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Wait til you see it now! Fran Gafvert, Danielle Minson, Brian Jaffee, Beth Schwartz and Shep Englander at Jewish Family Service's February groundbreaking of its Barbash Family Vital Support Center that is now open and serving our community.
The community is invited to the Grand Opening Celebration of the Jewish Family Service Barbash Family Vital Support Center 9:30 – 11 am Sunday, October 27, 2013 on the campus of Hebrew Union College in Clifton. The Jewish Family Service Barbash Family Vital Support Center provides a comprehensive approach to tackling the hardships that accompany poverty, hunger, and mental illness. “A 2008 community survey identified 1,100 low-income Jewish households in Cincinnati, and another 1,625 households that are just one car repair, one job layoff, or one health setback from descending into poverty. Along with poverty,
hunger, and mental illness, come the hardships of homelessness, fear, isolation, stress and despair,” said Beth Schwartz, Jewish Family Service Executive Director. By offering services under one roof, Jewish Family Service professional social workers and care managers can best lead their clients toward stability, security, and selfsufficiency. Clients at the Barbash Family Vital Support Center will benefit from a food pantry to end hunger, case management to promote stability, and peer-based socialization activities to encourage wellness and recovery. The food pantry is open to Jewish Family Service clients as well as all people in need who live in
Cincinnati's 45220 zip code area. It is the only food pantry in the region that also includes a section with a full array of kosher foods and meat. The Vital Support Center is also the only place in our community that addresses the unique needs of people experiencing hunger, poverty and mental illness who desire to be served within a Jewish cultural setting. For example, Jewish Family Service clients can enjoy Jewish holiday themed parties, rabbinic support, and Hebrew classes. “Socialization and spiritual needs are as important to achieving wellness as nutrition, exercise and diet. We focus on helping clients achieve their goals in all these areas,” said Fran Gafvert, Jewish Family Service
Director of Vital Services. In the spirit of tikkun olam (repairing the world), the Barbash Family Vital Support Center will offer a wide range of social action and volunteer opportunities. “The Barbash Family Vital Support Center is a place where clients, staff, and volunteers are welcome, and where everyone can feel accepted and be accepting. Together we can end the stigma of poverty, hunger, and mental illness,” said Gafvert. Come take a tour of the new Center to see how it is so much more than just a food pantry, and learn how you and your family can volunteer.
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Adath Israel Congregation’s Project Isaiah Food Drive vastly exceeds last year’s collection Before Kol Nidre on Friday September 13, Adath Israel teenagers collected brown bags full of food for their annual Project Isaiah Food Drive. The empty food bags were passed out to congregants on the first and second days of Rosh Hashanah. Congregants were asked to fill them with non-perishable food items and bring them back to the synagogue before the start of the Kol Nidre service on Yom Kippur. All of the food from this drive was donated to the West End Emergency Center. This
center feeds roughly 325 people a month at no cost and will not turn away anyone in need. With Adath Israel’s help, the center will have food on their shelves at least until the end of the year. Mary Walton, of the West End Emergency Center told Adath Israel, “Our shelves were empty and you filled our pantry, and now we can meet a lot more families’ demands and are able offer them a wide variety of food choices”. Donations were much higher this year. Adath Israel congre-
gants donated so many bags that the U-haul that came to pick them up was not big enough. The center had to call in four other vans/trucks, which they filled. Next year, The West End Emergency Center will bring a bigger U-haul!
JVS Career Services will feature career strategist Julie Bauke Whether they realize it or not, many people make the same mistakes over and over when they are looking for jobs. Career strategist Julie Bauke knows the most commonly made mistakes and she will offer suggestions to remedy these mistakes at the next JVS Career Services Presents event. JVS Career Services will present “Firing Up Your Job Search” from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Oct. 17, at Wise Temple in Amberley Village. Bauke will offer practical strategies, tools and tips for job seekers so they can get better results. The event also will feature the opportunity to network with other members of the community, representing various businesses and careers. People can register by visiting the JVS website. There is a charge for admission. Bauke is President of The Bauke Group, based in Cincinnati. She is the jobs and career expert for 700WLW-AM radio and WXIX-TV Fox 19, and author of “Stop Peeing on Your Shoes; Avoiding the 7 Mistakes that Screw Up Your Job Search.” “This event will be ideal for people who are conducting job searches but not getting the results they want, or those who want to do better next time,”
Career strategist Julie Bauke
said Peter M. Bloch, President and CEO of JVS Career Services. “Julie is known for her insight, energy and humor,” Bloch added. “She’s also known for educating and motivating people who want to build the career of their dreams. She is sure to fire up the job search of those who attend.” Bauke’s experience in the career coaching and human resources fields has taught her that even smart, accomplished people repeatedly make the same mistakes as they seek new
opportunities. That’s because they were never taught how to find a job. The event will be the second in a series of events called JVS Career Services Presents. The series will address diverse career needs, ranging from how to find a first job, to retirement transitions. JVS Career Services launched the series in August with “Who Gets Promoted,Who Doesn’t and Why,” featuring career guru Donald Asher. Dozens of community members at various stages of their careers learned about career advancement strategies from the bestselling author and traded careerrelated tips with each other. “People felt enriched with the information Don shared and better connected because of the people they met,” Bloch said. “The event confirmed that people are thirsty for career advice and networking opportunities.” Consistent with Jewish values, JVS Career Services guides individuals along their career paths by preparing, connecting, and empowering them throughout their lives. Contact information for JVS Career Services can be found in The American Israelite’s Community Directory near the back of this edition.
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JCC and Rockwern preschoolers celebrate Sukkot together On Monday, September 23, four year olds from the JCC Early Childhood School and Rockwern Academy joined together, with their families to celebrate Sukkot and enjoy a meal in the sukkah. “We were so proud to host the luncheon in our community sukkah for students and their families from both Rockwern and the JCC Early Childhood School. It was an excellent opportunity to bring together young members of our community, and showcase the fantastic artwork that was on display as part of our Community Sukkah – Under One Roof. Facilitating this sort of collaboration is what the JCC is all about,” said Marc Fisher, CEO of the Mayerson JCC. During this luncheon, the children shared a meal, participated in a rain dance, and shook the lulav and etrog. Each child also made two pieces of art, one for them to bring back to their own school’s sukkah and one for the other school’s sukkah. "The joint sukkah party between the JCC and Rockwern
Rockwern and JCC students enjoy their lunch in the community sukkah at the JCC.
four year olds has set a great example for our community on being inclusive and interested in sharing a special holiday with friends, while also giving the opportunity for both schools to come together providing collaborative initiatives bringing the dream of Cincinnati 2020 closer to becoming a reality in our Cincinnati Jewish community. “It
was all smiles and celebrating in such a beautiful community sukkah and it felt truly special to be a part of this great event," said Ariella Cohen, Rockwern mother and a JCC board member. The 1,800 sq. ft. sukkah at the JCC was decorated with artwork from 48 community agencies visually describing what community means to their organization.
Participating agencies included both Jewish and secular organizations, local synagogues and various arts organizations. “It was such a pleasure to see students from Rockwern’s preschool and the JCC preschool all together to celebrate Sukkot. The community sukkah at the JCC was beautiful and welcoming, and everyone had a wonderful time. It was so nice to see parents, children and teachers/staff from both schools enjoying this wonderful holiday. I was particularly impressed with the colorful and diverse fabric panels decorating the sukkah that had been created by so many organizations”, said Dr. David Finell, Rockwern Academy Head of School. The JCC community sukkah has been visited by thousands of guests, including students from Nativity School, Mount Notre Dame High School and Seven Hills School. Signatures of the sukkah’s visitors were proudly displayed on the guest panel.
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VOL. 160 • NO. 11 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013 29 TISHREI 5774 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 6:50 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 8:00 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
Merav Michaeli, a Knesset member from Labor, said Netanyahu refuses to accept successful diplomacy with Iran because he wants to see Iran forfeit. She characterized the prime minister’s approach this way: “It’s not about reaching an agreement, it’s not about reaching the goal, sometimes we even forget along the way what the goal is – but we need to win.” But, Michaeli said, “We need to realize it’s OK to negotiate. We don’t always have to win.” Embracing diplomacy doesn’t mean shelving the threat of a military strike, she said. “If they’re lying, we’ll find out and we can always use the other way.”
JORY EDLIN JULIE TOREM Assistant Editors YOSEFF FRANCUS Copy Editor JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM IRIS PASTOR ZELL SCHULMAN PHYLLIS R. SINGER Contributing Columnists BONNIE ULLNER Advertising Sales JENNIFER CARROLL Production Manager ERIN WYENANDT Office Manager
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call last Friday between President Obama and Rouhani. “The right solution to most of the problems that affect America in the Middle East is through diplomacy.” The Israeli Knesset members who came to the conference were divided over whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s skeptical approach is the best way to respond to the diplomatic push by Iran. “We are not party poopers because we don’t know if there is a reason for a party,” said Tzachi Hanegbi, a Likudnik and Netanyahu confidant. However, he described Iran’s diplomatic overtures as “the fulfillment of our dreams.”
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Likud party member Tzachi Hanegbi speaks at the J Street conference in Washington, Sept. 29, 2013.
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WASHINGTON (JTA) – Amid the dramatic shift in tone in the U.S.-Iran relationship following Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit last week to the United Nations, Israeli officials are broadcasting a clear message: Be skeptical. But at the J Street conference in Washington this week, which drew nearly 3,000 participants, including a slew of Israeli and U.S. analysts and politicians, the message was much different: Give diplomacy a chance. If Iran says it is ready to negotiate on its nuclear program, that may be proof that the strategy of sanctions coupled with diplomacy is succeeding, Kenneth Pollack, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said at a panel discussion devoted to Iran. “The whole point was to use a series of carrots and stick to try and get the Iranians to come around,” he said. “This is what victory looks like.” But, Pollack cautioned, this may be only the start of a long process of negotiation. “We’ve completed part of what we want to do,” Pollack said. “Perhaps this is the end of the beginning.” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami sounded an optimistic note. “To my mind this is wind in the sails,” he said of the phone
Though Iran took a backseat to discussion of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict at the J Street conference, the ObamaRouhani phone call helped make it a major topic of debate at the confab. Husam Zomlot, executive deputy commissioner of the Palestinians’ Fatah Commission for International Affairs, told JTA that Netanyahu’s skepticism toward Rouhani is driven by his fear that Iran might be removed as a useful political tool for Israel. “I am so delighted at this phone call, and I hope this is going to bring an end to this use of Iran as a pretext or an excuse to not move ahead with the peace process,” Zomlot said. Meir Javedanfar, a professor of contemporary Iranian politics at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, said that whatever the outcome of the Iranian situation, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should remain a priority for Israel. “Iranian nuclear program, no Iranian nuclear program – we still need to make peace with the Palestinians,” Javedanfar said “I think not making peace with the Palestinians will be as big an existential danger as Iran.”
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PHYLLIS R. SINGER Editor & General Manager, 1985-1999
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At J Street, giving Iran the benefit of the doubt
THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE (USPS 019-320) is published weekly for $44 per year and $1.00 per single copy in Cincinnati and $49 per year and $3.00 per single copy elsewhere in U.S. by The American Israelite Co. 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, OH. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE, 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037. The views and opinions expressed by the columnists of The American Israelite do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the newspaper.
THURSDAY, SOCTOBER 3, 2013
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Shrugging at censure, Chovevei’s Asher Lopatin articulates vision for ‘open Orthodoxy’ By Uriel Heilman NEW YORK (JTA) – When Rabbi Asher Lopatin is formally installed as the new president of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah on Sunday, the program will showcase what makes the Modern Orthodox rabbinical school unique in the Orthodox world. The event’s centerpiece will be a roundtable discussion with leaders of three non-Orthodox rabbinical schools: Rabbi David Ellenson, Arnold Eisen and Rabbi Arthur Green. Such diversity is unheard of at other Orthodox rabbinic institutions. But just as notable for who is on the panel is who is not. Lopatin will be the lone Orthodox figure – a sign of the difficulties the 13-year-old New York seminary has had in achieving mainstream Orthodox acceptance. Lopatin said he invited Richard Joel, president of Yeshiva University, but Joel told him he will be out of town that day. The haredi Orthodox Agudath Israel of America issued a statement condemning the roundtable, saying it “does violence” to the principle that a yeshiva should shun rabbis of non-Orthodox movements that have led Jews “down the path toward Jewish oblivion.” For his part, Lopatin doesn’t appear too concerned with censure. “We can’t be afraid of criticism; we have to do the right thing,” Lopatin told JTA. “Everyone’s going to criticize us anyway for everything.” The question of how Chovevei treats non-Orthodox Jews is far more important to Lopatin than how Chovevei is treated by the Orthodox. Though Lopatin wants Chovevei connected to the Orthodox world, including haredi Jews, he says it cannot come at the cost of compromise to the yeshiva’s ideology of “open Orthodoxy.” “What does open Orthodoxy mean?” Lopatin said. “It’s first of all feeling confident enough that you’re open to entertaining questions and challenges, you’re not afraid of them.” Chovevei (also known by the acronym YCT), which is located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, was founded in 2000 by Riverdale Rabbi Avi Weiss as a liberal alternative to Y.U.’s rabbinical school, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, or RIETS. The original idea was to produce more rabbis committed to filling synagogue pulpits. But over time, with most Chovevei graduates going into
Courtesy of JTA Staff
Rabbi Asher Lopatin will mark his installation as president of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah with a roundtable discussion featuring Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson, left, and other nonOrthodox leaders.
non-pulpit work, the school evolved into a training ground for Orthodox rabbis interested in ministering to non-Orthodox Jews. Chovevei graduates work as hospital chaplains, Jewish educators and college campus rabbis, as well as in summer camps and Jewish organizations. About 40 percent of the school’s 87 alumni work in synagogues, many of them oriented to welcoming nonOrthodox Jews. Weiss says the range of their work captures the essence of what open Orthodoxy is all about: reaching out to nonOrthodox Jews while remaining firmly rooted in Orthodox practice. Chovevei’s curriculum is reflective of that approach. Rabbinical training is not limited to religious studies; nearly a quarter of the program is devoted to pastoral training and professional development. Even within the Jewish study component, Lopatin believes students shouldn’t just get grounding in the classic Orthodox ordination topics of kosher and ritual purity laws but also in philosophy, social justice, Israel studies and gender issues. At Chovevei, a student may study both the Talmud and Amos Oz. Lopatin is himself a product of a diverse background. He holds two rabbinical ordinations: from the late Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik of the Brisk yeshiva in Chicago and from RIETS. Before he attended Y.U., he spent five years at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. He also was a Truman scholar and has been listed on Newsweek’s list of America’s 50 top rabbis. The longtime leader of Chicago’s Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation, Lopatin was chosen as the successor to Weiss at Chovevei more than a year ago. He started his new job on July 1; the installation ceremony
on Sunday is more of a celebration than a formal inauguration. The scheduled roundtable, “Training New Rabbis for a New Generation,” reflects Chovevei’s philosophy. Ellenson is president of the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; Eisen is the chancellor of the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary; Green is a former dean of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and now the rector of Hebrew College near Boston. Also on the panel is Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson, a Reform rabbi and president of the Wexner Foundation. “We’re bringing the leaders of the Jewish world together,” CENSURE on page 20
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Seeking Kin: At Brandeis, a new generation rekindles enduring bonds By Hillel Kuttler BALTIMORE (JTA) – Teenagers Mark Matsuki and Leon Feldman came to study in the Boston area this summer as strangers and left as friends, unintentionally regrafting family-like branches of a tree that first took root four generations ago. In Leningrad in 1932, Dora Belinsky, Julia Kritchevski and Natasha Gershovich met as firstgraders and established what would become lifelong bonds. The parents of the girls became friends, too, and the families vacationed together following the ninth-grade term. They were returning to Leningrad as the German attack on the Russian city began on June 22, 1941. They reached the city by foot and would survive its siege. For the rest of their lives, the three girls rarely spoke about the deprivations and trauma they experienced. They all married in the 1940s and raised families near where they grew up, in the city’s center. Gershovich became a pediatrician; her patients included the children of Belinsky and Kritchevski. The next generation became friends, too. Soon after the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, Kritchevski and her family immigrated to Germany, and Belinsky
Courtesy of Dina Belinsky
Dora Belinsky, center, and Julia Kritchevski – with the latter's husband, Roman Lanzman – established an enduring bond after meeting as first-graders.
and her clan to the United States. Gershovich remained in Leningrad, since renamed St. Petersburg, and often visits Kritchevski in Germany. But when Belinsky died about a decade ago, the connections between the descendants frayed. Still, Kritchevski’s granddaughter, Maria, remembered that Belinsky’s granddaughter Dina had married a Japanese man. So when Feldman, Maria Kritchevski’s 15-year-old son, called home a few months ago from
Brandeis University, where he was attending the Genesis program for Jewish high-schoolers, she asked about his experiences and the friends he had made. Leon mentioned Matsuki, a boy living near Indianapolis. Kritchevski asked whether Mark’s mother was named Dina; the answer was yes. Upon receiving the news, “I was crying all night long because it was so unbelievable,” Kritchevski said recently from Berlin, where she works as a radio broadcaster.
“My grandmother was Dina’s grandmother’s best friend. Their husbands were also friends. My grandmother kept in touch with Dina’s grandmother all the time after [the latter] moved to the United States. And all these years later, my son went to the U.S. and met Mark!” Similar reconnections have occurred occasionally over the years at Genesis, a monthlong program based at Brandeis that draws students from around the world. Dina Belinsky said she remembers Maria as her classmate at Elementary and Middle School No. 207, near Nevsky Prospekt, Leningrad’s commercial center. As had their own mothers and grandmothers when they were girls, Dina and Maria visited one another’s homes, went to the park and “did what you do with your best friends,” she said. So their sons discovering one another is “almost like finding a longlost relative,” she said. To Maria Kritchvski, the reconnection is “very important because the chain was a little bit broken” due to the emigrations of more than 20 years ago. “Dina and I knew about each other by the stories our grandmothers told, but we had no contact. This
shows us that it’s very, very important not to break the chain,” she said. Maria Kritchevski recently filled in her grandmother. Julia Kritchevski, an 88-year-old retired teacher of Russian who lives in the German city of Dusseldorf, was thrilled to hear that her great-grandson now knows Dora’s great-grandson. Similarly happy is Shaya Lokshin, Matsuki’s great-grandfather, who is 93 and resides in Chattanooga, Tenn. Maria Kritchevski added, “I’ve told this story to everybody – to all of my friends.” “It’s the biggest emotion I’ve felt in years,” she said. “It’s a good story for a Hollywood film.” Even before learning of their connection, the boys had been enjoying each other’s company. They were housed on the same floor of a Brandeis dormitory and spoke Russian together. But knowing that they can perpetuate a bond begun 81 years ago makes their connection more profound. Since returning home, they regularly email and send Facebook messages, and Mark plans to fly to Berlin to visit Leon in March. “It’s clear that it’s not a one-time thing,” said Mark, 16. “We’re establishing a friendship.”
Israel-born sculptor Omri Amrany carves out a niche in American sports By Hillel Kuttler BALTIMORE (JTA) – Needing a gift for retiring New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera, the Baltimore Orioles pitched their idea for a sculpture to the Israel-born artist Omri Amrany. No surprise there, even though Amrany knows nothing about baseball. The 59-year-old Amrany, now living in the Chicago area, has become the go-to guy for sculptures of athletic giants. A week after the Orioles put in their request, they had their gift for Rivera, who retired Sunday after a record-breaking career with the Yanks. The work was presented to Rivera during an on-field ceremony on Sept. 12 by Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who coincidentally was the pitcher’s first skipper in 1995 with the Yankees. It depicts a broken bat – the symbol of what often results when Rivera’s signature pitch, the cut fastball, bends toward hitters. “We’ve been admirers of his work, especially in sports,” Greg Bader, the Orioles vice president for communications and marketing, said of Amrany. “We’re thrilled with how it turned out, and we think that Mariano was impressed, as well.” Rivera joins a pantheon of alltime greats to be immortalized by Amrany. The group includes hockey
legends Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull; Green Bay Packers football coaches Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi; Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson; Negro Leagues catcher Josh Gibson; Los Angeles Lakers basketball stars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West and Magic Johnson. Not to mention perhaps the greatest of them all, Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls. Typically the statues are commissioned by the teams to adorn their arenas or, in Green Bay’s case, for a heritage campaign on sidewalks across the Wisconsin city. Baseballs, footballs and hockey pucks were foreign to Amrany, who was raised on Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov (Meuchad), just south of the Sea of Galilee, playing soccer. Among his jobs there, he worked in the banana orchards, date plantations and cotton fields. He also founded a musical club in its bomb shelter, which he painted in psychedelic colors. In another shelter he set up his art studio. “If you’d have told me then I’d be an American citizen sculpting their famous sportsmen, I’d have told you you were nuts,” Amrany said. A year later, though, after saying he wanted to be an artist, the kibbutz sent Amrany to Pietrasanta, Italy, to study marble carving. There he met Chicago native Julie Rotblatt, a fel-
low sculptor who in 1987 became his wife. The Amranys and their son, Itamar, 24, now have a studio in Highwood, Ill., along with a stable of artists with whom they collaborate. Amrany draws, paints and works in tapestry, and his sculptures use metal or stone. His subjects are diverse: soldiers, leaves, a bird, a dancer, a child in a wheelchair, police officers, a mother with her son. Clients include hospitals, corporations, municipalities and universities – and many sports teams. His first break in the athletics realm occurred in 1994, when he and his wife won an artistic competition to design a monument to the immensely popular Jordan. The sculpture of the Bulls guard taking flight to a dunk opened the sports world’s eyes to Amrany “like 100 other pieces would not do,” he said. “The guy who sculpted the Iwo Jima statue or Mount Rushmore – the size and the subject created their legacy,” Amrany said. Jordan represented “an opportunity of a lifetime to create a legacy piece.” The bronze and stainless steel work necessitated more than four hours of meetings with Jordan, including a session in Nashville, Tenn., during Jordan’s temporary retirement from basketball to dabble in minor league baseball. Amrany said he measured “every piece of
[Jordan’s] skin” and took 150 photographs of him, then set to work designing and sculpting the statue, which stands outside the Bulls’ arena. But the sports floodgates truly opened in 1998, when the Amranys sculpted the statue of the Chicago Cubs’ beloved broadcaster Harry Caray that’s now outside Wrigley Field. Soon after, Amrany received a telephone call from a woman whom he assumed worked for Detroit’s zoo because she asked if he could sculpt five tigers. Not imagining one facility’s containing so many of the creature, Amrany mentioned the conversation to another artist, who he said responded: “What are you, crazy? It’s the Detroit Tigers!” And so it happened that Amrany sculpted the baseball team’s icons: Hank Greenberg, Ty Cobb, Hal Newhouser, Al Kaline and Charlie Gehringer. For Rivera’s gift, Amrany wasn’t portraying a person, and he also faced a time crunch. The Orioles contacted him just over a week before the Yankees’ final visit to Baltimore prior to Rivera’s retirement, so what normally may have been spaced over several months was done “at the last minute,” Amrany explained. Beauty being in the eye of the beholder, though, not everyone is
enamored with Amrany’s work. His style tends toward what the artist called “expressionistic,” with a sense of an athlete’s motion, and Johnson’s grandson, Henry Thomas, told The New York Times last year that he abhorred the great pitcher being shown whipping a fastball with multiple right arms. That’s OK with Amrany, who said he respects that Thomas “didn’t like this piece of art.” “After all, art without criticism is something that is very boring,” Amrany said. While the Rivera piece is the last Amrany project to be unveiled this baseball season, the artist has plenty more in the pipeline. He’s toiling on projects for teams in the minor leagues and for towns wanting to honor residents who went on to achieve great things as athletes. And he’s bidding on several commissions for New York teams. All of which, Amrany says, aren’t turning him into a bigger baseball or even sports fan, but do increase his appreciation for the artistic side of an athlete’s craft. “The human spirit of achievement, for me, is important. You can call it sport or anything you want,” he said. “In a way, it’s like the old history of Greek sport: looking at the clear achievement of the human personality.”
NATIONAL • 7
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013
Speak out about Iran — but not so loudly, Netanyahu counseled By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) – Worried that he may be losing the biggest stick in his arsenal when it comes to Iran – the threat of a U.S. strike – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington for a meeting Monday with President Obama prepared to speak out. But friends, colleagues and outside experts urged him to do so softly. The American Jewish Committee and an array of Israeli lawmakers who share Netanyahu’s belief that the ostensible moderation of Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s newly elected president, is a sham also made the case that his warnings about Iran have been too shrill. David Harris, the AJC’s longtime executive director, warned that Israel’s overheated rhetoric risked turning the country into the unheeded Greek seer Cassandra. “Unless Israel wants to continue to find itself largely alone on the world stage, it will have to find new ways to make its case, so that it is not just talking to itself and its support-
ers,” Harris wrote in an Op-Ed on Friday in Haaretz. “Simply implying, for instance, that anyone who sits down with Rouhani is a modernday Neville Chamberlain or Edouard Daladier won’t do the trick. To the contrary, it will only give offense and alienate. There are more effective and less shrill ways of making the case for caution, vigilance, and strength.” The bluntness of the warning was notable coming from the AJC, a group that has been among the most steadfast in amplifying Netanyahu’s concerns about Iran and promoting the blistering sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy. Joining in the warning was Jeremy Ben-Ami, whose liberal proIsrael group J Street is convening its annual conference in Washington this week. “I would hope that the Israeli prime minister does not do things and say things that indicate that Israel would not be interested in a diplomatic solution,” Ben-Ami told reporters during the conference. “It has to be verified, you’ve got to test this out. I’m not saying just accept [Rouhani] on face value.”
Courtesy of Kobi Gideon/GPO/Flash90
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara arrive in New York, Sept. 29, 2013.
In the wake of a groundbreaking telephone call between Obama and Rouhani on Friday – the first such high-level contacts between the two countries since the 1979 Iranian Revolution – Netanyahu ordered top officials not to speak to the media. Netanyahu’s sole statement before leaving for the United States on Saturday night suggested that he remains uneasy about the rapprochement. “I will tell the truth in the face of the sweet talk and the onslaught of
smiles,” Netanyahu said. “One must talk facts and one must tell the truth. Telling the truth today is vital for the security and peace of the world and, of course, it is vital for the security of the State of Israel.” Netanyahu met Monday with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House. He will address the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. During a brief meeting with reporters in the Oval Office, Netanyahu said he asked Obama to maintain the twin pressures of sanctions and the threat of military action. “I believe it’s the combination of a credible military threat and the pressure of the sanctions that has brought Iran to the negotiating table,” Netanyahu said. They should not be lessened until there is verifiable success.” Obama agreed that U.S.-led sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table, and that “words are not sufficient.” “We have to see if in fact they are serious about their willingness to abide by international norms, international laws,” Obama said. “We
enter these negotiations with a clear eye – anything we do will require the highest standards of verification.” Obama repeated that all options, including military options, remain on the table. Israel reportedly was informed about the call with Rouhani before it happened. And Obama, in announcing the conversation, emphasized that as the United States pursues diplomatic engagement with Iran, it would “stay in close touch with our friends and allies in the region, including Israel.” In an interview prior to the Rouhani call, Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, chided Western powers for “wishful thinking” when it came to Iran. “We’ve seen it repeatedly, both in the case of North Korea and in the case of Iran itself, that attempts to reach compromise have fallen victim to deceit and some wishful thinking,” Oren told JTA. “It may be an unpopular position, and people accuse us of being naysayers and doom-and-gloomers, but it’s criticism that we’re going to have to SPEAK on page 22
For a big-hearted camp owner, death of ‘The Dream’ hits hard By Hillel Kuttler BALTIMORE (JTA) – Dean Meminger sat in owner Irv Bader’s office at Camp Seneca Lake and talked of his girlfriend, her battle with lupus and their plans to marry. Meminger, known as “The Dream” as a star guard at Marquette University and a key reserve for the New York Knicks’ 1973 championship team, had just finished a fourday stint late last month at a basketball camp at the Pocono Mountains’ Jewish facility. He had taught the players with enthusiasm and his demeanor bespoke an apparent contentment with life. Before Meminger boarded a bus back to New York, the friends, who had known each other for decades, hugged and pledged to meet soon in the city. The next day Meminger, 65, was gone, found dead in a hotel room in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood. For Bader, the phone call informing him of Meminger’s death was “like hitting me in the head.” He had employed the ex-backcourt ace for many summers at Seneca Lake. Shortly after the call, Bader wondered to another longtime employee, Gus Kennedy, whether his cash payment had prompted a splurge that indirectly led to the ex-ballplayer’s demise, since Meminger had battled drugs for many years. (The cause of death has not been released.) Bader had paid Meminger $1,200 in cash – $300 for each of the four days of running clinics and refereeing games – and added $200 because he
said the ex-Knick “always needed help” financially. With the Knicks, Meminger had played for Hall of Fame coach Red Holzman and with a cast of future Hall of Famers – Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley and Jerry Lucas. After his six-year NBA playing career with the Knicks and Atlanta Hawks, Meminger worked in basketball off and on, running clinics and teaching kids at camps like Bader’s. He also had three coaching stints spread over more than two decades, until 2003. Since then, several friends said they didn’t know how Meminger earned a living or whether he could make ends meet. They said Meminger kept quiet about his life; several weren’t even sure where he lived. The friends were circumspect about his drug addiction, with Bader saying he saw no signs of the problem but that Meminger would’ve been fired if he had. Meminger had been hospitalized following a 2009 fire that started in his room in the Bronx. Crack pipes were found in the room, but they did not cause the fire, according to newspaper reports. After the fire, “I was hard on him,” Meminger’s former Knicks teammate and longtime friend Mel Davis told JTA last week. “I told him, ‘Dean, God gave you another chance.’” In their semiweekly conversations in recent years, “I always motivated him to take care of himself,” Davis said.
Courtesy of Irv Bader
The late NBA player Dean Meminger, shown a few years ago coaching at Camp Seneca Lake, where he worked for many summers.
Davis and other friends preferred remembering Meminger for his personability and court acumen. They said “The Dream” displayed a high basketball IQ and an ability to teach his young charges, notably defensive skills – the aspect of the game in which he shone in the pros. Meminger loved the sport, watching games on Seneca Lake’s courts late into the night. “It was very educational for me to work alongside him,” said Barry Neuberger, Columbia University’s associate athletic director, who worked with Meminger at the camp’s basketball sessions and also hugged him goodbye before Meminger boarded the bus for Manhattan. Meminger, Bader said, “couldn’t jump, didn’t have a jump shot, but he
had a great first step and was great with kids.” Bader, 74, has long brought past and present NBAplayers to his camp, including Nate Archibald, a Hall of Famer, this summer. Basketball was in Bader’s blood going back to his days as a shooting guard at the Brooklyn Talmudical Academy – before breaking his mother’s heart by transferring to Erasmus Hall High, a public school, because it would improve his game. He placated her by attending Yeshiva University, graduating in 1960 as its all-time leading scorer with 1,374 points (he now ranks sixth), before embarking on a career in education that largely embraced sports. For 26 years, Bader instructed teachers at Brooklyn College on working with mentally disabled children. He also coached basketball at Jewish schools in New York, including the Yeshiva High School of Queens, where a writer knew him in the late 1970s. In those days, Bader sported a sloping mustache and rode a motorcycle to work (doubtlessly to the consternation of his daughter and son, who then attended Yeshiva High). He spoke with a comically thick Brooklyn accent and hung the appellation “Maurice” on center Larry Feinberg. (“You just look like a Maurice,” Bader told him.) Bader, now the athletic director at Touro College, was all business when it came to basketball. “He really pushed my buttons,” Danny Stern, a former Yeshiva High player, said last week. “I’d want to go
out [on the court] and kill for the ball, do whatever it took to win.” The veneer hid a warm heart. Bader arranged summer jobs for campers whose families could not afford the cost or waived the fees altogether. And along with the wellheeled NBA players he brought in for one-day clinics, Bader provided seasonal employment to down-on-theirluck guys like Meminger. “It just shows the real character of somebody… who looks out for people who aren’t on the fast track anymore,” said Elliot Auerbacher, a Manhattan real estate financier who spearheaded a 2012 dinner honoring Bader.
8 • NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Former Baptist Sunday school teacher designing for the frum fashionista By Talia Lavin (JTA) – Just before Maria Patricia de Sousa set out for a yearlong stint at a seminary in Jerusalem seven years ago, she stopped by the house of an Orthodox Jewish woman in her home city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She wanted to find out about life in Jerusalem – where to eat, how to get around, what to bring for a Sabbath gift. But de Sousa soon learned that she had overlooked a major detail. Her guide to the Orthodox world took one look at her – “Dressed,” de Sousa says, “like a typical girl in the summer in Brazil” – and said gently, ‘I think you’re going to have to find some new clothes.’ “ Seven years later, the woman now known as Esther Goldberger is the proprietor of DellaSuza, a Montreal-based fashion line for religious women. Goldberger, 36, designs the label’s lightweight dresses, tops and skirts at home and produces them with a small staff at her office. “I started DellaSuza as a one-woman operation,” she
National Briefs New study: 6.8 million Jews living in U.S. NEW YORK (JTA) – An estimated 6.8 million Jews live in the United States, with 65 percent of them concentrated in six states, according to a new study. The estimate counts 4.2 million American adults who selfidentify as Jews; 1 million Americans who identify as having a Jewish background but do not identify as Jewish by religion; and approximately 1.6 million Jewish children. Biden to J Street: Regional instability presents incentive for peace WASHINGTON (JTA) – Instability in the Middle East presents an incentive to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace, Vice President Joe Biden told J Street’s annual conference. After reviewing an array of countries seized by unrest, including Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain, as well as the threat posed by Iran’s suspected nuclear program, Biden
says. “And there were many, many nights of insomnia and a lot of work.” A former bilingual secretary and Baptist Sunday school teacher, Goldberger says she started to read about Judaism and “fell in love” with the faith. She studied the religion in
Brazil, which eventually led her to a seminary in Har Nof, an Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood. She was the only nonJewish student there. Her decision to convert horrified her Baptist family. “In the beginning they freaked out,” Goldberger
recalls. “But they accept me with love and that’s it.” Goldberger met her husband online, inspiring another move – to Canada. She and Artie settled down in his hometown of Montreal. She quickly found life as a housewife lacking and decided to study fashion at the city’s LaSalle College. Again, Goldberger says, she was the only Jewishly observant woman in her class. Goldberger is the latest to join a small cadre of designers who have sought to remake haute couture for Orthodox women, whose modesty requirements make much of mainstream fashion inaccessible. But while many designers for Orthodox women focus on formalwear for special occasions, Goldberger says that she saw an opportunity to design modest clothing that can meet the demands of a religious woman’s everyday life. “So many of these women want to dress in something comfortable to go to the store, to run after their kids in the park, but nobody thinks about them,” Goldberger says.
said Monday that he and President Obama were asked often why they chose to focus on restarting Israeli-Palestinian talks. “The Palestinian-Israeli issue involves the least ideological and least sectarian Arabs in the Middle East,” Biden said.
the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, in an insurance scam on the Met Council. Rabbi Dovid Cohen gave no reason for stepping down over the weekend at Hatzalah, according to David Shipper, the Jewish ambulance corps’ attorney.
in New York. The lawsuit was based on an NJDC news release during the 2012 election campaign that focused on a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by a fired casino employee against Adelson.
Rabbi Jack Moline to lead National Jewish Democratic Council WASHINGTON (JTA) – The National Jewish Democratic Council named Rabbi Jack Moline, a prominent Conservative movement rabbi, as its new director. Moline, the rabbi at Agudas Achim in Alexandria, Va., since 1987, will assume the post in January, according to an NJDC statement released Monday. He will step down from his suburban Washington pulpit.
Suspicious fire guts two Israeli-owned kosher restaurants in Florida (JTA) – A fire destroyed two Israeli-owned kosher restaurants in a South Florida shopping plaza, including one that was torched a year ago by arsonists. The early Sunday morning fires that hit the Achla Pita Grill and Bon Ami Cafe at the Emerald Center in West Hollywood are being investigated as suspicious, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. The plaza is in a heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
Adelson lawsuit against Jewish Dems is dismissed WASHINGTON (JTA) – A federal court dismissed a defamation lawsuit against the National Jewish Democratic Council brought by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. A lawyer for Adelson, a Republican Party funder, said he would likely appeal Monday’s ruling by the U.S. District Court
State Department photo lists ‘Palestine’ as official country (JNS) – A photo posted on the U.S. State Department’s new Instagram account last week lists “Palestine” as an official country. In the photo, which featured hundreds of flags the State Department said related to meetings surrounding the U.N. General Assembly in New York,
Courtesy of JTA
Former Baptist Sunday school teacher designing for the frum fashionista.
Greece’s Samaras vows to eliminate Golden Dawn, strengthen Israel ties NEW YORK (JTA) – Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told a Jewish audience that the extremist Golden Dawn party would be eliminated. “There is no room for the neoNazis in any part of the democratic world,” Samaras said Monday in New York during an address to the American Jewish Committee at a reception in his honor. He emphasized that Greece, Israel and Cyprus, working together, could “become a beacon for freedom and hope” in the eastern Mediterranean. Hatzalah CEO, linked to Met Council scam, steps down NEW YORK (JTA) – The CEO of the Chevra Hatzalah ambulance service resigned amid allegations that he conspired with William Rapfogel, the ex-CEO of
Her clothing designs reflect her sunny personality – bright colors and vivid patterns – all within the confines of modesty laws. Goldberger also writes a series of chatty columns about fashion for the Jewish Press, an Orthodox newspaper, with titles such as “The Glitzy World of Inverted Triangles.” Goldberger is excited about the possibilities of expanding her line, providing modest clothing as well for Muslim and Christian women. She says she still struggles with convincing people, including her husband, that designing clothes is more than just a hobby. “All my life it’s always been the same,” she says. “When I started studying Judaism in Brazil, I heard, ‘No, that’s not for you.’ The same thing when I met my husband online, and when I decided to start a fashion line. ‘Don’t think about that! That’s not for you!’ “But I never listen,” Goldberger says. “I just keep going.”
one flag case had “Palestine” written on the outside, with the Palestinian flag clearly visible inside. A commenter on the Instagram page asks, “State Department, have you noticed that one of the cases says Palestine? Is that official U.S. policy?” The State Department did not return a request for comment from JNS Netanyahu to Obama: Pressure on Iran should not be lessened (JNS) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday, raising concerns about Iran’s nuclear program just days after Obama spoke to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the phone, the first such interaction between U.S. and Iranian heads of state in 30 years. Netanyahu said Iran’s “conciliatory words” have not been matched by “real action.”
INTERNATIONAL • 9
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013
London’s American-style JCC seeking lead role in Anglo Jewry ‘renaissance’ By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA) – At his office in London’s newly opened, $80 million Jewish community center, Raymond Simonson fumbles with a state-ofthe-art telephone switchboard. “Sorry, I’m embarrassed, but we’ve only just moved into our offices,” says Simonson, the 40year-old boss of London’s first American-style JCC, which opened Sunday. “Now the article will say ‘New CEO can’t even answer his own phone.’” With his credentials, Simonson can afford to be self-deprecating. The former director of the Jewish learning fest Limmud, Simonson steered the organization through the 2008 financial crisis, helping it to emerge as a vibrant global brand with an annual budget of $1.6 million that scholars of British Jewry call the flagship of a communal renaissance. Now he wants to do something similar with the new community center, a centrally located four-story behemoth called JW3 – a play on the local postcode, NW3 – which was built with a one-time $56 million grant by a single donor, the philanthropist Vivien Duffield. But with Duffield now stepping back from the organization, Simonson has to build a constituency among Londoners for a kind of Jewish institution with which they are largely unfamiliar. “This is now for the community to decide if they truly want to keep
International Briefs Syria strike by France put on hold by Obama, report says (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) – French President François Hollande canceled an airstrike against Syrian targets scheduled for Aug. 31 at the last minute following a phone call from U.S. President Barack Obama, the French weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur reported on Sunday. According to the report, Hollande was “shocked” when Obama informed him that he intended to seek Congressional approval for the strike and requested that Hollande cancel the military campaign only a few hours before French jets were set to take off. Israel warned Kenya of possible terror attack ahead of Nairobi mall shooting (JNS) – Israel was among several countries that warned Kenya that it was at risk for a major ter-
the gift,” Simonson told JTA. Duffield, the daughter of the late business magnate Charles Clore, initiated the project after visiting the JCC in Manhattan a decade ago and deciding that London’s approximately 200,000 Jews also should have a one-stop shop for all things Jewish. The London center has space for a kindergarten, movie theater, sports facilities, kosher restaurant, library and synagogue. All that space requires a paying customer base, and for the past two years, JW3’s staff of 45 has been working to build one. A huge banner that says “JW3 The New Postcode for Jewish Life” hangs from the building’s facade. Simonson, a chummy Londoner who takes pride in his ginger facial hair (his Twitter handle is FatSideburns), aims to enroll 60,000 members the first year at a cost of $72 annually. JW3 has limited cash reserves, so if JW3 fails to attract a significant amount of paying members, Simonson says the organization will run out of money in about two years. “Twenty-five years ago, I would have been very pessimistic, but a corner has been turned,” said Geoffrey Alderman, an expert on British Jewry at the University of Buckingham. “There is no doubt that there is a cultural renaissance within Anglo Jewry at the moment.” Exhibit A of the Anglo renaissance is Simonson’s own Limmud, which started 30 years ago as a professional forum for teachers and
now draws thousands of participants to a Jewish learning festival each December. Beyond that there is London’s Jewish Book Week, which grew from a small get-together into a nine-day festival with appearances by best-selling novelists held at the spacious Royal National Hotel. The U.K. Jewish Film Festival breaks attendance records annually, according to organizers. And then there is the London Jewish Cultural Centre, a highbrow institution and lecture forum with an annual membership fee of $2,000 – meaning it caters to a more select clientele. “There is scarcely a single British university that doesn’t offer at least one course related to Jewish studies,” Alderman said. “This is unprecedented.” But while the proliferation of options suggests that British Jews have an appetite for cultural offerings, it also means JW3 will have some serious competition as it tries to inject itself into an already crammed Jewish calendar. “We’ll have to wait and see how it goes with JW3, but it’s obvious that it only has a chance to succeed if it appeals to the widest possible audience,” Alderman said. Simonson says his organization is committed to offering a diverse menu of programming. Visitors on Oct. 9, for example, will have a choice of 25 activities ranging from a macaroon baking class to a talk featuring author Thomas Harding
ror attack before the Nairobi mall shooting took place Sept. 21, according to intelligence reports that were leaked to Kenyan newspapers. “Israel had warned of attacks on their business interests but apart from just being tossed from one office to another, nothing was taken out of the intelligence reports,” said one anonymous Kenyan official, AFP reported. In particular, the Westgate mall – site of the recent terror attack by Somalia’s al-Qaedalinked Al-Shabab group that killed at least 67 people – was cited as a prime target due to the number of Israeli-owned businesses located there.
Weapons to destroy Syria’s arsenal by mid-2014 by any means possible.
U.N. inspectors: Nov. 1 deadline for ending Syria chemical weapons manufacturing capacity (JNS) – United Nations inspectors who will oversee the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons say that their first priority will be ending Syria’s capacity to manufacture weapons by Nov. 1. On Sept. 27, the U.N. Security Council ordered the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Obama calls Hassan Rouhani in first direct U.S.Iran conversation since 1979 (JNS) – U.S. President Barack Obama called Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday before the Iranian leader departed the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Although Obama and Rouhani did not meet in person, this was the first direct conversation between heads of the two governments since 1979. Iranian network: CNN mistranslated Rouhani Holocaust remarks (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) – An Iranian news agency questioned the translation of a CNN interview with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in which he was asked to speak about the Holocaust. “I have said before that I am not a historian. And that when it comes to speaking of the dimensions of the Holocaust it is the historians that should reflect on it. But in general I can tell you that any crime that happens in history
Courtesy of Blake Ezra Photography
Models portraying Adam and Eve at the Genesis-themed opening of London’s JW3 Jewish community center, Sept. 29, 2013.
and his cousin, BBC News director James Harding, about the capture of Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess. Kevin Spacey, the Hollywood actor, is scheduled to make an appearance at the center later this year. “Through JW3, we’re telling people who don’t go to shul or have non-Jewish partners to not disappear from the radar, not to be lost, but to put their toes in the water,” Simonson said. “Come and taste something Jewish that might excite them, that meets the other parts of their identity.” Simonson acknowledges that kind of openness risks alienating Britain’s sizable, and growing, hareagainst humanity including the crime the Nazis created towards the Jews is reprehensible and condemnable,” Rouhani said, according to the CNN translation. But the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars says CNN mistranslated the interview, stating that Rouhani actually spoke in a different tone and did not even use the word “Holocaust.” “I have said before that I am not a historian and historians should specify, state and explain the aspects of historical events,” the Iranian outlet claimed Rouhani said. “But generally we fully condemn any kind of crime committed against humanity throughout the history, including the crime committed by the Nazis both against the Jews and nonJews.” An independent translation by the Wall Street Journal said “Fars, not CNN, got the Farsi right.” Ceremony marks WWII escape of Denmark’s Jews (JTA) – A ceremony in a Copenhagen synagogue marked the 70th anniversary of the rescue of most of Denmark’s Jews from the Nazis. Sunday’s ceremony marked
di and Modern Orthodox communities. But the participation in the opening of Ephraim Mirvis, the country’s new chief rabbi, gives Simonson hope that JW3 can be a place of all sectors of London Jewry. Mirvis’ predecessor, Jonathan Sacks, refrained from attending the interdenominational Limmud conference during his 22 years in office. But Mirvis announced earlier this month that he would be attending Limmud in December. Mirvis’ office declined JTA’s request for an interview, but Simonson believes his attendance at the JW3 opening was something of a trial balloon. “It shows that the chief rabbi came and the sky did not fall down,” Simonson says. Mirvis’ seal of approval may help JW3 with the Modern Orthodox community, but Simonson still does not expect much traffic from haredim, who constitute British Jewry’s fastest growing contingent, according to a 2012 report. “We’re open to them,” he said, “and I think there are genuinely things in our program that would be attractive. But it would be naive of me to realistically think we’ll have significant numbers of haredi Jews coming here. “They are by definition set apart from the mainstream, and we’re all about bringing Judaism to the mainstream.”
the October 1943 operation in which more than 7,000 Jews were sent by boat to Sweden after they were ordered deported to Nazi concentration camps, The Associated Press reported. Italy’s president joins European Day of Jewish Culture ceremony (JTA) – Italian President Giorgio Napolitano participated in ceremonies in Naples launching Italian observances of the annual European Day of Jewish Culture. The pan-Europe event, now in its 14th year, took place Sunday in two dozen countries around Europe. Former Auschwitz guard indicted for role in 10,500 murders (JTA) – A former Auschwitz death camp guard living in Germany was indicted as an accessory to 10,500 murders. Hans Lipschis was indicted Sept. 26 by German prosecutors, the German news service DPA reported. Lipschis, 93, was stripped of his United States citizenship and deported in 1982 for not disclosing his Nazi past.
10 • ISRAEL
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Two decades after Oslo, Palestinian Jericho still chafes at occupation By Ben Sales JERICHO, West Bank (JTA) – The Intercontinental Hotel Jericho’s towering brick palazzo, flanked by a row of palm trees leading to an ornate archway entrance, seems the very epitome of desert luxury. But inside, the hotel lobby – replete with marble floors and plush armchairs – stands empty on a recent weekday morning, save for a lone tourist rushing through wrapped in a towel. General manager Hisham Nammari said the hotel’s 181 rooms are sometimes full during the summer and that business is generally good, though he has a habit of qualifying all his assessments with the phrase “for Jericho.” There have been a lot of tourists in recent years – for Jericho. The lobby is nice – for Jericho. “Life is hard here,” Nammari said. “The city needs to grow more, to expand business. This city used to be great.” Opened in 1998, the hotel may be the grandest symbol of what thus far has been a failed experiment. Under the terms of the 1993 Oslo Accords, which were signed 20 years this month, Jericho was the first West Bank city in which Palestinians were granted full civil and security control. Developers
Israel Briefs Knesset members slammed over attending J Street conference (JNS) Member of Knesset Ayelet Shaked (HaBayit HaYehudi) slammed the Israeli Knesset members for attending the Washington, DC conference of J Street, which she called “Israel’s loudest critic.” “Among its actions are the leading of a media campaign against the placing of sanctions on Iran by the U.S. Congress; denunciation of the Cast Lead operation and its definition as ‘an illegitimate and even criminal operation’; defining the takeover of the Marmara as ‘brutal and cruel’; support for the U.S. administration’s demand to freeze construction in Jerusalem; pressure on the U.S. administration not to veto the proposal by the Palestinian Authority to denounce Israel for construction in Judea and Samaria and more,” Shaked wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, Israel
hoped the hotel and the Oasis casino next door would help transform this dusty desert city of 22,000 into a resort destination. Nammari still dreams of Jericho becoming a “little Las Vegas,” but the city remains a backwater. Its commercial district is small and unemployment is high. The casino, closed by the Israeli army in 2000 for security reasons, remains shuttered. And officials say that despite two decades of self-rule, Israeli restrictions still impact daily life here. “Some sectors have improved, but not very fast,” said Kazem Muaket, who manages the local Chamber of Commerce. “We don’t feel the improvement of tourist movement here. It has not increased in a way you could notice.” Billed in tourist materials as the world’s oldest city, Jericho has a rich biblical past and draws a reported 1 million visitors every year. But the city has the intimate feel of an Israeli development town – small, inexpensive, with little going on. Municipal offices, a bank and some trendy clothing stores cluster around the town square. On adjacent streets, men hawk their wares on the sidewalk or sit around sipping coffee. According to Jericho’s mayor, Mohammad Jalayta, the unemployment rate in the city stands at
National News reported. Palestinian terrorist’s former employer in Bat Yam is site of attempted arson (JNS) Unknown assailants tried to set a Bat Yam restaurant on fire early Tuesday, just more than a week after 20-year-old IDF Sgt. Tomer Hazan was lured to the West Bank and murdered by a Palestinian coworker illegally employed by the establishment. Last month, 42-year-old Palestinian terrorist Nidal Amar allegedly murdered Hazan and buried his body. A canister of flammable fluid was tossed into the Tzachi Meats restaurant and set on fire around 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The flames were doused before any damage was caused. Yad Vashem names first Egyptian ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ (JNS) For the first time, Yad Vashem has honored an Egyptian with the “Righteous Among the Nations” designation, which recognizes non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews. Physician Dr. Mohamed Helmy, the honoree, was born in Khartoum, Sudan in 1901 to
Courtesy of David Silverman/Newsmakers
Once a symbol of the promise of Israeli-Palestinian peace, the Oasis Casino in Jericho has been shuttered for 13 years.
30 percent. The city doesn’t track poverty, but Jalayta says the rate is “too high.” Muaket did note some recent improvements, like an increase in Chamber of Commerce membership, from 300 to 500, since the Palestinian administration took over. An agricultural industrial park is set to open by next year. Jalayta also says the city has more schools, hospitals and factories than it did under Israeli rule. “There are many changes that have occurred in Jericho,” Jalayta said. “Most of them are positive changes. Our vision is to search for sustainable benefit projects.” He doesn’t have to look far. In the city center, several streets lack
signs or crosswalks. Streams of litter line some side streets, and there is no intercity or local bus service. Reaching Jericho without a private car requires a taxi, and the fares change depending on the driver. Residents blame most of the city’s problems on Israel. The city feels occupied, Jalayta says, because Israeli army patrols enter unannounced. Farmers complain they can’t profitably raise certain crops because Israeli water charges are too high. Exports from the West Bank are heavily restricted. Even the simplest aspects of business are complicated, says Fadi Aljerashi, who owns a con-
Egyptian parents and later went to Germany in 1922 to study medicine. Due to Nazi racial laws, Helmy was classified as a “Hamit” (after Ham, son of Noah) – a 19th century racial term used to describe Arabs – and was discriminated against. In 1939, along with other Egyptians, he was arrested but later released due to health problems.
called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel the planned release of terrorists to the Palestinian Authority (PA) as part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations process.
Suspected Iranian spy arrested in Israel (JNS) Israel’s Shin Bet security agency revealed Sunday that a Belgian citizen of Iranian descent was arrested at Ben-Gurion International Airport earlier this month on suspicion that he had served as an intelligence agent for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Shin Bet said the suspect, Ali Mansouri, was allegedly recruited by the Guards Corps’s special ops unit, a body responsible for multiple terror attacks against Israeli targets around the world, Israel Hayom reported. Revoke prisoner release, 28 MKs tell Netanyahu (JNS) Twenty-eight members of Israeli Knesset, among them seven deputy ministers, last week
U.S. envoy to Israel: Both countries want to prevent Iran nukes JERUSALEM (JTA) – U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said the goal of Israel and the United States is to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons. “There is nothing to worry about over our joint approach to the Iranian issue,” Shapiro said in an interview Monday with Israel Radio from New York. “Our goals are the same and our leaders agree on these goals. The main objective is to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.” ‘Bethlehem’ wins six Israeli Oscars JERUSALEM (JTA) – The Israeli film “Bethlehem” won six Ophir Awards and will represent Israel at the Academy Awards. Israel’s equivalent of the Oscars was held Saturday night. The film received Ophirs from the Israeli Academy of Film and Television for best feature film,
crete mixing company here. The hourlong daily commute from his home in Bethlehem is sometimes twice as long as it should be due to an Israeli checkpoint. “We don’t have our own borders,” Aljerashi said. “Now they can come inside the Palestinian Authority areas anytime, so still we are under occupation.” Hasson, 24, a horse trainer who declined to give his last name, recently returned from New York because he prefers the relaxed pace of life here. He recalls a time when Israelis freely traveled to Jericho to see his horses. Today, Hasson says he feels like he lives in a prison. “Have you seen the big wall? We don’t live in our own country,” he said. Like Israelis, many residents are skeptical that the latest round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will be more fruitful than the preceding failed rounds. But Muaket says that while the city still has a long way to go, the fitful progress of the past two decades gives him some measure of optimism. “We are like any people of the world,” Muaket said. “We like to live in peace, in freedom. We want a good atmosphere for our children. We are not living in heaven, but it’s improved from what it was.”
best director, best actor, best supporting actor, best editing and best casting. Chinese foundation donates $130 million to Israel’s Technion JERUSALEM (JTA) – A Chinese foundation donated $130 million to Israel’s Technion institute, the Israeli university’s largest-ever donation. The Li Ka Shing Foundation on Sunday announced the donation to the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. Israeli troops kill Palestinian at border with Gaza JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israeli troops firing at two Palestinians approaching the border fence between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip killed one of them. The other Palestinian in Monday’s incident was injured. He was captured by Israeli troops and questioned, Haaretz reported. The men reportedly were warned to turn back before the soldiers opened fire. It was not known if the Palestinians were armed.
SOCIAL LIFE • 11
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013
ACCESS’ GREAT ESCAPE WEEKEND On August 17th more than 75 Jewish young professionals from across the region took part in Access’ Great Escape Weekend at Camp Livingston, which included unlimited use of all the camp’s amazing amenities including zip lining, kayaking, canoeing, ropes courses, nature hikes, swimming, a water trampoline, climbing wall and more. Of course, guests also got to take part in lots of traditional camp activities such as a campfire cookout, Havdalah, nature hikes, and arts and crafts. Access is an initiative of The Mayerson Foundation. For more information about Access, please consult the community directory in the back of this issue. More photos on Pages 12 and 13
12 • CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE
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ACCESS’ GREAT ESCAPE WEEKEND Continued from Page 11
CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013
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.
14 • DINING OUT
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Tandoor road show gaining rave reviews at garden parties and indoor events By Bob Wilhelmy Dining Editor So, where do you find a good caterer with food that is not the same old stuff? One suggestion is Tandoor Cuisine of India. According to Naren Patel, owner of this long-time Indian restaurant, his catering business is “going crazy.” “People see the way I do it (the food); it’s fresh. I give people what they want. I customize the menu the way they want it,” Patel said. Fresh catered foods? Really? The way a purveyor does that is to cook the catered items onsite. That’s what the Tandoor crew does. Even the bread, the naan, is prepared onsite. “We go there and cook there. The chicken, the lamb, the bread; all the dishes; and people love that. We make it right in front of them – hot and fresh.” So, in the case of Tandoor, the restaurant is not dragging and reheating prepared foods miles and miles from it’s kitchen to your event. This fact alone has been a big boost to Patel’s catering business. Another part of the attraction, say at a garden party, is watching the food be prepared and put out for serving. All of that adds to the custom nature of the catered event. But how does Patel customize the menu for you? The answer involves listening to the customer, and building the menu item by item, instead of having set menu combinations as most caterers do. Let’s say that you have an important birthday or anniversary to celebrate and you want to invite a hundred of your closest friends. You want to spend $20 a person for the food, and you want one lamb entree, one chicken entrée, and an array of veggies, appetizers, salads and such. Patel will mix and match to arrive at a balance of what you want within that budget. He’ll share with you what you can do within your budget providing total flexibility with the focus on giving you exactly what you want at a price that works. Tandoor, the restaurant, is a big part of the appeal as well. Located in the Market Place near the Cadillac dealer in Montgomery, the restaurant attracts many Jewish diners. Among those patrons are Reenie and Stanley Kravetz (pictured), who are regulars at Tandoor. “It’s the best,” said Stanley, “the best in town.” Reenie agreed: “And the chi tea, it’s the best any-
Pictured are: Stanley and Reenie Kravetz; the dining area, and a plate of vegetarian items with naan (Indian bread).
where.” On this day, the Kravetzes were enjoying the buffet lunch. Lots of vegetarian items on the buffet, they said. And the food is always fresh and tasty.“We’ve been coming here for years, 15 years, and the rabbi comes here too.” The buffet is a fixture for the luncheon crowd, and on this day, the dining room was about half full late into lunchtime. Evenings at Tandoor are a la carte with
many chicken dishes leading the favorites list. For those who like it hot, the chicken madras is the ticket, made with an exotic blend of “really hot” spices. The chicken tikka masala is another popular choice at Tandoor, featuring broiled chicken pieces that are then cooked in a thick tomato and onion sauce (hold the butter). Speaking of holding ingredients, Patel enjoys the patronage of many regular diners, many of whom ask him to fix something
special .He asks whether they want a chicken, lamb or vegetarian dish, and then he prepares a special, off menu entrée for his guests. “They love it!” he said. “They love the food and the special treatment also”. There are many vegetarian dishes that may be of interest to Jewish diners. Among the most popular are: palak paneer, a combo of fresh spinach and cheese cooked with onions, tomatoes, spices and herbs; aloo Gobi
masala, featuring cauliflower and potatoes, with onions, tomatoes and spices; and my favorite, bayngon bharta, whole eggplant cooked on skewers in the tandoor, then chopped and simmered with tomatoes, onions and tasty spices. See you at Tandoor Cuisine of India. Tandoor 8702 Market Place Lane Montgomery, OH 513-793-7484
DINING OUT • 15
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013
RESTAURANT DIRECTORY 20 Brix
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16 • OPINION
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New beginnings... New Beginnings
by Julie Torem Happy New Year, Everyone! Lately I have been giving lots of thought to starting anew – getting second chances, and wondering if I would take a “do-over” if I had the opportunity. The answer is yes. And the answer is no. I’ve always believed that G-d gives us opportunities and that it is up to us as individuals to determine what road we choose to take. Sometimes we make these decisions on our own, and sometimes we need a little push. When I graduated high school about 100 years ago, my plan was to continue working at the drycleaner (I was told that I had management potential) and I was going to move in with my boyfriend who, making $4.00 per hour, was already in a higher tax bracket than I. My mother decided that this road was not an option. Fast forward a few years through college, graduate school, marriage, two kids, a few different careers along the way, and I find myself at “The American Israelite”. I’ve always been a writer – it’s my therapy. Most of what I write will never be published in “The American Israelite” as my writing tends to appeal to a –
how do I put this delicately – less refined audience. But, I do have the ability to write thoughtfully and intelligently without swearing or offending anyone too badly. At least I hope so. You be the judge. I’ve been warned about Ted’s temper and I fully anticipate him yelling at me sooner or later but you know what? I’m looking forward to it. I like this guy. Despite his gruff exterior, I’m pretty sure there is a kinder, gentler Ted. Perhaps I’m completely off base – I’m a terrible judge of character (that’s an entirely different article) – but I have hope. When I explained to Ted that I am on a mission to make him laugh and smile, he groaned. It is quite possible that I will drive him completely insane in my quest but there are worse things. Right? Right. Right now, I’m just enjoying learning about the newspaper and how everything works. I’m learning how to balance work with kids and a husband who travels. I’m learning how to manage my volunteer obligations with my professional obligations and I’m reminding myself that I still need to squeeze in some “me time” or everything else I just mentioned will fall apart. I’m hoping that you will join me on this journey. I’ll be writing about all kinds of things. Have an idea for me? Let me know! In the meantime, I’ll be honing my comedic chops on Ted. I’ll keep you posted.
THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE NEWSPAPER & WEBSITE is now hiring a
SALES REPRESENTATIVE TO APPLY, please contact Ted Deutsch at (513) 621-3145 or send your resume to publisher@americanisraelite.com
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The American Israelite
By Julie Torem Assistant Editor
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Do you have something to say? E-mail your letter to editor@americanisraelite.com
Have something on your mind? Let your voice be heard! Send a letter to the editor: editor@americanisraelite.com
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Obama’s tough talk is good news for Israel—depending on what it means By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) – The good news for Israel in President Obama’s speech at the United Nations was his insistence that any steps Iran might take to solve the standoff over its nuclear program must be transparent and verifiable. The bad news was that Obama wasn’t clear about what those steps should be. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a one-minute video posted online Tuesday after the Obama speech to the General Assembly, welcomed the parameters outlined by the president and made clear he wanted to know more. But he also reiterated Israeli skepticism that conciliatory gestures by the recently elected president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, reflects anything more than a skillful charm offensive aimed at easing Western pressure while the pursuit of nuclear weapons continues unimpeded. “Like North Korea before it, Iran will try to remove sanctions by offering cosmetic concessions while preserving its ability to rapidly build a nuclear weapon at a time of its choosing,” Netanyahu said. “Israel will welcome a genuine diplomatic solution that truly dismantles Iran’s capacity to develop nuclear weapons, but we will not be fooled by half-measures that merely provide a smokescreen for Iran’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons, and the world will not be fooled either.” As in recent years, the U.S.-Iran diplomatic drama commanded center stage at the annual September gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. In his speech, Obama devoted much time to discussing Iran, expressing his willing-
ness to reach a diplomatic settlement that would permit the Islamic Republic access to peaceful nuclear energy while ensuring that it does not acquire a nuclear weapons capability. “To succeed, conciliatory words will have to be matched by actions that are transparent and verifiable,” Obama said. Netanyahu, who is scheduled to meet Obama at the White House on Sept. 30 – the day before the Israeli leader speaks to the General Assembly – said he welcomed Obama’s insistence on verifiability. “I look forward to discussing this with the president in Washington next week,” Netanyahu said. Netanyahu’s reference to “halfmeasures” alludes to a key Israeli concern about any possible deal. Western diplomats reportedly are ready to allow Iran to carry low levels of uranium enrichment. Israel wants the enrichment capacity removed completely. “We insist that the Iranian government meet its responsibilities under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Obama said in his speech. Neither provision includes a total ban on uranium enrichment, although the Security Council resolutions do call for a suspension of enrichment pending fuller transparency. There were signals in Obama’s speech that he was listening to pleas by Netanyahu for a robust posture ahead of any Iranian deal-making. The president was explicit that the United States was prepared to use military force to secure its interests in the Middle East. He also repeatedly cautioned against the
“development” of nuclear weapons, adopting an Israeli rhetorical device implying that action to stop a nuclear weapon could come well before Iran is poised to get one. In the past, Obama has spoken of keeping Iran from “acquiring” a weapon. Still, the administration acknowledged daylight between the Israeli and U.S. perspectives. “They’re skeptical of Iranian intentions – which is understandable, given their history with Iran – but we do see the potential for progress, certainly more so than we have in the last several years, since we had a negotiation with them in 2009,” said a senior administration official in a background briefing, a transcript of which was released Tuesday by the White House. “And we’re going to test that in the weeks ahead.” Pro-Israel groups have taken up Netanyahu’s demand, made Sept. 17, that any diplomatic deal must include an end to enrichment and the removal of enriched uranium. A memo Monday from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee called for intensifying sanctions unless Iran suspends enrichment and removes its already enriched uranium. In his U.N. speech, Rouhani emphatically embraced the transparency sought by Obama and, just as emphatically, rejected the idea that Iran would suspend all uranium enrichment. “Iran’s nuclear program – and for that matter, that of all other countries – must pursue exclusively peaceful purposes,” Rouhani said. “I declare here, openly and unambiguously, that notwithstanding the posiOBAMA on page 22
JEWISH LIFE • 17
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013
informs and inspirits each and every one of us. In order to truly understand the symbolism, we must realize that the rainbow is at best a half-symbol; the complete symbol would be a whole circle, comprising two halves together. Rabbi Hirsch would maintain that God chooses this half-symbol because He can only guarantee that He will not destroy the world; He cannot guarantee that the world will not destroy itself. Hence, immediately before God presents the symbol of the rainbow, God permits human beings to eat animal flesh, but stipulates very clear limitations: “You must not however eat the flesh or the blood of a living animal. You may not take your own life... or the life of any other human being. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; this is because God made man in His own image” (Genesis 9:4-6). I have previously explained that a covenant is a two-way street, an agreement with the Divine which obligates the people as well as the Divine. Such was the covenant with Abraham “Between the Pieces” (Genesis 15) and so was the covenant at Sinai. Here too God obligates Himself not to destroy the world, but He also obligates humanity not to destroy itself. Many of our traditional Jewish commentaries link these three laws to the Seven Noahide Laws of universal morality to which God obligates Noah and all human beings. Tragically, humanity does not live up to these Seven Laws. The ten generations between Noah and Abraham proved to be disastrous for human history, with the debauchery of Sodom and Gomorrah setting the stage for human conduct. The Almighty (as it were) takes a new turn. He decides that He must deal with one specific nation – or rather one individual who will become a specific nation – rather than with all of humanity at once. He will deal
with Abraham, who has already discovered God and His compassionate righteousness and moral justice on his own (Maimonides, Laws of Idolatry, chapter 1). He will build Abraham into a strong nation which will become “a blessing to all the families of the earth,” “a sacred nation and a kingdom of priests/teachers to all of humanity” (Genesis 12:3, Exodus 19:6, Sforno ad loc.). This is our Divine charge, which will only be realized through a long historical process of transmitting our narrative from generation to generation. The true meaning of Zionism is the creation of the nation-state of Israel, which will serve as a beacon of peace, lighting the pathway to God for all the nations of the world. Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi – Efrat Israel
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T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: NOAH (BRAISHITH 6:9 – 11:30) 1. What did Hashem say to Noah the first time he spoke to him? a.) He would destroy the world because of its sins b.) Listened to Noah's reasons not to destroy the world c.) Promise Noah he would have children 2. What did Hashem say to Noah the second time? a.) Explain to Noah why he would destroy the world b.) Informed Noah of the impending flood c.) Explain why he would use water instead of another way
third time? a.) Comfort him that the flood would end soon b.) To send a bird to check if the earth had dried c.) To command Noah to leave the ark 4. What did Hashem say to Noah the fourth time? a.) To offer sacrifices of thanksgiving for being spared during the flood b.) The symbolism of the rainbow c.) To go out and repopulate the earth 5. Does Noah ever talk in the Parsha? a.) Yes b.) No
3. What did Hashem say to Noah the 5. A 9:25-27 Noah cursed his grandson Canaan for making him unable to procreate. Rashi
EFRAT, Israel – “I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth” (Genesis 9:13). The rainbow is the symbol of the very first covenant entered into by God. It is the sign of God’s covenant with the earth and with all of humanity. Noah, after all, was the second Adam, from whom all of humanity would now emerge. And God’s covenant is His guarantee “that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.” What is the symbolic significance of this rainbow? How does this particular object in the sky – which apparently existed before God entered into the covenant and was now to become an expression of God’s new agreement with “all flesh that is on the earth” – express this Divine covenant? The Ramban (Nahmanides, 1194-1270) suggests that the rainbow in the sky is an inverted bow. Ancient warfare was fought with bows and arrows; when one side was ready to surrender, they would lift up an inverted bow, much as the white flag is a symbol of surrender today. The Ramban explains that the inverted bow in the skies is God’s statement that He will never again send a flood or any other scourge from the heavens in order to destroy the flesh of the earth. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) provides what I believe is an even more profound symbolism. He explains that when one looks at a rainbow, one sees seven magnificent hues or colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. But there are not really those seven colors within the rainbow itself. When the rays of the sun touch the rain clouds – which are white – the refracted light which emanates from the rays appear to be these seven different glorious colors; in truth, however, the color is the white of the cloud and what we see are the virtual colors of the refracted light. This phenomenon is a metaphor for the human race. People appear in many different colors. However, if we could look metaphysically within the human being, we all have same color: the color of the Divine Image which
People appear in many different colors. However, if we could look metaphysically within the human being, we all have the same color:
force the people out of the ark even if they did not want. Rashi 4. B,C 9:1-17 Certain righteous generations that did not need a sign of a rainbow. Rashi
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT NOACH GENESIS 6:9-11:32
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
ANSWERS 1. A 6:13-21 2. B 7:2-4 3. C 8:15-17 Hashem commanded Noah to
Sedra of the Week
18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
JEWZ
IN THE
And Yet More Tribe Members Join the Cast of Hit Shows/Charles Gets Married The CBS lawyer series, “The Good Wife,” ended last season with Alicia (JULIANNE MARGULIES, 48) and another partner, Cary (Matt Czuchry), preparing to secretly leave their law firm, Lockhart-Gardner, and set up their own firm. BEN RAPPAPORT, 27, has joined the cast, playing a smart young associate who leaves Lockhart-Gardner at Alicia and Cary’s invitation and joins their new firm. Rappaport was the star of the short-lived series, “Outsourced,” and appeared last season on “Elementary.” JOSH CHARLES, 41, who co-stars as Will Gardner in “The Good Wife,” wed his long-time girlfriend, SOPHIE FLACK, 30, on Sept. 6. No details of the private small wedding were released. Flack, whose mother is Jewish, is a performance and visual artist, novelist and former dancer with the New York City Ballet. Charles’ Jewish father was a prominent Baltimore advertising exec and his mother used to write a popular local newspaper gossip column. (His mother wasn’t born Jewish. Whether she “converted-in” is unknown to me.) Last year, Charles told the Hollywood Reporter that during his two-year stint (1998-2000) on the HBO program “In Treatment”, which was based on an Israeli TV series, he did work he was “very proud of” – and that the therapy in the series echoed therapy that had helped him. He added that the series touched him for one other reason: “The fact that it’s something that started in Israel gave me, as a Jew, a tremendous sense of pride, to be perfectly frank with you. There’s such great creativity coming out of that country, and a lot of times we don’t always hear about that.” The second episode of the HBO show, “Boardwalk Empire,” found star character Nucky Thompson in Tampa, Florida. The year is 1924, Prohibition is in effect, and Thompson, a powerful underworld figure in Atlantic City, was in Tampa to explore the possibility of a creating a new avenue to bring in (illegal) alcohol to the States and make a lot of money. While in Tampa, he meets Sally Wheet, a tough-asnails speakeasy owner. There are hints that these two toughies will become more than friends. PATRICIA ARQUETTE, 45, whose late mother was Jewish, plays Wheet.
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At the Movies “Parkland,” weaves together the stories of several real life people whose lives were changed in the immediate aftermath of President Kennedy’s assassination, including ABRAHAM ZAPRUDER (1905-1970), the Dallas clothing manufacturer who filmed the famous short movie of the President’s motorcade that included the actual moment when the President was hit. The film is directed and written by PETER LANDESMAN, 48, a former NY Times journalist making his feature film debut. The original film, “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight,” premieres on HBO. In 1971, Ali’s long legal battle about his refusal to be drafted, on the grounds that he was a conscientious objector, finally made it to the Supreme Court. The film covers the inside story of the how the Justices wrangled with this case. Famous director BARRY LEVINSON, 71, plays Justice Stewart, with HARRIS YULIN, 75, as Justice Douglas, and Fritz Weaver, 87, as Justice Black. A Quaker, Weaver was himself a “C.O.” during WWII. Probably best known for playing a German Jew in the blockbuster 1978 mini-series, “Holocaust,” Weaver said a few years ago that WWII was, perhaps, the one war in his lifetime he should have fought in. He added that wife (since 1997), actress ROCHELLE OLIVER, 76, is Jewish. “Ali” was directed by STEPHEN FREARS, 72, a top British director whose has helmed films in both the UK (“The Queen”) and the States (“High Fidelity”). Raised an Anglican, and secular as an adult, he found out not long after his mother’s death that she was born Jewish and was pleased that Frears was about to marry a Jewish woman (who has been his wife since 1992). Equally “different” is the background of the flick’s screenwriter, Ms. SHAWN SLOVO, 63. Her late parents, JOE SLOVO and RUTH FIRST, were South African Jews who were very prominent in the anti-apartheid fight. Her mother was murdered in 1982 by South African agents and her life was the subject of the acclaimed 1988 film, “A World Apart,” which Shawn wrote. Her father, a co-leader of the African National Congress’ military wing, was a close friend of Nelson Mandela and was given a cabinet post when Mandela became South Africa’s president in 1994.
FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO Engagements Ohio LISSNER:ARONSON–Miss Eva Lissner, of Cincinnati, OH to Mr. Michaelis Aronson, of Pittsburgh, Penn. RICE:MARKS–Miss Caroline Rice, of Cincinnati, Ohio, to Mr. Moses H. Marks, of Warsaw, Indiana. LIEBSHUTZ:Winter–Miss Rachel Liebshutz to Mr. Simon Winter, both of Cincinnati, Ohio. Marriages Ohio SLESSINGER:BALL– On Wednesday, October 21, 1863, by Rev. Dr. I. M. Wise, Miss Elizabeth Slessinger to Mr. B.Ball, both of Cincinnati. GOTTLIEB:STRAUSS–On Sunday, October 18, 1863, by Rev. Dr. I.M.Wise, Miss Pauline Gottlieb, of Cincinnati, Ohio, to Mr. Henry Strauss, of Lafayette, Ind.– October 30, 1863
125 Y EARS A GO ADVICE TO MOTHERS: Miss Winslow’s Soothing Syrup should always be used which children are cutting teeth. It relieves the little sufferer at once; it produces natural quiet sleep by relieving the child from pain, and the little cherub awakes as “bright as a button.” It is very pleasant to taste. It soothes the child, softens the gums, allays all pain, relieves wind, regulates the bowels, and is the best known remedy for diarrhea, whether arising from teething or other causes. Twenty-five cents a bottle. It is said no one can arrest the flight of Time, but who is there who is not able to stop a minute?– September 21, 1888
100 Y EARS A GO PERFECTLY PASTURIZED MILK. Health is a Great Blessing. Hence, every prudent person guards it with care. You are perfectly safe at all times in using our milk, because we take every scientific precaution with it. Ours is the oldest dairying establishment in Ohio. 8 cents a quart. French Bros. Bauer Co. WANTED–Two Young Ladies to Board. I am willing to home and take a motherly and social interest in 1 or 2 young ladies who wish to spend the winter in New York City, having an attractive apartment in the best private locality with every convenience and excel-
lent table. Terms $75 per month for one or $120 per month for two in one room. References exchanged. Address, R.L. 64 West 77th St., New York City.– October 2, 1913
75 Y EARS A GO Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, wife of President Roosevelt, will open Cincinnati’s Wise Temple Forum in Emery Auditorium Monday, November 14th, at 8 pm. The Cincinnati Jewish Community Council will meet tonight (Thursday Oct. 6th) at 8 pm, in the Jewish Center, 3800 Reading Road, to act on its Quota Committee report for the forthcoming 1938 Jewish Welfare Fund Campaign. Oscar Berman is Council president and Max Hirsch, a past president, is Quota Committee chairman. A considerably increased quota is forecast, because of the skyrocketing of relief needs abroad in the wake of new Nazi incursions. Mr. and Mrs. Albert Abramson (Pearl Finkelstein), 700 Greenwood Avenue, announce the birth of a daughter Wednesday, Sept 28th. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Miller (Sylvia Tahl), 4654 Rapid Run Pike, announce the birth of a son Friday, Sept. 30th Mr. and Mrs. Sol Rogoff (Betty Weiner), 911 Dana Avenue, announce the birth of a son Saturday, Oct. 1st. The children were born at Jewish Hospital.– October 6, 1938
50 Y EARS A GO The urgent and effective drama of the recent march for freedom in the nation’s capital has had and is having significant repercussions throughout the country. And now many cities are having their own marches for freedom. Men and women, young and old, are showing by their participation they believe that it is time that Abraham Lincoln’s words of 100 years ago begin to be accepted, believed, and honored in deed. This city will have its own march for freedom Sunday afternoon, Oct. 17th. Men and women of various faiths and races will walk together in public testimonial to their belief in democracy.– October 3, 1963
25 Y EARS A GO Temple Sholom plans educational series on AIDS. A twopart AIDS educational program will be held at Temple Sholom on Friday, Dec. 2 following the 8:15 Shabbat eve service. The speaker for the Oct. 28 session will be Dr. Alan Solinger, attending physician at the AIDS-Related Disease Clinic at the UC Education Center and associate professor of clinical medicine at the UC College of Medicine Division of Immunology. One of Solinger’s patients may also come to speak. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and results from a breakdown of the body’s defense system. It is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus entering the body though the bloodstream with infected body fluids. At the time, there is no known cure for AIDS and no vaccine that prevents the disease. AIDS has reached epidemic proportions and has aroused fear of the disease and fear of the unknown. As a result, AIDS victims have often suffered discrimination and even persecution. The events are sponsored by the Temple Sholom Social Action Committee and all are welcome to attend.– October 13, 1988
10 Y EARS A GO Cedar Village has appointed Mark Wellinghoff as its new Executive Director and Regina Umansky as its new Administrator of Health Care and Apartments. Dr. Frank Luntz, a nationally recognized pollster, will be the keynote speaker at the Major Gifts Dinner of the 2004 Jewish Federation Campaign, Thursday, Oct. 30, at Mayerson Hall on the campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Clifton.– October 9, 2003
COMMUNITY CALENDAR / CLASSIFIEDS • 19
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013
COMMUNITY CALENDAR October 3 6:30 p.m. – Hebrew Class Open House Rockwern Academy 8401 Montgomery Rd. October 9 5:30 p.m. - AJC Community Service Award honoring Jay Price Mayerson JCC 8485 Ridge Rd. (513) 621-4020 October 17 6:30 p.m. – JVS Career Services, Firing Up Your Job Search, Wise Temple, 8329 Ridge Rd. (513) 793-2556 November 3 Sarah’s Place Women’s Retreat Embassy Suites Conference Center4554 Lake Forest Dr. Blue Ash November 10 5:30 p.m. – Remebering the Kristallnacht Program, Mayerson Hall, HUC, 3101 Clifton Ave. (513) 487-3055
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS ORGANIZATIONS Access (513) 373-0300 • jypaccess.org Big Brothers/Big Sisters Assoc. (513) 761-3200 • bigbrobigsis.org Camp Ashreinu (513) 702-1513 Camp at the J (513) 722-7258 • mayersonjcc.org Camp Chabad (513) 731-5111 • campchabad.org Camp Livingston (513) 793-5554 • camplivingston.com Cedar Village (513) 754-3100 • cedarvillage.org Chevra Kadisha (513) 396-6426 Cincinnati Community Kollel (513) 631-1118 • kollel.shul.net Cincinnati Community Mikveh (513) 351-0609 • cincinnatimikveh.org Eruv Hotline (513) 351-3788 Fusion Family (513) 703-3343 • fusionnati.org Halom House (513) 791-2912 • halomhouse.com Hillel Jewish Student Center (Miami) (513) 523-5190 • muhillel.org Hillel Jewish Student Center (UC) (513) 221-6728 • hillelcincinnati.org Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati 513-961-0178 • jcemcin.org Jewish Community Center (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org Jewish Community Relations Council (513) 985-1501 Jewish Family Service (513) 469-1188 • jfscinti.org Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (513) 985-1500 • shalomcincy.org Jewish Foundation (513) 214-1200 Jewish Information Network (513) 985-1514 JVS Career Services (513) 936-WORK (9675) • www.jvscinti.org Kesher (513) 766-3348 Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund (513) 793-2556 Shalom Family
(513) 703-3343 • myshalomfamily.org The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education (513) 487-3055 • holocaustandhumanity.org Vaad Hoier (513) 731-4671 Workum Fund (513) 899-1836 • workum.org YPs at the JCC (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org CONGREGATIONS 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 Ohr Chadash (513) 252-7267 • ohrchadashcincinnati.com Congregation Sha’arei Torah shaareitorahcincy.org Congregation Zichron Eliezer 513-631-4900 • czecincinnati.org Golf Manor Synagogue (513) 531-6654 • golfmanorsynagogue.org Isaac M. Wise Temple (513) 793-2556 • wisetemple.org Kehilas B’nai Israel (513) 761-0769 Northern Hills Synagogue (513) 931-6038 • nhs-cba.org Rockdale Temple (513) 891-9900 • rockdaletemple.org Temple Beth Shalom (513) 422-8313 • tbsohio.org Temple Sholom (513) 791-1330 • templesholom.net The Valley Temple (513) 761-3555 • valleytemple.com EDUCA EDUCATION Chai Tots Early Childhood Center (513) 234.0600 • chaitots.com
Chabad Blue Ash (513) 793-5200 • chabadba.com Cincinnati Hebrew Day School (513) 351-7777 • chds.shul.net HUC-JIR (513) 221-1875 • huc.edu JCC Early Childhood School (513) 793-2122 • mayersonjcc.org Kehilla - School for Creative Jewish Education (513) 489-3399 • kehilla-cincy.com Mercaz High School (513) 792-5082 x104 • mercazhs.org Kulanu (Reform Jewish High School) 513-262-8849 • kulanucincy.org Regional Institute Torah & Secular Studies (513) 631-0083 Rockwern Academy (513) 984-3770 • rockwernacademy.org Sarah’s Place (513) 531-3151 • sarahsplacecincy.com Yeshivas Lubavitch High School of Cincinnati 513-631-2452 • ylcincinnati.com ORGANIZATIONS ORGANIZATIONS American Jewish Committee (513) 621-4020 • ajc.org American Friends of Magen David Adom (513) 521-1197 • afmda.org B’nai B’rith (513) 984-1999 BBYO (513) 722-7244 Hadassah (513) 821-6157 • cincinnati.hadassah.org Jewish Discovery Center (513) 234.0777 • jdiscovery.com Jewish National Fund (513) 794-1300 • jnf.org Jewish War Veterans (513) 204-5594 • jwv.org NA’AMAT (513) 984-3805 • naamat.org National Council of Jewish Women (513) 891-9583 • ncjw.org State of Israel Bonds (513) 793-4440 • israelbonds.com Women’s American ORT (513) 985-1512 • ortamerica.org
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20 • LEGALLY SPEAKING
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The wrong way to finger an accomplice to murder Legally Speaking
by Marianna Bettman Statements made out of court are known as hearsay statements. Generally these out-of-court statements are not admissible at a trial. This is especially significant in criminal cases. The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives the accused in a criminal trial the right to confront witnesses against him or her, which includes the right to cross examine that witness at trial about any out-of-court statements. The Ohio Constitution provides the same protection. But there are many exceptions to this hearsay rule. Some out-of-court statements are considered reliable, and can be admitted at trial in the absence of the declarant, like the final words of a dying person, or words spontaneously uttered in fright. And sometimes the out-ofcourt statements are offered at trial not for their truth, but for some other purpose. The Supreme Court of Ohio recently dealt with these issues, which can become very complex, in a murder case, State v. Ricks. In the Ricks case the prosecution tried to admit a co-defendant’s statement identifying Ricks as the accomplice to a murder through the testimony of a police officer, instead of putting the co-defendant himself on the witness stand. While the Court unanimously agreed that doing this was improper, it split 4-3 on the reasons why it was improper. Justice Paul Pfeifer wrote the lead decision for himself and Justices O’Donnell, Kennedy, and O’Neill. Justice Judy French wrote the separate concurCENSURE from page 5 Lopatin said. “I think it’s a beautiful moment.” In an interview last year with JTA, Chovevei board chairman Steven Lieberman said he viewed the institution’s transition from its foundational phase to Lopatin as an opportunity to build bridges to segments of the Orthodox world that have been closed to Weiss. Weiss antagonized traditionalist Orthodox adherents (and cheered many liberal ones) when
rence for herself, Chief Justice O’Connor, and Justice Lanzinger. This is a complicated case, but I will try and sort it out. A known drug dealer named Calvin Harper was murdered at his residence in Sandusky, Ohio. Preliminary investigation led police to learn of the involvement of one Aaron Gipson, a Michigan resident. Witnesses confirmed that Gipson was in Sandusky the day of the murder. He and another man, then unknown, had visited Harper’s sister Chanel and a friend at Chanel’s house. Both Chanel and her friend knew Gipson. Neither knew the other man, although Chanel gave the police a description of him, as did a neighbor who found the body. The neighbor had apparently been visited accidentally by the unknown man who had been looking for Harper. Sandusky police found and questioned Gipson, who was in custody on another matter in Canton, Michigan. Somehow, the Sandusky police came up with the name “Peanut” as the man with Gipson (how this came to pass did not come out at trial) and passed this information on to Canton Police Officer Michael Steckel. Steckel, another officer, and Gipson drove to the neighborhood where the second man lived. Gipson saw the man and identified him to the police as “Peanut”- apparently the only name known to Gipson. Steckel was later able to identify “Peanut” as Thomas Ricks by making a phone call to the address where he had been seen, and asking for his real name. The police were then able to get a photograph of Ricks from another jurisdiction. From the photograph, Gipson identified Ricks as “Peanut.“ Back in Sandusky, both Chantel and the neighbor picked Ricks’ photo out of a photo array as the man who had been with Gipson the day of the murder. The wrinkle in this case is that Aaron Gipson, who was also tried for the murder of Calvin Harper, but in a separate trial, did not testify at Ricks’ murder trial. Instead, Officer Steckel testified about Gipson’s statements to him identifying Ricks.
Ricks objected to this, claiming it violated his right to confront the witness against him, and was impermissible hearsay. But the trial court allowed the statement to come into evidence, on the ground that the statements were not made to identify Ricks as the murderer, but only to explain the officer’s investigation conduct – why he was doing what he was doing. Ricks was convicted of a number of charges, including two counts of aggravated murder, and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. The Supreme Court of Ohio homed in on exactly why Officer Steckel testified that Gipson said “That’s Peanut” when he saw Ricks. Was it just to explain to the jury the purpose of his investigation (which would be proper)? Or was it to finger Ricks as the accomplice to murder (which would be improper)? The Court held that Gipson’s statement”That’s Peanut” – was a statement identifying Gipson’s accomplice to murder, not an explanation of how and why the police had gotten the photo to show other witnesses. The statement was offered for its truth, and used by the state as evidence that the person in the photo committed the crime. Justice Pfeifer held that this violated Ricks’ right to confront and cross-examine Gipson. So, while Justice Pfeifer and three colleagues found the contested statement offered by the police officer to be an unconstitutional violation of Ricks’ rights under the Confrontation Clauses of the state and federal constitutions, the other justices, while agreeing the statement was improper, wouldn’t go that far. There is an evidence rule that holds that even relevant evidence can be inadmissible at trial if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Justice French and her two colleagues would have decided the case solely on this basis – that the statement of identification offered via the police officer was just too prejudicial to Ricks. Regardless of this difference in reasoning among the justices, Ricks is going to get a new trial.
he took the unprecedented step several years ago of granting a woman, Sara Hurwitz, the title of rabba – a female version of rabbi. Weiss also launched a women’s seminary in Manhattan, Yeshivat Maharat, to ordain more Orthodox female clergy. With Weiss at the Chovevei helm, however, the National Council of Young Israel has effectively blocked its franchise synagogues from hiring the seminary’s graduates as rabbis. Chovevei graduates also are not accredited by the main Modern
Orthodox rabbinical association, the Rabbinical Council of America. “It is still a challenge connecting Chovevei with the rest of the Orthodox world; I’m not going to deny that,” Lopatin said. “ But I think we’re moving in the right direction. I guess we have to build trust.”
The price of identity theft for Ohio consumers: What to do if your purse or wallet is stolen A LEGAL LOOK
by Michael Ganson For the last several years, identity theft has been the number one consumer complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Ohio is no exception. According to the FTC Identity Theft Clearinghouse, there were 6,878 complaints of identity theft by Ohio consumers in 2006. The out-of-pocket costs and inconvenience to identity theft victims can be substantial. The consumer’s damages are compounded by the inordinate amount of time spent correcting the consequential problems, with many consumers reporting more than 130 hours. A variety of actors may be involved in cases of identity theft. First, there is the consumer whose personal information has been compromised, and identity stolen. The identity thief, who is often unknown to the consumer. The creditor or furnisher of the credit information is another piece of the puzzle, with specific duties to identity theft victims; the debt collector who attempts to collect the fraudulent debt; merchants who use the consumer information; and the credit reporting agencies or credit bureaus who publish the information to third parties. All of these players might play a role in an identity theft case. Each has certain legal duties to the innocent consumer to safeguard their information, or curtail dissemination of inaccurate information about the consumer. Identity theft is a national phenomenon. The millions of victims of identity theft have cost billions of dollars. Identity thieves target consumers in a variety of ways. The consequences for identity theft victims are immense. By the time many consumers discover the identity theft has transpired, the thief will have run up a large amount of debt. Many consumers do not discover that their good names have been under attack for months or even years; and then, often only after their credit record is marked as defaulted or delinquent. Fraudulent information on consumers’ credit reports can negatively affect their credit scores, and limit access to credit or favorable credit terms. Preventive measures are always paramount to protecting yourself. But remember, even the most prudent of consumers might fall victim to identity theft.
There are a number of ways one can proactively protect personal identifying information and reduce becoming a victim. First, consumers should safeguard their confidential information. Personal identifying information, such as Social Security numbers, and dates of birth should never be disclosed unless absolutely necessary. Consumers should keep credit card numbers and bank account numbers in a secure location. It is best to commit PINs to memory in lieu of writing them down. This will prevent discovery by an identity thief. Do not give bank or credit card information over the phone or Internet. If consumers are going to conduct business online, they should do so only from trusted Web sites. Reputable sites will always direct the consumer to a secure page with a URL starting with “https://” whenever the consumer makes a purchase or is asked to input personal identifiers. Use your own personal computer to conduct on-line business. Public computers are less secure, as is wireless Internet. Antivirus, anti-spyware and firewall protection are advisable. It is also important to keep these security mechanisms up to date. When not in use, computers should be turned off or set to stand-by mode. Keep track of everything you keep in your wallet, pocketbook or PDA, in the event it is lost or stolen. Never carry a social security card or number. Do not open e-mail from unknown senders. Identity thieves may hide harmful information in embedded attachments or graphic files. Pop-ups should also be avoided. Set your browser to block pop-up messages. Finally, be suspicious of e-mails from known senders with unusual subject lines It is advisable to request “paperless” banking and credit card statements. This will curtail the would-be identity mail thief from intercepting the consumer’s mail to obtain their personal information, or “dumpster diving.” And monitor all statements for any unauthorized use. Regularly check your credit reports with each of the three major credit reporting agencies (CRA) once per year. They are FREE. While there are a number of services that provide credit report monitoring, this is can easily be done for free. If prevention fails and you are victimized then: 1. File a police report. 2. Contact the Ohio Attorney General office for an Identity Theft Verification Passport. 3. Notify the Creditor Holding the Compromised Account. 4. Close any account that has been compromised and send a letter to the company holding the credit account by certified mail, return receipt requested
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FOOD / FIRST PERSON • 21
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013
This year in Jerusalem
All about food – Sukkot celebrations Zell’s Bites
This Year in Jerusalem
ed pine nuts and drizzel two tablespoons of the honey dressing, lightly over the top. Serve the rest in a container, on the side. STUFFED ACORN SQUASH Serves 4
by Zell Schulman
by Phyllis Singer The Jewish holiday season has ended, and Israel is back to what Israelis call “the blessed routine” – kids in school, adults back to work. One of the highlights of the holiday season is going on a tiyul – an outing, a hike or a sightseeing trip for a day or longer. Thousands of Israelis participate in this adventure, especially during the intermediate days of Succot. And I was no exception. I spent the first part of the Succot week with my family on Kibbutz Merav on Mt. Gilboa. Since holidays are celebrated for one day in Israel instead of two as in the Diaspora, the Friday of the intermediate days was a good time for a tiyul. My teenage granddaughters prefer to spend time with friends (as do teenagers everywhere!), and my daughter-in-law Judy was not in the mood for a tiyul, so Hanan (Howie) and I ventured out on our own to visit some interesting places in the Jezreel Valley below the Gilboa mountain range. We visited an art museum, an ancient synagogue that has been restored and a Japanese garden on Kibbutz Heftzibah. An art museum and an ancient synagogue seem natural sites in Israel, but a Japanese garden on a kibbutz? A fascinating story explains its presence. Although political relations between Japan and Israel have been cool since the founding of the state – primarily because of Japan’s reliance on Arab oil – one group, the Makuya, has been a strong friend of Israel since 1948. According to The Encyclopedia Judaica, which the Makuya quote on their home page, “the word
CONTINUED from previous page requesting written confirmation that the business has removed the disputed charges and closed the fraudulent account. 5. Contact at least one of the three CRAs (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union) to place a fraud alert on your credit report. There are two types of fraud alerts: an initial fraud alert valid for 90 days, and an extended fraud alert for 7 years. An initial fraud alert is placed by calling any one of the three major CRAs. To obtain this alert, in addition to filing
Courtesy of Phyllis Singer
Part of the Japanese garden on Kibbutz Heftzibah
‘Makuya’ is the Japanese translation of the Hebrew phrase Ohel Moed, [tabernacle], the meeting place between God and man, the dwelling place of God’s [spirit] (Ex. 29:4243). The name refers to an indigenous Japanese group of Christian Bible believers, strongly identified with the cause of Israel. “Makuya was founded in May 1948 by Abraham Ikuro Teshima (1910-73), a successful businessman and ardent Christian believer. He emphasized the importance of the personal encounter with the spirit of God and the return to the dynamic faith of the original Gospel of early Hebraic Christianity, as opposed to the dogmatic, institutionalized, European-dominated churches. “He tried to revive the devastated spiritual condition of postwar Japan by proclaiming the words of [the prophet Amos]: ‘The Bible is the light to all peoples and the biblical faith perfects all religions. Even today the God of Israel is living and vividly intervenes in the human society with his abundant goodness and mercy.’ “A commentator on the Bible and prolific writer, Teshima maintained that deeper understanding of the Jewish faith, its people and history, is essential to the full comprehension of the Bible. The religious thinking of Rabbi A. H. Kook, Martin Buber and Abraham Heschel [is] among the cherished elements of their belief. “Their fervent love of the Bible and firm attachment to Zion bring hundreds of Makuya pilgrims annu-
ally to Israel. [More than 1,000.] Makuya students have been sent to Israeli kibbutzim to work together with the people of the Bible and to study Hebrew and the biblical background. Some of them continue their academic studies in [Israeli] universities.” In addition, more than 8,000 Makuya pilgrims have visited Israel. During their annual visits, they parade in downtown Jerusalem in colorful Japanese dress, singing Hebrew songs and carrying banners proclaiming their friendship with the Jewish state. Kibbutz Heftzibah in the Jezreel Valley has provided hospitality for the Makuya pilgrims and the students. The students work on the kibbutz and study in the kibbutz ulpan (Hebrew classes) or in an ulpan in Jerusalem. (When I was in ulpan, a Japanese student from the Makuya was in my class. He had a Hebrew name and told us it was the custom of the Makuya to give their children Hebrew names in addition to their Japanese ones.) In return for Heftzibah’s hospitality and welcoming atmosphere, the Makuya built a beautiful Japanese garden on the kibbutz. It is a lovely oasis, featuring beautiful trees, a restful pagoda and a pond filled with gigantic Japanese goldfish – a calming place for contemplation and relaxation. Hanan and I visited the garden at the end of our afternoon tiyul. We enjoyed the beauty and the serenity and then headed back to Kibbutz Merav to usher in the Shabbat.
a police report, you must provide the CRA with proof of your identity. 6. You can require the three major CRAs to block the fraudulent account from your credit file. Notification to one CRA will serve as notice upon all three. 7. Immediately dispute the information with each CRA reporting the inaccurate information, as well as the furnisher of the information, sent by certified mail, return receipt requested. Maintain records of all documentation. 8. Cancel your credit cards immediately. 9. Call the Social Security
Administration fraud line to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thief’s purchases. After notifying the agencies, no additional damage should be done, and the thief will find having your wallet, purse, or personal information is worthless. It should stop them in their tracks.
Note: this is the complete version of this article orginially published September 26, 2013. Sukkot, the Fall Festival of the Ingathering, has always been a favorite holiday for me. Over the years, my family has erected a variety of “temporary booths,” sukkahs. Though I won’t be building a sukkah, I will create several arrangements to decorate my condo using colorful gourds, Indian corn and pumpkins which are now available at the supermarkets and specialty stores. This year, I celebrated Sukkot at our Jewish Community Center. Last week, I volunteered and helped create a beautiful panel which will be hung in their sukkah. Fall fruits and vegetable dishes are the “stars” when entertaining in the sukkah. Enjoy sharing these recipes with your family and friends. FALL FRUIT SALAD WITH HONEY DRESSING Serves 4 – 6 The pomegranate, an oddly shaped pinkish-red fruit is available in the produce departments. It is mentioned in the Bible as a sign of fertility, and has numerous seeds. You chew the seeds, enjoy the juice and throw away the pulp! Try one, you may like it. If you’re not a risk taker, enjoy it in this recipe. This honey dressing doesn’t need refrigeration. Ingredients 2 avocados, peeled and sliced 2 Navel oranges, peeled and sliced One small red onion, peeled and sliced Seeds from one pomegranate 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted HONEY DRESSING Makes 2 cups Ingredients 1 cup white vinegar 1/2 cup dry red wine 1/2 cup sugar 6 tablespoons honey Method l. Arrange the avocados, oranges and pomegranate seeds on lettuce leaves. Sprinkle with toast-
Stuffed foods are traditional favorites during Sukkot. They signify “abundance” for the harvest season. This filling is also wonderful as a filling in zucchini or a small pumpkin. Ingredients 2 large acorn squash 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves 1/8 teaspoon vegetable oil Salt and pepper to taste 1/2 pound ground beef 1 large egg 1/4 cup rice, cooked 1/4 cup olive oil 2 tablespoons fresh mint 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs, chopped(2 slices bread) 1 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped 1 tablespoon honey Method 1. Cut the squash in half. Scoop out the seeds and gently remove the pulp with a small knife or small spoon. Finely chop the pulp. This may be done in a food processor or blender. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F. Rub the outside of the squash with vegetable oil. This will keep the skin from drying out and gives it a nice glaze. 2. In a large bowl, mix the meat, rice, mint, parsley, thyme, egg and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Fill the squash. Heat the remaining olive oil in a medium pan. Add the chopped pulp and honey. Mix well and simmer for 8 to l0 minutes. Spread this in the bottom of a well–oiled 1 quart casserole pan. Set the stuffed acorn squash on top. Add 1/4 cup of water and bake the stuffed squash 30 minutes or until well browned on top. MARINATED SALAD
VEGETABLE
Ingredients 1 cup olive oil 2/3 cup cider vinegar 1/3 cup chili sauce 1 teaspoon grated onion 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste Method 1. Pour the ingredients into a blender or food processor. Blend or process until well mixed. Pour over the vegetables while they are still warm. Refrigerate several hours before serving; drain the marinade from the vegetables and arrange them on your favorite platter.
22 • OBITUARIES D EATH N OTICES MELAMED, Myron R., age 86, died September 18, 2013; 15 Tishrei 5774. MILLER, Betty, age 93, died September 24, 2013; 21 Tishrei 5774. PLOWDEN-LOVE, Robin, age 55, died September 27, 2013; 23 Tishrei 5774. SMITH, Sherry Lou, age 78, died September 27, 2013; 23 Tishrei 5774. ZIMOV, Jeannette P., age 94, died September 27, 2013; 23 Tishei 5774. STIEBEL, Milton D., age 88, died September 30, 2013; 26 Tishrei, 5774. CAMINS, Josephine “Joe”, age 92, died September 30, 2013; 26 Tishrei, 5774.
O BITUARIES
Myron R. (Mike) Melamed
Courtesy of Rita Edlin
MELAMED, Myron R. Myron Roy Melamed, MD, age 86, died Wednesday September 18th in North Carolina, after surviving 6 years with pancreatic cancer. Dr. Melamed was a key figure in the field of flow cytometry and a codeveloper (with Lou Kamentsky) of
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the first widely used modern flow cytometer. (The instrument revolutionized the diagnosis and monitoring of cancer, AIDS, and other diseases, and is widely used also in molecular biology, drug research, plant biology, marine biology and other fields.) Dr. Melamed was the Chairman of the Pathology Department at Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center from 1979 to 1989, and chairman of the Department of Pathology at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, NY from 1991 to 2007. He was a Professor of Pathology and Biology at Cornell University Medical College. Dr. Melamed’s groundbreaking study, Natural History and Clinical Behavior of in situ Carcinoma of the Human Urinary Bladder, published in 1964, opened new doors to the understanding of, and diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer using then unprecedented techniques of cytologic analysis. The following year he co-authored his seminal paper entitled Spectophotometer: New Instrument for Ultra-rapid Cell Analysis, which described the device, now known as the “Flow Cytometer.” In 1990 he co-authored a study which, for the first time, confirmed the association of second hand smoke and lung cancer. He also served on the Nobel Prize nominating committee for Medicine and was a founding member of the International Society for Analytical Cytology, past president of the American Society of Cytology, and the New York Pathology Society, and served on the board of directors of the New York Transplant program. During his 63 years in the practice of medicine he published more than 500 peer reviewed scientific papers and two books. The most recent of these, the 5th edition of Koss’ Diagnostic Cytology and its Histopathologic Bases is widely regarded as the most comprehensive and authoritative text on the subject. He received numerous awards and honors for his scientific research and teaching accomplishments including: the Papanicolaou Award of the
American Society of Cytopathology, the Maurice Goldblatt Award of the International Society of Cytology, The Daniel Drake Award of the University of Cincinnati Medical School, and the Fred Stewart Award of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for contributions in tumor pathology. Dr. Melamed was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jewish immigrant parents and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BS from Case Western Reserve at age 19. He earned his MD from the University of Cincinnati in 1950 where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. His residency and fellowship training included internal medicine, hematology, pathology, and histochemistry at the University of Cincinnati, Duke University Hospital, Mount Sinai in New York, and Hammesmith Hospital in London. He served overseas during the Korean War as a Captain in the Army Medical Corps. He is survived by a younger sister, Rita Edlin, a niece, three nephews, two sons, Daniel and Joseph, and two grandchildren, Alexander, and Caroline. MILLER, Betty Betty Miller, 93, was born 17 November 1919, and died 24 September 2013. Beloved wife of Rubin Miller, who died in 1997, and mother to Stuart Miller of Albany, NY and Jacqueline Algon of Wilton, CT, she was grandmother to Sibel Algon Yucel of Stockton Springs, ME, Brian Miller of Albany, and Jennifer Miller Allison of Arvada, CO, and was great grandmother to Ela and Kaya Yucel, Vera Jean Miller and Robert Allison V, and mother-in-law to Mary Miller and Taylan Algon. Born in Detroit, to Jenny Mintz Ash and Alexander Ash, she and Ruby met and married in 1939 in Cincinnati, OH. They moved to Albany, NY, in 1964. Betty worked as a comptometer operator in Cincinnati, and as a microfilm clerk for the State of New York. After they’d both retired, she and Ruby moved to Daytona Beach in 1987, and after 20 years there, Betty spent her last six years in Fairfield County, CT, most of it at the Jewish Home for the Elderly, near her daughter. Betty became an avid duplicate bridge player in Albany and played regularly in Daytona; just 9 points shy, she was reluctant to travel to tournaments to achieve Life Master status, but she loved the game and replayed hands in her mind for years. A graveside service was held Monday, 30 September 2013 at Beth Abraham-Jacob cemetery on Western Avenue, Guilderland/Albany, NY at 11 a.m. Donations in her memory may be made to Hadassah or a tree planted in her name in Israel. The Ralph E. Hull Funeral Home, 161 W. Church St., Seymour, CT was entrusted with the arrangements.
SPEAK from page 7 weather in order to uphold our vital national security interest.” Those warnings were echoed this week among an array of Knesset members in Washington attending the J Street conference. Shelley Yachimovich, the leader of the opposition Labor Party, said Israel “must be neither naive or paranoid” in dealing with Iran, but also cautioned that hard-line opposition to efforts to find a diplomatic resolution risked relations with the Obama administration. “We have to bear in mind that our alliance with the United States is a very important strategic asset,” she said. In a panel discussion at the conference, five Knesset members, including from the governing coalition, agreed that the best course forward was to test Rouhani’s offers. Among them was Tzachi Hanegbi, a former justice minister and Likud lawmaker who is close to Netanyahu. Hanegbi said he was “happy” that a diplomatic resolution was possible and insisted Netanyahu was on board with the “test but verify” approach. “We are not party poopers because we don’t know what the reason is for the party – what the prime minister is saying is what the president is saying, it is not enough to smile,” Hanegbi said. “We need to OBAMA from page 16 tions of others, this has been, and will always be, the objective of the Islamic Republic of Iran. “Nuclear weapon and other weapons of mass destruction have no place in Iran’s security and defense doctrine, and contradict our fundamental religious and ethical convictions. Our national interests make it imperative that we remove any and all reasonable concerns about Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.” Achieving a peaceful nuclear program, Rouhani added immediately, is only possible by accepting Iran’s right to enrichment. “Nuclear knowledge in Iran has been domesticated now and the nuclear technology, inclusive of enrichment, has already reached industrial scale,” he said. “It is, therefore, an illusion, and extremely unrealistic, to presume that the peaceful nature of the nuclear program of Iran could be ensured through impeding the program via illegitimate pressures.” Western diplomats reportedly are ready to accommodate enrichment at between 3.5 and 5 percent – well short of the 20 percent Iran says it needs for medical research and the 90 percent required for weaponization. Stephen Rademaker, a nuclear negotiator during the President George W. Bush administration and now a lobbyist with the Podesta Group, said that given Iran’s past
see action.” The key difference emerging between the U.S. and Israeli postures is over enrichment. The Obama administration reportedly is ready to allow Iran to enrich uranium at 3.5 percent – enough for the medical research Iran insists is the aim of its nuclear program, and well short of the 20 percent it now achieves and the 90 percent required for weaponization. Oren said keeping Iran to the 3.5 percent figure was illusory. “Because now they’ll have the infrastructure in terms of the number of centrifuges installed as well as the knowledge to go from 3.5 percent to weapons grade in a very short period of time,” he said. “The 20 percent number has become increasingly insignificant. It’s something that we’re going to have to stress our case here.” Eldad Pardo, an Iran expert at Hebrew University’s Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, said he understood Obama as wanting to thoroughly exhaust all options before advancing to a military solution. “I see much more collaboration than they let on,” Pardo said of the Obama-Netanyahu relationship. “I think when Obama was here they had plenty of time to discuss things. What I see is that Obama needs to build credit in case of war.” record of obfuscations, any deal that includes enrichment should be treated with great skepticism. “In theory, if they enrich only to the 3.5 percent level and respect that, it could work,” Rademaker said. “But the fear is that if they accumulate more and more 3.5 percent material and they employ more efficient centrifuges, then their ability to get close to nuclear weapons state increases exponentially.” Israel’s insistence on ending such enrichment is a non-starter, said Alireza Nader, an Iran expert at the Rand Corp., a think tank with close ties to the U.S. defense establishment. But the international community could take steps to limit Iran’s capability to weaponize its nuclear technology, including limiting the number of centrifuges operating in the country, removing stockpiles of enriched uranium from the country and a rigorous inspections regime. “I don’t think the Iranian regime is bent on assembling weapons no matter what the cost,” Nader said. “They will not risk the regime’s existence to do this.” David Makovsky, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank with close ties to both the Obama and Netanyahu governments, says it makes sense to test Rouhani’s rhetoric. “We should see if Iran’s urgency to get out under sanctions matches Israel’s urgency to slow the pace,” he said.
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