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JFS makes Passover food deliveries With the help and dedication of 120 volunteers, Jewish Family Service delivered 420 Passover meals to Cincinnati Jewish families in need. Sunday, March 17 marked the 15th annual Dr. Samuel S. Rockwern Passover Delivery of Jewish Family Service. This community project is often meaningful for volunteers as well as the clients receiving food. “I have volunteered every year,” said Lynn Mayfield of Hyde Park who continues to recognize the importance of this project. “I moved out of town for a number of years, but would always come back to Cincinnati for the weekend of Passover delivery.” The Passover delivery drew volunteers of all ages to deliver boxes filled with matzah, matzah ball soup mix, macaroons, gefilte fish, Passover candy, grape juice, nuts, apples and a chicken dinner to families in need. Because Kosher for Passover food is expensive, this project is important to ensure recipients had an adequate holiday meal. Deliveries stretched over 30 zip codes confirming that Jewish families in need live throughout Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The Passover delivery of Jewish Family Service was started by a group of volunteers in 1998 and continues to be embraced by the community. It involves more than just delivering food; it personally connects the volunteers with families. Alta Kreindler of Amberley Village delivered food with her grandchildren, Sophie Glassman
feeds an average of 130 people each month. It is the only kosher food pantry in the region and is currently located in space donated by Golf Manor Synagogue.
“I have volunteered every year. I moved out of town for a number of years, but would always come back to Cincinnati for the weekend of Passover delivery.” Lynn Mayfield
Lynn Mayfield
(age 7), Eric Glassman (age 9) and Ryan Glassman (age 11) of Wyoming. During their delivery to Mr. Schumakh, they looked at family photos on the wall. Mr. Schumakh handed the children apples and candy bars as a thankyou. “He was nice,” Ryan said. Volunteers also came during the
week to sort the thousands of cans and boxes of donated food. Area congregations, organizations and businesses collected the nonperishable, boxed food. No cash or food donations go to waste as the need for food continues throughout the year at Jewish Family Service Food Pantry, which
The pantry will be expanding into the Jewish Family Service Barbash Family Vital Support Center this summer on the campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. The Center will not only house an expanded food pantry, but will have case management, supportive counseling, emergency financial assistance, health promotion classes and therapeutic socialization. The food pantry will continue making deliveries to those who are homebound.
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Jewish Federation brings Spanx exec for women-only event The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati invites all women to a 2013 Community Campaign event featuring Laurie Ann Goldman, CEO of Spanx, on Thursday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m., at the Mayerson JCC. At “Women Making a Difference,” guests can enjoy a meaningful night out with their friends as they discover the value of giving back, though their time, talent and treasure. They will learn how their support of the Community Campaign can change lives and how to get involved with the Jewish Federation through its Women’s Philanthropy division. Goldman will speak about the importance of Jewish giving and its effect on her life. And it wouldn’t be a true night out with the girls without dessert! Chocolate Passion will offer candy and other sweets, along with a signature drink created just for the event. Dietary laws will be observed. Debbie Brant, Women’s Philanthropy chair, said, “This is a great opportunity for the women in our community to come together and make a significant and lasting difference in the lives of Jews, both in Cincinnati and abroad.” Goldman has taken Spanx from a spunky startup company to the number-one shapewear brand. She has been featured on several national news sources. She serves on the boards of several national organizations. She was named one of Jewish Women International’s Top Ten Women to Watch in 2009, was an AJC Comay Fellow, represented the AJC before Israel’s Minister of Defense and received the privilege
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of running the Olympic torch through the streets of Atlanta. There is a charge, and an RSVP is requested. “Women Making a Difference”
is made possible thanks to the hard work of the event committee: Karen Abel, Debbie Brant, Carrie Goldhoff, Wendy Pelberg and Galite Silverman.
Jewish events this spring at the J The Spring program session at the Mayerson JCC begins the week of April 7 and offers three months of Jewish life and learning opportunities for people of all ages. Programs range from Israeli Dancing and Introductory Hebrew to holiday celebrations and free lectures. Classes are taught by a dynamic faculty of educators and rabbis in engaging environments. Additionally, everyone is invited to enjoy a free concert by multi-platinum Israeli singer, David Broza on Sunday, April 21 at 7 p.m. Advance registration is required for all programs and classes, including the Broza concert. (Israeli Dancing at the J is popular and fun. This class is offered year-round on Tuesday nights from 7:15 – 9:15 p.m. and is open to the whole community. Dance students learn traditional Israeli group dances and step in time with Israeli music. There is a minimal fee for the public and the class is free for J members. Beginning and Intermediate
Hebrew students will experience the Hebrew language beyond the prayer book, and improve their Hebrew speaking skills with a native speaker. Students will also learn terms and phrases that help improve and grow vocabulary and conversational skills. A powerful class offered at the JCC for the first time this spring is The Holocaust: Diaries and Memoirs, taught by Alexis Storch, the Director of Educational Outreach at the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education. This 10week course examines the day-today life of Jews living under Nazi occupation using their personal journals, diaries and letters. This class is a true look at history through the words of those who lived it. Other adult Jewish learning classes are available at the J this spring. Deb LaFrance, a past adult learner at the J, said “If you told me a few years ago that I would be willing and enjoying Judaic studies, I would have told you that you were crazy,
but it is totally true! I love learning at the J. The best part is the exchange with other students. We aren’t just being taught to, we are active participants in our learning. It has been a really great experience.” Celebrate Israel’s Independence at the JCC on Sunday, April 21 starting at 4 p.m. Enjoy an Israeli Cultural Fest with Israeli art, foods and free Dead Sea spa treatments. Afterward (7 p.m.), enjoy a free concert with multi-platinum Israeli singer-songwriter David Broza, whose magnetic performances and soulful lyrics draw from the music of Israel, Spain and England. Additionally, on Sunday, May 5, everyone is invited to experience an exciting afternoon of learning with people from across the community. Let My People Know is a free day of Jewish adult learning with a keynote speech, workshops and a film. The day starts at 1 p.m. with nationally acclaimed keynote speaker, Arna Poupko Fisher speaking on Keeping it Real: Jewish Life, Law and Lore.
2013 Passover Cover Coloring Contest entries can be seen at Marx Hot Bagels 9701 KENWOOD ROAD • BLUE ASH
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JFS presents conference on aging Spring has been a guest expert in the national media. She is a professional speaker at the Smithsonian Institution, the 92nd Street Y, Smith College, Harvard’s Educational Conferences and Kripalu Institute. Advanced registration is requested.
What’s happening at Wise Temple think she did? Did Noah’s ark really exist? Did Moses really write the Torah? The class will explore these and many other assumptions about Jews and Judaism and look at the history, archaeology and other scholarship to debunk familiar myths, showing how and why they developed over time. On Tuesday, April 16 and 23, Rabbi Lewis Kamrass will present Torah – Through Reform Eyes. If the Bible is written by humans, where does God stand and what makes the text sacred? As Reform Judaism does not necessarily teach
Do you love old films? Have you ever wondered about the establishment of the State of Israel? Come and learn about the founding of modern Israel and the immigrant experience, view clips from a variety of Israeli films and have discussions about their portrayal of Israeli culture and history. This course is exciting, informative, and will surely leave you with a desire to learn (and watch) more! Adult Jewish learning programs Wise Temple members look forward to learning in April, whether it’s at one class or every week! Study in, or take out. Wise Temple offers an array of adult learning opportunities through lunch programs, evening programs and even programs in your own home. The lunchtime programs “Tuesdays with Torah” are from noon – 1 p.m. each Tuesday. Bring your brown bag lunch if you’d like. On April 2 and April 9 the topic is Did Moses Really Have Horns? Myths about Jews and Judaism. Rabbinic Intern, P J Schwartz will ask and answer the questions: Why did generations of people grow up thinking that Jews really had horns? Did Eve really eat an apple and, if not, why does everyone
that the Torah was given by God to Moses literally word for word at Mt. Sinai, then what does human authorship mean in the ways we interpret sacred text, and what makes it sacred to begin with? How does this defining principle of Reform ideology change the way we approach and interpret sacred text and, with human authorship, what is the source of its holiness? Join Rabbi Kamrass to explore these questions and to see their impact on our thought and interpretation. On Tuesday, April 30 and continuing the following Tuesday in May, Rabbi Ariel Boxman will explore The Development of Modern Israeli Culture through Film. Do you love old films? Have you ever wondered about the establishment of the State of Israel? Come and learn about the founding
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VOL. 159 • NO. 36 of modern Israel and the immigrant experience, view clips from a variety of Israeli films and have discussions about their portrayal of Israeli culture and history. This course is exciting, informative, and will surely leave you with a desire to learn (and watch!) more. On Sunday night, April 14, Wise Temple presents a 92YLive presentation, The Future of God: The Merging of Science & Religion. The 92YLive series highlights prominent Jews from all aspects of American life. This series originates and is broadcast live from New York’s prestigious Jewish cultural center, the 92nd Street Y. The broadcasts are fed into Wise Center and viewed on a large screen. On Sunday, April 14, the presentation begins at 8:15 p.m., doors open at 7:45. This presentation will address the question: Must science and religion always be opposing and irreconcilable forces? Looking at recent trends in theoretical physics and the response of contemporary theologians to scientific theories, this panel discusses whether science and religion can, in fact, be seen as complementary ways of understanding our world. Dr. Reza Aslan is a Wallerstein professor at Drew University’s Center on Religion, Culture and Conflict. Andrew Zolli is an author. David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and writer at Baylor College of Medicine, where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law and a New York Times bestselling author. To enjoy Jewish learning at a time convenient to you, in your own home, consider Wise Temple’s Jewish Take Out! Now you can enjoy the benefits of adult Jewish learning through Eitz Chayim classes with friends, new and old, in a comfy and convenient setting – your own home! Wise Temple has a wonderful faculty of teachers available for Jewish Take Out, including Rabbis Ken Kanter and Julie Schwartz from Hebrew Union College, Yair Cohen, our community shaliach and our Rabbinic and Education Interns. To host a one-time class in your home, choose a topic that interests you and invite your guests. Plan to host 15 (or more) people for the class and enjoy an evening or afternoon of Jewish learning, exploration and community.
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 17 NISSAN 5773 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 7:40 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 8:41 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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Annual Marriage Reconsecration service On Friday, March 29, at 8:15 p.m., Wise Temple will hold its Annual Marriage Reconsecration Service for members who are celebrating significant wedding anniversaries. This service is held each year around the season of Passover, when traditionally, the Song of Songs, Biblical poetry of love and romance is read. Participants renew their vows in quiet words to their spouses, share a cup of wine and read words from Hosea as well as Song of Songs, before receiving a blessing. Approximately 150 Wise Temple couples have been invited. After the service, a very special Oneg Shabbat of delicious Passover desserts commemorates
the sweetness of the evening. Family and friends are asked to come and share the occasion. This year’s event is hosted by Elissa and Mitchell Habib, who are celebrating 30 years of marriage, Aimee and David Kirzner and Ann and Michael Margolis each who are celebrating 15 years. Honorary hosts are Jeff and Karen Deutsch, Paula and Marty Holstein and Donna and Ken Hyam. The Holsteins are celebrating 60 years of marriage and the Hyams and the Deutsches each are celebrating 45 years of marriage.
The American Israelite
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Sisterhood Chocolate Seder a success Wise Temple’s Sisterhood recently started the Passover celebration a bit early and with a deliciously different twist – chocolate! The Women’s Chocolate Seder was held on Sunday, March 17, at Wise Center and used a unique haggadah that celebrated chocolate while telling the story of Passover. Each table had a Seder plate made from chocolate, and in keeping with the theme, everything on the plate was chocolate. The traditional Seder plate foods were replaced with a chocolate dipped strawberry (karpas), a chocolate lamb (shankbone), a chocolate egg, chocolate covered matzah, trail mix with M&M’s (charoset) and bittersweet chocolate (maror). Some of the elements to the Seder remained traditional. Sisterhood member Carolmae Katz led the group of about 30 women as they sang the traditional Four Questions, Dayenu and Miriam’s Song during the celebration. This year, the Sisterhood Seder was held during the morning at the same time as Wise Temple religious school which enabled mothers with children a better opportunity to attend. Sisterhood president Ann Margolis commented, “It was a very warm and fun Seder and I was so glad to see so many new faces of moms with kids in Sunday school.” One of those moms, Shana Berge, echoed those sentiments: “What could be better than prayer, chocolate, coffee and good friends?”
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with living arrangements, sibling rivalries, money anxieties, healthcare and end-of-life decisions. Based on her award-winning book, she’ll also offer universal lessons about how to grow old gracefully and survive this ordinary, extraordinary journey.
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this extraordinary journey, will be held 7- 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, at Rockdale Temple. With unsparing honesty and humor, Spring will use poignant movie clips to address the joy and imposition, the happiness and heartache of caregiving – dealing
r in Am ape er sp i
The community is invited to join Jewish Family Service for a free presentation on caregiving and growing older gracefully with award-winning author and national media guest Janis Abrahms Spring Ph.D., ABPP. Aging Happens: Exploring the joys and heartaches of
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.
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NCJW fund a part of Cincinnati’s heritage By Michael Sawan Assistant Editor Publisher’s Note: This is part of our series covering the Jewish Agency Executives of Cincinnati. Look for mor e profiles in futur e issues of The American Israelite. Andrea Herzig has been serving Cincinnati for 30 years now, most recently as the president of the Cincinnati Women’s Fund of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW). The NCJW has maintained an even longer relationship with Cincinnati, having been founded in 1896. “The Cincinnati section is one of the oldest sections,” explains Herzig. “We were formed three years after the national began. We work toward the betterment of women, children and families.” To illustrate the connection, Herzig went right for the family tree. “Almost any family name you can think of that also has a long history in Cincinnati has been at one time or another a part of NCJW. We just want to honor that legacy and those women who have been a part of us and the projects that they worked on.” Herzig went on to explain the nature of this work: “Years ago, when we were a section, we would start a project, fund it for a little while, and then let it go on its own. So in recent years we gave money to the Early Jewish Learning Co-operative, but originally we were one of the groups that actually started that. We started 4C for Children before it had a name; and we didn’t start it, but we gave money to the Council on Child Abuse, a huge grant many years ago, I think on our 85th anniversary, that really made them take off and become a presence in Cincinnati. And then we back away, we’re not a part of it after they get a start.” Cincinnati’s NCJW continues to fund projects around the city. “We have funded some projects and programs such as the Jewish Family Service, Planned Parenthood, 4C for Children, Clovernook and the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired; we’ve also funded the Jewish Early Living
Former presidents of NCJW Cincinnati: Roz Chaiken, Mona Kerstine, Andrea Herzig, Penny Pensak, Marlene Ostrow, Mauri Willis and Nancy Rosenthal
Co-operative and HUC–JIR.” The process for submission is concise, and open to any organization that feels they are deserving of grant money. “We really just ask for a short form and a letter. We look at the letters when they’re submitted and then a committee of about 10 people look at each one and then we decide who will get the money in a grant. Part of it is how much money we have in our fund. Our national office headquartered in New York handles the money. They tell us yearly how much we can spend, and we spend that amount. “We also have agreed with national that one of the projects that has to be funded is something that our national organization does, and we usually fund something that has to do with women and children. In the last couple of years, it’s been about preventing domestic violence.” Originally from Rochester, N.Y., Herzig was pulled into Cincinnati’s volunteer life ASAP. “When I moved to Cincinnati someone was kind enough to say ‘oh you must come to this study group we are doing,’ so I went. And someone there said ‘gee, you need to be on a committee,’ so I joined a committee, and before I knew it I was serving on a board,
meeting more and more people, and really became impressed with the people that were in the room; how intelligent they were, how thoughtful and caring. I got more and more involved, I served as vice-president when we were a section, mostly doing public relations. When people started talking about reviving the section I was one of those people who really wanted us to keep having a presence in Cincinnati. Some of us, mostly past presidents, got
involved again. I tried to help with that, to get involved again, but this has never been a single-person effort, that’s one of the things I love about it.” Herzig’s attachment to NCJW grows out from there: “I think what I’ve always liked is that NCJW is for all women, and it has a very broad reach. I like the people that I work with, they’re very intelligent, very thoughtful people. We don’t always agree on everything, but
we have interesting and constructive discussions. And we always come to a decision that everyone is happy with.” Herzig also recognizes the challenges to the Cincinnati division of NCJW, explaining the slow drain the group has experienced. “Here in Cincinnati we used to be a very large section and then, for various reasons, as many volunteer organizations do, we got very small. “Our challenge is always the same: It’s membership. I’d love to see more members, I’d love to see more people getting interested. And if we did have more people, I would love to see us go back to doing some of the things we used to do, programmatically. Actually having more volunteers who went out and represented us to the community, or just volunteered with us so we could do some of the things other sections do: Educational programs, startup programs, the things that other sections do.” In the meantime, the Cincinnati division of NCJW has become a fund, chiefly responsible for donating money to organizations that work for women, children and family welfare. “We didn’t want to disappear,” explains Herzig. “We have a very long history in Cincinnati, so we became a women’s fund so that we could still continue to have a presence in Cincinnati, and do things in Cincinnati.”
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Cyprus verdict could inhibit Hezbollah operations in Europe
By Hillel Kuttler Jewish Telegraphic Agency
By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency WASHINGTON – The conviction in Cyprus of a Hezbollah operative plotting to attack Israelis could undercut efforts by the terrorist group to carry out additional attacks outside the Middle East. Last week’s conviction was the second confirmation in recent months that Hezbollah is active on European soil. The first was when Bulgarian authorities identified the Lebanon-based terrorist group as being behind the July 2012 bombing in Burgas that left six people dead, five of them Israelis. Hezbollah also is believed to be behind recent plots against Israelis and Jews in India, Thailand and Azerbaijan. The Cyprus conviction makes Europe likelier to list Hezbollah as a terrorist group, and that would bring new restrictions on Hezbollah that would have immediate operational consequences for the group, says Daniel Benjamin, the top counterterrorism official at the State Department in President Obama’s first term. “If Hezbollah has to increase its operational security in Europe, if it can’t use Europe to fundraise or travel through, it will be challenged to innovate to avoid being caught by European authorities,” Benjamin, now the director of the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth
Seeking Kin: In two cases, the lost are found
Courtesy of Yossi Zeliger/FLASH90/JTA
Survivors of the Hezbollah terror attack on the Israeli tour bus in Burgas, Bulgaria, returning to Israel with the help of the Israeli Air Force, July 19, 2012.
College, told JTA. The Cyprus court found Hossam Taleb Yaacoub guilty of a plot to attack Israeli tourists in the Mediterranean island nation. Yaacoub, who holds Lebanese and Swedish passports, was trained in the use of weapons and scouted sites in Europe, including a Cypriot airport. Yaacoub acknowledged membership in Hezbollah and staking out areas frequented by Israeli tourists, but said he did not know his work was part of a plot to kill Israelis. The court, which has yet to sentence him, rejected the denial. The evidence that led to Yaacoub’s conviction helps tip the
balance toward listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, diplomats from two leading European Union member states told JTA. Hezbollah already is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Israel and several other countries. “Our position is that we’ve always said that if we have proof that holds up in court, we can enter the procedure,” said Karl-Matthias Klause, the spokesman for the German Embassy in Washington. “There is a general readiness into looking into forbidding the military wing of Hezbollah.” VERDICT on page 19
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BALTIMORE – Earlier this month, a “Seeking Kin” column concluded with Rozanne Dittersdorf of New York expressing hope that Phyllis Garfunkel, a childhood friend with whom she lost contact in the late 1940s, “found happiness over these years and created a family of her own.” And in a February column, Jerusalemite Sofia Greenberg wondered what became of her grandfather’s brother, Mordechai “Morris” Greenberg, who had left Ukraine for the United States more than a century ago. The missing have been found. In the Greenbergs’ case, a “Seeking Kin” reader in Haifa, Oren Kaplan, provided the key. Kaplan, a librarian at the Technion, found an online obituary for Max Greenberg, who died in 2011 at age 89. It mentioned his parents, Morris and Ida; that he had run M. Greenberg Auto Parts; and that he had lived in Ellwood City, Pa. From the 1930 U.S. Census, Kaplan learned that Morris reached the United States in 1905, was born in about 1884 and that Max was the sixth of eight siblings. The facts coincided nearly precisely with those that Sofia Greenberg had supplied earlier to “Seeking Kin.” Reached Tuesday, Helen Greenberg, Max’s widow, said that according to family lore, her fatherin-law, Morris, abandoned the Russian army and fled for America. The business he started was a junkyard and later included an auto parts dealership, which eventually was closed by Max’s nephew. Two of Morris’ children— Yetta (known as Laurie) and Jack—are still living, but Helen Greenberg isn’t sure where. Another child, Eva, moved to Texas many years ago and could still be alive, she added. “It was almost a dysfunctional family,” she said of her late husband’s siblings. “Nobody spoke to each other.” Morris was very observant and boycotted her wedding because it wasn’t Orthodox, she said. From Jerusalem, Sofia Greenberg expressed delight Wednesday at her kin having been located. She plans to alert a cousin in Australia to the news and then contact her “new” American relatives. “Right now, I can’t quite absorb this. It’s great,” she said. With so much of her family wiped out in the Holocaust, “this is a world I lost, and now I can at least recover some of it.” In Haifa, Kaplan seemed satisfied, too. The Silver Spring, Md.,
Courtesy of the Fields family
Phyllis Fields, shown in a displaced persons camp in Germany following World War II.
native said he was merely repaying “Seeking Kin” for the column’s providing him with information on someone from Wurzburg, Germany, about whom he had asked. An earlier “Seeking Kin” column had mentioned the city’s outreach to Jewish former residents. “One good turn deserves another,” he said. “You get a certain kind of rush when you find somebody. There’s a detective side to it that’s addicting. “The end result could be really life-changing for people,” he said. “Most of the time, when people are searching in this manner, they’ve lived through lots of tragedy.” That was the case with Garfunkel, who survived the Holocaust as a child and came to join an uncle and aunt living in Highland Park, N.J. That was where she met Dittersdorf and left a deep imprint on her.
Courtesy of Judi Smithco
A portrait painting of Mordechai "Morris" Greenberg, whose descendants have been found.
Even with the “Seeking Kin” column’s publication, Dittersdorf continued working the case. From the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, she learned that Phyllis and her sister Cyla boarded the S.S. Ernie Pyle in Germany in August 1947 and were met in New York by their aunt and uncle, Louis and Anna Leiner – not Louis and Esther Glassman, as Dittersdorf remembered. Dittersdorf called Jack Leiner, whose stepfather is the couple’s son, after finding him online. He said he remains in contact with Cyla, who now lives in Israel, and Cyla’s son, Howard Tarre, in New Jersey.
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THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
In Florida, Venezuelan Jewish expats set down new roots By Gil Shefler Jewish Telegraphic Agency SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. – Sitting outside a Starbucks coffee shop in this small city north of Miami Beach, Paul Hariton recalls the dramatic night in 2002 when he and his wife decided to leave their native Venezuela. Leftist leader Hugo Chavez had just returned to power following a failed coup and the Haritons feared the political fallout. “We thought he was gone already,” said Hariton, 56. “We came back from a big opposition demonstration in the city center where several people were shot, including one member of the community. A girl was shot in the head. She survived.” The next day the Haritons were in Florida. Eleven years later they’re still here. “For my kids it was a great move,” Hariton said. “My oldest son is going to medical school. My daughter just graduated and is working at the bank. And my youngest son is 17 and is applying for university.” Over the past decade, thousands of Venezuelan Jews have followed suit, driven abroad by rising crime rates and the growing anti-Semitism many attribute to Chavez’s harsh criticism of Israel and cozy alliance with Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. About 25,000 Jews lived in Venezuela in the 1990s – a number that has shrunk to 9,000 today, according to CAIV, the umbrella
National Briefs Senate authorizes funding to keep Iran from laundering euro WASHINGTON (JTA) – The U.S. Senate unanimously authorized funding for programs that would make it easier to shut out Iran from the European Central Bank’s money transfer system. The amendment to the budget resolution passed early Saturday morning authorizes funding “to prevent Iran from directly or indirectly accessing the European Central Bank’s Target2 settlement platform and to block Iran’s access to its euro-denominated foreign exchange holdings.” Poll: Majority in U.S. favor considering military action to stop Iran WASHINGTON (JTA) – The U.S. public strongly favors considering military action against Iran to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon, a poll found.
group for Venezuelan Jewry. “I can’t tell you if 10 years from now we’ll be half of what we are, but the trend at the moment is a decreasing one, which is very worrying for the community,” said Efraim Lapscher, CAIV’s vice president. Many Jews in Venezuela are determined to stay. They have businesses, a sense of cultural belonging and an impressive array of Jewish institutions painstakingly built over decades. Yet uncertainty following the death of Chavez last month may send more overseas to join their friends and family living abroad, many of them in Florida. Just three hours by plane from the Venezuelan capital Caracas, the Miami region has similar weather, Spanish is widely spoken and is home to a large Jewish community, making it a favorite among Venezuelan Jews looking for a fresh start. Many of the newcomers have joined the Michael-Ann Russel Jewish Community Center in North Miami Beach, which is somewhat reminiscent of the Hebraica, the sprawling Jewish compound in Caracas. Though it lacks the Hebraica’s dramatic surroundings – notably its location at the foot of the lush Avila mountain – the tennis courts, pool, well-kept buildings and easygoing lifestyle are much the same. “There is a lot more use of facilities, not just for sports,” said Ariel Bentata, a Venezuelan Jew and the JCC’s president. “It’s more The Pew Research Center poll conducted March 13-17 found that 64 percent of Americans agree that it is “more important to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons even if it means taking military action,” as opposed to 24 percent who believe it is “more important to avoid military conflict even if Iran may develop nuclear weapons.” Array of Jewish groups urges faster path to citizenship WASHINGTON (JTA) – An array of Jewish groups urged President Obama and Congress to ease the path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Nineteen national groups and dozens of local groups and clergy signed on to a letter sent last Friday that was timed for Passover. “American Jews know too well the impact of restrictive immigration policies, and we have seen how the immigration issue can become a flashpoint for xenophobia,” said the letter, which was spearheaded by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
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Aventura, Fla., a suburb of Miami, has become the destination of choice for Jews from Venezuela who leave their country of birth in search of greener pastures.
of a gathering place now, and that’s a big change. This is something that Venezuelan Jews have brought from the Hebraica.” Indeed, Caraqueno transplants are likely to bump into many familiar faces in these parts. Rabbi Pynchas Brener was chief rabbi of the main Ashkenazi synagogue of Caracas for 44 years until he retired here two years ago as he neared 80. “I could have stayed on for another three years; I was offered that opportunity,” Brener said. “But I didn’t want to at this stage of the game, basically because of the tremendous personal insecurity [in Caracas]. And I have eight of my nine grandchildren living here. So that’s why I came.” Florida may be the destination of choice for Venezuelan Jews, most of whom live in Caracas, but it is by no means the only one. Smaller communities of Venezuelan Jewish
expats exist in Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala – Spanish-speaking countries with small but robust Jewish populations. Others have resettled in Israel. According to the Jewish Agency for Israel, 1,290 Venezuelans have moved to the Jewish state since 1999, numbers that do not include the Venezuelan Jews who already were Israeli citizens before they moved. A Jewish official said the number of Jews in the latter category is “sizable.” Some Venezuelan Jews have gone on to significant successes in their adopted countries. Venezuelan filmmaker Jonathan Jakubowicz is working on a movie starring Rober De Niro and Gael Garcia Bernal. Michel Kreisel was a member of the special effects team that won an Academy Award for “Life of Pi.” Moses Naim, Venezuela’s former minister of
development, is now a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington and a respected columnist for Spain’s El Pais. “Generally, more idealistic people or those with relatives came here,” said Maor Melul, 37, a computer engineer who moved to Israel from Caracas in January. “The people who have a lot of money go to Miami. And generally those who go to Panama and Costa Rica are waiting to go back to Venezuela if things improve.” Melul fell in love with Tel Aviv over a previous extended stay. Most of his friends in Israel are from Brazil, Venezuela’s neighbor to the south, but if people mistake him for a Brazilian, he is quick to correct them. “In my room I have an indigenous clay doll with the colors of the flag of Venezuela and the stars,” he said. “On my dining table I have a Venezuelan flag. And of course there’s the Venezuelan soccer team. I wore its T-shirt when I made aliyah. After you leave you start showing your colors, showing you are Venezuelan.” For the most part, Melul feels detached from the place he had called home for decades. Most of his family and friends either died or emigrated. Only occasionally does he feel nostalgic, like when he goes through old albums. “I look at pictures of coconuts and the water and how I’d love to be there right now,” he said. “But I can’t.”
8 • NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL
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From sands to skyscrapers: Tel Aviv launches the future By Maxine Dovere JointMedia News Service NEW YORK – Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai recently came to New York City to talk about his city of sun, sand, skyscrapers, and start-ups. With “just two minutes” on a winter afternoon to introduce the city and its entrepreneurs, he began his presentation with a weather report. Noting the damp, cold conditions, Huldai teased, “I’ve left behind the wonderful weather of Tel Aviv to talk about the start-up culture that began on the day the city was born.” During this event organized by the Consulate General of Israel, New York, he recalled the courage of the 66 families who left old Jaffa in 1909 to start a new community on empty sand dunes. “They began with nothing, except a vision made into a reality by labor and love. They built the city of the future on the sands of the past,” Huldai said. The mayor pointed out that Rothschild Boulevard, one of Tel Aviv’s main thoroughfares, started as nothing more than an idea. Just
Courtesy of Maxine Dovere
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai at a recent New York event during which he headlined a series of presentations by Tel Avivbased start-ups.
more than a century later, Tel Aviv is home to more than 700 start-ups. “Huldai has changed Tel Aviv into a magnet of technology and future growth,” said Consul General, Ido Aharoni. Huldai headlined a series of rapid-fire presentations by 10 Tel Aviv-based start-ups, including several joint American-Israeli ventures. In an exclusive interview with JNS, Huldai emphasized, “Tel Aviv is the start-up city of the start-up nation. Our goal is to be the startup city for cities around the world-
the best point outside of North America for international entrepreneurs and academia.” He called Tel Aviv “a global city, ready to partner with other start-up cities to exchange ideas and concepts.” “We are very proud of Tel Aviv,” Huldai said. “Proud of its ongoing development and open character.” He admitted he admires New York City, too, but quickly pointed out that the Big Apple will “never be sun-filled and ready for the beach in March!” The best measure of Tel Aviv, Huldai told JNS, “is its humanity.” “Tel Aviv has a multiplicity of atmospheres that create a type of city that you feel relaxed to live in,” he said. “It is friendly, welcoming, and comfortable.” Israel is the only country in the Middle East that protects homosexuals with anti-discrimination laws, and Tel Aviv was named the world’s “Best Gay City” of 2011 in an international competition conducted by American Airlines. JNS asked Huldai to respond to the claim by Israel’s critics that the country seeks to “pink-wash” its problems with
Plight of Palestinians in Syria could have implications for Israel By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency WASHINGTON – It’s the latest Palestinian refugee crisis, but it has nothing to do with Israel or the West Bank – yet. With Syria home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, the raging civil war there is destabiliz-
ing a population with nowhere to turn, and some analysts are warning it could complicate the IsraeliPalestinian relationship. “The question is what could happen, what is the appropriate regional response,” said Aram Nerguizian, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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Courtesy of Maxine Dovere
Sambach/Wikimedia Commons Nahalat Binyamin Street in Ron Huldai’s city, Tel Aviv.
tourist destination—and the New York Times calls Tel Aviv the capital of Mediterranean cool!” Huldai said. JNS asked Huldai where he thought his just more than 100year-old city would be in another 100 years. TEL AVIV on page 22
Egyptian political turmoil spurs Jewish refugees to chronicle ‘second Exodus’ By Cnaan Liphshiz Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Courtesy of UNRWA
The Neirab Palestinian refugee camp near Aleppo is the largest of its kind in Syria.
THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE’S ARCHIVES ARE NOW ONLINE. THE REST IS JUST HISTORY.
the Palestinians by touting its acceptance of the gay community. “Those who say anything against Tel Aviv’s policies regarding the gay community don’t understand reality… We did a lot to embrace the community—the city sponsors a pride parade and centers for young people,” Huldai said. “We are taking care of all of the parts of the city, whether it’s the haredi community, the Masorti (the equivalent of the Jewish Conservative denomination in the U.S.) group, or foreign workers,” he added. “All are fully participating, all are part of Tel Aviv. Pluralism, tolerance, and democracy and human rights are the base of the city’s policy… What have they got to complain about?” Tel Aviv is “a city of edges, of extremes,” according to Huldai. It is home to the richest and the poorest, Arabs and Jews, Muslim and Christians. The Wall Street Journal calls Tel Aviv the second-most innovative city in the world, noted the mayor, with understated pride. “[The] Lonely Planet [tourism guide book] says we are the best
More than 70 percent of Syria’s Palestinians live in the Damascus area, Nerguizian noted, “within spitting distance of the Golan Heights.” It’s not that Israel’s border there is under threat of being breached, he said, but the presence of so many internally displaced Palestinians could complicate Israel’s relations with the Palestinians and other Arab states, especially if Syria breaks up into smaller entities. “If you have pressure to do more” for the Palestinians, “it opens up discussions about the Arab-Israeli arena and even more instability,” he said. Officials from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency were in Washington last week campaigning for extra funds for the approximately 500,000 Palestinians under its charge in Syria. The United Nations is trying to raise $1.5 billion for Syrian relief, and $90 million has been earmarked for UNRWA, which services Palestinian refugees from Israel’s 1948 War of Independence and their descendants.
Frolicking with her fiance in the cool waters of the Suez Canal, Lilian Abada would never have imagined she was about to experience the first of a string of events that would ultimately lead her to flee her native Egypt for Israel with only one suitcase. When Abada and her future husband, Nisso, emerged from the water that day in 1956, a security agent was waiting for them. The two teenagers were arrested for spying for Israel and interrogated for days. They were released and then rearrested, along with hundreds of Jews. Finally, they fled to Israel. “We realized the Egyptians wanted us out,” Abada said. Abada’s account of her family’s flight is set to appear in “The Golden Age of the Jews From Egypt,” a forthcoming book that aims to preserve the memory of this North African Jewish community against what many Egyptian Jews see as an attempt by the country’s Islamist leaders to blot out their history. The rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood last year has generated much angst in the Egyptian Jewish Diaspora, descendants of a 2,000-year-old community all but destroyed in a mass emigration in the two decades following Israel’s establishment in 1948 – a period
Courtesy of Ada Aharoni from “The Golden Age of the Jews From Egypt”
Eli Haim, right, with his parents and younger brother in Port Said in 1945 during a summer vacation, after his father immigrated from Egypt to Britishruled Palestine.
that community members refer to as the “second Exodus.” In the wake of the election of Mohamed Morsi to the presidency last year, there were reports that Egypt had denied entry visas to Rabbi Avraham Dayan and several others who were due to travel to Alexandria to lead High Holidays services at the city’s Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue. Services apparently will not be held there on the upcoming Passover holiday. Jewish sources also say a nascent restoration project of some of Cairo’s crumbling synagogues has been suspended, despite the 2010 announcement by Egypt’s thenculture minister that the government would shoulder the cost of the project. EXODUS on page 22
INTERNATIONAL / ISRAEL • 9
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
International Jews find early signs from Pope Francis encouraging By Ruth Ellen Gruber did it take long for the Jews to contribute to the progress that Jewish Telegraphic Agency sing his praises. relations between Jews and Briefs As it turns out, Pope Francis, Catholics have experienced” since Rome Jewish community head compares politician to Hitler ROME (JTA) – Riccardo Pacifici, the president of the Rome Jewish community, compared comic-turned-politician Beppe Grillo to Hitler. In an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz published last Friday, Pacifici said Grillo’s new party Five Star Movement, or M5S, is “more dangerous” than the fascists and that Italian Jews should pack their bags. Twitter sued for $50 million for not naming authors of anti-Semitic tweets (JTA) – The Union of Jewish French Students sued Twitter for about $50 million for failing to honor a court ruling to identify users who posted anti-Semitic hate speech. The union, or UEJF, filed the lawsuit last week with a Paris correctional tribunal, according to the French news agency AFP. UEJF President Jonathan Hayoun said his organization filed the lawsuit because the California-based website has “ignored” a civil court ruling from Jan. 24 that Twitter must identify people who broke France’s laws against hate speech. The ruling came following an earlier UEJF lawsuit. Budapest will wait until after Passover to close Jewish center (JTA) - Budapest authorities agreed to wait until after Passover to close down an alternative Jewish culture center.The Siraly Jewish culture center will be shut down on April 3, Budapest Mayor Istvan Tarlos told Hungary’s MTI news agency on Sunday. Marom, the Conservative Jewish youth group that runs the center, will now be able to host its Passover seder and a weeklong Passover Jewish culture festival there. WJC to hold meeting in Budapest in solidarity with local Jews (JTA) – The World Jewish Congress will hold its annual assembly in Budapest to show solidarity with Hungary’s Jews, who are facing “exceptionally strong” anti-Semitism, organizers said. “This will be the first time in a very long time that the WJC will hold its congress outside Jerusalem,” said Peter Feldmajer, president of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities, or Mazsihisz, one of Hungary’s leading Jewish groups.
ROME – When the white smoke rose at the Vatican, signaling to the world that the College of Cardinals had chosen a new pope, Catholics weren’t the only ones waiting with bated breath. Jews, too, were eager to see whether the new pontiff would be someone familiar with their concerns. Would he be a non-European unfamiliar with the Jewish people and the weighty legacy of the Holocaust? Would he carry on the legacy of his immediate predecessors and work to further JewishCatholic relations? After the new pope appeared before the masses in St. Peter’s Square, it didn’t take long for him to signal that he would maintain the church’s outreach to Jews. Nor
76 – nee Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina – was from outside Europe and had a long history of interfaith outreach and good relations with the Jews. He’s the first pope from the Americas, as well as the first in more than a millennium from outside Europe. The new pontiff “is no stranger to us,” World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, who met with Bergoglio in Buenos Aires in 2008, said in a statement. “He always had an open ear for our concerns. “By choosing such an experienced man, someone who is known for his open-mindedness, the cardinals have sent an important signal to the world,” Lauder said. “I am sure that Pope Francis will continue to be a man of dia-
Courtesy of B'nai B'rith Argentina
Pope Francis, then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, speaking at a B’nai B’rith Argentina event commemorating Kristallnacht, Nov. 12, 2012.
logue, a man who is able to build bridges with other faiths.” Like Benedict before him, Francis in one of his first official acts wrote to Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni. He invited Di Segni to the papal inaugural Mass and said he hoped “to be able to
the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. The election of Francis, Di Segni wrote back, “gives us the hope that the path of friendship, respect and productive collaboration will continue.” On Saturday, the pope went out of his way to acknowledge non-Catholics in a blessing offered to news media. “Given that many of you do not belong to the Catholic Church and others are not believers, I give this blessing from my heart, in silence, to each one of you, respecting the conscience of each one of you, but knowing that each one of you is a child of God,” Francis said in his address, according to The New York Times. “May God bless you.”
Did Obama’s charm offensive in Israel work? By Ben Sales Jewish Telegraphic Agency JERUSALEM – President Obama had three goals for his first presidential trip to Israel. He wanted to persuade Israelis that the United States is committed to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. He wanted to promote the renewal of IsraeliPalestinian negotiations, albeit without any specific “deliverables.” Most of all, however, he wanted to charm the pants off the Israeli people. He dropped Hebrew phrases into his speeches. He quoted the Talmud. He invoked the story of Passover.
So, nu, did it work? “Does anyone doubt, still, that we’re talking about a friend here?” Itzik Shmueli, a Knesset minister from the center-left Labor party, wrote on Facebook. Obama earned qualified praise even from Naftali Bennett, the prosettler chairman of the nationalist Jewish Home party who now serves as minister of commerce and economics. “Obama’s words certainly came out of concern for Israel and true friendship,” Bennett wrote, also on Facebook. Citing rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel on Thursday, however, Bennett added,
“A Palestinian state isn’t the right way. The time has come for new and creative approaches.” A smiling Obama appeared side by side with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres to talk about their two nations’ shared values and security needs. He visited the Israel Museum, viewed the Dead Sea Scrolls, surveyed the Iron Dome missile defense system and saw a host of Israeli hightech innovations. For Friday, his itinerary included visits to the graves of Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, and slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. For the most part, the visit was a
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cornucopia of compliments and commitments to Israel’s security and the U.S.-Israel relationship. “Those who adhere to the ideology of rejecting Israel’s right to exist, they might as well reject the earth beneath them and the sky above because Israel’s not going anywhere,” Obama said during his speech Thursday night at the Jerusalem International Convention Center. “And today I want to tell you, particularly the young people, so that there’s no mistake here, so long as there is a United States of America, ‘atem lo l’vad.’ You are not alone.” OBAMA on page 22
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10 • ISRAEL
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With Islamic groups replacing traditional foes, Israel faces long-term instability on its borders By Ben Sales Jewish Telegraphic Agency HERZLIYA, Israel – Three weeks ago, militants in Gaza landed a rocket near the Israeli city of Ashkelon. Two weeks ago, Egypt raised its state of emergency in the Sinai Peninsula, warning of an increase in jihadist activity there. Last week, a rock thrown by a West Bank Palestinian critically wounded a 3-year-old Israeli girl. And this week, Israel plans to ask the United States for support should it strike Syrian weapons convoys en route to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Along both its northern and southern frontiers, Israel faces more political instability than it has in decades – conditions that some security experts fear could open a door to greater terrorism. The upheavals of the Arab Spring may have reduced the threat of a conventional war with a neighboring state, but the prospects for peaceful borders – let alone full normalization with the Arab world – have dimmed, forcing Israeli military planners to prepare for long-term uncertainty. “For the first time in decades, we have four active borders that
Courtesy of Yonatan Sindel/Flash90/JTA
Members of the newly sworn Israeli government taking their traditional group photo with Israeli President Shimon Peres in his Jerusalem residence, March 18, 2013.
have terror activities: Lebanon, Syria, Sinai and Gaza,” said Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, the director of military intelligence for the Israel Defense Forces. “The change that’s happening is deep and foundational. The central characteristic of this change, even if it seems banal, is instability and uncertainty.” Kochavi was speaking last week at the Herzliya Conference, an elite policy and security gathering dominated this year by concerns about terrorist activity on Israel’s fron-
tiers. Kochavi said terrorists are “filling the vacuum” of unstable states. While the consequences have been minimal, officials say the danger of an attack is growing. “Not a week goes by, not to say hardly a day, when I don’t have to deal with an issue that you didn’t even hear about, that could have resulted in a strategic threat,” IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz told the conference. INSTABILITY on page 22
Israel reacts to reconciliation with Turkey over 2010 Gaza flotilla incident By Israel Hayom JointMedia News Service The Israeli defense establishment lauded the reconciliation between Israel and Turkey, saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the “responsible decision” on the matter. The reconciliation between Jerusalem and Ankara was brokered by U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday, ending a threeyear diplomatic crisis brought upon by the 2010 altercation on the Mavi Marmara, which attempted to breach Israel’s maritime blockade on the Gaza Strip. The vessel was seized by the Israeli Navy, and nine Turkish citizens who attacked Israeli soldiers were killed during the operation. Jerusalem sources told Israel Hayom on Sunday that Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and former foreign minister and current Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Avigdor Lieberman were briefed on the decision prior to Netanyahu’s
Friday conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. After initially accepting Netanyahu’s apology and telling the Israeli leader that he would begin working towards full restoration of ties, Erdogan in a subsequent public address called on more concessions from Israel before full relations could be restored. The Turkish leader said “there will be no normalization” without financial compensation for the flotilla incident from Israel as well as the lifting of Israel’s Gaza blockade, the Associated Press reported. “Normalization will happen the moment there is an implementation. But if there is no implementation, then I am sorry,” Erdogan said. Turkey is a key member of NATO and as such, during the three-year crisis, it has been able to block Israeli participation in multilateral military exercises held in the Middle East and Europe. “Netanyahu made a responsible decision. The deal reached with Turkey [over compensation
to the victims’ families] does not conflict with Israel’s position on the matter over the past three years,” Ya’alon said. “The recent regional developments and the American involvement facilitated a resolution to this crisis. This is an interest Israel and Turkey share.” The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that the move “was made with the full support and blessing of the chief of staff, in light of the importance of defense relations with Turkey and given that [the agreement] provides legal protection for the soldiers and officers who participated in the operation.” National Security Adviser Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror said: “We are facing a situation where the area between us and Turkey is occupied by a county that is falling apart – a country that has chemical weapons, which as far as we know it has already used. The better the cooperation is between us and Turkey, the easier it would be to deal with this volatile situation.” Amidror stressed that there was “no pressure from the Americans.” “This was our idea, we took it to them and they helped,” he said.
Mixed reaction to Obama in Israel By Mati Tuchfeld, Shlomo Cesana and Gideon Allon JointMedia News Service Reaction was mixed in Israel to the public statements made by U.S. President Barack Obama during his visit, with some embracing Obama’s appeal for a two-state solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict and others voicing skepticism about the practicality of the goals he articulated. “Given the demographics west of the Jordan River, the only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish and democratic state is through the realization of an independent and viable Palestine,” Obama told a packed audience of young Israelis at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem on Thursday. “There is no question that Israel has faced Palestinian factions who turned to terror, and leaders who missed historic opportunities. That is why security must be at the center of any agreement,” Obama said. “And there is no question that the only path to peace is through negotiation.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Obama “for the unreserved support of the State of Israel.” “The prime minister agrees with the president that we have to advance a peace that ensures the security of Israeli citizens. The prime minister also agrees that we have a wonderful country,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. Economics and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi) disagreed with Obama over the need for two states for
Israel Briefs Israeli retaliatory missile slams Syrian military post JERUSALEM (JTA) – An Israeli missile destroyed a Syrian military post in response to fire on Israeli troops in the Golan Heights. The missile fired Sunday by the Israel Defense Forces reportedly injured two Syrian soldiers. On Saturday night, Syrian gunfire damaged an Israeli army jeep. Israeli soldiers also came under fire on Sunday morning. No Israeli soldiers were injured in the attacks. It was unclear whether the bullets fired into Israeli territory had gone astray as part of Syria’s civil war, or if they were fired intentionally at Israeli troops.
Courtesy of Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
U.S. President Barack Obama waves before addressing Israeli students at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem on March 21, 2013.
two peoples. “His remarks certainly came from a place of concern for Israel and true friendship,” Bennett wrote on his Facebook wall. “But the results of our previous withdrawal were felt this morning in Sderot [a rocket from Gaza damaged a Sderot home] and in the thousands of victims in recent years. A Palestinian state is not the right path... For the attention of [Secretary of State] John Kerry, Bennett’s diplomatic worldview has not changed because of Obama’s speech.” “Besides,” Bennett added, “a nation cannot occupy its own land.” Habayit Hayehudi’s faction chairwoman MK Ayelet Shaked said, “If we are talking about Iron Dome, then Judea and Samaria are our Iron Dome. There is no doubt that Obama is a real friend of Israel. But it will be we who have to face the disastrous and catastrophic consequences of the establishment Palestinian state. It is no wonder that the Israeli public chose, only this past week, a government that does not have the idea of the establishment of a Palestinian state in its coalition guidelines.” Israeli soldiers treat wounded Syrians on border JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israeli soldiers provided medical care to four wounded Syrians on the Golan Heights border. Seven Syrian rebels entered Israel through the Golan Heights in February and were treated in Israeli hospitals. Six were quietly repatriated at an undisclosed location for their own safety; one was very severely injured. Palestinian teens arrested for rock throwing that injured Jewish girl JERUSALEM (JTA) – Five Palestinian teens involved in a rock-throwing attack on a car in the West Bank that critically injured a 3-year-old Jewish girl were arrested. The teens, aged 16 and 17 from the town of Kifl Haris near Kalkilya, were arrested Sunday in a joint operation of the Shin Bet security agency, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police.
SOCIAL LIFE • 11
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
COMMUNITY NEWS
OJC Director Joyce Garver Keller, AJC Cincinnati Director Barbara Glueck, OJC Board member Dick Weiland, HUC Associate Dean Rabbi Ken Kanter, JCRC and Holocaust Center Director Sarah Weiss, JFS Director Beth Schwartz, and JCRC Associate Director Seth Harlan
Cincinnati leaders meet Ohio legislators Last week Cincinnatians attended the legislative reception of Ohio Jewish Communities in Columbus, an organization which advocates for Jewish causes such as health care, human services, refugee resettlement, international trade and cultural
exchange with Israel. The reception was an opportunity to network with state senators, representatives and government officials, to hear Governor Kasich speak about his relationship with the Jewish community and to meet Jewish agency colleagues from all around Ohio. OJC is supported by the eight Ohio Federations.
12 • CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE
ACCESS This fall has been full of fun events and programs for Jewish young professionals in Cincinnati looking to get connected with one another and with their community. From the Schmooze for Twos dinner for couples at the Firehouse Grill and ACTout’s Volunteer event at Crayons to Computers in September, to a HeBREW Happy Hour at Japp’s in Over the Rhine and the Brunch on the Barge event on the Ohio River in October, hundreds of Jewish YPs have had the chance to hang out together and enjoy the best of what our city has to offer courtesy of Access, an initiative of The Mayerson Foundation for Jewish young professionals 21-25.
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Schmooze for Twos at the Firehouse Grill
HeBREW Happy Hour at Japps
ACTout at Crayons 2 Computers
Brunch on the Barge
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THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13
14 • DINING OUT
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Bangkok Terrace—there for the seeking By Michael Sawan Assistant Editor If there were ever two total opposites, I bet they’d be Routine and Adventure. Routine means repetition and sameness, while adventure is specifically about new experiences. Opposites can, however, mix. How many times have you driven through Blue Ash, cruising down Kenwood Road on auto pilot? Wouldn’t it be odd to turn off that well worn road, to look around you and seek an adventure out of the ordinary? Danette McGraw may be able to relate. “I didn’t really notice [Bangkok Terrace] that much driving by until I actually came in. But when I did it’s just really attractive, it’s got the tile floors and the wood blinds, the flowers. It’s just a nice little boutique restaurant that you would expect to pay more for.” Now the restaurant’s manager, McGraw began working at Bangkok Terrace “a couple of years ago. It will be two years in August. I was hired on as a waitress, and that’s mostly what I do. It’s such a small restaurant that everyone wears a few hats.” The restaurant, which celebrated its fourth year anniversary this past February, has a knack for crafting cuisine. “I’m very picky myself,” begins McGraw, “and this is the first restaurant I’ve ever worked at where I’ll eat anything that they prepare.” Well, you must have a favorite, right? “Yes, but far too many to count,” says McGraw with a laugh. “As far as the sushi goes, I love the Mango Sun Roll.... And then the noodles, the Pad Thai, I swear I’m addicted. Sometimes I’ll leave work and then I’ll have to come back and get a to-go order.” McGraw let loose another hearty laugh. Jennifer Boonyakanist, the co-owner of Bangkok Terrace heard, and gave a chuckle along with her. “They always laugh at me,” continues McGraw. “And then the Drunken Noodle: It’s a big, fat, wide rice noodle with a chili sauce, it’s so good. And then for the wok dishes I like the Thai Spicy and the Cashew Nut. So yeah, I’ve got a lot of favorites. And usually, I’m one of those people, I get one thing and one thing only, wherever I go, and everything here it’s like ‘oh, I’m going to have such a hard time deciding what to get.’” Who’s responsible for this magical menu? “The owner designs it, his name’s Tom,” explains McGraw. “He’s also our sushi chef. You know, like I said, a lot of different hats. He also is extraordinarily picky. He’ll even taste the mango, if it’s not sweet enough then he
Courtesy of Michael Sawan
(Clockwise) An outside view of Bangkok Terrace; Some of the faces around Bangkok Terrace, with manager Danette McGraw on the right and co-owner Jennifer Boonyakanist; The sushi bar at Bangkok Terrace; A dining area in the restaurant, looking out into Blue Ash; What one would see upon entering the restaurant.
won’t make the mango sticky rice, or the Mango Sushi roll, or anything [mango related].” The quality train continues chugging along: “If you order the tilapia for dinner, it’s sushi quality, a sushi grade fish,” says McGraw. “And then I watch them in the back, the way they prepare it, the trimming that they do...” McGraw leaves it at that with a slight shrug. These cooks are simple on another level. Not only is the calibre of the ingredients and the preparation strong, but the staff is flexible. I’m sure some of you have been to these chic new restaurants that simply refuse requests, even the smallest of dietary substitutions. Not Bangkok Terrace. “Everything is custom,” says McGraw, “So if anyone has any dietary restrictions, from celiacs to vegans, we can accommodate everything.” Kosher included. It all adds up to make a restau-
rant for the customer first, a place that aims to please above all else. McGraw sums it up best: “It’s a small, family restaurant, the food quality is through the roof, it shows in every single dish, everything is custom made per order. It really comes across. It’s some of the best food I’ve ever had.” The restaurant has been on a bit of a heat streak, too. “We’re busiest at lunch, a lot of business people come then,” begins McGraw. “But I don’t think we can classify an average client. Our clientele is so diverse; we have a lot of foreign clientele, we have older, we have younger, we have a lot of families that come in, especially in the evening, so I don’t think we could really peg it down. Lunch is mostly business, as most restaurants are Monday through Friday, but there’s such a wide diversity.” Bangkok Terrace remains a BYOB restaurant. Depending on who you talk to, that is often a plus. “We don’t have a liquor license,
but if you want to bring in a bottle of wine we’ve got wine glasses and cork screws, whatever it is, we’re happy. We don’t have a corking fee or anything. For somebody who wants to have a glass of wine just bring your own and we’ll be happy to accommodate.” And though it seems like it will never happen, warm weather is coming. Bangkok Terrace will at that time fulfill the second half of its name. “It’s nice in the summertime because we do have the patio tables out. As soon as it gets warm we’ll do the patio tables, a little al fresco dining. Many times the patio is all we have available because everything else is filled up, especially during lunch.” Finally, for those who wish to intrust bigger plans to the restaurant, the option of private parties and even catering is available. Boonyakanist spoke up at this point, mentioning an event that has by this point past.
“Like tomorrow we have a big party, 25 people, for lunch,” explains Boonyakanist. “They always call and ask, make an appointment, come here, set up the menu, set up the price, how many people, stuff like that.” “You’ve even done a wedding before, right?” asks McGraw. “Yeah, she’s catered. It’s not our focus, but we’re very customer service oriented so if there’s anything special that you would like we’ll do our best to accommodate it.” And even more still is on the horizon. Bangkok Terrace is currently testing out some new items. Once they’re perfect you’ll know exactly where to find them. Their lunch hours are Monday - Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Their dinner hours are Sunday - Thursday, 5 to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m. Bangkok Terrace 4858 Hunt Road Cincinnati, OH 45242 513-891-8900
DINING OUT • 15
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
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cafe-mediterranean.com
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9701 Kenwood Rd
8702 Market Place Ln
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Bangkok Terrace
Cincinnati's first and only true wine, restaurant and wine retail store. Come in and enjoy an appetizer or entrée paired with one of the 100 wines we pour daily.
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101 Main St • Historic Milford
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Cincinnati
302 E. University Ave
12110 Montgomery Rd
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Cincinnati
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16 • OPINION
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Jews obliged to intervene on behalf of WIC program By Abby Leibman and Steve Gutow Jewish Telegraphic Agency WASHINGTON – One act, more than any other, is indispensible from the Passover story: If God had not intervened, we would still be slaves. There would have been no Exodus, no Sinai, no bright future for the Jewish people. For the sake of a future nation, God intervened to save 600,000 warriors of Israel. Remember that number. It’s about the same number of mothers and children who will be cut off from nutrition assistance if nothing is done to stop the sequester’s bulldozer-like roll toward the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Children and Infants (WIC). Once again, an intervention is needed for the sake of a nation. Without freedom from Egypt, the descendants of Jacob could never grow, could never receive the Torah and could never live as they wanted. Likewise, without the benefit of prenatal and pediatric health care, nutrition education and access to healthy food, our children will be vulnerable to adverse birth outcomes, dental problems, anemia, obesity and hunger. The future of our nation – built by a healthy generation of children – is at risk if we do not intervene. Due to political gridlock and myopic opposition to government services, WIC faces a 5.1 percent hatchet. As the sequester’s implementation was delayed, the impact because of the compressed timeline will be closer to a 9 percent chop. More than 600,000 lowincome women, infants and children will lose this vital lifeline if the arbitrary sequester is not replaced with a thoughtful, longrun deficit reduction strategy. That is why our organizations are again mobilizing Jewish communities around the country to hold Hunger Seders and raise awareness not only of the ongoing oppression of hunger, but of the tools we have to end it. On March 20, we kicked off the campaign at the U.S. Capitol with a special National Hunger Seder attended by members of Congress, Obama administration officials, schoolchildren, and faith and anti-poverty advocates. Our message to Congress and the country is a simple one: We
must protect the WIC program because WIC protects our children. WIC is available exclusively to impoverished women (WIC participants have an average annual income of a meager $16,449) and their children. In 2009, WIC served an average of 8.9 million participants each month, providing education about the benefits of breastfeeding, access to maternal, prenatal, and pediatric health care services, or financial support to purchase nutritious groceries. According to the National WIC Association, for $759 a year per participant, WIC saves tens of thousands of dollars in health care costs by preventing birth complications and infant hospitalization. Even if the investment in WIC just saved us money on health care, we would say dayenu – it would be enough – to spare the program from painful reductions. But the benefits of WIC far exceed financial savings. Children benefiting from WIC – more than half of all infants born in the United States – not only are born healthier but live healthier lives. Compared to those not in the program, WIC children are less likely to be hungry, more likely to be immunized and better prepared to perform in school for years to come. Replacing the sequester is an important step, but this single move will correct a mistaken plan never intended to go into effect in the first place. Moving forward, we must strengthen WIC so that it can effectively reach the millions of pregnant women and mothers who lack proper education on breastfeeding or nutrition. More than 3,000 years ago, God wanted the children of Jacob to grow and prosper as a people, so God intervened on behalf of 600,000 to ensure they were on the right path. Today we want the same for our children – to set them on the path to a healthy and prosperous future. If we allow WIC to be arbitrarily hacked by the sequester, fewer children will realize the healthy practices that would help them reach their full God-given potential, and our society will be poorer and weaker because of it. So we are called on by our faith, our humanity and our obligation to future generations to intervene on behalf of 600,000 – for the sake of our nation.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Do you have something to say? E-mail your letter to editor@americanisraelite.com
Dear Editor, I agree with the letter in this week’s Israelite – the N word was insulting then and it is still insulting. Surely you could have found something else from “100 Years Ago” to reprint, for two reasons:
To avoid using the N word in this day and age, and to avoid rebroadcasting a shameful period in the Israelite’s history, when evidently the word could appear in print in your pages. I would hope we have advanced far beyond that age.
I am indebted to the good soul who pointed this out, as I rarely read past the 10 & 25 years ago parts. Sincerely, Claire Lee Cincinnati, OH
Obama in Israel: Charging for his charm By Boaz Bismuth JointMedia News Service U.S. President Barack Obama taught us all during his speech on Thursday at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem how to touch the hearts of every last young person in a tightly packed room of Israeli students. His charm offensive in the Holy Land showed Israelis his truly amazing rhetorical abilities. The advocates of peace and the advocates of security were both pleased by his declarations. Everyone walked away with the quotations that they wanted. The president’s visit to Israel could have been titled “Obama in Wonderland.” During the first half of the U.S. president’s speech on Thursday (the sugar-coated part), Obama came off as a member of the Likud party. He promised that Iran wouldn’t go nuclear, and that “you”—which is to say, Israelis—“are not alone.” He said that last part in Hebrew. Obama spoke at length about the security issues that every Israeli faces. He called to mind Osher Twito, the boy whom Obama met in Sderot, and didn’t forget to mention the five Israelis who were killed in the bus bombing in Bulgaria last summer. He disregarded the legion of commentators who worship him and
who prophesied that he would put pressure on Israel, dictate Israel’s agenda and impose a deadline on the Jewish state. Actually, Obama didn’t even mention a freeze of Israeli construction beyond the Green Line. For Israelis, it was like a dream. And then came the second half of the speech (the bitter pill), in which the U.S. president suddenly became a Peace Now activist, his true form. Deploying the same charm and gushing congeniality, and with equally polished rhetorical skill, Obama explained to Israelis (albeit with far fewer Hebrew interpolations) that peace is possible. “It is not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished,” he said. It is forbidden to prevent Palestinians from tending their lands or to prevent the freedom of movement for students in the West Bank, he proclaimed, and you cannot expel Palestinians from their homes. “Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer,” the president declared. After having casting his vote for Likud, he reached back into the ballot box, pulled out his envelope, and slipped in a Meretz (Israel’s leftwing party) card as well. Again, it was like a dream—this time a bad one. It wasn’t so much his rhetoric as it was his sharp political U-turn.
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Obama came to Israel to charm Israelis, and he succeeded. He chose to speak directly to young people so they would help new U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry revitalize upcoming peace talks. Obama expects Israel’s young people to impel their government to make concessions. What he may not understand is that these same young people elected this very government, which believes in the equal burden, in all of its manifestations. Obama spoke openly about two states for two people, one of which is Jewish. The Palestinian Authority must also come to terms with this fact. You can’t say Israelis were unimpressed by the world’s No. 1 citizen. But only time will tell whether we can add Obama to the ranks of presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, who, during their presidencies, oversaw the implementation of lasting peace treaties. Or, perhaps, Israelis will simply remember Obama for his kingly speech at the convention center in Jerusalem, one that, down the road, we’ll add to his growing list of lofty orations. Boaz Bismuth is a columnist and correspondent for Israel Hayom, whose English-language content is distributed in the U.S. exclusively by JNS.
JEWISH LIFE • 17
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
Sedra of the Week
SHABBAT SHALOM: SHABBAT CHOL HAMOED
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happen. In this case, after the first Israelites jumped into the sea, God miraculously divided it, enabling the Israelites to cross safely but drowning the pursuing Egyptians. The Jews were only helped, however, when they demonstrated that liberty was more important to them than life itself. It is fascinating to note that the first proposed seal for the United States of America – which was suggested by Benjamin Franklin – was a pictorial representation of the splitting of the Re(e)d Sea, the triumphant Israelites, the drowning Egyptians, and Moses with his arms outstretched over the waters. The caption beneath reads “Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.” This great and universal message is especially important as the world stands by—mostly indifferent—to the enslaved peoples in Syria as well as in Iran. The message of Passover must yet be learned. Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi – Efrat Israel
T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: PASSOVER b.) Immediately after he left Pharaoh’s palace c.) He waited a day
1. Where did the plague of frogs first strike? a.) Pharaoh’s palace b.) The magicians c.) Egypt's food and water supply 2. Who started the plague of frogs? a.) Hashem b.) Moshe c.) Aaron 3. When did Moshe pray to remove the frogs? a.) Immediately in Pharaoh's palace 5. C 5:11 Pharaoh went against his natural feelings and hardened his heart. He ignored the terrible stench the frogs left behind and did not let the Children of Israel go. Rashi
they need. Judaism, on the other hand, sees human beings as God’s chosen partners within the cosmic drama with a mission being to perfect the world in the Kingship of God. The Israelites remain strongly influenced by Egyptian idolatry. The possibility of waging war against their Egyptian pursuers doesn’t even enter their minds. The only thing they can do is cry out to God in prayer, saying, “Are there not enough graves in Egypt that you had to take us into the desert to die?” (Exodus 14: 11) Moses also seems to be insufficiently imbued with the true message of freedom and the necessity of fighting for it even unto death. He admonishes the nation not to fear, to stand by and watch the salvation of the Lord: “God will do battle for you; you must merely be silent.” The second half of this chapter —which is divided into two equal halves—has God chide Moses for his passive advice: “Why are you crying out to me? Speak to the Children of Israel and let them go forward” (Exodus 14:15). Rashi quotes a midrash which puts the following words into God’s mouth: “This is not the time for a lengthy prayer, Israel is in such terrible trouble; speak to the Children of Israel and let them move on.” What is God telling them to do? If they jump into the Re(e)d Sea, they will most likely drown. Our Sages tell us that we dare not rely on miracles; we must always act to the utmost of our ability. Clearly, God was asking them to demonstrate by their actions that they understood the value of freedom, and that they were willing to choose death over enslavement. For to live the life of a slave without the freedom to direct one’s own destiny was worse than death itself. God was telling them through Moses that they must jump into the Re(e)d Sea and thereby publicly declare, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Our Sages teach us that “One who comes to purify [himself or others], will be helped from on High” (Shabbat 104a). That is not necessarily guaranteed—we are not to rely on miracles—but it can
CITY
4. Where did the frogs go? a.) Back to the Nile b.) They were piled up and smelled c.) The magicians made them go away 5. What did Pharaoh do after the frogs were gone? a.) Celebrate b.) Apologize to the Children of Israel c.) Harden his heart
because it protected him when his Mother put him in it when he was a baby. Rashi 3. B 8:6 He prayed immediately after he left Pharaoh’s palace to remove the frogs tomorrow. 4. B 8:10
EFRAT, Israel—“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the Children of Israel and let them travel’” (Exodus 14:15). The climax of the Festival of Passover, the festival’s seventh day which we will be celebrating this week, commemorates the splitting of the Re(e)d Sea, which teaches one of the most important messages of our Exodus from Egypt. The Hebrews have been traveling in the desert for three days, distancing themselves from the Egyptians. God then gives a strange commandment to Moses: “Speak to the Children of Israel and let them turn back; and camp before the entrance to the Temples of Horus between the Tower and the Sea in front of the Idol Master of the North, encamping near the sea” (Exodus 14:2). Apparently, God wanted Pharaoh to believe that the Hebrews were lost in the desert, thus tempting him to pursue them and bring them back to slavery in Egypt. This is precisely what happens. The Hebrews hear the Egyptian hordes – replete with 600 chariots – approaching from behind them, in front of them lies the Re(e)d Sea. The Hebrews are in turmoil. They seem to be in an impossible situation, devoid of any meaningful exit plan. Ibn Ezra argues that they could have assembled an army of hundreds of thousands, but this possibility did not even occur to them. Twice within the first nine verses of this chapter, the Bible identifies the names of their encampment. They are positioned before “Pi Hahirot,” which we previously identified with the Temple of Horus, but which could well be translated as “Freedom Way” or “Bay of Freedom” (the Hebrew word herut means freedom and is closely allied to hirot, which can also be connected to the Egyptian god Horus). They face the Idol Master of the North. The Bible may well be telling us that these newly freed slaves are standing on the cusp of freedom, literally between Egyptian enslavement and Jewish liberation. Idolatry as a political philosophy removes the possibility of meaningful action from the hands of human beings; all they can do is to attempt to propitiate the gods by bribing them with petty sacrifices into effectuating whatever
ADDRESS
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
ANSWERS 1. A 7:28 Pharaoh started the idea of enslaving the Jews,therefore his home was struck first. Rashi 2. C 7:29 Moshe could not strike the Nile River
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
The Bible may well be telling us that these newly freed slaves are standing on the cusp of freedom, literally between Egyptian enslavement and Jewish liberation.
18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
JEWZ
IN THE
By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist BRITISH DRAMAS WITH A JEWISH CONNECTION Starting on Sunday, March 31, at 9PM, is the PBS “Masterpiece” series, “Mr. Selfridge.” It’s about the real-life Harry Selfridge (1856-1947). A Midwest “WASP” from a poor family, he left school at 14. But Selfridge had luck, pluck and talent – and he managed to amass quite a fortune as he climbed the executive ranks of the Chicago-based Marshall Field department store chain. Marshall Field pioneered in offering upscale customers high quality merchandise and superior service. In 1906, Selfridge (and his heiress wife) visited England and he was appalled by the low quality goods and poor service founds in most shops. He correctly guessed that the UK was ready for its first top tier department store. His first store (1909) was a smashing success and the Selfridges department store chain prospered for decades. JEREMY PIVEN, 47, stars in the title role. There are similarities between the hustling Jewish talent agent Piven played in HBO’s “Entourage” and Selfridge. Airing on Wednesday, April 3, at 9PM, and a week later, on April 10, at 9PM, is the BBC America two-part mini-series, “Spies of Warsaw.” It’s from the acclaimed novel of the same name by ALAN FURST, 71. The series follows Col. Jean-Francois Mercier (David Tennant), a WWI hero, who, in the years leading up to WWII, is drawn into a world of abduction, betrayal and intrigue in the diplomatic salons and back alleys of Warsaw. Along the way, he has a torrid and sometimes dangerous romance. Mercier’s bohemian sister has a Jewish jazz pianist boyfriend and Mercier takes under his protection two Soviet Jews who have defected from working for the Soviets (one is played by English actor ALLAN CORDUNER, 62). A FLY IN YOUR EAR On March 5, “Jacob’s Folly,” the first novel written by REBECCA MILLER, 50, was published. Miller, who briefly was an actress, has written and directed three feature films. The best reviewed of the three is “Personal Velocity” (2002). Miller is the daughter of the late playwright ARTHUR MILLER and Arthur Miller’s third wife, the late photographer Inge Morath (who wasn’t Jewish). She has been married since 1995 to three-time best actor Oscar winner DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, 55 (“Lincoln”), and the couple have two sons. (Day-Lewis’ late
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NEWZ
mother was Jewish). Here is the novel’s unique plot: An 18th century Parisian Jewish peddler wakes up to find himself reincarnated as a fly in 21st century America, able to influence the lives of a fireman and an Orthodox young woman. Miller, who is secular, like her husband, told “Glamour” magazine that research for her novel prompted her first in-depth study of Judaism, Jewish history and Jewish folklore. I know her novel’s plot sounds a bit crazy, but early reviews in major media outlets have been favorable. UNEXPECTED BAR MITZVAH The hit Fox TV series “Raising Hope” ends its third season with a Jewish-themed, special one-hour episode that airs on Thursday, March 28, at 9PM (it pre-empts “Glee”). Here’s the gist of the plot: Burt’s parents (played by uber-veteran guest stars Shirley Jones, 78, and Lee Majors, 73) come to town with surprising news that Burt is actually Jewish. So, Burt takes a musical crash course in his newfound heritage to prepare for the bar mitzvah he never had. Also, in this episode: a Mother’s Day celebration and family reunion. I am as curious as you are as to the explanation of Burt’s Jewish origins. By the way, Jones has been married to Jewish comedian MARTY INGELS, 77, since 1977. TEN COMMANDMENTS REDUX Once again, ABC is showing the 1956 blockbuster “The Ten Commandments” (airs Saturday, March 30, 7PM). As I have noted before, the only Jewish actors in the cast were EDWARD G. ROBINSON (as the evil Dathan) and OLIVE DEERING (as MOSES’ sister, MIRIAM). A few years ago, I related an anecdote about Deering that the late actor TONY RANDALL told in his 1989 memoir. For those who missed it, here it is again. Randall writes that Deering originated a line that many actors, stuck filming a movie under terrible conditions, have repeated. After many weeks of filming “The Ten Commandments” in the heat and dust of the Mojave Desert – Deering said: “Who do you have to sleep with to get OFF of this picture?” And once again, here’s the line in the movie that just about everybody agrees is the most “unbiblical” and unintentionally funny. It’s said by the Pharaoh’s daughter, who is in love with Moses: “Oh Moses, Moses, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!”
FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO K.K. Bene Yeshurun this time as an exception, celebrated the second holiday, Sunday, April 5, met in the synagogue and – resolved to build a new temple, resolved it unanimously without dissenting voice, and nearly every member of the congregation was present. This is certainly a powerful demonstration of the union and concert in this body. Opposition was expected, but none was raised. There was another demonstration made, $21,000 in donations were rased on the spot. Messers. Jacob Elsas and Marcus Fechheimer started liberally with $2,000 each, and all gentlemen present followed. The sum total of donations will probably amount to $40,000 and this secured the realization of the scheme, the temple will be built at the earliest practicable day, and it will be an edifice worthy of the congregation and the holy cause it represents so nobly. One feature of the meeting must not be forgotten, it is this: Gentlemen of limited means did not by any means stand back, they rather did their utmost to the realization of the plan. This move secures to the congregation a grand future; in one or two years it will be the largest Hebrew society in the western continent, as it is now the most peaceable and energetic. We congratulate the members on this splendid sucess. – April 10, 1863
125 Y EARS A GO I would respectfully submit my report as secretary of the Hebrew Ladies’ Sewing Society, for the thirteenth season just ending, and in doing so can not but compliment the members for their regular attendance and the great amount of good work that has been accomplished. Little it would seem were I to read you each week’s work, but when it is taken and figured up, the total is surprising as well as gratifying. We are increasing our membership yearly, and can with pride say our Society numbers 536 members. The demands have increased also, and we can with pleasure state we have assisted 177 families, averaging 6 to each famiy. Among these worthy poor we have distributed 5,200 articles, namely 160 comforts, 253 sheets, 768 chemise, 270 dresses, 341 pairs pillow-cases, 632 drawers, 135 undershirts, 485 skirts, 1,236 pairs hose, 65 hoods and scarfs, 250 waists, 28 infants’ outfits and 368 pairs shoes. We are under many obligations to the ladies of the Walnut Hills branch of our society for the good work they have accomplished, they having sent us regularly their finished articles ready for distribution. – March 30, 1888
100 Y EARS A GO
Miss Frances Moses has arranged the program for the next concert which will take place next Sunday night at the Jewish Settlement, 415 Clinton Street, and is the closing concert for this season of the artist’s series. Two song cycles, “Captive Memories,” by Ethelbert Nevin, and “Flora’s Holiday,” by H. Lane. Wilson, sung by the following well known quartet of voices: Mrs. Della Eppinger Bowman, soprano; Miss Alice E. Grunkemeyer, contralto; Mr. Joseph A, Schenke, tenor, and Mr. Stanley L. Baughman, bass. A group of violin solos played by the popular young violinist, Mr. Edwin H. Ideler, completes this interesting program. The accompaniments are played by Miss Frances Moses. Mrs. Alfred Friedlander and Mrs. James Frenkel will be chairmen for the evening. – March 27, 1913
75 Y EARS A GO The Avondale Music Club will present Werner Manheim in a piano recital, Sunday afternoon, April 24th, for the benefit of its scholarship fund. According to Mrs. Abe Sive, president, this recital will mark the first Cincinnati appearance of Mr. Manheim on the concert stage. “One of the important purposes of our group,” said Mrs. Sive, “is to uncover new talent, and we are happy to be able to provide this means of introducing Mr. Manheim to musiclovers in Cincinnati.” Mr. Manheim, native of Berlin, studied at the Conservatory in Berlin; privately in Italy and Austria, and with Mme. Karin Dayas at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Some of Cincinnati’s musical personalities have expressed an interest in Mr. Manheim and many have made reservations for the recital. – April 7, 1938
50 Y EARS A GO Following a Kick Off Luncheon at the Jewish Community Center this Sunday, March 31, some 150 teen-age solicitors will begin calling on other teen-agers in the Jewish Welfare Fund’s High School Division. Gail Weintraub and Steve Peck are co-chairmen of solicitation, responsible for seeing that 1,400 young people have the opportunity to pledge in their own name to this year’s JWF drive. A goal of $3,000 has been set by the High School Division and teen-agers are being asked to make individual gifts of $3 each. Captains assigned to districts within the division include: Ronnye Friedenn, Joe Goldberg, Stu Steinberg and Marc Temin, Roselawn; Shai Baum, Barney Goldman and Janet Margolis, Amberley Village. Dick Winter, Golf Manor; Lynn
Gehler, Nancy Minson, Ronnie Roth and Bea Yosafat, Bond Hill; Eugene Katona and Karen Segal, North Avondale; and Judi Fisher, outlying areas. – March 28, 1963
25 Y EARS A GO Mr. and Mrs. Robert Smith of Ft. Lauderdale and Mr. and Mrs. William Direktor of Cincinnati announce the marriage of their children, Linda Ella and Kenneth Steven, of Ft. Lauderdale. Rabbi Philip Laibowitz and Rabbi Shoni Laibowitz officiatied. The ceremony took place at Maxine’s in Plantation, Fla. Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Wurzman of Beachwood, Ohio, announce the engagement of their daughter, Karen, to Steven Krieger. Mr. Krieger is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Herman L. Krieger of Reading. Mr. and Mrs. Nat Friedman announce the selection of their daughter, Andrea, as valedictorian of the 1988 graduating class of Cincinnati Academy of Physical Education (C.A.P.E.). Andrea is the granddaughter of Stanley Rich and the late Blanche Rich, and Mr. and Mrs. Sam Friedman of Jacksonville, Fla. Andrea plans to attend the University of Cincinnati this fall. Marc Dale and Elaine S. (Donny) Skurow of Bowie, Md., announce the birth of a daughter, Tori Michelle, March 9. Tori has a sister, Kami Brooke. Maternal grandparents are the late Ben and Selma Donny of Cincinnati. Paternal grandparents are Max and Margie Skurow of Cincinnati. – March 31, 1988
10 Y EARS A GO Dee and Ben Gettler will be honored and “lightly roasted” at the second annual Grand Illusions dinner Thursday, April 10, at 7 p.m. at The Westin at Fountain Square. Net proceeds of the event will be used to benefit the Ohio Cancer Research Associates for basic cancer research projects in Ohio. H.C. Buck Niehoff, a board of trustee member of Ohio Cancer Research Associates, will serve as the master of ceremonies. Marcie Garrison, Phil Cox and Niehoff are chairpersons of the dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Getttler joined representatives of the United States, Israel and India at the first ever joint intelligence and counter-terrorism, held in New Delhi in February of this year. The conference was conceived and coordinated by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs in cooperation with representatives of the government of India and Manipal University. – April 3, 2003
BUSINESS / CLASSIFIEDS • 19
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
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 JVS Career Services (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 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
Mercedes-Benz of Cincinnati prepares for new lineup By Michael Sawan Assistant Editor “Our recipe for success is the phenomenal service we provide for our clients,” explains Ted Reidy, the New Car Sales Manager at Mercedes-Benz of Cincinnati. “Our service department is one of the top rated in the country. The combination of service and sales we provide prove that we’re committed to this community.” For 25 years now MercedesBenz of Cincinnati has built this reputation, with Reidy noting some new reasons for excitement just around the bend. “We have such a great lineup coming out soon, our models are being freshened up. We’ve had a nice strong couple of years of sales, so things are going well.” Among this lineup is the all new CLA, which is going to start with an MSRP of $29,900. Reidy had nothing but praise for the car, saying that it is “the most exciting thing we’ve had in many years. It’s extremely exciting.” Expected in September, the CLA will be accompanied by the all new S-Class, the S550, which is expected to be the brand’s flagship model. Reidy continued: “There are other neat things I can tell you about in our lineup: Some of our AMGs are going to be launched as 4Matics, starting with the CLS63. Same with the S63.
“People have been asking about it for years,” adds Reidy. Mercedes-Benz is also making moves to capture the green market. “We’ll soon have the very fuel efficient BlueTEC Diesel, our small SUV that is finally coming out. That one is a part of our green lineup.” Reidy is also proud of the atmosphere that the dealership offers. “It’s just a joy to come to work every day. Working for this dealership and selling the best automobiles ever made. Our service is outstanding, we have free car washes six days a week if you buy a car here. For service we have pickup and delivery, and we’ll bring you a free loaner car. “It’s just a good place to be,” he added. “A great product, and we love our customers.” The perks don’t end there. “We have a Starbucks Cafe, we bake fresh cookies daily, we have a shuttle service which we run people to Kenwood Town Center when they drop their cars off.” Then there’s the bottom line of experience: “I would say that all of our salespeople are extremely knowledgeable and professional,” says Reidy. “I tell you what, most of our salespeople have anywhere from 10 to 20 plus years of sales experience.” Keep an eye on Mercedes–Benz of Cincinnati in mid-September for these innovations.
The other diplomat, whose country has been among those resisting such a classification, said the Cyprus conviction would make it harder not to classify Hezbollah as a terrorist group. “Bulgaria and Cyprus changes the equation,” said the diplomat, who insisted on anonymity. “The topic becomes one of European solidarity.” Matthew Levitt, a former counterterrorism analyst at the FBI and a senior terrorism analyst at the
Treasury Department in the George W. Bush administration, said he had just returned from meetings in Europe with security and foreign affairs officials. “No one is debating anymore whether they are terrorists,” said Levitt, who is now a senior fellow analyzing counterterrorism at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Now it’s more, will designating them as terrorist group undermine security in Lebanon? I can have that conversation; it’s a better one than ‘are they terrorists?’”
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FOOD / AUTOS • 21
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
Passover favorites Zell’s Bites
by Zell Schulman You made it through the Passover seders and it’s time to try “something different.” These recipes can be found in my latest Passover cookbook. Enjoy! CYNTHIA’S PASSOVER POPOVERS Makes 12 These popovers have become a permanent addition to my Passover menus.“They’re so good, they can’t be good for you.” Ingredients 1 cup water 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 cup matzo meal 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sugar 4 large eggs Method 1. Preheat the oven to 400º F. In a small bowl mix the matzo meal, salt and sugar. Grease a popover or muffin tin. 2. In a 1 quart saucepan, combine the water and oil. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat and slowly add the matzo meal, salt and sugar mixture, a little at a time. Mix well. 3. Beat in one egg at a time. Fill the popover or muffin tin 2/3 full. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375º F. Bake 35 to 40 minutes longer or until the popovers have popped or a tip of a knife comes out clean when the muffin is pierced. Remove from the pan and allow the popovers to cool 10 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately. PASSOVER CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE GLAZE Makes 10 to 12 servings This consistency is lighter than most carrot cakes, but the final flavor is outstanding. Only add the cream cheese glaze when serving a dairy meal. Otherwise, serve Passover Pineapple Preserves, along with the cake. Ingredients 3/4 cup matzo cake meal 1-1/2 cups sugar, divided 3/4 cup potato starch
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed and undiluted 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 tablespoon orange zest 9 large eggs, room temperature, separated 1 cup grated carrots (2 medium) 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts 1 cup yellow raisins Method 1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Wipe a 10-inch, angel food type tube pan with a damp paper towel. Set aside. 2. Sift together the cake meal, potato starch, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. 3. Place the egg whites into a large bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until foamy. Slowly, add 1/2-cup sugar a teaspoon at a time. Beat until the whites hold a stiff peak. Set aside. 4. Put the egg yolks in a separate bowl of the mixer and beat until thick and lemon colored, about 5 to 6 minutes. They need to look good and thick. Slowly, add the remaining 1-cup of sugar. Beat 2 to 3 more minutes. Alternately, add the sifted dry ingredients and orange juice concentrate mixing only until well blended. 5. On low speed, add the orange rind, carrots, walnuts and raisins. Gently fold in the egg white mixture. Do not over mix. 6. Pour cake into the 10 inch tube pan and bake 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and springs back when touched lightly with your finger. Invert the pan on a cake rack or neck of a pop bottle. Cool completely before removing the cake from the pan. CREAM CHEESE GLAZE Ingredients 6-ounces cream cheese room temperature 2 teaspoons vanilla 3 tablespoons cream 1 tablespoon sugar Method 1. Place the cream cheese and cream in a medium bowl. Mix or process until smooth. Add the vanilla and sugar. Mix or process until smooth. Pour over the top of cooled cake. Garnish with walnut halves, or a little shredded carrot for color. Zell’s Tips: The secret to this cake is not to beat the egg whites too stiff or the cake will fall. Pull up the beaters and see if the whites hold a little curled tip on their tops, stop beating them. Also, remember the glaze is not a frosting and will not cover the whole cake. Be sure it covers the top of the cake and allow the rest to drip down the sides.
Porsche Panamera S Hybrid With the Panamera, Porsche has already taken a fairly radical step – the creation of a sportscar that can accommodate four people in comfort. The next logical, convincing step is to introduce to the luxury automotive class a radical concept in hybrid technology: driving pleasure. Or, as Porsche understands it, sportscar dynamics combined with low fuel consumption and emissions. The next stage of Intelligent Performance. So what makes the Panamera S Hybrid so special? Above all, it’s the parallel full hybrid drive: a 3.0-liter V6 compressor engine with an electric motor producing a total output of 380 horsepower and a maximum torque of 428 lb.ft. at 1,000 rpm. The hybrid drive offers several driving modes, ranging from an all-electric mode for emissions-free driving in residential areas, to an ‘E-Boost’ function where the electric motor assists the combustion engine, and a coasting mode with the combustion engine switched off. Power transmission in the rearwheel drive Panamera S Hybrid is taken care of by the 8-speed Tiptronic S gearbox which ensures rapid gear changes combined, naturally, with high levels of gearshift and ride comfort. The 7th and 8th gears have a very long ratio which helps to reduce fuel consumption, particularly on long motorway stretches. Expressed in figures, the car
Porsche Panamera S Hybrid
accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds, has a top speed of 175 mph and returns a comparatively low fuel consumption of 33 miles per gallon. Visually, the Panamera S Hybrid is identical both inside and out to the Panamera S, the only difference being the ‘hybrid’ logo on the front doors and rev counter. Standard features include BiXenon headlights with dynamic range adjustment, 18-inch Panamera S wheels with Tire Pressure Monitoring (TPM), automatically dimming exterior and interior mirrors, the multifunction steering wheel and seat heating at the front. In addition, the Panamera S Hybrid comes with
adaptive air suspension, including Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), Power Steering Plus and a rear window wiper as standard. Inside the vehicle, the TFT color display in the instrument cluster keeps you informed about the hybrid drive’s energy flow, whilst further information can be accessed via the optional PCM. For you as a driver, however, nothing changes: you don’t need to adapt to the system. Intelligent Performance; Power; Precision. The Panamera S Hybrid delivers the figures of a sportscar – and the consumption and emissions figures of a hybrid. MSRP starts at $96,150.
22 • OBITUARIES D EATH N OTICES FINN, Ronald, age 72, died March 15, 2013; 4 Nissan, 5773.
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
TEL AVIV from page 8
BIENENFELD, Joseph, age 93, died March 24, 2013; 13 Nissan, 5773.
“Since the [Second Jewish] Temple was destroyed, there are no prophets,” he chuckled. “When you are trying to be a prophet, you are stupid. I would like the city to be developed as a right place to live-part of the real world. I would like Tel Aviv to continue to be the leader of every aspect of life in Israel. Whether in culture, science, research, or start- ups, we are proud to be welcoming for every minority. Everyone can live in Tel Aviv.” Tel Aviv prides itself not only on
RIKH, Lana, age 63, died March 25, 2013; 14 Nissan, 5773.
EXODUS from page 8
PLOTNICK, Shirley Ruth, age 92, died March 22, 2013; 11 Nissan, 5773. SCHWARTZ, Freda A., age 90, died March 22, 2013; 12 Nissan, 5773.
OBAMA from page 9 Before the trip, Israelis were extremely wary about the U.S. president. He had visited Israel twice before, most recently in 2008, but Israelis were irked that he skipped Israel on a Middle East swing in 2009 that included his famous Cairo speech. They were put off by his public calls for a freeze on settlement building early in his presidency. They compared him unfavorably to his two predecessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In a 2009 poll, fewer than 10 percent of Israelis had a favorable view of Obama. And a poll conducted this month by the Israel Democracy Institute showed that 54 percent of the 600 Jewish Israelis surveyed said they did not trust Obama to consider and safeguard Israel’s interests. After his speech on Thursday, however, some listeners said they had warmed to him. “He was very clear, and he conveyed a feeling of security, especially about Iran,” said Hagar Shilo, 23, a political science student at Tel Aviv University. “He made a lot of proIsrael statements that we hadn’t heard yet -- very much like Clinton.” Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the government’s IsraeliPalestinian negotiations, wrote on Facebook, “Obama’s speech was important and inspirational. Our job is to apply our Zionist vision, which was reflected eloquently in his words for Israel’s youth.”
In January, a Muslim Brotherhood politician resigned as a presidential adviser after he drew international attention by calling on Egyptian Jews to return. More recently, authorities censored a film on Egyptian Jews that was to be screened in Egyptian cinemas, though the director, Amir Ramses, tweeted this week that the film will be screened later this month after producers “won the war against security forces.” “It appears that under President Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian authorities are trying to tear out the pages about the Jewish minority from the book of Egyptian history,” said Ada Aharoni, the editor of “The Golden Age of the Jews From Egypt,” which serves as a kind of Egyptian Jewish haggadah. A Cairo-born retired sociologist, writer and researcher at Haifa’s Technion, Aharoni initiated the book project, which is being prepared for print just as Jews around the world prepare to remember their own ancestors’ flight from Egypt on Passover. But the holiday was not Aharoni’s main consideration in terms of timing. Living witnesses to the uprooting of Egyptian Jewry are dying out, she said. And the recent censorship of the documentary film created an additional sense of urgency. “This film claimed Jews had it good in Egypt and left only to America and France, not Israel – and still it was banned,” she said. “The Morsi regime is determined to
being an entrepreneurial center, but Israel’s capital of art and culture. “Seventy percent of Israelis attending theater attend at a performance in Tel Aviv,” Huldai said. The city, he noted, spends 6 percent of its budget on cultural activities, significantly more than the one-third of 1 percent spent on that item by the national government of Israel. Despite its sun and skyscrapers, Tel Aviv is not without its problems, according to Huldai. The city lacks a reliable public transportation system, and its first light rail, to be built partially underground, is set to open
in 2018. “In the future, people [in Tel Aviv] will be able to live without cars,” Huldai said. There are bike lanes, soon we will even have electrical bikes for rent. We want to establish a ‘carsharing’ system and create a better ground transportation system as well.” An important issue in Tel Aviv “is the exorbitant price of real estate,” Huldai said. “The future of the city is in its ability to provide housing, especially for young people,” he said. “I
don’t underestimate this problem.” There “have to be changes” in this area, Huldai added. The 2011 “tent city” social justice-themed demonstrations that brought more than 150,000 Israelis into Tel Aviv reflected “the unhappiness of the public with the government handling of the housing crisis and other issues,” Huldai said. Asked by JNS how he defines his job as mayor, Huldai paused for a moment, and then answered concisely. “Simple,” he said. “The job of a mayor is to do good.”
delete our history in Egypt and our heritage. In a way, Morsi’s regime wants to return to periods even darker than the one that caused the Second Exodus.” The 400-page book contains 68 testimonies and will be published in Israel in the coming weeks and sold in bookshops. Though most of it is written in Hebrew, some accounts appear only in French, a tribute to the sizable community of Egyptian Jews that settled in France. According to Aharoni, only half of the 75,000 to 100,000 Jews who left Egypt settled in Israel. Many went to France, but also to the United States, the United Kingdom and even Brazil. One of the non-Israelis featured in the book is Aharoni’s younger brother, Edwin Diday, who lives in Paris. In the days leading up to the family’s flight, Diday felt “the same fear that we felt during World War II, as the Nazi forces of Erwin Rommel neared Egypt,” he wrote in the book. Diday says anti-Semitic caricatures were “everywhere, one showing an arm tattooed with a Star of David holding a bloody red knife.” On an outing to the Rio cinema, a local told Diday’s parents that a gang of hooligans was coming to lynch them. “Mom and dad took us in their arms and ran with us home, which was fortunately not far,” Diday recalls. But Diday has other memories of roaming alone as a boy in the Museum of Cairo. And Aharoni recalls her best friend Kadreya, who
was not Jewish, at Alvernia, an elite English-language school for girls situated in a well-to-do neighborhood of the Egyptian capital. “People don’t realize it, they think of all North African Jews as one bloc,” Aharoni said. “But Egyptian Jewry lived in a European enclave in the heart of Cairo.” According to Aharoni, part of the reason Jews were able to live in such an enclave was that 95 percent were not Egyptian citizens, despite having lived there for generations. The discrimination deprived them of equal rights, but also freed them from the duty of sending their children to Arab state schools, serve in the army or align themselves politically with any one party, Aharoni says. To help bring the lost enclave back to life, the book features dozens of rare photographs of Egyptian Jewish life. One taken shortly before Aharoni left with her family in 1949 shows nine smiling teenagers from Maccabi Cairo, the local branch of the international Zionist sports organization. Its activities were banned a few months later, Aharoni says. The book also contains a copy of Nissim Rabia’s 1948 Maccabi membership card with text in Arabic, Hebrew and French. Another reproduction shows the travel document Egyptian authorities gave Jewish families they expelled. Stamped on them were the words “One way – no right to return.” Many pages in the book are dedicated to the property that Egypt’s
well-to-do Jewish residents were forced to leave behind. Diday’s father, Nessim, mistakenly believed his life savings were secure at the Cairo branch of a Swiss bank; the government requisitioned the funds. Benny Roditti recalls how, just before leaving in 1956, he tried to withdraw his family’s savings from a different Cairo bank but was told the account had been “suspended indefinitely.” Thousands had similar experiences, according to Aharoni. In recent decades Azi Nagar, the founder of the Association for the Promotion of Compensation for Jewish Refugees from Arab Lands, tried to start restitution talks with the regime of Hosni Mubarak, whose 30 years in power ended in 2011 in a revolution that led to Morsi’s election. Nagar, an Israeli born in Cairo, also was keen to see Egypt honor its announcement that it would cover the costs of renovating the country’s synagogues. Nowadays, Nagar says, Egypt’s tiny Jewish community cannot even get the government to approve renovations at the community’s expense. In January, Nagar broached the issue of financial restitution in letters to Morsi, who has not replied. Aharoni believes speaking about the loss and trauma suffered by Egyptian Jews is important but views restitution talks as a side issue. “Yes, a staggering amount was left behind in Egypt,” she said. “But going after it is like asking a beggar for a handout.”
INSTABILITY from page 10
As secular strongmen have vanished from the stage – first in Egypt, and potentially in Syria – Islamists are rising in their place. It’s a development that could recast the ArabIsraeli conflict in religious rather than geopolitical terms. “We’re seeing a decline in national identity and a rise in religious identity” in the Arab world, said Dan Meridor, Israel’s outgoing minister of intelligence. “The old paradigm of war is changing its face.” On the whole, religiously inspired terrorist groups can be difficult to deter. Generally they are less susceptible to diplomatic pressure than nation states. And unlike
the dictators they appear to be replacing, the groups enjoy more popular support. “We used to have three or four enemies,” Meridor said. “Now we have 10,000 or 20,000. Our enemies are greater and are not necessarily states. How do you deter a group that’s not a state?” Beyond the problem of deterrence is the question of victory. Israel’s recent skirmishes with terrorist groups – notably its 2006 war against Hezbollah and its 2009 and 2012 campaigns against Hamas in Gaza – have led to something closer to stalemate than the decisive victories achieved in past conventional wars.
Of particular concern to defense officials is the Syrian border, beyond which a civil war has been raging for two years – one that is threatening to spill over. Israel has begun building a fence on the perimeter of the Golan Heights and in January bombed a weapons convoy it feared was being shipped from Syria to Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon. The possibility that Syrian arms, including stockpiles of chemical weapons, could wind up in the hands of terrorist groups is among the primary security concerns facing Israel. But the threats go deeper.
A heartwarming and inspiring message from Yeshivas Lubavitch High School of Cincinnati Yeshivas Lubavitch High School of Cincinnati—the only Orthodox Jewish High School for the boys in Cincinnati— is proud to announce to the community its next step in its continued growth. The Yeshiva has purchased the High School building—formerly known as RITSS— and will be starting to use its facilities for the new school year this coming September. The Yeshiva expresses its thanks and appreciation to Mr. and Mrs. Sam Boymel for their major gift and continued commitment to allow the Yeshiva to make such a a major expansion. Since the Yeshiva opened in Cincinnati, Mr. Boymel has been “shepping Nachas” and has started visiting the Yeshiva on a weekly basis to see the students daven and learn. He started growing his financial support for the Yeshiva as well as getting directly involved in the Yeshiva’s needs. This fall, the groundbreaking yeshiva for young men ages 13-17, will be starting its eighth year. It has won acclaim and is growing, with requests coming in from parents all over the world who want their sons to receive an excellent yeshiva education; warmth and personal caring; a moderately sized student body; and a staff that understands today’s kids. Starting with 24 students in 2006, this year it has grown to 60. With its new facilities, it hopes to increase enrollment to 80 - 100 students within two years.
The dean, Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Gershon Avtzon comes from a family of innovative and dedicated innovators in Jewish education. Rabbi Avtzon was only 25 when he began the institution, but with his tireless energy and dedication, he has established the school as a destination for parents looking for higher education for their sons. Parents appreciate Rabbi Avtzon’s ability to understand his students’ growing pains as well as their questions on the text. One Mother, Sara K., relates, “I am thrilled with the wise way Rabbi Avtzon handled my son’s limit testing and small misdemeanors. Being in loco parentis, acting as a parent figure, he has to be firm. Nonetheless, he didn’t lose sight of the overall picture, which was positive, and engaged my son directly, making him feel empowered and trusted to make the right decisions. I feel Rabbi Avtzon, and the entire Yeshiva staff, are very concerned with with the whole child.” The head teachers—Rabbi Eliyahu Simpson, Rabbi Zalman Baras, Rabbi Eliyahu Morrison and Rabbi Levi Fuss— are all Torah scholars and fine men. They are true role models, and relate well with the boys, inside and outside the classroom. The yeshiva also has a group of 10 older students who act as mentors to the younger students. They are hand-chosen from the Central Chabad Yeshiva in New York. While many wonder why a Yeshiva would open in a small city like Cincinnati,
Rabbi Avtzon feels that the city of Cincinnati is an ideal place to open a Yeshiva. “It is a small nurturing community and environment, without the distractions of the big cities. The standard of living is cost-efficient and that helps us draw the best teachers to our school.” The students are taught Talmud, Jewish law and Jewish philosophy. In addition they are taught classes in Jewish Mysticism and are directed from the guiding principles set forth by “The Rebbe,” Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of the international Chabad movement. His mission of preparing the world for Moshiach through acts of goodness and kindness is the motto of the school. In addition to their regular studies, part of the boys’ curriculum is regular community service, giving back to the Jewish community. Cincinnati’s midsize community and midwestern pace and friendliness make that a doable task. Rabbi Avtzon explains, “Lubavitch, the town in Russia that our movement started in, means City of Brotherly Love. That is the core of the Chabad-Lubavitch philosophy. We don’t just say the words ‘love your fellow,’ we put them into action. A critical part of the training of these young men is in community service. We don’t view them as too young, and leave outreach to the professionals. The Chabad approach is, if you know alef, find someone who doesn’t and teach it to them. Whatever we have, we
share; our mission is to enrich every Jew and thereby strengthen the entire Jewish people. Many of these boys may grow up to become shluchim—emissaries in far flung places. We help them gain confidence and people skills, and see themselves as responsible for enriching Jewish life wherever they are.” Chabad shines through its direct involvement—with a positive effect— throughout the Cincinnati Metro Area. It has the finest organizations of outreach and education. Programs such as “ChaiTots” nursery program offered by Chabad of Mason/Jewish Discovery Center and the Hebrew school and the “Goldstein Family Learning Academy” at Chabad Jewish Center in Blue Ash. Chabad at University of Cincinnati serves the needs of college-age students who want to learn of their Jewish heritage. Camp Chabad serves the needs of all Jewish children during their winter and summer breaks. This is just to name a few. The Yeshiva is open to all members of the Jewish community. In addition to having daily prayers and classes, Rabbi Avtzon is looking forward to working with the community to produce a curriculum that fits the diverse needs of the families in our community. The Yeshiva is looking to be a living example and pride to the Jewish community of Cincinnati and to be a part of the community within, through peace and harmony.