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Countering anti-Semitism in the month of Ramadan

Teens learn about historic Jewish Cincinnati before traveling to Israel

Jewish community helps Ohio’s Ursuline College rebuild

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Teaching underprivileged girls the joys of water polo

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Opening days of the 19th Maccabiah games

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Israel HERE teens at old Adath Israel

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Cincinnati is well known for its rich history built upon many cultures—most notably for its German and Irish roots—but did you know that Cincinnati is also home to over 200 years of Jewish history?

On June 13, 51 Jewish teens had the rare opportunity to take a bus tour around the city to learn about “Jewish Cincinnati.” The tour was part of the Israel HERE program, a post-trip engagement program developed by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati for recipients of Israel Travel Grants from The Jewish

Foundation of Cincinnati. The goal of Israel HERE is to help the students process their experiences in Israel, strengthen their own personal Jewish identity and explore and expand their relationships with the local Jewish community.

Led by Dr. Gary P. Zola, executive director of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, students experienced: • An educational seminar at the American Jewish Archives. Here teens learned about the Jewish pio-

neers who began their lives in Cincinnati.

• Visits to Plum Street Temple and Chestnut Street Cemetery, where the participants heard about the founding of these two Jewish landmarks.

• Stops at various historical Jewish landmarks along Reading Road, including the old Congregation Adath Israel, which still has some of the original Hebrew writing on its walls.

The addition of the bus tour and other pre- and post-trip program-

ming to the Israel Travel Grants program not only helps these Cincinnati students become more knowledgeable and engaged with the local Jewish community, but also allows them to connect to each other and expand their local network of peers. In addition to the bus tour, Israel HERE consists of five meetings, including a day of community service. To conclude the program, participants help plan and coordinate the community’s Yom HaAtzmaut celebration.

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Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education presents Voices of Humanity Voices of Humanity, a dinner benefitting The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education will recognize the positive impact on local Holocaust education made by an individual, an educational institution and nine businesses and institutions.

All are committed to leveraging history to teach lessons for today about perseverance, courage, compassion, justice, tolerance, choice and diversity.

Holocaust survivor Werner Coppel and Summit Country Day School will be honored for their pioneering commitment to Holocaust education in Cincinnati. Werner Coppel was the first survivor to begin sharing his story nearly four decades ago. Each year, he speaks about his experiences to thousands of students and community members. Summit Country Day is incredibly committed to Holocaust education and the work of CHHE. Summit educators Rosie Alway and Jeff Stayton share their talents with CHHE as committed volunteers.

The evening also marks the 10th anniversary of the permanent exhibit, Mapping Our Tears. The educational exhibition features testi-

Museum, and Project Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, overseeing its creation.

Dr. Berenbaum consulted on the new content added to the exhibit during its redesign when it moved to

BARRY KAPLAN

“SERVING THE LOCAL REAL ESTATE COMMUNITY FOR 24 YEARS.”

(513) 368-9000 AboutBarry.com Werner Coppel with students from Summit Country Day

monies and artifacts, each with a local connection to the Cincinnati region. More than 40,000 students from more than 2,000 schools and youth organizations have toured Mapping Our Tears. Trained docents help groups understand the events leading up to the Holocaust and the personal stories behind the artifacts and items donated by local survivors. Mapping Our Tears is more than a gem of a museum in Cincinnati. It is a tribute to the strength and courage of the human spirit and a reminder of the dangers of prejudice and intolerance in any

society. The celebration will include the announcement of exciting plans for the museum as it enters its second decade.

Dr. Michael Berenbaum will offer remarks on the future of Holocaust education. A writer, lecturer, and teacher consulting in the development of museums and historical films, Dr. Berenbaum has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, Director of the United States Holocaust Research Institute at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial

Wise Temple congregational dinner features legal expert on marriage equality In light of the recent Supreme Court decision on the Defense of Marriage Act and California Proposition 8, Wise Temple is excited to bring in noted national legal expert Marc Spindelman, the Isadore and Ida Topper Professor of Law at Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University to address the Court's decisions and their implications for the future of the ongoing legal push for same-sex marriage equality and equal rights.

Professor Spindelman will be the guest speaker at Shabbat services on Friday, August 9. His talk will help shed light on the complex decisions reached by the Supreme Court of the United States in June on the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California Proposition 8. These

Supreme Court decisions leave many questions about whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. Professor Spindelman explains, “The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act but the ruling is limited to invalidating that particular law.

It does not necessarily answer a question that is now on many peoples' minds: What about similar defense of marriage measures in the states across the country, including in Ohio? Are they unconstitutional, too? A dissenting opinion suggests that it is only a matter of time before they fall. Has the Supreme Court set a countdown clock ticking against state laws banning same-sex marriage? Stay tuned.”

Professor Spindelman is well suited to address these questions and the future of same-sex marriage. He is a noted national expert in these areas and regularly teaches courses in the Law School on Family Law, Constitutional Law, Advanced Constitutional Law and Bioethics and Public Health Ethics.

Rabbi Lewis Kamrass states, “This promises to be both a fascinating and timely program. I am confident that Professor Spindelman’s presentation will help bring clarity to us and shed light on these recent Supreme Court decisions.” The service and dinner are open to the community. For more information contact the Isaac M. Wise Temple.

New JCC fall classes offer more choices for working families Busy, busy, busy! Today’s parents and families have so much going on, between work schedules and other commitments, that convenience and quality become equally important in choosing activities.

That’s why the Mayerson JCC is introducing The Later Gator Gang, a new lineup of classes specially designed for the “after 6 p.m. set.”

To meet the needs of the growing number of people who are looking for high quality programs offered

its current location.

The event will be held on Sunday, August 25, 2013 at the Hyatt Regency. For more information, please contact CHHE.

outside of the traditional workday, the JCC is adding several weeknight and weekend kids’ sports and swimming classes to their fall schedule.

Programs start after Labor Day, and registration opens Aug. 12.

“I am so happy that the JCC is offering classes to accommodate my busy schedule! I work long hours and I have been looking all over for weeknight classes for my son. This will let me plan more weekend family activities without the interruption

of swimming lessons and sports practices,” said Emily Adkins of Deer Park.

The Later Gator Gang includes Blue Jays T-Ball, Soccer and a Kid’s Sports Sampler for children ages 3 – 5, as well as various swimming lessons for all ages. To help parents who may be rushing from work, healthy snack bags will be available for children before each class (for an CLASSES on page 19

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years from 65 to 13, including BRIDGES, today.

BRIDGES’ current programs such as JUST Community Youth Leadership Initiative and Village School primarily target youth and the student population. The Interfaith Trialogue program has fostered dialogue among the Christian, Jewish and Muslim populations. BRIDGES is also the operating partner for Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program that helps prepare young adults for leadership through paid apprenticeships with local nonprofit organizations.

Efforts are being made to find a new partner for Public Allies before BRIDGES closes its doors.

BRIDGES’ name evolved from the original National Conference of Christians and Jews to The National Conference of Community and Justice in 1998 to better reflect the depth of its mission, the growing diversity of the population and the need to be more inclusive. The current BRIDGES was launched in 2006 as an independent organization. This step was taken to better serve its mission locally and preserve its legacy of justice in the community while building bridges among the Tri-state’s diverse populations.

Regional: Jewish community helps Ohio’s Ursuline College rebuild after tornado

By Bob Jacob JointMedia News Service

Courtesy of The Cleveland Jewish News

An exterior wall was blown away and a portion of the roof was ripped off of the O’Brien Athletic Center (pictured) at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio, over the weekend.

“All he knew was a gym wall collapsed,” Weiss said. “He didn’t know more than that. The first I heard about it (the tornado) was Saturday night after Shabbat was over. I don’t listen to radio or TV on Shabbat.”

Pepper Pike Mayor Richard Bain, the city’s first Jewish mayor, was home in bed when he got a call at 5 a.m. July 20 that Ursuline College bore the brunt of the storm.

“I was awaken by police chief Michael Cannon, who had already been responding to the storm,” Bain told the Cleveland Jewish News.

Bain, who lives about one mile from the campus, rushed to the scene, where he met Ursuline College President Sister Diana Stano. They observed an exterior wall of the athletic center that collapsed and a roof that was partially

torn off. Portions of the wall landed around campus. The Dauby Science Center and the Ralph M. Beese Library also suffered damage.

“I was standing in the rain with Sister Stano, looking at the wreckage of that building,” Bain said. “It was shocking to see. I was concerned about the viability of the remaining structures staying upright.

“When sister told me a camp with children was sleeping in the building the day before, a sobering thought came to me about how a terrible situation was avoided,” he added.

Stano was also relieved that nobody was injured.

“We have a lot of camps in the summer,” she said. “We were blessed. We can repair the buildings.

We lost a lot of trees that are not covered by insurance. We will try to

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The American Israelite “LET THERE BE LIGHT” THE OLDEST ENGLISH-JEWISH WEEKLY IN AMERICA - EST. JULY 15, 1854

VOL. 159 • NO. 54 THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013 25 AV 5773 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 8:31 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 9:32 PM THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE CO., PUBLISHERS 18 WEST NINTH STREET, SUITE 2 CINCINNATI, OHIO 45202-2037 Phone: (513) 621-3145 Fax: (513) 621-3744 publisher@americanisraelite.com editor@americanisraelite.com production@americanisraelite.com RABBI ISAAC M. WISE Founder, Editor, Publisher, 1854-1900 LEO WISE Editor & Publisher, 1900-1928 RABBI JONAH B. WISE Editor & Publisher, 1928-1930 HENRY C. SEGAL Editor & Publisher, 1930-1985 PHYLLIS R. SINGER Editor & General Manager, 1985-1999 MILLARD H. MACK Publisher Emeritus NETANEL (TED) DEUTSCH Editor & Publisher GABRIELLE COHEN JORY EDLIN Assistant Editors ALEXIA KADISH YOSEFF FRANCUS Copy Editors JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM IRIS PASTOR RABBI A. JAMES RUDIN ZELL SCHULMAN RABBI AVI SHAFRAN PHYLLIS R. SINGER Contributing Columnists BONNIE ULLNER Advertising Sales Manager JENNIFER CARROLL Production Manager ERIN WYENANDT Office Manager e Oldest Eng Th

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Less than 24 hours after a tornado did widespread damage to Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio, one synagogue in the city opened its arms to its neighbors.

Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, a Conservative synagogue with more than 1,000 members, began accepting donations July 21 to help offset what damages may not be covered by the college’s insurance company.

A post on its Facebook page asked congregants to donate.

An exterior wall was blown away and a portion of the roof was ripped off of the O’Brien Athletic Center at Ursuline, a Catholic college of about 1,500 students, by an EF-1 tornado at about 3:45 a.m. July 20. Other buildings and trees were damaged, but no injuries were reported.

“We recognize the terrible tragedy,” Rabbi Stephen Weiss of B’nai Jeshurun told the Cleveland Jewish News. “They are our neighbor. We have close relations with them. We work with them. We’re collecting as much money as we can and will send it to the college.”

Weiss said the congregation learned of the storm damage— which was not confirmed as a tornado until later in the night—from congregant Jeff Zimon, whose wife Jill Miller Zimon is a Pepper Pike councilwoman.

raise money to replace trees.”

Pepper Pike’s Jewish community is home to B’nai Jeshurun, Park Synagogue, Friendship Circle, and Gross Schechter Day School. The city’s population of 5,950 is 65-percent Jewish, Bain said.

Junior Jordan Leventhal, one of 10 Jewish students at Ursuline, saw a television report of storm damage to the O’Brien Athletic Center on campus July 20 as he prepared for work as a paramedic at Menorah Park in Beachwood, Ohio. So he decided to stop and see the damage for himself.

“I was on scene before the news trucks came out,” he told the Cleveland Jewish News. “I was devastated to see the beautiful campus destroyed. I saw the gym and uprooted trees on the way. I got as close as 200 feet, took pictures and texted 20 to 25 of my friends.”

Leventhal—who is majoring in public relations and marketing, and is in his second one-year term as Ursuline’s student government president—said he knew some kids who were on campus at the time of the tornado, explaining that there was “no warning for any of them.”

“They just woke up in the middle of the morning and said, ‘Wow!’” he said.

“You can rebuild a building, but not a life,” Leventhal added.

B’nai Jeshurun’s Weiss said his

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to the success BRIDGES has had in fostering better human relations locally, such practices have become more accepted and commonplace and more nonprofits and businesses offer training in those areas,” she said.

BRIDGES once stood out as the primary leader during community upheaval and dissent over crises and issues such as the April 2001 racial disturbances in Cincinnati, the postSeptember 11 anti-Muslim backlash, the 2003 ballot Issue 3 to repeal the anti-gay Article 12 amendment in Cincinnati’s charter and the creation of a campaign to increase awareness of the contributions made by Latino and other immigrants to encourage a more welcoming community that embraces diversity. In 1994, BRIDGES not only introduced and organized a campaign to build the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center but also was appointed by Major League Baseball to conduct diversity training for the Cincinnati Reds, the first professional sports franchise to receive such training.

BRIDGES is not alone among organizations once part of the 65 NCCJ organizations across the country. The number of similar organizations has dwindled over the

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the past, resulting in a profound effect on the organization’s bottom line. While these factors have all played a role in the current financial situation and the decision to close is very difficult, BRIDGES leaders recognize the incredible impact the organization has had over many decades of changing attitudes.

“The BRIDGES board made this difficult decision to cease operations after a full review of its current financial condition and related factors,” said long-time board member Thomas Urban. “With that said, this community would not be what it is today without BRIDGES.” BRIDGES’ president and CEO, Lynnette Heard, said, “In recent years, the region has witnessed the business community, interfaith community, school systems and civic organizations such as Agenda 360’s Diverse by Design initiative step forward and provide leadership, often with BRIDGES presence and involvement, to sustain the values of respect, fairness and inclusion that were the impetus for this organization’s founding.”

“BRIDGES’ biannual human relations survey has provided benchmarks for local progress in areas such as inclusion, race relations and diversity. The survey documents steady progress. Partly due

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BRIDGES for a Just Community will be closing its office and ceasing operations by early September.

BRIDGES, founded as the Cincinnati chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, has been at the forefront in this region’s human relations crises and diversity developments since 1944, promoting and fostering inclusion and diversity in the workplace, schools and community. Since that time and especially in recent years, the community has seen improvements in attitudes toward diversity and inclusion with many specific accomplishments listed below.

Improving community attitudes toward diversity and inclusion, which are a direct result of BRIDGES’ work, coupled with increasing competition in providing services caused the organization to experience persistent financial challenges in recent years, BRIDGES’, officials said.

The economic downturn that began in 2008 has had a negative impact on many nonprofit organizations’ abilities to raise revenue, and BRIDGES has been no exception.

Its two primary fundraisers, the annual dinner in May and Walk in October, have not been able to generate the same level of support as in

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Regional: BRIDGES For a Just Community plans to cease operations

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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Skylar Dorosin: Teaching underprivileged girls the joys of water polo

By Suzanne Kurtz Jewish Telegraphic Agency Skylar Dorosin can't imagine her life without water polo – so the 18 year-old Californian is trying to use the sport to change the lives of others.

Bringing together her passion for water polo and a longstanding commitment to social action, Dorosin, a rising sophomore at Stanford University in her native Palo Alto, runs Project 2020, a service project she launched five years ago that teaches swimming and water polo to underprivileged girls living in neighboring communities.

“Everyone deserves the right to play water polo,” said Dorosin, who competed at the Junior Olympics while in high school and was on Stanford’s team as a freshman. “I wanted to give those girls a chance.”

With help from her teammates and friends as well as Brenda Villa, a four-time Olympian and Stanford alumna, Dorosin has organized seasonal clinics, raised money to buy balls, caps and swimsuits, and provided transportation to local pools for more than 250 girls in Northern

California.

Recently awarded a Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award of $36,000, Dorosin said she plans to use a portion of the prize to further her goals for Project 2020, which include expanding to a full-year program and developing a competitive team.

Still unsure of her major, Dorosin is enjoying taking classes in engineering, management and neuroscience. She describes herself as “culturally Jewish but not very religiously Jewish,” and is looking forward to participating with the Stanford Hillel in Birthright Israel next summer.

Dorosin spoke to JTA about her sport, her advice for other serviceminded teens and why she enjoys celebrating Hanukkah.

Kurtz: What attracted you to the sport of water polo?

Dorosin: I wanted [to play] a team sport that combined a ball and my love of the water. I started playing when I was 13 and immediately loved it!

K: Can you share with us a meaningful Jewish experience that you’ve

had?

D: I was visiting the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York and walking through, there was a quote [Isaiah 1:17]: “learn to do good; devote yourself to justice.” It really stuck. This is part of my Jewish upbringing and what my family taught me.

K: What advice would you give to other teens interested in launching a service project?

D: Find something that you’re passionate about and want to share.

Don’t be afraid to reach out into your community and see if there is an interest. You’re just one phone call or meeting away, and there’s a high chance that there are others that are also interested and they’d love to have your help. It doesn’t take a giant act to make a difference.

K: If you could have lunch with anyone and tell him or her about your service project, who would it be?

D: It would be amazing to talk to Michelle Obama because of her “Let’s Move!” campaign. I would love to talk to her about her goals with education and young children

The shanda factor: What makes Jewish sex scandals different?

By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency WASHINGTON – The guy with the socks up. The guy with the pants down. The guy with the headlocks.

The guy who tweets and deletes.

What is it with these male politicos? And why are they all Jewish?

The cloistered community that is Washington’s Jewish elite collectively choked a little Saturday morning as it progressed through a column in which Gail Collins of The New York Times named the protagonists of what she dubbed the “Weiner Spitzer summer.”

“Ever since the Clinton impeachment crisis, we’ve been discovering how much personal misbehavior we’re prepared to ignore in elected officials,” Collins wrote. “Hypocrisy, for sure. Adultery, definitely. Chronic lying, maybe. Financial skullduggery, possibly.”

Those seeking absolution this month for past misdeeds include Anthony Weiner, now running for New York mayor, who quit Congress in 2011 after he was caught saluting a female Twitter fan in his boxer briefs; Eliot Spitzer, now in a bid to be Gotham’s comptroller, who quit as the state’s governor in 2008 after the revelation that he patronized high-priced call girls – and allegedly kept his knee-highs on while doing so; and Bob Filner, who quit Congress last year to become San Diego’s first Democratic mayor in 20

years and is now facing a welter of sexual harassment claims, including allegations involving something called the “Filner headlock.”

Collins also bewilderingly brought in the bewildering case of Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), who was caught tweeting and deleting messages to a bikini model during the State of the Union address in February. Turns out she was his recently discovered love child. Then it was discovered she wasn’t. Then he commented on the looks of a reporter who asked him about the situation.

In her column, Collins did not identify the protagonists as Jewish, but their collective appearance in print unsettled Jewish political players who were whispering their names at social gatherings over the weekend.

“If we need a reminder of how Jews are like everyone else, this is a useful one,” said Ann Lewis, who as White House communications director managed the fallout from President Bill Clinton’s sex scandal and whose brother, former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, was caught up in a scandal in the 1980s involving a gay escort. “It does help bring us down to earth.”

Unlike other lawmakers caught in scandal, Lewis said, Jewish politicos are less likely to face the charges of hypocrisy that have afflicted others caught with their pants down.

“Jewish politicians by and large

have not been huge advocates of patrolling other people’s sex lives,” Lewis said.

The cases all have their own particularities.

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and finding a way to make girls feel self-confident and comfortable.

K: What’s your favorite Jewish holiday?

D: Hanukkah because it’s a celebration that brings my whole extended family together in the wintertime and I really enjoy the “gift of giving.”

K: Besides playing water polo, what kind of things do you like to do for fun?

D: I like hanging out with friends and going to the beach, Pilates and hiking.

Courtesy of Project 2020

Skylar Dorosin, now a student at Stanford University, founded Project 2020 to teach swimming and water polo to underprivileged girls.

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Foreign Ministry labor dispute complicating plans for new immigrants to Israel

By Josh Lipowsky Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK – Eventually, all Jews will end up in Israel, Cliff Katz says. But for now, a labor dispute in the Jewish state is holding things up.

Katz, 47, decided to immigrate from Texas about a year ago. He filled out all the paperwork, paid the fees and already had two job interviews lined up for later this summer.

But the dispute between the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s union and the Finance Ministry has led the Foreign Ministry to halt all consular services, including processing new immigrants, consigning some would-be immigrants, or olim, to a state of limbo.

“Since the [Jewish] Agency heard that the Foreign Ministry shut the doors temporarily, I cannot enter Israel,” Katz said. “I’m ready to go.”

About 1,300 North Americans are scheduled to make aliyah to Israel this summer. The bulk of them have been processed and will arrive as citizens.

For the 300 or so who have not yet been processed, the Jewish Agency for Israel, which coordinates immigration to Israel with the nonprofit Nefesh B’Nefesh, has found a temporary solution: They will arrive with tourist visas and be processed in Israel. But until they are, standard immigrant benefits – among them, access to national

Courtesy of Courtesy Nefesh B'Nefesh

New immigrants to Israel stepping out of the plane at Ben Gurion Airport.

health care and a monthly stipend – are on hold.

JAFI has agreed to cover the first month of private health insurance but is asking immigrants to come with their own insurance until their status is finalized.

“Right now we’re facing obstacles that usually we don’t have, and we’re trying to do everything we can to take those obstacles out,” said Rafael Cohen, the director of aliyah in JAFI’s New York office. “It’s true we’re not able to give [the oleh] the same service as usual, but we are there for him.”

For Katz, who is unemployed and on disability, not being able to

join Israel’s nationalized health care system has forced him to put off the move. Other olim are in the same position.

“It’s just really frustrating when you’re ready to go and all of a sudden this hits you,” he said.

The dispute is the latest salvo in the six-month dispute between the union and Finance Ministry. The union is seeking increased wages and benefits for its diplomats along with a new collective bargaining agreement to address a wages and benefits structure that sources say has not changed since 1994.

Olim aren’t the only ones affected by the labor strife.

Diplomats continue to work in Israel and in its diplomatic missions around the world, but consular services have been reduced to immediate health emergencies, adoptions and burials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ability to travel abroad has been complicated.

And some 40 to 50 people are turned away from the Los Angeles consulate daily for passport or other services, said Uri Resnick, the deputy consul.

“We’re not interested in hurting anyone,” Resnick said. “The citizens looking for services are unfortunately affected by these labor sanctions. The fact that we have to take these kinds of sanctions reflects on the gravity of the situation.”

Israeli consulates don’t just provide passport services. They also

Helen Thomas interviewer: Media whitewashes late journalist’s anti-Semitism

By Jacob Kamaras JointMedia News Service On June 1, 2010, the day after the Gaza flotilla incident in which nine Turkish militants were killed after attacking Israeli soldiers aboard the Mavi Marmara, famed reporter Helen Thomas didn’t hide her opinions about Israel in a briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

“The initial reaction to the flotilla massacre, deliberate massacre, an international crime, was pitiful.

What do you mean you regret something that should be so strongly condemned? And if any other nation in the world [besides Israel] had done it, we would have been up in arms.

What is this ironclad relationship where a country that deliberately kills people… and boycotts, and we aid and abet the boycott?” Thomas asked Gibbs.

Little did the public know at the time that just a few days before that press briefing, Thomas had uttered anti-Semitic comments that would go on to garner far more attention than what she said about the Gaza flotilla. Adam Nesenoff, the 17year-old son of Rabbi Dr. David

Courtesy of Avrohom Gershon

Rabbi Dr. David Nesenoff, who interviewed Helen Thomas when she made anti-Semitic comments on the White House lawn in May 2010.

Nesenoff who handled the technology-related aspects of his father’s RabbiLive.com blog, was busy graduating high school. That meant a May 27 video interview that Helen Thomas gave David Nesenoff on the White House lawn – in which Thomas said Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go home, to Poland and Germany, America

and everywhere else” – would not be posted online until a week after it was recorded.

Thomas, who worked 57 years for United Press International and a decade for Hearst Newspapers, died July 20, 2013 at age 92. She covered every U.S. president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and is credited with opening the White House press corps to women. But all it took was a roughly 90-second interview to end her career in 2010 – Nesenoff’s video brought about her retirement shortly after it was posted.

Nesenoff believes that the “first part” of Thomas’s obituary should be her anti-Semitism, because her “poison infected everything she ever wrote.” Yet that wasn’t the type of Helen Thomas obituary Nesenoff saw from the mainstream media after her death.

“I got to hear people like Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC say that, ‘Helen Thomas is my role model,’” Nesenoff said in an interview with JNS.org. “That CBS News decided to say, ‘Well, it was a little controversy, she said that Jews should go back to Europe.’ They couldn’t even THOMAS on page 22

offer public education services about advocacy on behalf of the Jewish state.

Despite the benefit to the country of aliyah, the situation is not considered an emergency. Chaim Shacham, Israel’s consul general to Florida and Puerto Rico, said a recent strike by Israeli doctors and nurses had a greater impact on the country’s ability to function.

But the effect of the Foreign Ministry dispute is magnified because of its impact on national security. Still, Shacham says there is no other way to address the need for a more proportionate allocation of resources for the ministry.

“Most countries, especially enlightened democracies, understand labor disputes and the inherent right of workers to organize,” he said. “I’ve heard nothing but encouragement from fellow foreign service officers from different countries, as well as my counterparts in the host country.”

As of the beginning of last week, teams from the Foreign Ministry union and the Finance Ministry were meeting, but no proposals had been made, according to a source at the Israeli embassy in Washington.

“The dynamic of limited labor action is continuing because that’s the only way to pressure the Ministry of Finance in Israel to negotiate,” said the source, who requested anonymity.

He said diplomats see themselves as part of Israel’s national security, but must address their own rights as employees and take care of their families.

“People understand that it’s not an issue of foreign relations; it’s an issue of working relations in Israel,” the source said.

Nobody has canceled their aliyah plans because of the dispute, but a handful of people have postponed their move, according to Cohen. With no clear end date in sight for the dispute, JAFI is discouraging olim from deferring their trips, the source said.

“I’m concerned about it because you never know what will happen,” he said. “We’re telling them we’ll be there for them.”

For some, such assurances just aren’t enough.

Unable to find work in Texas, Katz is planning to move to New York to seek temporary employment. He hopes to be on the first Nefesh B’Nefesh flight to Israel after the dispute is settled.

Until then, he sympathizes with the Foreign Ministry employees, but he believes both sides need to put politics aside for the sake of aliyah.

“Open the doors and allow us to come in,” Katz said. “We’re Jews, we’re meant to get to Israel.

Eventually we’re all going to get there, but some of us would like to leave now.”

In small-town South, Jewish newcomers provide infusion of optimism

By Josh Lipowsky Jewish Telegraphic Agency Standing beneath the chuppah during his wedding in May, Doug Friedlander said he felt a “magical moment,” and it wasn’t just because of his blushing bride.

Theirs was the first Jewish wedding in Helena, Ark., in more than 20 years.

An ailing Mississippi River town of 12,000, Helena once was home to a Jewish community of 150 families. Today, fewer than a dozen Jews remain, most of them 85 or older.

By 2006, the community could no longer support a synagogue, and Temple Beth El was turned over to the state, which remade it as a community center. Friedlander rented the facility for his wedding, which still has a Star of David on the glass dome above the former sanctuary and Hebrew passages inscribed in the doorways.

“I had a feeling it was the end of young people getting married here,” said Mary Lou Kahn, whose daughter Caroline was the last person to be

married in the synagogue, in 1989.

“It was great that the attendance was so large that many people could see what became of our beautiful temple.”

Helena’s story is a familiar one in the South, where many oncethriving, small-town Jewish communities have all but disappeared, their young people drawn away to better opportunities in bigger cities.

But Friedlander’s recent wedding – indeed, his very presence – is among a number of signs of new Jewish life in the South, which, while perhaps not enough to reverse long-term demographic trends, has injected a dose of optimism into towns accustomed to a narrative of decline.

“We understand one family can truly make a difference for the world and certainly for these small towns,” said Rabbi Marshal Klaven, director of rabbinic services at the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which provides resources to small Jewish communities in the region. “If they participate in some sort of communal Jewish existence, then Judaism is still alive.”

NATIONAL • 7

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013

CUFI student activists, without ‘obvious self-interest,’ seek to legitimize pro-Israel message on campus

By Debra Rubin JointMedia News Service WASHINGTON, DC – Sam Bain knew that life could be dangerous in southern Israel, with rockets fired indiscriminately across the border from Gaza. But it wasn’t until the Ohio college student visited an Israeli day care center near the Gaza border that the reality truly hit him.

This day care center was a bomb-safe facility. “We don’t have bomb-safe day care centers in America,” Bain told JNS.org.

“It was almost a wake-up call” about the reality of life in Israel, he said.

Bain visited the Jewish state in 2011 as part of a Christians United for Israel (CUFI) campus trip. This week, he was one of 400 students representing 157 campuses at CUFI’s Washington Summit, which drew more than 4,000 people to the nation’s capital. Session topics included Israel 101 – The Basics of the Arab Israeli Conflict, Myths and Facts: Refuting the Negative Myths About Israel, The Biblical Mandate to Stand With Israel, A View From the Hill, with remarks by members of Congress, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.), and a video address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

CUFI primarily draws its support from evangelicals who cite two main drivers for their backing of Israel: one, a biblical mandate that God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people and, two, shared values, including freedom and democracy, with the United States.

Indeed, that’s the case for the two students whom CUFI made available for interviews with JNS.org. Bain, a senior business management major at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, and Vika Mukha, a rising senior majoring in political science and

National Briefs Kerry names Indyk to top peace negotiator post WASHINGTON (JTA) – Secretary of State John Kerry named Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, as his special envoy on Middle East peace.

Kerry appointed Indyk on Monday, hours before talks were to resume for the first time since 2010.

Pope Francis considering Israel visit next year WASHINGTON (JTA) – Pope

Berkeley farm hosts Jewish-Hindu wedding

By Debra Rubin Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Courtesy of CUFI/Paul Wharton Photography

College students Sam Bain (left) and Vika Mukha, pictured at the 2013 Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Washington Summit, are nondenominational Christians who grew up with positive outlooks on Israel. Both believe there are not enough voices on behalf of Israel on college campuses.

media studies at the University of California, Berkeley, both describe themselves as nondenominational Christians who grew up with positive outlooks on Israel.

Both believe there are not enough voices on behalf of Israel on college campuses. Bain, who has visited campuses across Ohio, said he’s seen anti-Israel sentiment and anti-Semitism. “It is not the most friendly environment and they’re going to present a biased side of the issue,” he said. “You have to go in there and tell them that’s not how things are.”

The freedom “we have in this country depends on freedom in other lands,” Bain, 24, said.

Part of Mukha’s motivation stems from her roots in the former Soviet Union. Born in Belarus, she came to the United States as a baby.

“I had ancestors who were persecuted in the Soviet Union because of their faith. The same people who persecuted them persecuted the Jews,” Mukha, 20, said.

At UC Berkeley, she finds herself in a hotbed of anti-Israel sentiment. Earlier this year, her college’s student government, following 10 hours of debate, passed a resolution calling up the university to divest from companies that do business with the Israel Defense Forces. (UC Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said the vote would not change the system’s investment policy.) Of the 200 people who voiced their opinions during the all-night deliberations, Mukha said, she was one of only two who spoke from a Christian perspective.

Earlier in the year, she attended a campus pastoral panel featuring four Christian ministers who criticized Israel on human rights. “They were claiming to represent Christians, but they weren’t representing me at all,” she said.

“Berkeley has over 80 Christian student organizations,” she said.

“I would love to present to them from our point of view why it is a biblical mandate” to support Israel,

Francis said he may visit Israel as early as next year.

On Monday, at a wide-ranging news conference aboard a plane returning him to the Vatican from Brazil, Francis said he was considering a Holy Land visit next year, The Associated Press reported.

Francis accepted an invitation to visit Israel from Shimon Peres when the Israeli president was at the Vatican in April. No date for the visit was set at the time.

Francis was close to the Jewish community in his native Argentina.

In February, he became the first pope in modern times to succeed a living pontiff, Benedict XVI, after Benedict resigned. Benedict went to Israel in 2009, and his predecessor, John Paul II, visited in 2000.

Anthony Weiner, whose wife has Islamist ties, under fire for donation from Al Jazeera lobbyist (JNS) Former congressman Anthony Weiner, who is facing growing pressure to quit the race for mayor of New York City after the revelation that he continued “sexting” on social media far after the original lewd photo he posted on Twitter in 2011, is also under fire for accepting a $4,950 campaign donation from John Merrigan, a lobbyist for the Al Jazeera television network.

Al Jazeera aired taped propaganda messages from al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

“Al Jazeera and its lobbyists are no friends to New York City or our

The bride emerged from a yurt, accompanied by her father. The groom and his mother came out of a greenhouse.

The four walked to a circular area delineated by a red string. In the center stood a huppah; beneath the wedding canopy, a copper tin with a small fire.

Micha’el and Aumatma BedarShah were married June 30 at Urban Adamah, a small Jewish educational farm in Berkeley, Calif. The couple chose the farm for their interfaith wedding, believing, as Micha’el put it, that “we understand our traditions so much more clearly when we directly experience the wonder of nature.”

Their fathers each carried a candle to the circular area “so they could both simultaneously light our candles and we could accept both of their heritages,” Micha’el says.

Micha’el, 35, and Aumatma, 32 – whose new surname is a merger of his Jewish last name first followed by her Hindu one – worked with officiant Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, who runs the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, Ariz., to plan what the rabbi calls a modern Essene ceremony. The Essenes were a Second Temple period Jewish sect who some scholars believe wrote what came to be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Some aspects of the BedarShahs’ wedding were drawn from the Temple period, with the bride and groom washing each other’s feet and hands, as well as anointing one another with a few drops of oil “to purify each other,” Micha’el said.

Frankincense and myrrh incense, used in Temple rituals, burned during the ceremony.

In planning their rituals, the cou-

Jewish community, and Anthony shouldn’t accept their support,” New York City Councilman Lew Fidler said, according to the New York Post.

Deaf rabbi to lead Mass. synagogue (JTA) – A deaf rabbi is slated to become only the second deaf spiritual leader of a hearing synagogue.

Rabbi Darby Leigh will take over at Congregation Kerem Shalom in Concord, Mass., on Aug. 1, Tablet reported.

Leigh will use a combination of lip reading and American Sign Language to communicate with the congregation. A longtime heavy metal fan, he hopes to enable a thriving musical culture in the synagogue.

ple were surprised to realize how many elements turned out to be similar to both Judaism and Hinduism.

The huppah – in this case, Micha’el’s 100-year-old tattered tallit that had belonged to his grandfather – reminded Aumatma’s father and uncle of a mandap, the ornate covered structure used at Hindu weddings. “The Indian one is usually more stable, but open on all four sides,” she says.

When Micha’el smashed a glass, it was reminiscent of Hindu grooms breaking a clay pot. Both religions have circling rituals: At a traditional Jewish wedding, the bride circles the groom seven times; Hindu couples circle a fire seven times. The BedarShahs did both. And, when they exchanged vows, they did so, Micha’el says, in accordance with “the Torah of Moses and Israel the Vaishnav lineage of Gujurat,” a state in India.

The ceremony began with the sounding of a shofar in four directions, “activating the sacred space” and opening it up to the “Holy One of blessing in its most experientially felt form on the earth plane,” he says.

Indian ceremonies use a conch shell to make a similar sound.

While the ceremony merged aspects of Judaism and Hinduism, the menu – other than a challah – lacked traditional staples, though the dietary restrictions of both faiths were observed. With the exception of one lentil-cooked dish, the organic buffet consisted of raw foods, including a “rawsagna” that featured a ricotta-like macadamia-nut cheese substitute, thinly sliced zucchini rather than pasta and raw marinara sauce, and the challah (made from sprouted grains, nuts and seeds).

Kat Morgan, Urban Adamah’s program manager, describes the wedding, the first to be held at the educational farm, as “a converging of worlds.”

8 • INTERNATIONAL

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

Syrian Christian describes religious cleansing of city by Islamic extremists

By JNS Staff JointMedia News Service In a recent visit as part of a humanitarian aid mission to Syria, Dr. John Eibner, CEO of Christian Solidarity International (CSI), met with a Syrian Christian man from the city of Qusayr who described the religious cleansing of his home by Islamic extremists.

According to CSI, before the civil war the city of Qusayr, located in eastern portion of Syria near the

Lebanese border, had around 40,000 people, including 7,000 Christians.

“In late 2011, the Sunni townsmen came and told us to either join us in anti-regime demonstrations or leave the town. If we didn’t, we would be killed,” Fadul Abu Yohanna Kasouhah, a Christian resident of Qusayr, described to CSI. According to Fadul, the Sunni Islamists in his village used the loudspeakers from the Mosques to name the Christian families by name and told them to leave.

Fadul told CSI how his cousin was gunned down by Sunni extremists for refusing to leave.

“My cousin Bater said, ‘We will not leave. This is our town, our land.’ He was recently married, and his wife was seven months pregnant.

They shot him to death as he was going to work on his motorbike,” Fadul said.

Eventually, the local Sunni extremists were joined by foreign Islamic jihadists and cleansed the town of Christians, according to

Fadul.

“In March 2012, many foreign jihadis came to Qusayr and surrounded Christian Street. They were joined by a mob of local Sunnis…

The next day, all the Christians did leave Qusayr—870 families. Only two or three very old Christians stayed. Most left with nothing. No one helped us.”

According to U.N. SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon, more than 100,000 Syrians have been killed as part of the conflict, while more than

1.7 million Syrians have been displaced.

Syrian Christians, who comprise 10 percent of Syria’s estimated population of 22 million, have been faced with a difficult situation due to the civil war. On one hand, many support the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But at the same time, under Assad they were a protected minority. Many Christians fear that if Assad is overthrown and replaced by Islamists, they will face greater persecution.

EU ban on Hezbollah branch a start, but impact is likely limited

By Cnaan Liphshiz Jewish Telegraphic Agency THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The effectiveness of the European Union’s decision to blacklist only Hezbollah’s military wing might be debatable, but one thing about the move seems certain: It did not come easy.

The decision Monday by Europe’s 28 foreign ministers to put Hezbollah’s military wing on the EU list of terrorist organizations followed months of jostling by member states in the wake of last summer’s killing of five Israelis and a Bulgarian in a bus bombing near the Black Sea resort of Burgas.

Israel and Bulgaria have accused Hezbollah of being responsible for the attack, which the Lebanon-based group denies.

International Briefs Hamas and Iran hold meetings to mend ties (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) Despite differences over the civil war in Syria, senior Hamas officials met with Iranian and Hezbollah officials in Beirut last month in an effort to mend ties, the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Sunday.

Relations between Hamas and Iran had become strained over the Syrian civil war. Last year, multiple reports claimed that Hamas had vacated its long-standing Damascus headquarters, so as not to be seen as supporting President Bashar alAssad, whom Iran and Hezbollah staunchly back in his battle against rebels.

Turkish Airlines investigated for alleged tax fraud in Israel (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) The Israeli office of Turkish Airlines is currently being investigated for alleged tax evasion amounting to over 1.5 million shekels ($418,000), a

At stake in the debates were Europe’s relations with Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds several seats in parliament; possible reprisals by Hezbollah against EU troops; and the credibility of the EU’s anti-terrorist stance.

To negotiate the web of conflicting interests, the EU came up with a compromise that would allow it to show toughness in responding to terrorism on its soil without sacrificing its influence in Lebanon. It would designate only the organization’s military wing as terrorist, ignoring no less an authority than Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Naim Qassem, who has said the organization has a single leadership.

“This is partly a political signal and partly a real signal that we are not prepared to see any terrorist activity as a means to achieving

what some would consider political ends, while we want to be clear, too, in our support for political parties of Lebanon and the people of Lebanon,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said at a news conference Monday. “We’ve made the distinction clear.”

Jewish groups were pleased generally by the development, with World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder calling it a “major breakthrough” and the Board of Deputies of British Jews averring it would “seriously damage Hezbollah’s capabilities” around the world.

But many also noted that the distinction between the group’s military and political wings is false, creating a loophole that Hezbollah could

statement by the Israeli Justice Ministry said Monday.

The Tel Aviv District Prosecution believes that between 2006 and 2010 the airline filed false tax reports in Israel, and that the wages paid to the company’s Turkish employees – which were deposited in their bank accounts in Istanbul – were higher than the wages declared in Israel for taxation purposes.

exonerated and freed a bird that was accused of being a spy for Israel.

According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, residents of the village of Altinavya in the eastern province of Elazig became suspicious when they found the kestrel, a common Eurasian bird belonging to the falcon family, with a metallic ring stamped with the words “24311 Tel Avivunia Israel.”

Fortunately for the residents of Turkey – and for the bird – the bird was determined not to be a threat and was allowed to fly away.

Hezbollah admits it does not distinguish between ‘military’ and ‘political’ wings (JNS) Following the recent European Union designation of only Hezbollah’s “military wing” as a terrorist organization, a Hezbollah official confirmed that the Lebanese group does not distinguish between its military and political wings.

“Everyone knows that Hezbollah’s political and military wings are one and the same,” Hezbollah international relations official Ammar Moussawi said after a meeting with EU Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichorst, Ya Libnan, an English-language Lebanese daily, reported.

Turkey frees bird it accused of spying for Israel (JNS) Authorities in Turkey have

HEZBOLLAH on page 22

Hamas shuts two Arab media bureaus in Gaza amid worries over crackdown in Sinai (JNS) Hamas has closed two Arab media bureaus in Gaza over their coverage of the Palestinian terror group.

Ismail Jaber, Hamas’s AttorneyGeneral, told the Associated Press that the group had closed down the bureaus of the Saudi Arabian owned Al-Arabiya and the West Bank-based Ma’an News Agency because they “spread fabricated rumors” that “harm the Palestinian national interest and resistance movements.”

But a Ma’an correspondent told the Associated Press that Hamas was upset with Ma’an reports that Hamas terrorists were contributing to the chaos in the Sinai Peninsula.

Courtesy of Alex Kolomoisky/FLASH90/JTA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on June 20, 2013 in Jerusalem with Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, who said the union’s recent decision on Hezbollah was “partly a political signal.”

Egypt authorities need to do more to protect Christians, Human Rights Watch says

By JNS Staff JointMedia News Service Human Rights Watch (HRW) joined the growing number of international human rights groups calling on the Egyptian authorities to do more to protect Egypt’s ancient Christian community.

“Egyptian security forces should be on high alert to prevent and halt sectarian violence in the current tense and polarized situation,” Nadim Houry, acting Middle East director at HRW, said in a statement. “Egypt’s religious and political leaders should denounce the dangerous escalation of sectarian attacks.”

According to HRW, at least six attacks on Christians have taken place since former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster on July 3, including in Luxor, Marsa Matrouh, Minya, North Sinai, Port Said, and Qena.

In most of these incidents, security forces failed to take the neces-

sary action to prevent or stop the violence.

The call by HRW echoes a similar appeal by fellow human rights group Amnesty International, which reported on a July 5 attack on Christian homes near Luxor that resulted in more than 100 Christian homes ransacked as well as four deaths and one hospitalization.

One of the oldest communities in Christianity, Egypt’s Coptic Christian church was established by one of Jesus’s apostles, Saint Mark, in 42 CE. Coptic Christians constituted a majority of Egypt’s population until the Middle Ages, when Islam, introduced by the Arab invasions in the 7th century, eclipsed their religion.

Today, Coptic Christianity comprises nearly 10 percent of Egypt’s 85 million people, making it the largest single Christian community remaining in the Middle East.

ISRAEL • 9

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013

Six weeks after Better Place bust, some Israelis still bullish on electric cars

By Ben Sales Jewish Telegraphic Agency TEL AVIV – It was perhaps the biggest startup failure in Israel’s history.

Five years of bombastic hype. $850 million of funding burned.

Networks planned in at least seven countries. A founder who spoke of changing the world.

When the electric car company Better Place declared bankruptcy in May, it marked an unhappy, though perhaps unsurprising setback for those who dreamed of Israel revolutionizing the global auto industry and freeing drivers from the tyranny of volatile oil prices.

After so public a downfall, it was reasonable to wonder if and when Israel’s electric car industry would rise again.

The answer: six weeks later.

Two initiatives are now trying to salvage the remains of Better Place and keep battery-powered rubber on Israel’s roads.

Last week, the solar energy entrepreneur Yosef Abramowitz, in

partnership with the Association for the Advancement of Electric Transport in Israel, won a bid to buy Better Place’s Israeli infrastructure and intellectual property for about $11 million. Abramowitz will be the new president of Better Place and Efi Shahak, AAETI’s chairman, will serve as board chairman.

Meanwhile, Electric Vehicle Environments – known by the acronym EVEN – plans to import electric cars and motorcycles to Israel that will be able to use the 2,000 Better Place charging posts already installed around the country. Rather than the single model offered by Better Place, EVEN will offer seven cars ranging from the luxury American vehicles made by Tesla to the Indian compact Mahindra Reva.

“The issues that exist in the States don’t exist here,” said Marc Harel, who manages EVEN in Israel. “Vehicles aren’t going more than 125 miles. The one place you might go, Eilat, we can put a charging station in the middle.”

With its innovative solutions to

problems that had long confronted electric car makers, Better Place, led by its exuberant and self-promoting CEO Shai Agassi, had raised hopes that a viable alternative to fossil fuel-powered transportation was within reach. But despite its high-profile flop, entrepreneurs continue to put money behind their faith that a small country like Israel is an ideal market for electric cars.

Abramowitz hopes to transform Better Place from a large car retailer to a slim infrastructure operation managing the charging posts and the company’s battery swap stations, where drivers can exchange a spent battery for a fresh one in about the time it takes to fill a gas tank.

The company will be run more like a startup, with 50 employees instead of the 300 it had before the bankruptcy. The slimmed-down operation will operate 15 swap stations, down from 30, and have a budget of just $12 million per year.

Better Place “tried to conquer the whole world,” Abramowitz said. “We’re not doing it that way.

At Western Wall, showdown between two women’s groups

Courtesy of Roni Schutzer/Flash90

A Better Place customer charging his electronic vehicle in the company's headquarters in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, February 2010.

We’ll serve the Israeli market and grow it organically.”

Both companies have a long way to go, and a lot of skepticism to overcome, to prove that electric cars have a bright future in Israel.

Among those obstacles are government regulations that could mean the difference between success and failure for both ventures.

Harel hopes to begin importing

Israel Briefs

By Ben Sales Jewish Telegraphic Agency JERUSALEM – On the morning of July 8, at the beginning of the Hebrew month of Av, the Western Wall plaza was a cacophonous mess.

Women of the Wall, the activist group that holds women’s prayer services each month at the site known as the Kotel, loudly sang festive prayers at a spot far from the wall itself. Police had barricaded them there, ostensibly for their own protection. A few feet away, a group of haredi Orthodox boys shouted at them, called them Nazis, blew whistles, waved signs and raised a primal scream. A few threw eggs.

But the biggest group on hand that morning was a crowd of some 5,000 to 7,000 young women standing silently in the women’s prayer area, far from the brouhaha and inaudible and invisible from where Women of the Wall were praying.

Filling the women’s section and spilling out into the wider plaza, the girls each prayed on their own.

When they were done, they left without raising their voices.

“Our goal is to give voice to the hundreds of thousands of women who call the Kotel their spiritual home,” said Leah Aharoni, a founder of the group, called Women for the Wall, which helped organize the Orthodox women’s prayer.

“They have a voice. They’re not subjugated, ignorant women.”

Israelis protest release of 104 Palestinian terrorists for peace talks (JNS) Dozens of demonstrators gathered at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bureau on Sunday to protest the planned release of 104 Palestinian prisoners ahead of renewed peace talks. The prisoner release was approved 13-7 by Israel’s cabinet.

Courtesy of Miriam Alster/FLASH90

An Orthodox woman blows a whistle in protest against efforts to promote women’s prayer at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, July 8, 2013.

Founded less than three months ago, Women for the Wall has emerged as the public face of the traditionalists vying to maintain the status quo at the Western Wall, where rules mandate separation of the sexes and restrict the ability of women to lead public prayer groups.

Women for the Wall was able to bring a critical mass of women to the site that far outnumbered the several hundred people who showed up with Women of the Wall, and the traditionalist group was able to physically block the renegade group from approaching the Kotel itself.

Women for the Wall performs a tricky balancing act between defending traditionalist values and

using the language of women’s empowerment to oppose the objectives of a Jewish feminist group while presenting itself as an advocate for women’s rights.

In a community in which male rabbis often are the primary spokespeople, Aharoni hopes to galvanize Orthodox women to speak for themselves. But the success of the monthly prayer gatherings depends in large part on the endorsement and encouragement of those same rabbis.

The debate between the two women’s groups “is not a discussion between rabbis and women,” Aharoni says. “It is a conversation between women and women.”

WALL on page 21

Israeli Navy installing system to counter Russian Yakhont antiship missile (JNS) Israel’s Navy has begun installing a new defense system on its missile boats that would protect them from the feared Russian Yakhont antiship missile, Israel Hayom reported.

The Barak 8 medium-range missile is designed to intercept airborne threats, including enemy aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-ship missiles and cruise missiles.

Israel suspends EU projects in Judea and Samaria (JNS) In an apparent response to the European Union’s recent decision to impose financial sanctions on Israeli communities located beyond the pre-1967 lines, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Thursday ordered Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot to suspend several joint Israeli-EU projects across Judea and

Teslas at the end of this year, and to start selling Mahindra Revas in Israel a few months later. But in order to import the cars, he’ll have to pay a $2.5 million deposit to the government.

“In Israel it’s one obstacle after another,” Harel said. “This is an extremely challenging market to deal with. The Transit Ministry has put a lot of barriers to entry.”

Samaria and to deny EU officials the permits needed to travel freely between Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Poll: Most Israelis against releasing prisoners for IsraelPalestinian conflict negotiations (JNS) A poll of 500 adult Israelis showed that 80 percent of secular Jews in Israel are against releasing Palestinian terrorists incarcerated in Israeli jails for their crimes as a gesture toward the renewing of IsraeliPalestinian conflict negotiations.

Like fathers, like sons: Lau and Yosef elected chief rabbis of Israel (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS) Rabbi David Lau, the chief rabbi of Modiin, was named Israel’s chief Ashkenazi rabbi on Wednesday evening, alongside Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who was named the chief Sephardi rabbi.

Both of Israel’s new chief rabbis are the sons of former chief rabbis: Lau’s father, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, served as the chief Ashkenazi rabbi between 1993 and 2003, and Yosef's father, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, served as the chief Sephardi rabbi between 1973 and 1983.

Bereaved families angered by release of Palestinian prisoners (JNS) Families of terror victims are harshly criticizing the Israeli government's plan to release 104 Palestinians imprisoned prior to the 1993 Oslo Accords as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinian Authority ahead of renewed peace talks.

10 • ISRAEL

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

Opening days of the19th Maccabiah games

By JTA blog Jewish Telegraphic Agency Olympic gold medalist leads U.S. delegation at Maccabiah opening When swimmer Garrett WeberGale heard his name announced last Wednesday as the U.S. flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the 19th Maccabiah Games, he just about lost his breath.

A two-time gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Weber-Gale had spoken with JTA earlier this week about the powerful feelings he experienced during his first few days in Israel. His emotional high continued during a pep rally at the Maccabi movement’s headquarters in Ramat Gan. More than 1,100 athletes and coaches cheered the announcement of those chosen to bear the American banner and lead the team Thursday night into Jerusalem’s Teddy Kollek Stadium. Weber-Gale confessed to hoping he would be selected. He was not.

Then Jeffrey Bukantz, Maccabi USA’s general chairman, called Weber-Gale’s name as the flag bearer and the room erupted in applause.

“My heart was just pumping like crazy. I was so excited,” Weber-Gale said. “I was a little embarrassed walking up there with everyone watching me.”

The selection ranks right up with his Olympics experiences, said Weber-Gale, who lives in Austin, TX., but was raised in Milwaukee.

“To represent the U.S.A., and the Jewish people in general, I can’t tell you how much this makes my blood pump.”

– Hillel Kuttler At the Maccabiah, making mom, grandma and great-grandma proud For a week before they started competing, many of the 1,100 U.S. athletes in this year’s Maccabiah Games toured Israel and learned

Courtesy of Facebook

Tennis player Angarag Sandag, the first Mongolian to represent his country in the Maccabiah Games.

about their Jewish heritage.

But when Yale Goldberg steps onto the tennis court this week, he’ll have another tradition to draw on.

He’ll be representing the fourth generation of his family to compete in the games.

His parents played tennis and swam for the U.S. in 1997, the year a bridge collapsed during the games leading to the deaths of four athletes.

His grandmother swam for Israel in 1953, the second games after Israel became a state. And his great-grandmother and great-grandfather played volleyball and sprinted, respectively, a generation earlier.

“They always wanted me to play in the Maccabiah Games,” Goldberg said of his parents. “I’m really excited to be here, to keep the tradition going. It feels like I should be here.”

His grandmother, Anita Deutsch, was the youngest athlete in the 1953 games, but being 12 years old didn’t stop her from taking silver in the 100m swim. She has memories of contestants from other countries taking out trinkets and kissing them for good luck before springing into the pool.

“At that stage in my life it was the high point of my life,” said Deutsch, who now lives in Manhattan. “There was camaraderie

among the other kids who participated.”

Goldberg isn’t the only member of the American delegation with family history at the games.

Maccabi USA General Chairman Jeffrey Bukantz, who’s leading this year’s delegation, spent his career chasing his father’s fencing achievements at the Maccabiah.

Bukantz’s father, Danny Bukantz, won fencing gold at the 1950 Maccabiah. In 1981, Jeffrey finished fourth. He cried, and resolved to do better next time. In 1985, he took bronze, cried again, and set his eyes on 1989.

During Jeffrey’s third Maccabiah, in 1989, he finally won gold.

“When I got the gold medal I flipped my mask in the air and jumped uncontrollably three times,” he said. “I was crying like a faucet.”

This time, they were tears of joy.

– Ben Sales Remembering AMIA at Maccabiah American, Canadian, Australian, Russian and British athletes started filing out of a Jerusalem hotel lobby last Thursday to buses that would transport them to the opening ceremony of the 19th Maccabiah Games.

They paid little mind to the semicircle of older people forming around a table. A man lit two memorial candles and uttered a few words in Spanish. Within five minutes, the short ceremony had concluded.

Those in the semicircle – Argentinian tennis players in the master’s division – were commemorating the anniversary of the July 18, 1994, terrorist bombing in Buenos Aires of the AMIA Jewish community center. The attack killed 85 people and destroyed the building. Israel has long fingered Iran as directing the attack.

Similar commemorations Thursday were held nearly every-

Courtesy of Scott Margolin

The American baseball team scored two shutout victories over Canada in the first week of the 19th Maccabiah Games.

where Argentina’s Maccabiah athletes went. The AMIA victims were remembered during the Maccabiah’s opening ceremony, along with the 11 Israelis murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics and the fallen soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.

The ceremonies were “not only a remembrance,” but also “a [call] for justice,” said Elena Belinky, deputy assistant to the Argentinian delegation head. They acquired greater meaning, she said, because of the Argentina-Iran agreement in January to form a panel to investigate the bombing.

“We find this a ridiculous thing,” Belinky said, “to make an agreement with the aggressor, since [the Iranians] were responsible for the attack.”

– Hillel Kuttler O Canada!

It’s no surprise that the U.S. 18and-under baseball team was expected to take gold at the Maccabiah.

There are only three teams, and MACCABIAH on page 20

Courtesy of Instagram

U.S. Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Garret Weber-Gale carrying the American flag during the opening ceremony of the 19th Maccabiah Games in Jerusalem, July 18, 2013.

Maccabiah bar mitzvah ceremony proves games are about more than sports

By Hillel Kuttler Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Courtesy of Hillel Kuttler

American Maccabiah volleyball player Luke Rosener, who had the chance to celebrate his bar mitzvah with fellow athletes at age 22.

NEVE ILAN, Israel – Luke Rosener removed his orange T-shirt, changed into a white dress shirt and alighted from a chartered bus.

The garb was a far cry from the uniform Rosener will wear while playing for the U.S. volleyball team at the Maccabiah Games, the 78nation sports competition that began this week in Israel.

The attire was more befitting a religious ceremony – in this case, his bar mitzvah.

Rosener, 22, of Cupertino, Calif., had never had a bar mitzvah, owing to his family’s financial situation and his early struggles with dyslexia. But as part of the 1,200-member U.S. Maccabiah delegation, Rosener

encountered a ready-made opportunity to become a bar mitzvah alongside scores of new friends also celebrating the traditional rite of passage.

That’s because Maccabi USA, the American branch of the international sports movement, brings participants to Israel a week before the competition for a mandatory program of touring and discussions rich in Jewish content. In recent years the program, known as Israel Connect, has featured a mass bar mitzvah ceremony for participants who never had one.

“There’s so much more to [the Maccabiah] than playing sports,” said Jeffrey Bukantz, Maccabi USA’s general chairman and a former fencing Olympian. “We really do consider it the flagship of the pro-

gram. It’s to the point that Israel Connect is more important than the actual sports. The kids are really impacted by the program.”

On the lush grounds of a reception center in the hills west of Jerusalem, a mile beyond the Elvis Inn pub guarded by a white statue of the King, the delegation gathered in the setting sun Tuesday for the ceremony. The entry hall’s long red carpet was lined with red, white and blue balloons and round tables in the vast garden were stacked with wrapped presents.

The ceremony coincided with Tisha b’Av, the 25-hour fast commemorating the destruction of both ancient Temples – a day on which celebrations are frowned upon. But as he prepared to chant the Torah portion designated for the closing

hours of many fast days, Daniel Greyber, the delegation’s official rabbi, offered a fresh perspective.

“The afternoon of Tisha b’Av is a time of rebuilding, of looking forward,” Greyber said. “The b’nai mitzvah ceremony connects us to the Jewish people – not only in this world at this time but for all of history. In that regard, it requires celebrating.”

Along with the U.S. team’s assistant rabbi, Noam Raucher, Greyber led the crowd in spirited singing. And he punctuated the Torah reading with references to group discussions he had led the previous day covering biblical events and their relevance today.

Dave Blackburn, a standout softBAR MITZVAH on page 21

SOCIAL LIFE • 11

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013

ANNOUNCEMENTS ANNIVERSARY othar and Anita Haas of Cincinnati, Ohio, will be celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary.

The couple was married on August 15, 1948, in LaPaz, Bolivia. Anita will be celebrating her 85th birthday on August 14.

She turned twenty the day before her marriage to Lothar.

Mr. and Mrs. Haas have three children: Herb (Jean), Raul (Frances) and Susan (Bob Plowden).

They have also been blessed with six grandchildren: Laurence and Philippe Haas, Arielle and Dax Haas, and Electra and Gabriella Chronis.

L

BAR MITZVAH

A lifetime of loving, caring and sharing.

usan and Matthew (Mickey) Lane of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, are pleased to announce the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Stephen Joshua. The Bar Mitzvah took place on June 14, 2013, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel.

Stephen is the grandson of Adele and Joseph A. Lane, M.D. of Cincinnati and Jerry

S

BIRTH isa and J. Tyler Griebling of Cincinnati, Ohio announce the birth of their son, John Dylan on July 14, 2013. Dylan is the brother of Joshua Sol Griebling. He is the grandson of Sue & Steve Griebling, Lorie Kleiner Eckert and Stefan Eckert all of Cincinnati. He is the great-grandson of Mary Lou & Charlie Griebling, Joan Ubbing and the late John Ubbing, the late Rose & the late Morris Kleiner, and the late Sylvia & the late Sol Eckert.

L

John Dylan Griebling

KING DAVID SOCIETY EVENT WITH UC PRESIDENT SANTA ONO On June 25, University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono met with a group of Jewish community leaders to talk about his vision for UC and for Cincinnati. Dr. Ono is spearheading UC's strategic plan, UC2019, which has similar goals to Cincinnati 2020. We look forward to working closely with Dr. Ono and UC to help create an even better Cincinnati!

Photos continue on Page 12

Bob Betagole, Phil S. Cohen

and Shirley Lipson of Chicago, Illinois.

Stephen is about to enter eighth grade at Independence Middle School, where he is a straight–A, Honor Roll student.

This past year, he was presented with the Promise Award for outstanding mathematical achievement. In his spare time, Stephen enjoys basketball, football, baseball, and video games. He is an ardent fan of the Miami Heat, the Miami Dolphins and the Miami Marlins.

12 • CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

KING DAVID SOCIETY EVENT WITH UC PRESIDENT SANTA ONO Continued from Page 11

Warren Webber, Greg Buchanan, Margaret Buchanan, Dr. Santa Ono, Andy Shott, Pam Webber

Jon Blatt, Josh Mandel, Josh and Chrissie Blatt

Suzette Fisher, Rhoda Mayerson, Donna Mayerson

Paul Heldman and Anne Heldman

Shep Englander, Andy Berger, Dr. Santa Ono, Gary Heiman

CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013

NORTHERN HILLS SYNAGOGUE HONORS RENEE ROTH On February 2, Northern Hills Synagogue honored long time synagogue and community leader Renee Roth with a tribute gala. Among other roles, Roth has served as Northern Hills' President and Sisterhood President, and has chaired or served on numerous community boards and committees. She also served as a member of the Sycamore School Board. The evening's festivities included music, dancing, appetizers, and dessert, and a special tribute to Roth.

Comedian John Bunyan headlined the entertainment. Over 150 enjoyed this special evening.

The guest of honor, Renee Roth, with her husband Eli

Gayna and Jeff Bassin

Natalie and Mitch Freeman

Joel Suddleson, Hilary Green-Suddleson, Jeanne Aronoff, and Julie Pentelnik

Members of the planning committee, Jeff Bassin, Sonia Milrod, Connie Hinitz, Gail Stern, Hank Stern, Jane Karlsberg, Mark Karlsberg, Karyn Lazear and Joe Lazear

Joe Lazear, president of Northern Hills, with his wife, Karyn

14 • DINING OUT

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

Izzy’s location now open in Ft. Wright, Ky.

By Bob Wilhelmy Dining Editor Izzy Kadetz would have been dazzled by what his tiny Jewish deli and lunch counter has grown into, I’ll bet. The latest Izzy’s restaurant opened off Highland Pike in Ft. Wright, Ky. a few weeks ago. That marks the ninth location for what began in 1901 as a small sandwich shop on Elm Street in Cincinnati. The new location is a far cry from those cramped quarters where Izzy’s famous corned beef made its debut more than a century ago.

“This (the Ft. Wright location) is our second free-standing location, and the opening has been really good—a strong opening here,” said John Geisen, owner of what is now a bona fide chain operation.

The Ft. Wright location looks to be a carbon copy of the Red Bank Road location, if you have been there. As the photos show, the new location features al fresco dining for 30-some patrons, along with a larger dining area indoors, and drive-through service for those who are on the go.

This new location also is the roll-out site for Izzy’s new breakfast menu, which is new to Geisen’s restaurants. The breakfast menu features some items you’d expect at a place called Izzy’s, namely bagels and cream cheese. But there is more, such as vanilla crispy French toast, served with maple syrup. Also, Izzy’s makes its own maple cinnamon rolls, featuring coffeemaple icing. There are breakfast sandwiches, with your choice of meat, egg and/or cheese served on an English muffin.

Speaking of the breakfast menu, Geisen emphasized that the Izzy’s general menu has evolved greatly in the past several years to better meet the wants and needs of his customers.

“Our staples are the excellent corned beef and the Reuben sandwiches, no doubt. But we’ve added a little something for everyone,” he stated. “We have the hamburgers and the turkey; the chicken salad, egg salad and tuna salad; and a new brat Reuben (which goes along with the beef frank Reuben already on the menu). We butterfly the brat and grill it rather than boil (or steam) it. We use Scheckler relish with the sauerkraut and put it on a pretzel bun along with a mustardhorseradish sauce. It’s really a good sandwich!”

Those wanting a cold beer, or even wine, with their brat Reuben sandwich will find it on the menu at this new location (or at least, will find it as soon as the State of

The kitchen area where sandwiches are made to order.

One of Izzy’s famous sandwiches and the potato pancake that is part of a sandwich order

Kentucky finalizes the permit, which was expected within hours of preparation for this article).

Geisen is correct about the menu at Izzy’s: there does seem to be something for everybody, and the Izzy’z brain trust has gotten creative with the sandwich offerings. For instance, under the Reuben menu category there are eight sandwiches, not including the new brat Reuben mentioned above. One is the cod Reuben, featuring the battered cod, homemade spicy tartar sauce and sweet-n-sour slaw, topped with

American cheese on rye toast.

Also, Izzy’s offers wraps, burgers and signature sandwiches. The wraps feature fillings of turkey, beef, corned beef and tuna. Burgers are made of USDA prime Angus beef, which is the highest quality grade of US beef; the Izzy burger is served on a toasted Kaiser roll with lettuce, tomato and red onion. And the signature sandwiches are tasty combo concoctions created by patrons over the years, such as the Jeff Ruby. Are you ready?

The Ruby is a double-decker on

The exterior of the new store. It also includes an al fresco patio area

rye, the bottom deck being roast beef and slaw, then roast turkey and chopped liver and a special dressing on top before the rye lid is put in place.

All Izzy sandwiches, burgers, Reuben choices and others, come with the “award-winning” potato pancake (unless specifically stated otherwise). “So what you have with an Izzy’s sandwich is a meal, with the potato pancake and the pickles. It’s a great value, and that’s why I think we have

been successful during this tough economy of recent years,” Geisen said.

Judging by the people flocking to his new Ft. Wright location, he’s right about that.

See you there!

Izzy’s 1965 Highland Pike Fort Wright, Ky. (859) 331-4999

DINING OUT • 15

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013

RESTAURANT DIRECTORY 20 Brix

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Historic Milford

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7880 Remington Rd

831-Brix (2749)

1198 Smiley Ave • 825-3888

Montgomery • 794-0080

Authentic Lebanese Cuisine 7944 Mason Montgomery Rd. • Mason 513-770-0027 1 block away from Cedar Village next to UDF

7625 Beechmont Ave • 231-5550 Ambar India Restaurant

4766 Red Bank Expy • 376-6008

Slatt’s Pub

350 Ludlow Ave

5098B Glencrossing Way • 347-9699

4858 Cooper Rd

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Blue Ash

281-7000

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6200 Muhlhauser Rd

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Kanak India Restaurant

Sukhothai Thai Cuisine

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10040B Montgomery Rd

8102 Market Place Ln

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793-6800

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3120 Madison Rd

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9701 Kenwood Rd

8702 Market Place Ln

321-1600

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Montgomery

891-5542

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4858 Hunt Rd

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Tony’s

Blue Ash

302 E. University Ave

12110 Montgomery Rd

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221-5353

677-1993

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Padrino

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Cincinnati

111 Main St

300 Madison Pike

351-0123

Milford

Fort Wright, KY

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(859) 331-0494

9525 Kenwood Rd

Parkers Blue Ash Tavern

Wertheim’s Restaurant

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4200 Cooper Rd

514 W 6th St

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Covington, KY

891-8300

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Asian Paradise

Baba India Restaurant

Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30-3 Dinner: Mon-Thu 5-9:30 Fri 5-10:30 • Sat 4:30-10:30

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16 • OPINION

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

Countering antiSemitism in the month of Ramadan

By Rashad Hussain Jewish Telegraphic Agency During Ramadan, Muslim communities around the world experience a month of fasting, devotion and increased consciousness of their faith. They also remember those who are suffering around the world and seek an end to the forces of hatred that lead to violence against people of all faiths.

The spirit of Ramadan, which lasts this year through Aug. 7, can serve as a positive force to bring people together and a powerful reminder of the common humanity that all people share. Muslim communities collect donations to aid those in need around the world. Campus groups at universities in the United States hold “fast-athons” in which students of all faiths fast together to raise money for charity.

In recent years, as Muslim communities have dealt with hateful depictions and inflammatory actions, American interfaith coalitions have come together to strongly reject such bigotry. It is this backdrop that makes the reported Ramadan release of the television drama “Khaiber” in some Muslimmajority countries particularly disturbing.

The new drama purports to provide a historical account of the Prophet Muhammad and the Arabian-Jewish town of Khaiber. But its producer has said that “the goal of the series is to expose the naked truth about the Jews and stress that they cannot be trusted.” The series also will reportedly focus “on the social, economic and religious characteristics of the Jews, including politics and conspiracies and how they dominate and control tribes.”

Rather than emphasizing Muhammad’s efforts to establish peaceful relations among religious communities, “Khaiber” does just the opposite. And it does so at a time when a number of religious groups, including Christians, face discrimination and violence in countries where the series will air.

Communities that were outraged at negative depictions of Islam must condemn this divisive and anti-Semitic effort.

They should also understand

“...the goal of the series is to expose the naked truth about the Jews and stress that they cannot be trusted.”

that in many ways, this type of programming is also a disservice to Muslims and the legacy of the prophet. While censorship is not the answer, communities must come forward to counter such depictions with more informed views to prevent the spread of stereotypes and hatred that can dehumanize entire groups of people.

In May, I joined imams from around the world on a visit to the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration and death camps.

As we toured the area in shock of the horrors that we saw, one imam commented, “Whether in Europe today or in the Muslim world, my call to humanity: End racism for God’s sake, end sexism for God’s sake. Enough is enough.”

Addressing Holocaust denial is an important step, and I raise this issue when I travel to meet government and civil society leaders in Muslim countries.

Efforts also must be made to ensure that textbooks and television programming in the Muslim world are free from the types of dehumanizing ideas and images that breed intolerance and hate.

In doing so, honest and courageous voices must step forward, particularly during Ramadan, to condemn not only negative depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, but also a television series that uses a slanted historical narrative of his life as a facade for sowing discord, division and hatred.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Do you have something to say? E-mail your letter to editor@americanisraelite.com

Dear Editor, The flurry of news articles about Anthony Weiner, a candidate for New York City mayor sending more sexting messages plus numerous sexual harrassment charges against San Diego Mayor Bob Filmore and Elliot Spitzer, a former New York Governor campaigning for New York City Controller, who was involved with escorts, surfaces several questions.

Is it coincidental that three Jewish politicians demonstrated inappropriate behavior? Is that the result of their assimilation and narcissism? Let psychologists,psychiatrists and rabbis decide.

Should these individuals hold public office? Let the voters of

their communities decide.

What characteristics should we look for in a candidate when we vote? That is something for us to reflect upon and to determine.

Most people appear to vote primarily on the basis of political party, religious affiliation or celebrity status. Jewish teachings can help guide us on who to vote for.

Moses demonstrated courage, humility, patience, responsibility and wisdom. Hillel taught (Avos 2:5) "Do not separate yourself from the community". Tosofat (12th c commentary on Mishnah) Sanhedrin 7:1 “One who is wise, humble and fearful of sin may be made a community leader".

Menahem Mendel of Kotzk(18th c Hasidic Master) "A Leader must

not think G-d chose him for greatness". Rabbi Israel Salander(18101883) "A person should put one's house together, then the town and then the world". We can also glean from the writings of Dr. Hal Lewis, former Cincinnatian and a Jewish educator, the essential characteristics of a good leader – an individual who will not abuse power, one who shares power and does not hoard it and one who will serve the people.

Those who vote and those who aspire to public office can learn much from Jewish teachings.

Sincerely, Bob Schneider Cincinnati, Ohio

Schools fail to ensure presence of factual material to teach about the Middle East

By Steven Stotsky JointMedia News Service Controversy continues to simmer in the upscale Boston suburb of Newton over the use of biased and substandard instructional materials to teach students about the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. Recently, the town spared no expense renovating one of its high schools at a cost of $200 million. But Newton’s commitment to its schools has not translated into ensuring that factually accurate material is used to teach students about the Middle East.

The controversy began two years ago when a parent, looking over his daughter’s reading assignment, discovered a handout that accused Israeli soldiers of abusing and murdering imprisoned Palestinian women. The selection came from a textbook called The Arab World Studies Notebook. This textbook had already been exposed for its advocacy of Islam and for making ludicrous claims – for example, that Muslim explorers discovered America and that Iroquois Indians had Muslim names. The outcry that followed prompted the school administration to remove it.

But that turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. A more widespread problem was revealed when it was learned that a leader in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel had given a seminar to history teachers on teaching about the Middle East. Soon, more evidence of inaccurate and anti-Israel materials used in the schools came to light.

Last November, in an attempt to head off the controversy, the vice

chairman of the Newton School Committee published an op-ed in local papers offering reassurance that anti-Israel materials were not systematically used in Newton schools. He denounced town residents who had raised the issue for engaging in “McCarthyesque” tactics, and added, “Does it really sound plausible that for years virtually everyone has unknowingly been the victim of the teaching of such horrible material?”

Sadly, the most recent batch of handouts used in the 10th-grade honors class offers new evidence of a continuing problem. It contains a timeline titled “POV: History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” that purports to cover both “An Israeli Perspective” and “A Palestinian Perspective.” It was compiled in 2001 by a young intern with no apparent expertise on the subject.

The author thanked Professor Mark LeVine of University of California, Irvine for reviewing the document. LeVine is an agitator against Israel who publishes on the English website of Al Jazeera. In a guest column in The Huffington Post on Jan. 13, 2009, he likened Hamas’s fight against Israel in Gaza to “the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.” LeVine contended that Israelis have an “addiction” to violence and suffer from “collective mental illness.”

The timeline ignores the religious and ideological component of Arab rejection of the Jewish state.

For example, the only reason given for the Arab rejection of the United Nations partition resolution in November 1947 is that the Arabs “considered the proposal unrepre-

sentative of the demographic distribution of Jews and Arabs living in Palestine.” There is no discussion of the religion-sanctioned rejection of the Jewish state, or of Palestinian leader Haj Amin Al Husseini’s use of religious and racial bigotry to inflame Arab sentiment against the Jews.

An accompanying class discussion guide called “Class notes for Israel Palistine (sic) (Student & Teacher Discussion)” also dismisses the religious component, stating, “This is a conflict over land.” What lies behind the downplaying of the religious component is an attempt to cast Israel as a neo-colonial state usurping the land of the indigenous population. This narrative, fashionable among anti-Israel academics, designates the Arabs as indigenous people while denying that status to the Jews whose continuous history on the land goes much further back.

The class guide asserts, “Jewish nationalism (Zionism) and Palestinian nationalism seek essentially the same goal: a state that can provide security, economic opportunity, and a connection to a land.”

This feigned evenhanded approach promotes a falsehood, for both the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Hamas charters call for the dismantling of the Jewish state.

An accurate recounting of Palestinian nationalism shows that opposition to the Jewish state came first, while the demand for a Palestinian Arab state emerged only later.

Newton students should read the works of distinguished scholars.

SCHOOLS on page 22

JEWISH LIFE • 17

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013

SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT REEH DEUTERONOMY 11:26-16:17

Sedra of the Week

“...custom is determined by local populations, and community discipline demands uniformity in matters of communal conduct.”

by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin EFRAT, Israel – ‘You [Israel] are the children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves and do not place a bald spot between your eyes…”

(Deuteronomy 14:1-2).

One of the great thrills of living in the State of Israel is the extraordinary mix of Jews from around the world.

On any given day, I can find myself sitting in synagogue with Jews from Morocco, Ethiopia, Russia, Britain and the United States. It’s not only a geographical mix; our country is blessed with Jews from every possible branch of Jewish philosophy, from the most secular through the Religious Zionists, Lithuanians and Hasidim.

But plurality can also create tensions. Every day, we witness the struggle as different groups vie for control of the soul of the Jewish State.

Last year, Israelis witnessed the battles over mixed seating on busses, this year the country has been consumed by tensions over women’s prayer services at the Western Wall and whether Ultra-Orthodox Jews should be conscripted into the Israeli army.

All of these battles are culminating in the discussions over selecting the next Chief Rabbis of Israel – will they be Ultra-Orthodox or Religious Zionists or Modern Orthodox? And at the end of the day, the differences make for a fascinating montage of

varied colors, textures, sounds and tastes – as long as each respects and never attempts to delegitimize the other!

The Sifrei interprets the verse quoted above from this week’s parsha that “You are the children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves” as follows: “Do not make cuts on your body, and do not make factions (different splits regarding halakhic attitudes) on your body politic.” The Hebrew “titgodedu” from the root verb “gud” or “guz” may mean slices or splits on the skin, or – alternatively – from the noun gedud, which means a separate unit or a split-off-faction.

Hence, the Talmud (Yevamot 14a) prohibits two different Religious Courts with opposing halakhic rulings in the same locality.

Maimonides’ formulation of this issue provides important clarity: “Within the rubric of this ruling (not to make cuts) is that there not be established two different courts within one city when one court may rule in one way regarding a certain custom and another court may rule in another way regarding that custom” (Laws of Idolatry 12:14). Maimonides prohibits two different courts from ruling differently about local customs; he would not prohibit two different courts from ruling differently about a halakhic prohibition (this in accordance with Rabbi Yohanan, B.T.

Yevamot ibid).

As Rav Kapah explains in his Commentary on Maimonides, custom is determined by local populations, and community discipline demands uniformity in matters of communal conduct. Precedent is the determining factor, with logic or conscience playing no role.

Halakha is very different; if one rabbi believes that a specific view in halakha is the correct interpretation, then he cannot be expected to concede his opinion. Here intellectual honesty and halakhic integrity are at stake; and since each opposing view is rooted in differing interpretations of the same fundamental Torah, that underlying unity does not insist upon uniformity, and permits room for differences of opinion even in the very same city.

And even when communal custom and conduct are concerned, if the customs hark back to differing geographical origins – such as Sefardi and Ashkenazi – all decisors permit separate Sefardi and Ashkenazi courts of law in the same city, despite our portion’s prohibition.

Consider a case in point: Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv was a Torah scholar of gargantuan proportions and a leader of the Ultra-Orthodox world.

But he was a man of the Book, the Torah Book, the Talmud Book; he SEDRA on page 19

T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: DEVARIM 11:26 – 16:17

2. How is he judged? a.) Like any other person b.) No requirement of two witnesses c.) Not to find leniency 3. How is a city that worships idols judged? a.) Killed by sword and their property burned b.) Killed by stoning and their property donated to the poor c.) Sent into exile and their property stays at home

4. How is the punishment viewed for said city in question three? a.) Straight b.) Avenging Hashem's honor c.) Restoring Hashem's mercy d.) Remembering the covenant with the Patriarchs 5. With whom should one celebrate the festivals? a.) His family b.) Levi c.) Servants d.) Orphan e.) All of the above

2. C 13:9 3. A 13:16,17 Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise

ANSWERS 1. C 13:7

1. Who is considered a person who “entices” another to sin? a.) To transgress any of the 613 commandments b.) To transgress any of the 365 negative commandments c.) To transgress the prohibition of idolatry

LITTLE KNOWN CINCINNATI FACTS Where is the founder of Grey Goose and Jagermeister buried?

Sidney Frank (1919-2006) married Louise Rosenstiel and joined her father’s business Schenley Industries. Frank’s wife died in 1973 and he went on to found his own, very successful business in New York.

In 2004 he gave Brown University $100 million, its largest gift at that time, to ensure that no student would be forced to leave Brown, as he had, for the inability to pay tuition. He is buried with his wife in JCGC’s Walnut Hills Cemetery.

This quiz provided by Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati.

4. A,C 13:18,19 5. E 16:11,14

18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ

JEWZ

IN THE

By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist Royal Notes (Or Perhaps Much Ado About Nothing) Don’t believe an e-mail going around the Jewish community that Kate Middleton has Jewish ancestry. Yes, Michael Cole, a former BBC correspondent, did write a published letter to the London Times claiming that she has Jewish ancestry on her mother’s side and that is the source of this email (the names “Myers” and “Goldsmith” are in her family tree, lending plausibility to Cole’s claim). However, on June 20, the leading Jewish paper in the UK addressed this issue. Here’s an excerpt: “It’s nonsense” [Cole’s letter] said DOREEN BERGER, the chairman of the Jewish Genealogy Society. “I have been researching Kate Middleton’s ancestry since it looked like she was getting engaged to Prince William. “I’ve looked back as far as it’s possible to look back and she doesn’t have a Jewish link at all – it’s just not true. I’m 100 per cent sure.” She added that Mr. Cole was “Confused. The names – Myers and Goldsmith – are shared by non-Jews as well as Jews. Carole Middleton’s ancestors were a coal miner and a carpenter and they were not from Jewish areas.” Ms. Berger said her research was definitive but she acknowledged that it would not prevent people clinging to the idea that Prince William had married an authentically Jewish princess. “I don’t know where it came from but it keeps coming up.” Berger said.

“It’s a hard rumor to stop.”'

Yes, royal princes up to and including Prince Charles were circumcised since Queen Victoria’s day (some sources say since George I, 1714-1727). Charles and his brothers’ procedures were done by a prominent British rabbi.

It’s unclear if Princes Harry and William were circumcised. It’s my guess that the Palace will neither confirm nor deny whether the newborn Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge is/will be circumcised.

When Will and Kate got married in 2011, I wrote that many Brit papers were labeling SAM WALEY-COHEN the “royal matchmaker” and I guess he deserves some credit for Prince George’s existence. WaleyCohen, now 30, is a great friend of the couple. He invited them to a 2007 party at his family’s mansion. Will and Kate, then brokenup, re-united romantically at this party.

Waley-Cohen is a top amateur steeple chase jockey and the Royals share his enthusiasm for

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the sport. His (Jewish) father and paternal grandfather were knighted and his (Jewish) mother’s father is a baron. By the way, Waley-Cohen got a great seat at the couple’s wedding.

Funny sidelights: Tony Appleton, the “town crier” in 18th century costume who appeared before the hospital where Prince George was born, and loudly announced the Prince’s birth, was a “crasher.” He was not sent by the Palace as the police and most news media first believed. He does work as a town crier in a suburban town and, the “Daily Mail” reports, works as a “toastmaster” at “weddings, birthdays, and bar mitzvahs.” No doubt, for the right money, you could import him to work your kid’s “royal themed” bar mitzvah.

On July 24, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report,” posited the theory that William and Kate must be enormous “Seinfeld” fans. Why? Well, Colbert said, “George” could be named after the character “George Costanza.” The new prince’s first middle name, “Alexander,” could be in honor of JASON ALEXANDER, 53, who played Costanza. The prince’s second middle name, “Louis,” could be in honor of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played “Seinfeld” character Elaine.

Colbert finished up by quipping that “like Seinfeld,’ the English royal family is really about nothing.“ Cohen Drops Out SACHA BARON COHEN, 41, has reportedly decided not to play Freddie Mercury, the late lead singer of the famous band “Queen” in a planned bio-pic about Mercury. Sources claim he had creative differences with the surviving members of the band. I think it’s a shame: there is a physical resemblance and I think Baron Cohen could have captured Mercury’s charismatic stage presence. Besides, there was something right about a Jew playing a Zoroastrian. Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, was born into a Zoroastrian family.

Zoroastrianism is the ancient monotheistic religion of Persia and it is believed to have influenced ancient Judaism. Like Jews, most Zoroastrians are well-educated, law-abiding, and fairly prosperous. Again, like Jews, they have been the subject of persecution in Iran and elsewhere and this has had an effect on their numbers. They now number no more than 200,000 worldwide. The most famous other Zoroastrian is conductor Zubin Mehta, 77, the music director for life of the Israeli Philharmonic.

FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO DETROIT, Mich.

WANTED – By the congregation Shaarey Zedek a Hazan and Teacher. who is capable of giving thorough instruction in German and Hebrew. Salary 500–600 dollars per annum. Applicants must have good testimonials, and must especially be well versed in the German language.

It is desirable that candidate apply before Sept. 1st.

TITUSVILLE, Pa. WANTED – By the congregation of Titusville, Pa., a gentlemen competent to act as Teacher and Shochet, to be able at teaching Hebrew, English and German.

Salary 600 per annum. Good references are necessary. Address Jacob Straus, Titusville, Pa. WANTED – A young man or two well versed in the Retail Clothing business. – August 14, 1863

125 Y EARS A GO Cincinnati is about to lose one of its brightest and most promising young men in the deperature of Mr. Max B. May, son of Ben May, Esq., the well known Pearl Street merchant, who for the last eighteen years has been Secretary of Talmud Yelodim Institute. Mr. M B. May will make Chattanooga, Tenn., his future home, taking a position on the Daily Times, and will enter upon journalism as a profession. He has taken the complete public school course of this city, beginning in the primary grade of the district school and graduating successively from Woodward High School and McMicken University. He has also taken one year at the Cincinnati Law School. He is a native of Cincinnati and is twenty-two years of age.

There are few young men who are better or more favorably known in Cincinnati than Max May. He is a young man of sterling character and exemplary habits. From childhood he has been an earnest student, especially of English literature and American history, with a decided preference for its purely political side. His taste for a journalistic career was almost born with him and he has been more or less familiar with the making of newspapers all his life. He built up the McMicken Review after others had attempted it and failed, and was the acknowledged leader of the class of 1888. – August 3, 1888

100 Y EARS A GO The betrothal has been announced of Rabbi Isaac Landman, son of Dr. and Mrs. Louis Landman, 3455 Whitfield avenue, Clifton, to Miss Beatrice Eschner, daughter of

Mr. and Mrs. Louis Eschner, 2004 N. Park avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. Rabbi Landman is a graduate of Hebrew Union College (1906) and has been associated with Dr. Jos. Krauskopf in Kenesseth Israel Congregation, Philadelphia, ever since. Rabbi Landman is the founder of the Clarion Jewish Colony in Utah, and is the author of two plays, “The Redemption” and “A Man of Honor.” Miss Eschner is a gifted young woman, a graduate of Cornell, where she went on a scholarship from the Philadelphia Normal School, making a four years’ course in three and finishing with a Phi Beta Kappa. – July 31, 1913

75 Y EARS A GO A capacity crowd is expected to attend the 26th annual Price Hill Beth Jacob picnic Sunday, Aug. 21st, at Lauterbach Grove, according to Joseph M. Rheins, Chairman.

The program will include wrestling matches and baseball. A kosher meal at nominal prices will be served.

Honorary officers include: Judge Alfred Mack, William Benham, William H. Deddens, Aaron Grad, Wilbur Apking, Dudley Outcalt, Fred Sperber, William Hess, Joseph Hoodin and Ben Schwartz.

Mr. and Mrs. Louis Effron, Mrs. Frank Chesley, Sam Gertzman and Mrs. Herman Kaplan are members of the grounds committee.

Directions to the picnic grounds follow: Take Elberon Avenue street car No. 32 to Eighth Street and Pedretti Avenue, where free buses will take you to Picnic Grounds.

FOR THOSE DRIVING: Follow Elberon Avenue car line to Pedretti Avenue and follow arrows to picnic grounds.

Phil Harris and orchestra will play in Moonlite Gardens at Coney Island Friday evening, Aug. 12th.

Radio fans have heard them many times with Jack Benny. The band is one of the most popular in the country. – August 11, 1938

50 Y EARS A GO Dr. Miriam K. Freund, immediate past president of Hadassah, will speak at the luncheon meeting of Hadassah Monday, Aug. 26, at Losantiville Country Club.

The meeting is sponsored by Hadassah and the Women’s Division, State of Israel Bonds.

It will honor Mrs. Jonas Benet, former chairman of the Bonds division and past president of Hadassah here.

The luncheon also will celebrate redemption of the first Israel Bonds purchased 12 years ago.

Dr. Freund returned recently

from Israel, where she attended the actions meeting in Jerusalem. She was elected Hadassah president in 1956 and re–elected in 1957, 1958 and 1959.

Since 1960 she has been national bonds chairman for Hadassah and chairman for the Chagall Exhibit. – August 1, 1963

25 Y EARS A GO Ronald H. Fegelman, M.D., August 2, 1931 – August 2, 1988.

Throughout is life, Dr. Fegelman made significant contributions both personally and professionally. The Jewish Hospital lost a dedicated surgeon with his sudden death.

Warren C. Falberg, president and CEO of Jewish Hospital said, “Ronald Fegelman represented the kind of medicine and ethics that will stand out for all time. He embodied the best in medicine and in his leadership ability.”

Dr. Fegelman earned his degrees from the University of Cincinnati; completed his surgical residency at University Hospital; and joined the Jewish Hospital medical staff in 1965.

For all his professional accomplishments and affiliations, Dr. Fegelman was awarded The Jewish Hospital’s highest honor, the William A. Friedlander Award.

Under the chairmanship of Jane Weil and Helen Fabe, the Cincinnati Chapter of The American Jewish Committee is running a series of membership recruitment parlor meetings.

According to Fabe and Weil, the first membership event took place July 25, at the home of Steven and Julie Cohen Shifman. Chapter members invited prospective members to learn more about the human relations agency and its work nationally and in Cincinnati. – August 11, 1988

10 Y EARS A GO Michael Fisher often speaks of Cincinnati’s economic and political issues, but the president of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce used the Cincinnati chapter of the American Jewish Committee’s July 22 annual meeting to urge local AJC members to become part of the answer.

“There’s a false division between city and suburb,” Fisher said at Terwilliger’s Lodge in Montgomery. “We’re naive to think what happens in the city doesn’t matter.”

Despite the negative press the city receives, Fisher said there is reason to be hopeful in the future. Local business executives are stepping up and becoming community leaders, showing interest in Cincinnati’s long–term viability, Fisher said. – August 7, 2003

COMMUNITY CALENDAR / CLASSIFIEDS • 19

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013

COMMUNITY CALENDAR August 1 to 4 Camp at the J: Quest Overnight at Camp Livingston Camp Livingston (513) 722 - 7258 August 8 6:30 p.m. – Access’ Schmooze for Twos – Couples Game Night Red Tree Gallery 3210 Madison Rd. (513) 373 - 0300 August 17 to 18 10 a.m. – Access’ The Great Escape Camp Livingston 4998 Nell Lee Rd. Benington, IN (513) 373 - 0300 August 19 7 a.m. – Cedar Village Golf Classic Heritage Club 6690 Heritage Club Dr. Mason, OH 45040 (513) 754 - 3100 August 25 5:30 p.m. – Voices of Humanity Hyatt Regency Cincinnati 151 W. 5th St. (513) 487 - 3091

August 28 7 p.m. – Access’ HeBREW Happy Hour Trivia Night Tin Roof 160 Freedom Way Suite #150 (513) 373 - 0300 August 29 6 p.m. – ‘Who Gets Promoted, Who Doesn’t and Why’ The Carnegie Center3738 Eastern Ave. (513) 936 - 9675 September 17 Peter Sagal Mayerson JCC 8485 Ridge Rd. (513) 722 -7226 October 9 5:30 p.m. - AJC Community Service Award honoring Jay Price Mayerson JCC 8485 Ridge Rd. (513) 621-4020

COMMUNITY DIRECTORY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS ORGANIZATIONS Access (513) 373-0300 • jypaccess.org Big Brothers/Big Sisters Assoc.

(513) 761-3200 • bigbrobigsis.org Camp Ashreinu (513) 702-1513 Camp at the J (513) 722-7258 • mayersonjcc.org Camp Chabad (513) 731-5111 • campchabad.org Camp Livingston (513) 793-5554 • camplivingston.com Cedar Village (513) 754-3100 • cedarvillage.org Chevra Kadisha (513) 396-6426 Cincinnati Community Kollel (513) 631-1118 • kollel.shul.net Cincinnati Community Mikveh (513) 351-0609 • cincinnatimikveh.org Eruv Hotline (513) 351-3788 Fusion Family (513) 703-3343 • fusionnati.org Halom House (513) 791-2912 • halomhouse.com Hillel Jewish Student Center (Miami) (513) 523-5190 • muhillel.org Hillel Jewish Student Center (UC) (513) 221-6728 • hillelcincinnati.org Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati 513-961-0178 • jcemcin.org Jewish Community Center (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org Jewish Community Relations Council (513) 985-1501 Jewish Family Service (513) 469-1188 • jfscinti.org Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (513) 985-1500 • shalomcincy.org Jewish Foundation (513) 214-1200 Jewish Information Network (513) 985-1514 JVS Career Services (513) 936-WORK (9675) • cincinnaticareer.net Kesher (513) 766-3348 Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund (513) 793-2556

Shalom Family (513) 703-3343 • myshalomfamily.org The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education (513) 487-3055 • holocaustandhumanity.org Vaad Hoier (513) 731-4671 Workum Fund (513) 899-1836 • workum.org YPs at the JCC (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org CONGREGATIONS Adath Israel Congregation (513) 793-1800 • adath-israel.org Beit Chaverim (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Beth Israel Congregation (513) 868-2049 • bethisraelcongregation.net Congregation Beth Adam (513) 985-0400 • bethadam.org Congregation B’nai Tzedek (513) 984-3393 • btzbc.com Congregation Ohav Shalom (513) 489-3399 • ohavshalom.org Congregation Ohr Chadash (513) 252-7267 • ohrchadashcincinnati.com Congregation Sha’arei Torah shaareitorahcincy.org Congregation Zichron Eliezer 513-631-4900 • czecincinnati.org Golf Manor Synagogue (513) 531-6654 • golfmanorsynagogue.org Isaac M. Wise Temple (513) 793-2556 • wisetemple.org Kehilas B’nai Israel (513) 761-0769 Northern Hills Synagogue (513) 931-6038 • nhs-cba.org Rockdale Temple (513) 891-9900 • rockdaletemple.org Temple Beth Shalom (513) 422-8313 • tbsohio.org Temple Sholom (513) 791-1330 • templesholom.net The Valley Temple (513) 761-3555 • valleytemple.com EDUCA EDUCATION Chai Tots Early Childhood Center (513) 234.0600 • chaitots.com

Chabad Blue Ash (513) 793-5200 • chabadba.com Cincinnati Hebrew Day School (513) 351-7777 • chds.shul.net HUC-JIR (513) 221-1875 • huc.edu JCC Early Childhood School (513) 793-2122 • mayersonjcc.org Kehilla - School for Creative Jewish Education (513) 489-3399 • kehilla-cincy.com Mercaz High School (513) 792-5082 x104 • mercazhs.org Kulanu (Reform Jewish High School) 513-262-8849 • kulanucincy.org Regional Institute Torah & Secular Studies (513) 631-0083 Rockwern Academy (513) 984-3770 • rockwernacademy.org Sarah’s Place (513) 531-3151 • sarahsplacecincy.com Yeshivas Lubavitch High School of Cincinnati 513-631-2452 • ylcincinnati.com ORGANIZATIONS 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 (937) 886-9566 • 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

DO YOU WANT TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED? Send an e-mail including what you would like in your classified & your contact information to

business@ americanisraelite.com or call Erin at 621-3145

SEDRA from page 17 had little time for, or interest in, people. His wife greatly praises him for his commitment to the Book, explaining that he couldn’t be interrupted from study even if the issue was a family crisis. His daughter was in total awe of her father’s devotion to God’s Words, and understood that he had little time to spend with his children. At most, they could silently accompany him on his Shabbat afternoon sunset walk, when the darkness at home precluded him from studying at his desk.

His major context was subservience to the law and maintenance of the purity of Israel; in consequence, his decisions regarding women in desperate need of a get were stringent, rarely, if ever, permitting the Religious Court to coerce a bill of divorcement from an unwilling husband.

Rav A.Y. HaKohen Kook, on the other hand, insisted that the Book must be an expression of the heart, the heart of the nation of Israel, the heart of the people of Israel (Eulogy, “On CLASSES from page 3 additional fee).

“My son is so excited for the fall session at the JCC. He loves watching soccer and t-ball and can’t wait to be a little Blue Jay. I’m really grateful they are providing a healthy snack option. It makes my afterwork experience so much easier. I’m not sure which JCC class to enroll him in first; soccer, t-ball or swimming!” said Coleman Kane of Northside.

For families looking for excellent afterschool childcare, the JCC is also expanding its After Crew program.

From swimming and dance, to art and athletics, this popular K-7 program combines the highest quality afterschool enrichment with the best

REBUILD from page 4 congregation recognizes after the tornado that “it could have been us.”

“We are grateful there was no loss of life,” he said. “We pray they are able to rebuild [at Ursuline].”

“The relationship between the Catholic Church and the commu-

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Up to 24 hour care Meal Preparation Errands/Shopping Hygiene Assistance Light Housekeeping

(513) 531-9600 our Altars Lay the Corpses”). The Talmud therefore provides many leniencies in freeing women from impossible marital situations, clearly stating that, “for the sake of freeing an agunah, we must bend the law to even accept the testimony of a Gentile.”

Halakhic conscience insists that we Religious Zionists not be subservient to many of the halakhic dicta of the ultra-Orthodox. Halakhic unity insists that we all unite behind the same Torah and Talmud. Halakhic conscience impels us to have different celebrations each with its unique interpretations; halakhic unity inspires us all, every day, to remain on the same page of the Talmud, realizing that, “these and these are the words of the living God” (Eruvin 13b) and that there are many legitimate – even if differing – paths to approach the Divine Throne of the Almighty.

Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi – Efrat Israel of what the J has to offer, including a gym and pool plus a full array of classes for kids who want to stay active and engaged. No other afterschool program in the area offers a state-of-the-art facility with so many amenities! After Crew at the J is offered Monday through Friday after school until 6 p.m., and features free shuttle bus service from many neighboring schools. There’s also homework help, healthy snacks, sports and games, and new this fall… private piano lessons!

Space is limited and classes fill up quickly, so early registration is suggested. For more information about fall registration and the After Crew program, contact information for the JCC is listed in the community directory in the back of this issue. nity and the Catholic Church and the synagogues is a very strong relationship,” Weiss added.

“Ursuline has a strong relationship with the Jewish community.

We feel their pain.”

This story was originally published by the Cleveland Jewish News

20 • LEGALLY SPEAKING

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Choosing Judges in Ohio: Time for Some Changes?

Legally Speaking

by Marianna Bettman As I’m sure you all know, Ohio elects all of its judges – from Municipal Court to the Ohio Supreme Court. Why? Our state constitution has required this since 1851. And all judicial terms are six years. Presently, the only requirement to become a judge is to have practiced law in Ohio for six years, and the meaning of “practice” has at times been quite liberally construed.

There is regular grumbling about electing judges, particularly in light of the unseemly amount of cash that now goes into judicial races. People tell me all the time they have no idea who they are voting for in many cases. And yet, people are also reluctant to give up the right to vote in any kind of election.

Like many states, Ohio has a number of quirks about its judicial elections. One of the quirkiest is Ohio has partisan primaries for judges, followed by non-partisan elections. The whole shooting match used to be partisan, but judicial general elections became nonpartisan in Ohio in 1911. By law, all the non-partisan races come after all of the partisan races. So the judicial races are at the very end of the ballot. And they aren’t even first on the non-partisan ballot. They follow state school board elections. Why? Because the legislature passed a law setting the order of the non-partisan ballot. This has resulted in what is known as fall-off in the judicial races. People don’t bother going all the way to the end, especially when they don’t recognize any of the names. Studies have shown that as many as 25% of the voters just skip these elections.

Judicial elections used to be hohum affairs because judges aren’t supposed to say much except they will judge each case fairly and impartially. But due to some U.S. Supreme Court decisions, that restriction has been loosened up.

Ohio’s late Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer became increasingly troubled by judicial elections – particularly by the negative advertising and the huge amount of money involved. He favored merit selection, at least for appellate

judges and supreme court justices, as an alternative way of choosing judges. Under that system, which was started in Missouri, and is used in a number of states, a lawyer is initially appointed to judicial office, then runs in a retention election, where there is no opponent, and voters decide whether or not to retain that person as a judge. Merit selection for Ohio has been floated a number of times in the past, always unsuccessfully. Moyer had planned to spend his time and focus in retirement on this issue, but died unexpectedly, shortly before the end of his term.

Our present Chief Justice, Maureen O’Connor, is taking a different tack. She has abandoned the merit-selection alternative favored by her predecessor, because she thinks the voters don’t want it.

Instead, at this year’s annual meeting of the Ohio State Bar Association, she made an eightpoint proposal, formulated as a series of questions, that she suggests be aired in a series of discussions around the state, ultimately culminating in an action plan. Here are her questions, with a few thoughts of my own 1. Should Ohio change the law so judicial races are no longer listed at the end of the ballot?

I think this is an excellent idea, and would require an amendment to the existing law. This should help with the fall-off problem.

2. Should all judicial elections be held in odd-numbered years?

Judicial races are now held every year, so some (municipal court) are already in odd-numbered years. But common pleas, appellate, and supreme court judicial races are in even-numbered years, and must compete with elections for things like president, senator, governor, attorney general, and members of Congress. That contributes to the fall off problem. But I’m not sure this suggestion is a good idea. Wisconsin, which has such a system, now has one of the most contentious courts in the country. It’s almost as if this encourages too much attention, in a bad way.

3. Should Ohio centralize & expand its civic education programming and institute a judicial voter guide?

Absolutely. This one is a nobrainer. Arizona has an excellent model for this. And I applaud the Court for allowing cameras in the courtroom, including at the Ohio Supreme Court. It is amazing how much a voter can pick up simply by watching a proceeding.

4. Should Ohio eliminate party affiliation on the ballot in judicial primaries?

I think it is absolutely time to do

this. It just no longer makes any sense. There is, however, a whole school of thought that favors making all judicial elections partisan, believing that the non-partisan ballot for judges is a fiction anyway, since most, if not all the candidates are endorsed by a political party, their names appear on the party’s sample ballot, and they receive money from political parties.

Personally, I still favor the non-partisan judicial ballot.

5. Should Ohio join the other states that have a formal, nonpartisan system for recommending nominees to the governor to fill judicial vacancies?

I think absolutely yes on this one. Former Governor Strickland used such a system, which I was privileged to chair for a couple of years. I think it encouraged outstanding lawyers to apply who would not have ordinarily, and greatly increased diversity on the bench. I was proud to be a part of this.

6. Should appointments to the Ohio supreme court require the advice and consent of the ohio senate?

I don’t like this one at all. I think it is an unnecessary intrusion into the separation of powers. It is not at all like the federal system, where confirmation is part of a lifetime appointment process. These interim appointments are short, and the voters have a say quickly. From 18031851, judges were appointed by the General Assembly. Some very bad stuff (like impeaching judges or eliminating their jobs for declaring laws unconstitutional) happened during that time.

7. Should Ohio increase the basic qualifications for serving as a judge?

I see no harm in requiring more experience at the appellate and Supreme Court level.

8. Should Ohio increase the length of judges' terms?

I think this warrants a hard look.

Wisconsin, for example, has just received a proposal for a single sixteen year term for Supreme Court justices. There’s good and bad here.

The bad is there would be no way at all short of impeachment to get rid of a bad judge. And I would imagine that first election could be a killer, exacerbating the worst of what we already have. The good is such a system would insulate judges from political pressure and spending time on fund-raising for re-election. This one needs a lot of thought.

I hope all my readers will think about these things, and make their opinions known in any area meetings on this topic.

Basic estate planning series What is probate and how can it be avoided?

DEFEND YOURSELF

by Michael Ganson Estate planning produces the documents providing for the care of a person during their lifetime, the transfer of assets upon death, and the guardianships of minors and incompetents. When faced with the task of estate planning, the first question many people ask is "What is probate? (And how can it be avoided?)."

Whether or not an asset belonging to a decedent will require probate depends on how the asset was held by the decedent at the time of death. There are basically two types of assets upon the death of an individual.

One type of assets are probate assets. Probate assets are assets held in the name of a decedent alone at death generally and which are transferred post death through a Probate Court proceeding either pursuant to the terms of the decedent's Will or under the intestacy laws of the decedent's state of residence at death if the decedent died without having previously executed a valid Will. Other examples of a probate asset is when the asset is titled as "tenants in common" where both the decedent's name and another's name are listed as owners of the asset without there being any specific provision set forth about what is supposed to happen to the asset at the time of death or when the asset is in the

MACCABIAH from page 10 the others are Canada and Israel – not countries known for their diamond prowess.

Meanwhile, the American nine had never lost in the quadrennial competition.

Few expected, however, that the U.S. would no-hit Canada twice – the first two no-nos in Maccabiah baseball history. The red, white and blue showed some prowess with the bats, too, beating the canucks 12-0 on Thursday and 14-0 this week.

name of the decedent AND the name of another using the conjunction AND as opposed to OR. The other type of assets are non-probate assets. Non-probate assets are assets which generally pass from the decedent to another by reason of contract via the manner in which an asset is titled. For instance, if the title of an asset is in "joint and survivorship", "payment (or payable) on death", "transfer on death", or where there is a beneficiary designation (usually in life insurance, IRAs, or other retirement assets). Another example of a non-probate asset is an asset held in trust by the decedent at the time of death. Assets titled in such a manner would usually be considered non-probate assets since they will transfer without having to go through the probate court administration process.

As a general rule, probate assets are those which require probate and assets such as those described above as non-probate assets are those which do not require a probate. Thus, probate can be avoided by putting the title of all assets in non-probate titles. However, is avoiding probate a good idea and the way to go in every instance? This question will be answered in the next installment.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide only general legal information and is not intended to be relied upon for specific legal issues or any particular legal matters. For specific legal issues or any particular legal matters, the reader is advised to consult with and secure the legal advice of an attorney of their choice.

The Americans’ fortunes have been more mercurial, though, in their games against Israel. The U.S. maintained its dominance with a 15-1 victory on Friday, but the home squad dealt a historic loss to the Americans, 5-3, on Tuesday.

On Friday, the U.S. will play for its anticipated gold. If the opponent is Canada, my money is on another shutout victory for the U.S. But if it’s Israel, all bets are off.

– Ben Sales

FIRST PERSON / BUSINESS • 21

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013

This year in Jerusalem This Year in Jerusalem

by Phyllis Singer This spring and summer in Jerusalem, I’ve had a totally new experience: visits from a cat—and not “The Cat in the Hat”! And for the sake of total disclosure, I must admit that I am not among the world’s cat-lovers. But that didn’t make any difference. Jerusalem (and much of Israel) has a problem with feral cats: They roam the streets scavenging, especially around the garbage cans. Our neighborhood has less than many others, but there still are plenty.

Some animal-rights organizations try to pick the cats up and neuter them in an attempt to lower the population, but it doesn’t seem to work too well.

My story began late May. One morning, I was sitting at the computer when out of the corner of my eye, I saw something running from the kitchen to the living room. I realized it was a cat; I screamed, ran after it and saw it run through an opening in the screen to the mirpesset (porch) and then jump off. I went to the kitchen and saw chicken bones that had been left in the garbage receptacle in the sink all over the floor.

BAR MITZVAH from page 10 ball pitcher who has competed in six Maccabiah Games, recited the Birkat Hagomel traditionally recited by those who have escaped harm.

In 2009, Blackburn was nearly killed in a car crash, an accident that claimed his right leg below the knee and broke 27 bones.

“I’ve lived to share this Maccabiah experience with you, my extended family,” Blackburn said from his wheelchair.

Greyber called the Maccabiah participants to the Torah in three groups, and as the last one ascended the podium, he called for attention.

“Everyone,” he said, “look at the miracle that is happening as the sun goes down over Jerusalem, as this group that has never been to Israel and never had a bar or bat mitzvah is having an aliyah for the first time.”

Then Blackburn’s nephew Landon stepped forward.

I began a thorough cleaning operation—rewashing everything that was on the countertop and then spraying and washing the counter, the table top and the floor with disinfectant spray. Then I went out on the mirpesset to see how the cat had managed to get up there. We live on the second floor of the building (“second floor” according to American figuring, but first floor Israeli since Israelis call the ground floor “ground floor” and not “first floor”).

I discovered that downstairs neighbors had erected a tarpaulin to create shade for their children playing outside, and the tarp ended under my mirpesset. The cat could jump from the tarp onto the mirpesset with no difficulty. And the cat had pushed the screen to make a side opening to enter the living room.

I wrote myself a note to be sure to close the mirpesset glass door every night before I went to bed and before I went out. But, of course, I had a senior moment and forgot to close it Friday night.

Saturday morning I went into the living room and found a pot holder on the floor. That’s not where I usually keep my pot holders! I searched every room with a broom until I was satisfied that the cat was not in the apartment; then I closed the door. Shabbat afternoon I was sitting at the table next to the door when I saw the cat sitting on the mirpesset ledge. It looked at me and then came over and stuck its head through the metal grate. It couldn’t come into the apartment because the glass door was closed.

Sunday, Hanan (Howie) and I went to buy a new screen door.

Next we went to a pet store to buy “My uncle,” he began, struggling through tears to get the words out, “is keeping me alive, and that’s all that matters.”

Landon Blackburn, a wrestler, said later that his uncle’s participation in the games is his most cherished aspect of the trip. His own father would not have permitted him to participate without his uncle’s influence, he said.

A native of La Porte, Ind., Landon, 18, said he grew up celebrating Jewish holidays, but as a rebellious child opted not to have a bar mitzvah.

“But all that did was make my life harder, that the weight of the world was on my shoulders,” he said. “I didn’t have anything to help me cope with the hardships of life.”

Having this bar mitzvah, Landon said, makes him feel “100 percent better about my outlook on life.”

The final blessing chanted, Greyber led the singing of “Siman Tov” as candies were

some cat repellent. I didn’t want to kill the cat; I just wanted to keep it off the mirpesset. We came home, installed the new screen door and spread cat repellent around the edges of the mirpesset. It worked for a few days, but then I saw another cat climbing on the grate by the door. And my next-door neighbor told me a cat had been on his window sill trying to open the window. His window is right off the edge of my mirpesset.

The downstairs neighbors with the tarpaulin don’t speak English, and I don’t speak Hebrew well enough to have a conversation about the cat with them. So I decided I had to wait for Hanan to talk to them. Meanwhile, the cat would occasionally return to the mirpesset ledge, a day or two after I spread the repellent. So I began to spread the repellent every day. But I had learned a trick from the pet store owner. Cats hate water. He told me to spray the cat with water, and it will run away. Sure enough! The next time I saw the cat I opened the door and spritzed it, and it ran away—jumping down onto the tarp!

Every day I spread new repellent, and the cat(s) did not return.

However, I could see one or two snoozing on the tarp. This went on for more than a month. However, last week I began to smell a strange, noxious odor. It was not from my apartment, so it had to be coming from outside. Friday, I heard someone working outside, and when I looked out, I saw that the tarp had been cut down, and the smell was gone. The cat had died!

Hopefully, the neighbors have learned their lesson and will not put up another tarp to attract more cats.

Hopefully, the cat will not come back! tossed onto the podium and participants wiped tears. Members of the two rugby teams leapt from their front-row chairs and posed near the stone wall overlooking the hills. Some did a jig in the seating area.

Greyber offered another song, and then another. Tisha b’Av was just about over, but the celebration wasn’t. Athletes jumped onto the podium to pose with their rabbi, who offered one last thought to those milling about.

“We are blessed to be here together,” Greyber said. “I have no idea what great and amazing things will come from this moment, but I am sure that within you is the infinity of God’s goodness.”

Rosener emerged fulfilled.

“I was in the moment, surrounded by other people, saying the blessing. I felt complete,” he said. “Something was added that had been missing from my life.”

Goldstein named as new board chair for Hospice of Cincinnati Edwin (Eddie) Goldstein has been named incoming chairperson of the Hospice of Cincinnati Board of Trustees effective June 2013. He replaces outgoing chair Margie Namie, Divisional Vice President of Quality at Mercy Health, whose term began in 2011.

Eddie’s involvement with Hospice of Cincinnati began in 2006 as a board member of Hospice of Hamilton, an affiliate of Hospice of Cincinnati. He currently chairs the Community Resource Development Committee and was past chair of the Marketing Committee. Eddie joined the Board of Trustees for Hospice of Cincinnati in 2008 and received Hospice of Cincinnati’s Donna West Memorial Volunteer Community Support Award that same year. Eddie is a current board member of HOC’s affiliate, Fernside and The Bethesda Foundation. Through his financial leadership Eddie and his wife Arlene helped establish the Goldstein Family Hospice of Cincinnati and Fernside Grief Center in 2011.

Eddie is president and second generation owner/operator of Harry’s Corner Flooring.

WALL from page 9 Aharoni hardly fits the profile of what one might expect of an activist opposed to the expansion of women’s rights at the Kotel.

Formerly a member of the liberal Orthodox Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, a New York congregation led by Rabbi Avi Weiss, Aharoni, a mother of six, has participated in women’s prayer groups and runs a company that fosters female entrepreneurship.

Her issue is not Jewish feminism, but decorum.

“This site has 1,700 years of tradition,” Aharoni said of the Western Wall. “It’s unthinkable for a small group to upset the tradition against the wishes of the overwhelming majority of worshipers. It doesn’t happen in the Vatican, in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, in Mecca or in Westminster Abbey. And it cannot happen here, either.”

As if to underscore that theirs is the majority view, Women for the Wall have joined in efforts to bring thousands of girls to the wall each Rosh Chodesh, when Women of the Wall gather to hold their service marking the beginning of the Hebrew month.

But Women for the Wall says it is not the primary catalyst for these shows of force. That distinction belongs to the haredi Orthodox leaders who have

Edwin Goldstein

Sandra Lobert, President and CEO of Hospice of Cincinnati stated: “Eddie will be an outstanding Board Chair for Hospice of Cincinnati. His passion for our mission lines up perfectly with our goal of providing the best possible and most meaningful end of life experience to all who need care and support in our community. Driven by his first hand experience with Hospice of Hamilton, we value Eddie’s commitment, and we look forward to continued success under his leadership.”

endorsed the initiative and asked Orthodox girls’ schools to send their students.

In May, thousands of girls filled the women’s section of the plaza and much of its larger back section. In July, they packed the women’s section again. Numbers were down significantly in June – a drop-off attributed variously to final exams at the girls’ seminaries and police allegedly blocking women from entering the plaza.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told JTA that the barriers set up in June were meant to ensure only that Women of the Wall exited the space safely, not to block worshippers.

Barring a court ruling or legislative change, the monthly race between the groups is likely to continue each Rosh Chodesh (the next one falls on Aug. 7). And though the two groups do occupy some common ground – both sides reject violence and support women’s activism – both are choosing to continue the fight, with one side singing and the other silent.

“I think they’re trailblazing,” Women of the Wall chairwoman Anat Hoffman said of Women for the Wall. “They’re women supporting the rabbis, but they’re expressing their opinions in the public square. We have our struggle and they have theirs, and God bless.”

22 • OBITUARIES

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

tionship with Brink’s mother, who had told the congressman that the model was his daughter. CNN reported last week, however, that a DNA test showed Cohen and Brink are not related.

Asked about the situation by a young female reporter, Cohen said, “You’re very attractive, but I’m not talking about it.” Cohen almost immediately sought out the reporter to apologize, saying he had not meant anything untoward.

“Been tough week, then this,” Cohen said in a tweet. “Sad 2 say I’m not perfect.”

Political observers attribute the various scandals to the same factors that have led other politicians into the halls of shame: arrogance, insularity and just plain loneliness.

“Anyone who wants to run for Congress has to be a little bit crazy, and that includes Jewish members of Congress,” said a longtime Capitol Hill staffer who has worked for a number of Jewish lawmakers – none tinged by scandal.

The perpetual fundraising, unfettered accolades from supporters and the rarity of staffers who push back

when a boss crosses the line insulate lawmakers from reality checks, according to a number of Hill staffers. The rigors of living one’s life under the constant glare of media scrutiny may also be a factor.

“When people are separated from their families for a long period of time, things occur that wouldn’t necessarily occur if your family was there,” said Robert Wexler, a former congressman who described his first months in Washington as hellish, eventually leading to his decision to move his family north so he could spend more time with them.

The move was not without a price. In 2008, Wexler came under fire when it was revealed he no longer maintained a residence in his Florida constituency.

“Eventually, your political opponent will claim you are of Washington,” he said.

Sex scandals have not always sounded the death knell for political careers.

Frank continued to serve in Congress for more than two decades after revelations that he patronized a male escort and then hired him as a

personal aide. Weiner is leading in several recent polls, and has never polled lower than second since declaring his candidacy in May. And Spitzer enjoys a commanding lead over his Democratic primary opponent, Scott Stringer, the Jewish Manhattan borough president.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Lewis said. “They have a lot of work to do, but if I go back and think about Jewish tradition, you are encouraged to give people another chance.”

But the scandals have certainly exacted a price. Barbara Goldberg Goldman, a leading Democratic fundraiser, said the Weiner scandal was a factor in her decision to fundraise for one of his opponents, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

“Because I am Jewish, because I am a Democrat and I am active in that arena, I see it as a tragedy” that Weiner and Spitzer are running again, Goldman said.

“There are many fine qualified candidates out there who do not come with the baggage,” she said.

“Find another day job. It’s chutzpah.”

Instead, students are exposed to the dogma peddled by anti-Israel activists at teacher workshops, to fringe academics or to error-prone pages pulled from the Internet. One such handout from a website called “Flashpoints” identified Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine (a non-existent state) and incorrectly labeled Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel (it’s actually Jerusalem).

The POV timeline typifies this agenda-driven approach. Students are told that in 1948, “Fighting breaks out between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbors,” and not that the surrounding Arab states attacked the

Jewish state on the day after it was formally recognized by a resolution of the United Nations.

The careful wording of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 to not require Israel to withdraw from all of the territories captured in the 1967 Six-Day War is described as only the English-language version.

The handout contends that altered versions in other languages are equally valid.

Students are told that “rightwing Israelis” call the West Bank “Judea and Samaria” – without being informed that the label “West Bank” originated with the Jordanian occupation from 1949 to 1967.

Palestinian terrorism is downplayed, while rare instances of Israeli

violence are highlighted. The first terrorist act inside Israel and the West Bank specifically mentioned is the 1994 attack on Palestinian worshipers by Baruch Goldstein. The murders of 37 Israelis in the coastal road massacre in March 1978 and of 26 Israeli schoolchildren and teachers in Ma’alot in May 1974 are not mentioned. Students are not told that while Goldstein is reviled in Israel, Palestinian perpetrators of terror attacks, like terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, are held up as role models to be emulated by Palestinian children.

Students are told that the Oslo Accords meant that the two sides “were no longer claiming that the other did not have the right to exist as

a state of peoples on that land.”

Students are not informed that at the Fatah Party Congress in 2009 participants cheered as Palestinian Authority officials vowed never to recognize the Jewish State and reaffirmed their commitment to armed struggle.

A complete and accurate account of the conflict should not be sacrificed on the altar of evenhandedness and the refusal to take sides. With all the upheaval in the Middle East and its impact on America, parents unfortunately cannot count on schools and town officials to ensure that accurate and quality instruction occurs.

Parents need to make their voices heard so that their children aren’t fed Pollyannaish revisions of reality.

Iraq and on aircraft carriers. But the rabbi decided to revamp the site for the concept of showing videos on Israel, because he wanted to help Israel and thought his interview subjects “were going to say positive things” to contribute to that cause.

In 2010, the first day the website was used for its new purpose didn’t quite go as planned, as the featured content was the Helen Thomas video – not exactly a positive take on Israel.

But what Nesenoff did get was widespread attention. The video helped RabbiLive.com garner half a million hits per day for about a month after it was posted, not to mention skyrocketing to a million hits on YouTube within one day, according to Nesenoff.

Nesenoff said the media “didn’t know what to do about” Thomas’s comments because “here’s this sweet old lady, and she’s saying these vile things about Jews going back to Germany.”

Over time, some came to understand Thomas’s statement that Jews should “get the hell of Palestine” as

referring to Jewish communities located beyond the pre-1967 lines, not all of Israel. But Nesenoff disputes that interpretation, explaining that if Thomas was okay with Jews remaining in parts of Israel, she would have said “go back to Tel Aviv” or Haifa.

“She said tell them to ‘get the hell out’ and ‘go back to Germany,’” Nesenoff said.

Thomas apologized for her remarks to Nesenoff shortly after the interview, saying, “I deeply regret the comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance.

May that day come soon.”

Yet it wouldn’t be the last time she uttered anti-Israel and anti-Semitic comments. Thomas went on to say that Zionists own the White House, Hollywood and Wall Street in an interview for Playboy magazine, in addition to similar comments in other interviews, Nesenoff noted.

The Helen Thomas interview is often a “jumper to get me to the topics I’m going to talk about,” Nesenoff said.

Nesenoff said the legacy of his 2010 interview with Thomas was that it “brought down that wall of ‘I’m anti-Israel, not anti-Jewish.’” National legislators, including U.S. Reps. Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Steve Chabot (ROH), took notice and in April 2012 wrote a letter to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas denouncing an award the PA gave Thomas.

“There is no other way to see [honoring Thomas] other than [as] legitimizing Hamas’ anti-Semitic statements,” Engel and Chabot wrote.

“There is a direct line running through Abbas’ meeting with the terrorist Amna Muna and the Palestinian bid at the [UN] Human Rights Council, and awarding a prize to a journalist who was shamefully expelled from the White House.”

At the time, Engel and Chabot also warned Abbas that the honor for

Thomas might hurt U.S. assistance to the PA due to the parameters of the Preparing the Palestinian People for Peace Act. “This legislation conditioned U.S. assistance on whether the PA was actively preparing its people for peace through compromise with messages of tolerance, understanding, and reconciliation,” the letter said, arguing that by honoring Thomas, the PA was undermining prospects for peace rather than preparing its people for it.

Although U.S. funding to the PA has never been abolished – only temporarily frozen at times – Nesenoff was happy to have at least been part of the conversation on the issue.

“Let me tell you something, I’m very proud of [the fact] that in some ways I might have helped to stop all funding to the Palestinian Authority,” Nesenoff told JNS.org.

“It’s the gift that keeps giving, this divine providence interview I did [with Thomas],” he said.

D EATH N OTICES

SCANDALS from page 5

KAUFMAN, Ivan age 71, died on July 23, 2013; 16 Av, 5773.

Spitzer’s lapses were crimes, though he was never prosecuted for them. Filner’s might yet land him in court; his former communications director said this week that she was suing the mayor for sexual harassment. Weiner’s is just bizarre, though no one has suggested it is criminal.

And Cohen’s appears to be the rare case of smoke being just smoke, sans fire.

Filner thus far has rejected calls for his resignation, while Spitzer and Weiner are both trying to rehabilitate their political careers after retreating from the spotlight in the wake of the scandals. On Monday, however, Weiner acknowledged that he had sent more explicit photos and texts to a woman, though the exact date of the exchange was unclear.

The Cohen saga began in February, when reporters noticed his tweet to bikini model Victoria Brink, who had told Cohen via Twitter that she had seen him on TV. “pleased u r watching, ilu,” he replied, using the shorthand for “I love you.”

The unmarried Cohen had a rela-

FRANKENSTEIN, Barbara S. age 83, died on July 25, 2013; 18 Av, 5773.

HEZBOLLAH from page 8 exploit to render the whole designation exercise ineffectual.

“Highlighting Hezbollah’s involvement in terrorism is a positive political statement but a flawed counterterrorism strategy,” said Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “Since terror-related operational activities are already illegal throughout the EU, the high-value counterterrorism target remains Hezbollah’s financing activities in Europe – and that target was missed.”

Europe is “Hezbollah’s piggy bank and money laundromat,” said Wim Kortenoeven, a pro-Israel former parliamentarian from the Netherlands .

Had the EU designation applied to Hezbollah in its entirety, it might have taken a serious bite out of the group’s European operations. A 2001 EU regulation requires the “freezing of funds, other financial assets and economic resources” of designated terrorist groups.

By exempting Hezbollah’s political operations from that requirement, the EU has allowed that activity to continue, according to Claude Moniquet, a 20-year veteran of France’s foreign intelligence agency and the founder of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, a Brussels-based think tank.

“The EU’s problem with Hezbollah was never lacking intelligence,” Moniquet said. “It’s lacking determination.”

THOMAS from page 6 say the word Germany, because they have to whitewash everything.”

“It’s bothersome to see that the news really can’t call an anti-Semite an anti-Semite,” Nesenoff said.

Nesenoff was alerted to Thomas’s death through anti-Semitic email messages he received such as, “Happy now, kike?”

“It tells you the type of people that liked Helen Thomas, and basically it’s kind of emblematic of what my life has been like since being the reporter on the front lawn of the White House who uncovered an anti-Semite,” Nesenoff said.

“There are those who praised the work I did, and there are those who for some reason identify me as a bad person because I reported a news story they didn’t like,” he added.

RabbiLive.com was initially used as a platform through which Nesenoff, as a pulpit rabbi, streamed live video prayers to AmericanJewish soldiers in Afghanistan and

SCHOOLS from page 16

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