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Matinée Musicale 101st Anniversary Season concludes April 29
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The 8 over 80 2013 honorees
The sixth annual Eight Over Eighty event sponsored by Cedar Village will honor distinguished older adults, 80 years or older, who have dedicated their time, talents and lives to our Jewish community and the Greater Cincinnati area. The celebration will be held on Thursday evening, May 29, 2014 at Adath Israel Congregation in celebration of Older Americans Month and as a part of Jewish American Heritage Month. Cedar Village will recognize Miriam Warshauer Cohen, Annette Hattenbach, Minette Hoffheimer, Ray Kantor, Jerry Klein, Zell Schulman and Vera Sanker who were nominated to receive this honor.
Miriam Warshauer Cohen served on the board of Jewish Family Service for many years and co-chaired the establishment of the lecture series which continues today. She currently serves on the Cedar Village board. Prior to moving to Cincinnati, Miriam was on the board of the JCC and Jewish Federation in New Orleans where she chaired the Federation Campaign Women’s Division. She is an active member of Adath Israel Congregation. Annette Hattenbach has been a lifelong volunteer for Adath Israel Congregation and its Sisterhood. She was involved in the school PTA when her children were young. Annette
knits baby hats for Bethesda North Hospital, volunteers every week in the Cedar Village Gift Shop and is a member of the Friends of Cedar Village. Minette Hoffheimer began her volunteer career with the National Council of Jewish Women as a part of the Babies Milk Fund. She worked with the visually impaired through the NCJW Aid to the Visually Handicapped Program and chaired the large print portion of the program. Minette has taught yoga to the blind at Clovernook and started an art program through the Alzheimer’s Association. She was chair of the Angel Ball in 1968, was treasurer of
the Thrift Shop and was a Cincinnati Enquirer Woman of the Year in 1983. Ray Kantor is a Holocaust survivor and has been active in the survivors’ network and the broader Jewish community. He served as president of the New Americans group. He was vice president of the Jewish National Fund and was on the boards of the Bureau of Jewish Education and the JCRC. He has led services for Congregation B’nai Tzedek for many years as a chazzan. Jerry Klein has been an active volunteer in the Greater Cincinnati community for decades and believes in CEDAR on page 19
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Northern Hills HaZaK to feature Rabbi Gershom Barnard The distinguished career of Rabbi Gershom Barnard will be the focus when the HaZaK group of Northern Hills Synagogue - Congregation B'nai Avraham holds its monthly program on Wednesday, April 30th. Following a delicious lunch, Rabbi Barnard will reflect on 39 years of devoted service to the congregation and the community. The program will take place at the Synagogue and begin at 12 Noon. Rabbi Barnard received his B.A. degree in philosophy from Harvard University in 1969 and studied Jewish philosophy at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He came to Northern Hills in 1975 as a recent graduate of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, where he earned an M.A. in Hebrew Letters, with honors, as well as rabbinic ordination. He also holds an M.Ed. from the University of Cincinnati. Since joining
Northern Hills as spiritual leader, he has led the congregation through many landmark events, including the embrace of equal rights and responsibilities for both men and women and the relocation of the synagogue from Finneytown to Deerfield Township in 2004. As the congregation's spiritual leader, Rabbi Barnard has encouraged
strong support for Israel and social justice, and challenged the members of the congregation to think and act in accordance with Jewish values. "HaZaK" is an acronym, with the letters standing for the Hebrew words "Hakhma" (wisdom), "Ziknah" (maturity), and "Kadima" (forward). The HaZaK programs are for adults 55 and older, and are open to the entire community. In addition to members of Northern Hills, many attendees have come from the Jewish Community Center, Cedar Village, Brookwood Retirement Community, and throughout Greater Cincinnati. There is no charge for the program and lunch, but donations are greatly appreciated. Please RSVP to the Synagogue office by Monday, April 28th. For reservations or more information, please call Northern Hills Synagogue.
Rockdale Temple welcomes Cantor Bruce Ruben at the 2014 Scholar-in-Residence April 25-27 As part of its year-long 190th Anniversary celebration, K.K. Bene Israel/Rockdale Temple is pleased to welcome Cantor Bruce Ruben as the 2014 Scholar-In-Residence April 25-27, 2014. Cantor Ruben is Director of the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and the author of “Max Lilienthal: The Making of the American Rabbi.” Dr. Lilienthal was Rockdale’s first rabbi and served the congregation for twenty-seven years from 1855 until 1882. Cantor Ruben will speak throughout the weekend series on various aspects of the development of music within the Reform tradition while highlighting Dr. Lilienthal’s unique contributions to the development of American Reform Judaism in the 19th Century. Cantor Ruben will interact with the congregation and Rockdale’s musicians during Kabbalat Shabbat Services on Friday, April 25 at 6:15 p.m. During the worship service entitled “Jewish Music Confronts Modernity,” Cantor
Ruben and Temple musicians will sing selected pieces to illustrate the development of synagogue music throughout history. Participants will experience traditional tunes from the Romantic period, contemporary Jewish music of today and much more. Shabbat Services will continue on Saturday morning with a Torah Discussion at 9:30 a.m. where Cantor Ruben will lead a study of Parashat Kedoshim entitled, “How do Reform Jews see the Priestly Class?” Morning services will be led by Rockdale’s Rabbis,
Sigma Faye Coran and Meredith Kahan. A Shabbat Lunch will be served following services and Cantor Ruben will teach about the creation of American Reform Judaism and the role Max Lilienthal and Dr. Isaac Mayer Wise played in the formation of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now known as the Union for Reform Judaism, and the development of Hebrew Union College. The weekend Shabbaton will conclude with a breakfast and presentation Sunday morning in which Cantor Ruben will trace the ideological and musical trends from the late 19th through the early 21st Century and explore how they have shaped the American Reform Movement. He will address the question: How did we get from The Union Prayer Book to Mishkan Tefilah? All events are free and open to the public. For reservations and additional information please contact Rockdale Temple.
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Israeli public relations.” “ISRAELITY: Redefining Reality in Israel” is a series of open dialogues by six social innovators, who give first-hand accounts of life in an unknown and unshown Israel—their personal ISRAELITYs. The series is presented by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s Israel Center and its Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), along with the Mayerson JCC. ISRAELITY continues with its final lecture, “Israel Out of the Closet,” on June 22. Yaniv Waizman, Tel Aviv City Council Member and Founder of Israel Gay Youth, will give a glimpse into life in Israel’s LBGTQ community.
Jewish Federation to connect with Cincinnati transplants in NYC The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati is joining local arts organizations and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber to travel to New York and show off the Queen City and all she has to offer in the way of arts, entertainment, food, and business attraction. The collective effort, dubbed “Cincy in NYC,” is being led by local Jewish community leaders Julie and Steve Shifman. “What we’re doing is unprecedented,” said Julie Shifman, Cincinnati Ballet board member and owner of Act Three, a business dedicated to helping women make their next career moves. “No other city has tried to highlight what’s best about what they do by storming another city. We’re using everything we have to offer to position Cincinnati as a destination for arts and culture appreciation, and for business and economic opportunity.” Shifman created the idea for Cincy in NYC when she discovered that the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the May Festival Chorus were scheduled to perform
at Carnegie Hall during the same week as the Cincinnati Ballet’s 50th anniversary. Now, for one week in May, Manhattan will host Cincinnati’s outstanding cultural offerings—including the Art Museum, the Taft Museum of Art, Playhouse in the Park, the Opera, and CCM’s Ariel Quartet (an Israeli ensemble formed at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance). “We’ve always known that Cincinnati is home to an arts and culture scene that has few rivals around the world,” said Matt Davis, interim executive director of REDI Cincinnati (formerly the Cincinnati USA Partnership). “Cincy in NYC is a terrific opportunity to use that asset to tell our bigger Cincinnati story. There is an incredible transformation happening here, and now we have an excellent forum in which to celebrate both the arts and the other characteristics that make Cincinnati a great place to live, work and play.” Cincy in NYC’s goals are to promote the arts on a national level, build civic pride, and attract and retain talent.
Attracting and retaining Jewish young adults is also the goal for the Jewish Federation’s new Esther and Maurice Becker Networking and Mentoring Center, which is sponsoring back-to-back social events for New York Jews with Cincinnati ties. First up is #CincyJews ReuniteNYC, hosted by Becker Center Coordinator Sammy Kanter, who moved from New York back to Cincinnati earlier this year. “It’s our hope that these young adults will not only connect in New York City, but know that the Jewish community in Cincinnati cares about them, wants to maintain a connection and will welcome them with open arms if they move to town,” Kanter said. “I want to spread awareness that Cincy is on the rise, and it’s possible to live an urban, vibrant life here!” The event is at 7 p.m. on May 9, at New York City’s official Bengals bar, Phebes Tavern and Grill, located in Manhattan’s East Village. Guests can expect an open bar and Skyline chili. Following #CincyJewsReunite
NYC is the Cincinnati Party for Young Professionals, hosted by Julie and Steve’s son, Jake, who is himself a Cincinnatian living in New York. The event will be emceed by former Bengal Dhani Jones, and will feature Shifman’s band, The Rhodes. The event is also in the East Village, at 9 p.m. on May 9, at Arlene’s Grocery. “It will be a great time. People will have the chance to reconnect with old friends and meet others from their hometown. It’s completely free, and a potential networking opportunity with key members of the Cincinnati startup scene,” said Jake Shifman. “Hopefully, young professionals will leave with the sense that there is a strong community of good people back in Cincinnati, which has emerged as an economically thriving and cool place to be.” If you know former Cincinnatian young adults now living in New York City who would want an invitation, please contact Kanter at the Jewish Federation.
Cincinnati remembers, honors, and celebrates at the J
Cincinnati Remembers... the millions of lives lost in the Holocaust. Mosaic of Memory is the theme of this year’s Yom HaShoah event, presented by the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education. It will begin at 2pm on Sunday, April 27th and includes a keynote address by Rabbi Rachel Sabath BeitHalachmi, a candle-lighting ceremony by survivors as well as music, prayer and a moving program. Cincinnati Honors… those who
gave their lives in defense of the State of Israel. Guests will gather on Sunday, May 4th at 6:30pm for Yom HaZikaron. The evening will begin with a memorial service in the JCC’s outdoor courtyard. As part of the ceremony, each attendee will be given a biography of a fallen soldier from Netanya, Israel (Cincinnati’s sister city), along with a stone on which they can write a message or prayer in honor of that soldier, or any other who gave his or her life defending Israel. These stones will then be placed amongst the other stones in the courtyard as a poignant representation of so many lives lost. After the service, participants are invited to attend a screening of “A
Hero in Heaven,” a short film chronicling the life of Michael Levin, a soldier killed in 2006 who immigrated to Israel from Philadelphia to serve in the Israel Defense Force. This program is presented by the Mayerson JCC in partnership the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati.
“LET THERE BE LIGHT” THE OLDEST ENGLISH-JEWISH WEEKLY IN AMERICA - EST. JULY 15, 1854
VOL. 160 • NO. 40 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2014 24 NISSAN 5774 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 8:06 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 9:07 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 ISAAC 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 JORY EDLIN BETH KOTZIN Assistant Editors YOSEFF FRANCUS Copy Editor JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor ROBERT WILHELMY Dining Editor MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM IRIS PASTOR ZELL SCHULMAN PHYLLIS R. SINGER Contributing Columnists JENNIFER CARROLL Production Manager BARBARA ROTHSTEIN Advertising Sales ERIN WYENANDT Office Manager e Oldest Eng Th
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events will take place over the course of a week at the Mayerson JCC beginning on Sunday, April 27th. All programs are free and open to the public:
The American Israelite
Cincinnati Celebrates… Israel’s 66th Birthday! The week will end on a happy and hopeful note with two Yom HaAtzmaut celebrations on Tuesday, May 6th. Beginning at 5pm the community is invited to enjoy an authentic Israeli dinner including falafel, hummus and salad. REMEMBERS on page 22
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From Shabbat and Sukkot, to Purim and Passover, the origins of most Jewish holidays date back thousands of years. However there are also three very significant Jewish holidays that are actually less than 100 years old. And while they’re considered new by comparison, they are every bit as popular and important to millions of Jewish people the world over. This year, like every year, Cincinnati will join with Jewish communities across the globe to remember, honor and celebrate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day; Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day; and Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day. Four unique and impactful
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life, we don’t ask permission to save one,” helps anyone in need, with a focus on providing relief in countries that lack diplomatic relations with Israel or whose governments prevent the entry of formal humanitari-
an organizations. Lusky elaborates, “They even make laws against this kind of help. For them, these laws are more important than life.” “They call us criminals,” she continues, “but the victims call us angels.” Lusky’s work is driven by tikkun olam (repairing the world). “Jewish law demands respect for human life above all else. Conflicts and politics should not come into play,” she explains. “After all, we are trying to fix one shared world.” But she also knows she has an opportunity to change people’s minds and prejudices. She says, “I feel as if I’m on a mission whenever I work in places where people are taught that Jews and Israelis have sharp ears and teeth and are evil. I see huge importance in our work for
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After her brother was injured at war, Gal Lusky dedicated her life to helping victims of disasters and territorial conflicts around the world. In 2005, she founded the non-governmental organization Israeli Flying Aid (IFA) with the belief that times of crisis are not times for religion or politics. On Wednesday, April 30, at 7 p.m., at the Mayerson JCC, Lusky will recount her sometimes lifethreatening missions into areas where others won’t go—including Indonesia, Kashmir and Darfur. Lusky’s lecture, “Never Invited, Always Welcome,” is part of the ISRAELITY speaker series, in partnership with Northern Hills Synagogue. The event is free and open to the public. Israeli Flying Aid, whose motto is “Nobody asks permission to take a
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Israeli global aid founder to speak at next ISRAELITY event
THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE (USPS 019-320) is published weekly for $44 per year and $1.00 per single copy in Cincinnati and $49 per year and $2.00 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.
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
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BIRTHS • BAT/BAR MITZVAHS • ENGAGEMENTS
In Kansas City, targeting a community’s beating heart
WEDDINGS • BIRTHDAYS • ANNIVERSARIES
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By Victor Wishna OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (JTA) – Every Friday at noon, my 2-year-old daughter and I rush through the doors of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City here to meet my father for lunch. We are usually late, and the JCC’s Heritage Center, catering to active seniors (and their preschool-aged guests), is only our first stop. Vivien refuses to leave until she and Zayde have had a run of the entire building. At the White Theater, she chatters on about the time she saw “Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins.” She reads books about Purim and Passover in the library, points out the most colorful paintings hung in the atrium and chases soccer balls around the gym until it is time to go. Only when I promise we can always return does she let us carry her back through those large glass doors, the ones now shattered by shotgun blasts. It’s a surreal image, those scarred doors, no easier to believe for having seen it on TV than the fact that two lives were taken in the parking lot outside. After all, I grew up here, too. This is the place my parents first left me to fend for myself as a day camper, where I made an awkward preteen stage debut, worked summer after summer as a counselor, later helped produce a film festival, ran my first meeting and now continue to volunteer, work, work out (occasionally) and build some of the strongest relationships I’ve known. My experience differs only in the details from those of thousands of other Kansas Citians. In the hours since the shootings of Sunday afternoon, friends – some who moved away years ago, leaving few ties behind – have written, called, posted on Facebook. One commented that it felt like an attack “inside my childhood home.” Much has been made of the JCC as a safe place, but this is not our haven, it’s our habitat, a campus full of organizations serving those in all stages and walks of life. There is a preschool, a K12 day school and the offices of Jewish federation and multiple other philanthropic, vocational, educational and family-service agencies, as well as the respected theater and popular fitness and sports facilities. Nearly anyone involved with the Jewish community, even tangentially, has a regular reason to stop by – for a meeting, a preschool pick-up, a rehearsal, a lecture, a volunteer assignment, a swim lesson, a Zumba class – or knows someone who does. A mile away, Village Shalom, the second site targeted by 73-year-old white supremacist Frazier Glenn Miller, is another community hub. It is an assisted-living facility for seniors but also houses a kosher cafe, an art
Courtesy of Jamie Squire/Getty Images
A police car is seen at the entrance of the Jewish Community Campus in Overland Park, Kan., after deadly shootings there and at a nearby assisted-living facility, April 13, 2014.
gallery, a social hall for community lectures and events, and a chapel where our family’s synagogue holds weekday minyanim (and where we celebrated our son’s brit milah two months ago). These campuses are the physical manifestation of a remarkably cohesive Jewish community. Perhaps more so than in larger communities, Kansas City Jews hold tight across political and denominational lines. But neither is the community an island. The Jewish Community Campus serves visitors of all religions and backgrounds; in the perfect phrasing of my friend Josh Stein, who works there, it is “the living room of our community, open and welcoming to everyone.” In the moments before the shooter struck, an audience was gathering for a performance of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” a stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s call to tolerance. Across the hall, auditions were underway for KC SuperStar, an “American Idol”style competition open to students from high schools across the region. The two victims from the JCC parking lot would be identified as Dr. William Lewis Corporon and his grandson, 14-year-old Reat Griffin Underwood, who was there to audition. Both were members of United Methodist Church of the Resurrection. Many in the Jewish community count its members among our neighbors and friends. Pastor Adam Hamilton has built close relationships with local Jewish leaders, including some who participated in a church trip to Israel. The third victim, Terri LaManno, a Catholic mother of two, was killed in the parking lot of Village Shalom, where she had come to visit her mother, a resident at the home. The victims may not have been Jews – as the murderer likely intended – but they were members of our community all the same. At a vigil only hours later, Mindy Corporon, Dr. Corporan’s daughter and Underwood’s mother, rose to deliver an impossibly articulate appeal. “I want you all to know that we’re going to have more life,” she said.
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“And I want you all to have more life.” All year, the JCC has been celebrating its centennial – a time for looking back and retelling, something Jews know how to do. But throughout the building, the black-and-white and faded-color photos from the first 100 years are dwarfed by the banners bearing the center’s slogan: “100 More.” We must deal with the necessary reactions: profound sadness, anger, some fear, heightened security and insecurity. But in the hours after the lockdown was lifted, people rushed in, not away – clergy, counselors, off-duty JCC staff – arriving to see how they could help. As Pesach begins, this may now be the moment that separates the center’s last century from its next, “l’dor v’dor.” Let all who are hungry come and eat. There will be more life, and the doors to the community will only open wider.
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Kansas City shootings highlight threat of ‘lone wolf’ attacks By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) – The suspect in deadly shootings at two Jewish institutions in suburban Kansas City made no secret of his hateful views, but nobody anticipated the attack that claimed three lives on Sunday. The shooter was identified as Frazier Glenn Miller, a 73-year-old white supremacist. The attack illustrates the dilemma of how best to protect Jewish institutions from the threat of deadly violence by extremists acting alone. “Lone wolves are really by far the most dangerous phenomenon. They are vastly more difficult to stop in advance of their actions,” said Mark Potok, the publications director for the Southern Poverty Law Center. “You can’t simply follow around all the people in the United States who have noxious views.” Vigilance on the part of communal institutions is key, said Paul Goldenberg, who directs the Secure Community Network, the security arm of national Jewish groups. “The only way is to stop the lone wolf is prevention and hardening a soft target,” Goldenberg said. Miller, who is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, is suspected of killing a man and his grandson on Sunday in the parking lot of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park, Kan., and then shooting to death a woman at Village Shalom, a Jewish assisted-living facility a few
National Briefs Mayor of Kansas shooter’s hometown aligns with white supremacist, anti-Semitic views (JNS) – The mayor of the Missouri hometown of Frazier Glenn Miller, the man who reportedly carried out the shooting spree that left three people dead at two Kansas City-area Jewish community sites, expressed sympathy for the suspected killer’s white supremacist views and called himself Miller’s friend. In an interview with KSPR, a Springfield, Mo., ABC affiliate, Daniel Clevenger – the new mayor of Marionville, Mo. – called Miller a longtime friend who is “nice and friendly” and who “respected his elders greatly” as long as they were the “same color as him.” In a letter written more than a decade ago to the editor of the Aurora Advertiser, a local newspaper, Clevenger wrote, “I am a friend of Frazier Miller helping to
blocks away, where she was visiting her mother. After Miller was placed in a police vehicle, he was heard to yell “heil Hitler.” The victims killed at the JCC were William Lewis Corporon, a retired physician, and his 14-yearold grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood. Corporon and Underwood, members of an area Methodist church, were hit by bullets as they were in a car. Underwood, an aspiring singer, was at the JCC for a talent show, family told local media. The third victim, Terri LaManno, a Catholic mother of two, was killed in the Village Shalom parking lot. This was not the first time a JCC has been targeted by a lone gunman. In 2006, Naveed Afzal Haq, motivated by anti-Israel views, killed one woman and wounded five others when he attacked the Seattle Jewish Federation building. In 1999, white supremacist Buford Furrow wounded five people, including three children, when he opened fire on the North Valley Jewish Community Center in suburban Los Angeles and shortly after killed a mail carrier. The Southern Poverty Law Center was the first to identify the gunman as Miller, of Aurora, Mo. The center said he was the grand dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1980s and subsequently a founder of the White Patriot Party, and served three years
in prison on weapons charges and for plotting the assassination of its founder, Morris Dees. Miller had not been involved in criminal activity for decades, but he kept his views known and publicized them avidly. He maintained a website, and posted links to his media appearances, including one on a black radio show. In 2012, he appeared on a panel of extremists organized by a professor at Missouri State University and reveled in the encounter. In a post on the Vanguard News Network, a white supremacist site, he described sparring with Jewish students from the audience, whom he described as “two kikes.” Mark Pitcavage, the director of investigative research for the AntiDefamation League, said lone wolves tend to operate on the margins of extremist communities, which makes it harder to detect when they may be plotting actions. This was true of Miller, who had alienated much of the movement in the 1980s when he had his sentence reduced in exchange for testifying against co-conspirators. Pitcavage said monitors can sometimes detect planning for violence, as extremists often will report in online forums private exchanges with individuals seeking co-conspirators for a violent act. “When we see extremists start warning other extremists about someone, we pay attention,” he said. “The way the vine works, they think ‘he’s a government plant who’s try-
ing to get me in trouble.’ They have a skewed reaction to it, but nevertheless they have a reaction. We have learned when we see those sorts of things to take them seriously.” The ADL passes on such information to law enforcement. In other instances, there are signs that the poster is a “powder keg,” Pitcavage said. Monitors, he said, look for “a long series of posts expressing aggravation – ‘something has to be done, it’s time to do something.’ They may say things to other people trying to get people involved.” Potok of the law center said extensive posting on such sites is not in of itself necessarily an indicator of such violence. Wade Michael Page, a white supremacist who in 2012 killed six people at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., had been prominent among online extremists but had not exhibited typical signs of an imminent attack. “We had been following Page for 12 years,” Potok said. “There was no indication that he had finally decided to start shooting.” Other times, Pitcavage said, lone wolves operate completely under the radar, with no communications preceding an attack. White supremacist Keith Luke killed two West Africans in the Boston area in 2009 and was on his way to attack a synagogue when police stopped him. “No one had ever heard of Keith Luke before,” he said. “After his arrest we discovered he had spent countless hours watching white
supremacist videos on YouTube.” Other lone wolves embrace the status because of its utility, Pitcavage said, noting that Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in bombings and shootings in and near Oslo on July 22, 2011, had assembled data showing that lone attacks were more successful. “The more steps there are, the more people there are,” the likelier it is that the plot will be leaked, Pitcavage said. Goldenberg, the Jewish security official, said it has become easier for potential assailants to surveil Jewish targets because of information that’s easily accessed on the Internet. It’s not clear what drew the assailant to the Greater Kansas City JCC, Goldenberg said, but it was notable that there were at least two events that had been publicized and were likely to draw crowds: a play and the singing audition. It was a tough balance, said Karen Aroesty, the ADL director in St. Louis, Mo., who was in touch with the Kansas City community and law enforcement in the wake of the attack. “You want communities to spread the word about the activities they are doing, balancing that with the kind of security that protects against” potential assailants, she said. “How do they pitch security really strongly while being warm and welcoming? That’s a tough balance.”
spread his warnings. The Jew-run medical industry has succeeded in destroying the United States’ workforce… Made a few Jews rich by killin’ us off.” In the KSPR interview, Clevenger repeated the antiSemitic motifs. “There some things that are going on in this country that are destroying us,” he said. “We’ve got a false economy and it’s, some of those corporations are run by Jews because the names are there. The fact that the Federal Reserve prints up phony money and freely hands it out, I think that’s completely wrong. The people that run the Federal Reserve, they’re Jewish.”
extremist student group that stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, taking 52 U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days. The law signed by Obama bars entry into the U.S. by any proposed U.N. representative who has engaged in espionage or terrorism or who may pose a threat to national security.
K.C. suspect said world should be rid of Jews (JTA) – The Missouri white supremacist charged in the Kansas City-area killings told a Manhattan rabbi that “we have to get rid” of every Jew. Frazier Glenn Miller, who also goes by Frazier Glenn Cross, called the American Friends of Kiev hotline on March 30 and spoke with Rabbi Menachem Siegal, director of the United Jewish Communities of Eastern Europe and Asia, the New York Post reported Saturday. Miller attacked Siegal for raising money for Jews who he said “cause all of the problems” and “destroyed the whole economy in the United States and the world,” Siegal told the Post. He also said, according to Siegal, that “Hitler should have finished off the job in Europe by coming to the United States and getting rid of every Jew.”
Kansas City Jewish center gunman Frazier Glenn Miller. Jessica Wilson, an alderwoman for the past year, resigned last week shortly after Mayor Daniel Clevenger offered his endorsement of Miller, a white supremacist who lived in Marionville, during an interview with KSPR News. Wilson said as Clevenger’s comments led to divisiveness in the community and calls for the mayor’s impeachment, she decided to offer her resignation, she told the local media. City Attorney Paul Link also resigned on Friday over the mayor’s comments, according to the ABC affiliate KSPR.
Obama signs law that will bar new Iranian U.N. envoy from entering U.S. (JNS) – President Barack Obama, whose administration already said it would deny a visa to newly appointed Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Hamid Aboutalebi, on Friday signed a law that bars Aboutalebi from entering the U.S. The U.N. headquarters is located in New York City. Aboutalebi was part of an
Group calls out U.S. for failing to address airline’s discrimination against Israelis (JNS) – The Lawfare Project, a nonprofit that says it facilitates “responses to the perversion and misapplication of international & national human rights law,” called out U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx for failing to address discrimination against Israelis by Kuwait Airways. Earlier this year, Foxx denied a complaint surrounding Kuwait Airways’ refusal to transport Israeli nationals on nonstop flights from New York to London, saying the airline did not violate U.S. anti-discrimination law because it is bound instead by Kuwait’s legal prohibition against Israeli passport holders from entering the country.
Missouri alderwoman quits over mayor’s backing of K.C. gunman (JTA) – An alderwoman in Marionville, Mo., has resigned over comments by the town’s new mayor in support of suspected
SHOOTINGS on page 19
Poker ace skips pair of mom’s seders, wins $1 million at tourney (JTA) – A Montreal man who skipped both seders at his mother’s home in Florida to play in a poker tournament took home the $1 million title. Eric Afriat on April 16 won the World Poker Tour/Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in Hollywood, Fla., in a field of 1,795 participants.
INTERNATIONAL • 7
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
Greece’s Romaniote Jews remember a catastrophe and grapple with disappearing By Gavin Rabinowitz IOANNINA, Greece (JTA) – When the Jews of Ioannina gathered in their whitewashed-stone synagogue over the weekend, it was to commemorate 70 years since the Nazis destroyed their community. But the March 30 gathering also served to highlight a source of present-day sadness: the withering of the unique 2,300 year-old Romaniote Jewish tradition. Ioannina, a postcard-pretty town in northwestern Greece with a medieval fortress perched by a bright blue lake and surrounded by snow-capped mountains, once was the center of Romaniote Jewish life. Today, however, the community in Ioannina numbers fewer than 50 members, most of them elderly. The last time the community celebrated a bar mitzvah was in 2000. The community’s leaders fear for its future. “It is very difficult,” said Moses Elisaf, the community’s president. “We try to do our best to keep the traditions, but the numbers are very hard.” “I don’t like to think about the future. It is very hard to be optimistic,” he said, standing on the peaceful lakefront Mavili Square, where the Nazis loaded the town’s Jews onto trucks to be shipped to Auschwitz. The Romaniote Jews, neither Ashkenazi nor Sephardic, emerged from the first Jewish communities of Europe. Records indicate the first Jewish presence in Greece dating back to 300 BCE. A ruined secondcentury BCE synagogue on the Aegean island of Delos is believed to be the oldest discovered in the Diaspora. These Jews became known as the Romaniotes, speaking their own language, Yevanic, or Judeo-Greek, a version of Greek infused with Hebrew and written with the Hebrew script. Romaniote synagogues had a unique layout. They had their own religious traditions and prayer book,
the Mahzor Romania. Much of the worship was in Yevanic, and the tunes, including for reading the Torah, were heavily influenced by Byzantine music. “The Romaniote tradition is hugely important. It is a preDiasporic tradition based on the Talmud Yerushalmi,” said Zanet Battinou, the director of the Jewish Museum of Greece and herself a Romaniote who grew up in Ioannina. But it is a community and a tradition that has long been in decline. Following the expulsion of the Jews of Spain in 1492, many Sephardic Jews found refuge in the Ottoman Empire that then ruled Greece. Soon, major Sephardic communities sprang up, most notably in Thessaloniki, known as the Jerusalem of the Balkans. The preexisting Romaniote communities often were absorbed into the larger, wealthier Sephardic Ladino-speaking ones that eventually became largely synonymous with Greek Jewry. “People don’t know about the Romaniote ancient Jewish community,” Battinou said. “Thessaloniki was so massive and successful, it overshadowed everything.” It was only on isolated islands and in the rugged mountains of western Greece that the Romaniotes remained the dominant tradition, and Ioannina was the largest of these communities. By the start of the 20th century, some 4,000 Romaniote Jews lived in Ioannina. But amid the economic hardship and the turmoil that accompanied the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, many joined their Greek compatriots and emigrated. Most went to the United States and Palestine, setting up Romaniote synagogues in New York City and Jerusalem. Later, a third was established in Tel Aviv. At the start of World War II, about 2,000 Jews remained in Ioannina. On March 25, 1944, the German Nazi occupiers rounded up the Jews of Ioannina. As snow fell, they were
Courtesy of Gavin Rabinowitz
Youth from Ioannina’s Greek community, in traditional dress, hold candles to be lit in memory of the more than 500 children who were deported to Auschwitz.
put into open trucks and taken to a nearby city. From there, a nine-day rail journey took them to Auschwitz. The names of the town’s 1,832 Jews who were murdered are carved on marble tablets on the walls of the synagogue. Among the dead were more than 500 children under the age of 13. Only 112 Ioannina Jews survived the death camps. Another 69 escaped the roundup, hiding with Christian families or fleeing into the mountains, where some fought with the Greek resistance. When they returned to Ioannina, many found their properties looted and homes occupied. But it was not just the people who were wiped out. Centuries of tradition disappeared, too. “Oral tradition is very dependent on the third generation – all the grandfathers and grandmothers disappeared, were murdered, all at once,” Battinou said. Among the few survivors was her grandmother Zanet, after whom she is named. “The youth who survived only perpetuated what parts they remembered,” she said. While Ioannina was the largest and the most iconic Romaniote community, several other small communities that identify with the Romaniote tradition continue to exist in places like Chalkida and Volos. But today, most of the remaining Romaniote Jews, like their Sephardic compatriots, live in Athens, Greece’s largest Jewish community. Athens has one
Romaniote synagogue, built in 1906, but it is used only on the High Holidays. Meanwhile, the Romaniote Jews who moved to the United States and Israel have intermingled with the larger Jewish communities. Several Israeli Romaniotes attended the anniversary commemo-
rations, drawn by family ties. Yosef Baruch came with his brother and his uncle at the behest of his 90-year-old grandmother who survived the Nazis and moved to Israel after the war. Baruch says he has never prayed at the Romaniote GREECE on page 20
8 • INTERNATIONAL
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Will regional and domestic challenges force renewed Israel-Turkey normalization? By Sean Savage (JNS) – Israel’s relations with Turkey, once its closest Muslim ally, have grown increasingly strained under the leadership of Islamist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But after formally severing ties due to the fallout from the May 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, Israel and Turkey are reportedly on the brink of restoring full diplomatic relations. In the midst of a messy election year in which Erdogan faces domestic political backlash over his increasingly authoritarian and Islamist policies, as well as the presence of growing regional threats like Syria and Iran for both Israel and Turkey, what would normalization offer the former allies? “The domestic situation in Turkey is extremely tense and polarized,” Dr. Michael Koplow, who maintains a blog on Turkey and Israel called “Ottomans and Zionists” and serves as the program director at the Washington, DCbased Israel Institute think tank, told JNS. “Turkey is quickly hardening into dueling camps of people who believe every allegation that is made against the government and people who believe that none of the allegations have a shred of truth to them,” he said. Since taking office more than a decade ago, Erdogan’s biggest claim to success has been the stability he has brought after decades of military
International Briefs After Hezbollah arrests, Israel asks Thailand to bolster security (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) – The Israeli Embassy in Bangkok has asked the Thai capital’s Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) to increase security measures around the embassy and various other Jewish and Israeli establishments and tourist attractions, the Bangkok Post reported. The request follows the arrest of two Hezbollah terrorists who were believed to have been plotting an attack against Israeli tourists in Thailand. U.S., terror victims’ families agree on sale of Iran-linked New York skyscraper (JNS) – In the largest terrorismrelated forfeiture in U.S. history, the U.S. government has agreed to distribute the proceeds of the sale of an Iran-linked Manhattan skyscraper and other buildings to the families of the victims of Iranian-sponsored terror attacks.
Israel Defense Forces.
Knives, wrenches, and wooden clubs used to attack Israel Defense Forces soldiers when they boarded the Mavi Marmara ship on May 31, 2010. Israeli clashes with Turkish militants on the ship, resulting in nine Turkish deaths, led to the deterioration of IsraelTurkey relations.
coup d’états. Under his leadership, the economy has dramatically improved and the country’s international profile has grown. But that success has dwindled over the past year, with a growing number of Turks becoming disenchanted with Erdogan’s increasing authoritarian policies, including attacks on the media, judicial system and military as well as political corruption in his AKP party and a stalling economy. This came to a head last summer when protests called the “Gezi Park Protests” erupted in Istanbul and quickly spread to other major Turkish cities. The opposition in Turkey – led by the Republican People’s Party, or
CHP, a center-left socialist party created by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey – gained momentum ahead of March 30 municipal elections. Leading up to the elections, Erdogan faced increased criticism over the government’s decision to block Twitter and YouTube. “The government has been waging a battle with its former ally, the Gülen movement (a more moderate Islamist movement led by exiled Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen), and has [also] been dealing with leaks, allegations of large-scale corruption, protests in Istanbul, Ankara, and other cities,” Koplow said. Yet before all the final results
The settlement includes the families and estates of victims of Iranian-linked terrorist attacks over the last 30 years, including 1983 Marine Barracks bombings in Beirut, the 1996 Khobar Tower attacks in Saudi Arabia, and terror attacks in Israel.
planned attack on Israeli tourists in Bangkok’s popular Khao San Road tourist hub. There are several Israeli travel agencies and other establishments in the area, along with a Chabad house. Thailand’s deputy national police chief, Winai Thongsong, said the men were arrested at different locations in Bangkok after Thai police received intelligence from Israel about a planned attack on Israeli tourists during Passover.
Egyptian authorities intercept attempted smuggling of Jewish artifacts (JNS) – Several dozen Jewish artifacts were intercepted by Egyptian authorities before they could be smuggled out of the country. According to a statement by Egypt’s Antiquities Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, authorities found the Jewish artifacts during a cargo search in Damietta, a port city on the Mediterranean. The items were allegedly being smuggled to Belgium. Hezbollah terror plot against Israeli tourists in Bangkok foiled (JNS) – The investigation into two alleged Hezbollah terrorists arrested in Thailand recently was progressing swiftly, the Bangkok Post reported April 17, as one of the suspects reportedly admitted to a
Reported flyer tells Ukrainian Jews to register with authorities or be deported (JNS) – A flyer reportedly distributed on Passover to Jews in eastern Ukraine called on Jews to register with authorities or be deported. The flyer, which bears the stamps of the self-proclaimed “People’s Republic of Donetsk,” a pro-Russian separatist group in eastern Ukraine, was distributed to Jews as they left Passover services, according to the Novosti Donbassa news agency. It was signed by the self-appointed “people’s governor” Denis Pushilin. But Pushilin has denied any connection to the flyer, according to the Russian news site Tvrain.ru.
were in, Erdogan declared victory over his rivals in a late-night speech on March 30, with his AKP party winning local elections in Istanbul and leading in a close race in Ankara. As of early on March 31, AKP led with nearly 47 percent of the nationwide municipal vote, well surpassing the 39 percent it garnered in the last local elections in 2009. Analysts speculate that the results will embolden Erdogan to either amend party rules to seek a fourth term as prime minister or to run for president later this year. “This nation has given a message to Turkey and to the world,” Erdogan said, according to Turkey’s Daily Hurriyet newspaper. Amid the domestic upheaval, Israel and Turkey are reportedly nearing a deal on restoring ties. A NATO member, Turkey in the past found Israel to be a reliable ally against 20th-century threats like pan-Arabism and communism. But with the rise of Erdogan and his Islamist AKP party, strong ties with the Jewish state became a political liability as Erdogan sought to reassert Turkey’s role as a Middle Eastern power. The situation reached a breaking point in May 2010, when eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish American were killed in clashes after they attacked Israeli soldiers on board the Mavi Marmara flotilla, which was trying to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. The incident led a formal suspension of Israeli-Turkish ties.
According to Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, a deal under which Israel would pay compensation to the families of the Turks killed aboard the Mavi Marmara could be signed as early as April, the Daily Hurriyet reported. “The gap between the expectations of the two sides is closing,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuoglu told AFP. “Progress has been made to a great extent, but the two sides need to meet again for a final agreement.” A flotilla compensation deal would lead to a restoration of full diplomatic ties between Israel and Turkey, including the reopening of embassies. There have even been reports that Erdogan would visit Israel and the Palestinian territories. While reports of the deal appear have appeared in Turkish media and have cited Turkish leaders, the Israeli government has denied that a deal is imminent. Koplow believes the impetus for reconciliation on the Turkish side has come from two places – pressure from the U.S., and a string of foreign policy failures over the past year. “The Turkish government believes that making up with Israel will alleviate some of the recent tension with the U.S., and President Obama reportedly emphasized his expectation that Erdogan make tangible moves toward patching things up,” he told JNS.
Syrian Christian refugees seek return to ancient town after government recapture (JNS) – Syrian Christian refugees from the ancient town of Maaloula are seeking to return to their home after it was recaptured by Syrian government forces this week. “I would love to go back and celebrate Easter there, but it’s still a bit early,” said Fadi Mayal, a former Maaloula resident who currently lives in Damascus’s Christian quarter, Lebanon’s Daily Star reported.
with the anti-Semitic website Holywar were charged with racial discrimination and defamation. The charges came after a lengthy investigation in which the suspects are accused of defaming numerous public figures, including Pope Francis, who was depicted “in photoshopped images dressed as a bearded Orthodox Jew waving the Israeli flag with a swastika at the center of the Star of David,” according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
Warsaw marks ghetto uprising (JTA) – Warsaw residents, including representatives of the Jewish community, marked the 71st anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Saturday’s ceremony featured prayers and the laying of wreaths at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in the Polish capital. The approximately 200 participants then marched to the Umschlagplatz square, the site where Jews in the early 1940s were rounded up by German troops for deportation to the Treblinka death camp.
Ukrainian synagogue reportedly firebombed (JTA) – The main synagogue in the Ukrainian city of Nikolayev reportedly was firebombed. The synagogue was empty of worshippers when it was firebombed early Saturday morning, according to the Chabad-affiliated Shturem.org website. Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the door and window, the report said, citing Yisroel Gotlieb, son of the city’s chief rabbi, Sholom Gotlieb. A passer-by put out the fires with a fire extinguisher, according to the report.
Italy charges 7 on anti-Semitic site with racial discrimination (JTA) – Seven people associated
TURKEY on page 22
INTERNATIONAL / ISRAEL • 9
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
By famed waterfalls, brain- At Easter, stark contrast in life for Christians storming a future for Latin in Israel and in rest of Middle East By Alex Traiman America’s smaller Jewish (JNS) – Millions of Christians will celebrate this Easter Sunday communities under threat throughout the Middle By Natalie Schachar PUERTO IGUAZU, Argentina (JTA) – The youthful group of 60 drew their chairs around tables strewn with jars of markers and the occasional Rubik’s Cube, nearby chalkboards at the ready for jotting down big ideas. The conference hall was suffused with a can-do vibe that wouldn’t have seemed out of place in Silicon Valley. But high-tech was not on the agenda. Instead, the crowd of social entrepreneurs and activists had come to a resort near the famous Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-Brazil border to brainstorm a future for Jewish life in small communities across Latin America. “The decline of communities in smaller cities is our biggest problem,” said the event’s co-chair, Ariela Lijavetzky, director of informal education at Maccabi, a Jewish sports club in Buenos Aires. The recent four-day Lazos gathering – Spanish for “ties” – was sponsored by the U.S.-based Schusterman Philanthropic Network as part of its Connection Points initiative. One of many thematic gatherings of young Jews convened around the world by the initiative, Lazos focused on the challenges faced by shrinking Jewish communities in Latin America. Across the region, Jewish population is becoming increasingly centralized, leaving once-flourishing communities in smaller towns and cities struggling. “It’s at a critical point,” said Carlos Vilches Haquin, a lawyer from the city of Concepcion in Chile. “Information, programs, subsidies don’t get to Concepcion, and a major reason is our isolation.” The trend toward centralization is pronounced in Argentina, where about 90 percent of the country’s Jewish population lives in the capital of Buenos Aires. In the Argentine city of General Roca, located in Patagonia, the Jewish community once numbered about 400 families. These days, an egalitarian minyan still convenes for Friday night services at a synagogue in the center of town. But the few active community members, which hovers around 25, illustrates how times have changed. “Our principal income is from the cemetery,” said Pablo Indelman, the synagogue president, community director and Hebrew teacher. Jewish population movements parallel larger trends in Latin America, where people are flocking
to the main urban areas of their countries. Young Jews often do not return to their hometowns after studying or working in the big city. Others leave for Israel or destinations abroad. “There’s almost no youth, they’re all grandparents,” said Moshe Sefchovich, a resident of Guadalajara, a city of more than 1 million in the Mexican state of Jalisco. He describes a mass movement of community members to Mexico City. While aware of the difficulty of reversing migration trends, Lazos participants were determined to find ways to reinvigorate Jewish life. Participants proposed ventures such as the establishment of a new synagogue in the Argentine city of Corrientes and a network for Jewish travelers journeying to Brazil during the World Cup. Technology was offered up as a means of changing the status quo. “Everyone is asking where young adults have disappeared to,” said Victor Rottenstein, the head of search engine optimization operations at Mercado Libre, the Latin American version of eBay. “I’ll tell you where they are. They’re on Facebook.” Participants discussed how to capitalize on the potential contributions of community members who had left and to improve the way resources are shared among communities. “Communities are widely distributed across a broad area,” said Diego Goldman, a psychologist from Buenos Aires who co-chaired the Lazos event with Lijavetzky. “There is a big necessity for Latin America to work as a network.” The effort to strengthen small communities is complicated in some countries, however, by economic uncertainty. In Argentina, an inflation rate of approximately 30 percent and the prospect of further currency devaluations make it more difficult for institutions to stay afloat, with synagogues in a number of smaller cities selling off their properties and merging. Even communities with storied histories are struggling. Moises Ville, a town in the Argentine province of Sante Fe, famed for its Jewish gauchos, or cowboys, once was a shining symbol of Jewish community life on the plains of Argentina. With the financial patronage of the German-Jewish philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch, Jews fleeing czarist Russia and Central Europe had taken advantage of Argentina’s open-door immigration policy and established the colony in 1889.
East. In recent years, Christians living in countries such as Syria, Egypt, and Iraq have suffered extreme persecution, with churches destroyed in violent acts of terror (sometimes during prayer services) and hundreds of thousands killed. Many other Christians have fled the region. Yet in Israel, the one Mideast country where Christian residents have enjoyed security, freedom of worship, population growth, and support from the government, some Palestinian leaders are complaining about Israeli security policies relating to the Easter holiday. Nabeel Shaath, a Central Committee Member of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling party, told the Palestinian news agency WAFA at a Christian prayer service in Jerusalem, “I have joined my Christian brothers and sisters at the beginning of a week that symbolizes hope after suffering. As a priest and dear friend once told me: ‘Every Easter we hope for the resurrection of our people as a free nation.’” “It is inconceivable that Palestinian Christians and Muslims from the rest of Palestine cannot reach Jerusalem without Israeliissued permits,” Shaath said. “We should be free to access Jerusalem because it is a part of Palestine. It is
Courtesy of Flash90
An Israeli soldier helps to smuggle out a priest and a nun from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on April 7, 2002. That year, a siege by Palestinian militants on the Church of the Nativity persisted from April 2 to May 10 – just days after Easter on the Eastern Orthodox calendar.
ridiculous that Israel opens Jerusalem for foreign tourists while millions of Palestinian Christians and Muslims are being banned from entering their occupied capital.” But according to David Parsons, media director of International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Christians living in Israel and even in Palestinian controlled-territories, from which entry into Israel is not allowed without special permits, have much to be thankful for and little to complain about compared to their Christian brethren in neighboring countries. “For Palestinian Christians, things may not be easy, but when you
look around the region, I don’t know if those who are now complaining are going to get too much sympathy,” Parsons told JNS. “Christian minority communities throughout the Middle East have been going through a very difficult time in recent years,” he said. “Amid the chaos of the Arab Spring, radical Islamists have won elections, and have felt more freedom to persecute Christians without consequences.” In Egypt, during the brief rule of the Muslim brotherhood, Coptic Christian communities were massacred, with tens of thousands killed EASTER on page 22
10 • ISRAEL
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
West Bank shooting victim laid to rest at Mount Herzl By JTA Staff
Courtesy of Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
The family of Baruch Mizrahi, a senior Israeli police officer, mourns during his funeral at the military cemetery of Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on April 16, 2014. Mizrahi was shot by Palestinians on April 14 near the West Bank city of Hebron while driving with his wife and young son, who were also injured in the attack, as they were on their way to a Passover seder.
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Hundreds attended the funeral for Israel Police Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi, who was killed near Hebron while on his way to a Passover seder with his family. “Instead of growing old together and watching the seasons pass, with the shriek of a bullet, I lost the love of my life,” his pregnant wife, Hadas, who was also shot twice in the Sunday afternoon attack, said during her eulogy Wednesday at the Mount Herzl military cemetery. Mizrahi, 47, a father of five, was shot and killed while driving with his family to a Passover seder in the Jewish community in Hebron. His wife, who was in the car with him, and their 9-year-old son, who was in another car, also were wounded.
His wife told Ynet that despite being hit with two bullets, she took over the steering wheel and ordered her children to lie down on the floor of the car. She ordered rescue workers to immediately remove her children from the scene so that they would not see their dead father’s bullet-ridden body. “I’ll be strong for the children, because that’s what Baruch would have wanted. We should also be thankful for the miracle that my children and I survived. We will stay strong and God willing, my children will grow and succeed, and that will be my victory against the terrorists,” Hadas Mizrahi told Ynet. Baruch Mizrahi reportedly served for 25 years in the Israel Defense Forces, holding senior posts in elite intelligence units, before moving into police intelligence.
The Israeli military is continuing to search for the shooter or shooters, who are believed to have been using a Kalashnikov rifle. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the murder on Tuesday night, at the end of the first day of the Passover holiday. “This reprehensible murder of a man who was traveling with his family to a meal for the Festival of Freedom is the result of the incitement for which the Palestinian Authority is responsible. The Palestinian Authority continues to constantly broadcast – in its official media – programs that incite against the existence of the State of Israel. Last night this incitement was translated into the murder of a father who was traveling with his family to celebrate the first night of Passover,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Empower play: Ghada Zoabi’s news site aims to uplift Israel’s Arabs By Ben Sales
Courtesy of Bokra
Ghada Zoabi, founder of Bokra, an Arabic Israeli news website, says the best way to improve the lives of Israeli Arabs is to make them better informed about their government’s actions.
Israel Briefs OECD projects 3.5% growth for Israeli economy in 2015 (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) – The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently projected that Israel’s economy will grow by 3.5 percent in 2015, a rate higher than the one attributed to the OECD’s other 33 member states. A report by the organization’s economists pegged the Israeli economy’s growth rate at 3.4 percent for 2014, compared with projections averaging a 2.3-percent growth rate for its other members in the coming year. Israeli defense company eyes Iron Dome upgrades (JNS) – Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the Israeli company behind the Iron Dome system, is
NAZARETH, Israel (JTA) – After Israel’s 2006 war with the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah devastated the country’s northern region, most Israelis focused on rebuilding their towns and creating better defense infrastructure. Arab-Israeli journalist Ghada Zoabi turned her focus to the media. Though Israel has well-established protocols for civil defense that instruct civilians to head for reinforced shelters in advance of rocket attacks, 18 Israeli-Arabs died in the conflict, most of them while still in their homes. Zoabi believed the deaths could mulling several upgrades to the antimissile system. “There is something in the pipeline, both in terms of hardware and software improvements [to the Iron Dome]. I can’t say exactly what these are or when [they might be rolled out], but we are in a kind of race [with the Palestinian rocket firers] and we always need to update [the system] to increase the probability of a kill,” Gil S., a company executive who requested not to have his surname published, told IHS Jane’s in early April. Since April 2011, the Iron Dome has intercepted more than 700 rockets at a rate of better than 80 percent. Rioting, violence rage in Hebron and elsewhere on Palestinian ‘Prisoners Day’ (JNS) – Riots and violent clashes flared up on April 17 as Palestinian protesters attacked Israeli soldiers and border police officers in Hebron. In Hebron, nearly 2,000 Palestinians turned out to mark “Prisoners Day” in solidarity of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisoners. But several dozen demon-
have been prevented if Israel’s Arabic media had done a better job of informing the citizenry about what to do during wartime. “The 18 Arabs were sacrifices of not knowing how to act in times of war,” the 37-year-old Nazareth resident told JTA. “Arabs who live in Israel need to be connected to what’s happening around them.” Within months, Zoabi launched Bokra, an Israeli Arabic news site that has grown to employ a staff of 32. The site draws 850,000 unique visitors daily – 60 percent of them Arabs in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, according to Bokra. The site covers everything from Israeli-Arab local government to discrimination against
Arabs in the workplace. The site, which has its offices in this Galilee city, also catalogs proposed laws that it says target the Arab community. Unlike other major Israeli Arabic publications, Bokra (“tomorrow,” in Arabic) is not connected to a political party nor to a print weekly. And unlike a range of smaller sites, Bokra aims to cover Israeli-Arab affairs nationally. But the site’s mandate goes beyond merely chronicling events and providing analysis. Zoabi calls Bokra a “social initiative” that aims to advance the interests of Israeli-Arabs and increase their awareness of the injustices she says they suffer at the hands of Israel’s government and society.
Zoabi is eager to take stands on issues she sees as critical to IsraeliArabs. If the traditional mandate of journalists is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, Zoabi has a slightly different take: She wants to afflict the afflicted as well. Though she has no problem admonishing Jewish Israeli leaders for neglecting or insulting Israel’s Arabs – a recent article accused Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman of advocating “ethnic cleansing” – she also challenges Israeli-Arabs to take more responsibility for improving their standing. When a wave of violence swept
strators began throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers and border police officers that man a checkpoint separating the Palestinian Authority-controlled area with the Jewish section. The violence took place as Jewish worshippers visited the Cave of the Patriarchs during Passover.
Three Hamas operatives killed in Gaza explosion (JNS) – Three operatives of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas were killed and five moderately to seriously wounded in an explosion near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 16. According to Palestinian media outlets, the blast apparently occurred during the assembly of an explosive device in a building belonging to the Hamas military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
Hezbollah agents, the Shin Bet said.
Israeli security agency arrests Arab journalist for ties to Hezbollah (JNS) – Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said that it has arrested an Israeli-Arab journalist over his alleged ties to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah. Majd Kayyal, a 23-year-old journalist who works for the Israeli NGO Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, reportedly traveled to Lebanon recently for a conference with the Lebanese newspaper As-Saphir. At the conference, he allegedly made contact with
Report: Abbas threatens to dismantle Palestinian Authority JERUSALEM (JTA) – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly threatened to dismantle the P.A. Citing unnamed Palestinian sources, the Israeli daily Yediot Acharonot wrote Sunday that Abbas was considering the unilateral action, which would leave Israel with full responsibility for the Palestinians living in the West Bank. The action would annul the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations move forward despite terror attack (JNS) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to move forward with peace negotiations with the Palestinians despite Monday’s terror attack in which a police officer was killed on his way to a Passover seder with his family. A meeting between the negotiating teams was held April 17, after which the two sides were still far apart. The U.S. State Department expressed ongoing support for the peace process on April 16, with deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf saying the “bottom line is both parties tell us they want negotiations to continue, and they’re searching for a path to do that.”
EMPOWER on page 20
Hunt for terrorist continues as Israeli killed on way to Passover seder laid to rest (JNS) – The Israel Defense Forces has entrusted intelligence entities with the investigation into the April 14 terror attack that left a high-ranking Israeli police officer dead, after searches in the Palestinian village of Idhna, where the attacker was thought to be hiding, did not lead to an arrest.
SOCIAL LIFE • 11
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Simon Bella Loadenthal
BIRTH ennifer Grubbs and Michael Loadenthal and their daughter Emory Sheindal are pleased to announce the birth of their second daughter and sister, Simon Bella (Symha Itanu), on February 27, 2014. Proud grandparents are Mark & Elana Grubbs, Terri & Tony Greenfield, and Richie Loadenthal & Jeanie Hammer. Great-grandparents are Jack & Esther
J
Grubbs and the late Jean Ann Grubbs, Helen and the late Simon Kaltman, Dorothy & the late Robert Cohen, and Joseph and Sonia Loadenthal.
WEDDING
S
teven and Barbara Rothstein and Alan Golding and Nina Golding announce the marriage of their children, Adam Scott Rothstein and Chelsea Lauren Golding, on Saturday, March 8, 2014. Rabbi Elana Dellal officiated at the evening ceremony at
the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza Hotel. The ceremony was followed by a reception in the Hall of Mirrors. After a honeymoon to Costa Rica, the couple will reside in Oakley. Adam is the grandson of Elaine Rothstein of Sarasota, Florida, the late Kerry Rothstein, and the late Morton and Ada Schwartz. Chelsea is the granddaughter of Bernard and Jolene Shapiro of Columbus and the late Carol Shapiro and the late Joanne and Sanford Golding.
MLK DAY PROGRAM AT ADATH ISRAEL CONGREGATION On January 20th, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, over 80 people from Adath Israel Congregation and their guests from the Avondale Youth Council participated in a day-long program. The morning began with breakfast prepared by the Brotherhood, and then Carl Westmoreland, Chief Historian at the Freedom Center, spoke to the participants and made connections between the struggles of African Americans and Jews in the Holocaust. They then boarded a bus to participate in the March from Fountain Square to Music Hall with hundreds of others. Following the March they went to the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education for a special leadership program created by Alexis Storch and Ari Naveh. It was a day of much reflection for all of the students and parents and all involved enjoyed partnering with the Avondale Youth Council led by Ozie Davis. More photos on Page 12
Carl Westmoreland, Senior Historian for the Freedom Center, addresses the group.
12 • CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE
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MLK DAY PROGRAM AT ADATH ISRAEL CONGREGATION Continued from Page 11
After completing the walk we stop for a photo on the steps of Music Hall.
Our bnai mitzvah class works on their action plan to make a difference in their community.
Photo of the group at Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education for our leadership program.
Rabbi Wise and some of our confirmands about to start the March to Music Hall.
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
A religious school family participates in the program together.
Joel & Lynn Kling join in the March from Fountain Square.
One of our 7th graders marches with his Mom.
CHHE Rabbinic Intern Ari Naveh leads the wrap-up for our program.
CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13
14 • DINING OUT
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Old world German cuisine, ambiance available at Wertheim’s Gasthaus By Bob Wilhelmy Ah, the gasthaus! Picture it: an Old World German street, the eatery in an ancient building, a café setting in front, cold beer and hearty meals carried on trays to diners keen with appetite. Your imaginings can be fulfilled as these spring days begin to warm our spirits along with the hemisphere, and the place is Wertheim’s Gasthaus. Pictured here, you see the hühner schnitzel, a version of schnitzel made with chicken instead of veal or pork. Tender breast meat is sautéed in a “rich tomato sauce” with fresh bell peppers. The entrée is made complete with a helping of red cabbage and a potato pancake. Now, picture that dish, along with a tall glass of excellent German beer, Warsteiner perhaps, seated at one of the café tables fronting Wertheim’s. That’s a pretty nice picture if you ask me. A couple of points are important to diners out. One is that Wertheim’s is open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. A second is the entire menu is available all day. And a third, entwined with the second, is that there is continuous service from open to close. Those points speak of convenience that is rarely found in today’s family-owned, single-location restaurants. People appreciate the family touch, as the following indicates: “The food here is more like homemade than at any other restaurant you can go to,” said a patron who overheard my interview with the chef. The man making that remark ambled out the door before I had a chance to ask his name. But when he said those words, there were heads bobbing and agreeable looks from those who were there after he’d left. That kind of endorsement says a lot in my book. GM and mainstay in the kitchen for Wertheim’s is an easy-going man who goes only by “Bubby,” saying that everybody knows him only as that, and he did not want to confuse the issue. He said he hears that kind of comment about food at Wertheim’s all the time. “People love the food here, and we pretty much do most of the stuff in-house and don’t bring it in a lot of (premade) stuff,” Bubby stated. For instance, Wertheim’s kitchen turns out its own red cabbage, which complements many of the dishes and all of the schnitzels. Generally, that specialty is purchased pre-made. The chef knife-cuts the cabbage instead of shredding it the way it is done for the packaged variety. Preparation in that way assures a firmer, less mushy product on the plate. “It’s better when you do it that way, and the red cabbage is made in our kitchen” which is a plus for the diner, Bubby said. The same approach is used in
Pictured are: Crystal Chandler, server, pulling a beer.
The hühner schnitzel, made from chicken.
preparing potato pancakes. “That’s a pretty simple recipe, with potatoes, flour, eggs and seasonings. We grill the pancakes to a certain point, and then freeze them,” he said. When an order calls for a potato pancake, the
frozen product is removed from the freezer and deep-fried in vegetable oil until golden brown, and served piping hot. And while on the subject of potatoes, the kitchen turns out homemade potato chips—not
Saratoga chips, but genuine potato chips. Very good! While Wertheim’s does not cure its own kraut, the kitchen does receive it packed in brine in 5-gallon buckets. The kraut is then rinsed of
the brine, seasoned, sweetened with apples, and cooked to taste. Schnitzel is a prominent item on Wertheim’s menu, where you’ll find six varieties. Three are pork, so read the menu carefully. Two are veal: the champignon schnitzel, where thin veal is breaded, then sautéed, and topped with a cream mushroom sauce; and the zigeuner (or gypsy) schnitzel, with the same veal prep, but a topping of sweet peppers, mushrooms and onions in a hearty sauce. As an ethnic German, schnitzels have always been among my favorites at places such as Wertheim’s. The liver mit zwiebel (with onions) is another German dish that is about as low-brow as one can reach, but a real comfort food for some. Wertheim’s offers appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, full dinners, and a list of sides, along with desserts. Look for Wertheim’s at the Northern Kentucky May Fest, held May 16-18. Wertheim’s 514 W. 6th St. Covington, KY 859-261-1233
DINING OUT • 15
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
RESTAURANT DIRECTORY 20 Brix
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Pomodori’s
101 Main St
115 Reading Rd.
121West McMillan • 861-0080
Historic Milford
Mason
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831-Brix (2749)
336-0062
Montgomery • 794-0080
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101 Main St • Historic Milford
831-Brix • www.20brix.com Ambar India Restaurant
Izzy’s
Slatt’s Pub
350 Ludlow Ave
800 Elm St • 721-4241
4858 Cooper Rd
Cincinnati
612 Main St • 241-6246
Blue Ash
281-7000
1198 Smiley Ave • 825-3888
791-2223 • 791-1381 (fax)
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At Gilbert & Nassau
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9386 Montgomery Rd
2 blocks North of Eden Park
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Asian Paradise
Johnny Chan 2
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11296 Montgomery Rd
Montgomery
The Shops at Harper’s Point
793-7484
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3120 Madison Rd Cincinnati
Kanak India Restaurant
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10040B Montgomery Rd
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Montgomery
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The Cream of Caffeine Coffee Co. Join us for our Second Sunday Brunch Buffet Quiche, breakfast meats, potatoes and more plus free coffee 4081 E. Galbraith Rd Across from the Dillonvale Shopping Center See us on facebook.com/thecreamofcaffeine
Tony’s Marx Hot Bagels
12110 Montgomery Rd
891-8900 • 834-8012 (fx)
9701 Kenwood Rd
Montgomery
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677-1993
891-5542 Walt’s Hitching Post
3500 Michigan Ave. Cincinnati
Mecklenburg Gardens
300 Madison Pike
321-6300
302 E. University Ave
Fort Wright, KY
Clifton
(859) 360-2222
9386 Montgomery Rd Cincinnati, OH 45242
221-5353
(513) 489-1444
Wertheim’s Restaurant
9525 Kenwood Rd Cincinnati
Padrino
514 W 6th St
745-9386
111 Main St
Covington, KY
Milford
(859) 261-1233
Carlo & Johnny
cafe-mediterranean.com
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Baba India Restaurant
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Parkers Blue Ash Tavern
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CINCINNATI’S BEST INDIAN RESTAURANTS AVAILABLE AT THESE FINE LOCATIONS:
bigg’s
Marx Hot Bagels
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9701 Kenwood Rd. Blue Ash
Izzy’s 612 Main St. 800 Elm St.
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Rascals’ Deli 9525 Kenwood Rd. Blue Ash
16 • OPINION
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Harvard students make time for Arafat, but not for Harvard terror victims By Stephen M. Flatow (JNS) – The controversy over the Harvard University students who recently posed, smiling, at Yasser Arafat’s grave sent a shot of pain through every one of us who has lost a loved one in the terrorist attacks that Arafat and his allies have waged over the years. But it must have been particularly awful for Dr. Alan Bauer, a Harvard-educated scientist, to see students from his own school smiling and enjoying their visit to the tombstone of the man responsible for the vicious attack that left Bauer and his 7-year-old son permanently maimed. Bauer and his son Jonathan were walking on King George Street in downtown Jerusalem on March 21, 2002, when a terrorist from Arafat’s Fatah movement blew himself up. His explosive device was packed with metal spikes and nails, in order to inflict the maximum amount of pain and destruction and the defenseless Israeli civilians walking by. Three passersby were killed, 87 were wounded. Dr. Bauer and Jonathan were hit by multiple metal projectiles. Two of the metal spikes penetrated little Jonathan’s brain. The attack was in the news for a few days, and then it was out of the public’s sight, and out of the public’s mind. Who today remembers Alan and Jonathan Bauer? Certainly not the 50 or so Harvard students who recently visited Israel and the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories, paid for by Combined Jewish Philanthropies (Boston Jewish’s federation) and Harvard Hillel. I’m sure Alan, as a Harvard alumnus, would have appreciated a friendly visit to his Jerusalem home and a few words of sympathy from the Harvard students. Apparently the tour organizers never bothered to check on whether there are any Harvard graduates among the terror victims in Israel. But don’t put all the blame on the organizers. These students know how to do a little research on the Internet. In a few minutes, they could have learned about Alan and Jonathan. They didn’t make the time to do that. But they did make the time to pose, grinning, at the gravesite of the man responsible for that Jerusalem bombing and so many other war crimes against the Jewish people. And they were so proud of the photo that they rushed to share it with the world via social media. I was disappointed to read an article by three Boston Jewish federation officials, declaring that criticism of the Arafat photo-op is
“absurd.” The most they would concede is that some of the trip organizers showed “poor judgment,” but they refused to condemn the students’ action. They shouldn’t be treating the students as if they were babies. They are young adults who either knew what they were doing, or should have. I was equally disappointed to see that Prof. Deborah Lipstadt, on her Facebook page, wrote this about the Jewish officials’ article defending the Harvard students: “What a thoughtful article. Lucky is the community with such thoughtful leader who know how to keep their heads screwed on straight.” As a Holocaust scholar, Prof. Lipstadt, of all people, should be able to recognize Arafat was engaged in the attempted genocide of Israel’s Jews. She should have been as outraged by the Arafat visit, as she would have been if the Harvard students had visited Afghanistan and posed at the grave of an Al-Qaeda leader, or if they went to South Africa and had a giggle-and-selfie fest at the grave of an apartheid regime police officer who tortured or murdered black activists. Last week marked the 12th anniversary of the bombing that maimed the Bauers. This week is the 19th anniversary of the Palestinian bombing attack in which my daughter Alisa was murdered. She was a student at Brandeis University, just a few miles down the road from Harvard. The students at Harvard have shown as little interest in Alisa as they have in Alan or Jonathan Bauer. One of the Harvard students, by the name of Kelsey, last week defended her participation in the Arafat grave visit on the grounds that, “Acknowledging one person’s lived experience neither negates nor diminishes another person’s lived experience.” Actually, Kelsey, you have not at all acknowledged Arafat’s “lived experience” – you did not write anything about the mass murders and maimings he perpetrated. And you have indeed negated and diminished “another person’s lived experience” – you have negated and diminished the suffering of his victims and their families. Until you understand that, you have learned nothing from your years of learning in the prestigious halls of Harvard. Stephen M. Flatow is an attorney. His 20-year-old daughter Alisa was murdered in a 1995 bus bombing while she was a student in Israel.
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Kansas hate crime didn’t emerge from a vacuum By Ben Cohen (JNS) – When you look at the image of Frazier Glenn Cross, AKA Glenn Miller, the shooter who cold-bloodedly murdered three Christians in a bloody eveof-Passover spree at two Jewish community buildings in Overland Park, Kan., what do you see? I’ll tell you what I see. The dead-eyed stare, the pasty, blotched skin and lousy teeth, the unkempt facial hair – this is exactly the kind of face we associate with anti-Semitic and racist thuggery. In the 20th century, Cross could have been a concentration camp guard, wearing his ignorant, vulgar sneer as he shoved his Jewish victims into a gas chamber, screaming barely literate, antiSemitic epithets along the way. As we mourn the dead, and agonize over the fact that security at Jewish institutions becomes more vulnerable when Jewish holidays draw near, we comfort ourselves by saying that such exemplary specimens of the “Master Race” as Cross are a rarity. NeoNazis are at the fringe of the fringe, most of them don’t have the guts to go beyond harassing their enemies on social networks, and the odd individuals who do engage in violence unfortunately have easy access to guns. What this means is that Jews and other minorities have to occasionally shoulder atrocities like the one in Kansas. It absolutely does not mean that America is an antiSemitic country, or that such attacks are a prelude to greater persecution. One might add that the wider community’s reaction to the
Overland Park murders showcased a humble, hard-working, tolerant America at its best. We suffer and we pull through – just as we pulled through the shootings at Jewish Community Centers in Los Angeles in 1999 and Seattle in 2006. Just as French Jews pulled through 2012 murders by an Islamist of a rabbi and three beautiful children at a Jewish school in Toulouse. Just as Jews in Israel overcame the enormous pain that accompanied the Palestinian bombing of a Passover seder, which claimed the lives of 30 people, at a Netanya hotel in 2002. But something is missing. By overly focusing on punks like Frazier Cross, there’s a danger that we ignore those elements in our broader culture that sustain and inspire them. Look at some of the posts that Cross left on various neo-Nazi and white supremacist bulletin boards, and you’ll see what I mean. Amidst his hate-drenched rants against Jews, he warmly recommended an article by “Jew journalist” Max Blumenthal, whom he complimented for exposing Israel’s “attempt... to buy the presidential election for the neo-con, war-mongering republican establishment... the k*kes simply do not trust a lame-duck black president with the name Hussein.” (Incidentally, it’s not unheard of for Nazis to recommend certain Jewish authors – Hitler himself reportedly described Otto Weininger, a Viennese Jewish philosopher who lambasted the modern “Jewish” era, as a rare example of a Jew he admired.) It’s not an accident that today’s Nazis are attracted to left-wing,
viscerally anti-Zionist writers like Blumenthal. Both share the view that the so-called “Israel Lobby” drove the U.S. into foreign wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both believe that politicians kowtow to Jewish interests because they fear the costs of not doing so. And both are convinced that the type of “Jewish supremacism” practiced in Israel makes a nonsense of American Jewish appeals for tolerance and understanding. Two years ago, Blumenthal mocked the Department of Homeland Security for describing Jews as a community facing “special risks.” “It’s clear what’s going on here,” he said, in a nod towards undue Jewish political influence. Blumenthal has also actively promoted the idea that Judaism itself is a hateful religion, a slander propounded by his Israeli collaborator, Yossi Gurvitz, who has stated that “Rabbinical Judaism is a Judaism that hates humans.” On Twitter, meanwhile, Blumenthal has used his own account to retweet the rantings of one David Benedetti, who taunted a Jewish user with Holocaust imagery, saying “your grandmother also made a nice lampshade.” Now that the Kansas atrocity underlines that Jews do, in fact, face serious risks, Blumenthal has shifted tack, writing on the antiSemitic website Mondoweiss on the alleged similarities between Frazier Cross’s Nazi ideology and Zionism. Elsewhere on the same website, which receives part of its funding from conservative businessman Ron Unz, another contributor, Annie Robbins, KANSAS on page 19
JEWISH LIFE • 17
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
One version of the Talmud records that Rabbi Akiba vehemently disagreed with the “dovish” approach of his Rebbe; the disciple is even cited as having criticized his teacher by quoting a prophetic verse which he claimed referred to Rabbi Yohanan: “Sometimes wise men are turned backwards and their wisdom is transformed into foolishness” (Isaiah 44:25). Undoubtedly, Rabbi Akiba was a great idealist who believed passionately in Jewish national sovereignty over Israel and Jerusalem. But – at least according to this version of the Talmud – the heat of the moment caused him to speak in less than respectful terms concerning a leading Jewish Scholar and one of his foremost teachers. Can it be that Rabbi Akiba’s own disciples learned not from what their Rabbi taught as much as from what their Rabbi said – and so they too did not speak respectfully to each other, especially when they had differing political views even amongst themselves. We see from here the awesome responsibility of a Rebbe. And we also see how the beginning of the end of any national uprising or even defensive war is when the people supposedly on the same side deflect their energy away from the enemy and towards their own internal dissensions; this is the causeless hatred which has always caused Israel to miss our chance for redemption!
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Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi – Efrat Israel
T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: KEDOSHIM (LEVITICUS, CHAPTERS 19 AND 20) 1.) What commandment is coupled with honoring parents? a.) giving charity b.) keeping the Sabbath c.) judging others favorably 2.) In Israel, is one permitted to harvest the produce of one’s entire field? a.) yes b.) no 3.) What about one’s vineyard? a.) permitted similar, to leave produce for the poor. 4.) B (19:3) and C (19:30) 5.) B—19:32 Other forms of honor, like not contradicting them or sitting in their place
EFRAT, Israel – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18). One of the most oft-quoted verses of the Bible appears in this week’s Torah reading, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord” (Lev.19:18). In fact, one of the towering figures of the Oral Law, the famed Rabbi Akiba, referred to this commandment with the addendum: “this is the great rule of the Torah” (zeh klal gadol baTorah), (Rashi, ad loc) which I take to mean that this is the commandment which is the goal of all other commandments, the “meta-halakhic” principle which lies behind the other commandments; the end-goal towards which all other commandments must lead us. Indeed, if the very God definition which we humans can comprehend is “Lord of love, Lord of love, Compassionate and Freely Giving G-d, LongSuffering, Full of Loving Kindness and Truth,” (Ex. 34: 6) and if the central commandment of the Torah is “Thou shalt walk in His (Divine) ways,” (Deut. 28:9) then the unifying principle of all of our actions and emotions must be, “Just as He is loving, compassionate and freely-giving so must we humans be loving, compassionate and freely-giving;” in other words, we must love our neighbor as ourselves if we wish in any way to emulate the Divine. (See Rambam Hilchot Deot 1: 11.) But one of the mysteries of the life and teaching of Rabbi Akiva is that this very same commandment, which was so cardinal for him, came back to haunt him. The Talmud records that between the period of Passover and Lag B’omer (fifteen days before Shavuot), twelve – thousand pairs of Rabbi Akiba’s disciples died. Indeed, it is because of their death that these weeks have become a season of semi-mourning for observant Jews, with weddings, hair-cuts and group festivities absolutely forbidden at this time. And when the Talmudic Sages query as to why such Torah scholars met such a premature demise during such a concentrated period, the response is “because they did not treat each other with proper respect;” in other words, they did not properly keep the commandment to love your neighbor like
yourself (B.T. Yebamot 62b)! Could it be that the great master’s disciples failed to internalize the major teaching of their Rebbe? If indeed Rabbi Akiva began to emphasize this command only after the tragedy befell his students, it may be understandable; but it is difficult to imagine that such a Torah giant would have grasped the central significance of this cardinal commandment only at the end of his life! I believe that the answer to the mystery may be found upon a deeper examination of the circumstances surrounding the death of the 24,000 students. After the Talmud records the time-frame of their demise – from Passover until fifteen days before Shavuot – Rabbi Nahman adds that the immediate cause of their death was “askera,” a foreign word which Rashi defines as diphtheria – whooping cough, a plague (B.T. Yebamot, ibid). However, we have no corroborating evidence, either from a parallel Talmudic passage or from the period-historian Josephus, that a plague broke out at this time; moreover, it is difficult to imagine a malady which only affected the students of one particular master! Rav Hai Gaon maintains that Rabbi Akiba’s 24,000 students were killed not in a plague but rather in the Bar Kochba Rebellion. Approximately sixtyfive years after the destruction of the Second Temple at the hands of the Roman government, Rabbi Akiba accepted the possibility that Shimon bar Kochba was the longawaited Messiah-King of Jewish redemption, and urged the Judeans to wage a war of independence against Rome; indeed, he organized what was in effect the first Yeshivat Hesder in history. It makes eminently good sense that in the massive defeat of Bar Kochba’s legions, 24,000 of Rabbi Akiba’s disciples lost their lives. It is also quite possible that Rabbi Nahman’s askera might come from the Greek sicarii, which means “by the sword”! Hence, it was not a plague but rather a War of Independence against Rome which claimed the lives of so many of Rabbi Akiba’s students. There remains one more piece to this puzzle. Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai was one of the teachers of Rabbi Akiba – and Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai had prescribed accommodation with Rome sixty-five years earlier just prior to the Temple’s destruction. Indeed, it was Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai who went out to meet Vespasian, the Roman General, and made the deal of giving up Jerusalem in return for the city of Yavneh and her wise men (Gittin 56a).
b.) not permitted 4.) What is coupled with the commandment to keep the Sabbath? a.) agricultural laws b.) honoring one’s parents c.) respecting the Temple 5.) What are we commanded to do for an older person? a.) speak politely b.) stand up in their presence c.) to assist them with their needs
2.) B—19:9. One must leave a corner of the field unharvested, and allow poor people to take that produce. The place to leave grapes for the poor is not at the end of the vineyard but fallen grapes or certain clusters of grapes. Rashi 3.) B—19:10 The mitzvot in verses 9and 10 are
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT KEDOSHIM LEVITICUS: 19-1-20:27
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
ANSWERS 1.) B—19:3 One should respect his parents because of their status as parents. Also “Sabbath” includes others Sabbaths. Like, the Sabbatical year for land and absolving debts in the seventh year. Sforno.
Sedra of the Week
18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
JEWZ
IN THE
By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist Kosher Spider Normally, I cover movies the week they open – but I am making an exception for “Amazing Spider-Man Part 2.” Why? Because the film’s star, ANDREW GARFIELD, gave a long quote to the Independent, a British paper, about Spider-Man being Jewish. I figure you are likely to have read this quote somewhere in the last week and maybe you want a bit more background on Garfield and the film, now. Most of you probably know that Marvel “rebooted” the “Spider-Man” movie series back in 2012 by replacing Tobey Maguire in the title role with Garfield, now 30. The first Garfield/reboot flick re-told the story of how a teenage boy named Peter Parker became Spider-Man, a superhero. The sequel finds Spider-Man fighting off a veritable hoard of super baddies. “Part 2” features STAN LEE, 93, the co-creator of Marvel Comics and the co-creator of Spider-Man, in a cameo role. Stan Lee never laid out Parker’s ethnic or religious background in the Spider-Man comics he wrote. However, Garfield told the Independent that Parker/Spider-Man is “culturally Jewish.” Here is most of his explanation, in his own words: “Spider-Man is neurotic. Peter Parker is not a simple dude. He can’t just switch off. He never feels like he’s doing enough. And Peter suffers from self-doubt. He ums and ahs about his future because he’s neurotic. He’s Jewish. It’s a defining feature… He’s an over-thinker. It would be much easier if he was a life saving robot… I hope Jewish people won’t mind the cliché, because my father’s Jewish. I have that in me for sure.” Garfield, who will host “Saturday Night Live” on May 3, is not a super-easy biographical subject. But this is the “Jewish story” I’ve pieced together His father, RICHARD, was born (1950) in America to Englishborn parents of Eastern European Jewish descent. Richard’s parents immigrated to the States in 1945 and, not long after, they changed their family name from Garfinkel to Garfield. Around 1980, Richard met and wed Linda Hillman, a Brit working in Los Angeles, and they co-ran a design firm. (I am now virtually sure that Linda is not Jewish). In 1986, Richard and Linda decided to settle in the UK and, of course Andrew, then 3 years old, came with them. Andrew was raised in
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NEWZ
the U.K., but he has dual American/British citizenship. My sense is that he has little Jewish religious background. However, I am sure he was not raised in another religion. The actor has called himself “Jewish” in interviews and says that when he visits New York, he visits Jewish delis in order to consume copious amounts of matzo ball soup, which he loves. Short Takes “Big Bang Theory,” the megahit CBS sit-com, was just renewed for three full seasons and now is scheduled to run thorough 2016-17 (which would be its 9th season). I believe it is now the “most Jewy” show on broadcast TV – in that more than half the cast of starring and recurring characters are played by Jewish thespians (SIMON HELBERG/Wolowitz: MELISSA RAUCH/Bernadette; MAYIM BIALIK/Amy; KEVIN SUSSMAN/Stuart; BRIAN GEORGE/Raj’s father). Here’s a fun fact: SIMON HELBERG, 33, has been married since 2007 to JOCEYLYN TOWNE, an independent filmmaker, and they had their first child in 2012. Jocelyn’s uncle is screenwriter ROBERT TOWNE, 79, who wrote some great films in the 70s, including “Chinatown.” I was surprised to learn in 2006 that he was Jewish and was born Robert Schwartz. If you want to see a “very Jewish” web comedy video featuring SETH ROGEN, 32, and Zac Efron and the cast of the Comedy Central series, “Workaholics” – simply ‘google’ Rogen, Efron, and Workaholics and you’ll find it. It’s a tie-in of sorts with “Neighbors,” a movie that will open in two weeks and co-stars the duo. In the video, the two play regular guys who show up for a job interview conducted in a large office cubicle. Rogen suggests at one point that the company would do well to hire a minority and Efron says he is Jewish and proceeds to show that he is circumcised. No, he doesn’t really “show us” – but he does “show” his prospective male bosses – and their remarks are unexpectedly funny, without being mean. In real life, Efron is not Jewish (he was raised in no religion; his paternal grandfather was Jewish.) He has, reportedly, just started dating HALSTON SAGE, 20, (NBC’s “Crisis”). I can certainly understand Sage’s attraction to Efron. He recently was photographed shirtless and he is as “ripped” as anyone in Hollywood, including Ryan Gosling.
FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO
50 Y EARS A GO
A lady, having one child, desires to get employment in some respectable family, can do all kinds of housework. Apply at No. 183 Main Street. Two members of the Bene Yeshurun choir, Capt. Traub and Assistant Surgeon Sperber are already several years in the national army; now Mr. Sullivan went off with the N.G. and Mr. Mosler was drafted. In Talmid Yeludim Institute Messrs. Long and Knopp belonged to the N.G. but the Board gave them substitutes; Mr. Long was drafted after he had sent a substitute to the National Guards. – May 20, 1864
125 Y EARS A GO
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100 Y EARS A GO Miss Hazel, oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sig. Wise of So. Crescent Avenue, Avondale, and Arthur M. Spiegel, son of Mayor and Mrs. Frederick S. Spiegel, were married last Monday evening at the Sinton Hotel, Rev. Dr. Louis Grossmann officiating. The marriage was solemnized in the Red Room of the hotel, which was profusely decorated with spring flowers. After the ceremony the bridal party and the guests, about one hundred in number, repaired to the banquet hall, where supper was served and dancing was kept up to a late hour. The bride is a graduate of Vassar and an unusually attractive girl. She is a grandniece of the late Isaac M. Wise. The groom is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati and is a prominent young lawyer. Arthur M. Spiegel was associated with his father in the practice of law until the latter’s election as Mayor of Cincinnati. Adele Marcuson, aged seventy-six, died last Monday at her home on Lexington Avenue, Avondale. Interment was in the Walnut Hills Jewish Cemetary on Wednesday afternoon. She was the mother of Rabbi Isaac E. Marcuson of Charleston, S.C. – April 23, 1914
75 Y EARS A GO
Cynthia and Harold Guttman announce the birth of a son, Hershel David, April 6. Herschel has two brothers, Seth and Jeremy, and two sisters, Ariella and Sadie. Grandparents are Florence and Murray Guttman and Bobbie and Wayne Signer. Great-grandmothers are Mayme Guttman and Helen Kelley. Mirielle Gabbour is pleased to announce her Bat Mitzvah on April 28 at 8:15pm, at Adath Israel Congregation. Please come and join us. Anna Grinberg, 59, died April 17. Ms. Grinberg, a Soviet emigre, came to the United States eight months ago. She was a member of Rockdale Temple. In the Soviet Union she had been an office manager. She is survived by a daughter, Svetlana Shapiro of Cincinnati; a son, Gregory, of Kiev; and three grandchildren, Vladimir and Elaine Shapiro of Cincinnati and Yevgeny Grinberg of Kiev. Services were held April 19 at Weil Funeral Home, Rabbi Mark Goldman officiating. Interment was in United Jewish Cemetery, Walnut Hills. – April 27, 1989
10 Y EARS A GO Scott and Huan Adams announce the arrival of their son, Dylan Roy. Paternal grandparents are Harriet and Brion Gillett and the late Steven M. Adams. Paternal great-grandparents are Roy Adams and the late Fanny Adams. Dylan has an older brother, Jay. Mrs .Marsha Kissen and Dr. Morton Kissen and Dr. Judith Davis, all of New York City, announce the engagement of their daughter Debra Anne to Jonathan David Kohn, son of Mr. and Mrs. Barry (Patsy) A. Kohn. Debra is the granddaugther of Ceil Rumelt and the late Oscar Rumelt of New York City, and the late Charlotte and Louis Kissen, also of New York City. Jonathan is the grandson of Sam and Rachel Boymel and Marian Kohn and the late Lester Kohn. Debra graduated from the University of Tulane with a bachelor’s degree in science managment and received a master’s in health service administration from the University of Michigan. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas. Jonathan graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance. He is a candidate for a master’s in business administration at the University of Texas. An August 7, 2004 wedding in New York City is planned. – April 29, 2004
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY / CLASSIFIEDS • 19
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS ORGANIZATIONS Access (513) 373-0300 • jypaccess.org Big Brothers/Big Sisters Assoc. (513) 761-3200 • bigbrobigsis.org Camp Ashreinu (513) 702-1513 Camp at the J (513) 722-7258 • mayersonjcc.org Camp Chabad (513) 731-5111 • campchabad.org Camp Livingston (513) 793-5554 •camplivingston.com Cedar Village (513) 754-3100 • cedarvillage.org Chevra Kadisha (513) 396-6426 Cincinnati Community Kollel (513) 631-1118 • kollel.shul.net Cincinnati Community Mikveh (513) 351-0609 •cincinnatimikveh.org Eruv Hotline (513) 351-3788 Fusion Family (513) 703-3343 • fusionnati.org Halom House (513) 791-2912 • halomhouse.com Hillel Jewish Student Center (Miami) (513) 523-5190 • muhillel.org Hillel Jewish Student Center (UC) (513) 221-6728 • hillelcincinnati.org Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati 513-961-0178 • jcemcin.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) 214-1200 Jewish Information Network (513) 985-1514 JVS Career Services (513) 936-WORK (9675) • www.jvscinti.org Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund (513) 793-2556 Shalom Family (513) 703-3343 • myshalomfamily.org
SHOOTINGS from page 6 Goldenberg noted the importance of training members of the Jewish community. “It is empowering members of the Jewish community through education and knowledge, how to identify a suspicious person, how to face an active shooter,” he said. With the caveat that he was not yet fully apprised of how the JCC shooting went down, Goldenberg noted that the building immediately went into lockdown, that the assailant struck from the rear – away from security officers who would have been manning the front – and that he did not breach the back
KANSAS from page 16 wondered aloud whether Kansas was an Israeli conspiracy. Why does any of this matter? Left-wing anti-Zionists are increasingly regarded as accepable company in the intellectual mainstream. Blumenthal
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 CONGREGATIONS Adath Israel Congregation (513) 793-1800 • adath-israel.org Beit Chaverim (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Beth Israel Congregation (513) 868-2049 • bethisraelcongregation.net B’nai Tikvah Chavurah (513) 284-5845 • rabbibruce.com Congregation Beth Adam (513) 985-0400 • bethadam.org Congregation B’nai Tzedek (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Congregation Ohav Shalom (513) 489-3399 • ohavshalom.org Congregation Sha’arei Torah (513) 620-8080 • shaareitorahcincy.org Congregation Shevet Achim (513) 426-8613 • shevetachimohio.com Congregation Zichron Eliezer 513-631-4900 • czecincinnati.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 Shevet Achim, (513) 602-7801 • shevetachimohio.com Temple Beth Shalom (513) 422-8313 • tbsohio.org Temple Sholom (513) 791-1330 • templesholom.net The Valley Temple (513) 761-3555 • valleytemple.com
EDUCA 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 Sarah’s Place (513) 531-3151 • sarahsplacecincy.com Yeshivas Lubavitch High School of Cincinnati (513) 631-2452 • ylcincinnati.com ORGANIZATIONS 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 BBYO (513) 722-7244 • mayersonjcc.org 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 (937) 886-9566 • jwv.org NA’AMAT (513) 984-3805 • naamat.org National Council of Jewish Women (513) 891-9583 • ncjw.org ORT America (216) 464-3022 • ortamerica.org State of Israel Bonds (513) 793-4440 • israelbonds.com
door. “Sometimes the best defense is a locked door,” he said. “The best defense is having a plan for a lockdown and keeping the individual outside. The individual did not gain entry to the building, and that undoubtedly saved many lives.” The Jewish Federations of North America, a leader in obtaining Department of Homeland Security funding for security measures for Jewish buildings, said the Overland Park shootings underscored the need for the program. “The horrific shootings in Kansas City emphasize the fact that Jewish communal institutions have been the victim of an
alarming number of threats and attacks,” William Daroff, the Jewish Federations’ Washington director, wrote in an email. “Due to those threats, the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program has provided millions of dollars to assist nonprofits in upgrading their security capacity.” President Obama, who in a statement said the attack was “heartbreaking,” pledged federal resources to the investigation. “I have asked my team to stay in close touch with our federal, state and local partners, and provide the necessary resources to support the ongoing investigation,” he said.
has, for example, recently addressed the New America Foundation, a leading liberal think-tank in Washington, DC, which was apparently unperturbed by his flock of Nazi admirers, or by the fact that he was the subject of a flattering profile on Press TV, the official
mouthpiece of the Iranian regime. How much longer will we buy into the ludicrous idea that Blumenthal carries no responsibility for the way his screeds are interpreted? Similarly, when we read leading political scientist Stephen Walt, co-author of the
EMPLOYMENT
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Up to 24 hour care Meal Preparation Errands/Shopping Hygiene Assistance Light Housekeeping
(513) 531-9600 CEDAR from page 1 giving his time and talents to the community. He served on the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati board and has been president of Jewish Vocational Service and Cancer Family Care as well as treasurer of Halom House. He has been active with the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. When Vera Sanker accepted her first teaching job in Cincinnati, she began her commitment to the community. She has been active with Jewish Family Service, Jewish Hospital, Hebrew Union College, the American Jewish Committee, and Jewish Federation. She was the first woman in the history of Rockdale Temple to serve as an officer and on the Executive Committee, chaired the 150th anniversary of Rockdale in 1974 and is the congregation’s historian. She has also served several local organizations including Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Greater Cincinnati School Foundation. Zell Schulman has had a lifelong commitment to music and the arts. She served on the Women’s Committee of the Cincinnati Symphony, the Cincinnati Opera, the May Festival, the School for the Creative and Performing Arts, the UC College Conservatory of Music and the Cincinnati Ballet. She has also served as the Women’s Division of the Cincinnati United Jewish Agencies chair and on the board of the American Jewish Committee. Today, Zell combines her love of cooking with her food column in the American Israelite. In 1975, she was a Cincinnati Enquirer Woman of the Year. Betsy Shapiro has been involved in the Greater Cincinnati Jewish community for many years. She has miserable book “The Israel Lobby,” telling Haaretz that 9/11 was Israel’s fault, why do we continue to view his discourse as more sophisticated then the bigots who parrot him? People like Frazier Cross don’t emerge from a vacuum. They are enabled by the same
volunteered with the National Council of Jewish Women, Hebrew Union College, Hadassah and the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. She has also been involved with Lighthouse Youth Services for 12 years, including serving as a gala chair and beginning a successful fall event for the organization. This year’s nominees will join past honorees Robert Betagole, Rosemary and Frank Bloom, Tulane and Jack Chartock, Philip T. Cohen, Wilbur Cohen, Werner Coppel, Bernard Dave, Dr. Larry Essig, Debbie Fox, Murray Guttman, Charlotte Hattenbach, Faye Horwitz, Dave Jacobson, Robert Kanter, Peggy Katz, Florence Lieberman, Millard Mack, Dr. Gordon Margolin, Gene Mesh, Dr. Albert Miller, Bess Paper, Pat and Morry Passer, Judge Burton Perlman, Sue Ransohoff, Gerald Robinson, Barbara Rosenberg, Pearl Schwartz, Ruth Schwartz, Theodore L. Schwartz, Phyllis Shapiro Sewell, Sue and Jerry Teller, Richard Weiland and Florence Zaret. Additional past honorees, all of blessed memory, are Paula (Peppi) Gallop, Benjamin Gettler, Eric Hattenbach, Ernst Kahn, Gertie Kirzner, Lou Nidich and Freda Schwartz. According to Carol Silver Elliott, CEO/President of Cedar Village, “Each of these people has made a difference in the lives of others and it will be a privilege to salute them and their lifetimes of achievement and community service. We invite the community to join us on May 29 to celebrate their accomplishments.” The evening begins with a reception at 5:30 p.m. followed by dinner and the program. Funds raised will be used to create walking paths on the Cedar Village campus. For more information or to make a reservation for the dinner, contact Cedar Village. deadly ideas about Jews and Israel that have become so fashionable in parts of the media and academia. In the wake of the hate crime in Kansas, it’s time to start highlighting those links.
20 • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT / FOOD
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Matinée Musicale 101st Anniversary Season concludes April 29 The final debut recital of the Matinée Musicale 101st Season features pianist Gleb Ivanov on Tuesday, April 29, at 11 a.m. at The Mayerson Jewish Community Center. A sought-after concerto soloist, Mr. Ivanov has performed a wide repertoire, from Mozart to Rachmaninoff, with numerous symphony orchestras throughout the United States. He has been reengaged frequently in France and in the U.S. by Princeton University, The Paramount Theater in Vermont, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, “Pianofest” in East Hampton and at Fisher Island Concerts. In recognition of his impressive career achievements, Mr. Ivanov was presented with the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists, which brought his Lincoln Center recital debut at Alice Tully Hall. He won First Prizes at the 1994 and 1996 International “Classical Legacy” Competition, and the prize for Best Performance of a Beethoven Sonata at the First GREECE from page 7 synagogue in Jerusalem. “It’s a tradition that was destroyed in the Holocaust,” he said. None of the American Romaniotes attended the memorial ceremony. In Greece, with the Jewish community so devastated after the war, there was no place for separate communities. Most religious services are now held according to Sephardic rites. Today, only Cantor Haim Ischakis, who led the memorial prayer service, knows how to chant the Torah in the Romaniote tradition – something he learned from his father, also a cantor, who survived the camps. “I am the only one left,” EMPOWER from page 10 through Israeli-Arab communities two years ago, Bokra organized a petition and staged protests opposite local government offices urging police to crack down on crime in Arab towns. The site also cataloged incidents of violence based on police reports. “When I started the site, I set the goal of raising awareness in education, health, economics,” Zoabi said. “What’s important is that we’d be a bridge that connects between institutions and the Arab community in Israel. There was a disconnect.” Growing up in the port city of Haifa, Zoabi was a leader in a group called Jewish-Arab Youth Movement and later advised the mayor on promoting women’s rights. She began her
Vladimir Horowitz Competition in Kiev. Months after arriving in the U.S., Mr. Ivanov won First Prize in the 2005 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He received an award from the Jack Romann Special Artists Fund of YCA and
made his critically acclaimed New York debut in 2006 at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall – where he immediately was recognized as a major presence in the music world. The New York Times wrote Gleb Ivanov “is a cut above the usual, a young supervirtuoso, with musical sensitivity and an appreciation of style to go with the thunder and lightning.” He made his Washington, D.C. debut at the Kennedy Center. Coming from a family of musicians, Mr. Ivanov began to accompany his father’s vocal recitals at the age of eight. He has played the clarinet and the accordion and holds a diploma in clarinet from Lyardov High School. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 2005, where his teachers included the renowned Lev Naumov. After moving to the U.S. he earned his master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, working with Nina Svetlanova. Mr. Ivanov has received Musical Studies Grants from the Bagby Foundation. Individual concert tickets are available.
Ischakis said. He is teaching his two sons, but if they don’t take up his profession, the only examples left will be recordings on YouTube. In fact, the Internet is emerging as the most likely tool for preserving Romaniote tradition. And the impetus for this online push has come from an unlikely source. The Canadian ambassador to Greece, Robert Peck, who was instrumental in helping organize the commemorations, with Canada heading the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, noted the lack of available information about the Jews of Ioannina. At his behest, the New Media Lab at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University designed a website detailing Ioannina’s Jewish histo-
ry, and a soon-to-be-launched app will let people explore Jewish sites in the town and listen to survivor testimonies. “I came to Ioannina and visited the synagogue, and I felt it was very important to carry beyond the borders of Greece what Ioannina represents, the legacy of the Jewish community here,” Peck said. Still, the Romaniote Jews hope that through their efforts and dedication, something of their legacy, their community, will survive in the real world. “It is very precious to me, and I try to pass it on to my children and hope they appreciate that from their mothers’ side, they inherit such a unique tradition,” Battinou said. “It is still alive, it is not extinct, yet.”
journalism career at Kol Israel, Israel’s public radio station, and for four years hosted a weekly program on Israel’s Arabic language Channel One encouraging road safety. Dressed sharply in a white blazer and black shirt, Zoabi looks like an Israeli business executive. And acts like one, too, checking her phone continuously as she talks. Next door to her office is a television studio with a panoramic photo of Nazareth, the backdrop for news anchors who produce daily video news reports for the site. The site also aims to raise awareness of problems that Zoabi says are discussed too little in Israel’s Arab sector, such as encouraging women to screen for breast cancer and chronicling the difficulties facing disabled
Arab-Israelis. She helped found Masira, an organization that provides programming for Arab-Israelis with disabilities, and manages its public relations without pay. “The relationship between the Arab community and people with disabilities has improved greatly,” said Orly Shafir, a spokeswoman for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which co-founded Masira with Zoabi. “She’s one of the leaders and Bokra is a leader. She’s an opinion maker in the Arab community.” Shlomi Daskal, an Arabic media expert who has written for the Israel Democracy Institute and the Israeli media watchdog Seventh Eye, says Bokra is one of the most substantive Arabic publications in Israel and helps make up for the dearth of Arab-Israeli
Pianist Gleb Ivanov makes his Matinee Musicale debut at the Mayerson JCC
A Culinary Adventure Zell’s Bites
by Zell Schulman It has been more than a month since a day on my calendar hasn’t been filled with a time or place I had to be, for a meeting, volunteering, a doctor’s appointment or a date with friends for lunch or dinner. What a great gift. it would be if I could just “allow the day to happen.” Interestingly, the day turned into a fascinating culinary adventure. I found myself in Hyde Park Square, where I treated myself to a late lunch at the Echo Restaurant, then took a leisurely walk around the square. Several new businesses had replaced some of the stores I loved to browse in. One, called “The Spicy Olive” looked particularly interesting, so I decided to investigate it. What a treat. The store was bright and welcoming, and I found myself looking at walls holding shelves lined with small stainless steel containers, imported from Italy, called fustis (Few-steas), where the products are stored. These protect the oils from heat, light, and oxygen. Next to each fustis are stacks of small paper tasting cups. Melanie Cedargren, owner of the company, explained the containers hold more than twenty five varieties of ultrapremium, fresh olive oils which, she told me, are superior to extra virgin olive oils, exceeding the world standard in quality. “We also carry more than twenty five aged and flavored balsamic vinegars and many of the oils and vinegars are certified Kosher,” she said. “All of them change with the seasons. We are also available for special events and have cooking classes.” Both the olive oils and vinegars are fused with a variety of flavors like blood orange, lemon, cinnamon pear or red apple, to name a very few. reporters in the mainstream Hebrew media. “When you hear about Arabs in the media, it’s connected to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict or something criminal,” Daskal said. “The state of Arabic media in Israel is very bad. [Bokra] is trying very hard. It’s a tough fight. They try to be more professional.” Israeli Arabic media expert Mustafa Kabha says Bokra is part of a larger “digital revolution” in the ArabIsraeli media that aims to make the community better informed about
With such a large variety to choose from, these fresh products aren’t bottled until you have had an opportunity to taste what appeals to you. You’re given small, freshly cut slices of breads for the dipping and tasting. When you decide what you wish to purchase the oil is poured into dark, glass bottles and labeled. The bottles range in size from 200 ml (7 ounces) to 750 ml. (25.4 ounces). Both the olive oils and vinegars compliment seafood, chicken, salad, fruit, dessert and breads. What a great idea for a “Tasting Party” when looking for an interesting way to entertain. Check out The Spicy Olive’s cooking classes, where you’ll come home with interesting ideas and recipes and add something new to your menus at home. All I can say is, “what a fabulous, culinary and tasting adventure I had !” HALIBUT OLIVE OIL Serves 2
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IN
This recipe is courtesy of Laura Calder’s television show, seen on the Cooking Channel. It can be doubled without any problem. Ingredients 2 skinned filets of halibut (1/4 pound) About 1 1/2 cups olive oil Zest of 1 orange 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed 1 fresh thyme sprig 1 clove garlic Freshly ground black pepper Method 1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Lay the fish filets in a baking dish just large enough to hold them. 2. Pour over enough oil to cover the filets, Bake until just tender, about 10 minutes. Remove the fish from the oil and garnish with fresh thyme leaves. 3. Serve with a little of the cooking oil dribbled over the top of each filet. Zells Tips: You can prepare the fish for baking, cover it and place in the refrigerator until ready to bake and serve.
Israeli government actions. IsraeliArabs are a disadvantaged minority, he says, and he sees no problem with Bokra’s occasional deviation from journalistic standards of objectivity. “Bokra has investigations and a critical approach,” said Kabha, a professor at Israel’s Open University. “You can’t ask [objectivity] from a population that suffers exclusion and discrimination. These media need to aspire to get rid of exclusion.”
AUTOS • 21
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
Land Rover Evoque breaks tradition, goes from big and boxy to sleek and stylish The 2014 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque has broken with traditional Land Rover styling, forgoing the big, boxy look of its siblings in favor of a sleek, raked back appearance. It may feature a stylish exterior, but the Evoque is every bit a Land Rover, with standard all-wheel drive and a rugged LR2-based chassis and suspension to take it far off-road. What sets the Evoque apart from the competition? Perhaps the most notable is its interior, which features excellent build quality, fine materials and pleasing aesthetics. Even in the base model, the Evoque's interior is stunning, with soft-touch materials, brushed aluminum trim and an automatic gear selector that rises out of the center console. The Evoque is available as a 3door "coupe" or 5-door SUV, which is intended to lure in younger buyers whose budgets can't quite accommodate a price Range Rover Sport or LR4. And with a starting price just over $42,000, it may very well be the best-looking bargain in the Land Rover fleet. Major changes for the 2014 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque include a new, 9-speed automatic transmission, an improved allwheel-drive system with active differentials (the system slips into 2-wheel drive mode to help save fuel and returns to 4-wheel drive when needed) and the addition of Park Exit, which automatically exits parallel parking spots. Range Rovers of the past have all been V8-powered, so the Evoque marks a new direction for the brand. Under the hood of the Evoque is a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine borrowed from Ford. The peppy 2.0-liter produces 240 horsepower and 380 lbft of torque, and is mated to a 9speed automatic transmission. The Evoque will make a 0-to-60-mph run in an impressive 7.1 seconds. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates its fuel economy at 21 miles per gallon city/30 mpg hwy. The 2014 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque comes in two body styles and five trims. The 5-door is offered in Pure, Pure Plus, Pure Premium, Prestige and Dynamic, while the coupe is offered only in Pure Plus, Pure Premium and Dynamic. The Evoque Pure ($41,995) features a turbocharged 2.0-liter engine, Terrain Response driver selectable all-wheel drive, rainsensing wipers, power folding side mirrors, 19-inch wheels, suede and leather seating, automatic climate control, a power rear lift gate, front and rear park-
ing sensors, rear backup camera, 380-watt sound system with 8-in touchscreen audio, Bluetooth and USB/iPod interface. The Evoque Pure Plus ($44,995, 5-door; $45,040, coupe) adds a full-length glass panel roof, power driver's and passenger seats, full leather seating, front fog lights and headlamp power washers. The Evoque Pure Premium ($49,959, 5-door; $50,595, coupe) adds HDD navigation with offroad mapping, passive keyless entry with push-button start, a surround camera system, roof rails, 825-watt audio upgrade with subwoofer and 16 speakers, automatic HID headlights and automatic high beams. The Evoque Prestige ($56,295) brings unique exterior trim and wheels and a full Oxford leather interior including leather dash cap. The Evoque Dynamic ($57,195, 5-door; $58,195, coupe) offers the same features as the Prestige but with more exterior and interior trim and color choices and 20-in wheels. Option packages for the Range Rover Evoque include the Climate Comfort Package (heated windshield, heated front seats and steering wheel and heated windshield washer jets) and the Vision Assist Package. Other available features include Park Assist and Exit, Adaptive Cruise Control and Closing Vehicle Sensing (bringing the car to a complete stop in a collision), rear-seat entertainment package and Adaptive Dynamic suspension. The Evoque is loaded with many advanced safety technologies, including ABS, traction control, electronic brake force distribution, emergency brake lights and emergency brake assist, corner brake control, dynamic-stability control, roll-stability control, trailer-stability assist, hill-start assist, hill-descent control, gradient-release control and enginedrag torque control. The low price of the Evoque Pure lacks a couple of features that luxury buyers want: navigation and a panoramic sunroof, so buyers may want to step up to the Evoque Pure Premium. This model still feels sumptuous and includes the latest technology, but it is priced several thousand dollars less than its upper-trim counterparts. The Land Rover Evoque starts at about $42,000.
2014 Land Rover Evoque.
22 • OBITUARIES D EATH N OTICES VALIN, Marcella F., age 95, died April 14, 2014; 14 Nissan, 5774.
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WOLFSON, Virginia C., age 91, died April 14, 2014; 15 Nissan, 5774. NINIO, Elaine, age 70, died April 16, 2014; 16 Nissan, 5774. GLICKLICH, Marlene B., age 80, died April 16, 2014; 17 Nissan, 5774. SCHEINGOLD, Shirley, age 91, died April 17, 2014; 17 Nissan, 5774. WOLF, Paula Hoffman, age 79, died April 19, 2014; 20 Nissan 5774. TURKEY from page 8 The U.S. has been highly involved in fixing the relationship of its two key Middle East allies. In March 2013, during his publicized trip to Israel, President Barack Obama pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call Erdogan and apologize for the deaths of the Turkish citizens aboard the Mavi Marmara. After the call, Erdogan’s office issued a statement
A Kid’s Meal option of mac and cheese, applesauce and carrots will also be available. Children 12 and under can eat free with each purchase of an adult meal. During this time, families can also take part in the Kids’ Kibbutz in the Courtyard, where children can feed and pet farm animals, help make pita bread, plant their own vegetable garden to take home, decorate cupcakes and much more! This portion of the celebration is being presented by the Mayerson JCC and Shalom Family and will culminate with a balloon ascension at 6:15pm in the JCC
Courtyard, where all participants can write happy birthday wishes on balloons and launch them together in a cheerful salute to Israel. The second half of the evening will be an Adults Only After Party for the 21 and over crowd, who are invited to stay for an entertaining evening full of laughs. The JCC’s Amberley Room will be transformed into a night club, complete with cash bar, for a hilarious performance by Israeli-born comedian, Avi Liberman, who has been featured on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Comedy Central. Before the laughs get going, the crowd will watch a special video
featuring personalized messages from some of Cincinnati’s sons and daughters who are serving in Israel Defense Forces. Free babysitting, compliments of the JCC’s J Play, Club J and the JCC Fun Technicians will be available with advance reservations. This event is a program of the Mayerson JCC in partnership with The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut events are free and open to the entire community. To RSVP or learn more, please contact the J.
saying that Turkey valued its “friendship” with Israel. Yet since then, negotiations on restoring ties have been slow to bear fruit, despite several rounds of talks over compensation. Some in Israel are skeptical of Erdogan’s true intentions in the negotiations. “I’m not certain that Erdogan is committed to a deal, as long as he demands the removal of the blockade on Gaza, there is no deal as far as Israel is concerned,” Professor Efraim Inbar, director of the BeginSadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University and an expert on Turkish-Israeli relations, told JNS. While it remains uncertain if Erdogan is truly motivated to restore ties with Israel, on a geopolitical level, a Turkish-Israeli alliance would enable both countries to confront myriad of regional threats. “An Israeli-Turkish alliance makes sense in a lot of ways. Both countries have need of countering and containing Iranian regional influence, both countries border an increasingly unstable Syria, and both countries can benefit from Israel’s natural gas finds as Turkey is a large energy importer while Israel is now poised to be an exporter,” Koplow said. But the biggest challenge for restoring ties may lie in the growing anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment in Turkey, undoubtedly fostered by Erdogan and his AKP party. While Turkey has a sizable secular population with strong ties with
Europe, most Turks, like their counterparts in the rest of the Muslim world, do not have a favorable view of Israel, and anti-Semitism is rampant in the country Yet this hasn’t always been the case. Modern Turkey’s predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, welcomed thousands of Jews who were fleeing the Spanish Inquisition centuries ago, where they set up thriving communities. Nevertheless, many of Turkey’s remaining Jews – roughly 15,000 – are now regularly fleeing the country to Israel and elsewhere due to anti-Semitism. Last year, Erdogan and other top AKP officials blamed Jews for being behind anti-government protests in June 2013. Erdogan said that the “interest rate lobby” was behind the protests, implicitly referring to Jews, while Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said it was the “Jewish Diaspora” that orchestrated the protests. “Turkish domestic politics reward Israel-bashing, and Turkey’s open support for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, do not endear it to Israelis. Israel is extremely unpopular with Turkish voters, and so no party in government is going to go out of its way to cultivate strong ties with Israel,” Koplow said. Like most Muslim leaders, Erdogan has taken up the Palestinian cause to bolster his political standing. “There definitely is a widespread
sympathy for the Palestinians among the Turks, this puts Israel at a disadvantage,” Inbar said. At the same time, despite the secular opposition’s recent gains ahead of municipal elections, there still isn’t a viable alternative to Erdogan that Israel could establish warmer relations with. “Erdogan’s future looks weaker than it once did, but there is no plausible opponent who can replace him in the foreseeable future. Turkey’s opposition parties are largely feckless and do not compete on a national scale with the AKP,” Kolplow said. While it is unlikely that TurkishIsraeli ties will return to their preErdogan days, an arrangement similar to what Israel and Egypt share – where the countries don’t have a particularly warm relationship, but cooperate on economic and security matters – could be in the cards. As such, despite potential political drawbacks of restoring relations for Erdogan, who will likely continue to promote the Palestinian cause and heavily criticize Israel, Inbar still believes it is in Israel’s best longterm interest to work with Turkey. “Turkey is an important regional actor, it is a country with a large Muslim identity, and we would like to have relations with these types of countries, because we would like to dilute the religious dimensions to the Arab-Israeli conflict,” Inbar said. He added, “The ball is not in Jerusalem’s court, it is in Ankara’s.”
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tion of and intolerance shown to Christians, and the violence they suffer, comes almost exclusively at the hands of the same terrorists who are targeting Shiite Muslims in the country. “It is predominantly external Iraqi Sunni terrorists such as Al-Qaeda,” White said. White himself has escaped death on several occasions. “I’ve been mortared and rockets shot at me, grenades thrown at me. I’ve been kidnapped. I’ve been thrown into a room with chopped off fingers and toes all over the floor,” he said. The president of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, and the director of a multi-faith initiative known as the
Jerusalem Peacemaking Project, White has firsthand knowledge of the divergent experiences of Christians in Israel and those in other Middle East countries. “This is the only country, Israel I’m talking about, in the Middle East where Christians are truly free, and can live in peace. And the only country where the Christian community is growing, not diminishing,” White said. Israel has had to take steps to protect Christian holy sites in recent years. White himself was involved in negotiations to end a siege by Palestinian militants on Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity from April 2 to May 10, 2002 – only days after Easter on the Eastern Orthodox calendar that year.
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and many more fleeing the country. While that situation appears to be stabilizing under the rule of presidential hopeful General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Christians in Iraq and Syria have been victims of relentless attacks. “Christians are being beheaded in Syria every day,” Parsons said. Canon Andrew White, an Anglican priest who has a large parish in Baghdad, Iraq, has seen more than a thousand members of his church killed, including 163 in a single bombing. “I have had 1,290 or so of my parish killed in the last 10 years,” White told JNS. According to White, the persecu-
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