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The Ankor Choir
Summer is the season for competition. Every four years, we watch, support and cheer for our favorite countries in the Summer Olympics. From July 4–14, the World Choir Games—the Olympics of choral music—will let us do the same, in our own backyard. The biennial Games will make their United States debut this year, in venues throughout downtown Cincinnati. Over 350 choirs, representing more than 48 countries (including 22 of the 50 United States), will compete for a gold medal and the title of Champion of the World Choir Games. Israel is one of those 48 countries. The Ankor Choir will compete during the first week of the Games
(specific dates and times have not yet been released) and then spend the second week touring the Cincinnati area and specifically the Jewish community. They will lead an interactive song activity at the Mayerson JCC’s Camp at the J and perform at Cedar Village retirement community, Heritage Baptist Church, Wise Temple and other congregations. Their largest non-competition performance will be a free concert at the Mayerson JCC on Monday, July 9, at 7 p.m. They will sing alongside choirs from Poland and the United States at one of 58 Friendship Concerts being held throughout the greater Cincinnati area. Those interested in attending the July 9 performance should RSVP to the JCC.
The Ankor Choir—made up of 25 female students of the Jerusalem Academy High School of Music and Dance—is best known for its partnership with Yad VaShem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Museum. They participate in the annual Yom HaShoah ceremony and put on a special performance for each foreign head of state who visits Israel. Most notably, they have sung for President Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II. Zubin Mehta, conductor of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, has said that the choir has “…the pure sound of angels.” Choir Director Dafna Ben-Yohana is excited for the opportunity to participate in the Games. “We are looking forward to making music and giving
the audience a taste of a different kind of Israel.” She says the entire choir is motivated to win first place, but their main goal is to give the audience an emotional experience. “They are anxious to show both Jews and non-Jews that Israel is filled with lovely young people who are both talented and dedicated to culture and music.” During their two weeks in Cincinnati, the choir will be escorted by over 20 Jewish community volunteers, whose role is to create a meaningful experience and a positive impression of Cincinnati for the choir members. Volunteer Leon Spitz says, “I am glad to be part of this exciting time for Cincinnati and to show support for Israel and interact with the choir.”
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Professor Wisse gives JCRC annual meeting sobering view of anti-Semitism By Nicole Simon Assistant Editor The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) held its annual meeting on Tuesday, June 12, at the Mayerson JCC. This year, the JCRC elected new board members Joel Phillips, Ronna Greff Schneider, Bonnie Juran Ullner, Cincinnati City Council Member P.G. Sittenfeld and Walter Spiegel for the 20122014 term. Outgoing board members were Pamela Saeks, Cynthia Rosen and Leslie Newman. Rabbi Gary Zola called Rosen “a wonderful bridge-builder,” and Newman a “sensitive and wise counselor” of the board. The annual meeting was highlighted by the keynote speaker: Professor Ruth R. Wisse, Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University. Introduced by Professor Arna Poupko Fisher as a “wonderful jewel,” Wisse’s discussion centered on why the once politically powerless, but always innovative Jews, who now govern themselves, still face discrimination. Wisse said that Jews had many advantages to their credit except
one; they have “the worst political record in history. Almost as if they were invented to become the world’s favorite target.” Wisse made the argument that “anti-Semitism is the most effective political ideology of them all,” stating that the “organization of politics against what the Jews represent” had survived where such beliefs as Communism and Fascism failed. Wisse noted how in Europe, anti-Semitism, which is a policy of finger-pointing and diversion, became intertwined with the then fledgling idea of liberal democracy in an unfortunate way. People such as Hitler pointed to the “advancement” of Jews in freer societies at the expense of others in the country. Thus both Jews and open societies were seen as symbiotically bad for Europe. Also Wisse continued by saying anti-Zionism and anti-Israel thoughts are worse than antiSemitism. She commented that Arab leaders are frightened by the liberal democratic values that anti-Semitism stood for in Europe, since those ideals have not yet been embraced by the Arab world. Wisse concluded that the Arab countries are destroying themselves
with anti-Semitism. “The Jews cannot save the Arab world,” however Jews should help Arabs to see that they are responsible for their future, to turn their attention inward and onto themselves, and the world would be a better place. “This is the way one repairs the world.” “Dr. Wisse is known internationally as an original thinker with rare moral courage, who shares her views without concern for what is popular. She places the Jewish experience at the center of her worldview. Attendees found Dr. Wisse’s insights fresh, and eye-opening, timely and provocative,” observed Shep Englander, CEO, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. “The whole event was very enlightening, and motivating regarding the strides JCRC has made in the past year,” commented Ullner. Ullner went on to say that Wisse’s speech was educational as well as worrisome at the same time. Following the event, numerous attendees stayed after, discussing Wisse’s speech. Yair Cohen, the Community Shaliach, noted that this was a sign the speech was good, referring to the people still discussing it.
Israeli teens visit Cincinnati, local Boy Scout camp On June 20, eight 14-year-old scouts from Israel (three boys and five girls) will arrive in Cincinnati, taking part in an exchange program facilitated by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. The scouts will attend two one-week sessions at Camp Friedlander, an overnight Boy Scout camp. On June 22, before their first camp session begins, the scouts will work together with youth participants of Mayor Mark Mallory’s Green Leaf Summer Jobs program to build a bridge connecting two sections of the new Amberley Trail in French Park. Immediately following the completion of the bridge at 12 p.m., a dedication ceremony, including a proclamation by Amberley Village Mayor J.K. Byar, will be held. The ceremony is open to the public, and the entire community is invited to attend. “With funding from the grant, we are encouraging our residents and those of neighboring communities to pursue healthy lifestyles.
The new French Park trail will encourage people to walk a little longer on their path to fitness,” said Natalie Wolf, vice mayor of Amberley Village. The Green Leaf program pairs 50 local teenagers, ages 14 to 17, with Cincinnati Park Board employees to provide horticultural assistance, trail maintenance, litter control and more each summer. This will be the second year of the partnership between Green Leaf and the Israeli scouts; last year, the two groups teamed up to plant trees in Eden Park. “The best way for us to build connections to another country is to work alongside our peers from that country. While this experience in French Park will only last a few hours, the result will be kids whose minds are opened to other cultures and new possibilities,” commented Yair Cohen, community shaliach. The exchange program, now in its 10th year, brings eight scouts as well as a leader from Netanya, Cincinnati’s partner city in Israel. This year’s leader, Inon Halfon, was a member of the first group of
Israeli scouts to participate in the program, in 2003. In addition to their stay at Camp Friedlander and the French Park project, the scouts will also stay with host families from Loveland’s Congregation Beth Adam, spend a day at Kings Island, take a walking tour of Cincinnati and more. “We do our best to give the scouts a well-rounded experience during their stay in Cincinnati, offering them a few nights in a home environment, asking them to participate in social action and letting them have some fun,” said Alan Brown, organizer of the exchange program, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati board member and past president of Beth Adam. “But what they really want to do is be at camp, spending time with fellow scouts and making lifelong friends.” The two weeks the Israeli scouts are at Camp Friedlander are consistently the most requested in the summer. Brown said, “Scouts from all over Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are eager to get to know the Israeli kids.”
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NHS Chavurat Shabbat services, June 30 Republic of Moldova, will lead a session about the aliyah of Jews from the former Soviet Union to Israel. The service will begin at 9:30 a.m. A luncheon will follow services, which is free and open to all. No reservations are needed.
JCC Melton School Alumni Association kick-off event, June 27 Community Shaliach Yair Cohen), before seeing the film “Arab Labor” at 7 p.m. “Arab Labor” is a hilarious Israeli comedy featuring an “All in the Family” approach to exploring Israel’s Jewish and Palestinian cultures. The Summer Cinema Series at the J runs June 26 – 28, and is brought to you by the Jewish & Israeli Film Festival. Graduates of the Florence
Melton Adult Mini-School are encouraged to join the new Alumni Association. It’s an excellent way to support Jewish learning in the Cincinnati community, and helps support the Melton School by sponsoring other students – since tuition covers only part of the Melton program costs. “The new Alumni Association was developed because so many Cincinnati graduates want-
ed to give back to the school, to help assure its future viability and growth,” said Elizabeth Woosley, community educator at the J and Melton School coordinator. The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School is a university-quality program of Jewish study that fits the real lives of today’s adults. There are no prerequisites, no grades, no tests, and no homework.
Wise Temple Brotherhood reaches out Sometimes we forget that not everyone is as fortunate as we are, has a home like ours, or has a loving family that surrounds them. There are those in our midst who do not possess these luxuries. One such group is the boys that reside at the Lighthouse Youth Services – Youth Development Center (LYS-YDC). The LYS-YDC is a therapeutic community-based residential program for teenage boys who suffer from emotional or
behavioral disorders or who have been unsuccessful in other out of home placements. The Wise Temple Brotherhood is proud to volunteer its time to have dinner with these boys once a quarter each year. In reflecting on this ongoing project, Lew Ebstein commented, “Imagine life as a teen and not seeing a family member or a caring adult other than a staff member for days, weeks, or maybe longer. The Wise
Temple Brothers listen, play games, shoot hoops, and most importantly, bring a caring presence. We are glad that our next dinner, which will take place on June 21, has turned into a large outdoor picnic barbeque. It is a lot of fun for the boys and for us adults.” In addition to the dinner, the Brotherhood looks forward to taking the boys canoeing later this summer. Last year’s canoe experi-
ence was “one of our best outings with the boys,” according to Scott Joseph. Many of the boys had never been in a canoe before, and it was a special experience to introduce the young men to nature in this way. “The volunteer efforts of the Wise Temple Brotherhood bring light to these young men along with the knowledge that there is a caring community concerned with their well-being,” Ebstein noted.
Basketball’s ‘Holzman era’ lives on By Robert Gluck JointNews Media Service NEW YORK (JNS) — As the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat battle for the National Basketball Association (NBA) title, they may be unaware that a red-haired Jewish kid from the Lower East Side of Manhattan — who passed away in 1998 —
remains an impact player. During the NBA playoffs on the TNT network, sportscaster Marv Albert said the final four remaining this year (the Thunder and Heat, plus the previously eliminated San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics) reminded him of the New York Knicks championship teams of the early 1970s. Those teams, coached by William “Red” Holzman,
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VOL. 158 • NO. 48 THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 1 TAMMUZ 5772 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 8:50 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 9:51 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 ISSAC 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 BARBARA L. MORGENSTERN Senior Writer YEHOSHUA MIZRACHI NICOLE SIMON Assistant Editors ALEXIA KADISH Copy Editor
five decades, and during that time Red touched the game at every level and the results were always spectacular.” Heat general manager and former coach Pat Riley was inspired by Holzman, so much so that when he first took over as coach of the Knicks in 1991, the first thing he did was bring Holzman back to the organization. Dennis D’Agostino, author of the book “Garden Glory: An Oral History of the New York Knicks” and the team’s current historian and staff writer, knows the inside story about Riley and Red. “Pat Riley was very instrumental in bringing Red back to the Knicks in a much more involved role as a consultant,” D’Agostino told JNS. “When Pat came in 1991 he even explored the possibility of bringing Red back to the bench as an assistant coach. Red declined because he didn’t want to take the thunder away from Pat. Pat actively sought Red’s advice and Red was involved in the draft and player moves. I remember Pat’s first year we did a media guide with Red and Pat on the cover.”
JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor SONDRA KATKIN Dining Editor MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM IRIS PASTOR RABBI A. JAMES RUDIN ZELL SCHULMAN RABBI AVI SHAFRAN PHYLLIS R. SINGER Contributing Columnists LEV LOKSHIN JANE KARLSBERG Staff Photographers JOSEPH D. STANGE Production Manager ERIN WYENANDT Office Manager e Oldest Eng Th
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stressed pressure defense, moving the ball and hitting the open man. Holzman’s Jewish immigrant parents called him “Roita,” Yiddish for red. His father came from Russia and his mother from Romania. But “Roita” was a New Yorker, born and bred. He first came to the attention of New Yorkers as a standout player for City College and the Rochester Royals, a team that beat the Knicks for the NBA championship in seven games in 1951. Moreover, Holzman’s coaching skills earned him entry into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. According to Hall of Fame spokesman Matt Zeysing, Holzman was one of the great teachers of basketball. “Holzman teams played basketball the way the game was meant to be played — hard, selfless, tough, and with a premium placed on teamwork and trust,” Zeysing told JNS. “He was one of the great minds in basketball and his championship teams helped earn him a spot in the Hall of Fame. The Holzman era of basketball spanned
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The Mayerson JCC Melton School Alumni Association will host a kick-off event on Wednesday evening, June 27, during the Summer Cinema Series at the J. This kick-off event is free with a paid Melton Alumni Association membership. Melton Alumni Association members will enjoy a private reception at 6:15 p.m. (including a short study session with
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about the places in Israel where former Northern Hills’ members live, or to which they have a special connection. In addition, Maksim Shilkrot, Northern Hills’ new director of education and programming, who grew up in the former Soviet
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the standard traditional service. The Torah portion for that week, Hukat, tells of the journey of the Israelites through the desert region in the extreme southern part of today’s Israel, and inspires the alternative programming. Various congregants will speak
r in Am ape er sp i
Northern Hills Synagogue Congregation B’nai Avraham will focus on Israel when it holds its popular series of Chavurat Shabbat services on Saturday morning, June 30. The service format combines educational and religious programming options alongside
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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Smaller congregations experimenting to stay vibrant, gaining attention from movements By Yisrael Shapiro Jewish Telegraphic Agency CHICAGO (JTA) — Sinai Synagogue in South Bend, Ind., has been struggling with issues facing many small congregations in an era of dwindling budgets and shifting demographics. In particular, with only 150 families, until recently it was increasingly difficult to find enough people for Shabbat services and Sunday school classes. So Rabbi Michael Friedland found a solution that’s helping to reenergize the Conservative congregation—stop doing what’s always been done. In part, that meant moving weekday afternoon and Sunday Hebrew school classes to Shabbat morning, with the students and adults brought together for a communal lunch. Congregants with and without children saw something interesting happening, and participation soared from about 50 members on a typical Shabbat morning to 90. Friedland’s is one of numerous approaches that congregations in small communities are employing to stay relevant and vibrant. Likewise, the initiatives are gaining the backing of national congregational arms, which in the past have been accused of having a bigcity bias. In fact, in early June the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism hosted a conference outside of Chicago for communal rabbis and lay leaders of congregations with fewer than 250 members. The goal was to provide strategies for the communities to increase engagement and facilitate communication between clergy and members. Friedland was one of the organizers of the event, which attracted nearly 50 representatives from 11 states. “Approximately 40 percent of our congregations are what we consider small,” said Rabbi Charles Savenor, director of kehilla enrichment at the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, which says it has some 600 congregations in the United States. “This conference represents us putting more institutional effort into this area.” The Union for Reform Judaism, realizing that nearly 400 of its 900 congregations have 250 families or less, has started the Small Congregations Network aimed at increasing support to these communities and encouraging them to communicate among themselves about what strategies
Courtesy of USCJ Sulam’s Facebook page
Lay leaders and rabbis of small congregations participating in United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s Size Matters 2012 conference in Wilmette, Ill., June 4, 2012.
have been helpful. The network has started to look outside the URJ for effective strategies, taking good ideas wherever they can find them. “It’s not just information that the Union for Reform Judaism creates and produces,” said Merry Lugasyi, the network’s director. “We’re now looking to other resources and whatever information is accessible.” Likewise, the Orthodox Union has been running periodic Emerging Jewish Communities Fair since 2006 highlighting various small communities. The fair encourages people to move to the communities by discussing the advantages of being part of a small congregation. Sinai’s solution was successful because it acknowledged what the Jewish movements and congregations across the country are starting to realiz—that small communities are fundamentally different than large ones. For starters, programs that are the norm in big cities may fail to attract enough attention in a congregation that depends on a much higher percentage of participation in order to survive. These smaller communities, often covering a relatively large area, need to experiment with new and exciting ways of engaging their congregations and creating services that their members look forward to attending. Ensuring engagement is of paramount importance, but it’s not the only issue. Smaller congregations mean smaller membership fees, and distance from the Jewish communal centers means limited resources available. Innovative programs that could breathe new life into dwindling communities may need significant funds to operate, which small congrega-
tions rarely have. The solution is to rely on volunteers. Congregation Kol Ami in Tampa, Fla., for example, has been using volunteers to draw people to its classes. Torah University, as the Conservative synagogue calls its innovative program, provides education for adults and children utilizing the rabbi, cantor and members of the community. By offering credits for a fake graduation, the program employs the academic method in a way that attracts more students than a simple lecture series and has earned national awards for Kol Ami from the Conservative movement.
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An Arab-Jewish conflict — on New York’s airwaves By Rafael Medoff JointMedia News Service WASHINGTON, D.C. (JNS) — A municipal radio station used for attacks on Zionism. Angry Jewish protests. Politicians jumping into the controversy. Jewish leaders and activists divided over how to deal with the crisis. Sounds like something from today’s headlines? Try 1937. Seventy-five years ago this month, an Arab-Jewish controversy with some parallels to our own time erupted in New York City. The trouble began on Saturday night, June 5, when the New York City-owned radio station, WNYC, aired three strident anti-Zionist speeches. Amin Rihani, visiting leader of the Pan-Arab Movement, declared in his remarks that Jews should establish their homeland in Texas. Harvard philosophy profes-
sor W. E. Hocking warned American Jews they would be suspected of “divided allegiance” if a Jewish state were established. And Arab-American activist Faris Malouf accused Jews of “forcing political Zionism on Palestine.” Within minutes of the broadcast’s conclusion, according to the Yiddish daily Morgen Zhurnal, “the telephones at WNYC were ringing off the hook with calls from Jews wanting to know how it could air such an anti-Jewish abomination.” Another Yiddish newspaper, Der Tog, published two editorials strongly criticizing WNYC. Several Jewish organizations also quickly protested. The National Council of Young Israel declared that it “resents deeply the aid and comfort given by a New York City institution to the defenders of the Arab looters, rapers, and murder-
ers of Jewish old men, women, and children in the Holy Land.” Rabbi Louis I. Newman of Manhattan’s Rodeph Sholom synagogue, who headed the U.S. wing of the Revisionist Zionist movement, denounced WNYC for airing “anti-Jewish incitement.” He warned that Palestinian Arab rioters would “make capital of [the] fact that their agents here obtained facilities of [a] municipal radio station.” Brooklyn Alderman (city councilman) Samson Inselbuch leaped into the fray with a resolution calling on the city to “repudiate” the anti-Zionist speakers and to give equal time to supporters of Zionism. Inselbuch suggested that since the United States was on record as supporting creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine, the WNYC broadcast was, in effect, anti-American. Frederick J. H. Kracke, the city official responsible for WNYC, was summoned to appear before the Board of Alderman on June 14. But Kracke was able to turn the tables on his critics when, on the eve of the hearing, four major Jewish organizations signed a letter supporting WNYC. The American Jewish Congress, American Jewish Committee, B’nai B’rith, and National Council of Jewish Women declared that the pro-Arab broadcast was anti-Zionist but not antiSemitic, and WNYC therefore had merely given a platform to a legitimate expression of free speech. Many recent debates over Israel have likewise focused on whether hostility toward the Jewish state is anti-Semitic, and thus beyond the bounds of legitimate discourse, or simply represents disagreement with Israeli policies.
Courtesy of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
Rabbi Louis I. Newman of Manhattan’s Rodeph Sholom synagogue, who headed the U.S. wing of the Revisionist Zionist movement, in 1937 denounced WNYC for airing “anti-Jewish incitement.”
Supporters of Israel usually regard references to Jews having “divided allegiance” — as the 1937 speakers alleged — as constituting anti-Semitism. Much of the criticism of the controversial 2007 book “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, focused on the authors’ suggestion that many American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the United States. The 1937 controversy collapsed almost as quickly as it had arisen. Once Kracke read the Jewish groups’ letter aloud at the hearing, Alderman Inselbunch’s call for the city to repudiate the broadcast quickly dissolved. Kracke, however, threw a bone to his critics, by agreeing to give airtime to several pro-Zionist speakers Most of those involved in the
1937 debate did not know it, but the fight over WNYC was actually tangled up in an unsuccessful early round of secret Arab-Jewish diplomacy. Philanthropist Felix M. Warburg and several other wealthy New York Jews were just then trying to persuade a Palestinian Arab leader, Izzat Tannous, to meet with them privately to discuss ways to settle the Palestine conflict. Tannous took advantage of the opportunity to ask Warburg to intervene in support of WNYC and to prevent the firing of the station official responsible for the broadcast. After all, Tannous argued, “the Jews are very powerful in this city.” Warburg agreed to intervene, hoping such a gesture would facilitate the secret negotiations he was seeking. Ultimately, one Arab-Jewish meeting did indeed materialize: on July 14, Warburg and several other prominent officials of the American Jewish Committee met in New York City with a three-man Palestinian Arab delegation. But hopes that moderation would prevail fizzled as the Arab spokesmen insisted there could never be a Jewish state of any size, and that Jewish immigration must be halted when the Jews reached 40-45 percent of Palestine’s population. Did the secret Arab-Jewish meetings of yesteryear represent a missed opportunity to achieve peace? Or were they just another example of Arab intransigence making peace impossible? Those questions, in only slightly modified form, remain central to today’s debates over the chances for Middle East peace. Dr. Rafael Medoff is director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.
Spurred by a Torah portion, Alexis Kashar is breaking down barriers for deaf Jews By Lisa Keys Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK (JTA) — It was an ancient sentence — a fragment, really — that changed everything for Alexis Kashar. An attorney specializing in special education and disability rights, she has successfully argued highprofile litigations, including one against Los Angeles County for not making highway call boxes accessible to people with disabilities. Yet despite her focus on the rights of others, Kashar, 45, has repeatedly encountered a roadblock in her own life: access to the Jewish community. As a deaf Jew, she could not understand religious services or participate in organized Jewish life. An unlikely call to action occurred three years ago as the eldest of her three children — none of whom is
deaf or hard of hearing — was about to become a bat mitzvah. Her child’s assigned Torah portion included the verse in Leviticus that reads: “You shall not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blind.” Learning that the Torah had something to say about deaf people, she said, was a “wake-up call” to push for unimpeded access to the organized Jewish community. “I wanted a part of it, I wanted my kids to have a part of it,” said Kashar. “If I didn’t have a part of it, my kids wouldn’t, either.” She knew that from experience. Growing up in New York and Texas, Kashar and her family — her parents and grandparents are deaf — had little interaction with the organized Jewish community. Nonetheless, she said they were culturally Jewish. “I consider myself Jewish inside
and outside,” she said. “Whatever my parents did, they did something right.” For the past two years, Kashar has been president of the Jewish Deaf Resource Center, an organization that promotes and advocates full inclusion in organized Jewish life of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Working closely with the center’s executive director, Naomi Brunnlehrman, Kashar has spearheaded a variety of programs, including the application of a grant from the UJA-Federation of New York to subsidize interpreters for services and Jewish events. “We’re not just about one interpreter in one temple,” she said about the Hartsdale, N.Y.-based JDRC. “We’re about raising the Jewish standards, making the Jewish community available to anyone.” KASHAR on page 21
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THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012
National Briefs White House won’t budge on Pollard release, despite Peres plea WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. stance denying clemency to Jonathan Pollard remains the same for now, a White House spokesman said, despite the plea by Israeli President Shimon Peres. “Our position has not changed and will not change today,” Jay Carney said Wednesday. “And I would simply remind you that Mr. Pollard was convicted of extremely serious crimes.” A succession of presidents has refused to grant clemency to Pollard, a civilian U.S. Navy intelligence analyst who spied for Israel, since he was sentenced to life in 1987. Peres, in Washington to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama on Wednesday, said he would ask Obama in a private meeting before the ceremony to consider granting clemency to Pollard. Carney delivered his comments to the media at the midday daily briefing, just before Obama and Peres met. The calls to release Pollard, who is said to be in ill health, have intensified in recent months, with pleas from lawmakers and former top officials of both parties. Ronald Rodgers, the pardon attorney of the U.S. Department of Justice, has told those pleading for Pollard’s release that his case is under consideration, at the same time saying that he cannot predict when a decision will be made. Hadassah sells N.Y. headquarters for $71.5 million (JTA) — Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, said it has sold its New York headquarters for $71.5 million. The sale of the Midtown Manhattan building was approved by Hadassah’s board of directors on May 1, and a contract was signed a month later. The organization’s members will be asked to approve the sale at a special meeting in Dallas on July 17, according to a statement released by the organization. The agreement gives Hadassah the right to use the building for up to three years. “Hadassah is thrilled with the opportunity presented by this potential sale, which coincides
with our 100th anniversary in 2012,” the organization’s president, Marcie Natan, said in a statement. “These exciting steps forward will allow us to find new, modern and upgraded space that will better serve our more than 330,000 members as we venture into our second century.” Natan said that Hadassah leadership has been involved over the past nine months in the development of a strategic plan for its second century. “Decisions regarding the allocation of funds will be addressed once the strategic plan has been finalized by the organization,” she said. In late 2010, Hadassah agreed to return $45 million of the money it made in the Bernard Madoff scam. In early 2009, the organization laid off about a quarter of its national staff. Peres calls for renewed peace talks in medal ceremony WASHINGTON (JTA) — Receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama, Israeli President Shimon Peres called for a renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians. “Israel and the Palestinians are ripe today to restart” peace talks, Peres said at the White House ceremony on Wednesday. “A firm basis already exists. A solution of two national states: A Jewish state — Israel. An Arab state — Palestine. The Palestinians are our closest neighbors. I believe they may become our closest friends.” Peace talks have been stalled since 2010, with the Palestinians demanding a freeze of settlement building in the West Bank, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting on no preconditions for their restart. Peres, addressing about 140 dignitaries in the White House East Room, also thanked Obama for pressuring Iran to end its suspected nuclear weapons program. “Mr. President, you worked hard to build a world coalition to meet this immediate threat,” Peres said. “You started, rightly, with economic sanctions. You made it clear, rightly again, that all options are on the table.” Obama also emphasized peacemaking in his remarks. “Shimon knows that a nation’s security depends, not just on the strength of its arms, but upon the righteousness of its deeds — its moral compass,” he said. “He knows, as Scripture teaches, that we must not only seek peace, we must pursue it. And so it has been the cause of his life — peace, security and dignity, for Israelis and Palestinians and all Israel’s Arab neighbors.”
At an annual rite, South Korea pays a salute to Jewish Korean War soldiers By Hillel Kuttler Jewish Telegraphic Agency BALTIMORE (JTA) — Draping his country’s ribboned Peace Envoy Medal over the head of Irwin Goldstein, South Korea’s ambassador to Israel, Ma YoungSam, felt a deep sense of national and personal gratitude. National for Goldstein’s fighting for the United States in the Korean War. Personal because Ma’s father held a municipal government position when the communist North invaded South Korea in 1950 and might have been executed had his country lost the war. Goldstein was one of seven Korean War veterans residing in Israel honored by Ma on June 25, 2009. The ceremony has been held each year since, with the next one set for June 25, the anniversary of the war’s start. The upcoming gathering at Kim’s official residence on Moshav Rishpon, near Tel Aviv, also will celebrate a half-century since Israel and South Korea established diplomatic relations. For the event, Ma’s successor as ambassador, Kim Il-Soo, has invited 25 American veterans now living in Israel and hopes, through “Seeking Kin,” to reach others who live in Israel or will be visiting. “We Koreans appreciate very genuinely the sacrifice by foreign soldiers,” Kim said. “Without [it],
Courtesy of Embassy of South Korea in Israel
Ma Young-Sam, left, until last year South Korea’s ambassador to Israel, says he feels “so fortunate” to have paid tribute to American Jewish ex-soldiers like Leonard Wisper, who he is greeting here.
we don’t know what our fate would have been.” South Korean embassies annually honor veterans in the 16 countries that fought the North under the United Nations banner. Israel is the only country outside of the allied nations from the conflict where such a ceremony is held, Ma and Kim said. While the Jewish state did not send soldiers to fight in the Korean War, Ma’s research in Israeli archives yielded two key discoveries. He learned that Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion convened an emergency Cabinet meeting at President Chaim Weizmann’s
Rehovot home seven days after the war’s outbreak. There, Ma said, Israel made a strategic turn to the United States by supporting America’s pro-South efforts against the Soviet Union-backed North. Israel also decided to send $100,000 in food items to South Korea. “This was 1950. Israel was not rich at the time,” Ma said last week from Seoul, where he now handles the Foreign Ministry’s public diplomacy and performance evaluation. “We appreciate that very much.” SALUTE on page 20
8 • NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL
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New study: NY Jewish population rising, increasing in diversity By Debra Rubin Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) — The New York City area’s Jewish population is on the rise again, thanks largely to the growth of Orthodox households. The number of Jews in the city and three suburban counties jumped to 1.54 million, up from 1.41 million a decade ago, according to a comprehensive population survey released Tuesday by the UJA-Federation of New York. The 2011 Jewish Community Study of New York covered New York City’s five boroughs as well as Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties. Jewish households represent 16 percent of all households in that region. The survey does not include New Jersey or Connecticut. In New York City specifically, the Jewish population, which in 2002 was found to have dipped below 1 million, now stands at 1.086 million. The most dramatic growth in the overall area’s Jewish population came among the Orthodox and those unaffiliated with any denomination. Each group increased by more than 100,000 over the past decade. The numbers of Conservative and Reform Jews each declined by about 40,000.
Courtesy UJA-Federation of New York
Members of the UJA-Federation of New York at the “Celebrate Israel Parade” in New York City, June 3, 2012.
The number of Jewish children and people under 25 rose from 432,000 in 2002 to 498,000 in 2011. That’s largely a reflection of the growth in the Orthodox community, whose families typically have more children than nonOrthodox families. Meanwhile, the number of Jews aged 75 and older also increased, rising in the same time frame from 153,000 to 198,000 and mirroring trends in other Jewish communities and the American population at large. While 32 percent of the area’s
Jews live in Orthodox households, Orthodox households are now home to 61 percent of the area’s Jewish children—a staggering statistic, said Brandeis University’s Jonathan Sarna. “It serves as a reminder that while we talk about intermarriage, singleness/childlessness among non-Orthodox Jews may actually be a far more important long-term trend,” he said. On poverty in the Jewish community, about 19 percent of Jewish households are categorized as poor—defined by the survey as
having an income under 150 percent of the federal poverty line. The number soars to 43 percent in Chasidic households. “The government has to be the safety net. The Jewish community has to augment the safety net,” said John Ruskay, the UJAFederation’s executive vice president. “We will need laser-like interventions.” The largest Jewish community outside of Israel also is extremely diverse, noted Jack Ukeles, who conducted the 274-page survey with Steven M. Cohen. Overall, 44 percent of area Jews live in either Orthodox or Russian-speaking households. Some 216,000 Jews live in Russian-speaking households, while 121,000 Jews are in Israeli households and 50,000 Jews in LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) households — which Cohen said might be underreported — and 38,000 Jews in Syrian households. “No other community lives in such diversity in all the areas we have identified,” Ukeles said. Some 12 percent of Jewish households include a person who is biracial or nonwhite (a category that includes Hispanics). Cohen said that is the highest such percentage nationwide.
Sixty years of Mad-ness: Retrospective affirms magazine was fueled by boatload of Jewish wit By Dan Pine j weekly SAN FRANCISCO (j weekly) — For a gap-toothed, dim-witted dork, Alfred E. Neuman surely influenced a lot of people. Everyone from “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening to film critic Roger Ebert credit Mad magazine with having a tremendous impact on their careers. Monty Python member Terry Gilliam called the irreverent monthly “the Bible for me and my whole generation.” Mad is turning 60 this year, and San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum is paying homage with a retrospective. On display through mid-September, the exhibit features scores of original sketches, cartoon panels and magazine cover art (the covers all feature Alfred the Great himself). Taking a look at the names of the artists and writers who put the magazine together, one can’t help but notice that most of the Mad brain trust was Jewish. The “usual gang of idiots,” as the magazine referred to them, included founder Harvey Kurtzman, editor Al Feldstein, artists Mort Drucker, Al Jaffee and Dave Berg, and writers Larry
Siegel and Lou Silverstone. These guys lampooned pop culture, politics and anything that looked like the conventional wisdom of the times. Long before Bart Simpson started corrupting the youth of America, “Spy vs. Spy” and “The Lighter Side of …” were getting the job done. “It felt naughty,” said Michael Capozzola, who is Jewish and a member of the Cartoon Art Museum advisory board. “It had this degree of wolfishness and was very of the moment.” It all started for the 40-something Capozzola on a family vacation to Mystic, Conn., when he was a mere lad. He saw for sale a copy of Mad with a Star Trek parody on the cover. “My mom snatched it from me,” he recalls, “and she said, ‘Oh, no, no, no!’ ” His fledgling passion for Mad increased when a neighbor down the street threw out what Capozzola calls “a metric ton” of back issues to punish his wayward son. That kid’s loss was Capozzola’s gain. He took home the discarded magazines and was hooked. Today, Capozzola’s day job is doing standup comedy. One of the brightest feathers in his cap, how-
ever, is his writing credit in a 2005 issue of Mad for a piece titled “Yoga for Smokers.” Cartoon Art Museum curator Andrew Farago says he put the exhibit together thanks to loans from avid collectors. Most of the vintage drawings were sold off by the late Mad publisher William Gaines, who retained ownership. “We’ve done other Mad shows,” Farago said, “but nothing this comprehensive.” As for Mad’s Jewish backstory, Farago couples it with the bigger story of comics in America. “If you remove the Jewish creators from the American comic book industry, it doesn’t exist,” he says. “The language in Mad often had Yiddish.” That showed up in the occasional Yiddishism — from “shmuck” to “shmendrik” — that slipped in between the lines. Contemporary comic book artist Al Gordon took in the exhibit one recent Friday, admiring various panels and expressing his indebtedness to Mad. He’s still reading the magazine, though it has gone from a monthly to bimonthly and now accepts ads. “I’m a total pervert because of Mad,” Gordon says. “From issue one it’s not just funny, it’s sick. It
was the stuff you laughed at as a kid and the stuff your mom laughed at when you walked away.” Gordon is the son of a Jewish immigrant who stowed away on a boat sailing to New York a century ago. He grew up in a Yiddishspeaking home, but like many firstgeneration Americans, he turned his back on the shtetl world of his parents and embraced American culture. That included comics and Mad magazine. “Mort Drucker is the best caricaturist who ever lived,” he proclaims of the Mad artist who mocked the television shows of the ’60s and ’70s. “Jack Davis was the greatest inker who ever lived.” Most of Mad’s old guard has died, with the exception of Jaffee, the Lithuanian Jewish genius who created the back-page fold-in cartoons. At 91 he’s still on the job after 57 years. “Serious people my age are dead,” he once quipped. For the unserious, the Mad exhibit will be up on the walls of the Cartoon Art Museum until the end of summer. Says Farago, “I’ve worked on 100 shows, but this might be my best one. It’s a real labor of love.”
The community’s intermarriage rate remains unchanged from the last survey, holding at 22 percent of married couples. The rate is lower than in many other communities, noted Ira Sheskin, who has conducted numerous Jewish community surveys. By comparison, he said, the intermarriage rate is 28 percent in Philadelphia, 41 percent in Greater Washington, D.C., and 55 percent in the San Francisco Bay Area. In New York-area intermarried families, 31 percent of children are being raised as Jewish, as compared with 98 percent in families where both parents are Jewish. Those statistics are roughly in line with the 2002 numbers. Curiously, just 71 percent of children in conversionary families are being raised as Jewish, but the survey’s authors speculate that those children might be from prior marriages or the adults had converted after they began to raise their children. When it comes to synagogue affiliation, New York Jews are at 44 percent, which is much higher than communities such as Las Vegas (14 percent) but considerably lower than Cincinnati (60 percent). POPULATION on page 22
International Briefs Hamas claims responsibility for firing rockets at Israel J E R U S A L E M ( J TA ) — Hamas has claimed responsibility for firing at least three rockets into southern Israel. The rockets fired late Monday night landed in Ashkelon but did not cause any damage or injuries. The Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported that the rockets fired by Hamas’s armed wing, Izzaddin al- Kassam, were targeting a nearby military base. Hamas controls the Gaza Strip. Following the attack, the Israeli Air Force fired early Tuesday morning on what it called a terrorist cell planting explosives near Israel’s border with Gaza. Ma’an reported that two 16-year-old boys were killed in the strike. Some 13 Kassam rockets have been fired into southern Israel from Gaza on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said. The attacks followed an escalating series of cross-border attacks Monday between Israel and alleged Palestinian terrorists in which four Palestinians were killed.
INTERNATIONAL / ISRAEL • 9
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012
Moldovan Jews struggle Jerusalem ulpan creating bonds to maintain their historic between Jews and Muslims community amid poverty, anti-Semitism By Michael Orbach Jewish Telegraphic Agency
By Gavin Rabinowitz Jewish Telegraphic Agency CHISINAU, Moldova (JTA) — To tour the largely empty Jewish communities of Moldova and its capital, Chisinau — once known by Jews the world over as Kishinev — is not to wonder where did all the Jews go but why there are any remaining. Overgrown cemeteries are all that remain of most outlying shtetls and long-abandoned synagogues that lay in ruins in the city, home to the notorious 1903 pogrom that prompted Theodor Herzl to propose his controversial Uganda plan as a temporary Zionist refuge. Chisinau once had 70 synagogues; today there is just one. As Alexander Pinchevsky said of the remaining house of worship, “It’s not good enough; it spoils the image of the Jewish community.” Pinchevsky is one of two Jewish local tycoons working to restore some dignity to the remnant and memory of Bessarabia’s historic Jewish community amid its present despair and disrepair. And they have received backing from a surprising source: a man responsible for moving many of the country’s Jews to Israel who now says he can rejuvenate the community with the help of local volunteers — with an eye on Natalie Portman and Rahm Emanuel. That’s all taking place in a small, landlocked Eastern European nation with a bitter and violent recent history. In the 20th century alone, the country traded back and forth between the Russian Empire, Romania and the Soviet Union. About 20 years ago an independent Moldova emerged, one wracked with civil war and grinding poverty. The Jews fared even worse. Late 19th and early 20th century pogroms and persecution were succeeded by German concentration camps, death marches and mass, unmarked graves in the forests. Liberation at World War II’s end turned into nearly five decades of Soviet oppression. Independence has brought little respite. So it was no surprise that when the Iron Curtain fell, Jews who were able fled. From a pre-World War II height of some 400,000 Jews, today there are 12,000 to 15,000 in the country, mostly in Chisinau. The small community is a weak one, beset with massive assimilation. Many are elderly
and poor. And the long tradition of anti-Semitism has not abated, nor has government indifference to it. “The one thing we want is to know that tomorrow there will not be a pogrom, that they won’t come and throw us in the river,” said Anatholy Leibovitch, whose many local businesses include facilitating Israelis investing in Moldova For the past decade, efforts to keep the community afloat have been mostly borne by Pinchevsky and Alexander Bilinkis. They serve as co-chairmen of The Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Moldova and have been funding activities from their own pockets. Pinchevsky 56, is a businessman with interests across the Moldovan economy, from a chain of gas stations to malls and health clubs. He also sits on the Moldova Olympic Committee. Bilinkis, 44, has a company that produces canned pickles and baby food. He also makes kosher wine. Most of their efforts have focused on welfare for survivors and establishing Holocaust commemorations. Community events and celebrations are largely left to the traditional outside aid groups such as the Jewish Agency for Israel or the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Now the two community leaders want to restore a small portion of the city’s grand Jewish past. They are leading a group with an ambitious plan to restore the historic yeshiva named for Yehuda Leib Tsirelson, the chief rabbi of Bessarabia, as the region was once known. The only Jewish member of parliament in Romania, he was killed when the invading Germans bombed Chisinau. Pinchevsky and Bilinkis, along with eight other wealthy Moldovan Jews, already have donated $660,000 to buy back the derelict shell of the building. They need $3.4 million more for renovations, much of which will have to come from outside the country, Pinchevsky said. Plans call for the renovated building to house a synagogue, yeshiva, mikvah, kosher restaurant and market. The structure is intended to be a focal point for the community and host events such as a 600-person communal Passover seder organized by the philanthropists for the first time this year.
JERUSALEM (JTA) — As an Arab living in eastern Jerusalem, Mohamad Neiroukh simply wants to learn Hebrew. That’s why he is enrolled in an ulpan, an intensive Hebrew language program that has been a rite of passage for Jewish immigrants since the state’s founding. “I needed to learn Hebrew. Everyone speaks Hebrew,” the 22year-old college graduate said during a class break at Milah, as he stood with several other Arabs and Jews on a second-floor balcony overlooking a trash-filled alley off the city’s Ben Yehuda Street. Milah, which means “word” in Hebrew, differs greatly from the ulpans — which today number more than 90 — that have educated millions of new immigrants and visiting Jewish students from abroad. Founded in 1994 with funds from the Morrison family of Birmingham, Ala., Milah enrolls about 500 students a year. Since 2000, the number of Muslims has soared from 5 percent to 50 percent today. The school also has attracted visiting Korean students, Spanish preachers and Italian nuns. Its Jewish students, too, are diverse in their background. One classroom alone has Jewish students from Canada, Ethiopia, France and Russia. So it’s no surprise that the word “coexistence,” written in English
Courtesy of Milah Institute
Students learning Hebrew at the Milah ulpan in Jerusalem.
with a crescent, cross and a Magen David, along with its Hebrew equivalent, casually crops up in the first few lessons of most class levels. It’s all made Milah a friendly meeting ground. Neiroukh admits that he is surprised by how many Jewish friends he has at Milah. “They help me all the time,” he said. That’s exactly what longtime Milah director Clila Gerassi-Tishby wants. “My vision was a place that students from all over the world and any walk of life — all religions, cultures, languages — where people could study Hebrew,” she said on a recent Sunday afternoon while sitting in her tidy office. “It will be an island of peace, and that’s what it is.” To accommodate its growth in Arab students, the school offers four
Arab-only classes, and this year it hired its first Arab office employee: Afaf Ibrahim, 38, a registered nurse and a single mother from eastern Jerusalem. Motivated by the licensing exams she was required to take in Hebrew for her Israeli nursing license, she was first a student at Milah. “The Israel government said that you need to do the test in Hebrew,” she said, dressed in a hijab, the hair covering of religious Muslim women. “I was [also] embarrassed that I couldn’t speak or write Hebrew. The government sends us letters and we weren’t able to explain what was in the letters, and we needed to find someone who could speak Hebrew.” ULPAN on page 20
There is a vast misperception of Israel in Europe, Netanyahu says By JNS Staff Israel Hayom/ Exclusive JointMedia News Service
to
JERUSALEM (JNS) — Western European countries, including Germany, have a distorted view of Israel and the threats it faces, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an exclusive interview with German newspaper Bild, excerpts of which were published on its website Tuesday. “There is a vast misperception of Israel in Germany and in Western European society in general,” Netanyahu told the newspaper after being confronted with statistics that show only 36 percent of Germans find Israel sympathetic, while only 21 percent believe Israel respects human rights. “We are a vibrant democracy faced with Iran and its violent proxies, defending itself against thousands of rockets and Islamist convulsions all around us,” Netanyahu
continued. “It is the only democracy, the only beacon of freedom, of human rights in this region. How many Germans know there are over a million Arab citizens in Israel who enjoy full civic rights? ... Israel is maligned day in, day out, and this maligning filters into the public consciousness. That’s a general problem. But it is particularly unfortunate with Germany because of the unique relationship and the unique history [the two countries share].” Netanyahu said that while it is unfortunate that “the slanders that were once reserved for the Jewish people are now directed at the state of the Jewish people,” he believes Germany’s commitment to Israel is “real and tangible.” Commenting on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s dedication to Israel’s security, the prime minister said, “There is a commitment to Israel’s security that is exemplified by the recent sale of another German submarine, an important
adjunct to our national security, so I believe this is all real and tangible.” Der Spiegel reported that Germany has provided Israel with five submarines capable of firing nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, the first time that Germany has confirmed the submarines are intended to provide Israel with a nuclear second-strike capability. Netanyahu told the Bild that “one of the great transformations in the reconstitution of the Jewish state” is Israel’s ability to defend itself against its enemies. “We have never asked for other countries to come and physically defend us,” he said. “It’s a main principle of our security policy, so while I appreciate Germany’s concern for Israel’s security the most important assistance that can be given to Israel is — to paraphrase Churchill — to give us the tools and we will do the job of defending ourselves.” NETANYAHU on page 22
10 • ISRAEL
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Egyptian military’s anti-democratic moves may benefit Israel By Uriel Heilman Jewish Telegraphic Agency TEL AVIV (JTA) — Egypt’s military coup is now nearly complete. That may be distressing for Egyptian democracy, but it could help the Israel-Egypt relationship. Sunday’s decision by military rulers in Egypt to rewrite the country’s constitution—a move that strips much of the power of the Egyptian presidency—confirms what many skeptics had warned about since Hosni Mubarak was deposed in February 2011: This wasn’t so much a revolution as a military coup. It was the Egyptian army that played the decisive role during the 2011 uprising, siding with the people against the regime and overthrowing Mubarak. It was the military’s leaders who then assumed control of the country. And it was the army that again intervened this week in the middle of a presiden-
Courtesy of Wessam Deweny via CC
A protester outside Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court in Cairo carrying a sign that reads “No to Shafiq and to the Muslim Brotherhood and down with military rule too,” June 14, 2012.
tial election that would have delivered control of the country to the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohamed Morsi.
A few days before this weekend’s presidential vote, in which Morsi edged Ahmed Shafik, a former Mubarak-era prime minister
and air force general, the military dissolved the country’s Islamic Brotherhood-dominated parliament. It did so by declaring that up to one-third of the legislators were elected illegally. The Brotherhood controlled 47 percent of seats in the body after Islamist parties captured more than 65 percent of the votes in Egypt’s first real democratic elections six months ago. The moves against the parliament and the presidency make clear that Egypt’s military rulers are unwilling to cede power to a democratically elected government, especially if elections empower the Muslim Brotherhood. “With this document, Egypt has completely left the realm of the Arab Spring and entered the realm of military dictatorship,” Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, said in widely quoted comments. “It is a soft military coup that
unfortunately many people will support out of fear of an Islamist takeover of the state,” Bahgat told The Associated Press. That may be bad news for democracy and the Egyptian revolution, but it could be good for Israel. Ever since Mubarak was overthrown, Israeli leaders have wrung their hands over increasingly bellicose signals from its neighbor to the south, once a key ally and broker between Israel and the Palestinians. Leading Egyptian political figures have threatened to cancel or promised to “review” the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. In April the state-owned Egyptian gas company canceled its contract to supply Israel with natural gas; its pipeline to Israel has been attacked 14 times since the country’s revolution. Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has been used as a staging ground for terrorist attacks against Israel, including a deadly one on Monday.
Latest terrorist infiltration underscores instability at Egypt-Israel border By Israel Hayom Staff JointNews Media Service JERUSALEM (JNS) — Coupled with the radical Muslim Brotherhood’s declaration of a presidential victory, the latest terrorist infiltration from Sinai has made Israel wary of further instability along the Egyptian border. Palestinian terrorists on Monday killed Israeli-Arab Defense Ministry contractor Saed Fashafshe, 36, and injured another Israeli when they infiltrated the
Kadesh Barnea area from Sinai and opened fire on the Israelis’ vehicles, Israel Hayom reported. Fashafshe, of Haifa, was a father of four. The same day, the Associated Press reported that the Muslim Brotherhood — before Thursday’s official results were due — announced a victory for its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, in Egypt’s presidential election. Morsi will be the first Islamist head of state since the onset of the “Arab Spring.” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday that Israel
expects the winner of Egypt’s election “to take responsibility for all of Egypt’s international commitments, including the peace treaty with Israel and the security arrangements in the Sinai; swiftly putting an end to these attacks.” Monday’s terrorist infiltration— in which a three-man cell broke through an incomplete section of the Israel-Egypt border fence—represented a “disturbing deterioration of Egyptian control in the Sinai,” Barak said. Columnist Barry Rubin of the
Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) center wrote in reaction to Monday’s events that “we are now at the beginning of Egypt’s involvement, directly or indirectly, in a new wave of terrorist assault on Israel.” “If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over Egypt, a likelihood made less probable perhaps by the military’s dissolution of parliament, this offensive will enjoy official support,” Rubin wrote. “Even if the army remains in control, the Brotherhood and Salafists will use
their considerable assets to back this new insurgency war.” Two of Monday’s Palestinian infiltrators were killed in a subsequent gun battle with Israeli troops, and the third terrorist was either killed or escaped back into Sinai. Later on Monday, the Israeli air force killed two Palestinians traveling on a motorbike in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said the two Palestinians were part of a terrorist BORDER on page 21
30 years later, missing IDF trio is all but forgotten By Hillel Kuttler Jewish Telegraphic Agency JERUSALEM (JTA) — Soon after the Lebanon War began in June 1982, Avigdor Chen’s tank unit fell into a trap. Artillery rained from high ground occupied by the Syrians near the village of Sultan Yacoub. The battle continued all night. When dawn broke, Chen saw a struck Israeli tank some 100 yards away. With smoke billowing from it, the tank rolled downhill. Chen ran toward the now-stopped tank. He smelled burning human flesh and looked inside. The commander, Zohar Lipschitz, was dead. Chen ventured no further into the tank, knowing that another shell could follow imminently. Chen later learned that Yehuda Katz also had been inside the tank. Katz, then 25; Zachary Baumel, 21, with whom Chen had been friends since basic training; and a third soldier, Zvi Feldman, 22, have been missing ever since that battle,
which took place 30 years ago, on June 11. Not a single letter, photograph, video clip or third-party message from them has reached the outside world, nor has any proof emerged to indicate their deaths. “I really feel strongly that there may be a chance that some of these guys are still alive and that there’s still hope,” Chen said. “People in Vietnam went missing for so many years and they turned up.” But, he added, “They’re on the radar much less than they used to be. There’s not even a blurb about them.” With Gilad Shalit’s October release from more than five years in Hamas captivity in Gaza, Israeli MIAs fell from public consciousness. Long before Shalit’s release, Baumel, Katz and Feldman were all but forgotten, unreported in negotiations over prisoner exchanges. No leftover, Shalit-era demonstrations are being recycled or protest tents filled to demand the trio’s freedom or proof of their fate.
Courtesy of Miriam Baumel
Miriam Baumel says she remains “obdurate” and “unrelenting” in her pursuit to determine the fate of her son Zachary, pictured here.
The Israeli media recently began marking the Lebanon War’s 30th anniversary. In one radio interview, a brigade commander mentioned the missing trio in passing — but not by name. The silence is striking for a
country that values memory so highly and takes such pride in its soldiers. Within days of the 2006 seizing of Shalit by Hamas and the kidnapping of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev by Hezbollah, posters and placards proclaiming “Return Our Sons to Their Borders” adorned Israel’s lampposts. Two summers later, the country fairly stopped in its tracks to watch television coverage of the bodies of Goldwasser and Regev being repatriated at the Rosh Hanikra border crossing in a prisoner swap. The longer Shalit remained in captivity, the more intense became the public relations campaign by Israelis to press Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure his release. Meanwhile, Ron Arad, held prisoner since bailing out from his shot-down combat fighter over Lebanon in 1986, remains a household name. “That was a bit telling: that people didn’t put these three soldiers in
the same place they put Ron Arad, Shalit and [Goldwasser and Regev],” Arieh O’Sullivan, a veteran writer on Israeli military affairs, remarked about the radio interview. “These three never had a public outcry to get them back because the military never had a public outcry to get them back.” “They’ve been forgotten,” said Efraim Inbar, director of Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. “They disappeared, as if the ground swallowed them up.” Explanations abound for the societal distinctions: The public presumed the three soldiers dead almost from their moment of capture; the 2009 death of Baumel’s father, Yona, sapped the movement of its most vocal advocate; the Sultan Yacoub MIAs were single, while Arad’s wife and baby daughter lent powerful poignancy to everyone’s nightmare of a soldier disappearing; people and their causes move on.
SOCIAL LIFE • 11
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012
PJ LIBRARY PRESENTS ‘IT’S PASSOVER, GROVER’ PJ Library presented the Shalom Sesame movie, “It’s Passover, Grover,” on Sunday, March 25. Families with children ages 6 and younger came to the JCC to enjoy this special treat.
ANNOUNCEMENTS THANK YOU rs. Rosalie Abrams would like to thank the Rabbi, family and friends for
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their cards, telephone calls and good wishes for a speedy recovery. She is now at home recovering.
Max Ungar chooses college over Major League Baseball Max Ungar is the grandson of Robert and Loris Ungar of Blue Ash. The Ungars are longtime members of Rockdale Temple. He is the nephew of Linda Ungar and Peter Landesman of West Chester. Max is a 17-year-old catcher and recent graduate of Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md. He was drafted by
the Washington Nationals but has declined to sign a contract. Rather, Max has opted to go to college and play ball at Denison University in Ohio. “Getting a college education is more important than pursuing a professional career at this stage in my life, it never crossed my mind to sign the contract,” commented Max.
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12 • CINCINNATI SOCIAL LIFE
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AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE SEDER
Judy Avner hosts Sisters of the Transformation at the AJC Seder
Elliot Heldman and Dahlia Stein smile after successfully reciting the Four Questions
Seder co-chair Ken Heldman with Seder leader Rabbi Matthew Kraus
Rabbi Matthew Kraus, Elliott Heldman and Dahlia Stein at the AJC Seder
Vicky Mary explains the ritual symbols of Passover to local nuns
Wendy Heldman, Seder co-chair welcomes Seder guests
CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012
Co-chair Ken Heldman thanking AJC Volunteers
Alfonso Cornejo of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Sandy Kaltman, AJC Volunteer, Richard Moore of Frost Brown Todd, and Hamilton County Coroner, Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco, celebrate the festival of freedom.
Judge Heather Russell hosts students from St. Xavier High School at AJC Seder
14 • DINING OUT
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Izzy’s—a deli with a delicious difference By Sondra Katkin Dining Editor Talk about “shock and awe!” Wait till you sink your little fangs into Izzy’s potato pancakes. Oh yes, crisp we take for granted, but fluffy, even light in texture, now that’s unique. I remember when I learned that my English friend’s secret to his wonderful fish and chips was leavening. It never occurred to me that it might be a good idea for a potato pancake. It creates a fluff factor and makes it melt in your mouth without losing its chewy texture. Another great idea is their use of onion powder to intensify the onion flavor. And they only make small batches so the powerfully beloved patties will be fresh. General manager John Bent said, “We make less more often.” Bent wants his customers to have a pleasurable deli experience. He enjoys creating delicious food. “I love this industry. I want to see how they do things when I eat out. I’m always open to new information—you have to adapt and be aware of what customers want.” He mentioned that his eight kids are enough to make him relax at work. The former food and beverage manager at the Hyde Park Country Club likes to cook, eat and experiment. Before the Derby and Cinco de Mayo, he served reuben quesadillas and a Mexican Izzy’s with corned beef, jalapenos, onions and chipotle dressing on rye toast. Of course the classics like the savory corned beef sandwich on rye and Izzy’s great pickles are always available. The rye (baked five days a week) and pickles can also be found at Kroger and Remke/biggs. I brought the appetizingly, perfectly pink corned beef home to share with my husband Steve. I had to remind him to take the time to taste it. He’s not called the “human vacuum cleaner” for nothing. He stopped mid-bite and commented that it was excellent. He has always adored the pickles, making frequent trips to Kroger to keep them in stock. He couldn’t have the rye (gluten intolerance) so I tried not to appreciate its pungent caraway flavor too raucously (slurp). I gave Steve most of the beef and had the spicy chicken sandwich for my dinner. Not the usual anemic thin slice but a nice sized freshly fried breast on a kaiser roll with a spicy sweet chili sauce. When Bent first brought it out, I couldn’t resist — I took a bite before I remembered to photo-snap its “pretty face.” Yum, a full flavored fun feature everyone will like. Bent noted, “The chicken is so tender you don’t even notice your teeth going through it. It doesn’t fight you and who wants to fight at dinner?” Other sandwich selections include combos with roasted turkey breast, pastrami and corned beef, Black Angus roast beef, all beef
(Clockwise) Izzy’s signature stone and brick facade welcomes serious sandwich fans; “Lite” corned beef salad with pickles and sauerkraut to pique your taste buds; The classic corned beef sandwich, potato pancake and famous Izzy’s pickles — perfect!; Irresistible spicy chicken sandwich, tender, sweet and crisp; General manager John Bent, a fellow “foodie” who knows how to provide taste and quality.
salami and franks, meatloaf, chopped chicken liver, chicken, egg and tuna salad. Bent likes to add a thick cover of the chopped chicken liver to his corned beef or pastrami sandwich. He calls it “pate de foie gras” Jewish style. These deli delights are available in wraps. Izzy’s also serves a generous eight ounce grilled USDA choice burger which can also be combined with any of the deli meats. They cater to concerned carnivores! Bent referred to their thick nicely crusty fried cod sandwich, with their special blend of seasonings and tartar sauce, as the “codfather.” This interview was a pleasure. If you choose to eat on the light side, Izzy’s has salad platters with or without meat. All my taste buds lit up when I noshed on the corned beef salad. The mixture of the crunchy, sour pickles, tart sauerkraut and corned beef with salad
“fixins” was so good, I regretted having to share it with Steve who enjoyed it as much as I did. We avoided a fast fork fight because it was only a forshpice (appetizer) before we went out to dinner. Other pre-dinner choices are their homemade soups cooked fresh daily, such as chicken noodle, beef barley and sweet-n-sour cabbage. Izzy’s has been a Cincinnati tradition for 111 years. According to Bent, “This is not your grandfather’s Izzy’s. We’ve had to adapt and innovate to succeed. We offered steamed vegetables and sandwiches with no bread when everyone was going low carb. With eight locations, you will find a consistency of quality and freshness. We are kid friendly — children eat free on Saturdays at suburban locations (one free meal with a paying adult).” Another feature is their 20 ounce drinks — Pepsi products.
That’s something you can’t get in New York City. I was impressed with the open and bright dining room with carpeting on the floor and sound baffles on the ceilings. A deli concerned with sound levels, how cool is that? They make their own homemade cheesecakes including the turtle cheesecake I sampled. A combination of a delicious chocolate nut caramel topping over a velvety, creamy base—even shared, it had a satisfying meal-ending fulfillment. The carrot cake was all mine (it had flour) and I “disappeared” it quickly, enjoying the way the gooey, wonderful cream cheese icing melted into the chewy but melt-in-yourmouth confection. They also feature dessert specials in addition to rice pudding with raisins and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake—a recipe for pure pleasure a la mode—just what you
need to heed your inner hedonist and have a heady blast. On Mondays, after 4 p.m., beer is discounted 25 percent (in select locations), and on the first Tuesday of the month in Florence, a representative from a craft brewery presents tastings and discussions. For $20, they offer three 12 ounce bottles and appetizers such as pirogues, sauerkraut balls and fried pickles. Reservations are required. Izzy’s also serves Dr. Brown’s sodas and offers a wide variety of selections for Sunday brunch. They have a catering menu available and are famous for their delicious party trays. Their hours are Monday Thursday, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. for brunch, 2 - 9 p.m. regular menu. Izzy’s (See locations on next page.)
DINING OUT • 15
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012
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16 • OPINION
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What happened to Israel’s reputation?
With such frequent entries to your “Letters to the Editor,” I cannot help but wonder if Chuck Klein is on your payroll or pretending to be. Sincerely, Cherie Rosenstein, Dayton, Ohio Dear Editor, In response to the article “Ohio Jews poised for big impact in November.” Wake UP! How many times has President Obama been to Israel? Remember his first public speech as president was in Cairo, Eygpt... Thanks, CP Miller Cincinnati, Ohio Dear Editor, AJC is speaking out against boycott and divestment, which attempt to delegitimize Israel. A growing number of European boycott campaigns target Israel. The large Swiss supermarket coop Migros has begun labeling products originating in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.The German branch of the church-based peace organization Pax Christi has launched its “Occupation Tastes Bitter” boy-
cott campaign against Israeli products. Pax Christi officials have called on Deutsche Bank shareholders to divest from Israeli companies with business interests in the occupied territories. Deidre Berger, director of AJC Berlin, has condemned boycott campaigns that target Israel, saying that they “hinder rather than promote peace.” Berger questioned why the mayor of the eastern German city of Jena criticized Israeli government policy in the West Bank while remaining silent about terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah that threaten Israel on a daily basis, or about grave human rights violations in Iran, Syria and the Palestinian territories. “There are dozens of disputed territories worldwide but only Israel is singled out for a boycott,” said Berger. “Those with true interest in a two-state agreement between Israelis and Palestinians understand that it can only be realized through direct negotiations between the parties” without preconditions. Locally, AJC Cincinnati recently urged delegates of the Cincinnati Presbytery to vote against a resolution calling for divestment at their General Assembly in Pittsburgh early in July. Delegates are considering an “overture” calling for sale of pension fund investments in Caterpillar, Motorola, and Hewlett Packard, because the
Israeli government is said to be using their products against Palestinians. AJC, a global advocacy organization, is promoting worldwide peace by encouraging a 2 state solution in the Israeli – Palestinian conflict. Peace is not promoted by imposing arbitrary sanctions on Israel. Sincerely, Michael A. Safdi, M.D. Cincinnati, Ohio Dear Editor, Most of us Jews, regardless of our current political leaning, were brought up in strong Democratic leaning homes. This has a lot to do with our group experience in other parts of the world prior to our emigration to America, and in the USA particularly since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. At one point in time, for most of us, the Democrat party reflected our core beliefs, and worked toward those goals in which we believed. Over time, however, the Democrat party hierarchy has evolved. What do we do when those, who we have always supported, begin to promote policies diametrically opposed to our core beliefs and our core interests? Do we change our beliefs and continue our support, or do we adhere to our beliefs and find new leaders? LETTERS on page 19
T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: KORACH (BAMIDBAR 16:1—18:32) 1. Where was the special staff of Aaron placed? a.) He carried it with him all the time? b.) Placed next to the Holy Ark c.) Hidden
priesthood by Hashem b.) To perform miracles c.) That Hashem would lead the people to Israel 4. Can a first born male be redeemed? a.) Yes b.) NO
2. What fruit did it grow? a.) Dates b.) Pomegranates c.) Almonds
5. Can a first born cow be redeemed? a.) Yes b.) No
3. What purpose did it serve? a.) A sign that Aaron was given the 5. B 18:17. A firstborn cow, sheep, or goat can not be redeemed. They are sacrificed on the altar in the Temple and eaten by the Kohanim
REPUTATION on page 22
Dear Editor,
would be punished swiftly. Rashi 3. A 17:23 4. A 18:16 It is a mitzvah to redeem a first born male.
This year Israel is celebrating a series of accomplishments that have surely exceeded the expectations of its most visionary founders. It is one of the most powerful small nations in history. It has tamed an arid wilderness and welcomed 1.25 million immigrants. The Israelis themselves did the fighting, the struggling, the sacrificing in order to perform the greatest feat of all—forging a new society in which pride and confidence have replaced the despair engendered by age-long suffering and persecution. So Life magazine described Israel on the occasion of its 25th birthday in May 1973. In a 92page special issue, “The Spirit of Israel,” the magazine extolled the Jewish state as enlightened, robustly democratic and hip, a land of “astonishing achievement” that dared “to dream the dream and make that dream come alive.” Life told the story of Israel’s birth from the Bible through the Holocaust and the battle for independence. “The Arabs’ bloodthirsty threats,” the editors wrote, “lend a deadly seriousness to the vow: Never Again.” Four pages documented “Arab terrorist attacks” and the three paragraphs on the West Bank commended Israeli administrators for respecting “Arab community leaders” and hiring “tens of thousands of Arabs.” The word “Palestinian” scarcely appeared. There was a panoramic portrayal of Jerusalem, described as “the focus of Jewish prayers for 2,000 years” and the nucleus of new Jewish neighborhoods. Life emphasized that in its pre-1967 borders, Israel was “a tiny, parched, scarcely defensible toehold.” The edition’s opening photo shows a father embracing his Israeli-born daughter on an early “settlement,” a testament to Israel’s birthright to the land. Would a mainstream magazine depict the Jewish state like this today, during the week of its 64th birthday? Unlikely. Rather, readers would learn about Israel’s overwhelming military might, brutal conduct in warfare and eroding democratic values—plus the Palestinians’ plight and Israeli intransigence. The photographs would show not cool students and cutting-edge artists but soldiers at checkpoints and religious radicals.
Do you have something to say? E-mail your letter to editor@americanisraelite.com
descendants to be priests. Rashi 2. C 17:23 Almonds ripen very quickly. This was a sign that anyone who contested Aaron's position
By Michael Oren Guest Commentator
Why has Israel’s image deteriorated? After all, Israel today is more democratic and—despite all the threats it faces—even more committed to peace. Some claim that Israel today is a Middle Eastern power that threatens its neighbors, and that conservative immigrants and extremists have pushed Israel rightward. Most damaging, they contend, are Israel’s policies toward the territories it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, toward the peace process and the Palestinians, and toward the construction of settlements. Israel may seem like Goliath vis-à-vis the Palestinians, but in a regional context it is David. Gaza is host to 10,000 rockets, many of which can hit Tel Aviv, and Hezbollah in Lebanon has 50,000 missiles that place all of Israel within range. Throughout the Middle East, countries with massive arsenals are in upheaval. And Iran, which regularly pledges to wipe Israel off the map, is developing nuclear weapons. Israel remains the world’s only state that is threatened with annihilation. Whether in Lebanon, the West Bank or Gaza, Israel has acted in self-defense after suffering thousands of rocket and suicide attacks against our civilians. Few countries have fought with clearer justification, fewer still with greater restraint, and none with a lower civilian-to-militant casualty ratio. Israel withdrew from Lebanon and Gaza to advance peace only to receive war in return. Whereas Israelis in 1973 viewed the creation of a Palestinian state as a mortal threat, it is now the official policy of the Israeli government. Jewish men of European backgrounds once dominated Israel, but today Sephardic Jews, Arabs and women are prominent in every facet of society. This is a country where a Supreme Court panel of two women and an Arab convicted a former president of sexual offenses. It is the sole Middle Eastern country with a growing Christian population. Even in the face of immense security pressures, Israel has never known a second of nondemocratic rule. In 1967, Israel offered to exchange newly captured territories for peace treaties with Egypt and Syria. The Arab states refused. Israel later evacuated the Sinai, an area 3.5 times its size, for peace with Egypt, and it conceded land and water resources for peace with Jordan. In 1993, Israel recognized the Palestinian people ignored by Life magazine, along with the Palestine
Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
Answers 1. B 17:25 Aaron's staff was placed next to the Holy Ark as a reminder that Hashem chose him and his
How in 40 years the Jewish state went from inspiring underdog to supposed oppressor
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
JEWISH LIFE • 17
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012
Sedra of the Week
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel - In this week’s Torah portion, the situation in the desert goes from bad to worse, from the refusal of the Israelites to conquer Israel (the sin of the scouts) to an actual mutiny against Moses their leader. Why would so many Israelites ignore the many miracles of the exodus and display such ingratitude to their leader? After all, Moses took an oppressed and enslaved people and—at enormous personal sacrifice—forged them into a G-denthused, sensitive, responsible and independent nation! Why rebel against Moses? To deepen our enquiry, it would appear that there were two rebellions, not just one and two different causes for rebellion, at that. The key to understanding what really caused the desert mutinies emanates from an insight expressed by the medieval Biblical commentator, the Ibn Ezra, who picks up on the fact that there were two different punishments meted out to the rebels: “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up” one group, (Numbers 16:32) and “fire came forth from the Lord and devoured the 250 bearers of incense” (Numbers 16:35), the other group. There is even a difference of opinion as to which group Korach belonged! “...There are those who say that Korach was amongst those swallowed up by the earth ... and there are those who say that he was burnt to death ...It is my opinion that only Datan and Aviram were swallowed up by the earth and Korach (was burnt together with) the incense bearers.” (Ibn Ezra to Numbers 16:35). Let us revisit the Biblical text and attempt to reconstruct what actually occurred. Korach may have couched his words in the palatable and persuasive tones of democracy, but he was more a demagogue than a democrat. “It’s enough for you,” he ranted, “because the entire congregation are all holy and G-d is in their midst; why do you raise yourselves up above the assembly of the Lord?” (Numbers 16:3).
SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT KORACH NUMBERS 16:1- 18:32
They resented Moses’ having taken command, and they were perfectly content to remain in Egypt and “cooperate” with Pharaoh’s policies. Having been forced to swallow Moses’ leadership when he returned from Midian, they now try to utilize the victory of the 10 scouts to depose Moses for good. His major rebellion is against Aaron; he wants to be the High Priest! Moses sees through his words. Moses actually charges the rebel with “seeking also the priesthood” and casting aspersions against Aaron! (Numbers 16:511). Therefore, he challenges Korach to offer up censers with incense as a sacrifice to G-d, an act which is ordinarily a priestly responsibility. This will also explain why the famed Rebbe of Kotzk refers to Korach as the “holy grandfather.” After all, Korach was only seeking a closer relationship to G-d, a more central role in the Divine service. He, like Nadav and Avihu (the sons of Aaron) before him, wished only to bring an offering to the Lord—even if he hadn’t been commanded to do so. He aspired to sanctity—but refused to accept the fact that there were divine limits upon the sacred, that one must be deemed worthy to come close to the Divine. And so Korach and his band of followers are consumed by a fire sent by G-d—the very punishment meted out to Nadav and Avihu, for a very similar reason. (Leviticus 10:1-3, and Rashi ad loc). Although Datan and Aviram banded together with Korach, they had an entirely different agenda. They (at least according to the Midrash) were long-time opponents of Moses’ authority as well of his religio-political agenda. They never wanted to leave Egypt, nor do they now wish to leave the desert for the Land of Israel. They were the two fighting Israelites who Moses encountered at the very beginning of his career. They refused to accept his chastisement responding, “Who appointed you as minister and
judge over us: do you wish to slay us as you slew the Egyptian? (Exodus 2:14). They resented Moses’ having taken command, and they were perfectly content to remain in Egypt and “cooperate” with Pharaoh’s policies. Having been forced to swallow Moses’ leadership when he returned from Midian, they now try to utilize the victory of the 10 scouts to depose Moses for good. Moses recognizes the fact that Datan and Aviram’s agenda is different from that of Korach; they are rebelling against him and his rule, not against Aaron. He therefore asks to meet them separately (Numbers 16:12). They refuse to come, saying: “Was it not enough that you took us out of the land flowing with milk and honey (Egypt, for them, is the land flowing with milk and honey) to die in the desert that you also wish to rule over us . . .” (Numbers 16:13). And when the punishment of the opening of the earth to devour the sinners is being executed, the Bible emphasizes that Moses and the elders come to Datan and Aviram (Numbers 16:25). They may have lived near Korach, but this is their only connection to him. And it is them and their families who are swallowed up by the earth—not Korach! (Numbers 16:26-35.) They received their just punishment; disappearing into the earth because it was the fruitfulness of the land of Egypt and the materialism of the earthly existence which led to their rebellion against a prophet of G-d. Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi – Efrat Israel
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18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
JEWZ
IN THE
By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist TUBE DOINGS In case you missed it, the second season of the USA cable lawyer show, “Suits,” began last Thursday (the 14th), with the second episode airing on Thursday, June 21, at 10 p.m. (Repeat 6/27 at 11p.m. Also online). One of the most watched shows of last summer, the series stars GABRIEL MACHT, 40, in what looks to be the breakout role for this handsome actor. TVLand cable brings back the comedy, “Retired at 35,” for a second season on Tuesday, June 26, at 10 p.m. It stars GEORGE SEGAL, 78, and JESSICA WALTER, 71, as a retired couple whose adult son moves into their retirement community home. Tony-winning actress MARISA JARET WINOKUR, 39, (“Hairspray” musical on Broadway) has joined the cast this season. She plays the couple’s daughter, who is described as “a sharp-tongued, quick-witted successful saleswoman for a pharmaceutical company with a bubbly personality.” On Sunday evening, June 24, the new HBO series, “The Newsroom,” premieres. The show was created by AARON SORKIN, 51, (“The West Wing” and “The Social Network”) and he wrote or co-wrote all the first season’s 10 episodes. The series chronicles the behind-the-scenes events at a fictional cable news channel. It features a strong ensemble cast, with Jeff Daniels playing the station’s most prominent anchor. Sorkin is a very busy guy — he is signed to write a screenplay about the life of Apple’s Steve Jobs. It’s based on the best-selling biography by WALTER ISAACSON, 60. He’s also writing a musical with STEVE SCHWARTZ, 64, (“Wicked”) about magician HARRY HOUDINI. The Bravo reality series, “Miss Advised,” started on Monday, June 18, at 10 p.m., but you can easily catch the premiere episode online or during this weekend’s encore showings (Saturday 12 p.m./3 p.m.; Sunday: 2 p.m./5 p.m.). The premise: three female relationship experts who dole out advice to others find out how well they do when they personally enter the dating scene in their respective home cities. One of the three is EMILY MORSE, 41, a San Franciscan who is the host of “Sex with Emily,” a live radio show and top downloaded podcast on iTunes. She also is the author of “Hot Sex: Over 200 Things You
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Can Try Tonight” (2011). Prior to her current career, Morse was an actress, filmmaker, and campaign aide to U.S. Senator BARBARA BOXER, 71. ARQUETTE’S BAR MITZVAH I feel like a party pooper, but I only can “give one mazel tov out of a possible four mazel tovs” to the bar mitzvah of actor David Arquette, 40. Earlier this month, Arquette was in Israel to film a travel show when he visited the Western Wall. A rabbi suggested he be bar mitzvah on the spot and the actor agreed. Not more than a year ago, I heard Arquette proclaim his personal belief in Jesus on a talk show. I doubt the rabbi asked Arquette about his theological beliefs. He probably just asked Arquette if he was Jewish and when Arquette replied that his late mother was Jewish — the rabbi suggested a bar mitzvah. I don’t doubt that Arquette was sincere in having the ceremony. But he is by his own admission a guy troubled with emotional and substance abuse problems. In other words, don’t view this bar mitzvah, now, as some long-lasting commitment to mainstream Judaism. Time will tell if it means much in that respect. MCCLAINE GETS HONORED On June 7, actress Shirley MacLaine, 78, was the 40th person honored with the American Film Institute (AFI) award for lifetime achievement. A video of the ceremony’s highlights will be shown on the TVLand cable station on Sunday, June 24, at 9 p.m. No, MacLaine isn’t Jewish “at all.” She was born Shirley Beatty to Baptist parents (her younger brother is, of course, actor Warren Beatty.) When I saw she was the AFI honoree, I flashed back to a comment MacLaine made in 2005 while discussing the film, “In Her Shoes.” MacLaine played a strong Jewish grandmother in that movie. She told an interviewer that she always admired the assertiveness and strength of Jewish women. You could tell she wasn’t just being polite — that she really meant it. MacLaine has been starring in movies since 1955 and there is probably no living actress who has worked with more top flight Hollywood Jewish talent than her. I could fill an entire column with the names of top Jewish actors and directors associated with just the films in which she earned her five Oscar nominations. Right now, she is filming “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” It is directed by, and stars BEN STILLER, 46.
FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO The Israelite knows nothing of the life or works of Jesus, except what Christian writers communicate. Neither Josephus, Philo or other contemporary writers of theirs, nor the Mishnah, Talmud or the more ancient scriptures of the Rabbis afford as much as the slightest cause to believe in the real existence of Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed outside the new testament no book, monument, coin or other historical relic exists to establish the fact Jesus of Nazareth ever existed. — July 4, 1862
125 Y EARS A GO Miss Stella Rauh, of Walnut Hills, gave an elegant lawn fete last Monday night at her home, Crescent place. In our list of Jewish high school graduates the names of Miss Emma Frank, Miss Esther K. Hagen and Mr. Alexander Lyons, graduates of Hughes, were inadvertently omitted. These pupils rank with the best students, and we regret the omission of their names very much. Messrs. Isaac Lowman, Max Hoffheimer, Alfred M. Cohen, Moses Krohn, Lipman Levy, S.M. Winkler, Alfred Seasongood, J. W. Freiberg, M.H. Marks and Jacob Ezekiel have been appointed to represent the Mound Street Temple (K.K.B.I.) at the meeting of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, to be held at Pittsburg, July 12 1887. Mr. Sol Newmark, of this city, is betrothed to Ms. Emma Bierman, Louisville, Ky. The lady is a daughter of Joseph Mendel, Esq., and a well-known society belle. Mr. Newmark is well known in this city and has always been a society man. There is on exhibition in the window of Messrs. Robert Clarke & Co., on Fourth Street, an excellent watercolor, life-size portrait of Miss Nannie Bloom, of Richmond Street. The young lady herself did a large portion of the work in a most creditable manner. — June 24, 1887
seventh year of her age. The funeral took place last Sunday, Dr. Grossman officiating. Caroline Pritz had lived in Cincinnati all her life. As a young girl her beauty and amiability made her a favorite with all who knew her. As a wife and mother, as friend, as a Lady Bountiful who never failed to heed the appeal of any one who was in need of help or consolation, in consistent piety, she was a most noble exemplar of all that is highest and most gracious in Jewish womanhood. There is no woman in this community that was more dearly beloved or more highly respected than was Caroline Pritz, and none that will be more deeply mourned by a large circle of relatives and friends in every part of the country. — June 20, 1912
75 Y EARS A GO Mrs. Mary Stuhlbarg, Cincinnati, president of Cincinnati chapter, National Home for Jewish Children at Denver, is delegate to the Home’s 30th anniversary convention of June 26th – 30th at Denver. Governor Teller Ammons, Mayor Benjamin F. Stapleton and other officials will participate. Ben Solomon is convention chairman; E. J. Wittelshofer, co- chairman, and Mrs. Fannie E. Lorbe, honorary chairman. Ms. Celia Kaufman, violinist, presented her very young students in recital at her studio in the Virginia Apartments Tuesday afternoon, June 22nd. Participants included Myron Jarson, Marvin and Wolfred Steinberg, Marvin Turk, Robert Baur, Edward Paste, Robert Rosenberg, Herman Stern, Jean Greenspan and Alfred Horwitz. Minnette Horn was at the piano. The final meeting, until fall, of B’nai B’rith Junior auxiliary was held in conjunction with the seniors Monday evening, June 14th at Rockdale Temple Annex. Reports of the year were given by both the junior and senior officers. — June 24, 1937
50 Y EARS A GO 100 Y EARS A GO There is a particularly offensive picture show at the Lyric Theater this week, where Dicken’s “Oliver Twist” is presented. Nat Goodwin posed as Fagin and makes of the vile characterization something that is an abomination and an insult to all who see it, whether they are Jewish or Christians. The city of Cincinnati and more especially its Jewish community, sustained a great loss through the death on Friday last of Mrs. Caroline Williams Pritz, widow of the late Solomon Pritz, and mother of Sidney and Carl Pritz, Mrs. Maurice J. Freiberg, all of this city, and Mrs. Karl Meyer of Chicago, in the sixty-
The Jewish Vocational Service Board at its annual meeting Wednesday, June 20, elected Charles H. Tobias, Jr. president. Philip T. Cohen and William H. Friedlander are the vice-presidents; Mrs. Ben Moskowitz, treasurer; Adrian Jacobs, secretary. New board members for two year terms are: Philip M. Meyers, Jr., Bernard Rosenberg, Lee Schimberg, Samuel Schindler, Eugene J. Weston. Dr. Bernard Heller, an alumnus of HUC-JIR, was awarded the honorary degree of doctor of letters Sunday, June 3, by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (Conservative) in New York City. The others who received hon-
orary doctorates included Judges Irving R. Kaufman and Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Rabbi Edward T. Sandrow, president of the Rabbinical Assembly of America; Edmond N. Cahn, professor of law at NYU; and Ralph Harlow, professor emeritus at Smith. — June 21, 1962
25 Y EARS A GO Dr. Sanford S. Scheingold was installed as new president of Temple Sholom at Shabbat services June 12 at the temple. The Judaic Studies Program at the University of Cincinnati recently underwent a peer review. The review, which is mandatory for all University departments, resulted in a report being written for the Arts and Sciences College which was highly laudatory and which unanimously endorsed continued support of the program. Renowned scientist and philanthropist Frederick A. Hauck awarded the 1987 Frederick Hauck Scholarships to Seven Hills Upper School sophomore Tiffany Jurgens of Indian Hill, junior Jerry Lin of Anderson Township, junior Eric Ruder of Clifton, and Seven Hills Middle school eigth grader Jason Goldman of Evendale. Hauck established the scholarship at Seven Hills Upper School in 1983 to recognize students who are demonstrating outstanding achievement and commitment in the fields of mathematics and/or science. — June 25, 1987
10 Y EARS A GO Ethel Cholak, 86, passed away June 12. Ms. Cholak was born in Cincinnati, OH. She was a daughter of the late Benjamin and Anna (Kleitman) Cholak. She was a sister of the late Jacob, Leo, Cara and Meyer Cholak. She is survived by many nieces and nephews. Ms. Cholak was the only member of her immediate family who was born in the U.S. All the other members were born in Russia, prior to the arrival of the family in the U.S. She attended Cincinnati’s public elementary and high schools, from which she graduated. Subsequently, she became a student at the University of Cincinnati. For 30 odd years, she served as an executive secretary for General Electric. Much of Ms. Cholak’s free time was devoted to traveling together with her sister, Clara, in both Europe and the U.S. Ms. Cholak was a member of the Isaac M. Wise Temple. Graveside services for Ms. Cholak took place at the Schachnus Cemetery, on Sunset Avenue, in Price Hill. — June 20, 2002
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012
CLASSIFIEDS • 19
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS Access (513) 373-0300 • jypaccess.org Big Brothers/Big Sisters Assoc. (513) 761-3200 • bigbrobigsis.org Camp Ashreinu (513) 702-1513 Camp at the J (513) 722-7258 • mayersonjcc.org Camp Livingston (513) 793-5554 • camplivingston.com Cedar Village (513) 754-3100 • cedarvillage.org Chevra Kadisha (513) 396-6426 Cincinnati Community Mikveh 513-351-0609 • cincinnatimikveh.org Fusion Family (513) 703-3343 • fusionnati.org Halom House (513) 791-2912 • halomhouse.com Hillel Jewish Student Center (513) 221-6728 • hillelcincinnati.org Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati 513-961-0178 • jcemcin.org Jewish Community Center (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org Jewish Community Relations Council (513) 985-1501 Jewish Family Service (513) 469-1188 • jfscinti.org Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (513) 985-1500 • shalomcincy.org Jewish Foundation (513) 214-1200 Jewish Information Network (513) 985-1514 Jewish Vocational Service (513) 985-0515 • jvscinti.org Kesher (513) 766-3348 Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund (513) 793-2556 Shalom Family (513) 703-3343 • myshalomfamily.org The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education (513) 487-3055 • holocaustandhumanity.org Vaad Hoier (513) 731-4671 Workum Fund (513) 899-1836 • workum.org YPs at the JCC (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org
CONGREGATIONS Adath Israel Congregation (513) 793-1800 • adath-israel.org Beit Chaverim (513) 984-3393 Beth Israel Congregation (513) 868-2049 • bethisraelcongregation.net Congregation Beth Adam (513) 985-0400 • bethadam.org Congregation B’nai Tikvah (513) 759-5356 • bnai-tikvah.org Congregation B’nai Tzedek (513) 984-3393 • bnaitzedek.us 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
ORGANIZATIONS American Jewish Committee (513) 621-4020 • ajc.org American Friends of Magen David Adom (513) 521-1197 • afmda.org B’nai B’rith (513) 984-1999 BBYO (513) 722-7244 Hadassah (513) 821-6157 • cincinnati.hadassah.org Jewish Discovery Center (513) 234.0777 • jdiscovery.com Jewish National Fund (513) 794-1300 • jnf.org Jewish War Veterans (513) 204-5594 • jwv.org NA’AMAT (513) 984-3805 • naamat.org National Council of Jewish Women (513) 891-9583 • ncjw.org State of Israel Bonds (513) 793-4440 • israelbonds.com Women’s American ORT (513) 985-1512 • ortamerica.org.org
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LETTERS from page 16 Jews worldwide have always hoped and prayed for the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland, and since the establishment of Israel have supported it. The State of Israel was established with the support of Harry S Truman, and has always enjoyed the support of most members of Congress, regardless of party, and of all our presidents up to but not including Barack Hussein Obama. For the first three years of his presidency, Obama has made impossible demands on Israel. Demands that if followed would result in the demise of Israel. While Obama visited Middle East countries that have never supported us in the UN, he could not bring himself to visit this country’s staunchest ally in the area, Israel. Now with an election looming in four months, Obama recognizes that most eligible to vote Jews, unlike many other groups, actually vote in high numbers. Further, because of our geographical distribution we are an extremely important voting block. Now all of a sudden he is playing very nice with Jews and Israel. He just recently proclaimed that some of his best friends are Jewish. I would have thought that his advisers would have advised against that particular remark, but he read it right off his teleprompter. Should he win this election, and he does not plan to ever again run for elected office, he will revert to his core beliefs and just how will he treat Israel then? Recall that his core advisers in his formative years were Islamists. His first three years in office gave proof that he listened to them and acted on their teaching and advice. He threw Mubarak under the bus to support those who would destroy Israel. While Mubarak was indeed a despot, so are those who are most likely to replace him. At least Mubarak prevented terrorist attacks and smuggling across his border with Israel and observed the treaty with Israel. The smuggling and terrorist attacks have already resumed. He moved to bring down Gaddafi of Libya, but has done nothing about Assad of Syria who makes Gaddafi look like a saint. He sits idly by, while Iran builds a nuclear weapon that they plan to
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(513) 531-9600 use on Israel. Obama wants more talks when all of the years’ preceding talks have failed. Iran is willing to continue talking to buy time. The painful truth is that our world adversaries correctly see Obama as weak and ineffectual, who they can safely ignore. On the home front, several years after the recession is reputed to be over, we are running record high unemployment. Yet when I watch administration officials on the TV, they brag about the high level of new jobs they are responsible for creating. In what universe do they exist? The truth is there are no net new jobs. Unemployment and under employment are at a record postWorld War II high, and leading indicators show us heading into another recession. Shades of Goebbels, if you tell a lie loud enough and often enough, people will believe it. Obama claims that he can be a healer, yet he refuses to meet with his adversaries in a mutually amenable discussion. On the contrary he gives every indication that the only solution to his differences with these adversaries is his way or the highway. If you can admit to yourself that Obama is leading this country in a direction diametrically opposed to your core beliefs, yet you are reluctant to vote other than Democrat, understand that the only way out of this nightmare is to vote and to vote for the candidate most likely to defeat Obama. In this case that would be Romney. I’m not all that enthralled with Romney myself, yet he is our last best hope to rid us of Obama. Of two things I am sure. One; he will support Israel, and, two; he will turn our economy around. While Obama did inherit a normal cyclical downturn in our economy, Obama, through his policies, turned it into a full fledged depression. Further, instead of giving full attention to the economy while he had full control of Congress, he spent his time, while not playing golf, passing Obamacare, which most of us do not want. Romney understands the free market and can be depended on to heal that which Obama has broken. Sincerely, Jerome C Liner Cincinnati, Ohio
20 • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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The First Lady of Fleet Street The Life of Rachel Beer: Crusading Heiress and Newspaper Pioneer, by Eilat Negev and Yehuda Koren By James Mills Book Review Editor In the late 19th century, Rachel Beer presided as editor of both the Sunday Times and its rival, The Observer. While this is a remarkable accomplishment, the story of how this came about is even more so. Israeli authors Eilat Negev and Yehuda Koren, self-described “partners in life and work,” have written a scholarly narrative of extraordinary Jewish lives in 19th century England. England’s Jewish history is unique among European countries. There is no record of any Jewish presence in England until after the Norman conquest, and then Jews virtually disappeared after King Edward I banished them in 1290. It was not until the mid-17th century, when Oliver Cromwell decided that prohibitions against Jewish settlement
would not be enforced, that a Jewish community began a slow growth in England. Over the next two centuries, Jewish patriotism and loyalty to the British government in times of crisis led to an unofficial policy of toleration. By the time Parliament passed an official Jewish Emancipation in 1858, English Jews were leaders in politics, finance and industry, and several even sat in Parliament. Although both Rachel and Frederick Beer were born in England, they were the children of immigrants who were new to the English Jewish community. Rachel Beer was the granddaughter of David Sassoon, the patriarch of a Jewish family trading empire based in Baghdad. The authors provide a fascinating description of life in the thriving Jewish quarter of Baghdad, where its residents led fully observant lives while speaking only Arabic. The Sassoons eventually relocated the family trading empire to Bombay, India after a political crisis in Baghdad, caused by an exceptionally ambitious, disloyal and erratic pasha, forced them to leave. In India, the Sassoons continued to thrive and grow, primari-
ly due to immense profits in the opium trade. In the mid-19th century, Rachel’s father, S.D. Sassoon, moved to London to expand the reach of the family’s business. S.D. Sassoon married in England and had children, including Rachel. Rachel’s husband, Federick Beer, came from a family with a story similar to the Sassoon’s. For generations, the Beer family lived in the notoriously crowded Frankfort ghetto, and the family patriarch served the local prince as the “court Jew,” or banker. Julius Beer, Frederick’s father, came to London in the 1840s with no money but with aspirations to become a successful trader. Within a decade, Julius prospered beyond all imagination with profits from the stock market, opportunistic dealings in textiles during the American Civil War, and visionary promotion of underwater telegraph cable ventures. As children of rich Londoners, both Rachel and Frederick were raised in opulence. While Rachel’s family remained observant, Frederick’s was not. In fact, Julius Beer had both Frederick and his sister baptized in the Church of
Jews of the Wild West — for all ages According to the back cover of Kay Miller’s new book, Jews of the Wild West - A Multicultural True Story, it is a “true story of family, friendship and adventure in New Mexico.” The book, quite literally, invites the reader to join in the adventures of the Staabs and Ilfelds. Miller gives a chronological account of the Staab and Ilfeld families by focusing on specific family members. Miller uses accounts of her family members’ lives as well as their moral fiber to show the lasting impressions they left on their new homeland. The book begins with the young Staab brothers of Germany setting out for a better life in America in 1858. As the book progresses, it stays true to its title and introduces diverse people and notable individuals. People such as Billy the Kid, Theodore Roosevelt and others make appearances. The story that Miller, the former public school teacher, tells are woven into an engaging account of people living, working and thriving in a new and strange land. Alongside the stories are colorful ULPAN from page 9 Ibrahim since has begun a love affair with the Hebrew language, completing most of the courses available at the ulpan. For Gerassi-Tishby, the increase in Arab students is a direct result of the country’s changed
The front cover of Jews of the Wild West.
paintings depicting the people and places discussed in the book. The illustrations also feature borders which note the dates and locations of the where and when the adjoining story took place. Miller researched her family history through documents, books
on Jews of the Wild West, interviews with relatives and the Internet. Jews of the Wild West is a book about Jews making a new life for themselves in the wild, wild west, and will surely engage readers of all ages.
security situation in recent years. “Until the second intifada, the [Arabs from eastern Jerusalem] didn’t need to study Hebrew,” she said, as they typically worked in Arab communities in the West Bank. “[Now] it’s really hard to get into Jericho and Ramallah. It’s really hard to work outside of Jerusalem.
… Because of the borders and walls, movement became much harder.” The ulpan’s collegial atmosphere, she adds, stems from the students’ professionalism and commitment. Most Arab students are university graduates, including lawyers and doctors studying for licensing exams.
England. Just before marrying Frederick, Rachel also was baptized, and since she married without family permission, the Sassoons severed all ties with Rachel. As a young man, Frederick had lost all of the members of his immediate family to death. However, he had his father’s vast inheritance, and he had Rachel, with whom he was truly in love. Among his father’s many interests, Frederick inherited the Observer, a popular Sunday paper, and soon thereafter he purchased a rival Sunday paper, the Sunday Times. Frederick served as the publisher-editor of the Observer, and Rachel filled the same role at the Sunday Times. The Beers ran their competing weeklies at a time when the British newspaper industry was becoming extremely influential. Since many in England could not afford a daily, the Sunday papers were even more influential. Rachel wrote weekly opinion pieces on social and political issues, and championed such causes as women’s suffrage and care for the elderly. Rachel took an interest in the cause of Captain
Alfred Dreyfuss, and became personally involved with some investigative reporting with the aim of proving Dreyfuss’s innocence. The author’s treatment of her role, which at times was recklessly heroic, in exposing the fraudulence of the case against Dreyfuss is perhaps the best part of the book. The Beers’s time at the pinnacle of English publishing and English high society was shortlived. Frederick suffered a debilitating illness, and Rachel worked herself to exhaustion by running both the Sunday Times and the Observer. After Frederick’s untimely death, Rachel’s eccentric behavior became more pronounced, and the Sassoons initiated a strangely macabre reconciliation with her. The Sassoons took full advantage of the archaically cruel and crude mental competency laws, took control of her affairs, and had her committed. The lives of Frederick and Rachel are all the more fascinating because it seems so improbable that their stories had gone untold for so long. Negev and Koren have righted this omission, in a worthy contribution to British history.
SALUTE from page 7
lowed his parents to Cuba and New York before he immigrated to Israel in 1955. “It’s a lovely idea,” he added. “It’s a lesson on moral values you don’t usually come across, where a nation, after 50 [-plus] years, decides to thank all the Americans who fought. It was an important lesson for [my family] to learn.” At the 2009 event, Goldstein delivered what Ma recalled was “a very, very emotional speech” about his combat experiences. Goldstein then broke into song — “Arirang,” South Korea’s most popular folk melody. His wife, children and grandchildren chimed in. Ma and his staff were stunned. Goldstein explained that he felt great fondness for South Korea and had sung “Arirang” at the family’s Shabbat table ever since the war. A month later, Ma received a call from Goldstein’s wife, Miriam. Her husband had died the previous week, but had spoken of the medal ceremony as “the most memorable moment of his whole life,” Ma recalled her saying. The sentiment warmed Ma’s heart. Goldstein and his comrades set an example that South Korea lives by today, he said. “We will not forget what they did for us,” Ma wrote of the soldiers in a subsequentan email to “Seeking Kin.” “A Korean proverb says ‘love is transferred.’ That means that we get love from parents, but we cannot return it to our parents. Instead, we transmit our love to our children.”
Ma decided to honor the veterans after seeing a photograph of Normandy’s World War II battlefield cemetery, which showed a lone gravestone sporting a Star of David. With just five years separating the wars, he figured that some Jewish World War II soldiers also likely fought in Korea — and some must have retired to Israel. He contacted the Washingtonbased Jewish War Veterans, which connected him with Korean War veterans living in Israel. He also spoke on the “Hamador L’chipus Krovim” (Searching for Relatives Bureau) radio program. He learned that 4,000 American Jews served in the Korean War and some were indeed living in the Jewish state. “This is just a small return for their contributions, which were immense,” Ma said. “They saved our country. I feel so fortunate that in Israel, we could recognize their sacrifice for us before they die.” Another veteran already honored is Netanel Blasbalg, a retired engineer living near Haifa. Blasbalg, now 81, served in the U.S. Marines from 1951 to 1953, based near Panmunjom. He welcomed Ma’s invitation to the first ceremony, and by this June 25 will have attended three of the four gatherings. “I was tickled pink. I brought my daughter and three grandchildren because I wanted to show them how a nation expressed its thanks,” said Blasbalg, a Netherlands native who had fol-
FIRST PERSON • 21
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012
KASHAR from page 6 Speaking of deaf Jews, Kashar said, “We have excluded a group that is willing and capable. JDRC is making a bridge to bring the deaf community and the Jewish community together.”
Courtesy of Alexis Kashar
Alexis Kashar has dedicated herself to activism and pro bono work on behalf of the deaf since moving to suburban New York in 2004.
Brunnlehrman praises Kashar for helping to expand the organization and for forging partnerships with other Jewish organizations, including Jewish Women International and the Jewish Funders Network. “Our vision has widened,” Brunnlehrman said. “Alexis really believes that when you open the doors for one group, you’re opening minds and philosophies, so that we’re welcoming to all people. We’re trying to change the cultural landscape within the wider Jewish community. Alexis, in her discussions with people and her partnerships, has really tried to convey that vision.” BORDER from page 10 sniper cell from Beit Hanoun and were not connected to the earlier attack along the border. Palestinian sources said the men were members of the Islamic Jihad military wing. Fashafshe, who suffered wounds to the head and died at the scene, was on his way to work constructing the fence when his vehicle was hit by the anti-tank rocket. The IDF said there was no prior intelligence regarding a possible attack against fence construction workers in the area. Israel Radio quoted a defense official as saying that Monday’s border incident was the result of growing pressure on groups of smugglers, terrorists, and crime syndicates as a result of the increased pace of the construction of the border fence. Monday’s attack on fence construction workers was aimed at slowing down the pace of construction, the source told Israel Radio. More than 100 companies are contracted to build the fence along Israel’s border with Egypt, with some 1,500 work-
Kashar succeed in doing that at her daughter’s bat mitzvah celebration. Held at Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El in Scarsdale, N.Y., the service was made accessible for deaf and hardof-hearing people. It marked the first time that Kashar and her extended family prayed under the same roof, and it garnered her a new perspective on organized Jewish life. “It changed the way I thought about social justice,” she said. “It wasn’t that they didn’t want me to be a part of the community; it was just a lack of understanding and education. I didn’t have to go to court. I just had to make the time. I had to be the change agent. “I was raised with the notion that anything is possible. So when presented with a good challenge, I intend to take it on, especially when it involves social justice.” Kashar began her own education at a school for the deaf and transferred to a public school in the first grade. It wasn’t until high school that Kashar and her family won a battle with the school district to provide an interpreter. The experience was transformative: Her educational opportunities expanded and Kashar realized she wanted to make special education law her career. At the University of Texas, she received a bachelor’s degree in finance and a law degree. There she met her future husband, Gary, who also is a lawyer. The couple moved to Los Angeles in 1993, where Kashar worked at a private firm that was a “powerhouse” of lawyers for special education. It was an exciting time, as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was just beginning to make its impact. “I had the opportunity to test the waters and really do the first group of litigations under the ADA,” she
said, including successful suits against Universal Studios and Weight Watchers to make their programs accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing. When the couple decided it was time to start a family, Kashar knew she wanted her children to have a Jewish education. So they joined a synagogue and later enrolled their eldest daughter in its preschool. Still, she said, the congregation was hesitant to accommodate her needs. “I was asking for what seemed to be the impossible: occasional access to synagogue life via sign language interpreters,” she recalled. Kashar didn’t push back; instead she agreed to provide some of the funding for an interpreter. The lack of precedent was one hurdle. Another was that for her daughter’s sake, she didn’t want to become “that difficult parent.” Still, Kashar added, “with each child, I became bolder.” (Over time, the synagogue ultimately assumed all financial responsibility, she said.) In 2004, the family relocated to Scarsdale, N.Y., and since the move Kashar has dedicated herself to activism and pro bono work. In addition to her JDRC role, she is the board president at the New York School for the Deaf and chairs the public policy committee at the National Association of the Deaf. Last month, the JDRC sponsored the first Jewish Deaf and Hard-ofHearing Awareness Shabbat, encouraging rabbis of all denominations nationwide to address inclusion issues in their sermons. The event was timed to coincide with the same Torah portion that Kashar’s oldest daughter read at her bat mitzvah two years ago. “I would not have been involved if the Torah portion hadn’t been given to her,” Kashar admitted.
ers employed on the project. Bezalel Traiber, the head of the Defense Ministry’s Assets and Operations Department, who is responsible for the border fence project, said that 180 km of the 242-km border fence have already been completed. Speaking to Israel Radio, Traiber said there are two incomplete mountainous areas where the work will take longer because of the topographical challenges there, as well as a 17-km stretch near Eilat that still needs to be constructed. “One-hundred and eighty kilometers of the 242 kilometers between Taba and Kerem Shalom are complete. This shows the other side that this business is serious and that is causing pressure on the other side. By the end of July we should be close to 200 kilometers complete,” Traiber said. Last August, gunmen from Sinai crossed into Israel and ambushed vehicles on a desert highway, killing eight Israelis. Six Egyptians were killed in Israel’s subsequent hunt for the terrorists, causing a diplomatic cri-
sis that ended with an Israeli apology. Defense Ministry DiplomaticSecurity Bureau head Amos Gilad said Monday that Israel has faith in Egypt’s ability to assert control over the Sinai. “Sinai is a huge territory. There are weapons smuggling routes from Iran and from Libya. Extremist terrorist groups are setting up base there to destabilize Egypt as well as destabilize the Egypt-Israel peace treaty by launching attacks against Israel,” Gilad told Israel Radio. “The Egyptians are sovereign in the Sinai, we have faith in their ability to assert control there, and to assert its sovereignty in Sinai. We believe they can do it. Israel expects Egypt to adhere to the peace accords with Israel, which is in both sides’ interests. If terror plots emanate from Gaza, that’s one thing, if they emanate from within Sinai, which is in Egypt’s territory, it is the responsibility of the Egyptians to stop them. The Egyptians have all the reasons in the world to maintain the peace treaty with Israel, including U.S. and international assistance,” Gilad said.
Invisible is an interesting word Incidentally Iris
by Iris Ruth Pastor Invisible is an interesting word. The dictionary defines it as unable to be seen; not visible to the eye. Synonyms would be: unseen, viewless, sightless, imperceptible. Medicare is looming on my personal horizon, as I am turning 65 in August. Yikes. How could it be that I graduated from high school 47 years ago? And that I have been driving a car for almost 50? And voting in more presidential elections than I care to recall or even can recall. Of course, along with all these mini milestones and adult privileges come the ravages of aging too. And the indignities of becoming a senior citizen—like being overlooked, seen as not there. Invisible. My physical decline actually started years ago but lately has become much more apparent to me. Hence, my tale: A few months ago, I walked into Marx Bagels— one of my regular haunts when I’m in Cincinnati—and I noticed that owner John Marx was busy talking to two of my high school cronies— who, for purposes of confidentiality, will go unnamed. Apparently my appearance provoked some reminiscing on their parts. A discussion ensued and both Woodward High School graduates agreed that in high school I “was so good looking I stopped traffic.” In typical John fashion, he heartily announced this to the whole restaurant. Wow, I thought to myself, what a great compliment. I wish I had known then how these two felt. Most of my days at Woodward High School, I went to school feeling awkward, self-conscious and fat. How enlightening to know that not everyone was so negatively affected by my looks. In fact, I really didn’t give the back-handed, better-late-thannever compliment much credence or thought until I got back to Florida. Mulling over the remark, I realized with a start that they had been talking in the past tense.
Did I still have what it takes to “stop traffic?” I started paying more attention to my surroundings. And it didn’t take me long to find out that, resoundingly, the answer is “No.” On my morning three mile walk down a well traveled thoroughfare, I get no cat-calls, highfives or second glances. Nor do I merit even a cursory glance from passing motorists. The doubletakes and head turning gazes are still happening, alright, but not to me. They are all directed to the firm of tush—the ponytailed gals breezily jogging by on the sidewalks, also passing me by without a glance. Their bodies are golden tan; their upper arms buff and their thighs firm and smooth. No jiggling knees. Swollen knee caps. Sagging jaw lines. Droopy boobs. My consolation is that while I am becoming invisible to many, on the inside I am busier than ever. Filled with the self-confidence that only living a long life can engender, I am taking risks, crossing new intersections, traveling down roads never dared to travel before. (No puns intended.) And if I’m not stunning, ravishing, and delightful to look at, I can deal with it because my inner life is richer. Richer than ever. Ha.Ha. Who am I kidding? Sure the empty nest solitude is great. And the freedom that comes with being done with raising your children. No reading bed time stories when you are exhausted. No homework policing when you have a headache. No packing lunches when your pantry is bare. No going to soccer games when you’d rather be at the bookstore. Instead, on the weekends, I can lay in bed all day. Curl up on the porch with a good book. Start drinking wine at 11 a.m. and not be worried that I am a poor role model for my sons. Go tubing on a nearby river with my husband and not have to keep an eye on the kinder. Just once—one teeny tiny time —before I turn 65 on August 5, I want a handsome hunk of a guy, in a pick-up truck, shirtless, wearing only a pair of jeans and sneakers, to give me a backward glance as he barrels down the highway. I want him to jam on his brakes, come to a screeching halt—and as he gives me a very long, backward glance—I want him to stop traffic. Then, at that crucial moment, I will slide into my 65th year—satisfied and empowered. Keep Coping, Iris Ruth Pastor
22 • OBITUARIES O BITUARIES SINGER, Allen Allen Singer, former assistant business manager at The American Israelite, died June 8, the 18th of Sivan, in Jerusalem after a long illness. He was 77. Burial took place June 10 at Jerusalem’s Har Hamenuchot Cemetery. Mr. Singer was a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration and a member of POPULATION from page 8 New York also is a “day school town,” said Scott Shay, who chaired the federation’s community survey committee. In fact, 64 percent of NETANYAHU from page 9 In the interview, Netanyahu addressed regional hot topics including the Iran nuclear program, the violence in Syria and the changes in Egypt. He said that the Iranians have not slowed down their nuclear program “by one millimeter” but added that Israel REPUTATION from page 16 Liberation Organization (PLO), the perpetrator of those “Arab terrorist attacks.” Israel facilitated the creation of a Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza and armed its security forces. Twice, in 2000 and 2008, Israel offered the Palestinians a state in Gaza, virtually all of the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. In both cases, the Palestinians refused. Astonishingly, in spite of the Palestinian Authority’s praise for terror, a solid majority of Israelis still support the two-state solution. Israel has built settlements
WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM
Allen Singer
Synagogue and Ohav Shalom. Mr. Singer and his wife, Phyllis, made aliyah in 1999 and settled in Jerusalem where he took part in Judaic Studies classes and was a volunteer at Yad Sarah, the organization providing services for the disabled and elderly in Israel. He was a member of Hazvi Yisrael Congregation. He is survived by his wife, Phyllis; five children and their spouses, Joe and Carolyn of New York City; Hanan (Howard) and Judy of Kibbutz Merav, Israel; Michael and Lucy of Cincinnati;
Roz Singer and Robert Bindiger of New York City; and Sid and Lisa of Chicago; and seven grandchildren, Tanya, Seth, Sivan, Keren, Zohar, Abby and Jack. He was predeceased by his brother, Sam. Contributions may be sent to Cincinnati Hebrew Day School, Cedar Village, American Friends of Yad Sarah, 450 Park Ave., New York, NY 10022 or the charity of the giver’s choice. Acknowledgments may be sent to Phyllis Singer, 13 Hovevei Zion, Apt. 5, Jerusalem 92225 Israel.
Jewish children attend Jewish day schools. Of that number, 93 percent are Orthodox, 6 percent are Conservative and 1 percent are Reform. In a revealing statistic likely to encourage outreach programmers,
more than half of the Jews with no religion and more than a quarter of those with another religion still engage Jewishly, for example, attending Jewish cultural events and activities, and participating in
holiday celebrations. That, both Cohen and Ruskay said during a conference call Tuesday, demonstrates that the Jewish community’s outreach efforts are having a positive impact.
The study was conducted by telephone, including by cellphone, Feb. 8-July 10, 2011. Some 5,993 self-identifying Jewish adults were interviewed. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 2 percent.
would prefer economic sanctions curb Iran’s ambitions rather than military action. “The Iranians were only asked to stop 20 percent enrichment of uranium,” Netanyahu said. “That doesn’t stop their nuclear program in any way. It actually allows them to continue their nuclear program.” On Syria, Netanyahu accused
Iran and Hezbollah of being behind the bloodshed that has continued in the country since March of last year. “Killers supporting killers, giving them weapons, personnel to actually do the killing,” he said. “This is what we are facing: Iran, which brutally murdered its people on the streets; Syria, which has perfected the technique of shelling its
own civilian population with artillery. This is what we are fighting. What we are facing is illegitimate regimes that are pursuing illegitimate goals with illegitimate means. They are committing war crimes left and right. This has to be stopped.” Netanyahu, however, did not say whether he supported Western
military intervention in Syria. As for Egypt, the prime minister expressed hope that Cairo and the international community would continue to support the EgyptIsrael peace treaty. “The IsraeliEgyptian peace has been the anchor of peace for over thirty years in the heart of the Middle East,” he said.
(some before 1973), and it has removed some to promote peace, including 7,000 settlers to fulfill the treaty with Egypt. Palestinians have rebuffed Israel’s peace offers not because of the settlements—most of which would have remained in Israel anyway, and which account for less than 2 percent of the West Bank—but because they reject the Jewish state. When Israel removed all settlements from Gaza, including their 9,000 residents, the result was a terrorist ministate run by Hamas, an organization dedicated to killing Jews world-wide. Nevertheless, Israeli governments have transferred large areas
to the Palestinian Authority and much security responsibility to Palestinian police. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has removed hundreds of checkpoints, eased the Gaza land blockade and joined President Obama in calling for the resumption of direct peace talks without preconditions. Addressing Congress, Mr. Netanyahu declared that the emergence of a Palestinian state would leave some settlements beyond Israel’s borders and that “with creativity and with good will a solution can be found” for Jerusalem. Given all this, why have antiIsrael libels once consigned to hate groups become media mainstays? How can we explain the assertion
that an insidious “Israel Lobby” purchases votes in Congress, or that Israel oppresses Christians? Why is Israel’s record on gay rights dismissed as camouflage for discrimination against others? The answer lies in the systematic delegitimization of the Jewish state. Having failed to destroy Israel by conventional arms and terrorism, Israel’s enemies alit on a subtler and more sinister tactic that hampers Israel’s ability to defend itself, even to justify its existence. It began with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat’s 1974 speech to the U.N., when he received a standing ovation for equating Zionism with racism—a view the U.N. General Assembly endorsed the following year. It gained credibility on college campuses through anti-Israel courses and “Israel Apartheid Weeks.” It burgeoned through the boycott of Israeli scholars, artists and athletes, and the embargo of Israeli products.
It was perpetuated by journalists who published doctored photos and false Palestinian accounts of Israeli massacres. Israel must confront the acute dangers of delegitimization as it did armies and bombers in the past. Along with celebrating our technology, pioneering science and medicine, we need to stand by the facts of our past. “The Spirit of Israel” has not diminished since 1973—on the contrary, it has flourished. The state that Life once lionized lives even more vibrantly today. Mr. Oren is Israel’s ambassador to the United States.
Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. After college he served in the United States Air Force. Before joining The American Israelite in 1985, Mr. Singer was associated with B.N. Ritter and Co. and also worked in real estate. He served as president of Cincinnati Hebrew Day School and had been a member of the Young Leadership Council of the Jewish Federation. He was also active in B’nai B’rith and participated in the organization’s baseball and bowling leagues. He had been a member of Golf Manor
This article is being run with permission from The Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren. The article orginally appeared May 15, 2012, on page A17 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: What Happened to Israel’s Reputation?
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