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THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 16 ELUL, 5773

End of the Year Celebration

CINCINNATI, OH Candle Lighting Times Shabbat begins Fri 8:05p Shabbat ends Sat 9:06p

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VOL. 160 • NO. 5

The American Israelite T H E

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Ethan’s Story

NATIONAL

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Dallas teen’s bar mitzvah video sparks debate over culture of excess

ISRAEL

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Margolese, fighter for religious tolerance, quits Beit Shemesh

DINING OUT

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Crowds at service counter, but no lines please, at Marx Bagels

BUSINESS

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Wilber Cohen was honored for a lifetime of giving back

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At a MuslimJewish conference, dialogue and hope

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All about food

Jewish Foundation, Mayerson Foundation and JCC partner to strengthen Jewish engagement and programming in our community The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati and the Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation announced a groundbreaking new partnership to significantly enhance Jewish engagement and programming capacity at the Mayerson JCC. With funding provided by both foundations, a new organizational structure will physically embed the Mayerson Foundation program team inside the JCC, and the JCC’s own programming staff will be expanded.

Each foundation will invest approx- Kids and more will benefit from this newfound partnership. imately $1.6 miland engagement activities for the entire agencies – have even greater impact.” lion in staff resources, programming community.

This investment is expected to build budget and grant dollars over the next Taken together, all of these new upon the early successes achieved when three years. As a result, existing JCC developments will enable a highly the JCC outsourced its Young staff members will take on new pro- trained and capable program team to re- Professionals and Teen programming to gramming roles, Mayerson Foundation imagine the JCC’s programming and the Mayerson Foundation team headed staff members will lead or support key engagement strategies in order to serve by Director of Jewish Giving Pam JCC initiatives and the signature the J’s mission to provide the best pos- Saeks. In the first 18 months of that Mayerson Foundation Jewish engage- sible services and programs in the com- pilot initiative, the number of YP memment programs – including Access, munity, wherever community members bers of the JCC quadrupled, teen particShalom Family and Fusion Family – choose to engage. Ahigh priority for the ipation in the March of the Living prowill become fully integrated into the expanded capacity will be for the JCC gram doubled, and the JCC offered JCC over a period of time. to partner with other community organ- highly valued program vouchers to Among the offerings will be pro- izations, and especially local congrega- each of the congregation-based youth grams combining socialization and edu- tions, to coordinate and strengthen their groups. cation for all ages. The foundations are engagement programs.

In addition, new training initiatives going to be focusing more on the ongo“While the JCC has 9 core business have improved the JCC’s event planing needs of working families and those functions, programming and engage- ning and debriefing processes, focus looking for more structured program- ment is at the heart of who we are and groups have produced important data ming and classes for their children. In what we do,” said Mayerson JCC on desired programming across several addition, they hope to add programs for President Debbie Brant. “Thanks to this key demographics, and – since the tweens in the coming year, a population unprecedented support from the launch of this most recent initiative – that has been largely under served at the Mayerson Foundation and the Jewish the JCC’s programmatic offerings in the JCC. The combination of the programs Foundation, we now have an opportu- Children and Family Department have they offer at the JCC and the added nity to be a model of excellence and been significantly enhanced. expertise of the Mayerson Foundation innovation by making our own proIn the coming year, the new proto the JCC team will bring added capac- gramming – as well as the programs of gram team will move each of those iniity for the JCC to have programming others, including our congregations and tiatives forward and focus on partnering

with local Jewish agencies and congregations with a view to enhancing programs across the community.

In her new capacity at the JCC, Saeks, reporting to Mayerson JCC CEO Marc Fisher, will supervise the entire new JCC programming team, among other duties as Director of Innovation and Engagement.

“In developing and presenting programs to the community for nearly 15 years, we have learned a lot in terms of what it takes to achieve high levels of engagement and success.

Through this new partnership with the Jewish Foundation and the Mayerson JCC, we will have the resources necessary to help the JCC continue to pursue its highest aspirations and to help community organizations more broadly as well,” says Dr. Neal Mayerson, President of The Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation. “This collaboration marks a new era in our community where we break down the silos that separate us and reach out to pursue the common good together. Together we are better!”

“We are very proud to be partnering with the Mayerson Foundation and the JCC on this initiative,” said Jewish Foundation President Michael R. Oestreicher. “The vision and leadership demonstrated by the J and the Mayerson Foundation, combined with their track records of excellence over the years, provide our community with exciting new potential for partnership and collaboration in first-class programming and engagement opportunities.”

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Dara Wood receives the Walter Hattenbach Excellence in Teaching Award at Adath Israel

Alterations of Springdale NOW has a second location!

Adath Israel Congregation is pleased to announce that the congregation's Education Director, Dara Wood, was recognized as this year’s recipient of the Walter Hattenbach Excellence in Teaching Award. The award was presented during Shabbat services on August 17, 2013. The Hattenbach Award, named in memory of Walter Hattenbach, a past president of Adath Israel, is given each year to a member of their religious school staff who exemplifies a love for teaching and Jewish education. Wood has served on the Board of Directors of Adath Israel, as an officer and as chair of the Religious School Board and Religious Services

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Committee. She is an excellent role model for her Religious School staff and faculty and inspires commitment, dedication and a passion for teaching children.

Hattenbach, who was not a teacher by profession, loved teaching and especially loved helping children learn. The award is intended to help the recipients participate in professional growth opportunities. The Hattenbach Award was established in 2001 by Hattenbach’s wife and children as a way to remember Hattenbach’s love of teaching. Past award winners include: Mitch Cohen, David Gershuny, Zahava Rendler, Gail Jacobs, Toby Samet, Debbie

WE CAN DO ALL OF YOUR ALTERATIONS! WEDDING DRESSES, NEW SUIT, OLD SUIT, NEW CLOTHES, LOST WEIGHT, ETC.

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Lempert, Marlene Beraha, Scott Kabakoff, Rae Levy, and Rabbi Eli Garfinkel.

Northern Hills to focus on gemilut hasadim at August 24 Chavurat Shabbat service On Saturday, August 24, Northern Hills Synagogue Congregation B'nai Avraham will hold another in its popular series of Chavurat Shabbat programs, enriching the Shabbat morning service with special programming. This time, the programming will focus on gemilut hasadim, the performance of acts of loving kindness, involving the giving of time and personal service to those in need.

According to Rabbi Gershom Barnard, the objectives are to raise congregants’ consciousness of the place of gemilut hasadim in Judaism and in congregational life, to make congregants aware

of the various gemilut hasadim efforts of Northern Hills Synagogue, and to encourage congregants to volunteer for these projects. Prior to Musaf, Rabbi Barnard will lead a discussion of various texts concerning gemilut hasadim. Following completion of the service, congregants will move into the social hall and visit stations pertaining to various projects and activities.

Among the stations and presenters are activities pertaining to bereavement (Bev Shapero and Lois Pornoy); visiting the sick (Holly Robinson); Shabbat and holiday hospitality (Rabbi Barnard); the Over-the-Rhine

Soup Kitchen (Connie Hinitz); and the collection of non-food items, such as for Mary Magdalene House and Ronald McDonald House, and eyeglass collection (Bobbie Winkler).

Other featured worthwhile activities include the Cincinnati Hunger Assistance Initiative, food collections, and the Interfaith Hospitality Network.

Following the morning service and program, lunch will be served. There is no charge for the program or luncheon. Northern Hills Synagogue is located in Deerfield Township. For more information, please call the Synagogue office.

Rockdale Temple holds Shabbat service for prospective members On Friday, August 23, Rockdale Temple will hold a special Rock Shabbat Service for those who are interested in learning more about membership at the historic congregation. As K.K. Bene Israel-Rockdale Temple begins celebrating 190 years of continuous service to the greater Cincinnati Jewish community, this is a great time to consider membership for you and your family.

Rabbis Sigma Faye Coran and Meredith Kahan encourage you to come and experience the spiritual magic that is Rockdale Temple. The evening will begin with the Temple’s signature Shabbat Nosh at 5:45 p.m.

Services begin at 6:15 p.m. featuring the Rock Shabbat Band under Rabbi Kahan's direction.

Shabbat dinner will be served

immediately following services in the social hall. Teens from the Youth Group of Rockdale will offer activities for our youngest visitors after dinner, giving their parents an opportunity to visit and get acquainted with one another.

Rockdale Temple is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism and is an active participant in the values and tenets of the Reform tradition. A central focus of Kehal Kodesh School of Rockdale Temple: Our Sacred Community is to embrace every family, every child and every learner. RUACH, our energetic young professionals group, has become the place to meet and greet on Shabbat, cheer the Reds to victory, or just hang out with new friends. Each auxiliary, committee, and youth group of the

congregation works diligently to ensure that every member is respected and offered the opportunity to engage in acts of worship, learning, and lovingkindness. The Rockdale Temple community is engaged in numerous social action projects appropriate for all ages, from Over-the-Rhine Soup Kitchen and the Interfaith Hospitality Network to Ronald McDonald House and the Annual “Mitzvah Palooza.” Rockdale Temple is a place “where you are valued and values matter” – they invite you to learn why this is so much more than a motto.

If you would like to learn more about K.K. Bene Israel – Rockdale Temple and the events for the coming year, or to make a reservation for this special service, please contact Margaret Friedman-Vaughan.

RICHSHAFER NAMED 2014 CINCINNATI TAX

“LAWYER OF THE YEAR” Woodward & White’s Best Lawyers in America® named Cincinnati tax attorney Howard L Richshafer the “2014 Cincinnati Tax Law “Lawyer of the Year.” Best Lawyers is universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Inclusion is considered a singular honor due to exhaustive peer review surveys by top U.S. attorneys. Corporate Counsel Magazine called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.” Best Lawyers partners with The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and over 85 regional and international magazines.

For the past 30 years, Mr. Richshafer has represented individuals and businesses experiencing civil and criminal tax problems. He was previously a federal agent with the U. S. Treasury Department/IRS. He is also a CPA. Since 1980, adjunct professor in the MS Tax Program at the University of Cincinnati. He has authored more than 100 tax articles, which have appeared in the Journal of Taxation, Ohio Lawyer, and Corporate Controller magazines. He co-authored a manual on "Ohio Limited Liability Companies.

He authored a chapter titled “Deductions for Profit-Motivated Activities,” which is part of the LexisNexis® online professional federal tax library.

Both Law & Politics Magazine and Cincinnati Magazine selected him an “Ohio Super Lawyer.” The Cincinnati Business Courier identified him as one of the top lawyers in Southwest Ohio.

Martindale-Hubbell has rated Mr. Richshafer “AV Preeminent,” the high-

est possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards. According to Martindale-Hubbell, that rating represents the pinnacle of professional excellence earned through a strenuous process managed and monitored by the world’s most trusted legal resource.

Currently, Mr. Richshafer is partner in charge of the Tax Controversy Group with the Cincinnati law firm Wood & Lamping. Wood & Lamping is a 40lawyer full-service law firm in Cincinnati. Wood & Lamping has serviced the legal needs of the Cincinnati community since 1927.

Mr. Richshafer resides in Blue Ash with his spouse, Donna. He noted that his accomplishments wouldn’t be possible without the love and support of Donna, their two children Allison Barratt and Greg Richshafer, and grandson Joshua.

4 • LOCAL

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JCC offers new fall classes for children while gaining self confidence and physical skills through a sampling of practical self defense.

This fall, everyone who registers for JCC children’s classes and kids’ team sports gets a free gift, such as Gymboree bubbles for Gymboree on the Go, or a tote bag for Tummy Time participants.

Parents also get perks, like a free beverage at the J Café while their child is in class, or discount coupons for J Spa services so they can get a manicure, pedicure or massage while they wait!

Advance registration is required for all classes and to register or learn more about the JCC’s fall class line-up, see the JCC contact information listed in the community directory of this issue.

Cincinnati USY advisors enter their third year Her background is in film production and documentary television, which gives her a unique perspective for new and exciting programs. She grew up in Cincinnati and attended Yavneh Day School (now Rockwern Academy). She is responsible for 5 youth groups, Mazel Tots (0-K), Jewish Stars (K-2), Atid (3-5), Kadima (6-8) and AIUSY (9-12). With the help of talented advisors she directs and oversees these groups and the wonderful youth programs they offer.

Vidal began at NCYG in the summer of 2011. She directs four joint youth groups made up of children from three synagogues and functions as Ohav Shalom’s Program Director as well. While

Vidal is not a native, she quickly learned the lay of the land and holds events across the city.

NCYG’s divisions are Chaverim (k-2) Kitanim (3-5) the Citywide Kadima chapter (6-8) and NCUSY (9-12). Her creative programming style is evident in all her events.

Together, Newman and Vidal direct the city-wide Kadima chapter which brings 6th – 8th graders from the community together in fun and Jewish-minded ways. What’s Jewish about waterskiing, wakeboarding or kneeboarding? Come to their opening event on Sunday, August 25 and find out! Newman and Vidal also often collaborate on joint USY programming. They believe that

by pulling their resources together they can create a community of inclusion, bringing more teens and pre-teens together and providing the opportunity for them to meet new people.

"Under Mollie and Chava's guidance Kadima and USY in Cincinnati provides excellent programming and leadership opportunities for Jewish teens in their community. I'm very proud of their accomplishments,” said Arlyne Bochnek, Regional Director for CRUSY. There is no doubt about it! Cincinnati Conservative teenagers have it good! To learn more about USY please visit them online.

cious seasonal snacks, catered by the School House Restaurant.

Kosher options and most other dietary needs can be accommodated with advance notice.

“This is one of the most unique events I’ve ever heard of, even by Shalom Family standards!” says Sheri Miller, a mother of two from Mason. “Just when I think they can’t come up with anything more clever and fun, they figure out a way to surprise me! This is a chance for our whole family to put their creative talents to the test. The

Have your child make their very own Sukkah out of a cardboard box.

VOL. 160 • NO. 5 THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 16 ELUL 5773 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 8:05 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 9:06 PM THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE CO., PUBLISHERS 18 WEST NINTH STREET, SUITE 2 CINCINNATI, OHIO 45202-2037 Phone: (513) 621-3145 Fax: (513) 621-3744 publisher@americanisraelite.com editor@americanisraelite.com production@americanisraelite.com RABBI ISAAC M. WISE Founder, Editor, Publisher, 1854-1900 LEO WISE Editor & Publisher, 1900-1928 RABBI JONAH B. WISE Editor & Publisher, 1928-1930 HENRY C. SEGAL Editor & Publisher, 1930-1985 PHYLLIS R. SINGER Editor & General Manager, 1985-1999 MILLARD H. MACK Publisher Emeritus NETANEL (TED) DEUTSCH Editor & Publisher GABRIELLE COHEN JORY EDLIN Assistant Editors YOSEFF FRANCUS ALEXIA KADISH Copy Editors

best part is, it’s something kids and parents can do together and it’s a great way to get in on the fun and festivities of the holiday… especially for those of us who don’t put up a sukkah of our own!”

Each cardboard sukkah will accommodate two small children or one older child inside. They will be precut and all decorations and art materials will be provided.

Families are encouraged to dress to make a mess.

Sukkah City Sunday is free with advance reservations and is open to young families with children, ages 12 and under, in which at least one parent is Jewish.

Older siblings and grandparents are always welcome.

For more information or to RSVP for Sukkah City Sunday please consult the Community Directory in this issue for Shalom Family’s contact information.

MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM IRIS PASTOR ZELL SCHULMAN PHYLLIS R. SINGER Contributing Columnists BONNIE ULLNER Advertising Sales Manager JENNIFER CARROLL Production Manager ERIN WYENANDT Office Manager

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fort’ idea to the next level and give families a chance to create an entire city out of cardboard sukkahs! But the fun doesn’t end there,” she adds. “After the event is over, the boxes can be folded flat and transported home for kids to enjoy for weeks to come!”

In addition to decorating their own personal sukkah, families will get to go on a hayride, pet farm animals, go inside a real sukkah to shake the lulav and etrog with Rabbi Shena Jaffe, and participate in PJ Library storytime. And of course there will be lots of deli-

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

JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor

An out of the box holiday celebration for young families Think outside the “box” and get in on the fun when Shalom Family and the Mayerson JCC present, Sukkah City Sunday on Sunday, September 22 at the School House Restaurant in Camp Dennison. The fun will unfold when each family is given a giant wardrobe-sized box to convert into a one-of-a- kind, kid-sized Sukkah! Using paint, paper chains, and other decorative elements, guests will get to transform a simple cardboard box into a truly unique creation to take home and enjoy. The event is free with advance reservations and includes lots of hands-on activities and other fun surprises in celebration of Sukkot!

“Sometimes a simple cardboard box is a lot more fun than the thing that came in it!” says Julie Robenson, Shalom Family Event Coordinator. “We thought we’d take the old ‘refrigerator box

The American Israelite

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Cincinnati’s two United Synagogue Youth, (USY,) professionals will continue to serve throughout the 5774 year. Mollie Newman and Chava Vidal will both be entering their third year working with Conservative Jewish teenagers in the Cincinnati community. Newman is the Youth Coordinator at Adath Israel Congregation, and Vidal is the Joint Youth Director for NCYG, Northern Cincinnati Youth Groups, which includes Ohav Shalom, Northern Hills and Hamilton Congregations.

Cincinnati is part of the Central region of USY, also known as CRUSY. Newman began at Adath Israel Congregation in the fall of 2011.

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the JCC by a TummyTime! certified teacher, and combine infant massage, baby yoga, acupressure, reflexology, and craniosacral techniques in a fun atmosphere that allows babies and grown-ups to get to know one another.

When you team up with the J, your kid wins! Whether it is JCC Blue Jay’s soccer, baseball, basketball, or t-ball, all skill levels can enjoy team play and you will be surprised at your little player’s new found confidence.

In addition to fun team sports, your child can learn discipline and get their kicks at the JCC when the popular Ahn Taekwondo Institute sets up a satellite version of their Blue Ash studio. Students will learn life skills such as citizenship, courtesy, self-control, and respect

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class is an adventure in fitness fun.

Two classes are specially designed to help young children learn and develop as they play.

Gymboree on the Go helps parents learn how to participate in and encourage their child’s development, while enjoying the simple pleasure of playing together.

Gymboree is a national leader in child enrichment classes and Gymboree on the Go parents are taught how to foster creativity and confidence, and help their children develop cognitive, physical and social skills as they play.

Playing on their tummies enables babies to develop motor skills (gross, fine and oral motor), enhance sensory awareness and improve visual skills.

TummyTime! classes are taught at

r in Am ape er sp i

Plug your kids into a healthy lifestyle with active new classes at the J. From Tummy Time and TBall, to cooking classes and creative dance, there are endless ways to fill your child’s day that don’t involve a television, video game or smart phone. Register now; fall classes start the week of September 3.

Many new and interactive classes have been added to the JCC’s popular fall session class line-up that offer a healthier way for kids to “play!” Stretch and Grow, for example, is an exercise and wellness program that features fun stories, lively music and kidfriendly equipment. This class will help lay a foundation for the future and focuses on building flexibility, strength and endurance. Every

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 $3.00 per single copy elsewhere in U.S. by The American Israelite Co. 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, OH. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE, 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037.

The views and opinions expressed by the columnists of The American Israelite do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the newspaper.

LOCAL • 5

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Ethan’s story On June 29, at Goldman Union Camp Institute, a Reform Jewish summer camp near Indianapolis, 12-yearold Ethan Kadish was teaching a group of younger campers how to play Ultimate Frisbee when a bolt of lightning from miles away struck him to the ground.

Camp counselors sprinted to Ethan and the two other children impacted by the strike. Ethan lay motionless, not breathing and counselors began administering CPR. Local EMT rushed Ethan to St. Vincent Hospital, the closest hospital to camp, and then onto Riley Children’s Hospital.

At home in Cincinnati, Ethan's father, Scott Kadish, answered the phone. It was Jen, a close friend and the emergency contact on Ethan’s camp form. "All she told me was that Ethan had been seriously injured, and that we needed to get to Indianapolis immediately," Scott said later. "That was all we knew." Jen’s husband, Larry, drove Alexia and Scott to Indianapolis.

When they arrived, Scott and Alexia were taken to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Stunned and terrified, they saw a swarm of doctors and nurses surrounding their athletic, wiry–haired boy, working furiously to save his life. Scott and Alexia sat and waited in the PICU through the night and into the next day.

Alexia Kadish speaks softly, "Of course he was playing. It was summer.

He loved every minute of every day at camp, a bright kid, growing fast. We had to push him to practice his Torah portion." Alexia pauses. "We had just mailed the invitations for his Bar Mitzvah."

The news spread throughout the U.S. and around the world. But it was the Jewish community in Cincinnati where the news hit hardest. The entire community began to rally, offering meals, transport and other personal help. The Kadishes’ Rabbi, Sissy Coran of Rockdale Temple, talked with HelpHOPELive, experts in fundraising for families facing expenses due to transplants and catastrophic injuries.

Ethan remained in critical condition, in an induced coma and breathing through a respirator. When he stabilized, doctors arranged emergency air transport to Cincinnati Children's Hospital so Ethan could receive treatments closer to home by brain injury rehabilitation experts.

A month into Ethan’s struggle, Rabbi Coran talks about the family, "Our community knows the Kadishes as a Jewish family living a Jewish life with Jewish values. They are a jewel of a family. On the day of the accident, their oldest boy, Zakary, was 16 and on a 5-week trip to Israel. Elyse, their 10year-old daughter, was also at the camp."

Alexia’s sister, Suzanne, from Southern California, set up a web page through Caring Bridge, so that Scott and Alexia, overwhelmed by calls and emails, could share what was happen-

ing with Ethan. Within hours, more than a thousand people had visited the site. Friends of the Kadish family established a "Team Ethan" support group to provide meals and other personal services so that Scott and Alexia could remain focused on Ethan.

Quickly, more than 200 community members joined the team, offering help. All the Kadish family asked for were prayers.

"This is a family that gives and gives to the Jewish community," says Shep Englander, CEO of the Cincinnati Jewish Federation.

"Ironically, for many years, Alexia has been the co-chair for My Family On Call, an organization that welcomes and helps families when they come to Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Now their child is there. We have to help with everything we have."

Scott Kadish says, "We don't know what comes next. As Ethan's lead doctor told us, 'It takes a long time for the brain to come back from these injuries.’ He's young and he's strong.

That helps. But his progress is going to be measured by weeks and months, not by days. In a year, we'll know more – and take it from there. We're on Ethan time now."

Now, after more than five weeks in rehabilitation, Ethan’s brain is struggling to make those connections. A fleeting smile, a few moments of eye contact, turning his head as a familiar voice talks to him, and recently, when Ethan was wheeled into sunshine for the first time, a tiny, happy laugh.

Alexia Kadish says, "Ethan has a long road ahead. Prayers have sustained us all this time. Now, with help, there's no saying how far he will go."

Rabbi Coran says, "We know that the Kadish family faces a frightening situation. Health insurance doesn't cover everything, including many physical and rehabilitation therapies and home care costs. Even with good insurance, care for a patient with these injuries can cost millions of dollars – and cost families their future. I talked with HelpHOPELive and asked, ‘How do we help this family?’”

HelpHOPELive helps families to bridge the gap between what insurance will pay and what is really needed for a young patient to live, heal and thrive.

The organization helps coordinate fund-raising efforts, including online donations, and directs tax-deductible contributions directly to health care providers, to help cover Ethan's future medical expenses.

Rabbi Coran says, "The Talmud says, 'to save one life is to save the entire world.' Ethan, Scott and Alexia have done the heavy lifting so far.

Now, it's our turn."

Additional information For further information and to donate to Ethan and his family, please contact the American Israelite directly.

A community open house Havdallah and healing service Team Ethan and Jen and Larry Smilg are hosting a community open house Havdallah and healing service for Ethan Kadish. The event is at Rockdale Temple on Saturday, August 24 at 7 p.m.

There is a dessert reception to follow.

Ethan suffered a brain injury when he was struck by lightning on June 29 at GUCI (Goldman Union Camp Institute). Scott and Alexia Kadish, his parents, will provide Ethan with all of the support necessary for him to continue his treatments as he progresses on his own

time. Realizing that his medical needs and expenses are going to be significant, the Kadishes are working with HelpHOPELive, a nonprofit organization that has set up the Great Lakes Catastrophic Injury Fund to assist those like HEALING on page 19

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Wise Temple director receives Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award Rachel Kasten, Wise Temple’s Assistant Director of Education and Youth Programs, was chosen this year to receive the prestigious Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.

This award is designed to recognize teachers and educators in communities across North America who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in the field of Jewish education. In addition to offering national recognition to Rachel, she receives a cash award from the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and another cash award from The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life and The Harold Grinspoon Foundation to be used for professional development.

In her recommendation of Rachel for this meaningful award Barbara Dragul, Director of Education and Lifelong Learning wrote: “Rachel has a very strong commitment to Jewish education; both for her own Jewish learning and for the Jewish learning and experiences of those she works with.

Whether she is reflecting on the best ways to teach and support our madrichim or helping to design our end of year siyyum for our eighth graders, she is continually striving to bring her best thinking and her best work to the task at hand. She seeks to build a strong sense of kehillah kedoshah as well as to bring real content to each of her program areas.

Northern Hills and Ohav Shalom to join for selichot service

In so many ways, she leads by example.” She adds, “The Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education is a reflection of the significant gifts Rachel brings to her work as a Jewish educator. Our school and our congregation are blessed to be the beneficiaries of those gifts!”

This elite award also has great significance for the field of Jewish education. It elevates the community respect we give to our educators while offering real opportunities and encouragement for their continued growth. It fosters a culture of appreciation for our teachers and staff,

Once again, Northern Hills Synagogue – Congregation B’nai Avraham and Congregation Ohav Shalom will combine to open the High Holiday season with a special Selichot program and service on Saturday, August 31. This year, the program and service will be held at Northern Hills and begin at 9:30 p.m.

Selichot are prayers for forgiveness. It is a Jewish tradition to recite these prayers each night beginning a few days before Rosh Hashanah (the New Year) and until Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).

The special program will feature the play "The Gates are

Closing," by Merle Feld, performed as a reading by members of Northern Hills and Ohav Shalom. The play follows ten main characters of different ages, backgrounds and situations as they grapple with issues of identity, meaning, repentance and forgiveness. It will be followed by a discussion and refreshments. The Selichot service will begin at 11 p.m., led by Barry Wolfson and accompanied by the Northern Hills choir, under the direction of Claire Lee. For more information about the program or the High Holidays, please contact Northern Hills or Ohav Shalom.

WISE on page 19

Adath Israel Mitzvah Day 2013 Sunday, August 25, 2013, marks Adath Israel’s 10th Annual Mitzvah Day. Mitzvah Day, chaired by Holly and Josh Wolfson, is a rewarding day dedicated to community. It is organized by The Adath Israel Social Action Committee. Volunteers of all ages donate their time to help Cincinnati’s charitable organizations.

This year Adath Israel’s Mitzvah Day will host 17 projects suitable for a variety of ages and ability. There are two off-site projects. These will take place at The Jewish Family Service Food

Pantry and Cedar Village. There are twelve on-site projects. These projects include letter writing, cooking for Over the Rhine Dropin Center, Caracole House and Tender Mercies. There is a carwash with proceeds benefitting Dragonfly Foundation. There are two new projects for children – A Trike-A-Thon benefitting St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital, and a craft project benefitting children at Shriners Hospital. There is even an opportunity to do the highest form of Mitzvot – saving a life. Hoxworth Blood Center will have a bus in

the parking lot from 9:30 a.m. – noon for blood donation and Gift of Life Bone Marrow Registry will be swabbing cheeks in the synagogue lobby from 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

In addition to the wonderful opportunity to do mitzvot there will be a bounce house for children, a book sale, and a FREE picnic lunch (RSVP required) from 11:30-12:30 p.m. Members and non-members are welcome.

To register for the event please go on Adath Israel’s website Please don’t miss out on this wonderful day of family fun and mitzvot!

Seeking Kin: Following a father’s footsteps back to Prague

Dallas teen’s bar mitzvah video sparks debate over culture of excess

By Hillel Kuttler Jewish Telegraphic Agency

By JTA Staff Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) – For some boys reaching the age of bar mitzvah, donning a prayer shawl and reading from the Torah is exciting enough. But Sam Horowitz knew he wanted more.

The Dallas teen is the star of a bar mitzvah video that has gone viral in the past two weeks, earning Horowitz a guest appearance on “Good Morning America” and more than 760,000 views on YouTube (and counting), though the actual bar mitzvah happened last year.

In the video, Horowitz is wearing a sparkly white suit as he descends from the ceiling inside a massive chandelier to a lavish ballroom at the Omni Hotel in Dallas for his bar mitzvah celebration.

Horowitz first came up with the idea after seeing the Cheetah Girls in concert at age 7, according to his mother, Angela.

“He said right then, ‘I wanna do that at my bar mitzvah,’ “ Angela told JTA. “And he held me to it.”

The bedazzling entrance

Courtesy of YouTube

Sam Horowitz dancing at his bar mitzvah party in Dallas, November 2012.

required no small amount of engineering. A stuntman descended in the chandelier with him – a requirement of the production company, according to Angela. The surrounding dancers, expressing their passionate bar mitzvah joy in flapperstyle minidresses, were local talent, including cheerleaders for the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.

According to Angela, it is the first of many times that Sam expects to see his name in lights.

“Sam wants to be famous in the

Participants from a past Mitzvah Day.

entertainment industry,” she said.

“He loves to sing and dance. He’s a really passionate kid.”

Sam already has an agent and has appeared in several commercials, as well as on the “Barney & Friends” TV show. And now he can add “Good Morning America” to his list of credits. Last week, the roundfaced teen strut his stuff on Broadway for the program’s cameras.

TEEN on page 22

BALTIMORE – As a girl in Seattle, Anne Bush evinced little interest in the Holocaust, even though her father, Harry, was a survivor whose mother, sister and brother-in-law had been murdered.

But as a mother in Baltimore, by then known as Chana Staiman, she gradually was drawn to the period, spurred in part by her elder son, Ari, who as a boy read incessantly on the Holocaust – to the extent, Staiman said, that she considered “taking him to see someone” for counseling.

By then, Harry Bush had already died, and Staiman came to regret not having engaged him in conversations about the Holocaust or his prewar youth.

So in late July, to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary, Staiman and her husband, Jeremy, traveled to Prague from their home in Israel.

She wanted to take in the city that had shaped the character of her father, who grew up in the Czech capital as Jindrich Busch.

The Staimans set out from Beit Shemesh, where they have lived since 2011 – Chana works as an ultrasound technologist and Jeremy owns a graphic-design firm – not knowing what they would find.

By the end of their five days in Prague, Staiman had located many sites associated with her father’s youth, including the second-floor window frame from which the young Jindrich and his brother Otto dangled their feet after being sent to their room as punishment. The Staimans also visited Terezin, the fortress turned concentration camp 40 miles north of Prague where Chana’s father was incarcerated.

The Nazis later infamously duped the International Red Cross into deeming the camp a model Jewish settlement.

And they saw the fulcrum for the two portions of Bush’s European life: the assembly point from where he was deported and his idyllic upbringing in Prague ended.

To find these places, she relied on strangers in Prague – and on a SEEKING on page 22

NATIONAL • 7

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

AJC: Egypt’s Coptic Community Needs Protection Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK – AJC is appalled by the ongoing, targeted attacks on Egypt’s Coptic community. One of the oldest churches in Egypt, built in the 4th century, the Virgin Mary in Minya, was destroyed by fire today, an Egyptian human rights activist has tweeted. Media have reported attacks on churches in in the city of Suez and churches in other villages were also attacked, according to media reports.

“Organized violence against Egypt’s Copts, the murder of innocents and destruction of churches, is outrageous and unforgivable,” said Jason Isaacson, AJC Director of Government and International Affairs, who last visited Egypt in April.

“Lost in much of the reporting on the polarization and violence in Egypt

National Briefs StandWithUs campaign on Chapel Hill buses responds to church’s anti-Israel ad (JNS) The pro-Israel education group StandWithUs on Aug. 17 launched a one-year campaign that will feature pro-Israel advertisements on the interior of 98 buses in Chapel Hill, NC. The campaign counters an anti-Israel ad placed on Chapel Hill buses by the Church of Reconciliation. The church’s ad campaign, which also ran for one year, will finish at the end of August.

The Church of Reconciliation’s ad stated “Build peace with justice and equality. End U.S. military aid to Israel.” The ad “confuses and deceives the public,” said Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs. Touro Synagogue artifacts dispute to continue after mediation fails (JNS) Talks between the historic Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI, and a New York City synagogue that claims ownership over the Touro Synagogue and its artifacts broke down this week after a U.S. District Court judge declared the mediation failed, the Providence Journal reported.

According to the Providence Journal, a dispute between Congregation Jeshuat Israel, which uses the historic Touro Synagogue that was built in 1763, and New York City’s Congregation Shearith Israel, which was given the deed to the synagogue in the early 19th century when the original Jewish community left, arose over plans to sell the synagogue’s 18th-century finial bells to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for $7.4 million. Touro

is the apparent targeting of Copts and their institutions by followers of Mohamed Morsi, the ousted president,” said Isaacson. “In the absence of Muslim Brotherhood restraint on these elements, it is imperative that Egyptian authorities step up efforts to ensure the safety of the Christian Coptic community.”

More than 100,000 Copts have fled Egypt since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, writes Samuel Tadros in his newly published book, “Motherland Lost: The Egyptian and Coptic Quest for Modernity.”

Copts have been mistreated throughout Egypt’s history, but the increase in attacks in recent days suggest that supporters of the ousted government of Muslim Brotherhood leader Morsi are blaming the dwindling Christian population for the mil-

itary crackdown.

“Scapegoating and brutally attacking a minority Christian community in the most populous Arab country does not bode well for the future of Christians in Egypt or for Christian communities across the Arab world,” said Isaacson.

In addition to the murder of a Coptic priest within days after the overthrow of the Morsi government, a 10-year-old Christian girl was shot dead last week on the way home from her Cairo church.

An AJC Board delegation, meeting with senior government officials in Cairo in April, expressed deep concerns to the previous government about the safety of the Coptic community. The AJC leaders arrived on their previously scheduled visit shortly after the St. Marks Coptic Cathedral in Cairo was attacked.

Synagogue is the oldest synagogue building that is still standing in the U.S.

think that there will be much progress,” Cantor said at a press conference in Jerusalem on Aug. 14, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Cantor also criticized celebrations held by the PA for the first 26 terrorists released last week in the first phase of Israel’s prisoner release for Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations.

Moody’s affirms Israel’s A1 credit rating, citing ‘economic resiliency’ (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) Moody’s affirmed Israel’s A1 international credit rating on Thursday, commending the Israeli government for its budgetary discipline and reforms.

In 2008, the credit rating agency upgraded Israel’s rating to A1, and it has held steady since. The company said that Israel’s high standing was made possible by the overall fiscal health of the economy, the government’s move to rein in spending, and the austerity measures it had introduced.

‘Schindler’s List’ real-life documents sold at New Hampshire auction (JNS) Documents belonging to Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who saved more than 1,000 Jewish workers from being sent to concentration camps during the Holocaust, were sold at a New Hampshire auction for more than $122,000 on Thursday.

One of the documents is a letter signed by Schindler, the man whose story was immortalized on screen in Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List.” An anonymous buyer bought the letter for $59,135, said RR Auction of Amherst, New Hampshire.

Eric Cantor: Progress toward peace requires Palestinian ‘cultural mind-shift’ (JNS) U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (RVA), the House Majority Leader, said while leading a trip of 28 congressmen to Israel that he doesn’t envision progress in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict until there is a Palestinian “cultural mind-shift.”

“Until that point comes, I don’t

Brooklyn street named for murdered Jamaican convert (JTA) A New York City street was renamed for a Jamaican convert to Judaism who was shot while protecting his girlfriend during a robbery.

Avenue J and Nostrand Avenue in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn is now “Yoseph Robinson Avenue” to honor the memory of the 34-year-old former hip-hop musician who worked as a clerk at a kosher liquor store.

N.J. Schechter school closes three weeks before new term (JTA) A Solomon Schechter day school in New Jersey shut down three weeks before classes were due to begin.

The Solomon Schechter School of the Raritan Valley in East Brunswick announced in an email to parents on Aug. 7 that the school would not reopen for financial reasons, the Forward reported.

Fire at N.Y. camp for kids with cancer destroys bunkhouse (JTA) A fire at Camp Simcha, a camp for children with cancer, destroyed one bunkhouse and damaged a newly built one.

The fire was discovered when a counselor at the camp in Glen Spey, N.Y., woke up early Saturday morning and smelled smoke. The counselors evacuated the 15 residents of the cabin, including one camper in a wheelchair, VIN News reported.

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8 • NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL

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Jewish leaders react with shock to fall of longtime anti-poverty activist William Rapfogel

By Josh Lipowsky Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK – The New York Jewish communal world reacted with shock this week to news that William Rapfogel, longtime head of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and a major player in New York’s Jewish community, had been fired for alleged financial improprieties.

The Met Council, which provides a range of services to poor Jewish households in the New York area, announced Monday that it had removed Rapfogel from his positions as executive director and chief executive officer after discovering “financial irregularities and apparent misconduct in connection with the organization’s insurance policies,” the organization’s board said in a statement.

Rapfogel, 58, had headed the organization since 1992 and was considered a major power broker in the city. His wife, Judy, is chief of staff to Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, one the most important figures in state government.

Many communal figures declined to comment Tuesday, but those who did expressed shock that Rapfogel, long a highly regarded figure, could be caught up in a financial scandal.

“I was very outraged and shocked,” said Masha Girshin

International Briefs Egypt Coptic Christian leadership condemns Western media coverage (JNS) In the face of an unprecedented wave of violence directed against Coptic Christians amid the turmoil in Egypt that has left hundred’s dead, the church’s leadership issued a statement condemning the Western media’s biased coverage of the events in Egypt.

One of the oldest communities in Christianity, Coptic Christians have survived numerous persecutions in the past. But the recent violence is unprecedented. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an independent human rights organization, has documented 39 attacks against Coptic Christian churches, schools, monasteries and businesses since late last week, NPR reported.

Possible terrorism threat means Israelis should avoid visiting Turkey, bureau says (JNS) The Israeli government issued an unequivocal travel advi-

Courtesy of Metropolitan Council

William Rapfogel, left, then the head of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg attending the social service agency's annual legislative breakfast, June 2008.

Pearl, executive director of The Blue Card, a New York-based organization that provides emergency funds to impoverished Holocaust survivors nationwide.

“For the Jewish community and all the organizations working tirelessly to really do good, it just puts a dark cloud over the Jewish community and the good work that so many organizations like The Blue Card have been doing.”

Rabbi Menachem Genack, the CEO of the Orthodox Union’s kosher division, was honored by

Met Council in 2010 at the annual Kosherfest food showcase.

Genack told JTA he considered Rapfogel a friend and was impressed by his concern for combating Jewish poverty.

“I consider him a good person,” Genack said. “Sometimes good people make huge mistakes.

I hope things work out as best as possible considering the circumstances.”

Exactly what Rapfogel is accused of remains murky.

The New York Daily News,

sory on Monday warning Israelis to avoid visiting Turkey, a popular vacation destination for Israelis over the summer and during the upcoming Jewish holidays, Israel Hayom reported.

The Prime Minister’s Office issued its routine semi-annual travel warning, formulated by the office’s Counterterrorism Bureau, stating that all non-essential visits to Turkey “should be avoided.”

edly for $800 million to $1 billion (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) Technology giant IBM announced Thursday that it plans to acquire Israeli security software vendor Trusteer for an undisclosed amount, believed to be between $800 million and $1 billion.

With offices in Boston and Tel Aviv, Trusteer helps firms protect Web applications, employee and customer computers, and mobile devices from cyber threats.

Among Trusteer’s more prominent clients are financial services firms such as Bank of America, HSBC, PayPal and RBS. Trusteer is considered one of the fastestgrowing cybersecurity companies in Israel, with an annual income of $100 million.

Families of terrorism victims, opposing U.S. role in prisoner release, write open letter to Kerry (JNS) Families of terrorism victims have written an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to express their outrage over the U.S. government’s role in pushing Israel to release 104 Palestinian terrorist prisoners, 26 of whom were released last week, as part of a goodwill gesture for Israeli-Palestinian conflict talks.

The open letter, signed by a group of 18 family members of terrorism victims who call themselves the Bereaved Families for Peace and Justice, explains to Kerry that Israelis already understand the necessary sacrifices for peace.

IBM buys Israeli cybersecurity startup Trusteer, report-

Hezbollah claims responsibility for Lebanon border attack that injured four Israeli soldiers (JNS) Hezbollah’s leader has claimed responsibility for the attack that wounded four Israeli soldiers last week on the IsraeliLebanese border.

In a live interview on Lebanese television station AlMayadeen, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said that his terror group had planted the devices and

citing an anonymous source, reported Tuesday that Rapfogel is suspected of purchasing insurance policies at inflated prices and then pocketing the difference.

The insurance firm, the Long Island-based Century Coverage Corp., has made tens of thousands of dollars in political donations, raising the possibility that Rapfogel may have used the scheme to enhance his political clout.

In a statement issued Monday through his lawyers, Rapfogel apologized and appeared to acknowledge the accusations against him.

“After 21 years at the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, I deeply regret the mistakes I have made that have led to my departure from the organization,” Rapfogel said in a statement. “I apologize to our dedicated officers and board, our incredible staff and those who depend on Met Council. I let them all down.”

Rapfogel also asked for forgiveness and promised to “do everything possible to make amends.”

With a budget of $33 million, more than half of which comes from public state and city sources, the Met Council is a major force in the Jewish social service world, working with Jewish groups throughout the city to provide

emergency relief and other services to low-income households.

Rapfogel also was known for his political involvement, hosting an annual breakfast that drew many influential political figures.

Prior to his role at the Met Council, he worked as an assistant New York City comptroller and as an aide to Mayor Ed Koch.

“I am stunned and deeply saddened by this news,” Silver said in a statement sent to JTA. “While there is still much that we don’t know, we do know that the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty has given tens of thousands of New Yorkers of all faiths and backgrounds lifesaving help over the past four decades. Met Council also played a critical role helping our communities recover from Superstorm Sandy, and its work should in no way be diminished by these developments.”

A statement from the Met Council’s board said there has been no evidence that any other current employees were engaged in wrongdoing.

The matter is under investigation by the New York state comptroller’s office in cooperation with the state attorney general’s joint Task Force on Public Integrity, a spokesperson for comptroller’s office confirmed.

were waiting for the soldiers to come.

“The feet that will enter our land and we know about it will be cut. ... This is our right,” Nasrallah said, the Associated Press reported.

Israeli government is pressing its efforts to convince the United States and the European Union to support the military-backed government in Egypt.

The New York Times reported late Sunday that Israeli ambassadors in Washington and the European capitals will lobby foreign ministers, and that Israeli leaders will urge diplomats to see the Israeli viewpoint that the Egyptian military will prevent a further deterioration of the situation in Cairo.

Jewish Agency brings 17 Yemenite Jews to Israel in covert mission (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) As tensions run high and instability mounts in Yemen, the Jewish Agency for Israel on Wednesday orchestrated a complex covert mission, spanning two continents, to bring a group of 17 Yemenite Jews to Israel and unite several families that have been separated for the last two years.

Since 2009, when anti-Semitic threats began to mount in Yemen, Israel has absorbed a record 150 Yemenite Jews. In December 2008, Jewish teacher Moshe Ya’ish al-Nahari was murdered by a Muslim Yemenite activist who demanded that his victim convert to Islam. In May 2012, Jewish community leader Aharon Zindani was stabbed to death in Sanaa.

Israel lobbying U.S., EU to support Egypt’s military government JERUSALEM (JTA) The

Brussels refuses to register baby name Jerusalem (JTA) The city of Brussels refused to register the name of a locally born Israeli baby because Jerusalem does not appear on a list of approved names for children born in the country.

Hagar and Alinadav Hyman, Israelis who have lived and worked in Brussels for the last three years, decided to name their first-born Alma Jerusalem.

The Brussels City Hall clerk offered to compromise, telling the couple that if it obtained an official letter from the Israeli embassy confirming that Jerusalem is a valid name, then it would issue a Belgian birth certificate for the baby.

INTERNATIONAL • 9

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Antwerp haredi schools forced to choose between censorship and subsidies

By Cnaan Liphshiz New government regulations are threatening the pedagogical autonomy of Antwerp’s haredi Orthodox schools and sowing division between hardliners and moderates over whether to bring the community’s school system into conformity with secular educational standards.

Earlier this summer, the Flemish government issued decrees that would force both state-funded and private Jewish schools to teach mandatory curriculums that include evolutionary biology, human reproduction and other subjects considered taboo by Antwerp’s 18,000 haredi Jews.

Beginning this year, schools that refuse to comply stand to lose hundreds of thousands of euros in subsidies each year. Even private Jewish schools that don’t receive such public funding will be forced, beginning

in September, to test their children on mandatory subjects. Two failures would lead to enrollment in a staterecognized school.

“For us, the new regulations could mean exile,” said Menachem, a father of eight from Antwerp and a member of the Satmar hasidic sect.

“I will send my children to England.

It’s tough, but it’s better than having their minds polluted.”

For decades, Antwerp’s large Orthodox community could count on Belgian authorities not to interfere with the dozens of Jewish schools that dot the Flemish capital.

But motivated in part by disproportionate poverty rates among haredi Jews in the city, the government is cracking down on an educational system that critics say does not prepare its graduates for economic success.

Figures show that 25 percent of Flemish haredim live below the

Courtesy of Cnaan Liphshiz

Haredi Orthodox parent walking his children to the Jesode Hatorah school in Antwerp.

Egyptian movement that helped oust Morsi seeks to reverse peace deal with Israel

By Israel Hayom Staff Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS After the Muslim Brotherhood did not overturn Egypt’s 1979 peace deal with Israel during its term in power, the liberal group that began the push to remove the party from power has begun collecting signatures in efforts to rescind the agreement.

The Tamarod (rebellion) movement, a grassroots effort to register opposition to now-deposed president Mohamed Morsi and force him to call early elections, helped launch the July 2013 protests in Egypt, which preceded the consequent military removal of Morsi. The same group is now demanding that Egypt sever ties with Israel as part of a wider campaign seeking to end dependence on U.S. aid, in light of recent sanctions imposed by Washington on the Egyptian army.

Tamarod is calling for a reversal

of the 1979 peace agreement with the “Israeli entity, which is binding the hands of Egypt’s security forces in Sinai.” The movement’s activists wish to reformulate Egyptian security agreements with Israel in a way that will “ensure Egypt’s right to secure its borders.” According to the organizers of the new Tamarod petition, the petition has so far garnered more than 300,000 signatures.

Israel is closely monitoring the initiative. According to an anonymous official who spoke to Israel Hayom, “The fact that there are groups in Egypt trying to promote the issue, specifically now, and that they are calling themselves ‘liberals,’ suggests, more than anything, that their priorities are out of order and bizarre. Even if there is a public demand, the Egyptian leaders, regardless of their affiliation, are well aware of the interests that EGYPTIAN on page 21

poverty line, compared to less than 10 percent of the general population.

Recent surveys have found that only 8.6 percent of haredi school graduates pursue higher education, compared to the national average of

about 50 percent, according to Claude Marinower, Antwerp’s deputy mayor and alderman for education.

“Young haredim find it harder to find work at a time when the econo-

my is declining and as haredi diamond traders face stronger competition from Indian traders on Antwerp’s diamond exchange,” SCHOOLS on page 20

10 • ISRAEL

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‘Start-up nation’ scientists cultivated at early ages by Israel’s Technoda

By Maxine Dovere JNS On the one hand, Givat Olga is an underprivileged neighborhood in the Israeli city of Hadera with about 12,000 people, primarily immigrants from Ethiopia, North Africa and the former Soviet Union. On the other, the neighborhood is home to the breeding ground for the next generation of science pioneers emerging from the “start-up nation.”

The decision to build Technoda –

Israel’s National Museum of Science, Planning and Technology – in the unexpected location of Givat Olga brought educational resources to children who previously had limited access to them. Technoda got off the ground in 1986 with the support of the Rashi Foundation. One of Technoda’s founding fathers, Zion Bash, a senior engineer at Intel, helped develop an educational program with a focal point of enrichment in the sciences.

Twenty students took part in the

Eilat ‘will never enjoy security,’ Palestinian terrorist group says after rocket attack

By Ronit Zilberstein, Lilach Shoval and Israel Hayom JNS Hours after a Grad rocket was intercepted by an Israeli Iron Dome battery in the southern city of Eilat for the first time, a Salafi Palestinian terror organization claimed responsibility for the attack. The group claimed the rocket attack was in retaliation for a weekend drone strike, attributed to Israel by foreign media, which killed four Palestinian terrorists as they were readying to launch a rocket into Israel.

The Salafi group – The

Israel Briefs Palestinian hacker posts on Marc Zuckerberg’s Facebook wall JERUSALEM (JTA) A Palestinian hacker posted a message on Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg’s wall to show there is a bug in the social network’s security settings.

Khalil Shreateh of Hebron posted information about the bug on Zuckerberg’s wall late last week following unsuccessful attempts to report the bug to Facebook security.

The bug allowed Shreateh to post on the walls of other members despite security settings.

“Sorry for breaking your privacy ... I had no other choice ... after all the reports I sent to Facebook team,” Shreateh wrote on Zuckerberg’s wall.

Facebook security had denied that the flaw was a bug.

Zuckerberg has 18 million friends on his Facebook page.

Ban Ki-moon acknowledges Israel suffers from bias and

Mojahideen Shura Council Environs of Jerusalem – which operates in Sinai and the Gaza Strip, issued a statement on Tuesday saying, “We bombed Umm al-Rashrash (the Arabic name for Eilat) with a Grad rocket was a rapid response to the crime committed by Jews recently, in which four jihadi fighters were killed by drone in Sinai.”

The organization went on to issue threats, saying, “The Mojahideen have infused fear and awe into the hearts of the criminal Jews who were forced to scurry into EILAT on page 19 discrimination at U.N. (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) In a rare admission, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said on Friday that there is U.N. bias against Israel.

Speaking to university students at the U.N. Headquarters in Jerusalem, Ban stated that Israel, as a U.N. member, should get the same treatment as other nations.

“Unfortunately, because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel has been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias and sometimes even discrimination,” he said.

Egyptian movement that helped oust Morsi seeks to reverse peace deal with Israel (JNS) The Tamarod (rebellion) movement, a grassroots effort to register opposition to now-deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and force early elections, helped launch the July 2013 protests in Egypt. The same group is now demanding that Egypt sever ties with Israel as part of a wider campaign seeking to end dependence on U.S. aid, in light of recent sanctions imposed by Washington on the Egyptian army.

Israeli economy second-quarter growth exceeds expecta-

first iteration of the Technoda program, which now provides more than 30,000 children per year with a hands-on science and general education. Students range from gan (prekindergarten) to high school.

“A small room has become a castle,” Dr. Gadi Mador, Technoda’s director, says in an interview with JNS. “One of the basic elements for the future of Israel is to be, first and

Courtesy of Technoda

START UP on page 21

Israeli scientists are cultivated at young ages by Technoda, whose educational programming is pictured here.

Hadassa Margolese, fighter for religious tolerance, quits Beit Shemesh

By Ben Sales Jewish Telegraphic Agency TEL AVIV (JTA) – Two years ago, Hadassa Margolese became a symbol of resistance to haredi Orthodox domination after she allowed her 8-year-old daughter to tell an Israeli reporter how religious men had spit on her as she walked to school.

The report made headlines around the world and cast Margolese into the spotlight as a defender of the rights and values of the Modern Orthodox community in Beit Shemesh, a city of approximately 75,000 just off the main highway between Jerusalem and Tel tions (JNS) Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) announced that the Israeli economy grew at an annual rate of 5.1 percent in the second fiscal quarter of 2013, beating economists’ expectations.

Economists had projected 3-percent growth in the second quarter for Israel. This compares with just 2.7percent growth in the first quarter and 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 for the Israeli economy.

Latin American trading moves up on the Israeli agenda (JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working to improve economic ties with politically friendly Latin American countries in order to compensate for the crippled economy of Israel’s main trading continent, Europe.

The new effort to increase Latin American trading, particularly with Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico, will complement Netanyahu’s simultaneous effort to increase economic ties with China and other East Asian countries.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations won’t yield peace deal, 80 percent say in poll (JNS) About 80 percent of Israeli respondents in a new poll,

Aviv with a growing haredi population.

Now Margolese has departed Beit Shemesh – driven out not by the haredi Orthodox with whom she once clashed but by members of her own Modern Orthodox community.

In May, Margolese published a column on the website of the Israeli daily Maariv detailing the degrading treatment she had endured during her monthly visits to a public mikvah, or ritual bath, a practice required by religious laws on marital intimacy. But rather than rally around her as it did in 2011, some in the Modern Orthodox community MARGOLESE on page 22 conducted by New Wave Research for Israel Hayom, said IsraeliPalestinian conflict negotiations would not produce a permanent peace agreement to end the conflict.

About 6 percent of the 500 respondents, who included Israeli Jews ages 18 and up, said a peace agreement would be reached, and 14 percent did not express on opinion on the result of Israeli-Palestinian conflict talks.

Israel dismisses accusations that it was behind Beirut bombing (JNS) Current and former Israeli officials dismissed Lebanese accusations that the Jewish state was behind Thursday’s car bomb in a Hezbollah-controlled area in southern Beirut that killed 22 people.

Lebanese interior minister, Marwan Charbel, said the bombing “was carefully prepared,” and that “one of the theories is that it could have been an Israeli retaliation for the Labouneh operation.

Israeli President Shimon Peres said “Why blame Israel?” It is Hezbollah that is amassing bombs and killing people in Syria without the permission of the Lebanese government.”

Judea and Samaria housing

Courtesy of Kobi Gideon / Flash90 / JTA

Hadassa Margolese walking her daughter Naama to school in Beit Shemesh a few days after Naama was harassed by haredi Orthodox men, December 2011.

prices skyrocket, residents say supply is low (JNS) Housing prices in Judea and Samaria continue to rise at a rate faster than in the rest of Israel.

High demand and low supply characterize the housing market in various Judea and Samaria communities, Israel Hayom reported.

Hebrew University, ranked 59th in the world, tops list of leading Israeli universities (JNS) The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is ranked first in Israel and 59th overall in the newly released 2013 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

Published since 2003 by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, ARWU ranks the world’s top 500 universities. It is considered one of the top school rankings systems due to its transparent methodology and reliable data.

Other Israeli universities ranked highly as well, including three in the top 100. The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa came in at 77th, and the Weizmann Institute of Science ranked 92nd.

Harvard University took the top spot on the list.

SOCIAL LIFE • 11

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

ANNOUNCEMENTS BIRTH

ACCOMPLISHMENT

ustin and Joanna Schneider of Brookline, Mass. are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Adam Emanuel, born July 7th, 2013. Adam is the grandson of Patti and Ray Schneider of Cincinnati and Janet and Mauricio Wapinski of Monterrey, Mexico. He is the great grandson of Sheal and Bibs Becker, Joseph Schneider and the late Ellen Schneider all of Cincinnati. He is also the great grandson of Gustava Schwarz, Rebecca Wapinski and the late Enrique Schwarz and Emanuel Wapinski, of Monterrey, Mexico.

M

J

BIRTH anielle and Josh Kroo of Riverdale, New York announce the birth of their daughter, Lillian Elior on August 3, 2013. Lily is the sister of Samson Ezra Kroo. She is the granddaughter of Katie and Ira Kroo of Montreal Quebec, Steve Stein and the late Sandra Stein of Cincinnati. Lily is also the great-granddaughter of Emil and Lucia Kroo of Montreal and Leon Gabinet and the late Laille Gabinet of Cleveland, Ohio.

D

Allison Greenberg and Adam Licata

WEDDING llison Brooke Greenberg and Adam James Licata were married on September 29, 2012 at Alms Park in Cincinnati, Ohio. The ceremony was followed by a reception at the Newport Aquarium in Newport, KY. After a honeymoon cruise to Venice, the Greek islands, and Turkey, they reside in Oakley.

The bride, 29, works as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She graduated from Cincinnati

A

Miriam Jackobs

Country Day School as CoValedictorian and Princeton University with a degree in molecular biology. She also completed a post-baccalaureate at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. The bride is the daughter of Pamela S. Meyers and Gerald S. Greenberg of Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father is a partner in the law firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister and is President-Elect of Adath Israel Synagogue.

The bride’s mother, an attorney, retired as General Counsel of Mosler Inc. and is a docent at the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Licata, 29, is a Sales Engineer at ITS Partners, Grand Rapids, Mich., a Symantec partner which focuses on IT management and security software solutions for businesses. He graduated from Miami University, after which he worked in its information technology department.

He is the son of Rod and Tammy Culler and Jim and Kim Licata, all of Holland, Ohio.

Culler is a realtor with Wells Bowen Realtors and owns Rodco Properties. His mother is a commercial real estate property manager at Rodco.

His father is a professional plumber, and Mrs. Licata is an assistant at a dermatology office.

The couple met in 2009 at the Blue Ash Fourth of July fireworks celebration, which the bride considered the most public venue in the Greater Cincinnati area, after corresponding online for most of 2009. The Newport Aquarium, where the wedding reception was held, also was the location of the groom’s marriage proposal the prior year in front of the octopus tank accompanied by a three-piece mariachi band imported by him for the occasion.

ason resident Miriam Jackobs was one of the senior athletes at this year’s National Senior Games in Cleveland.

Along with more than 10,000 adults all over the age of 50, Jackobs took her athletic skills to Cleveland and competed in the 2013 National Senior Games presented by Humana. She took home 6th place in the 1500 meter race walk.

Since 1998, Jackobs has participated in races on all continents (including Antarctica). She is a registered dietitian and adjunct professor at Wilmington College of Ohio for 20 years and is in the process of becoming certified as a race walk judge

12 • CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE

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ADATH ISRAEL SCHOOL END OF THE YEAR CELEBRATION! Jarson Education Center at Adath Israel Congregation completed the school year as it began –with a lot of activity! We honored our 7th grade class as they graduated from Jarson Education Center and prepared to move on to Mercaz Conservative Hebrew High School next fall; The whole school came together for an assembly to acknowledge those students who had outstanding attendance at religious school this year. There were over 30 studentswho attended 90% or more of the time! We also recognized students

Two of our pre-gan students wait patiently for their turn in the giant inflatable obstacle course.

The bouncy house is open and ready for jumpers.

Religious School helps to build friendships between our children.

Building a castle with Jenga blocks.

in each grade who attended Shabbat morning services. Our 5th grade class and their parents planted our Organic Garden which they will care for this summer. To top off an already eventful morning we had a cookout and yearend celebration complete with many games and inflatables for all ages!

Some of our 3rd graders wait for the assembly to start.

Some of our religious school families enjoying their lunch at our end- of- the- year celebration.

Bigfoot racing!

One of our 5th graders readies the soil for planting. When the vegetables are ripe they will be donated to various organizations in the community.

Teacher David Gershuny delivers a charge to his 7th grade class.

Our Rabbinic Intern Brent Gutmann takes a turn in the dunk tank.

Students who had over a 90% attendance rate are given gift cards to Orange Leaf Yogurt!

CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Rabbi Wise, Teacher David Gershuny and one of our graduates.

Some of our Seventh Grade students after receiving their certificates and gifts.

A couple of our Shabbat attendance prize winners! Some of these students attended over 25 Shabbat services this school year alone! They received gift cards to a movie theatre.

Kindergarten teacher Debbie Lempert leads everyone is Modeh Ani to begin our day.

She also lead us in Hatikvah.

At left: Our 5th grade class learned about taking care of the environment and feeding the hungry this year. They will spend the summer caring for the garden that they planted.

14 • DINING OUT

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Crowds at service counter, but no lines please, at Marx Bagels

By Bob Wilhelmy Dining Editor Marx Hot Bagels is a kosher bakery and deli watched over by Cincinnati Kosher, formerly the Vaad Hoier. Patrons of the bagel shop may notice a throng of people standing at the bagel counter.

Disarray seems to abound on both sides of the counter. No order, in fact, but benign disorder—pretty much everywhere.

On the customer side is a jumble of people, clustered shoulder to shoulder. Some jockey for position, as would-be spectators at the rope-line of a golf tournament. Others merely wait and watch, until one of the counter staff points to them and asks if they have been helped. The scene on the service side can be noisy, disorganized and perhaps a bit Keystone Koppish. Usually, John Marx can be heard yelling what we’ll graciously call “encouragements” to those filling bagel orders.

Some customers might wonder about this oddity in today’s world of rigid retailing, where the norm is taking numbers, standing in queues and even hearing scripted words from those serving the public.

There is a reason for the seeming chaos at Marx Hot Bagels. It was spawned by a conversation that took place in 1969, in Roselawn, in a small bagel shop along Reading Road. John Marx worked in that shop for an owner who succumbed to bankruptcy only months after the fateful conversation. Marx would buy the assets out of bankruptcy, and reopen as Marx Bagels.

That’s history, but what was the conversation? Marx remembers it this way: “The owner of the bagel shop had numbers people took, and when the number was called, they would be waited on in order. Customers would line up with their numbers and be served one at a time, like that, by number.

“On this particular day in 1969, there were three older Jewish ladies waiting in line.

They asked me why the shop had numbers and made people wait in line,” Marx said.

Turns out, all three ladies were survivors of Nazi concentration camps. They all agreed that nothing good would happen to them when they stood in line; only bad things happened in those camps when lines were formed.

“So I decided not to have lines or numbers in honor of those ladies and what they said about their experiences in the camps,” Marx said. “Some people get mad at no line, and because I yell and

John Marx, owner/operator of Marx Hot Bagels

The bakery case filled to bursting with parve baked goods, such as challahs and hamantaschen cookies

try to get everybody waited on; it’s not meant to be crude or rude or anything, but just to do business in a way that honors those heroes (who survived the camps) and the fact that they were uncomfortable with lines and what all that meant back then.”

Jewish patrons of today, about to celebrate the high holy days, will find Marx Hot Bagels accommodating in many ways.

They’ll find honey cakes and challahs, both egg and raisin rounds. Also, they will find a

totally parve bakery case. Bread selections are made the old-fashioned way, put together from scratch and baked on stone shelves instead of in pans. In fact, “we bake all our goods here from scratch, with a few exceptions (such as baklava); all the strudels, the brownies, elephant ears, cookies rugelachs and the hearth breads,” he said.

Another service that is available any time is assembly of food trays for holidays and special occasions. “We make food trays

The exterior of the bagel shop, on Kenwood Road in Blue Ash.

for times when people gather,” said Danielle Marx, the other half of the husband-wife team. “For instance, we do the food trays with all the vegetables, the sliced tomatoes, celery, carrots, onions, pickles and olives around, and the tuna and egg salad and white fish and cream cheeses, including flavored ones. We can even provide the hard boiled eggs if they want, and the lox.

“Then we have the bagels that go along with the trays in a basket on the side. And we can do

these (orders for trays) very quickly (24 hours notice is appreciated) and have them ready to go.”

Marx Hot Bagels features dining tables and counter service for breakfast and lunch diners, with a full kosher menu.

See you at Marx Hot Bagels.

Marx Hot Bagels 9701 Kenwood Rd. Blue Ash 891 – 5542

DINING OUT • 15

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

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16 • OPINION

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At a Muslim-Jewish conference, dialogue and hope

By Itai Reuveni Jewish Telegraphic Agency SARAJEVO, BosniaHerzegovina – Sarajevo is a city with a rich multicultural past, but it also bears the scars of war. Take a short walk through the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina and you will see the many cemeteries and bullet-riddled walls, which are undergoing restoration.

These lay side by side with magnificent churches, mosques and synagogues. For this reason, 100 Jews and Muslims from 39 countries gathered there last month to listen and learn from one another at an interfaith dialogue conference organized by the Muslim-Jewish Conference.

I was uneasy about participating. I was concerned that as an Israeli, a secular Jew, a combat soldier in the reserves and a Zionist activist, I would be surrounded by political activists whose sole purpose is to vilify Israel. From my experience, many dialogue initiatives have been hijacked by radicals, who silence any voice that is different.

On the very first day, however, my concerns were allayed. I found myself sitting and talking with young men and women from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Egypt, European Muslims, along with Jews from all over the world, each voicing their unique perspectives on conflicts, hate speech, gender relations and religious practice. Miraculously, despite the Arab-Israeli conflict, the different sides succeeded in overcoming the stereotypes, biases and ignorance we all have.

On the interpersonal level, it was a great success: a diverse group of Jews and Muslims who set aside their cynicism and mistrust, and engaged in friendly conversation for a week. Many questions were asked, some of them difficult and pointed, but there was room for answering, explaining and listening, an attempt to bridge the gaps that for many Israelis often seem unbridgeable.

It was not all rosy.

Disagreements and tensions were present, and groups opposing interreligious dialogue accused

the organizers of promoting certain political agendas. We may have been successful in overcoming our personal differences and finding common ground, but hatred, the foundation of violence, is still rife in many parts of the Muslim and Western worlds.

The MJC has become a platform for coexistence and peace, which allowed me to present the Jewish-Zionist perspective to young Muslims. For this reason, Zionist activists – from the political left and right – must be more involved in initiatives promoting dialogue, and not leave them to groups and individuals who are more interested in feeding the conflict.

In Israel, the Arab-Israeli conflict is prominent in all public discourse, and it is practically impossible to have a dialogue without it being the focus. However, it is still possible to learn from initiatives that have not been infected with a radical agenda, to try to bring people closer together, and to stop fanning the flames of hatred and alienation inside Israel, and between Israel and its neighbors. The true challenge is to bring those furthest apart closer together.

The conference in Sarajevo proves that it can be done. An Israeli talking to a Pakistani, a Shiite listening to an American Jew, Jewish participants (religious and secular) saying the Kaddish over the graves of those murdered at Srebrenica in 1995 (where more than 8,000 Muslims were murdered while U.N. soldiers stood by). When people are willing to hear criticism, talk about it and initiate practical measures for cooperation, there is still hope for dialogue.

One Friday, we visited a mosque to experience the day's prayers there and then to the synagogue for Sabbath services. At the end of the prayers, I found myself calling across the room to my Pakistani friend, “Osama!

Shabbat Shalom!” a phrase that in any other context would be impossible.

Correction We apologize but we made a mistake in the chronlogical ordering of the last few issues.

July 25, 2013, was listed as Volume 159 • Number 53. It should have been Volume 160 • Number 1.

August 1, 2013, was listed as Volume 159 • Number 54. It should have been Volume 160 • Number 2.

August 8, 2013, was listed as Volume 159 • Number 55. It should have been Volume 160 • Number 3.

August 15, 2013, was listed as Volume 159 • Number 56. It should have been Volume 160 • Number 4.

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

Dear Editor, I would like to offer a continuing footnote on Sidney Frank as mentioned in Little Known Cincinnati Facts (August 1, 2013, page 17).

Sidney Frank spent his final

phase of his life here in Rochelle, New York which is just above New York City in Westchester County. Here he became a benefactor of many good and worthy causes, especially our police foundation.

Several recreation facilities for

youth have been created in his name.

Sincerely, Rabbi Amiel Wohl Temple Israel of New Rochelle New Rochelle, New York

Jews should not ignore the plight of Syrian civil war refugees

By Ben Cohen JNS Not for the first time, events elsewhere in the Middle East – the renewed bloodshed in Egypt and Israel’s decision to release 104 Palestinian terrorists because of American pressure – have pushed the Syrian civil war out of the limelight.

But in the limelight is where it belongs.

Given that we are facing a humanitarian crisis on a scale not witnessed since the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the seeming indifference towards the continuing slaughter of Syrian civilians, along with the numerous accounts of rape and torture carried by those fleeing the fighting, is a none-too-edifying reflection of where our priorities as a society lie.

During a week in which United Nations inspectors traveled to Syria to investigate serious allegations of chemical weapons use, that old chestnut known as “war fatigue” seems to have trumped our better instincts once again.

The Jewish community, normally responsive to humanitarian emergencies, has sadly not been immune.

Indeed, the contrast between our response to the Syrian civil war now, and our response to the war waged by the Sudanese regime in the Darfur region almost a decade ago, is striking.

From 2004 onwards, American Jews mobilized to counter the Darfur genocide. Many of us will recall that numerous synagogues and JCCs across the country were draped in banners calling attention to the horrors in Darfur. As a community, we invoked our own past experiences of murder and persecution to underline the moral imperative of preventing further ethnic cleansing.

The April 2006 rally for Darfur in Washington, DC was a particularly proud moment. Largely organized by Jewish groups, the rally brought thousands of people onto The Mall, where they heard speeches from celebrities like actor George Clooney and the then presidential hopeful, Barack Obama.

Fast forward to Syria in our own time, however, and nothing remotely

comparable to the Darfur response is visible. In terms of understanding why this is the case, there are some deceptively obvious explanations. The region-wide spectacle of repressive, authoritarian governments combating Islamist insurgents has led many Jews to wish for a plague on both houses.

Moreover, Syria’s historic record of enmity towards Israel, as well as the rife discrimination suffered by its small Jewish community, means that we are not particularly well-disposed to the country in the first place.

Ironically, the same logic could have also been applied in Darfur. After all, Sudan, a member of the Arab League, is a historic enemy of Israel.

And while the perpetrators of the Darfur massacres were Muslims, so were the vast majority of the victims: remember that Islamist factions were present among the armed groups combating the onslaught of the Sudanese army and its ally, the notorious janjaweed militia.

Fortunately, not everyone has abandoned hope that Jews in America and elsewhere will open their hearts and pockets to the plight of Syrian refugees. Last week, a coalition of 16 Jewish groups announced the formation of the Jewish Coalition for Syrian Refugees in Jordan. The coalition has already dispatched $200,000 to humanitarian groups working on the ground, and it plans to raise further funds for the provision of food, clean water, shelter and similar basic requirements.

When it comes to Syria, said Georgette Bennett, a philanthropist and inter-faith activist who kick-started the Coalition, “We’re not talking about an enemy state, but about people in a devastating situation who have fled that state.”

“It’s extremely important to separate the politics of the region from the humanitarian crisis,” the feisty Bennett told me in a telephone interview. “We need to focus on the refugees, not the war.”

Bennett explained that the Coalition is focusing on the Syrian refugees in Jordan because the Hashemite Kingdom “is really feeling the brunt of this crisis.” Of the 1.6 million refugees who have fled Syria,

around 500,000 have arrived in Jordan. By the end of this year, that number is expected to reach around one million. When you factor in the 500,000 refugees from Iraq currently residing in Jordan, it is clear that the very stability of the country is at stake, and as I noted in this column in early July, we cannot expect Jordan’s record of surviving as a sovereign state against the odds to continue indefinitely.

While Bennett’s appeal to the Jewish community is principally based on moral imperatives, she too observes that important strategic considerations in Jordan are at stake. “A destabilized Jordan is not a good thing for Israel, and Jews need to keep this in mind,” she said. “So while our focus is entirely on the humanitarian aspect, it’s very important that we as Jews realize that there are pragmatic reasons for doing this.” That view, Bennett pointed out, is shared by key American political leaders such as U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who declared back in April that if the Syrian civil war didn’t end soon, the king of Jordan “is going to be a casualty.”

Bearing in mind the oft-repeated conspiracy theory that Jewish groups seized upon the Darfur genocide to divert attention from the Palestinian question, I asked Bennett whether the new relief coalition would wear its Jewish origins front and center.

“We’re not hiding the fact,” she answered. “HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) is involved as HIAS, World Jewish Relief is there as World Jewish Relief.” Citing the injunction in the Torah not to stand idly by “while the blood of your neighbor is shed,” Bennett firmly believes that the presence of Jewish humanitarian organizations can contribute, at least in a small way, to breaking down some of the barriers erected through the war waged against Jews and Israel by the Arab states.

While it’s unlikely that Jewish advocacy on behalf of Syrian refugees will reach the heights of the Darfur campaign, the new coalition is a welcome and much-needed development .

JEWISH LIFE • 17

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

had begun – and although I was the only pre-bar mitzva boy in the congregation not wearing a black gabardine, I felt swept up by the intensity of the people praying, swaying and shouting as though they suspected that the Almighty might not bend His ear, as it were, to a quieter service of the heart.

Then came the Torah reading.

In accordance with the custom, the Torah reader began to chant the Warnings in a whisper. And unexpectedly, almost inaudibly but unmistakably, the Yiddish word hecher (“louder”) came from the direction of the lectern upon which the rebbe was leaning at the eastern wall of the synagogue.

The Torah reader stopped reading for a few moments; the congregants looked up from their Bibles in questioning and even mildly shocked silence. Could they have heard their rebbe correctly? Was he ordering the Torah reader to go against time-honored custom and chant the tochacha out loud? The Torah reader continued to read in a whisper, apparently concluding that he had not heard what he thought he heard. And then the rebbe banged on his lectern, turned to face the stunned congregation and cried out in Yiddish, with a pained expression on his face and fire blazing in his eyes: “I said louder! Read these verses out loud! We have nothing to fear, we’ve already experienced the curses. Let the Master of the Universe hear them. Let Him know that the curses have already befallen us, and let Him know that it’s time for Him to send the blessings!” The rebbe turned back to the wall, and the Torah reader continued slowly chanting the cantillation out loud. I was trembling, with tears cruising down my cheeks, my body bathed in sweat.

I had heard that the rebbe lost his wife and 11 children in the Holocaust – but refused to sit shiva for them because he could not spare a moment from the task of trying to save Jewish lives by enabling them to leave Europe. He himself refused a visa for America, until the majority of his hassidim had been saved. His words seared into my heart.

I could hardly concentrate on

the conclusion of the Torah reading. “It’s time for Him to send the blessings!” After the Additional Service ended, the rebbe rose to speak. His words were again short and to the point, but this time his eyes were warm with love leaving an indelible expression on my mind and soul. “My beloved brothers and sisters,” he said, “Pack up your belongings. We must make one more move – hopefully the last one. God promises that the blessings which must follow the curses will now come.

They will come – but not from America. The blessings will only come from Israel. It is time for us to go home.”

And so Kiryat Sanz – Klausenberg was established in Netanya where the rebbe built a Torah Center as well as the Laniado Medical Center. And an impressionable 12-year-old boy received his first – and most profound – lesson in modern Zionism.

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: KI TAVO (DEVARIM 26:1—29:9) 1. What mitzvah was given the day the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan River? a.) To kiss the land of Israel b.) Celebrate Passover c.) To set up large stones 2. Where did the Children of Israel go immediately after crossing the Jordan River? a.) Jericho b.) Mount Eval. c.) Jerusalem the ultimate site of the Holy Temple 3. What did they construct at that site in question 2?

3. A,D 27:5 They offered sacrifices and wrote words of Torah The purpose of living in Canaan is to keep the Torah. Ramban 4. A 27:13,14 5. B 27:12,13

EFRAT, Israel – “If you don’t obey the Lord your God and all His commandments and statutes, then these curses shall come upon you” (Deuteronomy 28: 15).

I had never been to this particular shul before, this renovated hospital turned into a synagogue about two miles from where I grew up in Brooklyn. Nor had I ever prayed with hassidim. But the Klausenberger Rebbe was particularly well-known as a saintly hassidic rebbe who had re-settled those of his hassidim who had survived the Holocaust in and around the Beth Moses Hospital, in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. And so, one summer morning in 1952 on the Shabbat of Ki Tavo I set out from my home on Hart Street to the world of black gabardines and round fur hats, eager for the opportunity to be in the presence of a truly holy man and to experience a hassidic prayer service.

Now the Torah reading of Ki Tavo is punctuated by 53 verses which catalogue the punishments in store for Israel when they forsake God’s teaching: “If you don’t obey the Lord your God and all His commandments and statutes, then these curses shall come upon you… God will smite you with consumption and with a fever and with an inflammation and with an extreme burning and with the sword... God will turn your rain into dust, and it will come from the skies to destroy you... And your corpses shall be meat for all the birds of the sky and for beasts of the earth. God will smite you with madness and blindness and a confusion of the heart. God will bring a nation from afar against you, from the end of the earth, swooping down like an eagle, a nation whose language you don’t understand. A haughty arrogant nation which has no respect for the old nor mercy for the young” (Deuteronomy 28:15- 50).

It’s easy to understand why Jewish custom mandates that these verses be read in a low voice. The Tochacha(“Warning”) is not something we’re very eager to hear, but if we have to hear it as part of the Torah cycle, then the hushed words, without the usual dramatic chant, are shocking.

I arrived at the huge study hall even before the morning service

In accordance with the custom, the Torah reader began to chant the Warnings in a whisper.

a.) An altar for sacrifice b.) A temporary tabernacle c.) A fort d.) Set of twelve stones 4. Which mountains are mentioned? a.) Mount Greizim and Eval b.) Mount Zion c.) Mount Hermon 5. What was the mountain used for? a.) A tabernacle b.) Bless the people c) Lookout post over the land

2. B 27:4 The commandments to be done at Mount Eval were the first ones after the Children of Israel came into Canaan. To show that with Hashem's help they would settle in the land. R' Ibn Ezra

by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT KI TAVO DEUTERONOMY 26:1 – 29:8

Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise

ANSWERS 1. C 27:2 Twelve stones were set in the Jordan River and twelve stones at Mount Eval. Rashi. The Jordan River split and people said a bracha when they saw the stones to thank Hashem for the miracle.

Sedra of the Week

18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ

JEWZ

IN THE

By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist Glickman: TV Worth Watching The HBO publicity release begins: “Before MARV ALBERT and Bob Costas, there was MARTY GLICKMAN (19172001). A gifted Jewish-American athlete who was denied the chance to represent the U.S. at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He went on to become one of the most revered and influential sportscasters in history, pioneering many of the techniques, phrases and programming innovations that are commonplace in sports reporting today.” The documentary “Glickman” debuts Monday, Aug. 26 (9:00 PM – many encore showings).

Glickman, who began working for HBO at its start (1972), was born and raised in New York City.

A high school track and football star, he went on to be named an All-American when he played football for Syracuse University.

In 1936, he and sprinter SAM STOLLER (1915-88) were the only Jews on the American Olympic track and field team. At the last minute, they were benched in favor of two other runners.

Glickman was convinced that they were benched because the track coach and the head of the American Olympic Committee were anti-Semites. In 1998, the head of the US Olympic committee gave Glickman a special gold medal, concluding that the evidence of anti-Semitism was overwhelming. Glickman’s disappointment was deep and life-long, but it didn’t stop him from becoming the voice of the NY Knicks, Jets, and Giants and a mentor to many household names, like Marv Albert.

The documentary touches on the near boycott of the 1936 Berlin Olympics by the American team because of the anti-Semitic laws passed by Hitler’s regime. The 1936 Olympics was a big public relations success for the Nazis (who suspended anti-Jewish laws for the duration of the Games) and almost all the critics of holding the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia, following its passage of anti-gay laws, reference the history of the Berlin Games.

Green Gets Gritty Reel Z, a cable channel that now can be found on most cable and satellite providers, picked-up for broadcast three original films which all have an “end-of-theworld” scenario. “Delete”, which will be shown on Friday, Aug, 23, at 4PM (and probably will be shown again next month), stars SETH GREEN, 39, as a guy battling self-aware computers who are trying to destroy mankind.

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NEWZ

Green is probably best known for playing the nebbishy son of Dr. Evil in the “Austin Powers” movies. He actually looks pretty tough in this flick: he has a full beard and runs around carrying and using a high powered assault rifle.

Sports Short By the time you read this, you will know or can find out which team won the 2013 Solheim Cup competition. The biennial Cup competition pits the best American woman golfers in team play versus the best European woman golfers.

MORGAN PRESSEL, 25, made the team when she soared in the rankings following her 4th place finish at the 2013 British Women’s Open Championship. The niece of former top-ten pro tennis player AARON KRICKSTEIN, 48, Pressel has won over $5 million dollars since joining the LPGA tour at age 17. She was hobbled by injuries in 2012, but has come back strong this year. In 2011, Pressel toured Israel and gave many clinics. She wed last January in what one newspaper called “a traditional Jewish ceremony.”

The Monaco Circus I expect at least half of you have already read that Princess Charlotte, 27, the only daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco, is engaged to marry comedic actor GAD ELMALEH, 42, and is currently carrying his child. If you are shocked that a “fancy schmancy” Catholic princess would marry a French Sephardi Jewish actor – you don’t know much about the romantic relationships of Monaco’s royal family. Elmaleh, who was born in Morocco, is popular with French and Arab audiences and, by the way, he already has one child born out of wedlock.

In some sense, he fits right in as a prospective member of a family (“the Grimaldis”) that has never been constrained by “middle-class” morality or class divides while engaging in romantic relationships. Princess Caroline’s aunt, Princess Antoinette, had three out-of-wedlock children with her married lover between 1947 and 1951; Caroline’s paternal grandmother, Princess Charlotte, turned her Paris-area estate into a refuge for ex-convicts and took a famous former jewel thief as her lover; Caroline’s sister, Princess Stephanie, has one out-of-wedlock child; was long involved with a married elephant trainer; and her second ex-husband is a Portuguese acrobat; Caroline’s brother, the reigning Prince Albert, has two out-of-wedlock kids: one by an American waitress and another with an Air France flight attendant.

FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO In opening the Fall and Winter Sessions of this Institution, several new and important features in MERCANTILE instruction are presented, arranged by the Principal expressly for this College and affording advantages for obtaining Practical and Scientific Mercantile Knowledge not to be found in any milar establishment.

They are comprised – In a new and original progressive and phosophical system of instruction in Double-Entry BookKeeping, printed and copyrighho the great superiority of which, over every other metlid will, on examination, be universally admitted by aa competent judges; In a new and original progressive and philosophical system of instruction in Mercantile Arithmetic, printed and copyrighted. – September 11, 1863

125 Y EARS A GO The Fall of Babylon continues to attract more people each night, and its genuine worth and beauty are being appreciated more and more. This is the grandest spectacular play ever offered the public, and he who fails to attend misses one of the rarest treats to his life. Not only is it beautiful but it is instructive, and comprises all of the arts in a rare degree. The people of Cincinnati are justly proud of this masterpiece, and even the great city of New York was forced to come here and borrow the show. More actual information of the ancient city of Babylon, the manners, customs, ways and every-day life of the people can be gleaned in one evening by witnessing the performance than can be learned from months of reading, Do not fail to go to the Fall of Babylon when you visit Cincinnati.

The Great Centennial Exposition attracts more visitors each day. It is undoubtedly the very greatest show on earth, and affords more amusement, pleasure and information for the money than anything ever produced. Our people should not fail to visit the Centennial frequently, and no one beyond our city’s precincts who is able to come should miss this rare opportunity. The hotel accommodations are excellent, and there are so many other attractions that it pays everybody to come. If you wish to purchase merchandise of any kind you can buy your goods in Cincinnati as cheaply as anywhere on earth. – August 24, 1888

100 Y EARS A GO Friends of the Cincinnati School of Expression are congratulating the Director, Miss

Mannheimer, on account of the letter she has received from Dean W. P. Burris of the University of Cincinnati. He writes that he has notified Superintendent of Schools R. J. Condon that Public School Teachers will be given credits for promotional salaries for studies in Speech, Reading and Story Telling pursued at the School. These credits will also count on a University diploma.

This news is of especial interest to High School graduates who wish to become teachers of English, as there is a great demand for teachers of English who can read well. – August 21, 1913

75 Y EARS A GO The Avondale Nursery School in the Wise Center Building will reopen Tuesday, Sept. 20th.

This school is directed by Mrs. Ralph Bloom, who received her master degree in child psychology at the University of Cincinnati. It was started by mothers interested in child psychology in January 1929.

The Avondale Nursery School Association, of which Mrs. Martin Mandelker is chairman, aids through frequent meetings and suggestions.

Children between the ages of 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 years are admitted.

Attendance is limited to 18. The children are examined daily by Dr. Emanuel Brandes, pediatrician.

Anyone interested is asked to call Mrs. Bloom, VAlley 0523.

A new and novel ice skating revue, “A Night at St. Moritz,” will open at Jimmy Brink’s Lookout House Friday, Sept. 2nd.

The show, which has played to capacity crowds throughout the country, presents a troupe of skating stars and dancers headlined by Bobby McLean, world’s champion speed skater and holder of 14 world championship speed titles.

The performers skate on a sheet of synthetic ice made according to a secret chemical combination that makes indoor skating possible without refrigeration.

Eddie Kelly and partner, Leota Bowers (understudy of Sonja Heine), dance a spectacular threeway spin routine. – September 1, 1938

50 Y EARS A GO Mr. and Mrs. David Stein, 1714 Greenview Place, announce the marriage of their daughter, Marcia Sue, to Mr. Ronald Lee Grinker, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mat Grinker of this city.

The wedding took place at the Netherland Hilton Sunday, Aug. 11 Rabbi David I. Indich officiated, assisted by Mr. Barry Rosen, cousin; of the bridegroom.

Mrs. Heywood Blaufeux,

Flushing, L.I., N.Y., sister of the bridegroom, was matron of honor.

The bridesmaids were the Misses Ellen Lutchin, Lynn Rosen and Suzanne Stein, all of Cincinnati, and Miss Linda Levin of Rock Island, Ill. Mr. Heywood Blaufeux, brother-in-law, of the bridegroom was best man. – August 22, 1963

25 Y EARS A GO Mona Kerstine and Gloria Lipson have accepted the co-chairmanship of the 1989 Opening Campaign Luncheon of the Women’s Division of Jewish Federation, said Carolyn Lowitz and Nancy Berman, Women’s Division co-chairmen/presidents.

The luncheon will be held Thursday, Oct. 27, noon, at the Phoenix. The guest speaker will be author, Judith Viorst.

“Judith Viorst has been a favorite author of so many women and we are delighted that she will be speaking to the Women’s Division.

Realizing she only accepts a limited number of speaking engagement, we are pleased she chose Cincinnati,” they added.

The luncheon is open to all women in the community.

The wedding of Jeffrey Orlik and Carolyn Shapiro took place June 19 at the Casa Madrona Hotel in Sausalito, Calif. Rabbi Pinchas Giller officiated. Dinner and dancing followed.

The bridegroom is the son of Phyllis and Gilbert Orlik of San Francisco, formerly of Cincinnati.

He is the grandson of Ann Carmel and the late Mitchel Michaelson and the late Mr. and Mrs. Edward Orlik.

The bride is the daughter of Murray and Sandy Shapiro of Endwell, N.Y. After a honeymoon in the East, the couple reside in San Francisco.

– September 1, 1988

10 Y EARS A GO Dr. Hamilton Lempert, a member of Adath Israel Congregation, uses his hands in the emergency room to save human lives. In his carpentry studio, he uses his hands to help Jewish souls.

When Rabbi Eli Garkinkel, the congregation’s educator, heard about Dr. Lempert’s carpentry skills, he commissioned him to make a “Wheel of Fortune” wheel for the religious school. The finished product turned out to be a large, multi-colored dead-ringer for the real thing that even more clicking noises.

Rabbi Garfinkel now uses the wheel during Minyan Katan, his popular junior congregation for grades K-6. The wheel can be used in a variety of Jewish educational games, from “Hebrew Wheel of Fortune” to trivia games and more.

– August 28, 2003

COMMUNITY CALENDAR / CLASSIFIEDS • 19

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

COMMUNITY CALENDAR August 22 7 p.m. - Eat. Tour. Explore: Connecting the Jewels of the Queen City Mayerson JCC 8485 Ridge Rd. (513) 985 - 1539 August 25 Adath Israel’s Mitzvah Day Adath Israel 3201 Galbraith Rd. (513) 793 - 1800 August 25 11 a.m. - Eat. Tour. Explore: Connecting the Jewels of the Queen City Cincinnati Art Museum (513) 985 - 1539 August 25 5:30 p.m. – Voices of Humanity Hyatt Regency Cincinnati 151 W. 5th St. (513) 487 - 3091 August 25 5 p.m. - Dedicating the Mason “CommUnity” Torah Jewish Discovery Center in Mason (513) 234 - 0777

160 Freedom Way Suite #150 (513) 373 - 0300 August 29 6 p.m. – ‘Who Gets Promoted, Who Doesn’t and Why’ The Carnegie Center3738 Eastern Ave. (513) 936 - 9675 September 11 1:30 p.m. – Matt Snow “The Cincinnati Sinatra Tribute Singer” Seasons in Kenwood 7300 Dearwested Dr. (888) 779 - 5810 September 17 8 p.m. - Peter Sagal Mayerson JCC 8485 Ridge Rd. (513) 722 -7226 October 9 5:30 p.m. - AJC Community Service Award honoring Jay Price Mayerson JCC 8485 Ridge Rd. (513) 621-4020

August 28 7 p.m. – Access’ HeBREW Happy Hour Trivia Night Tin Roof

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) • cincinnaticareer.net Kesher (513) 766-3348 Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund (513) 793-2556

Shalom Family (513) 703-3343 • myshalomfamily.org The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education (513) 487-3055 • holocaustandhumanity.org Vaad Hoier (513) 731-4671 Workum Fund (513) 899-1836 • workum.org YPs at the JCC (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org CONGREGATIONS Adath Israel Congregation (513) 793-1800 • adath-israel.org Beit Chaverim (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Beth Israel Congregation (513) 868-2049 • bethisraelcongregation.net 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 Ohr Chadash (513) 252-7267 • ohrchadashcincinnati.com Congregation Sha’arei Torah shaareitorahcincy.org 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 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 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 State of Israel Bonds (513) 793-4440 • israelbonds.com Women’s American ORT (513) 985-1512 • ortamerica.org

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 Erin at 621-3145

HEALING from page 5 Ethan.

The medical team believes that Ethan will be in the hospital for many months and then continue with outpatient treatments for a year or more. Despite his brain injury, Ethan has come a long way in other areas. He continues to breathe on his

WISE from page 6 while bringing national recognition to our community. “Every year, the Jewish Federation allocates funds from the Community Campaign to honor a local Jewish educator with the GrinspoonSteinhardt Award. We do so because we understand the importance of Jewish education to our future. As we work toward achieving the vision of Cincinnati 2020—of a 21st-century Jewish community that engages its members with an exceptional quality of life—we know that a strong

EILAT from page 10 bomb shelters in the middle of the night. Some of them got scared and announced that three rockets had been fired, and some of them were intercepted.”

“We want to emphasize that Eilat and other Jewish cities will never enjoy security, tourism or a flourishing economy. The Jews will pay for the jihadi fighters who died in Sinai. Sinai will stand strong against Israeli aggression,” the statement said.

The group posted its message on social media networks and via Egyptian media outlets.

Israel’s Channel 2 network quoted a source close to global jihad in Sinai as saying that a Grad rocket that was fired into Eilat on Monday was the same rocket that was supposed to be launched on Thursday, before the drone strike in Rafah.

“The organization that came under attack managed to transfer the rocket to a secret location, and then to the spot where it was launched toward Eilat,” the source said.

On Tuesday, the Iron Dome antirocket defense system intercepted the rocket bound for Eilat. No one

SENIOR SERVICES

• • • • •

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

(513) 531-9600 own. It has been a challenge to feed him on a regular basis as he struggles to consume the needed calories to maintain his weight.

The whole community is invited to Havdallah and healing service at Rockdale Temple on Saturday, August 24 at 7p.m. For more information regarding this event, please contact Rockdale Temple.

Jewish education will be instrumental to our success.” (Barb Miller, Director of Community Building, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati). In reflecting on the significance of the Grinspoon Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Education, Dragul said, “This award to Rachel Kasten represents our community’s commitment to a vibrant, innovative and meaningful future for Jewish education, and is a reflection of the excellent contributions Rachel has made to Wise Temple, to our community and to the field of Jewish education.” was wounded, and the explosion caused no damage.

Security forces rushed to Eilat after loud explosions were heard over the city at 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Preliminary investigations showed that the Grad rocket had been fired from the Sinai Peninsula as part of a salvo of rockets fired toward Eilat.

The Iron Dome only intercepted the rocket that was calculated to have been heading toward a populated area.

Many residents of Eilat reported hearing a loud whistling noise.

“We heard a siren and immediately afterward we saw the interception in the sky. The explosion looked like flares being fired, and we immediately understood it was an Iron Dome interception,” Eilat resident Aya Plashkes said.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Office confirmed that it was Iron Dome’s first successful interception in Eilat.

The rocket attack came as IsraeliPalestinian conflict negotiations were set to resume on Wednesday in Jerusalem.

This story originally appeared in Israel Hayom, whose Englishlanguage content is distributed exclusively by JNS.

20 • BUSINESS

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Wilbur Cohen honored for a lifetime of giving back While a successful businessman—chairman and CEO of the metal recycling company Cohen, started in 1924 by his father and uncle—Wilbur Cohen’s legacy will almost certainly be his generosity to the community and his dedication to teaching his children to follow in his footsteps.

Wilbur has, in fact, created his own legacy by committing to making a bequest to the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s Endowment Fund, thereby sustaining his annual gift for generations to come and helping ensure important services will continue to be provided to the community. His gift will fund programs that help provide an exceptional quality of life for all members of the Cincinnati Jewish community by caring for people who are strug-

gling, connecting us to Jewish life and helping us discover our Jewish identities.

In recognition of this generous bequest and the benefits it will bring to the community, Wilbur was recently honored by the Greater Cincinnati Planned Giving Council at their 15th annual Voices of Giving Awards Event in June.

In addition to over 60 years of giving to the Jewish Federation, Wilbur has been a lifelong supporter of Cedar Village, Adath Israel Congregation, Temple Beth Shalom, Abilities First and Cincinnati Museum Center, along with multiple causes in Middletown including Miami University’s Middletown campus and the Wilbur & Mary Jean Cohen Women’s Center and the

Linda Cohen Abrams Health and Risk Assessment Center at Middletown Regional Hospital.

Wilbur’s children, who are philanthropists in their own right, are contributing to his legacy as well. Ken Cohen—who is now president of the family business— has served as chair of the Middletown Area United Way and was named United Way’s Volunteer of the Year. Wilbur’s younger son, Neil, has been a board member of Fort Hamilton Hospital and chairs Primary Health Solutions in Hamilton, in addition to serving as secretary of Cohen and running its Hamilton facility.

Cohen is one of the largest metal recycling companies in North America, processing more than 1.25 million tons annually at

Jim Friedman, Miriam Cohen and Wilbur Cohen

20 locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. The company, headquartered in Middletown,

is now a four-generation business: three of Wilbur’s grandchildren work there.

Barefooters—not just for Yom Kippur As Jewish tradition goes, Yom Kippur is a time to fast and say prayers of penitence. On this day, it is known that many deny themselves certain “luxuries” with wearing leather footwear being one of them.

Many wear sneakers and other forms of shoes that do not contain leather. With Yom Kippur being a day of remembrance, many are on their feet most of the day, leaving them in pain. So why not invest in a pair of shoes that are vegan, contain no leather and keep you feeling great all day? Barefooters are slip on shoes that actually feel better than going barefoot.

When Heather Rosenstein first heard about these shoes, she spoke to her rabbi about the more comfortable alternative. He had an “aha moment” when Rosenstein gave him a pair of Barefooters. He then explained that the reason for not wearing leather was because at the time, SCHOOLS from page 9 Marinower said. “Thus we see more poverty among haredim.”

For nearly a half-century after World War II, Antwerp Jews mostly did not need to acquire the kind of education that would lead to successful employment. Jobs in the city’s lucrative and insular diamond trade were well paid and relatively easy to come by with minimal training.

Many of the jobs have since been shipped abroad, however, while foreign businessmen have intruded on an industry in which Jews once held a commanding position. Some in Antwerp have been warning for years that the community must adapt to a changed reality. But in haredi schools, little has been done to prepare students for a wider array of potential jobs.

Hilde Wynen, who taught for 11

leather soled bottoms were the only shoes available and Jewish tradition says that angels do not wear shoes, instead they walk barefoot with their feet feeling the ground beneath them. Jews are

intended to walk barefoot like angels on Yom Kippur so Barefooters are the perfect shoe to wear since they re-create a barefoot walking experience.

Made of CorksiLite, a wash-

able blend of cork and silicone, Barefooters are extremely flexible and shock-absorbing. They are designed as a walking shoe to naturally strengthen feet, stretch ligaments and massage tired muscles.

Co-founders and entrepreneurs David Van Klaveren and Joao Araujo looked for a material that would deliver on the brand promise. Their research led them to a cork and silicone compound that was being used to protect skin against rubbing from prosthetics. Two years of development later, the first pair of Barefooters were being made with Corksilite in Italy. The end result is a seamless shoe with a unique insole that truly pampers the foot.

With a reflexology foot bed branded as Oooaaahs, Barefooters are perfectly suited to both athletes and fashionistas as a recovery show from sports to heels and everything in between. The foot

years in Antwerp’s oldest and largest Jewish school, the state-funded Jesode Hatorah, said she was instructed to avoid any mention of subjects like HIV, prehistoric times or ancient Egypt. Wynen also was required to censor words such as “love” and “boyfriend” from textbooks, which sometimes would lose up to 25 percent of their original content after she had gone through them with a black marker.

Censorship “meant my graduates were simply not prepared to integrate into the Belgian society,” said Wynen, who left Jesode Hatorah in 2011 to work for the Flemish education ministry.

In 2012, government auditors found that Jesode Hatorah, which has 800 students, failed to meet minimum educational standards due in part to its censorship of educational materials.

The school was instructed repeatedly to correct the deficiencies, and when it failed to do so, the government began proceedings to strip the school of the subsidies that keep it running.

Jesode Hatorah did not respond to requests for comment.

The problem of religious education is not unique to Belgium. Across crisisstricken, immigrant-rich Europe, concerns are growing about parochial school systems that fail to prepare students to integrate into the larger society and are feared to be hotbeds of radicalism.

Last month, the education ministry in neighboring Holland announced a plan to forbid home tutoring, which is favored by some very devout Christians, Muslims and Jews. In France, where the principle of public secularism reigns, strict legislation limits state subsidies for religious schools

and conditions such subsidies on students’ knowledge of core mandatory subjects that is assessed in yearly state exams.

In Britain, religious schools still enjoy a fair degree of autonomy, but even they are facing “increasing demands by authorities to teach things which are not appropriate about cultural awareness and sexual education,” according to Rabbi Yehuda Brodie, registrar for the Beth Din, or rabbinical court, of Manchester.

While some Flemish Jews are considering sending their children abroad in response, others are hailing the reform as a chance for youngsters to escape rising poverty and perceived radicalization within the haredi community.

Michael Freilich, editor in chief of the Flemish Jewish monthly Joods Actueel and a graduate of Jesode

Barefooters come in all different colors for everyone’s unique fashion tastes.

bed massages and supports the foot while encouraging naural locomotion. These insoles are lined with a microfiber fabric that promotes added comfort and helps eliminate odors. Each pair of Barefooters comes with a same color and contrasting color strap that attaches to the shoe with a pair of smiley face buttons that reflect the brand’s iconic logo and company philosophy.

Styled and manufactured in Italy, Barefooters come in natural cork along with several additional colors, including a series of brights for spring. Consumers can easily change the look by switching the original strap with a second color strap that’s included in the box.

This shoe is an instant hit with its “Feel Great” experience that many have said not only closely mimicked walking barefoot, but was even better because of its unique insole.

Hatorah, supports reforming the haredi education system but says it needs to be pursued with caution, lest it backfire.

“Censorship in schools interferes with education and needs to be checked,” Freilich told JTA. “The trick is to reform the system without alienating parents. The education ministry needs to show flexibility. There is no sense in imposing sexual education on 12-year-old haredi children. History lessons are another matter.”

But Henry Rosenberg, a prominent Jewish lawyer who has lobbied for years for greater government regulation, believes it is up to Jewish parents – not the ministry – to lead the reform.

“It will be a disaster if Jesode Hatorah is shut down because there are few alternatives,” said Rosenberg, who is not haredi. “It is time for a Jewish Spring of sorts.”

FOOD • 21

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

All about food Zell’s Bites

by Zell Schulman The High Holy Days come quite early this year. Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown the evening of Sept. 4, so this week I created my holiday cooking schedule. I will begin with recipes I can freeze, one being my favorite brownies which I would like to share with my readers for a sweet New Year.

Several years back, I wrote a

EGYPTIAN from page 9 would best serve the Egyptian people.” Last Friday, the Israeli cabinet convened for a briefing on the topic.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed Israeli ministers and top government officials not to comment on the ongoing turmoil in Egypt, Army Radio reported Sunday. Media outlets, however, reported over the weekend that Israel was maintaining close ties to Egyptian Defense Minister Col. Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who led the military’s overthrowing of Morsi.

Western diplomats quoted by the New York Times said that Israel had promised Sissi that the U.S. would not cut off aid to his country.

“General Sissi and his circle appeared to be in heavy communication with Israeli colleagues, and the diplomats believed the Israelis were also undercutting the Western message by reassuring the Egyptians not to worry about American threats to cut off aid,” the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Jerusalem did not issue an official response to the report.

The Egyptian government, meanwhile, announced it had begun deliberations on whether to ban the Muslim Brotherhood, a long-outlawed organization that swept to power in the country’s first democratic elections a year ago.

For more than a month since the July 3 military overthrow of Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters have attacked and torched scores of police stations and churches in retaliation. Shops and houses of Christians have also been targeted.

Such attacks spurred widespread public anger against the Brotherhood, giving the militarybacked government popular backing

column called “Tasteful Additions” for Taste Cincinnati Magazine which is no longer in print. I adapted the length of the brownie recipe to fit the space in the magazine and added a few additional ingredients of my own.

I frosted the cupcakes with my late caterer Ella Durkin’s frosting recipe. When the brownies were served, neither my family nor I could tell the difference from Ella’s famous family brownies.

The taste and the consistency of this boxed brownie recipe were outstanding. This was the first of many recipes I adapted and didn’t make from scratch.

These brownies get rave reviews from everyone whose tried them and I thought my readers would also like it because the recipe is quick and easy. I named the recipe “Supreme Off the Shelf Brownies.” It ‘s a real winner. My family and friends can’t wait to taste one. to step up its campaign against the Islamist group. It reminded people of a decade-long Islamist insurgency against Hosni Mubarak’s rule in the 1990s, which only strengthened security agencies and ended with thousands of Islamic fundamentalists in prisons.

The unrest in Egypt has raised international concerns over the country’s stability, and prompted U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday to condemn both the “violent protests,” in reference to Brotherhood’s rallies, and the Egyptian authorities’ “excessive use of force.”

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928, came to power in the summer of 2012, when Morsi was elected in the country’s first free presidential elections. The election came after the overthrow of Mubarak in a popular uprising in 2011.

The fundamentalist group has been banned for most of its 85-year history and was repeatedly subjected to crackdowns under Mubarak’s rule. Disbanding the group, experts say, would mean allowing security forces to have a zero-tolerance policy in dealing with its street protests, as well as going after its funding sources. That could be a serious blow to the Brotherhood, though it likely wouldn’t mean an end to a group that existed underground for decades.

While the possible Muslim Brotherhood ban was being debated, the Brotherhood itself floated a new theory – that General Sissi “is actually a Jew.” “Sissi and [Interim] President Adly Mansour serve the Zionists and want to turn Egypt into Syria,” said activist Tariq Aziz in Cairo.

SUPREME “OFF SHELF” BROWNIES Makes 24 brownies

THE

Ingredients One box of Betty Crocker’s Original Supreme Brownie Mix The bag of brownie mix found in the box 1/4 cup milk 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup Belgium Semi-sweet chocolate bits, melted 3 large eggs Hershey’s Syrup pouch found in the box Method 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease (or use cooking spray) the bottom and sides of a 13” x 9” pan. In a medium bowl, place the brownie mix, milk, vegetable oil, chocolate bits and eggs. Mix well.

2. Spread evenly in the prepared pan. Drizzle the Hershey’s syrup

START UP from page 10 foremost, strong in science and technology,” he says. “Education is a journey that must start in kindergarten and continue throughout high school.”

Mador emphasizes that Technoda is the only place in Israel where all sectors of the population learn together under same roof – haredim and hilonim (religious and secular), Arabs and kibbutzniks, Christians, Jews, Muslims and Druze. The project’s goals, he says, are “first, to promote science and technology in Israel, and second, to bring together all elements of Israeli society on the common ground of science.”

Aday at Technoda begins promptly at 8 a.m. Three morning programs are run simultaneously, with each geared to a specific age group. In the first section, the preschool class, even fairy tales become a vehicle for understanding science and technology.

“There is a special space for kids,” Mador says. “Technoda materials are integrated into the classroom topics.

Material is provided to start the learning process in the school. Each gan program is two months long. Each of the five units per year culminates with a visit to [the] Technoda [museum].”

Technoda works with the Israeli Education Ministry to identify kids in the third grade who qualify to become part of its Gifted Program. The program continues through high school in an ongoing enrichment experience, both in science and general cultural education. Once a week, throughout the academic year, Technoda students study core scientific knowledge. As part of the high school curriculum, the young scientists visit high-tech companies.

“Seeing companies at work helps encourage work values,” Mador says.

The Technoda program goes

back and forth over the top of the batter. With a tip of a knife, incorporate the syrup by pulling the knife back and forth through the batter.

3. Bake 25 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 2 inches from the side of the pan comes out clean. Cool the brownies approximately 15 to 20 minutes before frosting.

ELLA’S FROSTING 1 cup dark brown sugar 1/2 cup water 2-ounces (2 squares) unsweetened Baker’s chocolate 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted 2 teaspoons of good quality Brandy, or vanilla

or cook over medium-high heat 2 to 3 minutes. Add the chocolate and butter. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute or cook until the chocolate melts, stirring after each minute if using the microwave or constantly if using the saucepan.

Remove from the microwave or range.

2. Place the confectioner’s sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer.

Add the chocolate mixture and mix over low heat for one minute or two minutes until the choclate is completely melted. Add the Brandy or vanilla and mix on high just until spreading consistency.

Frost the cooled brownies while in the pan. Place them in the refrigerator 10 to 15 minutes to set the frosting. Cut into 1 - 1/2-inch squares.

Method 1. In a microwave safe 4 - cup container or a 1-quart saucepan, add the brown sugar and water.

Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute

Zell’s Tips: You needn’t frost the brownies becaise. they won’t last long either way.

beyond science. As part of their agenda, students have an opportunity to give back to the community. For example, they volunteer to work with children with disabilities.

“It’s not easy, but they enjoy working with these kids,” Mador says. “It’s an opportunity to help someone and give back.”

While the formal science and general education programs take place in the morning, afternoons at Technoda take on a more local flavor. The museum portion becomes a “home away from home to 400 children from Givat Olga,” Mador says.

Israeli children often grow up in the same towns as where their parents were raised, a situation that is true for many of the children in Givat Olga, according to Mador.

“We take them to another life, providing a hot meal, homework programs and an opportunity to participate in science and technology,” he says.

Technoda “cannot be just a museum – otherwise there is no support of children in Givat Olga,” Mador adds.

A results-oriented initiative, Technoda measures everything “from the point of view of both quantity and quality,” revealing what Mador calls “a real correlation between the rates of success [of Givat Olga children] and having this sort of opportunity.”

“There is a special group for potentially gifted children in the local community,” Mador says. “We recognize their potential.”

Mador came to Technoda in 1991 as a graduate student in physics and math. One of his professors asked him to come to Givat Olga to teach, and he has never left. His initial years with the project came during the first Palestinian intifada.

“It was quite amazing,” Mador recalls. “Outside, buses were blowing

up. At the same time, in the classroom, Arab and Jewish students studied together in completely ordinary ways and learned together. Science and technology is the environment for the future: If you give children the opportunity to be together, it’s a great opportunity for them to simply live together.”

Among the first 20 students at Technoda was Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Capt. Yaron Vivante, a Givat Olga child whose parents immigrated to Israel from Libya. “He was born into technology,” says Mador. “He was very successful in high school.

When he joined the IDF, he was accepted to pilot training, and graduated as a navigator of F15s (a type of fighter jet). Everyone was extremely proud of Yaron.”

In August 1995, four birds crashed into the F15 in which Capt. Vivante was flying. The jet crashed, and both he and the pilot were killed. To honor his memory, Technoda has named its major competition for young inventors in his name.

Among the innovations being developed at Technoda, in cooperation with the IDF, is a medical simulator, similar in concept to the computerized aviation trainers used by student pilots.

The medical simulator effectively creates a hospital for children – without the children.

Mador explains that before a hands-on program like Technoda, Israeli children “did not understand the need to integrate scientific phenomena and applications.”

“Now kids build models – for example, of a car – [and] learn to understand how it accelerates,” he says. “Here, everything is hands-on, not just theoretical. Much is about the discovery that once you learn the basics, you can then reach for the high level.”

22 • OBITUARIES

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

D EATH N OTICES

TEEN from page 6

KIELCZ, Aleksandra age 92, died on August 15, 2013; 9 Elul, 5773.

“It’s like a dream,” Sam told anchor Josh Elliott.

Not everyone is so starry eyed, though. Rabbi David Wolpe of Temple Sinai in Los Angeles named Horowitz as Exhibit A in his brief against over-the-top bar mitzvahs that rob the rite of passage of its spiritual significance.

Writing on the website of the Washington Post, Wolpe described an “egregious, licentious and thoroughly awful video that ... slaughters the spirit.”

REDLICH, Max E. age 71, died on August 16, 2013; 10 Elul 5773.

COHN, Dorothy age 99, died on August 16, 2013; 10 Elul, 5773.

LEVY, Ruth age 91, died on August 16, 2013; 11 Elul 2013.

SCHNUR, Dr. Walter age 91, died on August 17, 2013; 11 Elul, 5773.

advertising in The American Israelite gets results!

(513) 621-3145

SEEKING from page 6 cousin back in Seattle with whom she hadn’t been in touch for decades.

Staiman reached Prague familiar with the basic facts of her father’s Holocaust-era life: his arrest in a movie theater for not wearing the required Star of David; his being sent to Terezin at age 21; performing forced labor in the nearby Usti nad Labem region and at the Kladno coal mine; and his transport to the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.

“To turn a ceremony of spiritual maturation into a Vegas showgirl parade teaches a child sexualization of spirit,” Wolpe wrote. “Apparently nothing in our society militates against the narcissistic display of short skirted dancers ushering an adolescent into unearned stardom. If it is fetching, it is worthy.”

Debra Nussbaum Cohen also chimed in over at the Forward.

“Now the kid is, admittedly, adorable. No question about that,” she wrote. “But a bar or bat mitzvah celebration of this obvious expense and over-the-topness certainly

proves the adage that money doesn’t buy taste. And it certainly doesn’t demonstrate good sense.”

Horowitz, though, was not without his defenders. Also writing in the Forward, Eliyahu Federman conceded that the celebration might not be all that the rabbinic sages had in mind, but it was better than nothing.

“We should be commending this young man for celebrating his religious right-of-passage, not condemning,” Federman wrote. “Many Jews don’t even celebrate their bar mitzvah. It is better to have a bar mitzvah, even with an over-the-top

ostentatious celebration, then no bar mitzvah at all.”

Whatever your perspective, Horowitz has shown that he hasn’t totally given over his bar mitzvah to celebrations of excess. Horowitz asked guests at the celebration to make a contribution to the Ben Yakir Youth Village in lieu of gifts, and is requesting that those who watch the performance online to do the same, the Forward reported.

Thus far, $36,000 has been donated to the Israeli youth village, which is home to 120 boys aged 1218, mostly Ethiopian immigrants.

Late in the war, he survived an Allied bombing of a transport train and a German death march. In the latter, the prisoners were abandoned by fleeing guards, so he found shelter in a barn in Magdeburg, Germany, where he was liberated by Russian troops in 1945.

Staiman knew of the street name of the Prague apartment and its location in a then-Jewish area, but not the address. Her cousin, Andrea Harrison, who was raised in the city before moving to the United States in 1967, had informed her before the trip that the apartment was in the

city’s 7th District on a busy street called Obrancu Miru, across from a pharmacy and down the block from a church.

Over the years, the street had been renamed Milady Horakove and reassigned to the 10th District. The owner of a kosher restaurant in Prague where the Staimans dined told them of the district’s change, which helped in locating the correct street. The Staimans went to the building, No. 965, in the Letna neighborhood.

An old woman would admit them to the foyer only briefly, so the

couple made do with taking photographs of the exterior. The Staimans then went to see a plaque that memorialized the Jews rounded up there.

“It was very sobering to be in the place where the family was brought before being sent to Terezin,” Jeremy Staiman emailed the couple’s adult sons in Israel. “We looked up and down the street, and tried to picture what had happened there.”

The next day, they took a taxi to see Terezin. With them was Pavel Stransky, 92, a tour guide who had been sent there on the very same

MARGOLESE from page 10

life in a town of secular and Modern Orthodox families she prefers not to name. Margolese plans to continue to be active on the mikvah issue, though in a more circumscribed way, conducting low-key meetings with activists and politicians, and confining her writing to her blog.

“I’d like to be a social activist,” she said. “I don’t think I have a thick enough skin to be a politician.”

In her mikvah column, Margolese described the way mikvah supervisors would question her Jewish observance and stare at her as she entered and left the water naked.

An attendant would interrogate her about how thoroughly she cleaned herself and demand that she return to the sink for another wash.

“I’m supposed to feel clean after the mikvah,” Margolese wrote, “but instead I feel degraded and dirty.”

Soon after the column was published, Margolese was at a meeting of the Knesset Caucus for the Advancement of Women. She planned to stay afterward to meet politicians sympathetic to her cause, but shaken by a stream of negative comments being posted to her Facebook wall – some of them by friends – she left early.

“The humiliation I felt from these individuals was worse than all of my negative mikvah experiences all put together,” Margolese wrote on her blog. “I knew about the gossip going on around me. I cried for days.

I couldn’t breathe. I stopped leaving my house other than to go to work. I decided that it is time to move.”

Margolese’s departure comes as tensions between the Modern Orthodox and haredi residents in Beit Shemesh continues to flare.

Last month, a group of haredi

men reportedly smashed the windows of a bus after a women refused to give up her seat and sit in the back.

This week, police arrested 14 haredi rioters who blocked a major street and set trash bins on fire to protest construction at a Beit Shemesh site that once may have been a burial ground.

Such clashes are not the cause of Margolese’s departure, but they have led other families to ditch Beit Shemesh in recent years, according to City Councilman Shalom Lerner.

“I’m sorry she’s leaving, but it’s her right if she feels better elsewhere,” Lerner said. “Hadassa isn’t the first one to leave and is not the only one thinking about leaving. The past five years haven’t been good.”

And they aren’t necessarily going to get better.

Though a number of initiatives aimed at promoting coexistence in Beit Shemesh were launched in the wake of the incident with Margolese’s daughter, the city is still wrestling with its identity. An acrimonious mayoral campaign is underway, pitting the haredi incumbent against a Modern Orthodox opponent.

Activists say the result will determine the city’s future. But whatever the outcome, Margolese will be watching from the sidelines, not the trenches.

“If I still lived in Beit Shemesh, I would still be trying to change things in Beit Shemesh, like the separate sidewalks [for men and women] and the signs saying to dress modestly,” she said. “But I don’t live in Beit Shemesh anymore, and there are not issues like that in the place where I live.”

turned on Margolese, subjecting her to a steady stream of online vitriol.

“I was airing our own dirty laundry as opposed to before, when I was airing another community’s dirty laundry,” she said. “I hear from so many women about their negative experiences [at the mikvah]. I thought people would say, ‘Yes, let’s change this.’ “ Margolese, 32, is something of a reluctant activist. Unlike many Israeli social reformers, who aggressively seek media attention and speak in confident tones, Margolese is quiet and unassuming, cautious of offending friends and guarded when it comes to her personal life.

She assumed the protest mantle two years ago, she says, mainly out of necessity. And from the time that conflict died down until the mikvah column, she largely retreated into private life, visiting Beit Shemesh’s haredi neighborhoods only when necessary.

“I really have very mixed feelings about it because I want to make whatever changes I can possibly make, but on the other hand, being a public figure isn't so simple,” she said. “Really the only way to change things is by being public. If you’re not public, nobody cares what you have to say.”

Born in Los Angeles, Margolese came to Israel at 2. A self-identified feminist, Margolese says inequalities between men and women in Judaism have bothered her since she was a child, when she began to question why Orthodox men bless God each morning for not making them women.

Now she is living a more tranquil