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Cincinnati Chamber Opera presents the Theresienstadt Opera Project

Jewish Foundation to host Annual Meeting, honor original trustees The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati will host its 18th Annual Meeting on Thursday, October 30, at 7:00 pm, at the Mayerson JCC on The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Campus. At this Annual Meeting, the Foundation will honor its original Trustees as the last of that group – Robert Kanter, Gloria Haffer and Gary Heiman – retire from the Board. The Foundation will also announce the election of new Trustees and Officers and report on its activity and investments from the past year. The meeting will be followed by a Community Dessert Reception.

The program, which will be open to the public, will include updates on the major Foundation grants announced at last year’s Annual Meeting, Michael R. Oestreicher’s final report as Foundation President, as well as President-Elect Beth Guttman’s inaugural remarks, which will focus on goals and priorities for the Foundation during her term. The election of one new Jewish Foundation Trustee will also be announced at this year’s Annual Meeting.

“This Annual Meeting represents a watershed moment in the history of the organization,” said Oestreicher.

“During the program we will look back with gratitude and appreciation for what the original Trustees accomplished; report and reflect on the investments we made in the community – with the help of our many partners - during the first years of the new era of the Foundation; and then look ahead as the Foundation continues to evolve under Beth’s leadership in this next term.”

The Jewish Foundation invests its resources in five priority funding areas: Unmet Basic Needs, Jewish Educational Opportunities, Leadership Development, Continuous Jewish Involvement, and Israel Connection.

The Annual Meeting reports will describe the progress made in each of those categories, with a particular focus on new initiatives with the Congregations, Jobs and Career Services, Senior Services, and new capacity building and support of our community’s Jewish Day Schools.

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Rockdale Temple launches Scholar-In-Residence program series Rockdale Temple has expanded its traditional weekend Scholar-In-Residence program to a series of presentations taking place over the next six months.

Rabbi Rachel Sabath BeitHalachmi, Rockdale’s Scholar in Residence, will conduct the first of four study sessions at 10 a.m.

Sunday, Oct. 19th. Her topic is “A Celebration of Jewish Ideas: God, Torah and Israel”. All sessions are open to the community at no charge.

Designed to explore the concepts of Jewish identity and values as the foundations of Judaism, the interactive programs focus on ways in which these concepts flow from historic and modern ideas of God, Torah and Israel.

Participants will study ancient and modern texts, rabbinic interpretations, prayers and poetry to answer the questions of what God, Torah and Israel meant to the

Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi

Sages and to contemporary Jews.

Rabbi Sabath Beit-Halachmi is the National Director of Recruitment and Admissions for Hebrew Union College-Jewish

Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), where she is the current President’s Scholar. She is also Director of the Office of Community Engagement for the College-Institute.

A regular contributor to the Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel, she has co-authored two books and published numerous scholarly articles. She has served as Vice President of the Shalom Hartman Institute where she was a faculty member and directed the Hartman Lay, Rabbinic and Christian Leadership programs.

Rabbi Sabath Beit-Halachmi received her rabbinic ordination from HUC-JIR in 1995 and earned a Ph.D. in Jewish Philosophy from Jewish Theological Seminary.

Remaining Scholar-inResidence program sessions are scheduled for Nov. 5, 2014 and Jan. 14, 2015.

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University of Cincinnati’s Judaic Studies Department welcomes new faculty members, offers new courses The University of Cincinnati’s Judaic Studies Department Chair Professor Gila Naveh invites the community to this year’s annual Jacob and Jennie L. Lichter series.

The topic this fall is Jewish foods and their impact on Jews and non Jews. Further details to follow in the Israelite.

The JSD is proud to introduce their newest faculty member, Dr. Michal Raucher, who was hired this year to teach courses on Israel including: Modern Israel; Jewish Intellectual Thought; and Women in Judaism. Recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, Dr. Raucher is also a consultant for the United Nations Population Fund, chairs the Bioethics group of the Society of Jewish Ethics and is on several steering committees of the American Academy of Religion. Before coming to Cincinnat, she was a visiting scholar at the Hastings Center and at Yale University’s Center for Bioethics.

The junior faculty includes Dr. Ari Finkelstein, who serves as Graduate Director of the new UCHUC Graduate certificate program. He will be presenting papers at the Society of Biblical Literature Conference and the Association for Jewish Studies Conference. He will be submitting his monograph, Emperor Julian and the Jews: The Making of a Pagan Empire, to a scholarly publisher later this year.

Dr. Matthew Kraus continues

Gila Naveh

to serve as Undergraduate Director. Recently he has led a summer tour to Israel which was well received and will be repeated this summer. He is currently revising his monograph on Jerome’s translation of the Vulgate for submission to a scholarly press. His article “The Vulgate Pentateuch” will appear soon in A Textual History of the Bible. He continues as Review editor for H-Judaic, the online book review site for Jewish Studies.

Exciting new courses in Jewish Studies and Religious Studies are being offered by noncore, adjunct faculty, including Greg Griffith, Shannon Schaffer, Arna Poupko Fisher, and affiliate faculty from other departments.

Our educator John Brolley has recently rejoined the department and teaches a variety of courses on the Bible and New Testament [Demonology and Creation Stories] including his popular “Jesus, Judaism, and History.”

Professor Steven Bowman has returned from a fruitful research trip to Florence and Israel, where he continued work on his monograph on the Book of Yosippon.

He delivered a paper in Athens, Greece on the Jews in the Resistance as well as a paper at the Josephus Workshop in Oxford, U.K.. He has published chapters on the Greek-Jewish Resistance in two separate volumes, a chapter on the Jews in late Byzantium and a Geniza fragment in a Memorial volume to be published in Spain.

He teaches courses on Medieval Jewish history, Jews and Arabs, Jerusalem, and the Holocaust.

Professor Gila Naveh, teaches Holocaust, American Jewish Literature, and Humor and offers regular sessions in Middle Eastern and European Studies. She has a new article entitled, "A Sign of Our Times: From 'Reading' to 'Seeing' and 'Feeling' the Holocaust".

The department has witnessed an increasing student body and a growth in majors and certificates, which promises another successful year. It has also scheduled a number of public and scholarly lectures which will be announced soon.

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2014 Rosh Hashanah Cover Coloring Contest entries can be seen @

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Cedar Village presents Sounds for Silence Cedar Village, the only elder abuse shelter in Ohio.

The Shalom Center provides a safe haven for individuals over the age of 65 who are victims of abuse, including a full range of health care and supportive servic-

es and a coordinated system of care.

“Everyone loves the The Rusty Griswolds, and this will be a fun night with the band while raising money for a great cause,” said Diane L. Slovin, Cedar Village’s

Special Events and Volunteer Manager.

For more information, please contact Diane Slovin at Cedar Village.

The American Israelite

Hadassah Leading Gifts dessert reception

Dr. Michal Lotem

The customized vaccines, made from the patient’s tumor cells or

ones with a high degree of similarity to the patient's cells, are given to individuals who are at high risk for disease recurrence. Currently, Dr. Lotem is working on the development of a more powerful vaccine by adding molecules that enhance the stimulation of the immune response.

A graduate of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, Dr. Lotem served in the Israel Defense Forces as the first female flight surgeon. In 1993, she was certified as a dermatologist and, in 1997, as a clinical and radiation oncologist. Dr. Lotem spent two years at the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD, under the mentorship of Dr. Steven Rosenberg, a pio-

neer and leader of modern cancer immunotherapy. She also took part in research at Stanford University, in California.

Dr. Lotem’s work has been published in prestigious journals, such as Clinical Cancer Research and the Journal of Immunology among others. Believing that physicians must master both research and clinical skills to address human needs, Dr. Lotem dedicates her time to both patient care and research.

There is admission fee, in addition to the contribution. Please RSVP by October 22. For more information, please visit the Hadassah website.

VOL. 161 • NO. 13 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014 22 TISHREI 5775 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 6:37 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 7:38 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

Jewish Federation holds contest to collect camp and Israel trip memories

PHYLLIS R. SINGER Editor & General Manager, 1985-1999 MILLARD H. MACK Publisher Emeritus NETANEL (TED) DEUTSCH Editor & Publisher BETH KOTZIN SAUNI LERNER Assistant Editors YOSEFF FRANCUS Copy Editor JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor ROBERT WILHELMY Dining Editor

Israel First Place – Jessica Whayne: Women Praying at the Western Wall

feels she has a deeper, more personal connection to Israel after

having experienced it firsthand.

Both young women are look-

ing forward to returning to Israel with their post-high school Israel travel grants.

The winners of the overnight Jewish camping contest were Jordan Baker and Nosson Freed, who both submitted letters they wrote while at camp over the summer. Jordan, who went to Camp B’nai B’rith Beber, is in eighth grade at Sycamore Junior High School. At camp, Jordan took lessons from a soccer coach from Belgium, a ski coach from Germany, and many Israeli counselors who are former campers.

“This summer—before his bar mitzvah—was the perfect time for Jordan to have gone to camp,” MEMORIES on page 22

JENNIFER CARROLL Production Manager BARBARA ROTHSTEIN GREG SPITZ Advertising Sales JULIE BROOK Office Manager e Oldest Eng Th

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Contest winners with their iPads.

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Israel Runner-up – Claire Ruben: Smiling Camel

MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM IRIS PASTOR ZELL SCHULMAN PHYLLIS R. SINGER Contributing Columnists

ewish N h-J ew lis

This summer, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati held a competition for recipients of overnight Jewish camping and Israel travel grants funded by The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati.

Campers were asked to submit photos, videos, letters, postcards, or stories; Israel travelers entered by posting photos on social media.

Participants were entered in a sweepstakes to win one of four iPad Minis. Over 130 photos from Israel were received, along with many letters from kids who attended overnight Jewish camps throughout the country.

“We are thrilled to have the beginnings of a great collection of stories and photos to share that show our own Cincinnati youth enjoying fabulous experiences,” said Pam Geller, marketing director at the Jewish Federation.

Jessica Whayne, who went on the Mayerson JCC’s March of the Living trip, took first place with her photo of women praying in front of the Western Wall. Jessica is currently a freshman at the University of Cincinnati, where she is studying art.

Runner-up Claire Ruben, who participated in a BBYO Passport trip, submitted a funny photo of a smiling camel. “We took lots of photos of camels,” said Claire, currently an 11th grader at Loveland High school. When asked about the best part of her trip, Claire replied that she now

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

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Cincinnati Chapter of Hadassah will thank its leading donors with a festive dessert reception on Wednesday evening, October 29th, at 7:30 pm. Donors and their spouses who contribute a preset amount (or more) to Hadassah per year are invited to attend. Dr. Michal Lotem, a Hadassah doctor from Israel, will be special guest speaker. Sue Green and Faye Sosna are Giving Committee Co-Chairs.

Dr. Michal Lotem is head of the Center for Melanoma and Cancer Immunotherapy at the Hadassah Medical Center’s Sharett Institute of Oncology. Her research and clinical work employs anti-cancer vaccines to enhance her patients’ immune responses to malignant melanoma.

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Cedar Village is sponsoring Sounds for Silence, a concert featuring The Rusty Griswolds on Thursday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m. at The Venue in Mason. The event will benefit The Shalom Center for Elder Abuse Prevention at

THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE (USPS 019-320) is published weekly for $44 per year and $1.00 per single copy in Cincinnati and $49 per year and $2.00 per single copy elsewhere in U.S. by The American Israelite Co. 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, OH. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE, 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037.

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

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Northern Hills Synagogue Hazak presents Seth Harlan: My IDF experience Northern Hills Synagogue Congregation B'nai Avraham HaZak program is excited to welcome Seth Harlan, who served as a ‘lone soldier’ in the IDF during the 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Join us and hear Seth’s unique perspective on serving in the Israel Defense Forces.

Seth says the program will be “my focus on issues affecting “lone soldiers.” This summer’s fighting in Gaza brought the existence of American lone soldiers into the global media spotlight; there are many misconceptions about lone soldiers that need to be corrected both within the Jewish

Community and the non-Jewish Community.

While IDF service comes with many hardships, many lone soldiers experience severe financial hardship during their military service and are overwhelmingly ill prepared for integration into Israeli society following the com-

pletion of their military service.

The program will be informal and interactive with many opportunities to ask questions and learn valuable information.

The program will be offered on Wednesday, October 15, 2014 at 12:00 noon for lunch. There is no cost for the program; however,

donations are greatly appreciated to cover operating expenses.

The program will take place at the Synagogue. Please RSVP to Jennifer Braner at the Synagogue office.

Interfaith award being named after beloved HUC-JIR professor Lots of students at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion called Professor Lowell McCoy their “favorite rabbi.” It was their ironic way of showing fondness for a beloved teacher.

You see, McCoy is not a rabbi.

He’s not even Jewish. He’s an ordained Methodist minister.

Yet for a half century, he taught rabbinical students at HUC-JIR how to be great orators.

In doing so, he helped to shape the way hundreds of Reform rabbis deliver sermons across North America and beyond.

Now, an award has been named after McCoy that will help promote interfaith harmony. It’s called the “Reverend Lowell McCoy Prize in Interfaith Relations.”

HUC-JIR will present it annually to the Ph.D. student who has excelled in advancing interfaith relations on and off the Cincinnati Campus. On Oct. 26, the prize will be featured at HUC-JIR’s annual Cincinnati Associates Tribute Dinner at the Hyatt Regency in Cincinnati.

HUC-JIR awarded the prize for the first time at graduation ceremonies in May, presenting it to Rabbi Tamar Duvdevani. She’s pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Talmud, which are rabbinic interpretations of the Torah collected centuries ago. When she is not in Cincinnati studying, she teaches Talmud and rabbinic literature in her native Israel.

“Since her arrival on campus, Rabbi Duvdevani has become an integral part of campus life,” said Rabbi Jonathan Cohen, Dean of the Cincinnati Campus. “She has supported student learning and emerged as a vibrant presence, adding to our social fabric. The student body’s selection of Rabbi Duvdevani as the first recipient of the McCoy Prize speaks volumes regarding her interactions on and beyond our campus.”

McCoy, 95, who lives in Hyde Park with his wife, Carolyn, is typically modest about the honor of having the award named after him, saying he “learned much more than he taught” and calling it a “unique privilege” to teach at HUC-JIR.

He said it was natural that he would have an effect on interfaith relations on campus because he was the only Christian faculty member at a Jewish seminary. But he had an effect off campus as well, speaking often at churches and synagogues about Christianity and Judaism, drawing on his indepth knowledge of both.

Students loved him not only for his skill in teaching them how to deliver sermons but also for his one-on-one relationships with them, which, in many cases, have lasted decades past their ordinations.

“Throughout his career, Lowell endeavored always to build bridges of understanding and friendship between people of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds,” HUC-JIR said in announcing the prize. “The many lifecycle ceremonies he performed for people of different faiths and his lectures to groups of diverse religious beliefs are just a few of the ways that he made an enduring contribution to our community and our country.”

Rabbi David Whiman, who was ordained by HUC-JIR in 1979, described McCoy as a teacher, mentor and friend who invested love and respect into his students. “Lowell’s gentle manner, kind and caring heart, and commitment to interfaith understanding and love for Reform Judaism make this prize an apt tribute,” Whiman said.

McCoy started his career as a chaplain in the U.S. Army during World War II in Europe, exposing him to all Christian denominations as well as Jews. He came to realize that denominational commitment is not important. Instead, he said what is important are values that connect human beings to one another and working toward the betterment of humanity.

After serving several Methodist congregations, he started his teaching career in the speech departments at Ohio State and the University of Cincinnati.

In the late 1940s, Nelson Glueck, then-president of HUC, asked McCoy to help set up a speech program at HUC. In his 50 years of teaching,

Rev. Lowell McCoy

Rabbi Tamar Duvdevani

McCoy introduced innovative techniques such as recording students’ sermons at the beginning and end of semesters so they could hear their improvements and creating a set time each week on campus for all students and faculty to offer feedback about the ser-

mons. At various times, he chaired the faculty and served as an associate dean. He formally retired in 1989, earning the title “professor emeritus,” then continued to teach.

HUC-JIR knows of no other Christian minister who taught at a

rabbinical school anywhere in the world.

McCoy loves to joke about being in the religious minority on campus. One year at an ordination service, one of the graduates introduced him to his grandmother.

“As she shook my hand,” McCoy recalled, “she looked a bit puzzled.”

“McCoy…McCoy,” she said.

“It doesn't sound like a Jewish name.” And then her face brightened. “Of course,” she said. “Your mother was Jewish.”

McCoy worked with students on more than 2,000 sermons and listened to them lead more than 6,000 services in the campus chapel.

Along the way, he said he developed an admiration, respect and affection for Reform Judaism that equals that of his native Christianity. “If I had been born in a Jewish family,” he said, “I would have been very happy to have been Jewish.”

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Jewish Federation engages students after summer trips to Israel On Sunday, September 21, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati held its first Israel HERE meeting, for high school students who used a grant to travel to Israel this past summer. The Israel Travel Grants program, funded

by The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati and administered by the Jewish Federation.

To maximize their trip experiences, Cincinnati teens who travel during 10th, 11th, or 12th grade participate in pre- and post-trip programs. At the September 21 meeting,

held at the Mayerson JCC, the travelers met the Jewish Federation’s Israeli emissaries, including the new schlicha, Maia Morag, and this year’s chaverim m’Israel (friends from Israel), Tal Meydan and Natan Garfinkle. The three facilitate the Israel HERE sessions, along with Federation professionals Sharon Spiegel and Karyn Zimerman.

“We were excited to meet a great group of teenagers full of interesting and positive perceptions of Israel,” said Morag. “When asked to describe

their views of Israel, they used words such as: fun, holy, multi-faceted, progressive, innovative, and lots of amazing!”

The Israel HERE program, which consists of two pre-trip and up to six post-trip meetings, was established in 2010 as part of the agreement grant recipients make to give back to the community through service. Through the program, the students learn more about Jewish Cincinnati and participate in social action projects that benefit the community, while also pro-

cessing their trip experiences and strengthening their connections with Israel. Additionally, they have the opportunity to form new friendships with their local peers.

As part of Israel HERE, students and their parents were able to take participate in sessions with The David Project, a national organization that helps students advocate for Israel, which was brought to Cincinnati by the Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). The 2014 travelers were in

Israel during a time of conflict and so gained a unique—and often difficult—perspective on Israeli life. The David Project helped them see the complexities involved in talking about Israel, use their experiences to relate to their peers, and positively tell their stories to family and friends.

Future Israel HERE sessions include social action projects, meetings with local Jewish agencies, and experiences to help the students forge stronger connections with Israel and each other.

Wise Temple announces a full schedule of fall adult learning programs Wise Temple’s fall adult learning programs begin on the Tuesday after Simchat Torah with its long-time weekly program, “Tuesdays with Torah”. All sessions will be at Wise Center from 12:00 noon – 1:00 PM. On October 21 and continuing on October 28 and November 4 Rabbi Sydney Henning will lead an encounter with Jews and Judaism from around the globe and discuss what makes klal Israel, all of Israel, both unified and distinct in Wherever You Go, There’s Always Someone Jewish. On November 11, 18 and 25, Rabbi Rachel Maimin discusses We Are What We Read? The class will read and discuss short stories by award winning Jewish and Israeli authors, including Michael Chabon, Shalom Auslander, Etgar Keret, Dara Horn, and others. On December 2, 9 and 16 Rabbi Karen Thomashow will explore how Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Judaism has grappled with modern ethical and legal dilemmas that

National Briefs Gabrielle Birkner tapped as managing editor of JTA NEW YORK (JTA) – Gabrielle Birkner is the new managing editor of JTA. Birkner is heading JTA’s editorial team and leading efforts to expand and improve the 97-yearold Jewish news agency’s digital offerings.

“We are so proud and excited to have Gabi assuming this role,” said Ami Eden, JTA’s CEO and editor in chief.

Pollard's release listing changed back to November 2015 from life WASHINGTON (JTA) – The U.S. Bureau of Prisons reverted to a 2015 release date in its listing for Jonathan Pollard from life.

The listing had appeared for several days as life on the bureau’s “find an inmate” search engine, but on Monday it returned to Nov.

the rabbis of old could not have anticipated in The Responsa Literature: How Judaism Makes Sense of New Realities.

Working or living near downtown and not able to get to Wise Center for Tuesdays with Torah? Enjoy Torah study downtown during your lunch break. On Thursday, November 20 from 11:45 AM – 1:00 PM Rabbi Kamrass will discuss The Uniqueness of Reform Judaism, the philosophical foundation of Reform Jewish thought, how it differs from other denominations, and what responsibilities that philosophy places on individuals.

“Downtown Lunch and Learn” is held periodically throughout the year at the First Financial Center, Fifth & Sycamore Streets.

“92YLive” returns to Wise Center with America and Israel: The Way Forward on Thursday December 4 at 8:15 PM. Ethan Bronner will moderate an enlightening discussion on the future of Israel with Dalia Rabin, the

former Israeli Deputy Minister of Defense and current chairperson of the Yitzhak Rabin Center, and Ambassador Dennis Ross, who played a leading role in shaping US involvement in the Middle East peace process.

92Live is broadcast live from New York and viewed on a large screen at Wise Center.

The “Sunday Series”, open to all, is held at an especially good time for parents who bring their children to Sunday school. On Sunday, December 14 First Amendment authority H. Louis Sirkin, Esq. will explore Prayer Opportunities at Your Town Hall: Religious Freedom in the Wake of the United States Supreme Court Ruling in Town of Greece v. Galloway, the implications of allowing town meetings to begin with sectarian “prayer opportunities”, the effect of the ruling on religious freedom and the Jewish position. The Sunday Series in held at 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM at Wise Center.

As a special treat this fall, Temple

members have an opportunity for a unique tour of Plum Street Temple. On Thursday, October 23, from 5:30 – 7:00 PM, Rabbi Lewis Kamrass will reveal Plum Street Temple as the legacy of Isaac Mayer Wise, from laying the cornerstone in 1865 to its meaning for today.

For those who would like an opportunity to bring Jewish learning into the comfort of their home, Wise Temple’s Living Room Learning is a great approach to Jewish learning. As a host, this program allows you to invite a dozen guests, pick a date and time convenient for you, pick a topic of your choice and enjoy an afternoon or evening of learning led by a Wise Temple rabbi in the comfort of your home.

Wise Temple is excited and pleased to once again welcome a “Scholar-in-Residence”.

Rabbi Seymour Rossel is a storyteller and author of thirty-six books. His most recent book is The Wise Folk of

Chelm. Chelm, a community in Poland, has a genre of story associated with it about foolish, outrageous, hysterically funny, and very poignant behavior. Rabbi Rossel’s new book is groundbreaking in that it has made Chelm stories accessible to adults!

Rabbi Rossel will participate in Shabbat services and a congregational dinner and presentation on November 7, Shabbat services and Torah study on November 8 and a workshop for parents and grandparents on November 9.

The Wise Center Eitz Chayim (Adult Learning) Committee, comprised of Temple members Rob Alpern, John Ernst, Steve Hirschberg, Scott Joseph, Sheldon Polonsky, Monique Rothschild, Jon Schwartz, Susan and David Smith and Mike Zelkind hopes that this full slate of fall programs will inspire you to treat yourself to a morning, afternoon or evening of adult learning this fall. Registration for classes is online or by calling the Temple office.

21, 2015, when Pollard is first eligible for parole under sentencing guidelines in 1987. The former U.S. Navy analyst was sentenced to life for spying for Israel.

Pollard’s wife, Esther, said she and her husband preferred the life listing because the 2015 date gave a false impression that mitigated against public pressure on President Obama to commute Pollard’s sentence.

“So I have to say it was a bit odd to use ‘American values’ when clearly we’ve had a consistent view and a consistent position on this particular issue,” she said.

about $2 billion more than when the deal was announced in February due to a rise in its share price.

Facebook named WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum, a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant, to its board.

Koum, 38, and his mother left Kiev for the United States when he was 16 to escape the “troubling political and anti-Semitic environment,” according to Forbes.

Facebook said when the purchase was announced that WhatsApp will continue to operate independently after the purchase.

tively and peacefully,” the department said in a statement Tuesday.

U.S. officials score Netanyahu on ‘American values’ comment WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s questioning of “American values” in pushing back against Obama administration criticism of Jerusalem building was “odd,” U.S. officials said.

“American policy has been clear and unchanged under several administrations, both Democratic and Republican: We oppose any unilateral actions that attempt to prejudge final status issues, including the status of Jerusalem,” Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said Monday in her daily briefing for reporters.

Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards accepting nominations for 2015 (JTA) – The Helen Diller Family Foundation is accepting nominations for the 2015 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards, which recognize Jewish teens for their leadership and innovative social action projects.

Fifteen teens, up to five from California and 10 from communities throughout the United States, each will receive $36,000 for the award, which recognizes the teens’ philanthropic efforts. The deadline for nominations is Dec. 14.

Facebook completes purchase of WhatsApp (JTA) — Facebook completed its purchase of the the mobile messaging service WhatsApp for nearly $22 billion in cash and stock.

The transaction was completed on Monday, with Facebook paying

State Dept. brings over Israeli, Palestinian basketball coaches WASHINGTON (JTA) – The U.S. State Department has brought 30 Israeli and Palestinian youth basketball coaches to the United States to promote understanding.

“This exchange program is part of the U.S. Government’s efforts to assist those who believe people of different nationalities, ethnicities, and creeds can live alongside one another construc-

Orthodox, Reform groups differ on Supreme Court’s gay marriage call WASHINGTON (JTA) – Reform and Orthodox Jewish groups had opposite takes on the Supreme Court decision not to hear gay marriage cases, effectively extending the right to a majority of the states.

“The Supreme Court’s decision to leave in place lower court rulings that have the potential to bring marriage equality to more than half of the states is cause for celebration for those Americans who will now be able to marry the person they love, no matter their gender,” the Religious Action Center of the Reform movement said in a statement Tuesday after the court turned away five appeals of lower court rulings permitting gay marriage.

The effect of the denial was to increase from 19 to 30 the number of states where same-sex marriage is legal.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014

ZOA presses Nike on refusal to address video ad with anti–Semitic overtones

By Jacob Kamaras (JNS) – After initially raising concern on the issue this summer, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is continuing to press the Nike footwear and apparel giant to remedy its promotion of a pre-World Cup animated video whose content has what critics call anti-Semitic overtones.

ZOA initially wrote to Nike on July 2, and after it was unsatisfied with the company’s response, sent a Sept. 18 follow-up letter to Nike that has yet to be answered. While Nike has defended the advertisement (called “The Last Game”) based on the arguments that it had no intention to offend Jews and that it is no longer appearing on television, ZOA is asking the company to publicly apologize for the video, remove it from the public domain, and take

other steps that would fall in line with how Nike addressed a past episode that offended the Muslim community.

“The video—which sends the message to ‘Risk Everything’—features animated international soccer stars competing against evil clones who have taken over the sport,” ZOA National President Morton A. Klein and Susan Tuchman, director of ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice, wrote in their most recent letter to Nike. “These evil clones are wearing uniforms with a logo virtually identical to the Jewish Star of David. Star-of-David-like images are also depicted throughout the video, including a white rectangle with a Star-of-David likeness in the center, strongly resembling the Israeli flag (without the stripes).

Whether intended or not, Nike is promoting a message that is deeply

offensive to the Jewish community—that Jews and Israel are evil and that one should ‘risk everything’ to defeat them.”

Others who have objected to the Nike video include the Israeli Knesset, the World Zionist Organization, and general viewers.

In their July letter, the ZOA officials wrote to Nike Chairman Philip H. Knight and President & CEO Mark Parker that, “Some of the animated soccer stars in the video—i.e., the ‘good guys’—are wearing shirts with a ‘Fly Emirates’ logo and a ‘Qatar Airways’ logo, which must mean that these Arab airlines cosponsored the video. It is no secret that the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have a deeply troubling history of anti-Semitism and hostility to Israel.”

“No one should wrongly interpret the Nike video as a sign that

Courtesy of YouTube screenshot

Nike maintains that the logo of the clones’ uniforms in the pictured promotional video was only intended to be a soccer ball, but critics say it is virtually identical to a Star of David.

Nike is anti-Semitic,” they stated.

“That would not be good for the Jewish people. That would not be good for Nike.”

Nike issued two responses to ZOA’s first letter. In the first, on July

15, it wrote to Klein that it would forward his comments “to our Advertising Department for their consideration.” Then on July 28, NIKE on page 19

U.S. has no clear path back to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations

By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) -Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is talking tough.

And Israel and the United States don’t seem to mind too much – or else think their best option at this point is to grin and bear it.

Abbas used his Sept. 26 speech to the United Nations General Assembly to accuse Israel of racism and genocide. He and his aides again are raising the possibility of seeking U.N. action to sanction Israel. They appear ready to bypass negotiations with Israel in favor of seeking an international declaration of a Palestinian state – positions consistently opposed

by Israel and the United States.

Still, Israeli and U.S. officials have been relatively tepid in their responses. For example, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose dramatic and assertive speeches have become an annual tradition at the General Assembly, offered only a quick rejection of Abbas’ withering speech.

Perhaps more telling: Israel no longer seems to be pushing the Obama administration to penalize Abbas. That represents a pivot from Israel’s posture following the breakdown in talks between Israelis and Palestinians in April and before the onset of this summer’s Gaza war. During those months, Israel and its allies in the U.S. pro-Israel community and in Congress were threatening to cut assistance to the Palestinian Authority if Abbas sustained a government of technocrats that was backed by Hamas.

But Abbas is smelling a lot sweeter after Israel’s war with Hamas, according to a lobbyist who works Middle East issues on

Capitol Hill. Lawmakers who wanted to punish Abbas before the war are now backing proposals that would return his Fatah party to authority in the Gaza Strip, where it was ousted by Hamas in bloody fighting in 2007.

“Especially with this possible new role in Gaza, Israel may want to keep the Palestinian Authority on life support,” said the lobbyist, who was speaking anonymously in order to be candid.

The Obama administration does not want the Palestinian Authority to bring its case for statehood to the United Nations again, but would not say what it was prepared to do to prevent the P.A. from coming before the Security Council.

“I won’t comment on hypotheticals,” a senior administration official told JTA when asked about Abbas’ proposal last month at the General Assembly to consider an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, with land swaps, within a limited time period.

“I will say, however, that we strongly believe that the preferred course of action is for the parties to reach an agreement on final-status issues directly,” said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to be candid. “We have long made clear that negotiations are the means by which this conflict will be resolved and that a resolution to it cannot by imposed on the parties.”

Translation: The Obama administration wants to try getting the parties back to the table to renew negotiations that collapsed in April before considering how to deal with the latest Palestinian U.N. initiative.

The Palestinians failed ultimately in their 2012 effort to garner Security Council recognition,

not just because the United States made clear it would veto any such attempt, hypothetical or not, but because the Palestinians could not acquire the nine votes out of 15 necessary to take up the bid.

This time, the Palestinians believe their chances have improved. The Jordanian delegation, currently occupying one of the Security Council’s rotating seats, is circulating a draft resolution that would have a state in place by November 2016, with its

capital in Jerusalem.

If the Obama administration is not as forthrightly pushing back against the resolution now as it did in 2012, it’s because it lacks a viable alternative, said Tamara Coffman Wittes, the director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.

“The United States does not have a pathway back to negotiations,” said Wittes, a Middle East official at the State Department during Obama’s first term.

She pointed out that the Israelis and the Palestinians are at considerable odds: Abbas wants to bypass Israel and take his case to the U.N., while Netanyahu wants to ignore the Palestinians altogether and is pushing for peace with other Arab nations first.

“It’s a much easier place for the United States to say ‘Don’t worry about that, let’s do this instead,’ “ said Wittes, describing US on page 19

8 • NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

Amid drought, Jewish groups push conservation agenda

By Anthony Weiss LOS ANGELES (JTA) – Devorah Brous’ San Fernando Valley home is shaded by green trees, studded with 19 fruit trees and patrolled by a pair of affable chickens that strut around the backyard. But at the moment, she is eager to show a visitor her dying lawn.

Comparing the withering grass to a thriving orange tree a few feet away, Brous, the founding executive director of the Jewish environmental organization Netiya, says, “It’s survival of the fittest.”

For Netiya – Hebrew for “planting” – and other Jewish environmental groups, California’s debilitating drought has tied together a number of issues that have been gaining prominence in the Jewish activist community: sustainability, social justice, and ethically and environmentally responsible food production.

Their efforts range in size and scope.

In San Diego, the local branch of Hazon is having children paint rain barrels that will capture rainwater for irrigation as part of the environmental group’s Sukkot festivities.

Meanwhile, in Pescadero, south of San Francisco, the environmental education group

International Briefs French Jewish girl joined ISIS (JTA) – A Jewish girl was among the some 100 girls and young women who have left France in recent weeks to join ISIS in Syria, according to a French security official.

The girls’ decision to join ISIS and their actual departure came after months of recruitment, mostly online, targeting adolescents, the British newspaper reported.

They are serving as wives, babysitters and housekeepers for jihadists.

Between 20 and 50 young girls have also come to Syria to join ISIS from Britain, according to the newspaper.

Rome’s mayor slams Priebke tribute as ‘vulgar’ ROME (JTA) – The mayor of Rome condemned a public commemoration in the city for the late Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke.

Ignazio Marino called Saturday’s event downtown a

Courtesy of Anthony Weiss

Devorah Brous and son playing with one of her two chickens at their Southern California home.

Wilderness Torah is hosting a panel discussion on water usage as part of its annual Sukkot on the Farm festival. After the panel, there will be a ceremony based on an ancient Temple rite in which the high priest would draw water from the spring and offer it at the altar in hopes of bringing seasonal rains.

Participants circling around a fountain “will bless the waters of the world and call in the rain,” said Suzannah Sosman, festivals manager for Wilderness Torah.

Last year’s Sukkot festival came amid a downpour; organ“vulgar provocation” that “wounds the entire civic community and represents a real slap in the face to the city of Rome, which played a fundamental role in the Italian Resistance.”

Priebke died on Oct. 11, 2013 while serving a life sentence under house arrest for his role in the 1944 massacre of 335 Romans, about 75 of them Jews, in the Ardeatine Caves south of Rome.

Police thwart attack on Jewish site in Buenos Aires BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) – Argentine police arrested a man suspected of planning to attack a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.

The suspect, 57, was arrested Tuesday at an Internet cafe in Buenos Aires by the Anti-Terrorist Division of the Federal Police.

Berni declined to provide additional details other than to say that 1,500 security personnel had been deployed to 99 sites in the last week, which coincided with the Jewish High Holidays season.

Preserved Polish Jewish cemetery hit by vandals (JTA) – Several tombstones were damaged as a result of van-

izers are hoping for a similar result this year.

But the main thrust of the work of Jewish groups working on drought relief is water conservation, capture and reuse.

“I don’t think people are necessarily aware of how to save water other than turning off their faucets when they’re brushing their teeth,” Sosman said.

Netiya, which organizes religious communities to create sustainable gardens on underused institutional lands, has installed gardens at 11 congregations around Los Angeles, including at Ikar, where Brous’ sister, Sharon, is the founding rabbi.

All the gardens include drip irrigation, a technique invented in Israel to conserve water during the irrigation process.

This summer, Netiya conducted a series of five workshops focused on water conservation and gardening. At a recent workshop, volunteers helped install a water-capture system that will disperse rainwater on the grounds of a Los Angeles church.

At another Netiya event, attendees helped put in place a greywater irrigation system at the home of Devorah Brous that recycles used water from her washing machine and funnels it to her herb garden.

“Every time I turn on the

faucet, I’m thinking about all the water that’s not going back into my landscape,” Ashley Sullivan, who is Jewish and who attended the greywater installation, told JTA. “We use so much perfectly good water once, just rinsing our hands.”

For other organizations, water conservation is not simply a response to the drought but a perennial concern.

Urban Adamah, an urban farm and educational center in Berkeley, not only uses drip irrigation but also began roughly a year ago to grow some of its plants using aquaponics, a system that utilizes 80 percent less water than conventional agriculture.

“Even though we’re in a drought now, we’re sort of in a perpetual state of drought in California,” said Adam Berman, the executive director of Urban Adamah. “Our mission is to teach sustainable agricultural practice, of which water conservation is a key part, even in good years.”

Brous, in turn, hopes to spark a broader conversation in the Jewish world about the relationship between food and the environment. In the process, she plans to reach out to Stewart and Lynda Resnick, billionaire residents of Beverly Hills, in a bid to bring them into a conversa-

tion about food and resources.

The Resnicks are among the largest landowners in California’s Central Valley, as well as among the largest growers of water-intensive crops such as almonds, pistachios and pomegranates. (A JTA request for comment placed with the Resnick-owned Roll Global Corp. was not returned.)

“Are these boutique perennial crops things that we should be growing in California, or should we grow something else?”

Brous asks rhetorically. “There are questions we should be asking.”

Judaism originally grew out of the life of a desert people, and though much of Jewish life has long since moved into towns and cities, its foundational texts still speak of ethical principles for caring for land and water. Brous begins her workshops with relevant readings from the Torah, as well as the Koran and the Christian Bible, and she hopes that they can serve as the basis for a renewed Jewish conversation about water, food and environment.

“It’s still in the text,” she said. “It’s extraordinary spiritual soil to grow from.”

dalism at a Jewish cemetery in Poland.

The attack on the headstones at the cemetery of Klodzko in western Poland took place late last month, according to a statement posted last week on the website of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, which has worked with local volunteers to preserve the site.

“This forgotten and very tiny community produced sons and daughters who never forgot, and did everything to save the memory of those who perished.”

19th-century synagogue complex restored in Lithuania (JTA) – After seven years of renovations, a unique complex made up of two 19th-century synagogues opened to the public in the Lithuanian town of Joniskis.

The complex in northern Lithuania comprises the Red Synagogue, which dates to 1865, and the White Synagogue, from 1823, according to the World Monuments Fund, which participated in the restoration.

Countless Lithuanian synagogues were destroyed by the Nazis and later by the Soviet government. The Joniskis complex, with the Star of David decorating one of its facades, escaped a similar fate because it is surrounded by residential buildings, meaning that “would-be vandals passed right by them without realizing they were there,” the fund wrote.

what was described as a “temporary freeze” on twinning with the northern Israeli city, the Le Figaro daily reported.

Roger Cukierman, president of the CRIF umbrella of French Jewish communities and associations, in a letter to Aubry wrote “This decision corresponds with hateful attitudes to the Israeli people,” he wrote.

Knife-wielding biker near Vienna synagogue is arrested (JTA) – A biker brandishing a knife and shouting anti-Semitic slogans in front of Vienna’s main synagogue was arrested.

The biker, identified as Markus G., 51, was taken into custody by Austrian police on Oct. 4, the news site oe24.at reported.

In 1981, two people who had attended a bar mitzvah ceremony at the synagogue were murdered and 30 were injured in an armed attack by Palestinian terrorists.

French city freezes twinning with Safed to pressure Israel (JTA) – The City Council of Lille froze the French municipality’s twinning agreement with Safed to press the Israeli government to end its conflict with the Palestinians.

The council voted Monday on

Jewish youth soccer club quits game in response to anti-Semitic taunts (JTA) — The coach of a Jewish youth soccer team in England took his players off the field after claiming they had been bombarded with “anti-Semitic abuse.”

“We’re used to anti-Semitism, we play with the Star of David on our shirts, we wear the kippah, but in the past we’ve had managers apologize profusely and have a word with their players,” Dennison told the Manchester Evening News.

“On this occasion everyone was clapping and laughing at these racist insults and it was only one or two of their boys who seemed quite embarrassed and apologized to my players.”

INTERNATIONAL / ISRAEL • 9

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014

In heavily Muslim Dutch neighborhood, a sukkah stirs controversy

By Cnaan Liphshiz THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) – For the tour guides that lead visitors through the Van Ostade Housing Project, Fabrice Schomberg’s sukkah is one of the few signs of the neighborhood’s Jewish roots.

Built in the 19th century for impoverished Jews, the enclave today is surrounded by the largely Muslim neighborhood of Schilderswijk, an area that the Dutch media have taken to calling the “Sharia Triangle,” referring to Islamic religious law. Fewer than 10

Jewish residents remain and, aside from Schomberg’s sukkah, there are virtually no markers of the area’s Jewish past.

Now even the sukkah’s fate is in doubt.

After weeks of negotiation with the city, Schomberg was informed that he could build his sukkah only on condition that he dismantle it by 9 o’clock each night. According to Schomberg, the police had advised the city against allowing a sukkah at all, since it might invite Muslim vandalism.

To Schomberg and his supporters, the city’s reluctance to allow a

sukkah in Van Ostade is emblematic of the Dutch approach to the rise of Muslim fundamentalism – urging targeted communities to keep a low profile rather than standing up for individual freedoms. But others fault Schomberg, alleging that he has used religion to stir conflict at the community’s expense.

“Resistance to my sukkah is not just about building permits,” said Schomberg, a British-born artist who has erected a sukkah outside his door for the past three years.

“There’s a wider context.”

That context includes three demonstrations this summer, all fea-

turing flags of the ISIS jihadist group; two included calls to murder Jews. A few dozen people attended each of the rallies. The city has since banned all demonstrations in Schilderswijk.

Schomberg was himself verbally assaulted in Schilderswijk while in the presence of a film crew that he had invited to see what happens when he wears his yarmulke in public.

“Advertising one’s Judaism is dangerous here,” said one Jewish resident who asked to remain anonymous to protect her safety. “I don’t wear any Jewish symbol on

the street and I installed my mezuzah on the inside.”

Despite these concerns, she supports Schomberg’s fight to build a sukkah and said she plans to visit the sukkah over the Sukkot holiday, which begins Wednesday at sundown.

“Banning sukkot is like banning Judaism,” she said.

Police and city officials would neither confirm nor deny Schomberg’s claim that police had advised the city to deny the sukkah permit, nor would they answer DUTCH on page 21

Meet the Fokkens: Amsterdam’s septuagenarian Jewish prostitutes

By Cnaan Liphshiz AMSTERDAM (JTA) – Like many Jewish grandmothers, Martine and Louise Fokkens enjoy talking about their grandchildren in language laced with Yiddish.

At 71, the twins from Amsterdam also paint, think often about the Holocaust and attend synagogue on Jewish holidays.

But the Fokkens are not like most Jewish grandmothers.

For one thing, they recently retired after 50 years of working as prostitutes in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. For another, they are local celebrities thanks to several autobiographical books and a 2012 documentary carrying the Englishlanguage title “Meet the Fokkens.”

In the Netherlands, they are widely known by the Dutch title, which translates to “old whores.”

“The business taught us to get along with everybody, and I do

mean everybody,” said Louise Fokkens, who retired in 2010 because of arthritis.

“Everybody” included priests, imams and rabbis, said the twins, who wore matching outfits during an interview last week at a Red Light District cafe.

“One of my Turkish clients shouted about Allah” at the moment of climax, Martine recalls.

“And we both had nice, shy yeshiva boys over more than once,” Louise added. “They’re very introverted.”

Though they speak positively about their years “behind the window” – a reference to the glass booths in which Amsterdam prostitutes attempt to lure customers – their career choice was born out of adversity and came at a price.

Louise entered the business in her early 20s under pressure from her ex-husband.

“He basically beat me into that

booth, becoming my pimp, living on my money,” she said.

The couple had four children, but her ex-husband forced her to leave them for a few years at a foster home. Louise was able to visit them only on weekends.

Martine followed her sister into the trade, working first as a cleaning lady at brothels before she began turning tricks herself.

“I was angry at how everybody around us shunned Louise,” Martine said. “I did it out of spite, really.”

Both women eventually divorced their husbands, whom they now describe as “a couple of pimps.” But they continued working in the district “because that had become our lives,” Louise said.

“Our life in the business became a source of pride, a sport of sorts,” Louise added.

In retrospect, both women say they regret becoming prostitutes.

“We didn’t need all the trouble it

Courtesy ofCnaan Liphshiz

Louise, left, and Martine Fokkens at the Amsterdam gay pride parade, Aug. 2, 2014.

brought us, the social stigma, the negative people you meet,” Martine said. “But that’s just how things went. Besides, we also met some wonderful people thanks to the busi-

ness.”

Since retiring, the Fokkens have spent more time with their children – FOKKENS on page21

Tensions rise in eastern Jerusalem neighborhood after 200 Jews move in

By Ben Sales JERUSALEM (JTA) – Jewish and Arab residents of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan disagree on whether the neighborhood is historically Jewish or Arab. They disagree about whether Israeli Jews should be living there. They even disagree on what to call one of the main streets in the neighborhood, a predominantly Arab area just outside the walls of the Old City.

The approximately 50,000 Arab residents of Silwan call it Wadi Hilweh Street, after one of the neighborhood’s districts. The 700 or so Jewish residents call it Maalot Ir David Street, or “Ascent to the City of David Street,” after the adjacent archaeological site containing remains of King David’s Jerusalem.

The dispute over the street name is emblematic of tensions that have existed here since Jews first began acquiring property in the neighborhood more than 20 years ago. But they rose significantly last week after about 200 Jews moved into 25

apartments in Silwan in the middle of the night.

To some Silwan Arabs, the new arrivals are infiltrators who disturb the peace with private security guards and aim to deprive Silwan of its Arab character. The Jewish residents see the the neighborhood as a historically Jewish area and see no reason why Jews should be restricted from living there.

“We’re talking about an area that has tremendous significance to billions of people all over the world,” said Zeev Orenstein, the director of international affairs for Elad, the Israeli NGO responsible for much of Silwan’s Jewish population growth.

“It’s a place of identity, of meaning, of faith. For that reason, I would expect people to say it’s natural, in Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel, that if a person wants to live in this area and has the means to legally purchase a property, that’s something that should be respected.”

Elad runs the City of David archaeological park, which exhibits the remains of King David’s palace,

as well as an underground tunnel once used to transport water. These attractions draw about a half-million visitors a year to Silwan.

Since 1991, the organization has purchased or built residential units for hundreds of Jews in Silwan. Elad is also hoping to build a multi-story visitors center on the site of a parking lot purchased a decade ago from Arabs. After the purchase, archaeologists discovered millennia-old archaeological remains there.

Orenstein said Jews and Arabs mostly coexist peacefully in Silwan.

Hebrew and Arabic conversation can be heard from the windows of adjacent apartments in a quiet section of the neighborhood that intersects with the archaeological park.

But signs of tension aren’t hard to find. Streets are dotted with security cameras and a private security company, paid for by Israel’s Housing Ministry, conducts patrols.

An Israeli-owned parking lot owned by is shut off behind a metal barricade. One Jewish resident told JTA that the City of David’s management

instructed residents not to speak to the press.

“I feel like a stranger here,” said Ahmed Karain, a convenience-store owner whose family has lived in the neighborhood for four generations.

“What do we have? What services do we get? The city abandons us.”

The Jewish population growth in Silwan is part of a larger Jewish expansion in eastern Jerusalem. Last week, a project to build more than 2,000 housing units in the Givat Hamatos neighborhood was sharply condemned by the United States and the European Union, both of which described the move as harmful to peace prospects.

“They’re looking to enhance Israeli control of this area,” said Yehudit Oppenheimer, executive director of Ir Amim, a nongovernmental organization that advocates for Arab Jerusalemites. “They are using archaeology for this. Through their activities they want to change the character of Silwan and to prevent a diplomatic solution regarding Jerusalem.”

Orenstein said Elad was not involved in the purchase of the most recent 25 apartments, which were bought by a company called Kendall Finance. Elad only advised Kendall on how best to move tenants into the apartments, Orenstein said, and suggested that residents move in the middle of the night because the move could provoke altercations with local Arabs.

Arab residents have contested the legality of some of the sales, and a 2009 report by Ir Amim, citing court documents, alleged that Elad acquired property in Silwan that was declared absentee property based on false depositions. Orenstein said Elad “works with the full accordance of the law.”

“We look forward to the day where you can move into the apartment you purchased in the middle of the day,” Orenstein said. “Right now, unfortunately, there are extremists who seek to make an issue of Arabs and Jews living together.”

10 • ISRAEL

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

Ralph Goldman, former JDC head and a builder of Israel, dies at 100

By Marcy Oster and Ron Kampeas

Courtesy of JDC

Then-Israeli President Shimon Peres, standing, greets Ralph Goldman at a salute for the former American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee leader's 100th birthday in 2014.

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Ralph Goldman, who as a young man helped shepherd the State of Israel into existence and later devoted his professional life to bringing humanitarian relief to Jews across the globe, has died at 100.

Goldman, who worked with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee since 1968 – he served twice as its chief executive and still held the title of honorary executive vice president – died Tuesday in Jerusalem, where he had lived for decades.

Active in arming and populating prestate Israel, he went on to lead the effort to bring American technical know-how and educational tech-

niques to the fledgling state.

“Ralph was an iconic and transformative figure who embodied the notion that all ‘Jews are responsible for one another’ throughout his long and extraordinary life,” said JDC’s CEO, Alan Gill.

Born on Sept. 1, 1914, in the town of Lechovitz in what is now Ukraine, Goldman at 11 immigrated with his family to a Jewish suburb of Boston, where he attended the local public schools during the day and Hebrew school five days a week in the late afternoons. In 1934, graduating from Hebrew College, he delivered the valedictory speech in Hebrew.

As a young man, Goldman was involved in local Zionist endeavors.

In 1937 he won a contest sponsored by a student Zionist organization for

his essay on Stalin’s idea of creating a “homeland for the Jews” in Siberia. He was awarded a fellowship to spend a year in British Mandate Palestine, where he participated in the establishment of Kibbutz Hanita in the Galilee.

He later recalled two months during the 1938 fellowship spent in Jerusalem, where he and some friends sought out Zionist leaders such as Berl Katznelson, Moshe Sharett and Menachem Ussishkin – barely known in the outside world, but heroes to the young Zionists.

“We simply said to them please tell us what’s happening, and they took us seriously,” Goldman said in an undated interview posted on YouTube.

Goldman returned to the United States and went on to earn a bache-

lor’s degree from Boston University and a master’s in social work from Harvard.

He served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945, first in the United States, then in England. At the conclusion of World War II, he was stationed in Germany, where he was assigned to assist Jews in Displaced Persons camps.

He was active in the New York operation of prestate Israel’s army, the Haganah, helping to buy and lease airplanes and ships to transport immigrants from Europe to Palestine, and assisting in the effort to recruit personnel for the nascent force. Through this work Goldman met and befriended Teddy Kollek, who would later become the long-

responsible for one another.”

He was a trusted adviser and friend to Israeli leaders, including David Ben-Gurion, Shimon Peres and Teddy Kollek. He encouraged, trained and guided hundreds of Jewish leaders who have taken leading roles in their communities from America to Ukraine to Hungary.

Ralph also was a mentor to many young Jewish innovators. He took

GOLDMAN on page 22

Remembering Ralph Goldman

By Alan H. Gill (JTA) — Most Jews have never heard of, let alone ever met, Ralph I. Goldman.

But for countless numbers of us throughout the world, Ralph — a former chief executive of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) — played a role in our freedom, our positive Jewish identity, our dedication to the neediest among us. He was also instru-

mental in the State of Israel’s birth, its growth and success, its cultural and educational institutions, and its strong social fabric.

Indeed, he was one of the greatest advocates for the Jewish people and Israel, their constant companion in times of need, and their warmest compatriot in times of elation.

They just didn’t know it.

Why? Because this 100-year old man, who passed away in Jerusalem on

Tuesday, was more focused on our well-being, on creating opportunities for us to embrace our Jewish identity and on Israel’s bright future than on bolstering his own reputation.

And his life’s work and ongoing legacy are reasons to pause, and celebrate, even as we mourn his passing.

Ralph, who was born in Ukraine in 1914, was an early builder of the State of Israel — a brave and delib-

erate Jewish leader who cracked open communist Europe to revive Jewish life in places where the Soviets strived so very hard to eradicate it.

He also worked with a full heart to strengthen ancient Jewish communities in places from Morocco to Mumbai. Ralph, who at the time of his death remained an honorary executive vice president of JDC, was the living embodiment of the Talmudic precept that “all Jews are

Israel Briefs

bombing.

Israel’s military said it returned fire with tank shells into southern Lebanon following the attack.

Video shows executions of four accused informants for Israel (JTA) – An Egyptian Islamist group released a video of four Egyptians accused of being informants for Israeli intelligence being executed, three by beheading.

Ansar, which has carried on a military campaign in the Sinai against the Egyptian army, reportedly accused Egypt of collaborating with Israel. The Islamist group vowed to hunt down and kill informants who provide intelligence to the army, promising to continue to “harvest the spies of the Jews.”

Israel’s Health Ministry warns against gay conversion therapy JTA) – Israel’s Health Ministry issued a warning declaring that therapies aimed at changing patients from gay to straight are not supported by medical evidence and could be harmful.

The Health Ministry statement warns that gay conversion therapies are neither professionally nor ethically acceptable, citing numerous medical studies showing that such therapies do not work.

“Sexual inclination is part of a person’s identity and requires no treatment or conversion,” German said, according to Ynet.

Israeli gay rights groups hailed the Health Ministry’s position.

asked them to define their degree of religiosity as “secular,” “observant” or “ultra-Orthodox.” They found that the most religious were 45 percent less likely to exhibit suicidal thoughts and behaviors than the less religious.

The researchers attributed their results in part to Judaism’s spiritual and communal support, as well as its prohibition against suicide.

Netanyahu renewed the circle two years ago. Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, had started the tradition.

Education Minister Rabbi Shai Piron also joined the study group, which focused on the upcoming weekly Torah portion of Bereishit, the opening chapters of the Bible.

The teens were kidnapped in mid-June and their bodies were found near Hebron 18 days later following a massive search.

Planted bomb wounds 2 Israeli soldiers near Lebanese border JERUSALEM (JTA) – Two Israeli soldiers were injured by a bomb planted near the border with Lebanon.

The soldiers were taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment.

There has not yet been a claim of responsibility for Tuesday’s

“Religious observance protects Jewish teens from suicide, study finds (JTA) – Religious Jewish teens are far less likely to attempt suicide than their secular Jewish counterparts, a new study finds.

Researchers interviewed 620 Jewish-Israelis aged 14-17 and

Israeli gov’t officials meet to discuss Ebola preparedness JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel, aiming to increase its preparedness to deal with the Ebola virus, will increase its efforts to find people who have entered the nation from several west African countries.

The countries named were Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, which have seen the greatest spread of the virus. The Health and Foreign ministries will continue to urge Israelis to avoid traveling to those countries.

Parents of 3 slain Israeli teens join Netanyahu for Bible study JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a Bible study session attended by the parents of three Israeli teens killed in June.

Swedish Embassy in Israel backpedals on PM’s state of Palestine declaration JERUSALEM (JTA) – The Swedish Embassy in Israel appears to have walked back the new prime minister’s declaration that Sweden would recognize a state of Palestine.

In a statement released Sunday evening, the embassy said Sweden will recognize a Palestinian state at the conclusion of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

“The conflict between Israel and Palestine can only be resolved through a two-state solution … negotiated in accordance with the principles of international law,” the statement said.

The United States called the Swedish declaration “premature.” e alarms.

REMEMBER on page 22 Israel sending mobile clinics to Africa to fight Ebola JERUSALEM (JTA) – The Israeli government will send three mobile emergency clinics to western Africa in an effort to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.

In addition, staff training will focus on raising awareness among populations with high potential for infection.

An Israeli team has already been sent to Cameroon. The ministry also sent emergency equipment to the government of Sierra Leone, and in recent weeks shipped personal protection equipment to teams of the African Union.

Gazans pray on Temple Mount for first time since ‘07 JERUSALEM (JTA) – Hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza prayed on the Temple Mount – the first religious visits from Gaza allowed by Israel since Hamas took power in the strip in 2007.

Some 500 worshipers prayed Sunday at the Al-Aksa Mosque for the Muslim holy day Eid alAdha, which began the previous day.

SOCIAL LIFE • 11

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014

ANNOUNCEMENTS CINCINNATI JEWS IN THE NEWS

ENGAGEMENT ichael Ganson of Cincinnati, Ohio, proudly announces the engagement of his daughter Sarah Naomi to Oren Shmoel, son of Avraham and Maya Shmoel of Indianapolis, Indiana. Sarah is the daughter of the late Ellen Bernstein Ganson and the granddaughter of Miriam G. Bernstein, the late I. Leonard Bernstein, the late Norman Ganson, and the late Reva Ganson, all of Cincinnati, Ohio. Oren is the grandson of the late Marcus Hirsch of Indianapolis, Indiana, the late Margalite Abadi of Jerusalem, Israel, the late Tzvi and the late Yazi Shmoel, also of Jerusalem, Israel.

After growing up in Indianapolis, Oren attended Indiana University where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Infomatics. He currently is working at Pomeroy in IT and

M

attending Northern Kentucky University earning a Masters in Computer Information Technology. Sarah graduated from Ohio University earning a Bachelor’s degree in Women and Gender Studies and Jewish Studies. Upon graduation, she worked at Cincinnati Hillel as the Program Associate for which she was awarded the Harris and Alice Weston Junior Award. She is also back at school attending Miami University, Oxford, earning a Masters in Student Affairs in Higher Education.

After their wedding in Cincinnati in January 2015 and graduation from their respective Masters programs, the couple hopes to reside in Cincinnati with Oren finding a position in IT and Sarah finding a position at one of the prestigious institutions of education in Greater Cincinnati.

avi Begtrup, CEO of tech startup Wave Tech, is working on a type of sunscreen for crops.

Norm Falick joined Priority Financial Group in Sycamore Township as a long-term care insurance specialist. Gary Glynn joined TriHealth’s Group Health in Mason and West Chester as a general and surgical podiatrist.

Michael Bergman has started REPP, an online tool that allows you to attach social media to your ID and run quarterly background checks.

G

Oren Shmoel and Sarah Ganson.

12 • CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE

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JFS ANNUAL MEETING Board President Mark Miller was proud to look at the future during the Jewish Family Service (JFS) Annual Meeting June 18, 2014. As Mark cited the future goals of Jewish Family Service funders United Way and Jewish Federation, he recognized that JFS will be more necessary and important to its clients and to the community. Mark shared a few highlights from the past year including the opening of the Barbash Family Vital Support Center and the agency’s strong financial foundation. In addition, many awards were presented during the evening. Beth Schwartz closed the evening with her Executive Director’s Report, which focused on the essence of Jewish Family Service.

Board President Mark Miller, Executive Director Beth Schwartz

Executive committee Larry Juran, Mark Miller, Andi Levenson, Susan Shorr

Gail Ziegler, Ann Sutton Burke, Carrie Krach, Sandee Golden, Stephanie Aronholt

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014

Mark Miller

Amy Diamond, Paul Spitz

Lev Orlov, Alyce Ellison, Melanie Blumental

CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13

14 • DINING OUT

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Slatts subtle shift in menu takes turn towards tastier entrees, appetizers

By Bob Wilhelmy In the world of eats, there are lots of levels of food quality. There is bar or pub food, for instance.

Emphasis in these eateries generally is on the bar, with the food being a secondary consideration. Not to say that bar food is bad, necessarily.

The food can be good. But the goodness generally is packed into the burger section and appetizers such as wings and nachos grande.

Then there are restaurants which also have a bar—like Slatts in Blue Ash. Slatts always has been a restaurant first, and a place that happens to have a good bar area as well.

GM Clint Wooldridge is taking Slatts menu to new territory with a definite but incremental shift to cuisine that is more complex, yet still affordable. I’m betting you’ll be able to taste—and will like—the difference as we did when treated to some of the changes, including the two entrees shown.

“One of our new items is the vino rosso chicken and rice,” Wooldridge said. “It’s my mom’s recipe, and it is made with red winebasil tomato sauce that is cooked for two-and-a-half hours (along with the chicken), so the flavors are simmered into the chicken.”

That is a half chicken—thigh, leg and breast—cooked on the bones, and the chicken and sauce are served over white rice. The dish is served with a salad and broccoli, and is $16. In today’s restaurant marketplace, that’s a bargain. And Slatts preps the dish every day, from scratch and fresh, so it’s waiting for patrons just like us.

The sandwich shown here is the pretzel Rueben without the cheese or Russian dressing. Even without those two add-ons, the sandwich is delicious. The corned beef is simply very flavorful and meaty, and the kraut is good stuff too. On the pretzel bun, from Servatii’s, the sandwich takes on an added dimension, and the combination is one I liked a lot and would order again. Plus, it’s a large sandwich.

Another item we tried is the chicken “pot” pie pop-over, an entrée that steps outside of convention to delight the taste buds. If you have eaten at Slatts before, you probably have a clear and fond memory of the biscuits served with entrees. They are perhaps the best bread accompaniment item in the Greater Cincinnati area. To me they are, anyway. Wooldridge has taken the biscuits, three of them, split them, and in the manner of sliders, heaped them with the chicken-potpie filling, with half the biscuit as a topper. The dish is served with baby carrots and a drizzle of balsamic glaze as a sauce that makes for yet another “comfort-food” entrée, at $15. There was not a crumb left on the plate when we finished eating this very good adaptation of the cus-

In the kitchen preparing an entree is Clint Wooldridge, general manager.

Another new dish is the chicken pot pie popover.

One of two new entrees, the pretzel Rueben.

tomary pot pie.

For fish-eaters, try the tilapia spinach salad on the Slatts Feature card. Tilapia is delicate fish, and can be ordered grilled or blackened. The filet is set on a bed of fresh spinach that features crumbled goat cheese, cucumber and a black-bean salsa, all flavored with a citrus lime dressing.

The salad is a meal, and another in a series of menu add-ons that I’d place in the cuisine category above the regular restaurant offering.

Again in an effort to bring more

affordable choices to his tables, Wooldridge has replaced a $24 steak entrée with a new 10-ounce rib-eye steak for $18—a deal in the steak category. This steak is dusted with his own secret seasoning recipe.

The seasoning contains both garlic and onion powders, along with salt, pepper, and a hint of Cajun seasoning. The result is a slightly sassy steak that is loaded with flavor. The chef will grill the steak to your preference, and rare, the meat is tender and delicious.

In the appetizer section you’ll find a house-made beer cheese, served with Servatii’s fresh pretzel sticks. Also, in the dessert area, you’ll find more Servatii’s, with the cheese cake and carrot cake being made by the premier bakers. “In desserts, we make a lava cake too, and that is a favorite on many of our guests,” Wooldridge said.

Wooldridge had this to say about the new menu: “Our focus is on more comfort foods; adding more comfort foods to a menu that has a

lot of really great entrée and lunch items already.”

Slatts is open daily, with continuous service from open to close.

Hours are: Mon.-Th., 11 a.m. to 10 p.m; Fri., 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sun., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

See you at Slatts!

Slatts 4858 Cooper Rd. Blue Ash 791-2223

DINING OUT • 15

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014

RESTAURANT DIRECTORY 20 Brix

Izzy’s

Pomodori’s

101 Main St

800 Elm St • 721-4241

121West McMillan • 861-0080

Historic Milford

612 Main St • 241-6246

7880 Remington Rd

831-Brix (2749)

1198 Smiley Ave • 825-3888

Montgomery • 794-0080

The Best Japanese Cuisine, Asian Food & Dining Experience In Town 9521 FIELDS ERTEL ROAD, LOVELAND

(513) 239-8881 asianparadiserestaurant.com

7625 Beechmont Ave • 231-5550 Ambar India Restaurant

4766 Red Bank Expy • 376-6008

Slatt’s Pub

350 Ludlow Ave

5098B Glencrossing Way • 347-9699

4858 Cooper Rd

Cincinnati

8179 Princeton-Glendale • 942-7800

Blue Ash

281-7000

7905 Mall Road • 859-525-2333

791-2223 • 791-1381 (fax)

1965 Highland Pk. • 859-331-4999 Andy’s Mediterranean Grille

Stone Creek Dining Co.

At Gilbert & Nassau

Johnny Chan 2

9386 Montgomery Rd

2 blocks North of Eden Park

11296 Montgomery Rd

Montgomery • 489-1444

281-9791

The Shops at Harper’s Point

6200 Muhlhauser Rd

489-2388 • 489-3616 (fx)

West Chester • 942-2100

Kanak India Restaurant

Sukhothai Thai Cuisine

10040B Montgomery Rd

8102 Market Place Ln

Montgomery

Montgomery

793-6800

794-0057

Cincinnati

Keegans Specialty Seafood Market

Tandoor

321-1600

2724 Erie Ave.

Montgomery

Hyde Park

793-7484

Asian Paradise 9521 Fields Ertel Rd Loveland 239-8881 Baba India Restaurant 3120 Madison Rd

Bistro Grace 4034 Hamilton Ave. 541-9600 Breadsmith 3500 Michigan Ave.

513-541-9600

8702 Market Place Ln

"Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in America"

Chinese Restaurant News - 2004 Cincy Magazine Best of the North 2014

321-0181 Tony’s

Cincinnati

Specializing in traditional culinary dishes with a modern twist.

Price: $30 and under Closed Mondays 4034 Hamilton Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio

Marx Hot Bagels

12110 Montgomery Rd

9701 Kenwood Rd

Montgomery

Blue Ash

677-1993

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302 E. University Ave

Fort Wright, KY

Cafe Mediterranean

Clifton

(859) 360-2222

9525 Kenwood Rd

221-5353

321-6300

Cincinnati

Wertheim’s Restaurant Padrino

514 W. 6th St.

111 Main St

Covington, KY

Holtman’s Donuts

Milford

(859) 261-1233

1399 Ohio 28 • 575-1077

965-0100

745-9386

Loveland 1332C-2 Vine St. • 381-0903

Parkers Blue Ash Tavern

Over-the-Rhine

4200 Cooper Rd

214 W. Main • 724-3865

Blue Ash

Williamsburg

891-8300

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16 • OPINION

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Hillel is an open forum

By Eric Fingerhut WASHINGTON (JTA) — Once again the love affair between the Jewish people and higher education is back in full bloom. The start of a new school year, and the Jewish New Year, marked the beginning of robust programming for Jewish college students across the globe.

As students dig into their studies, the events in Israel and Gaza this past summer are a hot topic on many campuses. In response, Hillel International, the largest Jewish student organization in the world — its growing network now serves some 550 campuses in North and South America, Europe, Central Asia, Australia and Israel — is drawing on its expertise in promoting deep and thoughtful discussion. Hillel is sponsoring a broad range of programs to help students understand the issues and how they will affect Israel and its neighbors in the future.

Hillel professionals have heard presentations from both the Israeli ambassador to the United States and the leader of the opposition in the Knesset. Hillel student leaders have organized interfaith gatherings and intercultural dialogues. Hillel educators have offered seminars and discussions for students to learn about contemporary Israeli society and culture, to reflect on their own relationships with Israel and to develop skills as dialogue facilitators.

Hillel students have also modeled what respectful discourse looks like: At Cooper Union Hillel in New York City, students countered an effort to boycott a speech by the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and encouraged Jewish students to attend and listen respectfully, which they did. And, of course, the tens of thousands of students who attended High Holiday services at Hillel joined Jews all over the world in praying for a year of peace for all people.

What all these activities have in common is they welcome and include students of all backgrounds, all political positions and who have an exceptionally wide array of relationships with their Jewish identities and with Israel. They do so within an environment that is intellectually rigorous, respectful of difference and committed to honest

conversation. Hillel is among the most religiously, intellectually, culturally and politically pluralistic organizations in the Jewish world — a testament to both the diversity of Jewish experience and of the college campuses we serve.

Inclusivity and broad-mindedness are part of our core values. All students are always welcome at Hillel. And these values guide all of our work. That work includes listening to all student voices including those of the activists behind the “Open Hillel” campaign and other campus groups.

At the same time, Hillel is deeply dedicated to Israel. From the tens of thousands we’ve led on Taglit-Birthright Israel trips, to the nearly 100 Israelis who serve as Israel Fellows on our campuses, to the many efforts of our professionals to engage and educate students, Israel is a vital part of our mission.

For some, those simultaneous commitments to openness and pluralism on the one hand and to passionate support of Israel on the other may seem contradictory. For Hillel, there is no contradiction. Our Standards for Partnership, which were developed in close consultation with local Hillels, are designed to ensure that our efforts uphold these commitments to openness and pluralism and to Israel.

Hillel will not partner with organizations that espouse anti-Semitism, apply a double standard to Israel, spout racism or promote Islamophobia. Such viewpoints do not represent the values of Hillel International nor the overwhelming number of Jewish students and professionals everywhere.

Hillel’s programming decisions are made by thousands of local student leaders, professionals and lay leaders who are dedicated to engaging the largest number of students in Jewish life on their campuses. In doing so, these leaders are guided by their knowledge of the local environment and by Hillel’s vision of encouraging students to build an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning and Israel.

This weekend, a small group of activists who created the “Open Hillel” campaign are meeting at Harvard University. The campaign calls on Hillel to eliminate its HILLEL on page 19

Correction In the article entitled “ Traditions upheld at Congregation Ohav Shalom” in the October 9, 2014 issue of the Israelite, there was a mispelling. Sasha Cohen’s name should read “Sasha Cohn”. We apologize for the error.

Also: In the “Jewz in the News” article that appeared on October 9, 2014 the name Lynn Sheer was misspessed. The correct spelling is Lynn Sherr

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

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Rabbi’s coming-out highlights dramatic shift in Conservative Judaism

By Anthony Weiss LOS ANGELES (JTA) – Gil Steinlauf, a nationally prominent Conservative rabbi, made headlines this month when he announced to his large Washington, D.C., synagogue that he is gay, and that he and his wife of 20 years would divorce.

As surprised as his congregants at Adas Israel may have been by the news, it was Steinlauf, the congregation’s senior rabbi, who found himself stunned by the response to it.

“There’s been so much positive energy from the congregation, and I’m getting a constant flood of emails, calls, texts and Facebook expressing every positive sentiment you could imagine,” Steinlauf told JTA. In fact, Steinlauf and some of his congregants said the response within the congregation has been exclusively positive, including a supportive letter from the synagogue’s president, Arnie Podgorsky.

Posts on Steinlauf’s Facebook page have come from as far as Israel and South Africa, and have included posts from Conservative movement officials. “[O]vernight you have also become a role model to LGBT Jews everywhere, in particular within the Conservative Movement,” wrote Aimee Close, the transformation specialist for the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the movement’s congregational arm.

“On behalf of all of us, thank you for your courage and your leadership.”

Steinlauf’s proclamation marked the culmination of a long, painful personal journey that included being bullied as a child,

years denying his sexuality and a struggle to maintain a loving but ultimately unsustainable marriage.

The reaction to his announcement is a culmination for the Conservative movement itself.

Fewer than eight years ago, Conservative doctrine stated that homosexual behavior was antithetical to Jewish law, that gays could not marry or serve as clergy and that a rabbi could be forced from the pulpit for coming out as gay. At Conservative congregations, gays and lesbians were welcome “as individual members.”

Then came the movement’s controversial December 2006 adoption of a responsum declaring that homosexuality was permissible under its interpretation of halachah, or traditional Jewish law. The ruling paved the way for the ordination of openly gay rabbis at American seminaries and for Conservative rabbis to officiate at same-sex weddings.

These changes in the Conservative movement also opened the door for widespread and open acceptance of gays and lesbians within the movement.

Coupled with a sea change in American attitudes toward vastly greater support for gay and lesbians, such shifts transformed Conservative Judaism from a realm in which homosexuality was ignored or denounced to one in which, for many younger Conservative Jews, being gay is utterly unremarkable.

Steinlauf, in fact, bridged the two generations, coming of age when awareness of gays and gay issues was changing, but acceptance had not yet come in the Conservative movement.

“When I was at the Jewish

Theological Seminary – I graduated in 1998 – there were plenty of gay people there, but they were all closeted because it was not a safe environment to be gay,” Steinlauf recalled, noting that at the time he did not think of himself as gay.

Some movement leaders, too, were aware that there were closeted students in their ranks.

“What we were saying, as the deans of rabbinical schools, was that they had to lie about themselves,” said Rabbi Elliott Dorff, a former dean of the movement’s Ziegler School of Rabbinical Studies at what is now known as American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and now serves at the university as rector and a philosophy professor. “I thought that was just immoral.”

However, the conversation over gay inclusion was starting to shift, particularly at progressive congregations like Adas Israel. Members said that efforts to accommodate gay and lesbian members starting in the 1990s were quiet at first — aliyot for gay couples, changes to membership structure to accommodate gay families.

“It wasn’t as public as it is today, and it wasn’t as talked about,” recalled Toni Bickart, a former president of Adas Israel.

But the momentum was growing, and in 2003, members of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Law and Standards asked that the issue be brought up again.

Following three years of discussions, drafts of opinions and political maneuvering, in December 2006 a majority of the 25-member committee voted in favor of two legal responsa – one stated that RABBI on page 21

JEWISH LIFE • 17

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014

SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT BERESHIT GENESIS 1:1-6:8

by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

“If the nations of the world charge Israel with stealing by conquering and occupying the land of the ‘seven nations’…

Israel can respond...”

EFRAT, Israel - ‘And God completed on the seventh day the creative work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His creative work which He had made.’ (Gen. 2:2) On Rosh Hashana we began counting the 5,775th year since the creation of the world; this calculation is predicated upon the primordial first week of creation as having consisted of seven 24-hour days during which God made everything there is, from light to vegetation to animals to the human being.

Now, this biblical notion is in clear opposition to all accepted scientific data, which claim the earth to be millions of years old Carbon testing of fossils proves this contention, at least from a scientific perspective.

Is the acceptance of science over the literal reading of the biblical text to be considered heretical? A good friend of mine (an upstanding Orthodox rabbi of an Orthodox congregation) was recently informed by a hareidi rabbi that a conversion he had performed several decades ago was to be invalidated unless he would declare on oath that he believes the world to be no more than 5,775 years old. Is the age of the earth a cardinal article of Jewish faith to which every believing Jew must subscribe?

Literal belief in the seven days of creation is not included in Maimonides’s Thirteen Principles of Jewish faith or even in Rabbi Yosef Albo’s three principles (Sefer Ha’ikarim). So why does the Bible express itself in terms of six days of creativity culminating in one day of Sabbath rest? Why would the Bible utilize the Hebrew word for “day” (yom) with any meaning other than a 24-hour period?

The truth is that from the usage of the word “yom” it is possible to conclude the very opposite of the hareidi dogma just cited. The Bible is not interested in conveying literal and chronological facts in its story of Creation. After all, the sun and the moon were not created until the fourth day, and it is specifically their movements which are the determinants for our 24-hour day. Beyond any doubt, then, the word “yom” in the context of the seven days of Creation cannot mean a literal 24hour day.

Furthermore, Maimonides, in his Guide for the Perplexed, interprets all of the early biblical stories

until the advent of Abraham as allegories, whose purpose is to convey moral lessons rather than historical fact.

And this certainly leaves the door open to maintain that “one thousand [or one million] years in Your eyes is like one day just passed” (Psalms 90:4). Each biblical day in the Creation story may well represent an epoch of thousands or millions or years.

But then why does the Bible convey the story in terms of primordial “week”?

In order to understand, I believe we must ponder a question raised by the commentary of Rashi on the very first words of the Bible: “Rabbi Yitzhak said the Torah ought not have opened with anything other than the first commandment ordained to the Israelites, which was to make the month (of the exodus from Egypt) the first month of the Hebrew calendar. So why does the Torah begin with the Creation story?”

Rashi’s assumption is that the Torah is first and foremost a book of God’s commands, and so it should have opened with the first commandment. Rashi’s answer takes the most universal verse of the Bible (all other ancient peoples spoke of local deities; only our Bible opens with a God of the Universe) and transforms into a very particularistic (and prophetic) one: “If the nations of the world charge Israel with stealing by conquering and occupying the land of the ‘seven nations’…

Israel can respond: All of the earth belongs to the Holy One Blessed be He, who created it…, He has given the Land of Israel to us.”

Nahmanides provides another answer, based on a different assumption. The Bible teaches theology and historiosophy, not only laws and commands.

It is important for us to know that God owns the world and owns us, by virtue of the rights of the Creator to his creation, and God ordains the punishment of exile for transgressions of His Commandments (Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, Israel from the Promised Land).

My revered teacher Rav Soloveitchik gives a third response: this first verse is a commandment,

the very first commandment of the Torah. It is based upon the principle of Imitatio Dei, that we must walk in God’s ways: “Just as God created a world, so must you humans create worlds. You must re-create the incomplete, imperfect world which God made. You must remove the darkness, leaving only the light; you must remove the evil, leaving only the good; you must remove the chaos, leaving only order.” (J.B. Soloveitchik, The Lonely Man of Faith 1, D). This is the linkage between Rosh Hashana and Bereishit, our mission to perfect the world in the Kingship of the Divine.

Hence God describes His original creation of the world as having taken place in one Divine week of six days of creativity and one day of rest; so must we model ourselves after Him, with each week of our lives being dedicated to six days of proactive change and re-creation of the world and one day of rest and appreciation of what it is.

Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi – Israel

ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE FREE! BIRTHS • BAT/BAR MITZVAHS • ENGAGEMENTS WEDDINGS • BIRTHDAYS • ANNIVERSARIES

Place your FREE announcement in The American Israelite newspaper and website by sending an e-mail to articles@americanisraelite.com

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The American Israelite

T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: ZOS HABRACHA-BRAISHIS b.) Leather c.) Linen

1. Who is Yeshurun? a.) Hashem b.) Moshe c.) Children of Israel 2. What did Moshe ascend? a.) Mount Nebo b.) A platform to speak to the Children of Israel c.) To Heaven 3. What type of jackets did Hashem make for Adam and Chava? a.) Wool

4. What “unusual” tree in the Garden of Eden did Adam not eat of its fruit? a.) Nut trees b.) Trees with huge fruit c.) Tree of life 5.Lemech was a descendant of whom? a.) Hevel b.) Kain c.) Noach

Rashi 3. A Braishith 3:21 They were jackets made of rabbit's fur. Rashi Or they were made from the Tacash skin used in the building of the Tabernacle in the time of Moshe. R Bcahi Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise

ANSWERS 1. C Devarim 33:5 Hashem is king over Yeshuran when we live with friendship. Daas Zekanim 2. A Devarim 34:1 Moshe went up in one step.

Sedra of the Week

4. C Braishith 3:22 B 4:17-18 Lemech was blind and killed his grandfather Kain. Rashi

18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ

JEWZ

IN THE

By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist At the Movies: Opening Friday October 17 St. Vincent” is a comedy/drama which seems tailor-made for Bill Murray’s talents.

Vincent (Murray) is an acerbic, heavy-drinking gambler who lives a pretty bare existence in a section of Brooklyn that is still dominated by less-than-rich Jews, Italians, and Irish. Things change when Maggie (Melissa McCarthy), an xray tech who has just broken up with her husband, moves in next door with her 12-year-old son, Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher). Maggie enrolls Oliver in a nearby Catholic school, despite the fact that he is Jewish. The undersized Oliver gets picked-on, but coming to his aid is a very nice Catholic priest (Chris O’Dowd). Meanwhile, Maggie’s long work hours force her to get child care for Oliver and Vincent, who is home most of the time, is the logical sitter choice. As one might expect, Vincent exposes Oliver to horseracing, bars, and his stripper “friend” (Naomi Watts). On the other side, Oliver awakens Vincent’s grandfatherly instincts.

Advance articles about “Fury” describe it as one of the most gritty and violent war movies ever made. As the film opens, it is early April 1945, and everyone knows that the war in Europe is almost over. Brad Pitt plays “Wardaddy” a battle-hardened army sergeant who is sent, with his five-man Sherman tank crew, on a deadly mission behind German lines. The tank crew includes three Jewish actors (JON BERNTHAL, 38, SHIA LABEOUF, 28, and LOGAN LERMAN, 22). Also in the cast is JASON ISAACS, 52, as a captain who is Wardaddy’s mentor.

Two footnotes of sorts 1) Lerman, in a very recent podcast interview with actor MICHAEL RAPAPORT, 44, mentioned he had a bar mitzvah. LaBeouf has previously mentioned his bar mitzvah. Not sure about the other two Jewish actors—but the possibility of four ex-bar mitzvah boys- in a tank–is there. (2) The German Tiger tank, which was much better armored and had much more firepower than the Sherman, shocked American crews who came-up against it at war’s end. Authentic (antique) Sherman and Tiger tanks, procured from museums, were used in filming. The authenticity of the tanks and other props (like uniforms)—was matched by the four months of rigorous, pre-filming training that director/writer David Ayer put the cast through. Lerman recently told “Vanity Fair”: “He

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NEWZ

[Ayer] had us sparring and fighting every day [before filming began]—all of us getting together at five A.M. and working on techniques, and then just getting into a ring to fight each other. It was part of our whole violent psychological training for going to war.’…[later, during filming] ‘There were days when we wouldn’t go home. We would sleep out by the tank, just wake up there and get back to work. We would just live in that tank. It was our home for those five months.”

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Think Good Thoughts; Say Prayers; Donate What You Can JOAN LUNDEN, 64, and PAULA ABDUL, 52, are personally and very actively involved in the fight against breast cancer.

Lunden, the former host of “Good Morning, America”, disclosed that she had breast cancer last June.

She appeared on the cover of the October 6 issue of “People” magazine with a bald head (she shaved her head rather than wait for her hair to fall out as a result of the chemo treatments that concluded in September). Lunden not only opened up to “People,”—she was named a “special correspondent” for the Today show for the month of October—doing weekly reports on breast cancer issues. Lunden converted to Judaism shortly before marrying her first (Jewish) husband in 1978, with whom she had three now-adult daughters (one of whom recently made Joan a grandmother). Her first marriage broke-up in 1992, and in 2000, she wed businessman JEFF KONIGSBERG. She has had two sets of twins with Konigsberg.

Abdul has partnered with the Avon Foundation for Women in a new campaign called CheckYourself. For this campaign, Adbul made a video that includes a song and dance based on the simple steps a person would take to check themselves for breast cancer. The moves include some hand gestures that approximate how to do a self-exam. She says in a news release: “Singing and dancing are my passions. I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to apply these passions to create a new music video in support of the new global CheckYourself.

This (campaign) is very personal for me. My sister Wendy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000…She inspires me every day.

My hope is that this new video will inspire women and men to take charge of their own breast health through screening, detection, and treatment.”

FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO Judge Warren of the Cincinnati police court, not knowing how to maintain the dignity of of a court, had better learn it, or yield his place to somebody who knows it.

A general meeting of the Jewish Hospital Association will be held on Sunday next, November 13th, at 7 p.m., at the Allemania Hall. All members and the public in general are respectfully invited to attend, as business of importance will be transacted.

By order of the President, Nathan Stix, Sec. John Boner, military and fancy good store, has removed from No. 36 West Fifth Street to No. 92 West Fourth Street, opposite the post office.– November 11, 1864

125 Y EARS A GO Miss Millie Eppinger, of West Eighth Street, and Mr. Harry J. Levi will be married Wednesday evening, October 23rd, at the West End Turner Hall.

Mr. Loius S. Levi, the newlyinstalled President of the Plum Street Temple, entertained the Trustees at a spread in the vestry rooms, last Sunday. The affair was a very pleasant one.

At the last meeting of the Grace Aguilar Literary Society, Mr. Charles Wertheimer and Miss Friedmann were admitted to membership. An unusual interest is being taken in the coming election of officers, which takes place in two weeks.

Mr. Henry Metzger, caterer of the Allemania Club, has entered the field as a caterer for all festive occasions. Mr. Metzger has had years of experience with several wellknown caterers. He employs only the most experienced cooks and the most attentive waiters, and buys the very best the market affords. He can therefore guarantee entire satisfaction. – October 24, 1889

100 Y EARS A GO In honor of the engagement of Mr. Pollak and Miss Bertig a spring chicken dinner was served to the old inmates of the Home for the Jewish Aged and Infirm.

Miriam Holzman, widow of Samuel Holzman, died at the residence of her son Wallace, 697 Glenwood Avenue, Avondale, in her seventy-second year. Funeral services were held on October 13 at the chapel of the Crematory, Dr. Philipson officiating.

The marriage of Elise Reis, daugther of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Loebman, to Mr. Malvin J. Straus of Erie, PA, was solemnized at the Sinton Hotel on October 14. Dr. Deutsch performed the ceremony.

The betrothal of Minna, daughter of Mrs. I Michaelson, to Mr.

Louis Silverstein of New York City has just been announced. – October 15, 1914

75 Y EARS A GO The marriage of Liberty Klein, daughter of Councilman and Mrs. Nicholas Klein, to Mr. Milton Oscherwitz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sam H. Oscherwitz took place at the home of the bride’s parents, on Sunday, Oct. 22nd, at 1:30pm. A reception followed. After a honeymoon to the West Mr. and Mrs. Oscherwitz will be at home to relatives and friends at 820 Burton Avenue.

Mrs. Nathan Blackman, president, announces Mrs. Jacob Liscow is chairman and Mrs. Ben Kaufman, co-chairman, of teh luncheon and card party of the Parents Association of Avondale Talmud Torah Monday, Nov. 6th, at 1pm, at the Bureau of Jewish Education Building.

Mrs. Sig Strauss was honored recently by a New York publishing house which accepted a number of her latest musical compositions.

Mr. and Mrs. I.S. Groban announce the engagment of their daugther, Dorothy, to Dr. Sol Bershadsky, son of Mr. and Mrs. David Bershadsky, of Burnet Avenue. – October 26, 1939

50 Y EARS A GO `Woodward students have received letter of commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for their scores on the Qualifying Test of last March.

The students are Mark Abrams, Douglas Behr, Lilly Blickblum, Leon Friedberg, Milton Nathan, Aaron Simon, and Lee Weisbach.

At Student Council’s Executive Board election Susan Graber was chosen parlimentarian. Elected to the executive board were Adele Albert, Judy Pollak, Rick Waxman, and Irv Wise.

Junior majorettes include Sandy Pockras, Margie Sander, Sheryl Weine, and Laura Meyer.

Senior Paul Kaplan was elected President of the Council of World Affairs. Also elected to offices were Arnold Greenland, vice president and Milton Nathan, treasurer.

Mr. Euguene J. Youkilis, of this city, resides in Pittsburgh while attending Duquesne University Graduate School. He has a graduate assistantship in Pharmacology toxicology.

Appointment of Mrs. Max Kraus as chairmarn of the Special Gifts Division of the Women’s Division of the Jewish Welfare Fund was announced today by Mrs. Clarence F. Gall, Women’s’ chairman.

Active in many Jewish and

civic organizations, Mrs. Kraus is a former officer or board member of the American Red Cross, the Avondale PTA, and Federation of Jewish Women’s Organizations.

She is a past president of Ruth 18.

Her husband is a vice president of the Jewish Welfare Fund. They have two children, Marivn and Mrs. Robert Oesstreicher, and six grandchildren. – October 22, 1964

25 Y EARS A GO Barry and Dawn Rothchild (Kamen) announce the birth of a son, Brent Alexander, Oct. 12.

Grandparents are Gloria and Eugene Rothchild of Cincinnati, and Gail and Norman Kamen of Pepper Pike, Ohio.

The wedding of Anita Lynn Clair and Dr. Murray Dock of Indianapolis took place Sept. 10 at The Phoenix. Rabbi Dennis Sasso of Indianapolis officiated.

The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Clair of Kettering, Ohio. The bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Dock of Indianapolis.

Mrs. Dock is a member of the dietetic staff of Jewish Hospital, serving as a clincial dietician. Dr. Dock is a pediatric dentist and assistant professor at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. The couple resides in Cincinnati.

David and Chie Weil announce the birth of a daughter, Sara Abigail, Sept. 26.

Grandparents are Kazuaki and Atsuko Yoshida of Taipei, Taiwan and Ralph and Irmi Weil of Cincinnati. Great-grandparents are Cecile Weil and Eric Herz of Cincinnati.

Mr. and Mrs. Matt Yosafat announce the engagement of their daughter, Lynnette Theresa, to Richard Mark Kohel, son of Monica Stuart and the late Charles Kohel of Palm Bay, Fla. Lynnette, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, is a Spanish instructor at Finneytown High School. Richard, a graduate of Tampa Technical Institute, is with NEC, America, Inc. A June wedding is planned. – October 26, 1989

10 Y EARS A GO Amy (Ringel) and Jef Friedman announce the birth of their son, Aaron Henry, Sept. 13, 2004.

Sharing in their happiness are maternal grandparents Phyllis and Howard Ringel, paternal grandparents Ruth Friedman and the late Alan C. Friedman of Philadelphia, and great-grandmother Hedy Ringel of Hamilton, Ohio. Aaron was named in memory of his paternal grandfather and in honor of his maternal great-grandmother. – November 4, 2004

COMMUNITY DIRECTORY / CLASSIFIEDS • 19

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014

COMMUNITY DIRECTORY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS ORGANIZATIONS Access (513) 373-0300 • jypaccess.org Big Brothers/Big Sisters Assoc.

(513) 761-3200 • bigbrobigsis.org Camp Ashreinu (513) 702-1513 Camp at the J (513) 722-7258 • mayersonjcc.org Camp Chabad (513) 731-5111 • campchabad.org Camp Livingston (513) 793-5554 •camplivingston.com Cedar Village (513) 754-3100 • cedarvillage.org Chevra Kadisha (513) 396-6426 Cincinnati Community Kollel (513) 631-1118 • kollel.shul.net Cincinnati Community Mikveh (513) 351-0609 •cincinnatimikveh.org Eruv Hotline (513) 351-3788 Fusion Family (513) 703-3343 • fusionnati.org Halom House (513) 791-2912 • halomhouse.com Hillel Jewish Student Center (Miami) (513) 523-5190 • muhillel.org Hillel Jewish Student Center (UC) (513) 221-6728 • hillelcincinnati.org Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati 513-961-0178 • jcemcin.org Jewish Community Center (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org Jewish Community Relations Council (513) 985-1501 Jewish Family Service (513) 469-1188 • jfscinti.org Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (513) 985-1500 • jewishcincinnati.org Jewish Foundation (513) 214-1200 Jewish Information Network (513) 985-1514 JVS Career Services (513) 936-WORK (9675) • www.jvscinti.org Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund (513) 793-2556 Shalom Family (513) 703-3343 • myshalomfamily.org

NIKE from page 7 Pierre-Laurent Baudey—Nike’s vice president of global football brand marketing—wrote to Klein and Tuchman that the logo shown on the clones’ player uniforms is a soccer ball, and that its resemblance of any other image is “entirely coincidental and unintentional.” Baudey wrote that Nike “never intended any disrespect” and that it understands “the concerns of the Jewish community.” The ad is “no longer being run on TV or in cinemas,” stated Baudey, who did not describe any actions Nike plans to take regarding the video.

Nikes’s controversial video advertisement, “The Last Game,” has been accused of anti-Semitic overtones.

“We have raised your concerns with our creative teams and Nike will be more vigilant in our oversight of graphics and images used in our campaigns,” wrote Baudey. “In this instance we can confirm our designers were focused on producing a graphic that represented a football and that there was no ill intent.”

The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education (513) 487-3055 • holocaustandhumanity.org Vaad Hoier (513) 731-4671 Workum Fund (513) 899-1836 • workum.org YPs at the JCC (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org CONGREGATIONS CONGREGATIONS Adath Israel Congregation (513) 793-1800 • adath-israel.org Beit Chaverim (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Beth Israel Congregation (513) 868-2049 • bethisraelcongregation.net B’nai Tikvah Chavurah (513) 284-5845 • rabbibruce.com Congregation Beth Adam (513) 985-0400 • bethadam.org Congregation B’nai Tzedek (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Congregation Ohav Shalom (513) 489-3399 • ohavshalom.org Congregation Sha’arei Torah (513) 620-8080 • shaareitorahcincy.org Congregation Shevet Achim (513) 426-8613 • shevetachimohio.com Congregation Zichron Eliezer (513) 631-4900 • czecincinnati.org Golf Manor Synagogue (513) 531-6654 • golfmanorsynagogue.org Isaac M. Wise Temple (513) 793-2556 • wisetemple.org Kehilas B’nai Israel (513) 761-0769 Northern Hills Synagogue (513) 931-6038 • nhs-cba.org Rockdale Temple (513) 891-9900 • rockdaletemple.org Temple Beth Shalom (513) 422-8313 • tbsohio.org Temple Sholom (513) 791-1330 • templesholom.net The Valley Temple (513) 761-3555 • valleytemple.com

In response, Klein and Tuchman wrote Baudey in a Sept. 18 letter that they were “taken aback” by his “indifferent response” to their concerns about the ad’s anti-Semitic content.

In both of their letters, ZOA officials proposed that Nike take the following steps to remedy the situation: issue a public apology to the Jewish community; remove the ad from the public domain; permanently cease using any image or symbol that resembles the Star of David or any other Jewish symbol; implement organizational changes in its design department to tighten scrutiny of logo designs; investigate how an image of the Star of David came to be used; and issue a public statement that delineates “all the remedial steps that have been and will be taken to remedy the harm that Nike has caused.”

In 1997, when the Muslim community objected to a logo on a line of Nike sneakers because the logo was perceived to resemble the word “Allah,” Nike publicly apologized to Muslims for any unintentional offense, agreed to recall all products

EDUCA EDUCATION Chai Tots Early Childhood Center (513) 234.0600 • chaitots.com Chabad Blue Ash (513) 793-5200 • chabadba.com Cincinnati Hebrew Day School (513) 351-7777 • chds.shul.net HUC-JIR (513) 221-1875 • huc.edu JCC Early Childhood School (513) 793-2122 • mayersonjcc.org Kehilla - School for Creative Jewish Education (513) 489-3399 • kehilla-cincy.com Mercaz High School (513) 792-5082 x104 • mercazhs.org Kulanu (Reform Jewish High School) (513) 262-8849 • kulanucincy.org Regional Institute Torah & Secular Studies (513) 631-0083 Rockwern Academy (513) 984-3770 • rockwernacademy.org Sarah’s Place (513) 531-3151 • sarahsplacecincy.com Yeshivas Lubavitch High School of Cincinnati (513) 631-2452 • ylcincinnati.com ORGANIZATIONS ORGANIZATIONS American Jewish Committee (513) 621-4020 • ajc.org American Friends of Magen David Adom (513) 521-1197 • afmda.org B’nai B’rith (513) 984-1999 BBYO (513) 722-7244 • mayersonjcc.org Hadassah (513) 821-6157 • cincinnati.hadassah.org Jewish Discovery Center (513) 234-0777 • jdiscovery.com Jewish National Fund (513) 794-1300 • jnf.org Jewish War Veterans (937) 886-9566 • jwv.org NA’AMAT (513) 984-3805 • naamat.org National Council of Jewish Women (513) 891-9583 • ncjw.org ORT America (216) 464-3022 • ortamerica.org State of Israel Bonds (513) 793-4440 • israelbonds.com

carrying the design, introduced training for Nike designers in Islamic imagery, and agreed to investigate how the design came about.

Going even further, Nike agreed to build three playgrounds for Islamic communities in the U.S., at locations determined by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

ZOA said that while it isn’t asking for the construction of any playgrounds in Jewish communities, it expects Nike “to show the same concern about having offended the Jewish community, as it showed when the Muslim community was offended by Nike’s actions.” ZOA told Nike it would give the company 15 days to respond to the Sept. 18 letter, which to date has not been answered.

“We urge Nike to stop treating this matter without the sensitivity and concern it deserves,” Klein and Tuchman wrote. “Otherwise, we will be compelled to notify the public by articles, letters, and even advertisements, and to call on consumers to stop purchasing Nike products.”

DO YOU WANT TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED? Send an e-mail including what you would like in your classified & your contact information to

business@ americanisraelite.com or call 513-621-3145 US from page 7 the circumstances of U.S. diplomacy two years ago, when the administration was able to tell Security Council members that it was cobbling together talks and that a resolution was premature.

“It’s much more difficult for the United States to block action in the United Nations” under the current circumstances, she said.

“If it doesn’t have that alternative, it’s left with watering down the resolution, trying to moderate it.”

It’s not clear how any statehood resolution could be moderated so that it would be acceptable to Israel while also satisfying the Palestinians. The nine months of talks that ended earlier this year did not seem to produce any formula to overcome Palestinian objections to two Israeli positions: recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and for continued Israeli military control of the Jordan Valley.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry may next canvas regional powers next week to see how to advance talks when he attends a conference in Cairo. The gathering is aimed at raising funds to rebuild the Gaza Strip following this summer’s war.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is backing bids to fund the Palestinian

HILLEL from page 16 Standards of Partnership in order to provide a platform for organizations that promote the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and other anti-Israel activities.

Several weeks ago, I met with some leaders of this campaign and listened to their concerns. They assured me that they consider themselves a part of Hillel and intend to continue their advocacy within Hillel International. In our meeting, I told the students present what they have already heard from their local Hillel directors: that every student is welcome at Hillel regardless of his or her personal views on Israel or any other topic

SENIOR SERVICES

• • • • •

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

(513) 531-9600 Authority while underscoring that such funding is conditional on its actions in international arenas. Particularly of concern would be any Palestinian attempt to bring Israel before the International Criminal Court because of its actions in Gaza this summer, an AIPAC official suggested.

In an email, the official forwarded language in current U.S. law that would stop funding in case the Palestinians “initiate an International Criminal Court judicially authorized investigation, or actively support such an investigation, that subjects Israeli nationals to an investigation for alleged crimes against Palestinians.”

Netanyahu has said that any attempt to bring Israel before the ICC would spell the end of the peace process.

And going to the court would also be a red line for Congress, said Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.).

“U.S. law makes it crystal clear that any attempt by the Palestinian Authority to use the International Criminal Court to castigate Israel will terminate U.S. funds to the West Bank and Gaza, period,” Kirk said in an email.

“The Palestinian Authority should have absolutely no doubt that the U.S. Congress will enforce this.”

in Jewish life.

At the same time, Hillel International stands by its Standards of Partnership. More importantly, Hillel International will always back the dedicated student leaders, professionals and lay leaders who are supporting vibrant Jewish life on campus.

We work every day to help students find their connection to the Jewish people and live the Jewish values that make this a better world for all people. As we grow, Hillel will continue to hold firm to the values that define the Jewish community worldwide – peoplehood, nationhood and faith in the future.

20 • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT / BOOK REVIEW

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

Cincinnati Chamber Opera presents the Theresienstadt Opera Project

Sarah’s Ten Fingers

by Isabelle Stamler

Cincinnati Chamber Opera will open its 2014-2015 season with The Theresienstadt Opera Project on October 23rd, 25th, and 26th. The production will feature a double bill of two one-act operas performed or composed in the concentration camp Theresienstadt during World War II, opening with the children’s opera Brundibár by Hans Krása, to be followed by Viktor Ullman’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis.

Brundibár will be presented in an English translation, and Der Kaiser von Atlantis will be presented in German.

Brundibár was originally performed at a Jewish orphanage in Prague in 1941; one-by-one, almost the entire the cast and crew was arrested by the Nazi regime and sent to Theresienstadt. They reunited there, and during their imprisonment, they performed Brundibár over 55 times. This opera gave the children access to a make-believe world in which the powerless win over the powerful, and gave all the prisoners at the camp a sense of normalcy and hope. Der Kaiser von Atlantis was composed by Viktor Ullmann during his internment at

BY Sue Ransohoff Book Reviewer

Theresienstadt. It is a dark, allegorical story with a pacifist message.

Though it was rehearsed and intended to be performed at Theresienstadt, the opera was banned by the Nazi regime before it could be performed, and Ullmann himself was sent to Auschwitz for creating it.

These works are a monumental testament to the power of music in the most dire of circumstances, and the performances of the Theresienstadt Opera Project will be a tribute to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust.

In Der Kaiser von Atlantis, roles will be played by emerging artists Simon Barrad (Der Kaiser), Christopher Brandon Morales (Der Lautsprecher), Shawn Mlynek (Ein Soldat and Harlekin), Alexandra Kassouf (Bubikopf), Jonathan Cooper (Der Tod), and Lauren McAllister (Der Trommler).

Brundibár will feature Cincinnati high schoolers Elise Hurwitz (Annette) and Ben Eglian (Little Joe), Christopher Brandon Morales in the title role of Brundibár, and a children’s chorus from the Northern Kentucky School of Music.

Thursday night’s performance will be held at the Mayerson Jewish Community Center in Amberley Village.

Saturday and Sunday performances will be held at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater.

The Theresienstadt Opera Project will be presented in collaboration with Cincinnati’s Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education.

This collaboration will add historical depth to the performance and draw new audiences with little familiarity with either the Holocaust or operatic works. The CHHE will also present a video of footage from a Holocaust survivor before each performance, and will bring a living Holocaust survivor to the Sunday matinee for a talk-back session after the final performance.

Cincinnati Chamber Opera will post photos and video clips of the Theresienstadt Opera Project rehearsal process and performances on Facebook and Twitter.

To purchase tickets to any of these performances, please contact the Cincinnati Chamber Opera.

Rick Recht’s music to rock Adath Israel Oct. 23-26 Rick Recht makes being Jewish look cool and sound cool.

“His music is just like what our Jewish youth listen to everyday on the radio with an amazing educational and Jewish flair,” praise his fans. “It opens the hearts, moves the feet, and touches the souls of all who listen."

The top-touring musician in Jewish music rocks into Adath Israel Congregation to perform and teach as artist-in-residence Thursday, October 23 through Sunday, October 26, for the third Michael M. Levenson Music Program sponsored by Andi Levenson in memory of her husband. "I'm so happy to sponsor this event because Rick Recht's music is uplifting, spiritual and appeals to all age groups,” Levenson said.

The weekend’s highlight will be a free community concert at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, October 26.

Appearing with Recht will be Adath Israel’s High Holy Day adult choir and the religious school’s third to sixth grade choir.

In addition to singing, the religious school choir will play flute recorders. "The students are learning recorder parts to his up-beat song V'ahavta.,” said Mitch Cohen, Adath Israel’s music teacher. “We have about 60 students playing recorder at the same time. Rick told me that we will be the first group who has ever played recorders at his concert."

Rick Recht; Rick in crowd

Musicians in the community will bring their acoustic instruments with them and “jam” with Rick on stage to his version of "Saalam", which is a song of peace. A complimentary reception sponsored by the Sol and Lena Wise fund follows the concert.

Other weekend events include *Thursday October 23 at 6 pm: Jewish Educator workshop (by invitation only) * Friday October 24 at 5:30 pm: “Shabbat Alive!” Friday night service open to the public featuring Recht. *Sunday October 26 at 9:30 am: Religious School interactive program with Rick *Sunday October 26 at 6:30

pm: Pajama Party with Rick for ages 6 and under co-sponsored by PJ Library and Jewish Family Service. A milk and cookies snack follows the pajama party. Kids should come in their PJs. Recht is the national spokesperson for PJ Library, which is a Jewish engagement and literacy program for Jewish and interfaith families with young children.

The Mayerson JCC is partnering with Adath Israel Congregation to help promote these free events throughout the Jewish community. “This weekend provides an excellent opportunity to bring together our community, and showcase a fantastic artist,” said Marc Fisher, CEO of the Mayerson JCC. “Facilitating this sort of collaboration is what the JCC is all about.”

Recht is widely recognized for his appeal to youth and family audiences not only as an exceptional musician, singer/songwriter, and entertainer, but as a role model for involvement in Jewish life, using Jewish music as a tool for developing Jewish pride and identity among the masses. “The type of music I play covers the whole spectrum,” he said. “Unlike when I'm playing secular music, this isn't just me playing for an audience,” Recht said. “When I play Jewish music, I'm an educator and my music is

CONTINUED on next page

In the course of reading this book, and thinking about its review, I read in the Cincinnati Enquirer and in the American Israelite that Isabelle Stamler, the author, has just died. This makes it impossible to get in touch with her and talk over what motivated her to write the book. It also taught me a lesson: Don’t procrastinate., especially when it comes to family memories. If you have planned to talk with your parents or grandparents about their past history : DO IT NOW. Don’t become one of the many people who moaned: “I wish I’d asked my parents more.”

The somewhat awkward title comes from an episode in Sarah’s past.

She has five children by a husband who dies tragically young. There is one more infant, by a second husband, and the father begs Sarah, who has decided to leave their troubled and anti-Semitic home for America, to leave him that one. “You have five; I need this one,” he begs. “I have ten fingers and six children,” she replies. “I can no more give up one of my children than I could give up one of my ten fingers.” We quickly learn how obdurate this strong woman can be.

This book does not focus on intricate themes; rather, we have a book with great plot lines and a simple style.

Sarah lives in Vashisht, Bylorusse , with her family. She is stout and strong in appearance, but there is fear in her eyes. There is also a slowly increasing bag of gold, and when she feels that there is enough – given the threat of violence to Jews – she conquers the fear in order to bring herself and the five (“fingers’) to America – unaccompanied by a male or any other companion. What a brave woman!

What is special about this book? It makes clear the details of the life of an immigrant; the struggle, the fatigue, the lack of comfort, let alone luxury.

Beyond this, it makes clear the special positions of the family members vis a vis one another; those who are close; those who work hard and love their kind; those who drink; those who bully and those who shirk their responsibilities. It’s all as real as can be.

School experiences, one in particular, are especially telling. A cruel, almost sadistic teacher, Miss Goodman, terrifies and insults her students; one boy who is retarded is scolded for not doing what he is clearly unable to do. Two girls, who arrive late regularly although they are topnotch students, are punished for their lateness . They are caught in a Catch22; they are late because a cousin whom they escort for her safety is a chronic over-sleeper. They cannot “rat” on her; they cannot abandon her.

It is no surprise that another schooling episode, the flip side of the above, is equally vividly written. Isabella Stamler, the author, herself had a lengthy teaching career. In this later

event, Isabelle very cleverly uses the five senses to bring to attention a classroom of “difficult” children .

This is far from a perfect book; among its flaws are too many descriptions of the author’s romances. While they are interesting, they pale before the story of the arrival of a foreign family to foreign shores – and how well they adapted.

Among the chapter headings, one in particular grabs us. Cincinnati, how did the family come here? There are two reasons for immigrants to move throughout this country, relatives or jobs. In this case, Isabelle’s husband acquires a job in Cincinnati. In spite of the fact that she would prefer to stay where she has family and a job, she too looks for a position, and acquires a teaching job in Saylor Park. We Cincinnatians will enjoy their decision about where to look for living quarters.

Should it be in Roselawn, where the Jewish community has settled – but a long LONG commute, or further West.

They settle for the latter.

As the family members become less impoverished they are able to move to better housing, but further from siblings, cousins, and grandparents. When the children need a safe place to go, while their parents are at work, they continue to go but it’s a longer walk, or a subway trek. Family ties are strong, dense and enduring; the children adore their grandparents, aunts and uncles . I could have wished for a family tree to keep everyone straight, but the closeness of the family members is unmistakable.

How did the newly arrived family members - Sarah and her children handle the language barrier? They had much less trouble than you would expect , because so very many people they had contact with – shop workers, employers, neighbors, co-workers – spoke Yiddish. Bit by bit, of course, English filtered in, but this was not the desperate situation one might imagine.

One gets few complaints about the difficulties of this new life; they accept it as the way to a better world than they had in Vishnisht. The writing style is unadorned , Stamler gets the story across cleanly with no frills.

FIRST PERSON • 21

THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 2014

Incidentally, Iris Incidentally Iris

by Iris Ruth Pastor Whew.

As a Reform Jew, sundown on Yom Kippur means the obligatory one day of self-imposed fasting is over. That, I am beginning to realize as the decades speed by, is the easy part of this most holy day. In the days leading up to Yom Kippur, if I take seriously the message of true repentance for past transgressions, it's daunting to

CONTINUED from previous page my vehicle." He tries to connect with the Jewish spectrum, from Orthodox to secular, by singing of common beliefs not differences.

"Music is an incredibly powerful medium for creating a sense of community, educating about Judaism, for bringing together the generations and the denominations," he explained.

Recht said that he was inspired to become a musician as a child, listening to Elvis Presley. His main musical influences were the great singer-songwriters of the early ’70s such as James Taylor, John Denver, Neil Diamond, Cat Stevens and Simon and Garfunkel. “I wanted to be a rock star, but I never dreamed I’d be a Jewish rock star,” he said. “There was really no such thing.”

His concerts draw fans from all Jewish traditions. "That is one of the things I love about music. It is one of the only settings that can comfortably bring together people from so many backgrounds," he said. "I feel it's really my purpose to be a liaison. From the time they

RABBI from page 16 homosexuality was halachically acceptable and one said it was not, with each receiving 13 votes. (One rabbi voted for both, in the name of pluralism, and an additional responsum advocating for gay conversion therapy passed as a minority opinion with six votes.)

By the unique rules of the law committee, where any ruling that garners six or more votes is considered valid, it meant that the fight for full gay rights in the movement had ended in triumph.

Proof of the victory came quick-

realize how far I fall from my lofty aspirations of perfection.

I gossip I tell white lies I exaggerate, procrastinate, intimidate I am snippy and bitchy and catty I kept grudges close And compassion far Too often l look for the slight and find it I am judgmental And love to deny responsibility for any misfortune that comes my way I can be narrow minded, careless, egocentric and arrogant And that’s just the beginning of my foibles.

After I beat my poor breast asking forgiveness for all my shortcomings, I am in the mood to hear how wonderful I am in spite of all my tedious, ever present weaknesses. The rabbi does not disappoint.

He urges the congregation in their hours of soul searching to remember the many small acts of kindness and consideration they performed over the past year too.

Ah – here was something I could readily wrap my arms around.

With remarkable ease, I remember all the good deeds I had performed. (Pretty paltry, but at least I did a few.)

Keeping small cans of V8 juice in my car for homeless pedestrians Knitting one-of-a-kind, softto-the-touch prayer shawls for grieving friends Braking quickly and stopping my car in order to snap a picture for a bunch of college co-eds huddled under a beer sign Dropping off cupcakes to welcome our two new neighbors Acts of good deeds - especially my inconsequential ones – don’t, of course, cancel out all my nasty little transgressions. And,

okay, I readily admit I probably should have given more tzedekah and gotten a few less pedicures.

Okay, and a few less massages.

But, as the last hours of Yom Kippur flutter past and darkness descends, I am left with the hope that next year the list of what I am proud of will have grown exponentially and the list of what I am shameful for will have shrunk grandly.

And in closing, I shall wax more pensive after I confess to one more slightly sinful act: plagiarism. During Yom Kippur services, my rabbi introduced the congregation to the following prayer

by Robert Saks. I have adapted it for my own use and am passing it on to all those poor souls, like myself, who have challenging people in their midst.

Dear God, You know my heart, indeed.

You know me better than I know myself.

My emotions swirl as I say this prayer. There are persons in my life who have not been kind to me.

Their presence many times wounds me and fills me with anger. With dismay. With despair.

Help me, O God, to subdue my bitter emotions that do me no good.

Help me to find that place in myself where happier memories are hidden. May I let go of the grief for all that could be, but won't be. May I be calmed by forgiveness and compassion and soothed by the passage of time.

I pray that You, who raise up slaves to freedom, will liberate me from the darkness of my oppression. And that You will lead me from this desert to a place of serenity, acceptance and peace.

Amen

walk in to the time they leave, that they will feel more connected to each other and more proud to be Jewish."

He teaches Jewish traditions and values through concerts and his Internet station, Jewish Rock Radio, which he founded in 2010.

Along with music, it offers interviews with youth about how they engage in Jewish life and profiles of Jewish music celebrities. The station’s musical format can range from folk to rap, but the lyrics must reflect Jewish values. Recht writes most of his own songs and has recorded twelve Jewish albums and two secular ones, all on the independent Jewish Rock Records label. Recht also works on inspiring others to make a difference and partnered with Jewish National Fund with a “Rock the Planet” campaign to help make a positive impact on the environment.

RSVP's are requested to ensure there is enough seating for these free events. Please contact Adath Israel Congregation.

DUTCH from page 9

extended to the stridently antiMuslim Dutch politician Geert Wilders to visit his sukkah.

In September, the board of the Jewish Community of The Hague informed Schomberg that he was banned from entering any of the city’s Orthodox synagogues until 2016 because “his behavior has endangered the community.”

Schomberg said he was told by the Reform community that he was not welcome there either.

In an attempt to reverse the ban, Schomberg launched an online petition that has collected 31 signatures, but it also drew criticism from some of his detractors.

“Mr. Schomberg’s actions, past

and present, as well as his constant media-seeking behavior do not reflect any concern for the safety of any [Jewish] groups,” a member of the Orthodox community, Stephanie Baumgarten-Kustner, wrote on his petition last week. “In fact his behavior puts the entire Jewish community in the Hague (and the Netherlands) at risk.”

Other critics say they fear Schomberg will use the sukkah to advance a political agenda, though Schomberg denies having one. He insists that his pariah status is born of the fact that he suffers from bipolar disorder and is intent on countering the community’s desire to keep a low profile.

Martine has three – and grandchildren.

They also briefly sold their paintings, including scenes of the Red Light District created at a studio near there.

They also receive psychological therapy at the Amsterdam Jewish community’s mental health clinic to deal with family traumas connected to the Holocaust.

“We were too young to experience

it, but we were born into a traumatized family because our mother was half Jewish,” Louise said. “Our parents for years were expecting she’d get taken away. We also had Jews hiding in our home. The stress seeped through to us.”

Although the Fokkens’ maternal grandmother was Jewish, they were not brought up Jewish.

“But we remember her praying in the old kitchen and she taught us some

Yiddish,” Martine said.

Their parents fiercely objected to their choice of career but eventually learned to live with it.

“Before us, nobody from our family ever went into the business,” Martine said. “I suppose someone had to go first.”

With age, the twins have reconnected to Jewish traditions. Louise now attends services at the Dutch capital’s Reform synagogue.

began to speak about his own experiences in the course of counseling synagogue members, telling gay and lesbian congregants about being called a “faggot” by his peers as a child. It was, he said, part of his journey toward acknowledging that he is gay.

In the meantime, voices of opposition have faded or shifted.

Rabbi Danny Nevins, who coauthored the 2006 gay rights opinion alongside Dorff and Rabbi Avraham Reisner, and who now leads the rabbinical school at JTS, said that while a few opponents retired from Conservative institu-

tions like JTS, most reconciled themselves to the change and continued to support their students, including gay and newly out students.

But there do remain some within the Conservative movement who oppose the shift, arguing that it cannot be reconciled with halachah.

“Sadness and disappointment at the Movement’s inability to be guided by traditional Jewish morality has led me and others to feel that the Conservative Judaism we knew is no longer,” Rabbi Harlan Wechsler, rabbi emeritus at Congregation Or Zarua in

Manhattan, wrote in an email to JTA. Yet even for some opponents, the debate over gay rights, both legal and beyond, has been transformative.

Rabbi Paul Plotkin of Temple Beth Am in Margate, Fla., who opposed the 2006 law committee decision advancing gay inclusion, and who remains unconvinced that homosexuality can be reconciled with Jewish law, said his thinking on the issue, and his encounters with gay individuals, changed how he understood and interacted with gay people.

ly. Most of the members opposed to halachic acceptance of homosexuality resigned from the law committee. The Ziegler School (now led by Rabbi Bradley Artson, whose progay legal opinion had been rejected by the movement back in 1992) promptly announced that gay applicants were welcome; the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York followed suit several months later.

Steinlauf was inspired by the movement’s decision to increase his activism on inclusion for gays as well as other marginalized groups, such as the terrorized residents of the Darfur region in Sudan. He also

questions about the level of risk facing Jews in Schilderswijk. The city also would not say why Schomberg must dismantle the temporary holiday dwelling at night.

Schomberg, who has appeared several times in Dutch media this summer because of the “kippah walks” against anti-Semitism that he organized in Schilderswijk, says his sukkah helps build bridges to non-Jews whom he invites as guests.

But some Jews who know Schomberg describe him as a troublemaker who is endangering the community, citing the invitation he FOKKENS from page 9

Keep Coping, Iris Ruth Pastor

22 • OBITUARIES

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

D EATH N OTICES

MEMORIES from page 4

FRESMAN, died October 6, 2014; 12 Tishrei, 5775.

said his mother. “In addition to learning all the prayers, he matured and gained a new-found confidence.

He’s looking forward to returning next year.”

Nosson Freed, a fifth-grade student at Cincinnati Hebrew Day School, was the runner-up. At Camp Stone, Nosson was a prolific letterwriter during his first time at overnight Jewish camp, eager to

GRUBBS, Jack, age 80, died October 6, 2014; 13 Tishrei, 5775.

SONZ, Edythe, age 93, died October 9, 2014; 15 Tishrei, 5775.

STEVENS, Bernice, age 89, died October 10, 2014; 15 Tishrei, 5775.

share with his family all his new adventures, especially his favorite, the water activities. He, too, is eager to return to camp next summer.

His mother recalls that getting his letters almost every day was great. “Nosson is our eldest child and seeing that he was having a good time and thriving at camp made me very happy and also put my mind at ease.”

On Wednesday, September 24, the winners were presented with

their prizes by Eric Dauer, the Jewish Foundation’s director of operations, and, from the Jewish Federation, CEO Shep Englander and Karyn Zimerman, overnight Jewish camping and Israel travel grants administrator.

“The Cincinnati Jewish community is fortunate to have the Jewish camping and Israel travel grants program. It is our goal to ensure that every Jewish Cincinnati child and young adult makes full use of these

grants funded by The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati,” said Karyn Zimerman.

“The Jewish Foundation sees these grants as an investment in our youth and in our community,” said Executive Director Brian Jaffee.

“Israel travel and overnight Jewish camp experiences are proven builders of Jewish identity and strengthen our Jewish community.”

and its standoff outside Haifa became a symbol of Jewish resistance to Britain’s refusal to allow in Jews.

Goldman became a close confidant and adviser to Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, and in 1951 was in charge of the prime minister’s initial visit to the U.S. as head of state. He spent several years after that coordinating a U.S. program that delivered technical

know-how to emerging countries; a 1951 announcement in New York said he was heading up the search for “skilled workers” to train Israelis.

He later served as executive director of the American-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Israel Education Fund, an arm of the United Jewish Appeal that helped establish and improve high schools in Israel.

Today that gesture seems foreign and perhaps even a little old-fashioned, but it was Ralph to the core.

He was always there behind the scenes, pushing forward to ensure the best interests of a people and a state that were central to his being.

So as we celebrate Sukkot in the coming days, I urge us all to take a moment to remember the man who

provided shelter, joy and encouragement to so many, even if they never knew his name. We are his legacy, an everlasting monument to his boundless devotion.

Thank you, Ralph.

ROSEN, Judge Jack, age 82, died October 10, 2014; 17 Tishrei, 5775.

time mayor of Jerusalem.

Decades later, Goldman still registered embarrassment when he was reminded of his purchase of the President Warfield, a one-time ferry.

Named for the shipping magnate uncle of Wallis Simpson – the Baltimore socialite and notorious admirer of Hitler who had married King Edward VIII – the boat was flat

bottomed, unsuitable for long sea voyages and barely made it across the Atlantic to Marseilles, where 5,000 Jewish refugees awaited passage to British Mandate Palestine.

His Haganah colleagues were furious with Goldman but, desperate to move, they prepared the boat for launch, with Goldman helping to manage the passage across the Mediterranean.

It was rechristened the Exodus,

REMEMBER from page 10

decades.

He was a father, a husband, a grandparent, a dear friend and in his iconic bowtie the consummate gentleman.

We live in a world today where giants of Ralph’s stature are few and very far between. He possessed a quiet determination that put action and deed before rhetoric and people

ahead of propaganda.

Nowhere can that been seen more poignantly than in a legendary photograph of Ralph and BenGurion that for decades has delighted all who see it. It shows Ralph, a close adviser to the first Israeli prime minister, humbly helping him into his jacket before attending a meeting in New York in the 1950s.

delight in forming strong bonds with the distinguished cohort of Ralph I. Goldman Fellows – people working in Jewish communities around the globe to better lives and influence our collective Jewish future. And I was personally privileged to have Ralph as a mentor for the last two

GOLDMAN from page 10

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