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Forty Cincy Jews. 10 days in Israel. 100% paid for.

JVS Career Services leads workshop for summer interns

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Is Yeshivah of Flatbush ‘predatory’ in its scrutiny of girls’ attire?

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In Israel’s poorest schools, teachers improvise fixes for funding shortfalls

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Cincinnati’s Jewish young adults, ages 22-26, are invited to join a free, once-in-a-lifetime trip to Israel this winter, Dec. 23-Jan. 4. Thanks to The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati and Taglit-Birthright Israel, the trip will be 100% paid for, including travel to, from, and within Israel; housing; and two meals a day.

As on most trips to Israel, travelers will visit major sites such as Jerusalem, Masada, Tzfat, the Dead Sea, Jaffa, and the Golan, and will enjoy a feast at a Bedouin tent, a night out in Tel Aviv, and shopping at a local artist colony, among many other experiences. The Cincinnati community trip offers more than that, though, because its participants will create these memories with their peers, forming the foundation for lifelong friendships.

The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s Sammy Kanter said, “This trip is different than the

Birthright Israel trips I’ve gone on because everyone will be from the same city, so they’ll be able to build a community together when they get back! They can work as a group to plug into existing communal organizations or even create new programs for themselves.”

The Jewish Federation and the Mayerson JCC, who are partnering to administer the trip, will hold a meeting for participants to prepare for the trip and get to know each other. In addition, the travelers will work together during the trip to define a plan for engaging with Jewish Cincinnati, possibly including leadership development, educational opportunities, and social action projects with local agencies.

Jewish Foundation Executive Director Brian Jaffee said, “We are providing the funding to make this trip possible because we believe it will have long-term benefits for our Jewish

community.” He continued, “We know from years of helping young people travel to Israel that most of them return with stronger Jewish identities and a desire to get involved. And trips similar to this one-for high school and college students-have shown that traveling with other Cincinnatians reinforces those results. Our hope is that these 40 young adults will become part of the next generation of community volunteers, donors, and leaders.”

In addition, unique to this trip, participants will travel with Israelis from Cincinnati’s partner city, Netanya.

Thanks to the Jewish Foundation’s funding, they will benefit from the Israelis’ insights for all 10 days of the tour. Cincinnatians will develop connections with Israelis, and, on a larger scale, Cincinnati will develop connections with Israel.

The trip provider, Israel Outdoors, features experiential learning and avoids traditional seminar-style educa-

tion. They allow travelers to get off the tour bus and see Israel’s natural landscapes with their own eyes, from the canyons of the Judean desert, to the green hills of the Galilee, to the beaches of the Mediterranean coast, and the wildlife that lives between them.

This trip is a gift from TaglitBirthright Israel, co-funded by The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, and administered by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and the Mayerson JCC. Learn more by contacting Sammy Kanter at the Jewish Federation.

Taglit-Birthright Israel is an innovative partnership between the people of Israel through the Government of Israel, private philanthropists, and thousands of donors and Jewish communities around the world (North American Jewish Federations through the Jewish Federations of North America; the Jewish Agency for Israel; and Keren Hayesod).

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Two Cincinnati conservative synagogues will merge and a reform congregation will join them under one roof After reviewing statistics, discussing strategies, analyzing similarities and differences between shuls, two Cincinnati Conservative Synagogues will merge.

Congregations B’nai Tzedek and Ohav Shalom have agreed to come together as a result of year- long discussions.

The Congregants have worked diligently to lay the groundwork for this NEW congregation The Two Conservative Synagogues are also being joined by

the reform congregation, Beit Chaverim to form a special Jewish community that will enable present and future congrregants to choose which congregation best meets their needs.

All will be housed at 8100 Cornell Rd. with a new name (TBD).

After careful examination of both organization’s core values, which are the fundamental driving forse and represent the organization’s highest priorities and traits, .a new mission statement was formed.

Mission Statement Passionate and participatory, our supportive Jewish community engages each individual in a life-long Jewish journey. We embrace diverse experiences that span both traditional and contemporary ideas while learning and pursuing spiritual growth.

This is Ohav Shalom’s 133rd year and B’nai Tzedek is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

A Cappella group from Indiana University perform at Wyoming temple Hooshir A Cappella, Indiana University’s premiere Co-ed A Capella group with Jewish roots will be performing at the Valley Temple on Saturday, September 20, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. The group will travel to Cincinnati to present their program preceding the Selichot High Holy Day preparatory service at 10:00 p.m.

“We are very excited to welcome back this accomplished group to our Temple,” said Rabbi Sandford Kopnick. “We are looking forward to both the Jewish and secular music they are preparing,” Kopnick added.

Founded in 2006, Hooshir has

grown exponentially. The group has participated in a cappella competitions

The name “Hooshir” is a play on the word Hoosier and Hu shir, Hebrew for he/it sings.

Hadassah partners with JFS Food Pantry for opening meeting On Sunday, September 21st, Ghita Sarembock will become Cincinnati’s newest Hadassah Chapter President at a festive Installation Dinner. New and retiring Board members will be honored, including current President Bonnie Juran Ullner, and three members of Cincinnati Chapter (Pilar Samuel, LeeAnne Galioto, and Beth Kotzin) will speak about their experiences at the July Annual Hadassah Convention in

Las Vegas. Ali Bernstein, Tracy Levine and Jennie Juran are cochairs for the event.

There will be opportunities to send congratulatory messages to Bonnie Juran Ullner and Ghita Sarembock in a projected slide show during installation.

As an added project, there will be a collection for food items for the Jewish Family Services Kosher Food Pantry. JFS serves over 200 families every year and

needs to replenish shelves.

Please help by bringing non-perishable items to the Opening Meeting/Installation Dinner.

The most needed kosher items are matzo ball soup mix, kugel mix, macaroons and jars of gefilte fish. Kosher or non-kosher items needed are any canned items that are low sodium, low fat and/or sugar free, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, jams, jellies and toiletries.

Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education celebrates annual meeting with presentation from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Hisorian On Tuesday, September 23rd, The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education (CHHE) will hosts its Annual Meeting in Boymel Chapel at Rockwern Academy. The evening will begin with a reception at 7:00 pm followed by the meeting at 7:30 pm.

The program will celebrate CHHE’s many accomplishments during the 2013-2014 academic year. Through dynamic public programming, tours of permanent and traveling exhibits, presentations by members of the Speakers’

Bureau, and workshops for educators, CHHE touched the lives of over 60,000 individuals. In addition, the meeting will welcome new board members and salute out going board members.

The evening will feature a special presentation by Dr. William Meinecke, a historian for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Dr. Meincke is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and he also attended the Universities of Bonn and Berlin in Germany.

Dr. Meinecke received an MA and a PhD in history from the University of Maryland at College Park.

“We are excited to share with CHHE supporters and the community our accomplishments for the 2013-2014 year,” says Sarah L. Weiss, Executive Director. “It is also an honor to have the opportunity to hear from a distinguished scholar such as Dr. Meinecke who will give an engaging presentation to start the 2014-2015 year.”

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and religious activities.

This year, the Senior Adult Committee, led by Kathy and Pete Teitelman, has arranged for a wide array of programming.

All of these programs are sponsored by the Wise Temple Senior Adults, but are open to everyone, regardless of age.

From Angola to Cincinnati, Chabad offers services geared for Jews of all backgrounds “Just a few weeks before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar, there are still many Jews who have no plans to attend synagogue services.

Some of these Jews are not affiliated with a synagogue; others will be travelling on business; and a sizable percentage simply doesn’t feel comfortable in a synagogue setting.

Another alarming issue, particularly in light of today’s flailing economy, is that many cannot afford the cost of services.

Whatever the case is, many of these would-be worshippers are feeling the pangs associated with being left out of the holiest days of the Jewish calendar. Chabad Jewish Center, has presented its own High Holiday services option, providing

free Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services announced Rabbi Yisroel Mangel, director of Chabad Jewish Center.

High Holiday services with Chabad are designed to make everyone feel welcome and at home. The prayers, conducted with Hebrew/English prayer- books, are lively, engaging and inclusive – spiced with inspiring tunes and insightful explanations throughout – allowing all to absorb the experience at their own level. Whether you consider yourself Reform or Conservative, Orthodox or unaffiliated, Sefardi or Ashkenazi, wellversed or unversed; at Chabad, the labels and classifications fall away as all stand equally beloved before G-d. Sermons and announcements likewise speak to all participants and

are always, relevant, stimulating and enlightening.

High Holiday services are open to all Jews from all walks of life. The Chabad credo centers on the concept of Ahavat Yisroel - the love and acceptance of a fellow Jew without judgment or preconditions. It is this spirit of unity and sense of belonging that permeates the entire atmosphere throughout all services. The “no membership” policy also applies to all other services, classes and programs throughout the course of the year. Our doors and our hearts are always open to you.

Services will be led by Rabbi Yisroel Mangel and Chazzan David Polter from Detroit. Kids Shul & Youth services will be coordinated

by Chana Mangel.

“According to Jewish tradition, on

the Jewish New Year, the doors of Heaven are open. G-d accepts prayers from everyone,” said Chabad Rabbi Yisroel Mangel “The least we can do is open our doors as well, to the entire community.”

Additionally, on Wednesday, September 24, the first night of Rosh Hashanah we are hosting a festive full course holiday dinner after the Maariv evening services at the Center, added Chana Mangel.

Participation is with pre-reservation only.

Rosh Hashanah begins this year after sundown on September 24 and extends until nightfall on September 26. Yom Kippur begins this year before sundown on the eve of September 3 and extends until nightfall on September 4.

Landing a dream job: JVS Career Services leads workshop for summer interns & gives them resources to get a head-start

with a workshop, led by Dedra Perlmutter, PHR and Career Consultant. The interns not only learned how to navigate their way through these sites and use them as tools to grow their professional networks, but they began to understand that they themselves can be classified as business professionals in addition to being students. They learned proper protocol and how to “connect” with other users, the kind of information to include on their profiles and the kind of information not to include.

Kim Slaton, Acting CEO and Director of Connections, led the second half of the workshop which was intended to teach the interns how to assemble a career portfolio and how to

leverage it for their job searches.

Adrianna learned a lot from this portion of the workshop. “I feel like I have a leg up because of this workshop. Now, I won’t have to go searching for material to include in my portfolio; rather, I can relax and assemble it as I go, as opposed to scrambling when it comes time to get ready to interview.

When I develop a relationship with a professor, now I know to get a letter from them. When I get positive feedback from my peers or good grades, those are definitely going in my portfolio. I’m so glad JVS Career Services gave me the tools to get a jump-start; I’ll for sure stand out using the resources they provided to me.”

Sammy Kanter, the Director of the

Workum program at the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, felt the workshop was great because it allowed the interns to get a head start on their career portfolios. “I think it’s rare for college students like our Workum Interns, the majority of whom are 19 and 20 and relatively young in their college careers, to have the opportunity to build their online profiles, work on their career portfolios, and learn how to write resumes. Plus, it was a small group setting, and there was a lot of one-on-one assistance from the Certified Professional Resume Writers (CPRW) at JVS Career Services! In addition, it gave the interns dedicated time to think about what life after college looks like, which was insightful for them.”

He continues, “One of the goals of the Becker Center is to attract, engage, and connect young adults to our community. The idea behind this workshop was that we have ten individuals who have expressed interest in being involved with the Jewish organizations in our community. If we can connect with them early in their college career, then we have potential to build a relationship with them throughout college and afterward when they are deciding where to work and where to live. In a nutshell, this workshop was in perfect sync with Cincinnati’s 2020 goals.”

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

VOL. 161 • NO. 9 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 23 ELUL 5774 SHABBAT BEGINS FRIDAY 7:23 PM SHABBAT ENDS SATURDAY 8:24 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 BETH KOTZIN SAUNI LERNER Assistant Editors YOSEFF FRANCUS Copy Editor JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor ROBERT WILHELMY Dining Editor MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM IRIS PASTOR ZELL SCHULMAN PHYLLIS R. SINGER Contributing Columnists JENNIFER CARROLL Production Manager BARBARA ROTHSTEIN Advertising Sales JULIE BROOK Office Manager e Oldest Eng Th

ewish N h-J ew lis

“I’ve always been someone who is a go-getter. The social media workshop inspired me to not only get my materials together, but to get a head-start on my sophomore year,” says Adrianna Schneider, an Engineering student at Ohio State University. “Prior to this workshop, I didn’t know much about JVS Career Services or the resources they provide, but now, I can utilize so many techniques to wow my professors and get internships in the years ahead. Thanks to JVS Career Services, I’m on the right path!”

It is comments and feedback like Adrianna’s that make the work of the consultants at JVS Career Services impactful. Just last month, the 2014 Workum Interns learned how to stay ahead of the game when they attended a social media development workshop geared specifically for college students.

Josh Goodman, Workum Intern at the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati said, “I found the workshop very beneficial. At this stage in my life, I am beginning to think about my professional life after college. I never knew what an asset a standout portfolio could be to me while I’m interviewing for jobs and internships. On top of that, figuring out my way around these types of sites was especially helpful as it is a skill that every young adult needs to know.”

The four-hour seminar started off

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adults and members of the professional and lay-leadership realized how beneficial it would be to have programs specifically available to the older adult population. Since that time, the committee has blossomed into a vibrant and active group that sponsors monthly events for senior adults including social, educational,

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who will speak on the subject of “Sukkot and Israel”. Temple members Nancy Goldberg and Gloria Wolfson look forward each year to participating in the services and planning the brunch that follows.

The Wise Temple Senior Adult Committee was formed more than seventeen years ago, when the senior

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On Thursday, October 9 Wise Temple Seniors will participate in the Wise Temple Sukkot Morning Service which begins at 9:30 AM at Wise Center. All seniors have been invited to participate. Following the service, there will be a special Sukkot brunch, which will feature a talk by Wise Temple Rabbi Karen Thomashow

r in Am ape er sp i

Wise Temple senior adults plan Sukkot brunch

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 $2.00 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.

LOCAL • 5

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Valley Temple educator wins national award Alison Weikel, Director of Education of Valley Temple received the Grinspoon Award for Excellence in Education. Ms. Weikel was nominated by her synagogue for the city-wide honor, and then was selected as one of the six national award winners, 25 others received regional honors.

As part of her award, Ms. Weikel received a trip to the New CAJE conference in Los Angeles, where she was presented the award, and received a stipend for her work and her synagogue.

The award is sponsored by the Grinspoon Foundation and seeks to recognize innovative local educators who make a lasting impact on the lives of Jewish children.

In nominating Ms. Weikel for the award, her supervisor, Rabbi Sandford Kopnick said, “Alison

one another) both by the way she lives and the way she does her job.”

The Cincinnati portion of the award was presented to Ms. Weikel during the Valley Temple Annual Meeting in June by Billy Bie of the Jewish Federation of

Alison Weikel

demonstrates the value: kol yisrael arevim zeh bazeh (all of the Jewish people are responsible for

New approach to ancient Jewish tradition The Jewish High Holy Days evoke many memories for many Jews. It is a time when Jews all over the world celebrate the turn of the Jewish new year, respond to the Leviticus commandment to sound the shofar (a ram's horn), and to begin the days of repentance that lead to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Traditional services are designed to help the worshipper reflect and repent.

There are special melodies that are somber and the liturgy highlights God as "judge and arbiter."

These holidays were well attended by affiliated and unaffiliated Jews in the past, but some who were raised Jewish are not attending anymore.

A lighter and more up-beat Rosh Hashanah experience is being offered to anyone who would like to attend on the evening of Rosh Hashanah, Wednesday, September 24, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. at the Wyoming Civic Center. A live contemporary band/ensemble will mix contem-

porary Jewish music with a few high holy day melodies, prayer books will be replaced by a visual presentation, and insightful readings and poetry will replace the sermon. The mood will be joyful and warm, hoping to help those estranged from their Jewish roots or unmotivated by standard Jewish worship to find meaning in the holiday.

"There are many reasons that Jews can feel estranged from synagogue life, which is why this service will be held in the Wyoming Civic Center, it's like going to neutral ground," said Rabbi Sandford Kopnick. "We don't intend to solicit memberships, but just want to help our neighbors find their way back to Judaism. Let's put it this way, it won't be your Grandpa's Rosh Hashanah," Kopnick added.

The service is free of charge, and worshippers are encouraged to "come as they are." No special attire is expected.

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ROSH HASHANAH 2014 SPECIAL ISSUE This is the Biggest Issue of the Year and the Best Way to Reach the Jewish Community of Greater Cincinnati.

Purchase a Personal Greeting or Advertisement for Your Family, Friends or Business to wish everyone Ketiva ve-chatima tovah (May you be written and sealed for a good year)

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Cincinnati and Linda Kean of the Jewish Family Service and the Cincinnati Jewish Principals’ Council.

“We are very proud of our school and our director of education,” Rabbi Kopnick said. “It is wonderful to know that Alison

Weikel’s efforts on behalf of Jewish education and the Valley and greater Jewish Communities are known and acknowledged,”

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Adath Israel welcomes back students It's that time of year again. The vacations have all ended, the pools have all closed and the smell of education is in the air. On September 7th, once again welcomed back its students. At 8:45 a.m. parents began to file into the lobby holding the hands of their eager children awaiting what this year's religious school has to offer.

As the children hurried off to find their classrooms, the parents sat back and relaxed with their bagels and coffee and took the time to catch up with each other.

Excitement was also in the air for all of the teachers as well.

Students entered their classrooms and immediately were a part of an active learning environment. “We did several ice-breakers that made the new students

especially feel excited and that they were included. We talked about our holiday play that we will be doing as well as the upcoming holidays”, said the new Kitah Daled teacher Arielle Grubbs.

Veteran Madrich, teaching assistant, Zach Lempert was definitely excited to be back again this year with the fourth grade class!

Zak shared that, “We talked about Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and discussed different cities in Israel and really got to know one another today.” Zahava Rendler, the third grade teacher, planned a fun day, complete with several songs! Her students learned three different concepts surrounding respect, friends and the environment. They talked about the

Shofar and the different customs.

“One of the things that we talked about was how each of us should do good deeds equal to the amount of seeds in a Pomegranate,” said Zahava.

Rob Festenstein is a returning teacher that will be teaching Kitah Hei, 5th grade. Rob led the class with introductions followed by discussing Judaism and the environment. The class walked outside on to see the synagogue's organic garden and to talk about Mitzvot that relate to food. There was also a class discussion about a field trip to Jungle Jim's in the future to look at the different kosher foods and to do a little scavenger hunt.

The kids were very excited about this.

Mitch Cohen, our music and

trope teacher, showed the students a video of the Fountainheads singing “Dip Your Apple In the Honey”. Madrichim Zak and Ben led the music class in a dance that had everyone smiling and laughing. “The children really enjoyed the recorders last year so this year they will get to play along during the holiday concert when musician Rick Recht comes to visit us a on October 26th.” They continued the class with more Rosh Hashana songs.

In the Pre k classroom with Sheryl Sommers, students made popsicle Jewish stars and apple trees. They also learned the word Shalom and that it means hello, goodbye and peace.

When you walk by Debbie Lempert's classroom you can bet

something fun and active is happening in her room! Children began learning the colors in Hebrew through song. The letter of the day was “Koof”. Debbie shared that the “students learned today what it means to be a mensch and all about Kavod (respect).”

Gail Jacobs and Deena Abernathy in first grade had a fun filled day that included learning the letter Bet and reviewing the different jobs each child will have each week to help in the classroom. The children made and decorated their snack mats and began to talk about Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot.

Sherry Cohen's Pre Gan (PreADATH on page 21

Ohio U. students protesting ‘blood bucket’ video are arrested

By Anthony Weiss (JTA) – An Ohio University Student Senate meeting erupted into a chaotic scene and four students were arrested over protests of the Senate president’s “blood bucket challenge” of Israel.

At Wednesday night’s meeting of the Student Senate, pro-Israel students staged a filibuster and called for the resignation of Megan Marzec over her Sept. 2 video in which she poured a bucket of fake blood (redcolored water) over her head to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

Marzec’s video, which was post-

ed in response to an ALS ice bucket challenge issued by the university president, has sparked widespread controversy on the campus and off.

In the video, Marzec spoke in her capacity as Student Senate president and accused Israel of “genocide in Gaza.” The Ohio University Student Senate Twitter account subsequently apologized for the video.

The video has been criticized both for its critique of Israel and Marzec’s divisive stance as a student body leader. Marzec reported receiving hostile messages and death threats. Others praised Marzec for speaking her beliefs.

The Student Senate protest

began at the start of the session with Rebecca Sebo, the president of Bobcats for Israel, denouncing the threats made against Marzec before calling on her to resign. After approximately three minutes, according to the student paper, the Post Athens, Marzec called on Sebo to stop so that students could speak in an orderly fashion. Sebo and other protesters continued to speak, however.

Marzec shouted for order and threatened to have the protesters arrested. Other students and adults at the meeting clapped and chanted over the protesters, with some denouncing them as “fascists.”

National Briefs Foundation headed by widow of Madoff’s largest beneficiary grants $104 million (JTA) – Barbara Picower, the widow of Jeffry Picower, the largest beneficiary of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, has awarded $104 million in grants over two years through a new foundation.

The grants from the JPB Foundation have centered on medical research, poverty and the environment, Forbes reported, according to tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

Barbara Picower is listed as president of the Manhattan-based foundation.

Four years ago the estate of Jeffrey Picower agreed to return $7.2 billion to Madoff’s victims.

The figure is the difference between the amount of cash that

Rabbi Danielle Leshaw, the executive director of Hillel at Ohio University, was present and said the atmosphere became “explosive.”

Marzec issued a vote to have the protesters arrested for disrupting the meeting. University police issued the protesters a two-minute warning, then arrested them and led them from the meeting.

At the police station, the students were charged with disruption of a lawful meeting and released. On Thursday morning, their court date was set for the morning of Sept. 24, the day before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Leshaw said that although she

didn’t think the protesters should have been arrested, the police “acted beautifully” and their presence helped prevent a hostile situation from spiraling out of control.

“I think it was actually a blessing that the police arrived,” she told JTA. After the arrests, Marzec stood on a table and declared that she would “never apologize for the people of Palestine.”

She added, “And I will never stand up for fascists. And this body won’t either.”

the Jewish investor put into his account with Madoff and the amount he withdrew.

Jeffrey Picower, whose foundation gave to Jewish causes before it was wiped out by the revelation of Madoff’s fraud, was found dead of a heart attack in his swimming pool in October 2009.

Madoff, 76, is serving a 150year prison sentence in federal prison in Butner, N.C.

perpetrator intended to not only damage property but also to send a message of hate to the entire community.

Philly kosher butcher shop vandalized with swastikas (JTA) – A kosher butcher shop in Philadelphia was defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti.

Crude swastikas were painted on the butcher shop, Simon’s Glatt Kosher meats, between the evening of Sept. 10 and the next morning, the Jewish Exponent reported. The butcher store has been at its location for 20 years.

A nearby synagogue was similarly vandalized in June.

There are no witnesses and no suspects in either case.

The swastika is a universal symbol of hate meant to instill fear and intimidation. It’s clear that the

Death row inmate in Connecticut suing state for kosher food (JTA) – A death row inmate is suing the Connecticut Department of Correction claiming he is an Orthodox Jew and is being denied kosher food.

Steven Hayes, 51, a convicted murderer and rapist, filed a handwritten lawsuit in federal court saying that he has been requesting kosher food since May 2013 and that he has lost weight due to its denial of kosher food, the Hartford Courant reported. Hayes is incarcerated at the Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, Conn.

Hayes said the state is violating his First Amendment right to free exercise of religion by preventing him from eating kosher food. He also accused the state of violating his Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment.

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Is Yeshivah of Flatbush ‘predatory’ in its scrutiny of girls’ attire?

By Uriel Heilman NEW YORK (JTA) – For years, Melissa Duchan had found the dress code for girls at her Orthodox school in Brooklyn, the Yeshivah of Flatbush, onerous.

But it wasn’t until recently that Duchan, 16, felt that scrutiny of female students had crossed the line from irritating to what she called “predatory.”

Though girls by and large were adhering to a new rule requiring longer skirts – introduced at a school assembly dedicated to attire, Duchan said – they were being called out for skirts deemed too tight, shirts judged as too revealing or sleeves ruled too short.

Fed up, Duchan, a senior, penned a letter to the Flatbush staff.

“Girls are ambushed almost daily, while a boy is rarely seen getting chastised for his clothing.

This inequality exposes the misogyny underlying the rules,” she wrote. “This predatory culture is counterproductive. It causes negative associations with the concept of modesty and makes girls feel hunted.”

Though Duchan posted the letter on a private Facebook group, it spread quickly online, striking a

Courtesy of JTA Photo Department

Melissa Duchan

chord with those who believe that the Jewish value of tzniut, or modesty, too often is used by men and those in power to bully women — or worse.

“I find the obsessive focus on ATTIRE on page 22

Why does Qatar support Hamas?

By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) – It was the first Persian Gulf state to establish ties with Israel, the first to welcome Israeli students and the only one to allow direct dialing to Israel. Israeli athletes shine on its courts.

Now Qatar is on the outs with Israel because of its embrace of another regional pariah: Hamas.

Calls are circulating in the U.S. Congress to isolate Qatar — a state that has polished its pro-Western image in recent years, welcoming in foreign universities, backing the global news channel Al Jazeera and prepping to host the 2022 World Cup — for its championing of Hamas.

Since Hamas assumed control in Gaza in 2007, Qatar has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the territory and backed Hamas diplomatically, sheltering its exiled leader Khaled Meshal.

A pro-Israel source, speaking anonymously in order not to preempt lawmakers, said Qatar is under increasing scrutiny from Congress in the wake of this summer’s IsraelGaza conflict. And with reports proliferating that financing for Islamist insurgents including the Islamic State, or ISIS, throughout the region originates in the oil-rich emirate, it is facing increasing isolation from its

neighbors as well.

Qatar’s reasoning in identifying so closely with Israel’s mortal enemies is, paradoxically, grounded in the same strategies that led it to establish open ties with Israel in the 1990s, said Lori Plotkin Boghardt, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank that specializes in Gulf states.

“Qatar’s basic approach to its own security is to maintain cordial relations with a very wide range of political actors and states,” Boghardt said in an interview. “And this accounts for its relationship with Israel on the one hand and its relationship with the most extreme terrorist groups [such as ISIS] on the other hand. This is simply the behavior of a very small state sandwiched between two large and sometimes unfriendly neighbors, Saudi Arabia to the west and Iran to the east.”

Punching above its weight is what led Qatar to establish trade ties with Israel in 1996, along with Oman, the first Gulf states to do so.

Israeli businessmen travel to the emirate and Israeli students are welcome at the emirate’s Georgetown University campus. Shahar Peer, the Israeli tennis pro, excelled in the Qatar Open in 2008.

QATAR on page 22

8 • INTERNATIONAL

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

South Africa classmates reconnect like only they know how

By Hillel Kuttler BALTIMORE (JTA) – Decades removed, at a private game reserve in South Africa, the unique bond felt by the Class of 1984 at Durban’s Carmel College had endured.

Twenty-four graduates from the now defunct Jewish high school had gathered for a reunion of the class precipitated by its 30th anniversary.

“The relationships between us were very much like brother and sister,” Warren Bank, an advocate in Johannesburg who conceived of the reunion, said of the class.

For three days this summer, the classmates enjoyed the type of camaraderie that they said surpassed any close group that transports itself decades back.

They cited their hometown’s small and dwindling Jewish community, Carmel’s powerful JewishZionist orientation that bound students to Israel and world Jewry, and the intense pull of what Bank termed the “Durban Diaspora.”

Or, as Judith Dubin put it, “the South African experience” of Jewish dispersion and large-scale emigration prompted by her homeland’s upheavals preceding and following the fall of apartheid.

“So many of us fanned out after college,” said Dubin, a television producer who lives in New York City and attended the reunion. “You look for those anchors to reinforce who you are and where you came

International Briefs Jewish publication apologizes for Op-Ed comparing Tutu to Hitler (JTA) – A Jewish online publication in South Africa apologized for an Op-Ed that compared Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Adolf Hitler.

The South African Jewish Report posted the apology Friday on its website and removed the opinion piece written by Leon Reich, chairman of Likud South Africa, which had been published a day earlier.

Reich in his Op-Ed called Tutu “the latest self-appointed midget of history” who wants to destroy the Jewish people, and said Tutu would “kill Jews before protecting Christians,” according to the Mail & Guardian newspaper. Reich also accused Tutu of “preying” on Israel together with Hamas, and said the two are working toward the destruction of the Jewish state.

Accompanying the Op-Ed was a photo showing Tutu wear-

Courtesy of Warren Bank

Kevin Baitz of Carmel College's Class of 1984 and former Hebrew teacher Issy Fisher during the class visit to the defunct Jewish high school's building in Durban, South Africa, July 2014.

from.”

Carmel’s deep influence on its alumni keeps the institution very much alive in graduates’ hearts.

Nearly all the 1984 graduates have relocated – like most young Jews from Durban. The city’s Jewish population today is 2,000, down from 7,000 in the 1970s.

Some of the 52 Carmel graduates settled elsewhere in South Africa, principally in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The others left for Australia, Canada, England, Israel and the United States. But with so many of their parents remaining in Durban, graduates often visit.

Wherever Carmel alumni travel,

in fact, they like to rustle up a few classmates to reconnect.

ing a Hitler moustache superimposed on Hitler’s body.

Limmud is a grassroots organization that plans Jewish learning conferences throughout the world.

“It is the volunteers who make it work, who must take the credit for transforming the whole culture of Jewish communal politics and organization,” the Londonbased Chronicle wrote. “To select one individual would be to misunderstand and misrepresent the whole nature of the movement.”

British company apologizes for not letting Jewish kids in store (JTA) – A British sporting goods chain has apologized for a security guard preventing identifiably Jewish preteens from entering one of its stores.

The seventh-graders were wearing the uniforms of the Yavneh Academy, a Jewish secondary school, when they attempted to enter the Sports Direct store in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, on Friday, the Jewish Chronicle reported. The guard stopped them at the door and said “no Jews, no Jews.”

Other Yavneh students who wore coats over their uniforms were permitted to enter.

The company apologized and removed the guard, who was fired from the security company for which he worked.

Limmud volunteers listed among UK’s top Jewish movers and shakers (JTA) – Volunteers for Limmud UK were among the top 10 on the Jewish Chronicle’s Power 100 list of movers and shakers in the United Kingdom.

Kevin Baitz of Carmel College’s Class of 1984 and former Hebrew teacher Issy Fisher during the class visit to the defunct Jewish high school’s building in Durban, South Africa, July 2014. (Courtesy of Warren Bank) For the first unofficial reunion, the classmates came together for a welcoming kiddush following Friday night services at the Durban United Hebrew Congregation, known as the Great Synagogue.

There was a Sabbath dinner at the nearby home of a classmate, Kevin

Paris Moishe House to open amid uptick in anti-Semitic attacks in France (JTA) – Paris will see the opening of its first Moishe House amid a soaring number of antiSemitic attacks in France.

The launching party for the Moishe House in central Paris’ 11th Arrondissement, or district, is scheduled to take place next week, but the three residents moved into the apartment in recent weeks, Aurelie Attia, one of the residents, told JTA on Monday.

Moishe House is a project that subsidizes housing for young Jewish adults interested in setting up a community.

Following 15 months of preparation, the opening comes at a difficult time for Jews in France

Baitz.

And on a Sunday morning they visited their old school – Carmel closed about a decade ago, its building now housing another school.

The current principal hosted a formal tea.

But the centerpiece would be Saturday’s overnight stay at a lodge in the Tala Private Game Reserve – no spouses and children allowed.

The carved-out space and time were reserved for the graduates alone to recollect their youth and delve into their adult lives.

“The kinship is something quite special, and you don’t ever have that with someone you meet subsequently,” Bank said. “You have that shared experience.”

Some who didn’t make it back to South Africa could still join in the festivities. At the Friday night dinner and at the Tala lodge, where attendees schmoozed deep into the night around the fireplace (this being winter in the Southern Hemisphere), farflung classmates spoke to their old friends via Skype.

At one point, nine graduates from abroad were participating electronically.

From San Diego, Calif., Anton Monk said he could see the “ear-toear grins” of his ex-classmates.

“It was like we never left South Africa,” added Monk, who moved to Southern California as a teenager.

From Israel, Stanley Behrman later emailed his classmates apolo-

gizing for having talked too much during the two Skype feeds.

“But it was clearly way beyond my control,” he wrote. “As each person hooked up to the call, my emotions went on tilt. I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry, but I did want to reach out and give each person a huge, long hug. I felt like we could have chatted for another 10 hours, and it still would not have been nearly enough.”

Dubin said the reunion’s experience “reinforced for all of us the need to keep doing this.” She hopes another reunion will be held within five years.

Monk said the wide dispersal of the class actually might be preserving the ties. Had the majority settled in Johannesburg, for example, “I’m not sure [the reunion] would have had the same meaning,” he said.

The Carmel classmates are endowing their hometown with additional meaning, launching a fund to benefit Beth Shalom, a Jewish senior citizens’ home in Durban.

The institution provides “a safe haven for the elderly from our community – many of whom are our relatives or friends,” Kim Lombard wrote in an email to her classmates.

“Our success has much to do with the community in which we were all raised and I believe has contributed to the strength of the bonds we formed and continue to derive much joy from.”

with a near doubling of antiSemitic attacks in the first seven months of 2014 compared to the previous year. The rise is believed to have been triggered by Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza this summer.

who died while his case was under appeal.

Some 20 Auschwitz victims and their families are co-plaintiffs in the case against Groening, according to AP.

Auschwitz guard, now 93, charged with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder (JTA) – German prosecutors have charged a 93-year-old man with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder for his service as a Nazi SS guard at Auschwitz.

Oskar Groening of Hannover, Germany, has acknowledged that he was a guard at Auschwitz but said he did not personally commit any of the atrocities, The Associated Press reported Monday.

He was a guard at the concentration camp in May-June 1944.

Some 425,000 Hungarian Jews came to Auschwitz during that time; about 300,000 died in its gas chambers.

Groening, who reportedly is in good health, is one of about 30 former Auschwitz guards who German federal investigators recommended to state prosecutors to file charges against following the conviction of John Demjanjuk,

Belarus museum opens exhibit about native son Ariel Sharon MINSK, Belarus (JTA) – The National History Museum of Belarus inaugurated an exhibition about Ariel Sharon.

Titled “Profile of a Leader,” the exhibition on the late Israeli prime minister was launched Monday on the entrance floor of the state museum. The ceremony was attended by diplomats, Jewish community leaders and Israeli guests connected to Sharon’s life, including his youngest son, Gilad, and Israel Maimon, who served Sharon’s Cabinet secretary.

“Ariel Sharon brought pride to Israel, but also to Belarus, where his roots lay,” said Yuri Ambrazevitch, a senior official of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

Sharon was born in prestate Israel in 1928; his parents had immigrated there from what is now Belarus.

ISRAEL • 9

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

In Israel’s poorest schools, teachers improvise fixes for funding shortfalls

By Ben Sales OFAKIM, Israel (JTA) – In 2008, Asher Nachmani wanted to buy a computerized blackboard for his classroom, but the elementary school where he teaches technology in this low-income town didn’t have the money.

So Nachmani built one himself.

He downloaded a free program from the Internet, bought a controller for a Nintendo Wii video game console and connected it to an infrared bulb taken from his television remote control.

Using a Bluetooth connection, Nachmani was able to project his computer screen onto a wall and draw on it.

The story is a typical one at the Ashalim Experimental Public School, the oldest elementary school in Ofakim. Chronically short on funds, Ashalim teachers are often forced to improvise, making do with supplies donated by neighbors or paid for from their own pockets.

In one classroom, a window divider was cut from the principal’s coffee table. Teachers at times pay for lunches that poor children cannot

afford, said Yael Segev, the school’s principal.

“The municipality can’t take the expenses,” said Segev, who says she donates about 10 percent of her salary back to the school as charity.

“We approach this from a place of pride. We see this as our home and we care for it.”

As 2 million Israeli students begin the school year this month, they face some of the most unequal educational conditions in the Western world. According to a

Courtesy of Ben Sales

SCHOOLS on page 19

Students at Saadya Gaon Religious Public school participating in a program to enhance literacy skills in schools with large Ethiopian populations.

Haifa’s Rambam hospital treats, protects, innovates in the face of looming danger

By Alina Dain Sharon (JNS) – Not unexpectedly, southern Israel suffered more than other areas of the Jewish state during this summer’s conflict with Hamas.

Yet up in northern Israel, 30 doctors from the Haifa-based Rambam Health Care Campus (RHCC) were drafted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“Israel is a small country, so everything affects you whether you are in the conflict or not,” Prof.

Rafael (Rafi) Beyar, a renowned cardiologist and the director general of RHCC, told JNS. Now, in the aftermath of the 50day summer war, RHCC is proving that medicine has “no borders,” in Beyar’s words. This week, doctors at the hospital conducted a successful kidney transplant on a 14-year-old boy from Gaza.

The largest hospital in northern

Israel, RHCC serves more than 2 million residents and functions as the primary medical facility for the Northern Command of the IDF. In addition to treating Gazan patients and training Palestinian physicians, the hospital is receiving wounded Syrian refugees.

Many of RHCC’s Gazan patients are children facing cancer and kidney diseases.

“These kids don’t have any other solutions,” Beyar said.

While suffering from kidney failure, the Gaza boy treated this week also had a blood condition that obstructed some of his blood vessels. Doctors first needed to check for useable blood vessels, and only then could they transplant his sister’s kidney into his body. When it became clear that the boy’s functioning blood vessels could not sustain the new kidney, doctors implanted a synthetic connector that saved his

life.

On the Syrian front, RHCC has received nearly 100 wounded refugees over the past few months.

IDF soldiers provide the necessary immediate treatment for injured refugees at the Israel-Syria border in the Golan Heights, and then bring them to the hospital.

Most of the Syrian patients have sustained injuries from shock, bombs, and other blasts. When they are treated and recover, most return to Syria, but sometimes they don’t want to go back, said Beyar.

Like the patients from Syria, most of the Gazan patients are thankful for the treatment they receive from RHCC. Although Beyar doesn’t know what happens to the patients once they return to Gaza, he said that “someone who is treated and whose life is saved knows how to appreciate that.”

Bayern added that he believes Israeli

medical treatment of Gazans “has a long-term impact” on how Palestinian civilians view Israel.

RHCC’s staff and management were tested heavily during the 2006 Lebanon War, when hundreds of rockets rained down on the hospital.

Following that war, a pre-planned parking lot was built as a dual-purpose facility capable of converting into a fortified 2,000-bed underground hospital for times of conflict.

Initially funded with a donation from Israeli philanthropist Sammy Ofer, and afterward funded by the Israeli government, the underground hospital opened in June and is currently the world’s largest structure of its kind.

The parking garage “has the full capacity to convert to a hospital,” Beyar said.

“That means it has all the facilities that a hospital needs, in terms of air conditioning, lights, oxygen, all

the medical gadgets. … All the infrastructure is already in the walls. That means all the oxygen pipes and connections to the emergency machines. … So you can roll down the patients, the respirators, the monitors… [and] just install them immediately,” he said.

To protect against chemical warfare, the parking garage can be sealed from the outside by special doors, and filters then clean the air in the area.

Several IDF soldiers have been killed by errant mortar fire from the Syrian civil war, and with its fortified underground hospital, RHCC is prepared in case the war spills further into Israel.

“We are ready for any such event,” Beyar said.

After a drill conducted by RHCC, Beyar estimates that a full HOSPITAL on page 21

Understanding Shmita, Israel’s agricultural Shabbat

By Ben Sales TEL AVIV (JTA) – When Rosh Hashanah comes later this month, Israel’s Jewish farmers won’t just be celebrating the start of a new year.

They’ll be marking a year in which they are prohibited from doing their jobs.

Called Shmita, the Torah-mandated, yearlong farming hiatus is felt across Israel, affecting its fields, supermarkets and, of course, its politics.

The genesis of Shmita is Exodus, which commands the Israelites, “Plant your land and gather its produce for six years. But on the seventh let it lie fallow and it will rest …” Other biblical mandates prohibit planting, trimming or harvesting crops during Shmita, amounting to a total prohibition on farming.

In advance of Shmita, which takes place every seventh year, here are seven things you should know about Israel’s sabbatical year.

What is Shmita?

According to the Torah mandates, the Shmita year is something like an agricultural Shabbat. Just like everyone is commanded to rest for a day at the end of every week, Shmita is a chance to let the land rest for a year after six years of work.

It’s easy to calculate when Shmita comes around: Start from year zero in the Jewish calendar — that would be 5,775 years ago — and count off every seven years; this is Israel’s 466th Shmita.

The concept of the sabbatical year has spread to academics and clergy, many of whom receive sabbaticals to travel and study. And the root of the word “shmita” has found contemporary usage in Hebrew.

Israelis use the word “mishtamet” to refer to someone who dodged mandatory military conscription.

How was Shmita observed in the past?

Because the commandment applies only in the biblical land of Israel, it became largely theoretical once the Jews were exiled by the

Roman Empire after the Bar Kochba revolt in 136 C.E. Generations of Jewish farmers in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere had no religious imperative to let the land rest.

But once Jews started returning to Palestine in the 1880s and founding kibbutzim, Shmita again became relevant — and problematic. At a time when Jewish farmers were struggling just to keep their farms viable, a year of no production would have been a deathblow.

To skirt that problem, rabbis in Israel created something called the “heter mechirah,” or sale permit — similar to the sale of leavened food before Passover. The permit allowed Jewish farmers to “sell” their land to local non-Jews for a token amount, then hire non-Jews to do the forbidden labor. That way, because it wasn’t “their” land, Jews could keep their farms going without sin.

How is Shmita observed in contemporary Israel?

As Israel’s population and agri-

cultural sector expanded, so too has the hand-wringing over Shmita.

Here are some of the Jewish legal acrobatics they use to get around it.

The sale permit: Israel’s Chief Rabbinate allows every farm to register for a sale permit like those allowed in the 1880s, and the Rabbinate “sells” all the land to a non-Jew for about $5,000 total, according to Rabbi Haggai Bar Giora, who oversaw Shmita for Israel’s Chief Rabbinate seven years ago. At the end of the year, the Rabbinate buys back the land on the farmers’ behalf for a similar amount.

Bar Giora chose a non-Jewish buyer who observes the seven Noahide laws — the Torah’s commandments for non-Jews.

Greenhouses: Shmita only applies if the crops are grown in the land itself. Therefore, growing vegetables on tables disconnected from the land steers clear of violating the commandment.

SHMITA on page 21

Courtesy of Hadas Parush

A Thai worker picks decorative flower leafs in the Kibbutz Sde Nitzan flower farm, near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, on July 20, 2014. Many of the Thai workers that farm the lands in the Southern towns have left their fields due to ongoing rocket fire from Gaza, as Israel's Operation Protective Edge enters its 13th day, and three days into the ground invasion to Gaza.

10 • ISRAEL

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Using Israeli and Palestinian guides, tour group helps visitors ‘experience the people’

By Maayan Jaffe (JNS) – “Visits of condolence is all we get from them. They squat at the Holocaust Memorial, they put on grave faces at the Wailing Wall, and they laugh behind the heavy curtains in their hotels,” Israeli author Yehuda Amichai wrote in a poem about tourists visiting the Holy Land.

MEJDI Tours seeks to offer the antithesis of Amichai’s image.

“We want people to get out of their buses and experience the people,” says Aziz Abu Sarah, cofounder and CEO of Arlington, Va.-headquartered company.

MEJDI, whose name translates to “honor and respect,” was cofounded in 2009 by Abu Sarah, Scott Cooper, and Dr. Marc Gopin. Its mission is to change the face of tourism through a socially responsible business model that honors both clients and communities.

The group offers guided tours around the world, including in Washington, DC, which focus on conflict resolution through dialogue and understanding. In Washington, this means Republicans versus Democrats. In Israel, it means looking at the concurrent narratives of Israelis and Palestinians as a means of helping visitors understand the complexities of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Groups are paired with both Israeli and Palestinian tour guides

Israel Briefs Imperiled U.N. peacekeepers leave Syrian Golan for Israel JERUSALEM (JTA) – United Nations peacekeeping forces and support staff have been relocated from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights to Israel.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement Monday said the situation of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force has “deteriorated severely over the last several days.” The force was put into place in May 1974 on the border between Syria and Israel to maintain a cease-fire between the two countries.

Olmert to remain free until end of appeals JERUSALEM (JTA) – Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will remain out of prison until he has exhausted his appeals.

Olmert and the seven other

for their trips, and they meet Jews and Arabs from across the country.

In the same day, participants can meet with a Palestinian living in Hebron and a Jew from a Judea and Samaria community like Susya.

MEJDI’s founders have extensive experience in peace work and deep ties to the Holy Land. That, Abu Sarah tells JNS, enables them to connect travelers with anyone they want access to: activists, leaders of religious and secular organizations, journalists, academics, settlers, soldiers, refugees, and Palestinian protesters.

“Between the three of us, we know anyone you want to know,” Abu Sarah says, noting that while all trips include culture and tourism fun and can involve highend hotels and visits to the beach, they also include home hospitality and a snapshot of real life outside of the air-conditioned bus. Guides share their own stories, which adds a further dimension.

Liel Maghen, an Israeli tour guide from Jerusalem, says that since starting to work with MEJDI he has watched tourists open their minds, but also expanded his own knowledge.

“Every time I join a group, I learn something new about my life and my city,” Maghen says. “My identity is more complete when I hear about the other narrative.”

Maghen, who was raised in a

staunchly pro-Israel family and then served in the Israeli army, said he offers an important perspective to tourists.

“If people are not Jewish, they often think Israelis are blinded, closed-mined,” he tells JNS. “But I can show them, there is a complex process going on in Israeli society. No one is really black or white here. There is sometimes an instant of defensiveness, of canceling out the other’s story, of not wanting to hear it. I think that is proof that there is a lack of confidence or security in your own narrative. When you are really confident, you can absorb and listen to other stories.” Working with MEJDI “has given me the ability to question the things I want to improve, but also to be proud of my strengths,” adds Maghen.

Palestinian tour guide Tamer Omari has a similar perspective.

He says a lot of people have already made up their minds about whose side they are on when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“That approach is flawed,” he says. “If you want to be pro anybody, you have to be pro everybody.”

Omari says the Israeli and Palestinian sides choose to focus on certain aspects of their history, and to ignore others.

“The narratives only collide because they choose not to stress the same things,” he tells JNS.

Tours run by MEJDI offer many “wow moments” for participants, says Omari, recalling one trip in which a Jewish group was hosted by a Druze family in Beit Jann.

“When participants arrived, they said the place looked like an Arab village,” he says. “They didn’t expect their hosts to be Zionistic or Israeli. But they were very Zionistic. All their children had been in the army. They lost two sons to war.”

Another group met with a woman living in a moshav near Gaza who talked about her relationship with an Arab woman on the other side of the border fence.

During the tour, the Jewish woman called her Gazan friend, and they spoke together to the visiting group.

“It was very beautiful, very emotional,” Omari says.

Pastor John Moyle of Oakbrook Church in Reston, Va., who has gone on three trips with MEJDI, says that on a recent tour, he met with Israeli and Palestinian families through the Parents Circle Families Forum, which brings together Jews and Arabs who have lost family members through the conflict and want to use their losses to work toward a different future.

“This is one example of the power of hearing the narrative from both sides. They are both hurt, both of their lives have

changed forever,” says Moyle, who since his first MEJDI tour has become deeply involved with Israel. He describes MEJDI Tours as “flexible,” its founders as “connected and networked,” and its concept as “world-changing.”

“They are not doing tours for the sake of people just having a great time—though you do have a great time,” Moyle says. “But there is something deeper and greater going on there. They are helping people understand that the world is deeper, more complex.

And in the process, they are trying to make the world a better place.”

What do MEJDI tour guides think about the chances for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

“Of course there is a chance for peace. If not, I wouldn’t be doing this,” says Omari, who besides for working with MEJDI runs Heartbeat.fm, an initiative that unites Israeli and Palestinian youth musicians. “Freedom and equality will be here [in the Middle East], but we have to work toward it. … We have to remember, the truth is in the words of the people on the street, not the media.”

Maghen says, “The most important thing is to create interactions between people, to allow them to work together as equals.

Peace does not happen between governments, but between people.”

men convicted in the real estate scam known as the Holyland Affair can remain free during the appeals process, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled Monday.

In May, Olmert was sentenced to six years in prison and a $289,000 fine for accepting bribes in the Holyland Affair. He was ordered to report to prison on Sept. 1, but the prison date was suspended pending his appeal.

Islamic State, or ISIS, specifically by fighters returning home from Syria and Iraq, according to the warning.

Iran and Hezbollah continue to threaten Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, the warning said, especially targets such as Jewish tourists, and symbolic targets including Jewish institutions and rabbis.

The warning reiterated that it was unlawful for Israelis to travel to Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It also recommended avoiding travel to Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan and Somalia; Israelis currently in those countries were advised to leave immediately.

The advisory also published high concrete threats and basic concrete threats in a dozen countries each and recommended that the Israeli public refrain from visiting those countries.

A severe travel warning remains in effect for Israelis visiting the Sinai Peninsula.

No injuries or damage were reported from the rocket, which hit by the Quneitra crossing on Monday morning.

On Friday night a mortar shell struck Israel on the Golan, where a number of rockets and mortar shells have spilled over from the Syrian civil war in recent months and more in recent weeks.

Argentina’s Davis Cup team has two Jewish players who are active in the Jewish community: Martin Jaite, the team’s captain, and Diego Shvartzman, the youngest player on the team.

Israel’s counterterrorism bureau issues travel warnings JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel’s National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau issued warnings to Israeli travelers for the heavy travel season during the fall holidays.

“There is, at this time, an increasing potential threat as a result of the recent Operation Protective Edge during which there were many demonstrations at Israeli embassies and consulates around the world,” the warning issued Monday said.

“There has also been an increase in anti-Semitic incidents. These trends are likely to continue during the holiday period.”

Western Europe, by global jihad elements including the

Rocket fired in Syria lands in Israeli Golan JERUSALEM (JTA) – A rocket fired in Syria as part of that country’s war struck Israel near the Golan Heights border.

Israel falls to Argentina in relocated Davis Cup match BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) – Israel lost in the Davis Cup to Argentina in a match that was moved from Tel Aviv to Florida due to the conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

Israel lost 3-2 after dropping the two singles’ matches on Sunday in Sunrise, Fla. Argentina, which was favored, will go on to vie for the 2015 Davis Cup. Israel will compete next year in the Davis Cup World Group II. “The most successful double partners in the history of Israeli tennis made aliyah with their families and speak fluently in Spanish,” Erlich, who was born in Argentina, joked with a journalist from his native country, adding that he wasn’t sure which team his parents were backing.

Israeli army stops Palestinian’s infiltration attempt near kibbutz JERUSALEM (JTA) – A Palestinian man was caught trying to infiltrate Israel from Gaza.

An Israeli army patrol spotted the man over the weekend from a post overlooking the border as he tried to enter Israel near Kibbutz Kissufim, which is near central Gaza, according to Israeli media reports. He was carrying a knife.

The man was detained and taken for questioning.

It was not known if he entered via an undiscovered tunnel from Gaza to Israel.

12 • CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE

ANNOUNCEMENTS HONORED riel Zipkin Weiss, 30, a Cincinnati native, received the 26th annual Samuel A. Goldsmith Award at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago’s 114th Annual Meeting, which took place Sept. 11.

The Goldsmith award is given to exceptional young professionals who have shown outstanding performance in their work at a Jewish agency in the Chicago area.

Weiss was recently promoted to Director of Donor Engagement at JUF, where she formerly served as Director of YLD. During her tenure, she has launched dozens of new programs and initiatives. A recent YLD event that Weiss organized, the Blue and White Bar Night, attracted over 800 people last spring – an 80 percent increase over the previous year. She has also served as the lead professional for the past three Big Event Fundraisers, which were enormously successful and broke both fundraising and attendance records.

In her remarks, Weiss credited her work at JUF for providing her with a sense of identity, community, and a place to put her passion for tikkun olam (social justice) to work.

“What the Federation does

A

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

CEDAR VILLAGE EIGHT OVER EIGHT HONOREES On May 29, Cedar Village honored eight outstanding individuals over the age of 80 for their dedicated service to the community. The 2014 honorees were Miriam Warshauer Cohen, Annette Hattenbach, Minette Hoffheimer, Ray Kantor, Jerry Klein, Vera Sanker, Zell Schulman and Betsy Shapiro.

Ariel Zipkin Weiss

in Chicago affects the entire world,” she said. “I have seen how tenant support prevents homelessness; how Holocaust survivors have a safety net to live out their lives with dignity; how a hungry mother receives food assistance for her family. In Ukraine, I visited a summer camp where Jewish life thrived. This is Jewish revitalization at its best, and it is taking place all over the world – in struggling Jewish communities, in places where Hitler committed to Jewish destruction, in places where pogroms were prominent. The impact of what we do spans the globe, and I am privileged to play a small role in it.”

L. to R.: Standing: Jerry Klein, Minette Hoffheimer, Betsy Shapiro, Zell Schuilman, Vera Sanker, Miriam Warshauer Cohen, Ray Kantor. Seated: Annette Hattenbach.

Annette Hattenbach and family

Zell Schulman and family

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Betsy Shapiro, Ted Schwartz and Minette Hoffheimer

Jerry and Nancy Klein

Ray Kantor and family

Vera Sanker and Sue Teller

Wilbur and Miriam Cohen

CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE • 13

14 • DINING OUT

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Dining in a seafood market? At Keegan’s, can do

By Bob Wilhelmy If you expect to smell something fishy while dining at Keegan's Specialty Seafood Market, you'll be pleasantly disappointed. No fish odor of any kind can the nose detect.

That's why dining in the market proper works for me, even with the seafood case and all the fresh fish right there, in view and a few feet away. Simply put, there is no odorperiod.

So how is it that a fish market does not smell fishy? Tom Keegan, owner/proprietor has a ready answer: “Everything is fresh here.

Fresh fish does not have a bad odor.”

His answer has merit, too, since fish pulled by hook from the sea last night around Hawaii or Alaska will be on ice in his cases tomorrow morning.

This man is a preacher of the doctrine of responsible, sustainable use of the sea's bounty. Notice the “by hook” catch phrase above? His display case features fish that are not netted by commercial fishing boats.

Take Hawaii, for instance. Each fish is caught at the end of a line thrown in the water by Japanese fishers, casting from small boats-a tradition that dates back centuries. The quality of the fish is unbeatable, as is the freshness and vitality. And only fish that are of sound, plentiful stock appear in Keegan's case. He simply refuses to offer fish that is in trouble as a sustainable species.

Keegan's is open for lunch 11a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The lunch menu changes daily, with soups, salads and lunch plates from which to choose.

The bagel-lox (plus onions and capers) dish is one of the menu options we saw. The lox are homemade by Keegan. “It's a simple recipe-a special type salmon, salt, sugar and dill, in the right proportions and the right amount of time (to cure). We'll soon have our own homemade cream cheese to go with the bagels (from Marx Hot Bagels, BTW),” he said. Soups change daily, with Gazpacho listed on this particular afternoon. Other soups such as potato-leek and mushroom & brie bisque are among the various soups on the board. Sounds like a winning soup lineup to me.

While the dine-in options are part of the allure of Keegan's, so too are the fish-case, carryout, and “next-door” options he offers.

In the case, you'll find items such as wild-caught Alaskan halibut, bigeye ruby-red tuna from Hawaii, black grouper, wild-caught Alaskan king salmon, and farm-raised salmon from the Faroe Islands in the North Sea. A note about both the king and the farmed salmon: the king is wild, but a much lighter flesh and milder salmon flavor, for those

Tom Keegan, owner and proprietor, in front of his seafood case.

who find regular salmon too strong to the taste; and the farmed, for 90% of the growth cycle, the fish are eating wild shrimp, krill, plankton and so on, as normal, and then are fattened on sardines from the Mediterranean. This farmed fish is fed no dyes, no antibiotics, no manufactured fish food, so is as close to wild caught in diet and growth as can be, and still be farmed.

Carryout foods include items like small-batch rubs for meats, fish, veggies and more. Also, spices from a company which smokes them using old bourbon barrels to create the smoking environment and a bourbon-infused flavor.

The smoked sea salt is particularly noteworthy. There are tuna burgers ready for the grill, as well as blue marlin burgers and kajiki burgers.

You'll find pasta dinners in packages, ready to heat and serve, all homemade, along with salsa and jellies, all local, all homemade with the loving touch.

And finally, next door to Keegan's is Alfio's restaurant. On Alfio's menu you'll find Keegan's Catch, a variety of fish Keegan is cut to portion and supplied the restaurant. Or, you can visit Keegan's, buy a piece of fish from the case, take it

The café-style outdoor table area.

to Alfio's, and they will prepare it, and accompany it with appropriate sides, and serve it to you. A neat twist, don't you think?

No matter how you decide to enjoy this fish market's offerings, it's

clear to me that its proprietor has a visceral connection to the sea, the products of the sea, and protection of the sea as a cherished resource.

See you at Keegan's Specialty Seafood Market.

Keegans Specialty Seafood Market 2724 Erie Ave. 321-0181

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

DINING OUT • 15

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16 • OPINION

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The strangest aspect of the Gaza war

By Lawernce Grossman (JNS) – The strangest aspect of the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas-controlled Gaza came at its close, when the losers enthusiastically claimed to be winners.

Even before the cease-fire was officially announced Aug. 26, Gazans were celebrating in the streets over the Hamas “victory.”

Khaled Mashaal, the group’s leader—safely ensconced in Doha, Qatar, far from the battlefield— gave an identical assessment, telling reporters that Hamas had “dazzled the world with her victory.” It was, he went on, “only a milestone to reaching our objective,” the elimination of the state of Israel.

A public opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research soon after hostilities ended demonstrates that this triumphalist mood pervades Palestinian society. Seventy-nine percent of West Bank and Gaza Palestinians believe that Hamas won, 94 percent say they are satisfied with Hamas’s performance, and 78 percent are happy with its defense of Gazan civilians.

Seventy-four percent of Gaza respondents and 70 percent of the West Bankers would favor a similar armed struggle against Israel in the West Bank.

Reality is quite different. Hamas secured none of the goals it announced during the war it launched on July 8 with barrages of rockets and mortars on Israel—not an end to restrictions on the movement of goods and persons into and out of Gaza, not the release of Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails, and neither a seaport nor an airfield on Gazan soil. Israel’s sole concession, expansion of the fishing rights of Gazans from 6-12 miles offshore, was a return to the understanding reached after the last war in 2012.

Furthermore, the depletion of much of the Hamas rocket supply and the destruction of 34 tunnels leading from Gaza into southern Israel will severely hamper Hamas’s ability to fight effectively, should it initiate a fourth war since its violent seizure of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007.

If the results of the war belie the celebratory Palestinian reaction, the comparative human and material costs to Gaza and to Israel render it utterly nonsensical. Although evoking fear in the Israeli populace, the Hamas projectile offensive killed just six civilians, the low number due largely to Israel’s early-warning system, public shelters, and Iron Dome interceptors. Sixty-four Israeli soldiers lost their lives, almost all during the ground invasion. Compare that to the official Palestinian count of 2,139 dead in

Gaza, most of them civilians because Hamas deliberately fired from homes, schools, hospitals and mosques. That’s a more than 30-to1 ratio of Gazans to Israelis dead, without even factoring in the many thousands injured, displaced, and left homeless in Gaza. And the economic losses Israel sustained— including direct and indirect damage, lost days of work, and a drop in tourism—pale in comparison to the devastation the war brought to large parts of Gaza. The casualties and destruction mounted as Hamas violated 11 cease-fires and rejected the Egyptian proposal offered earlier in the war that became the final, and so far lasting, end of the war.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was surely right when he said, “Everything that happened could have been avoided. We could have avoided the 2,000 martyrs, the 10,000 wounded, the 50,000 homes.” But that same Palestinian public opinion poll indicating strong approval of the war also shows that were elections held now, former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza would trounce Abbas by close to a two-toone margin—and the results would be even more lopsided in the West Bank than in Gaza. Abbas’s freefalling poll numbers suggest that the Palestinian people actually welcome the losses he considers avoidable.

How are we to understand such cognitive dissonance, the celebration as a victory of what, by any objective criterion, was a clear defeat? Abdullah Hamidaddin, a Saudi-born intellectual now living in England, has provided a cogent explanation in the pages of AlHayat, translated into English on the Critical Muslims website. “In the heart of every terrorist is a trivialization of life,” he writes, “his own or the innocents’ or both.”

The tragedy is that this perspective has spread beyond the terrorists themselves into the larger Muslim world. As Hamididdin puts it, “It is almost as if they are thrilled about human loss. … All celebrate death in their own ranks… as much as they celebrate death in the ranks of their enemies—the Israelis.” He charges that this love of death, while not authentic to Islam, has infiltrated the faith to the point that it is now “built into the DNA of our culture” so that “in a way we all belong to ISIS (Islamic State).

Westerners will find this insight into Muslim thinking difficult to comprehend, but unless it is recognized, confronted, and counteracted, the conflict of civilizations revealed by the actions of Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas will only widen.

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

Dear Editor “I have always been fascinated by large Jewish gatherings and Israel’s national events. Yom Haatzmaut ceremonies, the mass Birkat Kohanim (Blessing of the priests) at the Kotel, the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York, and numerous other such events leave me awestruck.

More than the pageantry, I believe it is the sheer number of Jews gathering for a single purpose or delivering a unified message that moves me.

Earlier this month, I experienced the same intense feelings from a simple recorded message. Allow me to explain.

In preparation for the High Holidays, Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future recorded a special Yamim Noraim message by Rabbi Dovid Lau, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. The video was then shared exclusively with thousands of communal rabbis around the world, in the hopes that they may develop and incorporate the central ideas weighing on the mind of the Chief Rabbi into their own Rosh Hashanah sermons.

It was only after virtually distributing his thoughts to these rabbinic leaders that I considered the implications of disseminating Torah messages in this way. While millennia have long since passed, I could hear the echoes of the Biblical com-

mandment of hakhel, where all Jewish men, women and children would unify every seven years in Jerusalem to hear and experience the words of Torah as one nation.

Despite the vast diversity of the Jewish people, at that moment, everyone was equal, everyone was important. The sense of pride was no doubt overwhelming, and the singularity of purpose was beyond compare.

As technology develops more rapidly than ever before, we are blessed with the tremendous gift of the instantaneous dissemination of ideas. With the click of a mouse (or the launch of an app), a single, unified message can be transmitted to the four corners of the world. And when the recipients of that message are established Torah scholars and community leaders, we can be sure that the information will penetrate the hearts and minds of the Jewish masses worldwide.

The fusion of technology and traditional Jewish teaching methodologies allows us to send a pure, unified message that brings Jews around the world closer together, perhaps in what we can loosely call ‘Hakhel 2.0.’

But the parallels don’t end there.

During hakhel, every person in attendance heard the same message, yet they internalized it in a unique way.

With our modern day hakhel 2.0, the same message can be received by hundreds of rabbis and is then individualized and uniquely distilled to speak directly to each audience.

Once again, digital Torah continues to enhance the tradition of individualism as part of the collective whole.

For all of these reasons, Rav Lau’s recorded message became so much more than just another digital communication to me. I saw it as a wildly effective conveyance of Torah knowledge and values, a great unifier of an otherwise dispersed people, and a protector of the Jewish future. As such, while it is not quite the commandment of hakhel, the parallel just makes sense.

Following the trials we have faced as a nation over the last several months, we need strong leadership, unification and messages of hope – now more than ever. As we usher in the new year we must seek out opportunities to join our hearts and hands, and must see unifying experiences everywhere we look.

Rabbi Naphtali Lavenda, Director of Online Rabbinic Programming at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Lavenda lives in Israel with his family. Formerly from Cincinnati, Ohio

The danger of depending on Turkey

By Ben Cohen (JNS) – Here’s the good news: the Obama administration has finally grasped that the onslaught of the Islamic State terror group through Iraq and Syria needs to be defeated and destroyed. Sixty-one percent of Americans, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, agree with the president. At a time when much of the world believes, not unreasonably, that America is in retreat, the administration’s willingness to pursue military options and its almost George W. Bush-esque rhetoric regarding the “evil” of Islamic State, as Secretary of State John Kerry put it, is most welcome.

Even so, the issue of which states to involve in the battle against Islamic State should leave us less sanguine about where this battle might lead. Yes, yes, I know: This is the Middle East, and we are therefore compelled to work with distasteful regimes, such as the Saudis, in accomplishing strategic goals like the expulsion of Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991. This time, however, we need to avoid an outcome that strengthens Iranian influence in the region, which means that we cannot indefinitely postpone the

discussion over what to do about the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.

By the same token, there’s another discussion that we cannot indefinitely postpone. That one concerns the role of Turkey—a country described by a senior Obama administration official, in an interview with the New York Times that coincided with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s visit to Ankara, as “absolutely indispensable” to the struggle against Islamic State.

There is, of course, a great deal of merit behind that statement.

Turkey is historically an ally of the U.S. and a member of NATO. The airbase which the Americans maintain at Incirlik has been operationally critical to our military engagements in the region over the last quarter of a century, including the present fight against the terrorists of Islamic State.

At the same time, there are three key reasons why we should question whether the Turks can continue to be a pillar of an American-led alliance.

Firstly, the Turkish government’s pursuit of political outcomes that undermine American interests.

Secondly, the murky relationship between the Turks and the various

terrorist groups in the region.

Thirdly, the growing intolerance that stains Turkish politics, and particularly the nakedly anti-Semitic rhetoric directed towards Israel by Turkey’s former prime minister and newly elected president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Let’s start with the first reason.

The recent war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could have been ended much earlier had an Egyptian truce proposal, agreed to by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, been implemented. But the Egyptian initiative was derailed by a rival proposal from Turkey and Qatar, the two main patrons of Hamas. The Turkish-Qatari proposal temporarily seduced the U.S. State Department and resulted in the continuation of hostilities for several more days.

The issue of Turkish trustworthiness is equally alive in the context of Iraq and Syria. Turkey has expressed concern that weapons will fall into the hands of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a left-wing nationalist organization designated by the Americans and the Europeans as a terrorist group.

What this overlooks is the fact DANGER on page 19

JEWISH LIFE • 17

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT NITZAVIM-VAYELECH DEUTERONOMY 29:9- 31:30

Sedra of the Week

by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin EFRAT, Israel - “And it shall be when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have presented before you… that I shall cause you to return to your heart amongst all of the Gentile nations to which the Lord your God has dispersed you. And you shall return to the Lord your God” (Deut. 30:1-2) With the tragically bitter prophetic curses of exile and persecution still ringing in our ears from last week’s portion of Ki Tavo, this week- just several days before Rosh Hashanah, the first of the Ten Days of Return (Teshuvah)- we read this magnificent Biblical promise of return. It is a two pronged “return”, both a return to our God and our Torah (“You shall hearken to His voice according to everything that I command you this day”(ibid.)), and it is a return to our homeland Israel (“If your dispersal will be at the ends of the heavens, from there will the Lord your God gather you and from there, He will take you. And the Lord your God shall bring you to the land which your forefathers inherited, and you shall inherit it” (ibid 4-5).

I have a number of questions about this passage, which seems to be addressing our generation, the generation of return. First of all, is God exhorting us to fulfill the commandment of teshuvah, or is this a promise which God will eventually effectuate for us?

Second, is the term teshuvah-

“return” – the most apt description for our experience in these times?

If an individual has been religious, but, left his religious commitments (a datlash in current Israeli jargon, one of the “formerly religious”), and then “returns” to religion, he may properly be called a baal teshuvah, a returnee.

But if an individual who has never been religious, and is now becoming “born-again” religious, how we can refer to him as a “returnee”? He is not “returning” to anything; he is initiating a new experience!

And finally, the opening verses of our Biblical portion which also serve as a segue between the covenant with the curses and our optimistic passage of “return”, begins: “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God, in order to pass into the Covenant of the Lord your God and into His imprecation, which the Lord your God seals with you today… Not with you alone do I seal this Covenant and this imprecation, but with whoever is here standing with us today before the Lord our God and with whoever is not here with us today” (Deut. 30:9-14).

To whom is the Bible referring when it speaks of “whoever is not here with us today”? It is usually explained as the future generations as yet unborn; but how can a Covenant-Contract obligate people who were not present to agree to assume the obligation? And if it refers to the Gentiles, who are responsible to keep at least the universal moral laws, they too cannot be bound by a CovenantContract for which they were not present.

To understand this passage, we must invoke the interpretation of Maimonides, who insists that our Biblical verses are “promising” that ultimately Israel will do

teshuvah at the conclusion of their exile and will then be redeemed.

(Laws of Repentance 7,5.

Indeed, the Prophet Ezekiel states that the later generations will never be able to completely reject God and His Covenant: “As for what enters your mind, it shall not be. That which you say, ‘we will be like the (Gentile) nations, like the families of the land, to worship wood and stone,….I swear that I will rule over you… I will cause you to pass under the rod and I will bring you into the tradition of the Covenant”.

(Ezekiel 20:32-37) We can understand the phrase “under the rod” to refer to the whip of the gentiles, whose persecution of us prevents us from assimilating (witness Nazi Germany and Stalinist Soviet Union and see the words of R. Yehoshua Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 97b,). Alternatively, “under the rod” may refer to the rod of tithes, with which the owner assigned the sheep which would be chosen for God. We, Israel, are God’s chosen people, created in His image and destined to be His light and witnesses to the nations of the world. That “portion from God on High” will never leave us; and so of necessity we eventually “return” to our truest nature and be the holy nations and Kingdom of Priest-teachers we were slated to be.

Thus, the prayer we recite each morning makes the truest statement: “My Lord, the soul which You gave me is pure; You created it, You formed it, and You planted it within me.” That is our truest essence; and it is the Divine of every human being, created in God’s image. As the greatest rule of the Torah states: “You shall love your friend, because he is like you; I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:18) – and so you and your Gentile

T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: NITZAVIM (DEVARIM 29:9 – 30:20) their travels among the nations? a.) Their wealth b.) Mighty armies c.) Their idols 4.What would the ultimate punishment be for the Children of Israel? a.) Famine b.) Exile c.) Poverty 5.Who will return with the Children of Israel from exile?

2. B 29:14 Rashi 3. C 29:15,16 4. B 29:27 Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise

ANSWERS 1. D 29:9 Moshe had the Children of Israel enter a covenant the day he passed away. Rashi

1. Who entered the covenant? a.) Men b.) Women c.) Children d.) All of the above 2. Who was not present at the making of the covenant? a.) Nations of the world b.) Those not born yet c.) Babies 3. What did the Children of Israel see during

friend are also like Me, who formed both of you from My womb, as it were.

The indelible essence of every human being is the Godliness within him from which humankind can never ultimately escape. Hence God promises that in historic times (Zikhronot) the descendants of the people of the

Covenant – endowed with their forbears’ and with God’s DNAwill accomplish their vocation of bringing the world into the Covenant.

Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi – Efrat Israel

5. 30:3 Hashem who was with us in the exile will return with us. Rashi

18 • JEWZ IN THE NEWZ

JEWZ

IN THE

By Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist At the Movies: “This is Where I Leave You” is based on a 2009 novel of the same name by JONATHAN TROPPER, 44, a Modern Orthodox Jew. The plot: the four combative siblings of the Altman family reunite at their childhood home after their father dies, for a week of sitting shiva (the siblings are played by Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, and COREY STOLL, 38). Jane Fonda plays their Jewish mother.

Directed by SHAWN LEVY, 46; with screenplay by Tropper. The good news: a major Hollywood movie centering on sitting shiva!

The bad news: advance reviews are mostly “so/so”. (Opens this week in the Cincinnati area).

TV Premieres The following shows, which premiere next week, have a Jewish cast member. Starts Sept.

21: “Madam Secretary” stars Tea Leoni as a former CIA agent who unexpectedly is named Secretary of State. BEBE NEUWIRTH, 55, co-stars as the Secretary’s chief of staff. (CBS; 8PM). Starts Sept. 22: “Forever” is a supernatural drama starring Ioan Gruffudd as Harry, a NYC medical examiner who can’t die. He studies the dead to try and discover why he’s immortal. JUDD HIRSCH, 79, plays Abe, an antique store owner and ladies’ man who is Harry’s best friend and confidant. He urges Harry to enjoy life, including romance. (ABC; 10PM).

Starting the same night, at 8PM, on Fox, is the highly-touted “Gotham,” a “Batman” spin-off of sorts. Benjamin McKenzie plays Detective Jim Gordon, who is fated in later life to become Gotham’s police commissioner.

His first big case is the investigation of the murder of the parents of the young Bruce Wayne (much later Batman). The young Wayne is played by DAVID MAZOUZ, 13, a Sephardi actor from Los Angeles. Also starting on the 22nd (CBS; 9PM) is “Scorpion”.

The plot: a group of tech nerds form a team to solve the world’s most difficult problems. EDDIE KAYE THOMAS, 33 (“Finch” in “American Pie”) plays Toby, a team member.

Starting on Wednesday, Sept.

24, are “Mysteries of Laura” (NBC, 8PM) and “Black-Ish” (ABC, 8PM). “Mysteries” stars DEBRA “Will and Grace” MESSING, 46, as a brilliant police detective who tries to balance career and single motherhood. “Black-Ish” was created by and stars comedian Anthony Anderson. It explores one suburban black father’s efforts (first

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

NEWZ

name “Dre”) to establish a cultural identity for his four kids. His bi-racial wife, Rainbow, is played

by TRACEE ELLIS ROSS, 41.

She’s the daughter of famous singer Diana Ross and Ross’ exhusband, ROBERT ELLIS SILBERSTEIN, 67.

Dre and Rainbow’s four children include Andre, who really wants a bar mitzvah despite the fact the family isn't Jewish. By the way, when ABC was previewing this “cultural identity” show for a media audience, a reporter referenced “cultural identity” when he stood up and told the head of ABC programming, “I think 'Black-ish' will mention a bar mitzvah before 'The Goldbergs' [on ABC] does." The programmer’s (Paul Lee) reply implicitly acknowledged that “The Goldbergs” had gone a full season without using the word “Jewish”. Lee said, "I don't think there's anybody in the country that watches 'Goldbergs' and doesn't think it's about a Jewish family. We have so much support and respect for ADAM [GOLDBERG, the show creator]...When he's ready to tell that story, he'll tell that story…”

Starting Sept. 25 (ABC, 10PM) is “How to Get Away with Murder”. This drama centers on an African-American law school professor (Viola Davis), her associates, and her students-- and how they get caught-up in a murder case. Playing one associate is LIZA WEIL, 37 (Paris Geller on “The Gilmore Girls”).

Best and Worst Stories of the Week The tragic death of JOAN RIVERS led “People” magazine to run a quite good on-line article (Sept. 6) about her surprising friendship with Prince Charles.

They hit it off at a dinner party in 2003 and she was a guest at his 2005 wedding. The Prince expressed his condolences right after her death was announced.

Also, on Sept. 6, the New York Post’s gossip column reported that GWYNETH PALTROW, 41, was “converting to Judaism.”

There was no named source for this “bombshell”, but as happens at least twice a year---an almost certainly made-up story of “celeb turns Jewish” was re-printed widely. Consider this—what is she converting to? One would think Reform, not Conservative or Orthodox Judaism. However, there’s almost certainly no need for Paltrow to formally convert under Reform Jewish guidelines-her father was Jewish and the main religion in Paltrow’s childhood home was Judaism—her brother, her only sibling, had a bar mitzvah.

FROM THE PAGES 150 Y EARS A GO The several synagogues in this city, namely the two Lodge-Street synagogues, the Broadway and the Race Streets synagogues, the Polish shool, and the Beth-Hamidrash, were crowded to overflowing on the Day of Atonement.

The members of K.K. B’ne Yeshurun are requested to attend an adjourned general meeting of K.K. B’ne Yeshurun, and at the same time the annual general meeting of Talmid Yelodim Institute, which will take place at the Vestry room of LodgeStreet Temple, Sunday, Oct. 16, at half-past six o’clock, P.M. Important business will be transacted. F. Eichberg, Sec. The “Social Union” will give their first Cotillion Party for the season, Friday evening, October 21, at Mozart Hall. Jos. Shelt, President, Sol. Abrams, Secretary.

Betrothed: Mr. Simon Wolfstein to Miss Jennie Kanschoff. – October 14, 1864

125 Y EARS A GO The engagement is announced of Miss Jennye, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Noah Hecht of W. Court Street to Mr. Moses Gumble, a prosperous merchant of North Vernon, Ind. The funeral of Nathan Joseph Harris, aged seventy, of 812 Walnut Street, took place Sunday from his home, Dr. Louis Grossmann officiating. The interment followed in the Jewish Cemetery on Walnut Hills.

Mr. Benjamin Lehman of Ft. Wayne, Ind. and Miss Hannah, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Block, were married Wednesday evening at the residence of the bride’s parents on Stanton Ave., W.H. Dr. Philipson officiating.

The Union Jewish Sabbath School, conducted by the Mound and Plum St. Temple Congregations, will open its sessions next Sunday morning Oct. 1, at the school rooms, 622 June St. Members of the two congregations desiring to send their children are requested to have them there at nine o’clock. – September 28, 1899

100 Y EARS A GO Young man, American born, age thirty, with growing business, would like to make the aquaintance of a young lady with mean, between the ages of twenty adn twenty-five. One with refined taste and domestically inclined preferred. All communications confidential.

On Monday, September 14, at the Hotel Sterling, occurred the marriage of Miss Besse Da Costa, daughter of Mrs. J Da Costa, to Mr. Jack Gallup. Dr. Grossmann performed the ceremony.

Mrs. Bernetta Segal Jordan, aged

sixty-one years, died on Thursday, September 10, at her residence in the Virginia Apartments, Avondale. The funeral took place on September 13, the remains being cremated.

Mr. and Mrs. Louis W. Kahn have moved to their new home, 3568 Bogart Avenue, Avondale, where they will pleased to see their friends.

The engagement is announced of Norma, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Kohn, to Mr. Clarence Rothschild, of Detroit, Mich. Mr. and Mrs. Kohn will be at home in honor of the occasion at their residence, B 8 Landon Court, Avondale, on October 11. – September 17, 1914

75 Y EARS A GO Mr. Herman M. Magnus was the guest of honor at a surprise stag dinner given Monday, Sept. 25th, at Vernon Manor, by his brother, Mr. Julian A. Magnus.

Joseph Segal, Cincinnati attorney, again will conduct a class in Law and Modern Business on Tuesday evenings at the Jewish Center.

Designed to fit the needs of the business man in the day-by-day conduct of his business, the course will require a nominal fee, part of which will be applied to the purchase of a standard textbook on commercial law. Those interested are urged to call AVon 2805.

Beginning Wednesday, October 4, Mrs. Aaron T. Grad will open her home at 920 Lenox Place every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons from 2 to 5 p.m., to make bandages for the Allies. Anyone interested is invited.

Those expecting to attend Oct. 4 are askedd to notify Mrs. Grad at AVon 6450 as teachers and materials are being supplied and the approximate number of those attending will be needed. – September 28, 1939

50 Y EARS A GO Annoucement has been made of the marriage of Miss Judy Shook, daugther of Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Shook of Bond Hill, and Mr. Stanley L. Fogel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Fogel, of Coad Drive, Bond Hill, Sunday, Sept. 20.

Following a trip to the Smoky Mountains, Mr. and Mrs. Fogel will reside on Dryden Avenue, Pleasant Ridge.

Mr. and Mrs. Leonard D. Shifres, 1911 Portman Avenue, announce the forthcoming Bas Mitzvah of their daughter, Audrey Gayle, Friday, Oct. 2, at 8:15 p.m., at Adath Israel Synagogue, Lexington Avenue and Reading Road.

Relatives and friends are cordially invited to worship with the family and attend the Kiddush following the services. No cards.

Audrey is the granddaughter of Mrs. Leon Shifres and the late Mr.

Leon Shifres and Mrs. William Misrach and the late Mr. William Misrach. – September 24, 1964

25 Y EARS A GO John and Sara (Cohen) Fishback announce the birth of a daughter, Rachel Alison, Sept. 21. Rachel has a sister, Elizabeth Laura.

Maternal grandparents are Samuel and Fredericka Cohen.

Paternal grandparents are Katherine Fishback and the late William Fishback, all of Cincinnati.

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Cohen of Cincinnati announce the engagement of their daughter, Teresa Lynn to Captain William J. Rapp, son of Mr. and Mrs. Francis A. Rapp of Amelia, Ohio.

Teresa is a graduate of Ohio State University and a May graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Willaim is a captain in the United States Marine Corp. He is a lawyer with the Judge Advocates Corps, a graduate of UC and a May 1987 graduate of UC’s College of Law. A November 11 wedding at Rockdale Temple is planned.

Karl Gottschalk, 87, died Sept.

13.

He was a retired textile dealer.

Born in Germany, most of his family died during the Holocaust.

Mr. Gottschalk is survived by a sister-in-law, Else Friedman of Sarasota, Fla. He was the brother of the late Herbert Gottschalk.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Cincinnati Association for the Blind or the Jewish Federation Campaign. – September 28, 1989

10 Y EARS A GO Dr. and Mrs. Michael Lipson of Amberley Village announce the marriage of their daughter, Dana Michelle, to Kurt Auer, son of Dr. Barbara Czestochowa and Mr. Martin Auer of Dayton, Ohio. Dana is the granddaugther of Catherine Lipson and the late Edward Lipson of Cincinnati, Ohio, and of Alice Eckstein and the late Arthur Eckstein of Clifton, N.J. The ceremony and reception took place on Saturday, September 4, 2004, at the Cincinnati Club with Rabbi Lewis Kamrass of Wise Temple, officiating.

Dana holds a B.A. degree in Family Studies from Ohio State University and a Master’s degree in Social Work from Case Western Reserve University. She is a licensed Social Worker for the Lakota Local School System.

Kurt attends the University of Cincinnati in the College of Engineering with a concentrated field of study in the sub-specialty of electrical engineering. – October 7, 2004

COMMUNITY DIRECTORY / CLASSIFIEDS • 19

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

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 • jewishcincinnati.org Jewish Foundation (513) 214-1200 Jewish Information Network (513) 985-1514 JVS Career Services (513) 936-WORK (9675) • www.jvscinti.org Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund (513) 793-2556 Shalom Family (513) 703-3343 • myshalomfamily.org

SCHOOLS from page 9 report this year by the Taub Center, Israel has the largest educational achievement gaps between rich and poor among countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, an economic grouping of the world’s wealthiest nations.

The report also found that Israel performs second worst in international test scores, beating only Slovakia, and has above-average class sizes – 29 students per class compared to an OECD average of 20.

Israel’s Education Ministry has aimed to address these problems by providing more funding to poor districts starting this year, increasing the number of summer schools and enhancing school choice. But Nahum Blass, a senior education researcher at the Taub Center, said increased local education funding in rich towns, coupled with the hiring of private tutors by wealthier parents, cancel out the ministry’s efforts.

“What the system can give the weaker students is not enough to cover the gap between weak and strong,” Blass said. “A poor kid will

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 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 B’nai Tikvah Chavurah (513) 284-5845 • rabbibruce.com 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 Sha’arei Torah (513) 620-8080 • shaareitorahcincy.org Congregation Shevet Achim (513) 426-8613 • shevetachimohio.com 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

get a little more from the Education Ministry, but what the [well-off] local authorities and the parents give can counteract that affirmative action and flip it.”

A number of educational nonprofits have launched efforts to address these issues.

Balanced Literacy, a program by the Israeli Center for Educational Innovation, runs programs at 18 schools with high concentrations of Ethiopian immigrants, beginning language classes with a half-hour of class reading time and up to three hours of language instruction daily.

Another nongovernmental organization, Educating for Excellence, identifies the most talented students in low-income areas and provides them with enrichment, extracurricular activities and a quiet space to do homework for three hours several times a week.

But much of the burden still falls on teachers who take it upon themselves to give students in low-performing schools the extra attention they need to succeed.

Sarit Elmaliach, a first-grade teacher at the Saadya Gaon Religious Public School in the central Israeli

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 • mayersonjcc.org 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 ORT America (216) 464-3022 • ortamerica.org State of Israel Bonds (513) 793-4440 • israelbonds.com

town of Or Yehuda, has taken steps to make her lessons more relevant to the one-third of her students from Ethiopian families.

Like other Israeli minorities, Ethiopians come from less affluent families and struggle more in school.

According to the Myers-JDCBrookdale Institute, a governmentfunded think tank that studies Ethiopian Israelis, as of 2010 only one-quarter of Ethiopian high-school graduates were prepared for college, versus nearly half of Israeli Jews overall. Ethiopian college graduation rates also lag those of Israeli Jews.

Elmaliach reads to her students books with Ethiopian characters and focused one art class on an Ethiopian sculptor. When she visits the parents of her Ethiopian students at home, she takes care to abide by Ethiopian standards of politeness, even being mindful of things as simple as sitting down before drinking a cup of water.

Before the school year starts, she learns the origins of her students’ Amharic names.

“You want to show them a little that you’re connected to them,” Elmaliach said. “Some kids would get embarrassed and want another

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 513-621-3145 DANGER from page 16 that the PKK, along with its Syrian offshoot, the PYD, has already played an “indispensable role” in the fight against Islamic State when, moreover, the rest of the world was looking the other way. PKK and PYD fighters go into combat alongside Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq. They are also instrumental to the current offensive against Islamic State in the area around Shingal, where tens of thousands of Yazidis, an ancient religious minority regarded as “unbelievers” by the Islamists, have endured a savage genocide.

Given American reluctance to deploy ground troops, and the recognition that the fight against Islamic State will be measured in years rather than months, it is legitimate to ask whether Turkish worries about the PKK should be elevated above other considerations. It can even be argued that there is little justification for maintaining the PKK’s “terrorist” designation. As Gülistan Gürbey, a political scientist based in Berlin, told the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, the PKK is “deeply rooted in the Kurdish diasname. I say, ‘You have nothing to be embarrassed about. That’s a respected name.’ “ That sort of cultural sensitivity can only go so far toward compensating for the substantial funding gaps between rich and poor schools.

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2012, Ofakim’s local government provided $1,629 of annual funding per student – a sum less than half the $3,613 per student provided by the wealthy town of Ramat Hasharon in suburban Tel Aviv.

The Education Ministry did not respond to JTA’s request for information about how much extra funding it gives to low-income schools.

Funding from NGOs also helps a bit. But at Ashalim, which doesn’t receive NGO funding, the school depends on the commitment and ingenuity of its teachers.

“When I came here, I fell in love,” said Segev, the Ashalim principal. “It’s very warm, very embracing, not like in the city. We all have the opportunity to move to other places, but it’s hard to leave this place.”

SENIOR SERVICES

• • • • •

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

(513) 531-9600 pora” and is “fighting against an existential threat in the region” in the form of Islamic State.

This brings us to the second reason. Turkey is hardly in a position to complain about Kurdish “terrorism” when it provides financial and political support to other terrorist groups in the Middle East, notably Hamas. In a recent article for The Tower magazine, foreign policy analyst Jonathan Schanzer observed that “it is decidedly awkward for a NATO ally to be so outwardly supportive of Hamas in light of the group’s grisly record of violence against civilian targets since its inception in 1987.” Just as awkward, Schanzer pointed out, is Turkey’s involvement in sanctions-busting operations with Iran, as well as Erdogan’s relations with dubious individuals like Yasin al-Qadi, a Saudi businessman who was designated as a “terrorist financier” shortly after the Al-Qaeda atrocities of September 11, 2001.

Which brings us to reason number three. States that support terrorist organizations abroad frequently have woeful records of suppression and intolerance at home. What was true of Saddam’s Iraq remains true of Assad’s Syria—and of Turkey, whose president is still to be confronted with the contradiction of membership in a democratic alliance like NATO and support for jihadist organizations like Hamas.

Obama has delicately raised the issue with Erdogan—”The President and President Erdogan discussed the importance of building tolerant and inclusive societies and combating the scourge of anti-Semitism,” said a White House statement after the two leaders met at the last NATO Summit—but this assumes that a “tolerant and inclusive society” is what Erdogan wants. When you have a store in downtown Istanbul refusing entry to “Jew Dogs” at the same time that Erdogan lambasts Israel as “worse” than Adolf Hitler, that’s a misguided and even dangerous assumption.

Ultimately, the war against Islamic State is a war against the philosophy of jihad. As with any war involving multiple parties fighting on the same side, an overarching political vision is nearly impossible to achieve. During the Second World War, the U.S. and Britain had few illusions about the Soviet Union, even as they allied with it. Similar cynicism is warranted now when it comes to Turkey.

20 • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

WWW.AMERICANISRAELITE.COM

Jewish ‘Fifth Beatle’ figures prominently in new book about band’s first U.S. tour

By Tom Tugend LOS ANGELES (JTA) – It was 6 a.m. on Aug. 19, 1964 when the phone rang in the Los Angeles apartment of Ivor Davis, the young West Coast correspondent for London’s Daily Express, circulation 4 million.

On the other end was the paper’s foreign editor, who told Davis to drive to the airport and catch the 11 a.m. flight to San Francisco. His assignment was to cover that evening’s gig at the Cow Palace by a hot British pop group called the Beatles.

For Davis and the band, it would be the start of a hysterical 34-day, 24-city tour across the United States and Canada.

“I had unfettered access to the boys ... I lived and ate with them, played cards and Monopoly until the early hours of the morning,” Davis recalled. “I was there when they popped pills, talked candidly about their passions … and how they coped with the revolving door of women that was the inevitable result of their perch as global sex symbols.”

It has taken 50 years, but Davis, 76, otherwise a quick and prolific journalist and author, has finally put together the highs and lows of the memorable tour in a lively new

Courtesy of Harry Benson

The Beatles -- from left, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison -- letting off steam with a pillow fight.

book, “The Beatles and Me.” In it, he writes of the pressure, adulation, booze, drugs and girls in the lives of the group.

Davis, who was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in East London, devotes considerable space

to the influence of the “Fifth Beatle,” Brian Samuel Epstein, manager of the Fab Four and a frequent target of the stereotypical Jewish cracks of that time and environment by some of “the boys.”

Asked why he delayed writing

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the book for such a long time, Davis said, “I never expected their fame and legacy would last this long.”

Neither did the Beatles themselves. In a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Ringo Starr said that John Lennon expected the group’s style and music to endure for about four years, that Paul McCartney planned on a writing career and George Harrison wanted to open a garage. Ringo’s ambition: to run a hair salon.

Davis attributed the instant success and enduring mythology of the Beatles in part to timing.

“For one, the Beatles came and lifted American spirits depressed by the assassination of President Kennedy,” he said. “For another, Lennon and McCartney proved to be really talented composers.

“It seems unlikely that Beyonce or Justin Bieber will be remembered this way 50 years from now.”

Epstein was born in Liverpool on Yom Kippur into a well-to-do merchant family. Without any managerial experience, he more or less appointed himself as manager of the largely unknown band after hearing it play at a local cellar club.

The Beatles took on Epstein partially in the conviction that “Jews are good with money,” as McCartney reportedly put it.

Despite his lack of managerial acumen, Epstein, or “Eppy,” successfully transformed the stage presence of his charges. The rough working-class lads wearing black leather and performing in the basement of a converted warehouse became nice middle-class chaps clad in neat, dark business suits.

“Epstein changed the boys into clean-cut lads whom he could take home and introduce to his Yiddishe mamma,” Davis explained in an interview. “If he were to try the same with the Rolling Stones, they would have burned down the house.

Under the outward appearance of a perfectly groomed, well-spoken and somewhat aloof Englishman, Epstein wrestled with the burden of being closeted as a Jew and gay at a time when engaging in a homosexual act was considered a criminal offense in Britain.

Of course, the boys knew all about the skeletons in Epstein’s closet, as illustrated by an exchange during a late-night drink.

Epstein mentioned that he had just finished his (ghost-written) autobiography. Lennon, who enjoyed getting under Epstein’s skin, asked for the book’s title.

“A Cellarful of Noise,” Epstein replied.

“How about ‘A Cellarful of Boys,’ “ Lennon countered.

Getting into the spirit, Epstein offered “A Cellarful of Goys,” though he wasn’t sure the Beatles knew the meaning of the term.

“No, no,” said Lennon, “I’ve got the perfect title – ‘Queer Jew..”

When Lennon was recording “Baby, You’re A Rich Man,” he occasionally switched the lyrics to “Baby, You’re A Rich Jew,” to the anguish of the group’s producer. At his most provocative, Lennon often addressed Epstein to his face as a “rich fag Jew.” Despite such provocations, Davis does not believe that Lennon was an outright anti-Semite.

“John was extraordinarily bright and had a nasty, warped sense of humor,” Davis said. “He knew how to get a rise out of people.”

Epstein rarely talked to the press and had hardly exchanged a word with Davis during the first four weeks of the national tour. So when the group arrived in New Orleans and checked into a hotel before the performance, Davis was startled when he was summoned to Epstein’s suite.

“It’s Yom Kippur tomorrow,” Epstein informed Davis. “ I wonder if you know anyone who could arrange for me to pop in at the local synagogue,” adding quickly, “I won’t be able to stay all day, of course.”

Davis called the synagogue, and without mentioning Epstein’s name or who he was scored two free tickets. The noble offer was in vain, since in the end neither Epstein nor Davis showed up for the services.

The Beatles popularity would outlive Epstein; he died in 1967 at 32. The coroner listed the death as accidental and probably caused by prolonged overuse of the sedative carbitrol.

“The Beatles and Me” cites a few other Jewish aspects of the 1964 tour: * When the band performed in Montreal, a caller to the hotel threatened to “kill the Jew Ringo” – which he wasn’t, although his father-in-law was. * At a news conference, a reporter asked the Beatles if they thought Jews played too influential a role in show business. Sensing an obvious provocation, the foursome skipped on to the next question. * McCartney had an affinity for Jewish wives. His second spouse, Linda Eastman, was Jewish; she died in 1998. His current wife, Nancy Shevell, also is Jewish.

Throughout his far-ranging writing career, Davis, in collaboration with his late wife Sally Ogle Davis, has reported on Hollywood stars, headline trials, natural disasters and politics for the Times of London, Daily Express, New York Times Syndicate and American magazines.

Now living out his golden years in the California beachfront community of Ventura, Davis is now working on two new books – one about movies, the other a true crime story.

FIRST PERSON • 21

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Incidentally, Iris

I have been writing this sliceof-life column for 27 years.

It began with trying my hand at publishing a parenting newspaper, Cincinnati Kids, when my youngest son, Louie, turned 3. Just days before the first issue hit the stands, I took my kids to Tampa, Florida for my yearly visit to my aunt and uncle. I was cooped up in a two-bedroom house with five kids. I was in the same city where

I had experienced a failed first marriage. My aunt was absent minded. My uncle was ailing.

I wrote a first person account about my two-week ordeal and used it in the premier edition of Cincinnati Kids. I titled it “Incidentally, Iris” in case I came up with any other things I wanted to reflect on in future issues. And I signed off with the phrase, “Keep Coping” which was about the only thing that I managed to do during the visit - albeit not very gracefully.

Since that time I’ve written on a vast number of topics: parenting and family issues, major milestone events, health and wellbeing challenges, weight lost and weight gained, goals attained and those that fell short, losses avoided and losses sustained. Honors.

Awards. Hard-won wisdom.

Ordinary days and life cycle events. The liberation and the angst of the empty nest.

Maintaining healthy relations with

adult children. Long distance grand parenting. Trying to be perfect. Wanting to be thin.

In 1996, my mom and I published Slices, Bites and Other Facts of Life, a collection of my columns with my mom’s twocents-worth interspersed.

Motivational speaking and hosting a radio talk show followed. But then life seemed to get in the way of any forward progress on my part in expanding the reach of my columns. I watched with a mixture of awe and envy as other writers and columnists launched websites and blogs and Facebook pages.

And I held back – as much from lack of time as from an innate ability to grasp the complexities of the new and rapidly evolving technology. And from fear.

Now free from full time employment and active parenting, I am ratcheting up my technological skills in order to more interactively serve my readers. I partnered up with a feisty, witty, ener-

getic and chatty lady I have known for over 40 years.

Together, we will be employing a variety of mediums to “talk about what friends talk about.”

The possibilities are endless: webinars, a website, a blog, YouTube postings, a Facebook page, podcasts and/or an ENewsletter.

If you haven’t quite given up on jeans, stilettos and red lipstick If you still fantasize about playing a game of softball with a cluster of friends on a dusty ball field as the sun is setting If you don’t think sleep-way camp is only for your grandchildren If you honestly believe that good skin care, nutrition and grooming are as effective antiaging bullets as going under the knife If you’re still up for a U2 concert or Skyline Chili at midnight If you yearn for an encore career, an African safari adventure

or just dig an avant garde wardrobe that’s washable, Then this site will be for you.

Rest assured: my friend Jackie and I won’t shy away from the challenges we face: loss of loved ones, diminished robustness, saggy knee caps and sagging spirits, making friends when transplanted to new places, and pruning away old hurts and regrets in order to germinate fresh perspectives.

My means of communicating is evolving, but my core mission and message will remain constant: fostering connection, cultivating self-awareness, engendering inspiration and preserving your bloom and mine. And it all stems from here – within the pages of the American Israelite. (all puns intended.)

ADATH from page 6

HOSPITAL from page 9

K) class had fun with no mess finger paints. “I drew a heart in my paint,” said Isaac Juran. “We made Rabbi Rabbi what do you see books and we used Rabbi Wise's beard to place on each of the rabbis,” said Sherry Cohen.

The most touching thing from the Pre Gan room today was reading the story about the Kissing Hand.

The story represents how a parents' love is always with their children, so when they feel sad or scared they can hold their kissing hand to their check and feel theirs parents love.

Scott Kabakoff, the 2nd grade teacher, led his class today in learning about the schoolwide expectations. They also had musical Tefillah with Mitch and then they were introduced to Jewish values. They ended the class with a round of Simon Says in Hebrew.

Dara Wood, Education Director, shared, “I am looking forward to a wonderful year, we have an amazingly creative group of teachers that are here to create a positive learning environment for our children to learn about their Judaism. Each one brings something special to our program and I cant wait to see what interactive, hands-on learning experience they come up.”

“Our Madrichim, or teaching assistant, program has grown so much in the last several years, we now have 23 teens that are assisting in classrooms in the school.

They are there to support the teachers and the students in the learning process, said Dara.

Overall this was a fantastic start to what promises to be a wonderful and truly sweet new year.

evacuation of the hospital to the underground area could take up to 72 hours. But with some preparation, “it only takes one hour” to move about four departments of 30 patients each underground, he said.

Concern over the looming threat of the Syrian conflict has not stopped RHCC from pursuing medical innovations beyond the fortified underground structure.

The hospital often collaborates

with Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, which is also located in Haifa, and with private companies. Beyar himself is known for inventing a robotic catheterization system that enables physicians to conduct remote surgery.

“You can sit next to the robot and operate the catheterization system, which will actually open up blockages in the [heart’s] arteries and implant stents,” Beyar said.

The other advantage of the system is that this keeps doctors

away from radiation. “[A doctor] doesn’t need to stand by the X-ray machine, and sits in the console,” explained Beyar. The catheterization system has been approved by America’s Food and Drug Administration and “is penetrating U.S. market,” he added.

Another recent development tested and utilized at RHCC is a focused ultrasound for the brain.

Using technology developed by a company called InSightec, doctors “can actually treat your brain with

a focused ultrasound beam and treat Parkinson’s [disease],” according to Beyar, who said that to date more than 10 patients have undergone this ultrasound at Rambam “with amazing results.”

“The patients come out of this procedure, which takes 2-3 hours, and they stop trembling,” he said.

“There are no more tremors in their hands. … [The treatment] holds and [the shaking] doesn’t come back.”

whatever grows on the land during Shmita is, in theory, supposed to be free for anyone, especially the poor.

When Shmita is first mentioned in Exodus, the Torah says the crops should be for “the poor of your nation, and the rest for wild animals.” But given that almost all farmers in Israel get around Shmita in one way or another, walking onto a farm looking for a free lunch is ill advised.

How does Shmita affect you if you’re not a farmer?

Because all kosher-certified produce cannot violate Shmita, Israelis shopping in major grocery stores and outdoor markets don’t have to worry about Shmita.

But religious Jews – and businesses – that don’t trust the legal loopholes just buy their produce from non-Jewish farmers in Israel.

An organization called Otzar Haaretz, or Fruit of the Land, seeks to support Jewish farmers specifically and is organizing farmers who use religious courts and the greenhouse method to sell to supermarkets in Israel.

Customers who wish to buy from

Otzar Haaretz can pay a monthly fee to get a discount on its produce.

Shmita has an impact beyond the produce stands, too. Mickey Gitzin, founder of the religious pluralism organization Be Free Israel, says that while the “the idea that the land should rest” is a positive one, Shmita can have a negative effect on public parks. As public property, the parks cannot be sold to a non-Jew. And because they remain under Jewish ownership, some public community gardens don’t receive care during Shmita.

What does this mean for Jews outside of Israel?

Although they’re not obligated to observe Shmita, Jews outside of Israel have found ways of commemorating the year. At Hazon, a Jewish sustainability organization, the Shmita Project aims to engage in a study of the textual sources of Shmita and develop programs to mark the year without letting the land lie completely fallow.

Another group, the Shmitta Association, has purchased a grid of 4-square-foot plots of land in

Israel that Jews abroad can purchase for $180 and then let lie idle, enabling them to observe Shmita without being an Israeli or a farmer.

What does this have to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Because they don’t want to buy from Jewish farmers during Shmita, some haredi Orthodox Jews buy from Palestinian West Bank farms. But during the past couple of Shmita cycles, there has been backlash against buying Palestinian-grown produce.

Jerusalem Post columnist David Weinberg urged Israelis last week to avoid supporting Palestinian farms.

“Primary reliance on Arab produce is neither realistic nor acceptable for health, nationalistic and religious reasons,” he wrote.

During the Shmita year that began in 2007, Israel’s health and agriculture ministries said there was no elevated risk to eating produce grown in the Palestinian territories.

Incidentally Iris

by Iris Ruth Pastor

SHMITA from page 9 Religious courts: Farmers aren’t allowed to sell their crops, but if crops began growing before Shmita started, people are allowed to take them for free. So through another legal mechanism, a Jewish religious court will hire farmers to harvest the produce and the religious court will sell it. But you won’t be paying for the produce itself; you’re only paying for the farmer’s labor. You get the produce for “free.” Wink. Nudge.

Not observing Shmita: Most large-scale Israeli farmers use a sale permit in order to obtain rabbinic certification for their crops, Bar Giora says. But some small, nonreligious farmers who sell their produce independently ignore the sabbatical year completely and do not receive kosher certification.

What happens to fruits, vegetables and other plants that grow on their own during Shmita?

Just like Jewish environmentalists can connect to the idea of letting the land rest, social justiceminded Jews can appreciate that

Keep Coping, Iris Ruth Pastor

22 • OBITUARIES D EATH N OTICES ECKSTEIN, Pauline, age 77, died September 8, 2014, 14 Elul, 5774 FRIEDLANDER, William, age 81, died September 10, 2014, 15 Elul, 5774 KATZ, Louis, age 95, died September 15, 2014, 20 Elul, 5774

From our first issue to last week’s issue, it‘s in our online archives.

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QATAR from page 7 Israel returned the favor, with its government and the pro-Israel community here advocating on the emirate’s behalf in Washington. In 2005, Israel backed Qatar’s bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council, helping to boost its diplomatic profile and influence.

Qatar’s attempts to manifest an outsize voice on regional issues is behind its backing for Al Jazeera. It seeks to maintain and polish its reputation as friendly to Western values.

The tiny emirate pitches itself as a vacation destination and funds a number of influential Washington think tanks, including the Brookings Institution, to where a senior official, Martin Indyk, just returned after a year trying to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Tensions between Israel and Qatar emerged in 2007 when Qatar was one of the only countries to back Hamas after the group booted the more moderate Palestinian Authority out of the Gaza Strip in a bloody coup. In 2012, its then-emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa alThani, became the first head of state to visit Gaza under Hamas rule, pledging to raise $400

ATTIRE from page 7 what girls wear unhealthy and frankly creepy,” Miriam Shaviv, an Orthodox Jewish parent in London wrote on Facebook. “It creates a society every bit as sexually obsessive as the one we are supposedly trying to be different to. I do not want my daughters reduced to the length of their skirts!”

Many day schools have dress codes, and it’s common for Orthodox high schools to require girls to wear skirts.

The Yeshivah of Flatbush, known for its large population of Syrian-Jewish students, is one of a number of modern Orthodox day schools in the New York area that draws students from a diverse range of religious backgrounds. Some male students do not wear kippahs outside of school, and most of the girls wear pants or shorts when they’re home.

Elana Maryles Sztokman, co-author of the book “Educating in the Divine Image: Gender Issues in Orthodox Jewish Day Schools,” said the focus on Orthodox girls’ attire treats women like sex objects rather than people.

“It’s this relentless conversation around it, the way the

Courtesy of Mohammed Salem-Poo

The emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, right, with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, second from right, during an official visit to the Gaza Strip, Oct. 23, 2012.

million toward reconstruction.

Qatar’s rationale — shared

by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish leader — was that Islamist groups were proliferating and inevitably would play a role in the region, and therefore it was important for allies of Western nations to maintain ties.

That thinking seemed to be vindicated by the Arab Spring in 2011 when Islamists were reaping most of the gains in the pro-democratization protests throughout the Arab world.

Qatar backed the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian progenitor of Hamas, in Egypt and Sunni insurgents seeking to topple the Bashar Assad regime in Syria.

By this summer and the Gaza war, Israel was labeling Qatar a terrorist haven in part because it is harboring Meshal, a leader of Hamas. Qatar’s fingerprints alone prompted Israel to reject a cease-fire proposal advanced by John Kerry, the U.S. secretary of state, although trade ties are still in

entire community continues to talk about girls’ knees and elbows and thighs and necks, as if girls have this responsibility towards the community to present themselves a certain way, as if their sexuality is open for discussion, as if their bodies are owned by the entire community (in and out of school), as if their clothes are reflections of their sexual choices, as if their sexuality is something that can and should be debated at large, as if the constant gaze on their bodies is normal and right,” Sztokman, a Yeshivah of Flatbush alumna, wrote in a Facebook commentary.

Michael Kellman, a Jewish day school parent, said the problem isn’t just with yeshivas and Orthodox rules.

“It’s not just that our rules are different for men and women, it’s that society’s rules are different,” Kellman said in an interview. “It’s easier to be a guy complying with the dress code. It’s not fair out in the world.”

After her letter was posted, Duchan said she was inundated with expressions of support from fellow students, parents and even some sympathetic school staff. Though Duchan did not sign her missive, the

document’s link to her Google Drive account made Duchan’s authorship clear.

On Wednesday, Duchan said she was summoned to the office of Flatbush’s associate principal, Sari Bacon. According to Duchan, Bacon and a guidance counselor talked with her as if she had “personal issues” rather than treating the letter as an act of protest.

Duchan noted to JTA that every morning when the students walk into school, two non-Jewish women stand at the entryway scrutinizing students for dress code violations.

School administrators reached by JTA declined to be interviewed for this story, though Bacon called Duchan a “wonderful girl.”

The dress code at Flatbush requires boys to wear tzitzit ritual fringes, kippahs, collared shirts and Dockers-style pants.

Girls must wear skirts that are midcalf or longer, tops must have necklines that cover the collarbone and are “long enough to cover the middle of the body, even when leaning over or raising one’s hand,” and only one earring per earlobe is permitted.

Orthodox tradition forbids men to look at a woman’s legs

place and Israeli businessmen still travel to Qatar.

Backing Islamists in the long run was a losing bet, said Jonathan Schanzer, the vice president for research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. He noted the ouster last year of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the turning tide against insurgents in Syria, as well as with international disgust at the actions of Islamist extremists in Iraq.

“They’re like the drunk guy at the casino putting down bad bet after bad bet,” he said in an interview, referring to Qatar.

Schanzer, testifying before Congress last week, counseled pressuring Qatar through sanctions that target individuals and entities. The United States has three bases in Qatar, one of which houses the forward base of the U.S. Central Command — a status that is more important to the militarily weak emirate than it is to the U.S., according to Schanzer.

“It’s hard to justify a base several miles from where the Taliban had an embassy, from Khaled Meshal’s headquarters and from where Al Jazeera is hammering the United States,” he told JTA.

and, according to some interpretations, their elbows. By contrast, men may be seen by women wearing nothing but swimming trunks.

Duchan said she is sympathetic to the need for a dress code that reflects the school’s values. But the administration’s approach goes too far, she said perverting what the school ought to be teaching and stoking student resentment.

“Every school should have clear priorities; in ours, trivial concerns like a few inches of fabric have superseded more important aspects of the school environment like integrity and respect for others,” Duchan wrote in her letter. “This has created a toxic and tense relationship between administrators and students and has bred widespread resentment and frustration. From our perspective, it appears that the school heads have failed to grasp the basic tenet of education: to learn