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Happy New Year Rosh Hashanah 5774
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013 1 TISHREI, 5774
CINCINNATI, OH Candle Lighting Times Shabbat begins Fri 7:44p Shabbat ends Sat 8:45p
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Gabriel Kaufman, 11, Rockwern Academy – Winner 2013 Rosh Hashanah Cover Coloring Contest
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
LOCAL • 3
Head of Hebrew Union College Rabbi Aaron Panken continues direction of predecessor By Gabrielle Cohen Assistant Editor Since he was in 5th grade, Rabbi Aaron Panken has taken an active role in his Jewish life. He became heavily involved in his youth group in high school then went off to college at John Hopkins University to pursue a degree in Electrical Engineering. By his senior year, he questioned whether or not he wanted to be around people, helping them with the important aspects of their lives or in a lab all day. He continued to explore working with rabbis while working at various synagogues. Panken became inspired through these experiences so he attended Hebrew Union College (HUC) to become a rabbi. While working as an Upper West Side congregational rabbi, he was approached by the provost of HUC at his sister’s ordination to become a faculty member at HUC. Panken was then Dean of Students, Dean of HUC’s New York campus, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and a professor of Rabbinic, Second Temple Literature and other various courses. He also has traveled around the world to Australia and China to teach visiting
Rabbi Aaron Panken
courses at colleges in those countries. Even though he has proven to have a very successful HUC career, especially as President-elect of HUC now, he will continue to teach his courses this semester. As he continues the legacy of his predecessor, Rabbi David Ellenson, Panken plans to make each campus of HUC the very best it can be with the best programs possible. “Each of our campuses is uniquely set up with a particular faculty constellation it has, the particular community it’s in for the good of these programs,”
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Panken said. Panken is confident with the way the programs are set up on each campus; however, he’s willing to see what opportunities will arise for future plans. He’s only been president for a month now so his future plans for HUC are still forming. He continues to explore every option to enhance HUC’s programs such as experimentation with new media, use of social media for education and to take advantage of the intelligent HUC faculty. He even addressed the speculation over the possible closing down of Cincinnati’s campus. He said, “There’s not a controversy to me. The issue here is that we have a wonderful Cincinnati campus. End of story. I’m not out to close anything; I think every campus, every location and program we have is in the absolute best possible place it can be. This is not something I have any intention of doing.” During his 17 years at HUC, his family has always supported him throughout this journey. Now that he is president he has to travel a lot so they worry about spending enough together, but they are a close knit family who will strengthen Panken’s presidency even more.
Major donors get first look at Jewish Family Service’s Barbash Family Vital Support Center A ten-year old dream to guide more people experiencing poverty toward self-sufficiency is coming true when Jewish Family Service opens its Barbash Family Vital Support Center in October. Major donors who led the way to fulfilling this dream got the first peek into the new Vital Support Center at a private cocktail reception Wednesday, August 21. The Vital Support Center, located on the campus of Hebrew Union College in Clifton, will provide a wellness and recovery environment with comprehensive services for the people served by Jewish Family Service. This includes an expanded food pantry, case management, supportive counseling, socialization activities, classes, and Jewish culturally specific programming. There will also be more opportunities for volunteering in the spirit of tikun olam (Hebrew for repairing the world). “Our big, overreaching goal that we can now create in this space is to begin to erase the stigma around poverty and mental illness that is so often felt by the people we serve,” said Schwartz. “This work is synonymous with the Jewish Family Service vision for all of our work: To lead the way to a Jewish community where everyone lives with dignity, security, and hope.”
Dr. Jack A. Hahn, is pleased to announce he is RELOCATING to Blue Ash and is joining The Blue Ash Dental Group. The offices are conveniently located on Copper Rd. near Kenwood Rd. in a brand new State of the Art facility where all of your dental needs will be met. Please call 513891-8555 to schedule an appointment.
Bernie and Pam Barbash
Fran Gafvert, Jewish Family Service Director of Vital Services said, “Our staff and clients are very excited about the opportunities for bringing our community together in beautiful new facility.” She added that the Vital Support Center continues to rely on the generosity of individual donors and volunteers for putting food on the new pantry shelves and supporting ongoing activities. The community is asked to save the date when Jewish Family Service will host a community-wide grand opening ceremony at its Barbash Family Vital Support Center 9:30 – 11 a.m., Sunday, October 27, 2013.
Dr. Hahn and his staff wish everyone a Happy and Sweet New Year. Danielle Minson, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati Chief Development Officer, Anne Heldman
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JCC celebrates its fifth anniversary on Sept. 23 The Mayerson JCC is celebrating its fifth anniversary Under One Roof on Monday, Sept. 23. Festivities include a community Supper in the Sukkah (5:30 p.m.) followed by JCC news and annual meeting at 7 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend. For the Under One Roof celebration during Sukkot, the JCC will transform its entire courtyard into a giant sukkah and art display. Over 40 local organizations collaborated to design artistic panels to decorate the sukkah. Each panel visually describes what community means to their organization. On Sept. 23, participating organizations will come together with the public, to enjoy dinner and conversation in the country’s largest community driven, art instillation sukkah. Dinner will include a variety of pastas and lasagna, a salad bar and garlic bread. Seats are limited and advance paid
registration (by Sept. 18) is required. “Infusing the sukkah with art panels made by so many different organizations from around our city is such a beautiful way to bring together the community to celebrate,” said Tamara Harkavy, CEO and Artistic Director of ArtWorks. Participating agencies include both Jewish and secular organizations, local synagogues and various arts organizations. This celebration captures the essence of the JCC’s mission; to provide excellent services and programs for the community, as well as partnering with other community organizations to help coordinate and strengthen their engagement programs. Debbie Brant, JCC President, said, “It’s really exciting to collaborate with so many synagogues and community organizations as we celebrate 5 years at the Mayerson JCC. We are happy to share our beautiful
courtyard and provide a giant sukkah where everyone can come together to celebrate Sukkot, and enjoy the array of amazing artwork being created by all these community partners. Combining this great ‘Under One Roof’ project with our JCC annual meeting on this fifth anniversary year exemplifies the kind of high-quality collaborative programs and activities that we envision for the JCC and our community in the years ahead.” Directly after Supper in the Sukkah is the JCC annual meeting. Everyone is invited to attend to hear the latest JCC news, congratulate award recipients, and socialize at the dessert reception. The JCC will present several awards, including the Volunteer of the Year, Staff Service Awards for employees with over 10 years of service to the J, the Kovod Award, the Cohen Award and the JCC Community Partnership Award.
The Kovod Award recognizes a member of the JCC who has distinguished themselves through unselfish, committed service to the JCC over a period of years, and who is a leader in the Jewish community. The Volunteer of the Year is awarded to a person who has given many hours of hands-on volunteer service to the Mayerson JCC. The Cohen Award is given annually to a JCC member who has rendered distinguished volunteer service to the JCC, and who also volunteers in other Jewish community organizations in a selfless and quiet manner. The JCC Community Partnership Award is presented annually to an organization or business that has rendered exceptional assistance to the JCC in delivering their mission of providing programs and services to the Jewish community and the general community of Greater Cincinnati.
CHHE annual meeting features new president & new theme
Outgoing CHHE President, John Neyer & Incoming CHHE President, Marc Randolph.
On Thursday, Sept. 12, the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education will mark the start of its 14th year at its annual meeting. CHHE will be honoring the service of Board President, John Neyer as he transitions to immediate past president and welcomes, Marc Randolph, to the role. The annual meeting will also celebrate CHHE’s many accomplishments during the 2012-2013 academic year. Through dynamic public programming, tours of permanent and traveling exhibits,
presentations by members of the Speakers’ Bureau, and workshops for educators, CHHE touched the lives of over 40,000 individuals. Outgoing president, John Neyer, has served as president for the past two years and prior to that, a board member for eleven years. His impact on the organization has been substantial, including his involvement in creating Mapping Our Tears, CHHE’s transition into an independent organization, and its move to Rockwern Academy. Under his watch, CHHE has had numerous programmatic successes including An Evening with Elie Wiesel, which brought nearly 7,000 community members to hear from Holocaust survivor, author and Noble Prize winner, Elie Wiesel. As a finale to Neyer’s success, just last week, CHHE hosted the Voices of Humanity event and recognized Holocaust survivor, Werner Coppel and Summit Country Day School. “Since I first got involved, people have occasionally asked me why a guy from a Catholic family is working with a Holocaust organization. Not only have I enjoyed the
chance to know more Yiddish than anybody else at my family reunions, but I also believe that all human beings live in a house made of each other. Therefore, it is up to each of us to stand up for one another. I continue to be amazed by the impact of the organization and the variety of groups we touch. In the last year, we’ve seen hundred of groups tour Mapping Our Tears, from schools to the Macy’s Diversity and Inclusion Council, educators, girl scouts, to Armenians traveling with the U.S. State Department,” said Neyer. President-elect Randolph has been involved with CHHE since its inception. He served as legal counsel for CHHE’s transition into an independent organization and has spearheaded many initiatives for CHHE. Additionally, Randolph helped to curate and facilitate the installation of the Cincinnati Judaica Collection, which augments the Mapping Our Tears exhibit by introducing basic tenants of Judaism to visitors through the use of items of antique and historical Judaica. “I am excited to begin my tenure
as CHHE Board President and look forward to continued growth and success as I look toward the next two years. I believe this is a critical time for CHHE as we continue to be a leader in Holocaust education regionally to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust and the memories of local Holocaust eyewitnesses are kept alive long into the future,” says Randolph. In addition, the evening will feature a special presentation by Dr. Gary Brooks, former superintendent of West Clermont Schools whose Catholic mother endured 39 months in forced labor under Nazi persecution. Brooks’ mother, Hildegard, was born in Yugoslavia and had begun a career as a teacher when World War II broke out. In October 1942, Hildegard and her family were removed from their home and she began 39 months of forced labor under Nazi persecution. During their time in forced labor, Hildegard lost many family members but she survived and after the war met her husband, an American GI and came to Cincinnati.
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VOL. 160 • NO. 7 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013 1 TISHREI 5774 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 7:44 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 8:45 PM THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE CO., PUBLISHERS 18 WEST NINTH STREET, SUITE 2 CINCINNATI, OHIO 45202-2037 Phone: (513) 621-3145 Fax: (513) 621-3744 publisher@americanisraelite.com editor@americanisraelite.com production@americanisraelite.com RABBI 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 JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor 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
Women’s retreat planned for fall Est. 1854
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been the focus of features in a wide array of media including Arutz Sheva (Israel National News) and the Wall Street Journal. She has become known for her keen, yet tactful use of humor in dispelling stereotypes and myths about Judaism. Her huge fan base includes many teens and a special session for teen and tween girls is being worked into the program schedule. More information about the retreat will be disseminated after the High Holidays.
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and Soul.” Concurrent sessions will allow women to enjoy discussions about everything from “Relaxation Techniques” to “Sandwich Generation”, “Raising Proud Jewish Kids” to “Building a Better Financial Future.” Josephs will share her own fascinating story during the buffet lunch. Aside from being a mentor to Mayim Bialik, Josephs is a gifted writer, and an entertaining and captivating speaker. She has been interviewed on NPR and she and her “Jew in the City” website have
ewish N h-J ew lis
Mayim Bialik with Mentor, Allison Josephs
Allison Josephs, “Judaism mentor” to actress Mayim Bialik, will make her debut in Cincinnati at an upcoming Cincinnati Jewish women’s retreat. This one day event is being planned by the women of Sarah’s Place for Sunday Nov. 3. The Embassy Suites Conference Center in Blue Ash has been reserved and a very inviting menu of sessions is being prepared. Local experts will address a broad array of topics under the banner of “Renew, Refresh, Recharge: Body, Mind
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, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
Husband of terror victim pens memoir of quest to meet bomber By Talia Lavin Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK – David HarrisGershon, author of the forthcoming memoir “What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?,” is frank about the contradictions in his personality. An admitted “natural introvert,” Harris-Gershon describes himself as “surprisingly good” at public speaking. In 2013, he won the GrandSLAM Storytelling Championship at the Pittsburgh branch of the Moth, a nationwide storytelling organization, with a tale of using unorthodox tactics to drum up support for Barack Obama by posing as a woman in adult romance chat rooms. “I love being in front of an audience,” said Harris-Gershon, 39, who works as a Judaic studies teacher in Pittsburgh, “but it drains me.” Nonetheless, Harris-Gershon maintains a very public profile as a liberal commentator on Middle East
politics, blogging for the progressive publications Tikkun magazine and Daily Kos. But with the publication of his memoir, Harris-Gershon delves into the deeply personal events – some catastrophic, some therapeutic – that have led to his political stance. The memoir, due in U.S. bookstores on Sept. 10, begins with the Hebrew University bombing in 2002 that killed two of his friends and severely injured his wife, Jamie, who had shrapnel lodged in her body. Harris-Gershon says Jamie is a “very private person” who preferred not to have her private ordeal immortalized in a book. So the memoir is not the story of her recovery but his own. “Despite the fact that the book begins with the attack, her injury and her recovery, she understands that it is primarily a chronicle of my story and my experience – myself as a secondary victim,” Harris-Gershon said.
After the couple left Israel in 2003 after spending three years living in Jerusalem, Harris-Gershon began suffering symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, including crippling anxiety attacks. The book delves deeply into his recovery process, including the traditional and innovative forms of therapy he tries. Harris-Gershon describes watching a piece of shrapnel extracted from his wife’s body, noting the “opaque film of unknown fluids” on the twisted metal. Much of his struggle is portrayed as extended dialogues between the author and himself, or with his therapist or inanimate objects – a playful literary technique that HarrisGershon says reveals the influence of postmodern masters like Dave Eggers. Ultimately, however, HarrisGershon’s recovery was enabled not by conventional therapy but by an unprecedented encounter – one that led to a political awakening. Spurred by an article in which
the cafe bomber, Mohammed Odeh, expressed remorse for his actions, Harris-Gershon set out on a quixotic quest to meet the terrorist. The memoir details HarrisGershon’s unsuccessful attempts to meet Odeh, a member of Hamas who is being held in an Israeli prison. Blocked repeatedly by the thorny machinations of Israeli bureaucracy, Harris-Gershon’s search serves as a catalyst for a series of revelations about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that range from the unjust policies of the British Mandate to the poignancy of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. The book culminates in a meeting between the author and Odeh’s family in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem. Harris-Gershon describes the encounter as a “reckoning” that drove home the realization that Palestinians are, as he writes, “not monsters.” The product of a Conservative
Jewish upbringing in America, Harris-Gershon expresses bemusement that it took an act of terror for him to reach this epiphany. “Growing up, I just thought of Palestinians as another enemy of the Jewish people,” he said. “I thought of them as a caricature of evil. And that is sadly common among American Jews.” But struggling to understand the motivations of a terrorist and speaking with Odeh’s family, HarrisGershon said, “made me understand their history and experience, their intense suffering, in ways that I had never understood before.” Harris-Gershon says that in the wake of the encounter, he feels “transformed” and plans to continue to act on his newfound political beliefs, writing about Middle East politics and America’s role in the region. “It may take the form of a new book in the near future,” he said. “My writing on this issue is definitely going to continue.”
Without unemployment insurance, synagogue employees lacking a safety net By Josh Lipowsky NEW YORK (JTA) – When Manya Monson was laid off in 2010, she knew she wouldn’t receive unemployment benefits, but she figured she could manage. Then a few weeks later she found out she was pregnant. “It made things very tough at that point,” Monson said. Had she been employed at the local pharmacy, Monson would have been entitled to several months of unemployment insurance payments to help tide her over until she found a new job. But Monson was the youth director at Adath Jeshurun, a Conservative synagogue in Elkins Park, Pa., and under federal law and the laws of most states, religious organizations are exempt from unemployment insurance taxes. That leaves their employees without a guaranteed safety net if they are laid off. “It’s really a shame because you do a lot of hard work when you deal with nonprofits. You generally do more than one person’s job,” said Monson, who did receive several months of severance from the synagogue and stressed that she harbors no ill will toward her former employer. “Then in the end, if there is an end, you usually get left out in the cold.” In the wake of economic downturns, Jewish groups have spoken out often in support of expanded unemployment benefits. But none of the three major religious denominations requires – or even recommends – that its synagogues provide unemployment benefits to their workers. As far as safety nets, the situation
is much better for pulpit rabbis. In addition to being relatively well compensated, pulpit rabbis generally work under contract with their synagogues, which provides some measure of job security and guaranteed compensation in the case of a dismissal. Lower-level employees without contracts can be let go at a moment’s notice, with no guaranteed severance or ability to collect unemployment. In recent years, the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center has repeatedly cited Jewish values in urging Congress and the president to extend unemployment benefits. But while the RAC and the Union for Reform Judaism provide such benefits to their employees, only a minority of Reform synagogues appear to follow suit. A 2012 survey of 108 synagogues by the movement’s National Association for Temple Administrators found that only 29 percent paid into unemployment. “In the end, every synagogue has to make decisions, what works for them,” said Rabbi David Saperstein, the RAC’s director, adding that the movement cannot mandate its synagogues provide unemployment insurance. The Conservative movement takes a similar line. A 2002 resolution by the movement’s Rabbinical Assembly called on Congress to extend unemployment benefits to help those impacted by the recession that was taking place at the time. But while the movement’s synagogue association, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, pays into unemployment for its own personnel, it neither mandates nor recom-
mends the practice for its congregations. “We cannot wade into the many and diverse waters of state and provincial law,” said the United Synagogue’s CEO, Rabbi Steven Wernick, adding that the organization encourages congregations to “go above and beyond where they can.” It’s difficult to know how many of them do either by paying into the unemployment system, providing
severance packages or both. Besides the Reform survey, which drew responses from only a fraction of the movement’s nearly 900 congregations, leaders of the Conservative movement said they had no idea how many synagogues provide unemployment benefits, or even whether the practice is common. The Orthodox Union, the main Orthodox synagogue umbrella, also had no idea and declined to com-
ment further. “It would cost a fortune,” said Robert Friedman, executive director at Adath Jeshurun, Monson’s former employer. “If it was always done there would have been a budget for it. But since it isn’t, it’s hard to put into the budget.” To some Jewish leaders, that’s hardly an excuse. In 2008, Rabbi Jill Jacobs UNEMPLOYMENT on page 19
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Anti-Semitic adviser to FDR sabotaged early effort on human rights at U.N. By Rafael Medoff JNS As debate mounts over whether the U.S. should bypass the United Nations Security Council and take military action in response to human rights abuses in Syria, a scholar has uncovered surprising new evidence about an effort in 1945 to give the fledgling U.N. strong powers to enforce human rights around the world. Writing in the September 2013 issue of the Journal of American History, Prof. James Loeffler reveals that a virulently anti-Semitic adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt undermined attempts by Jewish activists to insert strong human rights provisions in the U.N. charter at its founding conference in 1945. Loefler, an associate professor of history at the University of Virginia, describes the behind-the-scenes role played at the U.N. conference by the controversial Isaiah Bowman. Dr. Bowman, who was widely known as “Roosevelt’s geographer,” was a longtime adviser to FDR on worldwide territorial and population settlement issues. He strongly opposed admitting Jewish refugees to the United States, and was also against creating a Jewish state in Palestine. Bowman’s private correspondence also reveals him to have been profoundly anti-Semitic. He imposed a quota on Jewish students and faculty at Johns Hopkins University, of which he was president from 1935 to 1948. Bowman once told a colleague it was necessary to limit the hiring of Jewish faculty because “Jews come to Hopkins... for two things: to make
money and to marry non-Jewish women.” President Roosevelt appointed Bowman to be part of the State Department’s delegation to the United Nations founding conference, which opened in San Francisco on April 25, 1945. Prof. Loeffler, in his Journal of American History article, describes how Jewish organizations sent representatives to San Francisco to lobby on various issues. Zionist groups, for example, worked to make sure that the wording of the U.N. charter would not undermine the longstanding British promise to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine. This infuriated Bowman, who feared that recent Congressional expressions of support for Jewish statehood would embolden the Zionist representatives in San Francisco. Loeffler quotes Bowman writing in his private diary: “The professional agitators and leaders, [American Zionist leader Rabbi Stephen] Wise and all of the rest, are learning how powerful they are in Congress… Thus the Jews have tasted blood and are going to push in every possible way for preferment… [T]he situation is a dangerous one since it means our introduction into Near East policies with Congress bludgeoned into an active participation on the side of the Jew-right or wrong.” The American Jewish Committee (AJC), which opposed Zionism at the time, also sent representatives to the U.N. conference. Together with the NAACP, church groups, and the AFL-CIO, the AJC focused on the issue of human rights. They lobbied for language in the U.N. charter that
Courtesy of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
Isaiah Bowman surveying a site in Peru in 1941.
would obligate member-states to observe human rights, and wanted to create a commission or other mechanism to enforce it. But the State Department, anxious to avoid conflicts with the Soviet Union, resisted those demands. Standard historical accounts, such as Naomi W. Cohen’s history of the AJC, Not Free to Desist, report that a spontaneous, passionate appeal by AJC President Joseph Proskauer moved State Department officials to change their minds. Proskauer, in his autobiography, claimed that he turned the tide at a
“tense and dramatic” meeting between the human rights activists and the State Department delegation on May 2. With his “heart pounding,” Proskauer delivered an appeal that supposedly completely changed the mind of Secretary of State Edward Stettinius. The secretary “rose to his feet impulsively” and “exclaimed that he had no idea of the intensity of the feeling on this subject” and would take the requested steps, Proskauer wrote. But Prof. Loeffler found internal State Department records and other documents that reveal a very different story. As Loeffler describes it, Proskauer and the other human rights advocates became upset over media reports that the U.S. delegates intended to compromise with the Soviets and back down on the human rights language. To calm the critics, Secretary Stettinius asked Proskauer and his colleagues to prepare a formal petition explaining their position, and to present it to him at a meeting on May 2. But Stettinius “knew in advance what [they] would propose on May 2,” because he sent Bowman “to help draft the group’s petition.” Bowman “then briefed Stettinius and helped prepare the Secretary’s remarks” that would be made after they presented the petition. Proskauer went along with the charade because “he reveled in the chance to demonstrate his close relationship with the Secretary [of State],” Prof. Loeffler writes. “Stettinius and Proskauer effectively calibrated their messages before the public event,” Loeffler notes. “The AJC even choreographed the meeting down to the order and roles of speak-
ers.” Proskauer acceded to the State Department’s insistence that a compromise on the human rights issue was unavoidable. The final version of the U.N. charter included language requiring member-states to respect human rights, but no mechanism was created to enforce it. Secretary Stettinius insisted it was “a good beginning.” Not everyone agreed with that assessment. Many human rights advocates feared that the principle of human rights would be overridden by the language in Article 2(7) of the U.N. charter, which prohibited other countries from “intervening in matters which are essentially in the domestic jurisdiction of the State concerned.” Walter White, executive director of the NAACP, warned, “Unless we have a real international organization where we have the power to be able to stop a Hitler in his tracks before he uses racial bigotry to create hate and thus create war, it would mean that most of the fine phrases, admirable phrases… would be made ineffectual.” White’s prediction came true. Although a U.N. Commission on Human Rights was created, throughout its first 20 years in existence (1947-1967), it refrained from investigating human rights abuses or criticizing perpetrators. Later, the Commission adopted a more activist posture, but by then the U.N. was dominated by Arab, Soviet-bloc, and militant Third World regimes that steered the commission to focus largely on Israel.
Seeking Kin: For a once-fading L.A. synagogue, a 90th anniversary to celebrate By Hillel Kuttler Jewish Telegraphic Agency BALTIMORE – When Henry Leventon, his wife and three daughters attended their first Sabbath service at Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock in 1976, the gabbai at the Los Angeles synagogue immediately approached. “Just what we need: a young man and his family!” the sexton greeted them enthusiastically. Leventon, considering himself hardly youthful at age 49, saw the aging worshipers and understood the intent. The synagogue in northeast L.A. was fading. The migration from the small Jewish communities in the two neighborhoods, and the larger one in nearby Boyle Heights, had started in the 1950s to western parts of the city and the San Fernando Valley. By the 1970s, assembling a minyan was difficult. And the situation worsened through the 1990s. Still, the synagogue hung on, its
Courtesy of Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock
The graduation of the Torah School at the revitalized Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock, May 19, 2013.
members resisting calls to disband or merge with other congregations. In recent years, though, TBI, as it is known, has experienced a revival. Young couples and their children are moving into the area and coming to the synagogue from more distant
areas. TBI now has approximately 170 families as members, services are held every Sabbath morning and two Friday nights each month, a Hebrew school operates, and b’nai mitzvah and adult education classes meet.
Against the odds, TBI is poised to celebrate the 90th anniversary of its founding, which occurred on Dec. 23, 1923. To mark the occasion at this year’s Hanukkah party, one of TBI’s recent arrivals, Delaine Shane, is assembling an exhibition of the synagogue’s history. She is soliciting items that help document the history – “anything that connects the people to the temple,” she said. Photographs, home movie clips, journals, letters and stories preserved by congregants and their descendants, wherever they may be – Shane wants them all. High on the wish list are the magazines published jointly by TBI and a local B’nai B’rith lodge in the 1940s and 1950s, The Jewish Observer in Highland Park, and photographs from the official opening of the TBI building – the only one built by the congregation – in December 1930. She’s hoping to come up with any printed material from the dedication event, too. Poking around closets, she found
1930s-era lighting fixtures, an American flag presented to TBI in 1939, a wooden synagogue sign from the late ‘40s and beautiful stained-glass windows removed for safekeeping. Her search of U.S. census records and city directories, building permits and maps provided insight into the synagogue’s founders and its early years. One nugget she uncovered: A founder asked the local mailman to provide the Jewish names and their addresses of those living along his route. The information helped in recruitment. All the information, and any donated mementos, will be preserved for TBI’s newer generations. The effort to document the synagogue’s rise, fall and ascent anew “underscores the fallacy that Los Angeles and California have no history, let alone Jewish history,” said Stephen Sass, the president of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California. SEEKING on page 20
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
As school crumbles, New Orleans Rabbi Uri Topolosky leaves city By Uriel Heilman Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) – It didn’t take long after Rabbi Uri Topolosky moved to New Orleans in 2007 for the moderate Orthodox rabbi to win plaudits for helping the city’s Jewish community heal following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The congregation Topolosky was hired to lead, Beth Israel, had seen its building destroyed during the hurricane and ever since had been meeting in a room at the local Reform temple. The first Shabbat he was in town, Topolosky made a point of participating not only in the Orthodox service, but in the Reform one, too. Over the next six years, Topolosky expanded his congregation, helped Beth Israel erect a new building, put up an eruv enclosure in New Orleans and, at least when Katrina anniversaries rolled around, enjoyed a national reputation as an exemplar of Jewish interdenominational cooperation. But this year’s Katrina anniversary finds Topolosky in a much different place: his new home in suburban Washington. Early this month, Topolosky, his wife and four children left the
Big Easy for Maryland, where Topolosky will lead a small congregation in Rockville, Beth Joshua, and be a rabbi at the 700student Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy, which he attended. The congregation meets in the school. Topolosky attributes his move to the deteriorating Jewish educational landscape in New Orleans, which he said no longer suits his kids’ needs. “Part of me was very sad to move back to the Northeast,” said Topolosky, who grew up in the Maryland area and now has children ranging in age from 2 to 9. “But we really wanted to go back to a community where there was a job and there was a school.” New Orleans’ Jewish school is in dire straits. After being shuttered for a year following Katrina, the school, established in 1996, has not managed to recoup its prestorm enrollment of more than 80 students. Enrollment reached its postKatrina peak of 51 in 2010-’11, but it tumbled after the school’s board decided to actively recruit non-Jewish students. Last year there were 38 pupils, and this term there are 29 – approximately half are not Jewish. Last September, the board dropped the word Jewish from the
school’s name, changing it from the New Orleans Jewish Day School to Community Day School. The school still offers about two hours per day of mandatory Jewish and Hebrew study, but it wasn’t enough for the Topoloskys – or many others. “Many of the Jewish families left, including children of rabbis,” Sharon Pollin, the new head of the school, told JTA. Pollin cited as reasons the small number of students, the shrinking number of Jewish students and the commute. The school is located in the suburb of Metairie, and many Jewish families now live in New Orleans proper. This year, the school eliminated its fifth grade and consolidated four of its grades into two. The school’s troubles “just sort of pushed the question for us of whether it was time to go,” Topolosky said. “We wanted our kids to have an environment where they were within the Jewish community, had other Jewish kids to be with, playmates on Shabbat.” Beth Israel has hired a successor to Topolosky, Rabbi Gabriel Greenberg, but he won’t be coming to New Orleans for another year because of his commitment at
As NFL season kicks off, remembering legendary Jewish coaches Sid Gillman and Marv Levy By Robert Gluck JNS Growing up in a tough Minneapolis neighborhood, Sid Gillman overcame anti-Semitism to become one of professional football’s most important innovators. “Minneapolis, unlike (neighboring) St. Paul, was an anti-Semitic town. St. Paul was more welcoming to Jews. Sid’s wife was discriminated against because she was Jewish. Sid passed away, but I talked to his children while researching the book. They believe he was passed over for coaching jobs because he was Jewish,” Josh Katzowitz, a writer covering the NFL for CBS and author of “Sid Gillman: Father of the Passing Game,” tells JNS. The Sept. 5 start of the 2013 National Football League (NFL) season presents an opportunity to reflect on the careers of famed Jewish coaches, such as Gillman and Marv Levy, who helped shape the game’s history. Gillman’s influence on the modern game can be seen in his “coaching tree.” Coaches who either worked with Gillman directly or were associated with him in other ways include Al Davis, former owner of the Oakland Raiders; Chuck Noll, who coached the
Courtesy of Coemgenus via Wikimedia Commons
The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, where Jewish NFL coaches Sid Gillman and Marv Levy are both enshrined.
Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles; famed college coaches Ara Parseghian (University of Notre Dame) and Bo Schembechler (University of Michigan); Bill Walsh, who coached the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles; and Dick Vermeil, who coached the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl title. Vermeil, who wrote the foreword to Katzowitz’s book, first met Gillman in 1960, when they happened to be sitting next to each other at a football clinic in Reno, NV. Eighteen years later, as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Vermeil brought in Gillman to help his staff. “Sid influenced the way the game is played today more than any other coach in the history of the
NFL,” Vermeil tells JNS. “He does not get that kind of credit, but he deserves it. Everything you see in football in the modern offense, at one time, was originated by Sid. He’s been paid respect, he’s in the Hall of Fame, but whenever people talk about great football coaches they talk about Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry and Joe Gibbs, but you don’t hear them mention Sid Gillman.” Gillman compiled a 123-104-7 NFL head coaching record for the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers, San Diego Chargers, and Houston Oilers. Vermeil says Gillman was not only the father of the modern passing game, but also the father of other aspects of current NFL offenses, including formation variations. “Gillman’s genius in terms of the modern-day offense is undeniable,” Katzowitz writes in his book. “Spreading the field with receivers, running backs and tight ends? Gillman’s idea. Using the long pass to stretch a defense? Gillman’s baby. What NFL fans cheer on the field today can be directly traced back to the Midwestern coach who led the charge of the West Coast offense.” In his book, Katzowitz details NFL on page 22
Courtesy of Uri Topolosky
Rabbi Uri Topolosky and his family, seen here during a recent visit to Jerusalem, have
the Hillel of the University of California, Berkeley. Both Topolosky and
Greenberg are graduates of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, the libSCHOOL on page 22
8 • NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Jewish shtetl in Azerbaijan survives amid Muslim majority By Cnaan Liphshiz Jewish Telegraphic Agency KRASNAIYA SLOBODA, Azerbaijan (JTA) – Even at 70, Yedidia Yehuda can negotiate a narrow mountain path in northern Azerbaijan with a confidence easily mistaken for carelessness. “You take care not to fall yourself and don’t worry about me,” he tells a visitor following him toward a small town on the northern bank of the Kudyal river, where 2,000 Jews have lived for nearly three centuries in their own shtetl, one of the world’s few remaining all-Jewish towns outside Israel. A few twists down the slope, Yehuda proudly points to the red roof of a new and spacious structure decorated with sculpted beige limestone panels that rises from the jagged rocks and dusty flowerbeds on the mountainside. It is the tomb of Rabbi Gershon ben Reuven, leader of this littleknown community until his death 122 years ago. The building was erected last year as part of a massive renovation and construction effort, courtesy of Krasnaiya natives who left this rural town to pursue lucrative careers elsewhere. The building projects are to honor the town’s rich past. Over the years, the community known as Mountain Jews has
National Briefs Calif. bars state banks from funding Iran, terror groups WASHINGTON (JTA) – California enacted a measure making it illegal for state-chartered financial institutions to be used, directly or indirectly, to funnel money to terrorist groups or the government of Iran. The law signed Monday by Gov. Jerry Brown provides oversight mechanisms to ensure that the state-licensed banks and credit unions have policies to prevent the maintenance and opening of accounts with foreign financial institutions that legally assist Iran. Violators would be fined and reported to the U.S. Treasury Department for prosecution. Jewish institutions awarded $9 million in federal security grants WASHINGTON (JTA) – Jewish institutions received nearly all of the funding from the Department of Homeland Security for nonprofit groups to
endured pogroms by Persian warlords, repression under communism and the rise of post-Soviet nationalism. But the need for external funding highlights pressing questions about the future of this Jewish island that continues over time to lose its young to the rapidly growing cities depopulating the Azeri countryside. “Many have left, young and old, myself included,” says Yehuda, who divides his time between Krasnaiya and Or Akiva, Israel. “It’s good because out there we can earn enough to support the community. But it’s bad because it means the current population is a fraction of our past numbers.” According to Yehuda, the town had 8,500 Jews only two decades ago, but has lost 75 percent of its population to Israel, Moscow and the Azeri capital, Baku. The community’s former chief rabbi, Adam Davidov, left recently for Jerusalem. The silver lining in the exodus has been hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from well-todo natives who in the past two years have financed the construction of buildings, modernized burial facilities and transformed the town’s mikvah into an impressive glass-domed tower. Krasnaiya Sloboda also is seeing the construction of the world’s first museum of Mountain Jews. The project is being paid for by
STMEGI, a foundation promoting the heritage of Mountain Jews and
headed by the Krasnaiya-born businessman German Zacharayev, who lives in Moscow. In Azerbaijan, Mountain Jews, or Juhuro, are the largest of three Jewish communities, followed by Ashkenazim and Georgians. With lineage dating to the Jews of ancient Persia, Juhuro are believed to have settled in the region 1,000 years ago. They speak Juhuri, a mix of Farsi and ancient Hebrew. “Here, communists were less successful than elsewhere in
sive tradition,” Yehuda says. The best time to witness the special attachment between Krasnaiya Sloboda and its residents, past and present, is around Tisha b’Av, the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of both ancient Temples. Just ahead of the fast, the town’s population doubles overnight as Krasnaiya natives from all over the world return to visit the graves of their ancestors. Some, like Yehuda, stay for several months. Upon arriving, the returnees
help protect themselves from terrorism. The department announced $10 million in federal security grants last week, and $9 million went to Jewish institutions, according to a statement by Jewish Federations of North America. Homeland Security and the FBI over the past decade have alerted local officials and the Jewish community to specific terror threats, JFNA said.
civil rights movement.
California campuses in Berkeley and Santa Cruz of failing to curb hostile environments for Jewish students were dismissed. The Office of Civil Rights investigation, which included interviews with students and observations of the demonstrations, concluded this week that events described in the complaint did not constitute harassment but rather “expression on matters of public concern directed to the university community.” “In the university environment, exposure to such robust and discordant expressions, even when personally offensive and hurtful, is a circumstance that a reasonable student in higher education may experience,” the probe concluded. In a complaint against UC Santa Cruz, the Office of Civil Rights in a letter said it determined that the events described in the complaint “do not constitute actionable harassment.”
Obama has pre-Rosh Hashanah conference call with rabbis (JTA) – President Obama reflected on the High Holidays and offered New Year’s greetings in a conference call with nearly 1,000 rabbis. Obama during the call last Friday afternoon extended the greetings on behalf of himself and the first lady for a sweet, happy and healthy New Year. He noted that the Jewish High Holidays provide an opportunity for Jews to reflect on the past year and recommit themselves to core values. With the United States marking the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Obama also noted the important role played by American Jews in the
encouraging Jews to assimilate because of our ancient and cohe-
Courtesy of Cnaan Liphshiz
Yedidia Yehuda, right, and a childhood friend walking down the stairs that overlook Krasnaiya Sloboda, August 2013.
Ginsburg officiates at samesex wedding, first for Supreme Court justice (JTA) – Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the first Supreme Court justice to preside over a same-sex marriage. Ginsburg performed the wedding ceremony of Michael Kaiser to John Roberts at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday night. U.S. asks Iran’s Rohani to free Jewish American (JTA) – The United States asked Iran’s new president to free a Jewish American who has been detained there for six years. In a statement issued Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked Hasan Rohani “to work cooperatively with us” to free Robert Levinson, as well as dual citizens Amir Hekmati and Saeed Abedini, “to return to their families after lengthy detentions.” Anti-Semitism complaints against two Calif. universities are dismissed (JTA) – Federal complaints accusing the University of
Hamptons group going to federal court in eruv bid NEW YORK (JTA) – A group trying to have an eruv built in Long Island’s Hamptons filed a federal lawsuit after having its bid quashed by a zoning board. The East End Eruv
blend right back in to a community that despite not being very observant seems immune to the rapid modernization gripping their country. The nearby town of Quba boasts 24-hour supermarkets, Internet cafes and even a luxury spa hotel. But in Krasnaiya, toddlers accompany Jewish women wearing tichel head coverings and aprons to buy groceries from the kosher shops and convenience stores as they prepare for the High Holidays feasts. In the evening, after the older children finish studying in the local yeshiva, dozens of men accompany them down potholed alleyways to Kulkati Synagogue, a massive wood-paneled building with 30 windows and even more Persian carpets covering every inch of its floor. The town, spread out across 120 acres, has another 12 synagogues, most of them inactive. Among Russian Jews, the town once was known as “little Jerusalem.” In a custom reminiscent of the mosques in this predominantly Shi’ite country, visitors to Kulkati take off their shoes before entering. Other customs borrowed from neighbors are common among older Jews, who bury toenail clippings and hair and believe in evil spirits, part of an elaborate system of superstitions. JEWISH on page 21 Association filed its suit Tuesday in Brooklyn District Court against the Township of Southampton and the Southampton Zoning Board of Appeals. Last month, the zoning board denied the construction of the eruv, an all-but-invisible enclosure that allows Sabbathobservant Jews to carry items or push strollers outdoors. The zoning board had ruled that the eruv – PVC poles on 15 of Southampton Township’s telephone poles – would “alter the essential character of the neighborhood.” ‘Breaking Bad’ star Aaron Paul to play biblical Joshua in upcoming film (JNS) “Breaking Bad” star Aaron Paul is set to play the biblical hero Joshua in the upcoming film “Exodus,” directed by Ridley Scott and based on the epic story from the Hebrew Bible, Variety Magazine reported. Paul will be joined by the star of the “Batman” trilogy, Christian Bale, who will play Moses, as well as stars Sigourney Weaver and John Turturro, who will portray the parents of the pharaoh Ramses. Australian actor Joel Edgerton will play Ramses.
INTERNATIONAL • 9
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
As Western powers debate military action, Syria’s Christians face uncertain future By Sean Savage JNS Caught between the larger SunniShi’a battles for supremacy in Syria, Christians are forced to contemplate an uncertain future as Western powers debate action against the government of Bashar al-Assad. Syrian Christians are faced with a difficult situation due to their country’s civil war. Many Christians support Assad out of fear that if he is overthrown and replaced by Islamists, they will face greater persecution, especially from al-Qaedalinked Sunni Muslim rebel groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, who have attacked Christians. At the same time, Assad and his government are supported by Iran and its Lebanese terror proxy, Hezbollah, and have used chemical weapons against the Syrian people. Christian villagers in Wadi alNassara (Valley of Christians) in western Syria, home to around 50,000 Christians, have formed “popular defense committees” with the blessing of the Syrian govern-
International Briefs French interfaith imam assaulted, called ‘Zionist’ in Tunisia (JTA) – A French imam known for promoting Jewish-Muslim relations said he was physically assaulted in Tunisia by a man who called him a “Zionist.” Hassen Chalghoumi, the imam of Drancy near Paris, said he was punched in the chest and shoved to the ground on Sunday near the Hotel Gammarth near Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. Chalghoumi was assaulted in front of his wife and children, who also were hit by the unnamed attacker, the report said. Neither he nor his family members sustained serious injuries. Pope Francis conveys Rosh Hashanah greetings (JTA) – Pope Francis in a meeting with Jewish leaders sent Rosh Hashanah greetings to Jews worldwide and expressed “concern” at the ban on kosher slaughter in Poland. At an audience Monday at the Vatican with World Jewish Congress heads, the pope said he was directing a cardinal to investigate the situation in Poland, where a ban has been in effect on ritual slaughter since January. Britain’s new chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, is sworn in (JTA) – Britain’s new chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, was sworn in
ment, according to AFP. These “popular defense committees” are militias that are armed and trained by the Syrian government to supplement the Syrian army and protect their own neighborhoods or villages from attacks by rebels. Many of these militias are comprised of Syrian minority groups such as the Christians, Druze and Alawites. While Assad may have links to
Iran and Hezbollah, his secular government, led by the minority Alawites, has proven to be friendlier towards Christians than other regional elements, compounding the uncertainty surrounding Syrian Christians’ future. “The Syrian state provides more protection and freedom for Christians and religious minorities than any other Muslim-majority state
in the region, including the regional allies (namely Jordan and Turkey) the U.S. has enlisted in the effort to overthrow it,” Dr. John Eibner, CEO of Christian Solidarity International, a Christian human rights group that has extensively worked with Syrian refugees on the ground, told JNS. At the same time, Eibner pointed out that there is no safe alternative for Christians with the rebel groups, who have largely been infiltrated by wellfunded, organized and experienced Al-Qaeda terrorists. “No existing rebel group in Syria has demonstrated a similar commitment to the protection of religious minorities or an ability to provide the basic functions of the state, and many rebel groups – some of the most powerful of which are allied to al Qaida – are guilty of acts of religious cleansing against Syria’s minorities. Those who propose to attack or overthrow the Syrian state are responsible for ensuring the safety of all of Syria’s citizens after its fall,” Eibner said. Emanuel Aydin, a bishop in the Syria Orthodox Church, told the
in the presence of the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles. Some 1,400 guests were present at Sunday’s ceremony at St. John’s Wood Synagogue in north London, in which Mirvis was sworn in as the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. It was the first time a member of the royal family had attended such a ceremony.
“Israel: A Home Movie” uses archival and private footage to depict the story of Israel’s establishment during the mid-20th century.
gence operations “are strategically focused against [the] priority targets of China, Russia, Iran, Cuba and Israel.”
U.S. releases intelligence on Syrian chemical weapons attack (JNS) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry released declassified American intelligence reports on the use of chemical weapons in Syria on Friday afternoon, the New York Times reported. “Read for yourselves the evidence from thousands of sources,” Kerry said. “This is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. This is what Assad did to his own people,” he added. The four-page intelligence report stated, “The United States Government assesses with high confidence that the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs on August 21, 2013.” The Syrian regime used “a nerve agent” in the attack, according to the report.
Syrian Christians face dilemma as Western powers debate military action (JNS) Caught between the larger Sunni-Shi’a battle for supremacy in Syria, Christians are forced to contemplate an uncertain future as Western powers debate action against the government of Bashar alAssad. U.S. action is on hold as President Barack Obama is seeking approval from Congress, which is not set to address the issue until it reconvenes from recess on Sept. 9. Many Syrian Christians support Assad out of fear that if he is overthrown and replaced by Islamists, they will face greater persecution, especially from al-Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim rebel groups. At the same time, Assad and his government are supported by Iran and its Lebanese terror proxy, Hezbollah, and have used chemical weapons against the Syrian people. Christian villagers in Wadi alNassara (Valley of Christians) in western Syria, home to around 50,000 Christians, have formed “popular defense committees” with the blessing of the Syrian government, according to AFP. These committees are actually militias armed and trained by the Syrian government to supplement the Syrian army and protect their own neighborhoods or villages from attacks by rebels. Many of the militias are comprised of Syrian minority groups such as the Christians, Druze and Alawites.
Courtesy of Anas Salloum via Wikimedia Commons
The town of Zweitina in Wadi al-Nassara, which means “Valley of Christians,” in western Syria.
Fresh arrests made in Paris Chabad molestation probe (JTA) – French police arrested two Jewish men from Paris on suspicion that they pressured parents of allegedly molested minors not to press charges. The two men, identified as Andre T. and Rabbi A., were arrested July 31, according to the RTL news network. They denied the allegations, the report said. Israeli documentary and crew disinvited from Dubai film festival (JNS) The crew of an Israeli documentary, “Israel: A Home Movie,” was disinvited from the upcoming International Federation of Television Archives (IFTA) festival because the festival is going to be held in Dubai. The film’s producer, Arik Bernstein, was notified by IFTA’s chairman that because the ceremony is taking place in Dubai – an Arab country that does not recognize Israel – and the film deals with Israeli history, it will not be shown at the event. Additionally, the film’s crew will not be allowed to attend the event and will be disqualified from winning any prizes, Haaretz reported.
Leaked report shows Israel as ‘priority target’ for U.S. intelligence (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) A document leaked by U.S. National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden shows that the U.S. spies not only on its enemies, but on allies as well-labeling Israel as a “priority target,” according to a Washington Post report on Thursday. The Post published parts of Snowden’s leaked and highly classified U.S. intelligence “black budget” file. The 178-page report details a budget that totals $52.6 billion. The report states that U.S. counterintelli-
Washington Times in early August that he estimates about 300 Christians have been killed in the Syrian civil war, and about 500,000 have fled. Syrian-born Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham also warned against Western intervention in Syria. “Instead of trying to change the (Syrian) government, help the government to change. We are all for change. We are all for reforms. But not in this way, with blood,” Laham recently told Catholic News Service. Indeed, Christian leaders in Syria have a reason to fear for their future. They have also faced growing dangers from rebels in Syria. In April, two Syrian bishops, Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yaziji, were kidnapped at gunpoint at a rebel checkpoint near Aleppo. Their whereabouts are still unknown. In early July, a video posted on LiveLeak apparently showed Syrian Catholic priest Father Francois Murad being beheaded by the AlQaeda-linked Syrian rebels, Jabhat al-Nusra, in front of a cheering crowd. While there are conflicting reports over whether or not that was Murad depicted in the video, the Vatican has confirmed that Murad and two others were taken from a monastery in northern Syria and killed. In late July, an al-Qaeda linked group abducted Italian Jesuit Priest Paolo Dall’Oglio, who is wellrespected by many Syrians and has worked for years to restore Deir Mar Musa or Monastery of Saint Moses the Abyssinian, an ancient Christian monastery located 80 kilometers north of Damascus, into a modern center for Muslim-Christian interfaith dialogue. Home to numerous Christian denominations that date back to the foundation of Christianity in the first century CE, today Christians comprise between 5 to 10 percent of Syria’s estimated 22 million people, down from more than 20 percent just a century ago.
10 • ISRAEL
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Polio discovery in Israeli sewage systems ignites debate on vaccination By Alex Traiman JNS As Israeli children begin their school year this week, one particular requirement for students is taking on a somewhat sudden and newfound sense of urgency-inoculation against the Polio disease. The disease, which many in Israel had believed to be completely eradicated for more than two decades, has recently been identified in sewage systems-first in the south and then in the north of the country-during routine testing. Many across Israel are invoking thoughts of a biblical-style plague outbreak, even though no formal cases of
the disease have been reported. “There has not been an outbreak of Polio since a few cases were reported in Israel in 1988,” Dr. Mati Ehrlichman, director of the Glaubach Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, told JNS. Yet suddenly, as a result of the sewer system findings and the potential for immune-deficient children to contract the disease, Israel’s Health Ministry has launched a rapid campaign to immediately inoculate children using an oral form of Polio vaccination (OPV), which the Health Ministry has not offered children for nearly 10 years. Like many sudden Israeli initia-
tives, the decision to vaccinate has been met with some opposition and controversy, by a group that believes that spreading the vaccination may be more dangerous than the disease itself. A petition was recently taken to Israel’s Supreme Court to halt the issue of the vaccine. The petition was quickly heard and rejected. The controversy surrounds the ability of the oral vaccination to spread to those who have not received it. “There are two kinds of vaccination against Polio,” said Dr. Ehrlichman. “One is called IPV (Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine) and it is not given orally. Jonas Salk, who was Jewish, invented it in the ‘50s. The OPV (Oral Polio Vaccination) was
invented years later by Albert Sabin.” “The only difference between the two is that the IPV is not a live vaccine. The OPV is live vaccine. The IPV, the non-live vaccine is a little better because there is no chance of developing wild Polio virus. But it only vaccinates the one who is getting the vaccine, not the others who are not getting the vaccine. With OPV, even those who are not receiving the vaccine can get vaccinated, because the vaccine can be passed from one to another across the country,” Ehrlichman explained. It is this ability to spread itself that has some in Israel worried that an outbreak of Polio may be more likely to POLIO on page 21
Courtesy of Flash 90
Israeli President Shimon Peres (right), whose son has contracted and overcome Polio, watches as a medical worker administers a dose of a Polio immunization to a young boy at a clinic in Jerusalem on Aug. 21, 2013.
As Israelis mob gas mask distribution centers, army urges calm By Ben Sales Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Courtesy of Gill Yaari/Flash90/JTA
Israelis waiting to collect gas mask kits at a distribution center in Tel Aviv, Aug. 28, 2013.
Israel Briefs Israel stands down in wake of Syria threat JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel’s military sent home many of the reservists called up to deal with the threat from Syria. The decision on Sunday to release the reservists, who remain on alert status, came a day after President Obama said he would seek approval from the U.S. Congress to launch a limited military strike on Syria. Congress reconvenes next week following its summer recess. Indyk joined one IsraeliPalestinian negotiating session, State Dept. says JERUSALEM (JTA) – Martin Indyk, the U.S. envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks has attended a negotiating session, the U.S. State Department said. The Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams reportedly will meet on Tuesday; they met Saturday in Jerusalem. The Palestinians had said last week that Indyk had not attended any of the sessions.
Shas Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in the hospital again JERUSALEM (JTA) – Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party, has been hospitalized for the third time in a week and is on a respirator. Yosef, 92, was taken to Hadassah Hospital-Ein Kerem on Sunday night, hours after visiting the hospital for tests. Bomb explodes near Israeli patrol on Gaza border JERUSALEM (JTA) – A bomb detonated near an Israeli military patrol near the border fence with Gaza. The powerful bomb was exposed Monday morning by a military bulldozer doing work near the fence. No soldiers were injured in the explosion. It was the second time in four days that a bomb planted near the border fence has detonated near soldiers on patrol. Israel’s population grows slightly to 8.081 million JERUSALEM (JTA) – The population in Israel rose to 8.081 million – 148,000 more than on the eve of Rosh Hashanah a year ago. According to data released Monday by Israel’s Central
TEL AVIV – Daniela Hayoum arrived at a Tel Aviv post office at 7 a.m. and took a number. The line of people waiting for gas masks was long and Hayoum stepped away to run errands. She returned in the afternoon to find hundreds of Israelis crowding under a hot sun on the building’s wide steps, some holding umbrellas and others food. On the street below, medics treated Bureau of Statistics, the population grew by 1.8 percent, with 75.1 percent of Israel’s population, or 6.066 million people, listed as Jewish. Arabs made up 20.7 percent of the population. Yarden Gerbi takes gold at Worlds, first for Israeli judoka JERUSALEM (JTA) – Yarden Gerbi became the first Israeli to win a gold medal at the Judo World Championships. Gerbi, 24, of Netanya, defeated France’s Clarisse Agbegnenou, the European champion, to take the under-63 kilo category in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last week. Agbegnenou finished the bout with a dislocated shoulder. Netanyahu credits fence for stemming tide of illegal African migration JERUSALEM (JTA) – No migrants from African countries such as Sudan and Eritrea entered Israel in August. Some 193 illegal African migrants entered Israel from its border with Egypt during August 2012. “The fence has completely blocked illegal migration – also an extraordinary achievement,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday in making
a woman suffering from the heat. On the sidewalk, men sold cold water and bagels. Hayoum began to push her way through. “They want me to stand for four hours here,” said Hayoum, of nearby Ramat Gan. “I don’t trust the government or the army. They say we’re prepared, but the Home Front Command won’t answer the phone.” For two days, Israelis have been descending on centers like this to receive free government-issued gas masks in preparation for a possible
Syrian chemical weapons attack. On Thursday, citing the long lines, the government extended the hours of distribution. The gas mask frenzy signifies a striking mood change here. An alleged chemical weapons attack last week by the Syrian government and subsequent murmurings of a possible U.S. strike have focused Israeli attention on the Syrian civil war like never before. U.S. officials had harsh words fol-
the announcement at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.
the Western Wall. “I know that the temporary platform is not perfect,” Bennett wrote in a letter reported Aug. 29 by Haaretz. “But, in the spirit of Rosh Hashana, I felt an obligation to provide an immediate solution so every Jew can pray at the Kotel.”
Hamas terrorists charged in planned attack on Jerusalem’s Mamilla Mall JERUSALEM (JTA) – Five Hamas terrorists were indicted in connection with a planned attack on the upscale Mamilla Mall in Jerusalem. The cell members, from eastern Jerusalem, were charged Sunday in Jerusalem for allegedly planning to carry out the attack on the popular open-air shopping mall on the cusp of the Old City. Fifth Israeli communications satellite is launched JERUSALEM (JTA) – A fifth Israeli commercial communications satellite was launched. The Amos 4 satellite separated from the final part of its launcher on Sunday morning and its systems are operational, according to reports. The satellite will take two weeks to reach its final orbit. It was launched the previous evening from Kazakhstan. Bennett urges patience on Western Wall plan (JTA) – Israel’s minister of religious services, Naftali Bennett, acknowledged flaws in his plan for egalitarian prayer at
ISRAELIS on page 20
Settlement construction has more than doubled in ‘13 (JTA) – The number of Israeli construction projects in the West Bank has increased by 141 percent in the first half of 2013. The work that began on 1,461 homes during the first six months of 2013 surpassed the 1,089 starts registered by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics for all of 2012, the Jerusalem Post reported on Aug. 29. Poll: 67 percent of Israeli Jews support U.S. attack on Syria (JNS) About 67 percent of Israeli Jews support a U.S. attack on Syria, while 17 percent oppose an attack, according to a new Israel Hayom survey conducted by New Wave Research. The same percentage of Israelis who support the attack are concerned that if such an attack occurs, Israel will be drawn into a war.
SOCIAL LIFE • 11
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
2013 Rosh Hashanah Cover Coloring Contest Honorable Mentions
Asher Weinstein, 13, Rockwern Academy
Gavin Isakov, 7, Rockwern Academy
Lucy Schneider, 10, Rockwern Academy
Elyana Goodman, 7, Rockwern Academy
Ethan Tyler, 9, Rockwern Academy
Hannah Peri, 8, Rockwern Academy
Chad Miller, 9, Rockwern Academy
Molly Fisher, 10, Rockwern Academy
Sofia Cohen, 8, Rockwern Academy
Ben Schneider, 7, Rockwern Academy
12 • CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
2013 Rosh Hashanah Cover Coloring Contest Honorable Mentions
Jack Pollack, 7, Rockwern Academy
Yuval Jacobson, 10, Rockwern Academy
Daniel Turner, 7, Rockwern Academy
Jake Gooman, 10, Rockwern Academy
Ryan Helton, 8, Rockwern Academy
Josh Kotzin, 10, Rockwern Academy
Jacob Englander, 13, Rockwern Academy
Andrew Levin, 9, Rockwern Academy
Mady Warm, 9, Rockwern Academy
William Schneider, 10, Rockwern Academy
Sarah Grove, 9, Rockwern Academy
S. Zalman Kalmanson, 5, Chai Tots
CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
2013 Rosh Hashanah Cover Coloring Contest Honorable Mentions
Hannah Symson, 3, Rockwern Academy
Tzviaryeh Toron, 10, Cincinnati Hebrew Day School
Jason Lucas, 10, Blue Ash Elementary
Jonah Podberesky, 8, Seven Hills
Arielle Podberesky, 11, Seven Hills
Ella Schlaeger, 8, Woodland Elementary
Alanna Schlaeger, 11, Woodland Elementary
Chana Mina Toron, 13, Cincinnati Hebrew Day School
Logan Symson, 6, Seven Hills
Hailey Fiserman, 7, Western Row Elementary
14 • DINING OUT
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Phoenician Taverna features remarkable freshness in exquisite Lebanese cuisine By Bob Wilhelmy Dining Editor How fresh is fresh? Consider this: at Phoenician Taverna, dough for pita bread is placed in the oven for you—for your entire party—the moment you walk in the door. The baked pita bread is brought to the table oven-hot! No kidding, either—the pita is so hot, that one needs to handle it gingerly, until it cools a little. Those baskets of pita bread are a statement of sorts. They set a standard of freshness that applies to every sliver of food in every dish brought to your table, according to Wassim Matar, owner and inspiration behind this fine Lebanese dining spot. “In Lebanon, we eat bread that is fresh—baked daily. You can buy fresh bread everywhere,” Matar said of his native land. “I built the bakery into the restaurant here [at Phoenician Taverna] so we could bake the pita [bread] when you walk in the door. The smell of the bread—there is nothing like it! “Food and wine is a big deal in Lebanon, and freshness of the foods is critical. When people come here, the freshness [of the food] is what impresses them,” he said. I agree. Our party of four placed its evening in Matar’s hands. He introduced us to mezza, the Lebanese word for “array of appetizers.” In Lebanon, those “big deal” food occasions begin with mezza, and there can be hundreds, literally, of appetizers brought to the table. Matar said that a diner may if desired eat an entire meal never having taken two bites of the same item. Our mezza (pictured) was a delightful array that covered the table, all fresh, all tasty, and all eaten along with the fresh, hot pita bread. Dishes included baba ghannouge (eggplant dip), hummus, shankleesh (spiced aged feta with diced tomatoes, onions, EVOO, herbs and spices), m’hammara (walnut dip), falafel (chickpea fritters), tabbouleh (parsley salad), kibbeh (stuffed football-shaped meatballs) and parsley-flaked French fries. Our host showed us how to combine flavors of the mezza to gain an added appreciation of this sharing style of eating. We ate with gusto. The star of our mezza was the walnut dip (m’hammara), a dish rarely found in the U.S. Raw walnuts are pureed with roasted red peppers, a pomegranate reduction, onions and spices, with EVOO to bind the dip. We wiped the bowl clean, using our pita bread to do it. Delicious! In all, there are 30 items on the
The mezza collection of dishes
The dining area that faces an open kitchen.
menu that are mezza selections. They are segmented by cold and hot vegetarian items, non-vegetarian items, soups and salads, and flat breads, which are considered pies in Lebanese cuisine. Our mezza was a communal experience. Each of us took a little of this and some of that, eating at a leisurely pace, mixing and matching, sharing and talking about the taste sensations with no hint of rush or hurry. Easily an hour passed before we realized it had ticked away. What fun!
The entrees we enjoyed
Next, Matar brought the entrees, again plated and positioned to share. All three (pictured) were smash hits, delighting everyone. Sharhat Ghanam (lamb loin) was the centerpiece of these, and my favorite. The lamb medallions were rare, and garnished with a three-herb sauce and served with delicately fried potato slices. Also, we enjoyed meat-stuffed grape leaves, and a chicken shawarma with a garlic whip that is to die for. Lamb is the signature item on the menu at Phoenician Taverna,
and it shows. The lamb is fresh and of the highest quality—so much so that lamb tartar is available. The lamb we ate was delightfully tasty, tender and moist. I recommend it. Two concluding points are important to mention about this restaurant. One is that none of the dishes at this eatery is heavily sauced or spiced. This approach demands that the ingredients be fresh and of the highest quality, because the dishes have to stand on the flavors of the main ingredients. And two, those who enjoy wine
will be pleasantly surprised at the per-glass and per-bottle prices at Phoenician Taverna. The list is very approachable, and features some very good wines as well. See you there! Phoenician Taverna 7944 S. Mason Montgomery Rd. Mason (513) 770 - 0027
DINING OUT • 15
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
RESTAURANT DIRECTORY 20 Brix
Gutierrez Restaurante
Phoenician Taverna
101 Main St
Mexican Grill
7944 Mason Montgomery Rd
Historic Milford
1191 Montgomery Rd.
Mason
831-Brix (2749)
583-1741
770-0027 Pomodori’s
Ambar India Restaurant
Izzy’s
121West McMillan • 861-0080
350 Ludlow Ave
800 Elm St • 721-4241
7880 Remington Rd
Cincinnati
612 Main St • 241-6246
Montgomery • 794-0080
281-7000
1198 Smiley Ave • 825-3888 7625 Beechmont Ave • 231-5550
Slatt’s Pub
Andy’s Mediterranean Grille
4766 Red Bank Expy • 376-6008
4858 Cooper Rd
At Gilbert & Nassau
5098B Glencrossing Way • 347-9699
Blue Ash
2 blocks North of Eden Park
8179 Princeton-Glendale • 942-7800
791-2223 • 791-1381 (fax)
281-9791
300 Madison Ave • 859-292-0065 7905 Mall Road • 859-525-2333
Authentic Lebanese Cuisine 7944 Mason Montgomery Rd. • Mason 513-770-0027
Stone Creek Dining Co.
1 block away from Cedar Village next to UDF
9386 Montgomery Rd
Asian Paradise 9521 Fields Ertel Rd
Johnny Chan 2
Montgomery • 489-1444
Loveland
11296 Montgomery Rd
6200 Muhlhauser Rd
239-8881
The Shops at Harper’s Point
West Chester • 942-2100
Dine-In / Take-Out / Delivery
489-2388 • 489-3616 (fx) Sukhothai Thai Cuisine
Baba India Restaurant 3120 Madison Rd
Kanak India Restaurant
8102 Market Place Ln
Cincinnati
10040B Montgomery Rd
Montgomery
321-1600
Montgomery
794-0057
793-6800
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Blue Ash
9701 Kenwood Rd
Montgomery
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793-7484
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Blue Elephant 2912 Wasson Rd
Mecklenburg Gardens
12110 Montgomery Rd
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302 E. University Ave
Montgomery
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16 • OPINION
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Editorial
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Do you have something to say? E-mail your letter to editor@americanisraelite.com
Dear Editor,
I realize that I have been given many gifts in life and one of the perks of being the publisher of this great and historic newspaper is the fact that I get to write editorials. After 160 years of continuous service to the Jewish community, I recognize and feel the weight of history as I sit at my desk daily and think of ways to improve the newspaper and website in order to provide the Jewish community with the most up-to-date information. The most important and personal editorial I write is for Rosh Hashana. I ask you all to forgive me my many mistakes, whether in omission or commission. If I have upset you in any way I ask you to forgive me as we begin this new year of 5774. If I forgot to do something or accomplish something which I commited to, I ask you to forgive me for that as well. I know I am human because I make so many mistakes, and I make them constantly. I am aware that I get upset and overreact when I shouldn’t or scold someone over a mistake I have made myself in the past. I believe the worst mistakes of all are those made out of laziness; I make those mistakes as well. Once again I ask your forgiveness and if we need to meet to work out our differences I am available to meet with you at any time. I know that our Purim issue causes much discussion in the community but I ask that you look at it from a long term perspective. Once a year we get to roast a few of the organizations and people that make up this great community. It is all in fun. I get many phone calls and people do get very animated. It is just a joke, and please forgive us if we roasted one of your favorite people or organization. We will continue to write the Purim pages and every year we try and improve on our
humor. We also try and remain neutral in terms of picking candidates for office, but we do accept and will continue to accept political candidate and political organization advertisements. We are open-minded and I ask that you also remain open-minded. We strongly believe in the right to Free Speech. We respect your right to express yourself and simply ask that you respect the right of others to do so as well. I would like to take this opportunity to thank and give praise to my entire staff. When it gets right down to it, they have to tolerate me on a daily basis. They all work very hard to bring you a great paper and website. I know that you all enjoy reading the paper by the record number of people who keep renewing their subscription every year. I also know you enjoy reading and using our website because of the increasing numbers of monthly viewers. The paper and website are brought to you by some very dedicated and highly talented individuals. Once again, thank you to the entire staff, and may you all be blessed with a year of happiness, good health and joy. If I have angered you in any way, shape or form, please forgive me. I will try to improve this upcoming year. If you would like me to personally tell you this, I would be more than happy to say it to you in person. Please let me know so that we can both begin the New Year with a clean slate. May you and your family be blessed with a year that is both delightful and prosperous, and may we all be healthy and joyful and happy. Sincerely, Netanel (Ted) Deutsch Editor & Publisher
On August 26, 2013, WCET aired a special which showed a Palestinian man who was describing what he had witnessed over the past few years in his village. As I watched, it brought me back to a conversation I had with a Palestinian man who saw a picture of Jerusalem hanging on the wall of my business. He told me that he was born in Jerusalem and asked me what I thought of him having to leave his home. I told him that I could talk about baseball, football or basketball - was he sure he wanted my answer? He said he wanted to know what I thought. I told this man that I could take him down to London, Kentucky and show him the graves of my family members
who were massacred by Indians while trying to settle that area of the country. I am sure there was bloodshed on both sides of the conflict. We can now look back on the history of conflict that occurred as the Europeans settled in this country. America has become a refuge for people from all over the world, for those who suffered under the hard hand of communism or oppression of whatever sort it was. Major advancements in medicine, food supplies, technology and the freedom of our country, are reasons that people from all over the world have wanted to come here to establish a new life and raise their families. This Palestinian man was a pharmacist and his daughter was enrolled at the University of Cincinnati. I told him that my
ancestors came from Britain because they did not believe in taxes supporting a state church. They believed in the separation of church and state. I told him that God has been good to us and from what I could see, God had been good to him and his daughter. I told him he should count his blessings instead of his losses. That’s what my family had to do. The next day the man returned to my business and told me that he did not sleep all night. He didn’t like what I said, but after much thought he gave me a hug and thanked me for being truthful to him. It is futile to fight against God. The promised land was promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Sincerely, Frank Whitson
‘More sun to you, Israel!’ By Yosef I. Abramowitz JNS JERUSALEM – The perpetuation of a world powered by oil is one of the most anti-Jewish actions imaginable. A world that resists transitioning quickly from oil to renewables is a world that feeds the Iranian nuclear program, promotes radical whabbiism in Saudi Arabia and around the world, accelerates extreme climate change, pollutes our air, distorts world policy against Israel, and sends American and other troops off to bloody and expensive wars in Iraq and elsewhere. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has challenged us all to imagine a world without oil and has set up within his office a special bureau investing in oil substitute strategies. Theodor Herzl imagined the future state of the Jews running on renewables, through an ambitious hydroelectric program linking the Mediterranean and Dead seas. David Ben Gurion, recognizing the power of the sun, envisioned that all hot water and electricity in Israel were going to be produced by solar power. With 60 percent of the country’s land consisting of desert, Israel could be the first major economy to be powered by the sun. Research funds should be invested into battery storage technologies to accelerate the adoption of grid-scale storage of green power for nighttime use.
Thomas Friedman writes convincingly that the new natural gas finds in the United States should be viewed as a transitional phase in our economy, bridging the era of coal and oil to that of solar and other renewables. This is also true for Israel, an energy island. Israel’s offshore natural gas finds, if used properly, can provide the windfall necessary to build a national renewable energy infrastructure. Let’s face it: There is only one reason to attempt to justify drilling on Israel’s historic lands, pumping chemicals into the ground above a water aquifer, heating it up to 350 degrees Celsius for three years (at a huge energy expense) and pumping dirty shale oil out. That reason is greed, pure and simple. Advocates of fracking will try to mask their greed with arguments for energy independence. But Israel is blessed with enough clean natural resources that we don’t need oil. Energy independence is possible and supremely preferable without fracking. And with nearly every automaker coming out with electric vehicles, even our transportation can be driven by renewables. For Israel to take part in perpetuating the world’s oil-based economy is a betrayal of our values and ultimately threatens our existence as a country and of the world. Our founding fathers understood that God has granted us a land blessed with clean natural resources that can promote
energy independence while providing a model to the rest of the world to kick their addiction to oil. As we approach the High Holidays, we need to realize that fracking in Israel is a sin fueled by greed. The sun could power the country by day, and the natural gas finds by night. Green energy storage technologies could soon power the country at night as well. The “start-up nation” should not succumb to the 20th century oil fantasies of a handful of Jewish investors from abroad. Through clear thinking, innovation, moral and political will and a clear vision while standing up to greed, green-tech investors and Israel should unite in rejecting fracking, embracing solar and become, finally, a renewable light unto the nations. Yosef I. Abramowitz, named by CNN as one of the world’s leading Green Pioneers, promotes solar energy in Israel and Africa and has, along with his wife Rabbi Susan Silverman, accepted Naomi Tsur’s invitation to run for Jerusalem City Council on a green, inclusive list.
JEWISH LIFE • 17
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
who preserves a human life is considered as though he preserved the entire world? To be sure, there is an additional sound of the shofar: An exultant, victorious sound; the straight, clear sound which announced the coronation of the kings of Israel; the tekiya sound. But the source of this sound is not a description of our Rosh Hashana celebration; rather it belongs to the Yom Kippur of the Jubilee year, the 50th year which in biblical times proclaimed freedom for all inhabitants throughout the land, when each person was to return to his family and ancestral heritage, a year which presaged the period of redemption for all humanity. The Talmud links Yom Kippur to Rosh Hashana, and joins the tekiya of Yom Kippur to the terua of Rosh Hashana as well. But why is the day the first human being was born biblically linked to the sighing, sobbing sound of the terua? My revered teacher, Rav Joseph B.Soloveitchik, explained that in truth the Almighty created an imperfect, incomplete – even broken – world. The prophet Isaiah says it clearly: “The Former of light and Creator of darkness, the Maker of peace and Creator of evil – I am God, the Maker of all these things” (Isaiah 45:5). Rav Haim Vital explains, in the name of the Holy Ari, that God – who is first and foremost a God of love – had to constrict Himself (tzimtzum) as it were, and leave room for “other.” He had to leave room for a human being with the freedom of choice to do even that which God would not wish him to do, leave room for a world which would also contain chaos, darkness and evil. Thus the human being would not merely be an extension of God (for if so, in loving the human being, God would only be loving Himself); the truly free human being would then act not merely as a pawn or puppet, but rather as a full partner with God, charged with the possibility of repairing the broken world, or perfecting the imperfect, incomplete world in the Kingship of the Divine. God promises His chosen peo-
ple, Israel, that we will ultimately choose the good, repent, perfect ourselves and teach the world God’s love, morality and peace, so that the world may be redeemed (Deuteronomy 30:1-10, Isaiah 2, Micah 4). Hence our mission is to repair the broken world, each in his/her own way, each in his/her environment with the gifts with which we were blessed by God. Each of us must communicate Abraham’s compassionate righteousness and moral justice however we can do it best. The terua, the broken sound of Rosh Hashana, tells it to us the way it is, from the depths of the broken vessels within the world. The exultant tekiya sound tells us that ultimately we can and will succeed – personally, universally and cosmically. For every broken sound, there are two victorious sounds – because our Creator loves us, believes in us and guarantees our ultimate success and redemption. 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: ROSH HASHANA 1. What were the names of Elkana's wives? a.) Chana b.) Penina c.) Devorah d.) Avigail 2. Did he love them equally? a.) Yes b.) No 3. Where did Elkana travel to every year? a.) Chevron cy when he thought Chana was drunk and did not realize she was praying 5. A 1:14-18 Eli told her that her prayer would be answered. Chana made a final request that Eli should pray for her and she returned home composed and at ease. Rashi
EFRAT, Israel – ‘On the seventh month, the first day of the month, shall be a Holy Convocation for you... it will be a day of the broken shofar sound [terua] for you...’ (Numbers 29:1). Each of our festivals, biblical as well as rabbinic, derives its sanctity from a miraculous occurrence which took place on that day. For example, Passover begins on the date the Hebrews left Egypt, and Hanukka on the date the Maccabees achieved victory over the Greek-Syrian Hellenists. In the case of Rosh Hashana, our liturgy repeats again and again, “Today the world was conceived” (Hayom harat olam), and the Midrash explains that this phrase refers to the day on which the first human being was created. Hence Rosh Hashana is the most universal of our celebrations, urging us to give thought to and thanks for the emergence of humanity. This leads us to ponder the most existential of questions: Why are we here? What is our purpose? And – each in his/her own personal way – are we making the most of our allotted time in this world? It is to be expected that the commandments of the day will help us on this crucial existential journey. The introductory verse to this commentary defines a commandment unique to Rosh Hashana: On this day we must sound the shofar, the ram’s horn, and it is to be the broken, staccato sound of the horn, the terua. The Talmud defines this sound as either three sighs (shevarim), nine sobs (terua) or a combination of the two. What is this commandment teaching us? Is it that this world, this life into which we were born, is a vale of tears, a series of sighs, a sojourn of suffering? If so, why is Rosh Hashana considered a festival, a day on which we are enjoined to rejoice, a day in which we must drink wine and eat meat, a day which cancels a bereaved person’s seven days of mourning? Does our Bible not teach us, at the conclusion of its account of the primordial week of creation, “And God saw all that He had made and behold it was very good” (Genesis 1:31)? Does not the entire corpus of Jewish law teach us about the ultimate value of each human life, the necessity of even desecrating Shabbat to preserve life, that he
Hence our mission is to repair the broken world, each in his/her own way, each in his/her environment with the gifts with which we were blessed by God.
b.) Jerusalem c.) Shiloh 4. Who was Eli? a.) High Priest b.) Judge c.) King d.) Prophet 5. Who did Eli speak to in the Haftorah? a.) Chana b.) Elkana c.) Penina
time The Children of Israel entered Canaan until it was destroyed by the Philistines at the end of Eli's life. Elkana would go to other towns on his way to Shiloh to encourage others to perform this mitzvah. Talmud 4. A,B 1:10 Eli showed he did not have prophe-
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
SHABBAT SHALOM: ROSH HASHANA PARSHAT HAAZINU DEUTERONOMY 32:1- 32:52
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
ANSWERS 1. A,B Samuel I 1:2 2. A 1:5 He loved both his wives, he expressed his love for Chana to ease her pain because she was childless. Radak 3. C 1:3 The Mishkan was in Shiloh from the
Sedra of the Week
18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
JEWZ
IN THE
Special Honors Teachers “Teach,” a two-hour special airing on CBS, explores America’s educational system by showing how four teachers, from different parts of the country, connect to their respective elementary, middle school, and high school students. These teachers and their students were filmed throughout the last school year. The special’s publicity releases says: [“Teach”] “offers an intense and emotional illustration of how passion, innovation and a toolbox of learned skills drive these educators as they navigate the ups and downs of the 2012-2013 school year.” There are also brief segments in which a raft of celebrities say nice things about teachers (the celebs include RASHIDA JONES, 37, and JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT, 32). Hosted by Queen Latifah, “Teach” was created and directed by DAVIS GUGGENHEIM, 49 (Oscar winner for “An Inconvenient Truth”). At the Movies Opening in Cincinnati is “Salinger”, a documentary about the famous author J.D. SALINGER (1919-2010). Reviewers have latched on to the potential literary blockbuster news in the already-released documentary companion book: that as soon as 2015, the Salinger estate will start releasing, for publication, five unpublished Salinger novels (including one that may be a sequel to “The Catcher in the Rye”). Salinger’s son refuses to confirm and many think the documentary makers may be relying on shaky sources about these release(s). Salinger, who was famously reclusive, and didn’t publish any work after 1965, grew-up in an affluent New York family. His Jewish father imported kosher cheese. The documentary covers the shocks in his life, including: finding out just after his bar mitzvah that his mother was not Jewish and was just “passing” as Jewish; his brutal combat experiences during WWII, which included liberating a death camp (which the film claims helped turn him into the artist he was); and trying to find personal peace later on via Eastern religions and trendy diets (which the film claims helped dampen his artistic impulse). One interesting aside – in terms of how famous people unexpectedly connect – is touched on in the film – but not fully explored. Just before he went into the Army in 1942, Salinger dated Oona O’Neill, then 17, the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill. His affection was largely unrequited and Oona shared his army let-
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NEWZ
ters with her “golden socialite” pals: Gloria Vanderbilt (of blue jeans/old money fame), now 89, and CAROL MARCUS (19252003). Oona broke Salinger’s heart when she eloped in 1943 with the much older Charlie Chaplin. Vanderbilt went on to have four husbands, including the late famous film director SIDNEY LUMET and author Wyatt Cooper, the father of Gloria’s son, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. Marcus, meanwhile, was long married to famous author William Saroyan and, in 1959, she wed WALTER MATTHAU, and they stayed married until his death in 2001 (they had one son). Marcus was great friends with Truman Capote and probably was a major inspiration for the Holly Golightly character in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. Oldies Released Last July, the CD “Andy Kaufman and his Grandmother” was released. It was culled from 82 hours of material that KAUFMAN, a co-star of TV’s “Taxi”, had recorded via a small tape recorder he carried with him everywhere. Before his death from cancer in 1984, age 35, the groundbreaking comedian planned to use some of that material for a comedy album. Recently, his life partner, LYNNE MARGULIES, worked with a skilled editor, and they pulled out choice excerpts that they felt were true to Andy’s spirit and vision for his album. It includes conversations between Kaufman and his family members. Also released in July were “Jack Benny: The Lost Episodes” and “Dobie Gillis: the Complete Series.” The former is a 3-DVD set that includes episodes of the Jack Benny Show (from the ‘50s) and Benny color TV specials (from the ‘60s) that have never been released before. Guest stars including Natalie Wood, Gary Cooper, GEORGE BURNS, John Wayne, Dick Van Dyke, MILTON BERLE, TONY CURTIS and President Truman. BENNY, a comedy legend, died in 1974, age 80. “Dobie” is a 20 DVD set, with bonus interview extras. The ‘60s comedy series was based on a book by the late MAX SHULMAN, and co-starred SHEILA KUEHL, now 72, as Zelda (the smart girl who chased Dobie). Kuehl went on to be a civil rights attorney, especially active in fighting for gay rights, and she served eight years as a California State Senator. She was the first openly gay person to serve in the legislature.
FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO Wood’s Theater – Mrs. Emma Waller, the great Tragedienne, is still attracting excellent houses at this Theater. She is well deserving of the flattering tribute paid her, as her personations are faultless and she has the gift of portraying the passions and feelings which actuate the human heart to the very life. The great Ghost Drama, “Wake not the Dead,” has had a successful fun, with Mrs. Waller in the principal character; the play has become quite popular and the Ghost is pronounced a masterwork of art. Mrs. Waller takes a benefit this Friday evening, and we make no doubt that she will receive one commensurate with her merits. Pike’s Opera House – Miss Charlotte Thompson, a very meritorious actress has been regaling the patrons of this establishment with some choice plays, in which she was ably supported by Mr. Lingham and the balance of the excellent stock company. – September 25, 1863
125 Y EARS A GO A new cure. Wonderful for sufferers! Mrs. M.D. Kuhns, by request of many persons, is here. Come soon. You will not often have the chance, The proof is here that my Magnetic Root Oil cannot be beaten by anybody in America. Thousands of those I have met say that they have never been without medicine a day, and still get worse. Thousands of people are sent to an early grave. Where life has been in danger, by operating I have cured it in a short time. The oldest chronic diseases, that no medicine will help, can be cured by my remedy. Rheumatism, Paralysis, Spinal Disease, Neuralgia, Cancer, Asthma, Piles, Liver Complaint, Stomach Disorders, Malaria, Fever, Yellow and Black Jaundice, Catarrh, Croup, Dropsy, Colic, Overiana Diseases, Headache, Sores, Tumors, Salt Rheum, Change of Life, Epileptic Fits, Sore and Blind Eyes. My oil has saved thousands who were on the verge of the grave. When nobody can tell what ails you, bring your urine along. It shows the sickness and where the oil must be used the strongest. Mrs. M.D. Kuhns, No. 23 Madison street near Elm, one square below Centennial Exposition Buildings. – September 7, 1888
100 Y EARS A GO Goldman–Meis. ...Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Meis of 2530 Kemper Lane, Cincinnati, O., announce the engagement of their daugher Corinne, to Mr. Stanley Goldman, of St. Louis, Mo. Rauh–Rosenthal.
The engagement is announced of Miss Selma Rosenthal of New York City, to Dr. Sidney J. Rauh of Cincinnati, O. At home Sunday, September 7, 1913, at the residence of Mr. Fred Rauh, 760 South Crescent avenue, Avondale, Cincinnati, O., from four to six. Schulman–Oppenheimer. Mr. and Mrs. Morris Oppenheimer, of 1623 East 117th street, Cleveland, O., announce the betrothal of their daughter, Mae, to A. W. Schulman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Schulman, of 55 Cambridge avenue, Dayton, O. Michael–Sommer. Mrs. Emile Sommer of Hawkinsville, Ga., announces the engagement of her daughter, Floretta, to Mr. Ernest Michael of Athens, Ga. – September 4, 1913
75 Y EARS A GO Miss Helen Greller, daughter of Mrs. Rebecca Greller, Landon Court, and Mr. Verne Canner, son of Mrs. Agnes Canner, Blair Avenue, were married Friday Aug. 12th, at Versailles, Ind. Rabbi Louis Feinberg officiated at services Tuesday evening, Sept. 13th. The newlyweds are living in the Alvin Apartments, Norwood Avenue, Norwood, O. Mr and Mrs. Charles Sewell, of Nashville, Tenn., announce the marriage of their daughter, Miss Helen, to Mr. Ossie Stein, son of Mr. I. Stein, 844 Windham Avenue, Cincinnati. The wedding took place in Nashville Tuesday, Sept. 6th. After October 1st Mr. and Mrs. Stein will reside at 36 Landon Court. Mr. and Mrs. Alter Peerless, Windham Avenue, announce the engagement of their daughter, Jeanette, to Mr. Louis Zimov, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Zimov, of Union Street. Mr. and Mrs. Abe Levy of Middletown, O., announce the engagement of their daughter, Evelyn, to Mr. Irwin Pollock, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Pollock, 897 Clinton Springs Avenue. – September 15, 1938
50 Y EARS A GO Miss Carol Morton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paul E. Morton was married Aug. 18 to Mr. Stanford Ullner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Meyer Ullner of this City. The ceremony was at the home of the bride followed by a reception. Miss Peggy Morton was her sister’s maid of honor and Mrs. Sharon Cohn of West Palm Beach, Fla., sister of the bridegroom, was matron of honor. Mr. Allen Cohn was best man for his brother-in-law and Mr. Robert Rubin was usher. After an extended European honeymoon, Mr. Ullner and his
bride will reside in Columbus. The bride will complete her studies in medical technology at Ohio State University. Mr. Ullner, who graduated from UC with a bachelor of Sciene degree, will enter the Ohio State University, College of Denitstry. – September 5, 1963
25 Y EARS A GO Mrs. Simon Lazarus Kr. will be honored by the Cincinnati chapter of the American Jewish Committee to inaugurate the chapter’s 1988 Human Relations Appeal Fundraising Campaign. Bob and Ruth Westheimer will host a gala cocktail reception at Losantiville Country Club on September 28, announced Fred H. Abel, AJC campaign chairman. “We are delighted to honor Harriet Lazarus for her longstanding devotion and commitment to the ideals of the American Jewish Committee. The chapter leadership has made a special commitment this year to increase their support for the agency’s goals. Harriet’s personal involvement, and the tradition of the Simon Lazarus Jr. Human Relations Award program, has enriched the chapter with years of outstanding leadership. On this evening we can all show our appreciation for that remarkable tradition, and a gracious lady.” Lazarus will be presented with a special award by the Cincinnati chapter leadership. Participating in the presentation will be the Westheimers, Dr. David Schwartz, chapter cahirman, and Abel. Mimi Alperin, chairman of the executive committee of the national board of governors will be the featured speaker at the reception. Alperin has worked extensively with the AJC for many years. – September 15, 1988
10 Y EARS A GO Dr. Ellen Cannon, professor of political science and advocate on behalf of Israel and American Jewry, addressed a group of about 200 participants, as the keynote speaker at “Back to the Future,” a Sep. 7 event co sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the Manuel D and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation. Examining the topic of American Jewish politics in the 21st century, Cannon, explored, both empirically and conceptually, the “political power of Jews in this country and the world.” She illustrated three critical factors in defining Jewish political power. Each of these issues, according to Cannon, is imperative to the future of our place in democracy. – September 11, 2003
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UNEMPLOYMENT from page 5 authored a legal ruling adopted overwhelmingly by the Jewish law committee of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly requiring fair treatment of employees, specifically with respect to wages and allowing unionization. The ruling did not address unemployment specifically, but Jacobs told JTA she believes that is required by Jewish tradition, too. “There are lots of things we budget in because of our values, and we also need to budget in fair salaries for our employees as part of our values,” said Jacobs, the executive director of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. “I run a nonprofit organization, and we pay unemployment insurance and we budget it in. It doesn’t mean we have extra money to spend.” Under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, employers must pay 6 percent of an employee’s annual wages toward unemployment insurance. In practice, however, most states offer tax credits that can lower the rate to as little as 0.6 percent, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor. Religious groups are exempt from the law’s requirements but can opt in if they choose. NATA, the group for Reform temple administrators, is working on a resolution on the issue for consideration at the association’s national gathering in October. But Livia Thompson, the group’s president, declined comment on its content. Two of the Conservative
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(513) 531-9600 movement’s leading voices on ethical issues declined to go as far as Jacobs in arguing that synagogues must pay into the unemployment insurance system, but they did assert that congregations should feel a religious obligation to stretch themselves. “It is incumbent upon Jewish institutions to institute the highest ethical standards in relationship to their employees,” said Rabbi Morris Allen of Beth Jacob Congregation in Minnesota and the program director of Magen Tzedek, an effort to ensure ethical treatment for workers in the food industry, as well as animals. Allen’s synagogue does not pay unemployment insurance, which the rabbi said he didn’t believe was necessary because two former employees had been able to claim benefits, anyway. However, an employee of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development told JTA that if any non-paying synagogue employees had received benefits in the past, the payments were made in error. Rabbi Elliot Dorff, chair of the Conservative movement’s Jewish law committee and a professor of philosophy at American Jewish University in Los Angeles, said that unemployment insurance is “not only desirable but really an obligation that comes out of a Jewish tradition.” Dorff said the tax is incumbent only on synagogues that can afford it. “But if they grow and are able to do it later,” he said, “they do have a duty to do it.”
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by Michael Ganson In ending my article last time, I posed the question – Is avoiding probate a good idea and the way to go in every instance? The answer depends on the life situation one is in at the time of his or her death. Obviously, the answer depends on what stage of life one is in. Before looking at specific examples, the general rule of thumb for the best time to use probate is when you determine oversight is necessary for the protection of those you intend to benefit. So, for example, if you have a young married couple, you probably want to avoid probate by placing all of your assets in titles which allow for their transfer to the surviving spouse by operation of law. The same would hold true for a married couple who have children. After all, most of the time married couples transfer everything to the surviving spouse in the event of the other’s death. The exception however would be when the young married couple has a minor child or children. In such situation, you may be better to provide for the transfer of your assets via probate administration in the event that both spouses pass away at the same time or within a
ISRAELIS from page 10 following the alleged chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds in a Damascus suburb. Secretary of State John Kerry called it a “moral obscenity” and accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of attempting a cover-up after carrying out the attack. The White House reportedly has begun preparations for a strike on Syria in coordination with European allies. Although the United States appeared to tone down its rhetoric on Thursday, the fear in Israel is that Assad will respond to an American strike by bombing Israel. On Monday, a government official in Iran, which backs the Assad regime, told an official state news agency that “the Zionist regime will be the first victim of a military attack on Syria.” The Israel Defense Forces called up nearly 1,000 reservists this week. Following his third security consultation in as many days – a rare occurrence – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to reassure Israelis. “There is no reason to change daily routines,” Netanyahu said Wednesday.
short (usually, 30 days) period of time of each other. In this kind of a situation, you probably want there to be probate court oversight of the way the assets are managed and eventually distributed to the minor child or children. The reason one would consider having probate court administration oversight in the situation where the married couple leaving minors pass away in essentially a simultaneous manner is because it is ill advised to allow your minor children to be in the position of having distributions of their portion of the estate occur when they reached the age of 18 giving them free and unbridled control over the disposition of the assets. It would be far better to create a testamentary trust which would provide for distributions at more appropriate times when they are more mature and fiscally responsible. Although I will wait for a future installment to address the efficacy of trusts, having mentioned the creation of a testamentary trust requires a short inquiry as to why a testamentary trust rather than a living trust would usually be the preferred estate planning vehicle in this kind of the situation. Although there are many factors which need to be considered, the major concern of having a living trust for your minor children as opposed to a testamentary trust is the lack of probate court oversight in a living trust situation. Trustees of testamentary trusts are required to report all the financial activities of a trust, usually every year. On the other hand, trustees of living trust are generally not required to report the financial activities of the trust to anyone. This kind of oversight in a testamentary trust allows for more transparency. It also prevents some-
body that you thought you could trust who you have named as trustee from acting in a manner that wrongfully dissipates the trust assets, leaving nothing for your minor children. It is unfortunate, but this is a scenario which unfolds way too often not to be a significant consideration in the planning of the care of your minor children. While a testamentary trust may cost more to administer because of the probate court oversight, the protection of the trust assets from improper or imprudent activity on the part of the trustee will usually outweigh any potential costsaving achieved through the use of a living trust. Another situation to consider when trying to decide whether probate court administration oversight would be preferable to transfer out right of all assets is a family relationship and the competency of your intended beneficiary(ies). Having already spoken about minor children, let us turn our attention to the incompetent spouse. While it is unlikely that a young couple would face a situation where they are caring for an incompetent spouse, incompetency is something that one can never predict, just like death is unable to be predicted. And if you have an incompetent spouse, leaving everything to that incompetent surviving spouse would result in a probate court guardianship. A probate court guardianship for the incompetent surviving spouse provides probate court oversight when you have a minor child or children, more than one adult child, or other adults such as siblings or friends who will be caring for the incompetent surviving spouse. The probate court oversight will provide not only for the appropriate care of the incompetent sur-
viving spouse, but also a level of control over the financial aspects that will protect improper or imprudent investments or expenditures. There are many other examples of when probate court oversight would be desirable despite the added cost associated with such oversight. Of course, the best way to determine if and when probate court oversight would be advantageous is to review and prepare your estate plan with legal counsel. It is always been my philosophy in estate planning matters to remember the old adage – Penny saved, pound lost. A person planning their estate should be driven first by making sure they are preparing a plan that fits their goals and second by the costs associated with achieving the goals they have set. In future installments, we will consider why it is important to have an estate plan rather than to just let state law control the disposition of your estate upon your death, what documents typically comprise an estate plan, what information is needed to develop the appropriate estate plan, what factors should be considered when preparing a typical estate plan, and under what circumstances should cause one to review and possibly revise an estate plan. Anticipating the discussions to follow, consider the following. If something were to happen to you, are your affairs in order? Have you shared the necessary information with your spouse, children, agent, executor or trustee? If any of the following need attending to, do so now. • Will (or codicil). • Trust (or amendment). • Durable financial general power of attorney. • Living will.
• Durable power of attorney for health care. • Document of anatomical gift. • Health insurance. • Disability insurance. • Long-term care insurance. • Life insurance. • Beneficiary designations on retirement and employment benefits and life insurance. • Personal financial information (credit cards, loans, who owes you money, etc.). • Letter of instructions (funeral and burial; location of will, trust, important papers, safe deposit box; lawyer, accountant, distribution of tangible personal property; expression of wishes for family or for business; etc.). • List of doctors. • Names and telephone numbers of professional advisors. • Statement of wishes for personal matters. • Current, complete references to personal property. • Business buy-sell agreement. • Irrevocable insurance trust. • Itemization of separate, joint, and community property. • Tax-avoidance techniques. • Social media, e-mail accounts, passwords. • Probate-avoidance considerations.
“At the same time, we are prepared for any scenario. The IDF is ready to defend against any threat and to respond strongly against any attempt to harm Israeli citizens.” Still, the IDF is urging calm and says the chances of a Syrian attack are low. An IDF source told JTA that the Home Front Command has not issued any special instructions to civilians and that “what you’re seeing now is a response from the public.” “Right now there isn’t any sense of panic,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. “There isn’t a freakishly high concern. Everybody is relatively calm. If it was clear that there could be a chance that something would happen, we’d see the consequences of that in terms of Home Front Command instructions to the public.” Daila Amos, a spokesperson for the Golan Regional Council, said life is continuing normally on the Golan Heights, where stray shells from the fighting across the Syrian border have fallen several times in the past year and where residents are used to a heightened troop presence.
SEEKING from page 6
social hall. Shane, an environmental specialist for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, personifies the synagogue’s renaissance. She and husband Russell, along with their daughter, Sarah, now 10, stumbled upon the building in 2008, when they began considering a move closer to the city from suburban Sherman Oaks. Their home in South Pasadena is a fiveminute ride from TBI. “As a young person, I was always looking for a temple I could click with,” said Shane, who was raised in a Conservative synagogue; TBI first affiliated with the Conservative movement and now is independent. “I walked in [to TBI] and it was very warm, heimische,” she said, using the Yiddish word for homey. “Since so many shuls in Los Angeles are gone now, but TBI remains, I think that it is imperative to preserve this temple’s history,” she said. “I also think it is a great example for our current members
and future congregants that their participation, volunteerism and overall involvement does make a significant difference [to] this temple. Were it not for the people of the past, my family would not be able to celebrate and cherish the Jewish community we now have at TBI.” Leventon, 83 and a widower, is among those who kept things going for people like Shane. The native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, occasionally has to rebuff his daughters’ pleas to move from the city. In that way, he exemplifies the will of those who welcomed him to the congregation long ago. “We struggled along and struggled along, and now we’re having an upswing with young families,” said Leventon, TBI’s president from 1987 to 2005. “To have family services [the first Friday each month], for an oldtimer like me, is a novelty,” he said. “We’ve had a few bar and bat mitzvahs in the past year, when we hadn’t had any for decades.”
The central story, he said, is the congregation hanging on long enough to see better times. “A few years ago there was a film, ‘The Miracle of Intervale Avenue,’ about the last congregation in the South Bronx,” Sass said of the New York neighborhood. “Well, this is the miracle on Monte Vista Street.” By contrast, he said no congregations remain in Boyle Heights, the hub of early-20th century Jewish life that once boasted more than 30 synagogues. Sass recently helped restore the neighborhood’s Breed Street Shul as an art, culture and education center in what has long been a largely Hispanic community. Shane chairs TBI’s history committee, whose members are deciding how to organize the exhibition. The synagogue’s interior is just 3,800 square feet, so the exhibit will not be permanent, although historic photos will continue to adorn the
The information contained in this article is intended to provide only general legal information and is not intended to be relied upon for specific legal issues or any particular legal matters. For specific legal issues or any particular legal matters, the reader is advised to consult with and secure the legal advice of an attorney of their choice.
AUTOS • 21
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
JEWISH from page 8 Conscious of their community’s uniqueness, Krasnaiya’s young Juhuros say they are determined to pass on the torch. “I will stay here and make a life here,” says Maxim Menachem, 18, an unemployed yeshiva graduate. “I have no plans to leave.” But some elders are unconvinced. According to the United Nations, Azerbaijan has lost approximately 10 percent of its rural population since gaining independence. Across the region, the urbanization impulse, coupled with Zionist fervor and a desire to live in established Western democracies, has pushed about 1.5 million Jews from former Soviet countries to emigrate since 1991. But unlike other post-Soviet areas, anti-Semitism is not the reason here. “These young guys, they are emotionally attached but they will not stay here,” says Elazar Nisimov, the community’s rabbi and ritual slaughterer. “Azerbaijan is only 22 years old and the job market hasn’t expanded to the countryside. They need to start their lives, get professional experience and earn a living. So they’ll move to Baku, Moscow, Tel Aviv. Then maybe they will return.” It was persecution that drew Jews to Krasnaiya in the first place, according to Nisimov. Nearly three centuries ago, the Jews who lived in the hills around Quba asked the regional shah, Hussein Ali, for protection from cross-border raids by Persian troops. The shah agreed, and the relationship between Quba’s rulPOLIO from page 10 develop from the widespread distribution of the vaccination than from of the traces of the virus itself found in sewage. Furthermore, the oral vaccine is not typically administered in developed nations. Health officials, however, contend that the ability of the oral vaccine to protect an entire population from an outbreak well outweigh the risks that the vaccine may actually spread Polio. According to Ehrichman, the chances that the virus would spread through the vaccine itself are extraordinarily rare, due to the fact that it is not the full virus that is being administered, but rather a heavily weakened version of the virus designed to help individuals develop immunity to the full virus. “It is not the virus,” Ehrichman said. “It is the live attenuated virus within the vaccine. The benefit is that those who have not received the vaccine, they can be vaccinated even without getting the vaccine by mouth.” During the 1950s, Israeli children were initially only offered the IPV, as this was and still is considered to be an effective form of vaccination for those who take it. Then, according to Ehrlichman, in 1988 there were some cases of wild Polio, so the Health Ministry added OPV. From 1988 to 2004, all Israeli children got both vacci-
ing house and the Jews deepened under his son and successor, Feteli Khan. Today, Feteli Khan’s name appears on street signs in the main street of Quba, Krasnaiya Sloboda’s non-Jewish twin city across the river. Yarmulke-wearing Jews are a common sight at Quba’s gas stations and hardware stores. Some enterprising Quba taxi drivers have even learned to offer “Jewish tours” to anyone they suspect of being American or Israeli. “Jewish-Muslim relations here could not be better,” says Yevda (Yehuda) Abramov, a Krasnaiya native and Azerbaijan’s only Jewish lawmaker. During a visit from Baku, he sits in the shade of a Jewish tea house with old-timers who chat and play board games as they suck tea through sugar cubes. Nisimov, meanwhile, is gathering strength for Rosh Hashanah, when he goes from house to house to slaughter chickens for the traditional feast. But he expects to rest on Sukkot, when other rabbis are usually hard at work visiting the temporary huts Jews build in recognition of the instability that for millennia has been an inherent element of Jewish life. Largely unfamiliar with flight and exile, most Krasnaiyans do not build sukkahs, preferring instead to visit a communal sukkah near the synagogue. “They all light candles on Hanukkah, but Sukkot is less celebrated here,” Nisimov says. “I guess not everyone here connects to this holiday.”
nations. After 2004, the Health Ministry decided to stop the OPV vaccination, like other developed countries, and to give only IPV. “Now, because we have found some wild Polio in the sewer, the Health Ministry has decided to administer OPV, with the hope that the entire disease will be eradicated,” Ehrlichman said. “The adding of this vaccination is not dangerous at all, and it is only added as another opportunity to eradicate the virus.” “The chances are very low that anybody should get the virus. But as we saw in 1988, some children got the virus, so we should be careful,” Ehrlichman added. When asked how Polio, a disease that is only endemic in three countriesAfghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistancould spread to Israel, a developed nation whose children have been receiving vaccinations for decades, Ehrlichman posited, “I think it is possibly coming from Arab states, or from Bedouin in Sinai.” “In the Palestinian Authority, children are given both vaccinations. In Egypt they give both. In Jordan they are giving both vaccinations because the disease was never fully eradicated,” Ehrlichman said. “Here in Israel we thought the disease was eradicated, until we found it again,” the doctor added.
2014 Range Rover Sport – agile with exceptional on-road dynamics Developed alongside the 2013 Range Rover, the new Range Rover Sport delivers exceptional on-road dynamics with genuine Land Rover all-terrain capability. The Range Rover Sport features an all-new high strength aluminum unibody architecture to achieve a weight savings of approximately 725 pounds. This weight reduction transforms the vehicle's dynamic performance, enabling it to blend agile handling with exceptional comfort and to offer a unique mix of sporting luxury and a dynamic, engaging driving experience. The 2014 Range Rover Sport is just 191 inches long, shorter than many mid-sized sedans, and is just 2.5 inches longer than its predecessor. A wheelbase that's longer by 7 inches yields greater room and improved access for rear passengers. For comparison, it is 5.9 inches shorter, 2.17 inches lower, and weighs about 100 pounds. less than the new 2013 Range Rover on which it is based. The formula changes for 2014, with the new Sport switching over to the all-aluminum unitized body construction of the Range Rover flagship. In the bargain, the “Sport” loses around 800 pounds of mass, while gaining the eight-speed automatic transmission, independent suspension, massive ventilated four-wheel disc brakes, and electric-assisted rackand-pinion steering from the rangetopper. With go anywhere capability and a towing capacity of over 7,700 pounds, the Range Rover Sport offers
2014 Range Rover Sport
the versatility for the most adventurous personal and family outings. The all-new Range Rover Sport has been engineered to meet and exceed the most severe global safety standards. The body structure protects occupants using an incredibly strong and stable safety cell, which is complemented by a comprehensive system of airbags and restraints. The occupant safety package includes driver and passenger airbags, side curtain and thorax airbags (including an extended curtain airbag which covers passengers occupying the third row seats), and active front seat belts linked to the vehicle's emergency braking functions. As before, the cabin of the new Range Rover Sport has a similar look and feel to the Range Rover’s. The control layout has been significantly simplified, with 50 percent fewer
switches than before. The main instrument cluster consists of clear analog gauges with a 5-inch TFT display, while on certain high specification models; a new 12.3-inch high-resolution TFT virtual gauge display is available. This is accompanied by an 8-inch high-resolution touchscreen display on the center console for infotainment and secondary functions. Other Range Rover trickledown items now available include such smart technologies as lane-departure warning, traffic-sign recognition, automatic high-beam assist, Flank Guard (ultrasonic sensors for the sides of the SUV), adaptive cruise control, blindspot monitoring, forward-collision sensing, cross-car traffic detection, parallel-parking assists, and more. This Range Rover model is the fatest, most agile and responsive Land Rover ever.
22 • OBITUARIES D EATH N OTICES SCHNEIDER, Berenice age 95 died August 28, 2013; 22 Elul, 5773. SEELIG, Herbert age 93 died August 30, 2013; 24 Elul, 5773. STREGEVSKY, Ruth R. age 91 died September 2, 2013; 28 Elul, 5773.
O BITUARIES
COHN, Dorothy Dorothy Cohn nee Krish was born to Abe and Kate Krish in Indianapolis, Ind. in 1913. She attended Butler University and got a degree in teaching. She married Herschel Cohn in 1942 and then relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio. Dorothy and Herschel were married and loved and devoted themSCHOOL from page 7 eral Orthodox rabbinical school in New York City founded by Rabbi Avi Weiss. The day school’s troubles and Topolosky’s departure offer a counterpoint to the upbeat narrative of growth and resurgence often cited by Jewish community leaders in New Orleans. But the executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, Michael Weil, says the two developments have specific causes that do not correlate with the overall health of the New Orleans Jewish community. Rather, school officials say, the day school has lost students because of parents’ economic constraints, new high-quality public charter schools and the geographic shift of New Orleans Jewry from Metairie to New Orleans parish. “The school and Topolosky’s move are not representative of a trend,” Weil said. “The community is probably in the best place it’s ever been.” New Orleans Jewry recently surpassed its pre-Katrina size of 9,500, according to Weil, with an estimated 9,870 Jews in the city. There are fewer older Jews but many more young Jewish professionals. The federation runs a Jewish newcomers program that offers young Jews who move to the city a free year of JCC and synagogue membership, a $500
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selves to each other for 62 years until his death in 2004. Dorothy worked as an elementary school teacher in both Indianapolis and Cincinnati. She had a strong sense of right and wrong and worked to instill that in her children and her pupils. Along with that she was a kind and gentle person and imparted that side of her personality as well. In Cincinnati Dorothy was an active member of Hadassah and a member of Isaac M. Wise Temple where she was active in Sisterhood. After her retirement she moved to the Cove Cay community in Clearwater, Florida where she continued to be active in Hadassah and was a member of Temple B’nai Israel where she was also an active Sisterhood member. In Clearwater she did volunteer work helping immigrants learn English and was presented with the Golden Rule Award for her efforts and accomplishments. Friends were important to her. Many of her other interests and hobbies - shopping, golf, bridge, canasta, and mahjong - were the kinds of activities that were best done with close friends. Although in later years she was hit hard by dementia she always remained a cheerful individual. Dorothy Cohn passed away at
the age of 99 in Clearwater, Florida on August 16, 2013. She was the beloved wife of the late Herschel Cohn. Dorothy was the devoted mother of Steven Cohn and the late Richard Collier, loving grandmother of Brandon, Brooke, Gaby, and Nicky, and 7 great-grandchildren. Graveside services were held on Wednesday, August 21 at United Jewish Cemetery in Clifton, Cincinnati, Ohio. She will be greatly missed and always remembered. Donations may be made in her honor to Hadassah or the charity of one’s choice.
credit at the Jewish school and a free meal at a local kosher restaurant. “The system gives something away for free of real value, enables us to track everybody and encourages people to engage in the Jewish community, which is really what we want,” Weil said. “We probably catch in our net 75 percent of all the new Jews who move in here.” Topolosky says it was difficult to leave New Orleans, but ultimately the community could not provide what his Orthodox family required. Even though Topolosky’s congregation was able to rebuild, Beth Israel still has not been able to restore its pre-Katrina daily minyan. Now a typical Shabbat morning service draws about 40 worshipers, and Friday night services 25. Only a handful of families in New Orleans adhere to Orthodox observance. The other Orthodox synagogue in town, Anshe Sfard, has an even smaller congregation. There are also three Chabad centers in the area, and plans to open a new Chabad-run school in 2014. “New Orleans never was, nor do I imagine it ever will be, a haven for Orthodox Judaism,” Topolosky said. “We loved the idea of a small community, we loved knowing our congregation, being a part of making a difference. But the problem is those
small communities rarely come with the benefits of a larger community – most importantly, a school.” In their new home, the Topoloskys have been able to find a bit of both a large community and a small one. Beth Joshua, the congregation Topolosky will lead, has just 20 families. Though it is housed in a large Orthodox school, only a handful of Orthodox families live in the surrounding neighborhood, Aspen Hill. Nearly all of the students at Berman Hebrew Academy are driven in from nearby Silver Spring, Potomac and Washington’s Shepherds Park neighborhood. For Topolosky, the move to Maryland is also a homecoming. Along with growing up in the area and attending the Berman academy’s high school, he also has family nearby. “We were very lucky to find a very small Orthodox community we can grow and at the same time be surrounded by the amenities of a large community,” Topolosky said, “most significantly, the school.”
SCHNEIDER, Berenice Berenice H. Schneider (Berry) was born to Charles and Flora Hecht on March 28, 1918 in White Plains, New York. She grew up in White Plains and in Ridgefield, Conn. After graduating from White Plains High School in 1935 she attended the Connecticut College for Women where she completed her degree in 1939. Berry worked in her family’s accounting firm until 1943. In 1943, Berry married Dr. Meyer (Mike) Schneider and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Her children David, Dan, and Judy were born in 1946, 1948, and
1950. While Berry stayed home and raised her family she was active in her community in North Avondale. Berry was a member of Isaac Wise Temple where she belonged to the Sisterhood and was a member of Hadassah for many years. While her roots where in New York, Cincinnati is where she made her home. Her daughter-in-law marvels at her life-long journey and admires her for what a courageous woman she was throughout her life. At a time when women left home less frequently than they do now, she moved from New York to Cincinnati to forge a new life with her husband and eventually to raise her children. Berry was a founder of a National Council of Jewish Women’s group that for over twenty years wrote braille text books for the Cincinnati Public school system. She was also accomplished at knitting, needlepointing and making rhea rugs over a span of close to 60 years. She designed patterns for all three of these activities. Berry had many friends who she knew for a long time and whom she grew even closer to as she got older. They will deeply miss her presence in their lives. Berenice Schneider passed away, at the age of 95, on August
28, 2013 – 22 Elul 5773. She was pre-deceased by her husband of 58 years, Dr. Meyer R. Schneider, her parents, Charles and Flora Hecht, brother, Charles Hecht, and sisters, Ruth Toby and Rose Altman. She is survived by her children: David (Diane) Schneider of Munster, Ind., Daniel Schneider of Chicago, Ill., and Judith Schneider of Reading, United Kingdom; grandchildren: Nicholas (Candice), Anna, Claire, and Joel; great grandchildren: Cassandra and Noah. Berry was a good mother and her children feel blessed to have her with them for such a long time. They feel fortunate that their children were able to know their grandmother, and grandfather, as adults. Services were held at Weil Funeral Home on Sunday, September 1, and Rabbi Karen Thomashow officiated at the funeral service and Rabbi Lewis Kamrass officiated at the burial, which took place on Wednesday, September 4. Internment was at the United Jewish Cemetery in Walnut Hills. Donations can be made to Hospice of Cincinnati, Inc., c/o Bethesda Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box. 633597, Cincinnati, OH 45263-3597
NFL from page 7
fundamentally.” Gillman is the only coach in both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. “I hope Jewish people look at a guy like Sid and take some pride because he was an innovator,” Katzowitz says. Marv Levy led the Buffalo Bills to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances, but no victories, in the 1990s. A motivational speaker, Levy used his Harvard University education to motivate and shape the careers and lives of many pro football athletes. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001, Levy is one of only 14 coaches to win 100 games with one NFL team. Jim Gehman, author of the book “Then Levy Said to Kelly... The Best Buffalo Bills Stories Ever Told,” was a television sports reporter when Levy became the Bills’ coach. “I would talk with him once or twice a week during the season,” Gehman tells JNS. “Yet, he was as cooperative and professional with me as he was with the newspaper beat writers whom he dealt with on a daily basis. I respected him for that. And still do.” After dropping seven of their first nine games in 1986, the Bills replaced head coach Hank Bullough with Levy, the director of football operations for the Montreal Alouettes.
the culture of anti-Semitism Gillman faced in Minneapolis. Jews were blamed for the city’s unemployment problems. “Religious leaders invoked hateful language when referencing Jews, and those in the community forbid them from taking part in civic and social organizations. They couldn’t buy houses. They couldn’t take certain jobs. Neither Sid nor Esther (his wife) would ever break away from the anti-Semitic culture of the Midwest. It followed them, haunted them, and changed the track of their careers,” Katzowitz writes. Yet in 1935, Gillman returned to Minneapolis to work at his family’s movie theater, where he received a present from his cousin – Fox movie reels featuring football highlights. Gillman learned how to operate projectors, and spent much of that summer and long hours during the rest of his coaching career reviewing film. By taking the reels home and studying them, Gillman changed the nature of the NFL coaching profession. “I believe he was the originator of studying film,” Vermeil tells JNS. “He stimulated other peoples’ thinking. I brought him in to coach coaches. He had such a passion for learning, for new ideas, and the overall enhancement of the game, especially from an offensive standpoint. More importantly, he had an overall appreciation for the fundamentals and how the game should be taught
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
Cincinnati 5773 — Year in Review By Gabrielle Cohen Assistant Editor The High Holidays bring a sense of family, togetherness and forgiveness within the community. As 5773 draws to a close, let us cherish the memories we made and continue to make each day. Let us not forget the steps that got us to this New year. The American Israelite wishes you a happy, healthy and fruitful New Year. Shana Tovah u’metukah! September 13 – The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati was pleased to announce a $2.2 million investment over three years in a new Jewish Federation-led initiative to combine finance, human resources and information technology functions in key Jewish organizations. This effort began with the three agencies co-located on The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati campus — the Jewish Federation, Mayerson JCC and Jewish Family Services — and was built into a platform to support an integrated, community-wide Shared Business Services center. Once Shared Business Services was fully operational it will also be offered to additional Federation partner agencies, local congregations and other Jewish communal institutions over the next several years. The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati was pleased to announce the promotion of Barbara Miller to Director of Community Building. She took over the position when director Sharon Stern retired in October. Miller held the position of Director of Planning & Allocations.
Barbara Miller
The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati was pleased to announce that Dan Fagin had joined the professional staff as Chief Operating Officer. Fagin brings over 23 years of business experience, the last 15 of which were in an executive role with Protiviti and other premier management consulting firms. His experience enables the Federation to deliver greater community value, as well as support implementation of Cincinnati 2020, the long-range, community-wide strategic plan to make Cincinnati a model community and a Jewish destination.
Seasoned business consultant Dan Fagin brought experience to the Federation.
September 20 – Bonia Shur was a gifted composer who had a major impact on the musical liturgy in the Reform Jewish Movement of North America. His 300 published compositions – many of which are currently used in synagogues around the world – can also be found in theater, television and film. With a musical style that integrated and reflected the diverse cultural heritages in which he lived, Bonia Shur left a mark on this world. Mr. Shur, age 89, died on August 30, 2012 at his North Avondale home. Two winters ago, students from Cincinnati Hillel, in conjunction with the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation, hosted drives all over the city, swabbing cheeks and ultimately adding over 300 names to the registry of potential bone marrow donors. September 27 – The Amberley Village council made the decision to pay off the huge debt from acquiring Amberley Green. Amberley Green was formerly known as Crest Hills Country Club, with an 18 hole golf course, a club house, a pool and tennis courts. The council purchased the land back in the early 2000s and has been in debt for close to $6 million since then. With the recent passing of Dr. Stanley Kaplan, Amberley Village was awarded nearly $5.5 million from his estate through the estate tax. They chose to use this money to pay off the majority of the debt owed on Amberley Green. Cincinnati Hillel—located on the University of Cincinnati campus—named Sharon Stern as executive director, replacing the former executive director, Rabbi Elana Dellal. Stern was director of Community Building at the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. She split her time between the Federation and Hillel until Oct. 24, when she would transition to full-time executive director at Hillel. Judaism and its rich cultural traditions spanning more than 3,000 years was explored through a groundbreaking new program in the
University of Cincinnati’s Department of Judaic Studies. This certificate ushers in an era of strategic collaboration with Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), thereby expanding UC and HUC resources and providing students with a unique introduction to graduate learning and research in the vast field of Jewish Studies. Why would 10,000 Jewish teenagers willingly march into Auschwitz? Because they can. For them it’s a choice. For their ancestors, it wasn’t. For them it’s about being able to walk out again. Their ancestors couldn’t. For them it’s about showing the world that those who sought to destroy the Jewish people, couldn’t. For them it’s about proclaiming, in a voice 10,000 strong, NEVER AGAIN! Every year thousands of Jewish teenagers from around the world take part in the March of the Living, where they first travel to Poland to discover traces of a world that no longer exists, to visit the big cities and small shtetls where Jewish life once thrived, and to see firsthand the remnants of the worst atrocity to ever happen to the Jewish people. The week in Poland culminates on Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom HaShoah), with a silent march from Auschwitz to Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp complex built during World War II, where countless numbers walked on their way to the gas chambers. For many families with young children, the High Holy Days can be tricky. Parents want to celebrate this sacred season with their children, and often yearn to do so in a congregational setting. However, the normative Rosh Hashanah service can prove to be a challenge to such families. For most small children, the regular High Holy Day services are too long for their attention span, and it is nearly impossible for them to remain quiet for the duration of the liturgy. Furthermore, the liturgy is not age-appropriate, and therefore does not engage the children in a meaningful way. Recognizing these challenges, the Isaac M. Wise Temple has been proud to offer its YoFI Rosh Hashanah service and celebration. YoFI is Wise Temple’s “Young Family Involvement” group, and has programming for young children and their families, including older siblings and grandparents. On Monday, Sept. 18, families gathered at Wise Center for a brief age-appropriate service that included songs, prayers and the shofar blast. In addition, the children and their guests designed their own honey bee honey dispensers in the spirit of celebrating a “sweet” new year. October 4 – The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati announced a special one-year investment as the
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Presenting Sponsor of the “2012 – 2013 Season of Arts & Ideas,” a program of the Wolf Center at the Mayerson JCC. This exciting season showcased the talents of several internationally acclaimed artists. The first of these is bestselling author Mitch Albom, who wrote Tuesdays with Morrie and Have a Little Faith. He came to the J on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 21. Also featured during the Wolf Center’s 2012 – 2013 Season of Arts & Ideas is Broadway and television star Bebe Neuwirth. Actress, singer and dancer Bebe Neuwirth earned two Emmy Awards as psychiatrist Lilith Crane in the hit comedy Cheers, and two Tony Awards on Broadway for her lead roles in Chicago and Sweet Charity. Neuwirth performed a one-woman cabaret show of her favorite songs on Saturday evening, March 9. On Sept. 9, 2012, 68 Jewish high-school students from across Cincinnati met at the Mayerson JCC for the first in a series of six sessions of Israel HERE, a post-trip engagement program developed by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati for recipients of Israel Travel Grants from The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati. John J. Frank, Jr., received the Community Service Award of the American Jewish Committee Cincinnati Regional Office at the Initial Gifts Reception on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at the Mayerson Jewish Community Center.
John Frank
came to Cincinnati on Oct. 21 to perform in a free concert at Adath Israel Congregation. One of the million who saw Six13 on YouTube was Andrea Levenson, the sponsor of the second Michael M. Levenson Music Program in memory of her husband. She brought the idea to Mitch Cohen, the music program vhair for Adath Israel. “Andi asked me if I had seen Six13 on YouTube. She thought they were amazing, and I agree,” Cohen said. “They are one of the first contemporary Jewish a cappella groups to make an impact. The seder table scene in their video P-AS-S-O-V-E-R was great and reminded me of actual people I know. I was struck by the quality of their voices. I would say they have the most vocal talent of any a cappella group I have heard.”
October 11 – With a reported one million plus views on YouTube, the New York a cappella group Six13
YouTube sensation Six13
The opening event of Adath Israel Hazak 55-plus season occurred on Oct. 28, at the American Jewish Archives (AJA) on the campus of Hebrew Union College. Dr. Gary P. Zola, executive director of the AJA and professor of the American Jewish Experience at HUC, discussed the humorous Talmudic parody commonly called the Yankee Talmud by Gerson Rosenzweig. Dr. Zola’s topic: “An Immigrant’s Writings on Jewish Life in America” concerns the writings of Gerson Rosenzweig, former publisher of a Hebrew weekly, who became a prominent figure most famous for his parodies of the peddler, the teacher and the rabbi. October 18 – Rockwern Academy, Cincinnati’s community Jewish Day School, announced two new appointments: Nancy Moses Mendelson, Director of Rockwern’s Early Childhood Education Center, and Nancy Smith, Business and Operations Manager. On Friday evening, Oct. 19, the members of Isaac M. Wise Temple, Rockdale Temple, Temple Sholom and Valley Temple all joined togeth-
Nancy Mendelson
Nancy Smith
er in Shabbat worship as the Cincinnati Reform community initiated a weekend of celebration and leadership. October 25 – For anyone who has become tired of the endless rhetoric, attack ads, and good guy/bad guy politics of the 2012 presidential election, the JCRC’s Presidential Candidates Forum was a strong move toward facts and accountability. The forum, moderated by Hagit Limor of WCPO-TV, featured Robert Wexler, a former Representative from Florida, defending President Barack Obama, and Noah Pollak the Executive Director of the Emergency Committee for Israel since 2010, defending Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. The evening also included a local candidates meet and greet. This article focused on the information presented by the presidential representatives. Former Cincinnatian, Rabbi Michael Hattin, visited Cincinnati on Shabbat, Nov. 3, to serve as scholar-in-residence at the Golf Manor Synagogue. Rabbi Hattin, who got his start at Golf Manor as Outreach Director, is a master Tanakh teacher at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and the Director of the Beit Midrash for the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators. He studied for rabbinic ordination at Yeshivat Har Etzion and holds a professional degree in architecture from the University of Toronto. He has served as scholar-in-residence in many communities in North America and Europe and now lives in Alon Shevut with his wife Rivka and their five children. Cincinnati Playhouse in the
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
Park’s production of Accidental Friends performed at the Mayerson JCC on Sunday, Oct. 28. This performance was free and open to the entire community. The Therese M. Workum Fund has been in existence for 95 years. For the past 26 years, the Workum Fund has been providing quality summer interns to Cincinnati’s Jewish agencies. The focus of the program is preparing interns to play a valuable role in the Jewish community after college, either professionally or as a volunteer. Through their summer internships, Jewish college students from the Cincinnati area obtain valuable job skills, gain exposure to the organized Jewish world, and benefit from the mentoring of a supervisor at their agency. In return, participating Jewish agencies get a hard-working, dedicated summer intern, specifically chosen for each agency through a highly competitive selection process. Residents from two Greater Cincinnati retirement communities took handwritten notes to Jerusalem—with the hopes and dreams of hundreds of people—and placed them in the Western Wall. It’s a sacred act to be carrying the prayers—part of a ground-breaking interfaith mission by Cedar Village Retirement Community and Otterbein Senior Lifestyle Community. November 1 – On Oct. 24, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati recognized three area young adults for their service to the Jewish community. Edward R. Kuresman, Benjamin Schneider and Tamar Smith received their awards at the Jewish Federation’s annual dinner honoring its major donors. In coordination with Israel @ 65, the Cincinnati Kollel and its affiliate Sarah’s Place have teamed up with the J to arrange a fun-filled way for kids to say “thank you” to their brave Israeli cousins who defend Israel’s borders.
Local children of all ages, and their folks, were invited to “Thank Israeli Soldiers” at the Mayerson JCC.
On the eve of the 74th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education (CHHE) held a commemoration at Cedar Village. CHHE presented a new theatrical work, By Action or Inaction: A Show of Attitude and Colors, about the devastating night of Kristallnacht or “The Night of Broken Glass” and the global reac-
ROSH HASHANAH • B5
tions to the Pogrom. The evening featured music from cellist Deborah Netanel, who has played for audiences around the world. A candle was also lit in commemoration of Kristallnacht by a local Holocaust survivor. On Nov. 18, the Sisterhood of Rockdale Temple hosted an art show featuring select vendors selling their handmade wares. It was the perfect opportunity to find a unique and special gift or the perfect piece of art for your home. Artists were selected to provide an array of art forms including pottery, jewelry, fiber arts, handmade books/journals, photographs, paintings and glass. There was offerings in a range of prices. November 8 – After 24 years of service, Rabbi Hanan Balk stepped down as the Head Rabbi of Golf Manor Synagogue. He is now the Rabbi Emeritus of the congregation and will be available to congregants upon request to lead special events. Between Feb. 2 and 8, 2013, women of all ages from across North America traveled through Israel, meeting Israeli women and participating in hands-on social action programs. This was a part of the fourth Heart to Heart Mission, organized by the Women’s Philanthropy division of the Jewish Federations of North America (of which the local Jewish Federation of Cincinnati is a member).
Sarah Wise and Evelyn Fisher on the 2012 Heart to Heart mission.
Jewish Family Service and the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education have been working for over a year to bring to reality the dream of many: The creation of a permanent memorial to honor all Jews who lost their lives to the Nazi regime. This includes all Jewish soldiers, partisans and innocent victims. The community was invited to attend the dedication of a WWII memorial, Friday, Nov. 9, at the Mayerson JCC. The Cincinnati Chapter of Hadassah presented its monthly Coffee Talk program on Monday, Nov. 12 at the home of Gilda Schwartz. Guest speaker Yair Cohen talked about “A Jewish Israeli or an Israeli Jew: Perceptions of Judaism and Religion in the Israelis Eyes.” Tobe Snow is Coffee Talk chair. Light refreshments were served. On Saturday, Nov. 17, Cafe
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Chabad held a film screening of “Welcome to the Waks Family,” along with a soup, salad and theaterstyle snack buffet. The dictionary defines “spirit” as a particular mood or an emotional state characterized by vigor and animation, but after October’s Spirit Convention at Camp Campbell Gard in Hamilton, Ohio, nearly 200 Jewish teenagers would say that BBYO is their definition of spirit and fun! Drawing from a five-city KIO (Kentucky-Indiana-Ohio) region, this program gave high school students from Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis and Louisville a chance to come together for a weekend of competition and camaraderie to show their pride in their cities. Chapters facedoff in an Olympic-style contest with the coveted “Spirit Stick” being awarded as the grand prize to the victors. November 15 – In an unprecedented collaboration, more than 40 agencies, organizations and congregations in Greater Cincinnati have come together to create Israel@65, a community-wide celebration of Israel’s 65 years of independence. From November through April, opportunities were offered to explore, learn about and show support for Israel. Nina Paul, who was co-chairing Israel@65 along with her husband, Eddie, said, “Israel@65 was a fantastic opportunity for our Cincinnati community to come together in support of Israel. This ‘community unity’ gave us an opportunity to connect with each other as we celebrated Israel’s 65th birthday.” Israel@65 kicked off on Thursday, Nov. 29, with its first featured event, “Our Star is Born: Celebrate the U.N. Vote to Create Israel,” at the Mayerson JCC. Attendees experienced a reenactment of the U.N. vote and celebrated with live music, free Israeli food and dancing – including Cincinnati’s largest Hava Nagila! On Nov. 7, Camp Livingston held its annual board meeting to welcome new and re-nominated board members as well as congratulate its new officers. The new board members are Diane Goldstein (Cincinnati), Julie Weisser (Cincinnati) and Andrea Melendez
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History and Understanding Suffering” explored the importance of Holocaust education amongst Muslim communities and shared his personal reflections of visiting the sites of the Holocaust, including Auschwitz.
BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY AND MEANINGFUL NEW YEAR Sponsors of the upcoming Cincinnati Jewish Women’s Retreat, Sunday, November 3
8100 CORNELL ROAD • CINCINNATI, OH 45249 (513) 489-3399 • www.ohavshalom.org The Board of Directors of Congregation Ohav Shalom wishes the entire Cincinnati Jewish Community a
Happy & Healthy New Year, and welcomes Rabbi Adam Rosenthal and Cantor Abraham Lubin as leaders of our High Holiday Services.
RANDY SLOVIN, PRESIDENT GORDON SCHILMEISTER, GABBAI EMERITUS
Nina and Eddie Paul were co-chairs of the community-wide Israel@65 celebration.
(Louisville). Those being re-elected to a two-year term were Linda Rothstein and Howard Goldwasser. Gretchen Myers was elected as the camp’s new president; Jeff Goldstein was elected as the secretary and Michael Kadetz was reelected as the treasurer. November 22 – While it’s supposed to be better to give than it is to receive, every once in awhile it sure is great to be on the “getting” end of things, especially in this economy with the holiday season fast approaching. That’s why Shalom Family, an initiative of The Mayerson Foundation, was getting into the spirit by giving families in the Jewish community a very special treat just in time for Hanukkah: FREE admission to one of Cincinnati’s most popular attractions for kids and parents, the Duke Energy Children’s Museum! On Sunday, Dec. 2, it was handson Hanukkah fun for everyone when Shalom Family presented Mini Maccabees at the Museum: A Festival of Lights Celebration, featuring a Time Capsule Photo Booth, a Maccabee shield-making project, story time with the PJ Library, plus plenty of other engaging activities designed to showcase one of the world’s greatest archaeological discoveries, the Dead Sea Scrolls. The event was free with advance reservations and included discount tickets to the Cincinnati Museum Center’s new blockbuster exhibition, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times, for all families who attended. Nationally renowned Jewish author and storyteller, Peninnah Schram, visited Rockwern Academy for the school’s “Celebration of the Book” storytelling festival on January 13. The festival was a highlight of Rockwern Academy’s annual All-School Read program, which featured one of Schram’s books. November 29 – On Dec. 2 at Wise Temple, the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education and Isaac M. Wise Temple welcomed Imam Mohamed Magid as the keynote speaker for the Annual Lusia and Stephen Hornstein Program in Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Human Spirit. Imam Magid’s talk, “The Holocaust, Witnessing
Imam Mohamd Magid
Decemeber 6 – A recent, rather unique Men’s Israel Mission included a Cincinnati contingency of nine. They were joined by about 20 others from Detroit, Los Angeles and Ottawa. The nine day trip was organized by the Cincinnati Kollel in conjunction with Aish Hatorah international. December 13 – The Mayerson JCC Board of Directors was pleased to announce that Marc Fisher was hired as interim CEO of the JCC, effective Dec. 1. With Fisher’s move to interim CEO, Debbie Brant, previously JCC vice president, became JCC president. Rabbi Pinchas Landis was hired as the new Senior Rabbi of Golf Manor Synagogue, announced chairman Shmuel Plotsker, an executive board member for the congregation.
would think that people already have gotten used to the idea of Jewish people governing their own country given to them by G-d so many thousands of years ago. Yet anti-Israel sentiment and it’s not so latent source anti-Semitism has not only not abated but in certain quarters it has even taken on a more subtle and insidious form. In the media, for example, an anti-Semite can do tremendous damage to Israel’s image by hiding behind a slanted choice of words used to report an incident, a shocking photo taken out of context, or a prejudiced opinion piece masked as an outcry of moral justice that is based on deliberate superficiality, ignorance or misinformation. That is why whistleblower David Nesenoff deserves such credit for his work in uncovering one such person. On American Jewish Heritage Celebration Day on May 27, 2010, David interviewed the renowned veteran White House correspondent and columnist Helen Thomas, known as the “dean” of the Washington, D.C. press corps and unintentionally discovered her to be what in our post-Holocaust generation can only be described as a raw and virulent anti-Semite. When asked for comments on Israel, she replied: “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.” When David followed up by asking “Where should the Israeli Jews go?” Thomas responded that they can “go home” to Poland or Germany. January 3 – Henry R. Winkler, age 96, died on December 26, 2012. Born in 1916, in Waterbury, Conn., Dr. Winkler was the first of six children. He graduated high school at the age of 16 and after a childhood spent moving around from city to city – his father was an itinerant Hebrew school teacher – Dr. Winkler settled in Cincinnati to attend the University of Cincinnati. He received both his B.A. and M.A. degrees from UC, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He later completed his Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago, following an interruption in studies to serve in World War II as a Japanese Language Specialist in the U.S. Navy. Israel@65—the six-month, community-wide celebration of Israel’s 65 years of independence that kicked off in November—continued with a featured event on Jan.
Marc Fisher
December 20 – Let the good times roll! Interfaith families in the Jewish community were in for a “wheel” big evening of fun when Fusion Family presented its first ever Rock and “Roll” Shabbat: A Friday Night Skate and Dinner Date at Castle Skateland in Loveland on Friday, Jan. 18, featuring a DJ, group games on the rink, family free skate and a traditional sit-down Shabbat dinner with a ‘50s-style twist! December 27 – After 65 years you
Henry R. Winkler
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Adam.
Gil Shaham
26, when world-famous Israeli violinist Gil Shaham performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) at Music Hall. January 10 – The Young Adult Division (YAD) of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati was proud to announce the hiring of new director, Jeff Blumental. Blumental comes to Cincinnati from Detroit, where he worked in the healthcare industry. His wife, Melanie, is originally from Cincinnati, and they had already decided they would end up back in her hometown at some point. So when this opportunity presented itself, Jeff knew it was time to change not just cities but also careers. January 17 – Northern Hills Synagogue – Congregation B’nai Avraham was proud to honor longterm volunteer and community leader Renee Roth at a tribute gala on Saturday evening, Feb. 2. The special event took place at the
Renee Roth
Synagogue. January 24 – Internationally renowned pianist James Tocco performed at the Scheuer Chapel on the campus of Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion on Sunday, Jan. 27, in commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The concert was presented as a part of the Concerts on Clifton series and was co-sponsored by the Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education. Marguerite Lévy-Feibelman, the author of Whisper Your Name into My Ear, highlighted her story of survival Feb. 3 at Congregation Beth
January 31 – Every issue of The American Israelite between its initial publication in 1854 and the present day is now available on our website. This means 159 years of knowledge is now accessible for genealogical and family history research, including a wealth of birth, b’nai mitzvah, engagement, wedding and obituary notices. The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit switched gears. On Jan. 23, the first set of 10 excerpts from Genesis, Numbers, Samuel, Psalms and more began its rotation out, replaced with 10 new excerpts from Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Numbers, Isaiah Commentary, the Book of War, Aramaic Levi, Pseudo-Ezekiel, Apocryphal Lamentations, Papyrus Law, Community Rule and Psalms. This new selection remained on display until the exhibit’s close on April 14. Meanwhile, the old set was left to “rest” in complete darkness for one year as compensation for their three months of display time at the Museum Center. The rest of the exhibit, featuring roughly 600 objects from ancient Israel, also remained on display. This portion featured an astounding array of archaeological artifacts, which Nili Fox, a professor at HUCJIR and director of various institutions, laid great praise upon. “They brought a tremendous array of pottery, ceramics, coins [and] small finds, and the way they are exhibited, you know, with the magnifying glass and then projected on the walls, it’s extremely user friendly.” The Mayerson JCC Jewish & Israeli Film Festival opened Saturday night, Feb. 9 with 12 films that organizers said are “the best of the best.” Last year’s Film Festival wass greatly expanded to include more theaters, more dates and more variety. Friday, Feb. 1 marks the 10th anniversary of the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster. In recognition of this anniversary, the Public Broadcasting Service aired the documentary “Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope.” February 7 – Longtime Cincinnati attorney Stephen Cohen passed away the evening of January 25, 2013, at the age of 80. Born in Mansfield, Ohio on March 15, 1931, he was the middle child of Leona and Aaron Cohen. The Cohen family lived in Lima, Ohio for several years before moving to Huntington, W.Va., where he graduated from Huntington High School in 1950. Halom House executive Jamie Steele passed on his post to Kathleen Shannon. The change was finalized on Feb. 11, when Shannon officially took over. This came after Steele served Halom House for 21 years. Three semi-finalists have been selected for the Ohio Statehouse Holocaust Memorial project. The project aimed to create a large scale public work that will be located on the Ohio Statehouse’s grounds,
Stephen Cohen
along State Street in Columbus. February 14 – Greasers. Poodle Skirts. 50s Rock‘n Roll. Hot Rods. Must be “Schmaltz…The Musical,” a Purim-based take-off on Grease, the highly popular 1978 film. Although the joint production between Congregation Ohav Shalom and Northern Hills Synagogue wasn’t able to sign John Travolta or Olivia Newton-John to recreate their iconic roles, the two synagogues have a wonderful array of talent to put their distinctive stamp on this rollicking play. Taking place on Feb. 23 at Congregation Ohav Shalom, this one night only event fell on Purim. The evening started at 7:15 p.m. for the Maariv service, followed by the Megillah reading. Afterward, everyone adjourned to the Social Hall for a 50s-inspired dinner, including homemade hamentashen for dessert. February 21 – The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati made significant tuition grant funding available to help Rockwern Academy make exceptional Jewish education more accessible now than ever before. This unprecedented investment was the first in a series of initiatives that bolstered the school’s enrollment and drive the school toward its mission of offering the Cincinnati Jewish community an unparalleled standard of academic excellence and leadership for their children, within the context of a values-based Jewish education. The breakthrough Rockwern Affordability Initiative (RAI) was launched for the 2013-2014 school year and its tuition grants were primarily geared toward families with children entering kindergarten through third grade. In addition, merit scholarships were available for all grades, beginning in preschool. The application process was a simple one page form, was not needs-based and did not require the disclosure of any financial information. Jewish Family Service Executive Director Beth Schwartz convened with government professionals and other lay leaders in Washington, D.C. Feb. 5-7 at the Government Affairs Institute (GAI) to learn strategies to advocate on a range of national issues. The conference was hosted by
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The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) in collaboration with the Association of Jewish Family & Children’s Agencies (AJFCA). Congregations B’nai Tzedek and Beit Chaverim held a Purim celebration on Saturday, Feb. 23. The event was held at the congregations’ Kenwood synagogue.
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February 28 – The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education (CHHE) were pleased to announce that Sarah Weiss was named executive director of the JCRC. Weiss retained her position as executive director of CHHE, splitting her time evenly between the two organizations. Publisher’s Note: This was the second in a series of articles covering the Jewish Agency Executives of Cincinnati. David Hoguet, now in his fifth
year as the executive director of the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati (JCGC), had been with the agency since soon after its 2008 creation. “I was hired about the same time that JCGC came into existence,” explained Hoguet. “[JCGC] came into existence for the purpose of combining all of the Jewish Cemeteries under one roof.” Before JCGC, Cincinnati had 26 Jewish cemeteries in the area, almost all of which were still active. Some were unified here, others independent there, and no one authority existed. Consolidation of the cemeteries soon became necessary in order to attain financial stability. “We’ve been able to operate the organization on a much stronger basis, financially, than the consultants who helped the community leaders put this organization together,” says Hoguet. “We’ve operated on a better basis than they had projected.” The JCGC now presides over 22 of the 26 Jewish cemeteries in Cincinnati, with plans to develop a new cemetery in Loveland. March 7 – The Mayerson JCC was proud to announce the formation of the Milton and Frances Schloss Special Needs and Services department for children and adults. The JCC recognizes the importance of serving people of all abilities, and provides a variety of programs that accomodate children, teens, young adults and seniors with disabilities. The new Schloss Special Needs and Services develops and expands programming and services that support and enrich the lives of individuals with special needs and their families, and continually looks for unique, creative and innovative ways to serve all members of the community.
Peter Bloch, a leader of Easter Seals TriState and JVS Career Services.
March 14 – Peter M. Bloch, who has been involved for years as a leader of Greater Cincinnati nonprofits, was honored by Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities Services for his distinguished service. Through a self aware process of revision, Kamrass and Wise hoped to make changes to the Temple that will inspire continued progress. The biggest change in the coming
months was the appointment of three new rabbis. They replaced the temple’s two former assistant rabbis, who had both left after roughly 10 years of service. The decision to incorporate three adjunct rabbis instead of two was the result of the very same self analysis that Kamrass mentioned earlier. The two new assistant rabbis, Rabbi Rachel Maimin from New York City and Rabbi Sydney Henning from Los Angeles arrived over the summer. The new position of associate rabbi was filled by Rabbi Karen Thomashow, a former intern at Wise Temple who was based in Toronto. March 21 – They’re all American, red- blooded fraternity boys, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they care a lot about breasts! What might be surprising, however, was why... On Wednesday, April 17, the brothers of the University of Cincinnati's Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity (AEPi) hosted a very special event to honor the women in their lives at the Think AEPiNK: Survive and Thrive Dinner at the Mayerson JCC March 28 – Publisher’s Note: This is part of our series covering the Jewish Agency Executives of Cincinnati. Look for more profiles in future issues of The American Israelite. Andrea Herzig has been serving Cincinnati for 30 years now, most recently as the president of the Cincinnati Women’s Fund of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW). The NCJW has maintained an even longer relationship with Cincinnati, having been founded in 1896. April 4 – The fifth annual Eight Over Eighty event sponsored by Cedar Village honored distinguished older adults, 80 years or older, who have dedicated their time, talents and lives to our Jewish community and the Greater Cincinnati area. The celebration was held on Thursday evening, May 30, at Adath Israel Congregation. Cedar Village recognized Jack and Tulane Chartock, Miriam Cohen, Peggy Katz, Millard Mack, Gene Mesh, Bess Paper, Judge Burton Perlman and Gerald Robinson who were nominated to receive this honor. April 11 – Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld proclaimed April 25 “Hadassah Day” in Cincinnati at the annual Hadassah Donor Luncheon at the Kenwood Country Club. In a special ceremony, he gave the proclamation to Hadassah National President Marcie Natan, who was in Cincinnati for three unforgettable events on April 24 and 25. Bonnie Juran Ullner is
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he 2012 Eight over Eighty honorees.
Cincinnati Chapter President. These events were part of the communitywide Israel@65 Celebration. Israel@65, the six-month, community-wide celebration of Israel’s 65 years of independence, finished with a week of events for all ages from April 14-21, including an Israeli Cultural Fest featuring multiplatinum Israeli singer-songwriter David Broza. April 18 – Sunday, April 21, brought the Israeli Cultural Fest – the community’s commemoration of Israel Independence Day (Yom HaAtzmaut) – at the Mayerson JCC. An Israeli art preview began at 4 p.m., followed by a cultural festival at 5 p.m. and David Broza in concert at 7 p.m. In the spirit of Israel@65 – which has brought together individuals and organizations from across the community for six months of opportunities to explore, learn about and show support for Israel – last year’s Israel Independence Day celebration was bigger and better than ever. The Mayerson JCC was pleased to announce that they are expanding the leadership and support team at the JCC Early Childhood School. School staff included Sheri Zimmer, as Director of Curriculum and Education, and Rabbi Shena Jaffee, as Director of Jewish Family Life. Rabbi Jaffee was based in the JCC Early Childhood School, but also worked with Camp at the J, as well as other JCC programs for children and families. Taylor Siemon, who was recently hired as JCC Inclusion and Special Needs Coordinator, worked with all departments, including the Early Childhood School and Camp at the J. The 19th annual JCC Adams Golf Classic and Tennis Open was held on Thursday, June 6, at Losantiville Country Club. This year, the Adams Classic recognized the JCC Senior Center.
April 25 – “Let My People Know,” a dynamic afternoon of Jewish learning, explored modern day issues at the Mayerson JCC on Sunday, May 5. The afternoon began at 1 p.m., and was packed with engaging workshops, acclaimed speakers, lively conversation and an absorbing film. Arna Poupko Fisher, internationally acclaimed Jewish educator, writer and speaker, delivered the keynote address, “Keeping it Real: Jewish Life, Law and Lore.” The American Jewish Committee Cincinnati Regional Office presented its 2013 National Human Relations Award to David L. Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation, at a tribute dinner on Thursday, May 9. The award recognized Mr. Joyce’s outstanding professional achievements, community leadership, and dedication to excellence. A Lag B’Omer parade took place Sunday, April 28. The parade took on an added dimension last year in recognition of the tragedy in Boston. In addition to the usual festivities celebrating the Jewish holiday, the parade also reflected the Cincinnati Jewish community’s support of Boston. “Boston Strong” signs were displayed together with the other Jewish-themed signs and floats. There was a pause in the festivities at 3:15 p.m., with a special candlelighting ceremony in Boston’s honor. Police Chief Chris Wallace and local community leader Dick Weiland addressed the assembly.
from Israel), Tomer Flischer and Mor Ninio, they enjoyed a traditional “mangal” cookout with Israeli activities, games, music and sports. So why did the Cincinnati Chapter of Hadassah keep stating, as in the story of Passover, that this year would be different than all other years for Hadassah members? Because this year, as part of their annual donor fundraising events, they brought in the national president of Hadassah, Marcie Natan, as the guest speaker at three events, as well as had her meet personally with other Hadassah supporters in the community. She also toured Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) and heard from CCHMC doctors, and one Hadassah doctor who is here working and studying for three years, about the incredible benefits to CCHMC and the two Hadassah Hospitals in Jerusalem brought about by the Israel Exchange Program (IEP). This was capped off by Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld giving Marcie and chapter president, Bonnie Juran Ullner, a proclamation signed by the mayor designating it Hadassah Day in Cincinnati on April 25, 2013. May 9 – Energetic and devoted volunteers from 36 high schools received American Jewish Committee’s 48th annual Simon Lazarus Jr. Human Relations Awards at Rockdale Temple. On May 1, AJC presented the awards to juniors and seniors who campaign for good causes and organize their classmates in compassionate service.
HAPPY NEW YEAR from your friends at
David L. Joyce
Arna Poupko Fisher, keynote speaker at “Let My People Know” on May 5.
May 2 – On Tuesday, April 16, about 100 teens—from various youth groups, congregations and schools throughout the community—gathered to celebrate Israel Independence Day (Yom Ha’Atzmaut) with a picnic and party at the Mayerson JCC. Along with the Chaverim m’Israel (Friends
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(L-R) Marcie Natan, Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, and Bonnie Juran Ullner
Junior class winner Jessica Seibold of Seven Hills School pioneered a connection between her school and a nearby public elementary school. Her parents are Sandy Rubin and Rick Seibold of Madeira, members of Wise Temple. Senior class winner is Brian Collette of Seven Hills School, who found a way to “turn a dream into reality.” He created “Charitable Innovations,” which uses gifts to non-profits to provide micro-loans to impoverished entrepreneurs around the world. Stephanie Miller and Danielle Schneider ran the Flying Pig marathon on Sunday, May 5 in honor of Boston and the victims of the Boston marathon bombings. May 16 – Jewish young professionals were in a New York State of mind when Access brought a little bit of NYC to the QC (Queen City) for its New York City Shabbat. This event was free with advance reservations and was part of Access’ newest dinner series, The United States of Shabbat, aimed at showcasing some of the best culture and cuisine our country has to offer, from sea to shining sea. With its eclectic mix of sights, sounds, tastes and traditions, what could be a more magnificent metropolis to celebrate than the “City that Never Sleeps”, the Big Apple itself?
Rabbi Jonathan Cohen and Maestro James Conlon
May 23 – Rabbi David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion (HUCJIR), presented the 2013 Roger E. Joseph Prize to Maestro James Conlon, Music Director of the Cincinnati May Festival, at the
HUC-JIR ordination ceremony at Congregation Emanu-El in New York City on Sunday, May 5. Mr. Conlon was awarded the prize for his extensive efforts to publish, produce and perform the lesser-known works of composers suppressed by the Nazi regime. Cincinnati’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) was pleased to announce the hiring of Seth Harlan as associate director, beginning May 1, 2013. JVS Career Services, which provides Jewish community members with various support services when seeking employment or pursuing higher education, moved to larger office space so it could expand its services. JVS Career Services moved to a new office center in Blue Ash, a few miles north of its current location. On Sunday, May 26, at 10:30 a.m., B’nai B’rith held their annual memorial service at the Robert S. Kraft Memorial Garden in the Covedale Cemetery. This memorial service is held in memory of the servicemen of the Jewish faith from the Greater Cincinnati area, who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country while serving overseas in the U.S. Armed Forces. The program was presented by B’nai B’rith of Greater Cincinnati Alfred M. Cohen Unit #4. Family members of the honored and former members of the Armed Forces, for the 70th year, all held at this location, participated in this program. The members of a relatively new Cincinnati congregation were just months away from officially welcoming their first rabbi. Rabbi Ezra Goldschmiedt started Aug. 15 as the spiritual leader of Congregation Sha’arei Torah, a mainstream Modern Orthodox shul that formed in Amberley Village in 2011. At the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s 117th Annual Meeting, President Andy Berger presented the Goldstein Volunteer of the Year Award to Beth Guttman and two Weston “Avodah” Awards to communal professionals Danielle V. Minson and Sarah Ganson. May 30 – The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati held its annual meeting on Tuesday, June 11, at the Mayerson JCC. The keynote speaker was former
Jonathan Miller
Kentucky State Treasurer Jonathan Miller, author of The Liberal Case for Israel. The entire community was invited to attend this free event. On May 23, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati held its 117th Annual Meeting, “Cincinnati 2020 LIVE: From Vision to Reality,” at the Mayerson JCC. Over 350 community members, representing every congregation and local Jewish agency, were in attendance. The evening’s festivities also included a Silver Circle reception honoring donors who have supported the Community Campaign at any level for 25 years or more. The Federation announced a Cincinnati 2020 program in development, the Esther and Maurice Becker Networking and Mentoring Center. June 6 – On May 13, a luncheon was given and hosted by the Honorary German Counsel to Cincinnati, Martin Wilhelmy, and Jens Hanefeld, the Assistant German Ambassador to the United States. A select group of 40 people were in attendance, both Jews and non-Jews but all of German extraction. The purpose of the event was to showcase the great contribution that German immigrants made to the city and notably the contribution of the German Jews. Plum Street Temple was chosen for its historical and monumental significance. Two inspiring and creative JCC professionals received arts awards in music and dance. In an attempt to perfect their art and challenge themselves, Allie Weiner and Bonnie Loftspring embarked upon individual endeavors in the arts, relating to their positions at the Mayerson JCC. Through this type of continued growth, they were able to inspire their students to reach further and develop in their own areas of interest. June 13 – In a speech given on June 7, 1945, General George S. Patton concluded: “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.” This quote was fitting for a community leader like Benjamin Gettler, who passed away on June 4, 2013, at the age of 87. At Jewish Family Service, WE GIVE A...
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Jordan.” Sponsored by the Department of Judaic Studies. The trip was organized and led by Matthew Kraus, assistant professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Cincinnati. One UC student, Maggie Rivera, described the course thusly, “at the end of each day, it was hard to imagine how the next day could be even more amazing, and yet it was.”
Benjamin Gettler
A catchy and edgy marketing campaign by Jewish Family Service earned the agency and its Director of Marketing Sherry Kaplan recognition by Cincinnati American Marketing Association as a finalist in its Marketer of the Year competition, non-profit category. The Marketer of the Year awards, which were presented May 2 at a dinner reception, recognizes a company, a marketing team within a company or an individual who has demonstrated overall excellence in marketing. On Shabbat morning, May 4, Adath Israel Congregation’s Confirmation Class led services for the whole congregation. They read Torah, Haftorah and led Musaf. Lila Englander delivered the d’var Torah and spoke about her personal connection to Judaism. For many Cincinnatians, the high point of the American Jewish Committee’s 2013 Global Forum was the speech of Tzipi Livni, Israel’s Justice Minister and Chief Negotiator with the Palestinians. AJC Cincinnati President Rick Michelman noted: “AJC truly excels in international relations. This was displayed again and again at the Global Forum through dialogues with Foreign Ministers and over 30 Ambassadors. Impressive! The highlight for me, nevertheless, was the personal commitment in the speech of Tzipi Livni. There is hope for peace!” June 20 – With so many programs available, it is hard to imagine an innovative approach to experiencing Israel. Innovative, however, most aptly describes the travel-study course for University of Cincinnati students entitled, “Ancient and Modern Encounters: Israel and
June 27 – Wise Temple welcomed the first of three new rabbis in June. Rabbi Karen R. Thomashow happily returned to Cincinnati, the city where she became a rabbi and began her married life. July 4 – At Goldman Union Camp Institute (GUCI) in Zionsville, Ind., a lightning strike in an open field injured three campers Saturday afternoon, June 29. It left Ethan Kadish of Loveland in critical condition. Kadish and the two other campers were playing Ultimate Frisbee when lightning suddenly struck them. According to some reports, there was no storm and not even rain at the time the lightning struck. Camp counselors had begun lifesaving efforts before medics arrived at the camp. All three were rushed to local hospitals to be treated for their injuries. One of the injured campers was discharged from the hospital and went home with his family. Kadish is the son of Scott and Alexia Kadish. Scott is a Procter & Gamble employee. Alexia is a substitute teacher at Rockwern Academy and the American Israelite’s copy editor. Children at the JCC Early Childhood School learn Jewish values through their educational garden. Shalom Garden was founded in 2009, and provides a variety of hands-on learning experiences for children to participate in age-appropriate activities that teach how their actions directly impact the earth. Camp Livingston has many traditions its campers and staff observe every Shabbat like walking arm-inarm to the dining hall, clearing the dinner tables so everyone can enjoy a song session and Israeli dancing, all before services. They added a new tradition this past Friday: Camp Livingston hosted over 50 alumni for an alumni Shabbat.
Schwartz Family at Global Forum (from left) Seth Schwartz, Drew Schwartz, Dr. Peter Schwartz, and Lael Schwartz
July 11 – Rabbi Meredith Kahan joined the professional staff of K.K. Bene Israel/Rockdale Temple as Assistant Rabbi of the Amberley Village congregation. Cincinnati Hillel was excited to announce that Paula Harlan has joined the staff as the new Program and Engagement Associate. The best–selling author of more than a dozen books about career advancement spoke to the Greater Cincinnati Jewish community on Thursday, August 29 in the first of a series of events about careers presented by JVS Career Services. Career guru Donald Asher talked about “Who Gets Promoted, Who Doesn’t and Why.”
Donald Asher
July 18 – A new high school geared toward Jewish girls nationwide is getting its start next month in Cincinnati. The school, Atara – “Atara” is Hebrew for crown – Girls High
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- Builds Bridges - Advances Security - Promotes Human Rights - Supports Israel - Strengthens Jewish Life
Best wishes for a happy Rosh Hashanah Rick Michelman, President
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School of Cincinnati, which will serve grades nine through twelve and is focused on providing a quality education in conjunction with a Torah value system that can be shared by girls heading toward seminary, university, the professional world, community leadership, motherhood or the many combinations thereof. The new school is getting its start in large part to the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, which purchased the Losantiville School on Elbrook Avenue last November during a public auction run by Cincinnati Public Schools. The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati welcomed Rick Lefton as the organization’s new Planned Giving Officer. Rabbi Hanan Balk, who served as the spiritual leader of the Golf Manor Synagogue in Cincinnati, Ohio was recognized by his rabbinical peers with the Rubenstein Memorial Award in Rabbinic
Helping with the ground-breaking were from left, Robert Rosen, Cedar Village Board Chair; Carol Silver Elliott, Cedar Village President & CEO; Andrew Shott, Chair, Cedar Village Foundation; Brian Jaffee, Executive Director, Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati; Shep Englander, President & CEO, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati; and Jeff Zipkin, Board Member, Jewish Foundation & Cedar Village Foundation.
Excellence at the annual convention of the Rabbinical Council of America, on June 29, 2013. Balk shared the award with Rabbi Judah Dardik of Oakland, California. Rabbi Steven Greenberg of Cincinnati, Ohio was recently chosen as one of 17 rabbis from across the country to participate in American Jewish World Service’s (AJWS) fourth rabbinic delegation trip. On July 21, Rabbi Greenberg will travel with AJWS to Lucknow in northern India on a 10-day trip during which he will join with other national Jewish leaders and volunteers to reflect on connections between traditional Jewish teachings and human rights today. Cincinnati’s new Jewish girls high school searched for a personality who has the ability to inspire high school girls to strive to be the very best they can be. School organizers at Atara Girls High School of Cincinnati, which will serve grades 9 through 12, say they found that person in Penina Teitelbaum, one of three finalists brought in for an interview after the school’s selection committee received more than 20 applications and conducted about half a dozen interviews via Skype.
Penina Teitelbaum
July 25 – Rockdale Temple celebrated its 190th anniversary starting this summer, with a full year of events. Founded in January of 1824 as K. K. Bene Israel, Rockdale is the oldest Jewish congregation west of the Allegheny Mountains. Heather Rosewell, a teacher at
Hillcrest Academy in Cincinnati, and Lauren Miller, of St. Albert the Great School in Kettering, Ohio were named Jewish Foundation for the Righteous’ Lerner Fellows for 2013. The teachers were awarded the opportunity to attend JFR’s 5day teacher institute at Columbia University through The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, located in Cincinnati. Leading up to their participation with JFR, Rosewell and Miller attended numerous teacher and student programs through CHHE. August 1 – Voices of Humanity, a dinner benefitting The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education recognized the positive impact on local Holocaust education made by an individual, an educational institution and nine businesses and institutions. All were committed to leveraging history to teach lessons for today about perseverance, courage, compassion, justice, tolerance, choice and diversity. Holocaust survivor Werner Coppel and Summit Country Day School was honored for their pioneering commitment to Holocaust education in Cincinnati. Summit educators Rosie Alway and Jeff Stayton shared their talents with CHHE as committed volunteers. BRIDGES for a Just Community closed its office and ceased operations by early September. August 8 – Construction was starting on Cedar Village’s aquatic therapy center, which has high-tech features found in only a few places in Greater Cincinnati. The new complex has two warm-water pools, which will be used for individual therapy, and a larger warm-water pool, which will be used for group therapy, aerobics classes and lap swimming as well as individual use by Cedar Village residents. The Jewish community of Cincinnati’s Northern Suburbs, led by Rabbi Yosef Kalmanson, made history as it dedicated the Mason area’s first Torah Scroll to be commissioned by numerous individuals in the community. An inaugural cer-
ROSH HASHANAH • B13
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
Jake Paul, third from the right, and the rest of the gold medal–winning USA Men’s Open Gymnastics team at the 19th Maccabiah Games.
emony and Torah procession took place in Mason on Sunday, August 25, 2013. At the 19th Maccabiah Games in Israel July 17 – 30, 2013, Jake Paul, 18, competed along with five other members of the USA Men’s Open Gymnastics team. By the end of the competition, they were coming back to the states with a gold medal in their hands. August 15 – Adath Israel welcomed Ricky Kamil, a 4th year Rabbinical School student at Hebrew Union College, as their Rabbinic Intern. Congregation Ohav Shalom announced that renowned cantor Abraham Lubin will lead the upcoming High Holy Day services. Picture beautiful, historic Plum Street Temple gas-lit as it was in days of old. Imagine a sense of calm that comes from serene music, quiet prayer and personal reflection. This spiritual deep breath is found at Wise Temple’s Selichot service, often referred to as the most beautiful service of the year. Wise Temple
welcomed everyone to this poetic and reflective service which prepares one’s heart, mind and spirit for the Days of Awe and Repentance.
Dara Wood
August 22 – 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.
Adath Israel Congregation announced that the congregation's Education Director, Dara Wood, was recognized as this year’s recipient of the Walter Hattenbach Excellence in Teaching Award. Cincinnati’s two United Synagogue Youth, (USY,) professionals will continue to serve throughout the 5774 year. Mollie Newman and Chava Vidal entered 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. 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. August 29 – Hooshir A Cappella, Indiana University’s premiere co-ed a capella group with Jewish roots performed at the Valley Temple on Saturday, August 31. The group traveled to Cincinnati preceding the Selichot High Holy Day preparatory service. The Mayerson JCC Board of Directors announced that Marc Fisher accepted the position of CEO of the Mayerson JCC, after serving as Interim CEO for the past 8 months.
L’Shana Tova May the community be blessed with health, happiness, and success in this new year. Netanel (Ted) Deutsch & Family
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Listed below are those who have passed on during the time between last year’s and this year’s Rosh Hashanah. If any persons have been left out, please contact us. BEREN, Sara Lee, age 92, died on September 11, 2012; 24 Elul, 5772. LURIE, Virginia Stix, age 85, died on September 13, 2012; 26 Elul, 5772. GUREVICH, Mirra, age 90, died on September 15, 2012; 28 Elul, 5772. KERBEL, Robert N, age 81, died on Sept. 20, 2012; 4 Tishrei, 5772. LEEVER, Judith, age 59, died on September 29, 2012; 13 Tishrei, 5773. SCHLONSKY, Dr. Joseph, age 72, died on September 30, 2012; 14 Tishrei, 5773. HERMAN, Sylvia, age 92, died on October 2, 2012; 16 Tishrei, 5773. SCHATZ, Bernard, age 81, died on October 4, 2012; 18 Tishrei, 5773. FREMONT, Robert E., age 86, died on October 6, 2012; 20 Tishrei, 5773. BERNSTEIN, Col. Israel, age 93, died on October 7, 2012; 21 Tishrei, 5773. ZAFREN, Miriam, age 82, died on September 27, 2012; 11 Tishrei, 5773. MENN, Sylvia, age 99, died on October 9, 2012; 23 Tishrei, 5773. BARSEL, Rabbi David, age 101, died on October 9, 2012; 24 Tishrei, 5773. RAUH, Joseph “Jerry”, age 83, died on October 9, 2012; 23 Tishrei, 5773. LIPSKY, Edith, age 94, died on October 11, 2012, 25 Tishrei, 5773. ROSEN, Ronald, age 74, died on October 12, 2012; 26 Tishrei, 5773. PRICE, Eugene, age 80, died on October 12, 2012; 27 Tishrei, 5773. SCHWARTZ, Sheldon S., age 83, died on October 15, 2012; 29 Tishrei, 5773.
SHAPIRO, Herbert, age 83 died on October 17, 2012; 1 Cheshvan, 5773. EHRLICH, Robert, age 81, died on October 17, 2012; 2 Cheshvan, 5773. GLUECK, Hillel, age 97, died on October 18, 2012; 2 Cheshvan, 5773. GOLDMAN, Leonard, age 77, died on October 19, 2012; 3 Cheshvan, 5773. MANDELL, Yetta, age 83, died on October 20, 2012; 4 Cheshvan, 5773. FARBER, Doris Berman, age 100, died on October 20, 2012;4 Cheshvan, 5773. BERMAN, Bernice K., age 94, died on October 22, 2012; 6 Cheshvan, 5773. LEWIN, Ruth Lee, age 81, died on October 28, 2012; 12 Cheshvan, 5773 NATHAN, James O., age 78, died on October 29, 2012; 13 Cheshvan, 5773. MAGARILL, Genrietta, age 85, died on October 30, 2012; 15 Cheshvan, 5773. FRIEDMAN, Frederick F., age 88, died on October 31, 2012; 15 Cheshvan, 5773. CANFIELD, Elaine F., age 88, died on November 2, 2012; 17 Cheshvan, 5773. KAPLAN, Ruth E., age 88, died on November 4, 2012; 19 Cheshvan, 5773. ZIMMERMAN, Patricia Sue, age 61, died on November 5, 2012; 21 Cheshvan, 5773. STREUSSAND, Mae, age 86, died on November 6, 2012; 21 Cheshvan, 5773. LEBOWITZ, Minette E., age 92, died on November 12, 2012; 27 Cheshvan, 5773. CAHN, Henry, age 96, died on November 12, 2012; 28 Cheshvan, 5773. SCHWARTZBERG, Allen P., age 62, November 16, 2012; 2 Kislev, 5773. ANDERSON, Lois Joyce, age 89, November 16, 2012; 3 Kislev, 5773. DULETS, Lazar, age 90, died on
November 17, 2012; 3 Kislev, 5773. GLASS, David Neville, age 70, died on November 18, 2012; 4 Kislev, 5773. KOLSTEIN, Marvin N., age 84, died on November 21, 2012; 8 Kislev 5773. GITTELMAN, Theodore “Ted,” age 101, died on November 22, 2012; 8 Kislev 5773. LANOVSKAIA, Maia, age 84, November 23, 2012; 9 Kislev 5773. RIEMENSCHNEIDER, Donald C., Jr., age 65, November 25, 2012; 11 Kislev 5773. PASTERSKAYA, Faina, age 86, December 2, 2012; 18 Kislev, 5773. KATZ, Julane L., age 85, December 3, 2012; 19 Kislev 5773. FOHLEN, Marian, age 85, died December 9, 2012; 25 Kislev, 5773. SATTLER, Laurence, age 66, died on December 13, 2012; 29 Kislev 5773. FARBER, Barbara J., age 84, died on December 20, 2012; 8 Tevet, 5773. GOLDENBERG, Barry, age 76, died on December 21, 2012; 8 Tevet, 5773. KANTOR, Milton H., age 85, died December 23, 2012; 11 Tevet, 5773. OSCHERWITZ, Florence, age 99, died December 26, 2012; 13 Tevet, 5773. WINKLER, Dr. Henry R., age 96, died December 26, 2012; 14 Tevet, 5773. SACOLICK, Ruth, age 85, died December 27, 2012; 14 Tevet, 5773. DATES, Beverly Spiegel, age 78, died December 23, 2012; 11 Tevet 5773. GOLDMAN, Christine C., age 88, died December 31, 2012; 18 Tevet 5773. KORELITZ, Melvin N., age 93, died December 31, 2012; 18 Tevet 5773. MEISS, Nancy, age 90, died January 1, 2013; 19 Tevet 5773. BERG, Jane, age 92, died
ROSH HASHANAH • B15
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
January 4, 2013; 23 Tevet, 5773.
5773.
SCHAPERA, Aidan Jos, age 26, died January 4, 2013; 23 Tevet, 5773.
ROSS, Michelle, age 59, died February 16, 2013; 6 Adar, 5773.
SCHNECK, Melvin, age 88, died on January 8, 2013; 26 Tevet, 5773. FREEMAN, Sheila, age 69, died on January 11, 2013; 29 Tevet, 5773. BOYAR, Inez, age 88, died on January 14, 2013; 3 Shevat, 5773. BROWN, Leonard L., age 81, died January 15, 2013; 5 Shevat, 5773. GORDON, Phillip, age 92, died January 15, 2013; 5 Shevat, 5773. KEY, Bonnie, age 85, died January 19, 2013; 9 Shevat, 5773. SOLWAY, John “Jack”Jacob, age 85, died January 22, 2013; 11 Shevat, 5773. SCHWARTZ, Morton Allen, age 86, died January 23, 2013; 13 Shevat, 5773. KOHNOP, Louis, age 92, died January 24, 2013; 13 Shevat, 5773. COHEN, Stephen, age 80, died January 25, 2013; 15 Shevat, 5773. BYER, Jeannette, age 86, died January 29, 2013; 18 Shevat, 5773. LE VINE, Shoshana, age 86, died January 30, 2013; 20 Shevat, 5773. FELDMAN, Florence, age 89, died January 31, 2013; 20 Shevat, 5773. KESSEL, Doris, age 85, died January 31, 2013; 20 Shevat, 5773. COLE, Ruth, age 84, died February 1, 2013; 21 Shevat, 5773. JACOBSON, Albert, age 83, died February 1, 2013; 22 Shevat, 5773. RASSELL, Marvin Joseph, M.D., age 92, died February 3, 2013; 23 Shevat, 5773. GOLDBERG, Howard M., age 85, died February 5, 2013; 26 Shevat, 5773. BORTZ, Sylvia, age 83, died February 10, 2013; 30 Shevat 5773. SKUROW, Jacob “Jack,” age 96, died February 12, 2013; 2 Adar
JABLONSKY, Marvin, age 90, died February 17, 2013; 7 Adar, 5773. KRAKOVSKY, Ronald, age 69, died February 17, 2013; 7 Adar, 5773. ORCHIN, Milton, age 98, died February 14, 2013; 4 Adar, 5773. ROSENBAUM, Victor A., age 78, died February 19, 2013; 9 Adar, 5773. SCHWARTZ, William L., age 86, died February 21, 2013; 11 Adar, 5773. SKUROW, Michael A., age 68, died February 24, 2013; 14 Adar, 5773. LAZARUS, Gladys Kleeman, age 99, died February 28, 2013, 18 Adar, 5773. EPSTEIN, Annice, age 92, died March 1, 2013; 19 Adar, 5773. CLAYTON, Muriel, age 86, died March 4, 2013; 22 Adar, 5773. MERBLUM, Rose, age 94, died March 6, 2013; 25 Adar, 5773. COPPEL, Trudy, age 91, died March 11, 2013; 29 Adar, 5773. FABE, Harry G., age 91, died March 15, 2013; 4 Nissan, 5773. BORTZ, Eli, age 88, died March 16, 2013; 5 Nissan, 5773. FINN, Ronald, age 72, died March 15, 2013; 4 Nissan, 5773. PLOTNICK, Shirley Ruth, age 92, died March 22, 2013; 11 Nissan, 5773. SCHWARTZ, Freda A., age 90, died March 22, 2013; 12 Nissan, 5773. BIENENFELD, Joseph, age 93, died March 24, 2013; 13 Nissan, 5773. RIKH, Lana, age 63, died March 25, 2013; 14 Nissan, 5773. FRAND, Erwin Akiba, age 75, died March 28, 2013; 17 Nissan, 5773. SAX, Saralee, age 81, died March 29, 2013; 18 Nissan, 5773. SIMON, Evelyn, age 88, died March 29, 2013; 18 Nissan, 5773. LERER, Gerald “Jerry,” age 74, died April 5, 2013; 25 Nissan 5773.
PECK, Sondra, age 79, died April 11, 2013; 1 Iyar, 5773. KLEINMAN, Rose L., age 92, died, April 11, 2013; 2 Iyar, 5773. LOWENTHAL, Ruth, age 87, died April 14, 2013; 4 Iyar, 5773. KOHN, Dorothy, age 91, April 16, 2013; 6 Iyar, 5773. MILLMAN, Bernice, age 81, died April 16, 2013; 7 Iyar, 5773. HIBSHMAN, Rhoda, age 85, died April 17, 2013; 7 Iyar, 5773. BRODOF, Michael A., age 54, died April 20, 2013; 10 Iyar, 5773. FRANKEL, Bennett, age 59, died April 20, 2013, 10 Iyar, 5773. TARSCHIS, Marian, age 94, died April 23, 2013; 13 Iyar, 5773. BRANT, Nancy F. age 69, died April 26, 2013; 16 Iyyar, 5773. WACKSMAN, Howard S. age 93, died April 27, 2013; 17 Iyyar, 5773. COOPER, Selma. age 92, died April 29, 2013; 19 Iyyar, 5773. GOODMAN, Bernice, age 92, died April 26, 2013; 16 Iyyar, 5773. ROBINSON, Annette, age 90, died April 27, 2013 (after sun-
B16 • ROSH HASHANA
Happy New Year to our dear friends who have been so kind. The Family of Benjamin Gettler
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down); 18 Iyyar, 5773.
May 17, 2013; 8 Sivan, 5773.
PLEATMAN, Albert “Bert,” age 89, died April 30, 2013; 20 Iyyar, 5773.
NEMOFF, Julie, age 78, died May 17, 2013; 8 Sivan, 5773.
DIAMOND, Peter A., age 63, died May 5, 2013; 25 Iyyar, 5773. PERETZKY, Jackie (Jerris), age 59, died May 11, 2013; 2 Sivan, 5773. JACOBS, Toni, age 101, died May 12, 2013; 3 Sivan, 5773. MALOF, Gary A., age 59, died May 15, 2013; 6 Sivan, 5773. HOLSTEIN, Martin Richard, age 83, died May 16, 2013; 7 Sivan, 5773. MABO, Joseph, age 82, died May 16, 2013; 7 Sivan, 5773. SIEGAL, Leah D., age 87, died May 16, 2013; 8 Sivan, 5773.
FRIDMAN, Lev, age 88, died May 20, 2013; 11 Sivan, 5773. ZEFF, Irving, age 81, died May 21, 2013; 12 Sivan, 5773. SCHWARTZ, Ada G., age 86, died May 26, 2013; 18 Sivan, 5773. FISH, Linda, age 70, died on May 31, 2013; 22 Sivan, 5773. FRANK, Peggy, age 86, died on May 31, 2013; 22 Sivan, 5773. HIRSCH, Bernice Evelyn, age 88, died on June 1, 2013; 23 Sivan, 5773. GETTLER, Benjamin, age 87, died on June 4, 2013; 26 Sivan, 5773.
KOLODNY, Victor, age 75, died ROSENFIELD, Janet, age 94, died on June 4, 2013; 26 Sivan, 5773. GILBERT, Hilda K,. age 97, died on June 11, 2013; 3 Tammuz, 5773. KLEBANOW, Bessie, age 96, died June 14, 2013; 6 Tammuz, 5773. SCHARF, Rosalyn P., age 32, died on June 20, 2013; 12 Tammuz, 5773. ROSIN, Lewis Irving, age 75, died on June 22, 2013; 14 Tammuz, 5773. RUDAKOVA, Ita, age 90, died on June 24, 2013; 16 Tammuz, 5773. BROH, Robert A. age 75, died June 25, 2013; 17 Tammuz, 5773. BRON, Tatyana age 86, died June 25, 2013; 17 Tammuz, 5773. LEHRNER, Edith age 89, died June 26, 2013; 18 Tammuz, 5773.
WEINSTEIN, Anna age 61, died July 5, 2013; 27 Tammuz, 5773. WILLIAMS, Freada age 93, died June 24, 2013; 24 Tammuz, 5773. SCHWARTZ, James M., age 89, died on July 14, 2013; 7 Av 5773. BERNSTEIN, Carolyn Ellen age 72, died on July 19, 2013; 12 Av, 5773. KAUFMAN, Ivan age 71, died on July 23, 2013; 16 Av, 5773. FRANKENSTEIN, Barbara S. age 83, died on July 25, 2013; 18 Av, 5773. ALTSHOOL, John age 81, died on July 29, 2013; 22 Av, 5773. SELONICK, Peggy age 83, died on July 30, 2013; 24 Av, 5773. FEIGELSON, Marilyn “Mike” age 88, died on July 30, 2013; 23 Av, 5773. MILLER, Sam age 88, died on August 5, 2013; 29 Av, 5773. BORDEN, Bernard B. age 82, died on August 8, 2013; 2 Elul, 5773. ROSENBAUM, Robert L. age 83, died on August 8, 2013; 2 Elul, 5773. HERMAN, Dorothy age 88, died on August 9, 2013; 3 Elul, 5773. KRUMBEIN, Milton age 90, died on August 10, 2013; 4 Elul, 5773. KIELCZ, Aleksandra age 92, died on August 15, 2013; 9 Elul, 5773. 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.
FINE, Ruth age 92, died June 26, 2013; 18 Tammuz, 5773.
SCHNUR, Dr. Walter age 91, died on August 17, 2013; 11 Elul, 5773.
LIPSON, Ronald Douglas age 71, died June 29, 2013; 21 Tammuz, 5773.
DOLLIN, Marjorie J., age 84, died on August 26, 2013; 21 Elul 5773.
MAXWELL, Myron H. age 82, died June 29, 2013; 21 Tammuz, 5773.
SCHNEIDER, Berenice age 95 died August 28, 2013; 22 Elul, 5773.
EVANS, Lori L. age 52, died June 30, 2013; 23 Tammuz, 5773.
SEELIG, Herbert age 93 died August 30, 2013; 24 Elul, 5773.
HERZFELD, Hermine L. age 105, died June 27, 2013; 19 Tammuz, 5773.
STREGEVSKY, Ruth R. age 91 died September 2, 2013; 28 Elul, 5773.
ROSH HASHANAH • B17
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
Year in Review: 5773
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
By JTA Staff Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Ellen W. Field, M.D. Richard G. Valido, M.D. Lisa Gennari, M.D. Connie Rudolph, C.N.M.
NEW YORK – From wars and elections to scandals and triumphs, JTA takes a look back at the highlights of the Jewish year 5773.
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September 2012 Islamists throw a homemade grenade into a Jewish supermarket near Paris, injuring one. The incident is part of a major increase in attacks on Jews in France in 2012. October 2012 William Herskowitz, a member of an internship program in Israel for American Jews, shoots dead a hotel employee in the Israeli resort city of Eilat and then kills himself following a standoff with police. Arlen Specter, the longtime moderate Jewish Republican senator from Pennsylvania whose surprise late-life party switch back to the Democrats helped pass President Obama’s health care reforms, dies at 82 following a long struggle with cancer. During his time in the Senate, Specter offered himself as a broker for Syria-Israel peace talks and led efforts to condition aid to the Palestinian Authority on its peace process performance. Jewish groups pull out of a national interfaith meeting meant to bolster relations between Jews and Christians following a letter by Protestant leaders to Congress calling for an investigation into U.S. aid to Israel. Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley, American economists with ties to Israeli universities, win the Nobel Prize for economics. The Israeli Knesset votes to dissolve, sending Israel to new elections for the first time since 2009. Women of the Wall leader Anat Hoffman is arrested at the Western Wall and ordered to stay away from the site for 30 days after attempting to lead a women’s prayer group at the holy site in violation of Kotel rules. The incident, which is witnessed by dozens of American participants in town for the centennial celebration of the women’s Zionist group Hadassah, stokes outrage among liberal American Jewish groups. Israel, a heated issue throughout the U.S. presidential campaign, is mentioned 31 times by President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney at the final presidential debate, which was devoted to foreign policy and held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. Both candidates sought to score points on the issue, but actual policy differences seemed to be in short supply. With a charter flight of some 240 Ethiopian immigrants, the Israeli government launches what it says is the final stage of mass immigration from Ethiopia to Israel. The following summer, the Jewish Agency
L’SHANA TOVA Courtesy of Miriam Alster / Flash90/JTA
Women of the Wall holding their monthly Rosh Chodesh service at the Western Wall, in contravention of rules barring women from wearing prayer shawls or reading from the Torah at the site, March 12, 2013.
announces that the last Ethiopian aliyah flight will take place in August 2013. Hurricane Sandy hits the U.S. East Coast, killing more than 100 and causing an estimated $50 billion in damages. The populous Jewish areas of New York and New Jersey see extreme damage, and a Jewish man and woman are killed by a falling tree in Brooklyn. Synagogues and Jewish organizations nationwide join efforts to raise money to help victims of the superstorm. November 2012 Moscow’s Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center opens to great fanfare. President Obama is reelected, with exit polls giving the incumbent about 68 percent of the Jewish vote – down from the estimated 74 percent to 78 percent in 2008. Many of the campaign battles between Jewish surrogates were fought over Middle East issues, but surveys suggested that like most other voters, American Jews were most concerned with economic issues. Major League Baseball player Delmon Young pleads guilty to misdemeanor charges related to an incident in New York in which the Detroit Tigers’ designated hitter yells anti-Semitic slurs at a group of tourists talking to a homeless panhandler wearing a yarmulke. Young is sentenced in Manhattan Criminal Court to 10 days of community service and ordered to participate in a mandatory restorative justice program run by the Museum of Tolerance in New York. After days of stepped-up rocket attacks from Gaza, Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense with a missile strike that kills the head of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, Ahmed Jabari. In all, six Israelis and an estimated 149 to 177 Palestinians are killed during the weeklong exchange of fire. Egypt helps broker the cease-fire between the two sides. A constitutional court in Poland bans shechitah, Jewish ritual slaughter, along with Muslim ritual slaugh-
ter. An effort in July to overturn the ban fails. The decision by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to grant himself near absolute powers dismays U.S. and Israeli observers just days after Morsi is lauded for helping broker a Hamas-Israel ceasefire. Morsi backtracks in December, but the move helps stoke popular discontent in Egypt with the country’s first democratically elected president. The U.N. General Assembly votes 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions, to recognize Palestine as a state. Passage of the resolution, which does not have the force of law, prompts condemnations from the
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CONTINUED from previous page United States and warnings of possible penalties, but none are invoked. Israel responds with its own dire warnings and announces new settlement constriction in the West Bank. Over the course of months, the change in status in the United Nations proves largely irrelevant. December 2012 After months of occasional cross-border fire on the Golan Heights, including errant Syrian and rebel shells landing in Israel, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the Syrian government is violating a 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel by deploying military equipment and troops over the cease-fire line. Ahmed Ferhani, 27, an Algerian immigrant living in New York, pleads guilty to planning to blow up synagogues in New York City. In a case that ignites passions in the haredi Orthodox community in Brooklyn, Satmar hasid Nechemya Weberman, an unlicensed therapist, is found guilty on 59 counts of sexual abuse. Days later, a hasidic assailant throws bleach in the face of a community rabbi, Nuchem Rosenberg, who advocates for victims of sex abuse. In January, Weberman is sentenced to 103 years in prison. German lawmakers pass a bill enshrining the right to ritual circumcision but regulating how circumcisions are to be conducted. The law displaces a ban on Jewish ritual circumcision imposed by a court in Cologne in June. Yeshiva University President Richard Joel apologizes for alleged instances of sexual misconduct and harassment by two former faculty members – Rabbis George Finkelstein and Macy Gordon – at the university’s high school more than two decades earlier. Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the leader of one of London’s largest congregations and a former chief rabbi of Ireland, is named Britain’s chief rabbi-designate. This fall he is to succeed Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who has served in the post since 1991. Numerous Jewish groups call for stricter gun control regulations after a gunman kills 20 first-graders and six adults in Newtown, Conn. The youngest victim is a 6-year-old Jewish boy, Noah Pozner. New York businessman Jacob Ostreicher, who has been jailed in Bolivia without charges for 18 months, is released on bail but still barred from leaving the country. A haredi Orthodox father of five and grandfather of 11 from Brooklyn, Ostreicher was arrested in June 2011 by Bolivian police over allegations that he did business with drug traffickers and money launderers. A Paris court orders Twitter to monitor and disclose the identities of users from France who posted anti-
Courtesy of Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90/JTA
The Iron Dome defense system firing missiles to intercept incoming rockets from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Nov. 15, 2012.
Semitic comments online, including Holocaust denials. Twitter later appeals the decision but loses, and the U.S.-based company complies with the demand in July. January 2013 Video emerges from 2010 of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi – then a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood – calling Jews “bloodsuckers” and “descendants of apes and pigs.” Morsi tells U.S. senators that he gets bad press because “certain forces” control the media. President Obama nominates Jacob Lew, his chief of staff and an Orthodox Jew who frequently serves as an intermediary with Jewish groups, to be secretary of the Treasury Department. Benjamin Netanyahu wins reelection as Israel’s prime minister, but his Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu faction suffers significant losses at the polls, falling to 31 seats. The big winners are two newcomer parties: Yair Lapid’s centrist, domesticfocused Yesh Atid, which comes in second with 19 Knesset seats, and Naftali Bennett’s nationalist Jewish Home, which wins 12 seats. Both later opt to join Netanyahu’s coalition government, which takes nearly two months to assemble. Iran and Argentina sign an agreement to form an independent commission to investigate the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and was blamed on Iran. Argentinian and American Jews denounce the agreement as a farce. Iran’s parliament has yet to sign off on the pact. Amid concerns that Syrian President Bashar Assad may be transferring chemical weapons to Hezbollah, Israeli planes bomb a Syrian weapons transport on the Lebanese border. It is one of several Israeli strikes in Syrian territory during the year. February 2013 Ed Koch, the pugnacious former New York City mayor whose political imprimatur was eagerly sought by Republicans and Democrats, dies at 88 of congestive heart failure. At his funeral, a cast of political lumi-
naries remembers him as a friend of Israel and the Jewish people. Bulgaria affirms that Hezbollah was behind the attack in Burgas in July 2012 that killed six people, including five Israelis. The finding adds to pressure on the European Union to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist entity. After concerns are expressed in the ensuing months that Bulgarian officials are backing away from their assertions, Bulgaria’s foreign minister reassures Israel on the attack’s one-year anniversary that Bulgaria still holds Hezbollah responsible. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. identifies a man known as Prisoner X, who hanged himself in a maximum-security Israeli prison in 2010, as Australian-Israeli citizen Ben Zygier. Zygier is said to have worked for the Mossad. A British court convicts three British Muslims of plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in the country, including on Jewish targets. March 2013 Vice President Joe Biden tells thousands of AIPAC activists meeting in Washington that President Obama is “not bluffing” when he says he will stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The U.S. State Department cancels plans to honor Egyptian human rights activist Samira Ibrahim after opponents note that anti-Jewish tweets were posted on her Twitter account. President Obama makes his first visit to Israel since taking office in 2008. In a speech upon arrival at the airport, Obama says the United States is Israel’s strongest ally and greatest friend. His trip receives widespread praise from Jewish groups. A Lebanese-Swedish citizen is convicted in Cyprus on charges of spying on Israeli tourists for Hezbollah. The closely watched trial is a sign of Hezbollah’s expansion of terrorist activities into Europe and fuels calls for European Union countries to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Following prodding by President
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CONTINUED from previous page Obama, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree to resume normal ties after Israel apologizes for the deaths of nine Turks in 2010 during a clash with Israeli commandos aboard the Mavi Marmara, a ship attempting to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Erdogan later balks, saying normalization will not take place until Israel fulfills its obligations under the agreement. Berlin’s Jewish Museum provokes controversy with its Jew in a Box exhibit (formally titled The Whole Truth ), in which Jews spend a shift sitting in a glass box and answering questions from visitors. Mike Engelman, the owner of Doheny Glatt Kosher Meats in Los Angeles, is videotaped directing his employees to unload boxes of meat from his car while the store’s kosher supervisor is absent. The footage leads the Rabbinical Council of California to revoke the shop’s kosher certification the day before Passover, leaving many kosher consumers in the lurch. April 2013 French Chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim resigns following revelations that he plagiarized the work of others in his books and claimed unearned academic titles. After being asked by Israel’s prime minister to come up with a solution to the Women of the Wall controversy, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky proposes that the Robinson’s Arch area of the Western Wall be expanded and renovated to allow for egalitarian prayer there at any time. Reaction to his proposal is mixed. Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority prime minister who was lauded for his technocratic approach toward state building in the West Bank, resigns. He is replaced in June by university president Rami Hamdallah, who announces after two weeks on the job that he is quitting. Rabbi Michael Broyde, a prominent legal scholar in the Modern Orthodox community and professor at Emory University, is forced to step down from a leading religious court after admitting that he systematically used a fake identity in scholarly journals. The admission followed a report by The Jewish Channel exposing the ruse. Bret Stephens, a former editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post and now deputy editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, wins the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. The Museum of the History of Polish Jews opens in Warsaw. The Jewish Museum of Casablanca reopens following a major renovation funded by the Moroccan government. The renovation is part of a broad effort led by Morocco’s king to restore Jewish
Courtesy of Uri Lenz/FLASH90/JTA
President Obama greeted by children waving Israeli and American flags at a welcoming ceremony at Shimon Peres' residence in Jerusalem, March 20, 2013.
heritage sites in the country, including an ancient synagogue in Fez and dozens of former Jewish schools. May 2013 Following complaints from proIsrael groups, the Newseum in Washington cancels a planned honor for two slain Palestinian cameramen employed by a Hamas affiliate. Eric Garcetti, a veteran L.A. city councilman, becomes the first elected Jewish mayor of Los Angeles. With his victory, America’s three largest cities boast Jewish mayors. The Claims Conference is embroiled in controversy after the public learns that officials at the organization failed to adequately follow up on allegations of fraud in 2001, missing an early chance to stop what turned into a $57 million scheme. The disclosure comes during the trial of the scheme’s mastermind, Semen Domnitser, who is found guilty. In July, the Claims Conference board agrees to some outside input in formulating plans for its future but votes to reelect its embattled chairman, Julius Berman, who oversaw a botched probe in 2001 into the allegations. A 13-year-old Indian-American boy, Arvind Mahankali, spells the Yiddish-derived word “knaidel” correctly to win the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee. June 2013 U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg dies at age 89 after a long and accomplished career advocating for Jewish issues. The Canadian Jewish News decides to abort a plan announced in April to stop printing the newspaper. Yeshivat Maharat, a women’s seminary started by Rabbi Avi Weiss in 2009, graduates its first class of Orthodox women clergy known as maharats. Liberal Jewish groups hail the Supreme Court decision striking down California’s ban on gay marriage, while Orthodox groups express muted disappointment. Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, is arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering.
July 2013 In a letter announcing his retirement, Yeshiva University Chancellor Norman Lamm issues an apology for mishandling sex abuse allegations decades earlier against faculty members at Y.U. s high school for boys. Days later, several ex-Y.U. students file a $380 million lawsuit against the university. Three campers at the Goldman Union Camp Institute near Indianapolis are injured in a lightning strike. A few days later, a Jewish camp counselor is killed by a falling tree at Camp Tawonga, a California camp located near Yosemite National Park. Egypt’s army deposes President Mohamed Morsi, overthrowing the country’s first democratically elected leader. The Obama administration stops short of calling the action a coup, avoiding an automatic cutoff in U.S. aid to Egypt. Morsi had become deeply unpopular among liberal and secular Egyptians but retained deep-rooted support among members of his Muslim Brotherhood. Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, announces he will return to Israel after four years in the position. He is to be replaced by Ron Dermer, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both ambassadors are American born. Portugal enacts a law of return to make citizenship available to Jewish descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews. The move is intended to address the mass expulsion of Jews from Portugal in the 16th century.
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5773 Year in Review: Fighting over Jewish pluralism By Uriel Heilman Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK – In 5773, the religious wars just would not go away. In Israel, elections that extended Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure as prime minister delivered big wins to two anti-Orthodox-establishment upstarts, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett. For the first time in nearly two decades, Israel’s coalition government included no haredi Orthodox parties. The Israel Defense Forces took concrete steps toward ending the draft exemption for haredi men. Israel’s Ministry of Religious Services agreed for the first time to allow non-Orthodox rabbis to serve in communal positions with state-funded salaries. And the Reform and Conservative movements finally broke through years of apathy to get the Israeli government to consider changes to the Orthodox monopoly over ritual and prayer at the Western Wall – but there’s been no movement beyond proposals. In the United States, Yeshivat Maharat, a New York school for women founded four years ago to train Orthodox female rabbinic authorities, graduated its first class of Orthodox clergy, known as maharats. The Supreme Court granted federal benefits to samesex couples and struck down a California law banning gay marriage in the state. While Jewish liberals seemed to have a good year, Orthodox leaders and institutions found themselves on the defensive. Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, was arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering. Yeshiva University, the flagship institution of Modern Orthodoxy, became the subject of a $380 million lawsuit by former students alleging that two rabbis who used to teach at the Y.U. high school for boys in the 1970s and ‘80s committed hundreds of acts of sex abuse. When Y.U.’s chancellor, Rabbi Norman Lamm, announced he was stepping down, he apologized for mishandling the allegations when he was university president. The Satmar hasidic community in New York became embroiled in its own sex scandal when it lined up to support an unlicensed therapist from Brooklyn charged with the repeated sexual assault of a female teenager in his care. Even after Nechemya Weberman was found guilty and sentenced to 103 years in prison, the community’s support did not waver. Rather, Satmar leaders
Courtesy of Flash90
Israeli riot police scuffle with haredi Orthodox Jews at the Western Wall plaza in a bid to keep them away from Women of the Wall's monthly prayer service at the holy site in Jerusalem, May 10, 2013.
inveighed against the victim and her supporters. A few days after the trial, a hasidic assailant threw bleach in the face of a community rabbi, Nuchem Rosenberg, who advocates for victims of sex abuse. But to extrapolate a storyline or trend from these disparate events could be folly. For one thing, the Orthodox sex scandals might be more about the dawning of a new age of reckoning on sex abuse than the prevalence of sexual misdeeds among Orthodox Jews. And for all the triumphs that Jewish liberals saw this year, demographic trends suggest that the Jewish communities in the United States and Israel are growing less liberal. Data released in January from the 2011 Jewish population study of New York showed that twothirds of the metropolitan region’s Jewish population growth over the last decade occurred in two haredi neighborhoods in Brooklyn. While there hasn’t been a national Jewish population study in more than a decade, the data from America’s largest Jewish community suggest that Orthodox Jews, with their high birthrates, will represent an everlarger proportion of the American Jewish community. “The traditional population of American Jews has high fertility and the non-Orthodox population as a group is well below replacement level,” New York University sociologist Steven M. Cohen, one of the researchers who conducted the study, told JTA. “So American Jewry, with no other change, will become increasingly traditional in the years to come.” While fertility rates among non-Orthodox Israelis are not as low as those of American Jews, they lag far behind those of Orthodox Israelis. The relative size of Israel’s haredi community as a share of Israel’s total population is
expected to double by 2020, to 16 percent. In Israel, the culture wars between haredi and non-haredi have focused on the haredi draft exemption and the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly over marriage. The haredi establishment has mostly succeeded in protecting the status quo on both those counts, notwithstanding changes in the draft law. And when the 150 or so electors charged with choosing new Ashkenazi and Sephardic chief rabbis went to the polls in July, they rejected the reformist favorite David Stav and instead elected two haredim, David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, the sons of former chief rabbis. In the American Jewish community, the battle has not been between denominations but over Jewish values. Is it a Jewish value to support the right of gays to marry or does the practice contravene Jewish ethics? Should Jews be advocating for greater government funding for private religious schools or fighting the use of taxpayer money in non-public schools? Should Jews press Washington to make a concerted push for Israeli-Palestinian peace or is such pressure right now not in Israel’s best interests? The divisions among American Jews on these issues do not fall neatly along denominational lines. Meanwhile, the American Jewish political divide appears slowly to be widening. Though Jews as a whole still skew heavily Democratic, in last November’s election President Obama dropped at least 6 points among Jews from 2008, winning an estimated 68 percent of the Jewish vote. The 2012 election also ushered in a Congress with fewer Jewish members than at any time since the 1990s. PLURALISM on page 21
ROSH HASHANAH • B21
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
What children can teach us at Rosh Hashanah
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO OUR FRIENDS
By Dasee Berkowitz Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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NEW YORK – A deep spiritual life is hard to find. While opportunities abound for spiritual connections (yoga, meditation, retreats and the like), for most of us it doesn’t come easy. The noise, unfinished to-do lists and the distractions of everyday life interfere with quieting our minds, letting go of our egos for a moment and connecting to something far greater than ourselves. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we notice just how difficult it is to connect spiritually. As we log in hours of prayer at our neighborhood synagogues, with unfamiliar liturgy and an unfamiliar language, we can easily let the longing for spiritual growth morph into a longing for the service to be over. But for some, the spiritual life that we crave comes naturally. This is especially true for children. Yes, they may be running through the synagogue’s aisles and “whispering” too loudly, but this time of year they can become our best teachers. We just need to slow down enough to listen to them. Cultivating a relationship with God comes easy for children. As an adult, a relationship with God has never been central to my Jewish identity. It might sound strange because I live an observant life and prayer is important to me. The weekly holiday cycle punctuates my family’s calendar and Jewish ethics frame much of my behavior. Still, I seldom credit my observance to God. Judaism is important to me because it adds meaning to my life. And if I start speaking about God, I start to feel self-conscious, too “religious” and slightly fundamentalist. Then I notice how easily PLURALISM from page 20 The divides over politics and religion stood in sharp contrast to the relative consensus that held up through much of the year on international issues. There was practical unanimity on concern that Syria’s civil war not spill over the border, that instability in Egypt not turn the Sinai Peninsula into a breeding ground for Islamic militants, that Iran be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons capability, that the European Union enforce its decision to designate Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist organization. But external threats did not dominate communal discourse in 5773. There wasn’t the same public urgency on Iran as in past years. The Egyptian coup in July was less concerning for Israel than the 2011 revolution that overthrew longtime ally Hosni Mubarak. The Israeli-Palestinian relationship was marked more by the
Courtesy of Dasee Berkowitz
Perhaps Yael Berkowitz-Morris, shofar at the ready, can teach her mom, JTA contributing writer Dasee Berkowitz, a few things at the High Holidays.
my kids speak about God. At 3, my son periodically gave a high five to God and explained to others what a blessing was. “A bracha,” he would say, “is like a group hug.” With his simple young mind, he experienced both a level of intimacy with God and recognized that connecting to God helps one develop a sense of intimacy with others. The Rabbis call Rosh Hashanah “Coronation Day.” In the rabbinic mind, the metaphor of crowning God as Ruler and giving God the right to judge our actions was a powerful way to galvanize Jews to do the hard work of repentance, or teshuvah. While the image of a King sitting in judgment might motivate some, the Rabbis also knew that God is indescribable. Throughout the liturgy, they struggled to find other images that might penetrate absence of progress than anything else – until U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry managed to coax both sides back to the negotiating table in July. There was a mini-war in Gaza in November 2012 that lasted eight days and resulted in the deaths of some 150 Palestinians and six Israelis, but after that Israel’s border with Gaza was mostly quiet. It was tragedy in the United States that left the community with lasting scars. Late last October, a massive storm surge generated by Hurricane Sandy battered communities, synagogues and Jewish schools up and down the Northeast coast. UJA-Federation of New York convened an emergency meeting to authorize $10 million for rebuilding efforts, many of which continue today. Outside of the United States and Israel, the big Jewish stories included the banning of Jewish ritual slaughter in Poland and a new German law regulating ritual cir-
the hearts of those who pray. The famous medieval piyut (liturgical poem) “Ki Anu Amekha” portrays God as a parent, a shepherd, a creator and lover. The images continued to proliferate in modern times. The theologian Mordechai Kaplan spoke of God as the power that makes for good in the world. And the contemporary poet Ruth Brin speaks about God as “the source of love springing up in us.” The liturgy on Rosh Hashanah challenges us to confront the meaning of God in our lives and then develop a level of intimacy with the Ineffable. While I am still not sure what God is, I am coming to appreciate the view that God is what inspires us to live our lives in service to others. Children have a natural ability to be awestruck. There is so little that they have experienced in life that it must be easy for them to experience wonder. We watch their delight as they find out how a salad spinner works, or when they find a worm squirming in the dirt, or when they observe how flowers change colors as they enter full bloom. These are not simply the sweet moments of childhood. These are ways of being that have deep theological resonance. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel recalls in “Who is Man” (1965), “Awe is a sense for transcendence, for the reference everywhere to mystery beyond all things. It enables us … to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal.” CHILDREN on page 23 cumcision; a controversial exhibit at Berlin’s Jewish museum dubbed “Jew in a box” and a new Jewish museum in Warsaw; a much-criticized deal between the Argentinean and Iranian governments to investigate the 1994 AMIA Jewish community center bombing; sex abuse scandals in Australia; concerns about far-right movements in Hungary and Greece, and the appointment of a new chief rabbi in England. There was some good news here: None of these stories were about major Jewish calamities. To be sure, the Jewish people suffered tragedies in 5773 – from natural disasters, from Gaza rocket fire. But for a people obsessed with survival and accustomed to attacks, the absence of mass casualty events in 5773 made it a remarkable year as much for what did not happen as for what did.
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Reimagining and rewriting the Binding of Isaac By Rabbi Jack Riemer JointMedia News Service There are only 19 verses in the story of the Binding of Isaac, which we read in synagogue each Rosh Hashanah, but there are – without exaggeration – hundreds, if not thousands, of commentaries on this story. These commentaries ask: How could a good God command a father to kill his child, and how could a good father possibly obey? What was it like on the three days when Abraham and Isaac journeyed together towards the place where the sacrifice would take place? Did they talk along the way, or just ride together in silence? Did Sarah know? What does it mean when the text says that Abraham “returned to his servants”? Above all, in this age of jihad and suicide bombers who train their children to be killers and martyrs for the sake of Allah, how can we still read this story, which seems to praise murder in the name of God? The nuances of every word of the Binding of Isaac story – and of the silences in the story – have been weighed and studied in every generation. Yet every year, when we confront this awesome tale on Rosh Hashanah, we wince. If you are a father, you wonder: Could I do this to my child? If you are a son, you wonder: Could my father do this to me? If you are a human being, you wonder: What kind of a God is this? And whoever you are, you ask yourself: Why do we read this story on Rosh Hashanah? James Goodman’s new book, “But Where is the Lamb? Imagining the Story of Abraham and Isaac,” is a fresh and exciting take on the different ways in which the Binding of Isaac has been understood down through the centuries, and also covers how we should understand it today. He writes as one who is both a son and a father, both a Jew and a person in search of meaning, and, above all, as a storyteller who is fascinated by this ancient tale, and who lets his imagination run free over what it meant and what it means. It is impossible to determine exactly where a story has its origin, because every story has a story that came before it. Goodman imagines a writer whom he calls “G,” who was asked to do a rewrite of this story, but who turned it in to the editors before he was completely satisfied with it. G wanted to struggle some more with the silences in the story, but the editors took it away from him and published it before he could finish it. Then G learned the lesson that every writer must learn, which is that once you have published a story, it no longer belongs to you. It is out of your hands, and every reader who picks up your tale has the right to see in it whatever it means to him. I once saw a famous novelist listen to someone’s interpretation of one of his stories. He took out a pen and made some notes, and said, “I never realized that this was what my story meant.” Such is the case with the Binding of Isaac story.
Courtesy of Uffizi Gallery via Wikimedia Commons
A depiction of the Binding of Isaac.
For the author of the book of Jubilees, the Binding of Isaac was a precursor to the Passover story, in which the Israelites were rescued at the last minute by the sacrifice of a lamb, and the purpose of the story was to show the envious angels why Abraham was worthy of being so beloved by God. For Philo, who wrote in the midst of Greek culture, Abraham was a stirring example of stoicism. He understood Abraham as a noble example of the wise man who suppresses emotion for the sake of reason. A weaker man might have wavered, or cried, or been struck dumb by Isaac’s question, “Where is the lamb?” But Abraham showed no change of color, no weakening of soul. He remained as steadfast as ever and did not waver, as befits a true stoic. For Pseudo-Philo and for the second book of Maccabees, Abraham was the prototype for those parents who surrendered their children to martyrdom in the time of the Hellenists. For the early Christians, the story became a preview of the story of Jesus. In Sarah, they saw Mary. In Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, they saw God’s willingness to sacrifice His. In the three-day journey, they saw a prefiguration of the three days from the crucifixion to the resurrection. In Isaac’s carrying of the wood, they saw Jesus carrying the cross. In God’s promise to provide the lamb, they saw the lamb of God. In the ram caught in the thicket, they saw the crown of thorns. In the whole story, they saw the supremacy of faith, and themselves as the new Israel that replaced the old one. Goodman’s book goes on, chapter after chapter, teaching us what the generations read into and out of the Binding of Isaac tale. As Goodman says, when you read this book, you feel like an observer who has been privileged with a seat at a great convention, at which the scholars and sages of all the generations are sitting together and exchanging insights into what the ancient tale means to them. You look around the room and you see people who told the tale with an emphasis on Isaac’s courage, and sitting near them you see people who
focused on Sarah and what she would have said if she could have spoken. You see people who read the story in Hebrew sitting next to people who read it in Coptic, or in Aramaic, Greek, or Latin, all sitting together and comparing notes on what it means. Over in one corner, you see a newcomer from the religion of Islam who carries a book called the Koran with him that says that it was Ishmael, not Isaac, who was bound upon the altar, and in another corner, you can eavesdrop on a Midrashic Sage who firmly believes that Sarah should have been informed of what was going on, and that when the Satan told her, she was so upset that she had a heart attack on the spot. In the center of the room sit the Sages of the Talmud, who insist that the Binding of Isaac was an achievement that God promised He would always remember, and that, because of what Abraham and Isaac did that day, God would always care for His people. Near them sit the poets of the Crusades, who dare to say that Isaac really died on the altar that day, but then came back to life. The book goes on and on, letting us in on the conversations of Soren Kierkegard, Wilfred Owen, Shalom Spiegel, A. B. Yehoshua, Bob Dylan, Yitschak Lamdan, and others closer to our own time. It is enough to say that this book is a must-read for all of us who want to prepare for the High Holidays, and that I think that Goodman’s character “G” would be both surprised and pleased with what readers have discovered in his story. I come away from this book with a sense that the conversation about the Binding of Isaac is not over yet. In synagogue this Rosh Hashanah, who knows what we may yet find in this fascinating tale that we have read so often, but that has within it the capacity to surprise us and enable us to see new things each time we read it? Rabbi Jack Riemer writes frequently for journals of Jewish and general thought in America and abroad. “But Where is the Lamb? Imagining the Story of Abraham and Isaac,” Schocken Books, New York, NY, 2013, 320 pages.
ROSH HASHANAH • B23
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
The cantor’s perspective: For meaningful High Holidays prayer, preparation is key By Jacob Kamaras JNS LOS ANGELES – The holiest days on the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are largely spent in synagogue. Yet prayer isn’t usually the focus when Jews prepare for the High Holidays, observes Cantor Arik Wollheim. “Hopefully people go through this process of repentance, and they give charity, but what about prayer?” Wollheim tells JNS. “People neglect that. How many people open the prayer book before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and go over the davening?” The answer, Wollheim says, is almost no one. But he is looking to change that. At Congregation Beth Jacob in Beverly Hills, Calif., where he is in his first year as cantor, Wollheim organized a sing-along preparation event in advance of the High Holidays, in addition to posting melodies on the synagogue’s website. During this year’s High Holidays at Beth Jacob, an Orthodox synagogue, Wollheim will be accompanied by the Maccabeats, the popular Jewish a cappella group that burst onto the scene in 2010 with their hit Hanukkah song “Candlelight.” A student of famed cantor Yitzchak Eshel, Wollheim – formerly the cantor at Congregation Agudath Sholom of Stamford, Conn., retired U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman’s synagogue – sat down with JNS to give his perspective on the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. JNS: What are the challenges of trying to engage a congregation in High Holidays services? CHILDREN from page 21 Would that we could develop that sense of awe by first simply noticing our surroundings instead of being preoccupied with what comes next. We can make space this Rosh Hashanah to begin a journey toward wonder, whether you notice the cantor’s voice as she reaches a certain note, or hear the crackle of a candy wrapper, or connect to the sound of your own breathing during the standing silent Amidah prayer. Take a walk sometime during the High Holidays and notice the leaves on the trees, the sunlight refracting from a window, the taste of holiday food at a meal or the voice of a loved one. Notice the small things and consider for that moment that they have ultimate significance. Consider the concept that Rosh
Cantor Arik Wollheim: “For the holidays, together with the regulars, the people who come every week, or several times a month, in every congregation you also have a number of people that come only for the High Holidays. And they are a little bit disconnected with what’s going on throughout the year in the synagogue. “The challenge is [figuring out] how to create a service that makes everybody happy. My approach is to create a salad of styles and selections. And by that I mean, for instance, I use classical cantorial music, what I call ‘nice oldies’ that congregations sing, that everybody knows. I use Israeli songs. The most recent melodies that religious music and the yeshiva world provide. And I use every form of Jewish music, almost. My challenge is, what’s the balance between all those different components? “Especially here in America, and also in Israel, not everybody understands all the text. Thank God we have prayer books with an English translation, but it’s not the same [as understanding the Hebrew], and people sometimes don’t bother to look at the translations. It’s not that they don’t want to, but you’re engaged already in the recitation of the prayer, you don’t have time to also look [at the translation]. “For the High Holidays liturgy, we have a lot of poems, and many of them were written during the Middle Ages. It’s very poetic, high language that is not that easy to understand. How do I create that inspiration? What can I do to make people engaged in the service, even though it’s very difficult? It’s a long day, they’ve been Hashanah marks the birth of the world. Act as if nothing existed before this moment. Slow down, focus in, be silent and you may experience awe. Children forgive easily, grownups not so much. The central work of the period of the High Holidays is teshuvah, or return. We return to our better selves and make amends with those whom we have hurt in some way. Every year I recognize how uncomfortable I am to ask for forgiveness from family members, peers and colleagues. “So much time has passed” or “I’m sure they forgot about that incident” are common rationalizations I offer. What takes an adult days, weeks or even years to let go of resentment takes children a matter of minutes before they are back to laughing with those with whom they once were angry. While it might be diffi-
standing for hours, they’re fasting, they’re tired, and they don’t understand the text, in many cases.” JNS: How does a cantor prepare for the High Holidays? AK: “I’m going through a tremendous amount of research in order to create that ‘salad’ that I spoke about. “You have to understand what your objectives are. Do I want to do congregation singing? How much congregation singing do I want to do? What is the mood that I’m trying to create? There’s a connection between one [objective] and the other. It’s like one symphony. You have a theme, and a theme, and a theme, and then the fillers in between, and the question is: What do you do with those fillers? How are they going to work together? “Preparation is huge. Every year we’re different. I’m not the same person I was last year. This is the day of judgment. I think every cantor feels a huge responsibility on those days, because we’re praying not only on our behalf, we’re praying on behalf of the entire congregation. It’s a tremendous responsibility, and you go through the text, and you try to figure out: How does it resonate with you? What is the meaning of the text? How can you make it relevant to you, to your life, to the lives of your congregants?” JNS: Which prayers do you see as the highlights of the High Holidays service? AK: “I think without doubt, CANTOR on page 28 cult to coax an “I’m sorry” from a child’s lips, they rebound quickly. It is a lesson for us. Children offer their love freely. I am overwhelmed daily with the unbridled love that my 2 1/2-yearold daughter unleashes toward me as she jumps into my arms, hair flying, at the end of each day. For many adults, the doors of possibility seem to close more and more with every passing year. In contrast, the ecstatic joy and free spirit that children naturally exude is a lesson in being open to the fullness of what life can offer. This Rosh Hashanah, let the children be our teachers. As we do teshuvah, let’s return to a simpler time and the more childlike parts of ourselves – when a relationship with God was intimate, when awe came easy, when we didn’t harbor resentments and when the door was open wide to forgive and to love.
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At Yom Kippur, a heads-up on chest thumping By Edmon J. Rodman Jewish Telegraphic Agency LOS ANGELES – On Yom Kippur, when we beat our chests during the confession, maybe we should be knocking instead on our heads. After all, isn’t that where all the trouble starts? On this most physically demanding of Jewish days, Jewish tradition has us beat the heart side of our chests, as if to say this is the source of our falling short. During the Viddui – the confessional portion of the service composed of the Ashamnu and Al Chait – some of us tap, some of us rap, some of us pound really hard. Many do nothing, perhaps wondering if this is some kind of Jewish self-flagellation. Those who tap are reminded, without leaving marks, of the connection between spirituality and physicality. But are we choosing the right body part to make our confession meaningful? In the Bible, it is widely accepted that the heart – in Hebrew, lev – is the seat of emotion. Maimonides even linked the heart with the intellect. However, in the brave new science guy world in which we live today, while we’re standing in shul tapping our hearts, our focus could easily turn from confession to hypertension. So what about lightly tapping the side of our heads instead with a whydid-I-do-that kind of knock? Isn’t the head the place where, working in discord, our mouths and minds create the tsouris we confess? Beginning with Rosh Hashanah – literally head of the year – our heads are in our rituals. We put tefillin on our bicep, next to the heart – unless you’re left-handed, like me – but we also wear tefillin on our head, before our eyes. On Friday nights when parents bless their kids, their hands are placed on the heads of their children. Confusing head and heart even more, in Psalm 90, an ideal is held up of obtaining a “heart of wisdom.” So which to tap, heart or head? To Rabbi Goldie Milgram – the
Courtesy of Edmon J. Rodman
On Yom Kippur, tapping on your chest, the door of your heart flies open.
founder of Reclaiming Judaism, an organization seeking Jewish innovation and “maximal involvement,” and author and publisher of a number of books on creating a meaningful Jewish life – striking one’s chest on Yom Kippur is an acknowledgment that “I am out of alignment.” Tapping on the chest is a way to realign, Milgram said from the Alliance for Jewish Renewal Aleph Kallah in New Hampshire, where she was teaching. Milgram, who has master’s degrees in social work and Hebrew letters, says that Judaism can be approached from the point of view of a gestalt psychologist. “People want to get things integrated into their bodies,” she said. When I asked Rabbi Milgram about my idea of tapping on one’s head, she wondered why I would want to do that. “What would you get from it?” asked Milgram, “Reb Goldie” to her students. “It would remind me of the source,” I responded, seeing yet again that my ideas were getting me in trouble. “In Judaism, the heart is the seat,” she reminded me. “Your awareness of ‘ahavat Hashem’ [love of God] starts in the heart,” the rabbi
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added, explaining that seeing the head as the center is a Western tradition. Milgram also interprets tapping on the heart as a kind of drumming. “The body is the instrument,” she said, making a connection between drumbeat and heartbeat, and suggesting that while we are tapping to “listen to both your head and your heart.” Striking the chest is “a form of dancing one’s prayer,” Milgram said. Offering perhaps a new dance step, she suggested I try moving my finger in a circular motion slowly over my heart. I tried, it was definitely soothing, and I could see how the continuity of motion might help me through the more personally applicable “we have sinned against you’s” – but wondered if it would look weird. “People are doing it,” she offered, pointing out that in her work, she has encountered a diversity of customs. “What should I think about while I’m doing it?” I asked, recalling that while reading the lines of Ashamnu, instead of focusing on the individual lines, I would sometimes get caught up in the acrostic of shortcomings, wondering what the machzor would use for “X.” Ask “What is my resistance to aligning with the mitzvah of caring for myself?” Milgram said, also suggesting that I make a list, noting aspects of body, family and Judaism where I would like to be more in alignment with the mitzvot. She also advised “to forgive myself,” pointing out that just striking my chest was not enough, “one has to engage afterwards.” “Tapping on your chest, the door of your heart flies open,” she observed. “That’s the beginning of teshuvah,” she said, mentioning the Jewish concept of returning, or asking forgiveness, that beats through the Yom Kippur liturgy. The Viddui, she said, is written in the “ ‘we.’ We take responsibility.” For that I would need both heart and head.
ROSH HASHANAH • B25
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
For the New Year, children’s books opening new worlds their friends, one plan after another goes awry. “What a way to start a new year!” they each sigh after mishap follows zany mishap. Things begin to look up when one of dad’s co-workers invites them to synagogue services. While the prayers and songs are familiar, the kids still feel out of place because they don’t recognize anyone. Finally they are welcomed to share Rosh Hashanah dinner with new friends. “What a wonderful way to start a new year!” the young girl exclaims. Judy Stead’s brightly colored, cartoon-like illustrations are a lively accompaniment to the story. An author’s note reminds parents that while starting in a new home or school can be difficult, it’s made easier by generous hosts. She explains the mitzvah of “hachnasat orchim,” “welcoming guests.”
By Penny Schwartz Jewish Telegraphic Agency BOSTON – Shofars, apples and honey, make room for pomegranates, couscous and pumpkins. The new crop of children’s books for the High Holidays opens a world beyond the beloved traditional symbols of the New Year (Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Sept. 4). From ancient times to today, the savory, engaging reads presented here will take families from the kitchen to the bedroom to the sukkah. Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook Tales Retold by Jane Yolen; recipes by Heidi E.Y. Stemple; illustrated by Sima Elizabeth Shefrin (Crocodile Books / Interlink, ages 5 and older) Master storyteller Jane Yolen and her daughter, Heidi E.Y. Stemple, a cook and children’s writer, serve up a collection of richly detailed retellings of Jewish folk tales from around the world paired with kid-friendly recipes for Jewish foods. Yolen presents a range of tales, from the entertaining and humorous to lesser-known sophisticated tales for older readers that pose life’s challenges. Stemple offers up tempting recipes adapted for today’s families, from the traditional, familiar Eastern European fare to some lesser-known African and Sephardic cuisine. The brightly colored collages and recipe illustrations by Sima Elizabeth Shefrin make the book a pleasure to browse for all ages. Among the 18 stories and recipes are two Rosh Hashanah entries. “Two Jars of Honey,” set in the days of King Solomon, where a wise beyond his years Solomon resolves a feud between neighbors. All ends well on a note of compassion and forgiveness. A recipe for honey cake, a traditional sweet eaten during the High Holidays, includes a surprising ingredient – a can of cola. In “The Pomegranate Seed,” a tale that originated in Morocco, a poor man caught stealing uses his wit and a moral challenge to save himself. An appealing recipe for pomegranate couscous is packed with flavor, texture and color from pomegranate seeds, dried apricots, cinnamon, cilantro and fresh mint. An added note explains that pomegranates are associated with Rosh Hashanah because the red, globeshaped fruit is said to have 613 seeds that correspond with the Torah’s 613 mitzvot, or commandments. It would have been easy to fill a cookbook with Jewish tales about
challah and chicken, common Jewish foods, Yolen tells JTA, adding that it took plenty of research to find stories that matched the book’s breadth of recipes. “When I found the honey cake story, I was thrilled,” Yolen recalls. Budding storytellers, folklorists and teachers will appreciate Yolen’s outstanding end notes that credit other storytellers for their earlier versions and provide the origins and cultural history of the stories. In the introduction, Yolen and Stemple write that storytelling and cooking change over time and location. “Be playful,” they encourage, and “let’s eat!” What a Way to Start a New Year! A Rosh Hashanah story Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Judy Stead (Kar-Ben; ages 3-8) Award-winning author Jacqueline Jules’ “What a Way to Start a New Year!” is a lighthearted and authentic story for Rosh Hashanah that reflects the diversity of today’s Jewish families and the hustle and bustle of daily life. In the opening pages, a perky young girl is eating a slice of pizza in her family’s new home, which is filled with unpacked boxes. Her family, including two younger brothers, has just moved to a new town. While her dad isn’t Jewish, he loves celebrating the High Holidays. But how will they observe the New Year, our storyteller wonders with some concern. When they venture back to their old neighborhood to share a traditional Rosh Hashanah meal with
A Watermelon in the Sukkah Sylvia A. Rouss and Shannan Rouss, illustrated by Ann Iosa (KarBen, ages 3-8) Decorating a Jewish school’s sukkah becomes inventive when a young boy, Michael, wants to hang his favorite fruit, a watermelon, from the roof. All the kids’ usual ideas – think duct tape and string – fall flat. Michael’s creative thinking and teamwork save the day. A brief author’s note explains the holiday. Iosa’s fall-toned illustrations of gold, green and purple convey the children’s excitement and disappointment with lively action that will entertain young kids. Sam and Charlie (and Sam Too!) Leslie Kimmelman, illustrated by Stefano Tambellini Albert Whitman, $13.99, also available on Kindle; ages 6 to 8 A delightful chapter book that was published earlier this year, “Sam and Charlie (and Sam Too!)” is a story of friendship of young new neighbors. The book is divided into five stories that tell of the daily ups and downs among two Jewish friends and a younger sibling. The format and Kimmelman’s light and endearing touch evokes the classic “George and Martha” series by James Marshall, or the beloved “Frog and Toad” series by Arnold Lobel. The last of the set, titled “I’m Sorry Day,” will have the kids giggling along with Sam and Charlie even as it opens up an easy conversation to the tough subject of apologies and forgiveness. Children of all faiths and backgrounds will have fun with these memorable stories and learn about the meaning of Yom Kippur, the holiday of forgiveness.
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By Edmon J. Rodman Jewish Telegraphic Agency LOS ANGELES – Here’s the buzz about Rosh Hashanah: Beyond a congregation or family, it takes a hive to have a holiday. You may have your tickets, new dress or suit and High Holidays app, but without the honey in which to dip a slice of apple, where would you be? We wish each other “Shanah tovah umetuka,” “Have a good and sweet New Year.” To further sweeten the calendar change we eat honey cake – even Martha Stewart has a recipe – and teiglach, little twisted balls of dough boiled in honey syrup. Little do we realize that to fill a jar or squeeze bottle containing two cups of the sticky, golden stuff, a hive of honeybees must visit 5 million flowers. For most of us, the honey seems a somehow natural byproduct of the cute, bear-shaped squeeze bottle that we pick up at the store. But for beekeeper Uri Laio, honey is like a gift from heaven. His motto, “Honey and Beeswax with Intention,” is on his website, chassidicbeekeeper.com.
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Uri Laio, the Chassidic Beekeeper, on his craft: “You need to be calm.”
“Everyone takes honey for granted; I did,” says Laio, who is affiliated with Chabad and attended yeshiva in Jerusalem and Morristown, N.J. Not wanting to take my holiday honey for granted anymore, I suited up along with him in a white cotton bee suit and hood to visit the hives he keeps near the large garden area of the Highland Hall Waldorf School, an 11acre campus in Northridge, Calif. After three years of beekeeping – he also leads sessions with the school’s students – Laio has learned to appreciate that “thousands of bees gave their entire lives to fill a jar of honey.” In the summer, that’s five to six weeks for an adult worker; in the winter it’s longer. It’s been an appreciation gained through experience – the throbbing kind. “It’s dangerous. I’ve been stung a lot. It’s part of the learning,” Laio says. “The first summer I thought I was going into anaphylactic shock,” he adds, advising me to stay out of the bees’flight path to the hive’s entrance. Drawing on his education, Laio puts a dab of honey on his finger and holds it out. Soon a bee lands and begins to feed. “Have you ever been stung?” he asks. “A couple of times,” I answer, as Laio uses a hand-held bee smoker to puff in some white smoke to “calm the hive.” After waiting a few minutes for the smoke to take effect, and with me watching wide-eyed, he carefully pries off the hive’s wooden lid. Half expecting to see an angry swarm of bees come flying out like in a horror flick, I step back. “They seem calm,” says Laio, bending down to listen to the buzz level coming from the hive. “Some days the humming sounds almost like song.” The rectangular stack of boxes, called a Langstroth Hive, allows the bee colony – estimated by Laio to be 50,000 – to efficiently build the waxy cells of honeycomb into vertical frames. As he inspects the frames, each still holding sedated bees, he finds few capped cells of honey. The bees have
a way to go if Laio is going to be able to put up a small number of jars for sale, as he did last year for Rosh Hashanah. According to Laio, hives can be attacked by ants, mites, moths and a disease called bee colony collapse disorder that has been decimating hives increasingly over the last 10 years. Pesticides contribute to the disorder as well as genetically modified plants, he says. Underscoring the importance that bees have in our lives beyond the Days of Awe, Laio calculates that “one out of every three bits of food you eat is a result of honeybee pollination.” Laio practices backwards or treatment-free beekeeping; so called because he relies on observation and natural practices and forgoes pesticides or chemicals in his beekeeping. The resulting wildflower honey – Laio hands me a jar to try – is sweet, flavorful and thick, tastier than any honey from the store. “Honey is a superfood. And it heals better than Neosporin,” Laio claims. “In Europe there are bandages impregnated with honey.” He says it takes a certain type of character to be a beekeeper. “You need to have patience. Be determined. Learn your limitations. Be calm in stressful situations,” he says. “People are fascinated with it. I can’t tell you how many Shabbos table meals have been filled with people asking me about bees.” On the Sabbath, Laio likes to sip on a mint iced tea sweetened with his honey – his only sweetener, he says. “In the Talmud, honey is considered to be one-sixtieth of manna,” says Laio, referring to the “bread” that fell from the sky for 40 years while the Israelites wandered in the desert. “The blessing for manna ended with ‘Min hashamayim,’‘from the heavens,’and not ‘min haaretz,’ ‘from the earth.’ “ With the honey-manna connection in mind, especially at the Jewish New Year, Laio finds that “all the sweetness, whatever form it is in, comes straight from God.”
ROSH HASHANAH • B27
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
Traditional and modern tastes have a place at New Year's tables per.
By Helen Nash Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK – Nearly 30 years ago, when my first cookbook was published, I wrote that kosher cooking wasn’t just about traditional recipes like gefilte fish and chopped liver, that you could make gourmet meals and international dishes using kosher ingredients. Since then, many new kosher ingredients have become readily available, making all kinds of fusion cuisine even easier to prepare. Some of these ingredients include vinegars, oils, mustards, Panko bread crumbs and a larger selection of cheeses. But traditional recipes also have their place – and Rosh Hashanah is a great time to use them. There is something about ushering in the New Year with old family recipes that is very satisfying. I do, however, introduce one or two new dishes to make it more interesting for my friends and family with whom I celebrate every year. For dinner on Rosh Hashanah, I like to begin my meal with Chopped Chicken Liver. This traditional dish brings me back to my Eastern European roots and my guests love it. The version offered below is incredibly easy to make and actually tastes like a pate. Another traditional favorite is Honey Cake, moist and light with a touch of sweetness. It freezes well but also can stay fresh in the fridge for many days. Here’s a new dish for Rosh Hashanah lunch: Chicken Rolls with Orange Sauce. The sauce adds some sweetness to the chicken, which is perfect for the holiday. The dish can be made ahead of time and served at room temperature. Broccoli with Panko, the flaky Japanese bread crumbs, is a delicious side dish that can be served with the chicken rolls. Panko is lighter and crunchier than ordinary breadcrumbs. When toasted, they transform an ordinary vegetable into something quite special. This dish also can be made in advance and served at room temperature. These are just a sampling of the many delicious recipes featured in my latest cookbook, “Helen Nash’s New Kosher Cuisine” (Overlook Press). I hope they help make your preparations a little easier and your holiday more enjoyable. Shanah Tovah! CHOPPED CHICKEN LIVER Makes about 1 1/2 dozen hors
CHICKEN ROLLS ORANGE SAUCE Makes 4 servings
WITH
This is similar to Chicken Rolls with Mushrooms but with a more distinct Asian flavor. I serve it as the main course for dinner or as one of several dishes on a buffet table.
Courtesy of “Helen Nash’s New Kosher Cuisine,” Overlook Press
Chicken Rolls with Orange Sauce, which adds some sweetness to the poultry – perfect for Rosh Hashanah.
d’oeuvres or 8 appetizer servings For an hors d’oeuvre, I like to serve on whole-grain crackers, toasted Potato Bread, cucumber slices or endive petals. For an appetizer, I like to place sliced radishes and sliced cucumbers on the plate as accompaniments. Ingredients 1 pound chicken livers 1/3 cup vegetable oil 4 medium onions, coarsely chopped 4 large eggs, hard-boiled and quartered 2 to 3 tablespoons sherry Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper Preparation Preheat the broiler. Set the rack in the broiler pan and cover it completely with foil. Remove from the livers any green spots, which are bitter, as well as any fatty particles. Make a shallow “basket” with a piece of heavy foil, crimping it at the corners so that the liquids don’t spill out. (See Notes on techniques in “Helen Nash’s New Kosher Cuisine,” page 351.) Set the basket on the broiler rack and arrange the livers inside. Place the broiler pan in the oven (or broiling unit), as close as possible to the heat source. Broil for about 4 minutes per side, until cooked through. Cool. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until brown. Cool. Place half the onions, livers and eggs in a food processor and pulse, adding sherry through the feed tube, until the mixture is moist and almost smooth. Transfer the first batch to a container and repeat the process. Season to taste with salt and pep-
Ingredients 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 6 ounces each (Ask the butcher to butterfly the chicken breasts and pound them thin.) 12 large spinach leaves Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper FILLING Ingredients: 1/2 cup raw sushi rice 3/4 cup cold water 1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper ORANGE SAUCE Ingredients 1 1/2-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated 3 to 4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce 3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 1/2 tablespoons honey Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper Preparation TO MAKE THE FILLING: Place the sushi rice and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and let rest, covered, for 10 minutes. Season with vinegar, salt, and pepper. Mix well and cool. TO MAKE THE SAUCE: Bring all the sauce ingredients to a boil in a small enamel-lined saucepan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. TO MAKE THE ROLLS: Lightly salt and pepper each chicken breast on both sides and place it on a piece of cling wrap. Remove the stems from the spinach leaves and flatten the leaves so they will roll easier. Line each breast with 3 spinach leaves and one-fourth of the filling. Starting with the narrowest end, roll the breast up (not too TRADITIONAL on page 28
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Punt the pomegranate: Five seriously new fruits for Rosh Hashanah By Binyamin Kagedan JNS Let’s be honest, people – it’s 2013, and with rows of bottled pomegranate juice lining every convenience store refrigerator, the sight of those hundreds of little red stains-to-be on Rosh Hashanah night is just all too humdrum. So when you usher in the Jewish New Year with a new fruit this holiday season, why not treat your family to one of these uber-exotic natural delicacies? That is, if you can find them (and afford them). Ackee The ackee is native to tropical West Africa, and was imported to Jamaica in 1778, where it now holds the rank of national fruit. A relative of the lychee and similar in taste and consistency, the ackee’s fruit is soft and white and grows around three large, dark seeds. Ackees are generally cooked and canned before being sold, with good reason: Eating an unripe ackee can result in a bout of the very bluntly named
being picked, is also widely used in jams, wines, and liqueurs. Despite being deliciously sweet and chock full of anti-oxidants, the jabuticaba has not gained much popularity outside Brazil, as its very brief shelf life makes it impossible to export efficiently. In other words, good luck finding a fresh one outside Sao Paolo. Courtesy of Jerome Walker via Wikimedia Commons
Courtesy of Elke Wetzig via Wikimedia Commons
Courtesy of Mateus Hidalgo via Wikimedia Commons
The ackee.
The Kiwano.
The Jabuticaba.
Jamaican vomiting sickness.
lemonade, or even turned into gourmet ice cubes!
ble to eat enough of it,” according to the Mangosteen website. Fresh mangosteens can be expensive and hard to find in the U.S., but the canned variety are easier to come by. Jabuticaba The jabuticaba tree is very striking, its fruit growing in clusters up and down its trunk rather than hanging from branches. It is native to southeastern Brazil, and is somewhat of a cultural icon for peoples of that region. The jabuticaba fruit is usually eaten fresh, but because it starts to ferment only three or four days after
Kiwano Also known as the horned melon, jelly melon, hedged gourd, blowfish fruit, or my personal favorite, the African horned cucumber. The kiwano is native to Africa but now grows in California, Chile, Africa, and New Zealand. Its flesh is bright green and jelly-like, and tastes like a cucumber with a hint of citrus. The peel can also be eaten and is rich in Vitamin C and fiber. Kiwanos can be eaten raw or cooked, juiced and mixed into
TRADITIONAL from page 27 tight!) until it looks like a log. (I use the cling wrap to facilitate the rolling.) When the breast is rolled and completely enclosed in the cling wrap, twist the sides and close them with a metal tie. Refrigerate if not using right away. TO COOK THE ROLLS: Bring the chicken rolls back to room temperature, if necessary. Place them in the basket of a bamboo steamer. Set the basket over a large pot or wok, whose bottom third has been filled with water. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Cover and steam over high heat for 9 to 10 minutes, turning the rolls once. Cook until the chicken has turned pale pink inside. Turn off the heat and let rest, covered, for 1 minute. TO SERVE: Remove one of the ties and, holding the other end, slip each roll onto a plate.
Pour off the accumulated juices. Cut each roll on the diagonal into 3 pieces. Place the pieces on a dinner plate or serving dish. Reheat the sauce and spoon the hot sauce over the pieces.
CANTOR from page 23 Unetaneh Tokef is one of the highlights. First of all, because of the text. [It includes] the description of the process that goes on in Heaven. It gives us an idea of how God examines each case, so to say. From a musical perspective, this is your chance as a cantor to really shine, to show what you can do, especially because the text is so moving. This is your moment to try to inspire people, to really get them to try to feel something. “Number two, there’s a prayer called the Hineni. It’s the first
thing that the cantor says before Mussaf. The cantor is the only one who recites that prayer. And basically it’s a prayer for the cantor, asking, ‘God, please help me in this task, and don’t judge them, my congregation, because of my sins. If I’m doing it wrong, don’t let if affect them.’ It’s really a personal prayer that reminds us cantors that at the end of the day, this is not about how we sing, and the music, and all that kind of stuff. It’s about this tremendous responsibility that we have of pleading on behalf of the congregation.”
BROCCOLI WITH PANKO Makes 4 servings Ingredients 1 small bunch broccoli, about 3 stalks 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper Preparation Separate the broccoli into florets and set the stems aside for another use. Steam the florets until they are bright green but still crisp to the bite.
Mangosteen If you’re like me, the name of this fruit conjures up the image of a family of stubborn and misinformed German-Jewish farmers. Thankfully, the mangosteen is actually a tasty and widely desired fruit that grows almost exclusively in Thailand. Mangosteens are renowned for their delectable flavor and fresh fragrance, which prompted one botanist to say, “The mangosteen only has one fault; it is impossi-
Heat the oil in a wok. Add the garlic and saute over low heat for a few seconds. Add the Panko and stir until golden. Add the broccoli and combine well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. HONEY CAKE Makes 2 loaves, each serving 12 I could not resist sharing this heirloom honey cake recipe. Following tradition, I make it every Rosh Hashanah. Ingredients 2 tablespoons unsalted margarine, for greasing the pans 2 1/3 cups sifted unbleached allpurpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting the pans 2 large eggs, room temperature Scant 2/3 cup sugar 1 cup strong brewed tea (made with 3 tea bags), cooled
JNS: What do you remember about the first time you led a High Holidays service? AK: “I was 14. It was a little synagogue in the town where I grew up in Israel, Azor (a suburb of Tel Aviv). I led the services with my dad. Obviously I was nervous, but I felt comfortable because I started leading services as soon as I was bar mitzvahed, so already I led services for a whole year prior to that. So I felt comfortable leading services, and I knew my dad was next to me.
1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 cup honey 1/2 medium-ripe banana, thoroughly mashed Grated zest of 1 navel orange 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda Preparation Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease two 5-by-9-inch loaf pans with margarine and dust with 2 tablespoons of the flour. Invert the pans and tap to shake out the excess flour. Place the eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer bowl. Using the balloon whisk attachment, beat them at medium speed, gradually adding the sugar until the mixture is pale and bubbles appear, about 5 minutes. Lower the speed and beat in the tea, oil, honey, banana, orange zest, cin“It was a congregation where everybody knew me since I was born, so it felt like [leading the service] amongst your family. It was a very supportive audience. “I did that for a couple of years, and that gave me confidence later on, when I started taking on jobs elsewhere.” JNS: What advice would you give about how to approach High Holidays prayer? AK: “The service is very long, we have a lot of text. If I have one recommendation to people for the
Squared watermelon Not only do these really exist, you can actually grow them in your backyard (see YouTube for the instructional video). Whether they should count as a new fruit is debatable, however. The secret of squared, or cubic, watermelons is that they are really just regular watermelons grown into squareshaped glass boxes. An enterprising farmer on the Japanese island of Shikoku developed this method about 20 years ago to make the large, cumbersome melons easier to store. Today, the product is fashionable among the elite of Tokyo and Osaka and can be purchased for a mere 10,000 yen (about $83, or 16 round watermelons).
namon and cloves. Combine thoroughly. With a rubber spatula, gradually fold in the flour, baking powder and baking soda, combining well after each addition. No traces of flour should be visible. Pour the batter evenly into the two pans. Bake the pans side by side, without touching, on the middle shelf of the oven for 15 minutes. Increase the heat to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes on a wire rack. Run a metal spatula around the sides of the pans to loosen the cakes. Invert each pan onto a serving plate. Note: These cakes freeze well. Wrap them individually in wax paper, then in foil, and place in plastic freezer bags. holidays, it’s don’t take a prayer as something obvious, that we’ve done every year, and that’s it. Take the prayer book, take the machzor, and go over the text. See what it means to you. See what prayers resonate with you. Refresh your memory with some of the tunes. Read the English translation, so you’ll know what you’re saying. “I can guarantee that if you do some preparation, you will get much more out of the service, and this is regardless of who is leading it.”
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