The Brookline Voice 3/21/17

Brookline VOL 2, NO 6

BROOKLINE’S VOICE

March 21 - April 4, 2017

Graphics | Audra Keefe These two dramatic front page graphics are the work of a very talented Brookline artist and chief designer for the Brookline Open Studios organization. We trust you will be moved by them as much as we were here at the Voice. Check out Brooklineopenstudios.com

The blizzard that wasn’t a blizzard, that was barely a snow storm

By Alexander Culafi

The Voice The blizzard that wasn’t a blizzard recently didn’t even pretend to be a blizzard. It was perhaps one of the most overhyped snowstorms in the recent history of snow storms being overhyped by a weather service and television media industry driven near to hysteria by weather forecasting coming disasters and trying to hype up snowfall into snowstorms, and snowstorms into blizzards.

Paxton, a high elevation town right outside Worcester, and they got hit with over a foot.

It’s on the low end of the “1-2 feet” numbers you were hearing a few days before the snow hit, but they earned their hot chocolate. In fact, for Worcester, it cracked into their Top 10 for one-day March snowfall totals.

When all was said and done, we got 8.7 inches – and that ain’t no blizzard.

It wasn’t just heavy snow, either. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reported 60,000 outages in Massachusetts at 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon on the day of Winter Storm Stella.

So calling this last snow storm a blizzard, let me write this story.

On the phone, our publisher Josh told me something along the lines of, “I still would have went to school today when I was your age.”

He was there for the famous 1978 blizzard that dropped 27.1 inches of snow in Boston.

As there is a 44-year difference between our ages, I was not quite around for that.

National Weather Service Boston reports that 6.6 inches of snow fell in Boston on March 14, 2017. When I woke up with that snow day dread before letting out a sigh of relief, that was the reason why. Many in Massachusetts were not so lucky as Boston or Newton.

Worcester got 14.4 inches. My parents live in

Even worse off, Williamstown endured 19 inches of snow, and Ashfield 18.

But let’s get back to Brookline.

Brookline Public Works Commissioner Andrew Pappastergion talked to us over e-mail about the community’s snow removal efforts.

“Snow removal operations for the blizzard of March 14th were more difficult due to the density and water content of the snow and the intensity over part of the day,” he said. “Heavy wet snow is not only more difficult to plow and push, but also creates boulders along the snow banks that will obstruct narrow sidewalks.”

Continued on page 3

OBITUARY 1973-2017

RadioShack dead at 38

By Alexander Culafi

The Voice

TAKE

Brookline O some of the

APRI

The RadioShack at 1334 Beacon Street in Brookline passed away on March 12, 2017, after fighting a terminal bout of displaying loud yellow “everything must go” signs for the better part of seven months.

closing, or even whether it was closing. It had a tough life. It always struggled with proper messaging. No one needs to look further than their hiring of Chief Creative Officer Nick Cannon in December 2015.

The RadioShack there had been in business at Coolidge Corner since 1973, according to a manager there named Sergio. I asked him when RadioShack was closing back in early September. His response?

So now, months and months later, we finally see it close. For the sake of patronizing RadioShack at least once before its closure, I decided to buy something at a steep discount. I ultimately went with an HDMI Selector Switch that allows me to plug two game consoles into one HDMI port, 70% off.

“We were told 30-60 days, so probably the end of September or early October.”

To find out why the store was closing, I had to call the landlord of the building, RadioShack’s media relations team, and it was ultimately a manager at a Newton RadioShack that would tell me why the store was closing. He refused to offer even his first name, let alone last name.

“The rent went up. That’s it. That’s the only reason.”

Well, as this RadioShack was closing, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in just over two years, and announced plans to close somewhere between 530 and all of its stores. It released a list of every store it plans to close, 365 of ‘em – that’s one for each day of the year.

Even with those deep discount going-out-ofbusiness signs, no sign on the RadioShack storefront said exactly when the store was

www

a project

Forget the fact that the price was mislabeled (the label said it was discounted from $25 when the register ultimately said $35 – which I got for just over $10). When I asked the cashier if this was the right product, she straight up opened the box in front of me, took the hardware out of its box, and unwrapped it to take a look. How close to closure does a store have to be for that move to be acceptable?

I called the Newton RadioShack on Needham Street in Newton to see what they have to say.

“I noticed the RadioShack in Brookline is closing. Are you guys closing too?” I asked.

“Not sure yet,” an employee said.

RadioShack will be survived by www. amazon.com.

See The Walk on page 12

The Brookline Voice

2 International Editorial

Newton

From the publisher

THE NEWTON VOICE PUBLISHER AND PRESIDENT Joshua Resnek jresnek@voicestaff.net Joshua Resnek

SENIOR REPORTER Alexander Culafi aculafi@voicestaff.net

David Stanford dstanford@voicestaff.net

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Rick Ashley rashley@voicestaff.net Jared Charney jcharney@voicestaff.net

CALENDAR EDITOR Sheila Barth sbarth@voicestaff.net

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Carolyn Lilley Resnek cresnek@voicestaff.net

DIRECTOR OF GRAPHIC DESIGN Trevor Andreozzi tandreozzi@voicestaff.net

PRINTING Graphic Developments Inc. Hanover, MA.

DISTRIBUTION Max’s Trucking Winthrop, MA.

BANK East Boston Savings Beacon Street Brookline ___________________ THE BROOKLINE VOICE THE NEWTON VOICE Owned and operated by: THE CHELSEA PRESS LLC 1309 Beacon Street

In case you are confused, this is an abstractionist work depicting our president Donald Trump.

Trump is the talk of the town where he is reviled by most of the voting public or so it would appear.

While he is the talk of the town, he is not the toast of the town.

Unbelievably enough, there are 3175 Brookline residents who voted for the president compared with the more than 25,583 who voted for Hillary Clinton, who, oddly enough, after decades of commanding the apparatus of the Democratic Party, have receded into a stormy twilight. Clinton is now unseen and unheard and for all their complaining, local Democrats are without a party that can win a national election.

How, Democrats, liberals, and hangers-on all wonder, has the power and the grandeur of the Democratic Party come to this?

Good question.

The simplest, most compelling answer: many millions of Americans – and even the 3,175 in Brookline – cried out for change.

Americans, including me – who is neither Democrat or Republican, but who carefully views many political and social things through upper middle class Jewish eyes – were disappointed that the Democrats did nothing for eight years to repair and to save social security, Medicare, public school education, the college loan miasma for young Americans driven into debt, the healthcare system (at the very least, all of us should have the same healthcare the Congress and Senate have), the corrupt political system and the rigged economy.

Obama care was a reach out in the right direction, but the insurance companies and their lobbyists creating legislation are more powerful than the government and the people – pathetic, really. Those who weren’t insured are now insured, but with $10,000 deductibles. The rich can pay a $10,000 deductible as easily as they can put down $30,000 or $40,000 for a new $125,000 Mercedes.

But what about the middle class and the poor?

They can barely pay their mortgages or their rent, send their kids to college, care for their elderly parents, and on and on and on.

In Brookline, the largest part of the liberal population lives with incomparable ease as opposed to the quiet desperation experienced by those whose need for money overtakes almost everything else.

From most of Brookline’s upper class population living in fine homes, driving fine cars, sending their children to fine schools and housing their elderly in expensive fine facilities, there is a lot of anger about Trump and how he is ruining everything.

I think it is mostly about tone and his lack of political correctness.

Obama was suave compared with Trump. He was capable of laughing at himself and making fun of others without hurling insults. In short, he was classy. Trump is not.

Worst thing about Trump: he has no sense of humor. No self-deprecation. No political sense as Democrats have come to understand it.

Is he evil?

I don’t think so. For me, he is just another American president doing absolutely nothing about the important issues of the day and now being accused en masse by the Democrats in Congress and the Senate of ruining the nation.

Suite 300

What exactly, I wonder, has he ruined in two months? What exactly has changed?

Hanover, MA

Has anything changed here in Brookline?

Arnold Jarmak, President Joshua Resnek, Chairman of the Board

Liberal America has been lulled into a distorted consciousness as unreal as reality about how much trouble we are in with Trump as president.

None of us are willing to make a sacrifice. Virtually no one living in their million dollar homes or half-million apartments or condos here, watching their flat screen televisions, playing on their iPhones and planning their next vacation or new car wants to sacrifice anything for the greater good of the nation.

EDITOR

Lorenzo Recupero lrecupero@voicestaff.net

those who aren’t citizens.

The pivot right has been both a disaster and a rallying cry for the left, that is, for liberal Democrats.

But there is no togetherness.

There is only divisiveness, and as I see it, unwillingness for anyone in a position of responsibility to tackle the great issues that confront us as a nation.

THE BROOKLINE VOICE

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

March 21 - April 4, 2017

We are now a sanctuary city. Our liberal base has never been more motivated to hate Trump, to hate Israel, to not care about veterans, to laugh at those who salute the flag as though it means something, and to enforce the belief that citizenship is not so important as protecting the rights of

Instead, the media, fed by the Democrats who are announcing countless useless investigations into whatever Trump is suggesting or doing, is trying to convince the American public that we should care about Trump’s relationship with Russia or Russia’s tampering with our election rather than us doing something about fixing our electoral process so no one can tamper with it.

Americans en masse could care less about this. Even in Brookline, there are more people who care about their health insurance or their social security or Medicare or failing public school education or the evil of college loans burying our children in debt and the rigged economy and the corrupt political system.

These, however, for the national government, are not the issues. Democrats are calling for exhaustive, expensive, independent investigations into the nothingness of our meaningless political debate about what Trump has done, what he is doing, how he is ruining our lives, how he has destroyed the perfection that was America under Obama.

I hear this refrain about Trump everywhere I go in Brookline.

For or against, he has become a giant obsession/addiction, like a popular television show everyone needs to watch, no matter what side of the political fence one sits on.

Many of us are obsessed by Trump, with Trump – but very few of us are obsessed about the national tragedy of being in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than 15 years at a cost of $2 trillion, about the rise of Isis under our noses and because of our failed diplomacy in the Middle East. There is the problem of 4,000 Americans dead and hundreds of thousands of veterans' lives ruined by these endless wars, but this isn’t the debate among the rich, the well-to-do, the upper middle class, and what remains of the working middle class in their fine homes, apartments and condos in Newton.

Flag and country is the stuff of farce for many well-meaning folks around here – and maybe it should be. Who needs a flag to salute? Who needs a border to maintain? Who wants a front door on their home or a fence to keep our properties free of outsiders?

The debate, if in fact it is a debate, is how horrific everything about American life has become since Donald Trump was elected.

Frankly, I don’t see that anything has changed about life in Newton. There is no chaos like that written about in the national press. No displacement. No heinous disruptions of anything. Life goes on naturally and beautifully for the well-to-do in our city.

Mind you, it is not an evil to be well-to-do. Nothing is wrong with being in the top 1% and then complaining about what is wrong about life in these United States under Trump.

I do not believe anyone’s free speech has been affected by Trump’s election. We can all say and do as we please, but there is always a price for such a freedom, or as the great American patriot Patrick Henry said during the Revolutionary War – “Freedom is very expensive.”

We live in an upside-down world that has been upside-down for decades.

With Trump, the proverbial barrel of shit is hitting the fan and many of us don’t like this feeling, but it has been a long time coming.

Nothing remains the same forever, not in Brookline, not anywhere.

Trump’s pivot right is excruciating for folks here, except for the 3,175 residents who gave Trump a vote, and for the rest of the nation who elected him president.

Trump isn’t the ultimate problem – we are the problem.

The well-off twisting everything to suit our distorted view of the world, considering those who think differently to be the enemy, understanding nothing about what its like to have a $10,000 deductible health insurance policy and to have the audacity to consider this insurance, but at the same time expressing unsurpassed outrage and altogether aghast that Obamacare could be ruined!

“The enemy is within the gates; it is our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend,” said Marcus Tullius Cicero.

He knew of what he wrote.

Joshua Resnek

March 21 - April 4, 2017

The Brookline Voice

Photo | Alexander Culafi Orchard Road has safe streets even though the storm just ended.

The blizzard that wasn’t a blizzard, that was barely a snow storm Continued from page 1 “I’d say it’s more challenging due to the heavy wet nature of the snow, which was compounded by the fact that it rained – and then we had freezing temperatures,” he said. “It forms these snow boulders that take a toll on our equipment and can block the sidewalks.”

Shane Mark, Director of Operations for Newton’s Department of Public Works, spoke to us over the phone about Newton’s snow removal efforts. Newton got 9.5 inches.

We may have gotten less snow, but boy was our snow nasty.

“Our objective when plowing snow is to create a snow bank or windrow along the curb line that allows full passage along the road and gives residents the ability to

clear the sidewalk effectively. We try to do this in a way that minimizes the rolling of snow back onto the sidewalks, but are not always successful,” Pappastergion adds.

I took some pictures right after the storm completely stopped, and I've got to hand it to Brookline. Our town knows how to clean up roads effectively. Despite the increased challenge Pappastergion told us about, the roads looked so good that you would have thought the snowstorm happened five days before instead!

As Pappastergion signed off, he wished us luck, and had a final word for our story.

“Remember that DPW workers are the ‘unsung heroes’ of public safety who always get the job done when it counts the most!”

Based on how Brookline handled the storm, I think he’s right.

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The interior of Cairo’s Coptic St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church, where 29 Christians were killed in a December 2016 Islamic State terror attack. Credit: Roland Unger via Wikimedia Commons.

Despite setbacks of Islamic State, Egypt’s Coptic Christians remain at risk

By Sean Savage/JNS.org As the Islamic State terror group faces setbacks in Syria and Iraq, its affiliate in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has turned its sights on the region’s Coptic Christian minority as part of its ongoing insurgency against the Egyptian government. More than 350 Christian families have recently fled from the Sinai city of El Arish, near the Egyptian border with Gaza and Israel. The mass displacement of Coptic Christians from the Sinai was prompted by a string of murders and threats by Islamic State terrorists in that region since late January. “The Islamic State is losing in Iraq and Syria, and has decided to lash out through its affiliates in places like the Sinai Peninsula,” said Robert Nicholson, director of the Philos Project, an organization that promotes “positive Christian engagement in the Middle East.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) shakes hands with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Sept.

22, 2014.

Turkey Erdogan looks abroad with menace

By Ben Cohen/JNS.org JNS.org columnist Ben Cohen recently heard a leading Israeli security expert opine that Jerusalem’s strategic interest lies in maintaining Turkey as a counterweight to Iran, despite the torrid experience of dealing with the country’s dictatorial leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, during the last decade. That should not mean, however, that Turkey can be regarded as a reliable friend of Israel or the West. What starts with Erdoğan’s April 16 national referendum—which, if passed, would massively concentrate political power in the president’s office—won’t end with it, writes Cohen.

Photo | Brookline Police Department

Searching for a path never taken on Aspinwall Street A car crashed into a home on Aspinwall Avenue Thursday afternoon, according to police.

The road between Kent Street and St. Paul Street was closed for a short while, police said on social media, adding that the driver was sent to the hospital with “minor injuries.”

In a quote given to the Brookline TAB, Lt. Phil Harrington said, “It was two cars one hit the other from behind, that car then crashed into the house.”

If the pictures are anything to go by, the damage to the home, thankfully, does not appear to be catastrophic.

Ziv Aviram, president and CEO of Mobileye, speaks at the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in Jerusalem Nov. 23, 2016.

Netanyahu:$15.3 billion Intel-Mobileye deal to create ‘thousands’ of new jobs Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with government and business leaders Tuesday on the subject of American high-tech giant Intel’s recent $15.3 billion acquisition of Mobileye, the largest-ever acquisition of an Israeli technology company.

Netanyahu met with Intel International CEO Brian Krzanich, Mobileye founders Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram, and Israeli Economy and Industry Minister Eli Cohen in the aftermath of the second-largest acquisition in Intel’s history.

“This is a celebration for the Israeli economy and for Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said at the meeting. “Israel is quickly becoming a global technology power and this is no coincidence.”

the BrooklIne VoIce

March 21 - aprIl 4, 2017

GAME CORNER:

Alex reviews the Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch MSRP: $299.99 The Nintendo Switch comes across as a realization of Nintendo’s previous system, the Wii U. The Wii U was a console that gave players a tablet-based controller and allowed them to play games either on or off of the television. The Wii U sold very poorly, unfortunately – mostly due to dismal messaging and technological limitations that prevented the system from being carried from more than 30 feet.

Nearly 5 years after the Wii U’s release, the Switch launches to the public. Like the Wii U, you can play video games in HD on a table,t on or off the television.

But unlike the Wii U, and like the 3DS and PlayStation Vita, all of the hardware used to power games is contained on the handheld device.

This allows the Switch to be taken anywhere. The Nintendo Switch is a super-powered handheld capable of high-definition visuals, and it comes with a dock that allows games to be played on the big screen. The technology is kind of

4 We had pretty good feedback after last week’s frontpager on the Nintendo Switch, so I thought it would be fun to give you guys some quick reviews of the system and a few of its best games.

amazing to see in person. The downside is the battery. The system purports to last up to 6 hours, but playing the new Zelda game drained the system’s battery in fewer than 3.

The controllers, the Joy-Cons, feel like the ultimate realization of the Wii Remotes.

You hold them in your hand like Wii Remotes, and the motion tracking is the best in a Nintendo device to date. They slide into the handheld nicely, and when you’re playing on the TV with the tablet docked, they slide right out and into an included controller grip.

They’re relatively small, so people who have big meaty paws could struggle with the controllers just a bit, but for me, with relatively average man hands, they feel nice and intuitive. Some games ask you to hold the controllers sideways, and that brings mixed results. The left Joy-Con is far less comfortable to hold that way because of the placement of the analog stick and buttons. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s definitely the least comfortable control method.

I love playing HD Nintendo games on a handheld. Sure, it’s great to see your 40” television’s fidelity brought to its full potential, but oftentimes I prefer laying down in a warm bed to play video games. Playing the Switch in bed with a warm cocoa during the storm last Tuesday made me feel like a kid again.

So the technology works. Really well, with an exception or two. Only other thing: There aren’t a ton of games available right now because the system just launched, though there are some stellar games already available if the idea of a handheld/ console hybrid sounds cool to you.

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove MSRP: $24.99 Shovel Knight is a beautiful throwback to every great platformer game from the NES. Remember Mega Man? Castlevania? Mario? Zelda II and DuckTales, even? This plays like the love child of all of them, with a little hint of more modern games like Dark Souls to boot.

It’s a hard-as-nails platformer filled with impeccable level design and excellent boss fights. Developer Yacht Club games made an old-school game that reminds you of those games whilst being even better than them.

starring two bosses you fight during the main game, with a third to come later this year.

You play as Shovel Knight, a knight armed with a shovel who is on a quest to save his beloved, in a story that’s quite a bit better than you would expect from a throwback. And in addition to the main single-player campaign that spans five hours or so, Treasure Trove comes with two additional campaigns

The only minor flaws I can criticize the game for are the price being as high as it is for a game that originally came out several years ago, and also that the additional campaigns aren’t quite as fun as Shovel Knight’s stunning main adventure.

Still, this game rules.

Review: Voez MSRP: $24.99 Simply put, Voez is a Japanese rhythm game where you listen to Asian pop music and tap, hold, or slide the correct part of the screen at the correct rhythm.

These games are very popular overseas, and have a bit of a following here in America as well. Mainly, it’s because these games are intuitive, easy to learn, and fun.

This game is relatively cookie-cutter for the genre.

It comes with over 100 songs to play from the get go, with more coming via free updates. If you don’t know, that’s 2-3 times what other games in the genre typically offer for twice the price. The catch is that the song list here isn’t nearly as good as other games in the genre. Most of the songs didn’t do anything for me, but around 40-50% of the ones I played landed better with me.

The gameplay is as functional and fun as any other game in the genre. I recommend playing the free version of the game on your phone, which comes with a select number of songs and allows you to buy more as you see fit. As for the Switch version? It’s a fun game with a hit-or-miss song library.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild MSRP: $59.99 This game is miraculous. I don’t want to say much of anything because this game is one of self-discovery, a game that makes you feel the way you felt when you played Zelda for the first time so many years ago. The less said, the better.

Just trust me on this one. If you have the means, get this game, don’t look anything up, and get lost in one of the best worlds that has ever been put in a video game.

Breath of the Wild is a triumph. Go out and play it ASAP.

March 21 - aprIl 4, 2017

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CALENDAR

TAKE PART IN ART Brookline Open Studios offers a unique two-day opportunity for you to meet some of the town’s most vibrant and creative artists & view their work.

APRIL 29 & 30 | 11am - 5pm www.brooklineopenstudios.com a project of the Brookline Community Foundation

TWO BRANCHES TWO GREAT OFFERS 48-MONTH CD**

2.13

1.25

ROBERT HONEYSUCKER IN RECITAL The esteemed baritone performs March 22, 7:30 p.m., Salem State University, Recital Hall, Central Campus, 71 Loring Ave, Salem. Tickets, $15, seniors, non-Salem State students, $10. salemstatetickets.com, 978-542-6365.

IRISH FILM FESTIVAL

%

APY*

MONEY MARKET

COMEDY, THEATER, MUSIC, DANCE

***

The three-day festival includes The Young Offenders, March 23; A Date for Mad Mary, March 24; and Out of Innocence, May 25, at the Somerville Theatre,Davis Square, Somerville. See the full schedule on their website.

RED HOT CHILI PIPERS This group of bagpipers spice up their performance, including playing drums with a Scottish accent, and rock-pop anthems, with their own brand of bagrock, Wednesday, March 22, 7:30 p.m., at The Palaace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester, NH. $40.50, $55.50. palacetheatre.org.

CHILL

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APY*

Merrimack Repertory Theatre presents Brookline native Eleanor Burgess’ Boston-based, bittersweet drama “Chill,” about life for people ages 18-28, March 22-April 16, Nancy L.Donahue Theatre, 50 E. Merrimack St., Lowell. Tickets, $26 - $70. associated events, senior, group discounts. mrt. org.

SARAH POTENZA AND JOSHUA DAVIS “The Voice” alums perform at Club Passim, March 23, 8 p.m., 47 Palmer St., Cambridge. Members, $23; non-members, $25. passim.org.

1050 Beacon St.

BROOKLINE

1441 Beacon St.

*Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is effective as of 1/17/17 and subject to change without notice. **For 48-Month CD APY assumes interest will remain on deposit until maturity. Substantial penalty for early withdrawal. Fees may reduce earnings. Minimum balance to open and obtain APY is $1,000 and IRA is $500. ***For Money Market; no interest will be paid on balances less than $10, balances $10 to less than $10,000 earns 0.25% APY, balances $10,000 to less than $2 million earns 1.25% APY and balances greater than $2 million earns 0.58% APY. Fees may reduce earnings. Rate subject to change without notice. $2,500 minimum to open account. Offer may be withdrawn without notice at any time.

Member FDIC Member DIF

EBSB.com

THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED Take Your Pick Productions presents Douglas Carter Beane’s comedy, March 24-April 8, featuring popular Boston actors Victor Shopov, Audrey Lynn Sylvia, Aina Adler and Matthew Fagerberg, Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Black Box Theater, 539 Tremont St., Boston. $28. Paywhat-you-can Wednesdays.bostontheatrescene.

com/season/The-Littl-Dog-Laughed/,

MUSIC WORCESTER CONCERT The chorus, orchestra and soloists perform music

by Beethoven and Mozart, March 24, Mechanics Hall, Worcester. Adults, $40; college students, $17.50; youths, $7.50. MusicWorcester.org.

REGATTABAR LINEUP Appearing at the Regattabar at the Charles Hotel, One Bennett St., Harvard Square, Cambridge are: Vinicius Cantuaria plays Jobim, March 23, 7:30 p.m.; Alex Alvear and Mango Bluie, March 24, 7:30,10 p.m.; Stanley Sagov, Remembering the Future Jazz Band, March 25, 7:30 p.m.;Kurt Rosenwinkel and Caipi Album release celebration, March 29, 7:30 p.m.; Medici Musica Productions presents Alexei Tsiganov Group, March 30, 7:30 p.m.; Marcus Strickland’s Twi-Life, April 1, 7:30 p.m.; Guy Davis with special guest Fabrizio Poggi: “Sonny and Browne’s Last Train” album release, 7:30 p.m.; Linda May Han Oh Group: album releasepre-release for “Walk Against Windm” April 5, 7:30 p.m. 617-661-5000.

ROMANTIC MASTERS Cape Ann Symphony Orchesetra performs the music of romantic masters Dvora, Rossini and Saint-Saens, featuring guest performer, world renowned cellist, Blaise Dejardin, March 26, 2 p.m., Manchester-Essex High School auditorium, 36 Lincoln St., Manchester-by-the-Sea. $40, senior citizens, $35, youths 18-under, $5. capeannsymphony.org, 978-281-0543.

JOHN D’AGATA Salem State University welcomes author-essayist John D’Agata, appearing as part of its Writers Series, March 28, 7:30 p.m., Metro Room, Ellison Campus Center, 352 Lafayette St., Salem. Fee. salemstate.edu/arts.

SINNERS Esteemed director Brian Cox helms New Repertory Theatre and Boston Venter for American Performance’s production of Greensboro Ats Alliance and Residency Mirror Theater’s limited engagement performance of Joshua Sobel’s “Sinners,” starring Nicole Ansari and Ben Getz,March 23-April 2, TheatreLab @ 855, Boston

the BrooklIne VoIce

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Photo | Joshua Resnek

The Fireplace staff smiles for the photographer and their work is shown brilliantly in the photograph next to this portrait. The Fireplace – 1634 Beacon Street, Brookline. The way good food ought to be.

University campus, 855 Comm.Ave., Boston.

Friday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. Tickets, $20 - $35. Newrep.org, or call 617293-8487.

THE 24S Controlled Kaos presents The 24s, a collaboration of actors and writers who spend 24 hours creating original plays, then present four original one acts, March 25, 8 p.m., Paris Street Gallery, 101 Paris St., Everett. Tickets, $20. Eventbrite.com.

PLAY ON: MUSIC THAT MOVES US Bad Habit Productions delights the entire family with its interactive production of director Liz Fenstermaker’s adaptation, March 25-April 1, Boston Center for the Arts, Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont St., Boston.

IMPROVBOSTON NEW LINEUP The Cambridge comedy club features filthy fun, The Last Laugh,as its new late-night shows every Saturday at 11:30 p.m., including LaughterRisk, the first Saturday of the night; Late Night Longform, second Saturday; Terrible People, third Saturday, and Over the Line, fourth Saturday. ImprovBoston. com/last-laugh.

SILENT SKY Flat Earth Theatre presents Lauren Gunderson’s melodious historical drama, through March 25, Mosesian Center for the Arts, formerly Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown. $25; student rush, $10. flatearth.ticketleap.com/ silent-sky.

TOPDOG/UNDERDOG Huntington Theatre Company presents Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winner through April 9, BU Theatre, Avenue of the Arts, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston. Tickets start at $25. Huntingtontheatre. org.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Award-winning Chelsea native Fred Sullivan Jr. stars in Trinity Rep Company’s production of Shakespeare’s comedy, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” through March 24, 201 Washington St., Providence, RI. trinityrep.com.

MRS. PACKARD Bridge Repertory Theatre and Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company of New York City present Emily Mann’s “Mrs. Packard,” provocative American

Photo | Joshua Resnek

Another incredible plate of knockout Middle Eastern/ Israeli food about to be served up at Rami’s, 324 Harvard Street. Check it out. Great hummus, et cetera.

drama of Elizabeth Packard, inspired by true events, through April 9, Multicultural Arts Center,41 Second St., East Cambridge. bridgerep.org.

FINISH LINE The world premiere of “Finish Line: A Documentary Play About the 2013 Boston Marathon, “ features the words of people directly affected by the attack, and performed by Boston’s top actors, through March 26, at the Shubert Theatre, Tremont St., Boston. $25-$57.50. bochcenter.org.

THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND Bad Habit Productions closes its season with

this Tom Stoppard play, through April 2, and the group’s original family show,” Play On, The Music That Moves Us,” March 25, 26, April 1, in repertory, Boston Center for the Arts, Tremont St., Boston. Advance tickets, $21; day of show, $28.

Bostontheatrescene.com.

LIVE MUSIC BRUNCH Passim features Live Music Brunch Saturdays and Sundays, starting this weekend, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Featured music varies from blue grass, old time, blues, Celtic, classical, folk, jazz and more.

47 Palmer St., Cambridge. passim.org.

8

the BrooklIne VoIce

calendar

March 21 - aprIl 4, 2017 the world premiere of Jake Broder’s play, “Our American Hamlet,” starring Jacob Fishel. Will Lyman, Maureen Keiller and Broder, March 23-April 2, Sorenson Center of the Arts, 19 Babson College Drive, Babson College, Wellesley.

The play is based on facts about John Wilkes Booth’s brother, Edwin Booth, a Shakespearean actor. $25-$60; students, $5. Commshakes.org.

ALTAR BOYZ The rocking-to-the-rafters musical comedy about a Christian boy band comes to Stoneham Theatre March 23-April 9: Wednesday, March 29, April 5, sunday, March 26, April 2,9, at 2 p.m.; Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 3 and 8 p.m., 395 Main St., Stoneham. $5-$55; seniors, $45$50; students with valid ID, $20. Talkback March 26. Stonehamtheatre.org.

FRANKLIN

Photo | Joshua Resnek

The men behind the bar at the Fireplace – a worthy portrait at that. Malcolm and Mike looking good!

PARABLE OF THE SOWER

THE NETHER

ArtsEmerson presents a concert performance featuring a large ensemble of singers and musicians, in Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower,” a fusion of science fiction with 200 years of Black music, March 23-26, Emerson/ Paramount center’s Robert J. Orchard Stage, 559 Washington St., Boston. $10-$60. Student, group senior discounts. Artsemerson.org.

Sandra Feinstein Gamm Theatre takes theatergoers into a mind-bending theater set in a disturbing digital world, through March 26, 172 Exchange St., Pawtucket, RI. $44-$52. Gammtheatre.org.

STAVE SESSIONS

WINGS OF WAX

23.; Tigue and Innov Gnawa, March 24. Blonde Redhead, featuring ACME, is canceled for March 25. All shows start at 8:30 p.m.;180 Mass. Ave., Boston. Doors open 7:30 p.m. Advance tickets, $25; at the door, $30,Students, $10/$20.

Celebrityseries.org,stavesessions.org.

NOUVELLE VAGUE

Included in the Stave Sessions performances are yMusic, March 21; Melissa Aldana Trio, March 22.; Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, March

Steven A. Rosenberg covered the suburbs for

the Boston Globe from 2002–2016.

Take a walk with him at the dawn of the millennium as he finds middle class heroes at work, in neighborhoods, on beaches, in houses of worship and sleeping on the streets.

Middle Class Heroes

Middle Class Heroes V O I C E S F R O M B O S TO N ’ S S U B U R B S

World Music/CRASHarts and Crossroads present the French musical collective Friday, March 24, 8 p.m., Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Boston. Advance tickets, $28; day of show, $35.

Standing room only; patrons 18+ years old.

WorldMusic.org.

CELEBRATION OF YEHUDI WYNER Jewish Arts Collaborative presents this celebration of the local composer Wednesday, March 22, 7:30 p.m., Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St., Boston. Also, the Cantata Singers conclude their season Friday, May 12,8 p.m. at Jordan Hall, featuring music by Arthir Honegger, Wyner and his father, Lazar Weiner, featuring Wyner’s “Torah Service”. Cantatasingers.org.

IRISH FILM FESTIVAL

available at Amazon.com

Boston Playwrights Theatre presents Samantha Noble’s new play, “Franklin,” based on the story pf the Franklin expedition of 1845, seeking the Northwest Passage to the Arctic, and a modern story about an archaeologist seeking Franklin’s ship. Appearing March 23-April 2: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. 949 Comm. Ave., Boston. $30; BU staff, faculty, $25; also senior citizens; students with valid ID, $10. bostonplaywrights.org.

The festival is scheduled for March 23-26 at the Somerville Theatre, Somerville. More information, visit irishfilmfestival.com or facebook.com/ irishfilmfestival.

OUR AMERICAN HAMLET

Boston Ballet presents Kylian/Wings of Wax: “Donizetti Variations,” by George Balanchine, Jiri Kylian’s “Wings of Wax” and Alexander Ekman’s “Cacti,” March 23 - April 2, Boston Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston. Tickets start at $35. Bostonballet.org.

PRECIOUS LITTLE Central Square Theater’s Artistic Director Lee Mikeska Gardner, Karoline Xu and Nancy E. Carroll star in Nora Theatre Company’s the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT production of Madeleine George’s play, “Precious Little,“ through March 26, Central Square Theater, 450 Mass. Ave., Cambridge.CentralSquareTheater.org.

BOSTON CAMERATA This esteemed group presents Treasures of Devotion: Spiritual Songs of Northern Europe 1500-1540, Songs inspired by miniature devotional objects, March 25, 7:30 p.m., Boston University’s Marsh Chapel,Boston.

CANTATA SINGERS The melodic group holds its biennial gala and auction, and inaugural after-party Saturday, March 25, at the Liberty Hotel Boston, and performs chamber concert Les Six, Friday, March 31, 7:30 p.m., at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge. Anna Winestein, art historian and executive director of the Ballets Russes Arts Initative, leads a pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. cantatasingers.org.

ELIANE ELIAS

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company presents

The well-known singer-pianist-songwriter performs

Jobs

STEVE N A. R O S E N B E R G

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Recent postings to the MASSterList Job Board:

Steven A. Rosenberg

“It’s not only because I know scores of people in this book. It’s not only because I have walked the streets, and the beaches, and into some of the stores that are the setting for this book. Nor is it because I’ve stood and cheered at Thanksgiving Day football classics, and strolled through the Salem Willows, or even shared some of the mysteries that Steve Rosenberg explores. No, I like this book because it is a little jewel of a read about a little jewel of a place at a special time in Steve’s life, and in mine, and in so many others’. Our towns and our times — he captures them with a sharp eye, a clear ear and a warm heart.”

— DAVID M. SHRIBMAN, PULITZER PRIZE WINNER AND EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

Administrative Assistant & Events Coordinator — Institute for Policy Studies Inequality Media Specialist — Institute for Policy Studies Digital Director — Seth Moulton for Congress Communications Director — ACLU of Massachusetts Assistant Director — Common Cause Massachusetts Director of Government Affairs & Communications — Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools Director of Development — Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center Senior Policy Analyst — Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center Massachusetts Lead Organizer — Mothers Out Front

See more at http://a.massterlist.com/jobboard

The Brookline Voice

March 21 - April 4, 2017 Saturday, March 25, 8 p.m., Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass. Ave., Boston. Reserved seats, $28, $32, $42. Free pre-performance talk with Grammy Award-winning author-journalist Bob Blumenthal, 7 p.m., Davis Room, second floor.

WorldMusic.org.

Calendar

with world champion Irish dancers Scott Doherty and Ashley Smith, and 14 other dancers, eight musicians and two vocalists, appears March 30, 7:30 p.m., Lowell Memorial Auditorium, 50E. Merrimack St., Lowell.lowellauditorium.com, 866722-8881.

ANIMATION UNIVERSE

SANAM MARVI The singer of Pakistani folk songs and Sufi devotional music performs Sunday March 26, 7:30 p.m., Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall, Harvard University, 45 Quincy St., Cambridge.

617-482-6661.

MONSIEUR PERINE The Colombian leading band performs Sunday, March 26, 8 p.m., Brighton MusicHall, 158 Brighton Ave., Boston. Advance tickets, $20; day of show, $25.For audiences 18+ years old., standing room only. WorldMusic.org.

STEINBERG DUO The Jean C. Wilson Music Series at Newburyport’s Unitarian Church, 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport, presents the Steinberg Duo - violinist Louise Stonehill and pianist Nicholas Burns - as its final series concert, Sunday, March 26, 4 p.m. Suggested donation, $20; seniors, $10; children, students,free. frsuu.org/jeanwilson-music-series. Also, previous Wilson Series concert featuring pianist Naasha Ulyanofskynand saxophonist Max Schwimmer,orginally schduled for February 12, is performed April 9, at 4 p.m. same suggested donations.

PAUL LEWIS The multi-award winning musician performs music

by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Weber, Sunday, March 26, 3 p.m., at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St., Boston.

Celebrityseries.org/lewis.

STAGE KISS Lyric Stage Company of Boston presents Sarah Ruhl’s romantic comedic play-within-a-play, “Stage Kiss,” through March 26, 140 Clarendon St., Boston. Tickets start at $25, senior, student, group discounts. Lyricstage.com.

GRAND CONCOURSE SpeakEasy Theatre Company presents the New England premiere of award-winning actor, screenwriter-playwright Heidi Schrek’s new drama, through April 1, with a Boston all-star cast: Thomas Derrah, Melinda Lopez, Alejandro Simoes and Ally Dawson, at Boston Center for the Arts Roberts Studio Theatre, Stanford Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont St., Boston. Tickets start at $25; students, seniors, age 25-under discounts.

SpeakEasyStage.com, 617-933-8600

ROCKIN’ ROAD TO DUBLIN This new sensation, featuring an Irish dance show

Berklee students ad members of the diverse a cappella Audire Soundtrack Choir and orchestra present this musical trip through animation music genre, including works from Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks and Studio Ghibli projects and films Thursday, March 30, 8 p.m., at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass. Ave., Boston.

Advance admission, $8/day of show, $12; discounts also. berklee.edu/BPC.

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR Boston Conservatory at Berklee presents Otto Nicolai’s opera, “the Merry Wives of Windsor,” (Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor), March 30, March 31, April 1, at 8 p.m., April 2, 2 p.m., Boston Conservatory Theater, 31 Hemenway St., Boston. $25-$30, discounts available. bostonconservatory.berklee.edu/events.

Middle East Coverage you won’t find anywhere else.

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING BOSTON JEWISH FOOD CONFERENCEV The annual food conference is held Sunday, March 26, 12-7 p.m. at Gann Academy, Waltham.

Registration, information, bit.ly/BJFC17.

A TASTE OF GINGER Joslin Diabetes Center features 28 Boston area great chefs in this treat-tasting event, with proceeds supporting the center and Joslin’s Asian American Diabetes Initiative, Monday, March 27, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. joslin.org/ginger.

JCC MASTERS SWIM PROGRAM The Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center at 333 Nahanton St., Newton, holds year-round Masters Swim training program on Sundays, 7:15-8:15 a.m., Tuesdays, Thursdays 6:15-7:15 a.m., geared to adults (age 19+) who want to improve their overall fitness and skills. Included are professional coaching, structured workouts, drills and speed sets. aquatics@jccgb.org.

PARKINSON’S WELLNESS PROGRAM The nine-week winter session of exercise and movement classes and support group for people with Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers continues at the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center, 333 Nahanton St., Newton.

(Classes, $90) Support group meets Tuesdays, 2-3 p.m., ($45). Registration required. 617-667-1276.

Coming soon to your favorite grocer, and now available at Katz Bagel in Chelsea:

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Free newsletter: jns.org/subscribe-to-our-newsletters/jns.org facebook/jns.org | twitter /jnsworldnews

9

10

The Brookline Voice

March 21 - April 4, 2017

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12

the walk

the BrooklIne VoIce

March 21 - aprIl 4, 2017

Scenes from a Closing Radio Sh ack Photos | A lexander

Culafi

Hey gang! F o of The Walk r this installment , I went to the closing R Coolidge Co adioShack at rn bunch of pic er and took a tu saw. Enjoy th res of what I store that no ese artifacts of a longer exist s.

2.

3.

1.

A gizmo that will allegedly boost your cell signal in your home or office. This has “dad impulse buy” written all over it.

$25 discount drones from RadioShack. There’s something really unsettling about the phrase “discount drones,” right?

A man on Coolidge Corner doing a bit of promotion for a store that no longer has a prominent RadioShack sign on it.

4.

A Weather Alert Radio, or, in other words, the most RadioShack item I’ve ever seen in a RadioShack.

March 21 - April 4, 2017

5.

The Brookline Voice

6.

On second thought…

7.

The Walk

The register. iPhones are the only thing not on sale in that store, as far as I can tell.

A box of portable speakers in the middle of the floor.

8.

9.

13

10.

A bunch of boxes taking up an entire room of the store. Another 30% of the store was blocked Doesn’t this look modular telephone plate look off by a cell phone display at this point. irresistible?

Old sunbleached A/V equipment at its finest.

11.

And lastly, RadioShack Chief Creative Officer Nick Cannon with a “DO NOT ENTER” sign on him.

See you next time!

the BrooklIne VoIce

14

CHAPTER 8

March 21 - aprIl 4, 2017

the breakup

If

you haven’t been divorced, or separated and then divorced, it is near impossible to imagine the emotions and energy that goes into such a situation where you are cascading toward the end of something that was supposed to have gone on for a lifetime.

Everything that was beautiful becomes trained and ugly.

Everything that seemed normal and everyday morphs into a sort of day long nightmare – and it doesn’t end when you finally put your head down on your pillow, because the divide is always growing wider, the differences greater, the problems more complicated, and the results always the same.

Bret and Emily’s marriage is on the rocks. It is another Brookline marriage that is quickly becoming a statistic.

Emily’s affair with Arnie, the Jewish guy from Newton, is another matter by itself. Affairs never work when wedged between a marriage falling apart. Affairs should always be avoided.

Lovers falling apart should always wait until the end before taking on other lovers.

But you can’t tell this to people in the middle of their private muddle.

‘Are you still seeing that idiot from Newton?” Bret asked Emily as he gathered his things together inside their Beacon Street apartment.

She watched him as he gathered his clothing and folded things and placed them in a large suitcase. The kids remained inside their rooms down the hall.

“Typical man. All you care about is who I am with. What did the kids say when you told them you’re moving out?”

He threw a shirt into the suitcase.

“They said nothing. No tears. No shock. No nothing. I might as well have been talking with you,” Bret answered.

“Nice touch,” she said. “You’re going to be yourself until the moment you leave this house, aren’t you?”

“You could care less about how I feel or what you’ve done to us. Don’t you get it, Bret? You’ve been out of our lives for years. You’ve been somewhere else, but not here. You used whatever excuse you could muster to stay away from us as a family,” she complained to him.

“Don’t. Make. Me. Sick,” he said, "with that rubbish talk of yours."

“That’s called paying for the mortgage and the cars and the private schools, and the college now coming up. Does that get done being all lovey-dovey and staying at home when I needed to be out there hustling.

“And where were you for all these years? From the time you had the kids I ceased to exist as a man in your mind.

No sex. No fun. When I’d come on to you and try to be a man, you’d tell me, 'Go out and get that stuff with someone else.’ What was that all about?” he asked her.

Emily’s cell phone rang.

“I suppose that’s lover boy calling his mistress,” he said to her. She walked into the kitchen.

It was Arnie.

“I can’t really talk with you right now,” she whispered to him.

“Is he packing his stuff?” Arnie asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“Good,” Arnie replied.

Her daughter walked into the kitchen.

“Who are you whispering to?” she asked her mother.

“It’s a business call,” Emily replied.

Her daughter stamped her foot on the floor.

“What is wrong with you? Can’t you wait until Dad has moved his things out? What is it with you? Can’t you be yourself for a just an hour until he’s gone?” she asked.

Emily turned away.

She whispered into her cell.

“I’ve got to go. I can’t wait to see you. I’ll be at your place in an hour.”

“Good,” Arnie said. “You know where I’ll be.”

Bret walking out of the home they shared for 18 years into the frigid cold of a mid-winter day with his kids watching

was a bittersweet moment. This wasn’t the way he had seen his life unfolding just two months ago.

foundation. She took the key that was hidden there, went to the back door and let herself in.

He placed the suitcase into the trunk of his BMW. He got into the car. He dialed a lifelong friend who lives on Aspinwall Terrace.

She was taking off her clothes with a reckless abandon as she charged into Arnie’s bedroom where he was waiting for her.

“You sure you can handle me until I get my feet on the ground?” he asked his friend, a high school buddy he grew up with in Brookline.

In about three minutes they were headfirst into a mad physical session – and while all of that was going on, there was nothing, absolutely nothing inside her head of any meaning other than the moment, the act, the sensuality and the wrongness of everything she was doing.

“What are friends for?” his pal replied.

“Thanks. I’m heading over right now.”

Without looking back, he drove off into the night away from his home on Beacon Street.

In Newton, just off the Centre, Emily made a hard turn into Arnie’s driveway. Running from the car, she went to the side of the large home and pulled out a brick in the

As for Arnie, he was performing, but wondering: “What now…that Emily is going to be a free woman?”

“What now that all the tension is gone and we don’t have to sneak around anymore?”

J.R.

The Brookline Voice

March 21 - April 4, 2017

15

Shoutbox AMERICAN LIBERAL JEWISH LEADERS FUEL ANTI-SEMITISM We try to rationalize that the anti-Zionist behavior of individual Jews does not justify anti-Semitic bigotry.

However, the crass political exploitation of their Jewish identity by American leaders of purportedly “nonpartisan” mainstream Jewish organizations is unprecedented. Today, in what must be described as self-destruction, a substantial number of irresponsible leaders of the most successful and powerful Jewish diaspora community seem to have gone berserk and are fueling anti-Semitism.

Nobody suggests that Jews should not be entitled, like all American citizens, to engage in political activity of their choice. As individuals, they may support or bitterly criticize their newly elected president, but as leaders of mainstream religious and communal organizations, they are obliged, as in the past, to assiduously avoid being perceived as promoting partisan political positions.

What has taken place in leading mainstream American Jewish organizations during and since the elections can only be described as a self-induced collective breakdown. What might have been regarded as a temporary aberration has in fact intensified in recent weeks.

Let us set aside the fact that many of these liberal Jewish organizations have also distanced themselves from or even abandoned Israel. They have done so even though the Trump administration has the potential of restoring the U.S.-Israel alliance that then-President Barack Obama undermined in a vain effort to appease Muslims. It is also clear that, for many assimilated liberal Jews, Israel is no longer a priority, especially now that President Donald Trump has signaled his intentions to renew the alliance.

The facts are that liberal Jewish leaders have declared a hysterical war against the Trump administration. Led initially by the Anti-Defamation League but rapidly joined by the Reform and Conservative wings of the Jewish community, many Jewish community leaders have exploited their positions to endorse a vicious campaign in which Trump is portrayed as a satanic anti-Semite promoting fascism and racism, representing the antithesis of Jewish values. This, despite the reality that his presidency highlights an unprecedented acceptance of Jews at the highest levels of government.

Headed by CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, a former Obama staffer, the ADL initiated its campaign during the elections by effectively echoing the far-left J Street. It accused Trump of tolerating and encouraging anti-Semitism and white supremacy and engaging in Islamophobia. Greenblatt went so far as to proudly announce that if immigration restrictions weighed against Muslims, he would proclaim himself a Muslim and called on Jews to do likewise.

At the same time, some progressive rabbis, usually without a mandate from their constituency, organized fasts and days of mourning in their synagogues and, donning prayer shawls and kippot, they paraded at the forefront of anti-Trump

demonstrations that vulgarly undermined the presidency, emphasizing that their political stance was a product of their religious Jewish values.

Furthermore, they supported and participated in demonstrations led and hijacked by vicious anti-Israel Muslim activists such as Linda Sarsour and even convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh. In a similar vein, the ADL continues to promote Black Lives Matter despite its hatred of Israel and support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

The constant false accusations of anti-Semitism were highlighted by the biased liberal media emboldening rightwing degenerates who were provided with enormous exposure.

This created a perception of a sudden rise in radical right antiSemitism.

There has been a huge flurry of anti-Semitic outbursts in social media. Jewish organizations have been plagued with bomb threats and several cemeteries were desecrated.

The media highlighted these developments and many Jews panicked, in the belief that this was evidence of a dramatic increase in anti-Semitism, and accepted the false allegation that this was a Trump factor. Last week, Greenblatt went so far as to make the preposterous statement that Trump had “emboldened” anti-Semites and encouraged acts of terror in his own country.

Fortunately, to date, not a single Jew has been harmed. It only takes a few fanatical scoundrels to ignite a flow of antiSemitic tweets and social media activity. It only takes a handful to telephone bomb threats to Jewish organizations. The campaign to blame Trump and accuse him of indifference to anti-Jewish agitation is simply nonsensical.

It is also noteworthy that the first person arrested for having made numerous bomb threats was no alt-right extremist but an African-American notorious for his tweets against “white people” and the “white media.”

Alas, the reality is that in promoting their personal political agenda and vulgarizing and demonizing Trump while posing as Jews motivated by religious principles, they are hypocritically exploiting their leadership positions and fueling anti-Semitism.

within the U.S., albeit the most tolerant nation in the world in relation to Jews.

The reality is that today, the prime global anti-Semitic threat emanates not from neo-Nazis but from the witches’ brew of far-left and Muslim anti-Jewish incitement, which has transformed many American university campuses into hotbeds of anti-Semitism. Jewish students are being intimidated and pro-Israel speakers denied the opportunity of making their case. This has deteriorated over recent years and today represents the central source of anti-Semitic agitation in the U.S. Where are the shrill voices against this manifestation of anti-Semitism from those that blame Trump for antiSemitic threats? Greenblatt went as far as to oppose the legislation against BDS, insisting that some of its promoters still loved Israel and should not be condemned.

A large proportion of Trump supporters are Christian evangelicals whose passionate support for Israel more than compensates for liberal Jews who are more concerned about Muslims, a substantial proportion of whom hate and would kill Jews, endorse jihadism and support the destruction of the Jewish state. Obviously, witnessing Jews purporting to be upholding Jewish values by engaging directly in the demonization of their president must outrage them.

It is surely time now for responsible Jewish leaders to intervene and condemn this distortion of Judaism, making it clear that these liberal officials and rabbis have no mandate to speak on behalf of the Jewish community and are simply promoting their personal political agendas.

The Zionist Organization of America and some Orthodox Jewish groups are trying to dispel the perception that these attacks on Trump are officially Jewish-sponsored. To his credit, Abe Foxman, himself a liberal, who headed the ADL for three decades prior to Greenblatt, urged Jewish leaders to “cool it” emphasizing that “Trump is not an anti-Semite.”

He warned that the issue “has been hijacked politically by Democrats who’ve made it a political issue to attack Trump," though he also noted that “Republicans made it a political issue to defend him." His conclusion: "The whole issue has become a political football and that doesn’t serve us."

This becomes even more stark in contrast to the eight years of Obama’s administration, during which not a single condemnation was uttered against the outrageously biased statements in relation to Israel. Obama’s repeated statements attributing moral equivalence to Israeli defenders and Palestinian terrorists, his accusations of disproportionate Israeli response to terrorism, and his refusal to condemn the Iranians as they repeatedly vowed to wipe Israel off the map, were all ignored. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was treated despicably in Washington while Obama was groveling to the Iranian terrorists.

It is sad and ironic that the decline of the most affluent and successful community will have been engineered by some of its leaders who, in their fanatical liberal zeal, exploited their Judaism and Jewish affiliations to advance a partisan political agenda. Unless this tide of official Jewish anti-Trump demonization is reversed or halted, there will be major longterm negative ramifications on the standing and influence of the American Jewish community.

There is no distinction between anti-Semitism of the Right and Left and the forces of bigotry that are mushrooming globally, including

This column was originally published in The Jerusalem Journal and Israel Hayom.

Isi Leibler Isi Leibler may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com.

Paid for by the friends of Charles Jacobs

Agreement reached on final Brookline educators contract On March 5 the Brookline Educators Union and Brookline School Committee reached a tentative agreement on the Paraprofessional Contract, the last of their three collective bargaining agreements.

The Paraprofessionals are a wide-ranging group of support employees, the majority of which are classroom aides.

“They have moved close enough to our latest proposal and our negotiating team has voted to accept it. This contract will not bring Paraprofessionals where we believe they should be in wages or hours, yet it moves us in the right direction in several ways,” said Jessica Wender-Shubow, President of the Brookline Educators Union.

“With the strong actions of our members and

the support of our parent allies, we found an agreement that will allow us to broaden the focus on improving the Brookline Schools for students, staff and parents. This work will be reinforced with our Community Forum on March 15.” That forum, called the “Schools Our Communities Deserve", will be held at the All Saints Parish at 7:00 p.m. The event is free, but registration is requested at tiny.cc/ rsvpforum2.

With this tentative agreement, the Union cancelled its planned vote to take further job actions.

Ratification of the Paraprofessional agreement, along with the other two agreements for teachers and administrators, is tentatively scheduled for March 27.

Is now on And Twitter! https://www.facebook.com/The-Brookline-Voice-The-Newton-Voice-326582154376385/ https://twitter.com/voicepub

Visit us for photos, digital copies of all past editions, and more.

Courtesy photo From left, Giovany Gomez, Teller; Megan Chan, Teller Supervisor; Richard Gavegnano, Chairman, CEO & President; Neha Kothari, VP Branch Manager; Sarai Lopez, Teller; and Nelson Torre, Assistant Branch Manager.

East Boston Savings Bank host grand opening reception for new Brookline branch location East Boston Savings Bank (EBSB) hosted the grand opening reception of their newest branch located at 1441 Beacon St. on Wednesday, March 8th at the Fireplace Restaurant in Brookline. This will be the second branch to open in the city of Brookline.

our products and services, to meet their banking and financial goals. We have had great successes here thus far, and we greatly look forward to extending our services even more to the city of Brookline,” said Chairman, CEO and President, Richard J. Gavegnano.

“This grand opening celebration is an event to signify our dedication and sustained commitment to the Brookline Community.

We are fortunate to be a part of this vibrant community, and we will continue to ensure that our customers’ needs are met by knowledgeable banking professionals who will assist them in the understanding

The Bank appointed Neha Kothari as Vice President Branch Manager of the new branch office in Brookline. Neha will oversee all branch operations, and will diligently work to continue introducing the bank to the Brookline area, while helping to build long-lasting business relationships within the community.

In Boston’s Historical North End

2017 Restaurateur of the Year:

Frank DePasquale

The Tradition Continues...

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