debate them, and the better idea wins. Each of us is a good solicitor and we feed upon one another. “One day, one of us has a meaningful discussion with a prospect and it results in a good gift,” he added. “That makes us both feel good.” Cedar Village means so much to Jerry Teller that, in the 1980s, he was involved in the effort to build it. Later, he served as the second president of its Board of Trustees. Until last summer, Cedar Village’s rehab center served only Cedar Village residents. But after an expansion to meet a dramatic increase in demand, the rehab center became large enough to serve the outside community as well. The Tellers and their fellow solicitors plan to raise enough money for yet another expansion, which will include construction of the state-ofthe-art aquatic therapy center, a remodeled ambulance entrance and a patient transport elevator reserved for the rehab center. In the span of a few years, the rehab center will have been tripled in size. The rehab center helps with recovery after illness, injury or surgery. Features include: Various therapies, including occupational, physical and speech on an inpatient and outpatient basis
Sue and Jerry Teller
seven days a week. Wound care, tracheotomy services and intravenous therapy. A driving assessment program to determine a person’s ability to drive safely. Diagnostic and treatment equipment, including a laser for healing and pain control, and a balance trainer to assess and improve a patient’s balance. A kitchen and apartment area to help people practice life skills they’ll need when they return home. “We are thrilled that Jerry and Sue are co-chairing this vital campaign for Cedar Village,” said Sally
Korkin, executive director of the Cedar Village Foundation, the fundraising arm of Cedar Village. “The Tellers are well-respected community leaders and are working hard to assure the success of our Growth for Tomorrow campaign.” Both Tellers have a long history of heading successful fundraising campaigns for Jewish organizations. In 1993-94, they headed an effort that raised $6.75 million for the Isaac M. Wise Temple Capital-Endowment campaign. In 1989, Jerry Teller served as co-chair of the Jewish Federation’s annual campaign, raising the secondhighest amount ever raised by the
organization’s annual drive. Jerry Teller has become so effective at fundraising that he’s teaching a course about it at the University of Cincinnati. And while other people are uncomfortable doing fundraising, he enjoys it because it allows him to have conversations with people about meaningful causes. “We have an opportunity to talk about something of substance,” he said. Together, the Tellers have donated their time to at least a dozen nonprofits in Greater Cincinnati. Jerry Teller served as president of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. He also has been involved as a leader with Hebrew Union College, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Cincinnati, the United Way of Greater Cincinnati and efforts to promote the human rights of Soviet Jewry. Until his retirement this year, he worked as a lawyer with Katz, Teller, Brant & Hild in Cincinnati. He earned a bachelor’s degree and law degree from the University of Cincinnati. Sue Teller has served as president of Wise Temple. She also has been a board member for Cedar Village, the Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund, Hillel, the American Jewish CommitteeCincinnati Chapter and the Union for Reform Judaism-Midwest Region. In 1995, The Cincinnati Enquirer recognized her as a Woman of the Year. The Tellers have been honored for distinguished volunteer service by many of the organizations they’ve served, including Cedar Village, which honored them this year with its Eight Over Eighty Award. The award recognizes eight honorees for their lifetime impact through volunteerism on the Greater Cincinnati Jewish Community.
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LOCAL • 3
Adath dedicates new, modernized high holiday prayerbooks This High Holy Day season, the new Mahzor (High Holy Day prayerbook) of the Conservative Movement, Lev Shalem, was used at Adath Israel Congregation for the first time. “Mahzor Lev Shalem represents the best of our Conservative movement, reflecting our commitment to both tradition and change and our commitment to responding to the needs and religious interests of Conservative Jews,” noted Rabbi Irvin M. Wise, spiritual leader of the congregation. The gender-neutral Mahzor is the first update of the Conservative Movement in decades, and con-
tains translations, transliterations, commentaries, and even works by modern poets. Upon reviewing it, one Adath Israel Board and Religious Services committee member remarked, “This is my kind of Mahzor. It’s like a blind has been lifted and I can see the light through the window. This is a great choice.” Adath Israel choir director, Mitch Cohen, commented, “As I turned the pages of the new Mahzor reviewing the text for the choir, I found a new page with a prayer called ‘Hodieni.’ I learned from reading the wonderful commentary that it combined verses
from two ancient psalms. With the help of the teachings and translations provided on the page it inspired me to write a new piece for the choir that I hope the congregation found meaningful during Kol Nidre.” The Mahzors have been dedicated by congregant Murray Guttman and all of his family in memory of Florence Guttman. Penny Pensak, president of Adath Israel, said, “We are deeply grateful to the continued generosity of the Guttman family for enabling us to enrich our High Holy Day experience with this wonderful new Mahzor.”
Adath Israel Sisterhood takes tea Adath Israel Sisterhood is off to a fabulous start in the new year 5772. The year kicked off with an Intergenerational Tea at Gazebo Tea Garden in Kenwood. Over 70 mothers, daughters, granddaughters and grandmothers gathered on a beautiful, sunny Sunday. The tea is the first in many exciting programs that Adath Israel Sisterhood has to offer. To make Sisterhood accessible to working women, programs are now offered on Sunday mornings. The first Sunday morning event, Israeli Dancing with Idit Moss, takes place on Oct. 23, from 10:30 a.m.noon, in the Marcus chapel. Have fun meeting others while getting in a little exercise. No experience necessary, just a desire to try something new. Babysitting will be available free of charge. Please RSVP to Rebecca Goldwasser. Walk-ins are welcome! Future programs include “Make Your Own Thanksgiving Flower Arrangement” on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 10:30 a.m. In December, Sisterhood will hold its annual
from
Judge Heather Stein Russell, Randy, Taylor & Graham Sisterhood members having tea at the first of many programs.
Hanukkah Fair, where the community can purchase all their needs for Hanukkah. This year there will be a special section just for kids to purchase for their family and friends. In addition, join Sisterhood members in making fleece pillows for guests from the International Hospitality Network,
while enjoying coffee at the coffee bar. There will also be two guest authors, Ellen Schreiber and Linda Leopold Strauss, who will read aloud from and sign books for children and teens. For more information on these events and other Adath Israel Sisterhood events, please visit our website.
‘Authors Out Loud’ JCC Speaker Series, Nov. 6 - 10 How often do you get to see renowned authors in person as they discuss their latest literary work? That is exactly what you can do at the Mayerson JCC beginning Sunday, Nov. 6 through Thursday, Nov. 10. Nationally-known authors will speak at the annual series, “Authors Out Loud,” presented by the Wolf Center for Arts and Ideas at the JCC in celebration of Jewish Book Month. Interested attendees should register in advance for the whole series or for a favorite author. A series pass allows participants to see all five presentations for the price of four.
L'SHANA TOVA!
“With the support of the Wolf Center for Arts and Ideas, we are excited to bring newly-published and well-known authors to Cincinnati for our ‘Authors Out Loud,’ JCC Speaker Series. CBS news correspondent, Jim Axelrod, and bestselling author, Myla Goldberg, are two of the five dynamic authors presenting at the JCC. This is a wonderful opportunity for the entire community to hear the stories behind the books and interact directly with the authors,” said Courtney Cummings, cultural arts coordinator. The JCC Speaker Series will be
on the following dates: Sunday, Nov. 6, 7 p.m. – Joseph Braude: “The Honored Dead: A Story of Friendship, Murder, and the Search for Truth in the Arab World.” This non-fiction murder mystery explores Morocco, a society in transition. Monday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m. – Sam Wasson: “Fifth Avenue, 5 AM: Audrey Helpburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman.” Wasson immerses us in the 1950s when Holly Golightly raised eyebrows and changed fashion, film and sex. JCC on page 19
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Congregations offer free tickets, a warm welcome to 150 Jewish YPs during the High Holidays Why did David Kohn make his 96-year-old grandmother cry? It wasn’t because he delivered bad news, or said something to upset her; quite the contrary. It was because he told her he was going to Temple. That was a pretty big deal for a guy who had no past associations with anyone Jewish, and no real connection to Judaism. And when David shared the news with his father, who lives in Illinois, he was so inspired, he decided to go to Temple, too! And even though his grandmother, Fanny “never thought she’d live to see the day,” David says he is more surprised than anyone at how much being Jewish has actually come to mean to him in the year since he moved to Cincinnati. So what was it that got this 24year-old from a small town in Illinois interested in going to High Holiday Services? “I got transferred here for my job with Nestle Purina and didn’t know a soul. One night I was at a restaurant and ran into a guy who it ends up, went to high school with my sister. It turns out he was Jewish and he suggested I come to an Access event,” explained David. “I had no intention of going to a ‘Jewish event.’ I was sure it was like some religious cult. And to be honest, if it wasn’t for the ‘Fanny factor,’ I probably never would have gone,” he added. “My grandmother made the argument that I needed a way to meet new people, and since Access had all these programs for people my age, I should give it a try. “I decided to take her advice, and as it turns out, Access wasn’t a religious cult after all! Now, thanks to my Grandmother, I have a lot of great friends who have really helped make Cincinnati feel like home. What’s more, when I found out that Access offered free High Holiday tickets to the congregation of my choice, and that a lot of my friends were going to services, I figured I would go, too. It was free, it was easy, and my friends would be there. It was worth a try! “I ended up going to Plum Street Temple for Rosh Hashanah and was really inspired by the sanctuary and the service. It was perfect for someone like me. I didn’t feel out of place or uncomfortable like I thought I might. I went back for Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur services too. I feel really great about my experience and how it has helped me to connect to my Judaism. I have Access, Wise Temple, and especially my Grandma Fanny, to thank for that!” David is just one of nearly 150 other Jewish young professionals who took part this year in Access’ annual High Holiday initiative, which offers free tickets to the service(s) of their choice at any of
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VOL. 158 • NO. 12 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011 15 TISHREI 5772 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 6:44 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 7:45 PM THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE CO., PUBLISHERS 18 WEST NINTH STREET, SUITE 2 CINCINNATI, OHIO 45202-2037 Phone: (513) 621-3145 Fax: (513) 621-3744 publisher@americanisraelite.com editor@americanisraelite.com production@americanisraelite.com RABBI ISSAC M. WISE Founder, Editor, Publisher, 1854-1900 LEO WISE Editor & Publisher, 1900-1928
Jewish Young Professionals attending High Holiday services
the 15 participating congregations in Greater Cincinnati. “We are always pleased to provide the deep spiritual resources of our tradition, as well as to welcome young adults and newcomers to our congregation at the holidays, for Shabbat and other programs we offer,” remarked Rabbi Lewis Kamrass, senior rabbi of Isaac M. Wise Temple. “Throughout most of Jewish history, the synagogue has been the fundamental building block for Jewish identity and enriching one’s sense of community,” he added. “We are pleased to partner with Access in providing that opportunity for Cincinnati’s young adults.” “We started this program six years ago as an experiment to see what would happen if we took away some of the hurdles that seemed to be keeping young professionals from going to services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, such as cost, and confusion about how to even go about getting tickets. We also arranged it so they would have friends and peers to go with instead of having to go alone,” explained Pam Saeks, director of Jewish Giving for The Mayerson Foundation. “I am happy to say that without a moment’s hesitation, all the rabbis we contacted were more than happy to participate, and all have continued to open their doors to welcome our constituents every year since. Without this program we are sure that the majority of participants would not attend High Holiday services. It has been a wonderful collaboration and we are grateful for the ongoing support of all the congregations that continue to participate year after year.” Access makes it easy for both the congregations and the young professionals to participate in this program by becoming “Ticket Central” in the weeks leading up
to the High Holidays. The YPs contact Rachel Plowden, Access’ program coordinator, and then she contacts the congregations to arrange for the tickets. She also helps to match the participants up with other YPs who are going to the same service, and finds a place for them with one of the 25 families in the community who she asked to host any young professional who doesn’t have a place to go for a holiday meal. “We are grateful to all the congregations for their incredible generosity, and to the families who enable our constituents to enjoy a home-cooked Rosh Hashanah lunch or dinner and a Break Fast meal,” said Plowden. “Our recent Jewish community demographic study revealed that ours is by far one of the most welcoming Jewish communities in the country. These are just two great examples of why that reputation is so well deserved!” “When I first moved to town about seven years ago I didn’t have anywhere to go for the High Holidays. Even though I’m not a very religious person, I didn’t feel right about going to work on Yom Kippur, so I would take the day off and ‘hide out’ in my apartment,” admitted Hannah Miller. “I probably could have called one of the synagogues, but I figured I’d have to pay a lot of money and I didn’t want to sit all by myself so I never did. But then one year an invitation came in the mail, and all I had to do to get tickets was send an email to the Access coordinator. I have been going to Adath Israel for High Holiday services ever since then. I really feel at home there and am glad that I no longer have to feel guilty for not going to services.” “Through Access’ High Holiday program, my wife and I have had the opportunity to attend several dif-
ferent synagogues over the past few years,” said one participant. “Neither of us grew up at any of the area synagogues, so the program was a great chance to see what Cincinnati congregations had to offer. We soon figured out that we loved attending Northern Hills Synagogue’s holiday services. NHS was, and continues to be, very warm and welcoming to us. Although we are still not officially members of any synagogue, we’re confident that the Access program has been helpful to us in figuring out where we belong, and will definitely impact our decision regarding where to join when the time is right.” “Access is about meeting people where they’re at and giving them the chance to connect with other Jewish people and the Jewish community in whatever way is most comfortable for them,” explained Saeks. “We believe that if and when the time is right, having had the chance to attend services and find their fit with no strings attached, will surely have an impact on their future decisions about which congregation to affiliate with,” she added. “We are so fortunate that the congregations in our community are willing to make this kind of long-term investment in these young adults.” Access is an initiative of The Mayerson Foundation offering more than 50 programs and events for Jewish young professionals, ages 21-35 every year, most of which are free or deeply subsidized. The High Holiday initiative is made possible through the generosity of 15 local congregations ranging from Reform, Recontructionist and Humanistic to Conservative, Orthodox and Traditional. For more information about this and other Access programs, please consult the Community Directory in this issue.
RABBI JONAH B. WISE Editor & Publisher, 1928-1930 HENRY C. SEGAL Editor & Publisher, 1930-1985 PHYLLIS R. SINGER Editor & General Manager, 1985-1999 MILLARD H. MACK Publisher Emeritus NETANEL (TED) DEUTSCH Editor & Publisher BARBARA L. MORGENSTERN Senior Writer ELIJAH PLYMESSER NICOLE SIMON Assistant Editors ALEXIA KADISH Copy Editor JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor SONDRA KATKIN Dining Editor MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM IRIS PASTOR RABBI A. JAMES RUDIN ZELL SCHULMAN RABBI AVI SHAFRAN PHYLLIS R. SINGER Contributing Columnists LEV LOKSHIN JANE KARLSBERG Staff Photographers JOSEPH D. STANGE Production Manager LYNN HILLER MICHAEL MAZER Sales ERIN WYENANDT Office Manager
THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE (USPS 019-320) is published weekly for $44 per year and $2.00 per single copy in Cincinnati and $49 per year and $3.00 per single copy elsewhere in U.S. by The American Israelite Co. 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, OH. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE, 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037. The views and opinions expressed by the columnists of The American Israelite do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the newspaper.
LOCAL / NATIONAL • 5
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011
Author Joseph Braude at JCC Speaker Series, Nov. 6 Intrigue, friendship, murder and search for the truth are what make Joseph Braude’s newest work, “The Honored Dead: A Story of Friendship, Murder and the Search for Truth in the Arab World,” a riveting thriller. On Sunday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m., Braude will speak about his latest book at the “Authors Out Loud” JCC Speaker Series, presented by the Wolf Center for Arts and Ideas at the Mayerson JCC. This annual literary lecture series, a local celebration of Jewish Book Month, features presentations by a different author each day, from Nov. 6 –10. Space is limited and advance registration is recommended. “‘The Honored Dead’ is a rare treasure in which every word does quadruple duty. It’s a crackling whodunit, an incisive political thriller, vivid travelogue, and it’s told by a complicated, memorable, and eminently likeable protagonist. Spectacular,” said Dan Baum, bestselling author of “Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans.” “Braude has crafted an ingenious, moving, respectful and ultimately honest book about Morocco
Author Joseph Braude
and its people. He has an ear for the elegant phrases that show the dignity of Arab life and an eye for the telling vignette, whether it is the presence of a proud sitting room inside a slum hut or the conversation of officers in a police station caught halfway between violent authority and paternalism,” said Barnaby Rogerson, of The Washington Post.
National Briefs
“It’s a crackling whodunit, an incisive political thriller, vivid travelogue, and it’s told by a complicated, memorable, and eminently likeable protagonist. Spectacular.” Dan Baum
Braude is presented in partnership with Hillel Jewish Student Center, UC Department of Judaic Studies, and Jewish National Fund.
N.J. day school receives $17 million donation NEW YORK (JTA) — The Golda Och Academy in West Orange, N.J., has received a $17.2 million donation from the estate of philanthropist Eric F. Ross. The money will support grants for the Lore Ross Neshama program, which allows students at the Solomon Schechter day school to spend the second semester of their senior year in Israel following a week in Eastern Europe. Ross started the program, which is named for his wife, who died in 2009. Joe Bier, chair of the school’s board of trustees, told the New Jersey Jewish News that the donation would be used for the travel program. The school also will form a committee to make recommendations for other uses of the bequest. “Just as Eric was one of our most generous supporters during his lifetime, he continues to support us now,” said the academy’s head of school, Dr. Joyce Raynor,
in a statement. The upper school of the academy is named for Ross, a Holocaust survivor from Germany. His longtime support for the Conservative school included $4.5 million for renovations in 2007. Ross died last year at the age of 91. Brooklyn signs ask Jewish women to step aside for men NEW YORK (JTA) — Yiddish signs briefly sprouted on Brooklyn trees asking Jewish women to step aside when a man walks down the sidewalk. The plastic signs bolted to trees in the Brooklyn neighborhood of South Williamsburg read, in Yiddish, “Precious Jewish Daughters: Please move over to the side when you see a man cross,” the Brooklyn Paper reported last week. Parks maintenance workers removed 16 of the signs last week because they were nailed to public-owned trees, a violation subject to a $150 fine. Sources told the Brooklyn Paper that the signs were part of a campaign by a rabbinical group, the Central Rabbinical Congress, that has published other decrees, including one in June forbidding women to wear tank tops.
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The Jewish Zen of Steve Jobs By Jason Miller Jewish Telegraphic Agency WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (JTA) — Social networking sites began buzzing immediately after word spread of the death of Apple Inc. visionary Steve Jobs Wednesday evening. Rabbis took time out of their busy preparations for Yom Kippur to halt their sermon writing and post personal reflections on what the contributions of Steve Jobs’ creative spark had on them. Rabbi Andrew Pepperstone of Dewitt, N.Y., posted to his Facebook page, “Is Steve Jobs a hero? If someone who has vision, discipline, passion, and love for what he does is a hero, then yes. It was not about the money or the fame for him. It was about changing the world in a million little ways that improved peoples’ lives. And his devices and other inventions have been a major breakthrough in helping people with disabilities communicate and employ the best that technology has to offer.” Earlier on Facebook, Pepperstone recounted the plethora of Apple computers and gadgets he had used since his first Apple IIe in 1984. Answering the question “Why Is Steve Jobs Important to Me?” Rabbi Eric Linder of Omaha, Neb., explained how Jobs impacted his professional life. On his blog Linder wrote, “In my rabbinate, I have tried to use technology to make Judaism relevant. For Rosh Hashanah we leveraged the power of social media to crowd source answers to the question, ‘What does the shofar call YOU to do?’ All of the technical stuff was done on Apple technology. And
Courtesy of Matt Yohe via CC
Steve Jobs shows off the white iPhone 4 at the 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference.
the project brought the congregation closer together. It brought people together.” Over the past three decades, the technological innovation that was inspired by Steve Jobs’ vision had a significant effect on the Jewish community. His genius was in intuiting what would happen when you “strip away the excess layers of business, design, and innovation until only the simple elegant reality remained.” The ways in which Jewish education and Jewish life have been positively affected by the products that Jobs dreamed of and made into a reality are countless. His iPods made Jewish music and Jewish learning more accessible. His computers brought graphic design to new levels for Jewish institutions like synagogues and day schools. His Facetime application on the iPhone allowed Jewish communities separated by continents to come together and communicate. The geographical dis-
tances and borders have become irrelevant thanks to the innovative contributions of this genius. The thousands of Jewish-themed applications from utilities to resources to games were created specifically for the iPhone and iPad. Steve Jobs’ understanding of efficiency and connectivity led to the intuitive devices that have changed the way we work and connect with each other. The Jewish high school that has its students learning Talmud and chemistry on the iPad owes a great deal to the work of Steve Jobs. The father who created a slideshow of memories set to music using iMovie for his daughter’s wedding is indebted to the vision of Steve Jobs. The young boy living in a remote area of the country who is preparing for his bar mitzvah by listening to a New York cantor’s podcast on his iTouch is grateful to Steve Jobs. Did the devotee of Zen Buddhism have a Jewish spark in him? Perhaps he did. There is no doubt that Steve Jobs had a profound effect on the Jewish world. His dynamic legacy will continue to make the world better as we continue to plug in and connect with each other in just the way he envisioned and using the devices he helped design. If the value of tikkun olam really means leaving your imprint on the world in a quest to make it a better place for all of us, then Steve Jobs possessed that value a thousand-fold. Jason Miller is an entrepreneurial rabbi and technologist. He is president of Access Computer Techonlogy, an IT and social media marketing company in Michigan.
Congress looks to punish Palestinians, but cuts to security aid pose dilemma By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency WASHINGTON (JTA) — If the Palestinians don’t pull back from their statehood push, congressional cuts in aid are inevitable, U.S. lawmakers say. Just how comprehensive such cuts will be, however, could end up depending on Israel’s stance on the issue. Lawmakers, lobbyists and congressional staffers told JTA that hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance for the Palestinians are on the chopping block because of the Palestinian leadership’s formal request last month for U.N. membership in the absence of negotiations with Israel. “If they’re not going to negotiate in good faith, I don’t want American money to go to them,” said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), a
veteran member of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs. The key to how much gets cut, a number of lawmakers and congressional staffers say, is what Israel advises. Insiders say Israel is wary of cutting off the $150 million that the Palestinian Authority receives in security assistance from the United States. Israel believes that the PA’s fledgling police force — trained in a program structured by U.S. military personnel — has proven effective in keeping the West Bank quiet. Engel suggested he would be willing to make an exception for security assistance. “We don’t want security arrangements between Israelis and the Palestinians to blow up,” Engel said. “I would not be in favor of giving them money for anything else.”
Lawmakers are meeting behind the scenes with Israeli diplomats in delicate negotiations over sustaining the security aid. Insiders described a conundrum for the Israelis: Israel, through its diplomats and supporters, has tacitly encouraged congressional threats to cut funding as a means of pressuring the Palestinian leaders to abandon their statehood push and on-again, off-again unity talks with Hamas. At the same time, Israel also has publicly backed funding for security assistance and infrastructure building. “Israel calls for ongoing international support for the PA budget and development projects that will contribute to the growth of a vibrant private sector, which will provide the PA an expanded base for generating internal revenue,” CONGRESS on page 19
Courtesy The Jewish Theological Seminary
Celebrating Israel Independence Day at the Jewish Theological Seminary, which in its study of JTS-ordained rabbis and rabbinical students showed evidence of a generational gap on their thoughts about Israel.
Rabbis’ love for Israel: Is it a generational thing? By Dan Klein Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK (JTA) — Do Conservative rabbis become more politically conservative on Israel as they grow older, or are older rabbis simply more right wing than younger rabbis when it comes to Israel? A new study by the Conservative movement’s flagship institution presents some evidence of a generational gap among rabbis, finding that older ones tend to identify more closely with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, while younger ones also favorably view J Street, the more liberal “pro-Israel, propeace” lobbying group. The author of the Jewish Theological Seminary survey, demographer Steven M. Cohen, suggests that it’s a function not of the rabbis’ ages but the era in which they came of age. “It is a major shift in a Zionist worldview — a movement towards a more progressive Zionist position,” said Cohen, a professor of Jewish social policy research at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and a senior adviser to the seminary’s chancellor. In an interview with JTA, Cohen surmised that younger rabbis identify as more liberal because “they grew up at a time when Israel’s relationship with its Arab neighbors was more complicated than the binary relationship that the older generation grew up with.” He suggested that because the rabbis are closer and more exposed to “real life” in Israel because their rabbinical programs require that they spend a year there, they are “more willing to adopt views critical of the Israeli government.” The online survey of 317 JTSordained rabbis and 51 JTS rabbini-
cal students, titled “JTS Rabbis and Israel, Then and Now: The 2011 Survey of JTS Ordained Rabbis and Current Students,” found that 58 percent of students and 54 percent of rabbis ordained since 1994 view J Street favorably, while 42 percent of students and 64 percent of rabbis view AIPAC favorably. In the older cohort — rabbis ordained between 1980 and 1994 — 80 percent of the rabbis responding viewed AIPAC favorably, but only 32 percent had a favorable view of J Street. The survey also found that the students and younger rabbis were more concerned than their elders about social issues in Israel, such as the treatment of Arab citizens, women and Palestinians. The survey was prompted by a controversial essay in the June issue of Commentary that argued that a growing proportion of nonOrthodox rabbis in training hold alarmingly hostile views toward Israel, and that rabbinical seminaries were refusing to address the issue. The author of the piece, Rabbi Daniel Gordis, vice president of the Shalem Center, a hawkish Israeli think tank, declined to comment for this story. “We didn’t think it was true,” Cohen said of the Gordis essay, “but felt we needed to check it out.” The new survey is the latest salvo in the intense debate over Israel among American Jews, and American Jewish groups concerned with Israel already are debating its findings. J Street officials told JTA that the study is indicative of a generational shift among American Jews toward more progressive Zionism. “It’s very encouraging that rabbinical students are finding ways to bring their Jewish values with them when they talk about Israel,” said Rachel Lerner, vice president of the J Street Education Fund.
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011
Hitler letter offers first glimpse of anti-Semitic passions By Tom Tugend Jewish Telegraphic Agency LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Ten months after World War I ended, a 30-year-old German army veteran wrote a two-page letter in which he explained the “Jewish question” on a “rational” and “scientific” basis. “An anti-Semitism based on reason must lead to a systematic combatting and elimination of the privileges of the Jews,” he wrote. “The ultimate objective must be the irrevocable removal of Jews in general.” Signed “Respectfully, Adolf Hitler,” the letter received high marks for the author from his superiors in a military propaganda unit bitterly opposed to the newly established Weimar Republic as the perceived handiwork of Bolsheviks, Socialists and Jews. As the first written political statement of the future Fuehrer, the letter is considered a document of immense historical value. It will be shown to the public for the first time on Oct. 4 by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. UCLA historian Saul Friedlander observed that “In his very first written statement about the Jews, Hitler shows that [hatred of Jews] was the very core of his political passion.” At the behest of his superiors, Hitler wrote the letter to a fellow soldier propagandist named Adolf Gemlich, and the document is known as the Gemlich letter. In the letter, he expounds that “Anti-Semitism is too easily characterized as a mere emotional phenomenon. And yet, this is incorrect. Anti-Semitism as a political movement may not and cannot be defined
by emotional impulses, but by recognition of the facts.” What are the facts? According to the letter, one is that “Jewry is absolutely a race and not a religious association.” Hitler features the stereotype of the Jew as a money grubber bent on world domination. “Everything man strives after as a higher goal, be it religion, socialism, democracy, is to the Jew only means to an end, the way to satisfy his lust for gold and domination,” he wrote. Hitler’s advocacy in the letter of “the irrevocable removal of Jews” has spurred discussions among scholars on whether it anticipates his later extermination campaign. The German word for “removal” used by Hitler is “Entfernung,” which is more commonly translated as “distance” or “withdrawal.” Taken in context, most experts believe that Hitler’s thinking at the time focused more on “segregation” or “expulsion” rather than a full-fledged Holocaust. Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Wiesenthal Center, who was instrumental in acquiring the letter and raising $150,000 for its purchase, draws two key deductions from the letter — one historical, the other applicable to our time. “Apologists for Hitler and Holocaust deniers always cite the fact that no one has found a document signed by Hitler ordering the destruction of European Jewry,” Hier said. “Perhaps such a document was destroyed or Hitler gave his orders verbally. “In any case, the Gemlich letter proves his obsessive hatred of Jews more clearly than in his later book
‘Mein Kampf’. It is fair to assume that when Hitler wrote about ‘the removal of the Jews’ he wasn’t thinking about just throwing a few thousand Jews in jail.” The second important lesson Hier draws is that society cannot afford to ignore or ridicule the demagogues of its day, such as Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “If in 1919, someone had warned that a man like Hitler would become a menace to the world, such a person would have been labeled as crazy,” Hier said. As part of the permanent exhibit in the museum’s Holocaust section, the letter will be complemented by an interactive timeline tracing the year-by-year spread of Hitler’s power and his ultimate defeat between 1919 and 1945. The Gemlich letter was found by an American soldier among scattered papers at an apparent Nazi party archive, near Nuremberg. The soldier brought it back to America and decades later the letter came into the hands of a California dealer in historical documents. When the letter first came on the market in 1988, Hier was skeptical of its authenticity, partly because of numerous instances of forged Nazi documents. Since then, experts in Germany, Britain and the United States have vetted the letter and have concluded that it is, indeed, the original version, written and signed by Hitler. Hier, for one, has no doubt that he has the real thing. “This is the most significant document ever acquired by the Wiesenthal Center, with historical significance not only to the Jewish people, but to the entire world,” he said.
Courtesy of Bart Bartholomew/Simon Wiesenthal Center
Exhibit on “The Hitler Letter: A Letter That Changed the World” at the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles shows the original 1919 letter on the left and a timeline of the Fuehrer’s rise to power, Oct. 3, 2011.
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Michael R. Oestreicher
at the Appeal for Human Relations Initial Gifts Reception
MAYERSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011 • 5:30-7:30 PM Dietary laws observed; business attire.
For contributions & reservations, please call 621- 4020
8 • NATIONAL
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How the GOP has learned to love Israel unconditionally
Courtesy AP/Charlie Neibergall/Creative Commons
Mitt Romney, shown at the Iowa GOP/Fox News Debate in Ames, Iowa, on Aug. 11, 2011, is among the Republican presidential candidates chiding President Obama over his Israel policies.
By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency WASHINGTON (JTA) — Republican presidents have been guiding Israel toward the peace table — sometimes not so gently — almost since the Jewish state was born more than six decades ago. But in the recent round of debates, the crop of candidates vying for the GOP nomination have been chiding President Obama for forcing Israel’s hand — usually to great cheers from the audience. “You don’t allow an inch of space to exist between you and your friends and allies,” former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said at the most recent debate, Sept. 22 in Orlando, Fla., earning thunderous applause. The GOP has moved a considerable distance since President Dwight Eisenhower banged Israeli heads until the Jewish state agreed to relinquish the Sinai Peninsula captured in the 1956 Middle East War — or even since President George W. Bush cajoled Israelis and Palestinians into the ill-fated 2007 Annapolis talks. Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the front-runners, disagree on many issues — Social Security as a federal program, the utility of health care mandates, immigrant rights — but they trip over each other in assailing the Obama administration for pressuring or criticizing Israel. Romney coined the phrase “threw Israel under the bus” when Obama in May called for talks peace based on the 1967 lines, with land swaps. Not to be outdone, Perry trav-
eled to New York for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly and accused Obama of “appeasement” and said he backed Israel because he was a Christian. Whereas previous Republican administrations have opposed, with varying degrees of vehemence, Israeli settlement building and remained cool to Israeli claims to sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem, Perry departed from these positions at his New York news conference. Standing beside right-wing Jewish activists, Perry expressed support for Israeli settlement building and said he favored Jerusalem “being united under Israeli rule.” Current and former GOP operatives and veterans of Republican administrations have identified a number of factors in explaining why the Republican Party, which until a decade or so ago tolerated a faction that advocated keeping Israel at a friendly distance, is now hewing almost exclusively to a policy of no daylight between the United States and the Jewish state. The chief reason they cite is the growth of the evangelical movement as a cornerstone of the party, but other factors include the changed attitudes toward the Middle East in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the significance of the Jewish vote in certain swing states and the emergence of a Jewish Republican donor base in a community that for decades has given mostly to Democrats. “Israel is not just for Jews anymore,” said Noam Neusner, a former domestic policy adviser to President George W. Bush and now a communications consultant to Christians United For Israel.
“There are 5 million American Jews and 50 million evangelicals, some of whom are Hispanic, African American, Korean. Every Sunday morning they are reading scripture and reading it seriously. “What the candidates all understand implicitly is that you demonstrate a sense of America’s unique role in the world and moral force by supporting Israel.” Matthew Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said that while evangelicals had a role, the changed postSept. 11 world should not be underestimated as a factor. Republican presidents such as Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush operated in a Cold War arena in which cultivating allies among Israel’s rivals and enemies may have made sense — but that is no longer the case, he said. “There were elements in the realist camp who may have seen Israel not as a strategic ally,” Brooks said of the presidency of the first George Bush. “Given how things have developed — the global war on terror, the rise of militant Islam — that doesn’t make any sense anymore.” Marshall Breger, an adviser to Reagan who now teaches law at Catholic University, noted that the post-Sept. 11 atmosphere tended to favor the neoconservatives within the party. Breger also said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, educated and partly raised in the United States, has been able to converse with Republicans in language they understand. “Bibi made a huge impact. His original outreach to conservatives was free market, and then it extended to the war on terror,” he said. “You had the rise of the neocons and their influence on foreign policy, the notion that democracy is what you should strive for, and Israel is a democracy.” Breger also said that while Jewish fundraisers still tend to give to Democrats, there is a growing base of Republican Jewish givers. “Even in 2008, when a very high number of Jews voted for Obama, the financial support Jews gave to the party was significant,” he said. “And it’s still seen as relatively untapped.” But Breger noted that campaign promises can eventually run up against the challenges of governance, noting the old saw “You campaign in poetry, you govern in prose.” Dov Zakheim, a former senior Pentagon official in both Bush administrations, said that a Republican president likely would have to make decisions that displeased Israel.
Courtesy Edmon J. Rodman
The owner of a sukkah that needed new infrastructure, Edmon J. Rodman looked into the national debate on job creation for a bipartisan solution.
Should my sukkah have a debt ceiling? By Edmon J. Rodman Jewish Telegraphic Agency LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Each Sukkot we read in Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, that there “is a time to tear down, and a time to build up.” For my sukkah it was time for both. Last year the legs of my sukkah were bowed and its roof supports looked flimsy. This year I wanted to rebuild my Jewish infrastructure, maybe even expand. But in a year of tight budgets, both personal and national, in a year when even the U.S. Congress had finances as shaky as any sukkah, how should I proceed? Given the polarizing national debate on fiscal responsibility, I was concerned. Would my fiscal approach to sukkah repair cause it to lean to the left? The right? Or, overwhelmed, would I just sit in my sukkah, go with the Bachmann flow and, like my Yiddish-speaking grandmother, drink “a nice glass tea?” As a practical guideline, the Talmud provides the requirements: the handbreadths, cubits and crossbeams, and that the roof covering, the schach, should provide more shade than allow sun. What we don’t get is cost analysis and debt ceilings. Where could I turn for economic advice on how to rebuild my holiday infrastructure? As the psalm says, “I lift up my eyes to the hills.” Capitol Hill, that is. For example, President Obama in his recent “jobs” speech before Congress said that “We can put people to work rebuilding America. Everyone here knows we have badly decaying roads and bridges all over the country.” Obama called for a plan that
would “put people to work right now fixing roofs and windows …” And to assist “responsible homeowners,” he added, “we’re going to work with federal housing agencies to help more people refinance their mortgages at interest rates that are now near 4 percent.” Inspired by the president’s words, I thought, “I have badly decaying stuff, too — my sukkah — with a roof that needs fixing right now. Good-bye sagging schach. And with all that lowinterest refi green, I might even add enough room for a few more guests.” But eyeing my credit card, I wondered: Isn’t borrowing against the house how we got into trouble the last time? Maybe I should look to the other side of the sukkah, so to speak, for a more conservative idea. Not that the Republicans or tea partiers had presented a schach reduction bill, but House Speaker John Boehner did have a different approach to infrastructure and putting Americans back to work. “Private-sector job creators of all sizes have been pummeled by decisions made in Washington,” said Boehner, an Ohio Republican, in response to Obama’s jobs speech. “They’ve been slammed by uncertainty from the constant threat of new taxes, out-of-control spending and unnecessary regulation from a government that is always micromanaging, meddling and manipulating.” Oh yeah, I had been slammed by uncertainty, too. I certainly could build a better sukkah without any meddling. And who needs rabbinic supervision for any of this stuff? It’s just too expensive! SUKKAH on page 22
INTERNATIONAL • 9
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011
In Iceland, tiny Jewish community celebrates new beginnings By Alex Weisler Jewish Telegraphic Agency REYKJAVIK, Iceland (JTA) — Nearly half an hour after Rosh Hashanah services were set to begin, the congregation in this chilly city still was one man short of a minyan. But as the small group of Jewish expats and their Icelandic spouses mingled and waited, no one complained. After all, what’s 30 minutes to a community that’s been waiting more than 60 years? The Rosh Hashanah services held in downtown Reykjavik last week — organized by a 23-yearold Chabad rabbi who is six months into a quest to revive the Icelandic Jewish community — were the first formal ones with a rabbi and a Torah scroll held in the city since the end of World War II, according to community members. Most of Iceland’s Jews — there are about 40 in total — live in Reykjavik, the world’s northernmost capital and a compact, vibrant city of about 120,000. In all, some 315,000 people live in Iceland. There is no synagogue here, no Jewish community center, no organized structure. Judaism is not even one of Iceland’s state-recognized religions. Until Rabbi Berel Pewzner decided to reach out to Iceland’s Jews in March, there had been no rabbinic presence in Iceland for years. The last rabbis to come here were those occasionally imported to lead services for Jewish soldiers at the NATO base located about 40 minutes away in Keflavik; the base closed in 2006. Chabad tried an outreach effort here in the 1990s, but it was not successful and was discontinued. Pewzner, who led two Reykjavik seders in April and is back in the city now for the High Holidays, said the success of the seders compelled him to press on. “What happened at the seder was that people were sitting across from each other and saying, ‘Wait, you’re Jewish and you live in Iceland?’” he said. “It was just an incredible scene to see people connect. There was a consensus that we had to do more.” For the last few decades, the community has experienced highs and lows. About 15 years ago there was enough interest to sustain Saturday morning services. But in recent years it’s been a struggle just to organize meet-ups for Passover, Chanukah and the High Holidays apple-and-honey tastings. There have been sporadic gettogethers, including seders, menorah lightings and a belated Tu b’Shvat tree planting in the sum-
mer after the ground had thawed. Some symbolic bar mitzvahs used a paper Torah scroll. This time, the Chabad rabbi brought with him a genuine, albeit compact, Torah scroll. Mike Levin, a Chicago native who’s been in Iceland for 25 years, said Chabad couldn’t have come at a better time. “They came at the lowest point that I’ve seen our community since I came here,” he said. “We’re at a point where we just can’t do it anymore. It’s actually a blessing that the rabbis are here because there have been Rosh Hashanahs and Yom Kippurs where we haven’t got together.” The services last week, which drew a minyan both days, were scaled-down, two-hour affairs aimed at a community of Jews who are mostly secular and unfamiliar with holiday rituals. In his sermon Pewzner — who blew the shofar and led the service along with his friend Rabbi Berel Grunblatt, an Argentinian Jew and cantor — sprinkled in references to Icelandic phenomena like the Northern Lights and reminded the participants of the historical significance of their gathering. “I think we’re heading in the right direction. Together we’ll make things happen,” he said at the service. “We have the opportunity to make this year a historic year not just for ourselves and our personal lives, but for the Jewish community in Iceland.” Pewzner said he hopes the High Holidays services — combined with an outreach effort that he and Grunblatt will undertake this week to meet with every known Jew in the country — will be the start of a process that could culminate in a permanent Chabad presence in Iceland. “The goal is that every Jew should have what he needs here — physically, materially, spiritually — to be proud of his heritage and educate his children,” he said. In the future, that could also entail the Jewish community filing an application to become a staterecognized faith, which would direct some tax funds toward Jewish institutions. But that might require an exception from the Icelandic government, which generally requires state-recognized religions to have at least 50 members. One problem is that the application must be sponsored by an Icelandic citizen over the age of 30 — a set of circumstances that none of the community’s active members fit. “Somebody has to be the president, and I don’t know if people are really willing to do this, to put it down on paper that they’re Jewish here,” Levin said. “It’d be
Courtesy Alex Weisler
Rabbi Berel Pewzner, left, and Rabbi Berel Grunblatt on the seventh-floor balcony of the Hotel Cabin, where Rosh Hashanah services in Reykjavik were held, September 2011.
one thing if I did it, but I don’t want to be the only one to do it. I want it to be a lot of people to do it, kind of like a grass-roots thing.” Some grass-roots Jewish community activity already is taking place. Daniel Harpaz, an Israeli, and his Icelandic wife, Sigurlin Edda Andresdottir, are working to document the kosher food available in Icelandic supermarkets in an effort to develop a comprehensive Jewish travel website for the country. They’re also trying to work with Reykjavik-area hotels to make them more amenable to the needs of religious Jewish tourists.
Last week’s services attracted a handful of tourists, including Holly Diener, a New York native who now lives in Paris and was in Iceland for four days with her brother. Realizing she’d be in Reykjavik for the holidays, Diener began scouring the Internet to find some way of celebrating Rosh Hashanah. “When I saw there were no synagogues, I didn’t realize there were countries with no synagogues, so that makes the fact that we were able to gather here together even more special,” she said. “It’s something that links us, no matter what country, no matter what set of circumstances.” Whether the Rosh Hashanah
services marked the start of something new for the Icelandic Jewish community or just another moment in its decades of ups and downs remains to be seen. But for the 40 or so Jews who gathered for Rosh Hashanah, schmoozed and snacked on apples and honey, challah, smoked salmon and honey cake, it felt like something good already was happening. Sigal Har-Meshi, an Israeli who married an Icelander and has lived in the country for the past seven years, was one of the locals attending her first Rosh Hashanah service in decades. As one of the community’s leaders, it often falls on her to coordinate holiday plans and ensure that Reykjavik’s Jews don’t become too fragmented and lonely. “It’s difficult — I always have to call people and beg them to come, but they like it,” said HarMeshi of the holiday gatherings. “I always say it’s the last time, it’s the last time, and then the holiday comes and I do it again. But it’s lot of work — it’s always last minute.” Despite the challenges, HarMeshi said there is something special about being part of such a small Jewish community. “When we meet Jewish people, we feel close to each other so quickly,” she said. “At first I thought it was just Israelis, but then I met other nationalities, and it’s like family. To meet other Jews, it’s exciting.”
10 • INTERNATIONAL / ISRAEL
International Briefs
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In Putin’s return, Russian Jews see stability By Lev Krichevksy Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Reports show Argentina with an anti-Semitism problem BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Two reports that reveal the extent of anti-Semitism in Argentina were released by DAIA, the Jewish umbrella organization. The reports were presented Wednesday. An opinion poll conducted by the Gino Germani Institute of the University of Buenos Aires found that 45 percent of those polled “would never marry a Jew” and that 30 percent “would not live in a neighborhood with a large presence of Jews.” The poll also showed that four out of 10 respondents have a negative opinion of “Jews being involved in politics” and five out of 10 think that Jews talk too much about the Holocaust. Some 54 percent of those polled agreed that Jews “are the first ones to turn their backs on the needy.” DAIA called the results of the poll “disturbing and alarming.” The survey was commissioned by DAIA and the Anti-Defamation League, which interviewed more than 1,500 people from across the country. According to Nestor Cohen, lead investigator from the University of Buenos Aires, “Jews are perceived as powerful, not supportive, and not loyal to Argentina.” He added that in this case, “discrimination has more to do with an anti-Jewish and not an anti-Israeli feeling; it is not related to Israel’s political decisions.” Meanwhile, the Annual Report on Anti-Semitism in Argentina showed that in 2010, anti-Jewish expressions appeared in public spaces, including graffiti with Nazi symbols, and there was a large increase over previous years in digital and virtual antiSemitism. Approximately 300 antiSemitic incidents are reported in the country every year. David Smith, director of the United Nations Information Center for Argentina and Uruguay, told JTA that “it is a very important day because silenced cases come to light, but that makes it also a very sad day.” The report has been edited annually by the Centre for Social Studies of DAIA since 1998. “There is a prejudiced pattern that does not necessarily become a violent or unreported action,” Marisa Brylan, director of the Centre for Social Studies of DAIA, told JTA. Argentina has an anti-discrimination law on the books.
(JTA) — Was Vladimir Putin’s carefully choreographed plan to return to Russia’s presidency in 2012 a big blow to democracy or a victory for stability? It all depends on who you ask. Most Russian Jews, it seems, say that Putin’s return after a fouryear stint as prime minister is good news for stability, and that’s good for the country’s Jewish community. Critics, however, say it’s a sign of Russia’s stagnation. Echoing traditional Jewish sensibilities, Yevgeniy Satanovsky, head of the Institute for Israel and Near Eastern Studies, a think tank in Moscow, says that Jews do not have to worry about Putin. “Putin is neither an anti-Semite nor anti-Israel,” Satanovsky said. For Russia’s Jews, whose estimated numbers range from 500,000 to 1 million, Putin marked
Courtesy Sebastian Derungs/Creative Commons
For Russia’s Jews, the presidency of Vladimir Putin from 2000 to 2008 marked a departure from the anti-Semitism of past Communist elites.
a departure from the anti-Semitism of past Communist elites and of the once all-powerful KGB, which he served for nearly two decades.
Putin was the first Russian leader to visit Israel, where he attended an official reception. He also visited a Moscow synagogue, participated in candle-lighting ceremonies on Chanukah and reportedly had an open door for one of Russia’s two chief rabbis, Berel Lazar. While human rights groups reported surges in xenophobic attacks at various times during Putin’s presidency, Jews rarely were the targets. Lazar said Putin should be credited for driving anti-Semitism out of Russian political discourse. Politicians in today’s Russia “would not risk taking antiSemitic or a so-called anti-Zionist stand,” Lazar said. “Any impartial observer should acknowledge Putin’s big role in this.” As president and prime minister, Lazar said, Putin “paid great attention PUTIN on page 22
Ethiopian aliyah hindered by overload at Israeli absorption centers By Ruth Eglash Jewish Telegraphic Agency MEVASSERET ZION, Israel (JTA) — It’s a typical Friday morning in Israel’s largest absorption center: A handful of local residents, all immigrants from Ethiopia, mill about examining wares for sale at a small, unofficial souk. Located in Mevasseret Zion, a town just outside Jerusalem, the center has become more like a town within a town. Run by the Jewish Agency for Israel, it is meant to provide immigrants with basic language skills and cultural tools needed for their new lives in Israel. Though the center is only meant to be a starting point for those lives – immigrants are encouraged to move out after two years – a growing number of the new arrivals are finding it economically impossible to leave given the high real estate costs in their new land. “I want to move to Jerusalem or Rishon LeZion,” says a woman named Yeshalem who has lived in the absorption center since her arrival in Israel five years ago. “But I’m a single mother, I have four children and I just do not have enough money.” Yeshalem says she receives about $750 per month in government benefits and has not been able to find work. In the meantime, she and her children live in a cramped two-room apartment. The mortgage package provided by the government is not sufficient for her to buy a place of her own, she said.
Courtesy Kobi Gideon/Flash 9
Newly arrived Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia attending a rehearsal for a Passover seder at the absorption center in Mevasseret Zion, April 14, 2011.
“Most of the families have been here for at least three or four years, some of them even longer,” says a young man named Berian who peddles bric-a-brac from a white van. “The government spends so much money on immigration, but the people here are so poor, we sometimes wonder where all that money goes.” Supporters of Ethiopian aliyah worry that the Israeli government’s inability to adequately address the problems at the absorption centers not only will harm the integration of Ethiopian immigrants into Israeli society, but also could derail Ethiopian aliyah because there is no place to put the new arrivals. Already the Israeli government has reduced the number of Ethiopian immigrants it allows in per month to
110, down from 200, and in recent months at least two absorption centers have been closed. “Come December, there will be no more room here to absorb new immigrants and the whole aliyah process will come to an end,” warned Canadian parliamentarian Irwin Cotler, a longtime advocate for Falash Mura aliyah and now acting legal counsel for the Public Committee for Ethiopian Jews. It’s just the latest hurdle for the immigration of the Falash Mura — Ethiopians who claim links to descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity generations ago and who are now returning to Jewish practice. OVERLOAD on page 22
Israel Briefs Rocks smash Jerusalem light rail window J E R U S A L E M ( J TA ) — Rocks were thrown at Jerusalem’s light rail, smashing a window. The rocks were thrown Monday in eastern Jerusalem’s Arab Shufat neighborhood, according to reports. The light rail’s windows are protected by a plastic shield to prevent injury from stone throwing. No one was hurt in the incident. Also Monday, rocks were thrown at a bus driving near the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The driver lost control of the bus and hit a wall. Only the bus driver was injured, according to reports. Israeli social justice protesters announce ‘nation’s strike’ JERUSALEM (JTA) — Social justice protesters in Israel say they will hold a nation’s strike at the end of the month. The strike announced late Monday night and set for Nov. 1, and mass rallies scheduled for Oct. 29, are being organized to express dissatisfaction with the report by the Trajtenberg Committee proposing solutions to Israel’s socioeconomic problems. On Sunday, the Cabinet approved the Trajtenberg report by a vote of 21 to 8. The 14-member committee of academics and economists, which was chaired by Manuel Trajtenberg of the Israel Council for Higher Education and a former Tel Aviv University economics professor, was appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following mass protests last summer to look at the problems facing Israel and come up with solutions. The late October rally will be the first since a mass demonstration at the end of the summer that brought out some 400,000 people throughout Israel. On Tuesday, Israel’s Labor Union chief announced a labor dispute, which will allow the union to launch a general strike in two weeks, coinciding with the social justice movement's plan. The strike would include airports, ports, train services, government ministries and local authorities, and also could include the national teacher’s union. The action is being called over the plight of contract workers, according to reports and has the support of social protest leader Dafni Leef.
SOCIAL LIFE • 11
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Erin Hebbe and Matthew Zopfi Scott Nacheman and Michelle Kuhr
ENGAGEMENT ichard and Marsha Kuhr proudly announce the engagement of their daughter, Michelle Beth, to Scott Gary Nacheman, son of Gerry and Bev Nacheman of Delray Beach, Fla. Michelle graduated from Wyoming High School and received her degree in Art History from the University of Cincinnati College of DAAP. Michelle is a Paramedic Officer with the Chicago Fire Department. Scott received his B.S. in Architecture, Master of Architecture and Master of Civil
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Engineering degrees from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. Scott is a Vice President of Thornton Tomasetti in Chicago. An October 2012 wedding is planned.
MARRIAGES he marriage of Erin Hebbe to Matthew Zopfi took place Sept. 10, 2011 at the French House, in French Park, Amberley Village. The ceremony uniting the couple was performed by Erin’s aunt and uncle, Deborah Moss Berlon and
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Douglas Berlon. Erin is the daughter of Sandy Moss Hebbe and Bill Hebbe, both of Atlanta Ga., and the granddaughter of Geri and the late Marmin (Bud) Moss. Matthew is the son of the late Donald Zopfi and late Vickie Pachafa. The couple resides in Fremont, Calif. helley and Edward Hattenbach are pleased to announce the marriage of their son, Brian Joseph, to Dr. Tina Renee Goldstein, the daughter of Ina and Morton Goldstein of Silver Spring, Md. Brian is the grandson of Hannah and the late Arthur Hattenbach and the late Ann and Dr. Joseph Wallack.
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Dr. Tina Renee Goldstein and Brian Hattenbach
Brian received his master’s degree in enviromental science from Indiana University and Tina received her doctorate from the University of Colorado. Brian and Tina ae residents of Pittsburgh, Penn., where he is a hydrologist wth the U.S.
Geological Survey and Tina is a clinical psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The wedding was held August 7 at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, Penn. Cantor Cheryl Klein officiated at the outdoor ceremony.
12 • CINCINNATI SOCIAL LIFE
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ACCESS’ SUMMER ‘11 Even in the record breaking heat, Access managed to keep things cool for Jewish Young Professionals (YPs) this summer with a wide variety of events and programs designed to help them connect to one another and to the Jewish community. From a “Grillin’ and Chillin’” cooking class and an Indian Summer-themed Shabbat dinner, to a Gatsby-inspired soiree and several pool parties at the Mayerson JCC, it was a busy season in Cincinnati for the 20- and 30-something set! All events were either free, or deeply subsidized thanks to the generosity of The Mayerson Foundation who funds and runs these and other programs for Jewish young professionals in Greater Cincinnati.
In August, more than 160 people attended Access’ Indian Summer Shabbat, featuring an authentic Indian dinner, Indian music, Bollywood dancers and even temporary Henna tattoos!
Access and the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati hosted a summer ACTout event on July 24, where about 60 volunteers painted bricks to be auctioned at the annual Bricks for Breast Cancer auction.
Rachel Zakem, Caryn Ben-Hur, Sarah Jarnicki, Oren Shmoel, Sarah Ganson, Chelsea Golding, Ross Golding, Rachel Juran at Access’ Indian Summer Shabbat
Jessie Jarnicki, Datino Juran, Alex Moksin, Maragarita Klyugina, Noah Juran, Mike Jarnicki and Bree and Michael Rosen mix at the Schmooze for 2’s event
The ladies of No Boyz Allowed, an initiative just for Jewish women, 21-35, learned how to check oil and tire pressure, change a tire and more at Car Maintenance 101 on Thursday, September 8.
At Access’ first Schmooze for 2’s event on September 15, 45 couples enjoyed dinner and drinks at Stir in Olde Montgomery!
JGourmet participants learned how to grill fresh vegetables, chicken, and even peaches at A Forkable Feast!
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011
CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13
Chelsea Golding, Josh Rothstein, Andrew Schiff, and Rachel Juran at the YPs at the JCC’s outdoor pool party. YPs at the JCC is a partnership between The Mayerson Foundation and the Mayerson JCC.
Nearly 100 people participated in the Yoga and Yagoot event on August 23 at the Mayerson JCC which included a super-sized high intensity class and a lower intensity “mindful yoga” class. Afterward, everyone headed to the outdoor pool for free samples of Yagoot frozen yogurt and a lululemon athletica trunk show!
At Access’ HeBREW Happy Hour on August 11, Jamie Pavlofsky, Sarah Seaman and Alex Heiman, along with nearly 80 YPs, met up at Bartini for drinks and appetizers.
Leah Zipperstein, Dan Sharff, Stacey Wolfe and Erica Smith enjoy themselves at Access’ Gatsby-themed Bootleggers’ Ball this past summer!
The guys of Access’ No Ma’am went underground for the night for a tour of Cincinnati’s Brewery District!
14 • DINING OUT
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Exacting standards, delicious food at Tandoor Restaurant By Sondra Katkin Dining Editor Nareen Patel, who owns Tandoor, Shanghai Mama and Indian Bistro, is also a caterer and wedding planner. He exemplifies business “smarts” or perhaps more pertinent, “smarty pans,” to turn a grade school jeer into a rousing cheer. Chatting with him in a cozy area of the restaurant, he explained that his love of cooking stemmed from playing a variety of sports while growing up in Uganda. “I was a hungry kid in high school and I began cooking for myself.” He developed some of his recipes to satisfy his appetite after soccer, field hockey, volleyball or badminton (which was a serious sport there). He inherited his love of cooking from his father, a coffee importer, who often cooked for 50 – 100 friends. After attending college in London, Patel came to Cincinnati to manage the Khyber restaurant, then opened Tandoor in the Montgomery Market Place. Like his father, he has catered meals for huge crowds, sometimes 800 or more. When there are Cincinnati sports events and OSU games, people order his Mulligatawny soup by the gallon, according to Patel. It won “Best of Cincinnati,” and after tasting the intensely flavored, creamy soup with fresh herbs and spices from India, I too, wanted to take a good supply home. Steve, my gluten averse spouse, will be glad to know that the soup is naturally thickened, a feast with no flour. Patel’s wife, Varsha, informed me that they have no peanuts in the restaurant and will accommodate any food allergy requests. She added that while some dishes are creamy, they will make them without rich ingredients when asked. While I was waiting for the entrees, Patel showed me the photographs from his daughter’s wedding. The vivid colors and festive look were a testament to his planning skills. The wedding gazebo— mandap—where the ceremony takes place reminded me of our traditional “chuppah,” which also can be very simple or exquisitely decorated. He catered a wedding for 1,800 over three days — the first night a dance, then a vegetarian lunch (Indian tradition), followed by an evening reception North/South Indians Indo Chinese
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(Clockwise) Owner Nareen Patel showing off his delicious mulligatawny soup; Tempting and tasty masala green beans and masala mushroom casserole; Lovely hand-carved Indian furniture invites guests to an authentic ethnic experience; Vivid menu hints at the artistry of the food; Plethora of wine taps and a well-stocked bar.
with meat dishes. He said he is the second largest caterer in the tristate and he’s almost fully booked for next year. Tandoor, the first Indian restaurant in the Montgomery area, has been serving diners for 26 years. Perhaps some of its success is due to Patel’s signature recipes which no other Indian restaurant serves — his special Mulligatawny soup, masala green beans, masala mushroom and masala seafood casseroles. I brought the beans and mushrooms, accompanied by rice, home to Steve and we shared a “happy meal.” There was plenty of the delicious food for both of us. The green beans were plump, tender and coated with herbs and spices, a complexity of flavor that made you want more. I added a bit of fish to the mushroom masala since we crave our protein, and the sauce embraced it perfectly. Its richness and perfect seasoning reminded me of the wonderful mulligatawny, a taste to toast with perhaps a glass of white wine. Patel mentioned that they have 24 wines on tap. Wine on tap! What will they think of next? This is not your gro-
cery store box of wine but a process that oxygenates the wine as it flows so it always tastes freshly “breathed.” There is also a full service bar with both draft, local and imported beer and a good selection of cocktails. We know people look for the restaurants where the Jews go to eat since we come from a tradition of wonderful food. Patel informed me that in addition to his Indian clientele, many of his customers are Jewish and many of those are from South Africa. Indian food is also very popular among the English in this country. Although a few food phobic scaredy cats are afraid to try it, the herbs and spices will be familiar since you find some of them (cinnamon, cumin, cilantro, coriander and chili) in many Mexican recipes. Nutmeg and cardamom are featured in various “American” desserts. Another misconception is that curry means hot, but that is only when chili powder is added, and most restaurants will cater to their customers’ wishes. For intrepid consumers who wish to expand their dining lexicon and have an appreciative
appetite allowance, try the lunch buffet. Varsha Patel will gladly explain the array of dishes offered. I love to start with the dal—lentil soup—which has a creamy texture, without cream, and not spicy at all. There is always a variety of mild or spicy vegetarian and meat choices, rice, salads, fruits, bread and desserts. The reasonably priced, tasty selections will warm your tummy and expand your mind (not necessarily your waistline). Tandoor has an inviting and informative menu, artistically designed with a colorful cover picture of Indian figures serving food to a dignitary under an orange, red and green open tent. The following pages describe the Northern Indian cuisine prepared in the clay oven (tandoor). It includes an assortment of starters (samosas, pakoras and soups), chicken and seafood choices, eight different lamb preparations, an entire page devoted to vegetarian meals, assorted Indian breads including the gluten free papardam (crispy lentil wafer), rice combinations and desserts. Patel is very exacting about his ingredients. He explained that his signature
mango cheesecake must have the finest mango puree to measure up to the quality he expects. Although more expensive, he feels it is worth it. We discussed my favorite dessert, ras malai, made from homemade cheese and rose water. I learned that it takes over five hours to produce the wonderfully smooth, creamy texture and sublime taste I dream about. Bottom line, if you want it, call in the morning or the night before (darn). I enjoyed my visit to Tandoor with its exotic hand carved Indian furniture in the entryway, comfortable dining area, and delicious, customer friendly food. My conversation with Patel revealed an organized, talented chef/businessman with high standards and many awards. The restaurant’s lunch buffet is Monday to Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; dinner hours are Monday to Thursday, 5:30 – 9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 5:30 – 10:30 p.m. Tandoor Restaurant 8702 Market Place Lane Montgomery, OH 45242 513-793-7484
DINING OUT • 15
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011
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791-2223 • 791-1381 (fax) Kanak India Restaurant
Baba India Restaurant
10040B Montgomery Rd
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3120 Madison Rd
Montgomery
9386 Montgomery Rd
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793-6800
Montgomery
321-1600
489-1444 Marx Hot Bagels
Bangkok Terrace
9701 Kenwood Rd
Sukhothai Thai Cuisine
4858 Hunt Rd
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8102 Market Place Ln
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16 • OPINION
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T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE T HIS W EEK ’ S P ORTION : Z OT H ABRACHA (D EVARIM 33,34) 1. Hashem should give special attention to which part of the tribe of Judah? a.) His strength b.) Sacrifice for others c.) His voice 2. By Levi,which special part of the Temple service is mentioned? a.) 12 show-breads b.) Incense c.) Two goats of Yom Kippur 3. Which tribes land ÅgsatisfiedÅh its inhabitants? 4. A Joshua 1:1 Hashem tells Joshua, had Moshe been alive he would want him to lead. Rashi 5. B Joshua 1:2
Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz, the brilliantly insightful 16th century author of the Torah commentary Kli Yakar, comments on the fact that the word the Torah uses for the sun and moon—“me’oros,” or “luminaries,” (Beraishis, 1:16) is spelled in such a way that it can be read “me’eiros,” or “afflictions.” “For all that comes under the influence of time,” he writes, “is afflicted with pain.” Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, the renowned Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, saw similar meaning in the term “memsheles,” (ibid) which describes the luminaries’ role. Its most literal meaning, he said, is “subjugation.” We are, in other words, enslaved by time. What is subjugating and frightening about time is not only that it brings about entropy and dissolution, that each day’s passing leaves us (as a poet once put it) “shorter of breath and one day closer to death,” but that it is entirely beyond our control. We can change our positions in space — moving here or there at will — but time seems frustratingly onedirectional; its effects are entirely, utterly unchangeable. Jewish tradition, however, informs us otherwise. We can travel, the Talmud teaches us, in time too. “Sound the shofar at the new month, at the appointed time for the day of rejoicing,” declares the posuk in Tehillim (81) in reference to Rosh Hashana. The word for “at the appointed time”—bakeseh—is most simply read to mean “at the covering,” a reference, the Talmud tells us, to the fact that the moon, in pointed contrast to the situation on other Jewish holidays, is not visible at the onset of the Jewish new year. Rosh Hashana, of course, coincides with the new moon, when the lunar luminary is invisible to us. Intriguingly, a mystical tradition attributed to the Zohar conceives of the moon’s apparent absence on Rosh Hashana as representative of the lack of “two witnesses” to the Jewish people’s sins. The sun, witness #1, is there — but the moon? Missing. The moon has a direct role in Jewish life. It keeps time for us.
The sun may mark the passage of days for all humanity, but it is to the moon that Jews are commanded to look to identify the Jewish months. The moon is our clock. Perhaps it goes missing on Rosh Hashana because the holiday reminds us that we can transcend time. Our time machine is teshuva, repentance. And that is no mere metaphor. We are actually empowered by teshuva to reach back into the past and alter it. How else to understand our tradition’s teaching that sins committed intentionally are rendered by even the most elemental teshuva (born of fear) into unintentional sins? Or the even more astonishing fact that when teshuva is embraced out of pure love for Hashem, it actually changes sins into good deeds? Consider that shocking idea for a moment. An act of eating of non-kosher meat years ago can be “accessed and edited” into the equivalent of consuming matzah on Pesach. We can travel back in time and change the past. And so if one is a successful penitent on Rosh Hashana, there can indeed be no complement of “witnesses” to his past sins; the sins are no longer there to be witnessed. The Rosh Hashana night sky, with its missing “Jewish clock,” reminds us that time can be overcome in a meaningful way, through sheer force of will. This tossing off of time’s shackles may be what lies at the root, too, of the theme of freedom that is so prominent on Rosh Hashana. The name of the month it introduces, Tishrei, is rooted in “shara,” the Aramaic word for “freeing”; the day’s central mitzvah, the sounding of the shofar, is associated with Yovel, or the Jubilee Year, when slaves are released; one of the holiday’s Torah readings is about Yitzchak Avinu’s release from his “binding”; and Rosh Hashana is the anniversary of Yosef’s release from his Egyptian prison. All of us, too, if we honestly and critically confront our lives and resolve to change for the better, can break free from the seemingly unshakeable bonds of time. Gmar chasima tova!
a.) Judah b.) Ephraim c.) Naftali 4. How does the Torah describe the relationship between Moshe and Joshua? a.) Mentor - Attendant b.) Teacher - Student c.) Master - Slave 5. What is Hashem's first command to Joshua? a.) Look for idols b.) Prepare to cross the Jordan River c.) Send spies to scout Jericho
Hashem should accept his prayer. 2. B 33:10 3. C 33:23 The territory of Naphtali satisfied its inhabitants. Rashi
Rabbi Avi Shafran Contributing Columnist
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
ANSWERS 1. C 33:7 There are several in places Tanach that records prayers of the descendants of Judah. Rashi. Also, Judah would lead in battle therefore
A Jewish guide to time travel
JEWISH LIFE • 17
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011
Sedra of the Week
SHABBAT SHALOM: CHOL HAMOED SUCCOT
We leave our homes and enter a by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel — The true mission of the Sanctuary — or succa — is to re-create and perfect the earth. The three major festivals at this time of year — Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Succot — are filled with drama and pageantry; with the piercing sounds of the shofar and the pleasant fragrances of fruits, with the stark white of the Days of Awe and the glorious yellows and greens of the four species on Succot. The season begins with the first day of the month which is Rosh Hashana, the anniversary of the creation of the world. The Bible describes it as a “day of the terua (broken sighing and sobbing sounds) of the shofar unto you” (Numbers 29:1). Is it not strange that the Bible marks our remembrance of creation — world and light — with sounds from a ram’s horn reminiscent of groans and wails? I suggest that the Bible is acknowledging the fact that our world is a vale of tears, that human beings are weak and sinful, and live in the shadow of inevitable death. But there is another sound of the shofar — the exultant tekiya, which the Bible ordains is to be heard on Yom Kippur (10 Tishrei) on the 50th Jubilee year, during the celebration which marks the return of every individual to his familial homestead, frees all slaves and rescinds all debts, declaring liberty throughout the Land (Leviticus 25:8-13). This victorious sound reflects the fundamental message of Judaism, the fact that the human being is not only formed from the dust of the earth but has also been “inspirited” by the eternal breath of the Divine. The Jubilee year expresses our faith — which is a divine promise — that human beings have the innate power to redeem themselves and the world, to re-create both the kingship of Gd and to bring about a perfected planet of peace and security which our prophets call the Messianic Age. What we must do, however, is
succa, symbolic of the tabernacle/ sanctuary/Holy Temple which we are commanded to build on earth so that the Divine might dwell with humanity. And that Tabernacle is not only the earthly abode for G-d and Israel, it is a foretaste of a world at peace, a messianic age.
to develop the G-d rather than the beast within us by studying and practicing the teachings of G-d’s Torah. And because we believe that the perfection of the world is within our grasp, we add two exultant tekiya sounds to every broken terua when we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashana. With these sounds we usher in our days of repentance. Yom Kippur is the Day of Forgiveness. Hopefully by then we shall have successfully reached out to G-d, and experienced the nearness and goodness of His Presence. Yom Kippur is the climax of this magnificent feeling. It is not a sad fast day, but a joyous, liberating one; we become freed from the blandishments of food, drink and sexual relationships so that we can fully dwell — for a 25-hour period — in the house of G-d, “in order to see the sweetness of the Lord and to seek him out in His Tent” (Psalm 27). On Yom Kippur everyone becomes transported to the “world to come,” the world of souls, where the souls of the dead and the souls of the living exist in a totally separate dimension. With the advent of Succot four days later, we are ready to bring our newfound spirituality into this physical world, to re-create and perfect it. We leave our homes and enter a succa, symbolic of the tabernacle/sanctuary/Holy Temple which we are commanded to build on earth so that the Divine might dwell with humanity. And that Tabernacle is not only the earthly
abode for G-d and Israel, it is a foretaste of a world at peace, a messianic age. G-d initially appointed Bezalel as the architect of the Sanctuary. He “filled him with the spirit of Gd in wisdom, understanding and knowledge” (Exodus 31:2-3). In Proverbs 3:19-20, the text describes how the Lord “established the earth with wisdom, set up the heavens with understanding, and split the deep to give forth water and the heavens to gently drop dew with knowledge.” Hence, the true mission of the Sanctuary — or succa — is to recreate and perfect the earth. That’s why its architect had to be endowed with the same attributes the Almighty used to create the world. And so on Succot we bring special vegetation — the Four Species — into the Synagogue/Temple, through whose vegetable roof we can see the stars. And on the last day of the festival — Shmini Atzeret, Simhat Torah — we pray for G-d’s life — giving waters and take Torah scrolls out into the streets so that every human being may accept the yoke of the heavenly kingship. So we have come full circle, advancing from the broken terua to the glorious redemption of the world. Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi — Efrat Israel
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18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
JEWZ
IN THE
By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist ON NOBEL PRIZES AND BASEBALL As I write this (Oct. 6), the Nobel Prizes in medicine, physics and chemistry have been awarded. Two out of three of the 2011 medicine winners (the late RALPH STEINMAN and BRUCE BEUTLER) are Jewish, as are two out of three of the physics laureates (SAUL PERLMUTTER and ADAM RIESS.) Also Jewish is the sole winner of the 2011 chemistry Nobel, Israeli DAN SCHECHTMAN. The number of Jewish winners, so far, is better than most years. But it isn’t a shocking number. Nobel Prizes have been awarded since 1901 in five fields: medicine, chemistry, physics, literature and peace. An economics prize was added in 1969. Most prizes are given to individuals. However, 23 out of 121 Nobel Peace Prizes have been given to organizations. Out of 815 Nobel Prizes given individuals, 181 of those winners have been Jewish or “half Jewish.”(Persons with one Jewish parent are about 10 percent of the 181.) In other words, Jews, who represent less than a tenth of 1 percent of the world’s population, have won 22 percent of all the Nobel prizes given individuals. Jews have won 26 percent of the awards in the four “hard science” categories. (One can “quibble” about a handful of the winners: A few of the “half Jews” were raised Christian, and three Jewish winners converted away from Judaism before WWII; two did it for career reasons. By the way, one chemistry winner was a Christianborn convert to Orthodox Judaism.) Wouldn’t it be great if someone made a documentary on these Jewish Nobel laureates with some attention to the ways in which the Jewish experience led to this remarkable production of intellectual greats? There are tons of books, documentaries, etc. on Jews in baseball. However, fewer Jews (about 160) have played major league ball than have won Nobel Prizes (and about 18,000 people have played in the majors). A film on these laureates would be a source of pride for Jews and great public relations for the worldwide Jewish community. I am pretty sure that SANDY KOUFAX would rather see such a film than be asked, yet again, about sitting out on Yom Kippur. BIG YEAR Director DAVID FRANKEL, 52, has shown a very sure touch with his two recent hits (“The Devil Wears Prada” and “Marley and Me.”) So, it’s likely that his
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NEWZ
new comedy, “The Big Year,” which opens on Friday, Oct. 14, will be much better than many so/so movies about people who hit a life crisis and decide to chuck it all to pursue their dream. In Frankel’s film, three friends (Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and JACK BLACK, 42) have come to a crossroads. Unhappy with their lives, they decide to take a year off and have a wild, cross-country adventure. All three are avid birdwatchers, so in their year off they try to outdo each other by finding the most bird species in North America. Appearing in supporting roles are RASHIDA JONES, 35, KEVIN POLLAK, 53, and TIM BLAKE NELSON, 47. By the way, I recently pieced together that Nelson, an Oklahoma native who wrote and directed the Holocaust film, “The Grey Zone” (2001), is the nephew of GEORGE KAISER, 67, a quite famous oil billionaire who is among the 100 richest people in America. Tim’s mother, RUTH KAISER NELSON, is George’s sister. Their parents were refugees from Nazi Germany. Ruth and George’s father and uncle founded an Oklahoma oil company in the 1940s, which George joined in the ‘60s and now heads-up. George and Ruth are among the biggest benefactors of the Oklahoma Jewish community and their philanthropy to the general Oklahoma community, including the arts, is truly incredible. In January 2009, George Kaiser made headlines when he told the Oklahoma legislature that the state should eliminate or reduce tax incentives for the oil industry, and instead use the money for health care or education programs or for tax cuts for other taxpayers. He has, like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, pledged to give half his wealth to charity. MAZEL TOV On Oct. 1, actor SETH ROGEN, 29, wed his longtime girlfriend, filmmaker/writer LAUREN MILLER, 30, in a Jewish ceremony held in a vineyard in Sonoma, Calif. Guests included Rogen’s frequent co-stars ADAM SANDLER, PAUL RUDD and JONAH HILL. Director JUDD APATOW, who gave Rogen his first big breaks (the TV series, “Freaks and Geeks” and “Knocked-Up,” the movie), was also in attendance. Rogen recently told the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles that he planned to honor writer WILL REISER at his (then) upcoming wedding. Reiser, who wrote the script for Rogen’s new hit film, “50/50” (which was inspired by Reiser’s own fight with cancer), was the person who first introduced Miller to Rogen.
FROM THE PAGES 100 Y EARS A GO Mr. Emanuel Jacubowitz, who has been elected to fill the pulpit at Pueblo, Colo., and Miss Sylvia Strauss, who taught in the Special School for a number of years, were married last Friday noon. Rabbi Meilziner officiated. The young couple left this week for their new home in Colorado. Samuel Mombach, a former resident of this city, died at Evansville, Ind., on September 29, after a long illness. Mr. Mombach was born at Darnstad, Germany, and came to this country about 40 years ago. He was a man of fine education, with a noble, sympathetic character which endeared him to a large number of friends. Dr. Gilbert Mombach and Miss Blanche Mombach, of this city, are the children surviving him. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Kronacher, old and highly esteemed residents of Cincinnati have gone to New Orleans, La., and will make that city their home in the future. Mr. Kronacher has been a resident of Cincinnati since 1858 and has been a valuable Jewish communal worker for many years, more especially on the boards of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, of which he was one of the founders, and of the Congregation Bene Israel. A large number of friends here, whose good wishes will accompany them to their new home, deeply regret the loss to Cincinnati, which is clearly New Orleans’ gain. — October 12, 1911
75 Y EARS A GO Those who have been shrugging their shoulders at the development of Fascism and a militant anti-Semitism in Great Britain received a rude shock when American newspapers devoted front-page attention and editorial comment to the latest doings of England’s Blackshirts. It may be alarmist to say that England is taking the road that leads to Hitlerism, but there is no denying that the situation is disturbing. There are half a dozen Fascists and anti-Semitic groups in England. Mrs. Milton Rosenbaum (Jean Grossman), of Boston, is visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Grossman, of Prospect Place. Dr. Rosenbaum has remained in Boston, where he is resident physician at McLean Hospital, psychiatric division of Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. and Mrs. Louis A. Lurie, 3932 Dickson Avenue, will be at home Sunday, Oct. 18th after 4 p.m. in the afternoon and evening in honor of the bar mitzvah of their son, Henry. The religious ceremony will be held the previous day at 10 a.m. at Avondale Synagogue. Sigma Delta Tau of the University of Cincinnati will entertain its pledges at a tea Sunday, Oct. 18th, from 3 until 6 p.m. at the home of the chapter president. Miss Alice Rabkin, 1024 Valley Lane. Phi Sigma Delta announces the following pledges in addition to those listed Oct. 1st: Louis Fegelman and Howard Schewitz of Cincinnati; Melvin Lapides of Osceola, Ark.
Beta Chapter of Sigma Tau Phi, University of Cincinnati, has pledged the following men: Irvin Sternscheim, New York City, Norman Stein, Hartfort, Conn., Irvin Statman, New York City; David Wolf, Irvin Sollek, Lou Rouchman, Herman Simon, Ephraim Roth and Harold Kling. Mr. Allan S. Moritz, Jr., Bragg Apartments, Dana Avenue, has entered the Dental College at Ohio State University at Columbus. Mr. Isaac Uhlfelder, 78, passed away at the Home for Jewish Aged and Infirm, 3138 Burnet Avenue. Mr. Uhlfelder, who was born in Cincinnati, is survived by three sons, Louis, of San Francisco, Morton, of Dayton, and David, of Cincinnati, and a sister, Mrs. Amelia Rosenthaler, also of Cincinnati. — October 15, 1936
50 Y EARS A GO Dr. Murray Jaffe and W. Gordon Taylor have been named representatives of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Unit, American Cancer Society, to the Public Health Federation. Dr. Jaffe recently was named a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is a member of the board of the Cancer Society. Mr. Taylor is executive secretary of the ACS unit. Dr. Irving Schaen, Middletown, passed away, Friday, Oct. 6. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Marian R. Schaen; a son, Michael; a daughter, Ethel Jean; his mother, Mrs. Nathan Schaen; three sisters, Mrs. Eliahu Harris of New York, Mrs. Ruby Lucas and Mrs. William Shapiro, of Cincinnati, and a brother, Harry Schaen, of Cincinnati. William Zemboch, 1302 Avon Drive, passed away Wednesday, Oct. 4. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Irma Stuhbarg Zemboch, a son Tommy, and a daughter, Susan. Mrs. Maxwell Lott will open the season of the Euterpe Music Club Wednesday, Oct. 18, at 1 p.m. at the home of Mrs. Sheal Becker, 6695 Farm Acres Drive. Mrs. Irvin Rinsky, program chairman, will present “Composers of Slavic Music,” with vocalist, Mrs. Bert Pleatman; pianist, Mrs. Gerald Patrick; cellist, Miss Marian Beers; violinist, Mrs. Anita Marcus; pianist, Mrs. Millard Segal. Hostesses are Mrs. Becker, Mrs. Bert Pleatman, Mrs. Jack Kessel. — October 12, 1961
25 Y EARS A GO Phillip Angel of Charleston, W. Va., passed away Sept. 23. He is survived by his wife, Frances; two sons, Henry Angel and Phillip Angel, Jr.; four sisters, Mrs. Cecilia Berman and Mrs. Anne Sepadin, both of Cincinati, Mrs. Fannye Finkelstein of Hallandale, Fla., and Mrs. Barbara Levin of Terre Haute, Ind.; and five grandchildren. Services were in Charleston on Sept. 24. Interment was also in Charleston. Mr. Tom S. Levin of Cincinnati, passed away Oct. 5. He is survived by his wife,
Adelaide; two brothers, Bernard E. Levin of Los Angeles and Saul G. Levin of Cincinati; a sister and brother-in-law, Lucille and Morris Moel of Pompano Beach, Fla.; and nephews and nieces, Ron and Richard Levin of Cincinnati, Drew Levin of Los Angeles, Don Moel of Chicago, Reggie (Levin) Moskowitz of Cincinnati, Judy (Moel) Aiges of New York City and Leslie Levin of Los Angeles. Services were at Weil Funeral Home on Oct. 7. Rabbi Lewis Kamrass officiated. Interment was in Resthaven Memorial Park. Dr. Benjamin Felson, radiologist, will be the Jewish National Fund’s honoree at the Doctor’s Forest Community Dinner on Nov. 9 at the Omni Netherland Plaza. Florence Lieberman, president of JNF Cincinnati Council made the announcement. Dr. Felson is currently the emeritus professor of radiology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine after serving as its departmental director for 22 years. A clinician, teacher, investigator, organizer, scholar and diagnostician, Dr. Felson has authored or coauthored over 150 scientific papers and seven books on all phases of diagnostic radiology. — October 16, 1986
10 Y EARS A GO Since moving to their first permanent home, Congregation Beth Adam has seen record membership gains, with 27 members joining in the last six weeks. Membership for the only area congregation with a humanistic perspective now stands at 305 individuals, representing 207 families. “However, our membership is not growing just because we have a new building,” said Rabbi Robert B. Barr. “It’s growing because our religious philosophy and liturgy resonates with people and helps them foster a deeper sense of their moral and spiritual selves within the context of modernday Judaism.” Two groups at Isaac M. Wise Temple have joined together to show their love for Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Laura Pulfer. Both Wise Sisterhood and Wise Seniors will present “We Love Laura,” with Pulfer as guest speaker, Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 1 p.m. at Wise Temple. Pulfer, a former editor and publisher of Cincinnati Magazine, was named Best Columnist in Ohio by the Associated Press and the Society for Professional Journalists in her first year as Metro columnist for the Cincinnati Enquirer. Her column is now syndicated to 100 other newspapers, and she is also a regular commentator for national Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.” Pulfer’s trademark is her sense of contradiction, describing herself as a “feminist who quit work to stay at home with her daughter,” and believes “that garbage, bugs and snakes are men’s work.” She is also known for her pithy epigrams, such as these two: “Power is like a muscle; if you want it to grow you have to exercise it” and “‘Happy Holidays’ is the December equivalent of ‘Dear Occupant.’” — October 11, 2001
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011
CLASSIFIEDS • 19
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS Access (513) 373-0300 • www.jypaccess.org Big Brothers/Big Sisters Assoc. (513) 761-3200 • bigbrobigsis.org Camp Ashreinu (513) 702-1513 Camp at the J (513) 722-7226 • mayersonjcc.org Camp Livingston (513) 793-5554 • camplivingston.com Cedar Village (513) 754-3100 • cedarvillage.org Chevra Kadisha (513) 396-6426 Cincinnati Community Mikveh 513-351-0609 Fusion Family (513) 703-3343 • www.fusionnati.org 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) 514-1200 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 Shalom Family (513) 703-3343 • www.myshalomfamily.org The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education (513) 487-3055 • holocaustandhumanity.org Vaad Hoier (513) 731-4671 Workum Fund (513) 899-1836 • workum.org YPs at the JCC (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org
CONGREGATIONS Adath Israel Congregation (513) 793-1800 • adath-israel.org Beit Chaverim (513) 984-3393 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
Congregation Ohr Chadash (513) 252-7267 • ohrchadashcincinnati.com Congregation Sha’arei Torah shaareitorahcincy.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
EDUCATION Chai Tots Early Childhood Center (513) 234.0600 • chaitots.com Chabad Blue Ash (513) 793-5200 • chabadba.com Cincinnati Hebrew Day School (513) 351-7777 • chds.shul.net HUC-JIR (513) 221-1875 • huc.edu JCC Early Childhood School (513) 793-2122 • mayersonjcc.org Kehilla - School for Creative Jewish Education (513) 489-3399 • kehilla-cincy.com Mercaz High School (513) 792-5082 x104 • mercazhs.org Kulanu (Reform Jewish High School) 513-262-8849 • kulanucincy.org Regional Institute Torah & Secular Studies (513) 631-0083 Rockwern Academy (513) 984-3770 • rockwernacademy.org
ORGANIZATIONS American Jewish Committee (513) 621-4020 • ajc.org American Friends of Magen David Adom (513) 521-1197 • afmda.org B’nai B’rith (513) 984-1999 Hadassah (513) 821-6157 • cincinnati.hadassah.org Jewish Discovery Center (513) 234.0777 • jdiscovery.com Jewish National Fund (513) 794-1300 • jnf.org Jewish War Veterans (513) 204-5594 • 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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production@ americanisraelite.com JCC from page 3 Tuesday, Nov. 8, 7 p.m. – Jim Axelrod: “In the Long Run: A Father, a Son, and Unintentional Lessons in Happiness.” CBS national news correspondent Jim Axelrod details his effort to run the 2009 New York Marathon and beat his father’s decades-old finish time. Wednesday, Nov. 9, 7 p.m. – Melissa Fay Greene: “No Biking in the House Without a Helmet,” is a hilarious book about the author’s family of nine children, five of whom are adopted. CONGRESS from page 6 Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a report to the ad hoc committee of nations that help fund the Palestinians. The report was submitted Sept. 18, just five days before the Palestinians submitted their statehood bid at the United Nations. Such mixed messages are no longer sustainable now that the Palestinian Authority has gone to the U.N., congressional insiders told JTA. If the Israelis want continued security funding for the Palestinian Authority, they have to explicitly say so in order to give political cover to lawmakers — particularly Jewish Democrats, who will be blasted by Republicans for any generosity to the Palestinians in the wake of their U.N. push. “If they’re willing to say the Palestinian security forces are important, that’ll make a difference. If they don’t, that’ll make a difference,” said one top Capitol Hill staffer. “Ultimately, people are going to have to explain themselves.” An Israeli official said that Israel would not comment on internal congressional deliberations. However, the official did note that the Israeli submission to the ad hoc committee was made before the Palestinians made their U.N. push. The Israelis had warned the Palestinians that such a push would have consequences. U.S. lawmakers who strongly backed the Bush administration’s effort in 2007 to increase funding for the Palestinians to $400 million per year — up from very occasional bursts of $20 million
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(513) 531-9600 Thursday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m. – Myla Goldberg: “The False Friend” is a bestselling work by the author of “Bee Season,” in which the author explores the complexities of moral judgment, the fallibility of memory and the adults that children become. “Authors Out Loud” is a oneof-a-kind opportunity to hear these leading authors and be inspired by their passion, wit and artistry. Space is limited, so advance reservations are encouraged. For registration or more information, call Courtney Cummings at the JCC or visit their website. — either have been silent or have supported cutting off the Palestinians. Their ranks include leading Jewish Democrats. Opposition to continued funding so pervades Congress that proIsrael witnesses who testified early in September before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in support of sustaining funding were taken aback by the pushback from the committee’s members. The manifold increase in American funding four years ago was a recognition of the moderation of PA President Mahmoud Abbas relative both to his late predecessor, Yasser Arafat, and his Hamas rivals, who had just driven his Fatah movement out of the Gaza Strip by force. The annual American aid has since increased from $500 million to $600 million. Much of the aid that would be least controversial to cut — the $200 million to $250 million that goes directly to the Palestinian Authority to help maintain its institutions and pay its salaries — already has been disbursed for this year. Given the mood in Congress, it likely won’t be reapproved for the next fiscal year, although Obama administration officials have suggested they will ask. “We are continuing intensive consultations with the Congress on this money because we feel that U.S. support for Palestinian institution-building is a vital piece of what we’re trying to do here,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday in her daily briefing for reporters. “We’re trying to prepare the ground for a successful and stable peace.
20 • TRAVEL
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Such fun! The joy of doing nothing Wandering Jew
by Janet Steinberg “The grand object of traveling is to see the shores of the Mediterranean.” — Samuel Johnson, 1776 How many times have you thought (or heard someone say) “been there, done that?” Well, my friends, when you think you’ve done it all…do nothing…but do it with panache. Having cruised the Mediterranean many times, I decided it was time to do nothing…except exactly what I pleased. This time, I decided to enjoy my Crystal Serenity Mediterranean Cruise without racing around to every museum, garden or religious site in the area. I was determined to become a complete sybarite…sleeping in, eating marvelous food, lying on a sandy beach and maybe, just maybe, visiting a site or two. And, believe it or not, this type-A personality actually managed to pull it off! Allow me to show you how it was done. Days 1 and 2 — Barcelona, Spain: Having previously toured all the Gaudi architecture, including Sagrada Familia and Guell Park, experienced the Gothic Quarter, Montjuic, and the Olympic Stadium, etc., it was time to start the task of just doing nothing — my way. I strolled the pedestrian mall called the Ramblas, photographing a plethora of mimes and street entertainers, and shopped the Public Market with food presented so exquisitely it looked as if it should be displayed on black velvet. Relaxation came in the form of a beer and tapas (small savory Spanish snacks). Day 3 — Cruising the Mediterranean: Sailing some 266 nautical miles to Cannes, France, I had a leisurely day to reacquaint myself with the ultra-luxe Crystal Serenity that had recently undergone a $25-million redesign. Crystal Cruises’ largest ship is a study in modern classic elegance. All 535 staterooms, retail centers, outdoor pool deck, corridors and other spaces received a dazzling facelift, in addition to general sprucing of the entire outside and inside of the vessel. Crystal Serenity gave me, and the other 795 guests from 37 countries, a show-stopping new look of the
ship that would be our floating home-away-from-home for the next 12 days. Day 4 — Cannes, France: The morning was spent on a short, but comprehensive, drive around the city of Cannes (pronounced Kahn). We drove along La Croisette, around Palm Beach and along Rue D’Antibes, stopping for a short visit to the Israelite Synagogue and Notre-Dame de Esperance church. At noon, I hopped aboard a ferry to St. Honorat, one of the unique Lerin Islands 15-minutes off the coast of Cannes. “Monk-ey business” ruled the day at La Tonnelle, a restaurant on the water’s edge of St. Honorat Island. St. Honorat is home to the monks of the Abbaye de Lerins who occupy the island, grow the grapes and make the wine that is known to oenophiles around the world. The island’s only restaurant, La Tonnelle, is a convivial haven of peace offering great wines, great food and great views of the crystal clear Mediterranean. Day 5 — Cannes, France: After overnighting in Cannes on the Crystal Serenity, I had one more day to wallow in the beauty of Cannes. Awakening, without an alarm clock being set, I headed for the private, silky sand beach club (Zplage) of the Martinez Hotel located on La Croisette. Zplage is la dolce vita on the French Riviera. After soaking up the Mediterranean sun on one of their 400 sunbeds, it was time for lunch. The piece de resistance was an incredible edible dessert named “L’Or, L’Or, L’Or, Lipstick. By L’Oreal Paris.” In all my years of eating my way around the world, I have never seen (or tasted) anything like it. 147 Nautical miles to Livorno. Day 6 — Livorno, Italy: Livorno is the Italian port for the city of Florence. Having been to Florence (and nearby Pisa) numerous times, I opted to skip tours of those cities. Instead, I opted for Crystal Serenity’s complimentary shuttle service into Livorno. More time to spend in my lovely home aboard Crystal Serenity. 126 nautical miles to Civitavecchia. Day 7 — Civitavecchia, Italy: As in Livorno, I decided to remain in Civitavecchia thus avoiding a long, costly drive into Rome…a city I had visited many times. Crystal Serenity’s complimentary shuttle drove us to town where the town’s only tour bus drove us to The Taurine Baths (Le Terme Taurine), a few miles north of the town. The Baths are among the most important archaeological and thermal complexes of the Roman age. 165 nautical miles to Sorrento. Day 8 — Sorrento, Italy: On a perfectly cloudless, Mediterranean day, I had lunch at the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria. The hotel’s private elevator lifted me from sea level to the Excelsior Vittoria, precariously perched on a cliff over-
(Clockwise) Crystal Serenity from Hotel Excelsior Vittoria’s Terrazza Bosquet in Sorrento, Italy; My husband’s significant birthday celebration, Cipriani Hotel-style, in Venice, Italy; Unique edible dessert, “L’Or, L’Or, L’Or” at Zplage in Cannes, France.
looking the Bay of Naples. The Italian aperitif Campari primed me for a most memorable lunch on the hotel’s open-air restaurant, Terrazza Bosquet. I lunched on the savory Mediterranean specialties, soaked up the spectacular sights of Ischia and Procida and glimpsed the mauve shades of Mt. Vesuvius in the distance. We spent the night on Crystal Serenity, anchored in the Bay of Naples. Day 9 — Sorrento, Italy: Once again I opted to spend the day aboard the beautiful Crystal Serenity. I lingered over cappuccino in The Bistro, curled up in a circular pod bed on the pool deck, went to a movie in the Hollywood Theater, enjoyed Tea Time in the lovely Palm Court, and savored
dinner in Prego, Crystal Serenity’s signature Italian restaurant. 556 nautical miles to Dubrovnik. Day 10 — Cruising the Mediterranean: Yeah!!! Another day at sea enjoying what Crystal Serenity has to offer… a “Cuisine of the Sun” buffet on pool deck; Bruce Johnson on the crystal piano in the Crystal Cove; Mozart Tea Time in the Palm Court, and dinner at Silk Road, showcasing the extraordinary cuisine of Nobu Matsuhisa. Still cruisin’ to Dubrovnik. Day 11 — Dubrovnik, Croatia: Dubrovnik is a city where every stone is seeped in history. Yet, it is a pulsating city that is alive in the present. This ancient walled city, dubbed the “Pearl of the Adriatic,”
is a museum in and of itself. In this city perfumed by sea air, there is a confluence of the past and the present. Lunch, with a magnificent view, was on the terrace of Dubravka Restaurant at the Pile Gate. 318 nautical miles to Venice. Day 12 — Venice, Italy: To me, the glorious Cipriani Hotel is synonymous with the word Venice! This heavenly hedonistic haven is one of my most favorite places in the world. Having only a half-day to spend in Venice, I headed straight to the Cipriani for a lunch that culminated with a most divine cake for my husband’s significant birthday celebration. When I win the lottery, I want to live at the Cipriani. Crystal Cruise completed. Ciao!
FOOD / AUTOS • 21
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011
Succah memories Zell’s Bites
by Zell Schulman When I remove the box marked “Succoth” from my storage room, I realize Fall is finally upon us. I love visiting the temporary booths which have been erected and decorated with colorful gourds, pumpkins and corn stalks.Their roofs have strands of popcorn and cranberries hanging from branches, whose leaves painted orange, gold, red or brown by Mother Nature, add their special beauty to one of my favorite agricultural holidays.
In the morning after he davened, he would fold up the quilt, the linens and the cot and bring them into my grandmother’s home until the next evening. Over the years, my family has had a variety of succahs. Some created by architecture students from the University of Cincinnati, some ordered from Jewish catalogues, and some “do it yourselves.” No matter, each one brought such joy to our family and friends. I do believe my favorite Succoths were ones shared and celebrated with the Russian families who had moved to our Jewish community. Another was the Succah we decorated with the Jewish adults living in Holam House who came to celebrate with us. My fondest Succoth memory was when I was a teenager. I spent Succoth with my grandmother, Bessie Jacobs, of blessed memory. We not only ate in her Succah, but her next door neighbor who was very traditional, actually came and slept in the
Succah. Each evening I helped her prepare the small cot with fresh linens which we covered with a beautiful, handmade quilt. In the morning after he davened (said his morning prayers), he would fold up the quilt, the linens and the cot and bring them into my grandmother’s home until the next evening. The recipes she prepared for this holiday were casseroles filled with tasty vegetables, bowls of hearty soups made with flanken (short ribs) and fresh vegetables, and the sweetest cookies and cakes from a sweet yeast dough, filled with apples, nuts, poppy seeds or apricot perserves. Those days and hours spent in the kitchen, preparing these special dishes, are no more. The world of technology has taken its place but the memories will always be there with me. PUMPKIN SOUP Serves 8 This soup makes a wonderful first course, served in a scooped out acorn squash, or as an appetizer passed in mugs. It may be served hot or cold. I prefer it hot. Ingredients: 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon butter or margarine 1 small yellow onion, minced 4 tablespoons flour 1/4 teaspoon white pepper 1/2 teaspoon mace 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock, or canned broth 3 cups canned pumpkin 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar 1 cup parve non-dairy creamer or whipping cream 1 teaspoon salt (optional) Minced parsley or mint for garnish. Processor Method: 1. Heat oil and butter or margarine in a 6-quart soup pot. Sauté the onion over medium high heat, until it gets soft but not brown. Add the flour, pepper and mace, stirring with a wire whisk. Cook until bubbly. Remove from heat. 2. Place pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon and brown sugar in the bowl of the processor. Process 10 seconds. Add one cup of chicken or vegetable broth and process 5 more seconds. 3. Empty into a soup pot. Add the remaining broth. Cook over moderate heat, stirring until the mixture begins to simmer. Do not let this boil. Add cream or nondairy creamer and simmer on low for 6 to 8 minutes. Taste and add more spices if you wish. Before serving, garnish with minced parsley or mint leaves.
2012 Audi Q5—Luxury meets affordable The new 2012 Audi Q5 leaves nothing to be desired, at a price that is both affordable and competitive. Audi has really taken its time to give its customers options to customize the Q5 to one’s own liking. This SUV is both stylish and family friendly, while sporting a lot of class and muscle. According to US News poll rankings, the 2012 Q5 is the No. 1 luxury SUV in the market. The car is modeled after the Audi A4 but in an SUV format. This gives the look and performance of an SUV, but handles like an A4. There are four options packages on the Q5. All wheel drive is standard on every package. The base package, known as Premium trim, has a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which combines the Audi valvelift system, variable valve timing, Audi FSI® direct injection and turbocharging for more power and greater efficiency. Standard features include leather seats, wood inlays, three-zone automatic, 12-way power front seats with four-way power lumbar adjustment, and poweradjustable, heated exterior mirrors with integrated LED turn signals. The next package up is the Premium Plus. This package adds more upscale features, such as heated front seats, Panorama sunroof, Driver memory, Blue-tooth and much more. The next two upper packages are very similar to one another. There is the 3.2 Premium Plus, and the 3.2 Prestige. They both have a 3.2-liter V6 engine, which with its four valves-per-cylinder, offers silky-smooth and responsive per-
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2012 Audi Q5
formance, thanks to the combination of FSI® and Audi valvelift system. The use of aluminum for the block and cylinder head makes the 3.2-liter V6 lightweight, resulting in improved handling. The only real difference between the two packages is the Prestige comes standard with a rearview camera, thermo cup holder, blind spot monitoring system and 14-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system. Even after these packages, there’s still the hybrid Audi Q5. This is Audi’s first production vehicle to incorporate both gas and electric drive, the former a 2.0-liter TFSI four-cylinder, the latter a 44-hp electric motor sandwiched between the engine and eight-speed automatic transmission. Combined output is 241 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque, directed to all four wheels. A 72-cell, 1.3-kWh lithium-ion battery pack is positioned under the load floor, and it takes a minimal toll on the rear cargo area. If maximizing fuel economy and
minimizing a carbon footprint are your goals—the Q5 hybrid’s driver interfaces make them easier to attain. Audi’s usual Multi Media Interface (MMI) appears here with special functions to monitor the flow of energy among the engine, motor, and battery, as well as to display rates of energy consumption and recuperation as easy-to-read bar graphs. The tachometer has been replaced by a power meter that displays real-time levels of electric boost, gas power, and battery charge. The needle is quite precise and lets you know exactly how close you are to coming off fullelectric drive, making it easy to maintain silent operation. The Audi Q5 is redefining the term luxury and at its unbeatable price, it leaves competition in the dust. MSRP is $35,000 - $43,000 depending on your package (the estimated MSRP for the hybrid is $48,000) and no matter which package you choose, you’ll be satisfied.
22 • OBITUARIES D EATH N OTICES BROWERS, Lilly Wander, age 93, died on October 6, 2011; 8 Tishrei, 5772. SCHAEN, Earl, age 85, died on October 10, 2011; 13 Tishrei, 5772. TENBOSCH, Gerald J., age 60, died on October 11, 2011; 13 Tishrei, 5772. SUKKAH from page 8 So I was going strictly private PUTIN from page 10 to the needs of our community and related to us with a deep respect.” But the Putin regime also earned a reputation for intimidating political opponents and journalists, and rolling back democratic reforms. As evidence, critics say one need look no further than the way he has orchestrated his return to power. The announcement about the next stage of Putin’s rule over Russia came Sept. 24, when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Putin’s handpicked successor to the post, said he would not run in next year’s presidential election. Medvedev then backed Putin’s return to the Kremlin. In return, Putin offered Medvedev the prime minister’s chair in 2012. Putin, the president from 2000 to 2008, was constitutionally barred from seeking a third conOVERLOAD from page 10 Their aliyah has been dogged by setbacks and controversy for at least a decade. Opponents question the Jewish credentials of the Ethiopians and view the immigrants as an economic and social burden to the state. Advocates of Ethiopian aliyah blame the government for dragging its feet on implementing decisions to bring the Ethiopians, exacerbating the problems for those living in pover-
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sector — no more approved prefab sukkahs or out-of-control holiday spending. But upon reconsideration, maybe just a smidge of supervision might not be so bad, I thought. Who would decide if the etrog was fit to use in my sukkah? Confused, I needed to talk to someone about both the spiritual and design sides of my plan. I needed a rabbi and an architect, so I called both: Rabbi Alan Lurie of Rye, N.Y. Lurie is a modern-sounding rabbi with private smicha from a beit din, or rabbinical court, as well as a licensed architect who studied at the Chicago Institute of
Technology. He is the managing director of the real estate firm Grubb & Ellis. In the introduction to his book “Five Minutes on Mondays: Finding Unexpected Purpose, Peace, and Fulfillment at Work,” Lurie wrote, “Uncertainty can, in fact, be a great gift because it can cause us to rethink our established, fixed way of seeing things.” Thus, I thought, he could advise me on my own sukkah uncertainty. “Certainly I wouldn’t go into debt. I don’t think the Shulchan Aruch would suggest that,” Lurie advised, crushing my expansionary dreams in a fiscally conserva-
tive way. “We all don’t need so much. The country is going through a tikkun, a major correction. We need to readjust,” he said. “I know families who have playrooms bigger than our house, and they are still not happy.” Moving the debate back in time from America’s founding fathers to a group of fathers much older, Lurie reminded me that the sukkah is supposed to be “a humble structure” and that size was not important. “To build it just to impress someone is a ‘chet’ [a sin],” he reminded. “And what about spending for repairs?” I asked. “A rickety structure is kind of
a lovely way to celebrate,” the rabbi responded, quieting my appetite for costly infrastructure repair, though he did point out that my “sukkah needed to be safe.” “It shouldn’t fall on someone,” he said, sanctioning necessary repairs as the president had proposed. So I would be “building up” after all, just in a scaled-down sort of way. By compromising, I would soon be on my way to a season of sukkah recovery.
secutive four-year term. The 2008 arrangement that made Putin the prime minister for four years was widely seen as a sign that Putin would retain control over the reins of power, and his intention to return to the presidency confirms that thinking. With presidential terms extended to six years by Medvedev — presumably with Putin in mind — Putin, who turns 59 this week, could serve as Russia’s president until 2024. His public approval rating is high and he isn’t expected to meet any formidable political challenges. Putin’s popularity is explained largely by Russians’ yearning for order and a strong hand skillfully wielded by the Kremlin’s political advisers. Over the years of his rule, Putin effectively sidetracked any real opposition, put the brakes on political dissent on national airwaves and turned Russia’s Parliament — dominated by his
United Russia party — into a virtual arm of his regime. Liberals find his plan to return to the presidency deeply disturbing. “I’m honestly shaken by the impudence with which this was all done,” Yevgeniya Albats, a prominent Russian Jewish journalist, told Echo Moskvy radio, one of Russia’s few remaining liberal media outlets. “We have witnessed how all institutions of the Russian Federation were torn down — the constitution, the elections,” said Albats, the editor in chief of The New Times weekly magazine in Moscow. Critics blame Putin for dismantling many of the democratic achievements of his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin; for failing to implement many substantial economic and social reforms; for nurturing widespread corruption; and for creating a system in which only
those with ties to his clan can prosper. Others argue that Putin’s return, no matter how it was orchestrated, is a fair reflection of realities in today’s Russia. “It may not be happening all nicely, but democracy is not built overnight,” Satanovsky said. “Putin is coming back to power as a real leader of a large political and economic clan. Can it change soon? I don’t see how.” The early years of Putin’s presidency were marked by Kremlin pressure against Russia’s oligarchs — the once politically influential Russian business tycoons, many of whom were Jews. But in recent years, most leading business figures in Russia have withdrawn from political life, marking a victory for the Kremlin. Despite the fact that many of those oligarchs were Jewish, Satanovsky notes that Putin never let his political, business and even
personal battles “translate into anything anti-Jewish.” While the Putin era has not been good for democracy in Russia, Jewish life in the country has continued to thrive. Thousands of parents send their children to Jewish schools and camps, and new synagogues and community centers are being added every year. There even are new museums opening in Moscow. Despite these gains under Putin and his loyal successor Medevedev, a sense of unease left over from the olden days persists among many Jewish community leaders, who declined speak on the record with JTA about the perils of Putin’s cavalier approach toward democracy. “There is a certain frustration in the society,” said one Jewish leader who asked that his name not to be used. “But the revolution is nowhere near. There is no democracy, and life goes on.”
ty in Ethiopia and waiting to immigrate. More than 6,000 such people are left in Ethiopia, according to aliyah advocacy organizations, about 2,700 of whom have been approved by Israel to immigrate. Last month, the Public Committee for Ethiopian Jews submitted a petition to Israel’s Supreme Court to ensure that Ethiopian immigration continues at the pace promised by the government. The petition argues that the government’s decrease in the
monthly immigration quota contradicts an Israeli Cabinet decision last November to bring as many as 8,000 additional immigrants before ending mass Ethiopian aliyah. Yehuda Sharf, the Jewish Agency’s director of aliyah, absorption and special operations, said the commitment was to bring 200 people during the first year of the current aliyah operation, and then to reduce the number to 120 due to a lack of space. In fact, Sharf noted, more people than originally anticipated have arrived in 2011 because the government brought more Ethiopians than planned during the first half of the year. “I truly believe that this entire aliyah will be wrapped up within the next two years,” he told JTA. Avraham Neguise, executive director of South Wing to Zion, which lobbies the Israeli government on behalf of the Falash Mura, said those who have been approved for aliyah — the Ethiopians checked by Israeli officials who meet the criteria for Jewish links and for immigration under Israel’s Law of Entry — should be allowed to come immediately. “The government should simply open more absorption centers to accommodate them,” Neguise
said. “It is very sad that people who have already been approved have to wait so long before they can actually come.” Neguise said he recently visited Gondar, where the Ethiopians awaiting aliyah are served by Jewish aid compounds originally opened by the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry but taken over by the Jewish Agency earlier this year. The compounds provide some schooling, food assistance and employment training. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee also operates a health clinic for the aliyah petitioners. “The situation is not good at all,” Neguise said, arguing that the Ethiopians are living in dire poverty. The solution to the problem is not that simple, said Elad Sonn, a spokesman from the Immigrant Absorption Ministry, which has been coordinating efforts between the ministries of housing and finance to find a solution to the housing problem. Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver “is well aware of the situation,” Sonn said. “She visited Ethiopia last year and knows the problems the immi-
grants are facing. However, in order to absorb all these people effectively, it needs to be done carefully and in stages.” For the moment, the plan is to offer Ethiopian immigrants at the Israeli absorption centers a chance to hold the mortgage allowance they get from the government in abeyance and instead take rental subsidies, Sharf said. “This will mean that, come January, February and March, many people will be able to leave the absorption centers to make room for newer immigrants,” he said. As for conditions on the ground in Gondar, the Jewish Agency’s representative in Ethiopia, Asher Seyum, acknowledges that they aren’t great but insists that people are getting as much help as possible in preparing for aliyah. “Those who are learning Hebrew and Jewish studies in our newly opened center are getting a monthly stipend depending on their family size, and those who are not are working,” he said. “I believe that within two years, as long as another government does not come and change the previous decision, we will be able to end mass aliyah from Ethiopia.”
Edmon J. Rodman is a JTA columnist who writes on Jewish life from Los Angeles.
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