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The Cincinnati delegation at the ILOJ conference in NYC; Fran Dubroff Coleman, Kipnis-Wilson Friedland Award recipient
The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati organized a delegation of 14 women to attend the 2014 International Lion of Judah Conference in New York City, including Fran Dubroff Coleman, who won a prestigious KipnisWilson/Friedland Award. The annual conference is designed to inspire women to become leaders in their local communities. This year’s event featured a moving closing address from the parents of Gil-Ad Shaer, one of the three Israeli teenagers whose murders led to Operation Protective Edge. “After the heart-wrenching summer we’ve experienced with the conflict between Gaza and Israel as
well as the rise in antisemitism around the world, it felt very empowering to come together with so many other Jewish women who are active in their Jewish communities,” said Stacey Fisher, recruitment chair for Cincinnati. The International Lion of Judah conference is the largest fundraising event in the Jewish Federation system. Women who attended the conference this year pledged a substantial amount to the 2015 Community Campaign, as well additional funds to the Stop the Sirens campaign for Israel. Over 1,400 women gathered from September 7-9 for the conference. In addition to Fran Coleman
and Stacey Fisher, Cincinnati’s delegation consisted of Suzette Fisher, Chrissie Blatt, Beth Guttman, Sally Hiudt, Sarah Wise, Shary Levitt, Jennifer Knight Zelkind, Barbara Miller, Ronna Schneider, Danielle Minson, Lindsey Wade, and Felicia Zakem. Upon arrival back home, Jewish Federation lay leader Zelkind, a first-time participant, summed up her experience, saying, “I was blown away by the quality of not only the speakers, but also the participants. The sense of community, both locally and internationally, was strong, the conference inspiring. Everyone left believing that together a better world was within our
reach.” Created in 1972, the Lion of Judah program is for Jewish women who donate a certain set amount annually to their local Community Campaign. The “Lions” focus on creating social justice, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, preserving human dignity, and building Jewish charity. The Cincinnati women started by taking a guided tour of the newly opened 9/11 Memorial and Museum. They then immersed themselves in the conference for two and half days of stimulating speakers, idea-sharing sessions, and thought-provoking discussions. LION on page 22
HAVE PHOTOS FROM AN EVENT? Whether they are from a Bar Mitzvah, Annual Meeting, School Field Trip or Your Congregation’s Annual Picnic, spread the joy and share them with our readers in the Cincinnati Jewish Life section! MAIL: MAIL Send CD to The American Israelite, 18 W 9th St Ste 2, Cincinnati, OH 45202 or E-MAIL: E-MAIL production@americanisraelite.com Please make sure to include a Word doc. that includes the captions, if available, and a short synopsis of the event (date, place, reason, etc.). If sending photos by e-mail, please send them in batches of 3-5 per e-mail (16MB MAX). All photos should be Hi-Res to ensure print quality. THIS IS 100% FREE. For more information, please contact Jennifer at (513) 621-3145. All photos are subject to review before publishing.
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Wise Temple hosts family Sukkot celebration and optional campout Wise Temple will host the Family Sukkot Celebration on Saturday, October 11 at Wise Center starting at 5:00 PM. All are invited: teens, young families, Brotherhood and Sisterhood members, everyone, no matter the age. Beginning at 5:00 PM there will be activities of all kinds for children and adults, including inflatable bounce houses. The delicious and bountiful BBQ dinner under the sukkah begins at 5:30. Families are asked to bring an appetizer, side dish or dessert to share. While families with younger children may head home after dinner, others may choose to stay for the bonfire at 6:30, complete with S’mores and havdalah. At
8:30 PM the campout begins. For those planning to campout, you will need to bring all your camp gear, including tents and sleeping bags. There will be plenty of opportunity to set up the campsites while it is still light outside. Breakfast will be served in the morning for those spending the night. Would you like a sukkah in your backyard? The amazing Wise Temple Brotherhood will also construct and dismantle a sukkah at your home for Wise Temple members. Don’t have a sukkah? You can purchase a kit from the Brotherhood. This is a great beginning to celebrating Sukkot in your home. For more information,
contact the Wise Temple Brotherhood. The family sukkot celebration and campout is hosted by Wise Temple Brotherhood, and co-sponsored by YoFI and “got havdallah?”. YoFI stands for Young Family Involvement at Wise. The YoFI group plans activities for children ages birth to 5. Wise Temple’s got havdallah? and got shabbat? groups plan family Shabbat experiences and other activities for elementary school age children. For more information about the Wise Temple family sukkot celebration and campout, please contact the Wise Temple office. Reservations are required.
Jerry Springer to host Jewish Family Service’s ‘Dancing with our Stars’ on Saturday, Nov. 8 Jerry Springer will be the Celebrity Host and UC President Santa Ono, Journalist Norma Rashid, Chef Jean-Robert de Cavel, and Philanthropist Dianne Dunkelman will provide colorful commentary as the judges when a star-studded cast of local "celebrities" take the stage and compete during the Jewish Family Service (JFS) fundraiser, Dancing with our Stars, 7 pm Saturday, November 8, 2014 at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza. The gala will include a professionally choreographed dance competition, dinner, live entertainment, and a live auction. Jerry has been the mayor of Cincinnati, a political pundit, lawyer, Emmy award-winning newscaster, game show host, country recording artist, emcee and TV personality in addition to hosting “The Jerry Springer Show,” in its 23rd season. He has appeared in movies and on Broadway, and has hosted a progressive talk-radio show. He also won America's hearts with his ballroom dancing on the popular TV show after which this fundraiser is modeled. Bret Caller, Brian Goldberg, Kim Heiman, Sammy Kanter, Bill Katz, Kate Minevich, and Brett Stern are the local “celebrity” dancers who will be paired with professional dancers to compete in choreographed dance routines for the winning title. Rene Micheo, a former principal dancer with the Cincinnati Ballet and the gala’s Artistic Director, will ensure the evening will be entertaining. Professional dancers with Arthur Murray Dance Center will keep the volunteer dancers on their toes and their confidence high. “As our dancers step outside of their everyday professions and onto the dance floor, they are encouraging everyone to vote in their favor by making a donation in their name. The real winners are the over 4,000 people Jewish Family Service helps each year live with dignity, security & hope,” says Suzy Marcus Goldberg,
who co-chairs the gala with Susan Shorr. Jewish Family Service takes pride in their ability to provide personal case management to meet the needs of each individual. Their focus goes beyond a specific group of people and reaches out to all generations. Services include placing babies into the arms of loving adoptive parents, reaching out to at-risk teens who need support and encouragement to reach their highest potential, promoting stability and wellness to families experiencing hunger and mental illness, and assisting senior adults with the help they need to live the best quality life possible. When asked why people should vote for him, Brian responded, “By supporting me, you are supporting
Jewish Family Service and all of the amazing work they do.” Each dancer shares a little bit about themselves and why they chose to be a part of this fundraising event on the events’ website. Individual tickets are available, as well as Patron Tickets which include a VIP reception with Jerry Springer and name in the gala’s program. All tickets include dinner, 2 drink tickets, and a token to vote for your favorite dancer. Dr. Daniel and Linette Kuy are Gala Waltz Sponsors; Interim Healthcare is an agency sponsor. To purchase tickets, make a donation “vote”, or learn more, visit the JFS webssite. Voting will also take place at the event. For questions, contact JFS.
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and Tournament play is from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and there is a cost to participate. Please be prompt. For those of you who plan to attend with your weekly Mahj group, you may request to play the first round together.
Mayerson JCC presents ‘What is a Hero?’ Under One Roof Community Art Event on October 12 On Sunday, October 12, the Mayerson JCC will host the “What is a Hero?” Under One Roof Community Art Event that will feature musical entertainment, “The Super Hero Inside” exhibit and a collaborative outdoor sukkah art installation. From noon to 1:15pm, guests are invited to lunch and family art activities in the sukkah. At 1:30pm, a special hero-themed program will begin in the Amberley Room. A string ensemble will perform a piece of heroic music. The event will also feature different speakers and several real-life heroes who will share their own moving stories with the crowd. In addition, guests will have a chance to tour “The Superhero Inside,” an interactive, multimedia exhibit. The art event and all family activities are free. Lunch can be reserved for a fee. More than 40 Jewish and secular organizations representing all corners of the Cincinnati community contributed a piece of artwork that will be proudly displayed on the JCC’s 1,300 square foot courtyard sukkah from October 8 - 19. Each participating organization decorated a canvas panel with their own visual interpretation
that answers the question, “What is a Hero?” “It is so exciting to see dozens of agencies from around Cincinnati come together to create an impactful community-driven art exhibit,” said Betsy Singer-Lefton, Cultural Arts Manager at the JCC. “From October 8 to October 19, our sukkah will become a beautiful, unique space that prompts learning and dialogue thanks to the collaborative effort of our partner organizations.” The Under One Roof Community art sukkah and the “The Superhero Inside” exhibit will be on display from October 8 October 19 at the Mayerson JCC. Betsy continued, “In celebration of Sukkot, the entire community is invited to stop by the JCC and view the exhibit during its 12-day run. Everyone is welcome to spend time in our sukkah and enjoy a meal. Additionally, reservations will be accepted for local organizations to host a meeting, group or anything in between.” To learn more about the “What is a Hero?” Sukkah Art Exhibit and community event, please contact the JCC or view their website.
Mayerson JCC elects new board members, celebrates at 82nd Annual Meeting where they encounter Israel and explore the ideal of Jewish peoplehood in their lives; and a community neighborhood for convening important conversations.” Fisher reported on the financial results for the year ending December 31, 2013. He made note of the significant decrease in the organizations need to draw from the capital campaign’s invested dollars to support ongoing operations and mentioned the record-breaking funds raised in the past year at the Adams Classic. The JCC saw many building improvements and additions in the past year including new fitness equipment, a card room for Mahj and Bridge groups, and a new workspace for the staff. The JCC was also recognized for award winning programming for the Under One Roof Community Art Project. “The JCC is committed to providing high-quality programming and strengthening Jewish engagement. We are your community neighborhood; a place that connects,
enriches and inspires the youngest and oldest members in our community, and everyone in between.” He continued, “Its not just what we do in these four walls, its what we do inspire and enrich the lives of others.” The JCC is becoming more involved in creating connections between Cincinnati organizations with the goal of helping lead, support and/or promote programming in our community. In the past year alone, the JCC collaborated with over 60 organizations, synagogues, and the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. From the “When Slavery Hits Home” collaboration with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to the upcoming “What is a Hero?” community event, 2014 has been a landmark year for connecting with Greater Cincinnati. Brant returned to the podium to hold the board and committee elections. Josh Frankel and Cynthia Rosen were elected to the JCC board for 3 year terms. Jon Blatt was elect-
ed to a one year term and Carrie Barron, Kelly Mahan, Mark Newman, and Cory Pollock were reelected for second three year terms. Community members were also recognized for their dedication to the Cincinnati Jewish Community. These key figures included: Sue Busemeyer, who was named this year’s Volunteer of the Year; The 2014 Sigmund M. Cohen Memorial Award was presented to Anne Heldman, who is dedicated to the Jewish community, to education and to the arts. Steve Messer was recognized as the 2014 JCC Kovod Award winner. This is an award that recognizes a member of the JCC who has distinguished him- or herself through selfless, committed service to the JCC over a period of years and who is a leader in the Jewish community. The meeting then closed with a special video presentation that showcased what the Mayerson JCC means to the diverse members of the community and it was followed by dessert and coffee.
The American Israelite “LET THERE BE LIGHT” THE OLDEST ENGLISH-JEWISH WEEKLY IN AMERICA - EST. JULY 15, 1854
VOL. 161 • NO. 11 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2014 8 TISHREI 5775 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 6:58 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 7:59 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 BETH KOTZIN SAUNI LERNER Assistant Editors YOSEFF FRANCUS Copy Editor JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor ROBERT WILHELMY Dining Editor MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM IRIS PASTOR ZELL SCHULMAN PHYLLIS R. SINGER Contributing Columnists JENNIFER CARROLL Production Manager BARBARA ROTHSTEIN GREG SPITZ Advertising Sales JULIE BROOK Office Manager e Oldest Eng Th
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On September 16, 2014, the Mayerson JCC welcomed over 150 members to its 82nd Annual Meeting and the 6th anniversary meeting at the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Campus. Marc Fisher, JCC CEO, and Debbie Brant, President of the JCC Board, reported how the JCC has been working to connect, enrich and inspire the community over the past year with the help of their dedicated partners the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and the Mayerson Foundation. Brant opened the meeting by discussing the JCC’s continued membership growth and strong performance by the Senior Center. Brant stated, “The more than 9000 individual members of the JCC and more than 27,000 check-ins each month are proof that the Mayerson JCC is important to so many people. She continued, “The JCC is a primary destination for Jewish engagement, a place where individuals and families can encounter Jewish ideas, principles, practices and values;
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tables playing Mah Jongg simultaneously. Refreshments are available for the entire afternoon. Each year the Tournament prizes seem to be more elegant and hardly anyone leaves without a Raffle or Tournament prize. The doors open at 1:00 p.m.
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ago. Also serving on the committee from the beginning with Elaine are Donna Barach, Peggy Eckman, Celia Lasse, Doris Lehrner and Robin Miller, and many last-minute volunteers. The Tournament takes place at Temple Sholom with 15 to 20
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Elaine Woll, sister of the late Heidi Leeb, announced that the Tenth Annual Mah Jongg Tournament will take place on October 26, 2014 at Temple Sholom. Elaine has served as the Chairperson of this event ever since Heidi passed away ten years
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Temple Sholom will host “The 10th Annual Heidi Leeb Memorial Mah Jongg Tournament”
THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE (USPS 019-320) is published weekly for $44 per year and $1.00 per single copy in Cincinnati and $49 per year and $2.00 per single copy elsewhere in U.S. by The American Israelite Co. 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, OH. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE, 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037. The views and opinions expressed by the columnists of The American Israelite do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the newspaper.
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Celebrate Sukkot at Northern Hills Synagogue Enjoy the festival of Sukkot with friends, family and our welcoming community at Northern Hills Synagogue – Congregation B’nai Avraham. The Sukkot celebration will feature three exciting events with music, songs, delicious meals, and our new rabbi David Siff. The first celebration is “Pizza in the Hut & Sprinkles in the Sukkah” on Wednesday, October 8 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm where you are invited to help
decorate our Sukkot. We will enjoy a pizza dinner and ice cream in the Sukkah. After dinner, we will learn to sing new songs and join a musical Ma’ariv evening service. The sukkot celebration continues on Thursday October 9 at 7:00 PM with “Sukkah Happy Hour”. Bring a vegetarian or dairy dinner for your family and sit back and enjoy the holiday of Sukkot while eating and singing with Rabbi David Siff.
Sukkahpalooza is a rocking, rolling celebration of sukkot with songs of praise (Hallel), with timbrels, a lyre, guitars, violins and BYO instruments. Northern Hills’ talented musicians will delight and inspire during this festive barbecue celebration on Sunday, October 12 at 12:30 to 2pm. There is a cost for these events. Please RSVP to Jennifer Braner at the Synagogue office.
Adath Israel announces fall semester adult education classes The community is invited to participate in the following Adult Education Classes at Adath Israel: Shabbat Morning Class Presented by Rabbinic Intern, Ricky Kamil, Shabbat mornings, Oct 11, 18, Nov 1, 22, Dec 6, 20 at 9:45-10:45 am Would you like to deepen your understanding of the Shabbat Morning Service? Join Rabbinic Intern Ricky Kamil to explore Shabbat morning and Yom Tov prayer services. Each class is independent from the last; so come to as many or as few as you like. No reservation is necessary. Torah Talk (Biblical Text Class) Presented by Rabbi Irvin Wise Sundays, Oct 26, Nov 2, 9, 16, 23, Dec 14 at 10:3011:30am Rabbi Wise will lead a lively discussion gleaned from subjects introduced in the weekly Torah portion. The class emphasizes how to have a “conversation” with the Torah. No previous experience in Torah study is required. All text is in English. Musar Chavurah Presented by Rabbi Irvin Wise Sundays, Oct 26, Nov 2, 9, 16, 23, Dec 14 at 11:30am12:30pm The Musar movement was begun in Lithuania in the late 19th century by Rabbi Israel Salanter. Rabbi Salanter wanted to bring together study of Jewish texts and personal spiritual experience built on self-reflection, self-study and work on one's self-improvement. He built this program for Jewish religious-ethical development on what in Hebrew are referred to as mid-
dot, (spiritual-ethical attributes and qualities such as patience, honesty, compassion and forgiveness.) In our Musar gatherings, we study a teaching, discuss a middah and share personally as to our experiences with this spiritual-ethical work. Newcomers are enthusiastically welcomed to join us. There is absolutely no previous experience or knowledge required. Stories with Jewish Soul Presented by Kathy Wise Mondays: Oct 6, 20, Nov 10, 17, Dec 1, 15 at 12-1 pm Each session of “Story time for Adults” will feature Jewish short stories selected from a variety of Sources: from Midrashic to Contemporary. Each story will be read in class and followed by guided discussion via questions designed to identify and explore the themes, motifs, and ethical meanings at the "soul" of each selection. Introduction to Conservative Judaism Presented by Kathy Wise Mondays, Sep 15, 29, Oct 6, 13, 20, 27, Nov 10, 17, Dec 1 & 15 at 7:30-9 pm This class offers a basic, but comprehensive, overview of Conservative Judaism. It will cover holidays, Jewish literature, dietary laws, beliefs, life cycle events and more with a special emphasis on Conservative Judaism. You need no prior knowledge to attend. This is an excellent class for everyone and certainly for non-Jews interested in Judaism and/or considering conversion. Bible & Beer Torah Study (all adults welcome) Presented by Rabbi Wise Thursdays, Nov 13, Dec 11, Jan 8, Feb 12, Mar 19 at 5:30-
7:30pm Location: Tandoor Indian Restaurant in Montgomery Drinks and hors d’oeuvres available for purchase – no registration required. Join Brotherhood and Rabbi Wise for a little Nosh, a little Drink, and a lot of Torah. Everyone is invited for the study and camaraderie. Nominal tuition is charged for some classes. For information, please contact Marilyn Kiefer at the synagogue.
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At ‘Klinghoffer’ opera protest, Met guests meet angry Jews By Raffi Wineburg NEW YORK (JTA) – As with many exclusive events, the Metropolitan Opera House’s Opening Night Gala on Monday had a few uninvited guests. But these weren’t your typical party crashers. Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Met chanting “Shame on the Met!” and “Say no to the show!” in protest of the Metropolitan Opera Company’s decision to produce the contro-
versial opera “The Death of Klinghoffer.” The John Adams opera, which debuted in 1991 and is set to premiere at the Met on Oct. 20, depicts the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro by Palestinian terrorists and the murder of Leon Klinghoffer, a 69year-old Jewish-American passenger in a wheelchair. Protesters charge that the production is anti-Semitic, hostile to Israel and sympathetic to terrorists. On one line from the produc-
tion, the hijacker Molqi sings: “We are/soldiers fighting a war/We are not criminals/and we are not vandals/but men of ideals.” The Anti-Defamation League has said that while the opera itself is not anti-Semitic, “there is a concern the opera could be used in foreign countries as a means to stir up anti-Israel sentiments or as a vehicle to promote antiSemitism.” Under heavy criticism, the Met decided in June to cancel a planned global simulcast of the
opera. But it stuck to its decision to stage the show in New York. “It’s one of the most disgusting things ever done by an opera or cultural institution,” one protester, Phil Rosen, said at the demonstration on the Met opera season’s opening night. Among the protesters were former New York Gov. George Pataki, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), and state Assemblymen David Weprin and Dov Hikind. Sarri Singer, who survived a 2003 suicide bus bombing in
Jerusalem, said the opera “denigrates the humanity of victims of terrorism everywhere.” She likened “The Death of Klinghoffer” to a play about 9/11 – a popular argument among protesters. “If we give power to allow this production to justify what terrorists do, then what is going to happen next?” Singer said to the crowd. “Do we justify those that flew into the World Trade Center MET on page 22
70 years on, a missing private comes home By Ron Kampeas
Courtesy of Ron Kampeas
A U.S. Army casket team lays to rest Pfc. Bernard Gavrin at Arlington National Cemetery while Rabbi Marvin Bash looks on, Sept. 12, 2014.
National Briefs Netanyahu to U.N.: Iran is vanguard of Islamic militancy NEW YORK (JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said militant Islam seeks to dominate the world like the Nazis did and fingered Iran as the vanguard of militant Islam. Speaking Monday at the U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu sought to link ISIS to Hamas and Iran – all part of what he described as the “cancer” of militant Islam. “It’s one thing to confront militant Islamists on pickup trucks armed with Kalashnikov rifles. It’s another thing to confront militant Islamist armed with weapons of mass destruction,” Netanyahu said. “Saying Iran doesn’t practice terrorism is like saying Derek Jeter never played shortstop for the New York Yankees.” He said ISIS, Hamas, Boko Haram, al-Qaida and the Nusra Front are all cut from the same cloth – and one that recalls Nazism.
Syria to West: We stand with you against ‘terrorism’ NEW YORK (JTA) – Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem called on U.N. member states to expand the fight against ISIS to all groups fighting the Syrian regime. Addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, Moualem sought to cast the Syrian civil war as a struggle between a democratically elected government in Damascus and foreignbacked terrorist groups. “Syria reiterates that it stands with any international effort aimed at fighting and combating terrorism,” Moualem said, referring to the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS, the Islamic extremist group that has captured wide swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq. But Moualem accused the United States and its allies of double standards by picking and choosing which groups it will bomb among the motley assortment of opponents fighting the Syrian regime (and each other) and which groups it will support. White House official: Nuclear deal could portend Iran ties WASHINGTON (JTA) – A top Obama administration offi-
ARLINGTON, Va. (JTA) – The scene at Arlington National Cemetery last Friday was not quite routine, but nor was it unusual: A clergyman said a prayer, an army NCO handed Bernard Gavrin’s closest living relative a folded U.S. flag, and a volunteer – one of the “Arlington Ladies” who attend to the needs of grieving military families – offered words of comfort. Gavrin stood out for two reasons: The clergyman, Marvin Bash, was a rabbi, and David Rogers, Gavrin’s nephew receiving the flag, last saw his uncle more than 70 years
ago in Brooklyn, N.Y., when he kissed him goodnight. Gavrin, a U.S. Army private first class, was part of an invasion force in the Pacific island of Saipan, then occupied by Japan, in June 1944. The Japanese subjected the forces to suicide attacks, killing and injuring over 900 U.S. soldiers. But Gavrin’s remains were only found recently in Saipan and returned stateside. “I was 8 years old living in an apartment with my parents,” Rogers, 82, told JTA in a phone interview from Delray Beach, Fla., where he now lives. “I had had a playground accident and went to bed early. He came into my room and kissed me
on my forehead.” Not long after, Gavrin enlisted. Rogers’ next memory of his uncle – his mother’s younger brother – came four years later, in the summer of 1944. “I was 12 and I was living in the same house my grandmother lived in when a telegram came telling her her son was missing in action,” Rogers said. “She let out a scream I can remember to this day.” Gavrin was 29. When Gavrin was declared presumed dead a year later, the family hung a gold star on the window.
cial said that a nuclear deal with Iran could start the way toward a possible resumption of ties. “A nuclear agreement could begin a multi-generational process that could lead to a new relationship between our countries,” Philip Gordon, the White House coordinator for the Middle East, said in a speech Saturday to the National Iranian American Council. “Iran could begin to reduce tensions with its neighbors and return to its rightful place in the community of nations.”
In a statement Saturday, President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton said they are “blessed, grateful and so happy to be the grandparents of a beautiful girl.” Clinton and Mezvinsky were married in late July 2010 under a traditional huppah, or wedding canopy, and recited the traditional sheva brachot, or seven wedding blessings. A rabbi and a Methodist minister officiated at the wedding. The couple signed a ketubah, or Jewish marriage contract.
want to let people know that’s not going to be tolerated in our communities,” Cpl. John Wachter of the Baltimore County Police told the local CBS affiliate
Chelsea Clinton, Jewish husband welcome baby girl (JTA) – Chelsea Clinton and her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, became the parents of a baby girl. Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky was born on Friday evening at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “Marc and I are full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky,” Clinton said in a tweet. Mezvinsky, who is Jewish, is the banker son of two exCongress members. Clinton, the daughter of the former U.S. president and former U.S. secretary of state, serves as the vice chairwoman of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
BB gun fired at Baltimore Jews leaving synagogue (JTA) – A man fired a BB gun and shouted “Jews, Jews, Jews” at three Jewish teens leaving a synagogue in Baltimore. One of the pellets struck a window of the Bais Hamedrash and Mesivta of Baltimore, a traditional Orthodox institution, in the Sept. 28 incident. The gunman, described as being “possibly of Middle Eastern descent,” drove away after firing the gun and shouting at the pedestrians on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. He has not been apprehended. Police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. “We want to stop that. We
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Demonstrators again prevent unloading of Israeli cargo ship in Oakland (JTA) – Pro-Palestinian activists prevented the unloading of an Israeli cargo ship at the Oakland Port for the second time in less than two months. In Saturday’s incident, the Zim Shanghai was unable to unload its cargo after some 200 activists gathered at the port and prevented workers from getting near the ship, which is owned by Zim Integrated Shipping Services, Israel’s largest shipping company. Approximately 50 police officers were on hand but did not intervene. The protest reportedly was coordinated by the Stop ZIM Action Committee, and a spokesman told the media that the protests would continue during later shifts.
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In landmark ruling, Arab Bank held liable for supporting Hamas By Batya Ungar-Sargon NEW YORK - (JTA) – Following a five-week landmark civil trial and two days of deliberation, a Brooklyn jury found Arab Bank liable of knowingly supporting terrorism in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. According to the U.S. District Court ruling on Monday, the Jordan-based bank provided material support to Hamas – backing that helped facilitate 24 terror attacks between 2001 and 2004. The case was brought by nearly 300 U.S. citizens who had been injured or lost family members in the attacks, which took place during the second intifada. It was the first civil case against a bank to be tried under the AntiTerrorism Act of 1991, which allows victims of foreign terror attacks to sue for damages in the United States. The case had been tied up in litigation for a decade before finally going to trial in August. The plaintiffs’ team of lawyers, led by Gary Osen, argued that Arab Bank knowingly processed large payments to Hamas leaders from a Saudi charity, as well as “martyr payments” – payouts of $5,300 – to
the families of suicide bombers. Shand Stephens, a lawyer for the defense, contended that the bank had followed all the guidelines set forth by the United States and other governments in determining which payments to allow and which to block. Stephens said that Arab Bank used software designed to flag the names of terrorists designated by the U.S. government. The defense insisted that the financial institution should not be held liable for transactions that passed muster with the U.S. government. Among the plaintiffs in the case was Sarri Singer, who was injured in a 2003 suicide bombing. “I started crying when the email came in,” Singer, the daughter of New Jersey state Sen. Robert Singer, told JTA shortly after the verdict was announced. Singer was on the No. 14 bus in Jerusalem on June 11, 2003, when the suicide bomber – standing a few feet from her – blew himself up. Sixteen people on the bus were killed and 100 others were injured. Singer broke her clavicle and she still has shrapnel lodged in her mouth. “I feel very validated and
acknowledged as a victim of terror,” Singer said. “The jury has given us a sense that there is someone responsible for what happened to us.” A separate phase of the trial will determine how much the bank must pay the 297 terror victims and their families. In a statement following the verdict, Arab Bank vowed to appeal and said the court proceedings amounted to a “show trial.” Specifically, the bank said that due to foreign privacy laws, it could not turn over the documents requested by the plaintiffs’ lawyers in the lawsuit’s pretrial phase. As a result, sanctions were imposed and the bank was not allowed to refer to those documents, precluding much of their defense, according to the statement. “Today’s decision, if it stands, exposes the banking industry to enormous liability for nothing other than the processing of routine transactions and the provision of conventional account services even if all governmental requirements are followed and the parties receiving services were in good standing with these governments,” the bank wrote in its statement.
At Canada’s new human rights museum, should the Holocaust get special treatment? By Josh Tapper TORONTO (JTA) — On the fourth floor of the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights, visitors will find a gallery called “Examining the Holocaust,” which is devoted entirely to the story and lessons of the Shoah. On the same floor, in a smaller, adjacent space, a gallery called “Breaking the Silence” examines a cluster of five genocides officially recognized by the Canadian government: the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia; the Armenian and Rwandan genocides; the Holodomor, or the starvation of millions of Ukrainians in the early 1930s; and, once again, the Holocaust. “Examining the Holocaust” is just one of 11 galleries at the $351 million human rights museum that opens in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Saturday. It is also the museum's thorniest. The permanent gallery has long been a source of controversy for the institution, which has fought accusations from a handful of Canada’s ethnic communities, ranging from Ukrainians to Armenians, that allowing the Holocaust its own space downplays the significance of the other human rights atrocities confined to a single room.
In interviews with JTA, museum officials defended their decision by asserting that the Holocaust is in fact exceptional, both as an act of 20thcentury genocide and a pedagogic tool. As the trigger for international human rights legislation in the aftermath of World War II, the Holocaust is deserving of its own gallery, the officials said. “It’s one of the most studied, most well-documented atrocities,” said June Creelman, the museum’s director of learning and programming. “One of the ways to educate is to start with something familiar and move to something unknown.” The Canadian Museum for Human Rights grew out of several unsuccessful attempts by Jewish community leaders as far back as the late 1990s to attract government support for a national Holocaust museum, or a Holocaust gallery at the Canadian War Museum, in Ottawa. The efforts failed when the federal government, after staging parliamentary hearings, shied away from committing money to a project that memorialized only a single group’s history. (In August, Canada will unveil its first national Holocaust monument, an $8.5 million project steps from the Parliament in downtown Ottawa. The monument, designed by a team
that includes renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, features six concrete triangles that together create points of a Star of David.) It wasn’t until 2003 that the late Izzy Asper, a Manitoba-born media mogul and Jewish philanthropist, convinced Prime Minister Jean Chretien to sign on to a public-private partnership establishing a national human rights museum similar in scope to the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Asper, whose family foundation chipped in $22 million, always had his eye on a stand-alone Holocaust gallery -indeed, early museum blueprints indicated a Holocaust section would occupy more than 20 percent of the available gallery space. In the final design, it takes up less than 10 percent of the space. Other galleries examine contemporary cases of human rights abuse, the history of civil rights in Canada - including the "head tax" that Chinese immigrants were charged in the late 19th century -- and the work of Raphael Lemkin, the PolishJewish lawyer whose work on defining the term "genocide" led to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948.
8 • INTERNATIONAL
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Polish Jews split over plan to exhume massacre victims By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA) – In September 1941, a group of villagers wielding axes and other tools descended upon the homes of their Jewish neighbors and murdered every last one, according to testimonies gathered by Holocaust scholars. Not much else is known about the massacre in Wasosz, a village 100 miles east of Warsaw, including basics like the number of victims. Current estimates range widely, from 180 to 1,200. In an effort to provide conclusive forensic evidence about the massacre, in July a Polish prosecutor asked Jewish community leaders for permission to exhume the bodies. The plan has split the community, with some passionately supporting what they see as a last chance for justice and others claiming it would
Courtesy of JTA Photo Department
Researchers searching for human remains in Wasosz, the site of a massacre of Jewish villagers in 1941.
violate the dignity of the dead and Jewish religious law, or halachah. “Once the bodies are in the ground, halachah teaches us they are not to be disturbed except when it is
done to protect the dignity of the dead or to save lives,” Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich told JTA. “I and other rabbis and the leadership of the Jewish community in
Warsaw, among others, feel neither stipulation applies to Wasosz. A desire to clarify history is not enough.” Piotr Kadlcik, president of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, the country’s main Jewish umbrella group, called Schudrich’s position “a serious mistake, with detrimental implications.” “We have tools to determine details about both victims and perpetrators in a matter which is still a criminal matter,” said Kadlcik, who is seeking an exhumation followed by Jewish burial of the human remains. “If we let this chance go, the case of Wasosz will become history – an unclear one and subject to falsification.” In a move to undermine opponents to exhumation, Kadlcik has requested an opinion from Rabbi
Yakov Ruza, a prominent authority in Israel on forensic medicine. Polish prosecutors have also reviewed the Israeli law that permits exhumation in cases involving a murder investigation, Kadlcik said. Meanwhile, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance – the government body whose prosecutor, Radoslaw Ignatiew, initiated the investigation of Wasosz – is holding off on any exhumation until at least 2015 while the issue is discussed within the Jewish community. The debate has ramifications well beyond an internal Jewish dispute over halachah and forensics. In the background are echoes of Jedwabne, an earlier investigation of another wartime mass murder of Jews by Poles. The opening of that probe in POLISH on page 21
At Scotland’s Jewish golf club, the menu is just one sign of changing character By Ben Sales EAGLESHAM, Scotland (JTA) – As teenagers in the 1960s, Lewis Geneen and Colin Black liked to spend their summer Sundays playing rounds at the Bonnyton Golf Club course, breaking only for a lunch of fish and borscht. Sitting atop a hill on the outskirts of Glasgow, Bonnyton was then a social hub of the local Jewish community. Teenage boys would hang out on the links while older men rested from the course by playing cards in an upstairs room, sometimes gathering for a Mourner’s Kaddish to save a
International Briefs Argentine Jewish leader slams nation's president for ripping Jewish community at U.N. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) -- Argentina's president turned “victims into victimizers” in her U.N. General Assembly address, a Jewish leader in the South American nation said. Jewish leaders in Argentina on Monday responded to Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's public criticism of the Argentine Jewish community in her U.N speech on the first day of Rosh Hashanah for not supporting the pact with Iran in order to jointly investigate the deadly 1994 AMIA bombing attack. Argentine Jewish leaders were unable to respond to Fernandez's accusations until after Rosh Hashanah. “We feel hurt and worried," Julio
member a trip to the synagogue. On Saturday nights, families who had congregated earlier in the day in synagogue would come to Bonnyton for what Geneen calls “a proper meal, an upmarket meal.” Now in their 60s, Geneen and Black are still members of Bonnyton. But 50 years later the membership has changed, and with it the club’s character. Once almost exclusively Jewish, today only about 30 percent of the club’s approximately 700 members are Jewish. The change is felt even on the clubhouse menu. “It’s more pies and mince and,
you know, goyish food,” said Geneen, 66. “You wouldn’t be able to have borscht and chopped fish. There’s no point in having it on the menu.” It was in 1951 that a group of Jews began raising money for a private golf course; six years later they bought Bonnyton. At the time, Scottish clubs accepted members based on religion, and even Catholics and Protestants mostly played on different courses. Excluded from both, Glasgow’s Jewish golfers were left to play their country’s national pastime at public courses, where they would hold an annual tournament to benefit the local Hebrew school.
Harvey Livingston, one of the club’s first teenage junior members, said Jewish golfers wanted the club as much for its course as for the highclass social life it offered. “A private club is a better type of club, and you can socialize a lot more because there were so many people,” Livingston said. “Everybody knew that the other local clubs wouldn’t accept Jewish members.” Bonnyton lies just beyond a sprawling suburb of Glasgow, at the end of a narrow, mile-long road flanked by grazing sheep and cows. A blue and white sign – nothing to do with Israel, the club’s chairman says –
welcomes members to a clubhouse that was all but empty on a warm Tuesday morning. One club member, dressed in a blazer and slacks, sat in an armchair by a window looking out on a rolling course lined with evergreens. At the members-only restaurant, a lone server waited for golfers soon to return from a morning round. The names on the trophies and plaques – Goldberg, Shenkin and Caplan mixed with Haggerty, McFarlane and Gilchrist – are the only clear hints of the club’s Jewish roots. Howard Beach, Bonnyton’s chairman, says the club’s location is what attracts members.
Schlosser, president of DAIA, the country's Jewish political umbrella, told local media. "It was very surprising how she tried to make the Jewish community responsible for the failure of the case.
Firebomb thrown at Kiev's oldest synagogu (JTA) -- Kiev’s oldest synagogue was the target of a firebomb that burst into flames outside the building. The firebombing at the Great Choral Synagogue on Sept. 24, the eve of Rosh Hashanah, did not cause damage, according to the Jewish Kiev watchdog on anti-Semitism. Police suspect that an arsonist targeting the actual building hurled the firebomb -- a glass bottle filled with a flammable substance. In a separate incident, a swastika was painted on the Holocaust memorial monument at Babi Yar in Kiev, where Nazi troops murdered more than 33,000 in September 1941.
the Vatican will contribute $135,000 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, which aims to raise $162 million to preserve the authentic remains of the former concentration camp in southern Poland..” The announcement said that 31 countries have pledged more than $129 million to the foundation. The total includes the Vatican pledge.
main ritual of Sukkot and it is tradition to welcome visitors there.
S. Africa denies BDS threats delaying approval of Israelimade device (JTA) -- The South African Department of Health reportedly is delaying approval of an Israelimade circumcision device after political pressure from anti-Israel trade unions. Prepex, a nonsurgical circumcising device developed in Israel, was approved last year by the World Health Organization. Studies show it reduces the likelihood of contracting the virus that causes AIDS by nearly 60 percent. The boycott of the device began in 2013 by the Congress of South African Trade Unions, or Cosatu, and the African National Congress, both supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel.
Vatican helping fund preservation of Auschwitz (JTA) – The Vatican has joined 30 other states in contributing funding to help preserve the site of the former Auschwitz death camp. An announcement Monday on the website of the AuschwitzBirkenau Memorial Museum said
British Jews, Muslims teaming to help Syrian refugees (JTA) -- Jewish and Muslim religious leaders in Britain have formed an alliance to call on the government to accept more Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war. The leaders, backed by the community organizing group Citizens UK, will use next week's Jewish festival of Sukkot to lobby 15 local councils to each offer sanctuary to 50 Syrian refugees a year, the British daily the Mirror reported. Rabbi Danny Rich, the chief executive of Liberal Judaism in the United Kingdom, noted to the newspaper that spending time in a temporary dwelling place is the
Muslim custom puts all ritual slaughter at risk, Belgium official says (JTA) -- The Muslim custom of killing sheep at temporary slaughterhouses jeopardizes all ritual slaughter in Belgium, a Cabinet minister there warned. Ben Weyts, Belgium’s minister for animal welfare, made the warning Sunday during an interview with the VRT broadcaster about a ban that will go into effect next year throughout most of Belgium on the slaughter of conscious animals at improvised abattoirs. The ban is believed to be designed to prevent the slaughtering of some 20,000 sheep annually at impromptu slaughterhouses operated by Muslims for their coreligionists ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday. The ban announced by Weyts is expected to have no effect on the Jewish community, which performs kosher slaughter, or shechitah, “only in permanent and licensed slaughterhouses,
ISRAEL • 9
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2014
Most Israelis favor greater religion-state separation, new study shows By Ben Sales TEL AVIV (JTA) – During the past 18 months, the governing coalition in Israel has passed legislation to extend the nation’s mandatory conscription to the haredi Orthodox – a group currently exempted from military service – and Knesset leaders have advanced bills that would allow for civil unions and ease restrictions on Jewish conversions. But a new study shows that the majority of Israeli electorate remains unhappy with the amount of religious influence on Israeli life and law. The annual report, which was released Monday by Hiddush – a 5year-old organization that lobbies
the Knesset to promote religious freedom – revealed that 61 percent of Israelis support increased religion-state separation and 78 percent are dissatisfied with the government’s actions on religion-and-state issues. Specifically, two-thirds of Israelis back legalizing civil marriage, up from 61 percent in 2010. And 64 percent of Israelis support recognizing Conservative and Reform conversions, a slight rise from the 60 percent in 2010. On both issues, no less than 100 percent of haredim polled supported Israel’s longstanding policies in which the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate maintains control over Jewish marriages and recognizes
only Orthodox conversions. Still, one-third of haredi respondents joined the 71 percent of Israelis who disapproved of the Chief Rabbinate. “For haredim who think Israel should be a theocracy, it’s described as a government of destruction,” said Rabbi Uri Regev, the CEO of Hiddush. “On the other side, [those favoring religion-state separation feel] the government has never really been attentive,” said Regev, noting that successive governments have prioritized defense policy over religious liberalization. The Knesset’s largest party, the centrist Yesh Atid, pushed through a SEPARATION on page 19
Courtesy of Yonatan Sindel
Secular Israelis outside the Cinema City theater in Jerusalem demonstrating in favor of allowing movie theaters to open on Shabbat, Feb. 25, 2014.
As calendar turns, Netanyahu says Israel ‘doing better’ despite ‘harsher reality’ By Shlomo Cesana, Gonen Ginat, and Amos Regev (JNS) – In his office, next to photos of his wife and family, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeps a portrait of Theodor Herzl. “He was a prophet. A modern prophet,” Netanyahu says, further naming Zionist pioneer Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Israel’s first prime minister David Ben-Gurion, and Likud party founder and former prime minister Menachem Begin as equally important Zionist leaders. In an interview with Israel Hayom ahead of Rosh Hashanah, Netanyahu applies those past leaders’ experiences to the present day. “The main quality a statesman should possess is foresight and subsequently the ability to properly navigate an ever-changing reality,” he says. As the Hebrew calendar turns to the year 5775, the prime minister shares his perspective and strategy, and analyzes the changing realities in the Middle East. Israel Hayom: Is Israel doing better or worse than it was doing on the eve of Rosh Hashanah last year? Benjamin Netanyahu: “We are doing better while facing a harsher reality. The reality around us is that radical Islam is marching forward on all fronts. This reality poses a challenge for us, as well as for the rest of the world. One of my duties as prime minister is making sure the world understands that our war against these Islamic organizations and states, as well as against the Islamic Republic of Iran, is their war as well. “We are actually doing better now because on one of those fronts Hamas has received a debilitating blow, the likes of which it hasn’t received since it seized control of the Gaza Strip. We targeted each of Hamas’s capabilities and we set it back years—its rocket stockpiles, by killing 1,000 terrorists, destroying
terror tunnels, demolishing terror towers, and crippling infrastructures Hamas spent years building. “I believe we achieved the operation’s objective, meaning achieving lasting peace and quiet by re-establishing deterrence via dealing [Hamas] a massive blow. What happens if they try again? They will be dealt a doubly debilitating blow— and they know it.” Why didn’t Israel vanquish Hamas? “The answer to that question is very complex and it entails a variety of considerations. One of those considerations is a spatial consideration, which cannot be ignored. We have Hamas in the south, al-Qaida and the Nusra Front in the Golan Heights, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Islamic State in the east; and above all we have Iran, which has abandoned neither its support of some of these terrorist groups, nor its plans to acquire nuclear weapons. “I have decided that the best way to tackle these problems is to seriously undermine Hamas in Gaza, but refrain from getting dragged in there. Otherwise, we would have found ourselves fighting not a 50day war, but a 500-day one, and the heavy toll would have included more than human lives, but other areas as well. We would have had to face the question of what to do with the seized territory; there would have been an international price to pay—and all of that wouldn’t have yielded a much better result. “I think the difference between a good commander and a bad commander, is that a good commander knows how to achieve the declared goals for a lesser price. We would have ended up with the same result, only with a much heavier price, and I don’t want to elaborate further.” How influential was the IDF in preventing a wider ground operation in Gaza? “Nothing was prevented. We used combined judgment—mine,
Courtesy of Marc Israel Sellem
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Western Wall on January 22, 2013.
the defense minister’s, and the chief of staff’s, and eventually that of the cabinet members. I won’t comment on cabinet meetings, but I can say that within the cabinet there was, most of the time and when it came time to decide, unanimity about the nature of operations. “[Operation Protective Edge] was executed according to an outline and objectives I had set. The first order of business was targeting the terror tunnels in the south. That was a massive aerial strike. Then came preparing international public opinion, via conversations I had with prominent leaders… I made it clear to them that unless a cease-fire was struck, we would have to launch a ground operation against the tunnels, something that was not acceptable at the time. “When we had completed uncovering the tunnels, I made the decision to pull the military out of [enemy] fire range, because I thought it was pointless to leave the soldiers there, and that the right thing to do was to resume the aerial strikes. The thing that guided me, and proved right, was that at the end of the day, the [aerial] campaign would trump [Hamas’s] attrition, because our firepower is greater than
theirs. That’s also what happened— they agreed to our demand for a cease-fire.” With the negotiations resuming in Cairo, both Israel and Hamas have their demands. What is your “red line”? “The goal is to make it clear that we are focused solely on two issues: ensuring our security interests, as well as the ability to send humanitarian aid and supplies that would assist in rebuilding the ruins, in favor of Gaza’s population. Naturally, we have demands of our own, and we have the necessary tenacity to reject any demands the other side might make that we find unacceptable. We have been doing so successfully.” What should Israel do next about the broader threat of radical Islam? “Fight it every way possible, and simultaneously explain the ‘ideological’ aspect. We don’t necessarily have to say that [Iran and Islamic State] are operating from the same command center, but rather that they have a common ideology: ‘Who will be the next caliph? Who will rule a world dominated by radical Islam?’ “Such a world has no room for Jews, seculars, homosexuals or minorities, and we know where they believe women belong. This is a
serious threat because they are sending their tentacles all over the world—the United States, Europe, Australia, Russia, China, and Africa—this is a global threat. “I believe that my role as the prime minister of Israel is to make it clear that the threat we face is one the entire world faces. We understand that, but many worldwide don’t understand this threat.” There are those within the Likud party who say that “leadership cannot grow in your shadow,” which is why some have chosen to leave the party. What is your response? “So that’s what they say. I can tell you that the public is saying otherwise, as is the impression among Likud members. Party members are very enthused, very supportive. And you know what? Today, after Operation Protective Edge, I have the support and appreciation of those who didn’t vote for me. That’s the truth I have encountered. “I compare the support today to that of a year ago, be it from the public or within the Likud, and I’m stronger than ever both within my party and among the general public.” Does this mean you will be seeking another term in office? “Yes, absolutely.” Have disagreements between the U.S. and Israel turned from just disagreements into a real crack in the relationship? “No. I think the relationship between Israel and the United States is based on solid foundations, and at the end of the day, large parts of the American public feel a deep affiliation with Israel. The difference is like night and day compared to the situation in Western Europe. That stems from historical, political, cultural and many other reasons. “There is a deep bond between Israel and the U.S. and every administration subscribes to that. It is a deep connection. Only recently the NETTANYAHU on page 22
10 • ISRAEL
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Taking on the terror trio: Israel’s strategy vs. Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic State By Alina Dain Sharon and Sean Savage (JNS) – Following Israel’s Operation Protective Edge this summer, Hamas continues to control the Gaza Strip and openly considers any truce with Israel as a time to re-arm for the next conflict. Across Israel’s northern border, Hezbollah has been fighting to preserve the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but still poses a danger to the Jewish state. Meanwhile, the Islamic State has exploded across Iraq and Syria in a spectacle of unprecedented brutality that could one day also knock on Israel’s door. What should Israel’s strategy be regarding this triumvirate of terror groups? JNS took the pulse of three Middle East and terrorism experts on the issue. Where things stand with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic State Hezbollah and Hamas “pose a very particular threat to Israel but also a very special dilemma,” said Natan Sachs, a fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. “Both groups are not just terrorist organizations, but also very large political parties, which control territory adjacent to Israel,” he told JNS. “They have long traditions and complex political and military situations.” Dr. Boaz Ganor, co-founder and executive director of the International Institute for Counter-
Israel Briefs Netanyahu says his U.N. speech will ‘refute all the lies’ about Israel JERUSALEM (JTA) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his address to the United Nations General Assembly will “refute all the lies” being directed at Israel. Netanyahu made the remarks on Sunday as he boarded a plane for New York a day before his speech to the world body. On Friday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in his General Assembly speech accused Israel of committing a “war of genocide” in the Gaza Strip. “In my address to the U.N. General Assembly, I will refute all of the lies being directed at us and I will tell the truth about our state and about the heroic soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the world,” Netanyahu said. Abbas in his speech on Friday called 2014 “a year of a new war of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people,”
terror groups as such, many countries will find themselves “quickly dealing with the same dilemma with regard to the Islamic State, the [Syrian] al-Nusra Front, and other groups,” Ganor said.
Courtesy of Miriam Alster
Forces began a ground invasion into northern Gaza amid Operation Protective Edge. Following the operation, Hamas continues to control Gaza and openly considers any truce with Israel as a time to re-arm for the next conflict.
Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel, calls Hamas and Hezbollah “hybrid” terrorist organizations. “On the one hand [these organizations reflect] the real grievances of a large public” by providing welfare services and winning elections, but “on the other hand [they continue] executing terrorist attacks against civilians,” Ganor told JNS. For instance, Hamas has won Palestinian hearts by providing social services to the population, and it was elected as the governing group of the Gaza Strip in 2006. Hezbollah’s current leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was also a member of the al-Dawa alIslamiya movement in Lebanon,
which subsequently evolved into a political party under Hezbollah that has 12 seats in the Lebanese parliament. Islamic State is on the path to adopting a similar strategy, Ganor believes. Until just more than a year ago, only four countries classified Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. This changed only after Hezbollah’s presumed involvement in the 2012 terrorist bombing of a tour bus carrying Israelis in Burgas. But even the European Union’s change of Hezbollah’s status only classified the “military wing” of the group, and not the entire entity, as a terrorist organization. Given their reluctance to classify
Abbas also asserted that Israel does not want to make peace with the Palestinians and that the Palestinians will live in a “most abhorrent form of apartheid” under Israeli rule. Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Liberman, who also left Sunday for New York, criticized Abbas’ speech. The United States also condemned the Abbas speech, calling his statements “provocative.”
nialism. Today’s anti-Westernism is a reaction to yesterday’s racism. Certain intelligence agencies have put blades in the hand of madmen, who now spare no one,” he said, obliquely referring to the United States and Israel. “All those who have played a role in founding and supporting these terror groups must acknowledge their errors that have led to extremism.” Rouhani said he was “astonished” that the terror groups call themselves Islamic. He said the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the world powers have continued “with seriousness and optimism” on both sides.
Iran’s Rouhani: U.S. and allies responsible for rise of extremists (JTA) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed the United States and its allies for the rise of extremists and terrorists while also reaching out to the West. “Extremism is not a regional issue that just the nations of our region would have to grapple with; extremism is a global issue,” Rouhani said Thursday in an address to the United Nations General Assembly. “Certain states have helped creating it and are now failing to withstand it. Currently our peoples are paying the price.” “Today’s anti-Westernism is the offspring of yesterday’s colo-
Armed Palestinian infiltrator arrested JERUSALEM (JTA) – A Palestinian teenager was arrested in southern Israel near the Gaza border armed with a knife and a pick. The 18-year-old was arrested Sunday by local security officers near Kibbutz Alumim. He is believed to have infiltrated into Israel from Gaza near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. A security alert was issued for the area after a breach in the bor-
Israel’s strategy on Hamas and Hezbollah According to Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC), “the Israeli government is selling Operation Protective Edge as a strategic tie,” but the reality is “that Hamas has gotten a lot of benefit out of the conflict, too.” Hamas initiated this summer’s conflict as a cry for help, because the group was bankrupt and felt abandoned by its traditional patrons, Iran and Egypt. Hamas’s unity government with Fatah was supposed to be an equal partnership, but Hamas ended up becoming a junior partner, not receiving legitimate consideration for cabinet posts. Therefore, the conflict was meant to show that Hamas is a “force to be reckoned with,” Berman told JNS. When it comes to dealing with a hybrid terrorist organization like Hamas, “military action, as important as it is, does not eliminate the organization,” said IDC’s Ganor. “It might hurt or temporarily disable the organizations’ military capability, but these organizations are already based and rooted inside the society where they live and whom they pretend to represent,” he said. der fence was identified, according to reports. The teen was turned over to the Shin Bet internal security service for questioning. Haredim’s refusal to sit by women delays El Al flight JERUSALEM (JTA) – Haredi Orthodox men who refused to sit next to women delayed the takeoff of an El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv. The haredi passengers offered money to other passengers to switch seats on the flight, which arrived in Israel hours before Rosh Hashanah, Ynet reported. Haredi passengers who could not switch their seats stood up immediately upon takeoff and remained in place, crowding the aisles and inconveniencing fellow passengers and flight attendants, Ynet reported. “It was an 11-hour-long nightmare,” one of the passengers told Ynet. According to passengers, the flight crew informed them that they were under no obligation to agree to switches. But the captain also said the flight would not take off with people standing. El Alsais it would look into the incident.
For several years, the Israeli government has avoided calls to overthrow Hamas and has preferred a policy of containment through a series of blockades, with the hope that Gazans would overthrow the terror organization. Additionally, Israel fears that Hamas could be replaced by a more radical terror group or that it would be forced to reoccupy Gaza, which it unilaterally evacuated in 2005. “By containing Hamas, through the enforcement of a blockade, Israel hoped that the people of Gaza would overthrow Hamas,” Sachs said. But despite being financially weakened and internationally isolated, Hamas has proved resourceful, and Israel “should have no illusions that Hamas will disappear anytime soon,” said the Brookings analyst. Ganor believes this summer’s conflict was a historic opportunity for Israel to defeat Hamas without the involvement of Hezbollah and the tacit support of Arab nations. This would have only been possible with a ground operation that led to the takeover of large territories—not necessarily the whole Gaza Strip, but large parts of it. The summer conflict, according to Ganor, presented “a collection of situations that has not existed before and I’m not sure will be [there for Israel] in the future.” The vacuum resulting from the defeat of Hamas would not necessarily be filled with groups such as TRIO on page 19 Vandals damage Jerusalem light rail and Mount of Olives cemetery (JNS) The Jerusalem light rail came under attack in two separate incidents Sunday, with vandals hurling stones at its cars as it traveled through the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat. No injuries were reported in either incident, but several of the light rail’s cars and windows were damaged. Border policemen detained three suspects for questioning in connection with the incidents, Israel’s Channel 2 reported. In a separate incident over the weekend, vandals damaged 50 headstones in Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives cemetery. A police source said that some headstones were severely damaged, “as if someone had tried to shatter the entire grave,” according to Israel Hayom. The source said the extent of the damage indicated that the perpetrators had “spent several hours” at the cemetery. The Mount of Olives cemetery has been vandalized several times over the past few weeks amid an uptick in violence in Jerusalem.
SOCIAL LIFE • 11
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2014
ANNOUNCEMENTS ENGAGEMENT etty and Joe Schechter of Sun Lakes, AZ and Ruth and Doug Mayers of Shaker Heights, OH joyfully announce the engagement of their children, Amy Schechter and David Mayers. Amy is the granddaughter of the late Fran and Jerry Bauman of Binghamton, NY and the late Gert and Al Schechter of Cincinnati, OH. Amy earned her B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from The Ohio State University and her Pharm.D. from the University of Charleston (WV).
B
Amy is a pharmacist with Adena Health System in Chillicothe, OH. David is the grandson of the late LeAnn and Isadore Mayers of Coral Gables, FL and the late Marjorie and Jack Schwartz of Cleveland, OH. David earned his B.A. in Economics and Finance from Washington University in St. Louis and his MBA in Strategic Management from the University of Denver. David is an Assistant Vice President of Risk Management with Huntington National Bank in Columbus, OH.
CINCINNATI JEWS IN THE NEWS anielle Minson, Chief Development Officer of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and Tamara Harkavy, Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director of ArtWorks, are two of 55 people to be named to the roster of Class 38 of the Leadership Cincinnati program of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. Members of this program are chosen from a cross-section of the community and
D
David Mayers and Amy Schechter
represent our region’s top levels of leadership. This 10month program uses the United Way Bold Goals, Agenda 360 and Vision 2015 as a guide to stimulate concern for the quality of life in our region. Do you have a success story about someone in our Jewish community? Please send in your “Cincinnati Jews in the News” information to publisher@americanisraelite.com.
THE LEGACY FLAME: SUSTAINING OUR FUTURE On June 1, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati dedicated “The Legacy Flame: Sustaining Our Future” during the annual Moss Society reception at the Mayerson JCC. The sculpture is a living, public tribute to thank donors who have made a legacy gift commitment to a local Jewish agency, organization or congregation, and to inspire future generations to follow in their footsteps. More than 180 people attended the event, including Honorary Chair Mrs. Frances Schloss, sculpture artist Brian Russell, and his Cincinnati art representative Marta Hewett.
Miriam and Wilbur Cohen
Maryanne and Bob Betagole
Marta Hewett and Brian Russell
Frances Schloss and Family
Bret Caller, Stacey Fisher, David Fisher, Danielle Minson
12 • CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE
CHDS 68TH ANNUAL DINNER At Cincinnati Hebrew Day Schools 68th annual dinner, Reaching for the Stars, two men where honored for their vision and tenacity which brought School Choice into reality. Their hard work made a quality Jewish education within the grasp of many more families, enabling their children to “Reach for the Stars;” and go into their lives with a solid primary Judaic and secular education. Representative William Batchelder has been instrumental in creating legislation to support school choice and education options for Ohio’s families. Mr. Dan Peters has been a driving force in championing this cause from the private sector.
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2014
ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE FREE! BIRTHS • BAT/BAR MITZVAHS ENGAGEMENTS • WEDDINGS BIRTHDAYS • ANNIVERSARIES Place your FREE announcement in The American Israelite newspaper and website by sending an e-mail to articles@americanisraelite.com
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CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13
14 • DINING OUT
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Holtman’s Donuts ‘old-school’ and hand-made from scratch By Bob Wilhelmy Did you know that the fall of the year is a prime time for donuts? Anytime is a pretty good time for donuts in my book, but when the air cools and the leaves turn, donuts just naturally seem the perfect treat. Cider and donuts; coffee and donuts; milk and donuts; or just donuts and donuts; doesn’t matter to me, since all are good combinations. Love of donuts should spark your interest in Holtman’s Donut shops, three in all: in OTR at 1332 Vine; at 1399 Ohio Pike (Route 28), technically in Loveland; and at 214 West Main in Williamsburg, Ohio. These three shops do something almost unheard of in the donut world of today. They build donuts from scratch and by hand. According to Holtman’s coowner, Katie Willing, those variables are decidedly old-school, and make a substantial difference in taste, quality and appearance of the donuts the shops turn out. “We start from scratch mixing our dough according to an old German recipe, a family recipe, and the process takes longer, but the end result is better,” she said. The alternative to starting with flour and yeast and water is the common pre-mixed ingredient bases that are used in mechanized shops, where machines mix, cut, and feed the donuts into and out of the cooking oils. The mechanized process is quick and easy, turning out perfectly uniform shapes, each and every time. But there is more to the story than that in the donut biz. Willing showed yours truly the donut-making process at the Loveland location. There is a whopper of a giant mixer in the prep room, where the dough is made. The mixer is a 1939 model, purchased decades ago by the family from a decommissioned battleship of the U. S. Navy. It is one brute of a mixer, and turns out a batch of dough from which 17 dozen donuts can be made. The dough then is allowed to rise if necessary, and is placed on a roll-out table, where a number of hand-operated cutting wheels are used to cut the donuts from the dough sheets. The donut shapes in dough form then are placed on racks and lowered into a flat-bottomed fryer containing hot vegetable oil. From measuring out the ingredients to the finish-cooked product, every step is done by hand. But there is more hand work to be done, according to Toni Plazarin, who along with her sister and other family members, grew up in the donut-making business, working for their father. “Finishing (icing, glazing and filling) the
Pictured are: from left, Toni Plazarin and Katie Willing standing near the back-of-counter rack of donuts.
Cookie trays with smiley face and sugar sprinkle cookies.
donuts is part of it too. We make all of our glazing, icing, custards and white cream from scratch, and we don’t put any wax or shortening in the glazes,” she stated. The addition of shortening or wax gives a slightly off flavor or after-taste to the donuts, and that’s how the mass producers get the sheen to the glazes used, she said. “We specialize in donuts. That’s all we want to be known
for—our donuts,” she said. “Bakeries do lots of things, make lots of baked goods, and some make donuts too. We want to be known for making the very best donuts. “We put a lot of creative effort into our donuts, so there are different decorations and ways they are iced. Customers have lots of favorites, like the kettle, made with a Danish (pastry) dough, and the apple fritter and the bear claw
The exterior of the Loveland Holtman’s on Route 28.
are other ones,” she said. You’ll find plenty of glazed yeast donuts waiting, along with cake donuts iced in different toppings, but lots of other donuts with special toppings. Also, in addition to donuts, there are cookies, fruit turnovers, cheese pockets or cups, and Danish pastries. The shops offer coffee, and feature coolers with orange juice, milk and other beverages, and two of the shops feature limited seat-
ing and tables for eat-in convenience. See you at the donut counter! Holtman’s Donuts 1332 Vine, OTR 1399 Ohio Pike (Route 28), Loveland 214 West Main in Williamsburg, Ohio
DINING OUT • 15
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2014
RESTAURANT DIRECTORY 20 Brix
Izzy’s
Pomodori’s
101 Main St
800 Elm St • 721-4241
121West McMillan • 861-0080
Historic Milford
612 Main St • 241-6246
7880 Remington Rd
831-Brix (2749)
1198 Smiley Ave • 825-3888
Montgomery • 794-0080
The Best Japanese Cuisine, Asian Food & Dining Experience In Town 9521 FIELDS ERTEL ROAD, LOVELAND
(513) 239-8881 asianparadiserestaurant.com
7625 Beechmont Ave • 231-5550 Ambar India Restaurant
4766 Red Bank Expy • 376-6008
Slatt’s Pub
350 Ludlow Ave
5098B Glencrossing Way • 347-9699
4858 Cooper Rd
Cincinnati
8179 Princeton-Glendale • 942-7800
Blue Ash
281-7000
7905 Mall Road • 859-525-2333
791-2223 • 791-1381 (fax)
1965 Highland Pk. • 859-331-4999 Andy’s Mediterranean Grille
Stone Creek Dining Co.
At Gilbert & Nassau
Johnny Chan 2
9386 Montgomery Rd
2 blocks North of Eden Park
11296 Montgomery Rd
Montgomery • 489-1444
281-9791
The Shops at Harper’s Point
6200 Muhlhauser Rd
489-2388 • 489-3616 (fx)
West Chester • 942-2100
Kanak India Restaurant
Sukhothai Thai Cuisine
10040B Montgomery Rd
8102 Market Place Ln
Montgomery
Montgomery
793-6800
794-0057
Cincinnati
Keegans Specialty Seafood Market
Tandoor
321-1600
2724 Erie Ave.
Montgomery
Hyde Park
793-7484
Asian Paradise 9521 Fields Ertel Rd Loveland 239-8881 Baba India Restaurant 3120 Madison Rd
Bistro Grace 4034 Hamilton Ave. Cincinnati 541-9600 Breadsmith 3500 Michigan Ave.
513-541-9600
8702 Market Place Ln
"Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in America"
Chinese Restaurant News - 2004 Cincy Magazine Best of the North 2014
321-0181 Tony’s Marx Hot Bagels
12110 Montgomery Rd
9701 Kenwood Rd
Montgomery
Blue Ash
677-1993
FAMOUS CORNED BEEF Uncompromised Quality at Popular Prices (513) 369-0245 Izzys.com
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Clifton
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9525 Kenwood Rd
221-5353
321-6300
Specializing in traditional culinary dishes with a modern twist. Price: $30 and under Closed Mondays 4034 Hamilton Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati 745-9386
Padrino 111 Main St
Holtman’s Donuts
Milford
1399 Ohio 28 • 575-1077
965-0100
Loveland 1332C-2 Vine St. • 381-0903
Parkers Blue Ash Tavern
Over-the-Rhine
4200 Cooper Rd
214 W. Main • 724-3865
Blue Ash
Williamsburg
891-8300
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16 • OPINION
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Lower the age for Birthright By Robert Israel Lappin SALEM, Mass. (JTA) – Every fall, Jewish teens arrive on college campuses unprepared, uninformed and unable to cope with the hostility and antagonism against Israel and Jews that they find there. While Birthright Israel does a commendable job of bolstering Jewish student pride and community, the program could have a much greater impact if the age of eligibility was lowered to 16. When Birthright Israel started in 1999, anti-Israel and anti-Jewish activities on campus were not the critical issue they have become. Consequently, teaching Jewish teens Israel advocacy skills and complex approaches to Israel before they go to college is a new and urgent need. By lowering the age of eligibility to 16 from the current 18, Birthright Israel can continue being the best and possibly only solution to battle the growing crisis quickly and effectively. Numerous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the teen Israel experience. Most recently, Professor Steven M. Cohen and Dr. Ezra Kopelowitz conducted a study of alumni, aged 18 to 39, of the Lappin Foundation’s Youth to Israel Adventure (Y2I), a fully subsidized Israel experience for 16- and 17year-old Jews. The recently released findings of the commissioned study found that 72 percent of those Y2I alumni have married fellow Jews and of those who are parents, 90 percent of them are raising their children Jewish. The study suggests that Birthright Israel’s effectiveness would not be diluted by lowering the age of eligibility to 16, and that
doing so would indeed provide an opportunity for Birthright Israel to significantly improve by expanding its reach and role in addressing one of the Jewish world’s growing crises. A teen Israel experience before college provides the background and time – up to two years – for teens to learn how to advocate for Israel, something that Birthright Israel is not fully able to do, given that its trips take place after a young adult’s college experience has started. As has been Y2I’s practice for years, local communities can develop programs that will train and equip Jewish teens with the skills and techniques necessary to contend with anti-Israel and anti-Jewish activities and sentiments before, during and after their college years, but only if the teens have been fortified with an Israel experience. The firsthand experience of having been in Israel, understanding Israel’s role in the world and marveling at Israel’s contributions to every field of human endeavor resonates with teens, making not only Israel advocacy effective but Jewish life more readily meaningful. The key to attracting Jewish teens en masse to an Israel experience is the adoption of the justly admired Birthright Israel model: a free 10-day trip. Birthright Israel is the only viable entity to meet this new challenge. If Birthright Israel agrees to lower its age of eligibility to 16 and the government of Israel helps to fund it as part of its new initiative, the Jewish world will be well on its way to combating campus antiSemitism and fortifying a proud and strong generation of campus Jews.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Do you have something to say? E-mail your letter to editor@americanisraelite.com
Dear Editor, As Rosh Hashanah begins, Jane and I wish all those observing the holiday a Happy New Year. May this year be filled with health, happiness, prosperity and peace. It’s critical that America continues to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel and its people as they serve as a beacon of freedom and democracy in the tumultuous Middle East. Sincerely, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) Dear Editor, Yossi Abramowitz writes in a 9/25 article on Climate Change that: it's a done deal. I'm here to respond that, yes, it is a done deal. There will always be climate change. Just like day follows night and night follows day: "Climate Change" is nothing
but a physical tautology. Climate Change used to be called Global Warming. But it was recognized, like in Cincinnati, that, "yes, indeedy", the climate was indeed changing: It was getting colder (like last years many days of below zero temperatures; and this winter which is, according to the Farmers' Almanac, suppose to be worse). So the climatology phrase du jour changed from "Global Warming" to "Climate Change". So why do I sound so skeptical about the good intentions of the people who see climate change as an unholy terror. This is why: I remember in the '70's that we were bombarded by "global cooling chicken littles". Their many articles were convincingly devoted to the subject by those-ostensibly-"in the know". What really gets my goat is that a Jew, in order to give more credence to his "sling-bladed" opinions, be-ribbons it with "Days of Awe"
liturgy in order that anyone who disagrees with him on the climatology points he made-as many scientists do-will be regarded and written off as either anti-Semitic, as a selfloathing Jew or as a heartless and mindless Conservative. Mr. Abramowitz would have been more persuasive in his lobbying-screed if he had admitted that not everyone believes in his calamitous insights and then tell us why he does. The fact that he ignores the other side and doesn't present his side (and why he believes in it) means, in my opinion, that he is either an unappreciated marketing major, or a journalist who realized that he could not make a persuasive case for his climatology beliefs. Bryan Taplits Amberley Village
Why we encourage body talk at Camp Be’chol Lashon By Diane Tobin SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) – Earlier this year, the Jewish overnight camp Eden Village garnered a great deal of attention for its “no body talk” policy, which camp leaders described as providing a “break from mentioning physical appearance, including clothing.” The policy, which aims to lessen the stress children feel about appearance, certainly has merit. But now
that students have returned to school, where social anxieties can fester, our experience at Camp Be’chol Lashon points to a much different way of approaching bodies and appearance. At Be’chol Lashon, which provides a space for racially and ethnically diverse Jews, discussion about appearance is the norm. Instilling confidence and pride among our campers means doing exactly the opposite of the “no body talk” rule.
We talk openly about shared external characteristics in the context of race and identity. Refraining from any comments on appearance means, by default, that race will be ignored. There will be those who see this as a positive. It is common in seeking racial equality to claim not to see race, to be “colorblind.” To some it speaks to a vision of a world where the color of
down the hatches, clinging to our employees and turning our backs to “outsiders,” we should send the message that while you are working in a Jewish organization, however long that may be, you will have an unparalleled opportunity to learn, grow and lay the groundwork for the career you envision. Moving forward requires structural changes that embrace flexibility and promote the opportunities inherent in our sector. It requires ongoing and open conversations with rising talent about where they will go, and it requires us talking about the valuable skills and networks one can build working in Jewish organizational life. Moreover, instead of denigrating people who choose to switch from the Jewish sector to a secular job, it means that we celebrate the fact that a non-Jewish organization recognizes the value of the skills gained in this sector. It means that even as we bid
farewell to staff members, we continue meaningful relationships with them, helping them find new opportunities, engaging their help in recruiting for our organizations, inspiring them and helping them to become key lay leaders for Jewish organizations. And finally, it means that we welcome those whose previous work experience is from outside the Jewish community. By empowering individuals to spend a few years in the Jewish community building skills and networks, enhancing their professional and personal trajectories, and investing in a long-term relationship with them, we will attract and retain better talent to do this holy work. Indeed, the more open and supportive the Jewish community becomes of individuals who embody the practice of moving between jobs and sectors, we will actually – perhaps counter-intuitively — create a more durable and attractive sector.
CAMP on page 21
To keep Jewish professionals, let them go By Adam Simon (JTA) – I recently attended a farewell party for someone switching jobs from one Jewish organization to another. Among many accolades, one person giving a toast said, “While we are sorry to lose him, at least he is still committed to working in the Jewish world.” While I appreciate this sentiment – and believe the Jewish community stands to benefit from this person’s many talents – it points to a common assumption that Jewish professionals should hold lifelong employment in the Jewish sector. Yet for the next generation of professionals, signs suggest it won’t be the case. Data consistently show that employees spend less time in any given position, changing jobs every three to five years, with over 40 percent of those changes to completely different sectors. The rates are even higher for younger talent. After years of work and research
in talent development in and out of the Jewish community, I have come to realize that we can leverage how people actually build their careers in order to strengthen the Jewish professional sector and continue to grow the quantity and quality of our talent. It starts with embracing the concept of permeability. We talk today about working in the “Jewish world” as if it is an independent celestial body full of J-infused acronyms, hard-to-penetrate borders and scorn if you consider leaving. As a result, great people who don’t see a permanent place for themselves in the sector are inclined to leave and never return, while others don’t even consider becoming Jewish professionals in the first place. In reality, the Jewish sector could be just as fluid and dynamic as some of the most competitive sectors in the world. Take the high-tech sector, for example. Companies like LinkedIn
offer great models for how to navigate and ultimately benefit from the transient nature of employment. LinkedIn’s approach is explained in “The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age,” a book written by its chairman, Reid Hoffman, along with Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh. The professional networking platform hires people for “tours of duty” – two- to 10-year engagements with specific missions that meet company objectives and the employee’s personal development goals. Employees talk openly with their managers about leaving to do tours at other companies, but many also talk about coming back to LinkedIn when their needs align in the future. This example shows that in order to fully leverage our porous structure, we need to communicate our understanding of our own permeability. Indeed, instead of battening
JEWISH LIFE • 17
Sedra of the Week
SHABBAT SHALOM: YOM KIPPUR
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
“Don’t lock me out” says the Jew during Ne’ilah. Don’t close the doors or the gates in my face as long as there is still time, let me come in.
the major guests in our home are not to be Hollywood idols or sports heroes. We should invite into our home the special Ushpizin guests: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, Miriam, Devorah and Rut (as you can see, in my Sukkah we add Ushpizot!). And you will remember that the Biblical reading for Rosh HaShanah, the anniversary of the creation of the world was not the story of the Creation; it was rather the story of the first Hebrew family, the family of Abraham. Yes, we have a mandate to teach and perfect the world. But at the same time, we must remember that the first and most real world for each of us is our own individual family. We must begin the new year of reaching out to the world with a renewed reaching out to our life’s partners, our children and grandchildren- and then to our neighbors and larger community and then to include the other and the stranger as well.
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T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: YOM KIPPUR BOOK OF YONAH 1. Why did Hashem send Yonah to Nineveh? a.) To influence the Jews who lived there b.) It was a wicked city c.) To persuade its king not to attack Israel 2. Did Yonah immediately go to Nineveh? a.) Yes b.) No 3. Did Hashem give Yonah a second chance? a.) Yes
3. A 3:1 4. A 4:5 5. C 4:5 Yonah wanted to see if there would be a partial punishment of Nineveh. Malbim
world crying out for God’s Word of love, morality and peace. We must leave the ivory tower of Yom Kippur and descend into the madding and maddening crowd in the world all around us. And so, just four days after Yom Kippur we go out into the Sukkah; indeed, walking home from the synagogue, one will be able to hear many people already beginning to build their family Sukkah. And the Sukkah is the next best thing to living within the bosom of nature, feeling at one with the world around you. The walls are usually flimsy and even see-through, and the vegetationroof must enable you to see through the greens up above to the sky. We pray together with the four species- the citron, the palm branch, the myrtle and the willow which all grow near the refreshing waters of the earth- and we pray during this week not only for ourselves or for Israel, but for all seventy nations of the world. Indeed, we are Biblically mandated in Temple times to bring seventy bullocks during the week of Sukkot on behalf of all the nations of the world. The Sukkah teaches us one more lesson, perhaps the most important of all. The major place for us to feel God and His divine presence – after the heavy dose of Yom Kippur – is not in a Temple or a synagogue, but is rather in our familial homes. In order to go out into the world, we must first go out into our family. The homes we build need not be that large, that spacious, or that fancy. You don’t need chandeliers in the bathroom in order to feel the warmth of your home. It can be an exceedingly simple dwelling place but it must have two critical ingredients. First and foremost it must be suffused with love, love of God, love of family and love of Torah. The meals must be permeated with gratitude and thanksgiving to the God who gave us food, with words of Torah and with the realization that it is ultimately not the walls of the home which provide our protection, but it is rather the grace of the God who gives us life. And
b.) No 4. Where is Yonah at the end of the book? a.) Nineveh b.) Jerusalem c.) Sea 5. In what type of dwelling did Yonah live? a.) Under the stars b.) House c.) Sukkah
wicked nation defeated Israel. Malbim 2. B 1:3 Jonah was not told exactly what his prophecy was, therefore he fled from Israel because prophecy can only happen in the land of Israel. Malbim
EFRAT, Israel - The climax of Yom Kippurim is its closing Ne’ilah prayer when the sun is beginning to set, when the day is beginning to wane and when we are nearing our last chance for the opportunity to receive God’s loving forgiveness for the year. The excitement of these last moments is palpable within the synagogue. The prayers are at a much higher pitch and the voices are filled with intensity. During the periods of our national sovereignty, with the closing of the day, the holy Temple doors would close as well. Post Temple, with the setting sun, the very heavens, the pathway to the Divine Throne, and the gateway to God seems to be closing. “Don’t lock me out” says the Jew during Ne’ilah. Don’t close the doors or the gates in my face as long as there is still time, let me come in. But there is another way of looking at this, a very opposite way. “Don’t lock me in!” cries the Jew during Ne’ilah. Yes, I’ve been in the Temple, or I’ve been in the synagogue almost the entire day. I’ve truly felt God’s presence and I’ve truly been warmed by His loving embrace. I feel God’s divine and gracious acceptance and His total forgiveness. I’ve spent an entire twenty-five hours in His house, in which I’ve seen the sweetness of the Lord and visited in His tent. But now, as the doors to His house are closing, I don’t want to be locked in. After all, I began this penitential period with Rosh HaShanah, the day of God’s kingship. The prayers on Rosh HaShanah taught me that God did not choose Israel to live with Him in splendid and glorious isolation; He chose Israel to be a “kingdom of priest-teachers and a holy nation” to bring the message of compassionate righteousness and moral justice as a blessing for all the families of the earth. We are meant to be a light unto the nations, a banner for all peoples. It goes without saying that we need our moments of quiet contemplation, of anguished repentance and of personal outpouring to the God who gave us life and Torah. But the ultimate purpose of this day of divine fellowship is for us to be recharged to bring God’s message to the world, a
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
ANSWERS 1. B 1:2 Prophets were sent with messages for the Children of Israel. Ashur would eventually defeat the ten tribes had to have certain positive merits in order that the nations should not say a
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2014
18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
JEWZ
IN THE
By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist More New TV Season News”Kingdom” starts on Direct TV, the satellite TV service, on Wednesday, Oct. 8 (9PM). Frank Grillo plays a gym owner and former top mixed martial arts fighter. His two sons are also fighters. Playing one son is JONATHAN TUCKER, 32 (whose real-life mother is Jewish). Starting on Sunday, the 5th, is “Mulaney,” (Fox; 9PM). Stand-up comic John Mulaney, plays a comedian (John) who lives in New York. ZACK PERLMAN, 26, plays John’s friend, Andre. John’s often annoying neighbor, Oscar, is played by ELLIOTT GOULD, 76. The fourth season of “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown,” began on CNN last Sunday, September 28. I think it may be the best show on CNN and, in the last year, it won the prestigious Peabody Award for its genre-bending combination of insightful looks into the culture, politics, and cuisine of the countries Bourdain visits. The episode first airing on Sunday, Oct. 5, is the only one set in America this season—the subject is the Bronx section of New York City. BOURDAIN, 58, a former top chef and restaurant owner, surprised many, including myself, when he disclosed in September, 2013 (while doing a series episode based in Jerusalem) that his mother, a former New York Times staff editor, is Jewish. He added that his father’s family was historically Catholic and that he, himself, was raised in no religion and isn’t religious. Joan’s Hardest Yom Kippur – A Reminder to be Kind Recently, a Jewish Journal of Los Angeles columnist wrote about an interview she did with the late JOAN RIVERS. Always candid, Rivers told the columnist that when she first announced that she wanted to become an actress, her father, a doctor, actually threatened to have her committed to a mental institution. She left home and the next Yom Kippur found her completely estranged from her family, broke, and forced to attend a little Bronx synagogue which would let her in without a ticket (adding that she would always be grateful to this shul’s congregants). Intrigued about this story, I checked and discovered that Rivers gave a much fuller account of this Yom Kippur in a
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NEWZ
1998 essay she authored entitled “Please Forgive Me”. Yom Kippur, she wrote, came only a couple of weeks after she left home. She described the Bronx Orthodox shul, and the service, and then turned inward, recalling her emotions as she sat in her seat, “I had been taught since childhood that your family is your secure foundation and to be away from my family on Yom Kippur was the sin of sins…I was flayed with guilt..[I] was a brat…What if my parents died this year?...Yom Kippur was the one precious night of the year when we all came hurrying home, got dressed up, and looked wonderful and all four of us walked to the temple together. It was our one night of solidarity…To me, personally, in my head, God that night was deciding what I deserved that [next] year. I prayed and prayed ‘Please forgive me.’” This essay surprised me in several ways. First, I was struck by Rivers’ sincere religious faith. Then, I thought about the fact that Rivers berated herself, and not her parents, for causing the break that found her alone on Yom Kippur. Whoever was at most fault, Rivers wisely recognized that the fight had, at least temporarily, broken Jewish family bonds that were important to her throughout her life. I also wondered if her father, attending later Yom Kippur services, asked for forgiveness for belittling the ambition of a daughter whose talent ultimately could not be denied. I also thought about the Bronx shul that took in a penniless young woman on Yom Kippur and how Rivers returned that kindness. Right after her death, ABC News ran a special about Rivers’ life and touched on her extraordinary generosity. First, they ran a clip from a documentary about her in which she is seen signing a raft of checks--to charities and to pay the private school fees of staff members. Then they showed her winning (2009) a round of “Celebrity Apprentice.” She gave her $500,000 winnings to “God’s Love We Deliver,” a nonsectarian organization which delivers thousands of meals to the seriously ill in New York City and Northern New Jersey. The “GLWD” website notes that she was a supporter for 25 years, an active hands-on volunteer, and a board member. Her “Celebrity” winnings helped “GLWD” stay afloat during the Great Recession.
FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO Dear Israelite: Knowing that it will give you pleasure to hear of advancement in Jewish Circles I take pleasure of informing you that a few days ago the “Young Men” of this place formed a Club for the benefit of mutual enjoyment amongst ourselves. The present number of members are 25 but will undoubtedly increase in a short elapse of time. Henry Ullman, Esq., was elected President and L. Rohrbach, Esq., Treasurer. The name of our Club is “Harmonia.” G-d grant that in the future as in the past harmony may be applicable in our proceedings and predominate as a basis of happiness in our midst. Joseph Schwabacher, Sec. A general meeting of the Hebrew General Relief Association will take place Sunday next, October 30, at 7 p.m. at the Lodge-street Temple. A full attendance is solicited. By order of the President, L. Pappenheimer, Secretary. M. Loth: Do not fail to read his advertisement. It is LOTH all over. Read it. – October 28, 1864
125 Y EARS A GO Mr. Isaac Sugarman, of 35 Barr Street, celebrated his twenty-first birthday last Sunday evening by entertaining sixty-five of his friends, among whom were Miss Belle Heilbron, of Ricohester, Ind., and Mr. A.J. Winter, of Paris, Ky. Mr. Sam Kuttner acted as toastmaster and filled the place admirably. A number of eloquent presentation speeches were made and a very pleasant evening was passed. Mr. Sugarman was the recipient of many valuable presents, among them a gold watch and chain from his parents, a diamond stud, gold-handled umbrella, etc... Julius, second son of Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Lieberman, of 154 Carlisle Avenue, will be Bar Mitzvah at the Plum Street Temple October 12th. They will be pleased to see all their friends. The report of the betrothal of Miss Nettie Hyman, of this city, to Mr. Adler, of Milwaukee, which appeared in these columns last week, was erroneous – October 10, 1889
100 Y EARS A GO Eleanor, the young daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. Harris Wildberg of Clinton Springs Avenue, who was struck and knocked down by an automobile, is improving rapidly. The injuries recevied, while painful, are not dangerous. On Wednesday, October 7, the marriage will take place of
Florence, daughter of Mrs. Bertha Stein of 830 Oak Street, Walnut Hills, to Mr. Herman Semmons, also of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Semmons will be at home on and after November 15th, at No. 5 The Renaisssance Apartments, Hale Avenue, Avondale. Mrs. Renetta, widow of Mr. David Heinsheimer died in Chicago on Monday and will be buried at the United Jewish Cemetery of this city on Thursday morning. The deceased had a large circle of friends in Cincinnati. The funeral service will be conducted by Rabbi Grossmann. – October 1, 1914
Mr and Mrs. Myron J. Cohen (Lolly Burg), 1125 Towanda Terrace, announce the birth of a daughter, Betsy Helen, Friday, Oct. 2. The infant has two brothers, Andrew H. and James Haskel. The maternal grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. David G. Burg of Akron, and the paternal grandparents are Mrs. Bertha G. Cohen of Norfolk, Va., and formerly of Cincinnati, and the late Benjamin Cohen. Mrs. Rachel Glasser of Norfolk, Va., is the maternal greatgrandmother.– October 8, 1964
75 Y EARS A GO
Dr. and Mrs. Irvin S. Silverstein announce the engagement of his daughter, Beth, to Randolph S. Siler. Beth is the daughter of the late Carole B. Silverstein and the granddaughter of the late Mrs. Charles R. Blumenthal. Randy is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth D. Siler and the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Ross Siler. Beth is a school psychologist in the Covington Public Schools. Randy is a school psychologist in the Clermont County Public Schools and is pursuing a doctoral degree in school psychology at the University of Cincinnati. A December wedding is planned. Alice and Bruce Allen anounce the birth of a son, Daniel Amos, Sept. 20. Daniel has three brothers, Nathan, Jonas and Noah. Grandparents are Shirley Allen and the late Daniel Allen of cincinnati and Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Green of Lebanon, Ky. – October 12, 1989
The Price Hill Jewish Community Council announces the opening of its season of activities under leadership of the newlyelected religious and cultural director, William B. Silverman. Mr. Silverman, junior at Hebrew Union College and vice president of the H.U.C. Student Association, brings years of training and experience in religious and Jewish cultural activities to the community. The past four years he has been associated with Price Hill. He was a teacher in Beth Jacob Religious School, leader of youth activities and director of Adult Study groups. The marriage of Miss Jeannette Peerless, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alter Peerless, to Mr. Louis Zimov, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Zimov, will take place Sunday, Oct. 15th. Rabbi Louis Feinberg will officiate. After the honeymoon, the couple will reside at 509 Lincoln Park Drive, Evansville, Ind. Miss Bessie Friedman announces the coming marriage of her daughter, Esther, to Mr. Melvin Rosenbaum, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sol Rosenbaum of Estes Place. The ceremony will be held at 12:30 o’clock in Rabbi Feinberg’s study on Sunday, Oct. 15th. There will be a reception at the home of the bride’s mother, 528 Hale Avenue, at 6:30 p.m. for family and friends. – October 12, 1939
50 Y EARS A GO Robert Altman has joined the Selby Division United States Shoe Corporation as sales representative in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Mr. Altman was a principal of Altman Bros. Manufacturing Co. in Cincinnati for more than 12 years. he is a graduate of Ohio State University and veteran of World War II. With his wife Sylvia and son, Steve, he resides at 8121 Sagamore Drive.
25 Y EARS A GO
10 Y EARS A GO Neeli Yarchi, daughter of Tuvia and Tracy Yarchi, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah Saturday, Oct. 30, 2004 at 5:30 p.m. at Congregation Ohav Shalom. Sarah and Mark Newman are proud to announce the birth of their son, Jeremy Brandon, who was born on Sept. 22, 2004. Jeremy has a big brother Jordan who is 2 1/2. Jeremy’s maternal grandparents are Malcom Bernstein, Maxine Berkman, and Ralph Buncher of Cincinnati. David Newman and the late Judy Newman of Cincinnati are his paternal grandparents. Naomi Pearl Abrams, age 85, died Oct. 15, 2004 (30 Tishri, 5765). Allen Dines, age 74, died Oct. 17, 2004 (2 Cheshvan, 5765). Roslyn Mitman, age 90, died Oct. 12, 2004 (27 Tishri, 5765). – October 21, 2004
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY / CLASSIFIEDS • 19
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2014
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS ORGANIZATIONS Access (513) 373-0300 • jypaccess.org Big Brothers/Big Sisters Assoc. (513) 761-3200 • bigbrobigsis.org Camp Ashreinu (513) 702-1513 Camp at the J (513) 722-7258 • mayersonjcc.org Camp Chabad (513) 731-5111 • campchabad.org Camp Livingston (513) 793-5554 •camplivingston.com Cedar Village (513) 754-3100 • cedarvillage.org Chevra Kadisha (513) 396-6426 Cincinnati Community Kollel (513) 631-1118 • kollel.shul.net Cincinnati Community Mikveh (513) 351-0609 •cincinnatimikveh.org Eruv Hotline (513) 351-3788 Fusion Family (513) 703-3343 • fusionnati.org Halom House (513) 791-2912 • halomhouse.com Hillel Jewish Student Center (Miami) (513) 523-5190 • muhillel.org Hillel Jewish Student Center (UC) (513) 221-6728 • hillelcincinnati.org Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati 513-961-0178 • jcemcin.org Jewish Community Center (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org Jewish Community Relations Council (513) 985-1501 Jewish Family Service (513) 469-1188 • jfscinti.org Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (513) 985-1500 • jewishcincinnati.org Jewish Foundation (513) 214-1200 Jewish Information Network (513) 985-1514 JVS Career Services (513) 936-WORK (9675) • www.jvscinti.org Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund (513) 793-2556 Shalom Family (513) 703-3343 • myshalomfamily.org
TRIO from page 10 Islamic State. Sachs is in favor of bringing Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority (PA) back to power in Gaza, as the PA has largely cooperated with Israel on policing the West Bank and thwarting terrorism there. Since Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., EU, Israel, and Egypt, donor countries will only work with the PA to provide funding and materials to rebuild Gaza. “One way to do that would be not to oppose so vociferously Palestinian unity, which would allow Fatah to have more of a stronghold in Gaza,” Sachs said. This summer’s conflict also highlighted a shortfall in the Iron Dome missile defense system. AFPC’s Berman said Israeli defense officials have told him that the rockets shot by Hamas were harder for the Iron Dome to intercept than anticipated because they were poorly constructed and tilted side to side when flying, like Iraqi scuds during the first Gulf War. This has led to fast-tracking the
The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education (513) 487-3055 • holocaustandhumanity.org Vaad Hoier (513) 731-4671 Workum Fund (513) 899-1836 • workum.org YPs at the JCC (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org CONGREGATIONS CONGREGATIONS Adath Israel Congregation (513) 793-1800 • adath-israel.org Beit Chaverim (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Beth Israel Congregation (513) 868-2049 • bethisraelcongregation.net B’nai Tikvah Chavurah (513) 284-5845 • rabbibruce.com Congregation Beth Adam (513) 985-0400 • bethadam.org Congregation B’nai Tzedek (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Congregation Ohav Shalom (513) 489-3399 • ohavshalom.org Congregation Sha’arei Torah (513) 620-8080 • shaareitorahcincy.org Congregation Shevet Achim (513) 426-8613 • shevetachimohio.com Congregation Zichron Eliezer (513) 631-4900 • czecincinnati.org Golf Manor Synagogue (513) 531-6654 • golfmanorsynagogue.org Isaac M. Wise Temple (513) 793-2556 • wisetemple.org Kehilas B’nai Israel (513) 761-0769 Northern Hills Synagogue (513) 931-6038 • nhs-cba.org Rockdale Temple (513) 891-9900 • rockdaletemple.org Temple Beth Shalom (513) 422-8313 • tbsohio.org Temple Sholom (513) 791-1330 • templesholom.net The Valley Temple (513) 761-3555 • valleytemple.com
production of David’s Sling, a new defense system designed to intercept larger, longer-range, and cruder rockets, as well as cruise missiles. David’s Sling is especially important with regard to Hezbollah, which has at least 100,000 rockets—10 times as many as Hamas— including thousands of long-range missiles that carry up to a ton of warheads and are hidden in deep underground bunkers within Lebanon, according to IDF estimates. “Hezbollah is a very capable organization, and whenever its finds itself free from the Syrian civil war, it will see Israel again as its prime target,” Sachs said. According to a recent IDF assessment, Hezbollah could capture a few northern Israeli towns such as Rosh Hanikra for several hours until they are dislodged. But for now, “the Israelis are trying to be very quiet with respect to Hezbollah because Hezbollah is fighting and dying in Syria, and when your enemy is doing something like that, you don’t want to distract him,” Berman said.
EDUCA EDUCATION Chai Tots Early Childhood Center (513) 234.0600 • chaitots.com Chabad Blue Ash (513) 793-5200 • chabadba.com Cincinnati Hebrew Day School (513) 351-7777 • chds.shul.net HUC-JIR (513) 221-1875 • huc.edu JCC Early Childhood School (513) 793-2122 • mayersonjcc.org Kehilla - School for Creative Jewish Education (513) 489-3399 • kehilla-cincy.com Mercaz High School (513) 792-5082 x104 • mercazhs.org Kulanu (Reform Jewish High School) (513) 262-8849 • kulanucincy.org Regional Institute Torah & Secular Studies (513) 631-0083 Rockwern Academy (513) 984-3770 • rockwernacademy.org Sarah’s Place (513) 531-3151 • sarahsplacecincy.com Yeshivas Lubavitch High School of Cincinnati (513) 631-2452 • ylcincinnati.com ORGANIZATIONS ORGANIZATIONS American Jewish Committee (513) 621-4020 • ajc.org American Friends of Magen David Adom (513) 521-1197 • afmda.org B’nai B’rith (513) 984-1999 BBYO (513) 722-7244 • mayersonjcc.org Hadassah (513) 821-6157 • cincinnati.hadassah.org Jewish Discovery Center (513) 234-0777 • jdiscovery.com Jewish National Fund (513) 794-1300 • jnf.org Jewish War Veterans (937) 886-9566 • jwv.org NA’AMAT (513) 984-3805 • naamat.org National Council of Jewish Women (513) 891-9583 • ncjw.org ORT America (216) 464-3022 • ortamerica.org State of Israel Bonds (513) 793-4440 • israelbonds.com
Israel’s strategy on Islamic State Islamic State has exploded onto the scene in the Middle East through sheer terror as well as a shrewd military and political strategy. Forming out of the remnants of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the terror group took advantage of the chaos of the Syrian civil war and political instability in Iraq to take over large swathes of territory, and began administering medieval-style Islamic justice to anyone who stood in their way. “When they arrived at cities and villages [in Iraq], the military forces just fled and left their equipment there,” Ganor said. Yet none of the experts consulted by JNS believes Israel is a primary target for Islamic State at the moment, which means the Jewish state may not need to be at the helm of the current battle against the group. “There’s a huge difference between an Islamic State flag being waved on the Temple Mount and an actual, operational cell that exists in the Gaza Strip. In Israel, you’re seeing the former but not the latter,”
CONTRACTING
SENIOR SERVICES
• • • • •
Up to 24 hour care Meal Preparation Errands/Shopping Hygiene Assistance Light Housekeeping
(513) 531-9600 SEPARATION from page 9 law this year to include haredim in Israel’s mandatory draft. The mandate doesn’t go into effect for another three years, and 61 percent of Israelis – including 98 percent of haredim themselves – don’t believe haredi Jews will ultimately be drafted. The passage of the draft law this year came amid rising haredisecular tensions, which culminated with at least 300,000 haredim taking to the streets of Jerusalem in mass protest in March. According to the Hiddush poll, 68 percent of Israelis viewed haredisecular tensions as one of the worst internal conflicts in Israel. “Last year was characterized by a lack of communication between the sectors,” Aharon Kravitz, a haredi journalist and activist, told JTA. “People talked about the haredim. Nobody talked with the haredim. There’s a lack of understanding, and that influences public opinion.” There was agreement with the Berman said. Nevertheless, there have been indications that Israel is interested in joining the 10-nation coalition against Islamic State, which is being led by the U.S. While Israel’s inclusion in the coalition is possible, “it’s going to be a hard sell,” Berman said. Specifically, Israel may be a liability for the U.S., which is trying to build a coalition out of Arab states that mostly do not have relations with Israel. “Israel is not going to get involved in any airstrikes or sending troops in, and I don’t believe that it should,” Sachs said. But Israel can act in other ways. A senior Israel Defense Forces officer recently quoted by Haaretz confirmed that Israel is providing intelligence to the U.S. on Islamic State, including satellite imagery. Israel also needs “to develop a different military doctrine from the doctrine of dealing with Arab armies, a doctrine of dealing with insurgency that’s based on the capabilities of special units and penetrating operations,” Ganor told
haredim on at least one point: A majority of Israelis, including four-fifths of haredim, backed affirmative action to place haredim in government jobs. As in previous years, the poll also found that Israelis have bridged a once-stark religioussecular divide. Among the 800 total respondents, 49 percent identified as secular, 17 percent as traditional-not-so-religious, 13 percent as traditional-religious, 12 percent as religious and 9 percent as haredi. According to the survey, 42 percent of Israelis observe the Sabbath in some way, whether according to traditional Jewish law or through customs such as lighting candles and blessing wine. “Simplistic divisions are really missing the point,” Regev said. “Respect for Shabbat is not only the domain of those who define themselves as religious. There are varying degrees of personal respect and observance that Israelis follow.” JNS. If Islamic State reaches Jordan or Lebanon, “things can change very rapidly” and “you’re going to see very quickly a lot of coordination against the Islamic State,” even between Israel and Fatah [Abbas’s party], explained Berman, who added the disclaimer that he is “just not seeing that yet because the threat is still conceptual.” Islamic State could also become a threat to other Middle East countries such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, Turkey, and Iran. “When you speak today with decision-makers and security sources, you get the feeling that Iran… is ‘the devil we know’ and ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend,’” said Ganor, who believes that attitude is a big mistake. “When Europe and the U.S. wake up from their dream… they will realize that it is a nightmare because ‘the enemy of our enemy is a bigger enemy of ours,’” he added.
20 • LEGALLY SPEAKING
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Dividing unvested retirement benefits upon divorce Legally Speaking
by Marianna Bettman What happens to unvested retirement benefits when parties get divorced? Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Ohio tackled that question in the case of Daniel v. Daniel. Christen and Sean Daniel were married in 1995 and were divorced in 2011. They had three children. The only real asset of the parties was Sean’s military retirement benefit. Sean had enlisted in the National Guard shortly before the parties married. At the time of the divorce hearing, Sean had sixteen years in the National Guard; fifteen of those were during the marriage. Sometime before the divorce hearing, Sean re-upped for another six years. Sean will be eligible to receive retirement benefits once he has accumulated twenty years of service credit. In Ohio, marital property is divided upon divorce or dissolution, under a system called equitable distribution. The statutory definition of marital property includes “[a]ll real and personal property that currently is owned by either or both of the spouses” and “[a]ll interest that either or both of the spouses currently has in any real or personal property, including, but not limited to, the retirement benefits of the spouses, and that was acquired by either or both of the spouses during the marriage.” This case was tried in Mercer County. The first hearing, as is common most places, was before a magistrate. The magistrate found there were no retirement benefits to divide because they were not yet vested. Christen filed objections to this finding, but the domestic relations judge affirmed that decision, finding that any retirement benefits that Sean may receive in the future were a mere expectancy. The court of appeals in that area agreed, although in a 2-1 decision. The Ohio Supreme Court heard this case, but Sean did not file a brief, and forfeited his right to participate. This bothered some of the justices, who were hesitant about hearing this case for this reason. At the oral argument, Christen argued that an unvested military
retirement benefit is a marital asset subject to division in a divorce. In this case, it was pretty much the only asset of the parties. Most of the needed twenty years for vesting took place during the marriage. Christen argued she should get a pro rata share of the benefits based on the percent that accrued during the marriage. If for some reason the pension never vests, neither party would get anything. But if it does, it would be totally unfair to give the husband all of it, and her none. By a vote of 4-3, in an opinion written by Justice Bill O’Neill, for himself and Justices Pfeifer, French, and Kennedy, the Court held that unvested military retirement benefits earned during a marriage are marital assets subject to division in a divorce or dissolution. The court held that retirement benefits are included in the definition of “marital property” in the equitable distribution statute. The statute does not distinguish between vested and unvested retirement benefits. The majority disagreed with the court of appeals’ determination that Sean’s retirement benefit could not be divided because its precise value could not be ascertained on the record presented. “[F]ixing a precise present value and date of vesting is not mandatory,” wrote O’Neill, finding that the trial court had enough information to make an equitable distribution of the retirement benefits. While the exact amount to be divided won’t be known until (and unless) Sean completes his twenty years of service, fixing the percentage of ownership of each spouse is readily ascertainable on the date of divorce. Courts have used two approaches to divide retirement benefits. One is the present value method, which values the benefits as of the date of the final decree, and divides the value between the parties. This method has the benefit of disassociating the parties from one another. The other is the deferred distribution method, in which the court figures out a formula for dividing the monthly benefit at the time of the decree, but defers distribution until the benefits become payable. Even though this doesn’t accomplish the goal of disassociating the parties, it does meet the other important goal of preserving an asset to give each party the maximum benefit. How was Sean’s unvested military retirement benefit to be divided in this case? The court approved of one method, advanced by Christen, called the couverture fraction, meaning the ratio of the number of years Sean was in the military during the marriage, to the total num-
ber of years of his military service. But the Court left it to the trial court to determine, when the case got sent back, what method it wanted to use. There were two dissents in the case, one by Justice Terrence O’Donnell, just for himself, and one by Justice Judy Lanzinger, joined by Chief Justice O’Connor. Justice Lanzinger and the Chief thought the case should have been dismissed because it wasn’t fair to make such important law with only one side arguing before the Court. But all three dissenters agreed on a key point-that unvested retirement benefits are not marital property subject to division in Ohio. They cited the statutory definition of marital property, which only includes benefits a spouse currently owns or currently has, which does not include the military retirement benefits in this case. In this case, the military retirement benefits are not currently owned by either party, can only be acquired, if ever, after the termination of the marriage, and may never vest. Sean Daniel did not currently own any right to military retirement benefits from the National Guard, because at the time of the divorce he had not yet accumulated twenty years of service credit. Nor did he currently have an interest in those benefits because his interest was not vested, and could only become so after the termination of the marriage. Until a pension is vested, neither party has a current interest, as required by the statute, and vesting is a contingent event. But this position did not command a majority of the justices. This case was sent back to the domestic relations judge in Mercer county, who issued a decision this June. He ruled that Sean Daniel’s unvested military retirement benefit earned during the marriage was marital property subject to equitable distribution. This retirement benefit was to be divided by applying the coverture fraction, meaning the ratio of the number of years Sean was in the military during the marriage, (here 15 years) to the total number of years of his military service, which cannot yet be determined, since Sean is still with the National Guard. Each party will receive one half of this computed amount when Sean is no longer with the service, but only if the benefits are then vested. In the event that Sean’s military retirement benefits never vest, neither party gets anything. Sean must notify the Court when his military retirement benefits become vested so that the court can issue the appropriate order. His failure to do so would result in a contempt finding.
Social Security Disability A LEGAL LOOK
by Michael Ganson APPLICABLE LAW Under the authority of the Social Security Act, the Social Security Administration has established a five-step sequential evaluation process for determining whether an individual is disabled (20 CFR 404.1520(a)). The steps are followed in order. If it is determined that the claimant is or is not disabled at a step of the evaluation process, the evaluation will not go on to the next step. At step one, the undersigned must determine whether the claimant is engaging in substantial gainful activity (20 CFR 404.1520(b)). Substantial gainful activity (SGA) is defined as work activity that is both substantial and gainful. If an individual engages in SGA, she is not disabled regardless of how severe her physical or mental impairments are and regardless of her age, education, or work experience. If the individual is not engaging in SGA, the analysis proceeds to the second step. At step two, the undersigned must determine whether the claimant has a medically determinable impairment that is “severe” or a combination of impairments that is “severe” (20 CFR 404.1520(c)). An impairment or combination of impairments is “severe” within the meaning of the regulations if it significantly limits an individual's ability to perform basic work activities. If the claimant does not have a severe medically determinable impairment or combination of impairments, she is not disabled. If the claimant has a severe impairment or combination of impairments, the analysis proceeds to the third step. At step three, the undersigned must determine whether the claimant's impairment or combination of impairments is of a severity to meet or medically equal the criteria of an impairment listed in 20 CFR Part 404, Subpart P, Appendix l (20 CPR 404.1520(d), 404.1525, and 404.1526). If the claimant's impairment or combination of impairments is of a severity to meet or medically equal the criteria of a listing and meets the dura-
tion requirement (20 CFR 404.1509), the claimant is disabled. If it does not, the analysis proceeds to the next step. Before considering step four of the sequential evaluation process, the undersigned must first determine the claimant's residual functional capacity (20 CFR 404.1520(e)). An individual's residual functional capacity is her ability to do physical and mental work activities on a sustained basis despite limitations from her impairments. In making this finding, the undersigned must consider all of the claimant's impairments, including impairments that are not severe (20 CFR 404.1520(e) and 404.1545; SSR 96-8p). Next, the undersigned must determine at step four whether the claimant has the residual functional capacity to perform the requirements of her past relevant work (20 CFR 404.1520(£)). The term past relevant work means work performed (either as the claimant actually performed it or as it is generally performed in the national economy) within the last 15 years or 15 years prior to the date that disability must be established. In addition, the work must have lasted long enough for the claimant to learn to do the job and have been SGA (20 CFR 404.1560(b) and 404.1565). If the claimant has the residual functional capacity to do her past relevant work, the claimant is not disabled. If the claimant is unable to do any past relevant work or does not have any past relevant work, the analysis proceeds to the fifth and last step. At the last step of the sequential evaluation process (20 CPR 404.1520(g)), the undersigned must determine whether the claimant is able to do any other work considering her residual functional capacity, age, education, and work experience. If the claimant is able to do other work, she is not disabled. If the claimant is not able to do other work and meets the duration requirement, she is disabled. Although the claimant generally continues to have the burden of proving disability at this step, a limited burden of going forward with the evidence shifts to the Social Security Administration. In order to support a finding that an individual is not disabled at this step, the Social Security Administration is responsible for providing evidence that demonstrates that other work exists in significant numbers in the national economy that the claimant can do, given the residual functional capacity, age, education, and work experience (20 CPR 404. l 512(g) and 404.1560(c)).
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TEEN HERO • 21
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2014
Annie Blumenfeld helps keep pets healthy By Suzanne Kurtz Sloan WASHINGTON (JTA) — Annie Blumenfeld’s joy from adopting her dog Teddy was shortlived after she discovered he was infected with heartworm disease. Transmitted through the bite of a mosquito, heartworm disease passes through the bloodstream and takes up residence in a dog’s heart and lungs. If left untreated, the disease will progress, damaging the organs and eventually causing death. While it is preventable, an estimated 45 percent of dogs in the United States are left unprotected. To fight heartworm disease, Teddy received injections of arsenic, was confined to a crate for nearly two months and subjected to multiple trips to the veterinarian. Blumenfeld soon discovered that preventing the disease, accomplished by administering a monthly pill, is easier than curing it. “How to take care of a pet after you rescue them is not something that’s publicized,” she said. So the 16-year-old decided to
CONTINUED from previous page If it is found that the claimant is disabled and there is medical evidence of a substance use disorder(s), the undersigned must determine if the substance use disorder(s) is a contributing factor material to the determination of disability. In making this determination, the undersigned must evaluate the extent to which the claimant's mental and physical limitations would remain if the claimant stopped the substance use. If the remaining limitations would not be disabling, the substance use disorder(s) is a conCAMP from page 16 one’s skin does not matter. To our campers, it means that a critical component of who they are becomes irrelevant, even taboo. Be’chol Lashon staffer Lindsey Newman asserts, “In a Jewish context, often nobody talks about race. I need to talk about race. I don’t feel supported by a community if I can’t trust that my experience is valued. And you can’t value someone’s experience if you don’t talk about it and understand what it is.” We work with our campers to hone their skills and help them be leaders, spokespeople and ambassadors. Fair or not, multicultural Jews are often in the position of educating their communities about religious and racial diversity. At camp this year, one of the catalysts for conversation was the new documentary by Be’chol Lashon’s
embark on an awareness campaign about heartworm disease and its prevention. Two years ago she started Wags 4 Hope, a nonprofit through which she sells her own original paintings of cats and dogs, donating the proceeds to animal shelters and rescue groups. Blumenfeld said she has raised nearly $15,000 from approximately 230 paintings. A sophomore at Fairfield Warde High School in Fairfield, Conn., Blumenfeld speaks at local libraries to younger children about responsible pet care and started a Wags 4 Hope club at her school that has made blankets for a local animal shelter and raised $2,000. She testified recently in the Connecticut State Legislature on behalf of a bill that would raise awareness of heartworm disease prevention throughout the state. “I realized I should share my story,” Blumenfeld said. “And I didn’t want any other pet owner to experience with their dog what we went through with Teddy.” Today, she said, Teddy is “very bouncy and always wagging his tail” and is expected to live “a nice
happy, healthy long life.” Blumenfeld shared with JTA the shaggy friend who’s been her biggest influence, the television personality whom she’d like to meet and her advice to other teens interested in starting a nonprofit.
tributing factor material to the determination of disability (20 CFR 404.1535). If so, the claimant is not disabled.
POLISH from page 8
JTA: Who or what have been the biggest influences in your life so far? Annie Blumenfeld: I would have to say it’s my dog. My parents have been really great, too. JTA: If you could have lunch or coffee with anyone and tell him or her about Wags 4 Hope, who would it be? AB: Jill Rappaport. I love the rescue work that she does on her segments for NBC’s “Today Show.” JTA: Can you share with us a meaningful Jewish experience that you’ve had? AB: A little over three years ago, I went to the Maccabi Games with my brother. He played for the soccer team. It was a lot of fun to
The information in this article is provided as a public service and does not constitute legal advice which can only be given to you by your lawyer. Many probate and family law matters involve complex and valuable legal rights. It is recommended that you always speak with a lawyer before filing any paperwork with a court.
2001 was a watershed moment for Poland, according to Joanna Michlic, a historian at Bristol University, who wrote a 43-page paper chronicling how the debate split the Catholic Church, generated ultranationalist protests featuring anti-Semitic hate speech, led to the replacement of a memorial plaque that blamed the Germans for the murders and, finally, yielded the first admission by a Polish president of Polish guilt. Before Jedwabne, Holocaust-era crimes by Poles were taboo because they undermined the communist
New York director, Lacey Schwartz. Titled “Little White Lie,” the film provided an opportunity to talk about what factors – race, religion, family, upbringing – make us who we are. Be’chol Lashon campers often are the only people like themselves – a minority in their Jewish communities – and largely are alone in dealing with it. “I would love to show this film at my school,” says Satya SheftlGomes, 13. “There’s a lot of talk about bar and bat mitzvahs and being Jewish right now. There are some kids who just can’t understand how I can be both black and Jewish.” Increasingly, identity is an openended question rather than a multiple choice. In an age where intersectional identities are becoming the norm and racial definitions are not stagnant, communication matters.
In the black community, hair, for example is a pervasive topic. It’s ubiquitous. Think Chris Rock’s “Good Hair” or Carolivia Herron’s “Nappy Hair.” As Lindsey put it, “Because we live in a world not geared towards black hair, it’s something I always need to consider.” At Camp Be’chol Lashon, not talking about hair is just not an option. In an effort to confront difference with sensitivity, it is important to recognize that we may do more harm by doing or saying nothing. “This refusal to accept the stark reality that race matters is regrettable,” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor says, adding, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race.” Not talking about race is essentially not welcoming the full person
Courtesy of Courtesy Annie Blumenfeld
Annie Blumenfeld posing with Teddy, her furry inspiration.
meet Jewish families in Australia.
favorite classes.
JTA: What do you think you want to be doing when you “grow up”?
JTA: What advice would you give to other teens interested in starting a nonprofit?
AB: I’m interested in politics and business. I’m really interested in the legislative process, too. JTA: What kind of things do you like to do for fun?
AB: Find an issue that you’re passionate about and have a personal connection to, but it doesn’t have to be a glamorous issue. If you really run with it, it will take you far.
AB: Obviously, my paintings. I also like doing schoolwork; English and global studies are my narrative that all Poles were equal victims of Nazism. The subject remains divisive today because it undermines the current government’s focus on Polish wartime heroism and resistance to totalitarianism. From a forensic perspective, the dig in Jedwabne was inconclusive. Though an excavation of the site revealed some human remains, it never progressed to include exhumation – as per understandings reached between Polish authorities and rabbis, including Schudrich. Without exhumation, it was impossible to answer such basic questions as how many people died, into the community. It sends the message that this particular important element of identity is not really welcome in this setting. Which is why race is not a topic the Jewish community can afford to ignore. When we acknowledge our differences, we open our community to the complex identities that we all bring into our camps, schools and synagogues. For some of us that difference is visible – it literally is our bodies. Judaism has never shied away from the complex. On the contrary, our tradition teaches us to take on the complicated. As our children embark on a new school year, let us empower and enable them to engage thoughtfully. Let’s work together to open spaces and encourage skills that allow for healthy and productive conversations about difficult topics.
which in turn left the door open to revisionism in far-right circles. Several nationalist lawmakers, clergymen and journalists continue to dispute Polish complicity. “Jedwabne was ultimately a missed opportunity,” Jan Gross, the Princeton historian whose research triggered the 2001 debate, told JTA. “Some important findings were recovered, but questions persisted because the probe was interrupted before basic facts could be recovered.” For Kadlcik, Wasosz is a chance to correct the opportunity missed at Jedwabne. “For the ultranationalists, the bottom line from Jedwabne is as follows: The Jews made accusations but hid behind their religious laws at the first attempt to corroborate,” Kadlcik said. “Well, this time we need to settle this and serve justice.” But Schudrich also drew painful lessons from the Jedwabne probe. “The entire place was littered with human remains – not just the area where we thought the bodies lay,” he said. “So as soon as the digging began, we saw bones fused together in fire, earrings of little girls. We found children’s bones. To any reasonable person, that settled any doubts there may have been about a massacre. There is no justification to violate the dignity of the dead.” As for serving justice, Schudrich said, “The perpetrators will get justice from God. The small minority that refuses to face reality and historical evidence, no exhumation is going to change their minds.”
22 • OBITUARIES
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Topics ranged from Jewish genetic diseases to BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) challenges on college campuses, from marriage inequality in Israel to creative ways to engage new volunteers. Speakers included Dr. Jill Biden, actor Josh Malina, members of the Israeli Knesset, leading rabbis, and a former governor of New York. The Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award recognizes inspiring women from Jewish communities throughout North America.
Coleman received the award for her continued commitment to Jewish Cincinnati, including her work with the Jewish Federation to ensure a strong and vibrant Jewish future through Campaign and legacy giving. She is currently a member of the executive committee of the Board of Trustees and co-chairs the planned giving and endowments committee. Previously, she chaired the Women’s Philanthropy division from 2010 to 2012 and co-chaired the Super Sunday phone-a-thon. She has also been honored by the Kate S. Mack Leadership Award.
Coleman has also inspired Cincinnatians through her giving. In June 2012, she endowed her Lion of Judah gift (which is done by making an endowment commitment to the Federation). “Fran’s husband surprised her by endowing her Federation gift. I thought to myself, what an amazing way to ensure the vitality of the Jewish community when we are no longer here. Fran’s gift inspired me to endow my gift as well,” said Chrissie Blatt, the current chair of Women’s Philanthropy.
opera is a work of “genius.” “To suppress this work of art, which is what they want, would be the worst possible thing,” Gelb said in an interview broadcast on a large screen outside the Opera House. The Met “would be victimized from the very people themselves who have been victims.” Some finely dressed attendees of the opera gala were greeted with hostility from the
sign-wielding protesters and said they felt unfairly attacked. A woman who identified herself as Susan said she had been called “Cinderella” and heckled with shouts of “Shame on you!” “It’s awesome in our country everyone can voice their opinion,” she said. “But for someone to come up and insult us directly, that’s crossing a line. That causes people to not listen to what you have to say.”
Multiple Met employees declined to comment on the protest, whose sponsors included the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Zionist Organization of America, Americans for a Safe Israel, AMCHA, the Catholic League, the Christians’ Israel Public Action Campaign, the One Israel Fund, StandWithUs, Strength to Strength and several New York-area synagogues.
Gavrin’s two cousins, living in the Washington, D.C., area, and referred them to Rogers, who also had lived for years in suburban Maryland and worked in the garment trade. As the son of Gavrin’s sister, he was the likeliest to be a DNA match. In May, Rogers, himself a Korean War veteran, got the news: He was a match. The Pentagon asked the family where they wanted to bury Gavrin, and they opted for Arlington. So early Friday afternoon, under a cloud-dappled blue sky and with a light breeze caressing Arlington’s trimmed lawns, Gavrin was buried with full military honors. Bash, a retired northern Virginia congregational rabbi, delivered a short service, starting “Today, we go back
in time.” For the Kaddish, several members of Gavrin’s extended family – about 40 in all attended the service – joined in, and the rhythmic Aramaic incantations of the memorial prayer rose above the breeze and the murmur of distant traffic. Three volleys were fired. A casket team folded the flag and Sgt. Jason Lewis, a representative of the Army’s 3rd U.S. Infantry regiment, knelt and presented it to Rogers. The U.S. Army band, Pershing’s Own, twice played “Yigdal Elohim Hai,” a hymn, while the casket team brought the casket graveside and “America the Beautiful” as the team folded the flag. A bugler sounded taps. On Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered flags on
state government buildings to fly at half mast in Gavrin’s memory. “After far too many years, he has returned home and has been granted a proper burial alongside the many other heroes who answered the call,” Cuomo said in a statement. Rogers said his family has found peace in the burial. “All that was buried was a bone and a shoe, but I could not be more satisfied. There are 73,000 who are still lying in faroff lands who have not been identified,” Rogers said, referring to the official figure of 73,536 U.S. missing from World War II. “To be lost and then to have his remains recovered is astonishing – and to be buried in hallowed ground.”
against three radical Islamist threats: the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, al-Qaeda and its offshoots, the likes of Islamic State and the Nusra Front, and the radical Shiites, who are sponsored by Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah. “Can this realization translate into a more open relationship that further promotes a responsible, sober and safe diplomatic process? Only time will tell. It’s worth exploring.” Are you saying that a new alliance has been formed between Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel? “That’s taking things a bit
far. But a word to the wise: you saw exactly how various [Arab] nations reacted [favorably] when we mounted a forceful response against Hamas and Islamic Jihad.” What is your message to the Israeli public for the new year? “We have weathered a challenging year… We’ve been able to stop the infiltrators’ phenomenon from Sinai—rivers of illegal migrants were about to flood the county. That problem has been solved, and we are removing those who have entered Israel illegally. This year alone 6,000 infiltrators were removed. This problem, which preoccu-
pied all of us just a year ago, no longer resonates as loudly. “We have also developed our economy and withstood regional upheavals, the likes of which this region has not seen since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. “I was glad to see the resilience, strength, and bravery our people have demonstrated. Our younger generation, IDF soldiers, they have proven themselves as a wonderful generation, a heroic generation. “I wish all of us a happy new year. A safe year. I will do everything in my power to make it a quiet year as well.”
D EATH N OTICES
LION from page 1
FRANK, Jerome, age 89, died September 26, 2014; 2 Tishrei, 5775 JARSON, Samuel, age 100, died September 26, 2014; 2 Tishrei, 5775. CAHN, Martin (Buddy), age 77, died September 26, 2014; 2 Tishrei, 5775.
O BITUARIES JARSON, Samuel Samuel (Sam) Jarson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on January 8, 1914 to Joseph and Sochi Jarsky. At the age of 14, he began working in the soft drink industry, where he eventually became the Production Manager of the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Cincinnati, a company founded and owned by his brother Isaac. He was highly regarded as a pioneer in the soft drink industry and for his expertise in the production process. He retired from PepsiCola in 1980. Sam was a member of Congregation Bnei Tzedek in Cincinnati. He married his wife, the former Bess Gutin, in 1939. In 1991, he and his wife Bess moved to San Bernardino, California. Sam belonged to Congregation Emmanu-El in San Bernardino. Sam Jarson died on September 26, 2014 at the age of 100. He is survived by his daughter Rita (Rabbi Hillel) Cohn of San Bernardino, his son Howard (Hannah) of Rancho Santa Fe and his grandchildren Elana (David) Cohn-Rozansky of Lake Oswego, OR, Marc (Rochelle) Cohn of Vista, CA, Aaron (Mariaelena) Jarson of Morgan Hill, CA, and Jennifer (Wayne Miller) Jarson of Mertztown, PA. He is also survived by seven great-grandchildren: Jeremy Rozansky (New York), Adam Rozansky (Lake Oswego, OR), Sarah and Leah Cohn (Vista, CA), and Raquel, Isaac and Ari Jarson (Morgan Hill, CA) and numerous nieces and nephews, but especially Jacqueline (Ted) Lindauer of S. Lebanon, OH. He was predeceased by his brothers Isaac N. Jarson and Reuben Jarson and by his sisters Ida Kravitz, Bess Statman, Ann Linder and Lil Weiner. Funeral services were held on Tuesday, September 30th in San Bernardino with interment following at Home of Eternity Cemetery, San Bernardino. Contributions may be made to the Rabbi Hillel Cohn Scholarship Fund of Hebrew Union College, 3077 University Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90007, or to the charity of your choice. Messages of condolence can be sent to Rita and Rabbi Hillel Cohn, 3947 Ironwood Street, San Bernardino, CA 92404.
Fran Dubroff Coleman
MET from page 6 here in New York years ago?” None of the protesters interviewed by JTA had seen the show, but many said they had seen snippets of the libretto. “The pro-terrorist bias begins with the title: It should be ‘The Murder of Klinghoffer,’ “ read one sign at the protest. Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, maintains that the
PRIVATE from page 6 “In November 1948, the American Graves Registration Services reviewed the circumstances of Gavrin’s loss and concluded his remains were non-recoverable,” the Pentagon said in a Sept. 10 release outlining the events leading to the recovery of Gavrin’s remains. It wasn’t until September 2013, when Japanese researchers scouring Saipan, now a U.S. territory, for the remains of Japanese troops uncovered a grave with the remains of four U.S. soldiers, including a bone, a shoe and a dog tag belonging to Gavrin. They turned over the remains to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. U.S. officials tracked down
NETANYAHU from page 9 Senate passed a resolution declaring Israel a major strategic partner, and Congress appropriated $235 million in [defense] aid [to Israel]. These are the markings of a very deep bond.” What is your plan regarding Israel’s standing in the Middle East? “We’re talking about cementing and advancing Israel’s power. The changes leading Arab nations have undergone have led them to view Israel not as their traditional enemy, but as a partner
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