Volume 8, Number 4 Israel @70
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Serving the Local New Orleans, Northshore, and Baton Rouge Jewish Communities
Israel History 70 Years • May 14, 1948 - May 14, 2018 Modern Israeli History: A Timeline Key moments in the Jewish state's history By MJL Staff dreds of homes and business, the Mandate for Palestine, granting numbers of European Jews to seek prompting tens of thousands of Britain temporary authority over refuge there. Russian Jews to flee to Palestine. the territory. May 15, 1941 : Palmach Created Aug. 24, 1929: Hebron Massacre April 11, 1909: Tel Aviv Founded
5 Ways To Celebrate Israel's Independence Day Remembering the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on its 75th Anniversary
1882-1903: First Aliyah The First Aliyah brings an estimated 25,000-35,000 immigrants to Palestine, the majority of them fleeing anti-Jewish pogroms in Eastern Europe. 1894: Dreyfus Affair French Jewish army officer Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of espionage. The case has a galvanizing effect on the development of Zionism by underscoring the precariousness of Jewish life in Europe.
Tel Aviv circa 1920. (PikiWiki Israel)
Tel Aviv, the first modern Jewish city, is founded on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
Funeral for a victim of the Hebron massacre of 1929. (Wikimedia Commons)
Palestinian Arabs kill dozens of Jews and wound scores more in The Haganah creates an elite what will come to be known as the fighting force called the Palmach to Hebron Massacre. protect the local Jewish community.
1910: First Modern Hebrew Dictionary Published Eliezer Ben-Yehuda begins pub1929: Fifth Aliyah Begins lishing the first Hebrew dictionary, The Fifth Aliyah begins, bringhastening the revival of the ancient ing over 200,000 Jews mainly from language. central and eastern Europe to preNov. 2, 1917: Balfour Declaration state Israel over the course of the Britain issues the Balfour Decla- decade leading up to World War II. ration, endorsing the establishment Driven in large part by the Nazi rise 1896: Herzl’s “The Jewish State” of a national home in Palestine for to power in Germany in the early Theodor Herzl, an Austro-Hunthe Jewish people. 1930s, the large numbers of new garian journalist who covered the Dreyfus trial as a correspondent, Oct. 30, 1918: World War I Ends arrivals exacerbate tensions between Jews and Arabs. publishes Der Judenstaat (“The Jewish State”), in which he pro1936: Arab Revolt poses the creation of a Jewish state Palestinian Arabs revolt against as the solution to anti-Semitism. British rule, demanding Arab indeAug. 29, 1897: First Zionist pendence and the end of Jewish Congress immigration. May 23, 1939: The White Paper British Gen. Edmund Allenby enters Old City of Jerusalem, December 1917. (Wikimedia Commons)
Theodor Herzl (in hat) on a boat to Palestine, 1898. (PikiWiki Israel)
Herzl convenes the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland.
The Armistice of Mudros ends World War I in the Middle East and begins the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, which had occupied Palestine since the 16th century.
June 1920: Haganah Founded The Haganah is founded as an independent defense force for Jews April 19, 1903: Kishinev Pogrom The Kishinev Pogrom in the Rus- in Palestine. July 24, 1922: British Mandate sian Empire, in what is now MolStarts dova, kills dozens of Jews and The League of Nations adopts results in the destruction of hun-
Female members of the Palmach in Ein Gedi,1942. (Hashomer Hatzair Archives)
Jews demonstrating against the White Paper in Jerusalem, May 18, 1939. (Wikimedia Commons)
Nov. 29, 1947: UN Partition Plan The United Nations votes to partition Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Zionist leaders agree to the plan, but the leaders of several Arab countries and of the Palestinian Arab community reject it, leading to intercommunal clashes that ultimately develop into a full-blown civil war. December 1947: Arab Siege of Jerusalem Begins Anger over the partition vote prompts rioting in Jerusalem that claims more than a dozen lives. The fighting marks the beginning of the Arab siege of Jerusalem, which seeks to cut off the 100,000 Jewish residents of the city from the rest of the country. April 9, 1948: Deir Yassin More than 100 Arabs, including women and children, are killed by Jewish fighters in the village of Deir Yassin.
May 14, 1948: State of Israel The British House of Commons Established approves the White Paper of 1939, David Ben-Gurion proclaims the which severely restricts Jewish establishment of Israel in a ceremoimmigration to Palestine at precisely the moment when the Nazi See ISRAEL HISTORY 24 rise to power is prompting growing on Page
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Shavuot 5778
A Celebration Weekend Honoring Rabbi Bob Loewy’s Retirement
Friday, May 11, 2018 at 8:00 PM Join us for Shabbat services led by Rabbi Loewy at 8:00 PM. Enjoy the sounds of Kol Simcha, Gates of Prayer’s choir, as we usher in the Sabbath. Rabbi Loewy will speak on “Looking Back, Looking Forward.” Following services, please join us for a wonderful Oneg Shabbat, one you will not want to miss! Also, on that evening, we will be dedicating the lobby, to be named The Loewy Lobby, in honor of Rabbi Loewy’s retirement. The lobby, as the central point for entrance into the sanctuary, mirrors Rabbi Loewy’s commitment as the focal point of our congregation’s spirituality.
Saturday, May 19th - Erev Shavuot Candle Lighting after 8:30PM Maariv — 8:40PM Followed by Kiddush, Motzi, Snacks & Rabbi David’s Cheesecake Community Tikkun Leil Shavuot Presented by Shir Chadash, Gates of Prayer & Beth Israel
Rabbi Gabe Greenberg Beth Israel
nered) Learning
5:16AM Festival Minyan at Sunrise Sunday, May 20th - Shavuot - Day 1 Candle Lighting After 8:30PM Monday, May 21st Shavuot - Day 2 9:00AM - Shacharit 10:45AM (Approx) Rabbi’s Sermon/Yizkor 8:31PM - Yom Tov Ends
Welcome Cantor Margolius! Join Us in Welcoming Cantor Kevin Margolius Friday, July 6 - 6:00pm, Forgotston Chapel
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Rabbi Bob Loewy Gates of Prayer
Lazarus Siegal, who grew up at CGoP, will be the guest speaker.
Saturday, May 12, 2018, at 1:00 PM Bring the whole family to a celebratory picnic, organized by Sisterhood and Brotherhood, at shelter #7 in Lafreniere Park from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm. Catch up with Rabbi Loewy and his family, visit with friends from far and wide, and Rabbi Deborah Silver enjoy fun, games and a complimenShir Chadash tary lunch of burgers and hotdogs (thanks to the Ziegler Family with Our Rabbis and Various Local Community Scholars will each Bud’s Broiler). teach multiple classes Saturday, May 12, 7:00 PM 9:15PM - 10:15PM -Session 1 “Under the Jerusalem Stars” 10:15PM - 11:05PM - Session 2 Havdallah, Gala Celebration and 11:15PM - Midnight Dinner We invite you to share an eve- Rabbinic Panel with Rabbis Silver, ning of memories, music and laugh- Loewy & Greenberg Saturday, May 12, at 10:30AM ter. Enjoy a delicious seated dinner, Our day will begin with Shabbat along with the incredible sounds of Midnight - 12:30AM services, led by Rabbi Loewy and Panorama, New Orleans’ premier Midnight Gumbo — Late-Night Talmud Study with Rabbi Gabe (this some of his former b’nai mitzvah Klezmer Band. session will be accessible to people and confirmands. Rabbi Judith of all backgrounds in Jewish study) Call Our Trained Experts & Experience the Difference 12:30AM - 5:00AM Or Individual / Chevruta (Part-
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warmth, kindness, intellect, and skill will enrich our congregation as much as his gorgeous voice and multifaceted musical talents will. Cantor Margolius is originally from Ohio, received a BS in quantitative economics from Tufts University, and was ordained from Hebrew College in 2013. He has been the Cantor at Temple Beth Tikvah in Madison, Connecticut since his ordination. Cantor Margolius and his husband Dr. Jason Gaines will move to New Orleans this summer. He already has his Saints jersey! We look forward to welcoming Following a long and comprehensive search process, Cantor Cantor Margolius to our Bimah for Kevin Margolius was recently the first time on Shabbat, Friday, selected as the next Cantor of Touro July 6. This is a Shabbat you won't want Synagogue. Cantor Margolius' extraordinary to miss! www.thejewishlight.org
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Table of Contents Community News
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Chai Lights
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Israel at 70
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Education
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Bookshelf
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Arts & Culture
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Entertainment
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Financial
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Health
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The Nosher
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Focus on Issues
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National Judaism
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Kveller
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Travel
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Chai Lights ChaiLights features announcements of births, B'nai Mitzvahs, engagements, weddings, and honors. To request your special event be published in The Jewish Light send your material to United Media Corp., P.O. Box 3270, Covington, LA 70435 or e-mail jewishnews@bellsouth.net. Events are published on a first come, first served basis, as space permits. Photographs are welcom; professional ones preferred. The must be clear and in focus. ì
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Mazel Tov to.. ..Parents Myron & Marcie Goldberg and Ron & Sandy Apple on the marriage of Jonah Goldberg to Barbara Apple on March 11th in Atlanta, GA. ..Parents Eliav Kahan & Kayla Greenberg (Rabbi Gabe’s brother-in-law and sister) on the birth of Noah Ruben Kahan on March 19th in Boston. ..Parents Dr. Jonathan & Stephanie Zoller, grandparents Dr. Michael & Linda Zoller and Great Grandmother Mildred Zoller on the birth of a baby girl, Amelia Wendy Zoller on March 27th in St. Louis.
Congratulations to all my friends in the Jewish Community as we celebrate Israel’s 70th Anniversary! Thank you for your continued support! Cynthia Lee-Sheng
Councilwoman-at-Large, Division B
Congratulations to all my friends in the Jewish Community as we all celebrate this Historic Milestone! Thank you for your continued support! Maureen “MO” O’Brien St. Tammany Parish Council, District 10
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with Communities in Schools’ All in Kids Award ..Robert Wolf on entering the National WWII Museum Volunteer Hall of Fame for logging 5,000 volunteer hours.
Mazel Tov to.. ..Faye & Phil Gaethe on their son, Pryce, graduating. from the U. S. Coast Guard Training Center. Pryce is now stationed in Chicago. ..Lazelle Alexander, for being honored by Hadassah as Touro Synagogue the Honorary Vice-President Mazel Tov to.. at their upcoming June lunch..Richard Cahn who was eon. presented with the Shepard H. Shushan Award at this year's Temple Sinai Annual Meeting on April 14 Mazel Tov to.. ..Emma Benjamin on being for his dedication and loyalty elected Programming Vice to Touro Synagogue, which President of the NFTY Region- best exemplifies the extraordial Board nary legacy of devotion of ..Sophie and Casey Burka Shepard H. Shushan. on the birth of their daughter ..Erica and Pierre BorMeryl Rose Burka. Mazel tov as well to grandparents deaux on the birth of their Andy and Cathy Burka, and daughter Sadie Jacobs Borgreat- grandmother Ann deaux and to big brother Burka Weston, grandparents Andy ..Bill Goldring for serving as a co-chairman of the 33rd and Carmen Jacobs, Sharon annual Crimestoppers Awards Jacobs and Leonard Davis, and great-grandmother Dotty Luncheon ..Rebecca Kornman for Jacobs. being accepted into Kenyon ..Ana and Juan Gershanik College. Rebecca will attend on receiving the 2018 RockKenyon in the fall ..Alon Shaya for participat- star Award from City Year ing in the 41st annual Chefs’ New Orleans for their extraorCharity for Children feast, dinary involvement in the New benefitting St. Michael Spe- Orleans Community. cial School ..Martin Goldstein on the ..Audrey Singer on being selected to be one of 10 local birth of his great-granddaughhigh school juniors to partici- ter Kinsley Grace Goldstein. ..June Leopold on the pubpate in the ADL National Youth Leadership Mission. lishing of her book Treat Us Audrey has since continued to Generously. meet with her delegation, par..Megan and Ben Lowenticipated in 2018 Unity Day, and worked with her school to burg on the birth of their son guide freshman students in David Capone Lowenburg, their understanding of the Hol- and to big brother Eli. ocaust ..Adam and Rebecca Mill..Dr. Mark Wagner, an er on the birth of their daughLSU professor, for being selected by the University of ter Margot Rose Miller and Pennyslvania Herbert D. Katz to big brother Zachary. To Scott Saltzman who was Center for Advanced Judaic Studies to join its 2018-2019 presented with the Sandra S. cohort of fellows devoted to Barnett Caring and Mitzvah scholarship on the theme of Jews in Modern Islamic Con- Award at this year's Annual Meeting on April 14 for his texts. ..Dr. Cedric and Julie many contributions to the Walker on the engagement of Touro community including their son Jacob Walker to his work with our vertical garAndrew Sinclair den and the many years of ..John Wittenberg on being honored, along with his late capturing beautiful moments wife Frances Wittenberg, with his camera.
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IN MEMORIAM Arnold R. Hirsch Dorothy Bromley Leach , sister of Bobbie Smith, aunt of Sam Guichet (Joe), great aunt of Ella and Jake Adele Karp Cahn, aunt of Richard Cahn (Vivian) Deborah Ravich Vorhoff , wife of Gregory Vorhoff, mother of Ariel Merritt (Chris), Max Vorhoff (Lorena), Harry Vorhoff (Sophie), and Jed Vorhoff, grandmother of Jude, Archer, and Leo Mildred F. Graff, mother of
Madalyn Schenk (Robert) Ralph Henry Slifkin Phyllis Rosenberg Nitzkin, wife of Joel Nitzkin Norma Jean Wiberg, grandmother of Abigail Isaacoff Deborah Carter Berkson Cyrus Israel Yavneh, uncle of Naomi Yavneh Klos (Stan) Mayer Kanner, father of Allan Kanner (Robin), grandfather of Max and Eli Ruth Surat, aunt-in-law of Naomi Yavneh Klos (Stan) May their memory be for a blessing.
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Israel at 70: How 1948 Changed American Jews By Ben Sales
JEFFERSON PARISH DISTRICT ATTORNEY
PAUL CONNICK, JR.
Best Wishes to all my friends in the Jewish Community.
Congratulations to all my friends in the Jewish Community as we celebrate Israel’s 70th Anniversary! Thank you for your continued support!
Michael Lorino, Jr. St. Tammany Parish Council, District 4 Vice Chairman
Best wishes to all of my friends in the Jewish Community. Thank You for your continued support.
Chief Judge Sidney H. Cates, IV Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans
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David Ben-Gurion, who was to become Israel’s first prime minister, reads the new nation’s Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv, May 14, 1948. (Zoltan Kluger/Israeli Government Press Office via Getty Images)
American Jews largely supported Zionism when Israel declared independence in 1948. In the subsequent years, they got used to having a Jewish country across the ocean. (JTA) — One year after Israel’s establishment, in the dead of night, three students ascended a tower at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and raised the Israeli flag. The next morning, the Conservative rabbinical school’s administration took it down. That act of surreptitious Zionist protest was one of several at JTS during the years surrounding 1948, when Israel gained independence, Michael Greenbaum wrote in an essay in “Tradition Renewed,” a JTS history edited by Jack Wertheimer. Students supported the new Jewish state. However, the seminary’s chancellor, Louis Finkelstein, opposed American Judaism focusing all its efforts across an ocean, and also needed to appease a board wary of Jewish nationalism. But the students persisted. Once, they sang the Israeli anthem “Hatikvah” following graduation ceremonies. Another time, they convinced their colleagues at the Union Theological Seminary, the Protestant school next door, to play the anthem from their bell tower. Today, nearly all American Jewish institutions are vocally, even passionately pro-Israel. But even in the years after the Jewish state won its independence 70 years ago, that feeling was not yet universal. Before the Holocaust, Zionism itself was polarizing among American Jews. Many, especially in the Reform movement, felt support for a Jewish homeland would cause their loyalty to America to be called into question. The other side was represented by Louis Brandeis, the
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first Jewish Supreme Court justice, who saw no conflict between American values and Zionist aspirations. By the time Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, American Jews, scarred by images of the Holocaust and Nazism and inspired by newsreels of tanned kibbutzniks, were largely supportive of Zionism. But they were not yet turning out for organized political advocacy and mass tourism to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Instead they were getting used to the idea of a Jewish sovereign state — gradually incorporating it into their culture, prayers and religious outlook. “After the mid-1930s, the majority of American Jews had come to be positive one way or another about the idea of a Jewish homeland,” said Hasia Diner, director of the Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History at New York University. “While 1948 on the one hand was very exciting and [had] lots of communal programming and celebrations, it was slightly anticlimactic in the sense that opposition had been gone for at least 10 years.” North American Jewish support for Israel was turbocharged by the Truman administration’s quick recognition of the state, and by the Israeli army’s victory against the Arab states in its war of independence. In February of that year, Golda Meyerson (later Meir), raised $400,000 in one day (the equivalent of some $4 million today) on behalf of the provisional state on just one stop in Montreal. In the weeks following independence, she started a drive in the United States and Canada for $75 million more (or about $750 million in 2018 dollars). “There was a sense that once America recognized the state, Zionism had won, and everyone wanted to link with the winners,” said Jonathan Sarna, a professor of Jewish history at Brandeis University. “It was growing very quickly, it took in all of these refugees, which solved that problem.” After Israel secured its independence, American Jews began to engage with the new nation in small ways. There was no rush of tourSee 1948 on Page THE
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Israel at 70: It's Time to Reclaim the Z-word, Zionism
Israel 70
By Gil Troy
Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, leaning over the balcony of the Drei Konige Hotel during the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, Aug. 29, 1897. (GPO via Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- All too often, when I ask campus organizations that are pro-Israel and deeply Zionist why they avoid using the "Z-word" in their messaging and literature, I’m told, "Zionism
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doesn’t poll well.” True, not polling well is one of today's great sins. But imagine what our world would be like if our ancestors feared the polls. The American Revolution wouldn’t have polled well. Suggestions that Northerners crush slavery in 1860 wouldn’t have polled well. And proposing a new Jewish state in 1897 wouldn’t have polled well either. At the time, most European Jews believed enlightened Europe was outgrowing anti-Semitism -that polled well. Let’s learn from our heroic predecessors – and from feminists, gays and African-Americans, whose first attempts to defend their rights didn’t poll well either. Take back the night, resist internalizing our oppressors’ hatred of us. Reclaim the Z-word: Zionism. You cannot defeat those delegitimizing Israel by surrendering Zion-
ism, the movement that established Israel. If a century ago Zionism brought pride back to the term “Jew,” Jews and non-Jews today must bring pride back to the term “Zionist.” In his book on “the strage career of the troublesome” N-word, the African-American Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy explains the “protean nature” of political words Groups can triumph with linguistic magic by defining themselves and their aims; when enemies define them, they lose. Kennedy warns against allowing the hater to define the hated, and that’s what is happening. First, “shame on them”: Shame on the anti-Zionists who single out Jewish nationalism, meaning Zionism, in a world organized by nationalisms, and call it “racist.” Shame on them for libeling a democratic movement. Shame on them for
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ignoring Judaism’s national-religious duality, which allows nonJews to convert into the Jewish religion and join the Jewish nation, making Zionism among the least biologically based, least racist, most permeable forms of nationalism. And shame on them for racializing the national conflict between Israelis and Palestinians – inflaming hatred, making peace more elusive. Alas, shame on us, too. Zionism should be a more popular term than "Israel.” Until 1948, Zionism was the movement affirming that Jews are a people with a homeland and that like other nations, Jews have the right to establish a state on that land (others may, too – nationalism involves collective consciousness, not exclusive land claims). Since 1948, Zionism has been the moveSee ZIONISM on Page
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Israel At 70
Israeli and Diaspora Jews are siblings living in very different homes By Avital Hochstein
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JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Rabbi Donniel Hartman, who lives in Jerusalem yet works regularly in North America, likens Diaspora Jews to grown children who have left their parents’ nest and created their own space and home outside the homeland of the Jewish people. The beloved grown adult children still feel at home when they visit their parents – that is, Israel. Yet they may not go freely into every room in the house or feel at ease, even though it is still their ancestral, family home. Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein of the 14th Street Y in New York spins that metaphor in another direction. She understands the relationship between Jews who live in Israel and those who live elsewhere as one of siblings. She prefers a portrait conveying greater equality between the two groups. Epstein says that Israeli Jews are like the children who have moved back into their parents’ home, while Jews elsewhere are like the children who have set up a new home. Jews around the world are free to create their own new spaces as they understand them, with no limitations stemming from parental baggage. Israeli Jews face a more arduous task. Feeling free to innovate when one has moved back into the home of one’s parents is more challenging, she says. I appreciate both metaphors of family dynamics. This is an important conversation. Yet I am uncomfortable. The shift from understanding the relations between Israeli Jews and world Jewry as one between parents and grown children, to appreciating them as the relations between siblings, is interesting, challenging and compelling.
But the constraints that Rabbi Koch Epstein describes feel foreign to my experience as an Israeli. While the sibling metaphor is a helpful way to understand the realities and challenges of Jews today, I would flip it: World Jewry, not Israelis, are the grown children living in their parents' home, as indeed, Jews have been living outside Israel, with no sovereignty and as a minority, for more than 2,000 years. Thus, Jews around the world are living in their parents’ environment and struggling, often with success, to break free from old traditions and ways, despite being in an alltoo-familiar environment. Israeli Jews, on the other hand, are the siblings who have broken with old family ways and are meeting new situations at every turn. Being the majority and having Jewish sovereignty are new experiences for Jews, even after 70 years of having a state. As we mark our 70th anniversary as a state, we have a lot of work ahead of us figuring out how, for example, we should treat minorities ethically and Jewishly. We must continue asking how an ethical Jewish army should function, how to collect taxes and spend government revenues, and many more issues. Jews in Israel today face new challenges and novel circumstances. But we also have new tools to use because there exists a state with a Jewish majority and sovereignty. In their new home, they have the freedom to innovate, to experiment, and to meet those challenges and circumstances in their own way. (Rabbi Avital Hochstein is a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and president of Hadar in Israel.) The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
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Israel at 70: What Women in Israel and the West Learned From Each Other
Israel 70
By Debra Nussbaum Cohen
Golda Meir, women soldiers, religious feminists and “Wonder Woman” Gal Gadot represent the various ways women in Israel and America have seen themselves reflected one in the other since 1948. (JTA collage)
NEW YORK (JTA) — American Jewish women have idealized Israeli women as feminist role models since the days of prestate Israel, when women were photographed plowing fields alongside men. Postindependence posters featured images of female soldiers fighting alongside men. A chain-smoking Golda Meir served as Israel's prime minister nearly 50 years before a major American political party would even nominate the first woman for president. It's a persistent myth of female empowerment, but a myth all the same. “Until recently there was a perception that Israel had real equality for women," said Francine Klagsbrun, a New Yorker and author of the recently published biography “Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel” (Schocken) "Women were in the army. Only later did we learn they often had servile positions and in the yishuv [prestate Israel] women were laughed at when they tried to build roads. It was not the equality women here believed they had.” Israeli and American Jewish women have learned much from each other since Israel was born 70 years ago. There has THE
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been an intertwined mutual influence, say leaders in both countries. American women were inspired by powerful Israeli role models. And Israelis absorbed, often slowly, feminist ideas from their sisters abroad. “The mutual influence has been enormous,” said Blu Greenberg, founder of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, who splits her time between the Riverdale neighborhood in the Bronx and Jerusalem. “It’s more like a tandem walk than either group having more impact than the other." “We were seen as superwoman,” agreed Anat Hoffman, a Jerusalemite who is the director of Women of the Wall and the Israel Religious Action Center, which advocates for civil and religious rights. “But we suffer from the disparity of salaries and domestic violence” as American women. “For too long, Israeli women were romanticized and objectified. How many times I heard the sentence ‘but I thought you guys were so strong!’ No, I’m much more like you than you can imagine," she said. "Romanticizing has done neither of us a lot of good.” Golda Meir had much to do with
that romanticization. In 1948, the Kiev-born, Milwaukee-raised kibbutznik was the face of Israel during a barnstorming fundraising tour of the United States ahead of the inevitable war for independence. She went on to serve in a wide range of Jewish Agency and government roles before becoming prime minister in 1969, a position she held until 1974. Since then, there has not been another woman in the role. “She continues to be seen as a woman who made it, one to emulate, a strong woman who knew how to use both her political and womanly skills to get ahead,” Klagsbrun said. Overall, American Jewish women have had greater impact on Israelis than the reverse, she said. “Once the feminist movement became important in America, it very much influenced Israelis in forming their own,” Klagsbrun said. Klagsbrun was one of three women and 11 men on a Jewish Theological Seminary commission that led the Conservative movement to decide in 1983 to ordain women as rabbis and cantors. Yet there was resistance to American feminism among many Israelis. Writer and political activist Betty
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Friedan wrote in The New York Times in 1984, “On my first pilgrimage to Israel, in 1974, Golda Meir had refused even to meet with me. Hostile Israeli women leaders, like so many male Jewish leaders in the United States, considered ‘women's lib’ a threat to the Jewish family.” See WOMEN on Page
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Israel at 70: How Israelis Like Me Relate to a Country That's an Ocean Away
Best Wishes to my many friends in the Jewish Community. Thank you for your continued support!
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It is an honor to stand amongst all of my friends in the Jewish Community, as together we recognize our 70 years of Independence in Israel!
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SAN FRANCISCO (J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) -- My Dear Land, It is almost your birthday. At 70, you are not a young country anymore. Some will consider me a stepdaughter because I left you, deciding to move an ocean away. I left behind me the battles, the traffic, the heat and the politics to become a citizen of the world. Whenever I am asked where I am from, I hesitate a minute before I answer, then I carefully monitor the interlocutor’s response. Some have no idea where you are on the map. Some give me a look that says oh, that country again. Some share with me their observations and opinions of you. I listen with curiosity, thinking to myself, don’t they realize I am still a part of you? First, I need to educate them about who you really are. Then I need to make sure they hear your side of the story, and to those with very a strong sense of justice, I tell them to mind their own business and attend to their own backyard. You need to know that I defend you openly, although sometimes it isn’t an easy task. Working my way up as an immigrant in the Bay Area, I founded an Israeli theater company, producing plays by Israeli playwrights. Your stepsons and stepdaughters here are thirsty to connect with you through stage performance and live theater. We keep your language, celebrate your culture and preserve the identity you have given us. When I am among them, I find myself pointing out your flaws, calling out your awful mistakes and worrying for your future. I also make sure they do not shut the door to others who claim that they love you. You see, loving you at times is not an easy task. When I was a little girl, I believed that one day all the Jews of the world
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would move in with you because you are gigantic, sacred and the only home we have. "The Land" is what we call you. As if the entire world is composed of water and you are the only piece of land there is. Those of us living in the Bay Area say we only came here for a few years, to taste the water, broaden our possibilities and then return. Gradually, in the dead of night, we moved our books and poems, our family albums and childhood memories. We built temporary communities that resemble you, pretending we never really left. We adjusted to a time zone in which we are kissing you goodnight while we are waking up We never fully realized that we have actually moved out. Admitting that is also not easy. Perhaps it is a mature process of separation and individuation that pulled us apart. Perhaps the distance and perspective has allowed us to see you better, support you and present you to the broader world community, stating proudly that we, too, are your children. Maybe your diverse human kaleidoscope, your endless conflicts, your multireligious focal points and the never-ending arguments of who owned you first is what makes us see the world from multiple perspectives, oftentimes antithetical one to the other, yet rich in human experience. Discovering that loving you from afar is just as good and just as possible. We all need our Zion, a place that we call home, a place we long for, defend, belong to, move away from, criticize, come back to, care for, protect and claim as our birthright. Luckily, you will outlive us, age gracefully and be even more attractive, while we will grow old, and return to die and be buried on your Land. Your daughter, Ofra (Ofra Daniel is the co-founder and artistic/executive director of the Jewish Circle Theater. A native of Israel, Ofra is an accomplished playwright and performed with the Beit Lessin Theatre Company in Tel Aviv before moving to the Bay Area. She wrote this piece for J. The Jewish News of Northern California.)
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
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Education
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How Comic Books Taught American Kids About the Holocaust By Josefin Dolsten
“We Spoke Out: Comic Books and the Holocaust” features 18 comics that dealt with the Holocaust. (IDW Publishing/Yoe Books, JTA Collage)
NEW YORK (JTA) — In 2008, famed comic book artist Neal Adams and Holocaust historian Rafael Medoff teamed up to create a comic about Dina Babbitt, a Czech Jewish artist forced by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele to paint watercolors of Roma prisoners in Auschwitz. They hoped to bring attention to a little-known figure in the Holocaust. But their work on the comic, published by Marvel, also led them to ponder a larger issue: the surprising degree to which comic books had addressed the genocide in Europe. “We were surprised and impressed to discover that a number of mainstream comic books had taken on Holocaust-related themes in their story lines at various points over the years,” Medoff, the founding director of the David Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, told JTA in a phone interview last month. Medoff and Adams -- known for his iconic work on DC Comics’ Batman and Green Arrow — decided to explore how a genre aimed at entertaining youths tackled one of history's darkest chapters. The results of the research is their new book, “We Spoke Out:
Comic Books and the Holocaust," which was published last month and co-written with author and artist Craig Yoe. In the decades immediately following World War II, many high school students did not learn about the Holocaust, and TV programs, movies and books only addressed it sporadically, Medoff told JTA. “It struck us that comic books apparently were one of the ways in which American teenagers were learning about the Holocaust at a time when most of them were not learning about it in school,” he said. Adams, who designed the book's cover image, created three of the comics reproduced in full in the book: “Night of the Reaper,” a 1971 comic featuring Batman and Robin and a Holocaust survivor bent on revenge; “Thou Shalt Not Kill!,” a 1972 comic about a golem that kills Nazis in Prague; and “The Last Outrage,” the 2008 comic he created with Medoff about Babbitt’s life. The book also features three works by the late Jewish comic book icon Joe Kubert, the Polishborn pioneer at DC Comics who founded The Kubert School for budding comics artists. Captain America, a superhero who fought the Nazis in a comic book series that began in 1940, is featured in a 1979 comic about a Holocaust survivor's experiences at a fictionalized concentration camp. Notably, it was the first time in the character's long run that the persecution of the Jews was mentioned. Many of the 18 comics in the book feature Holocaust survivors seeking vengeance against Nazis, and some present superheroes. Jews wrote about or drew half the com-
ics. Adams, 76, said comics provide a way to present the horror of the Holocaust in a way that people can “endure it.” As a 10-year-old living in West Germany, where his father was stationed with the U.S. Army, he was shown three hours of footage of concentration camps being liberated. He was so traumatized by what he saw that he did not speak for a week afterward. ‘You’re just seeing it over and
over again, the devastation, people living in their own filth, and after a while you just can’t,” he said of the experience. “The idea of this [book] was to take this down to smaller chunks so that people could endure it.” Yoe said comics also allow readers to take time to think about what they are learning. See COMIC BOOKS on Page
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Best Wishes to all of my friends in the Jewish Community as we celebrate 70 years of Independence in Israel!
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BookShelf
5 Books Even Crazy Busy Moms Will Want to Read By Jordana Horn
(Kveller via JTA) -- So many people tell me that they don’t have time to read. Well, I don’t have time to pee, and I do that. I’m kidding: I understand the dilemma. Reading is often portrayed as an immersive experience, one that you can’t do without a full-fledged commitment of an event-free day and a deck chair. Well, would-be reader, I’d say that is wrong. I read in five-minute increments wherever I go, and you can, too, with these riveting books easily broken into small, digestible and delicious chunks. "I Am, I Am, I Am," Maggie O’Farrell’s memoir, is perfect in so many ways.Among those ways is how suitable it is for those who only have
time to read in truncated chunks like commutes or carpool lines: The book is written in a series of 17 short stories about near-death experiences O'Farrell has had over the course of her life. From the very first gripping tale of a hike, I found myself riveted by how well she marries well-crafted prose with fascinating experiences. O’Farrell takes the reader along the course of her life, whether it is in a near-miss on a mountain hike or submerged beneath a riptide in a deep, night-darkened sea. The memoir jumps around O’Farrell’s life non-sequentially, much like how a parent’s mind leapfrogs all over the place in the middle of the night. In choosing to have her stories not be recounted in linear time, the author makes the implicit case that experience is not valuable due to its proximity to the present,
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but rather due to its proximity to the roots of who we are as people. Who we are is determined by where we have been and what we take away from those experiences. From childhood encephalitis to near-drowning to miscarriage to birth, we are a jumbled aggregate of feelings, longings and fear. That jumble takes its fullest and particularly rich form in her chapter “Daughter,” in which she recounts the experience of an unexpected pregnancy turned into a daughter with a long list of allergies, several of which could trigger lethal anaphylaxis. As O'Farrell writes about the effects of living with a child with a life-threatening condition, parental readers will feel their very heartbeat synchronize with hers. "Your lives are conducted with a constant background hum of potential peril," she writes. "You begin to experience the world differently. You may no longer go for a walk and see a garden, a playground, a farm full of goat kids. You must always be tabulating and assessing risk: that pollinating silver birch, those food wrappers in the rubbish bin, those flowering nut trees, those gamboling dogs, shedding their dander and fur into the air." Her masterful choice of the sec-
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ond person to reel you into her life and her love leaves you — no pun intended in a book about near-death — breathless. "Mothers of Sparta: A Memoir in Pieces," by Dawn Davies, is similar to O’Farrell in that it is a collection of easily readable, hard-to-putdown essays, but radically different in that it is a more humorous and fiercely honest collection. I’ll cut to the chase: This is one of the best books I have ever read. I can’t say it better than the reviewer who wrote on Goodreads, “This is the first book I have read that both wrenches your gut with heartbreak and makes you laugh out loud at the humor at the same time.” It’s that marriage of pain and humor that Davies makes perfectly in her prose. Davies tells the story of her itinerant life, moving from place to place as a child, and her tales of finding love and creating a new blended family. She does so with flagrant, fierce honesty, and that honesty resonates with truth and See 5 BOOKS on Page
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5 BOOKS Continued from Page 12 purpose. As she watches her children swimming at night and takes pictures of them, she writes: "And as you click two simple photos, paper fossils that will one day remind you how they once walked the Earth, you realize you have taken everything for granted. Your time with them. Their brief speck of time as children, the soft faces that turn to you as if you are the sun, the fact that time seems to move so slowly when in fact, it is whipping past you at one thousand miles per hour and why you haven’t flown off into space is beyond your comprehension. They will never stay yours, for they weren’t yours to begin with." What a beautiful kick in the face that is. "Mrs.," by Caitlin Macy, is a contrast to the others. The novel is a wild and crazy ride through the wild and crazy world of Manhattan schools, parents and students. I have always been fascinated by this world in the anthropological vein of Wednesday Martin’s "Primates of Park Avenue": In a world with so much ambition and so much wealth, what could go wrong? A lot, as it turns out. "Mrs." follows an independent woman as she navigates her way through this world from the vantage point of smart, detached and yet inextricably involved outsider. She has a front-row seat — and even, semi-unintentionally, a role — in the downfall of a prominent and beautiful socialite mother and her Manhattan family. If you liked "Big Little Lies," either the book or the show, you will read this and immediately start casting parts in your head (Jessica Chastain, have your people call my people, please). "Only Child," by Rhiannon Navin, is pretty much the antithesis of a light read. It’s an emotionally gripping, riveting book that will seize you and not let go. It’s written from the point of view of a 6-yearold survivor of a school shooting, which initially I worried that I would find cloying. Instead, after getting past some of my issues with THE
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language used (“would a 6-year-old really say that in that way?”), it was a relief of sorts to read things through a child’s viewpoint. After all, personally, I am in a mom’s head basically 24/7, so the opportunity to see things through a child’s eyes was the equivalent of shaking the kaleidoscope and acquiring a new sight in exchange. It was a gift, as a parent, to be able to see these events that preoccupy me daily through the eyes (even if fiction) of a child. It was also truly enlightening to get back in touch with ideas and ideals of forgiveness through childhood innocence. Kids have feelings, we remember as we read this book, that may not be nuanced in the way ours are, but have their own nuances and permutations and unexpected elements just the same. "The Story of Arthur Truluv," by Elizabeth Berg, is more of an onthe-go snack for those who might be intimidated by a more immersive and emotional read. This novel is a comparatively quick read, and is upbeat about second chances at happiness. Arthur is a widower who meets a troubled teenager, Maddy, at the cemetery, and strikes up a completely appropriate friendship with her (I know, I am among the more cynical, and that struck me as suspect, too, but my suspicions were unfounded). The nosy neighbor Lucille, right out of Central Casting, provides a great triangulation to the relationship. Each person grows unexpectedly from encountering the others. Let's go with the food analogy and say the book is sweet rather than savory. I’m not making the case that it will change your life. But like those M&Ms carefully hidden in bags of trail mix, the book will make you happy. And sometimes that’s enough. (Jordana Horn is a contributing editor to Kveller. She has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, the Forward and Tablet. She has appeared as a parenting expert on the "Today" show and "Fox and Friends.") Kveller is a thriving community of women and parents who convene online to share, celebrate and commiserate their experiences of raising kids through a Jewish lens Visit Kveller.com.
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Arts & Culture
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Meet the ‘Betsy Ross of Israel’ By Joanna C. Valente
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Israel has a ‘Betsy Ross,’ and the flag she made is getting a new home: Trapped in her Jerusalem apartment during 1948 war, Rebecca Affachiner made iconic emblem from bed sheets to hang from her balcony on Israel's first Independence Day http://dlvr.it/QPtyT8 TimesofIsrael Rebecca Affachiner is often called “the Betsy Ross of Israel.” She’s earned the moniker because she was the first person to fly the Israeli flag — and a homemade one, at that — over the newly created state of Israel in 1948. What’s her story? Well, she was born in 1884 on New York’s East Side. She became a public school teacher and received an education
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at the Jewish Theological Center in 1907, where she was its first female graduate. When World War I erupted, Affachiner volunteered to join the first women’s unit of the Jewish Welfare Board. She became Assistant Regional Director of the American Embarkation Center in Le Man, France. Then, in the 1930s, Affachiner moved to in Jerusalem. In the spring of 1948, she refused to leave Jerusalem, even though war was imminent. Because of that, she was trapped in her apartment — and there, she created a flag, using bedsheets and a blue crayon. (Yup, a blue crayon is what made history!) When David Ben-Gurion announced the creation of the modern state of Israel, Affachiner was ready: She hung her homemade flag on her balcony, making her the first person to do so. She continued fly her flag on every Israel Independence Day, until her death in 1966. Her friend and caregiver, Ezra
Gorodesky, inherited the flag right before Affachiner’s death. Gorodesky kept the flag for 50 years, and, seeking a permanent home, it will now become part of the BenGurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism.
COMIC BOOKS Continued from Page 11
if it was something that kind of happened to everybody,” Medoff said. In the following decades, he said, writers were more likely to explicitly identify Holocaust victims as Jewish. Medoff believes the book can be a useful teaching aid in educating about the Holocaust. “Unfortunately, classroom Holocaust education has not been as effective as we hoped it would be,” he said, citing a recent survey that found that many U.S. millennials lacked basic knowledge about the Holocaust. “[C]omic book stories offer a way to communicate these history lessons to students that might be more effective than some of the ways that have been used until now.” Adams said that need is especially urgent today. “Anyone who’s even paying attention to modern politics ought to be warned that if you do not study history, you’re doomed to repeat it," he said. "We’re on the crux of some very difficult times, and a book like this is a good reminder.”
“One of the advantages to comics over movies and TV is that you can read at your own pace, especially important stories like these," he said. "You can stop and ponder a particular panel, or go back and look at the other thing.” Comics have taken on other weighty issues, including racism, drug abuse and the environment, but such story lines are the exception. “Most comic book stories of course are just about superheroes chasing supervillains, but there have been many important exceptions to that,” Medoff said. The authors note several distinct ways the Holocaust was depicted at various times. In the 1950s and early '60s, comics tended to portray the Holocaust in general terms, without references to Jews as the victims. “It seemed to me as a historian that this reflected the general mindset in American society at that time, in the '50s and early '60s, which was to play down ethnic differences and to universalize the Holocaust as
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Aside from the flag, Affachiner’s real legacy is the altruistic work she did throughout her life, like establishing the Jewish Big Sisters and Big Brothers organizations in New York City and Hartford, Connecticut. She also founded and directed Council House, the first Jewish Community Center in Norfolk, Virginia, was appointed first National Field Secretary of Hadassah, and organized the Palestine Society for Crippled Children in Israel.
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'Schindler's List' at 25: How Steven Spielberg's Deeply Jewish Story Spoke to the Masses By Michael Berenbaum L O S ANGELES (JTA) -- 1993 was a dramatic year in the memorialization of the Holocaust. In April, the Michael Berenbaum United States (Courtesy of Berenbaum) Holocaust Memorial Museum opened its doors; 45 million visitors later it is a fixture adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., not only telling the story of the Holocaust but demonstrating the ongoing significance of this Jewish event – this European event – to the American people, to Western civilization and to the world. In November of that year, Steven Spielberg, widely recognized as the most influential director of this generation, released his monumental work "Schindler’s List" to international acclaim. Forsaking many of the tools of his profession, including the beautifying effect of color, Spielberg created a masterpiece. Nominated for 12 Academy Awards, it won seven, including best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay and best original score. The overture to "Schindler’s List," written by John Williams, is routinely played whenever Holocaust events are held. Its haunting tones evoke not only the motion picture but the event itself. Expected to lose money, "Schindler’s List" was probably greenlighted by Universal Studios because Spielberg was Spielberg, a director’s director. He personally vowed not to make money on the film, saying his task was sacred, not entrepreneurial. Yet despite its length of over three hours, which made two screenings an evening difficult, it grossed $321 million in its initial release, more than 14 times its original cost. Spielberg donated his entire share to charity. The story of Oscar Schindler was cherished by its survivors but little known even by experts. For years Leopold Page would tell his story to people who walked into his Beverly Hills luggage store hoping that one of his prominent customers would bring it to the screen. Australian writer Thomas Keneally walked in one day. The result was his 1982 hisTHE
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torical novel "Schindler’s Ark." For decades two New Jersey developers, Murray Pantirer and Abraham Zuckerman, named a Schindler Drive or Schindler Road in each of their New Jersey developments, honoring the man who saved their lives. Only later – much later – did residents of their developments understand who was being honored and themselves feel honored by their address. Schindler, a Sudeten German, was an unlikely Holocaust hero. A philandering Nazi war profiteer, he used Jewish money, Jewish talent and Jewish slave labor to build his metalworks business and his fortune. His transformation was gradual. He saw too much evil and then used the same cunning, and daring, to save his endangered Jews. He moved them from Krakow to Czechoslovakia along with his factory, and they survived the war. More than 1,200 Jews were rescued due to his interventions. Spielberg resisted the temptation to valorize Schindler, who was portrayed brilliantly by Liam Neeson, warts and all. Spielberg couldn’t quite end the film, perhaps because he didn’t want to, so he gave filmgoers four endings: Schindler’s final speech wishing he had done more; the Jewish workers walking away into an uncertain future; a segment in color featuring real-life survivors visiting Schindler’s grave; and a closing title card reading simply, "There are fewer than 4,000 Jews left alive in Poland today. There are more than 6,000 descendants of the Schindler Jews." The film is widely recognized as one of the finest ever made and gained such a moral stature that it was aired by NBC without commercial interruptions. Ford's sponsorship of the broadcast was perhaps an act of atonement or posthumous justice: Company founder Henry Ford, publisher of the anti-Semitic Dearborn Independent and the American disseminator of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," was honored personally by Hitler. "Schindler's List" had a monumental unintended consequence. Survivors kept coming up to Spielberg and saying “have I got a story to tell you,” and the filmmaker listened with ever-growing fascination. As a man who could move millions with his work and was at
the forefront of technological innovation, Spielberg vowed to record the testimonies of 50,000 survivors and preserve them for posterity. Naturally he chose video. The result was what was then called the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which took the testimony of 52,000 Holocaust survivors in 57 countries and 32 languages, compiling the largest collection of oral history of any historical event. At first Spielberg envisioned disseminating the collection in its entirety to five major research centers. In the years since, the collection has not only been disseminated in its entirety, but community after community has made use of the testimonies of local survivors to create films and educational material. Examples abound: In my own work with the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, the testimonies of Chicago-area survivors were turned into a dozen films. Macedonia has used Macedonian testimonies, Mexico City Mexican testimonies. It is the gift that keeps on giving as scholars have made use of it for their research Even great document scholars, such as Christopher Browning, learned the historical importance of oral history. Related films have been made on death marches and Sonderkommandos, the prisoners who worked in the vicinity of the death camps, areas where documents are few and memories deep. Now housed at the University of Southern California, the renamed Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education is pioneering a video dialogue with survivors using voice recognition software. It allows a genuine conversation with holographic images of survivors, drawing on their actual testimonies. It is taking testimony from other genocides, Cambodia and Rwanda
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and Bosnia, as sadly the list grows. And institutions throughout the world are creating educational programs from this work Spielberg himself has become a major moral voice of our generation, a voice that only grew with time and with new works such as "Saving Private Ryan," "Lincoln" and most recently "The Post," to name a few -- films that grapple with racism and slavery, war and memory, freedom of the press and the courage to take a stand. Spielberg himself grew more comfortable and more profound in his Jewish identity and his ability to embrace that identity without being narrowly parochial or limiting the audiences for his films. His name is synonymous with excellence -- film excellence and moral excellence. And his stature poses a challenge to filmmakers of all generations to engage their own tradition and speak through that experience to the world. Like the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Schindler’s List" demonstrated that a Jewish story could remain deeply Jewish and yet speak to the mainstream not only of American society, but the contemporary culture as well. In Krakow last week, I stood in line with hundreds of visitors at Schindler’s factory, where a museum has been created. It attracts visitors from throughout the world, all of whom were drawn to the place because of the story Spielberg told as only he could: of a scoundrel who over time became noble. For after all, “he who saves a life, saves the world entire." (Michael Berenbaum, professor of Jewish studies and director of the Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust, was president of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation from 1997 to 2000.)
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FINANCIAL
Why Israel Is Investing in Diaspora Jewish Education By Naftali Bennett
Millions of Jews, mainly in North America, are drifting away from Judaism, writes Israel’s minister of education and Diaspora affairs. (David Whelan/Flickr Commons)
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- For decades, world Jewry helped Israel. Organizations gathered and sent funds to the feeble, small state; our Air Force and Navy were formed and trained by Jewish volunteers from around the globe. As we celebrate our 70th Independence Day, we should thank the previous generations while shifting to a new era, one in which we reverse the roles and Israel spends more time and resources helping the Jews of the world.
Since its inception, Israel has played two roles: First, it is the country of all of its citizens, Jews and non-Jews alike. Second, it is the nation state for all Jews, citizens or not. The Law of Return, which offers immediate citizenship to any Jew interested in living in Israel, is the best example of this idea. As the Jewish homeland, Israel has always felt a sense of responsibility toward the Jews of the world and has acted, often quietly, to safeguard those in need -- simply because they are Jews. Sadly, recent events in France and Poland highlight the rise of anti-Semitism and the need to maintain such actions. However, the greatest danger facing the Jewish world in the 21st century is disengagement: Millions of Jews, mainly in North America, are drifting away from Judaism and, as a result, from Israel. Israel cannot ignore this reality. Acting as the home of the Jews, Israel helped Jews in physical dan-
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ger. Now it is time to help those at risk of losing their connection to Judaism and Israel. Not long ago, I told our government that Israel ought to drastically increase its investment in promoting Jewish education and identity, multiplying the resources allocated to projects like Mosaic United, Birthright or Masa by at least tenfold. This statement – and my continued policy of investing in education for Diaspora communities – caused people to ask why. “Why should our tax monies go to a child in Dallas or Budapest?” I have two answers to this question. The first is a one-word answer coming from my kishkes: because Jews are family, and we need to help our family, whether in Brazil, England or the United States. We help them because we are all Jewish. The other answer is a far second, but it, too, has its place: Maintaining strong Jewish communities is not only the moral thing to do, it is also a strategic investment by Israel because when you disengage from Judaism, you tend to disengage from Israel. The toughest challenge facing us is the masses of Jews distancing themselves from Judaism and Israel. This distancing has little to do with the disputes between the Diaspora and Israel. The often harsh criticism directed by Diaspora Jews at the Israeli government is being voiced by Jews who are connected and care deeply. Those angry at Israel are those who love Israel and feel they have a stake in the Jewish state. In the United States, however, they are a minority, not the majority. My main concern is the 75 percent of U.S. Jews, or more, who don’t care enough to be mad at Israel. To be clear, I wish we could resolve all the disagreements between U.S. Jews and the Israeli government, but we have to be realistic. There are serious differences between American and Israeli Jews, including the size and significance of non-Orthodox denominations. This, in turn, influences political representation and resulting public policy. So while it is unlikely we will solve all the issues, we must work hard for an open dialogue based on mutual respect and understanding. Despite the massive gaps, I refuse to give up. Seeing a Jew drift away from our heritage and traditions, away from our people, hurts me. It is like watching a sibling
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walk away from the family – I’ll do what I can to stop it and make him return. We are losing millions of Jews, and history will judge our efforts to reverse this dangerous trend. Giving up simply is not an option. Over the past five years, we have invested unprecedented resources into creating an infrastructure capable of working with Jewish leaders to save a generation of Jews. Through Project Momentum, Campus Engagement and other projects, we will do everything we can to keep our family intact. As we celebrate Israel’s 70th Independence Day, we find ourselves at a crossroads: One path leads to a utopian situation, the other to an almost dystopian reality. If we make the wrong choice, in 50 years we will find ourselves with a small U.S. Jewish community feeling anything from apathy to disdain toward Israel. They won’t feel connected to us, and we won’t feel connected to them. The right choice, however, will help ensure that 50, 100 and 500 years from today, the world Jewry community will be large, with a strong Jewish identity and open embrace of Zionism. Such a path, in my vision, also leads to the communities in Israel and the world working together to fulfill the Jewish destiny – doing good and repairing a broken world. This isn’t a simple task; it will take effort and time. But it must be done. In 2018, unlike 1948, Israel is a strong country, and while we greatly appreciate and welcome the support of Diaspora communities, we no longer depend on it. After 70 years of the Diaspora Jews helping Israel, it is time for Israel to help Diaspora Jews. (Naftali Bennett is Israel’s minister of education and Diaspora affairs. He will be speaking at The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York City on Sunday.) The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media. THE
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Health
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7 Jewish Foods That Are Surprisingly Healthy Traditional yet guilt-free. By Shannon Sarna Jewish food (particularly Ashke- many ways to make it. nazi) really gets a bad rap as being 6. Tahini, made from raw sesame overwhelmingly fat laden, obesity- seeds, is considered a good fat. inducing dishes lacking fresh fruit Drizzle it on salads and veggies or and vegetables. But Jewish food is bake into some brownies. Hey, diverse, vibrant and even uses fresh, that’s healthy, right?? seasonal vegetables, herbs, colors 7. Mujaderra is a delicious vegan and spices. Here are a few surpris- dish ,packed with fiber and protein ingly healthy, traditional foods to from the lentils and is also super enjoy with none of the (Jewish) guilt. easy to prepare. 1. Traditional tzimmes from Martha Stewart is actually packed with sweet potatoes, carrots and dried fruit — fiber, veggies and fruit all in one sweet, delicious side dish. 2. Sauerkraut and pickles are delicious, but also serve an important dietary purpose: The good bacteria help your body digest more effectively. And almost every culture has its own version of fermented foods which aid in digestion (um, kimchi!). 3. Jewish penicillin, otherwise known as chicken soup, has garnered this nickname because chicken soup has actually been scientifically shown to help treat colds. In truth, chicken soup is the original bone broth. MAY 23–27 4. Israeli salad is as about as delicious and fresh as it gets: TASTINGS, chopped veggies, WINE DINNERS herbs and some & EXPERIENCES lemon juice. 5. Not only is shakshuka uberSIP, SAVOR, SEE, SMELL... The New Orleans Wine & Food trendy right now, but Experience showcases the culinary excellence in our city alongside it’s easy and good for national and international wines. Join us for one of our wine dinners in you – vegetarian, many of the city’s finest restaurants; VINOLA, our premium tasting event; made with with lycoour iconic Royal Street Stroll; one of the dozens of culinary Seminars and pene-loaded tomaExperiences; at our two Grand Tastings and ultimately at our Sunday toes, roasted, pepBrunch around the world. #NOWFE pers, eggs and often other veggies like kale, eggplant, mushrooms or spinach. And there are so
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Best Wishes to all my Jewish friends! Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome City of Baton Rouge Parish of East Baton Rouge
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Strawberry and Cream Rugelach Recipe By Chaya Rappoport (The Nosher via JTA) -- I had never been much of a rugelach baker until this recipe. While I gravitated toward challah and babka, I always found store-bought rugelach to be a bit bland and disappointing. But to my great delight, rugelach are supremely easy to make. Most recipes rely on a 1-to-1 ratio of butter and cream cheese in the dough for flavor and flakiness. I stick with
that classic method (don’t mess with perfection!), but also add a bit of sour cream for an extra tender texture. The dough comes together in seconds with the help of a mixer (or food processor) and, after a short rest, it’s ready to be rolled out. But don’t forget to rest and chill your dough! These rugelach are perfect for spring, for Shavuot, or just because homemade rugelach are delicious. Notes: These will store well in an airtight container for up to 1 week at room temperature, and will freeze well for up to 3 months.
Ingredients:
For the dough: • 2 cups all-purpose flour • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cubed • 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt • 1/2 pound cream cheese, chilled and cubed
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• 2 tablespoons sour cream • 1/3 cup sugar • 1 egg, lightly beaten • raw sugar, for decorating
For the strawberry filling: • 3/4 cup good strawberry jam • 2 tablespoons sour cream • 3 ounces cream cheese • 2 tablespoons sugar • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract • pinch salt • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Directions:
1. Add your cubed butter and flour to your mixer with the paddle and attachment and mix until the butter is broken up well and the mixture looks like wet sand. 2. To the mixing bowl, add in the salt, cream cheese, sour cream and sugar. With the paddle attachment on medium speed, mix everything together quickly, until the mixture is crumbly, wet and mostly coming together. 3. Turn the dough out onto a sheet of foil, press down on it slightly, and form the dough into a thick disk. Wrap the disk tightly in the foil and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. 4. Make the filling: Using a stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat the sour cream, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and salt on low speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice and mix to combine. Taste filling — add more juice if needed. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic and refrigerate until ready to use. 5. When your dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 375 F. and line
a few baking trays with parchment paper. 6. Sprinkle the parchment paper with some raw sugar. 7. Remove the dough from the fridge and unwrap the dough. Flour your work surface extremely well, roll the dough into a ball, then press it down until it’s about 3/4-inch thick. The sides may crack a bit at first, but just keep working it until you have a smooth sided disk, adding more flour as needed. 8. Roll the dough out into a 13to 14-inch circle of even thickness. 9. Fold the dough into a halfmoon and use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut away any uneven sides, as you want the circle to be as symmetrical as possible for even cookies. Unfold the dough so it’s a full circle again. 10. Brush the dough with the cheese filling and then top with the strawberry jam. Swirl the jam over the cheese. 11. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the circle into 16 equalsized wedges. BRoll up each wedge, starting with the bigger side, tightly and carefully, to make the classic rugelach shape. Place the rugelach seam side down onto your parchment. 13. Brush each cookie with egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar. 14. Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through baking, until the cookies are a nice golden brown. Allow to cool before moving and serving. Chaya Rappoport is the blogger, baker and picture taker behind retrolillies.wordpress.com. Currently a pastry sous chef at a Brooklyn bakery, she's been blogging since 2012 and her work has been featured on The Feed Feed, Delish. com, Food and Wine and Conde Nast Traveler. The Nosher food blog offers a dazzling array of new and classic Jewish recipes and food news, from Europe to Yemen, from challah to shakshuka and beyond. Check it out at www.TheNosher.com.
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Some Rabbis Say It Isn't Kosher to Borrow From Quicken Loans -- Because It's Run by Jews
Focus on Issues Best Wishes to my many friends & supporters in the Jewish Community
By Ben Sales
Dan Gilbert shown at a Cleveland Cavaliers game at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Feb. 15, 2017. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) -- If you're an Orthodox Jew with a mortgage from Quicken Loans, you might be in trouble. Agudath Israel of America, a major haredi Orthodox organization, issued a Jewish legal ruling last month prohibiting Jews from taking out loans from the company because it is majority-owned by Jews. Quicken Loans, which claims to be America's largest mortgage lender, also owns Rocket Mortgage, the online mortgage agency. Jewish law, known as halacha, forbids Jews from charging interest to other Jews. So Jews are allowed to own mortgage agencies -- and lend to non-Jewish customers -- but they are not allowed to sell fellow Jews a 30-year fixed rate (or anything else). Likewise, if you're a new Jewish homeowner, halacha says you are not allowed to take out a mortgage with a Jewish-owned company. The same also goes for other kinds of loans. "Prominent leading halachic authorities have issued a [ruling] that any Jew who obtains a loan with interest from QL or any of its subsidiaries is in danger of transgressing the prohibition of Ribbis D'oraisa," said the Agudath Israel ruling, using a Hebrew term for the biblical commandment against interest. So what do Jews do if they want to lend each other money -- say, in Israel, where most businesses are owned by Jews? There is a way out. In the Middle Ages, rabbis devised a contract called a "heter iska," or business permit, that technically transforms the loan into a co-investment. Instead of being a lender and a borrower, the two parties are now "business partners," THE
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where one supplies the capital and the other uses it as they see fit. Agudath Israel says Jews can keep using Quicken Loans -- that is, if they sign a heter iska. On Monday, Quicken responded to a query saying it was open to the idea. “Over the next 30 days, Quicken Loans will assemble a committee to quickly and efficiently dive into the issue of 'Heter Iska,' and once and for all attempt to find a solution that the observant Jewish community, as well as our legal and capital markets team, finds acceptable. I am confident that this can and will be achieved," said a statement attributed to Dan Gilbert, chairman of Rock Holdings, Quicken's parent company. Gilbert also owns several sports franchises, including the Cleveland Cavaliers. Agudath Israel is resolute on the issue: no heter iska, no Quicken Loans mortgage. And if you're an Orthodox Jew with an existing Quicken Loans mortgage? Too bad. You need to dissolve it and start over. "The rabbis of the Conference felt an obligation to let the public know... that loans can only be taken out from the company with a valid hetter iska," Agudath Israel's spokesman, Rabbi Avi Shafran, wrote in an email to JTA. "Existing loans should be dissolvable and recreated within a hetter iska framework to permit them." Rabbi Mordechai Frankel, director of the Institute of Halacha at Star-K, a kosher certification agency, said some smaller Jewish-owned banks are familiar with using the heter iska. "There are small banks that are Jewish-owned that do have the heter iska," he said. "If the person lives in an area with a large concentration of Orthodox people, the bank will become comfortable with the concept and become more open to it." Frankel doesn't know whether Quicken would agree to the contract. But if not, he said, there are always the big banks -- which are all, as far as he knows, kosher to lend money.
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Best Wishes to all of my friends in the Jewish Community as we stand together to celebrate 70 years of Independence in Israel!
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Hurricane Harvey Destroyed Our Synagogue. Here's How We're Moving On. By Barry Gelman HOUSTON (JTA) -- Over a fourday period at the end of August, Hurricane Harvey drenched this city with over 50 inches of rain, inflicting $125 billion in damages. The result of the flooding was especially devastating for the tightknit and geographically close Jewish community of Houston. Seven major Jewish institutions have been severely impacted by Harvey, and an estimated 2,000 Jewish families
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were affected by the floodwaters. United Orthodox Synagogues was particularly hard hit, as approximately one-third of our member households was damaged by the flood. The waters also destroyed our beautiful sanctuary, and ruined our daily and High Holidays prayer books as well as our extensive Judaica library. Our current building has been the home of our merged congregation since 1960. Harvey was only the latest in a series of floods, including in 2015 and 2016. As I write these words, the main sanctuary, executive wing and classrooms are being demolished. A room that holds memories of so many happy occasions has become a place of tears. We recently held a “farewell” to the building and joined together one last time in our beautiful sanctuary for morning services. It was a morning of mixed emotions as many spoke about memories of growing up in our synagogues. Others spoke about the “end of an era," while others sat alone in small
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groups or alone and just cried. I shared some thoughts with the congregation: These walls brought together three different congregations and ultimately combined them into one united synagogue. The seats of this sanctuary cradled generations of families ... grandparents, parents and their children, who came to pray here, to cry here and to rejoice here. These walls have absorbed the sounds of our prayers and the wisdom of our Torah. This room has been the setting where we offered thanksgiving for our greatest triumphs and called out to God in turbulent times. We have expressed our greatest hopes and dreams here. Echoing off the walls of this holy chamber is the lifetime of our community .. the multigenerational and diverse sounds that can only be created by a community like ours. So many of us have seen our kids graduate from UOSGMS [the local Jewish Montessori preschool/kindergarten program] and RMBA [Robert M. Beren Academy, our Modern Orthodox day school] on our bimah. And how many hundreds and hundreds of lollipops have been distributed up there ... reminding our kids that Torah, shul and community are the sweetest treats they will ever get. Yet there was also hope in the room that day. While it is simplistic and often insensitive to say things like “it’s just a building” or “it’s just stuff," the community is resolute in believing that its strength derives from our members. We are facing a choice of how to rebuild our synagogue and where exactly in the neighborhood it will
be. These are important questions, even as we know that we are each others' most important resource. For now we will hold services and events in Freedman Hall, a nearby building that has the advantage of being elevated. It's important that we try to save the monumental stained glass mural that serves as a dramatic backdrop to our bimah. Since the flood, our community has seen its prayer books and library replaced, and funds have been raised to help our families recover from the devastation. The outpouring of concern, expressed by hundreds of volunteers coming to our neighborhood to help and provide food for flooded families for a full month after the hurricane, have been nothing short of extraordinary. One of the most astonishing aspects of our recovery, however, is how flooded families have been helping each other. Despite individual suffering and anguish, members of our community have continued to reach out to others. It is so easy (and understandable) for those suffering from loss to close in on themselves and focus only on their own challenges, of which there are many -- economic, psychological, social. I have not seen that. I have seen the opposite. (Rabbi Barry Gelman is rabbi of United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston.) The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
Best Wishes to my many friends & supporters in the Jewish Community Judge Joe Landry
Municipal and Traffic Court of New Orleans, Section F
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Remembering 'aunt Bertie,' the Longestserving Jewish Staffer in White House History By Steve North
Bertha Reynolds, born Bertha Hurwitz in Poland, served as a White House secretary in the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations. (Courtesy of Shirley Thaler)
(JTA) -- When Eleanor Roosevelt or Bess Truman sent a formal invitation to one particular White House staff member, they often addressed it in the customary form of days gone by: “To Mrs. William Reynolds,” the envelope would read. Mrs. Reynolds, a dark-haired beauty who handled presidential correspondence, lived in Virginia and had a pronounced Southern accent. It is doubtful her employers had any inkling that Mrs. Reynolds was born Bertha Hurwitz in 1903 to an Orthodox Jewish family in Lomza, Poland, immigrating with her mother to the Washington, D.C. area in 1913. Bertha’s father Yitzchak had earlier left for America, promising to send for his wife, his son Kalman, and his daughter, but was never heard from again. I wasn't able to confirm this, but Bertha, who began working at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1934 and remained there through the Eisenhower administration, may have been the longest-serving Jewish White House staffer in American history. It’s a remarkable achievement, given prevailing attitudes about Jews in high places in those days. FDR's mother Sara Delano Roosevelt conveyed the social anti-Semitism common to the times, and Harry Truman was known to drop an anti-Jewish slur despite his friendship with his Jewish business partner, Eddie Jacobson. Bess Truman prided herself on the fact that a Jew had never entered their home in Missouri. It was into that hostile-toHebrews world that Bertha Hurwitz THE
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stepped during the early days of the first FDR administration. She had already stunned her family by marrying Treasury Department employee William Reynolds, who wasn't Jewish, and made another thenunconventional choice by focusing on her job and never having children, although there may have been medical reasons for that. Her brother Kalman, however, who lived in New York City, had three offspring, Shirley, Joe and Fran. They became Bertha’s “substitute children," as Joe puts it. “She was absolutely exotic in our family, with a certain elegance about her," explains Joe, who lives in New York's Hudson Valley. “Everyone in the family had a Yiddish accent, but there was no sense of her Polish background. She sounded like she was from Virginia, and I loved it when she read books such as ‘Chicken Little’ to me." Joe also knew that when Aunt Bertie came from Washington to visit her family in New York, there was bound to be a present. “In 1950," he recalls, “when I was 12, she handed me a piece of clear Lucite that encased a rusty nail and two pieces of stone-like matter, along with a small plaque reading 'Original White House Material Removed in 1950.'" The historic mementos were a priceless byproduct of the Truman administration’s extensive interior renovation of the building between 1948 and 1952. Joe, an architect, keeps his aunt’s gift on his desk to this day. Shirley also has warm childhood memories of Aunt Bertie. “When I was about 10, in 1944, we went to the White House to visit her. I remember feeling so excited and so proud of her, and she was proud of me. She introduced me to all the people she worked with,” said Shirley. During another Washington visit in the midst of World War II, Bertha showed her niece the so-called “Victory gardens” near her Arlington home. Bertha was generous to her brother’s family. “My father worked in the gar-
Judaism
ment district and money was very tight," Shirley remembers. “Bertie used to bring me beautiful dresses. And she took me to the theater! The first two plays I ever saw were 'Kiss Me, Kate' and ‘South Pacific,' and she even got us box seats.” Bertha’s nieces and nephew never asked for details about her job, and Joe says he simply knew she was in the secretarial pool and had “mentioned once that she was working with President Truman." But two documents provide more information: one says the position allows “exercise of independent judgment and initiative, (while) engaged in the briefing and crossreferencing of correspondence of the President and his Secretaries." It lists responsibilities involving letters from political leaders and policy-makers, and speaks of maintaining “card indexes” for the presi-
dent of his various appointments to the Cabinet and other departments. The second document, a letter from 1946, informs Bertha that “By direction of the President, you have been appointed Assistant Clerk … in the Executive Office of the President, the White House office, with compensation at the rate of $2544.48 per annum.” (The average annual income in the U.S. that year was $2,600.) Bertha was widowed twice, first after a long marriage to Reynolds, then following a happy union with Jack Nalley, who, like her first husband, was not Jewish. She became ill in her 80s and moved to New York near her niece Shirley, living, appropriately enough, in the Franklin Nursing Home on Franklin AveSee AUNT BERTI on Page
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Best Wishes to all of my friends in the Jewish Community as we all celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Israel!
Thank You For Your Support. Sheriff Tony MancuSo Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office 5400 East Broad St. • Lake Charles, LA 70615 (337) 491-3600
Thank you to all of my friends in the Jewish Community! As the incoming Mayor of Slidell, I am honored to stand with you as we celebrate 70 years of Independence in Israel!
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Kveller
8 Things You Have to Give Up When You Have a Lot of Kids By Zibby Owens
(Kveller via JTA) -- When I found out I was pregnant with my fourth child, I cried. In fact, I cried for a couple weeks — when I wasn’t vomiting, that is. I had a 10-month-old at the time, and I was still getting used to dealing with three kids. How I could possibly manage four? I wasn’t one of those carefree, laidback moms who dealt with things calmly and happily. I like order, clean rooms, being on time, being in control. And as desperate as I was to have my first three kids, I’d literally never
considered having four. Be careful what you wish for: The fertility gods to whom I’d prayed overdelivered. I was going to have to deal with the blessing I’d been given. Now, almost four years later, I’m still standing. Well, sitting. Actually, I’m slumped over a table at a bookstore cafe with my third cup of coffee and it isn’t even 9 a.m. But my gorgeous, sweet, hilarious son is the light of my life. He’s so popular that I spend half my time juggling his social schedule: multiple parties on the weekends, seemingly constant playdates with both girls and boys. Some days he’s the one who keeps me going when I want to return the other three. (Haha, just kidding. I would never write that.) I knew that in having a big family, I’d have to give up certain things (like sleep). But here are a few of the bigger surprises: 1. Walking. These days, I run
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everywhere. My physical therapist is literally on vacation in Morocco — that’s thanks to all the sessions I paid for after a winter spent sprinting up and down Park Avenue in wedge boots. But no matter how much time I budget to get somewhere, something unexpected always happens and I have to race to pick up or drop off the kids. Like this morning — I was ready (on time!) to drop off the big kids at school. I was about to join them on the elevator when I heard my little guy start wailing “Ooww-eee!” Turns out he dropped "Caps for Sale" on his foot while hanging out on the pantry floor. Typical. 2. The blow dryer. I started drying my hair in the 1980s with my mother’s megaphone-size diffuser attached to a salon-size blow dryer. I dried my hair every day, sometimes twice a day. But now that I have absolutely no time to do this — I barely have any time to shower — I’ve realized that all that drying has been a complete waste of time. I can barely tell the difference! Yes, my hair is a little wavier. Yes, icicles form on the ends of my hair as I drop the kids off in the frigid mornings. But hey, no biggie! 3. The first hour of every party. You know those invitations that say “7 p.m. cocktails; 8 p.m. dinner?” I’m not getting there for cocktails. If I get there at all. These days I barely get to attend parties that don’t use Octonauts paper plates — but if I do go to an adults-only affair, I’m late. Take last weekend, when the school benefit I was supposed to be attending was starting — I was still collecting goodie bags at a birthday party with three of my kids, who were running loose in a gym, high on cake. 4. Reading newspapers the day they arrive. Call me a Luddite, but I refuse to give up my newspaper habit. There’s something about print that I just can’t relinquish. It’s efficient, too: I can skim three newspapers in about 20 minutes and get enough of the cultural zeitgeist to keep up. The problem? I don’t usually have 20 minutes. So I pile the unread papers on the kitchen counter thinking I’ll get to them the next day. Or the next. Or the next … 5. Any self-care that occurs outside the house. Eyebrow shaping? Pedicures? Not going to happen. I can’t do anything that requires an
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appointment. (Except for highlights to hide the gray hairs. That’s nonnegotiable.) Everything else I’ve figured out how to do myself. I feel like Frenchy with her pink-dyed hair from "Grease" in the “Beauty School Dropout” scene. I’m like a self-taught, pathetic excuse of an aesthetician — but, hey, it works. Mostly. 6. Sending thoughtful baby gifts. You know how I used to send those personalized trains and step stools, monogrammed bibs and diaper bags? Now I can’t remember how many kids you have, even though we’re close friends. To be honest, I can’t even remember my own kids’ names half the time! Actually, I think I might have sent you a baby gift, but I can’t really ask you to confirm that. But I promise to try again with your next kid. 7. Handwritten thank-you notes. I was brought up to use my best, personalized stationary to write neat, thoughtful letters to anyone who gave me anything. I did this for years, and kept it up until I got to the third kid. By the time my fourth kid arrived, I was lucky to even email a note. (I feel terrible about this.) 8. Committees. Board meetings? Yes. Brainstorming and fundraising and hosting events? Yes. But any organization that requires my participation on a committee is out of luck — I’m not leaving the kids for any breakout sessions. This is all I got. If something is going to add more emails to my life, I say no. Yes, it’s true: I’m a sleepdeprived, running-frantic-downthe-street mom with wet hair in winter who hasn’t seen the inside of a workout studio in a couple years. But as they say in "The Greatest Showman," “I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I’m meant to be, this is me.” (Zibby Owens is a freelance writer and mother of four in New York. She co-authored the book "Your Perfect Fit" [McGraw-Hill]. Follow her on Instagram @zibbyowens.) Kveller is a thriving community of women and parents who convene online to share, celebrate and commiserate their experiences of raising kids through a Jewish lens. Visit Kveller.com.
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It's the End of an Era for America's First All-Kosher Supermarket By Yvette Alt Miller
CHICAGO (JTA ) -- America’s first all-kosher supermarket is set to change hands, marking the end of an era for Hungarian Kosher Foods, a Chicago-area landmark for 45 years. Holocaust survivor Sandor Kirsche trademarked the slogan “All kosher, only kosher," and since 1973 it has applied to the forwardlooking kosher supermarket he founded, Hungarian Kosher Foods, under the supervision of the Chicago Rabbinical Council. Located first on Devon Avenue in this city and since 1986 in a 25,000-squarefoot supermarket space in Skokie, Illinois, “Hungarian” revolutionized the way kosher cooks shopped. “My father was always progressive,” said Ira Kirsche, Sandor’s son and Hungarian’s current owner. “We always talked about new things.” In 1973, the idea of an all-kosher supermarket was virtually unheard of. Two markets -- Supersol in Israel and Seven Mile Market in Baltimore -- offered an array of kosher items, but the idea of certifying an entire store kosher was new. “It was a different world then,” said Lynn Kirsche Shapiro, Ira’s sister. Certified kosher foods were difficult to find, and many people didn’t bother, relying instead on reading package ingredients to see if they contained forbidden ingredients. “Kosher consumers would go to a bakery, then a kosher meat market, then a kosher grocery store,” Lynn said. “Our concept was to bring it all together under one roof.” On April 20, Orian Azulay, the owner of the kosher supermarket Sara’s Tent in Aventura, Florida, is set to buy Hungarian. It will be his first purchase since buying Sara’s Tent 10 years ago. For Sandor Kirsche and his wife, THE
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Margit, keeping kosher was crucial, and kosher food was also a way of connecting with their families who perished in the Holocaust. Sandor and Margit grew up in Hasidic homes, Sandor in Czechoslovakia and Margit in Hungary. The rich fragrance of traditional foods like chicken soup and kreplach, paprikash with dumplings and homemade plum pie would fill the air on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Each year, Sandor’s neighbors would gather at his home to bake the community’s matzah. They gathered for the last time in 1944, this time in secret: On the final day of Passover, the entire community was interned in a ghetto outside Uzhgorod, in what was then Czechoslovakia. A month later, on the first night of the Shavuot holiday, Sandor was deported to Auschwitz along with his parents, grandmother, sisters, his little brother Chaim, aunts, uncles and cousins. Only Sandor survived; a tall man, at liberation he weighed a mere 70 pounds. Margit’s family also was decimated in the Holocaust. Deported the day after Passover 1944, Margit survived both Auschwitz and the German labor camp Torgau. After the war, food became a way for Margit to explain the enormity of the tragedy that befell her family. One of her signature dishes is kippilach, or walnut crescent cookies -- the pastries became a way to talk about Margit’s 12-year-old uncle Yitzchak Isaac, who was with her on the train to Auschwitz in 1944. He was so hungry, she recalled, that she gave him the few kippilach her grandmother had given her to eat. Yitzchak Isaac was murdered on arrival. The story of the last cookies he ate ensures new generations don’t forget him. “I knew I wasn’t going to die,” said Margit, who somehow managed to evade execution by working as a slave laborer first in Auschwitz, and then in Buchenwald and Torgau. “These were my bedtime stories,” said Lynn Kirsche Shapiro of this and other family tales. Sandor and Margit met in Germany after the war, married in 1947 and immigrated to the United States
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in 1948. They brought up their two children in the Humboldt Park neighborhood here. Although there were no relatives nearby, Margit and Sandor filled their apartment with the smells of cooking and stories about relatives who were no longer with them. In their early years in America, Margit sewed clothes and Sandor worked various jobs until 1973, when they had scraped together enough money to buy a kosher meat market on Devon Avenue. They gradually turned it into a full-
service meat market, bakery, deli and grocery. From the beginning, Sandor and Margit made sure the store felt like home. “My mother was the kitchen,” Lynn said, as many of the supermarket’s deli items hark back to treasured family recipes. Even today, at 95, Margit, who lost her eyesight 20 years ago, still helps out with cooking. In March, she helped prepare for Hungarian’s See SUPERMARKET on Page
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ISRAEL HISTORY Continued from Page 1
David Ben-Gurion proclaims the establishment of Israel in a ceremony in Tel Aviv on the day the British officially end their rule in Palestine. The following day, Israel is invaded by the armies of five Arab states, beginning the War of Independence.
ny in Tel Aviv on the day the British officially end their rule in Palestine. The following day, Israel is invaded by the armies of five Arab states, beginning the War of Independence. Feb. 24, 1949: Armistice with Egypt
An armistice agreement is signed between Israel and Egypt, formally ending hostilities. Israel signs similar agreements with Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in the months to come. May 11, 1949: Israel Admitted to UN
Israel is admitted as a member state of the United Nations following a vote of the General Assembly. June 1949: Major Immigration Waves Begin
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course of the war, in which the Jewish state’s survival is threatened by forces of five Arab armies, Israel vastly expands the territory under its control, seizing the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel also reunifies Jerusalem after In the Yemenite immigrants’ camp capturing the city’s eastern half and at Rosh Ha’ayin, circa 1950. (Israel GPO/Flickr) the West Bank from Jordan. Israel launches Operation Magic Sept. 1, 1967: Khartoum Carpet, which brings tens of thouResolution sands of Yemenite Jews to the JewThe Arab League issues the ish state. Hundreds of thousands of Khartoum Resolution with its Middle Eastern Jews will eventual- famous “three no’s”: no peace with ly resettle in the Jewish state, driven Israel, no negotiations with Israel by mounting persecution and expul- and no recognition of Israel. sion prompted by Israel’s establishSeptember, 1967: First West ment. More than two-thirds of JewBank Settlement ish displaced persons in Europe Construction begins in Kfar Etzialso arrive in the Jewish state between 1948 and 1951. Oct. 29, 1956: Suez Crisis Israel invades Egypt as part of a secret pact with France and Britain, prompting intense international criticism that eventually leads the three nations to withdraw. A Kfar Etzion school in 2015. (Avishai 1962: Dimona Nuclear Reactor Israel’s nuclear reactor at Dimona begins operations. Israel has never formally acknowledged that the reactor produces weapons materials, but the country is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons capacity. June 1, 1962: Eichmann Execution
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Best Wishes to my friends in the Jewish Community. Thank you for your support!
Teicher/PikiWiki Israel)
on, an Israeli community in the West Bank destroyed in the 1948 war and re-established following the Six Day War. The construction sets off decades of Israeli settlement building in the territory that most of the world considers illegal.
Nov. 22, 1967: UN Resolution 242 In a unanimous vote, the U.N. Security Council adopts resolution 242, calling for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied during the Six Day War and respect for the rights of all states to live in peace and secuEichmann’s trial judges Benjamin Halevi, Moshe Landau and Yitzhak rity. That formula — land for peace Raveh. (Israel GPO) — will form the basis of Arab-Israeli Adolf Eichmann is executed after peacemaking efforts for decades. having been found guilty by an Israe- Sept. 5, 1972: Terror at Munich li court of crimes against humanity. Olympics The trial marks a turning point in During the Summer Olympics in Israeli discussion of the Holocaust Munich, Palestinian gunmen sneak and prompts many Holocaust survi- into apartments housing 11 memvors to speak of their wartime experi- bers of the Israeli team, taking them ences for the first time. hostage and eventually killing them during a failed rescue operation. June 2, 1964: PLO Founded The Palestine Liberation OrganiOct. 6, 1973: Yom Kippur War zation is founded to “mobilize the Begins Palestinian people to recover their The Yom Kippur War begins when usurped homeland.” a coalition of Arab states launches a surprise attack on Israel on the holiJune 5, 1967: Six Day War The Six Day War begins. In the est day of the Jewish calendar. Serving JefferSon PariSh for over 50 YearS Courteous Drivers...DepenDable Metairie Cab 50 yrs exCellent serivCe
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Nov. 10, 1975: UN Resolution 3379 The United Nations General Assembly adopts resolution 3379 declaring that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.” July 4, 1976: Entebbe Rescue Operation Israeli commandos mount a suc-
Rescued Air France passengers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, July 4, 1976. (Moshe Milner/Israel GPO)
cessful rescue operation at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, freeing over 100 hostages taken after the hijacking of an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris. May 17, 1977: Likud “Upheaval” The right-wing Likud party, led by Menachem Begin, wins parliamentary elections in a landslide, ending decades of left-wing domination of Israeli politics in an event that comes to be known as “the upheaval.” Nov. 19, 1977: Sadat Addresses Knesset Egypt’s Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to visit Israel, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and addressing lawmakers in the Knesset. Sept. 17, 1978: Camp David Accords
Sadat, Carter and Begin at the conclusion of the Camp David Accords, Sept. 17, 1978. (Wikimedia Commons)
Israel and Egypt sign the Camp David Accords after days of negotiations brokered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The agreement leads to awarding of the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and to the 1979 signing of Israel’s first peace treaty with an Arab state. June 6, 1982 — Lebanon War Begins Israel invades southern Lebanon in an effort to stop attacks on civilians in northern Israel, resulting in the expulsion of the Palestinian Lib-
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ISRAEL HISTORY Continued from Page 24 eration Organization from Lebanon. Sept. 16, 1982 — Sabra and Shatila Massacre Christian Phalangists begin massacring hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in what becomes known as the Sabra and Shatila massacre. An Israeli governmental commission will later find Defense Minister Ariel Sharon indirectly responsible for the killings. Nov. 21, 1984: Operation Moses Israel launches Operation Moses, the covert evacuation of thousands of Ethiopian Jewish refugees from Sudan. Dec. 9, 1987: Intifada Begins Protests erupt in a Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, setting off the violent uprising that comes to be known as the First Palestinian Intifada. Jan. 18, 1991: Scud Missile Attacks Iraq launches the first of dozens of missiles at Israeli in response to U.S. bombardment during the Persian Gulf War. Several dozen Israelis die in the attacks, the majority from heart attacks and suffocation due to difficulties managing gas masks. May 24, 1991: Operation Solomon
An Ethiopian Jewish man carries his mother on his back as they enter Israel as part of Operation Solomon, 1991. (Zion Ozeri/Jewish Lens)
Jews arriving in Israel from the former Soviet Union, 1992. (Zion Ozeri/www.jewishlens.org)
Israel and the Palestinians sign the first Oslo Accord at the White House, creating a framework for the peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The agreement provides for the creation of an interim Palestinian self-governing authority and for the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from certain Palestinian territories. Feb. 25, 1994: Baruch Goldstein Massacre In a rare act of Jewish terrorism aimed at Arab civilians, Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein opens fire at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, killing 29 Muslims at prayer. Goldstein is beaten to death at the scene by survivors. Oct. 14, 1994: Peres-RabinArafat Nobel Peace Prize
Feb. 25, 1996: Suicide Bombing Wave Begins A Palestinian suicide bomber blows up the Number 18 bus in central Jerusalem, killing 26 people. The same bus line is attacked again on March 3, resulting in 19 deaths. Combined with a third suicide attack in central Tel Aviv, the bombings prompt a severe military crackdown by Israel and erode public faith in the peace process. May 29, 1996: Netanyahu Victory
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lighting Hanukkah candles with his family, December 1996. (Avi Ohayon/ Israel GPO)
Benjamin Netanyahu narrowly wins the premiership over Shimon Peres, who held a commanding lead in the polls prior to a spate of deadly terrorist attacks in February and March. Feb. 4, 1997: IDF Helicopter Disaster Two Israeli helicopters collide in the air over southern Lebanon, kill-
Israel 70
ing 73 Israeli soldiers in the worst air disaster in the country’s history. May 25, 2000: Lebanon Withdrawal Israel completes the withdrawal of its troops from southern Lebanon, where it had maintained a security zone since 1985. July 25, 2000: Barak-Arafat Peace Talks End Two weeks of negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at Camp David end without a peace agreement. Sept. 28, 2000: Second Intifada Begins Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem amid heavy security, sparking riots and protests that will eventually become known as the Second Intifada. Oct. 17, 2001: Tourism Minister Assassinated Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi is assassinated by Palestinian terrorists at a Jerusalem hotel. See ISRAEL HISTORY on Page
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The Nobel Peace Prize laureates for 1994 in Oslo, Dec. 10, 1994: Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin. (Saar Yaacov/Israel GPO)
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announces it will award the 1994 Peace Prize jointly to Shimon Peres Israel launches Operation Solo- and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Palmon to transport over 14,000 Ethio- estinian leader Yasser Arafat. pian Jews to Israel over the course Oct. 26, 1994: Jordan Peace Treaty of just 36 hours. Oct. 30, 1991: Madrid Peace Conference The Madrid conference opens in an effort to kickstart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Dec. 16, 1991 — UN Rescinds Resolution 3379 King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli The United Nations rescinds its Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shortly after signing the peace treaty at the 1975 declaration equating Zionism Arava border crossing, Oct. 26, 1994. with racism. (Israel GPO/Flickr) Dec. 26, 1991: Soviet Union Israel and Jordan sign a peace Breakup treaty. The Soviet Union is dissolved, prompting a massive wave of Jew- Nov. 4, 1995: Rabin Assassination Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak ish immigration to Israel from RusRabin is assassinated in Tel Aviv by sia and the former Soviet republics that will forever alter the country’s an Israeli ultra-nationalist following an address at a peace rally. Shimon demographics. Peres takes over as prime minister Sept. 13, 1993: Oslo Accords and calls for early elections. THE
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Best wishes to all my friends in the Jewish Community as we celebrate Israel’s 70th Anniversary. Thank you for your support!
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Best wishes to all of my supporters in the Jewish Community as we join together to recognize 70th Anniversary of Israel!
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1948 Continued from Page 6 ism, but American Jews would show their support by purchasing goods from Israel, reading books about Israel or holding Israeli dance classes in their community centers. “Here’s this new state they had to kind of develop this relationship with, [and] the cultural realm was really the place it was happening,” Emily Alice Katz, author of the 2015 book “Bringing Zion Home,” told the New Books Network podcast. “There were these years in which it wasn’t as much about rallying the troops for these massive outpourings of aid or political influence, but it was more of this coming to know Israel.” Part of the reticence to support Israel stemmed from the ethos of 1950s America, with its focus on suburban growth, the “melting pot” and assimilation. Against that backdrop, American Jews were trying to prove they belonged as social and cultural equals in American society. So again they were fearful of “dual loyalty” charges that could stem from vocal support for a Jewish state. In a watershed moment in that debate, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sent a letter in 1950 to Jacob Blaustein, president of the American Jewish Committee, which for many years had been hesitant to throw its support behind the Jewish national movement. Ben-Gurion pledged not to speak for American Jewry or intervene in its affairs, and to dial down his insistence that American Jews move to Israel. In exchange, Blaustein recognized “the necessity and desirability” of supporting Israel in its nation building. “The 1950s were the heyday of American Jewish assimilation,” said Sara Hirschhorn, an Israel studies professor at Oxford University. “It was the postwar era, when American Jews were benefiting from the same things everyone else was benefiting from — the GI bill, all kinds of ways for people to move into the middle class — and they wanted to continue to make the most of that.” Nevertheless, Israel began to show up in American Jewish religious practice. A Conservative prayer book published in 1949 had readings about Israel, but not the prayer for Israel that is now standard in many prayer books. Religious schools gradually shifted their pronunciation of Hebrew from
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European Ashkenazic to Sephardicinflected Israeli. Non-Zionist religious leaders eventually were sidelined. The biggest shift, Sarna said, was American Jewry viewing Judaism’s history as one of “destruction and rebirth.” That outlook posed the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel as its two poles and, Sarna said, remains dominant in American Jewish thinking today. He noted that Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day and its Independence Day are commemorated about a week apart by design. “The theme of destruction and rebirth becomes a very important theme in the lives of American Jews,” he said. “So much so that American Jews don’t know the history of Zionism going back, and have bought the idea that it’s all about the Holocaust being linked to the birth of the State of Israel.” American Jews became more open in their celebration of Israel about a decade after 1948. “Exodus,” the 1958 novel by Leon Uris that painted Israel in heroic terms, was a national best-seller and was adapted into a popular movie in 1960 starring Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint. In 1961, the Yiddish star Molly Picon starred in a Broadway musical about a visit by American Jews to Israel, “Milk and Honey,” which ran for over 500 performances. A few years later, the Israel Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair showcased the country’s charms. And as Cold War tensions continued into the 1960s, Israel began to be seen as a U.S. ally against the Soviet Union. In 1967, Israel’s existence was again threatened by Arab armies. Between the anxious buildup to that war and Israel’s lightning victory, American Jewish acceptance of Israel had turned to adulation, placing the Jewish state at the center of their identity. The few dissenters are found on the non-Zionist left, among various haredi Orthodox movements, and in the quiet grumblings of some mainstream leaders and rabbis who think the emphasis on Israel has thwarted the development of distinctly American Judaisms. “Slowly but surely, Israel became more important for American Jews,” Sarna said. “1967 is at once a reflection of Israel’s growing importance, but at the same time it is a great intensification of Israel’s centrality.”
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ZIONISM Continued from Page 7 ment to perfect that state. Like all countries, Israel makes good and bad moves. If you’re antiZionist, you reject Israel’s very existence. If you’re critical of Israel somehow, you’re a thinking human being. America’s president offers an opportunity to understand that distinction. The 77 percent of American Jews who hate Donald Trump still remain proudly American. Why can’t we love Israel and Zionism regardless of particular prime ministers or policies, too? Here's the real question for Jews: Do you feel connected to Israel, today’s great Jewish people project? If so, you stick with it because you belong to the Jewish people. And you help perfect that state through Zionism – embracing different schools of Zionist thought. It could be Religious Zionism or leftleaning Labor Zionism or rightleaning Revisionist Zionism or Cultural Zionism. In honor of Israel’s 70th birthday, I just published "The Zionist Ideas," updating Arthur Hertzberg’s classic anthology "The Zionist Idea." Adding the “s” broadens the conversation, from the 38 thinkers in his book to the 170 in mine. As part of its publication and in honor of Yom Haatzmaut, Israel's Independence Day, I am urging readers to host Zionist salons, home-based conversations addressing “what Zionism and Israel mean to me today.” Establishing Israel in 1948 fulfilled the Zionist idea – that powerless Jews need a state as a refuge, immediately, and as a platform to flourish and express Jewish values, long-term. Seventy years later, debating Zionist ideas welcomes debate from left to right, religious and nonreligious, about what Zionism and Israel can mean to me as Jew, as a person – and how some of these ideas can help Israel become a model democracy. That’s why Zionism didn’t end in 1948 – the debates continue. If Zionism as an idea asserts that Jews are a people with a homeland, and Zionism as a movement builds, protects and perfects the state, Zionism as a value is more personal. Zionists see it as a way of explaining Judaism as a culture, a civilization, an ethnicity, a tradition, not just a religion. It anchors us in a self-indulgent, throwaway
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society, providing a sense of community in an often lonely, alienating culture, and a sense of mission in an often aimless world. Reclaiming Zionism often entails moving from Political Zionism -asking what we can do for our country – to Identity Zionism – asking, with apologies to JFK, what your country can do for you. There’s a reason why Israel ranks 11th on the world “Happiness Index,” despite the nation’s many challenges. Most Israelis are instinctively Identity Zionists. Their identity blossoms from the Zionist state – which appreciates strong family values, robust community ties, deep patriotic feelings – and a broader sense of mission in life. That’s part of the package Birthright participants and other tourists appreciate when visiting Israel. And that’s the recipe that makes so many Israelis happy despite the rush-rush of their society and the roar-roar of some Palestinian neighbors demanding their destruction. Zionism isn’t the only way or the best way, it’s just my way, my people’s way. I’m not smart enough to improvise another framework. Identity Zionism includes commitments to Jewish education, Jewish action, to making Jewish ethics come alive, to Jewish peoplehood and Jewish community – these are core Zionist values I, for one, would – in Churchill’s words – never surrender. Today, the #MeToo conversation spotlights how often victims – especially women -- internalize persecution, letting bullies win. Anyone interested in abandoning Zionism first should ask: How much of this internalizes the delegitimization campaign? If we don’t stand up for ourselves, who are we? If we let those haters win, what are we? And if we don’t start celebrating and reclaiming the Z-word now – at Israel’s 70th – then when? (Gil Troy is the author of "The Zionist Ideas," which updates Arthur Hertzberg's classic work "The Zionist Idea," and was just published by The Jewish Publication Society. He is a Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University. Follow on Twitter @GilTroy) The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
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WOMEN Continued from Page 9
That resistance continues today, some say. Elana Sztokman, a writer focused on gender issues and a rabbinical student in Israel’s Reform movement, was raised in Brooklyn and moved to Israel in 1993. She lives in Modiin and is involved with Women Wage Peace, a grassroots organization that brings together women from every sector of Israeli life — religious and secular, conservative and progressive, Arab and Jewish — to press for a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “In my experience, Israelis aren’t really interested in influencing
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America or being influenced by America,” Sztokman said. “There is a resistance of native-born Israelis to impact by American-born women.” By way of example, she noted a distinct lack of interest by the Hebrewlanguage media in covering events spurred by American issues, like a March for Our Lives in Tel Aviv. “There’s a common sentiment here that Americans come here, stay in expensive hotels and have a lot of money to spend without really understanding the nuances of Israeli life,” she said. “Israel is also preoccupied with its own issues,” like terrorism and security. Nevertheless, “We the feminist movement, the social change movement, have learned a tremendous amount from American Jewish activists,” said Hamutal Gouri, a founding leader of Women Wage Peace. “Especially when Israel started building its civil society and social change movements, so much was influenced by theories and practices of Jewish American organizers." Women of the Wall, which advocates for women to pray as they wish at the Western Wall, embodies the influence and limits of largely American feminist ideas in Israel. Americans launched the group in 1988. They were in Israel for the First International Feminist Jewish Conference when Rivka Haut organized a group of 70 to pray together at the Kotel. Klagsbrun
headed the procession while carrying a Torah scroll, making her the first woman in history to bring one to the Western Wall. The prayer group meets at the start of each month at the Western Wall to pray and has met fierce resistance from the Orthodox rabbi who controls the site. Members have been arrested for trying to read from a Torah scroll. But while a 2013 poll found that half of Israelis supported the aims of Women of the Wall, and many of its members and supporters are native Israelis, there has been no public outcry to hold the government accountable for agreements it has made with the group and broken. Women of the Wall continues to be regarded as an American import. “The issue of religious courts, of divorce, of agunot, still thousands of them here, that’s far more important than praying at the Kotel,” said Alice Shalvi, founding chair of the Israel Women’s Network. “I’m expressing the feeling of the vast majority of Israeli-born people.” Agunot are women who are unable to remarry because their estranged husbands refuse to grant them a religious divorce, or get. There are areas in which Israeli women are ahead of their U.S. counterparts, interviewees said. Israel has a higher percentage of women elected to its national legislature, the Knesset, than do America’s Senate or House of Representatives, according to a new report on the state of women’s issues in Israel. It was commissioned by Israel’s Dafna Fund and the New Yorkbased National Council of Jewish Women and released in late March.
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It has been two decades since Israel’s High Court granted a woman the right to become a combat pilot. Today over 90 percent of the Israeli military’s positions are open to enlisted women, including selected combat roles. All U.S. military combat positions opened up to women in 2015. A third of Israel’s military personnel are women, compared with about 14 percent in the U.S. armed forces. “Israel’s Declaration of Independence mentions women, unlike ours,” said Kaufman, adding that Israelis are more adept at using the legal system to further women’s rights. In Israel there is universal paid maternity leave and women can also obtain safe, legal abortions, unlike growing swaths of America. And Israeli law requires at least one woman to be on each public company’s board of directors. But in other ways, Americans take a lead. Hoffman said there is a certain expectation of being treated fairly that American Jewish women have which Israelis do not. “It was bred out of us as very young girls,” she said. “I’m so grateful for ecology, feminism, itemized bills. Americans have a sense of fairness from your Constitution or Bill of Rights. They expect some things that Israelis can’t even dream of.” “There is a lot of cross-fertilization” between the two communities, said Nancy Kaufman, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women. Her organization convened a symposium in Israel in March that brought together 260 Israeli and American women. “We are constantly engaging with Israelis when they come to the U.S.," she said, "and we would love to formalize an exchange program.” Shalvi, a longtime Jewish educator, described how she was influenced by religious feminists in America. On her first visit to New York, in 1977, she met Judith Hauptman, a Talmud scholar and future rabbi, and Arlene Agus, who revived the ancient custom of celebrating Rosh Chodesh (the start of each month) as a women’s holiday. They told her about Ezrat Nashim, a group advocating for greater ritual roles for women, Shalvi told JTA. At the time she was principal of Jerusalem’s Pelech school for Orthodox girls, which from its founding included Talmud study. Yet she had never thought of women See WOMEN on Page
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wall” and a land grab, but Israel with Abbas dissolving the Palestin- June 12, 2014: 3 Teens Kidnapped insists it’s a necessary and effective ian unity government and Hamas Three Israeli teenagers are kidcounterterrorism measure. assuming total control of Gaza. napped in the West Bank, sparking March 28, 2002: Arab League a massive military operation to Dec. 27, 2008: Operation Cast Aug. 15, 2005: Gaza Withdrawal Peace Proposal locate them. The remains of the Lead The Arab League, meeting in Israel launches Operation Cast three are located on June 30 in a Beirut, unanimously adopts a peace Lead, a three-week military cam- field near Hebron. initiative calling for Israeli withpaign aimed at stopping Palestinian July 17, 2014: Operation drawal from Arab territories, a just rocket fire from Gaza. Protective Edge solution to the Palestinian refugee Israel launches Operation Protecproblem and the establishment of a July 2011: Cost-Of-Living tive Edge, a military campaign that Palestinian state in exchange for Protests includes a ground invasion aimed at Evacuating the Israeli community Tel recognition of Israel and full norKatifa, part of the Gaza Disengagement, destroying Palestinian tunnels used malization of relations. which took place during the summer of to smuggle weapons into the coastMarch 29, 2002 : Operation 2005. (Wikimedia Commons) al enclave and launch attacks Defensive Shield against Israel. Israel commences the evacuation Israel launches Operation DefenJuly 2014: “Stabbing Intifada” sive Shield, a large-scale military of all Israeli settlers from the Gaza A wave of Palestinian firebombincursion into the West Bank, and Strip and the unilateral withdrawal Social protest in Tel Aviv, 2011. (Oren from the coastal enclave. Peles/PikiWiki Israel) ing, car-ramming and stabbing places Palestinian leader Yasser Demonstrations begin against the attacks breaks out, mostly in the Arafat under siege in his compound July 12, 2006: Second Lebanon rising cost of living in Israel. The Jerusalem area, leading some to War Begins in Ramallah. The Second Lebanon War begins protests spread over the course of raise concerns that a Third Intifada, June 23, 2002: Security Barrier after Hezbollah operatives launch a the summer, leading hundreds of sometimes referred to as a “stabPlanned cross-border attack, killing three thousands of Israelis into the streets bing intifada,” is underway. Israeli soldiers and abducting two in opposition to rising housing costs July 31, 2015: Duma Firebombing and growing economic inequality. others. Jewish extremists firebomb a June 10, 2007: Hamas Controls Nov. 14, 2012: Operation Pillar Palestinian home in the village of Gaza of Defense Duma, killing 18-month-old Ali The long-simmering power strugIsrael launches Operation Pillar Dawabsheh and his parents. An gle between the militant group of Defense, an eight-day military Israeli Jew, Amiram Ben-Uliel, is Israel approves the first phase of Hamas and Palestinian Authority campaign sparked by an intense later indicted for the murder, and an a West Bank security barrier. Pales- President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah round of rocket fire from Gaza unnamed teenager is charged as an tinians describe it as an “apartheid faction breaks out into open battle in aimed at Israeli civilians. accomplice. Gaza. The five days of fighting end ISRAEL HISTORY Continued from Page 25
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Travel SUPERMARKET Continued from Page 23 last Passover at the Kirsche's family store by helping make 120 pounds of charoset, the sweet holiday treat. When Hungarian moved to Skokie, it finally was able to become what Sandor and Margit always dreamed of: a full-size supermarket with a bakery, meat, dairy and pareve (neither milk nor meat) deli items, and one of the country’s leading wine sections -all certified kosher. As kosher tastes changed, so has Hungarian, adding a health food section, imported items and even two dedicated sushi chefs over the years. The store served as a meeting place and community resource. The Kirsches often donated food anonymously, including providing the weekly kiddush for a synagogue serving refugees from the Soviet Union for many years. One day Hungarian’s staff was startled when two customers called out to each other: They had been prisoners at the same Nazi concentration camp and had not seen each other in decades until the meeting in Hungarian. The Kirsche family worked together, sometimes logging 24-hour work days. Lynn Kirsche Shapiro became a college math professor, but still worked at Hungarian during busy holiday periods. Yet after 45 years, Hungarian found itself at a crossroads “I don’t have the next generation,” Ira said. His father died in Best wishes to our many friends!
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2007, and Ira’s wife, Judy, died six years later to the day. “I’m here alone,” he said, noting that his staff is wonderfully supportive, but that Hungarian could not continue in its present form to a third generation. Competition has intensified, too. In 2010, the Jewel supermarket chain opened a large kosher section, complete with a kosher bakery and deli, in a nearby location, and the regional supermarket chain Mariano’s added its own dedicated kosher section in Skokie in 2015. Azulay has pledged to maintain the business as a mainstay of the Chicago-area kosher community. The new owner plans to make some changes, offering expanded bakery, deli and produce sections, and offering kosher cooking classes in the store. Israeli chef Michael Atias, whom Azulay described as “one of the best chefs in the world” and who previously worked at the kosher Soho Bar and Grill in Aventura, Florida, will oversee Hungarian’s new kitchen. “We’ll try to bring some excitement” to Chicago, Azulay said, noting that Sara’s Tent already enjoys a good reputation with kosherkeeping Chicagoans who visit the Miami area. “A good name is more important than all the profit in the world." He plans to renovate the store gradually, without closing for remodeling. “We hope the community will give us a little time and patience," Azulay said, "and we’ll be happy to give back to the community as fast as we can.” “I hope they do,” said Ira Kirsche, as he prepared to finalize the sale and say goodbye to the business he and his family have built over the past 45 years.
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WOMEN Continued from Page 28 leading worship. On her second visit to the U.S., in 1979, Shalvi was first called to the Torah And burst into tears. “I realized it was the first time I had seen a Torah scroll up close,” she said. “I was 53 years old and thought if I’d been a boy, I would have done this 40 years earlier. The unfairness and injustice of it struck me so.” Since then there has been enormous growth in the number of women seriously engaged in Torah scholarship, from the plethora of post-high school seminary programs for girls in Israel to graduate programs in Talmud for women in the U.S., including at the Orthodox Yeshiva University, and in Israel at Bar-Ilan University. Despite the cross-fertilization of ideas, a mystique about Israeli women still has a hold on American Jews, said Galit Peleg, Israel’s consul for public diplomacy in New York. It has been revived by Wonder Woman herself. Since portraying the superhero in the 2017 film, Israeli actress Gal Gadot has since been nearly ubiquitous in American media, charming late night talk show hosts and audiences alike with her confidence and warm candor. “She’s not a Woody Allen,” said Peleg, meaning a neurotic, weak, Diaspora-type Jew. “She’s the Israeli woman that kicks ass.” Peleg recently spoke to a group of Americans at a pre-Passover event and mentioned, in passing, having served in Israel’s military. From that moment on, that’s all the American Jewish women wanted to hear about, she told JTA. It seems that the Wonder Woman effect – the image of Israeli women as strong, confident, funny and warm – tenaciously clings to the way American Jewish women think of their Israeli sisters. Yet there are challenges unique to Israeli women, say experts. “The state of constant conflict and a divisive political landscape is a reality that especially marginaliz-
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es women’s voices,” according to the NCJW/Dafna Fund report. “Rising nationalism and religious fundamentalism that is increasingly part of the political atmosphere is further preventing the inclusion of women’s voices in public debate.” There are also ways in which Israeli women are trying to bring their confidence to American Jews. Take Supersonos. The organization was created in Israel three years ago by advertising executive Hana Rado to increase women’s visibility as speakers, on panels and at conferences, and on boards of directors. Supersonos has grown rapidly in Israel and in newer outposts in Berlin, London and New York, said Keren Kay, a co-founder. Three years ago it had 100 women in its network of professionals. Now it has over 2,000, said Kay, who lives in New York. “We’re taking already-empowered women and putting them at influential junctions – conferences, media, seminars, board members and management," she said. “The ‘men’s club’ is going out to drinks after work. We are trying to create the same network for women.” But the culture gap has an impact: Supersonos holds networking events in New York. And though there have been powerful women working on the same issues in the American Jewish community for years, Kay was unaware of them. “It’s a dialogue,” said Women Wage Peace’s Gouri. “I wish there was more of a dialogue and that there was more of an exchange. There is so much for us on both sides to learn. We need to come together in more meaningful ways to leverage our collective impact.” NCJW’s Kaufman said: “We have a lot to learn from the Israelis and we have a lot to offer them in building civil society. There’s learning back and forth from both sides. We’re going to try to build this woman-to-woman relationship over the next 70 years.”
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AUNT BERTIE Continued from Page 21 nue in Queens. She passed away in 1991 at the age of 88, leaving her niece a suitcase bulging with various items that was stored in the attic of Shirley’s house for more than two decades. Last year, Shirley realized she had to figure out what to do with that suitcase. Shirley and her husband, Rabbi Albert Thaler, are fixtures in the Conservative movement; he retired last year from Temple Gates of Prayer, Congregation Shaarai Tefilla in Flushing after 63 years in the rabbinate. Knowing that downsizing from their current home was inevitable, she asked if I would help her sort through Aunt Bertie’s “stuff” and decide what to do with it all. Rabbi Thaler has been my family’s spiritual leader since 1958. He and Shirley long ago became close friends of my parents, and the lives of our two families have been intertwined for decades. In fact, we attended Passover seders annually at the Thaler home, and I recall Aunt Bertie -- by then old and frail -- sitting at the end of the seder table, beaming with pride at her nieces and nephew and their children. One afternoon late last year, Shirley shlepped the suitcase down and opened it on the dining room table where Bertha used to sit. I was astonished as we removed, piece by piece, unexpected treasures from the past. There were Christmas cards handed out to White House staffers, personally signed by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry and Bess Truman. Dwight Eisenhower put his John Hancock on a formal portrait, and Truman autographed a stylized version of his proclamation, on May 8th, 1945, that Germany had surrendered – which was given to his employees as an historic souvenir. There was a group photo of three dozen smiling White House employees gathered in the Oval Office around Truman’s desk, with
Bertha prominently situated at the front of the crowd. Then there were the ornate invitations: to inaugurals, receptions, Christmas celebrations, and dozens of “garden parties” hosted by the First Ladies. One reads “Mrs. Roosevelt, At Home, on Saturday, May 18th at four o’clock. If the weather does not permit the garden party to be held (then), it will be held on Monday, May the twentieth, at the same hour." Bertha had saved nearly 40 invitations in all, along with passes that she had to present at the entrance to the events. The reverence she felt for the people she worked for and the unique experiences she had with them was almost palpable. The organized secretary also kept personal diaries, and all the notes and cards she ever received from her nieces and nephew (who, in their early years, often wrote to “Aunt Birdie”, thinking that was her name). Those, Shirley decided, she had to save. But some of the historic memorabilia was auctioned off online this month -- Truman’s signed World War II proclamation alone went for $5,500 -- and the rest will be sold in August by Heritage Auctions. So these are the final gifts from a doting Aunt Bertie to her adored nieces and nephew. I’m sorry I never thought to ask at those Passover seders about her life and career -- one can only imagine the stories she could tell. But for now, “Dayenu." It’s enough to know that a young Jewish woman from a shtetl in Poland ended up serving her adopted country alongside several of America’s greatest leaders, and witnessing, up close and personal, some of the most momentous events of the 20th century.
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