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First steps taken to identify trove of Holocaustera art found in Munich
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The American Israelite T H E
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to be discussed at the GA, organizers obviously did not agree since only Many delegates one session focused attending the GA— on the report. In prithe General vate meetings Assembly of the before the GA Jewish Federations began, federation of North America— executives diswhich took place cussed the dire conNov. 10-12 in clusions of the Jerusalem, expected report and how to much of the annual deal with those conference to focus issues, but organizon the Pew Report. ers of the GA mainThe report, “A tained that the Portrait of Jewish schedule had been Americans,” based set and could not be on the Pew changed at the last Research Center’s minute. 2013 Survey of So the Pew U.S. Jews, concludReport did not take ed that there is Left to right, at the new egalitarian platform at the Kotel: Suzette Fisher, Noga Maliniak (former center stage. increasing assimila- Cincinnati shlicha), Barbara Miller, Kathy Kantor, Jeffrey Zipkin, Frida Zipkin, Jay Price, Shep Englander, Surprisingly—or tion among Phyllis Singer, Fred Kantor. Not in photo, Kim Heiman. perhaps not so—pluAmerican Jews and ralism emerged as a that intermarriage has reached 71 permajor issue during the entire GA. In cent, excluding Orthodox Jews. the opening plenary Sunday night, Although references to the Pew Susie and Michael Gelman, co-chairReport surfaced in numerous sessions, persons of the GA, said, “We look only one session was devoted entirely forward to the day when Israel will be to it: a breakout session entitled a democratic, Jewish and pluralistic “Responding to Pew: How Jewish state.” Their comments drew Federations Are Successfully enthusiastic applause. The majority of Engaging the Next Generation.” American Jews are members of Numerous Federation executives told about social justice.” there needs to be a connection Reform or Conservative congregaabout programs in their federations to Shrage stressed that most commu- between young American Jews and tions, or otherwise are not affiliated. attract and engage young people. The challenges of pluralism were nities offer “nothing but raising Israel. “We need them to understand But Barry Shrage, president of the money for Federation. If that’s all we the importance of Israel.” addressed in several sessions, includCombined Jewish Philanthropies of can do, we are failing. We need to The panel agreed that federations ing “The Wall at the Heart of Israel: Boston, was blunt and noted that the offer people great opportunities” to must devise programming that will How It Connects and Divides a Pew Report “tells us we are doing become involved in their communi- engage young people. Shrage stressed Nation,” during which Anat Hoffman, very badly.” Emphasizing that federa- ties. that the missing ingredients in Jewish leader of Women of the Wall, advotions must do better, he said, “This is Jay Sanderson of the Los Angeles federations have been Jewish learn- cated for change at the Kotel to ensure the most important session; this is the Federation echoed Shrage’s words ing, Jewish education, Jewish com- equal prayer for all, including the right most important issue to talk about.” and said that if the federations fail to mitment. Although fundraising is nec- of women to wear a tallit and tefillin “We have an amazing opportuni- seize the moment, “we won’t have a essary, federation is more than and to read from the Torah. Another ty,” Shrage continued, noting that Jewish future. Our number one job is fundraising. “We must carry this mes- session, “What’s Love Got to Do with Birthright participants return from building community. . . . We want to sage forward” to young people,” he It? Who Decides Who Can Marry Israel “with a flame. They will learn to leave a rich Jewish community to our emphasized. (and Divorce) in the Jewish State?” be Jewish; they will learn to study children [and] we’re not doing this.” Although Shrage felt the Pew focused on whether the Orthodox Torah; they will learn about caring and MK Nachman Shai emphasized that Report was the most important topic GA on page 22
The panel agreed that federations must devise programming that will engage young people.
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
Rockwern Academy proud to host several Chanukah events Rockwern Academy will be hosting a school-wide Hanukkah party this year, from 5:30-7:30pm on Monday, December 2. This fun-filled event will feature dreidel games, a DJ, henna artist, spin art, sand art, bounce house, balloon maker, and the lighting of the Hanukkah candles. Performances by the Rockwern students will complete the evening. And of course, delicious latkes for all! In addition to the party,
Rockwern’s Preschool & Kindergarten students will be performing and doing an art activity with senior residents at Cedar Village Retirement Community on Friday, December 6th from 9:30-10:30am. Rockwern Academy is also proud to be hosting “Eighth Night for Ethan”, a Hanukkah fundraiser for Ethan Kadish, former Rockwern student, who was struck by lightning this summer and subsequently suffered a
severe brain injury. Families are asked to forego any gifts on the 8th night of Hanukkah and instead make donations towards Ethan’s future health care needs. There will be holiday cardmaking for all patients at Children’s Hospital as well as a live performance by Dan Nichols. This event is open to the entire Jewish community.
Speaking truth to power: Dr. Jud Newborn recounts the White Rose Resistance movement On December 8 at 10 am, the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education and Isaac M. Wise Temple welcome Dr. Jud Newborn, as the keynote speaker for the Annual Lusia and Stephen Hornstein Program in Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Human Spirit. Dr. Newborn will discuss a book he co-authored about the White Rose Movement. The lecture will be held at Wise Temple. Using music, historical photographs and suspenseful storytelling, Dr. Newborn will recount how Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans - former fanatical Hitler Youth leaders - transformed uniquely to become the
greatest heroes of the German anti-Nazi resistance. “We will not be silent,” their wartime leaflets declared. “We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!” On February 18, 1943, they mounted a gallery high above the University of Munich’s vast atrium and scattered hundreds of leaflets down upon the heads of astonished students. It was the only public protest against Nazis ever to be staged. However, Dr. Newborn’s program does not remain in the past. Relating the White Rose story to today’s most compelling current events, he will then present an array of “White Rosers”
today - inspiring heroes of all backgrounds, abroad and at home - who risk themselves for freedom and our shared humanity. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the White Rose movement. Lecturer, author and curator, Jud Newborn attended New York University, Cambridge University, and the University of Chicago, where he received his doctorate with Distinction. As an activist, Dr. Newborn hunted down former SS officers and called for the UN to take action against genocide in the Balkans. He also served undercover for Poland's Solidarity Freedom Movement in 1982.
New York’s ‘Broadway’s Next H!T Musical’ at the JCC on Sat. Dec 7 Have you ever dreamed about creating or directing your own Broadway musical? You might get your chance on Saturday night, December 7 when the award-winning improvised musical comedy awards show, “Broadway’s Next H!t Musical,” comes to the Mayerson JCC for a one night performance at 8pm. Every lyric, melody and jazz hand is made up on the spot from audience suggestion, to create a show that is spot-on, energetic, and absolutely hilarious. “Audience members will feel like they are attending the Tony Awards. When they arrive, they will walk down the red carpet, see the paparazzi and red carpet interviews,” said Courtney Cummings, JCC Cultural Programming Manager. “The show is funny, creative and a great experience for everyone.” Before entering the JCC
Amberley Room, guests will be asked to make up a song title, write it down and place it in a bowl. The award-winning cast of skilled singers and musicians will pull suggestions from the bowl and create the show’s first act, an award ceremony spotlighting songs from four “Best Musical” nominees based on audience-created song titles. The second act is an entire musical based on the winning songs from act one, complete with memorable characters, witty dialogue, composed music and dance. The New York Times calls the show “Hilarious” and Theater Weeks says its “Brilliant.” “Seeing Broadway’s Next H!T Musical is really a unique experience. The audience is involved from start to finish and the songs are inventive. It’s like Second City meets "Whose Line Is It Anyway" meets Broadway!”
said Marc Fisher. “This is a night you won’t want to miss.” The cast is chock full of seasoned performers. Lead performer Rob Schiffmann has worked and toured as a professional improviser and musician for over 17 years. Schiffmann explained in an interview how the show works: “Let’s say I pick from the bowl someone’s suggestion for a song called ‘Seven-Thirty Phone Call.’ I might go on to tell the audience the song comes from the espionage musical called ‘The Spy I Loved,’ about a spy who gets caught up in a romantic situation that distracts him from taking down an international criminal. We then improvise the scene and lyrics right on the spot, along with a melody, as our pianist also improvises the accompanying music,” Schiffmann said.
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Community rallies around Kadish family with ‘Eighth Night for Ethan’ On June 29, at Goldman Union Camp Institute (a Jewish summer camp near Indianapolis), Ethan Kadish, of Loveland, was struck by lightning, resulting in cardiac arrest. Today, his brain is struggling to make new connections and he has a long road ahead. He will have many uninsured expenses in his future, including specialized therapies, home modifica-
tions, home health care services, and more. With Hanukkah fast approaching, the Jewish community at large is taking the opportunity to teach their families more about tzedekah (Hebrew for "charity"). Eighth Night for Ethan is a heartwarming event that will celebrate the success Ethan has made so far and the hope for his continued
recovery. Eighth Night for Ethan will include dreidel games, and a performance by Ethan's biggest fan, singer Dan Nichols. Together, the community will light the Hanukkah candles, with a blue candle holding the place of honor representing the 8th night. Event coordinators are asking families to forego their usual 8th
night gifts and instead come to “Eighth Night” and make a donation to honor Ethan instead.. Eighth Night for Ethan will be held on Wednesday, December 4th, from 7:00pm to 8:30pm, and is open to the entire community. It will be held at Rockwern Academy, located on Montgomery Road, Ethan's "alma mater".
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Learn about fracking at AJC forum December 4 elists will answer written questions from the audience. AJC’s energy chair Trip Wolf says, “The program will examine conflicting views of energy independence, geopolitical concerns, jobs connected to fracking, environmental and health impacts, government policy, and local decision-making. We want the community to be well-informed and ready to decide the best course.” The program is free and open to the public.
HENRY C. SEGAL Editor & Publisher, 1930-1985
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25 feet with the support of a crutch. She could not climb stairs. She also had trouble sitting down. Cedar Village therapists developed a rehabilitation plan just for her that included stretching exercises and balancing exercises with and without weights. Other parts of her regimen included riding a stationary bicycle. The therapists worked with her one on one. After finishing her daily therapy sessions, her therapists encouraged her to return a second time each day, a challenge she accepted. The staff also taught her exercises she could do on her own. She described herself as highly
motivated because of the job awaiting her. “I wanted to be more than functional. I wanted to make a full recovery.” As part of occupational therapy, she made cookies in Cedar Village’s rehab kitchen and reorganized the kitchen cabinets. She began to bathe and dress herself, and eventually could bend her arm well enough to shampoo and style her hair. She even became so adept at getting in and out of a car that the staff took her to an ice cream shop to practice maneuvering in public – up steps, through heavy doors and around a crowded dining area. Soon, she began visiting other patients to cheer them up, bringing them cookies and spending time with them. Some patients and their families even mistook her for a physical therapist. She expects to be heading to her job just a couple months late, and she credits the Cedar Village staff with making that possible. “The Cedar Village rehabilitation team members created a positive and uplifting environment. They showed the perfect balance of patience and persistence in helping me make a fast recovery. The other staff, including the nurses, took a genuine interest in how I was progressing. Despite the hard work my recovery required, Cedar Village was a very pleasant place to be for rehabilitation.”
PHYLLIS R. SINGER Editor & General Manager, 1985-1999
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right leg. Her leg had a compound fracture. She remembers telling paramedics that she had a flight to catch to California in four days. They laughed. “They said I was lucky to be alive.” Slattery spent a week in a hospital, then arrived at Cedar Village. Upon admission to Cedar Village, she needed lots of help to accomplish routine tasks, including bathing, dressing and grooming, because she could not bend her injured arm or leg. She also had nearly constant pain. As physical therapy started, the most she could walk was about
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Debbie Eastwood, a Cedar Village physical therapy assistant, simulates laser therapy on Katie Slattery’s leg. Laser therapy promotes healing and decreases swelling. It was one of many therapies used by Cedar Village Rehabilitation Center that has prompted Slattery’s steady progress.
RABBI ISAAC M. WISE Founder, Editor, Publisher, 1854-1900
RABBI JONAH B. WISE Editor & Publisher, 1928-1930
Fast recovery for 23-year old at Cedar Village Rehab Center After spending the summer backpacking in Europe, Katie Slattery had never been in such great shape. But in an instant, things changed dramatically for the young woman. As she was riding her motorcycle, a car hit her. She lay on the ground with her legs in opposite directions. She was so severely injured that her medical providers predicted it would take months for her to recover. But after spending time as a patient at the Cedar Village Rehabilitation Center, Slattery is recovering, thanks to the extraordinary commitment she showed to her rehabilitation program and the exceptional efforts of the Cedar Village staff. “We’re proud of Katie and our rehabilitation team for the remarkable work they’ve done,” said Carol Silver Elliott, President and CEO of Cedar Village. “Her progress shows what can be done with hard work, a talented staff and outstanding facilities. Though Katie’s story stands out, we see similar success stories all the time at Cedar Village.” Slattery, 23, of West Chester, graduated this year from The Ohio State University with a degree in electrical engineering. After backpacking in 10 countries, she planned to head to San Francisco for a job at Microsoft. Then, the accident happened in August while she was on an errand. She broke her left arm and
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of Xavier University, invite the public to learn what fracking is about, why some support it and others oppose it, and how it may affect you. Carolyn Miller, vice president for program of the LVS, will moderate the panel of experts, which includes Michael Miller, an aquatic ecologist and water quality scientist; Jim O’Reilly, a public health and legal regulation expert; Benjamin Schlesinger, an energy economist and gas industry consultant; and George Ten Eyck, a professional petroleum and environmental geologist. The pan-
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Trip Wolf
On the last night of the Jewish holiday of oil, AJC Cincinnati tackles the controversial subject of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Speakers will present the pros and cons of drilling for natural gas on Wednesday, December 4, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Rockdale Temple Social Hall. AJC has long advocated reducing dependence on foreign oil, especially by reducing consumption in transportation and increasing our use of renewables. AJC and cosponsors, the League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area (LVW) and the Brueggeman Center for Dialogue
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013 18 KISLEV 5774 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 5:02 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 6:03 PM
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
Saul Kagan, Claims Conference founder and chief, dies at 91 By Uriel Heilman NEW YORK (JTA) – Saul Kagan, the founder and a longtime chief of the Claims Conference, died Saturday at age 91. Kagan helped found the organization in 1951 to be the main vehicle for negotiating with Germany over restitution for Holocaust survivors. In a statement announcing his death, the Claims Conference credited Kagan with securing tens of billions in restitution payments during his 47 years at the helm of the organization. “Saul always made his work about the mission and never about himself,” the Claims Conference said. “He was the very embodiment of humility, decency, integrity and wisdom.” Kagan was himself a survivor of sorts. A native of Vilna, Lithuania, he fled the country in 1940 on a journey that took him to Vladivostok and Japan before reaching Hawaii. He eventually made his way to New York. His father survived the war in the Soviet Union, but his mother, brother and grandparents were killed by the Nazis. Kagan found himself back in Europe before the war’s end as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force. After the war Kagan, who spoke six languages, coordinated property restitution in Germany for the U.S. Army. According to the Claims Conference, he was involved in the creation of U.S. Government military order No. 59, which allowed Holocaust survivors and victims’ families to file claims for property confiscated by the Nazis. In 1952, Kagan played a key role in the landmark Luxembourg Agreements, when representatives of Israel, Germany and the newly created Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany sat down to hammer out a reparations agreement for the crimes of Nazi Germany. The mood at the negotiating table was solemn, recalled Kagan – by then the executive director of the Claims Conference – in a video shown at a July 2012 event in Washington marking the 60th anniversary of the Claims Conference. “There were no handshakes, there was no banter or anything else,” Kagan said in halting tones. “We somehow had the feeling that we were not alone in this room. Somehow we felt that the spirits of those who couldn’t be there were there with us.” The document signed that year established payments from West Germany to the Claims Conference and Israel. “For the first time in the history of the Jewish people, oppressed and
plundered for hundreds of years... the oppressor and plunderer has had to hand back some of the spoil and pay collective compensation for part of the material losses,” Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion wrote in a 1952 letter to the Claims Conference’s first president, Nahum Goldmann. The early years of restitution were quite contentious among survivors and the Jewish community. The Knesset saw violent confrontations over whether and how Israel should accept money from Germany, and Kagan was threatened by survivors and had to hire a bodyguard. Kagan was instrumental in setting up some of the most significant compensation programs at the Claims Conference. In 1980, Germany agreed to the establishment of the Hardship Fund, which has issued one-time payments of 2,556 euros (or their equivalent) to 390,000 victims of Nazism. Following the reunification of Germany, Kagan helped negotiate the creation of the Article 2 pension program to pay Nazi victims who had not received compensation from the agreements dating back to the 1950s. He also helped extend the Claims Conference’s purview to include restitution from Austria. Through the Claims Conference, Kagan helped establish the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem and the program to honor righteous gentiles – non-Jews who helped save Jews during the Holocaust. Kagan stepped down from the helm of the Claims Conference in 1999 and was succeeded by Gideon Taylor. Kagan’s name was back in the news this year when it emerged that he was among those CC’d on correspondence in 2001 about allegations of fraud at the Claims Conference. Investigations that year by Claims Conference leaders failed to detect a massive fraud scheme was underway that would rack up more than $57 million in fraudulent payments by the time it was discovered and stopped in 2009. The fraud dated back to 1993. Even after he handed over the reins of the Claims Conference to Taylor, Kagan still did work on behalf of the organization. He also was a board member of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, the World Jewish Restitution Organization and Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work. Kagan is survived by his wife, Eleanor; a daughter, Julia; and stepchildren Jonathan and Emily Lobatto.
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College Students from Cincinnati – Summer Internships Available! Give back to the Jewish community and get paid to intern in a Jewish agency in Cincinnati. The Workum Fund provides highly rewarding summer internships for Jewish college students from Cincinnati. Applications are available at our website at www.workum.org and are due by December 15. Interviews will take place over Winter break. Contact Workum Fund Program Director, Brett Pelchovitz Stern, at 513-899-1836 or intern@workum.org for more information. *Partially funded by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati
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My history with the family of Lee Harvey Oswald’s Jewish killer By Steve North NEW YORK (JTA) – We were sharing a pastrami sandwich and pickles at the Los Angeles landmark Canter’s Deli. I was 24. She was nearly 50 years older, with a piercing voice as loud as her flaming red wig. Her name was Eva Rubenstein Grant, and she was a little-known nightclub manager the morning of Nov. 24, 1963, when her brother left the apartment they shared in Dallas and blasted his way into infamy by fatally shooting Lee Harvey Oswald. It was history’s first live televised murder. Eva worked and lived with Jack Ruby and spent the rest of her life defending him against various allegations. “I swear on my life, my brother was not three things,” Eva told me, her voice rising. “He was not a homosexual. He was not with the communists. And certainly not with the underworld.” I listened with fascination to Eva that day in 1977. (Years later she was perfectly portrayed in a TV movie by Doris Roberts, the highdecibel mom on “Everybody Loves Raymond.” She died in November 1992 at 83.) “But Mrs. Grant,” I said. “Jack had ties to the ‘syndicate,’ as you call it, as far back as your childhood in Chicago.” “Look,” she replied in exasperation. “We would see these people in the neighborhood and we’d ask, how’s your mother? How’s your sister? But that doesn’t mean Jack was connected with them. I grew up with a bunch of boys who turned out to be no good. Who knew?” It was a quintessentially Jewish response, albeit delivered in Eva’s hybrid Chicago-Dallas accent. And the Rubensteins were a staunchly Jewish family, a fact that may have played a role in Ruby’s killing of Oswald, President John F. Kennedy’s assassin. Ruby was born Jacob Rubenstein in 1911 to a family of Polish-Jewish immigrants. His parents, Joseph and Fannie, were a volatile couple. Joseph was a mean and abusive drunk. Fannie suffered from mental illness and at one point was committed to an Illinois state hospital. Their eight children had their fair share of problems, both before and after the parents separated. Ruby and three of his siblings were made wards of Chicago’s Jewish Home Finding Society and placed in foster homes for periods of time during the 1920s. Despite their dysfunctional world, the Rubensteins kept a kosher home, observed the holidays, sent their boys to Hebrew school and attended synagogue. Ruby idolized Chicago Jewish
Courtesy of Central Press/Getty Images
Journalist Steve North with the siblings of Jack Ruby: From left, Eva, Sam and Earl, 1989.
boxing champion Barney Ross, who later described him as a “wellbehaved” youth. But others recall Ruby’s hair-trigger temper and street brawls, especially when taunted by the non-Jews in his mixed Jewish-Italian neighborhood. Ruby’s biographer, Seth Kantor, relates that as an Air Force private, Ruby once beat up a sergeant who called him “a Jew bastard.” After World War II, Eva moved to Dallas and began managing nightclubs and restaurants. Ruby received an honorable discharge from the Air Force in 1946 and joined Eva a year later in Texas. It was in 1947 that Jack, along with brothers Earl and Sam, legally changed his last name to Ruby. As a young man in Chicago, Ruby reportedly ran errands for Al Capone’s cousin and henchman Frank Nitti. A former Dallas sheriff once testified that Chicago mafia figures told him that Ruby was sent to Texas to run nightclubs that were fronts for illegal gambling operations. According to evidence uncovered by the U.S. House of Representatives Assassinations Committee in the 1970s, Ruby was later linked to mobsters Carlos Marcello and Santos Traficante, who the panel considered prime suspects in a possible mob conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy. Whatever he was doing behind the scenes, Ruby became known as a nightclub owner and at some point began attending services at Congregation Shearith Israel. Rabbi Hillel Silverman, who was the Dallas synagogue’s spiritual leader from 1954 to 1964, says Ruby came to say Kaddish for his father. “He came to minyan one day
with a cast on his arm,” Silverman recalled. “I said, ‘Jack, what happened?’ He said, ‘In my club, somebody was very raucous, and I was the bouncer.’” Silverman, now 89 and still leading High Holy Days services every year, remembers Ruby well. Once Ruby showed up at the rabbi’s house with a litter of puppies and insisted the rabbi take one. When the family went to Israel one summer, Ruby looked after the dog. “The day of the assassination, we had our regular Friday night service, which became a memorial service for the president,” Silverman said. “Jack was there. People were either irate or in tears, and Jack was neither. He came over and said, ‘Good Shabbos, rabbi. Thank you for visiting my sister Eva in the hospital last week.’ I thought that was rather peculiar.” Two days later, Silverman spoke to his Sunday morning confirmation class, expressing relief to the students that Lee Harvey Oswald was not Jewish or there might have been a “pogrom” in Dallas. He then switched on the radio and heard that a “Jack Rubenstein” had killed the assassin. “I was shocked,” said Silverman. “I visited him the next day in jail, and I said, ‘Why, Jack, why?’ He said, ‘I did it for the American people.’” I interrupted Silverman, pointing out that other reports had Ruby saying he did it “to show that Jews had guts.” The rabbi sighed. “Yes, he mentioned that,” Silverman said. “But I don’t like to mention it. I think he said, ‘I did it for the Jewish people.’ But I’ve tried to wipe that statement from my mind.”
Another person close to Ruby who tried, unsuccessfully, to block out the past is his nephew, “Craig” Ruby. (He asked that I not publish his real first name). His early memories are pleasant: Uncle Jack having a shot of whiskey with Craig’s father, doling out silver dollars to the kids, his flashy sports cars. Like millions of Americans, Craig watched Oswald’s murder live on television. Soon afterward, he and his mother heard the name of the gunman. “Did you ever hear the expression ‘The color drained from her face?’ I literally saw my mother’s face go from flesh to green,” he recalled. “At age 12, that was a little freaky to watch.” Half a century after the fact, Craig is still bitter over the dramatic effect his childless uncle’s act had on the extended family, including bomb threats and huge legal bills. Given his last name, Craig was an easy target for bullies during his junior high school years in Dallas. But worst of all was facing Uncle Jack himself. “One Sunday my dad insisted we go to see Jack in jail,” Craig said. “Outside, a police car’s siren started up, and my uncle was standing there with this incredibly intense, wildeyed look on his face, and he yelled, ‘You hear that? You hear that? They’re torturing Jews in the basement!’ That particular experience was traumatic enough to where talking about it right now, 50 years later, is turning my gut into a knot.” Silverman, who later testified before the Warren Commission, also vividly remembers his jailhouse visits. “In prison, he deteriorated psychologically,” the rabbi said. “One
time I walked in and he said, ‘Come on, rabbi, duck underneath the table. They’re pouring oil on the Jews and setting it on fire.’ He was quite psychotic.” My initial connection to the Ruby family was through Eva, who I convinced to appear on ABC’s “Good Night America” program in 1976. Later I visited her several times at her apartment in Los Angeles, where she once gave me the last piece of stationary from Jack’s Carousel Club. She introduced me to her brothers – Earl, who owned a dry cleaning store in Detroit, and Sam, who lived in the Los Angeles suburb of Sylmar. Sam showed me the one picture he had of their immigrant parents as well as the rusting car Jack drove to the Dallas police station the morning he shot Oswald. In 1991, Earl allowed me to rendezvous with him in Dallas on the day he retrieved Jack’s gun, which he won after a decades-long legal battle. I later showed the weapon on television for the first time since 1963, shortly before it was auctioned off for $220,000. The brothers also downplayed Jack’s ties to the mob. Sam, who died in 2006 at age 90, leaned in close and lowered his voice, confiding: “These guys would come into Jack’s club, and you had to be nice to them, ya know.” Ironically, when Earl chose a place for us to meet in Dallas the day he was given Jack’s gun, he picked an Italian restaurant better known for its links to the Mafia than its lasagna. Some conspiracy theorists believe Ruby was ordered to silence Oswald by his organized crime contacts. Others, who think the murder was an impulsive act, point to Ruby’s fury over an anti-Kennedy advertisement in a Dallas newspaper the morning of the president’s visit. It was paid for by a right-wing Jewish activist named Bernard Weissman, which Ruby thought put Jews in a bad light. We will never know for sure. What Craig Ruby knows for certain is that he did not mourn his uncle’s death from cancer in 1967. His family had moved to Chicago by then and when he saw the headline announcing Ruby’s death, he felt like a weight had lifted. As for having a connection to one of the darkest moments in American history, Craig Ruby’s view has not changed in 50 years. “I wish to God it hadn’t happened to us.” Steve North is a broadcast journalist with CBS News who’s been reporting on the Kennedy assassination since 1976.
NATIONAL • 7
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
Culture funding wanes, but Jewish film fests continue to thrive By Heather Porter BOSTON (JTA) – At the opening-night celebration of the Boston Jewish Film Festival’s 25th birthday, festival volunteers handed out delimade kugel for ticket holders to nosh while waiting on a line that extended back to the parking lot. Once inside the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, the celebration last week continued with a performance by a student jazz ensemble from the Berklee College of Music and tributes to the festival and its founder, Michal Goldman. That was followed by the Massachusetts premiere of “The Zigzag Kid” from the Flemish filmmaker Vincent Bal, who at 3 a.m. Belgium time participated in a postscreening Q&A via Skype. “Some people only connect to their Judaism by coming to the festival,” said Judi Burten, a longtime attendee. “Many don’t go to syna-
National Briefs NY Times features photo of perpetrator’s family for story on murder of IDF soldier (JNS) – The New York Times was criticized by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) for leading with an Associated Press photo of relatives of the Palestinian terrorist suspected of killing 19-year-old Israeli soldier Eden Atias in its coverage on the recent murder. “CAMERA has urged New York Times Foreign Editor Joseph Kahn to explain the very troubling decision to exclude photos of the distraught family of Eden Atias-of the mother and family members weeping over the coffin of the murdered teenager-in favor of a strikingly sympathetic image of the mother of the perpetrator,” CAMERA Executive Director Andrea Levin told JNS. Jonathan Pollard’s wife says Peres comments ‘a knife in my heart’ (JNS) – Imprisoned Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard’s wife, Esther, wrote to President Shimon Peres that he disregarded America’s refusal to free her husband when he recently said, “There is no Israeli request that President [Barack] Obama has not responded to [favorably].” “Just a week before my husband enters his 29th year in prison, your words, Mr. President, were like a knife in my heart,” Esther wrote. “You sent the message that,
gogue, but they come to the festival religiously.” At a time when Jewish arts professionals have grown concerned over waning communal support for their endeavors, Jewish film festivals continue to thrive. Since Jewish film festivals in the United States were launched in the 1980s, the field has grown dramatically. Estimates vary, and depend to a degree on what qualifies as a film festival, but the total number ranges from 60 to well over 100 across the country. There are large festivals in major Jewish centers such as New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, and smaller festivals in places like Omaha, Neb.; Baton Rouge, La.; Jackson, Miss.; Honolulu and Fairbanks, Alaska (the Farthest North Jewish Film Festival). In Dayton, Ohio (Jewish population: 3,500), the festival reported a 25 percent increase in attendance in
2012 over the year before, and an additional 11 percent increase in 2013. The festival remains “one of the largest programs that the federation runs,” said Jane Hochstein, the director of the Dayton JCC. In the south, many Jewish film festivals owe their existence to the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which runs programs to support Jewish life in 13 states. The institute’s president and CEO, Macy Hart, hired the director of the San Diego Jewish Film Festival, Lynette Allen, to create Jewish Cinema South, a nowdefunct program that launched a host of successful festivals, including those in Nashville, Houston and Mobile, Ala. Several cities, including Philadelphia and Chicago, have separate festivals devoted exclusively to Israeli films. That’s in addition to the Israel Film Festival, which screened six films in New York in its inaugu-
as far as you are concerned, my husband does not exist.” Jonathan Pollard, 59, is the only person in U.S. history to receive a life sentence for spying for an American ally.
Brandeis President Fred Lawrence “takes these events with the utmost seriousness” and expects “an effective response” by the Al Quds administration, de Graffenreid said.
John Kerry tells U.S. senators to ignore Israel on Iran sanctions (JNS) – Secretary of State John Kerry told U.S. senators to ignore Israel when it comes to Iran sanctions. Describing Kerry’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last week, a Senate aide told BuzzFeed that “every time anybody would say anything about ‘what would the Israelis say,’ they’d get cut off and Kerry would say, ‘You have to ignore what they’re telling you, stop listening to the Israelis on this.’” “I was supposed to disbelieve everything the Israelis had just told me, and I think the Israelis probably have a pretty good intelligence service,” U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (RIL) said.
Typhoon Haiyan-struck Philippines gets JDC relief (JNS) – The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) sent medical supplies, food, and educational kits for displaced children to the Philippines to assist victims of Typhoon Haiyan. JDC, which is also supplying equipment to the Israel Defense Forces field hospital in the Philippines, is “driven by the debt of gratitude we owe to the Philippines, which heroically saved more than 1,000 Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis during World War II,” Alan H. Gill, JDC’s CEO, told JNS.
Brandeis plans discussions with Palestinian partner school after Nazi-style rally (JNS) – Two Brandeis University faculty members planned “detailed discussions” with administrators at Al Quds University, a Palestinian school Brandeis partners with, regarding “a number of troubling allegations” in the aftermath of a Nazistyle military rally at Al Quds, Brandeis Senior Vice President for Communications Ellen de Graffenreid told JNS. Recent photos reveal students wearing black military gear, carrying fake automatic weapons, and giving the Nazi salute during a march on the Al Quds campus.
AJC praises U.S. terror designation for Nigerian group that targeted Christians (JNS) – American Jewish Committee (AJC) Executive Director David Harris praised the U.S. State Department’s designation of Nigeria’s Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. “Boko Haram’s murderous attacks in Nigeria, targeting Christians in particular, have been a deep concern for a long time,” Harris said. “The U.S. designation both recognizes the reality of the threat Boko Haram presents and gives a boost, we hope, to the Nigerian government’s efforts to defeat this terrorist scourge.” Boko Haram, which is linked to al-Qaeda, has repeatedly attacked Christian targets and government offices since its formation in 2001.
ral year of 1982 and now draws thousands to viewings in Los Angeles, New York and Miami. The Israeli festival also has drawn a succession of high-profile Hollywood honorees and presenters over the years, including Sacha Baron Cohen, Danny DeVito, Kirk and Michael Douglas, Dustin Hoffman and Bette Midler. “My vision when I moved to Los Angeles was to reach the Hollywood community and to attach it to the Israeli film community,” said Meir Fenigstein, the Israel Film Festival’s founder. “Hopefully I made it happen.” Isaac Zablocki, the director of film programs at the JCC in Manhattan, started a coordinating body several years ago for the organizers of Jewish film festivals. The Jewish Film Presenters Network now has a mailing list of more than 250 people. The network, which sold out its
June conference in New York, aims to help festivals share knowledge and ideas, as well as establish standards of practice. “We get hardly any support for this conference that is so clearly needed,” Zablocki said. “Everyone says that community support for the arts is disappearing, but the Jewish film festivals keep getting bigger. It’s the way more people connect to Judaism than anything else, but the organized Jewish community doesn’t recognize that.” Lisa Rivo, co-director of the National Center for Jewish Film, attributes the growth of Jewish film festivals to the broader growth of the international film festival circuit. The center has long had a relationship with Jewish film festivals throughout the country. “Esther Broner: A Weave of Women,” about the famed women’s CULTURE on page 20
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Iran sanctions policy, Syria airstrike leak exacerbate U.S.-Israel differences By Alex Traiman (JNS) – Attitudes on Iran sanctions and the leaking of information on an Israeli airstrike in Syria have exacerbated the Obama Administration’s differences with the Israeli government, while proIsrael groups in the U.S. find themselves caught in the crosshairs. Tensions between the Israeli and American governments rose significantly last week when the U.S. confirmed publicly that the Israel Air Force was responsible for a strike on a Syrian military base near the port city of Latakia. The strike reportedly took out arms bound for the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah. “The United States pulled the rug out from Israel in leaking the story,” Lenny Ben-David, former deputy chief of mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington under Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, told JNS. “When these actions become public, it changes the game,” BenDavid said. Israel often carries out clandestine military operations in the region to prevent the illegal movement of weapons that can directly impact Israel’s security. While the U.S. is often told of such operations either before or soon after they occur, confirmation of targeted strikes are often intentionally left vague to maintain
International Briefs Baby born in IDF Philippines field hospital named 'Israel' (JNS) – The first baby born in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) field hospital in the Typhoon Haiyan-ravaged Philippines was named “Israel,” the IDF Spokesperson's Unit tweeted Friday. The Israeli army's 148-member IDF Medical and Rescue Response Team, which is being coordinated by Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center, arrived in the Philippines last week with more than 100 tons of humanitarian and medical supplies from Israel. Iran says new combat drone has range to reach Israel (JNS) – Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said his country’s new reconnaissance and combat drone, Fotros, has a range of 1,250 miles, meaning it could reach Israel from Iran. “This drone is able to carry out reconnaissance missions and carry air-to-surface rockets for combat operations,” Dehghan said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
Courtesy of White House
President Barack Obama meets American Jewish leaders in the White House in March 2011. Last week, in their latest meeting with the White House, Jewish leaders were reportedly asked not to push for strengthened Iran sanctions while negotiations over the Iran nuclear program persist.
Israeli deterrence capability, and to prevent retaliation as well as international condemnation. The uncharacteristic confirmation is considered by many in the upper echelons of the Israeli administration to be an intentional leak that may have been intended at further isolating Israel in the international community, and potentially even provoking Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to respond militarily. Reports on Israeli television networks Channel 2 and Channel 10 were particularly fierce in their criticism of the Obama Administration’s leak. Top Israeli military analysts referred to the leaks as “scandalous,” “illogical,” “unfathomable,” and “foolish.”
Several prominent U.S. Jewish groups are now also finding themselves caught in a dilemma between supporting American and Israeli policies, amid growing diplomatic tensions between the two countries. While Netanyahu has renewed the call for tougher sanctions on Iran, and has left open the real possibility of a military strike to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, the Obama Administration prefers not to implement new sanctions during Western negotiations with Iran. Following recent reports that Iran may be as little as two weeks away from enriching uranium to weapons grade, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) broke from the U.S. administration’s
Israeli flights prepare for possible Iran strike, former national security adviser says (JNS) – The Israel Air Force has been conducting “very long-range flights” around the world to prepare for a possible independent military strike on Iran, former Israeli national security adviser Yaakov Amidror said Sunday. “We are very serious, preparing ourselves for the possibility that Israel will have to defend itself by itself,” Amidror told the Financial Times. Israel is capable of halting Iran’s nuclear weapons capability “for a very long time,” Amidror said.
mosques. The most recent murder (Atias) is further proof of the destructive results of the PA’s goring incitement,” Prosor said.
Palestinian Authority incitement complaint filed by Israel's U.N. ambassador (JNS) – The murders of three Israel Defense Forces soldiers and one reservist over the last two months-most recently 19-year-old Cpl. Eden Attias-has prompted Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor to file an official complaint on Palestinian Authority incitement with the U.N. Security Council. “This is the result of education that teaches people to hate. Prejudice and intolerance begin in kindergarten and school and continue on television and in the
Saudi Arabia would reportedly join Israel in possible strike on Iran (JNS) – Israel and Saudi Arabia, ostensibly sworn enemies, are secretly working together on contingency plans for a possible attack on Iran if the emerging diplomatic deal between world powers and Iran does not significantly curb Iran’s nuclear program, The Sunday Times reported. “The Saudis are furious and are willing to give Israel all the help it needs,” an unnamed diplomatic source said. Palestinian terrorists are team names at soccer tournaments (JNS) – Four Palestinian soccer teams over the course of two recent tournaments were named after terrorists, Palestinian Media Watch reported. For a tournament at Al-Quds University, teams were named after Yahya Ayyash, considered the first Palestinian suicide bomber; Dalal Mughrabi, who in 1978 led a bus attack in which 37 Israelis were killed; and Ghassan Kanafani, a
stance by making an announcement over the weekend that it would not back down from pressing Congress to enact tougher economic sanctions against Iran. “AIPAC continues to support congressional action to adopt legislation to further strengthen sanctions, and there will absolutely be no pause, delay or moratorium in our efforts,” AIPAC President Michael Kassen said in a statement. “Until Iran suspends its enrichment program, additional sanctions are vital for diplomacy to succeed,” Kassen added. The announcement came despite the fact that last week, when American Jewish leaders gathered with senior Obama Administration officials at the White House, the administration reportedly asked Jewish leaders to refrain from asking for stronger Iran sanctions while negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program persisted. AIPAC’s announcement favoring additional sanctions represents a sharp shift in the lobby’s support for the Obama administration’s Middle East policies. Recently, AIPAC lobbied in favor of military action against Syria at the behest of the Obama administration. “After AIPAC went out on a limb to support Obama on a Syrian attack, don’t look for them to be running to Obama’s support now,” BenDavid-who served for 10 years as
AIPAC’s director of research and information in Washington and then for 15 years as founder and director of AIPAC’s Israel office-told JNS. According to Ben-David, AIPAC is beholden to neither the Israeli government nor the American government. “Traditionally, AIPAC is a lobby,” he said. “They do not work for the Israeli government. They are beholden to the American public. On policy issues, AIPAC measures the mood of the American people, the Jewish community mood, and the mood of Congress.” “The American public is suspicious of Iran, the Jewish community is suspicious of Iran, and Congress is suspicious of Iran,” Ben-David added. Lobbying Congress in favor of military action against Syria for its reported use of chemical weapons was a bit of gamble for AIPAC, according to Ben-David. Even though Obama called for an attack in a nationally televised address, such military action did not have domestic or international support. “I don’t think the mood was as clear when the Syrian issue came up. It was determined that nobody at home or abroad actually wanted it. And it is not certain whether or not Israel actually wanted an attack. Nobody was sure what the American
leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group. “There is no worse incitement to murder than to say that a terrorist who has murdered is a hero,” Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, told JNS.
Car strikes statue of Jewish poet Radnoti in Hungary BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) – A statue of Hungarian Jewish poet Miklos Radnoti, who was killed by Hungarian Nazis at the end of 1944, was broken in two parts after being struck by a car. The Radnoti statue in the village of Abda, in western Hungary, was either hit on purpose or by a drunken driver on Sunday, a police spokesman told local radio. Also over the weekend, a book of Radnoti’s poems was set ablaze in Miskolc, a the northern Hungarian countryside town. Extremists burned the book along with what they called other “Zionist publications,” according to the daily newspaper Nepszabadsag.
U.N.’s Ban visits Auschwitz (JTA) – Ban Ki-moon, the secretary-general of the United Nations, paid tribute to victims of the Holocaust at a visit to Auschwitz. On Monday, Ban viewed the public exhibits and laid flowers in front of the wall where inmates of the Nazi death camp were shot to death, according to reports. Minnesota man was Nazi SS commander, German prosecutor says (JTA) – A German prosecutor has recommended that murder charges be brought against a retired Minnesota carpenter who he says is a former commander of the Nazi SS. Thomas Will, the deputy head of the special prosecutor’s office that investigates Nazi crimes, believes that Michael Karkoc, 94, ordered his unit to attack a Polish village in 1944. The village was razed and dozens of adults and children were killed, according to the AP.
SANCTIONS on page 22
Keep Philly consulate open, Pa. senator Toomey asks Netanyahu WASHINGTON (JTA) – U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey appealed to the Israeli government to keep open the Israeli consulate in Philadelphia amid reports that it may shut down. Toomey (R-Pa.) made his request earlier this month in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
INTERNATIONAL / ISRAEL • 9
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
First steps taken to identify trove of Holocaust-era art found in Munich By Toby Axelrod BERLIN (JTA) – The extraordinary disclosure last week that a trove of more than 1,400 vanished artworks were found in a Munich apartment has raised more questions than it has answered. What were these works, which were produced by masters such as Chagall, Matisse and Picasso? Who are their rightful owners? And where is Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of a Holocaust-era art dealer in whose apartment they were found? Responding to growing international pressure, German authorities have begun to offer some preliminary answers. This week, the state prosecutor in Augsburg started to put names and images of the works into a database run by Germany’s central office for lost cultural property, whose website promptly crashed due to an overload of requests. Authorities also have confirmed that the collection contains at least 380 works that the Nazis confiscated during a 1937 campaign against socalled “degenerate art.”
Still, much remains unclear about the provenance of the works and how they came to be stored in Gurlitt’s apartment. The case has unfolded like a suspense novel. On Sept. 22, 2010, customs agents searching for tax evaders on a night train from Zurich to Munich caught Gurlitt with 9,000 euros, just under the legal limit. Suspecting him of tax evasion and embezzlement, investigators were intrigued to find no record of Gurlitt ever working, paying taxes or receiving Social Security. On Feb. 28, 2012, customs investigators carried out a search and seizure order of his apartment. Over three days, they carted off more than 1,400 works of art – many by artists banned by the Nazis, some of which were unknown to experts. The seizure was kept secret until last week, when it was revealed by the German magazine Focus. Since then, it has been the talk of the nation. “My reaction was ‘wow. Really wow!’” said Hannah Lessing, the secretary general of two Austrian government funds for Nazi victims who has worked to help heirs recover
Courtesy of Johannes Simon/Getty Images
Art historian Meike Hoffmann addressing the media about the seizure of paintings from the Munich apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt, Nov. 5, 2013.
stolen art. “Maybe [now] there will be some people who inherited a whole house from their grandparents … and maybe they will ask themselves ‘where did this art come from?’” The Munich find is by far the most significant discovery of Holocaust-era artwork, pieces of which occasionally surface over the years in auction houses, vaults and even abandoned cellars. In 2010 in
Berlin, workers excavating a subway tunnel unearthed a stash of sculptures by artists disliked by the Nazis. Meanwhile, European governments have made significant progress in identifying seized Holocaust art. In Austria, nearly 20,000 artworks and cultural items held in state collections have been returned to their original owners since the 1990s. In Holland, the Restitution Commission recommended in favor of the claimants of 430 objects, which fetched more than $10 million when they were sold at auction in 2007. And in France, a government probe of 2,000 paintings resulted in the restitution of six paintings in March to Thomas Selldorff, 84, of Boston. “More artwork has been coming on the market as people die and their heirs try to sell it off,” said Wesley Fisher, director of research at the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. “But there’s been nothing as spectacular as this.” Gurlitt’s father, Hildebrand, was a German art dealer well known to restitution campaigners. Among other things, he was hired to procure
works for the so-called Fuhrer Museum in Linz, Austria, and he was sent to Paris 10 times between 1941 and 1944 to purchase art on its behalf, according to a sworn statement Hildebrand Gurlitt provided to U.S. authorities in June 1945. The elder Gurlitt also was used to scour markets for sellable art that could bring in money to the German treasury. In his statement, Hildebrand Gurlitt said he had heard about art and furnishings confiscated from Jews and held in a Parisian palace, but insisted he had never seen it. Nor, the elder Gurlitt said, had he ever bought anything from someone who did not want to sell. In 1950, the United States returned “a whole bunch of art” to Hildebrand Gurlitt, according to Willi Korte, a Washington-based researcher for the Holocaust Art Restitution Project who, along with a fellow investigator Marc Masurovsky, dug up an inventory of the elder Gurlitt’s collection compiled by the U.S. military at the National Archives in Washington. FIRST on page 22
Fight for religious pluralism recurring theme of 2013 federations confab By Ben Sales JERUSALEM (JTA) – It is a cause that elicited cheers from a roomful of participants at the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly. Leading politicians have long championed it and are now trying to push it through a divided Knesset. Nearly two-thirds of Israelis support it, and activists say it’s crucial for ensuring Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state. Opponents say it could augur the downfall of Israel as we know it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stance is hard to read. It’s not peace with the Palestinians or a military strike on
Iran’s nuclear program. It is the institution of civil marriage in Israel. Under current law, the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate in Israel controls marriage for Jews, which leaves Conservative, Reform, civil or samesex marriages – not to mention interfaith marriages – unrecognized by the state. Responding to growing calls for change, a bill proposed last month by the centrist Yesh Atid party would institute civil unions with the same rights as the marriages now permitted by the Chief Rabbinate. The Jewish Federations, which held its annual General Assembly in Jerusalem this week, may soon be joining that fight. CEO Jerry Silverman told JTA that the federa-
tions are “studying the issue” without a definite goal in mind. But advocating for religious pluralism in Israel was a recurring theme at the assembly. Susie and Michael Gelman, the confab’s North American co-chairs, laid out that goal on opening night. “We look forward to the day when Israel will realize the dream of being a Jewish, democratic and pluralist state,” they said. A panel discussion moderated by Susie Gelman on Monday specifically addressed the issue of civil marriage, with five of six panelists advocating before an enthusiastic crowd. FIGHT on page 21
Courtesy of JFNA
Delegates to the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly conducting an egalitarian prayer service at the Western Wall, Nov. 12, 2013.
From major speakers to exhibitors, Federation GA in Israel a ‘global Jewish shuk’ By Judy Lash Balint JERUSALEM (JNS) – Several halls of Jerusalem’s International Congress Center were filled with booths representing the best of Israeli innovations as the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) held its General Assembly in Jerusalem for the third time since 2003. From 1998-2012, the Federations sent more than $4.5 billion to Israel, so it’s no wonder that Israeli organizations as diverse as the world-renowned Yad Vashem Holocaust museum to the fledgling Hasdera social change organization were vying for the attention of the 1,500 North American delegates. Representatives of smaller organiza-
tions that can’t afford a booth wandered around the halls looking for opportunities to talk with potential donors and hand out a business card or brochure. The annual gathering of Federation leadership generally takes place in the U.S., but every five years the organization representing more than 400 North American communities convenes in Jerusalem. This year, the 1,500 North Americans were joined by an equal number of Israelis, representing the gamut of the country’s social services, commerce, and public institutions. The theme for the 2013 GA was “The Global Jewish Shuk: A Marketplace of Dialogue and
Debate,” with 22 sessions packed into a one-and-a-half-day conference. An additional day was set aside for site visits in and around Jerusalem, culminating in a solidarity walk from Jerusalem’s City Hall in Safra Square to the Western Wall. For many delegates, the GA was the culmination of a weeklong mission that combines visits to Federation-funded projects with visits to Israel’s best cultural events. At the opening plenary, headlined by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the tone was set by the introductory speech given by GA co-chairs Michael and Susie Gelman. “We dream of Israel as a Jewish, democratic, pluralistic state,” stated Susie Gelman. One Israeli blogger present
retorted: “You mean we’re NOT? That bus I took to this very conference filled with an amalgam of Haredi, National Religious, white, black and Peruvian Jews was not a pluralistic environment? That election in which I voted earlier this year in which I had the privacy to choose whatever ballot I wished was not a democratic vote?” The gap in understanding between Israelis and Diaspora Jews concerns Member of Knesset Nachman Shai (Kadima), a former director of the Israel office of JFNA, who organized two Federation general assemblies during his tenure. The recent Pew Research Center survey of American Jewry is indicative of “a continuing steady change in attitude that indicates [Americans
Jews and Israelis are] in two worlds,” Shai told JNS. Israelis and Diaspora Jews “have to work harder” to understand each other, Shai said, citing two committees he chairs “to strengthen the Jewish people.” One is a joint Jewish Agency for Israel-Knesset committee on Jewish identity, and the other, convened by the Ruderman Family Foundation, aims to educate Knesset members about North American Jewry. Over and over, Israelis in various sessions spoke of the existential threat facing the Jewish state: El Al executive and former Israel Air Force head Eliezer Shkedy told a Monday plenary session, “We’re FEDERATION GA on page 22
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Grappling with Pew at the G.A. By Ben Sales
Courtesy of JFNA
Participants mingling at the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly in Jerusalem.
JERUSALEM (JTA) – When it’s held in Israel once every five years, the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly aims to focus on challenges and opportunities facing the Jewish state. In large part, this year was no exception. Israel’s president, prime minister and other prominent politicians addressed the crowd. Sessions covered Israel’s foreign and domestic agenda, from Iran’s nuclear program to Israel’s marriage laws to the aftermath of the 2011 social protests. The conference culminated with a walk
to the Western Wall. But a funny thing happened on the way to Jerusalem. The release of the Pew Research Center Survey of U.S. Jews gave conference delegates a comprehensive picture of Jewish life in America, a set of sometimes troubling statistics and plenty to talk about. Hanging over the delegates’ heads were two questions that have obsessed the Jewish community since the study was released last month: What does it mean? And what do we do about it? Answers came in sessions before and during the conference, and in speeches by JFNA CEO Jerry
Silverman and Chairman Michael Siegal. Taken together, they recommended greater accessibility to communal resources and programs such as preschool and camp, combined with a focus on developing personal connections between community leaders and young Jews. “The fact that we act collectively, that is our brand,” Silverman said at a plenary Monday. “Not just the things we do, but the fact that we do them together. Let’s never forget that. Let’s never be so passionate about a single cause that we forget that our real cause is community.” GRAPPLING on page 19
'Just do your job': Trainer of IDF paramedics on life-saving improvisation By Jacob Kamaras LOS ANGELES (JNS) – For Israel Defense Forces Lt. Anastasia Bagdalov, there was no time to ponder the gunshot that penetrated both legs of a man riding with her on a bus ambushed by terrorists. “You just start to not think about anything but him. It’s the goal now. I see only him. I don’t see the smoke, I don’t see the glass, I don’t see the bullets. I don’t hear the bullets. Just do your job,” Bagdalov, now a platoon deputy commander of an IDF paramedics training course, recalls regarding the man she
Israel Briefs Hamas prime minister’s daughter treated in Israeli hospital (JNS) – Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s granddaughter returned to Gaza on Monday after being admitted to an Israeli hospital on Sunday for emergency treatment. She had been suffering from apparent nervous system problems resulting from severe inflammation in her gastrointestinal system. Israel Hayom confirmed with Palestinian Authority sources in Ramallah that the 1-year-old girl was brought to Israel after officials in the PA Health Ministry contacted their Israeli counterparts. Thousands of Catholics gather in Nazareth for ‘day of faith’ (JNS) – More than 7,000 Catholics from around the world gathered for mass on Sunday in Nazareth, Israel, the childhood home of Jesus, to mark the “International Day of Faith.” Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
treated on Aug. 18, 2011. That day came just two weeks after Bagdalov had completed her own IDF course for paramedics. On her unexpectedly tumultuous bus ride home from her base, the Uvda Airbase near Eilat, Bagdalov learned the value of improvisation. She saved the wounded man’s life by what reports on the incident have called the application of an arterial tourniquet to his knee-except for the fact that she didn’t have a tourniquet. She says she “started to use every object around me to stop the hemorrhages,” including her t-shirt and phone, and eventually received a bra to use from
another girl on the bus (she didn’t use her own bra, as reports have stated). Ultimately, “There was no place for a tourniquet, so I just put my hand on the artery, and he stopped bleeding,” Bagdalov says. In April 2012, she earned a military decoration for her acts on the ambushed bus. Last month, she visited Los Angeles as one of the guests of honor at the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) Western Region Gala, an event that raised more than $20 million. FIDF is the nonprofit whose mission is to provide for education and wellbeing of IDF soldiers, and for the families of fallen soldiers.
While IDF soldiers “always think about the work” and have “no time to waste,” Beglov says FIDF “always comes to us and says, ‘Wait-after the work, before the work, stand in place, take a breath. You need to think about yourself.” “I think without FIDF we wouldn’t have this time of breathing,” Bagdalov, 21, says in an interview with JNS.org. But when she treated passengers after the August 2011 attack on her bus, Bagdalov didn’t have the luxury of time. “Just do your job without thinking much. Because thinking
Courtesy of Courtesy Anastasia Bagdalov
PARAMEDIC on page 19
Anastasia Bagdalov, a trainer of IDF paramedics.
Fouad Twal, who led the proceedings, read a statement by Pope Francis, who since taking office this year has made Catholic-Jewish relations a priority and has announced tentative plans to visit Israel in 2014.
decade-long tenure. Metzger was arrested Monday following an investigation of several months. A Petach Tikvah court remanded the ex-Ashkenazic chief rabbi to police custody for nine days. Metzger is accused of accepting monetary and material bribes in exchange for advancing the interests of several nonprofit organizations. The amount of the bribes equals several million shekels, according to reports. Metzger served as chief rabbi from 2003 until earlier this year.
crane to build your country. You were forced to fight so much to protect your country,” he said. The French leader also called for “efforts” on the part of the Palestinians.
Netanyahu, Ya’alon focus on Palestinian incitement in responses to soldier’s murder (JNS) – Responding to last week’s fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Israel Defense Forces soldier Eden Atias by a Palestinian teenager, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We hope and look forward to achieving true peace, but incitement in the Palestinian Authority must stop.” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon said, “We must remember that the terror of individuals unaffiliated with an organization mostly derives from the hard incitement of the Palestinian Authority,” which during negotiations with Israel continues to educate youths to admire terrorists. Ex-chief rabbi Yona Metzger arrested for allegedly receiving bribes JERUSALEM (JTA) – Former Israeli chief rabbi Yona Metzger was arrested on suspicion of bribe taking and other offenses during his
France’s Hollande calls for shared Jerusalem, halt to settlement building JERUSALEM (JTA) – French President Francois Hollande in a speech to the Israeli Knesset called for a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital for Israel and a Palestinian state. Earlier Monday, during a visit to the Palestinian city of Ramallah, Hollande called on Israel to stop building in West Bank settlements. Hollande in his Knesset address praised the lawmakers and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hollande called Israel the “creation of unstoppable will.” “You turned your tragedy into a
Netanyahu offers inquiring U.N. interpreter a job in Israel JERUSALEM (JTA) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there will always be a job waiting in Israel for a U.N. interpreter caught wondering aloud at the excessive number of anti-Israel resolutions. Netanyahu played a video recording of the incident during Sunday’s regular Cabinet meeting and called the unidentified interpreter “brave.” The interpreter’s remarks came during the Nov. 14 meeting of the U.N. General Assembly’s Fourth Assembly attended by representatives of all 193 United Nations member states. Nine of the 10 resolutions adopted at the meeting condemned Israel. “I mean I think when you have five statements, not five, but like a total of 10 resolutions on Israel and Palestine, there’s gotta be something, ‘c’est un peu trop, non?’ [‘It’s a bit much, no?’],” the interpreter said in English and French in remarks heard live by the delegates.
“I mean I know, yes, yes, but there’s other really bad s*** happening, but no one says anything about the other stuff.” Amid titters of laughter from the delegates, the committee secretary says, “I understand there was a problem with the interpretation.” “Interpreter apologies,” the interpreter responds. Netanyahu said, “I would like to tell this interpreter that she has a job waiting for her in the State of Israel. There are moments that tear the hypocrisy off the unending attacks against us, and this brave interpreter did so.” Released Palestinian prisoners get P.A. payout, monthly stipend JERUSALEM (JTA) – Palestinian terrorists who were released from Israeli prisons in a goodwill gesture by Israel to restart the peace process were granted large payouts and monthly stipends from the Palestinian Authority. Upon their release from Israeli prison, each of the prisoners received a $50,000 payment and granted a monthly salary, Israel Radio reported Monday. The prisoners were convicted of killing Israelis.
GIFT GUIDE • 11
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
ANNOUNCEMENTS ENGAGEMENT arjorie and Steven Adler of Cincinnati are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Julie Adler to Jason Isaacs, son of Dr. and Mrs. Larry M. Isaacs of Goshen, New York. Julie is the granddaughter of Thelma and Harvey Bergman of Cincinnati and Marilyn and the late Ernest Adler of Evansville, Indiana. Jason is the grandson of the late Shirley and Dr. Harold Wenig of New York, New York and David Isaacs and the late Nina Isaacs of Camarillo, California. The future bride studied Early Childhood Education at the University of Cincinnati. After several years working with children and most recently with NAI Bergman, Julie recently relocated to Columbus. The future groom is a graduate of Miami University and Fisher College of The Ohio State University with degrees in marketing and finance respectively. He is employed as a Product Manager in Nationwide Insurance’s banking unit in Columbus. A March 29th, 2014 wedding is planned in Cincinnati.
M
Julie Adler and Jason Isaacs
PRICE RECEIVES COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD Jewish Federation of Cincinnati 2014 Community Campaign Co-Chair Jay Price received the Community Service Award of American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Cincinnati Regional Office at the Initial Gifts Reception on Wednesday, October 9 The event benefited AJC’s global advocacy for the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel, and for the advancement of democratic values for all.
AJC Community Service Award Co-Chair Sandy Kaltman, AJC President Rick Michelman, honoree and former AJC president Jay Price, and co-chair Guy Peri.
AJC board members Ed Frankel and Jeff Goldstein with honoree Jay Price (center)
Jay and Sue Price
12 • GIFT GUIDE
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
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Appointments When looking for the finest in pens, look no further than Appointments, located downtown in Carew Tower. For 20 years, Appointments has been the leader in Cincinnati for fine pens. Specializing in fountain pens, they carry over 20 different lines in stock. Shopping for the men on your Hanukkah list is easy at Appointments; choosing from wallet, luggage, luggage tags, globes, clocks, and walking sticks, you can find just about anything a man could want. They also carry Rookwood Pottery tiles, bookends, and much more. The proprietor, Doug Kennedy, and his associates Labron Miller and Jay Plogman, are on hand to help you with your gift needs, and they’ll take the time to assist you with your selections, especially fountain pens. In addition, Appointments also carries a wide array of stationary, journals, and calendars.
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Gift subscriptions to The American Israelite make great Chanukah gifts! Fill out the form below, enclose payment and mail to 18 W. Ninth St., Cincinnati, OH 45202-2037 Recipient: Name: ______________________________________________________ Address: _____________________________________________________ City: _________________________State:_________Zip: ______________ Gift message: ________________________________________________ Given by: Name: _____________________________________________________ ❏ payment enclosed Charge my: ❏ Visa ❏ MasterCard ❏ Discover Card #_____________________________________Exp. Date:__________ Signature (required) ____________________________________________ ❏ In-town $44 ❏ Out-of-town $49
Artistic Designs Beth Goldstein’s Artistic Designs features clever, novel and beautiful designs for Judaic giftware that is sure to renew one’s take on tradition. Beth’s choice of out-of-theordinary, vibrant colors make menorahs glow, dreidels dance, and latke plates beg for seconds! Parents and students alike hope to be on the receiving end of a personalized Bar or Bat Mitzvah gift created by Beth. The Judaica collection is
viduals! On her website, bethgoldstein.com/judaica, there are items to purchase with just a click of a button; you’ll find fun, hand-painted Judaica in the Shabbat and Holiday sections. She is always creating new designs and adding new pieces to these Jewish giftware collections - check back frequently to see what’s new! There are also examples of custom and special order work to give you an overview of her artistic style and some new ideas for gift-giving. Goldstein provides a lovely opportunity to order a personalized gift, such as: a custom-made Bar or Bat Mitzvah Kiddush Cup that will be unlike any other; a hand painted, original, customized Ketubah; or special occasions gifts she creates and produces, one at a time, in signed, limited editions exclusively for you or your gift shop. Browse her Judaica Gallery and Shop - if you don’t see exactly what you have in mind, just relax - Beth can make it for you! A single gift or multiple gifts, something for yourself or your best friend, a custom order for your Gift Shop or an extra special gift for your Rabbi. For your home or your synagogue, personalized or just personal: Judaica by Beth Goldstein is always something special. More than a gift of art - it is a “gift of heart.” Bell’s House of Tobacco Looking for the largest variety of premium cigars, humidors, lighters and general cigar accessories in Cincinnati?
works hard to provide their customers with superior products and service. They offer a unique and personable experience, delivered by a knowledgeable, courteous staff. An excellent place for Hanukkah gifts for the cigar aficionado on your list, Bell’s is also perfect for the cigar and pipe “newbie”. With their passion for products and customer service, anyone looking to learn about the current and future trends in premium cigars and pipes will feel right at home. They take the time to find out exactly what you want or need in a cigar or pipe tobacco, and work with you to find the best fit for your tastes and budget. If you’re not quite sure what you are looking for, Bell’s accommodates people wanting to sample their wares. There is a private smoking lounge for guests to enjoy these fine tobaccos, filled with comfortable leather chairs and televisions, and there’s always some blues or jazz on the sound system. Great for holiday shopping, great for lounging...that’s Bell’s House of Tobacco. Elegant Treasures Established in 1999 by owner Karen L. Schiffer, Elegant Treasures, Custom Embroidery, LLC, has grown over the past decade from a small in-home business with one embroidery machine to a full-fledged company; increasing in number of machines and now including several staff members. In 2013, Elegant Treasures expanded, moving from Schiffer’s home to its own
GIFT GUIDE • 13
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
building in Sycamore Township. Judaica items (such as challah and matzah covers, kippot, tablecloths, placemats and table runners) and Israeli dance costumes were among the first items Schiffer designed. They offer several different Hebrew fonts for embroidery. Since then, Elegant Treasures’ assemblage has grown to include: apparel decoration, graphic design of business logos, specialized Bar and Bat Mitzvah gifts, custom embroidery design, screenprinting, and school spirit wear. In 2010, rhinestone and rhinestuds design were also added. The talented staff at Elegant Treasures have completed projects for a variety of companies both large and small under the skillful guidance of Schiffer, who has a background in screen printing, digitizing, and embroidery. It is her passion, as well as that of her staff, to see the unique ideas of her clients come to life through the services Elegant Treasures provides. The team is dedicated to providing quality products, excellence in customer service, and minimal turn around on projects. Schiffer is a member of the National Network of Embroidery Professionals and the Embroidery Trade Association. Gattle’s In 1904, German immigrant Henrietta Gattle began selling imported lace curtains door-todoor in Cincinnati. Customers then encouraged her to take her business to Petoskey, Michigan, where they all summered, and where she opened her first store in 1919. Henrietta's business began to flourish. A year later in 1920, she and her son, Otto, opened the first Cincinnati location, located downtown on West
Seventh Street. This downtown store later moved and expanded in size and stature, and is now located in Olde Montgomery on Cooper Road. As the market and demand changed, the Gattle's stores shifted focus to dining linens. The stores then began to evolve from exclusively selling dining linens to selling luxurious bedroom and bathroom linens as well. The Gattle's name soon became synonymous with fine linens assembled from around the world. The elegance of Gattle's has been experienced by Popes and presidents. Gattle's, known for the finest dining linens, now features elegant lines of fine bed and bath linens and accessories, home accents, intimate apparel, handkerchiefs, infant bedding and gifts. When third generation owner, Tom Gattle, eventually sold the Cincinnati and Petoskey businesses to family friends, the Cheney's, they continued to uphold the familyowned ideals and values.. For the past 25 years, the Cheney family has continued to uphold the store's reputation and tradition for comfort and excellence. Today's store incorporates the Gattle's old-time service commitment to the customer with the Cheney's quality touch for luxurious living. Kramer’s Sew and Vac For over 65 years, Kramer’s Sew and Vac has been serving the Cincinnati community. Located on Montgomery Road, in the Kroger shopping plaza, Kramer’s offers a wide array of products and services for those who love to sew, quilt, and embroider. Kramer’s carries a complete line of sewing furniture as well as stocks 40 different models and 9 brands of vacuums.
Every month they offer classes in all sorts of fabric crafts such as machine applique, zipper applications, making items like tote bags and basic sewing and embroidery techniques. Kramer’s is an authorized Bernina and Brother sewing machine repair center, and they repair and service most major brands of sewing machines and vacuums. Warranty work is done in-store, and trade-ins are always welcome. They also offer a sharpening service for knives, scissors, and pinking shears with one-day turnaround. Look for valuable coupons on their website to help you with your holiday shopping! Victoria Travel Vicky Mary, owner of Victoria Travel, has been all over the world; with her expertise and her staff’s combined 250 years of travel experience, you can be sure that Victoria Travel will plan the most wellplanned, highest-value trip for you, whether it’s a cruise, tour, or hotel. Their association with a consortium of independent travel agencies allows them to offer exclusive amenities, not available to other agencies. Vicky herself has travelled to hundreds of hotels in cities and villages all over the world, so her first-hand knowledge is the perfect tool for planning a tailored vacation or business trip. Her comprehensive knowledge of hotels, restaurants and things to see and do is what gives Victoria Travel a unique edge in the travel industry. From island getaways, to European tours, there is no trip that Vicky and her expert team can’t make magical.
14 • DINING OUT
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Stone Creek Dining Company: a special type of fine dining by Bob Wilhelmy Why is Stone Creek Dining Company a special place when it comes to really exquisitely prepared dishes? The answer is in the approach. The place features a perfect mix of fine-dine attributes on the food end, and casual I-like-this-place ambiance on the social and service side. Those two together, are hard to come by in fine-dine eateries. Plus, as GM Sarah Cunningham will tell you: “Everything is made to order.” The made to order feature is important to Jewish diners, because entrees, sandwiches and salads can be adjusted to meet dietary requirements. That is not always possible in many restaurants, fine-dine or not. For the record, I have tried ten or so entrée items on Stone Creek’s menu over the years, and they all rate a scrumptious “Wow!” on the Taste/Quality/Value index. Entrées are plated with fine-dining panache, dishes are inventive, inviting and tasty, and prices are comfortably moderate for fine dining fare. So Stone Creek gets an “A” on cuisine. Now, what about the service side of the operation? This is something of intangible territory here, but you’ll know what I mean when you visit Stone Creek. The “intangible” is a laidback, just-us-folks style that is just right: no pretense, no phonybaloney stuff at the service end. Just people intent on doing a good job for you, and knowing they have the good food to win your approval. Tom Cunningham, a principal of Montgomery’s Stone Creek location, put it this way: “Part of the reason people like to come here is because we aren’t pushy. We’re not trying to get every last dollar. We don’t think that way. If a customer wants a sandwich or a bowl of soup or an appetizer instead of an entrée, that’s fine with us. We’re trying to give them a good experience: great food and good value.” Stone Creek is one of only a few fine-dine eateries in our area offering continuous service throughout the day, from lunch to close. That’s especially advantageous to those of us with irregular schedules and business gettogethers in the middle of the afternoon. So what about that cuisine? A good gauge of taste and quality is the roasted chicken breast with baby carrots, Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, and a cabernet demi-glace. Another good option is the floro salmon, a generous cut of salmon grilled and placed
Head Chef, Chris Hendricks, in his kitchen.
The roasted chicken breast with baby carrots, Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, and a cabernet demi-glace.
upon sautéed spinach and caramelized onions, dotted with pine nuts, and seasoned with Valencia orange citrus vinaigrette. And a third dish is the braised short ribs of beef, coated in a tasty gravy, and set atop horseradish seasoned mashed potatoes, with sautéed green beans, trumpet mushrooms and a cabernet demiglace. Add to these entrée items a
complete appetizer section, a list of house and dinner salads, a pasta and a sandwich menu, and a combo menu section that allows you to build your own entrée with items such as blackened chicken breast, filet mignon, blackened mahi mahi, and numerous other selections, and it’s easy to see why patrons find a lot to like at Stone Creek. The bar at Stone Creek is a
floro salmon, a generous cut of salmon grilled and placed upon sautéed spinach and caramelized onions, dotted with pine nuts, and seasoned with Valencia orange citrus vinaigrette
large one, and draws a crowd around the end of the work day. Happy Hour extends all day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, when speciallypriced wine, 1/2-price martinis and specially-priced drafts are offered, respectively. Stone Creek hosts private parties, and features a separate party room for those functions. Those
interested may contact Ashley Schrier at the restaurant. See you as Stone Creek! Stone Creek Dining Company 9386 Montgomery Road 489-1444
DINING OUT • 15
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
RESTAURANT DIRECTORY 20 Brix
Izzy’s
Phoenician Taverna
101 Main St
800 Elm St • 721-4241
7944 Mason Montgomery Rd
Historic Milford
612 Main St • 241-6246
Mason
831-Brix (2749)
1198 Smiley Ave • 825-3888
770-0027
7625 Beechmont Ave • 231-5550 Ambar India Restaurant
4766 Red Bank Expy • 376-6008
350 Ludlow Ave
5098B Glencrossing Way • 347-9699
Cincinnati
8179 Princeton-Glendale • 942-7800
281-7000
300 Madison Ave • 859-292-0065
Pomodori’s 121West McMillan • 861-0080 7880 Remington Rd Montgomery • 794-0080
Andy’s Mediterranean Grille
7905 Mall Road • 859-525-2333
Slatt’s Pub
At Gilbert & Nassau
1965 Highland Pk. • 859-331-4999
4858 Cooper Rd
2 blocks North of Eden Park
Johnny Chan 2
281-9791
11296 Montgomery Rd
Blue Ash 791-2223 • 791-1381 (fax)
Asian Paradise
The Shops at Harper’s Point
Stone Creek Dining Co.
9521 Fields Ertel Rd
489-2388 • 489-3616 (fx)
9386 Montgomery Rd
Loveland
Kanak India Restaurant
239-8881
10040B Montgomery Rd
Baba India Restaurant
Montgomery
3120 Madison Rd
793-6800
Cincinnati
Marx Hot Bagels
321-1600
9701 Kenwood Rd
Bangkok Terrace
Blue Ash
4858 Hunt Rd
891-5542
Blue Ash
Mecklenburg Gardens
891-8900 • 834-8012 (fx)
302 E. University Ave
Cafe Mediterranean
Clifton
9525 Kenwood Rd
221-5353
Cincinnati
Mei Japanese Restaurant
745-9386
8608 Market Place Lane
Carlo & Johnny
Montgomery
9769 Montgomery Rd
891-6880
Cincinnati
Padrino
936-8600
111 Main St
Durum Grill
Milford
4764 Cornell Rd.
965-0100
489-4777
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7944 Mason Montgomery Rd. • Mason 513-770-0027
Montgomery • 489-1444 6200 Muhlhauser Rd West Chester • 942-2100 Tandoor 8702 Market Place Ln Montgomery 793-7484 Tony’s
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Parkers Blue Ash Tavern
Gutierrez Restaurante
4200 Cooper Rd
Mexican Grill
Blue Ash
1191 Montgomery Rd.
891-8300
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andyskabob.com • 513.281.9791
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16 • OPINION
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Anti-Semitism reality in Europe By Andrew Baker WASHINGTON (JNS) – The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has released its long-awaited survey of how European Jews perceive and experience anti-Semitism. The survey’s detailed information, based on the responses of nearly 6,000 Jews in eight countries that encompass 90 percent of the EU Jewish population, should dispel any suggestion that antiSemitism in Europe is not a serious problem or is somehow only based on alarmist or anecdotal evidence. Among the key findings: • European Jews express a high level of anxiety and uncertainty about the future. Well over 40 percent in France, Hungary, and Belgium say they have considered emigrating because of antiSemitism. • Jews are increasingly fearful of identifying themselves publicly. Thirtyeight percent will frequently or always avoid wearing or carrying something that will mark them as Jewish. • Twenty-three percent say they avoid attending Jewish events or visiting Jewish sites because they do not feel safe. • Almost half (46 percent) worry about becoming a victim of anti-Semitic harassment in the next 12 months. Of particular note is what the respondents think is the source of these anti-Semitic attacks and harassment. The largest number (40 percent) identifies “Muslim extremist views” as the motivating factor. An even greater percentage – which rises to 73 percent in France – fingers this same group as responsible for negative statements about Jews. Until now, these European countries have largely been in denial. In some cases, national law or tradition may prevent them from collecting data based on religion or ethnicity. Or they may impose their own constraints, fearing that identifying the primary perpetrators might further exacerbate tensions with Muslim minorities that are themselves victims of prejudice and discrimination. Some officials go so far as to suggest that this is a problem between two minorities – ”inter-communal tensions” is the term one French Interior Ministry official described to me – even though there is no evidence of any Jewish attack on Muslims. But without a clear-headed recognition of the source of the problem, it is hard to believe that governments will be able to address it effectively. And in the meantime, their apparent indifference adds to the anxiety and uncertainty of their Jewish citizens. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition that anti-Zionist or anti-Israel animus can also be a form of anti-Semitism. This was first noted in a working definition of antiSemitism drafted by FRA’s predeces-
sor in 2005, although it still evokes controversy. But the new survey should put this debate to rest. Alongside the traditional tropes of Holocaust denial and excessive Jewish power that respondents cite as among the primary anti-Semitic charges they face, we now find the statement that Israelis “behave like Nazis.” Nor should one think that negative views of Israel have no direct impact on European Jewry. Forty-four percent of those surveyed say they are always or frequently blamed for something done by the Israeli government. The FRA survey also asked about a possible ban on ritual circumcision, and 76 percent said it would create a problem for them and their community. When the question was first posed, it may have seemed largely academic, since European Jews have been practicing this age-old commandment largely without hindrance for centuries. But in recent months, a Council of Europe resolution equated the tradition with female genital mutilation, and a number of EU states have begun action to impose restrictions on the practice. In some countries, such as Sweden, Jewish communities – and Muslims who also perform the ritual – accepted conditions and limitations as the price of maintaining its legality, but now face new calls to prohibit it altogether. Although widely practiced in America, circumcision is far less common across the Atlantic, where critics describe it as a barbaric practice that violates the rights of children. In an increasingly secular Europe that already shows limited regard for religion, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric has become a staple of the public discussion. A ban on circumcision, a basic practice of Judaism, would by itself pose a serious threat to the future of Jewish life in Europe. Yet even as the FRA survey documents this increase in anti-Semitism, it also shows how few victims report what they have encountered to the authorities. Barely a third report incidents of physical violence, and only a quarter report incidents of harassment to the police or to any organization. Regrettably, most victims say they don’t believe such reports would accomplish anything. Yet this underreporting has undoubtedly served to limit public perception of the problem and postpone public debate on how to address it. The FRA report clearly demonstrates that anti-Semitism affects the daily lives of European Jews. Now, European governments must step forward and act. Rabbi Andrew Baker is the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Director of International Jewish Affairs and serves as the Personal Representative on Combating AntiSemitism for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Do you have something to say? E-mail your letter to editor@americanisraelite.com
To the Editor: American Jewish Committee welcomes the German government’s decision to set up a task force to investigate the circumstances surrounding the recent discovery in Munich of more than 1400 artworks looted by the Nazis. The task force is a first step, which will need resources. Until now, only one art historian was
investigating the sources of the artworks. The German government should add the pieces found in Munich to its looted art website, so that the rightful owners can make claims to recover what they lost to the Nazis. Deidre Berger, director of American Jewish Committee’s office in Berlin, has called on the German government to review all existing laws on art restitution.
She says, “It is a disgrace that laws are still in existence that justify injustice. Undertaking this review would be the right signal to send, given the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht.” Sincerely, Rick Michelman President, American Jewish Committee, Cincinnati Regional Office
Jews have special reasons to remember JFK on the 50th anniversary of his assassination By Ira Stoll (JTA) – As the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination approaches, we Jews have our own special reasons to mourn. The conventional community memory of Kennedy would be enough by itself. JFK overcame the legacy of his father, President Franklin Roosevelt’s notoriously appeasement-minded ambassador to Britain on the eve of World War II, Joseph Kennedy, to build a warm relationship with American Jews. As Warren Bass recounted a decade ago in his book “Support Any Friend,” the U.S.-Israel alliance advanced significantly with JFK’s approval of the sale of HAWK – short for Homing All the Way Killer – missiles to Israel. President Kennedy appointed Arthur Goldberg as labor secretary and then to the Supreme Court, Abraham Ribicoff as secretary of health, education and welfare, and Mortimer Caplin as internal revenue commissioner. Even a strangely large number of the gentiles in his administration had Jewish roots: Speechwriter Ted Sorensen was a self-described “Danish Russian Jewish Unitarian,” while Treasury secretary Douglas Dillon and White House aide Arthur Schlesinger Jr. both had Jewish immigrant grandfathers. In the closing days of the 1960 campaign, Kennedy held separate rallies in New York’s garment district with David Dubinsky’s International Ladies’Garment Workers’Union and with the rival Amalgamated Clothing Workers, which also was heavily Jewish. In conducting research for my new book, “JFK, Conservative,” I came across two lesser-known pieces of evidence that shed new light on Kennedy’s positive views about the American Jewish community and the warmth of his relationship with it. The first was a tape recording of a meeting between Kennedy and
American civil rights leaders following the March on Washington in 1963. The Oval Office recording system became famous under Nixon, but it was active in the Kennedy years as well, and it captured some fascinating interactions. With the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the White House following his “I Have a Dream Speech,” Kennedy launched into a discussion not of the need for federal civil rights legislation, but rather of what blacks could do to help themselves. “Now, isn’t it possible for the Negro community to take the lead in committing major emphasis upon the responsibility of these families, even if they’re split and all the rest of the problems they have, on educating their children?” Kennedy asked/lectured. “Now, in my opinion, the Jewish community, which suffered a good deal under discrimination, and what a great effort they made, which I think has made their role influential, was in education: education of their children. And therefore they’ve been able to establish a pretty strong position for themselves.” Kennedy added, “With all the influence that all you gentlemen have in the Negro community … [you] really have to concentrate on what I think the Jewish community has done on educating their children, on making them stay in school, and all the rest.” For blacks, the president’s advice might have been good, patronizing, beside the point or all of the above. But for Jews, it encapsulated the way Kennedy admired them and saw them as a success story of American immigrant upward mobility. An example of that trajectory was the Jewish attorney Lewis Weinstein, who built a close relationship with Kennedy and is the source of the second piece of evidence. Weinstein had been born in Lithuania in 1905. He had come to America when he was 15 months old, graduated from Harvard and its law school, served in the army on
Eisenhower’s staff during World War II, and had returned to become a partner at the Boston law firm of Foley, Hoag, and Eliot. One day in the summer of 1946, Weinstein’s partner Thomas Eliot, whose grandfather Charles had been president of Harvard, walked into Weinstein’s office and said, “Lou, meet Jack Kennedy.” From this classic Boston political moment – the Brahmin lawyer introducing the Irish Catholic politician to a Jewish partner who could help him raise campaign contributions – an enduring relationship began. The relationship came into play later when the plight of Soviet Jewry was starting to emerge as a concern for American Jews. And this particular anecdote is at least a partial corrective to the claim in Gal Beckerman’s well-received 2010 history “When They Come for Us We’ll Be Gone” that Soviet Jewry “was an issue that John F. Kennedy ignored.” It is true that American Jewish organizations were rebuffed when they tried the usual route – having friendly members of Congress contact the State Department. The assistant secretary of state for congressional relations, Frederick Dutton, sent Senator Keating of New York a long letter acknowledging that Russian synagogues had been closed and Jewish cemeteries desecrated as part of “the long-term Soviet campaign against religion generally,” but fretting that the American government could not do much about it. “It is doubtful if further protestations would be helpful to the Jews in the Soviet Union,” the letter concluded. But that was not the end of the story. Weinstein, as he later recounted in a little-noticed 1985 article for the journal American Jewish History, went to Robert Kennedy and succeeded in having a mention of the Soviet closing of synagogues included in President Kennedy’s September 1963 speech to the United Nations JFK on page 19
JEWISH LIFE • 17
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
incipient tribes of Israel. Joseph first dreams of sheaves of grain, symbolic of the earthly, material blessings. In his dream, Joseph’s brothers’ sheaves were all bowing down to his sheaf; he then dreamed of the sun, moon and eleven stars, symbolic of the heavenly, spiritual blessings, and that they too were all bowing down to him. To be sure, he has internalized the familial narrative and the Abrahamic vision. Both the physical and supernal realm find their place in his dreams with the faith that success in both will enable the family representative (ultimately the Messiah) to bring the combined two blessings to the entire world, indeed to the cosmos. Jacob is duly impressed with Joseph’s grasp of the family mission as well as the preciousness of Joseph’s ambition. He is aware of the touch of hubris in his dreams, and probably blames it on immaturity (Joseph is only seventeen years old). Apparently, Jacob still feels he has made the right choice. The brothers are furious. Undoubtedly, their anger is fueled by their jealousy, but they certainly took note of three most disturbing factors in Joseph’s dreams. First of all, Joseph dreams of the earthly part of the mission involved in agriculture (sheaves of grain). This represented the all-consuming back-breaking occupation of powerful, pagan and sophisticated Egypt, rather than their ancestral, nurturing and meditative profession of shepherding, so indigenous to the Land of Israel. Second, God does not appear in Joseph’s dreams at all; and third, everyone and everything is bowing down to Joseph. For the brothers, this would be blasphemy, totally unbefitting the heir to the Abrahamic legacy. From this point onwards, much intrigue, deception, exile and eventual rapprochement will take place in the search for the most worthy bearer of the familial heritage. But, above all, the most important challenge facing the entire family – Jacob as well as his sons and future tribes – is to unite behind one person (or perhaps two, as we shall see) to continue the sacred mission. Indeed, the entire Book of Genesis has as its major theme, the continuation of Abraham’s vision and necessity of his descendants to remain united as one peoplehood of
Israel under the God of ethical monotheism. The enormous lesson of this commentary is that a Jewish leader must be not only a “continuator” and a unifier, but also a dreamer. He must dream the dream of Abraham and Jacob, the dream of bringing God’s message of love, morality and peace to all of humanity. Joseph will mature, he will come to see God as the center of the Universe and he will even teach this vision to the Pharaoh of Egypt. When Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream, he insists, “It has nothing to do with me; God will respond in order to provide well-bring to Pharaoh” (Gen. 41:16). And with his dying breath, Joseph makes his brothers swear that when God returns them to Israel, they will bring his remains to be interred in the sacred and eternal land. In the final analysis, what kept Joseph staunchly standing on his feet despite his many setbacks and peregrinations was his commitment to the fulfillment of the familial dream. Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi – Efrat Israel
LITTLE KNOWN CINCINNATI FACTS What former owner of the Cincinnati Reds is interred in JCGC’s Clifton cemetery? Sidney Weil bought the Cincinnati Reds from C. J. McDiarmid in 1929 and, due to bad economic times, he was forced to sell the team to Powell Crosley in 1933. Weil owned a Ford dealership and Cincinnati’s first multi-level garage, but he lost these assets, as well as the Reds. He went on to a successful second career in the life insurance business. At the time of his death in a tragic car accident in 1966, Bill Veeck, Jr., baseball owner and promoter, wrote of him, “He excelled in kindness, piety, thoughtfulness, generosity, humility, intelligence and courage.” This quiz provided by Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati.
T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: VAYESHEV (BRAISHITH 37—40) 1. Where did the brothers sell Joseph? a.) Chevron b.) Beit El c.) Dothan 2. What did the Ishmaelites do? a.) Bought Joseph from his brothers b.) Shear wool with Yehuda c.) Were together with Joseph in prison 3. Why did the brothers dip Joseph's coat in blood? a.) Form of sacrifice b.) To cover up their sale of Joseph another to deliver to avoid detection. 4. C 39:7 Joseph refused even though she was the wife of his master, and she spoke in a brazen way towards him. Ramban A 38:17
EFRAT, Israel: “They said to one another, ‘Here comes that dreamer! Come, now, let us murder him and throw him into one of the pits…’” (Gen. 37:19). “We are such stuff as dreams are made of.” (Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 4, Scene1) From our Biblical portion of VaYeshev until the conclusion of the Book of Genesis, Joseph, most beloved and favored son of Jacob, takes center stage. His chief characteristic is that he is a dreamer, a trait which attracts both devotees and detractors. Indeed, Joseph can hardly wait to relate to his family these dreams in which he plays the central role. They engender deep jealousy in the hearts of his brothers – a jealousy which is so consuming that they are ready to murder him – whereas, his father took the dreams very seriously and anxiously awaited their fulfillment. (Gen. 37:11, Rashi ad loc.). Let us analyze the dreams in order to understand their “genesis” within Joseph and the reason for the strong feelings they incurred in the people around him. The reader will remember that sources as diverse as our sacred Bible, the Talmud (especially B.T. Berakhot, chapter 9), William Shakespeare, Sigmund Freud, and the world of psychoanalysis all have enormous respect for dreams. They are an important key to the mind and personality of the dreamer. Two Biblical portions ago, we were told of Father Jacob’s dream, “a ladder established on earth whose top reached up to the heavens, with angels of God ascending and descending upon it” (Gen. 28:12). Jacob dreams of uniting earth and heaven, the material and the spiritual, the physical realm with the supernal realm. God is at the center of the dream, Jacob’s descendants will spread out in every direction to bring the Abrahamic blessing (of compassionate righteousness and moral justice) to all the families of the earth, and Jacob himself will ultimately return to the land of Israel (ibid, 1316). Now we see the two dreams of Joseph – the darling son of Jacob, who received not only his father’s almost exclusive love, but also the special tunic of striped colors – which sent him the clear message that he was the chosen, the heir apparent, and the future leader of the
The enormous lesson of this commentary is that a Jewish leader must be not only a “continuator” and a unifier, but also a dreamer.
c.) To add more color to it 4. Who tempted Joseph to sin? a.) Pharoah b.) Potifar c.) Potifar's wife 5. Why did Yehuda give to Tamar his staff and signet? a.) Security for payment b.) She kept his affairs in order c.) Sign of his rule
2. A 37:28 Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites, who then sold him to the Medanim, and finally in Egypt. Rashi 3. B 37:31 The brothers tried to conceal what happened from their father by dipping the Joseph's coat in blood. They sent the coat to
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT VAYESHEV GENESIS 37:1 - 40:23
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
ANSWERS 1. C 37:17 Jacob instructed Joseph to go to Shchem to find his brothers. A “man” told Joseph he heard that his brothers were going to Dothan. Joseph went beyond his father's instructions to go on to Dothan. Sforno
Sedra of the Week
18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
JEWZ
IN THE
By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist At the Movies/On HBO The 2012 film, “Hunger Games,” the first in a planned trilogy of films from the bestselling novels of the same name, was a mega box-office hit and critical success. The sequel, “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” opens soon. Again the setting is a dystopian future where a small elite rule over a wrecked North America and force young people to fight for their lives in arena games. Lead character Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), barely survived the arena in the first film. This time she fights in a match rigged by the elite to end her life. ELIZABETH BANKS, 39, returns as Katniss’s chaperone, Elsie; with LYNN COHEN, 69, playing Mags, a new ally of Katniss. Cohen, who played Magda, Miranda’s nanny on “Sex and the City,” and GOLDA MEIR in STEVEN SPIELBERG’s film, “Munich,” lived in St. Louis for many years, where she directed plays at the city’s JCC. SARAH SILVERMAN has a new upcoming comedy special on HBO, “Sarah Silverman: We are Miracles.” The special finds Silverman, 42, on stage at a very small club, making funny observations and singing comic songs. She accompanies herself on guitar. The next evening, a new sixpart comedy series, “Getting On,” starts on HBO. It follows the lives of an overworked medical staff trying to tend to patients at a rundown geriatric hospital. ALEX BORSTEIN, 40 (“MadTV”), co-stars as Nurse Dawn, a woman who wants to excel in her job, but is sidetracked by things like her obsession to find a boyfriend. Kennedy and Lincoln It seems as though these two “martyr” Presidents will always be linked in many ways, even if some linkages are just coincidental. Nov. 19, 2013 marked the 150th anniversary of Lincoln giving his Gettysburg Address. Nov. 22 is the 50th anniversary of JFK’s death. Famous documentary maker Ken Burns (“The Civil War”) asked a number of celebrities to recite the Gettysburg Address on video and posted those videos on the Internet. 53 famous person recitations are on the site, including all the living American Presidents, and a “minyan of sorts” of tribe members: CNN anchor WOLF BLITZER, 65; Civil War-era historian ERIC FONER, 70; former Congresswoman GABBIE GIF-
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FORDS, 43; “Meet the Press” host DAVID GREGORY, 43; Lincoln scholar HAROLD HOLZER, 64; PETER J. RUBINSTEIN, 79, the Senior Rabbi at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue; JERRY SEINFELD, 59; STEVEN SPIELBERG, 66; Florida Congresswoman DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, 47; and NPR legal correspondent NINA TOTENBERG, 69. Holzer, a major credited source for Spielberg’s film “Lincoln,” has often given a great lecture at synagogues and universities about Lincoln’s relationship to Jews. A short essay version of that lecture (“Lincoln and the Jews”) can be found on a comprehensive website called “Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln’s City: 1861-65” (i.e. Washington, D.C.). Here is one touching excerpt about the Jewish reaction to Lincoln’s death: “At Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan the mourners’ Kaddish was recited for the first time in memory of a non-Jew, inspiring a protest from some outraged Orthodox Jews but praise from most congregants. If Lincoln could break precedent by opening up the army to Jewish chaplaincy, then synagogues could say Kaddish for their gentile champion. Even in the South, Jewish leaders acknowledged a special bond between Lincoln and the Jews and a special sorrow at his loss. It was attributable mainly to Lincoln’s acts of compassion and justice, but perhaps, also, to the fact that his religious beliefs seemed so universal.” Decades ago, author Jodie Elliott Hansen started asking famous people and regular folk to send her a letter about their whereabouts when JFK was killed and their immediate reaction. A selection of those letters has just been published under the title, “November 22, 1963.” A number of the responses came from Jewish celebs, including one from the late, great actor WALTER MATTHAU, which encapsulated, for me, the shock and despair JFK’s death provoked. Matthau wrote: “A friend of mine called with the news that President Kennedy had been shot. I turned on the TV set and just stared at it until the news came that he was dead. A friend showed up at the house and we drank 3 quarts of 100 proof vodka in the next six hours and I don’t drink.”
FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO
75 Y EARS A GO
Look out for the original novel, “Rudolph Morgenstein,” from the pen of the junior editor of the Israelie, of which the first chapter will appear in the first January number. Gentlemen who wish to possess the whole novel, should subscribe at once for the Israelite. Benjamin D. Gans, druggist and apothecary, at the N.W. Corner of Fourth & Race Streets, havng purchased the stock of Wm. Snyder, will continue the business at the old stand, hoping by industry and attention to merit a continuance of the patronage formely bestowed. My friends and the public at large may rest assured that the most particular care will be paid to the compounding of physician’s prescriptions. I direct particular attention, especially of the ladies, to any new and wellassorted stock of fancy goods, toilets, perfumery, etc., together with all articles generally to be found in a drug store – December 18, 1863
Dr. Joseph A. Freiberg has been appointed to succeed his father, Dr. Albert H. Freiberg, as head of the department of orthopedic surgery, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Okrent announced the marriage of their daughter, Miriam, to Mr. Theodor I. Weiss, of Hamilton, OH, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Weiss of Oberlin, OH. Sunday evening, November 20th. Rabbi Louis J. Feinberg officiated. The Jewish Center announces a training class for Club Leaders under Daniel D. Rosenthal, Activities Director of the Center. The classes will be held every Wednesday at 8pm. The course will include the following phases of club leadership: Sociology of the Club Leader; Psychology of Adolescence; Club Programming; Parliamentary Procedures; History of the Jewish Center movement; History of the Jews in America; and other related topics. – Novmeber 24, 1938
125 Y EARS A GO The annual Chanukah festival of the Talmud Yelodim Institute will take place on Sunday, December 2nd at the Plum Street Temple. Services will be held in the Temple at 4:00pm, to which all are cordially invited. A feast and entertainment for the children only will be held afterward in the vestry rooms. The Phoenix will give a Thanksgiving performance of a twoact comedy, “Nur Aus Liebe.” The Misses Fechheimer, Loeb, Mayer, and Seasongood and the Messrs. Taorner, Stix, Friedlander and Bloom are in the cast. – November 23, 1888
100 Y EARS A GO The Jewish Ladies’ Sewing Society opened the winter sessions on Monday afternoon most auspiciously. There was a very large attendance and the officers gave a surprise in the form of a musicale. Mrs. Allen Davis arranged the program in a very able manner and Mrs. Henry Moses sang very delightfully as also did Mrs. Beitman. Miss Knox, a student of the Conservatory of Music and quite a young girl, gave a violin solo which was much enjoyed. The accompanists were Miss Plaut, Mrs. Albert Straus and Miss Ellis. Coffee was served and with a good deal of sewing done, the ladies went away with the feeling of having spent an afternoon well. Dr. Grossman will address the students of Hebrew Union College at the meeting of the Literary Society next Friday evening in the Chapel of the Hebrew Union College. His subject will be “Medicine Among the Jews”. – November 20, 1913
50 Y EARS A GO Dr. and Mrs. Stanley Elfenbaum (Miriam Reitman) announce the birth of a son, Michael Lee, Sunday, Octobre 27. The infant has a brother, Marc Noah. The paternal grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. N.N. Elfenbaum. The maternal grandparents are the late Mr. and Mrs. Max Reitman of Detroit. Mrs. Manuel D. Mayerson is arrangements chairman for the fourth Diplomat’s Ball, Mr. and Mrs. James L. Magrish, general chairman, announced. It is sponsored by the Cincinnati Committee State of Israel Bonds. Four Roselawn younsters staged a carnival, netting $29.75 for the Hamilton County Unit of the American Cancer Society. Taking part were Karen Gilgoff, Wendy Prager, Kathleen Murray, and Cynthia Osky, all of Pelham place. – November 21, 1963
25 Y EARS A GO Harold and Fay (Boymel) Sosna announce the birth of a son, Jordan Matthew, Nov. 11. Jordan has two brothers, Robbie and Jefrey, and a sister, Jennifer. Maternal grandparents are Sam and Rachel Boymel. Paternal grandparents are Jack and Marcia Sosna of Montreal, Canada. “We are delighted that Mona Kerstine and Sue Platt have agreed to chair the opening dinner of the 1989 Jewish Federation Campaign,” said general campaign co-charimen, Franklyn Harkavy and Jerome S. Teller. “Both Mona and Sue are extremely capable and the community is assured of a spectacular evening under their leadership.”
The dinner will be held on Sunday, Jan. 8, at Adath Israel Synagogue. Alan King will be the featured guest entertainer. “This is an honor and a joy for us, “ said Kerstine and Platt. “This dinner signals the official opening of the 1989 campaign and the entire Jewish community will be invited to participate.” Penny Friedman, a member of Rockdale Temple and its Sisterhood, has assumed the presidency of the Family Service of the Cincinnati Area board of trustees. Friedman is an attorney and a member of the Real Estate Group at Bartlett & Co. She succeeds Betty D. Goldsmith in the presidency. Friedman is married to Daniel J. Hoffheimer and they have three children. In addition to her involvement with the board, she is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Council of Jewish Women, a member of the board of Local Initiative Support Corp., and vice president of the Leadership Cincinnati Alumni Association. – December 1, 1988
10 Y EARS A GO The Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Center unanimously voted at its November meeting to name Rosalyn Kaplan the JCC executive director. Kaplan has served as JCC interim executive director since June 2001. “Roz has demonstrated great competence in effectively leading the JCC during some very difficult circumstancse,” said JCC President Scott Wolf. Wolf said that under Kaplan’s leadership, the JCC remains a financially sound agency with a broad range of programming that successfully attracts participants f all ages. Wolf also cited the smooth move to the center’s current Montgomery Road location and the “professional and productive manner” in which the center’s staff manages daily operations. Echoing Wolf’s statements, JCC board member Howard Brecher said Kaplan and her staff are operation as “an efficient, effective team.” Kaplan joined the JCC of Cincinnati staff in 2000 with 20 years of professional experience in servcies for senior adults. She served as director of center oerations for Senior Citizens, Inc. in Nashville, TN, where she managed the programs and services of four Senior Centers and four branches. She has been an instructor in Gerontology in Flint, MI, as well as director of senior adult programs for the JCC of St. Louis. She holds a Master’s in public administration, and certificiate in gerontology from Wayne State University. – November 27, 2003
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY / CLASSIFIEDS • 19
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
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PARAMEDIC from page 10 is time, and more time lost is more blood lost,” she says. Injured in her arms and legs from shards resulting from the terrorist gunfire, Bagdalov returned to work just three days after leaving the hospital. There was no time to be traumatized, she recalls. “If I was sitting in my home and I had time to think about this, I think I would have never come back to my job. In Israel, you don’t know when you will need this [emergency response] knowledge, this practice. It’s our reality,” she says, citing the threats the Jewish state faces from its neighbors. Bagdalov also came away from the incident with a greater appreciation for life. A bullet had hit the shoulder of a man sitting next to her on the bus, missing her neck by what she estimates to be five centimeters. “The feeling was that I almost lost my life, so you understand that life can be taken from you like this, in one second,” she
(513) 703-3343 • myshalomfamily.org The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education (513) 487-3055 • holocaustandhumanity.org Vaad Hoier (513) 731-4671 Workum Fund (513) 899-1836 • workum.org YPs at the JCC (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org CONGREGATIONS CONGREGATIONS Adath Israel Congregation (513) 793-1800 • adath-israel.org Beit Chaverim (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Beth Israel Congregation (513) 868-2049 • bethisraelcongregation.net B’nai Tikvah Chavurah (513) 284-5845 • rabbibruce.com Congregation Beth Adam (513) 985-0400 • bethadam.org Congregation B’nai Tzedek (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Congregation Ohav Shalom (513) 489-3399 • ohavshalom.org Congregation Ohr Chadash (513) 252-7267 • ohrchadashcincinnati.com Congregation Sha’arei Torah shaareitorahcincy.org Congregation Zichron Eliezer 513-631-4900 • czecincinnati.org Golf Manor Synagogue (513) 531-6654 • golfmanorsynagogue.org Isaac M. Wise Temple (513) 793-2556 • wisetemple.org Kehilas B’nai Israel (513) 761-0769 Northern Hills Synagogue (513) 931-6038 • nhs-cba.org Rockdale Temple (513) 891-9900 • rockdaletemple.org Temple Beth Shalom (513) 422-8313 • tbsohio.org Temple Sholom (513) 791-1330 • templesholom.net The Valley Temple (513) 761-3555 • valleytemple.com EDUCA EDUCATION Chai Tots Early Childhood Center (513) 234.0600 • chaitots.com
says. Born in Russia, Bagdalov’s family made aliyah when she was a year old. At 15, she began volunteering for Magen David Adom-Israel’s national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance, and blood bank servicewhich proved a precursor to her work as an IDF paramedic and then a trainer of paramedics. “I was [at Magen David Adom] day and night, and in the army I just wanted to do more, learn more,” she says. Bagdalov says every day in the IDF provides a new experience. “Every time I do something, it’s something new, it’s never the same in my job,” she says. “I was a medic once, and after that, I started to be a combat medic, and then a commander of the medics course. It’s always something new.” With her required IDF service ending in March 2014, Bagdalov is currently unsure of the next step in her life, including the question of whether or not she will remain in the army. Yet she
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says the August 2011 terrorist attack taught her to believe in her destiny, whatever it may be. She says she was not supposed to be on that bus, or working on the Uvda Airbase-she had preferred to be stationed near her home in Tel Aviv. But she believes her destiny dictated otherwise, leading to her efforts on the ambushed bus. “I know that all people have some mission in this world, and if I will need to stay in the army, I will know that,” she says. Bagdalov says she had “a great passion and pride” about representing the IDF in Los Angeles last month. She appreciated the chance to witness American Jewish support for the IDF firsthand, given that the IDF and Israel don’t always “get a lot of love around us in the other countries.” “Moments like this make you understand that you can’t leave the army,” she says. “We don’t have another country, so we need to do what we can to save this little piece of ground.”
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business@ americanisraelite.com or call 513-621-3145 GRAPPLING from page 10 Silverman lamented the high cost of Jewish education and called for Jewish preschool to be free, as well as for a major expansion of the Jewish summer camp network. Federations, Silverman said, need to do a better job of engaging the “low-hanging branches” of alumni from large programs like the free 10-day Birthright trip to Israel. He recommended establishing a one-on-one mentoring program between community leaders and young Jews. Silverman also advocated making better use of technology and announced plans for the creation of an encyclopedic website within a year to share communal best practices and pool data. He reiterated his call for Birthright to make more of its data available to communities nationwide, a process that Birthright says was already underway. “Half of our young population has been exposed to Israel and yet we don’t follow up,” Silverman said Monday. “We could change the face of Jewish communal life one relationship at a time.” Siegal called for the creation of “Jewish development zones” where large communities each would have a summer camp, high-quality Jewish day schools, increased youth programming and leadership trainJFK from page 16 General Assembly. Weinstein persuaded the president to have Averell Harriman raise the matter with Khrushchev during a Harriman’s negotiating mission to Moscow on arms control. And in a White House meeting with President Kennedy in November 1963, Weinstein, who was soon to take over as chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, launched into a plea on the issue. “You know, it’s getting pretty bad,” Weinstein said. “There are murder trials going on. They call them economic trials, but the defendant is always a Jew. He’s charged with black market [trading] or something else like that, he’s always convicted and executed. They’re murder trials, in which the defendant is murdered and not the murderer.”
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(513) 531-9600 ing opportunities. Panel sessions preceding the G.A. focused less on policy solutions and more on what principles should guide the Jewish community in responding to a lack of communal connection among young Jews. A two-day summit on formulating a plan to strengthen the connection between Israel and Diaspora Jewish communities ahead of the G.A. emphasized the value of immersive experiences for North American Jews in Israel and with Israelis. “The Jewish identity of Jews around the world has weakened,” the director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office, Harel Locker, said at the summit’s opening session. “This shift is opening a gap between the Jews of the Diaspora and Israel, especially among the younger generation.” Speaking Sunday at a Global Jewish Peoplehood Roundtable sponsored by the UJA-Federation of New York, Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies Executive Vice President Gil Preuss said that federations should focus on giving young Jews meaningful, substantive Jewish experiences instead of aiming to attract the maximum number of participants to programs. “What does it mean to be Jewish, to be part of the Jewish people?” he said. “If you focus on content, you’ll get numbers.” Weinstein told Kennedy that Soviet authorities had closed the gates, slowing the flow of Jewish refugees out of Russia to a trickle. And he said no American president had intervened with the Russian authorities on behalf of the Jews since President Theodore Roosevelt had protested to Czar Nicholas II after the Kishinev massacre. Kennedy replied: “Well, here’s one president who’s ready to do something.” Kennedy told Weinstein to organize a conference in Washington about the Soviet Jewry issue. The president told Weinstein to schedule the meeting for sometime soon after Kennedy returned from an upcoming political trip to Dallas. Ira Stoll is the author of “JFK, Conservative.” He was managing editor of the Forward and North American editor of The Jerusalem Post.
20 • TRAVEL
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Lexington, Kentucky: bluegrass and bibelots Wandering Jew
by Janet Steinberg Lexington is horses and heritage, mansions and museums, blue grass and bibelots, and a pizzeria/restaurant housed in what was once the first Jewish synagogue in Lexington. Following a 4-hour drive from Lake Tellico in Vonore, Tennessee, we couldn’t wait to plop down on the inviting four-poster bed in Lexington’s historic boutique hotel, The Gratz Park Inn. The Gratz Park Inn exemplifies the Southern grace and charm for which Lexington is known. Nestled in the heart of downtown’s historic district, the Inn was built in 1919 as a medical office. In 1987 it was renovated to become a luxury hotel. Gratz Park Inn, and the nearby Gratz Park, are named after the late Benjamin Gratz (1792-1884), a graduate lawyer and the youngest of 12 children born in Philadelphia to Jewish merchant Michael and Miriam Gratz. He headed a prominent manufacturing business and is buried, along with his good friend Henry Clay, in the Lexington Cemetery. Gratz’s historic 1806 home (which he purchased in 1824) still stands at 231 North Mill Street. Several other historic homes such as the Mary Todd Lincoln House, Waveland Mansion, and the HuntMorgan home, are among Lexington’s other interesting attractions. If you are strolling the 100 block of West Main Street, you will find two big brown eyes staring at you. The 1913 Skuller’s clock, a Lexington landmark, debuted 100 years ago in front of Harry Skuller’s jewelry store. The eyes were an advertisement for an optometrist CULTURE from page 7 rights advocate, was produced with the film center’s assistance and will screen at the Boston festival on Nov. 17. “By any yardstick, we would say that most of these festivals are really quite successful,” Rivo said. The Boston festival was inspired by the one in San Francisco, which is regarded as the country’s first Jewish film festival. Goldman attended the San Francisco event in the 1980s, and the experience inspired her to make a film about klezmer music, “A
who was associated with the jewelry store. After years of disrepair, the clock was restored and reinstalled on September 17, 2013 by the Verdin Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio. Two of my longtime favorite places to visit in Lexington are the Headley Whitney Museum and the Kentucky Horse Park. The Headley Whitney Museum – whose purpose was to stimulate the imagination, arouse lofty emotions, and invite the mind from its toil among realities to the realm of the ideal – is the shining jewel in Lexington’s crown. Founded on La Belle Farm in 1968, the museum’s Jewel Room houses one of the world’s best contemporary collections of bibelots. The bibelot, from the French word brought into the English language in the 1880s, is a small object whose value lies in its beauty or rarity. It is a fantasy fashioned from jewels and is typically without a purpose. In the 20th century a blithe-spirited George W. Headley brought a fresh and lively talent to an old tradition. Today’s Jewel Room showcases George Headley’s collection of jewelry, bibelots, and mounted semiprecious stones. Four of George Headley’s rare pieces of art that reside on permanent display at the Headley-Whitney Museum include: • The Bird Cage: Turquoise, gold, lapis lazuli, sapphires, and diamonds • The Goddess Flora: Antique Venetian malachite figure, gold, diamonds, sapphires, and enamel. • The Lion: Jade, obsidian, lapis lazuli, gold, diamonds, and rubies. • Turtles on Coral: shells, coral, diamonds, and gold. The Headley Whitney Museum’s Doll House collection was created for Cornelia Whitney, daughter of Marylou and Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney. The four dollhouses are replicas of buildings on the estate. They include the Main House, Guest House, Artist Studio, and the Atrium (with swimming pool). The Atrium is decorated as it was for a C. V. Whitney Derby Day party. The dollhouses are authentic down to the smallest detail... the books in the library actually are
printed… there is a small diamond ring on a dresser… the silver on the dining room table is actually sterling silver… the Aubusson carpets are reproduced in petit point and there is food in the kitchen cupboards. In 1973, George W. Headley transformed a three-car garage on the estate into a shell grotto. The Shell Grotto is currently closed pending restoration but you can peek in the windows and get a glimpse of the shell mosaics on the ceiling, the chandelier and furnishings all constructed from shells. At the Kentucky Horse Park, Herbert Haseltine’s larger-than-life statue of Man O’ War awes visitors as they enter the park. Reinterred beneath the bronze statue of “Big Red” are the remains of this legendary racehorse. The only park of its kind in the world, the Kentucky Horse Park is a working horse farm, an educational theme park, and an equine competition facility dedicated to man’s relationship with the horse. In the Big Barn, one of the largest wooden structures in North America, I got up close and personal with some of the gentle giants that reside within. I petted Jace, watched farrier John giving him a new pair of metal shoes, and observed Elisha
blow-drying the feathers on the legs of Clydesdale Lou in the barn’s “beauty shop.” My visit also included seeing two adorable miniature horses, a rare albino horse, watching dressage practice, and enjoying the color, sound, and excitement of the Horses of the World Show. One more thing! I guarantee you won’t leave Lexington hungry. From delicious down-home grub to divine French cuisine, I found it all in the Bluegrass state’s second largest city. It may not have been breakfast at Tiffany’s but it was breakfast at Shakespeare & Company. This new kid on Lexington’s restaurant block melds Middle Eastern eats and decor with Bluegrass comfort food. Lunch was a hoot in a former synagogue now known as Joe Bologna’s Restaurant and Pizzeria. Housed in an 1891 building, Bologna’s old and unique history has afforded it a listing on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1891, at a cost of $7000, the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Lexington erected and dedicated the Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church. It was hailed as a “handsome brick church, trimmed in stone, lighted by gas, heated by a furnace, and furnished
Jumpin’ Night in the Garden of Eden.” With support from the philanthropist Norton Sherman, Goldman screened two classic Yiddish films at Boston University in 1988 that drew a crowd beyond the 200-seat auditorium’s capacity. “We weren’t thinking about doing a festival yet,” Goldman said. The Boston festival was launched the following year at the city’s Museum of Fine Arts and ran for about a week to sell-out audiences. In 1991, the festival scheduled additional screenings at the Coolidge Corner
Theatre. This year, the festival expects to draw more than 10,000 people to more than 40 films screened over 13 days at 12 venues around Boston, including the Mugar Omni Theater at the Museum of Science, home to the world’s largest, five-story-tall IMAX screen. Among the films are a world premiere mockumentary, two North American premieres of Holocaust films from Russia and Germany, a midnight screening of the Israeli thriller “Big, Bad Wolves” and a screening of the Israeli smash hit
“Bethlehem.” Approximately 20 percent of festival revenue comes from ticket sales and 2 percent from Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies. The bulk comes from individuals and family foundations, with some additional support from the state and the National Endowment for the Arts In Boston, Goldman sought to create an independent festival “where anything can be seen and anything can be discussed, however risky.” For the most part, Boston has steered clear of the controversies that have dogged other festivals – most
Courtesy of Courtesy of Janet Steinberg
Joe Bologna's pizzeria was a former synagogue
with modern pews capable of comfortably seating 400 worshipers.” When the congregation outgrew the building it was sold in 1912 to the Ohavay Zion Jewish Congregation. In 1914, it was rededicated as the first Jewish synagogue in Lexington. With shifting neighborhoods in the 1980s, Ohavay Zion relocated and sold the building to businessman John F Miller. In 1989, Joe Bologna’s opened in the former synagogue and became the first restaurant in Lexington to have 41 stained glass windows. The dominant feature of this Victorian Gothic brick structure is the huge 18-foot stained-glass window facing Maxwell Street. During remodeling, the original stained-glass windows were protected by shatterproof glass; the loft chandeliers were refurbished from the synagogue; and the original 1891 Eastern Kentucky pine floors were sanded and refinished. While enjoying Joe’s signature garlic breadsticks or his homemade Italian specialties, why not wash them down with a sudsy draft from the bar, which now stands in the original pulpit area? The nostalgic atmosphere of an early 1900s synagogue prevails at Joe Bologna’s. At the other end of the Lexington dining experience are Le Deauville, Frenchman Marc Puil’s French bistro and Jonathan Lundy’s restaurant at Gratz Park Inn. At Le Deauville, mouth-watering dishes, such as the beef carpaccio, sea bass, and rack of lamb, keep Francophiles coming back to the bistro for more. Jonathan at Gratz Park is a culinary reflection of its Bluegrass setting. The chef’s linage is steeped in Kentucky history and culture. Jonathan got his start in the culinary field in New Orleans where he worked with famed chef Emeril Lagasse in 1991. His creative dishes, southern staples with wild twists, are as great as his Kentucky heritage “As you may know,” a former Chamber of Commerce president once stated, “Kentucky is known for its fast horses, tobacco, bourbon, and beautiful women. But it is Lexington, the heart of the Bluegrass, where they all seem to converge.
notably the firestorm that erupted in 2009 after San Francisco screened the documentary “Rachel,” about the American activist Rachel Corrie who was killed in Gaza in 2003 while protesting Israeli housing demolitions. Several board members resigned in protest and funding guidelines for controversial programming were instituted in 2010 by the San Francisco federation. But for leaders in the Jewish film community, the value of the festivals is less about the controversies they provoke than the sense of community they help build.
JEWISH LIFE / BOOK REVIEW • 21
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013
I made a memory today Who Do You Think You Are?: A Memoir by Alyse Myers Incidentally Iris
by Iris Ruth Pastor The crumbs on my kitchen table didn't get wiped away today. The ground turkey I defrosted didn't get cooked either. The little ones had to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. The older two and my husband and I settled for toast and eggs (don't tell my mother). But I made a memory today. I picked up my eight year-old from school. Our regular rider was sick and my little one was playing at a friend's. "Let's get lost," I said to my son. And we did. Two scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream just for him. We sat together on a bench in the sun as he licked his cone. I tenderly wiped ice cream from his chin with a tissue. (How long will he let me do that in public?) The sun beat down and warmed us. And we spoke of things of little consequence. We went to the bookstore for three "I Can Read" books just for him. He thanked me profusely and all the way home in the car, he sat quietly and read one...until, that is, we picked up Louie. Then began, once again, the name-calling, bickering and punching. When we got home, the crumbs were still on the kitchen table along with the very-muchdefrosted ground turkey. The dog had peed on the floor while we were gone. We couldn't find matching soccer shin guards so we were late to practice. But it was okay - because I made a memory today. Decades pass. The dog dies. Paying jobs replace school and soccer. I Can Read books are packed away for the grandchildren.
I find three new chin hairs today. And my jeans still won’t zip though I haven’t indulged in frozen yogurt slathered in chocolate fudge sauce for a week. My mother’s still grappling with the rigors of living alone after my dad passed away over a year ago. And my husband is anxiously awaiting the results of an MRI. Another day went by when I didn’t physically talk to the kids though I received a few lessthan-wordy text messages. I know, I know, I remind myself: they are Busy. Involved. Stressed. Overwhelmed. Committed. My list of house repairs keeps growing as does the roots of my gray hair. And once again I forget to change my estrogen patch and take my Prilosec before eating. I still can’t remember my new neighbor’s name though we have been introduced three times. And the neighbors I adore just put up a For Sale sign in their front yard. Today I wake up early – eagerly anticipating my husband’s day off. When he wakes, we leisurely read the paper, watch the news and heatedly debate Obamacare and JFK’s death by assassination. We go upstairs, close the bedroom blinds for some private time. Later we buy a new lamp for our night table And run into an old friend. We eat a high fat, calorie laden Big Mac for dinner instead of a heaping bowl of quinoa, sprouts and beans. The phone is silent Though the e-mails pile up. The mail goes unopened. No new updates from the kids. My eight year-old just turned thirty-two. He, too, like his brothers, has grown up and moved away. But it’s okay. Because his mother’s still making memories Just like the one she made today.
By Sue Ransahoff Book Reviewer This is a book for mothers or daughters: that is to say – about one half of us. Some of us are both… This memoir delineates the relationship – a miserable one – between the writer and her mother. No doting possessive Jewish mother, she – an unhappy, hating, almost abusive mother of this oldest of three sisters. And this is a very readable book; a page-turner, if you will, but a book that is, on reflection, somewhat puzzling. In the end – no spoiler alert here – the two are reconciled – but again, we hardly know why except that the years bring to both the prevalent mellowing of aging. But why? That is never quite clear. Perhaps it doesn’t need to be clear; it happens – and perhaps that is enough. What is clear is that the mother’s marriage is a wretched one, and the daughter gets the fallout. There is enough anger against the husband to spill over onto the rest of the family. Father is a drinker, and a known philanderer. When Alyse is age 13, the mother, furious at some unclear situation, tells her daughter to leave – just get out. Go. Myers is a very good writer; her use of language is clear, straightforward, spare, moving in the sense that the action moves along, and the reader moves with her, eager to find out what happens next. The scenes are vivid; she has the talent to make the action live on the page. Objection? It’s bracing to read, but there are too many “whys” left dangling. Many sentences end tersely with “We never talked about the earrings again. “Why?” “I never wore the necklace [given to her by her father] again?” Why not? FIGHT from page 9 “The panel charged those of us who attended to get involved and to raise our voices,” Susie Gelman told JTA. “In terms of civil marriage, this is an issue that touches all of us. It is not just an Israeli issue.” On Monday night, Labor Party Chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich said her party is planning to introduce its own civil marriage bill. “We support civil marriage and gay rights, including same-sex marriage,” Yachimovich said. “We currently have a unique opportunity. Parties in the coalition and opposition are capable of joining forces to pass this law.” Her speech followed calls by Finance Minister Yair Lapid to “equalize” the Jewish denominations. “It’s very important to us that Israel would be pluralistic,” Lapid said. Civil marriage would not be the
Finally, Myers and her teen aged daughter open a box of memorabilia that has been sitting closed for twelve years. “That box,” the daughter says, “has been sitting here for 12 years, and you never opened it?” The reader is as puzzled as the daughter. On the plus side, in addition to the narrative drive that keeps the reader moving with the memoir, there are highly charged and memorable passages, notably one near the end when the mother is dying of cancer, and the daughter goes along with her denial and keeps that knowledge from her. An unaware doctor walks into the hospital room and breaks the silence, out of ignorance. Is that forgivable? To Alyse, it is not, and her response is courageous and admirable. She goes after him, stops him and demands that he come back to the room to correct the impression he had left by saying: “There’s no hope.” No matter what the reader may think of honesty between doctor and patient (and this isn’t a relationship; the doctor is unknown to the patient) we have to accept this as an individual and striking instance of what can happen. The doctor, at Alyse’s behest, comes back to the room. first religious pluralism fray that the Jewish Federations has entered. The umbrella group of American Jewish federations was stridently opposed to the 2010 Rotem bill, which would have consolidated authority over conversions in the hands of the Chief Rabbinate. Silverman called it a “betrayal” and Netanyahu suspended debate on the bill, which three years later has not come to a vote. More recently, the Jewish Federations advocated for a plan formulated by Jewish Agency for Israel Chairman Natan Sharansky to expand Robinson’s Arch, a non-Orthodox prayer site immediately south of the Western Wall plaza. The plan has received support, in principle, from Women of the Wall, the women’s prayer group whose monthly services at the wall brought global attention to the issue. Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz also has given the plan his tacit approval. Netanyahu endorsed the idea to
“I’m so sorry,” he says to the mother. “Your daughter just explained to me what you thought I said; that there was nothing more we could do, and you thought I meant you were going to die now. That wasn’t what I meant at all. It only meant we couldn’t give you any more treatments until you are stronger.” The situation is saved, and we are left to admire the daughter’s intervention with the physician. How does that fit with the earlier abuse, dislike? Does it? I don’t know, and can only speculate that the exchange in the hospital would have played out similarly regardless of the miserable relationship of the earlier years. It’s my impression that, through this interchange, Alyse is saying to herself: “No matter how cruel you were to me, I’ll support you; I’ll go along with your refusal to acknowledge the truth.” There is a phrase among mental health professionals: “Complicated grieving,” which is self-explanatory. (But, is any grieving simple and straightforward?) Certainly when her mother dies, Alyse faces grieving for a mother who neglected and abused her in hateful ways. How does she deal with it? She writes this book. It is impossible to read it without laying upon it the template of one’s one interaction with a mother and/or daughters. Good, bad or indifferent, there will be echoes, comparisons, and contrasts. I hope that writing helped the author deal with her complex mourning. Although the resultant book is not without flaws, it carries the reader along on a roller-coaster journey, and makes her think.
raucous cheers in his Sunday night speech at the G.A. “The Kotel is in Israel, but the Kotel belongs to all the Jewish people,” the prime minister said, using the Hebrew term for the wall. “We have to consult together and reach a solution together.” On Tuesday, the G.A. ended with hundreds of delegates walking from Jerusalem City Hall to Robinson’s Arch, where they participated in an egalitarian prayer service. Speaking afterward, Sharansky praised the service as an example of Jewish unity, though he acknowledged that the current temporary platform erected there is only a first step to a solution. “We’re not fighting to defeat the other,” Sharansky said. “We’re fighting to see how we can be one people with one God, one prayer and one Kotel.” Regardless of whether the federations support it, Yesh Atid’s civil unions bill will likely fail in the Knesset.
22 • OBITUARIES
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D EATH N OTICES
GA from page 1
ROSENBERG, Florence, age 85, died on November 10, 2013; 8 Kislev 5774.
establishment should continue to have exclusive authority over marriage and divorce in Israel. The panelists criticized the existing marriage and divorce laws and made impassioned pleas for all Jews to have a voice. Another session, “Many Shades of Black: Insights into the Haredi World,” focused on the surging growth of the Haredi population and its impact on Jewish communities. Following a discussion that examined the issue of Haredim entering the IDF, Jonathan Rosenblum, a Haredi journalist and author of numerous books, noted that today’s Haredi community of 700,000 is far different from the 500 Haredim that existed when the state was founded. He noted that not all Haredim are against serving in the IDF. The JDC (Joint Distribution Committee) has inaugurated a special program that enables young Haredim to enter the IDF and then enjoy long-term employment. “The community can-
GOLDHOFF, Leon Louis, age 77, died on November 12, 2013; 10 Kislev 5774. DOERNBERG, Janet, age 92, died November 13, 2013; 10 Kishlev 5774. FRIED, Theresa, age 87, died November 14, 2013; 12 Kislev 5774. YOUKILIS, Richard V., age 68, died November 15, 2013; 12 Kislev 5774. LAZARUS, Arnold H., age 92, died November 16, 2013; 13 Kislev 5774. KAHAN, Geraldine A., age 81, died November 18, 2013; 15 Kislev 5447.
FEDERATION GA from page 9 fighting for our lives here.” Opposition Leader Shelly Yachimovich told delegates she agrees with Netanyahu that Iran “must be stopped from getting the bomb.” For GA delegates like Iantha Sidell of Seattle, however, the clear top priority item for Jewish Federations is the findings of the Pew survey of American Jews. “When that study was published, it changed the agenda,” Sidell explained. “The rates of intermarriage and the quest to find ways to engage young people in Jewish life are things we have to deal with now. We have to have content that interests them. I hope we can get some new ideas here,” she added. Back over at the Hasdera booth, an earnest young Israeli tried to explain in English to a slightly perplexed Federation leader from Miami how his social change organization helps promote public participation in Israeli social causes. In his address to the plenary on Sunday, Netanyahu tried to bridge the gap by laying out his assessment of the Iranian threat, telling the audience, “Coming to a theater near you. They need those ICBMs to reach North America.” He urged American Jews to “do something about it.” Netanyahu also mentioned the Israeli government’s new joint initiative with the Jewish Agency “to unite the Jewish people, to initiate programs to help reach the inner cords of identity of the Jewish people around the world, and then put forward programs to help solidify the core of the conviction and identity that is so central to securing our future.”
SANCTIONS from page 8 policy was,” Ben-David said. Christians United For Israel (CUFI) and the American Jewish Committee, like AIPAC, will continue their push for stronger Iran sanctions despite the Obama administration’s policy on the issue. “Nothing has changed,” CUFI Executive Director David Brog told JNS. “We should all know that for years Iran has used talks to buy time while they proceed with their illegal nuclear program. We should all know that even after President [Hassan] Rouhani’s election, the Iranians haven’t slowed their nuclear program but have actually accelerated it. And we should all know that Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei-the real power in Iran-has not changed his positions one bit. We mustn’t give Iran a comfortable window within which to complete their nuclear work. So long as Iran continues to FIRST from page 9 Fisher is combing through the inventory of works taken from the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris between 1940 and 1944. The museum was used as a repository for works looted by the Nazis from French and Belgian Jews. According to The New York Times, at least eight of the paintings that the U.S. military returned to Hildebrand Gurlitt had been stolen and stored there. Cornelius Gurlitt apparently sold off pieces of his father’s collection occasionally and lived off the proceeds. In 2011, he sold a work by Max Beckmann, “The Lion Tamer,” that brought in more than $1 million. At a news conference Nov. 5, prosecutors said they did not know the whereabouts of Gurlitt.
not support itself today” without employment, he stressed. The JDC program does not talk about social change, he said, but rather it “speaks of opportunity.” When the government talks about changing Haredi society, the Haredim have a backlash; when there is talk of employment and opportunity, the program can have “major impact.” The final session of the GA also focused on pluralism. In speeches at Safra Square (city hall), Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky and Nafali Bennett, minister of the Economy, Religious Services and Diaspora Affairs, all spoke about the Kotel. “The Kotel is about our deep connection to our history, our tradition,” said Sharansky, who was charged by Prime Minister Netanyahu to come up with a solution to the conflict between Women of the Wall and traditional worshipers. The GA ended with a march from Safra Square to the Kotel. Some participants went to the traditional men’s and women’s sections
for prayer and reflection and an opportunity to leave notes in the Wall. Others went immediately to the new egalitarian platform in the area of Robinson’s Arch, and many of those who went to the traditional sections also went to the mincha prayer service at the egalitarian section. Right now, the egalitarian section features a platform that is lower than the upper plaza area, but Sharansky and Bennett explained that eventually the platform will be raised so that the egalitarian section will be on the same level as the traditional sections. Most of those involved in the controversy agreed to this compromise, Sharansky said. “Nobody really wanted the other side to be defeated,” he explained. Following the prayer service, the program concluded with the singing of “Hatikvah.” Shep Englander, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, was one of nine Cincinnatians attending the GA. Englander, who has attended numerous other General Assemblies,
thought that this year’s was one of “the most in-depth ones. We talked about the realities—the split between the U.S. and Israel on Iran, about religious laws, about the Pew study. “We realized that the best way to address the Jewish future is to join forces if we are to address issues effectively,” Englander told The Israelite. “Another remarkable thing” about this GA, he said, was that “the Israeli government over and over invited the American Jewish leadership to have a voice in the shape and direction of Israeli society. Netanyahu was very clear that American Jews must have a seat at the table. Previously, Israel told American Jews they had no seat at the table. Netanyahu sees himself as leader of the Jewish people,” not just the Israeli people. Other Cincinnatians attending the GA were: Suzette Fisher, Kim Heiman, Fred and Kathy Kantor, Barbara Miller, Jay Price, Jeffrey and Frida Zipkin.
build its stockpiles of enriched uranium, we should-at the very least-be strengthening our sanctions.” Christians United For Israel (CUFI) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) will also continue their push for stronger Iran sanctions, breaking with the Obama administration’s policy and falling in line with the stance of the Israeli government. “We mustn’t give Iran a comfortable window within which to complete their nuclear work,” CUFI Executive Director David Brog told JNS. “So long as Iran continues to build its stockpiles of enriched uranium, we should-at the very least-be strengthening our sanctions.” “Since it is the ever-toughening sanctions that got Iran to negotiate in the first place, there needs to be a reminder that things will get still worse for Tehran if nothing changes soon on the ground,” AJC Executive Director David Harris wrote in an op-ed for Haaretz.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), however, last week said Jewish groups would follow the Obama administration’s lead and take a “time out” in their lobbying efforts following the White House meeting, said the group’s executive director, Abraham Foxman. In addition to attending the White House meeting with Jewish leaders, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) played host to senior members of the Obama Administration during its own centennial meeting, and presented an award to former Secretary of Defense and Director of Central Intelligence Leon Panetta. The dinner was attended by Panetta and his successor, current Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, as well as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power. ADL Director Abraham Foxman was an outspoken opponent of Hagel’s candidacy as Panetta’s successor, but Foxman told reporters, “I
guess I changed my mind about what I think of him.” Hagel announced during the dinner’s keynote address that the U.S. will advance the delivery of six V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor helicopters to Israel. “The Israeli and American defense relationship is stronger than ever, and it will continue to strengthen,” Hagel said. According to Ben-David, the decision to provide Israel with sophisticated weaponry two years from now does little to make up for the differences in policies that may threaten Israel in the short-term. “Israel is not thinking two years down the line right now, it is thinking two months down the line,” he told JNS. “I don’t think any of the Obama administration actions are giving Israel any confidence right now,” he added.
On Saturday, the website Paris Match published a picture of a man it identified as Cornelius Gurlitt and claimed he was still in Munich. His collection is being held at a customs warehouse at an undisclosed location, where it is being cataloged by art historian Meike Hoffmann of Berlin’s Free University. A task force of six experts will assist in the provenance search, it was announced this week. The move comes after pressure from Jewish groups and restitution advocates who were troubled that the Germans had not made the full list public. “The process is “both literally and legally complicated, difficult and time consuming,” the office of the chief public prosecutor in Augsburg said at a news conference.
Jewish groups and restitution advocates had criticized Germany’s initial sluggishness in publicizing the contents of the collection. Deidre Berger, the head of the American Jewish Committee office in Berlin, had called on Germany to move quickly to address the ownership question and welcomed this week’s developments. “Valuable time has been wasted,” World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder told the magazine Die Welt this week. “Neither the possible claimants nor possible witnesses in the return process are getting any younger.” Fisher of the Claims Conference said he found the delay outrageous, yet he acknowledged that “legal aspects” of the case make some delay inevitable.
“Evidently the Germans are afraid they will get lots of claims, and maybe some of them false,” he said. “But that comes with the territory.” Anne Webber, director of the London-based Central Registry of Information on Looted Cultural Property, said her office has “been inundated with requests from families all over the world asking if their lost works of art might be in this collection.” At least one family reportedly has submitted a claim already. Marianne Rosenberg, an American attorney and granddaughter of the French dealer Paul Rosenberg, identified a Matisse unveiled at the news conference as belonging to her family. (JTA’s Cnaan Liphshiz contributed to this report.)
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