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Fusion Family rolls in the New Year with Rock and Roll Shabbat Let the good times roll! Interfaith families in the Jewish community are in for a “wheel” big evening of fun when Fusion Family presents its first ever Rock and “Roll” Shabbat: A Friday Night Skate and Dinner Date at Castle Skateland in Loveland on Friday, Jan. 18, featuring a DJ, group games on the rink, family free skate and a traditional sit-down Shabbat dinner with a ‘50s-style twist! The event is free with an advance RSVP and includes skate rental and arcade game tokens for all children. Space is limited and will fill up quickly. The party kicks-off with private rink time just for Fusion families beginning at 5 p.m. when guests can take to the floor and play some popular old-school skating games such as the Hokey Pokey and participate in a Conga line and the Chicken Dance plus there’ll be lots of time for free-skating fun. Then, at 7 p.m. everyone will be treated to a sitdown Shabbat dinner, featuring the kind of family-friendly ‘50s dinerstyle food served during the heyday of rock ‘n roll. After dinner, guests will get to enjoy free skating until 10 p.m. The event is being hosted by Fusion Family, an initiative of The Mayerson Foundation for families with children 10 and under (older siblings and grandparents welcome) in which either one parent is Jewish and the other is not, or in which one or both parents have converted to Judaism. “Are you kidding me? A Shabbat dinner at a skating rink? It’s events like these that have made it easy for me to keep my family involved in Jewish life,” says Tracey Blaustein Anderson. “I wasn’t raised with much Judaism myself, but as my children get older, I’m finding that it’s more important than ever to me that they get a taste of my religion,” she adds. “We don’t belong to a synagogue, so until we discovered Fusion we
Fusion Family helps interfaith families find their fit and get connected to Jewish life in whatever way is comfortable for them.
didn’t have a way to celebrate Jewish holidays and rituals as part of a community. Fusion has made all the difference and I am grateful for the opportunity these events give me to share this part of myself with my family!” “Being part of a ‘blended’ family can have its share of challenges,” explains Julie Robenson, program coordinator for Fusion Family. “That’s why we created Fusion Family. It’s a ‘no-strings-attached’ way for young families to meet others just like themselves, learn a little bit – or a little bit more – about Jewish customs, rituals and traditions, socialize with one another, and have a great time!” The Mayerson Foundation started Fusion Family four years ago to address the needs of those interfaith and conversionary families who were not affiliated with a congregation or other Jewish organization. The less engaged the parents are in Jewish life, inside and outside of the home, the fewer opportunities their children will have to be exposed to any type of Jewish culture or tradi-
tion. As a result, these children will be at a much greater risk of growing up with little or no Jewish identity. Fusion Family programs take away as many hurdles to participation as possible and offer high quality events at no cost, with no membership requirements and no questions asked. “We have numerous stories of families who attend our events and then go on to celebrate Shabbat, Passover and other holidays. Some even join the JCC, send their children to Jewish preschools and/or camps and there are some who have become members of several of our area congregations. And while we are thrilled that so many have increased the level of their Jewish engagement, we have no other goal than to give these families a chance to connect with one another and with Jewish life on their own terms in a way that feels comfortable for them,” explains Pam Saeks, director of Innovation in Jewish Engagement at The Mayerson Foundation. “For some, Fusion Family is the only Jewish thing they
do… or may ever do for that matter. But that’s perfectly okay with us because before that, they weren’t doing anything Jewish at all!” Fusion Family hosts a number of events throughout the year, attracting upward of 150 or more people. Some have included: Love and Knishes: Families Cookin’ Up Jewish Dishes, a hands-on cooking event in a private venue where kids and their parents got to make and eat three traditional foods typically served on Passover, Beary Merry Mitzvah, a holiday event at Build-aBear where children learned about the concept of mitzvot and the importance of helping others, the High Holiday Honeybee Buzz About, an engaging event focused on the Jewish New Year, Sunday Under the Sea at Newport Aquarium which focused on tzedakah and giving and Camp Shabbat-a-Waname, a traditional camp-style Shabbat dinner at Lakeside Lodge in Sharon Woods in partnership with Camp Livingston, among many other events. Fusion Family also offers the New Traditions Tool Kit program, a series of FREE no-strings-attached gifts to help blended families incorporate Jewish holidays and customs into their homes. They include ritual items, recipes, books and other resources, as well as easy to follow step-by-step guides for those who want to try starting something new, or just learning something they didn’t know before. The New Traditions Tool Kits, as well as the Fusion Family events, are free and available to families with children 10 and younger in which one parent is Jewish and the other is not, or in which one or both parents have converted to Judaism. For details or to RSVP to the Rock and Roll Shabbat event, or to learn more about Fusion Family events and resources, please consult the community directory in the back of this issue.
DO YOU NEED A LIFT?
Do you need to jump start your Jewish journey? Let us give you a lift with grants for travel to Israel and Jewish overnight camping, generously funded by THE JEWISH FOUNDATION. Funding provided by:
Grants administered by:
Learn more at the:
ISRAEL TRAVEL & JEWISH OVERNIGHT CAMPING FAIR Sunday, January 13, 2013
5-7 p.m.
Adath Israel Congregation, 3201 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236 Open to all. No registration required. al to all the major Israel trip providers and regional overnight camps pply for Israel travel and camping grants funded by he Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati eet Community Shaliach Yair Cohen and our new Chaverim or inio and omer Flischer
Israel,
E perience a taste of Israeli food, music and culture
LEARN MORE & APPLY
jewishcincinnati.org/travel or contact Sharon Spiegel at 513-985-1536 or sspiegel@jfedcin.org
LOCAL • 3
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012
Wise Temple Brotherhood hosts an afternoon of bowling On Dec. 25 businesses and restaurants will be closed, but Wise Temple Brotherhood sees this as an opportunity to build community among young families who are Wise Temple members or unaffiliated. From 12 – 4 p.m. The Brotherhood will be firing up the grills for all-you-can-eat burgers and hotdogs and opening up the alley at Loveland Lanes for unlim-
ited bowling. Sure, it’s something to do on Christmas day, but the sense of community is the underlying theme of the afternoon. “There are new families who join us every year. It’s a great way to make new friends. There’s people laughing and just enjoying being together,” says Ed Waterman, Brotherhood treasurer and “grill master.”
Wise Temple Brotherhood president, David Snyder, explains, “Families can drop by any time between noon and 4. This is the fourth year for this event and every time I enjoy seeing members of all ages having so much fun.” All of this fun comes with only a small fee. If you’re interested in sporting your cool bowling shoes with us, call Wise Temple for more information.
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Wise Temple prepares Jewish teens to teach The Wise Temple Madrichim program for teen religious school teaching assistants is proud to share our latest addition: an indepth course for all ninth grade madrichim, consisting of an innovative combination of training and hands-on experience. This year, our freshmen rotate between working in a classroom setting one week and learning about their new role the next week. This new model is called the JET program, for Jewish Educators-in-Training. The course is being developed and taught by Rabbi Ariel Boxman. It focuses on creating and develop-
ing skills necessary for being a confident and empowered madrich(a). JETs learn how to lead small groups, facilitate games, communicate with students, aid in classroom management and write lesson plans. This serves as a training laboratory where they can practice and develop skills amongst the comfort of their peers. In the classroom with their supervising teachers, JETs have an opportunity to implement what they have learned and observe experienced madrichim in action. This structure also allows for troubleshooting and reflection throughout the year.
A total of 30 ninth graders have participated in the program so far, making this the biggest year ever for Team Madrichim; more than 100 teenagers have dedicated their time to working in our classrooms, art room, library and office each week! We are very excited that the madrichim program continues to grow both in size and in quality. Any member of Wise Temple entering high school is eligible to apply to the madrichim program. For more information, please contact Rachel Kasten, assistant director of Education at Wise Temple.
Wise Temple offers adult learning sessions In the ongoing array of adult lifelong opportunities at Wise Temple, Eitz Chayim (The Tree of Life) Lifelong learning presents several possibilities, including a weekday noontime series and a second session of Beginning Hebrew for adults. The weekday series, Tuesday with Torah, continues in January with two multi-session courses. Each Tuesday from noon until 1 p.m. the community is invited to bring lunch and to learn together. On Jan. 8, 15 and 22 Rabbinic Intern Matt Zerwekh will offer a look at Russian Jewish immigration. Zerwekh is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College and is serving as part-time Rabbinic Intern at Wise. As Matt explains, “I grew up in the Detroit area and was intrigued by the stories of the many Russian Jewish immigrants who settled in the Midwest, especially their reasons for leaving Russia and settling in this area.” The Tuesday with Torah series continues on Jan. 29 and Feb. 5 as Andrea Rapp, librarian at Wise Temple, offers a course entitled, “Something Borrowed, Something New.” Participants in this two ses-
“I grew up in the Detroit area and was intrigued by the stories of the many Russian Jewish immigrants who settled in the Midwest, especially their reasons for leaving Russia and settling in this area.” Matt Zerwekh
sion course will have the opportunity to explore what was new to Judaism and what was borrowed from other cultures. Jews gave the world “something new” but other Jewish ideas and teachings reflect the influence of the peoples among whom Jewish ancestors lived. The second semester of Beginning Hebrew for Adults begins on Jan. 9. Taught by Rabbi
Margie Meyer, this course is designed for those who participated in the fall beginner adult Hebrew course or for those who know the aleph bet and have a basic familiarity with the process of decoding Hebrew letters and vowels. This course will explore the prayers of the liturgy and their meaning and strengthen fluency in reading Hebrew prayers.
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Cedar Village recognizes Eight over Eighty honorees delighted to sponsor this event in the Cincinnati Jewish community during Older Americans Month,” said Carol Silver Elliott, CEO/president of Cedar Village. Nominations are due by Jan. 17, 2013. To make a nomination, please contact Cedar Village.
JCC announces winter programs great class for children to learn and improve team playing is Indoor-Outdoor Games. Kids will participate in small and large group games, improve motor skills and learn the importance of being a team player. The J is one of the few places where kids can take Red Cross certified swim lessons all year round. Programs are available for kids as young as 6 months old, and go all the way up to lifeguard training, for teens and adults. One popular swimming course is Aqua Tots. Parents love to spend time in the pool with their babies and toddlers while instructors teach beginning swim lessons. Music & Motion offers more fun for little ones, ages 6 months –
3 years and their parents. They will learn finger play, clapping, singing and dancing in this fun class that fosters listening skills and motor development. Tumblebugs is a great class for children ages 18 months – 3 years to learn beginning gymnastics, coordination and motor skills. Babies of all ages and their parents will enjoy quality time together in PJ Playtime and PJ Little Chefs, with songs, snacks, crafts and play. Primary Dance is a very popular class for kids ages 4 1/2 to 5 1/2. Your little dancer is encouraged to be creative through music, movement, games and a variety of activities with props. The class focuses on balance, improving posture, strengthening the body,
WASHINGTON – It has become something of a White House Chanukah tradition. For the second time, the Obama White House used a menorah from a hurricane-hit region to mark the holiday. This Chanukah, Rabbi David Bauman brought to the White House one of two 90-year-old menorahs that survived when Hurricane Sandy ravaged Temple Israel in Long Beach, N.Y. The menorah used in 2010 at the White House was from a New
developing flexibility, and beginning coordination. The J has many programs for adults, including a new adult learning class, Israeli Literature as a Window to Israeli Society. Students will experience an honest and engaging examination of Israeli society through its works of literature, from the birth of the State of Israel in 1948 to the present. This engaging class is taught by Yair Cohen, Community Shaliach and Israel@65 Initiative Coordinator. Cohen explained, “Literature and poetry are the spirit and soul of the Israeli people and this class is a unique opportunity to be exposed to their voices. This class will provide a real window into Israeli society.”
family in New York, where he served for years as a community outreach official for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He had been agonizing about what would serve as the most potent symbol joining the holiday with Obama administration policy. His wife, Hildy Kuryk – who also happens to be the Democratic National Committee’s finance director – suggested a menorah from one of the many New Yorkarea synagogues hit by Sandy. “The story of what’s going on there – the rededication and resanctification of these communities, there’s definitely a correlation” with Chanukah, Bernstein said. Bernstein contacted the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a group he was familiar with from his Bloomberg days and which he admired for working with both Jewish and non-Jewish communities. That led him, in turn, to Temple Israel, established in 1920. The seven-foot brass menorah is one of a pair dating from at least the building’s 1923 construction, said Rabbi David Bauman, interviewed as he ferried the menorah to Washington for the party. They were spared because they were on an upper floor. Bauman said he at first didn’t believe the White House was on
the line. When he understood it was for real, he said, it was like a ray of light. He recalled Psalm 30, associated with the dedication of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem: “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Bauman said he hoped the Chanukah party would garner attention not only for the synagogue, but for his neighbors. “The region and my synagogue’s devastation with Hurricane Sandy, has been incredibly dark,” he said. “Coming to the White House is not only an honor for us but for the entire region.” Bauman, 41 and a reserve chaplain in the U.S. Marines, leads a nondenominational shul that he describes as “Conservadox” with both separate and mixed seating. There is also a beit midrash; much of the damage was to holy books and Torah scrolls. The damage, he said, totaled $5 million, and insurance covered just a fraction of that. Moreover, his institution – like other houses of worship – are not necessarily entitled to the federal recovery money because of religion-state separation. “Hopefully, this will be a way for us to get the story out and raise some money to rebuild,” he said.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012 7 TEVET 5773 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 5:01 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 6:02 PM THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE CO., PUBLISHERS 18 WEST NINTH STREET, SUITE 2 CINCINNATI, OHIO 45202-2037 Phone: (513) 621-3145 Fax: (513) 621-3744 publisher@americanisraelite.com editor@americanisraelite.com production@americanisraelite.com RABBI ISAAC M. WISE Founder, Editor, Publisher, 1854-1900 LEO WISE Editor & Publisher, 1900-1928 RABBI JONAH B. WISE Editor & Publisher, 1928-1930 HENRY C. SEGAL Editor & Publisher, 1930-1985 PHYLLIS R. SINGER Editor & General Manager, 1985-1999 MILLARD H. MACK Publisher Emeritus NETANEL (TED) DEUTSCH Editor & Publisher JORY EDLIN MICHAEL SAWAN Assistant Editors ALEXIA KADISH Copy Editor JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM IRIS PASTOR RABBI A. JAMES RUDIN ZELL SCHULMAN RABBI AVI SHAFRAN PHYLLIS R. SINGER Contributing Columnists JOSEPH D. STANGE Production Manager ERIN WYENANDT Office Manager e Oldest Eng Th
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Orleans synagogue hit by Hurricane Katrina. “This 90-year-old menorah survived, and I am willing to bet it will survive another 90 years, and another 90 years after that,” Obama said before the lighting of the candles at the White House Chanukah party. “So tonight, it shines as a symbol of perseverance, and as a reminder of those who are still recovering from Sandy’s destruction – a reminder of resilience and hope and the fact that we will be there for them as they recover.” Jarrod Bernstein, the White House’s 32-year-old director of Jewish outreach, was behind the choice of candelabra. He told JTA that Jewish organizational efforts to help rebuild communities – Jewish and non-Jewish – hit by Sandy fit perfectly with President Obama’s emphasis on getting relief to the Northeast in the storm’s wake. “Having a menorah with meaning allows us to embody the best spirit of Jewish experience, in the middle of what is a national challenge,” Bernstein said. “There is a Jewish dimension to this – the American Jewish community is ‘working to make this a more perfect union’ as the president often calls it.” Bernstein described his “aha” moment during a drive to visit
“LET THERE BE LIGHT” THE OLDEST ENGLISH-JEWISH WEEKLY IN AMERICA - EST. JULY 15, 1854
VOL. 159 • NO. 23
At White House, Chanukah’s light comes from Sandy-ravaged shul’s menorah By JTA Staff Jewish Telegraph Agency
The American Israelite
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Get ahead of the crowd and register online for JCC winter programs! Classes begin Jan. 6 and advance registration is required. The Mayerson JCC has programs for everyone – youth and adult league sports, swim lessons, dance, parent and child classes and adult learning. Most JCC programs are open to the public and J Members pay discounted rates. Open registration (online and by phone) begins Friday, Dec. 21. The J is a safe, fun and caring environment for children to learn team sports. Budding baseball players in grades K – 2 and 3 – 7 can refine their skills and learn the basics of the game in the JCC Blue Jays Developmental T-Ball and Baseball programs. Another
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community and is an example of strong Jewish values? If so, Cedar Village has a unique opportunity for you to honor those special individuals. “This gala celebration provides us with a way to honor the special gifts and blessings that our elders bring us. We are
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orees will be inducted into the Cedar Village Jewish Senior Hall of Fame on May 30, 2013. Do you know someone over the age of 80 who is inspiring and remarkable? Do you know someone 80 or over who has been a life-long volunteer in the Jewish
r in Am ape er sp i
The fifth annual Eight over Eighty celebration sponsored by Cedar Village will recognize eight senior adults, 80 years or older, who have demonstrated a dedication throughout their lifetimes to the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam – Repairing the World. All hon-
THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE (USPS 019-320) is published weekly for $44 per year and $1.00 per single copy in Cincinnati and $49 per year and $3.00 per single copy elsewhere in U.S. by The American Israelite Co. 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, OH. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE, 18 West Ninth Street, Suite 2, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2037. The views and opinions expressed by the columnists of The American Israelite do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the newspaper.
NATIONAL • 5
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012
Connecticut shooting’s youngest victim laid to rest as Jewish community unites By Cindy Mindell and Judie Jacobson JointMedia News Service FAIRFIELD, CONN. – Bunches of white balloons marked the entrance to the Abraham L. Green Funeral Home on Monday in Fairfield, Conn., where 6-yearold Noah Pozner was eulogized three days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. A bright-green hand-written sign tacked to a tree near the building read, “Our hearts are with you Noah.” A group of reporters waited in the cold drizzle across the street, with television cameras shielded under black plastic tarp. By 1 p.m., some 200 people had filed into the memorial chapel for the funeral of the youngest of 26 victims in the shootings. Family, friends, members of Congregation Adath Israel in Newtown, Conn., and local Jewish leaders filled the seats. The rest stood outside the chapel in the vestibule, silent and listening. In an hour or so, the funeral cortege would proceed to the B’nai Israel cemetery, 17 miles north. For now, family members would remember aloud the little boy who had been taken from them too soon, too violently. They would speak with love, with sorrow, and even with humor. Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel opened the service by chanting Psalm 23. “I sense a turning point. I sense an extraordinary light coming from the darkness,” said Praver, who invited Noah’s mother, Veronique Pozner, to the podium. “The sky is crying, and the flags are at half-mast. It is a sad, sad day,” she said. “But it is also your day, Noah, my little man. I will miss your forceful and purposeful little steps stomping through our house. I will miss your perpetual smile, the twinkle in your dark blue eyes, framed by eyelashes that would be the envy of any lady in this room.” Veronique spoke of all the things she would miss in the boy who filled the house with love, light, mischief and pranks. “Most of all, I will miss your visions of your future,” she said. “You wanted to be a doctor, a soldier, a taco factory manager. Tacos were your favorite food and no doubt you wanted to ensure that your world kept producing them. Your life force was like a celestial body. You adored your family with every fiber of your 6-year-old being. We are elevated in our humanity in having known you.” Among those also eulogizing Noah were his aunt, Victoria Haller of Woodinville, Wash., his uncle Alexis Haller, and his 15year-old brother, Michael. “I take
comfort in knowing that Noah is free, he has gone home,” said Michael. “Let us not be lost in sorrow. Let us live our lives as happily and righteously as we can. We can better ourselves as people for Noah, celebrate his life, and live for him. When we’re all called home, we will see him again. We did not lose our Noah, we gained a guardian angel.” Praver said, “The secret of Jewish survival and our greatest wisdom is to thrive.” “When the Holocaust happened, there were no Jewish attacks on German people or property, no acts of terror,” he said. “That is not our way of reacting to tragedy. Instead, as written in the Psalm we opened with today, we ‘set a banquet in the presence of our enemies.’ We established the State of Israel as an ingathering, as a rebirth. Our greatest, most exalted responsibility is to thrive.” Speaking to Noah’s twin sister, Arielle, who was in an adjacent classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School during the shooting, Praver spoke of his own 6-year-old twins. “Arielle, I know you loved and continue to love Noah very much,” he said. “Now you have to love him double.” Newtown has been modeling for the rest of the world Kiddush Hashem, the sanctification of God’s name, through love between members of all faiths, Praver said. “Let’s remember this moment somehow,” he concluded. “Let’s keep Kiddush Hashem alive. That’s the starting point, and great things can grow from there.” Eight pallbearers slowly wheeled the small casket to the rear of the chapel and outside to a waiting hearse. Mourners walked out after the Pozner family, or stayed behind to embrace and talk. Rabbi Edgar Gluck of Brooklyn and Rabbi Levi Stone of Norwalk, Conn., were among those gathered outside the entrance. The two are volunteers with Chesed Shel Emes, the U.S. affiliate of the Israeli organization ZAKA (Zihui Korbanot Ason, or disaster victim identification). Among their duties is to gather body parts and spilled blood for proper Jewish burial. As a chaplain working with various Connecticut police departments and the state medical examiner, Stone is often called upon to assist at the scene of a crime or accident, and he works to educate officials in Jewish burial practices. He received a call on the afternoon of Dec. 14, after the dead had been carried out of the school building, and he determined that his services were not necessary. Like Stone, Rabbi Yisroel Deren and his wife, Vivi, of
Courtesy of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger
Six-year-old Noah Pozner, the youngest victim of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting.
Chabad of Fairfield County in Stamford were called upon Dec. 14 to help the families. In fact, the Derens received two phone calls: one from a friend of Noah Pozner’s father, Lenny, and one from Governor Dan Malloy, a close friend of the Derens since his years as mayor of Stamford. “I knew why we had been called,” said Vivi Deren. “It was not only because my husband is a compassionate and caring rabbi, who has brought comfort to so many hurting people. We were being asked to help because as bereaved parents ourselves, several times over, perhaps we had something more to offer—if only to be evidence that it is possible to
breathe after the breath has literally been knocked out of you.” Malloy asked the Derens to meet with the bereaved families prior to the interfaith service planned for that Sunday evening at the local high school, which was attended by Obama. “There isn’t much you can say to a request like that,” said Vivi Deren, who did not know the Pozners. And so, the couple traveled to the house where the Pozners were staying. “I walked in with a prayer on my lips that whatever we say will bring comfort,” Vivi Deren said. “We were brought to a quiet room to speak with Noah’s family. I
found myself listening to a brokenhearted mother describing her little boy, Noah, one of the first graders and the youngest of the victims. Noah. Someone described in the Torah as a tzaddik, a righteous person, ‘complete.’ All of humanity is considered to be his descendants, bound in a covenant with God, to partner with Him to create a world of peace and harmony, of justice, goodness and kindness. The almost universal symbols of peace, a dove and an olive branch, trace back to Noah and his story.” Noah’s mother told Vivi Deren that her son loved rainbows. “Rainbows!” said Vivi Deren. “The sign of God’s promise never, ever to bring a flood on the whole world again. A symbol of healing, promise, and optimism.” Later, at the Sunday evening interfaith service, the Derens were present when Obama and Malloy met with each family. Malloy introduced Rabbi Deren as his “very good friend.” Then, suddenly, Obama walked in without any fanfare. “The power of this gesture is immense; he truly does convey the sense that the whole country is mourning alongside these anguished families,” Vivi Deren said of Obama. “The way he bends down to speak with Noah’s twin sister, the way he comforts the grandparents, and gently joshes the teenage siblings, the way he makes a point of saying, as he did later, that we will be with you, not just now but for the long haul.”
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CIA assessment sheds new light on Pollard’s sentencing, intelligence gathering By Jacob Kamaras JointMedia News Service Rabbi Pesach Lerner, who has been visiting Jonathan Pollard in federal prison for years, is accustomed to tight security to the point that he “can’t bring in a pen.” It surprised Lerner, then, to find out from newly declassified CIA documents that an interview with Wolf Blitzer – “with tape recorders, and cameras and books” on hand – would have flown under the radar. Pollard, the only person in U.S. history to receive a life sentence for spying for an American ally, received a sentence of that magnitude because of an unauthorized interview he gave Blitzer – the current CNN television anchor who at the time was working for the Jerusalem Post – in 1986, according to a CIA damage assessment on Pollard’s case. The National Security Archive at George Washington University published the documents Dec. 14. “They had to apply for permits [to conduct the interview], you had to walk into a top-security prison,” Lerner, the former executive vice president of the National Council of Young Israel, told JNS. “Jonathan got those permits. [Blitzer] walked into a federal prison… You don’t just walk in through the back door, you walk up to the front door. Everything has to be inspected.” “So to say, that Jonathan had an interview without permission?” Lerner asked. “It was under your
Courtesy of Miriam Alster/Flash90
Demonstrators hold signs of Jonathan Pollard as they attend a protest calling for his release outside the house of President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, where Peres met with U.S. congressmen, on August 17, 2011.
nose, what do you mean without permission? Of course he had permission. Blitzer couldn’t have come in and the interview wouldn’t have happened [without permission]. So to say that the prosecution and the judge penalized him for that is, I hate to say it, is – if it would be true – it would be hilarious.” Pollard, who on Nov. 21 entered his 28th year in prison following a conviction of spying for Israel without intent to harm the U.S., cooperated with prosecutors in 1987 return for an assurance that he would not receive a life sentence. But according to the CIA, Pollard’s interview with Blitzer violated that deal. In the interview on Nov. 20,
1986, Pollard provided “extensive information on his motives and objectives in conducting espionage for Israel” and also gave Blitzer “a general account with important examples of intelligence he passed to the Israelis, and emphasized that the Israeli government must have been aware of and approved of his activities,” the declassified CIA assessment said. The fact that Pollard gave the interview with Blitzer “without obtaining advance approval of the resulting text from the Justice Department,” the assessment said, representing a violation of his plea bargain. However, the assessment also said Pollard cooperated “in good
faith” while he was in custody. “It says very clearly in these documents that he fully cooperated,” Lerner said. The documents also revealed that the intelligence Pollard conveyed to his handlers was limited to information on Pakistan, Arab states and the Soviet Union – specifically, the handlers “did not request or receive from Pollard intelligence concerning some of the most sensitive U.S. national security resources.” That new information on the intelligence gathered by Pollard “certainly raises a lot of questions” because it was previously presumed that his crime involved compromising American national security, said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations. “Some say that [Pollard’s] actions were inappropriate, but perhaps of less severity in terms of the way it has been presented” from a U.S. security perspective, Hoenlein told JNS. However, Hoenlein cautioned against rushing to conclusions on the CIA’s damage assessment on Pollard because it is 166 pages long and still under review. “We’re still reading the document, it’s very long, and we have people who are reviewing it [for the Conference of Presidents], and we’ll be meeting with attorneys and others about it,” he said. POLLARD on page 21
The Chabad Jewish Center Goldstein Family Learning Academy Invites you to
“WHOSE HOMELAND IS IT ANYWAY?” An Evening with
David Nesenoff Tuesday, January 8, 2013 • 7:30pm Chabad Jewish Center 3977 Hunt Road – Blue Ash
The viral video of White House correspondent Helen Thomas, proclaiming that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and "go home to Poland and Germany," forced Thomas to resign and catapulted her interviewer, David Nesenoff, into the limelight, receiving tens of thousands of hate mail and death threats.
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"GET THE HELL OUT OF PALESTINE"... GO HOME TO POLAND AND GERMANY," Helen Thomas, White House Press Corps —May 27, 2010
National Briefs Syria to pay $338 million for kidnapping following Israeli law center’s efforts (JNS) While rebels and the regime of President Bashar alAssad continue to wage war overseas, the Syrian government lost a different kind of battle on American soil Monday – to an Israeli attorney. Syria will pay $338 million to two American families for its funding of a 1991 kidnapping of American biblical archeologists during an excavation in Turkey for the remains of Noah’s Ark, the Israeli law center that helped win the judgment announced in a press release. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Tel Aviv-based Shurat HaDin Law Center, represented the families along with New York attorney Robert Tolchin. Syria was found vicariously liable for the kidnapping, which was perpetrated by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) terrorist organization. The ruling by Royce Lamberth, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, “points to an underlying fact” that “the free world will no longer stand idle while international crimes are committed and it will fight against those rogue regimes which support these heinous acts,” DarshanLeitner said in a statement. “Above all, the court found that this kidnapping was brutal and heinous, and involved threats of execution, torture, as well as marches through mountains and dense forests,” she said. “It is therefore fitting that compensation should be in the millions not in the tens of thousands. These days Syria continues to commit crimes against those who oppose the regime, and Syria will pay.” Jewish groups remember deceased Hawaii senator for pro-Israel legacy (JNS) Jewish groups on Monday mourned the passing of nine-term U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) at age 88, reflecting on what they called his legacy as one of the most pro-Israel legislators in Washington. The American Jewish Committee (AJC) recalled that Inouye’s appreciation for Israel began when he sold Israel Bonds in Hawaii in 1951, and his cosponsorship of resolutions condemning Hezbollah and Hamas, supporting Israel’s right of selfdefense, and urging President Barack Obama to oppose the Palestinians’ unilateral declaration of statehood at the United Nations.
NATIONAL • 7
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012
Babe Ruth and the Holocaust By Rafael Medoff JointMedia News Service
Courtesy of Oyez Project
Fifteen years after pleading their case against the Defense of Marriage Act in Congress, liberal Jewish groups are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court, pictured above, will be more receptive to their arguments against legal obstacles to gay marriage.
Jewish groups ready to weigh in as Supreme Court considers same-sex marriage By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraph Agency WASHINGTON – With public acceptance of same-sex marriage growing, liberal Jewish groups are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down the Defense of Marriage Act that they have long opposed. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases related to samesex marriage: an appeal of a federal court ruling that struck down a California ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage, and one of the federal court rulings invalidating provisions of the act, known as DOMA, which prevented federal recognition of same-sex unions. Since DOMA was passed in 1996, Jewish groups such as the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the National Council of Jewish Women have been among the liberal religious groups arguing against its provisions. At the time, they were pushing against the widespread perception that religious groups almost by definition were opposed to same-sex marriage. That is no longer the case, said Rabbi David Saperstein, the Religious Action Center’s director and a witness during congressional hearings on DOMA. “There is an increasing religious consciousness across an ever wider spectrum that providing legal protection and religious sanctification to two people who want to create their lives together reflects our highest values,” Saperstein told JTA. Saperstein said the RAC was planning to file or sign onto an amicus brief in support of same-sex marriage. Sammie Moshenberg, the Washington director of the National Council of Jewish Women, said that recent victories for same-sex marriage in state referenda vindicate NCJW’s activism against DOMA.
“We saw in the last election popular support for marriage equality, with wins in Maine, Maryland and Washington, and voters in Minnesota rejected” a law that would have entrenched the ban on gay marriage in that state, she said. “We’ve seen tremendous popular support, and we see it’s growing.” Orthodox groups, active also during the 1996 congressional hearings before the passage of DOMA, are considering amicus briefs since the Supreme Court agreed last week to consider the two cases. Orthodox groups have opposed same-sex marriage, maintaing that marriage should be defined as union between a man and a woman. They also have expressed the concern that the push for same-sex marriage will end up infringing upon their religious liberties. “We do plan to file and let our views be known in reference to DOMA and Proposition 8,” the California referendum that banned same-sex marriage and that was overturned by a federal appeals court in January, said Abba Cohen, who directs the Washington office of Agudath Israel of America. “We don’t know whether we’ll file on our own or with others – it’s too early for us to make that decision.” The Orthodox Union was still considering whether to file, said Nathan Diament, the group’s executive director for public policy. An array of liberal Jewish groups, including the AntiDefamation League, NCJW, Hadassah, Bend the Arc, and a number of Reform and Conservative bodies had joined in an amicus brief filed for the lower court appeal of the DOMA case, U.S. v. Windsor, in which the widow of a New York woman is appealing the taxes levied on her late wife’s estate that would have been exempted had she been married to a man.
Babe Ruth is remembered for his home runs on the field and his hot dog binges and other peccadilloes off the field. But as the American public is about to discover, there was another Babe Ruth – one who went to bat for women and minorities, including the Jews of Europe during the Holocaust. Throughout the spring and summer of 1942, Allied leaders received a steady stream of reports about the Germans massacring tens of thousands of Jewish civilians. Information reaching the Roosevelt administration in August revealed that the killings were not random atrocities, but part of a Nazi plan to systematically annihilate all of Europe’s Jews. In late November, the State Department publicly verified this news and, on Dec. 17, the U.S. and British governments and their allies issued a declaration acknowledging and condemning the mass murder. But aside from that Allied statement, the Roosevelt administration had no intention of doing anything in response to the killings. There was no serious consideration of opening America’s doors – or the doors of British-ruled Palestine – to Jewish refugees. There was no discussion of taking any steps to rescue the Jews. As quickly as the mass murder had been revealed, it began to fade from the public eye. Dorothy Thompson was determined to keep that from happening. And Babe Ruth would help her. Thompson (1893-1961) was the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany. She was once described by Time magazine as one of the two most influential women in the United States, second only to Eleanor Roosevelt. In the autumn of 1942, Thompson contacted the World Jewish
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Left to right, baseball legends George Sisler, Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb Date on Oct. 4, 1924.
Congress with a novel idea: mobilizing German-Americans to speak out against the Nazi persecution of the Jews. As a journalist, Thompson understood the man-bites-dog news value of German-Americans protesting against Germany – especially in view of the well-publicized pro-Nazi sentiment in some segments of the German-American community. Just a few years earlier, more than 20,000 supporters of the German American Bund had filled Madison Square Garden for a pro-Hitler rally. The World Jewish Congress agreed to foot the bill for publishing Thompson’s anti-Nazi statement as a newspaper advertisement. She drafted the text and set about recruiting signatories. Seventy years ago on Dec. 22, the “Christmas Declaration by men and women of German ancestry” appeared as a full-page ad in the New York Times and nine other major daily newspapers. “[W]e Americans of German descent raise our voices in denun-
ciation of the Hitler policy of coldblooded extermination of the Jews of Europe and against the barbarities committed by the Nazis against all other innocent peoples under their sway,” the declaration began. “These horrors... are, in particular, a challenge to those who, like ourselves are descendants of the Germany that once stood in the foremost ranks of civilization.” The ad went on to “utterly repudiate every thought and deed of Hitler and his Nazis,” and urged the people of Germany “to overthrow a regime which is the infamy of German history.” The names of 50 prominent German-Americans appeared on the advertisement. There were several notable academics, such as Princeton University dean Christian Gauss and University of Maine president Arthur Mauck. Leading Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, news correspondent William Shirer, and orchestra conductor Walter Damrosch appeared RUTH on page 20
8 • NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL
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New Congress will be missing some In Europe, charges of Ron Lauder tinkering in Jewish of its longtime pro-Israel pillars By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraph Agency WASHINGTON – When the new Congress convenes in January, it will be missing several longtime pillars of support for Israel on Capitol Hill. Gone from the House of Representatives will be veteran Jewish Reps. Howard Berman (DCalif.), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), the ranking member on the committee’s Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee; and Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), a point person on funding Israel’s missile defense efforts. Absent from the Senate will be Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.). Jewish politics watchers agree that the departures represent a loss of pro-Israel brainpower of a scope not seen for years. “People like Berman and Ackerman, both Congress and the pro-Israel community will miss having people of that seniority who know issues inside and out,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the dovish Israel policy group J Street, referring to the top senior Democrats on the Foreign Affairs Committee, each of whom served in Congress for 30 years. Martin Frost, a Jewish Democrat who represented Texas
Courtesy of IPF
Rep. Gary Ackerman, shown addressing the Israel Policy Forum on Dec. 3, is one of a number of veteran pro-Israel lawmakers leaving Congress.
in Congress from 1979 to 2005, said that Berman’s departure is “a real loss.” But he expressed confidence that support for Israel would remain strong in Congress. “You always hate to lose anyone, but I think we’re in good shape,” Frost said. The reasons for the departures vary: Berman and Rothman were defeated in intra-party battles sparked by redistricting, while Ackerman and Lieberman are retiring. Other notable departures of Jewish pro-Israel lawmakers
include Reps. Barney Frank (DMass.), a leading liberal who is retiring, and Rep. Shelly Berkley (D-Nev.), a hawkish voice on Israel who was defeated in her bid for a Senate seat. A staffer for a House Democrat said the loss of veteran Jewish lawmakers is significant in that their colleagues looked to them for guidance on Israel-related issues. “They connect the dots, they look at the big board and see how a leader on a particular issue votes,” said the staffer, who asked not to be identified, citing Capitol Hill protocol. “There are a lot fewer data points now for them to work with.” The staffer said that top Jewish lawmakers would garner support for Israel by showing leadership in other areas embraced by Democrats. “The real concern I have is how those older members functioned in the caucus as a whole – that because they were good Democrats, what they favored was seen as good for Democrats,” the staffer said. Multiple sources cited as a particular blow the loss of Berman, whose long congressional career is coming to an end following his defeat by fellow Jewish incumbent Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) in a bitterly contested race. CONGRESS on page 22
Seeking Kin: Separated by a century, an ocean and religion, a family reconnects By Hillel Kuttler Jewish Telegraph Agency BALTIMORE – Hanna Nisman never dreamt she had Christian relatives. Lynne Hoe wasn’t sure she had Jewish ones. But Nisman, an Israeli, and Hoe, of Tulsa, Okla., are second cousins who this week were alerted to each other’s existence by “Seeking Kin.” “Wow, I am about to faint from excitement,” Nisman, 88, of Kibbutz Ein Dor, said when told Sunday that her relatives in America had been located. “That’s really something!” Nisman, a Budapest native who survived the Holocaust and reached prestate Israel in 1947, had long wondered what became of Miklos Pollacseg, the youngest of her grandmother’s nine siblings. She knew little else beyond that he had left Hungary for the United States in about 1902 at age 20 and adopted the surname Partos. Nisman was not aware even of where Partos had settled. But something Nisman recalled proved crucial in regrafting the branches of her family tree. The key detail was Partolax, the laxative that Partos developed and
named for himself. Nisman remembered that Partos became rich from the laxative soon after writing to his brother Sandor Pollacseg, a physician, to observe that Americans suffered from diarrhea. Pollacseg either invented the pharmaceutical or advised Partos how to produce it, she said.
Courtesy of JTA
This 1911 advertisement was placed by Hanna Nisman’s great-uncle, Nicholas Partos, who started a chain of drug stores in New York.
An online search conducted by “Seeking Kin” yielded the gem of a March 28, 1911 advertisement for Partolax in the New York Evening Call newspaper. The ad touted the virtues of Partolax, available at Partos Drug Store, 160 Second Avenue, the corner of 10th Street, in Manhattan. A subsequent search of the
1910 U.S. census revealed that Dr. Nicholas Partos, apparently the store’s owner, was 32 years old and lived with his wife, Cornelia, 30, and their 6 1/2-year-old daughter, Lillian, at 923 Fifth Ave.; an 18-year-old woman named Esther Orosz lived with the family. One document said that Partos owned a chain of drug stores. An article on the social pages of The New York Times reported on Lillian’s marriage to Armand Hovell on Dec. 23, 1928 at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church. Yet another search yielded the obituary of the Hovells’ daughter, Anne Hovell Dew, who died in 2008 in St. Petersburg, Fla., on her 71st birthday. The article mentioned Anne’s devout Christian observance, her authoring a book on emotional conflicts and her interest in family reunions. The obituary listed the names of Dew’s husband and six children, and of her siblings and their hometowns. Reached at her Tulsa home on Sunday morning, Hoe, Dew’s sister, evinced surprise. She’d long given up hope of learning about her grandfather’s roots or of locating any kin SEEKING on page 22
politics causes a stir By Cnaan Liphshiz Jewish Telegraph Agency For more than 20 years, American billionaire and World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder has been a driving force behind the revival of Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe. He has financed an array of Jewish educational and cultural activities that have helped breathe vibrancy into long-dormant communities sealed off for decades behind the Iron Curtain. Now, European leaders are charging Lauder with using his fortune in a failed effort to influence two Jewish communal elections – for leadership of the Vienna Jewish community and for the presidency of the European Jewish Congress. The Viennese community has declared Lauder, a former U.S. ambassador to Austria, persona non grata. A spokesman for Lauder denied that Lauder tried to buy the Vienna election and refused to answer questions concerning the EJC. “I don’t know if this is a new pattern for Lauder, but I do know he’s done it twice now – once in Vienna and once during the EJC elections,” Ariel Muzicant, a former Vienna community president, told JTA. Two vice presidents of the World Jewish Congress – Cobi Benatof and Flo Kaufmann – have called on Lauder to step down temporarily from his WJC post until the allegations are investigated. Benatof said if the charges prove to be true, it would constitute a violation of the WJC constitution’s ban on interference in the local politics of individual communities. It’s not clear what Lauder was hoping to gain by influencing either election, both of which were won by candidates that he allegedly was trying to displace. But theories abound. Some say Lauder may have been seeking a counterweight to the influence of EJC President Moshe Kantor, a Russian businessman worth an estimated $2.3 billion. Kantor’s assumption of the EJC presidency in 2007 was part of a broader rise in the influence of Russian billionaires within international Jewish organizations, a movement that has generated tensions with longstanding Jewish leaders from the West. Others speculate that Lauder perceives Kantor as a potential challenger for the WJC presidency. Kantor declined to be interviewed. Still others say Lauder has his eye on the resources of the Vienna community, which has an annual budget of more than $16 million.
Courtesy of Creative Commons
Ronald Lauder, shown in a 2009 photo, is denying accusations that he offered millions of dollars to board members of the the Jewish Community of Vienna in exchange for electing his candidate as president.
But this only raises more questions: Lauder, an heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune, is reported to be worth more than $3 billion and over the years has sunk tens of millions of dollars into his philanthropic ventures in Europe. One thing is certain: Lauder and his associates are saying little. In a statement to JTA, Lauder spokesman Gary Lewi called the Vienna charges “despicable and without any basis in truth.” He did not respond to allegations concerning the EJC. “For some 25 years, Ambassador Lauder has demonstrated through word and deed his support for the Viennese Jewish community,” Lewi said. “It was Ambassador Lauder’s intent that the Jewish community of Vienna decide their own path and vote according to individual conscience and their own best interest.” The row in Austria exploded on Dec. 3 when Oskar Deutsch, president of the Vienna Jewish Community, sent a letter to other European community leaders accusing Lauder of offering $5.8 million to factions of the community’s board if they elected his favored presidential candidate, Martin Engelberg. Deutsch prevailed in the election, nonetheless. After JTA broke the story of Deutsch’s letter, Muzicant came forth with the accusation that Lauder offered money to EJC delegates in exchange for supporting Dr. Richard Prasquier, a French cardiologist and head of the CRIF Jewish umbrella group, for EJC president in elections held Nov. 7. Several sources told JTA that Lauder had lobbied them on behalf of Prasquier prior to the elections.
INTERNATIONAL • 9
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012
International Briefs
At London charity, Orthodox Jews are helping wider community with job placement By Miriam Shaviv Jewish Telegraph Agency
Palestinians prefer Hamas leader Haniyeh to Abbas, poll shows (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) If Palestinians were to vote for their president today, they would elect Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh over Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a recent poll shows. The survey of 1,270 people, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, found that 48 percent of respondents would have voted for Haniyeh while 45 percent backed Abbas. The results differ from similar polls taken last month, before Operation Pillar of Defense, in which 51 percent backed Abbas and 40 percent voted for Haniyeh. It appears that the Palestine Liberation Organization has candidates more popular than its current chairman Mahmoud Abbas. When respondents were asked to choose between Haniyeh and senior PLO member Marwan Barghouti, who INT’L BRIEFS on page 20
LONDON – Shraga Zaltzman has spent years building up his network of business contacts. So when a young man stepped into his London office last month looking for a job, despite having a relatively empty resume, Zaltzman was able to help. Noticing that the man had taken a three-week course in invoice discounting, Zaltzman phoned a senior executive at General Electric. Within three days the man had a meeting and an unpaid internship in their invoicing department. “Now he will have GE on his CV and if he does well, they won’t let him go,” Zaltzman said. “The network is everything.” Zaltzman is an unusual business mentor. Like his six colleagues at TrainE-TraidE, a rapidly growing Jewish charity that helps Jews find employment and build businesses, he is haredi Orthodox. Many of those he serves are not. In Israel, getting haredi Jews into the workplace is a pressing issue for the secular majority, which has grown concerned about the commu-
Courtesy of Daniel Morris photography
A Google representative meeting students at TrainE-TraidE’s career networking event, April 2012.
nity’s drag on the national economy. But in Zaltzman’s organization the situation is often reversed, with the haredi staff shepherding hundreds of secular Jews into employment. “I don’t see it as an irony,” said Zaltzman, 36, the group’s managing director. “I’ve never viewed the Jewish community as ‘us’ versus ‘them.’A significant part of the problem is that people pigeonhole each other too much. If we work together, it doesn’t make any difference.”
JNF Responds to Israel’s Crises Today, While Meeting Israel’s Needs Tomorrow For more than a decade, the people of the Israeli town of Sderot have lived with the reality of constant rocket attacks from Gaza. Life is often at a standstill, especially for the children who are forced to stay cooped p indoors, lled with anxiety and fear, robbed of the chance to simply be kids. Children from southern Israel enjoy a day away from bomb shelters. In 2009, Jewish National Fund (JNF) took action and built a 21,000-square-foot secure indoor playground and community center in Sderot. A place where children can play in safety and escape the stress of living with terror. With the help of donors throughout the U.S., JNF built a $5 million facility that Sderot Mayor David Bouskila has called “a lifeline” for the town, “the best thing that has happened to us.”
This year, when attacks from Gaza began to intensify, reaching as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and putting 3,000,000 Israelis in danger, JNF mobilized immediately to take families out of harm’s way. The Sderot Recreation Center remained open 24 hours a day and JNF provided free transportation and admission to dozens of sites throughout Israel out of rocket range. You may know JNF only as an organization that collects money in Blue Boxes and plants trees in Israel. But over its 111-year history, JNF has evolved into the most dynamic organization meeting Israel’s long-term needs as well as responding in times of crisis.
TrainE was set up in 2006 to provide vocational training specifically to Orthodox women. A registered charity, the organization does not charge for most of its services and the companies that hire its clients are asked only to make a donation. In 2007, founding trustee Mark Morris brought in Zaltzman, a South Africa native who was educated at the prestigious Gateshead and Mir yeshivas who earned his master’s degree in business from
Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. At the time, Zaltzman was working as business development manager for a multinational distributor of telecommunications equipment. TrainE was appealing, he says, because he had always believed that “the highest level of tzedakah, or charity, is helping people to help themselves.” He soon decided to broaden the charity’s target clientele. “The idea that all the need is in the Orthodox community is a misconception,” he said. “People think that all Jews are well connected and affluent, and it’s not true. It’s not all as green and leafy as people think.” Zaltzman aims to help clients find a job in which they can make a living, as opposed to a typical recruitment agency that serves the needs of its business clients. TrainE’s main services include career advice, resume writing and interview skills, arranging job placements and networking opportunities. The organization also runs a student internship program and a business incubation project. In 2011, it served 1,700 clients, up from 730 in 2009. PLACEMENT on page 22
JNF works hard every day to build a prosperous future for the land of Israel and its people. Its mission is a comprehensive one: to improve the quality of life for all Israelis and develop Israel for the next generation. With your help, JNF provides relief during emergencies and: Develops the Negev Desert into an attractive place for thousands of young, modern-day pioneers to live Makes parks, forests, and recreation areas accessible to people with disabilities Connects thousands of American students Farmer Uri Ganot and his family to Israel and their heritage as the single in the Arava Desert. largest provider of Zionist engagement programs in the United States Funds arid-agriculture research and development Conserves and recycles Israel’s precious water resources Your donation to JNF will make a tangible difference in the lives of the people in Israel. We help build tomorrow, today. Join in our effort. JNF.org or 888.JNF.0099.
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10 • ISRAEL
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For American ex-pats in Israel, a home away from home By Deborah Fineblum Raub JointMedia News Service JERUSALEM – “The guy is an animal!” shouts one of the whiteshirted guys from Mir Yeshiva, as he gestures at the helmeted jock on the screen above his head. And coming from this fan, the word “animal” has about it a tone of grudging respect. For these normally studious young men, Jerusalem’s “Mike’s Place” sports bar means Sunday nights away from the Talmud (sorry, Mom and Dad) and, just a few weeks back, away from the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Walking down the steps at Mike’s Place on bustling Jaffa Road, you might as well be in Baltimore, Boston or Boise. “This is our only connection to home,” says Mir student Tuli Tyberg, an 18-year-old a long way from his Brooklyn beginnings. “It’s a great outlet for American guys in yeshiva.”
Courtesy of Deborah Fineblum Raub
Inside "Mike's Place" in Jerusalem.
It was precisely because of this connection to home that, a few weeks ago, when the Gaza conflict was on everyone’s mind in Israel, Mike’s Place felt safe. “During the war it was a little scary and it was kind of nice to come here,” adds
Tyberg’s pal Yechiel Perr who hails from Far Rockaway, N.Y. But not everyone who packs into Mike’s Place on football night is a yeshiva guy. Brooklyn’s Efrayim Goldberg, for instance, was in town visiting his son, who is learning in Israel for the year. “This place is pure nostalgia,” he grins after ordering his burrito. “It’s comforting, and the kind of place you wouldn’t mind your son coming to.” For the young, however, there is one very distinct difference from life back home: in Israel, 18 – not 21 – is the legal drinking age. It’s a privilege that on a recent night was being enjoyed by four friends in Israel for a gap year program in which they do volunteer gigs, take classes, and learn Hebrew. “Coming in here brings me back to America for a few hours,” says Becca Segal of San Diego, 18. “The burgers are good and the French fries are real American ones. They’re not Israeli
chips,” she adds, swooping a specimen through a pool of ketchup and popping it into her mouth. “Since they’ve never been able to order alcohol before, it’s for us to teach them how to drink responsibly,” says Reuben Beiser, who’s ringmaster to the happy hubbub. Beiser, who owns Jerusalem’s Mike’s Place with his general manager Udi Kaniel, is a native of Providence, R.I., who left the U.S. two decades ago as soon as college was behind him. And he never looked back. As the resident sports king, the power rests in his hands to determine which games air on the screens. Sometimes, the wisdom of Solomon is called for when competing groups of fans vie for their teams’ games to be broadcast. “Sorry, I promised the Boston game to that group over there,” Beiser calmly tells one employee who approaches him with a conflicting request. “Maybe next week.” Beiser is also an architect who
continues to work in that field. He will tell you that he certainly didn’t intend to run a kosher sports bar/restaurant (this Jerusalem location is the only one of the six Mike’s Places across Israel to cater to a kosher clientele). But years ago he used to hang out at Mike’s Place’s previous location a few blocks away, and he began to see the value of this “American home away from home” for newly minted Israelis (who still know every word of The Star Spangled Banner), along with the countless American students who come to learn in Israel. After the original building was condemned in 2008, Beiser bought the Jerusalem franchise, using his architectural skills to create a homey, open and distinctly American ambiance in a new locale. Two years later, he swung open Mike’s Place’s doors at the corner of Jaffa Road and Rivlin Street. EX-PATS on page 19
Israel slams EU for Jerusalem conference puts politics aside for technology, entertainment and design targeting construction, underemphasizing Hamas By Judy Lash Balint JointMedia News Service
By Israel Hayom JointMedia News Service Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused the international community of “deafening silence” in response to recent vows by Hamas to fight on until the Jewish state is destroyed, and appeared unmoved by the gathering storm of global condemnation of his government’s plans to continue construction in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim. Netanyahu’s tough words came after the European Union warned Israel of unspecified consequences Monday if it goes through with its construction plans. The EU’s 27 foreign ministers said they were “deeply dismayed” by those plans. “The E1 plan, if implemented, would seriously undermine the prospects of a negotiated resolution of the conflict by jeopardizing the possibility of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and of Jerusalem as the capital of two states,” said the ministers in a joint statement. “It could also entail forced transfer of civilian populations.” After the EU issued its condemnation, Netanyahu spoke to foreign reporters and accused the international community of having double standards, condemning notyet-built communities while standing quiet during a historic visit to the Gaza Strip by Hamas’s exiled leader, Khaled Mashaal. “We are not giving up any inch of Palestine,” Mashaal told a Gaza crowd during his visit. “It will
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman slammed the European Union for condemning Israeli construction and underemphasizing Hamas.
remain Islamic and Arab for us and nobody else. Jihad and armed resistance is the only way. We cannot recognize Israel’s legitimacy.” The EU foreign ministers’ conclusions from the meeting that were published on Monday had in fact condemned Hamas. “The European Union will never stop opposing those who embrace and promote violence as a way to achieve political goals. The EU finds inflammatory statements by Hamas leaders that deny Israel’s right to exist unacceptable,” the EU statement read. However, the condemnation of Hamas appeared at clause No. 9 of 10 points published by the EU and came after a succession of condemnations of Israel for E1 construction, which itself was the reason the foreign ministers had convened. The EU’s Hamas mention also stopped short of calling on the organization to take any action or change its ways. ISRAEL on page 19
JERUSALEM – Jews, Muslims, Arabs, Israelis and Europeans gathered for a daylong conference in Jerusalem on Dec. 10 with no discussion of politics, religion or the Arab-Israeli conflict. Jerusalem played host to its second TEDx event during Hanukkah as 500 people filled the art deco auditorium of the YMCA building to listen to a diverse array of speakers in the signature style of the popular TED conferences: “ideas worth spreading.” Started as a four-day conference in California in the late 1980s, the annual TED (technology, entertainment and design) event in the U.S. features a steep registration fee and world-renowned speakers like Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson and Al Gore. In recent years, TED organizers started granting licenses to allow local independent groups to organize events called TEDx incorporating the TED format, where speakers present well-crafted talks or performances with an 18-minute limit. Jerusalem TEDx organizers chose a lineup of local and international presenters “with original and exceptional ideas who feel connected to Jerusalem,” booked the politically neutral YMCA facility, and charged a relatively reasonable $50 registration fee. Five of the 16 presenters were Arabs; two speakers were from abroad. Most of the Israeli Jewish presenters chose to deliver their talks in English, while the Arabs spoke in Arabic, as the mixed audi-
Courtesy of Judy Lash Balint
Michal Ansky, a food journalist and television presenter, speaks at the Dec. 10 TEDx conference in Jerusalem.
ence fumbled with the simultaneous translation equipment. Only two of the presentations dealt directly with Jerusalem. Haneen Magadlh, a young social worker who works in eastern Jerusalem spoke about her relationship with a young Arab cancer patient, while Yakir Segev, a cofounder of the Ein Prat Young Leadership Academy and a member of the Jerusalem City Council addressed the topic “Jerusalem and me: how changing the city can change the world, and how it changed me.” For some audience members, the lack of specific Jerusalem content was surprising. Lisa Barkan is a community organizer and coordinator of the Jerusalem Village project that helps young newcomers build community and networks in Jerusalem. Barkan reflected that the TEDx Jerusalem program seemed to be “more about using Jerusalem as a global platform. It’s about bringing ideas from the outside to us in Jerusalem.” “It definitely helps put Jerusalem
on the global map,” she acknowledged. Saul Singer, co-author of the best-selling Start Up Nation, was attending his first TEDx conference. “This is such a natural place for something like this,” Singer told JNS. “The basic story behind the Start Up Nation is creative energy and there’s so much of that here,” he said. “It’s almost endless what there is to offer.” One of the goals of TEDx Jerusalem organizers is to put Jerusalem on the map as an innovative, happening city. Beto Maya, a member of the production team, says the event steers clear of politics and religion, and tries to connect people via creative ideas. “The multiplicity of cultures in Jerusalem makes us a micro-cosmos of Israeli society so it’s an ideal place for hosting something like this.” Many Jerusalem attendees are fans of TED and were excited to have the conference on their doorstep. Ruth Cohen, a London native who is currently a project manager at Tower Vision Ltd, an Israeli start-up that builds cellular towers in India, is a longtime TED devotee who appreciated the diversity of Jerusalem TEDx presenters. “It’s important to have dialogue,” she noted. While the last TEDx Jerusalem was a small event held at Hebrew University in 2010, the 2012 conference was a full-blown production that included artistic performance by several renowned Israeli arts groups interspersed with the short talks.
SOCIAL LIFE • 11
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chanukah Harry
Camille Ava Berge
BIRTH BIRTH Chanukah Harry visits the Bagel Man over the holiday.
hana and Scotty Berge of Cincinnati are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Camille Ava on Nov. 15, 2012. Camille is the granddaughter of Lorie Kleiner Eckert and Stefan Eckert of Cincinnati and Cindy and Rick Berge of Cincinnati. Camille’s older sisters, Tillie and Lila, are extremely excited to have a baby sister!
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Jon Harvey and Toria Perrin
ENGAGEMENT on and Bonnie Ullner and Dan Perrin are pleased to formally announce the engagement of their daughter, Toria Layn Perrin, to Jonathon Scott Harvey, son of Randy and Kim Harvey of Troy, Ohio. Jon proposed to Toria on New Years Eve, and they plan to wed on July 27, 2013. Toria is currently obtaining her graduate degree in early childhood
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education at Xavier University, and Jon is in Client Services at GE Capital Retail Finance in Kettering, Ohio. Toria is the granddaughter of Bob and Sue Juran of Cincinnati and Dr. Jane and the late Dr. Eugene Perrin of Huntington Woods, Mich. Jon is the grandson of Ruth Herron and the late Ken Harvey and the late Roger Russell and Iva Miller, all of Troy, Ohio.
Jake Paul (Far left)
ACHIEVEMENT ina and Edward Paul are very proud to announce that their son Jake, who is a senior at Sycamore High School, recently competed for and won a spot on the USA Men’s Open Gymnastics Team, which will compete July 2013 at the 19th Maccabiah Games in Israel. The Maccabiah games are considered the “Jewish Olympics”, as they occur every four years. There is only one American team competing, which is comprised of six men drawn from all over the U.S. There are 50 countries that are eligible to send teams to the Maccabiah Games, and the gymnasts may range in age from 18-35. The Opening Ceremony is July 18, 2013, and the Games continue until August 1. Over 8,000 of the best Jewish athletes in the world will be competing at this international event.
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14 • DINING OUT
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Bella Luna — true to name and form By Michael Sawan Assistant Editor What makes a beautiful moon? The brighter it is, the blacker the sky around it and the more sympathetic the stars, that’s what. Such a moon is a large bright blot, pasted up against a black that is simply not possible on earth, a spectacle in the truest sense. A movie can be bought on DVD, a performer can be spotted at the airport. But the moon, that will remain elusive except by the right sight in the sky. For these reasons, Bella Luna is very appropriately named. It is a full moon of a restaurant, a spectacle from the inside out. The walls are painted bright red, the ceiling deep purple and a potentially countless number of knick-knacks and photos decorate its walls. At this time of year you can imagine what many of these decorations are but then there are the surprising ones, like historical documents from the family history of the owners of Bella Luna, Harry and Gay Stephens. This attachment to family roots is important at the restaurant, as manager Andrea Smith told me: “There is a very strong family history here that runs throughout the menu and the wine list.” When I asked for elaboration, she said “A lot of the recipes have been passed down through Harry and Gay’s grandparents.” The wine list is selected by Harry Stephens himself and he even maintains a rotating menu of specials based on the different regions of Italy: North at the beginning of the year, South by the end. To maintain this “He does a lot of research,” Smith adds. “A LOT of research. It’s something he takes very seriously, to make it true to that region.” This all gives Bella Luna a broadly stricken, impressive atmosphere. Yet the restaurant is also capable of subtlety, as can be seen by the clients it maintains. “We try to give a very personal touch to everything we do, and go above and beyond... We have a lot of regulars, a lot of people we’ve made friends with.” There’s even a dependable romantic undercurrent: “Since we’re a very date oriented restaurant, people come for first dates, anniversaries, special events, and so we get to watch that relationship grow.” And, like all the most personable restaurants,
Courtesy of Michael Sawan
(Clockwise) The outside of Bella Luna; Bella Luna’s bar, featuring an impressive selection of wines; Bread baked in-house, served warm with garlic butter; The Eggplant Lasagna; The dessert tray, good luck turning it down; Three servers at Bella Luna; The private room at Bella Luna, available for groups.
“We have a very strong, hands-on owner. When he’s here he talks to every table, introduces himself and welcomes them.” The food, too, combines the stunning and the subtle. I began my meal with the Bella Luna salad. Let me tell you – and this is a first for me – the salad looked so good that I forgot to take a picture of it until it was half gone. I’m sincerely sorry about that, but let it stand as a testament! It looked GOOD, featuring field greens, roasted red peppers, figs, gorgonzola and honey-balsamic vinaigrette. This dressing was probably the main reason I forgot my photography duty. It was quite viscous, essentially at the point of gelatin. I puzzled over this, used my knife to spread it on my salad, then tossed it all for a second. A good definition of “genius” is doing something common in an
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uncommon way. Well, you can’t get more common than vinaigrette and Bella Luna’s take is refreshingly fresh, totally new to me. The dressing was sweetly subtle, encapsulating the romantic side of the restaurant. The gorgonzola, greatly softened by the honey, made ripples in the flavor, slight spikes in taste. The figs were another great sweetness, and the texture was very much appreciated, breaking up the potential monotony of leaves and cheese. I then turned my attention to the bread, which was of course fabulous. Baked in-house, it had a buttery, garlic, oregano set of tastes and the consistency of a very light muffin. With the provided garlic butter there had been another home run, albeit with much less subtlety. There was even some baguette type bread in the basket,
with an inherent butteriness that was very pleasing for dipping into the olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette provided with the bread. The full splendor of Bella Luna, the entirely luminous, all out spectacle, came with the Eggplant Lasagna. Noted as an “Award Winning Dish” on the menu, the Eggplant Parmesan deserved it. The little details kept it well directed: well balanced marinara, tenderly cooked eggplant and zucchini. Then there were the details that were impossible to miss, a frozen full moon in an empty sky: the mozzarella cheese flowed freely and evenly, giving a decadently creamy, smooth taste with every bite. The provolone did the same, but with a milder, drier taste that was much appreciated amongst such a cast of powerful forces. By the time the dessert tray
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came out I knew I was in trouble. Featuring cannoli, tiramisu, chocolate cake and more, most of them made in-house, I felt obligated to try SOMETHING. But my stomach protested immediately, I couldn’t have my cake and eat it, too, so I had to pass. But I did nab a picture, hopefully making up for my neglect in the salad section. You would not be misguided to bring the family to Bella Luna. Or fiance! Or significant other! This is a restaurant that moves to impress, both with scope and subtlety. Their hours are Sunday and Tuesday, 4:30 – 9 p.m.; Wednesday and Thursday, 4:30 – 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 4:30 – 11 p.m. Bella Luna 4632 Eastern Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45226 (513) 871-5862
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DINING OUT • 15
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16 • OPINION
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The time of your life By Rabbi Avi Shafran Contributing Columnist Similar advertisements abound, but this one took the cake. I’ve always been simultaneously amused and saddened by pitches for “high-end timepieces,” more accurately known as overpriced wristwatches. Amused, because the most intricate Swiss movements consisting of scores, if not hundreds, of near-microscopic moving parts are no better (and often worse) at keeping accurate time than simple quartz or digital watches available for less than a thousandth the price. And saddened, by the thought that there are actually people out there whose self-image is so fragile (and whose understanding of money’s worth is so distorted) that they actually waste large amounts of cash for such status symbols.
What’s interesting here is the appeal to the fantasy, as the ad copy puts it, of setting time “to the tempo of your desires.” Of “suspend[ing] time” until you allow it to “resume its march.” Enter now, in the ad I saw, the French luxury goods house Hermès. It is presenting marks – pardon, discerning fashion-conscious folks – with the opportunity to purchase a truly revolutionary timepiece, one that can… make time stand still. This is not a joke, or at least it’s not being presented inaccurately. The ad copy, in its entirety, reads: La montre Hermès reinvents time and set it to the tempo of your desires. Press on the pushbutton and suspend time. Beneath the dial, time continues to run within the heart of the mechanism. Another push on the button sets the date and hands running again. Time resumes its march, and you the course of your day. This exclusive Hermès Calibre is a world première. In other words, this amazing watch, “Le Temps Suspendu,” allows its wearer to pretend that time has ground to a halt (or that his watch is broken). Now of course, the owner of so well-adorned a
wrist could as easily opt to just not look at his watch and imagine the same. But let’s not rain on this magical thinking (particularly since the ad says nothing about the timepiece being waterproof). And, perhaps most amazing of all, this wondrous machine can be yours for a mere $17,150. (The steel version, that is. The pink gold one will set you back $36,200.) Consumer gullibility and the sometimes lack of correspondence between wealth and mental acuity are easy targets. What’s interesting here is the appeal to the fantasy, as the ad copy puts it, of setting time “to the tempo of your desires.” Of “suspend[ing] time” until you allow it to “resume its march.” Now there is nothing wrong with taking time to relax and let what one is doing momentarily fade out of focus (at least if one isn’t driving or operating heavy machinery). Research has even indicated that doing so occasionally not only does not harm productivity but actually boosts it. No less an authority than Rashi, at the very beginning of Sefer Vayikra [Leviticus] (1:1), notes the importance of allowing “revach bein had’veikim” – “space” for reflection between responsibilities. For that matter, taking even a longer period of time “off” to relieve the toll taken by relentless routine, is not a wrong thing. In fact, there are times when it is precisely the right thing. But all such digressions, at least from a Jewish perspective, should be conscious utilizations of time, not some imagining that time has been put on hold. King Solomon tells us Bechol drachecha da’ehu – “In all your paths, acknowledge Him” (Mishlei [Psalms] 3:6). What that means, works of Jewish mussar, or ethical philosophy, explain, is that undertaking even mundane actions with the intent to have them indirectly serve a higher purpose renders them holy. One can retire for the night with the sole thought “I’m bushed” or with an attendant one: “By going to sleep, I will better be able, because of the rejuvenation afforded me, to more energetically do meaningful things tomorrow.” One can sublimate most anything, from eating to bathing to vacationing, from self-serving acts to Creator-serving ones. But that is qualitatively different from imagining that to pretend that time is standing still is to somehow accomplish that effect. Every moment of life – whether used to actually do good or to better prepare oneself for doing good – counts, and presents itself to each of us but once. And it’s self-deluding, even dangerous, to imagine that actually wasting time, setting it “to the tempo of your desires,” represents some sort of achievement. Because in the end, as even the ad is forced to acknowledge, “beneath the dial, time continues to run…”
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Do you have something to say? E-mail your letter to editor@americanisraelite.com
Dear Editor, The US is preparing to give Egypt 20 F-16 fighter jets. Morsi is proving to be no better than and maybe even worse than Mubarak. Mubarak at least kept the peace with Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood calls for the defeat of Israel and Morsi’s power base is the Brotherhood. Who do you think Egypt would use these jets against – Iran, Israel? Egypt has been cozying up to Iran lately. Several weeks ago Obama threatened Abbas with consequences if he pursued his UN agenda. Well, Abbas pursued and succeeded with his agenda at the UN. I have not heard anything from this administration since. Why should any foreign leader take Obama seriously; he is obviously all talk and no action – a paper tiger. Or, he really does not care. As a super power, the US may not be well liked by some, but we have everyone’s respect. We are fast losing our super power status. As an also ran country we will still not be well liked by some, and, in addition we can
expect to be pushed around a lot, possibly even dictated to. Sincerely, Jerome C. Liner Cincinnati, OH Dear Editor, AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organization, praised Germany’s Parliament for approving a law, by a vote of 434 to 100, with 46 abstentions, to allow circumcision for religious reasons. The Bundestag action is a welcome affirmation of Germany’s commitment to religious freedom. Circumcision is critical to Jewish and Muslim religious life. The German parliament’s action should put to rest allegations that Jewish and Muslim religious upbringing violates children’s rights and endangers their welfare. Global controversy on the legal and medical consequences of circumcision followed a prolonged public debate after a local German court in Cologne ruled in June that circumcision is a criminally liable procedure. AJC Berlin’s report, “Facts
and Myths about the Circumcision Controversy,” exposed significant distortions, fallacies and prejudices in claims made by anti-circumcision activists about alleged medical dangers of male circumcision. Chancellor Angela Merkel quoted directly from the AJC Berlin report, and mentioned Director Deidre Berger by name, when speaking about the circumcision controversy during a recent awards ceremony at the Berlin Jewish Community. Berger said the claim that circumcision causes permanent psychological and physical damage is patently absurd, and praised the new German legislation, which should once and for all consign the arguments of circumcision opponents to the “dustbin of history.” Berger added, “If there is something to be learned from the circumcision debate, it is that religious freedom and diversity are core principles of a vibrant democracy.” Sincerely, Michael A. Safdi, M.D. President, AJC Cincinnati Regional Office
What message does Obama’s potential Cabinet send to Israel? By Richard Baehr JointMedia News Service There are two critical foreign policy-related Cabinet positions, and there will soon be new names offered by President Barack Obama to fill both roles. If Obama picks former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense and current Massachusetts Senator John Kerry for Secretary of State, what message is he sending Israel? For Secretary of State, Kerry’s nomination seems likely. Kerry has chaired the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee and has very good relations with Republican Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Both Kerry and McCain are, of course, failed former presidential candidates and Vietnam veterans. With regard to Israel, Kerry is a conventional Democrat. When he ran for president, his campaign issued statements suggesting he was Israel’s best friend in Washington, an exaggeration to be sure, but par for the course for a presidential nominee. More problematic has been Kerry’s consistently bad judgment as a senator on foreign policy mat-
ters, and earlier in his anti-war days. In a lengthy interview with Charlie Rose in 2011 on the subject of U.S.-Israel relations, Kerry stayed on script as far as Obama’s support for Israel (strong), the president’s relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu (good), the need for a two-state solution, how opposition to Israeli settlements in the West Bank has been a constant theme for several U.S presidents, how everyone knows what a final stage deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians would look like (the Clinton parameters from 2000), how demographic changes may force Israel’s hand (meaning of course that Israel is not now doing enough to promote peace), and how there is a closing window for successful peace talks to occur. This litany of conventional wisdom is repeated so often by so many people in the foreign policy establishment that most of them may actually think it is true. Kerry added one personal touch in the Charlie Rose interview, a reflection of his many visits to and warm relations with Syrian dictator
Bashar al-Assad. Other than Vogue Magazine editor Ann Wintour (herself a potential pick for U.S Ambassador to Britain or France), it is safe to say that no one has invested more than Kerry in the nonsense of Assad’s desire to reform Syria and make peace with Israel (achievable if only Israel agreed to return the Golan). Now, following the slaughter of tens of thousands of Syrians by Assad in a desperate attempt to stay in power, Kerry has gone quiet on the Syrian front. Kerry may be uninspiring and has often been wrong on many matters, but the J Street crowd in the United States is not overly enthused with him, because they do not think he has been tough enough in attacking Israel over its settlements. The rumored pick for Secretary of Defense, former Republican senator Hagel, is a different story entirely. Hagel has drawn enthusiastic praise and support for “not being a doormat for the ‘Israel Lobby,’” a comment offered by Steven Walt, a co-author of the mendacious book “The Israel Lobby.” MESSAGE on page 19
JEWISH LIFE • 17
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012
Now, let us turn to the most dominant and influential of the other brothers, Judah. Yes, he probably prevented Joseph’s life from ending in a deadly, deserted pit, but he was ultimately directly responsible for Joseph’s separation from the family; it was his idea to sell him into Egyptian serfdom. This story continues with the subsequent deterioration of Judah, how he continues to move further and further away from brotherly love and unification. “And it happened at that time [after the sale] that Judah went down [and away] from his brothers...” (Gen. 38:1). Judah takes a Canaanite woman to wife (against the Abrahamic command), with whom he fathers three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah. Er marries Tamar, but dies without leaving progeny. When a man dies without leaving an heir, his brother marries the widow, providing her with financial security, and giving her a child who will bear the name and receive the inheritance of the deceased brother. Onan, however, selfishly refuses to provide his brother with continuity, withholding his seed from her. When Onan also dies without progeny, Judah refuses to give Tamar his third son, Shelah, in levirate marriage, giving as his reason that Shelah is too young. Judah himself is now left without an heir, having raised sons who lack sibling responsibility. This is hardly the way to continue the Abrahamic covenant. Tamar, anxious to continue Judah’s family line and produce offspring for her deceased husbands, poses as a harlot, seduces Judah, and becomes impregnated by him. When the widowed Tamar is seen to be pregnant, she is about to be killed. Judah takes responsibility, declaring, “She is more righteous than I” – because she understood better than I sibling and familial responsibility. Twin sons are born, one of whom, Perez, is the ancestor of Boaz who, together with Ruth, will be the grandparents of David, progenitor of the Messiah. When Judah thought Tamar was a prostitute, he had given her a pledge of responsibility: his signet, his cloak and his staff (eravon, as in
arev, co-signer). When she returned these to him, he finally recognized his familial responsibility to her, and to his family and to his continuity. When Jacob is frightened of sending Benjamin to the Grand Vizier, a chastened Judah declares, “I shall personally be his guarantor,” his arev (Gen. 43:9). And when the Grand Vizier hears that Judah is ready to stand in as a slave instead of Benjamin in order to save his father the grief of losing yet another son of Rachel, he realizes how far Judah has come. Familial unity can only be achieved when familial love demands mutual responsibility one for the other, each truly acting as his brother’s keeper. Now Joseph can be revealed, ready for the family to heal and unite behind the one brother ready to bear co-signership responsibility for the welfare of each of his siblings.
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T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: VAYIGASH (BRAISHITH 44:18—47:27) 1. Who was in the room when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers? a.) Joseph and his brothers b.) Only Joseph and Judah c.) The whole court with Joseph and his brothers 2. What was Pharaoh's reaction to Joseph’s reunion with his brothers? a.) Torah does not say b.) Happy c.) Indifferent 3. What was the brothers reaction to reuniting with Joseph? He also wanted them to supervise his cattle. Joseph brought the weakest of his brothers (47:2) because he feared Pharaoh would take them into this army. Rashi 5. B 47:19
EFRAT, Israel – “For your servant took responsibility for the youth... Now let your servant remain as a servant instead of the youth [Benjamin] to my lord...” (Genesis 44:32,33). In his perfectly crafted and emotionally stirring speech before the “Grand Vizier” of Egypt, Judah manages to move his powerful “adversary” to the point of revealing who he really is and so repairing the fractured family of Jacob. It is precisely this function – uniting the people of Israel – which is the most important criterion for the leader of the emerging nation, who will stand as prototype for King Messiah. After all, Israel will never be able to unite the world unless it first unites itself. Unless we understand this crucial element of Jewish leadership, we will never understand why the patriarch Jacob sent his beloved son Joseph into the “lion’s den” to seek “the welfare of his brothers.” Although he had pronounced Joseph heir apparent by presenting him with the striped cloak of many colors – indeed, the very symbol of a single entity which combines and unites within itself many different hues, attitudes and ideas – Jacob was painfully aware of the deep divide within the family engendered by Joseph’s arrogance and dreams of domination. Hence, Jacob sends Joseph as an agent (shaliah) “to look after the peace of your brothers” (Genesis 37:13, 14) – to unite them through his concern for their welfare. In the very next verse, an anonymous passerby asks Joseph: “What are you searching for?” He responds, “It is my brothers [or brotherliness, sibling harmony] for whom I am searching.” But alas, Joseph’s agency (shlihut) is not sufficient to mend the break in the family. The Talmudic sages teach us that “the agent of an individual is like the person on whose behalf he undertakes the mission” (Shulhan Aruch, Hoshen Mishpat, 183, 1), which means that he is also limited by his “sender”; he cannot transcend the limitations of his sender. And since it was Jacob who set the stage for the division by so blatantly expressing his favoritism, Joseph’s mission fails; the chosen brother becomes the cast-out brother, first in a pit and then in the exile of Egyptian slavery.
And since it was Jacob who set the stage for the division by so blatantly expressing his favoritism, Joseph’s mission fails; the chosen brother becomes the cast-out brother, first in a pit and then in the exile of Egyptian slavery
a.) Happiness b.) Indifference c.) Shock and embarrassment 4. What was Pharaoh's reaction to Jacob and his family moving to Egypt? a.) Tried to find work for them b.) Hebrews should live in Goshen c.) Tried to make them slaves 5. How did the Egyptians react to the famine? a.) Riot b.) Sell their land and themselves to Pharaoh c.) Migrated to other countries for food
and now he realized he was from a distinguished family. Ramban 3. C 45:3 They realized that Joseph's dreams of leadership were divinely inspired and they should not have hated him. Ramban 4. A,B 47:2-6 Pharaoh let them stay in Goshen.
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT VAYIGASH GENESIS 44:18 - 47:27
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
ANSWERS 1. A 45:1 Joseph did not want to embarrass his brothers in front of the Egyptians when he revealed his identity to them. Rashi 2. B 45:16 Pharaoh was happy because he thought Joseph was a slave who became a ruler
Sedra of the Week
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By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist HOLIDAY TIME: CHINESE AND A MOVIE, ANYONE? Opening on Friday, Dec. 21, is “This is 40,” a sort-of-sequel to “Knocked-Up,” the huge 2007 comedy hit. Like “Knocked-Up,” this film was written by and directed by JUDD APATOW, 45. “Knocked-Up” starred Katherine Heigl and SETH ROGEN, 30, as a mis-matched couple who eventually bond because of Heigl’s unplanned pregnancy. “40” centers on the other couple in that film – Debbie (Heigl’s character’s sister; played by Leslie Mann) and Pete, Debbie’s husband (played by PAUL RUDD, 43.) Mann, who isn’t Jewish, is Apatow’s real-life wife. Their real-life daughters, MAUDE APATOW, 14, and IRIS APATOW, 9, appeared in “KnockedUp” as Debbie and Pete’s daughters and they reprise their roles in “40.” Actually, their roles are greatly expanded in the sequel. Maude Apatow, by the way, is something of a celebrity in her own right. As noted in a long profile of her last summer in the NY Times – her witty twitter feed has over 100,000 followers. (My educated guess is that the Apatow siblings are being raised secular). “40,” like most other Apatow films, is a mixture of pathos and humor (sometimes quite risqué). The pathos mostly concerns the delicate balance between Pete and Debbie as they try to hold their marriage together in the face of the pressures of everyday life, plus some financial problems at Pete’s record company. The supporting cast includes ALBERT BROOKS, 65, as Pete’s father; LENA DUNHAM, 26, (“Girls”) as an employee of Pete’s; and ROBERT SMIGEL, 52, as Barry, Pete’s friend. JASON SEGEL, 32, who appeared in “Knocked-Up” as a Jewish friend of Rogen who is infatuated with Debbie, re-appears in “40” as Debbie’s personal trainer and he still is “into her.” Opening on Tuesday, Dec. 25, are “Les Misérables” and “Parental Guidance.” The former is a film adaptation of the enormous musical stage hit based on the famous Victor Hugo novel. The original French musical was written by two French Jews (CLAUDE-MICHEL SCHONBERG, 67, music; and ALAIN BOUBIL, 72; lyrics) and the English lyric is by HERBERT KRETZMER, 87, a SouthAfrican born, English Jew. The film stars Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried and Hugh Jackman. SACHA BARON
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COHEN, 41, has a supporting role (Monsieur Thénardier, a thief). Last September, Hathaway, 30, wed her boyfriend of three years, actor and jewelry designer ADAM SHULMAN, 31. Initial reports described it as a “Jewish wedding.” A later “People” magazine report said that a priest and a rabbi co-officiated. (If true, it was almost certainly an Episcopal priest. Hathaway, who has a gay brother, called herself a nondenominational Christian a couple of years ago. She briefly attended the Episcopal Church with her family after they left the Catholic Church because of its position on gays.) I was a bit surprised about the priest at the wedding because I had a “gut” feeling that Hathaway might “join the tribe.” Little things led to this feeling, but I was wrong. I’m hoping that “Parental Guidance” is above sit-com quality. The “official” plot blurb says: “Grandfather Artie (BILLY CRYSTAL, 64), who is accustomed to calling the shots, meets his match when he and his eagerto-please wife Diane (BETTE MIDLER, 67) agree to babysit their three grandkids when their type-A parents go to work. But when 21st century problems collide with Artie and Diane’s old school methods – they learn that bending – and not holding your ground – binds a family together.” Tom Everett Scott and Marisa Tomei play the parents of the grandkids. One of the grandkids (“Turner Simmons”) is played by JOSHUA RUSH, 10, a “wunderkind” child actor who did a TV commercial at 10 months and has been working steadily since. A Jewish website recently asked him how he celebrates Hanukkah and he replied: “We light candles every night and eat Dad’s delicious homemade brisket!” KENNEDY CENTER HONORS FOR “THE GRADUATE” The Kennedy Center Honors, for lifetime excellence in the arts, were awarded on Dec. 2. On Wednesday, Dec. 26, at 9PM, CBS will broadcast a film of the awards ceremony. The award winners this year are: the members of the rock group Led Zeppelin; blues guitarist Buddy Guy; comedian David Letterman; ballerina Natalia Makarova; and two-time best actor Oscar winner DUSTIN HOFFMAN, 75. Asked on the red carpet how he was feeling, Hoffman said: “My wife [attorney LISA GOTTSEGEN HOFFMAN, 58] keeps reminding me that when I say, ‘Pretty good – I am a nominee,’ she says ‘No, you are an honoree.’ So it is spectacular.”
FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO The distance to the nearest star had been ascertained. It was the achievement of the illustrious Bessel. To reckon the distance of that star in miles would only bewilder. We might assume another unit, namely, the velocity of light. In eight minutes light rushes from the sun. From the highest fixed star it comes not in less than ten years, and would require thousands to cross our galaxy. Employing this standard of measure, the lecturer sets forth, in a way we have not space to report, the vast extent and wonderful duration of God’s works, and their probable unity as one unspeakably grand system with a common center. On this point of a common center for all creation there might be two opinions: either the whole revolves about a common center of gravity, a mere geometrical point; or round some wondrous body or mass sufficient to sway the whole into harmony; the only immovable thing that is – of magnitude past utterance, unimaginable, a boundless orb surpassing in its own stupendous solidity all the firmaments of immensity together rolled – a region of God born resplendence, of light inaccessible and full of glory; the heaven of heavens, the home of light, the holy of holies, the throne and the sanctuary of the ineffable I AM! – December 26, 1862
125 Y EARS A GO Mr. Albert Goldsmith, of Avondale, three weeks ago submitted to the very painful operation of having his right leg amputated. He bore the intense suffering with great fortitude; at no time during his illness did his good humor leave him. This buoyed up the expectations of his wife and numerous friends, and is no doubt making a marked improvement upon Mr. Goldsmith. He is now able to sit up in his bed and make himself, as ever, agreeable to his many friends. Mr. Goldsmith will soon be out again attending personally to his business. – December 23, 1887
100 Y EARS A GO On Thursday morning, December 5, just as the day was dawning, the Angel of Death entered the home of A.S. Cohen and bore away with him the beautiful life that was enshrined in his beloved wife, Betsey Lang Cohen. Though she had been seriously ill for three weeks, she had shown such marked signs of improvement that those who were near and
dear to her felt that her life would be spared. But contrary to human vision, the Divine summons came and she peacefully passed away. Mr. Stanely Freidberg and Miss Rosalie, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Marion S. Bloom, were married at the Mansion, Walnut Hills, Wednesday evening. Dr. Philipson officiated. – December 19, 1912
75 Y EARS A GO Mrs. Dennison Duble, dramatic artist, 2909 Utopia Place, Hyde Park, recently entertained the Council of Jewish Women. Mrs. Sigmund Strauss was accompanist. Mrs. Duble is an officer in the Drama Circle of the Cincinnati Women’s Club, member of the Motion Picture Council and past president of the Schuster-Martin Alumnai Association. Mrs. Duble recently presented Madame Chernoff at the Hotel Sinton in the Charm School conducted by the Cincinnati Enquirer. She studied under Rachel Butler in dance and under W. Sheroff in Dramatic Arts in the East. Dancing pupils of Virginia and Christeen Garrett and dramatic pupils of Christine Klein presented a benefit performance Sunday, Dec. 19, at St. Bernard School, under the auspices of the St. Bernard Civic Club. The pupils will present a program at Wise Center, Thursday, Dec. 23, for the National Home for Jewish Children. – December 23, 1937
50 Y EARS A GO Receipt in Cincinnati last week of one of the largest shipments of unmounted diamonds ever made from Israel to a local firm highlights the tremendous growth of Israel’s diamond export trade, according to Victor Youkilis, president of Victor Jewels. The company is one of the midwest’s largest importers and manufacturers of diamonds and better jewelry items. “Diamonds are Israel’s largest export, according to figures just supplied us by the Israeli Consulate in Chicago,” Mr. Youkilis said. “Diamonds also top the list of exports from Israel to the United States, and today Israel ranks second only to Belgium in production of polished diamonds.” Mr. Youkilis attributed the rapid growth of Israel’s diamond industry to an agreement reached in early 1962 between the Diamond Syndicate of London, which controls most of the world’s
diamond output, and Israeli diamond manufacturers. Mr. Youkilis said diamonds provide employment for 6,000 workers, apart from dealers and merchants. – December 20, 1962
25 Y EARS A GO On the third day of Chanukah – Friday, Dec. 18 – candles burned for 41 minutes on a five-foot Chabad menorah set up on Fountain Square. Preceded by a crush of print and electronic reporters, Rabbi Sholom Kalmanson conducted a brief noontime ceremony under the watchful eyes of four Cincinnati police officers, City Councilman J. Kenneth Blackwell, holiday strollers and two skinheads. The city permit for the square’s use was for 30 minutes, but Chabad’s presence continued a bit longer because prevailing winds refused to extinguish the four flames as anticipated. After the ceremony, Chabad House members distributed latkes and a packet containing a dreidel, a sheet metal Chanukah menorah made in Taiwan and a package of candles to onlookers. – December 24, 1987
10 Y EARS A GO Kim and Gary Heiman hosted parents of Yavneh’s fourth through eighth grade students at their Amberley Village home Dec. 15 for a discussion led by Dr. Claudia Hoffmann, child psychologist. In her program, entitled “Acute Adolescence 101,” Hoffmann noted that the adolescent period, which includes ages 10-19, marks a period of transition between childhood and adulthood. Parents are quick to take note of every change and accomplishment in their infant and toddler, she said, but they need to realize that “more than any other stage of life, except the fetal/neonatal period, adolescence is a time of substantial physical growth and change.” Yavneh alumni Jared Goldfarb ‘01 and Danielle Heiman ‘01 participated in the panel discussion following Hoffmann’s address. Yavneh parents Michael Fisher, Jon Isaacsohn and Claire Lee also participated in the panel, offering the “parent perspective.” The following Yavneh families also opened their homes to host parent gatherings: Amy and Michael Pescovitz, Tara and Ross Vigran, Donna and Egal Ziv, Andrea and Michael Heines, Stacey and David Fisher, and Vicky and Dan Holthaus. – December 26, 2002
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012
CLASSIFIEDS • 19
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS Access (513) 373-0300 • jypaccess.org Big Brothers/Big Sisters Assoc. (513) 761-3200 • bigbrobigsis.org Camp Ashreinu (513) 702-1513 Camp at the J (513) 722-7258 • mayersonjcc.org Camp Chabad (513) 731-5111 • campchabad.org Camp Livingston (513) 793-5554 • camplivingston.com Cedar Village (513) 754-3100 • cedarvillage.org Chevra Kadisha (513) 396-6426 Cincinnati Community Kollel (513) 631-1118 • kollel.shul.net Cincinnati Community Mikveh (513) 351-0609 • cincinnatimikveh.org Eruv Hotline (513) 351-3788 Fusion Family (513) 703-3343 • fusionnati.org Halom House (513) 791-2912 • halomhouse.com Hillel Jewish Student Center (Miami) (513) 523-5190 • muhillel.org Hillel Jewish Student Center (UC) (513) 221-6728 • hillelcincinnati.org Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati 513-961-0178 • jcemcin.org Jewish Community Center (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org Jewish Community Relations Council (513) 985-1501 Jewish Family Service (513) 469-1188 • jfscinti.org Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (513) 985-1500 • shalomcincy.org Jewish Foundation (513) 214-1200 Jewish Information Network (513) 985-1514 Jewish Vocational Service (513) 985-0515 • jvscinti.org Kesher (513) 766-3348 Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund (513) 793-2556 Shalom Family (513) 703-3343 • myshalomfamily.org The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education (513) 487-3055 • holocaustandhumanity.org Vaad Hoier (513) 731-4671 Workum Fund (513) 899-1836 • workum.org YPs at the JCC (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org
CONGREGATIONS Adath Israel Congregation (513) 793-1800 • adath-israel.org Beit Chaverim (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Beth Israel Congregation (513) 868-2049 • bethisraelcongregation.net Congregation Beth Adam (513) 985-0400 • bethadam.org Congregation B’nai Tikvah (513) 759-5356 • bnai-tikvah.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
EDUCATION Chai Tots Early Childhood Center (513) 234.0600 • chaitots.com Chabad Blue Ash (513) 793-5200 • chabadba.com Cincinnati Hebrew Day School (513) 351-7777 • chds.shul.net HUC-JIR (513) 221-1875 • huc.edu JCC Early Childhood School (513) 793-2122 • mayersonjcc.org Kehilla - School for Creative Jewish Education (513) 489-3399 • kehilla-cincy.com Mercaz High School (513) 792-5082 x104 • mercazhs.org Kulanu (Reform Jewish High School) 513-262-8849 • kulanucincy.org Regional Institute Torah & Secular Studies (513) 631-0083 Rockwern Academy (513) 984-3770 • rockwernacademy.org Sarah’s Place (513) 531-3151 • sarahsplacecincy.com
ORGANIZATIONS American Jewish Committee (513) 621-4020 • ajc.org American Friends of Magen David Adom (513) 521-1197 • afmda.org B’nai B’rith (513) 984-1999 BBYO (513) 722-7244 Hadassah (513) 821-6157 • cincinnati.hadassah.org Jewish Discovery Center (513) 234.0777 • jdiscovery.com Jewish National Fund (513) 794-1300 • jnf.org Jewish War Veterans (513) 204-5594 • jwv.org NA’AMAT (513) 984-3805 • naamat.org National Council of Jewish Women (513) 891-9583 • ncjw.org State of Israel Bonds (513) 793-4440 • israelbonds.com Women’s American ORT (513) 985-1512 • ortamerica.org.org
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EX-PATS from page 10 Though Sunday night is all football all the time (with a bit of American basketball thrown in for variety), other evenings are devoted to arguably more civilized activities: live music and even a lecture series on a range of thought-provoking topics. All washed down with a cold Sam Adams. “People feel good down here,” says Beiser, gesturing to the crowd. “For Anglos it’s like home, and for Israelis it’s a trip to America without the airfare.” On the Sunday night when JNS visited the bar, the lone Israeli who braved the roomful of boisterous American fans was a 28-year-old native Jerusalemite named Tal Katz. His passion for American football? It dates back to the day in 2009, when an American friend ISRAEL from page 10 On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also addressed the EU’s condemnation of Israel, telling Israel Radio that Europe was “once again, ignoring calls to destroy Israel.” “Hamas leaders are openly declaring that their objective is to destroy Israel, and that they refuse to recognize Israel,” Lieberman said. “[Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas supMESSAGE from page 16 Hagel was probably the least supportive Republican on matters relating to Israel during the years he served in the Senate. He seemed to take pride in his independence from his party on this issue, as well as in opposing the surge in Iraq, fighting sanctions or even the implied threat of military action to stop Iran’s nuclear program, and calling for big cuts in defense spending. Barack Obama seems to like federal spending of all kinds, except for defense. He seems to have found a soul-mate on that policy position in Hagel. Politically, the Hagel pick, if it is made, is smart politics for Obama. Americans seem to want the two parties to work together, and for a Democratic president to win reelection and then name a Republican (a Republican at one time at least) to run the Pentagon, looks like bipartisanship at its best.
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(513) 531-9600 schlepped him to a football game at Jerusalem’s Kraft Stadium. “I got hooked,” he says goodnaturedly, his eyes glued to the screen. “Most Israelis don’t know much about football and baseball, what the heck is that?” So what’s the best thing about being an Israeli fan of American football? “If a team loses, I’m not all that upset,” he says with a shrug. “One team is as good as the next when you’re not American.” Yes, Americans do love their sports, something abundantly clear this night at Mike’s Place. In fact, back at the Mir Yeshiva table, Tuli Tyberg had one bit of advice for Benjamin Netanyahu. “Now that you’ve got football here, it would be great if you could just open a basketball stadium here, too,” he says he’d tell the prime minister, should they ever meet. ports this view, and Europe is silent.” Netanyahu also directed his ire at Abbas for not speaking out against Hamas. “This weekend the leader of Hamas, sitting next to the Hamas leader of Gaza, a man who praised Osama bin Laden, openly called for the destruction of Israel. Where was the outrage? Where were the UN resolutions? Where was [Palestinian Authority] President Abbas?” Netanyahu said. Other than some very strong supporters of the U.S-Israel relationship in the Senate, most Democrats will probably back the president and many Republicans will too. Given U.S-Israeli cooperation on the Iron Dome and the critical months ahead for making decisions both in Israel and the United States on what to do to stop Iran’s nuclear program, Hagel is certainly not what supporters of Israel would be looking for to run the Defense Department. Some supporters of Obama will say that the president has shown he has Israel’s back, so no one need worry about Chuck Hagel. After all, the buck stops in the Oval Office (or on the golf course or in Hawaii). But what does it say about a president who appoints Bashar Assad’s former best friend in the Senate to run the State Department, and Israel’s toughest critic from his days in the Senate to run the Defense Department? That he has Israel’s back? Really?
20 • FIRST PERSON
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New friends and Eilat adventures Live from Israel
by Lainey Paul Not drafting until March allows for many extra fun-filled adventures. For example, this week, my friend and I decided at the last
moment to take an overnight bus to Eilat for a three day hiking/camping trip! We went to Haifa for our garin mate’s Tekes Hashba’ah (end of basic training ceremony) with our bags all packed. We had no idea what we were actually going to do. We thought we’d start in Eilat and hike all the way up to Kibbutz Yotvata (about 120 km) in three days. Not having a clue of how to prepare, where to hike, etc., we wandered into the local camping store and sat with our new best friend Boaz for an hour discussing the best hikes and places to set up camp. After we were pretty confident in our decision, we crossed the street to the central bus station and were surprised to see a group of
guys (pretty attractive guys at that) with big packs, tents and sleeping bags like us. We were super excited when one of them decided to sit next to us on the bus. Since it was already 11:30 p.m. we immediately passed out. At our first pit stop, one (thank g-d) decided to talk to us. Long story short, we found out that his group was hiking where we wanted to hike, just in the opposite direction, and they offered us to join them. Being the spontaneous (yet responsible) girls we are, we obviously said yes! As strange as this story might seem to some of you, that is 100 percent the culture of living in Israel. You don’t think twice when a group of five, quality guys ask you
to join their trip so you’re not hiking alone. Excitement is the first feeling over nervousness, distress or worry. And how many groups of friends just decide to go hiking and camping for five days straight just for fun? In Israel, that’s all they do. It’s been amazing to live a part of this adventurous and hospitable life of Israelis. In terms of my personality, I think the comfort I have with this type of lifestyle is what makes me feel so at home and genuinely happy here. This part was truly missing in my life in America up until now. I had probably one of the most amazing weeks of my life , all due to a random guy deciding to talk to my friend and me on a bus and we chose to listen. We spent quality
time in the depths of the Negev and took in the most breathtaking scenery. Davening Shacharit in the desert where our ancestors once prayed, making tea with friends, roasting hot dogs over a fire we made for ourselves, climbing ridiculous mountains to the peaks – those are life changing experiences I have gained since deciding to make Aliyah. Ending with the view of the Red Sea while arriving in Eilat was the perfect ending to a perfect trip. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, feel free to look at pictures :) Have a beautiful Shabbat! Until next time, Lainey
What’s a nice Jewish girl have to do to get through Christmas? Incidentally Iris
by Iris Ruth Pastor When I was a little girl, I had a bad case of Christmas Envy. It was exacerbated by our next door neighbors, who prominently showed off their beautifully decorated Christmas tree in their front window – along with a view of their personalized Christmas stockings hung from the fireplace with care. The fact that they were Jewish only added to my raging
emotions of deprivation. “I want a stocking of my own,” I wailed to both my mom and dad, one evening after Chanukah was long over and the holiday season stretched ahead – a holiday, in my estimation, replete with nothing: no gaily wrapped presents under a tree, no dangling and bulging stockings hung from the fireplace mantel, no wonderfully smelling Christmas cookies baking in the oven and no grandly attired front doors laden with boughs of holly. “Hang a stocking up, Iris,” my father shot back with a suggestion. “You never know what you’ll get.” I chose to ignore the bemused twinkle in his eye and happily went in search of the biggest sock I could find. On Christmas morning, bright and early, I padded down to the living room to see what splendid wonders awaited me in my stocking. Wads of toilet paper were stuffed in my stocking and reams
RUTH from page 7 on the ad. So did Freda Kirchwey, editor of the political newsweekly The Nation, and Oswald Heck, speaker of the New York State Assembly. But the signatory who was by far the best known to the American public was George Herman “Babe” Ruth. Widely regarded as the greatest baseball player in the history of the game, Ruth, known as the Sultan of Swat, at that time held the records for the most home runs in a season (60) and the most home runs in a career (714) as well as numerous other batting records. Having excelled as a pitcher before switching to the outfield and gaining fame as a hitter, the amazingly versatile Ruth even held the pitching record for the most shutouts in a season by a left-hander. Not surprisingly, Ruth was one of the first players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. By participating in this German-
Courtesy of George Grantham Bain
Babe Ruth in 1921.
American protest against the Holocaust, Ruth used his powerful name to help attract public attention to the Jews’ plight. Timing is everything, both on the baseball field and beyond, and the timing of Ruth’s protest was crucial: precisely at the moment when U.S. officials were hoping to brush the Jewish refugee
of white toilet paper were spilling over the top of the sock and floating in long columns to the floor. I was crushed. I hotly expressed my profound disappointment to my dad. He just laughed and replied, “Kiddo, you’re lucky it wasn’t used toilet paper.” And then added a familiar refrain: “When you grow up and have kids, feel free to do whatever you want for Christmas. Until then, you will abide by our rules. No tree. No stocking. No mistletoe.” Crushed, I ran up the stairs, loudly slammed my bedroom door shut and vowed that I would never be so heartless as to deprive my children of Christmas merriment. Well, we Jews don’t have to be deprived any longer. In 1987, a couple of enterprising organizations came up with an innovation – providing something for Jews to do on Christmas Eve. Called the Matzo Ball, it offered single Jewish men and women the opportunity to
meet in an environment conducive to developing networking opportunities, long lasting friendships and, of course, romantic relationships. Tampa, Florida’s adaptation is the Vodka Latke. Detroit, Michigan’s is the Latke Vodka. And Cincinnati, Ohio’s is Latkapalooza. Most other cities with Jewish Federations have a variation of this model. What drives so many young Jewish adults to attend year after year? Here’s a smattering of answers: It’s a chance to meet everyone on J-date all in one place! It’s easier to attend than sit home and listen to my mom harass me all evening about why I’m not going. I’m new in town and still trying to figure out where all the young Jews hang out. I guess by going, I’ll find out. I’m into meeting nice Jewish guys, so I figured, why not? There’s
always a bunch of new faces. So, soon it will be Christmas Eve again. No matter where you happen to be, don’t allow yourself to descend into a state of depression emanating from Christmas Envy. Instead, if you are a young Jewish adult, ages 21-45, join your fellow landsmen for a holiday celebration on the evening of Monday, Dec. 24. It’s not just another Silent Night. Here in Cincinnati, Latkapalooza is being held at Local’s Bar & Grill, 19 E. 7th Street, beginning at 8:30 p.m. For the rest of us, however, it will just be another night of Chinese food and the movies.
problem aside, Babe Ruth helped keep it front and center. In an era when professional athletes rarely lent their names to political causes, and when most Americans — including the Roosevelt administration—took little interest in the mass murder of Europe’s Jews, Babe Ruth raised his voice in protest. Ruth’s action is all the more memorable when one contrasts it with the kind of behavior that all too often lands athletes on the front pages these days. Filmmaker Byron Hunter and Ruth’s granddaughter, Linda Ruth Tosetti, have collaborated on a soon-to-be-released documentary, “Universal Babe.” Those who are accustomed to thinking of Ruth’s off-the-field activities in terms of binges and carousing will be pleasantly surprised to learn from the film of the slugger’s noble efforts on behalf of women’s baseball, the Negro Baseball Leagues, and the Jews of Hitler Europe.
INT’L BRIEFS from page 9
the country’s chief rabbi, Dr. Warren Goldstein, to urge the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party to treat Israel fairly, the Jerusalem Post reported. The religious leaders wrote an open letter that appeared on the front page of South Africa’s Sunday Times to coincide with the beginning the ANC’s 53rd National Conference. “South Africa has no just cause for choosing sides,” the letter read. “We should support both sides in their struggle for a peaceful solution.” “When South Africa’s ruling party chooses sides in this bitter conflict, our country loses the credibility to be a voice for peace between the parties, and only the agenda of conflict is served. Such actions impede a peaceful solution that would enable Jews to live in their ancient Biblical land in peace side by side with their Muslim neighbors.”
is currently serving five life sentences in Israeli prison for taking part in multiple deadly terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada, 51 percent of those polled chose Barghouti, and 42 percent Haniyeh. Survey editors explained the rise of support for Hamas’ prime minister as a result of the perception that Hamas defeated Israel in Operation Pillar of Defense. Hamas fired rockets at central Israel for the first time during the operation, and while most were intercepted by the IDF's Iron Dome system, the unprecedented attacks netted Hamas a propaganda victory. South African Christian and Jewish leaders urge government to treat Israel fairly (JNS) A group of South African Christian leaders joined
Keep Coping, Iris Ruth Pastor PS: Like my dad, year in and year out, I, too deprived my children of the wonders of Christmas. And my children are doing the same to theirs.
AUTOS • 21
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012
POLLARD from page 6 On Dec. 10, the Conference of Presidents commended a bipartisan congressional letter urging President Barack Obama to commute Pollard’s sentence. The letter was circulated by U.S. Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Eliot Engel (D-NY) and signed by a total of 42 representatives. Pollard’s advocates in Congress and elsewhere have long said that his life sentence is disproportionate to his crime. When he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom last June, Israeli President Shimon Peres reportedly asked Obama in a private meeting to grant Pollard clemency. But the White House, at the time, said it would not change its position on Pollard.
Courtesy of U.S. Naval intelligence/Wikimedia Commons
Jonathan Pollard
Lerner said the declassified CIA documents re-emphasize “that there’s no rationalization for putting somebody away for 28 years, seven years of solitary confinement” for what Pollard did. “Our hope and prayer is that these documents will force everybody in the [U.S.] administration to take a second look, and hopefully the president, with a stroke of a pen, will be able to correct this serious injustice,” Lerner added. In addition to Pollard’s Jerusalem Post interview with Blitzer, the CIA assessment said Pollard’s wife at the time, Anne, also gave an unauthorized interview – with the CBS “60 Minutes” program, three days before Pollard’s sentencing. Esther Pollard, Jonathan’s current wife, told the Jerusalem Post that the U.S. government “did something highly suspicious by forgetting to send anyone to monitor these interviews.” “Later, at sentencing, the prosecutor successfully inflamed the judge against Jonathan by falsely claiming that not only had the interviews been secretly arranged behind their backs, but that Jonathan had also disclosed highly classified material to Blitzer that compromised the intelligence community’s sources and methods,” she said.
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22 • OBITUARIES D EATH N OTICES SATTLER, Laurence, age 66, died on December 13, 2012; 29 Kislev 5773. CONGRESS from page 8 “Howard Berman had the ability to work across the aisle,” said Douglas Bloomfield, an opinion columnist for Jewish media outlets who in the 1980s was the legislative director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “He was a legislator as well as a policy person. He was a respected voice, people took him seriously.” Berman was seen as critical to brokering the deal that achieved overwhelming congressional backing for enhanced Iran sanctions in 2010. He worked closely with the Obama administration on the issue. “Howard was beloved by everybody,” said Ira Forman, who headed the Obama campaign’s Jewish outreach efforts and is a former president of the National Jewish Democratic Council. “AIPAC people like him, people who were dovish like him.” Also on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ileana RosLehtinen (R-Fla.), who is considered a strong ally of Israel, is relinquishing her post as the committee’s chairwoman, as required SEEKING from page 8 from Hungary, where she figured they still lived. Hoe remembered Partos very well – he lived to be 103 – but he seemed as if he “didn’t really care about his family” back in Europe, she said, adding that his attitude seemed odd. Hoe said that Partos studied pharmacology in Austria and met her grandmother, also from Hungary, in New York. Partos was a Christian Scientist, but some in the family wondered if he was Jewish, she said. “We weren’t sure if he was Jewish,” but no one questioned him about it, Hoe said. She recalled Partos as being an inveterate salesman who made and lost fortunes in the pharmaceutical
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under the House Republican Caucus rules that limit how long its members can serve in committee leadership roles. Even with the loss of so many veteran pro-Israel voices, observers stress that there are still devoted friends of Israel in key congressional positions. They include Jewish pro-Israel stalwarts such as Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), who now leads Democrats on the powerful Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who is replacing Berman as the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. “Engel knows his stuff very well, he is similar to Shelley [Berkley] in being a real pro-Israel stalwart,” Forman said. Engel at times has taken a more critical stance than Berman toward the Obama administration’s approach to Israel. Newer members also may find themselves taking more of a leadership role on Israel issues. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), elected in 2010, already is a leader on Iran sanctions issues, and Rep.-elect Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) has strong ties to Chicago-area chapters of pro-Israel groups. “The longer I’ve been in Congress, the more I see that Congress is a living body, we lose some good people and we gain some good people,” Engel told JTA.
Engel said there is “an excellent crop” of incoming freshmen, and that “those of us who are around have been around for a while. We’re eager to carry the torch.” But Bloomfield suggested that an emerging generation of Democrats could spell long-term changes in the traditional structure of two-party support for Israel. Younger Democrats, he said, do not naturally come by the sympathies Israel accrued when it was under attack in its earlier decades. Additionally, Bloomfield said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hawkish policies alienate a demographic that favors Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. “The generation that’s leaving – and there are ones who are leaving, like Howard [Berman] and Gary [Ackerman] – these are guys who grew up in the formative years of Israel and understand what the struggle was,” Bloomfield said. “They are being replaced by a post-1967 generation who know not a threatened Israel, a vulnerable Israel – who know a muscular Israel.” But Engel said he did not perceive a significant shift in how members of Congress relate to Israel. “There are handful of people in the Democratic Party that see things in a different light and there are a handful of people in the Republican Party that see things in a different
light,” he said. “The overwhelming majority understands that Israel is a strategic ally and the United States has a stake in the Middle East in the survival of Israel.” Steve Rosen, a former AIPAC foreign policy chief who now trains Europeans in pro-Israel advocacy, said the Democratic Party’s rank and file is likelier to question Israel than it has in the past. “What’s striking is how many of the shtarkers of the Democratic Party are leaving,” Rosen said, using the Yiddish term for big shot, “and people coming in have weaker ties and have been subject to a propaganda effort by the Jewish left which has presented to them a set of ideas that are outside the Israeli mainstream.” Rosen cited the influence of J Street and journalist Peter Beinart, who argues that Israeli policies have alienated young American Jews. J Street itself claimed that the congressional election results were a “victory,” noting that of 71 congressional candidates backed by J Street’s political action committee, 70 won – all of them Democrats. Rosen, however, questioned the extent of J Street’s victory. He wrote in an article for Foreign Policy magazine that most of the candidates backed by J Street also were supported by political action committees and individuals aligned with AIPAC. Ben-Ami, for his part, said the
successes of J Street-backed candidates should be seen as not as a diminution of pro-Israel support but of its future shape. “Forty or 50 years ago it was a different relationship than it is today,” he said of the U.S.-Israel relationship. “The interests of the United States and Israel dovetail in a place where you want to see a U.S. policy set that leads into the resolution of this conflict.” Even among veteran pro-Israel members of Congress, there has been some strong criticism of the Israeli government recently over its approach to relations with both the Palestinians and the Obama administration. In an interview with Congressional Quarterly, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) blasted Netanyahu for announcing plans for new building in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank. “It’s an indication of Israel’s continuing to stick a thumb in the eye of the Palestinians,” she said. “I am profoundly disappointed.” At a Dec. 2 Israel Policy Forum event in New York, Ackerman – who is known for his sharp tongue – took a thinly veiled dig at Netanyahu. He praised former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in attendance, as “most famous for his activity as a prime minister who went to the White House and did not piss on the president’s shoe. It’s only common sense.”
and commodities businesses. For a while he sold swimming pools. Hoe did not recognize the product name Partolax, but said that her grandfather “got in trouble” with the law because the product “was sugar” rather than a true remedy. An online search confirmed part of Hoe’s recollection. A 1932 book, “High and Low Financiers,” written by two officials of New York State’s Bureau of Securities, mentions Partos among the era’s great swindlers. The American Accounting Association’s review of the book said that Partos and other “famous financial crooks” were “of the handsome, confidence inspiring ‘banker’s type,’ who easily succeeded in conquering the affections and the pocket books of
all they came in contact with, be they male or female lambs.” Partos never discussed those troubles but “always talked” about his six brothers back in Hungary, all of whom he said were doctors, Hoe said. She did not know that Partos also had sisters, that there were 10 children in all and that his surname had been Pollacseg. Back in northern Israel, Nisman ticked off the names of her mother’s aunts and uncles, and of their spouses and children, as if she were still living among them. Only one of the nine siblings who remained in Hungary survived the Holocaust: Etta, a sister of Nisman’s maternal grandmother, Malvin Pollacseg Fuhrer. Etta Pollacseg settled in Israel and never married, and before her death in 1970 at age 95 typed a 50page reminiscence of the family members, including Partos, that Nisman still has. The granddaugh-
ter of Sandor Pollacseg also lives in Israel; her father, a journalist, had departed Hungary in the 1930s. Nearly everyone else was killed during the Holocaust, including Nisman’s brother, parents and grandmother. Raised in Nyregyhaza, near Budapest, Nisman was active in the Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzair. Nisman and her family lived for many years with her grandparents, who owned a vineyard and a quarry. Best of all, Nisman said, her grandparents’ house featured indoor plumbing. An Auschwitz survivor, Nisman came to Israel, living first on the Nachlat Yehuda settlement in the South before helping to found Ein Dor, near Mount Tabor, in early 1948. Now a widow, Nisman has three sons. Her first two great-grandchildren are due to be born in January. Nisman hopes to speak soon
with her newly discovered American relatives, but one of her sons may have to help translate on the telephone because she said her English capability is lacking. Of her Israeli relatives, Hoe said, “To know that there are still some people – that there’s a connection – I’m thrilled.” Still, to learn that her flesh and blood were killed in the Holocaust hits hard, she said. “I always felt terrible about it,” Hoe, 70, said of the Holocaust. “But to know that it happened to my family, I can’t believe it. It changes who I am, which is fine, but I have to think about it, understand it.” And she will be interviewed soon on “Hamador L’chipus Krovim” (Searching for Relatives Bureau), the Israeli radio program whose host had alerted “Seeking Kin” to Nisman’s interest in finding her American relatives.
PLACEMENT from page 9
percent. Together with the Union of Jewish Students, TrainE last year placed 86 students in internships across 54 companies ranging from multinationals to small firms. “There is a lost generation of 18 to 25-year-olds who don’t get the work experience and opportunities they need,” said Martin Leuw, a British businessman named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 and a strategic adviser to TrainE. “Shraga and his team are fantastic
for this age group and beyond.” A Reform Jew, Leuw said he was very aware of Zaltzman’s religious affiliation, but that only made his work more appealing. “They have a really broad perspective on what is needed for the whole community, and it’s refreshing,” Leuw said. Approximately 80 percent of the students in the internship program are not religious. They are, like Josh Fraser, looking for an advantage in a competitive job market.
While demand has certainly increased due to the economic crisis, Zaltzman emphasizes that his is not a “recession business.” “We started in 2006 when money seemed to be abundant,” he said. “People will always need these services.” One such group is new university graduates, who in the United Kingdom face an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent, compared to a general unemployment rate of 7.8
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