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The American Israelite T H E

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Local Holocaust survivor publishes a memoir of survival and resistance

NATIONAL

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The Jewish effort at the U.N.: Bang or bust?

INTERNATIONAL p.9

In Hungary, focus on internal issues, not Israel

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Man to be a mom, high-tech poop, gender-separate beach

DINING OUT

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Great steaks, superb cuisine at Carlo & Johnny

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Brownies get crafty at Golf Manor Synagogue p.12 J E W I S H

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CINCINNATI, OH Candle Lighting Times Shabbat begins Fri. 6:54p Shabbat ends Sat. 7:55p

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Michael Oestreicher receives AJC Award Michael R. Oestreicher of Amberley Village will receive the Community Service Award of the American Jewish Committee Cincinnati Regional Office at an Initial Gifts Reception on Tuesday, Oct. 25, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Mayerson Jewish Community Center. “We selected Michael for this honor because of his outstanding volunteer roles and civic accomplishments,” noted John Stein, AJC Cincinnati president. “Michael Oestreicher is an attorney with the Thompson Hine firm, with expertise in trade policy and international law and a passion for making our community great. He is the new president of the Jewish Foundation, recent chair of the Board of Cincinnati State, and former president of Wise Temple.” Keynote speaker is Senator Rob Portman, a member of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, who previously was U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget. Dr. Michael A. Safdi chairs the Tribute Committee for AJC’s annual Appeal for Human Relations, benefiting AJC’s global Jewish advocacy and intergroup outreach. Dr. Safdi noted, “Generous donors support our programs and activities, building international support for Israel, diminishing our reliance on imported oil, and reforming U.S. immigration policy. Locally, AJC sponsors the Community Intergroup Seder, Thanksgiving Diversity Lunch, and Simon Lazarus Awards for outstanding high school volunteers.” Jason Isaacson, director of AJC’s Office of Government and International Affairs in Washington, will briefly review AJC’s recent meetings with numerous foreign ministers in support of direct talks leading to a negotiated two-state settlement to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. To donate to AJC and to make reservations for the Initial Gifts Reception, please contact the AJC Cincinnati office.

Michael R. Oestreicher


GOT PHOTOS? If your company, congregation, organization, or school has photos of an event, share them with our readers in the Cincinnati Jewish Life section. Submit your photos by sending them on a CD to: The American Israelite, 18 W. 9th Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, OH 45202 CD should contain only hi-res photos and a Word .doc of captions for each photo and a short synopsis of the event, including date/place/reason/etc.

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LOCAL • 3

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011

JFS first annual Festi-Bowl Bring your family and friends to Jewish Family Service’s first annual Festi-Bowl fundraising party, 1–3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 6, at Colerain Bowl. There will be family-friendly entertainment and fun for all ages from young children to young-atheart grandparents…even if you don’t bowl. Activities include Glow Bowl, Bumper Bowl (pops

up as needed per bowler), prizes, face painting, carnival games, a stilt walker, and more! Your admission benefits kids and families whose lives are strengthened by Jewish Family Service programs. The Festi-Bowl Title Sponsor is The Jewish Hospital, Presenting Sponsors are Andi, Alex and Aaron Levenson and The Toots Foundation, and the Supporting Sponsor is Vorys,

Sater, Seymour and Pease, LLP. The volunteer planning committee is Marcie Bachrach, Andrea Lerner Levenson, Susan Shorr and Gary Smith. Admission includes an adultsize T-shirt, shoe rental, bowling and entertainment. Register by Oct. 27 online or call Sandee Golden to reserve limited Bumper Bowl or for any other questions.

Cincinnati Playhouse show at the J The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s production of “What’s Buggin’ Greg” will perform at the Mayerson JCC at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23. This performance is free and open to the entire community. “What’s Buggin’ Greg,” a world premiere written for Playhouse in the Park and winner of the Macy’s New Play Prize, is a hilarious comedy geared for kids in grades 3 - 6 and their families. It’s the story of fifth-grader Greg, who wakes up one morning to discover that he has turned into a giant cockroach. What will he tell his friends? Is he doomed to be a science exhib-

it for the rest of his life? This riotous comedy, presented by the Wolf Center for Arts and Ideas at the Mayerson JCC, touches on issues of friendship and selfconfidence, as well as body image and disability. “The Wolf Center at the JCC is pleased to partner with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park to offer this unique performance for the entire community,” said Courtney Cummings, JCC Cultural Arts Coordinator. “This is such a wonderful opportunity for children and their families to enjoy an age-appropriate, quality production.” “Thanks to the establishment

of the Wolf Center for Arts and Ideas at the J, we are able to bring outstanding performances to the JCC that enrich people’s lives and help advance the Cincinnati 2020 vision of developing a model Jewish community,” said Jeff Baden, JCC executive director. “I encourage families with children in grades 3 - 6 to join us on Sunday, Oct. 23 for Playhouse in the Park’s performance of their prize-winning new show.” For more information about the production, call Courtney Cummings, JCC Cultural Arts Coordinator, or visit the JCC website.

Make a positive difference with Cincinnati Museum Center Cincinnati Museum Center takes inspiration from Rick Guidotti’s photography exhibit, “Positive Exposure: The Spirit of Difference,” and presents an exciting month of October activities! Rick Guidotti and Kathleen Cail make a world of difference, finding beauty where others might not have noticed. Come and celebrate those who fully embrace what it means to make a difference as we award them for their work in the community. Community volunteer Kathleen Cail worked hard to bring “Positive Exposure:The Spirit of Difference” to Museum Center. This enlightening exhibit by former fashion photographer Rick Guidotti seeks to challenge the stigma associated with difference by celebrating the beauty of genetic and medical diversity with positive images and inspiring real life stories. Positive Exposure has traveled around the world and will be at Museum Center from Oct. 1 – Jan. 1, 2012. As a community gathering place, Cincinnati Museum Center strives to bring together people of all ages, backgrounds and communities to learn more about our world. Positive Exposure encompasses just that mission. “We are all beautiful and amazing human beings and our similar-

ities are far greater than our differences,” said Kathleen Cail, whose daughter Grace is in the exhibit. “Regardless of our abilities, we all want to be respected and appreciated for our gifts and talents, to have true friendships and love in our lives, to belong and be part of the greater community and to be free to make choices and have our opinions heard.” To support this illuminating exhibit, Cincinnati Museum Center has partnered with Starfire U, an organization that enables individuals with disabilities to become active and vital members of the community. Bring your family to experience a different kind of learning. Starfire will facilitate experiences including sports trivia, musical performances, yoga and poetry readings. Every program provides opportunities for individuals to learn and practice their social skills and create strategies for interacting with the community. Finally, join us as we celebrate Cincinnatians going the extra mile to change our community for the better. The Duke Energy Children’s Museum’s Difference Maker Awards honor individuals, businesses and agencies that go above and beyond to better the lives of children. They are nominated by their peers and members of the community for the inspiring work they do.

Celebrate this year’s winners at our dinner and awards reception Oct. 20 at 5:30 p.m. at Museum Center. For more information, call or visit our website.

HAP PY N EW YEAR! from

ASSOCIATES

IN W OMENS H EALTH Ellen W. Feld, M.D., Rick Valido, M.D. Lisa Gennari, M.D., Connie Rudolph, C.N.M.

8231 Cornell Rd, Ste 320, Cincinnati, Ohio 45249

(513) 794-1500

THE ART OF ROSH HASHANAH

2011 Rosh Hashanah Cover Coloring Contest

entries can be seen @ Marx Hot Bagels 9701 KENWOOD ROAD • BLUE ASH


4 • LOCAL

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Local Holocaust survivor publishes a memoir of survival and resistance Celebrate the release of the recently published memoir “Whisper Your Name into My Ear” by local author and Holocaust survivor, Marguerite LevyFeibelman, on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. A reception for the author begins at 5 p.m., with the program following at 5:30 p.m. The program features a conversation with the author, dramatic readings of selected excerpts, book signing, remarks by the honorary consul to France, Anne Cappel and refreshments.

Marguerite, a strong-willed and idealistic Jewish teenager immersed in the French tradition of liberty, equality and fraternity, was determined to be treated like everyone else and live free and independent as her country was overtaken by Nazi soldiers. With the help and advice of a passeur, and the Jewish Scout movement, she tweaked her parents’ and her own papers, and the Levy family assumed the risks to live with false identities in the French Alps. There, they blended in with the population, did not bring attention

to themselves, and tried to live outwardly as normal a life as possible. An anonymous phone call at the tobacconist’s: “Can you come into the mountains and do some typing for two or three days? We’ll take good care of you!” was the start of Marguerite’s activities in the Resistance. “Whisper Your Name into My Ear” tells the story of the French Alsatian Albert Levy family from their beginnings in Alsace, then Mannheim (Germany), to Paris, into the Exodus and beyond

throughout the war. This book weaves a vivid tapestry of World War II in France, highlighting the contradictions, the split loyalties of the population and the opportunities arising out of the difficulties of living under hostile authorities. The Oct. 11 book release and celebration is presented by The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. For more information and to RSVP, contact The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education.

Run or walk the J5K, Oct. 16 Unpack those strollers and running shoes and bring the whole family to the J5K Run/Walk on Sunday, Oct. 16 at 8 a.m. This fun, annual event starts at the Mayerson JCC and winds through the picturesque neighborhood streets of Amberley Village, finishing at Temple Sholom, directly across from the JCC. Serious runners, walkers and families alike enjoy this great community event that ends with an awards ceremony at the JCC, where the top run finishers in each

age category will receive a medal. The fastest walkers will also receive medals. “Last year’s race was a blast! The course is challenging but really fun. I am looking forward to running this year’s J5K in October. Fall is perfect running weather!” said runner Melanie Davis. “The JCC’s facilities have been great for me and my family. The JCC fitness center has been instrumental in helping me achieve my personal fitness goals,” said Manish Anand. “I’ve never been

an avid runner. However, with personal training and the running group at the JCC, I’ve been able to train for my first official run.” The J5K race is a “chip” timed event for male and female runners and walkers of all ages. Showers, locker rooms and restrooms inside the JCC will be available for all participants. J5K advance registration is encouraged. Advance registrations (postmarked by Oct. 8) are discounted and include a Dri-Fit running shirt. Registrations submitted

October 9 – 14 are also discounted, but will only be accepted online and race shirts are not guaranteed. Race day registration on Sunday, Oct. 16 is available at the JCC for a higher price and race shirts are not guaranteed. Registration can be completed online, by mail (forms are available for download from the JCC website) or in person at the JCC fitness desk. For registration forms or more information about the J5K Run/Walk, contact Andy Mays at the JCC or see their website.

neighborhoods. Each stop will include fun Sukkot activities and refreshments. The SUV limos will leave promptly at 2:15 p.m. from Weller Park in Montgomery. Reservations are strongly encouraged to be made by Oct. 9 to ensure a place in the limousines. Call the Chabad Jewish Center or visit us on the website to make a reservation or for more information.

Then, on Thursday, Oct. 20, families are invited to dance the night away on Simchat Torah at Chabad Jewish Center. First, from 5:30 – 7 p.m., kids will have their very own Simchat Torah celebration with a kid’s menu buffet dinner, Israeli dancing with Idit Moss and a stuffed Torah for every child to take home! At 7:30 p.m. the adult’s party begins with traditional

Simchat Torah celebrations at Chabad Jewish Center. Holiday services, sushi and martinis will gear everyone up for singing and dancing with the Torahs in the famous Chassidic spirit that is unparalleled elsewhere, as seven celebratory “hakafot” (circlings) are made around the Bimah. The festivities will be held at Chabad Jewish Center in Blue Ash.

Baby Boomers go back in time with a classic TV dinner, trivia challenge Stop... Don’t touch that dial! The Baby Boomer generation is invited to tune back in time for a nostalgic nod to the ‘60s and ‘70s when rock and roll ruled, when a Coke and a smile was all you needed to feel good, and the only thing you could do with an apple was eat it! So adjust those rabbit ears and get ready to relive the magic when the Mayerson JCC, in partnership with The Mayerson Foundation, presents a Classic TV Dinner and Boomer Trivia Challenge at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22, at the JCC. “Whether you watched Jack Benny or the Jetsons, ate Wonder Bread or Wheaties, grooved to the

Mary Tyler Moore and Dick van Dyke in “The Dick van Dyke Show.”

Beatles or Bob Dillon, sported a batman lunchbox or rode a ‘banana seat’ bike, this event is sure to help you channel all the things you remember fondly from growing up!” said Susan Bradley, JCC Boomer coordinator. “Married or single, anyone in this age group is sure to enjoy this chance to meet others who want to share their memories and celebrate what’s best about being a Boomer!” Guests will be treated to a traditional TV dinner with a gourmet twist and a selection of Boomerinspired alcoholic beverages. Plus, they’ll get to team up for a multimedia trivia competition that’s

The American Israelite “LET THERE BE LIGHT” THE OLDEST ENGLISH-JEWISH WEEKLY IN AMERICA - EST. JULY 15, 1854

VOL. 158 • NO. 11 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011 8 TISHREI 5772 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 6:54 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 7:55 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 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

Sukkah Hop in style with Chabad This Sukkot holiday, Jewish families in Cincinnati have several opportunities to celebrate, thanks to Chabad Jewish Center! All are invited to join with family and friends in celebrating Sukkot’s message of joyful Jewish unity. On Sunday, Oct. 16, from 2–4 p.m., families are invited to join in a Sukkah Hop—featuring superstretch SUV limousines—and visit private sukkahs throughout local

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sure to take them on an acid (reflux!) trip down memory lane. In addition, there will be a “Candy Bar” complete with some favorite goodies from the old days, and plenty of time to mix and mingle to all the best tunes from back in the time. “Although we have special programs, classes and events geared for children, seniors, young professionals, families and others, we haven’t yet had the opportunity to focus as much as we’d like on the Baby Boomer demographic,” explained Jeff Baden, executive director of the Mayerson JCC. “But BOOMERS on page 19

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.


NATIONAL • 5

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011

Decision coming on national Jewish museum in Washington By Aaron Leibel Washington Jewish Week WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week) — Washington needs a major national museum of the Jewish people — at least that’s what a group of local heavy hitters and international Jewish celebrities believes. They have been trying for more than five years to get that museum built, and a decision to be taken this fall will determine their success. “Given Washington’s role as a pilgrimage point for Americans and an international audience, and given the fact that the major museum in Washington associated with Jews is the United States Holocaust Museum, I feel the other aspects of Jewish life — religion, tradition and culture — need to be explored for that tremendous audience,” said Ori Soltes, former curator of the city’s B’nai B’rith Klutznick Museum. Led by Soltes, the group, whose origins can be traced to the board of directors during his tenure at the Klutznick in the late 1990s, includes Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, violinist Itzhak Perlman and members of the Snyder (Washington Redskins football) family of Potomac, which will contribute music memorabilia for a wing of the

proposed National Museum of the Jewish People. Whether that museum will be built is in the hands of the General Services Administration, which administers federal properties, including the District’s Old Post Office, a 112-year-old facility. Prodded by a cost-conscious Congress anxious to rid itself of underutilized federal properties that add to the deficit — the Old Post Office currently houses some 450 federal employees and loses about $5 million annually in operating costs — and authorized by the Old Post Office Redevelopment Act of 2008, the GSA issued a Request for Proposals to redevelop the site on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol. Several groups, including the one led by Soltes, have submitted proposals. (One of the other groups reportedly is headed by Donald Trump, but Pat Daniels, GSA’s senior project manager, says she is not authorized to reveal the names of the other respondents.) A decision is expected in November. The Soltes group is partnering with Hyatt Hotels, which would turn the Old Post Office into a luxury hotel while the museum would be located on the space currently occupied by the glass annex, which

MUSEUM on page xx

Courtesy of Ori Soltes

Daniel Libeskind’s design for the National Museum of the Jewish People.

would be torn down. The group has no plans for an alternative site. Soltes, Goldman professorial lecturer in theology and fine arts at Georgetown University, is excited

by the fact that Daniel Libeskind — whose work includes the Jewish museum in Berlin, the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen and the Wohl Centre

at Bar-Ilan University in Israel — has designed the project. “His enthusiasm for this project is boundless” both because of his interest in the museum and because it is his first Washingtonbased project, Soltes says, adding that “I’m thrilled with the design because it will not only be an architectural marvel enhancing that area of Pennsylvania Avenue, but also will work well as a museum and as a Jewish museum.” The planned museum will encompass about 100,000 square feet on four floors with garden areas, an atrium and space for conferences. Insofar as exhibits are concerned, it will have three components, Soltes explains. There will be rotating exhibits and a permanent space devoted to subjects such as antiquities, Judaica, art, music, medicine, science and sports. There also will be technology to enhance those areas, including, for example, the ability to walk around a holograph reproduction of important buildings designed by Jewish architects such as Libeskind’s Jewish museum in Berlin or Frank Gehry’s museum in Bilbao, Spain; an interactive display in which to play a game of chess against Bobby Fisher; and the chance to hit a computerized Sandy Koufax fastball.


6 • NATIONAL

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The Jewish effort at the U.N.: Bang or bust? By Uriel Heilman Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK (JTA) — Until the main event, which didn’t come until the very end of last week, there was a strong element of theater to all the goings-on at and around the United Nations. Participating countries at the stripped-down Durban Review Conference issued their condemnations of Israel. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered his usual diatribe at the U.N. General Assembly. Jewish protesters outside masqueraded as clowns to portray the United Nations as a circus, while others held a mock wedding between effigies of Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar Assad. There were counter-conferences, symbolic arrests, press statements, petitions, newspaper ads and conference calls. And there were many, many meetings. But with the world’s attention fixated on the Palestinian and Israeli leaders, did the Jewish effort amount to anything more than a sideshow during the U.N. General Assembly? “If someday the history is written, believe me we played an essential role,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which aims to be the Jewish com-

Courtesy of Danielle Fleischman

While inside the United Nations Iran’s president addressed the General Assembly and member states marked the 10th anniversary of the Durban process, demonstrators outside made their views known, Sept. 22, 2011.

munity’s voice on issues of foreign policy. “American Jews were not at all side players in this.” The dueling General Assembly speeches by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “eclipsed everything else,” Hoenlein acknowledged. But he and others said that Jewish groups played a critical role behind the scenes. In meetings that began months

before the General Assembly and continued this week, Jewish organizations tried to pressure, sway, cajole and beseech governments from Washington to Libreville, Gabon, to line up against the unilateral Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations. That strategy centered on lobbying the U.S. Congress and the White House; meeting with U.N. representatives, foreign ministers and heads of state; and even seeking help from influential businessmen with connections overseas. The American Jewish Committee alone held 350 to 400 separate meetings, according to the organization’s executive director, David Harris. The primary objective of the Jewish groups was to dilute support among U.N. Security Council countries and General Assembly members for the Palestinians’ statehood initiative. The secondary goal was to ensure as little attention as possible was paid to the so-called Durban III conference, the event that marked the 10th anniversary of the 2001 U.N. anti-racism conference in South Africa that served to rally antiIsrael forces. That’s partly why there was no major Jewish rally against Durban III. On both counts, gauging success is tricky. Yes, Durban III was boycotted by some 15 countries, and the media largely ignored the one-day confer-

ence held Sept. 22. But did countries skip Durban III because of lobbying by Jewish groups, or did they decide it wasn’t in their interests to be part of a farcical process where notorious human rights violators such as Zimbabwe could herald their records fighting racism? Did media outlets fail to give much attention to Durban III because the Jews had discredited it, or because it didn’t merit much ink or airtime compared to the other big stories of the week? On Palestinian statehood, measuring achievement is even more difficult because it remains to be seen how much opposition Palestinian statehood will encounter at the United Nations. Moreover, can meetings by Jewish nongovernmental organizations make a difference when it comes to the vote on Palestine, or will countries ultimately vote according to their national interests? “In diplomacy, it’s not one meeting, one presentation one time by an AJC that turns the ship,” Harris said. “It’s many meetings by a variety of players — the U.S. government clearly in the lead, perhaps the Israeli government, perhaps the local Jewish community, perhaps others on the local scene — joined by AJC that somehow put the pieces of the puzzle together.” EFFORT on page 20

The untold story of Josh Fattal By Bryan Schwartzman The Jewish Exponent PHILADELPHIA (Jewish Exponent) — By now, the whole world knows the name and face of Joshua Fattal, the 29-year-old Elkins Park, Pa., native who spent 26 months in an Iranian prison before being reunited with his family last week in Oman and arriving back on U.S. soil on Sunday. But one aspect of the story that has largely gone unreported is the fact that Fattal is Jewish. Josh’s father, Jacob Fattal, was born in Iraq and moved to Israel before ultimately settling in the United States. Josh Fattal became a bar mitzvah at Philadelphia’s Rodeph Shalom. He traveled to Israel several times, the last time just before meeting up with his friends in Syria and going on to Iraqi Kurdistan, where they crossed the border to Iran and were arrested. It’s no accident that the Jewish side of the story has largely been kept under wraps, according to family friend Brian Gralnick and others familiar with the situation. And it doesn’t take much imagination to guess the reasons why: The Iranian government is virulently anti-Israel and has a history of charging Jews with spying for Israel. While it stands to reason that

Fattal’s captors knew his religion or learned it during interrogations, his family did not want to take any chances and risk having information get out into the public sphere that could endanger their son even further. And, since the families of the three captives worked so closely together, forming a united front, the idea was to keep the focus on three American citizens who were wrongly imprisoned, rather than single out one because of his Jewishness. So, despite the fact that Laura Fattal appeared frequently in the media as she and the other families waged a public campaign for their children’s release, she and other family members declined to be interviewed by the Jewish Exponent. The family also rejected offers of several Jewish organizations to intervene. The Jewish Exponent chose to refrain from reporting on the story altogether, let alone detail Fattal’s Jewish connection, until the hikers were freed. “When it comes to someone’s physical safety, we’ll always err on the side of caution, even if it means suppressing such a dramatic and important story,” said Lisa Hostein, the Exponent’s executive editor. Many of the details of the story are well known. Fattal, Shane Bauer and a third individual hiking in Iraqi

Kurdistan, Sarah Shourd, were arrested in July 2009 by Iranian guards, after apparently inadvertently straying into Iranian territory. It is still far from clear exactly what transpired that day, whether the threesome had actually entered Iranian territory, whether they had been coaxed over by border guards or some other scenario. The three were charged with spying for the United States and sent to Iran’s notorious Evin prison. Shourd, who was engaged to Bauer in prison, became ill and was released last year on $500,000, given by an anonymous party. Last month, the two remaining hikers were convicted and sentenced to an eight-year prison sentence. The families “knew that they had to get sentenced,” said Gralnick, 32. “The tougher part was the end of Ramadan,” when the family had been led to believe — or at least was hoping — that he would be pardoned. “That was much more critical than the guilty verdict.” Finally, on Sept. 21, nearly two weeks after a promise from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that they would be released on humanitarian grounds, the two were freed on $1 million bail together, flown to the capital of Oman and reunited with their families in a jubilant scene captured by cameras.

Shortly after their arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Sunday, Fattal and Bauer spoke out about their ordeal. They described how they spent most of their time together in a cell about the same size as a small moving van, denied a chance to exercise or even to receive letters from family. “Many times — too many times — we heard the screams of other prisoners being beaten, and there was nothing we could do to help them,” Fattal said during the news conference. The two described themselves as hostages who were only held because they were from the United States. Bauer, a journalist and the more overtly political of the two, said that he and Fattal actually opposed American policies that are the source of the antagonism between the two nations. They said they were unsure if they had ever actually crossed the border — and may never know. “We applaud the Iranian authorities for finally making the right decision regarding our case. But we want to be clear that they do not deserve undue credit for ending what they had no right and no justification to start in the first place,” said Fattal. FATTAL on page 21

National Briefs House committee chief places hold on Palestinian aid WASHINGTON (JTA) — U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is holding back nearly $200 million in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) is keeping her House of Representatives committee from considering approval of $192 million in humanitarian program assistance, two Capitol Hill sources said. The money is separate from assistance to the Palestinian Authority, $200 million of which has already been distributed, and instead is earmarked for nongovernmental groups. Such holds on NGO money have been held in the past pending oversight to show that the NGOs are not working with terrorist groups. Ros-Lehtinen in recent weeks has expressed concern that a tentative agreement to unite the Palestinian Authority with Hamas is already in effect. Hamas is the U.S.-designated terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip. The Americans for Peace Now website is reporting that other House Republicans also are holding the money, and that Republicans in the House and Senate are holding $150 million in security assistance to the Palestinian Authority. Republicans and Democrats have warned that such money may be withheld if the Palestinians do not pull back from their attempt to gain statehood recognition through the United Nations and absent peace talks with Israel. The Arab League on Sunday called on the Arab states in the region to replace that missing aid with their own donations. “The Arabs will assist the Palestinian Authority,” Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi said Sunday in Cairo after a meeting with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. “This will be the strongest answer” to the U.S. cuts. Erekat said that “The Palestinian people refuse to allow economic aid to become an instrument of blackmail regarding its rights to membership of the United Nations.” The U.N.’s Security Council is now considering the PA’s statehood bid, which the United States has said it will veto.


NATIONAL • 7

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011

Both sides agree, Irvine verdict sends message to campus activists By Dan Klein Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) — The misdemeanor convictions of 10 California college students for disrupting a speech by Israel’s ambassador to the United States is already leading partisans of both sides on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict to predict changes in the way the fight over the issue plays out on campus. “When you talk to students across college campuses, now they are pondering what is legal and what is not,” said Kifah Shah, the spokeswoman of a solidarity group for the guilty students, Stand With the Eleven. “This has a chilling effect.” In February 2010, 11 Muslim students stood one by one and interrupted a speech by Ambassador Michael Oren at the University of California, Irvine. Oren twice walked off the stage as students shouted “Mass murderer!” and “War criminal!” before being removed from the room by campus police. A planned question-and-answer session following the address was dropped. Last week, an Orange County jury found 10 Muslim students guilty of two misdemeanor charges for conspiring to disrupt a meeting and then disrupting the speech. They were sentenced to community service and probation. Charges against the 11th student were dropped last month. During the trial, prosecutor Dan Wagner described the students as “censors” who utilized the “heckler’s veto.” “This is about freedom of speech,” Wagner said in his closing statement. “That’s why we’re all here.” Some supporters of Israel express hope that the verdict will make campus protesters think twice before disrupting Israeli speakers, which has become a common tactic of pro-Palestinian activists. In 2009, hecklers at the University of Chicago repeatedly disrupted a speech by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Last November, activists from Jewish Voice for Peace shouted and unfurled banners during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in New Orleans. Six months later, a Jewish pro-Palestinian activist yelled at Netanyahu from the visitors’ gallery during his address to a joint meeting of Congress. Most recently, a Sept. 1 performance by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra was interrupted repeatedly by protesters at London’s Royal Albert Hall, forcing the BBC to stop its broadcast of the concert.

Courtesy of StandWithUs

A member of the Muslim Student Union disrupts a February 2010 speech by Michael Oren at the University of California, Irvine.

At UC Irvine, the campus Muslim Student Union, which organized the heckling, was suspended for a year by the school for violating its code of conduct, though four months later the suspension was changed to probation on appeal. A year after the disruption of Oren’s speech, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office pressed charges against the students who were involved. The Orange County Jewish Federation & Family Services in Southern California issued a statement praising the jury’s verdict. Shalom Elcott, the federation’s CEO, said the response by university administrators and the district attorney has had a positive effect on the campus climate. “It has already had a significant impact on campuses,” he said. “I think it has already created a situation on campus where other student groups have to be more careful about their behavior. It is creating more civil behavior.” The protesters’ supporters, however, have accused the prosecutor of trying to suppress political speech. Muslim groups blasted the verdict against the students. “It’s a sad day for democracy when nonviolent protestors are criminalized by their government and are found guilty for exercising a constitutional right,” Salam AlMarayati, president of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council, said in a statement. Many Jewish groups say, however, that it is Jewish students who are having their rights trampled upon and pro-Israel speakers who have had their free speech curtailed on campus. In the wake of the second intifada, pro-Palestinian activism began to rise on campuses across the United States, and at some, like UC Irvine, manifested itself in antiSemitic speakers, vandalism and — some Jewish groups say — a hostile atmosphere for Jewish students. “Students felt harassed and intimidated,” said Susan Tuchman, director of the Zionist Organization of America’s Center for Law and

Justice. “The hostility was so severe that people feared for their physical safety on the campus.” Pro-Israel groups responded with a string of new tactics. They pumped money into campus activism, urged university administrators to stand up against antiSemitism and, in some instances, took legal action. In May, a Jewish student at the University of California, Berkeley, accused the university of allowing “a dangerous anti-Semitic climate.” Earlier this month, the Israeli legal activist group Shurat HaDin sent letters to hundreds of college presidents reminding them of their legal responsibilities to combat antiSemitism. The 10 students convicted on charges of disrupting Oren’s speech were sentenced by Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson to 56 hours of community service and three years of probation, though the probation will be reduced to one year if they complete their community service by Jan. 31. Wilson said that jail time was not warranted because the students were “motivated by their beliefs and did not disrupt for the sake of disrupting.” Advocates for the students vow to appeal the convictions. The prosecutor’s decision to pursue charges against the students was criticized as well by some who found their disruption objectionable. The dean of UC Irvine’s law school, Erwin Chemerinsky, told The Los Angeles Times that the prosecution of the students was “divisive” and that their convictions were “harsh,” though he also said, “It’s not a matter of free speech because there’s no free speech right to shut someone down.” Elcott said that the Muslim Student Union’s campus suspension and now the jury’s conviction yielded only “short-term gains” in terms of quelling a hostile campus atmosphere. “The only way for long-term gains is through dialogue, as difficult as that is,” he said.

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8 • NATIONAL

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Facing economic hardship, U.S. Jews increasingly finding help at shul

Courtesy of Robin Gorelick

Robin Gorelick and her family were helped out by Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills, Calif., following the economic downturn in 2009.

By Danielle Fleischman Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK (JTA) — Robin Gorelick thought she had done everything right. For 17 years, she ran her own law practice. She lived in Calabasas, a picturesque, familyfriendly Los Angeles suburb, where she owned her own home. Her kids went to Jewish day school, and she was active in her synagogue. But then, in 2009, her biggest client went belly up, and all of a sudden the work vanished. As a single mother, she didn’t have another income to help support her household. For the first time, Gorelick worried about how she would make her mortgage payments. She didn’t know where to turn. Then, one of her kids’ teachers suggested she get in touch with someone at her synagogue, Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills. She called, and got voice mail. Five minutes later, someone called her back. “It was an unbelievable response how someone could care like that,” Gorelick recalled. “He told me, there were all different kinds of programs that the temple was supporting for any kinds of needs for the temple community.” Across the country, American Jews increasingly are turning to their synagogues for help weathering these tough economic times. Rabbis and synagogue leaders are working to figure out how they can best help community members in need. Gorelick’s synagogue started a program called Caring for the Community in 2004 at the behest of congregants interested in doing more charity work. As the financial crisis rippled through the community, Caring for Community became an essential resource, and a key way for con-

gregants to help each another. Jeff Bernhardt, the go-to person at the program, had compiled a list of congregants who were expert in foreclosures, refinancing and mortgages. He recruited CPAs, therapists and lawyers. He compiled a brochure of community organizations that could help. As a licensed social worker and Jewish community professional, the work came easy to him, he said. Through Bernhardt, Gorelick found a mortgage broker who helped her sort through her financial options. Bernhardt also connected Gorelick with a human resources expert who helped her find a new job, in legal services. Gorelick says she’s grateful. “It’s truly the teachings of the Torah,” she said. “It wasn’t that I was handed a fish, I was taught how to fish. Now I have a job that I love, and I can support myself and my family, and I believe it’s because of the resources they put together.” At Knesseth Israel Congregation in Birmingham, Ala., Rabbi Eytan Yammer began to notice an increase in calls for help. There were congregants who couldn’t pay rent or buy more groceries after losing power during a storm. So Yammer discounted their membership dues, offered maintenance jobs at the shul for those who were out of work and had congregants over for Shabbat meals. When a woman and her daughter called to say they were unemployed and the bank was foreclosing on their home, he helped them look for a place to stay and kept calling people until he found a company that was hiring. “It’s hard to get lost in the Birmingham community,” Yammer said. “In a place like Alabama where everyone is religiously minded,” he said, it was easy to get Jewish community members

to help each other out. Yammer said he would like Jewish communities to create frameworks for Jews to reach out to each other to alleviate the small stresses that come with being unemployed. Temple Rodeph Torah in Marlboro, N.J., did just that in late 2008, after the rabbi suggested during a High Holiday sermon that something be done. More than 100 people showed up to a subsequent meeting and created a program called TRT Cares that does everything from help with tax returns to coach people through depression. Congregant David Levy, who oversees 50 to 60 volunteers and directs the program, said they have been able to help 145 people over the last four years. “The resource we have is that a lot of families want to give,” Levy said. “We’ve put together an organization that actually works.” It is a community-wide effort that welcomes anyone who is making an honest effort to improve themselves, not just Jews, according to Levy. Ron Swaby was referred to TRT Cares through his church. With their help, he updated his resume and gained a more positive outlook. “The intangible benefit of speaking to TRT Cares is that they speak very truthfully,” Swaby said. TRT Cares’ success has attracted the attention of other synagogues. Temple Shalom in Aberdeen, N.J., has adopted a similar model. With about 40 volunteers, the shul has been able to help nearly 60 people polish their resumes, network and supplement their income over the past two and a half years. Temple Sinai in Dresher, Pa., has taken a similar approach by creating a program called Congregant to Congregant that provides career networking, supplies transportation options and helps congregants get in touch with medical, dental and legal services. More than two-dozen people have been helped through the program. As with other programs, however, the biggest obstacle remains finding a job. At Temple Sinai, that’s where Howard Becker, who used to work in human resources at Lockheed Martin, comes in. He helps congregants develop a strategy to get back to work. He says that the work the synagogue is doing isn’t charity, but the responsibility of the Jewish community. “We have an obligation,” he said, “to our members who have a need.”

Courtesy of Dasee Berkowitz

Waving the lulav and etrog, symbols of the fall harvest, is one way to Sukkot pleasure — especially for the kids.

Taking seven steps to ‘Sukkot happiness’ By Dasee Berkowitz Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK (JTA) — But are you happy? No, this isn’t your mother wanting another update on your life. It’s not Dr. Phil’s provocative question through your TV/computer screen as you sit (safely) on your couch. And it isn’t someone reading you the Declaration of Independence wondering if you have really pursued this inalienable right enough. It’s the holiday of Sukkot speaking. The Rabbis nicknamed the harvest festival “Zman Simchateinu,”—the time of our happiness. How, exactly, does a holiday that invites us to eat all of our meals in a small hut al fresco — often in the chilly, windy days of fall — have to do with being happy? “Sukkot happy” is a bit different from the kind of happy that our post-modern culture espouses. A quick search on Amazon reveals scores of books that aim to help readers embody this elusive ideal. The Buddhist variety extols striving for inner peace. Positive psychologists understand attaining happiness as a key component to mental health. And happiness in the self-help movement embraces happiness “plans” like Seven Steps to Being Happy. The happiness that Sukkot encourages can be found when one peruses the pages of a book buried deep within the Amazon website. It is Ecclesiastes, which we read during Sukkot. The festival begins this year on the evening of Oct. 12. Ecclesiastes wouldn’t strike you as a get-happy-quick piece of literature. It is pessimistic and cynical — just count the number of times the word “vanity” is used. Nor is it the most popular book in the Bible. In fact, the Talmud

relates that the Rabbis wanted to hide the work in part because of how some statements contradict the Torah itself. It does, however, contain deep wisdom about what gets in the way of true happiness. Ecclesiastes offers us perspective and manages our expectations. To the question “Am I rich enough?” Ecclesiastes answers, “A lover of money never has his fill of money, nor a lover of wealth his fill of income, that too is futile. As his substance increases, so do those who consume it. This also is vanity.” To the question “Am I smart/wise enough?” it comments, “Much study is a weariness of the flesh.” And to the issue “Am I popular enough?” Ecclesiastes responds, “A good name is better than precious oil.” The book of Ecclesiastes is keenly aware that death will come in the end for all mortals, so it trumpets robust relationships, saying that “Enjoy happiness with a woman you love all the fleeting days of life that have been granted to you under the sun...For that alone is what you can get out of life.” Ecclesiastes ends by offering an even greater perspective. What’s most important is to “Fear G-d, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” While all pursuits under the sun might be short-lived, the one thing that is enduring, according to Ecclesiastes, is that which exists above the sun. The book speaks about cultivating a relationship with G-d, but more generally it is the cultivation of relationships that lie beyond the self, which endures and leads to happiness. According to Ecclesiastes, being in service to G-d — and interpreted more broadly, being of service to others — might be a key to what leads us to joy. SUKKOT on page 19


INTERNATIONAL • 9

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011

In Hungary, focus on internal issues, not Israel By Alex Weisler Jewish Telegraphic Agency BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) — There have been no rallies, no ad campaigns, no testy community discussions here on the Palestinians’ bid for statehood. On an issue that roused Jews elsewhere in the world, both pro and con, Hungary’s Jewish community has stayed mostly silent. The year-old Israeli Cultural Institute held a lecture on Palestinian statehood about three weeks ago, but nothing else was planned. Adam Schonberger, the 30year-old executive director of the Conservative youth group Marom Budapest, said the community just isn’t focused on Israel. “I think the whole question is based on the very limited influence of Hungarian Jews,” he said. “Although there are many groups and many aims, it’s still a very limited community. They are not dealing with any kind of Jewish issue, except if the far right-wing parties are harming the interests of the Jews. That’s it.” Janos Gado, the editor of Szombat, a monthly Jewish newsmagazine based in Budapest, says

Courtesy of Alex Weisler

The Israeli Cultural Institute hosts many Israel cultural events, like the kickoff party for the Hanoar Hatzioni Zionist youth group seen here, but it mostly steered clear of the fray on the Palestinians’ U.N. statehood bid.

it’s not that Hungarian Jews don’t love Israel — it’s just that they’re too busy fighting among themselves. “All of their energy is consumed by infighting,” he said. The muted response is a function of a Jewish community in a deep struggle over its own identity and leadership, as well as a reflection of the extent to which

Hungarian Jews are assimilated. Though Hungary’s 100,000 Jews make up Europe’s fourthlargest Jewish community — after France, Britain and Germany, respectively — they are unusually splintered. Budapest alone has 20 religious communities from four denominations, according to a study released in mid-September

by the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research. Since the fall of communism in 1991, Hungary’s Jewish community has seen significant changes. The proliferation of younger, more grassroots-oriented Jewish groups over the last decade has challenged the community’s historical leadership structure. Schonberger blames the community’s fragmentation for the relative silence on Palestinian statehood. A handful of Zionist groups, operating under the umbrella of the Hungarian Zionist Federation, released a statement, but it didn’t attract much attention. That’s because, he said, it didn’t have the backing of Hungary’s main Jewish organization, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary, known by its Hungarian acronym, Maszihisz. Maszihisz President Peter Feldmajer said he met with Hungary’s prime minister and foreign minister to express the Hungarian Jewish community’s position on the Palestinian push for statehood. That position, he said, is that of the European Jewish Congress: “Any unilateral steps are bad steps, and we will be

further from real peace.” Feldmajer said ordinary Hungarian Jews aren’t that concerned with Israel. “For the Hungarian Jewish community, it’s not in the spotlight. Most of the Jewish people have a special connection with Israel, but there’s no direct opinion on the details,” Feldmajer said. “In Hungary, I suppose it’s not good to make a rally in the streets.” Gado says Hungarian Jews are quite assimilated, and Jews on the grassroots level aren’t drawn to Zionism. “The word Zionism is a harsh word in our contemporary, liberal, left-wing, human rights-ist world. It’s rather a negative word, an insult,” he said. “The organized Jews, yes, they are officially committed to Israel.” But “the average Jew,” he said, “is much more committed to left, liberal, minority, human-rights values than Zionism.” Certain events can stir the community to take more public action, Feldmajer said. During the last Gaza war, Maszihisz officials wrote Op-Eds and helped organize a rally near Budapest’s Israeli Embassy.

their families — and by now represent the older generation in the ongoing post-communist Jewish revival. In books and in articles for JTA and others, my work has focused on three main areas of Jewish interest: • Jewish heritage and heritage sites, documenting and writing about these often forgotten places as an important part of world cultural patrimony. • The revival of Jewish life and the reassertion and reclamation of Jewish identity. I have followed this process for more than 20 years, witnessing a vast array of developments and permutations. I think one of the values of my work is that I have a sort of “historic memory” of the complex process of revival and development that by now spans a whole generation. • The evolution of the vast and important “Jewish presence” in Poland that dwarfs the actual living Jewish community. I coined the term “Virtually Jewish” to describe how non-Jews relate to Jewish culture, history, memory, tradition and people in places where few if any Jews still live. As part of this, I have looked at both “positive” and “negative” developments — that is, serious and sensitive ways of engaging with Jews and Jewish culture and memory, and crassly commercial, kitschy and hokey ways that

sometimes verge on the antiSemitic. After I received the Order of Merit, a friend asked how it might affect the way I write and think about Poland. My answer to her was “not at all.” Aside perhaps from my work on promoting Jewish heritage, my role has never been that of an “activist” but rather a reporter and observer. At the same time, however, because of the nature of life, friendship, work, long association and interest, I have also been something of a protagonist. If I do have an agenda, it is to make sure that outsiders be made aware of the richness and complexity of what goes on Jewishly in Poland and in the realm of Polish-Jewish relations. Many people know only about anti-Semitism. And to be sure, anti-Semitism is there. But what I have striven to do is to write about the whole, not just this one facet of life. I write about new realities and new authenticities, new ways that Jewishness is defined and Jewish lives are lived. I try to write and observe with a critical eye, of course, but — I think and hope — not a prejudiced one. And I try never to see things in black and white because, I find, most of the important and most interesting developments are in the nuances.

At the New Year, looking back By Ruth Ellen Gruber Jewish Telegraphic Agency ROME (JTA) — The High Holidays are a time of reflection, and this year an unexpected honor sent me reflecting on half a lifetime of personal and professional experience. A week before Rosh Hashanah, I received one of the highest awards granted by Poland to foreign citizens, the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit. I was thrilled and moved by the recognition. The award honored my work covering the Solidarity revolution and martial law in Poland in the early 1980s, as well as my more recent writing on Jewish issues, which was seen as helping foster greater understanding between Poles and Jews. My association with both Poland and the Jews of Poland dates back to 1980, when I arrived in Warsaw as a correspondent for United Press International. I received the Order of Merit nearly 29 years after I was arrested, thrown into jail and expelled from the country by Poland’s Communist authorities on trumped-up accusations of antistate activity. And in a wonderful sort of coincidence, the Sept. 22 award ceremony took place nearly 31 years to the day after my very first encounter with Polish Jews in

Ruth Ellen Gruber at the exhibit of her photographs on contemporary Jewish realities titled “Remnants and Renaissance,” at Penn State University’s Harrisburg campus earlier in 2011.

Warsaw. It was Yom Kippur in 1980, when the city had no functioning synagogue or rabbi. I made my way to a small, shabby room where 25 to 30 mostly elderly people had gathered to pray. Afterward, three of the few younger people in attendance came up to me asking who I was. I was an American journalist, I told them, covering Solidarity. I happened to be Jewish, so I had looked for somewhere to go for Yom Kippur. For me this was normal. But for those young Polish Jews, it was not.

“You are a real Jew,” they told me. “Come home with us and tell us what we are supposed to do.” I was scarcely a “real Jew,” I replied. I could not speak Hebrew, did not keep kosher and rarely attended synagogue. “No,” they insisted, “you have known all your life that you are Jewish — we are just finding out. Come home with us and tell us what to do.” So I went. And thus began a friendship that has lasted until this day with a group of people who have created rich and multifaceted Jewish lives for themselves and


10 • INTERNATIONAL / ISRAEL

International Briefs

School battle escalates religious clash in Jerusalem suburb By Ruth Eglash Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Libyan exile says he was driven from synagogue site (JTA) — A Libyan Jewish exile attempting to restore Tripoli’s main synagogue said he was forced to leave the site. David Gerbi, who arrived in Libya from Italy this summer when Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi was ousted in a rebellion, was warned Monday to leave the Dar al-Bishi synagogue site by area residents who said that men with guns were coming to kill him, Reuters reported. He had discovered the site to be locked. A local military official told Reuters that Gerbi was being protected and that he left the site of his own free will. Gerbi the previous day had started the work of surveying the damage to the Dar al-Bishi synagogue, The Associated Press reported. He had spent weeks getting permission from the country’s new leaders. Gerbi, a representative of the World Organization of Libyan Jews, told Reuters that he is applying to become a member of Libya’s National Transitional Council as a full member to represent the Jewish community. He also plans to reclaim Jewish properties confiscated by the state. Most Tripoli synagogues have been destroyed or converted to mosques. Jewish cemeteries also have been torn down to make room for office buildings. Gerbi fled Libya with his family in 1967 when he was 12 years old. Ukraine marks Babi Yar massacre anniversary (JTA) — Ukraine marked the 70th anniversary of the massacre at Babi Yar, one of the deadliest of the Holocaust. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman presided over Monday’s ceremony at the Babi Yar ravine in Kiev. Some 33,771 Jews were murdered there on the last two days of September in 1941. Hundreds of descendants of the victims, as well as survivors, participated in the ceremony. “It is difficult to fully comprehend the events that occurred in Babi Yar. It is difficult to find the words to express all the depth of our condolences and sorrow,” Yanukovych said at the ceremony, according to a speech released to the French news agency AFP before the event. “More and more, time is increasing our distance from these horrible events. But the memory is alive.”

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BEIT SHEMESH, Israel (JTA) — This time it started with cries of “Sluts!” and “Shiksas!” and the throwing of eggs and bags of excrement at young girls who attend a recently opened Modern Orthodox elementary school in this Jerusalem suburb. The assailants: religious extremists from the haredi Orthodox neighborhood across the street. It was the latest battle in the clash between haredi zealots and Modern Orthodox Jews in Beit Shemesh, a heavily American suburb of 80,000 about 25 minutes from Jerusalem. The newest flashpoint is the recently opened Banot Orot school. At dismissal, parents who once let kids as young as 6 walk home alone now rush to the school gates each day to ensure their children’s safety. Police cars with flashing

blue lights have become a fixture outside the school in this leafy neighborhood, and groups of volunteers patrol the main thoroughfare separating Banot Orot from the haredi neighborhood. The haredim who have moved from the crowded streets of Jerusalem’s haredi neighborhoods to the tall apartment blocks across the road from the school hang banners from their balconies calling on the “Daughters of Israel to dress modestly.” “They are determined to make Beit Shemesh a haredi city,” said Dov Lipman, formerly of Maryland, who in recent months has become a leader in the Modern Orthodox community in the battle over what he says is the future of Beit Shemesh. It is a microcosm, some say, of the larger religious-secular conflict in Israel. “What is happening here is a microcosm of what could happen nationwide, and our unwillingness

to yield before the violence and threats should serve as a model for the rest of the country,” Lipman said. “I think in other places they successfully intimidated local residents, but we will not run away,” he said of the haredi extremists. “They want to take control of our town and we will not let them.” The showdown at the new school, which dissipated somewhat as the High Holidays approached, is just the latest clash between Modern Orthodox Jews and extremists from Beit Shemesh’s haredi community. In the past few years, religious fundamentalists have assaulted bus passengers who have attempted to sit next to members of the opposite sex, firebombed a pizza shop where the sexes mixed and beaten other haredim who have tried to speak out publicly against religious zealotry in the community. BATTLE on page 20

Man to be a mom, high-tech poop, gender-separate beach By Marcy Oster Jewish Telegaphic Agency JERUSALEM (JTA) — Here are some recent stories out of Israel that you may have missed. An Israeli man is pregnant and soon will give birth The man, 24, was a female who underwent a sex-change operation. He is married to another man and is entering his eighth month of pregnancy, Yediot Achronot reported. He wears a goatee and looks like a man, according to the newspaper. While the man had his breasts removed three years ago, his reproductive organs remained intact. He is the first Israeli transgender to ever achieve pregnancy. The pregnancy is progressing normally, according to the report. ID’ing dog poop goes high tech Petach Tikvah dog owners better watch where their dogs leave their poop — it may be used as evidence against them. A new law proposed by the City Council would allow city dog inspectors to test the DNA of dog excrement left in the streets and send a ticket to the animal’s owner. A DNA database would be collected from the dogs’ saliva, likely collected when the pets come in for their yearly rabies shot, The Jerusalem Post reported. Bibi’s new neighbor—Chabad

Courtesy Moshe Shai/Flash90)

Owners of dogs in Petach Tikvah would have a duty to keep their pets’ poop off the street under a City Council proposal.

Chabad has moved into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Jerusalem neighborhood. Chabad of Rechavia, serving downtown Jerusalem, moved into a prime location in the Windmill of Rechavia building next to the Kings Hotel and across the street from the prime minister’s official residence. The new Chabad house, in one of the capital’s most central and busiest locations, will serve Jerusalemites and tourists. Record-setting stage career Veteran Israeli actress Helen Meron has qualified for the Guinness World Record for “longest career as a theatrical actress.” Meron, who at 87 is performing

in a Cameri Theater play, first appeared on stage at the age of 4. She has been nicknamed the “first lady of Israeli theater.” The Germany native came with her family to Palestine in 1933. No sex on the beach Just days after a photo shoot of hundreds of naked Israelis at the Dead Sea, a new gender-separate beach opened. The $3.4 million project is meant to allow the religiously observant community to enjoy the Dead Sea’s salty waters, Israel Hayom reported. Project leaders have promised that entry to the beach, the first segregated by gender in the area, will be free and stay open all day.

Israel Briefs Arab Israelis demonstrate after mosque attack JERUSALEM (JTA) — Arab Israelis demonstrated after a mosque in northern Israel was destroyed in a fire suspected of being set by Jewish extremists. Residents of the Bedouin Arab town of Tuba-Zangariyye threw rocks at Israeli security forces and set tires on fire during a protest march Monday hours after the mosque in their northern Galilee village was set alight, destroying holy books and prayer rugs. Graffiti, including the words “price tag” and “Palmer,” were spray-painted on the walls of the mosque, according to reports. Police reportedly have arrested some suspects in the Sunday night arson attack. Price tag refers to the strategy that extremist settlers have adopted to exact a price in attacks on Palestinians in retribution for settlement freezes and demolitions or for Palestinian attacks on Jews. Palmer likely refers to Israeli Asher Palmer, who was killed Sept. 23 along with his infant son after a rock thrown in an apparent terrorist attack crashed through the windshield of his car, causing him to lose control of the vehicle, which then flipped over. A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “outraged by the images” of the arson attack and that “this crime contravenes the values of the State of Israel, in which freedom of religion and freedom of worship are supreme values.” Israeli President Shimon Peres in his condemnation of the attack referred to the High Holidays. “This is a time for reflection in which we should condemn such acts among us, acts that sabotage the relationship between us and our neighbors and between the different religions living in Israel,” he said. Residents of TubaZangariyye, which has a population of slightly more than 5,000, have blamed extremists from the nearby town of Safed. The village also is near the Golan Heights. The American Jewish Committee called the attack “despicable.” “This assault on a Muslim house of worship in Israel, which has gone to great lengths to protect freedom of worship and foster a spirit of mutual respect, is outrageous,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “The perpetrators should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”


SOCIAL LIFE • 11

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011

ANNOUNCEMENTS ENGAGEMENT athy and Larry Alter of Madeira announce the engagement of their daughter, Shannon Lindsay to Rob Philip Fredenburg of Fairfield. Rob is the son of Janice and Robert Fredenburg of West Chester. Shannon is a graduate of the Ohio University School of Music and is a Music teacher for grades Kindergarten through 8 at St. Martin of Tours School in Cheviot. Rob is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati and is an IT tech consultant for S&S Health Services. A July 20, 2012 wedding is planned with the ceremony in the gazebo at the Marriott Rivercenter in Covington, Ky. followed by a reception at The Syndicate in Newport, Ky.

C

MARRIAGE he marriage of Erin Hebbe to Matthew Zopfi took place Sept. 10, 2011 at the French House, French Park, Amberley Village. The ceremony uniting the couple was performed by Erin’s aunt and uncle, Deborah Moss Berlon and Douglas Berlon. Erin is the daughter of Sandy Moss Hebbe and Bill Hebbe, both of Atlanta, Ga., and the granddaughter of Geri Moss. Matthew is the son of the late Donald Zopfi and the late Vickie Pachafa. The couple are residing in Fremont, Calif.

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Rob Fredenburg and Shannon Alter

APPOINTMENT

CELEBRATE YOUR BAR/BAT MITZVAH

ative Cincinnatian Perry Ohren has been named Chief Executive Officer of Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit. Ohren grew up in Amberley Village, attended Losantiville Elementary School and was a 1980 graduate of Walnut Hills High School. Ohren holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and has 27 years of clinical and management experience in the human services field. He has worked at Jewish Family Service for eight years, most recently as its Chief Program Officer. Prior to JFS he worked at Detroit’s Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and Jewish Vocational Service. Ohren’s parents, Helene and Tom Ohren, still reside in Amberley Village.

AT THE

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12 • CINCINNATI SOCIAL LIFE

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Brownies get crafty at Golf Manor Synagogue Brownies brought forth their creative style when they got together at Golf Manor Synagogue to make the coolest Rosh Hashanah cards ever.

Meira Travis, Sara Motzen and Tzvia Elias

Zipporah Preis and Shayna Travis

VOILA!!


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011

CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13

Troop Leader Batya Kahn (right) with Sophie Weller, Zipporah Preis, Zahava Zuroff and Rivkah Dina Spetner Sophie Weller, Zipporah Preis, Shayna Travis and the rest of the troop creatively consult with each other

Sara Esther Guigui, Rachel Bina Katz and Leah Spetner

Rebecca Morton, Ariella Nieznanski and Ellie Frankel


14 • DINING OUT

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Great steaks, superb cuisine at Carlo & Johnny By Sondra Katkin Dining Editor Jeff Ruby’s restaurant, Carlo and Johnny, once a farmhouse (1847) has come a long way from its humble origins. Once a “speakeasy” and a gambling casino, it has graduated into an elegant building resembling a manor house. A portico entryway welcomes approaching diners with the charm of a previous century. This theme is continued with the spacious dining rooms, mahogany paneling, restored fireplaces, thick carpeting, substantial and comfortable furniture and walls decorated with paintings and photographs of celebrities. You won’t want to miss some of these pictures. One has Frank Sinatra looking like he is about 17 and another, Elvis Presley with Muhammad Ail in a robe the “king” gave him. These are “appetizers” with no calories, setting the mood of old Hollywood glamor. Now we expect to be treated like the stars we are. My husband Steve and I began our evening in the large, comfortable lounge with a glass of red wine. General Manager, Joshua Peyton has a passion for good wines. Customers can order from what he describes as the “wine bible,” which at 16 pages offers one of the largest selections in town. “We feature a large variety so people can try things they’ve never had before.” Beverage Manager, Todd Shreve describes their classic cocktail list as “taking you back in the wink of an eye to the elegance of the ‘30s with Pim’s cup, Moscow mule, a variety of martinis and “mud” drinks. According to Kate Wenderfer, the very tall (close to six feet), lovely bartender, they have live music every evening except Monday with happy hour on Fridays from 4:30 – 8 p.m. She told me that they close when the last guest leaves. She added that she enjoys working there because, “I just like our food.” “We’re definitely known for our steaks; we’re a Jeff Ruby restaurant and steaks are our signature,” according to Peyton. He explained, “The steaks are prime, specially aged and served with their unique blend of seasonings called the ‘dust,’ that caramelizes and seals all North/South Indians Indo Chinese

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(Clockwise) English manor house appeal of Carlo & Johnny; Lovely dining room with leaded glass and mahogany; Perfect 14-ounce strip steak; Tasty lamb pasta; Salubrious, zesty salads; Mushroom truffle butter, accompanies crispy, hot sourdough; Bartender, Kate Wenderfer behind well stocked bar; Wonderful halibut forte; A courtyard of dreams for outdoor dining; Beautiful and cozy dining room.

the flavors in the well-aged beef, a secret that adds to the mystery.” Carlo and Johnny has a more extensive variety of steaks, seafood and sides than any other Ruby restaurant because, according to Peyton, “We have a great chef (Justin Leidenheimer) running the kitchen. He can execute a menu of this depth.” Since Steve and I sampled both the steak and the fish, we found we could rise to that depth. We began our dinner with golden crusted sourdough that tasted like it had just come from a San Francisco oven — crispy crust, chewy center and a piquantly perfect amount of acidity. Who even needed the choice of regular or truffle mushroom butter? Our salads followed swiftly, a testament to the responsive, friendly service we encountered. My salad featured a grilled, thick slice of Haloumi goat cheese from Cyprus with a mild, sweet flavor and an almost toast like texture. Steve said you can make a meal of that cheese after I gave him a generous taste. It also featured crunchy, earthy arugula, red onions, grape tomatoes and cherry balsamic vinaigrette. His salad of mixed lettuces, asparagus

and pistachio vinaigrette was topped with a pungent Maytag blue cheese and a chiffonade of fennel “to give it that black licorice taste,” Chef Leidenheimer said. It was good and plenty. Fennel, the fashionable flavor “du jour,” much beloved for its intense anise essence, completed the plate. It was gone in a flash. For our appetizer, Leidenheimer chose his “signature creation,” braised lamb pasta in a mushroom, rosemary, veal broth. The aromatic lamb flavor surrounded by the al dente pasta, complemented by the reduced stock and crunchy crimini mushrooms was deliciously satisfying. It was hard to imagine topping that and yet, a 14-ounce, 65 day aged, bonein strip—the longer aging giving it a fuller beef flavor —did tempt our appetites. We be but weak mortals after all. Our other entree, pan seared halibut forte, their most popular seafood selection, was served over a lemon buerre blanc with fresh vegetables. It was moist and perfectly cooked with the fish almost melting into the vegetables for a melange of tongue pleasing sensations. Now I know why civi-

lized Romans reclined while eating. The large menu (I think it weighs several pounds) includes seasonal soups, smoked salmon salad and yellowfin tuna as starters, seven salad options, 11 sides such as wild mushrooms, steamed asparagus, jumbo baked potato and real mashed potatoes, a variety of seafood, chicken and many homemade pastries and ice creams. Oh, and they also feature steaks, very serious steaks. Zagat rates them higher than any steakhouse in Chicago or New York City. My son Michael, who lives in N.Y.C. took his brother David to the premier steak restaurant there. David told us that his Jeff Ruby steaks were better. Full disclosure, we had David’s rehearsal dinner at a Jeff Ruby restaurant and got rave reviews from our guests. I toured their banquet rooms which feature seating for small (12-17) or large groups (up to 65 people). Cathedral ceilings, heavy grain wood paneling, stone fireplaces and comfortable furnishings enhance the elegant ambiance of these rooms. The selections include anything from the menu and start

quite reasonably. Our experience with their catering and more recently, our visit to Carlo and Johnny was so memorable because it encompassed all the elements of fine dining: a luxurious atmosphere, excellent service (handsome waiters), an innovative chef and high quality ingredients. My husband summed it up for me, “There was an artistry in their blend of flavors that makes it much more than a steakhouse.” Carlo & Johnny is rated one of the top gluten free places to eat in Cincinnati, and the manager said that they will specifically tailor dinners to avoid any allergy issue. They have plenty of convenient off street parking and valet services available. The bar hours are Monday and Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. to close; Wednesday to Saturday, 5 p.m. – 2 a.m. Dinner hours are Monday to Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 5 p.m. – 11 p.m. Closed on Sunday. Carlo & Johnny 9769 Montgomery Road Montgomery, OH 45242 513-936-8600


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DINING OUT • 15

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011

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11296 Montgomery Rd

Pomodori’s

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4762 Cornell Rd

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791-2223 • 791-1381 (fax) Kanak India Restaurant

Baba India Restaurant

10040B Montgomery Rd

Stone Creek Dining Co.

3120 Madison Rd

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MEI Japanese Restaurant Gabby’s Cafe

8608 Market Place Ln

Tandoor

515 Wyoming Ave

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Incahoots

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Tony’s

4110 Hunt Rd

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16 • OPINION

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Advice for the next generation

always maintained a bedrock conviction that America is somehow “different” from our global neighbors.

But there’s something else you’ll need to learn in order to be an effective minister, rabbi or chaplain: Americans are undergoing severe economic, political, cultural and, yes, religious turmoil and shock. You’ll need to know how to respond. I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist, but forever cursed to be a pragmatist. Equipped with that prism, it seems clear the pain will still be there when you complete your training. So it’s best to figure out now how you’re going to deal with it. For more than 230 years, American clergy continually faced a series of national crises with confidence and a profound conviction in what some call “American exceptionalism.” No matter how bad things got, we have always maintained a bedrock conviction that America is somehow “different” from our global neighbors. That belief has survived wars at home and abroad; domestic conflicts over race, ethnicity and religious bigotry; struggles to improve the plight of workers, women, immigrants and minori-

Rabbi Rudin is the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser.

Dear Editor, There are so many reasons to love the mikveh (Jewish ritual bath). My love for mikveh inspired me to keep kosher, observe the Jewish Sabbath, and cover my hair as a married woman. Here are a few of my personal favorite things about the mikveh: 1. Immersing into the Earth’s waters: Mikveh water must meet certain requirements of being naturally existing, as from a natural body of water or harvested from the rain. Any large enough body of naturally occurring water can be a mikveh. The ocean is the largest mikveh in the world. When a woman immerses in the mikveh, she is entering the womb of the feminine Earth, called Adamah in Hebrew. She strikes a fetal position pose, and then is spiritually reborn upon exiting the waters. “When we refer to G-d’s presence within our world, giving life to all things, then She is the Shechinah,” writes Tzvi Freeman about why we don’t call G-d Mother. “When we refer to G-d’s transcendence beyond this world, we call Him The Holy One, blessed be He. G-d does not change or have parts, G-d forbid. Both are the same one and singular G-d, just looking at that G-d from different angles,” he writes. G-d is female, G-d is male, and G-d is everything and can be interacted with and described

from each of these aspects. The feminine aspect of G-d, the Shechinah is present and dwelling among us when Jews perform mitzvot (commandments), such as davening (praying) together, or learning Torah together. Freeman continues, The Holy One, Blessed Be He unites with the Shechinah when we accomplish mitzvot correctly, hence elevating spiritual harmony in the world. When a woman immerses in the holy waters of the mikveh, she is physically uniting with that feminine Shechinah and in fulfilling the mitzvah uniting the Shechinah with The Holy One, Blessed Be He. The Shechinah dwells in the wilderness where Creation is ever-abundant, and also dwelled in the Holy Temple which explains all the miracles that happened there. Through her immersion in the mikveh, the woman embodies this powerful, fertile life force that travels with her. Observance of the marital laws that include the mikveh brings the Creator into the relationship with the husband and wife, elevating their union. 2. Ancestral Customs for personal hygiene, social networks, and intimacy: Before a woman immerses in the mikveh, she must meticulously clean her body according to certain procedures, to ensure that nothing will obstruct any part of her body from being touched by the holy waters. She has been preparing for seven days since the end of her men-

struation. The moments preceding and during immersion are guarded by a female attendant, a witness to help ensure that the woman is totally clean and totally immersed. Mikveh is a basic element of living a Jewish life. According to Jewish law, building a mikveh takes precedence over building a house of worship. Women are known to gather and spend time together on mikveh night before returning to their husbands. Bathing and the opportunity to connect with other women is guaranteed down time every month, guarded by the custom and engagement of the Jewish women in the local community. I personally love knowing and practicing the hygienic customs of my ancestors! It’s not only about how we keep ourselves clean, it’s also about how we prepare ourselves for intimacy with our beloved. Generally speaking this monthly ritual for the married woman provides a rhythm of intimacy for husband and wife. Our own Jewish tradition has within it a structure for balance and renewal of healthy sexual intimacy. 3. Centrality of the woman’s rhythms: Not only does a woman learn to track her menstrual cycle according to the Hebrew lunar calendar and the traditional timing systems through the practice of mikveh, but the rhythm of her LETTER on page 22

T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: YOM KIPPUR(BOOK OF JONAH) 1. Did Jonah receive help from the king of Nineveh? a.) Yes b.) No 2. Which specific sin is mentioned about Nineveh? a.) Idolatry b.) Between men and women c.) Theft

3. What did Hashem give Jonah after he completed his mission to Nineveh? a.) Wealth b.) Shady tree c.) Long life 4. Was Jonah happy with the gift? a.) Yes b.) No 5. How can one celebrate Yom Kippur on the day before?

ized he had little value in the plant, but Hashem was concerned about Nineveh, because the 120,000 inhabitants never understood the difference between true service of Hashem and the service of false idols. Malbim 5. By eating on the day before Yom Kippur it is considered if one fasted both days

things got, we have

Do you have something to say? E-mail your letter to editor@americanisraelite.com

3. B 4:6 Actually a plant with large leaves. Rashi 4. A,B 4:6-9 At first Jonah was happy with the plant because he wanted to see the ultimate result of his mission to Nineveh. The repentance of Nineveh was only for their sins (3:10), however their ideologies did not change. When the plant died, he fainted due to the heat. He real-

No matter how bad

ties; and, most recently, catastrophic acts of terrorism. Nearly a century ago, haughty Americans weary of world war believed they could retreat into splendid isolation behind the safety of our oceans, safely secluded from less blessed nations. Some still feel that way, but it’s as naive a strategy now as it was then. A generation later, following the end of World War II, America tried something else, reaching out in an act of morality-laced selfinterest to help rebuild our enemies. Basking in a moment of superpower glory, there was nothing America couldn’t do. While we still cling to that post-war optimism, what’s changed is that too many Americans now see the luster fading from our “shining city on a hill.” There are cracks in the walls around our New Jerusalem. It’s too much of a burden, they say, for one nation to carry. Perhaps, they wonder, our best days are behind us, not ahead. Some people still yearn for a vanished Eden of certainty and world supremacy. Others think we’ll never get it back. As clergy, you will need to comfort and console a polarized nation that is either trapped in a false nostalgia or despondent about the future. As clergy, you will need to teach the lessons of Jeremiah, the Hebrew prophet who preached a realistic hope to a once proud people even as their beloved Jerusalem fell into ruin. As clergy, you will need to be modern Isaiahs who offer authentic faith and consolation in the face of despair. You will need to be modern Ezras and Nehemiahs who taught their dazed people to reconstruct their faith and national identity. Even in the face of deficits, discord, division and depression, you must be like Zechariah who urged his fellow Israelites to be “prisoners of hope.” Or a Joshua, who confidently preached: “Be strong and of good courage.” It is easy to be a minister or rabbi in a sunny, upbeat era. But any veteran clergyperson will tell you that doesn’t last forever. Now’s the time to find your own inner spiritual strength to provide realistic hope and comfort for a people living in the shadows of self-doubt.

Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise

ANSWERS 1. A 3:6-8 When the King of Nineveh heard of Jonah’s cry for repentance, he removed his royal garments and decreed a fast. 2. C 3:8 For most sins it is sufficient to repent for the act. With theft one must return the item to the owner to do full repentance. Malbim

Dear American seminarians: I know you’re busy starting this semester’s numerous classes in Scripture, theology, liturgy, homiletics, history, pastoral counseling, music, religious education, Hebrew and Greek. To be sure, you’ll need those courses to be an effective and knowledgeable member of the clergy. Enjoy your time in seminary because it’s unlikely that you will ever again have an opportunity for such in-depth studies.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


JEWISH LIFE • 17

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011

Sedra of the Week

by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Yom Kippur: What does G-d want? Efrat, Israel — “For on this day He shall forgive you to purify you from all of your transgressions; before the Lord shall you be purified.” This last phrase, “before the Lord shall you be purified,” is for me the truest meaning of Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is, after all, the most complex and comforting day of the year: a day of self-sacrifice and divine forgiveness, a day of discipline and deprivation and a day of overflowing love and never-ending compassion, a day of mortal fear, and a day of divine embrace and loving-kindness. We may enter Yom Kippur laden with guilt, but we leave it redeemed. Above all, Yom Kippur involves standing before G-d – just you and Him – and becoming pure. From this perspective, the most striking image of Yom Kippur is the very last act of the High Priest in his Yom Kippur garb. He bathes a fourth time, puts on his white linen garments, and enters the Holy of Holies, the space sanctified with the overwhelming sense of the Divine Presence. Earlier, he had performed in that place a difficult and even trying sacrificial offering, his gift of fragrant incense. This time, he enters the Presence and stands there, without performing a divine service, without reciting a formal prayer. Then he leaves, bathes a fifth time, and dons the golden garments of the regular daily afternoon sacrifice. His solitary moment with G-d has ended; the magic of the special Day of Forgiveness is over. But what did it mean? What did he, and what do we, take out of that singular meeting with the divine, devoid of ritual or ceremony, at the conclusion of the most sacred day of the year in the most sacred space in the world? Let us for a moment re-visit last week’s commentary on the akeda. Abraham and Isaac walk a solitary walk during those three momentous days of performing G-d’s awesome commandment: A tense

SHABBAT SHALOM: YOM KIPPUR

Is it a whole-burnt offering, a slaughtersacrifice, or is it merely a dedication of Isaac’s life to G-d’s will? The midrash (Genesis Raba, Vayeira, 56:4) has an extra “character” show up during this journey – Satan. He cries out to Abraham, “Old man, old man, have you lost your mind? Are you about to slaughter the son given to you at 100 years of age?…Tomorrow I shall charge you with spilling blood, with spilling the blood of your own son.” silence between father and son permeates the atmosphere, punctuated by brief, difficult and ambiguous words. The air is heavy with G-d’s unspoken command, heard only by Abraham, fearfully sensed by Isaac. But what was G-d’s command? He asked Abraham to take Isaac as an olah – but what does this mean? Is it a whole-burnt offering, a slaughter-sacrifice, or is it merely a dedication of Isaac’s life to G-d’s will? The midrash (Genesis Raba, Vayeira, 56:4) has an extra “character” show up during this journey – Satan. He cries out to Abraham, “Old man, old man, have you lost your mind? Are you about to slaughter the son given to you at 100 years of age? …Tomorrow I shall charge you with spilling blood, with spilling the blood of your own son.” And Abraham must now be pondering, “Is this attempt to turn me away from doing what G-d ordered the word of Samael? Perhaps what I thought I heard yesterday was the word of Samael? Perhaps G-d only wants me to dedicate Isaac in life, and it is Satan–Moloch who wants me to murder my beloved child!” Let us now skip many generations, and perhaps we will understand why the divine command is ambiguous, why G-d used a word, olah, which could be interpreted in two ways. Rav Oshri, the rabbi of the Kovno Ghetto at the time of the Holocaust, wrote a book of responsa, Mima’amakim (From the Depths) based on his experi-

ence. One question came from a distraught father, whose only son had been taken for a kinderaktion – a 5 a.m. children’s round-up to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. “I have a gold tooth,” wept the father. “The kapo will take it from me and free my son – but he will have to substitute someone else’s son to meet the quota. What must I do?” Rav Oshri tearfully responded that he could not give the father an answer. All that night, he saw the agitated man walking back and forth in front of his house. When the Rav walked out at 4:45 a.m., the tearful father could only say two words, Akedat Yitzhak. He did not give the kapo his tooth. Each of us must stand alone, in the fullness of our being, before G-d, and attempt to understand what G-d wants of us. What is the right path? Is it G-d’s voice we are hearing, or Satan’s? This is the meaning of the meeting between G-d and the High Priest – without ritual or formal prayer – at the conclusion of our Holy Fast. And since this divine-human confrontation takes place on the day of forgiveness and purity, we may be reasonably certain that if we are honest with ourselves, we will correctly interpret G-d’s words of love, compassion and grace. 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 EVEN MORE NEW SHOW ACTORS Here are some more Jewish thespians, not mentioned in past columns, who co-star on new TV shows: Starting on Thursday, Sept. 22, at 8:30 p.m., was the new NBC comedy, “Whitney,” starring comedian Whitney Cummings in the title role. Whitney has been “happily unmarried” to Alex (Chris D’Elia) for five years. But she’s afraid of boredom setting-in and oft consults her funny girlfriends, including “Lily,” who is played by actress ZOE LISTERJONES, 29. Lister-Jones, who was raised in her mother’s Jewish faith, is a multi-talented artist who sings, writes plays, and acts. In 2007, she played an Orthodox Jewish woman who becomes friends with a Muslim woman in the indie film, “Arranged.” Starting on Monday, Sept. 26, at 8 p.m., was the Fox sci-fi action series, “Terra Nova.” In 2149, the Earth is dying and a group of people go through a time portal to distant prehistoric times in order to establish a colony and help save the human race from extinction. The paramilitary leader of the colony is played by STEPHEN LANG, 59. An amazingly fit guy, Lang played the hard-nosed Marine commander in “Avatar.” Lang is the son of EUGENE LANG, 92. The elder Lang made his fortune as a high tech innovator and has given away at least $150 million to various good causes, mostly education-related. Stephen Lang’s late mother wasn’t Jewish. Years ago, I saw an interview with Stephen Lang in which he said he identified as Jewish, but wasn’t religious. Also starting Sept. 26 (9 p.m.) was the CW Network drama, “Hart of Dixie.” Created by JOSH SCHWARTZ (“The O.C.”), it stars RACHEL BILSON, 30, as Dr. Zoe Hart, a new doctor from New York who gets her first job practicing in a small Alabama Gulf Coast town. Bilson, whose father is Jewish, also co-starred in “The O.C.” Josh Schwartz has taste, so I’m hoping “Hart” is more than a re-hashed version of the hit movie, “Doc Hollywood,” and the TV series, “Northern Exposure,” both of which had similar plotlines. Starting on Sunday, Oct. 2, was the Showtime cable series, “Homeland,” which is based on the Israeli series, “Hatufim” (also known as “Prisoners of War.”) Claire Danes stars as Carrie Mathison, a CIA operations officer

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NEWZ

who is placed on probation and reassigned to headquarters in Virginia after running an unauthorized operation in Iraq. While in Iraq, a secret contact tells Mathison about an American soldier who was captured by AlQaeda and “turned” while in captivity. When Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), a Marine sergeant is rescued by the Delta Force after years in captivity, Mathison is pretty certain that Brody is secretly working for Al-Qaeda. Her boss ignores her, so she turns to her former boss and mentor, Saul Berenson (MANDY PATINKIN, 58), the head of the CIA’s MidEast division. He agrees to work with her to monitor Brody and possibly prevent a terrorist attack. NEW FLICKS AND A CASTING NOTE Opening on Friday, Oct. 7, are “The Ides of March” and “Real Steel.” The latter is a weird combo of sci-fi and sports film. In the near future, robots have replaced humans in the boxing ring. Hugh Jackman plays a (human) boxer who loses his chance to become a champ when robots take over. He becomes a small-time promoter and teams up with his son to build a robot boxing champ. This film features a lot of high-tech film technology (computer animation and real, state-of-the art robots). The director, SHAWN LEVY, 43, learned a lot about these technologies as he directed the “Night in the Museum” movies. “Ides of March” stars George Clooney as Governor Mike Morris, a Democratic presidential candidate. Ryan Gosling co-stars as an idealistic Morris staffer who learns about dirty politics on the campaign trail. The great cast includes Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, and EVAN RACHEL WOOD, 24, as an intern on the Morris campaign. (Wood, as I noted before, identifies as Jewish. Her mother is a Jew-by-choice. Her father isn’t Jewish. ) “Ides” is directed by Clooney, with the adapted screenplay by Clooney and GRANT HESLOV, 46. Heslov, a sometime actor and producer, got a 2006 Oscar nomination (with Clooney) for writing “Good Night and Good Luck,” about the famous journalist Edward Murrow. He directed Clooney in the 2009 film, “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” He and Clooney are close friends and business partners. The pretty and talented Israeli actress AYELET ZURER, 42, has just been cast as Superman’s mother, Lara, in an upcoming film about the “Man of Steel.”

FROM THE PAGES 100 Y EARS A GO Mrs. Rosalie, wife of Lazard Meiss of Mann Place, Avondale, died on September 28. She was seventy-six years of age. Rabbi Jacob Mielziner and Cantor Grodsky officiated. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Sinsheimer of Chicago, Ill., announce the coming marriage of their daughter, Dolly to Mr. Emil I. Mayer of this city. The wedding will be solemnized at the home of the bride-elect’s parents, 4747 Forrestville Avenue, on October 9. An appeal has been issued to all the citizens of Cincinnati, to contribute to a fund for the relief, of those made destitute, in the calamity, in Austin, Pa. The matter will be in charge of a Citizens’ Relief Committee, appointed by Mayor Schawb for the purpose, and consisting of the following: Charles E. Roth, George F. Dieterlie, John L. Shuff, Miss Annie Laws, T. J. Edmonds, Dr. Boris Bogen, E. L. Hitchens, Scott Small, Dr. J. H. Landis, the Rev. Father Francis J. Finn, S. J., Rev. Dr. David Philipson, the Rev. Hugo Eisenlohr, Samuel L. Moyer and George W. Harris. Contributions should be sent to Chas. E. Roth, treasurer, care Cosmopolitan National Bank. The details of the death and of the devastation following the breaking of the dam at Austin have been so fully given in the daily papers, that there is no need of repeating them here. Suffice it to say, there has been nothing like it to happen in the United States since the Johnstown horror, of a similar nature, a number of years ago. The cry for relief will appeal to all benevolent persons, and we are quite certain to none more than the readers of the American Israelite. We might add the well known adage that “He who gives quickly, gives doubly.” — October 5, 1911

75 Y EARS A GO The Eli H. Wittstein Post, American Legion, has elected Alvin H. Rowe, commander, succeeding Dr. J. B. Falk; Samuel Kraus, first vice commander; Louis Weiner, second vice commander; Louis J. Metzner, adjutant and historian; Kolman Wittstein, service officer; Michael Aaronsohn, chaplain; Ben Falk, Joseph Hyman, Sam Mayerson, Isaac Harrison and Charles Selzer, executive committee. The marriage of Miss Ruth Edna Flarsheim, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Flarsheim, and Mr. Philip S. Wise, a son of Mrs. J. W. Mack, was solemnized Sunday, Oct. 4th, at the residence of the bride’s parents, 4177 Rose Hill Avenue. Dr. Victor E. Reichert officiated. Miss Claudia Jacobs was maid of honor and only attendant. Mr. Charles Wise, the groom’s brother, was best man. Alex Gross, 76, of 637 Forest Avenue, passed away Thursday, Oct. 1st, following a heart attack.

Mr. Gross, widely known in the community, had been engaged in the shoe business in Covington, Ky., the past 35 years. Prior to his residence the past nine years on Forest Avenue, he had made his home in Covington. His immediate family includes his widow, Mrs. Jennie Gross; four daughters, Mrs. Arthur Levine, Mrs. Leon Safdi, Mrs. Herman Bloom and Mrs. Fred Weiland; and a son, Theodore Gross, all of Cincinanti. — October 8, 1936

50 Y EARS A GO Mr. and Mrs. Kurt Heilbrunn, 7415 Belkay Drive, Amberley Village, announce the forthcoming Bar Mitzvah of their son, Daniel Jay, Saturday, Oct. 7, at 10:45 a.m. at Wise Center. The grandparents are Mr. Henry Sweet and the late Mrs. Anna Sweet, Mrs. Thekla Heilbrunn and the late David Heilbrunn. Edgar F. Menderson, Sr., 14 Burton Woods Lane, passed away Saturday, Sept. 30. Mr. Menderson was a founder and had served as executive secretary of the Security Savings & Loan Co. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Melanie F. Menderson; their daughter, Mrs. Robert Schulman, of Washington, D.C.; their son, Edgar (Ted) Menderson, Jr., 30 Reilly Road, Wyoming, O.; and seven grandchildren. His wife is a former president of the Council of Jewish Women and a nationally known expert in the field of parliamentary law. Mrs. Jennie Lissner Haas, 3934 Leyman Drive, passed away Sunday, Sept. 24, at the age of 93. Mrs. Haas was the widow of Charles Haas, cigar manufacturer, who passed away in 1926. She was a native of Dayton. She is survived by her son, Adrian Haas; two grandchildren and a great-grandchild. Services were held at her residence, Dr. Samuel Wohl officiating. The Weil Funeral Home was in charge. — October 5, 1961

25 Y EARS A GO Eighteen Academy of Medicine physicians who have practiced medicine for 50 years will be honored at a Recognition Dinner on Monday, Oct. 20, at the Daniel Drake Auditorium, 322 Broadway. The program is being hosted by the Academy of Medicine and the Ohio State Medical Association. Sr. Stanley Lucas, First District councilor for the OSMA and Robert Clinger, director, OSMA Department of Health Education, will present the awards. Presentation of the second Daniel Drake Humanitarian Award will also highlight the evening’s events. Physicians to be honored are: Dr.

Nina Anderson, Dr. Isadore Claybon, Dr. Dale Fox, Dr. William Froschauer, Dr. Samuel Harris, Dr. Arnold Iglauer, Dr. Max Krakauer, Dr. Robert Ritterhoff, Dr. C. Richard Schroder, Dr, John Singer, Dr. Leo Smyth, Dr. Arthur Spreen, and Dr. Alfred Weiner, all of Cincinnati. Five out-of-town physicians will also be honored. They are: Dr. Domenico Foglia, Dr. Elmer Mauer, Dr. Frank Nantz, Dr. Lester Russin, all of Florida; and Dr. William Jennings, of South Carolina. Faculty, students, staff and guests of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion celebrated the 90th birthday of Dr. Sheldon H. Blank, professor emeritus of Bible, at a luncheon at the College on Sept. 17. During the program, Dr. Eugene Mihaly, executive dean for Academic Affairs, and a former student of Dr. Blank, introduced the speakers. Dr. Alfred Gottschalk, president of the College-Institute, marked the occasion by announcing the establishment of the Sheldon H. Blank Fellowship in Bible. Greetings were delivered by Dr. Robert Katz, president of the Cincinnati faculty and the Joseph and Helen Regenstein Professor of Religion, Ethics and Human Relations; and by Rabbi Jack Stern, an alumnus and president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Dr. Uri D. Herscher, executive vice president of the College and Dean of the Los Angeles campus, presented a toast. — October 9, 1986

10 Y EARS A GO Ethel Hart, 89, passed away September 22, 2001, in Ann Arbor, Mich. She was born in Cincinnati to the late Max and Tillie (Luftgarten) Schwartz. She was the wife of Lawrence P. Hart, who predeceased her. Mrs. Hart is survived by her children, Minda Hart of Ann Arbor and Jeffrey and Susan Hart of Cincinnati. Mrs. Hart was also the mother of the late Kenneth Hart. Surviving grandchildren are Alex and Tyler Hart. Mrs. Hart was the sister of the late Isadore Schwartz and Sarah Bell. The Jewish Community Center is moving forward with plans to implement the transition of key programs away from its facility on Summit Road in Roselawn. The building is currently for sale and may have to be vacated before the new JCC, as part of the Campus Project, is completed. “Is the Jewish Community Center a building or is it programming?” asked Roz Kaplan, JCC interim executive director. “The strength and heart of the Center is really the programming that we have for children, teens, adults and seniors. Even if we leave the Roselawn JCC building before the new building is ready, JCC programs will continue.” — October 4, 2001


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 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 BOOMERS from page 4 now, thanks to our partnership with The Mayerson Foundation, their program staff is working along with our JCC staff to enhance our offerings for Baby Boomers,” he added. “This event will help kick-off this effort, and it’s just the beginning of many great things to come for this important age group at the J.” The evening will begin with a reception complete with popular cocktails (cash bar) and appetizers from back in the day, a variety of music spanning decades of turbulence and transformation, TV

SUKKOT from page 8 I think to myself, when am I really happy? While I do love kicking back on the beach and reading a good book, I find this kind of activity relaxing — but I’m not sure it leads to deep happiness. A sense of joy surfaces when I reflect on ways that my life is in service to others, whether it is by nursing my child, teaching others, or volunteering my time and skills to an organization in the community. For this Sukkot, consider what makes you happy. Try out this plan: Seven Steps to True Happiness: Sukkot Style. 1. Build a sukkah. Even if you don’t have a backyard or garden, ask about the roof of your building. Or find someone who has one and have a meal there. Does the food taste any different to you outside? How does eating in a temporary structure make you appreciate the permanence of your home? What other new perspectives do you gain? 2. Invite wisdom into your sukkah. In the spirit of “ushpizin,” inviting guests into your sukkah, invite the wisdom of friends and relatives (living or dead) who cannot join you this Sukkot. Write down a saying or phrase from them that inspires you and turn it into a piece that can decorate your sukkah, or share it aloud at your next meal. 3. Invite a guest to your table. In the spirit of repairing relationships — something we focus on greatly during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — make time to share

SENIOR SERVICES

• • • • •

Up to 24 hour care Meal Preparation Errands/Shopping Hygiene Assistance Light Housekeeping

(513) 531-9600 screens showing some of the most memorable commercials and clips from iconic shows, and much more. After dinner, tables will team up for the Boomer Trivia Challenge, hosted by Last Call Trivia. This Baby Boomer event is open to couples and singles, ages 47 – 65, who can finish the sentence: “Plop plop, fizz fizz…” RSVP’s are requested by Oct. 15, and have already begun pouring in. Space is limited and will fill up quickly. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Caroline Driscoll at the JCC. See the JCC ad in this issue for the phone number and website. a meal together with a friend you haven’t seen in awhile or from whom you have grown distant. 4. Enjoy the harvest. Wave the lulav and etrog (especially fun to do with kids!), symbols of the fall harvest. Learn about what produce is harvested in your area and even go to a farm stand or a farm. Speak to the farmers and ask them about when they are the most “happy” in the work they do. 5. Read the book of Ecclesiastes. Pick one or two phrases that strike you and consider how they might relate to your own life. 6. Learn about homelessness in your community. While a sukkah is a makeshift dwelling place that will last seven days for us, there are others in our community, without homes, who live outdoors in makeshift dwellings year round. 7. Help others. Think about a way that you can serve one person inside your intimate circle and one person outside of it, including a stranger. The holiday of Sukkot falls immediately after the long process of introspection we engage in during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We move from the conceptual world of fasting and prayer to the practical one of harvested fruits and sukkah building. We have time to think about how to live a life of service — to G-d, Torah, friends, family and our communities. If there is a “season set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven,” then let this season be one of genuine rejoicing.


20 • LEGAL

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

Food for thought on Ohio’s Death Penalty Legally Speaking

by Marianna Bettman Death penalty decisions from the Ohio Supreme Court are long, depressing and different. Long because the defendants raise every conceivable argument they can, even if the issues they raise have been decided many times. Depressing because of the facts and circumstances of the cases and the horror involved. Different because there is no denying it—a death sentence is different from any other form of punishment. Death penalty appeals are also different in another, more procedural way. Most other types of appeals to the Ohio high court are what are known as discretionary appeals. That means the Court decides whether or not to accept the case, upon a vote of a majority of the justices. But a death penalty case automatically comes to the Ohio Supreme Court. Before 1995, death penalty cases did not go directly to the Supreme Court. They were first appealed to the state’s intermediate courts of appeals — like the one I EFFORT from page 6 Even at this stage — it’s only been a few days since the Palestinian Authority formally submitted its petition for statehood to the U.N. Security Council — already there has been some measurable success, Harris and others said. While a few weeks ago it seemed that the United States would be forced to use its veto at the Security Council to quash a Palestinian statehood resolution, now it’s far from clear the Palestinians will be able to muster BATTLE from page 10 Lipman, whose own daughters do not attend Banot Orot, shows up outside the school almost daily to ensure that the young girls are not taunted or pelted with refuse. Before Rosh Hashanah he organized a demonstration of a few thousand people — Modern Orthodox and more secular residents of Beit Shemesh — against extremist intimidation. “In this neighborhood, about 50 percent of us are relatively new immigrants, and I think that makes

sat on. But there was much public discontent about how long death penalty cases were taking to be resolved, and a seeming lack of closure for families of the victims. So in 1994, the voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the Ohio Constitution to eliminate that second step, and send death penalty appeals directly to the Ohio Supreme Court for all offenses that occurred after January 1, 1995. It certainly made my life less stressful as an appellate judge. I’m not at all sure that change was helpful to the Ohio Supreme Court justices, however. Intermediate courts of appeals do important groundwork for the state’s high court. The procedure in a capital case (as death penalty cases are called) has two parts — a guilt phase, and then if necessary, a penalty phase. During the penalty phase, the defendant’s lawyer is entitled to put on any mitigating evidence about the defendant, which is weighed against the aggravating circumstances of the crime. The case of State v. Lang, released by the Supreme Court of Ohio this past August, is typical of a death penalty appeal. In appeals in other kinds of cases, a lawyer will generally present two or three changes in the law the lawyer proposes for the court to consider. Lang presented 22 of these — typical of death penalty appeals. Lang was convicted of the murder of two men in a drug deal gone sour. During the sentencing phase of trial, evidence of Lang’s mental health was admitted. Throughout his childhood he had

taken anti-depressants and antipsychotic drugs, and sought frequent treatment in psychiatric facilities, although the exact diagnosis of his mental illness was never specified. When Lang was 10, he was abducted by his father, who prevented Lang from returning home to his mother for two years. As a result of the severe abuse and trauma suffered at the hands of his father during this time, Lang’s mental health issues got progressively worse in the years leading up to the murder. The jury recommended the death penalty for Lang in the case of one of the two victims, and life in prison with no possibility of parole in the other. The trial court accepted the jury’s recommendations and sentenced him accordingly. The Ohio Supreme Court unanimously upheld Lang’s conviction and sentence. The Court found no significant link between Lang’s mental illness and the murders. But Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton wrote a separate opinion on the sentencing phase of this case that turned a lot of heads. She argued that it is time to re-examine whether “we as a society should administer the death penalty to a person with a serious mental illness.” Justice Stratton raised the same issue five years earlier in a different death penalty case, to no avail. Much has been happening on the national scene about who we as a society should execute. The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Back in 1958, then Chief Justice Earl

Warren wrote in a decision that this prohibition must “draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court used that evolving standards of decency test to ban the execution of the mentally retarded. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court applied that standard again to ban the execution of defendants who were juveniles at the time they committed their crimes. In the Lang case, while recognizing that the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet done this, Justice Stratton proposed that the same “evolving standards of decency” which prohibits the execution of juveniles and the mentally retarded should prohibit the execution of the severely mentally ill. Justice Stratton acknowledged that it’s not so easy to define who is severely mentally ill enough to be spared execution. Unlike mental retardation and juvenile offenders, in which a number on an IQ test and age are determinative factors, mental illness is a “much broader category with wide ranges of diagnoses and periods of decompensation and remission.” But, she says that it is time to start the conversation. And Justice Stratton has some hefty support for her position from the professionals. The American Bar Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health America all have adopted policy statements recommending banning the execution of persons

who were mentally ill at the time of the offense. Connecticut is the first state thus far to prohibit such punishment. State legislatures in Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana and Tennessee are examining the issue. Stratton urges the Ohio General Assembly to do so, as well. Five years ago, only Justice Paul Pfeifer joined Justice Stratton in her views on executing the mentally ill. But in the Lang case, she has also picked up the vote of the Court’s newest Justice, Yvette McGee Brown, to her position. That’s three out of seven. There’s more possible changes in the wind on the death penalty. On September 8, in her first State of the Judiciary speech as Chief Justice, Maureen O’Connor announced the creation of a joint task force between the Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio State Bar Association to review the administration (but not the wisdom) of the death penalty in Ohio. O’Connor said that “if we are to support trust and confidence in the judicial system, there is arguably no issue more important than ensuring that justice is served when the state imposes the ultimate form of punishment.” She said she wants to ensure that the death penalty is administered in the “most fair, efficient, judicious manner possible.” There are plenty of people who think that is impossible. That conversation will have to await another day.

the nine votes needed to prompt a U.S. veto. America no longer seems to be the lone “no” vote on the Security Council. “The very fact that it’s even in play is a major achievement by U.S. diplomacy, supported by Israeli diplomacy and Jewish NGO diplomacy,” Harris said. In the General Assembly, where a resolution endorsing Palestinian statehood is practically assured passage but would not carry the force of international law, Jewish groups and their allies continue to press the international body’s so-called “moral minority”

— democratic countries — to oppose the unilateral Palestinian bid. With the General Assembly still in session, those meetings were slated to be held right up until the start of Rosh Hashanah, which began on the night of Sept. 28. “In terms of the Palestinian statehood issue, we’re really not going to know the actual result for a while,” said Daniel Mariaschin, executive vice president of B’nai B’rith International, one of the Jewish organizations that lobbies at the United Nations. “We don’t know how it will go through the Council. In terms of counting

votes, we’re not able to do that right now.” Despite that uncertainty, and the difficulty of establishing what exactly motivates countries to vote one way or another, Jewish organizational leaders said the Jewish community already has achieved some measures of success. “I do think that there was something very positive about this entire exercise,” Mariaschin said. “Not since the effort to repeal the ‘Zionism is racism’ resolution have I seen the kind of coordinated effort by a number of Jewish organizations to work on one issue.”

Beyond that, Mariaschin said, all the demonstrations, counterconferences and public displays by Jews in New York served a purpose, even if what the world was focused on were the speeches inside the U.N. building. “A lot of people feel frustrated that they can’t actually do something,” Mariaschin said. “Knowing that organizations did something helps the morale in the community. “I don’t think you can measure these events by their attendance. I think you have to measure these events by their content and their intent.”

us more determined to not let them destroy our dream,” Lipman said. Shmuel Pappenheim, a haredi resident of Beit Shemesh, says the fight is not so much about confronting the Modern Orthodox as it is about sending a message to Beit Shemesh’s haredi mayor, who allowed the school to be built here. “The land was promised to us for a public building, and now the mayor has given it to them,” Pappenheim said. “What we do not understand is why a Modern Orthodox girls’ school had to be built right next to our community.”

Pappenheim says the girls are not dressed modestly enough for the haredi community’s strict mores, but he insists that the haredi community is seeking ways to conduct a peaceful dialogue with the mayor and Beit Shemesh’s non-haredi residents. “We have been trying to discuss this issue for a few years but we were not successful, so now we will have to fight it our own way,” he said. Mayor Moshe Abutbul had been involved until recently in trying to bring the two sides together

to find a solution. But after the decision to open Banot Orot was made over his head, by the national Education Ministry, he appears to have taken a step back. Matitiyahu Rosensweig, a spokesman for the Mayor, told JTA that the government’s involvement had served only to disrupt previous gains that had been made to return calm to Beit Shemesh. He declined a request for a full interview. Lipman says the Modern Orthodox community soon will fight back against gender-segregated buses, which Israel’s Supreme

Court has ruled are illegal. “We will address this issue soon with a counter campaign called Take a Seat,” he said. After that, he said, the battle will go to City Hall. “We are preparing ourselves as a unified general population for future issues that could arise and are starting to turn our eyes towards the elections in two years,” Lipman said. “We hope to wrestle the city back from a mayor who pulled a fast one on the voters and is actually under the influence of extremist elements.”

Marianna Bettman is a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.


SPORTS • 21

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011

Roar of the Jungle — A leader born By JB Miller Assitant Editor Who Dey Nation should savor the 23-20 victory of our Cincinnati Bengals over the Buffalo Bills. This past Sunday I saw things I never thought I’d see during the Mike Brown era at Paul Brown Stadium. I saw a head coach get schooled by a legend and learn from it. I watched a team that actually cared more about winning—as opposed to their own selfish desires—play their hearts out to victory. I saw a defense live up to the hype. Finally, I saw two major records broken. The first half of the game was marked with critical dropped balls, coaching mistakes and an overall lack of any enjoyment. For those who might criticize Andy Dalton on his few bad passes, take a look at the dropped balls by his receivers. It breaks a young QBs confidence when you put the ball perfectly between the numbers— or in a player’s hands—only to watch it fall to the turf. On the first offensive set of the game we came to a third and five. Dalton snapped the ball and stepped up in the pocket to throw a perfect pass to Andre Caldwell that would give us the first down. FATTAL from page 6 There is still much to learn about what happened during the past few years, some of it likely to come out as the families, and the hikers themselves, share more of their harrowing ordeal. One significant piece of the story was how both Josh’s mother, Laura, a teacher, and his brother, Alex — a doctoral student in anthropology at Harvard University — put their respective lives completely on hold and threw all their efforts into Josh’s release while Laura’s husband, Jacob Fattal, continued to work in order to support the family. Gralnick, a lifelong friend who had known Alex Fattal since preschool, witnessed the physical and emotional toll that the uncertainty had on the Fattal family, heard the details of the family’s interactions with the U.S. State Department, the White House, the office of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, Swiss diplomats and the attorney in Iran. “There was a lot of frustration. They had no real leverage. Absolutely no leverage. They could only hope and pray that Iran would make a humanitarian gesture,” said Gralnick, who directs the Center for Social Responsibility at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and also serves as lay president of the Jewish Social Policy Action Network. (His involvement with the Fattal case was not related to his professional work at Federation.) Another part of the story was just how many in the Elkins Park area

It was right in his hands but he failed to secure the ball, dropping it to the turf. As the ball rolled across the ground, fans sat in silence wondering if this would be another quiet day. As the first half went on nothing gave the fans hope to think otherwise. After Dalton threw two interceptions, one his fault and the other not, the score was 17-3 Bills with 45 seconds left in the half. Dalton began his march down the field with two timeouts in his pocket. A completed pass put the Bengals at their own 40. Instead of Marvin Lewis calling a time out he signaled to run the hurry up. The clock ticking down, the play was not snapped until 23 seconds were left. Once again our Head Coach showed his ineptitude in managing the clock. A field goal was possible. Why not take a timeout and then one shot down the field for the touchdown? No, he chose to let the clock tick away. After the next play the Bengals were left with 8 seconds. Marvin elected to knee the ball and go in for the half. Wait! With 4 seconds left, Chan Gailey, the head coach of the Buffalo Bills—a legend in collegeball and the NFL— took a timeout.

Half the Bengals squad were already heading into the tunnels and had to be called back. Why did Gailey need to call that timeout? It was pure chutzpah. There was no need to. It was an embarrassing slap in the face, and a major wake-up call to Marvin Lewis. But I thank him because he lit a fire under Marvin for the second half. At this point fans began to leave the game. I watched the crowd that started out small to begin with dwindle to a measly few, expecting exactly what Linebacker Chris Kelsay of the Bills was quoted as saying after the game. “We came in at halftime preaching ‘Don’t let up,’” he said. “Keep the pressure on them. They’d been known to quit if you got up on them. Well, they obviously didn’t quit. They came out in the second half and ran the ball down our throats.” Mark the date, Oct. 2, 2011, the day that Jay Gruden, Andy Dalton, AJ Green and Jermaine Gresham earned their stripes. The unbelievable began to happen. The coaches made adjustments on offense. The scheme changed. The game plan changed. They unleashed Cedric Benson. They unchained Dalton to fully lead the team. AJ turned on the

after burners as he rocketed up for spectacular catches. The Bengals, led by their fiery QB, clawed their way back to the lead. From Dalton’s amazing presence in the pocket, to his side-line scramble pass off his back foot to Gresham for a 20 yard 1st down, his QB sneak to get us 7 points, and finally his self sacrifice on that diving 1st down, I watched a leader being born. For the first time I can remember I saw a true captain. I saw what it was like to have a QB take total control of his team. I saw a Head Coach, embarrassed by a first half slight, learn from his mistake and manage the clock properly. I watched Marvin Lewis actually challenge the right plays and win. Shock! The defense that was ranked No. 3 in the league held the No. 1 offense to 3 points in the second half. Unbelievable! When was the last time you remember a Bengal unit playing to the expectations? More than anything else, I saw a young team—the youngest team in the NFL—bring real football back to Paul Brown Stadium, where it has been sorely missed for years. Two major records were broken on Sunday. Since the 1988 AFC championship game, the

Bengals had not beaten the Buffalo Bills, until this game. The bigger record of the two, since 1983 the Bengals have never had a No. 1 ranked defense in the NFL. Until now. Mike Zimmer has coached this rag-tag group to the No. 1 in the NFL. These were the more important aspects in this game, more important than just the plus-1 in the “W” column. Hope lives on in the Jungle. The roar of the Jungle has returned! Meanwhile, you can hear the cries of our “illustrious” owner emanating from his office, as he sits there depressed, playing with his most beloved Carson Palmer action figure, crying in apathy, “Why Carson? Why have you betrayed me?” That’s fine Mikey. Stay in your office. Keep on crying and don’t manage the team. We are doing just fine without you. Let us enjoy this victory. Let us enjoy the week of relief. Let pride return to the Jungle. Most of all, let us look forward to next week, when we can actually watch this young, thirsty, hungry and fierce team on TV. Next week the Bengals travel to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars and their rookie QB, Blaine Gabbert.

and beyond were touched indirectly and directly by the plight of the Fattal family. While no Jewish organizations became directly involved, plenty of Jews took it upon themselves to express support for the family in a number of ways. Bernard Dishler, a family dentist and a longtime Jewish communal activist who was a leader in the Soviet Jewry movement, approached Laura Fattal on behalf of Federation to see if there was something the organization could do. She told him the help wasn’t needed — the family was in touch with all sorts of government officials — but she welcomed his individual support. “When your kid is in that kind of situation, you don’t want to do anything to endanger him,” said Dishler, who attended a number of fundraisers and vigils. Earlier this year on a Federation mission to Israel, Dishler met with the parents of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was abducted by Hamas in 2006. He said Laura Fattal herself once made a direct comparison between the plight of Shalit and that of her son and Bauer. “She said Shalit is in such worse shape in terms of a chance of getting out. She has been an eternal optimist, she was never down about it,” said Dishler. Others, including Fattal’s former classmates at Cheltenham High School, pitched in by helping to organize candlelight vigils, publicizing the hiker’s plight on Facebook and Twitter, and organiz-

ing fundraisers to help pay the families’ legal and travel expenses. For example, the Earth Bread + Brewery in Mount Airy created a “Free the Hikers” beer that raised $10,000 for the cause. Rabbi Eliot Holin of Congregation Kol Ami in Elkins Park had presided over the Bar Mitzvah of Josh Fattal when he was at Rodeph Shalom. He also reached out to the Fattal family, though he didn’t know them very well. In the end, he decided to make a prayer for Fattal’s release a part of every Friday night service. “We have been reciting their names in our weekly Erev Shabbat and Shabbat Misheberach prayers in the hope that our thoughts and prayers on their behalf would carry to their domain, and in the fervent hope that they would soon be reunited with their families and friends at home in America,” said the rabbi, who sent out a congregational email rejoicing at the release of the hikers last week. This past Shabbat, he invited a member of the congregation to “sound the shofar as ‘the great shofar of freedom’ blast to announce their return home and our abundant joy for them, their families and ourselves.” While being Jewish was part of who Fattal is, he thinks of himself as a citizen of the world, said Fattal’s longtime friend Joe Boxman, noting that his friend was an environmental activist who had traveled around the globe to countries such as India, South Africa, New Zealand, China and the Philippines.

“This transcended religion and transcended politics. It was really about what was right,” said the 29year-old Boxman who, in 2009, was asked to help organize the first candlelight vigil. It was two weeks before his wedding. He at first said no, but called a friend back several minutes later to say he was in. In the end, several hundred people attended the vigil, which took place at the Curtis Arboretum on a pitch-black night. “I can say that today has been one of the happier days in a long, long time,” Boxman told the Exponent about an hour after Fattal and Bauer had landed in Oman and been reunited with their families. “The footage of him getting off the plane — that was one of the things I was waiting to see.” Boxman said that Fattal is someone with a need to travel constantly and who has a belief in the overall goodness of people. He hopes this experience hasn’t fundamentally changed his friend’s character. “There is a culture of fear out there about the Middle East and this, unfortunately, perpetuates that,” said Boxman. “A buddy of mine said to me a couple of minutes ago, ‘At least he’ll be close to home now.’ I hope he stays for a little while, but to have Josh not feeling free, to have Josh feeling bound and damaged — I want Josh to have the freedom to feel free.” He’s kept the wedding invitation for his friend that never got sent and is conflicted about whether or not to give it to him. Will Fattal appreciate

the gesture or will it remind him of all that he missed? Gralnick, for his part, struggled over the past 26 months with how to provide comfort to his old friend and Josh’s brother, Alex Fattal. The two met in nursery school and attended Hebrew school and elementary school together, all the way up to Cheltenham High School. Gralnick recalled taking Fattal out for Korean fried chicken, dragging him out on the clay courts for a few sets of tennis, or talking with him into the early morning hours when he took refuge at his home — anything to take Fattal’s mind, however briefly, away from the all-consuming reality. “Everybody needs a respite, and to some degree that’s what I tried to provide Alex,” he said. “You really just don’t know what to say other than you just try and be there.” Now that the worst is over, Gralnick is concerned the two hikers will suffer some form of post-traumatic stress disorder in the months ahead. He’s also uncertain how easily Alex Fattal will be able to resume life as normal and get back to his Ph.D. work in anthropology. Gralnick was also just beginning to comprehend how his own life will look now that he won’t have Fattal’s captivity always in the back of his mind. “I think they will want to get back to living their lives as best that they can,” he said, adding that he was looking forward to a big homecoming party. “They absolutely deserve nothing less than their freedom.”


22 • OBITUARIES O BITUARIES PRATT, Kyle Kyle Lewis Pratt, age 20, of Middletown passed away Sunday, September 18, 2011. He was born April 8, 1991 in Cincinnati, to Kevin Lewis and Cynthia Anne (Richman) Pratt. He worked for Konkrete City Skateboards. He was preceded in death by his father, Kevin Pratt and his grandmother, Phyllis Richman. Kyle is survived by his mother, Cindy Pratt of Middletown; his sister, LETTER from page 16 menses greatly impacts her relationship with her husband and family, and hence the womens’ cycles guide social dynamics in the community. It makes so much sense to have the women’s core rhythm, which is intrinsically connected and divinely balanced with the moon and the tides, be central to the Jewish calendar. I feel so proud that this woman-centered consciousness is embedded in the heritage of my Jewish ancestry. The woman learns to track her menstrual cycles according to ancient calendar methods. She tracks her cycle dates in relationship to the lunar month, the Jewish calendar, and her internal

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Sarah Pratt, of Middletown; his grandparents, Phyllis (Don) Pratt of Middletown; his uncles and aunts, Harvey (Dani) Richman, Laura (Ron) Motz of Walton, Ky., Steve (Deb) Pratt of Ft. Thomas, Ky., Vic (JD) Pratt of Middletown, Diane (Dave) Linn of West Chester, Brad (Kelly) Pratt of Middletown and many extended family and friends. A Celebration of Life Service was held with Rabbi Tom Friedman officiating. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.bakerstevensparramore.com.

GERBER, Leah

rhythms. The ancient practice of tracking our cycle in this way is incredibly rooted and grounding, as is the traditional women’s celebration of Rosh Chodesh, each new month, ever since Sinai.

because they were passed to me through an unbroken oral tradition, a living practice that I accessed because I sought out people who maintain and guard these traditions. As it is a carefully implemented mitzvah, I have had the privilege of using the mikveh in this way because I am a married Jewish woman married to a Jewish man. So many variables in my life could have been different. I feel totally blessed to have mikveh in my life.

4. Spiritual Strength: I discovered traditional Yiddishkeit (Judaism) during my childbearing years, and then had the opportunity and great blessing to have relations and conceive children while involved with the holy mikveh. This action bestowed spiritual blessing on my children, as well as applied retroactively to any of my previous children and the generations of babies born since my grandmothers ceased using the mikveh. I know these things

Leah Gerber, age 85, passed away peacefully September 27, 2011, at Cedar Village in Mason, Ohio. Born January 14, 1926 in Cincinnati, Mrs. Gerber was the daughter of Edward and Frieda Pockros and sister of the late Milton Pockros. Mrs. Gerber was preceded in death by her loving husband of 61 years, Leonard Gerber. A graduate of Walnut Hills High School and the University of Cincinnati—where she graduated

5. Timeless Wisdom: A translation of the root of the Hebrew word mikveh is “place of hope.” Today, when humanity seems to be on the brink of both enlightenment and self-inflicted destruction, I am grateful to have

with honors earning two degrees, a bachelor of fine arts and a bachelor of education—Mrs. Gerber had a passion for art and music and was an accomplished pianist. Throughout her life she served her community in many ways. Mrs. Gerber was a retired art teacher with over 20 years service in the Cincinnati Public Schools. She was past president of Bnai Brith Women’s Chapter #140, president of the Jewish Community Center Women’s Club (700 Members) and was honored with the Kovod Award from the National Honor

Society of Jewish Community Centers in 1964. Mrs. Gerber is survived by a son, Sanford (Cheryl) Gerber, of Dayton, Ohio, a daughter, Ellen (Robert) Illig, granddaughters, Allison (Kevin) Blitz, of Chicago, Ill., Lindsay (Zach) Horn, and Lauren Gerber of Indianapolis, Ind., and great-granddaughter Madeline Blitz, of Chicago, Ill. Special thanks to her many friends and caring staff at Cedar Village. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society or to Cedar Village.

this spiritual practice to arouse my sense of hope. The Jewish understanding of gender, spirituality, and the earth offers a foundation for ecofeminist views on patriarchal wars and environmental degradation now and in the past. Women at the mikveh pray for fertility, peace, everything. Understanding the mikveh and all that evolves around it provides me with a context for interacting with people of other faiths and traditions – people with whom we share the future of humanity. I understand how according to Jewish heritage women are revered. I know about how we eat, how we bathe and how we value life. We find in Judaism the acknowledgement of the Earth as

female, and a connectivity between the women and the Shechinah through the mikveh. According to the ancient teachings, the age of peace and the time of the redemption will arrive in the merit of the women. Many people are dunking in the mikveh without an obligatory bracha (blessing) this week, to purify and cleanse the soul for the coming new year. Whether or not you take that plunge, May Hashem bless us all this year to grow in our spiritual maturity, unity and love for one another in joy, success and good health! Shana tova u’metukah! Wendy Kenin Berkeley, CA


2011 CALENDAR Special Issues & Sections J ANUARY

F EBRUARY

M ARCH

6

3

3

Wonderful Weddings

13

Health & Beauty

10

20

Tu-Be-Shevat

17

17

24

24

27 Mature Living/Senior Lifestyles

Kids/Summer Camps

10 Purim

31

A PRIL

M AY

J UNE

7

5

2

12

9

14

Passover

21 28

Real Estate / Home & Garden

19 19

Bar/Bat Mitzvah Planning Issue Lag B’Omer

26

Celebrations

The Car Issue

16 23

Best of Jewish Cincinnati

30

J ULY

AUGUST

S EPTEMBER

7

4

1 8

Dentistry Issue/Dental Directory

14

11

21

18

28

Mature Living/Senior Lifestyles

Back to School & Shopping Guide

Medical Issue

15 22

25

29

Rosh Hashanah Jewish Year in Review

O CTOBER

N OVEMBER

DECEMBER

6

3

1

Gift Guide

8

Gift Guide

13

10

Estate Planning / Financial Planning

17

20 27

Event Planning Guide

15

Travel Guide

24

Chanukah

22

Legal Directory

29

Year in Review

1st week: Legal | 2nd week: Trav el | 3rd week: Ar ts & Enter tainment | 4th week: Business | 5th week: Varies DEADLINE

FOR

SPECIAL SECTIONS – 10

DAYS BEFORE PUBLICATION

Business: publisher@americanisraelite.com | Editor: editor@americanisraelite.com | Production: production@americanisraelite.com Phone: 513.621.3145 | Fax: 513.621.3744 Dates of Special Issues & Sections may change without formal notice.



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