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Jewish community comes together to celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut
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Lag B’Omer: A Boy Scout’s guide to lighting your bonfire
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On April 20, 2006, President George W. Bush proclaimed that May would be Jewish American Heritage Month. The announcement was the crowning achievement in an effort by the Jewish Museum of Florida and South Florida Jewish community leaders. The month of May was chosen due to the highly successful celebration of the 350th Anniversary of J E W I S H
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American Jewish History in May 2004, which was organized by the Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History. This coalition was composed of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, the American Jewish Historical Society, the Library of Congress and the National Archives and Records Administration. A M E R I C A
‘A death sentence for the Jews’: 75 years since the British White Paper
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CINCINNATI, OH Candle Lighting Times Shabbat begins Fri 8:26p Shabbat ends Sat 9:27p Look for special articles this month designated with this logo.
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Israel’s marriage blacklist said to break privacy laws
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Teen Heros: Gardenswartz takes to the stage to beat bullying
Defying trends, Rockwern Academy is on path to growth with a solid future At Rockwern Academy, a palpable energy can be felt throughout the hallways and classrooms. Why? Because, after many years of struggle, their enrollment for next year has far surpassed expectations and national trends. Every preschool class is in high demand. The “buzz” around the community is that Rockwern is the place to be. Until recently, Rockwern’s future was not a certain one. First and foremost, the 2008 economic crisis made tuition more of a hardship, and families were left to make tough decisions. Then, frequent changes in school leadership resulted in parent mistrust and lack of confidence. With the sale of The Jewish Hospital, the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati was afforded the opportunity to help out many organizations in our community, and Rockwern Academy was one of those fortunate recipients. Rockwern’s incoming Board president, Gayle Warm Swift is optimistic; "I am thrilled to be part of a committed lay and professional team who have lead this turnaround and I look forward to our continued growth. Rockwern is a special school and it is gratifying that so many more families will be here to benefit from its uniqueness." Shep Englander, The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s Chief Executive Office explains, “Alongside the recent spike in enrollment and excitement at Rockwern, families whose children graduated
years ago, when the school was called Yavneh, have stepped forward to make inspiring gifts to the Yavneh Endowment Fund. We have partnered with the school to secure nearly $3 million dollars in commitments over the past six months. This unprecedented outpouring of support, demonstrates how deeply many families value the education the school gave their children.” Stephanie DeFalco, a mom of two preschoolers remarked, “Even before we moved from North Carolina, we were hearing good things about Rockwern. The strong academics, the highly qualified and hardworking faculty and staff, the active parent association and the warm, welcoming environment--they're all true. The way Rockwern weaves Jewish education and culture into the school day is the icing on the cake. We can't say
enough about our children's experiences at the school, and what a nurturing and enriching environment it is. Now we recommend it to our friends and neighbors!” Just 15 years ago, Rockwern boasted a student body of over 400; there were 3 full 3-year old classes, 3 full 4- year old classes, and 3 full Kindergarten classes, complete with waiting lists. Esther Fierberg was Head of School, and had been for over 15 years. However, shortly after this peak Fierberg retired, and leadership at the school became a challenge. Dr. Susan Moore filled in as interim Head of School on numerous occasions. Two hires were made to try to build the school and maintain its success, but neither of those choices were a right fit for the school, and despite Moore’s consistent and dedicated leadership, the school began to dwin-
Bar/Bat Mitzvah issue DEADLINE IS TOMORROW Publishes May 22
dle in size, dropping to a low of 145. Combine that with rising tuition costs and parents not making Day School education a priority, and what you get is a recipe for struggle. However, in spring of 2013, Rockwern Academy’s Board of Trustees finally found the leader they had been looking for in Dr. David Finell. With a solid leader in place, enrollment began to creep back up, and at press time, the preschool is bursting at the seams, there are 2 full Kindergarten classes, and the student body comes in at close to 200 for next year. “We are delighted to see this demand in recognition of the excellent secular and Jewish experience we are providing every pre-school child,” says Guy Peri, Board President. “ We are committed to ensuring Rockwern Academy is in a position to serve this growing demand now and into the future.” It’s important to recognize that Rockwern Academy is more than just an excellent Jewish Day School; it also provides superior secular studies as well. When students move on to public school (or other private schools in our area), they are incredibly wellprepared. Test scores rival those of the other schools, often times exceeding them. For example: 100% of Rockwern students scored a “High Master Designation” for reading and mathematics on Terra Nova testing. ROCKWERN on page 22
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Cincinnati’s Jewish community comes together to celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut By Julie Torem Contributing Writer One of the things I love most about Cincinnati is the sense of community that I feel, and this is especially true in the Cincinnati Jewish community. What I love most about the Jewish Community in Cincinnati is the way we come together at times of need and in times of celebration. Israel's Independence Day is celebrated on the fifth day of the month of Iyar, which is the Hebrew date of the formal establishment of the State of Israel. On Tuesday, May 6, we came together as a community at the Mayerson JCC to celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut. And how did we celebrate? With food, of course! Blue and white cupcakes…freshly made pita…falafel…even an candy bar featuring kids’ favorite Israeli treats! We celebrated by launching heliumfilled balloons in the sky while wearing balloon hats. Even Mr. Cowpie and his crew were there to help celebrate. By bringing the agricultural component of Israel to the JCC, our kids had the opportunity to play with baby goats, chickens, rabbits, and miniature horses. The goal of this event, made possible through the generosity of the Mayerson Foundation and the Jewish Federation, was to provide hands-on
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experiences for people of all ages. “We wanted to bring Israel to life in Cincinnati” said Pam Saeks, Director of the Mayerson Foundation. They absolutely succeeded. Shoshi Stern, a former Rockwern Academy student, was busy making fresh pita when I asked her how she felt about Yom HaAtzmaut. Shoshi summed it up beautifully when she said, “It’s a great day to get together with our community and our friends to celebrate Israel!” Rabbi Sissy Coran of Rockdale Temple seconded Shoshi’s sentiments and added, “it’s a beautiful day for celebration, joy, hearing children’s laughter, and sharing hope for the future.”
Carol Ann Schwartz is one of many Cincinnati parents who have children living in Israel. Cincinnati Olim, represented at the Yom HaAtzmaut celebration, is a group of individuals who help bridge the gap between home in Cincinnati and home in Israel. Cincinnati Olim make it a point to keep in touch with all of the Cincinnati kids who make Aliyah by bringing a little Cincinnati to Israel whenever they visit. For example, the Olim will arrange Shabbat dinners, invite kids to dinner, provide support and generally do whatever they can to help. Its just one more example of how our wonderful Jewish community supports each other.
Grants help fund first overnight Jewish camp experience By Karyn Zimmerman Contributing Writer It’s that time of year again, when more than 100,000 children attend overnight Jewish camps, spending up to two months with peers and away from electronics, then returning home with stronger connections to their Jewish identities, and with friendships that last a lifetime. It’s not too late to sign up for camp - registration is happening now. And Jewish Cincinnati is trying to make the experience as accessible as possible to new campers. Parents whose children have never experienced overnight Jewish camp have access to grants funded by The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati and administered by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. Also, many synagogues and camps provide additional grants, need-based scholarship funding and payment plan options. (See the ad in this issue for grant amounts and application details.) "Overnight Jewish camping is the single most important tool for Jewish identity in our congregation,” said Rabbi Sandford Kopnick, who is involved with the Union for Reform Judaism Goldman Union
Camp Institute (GUCI), a camp attended by many Cincinnati Jewish youth. Camp is a transformative experience in the life of a child. It’s a safe, supportive, nurturing environment, where kids are encouraged to try new things. Jewish camp fosters Jewish values, culture and traditions into adulthood. Research consistently shows that children who have a Jewish camp experience are more likely to become adults who value their Jewish heritage, support Jewish causes and take on leadership roles. Traditionally, most overnight Jewish camps offer a wide range of activities, including aquatics, arts and crafts, sports, dance, music, drama, hiking and trips. They employ the best available people from around the globe and utilize the latest innovations in education and technology, while remaining digital-free zones for the campers. Imagine a child not looking at a phone or computer screen for weeks! It seems impossible, but it happens without argument or regret at camp. Today's camps are designed for kids in third and fourth grades through teens graduating high school, with activities and environ-
ments tailored to each age group. A diversity of traditional, religious and nonreligious camps are available to suit to every family. The past five years has also brought a trend toward specialty camps - from health, to sports, to performing arts, to science and technology, to business. Some camps offer a one-day “rookie adventure” that allows new campers and their parents to check out the camp for a day while activities are in full swing. For young, first-time campers, shorter programs of two weeks are available at most camps, and these can usually be extended to four weeks for campers who realize they are having too much fun to leave so soon. Middleand high-school students can gain invaluable skills while participating in camp leadership training programs, and often go on to become counselors. “If your child has talked about overnight Jewish camping, or if you just want to find out what amazing options and opportunities are available, act today and your child could be looking forward to truly unique, wonderful summers!” said Overnight Jewish Camping Grant Administrator Karyn Zimerman.
B'nai B'rith of Greater Cincinnati Alfred M. Cohen Unit #4 Presents the
71st Annual Judge Robert S. Kraft Memorial Service Honoring Members of the Jewish Community Who Gave Their Lives For Our Country Harry Sudman, Moderator
Keynote Speakers Lt. Col. Tyler Moore, Commander and Professor of Aerospace Studies for the Air Force ROTC Det 665, University of Cincinnati Ohio State Senator Eric Kearney, 9th District
Sunday, May 25, 2014 at 10:30 A.M Come See the major renovation that has taken place at the Judge Robert S. Kraft War Memorial Garden in the Covedale Cemetery (Sidney Road just west of Anderson Ferry) Donations will be accepted for the Robert S. Kraft Perpetual Care Fund, which is used to cover the expenses for maintaining the Memorial Garden. Send your tax deductible donations payable to the Robert S. Kraft Perpetual Care Fund to 5447 Firethorn Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45242 For More Information, call Harvey Chyette, 984-1107, or Elaine Owen, 892-0012. Inclement Weather will not prevent us from holding this special event.
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AJC celebrates 70th birthday on May 28 AJC celebrates 70 years in Cincinnati Annual Meeting at Losantiville Country Club on Wednesday, May 28. After a festive buffet dinner and election of officers and board members, special guest Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC’s director of interreligious and intergroup relations, will speak on “Israel, interfaith relations, and the changing face of America.” Seth Schwartz and Julie Weisser are co-chairs of the meeting. Leadership committee chair John Stein will present the slate of officers for two-year terms: Rick Michelman, president, and Kurt Grossman, Sandy Kaltman, Cheryl Schriber, Seth Schwartz, and Trip Wolf, returning to the executive committee. Newly-nominated for three year Board terms are Jan Armstrong Cobb, Rabbi Sigma Faye Coran, Stephen Lerner, Dr. Scott Joseph, and Noah Stern.
Rick Michaelman
Rabbi Noam Marans
Renominated for another three year term on the Board are Ed Frankel, Brad Glazer, Andy Heldman, Ken Heldman, and Dr. Alter Peerless. Rabbi Noam Marans is coming to Cincinnati from AJC’s headquarters in New York to report on out-
reach to Catholics, Mormons, Presbyterians, and Muslims. He oversees national interfaith outreach, dialogue and advocacy, while enhancing mutual understanding, freedom of religious expression, and support for the State of Israel and Middle East peace.
Rabbi Marans has met Pope Francis twice at the Vatican, together with AJC delegations. He led AJC’s engagement of the controversial Oberammergau Passion Play in Germany, viewing it together with New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, leading to significant changes that mitigated the production’s historic anti-Jewish elements. He has also headed delegations of young American Jews to meetings in Germany with their German contemporaries. Rabbi Marans was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary and received his B.A. in political science from Columbia University. To celebrate AJC’s 70th birthday and learn more about AJC’s outreach achievements and future prospects, Israelite readers can make reservations by calling the AJC office by May 21.
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The American Israelite “LET THERE BE LIGHT” THE OLDEST ENGLISH-JEWISH WEEKLY IN AMERICA - EST. JULY 15, 1854
VOL. 160 • NO. 43 THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014 15 IYYAR 5774 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 8:26 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 9:27 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
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Northern Hills to install new officers and trustees
President David Bernstein
will join continuing trustees Mark Bratslavsky, Judy Knapp, Margie Stayton, Lisa Crawford, Matt Lee, Jim Silver, Natalie Freeman, Sonia Milrod, and Fred Joffe. The Board will also include past Presidents Joe
Lazear, Karroll Miller, and David Zucker, and Finance Chair Ron Richards. Northern Hills' Sisterhood and Men's Club will also install their boards at the May 16th service. The Sisterhood board includes Pamela Gardner, Joyce Leahr, and Edie Neusner, Executive Officers; Connie Hinitz, Recording Secretary; Phyliss Shubs, Treasurer; Eileen Metz, Financial Secretary; Elaine Hordes, Corresponding Secretary; Bobbie Winkler, Immediate Past President; and Gayna Bassin, Diana Fenichel, Candy Gellen, and Grace Lehrer, Trustees. The Men's Club Board consists of Barry Wolfson, President; Herb Brass, Vice-President; Joe Zukor, Secrerary-Treasurer; and Bob Stayton, Hal Winkler, and Todd Winkler, Trustees. David Bernstein commented, "I
am delighted to assume the presidency of Northern Hills Synagogue. I know I will enjoy working with our dedicated and hard-working Board. We have a unique culture here with dedicated volunteer congregants who regularly lead services, read Torah and Haftorah and actively participate in our many educational and social programs. This is a special time for the congregation, as Rabbi Gershom Barnard, our teacher and spiritual leader for nearly four decades, prepares to retire, and we prepare to welcome our new rabbi, David Siff. We are very happy that Rabbi Barnard will remain an active member of our Northern Hills congregation as he transitions to rabbi emeritus.” The service and installation will take place at the synagogue in Deerfield Township, and are open to the public. For more information, please call the Synagogue office.
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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Northern Hills Synagogue Congregation B'nai Avraham will install officers and trustees at the Friday evening service on May 16th, which will begin at 8:00 p.m. A deluxe Oneg Shabbat will follow. David Bernstein will be installed as President. Other officers to be installed include Bobbi Handwerger, Henry Spitz, and Sandy Spitz, VicePresidents; Joel Suddleson, Treasurer; Laurie Dubin, Financial Secretary; Holly Robinson, Recording Secretary; Amy Frankel, Corresponding Secretary; and Matt Yosafat, Cemetery Warden. Trustees selected for two year terms include Jeff Bassin, Barbara Goldstein, Arnie Horowitz, Herb Brass, Steve Pentelnik, George Smulian, Chana Wolfson, Steve Selss, and Jeff Gushin. Steve Weiss and Joe Zukor will be installed as trustees for a one year term. They
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RSVP. Camp Livingston is located in Bennington, Indiana, less than two hours from Cincinnati. “Whether you went to camp as a kid, or have never stepped foot in a cabin, much less a canoe, this event is for families looking for a fun, new
RABBI JONAH B. WISE Editor & Publisher, 1928-1930
Est. 1854
aqua park, giant waterslide, climbing wall, zip line, canoes and kayaks and special this year, the Eurobungy Jumper! Plus, attendees can enjoy arts & crafts, sports, a s’mores cookout and much more! Lunch and snacks are included with advanced
way to enjoy an ‘old school’ day in the great outdoors!” explains Julie Robenson, Shalom Family Event Coordinator. “Thanks to the generosity of Camp Livingston, the entire 600 acre facility will be ours for the day. We are excited to be able to offer amazing amenities such as these to families for free that would easily cost hundreds of dollars a day anywhere else,” she adds. “Plus, what could be a better way to introduce kids to overnight camp without having to stay overnight?” Camp Livingston has been serving Jewish families of all affiliations for nearly 100 years. It offers a safe and nurturing environment that incorporates Jewish identity and
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Shalom Family and Camp Livingston are teaming up for another free family event this spring Want the kids to take a vacation from those video games…give the remote a rest? Now’s the perfect time to ditch the distractions of everyday life and get back to basics with the whole family! Shalom Family and Mayerson JCC invite families in the Jewish community with children 12 and under to a FREE One-Day Sunday, Family Fun Day at Camp Livingston, an afternoon adventure in the great outdoors on June 8 from 11am to 5pm. This free event features 600 acres of fresh air and family fun, giving guests the opportunity to step off the beaten path with activities for all ages. Amenities include a lakefront
LEO WISE Editor & Publisher, 1900-1928
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One-day Sunday, Family Fun Day at Camp Livingston
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.
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Northern Hills HaZaK to consider memory loss Age-related cognitive loss will be the focus when the HaZaK group of Northern Hills Synagogue Congregation B'nai Avraham holds its monthly program on Wednesday, May 21st. Following a delicious lunch, Dr. Timothy Sigward, Ph.D. will be the featured speaker. The program will take
place at the Synagogue and begin at 12 Noon. Dr. Sigward is a clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist at the Centers for Interactive Geriatric Assessment. The discussion will describe the different levels and types of cognitive impairment often experienced
Legacy-giving to strengthen Jewish Cincinnati Earlier this year the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati asked what your legacy will be. Thanks to the Federation’s Create Your Jewish Legacy (CYJL) initiative, you’ll soon be learning more about how to give a gift that will change lives for generations to come. A legacy gift is a donation made through a provision in a will or other planned gift - to an organization’s endowment, intended to provide long-term financial sustainability. By only withdrawing the interest earned from investing that gift, the original amount is never depleted. A legacy gift doesn’t have to be a large commitment; even a smaller donation directed to an endowment means that the organization will be able to count on those funds from year to year, and from generation to generation. Previously established legacy gifts are impacting the lives of Cincinnatians today. Bernice Brown, Arthur Friedman, and Harris Weston, for example, have all passed away. But through their legacy gifts, they are still helping seniors in need, funding travel to Israel, and encouraging Jewish communal professionals (the 2014 Weston “Avodah” Awards will be presented at the Federation’s Annual Meeting on May 21). Hundreds of millions of dollars have been raised in legacy commitments nationally through the Create Your Jewish Legacy campaign. The program was started a decade ago in San Diego and replicated in over 40 communities. In planning for the launch of the community-wide legacy giving initiative in Cincinnati, the Federation’s CYJL coordinator,
David Harris, surveyed the most successful cities. He incorporated best practices from each to form a local program to help Jewish organizations strategically secure more endowments. Harris introduced the training program, which is open to both agencies and congregations, to more than 70 volunteers and professionals, representing more than 20 Jewish community organizations, during an orientation at Rockdale Temple in March. Several organizations have applied for the CYJL program; up to 12 will be accepted into the first two-year class, which will be announced at the end of June. A second class is planned to follow in 2016. The Federation will help each particip a t i n g organization build a business plan and implement a legacy giving campaign. In addition, the Federation will sponsor CYJL seminars with expert speakers from outside the Jewish community. Legacy giving expert Bryan Clontz will be featured at the first seminar on September 4. Whether or not they are one of the 12 organizations in the class, all Jewish organizations are welcome to attend the training seminars and will benefit from the increased legacy giving awareness in Cincinnati. "Create Your Jewish Legacy will transform our community, by ensuring that our agencies, organizations, and congregations have the resources they need to survive and thrive. Donors who make a legacy gift provide that opportunity and inspire others in the process,” said Harris.
Create Your Jewish Legacy will transform our community, by ensuring that our agencies, organizations, and congregations have the resources they need to survive and thrive
by older adults. Dr. Sigward will explain concepts such as normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia. He will discuss the differences between Alzheimer's and dementia. "HaZaK" is an acronym, with the letters standing for the Hebrew words "Hakhma" (wisdom), "Ziknah" (maturi-
ty), 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 through-
out Greater Cincinnati. There is no charge for the program and lunch, but donations are greatly appreciated. Please RSVP to the Synagogue office by Monday, May 19th. For reservations or more information, please call Northern Hills Synagogue.
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Lag B’Omer: A Boy Scout’s guide to lighting your bonfire
New Cedar Village Board Chair Barbara Reed chats with outgoing board Chair Robert Rosen before the Cedar Village annual meeting starts.
Cedar Village board elects new officers, trustees Cedar Village Retirement Community has elected new officers and members to its boards of trustees, including its first chair with a professional health care background. Barbara Reed of Evendale was elected chair of the board that serves the overall organization. Reed works as a nurse at the Lindner Center of Hope, a mental health treatment center in Mason, and earlier worked as a hospice nurse. At the joint annual meeting of the two Cedar Village boards, Reed said one of her major goals is to
make sure more people in Greater Cincinnati know about Cedar Village and the broad range of highquality services it provides to a wide range of people. “As I begin this journey,” Reed told the crowd, “I am pleased to be surrounded by so many who will be working to make sure that the community knows what a fantastic asset Cedar Village is and will be to our community in the future.” Reed hopes to engage the trustees more to help spread Cedar CEDAR VILLAGE on page 21
Adath Israel Congregation teens experience Jewish New York On a cold weekend in February 15 teens and 4 adults from Adath Israel Congregation participated in an amazing Jewish New York Experience. Participant Ethan Kahn shared, “New York is an amazing city, but this trip took the experience to a new level. Each place we visited provided a unique, fascinating, history-packed look at our culture and history as American Jews.” The group had their own private tour bus with a tour guide named Hal, a true New Yorker, whom they all came to know and love. Touring the city by bus is a different experience than from on the streets among people. They got to hear the history of buildings, and the back-stories to some of the places they passed along the way. Rabbi Irvin Wise said, "I have been wanting to take a group of our high school students to New York for some time. This was not possible until the Jewish Foundation provided the educational grant to our synagogue. And it was truly an educational experience. The students learned about American, New York and Jewish history, immigration and immigrant history, Conservative Judaism and more. Then, there was the amazing bonding of the group and their proving how fifteen teenagers can be cooperative, respectful, supportive, friendly, thoughtful and at the same time
have a lot of fun." The first stop on the trip was to iconic Ellis Island. Waiting in the long line and walking through security, several people were imagining what it would have been like for the immigrants coming to this country. Words can’t describe the looks on the teens faces as they boarded the ferry and anxiously awaited passing the Statue of Liberty. As soon as the Captain said they were coming upon the statue the kids all went outside onto the deck to see Lady Liberty in all her glory. Once they arrived at Ellis Island they got off of the ferry and proceeded into the main building. To walk in a place where many family members had been when first coming to this country was somewhat mind blowing. In the education computer room, teens took lists of family members who had immigrated to America, and looked up their documents from when they first immigrated. Many were wowed by the fact that they were looking at an actual record of a family member. Max Rosenberg said, “When we went to Ellis Island we stood in the very same room where my ancestors from Europe once stood to start their new life here in America and to build what was the future of my family. While we NEW YORK on page 19
By Maayan Jaffe
the evening of May 17.
(JNS) – On Lag B’Omer, the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer and the 18th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, the Jewish community is aflame with celebration. People frolic around bonfires in traditional festivities, marking the day with joy. According to Rabbi BenZion Friedman, director of the Torah Learning Center of Greater Kansas City, the tradition of lighting bonfires on Lag B’Omer started with the passing of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on the 18th of Iyar. Known as the Rashbi, on the day of his death Rabbi Yochai departed to the Jewish people deep mystical secrets and declared that the day should be one of celebration. Friedman says that in “the olden days,” people celebrated by bringing candles to the grave of Rabbi Yochai in Meron, located in northern Israel. Later, those candles became bonfires and spread from the cave in which Rabbi Yochai is buried to throughout Israel and the Jewish Diaspora. “Before God created the world, there was darkness,” says Rabbi Friedman. “Then, God said, ‘Let there be light.’ That light is the light of Torah. On
What you need: 1 About 100 (“enough to fill your hat”) small, dry twigs. 2. A handful or two of tinder (paper scraps, dryer lint, additional small twigs). 3. 30 to 40 large sticks of dry wood. 4. 1 match (or a box of matches, if this is your first try). 5.A bucket of water-just in case!
National Briefs Israel divestment bill fails at another California state school (JNS) – An Israel divestment bill failed Thursday in the student senate of the University of California, Davis. The vote ended in a 5-5 tie with two abstentions. The measure failed to pass when student government Vice President Maxwell Kappes decided to abstain and not break the tie. U. of New Mexico grad students rescind divestment resolution (JTA) – The Graduate and Professional Student Association at the University of New Mexico overturned a divestment resolution on the West Bank. Saturday’s vote rescinded an April 28 resolution calling on the university to divest from companies that operate in the West Bank. The vote was 10-10, with the tie broken by the meeting chair.
Boy Scout Abraham “Avi” Brudoley makes a bonfire. Pictured is step four: light it up.
this day, the Torah that Reb Shimon Bar Yochai stood for… the light of the Torah is represented by the fire.” This year, you could light your own bonfire with the help of 12-year-old Boy Scout Abraham “Avi” Brudoley. A member of Boy Scouts of America Troop 61 in Overland Park, Kan., Avi is a bonfire pro. A descendant of a line of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Avi says he can get a bonfire going with just one match. He offers JNS his advice so you can do that too this Lag B’Omer, which begins
Fraudulent Holocaust memoirist must return $22.5 million to publisher (JTA) – Misha Defonseca, the author of a fraudulent Holocaust memoir, “Misha: A Memoir of the Holocause Years,” has been ordered by a Massachusetts appeals court to pay back $22.5 million to her publisher. Obama receives humanity award from Spielberg’s Holocaust history foundation (JNS) – Famed filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust history foundation, the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, on March 7 presented President Barack Obama with the Ambassador for Humanity Award at a gala in Los Angeles. Sterling apologizes in first interview since racist rant (JTA) – Donald Sterling, the Los Angeles Clippers owner banned for life from the NBA for making racist comments, publicly apologized in his first interview since the remarks were made public. “I’m a good member who made a mistake and I am apologizing and asking for forgiveness,” Sterling said
Directions: Step 1: Lay the Groundwork Take your tinder and place it in a loose pile, leaving air between the ingredients. Then, lay your small sticks on top of the tinder. “The more sticks you have,” says Avi, “the better the fire will start.” Step 2: Build Your Teepee Next, begin to build your bonfire. There are two shapes to choose from: cabin or teepee. Avi recommends the teepee shape. “It works better and you can get more air into the fire,” he says. Starting with the thinner sticks first, snap the sticks in half to build a circle around the BONFIRE on page 20 in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Greek-American leaders condemn neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party (JNS) – A group of prominent Greek-American political and business leaders denounced the neoNazi Greek political party Golden Dawn. “Radical extremists parading as political parties like Golden Dawn, with their message of hatred and intolerance, have no place in our society,” said U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV). Now Greece's fourth-largest political party, Golden Dawn is vying for a seat in the European Parliament in the upcoming May 25 elections. Sol Adler, fired head of 92nd St. Y, hangs himself (JTA) – Sol Adler, the longtime executive director of New York’s 92nd Street Y who was fired after revelations that he had a long-term affair with his assistant, hanged himself. Adler’s body was discovered by his wife in their Brooklyn home on Friday, the New York Post reported Sunday.
THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014
INTERNATIONAL • 7
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The American Israelite gets results! 513-621-3145
Courtesy of Issam Rimawi/Flash 90
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meets with European Parliament President Martin Schulz in the West Bank city of Ramallah on February 10, 2014.
After EU audit, corruption could become an expensive problem for Ramallah By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA) – When Israeli police found thousands of contraband cell phones in the car of senior Palestinian Authority official Rawhi Fattouh, he was promptly removed from office – for about two months. A consultant to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Fattouh was reinstated in May 2008 after his driver, a state employee, confessed to the smuggling, which Israeli border police discovered when searching Fattouh’s car at a border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank. The scandal drew international media attention, but by 2011, the case had been closed. Palestinian prosecutor Ahmed al-Moghani said his office had no information implicating Fattouh. Still, critics say, the scandal and others like it are part of a lingering corruption problem that has plagued the Palestinian Authority since it was formed under Yasser Arafat following the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords. Long ignored internationally in favor of more urgent business, the problem is now prompting an unprecedented degree of scrutiny from the European Union, the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority. Since 1994, $7.7 billion in EU funds have been transferred to Ramallah. In December, the European Court of Auditors reported that the Palestinians had been using European money for years to pay Gaza workers, some of whom had not actually worked in seven years. Palestinian Labor Minister Ahmed Majdalani defended the payments, saying the employees had families to support and couldn’t just be cut off, but the European Parliament took a less sanguine view. Last month, it adopted a nonbinding resolution saying that payroll problems raise concerns about money laundering and terrorist
financing. It noted the Palestinian Authority’s controversial salary payments to the families of terrorists serving time in Israeli jails. In an unprecedented move, the parliament also called for future EU funding to be conditioned on Palestinian compliance with reform recommendations. “Until now, EU aid was unconditional,” said Guy Bechor, an Israeli expert on the Arab world and a former lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. “Now, for the first time, we are seeing serious moves for conditionality and transparency.” Some analysts connect Europe’s sudden vigilance to anger over the recent collapse of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The EU’s ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, warned in January there would be “a price to pay” by both sides if the talks failed. Others trace it to frustration over Ramallah’s spending habits and a general donor fatigue in Europe, where high unemployment rates and sluggish economic growth have led to belt-tightening across the continent. “How can the European Union preserve its credibility back home when it pays salaries to people who don’t work, while millions of European citizens are unemployed?” Michael Theurer, chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, wrote in The Wall Street Journal on April 9. In his op-ed, Theurer linked the Palestinian Authority’s accountability problems to success of Hamas, the governing power in Gaza regarded as a terrorist group by the United States and Europe. “The more the Palestinian Authority is perceived as corrupt by the Palestinian people, the greater RAMALLAH on page 19
8 • INTERNATIONAL
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‘A death sentence for the Jews’: 75 years since the British White Paper By Rafael Medoff (JNS) – “We know we are going to be bamboozled,” a despondent Stephen Wise, the foremost American Jewish leader of his time, confided to a friend before boarding a ship bound for England in early 1939. The British had invited Wise and other Zionist leaders from the United States and Palestine to take part in a “peace conference” with Arab leaders. Wise expected the worst, and he was right. The conference in London’s majestic St. James Palace would set the stage for the imposition – 75 years ago this month – of the infamous British White Paper, choking off Jewish immigration to Palestine on the eve of World War II and the Holocaust. In the third week of the conference, a clerical error by a British secretary resulted in World Zionist Organization President Chaim Weizmann receiving a letter from Colonial Secretary Malcolm MacDonald that was intended to be seen only by the Arab delegates. In the letter, MacDonald promised severe limits on Jewish immigration and land purchases in Palestine, and no Jewish national home without Arab consent. His worst fears confirmed, Dr. Wise and the other American members of the delegation returned to the United States with one last hope in their hearts – that the Jews closest to the White House could persuade President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prevent the British from imposing the new policy. In fact, Wise had remarked to the president, not long before, that with war looming in Europe, “the English need you – our
A Jewish demonstration against the British White Paper in Jerusalem in 1939.
A Jewish demonstration against the British White Paper in Tel Aviv in 1939.
Government – in every sense.” And FDR had replied, “You bet.” The British could not afford to ignore pressure from the White House on Palestine. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, a confidant of the president as well as a supporter of Zionism, had already telephoned the president and urged U.S. intervention against the British plan. FDR waxed sympathetic on the phone and told Frankfurter to draft a note from him (Roosevelt) to British Prime Minister Chamberlain, urging him not to close Palestine’s doors. Frankfurter wrote it. FDR never sent it. Next it was the turn of Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, whom FDR affectionately called “Old Isaiah.” But the president didn’t display much affection when it came to Zionism. In a handwritten note, Brandeis pleaded with Roosevelt to “induce the British to
postpone the threatened announcement.” Two weeks passed; there was no reply. An exasperated Brandeis asked if the president could at least spare “a few minutes” to see a Zionist representative. White House aide Stephen Early broached the request with the president, and then jotted down FDR’s curt response: “Can’t see him – Sec. State is all that is possible.” On May 17, 1939, the White Paper was announced. Palestine Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion said it was “the greatest betrayal perpetrated by the government of a civilized people in our generation.” Dr. Weizmann called it “a death sentence for the Jewish people.” He was especially dismayed that “the White Paper produced no reaction on the part of the American authorities.” Mainstream historians have always regarded England’s White
Paper policy as severely unfavorable to the Jews. Prof. Henry L. Feingold has gone so far as to argue that a policy restricting immigration and land purchases only by Jews must have been “at least partly motivated by antiSemitism.” In recent years, however, several pro-Roosevelt authors have depicted the Allies’ Palestine policy in a new light. Robert Rosen, author of “Saving the Jews,” claims the White Paper “saved [the Jews of the Middle East] from the Holocaust,” because otherwise the Arab world supposedly would have revolted against the Allies and the Nazis would have captured the region and killed all the Jews living there. Richard Breitman and Alan Lichtman, authors of “FDR and the Jews,” claim that during the St. James conference, Roosevelt secretly pressured the British “on behalf of Jews.” Their source for
International Briefs
to Western countries’ desire to discuss curbing the Iranian missile program as part of the ongoing nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic.
said, Reuters reported. The talks have centered on determining a compensation package for the Turkish family members of the victims of the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla incident, which led to the severing of Turkey-Israel relations.
The decision to appoint Wibisono comes after a lengthy process that saw the emergence of several candidates, including early front-runner Christina Cerna – an international human rights lawyer from Georgetown University who was seen as neutral on the ArabIsraeli conflict but was rejected by the sizable Arab-Muslim voting bloc in the UNHRC.
Netanyahu talks Israeli technology in Japan (JNS) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Japan on Sunday, kicking off a fourday trip meant to strengthen the Israel-Japan relationship. Netanyahu’s meetings during the visit are focusing on Israeli technological developments, particularly in the fields of cyber technology, water conservation, alternative energy, and biotechnology, according to Israel Hayom. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: ‘mass produce’ Iranian missiles (JNS) – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to “mass produce” missiles in reaction
Courtesy of the Library of Congress/Matson Photo Service via Wikimedia Commons
Tunisian ministers grilled over allowing entry to Israeli tourists (JNS) – Two Tunisian ministers were questioned by Tunisia’s Islamist-dominated parliament on Friday for allegedly allowing Israeli tourists into the country, which does not recognize Israel. Tourism Minister Amel Karboul and Deputy Interior Minister for Security Ridha Sfar were censured in late April over these moves to “normalize” ties with Israel. Obstacles ‘substantially overcome’ in Turkey-Israel normalization talks (JNS) – Obstacles have been “substantially overcome” in negotiations to restore diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
Israel sending anti-terrorism experts to aid search for missing Nigerian girls (JNS) – Israel is sending anti-terrorism experts to Nigeria to assist with the search for 276 Nigerian girls who were kidnapped last month by the Boko Haram terrorist group. U.N. Human Rights Council appoints pro-Palestinian diplomat to replace Falk (JNS) – The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed pro-Palestinian Indonesian diplomat Makarim Wibisono to a new six-year term as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.”
Courtesy of the National Library of Israel via Wikimedia Commons
More than 200 Christian leaders call for protection of Mideast Christians (JNS) – More than 200 Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and secular leaders joined forces to call on the U.S. government to take action to protect Middle East Christians and other minorities under threat from extremism. “In a siege that has accelerated over the past decade, Egypt, Iraq and Syria – the three Middle Eastern countries with the largest Christian communities remaining – have seen scores of churches deliberately destroyed, many clergy and laypeo-
that claim, however, turned out to be a paranoid Arab delegate to the conference. But these revisionist accounts got it all wrong, and Prof. Feingold got it right. We now know from declassified British records that some senior British government officials did, in fact, harbor antiSemitic sentiments. And we also know that President Roosevelt never seriously considered pressing the British on Palestine. FDR went through the motions. He instructed the State Department to inform London that the U.S. hoped “no drastic changes” were intended. In a private memo to Secretary of State Cordell Hull on the day the White Paper was issued, FDR called the new policy “something that we cannot give approval to.” But he instructed the U.S. ambassador in London, Joseph Kennedy, to limit his criticism of the White Paper to unofficial conversations. There was to be no official U.S. protest, no White House statements criticizing the White Paper, not a single substantive step that might influence London on the issue. The British took note of Roosevelt’s minimalist response and dug in their heels without fear of any real consequences. The history of FDR’s response to the persecution of European Jewry is littered with empty promises and missed opportunities. Seventy-five years ago this month, one of the most important of those opportunities was squandered – and as a result, one of European Jewry’s last avenues of escape from the Nazis was almost completely shut off.
ple targeted for death, kidnapping, intimidation and forcible conversion, and hundreds of thousands of believers driven from their countries,” said the statement. Shimon Peres set to visit White House in June before retiring (JNS) – Israeli President Shimon Peres, before he retires in July, will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on June 25. Christian Zionist organization sponsors Ukrainian Jewish aliyah (JNS) – The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), a Christian Zionist organization based in Jerusalem, welcomed a group of 19 Ukrainian Jews who made aliyah on Sunday. The Ukrainian Jews’ immigration was sponsored by the ICEJ through Christian donations. The organization said that over the past few decades, it has helped bring more than 115,000 Jews to Israel.
10 • ISRAEL
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In Israel, Lag B’Omer inspires memories and mayhem By Deborah Fineblum
Courtesy of Yaakov Naumi/Flash90
Orthodox Jewish men dance as they take part in celebrations of the Jewish holiday of Lag B’Omer at Mount Meron in northern Israel on May 22, 2013.
(JNS) – One of Pnina Newirth’s earliest childhood memories is of a trip to Mount Meron on Lag B’Omer. But this was no ordinary family vacation. “I was very small, yet I vividly recall the huge fires and the immense crowds,” she says. Despite the cacophony and the roaring bonfires, the Ra’anana resident insists she felt no fear that day. “I knew my parents were there and would protect me. And we stood far enough back to give us a bit of distance,” Newirth recalls. That moment was more than three decades ago, long before the tradition of spending Lag B’Omer in
Meron took a greater hold on Israel’s populace. Though it was once the exclusive purview of the Hassidic sects, the celebration has now grown to attract Israelis of every stripe. Think Times Square on New Year’s Eve – only without the snow or Dick Clark, and with bonfires and sharp scissors. These days tens of thousands of Israelis (estimates have ranged from 75,000 to 250,000 in recent years) turn out in Meron, just outside the northern city of Safed (Tsvat), each Lag B’Omer to mark the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the Talmudic sage who is traditionally credited for Judaism’s leading source of Kabbalah and mystical wisdom – the Zohar.
But the day – marked by the bonfires of Newirth’s childhood, along with singing and dancing – is more celebration than mourning. In fact, the holiday also marks the end of the deaths of Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students who, tradition has it, had been dying due to a lack of mutual respect. It is in this mood of joy that observant Jews take haircuts, listen to music, and hold weddings after more than a month of restrictions following Passover. Beginning on Lag B’Omer, the 33rd day of counting the Omer and the 18th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, joy continues to mount, culminating two weeks later when Jews LAG B’OMER on page 21
Israel’s marriage blacklist said to break privacy laws By Ben Sales JERUSALEM (JTA) – When she decided to split up from her husband, she went before an Orthodox rabbinical court and, after two perfunctory hearings and little discussion, received a religious writ of divorce. It was only months later that the woman learned that the court had flagged her as an adulteress and placed her on a little-known list that, in accordance with biblical law, prohibited her from remarrying her exhusband or her alleged paramour. The allegation, which the woman declined to address directly, had never been raised during court proceedings. She only learned of it from a clause in the divorce papers she received in the mail. “They accused me of adultery
Israel Briefs Shin Bet foils Palestinian plot to kidnap IDF soldiers (JNS) – Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, in conjunction with the Israel Prison Service, has foiled a plot hatched by Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences to kidnap Israeli soldiers and use them as bargaining chips in an exchange deal. The suspects allegedly began planning the kidnappings in 2012, recruiting soon-to-be-released prisoners to carry out the operation. Israeli ministers back bill to curb prisoner releases (JNS) – Israel’s Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Sunday approved draft legislation that would make it illegal to release terrorists convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison as part of
Courtesy of Ekaterina Lin/Shutterstock
More than 5,000 Israelis are on a list of people restricted from marrying based on prohibitions in traditional Jewish law.
without any basis for it,” the woman, who asked that her name be withheld, told JTA. “I was in shock. I didn’t know where it came from.” The woman, who has petitioned the Supreme Court to have her name
removed from the list, is one of more than 5,000 Israelis included on a list of people restricted from marrying based on prohibitions in traditional Jewish law. The list includes children of
prisoner swaps and peace gestures. The bill’s preamble says the legislation would “prevent a situation where political pressure results in a prisoner swap or gestures that involve the pardoning of terrorists who have committed murders,” according to Israel Hayom.
into the Israel Defense Forces. “We warned him before to keep to his priestly duties and not to interfere in matters of the army,” Greek Orthodox Church spokesman Essa Musleh said, AFP reported.
Netanyahu weighs bill to delay Israeli presidential election (JNS) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering initiating a bill this week to delay June’s Israeli presidential election by half a year. This would allow time for a comprehensive re-examination of the institution of the presidency. During the six-month delay, Netanyahu will explore alternatives to the president’s choosing who gets to form the Israeli government after Knesset elections. Israeli priest Nadaf dismissed by church for pro-IDF stance (JNS) – The Greek Orthodox church in Israel allegedly dismissed Father Gabriel Nadaf for his outspoken support of Christian enrollment
Israel evacuates U.S. tourists stranded due to heavy rain (JNS) – Israel was hit with an unusually large amount of rain from May 7-8, causing several school groups and dozens of American tourists to be stranded in the Negev desert. Israeli rescue services were required to evacuate about 70 U.S. tourists who were stranded overnight in a parking lot in the Arava. Israeli high school students win again in global physics competition (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) – Youngsters from the Ilan Ramon Youth Physics Center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba last week won yet another prize in the “First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics” annual competition, widely consid-
mothers with non-Orthodox conversions and those who fall into the Jewish legal category known as mamzer, defined as the offspring of certain forbidden sexual relationships, including children of married women who conceive extramaritally and their descendants. Israel’s religious courts, which regulate the state’s Jewish marriages according to Orthodox legal standards, say the list is necessary to ensure marriages are kosher. But a state comptroller’s report from last year says the courts added names to the list illegally. The court “exceeded the limits of its authority,” the report said, by adding people to the list without first giving them a hearing. The practice, according to the report, contravened Israel’s Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, which provides for a
right to privacy and intimacy, as well as what the report called “natural laws of justice.” “The state should not be in the business of blacklisting the children of mamzerim,” said Susan Weiss, the founder of the Center for Women’s Justice, a public interest law group that plans to petition the Supreme Court to eliminate the list. “All this bureaucracy that’s been developed and nurtured around the issue should be eliminated.” The notion of a mamzer – a biblical term often translated as “bastard” – is a controversial one in Jewish law, which allows mamzers to marry only each other. In the past, leading rabbis made efforts to find legal loopholes that would avoid branding someone a mamzer and
ered the world’s most prestigious science prize for high school students. From 2007-2014, the Ramon Center has placed Israel as the world leader in prizes for physics research conducted by high school students. The center has won a total of 45 prizes during that period, leaving countries like South Korea, the U.S., and Russia far behind.
was vandalized. Several of Israel’s top leaders have strongly condemned recent “price tag” vandalism. In a town forum meeting last week with Arab, Bedouin, and Druze leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the vandalism goes against Israeli values.
OECD: Israeli life expectancy among world’s highest (JNS) – Life expectancy in Israel ranks eighth among the world’s 36 most developed countries, according to a new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report released Tuesday. The report said the average life expectancy in Israel is 82, two years higher than the OECD average. Catholic Church condemns ‘price tag,’ Israeli leaders vow to fight vandalism (JNS) – The Catholic Church in Israel issued a statement condemning so-called “price tag” incidents after a church property in Jerusalem
MARRIAGE on page 21
PM: Israel’s ‘minimal requirement’ for Palestinians is Jewish state recognition (JNS) – Israel’s “minimal requirement” for the Palestinians is the recognition of a Jewish state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week at a Jerusalem meeting with Friends of the Israel Defense Forces supporters from the U.S. and Panama. “The minimal requirement from our point of view is to say, ‘All right, do you recognize the Jewish state?’” Netanyahu said. “The other day, Abu Mazen (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas) said, ‘I’m not even going to negotiate recognizing the Jewish state,’ and then he went to deal with Hamas.”
14 • DINING OUT
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Breadsmith owner brings European bakery tradition to Hyde Park “Sqaure” By Bob Wilhelmy I confess. I am a bread snob. No apologies, mind you. I would not eat Wonder Bread if you paid me, and in my opinion you should not eat that vile stuff either. What you should eat is bread the way it is made at Breadsmith, located just around the corner for Hyde Park Square, on Michigan Avenue (3500). Bread there is made in the European tradition. You know tradition, right? Well, W. Ward Bahlman, owner of this particular Breadsmith franchise location, is doing bread the old-fashioned way—the centuries-old way it has been made in bakeries that know how to fashion wonderful loaves, in pans or hearth baked. First, there is the oven, imported from Italy, a Mundi al Forni brand oven, with four stone-hearth decks, two elements per deck (top and bottom), plus steam generators for each deck. The steam is how Europeans achieve that wonderful “knockknock” crust on their breads. So what’s this stone hearth stuff, and why is it important? A stone hearth or surface within the oven imparts character to the bottom of the loaf. How? No idea, but the bottom will be a bit crustier than the rest of the loaf, and one may knock on it as if it were wood, and get a knocking sound for the trouble. When I hand-slice a loaf with that great baked-in quality, I feel a connection with the bread-makers and eaters of millennia ago. Silly? Maybe so, but I feel it all the same. I carried home a French baguette and ate it with butter, complementing my evening meal. The baguette was crusty and chewy and airy inside and simply marvelous with good butter—really hard to beat for sheer enjoyment. And as a mop-up medium for the juices and gravies of a delightful entrée, there is nothing better than a scrap of such bread, in my opinion. So what will you find at Breadsmith? You’ll find a “retail” bakery with a focus on bread. “I offer a retail selection of breads here,” stated Bahlman, who also said that other “bakeries” offering bread are mainly focused on the restaurant trade, or on commercial, or volume sales of bread. Daily breads include the aforementioned baguettes, plain or seeded; a 100% whole wheat loaf; ciabatta; French peasant loaves and boules (round hearth-baked loaves); rustic Italian, plain and seeded; sourdough; and a basket of rolls for those who may want fresh breads, but cannot use a whole loaf. “Great bread is made without preservatives,” Bahlman said, “and with no artificial ingredients, using unbleached flour. That’s what we do here.” I agree in every respect. There is a difference in taste, tex-
W. Ward Bahlman with a loaf of rustic Italian bread in hand.
The bread racks of Breadsmith.
ture, flavor and experience. Breadsmith breads are made daily, and at the end of the day the leftover loaves are donated to charity. Each morning, there is fresh bread on the racks—so fresh in some cases that it is still warm and not able to be sliced until the loaves naturally cool. Each day of the week, Tuesday through Sunday (closed Monday), there are seven to nine daily breads baked, adding to the every-day
The signage above the bakery on Michigan Avenue.
breads listed above. One of the most popular of these daily special bakes is the rosemary garlic ciabatta, offered on Fridays. The vanilla egg challah, also a Friday bread special, is another highly popular loaf. One type of bread made a couple times each week is the semolina loaf. Semolina is the same wheat flour used in making pasta, and Bahlman wants patrons to know its special qualities. The bread is light and airy and makes delicious toast,
great with butter or jam or other spreads. Also, Breadsmith makes a variety of specialty items. Included are: biscotti, cinnamon cobblestone (like a coffee cake, but with a cobblestone-like top), crostini, croutons, garlic cobblestone, granola, hamburger buns, hotdog buns, pizza dough (ready to roll out and dress) and pull-aparts. In the sweets category, Breadsmith offers brownies, cinna-
mon claws, coffee cakes, cookies, dessert breads, muffins and scones. The shop offers coffee by the cup, and features locally roasted Seven Hills coffee, along with Stonewall Kitchens and American Spoon Foods jams and jellies. Breadsmith 3500 Michigan Avenue 513-321-6300
DINING OUT • 15
THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014
RESTAURANT DIRECTORY 20 Brix
Ice ’N Ez
Pomodori’s
101 Main St
115 Reading Rd.
121West McMillan • 861-0080
Historic Milford
Mason
7880 Remington Rd
831-Brix (2749)
336-0062
Montgomery • 794-0080
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)
7625 Beechmont Ave • 231-5550 Andy’s Mediterranean Grille
4766 Red Bank Expy • 376-6008
Spicy Olive
At Gilbert & Nassau
5098B Glencrossing Way • 347-9699
7671 Cox Lane
2 blocks North of Eden Park
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2736 Erie Ave.
7905 Mall Road • 859-525-2333
Cincinnati • 376-9061
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Stone Creek Dining Co.
Loveland
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9386 Montgomery Rd
239-8881
11296 Montgomery Rd
Montgomery • 489-1444
The Shops at Harper’s Point
6200 Muhlhauser Rd
489-2388 • 489-3616 (fx)
West Chester • 942-2100
Cincinnati
Kanak India Restaurant
Tandoor
321-1600
10040B Montgomery Rd
8702 Market Place Ln
Montgomery
Montgomery
Baba India Restaurant
The Best Japanese Cuisine, Asian Food & Dining Experience In Town
3120 Madison Rd
Bangkok Terrace
793-6800
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9701 Kenwood Rd
4081 E. Galbraith Rd
Blue Ash
Cincinnati
891-5542
793-0293
Cincinnati
Mecklenburg Gardens
Tony’s
541-9600
302 E. University Ave
12110 Montgomery Rd
Clifton
Montgomery
221-5353
677-1993
Cincinnati
Padrino
Walt’s Hitching Post
321-6300
111 Main St
300 Madison Pike
Milford
Fort Wright, KY
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(859) 360-2222
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Parkers Blue Ash Tavern
Wertheim’s Restaurant
745-9386
4200 Cooper Rd
514 W 6th St
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Covington, KY
891-8300
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Bistro Grace
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AI
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9701 Kenwood Rd. Blue Ash
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Kroger Hunt Rd. – Blue Ash
Rascals’ Deli 9525 Kenwood Rd. Blue Ash
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16 • OPINION
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Lag B’Omer with Jewish soldiers—at the pyramids By Rafael Medoff WASHINGTON (JTA) – On the outskirts of Cairo, on a blistering hot afternoon in May 1942, British Army chaplain Rabbi Louis Rabinowitz ordered the driver of his military transport truck to pull over for a group of uniformed women who were hitchhiking. “We want to go as far as the Pyramids,” one of the women explained. “Her accent betrays that she is not English, and instantly I realize that they are the Jewish Palestinian A.T.S. [volunteers in the British armed forces], the first Jewish Amazons in history!” the rabbi recalled in his memoir. “With a grin, I lapse into Hebrew.” (Imagine the women’s surprise!) “I shall be very glad indeed to take you,” the rabbi said. It would be the most remarkable Lag B’Omer he would ever experience. Thirty thousand Jewish men and 4,350 Jewish women from Mandatory Palestine volunteered to serve in the British Army during World War II. Although horrified by the British White Paper that cut off most Jewish immigration to the holy land, they were anxious to take part in the Allies’ war effort against the Nazis. The women served in units known as the Palestine Auxiliary Territorial Service (A.T.S.) and some were assigned to British positions in Egypt where, along with their male comrades, they played important roles in bolstering the British fight to halt General Rommel’s advance across North Africa. One of the most famous missions carried out by these Palestinian Jewish soldiers is described in the 1943 book “The Forgotten Ally,” by the renowned journalist (and Christian Zionist) Pierre van Paassen. Twenty soldiers who were German Jewish refugees donned German military uniforms and, with their flawless accents, managed to infiltrate Nazi lines in western Egypt. When their true identities were discovered, the saboteurs opened fire on the enemy and, according to the sole survivor, managed to kill more than 100 Germans. The women hitchhikers for whom Rabinowitz stopped were on their way to meet up with comrades at the pyramids for a Lag B’Omer celebration. “The Galilean village of Meron [site
of the most famous Lag B’Omer festivities] transported to Gizeh,” the rabbi marveled, “and Palestinian songs and dances in the shades of the Pyramids.” They arrived to find dozens of young Jewish soldiers igniting a huge bonfire. “Round and round they danced the Horah with increasing enthusiasm and tempo,” the rabbi recalled. “’Ben Yohai!,’ ‘El Yivne Hagalil!’, ‘Anu Olim Artzah!’ The flames throw the eager, laughing, joyous aces into vivid relief. From time to time, a figure would detach itself from the whirling circle, and with an ecstatic cry of triumph would leap high over the burning pile, to land safely and triumphantly on the other side.” Standing there in the silhouette of the pyramids, Rabinowitz was moved to offer a dvar torah with a message that uniquely linked past to present: “I spoke of Bar Kochba and of Rabbi Akiva, of his disciple, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai, who is so intimately connected with Lag B’Omer; of [Bar Kochba’s] war for Jewish independence; of the long and weary exile of the Jewish people; of the significant fact that from that time we had not until the present day seen Palestinian Jews enrolled and organized to fight for the freedom of humanity and their own future.” But the connection to Pharaoh, builder of the pyramids, was even more significant, he said. Pharaoh, after all, had ordered the murder of all Jewish male babies for fear they would grow up to be soldiers who would turn against him; but he let the Jewish female babies live. “What possible military value could there be in women?” the Egyptian ruler reasoned. Surely girls posed no threat of becoming Jewish fighters. “And now, 4,000 years after,” Rabinowitz declared, “these Palestinian A.T.S. were showing, in no uncertain way, within sight of these Pyramids,” that they too could fight for the Jewish nation. These “Jewish Amazons,” as the rabbi proudly called them, were living proof of the failure of the enemies of the Jewish people. “As I left them that evening,” he wrote, “my mind was filled with the vivid conviction – these mighty Pyramids will crumble to dust before the Jewish people will perish.”
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Fact-checking J Street and its critics By Ami Eden (JTA) – The vote is over, but the debate rages on over the recent rejection of J Street’s application to join the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Depending on where you stand, the 22-17 vote rejecting the application was either about J Street’s own missteps or the conference’s failure to live up to its billing as the Jewish community’s vehicle for bringing together organizations from across the political and religious spectrum to forge a strong proIsrael consensus. With passions running high, it seemed like a good time for some fact-checking: 1) Claim: J Street is beyond the communal pale J Street did not round up the votes, but in defeat it put to bed the argument that the group falls outside of the communal mainstream. If the Reform movement, the Conservative movement, the AntiDefamation League and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (a body bringing together the largest synagogue movements, several national organizations and scores of local community relations councils) say you belong in the Conference of Presidents, then by definition you are operating within the communal tent. You got a problem with that? Don’t shoot the messenger – take it up with all of the above, not to mention the prominent Jewish and Israeli figures associated with J Street. 2) Claim: J Street is more left wing than the other dovish members in the Conference of Presidents I’ve heard the arguments, but I don’t see it. Yes, J Street has pushed for the U.S. government to exert
pressure on Israel, but so have other groups in the conference. J Street hasn’t endorsed a settlement boycott, or (unlike conference member Americans for Peace Now) even sort of endorsed a settlement boycott. And in sticking by the Obama administration’s side on Iran through various policy shifts, J Street has at times found itself to the right of some of those on the left in the Conference of Presidents. 3) Claim: J Street is just like any other left-wing group Well, no. When it launched several years ago, J Street came out swinging – not just at Israeli policies it thought were dangerous but also at the Jewish establishment. The group has demonstrated a willingness to take aim at individuals and individual organizations, some of whom have long memories and sharp elbows. The group and its supporters are outraged by any suggestion that J Street is not pro-Israel but have no problem questioning others’ commitment to peace. J Street hosts BDS supporters at its conference in the name of fostering dialogue and maintaining a big tent but has publicly pressured others to boycott Pastor John Hagee and shun proIsrael evangelicals. So, yeah, J Street might fall within the conference’s and the community’s existing political spectrum, but the group sure has a way of getting under people’s skin. If you’re looking for another example of why, just check out this statement from J Street in response to the vote: “So,” J Street declared in its statement, “join us in thanking Malcolm Hoenlein for clarifying this situation and revealing to all what we’ve long known: a new voice is needed to represent the true majority of American Jews – and non-Jewish supporters of an Israel at peace.” First off, why make it all about
Hoenlein, the conference’s chief executive? By all accounts that I have seen or heard, whatever Hoenlein thinks about J Street, this process, for better or worse, was driven by the 50 member organizations, with plenty of openness and debate. Second, why not use the electoral defeat as a way to dispel the notion that you are a sanctimonious organization that is incapable of playing nice with others (not an unimportant trait when you are trying to gain admittance to a politically and religiously diverse consensusdriven organization)? Maybe something like: “While disappointed that we failed to gain admission this time around, we appreciate the opportunity to apply and look forward to reopening the conversation at some point down the road. Meanwhile, we hope to find ways to work with our fellow Jewish groups as we devote ourselves to securing a peaceful and democratic future for Israel.” Even some of those who voted for J Street have expressed frustration and/or disgust with the way the organization has at times conducted itself. Of course, I can think of one or two right-wing members of the conference who are similarly skilled at driving folks crazy. But J Street is the one currently on the outside looking in. So to paraphrase an old joke: If you’re going to crap on someone’s front steps, don’t be surprised if they don’t let you in to get some toilet paper. 4) Claim: The Conference of Presidents no longer represents the full spectrum of the Jewish community You can argue that J Street belongs in the Conference of Presidents. You can argue that the FACT on page 19
JEWISH LIFE • 17
THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014
Rav Shimon Bar Yohai regarding the situation at the time of redemption, when Israel lives by the Divine commandments. According to Rav Yehuda, the Almighty will effectuate a change in nature: the wild beasts which are still very much a part of our landscape, will be gone, destroyed from the world, in a new era of peace and tranquility. But according to Rav Shimon bar Yochai, we will effectuate the change in ourselves because we – and the entire universe along with us – will return to our original nature expressing the original purpose of our being. In the words of Nachmanides, “...When Israel observes the commandments, the land of Israel will be like the world at its beginning, before the sin of Adam, when no wild beast or creeping thing would kill a human” [Nachmanides Leviticus 26:6]. We have two ways of conceiving redemption: A world wherein God will destroy all evil, or a world wherein the creatures themselves will return themselves to their primordial state of innocence and goodness, when “they shall not do evil or destruction in My entire holy nation because the knowledge of Gd will fill the world.” (Isaiah 11:9). Which vision of the end of the days is better? Nachmanides prefers the interpretation of Rav Shimon Bar Yohai, because therein lies the essence of our nature, the purpose of creation and the true meaning of freedom. Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi – Efrat Israel
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T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: BECHUKOTAI (VAYIKIRA 26:3—27:34) 1. In times of trouble, how many woman would bake bread in one oven? a.) Ten b.) Fifty c.) A whole city 2. How would the bread be rationed in times of trouble? a.) With the fore b.) A size of an “olive” per person c.) by weight 3. Who are the covenant of the “first ones”? a.) The Patriarchs out the exile. Ramban 4. B 27:2 5. A 27:32 Rashi
Efrat, Israel - What is the truest definition of freedom? I believe that an exploration of a difference of interpretation between two Talmudic Sages on a phrase in our Torah portion will shed a great deal of light on these fundamental existential questions. Commenting on the verse which submits that if the nation walks in God’s ways “...I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid, and I will cause evil beasts to cease from the land” [Leviticus 26:6-7]. Rav Yehuda explains that the evil beasts “will disappear from the world,” whereas Rav Shimon Bar Yohai interprets that only the evil of the beasts will “cease from the land” but not the beasts themselves. What is the significance of this debate? To answer, we should first consider another difference of opinion. In last week’s portion of Behar we read: “And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty (Hebrew, dror) throughout the land... It shall be a Jubilee unto you, and you shall return every man unto his possession, and every man unto his family” [Leviticus 25:10]. Dror is generally translated as liberty or freedom; Rashi quotes Rav Yehuda (B.T. Rosh Hashana 9b), who associates the word ‘dror’ with ‘dur,’ to dwell, teaching that true freedom means the ability to dwell anywhere one wishes, without any restrictions at all. Nachmanides takes an entirely different slant, connecting the Hebrew dror to dor, a generation, citing a famous verse in Ecclesiastes “one generation (dor) passes away and another generation (dor) comes” [1:4]. Rashi’s focuses on the Jubilee’s declaration of dror as expressing physical freedom, whereas Nachmanides’ explanation focuses on something beyond the physical, on that which gets passed down from generation to generation and represents eternity. The freedom declared by the Jubilee year grants us the opportunity to realize our true potential, to express our most fundamental essence grounded in the roots of our very being. Rashi insists that this truest essence of the Jew is Torah, the word of God symbolized by the sound of the ram’s horn at the time of the Revelation. Otherwise, how
can we explain the amazing midrash that every fetus in its mother’s womb is taught Torah by an angel of God? Our Sages are insisting that Torah is the most fundamental ingredient of the existential soul of every Jew! Our most basic identity, our vocation and avocation, our source and our purpose, is Torah – its theoretical teaching as well as the more perfect society it commands us to form. In the Jubilee Year, slaves go free, debts are rescinded, family homesteads are returned to their original owners; it is also a Sabbatical year, so that the land as well as its owners rest from physical labor. Every seventh year is parallel to every seventh day; instead of working the land, the farmer will work his mind in the vineyard of Torah planting spiritual ideas and ideals. Most individuals only realize a small percentage of their potential; most of us are “blocked” by all sorts of physical and psychological barriers. We cannot do what we really wish to do, what we are truly capable of achieving, either because a government or a tyrannical employer does not allow us to, or because poverty does not afford us the time and the energy to express ourselves properly (“at the expense of his soul-roots does he bring his bread” chants the Cantor on Yom Kippur), or because damaging childhood experiences cripple our ability to be truly productive. Now ponder the genius of the Jubilee Year. Every Jew becomes free from external domination returning to their own land under their own government, fruits and vegetables may be eaten freely without back-breaking labor, debts which enslave the poor to their creditors are rescinded; and a year of Torah study frees every Jew from the psychological limitations and addictions which imprison their soul-psyche. Freedom from a Jewish perspective doesn’t mean that one is free to do nothing; freedom means that one has the unfettered ability to express their truest self, to realize their greatest potential. It means the ability to assume responsibility for one-self and one’s actions in the fullness of one’s maturity. Such freedom enables us to re-activate the “image of God” with which we were created, and to bring the redemption by restoring the harmony of Eden. Torah is the means by which all of this can happen, because it is the Torah which can enable people to overcome their various blocks, assume control of their instincts and destiny, and transform society into what it initially was at the dawn of creation. Now we are ready to return to the difference of opinion between
b.) The tribes c.) The Children of Israel who entered Canaan 4. To which fund does a vow of a “value” go to? a.) To buy a sacrifice b.) Donation to the Temple c.) Donation to the poor 5. Where does the tenth of each animal go to? a.) Sacrifices b.) Gift to the priests c.) Donation to the poor
there will be enough bread but people will not be satisfied. Rashbam 3. C 26:45 Hashem will remember the covenant with the tribes (The Children of Israel) through
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT BEHUKOTAI LEVITICUS: 26:3-27:34
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
ANSWERS 1. A 26:26 Ten means many will bake bread in a single oven. R Bchai 2. C 26:26 Bread will be rationed by weight or
Sedra of the Week
18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
JEWZ
IN THE
By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist A Real Cinderella Story California Chrome, the winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby (held on May 3), is a for-real Cinderella story, as are his owners and trainer. The horse is owned and was bred by Perry Martin and Steve Coburn, who live, respectively, in a small city in far Northern California and in a small Nevada town near Lake Tahoe. Neither earns much money as an engineer and press operator, respectively, but they took a chance and bred two horses, worth $10,500 together, and got a foal (California Chrome) that showed early promise. When Chrome was two years old, they told ALAN SHERMAN, 45, a trainer based parttime in the San Francisco area, about the horse. He talked to his father and boss, trainer ART SHERMAN, 77, and they agreed to train him. Coburn told a Sacramento newspaper that he chose Art Sherman because, “He’s a regular guy. He doesn’t have a huge barn. He can spend quality time with every horse. You can tell Chrome likes him, and he really loves this horse.” Like Chrome, Art Sherman had modest beginnings. He was born in Brooklyn, where his father, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, scraped out a living in construction. Sherman told me, in a recent telephone interview, that his father’s brothers were doing a bit better in Los Angeles so they moved there when he was 7 (1945). His father opened a small Los Angeles barber shop. The family wasn’t religious, Sherman said, but they sent him to Hebrew School for awhile. He left when a rabbi/teacher hit him and never returned. Meanwhile, Art was only 5’2” when he was 15, so a barber shop customer encouraged him to become a jockey. Nobody he knew rode horses, but he found his way to a track and found out he could learn what he needed by working at a nearby ranch that trained jockeys. Art only had modest success as a jockey. In 1980, he became a full-time, licensed trainer and gradually became pretty successful. But until Chrome, he never had a really big time thoroughbred. Chrome won five big races in a row before the Derby and entered the race a heavy favorite. Pundits say that he has a good chance of being the first horse since 1978 to win the Triple Crown – the title accorded to a horse that wins the
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Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Art Sherman was loath to predict about the Triple Crown. He said he is just enjoying the attention that is going to the oldest trainer, ever, of a Kentucky Derby winner (“I have been photographed more times in the last few days than in my whole life – people on planes are asking for my autograph”). Meanwhile, Art’s other son, STEVE SHERMAN, 47, is having a banner year as a trainer at a Northern California race track. No, Art Sherman didn’t become a religious Jew with age. His wife of 53 years, Faye, isn’t Jewish. Still he’s a “pretty Jewish guy” – mentioning how much he loves eating lox and eggs with one of the several Jews who own horses he trains. He also fondly recalled that he, his wife, and his nieces loved their trip to Israel two years ago. On TV: Walters Retires/Dorfman Lookin’ BARBARA WALTERS, 84, is retiring from her ABC show “The View” and regular on-air work. That same day ABC will mark this milestone with a two-hour retrospective of her career. Walters told TV Guide that “I made this choice.” She added that she still will be executive producer of “The View” and would do “something” for ABC in the event of the death of a major figure she knew. Walters said her biggest regret was never being able to interview Queen Elizabeth or a pope. On the other hand, she said that the thing that she is most proud of is: “That there are there are so many women in television now. That’s my legacy.” Top female TV anchors were quoted praising Walters and her groundbreaking interviews. Katie Couric said, “Her {MENECHAM] BEGIN and Sadat interview was historic. It was just unheard to have these two adversaries together.” The new season of “The Bachelorette”, stars ANDI DORFMAN, 27, who publicly rejected the titular star of last season’s “Bachelor” program, is the first Jewish woman to be the star of “The Bachelorette”. Dorfman is usually described as beautiful and very smart (she is an assistant district attorney in the county that includes Atlanta).
FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO We take pleasure in informing our readers that we will shortly commence the publication of an original novel of deep and exciting interest. We can conscientiously recommend to those suffering from a distressing cough Dr. Strickland’s Mellifluous Cough Balsam. It gives relief almost instantaneously and is withal not disagreeable to the taste. There is no doubt but the Mellifluous Cough Balsam is one of the best preparations to use, and is all that its proprietor claims for it. We have tried it during the past week, and found relief from a most distressing cough. It is prepared by Dr. Strickland, No. 6 East Fourth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, and for sale by druggists at 50 cents a bottle. – June 10, 1864
125 Y EARS A GO The first female officers of Cincinnati were appointed by Mayor Mosby last Thursday as Directresses of the Work House, under the new law. Among them is Mrs. Henry (Harry) Rosenbaum, who is a daughter of Mr. M. Holstein, an old and well known resident of this city. Mrs. Rosenbaum has been an active worker in the Associated charities and is a lady of unusual acquirements and force of character. To accommodate his many friends and patrons, Mr. I. Kahn has opened an office at 162 Vine Street, where he will be every day in the week, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., except Sunday. Mr. Charles Wise and Miss Sallie Lippman were married at the residence of the bride’s mother on West Eighth Street, last Tuesday evening, Dr. I.M. Wise, the uncle of the groom, officiating. The meeting of the Hebrew Ladies Society at the temple took place last Thursday, and all arrangements were made for a good time on the thirtieth of the month. Mr. Charlie Wertheimer and sisters have moved to 148 Richmond Street, where they will be pleased to meet their many friends. – May 16, 1889
100 Y EARS A GO A successful merchant of twenty-eight would like to correspond with a young lady of twenty-two to twenty-eight years; one with some means desired, as an enlargement of his business in ncessary. Object matrimony. Give age and height. Correspondence strictly confidential. Address “Merchant”, care of American Israelite, Cincinnati. Samuel Holzman, aged seventyeight years, died Sunday, May 10, at the home of his son, Wallace, in
Glenwood Ave., Avondale. The funeral took place on Tuesday, services being held in the Mortuary Chapel of the Crematory, Rabbi Grossmann officiating. Mrs. M.H. Franklin was at home to her many friends on Sunday, May 10, at ther home in the Wilheim Apartments, in honor of her eightieth birthday anniversary. Mrs. Stanley Rauh is visiting Mr. and Mrs. Harry F. Stix of St. Louis, MO., and is being lavishly entertained. – May 14, 1914
75 Y EARS A GO The marriage of Miss Mina Belle Levi, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Charles Levi, to Mr. Walter Resenbaum of Louisville was solemnized by Dr. Victor E. Reichert at the Hotel Alms Sunday, May 14th, in the presence of the immediate family. Mrs. Herman Kahn was the bride’s only attendant. Mr. Irvin Kahn was best man. The bride and groom are enjoying a wedding trip through the Great Smokies and on their return about June 1st will be at home to their friends at 420 Riddle Road. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Pastor, Hamilton, O., will receive in honor of the confirmation of their daughter, Elaine, Sunday, May 28th, from 3 to 6 p.m. at Elks City Club, Second and Ludlow Street, Hamilton. Phi Sigma Sigma held a weenie roast at Burnet Woods Monday evening, May 15th, instead of the regular meeting. Dr. Lawrence C. Goldberg has been elected secretary-treasurer of the Cincinnati Dermatological Society. – May 18, 1939
50 Y EARS A GO In the recent Spring dance held for students of the Kalan Dance Studios, winners of the twist contest were Monica Bluestein and Alan Fox, first prize, and Louis Dennis and Amy Faust, second. In the jitterbug contest, first prize went to Beth Goldstein and Steve Blicblum and second prize to Carol Heims and Melvin Lerner. Cha cha winners were Shelley Stevens and Jeff Swillinger, first, and Nancy Heilbrunn and Dan Kaplan, second. Mr. Herbert Weiss, 2375 Vera Avenue, second-year student in the UC College of Law, is winner of the Judge Alfred Mack Memorial Scholarship. The Scholarship was established by Mrs. Alfred Mack of Cincinnati in honor of her husband, for many years Court of Common Pleas judge. Dr. Sander Goodman was re-reelected treasurer of the Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati, Thursday, May 14. – May 21, 1964
25 Y EARS A GO Mr. and Mrs. Michael Skolnick proudly announce the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter, Lori Beth, on Friday, May 26, at Adath Israel Synagogue. Lori is the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Newman of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and Mr. and Mrs. Jack Skolnick of Cincinnati. Great-grandfather is Max Becker of Cincinnati. Judy and David Feiman are happy to announce the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter, Naomi Yael, on Saturday, May 27, at 9:30 a.m., at B’nai Tzedek Congregation. Naomi is the granddaughter of Alice Feiman and the late Ellis Feiman and Soma and Irene Rosenberg and the late Terry Rosenberg. Friends and relatives are welcome to attend. The Rockdale Temple Religious School and the entire staff send a heartfelt Mazal Tov to Lisa Tafuri and Amy Marks, who were honored on May 11 as finalists in the Simon Lazarus, Jr. award of the American Jewish Committee. This award recognizes and honors young people who demonstrate outstanding efforts in reaching out to others. We salute their families for nurturing them and we salute them for being fine examples of the best of our tradition. Mr. and Mrs. Neil Weinberg announce the birth of a son, Samuel Henry, May 12. Grandparents are Dr. Norman H. Weinberg and Mr. and Mrs. Darwin Brucker. Maternal greatgrandmother is Lucille Pritchard of Columbia, GA.– May 25, 1989
10 Y EARS A GO Michael Stewart, son of Diana and Jeffrey Stewart, will celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah Saturday, May 29, 2004, at Adath Israel Synagogue. Matt Nitzberg and Tara Johnson-Nitzberg announce the birth of their son, Samuel Evan, Wednesdsay, April 28, 2004. Samuel has a sister, Becca, and a brother, Jacob. Paternal grandparents are Rose Diamond of Philadelphia and the late Mort Nitzberg. Maternal grandparents are Roger and Tracy Panning and Cincinnati. Rabbi David and Chaya Gittle Spetner and family are pleased to announce the birth of a daughter, Leah, born on Friday, May 7, 2004. Sondra Polonsky, daughter of Leonora and Dr. Sheldon Polonsky, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah Saturday, May 22, 2004 at Rockdale Temple. – May 20, 2004
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY / CLASSIFIEDS • 19
THURSDAY, MAY 15, 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
NEW YORK from page 6 were there I was able to find some relatives and pinpoint everything about them when they came to the US. It was really neat to learn about my family in a new way like that”. After Ellis Island they went to the Jewish Heritage Museum, where they walked through and remembered the Holocaust. The next stop was a difficult but moving experience, the 911 Memorial. First they went inside a building that was right across from where the towers used to stand. Staring out the window into the emptiness, trying to imagine the scenes and the horror of that day, was just overwhelming. Once they made the trek through the entrance to get to the memorial it was a sight to see. They were faced with a giant square that had the names inscribed of those who lost their lives on that terrible day. Inside the square was a gorgeous waterfall and at night it is simply breathtaking. They all gathered around a tree that was the only tree that survived 911. As a group they all said Kaddish together. Each
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 Temple Beth Shalom (513) 422-8313 • tbsohio.org Temple Sholom (513) 791-1330 • templesholom.net The Valley Temple (513) 761-3555 • valleytemple.com
one took a piece of cloth and laid it over top of one of the names and used a crayon to do a rubbing, so everyone could leave with a name from the memorial. The group visited Eldridge Street Synagogue which was home to the immigrant population on the Lower East Side. The stained glass was amazing and breathtaking. They had a chance to tour the synagogue, stand on the bimah and go through the museum. Then Rabbi Wise and Kathy led a walking tour of the Lower East Side and China Town. They stopped at The Pickle Guys where everyone learned how much Rabbi Wise loves to make pickles (a few weeks after the trip the group did get the opportunity to actually make pickles with the Rabbi). One of the next activities was a scavenger hunt in Grand Central Station. The group split up into groups and went off on their separate ways to try to beat the other groups back. It was so much fun and they all learned a lot about Grand Central Station. They also ate at so many great restaurants. Little Italy was fantastic! One night they ate at a
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
restaurant where there was a singer and a keyboardist and all of the kids, and the adults, danced on chairs and sang along. In addition to the Jewish Foundation's significant grant, Former New York Yankees Third Baseman Kevin Youkilis, who grew up at Adath Israel, made a generous contribution and arranged for the group to have a private tour of Yankee Stadium. The last and final stop was the Jewish Theological Seminary. They took a tour of the campus and saw books from the rare book library. Dena Dave, a senior, shared. “The Adath Israel youth trip to New York was such a rewarding and worthwhile experience. I learned a lot about the history of Jews, specifically of Jewish immigrants, and got to visit so many special sites. Learning so much about the Jewish history in America helped to enhance my own Jewish identity, and helped me learn more about where I came from.” This trip was made possible by the generosity of the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati
DO YOU WANT TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED? Send an e-mail including what you would like in your classified & your contact information to
business@ americanisraelite.com or call 513-621-3145 CAMP from page 4 Israeli culture into daily life, all while fostering valuable communal life skills, self-confidence and an appreciation of the outdoors. There, campers can gain self-esteem and confidence, form lasting friendships and memories and gain a sense of social responsibility. “We are excited to be partnering with Shalom Family to show why camp is such a wonderful place and RAMALLAH from page 7 their support will be for Hamas,” he wrote. “Thus, to promote peace and stability, Brussels must help the Palestinian Authority build strong and transparent institutions.” The reference to Hamas touches on yet another potential complication for EU funding. Last month, Hamas signed a reconciliation agreement with the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. An EU-funded Palestinian government with Hamas aboard “would not only mean EU funds for terrorists but would conflict with the twostate solution, which is the very declared goal of the funding in the first place,” said Arie Zuckerman of the European Jewish Congress. EU officials have said they would consider a Palestinian unity government legitimate if Hamas accepts the principles underlying the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, FACT from page 16 existing voting rules are out of whack, giving too much influence to smaller groups on the right over larger left-leaning and centrist groups. But that doesn’t change the fact that, with or without J Street, J Street’s views are represented in the Conference of Presidents, and the conference continues to serve as the most diverse and reflective platform in the Jewish organizational world. Period. Full stop. Plus, it’s worth noting that the process doesn’t need to be over. Other groups have fallen short and then made it in down the road. All that said, it’s easy to understand why, if someone is a member of J Street – or just identifies with the
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(513) 531-9600 why so many people call camp ‘their home’!” says Brett Schwartz, Director of Camp Livingston. “We are thrilled to be able to open our doors to give young children, and their parents, a taste of all the fun overnight camp has to offer.” This event is open to families with children 12 and under in which at least one parent is Jewish. Older siblings and grandparents are always welcome. To RSVP, please contact Shalom Family. including recognizing Israel and committing to nonviolence. The Palestine Liberation Organization has said that any interim Palestinian government formed from the reconciliation process would not include Hamas or Fatah ministers but would rather be composed of officials who are independent of the two factions. Some reports have suggested there are murmurings within the European Union about cutting aid to the Palestinian Authority. If true, that threat may be directed as much at Israel as at the Palestinians, according to Oded Eran, a former Israeli ambassador to the European Union and now a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies. “The prospect of cutting aid to Ramallah has served as a veiled threat to Israel,” Eran said, “because they assume that doing so would place that financial burden on Israel.”
organization’s stated commitments – he or she might feel slighted, not wanted, disenfranchised. This vote took place in a wider context, where J Street and its members have been consistently, harshly and sometimes unfairly attacked, and their motives and loyalty (as opposed to their ideas) questioned, with some of the group’s loudest opponents all but saying there is no room in the Jewish community for those who would criticize Israeli policies. So, yeah, it’s complicated. What do you expect? After all, we’re talking about the Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations. Ami Eden is the CEO and editor-in-chief of JTA.
20 • BOOK REVIEW / TEEN HEROS / ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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Teen Heros: Jacob ReThinking Synagogues: A New Gardenswartz takes to the Vocabulary for Congregational Life by stage to beat bullying Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman By Sue Ransohoff Book Reviewer
By Suzanne Kurtz Sloan WASHINGTON (JTA) – Sitting through an eighth-grade assembly as a police officer spoke of the dangers of bullying, Jacob Gardenswartz thought there had to be a better way to teach these important lessons. “I got the idea to really make it incredible so kids would stay engaged and wouldn’t tune out,” said Gardenswartz, now a senior at the Francis Parker School in San Diego. He set out to recruit other young actors, mostly from his friends, and formed Theater of Peace: The Beyond Bullying Experience, a performance of short, interactive skits that educates elementary, middle and high school students about bullying. A group of eight or nine actors meets weekly for rehearsals and performs once or twice a month at schools around San Diego, said Gardenswartz, who also serves as a director alongside an adult director. The ensemble tackles issues related to racial, religious and sexual orientation intolerance and discrimination, as well as domestic abuse, eating disorders and cyberbullying. In the four years since its inception, Theater of Peace has performed at over 200 assemblies and reached more than 2,000 students across the city. “Bullying is not a black-andwhite issue in my mind,” Gardenswartz said. “It is something that every student has had some interaction with. Our program targets the bystanders. We say that we turn bystanders into upstanders, to stand up for their friends and classmates.” Last month, he received the Peter Chortek Leadership Award, which recognizes San Diego Jewish high school students who demonstrate excellence in community service and leadership. Gardenswartz said he hopes to start a club for Theater of Peace on whatever college campus he attends in the fall and perform the program at schools in that local community. For now, he is proud of the impact that Theater of Peace has made in San Diego. “As long as we’ve helped even one student, we’ve succeeded,” he said. Gardenswartz recently shared with JTA his biggest social justice influence, most meaningful Jewish learning experience and how he likes to celebrate his favorite Jewish holiday. JTA: Who or what have been the biggest influences in your life?
Jacob Gardenswartz: My family, they are incredible and have always been very supportive. They believed in me and helped create a strong background in social justice. JTA: Can you share with us a meaningful Jewish experience that you have had? JG: My sophomore year I attended the ADL’s Manhigim Institute and learned about combating antiSemitism and advocating for Israel. It was great to further my Jewish education and learn about intolerance, and also apply it to my program. JTA: What’s your favorite Jewish holiday? JG: I love Passover. I love tradition and the family component. We put on little Passover plays. It’s very fun. We’re theatrically inclined. JTA: If you could have lunch or coffee with anyone and tell him or her about Theater of Peace: The Beyond Bullying Experience, who would it be?
Rabbi Hoffman has created yet another book which addresses the altered present and alterable future of Jewish life, and its center: the synagogue. Each book, article, speech has its virtue and its value, and Rabbi Hoffman’s vigor and vitality. He clearly cares intensely about the coming generations of Jews, and what their synagogues will mean to them. He has noted, as have others, the changes that include mixed marriages, geographical moves from neighborhoods that were primarily Jewish, and the rise of the social network that replaces, or at least alters, communications among the Jewish community and its members. Among the varied positions from which he views this situation is a particularly intriguing one, which is the way in which a synagogue’s position mirrors the position of child- rearing advice. Prior to Spock, parents were advised to “let the baby cry it out; he’ll learn” or “Do not hug or cuddle your child; she will be spoiled.” This was followed, as many of us remember, by Dr. Benjamin Spock, who moved 180 degrees to the loving and permissive position. Later still, there was Abraham Maslow, who advised parents to help their children seek self-actualization. The synagogues (to some degree) mirrored these positions. And the writer states, in an “outtake” – a paragraph in enlarged type, many of which appear throughout this book – “Congregants expect synagogues to keep them and their children happy.” The outtakes compel your attention, and one of my favorites (could it also be Rabbi
Hoffman’s?) says: “Religion is a moving theological target. Religious Jews are those who keep trying to hit it somewhere rather than give up archery altogether. Synagogues should at least hand out bows and arrows.” What to do? Hoffman has many ideas, among them he urges risk-taking: “Unimaginative rabbis… take advantage of nothing… from the outside. Creative rabbis who know their rabbinate is not designed for mediocrity are quick to sign up for everything.” He points out, though, that being creative calls for more than a workshop or a guidebook. They needed to create communities of healing and of learning: a “community of the spirit.” Among other concepts that he introduces is the concept that congregants are divided among marginal or watchers – loyalists or regulars. While there is some truth to this, it’s a rather rigid construct. He describes, in relation to various members of any synagogue, the very different experience of the loyalists – who enter, know where to go, who they
know, are greeted by members and staff alike, and feel perfectly at home – and the marginal, who are not greeted, don’t know anyone, where to go, and where to find a prayer book. No wonder so few come back! Further, he notes “synagogues need to substitute ‘the sacred’ for ‘busyness.’” This is a compelling statement, in my view, but the writer does not explain just how this can be done. And in a sense it contradicts his earlier words, that rabbis should be risk-taking, which could often mean – “busyness.” I am impressed by Rabbi Hoffman’s undoubted passion for a better world within the synagogues of Jewish life, and not quite as impressed by his roadmap of how to get there. One outtake, though, is particularly powerful: “Social justice is part of the synagogue’s “foreign affairs,” spirituality is its “domestic policy.” Taking seriously their covenant with God, members look for the spiritual and the just, which together constitute the sacred. How does one put these strong words into action? This isn’t clear, although we absolutely sense the writer’s profound wish that such action must and will take place. Reading this book, the reader is impressed, and finds himself or herself yearning, and perhaps attaining some growth of one’s personal self. Self-actualization is a key construct of a “re-thought” synagogue, and although this book is not without flaws, primarily lack of concrete suggestions, yet it instills in the reader a profound wish to reach for a more sacred life.
JG: Beyonce! JTA: What do you think you want to be doing when you “grow up” or would like to be doing professionally in perhaps five or 10 years? JG: I’m not sure yet. I like everything and have not completely made up my mind yet. I’m interested in seeing what works and what doesn’t. JTA: What sort of things do you like to do to have fun? JG: Hang out with my friends, utilize the beaches in San Diego, go to plays and concerts, and being involved in my school and local community.
BONFIRE from page 6 twigs, forming them into a three-quarter circle – a teepee with a doorway. Always leave this entryway or air hole opposite the wind. This, says Avi, enables you to light the bonfire. Step 3: Strengthen Your Structure Work your way out, placing the sticks on top of one another in a continuous circle, being careful not to place any sticks over the opening. As you get further along, the sticks should get both taller and thicker. Thicker sticks, says Avi, provide fuel.
Step 4: Light It Up Take a lit match and hold it against or under the tinder in the opening until the small sticks catch fire. Slowly, the flame will grow. A 40-stick bonfire will burn for about 20 minutes, Avi explains. To keep it going longer, add more sticks or place logs along the sides of your teepee. When the logs catch, they will burn longer and stronger. Avi’s Advice: • If you are building your fire on the grass or somewhere that might not be safe, surround the whole teepee or cabin with rocks, like a pit, so the fire
won’t spread. • Always keep a bucket of water nearby-just in case. • Make sure your wood is totally dry. Green or wet wood won’t light well and “it will make a ton of smoke.” • Don’t start fanning or blowing on your fire until the kindle catches fire or you’ll blow it out. When blowing, blow in a steady stream. Quick bursts quell the flame. • If your teepee collapses, don’t panic. Add some logs on top of the teepee and it will keep on burning, like a campfire.
JEWISH LIFE • 21
THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2014
Incidentally Iris Incidentally Iris
by Iris Ruth Pastor Everyone has an uncle or cousin Bernie and my dad was no exception. Related to my dad on his mother’s side, contact with Cousin Bernie’s branch had been rather sporadic and shallow. About 30 years ago, Cousin Bernie surfaced and that is where this story begins. Cousin Bernie was a bright, young, college educated man who had moved to CEDAR VILLAGE from page 6 Village’s reputation. Cedar Village’s services have become so broad that the organization, which once served only older adults, now has a pediatric physical therapist who works out of its rehabilitation center at the Mayerson JCC in Amberley Village. Another example: The Cedar Village Rehabilitation Center has become known for providing care to people who are recovering from tracheotomies. In partnership with UC Health, Cedar Village is providing MARRIAGE from page 10 thereby restrict their marriage options. Enforcing those restrictions in modern Israel makes it exceedingly difficult for someone branded a mamzer by the courts to ever be legally married. Maayan Arviv, a spokeswoman for the religious courts, told JTA in an email that names typically enter the list after rabbinical courts adjudicate personal status questions necessary to reach a verdict in a related case. A higher court then reviews the decision. Even without a formal register, religious courts would decline to allow marriage between a mamzer and another Jew. But without the list, Arviv wrote, “the marriage registrar could not exercise its authority regarding eligibility to marry.” Arviv said the courts understand that mamzer is a taboo in the Orthodox community and that the need for discretion is paramount. The list is not publicized, she said, because “the rabbinical courts aren’t interested in people knowing what happens in other people’s backyards or inner rooms.” Arviv declined to comment on the specifics of the divorced woman’s case because it is under review by the Supreme Court.
New York City to establish himself in the theater community. Having access to his entire family tree, he enterprisingly sent out letters to every branch, twig and leaf in an attempt to secure funding for an offoff Broadway production he was producing. My parents were contacted, readily complied - and with a chuckle and genuine bonhomie – wrote Cousin Bernie a check and sent it off. A few years later, my oldest son, Harry, was working in New York preceding his freshman year at college. Always on the lookout for cheap - but kinda high brow - entertainment, he secured tickets for an off-off Broadway play about Nixon and Kissinger. Sitting down before the lights dimmed and the curtain rose, he opened the play bill and scanned the ads, actors’ profiles and donor list. He was shocked to see the names of his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. E. Pike Levine, among the sup-
porters. My parents rarely traveled to New York City and had as minimal amount of ties to the Big Apple theater scene as a diehard Yankee fan would have to the Cincinnati Reds. That's when I first learned of Cousin Bernie and his theatrical aspirations. Years pass. My father dies. Still enamored with Harry’s story and driven by desire to make contact with anyone who had in some way touched my dad’s life, I decide to track down Cousin Bernie. I imagine he has probably given up his youthful dreams of glamour and success in the Arts and settled into a conservative job in finance. Imagine my surprise when upon googling him, I learn Cousin Bernie has done quite well for himself in the entertainment realm. He now is the head of his own casting company and his list of credits include – but are no way limited to - the plays Rent, Wicked, Hairspray (Cincy roots),
and Sweeney Todd. And films, such as Sex and the City. I take a deep breath, get out my fancy monogrammed note cards complete with embossed return address on the envelope - and pen a short note to Cousin Bernie. I explain my dad had passed away in the fall and I am feeling a bit nostalgic. Recounting a very short version of Harry's experience, I mention I frequently travel to New York City and would love to meet him. I send my correspondence by snail mail, addressed to Cousin Bernie at his casting company address in New York – and mark as “Personal.” I never hear from Cousin Bernie. Maybe he never actually received my letter? Or maybe he is just too important or too busy to reply? Twelve months almost to the day I had licked the stamp, I received the following e mail: Dear Iris,
Well let me start off by saying Happy New Year. There is nothing like doing a massive office desk cleaning and finding a letter I had obviously saved to respond to but then never actually did as the pile grew and grew. It was great to get your letter and I remember wanting to reply. Please accept my apologies. Would love to get together on one of your next visits to NY. You can come by the office and we can chat. Once again sorry. Bernie You better believe the next time my plane touches down at La Guardia, I am grabbing a cab to midtown Manhattan to take Cousin Bernie up on his engaging offer. And did I mention he also casted for Kinky Boots? Keep Coping Iris Ruth Pastor
rehab services for a number of UC’s most complicated ENT surgical patients, often involving cancer of the mouth or throat. Reed is so impressed with the quality of care at Cedar Village that she would be grateful to have Cedar Village provide care for her. Reed started volunteering for Cedar Village by serving on the committee that organizes the Cedar Village Golf Classic, a fund-raising event. A few years ago, even before she joined the Board of Trustees, she suggested that Cedar Village start offering
hospice services. By having access to Cedar Village’s own hospice services, Cedar Village residents and their families can be surrounded by familiar staff in an environment they’ve come to know as home. Cedar Village also provides hospice services to people wherever they might live in the region. Reed and her husband, Michael, belong to Rockdale Temple in Amberley Village. They have three adult sons. Other new officers are Bobby Fisher, vice chair; Bob Rosen, treasurer/immediate past chair; Michael
Kadetz, assistant treasurer; Merrie Stillpass, secretary; and Rachel Schild; assistant secretary. New trustees are Bob Applebaum, Ken Cohen, Jim Ellis, Mike Kriner, Alter Peerless, M.D., Pearl Schwartz and Josh Shapiro. The new chair of the Cedar Village Foundation board is Louise Roselle, who is a lawyer in a Cincinnati firm. She lives in Montgomery with her husband, Gary Roselle, M.D., and they have two daughters. Other new foundation officers are Harvey Cohen, vice chair; Jay Price,
secretary; H. Jerome Lerner, treasurer; and Andrew Shott, immediate past chair. New foundation trustees are Andrew Heldman and Ross Vigran. The foundation board oversees Cedar Village’s fund-raising and investments. About 50 Cedar Village trustees and professional staff attended the May 7 meeting. Displayed on a large screen behind the speakers were photos of life at Cedar Village, including holiday celebrations, performances and outings.
LAG B’OMER from page 10
1 a.m. to leave plenty of time to make it there in time for the festivities, bearing in mind the expected traffic jams. Arriving by bus at the crack of dawn, they found an “astonishing carnival atmosphere that can only be attained by people who have been partying all night.” The sun was barely up but the crowds were already there, Schabb recalls. “People were everywhere, taking up every square foot of space talking, eating, davening or just taking in the show,” says Schabb, adding, “There was also a band whose Jewish dance music was booming over loudspeakers. Maybe it was little like being at a Jews-only Woodstock.” Only, unlike that storied 1969 rock extravaganza in Bethel, NY, here there was a giant bonfire, in the middle of the roof between the men’s and women’s sections, stoked by a couple of Hassidic Jews in long black coats. Soon Schabb was swept along with the growing crowd, “feeling like what a sardine must feel like inside a can.” “I had had enough, except there was no way out,” he says. “It was wall-to-wall Jews all the
way out to the doorway on the other side of the courtyard – probably a good half hour trip. Luckily, everybody was in a good mood, even, to a certain extent, me. And the music helped.” The ending of Schabb’s story is a happy one. After a few more minutes of struggling against the human tide, he was able to squeeze through the impasse into an open area filled with kiosks supplying all kinds of food, free for the taking. The coffee, pastry, and scrambled eggs renewed him enough to try for Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai’s tomb. “Squeezed so tight it was hard to keep both feet on the floor,” Schabb describes, he made it to a larger room with a high ceiling, and was able to catch his breath and reach over the backs of the three people in front of him, and actually touch the velvet cover of the tomb. He says he worked his way back out again, only after “communing with the rebbe (Bar Yochai) and thanking God that He had gotten me this far without being crushed.” Sounds like the kind of environment where one would not wish to be carrying sharp
Batya Kahana Dror, who advocates for Jewish women seeking divorce, said that in an earlier era, rabbis rarely classified people as mamzers because details of a person’s origins were typically conveyed by word of mouth and were harder to confirm. “There have been mamzerim throughout history, but no one knew,” Dror said. “But now, the way we save information leads us to the present situation.” Others say the whole concept of mamzer is damaging and rabbis should find ways to eliminate it. “The issue won’t be solved until the community frees itself from the idea that we must exclude mamzerim,” said Rivkah Lubitch, a litigator in the rabbinical court system and a Center for Women’s Justice board member. “It’s hard to say I’m a religious person and support a society that hurts people like this.” Beyond the headaches of her legal battle to clear her name, the divorced woman said that being on the list hasn’t made her life harder. The courts are prohibiting her from marrying only two people, neither of whom she wants to wed. But she is fighting the decision on principle. “An adulteress in my eyes is not an honest person,” she said. “It’s one of the Ten Commandments. How dare they do that?”
around the world celebrate the receiving of the Torah on Shavuot. Many Sephardi Jews continue mourning practices through the 33rd day of the Omer and celebrate on the 34th day of the Omer, or “LaD BaOmer.” Around Israel, there are parades, picnics, and bonfires. But tiny Meron is the undisputed capital of all this happy Lag B’Omer mayhem. With this massive crowd gathered in a normally pastoral setting far from the nearest hospitals, along with the equally massive bonfires and the sharp scissors (more on those later), more than 1,200 police officers are on hand. So too are countless paramedics, firefighters, and ambulance crews for the inevitable incidents of smoke inhalation, burns from the bonfires, and the usual warm-weather crowding threats such as dehydration and fainting. Three years ago, Richard Schabb of Kfar Adumim was among the throng making the Lag B’Omer pilgrimage to Meron, an adventure that proved not for the faint-of-heart – or the claustrophobic. He and his stepson left at
LAG B’OMER on page 22
22 • OBITUARIES
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D EATH N OTICES
O BITUARIES
SILVERMAN, Gertrude Hyams, age 92, died May 11, 2014; 7 Iyar 5774
BLATT, Edwin Bernard (Eddie) Edwin Bernard Blatt was born on August 2, 1925 in Columbus, Ohio. His parents, Rudolph and Claira (Mattlin) Blatt came to the United States from Odessa, Russia in 1907 and 1908. Edwin’s family moved to Cincinnati when he was 8. He attended South Avondale Elementary School and Walnut Hills High School. During World War II he served as a Lieutenant in the US Navy based in New Jersey. He was discharged from the Navy in 1946. Edwin attended Dartmouth College. After earning his B.A from Dartmouth he earned a Masters degree from Miami of Ohio and then returned to the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth for his MBA Degree. Edwin was a competitive swimmer at both Walnut Hills and Dartmouth College and was a star tennis player on the Walnut Hills team. He remained an avid swimmer for most of his life. He met his future wife, Dr. Ethyl Blatt (Sher), at a dance at Camp Livingston. They were married in 1954 and recently celebrated their 60th anniversary. Dr. Ethyl Blatt is a radiologist who continues to consult today. Edwin was a devoted family man, and he and Ethyl had 2 sons, Rick and Brandon. On his return to Cincinnati he joined the family business of reconditioning barrels before starting an advertising agency. He was a pioneer of advertising on TV and for many years directed and produced television commercials. In a “A Lion on the Lawn”,
GABRILOVICH, Isaak M., age 79, died May 10, 5774; 10 Iyar, 5774. BECKER, Sheal, age 92, died May 11, 2014; 11 Iyar, 5774. BLATT, Edwin B., age 88, died May 11, 2014; 11 Iyar, 5774.
an early campaign for Sunbeam, he used a baby lion in a commercial. His son recalls that the person who was supposed to pick up the lion after the shoot never showed up and that the lion spent the weekend at their home. Edwin returned the lion on Monday morning. He also promoted Rinks, the first discount store in the Cincinnati area. In 1980 he founded Sterling Medical Corporation, a healthcare staffing company that provides medical personnel to the US Armed Forces all over the world. In addition to the main office in Cincinnati, Sterling Medical has offices in various locations in the U.S., as well as in Germany and Japan. Edwin was very active in the greater Cincinnati community. He was a founder of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and was actively engaged in the design and building of their theater; he also served on the Playhouse board for many years. Additionally in the arts, he was a board member of the Cincinnati Opera. Edwin was also active with family members in revitalization efforts in Over the Rhine, including the revitalization of numerous historic buildings in that area. He was involved at “The Symphony Hotel” in downtown Cincinnati, a boutique style hotel with restaurant near Music Hall. He was an avid reader and a world-wide traveler to far flung places in the Pacific, South America, Europe, and Israel. He took up the game of golf later in his life and belonged to the Crest Hills and Losantiville Golf Clubs and was a board member at Amberley Swim Club. He was also a boater and sailor and once capsized his boat on San Francisco Bay; all hands were safely rescued by the US Coast Guard. Later in his life he lived in Boca Raton, Florida. Edwin was a board member at Ohav Shalom and later a member at Rockdale Temple. Edwin passed away on Sunday May 11, 2014 - 11 Iyar, 5774 - at the age of 88. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Ethyl Blatt, his children Rick (Karen Meister) Blatt and Brandon (Debra Pelletiere) Blatt, grandchildren Cody, Wyatt, and Monroe Blatt and Hannah Pelletiere, and his brother Dr. Norman Blatt. He was predeceased by his brother, Sidney Blatt of Columbus, Ohio and by his sister-in-laws Hilda Blatt (Norman) and Selma (Sally) Blatt (Sidney). Funeral services will take place on Sunday May 18, 2014 at Weil Funeral Home; Rabbi Sissy Coran will be officiating. The family requests that contributions be made to Walnut Hills High School Annual Fund, WHHS Alumni Foundation, 3250 Victory Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45207.
ROCKWERN from page 1 80% of Rockwern graduates enroll in Advanced Placement courses in high school. Students enjoy a dual cirriculum at Rockwern Academy. This has proven to be a boon to academic achievement. Students who learn another language from a young age (Hebrew classes begin in preschool at Rockwern) have proven to excel both in other languages and in secular studies as they go through their academic career. Balancing the dual cirriculum help students achieve more; they are working harder and that teaches them how to manage their studies as they get older. Other academic highlights at Rockwern include: second-language acquisition begins in Kindergarten, which scientific studies correlate with superior long-term brain development; service learning and leadership that is integrated to the students’ experience; a “Friends From Israel” program that brings 2 young Israelis to the school to work with all grades to teach them about another country and culture. Rockwern Academy has also been recognized as a School of Contribution for its service to the community for THREE straight years (2010-2013) Current 8th-grade student Quint Kaufman has been attending Rockwern Academy (then Yavneh Day School) since he was 3 years old. One of the things he likes best at Rockwern is that he is “part of a two way exchange with students from Netanya”. Quint says, “this experience has built many friendships and helped us cross a bridge with our sister city and bond with Israel. Without Rockwern I would not I would not have been really able to
LAG B’OMER from page 21 scissors. But each year, hundreds of parents arrive with them in tow for the purpose of administering first haircuts to their 3-year-old sons, a custom known as the upsherin or chalaka. Given the ancient tradition not to cut a boy’s hair until he is 3, this first haircut marks the leap from babyhood into boyhood for the Orthodox, signaling a time when the boy begins to learn the Hebrew alphabet and wear a yarmulke and tzitzit. As family members and friends each take a snip of baby hair, the youngster is often distracted – and rewarded for standing still – with a parade of sweets. But with Meron on Lag B’Omer being such a balagan,
understand Israel so completely and have an appreciation for the people and country. His mother, Sara Kaufman, says, “I love that parents come up to me to tell me what a “mensch” my son is in the big & little program. They tell me how the littles just adore him and that he is so good to them and such a role model, especially in tefillah and while he is chanting torah. It’s such a rewarding feeling as a parent to have people complementing me on what a great kid I have!” Rockwern works hard at building a “family”, not just a school. The parent body enjoys many activities to make them feel included and a part of solid community. The PTO plans a wide variety of events, including monthly Coffee Talks with speakers, a Mom’s Night Out, a Dad’s Night Out, grade socials, and playdates in the park, to name a few. The annual Tribute Dinner is Rockwern’s major fundraiser, honoring special people in the Rockwern community and/or staff members. There is always a silent auction to boost fundraising dollars, and this year they are auctioning off artwork created by each grade at the school. This year’s dinner will be held on June 8th, 2014. Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the British Commonwealth, recently spoke at a conference on Jewish Day Schools. His thought? “If you want to save the Jewish future, you have to build Jewish day schools – there is no other way,” said Rabbi Sacks. Rockwern Academy believes they are building their school onward and upward every day.
would Schabb go again? “Yeah, I would go again,” he says good-naturedly. When asked if she would consider taking her children today, however, Pnina Newirth answers with a laugh and a “Mamash, lo!” (Really, no!) “I hear it’s gotten much bigger and much crazier now,” she says. Nevertheless, Newirth doesn’t deny her kids the spirit of Lag B’Omer. Last year, for instance, the family went to Kiryat Sanz in Netanya, where there are also massive bonfires and thousands of Hassidim jumping and singing. “It was an amazing, amazing sight,” Newirth says. “I would absolutely do that again.”