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Whose homeland is it anyway? After 65 years you would think that people already have gotten used to the idea of Jewish people governing their own country given to them by G-d so many thousands of years ago. Yet anti-Israel sentiment and it’s not so latent source anti-Semitism has not only not abated but in certain quarters it has even taken on a more subtle and insidious form. In the media, for example, an anti-Semite can do tremendous damage to Israel’s image by hiding behind a slanted choice of words used to report an incident, a shocking photo taken out of context, or a prejudiced opinion piece masked as an outcry of moral justice that is based on deliberate superficiality, ignorance or misinformation. That is why whistleblower David Nesenoff deserves such credit for his work in uncovering one such person. On American Jewish Heritage Celebration Day on May 27, 2010, David interviewed the renowned veteran White House correspondent and columnist Helen Thomas, known as the “dean” of the Washington, D.C. press corps and unintentionally discovered her to be what in our post-Holocaust generation can only be described as a raw and virulent anti-Semite. When asked for comments on Israel, she replied: “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.” When David followed up by asking “Where should the Israeli Jews go?” Thomas responded that they can “go home” to Poland or Germany. Needless to say, this incident helped retire Thomas’s career for good. It also catapulted her interviewer David Nesenoff into the limelight – which turned out to be less pleasant than he might have imagined. Positive media interviews and complimentary feedback abounded, but so did the death threats and tens-of-thousands of pieces of hate-mail. The intense hostility, as well as the sudden responsibility of serving as an unofficial spokesperson for Israel, sent Nesenoff on a personal
Courtesy of the Florida Jewish Journal
Rabbi David Nesenoff at home in Boca Raton.
Recently Nesenoff took his life-changing experiences, insights, and love of Israel and combined them into one powerful and hilarious, touching and irreverent lecture entitled “Whose homeland is it anyway?” that has inspired and entertained audiences around the world.
journey. He moved to Israel to better understand the true reason for Israel’s existence and her place in the world and to experience firsthand the blessings, challenges, oddities and hilarities of Israeli life. Recently Nesenoff took his lifechanging experiences, insights, and love of Israel and combined them into one powerful and hilarious, touching and irreverent lecture entitled “Whose homeland is it anyway?” that has inspired and entertained audiences around the world. On Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 7:30 p.m., filmmaker, songwriter, and whistleblower David Nesenoff will bring his unforgettable presentation to Cincinnati. The event is part of the Israel@65 celebration and will be hosted by Chabad Jewish Center in Blue Ash. There is a cover charge. For reservations and more information, contact Chabad Jewish Center.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2012
LOCAL / NATIONAL • 3
Wise Temple announces WiseUP projects for January Wise Temple congregants will begin 2013 volunteering for WiseUP Social Action projects to fulfill the mission of Tikkun Olam—repairing the world—as well as, perhaps, their New Year’s resolutions to bring greater meaning to their lives and the lives of others. WiseUP projects provide congregants with opportunities to help those who are disadvantaged or in need. Continuing Wise Temple’s commitment to feed the hungry,
which began with the Yom Kippur food drive, Mert Friedman will lead 20 - 25 volunteers in the sorting and packing of food at the Freestore Foodbank on Saturday, Jan. 12. Volunteers will also serve brunch and play with children at the Bethany House shelter, an emergency shelter for women and children, on Sunday, Jan. 20, with project leader Kim Goldwasser. In continuing the commitment to help the homeless, from Jan. 13
– 20, Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) guests will be staying at the Temple. IHN is dedicated to allowing families to remain together as they face homelessness. IHN co-chairs Deb LaFrance and Lisa Cooper will schedule and coordinate over 50 volunteers who will help guests feel welcome as they share meals and spend the week at Wise Center. WiseUP co-chairs are Carol Kabel and Jody Tsevat.
Camp at the J Kick-Off Party Plan your child’s perfect summer at the Mayerson JCC’s Camp at the J Registration Kick-Off Party on Sunday, Jan. 6. Bring the kids to meet Camp at the J leadership staff and other campers, create a craft, enjoy face painting and bounce on inflatables. While the kids are entertained, you’ll have a chance to ask questions, learn about the many different programs offered at Camp at the J and hear about special discounts and opportunities. At the Kick-Off Party, parents will learn about camps that match their child’s unique interests. Camp at the J offers many camps for children entering kindergarten through grade 10 and parents may drop off their children as early as 7 a.m. and pick up as late as 6 p.m. Camps are offered all summer in 6-week, 3week and 1-week sessions. Camp facilities include indoor and outdoor heated pools, a modern playground, Ga-Ga pit, archery range, ball field, full-size gym, art
room and game room. For older campers, day trips, cook-outs, music and sports – including basketball, soccer, kickball, martial arts and outdoor games – offer non-stop fun! For kids entering grades 9 and 10, there’s a Counselor in Training program where teens will learn about camp operation, camp programming, and how to work with children. This program helps teens gain leadership skills and valuable hands-on training and job experience. An interview is required prior to acceptance into this program. Wendy Sue Steinberg said of her son, “Camp at the J has given Max tremendous confidence. He even learned how to swim the first summer he attended camp.” Another great event that benefits both parents and kids is the New Year’s Eve overnight at the J. Parents can enjoy a night to themselves when they send their kids (in grades K – 6) to the JCC for an
overnight New Year’s Eve Bash that they won’t forget! The J is pulling out all the stops to give the kids an awesome party as they ring in the New Year with noisemakers, a balloon drop and a special “bubbly toast” at midnight. This exciting evening also includes waterpark adventures, snacks, bounce house fun, games and activities in the gym, a movie and even a yummy breakfast. Drop-off children at the JCC at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 31 and pick them up on Tuesday, Jan. 1 at 8 a.m. Kids should bring a swimsuit, sleeping bag, pillow, pajamas, toothbrush and toothpaste. This popular party is open to the public, with discounts for siblings and J Members. Space is limited and advance registration is required. For more information about Camp at the J Kick-off Party and/or JCC New Year’s Eve Overnight, contact Ilana Nadel at the JCC.
Jewish priorities to watch for in Washington in 2013 By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraph Agency WASHINGTON – Will we fall of the fiscal cliff? Plunge into war with Iran? Dive into contentious confirmation battles? One thing’s for certain: There will be plenty of action in Washington that the Jewish community will be watching closely over 2013. Here are some likely focal points: FISCAL CLIFF Unless President Obama and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives work out their differences by year’s end, the U.S. government will head off the fiscal cliff. That means that much of the federal budget will be subject to congressionally mandated cuts of about 8 percent (“sequestration”), and tax cuts pushed through 10
years ago under President George W. Bush will lapse. But the government told federal employees last week to expect furloughs, not dismissals, and even these will not occur immediately. That will give Obama and Boehner several additional weeks after Jan. 1 to work out a deal. More negotiations will mean more intensive lobbying from the Jewish groups that serve the elderly and poor. Count on a broad array of groups to push back against cuts in funding to social services, said William Daroff, the Washington director for the Jewish Federations of North America. “We will continue to make sure any cuts made are not made disproportionately to vulnerable populations who rely on government assistance to stay alive,” he said. On the revenue side of things, expect Jewish groups to diverge a
bit. Bend the Arc, a liberal group, is fighting against renewing tax cuts for incomes above $250,000. But some other Jewish groups may sit out this issue, not wanting to irk wealthy donors. Meanwhile, the Jewish Federations are pushing back against Obama’s proposals that would reduce tax deductions for charitable donations from high earners, which charities worry could cause philanthropic giving to drop. ISRAEL With Obama facing down the fiscal cliff, contending with turmoil in the Arab world and pursuing negotiations with Iran, the conventional wisdom is that the president is not likely to make an aggressive push to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, at least for the time being. PRIORITIES on page 20
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effective advocate for Israel’s security in a dangerous region and demonstrated his commitment to fighting against anti-Semitism and bigotry all over the world.” The statement said that Kerry’s first visit to Israel was in an ADL congressional mission in May 1986. Kerry’s nomination also earned kudos from J Street, the liberal Jewish group that advocates for more U.S. involvement in IsraeliPalestinian negotiations and encourages U.S. pressure on Israel to stop West Bank settlement expansion. “Kerry would be well positioned to play a leading role should President Obama move to revive
“As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has worked to marshal support for tough sanctions against Iran and defend our ally Israel, and played a critical role as an envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan.” Rep. Nita Lowey
might not be ready to fully embrace. In March 2009, he called for a settlement freeze months before it became the centerpiece of tensions between the Obama and Netanyahu governments. “Over these many years, John has earned the respect and confidence of leaders around the world,” Obama said last week at a White House appearance alongside Kerry. “He is not going to need a lot of onthe-job training.” In a statement, the ADL noted, “Kerry has consistently been an
peace efforts aimed at achieving a two-state solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict,” J Street said in a statement. “Kerry understands that peace is not only essential for Israel’s survival, but also a fundamental U.S. interest.” Such agreement in the Jewish community on Kerry’s nomination stands in contrast to another rumored Obama nomination: former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) for defense secretary. Little of substance distinguishes Kerry and Hagel, insiders say. Each
“LET THERE BE LIGHT” THE OLDEST ENGLISH-JEWISH WEEKLY IN AMERICA - EST. JULY 15, 1854
VOL. 159 • NO. 23 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2012 14 TEVET 5773 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 5:05 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 6:06 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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candidacy of Susan Rice, currently the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was derailed by opponents. In welcoming the nomination, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested an emotional bond with Kerry. “John Kerry and I have been friends for many years,” Netanyahu said. “I very much appreciated the fact that six months ago, after my father passed away, he came to visit me during the week of mourning.” As chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry often has acted as an advance man for Obama’s foreign policy, touting ideas the administration
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Sen. John Kerry, pictured here addressing troops in Afghanistan in 2011, was nominated for U.S. secretary of state on Dec. 21, 2012.
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WASHINGTON – On a wintry day at a small Iowa shul in November of 2003, John Kerry got all verklempt. The man whose opponents had taken to depicting as aloof and patrician, whose campaign for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination had been all but written off by that point, leapt onto the dais at Tifereth Israel synagogue in Des Moines. Kerry delivered an emotional account of his then-recent discovery that his grandfather was Jewish and recalled how, on a visit to Israel standing atop Masada, he had cried out, “Am Yisrael Chai!” The bond Kerry has forged with the Jewish community because of his roots and because of his interest in the Middle East has helped smooth over rough patches when he has criticized Israel. “We’ve had disagreements in the past, but on the whole he’s a staunch advocate and defender of the U.S.-Israel relationship and Israeli security,” the AntiDefamation League’s national director, Abraham Foxman, told JTA in a telephone interview from Israel, where he was meeting with Israeli leaders. Kerry rallied to win the 2004 nomination but lost the presidency, felled in part by images of him windsurfing and tales of high-society living with his heiress wife, Teresa Heinz. He won big among Jews, however – 75 percent of their vote, in large part because of a connection based on shared liberalism. Staff close to Kerry’s campaign at the time said the discovery by the Boston Globe of his Jewish antecedents – and the knowledge that relatives had perished in the Holocaust – deeply affected him. His brother, Cameron Kerry, converted to Judaism before marrying a Jewish woman, Kathy Weinman. Cameron is active in the Jewish communities in Boston and Washington, where he is general counsel at the Commerce Department. Jay Footlik, who ran the Kerry campaign’s Jewish outreach, recalled that Kerry would take time out to be briefed on every new wrinkle in matters affecting Israel. “He took a deep interest in the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Footlik said. “The community ought to be thrilled.” These connections are helping Kerry win Jewish support for his nomination to replace Hillary Clinton as U.S. secretary of state. President Obama made the announcement that Kerry was his new choice on Dec. 21, after the
has advocated outreach to pariah nations like Iran and Syria, and each has issued sharp criticism of Israel – Hagel in 2006 during the Second Lebanon War and Kerry in 2010, against what he saw as the gratuitous excesses of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. What differentiates Kerry from Hagel, pro-Israel officials say, is his willingness to engage even when he disagrees, and his familiarity with the issues. “Will we always agree? No,” Foxman said. “But we’re going to have in place someone who is knowledgeable, and that always works well for us.” Daniel Mariaschin, who directs B’nai B’rith International, said he hoped that as secretary of state Kerry would show awareness of the uncertainties roiling the region, particularly in Egypt, where the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood has asserted control, and in Syria, which is mired in civil war. “I would hope that as secretary of state, at least on questions related to Israel, he would take into account the fast-moving variables,” Mariaschin said. Even before Obama’s announcement, Kerry had the backing of Senate colleagues, Republicans as well as Democrats. He has a longstanding friendship with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz); both men are Vietnam veterans and in the 1980s paved the way to reconciliation between the United States and Vietnam. The pick earned quick plaudits from a leading pro-Israel stalwart in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has worked to marshal support for tough sanctions against Iran and defend our ally Israel, and played a critical role as an envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Lowey said in a statement. Kerry has a solid voting record on issues favored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, but rarely has taken the lead on legislation AIPAC favors. Kerry was a leader in the 1980s on Soviet Jewry issues in Congress, and he has maintained close ties with the successors to the Soviet Jewry advocacy movement, said Mark Levin, who directs NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eurasia. “For the last 20 years he’s been intimately involved in every issue impacting the U.S.-Russia relationship,” Levin said. “He’s had an open door on Russia when it comes to xenophobia and anti-Semitism.”
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By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraph Agency
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Jews and pro-Israel community warm to prospect of a Secretary of State John Kerry
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 27, 2012
National Briefs
From ‘Schindler’s List’ to ‘Lincoln’: How Judaism shaped Steven Spielberg By Robert Gluck JointMedia News Service
Zuckerman pledges $200 million to Columbia University (JTA) – Mortimer Zuckerman has pledged $200 million to endow a Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University. The Zuckerman Institute will pursue cutting-edge research in neurobiology and deeper insights into human mental functions in both health and disease, according to a university statement. Among other things, the programs will focus on Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, Asperger’s and schizophrenia. “This country has provided me with extraordinary opportunities, and I am glad for the chance to support scientific leadership in a field I believe is so essential to all our lives,” Zuckerman said at last week’s announcement of the endowment. Zuckerman is a past chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the owner and publisher of the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report, where he serves as editor-in-chief. The Columbia institute’s faculty is expected to grow to 65 members, as well as independent junior fellows and visiting scholars, and in total some 1,000 scientists and staff will work for the institute across Columbia’s campuses, according to plans.
Steven Spielberg’s films, including his latest, “Lincoln,” continue to reflect his Jewish upbringing. Like most movies, the script of the legendary director’s life and career begins with some adversity – he was initially ashamed of his religious identity. Born in Ohio to a Jewish family, Spielberg’s mother, Leah Adler, was a restaurateur and concert pianist, and his father Arnold was an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers. According to Lester Friedman, scholar-in-residence at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and author of The Jewish Image in American Film, American Jewish Filmmakers, and Citizen Spielberg, there is more to Spielberg than meets the eye. “It’s indisputable he’s the most successful filmmaker in American history, but he’s much more than that,” Friedman told JNS. “His Jewish background is omnipresent. It cuts both ways.” Friedman explained that Spielberg’s parents “lived in predominantly Christian areas” and that Spielberg was “was the subject of anti-Semitism, everything from swastikas on the windows to rolling a penny down the aisle in class and students saying ‘go get it Jew-boy.’” “He was concerned about hiding his Judaism,” Friedman said. “His early films stayed far away from it. He doesn’t confront it until ‘An American Tail,’ where Fivel is the name of his grandfather. He confronts it in the most crucial and important way in two films. ‘Schindler’s List,’ in which he makes the archetypal Holocaust film, and 12 years later with
Courtesy of Moshe Shai/FLASH90
Late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin stands with American film director Steven Spielberg (right) on Sept. 16, 1994.
‘Munich.’” In 1994, inspired by his experience making “Schindler’s List,” Spielberg established the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation to gather video testimonies from survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. While most of those who gave testimony were Jews, the foundation also interviewed homosexual survivors, Jehovah’s Witness survivors, liberators and liberation witnesses, political prisoners, rescuers and aid providers, Gypsy survivors, and others. Within several years, the foundation’s Visual History Archive held nearly 52,000 video testimonies in 32 languages, representing 56 coun-
tries; it is the largest archive of its kind in the world. Nigel Morris, author of The Cinema of Steven Spielberg, told JNS that some critics “carelessly dismiss him as a children’s director or maker of escapist fantasies.” “They resent his enormous success, mistakenly focus on what they label as manipulation or sentimentality, or confuse him with George Lucas and naively blame either director or both for the blockbuster tendency that destroyed the freedom and creativity of early 1970s Hollywood, as if that were not an economic inevitability,” Morris said. Morris agrees with Friedman that Spielberg had little desire to
embrace his Jewish ethnic identity or faith until he was profoundly affected by making “Schindler’s List” while in his late 40s. “Being Jewish has influenced Spielberg’s craft and sensibility,” Morris said. “The characteristic ‘God light,’ as the director has called it, is central to both Spielberg’s visual style and the deeper meaning of his work, flows from his earliest memory of being pushed in a stroller through a Cincinnati synagogue aged just six months. The candles and dazzling reflections in candelabra became entwined with the awe of larger-than-life figures when he first saw a movie in a theatre, creating the quasi-religious wonder that is repeatedly associated with spectacle, and particularly film, through all his output.” Morris said Spielberg, as a child, was displaced to various strange new locations across the U.S. as his father changed jobs, suffering bullying and antiSemitism. One coping strategy was to seek popularity by casting his oppressors in the movies he made outside school hours. “Spielberg was quoted as saying that being ‘Jewish and wimpy made me part of a major minority,’” Morris said. “This helped the fledgling director empathize with the Civil Rights cause and arguably led to his much later adoption of two African American children, as well as the interest in black culture manifested seriously and respectfully in several of his films.”
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Newtown massacre prompts Jewish In Obama’s second term, groups to push for action on gun control will Israel-Palestinian issues cause sparks or be on back burner?
By Ben Harris Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON – In the wake of the shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn., Jewish groups are looking to build alliances and back legislation to strengthen gun control laws. Rabbi David Saperstein, the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said that his group is assembling a coalition that would be ready to act once the right legislation comes along. “The point now is to create the atmosphere in which there is a demand for action, using our voices, organizing the parents in our pews,” Saperstein told JTA in an interview. “When the parents across America start crying out for effective action, if there’s religious leadership, it will galvanize the community to create the moral demand that moves toward sensible legislation.” Staff at the RAC, the locus in the Jewish community for gun control initiatives in past decades, spent Monday reaching out to other Jewish leaders, as well as to leaders of other faith communities. “The best way is to rally the faith community and come together around shared policy,” said RAC spokeswoman Rachel Laser. A number of Jewish groups have indicated that they will back a gun control bill proposed Monday by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (DCalif.), the first since the Newtown shooting. It would ban more than 100 assault weapons and ammunition clips that contain more than 10 rounds. The Newtown killer, Adam Lanza, used a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle registered in the name of his mother, whom he killed before heading to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, where he murdered 20 children and six adults before killing himself. Police have said he used multiple clips, although their capacity has not been publicly reported. Jared Loughner, the gunman in the January 2011 attack in Tucson, Ariz., that grievously wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and killed six others, had a 33round magazine. The legislation, Feinstein said in a statement Monday, “will be carefully focused on the most dangerous guns that have killed so many people over the years while protecting the rights of gun owners by exempting hundreds of weapons that fall outside the bill’s scope.” Feinstein helped draft the last iteration of an assault weapons ban, in 1994. It lapsed in 2004, after the National Rifle Association fought against its renewal. B’nai B’rith International on Monday demanded the reinstate-
By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Courtesy of Pete Souza/White House
President Obama attends the Sandy Hook interfaith vigil at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 16, 2012.
ment of the assault weapons ban. “Assault weapons enable a shooter to fire multiple rounds without stopping to reload as they automatically expel and load ammunition with each triggerpull,” B’nai B’rith said in a statement. “There is no sane, acceptable, reasonable need in a civilian setting to fire off large rounds of ammunition.” The Jewish Council for Public Affairs circulated a petition through its constituent Jewish community relations councils that calls for “meaningful legislation to limit access to assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines, aggressive enforcement of firearm regulations, robust efforts to ensure that every person in need has access to quality mental health care, and a serious national conversation about violence in media and games.” Officials of Jewish groups planning on action said the likeliest vehicle would be Feinstein’s legislation, which she plans to introduce as soon as Congress reconvenes, in January. “We have been in touch with Sen. Feinstein,” said Susan Turnbull, who chairs Jewish Women International, a group that has as a principal focus combating domestic violence. “We support her bill.” The National Council of Jewish Women, which has also taken a leading role in the Jewish community on gun control initiatives in the past, announced its support Tuesday for the Feinstein legislation and for legislation proposed by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that would tighten background checks. The NCJW has in the past mobilized a grassroots network of activists to push for gun control legislation. Hadassah also called on Congress to introduce reforms. The United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism and the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly on Monday called not only for a ban on assault
weapons, but for longer purchase times, deeper background checks, coding ammunition for identification and banning online sales of ammunition. President Obama, attending a prayer vigil in Newtown on Sunday, said that he was ready to back action that would address such violence. “Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?” he said. “Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?” Although he was short on specifics, a number of observers said that Obama’s strong language suggested he was ready to do what he had avoided in his first term: Advance assault weapons restrictions. In addition to Feinstein and Schumer, a number of other Jewish lawmakers have also weighed in. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), who in the next Congress will be the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement that “expressions of sympathy must be matched by concrete actions.” Sen. Joseph Lieberman (IConn.), who is retiring, expressed support for an assault weapons ban and proposed a national commission on mass shootings. In addition to banning assault weapons, Jewish groups are also seeking broader initiatives to address violence. Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who directs American Friends of Lubavitch, said he would bring to the attention of lawmakers a study that links mandatory moments of silence to drops in juvenile violence. Turnbull of Jewish Women International said that any legislation should deal also with identifying and treating individuals whose mental health should preclude access to weapons.
WASHINGTON – Is history about to repeat itself? President Obama’s first three years in office saw some serious tussling with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the peace process and settlements. Now, with Obama beginning his second term and Netanyahu looking pretty certain to win next month’s Israeli elections, will there be a replay of past tensions? Not for now, experts suggest, saying that the Obama administration does not seem eager to wade back into the Israeli-Palestinian morass – preferring to keep it on the back burner. David Makovsky, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Project on the Middle East Peace Process, dismissed as overblown pre-election suggestions that Obama would ramp up pressure on Israel over the peace process in his second term. “I don’t think a lot of the political physics are suspended in a second term,” he said. “There are some in Israel who see a second presidential term as the king, but Obama’s going to want to use his replenished political capital carefully.” Makovksy said that between tough negotiations with the Republicans on fiscal issues and foreign policy challenges looming – including Iran’s nuclear program and tumult in the Middle East – Obama is not going to make Israeli-Palestinian issues a priority. Moreover, Makovsky suggested, there is no clear opening right now for a breakthrough. “It’s probably safe to assume that right now there’s no grand deal to be done between Israelis and Palestinians,” Makovsky said. Steve Rosen, a former foreign policy director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who has previously criticized Obama for pressuring Israel, said that the president seems to have accepted that there are limits to what Americans can do without willing partners. “I think Obama no longer buys the catechism that we are this close to an agreement and all we need is presidential involvement,” Rosen said. “I don’t think it’s just a political calculation or he’s distracted or he’s afraid of the proIsrael lobby. He never had a secret plan to go for broke after the elections – the plan was ascribed to him by a combination of people on
the right who feared it and people on the left who dreamed of it.” American journalist Peter Beinart recently wrote in The Daily Beast that the Obama administration, frustrated with Netanyahu, had decided to pursue a policy of “benign neglect” toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Beinart, a prominent critic of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians, cited unnamed administration officials who said that while the U.S. would still provide military and diplomatic assistance to Israel, it would no longer push to re-launch direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. “Senior administration officials believe the Israeli leader has no interest in the wrenching compromises necessary to birth a viable Palestinian state,” Beinart wrote. “Instead, they believe, he wants the façade of a peace process because it insulates him from international pressure. By refusing to make that charade possible, Obama officials believe, they are forcing Netanyahu to own his rejectionism, and letting an angry world take it from there.” But in an interview with reporters earlier this month, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, said that the two countries were in agreement that the fault for the lack of negotiations belongs to the Palestinians, who have refused to rejoin talks in the absence of a settlement freeze. “Our position remains unchanged – we are willing to negotiate with the Palestinians, today, not tomorrow, in Washington, Jerusalem, Ramallah, wherever, directly without preconditions on all the core issues to reach peace,” Oren said. “That’s not only our position, that’s the position of President Obama and the administration.” Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator under both Republican and Democratic administrations, agreed that Obama is likely to pull back from engaging with the IsraeliPalestinian issue, having been burned by it in the past. He also said that Obama needs to maintain amicable relations with Netanyahu as he works to find a non-military solution to the Iranian nuclear issue. But Miller predicted that the president would eventually reengage, if only because he did not want to be remembered as the president who let the two-state solution die.
NATIONAL • 7
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2012
Seeking Kin: Searching for his grandmother’s savior By Hillel Kuttler Jewish Telegraphic Agency BALTIMORE – Upon returning to his Tel Aviv apartment from a long day of classes, Ofir Efroni often sets aside his college textbooks and gets to work searching for a woman he’s never met but who means the world to his grandmother. Quite literally so, because the woman he is searching for, Rozsi Friedman, saved his grandmother from certain death. When at age 16, Efroni’s grandmother, a Hungarian Jew then known as Koti Grunbaum, first arrived at Auschwitz, Friedman grabbed her and pushed her toward the side with those prisoners whom the Nazis allowed to live a bit longer. Efroni’s grandmother – she became Orna Lowinger after settling in Israel and marrying – now suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. In whatever way Efroni can communicate with his grandmother, he hopes to be able to provide news of Friedman’s having been found – and maybe even put the women on the telephone together or arrange for them to meet. But to locate Friedman, he might require more information – her married name and her place of birth, for example – something Lowinger, now 85, isn’t capable of providing anymore. He recalls Lowinger saying that Friedman’s father was a rabbi or a shochet (ritual slaughterer), but that’s not much to go on. Last week, “Seeking Kin,” with the assistance of both a Jerusalem historian who is a Budapest native and of a New York lawyer working for the Conference on Jewish
Material Claims Against Germany, seemed to have tracked down Rozsi Friedman in Brooklyn. According to documents held by Yad Vashem, Israel’s premier Holocaust research institution, central details appeared to match: Friedman and Grunbaum are approximately the same age and followed similar paths during the Holocaust. And their Auschwitz tattoo numbers are just 1,103 apart, which the historian stated indicates that the women arrived at the concentration camp within a day of one another, perhaps even on the same train. However, the son and daughter of Friedman (who is now 86) said that she is the wrong person. Efroni, 26, expressed disappointment at the news but continues searching. In so doing, he is returning some of the love Lowinger showed him, especially during weekend visits to her home in the coastal city of Netanya. She prepared stuffed cabbage and other Hungarian dishes that he devoured along with the memories she related of her youth and of surviving the Holocaust. One name arose in many of those conversations: Rozsi Friedman. When Grunbaum suffered from typhoid, Friedman brought her food and clothing. “She would say, ‘She worried about me, helped me, brought me food.’ We always heard from her how much she wanted to find her and meet her,” Efroni said. “She’d say, ‘Halvai [How great] if I could find her, speak with her.’” Efroni’s search began when his grandfather, Mordechai, died a few months ago. While sitting shiva at
Potential defense secretary under fire for record on Israel By Jacob Kamaras JointMedia News Service The front-runner to become President Barack Obama’s new Secretary of Defense continues to come under fire from Democrats and Republicans alike for what critics call a record that is unsupportive of Israel. The candidate, former U.S. senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), currently chairs the Atlantic Council think tank, which on Dec. 11 published a column titled “Israel’s Apartheid Policy.” “Chuck Hagel’s dismal record on issues affecting the Middle East stands in sharp contrast to the stated policies of our nation and he would be the wrong choice for America’s next Secretary of Defense,” U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) said in a statement. Hagel in 2008 infamously said
the “Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people here [in Washington, DC],” and is still drawing condemnation for that statement four years later. U.S. Sen. John McCain (RAZ) said Tuesday that he knows of no “Jewish lobby” and hopes Hagel “would identify who that is,” the Weekly Standard reported. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Hagel will “have to answer” for his Jewish lobby comment if nominated for defense secretary. “I don’t agree with that statement [by Hagel],” U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said, according to the Weekly Standard. “If he is nominated, there’ll be a hearing. His entire public record and all his public pronouncements will be reviewed as a part of that process. And we’ll move on from there.” RECORD on page 19
Courtesy Sara Efroni
Ofir Efroni hopes to find Rozsi Friedman (left, in 1948), who saved his grandmother, Koti Grunbaum (right), from certain death at Auschwitz.
the Lowingers’ home in Modiin – they had moved there to be closer to Efroni’s parents, who live in Reut, west of Jerusalem – Efroni flipped through his grandparents’ photo albums. He noticed two pictures of Friedman. Friedman had mailed them to Efroni’s grandmother following the Holocaust. “I didn’t know that there were photographs of her and that they’d been in touch,” Efroni said. In one, Friedman is wearing a white tichel, a head covering worn by married, observant women. An undated note written in Hungarian that accompanied the picture reads, “With a lot of love from a friend. Rozsi.” Under it, she wrote “Kosice,” a city now in southeastern Slovakia that is just across the Hungary border from Lowinger’s hometown of Emod. Another photograph shows a
bareheaded Friedman. Her note with it reads, “Lots of love to Kotokanuak,” and was signed “Rozitol,” using the two women’s diminutives. It is dated May 9, 1948, and was sent from Fehergyarmat, in northeast Hungary. The women lost contact soon thereafter. Lowinger believed that Friedman might have moved to the United States, Efroni said. He posited that Friedman could have settled in a strictly observant community, perhaps even in Jerusalem. While few details are available on Friedman, Lowinger’s own background is known. Her parents were Moshe and Sara, and she had an older brother, Laszo (known as Lazzi and Zeev), and a younger brother, Imre. A document in the International Tracing Service’s archives documents Lowinger’s path during the Holocaust as follows: She
was sent to the Mezoczato ghetto in April 1944, to Auschwitz and then Plaszow in June, back to Auschwitz in August and, in January 1945, to Gross Rosen, Mauthausen and Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated. According to her family, Lowinger recuperated at a sanitarium in Sweden and then lived for a year with a non-Jewish family nearby before immigrating to Israel in 1948. Laszo survived the Holocaust and also lives in Israel. Sara and Imre were killed at Auschwitz; Moshe had died earlier. Lowinger’s heartbreak did not end with the Holocaust; her son, Yitzhak, was killed in combat in the Yom Kippur War. Efroni is confident that with contemporary social media and Internet tools, Rozsi Friedman ultimately will be found. The sad thing, he notes, is that his grandmother may not be in a state to fully appreciate that day when it arrives. Efroni’s mother, Sara, values his efforts, which included being interviewed on the Israeli radio program “Hamador L’chipus Krovim” (Searching for Relatives Bureau). Ofir and his two siblings always were close with their grandparents, she explained. The extended family traveled together to Emod and to the concentration camps where Lowinger was imprisoned. Her son always demonstrated great empathy for his grandparents’ suffering during the Holocaust, and his searching for Friedman further “shows that he cares,” she said. “He has entered this with all his heart.”
8 • INTERNATIONAL
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As new chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis faces a fractious British Jewry
Israel-EU tension: The view from Europe By Jacob Kamaras, Alina Dain Sharon, Sean Savage JointMedia News Service This month some of Israel’s strongest friends in Europe – Britain, France, and Germany – summoned their ambassadors to protest the Jewish state’s construction decisions. As a result, then Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that European governments are willing to abandon Israel in a similar fashion to the way they gave up Czechoslovakia to the Nazis before World War II. Gabriel Goldberg, director of youth services for the Umbrella Organizations of the Jewish Communities of the North-Rhine Region in Germany, disagrees with Lieberman’s actual comparison, but told JNS, “The frustration that lies behind his statement is absolutely understandable.” At the European Union (EU), officials seem to have had a singular focus of late – and it isn’t their continent’s ongoing economic crisis. The EU’s 27 foreign ministers first condemned Israel’s plans construction plans in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim. More recently, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton called construction plans in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Hamatos and the ultra-Orthodox northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo “extremely troubling.” Britain, France, Germany and Portugal – the EU’s four UN Security Council members – asked the Israeli government to rescind its recent construction approvals. EU criticism of Israel hasn’t been limited to building. On its website, the EU insisted that Israel process its tax transfer to the Palestinians because of “contractual obligations.” But 14 of 27 EU countries – by voting in favor of “Palestine” as a nonmember observer state at the UN – effectively approved the Palestinians’ violation of their contractual obligation under the Oslo Accords to reach a final status agreement with Israel only through direct negotiations. Not all has been sour in recent Israel-EU relations. In October, when the EU bolstered its economic sanctions against Iran, Lieberman – the same man who made the Holocaust analogy – sent a letter to Ashton thanking her for the EU’s “resolute and important step, worthy of significant appreciation, especially as it has been taken in a difficult economic period [for Europe].” On Dec. 22, those strengthened sanctions officially became EU law. Yet the EU has defied calls from both the U.S. and Israel to officially designate Hezbollah as a
By Miriam Shaviv Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Courtesy of Moshe Milner/GPO/FLASH90
Catherine Ashton, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem on October 24, 2012..
terrorist organization, and has drawn criticism from Israel for underemphasizing Hamas’s calls for the Jewish state’s destruction (a condemnation of Hamas was clause No. 9 of 10 points published by the EU within its succession of condemnations of Israel for E1 construction on Dec. 10). What do European Jews think of the EU’s heavy focus on Israel? What are the reasons behind that focus, and what are its implications for Israel’s relationships with European nations? JNS reports on the Jewish perspective from Germany, Britain and France. GERMANY The 34-year-old Gabriel Goldberg – who, as the son of Soviet dissidents who moved to Israel, has family living in the Jewish state – said that among many in German society, “the common sense is that Israel is the aggressive entity in the world.” He added that it’s “in style to have an opinion about the Middle East conflict without any facts.” One reason for this, according to Goldberg, involves a projection of German guilt over the Holocaust onto Israeli Jews. Many Germans mistakenly believe that the Israeli Jews are “doing no better than what the Nazis have done” with the Palestinians, Goldberg said. Stephan J. Kramer, Secretary General of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, does not believe that the EU is anti-Israel, nor is Germany. “We know that Chancellor Angela Merkel has a very positive attitude toward the State of Israel, although she has disagreements with the acting premier Netanyahu,” he told JNS in an email. Kramer, however, is concerned with the danger of European appeasement of the Palestinians. Many EU members “favored or refrained from opposing the Palestinians’ [UN] upgrade because they wanted to convey the message
of supporting the general idea of Palestinian statehood,” according to Kramer. Germany abstained from the vote. Still, Kramer would not go as far as Avigdor Lieberman’s Holocaust analogy when it comes to current relations between Israel and Europe, writing “I would draw too many parallels between 1938 and 2012.” He explained that Israel today has Germany – which is rumored to supply the Jewish state with submarines – as an ally. Israel also has one of the strongest armies in the world, he noted. “The Czechoslovakian government of 1938 would have loved to be in such a situation,” Kramer wrote. Another indication that the broader Israel-Europe relationship is positive, according to Kramer, is that Israel participates in Europe’s scientific programs and contributes technology to European companies. “A few years ago, then minister of economy in Germany, Rainer Brüderle, said that using Israeli innovations could raise German economic growth,” he said. Goldberg said the EU’s top political priority today should not be Israel, but the European economic crisis. “I don’t think anti-Semitism is rising because of the economic crisis, but it’s buried inside the souls of people and it comes out when they have other problems,” Goldberg said. “[The thinking in Europe is] if you have many problems and you don’t know how to solve them, take the easy way out and condemn Israel.” BRITAIN British Jewry in general “tends to avoid talking about” the issue of Israeli construction, according to Sam Westrop, director of the London-based Institute for Middle Eastern Democracy. TENSION on page 22
LONDON – Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has big shoes to fill. Appointed this week as the 11th British chief rabbi, he will succeed Jonathan Sacks, an internationally renowned author and public intellectual who speaks frequently on moral, philosophical and theological affairs. The widespread assumption among British Jews has long been that a Mirvis chief rabbinate would be quite different, that he would focus on internal Jewish community issues rather than trying to emulate Sacks. But Mirvis has different ideas. When he takes up the position in September 2013, he hopes to be an “able and capable representative to the outside world,” he told JTA, and would aim to bring an “ethical voice” to debates of national importance. “A sense of religious identity has never been more relevant, nor more necessary, in our fastchanging world,” Mirvis said. But Mirvis, 56, who is currently rabbi of Finchley United Synagogue, one of London’s flagship Orthodox congregations, does not intend to neglect internal affairs either. His other top two priorities will be promoting education and empowering local rabbis, in order to bolster the shrinking constituency of Britain’s centrist Orthodox synagogues. “I will be seeking to deepen commitment within the Jewish community to Jewish learning, values and ideology,” he said. “I see an enormous thirst for personal spiritual growth.” Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Mirvis has a bachelor’s degree in education and classical Hebrew from the University of South Africa, and studied at two Israeli yeshivas – Kerem BeYavne and Har Etzion – affiliated with Israel’s religious Zionist community. Between 1984 and 1992, he was chief rabbi of Ireland, after which he moved to the prestigious Western Marble Arch Synagogue in central London, a position previously held by Sacks. He has been in his current position since 1996. Observers of Anglo-Jewry say that a renewed focus on communal issues would be welcomed, as Sacks, for all his academic brilliance, was generally regarded as weak in that regard. “Mirvis will be looking toward his own constituency,” said Meir Persoff, the author of a forthcoming book about the process of choosing Britain’s chief rabbis.
“This is exactly what Anglo-Jewry and centrist Orthodoxy needs, someone to be its head.” According to Persoff, “as a person, rabbi, community man and as a leader who commands the respect and affection of his congregants and wider community, Mirvis is ideal.” In succeeding Sacks, Mirvis is stepping into a difficult job. While officially employed by the United Synagogue, 140-year-old union of 62 Orthodox communities, the chief rabbi is perceived as the representative of all British Jewry. Increasingly, the needs and views of these two overlapping groups clash.
Courtesy of John Rifkin
Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis will serve as Britain’s next chief rabbi.
Sacks discovered this on a number of occasions, like in 1996 when he declined to attend the funeral of a prominent Reform rabbi, Hugo Gryn, and condemned him in a private letter as a “destroyer of the faith.” Many say this essentially ruined his relationship with the liberal movements. It did not go unnoticed that, in the Reform statement welcoming Mirvis’s appointment, he was referred to as the “Orthodox chief rabbi.” Mirvis was not eager to discuss the Reform reaction, but he did indicate that he intended to speak for all British Jews, not just his particular brand of Orthodoxy. According to Persoff, whether this is possible will depend, to some extent, not on him but on the attitude of both the nonOrthodox and the haredi Orthodox communities to the right of the United Synagogue. It also depends on the United Synagogue itself. “I’ve heard discussion within the United Synagogue about whether to face the truth and change the title of the position to ‘Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogue,’” he said. “That’s all it is. But the United Synagogue will not allow [Mirvis] to face that fact and will carry on with the pretense that he is chief rabbi of the whole community.”
INTERNATIONAL • 9
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2012
In Jamaica, the Jewish future is in intermarriages and conversions By Debra Rubin Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Courtesy of My One Hotel, Canazei
Kosher-keeping skiers now have an abundance of affordable options in the European Alps.
In Europe, middle-class families are getting used to kosher skiing By Cnaan Liphshiz Jewish Telegraphic Agency AMSTERDAM – Skiing has always been something of a rich man’s sport. Between the costs of travel, accommodations, lift tickets and lessons, a family with children can easily drop upwards of $6,000 for a few days on the slopes. If you keep kosher, the costs can be even higher. No longer. Over the past decade, Jewish entrepreneurs have been crafting affordable alternatives to Europe’s handful of $250-per-night kosher ski lodges. The result is that nowadays, hundreds of observant middle-class families flock each winter to Europe’s Alpine slopes. “With the financial crisis, few can afford a Jewish four-star hotel,” says Dolly Lellouche. She and her husband, Chlomo, run D’holydays, a travel agency that operates a twostar “kosherized” hotel – a regular hotel that is temporarily made kosher to accommodate an observant clientele. This year, D’holydays took over the Hotel Grand Aigle at Serre de Chevalier, a major resort in southeast France. The newer, cheaper alternatives to all-year kosher hotels include kosherized hotels like the Grand Aigle, which are typically available to kosher travelers for just a week or two; do-it-yourself options, where agencies or groups of friends rent ski apartments and prepare food themselves; and discounted kosher trips run by Jewish nonprofits. Ideal Tours, a Jerusalem-based travel agency, lists several kosherized ski hotels operating in worldclass skiing locales such as Courchevel, in France’s Tarentaise Valley, the Crans-Montana resorts in Switzerland and Pinzolo in Italy. But nowhere are low-cost solutions and workarounds more abundant than in France, a country of 550,000 Jews and home to some of the largest ski resorts in the world.
Eli Club, a Nice-based kosher ski agency, will set you up at the Serre de Chevalier at Hotel La Belle Etoile, a three-star establishment, while Club J, another agency, will send you to Hotel La Ruade – both kosherized hotels. Toruman, a Belgium travel agency, and Maagalei Nofesh in Israel offer a range of hotels in which a family of four can expect to bid adieu to $3,000-$4,000 for a week of skiing, Jewish hospitality and certified glatt kosher cooking. Though still a handsome sum, it is far less daunting than the $6,000-$8,000 price tag for a family of four to vacation at one of Europe’s four-star kosher ski hotels, like My One Kosher Hotel in Italy or Metropol Hotel Arosa in Switzerland. That’s especially true considering that accommodation is only the beginning. Ski passes can cost an adult another $250 per week. Renting gear can pile on another $100 per person. Ski lessons for kids can cost $300. But there are ways to cut down on those costs as well. “A good hotel should be able to get you a good discount on these expenses,” Lellouche said. Still, no matter how many stars they have or what peripheral discounts they offer, kosher ski lodges tend to cost substantially more than their non-kosher equivalents, according to Pinchas Padwa, an Amsterdam-based rabbi who has been providing kosher certification to ski resorts in Europe for two decades. “The overhead of running a kosher hotel in the Alps is overwhelming,” Padwa said. In Switzerland, where ritual slaughter is prohibited, all kosher meat and many other kosher products need to be imported. On top of that are kosher certification costs and special expenses associated with finding cooks capable of making Jewish foods.
KINGSTON, Jamaica – A Caribbean mineral bath was her mikvah. Marie Reynolds used the living waters of Kingston’s Rockford Mineral Baths for the ritual immersion required to complete her conversion to Judaism, formally becoming a member of one of the oldest Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere: Jamaican Jewry. The tiny, racially mixed community – “200 souls,” as Jewish community leader Ainsley Henriques puts it – may well depend on Jews by choice like Reynolds. Even prior to her conversion, Reynolds, who had studied Judaism on and off for more than a decade, was a choir member and soloist at Congregation Kahal Kadosh Shaare Shalom, Jamaica’s only synagogue. Once a regular churchgoer, Reynolds, 52, said she was drawn to Judaism initially by her desire in the late 1990s to have a day of rest. A visit in 1998 to the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York gave Reynolds, a child psychotherapist, a deep sense of connection to Judaism. “I felt like I was coming home,” she told JTA. A year or two after the museum visit, she discovered that her moth-
Courtesy of Debra Rubin/JTA
Jewish community leader Ainsley Henriques at the Jewish Heritage Center in Kingston, Jamaica, where the nation’s only remaining synagogue, Congregation Kahal Kadosh Shaare Shalom, is located.
er-in-law’s family was Jewish; her husband had no idea. Given the Jewish community’s centuries-long history in Jamaica, it’s not shocking that Reynolds’ husband has Jewish roots. The 73year-old Henriques, who wears the multiple hats of community leader, historian and Israel’s honorary consul, believes that as many as 10 percent of Jamaicans have Jewish ancestry. “We’ve sown our seeds wide and far,” said Joseph Matalon, 67, whose family is among Jamaica’s
newer arrivals, having come to the island from Damascus, Syria, in the 20th century. Matalon also cautions that there may be some racial bias in many Jamaican claims to Jewish ancestry. “It’s important to be white” or have light skin, he said of the residents of a country that is 90 percent black. “When they tell you that their great-great-grandfather was Jewish, they’re saying they’re white.” Reynolds says she does not know if she has any Jewish ancestry. “People like success and like to be connected to success; I have a feeling they see the Jews as successful,” said Marilyn Delevante, 76, a retired physician and author of “The Island of One People: An Account of the History of the Jews of Jamaica,” which she wrote with her brother, Anthony Alberga. Jewish roots in Jamaica run deep. Some conversos – Jews who were forced to convert during the Inquisition, but continued to practice Judaism in secret – may have arrived on the island with Christopher Columbus in 1494 and during his later trips, according to Delevante’s book. In 1577, Jews were free to live and work on the island, but it wasn’t until the British conquered Jamaica in 1655 that Jews were permitted to practice their religion openly and establish a Jewish community, including synagogues and cemeteries.
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10 • ISRAEL
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Ho, Ho... Holy Land? By Judy Lash Balint JointMedia News Service Israel’s Ministry of Tourism reports that 75,000 Christian tourists are expected to arrive in Israel to celebrate Christmas this year at the standard Christian pilgrimage sites of Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. But in recent years, an increasing number of Israelis are taking part in a range of Christmas activities – everything from concerts offered by some of the country’s prominent institutions, to Christmas parties at popular bars, to midnight mass offered in Hebrew at the St. James Catholic Church in downtown Jerusalem. Israelis mingle with Christian pilgrims at the multilingual carol service on Christmas Eve at the majestic Notre Dame Center just outside the walls of the Old City. Ron Dauman, 58, a self-proclaimed secular Israeli from Mevasseret Tzion a few miles west of Jerusalem, has been bringing friends to Notre Dame for Christmas for more than five years. “There’s no religious significance in it for me. It’s a cultural thing that I find appealing and attractive. Non-Jews attend Passover seders – I attend Christmas eve,” he explains. Just five kilometers from Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the heart of Christmas tourism, is in Area A, under Palestinian Authority control, and is off-limits to Israelis – who are warned to stay out by large yellow signs posted at the checkpoints. Nevertheless, Shoshana Pardo, 48, a Jerusalem resident and dual U.S-Israeli citizen, uses her American passport to join the busloads of tourists crossing into the small town to visit Manger Square in the days before Christmas. “I consider it part of the Israeli experience,” she says. “I guess it’s because I was raised in a multi-cultural society in America. We shouldn’t be threatened by others’ beliefs.” A Hallelujah Christmas Concert under the aegis of Jerusalem’s Tower of David takes place on the Friday before Christmas at the nearby Christ Church of the Old City. Ads for the event carry the logo of Israel’s Ministry of Sport and Culture and the Jerusalem Municipality, despite the reputation of Christ Church as a center for missionary activity. A Messianic Hebrew congregation uses the facility on Saturdays. A Hebrew University sociologist who spoke to JNS and requested anonymity equates the phenomenon of the rise of Israeli participation in Christmas activities with two main sources. One is the effort of local evangelical churches to “erase the boundaries between Christianity and Judaism.” A second is the influence of the American idea of transforming Christmas from a religious to a civil holiday. “Just as Thanksgiving was
In Israeli political campaign, Facebook and YouTube play growing role By Ben Sales Jewish Telegraph Agency
Courtesy of Darko Tepert/Wikimedia Commons
A Catholic procession on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, 2006.
once a Puritan festival with religious overtones, but became a secular holiday observed by all good Americans, including Jews, so Christmas is losing a lot of its religious significance,” she says. “And everyone knows how much Israelis like to emulate Americans…” she adds. Along the main streets of most Israeli cities, visitors will find only a few shops decked out with Christmas glitz, but you don’t have to look too far for evidence of the holiday. Every year the Jerusalem Municipality hangs decorative neon lights along a long stretch of Hebron Road, the main thoroughfare leading from southern Jerusalem into Bethlehem. There are no explicitly Christian symbols, just huge bright stars. For the first time, the Jerusalem Development Authority announced this year is decorating the streets and hanging festive lights around the Old City in honor of Christmas. In contrast, just a few years ago in 2009, the display of a Christmas tree in the window of a Tel Aviv branch of the Zara fashion store sparked controversy. After a public outcry, store managers removed the tree. Many bars and organizations are hosting Christmas parties this year. One at a popular Tel Aviv bar, organized by the iGoogledisrael tourism website and advertised on Facebook as the “ultimate Christmas party,” had more than 70 people signed up a couple of days ahead of the event. For Rabbi Dr. Avraham Feder, rabbi emeritus of Jerusalem’s Beit Knesset Moreshet Yisrael, the fact that Israelis attend concerts of Christian liturgical music is not a concern. “Perhaps the fact that we’re in our own country means Jews can be more secure about Christians observing their own traditions,” he says. “But,” he says emphatically, “for individual Jews who observe Christmas, I believe it shows a lack of ego strength in our own Jewish celebrations.” Having lived in Israel for decades, Rabbi Feder remarks that for years he enjoyed the fact that Dec. 25 just came and went. “Recently I’ve noticed it more,” he admits.
HAIFA – The debate was not televised. The participants did not sit on a stage in front of an auditorium under bright lights. Nor were Israel’s major candidates present. Instead, five representatives of Israeli political parties sat at a folding table in a classroom of perhaps 100 students at a Haifa college. One representative was the second-ranking member of his political faction and a onetime runner-up in the balloting for prime minister. Another was a minor Israeli celebrity: the leader of last year’s social justice protests. At one point during the debate, Rabbi Shai Peron of the new, centrist Yesh Atid Party criticized Amram Mitzna, the former prime ministerial hopeful, for his past defeats. “I’m not in your yeshiva,” Mitzna shot back. “I don’t need to answer your question.” Welcome to the Israeli campaign, a far more informal, intimate and legally circumscribed affair than what unfolds in the United States. Instead of billion-dollar campaigns, Israeli parties make do with budgets in the low millions or sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars – almost all of it publicly funded. Foreign donations are allowed only during internal party primaries, and general election campaign donations are limited to about $500 per household. Television ads are permitted only a few weeks before the elections, and only at designated times. To sidestep these restrictions, parties increasingly are turning to social media, Facebook in particular. Many politicians, and almost all the major party leaders, have an active Facebook page. Some use it as a virtual soapbox, posting several paragraphs at a time that explain particular policies or berate their rivals ahead of the Jan. 22 elections. With a dozen parties expected to enter Knesset, including several new ones, Israeli Facebook political discourse is a free-for-all. On Saturday, center-left Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich posted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was operating in a “closed-off submarine.” Meanwhile, a post by right-wing Jewish Home (Habayit Hayehudi) Chairman Naftali Bennett accused Netanyahu’s Likud Party of “distortion.” Two days earlier, Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid posted that Yachimovich would raise taxes on the middle class. “It gives us a platform to share what we’re doing as politicians,” Stav Shaffir, the former protest leader who is now a candidate for Labor, said of Facebook. “For me, it’s the natural continuation of the
Courtesy of Ben Sales
A political ad for the Shas party portrays the secular Avigdor Liberman, leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party and until recently Israel's foreign minister, as an Orthodox Jew. “Only a strong Shas will prevent assimilation,” the ad says.
protest. It creates active, aware citizenship.” Facebook is not the only online platform Israeli political hopefuls have sought to exploit. Barred from television for the time being, the parties instead are running their spots on YouTube. Some of the ads are tightly produced, with graphics and animation, while others reflect the campaign’s casual nature. A recent Labor ad showed Yachimovich greeting supporters, unscripted, on the street. A few began singing as a car drove by, honking its horn. Videos for the front-running Likud, meanwhile, have parodied popular YouTube memes. An ad for candidate Ze’ev Elkin during the internal Likud primaries, for example, cribbed from the popular Korean “Gangnam Style” pop music video. Aside from the videos, though, Likud has hardly been campaigning at all. Its formal campaign is expected to be launched this week, with only a month remaining until Election Day. Likud strategists say the campaign will focus on Netanyahu, known universally here by his nickname, Bibi. For now, with a solid lead in the polls, Likud’s leaders seem happy to let their governing do the talking. “As the governing party, they’re using government activity as the campaign,” said Tamir Sheafer, a Hebrew University political science professor. “Bibi is flying to Germany and the Czech Republic, and making decisions about building in the West Bank. This is the best campaign. It’s better than any billboards.” Sheafer said Israel is “a few years behind the U.S.” in using social media for political purposes. The bulk of the Israeli campaign takes place in traditional media, like billboards, and on the ground. Israeli politicians host meetings in their own homes and are relatively easy to access in a country of 8
million people. “I’m out every single night at a parlor meeting spreading the word,” Dov Lipman, a Yesh Atid candidate, told JTA. Lipman said all of his party’s candidates “have full schedules, running around the entire country,” and that the party, which is new, has 15,000 volunteers on the ground. Minor candidates in other parties, however, are less active. Israel has a parliamentary system, so Israelis vote directly for a party, rather than for individual candidates. To make it into the 120-member Knesset, candidates don’t need to win a particular district; they just need their parties to pass a certain vote threshold. The more votes their party gets, the more seats they will occupy. That means that candidates who are not near the top of their party’s list get almost no attention, and lower-level candidates from the smaller parties have practically no chance of making it into the Knesset. “Most of them do not have personal electoral value because the focus is on the leaders,” Sheafer said of the lower-level candidates. “So if you take No. 30 on the Likud list, nobody knows that person’s name.” (It’s Gila Gamliel.) A Likud spokesperson said lower-level candidates stay active by running their local party offices or campaigning in nearby schools. Coordinating an Israeli campaign is challenging, in part, because of the range of parties. Instead of having one opponent, parties must distinguish themselves from multiple ideologies, platforms and candidates. The Sephardic Orthodox Shas Party, for example, chose to target secularist Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Liberman in one ad. Liberman is pictured wearing a kippah underneath a caption that reads: “Only a strong Shas can prevent assimilation.”
SOCIAL LIFE • 11
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2012
Chanukah in Mason The Jewish Discovery Center, Center for Jewish Life in the Mason area, drew large crowds at its multiple Chanukah programs. Programs included Chanukah Pajamikah, Discovery Hebrew School’s Menorah Contest, and Chai Tots’ Chanukah Walk-Through. Significantly, the community Giant Menorah Lighting at the Deerfield Towne Center on the fourth night of Chanukah saw some 350 community members despite the freezing weather. Rabbi Yosef Kalmanson was joined by the President of Deerfield Township Trustees, the Mayor of Mason and many other community officials for the lighting and the public celebration of Jewish religious freedom. The picture shows Mason Mayor Dave Nichols lighting the Shamash. Other pictures show a visit to the Jewish Discovery Center’s Chai Tots Early Childhood Center by local philanthropist and businessman, Sam Boymel. Mr. Boymel is a long-time supporter of The Jewish Discovery Center in Mason. For more information, email info@JDiscovery.com or visit www.JDiscovery.com.
(Clockwise) Sam Boymel proudly distributes Chanukah Gelt; Sam Boymel and Rabbi Yosef Kalmanson watch students preparing Latkes; Sam Boymel proudly distributes Chanukah Gelt; Child looks up as Menorah is lit; Mason Mayor, Dave Nichols, Lights the Shamash
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14 • DINING OUT
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The Rail House — reintroducing relatability By Michael Sawan Assistant Editor Times change. In 1853 you could find a place called Brackerd’s Tavern in the little outpost of Glendale. It soon morphed into a speakeasy during prohibition. The business changed hands several times, flitting between different levels of class and comfort. Until recently the restaurant was known as the Iron Horse Inn, a place to take the family during holidays and special occasions, but as of last September that ended. Now the Rail House has taken over, and the name of the game is comfort. “We still have the high-end fish of the day, prime New York strip, filet mignon,” explained co-owner Jay Silbermann. “But we’re also offering a brisket and some other options that are anywhere from $12 – $22. (The customers) can choose whatever experience they like.” This is not to say quality has slipped. The Rail House has taken every effort to keep their food fresh, local and occasionally exotic. They will soon offer a one pound New York style reuben, using Grobbles corned beef and Giminetti bread. The restaurant offers a brisket which utilizes au jus made of Woodford Reserve Whiskey, the pastries are all made in-house by Chris Roswog and on and on. Here’s Silbermann again: “The new menu hasn’t come out, it comes out after the first of the year, but it will have 40 plus items, everything scratch made... everything sustainable, organic, we have some vegan options, vegetarian options, too.” The business has even incorporated locally farmed produce and protein, all in an effort to bring business back to Glendale Square. The atmosphere has changed, too. “We’ve tried to contemporize the entire facility,” explained Silbermann. “Some picture change, some decor change, but really it’s the menu, the energy that we’re trying to create, this more casual environment. We’ve tried to turn it into a more frequent-casual restaurant.” And the result? “We’ve started to see the clientele coming in from all over the city.” For good reason, too. During my visit I sampled a swath of Rail House dishes, starting with the Mediterranean Salad. Featuring a Greek Citrus Vinaigrette dressing, the salad has a dominantly earthy taste, featuring crisp hunks of mixed greens, olives, tomatoes, red onion and an assortment of other veggies. The dressing was tastefully applied, a light lubrication so that the salad might have that extra snap of crispness. The citrus was well used, giving the earthy impulses a nice point. The best part, though, was the final, soft touch of creaminess that the feta cheese imparted. My entrée item was the
Courtesy of Michael Sawan
(Clockwise) Jay Silbermann, one of the owners of the Rail House, with Billy Cohen, who conveniently came with the Iron Horse Inn; The Mediterranean Salad with Greek Citrus Vinaigrette; The home-style Woodford Reserve Bourbon Brisket, with mashed potatoes and carrots; A dessert tray, featuring Lori’s Soon-To-Be-Famous Cheesecake, Tiramisu Parfait, Flourless Chocolate Tort and an assortment of parfaits; The made-in-house Carrot Cake; The upstairs parlor provides a more traditional feel; The upstairs bar, featuring over 40 bourbons and whiskeys.
Woodford Reserve Bourbon Brisket, with a side of mashed potatoes and carrots. The brisket was well cooked, tender to the point of falling apart at the fork. The flavor was propelled by a nice zing of sweetness charged by the classy bourbon. Silbermann and I discussed for a minute how some customers would try the dish and note how the Rail House’s brisket was better than their mother’s version. Luckily for my mom I am far more loyal, but I can say that the Rail House version does have the effect of a home cooked meal after a long day of work. The mashed potatoes were in and of themselves terrific. I’d like to see them in a shepherd’s pie, for by themselves they were delicious enough to merit special attention. They were very consistent, very creamy, with a texture that was entirely new to me. It was something like a thick sorbet, meshing together firmly but retaining an easy malleability. Then, the carrots, they had a nice spice to them and were prepared with a good quality oil, imparting an even, flavorful taste.
For dessert I had 1,000 things. I began with a dish that Silbermann’s sister hand bakes, Lori’s Soon-ToBe-Famous Cheesecake. The name doesn’t lie, with Lori having to prepare upwards of 12 cakes for any oncoming week, then a separate batch once the weekend arrives. The reason is obvious once you give it a shot. Using ricotta cheese for the main body, the cake is almost too smooth, except that such a thing isn’t possible. The top layer of the cake is a combination of Philadelphia cream cheese and sour cream, a mix that adds a simply ridiculous level of flavor. I fancy myself a cheesecake connoisseur, and this is easily the best one I’ve ever had, hands down. The assortment of other desserts had the same level of quality. The Flourless Chocolate Tort had a richness that only grew after your first encounter, enveloping your taste buds in rich dark chocolate. It also features a peanut butter sauce on top, giving this classic combination another tick in its already impressive legacy. All of the parfaits were
great, with the Tiramisu version being a stroke of genius; never before have I seen something so familiar done in such a fresh way. Delicious, too, not at all too heavy, the perfect balance between sweet, coffee and heft. Finally I tried the Carrot Cake for Two. You may want to bring three, by the way. The cake avoids the typical pitfall of its kind: mainly, just how ODD it is to make a cake out of carrots. The Rail House version tastes natural, all of the flavors combining as they should. Not too sweet, not too earthy, not overloaded with raisins, it was a carrot cake that balanced itself well and even had a classy garnish of thinly sliced, sweetened carrots. And for those of you who absolutely loved the Iron Horse’s balsamic vinaigrette, the Rail House hung onto the recipe and continues to prepare it in house. It was little things like this that impressed me most about the Rail House. For instance, upon entering you’ll notice a slate floor. The stuff is old, having come from the chalk-
boards of an old schoolhouse in the area. The parlor room, on the second floor, features fine stained glass and several Alphonse Mucha prints, giving the room an art nouveau feel. This is a part of a very intentional line of interior design on the part of the Rail House, the restaurant trying to evoke a modern-vintage feel that is contemporary while still paying homage to the 19th century history that is its heritage. “We’ve been recognized as having a very neat selection, not overly selective but selective enough, not only of beers but of bourbons and whiskeys,” added Silbermann. From beer drinkers and bar food to filets and parfaits, the Rail House will cater to your daily needs. Their hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., 5 - 10 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., 5 - 11 p.m.; Saturday, 5 - 11 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. The Rail House 40 Village Square Cincinnati, OH (513) 772-3333
DINING OUT • 15
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2012
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16 • OPINION
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A film informs my Sh’ma My top 10 picks for 2012 By Rabbi Avi Shafran Contributing Columnist As a single young man in 1977, I once found myself in a science museum where I viewed a just released short film that – there’s really no other way to put it – expanded my consciousness. It apparently did the same for many others and remains to this day, despite powerful advances in special effects, an impressive work. Produced the year I encountered it by husband and wife team Charles and Ray Eames, “Powers of Ten” begins with a simple scene, a picnic in a Chicago park.
One of the ancient Hebrew euphemisms for G-d is “Makom,” which literally means “place.” As predicted by the voiceover, though, the camera pulls away from the picnic, at a rate of one power of ten per 10 seconds. The zoom-out continues straight up, so that, in a few seconds, the picnic blanket is but a dot of color against the green expanse of the park, which soon enough, with the camera continuing to soar heavenward, itself shrinks to a speck. Then the viewer sees the outline of Lake Michigan, then North America; the earth’s cloud cover next fills the screen, and then earth itself, which itself quickly recedes into the distance. Eventually we see an image of our solar system and then the galaxy to which it belongs, before it, too, becomes but one of many galaxies. The camera seems to fly ever backward, until it reaches the farthest reaches of space. The effect is visceral, or at least it was for me. It recalled to me how, as a child, I would sometimes lie flat on my back on our lawn on a clear dark night and concentrate my vision on the starry sky until I felt an inexplicable and sudden shock. It was as if the sheer vastness of the stars, of the universe itself, had somehow reached out and seized me; it was a frightening experience, yet one that, when feeling brave, I would occasionally seek out. Although “Powers of Ten” on a
screen could not quite evoke that childhood shudder, it visually captured, maybe even more compellingly, the vastness of the cosmos. The film, which proceeds from outer space to inner space, zooming back into the picnic and then further, into the skin of a picnicker, into one of his cells and its DNA, then into an atom and an electron, has been recently celebrated on the 35-year anniversary of its release. (Charles Eames passed away the following year, in 1978, and his wife Ray, in an arresting irony, died precisely – to the Gregorian calendar day – ten years later.) The short film actually plays a role in my life as an observant Jew, thrice daily when reciting the fundamental Jewish credo, the Sh’ma (at morning and evening prayers and before retiring). The Sh’ma declares G-d’s transcendence of time and space, and, as we pronounce the word echad (“one”) halacha prescribes that we try to conceptualize, to the degree we can, the immensity of the universe – “above and below and in all four directions” (Brachos 13b) – and the fact that the Creator of it all is not of it at all but “beyond” it and in control of it. One of the ancient Hebrew euphemisms for G-d is “Makom,” which literally means “place.” The Talmud explains that the word describes the Divine because “the universe is not His place, but rather He is the ‘Place’ of the universe.” Leaving – even in our imaginations – the dimensions of time and space isn’t an option for us mortals. We are like the two-dimensional residents of Flatland, Edwin Abbott’s 1884 satirical fantasy world, trying to comprehend three-dimensional existence. There is a reason the Hebrew word for both time and space is “olam,” rooted in “ne’elam,” which means “hidden.” And yet, we are required all the same to concentrate, as we recite the first verse of the Sh’ma, on G-d’s transcendence of time and space. That can be done in an entirely intellectual manner, without any sort of visualization. I find it helpful, though, when I recite the Sh’ma, to try to capture something of the feeling I felt as a child lying on the lawn on those starry nights. Images from “Powers of Ten,” as they did 35 years ago, provide me a “visual” to accompany the intellectual recognition of the scope of the olam. I doubt that the Eamses ever thought of their film as something that would come to invigorate a Jewish religious devotion. But that’s what it did, at least for this Jew.
By A. James Rudin Contributing Columnist Here are my picks for the top 10 religion stories of 2012: 1. Islam dominated the year, with power struggles between Islamists and secularists in Egypt and Turkey and the brutal Syrian civil war with Bashar Assad killing thousands of his own people. An obscure anti-Muslim video produced in California triggered riots throughout the world. In November, Hamas, cited by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, and Israel engaged in armed conflict until a cease-fire was declared. Christian minorities in Muslim societies suffered in 2012, especially the ancient Coptic Christian community in Egypt. 2. The “religious right” and Christian leaders Franklin Graham, Richard Land and Ralph Reed were losers when President Obama was re-elected, and three states legalized same-sex marriage and a fourth rejected a gay marriage ban. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops publicly opposed the federal contraceptive mandate, but Obama narrowly won the Catholic vote. He lost the Protestants by 15 points, but his biggest supporters – by a 70-point margin – were the “nones” who profess no religion. For the first time in history, no white Protestant was on either party ticket. 3. Mainline Protestant churches continued to lose members, and the number of Americans identifying as Christians also declined. The big gainers were the “nones” – now about one in five Americans. 4. The Anglican Communion’s new leader, former oil executive Justin Welby, succeeds Rowan
Williams as the archbishop of Canterbury. Both men favor women as bishops, but the Church of England’s General Synod rejected the idea. Interestingly, the presiding bishop of the U.S. branch of Anglicanism, the Episcopal Church’s Katharine Jefferts Schori, is a woman. 5. The Catholic Church’s continuing sex abuse scandal was highlighted by the criminal conviction of Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City, Mo., who was found guilty of not reporting one of his priests who had taken hundreds of pornographic pictures of minors. Finn faced one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, but he was sentenced instead to two years of court-supervised probation, a first for an American bishop. A high church official in Philadelphia was also convicted for shuffling known abusive priests around his archdiocese. 6. For nearly a decade, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has debated whether to divest its investments from companies doing business in Israel. The proposal was defeated at the denomination’s General Assembly in Pittsburgh. Similar efforts by several other Protestant church bodies also failed. Christian-Jewish relations suffered a setback in October when 15 church officials, mostly Protestants, issued a letter urging the U.S. to reconsider aid to Israel because of the Jewish state’s alleged “human rights violations” and “breaches of international law.” Jewish leaders criticized the letter, calling it one-sided and an example of a myopic “double standard” toward Israel, and withdrew from interfaith talks. 7. Anti-Semitism remains a pathological force in Europe and
the Middle East. A recent soccer match in Rome turned ugly when fans began yelling anti-Jewish slogans at a visiting British team. Ten fans were injured by an Italian gang wielding baseball bats, knives and broken bottles. Officials were investigating whether anti-Semitism was behind what appeared to be an organized attack. In Hungary, some right-wing politicians want to “screen” and register Jewish citizens in government because they are all considered “security risks.” More than 10,000 Hungarians in Budapest rallied against rising antiSemitism. Many political, literary and academic European elites supported boycotts and sanctions directed against Israel. 8. Pope Benedict XVI, 85, was the subject of speculation about his increasing frailty and fatigue and whether he might be the first pontiff in 700 years to retire. There was also conjecture about his possible successor. However, during 2012 Benedict published a new book on Jesus and began to post messages on Twitter. 9. ??The year saw the proliferation of “couch churches” or “sofa synagogues,” decentralized gatherings of Jews and Christians who study, pray and share meals in a nonstructured form without benefit of clergy or the need to attend services in “big box” sanctuaries. 10. Notable deaths included the 26 innocent children and teachers at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.; Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon; former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir; and on a personal note, Lawrence Guyot, with whom I marched during a 1964 voting rights drive in Hattiesburg, Miss.
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JEWISH LIFE • 17
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2012
Sedra of the Week
SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT VAYECHI GENESIS 47:28-50:26
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be greater than the sum of its parts. Hence, Jacob does what his father Isaac had wished to do: he bestows the birthright scepter of religious and universal leadership upon Judah, the material blessings of a double portion upon Joseph, and continues to divide the many other blessings among the rest of his children. Ultimately he realizes that nothing is as important as the continuity of the entire family and the transmission of its narrative and mission into the future. He also recognizes that in singling out young Joseph above all the other brothers, he – Jacob – had really been responsible for the subsequent enmity and jealousy that almost tore the family asunder. Hence he can truly forgive all of his sons for their deceptions, sincerely bless them and charge them with the continuity of the Abrahamic legacy, leaving this earthly journey at peace with himself and his beloved family. Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi – Efrat Israel
T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: VAYECHI (BRAISHITH 47:28—50:26) 1. Where did Hashem appear to Ya'akov? a.) In city of Luz b.) Beer Sheva c.) Bethlehem 2. What was Hashem's message to Ya'akov at that time? a.) He would grow to be a great nation b.) His descendants would inherit Canaan c.) His descendants would be slaves in Egypt d.) His descendants would receive the Torah
3. Ya'akov reminds Joseph of which past event? a.) His brothers sold him b.) Destruction of Schem c.) Passing and burial of his mother Rachel 4. Did Ya'akov intentionally switch his hands to put his right hand on Ephraim and left on Menashe? a.) Yes b.) No 5. Who saved Ya'akov from all trouble?
pray when The Children of Israel passed by her tomb on their way into exile. Rashi 4. A 48:14 5. 48:16 An angel.
Joseph is the most charming and fruitful of the brothers, a benporat (fruitful bough), which comes from the Hebrew pri (fruit) or the Aramaic apirion, meaning charm or grace (B.T. Bava Metzia 119a and Rashi ad loc). He receives the material blessings of “the heavens above and the abyss crouching below.” He is certainly master over his brothers in Egypt by dint of his grand viziership, but remains separated and divided from them in his elevated status. Joseph has changed drastically from the arrogant kid brother whose dreams expressed his desire for Egyptian agriculture rather than Israelite sheepherding, who saw himself and not God as the center of the family and even of the cosmos. When he stands before Pharaoh, a chastened Joseph gives full credit to God, and with his last breath he asks to be buried in the Land of Israel. Nevertheless, he cannot be the ultimate leader of the family and progenitor of the Messiah because, for most of his life, he expended his energies toward the furtherance of Egypt rather than Israel and the family mission. Moreover, he never repents for his immature braggadocio – and it is only repentance, like that of Judah, which brings atonement, at-onement, true family unity. Joseph does forgive his brothers for their cruelty toward him, however, and he even forgives his father for having mismanaged the internal family. Joseph teaches that it was God Himself who extracted from their jealous hatred the building blocks for redemption; did not Joseph save them from starvation in Canaan, and was he not the catalyst for their subsequent Egyptian enslavement and redemption? None of these momentous events would have happened had Joseph not been victimized by his siblings. It is Jacob, however, who repents most deeply. The most painful lesson that he learns is that blind Isaac may have been a more profound seer than was the wise Rebekah, that in a family, blessings can be divided among many sons, aspects of leadership can be shared, no son ought be rejected, each sibling is to be held responsible for every other sibling. Esau should have been co-opted, not rejected. Only the unified family can
CITY
that Joseph's two sons, Menashe and Ephraim, would fulfill that message Rashi. 3. C 48:7 Ya'akov knew Joseph was upset that his mother Rachel was not buried in the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Ya'akov said Hashem told him to bury her in Bethlehem, so she would
EFRAT, Israel – “Then Jacob called for his sons and said… ‘Gather yourselves and listen, sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father’” (Genesis 49:1). The Book of Genesis has reached its closing chapter, with Jacob, grandfather of the emerging tribes of Israel, lying on his death bed surrounded by his family. Our sages teach that Jacob prayed to God for a warning before death; an illness that would provide him the opportunity to prepare to take leave of the world by placing his household and business in order, giving and seeking forgiveness, righting past wrongs and expressing his legacy for the future. Jacob is 147 years old as he reviews his many experiences and peregrinations, his trials and his triumphs, the relationships he nurtured and the relationships he neglected. Now, as his entire life passes before him, he expresses his last will and testament. This is not about giving material gifts to his children; instead he praises and chastises each one, assessing their strengths, charging them to use their gifts for the good of self, family and world. What clearly emerges is how much Jacob has learned from his children, how far he has come from the young father who prematurely elevated the precocious firstborn of his most beloved wife to position of familial leadership. Judah is his heir apparent, accepted by all the brothers as leader. Leadership must be won by the willing acclamation – it cannot be imposed from without by paternal fiat. Judah’s most noteworthy trait is his ability to repent and change, his ability to rise above his weaknesses: “From the torn and bespattered cloak [‘teref’ is reminiscent of ‘tarof toraf Yosef,’ (Gen. 37:33)] you have risen, my son” (Gen. 49:9). From your sale of Joseph to your willingness to become a slave in Egypt in place of Benjamin, from your having forsaken one son of Rachel to your having assumed personal responsibility for her other son.” Judah’s lionesque strength manifests itself in his ability to overcome and change himself, in his ability to teach by knowledge and example rather than by physical force and the sword. He is the peaceful unifier of the family, and from there shall he unify the world with the ingathering of nations and the peaceful prosperity gleaned from plentiful vineyards.
ADDRESS
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
Answers 1. A 48:3 Ya'akov recounts what Hashem told him at Luz when he returned from Lavan's house in Aram.(35:6-12) Rashbam 2. A,B 48:4 Specifically Hashem told him that two nations would come from him. Meaning
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
This is not about giving material gifts to his children; instead he praises and chastises each one, assessing their strengths, charging them to use their gifts for the good of self, family and world.
18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
JEWZ
IN THE
By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist ENGEL ON THE EDGE There’s a lot longer list of American Jewish military heroes than most people are aware of. Likewise, quite a large number of American Jews have risked and sometimes lost their lives as combat reporters or photographers. The most daring network news correspondent of the present day has to be RICHARD ENGEL, 39, NBC’s chief foreign correspondent. On Dec.13, Engel and three crew members were kidnapped by a pro-Syrian government militia group intent on trading Engel and his crew for Iranian and Lebanese Shiite militia agents who had been working for the Syrian government and had been captured by anti-government Syrian rebels. The pro-government militia squad holding Engel was stopped (Dec. 17) at a rebel check-point and, in the subsequent gunfight, Engel and his colleagues were freed unharmed. The next day they were in Turkey. Engel was born in New York. His father was a banker and his mother owned an antiques store. His mother feared for his future because he had severe dyslexia. He overcame it and graduated from Stanford in 1996. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Cairo, learned Arabic, and worked as a freelance reporter there for four years. Next, he went to Jerusalem, where he worked until 2003. Then he went to work for NBC, covering the Iraq war, the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war, and the war in Afghanistan. I’m not sure if Engel regrets telling the press (the Washington Post in 2008) that he is Jewish. But he did and that fact can now be found pretty easily on the internet. In any event, his “Jewishness” is one more factor adding to the danger he faces reporting on war in the Middle East. JOFFREY BALLET A 90-minute documentary entitled “American Masters/Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance” premieres on PBS on Friday, Dec. 28 at 9 p.m. The film traces the struggles and triumphs of the Joffrey Ballet, a pioneering American dance company that began in 1956 and was resident in New York from 1957 to 1995, when it moved to Chicago. In recent years, the company has enjoyed a great renaissance. The film is narrated by actor MANDY PATINKIN, 60, a Chicago native.
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Fun footnote: RAHM EMANUEL, 53, the present and first Jewish mayor of Chicago, was encouraged by his mother to take ballet lessons. He did so well that he was offered a ballet scholarship to the Joffrey School, then in New York. He turned it down in favor of Sarah Lawrence College, which has a strong dance program. Now the Joffrey is a jewel in Emanuel’s kind of town, Chicago. HEADS-UP: A GREAT RADIO SERIES The other day, I heard two terrific radio interviews conducted by actor Alec Baldwin. One was with African-American comedian Chris Rock and the other was with musical legend HERB ALPERT, 77. I thought they were brand-new, but it turns out my NPR station had only recently picked-up this series for broadcast and the Rock interview was a year old, while Alpert spoke to Baldwin last March. Baldwin is a great host and his bi-weekly series, “Here’s the Thing,” can be heard, or downloaded online. (Just search for Baldwin and the show’s title.) Rock told Baldwin that his audience, although “half-white,” appreciated the fact that he didn’t try and do “cross-over” stand-up material to appeal to the whites in his audience. In other words, like some Jewish comedians who do a “very Jewish” act – Rock does a quite black-oriented act. However, he shocked Baldwin when he said that he tried out his material, first, on Jews. You see, Rock explained that he first did new routines before an audience of mostly older Jews in West Palm Beach, Fla. If they laughed, Rock said, he knew he would “kill” with black people. The Alpert interview covered his whole career: from his youth as the son of a clothing store owner in Los Angeles; to the success of the Tijuana Brass in the ‘60s; to his mega-success as a record company owner. More recent topics included Alpert’s painting and sculpting and his amazing philanthropic giving. Here’s one memorable quote from Alpert: “STAN GETZ [the late, great saxophone player] was like a brother to me. I produced two albums with Stan, and he played this one song that was just, man, goose bumps were flying up my back. I said, ‘Man, what are you thinking when you’re playing?’ and he says, ‘Well, I think like I’m in front of the (Western) Wall in Jerusalem and I’m davening.’”
FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO We men are not fragments – we are wholes; we are not types of single qualities – we are realities of mixed, various, countless combinations. Therefore, I say to each man: As far as you can – partly for excellence in your special mental calling, principally for completion of your end in existence – strive, while improving your one talent, to enrich your whole capital as a man. It is in this way that you escape from wretched narrowmindedness which is the characteristic of everyone who cultivates his specialty alone. Take any specialty: dine with a distinguished member of Parliament – the other guests all members of Parliament except yourself – you go away shrugging your shoulders. All the talk has been that of men who seem to think that there is nothing in life worth talking but the party squabbles. – January 2, 1863
125 Y EARS A GO The Richmond Street Temple Fair continues with excellent success. The halls are crowded nightly with representative people who part with their money in an amazingly short time. The Fair will close this week and what articles remain will be sold at auction. The indications are that a handsome sum will be realized and the debt of the Temple greatly reduced. A most enjoyable surprise party was tendered to Mr. Milton Kahn at his residence on Linn Street last Monday evening by the members of the G.A.L.S., of which society he is now president, the two-fold occasion being his sixteenth birthday and safe recovery from his very recent severe illness. He was also presented with a beautiful floral tribute by his fellow members of the society. The surprise was complete. The guests were very warmly received and games, music and a sumptuous repast were the pleasures of the evening. After an evening’s enjoyment in the fullest sense of the term, the guests departed for their homes. – December 30, 1887
100 Y EARS A GO City Solicitor Alfred Bettmann has been selected to the chairmanship of the Executive Committee of the Ohio Association of City Solicitors. Mrs. Eugene Adler of 1844 Kinney Avenue, East Walnut Hills gave a leapyear party in honor of her daughter, Sylvia C., on December 21. There were 12 cou-
ples present. Mrs. Esther Friedberg, beloved wife of Henry Friedberg, and sister of William S. Marx, was buried on Tuesday last from her late residence in Lexington Avenue, Avondale, Dr. Philipson officiating. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Frohman of 847 Rockdale Avenue, Avondale, will celebrate the twenty fifth anniversary of their marriage on December 27 at their home, with the immediate family as guests. Gustave Rexinger, husband of Mrs. Jennie S. Rexinger, died on Thursday morning at his home on Bragg Avenue, Avondale, after a long illness. Mr. Rexinger had been a resident of Cincinnati for a great many years, and was a member of the firm Bernheim & Rexinger. – December 26, 1912
75 Y EARS A GO Myron D. Kahn, 38, of 7 Wilmuth Avenue, Wyoming, OH., passed away suddenly early Friday, Dec. 24, of a heart attack. He was secretary and sales manager of the Estate Stove Co., Hamilton, OH. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Marion Holman Kahn, sister of Mrs. Libby Holman Reynolds; a son, Myron, Jr., a daughter, Polly; and a sister, Mrs. Marc Brossman of Cleveland. Services were held Sunday from the Weil Funeral Home with interment in United Jewish Cemetery. – December 30, 1937
50 Y EARS A GO Mr. and Mrs. Saul M. Greenberg, 7211 West Aracoma Drive Amberley Village, announce the engagement of their daughter, Gail Ann, to Mr. Tom Michail Schaumberg, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Schaumberg, of St. Louis and formerly Cincinnati. Miss Greenberg was graduated from Woodward High School and attended the University of Illinois, where she joined Sigma Delta Tau. She is a student at Boston University, majoring in education. Mr. Schaumberg received his secondary education at Walnut Hills High School. After spending his junior year at the University of Paris, he was graduated from Yale University in 1960. He attends Harvard Law School, where he is president of the International Law Club. He will receive his L.L.B. degree in June. A summer wedding is planned. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Franklin of this city announce the marriage
of their daughter, Karen Lee, to Mr. Gary Kaminsky, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Kaminsky, of Forest Hills, N.Y., Sunday, Dec. 16, at Ohav Shalom Synagogue. The candlelight ceremony was performed by Rabbis Fishel Goldfeder and Bernard Greenberg. A buffet dinner followed. Mrs. Harvey Mendelson, sister of the bridegroom, was matron of honor. Maid of honor was Miss Vickie Franklin, cousin of the bride. Bridesmaids were Mrs. Martin Cahn and the Misses Debby Franklin and Janice Engel. Mr. Harvey Mendelson was his brother-in-law’s best man. Ushers were the Messrs. Daniel Franklin, brother of the bride, Neil Kugelmas, Sam Shafer and Leo Fox. After their honeymoon the young couple will reside in Forest Hills. – December 27, 1962
25 Y EARS A GO Northern Hills Synagogue Congregation members and friends celebrated the start of the construction of a new permanent sanctuary with a ground breaking ceremony held Nov. 29. President Martin Ackerman led the activities by remembering Congregation B’nai Avraham’s past and by looking to the future. The conservative congregation was formed in 1960 because of organizational efforts of 13 families who had been worshiping together in the basement of a local savings and loan association. When the new structure is completed this spring, it will be dedicated to the memory of Northern Hills past president, Robert V. Goldstein. – December 31, 1987
10 Y EARS A GO Rolf W. Schickler, 78, passed away Thursday, Dec. 19, 2002. Mr. Schickler was born in 1924 in the Rhineland in Elberfeld, Germany. Together with his parents, the late Max and Anna (Friede) Schickler, he immigrated to Boston, MA, in January 1938. The family was brought to this country by his cousin, the film star and entertainer, Harpo Marx. Mr. Schickler held degrees from Florida Southern College, the University of Cincinnati and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Mr. Schickler is survived by his wife, Rosalyn; sons Rabbi Stan (Lucy Efron), Paul, and Mark (Carol); as well as three grandsons, Carmiel, Ariel and Jacob. – January 2, 2003
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 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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business@ americanisraelite.com or call Erin at 621-3145 RECORD from page 7 Hagel is co-chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and serves on the Secretary of Defense’s Policy Board, and while in the senate was part of the Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees. When Hagel was being considered for the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board appointment in 2009, Ira Forman – then executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC), and in 2012 the Obama campaign’s Jewish Outreach Director – opposed the move. “If [Hagel] was taking a policy role, we’d have real concerns,” Forman said at the time, according to the Washington Free Beacon. NJDC also doubted Hagel’s credentials in 2007, when the senator was considering a run for president, saying he “has a lot of questions to answer about his commitment to Israel.” Hagel has taken a “long list of actions” exhibiting his “failure to support Israel,” the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) said Dec. 14. Choosing him for Secretary of Defense would be “a slap in the face for every American who is concerned about the safety of Israel,” RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said in a statement. RJC pointed to a number of letters signed by most other senators, but not Hagel: an August 2006 letter asking the European Union to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization (12 senators did not sign), a November 2001 letter asking President George W. Bush not to meet Yasser Arafat until Arafat took steps to end violence against Israel (11 senators did not sign), and an October 2000 letter in support of Israel (four senators did not sign). A letter Hagel did sign in March 2009 urged Obama to directly negotiate with Hamas, RJC added. The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) expressed concern over a September 2011 interview Hagel gave the Financial Times, in which he said: “The Defense Department, I think in many ways, has been bloated ... so I think the Pentagon needs to be pared down.” JINSA also noted Hagel’s recent statement that the U.S. has “minimal ability to influence the
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(513) 531-9600 outcomes” in Egypt or Syria, adding that he called for the Arab League, rather than the U.S. or NATO, to lead possible military intervention in Syria.
Courtesy of the U.S. Senate
Former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel, potentially the next Secretary of Defense.
“Given the turmoil in the Middle East and the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, Hagel’s views on this critical region are particularly alarming,” JINSA said. Hagel took a direct shot at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in 2008, telling former Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller, in a quote that appeared in Miller’s book, The Much Too Promised Land, that “the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people” in Washington. Hagel has also said he is “a United States senator, not an Israeli senator.” Hagel’s criticisms of the U.S.Israel relationship have drawn praise from Stephen Walt, co-author of The Israel Lobby – a 2007 book Walt wrote with John Mearsheimer that has been panned by critics as prime fodder for anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In an online post for Foreign Policy, Walt counted the following among his top five reasons that Hagel should be chosen as defense secretary: “Unlike almost all of his former colleagues on Capitol Hill, he hasn’t been a complete doormat for the Israel lobby.” Walt also commended Hagel for the fact that he is and he is “generally thought to be skeptical about the use of military force against Iran.” While serving as a senator, Hagel once called a military strike against Iran “not a viable, feasible, responsible option.”
20 • BUSINESS
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Alterations of Springdale opens Montgomery location
clothing is suddenly tailor fit. Even in a situation where a former piece of favorite clothing used to fit terrifically, but due to weight loss or gain does not, Alterations can breath new life into the article by simple adjustments. Spektor sums it up nicely: “Most people have to do alterations, it’s not specific to anyone, it’s just that some people care and some people don’t.” Spektor, who has been with Alterations since 1989, took co-
ownership of the business with fellow co-workers Natalie Zelepuhin and Natalia Zagaunov. All are Jewish-Russian immigrants, with Spektor having described her arrival to the United States as follows: “We came to this county forty four years ago and Jewish Family Service is the one who supported us. I found a job in the first place through Jewish Vocational Service.” It was these organizations that placed Spektor into the
employment of Alterations. She met Zelepuhin soon thereafter, and Zagaunov joined the business roughly 12 years after that. Then, once the business was placed up for sale, the three women were able to finance the purchase of the business with the help of the former owner. “We were Jewish immigrants, we came with pretty much nothing,” Spektor noted. “We were able to build the business and are now able to employ five girls from
the former Soviet Union. It’s a small business, but still.” Since the business is now spread between two locations, the three co-owners are all never in the same place. Spektor still holds a fondness for the original Springdale store, saying with a laugh that “the old location is more comfortable” because of all the years she has spent there. Spektor has retained a greater fondness for all of her clients over this time: “We have customers who have been coming for years. We love them, they love us, the operation is pretty personal. It’s not like fast food, you eat it, you forget about it the next second and tomorrow you go to another place. With alterations it is more personal because you get attached, people understand you and you understand them. It’s service at a personal level, on a first name basis. So hopefully we can attract people like that here in Montgomery.” It’s this philosophy that Spektor hopes to spread to new customers: Clothing alteration isn’t a snooty specialty, it’s an intimate necessity. When asked what she hoped her business could improve upon, Spektor said: “[We would] most like to educate younger generations that they have to take care of their clothes and they have to know what works for them, what doesn’t, what fits them, what does not fit.” And, with another laugh, Spektor jokingly pointed to that most human reason of conducting business:“Since we can not retire anytime soon, we may as well keep working.”
cooperation that has left the West Bank relatively quiet. In this event, Israel likely would ask for U.S. diplomatic assistance to inhibit any Palestinian standing in the international court system. The collapse of Israeli-Palestinian defense cooperation – seen as a signature U.S. policy achievement over successive administrations – could force President Obama into crisis management mode. Other sources of regional turmoil that likely will pose challenges for the U.S. in the new year include an empowered Hamas, the struggle in Egypt fueled by the power seizures of President Mohamed Morsi and his Islamist backers, and the civil war in Syria.
powers attempting to get it to halt its suspected nuclear weapons program. Such talks may resume before the end of 2012. Reportedly on the table from the United States are a lifting of some sanctions – including one that bans the sale of parts for civilian aircraft – and allowing Iran to enrich uranium to civilian-use levels, up to 5 percent. In exchange, Iran would agree to a much more intrusive inspections regimen by the International Atomic Energy, the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Those terms do not please the pro-Israel community. A letter backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee urging Obama to enhance existing sanctions and insist on no uranium enrichment has garnered the signatures of 73 U.S. senators. The Iranian nuclear issue could be a source of tension between the Obama administration and Congress over the next year. And if talks fail to yield progress, the debate over Israeli or U.S. military action could heat up again.
The Supreme Court is considering at least two hot-button social issues that Jewish groups have weighed in on: same-sex marriage and affirmative action. Liberal Jewish groups have been strong supporters of same-sex marriage. Orthodox opponents of same-sex marriage worry that their religious freedom could be curtailed – for example, by penalizing a kosher caterer for refusing to provide services for a same-sex wedding. The court will be weighing the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed in the 1990s and defined marriage as only between a man and a woman, as well as a California court ruling quashing a referendum that sought to ban same-sex marriage in that state. Liberal Jewish groups plan to join amicus briefs supporting same-sex marriage, while at least one Orthodox group, Agudath Israel of America, has indicated it will be filing on the other side. Also on the docket, once again: Race-based affirmative action in public university admissions. But whereas in previous
cases major Jewish groups have been divided on the issue, this time they have lined up in support of the university policy favoring affirmative action. The Supreme Court already has heard arguments in the case, and its ruling is pending. Liberal Jewish groups also are considering joining a defense of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which requires states once afflicted by Jim Crow to pre-clear district changes with Washington. Conservatives on the court have signaled that they are ready to retire the act. Obama’s reelection, meanwhile, clears the way for the court’s two older liberal judges to step down, although neither of them – Stephen Breyer, age 74, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 79 – have suggested they’re interested in leaving. Ginsburg and Breyer, like the most recent appointee, Elena Kagan, are Jewish. Justice Antonin Scalia reportedly has told friends he’s thinking about retiring – but the staunch conservative may try to stick around until there is a Republican president to pick his successor.
By Michael Sawan Assistant Editor Alterations of Springdale has expanded, with a new location having opened in Duffy Square alongside Montgomery Road. This is in addition to their former location, which has been in Springdale for over 35 years. Irene Spektor, one of the business’ co-owners, is optimistic about the move. “[We hope to] attract more business, to get new clientele. We already have a lot of customers who come to Springdale from this side of town, so we hope that they will come to this location and maybe bring their friends and people that they know.” Spektor notes that the company’s success is dependent on the service they are able to provide on this customer-by-customer, one at a time basis:“[We make] sure that the customer gets what they wanted in the first place. We can give some suggestions, but usually a person who knows what ‘alterations’ means has a pretty good idea of how clothes should look. So we have to follow what the customer wants, first of all.” An alteration is necessary when a piece of clothing doesn’t fit quite right, either by look or feel. Since mass produced clothing is based on the body type of the model on whom it was made, unless you have those same measurements the clothing will not fit correctly. Alterations of Springdale has made their business by adjusting a shoulder here, a waistline there, hems, necklines and so on, so that mass produced PRIORITIES from page 3 A number of emerging factors, however, could renew U.S. involvement in the Palestinian-Israeli arena. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's slew of recent West Bank and eastern Jerusalem building announcements – announced in retaliation for the Palestinians' successful bid for statehood recognition in the U.N. General Assembly – has earned a rebuke from the Obama administration. If Netanyahu wins Israeli elections on Jan. 22 and, as expected, forms another rightwing government, he may feel domestic political pressure to accelerate building in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority will be watching closely. It already has announced its intention to call for a renewal of negotiations with the precondition that Netanyahu freeze building in settlements and eastern Jerusalem. If that does not happen, Palestinian leaders say they will use their new U.N.-conferred status to seek war crimes charges against Israelis and suspend the security
Courtesy of Michael Sawan
Co-owner Irene Spektor working at the new location.
IRAN Ending months of tensions with Obama over what would be the trigger for a military strike on Iran, Netanyahu, in his September speech to the U.N. General Assembly, gave the United States some space to press forward with efforts to resume negotiations between Iran and the six major
U.S. SUPREME COURT
FOOD / AUTOS • 21
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2012
All about food Zell’s Bites
by Zell Schulman With the holiday season upon us, I really like to remember the wonderful times I had growing up in Kentucky. Presents weren’t the primary focus, it was getting together with friends and talking about what we were looking forward to in the new year. I especially remember the Delaney family. Part of our holiday celebration was being invited to their home on New Year’s Eve.
We were asked to wish for something we hoped would happen in the new year to come. After we each made our wish to ourselves, we would place our wishbone on the tree. I loved this tradition. I was always overwhelmed seeing their wishbone tree. It was a small tree filled with wishbones, which was added to each year. At the end of our meal we were each given a wishbone, which had been cleaned and bleached white. We were asked to wish for something we hoped would happen in the new year to come. After we each made our wish to ourselves, we would place our wishbone on the tree. I loved this tradition. Unfortunately the senior members of both our families are no longer with us, but some holiday traditions become a part of us and we never forget them. One tradition which I’ve tried to carry on is making my annual batch of hand painted Hanukkah cookies. The recipe is my late Aunt Ruth Greenberg’s and has become a family favorite. The paint is made with egg yolks that are colored with food coloring, then the cookies are painted before they are baked, and sprin-
kled with glitter. We have dreidels, menorahs, stars, candles and the most favorite one of all, the Lion of Judea. Unfortunately over the years, the Lion cookie cutter has lost its tail, but I am able to create a new one for it by hand and add it on. These butter cookies aren’t hard to make. I usually make a double batch of dough, roll it into several balls and keep them in my freezer so whenever I need a quick batch of cookies, I can pull a roll or two out and bake them up. Sometimes I just put colored sugars or cinnamon and sugar mixed together on them. No matter, they seem to disappear quickly. Have a wonderful holiday. PAINTED BUTTER COOKIES Makes about 3 dozen This butter cookie recipe has been in my father’s family for years. It is my Aunt Ruth Greenberg’s. The dough freezes well and the cookies can be baked at a later date. If you need a large amount for a special occasion, the recipe can be easily doubled. Ingredients Dough: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 stick unsalted butter 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 large egg 3/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla Egg Yolk Paint: 1 egg yolk 1 teaspoon cold water Food coloring Colored sugars Processor Method l. Use metal blade. Place flour, baking powder, and sugar in processor bowl. Process 5 seconds. 2. Cut the butter into 8 pieces and add to work bowl. Process l0 seconds. With machine running, pour egg and vanilla through the feed tube. Process until dough begins to form a ball on the blades. Remove the dough from the bowl, cut into 3 pieces, and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Refrigerate l hour, or freeze the dough at this point and bake it later. 3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough on a lightly floured board approximately 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters, place on an ungreased cookie sheet. 4. Mix the egg yolk and water. Divide this mixture into as many small containers as you will want different colors. Add the food coloring. Paint unbaked cookies using small, watercolor, paintbrushes. Colored sugar may be sprinkled on top to highlight or add sparkle to the cookies. 5. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in a 325˚F preheated oven, until the edges of the cookies begin to brown. Cool. Store in tins or freeze.
The 911 Turbo S Cabriolet — do not question the power Never before, and never again, will a car such as this maneuver the landscape. The 911 Turbo S Cabriolet untangles the road, possessing unchecked power capable of erasing the idea that distance is anything but a triviality left to be conquered. The 911 Turbo S Cabriolet features stiffness and softness as required. That’s the principle behind the dynamic engine mount system now being offered for the first time as part of the Sport Chrono Package Turbo. Essentially, it’s an electronically controlled system for controlling the stiffness of the engine mounts. The engine is bolted to the body using two mounts and follows Newton’s law of inertia, namely that a body will continue to move in a uniform straight line unless it is made to change its direction by a force acting upon it. Put more simply: when you are driving into a bend, the vehicle will follow your steering but, at first, the mass of the engine won’t. This means that the rear of the vehicle is pushed outwards because of the inert forces from the engine’s mass acting on it. The dynamic engine mount system also reduces the vertical oscillations of the engine when accelerating under full load. The result: greater and more uniform force on the rear axle, increased traction and better acceleration. All this means two things: perceptibly
911 Turbo S Cabriolet
more stable handling under load change conditions and in fast corners and a step closer to the ultimate sporty drive – combined with enhanced levels of comfort. Fitted as standard to 911 Turbo models, the 19-inch 911 Turbo II wheels seamlessly combine function and design. The car has 8.5 J x 19 wheels at the front combined with 235/35 ZR 19 tires. At the rear are 11 J x 19 wheels with 305/30 ZR 19 tires. The wheels are forged, of course, to reduce weight and unsprung masses. The material is also very strong, making it possible to achieve a fine spoke wheel design which provides better ventilation of the brakes. The five-spoke design is stylish and distinctive. The linear twin spokes have a high-sheen surface finish, contrasting with the titanium-col-
ored base paint. Part of the wheel rim also has a high-sheen finish. The 911 Turbo S Cabriolet 19inch 911 Turbo II wheels. Proof that dynamism can be expressed visually. Reminiscent of the classic RS Spyder design, these forged aluminum wheels with a motorsportderived central locking device are available on request for the 911 Turbo models and are fitted as standard to the new 911 Turbo S models. By reducing rotating masses, they deliver an even more agile driving experience. Benefiting from innovative ongoing developments to the engineering conventionally used only in a racing environment, the striking central locking devices offer effective protection against corrosion and are easy to clean. TURBO on page 22
22 • OBITUARIES D EATH N OTICES FARBER, Barbara J., age 84, died on December 20, 2012; 8 Tevet, 5773. GOLDENBERG, Barry, age 76, died on December 21, 2012; 8 Tevet, 5773.
O BITUARIES FRIEDMAN, Frederick F. Frederick F. Friedman passed away on October 31, 2012, after a battle with Leukemia. A native of Cincinnati, Mr. Friedman enrolled at the University of Cincinnati in September 1941. When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the Navy and began the V-12 program at Miami University. He then attended Columbia University Midshipman’s school, where he obtained a commission as Ensign. He went aboard the U.S.S. George F. Elliott at Manis Island in the Pacific on his 21st birthday. After the war he returned to Miami University and graduated. Mr. Friedman was accepted in the prestigious Federated Executive Training Program in Cincinnati and then worked at Shillito’s for several years, after which he moved to Mobile, Ala., to manage a men’s store. He came back to Cincinnati and started his own business with a loan of $1,000 from his aunt. Mr. Friedman sold his products to every major department store east of the Mississippi. He ran the company for 30 years and sold the business because he didn’t want to travel anymore. Next, Mr. Friedman went to work for Valley Kitchens as a consultant, and within two years became its vice president and general manager. He then started a kitchen cabinet business that thrived. He sold the business
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when he realized that the market for low price government apartment complexes was waning. At the age of 50, Mr. Friedman embarked on a third career, where he spent two years each at West Shell and Coldwell Banker in commercial and industrial real estate. He earned awards from the Cincinnati Board of Realtors for the One, Two and Three Million Dollar Clubs, before opening his own real estate company.
Frederick F. Friedman
Mr. Friedman had a positive impact on people. “I don’t know anyone who cares more about people than Fred,” remarked John Heldman, a friend. Mr. Friedman enjoyed giving counsel. He was wise, thoughtful, had good judgment and was fair. People sought his advice on everything from business issues to personal relationships. Mr. Friedman devoted himself to the betterment of children through participation in Boy Scouts, coaching disadvantaged youth within Magic Circle, men-
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toring at Hillcrest School and tutoring at Wyoming Middle School. Darlene Kershak, kindergarten teacher, where Fred mentored in the Magic Circle program, said, “Our class was so blessed to have Mr. Fred.” In retirement, he took up painting and enjoyed a full schedule of classes at UC’s Learning in Retirement. Golf was his favorite hobby. He was also active in the Isaac W. Wise Temple, Losantiville Country Club and SCORE. And, for the past eight years, Mr. Friedman led a class teaching foreign adults to improve their spoken English. Following is an excerpt from a note of appreciation Mr. Friedman received from ChulHyun Park, an adult student in one of his English classes: “I am really thank you for your kindness, advices and contribution. I feel my English has been very improved better than past. So I am pleased like you. When I talked with you, I thought about my future, my old life and very many other things. I wish you can enjoy your happy life for a long time…I’ll never forget you.” Said longtime friend, Reuven Katz, “I met Fred Friedman when we were little boys and we were friends for 80 some years. In all that time I have not met anyone more loyal or caring. You could always count on Fred.” Mr. Friedman leaves his wife of 47 years, Jane Haas; a son, Tedd (Sherri); two daughters, Karen (Peter) Cooper and Dr. Jennifer (Robert) Ringel; and grandchildren, Jake and Seth Friedman, Charlie and Jack Ringel, and Rachel and David Cooper. His brother, Justin, predeceased him. Mr. Friedman’s family had many positive words to share about him. From his wife, Jane: “Fred was a wonderful partner, fun to live with and always encouraged me to be the best I could be. With characteristic warmth and insight, he consistently motivated and assisted others to achieve their goals.” Daughter Karen commented, “My Dad cared deeply about being happy. His goal for me was to live with positive thinking— that would bring about a life full of happiness.” Tedd, his son, added, “I am grateful for the wisdom, insights and positive attitude Dad shared with us. He was a wonderful father and friend.” And finally, his daughter Jennifer, said, “He lived an example of health, discipline and perseverance. I learned from him that nothing is out of reach. Whether you call it confidence, chutzpah or guts, he gave me the tools to get what I want.” Contributions would be appreciated to Most Valuable Kids of Cincinnati, Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund, or the charity of one’s choice.
TENSION from page 8 “Perhaps this is because they feel it really is a flaw within Israeli policy or perhaps it is because they just don’t know what to think about it,” Westrop told JNS. “Whether or not this is a wise course of action, I am not quite sure.” Westrop believes that the EU’s “obsession” with Israeli construction results from two factors. Firstly, he noted the “great deal of people who feel they must apportion blame equally in the Arab-Israeli conflict,” people who “despair at Israel’s approach while strongly condemning Hamas rocket fire.” Secondly, Westrop cited individuals who “genuinely believe” Israeli construction “prevents peace.” “We just have to look at Abu Mazen’s rejection of Israel’s peace gestures following the offer of a settlement freeze (for 10 months starting in November 2009) to realize that this just is not true,” he wrote in an email. But Dr. Toby Greene, head of research at the Britain Israel Communications & Research Centre (BICOM), wrote in an email to JNS that it is “reasonable for the EU to press both sides not to take unilateral actions that prejudge the outcome of negotiations, meaning the Palestinians should refrain from trying to impose their version of a solution through UN resolutions, and Israel should refrain from trying to impose theirs via building in new areas of the territory under dispute.” The 14 EU countries voting in TURBO from page 21 Included as standard equipment, Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) is an electronic active damping system. It offers continuous adjustment of the damping force on each wheel, based on current road conditions and driving style. At the press of a button, the driver can choose between two modes. While ‘Normal’ mode provides a blend of performance and comfort, the ‘Sport’ setup mode has a much firmer range of settings. The system responds to changing road conditions and/or driving style by continuously varying the individual damping forces within the parameters defined for the selected setup mode (‘Normal’ or ‘Sport’). Pitch and roll are reduced, whilst contact of each wheel with the road is optimized. The Sport Chrono Package Turbo with dynamic engine mount system is standard on 911 Turbo S models and available as an option for 911 Turbo models. This integrated system provides simultaneous enhancement for engine, chassis and transmission. Key features include a digital and analogue stopwatch on the dashboard, a performance display, a personal memory function in the
favor of upgraded Palestinian UN status indicates to Westrop a decline in support for Israel among EU members that resulted from “the efficacy of the anti-Israel network in Europe.” “The groups that comprise this network have always pursued both ground-up and top-down policy,” Westrop wrote. “In other words, they work both at the grassroots level and in national and European politics. Anti-Israel sentiment is legitimized by groups that can claim both the support of leading politicians and the thousands of grassroots activists at their command.” Westrop criticized Ashton – the EU’s foreign policy chief – for “condemning plans for Israel to build Givat Hamatos, which she wrongly claims would cut the geographic continuity between Jerusalem and Bethlehem,” while at the same time ignoring “plans to build better housing for Arabs in Beit Safafa.” Until “EU money stops funding anti-Israel and pro-terror propaganda groups, people like Ashton should not be dictating to others at all,” Westrop added. Greene, however, noted that the EU “has also been consistently calling for the Palestinians to get back to the table without preconditions.” “It is important to note that Britain demanded a Palestinian commitment to re-enter negotiations without preconditions as a condition for voting yes and the Palestinians refused to provide it,” Greene wrote. Porsche Communication Management (PCM), the SPORT button and – in combination with PDK – the SPORT PLUS button, and an additional display on the steering wheel which informs the driver if the SPORT buttons and Launch Control have been activated. The 911 Turbo models additionally offer the ‘overboost’ function. This is how it works: When ‘Sport’ mode is selected, the engine management system creates a much more aggressive response to pedal inputs. To do this, it implements an alternative throttle map which relates the pedal position in the footwell to a wider angle of opening in the throttle body. In higher gears, it uses a hard rev-limiter to protect the engine under power. In the 911 Turbo models, under full acceleration, the maximum boost pressure in the lower and medium speed ranges is now temporarily increased by approximately 2.9 psi (0.2 bar). As a result, engine torque is boosted by 36 lb-ft to a maximum of 516 lb-ft for a limited period. (The 911 Turbo S models are configured to operate with a higher boost pressure level, which means that their maximum torque is always 516 lb-ft.) The 911 Turbo S Cabriolet has an MSRP of $172,100.
AI
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