The Jewish Light - Israel's 71st Anniversary by The Jewish Light

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How Jewish Organizations Train People to Prevent Shootings Like the One in Poway

Police vehicles gather around the synagogue where a shooting took place in Poway, Calif., April 27, 2019. A suspect has been identified as 19-yearold John Earnest, authorities said. (Xinhua/ via Getty Images)

(JTA) — Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein said his Chabad of Poway could not afford to hire an armed guard. Had it been able, or if the government had helped the synagogue bring in one, he believes the deadly attack there Saturday could have been averted. “If I had the funding, we may have been spared. How many more dead bodies will we have to see before we act?” he told The New York Times. But hiring a security guard should not be the only priority in terms of security, said Jason Friedman, the executive director of the Community Security Service, an organization that has trained more than 4,000 Jewish volunteers across the country in how to keep their synagogues safe. Hiring a guard can be “a great first step,” Friedman said, but “if your congregation is not engaged in the security process, you’re not getting the full extent of what you’re paying for,” Friedman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Monday. The shooting at the Poway synagogue, in which a 60-year-old woman was killed and three others, including the rabbi, were injured, is the latest chapter in an ongoing American discussion about security in the age of mass shootings. Like the massacre six months ago at a Pittsburgh synagogue, the shooting in suburban San Diego is being mined for lessons in safety by a Jewish community deeply shaken

by a rise in anti-Semitism. The Community Security Service, or CSS, anticipates attacks on synagogues like Poway. It focuses on preventive “boots-on-theground” measures by training community members to spot suspicious behavior and thus avert attacks. Synagogues are encouraged to post trained volunteers at their entrances to watch for potential attackers and make their members aware of their surroundings. “What we’re trying to show is that there are a lot of ways they can make themselves safer, it just takes time and commitment,” Friedman said. CSS had not worked with the Chabad synagogue in Poway, Friedman said. Neither had the Secure Community Network, a security group that also works with synagogues and Jewish groups. In the fall, the Chabad did convene an event about synagogue security following the Pittsburgh shooting on what to do in the case of a future attack. Poway Mayor Steve Vaus, who attended the meeting with representatives of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, said law enforcement shared tips, including “if you can run away, run away; if you can hide, hide; if you can’t hide, challenge the shooter.’” During Saturday’s shooting in Poway, “all of that happened,” the mayor told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “and I have no doubt that that meeting contributed to saving lives.” Two people intervened with the shooter. One was a community member, Oscar Stewart, who ran toward the shooter and chased him out of the building, according to the county Sheriff’s Department. “Mr. Stewart risked his life to stop the shooter and saved lives in the process,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement Sunday. An off-duty Border Patrol agent, Jonathan Morales, shot at the attacker, hitting his car.

Friedman says exclusively focusing on arming congregants can distract from other safety measures synagogues can take. “Weapons certainly have their place in security, but one has to be careful not to substitute the presence of a weapon for tried-and-true security theories and training,” Friedman said.

Mourners leave mementos across the street from the Chabad Community Center in Poway, California a day after a shooter killed a congregant and wounded three others, on April 28, 2019. (Gabrielle Birkner)

Post-Pittsburgh, he said, the number of synagogues seeking training from CSS “dramatically increased.” Still, there’s a long way to go. “I don’t think that there are many synagogues across the country that are really prepared [for an attack],” Friedman said. The Poway attack came as no surprise to Michael Masters, who heads the Secure Community Network. SCN coordinates security for Jewish organizations across the country and is affiliated with the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish

Organizations. “We have seen an increase in targeting of houses of worship generally, and we have seen an increase in targeting of Jewish houses of worship specifically,” Masters told JTA from Poway, where he is meeting with community leaders in the wake of the shooting. “That coincides with an increase in anti-Semitic incidents around the United States and around the world, as well as am increase in hate crimes against our community and an increase in threats.” SCN has worked with 147 federations across the country, as well as more than 50 partner organizations and 300-plus Jewish communities to provide security assessments. After conducting an assessment, it recommends security strategies tailored to the needs and circumstances of the particular organization. Friedman said the threat picture itself has also changed in recent years. When CSS was founded in 2007, the primary threats came from international terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Qaeda, as well as large white supremacist organizations. Now they often come from individuals who aren’t necessarily affiliated with a group. That means the targets have changed too. As a result, less prominent See SHOOTINGS on Page

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Sunday, May 19 10:00 AM Forgotston Chapel 191st Annual Touro Fest! Touro Synagogue's 191St Annual Meeting Rabbi Berk's Last State of the Synagogue Sermon Celebration of Board Transition with Gratitude to Teri Hunter and a Warm Welcome to Lisa Herman Election of Officers and Trustees Committee Reports Children's activities begin at 10am in the jacobs social hall Supervised Fun for Kids of All Ages Bounce House Fun Brunch at 11:30am for all! Join us for a delicious and plentiful celebratory brunch! Please RSVP at www.tourosynagogue.com/touro-fest  May 22, 2019 7:00 PM - 8:15 PM New Orleans JCC Uptown 5342 St. Charles AvenueNew Orleans, LA 70115 An Evening With Ani Difranco

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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Join Garden District Book Shop for an enlightening evening with the celebrated singer-songwriter and social activist Ani DiFranco. Ani will be discussing her new memoir No Walls and the Recurring Dream. Joining Ani in conversation will be Gwen Thomkins, NPR veteran and host of WWNO's Music Inside Out. Doors will open at 6:00 PM. Tickets are $35/person and each ticket includes one signed copy of No Wall and the Recurring Dream. Books will be distributed to ticket holders at the event. In her new memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, Ani DiFranco recounts her early life from a place of hard-won wisdom, combining personal expression, the power of music, feminism, political activism, storytelling, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and much more into an inspiring whole. In these frank, honest, passionate, and often funny pages is the tale of one woman’s eventful and radical journey to the age of thirty. Ani’s coming of age story is

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defined by her ethos of fierce independence– from being an emancipated minor sleeping in a Buffalo bus station, to unwaveringly building a career through appearances at small clubs and festivals, to releasing her first album at the age of 18, to consciously rejecting the mainstream recording industry and creating her own label, Righteous Babe Records. In these pages, as in life, she never hesitates to question established rules and expectations, maintaining a level of artistic integrity that has inspired and challenged more than a few. Ani continues to be a major touring and recording artist as well as a celebrated activist and feminist, standing as living proof that you can overcome all personal and societal obstacles to be who you are and to follow your dreams. PRAISE “The Grammy-winning Ani DiFranco recounts the eventful story of her life as a musician and feminist political activist. . . . Interspersed throughout with feminist/political musings and anecdotes about such music legends as Pete Seeger, Prince, and Bob Dylan, DiFranco’s tale celebrates both independent music and an unconventional life daringly lived. A refreshingly frank and free-spirited memoir from a feminist icon.”- Kirkus Reviews Contact: Garden District Book Shop. Phone: 504-895-2266  May 30, 2019 New Orleans JCC Ogden Museum Ogden Museum: Vernacular Voices This exhibition draws from the Ogden Museum’s growing collection of Self-Taught, Outsider and Visionary art to celebrate the creative spirit and intuitive vision of the American South’s Vernacular artists. Artists represented include Minnie Evans, David Butler, Clementine Hunter, Lonnie Holley, Eddy Mumma and many others! Join us for a docent led tour of the exhibit. We will meet for lunch at noon at the NOCHI Cafe by Gracious Bakery, located at 725 Howard Avenue. The restaurant is 2 1/2 blocks from the Ogden. Transportation will be available if you need it. The museum is free for Louisiana residents on Thursdays. Lunch is on you. RSVP by Monday, May 27 to Rachel Ruth at 897-0143 THE

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If your group has an event that you would like for us to include on the Community Calendar please e-mail the information to jewishnews@bellsouth.net. All submissions are subject to acceptance by the Editor. ì Please RSVP at www. tourosynagogue.com/ farewell-rabbi-berk 

x161 or rachel@nojcc.org. No charge members and nonmembers New Orleans JCC - Uptown Contact: Rachel Ruth Phone: 504-897-0143 Email: rachel@nojcc.org Saturday Night, June 1 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM Location Farewell BBQ In honor of the Berk family Touro synagogue casual barbeque,

dance party, and havdalah with farewell blessings *B’Nei Mitzvah age and older are all welcome to the evening’s festivities 6:00 - 8:00PM Casual food and fun in the courtyard; Dancing in the Grant Meyer Garden Pavilion to 80’s hits (Rabbi Berk's playlist) Silly selfies with the Berks; S’mores and campfire 8:30 - 9:00PM Friday, June 14 - Following Shabbat Evening Services Touro Broadway Is Back At Touro! The Story of the Jews: The Musical

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Join us as Cantor Margolius and Dr. Jason Gaines share the story of the Jews as told through Broadway music. We’ll begin in the Garden of Eden and make our way to the Shtetl, the New World, Israel, and beyond. Jesse Reeks, Piano Travis Henthorn, Percussion Sam Dingle, Bass Touro Synagogue Choir  Havdalah with fragrant blessings to and from the Berks

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Beth Israel Mazel Tov... to Abby Streusand (Greenberg) for graduating with a Masters in occupational Therapy from LSU School of Health Sciences 

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In the Wake of Another Deadly Synagogue Shooting, We Need Holocaust Education More Than Ever By Janice Weinman and Ellen Hershkin

A gate with the inscription “Work Sets You Free” at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp memorial in Oranienburg, Germany, Jan. 25, 2019. (Omer Messinger/Getty Images)

(JTA) — On the Shabbat morning of April 27, Hadassah member Lori Gilbert-Kaye was murdered while celebrating Passover at the Chabad of Poway. The synagogue’s rabbi, a male congregant and an 8-year-old girl were wounded as well by the self-avowed white supremacist shooter. We know that anti-Semitism is on the rise globally, but grim statistics don’t adequately convey the terror of a shooting at synagogue or the anguish that comes with it. The data also don’t convey the

dreadfulness of less than lethal acts of anti-Semitism: A 9-year-old boy walking on the street and being punched in the face because he is wearing a yarmulke and has sidelocks, a Hasidic man being beaten and choked or high school students in Wisconsin proudly displaying the Nazi salute in a group photo. Knowing that hatred exists is not enough. We also have to take active steps to combat it. Teaching Holocaust history to children is one proactive way to combat today’s anti-Semitism. A child who understands the true impact of a swastika or recognizes the deeply ugly nature of a slur about Jews and money will be equipped to identify and call out anti-Semitism on their college campus, in their future industry and in their community. While anti-Jewish bigotry is rising, memory of the Holocaust is waning. A recent survey by the

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Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany found that 66 percent of American millennials do not know what Auschwitz was. As Hadassah women, as mothers and grandmothers, as children and grandchildren of survivors, and as fighters for justice and humanity historically and today, we feel the responsibility to teach the next generation to recognize the risk of genocide so they are empowered to prevent it when they grow up. But most states don’t include Holocaust education in their secondary school curricula. Students are learning about the battles of World War II and the bombing of Hiroshima, but they don’t know what happened during the Holocaust to the Jewish people, to the Roma, to members of the LGBTQ community and to people with disabilities. Some teachers don’t know how to teach such a sensitive subject or lack instructional resources or the funds to visit memorials. Others skip it because its inclusion isn’t mandated: Only nine states have laws requiring Holocaust education. We need federal legislation to make robust anti-hate curricula accessible to every school. That is why Hadassah is one of the leading not-for-profit organizations championing the bipartisan Never Again Education Act. This proposed legislation would create a $2 million discretionary fund within the U.S. Department of Education to support Holocaust education for middle and high school students in districts across the country. It

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would train classroom instructors, provide textbooks and resources, and help facilitate programs, speakers and visits to Holocaust museums and memorials. The Never Again Education Act would help combat hate and contribute toward a generation of tolerant and responsible American citizens. The bill already has the support of 90 members of Congress. Hadassah’s 300,000 members and 300 organizational partners are mobilizing to encourage additional co-sponsors. Hadassah turns its values into action every day, and we are committed to combating anti-Semitism through this powerful legislation. Let’s teach the next generation what can happen when anti-Semitism and hate crimes go unchecked and give them the tools to fix the rising intolerance in our communities. That is the way to ensure our children know and experience less hatred than we do. Janice Weinman is the Executive Director/CEO of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. Ellen Hershkin is the National President of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. 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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Israeli Emissaries Bring Zionism, Hebrew and Israeli Sensibilities to Jewish Day Schools By Michele Chabin

Israeli emissaries in Baltimore help bring a unique Israeli spirit to the school, local Jewish leaders say. (Courtesy of the Center for Jewish Education)

Native Israeli Merav Edrei gained a new appreciation for her new home in Michigan, of all places. She and her husband, Yonatan, moved to the Detroit area nearly four years ago to become shlichim, Israeli emissaries to Diaspora Jewry. Edrei teaches Hebrew to grades 2-12 at the Farber Hebrew Day School-Yeshivat Akiva in Southfield. Yonatan works with the community’s youths as an emissary for the Orthodox Zionist youth group Bnei Akiva. The experience, Edrei said, has made her appreciate both the proactive way Diaspora Jews approach Judaism and Israel’s Jewish culture back home. “Living as a Jew and an Israeli outside Israel has given me so much perspective,” Edrei said. “In America, Jewish education is expensive, and it’s not easy for schools to bring us here to teach. But they choose to do it because they want to feel this connection with Israel. “It made me look at Israel in a wider way. I’ve learned a lot about my own relationship to Israel and my place in the wider Jewish world.” The Edreis, who will be return-

ing to Israel this summer, are among the hundreds of Israelis serving as emissaries in North American day schools. Some emissaries work as teachers, while others provide education more informally in places like synagogues, Jewish community centers and youth groups. The idea behind this army of emissaries is for Israel to share some of its Jewish vitality, Zionist ethos and Hebrew with Diaspora Jews, and to create personal connections between American and

Israeli emissaries Yael Israeli and Yonatan Kantarowicz, rear, do a handson Israel activity at the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in Baltimore. (Courtesy of the Center for Jewish Education)

Israeli Jews. “The shlichim serving in the U.S. bring an Israeli spirit to families that may not have visited Israel and don’t meet Israelis on a regular basis,” said Amalia Phillips, director of Israel and Overseas Education at the Macks Center for Jewish Education in Baltimore. “They nurture connections and serve as a bridge between our respective communities.” The emissaries consist of families, young adults and even Israeli teenagers doing their national service, or sherut leumi — an alternative to military conscription for religious girls and some boys. Depending on individual circum-

stance, funding may come from the Jewish Agency for Israel, Israel’s National Service program, the World Zionist Organization, North American Jewish federations, or individual U.S. Jewish institutions or communities. In any given year, the Jewish Agency, which is responsible for the bulk of the shlichim, has some 1,500 to 1,700 emissaries deployed worldwide. The Ben Porat Yosef day school in Paramus, New Jersey, employs 10 Israeli emissaries. They teach religious subjects completely in Hebrew, even to preschoolers, as part of a Hebrew-first approach meant to give kids Israeli-accented Hebrew fluency at a young age. “We tell them to not speak a word of English,” head of school Rabbi Saul Zucker said of the shlichim. “We believe in total immersion.” Even in a school with so many emissaries, there can be some challenges. The Israelis are accustomed to Israel’s highly structured curriculum and mostly frontal approach to learning, and must learn to adapt to the different style of American day schools, said Chagit Hadar, the school’s Judaic studies principal. “We’re talking about very different cultures,” Hadar said. In Israel, the Jewish studies curriculum comes from the Education Ministry, whereas in American Jewish day schools, “there’s a lot more variety in what’s taught and how it’s taught. Sometimes there aren’t set tools. So they need to create their own,” she said. Emissaries Yiska Klein and her husband, Yishai, are completing

As part of their national service, many young Israeli women spend a year in the United States as Zionist emissaries in Jewish day schools. (Courtesy of the Center for Jewish Education)

their third year at Ben Porat Yosef. Klein, who teaches Hebrew, said she loves the amount of freedom she is given. “We can really be creative inside and outside the classroom,” she said. During the school’s “Hebrew Day,” for example, students rotated through a variety of Hebrew-language teaching stations. In one classroom, the students sang Hebrew karaoke. In another, they participated in a Hebrew play. In others they played Hebrew Scrabble or learned about Eliezer BenYehuda, the father of modern Hebrew. Ohr Chadash Academy in Baltimore has several “shinshinim” – the acronym by which Israeli National Service girls are known (the name comes from “shnat sherut,” meaning “year of service”). Shira Avital, 18, is one of them. She and another shinshin work with preschoolers through eighthgraders to improve their knowledge of Israel and Hebrew, and launched a Zionist youth club for middle schoolers that meets every See EMISSARIES on Page

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Congratulations to all my friends in the Jewish Community as we celebrate Israel’s 71st Anniversary! Thank you for your continued support!

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Sarah Blake (Collage by Alma)

In the Hebrew Bible, we get the stories of few women: There’s Eve, obviously. There are the matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. There’s Queen Esther, our Purim heroine, and Judith, a Hanukkah heroine. There’s Miriam the Prophetess, Moses’ sister who danced the whole night long; Hannah, the first woman who prays; Ruth, the first convert. But notable are the women who aren’t named. (Only around 10 percent of the 1,400 or so individuals given names in the Hebrew Bible are women.) Take Noah’s Ark, for example. We learn all about Noah, of course, but have you ever wondered about his wife, the woman who became the matriarch of all future generations of people? Me neither, before reading Sarah Blake’s new book, “Naamah.” In “Naamah,” Blake reclaims the tale of Noah’s wife, who goes nameless in the Bible. In the novel, Blake has named her Naamah (she chose the name from the Book of Jubilees, an ancient text that tells the same stories that are in Genesis, but with greater detail; Noah’s wife, in this telling, is named Na’amah. But Judaism — outside of Beta Israel, the Ethiopian Jewish community – doesn’t recognize the Book of Jubilees as canonical). We had the opportunity to chat with Sarah Blake about “Naamah,” matriarchs, feminist retellings, and how she never wants to break a reader’s heart. What led you to want to tell Naamah’s story? I was re-reading Genesis for a poetry project I was working on. I couldn’t believe in re-reading it how much of the story of the ark I hadn’t understood; it hadn’t really made it through to me that it was over a year that they were stuck on that ark. Looking at what that would’ve meant to the adults involved, given the task of being

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with every animal on earth, on an ark, for over a year … it just sounded hopeless and terrifying and noisy and sickening. I got really attached to the idea of the woman that would’ve been the wife and the mother and the person who had to survive all of that. I wanted to get to know her, and how she would’ve survived, and I wanted to offer her ways of escape and see what she would do with them. There were endless things that kept drawing me towards her story, and all the different parts of it. Did you learn the story of Noah’s Ark growing up? I had heard it in — this is so bizarre — Quaker meetings, a few times when I was 7. But, I already knew the story at that point [because] I remember when they told me, I wasn’t surprised. I don’t know when I actually first heard it. Do you wish it was taught differently to kids? Or told differently? I do find it very surprising that the retelling of the story of the ark is quick. The 40 days and 40 nights is what you think is the long part; the rain is what’s quite impressive, or it always was to me. In my mind I was like, oh man, 40 days and 40 nights, and then there’s enough water on earth to cover trees and mountains! And then I just thought, the rains went away and then they got off. So that was a big part that struck me, when [Genesis says], ‘oh yeah, God didn’t think about it for a while, and then he did, and he’s like, okay, I’ll start this drying process. And here will come a wind, and here will come a place where it drains out.’ There are a few little details about it, but even then, it takes months. And then there’s the birds — in the story I was taught, I don’t even think I got the birds. So I’m not sure I necessarily need to see that… but I would like if more retellings got into how large and long and weird the 14 months is. There’s implications that the building of the ark takes years. So the whole [story] is kind of flattened, and doesn’t seem as terrifying cause their lives are so long. If See NOAH'S WIFE on Page THE

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Jorge Luis Borges’ Love for Israel and Jews Revealed in New Book

Jorge Luis Borges in 1951.(Grete Stern/ Wikimedia Commons)

(JTA) — Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges is best known for his complex, surrealist short stories and poems. Few know he was a great admirer of Israel and the Jewish people. This side of the acclaimed author is revealed in “Borges, Judaism and Israel,” a new book that includes some of his writings, photos and unpublished letters. It debuted this week at the Buenos Aires Book Fair at a panel with academic lecturers and Borges’ widow, Maria Kodama. Its publication was timed to commemorate 50 years since Borges made his first trip to Israel and his 120th birthday. Borges had a surprising number of Jewish connections. His English grandmother, Fanny Haslam, was an expert on the Hebrew Bible. “I think my passion for Israel comes from my English grandmother. She was a Protestant, which means that she was a reader of the Bible,” Borges once said. “That is to say that I grew up a bit in a biblical environment, which is to say in a Jewish environment.” Borges also established close ties with many Jewish friends and colleagues, including two he met while studying at Calvin College in Geneva: Simon Jichlinki and Maurice Abramowicz, with whom he would remain friends throughout his life. Borges was born Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo, and the book includes a prologue from Kodama in which she reveals a letter from Borges to Abramovich acknowledging the surname Acevedo is associated with Sephardic Jews — that is, those with roots in Spain. “I don’t know how to celebrate this stream of Jewish blood that runs through my veins,” Borges wrote to his friend. On Oct. 16, 1966, Borges, then already visually impaired (he would go fully blind at age 55), sent a letter to David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s THE

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first prime minister. “Perhaps you do not ignore the affinity that I have always felt for your admirable people,” he wrote. Borges, a big admirer of Jewish writers such as Baruch Spinoza, Martin Buber, S.Y. Agnon and Gershom Scholem, added: “I also believe that beyond the hazards of blood, we are all Greeks and Hebrews.” Borges, who was not religious but interested in several different religions, visited Israel in 1969 and 1971. On his first visit, he was a guest of the government because of his friendship with Ben-Gurion. Just after that visit, Borges wrote a poem titled “Israel, 1969.” In 1971, Borges was in Jerusalem to receive the highest literary award bestowed by Israel, the Jerusalem Prize. The books’ 246 pages include chapters on “Israel,” “Judaism,” “Kabbalah,” “Spinoza,” “Sefarad” and “Jewishness” — all related to how these issues showed up in

Bookshelf Borges’ works. On Monday, Argentine Vice President Gabriela Michetti participated in an event at the book fair in which the Israeli company Orcam donated a device that helps blind people read. The device was tested with the book about Borges and Israel as the vice president tweeted to her million followers. Twitter Ads info and privacy The book is co-edited by the Argentine center for the study of Sephardic culture, Cidicsef, and the Israeli Embassy. “In 1986 we started the first investigation into the issue of Borges and Israel in our magazine Sefardica. Now we present our investigation in a new format,” said an emotional Mario Cohen, the president of Cidicsef. “‘Borges chai vekayam!'” he said — in Hebrew, Borges is alive and endures. 

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Why Every Jewish Millennial Should Read These DIY Jewish Books From the ’70s By Elena Gormley This article originally appeared on Alma. During the 1970s, Michael Strassfeld, Sharon Strassfeld and Richard Siegel were a trio of young Jewish adults who felt isolated from mainstream Jewish life and wanted to find ways to make Judaism relevant to their generation. Sound familiar? Today, many young Jews may feel like there are too many social or financial barriers to synagogue membership, or feel isolated from non-Jewish activist spaces. Many are turning to online resources like Tumblr, Facebook or a plethora of group chats to learn more about Jewish practices and create meaningful Jewish communities. While I am currently an active member at my synagogue and a teacher at the local Jewish school, I still sometimes feel like the events and activities promoted toward “young adults” aren’t relevant to me, or are outside my budget, or aren’t geared toward my level of observance. Many events turn into

day school and summer camp reunions, and since I didn’t have either of those experiences, I get to sit in the corner and awkwardly shove food in my mouth while others talk. And I know I’m not alone. For the trio mentioned above, their solution was “The Jewish Catalogs.” Published in 1973, 1976 and 1980, these books are just as relevant now as when they first came out. They’re an amazing guide on everything from the basics of attending a synagogue service, dietary laws, Jewish learning and effective activism — and they still serve as an excellent blueprint for a DIY Jewish life. The Strassfelds and Siegel created “The Catalogs” for young Jewish members of the counterculture who saw mainstream Jewish life as too passive. Do you want to learn how to weave a tallit and tie tzitzit? Check out pages 52 and 55 in “The First Jewish Catalog.” Want advice on “surviving your synagogue”? That’s on page 306 in

Best Wishes to all of my friends in the Jewish Community as we celebrate 71 years of Independence in Israel!

Happy anniversary to the Jewish State, and to all of Louisiana's Jewish Community.

“The Second Jewish Catalog.” Are you the sort of person who feels like God should be begging us for forgiveness on Yom Kippur? The essay “Living After the Holocaust” in “The Third Jewish Catalog” addresses just that feeling. What if you’re thinking really outside the box and want to do things that will hasten the arrival of Moshiach, the Messiah? “The First Jewish Catalog” recommends beating swords into plowshares and planting trees in the driveway of the U.S. military academy, West Point. No, really: “Get together a minyan and travel up to West Point. Take along ten swords and a small forge. Put the small forge in the main entrance, start it glowing, and beat the swords into something like a digging tool. Dig holes for ten trees, and plant trees in the roadway. Meanwhile, sing ‘Lo yisah goy’ and ‘Ain’t Gonna Study War No More,’ and if any West Pointers stop to see what’s going down, offer them a reworked sword to dig with.” “The Catalogs” also serve as a connection to the Jewish history of social activism. “The First Jewish Catalog” includes a detailed guide on traveling in the Soviet Union and more or less explains how to smuggle ritual objects into the USSR. In “The Third Jewish Catalog,” there’s a detailed guide on organizing successful demonstrations under the exhortation to “seek no intimacy with the government.” I’ve discovered that sharing what I’ve found in “The Jewish Catalogs” has helped open up

some interesting conversations with older members of my community, including learning about people’s experiences organizing and advocating for Soviet Jews. While online resources to Jewish life are amazing, I personally can’t access them when I unplug for Shabbat. However, I’ve found poring over “The Jewish Catalogs” is a relaxing way to spend a Saturday afternoon. They are filled with amazing illustrations, including cartoons explaining permitted and forbidden animals to eat according to kosher laws. I plan on using “The First Jewish Catalogs” guide for everything from building my own sukkah next Sukkot to creating my own tallit. All three of “The Jewish Catalogs” can be found on Amazon or eBay, but there’s a good chance they’re already on a shelf in your local synagogue library. (I got mine when my shul library downsized.) They serve as reminder that previous generations also struggled with creating meaningful Jewish practices with limited resources, or felt frustrated with Jewish institutions (“The First Jewish Catalog” even includes a guide on “Using the Jewish Establishment”). While Jews can and should continue to seek ways to make the religion more meaningful to them, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel to DIY Judaism because three young Jews in the ’70s and ’80s forged a path for us. 

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11 Jewish Facts About ‘The Addams Family’ Movies By Arielle Kaplan This article originally appeared on Kveller.

They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and … Jewish? Well, not quite. But between Morticia Addams’ Yiddish pet name for her husband, Gomez, and to the very Jewish writer (Paul Rudnick) behind the movies’ scripts, it’s safe to say that the Addams family is, at least, Jew-ish. Hulu keeps adding to its vast trove of movies and — huzzah! — “The Addams Family” and its sequel, “Addams Family Values,” are available to stream now. Notably these hit movies (from 1991 and 1993, respectively) are not based on the 1960s sitcom but on the TV series’ original source material: the drawings of New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams. In honor of the iconic movies’ arrival to your TV or home computer, we searched far and wide to gather all the Jewish facts from “The Addams Family” movies. 1. Family matriarch Morticia (played by Anjelica Huston) endearingly calls Gomez (Raul Julia) “bubeleh.” It’s a sweet Yiddish term that translates, in this context, as “darling” or “sweetheart.” 2. Jewish director Barry Sonnenfeld — best known for “Men In Black” — made his directorial debut with “The Addams Family.” In the sequel, Sonnenfeld makes a cameo. 3. While filming a scene for “The Addams Family” — when Gomez discovers Morticia tied up, bondage style — legend has it that Julia kept flubbing his line, which was in Spanish. So Sonnenfeld told the actor to take it from the top “for the Hebrew version.” According to Rolling Stone, Julia asked, “How do you say ‘leather straps and redhot pokers’ in Hebrew?” When Sonnenfeld confessed that he didn’t know, Julia asked about Yiddish. “Leather straps and red hot pokers? Oy vey iz mir!” Sonnenfeld replied, sending the whole set laughing. THE

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4. In “Addams Family Values,” everyone’s favorite spooky teenager Wednesday and her brother, Pugsley, are sent to a sleepaway camp. But not just any camp — a Jewish summer camp! While not explicitly mentioned in the movie, Camp Chippewa is a real camp in Wisconsin that’s popular among upperclass, Jewish households. 5. Marc Shaiman, one of the producers and composers of “The Addams Family” music, is Jewish — and his cultural background clearly inspired his work on the film. There’s “Family Plotz,” a beautiful instrumental song that accompanies Gomez as he reminisces about his long-lost brother Fester. When Fester returns to his family after a mysterious 25-year disappearance, Gomez celebrates by dancing to “Mamushka,” a traditional Addams family celebratory dance that is remarkably hora-like. 6. In “Addams’ Family Values,” Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) marries the golddigging nanny Debbie Jelinksy (Joan Cusack). As Wednesday, the flower girl, walks down the aisle, a spooky rendition of “Sunrise, Sunset” from “Fiddler on the Roof” is played on the piano. 7. Scott Rudin, the producer of both movies, is Jewish. “I was a Jewish kid from Long Island who didn’t want to be a Jewish kid from Long Island,” Rudin said. 8. Wednesday’s love interest in “Addams Family Values” is Jewish (and played by the Jewish actor David Krumholtz). Portrayed as a stereotypical Jewish teen, Glicker wears glasses, is allergic to everything and has a neurotic mother. The pair meet at summer camp and share one kiss under the pretense that they’d never see each other again. In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, Rudnick said that Glicker “was a reflection of Barry, Scott Rudin and myself because we’re all nice Jewish boys.” 9. Actually, the Addams Family was filled with Jewish contributors. The late Judith Malina, who played Grandmama Addams in “The Addams Family,” is a Jewish German immigrant, and Dan Hadaya, who played Tully Alford, the evil lawyer who plotted to steal the Addams fortune, was born to a Sephardic Jewish family.

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10. The legendary Jewish talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael — aka Sally Lowenthal — had a cameo in “The Addams Family.” She played herself on her talk show, “Sally Jessy Raphael,” and did a bit about “Voodoo Witch Doctors in the United States.” 11. When “The Addams Family” sitcom aired in the ‘60s, it was seen as subtle commentary on racism in the United States. While audiences were growing to love the quirky and spooky Addams family, Jews and black Americans were moving

into previously all-gentile and allwhite neighborhoods. Here, the Addams family served to represent the social issue that “monsters” were invading their territory. Likewise, “The Addams Family” and “Addams Family Values” addressed the same issues, and inviting viewers to accept the monsters for their loving personalities, despite their different appearance. Welcoming the stranger — clearly that’s a Jewish and an Addams family value! 

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50 Years Later, This Feminist Witchy Film Remains Super Relevant By Rokhl Kafrissen

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(JTA) Part feminist folk horror masterpiece, part surrealist autobiographical allegory, Nelly Kaplan’s “A Very Curious Girl” (“La Fiancee du Pirate”) turns 50 this year and still feels as fresh, and necessary, as the day it was released. Before its premiere in 1969, a film censor told Kaplan that she had to punish the heroine of “A Very Curious Girl” for sleeping around and abusing men, lest she get an audience-limiting rating. Kaplan responded by threatening the censor with a public scandal. At the intersection of technology and witchcraft, Kaplan presents an extremely timely vision of feminine liberation, one even the censors could not repress. When I was a 22-year-old baby film snob, I saw “A Very Curious Girl” (on VHS!) and it blew me away. I knew I had seen something not just unique but dangerous. I convinced my adviser it was a good idea to write my honors thesis on “A Very Curious Girl” (and a few other films by Jewish, French female filmmakers). Somehow she agreed. And in the intervening years, while the world heaped praise on my other chosen filmmakers such as Diane Kurys, Chantal Akerman and Agnes Varda, Nelly Kaplan barely even existed in the American cinema-going consciousness. Kaplan, a Russian-Jewish, Buenos Aires-born immigrant to Paris in the early 1950s, made such a unique impact on French cinema that her legacy is only now being properly understood. She’s finally getting her first New York retrospective at the Quad Cinema, opening with a run of “A Very Curious Girl” as well as some of her lesser known, more experimental work. Though her Jewishness is no secret, I think it’s key to unlocking the autobiographical aspects of her work.

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As an Argentine Jew, Kaplan came to Paris with an unusual perspective. On the one hand, she was acutely aware of lingering antiSemitism in postwar France. She became mistress and apprentice to the great man of French cinema, Abel Gance. She was his muse, company actress and, most important, second unit director. One day Gance’s wife came to the set when Kaplan was playing a topless courtesan. Gance’s wife leapt at her with cries of “sale Juive,” dirty Jewess. It was clear anti-Jewish hatred had hardly been put to rest with the war. At the same time, having come from South America, Kaplan was not tied to the trauma of recent history in the same way as those who had lived through it. In a recent interview with Joan Dupont, Kaplan reflects on the incident with Gance’s wife. “It hurt me back then. Now it makes me laugh!” she said. “Luckily I hadn’t lived under the occupation …” As a filmmaker, and as a Jew, Kaplan has just enough distance from recent history to be able to use it as material and make it her own with her trademark blend of sex and surrealism. This is aptly demonstrated in “A Very Curious Girl.” The movie takes place in an isolated rural French village, where a young woman named Marie lives with her mother and her goat in a tin roof shack on the edge of her boss’ farm. The sparsely populated village of Telliers is home to a mere handful of residents, all of them unpleasant caricatures: the priggish mailman, the buffoonish herbalist, the useless parish priest. Marie works for the farm owner, a woman who treats her like an animal by day and coerces sexual favors from her by night. The rest of the villagers are no better. They see Marie as a source of free sex and/or labor, a marginal character who should be grateful that they allowed her and her mother to live in the village when they arrived during the war sans identity papers. An isolated village, a persecuted See WITCHY FILM on Page THE

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All the 2019 Jewish Tony Nominees

Director Rachel Chavkin attends the “Hadestown” opening night at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York City, April 17, 2019. (Jim Spellman/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — The Tony Award nominations announced Tuesday were dominated by “Hadestown,” a musical about the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that garnered 14. One among the “Hadestown” nods was for best director for Rachel Chavkin, who is Jewish. She also had been nominated in 2017 for directing “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.” Sam Mendes is also nominated for best direction of a play for his work on “The Ferryman.” He’s known for his work on the James Bond films “Skyfall” and “Spectre,” and won an Academy Award for directing “American Beauty.” David Yazbek, whose show “The Band’s Visit” swept the Tonys last year, was tapped again in the best original score category for “Tootsie,” an adaptation of the 1982 film starring Dustin Hoffman. Also nominated in that category is Adam Guettel, the grandson of famed American Jewish composer Richard Rodgers. Guettel is up for his score for Aaron Sorkin’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” adaptation. (Fun fact: Guettel told The New York Times in 2003 that his last name rhymes with “shtetl.”) Sorkin, also Jewish, who adapted the famed Harper Lee novel for Broadway and directed the show, was snubbed. Actress and comedy legend Elaine May received her first Tony nomination — for best leading actress in a play. She stars in Jewish playwright Kenneth Lonergan’s “The Waverly Gallery,” his semiautobiographical play about a family dealing with the declining health of its matriarch. May launched her career performing with her father in a Yiddish theater company, and has gone on to a storied career as a comedian, director and screenwriter — notably forming a famous comedy duo with the late Mike THE

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Nichols. Lila Neugebauer, who directed “The Waverly Gallery,” was snubbed in the directing category. On why she was drawn to the play, she told The Interval, “I am a Jewish Upper West Sider and a child of a psychotherapist. The people in ‘The Waverly Gallery’ are a bunch of Jews who live on the Upper West Side or Greenwich Village, and the two parent figures are both psychiatrists.” Actor Brandon Uranowitz garnered his third Tony nomination for best featured actor for his role in the play “Burn This.” (The other two were for roles in musicals: “An American in Paris” and “Falsettos.”) Actor Gideon Glick is nominated in the same category for his work in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Glick got his start on Broadway as a senior in high school when he starred in “Spring Awakening.” “This was a probably the most research I’ve ever done because it’s circumstances I’m not accustomed to,” Glick told Backstage magazine about his role. “I’m a gay Jew from the East Coast, and all of a sudden I’m playing this Southern dandy from Bayou Blue, Louisiana.” David Korins, the set designer for “Beetlejuice,” received his third Tony nomination. His first? For his work on a little show called “Hamilton.” Sound designer Nevin Steinberg, who worked with Korins on “Hamilton,” received a nomination with Jessica Paz for their sound design of “Hadestown.” Jules Fisher has been nominated more than 20 times for his work as a lighting designer, and 2019 brings yet another nomination: for his work in “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus,” with co-designer Peggy Eisenhauer. The awards take place June 9. 

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Best Wishes to all of my friends in the Jewish Community as we all celebrate the 71st Anniversary of Israel!

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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu smiles as he delivers a speech during the launch of his Likud party election campaign in Ramat Gan, Israel, March 4, 2019. (Amir Levy/Getty Images)

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(JTA) — One week after winning election to a fifth term as Israel’s head of state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people. Other Jewish people on the list include Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg; Jennifer Hyman, whose $1 billion company Rent the Runway allows subscribers to rent designer clothing online; and Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, who started the progressive activism group Indivisible. “Israel grows more prosperous. It grows more powerful,” Time columnist David French wrote for his entry for Netanyahu in the Leaders category. “And as the election shows, sufficient numbers of Israelis believe not just that Netanyahu is partly responsible for that success but that he’s the nation’s indispensable man.” Hyman is a mentor dedicated to advocating for women, designer Diane Von Furstenberg wrote in her entry in the Titans category. In his tribute to Zuckerberg, also in the Titans category, Facebook founding president Sean Parker wrote: “Mark may have changed the

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world more than any living person, so it’s surprising how little success has changed him.” He added that Zuckerberg will have to make “hard choices” in order to keep the social media platform’s openness while staying clear of privacy abuses. “My hope is that he remains true to the ideals upon which the company was founded — choosing to promote universal values like decency over sensationalism, intimacy over social status, and human dignity over tribalism — or in Zuckspeak, simply: ‘goodness,’” he wrote. Indivisible, founded by Greenberg and Levin, who are married, is “a powerful network of folks ready to fight for justice and inclusion in health care, at our borders and in the Supreme Court,” Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley wrote. The organization draws on the local grassroots tactics of the conservative Tea Party movement to advocate against President Donald Trump and his policies. “I see myself as being part of a tradition of Jews organizing for social justice, and recognizing that our own status of a minority group that has been persecuted calls on us to support others who are under attack,” Greenberg, a Reform Jew, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2017. Israeli actress Gal Gadot wrote the entry about Dwayne Johnson, who was honored in the Artists category. “If you have had the pleasure to work with him, as I have on the ‘Fast and Furious’ films, you know that he is full of heart and creates an environment on set filled with warmth and positivity,” she wrote. 

Happy Anniversary to all of my friends in the Jewish Community!

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500 Doctors Who Serve Us Jewish Communities Sign Letter Urging Vaccinations By Marcy Oster

A sign warns people of measles in the Orthodox Jewish community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, April 10, 2019. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Some 500 doctors who serve Jewish communities across North America have signed on to a letter calling on all children and healthy adults to be vaccinated. “We the undersigned doctors who faithfully serve the Orthodox Jewish communities of North America, strongly urge all members of our community to receive all recommended vaccinations,” the letter begins. The letter is signed by doctors from states including New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Wisconsin, as well as Toronto and Montreal. It calls on individuals and Jewish communities to work together to “prevent harm-

ful diseases from spreading.” ‎ “We are aware of the dangerous misinformation campaign being spread and reject any unproven unscientific statements that contradict all available current science-based studies on vaccinations,” the letter says. The letter is being featured in a mass information campaign to the Jewish community about vaccinating, the Yeshiva World News reported. The majority of Orthodox Jewish children are vaccinated, according to statistics issued by the New York state and New York City health departments. There is no religious reason to not get vaccinated, and prominent rabbis in New York have called on their followers to vaccinate their children. The United States has confirmed 555 measles cases in 2o19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday. That’s 50 percent higher than the total number recorded for 2018. The majority of the cases are centered in New York City and its large haredi Orthodox community. 

Health

You Can Have a Happier Life as You Age! For couples, a happy sex life has long been known to strengthen the bond and the longevity of a relationship. But are there other benefits of sex? Let's leave off the two most common answers for this discussion (Those being pleasure and procreation.) So, what benefit is it? Why bother? A healthy sex life is good for both body and brain. But how? It is a stress reliever, releasing pent-up tensions and relaxing. It can help ward off colds and flu and is known to raise immunoglobulin A as well as benefiting the overall immune system. It reduces inflammation, which is considered to be the most probable model of aging. Tied in with these immune benefits is the fact that sex helps prepare a woman's body for pregnancy and enhances fertility. It reduces anxiety possibly through the release of the hormone oxytocin. Sex improves sleep quality combating insomnia and deepening the stages of sleep. Sex boosts mood. Sex helps your heart and overall fitness: it is and should be an aerobic exercise with all the benefits thereof. Conversely even short bursts of exercise have been shown

to improve sexual desire. It lowers blood pressure. Sex in men can ward off prostate carcinoma. The more instances of sex per month, the less risk of prostate cancer; this is particularly true and beneficial in aging men. Sex acts as a natural pain reliever. Sex is calming for many people. It makes one feel calmer, happier and more at ease. All human touch naturally quiets down the signaling of pain within nerve circuits. Orgasms cause a great release of natural endorphins which can lower perception of pain. For women who are comfortable with it, having sex during their period can seriously alleviate menstrual cramps. Sex help strengthen the pelvic muscles and reduce incontinence with advancing age. Then again…there is always pleasure! Contact Dr. Alan Arrington to discuss your questions regarding sexual health at 504-662-9584. 

Israel’s Health Ministry Orders Local Airlines to Vaccinate Staff Against Measles

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More than 250 El Al airlines crew members have been vaccinated against the measles after a flight attendant contracted the disease during a flight from New York in late March 2019. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — More than 250 El Al airlines crew members have been vaccinated against the measles after a flight attendant contracted the disease THE

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during a flight from New York. The flight attendant, 43, was hospitalized earlier this month with the measles. On Thursday, Israeli media reported that she was in a coma with suspected brain damage due to complications from the measles virus. She had only received one shot of the measles vaccine, instead of the recommended two, the Times of Israel reported. A 10-year-old boy who also contracted the measles virus on a plane ride is hospitalized in central Israel on a respirator with suspected brain damage, according to reports.

Israel’s Health Ministry ordered all local airlines to vaccinate their staff, especially those staff that come into contact with travelers, against measles. El Al set up a special clinic at Ben Gurion Airport in order to ensure that all staff get inoculated. The Health Ministry also called on Israelis to get fully vaccinated before flying out of the country. Many Israelis travel overseas during the Passover holiday. Some 3,600 cases of the measles have been confirmed in Israel between March 2018 and February 2019, according to the Health Ministry. 

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the

THE

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(food)

WITCHY FILM Continued from Page 12

witch on the edge of town, a midnight burial on unconsecrated ground, a goat who scares the villagers: This is not the lavenderscented fantasy Provence of American and English imagination; this is the middle of muddy nowhere, “la France profonde,” the French sticks, where the old ways still hold and anything is possible, even a feminist reversal of ancient horror tropes. In Kaplan’s imagination, it’s the witch who burns her persecuIngredients: tors, not the other way around. • 1 head cauliflower It’s never made explicit from • 1 red onion where exactly Marie and her moth• shishito peppers er came — they’re referred to both • whole carrots as witches and “gypsies.” But not • pomegranate, for garnish only are they without papers, we (optional) find out when Marie’s mother is • fresh parsley, for garnish killed in a hit-and-run that they are (optional) both unbaptized. The village priest For the tahini sauce: arrives to attend to the dead body • 1/2 cup tahini and fretfully notes that church buri• 1/2 cup ice water al will be impossible. Those who • juice of 1/2 lemon exist beyond the authority of the • 1 teaspoon olive oil Church live precariously, a fact • salt and pepper to taste well understood by European Jews. In “A Very Curious Girl,” the tin Directions: roof shack on the edge of the farm is 1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Marie’s ghetto. Her existence out2. Place the whole head of side the authority of the church is cauliflower in a pot of boiling both a threat to the community and water for 7 minutes. Remove a source of power. Marie and her and pat dry. Place the caulimother are targeted as witches, just flower head and all other selectas Jews in the Middle Ages were ed vegetables on a parchmentfigured as witches and wizards. lined sheet pan, drizzle with After her mother is killed, the roughly 5 tablespoons olive oil, townspeople target Marie’s goat, and season with salt and pepher best friend, murdering him in per. Roast for 45 minutes or cold blood by rifle shot. Instead of until browned. breaking her, the murder of the goat 3. While the vegetables are is the catalyst for Marie to finally roasting, make the lemony tahi- transform herself into the powerful ni sauce: Whisk together in a witch she is accused of being. She bowl until smooth the tahini, starts charging the villagers for what ice water, lemon juice, olive oil, they have come to expect for free. salt and pepper to taste. Seizing the means of production, 4. To assemble: Place the veg- and sex work in particular, brings etables on a platter with the whole cauliflower as the centerpiece and drizzle with the tahini sauce. Garnish with wedges of pomegranate for extra color if desired. Serves 4-6. 

Mixed Roasted Vegetables With Tahini Sauce: a Colorful Dish Inspired by Spring By Rachel Simons

(JTA) A colorful spring-inspired platter of roasted vegetables is the perfect side dish for your seder dinner or any time you are entertaining a crowd. For this particular mix, I chose a whole head of cauliflower, smaller cauliflower florets in purple and yellow, shallots, Brussels sprouts and shishito peppers. But the tahini sauce is perfect with any combination of roasted seasonal vegetables you like. We eat with our eyes, so the more color, the better. Note: The tahini sauce can be made at least 2 days ahead and kept refrigerated.

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Marie newfound wealth, and with wealth comes options. The more powerful Marie becomes, the harder the villagers try to destroy her. Kaplan spent the late 1950s and early ’60s used and ill-treated by her mentor, Abel Gance. Joan Dupont notes that in the early ’60s, Kaplan’s relationship with Gance had become intolerable. She “became pregnant with his child and went to Switzerland for an abortion. He did not help much with money … Yet she was there for him again, heading his second unit on ‘Cyrano et d’Artagnan’ (1964) in Italy and found conditions even more hellish than they’d been on Austerlitz. On Dec. 8, 1962, she wrote Gance, citing his reproaches and jealousies, declaring herself to be out of steam, à bout de soufflé …” In “A Very Curious Girl,” the one man who treats Marie kindly is Andre, a traveling cinema salesman who sees Marie not as someone to exploit but as an equal. Andre introduces Marie to a special tape recorder that functions both as the key to her freedom and a spark to her creativity. It’s hard not to see Andre as a stand-in for Claude Makovski, the man who, after leaving Gance, became Kaplan’s lifelong creative partner as well as the producer of her two most important films, “A Very Curious Girl” and a Picasso documentary in 1967. But while Andre is kind and loving to Marie, you can’t help but cheer as she sets off by herself at the end of “A Very Curious Girl,” tossing her high heels to either side of the road as the credits roll. The intersection of old-fashioned witchcraft and cutting-edge technology feels incredibly relevant today. In Marie, Nelly Kaplan has created an unforgettably witchy wanderer perfectly suited for our cultural moment. 

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Want Something Decadent? Try This Red Wine Braised Short Ribs With Prunes Recipe. By Leanne Shor

This article originally appeared on The Nosher. Braised short ribs are a decadent and delicious alternative to brisket for Passover, or anytime you want to serve up a very special meal. They are so tender from cooking low and slow, they literally fall off the bone. Adding dried fruit to meaty dishes is one of my favorite tricks for creating a sweet and savory flavor profile. Plus the acidity from the red wine and balsamic vinegar adds an extra special touch of umami. The trick to a tender and flavorful dish for many kinds of braised meat dishes is creating layers of flavor, which begins by browning the short ribs in a large pan to lock in the juices and caramelize the meat. Then I add a mix of chopped

aromatic vegetables (onions, carrots and celery) to cook in the fat rendered by the meat, getting all those “good bits” off the bottom of the pan. After the vegetables have softened, it’s time to add the liquids — in this case, sweet wine, stock and balsamic vinegar — and then cook it all low and slow until the meat is crazy tender. I love to serve these short ribs with mashed or roasted potatoes, roasted vegetables and wilted greens. But be warned — they are devoured quickly. Ingredients: • 3 pounds bone-in short ribs • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves • 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper • 1/4 cup olive oil • 1 medium onion, diced • 3 medium carrots, chopped • 2 stalks celery, chopped • 3 bay leaves • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar • 1 1/2 cups sweet wine or 1 cup

of port • 2 1/2 cups full bodied red wine — Cabernet or Merlot • 5 cups beef stock • 1 1/2 cups pitted prunes • Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish (optional)

Directions: 1. Remove the short ribs from the fridge and rub well with black pepper and fresh thyme leaves. Let the short ribs sit out for about an hour while they come to room temperature. 2. In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, then brown the short ribs over high heat on each side. Work in batches and don’t crowd the pan to ensure that each piece gets good caramelization.

3. Place the browned short ribs in a heavy bottom Dutch oven; set aside. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Add the onions, carrots and celery to the skillet where you browned the short ribs, and cook over medium heat for about 7-8 minutes until the vegetables soften and start to caramelize. Add the balsamic vinegar, port and red wine to the vegetables, then turn the heat up to high, bring the mixture to a boil, and cook until the liquids have reduced by about half. Add the beef stock and bring the mixture back to a boil. 4. Pour the wine mixture over the short ribs and add the bay leaves and pitted prunes to the Dutch oven. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and braise the short ribs for about 3 hours in the oven. Remove the lid from the pot for the last 15 minutes of cooking to crisp up the short ribs and ensure that sauce is thickened slightly. 5. Serve with mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables or wilted greens. Be sure to serve each portion with plenty of the pan sauces and a few prunes. Serves 6. 

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9 Takeaways From Israel’s Historic Election By Marcy Oster

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Benny Gantz each won 35 seats. (Getty Images)

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel’s election on Tuesday was contentious, historic, crazy — and somewhat predictable. With most of the vote counted — some 300,000 votes from soldiers, diplomats and other Israeli officials working abroad have yet to be tallied — Benjamin Netanyahu seems poised to become the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history with the help of his strengthened right-wing parliamentary bloc. But the results also brought some surprises. Here are the big takeaways. 1. Two winners? No Israeli party had ever garnered more than 1 million votes in an election, but two did on Tuesday: Netanyahu’s Likud and former Israeli military chief of staff Benny Gantz’s centrist Blue and White, which included other prominent politicians Yair Lapid and Moshe Yaalon. Each party won 35 seats, but Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition is better positioned to form a government. Still, Gantz’s showing was impressive, and his bloc could become a formidable opposition in the years to come. There’s always the chance that Netanyahu forms a unity government with Blue and White — but it’s unlikely. 2. Orthodox parties keep getting stronger. Two haredi Orthodox parties have gained seats in the new Knesset, or parliament, and reportedly have pledged to support Netanyahu in the prime minister sweepstakes. The United Torah Judaism and Sephardic Orthodox Shas each won eight seats, a gain of two and one, respectively. Their combined 16 votes could put them in the driver’s seat when it comes to legislation 18 Israel @ 71

dealing with a host of issues they care about, such as the enlistment of yeshiva students, public transportation on Shabbat and the push for egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall. 3. Arab parties are getting weaker. In the last election, the Arab parties united and called themselves the Joint List. They won 13 seats in that election. This time, however, squabbles split the list into separate parties. Two Arab party coalitions made it into the new Knesset: The Hadash-Taal list received six seats and the Raam-Balad List barely squeaked past the electoral threshold of 3.25 percent of the total vote to garner four seats, for a total of 10

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz greets supporters after speaking at a campaign rally in Tel Aviv, April 7, 2019. (Amir Levy/Getty Images)

seats representing Arab-Israelis. But Arab voter turnout was historically low — nearly half the traditional rate. That was despite calls by Arab politicians and religious leaders, with the latter taking to muezzins to encourage the public to vote. One reason was likely disgust with the parties that ran in the 2019 election for not being able to find a way to continue together as the more powerful Joint List. Some were disappointed as well with the parties’ inability to prevent pieces of legislation such as the nationstate law, which codified Israel as a Jewish state. Election Day reports also showed that some 1,200 cameras were placed in Arab polling stations by Likud, which claimed it was protecting against voter fraud. Arab leaders said the tactic intimidated members of the Arab community and kept them from the polls. 4. It wasn’t a great day for women. If nothing big changes in the

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coming days, the new Knesset will have the same number of women as the last: 29 out of 120. That puts Israel 76th internationally in terms of women’s representation in government, down from 66th in 2015. 5. It was a worse day for two right-wing stars. Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked will likely not make it into the next government. The two prominent and outspoken right-wing lawmakers broke away from the Jewish Home party formerly headed by Bennett to form The New Right party, which they called a party based on a “full and equal partnership” between Orthodox and secular Israelis. The party was designed to give secular rightwingers a comfortable place to put their vote and increase the size of the right-wing bloc. The attempt seems to have backfired: Jewish Home, which joined with the Kahanist Jewish Power, or Otzma Yehudit, and the National Union Party for the 2019 vote, had five seats in the last Knesset and earned the same number on Tuesday. But The New Right does not appear to have passed the electoral threshold. 6. It was a letdown for stoners, too. In the few months leading up to the election, Moshe Feiglin was hailed as among the more important players in any upcoming Knesset coalition. He seemed to be attracting a large following of young people with his libertarian policies — including support for full legalization of marijuana. But his Zehut party also failed to pass the electoral threshold. (Feiglin, like Bennett, has said that the soldier’s ballots will push him over the line.) 7. Voter turnout overall was a little low. The final total was 67.9 percent, down from the 71.8 percent in the 2015 election, even though Election Day is a national holiday and all public transportation between cities was free to help voters get to their polling places. More than 150,000 Israelis managed to visit national parks — hopefully after they went to the polls. 8. One man makes the final decision. Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, decides which party head gets a chance to form the new government. With Likud and Blue and

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White tied at 35 seats, or even if that total changes by a seat or two in either direction, Rivlin will look at which leader will be more likely to form a government. To do so, Rivlin will meet with each party head and ask who he or she (there is one she, Tamar Zandberg of the liberal Meretz party) recommends to lead the government. On Wednesday, Rivlin announced that the consultations will be broadcast live, and the party heads will be able to give official statements at a press center set up at the president’s residence. The post-election press center is nothing new, but the live broadcast certainly is, and is being done “in the name of transparency,” according to a statement from the President’s Office. During the campaign, Netanyahu told members of the Likud in a statement captured on tape that Rivlin “is just looking for an excuse” to tap Gantz to form the next government, so the end of this process could be interesting. 9. What comes next? Netanyahu would become the country’s longest-serving prime minister, and it looks like his coalition — projected to be 65 seats, giving him a strong 10-seat cushion over the opposition — will allow him to govern comfortably and effectively. Still, expect big bumps for him along the way. Netanyahu promised at the very end of the campaign to annex the West Bank. If he follows through on the pledge, he is certain to provoke an enormous amount of international scrutiny, especially since the move would likely mean the end of a traditionally formulated two-state solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. The Trump administration is slated to roll out its Middle East peace plan not long after the dust settles from the election, and all signs have indicated that it will include full Israeli control of the West Bank. Finally, Netanyahu’s apparent crowning as “King Bibi” does not mean that his corruption scandals and looming indictments are going away. News reports the day after the election indicated that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who announced in February that he would indict Netanyahu in three cases pending a pre-indictment hearing, would schedule that hearing for some time in the coming three months. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing in the cases.  THE

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on Issues

Netanyahu’s Victory Means the Far Right in Israel Is About to Get a Lot More Powerful

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election, annexation of the West Bank became a real possibility. (JTA Montage: Getty Images/Flash90)

(JTA) — Despite an exceptionally close race with Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud looks well-positioned to form a governing coalition and remain at the helm of the Jewish state. A fifth term for Netanyahu carries serious consequences for those interested in peace with Israel’s neighbors and the nation’s longterm security. West Bank annexation, which would undermine Israel’s legitimacy and democratic character by cementing permanent occupation of the Palestinians, has become a mainstream objective on the political right, particularly in this most recent campaign. In Washington, we will likely see more polarization as the Trump administration tacitly backs annexation to the chagrin of mainstream Democrats and many Republicans. Netanyahu’s outgoing government coalition was the first in his 10 continuous years as prime minister that did not contain any centrist or left-wing parties. His next coalition is likely to lurch even further to the right, particularly on the annexation issue. In the lead-up to this election, Netanyahu pulled out all the stops to ensure victory, including suggesting a victory by his opponents would lead to terrorism and taking active steps to suppress the Arab vote, sending Likud activists with hidden cameras to spy on Arab voters at the ballot box. But perhaps most egregious, Netanyahu encouraged the political merger between Jewish Home and the far-right Jewish Power into the Union of Right-Wing Parties. The reconstituted Union of Right-Wing Parties will replace Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked’s pro-settlement New Right, which remained slightTHE

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ly below the electoral threshold for seats in the Knesset two days after the elections (there is an outside possibility this could change, depending on another look at the “double-envelope” votes of soldiers, prisoners, diplomats and hospital patients). The Union of RightWing Parties, like the New Right, backs West Bank annexation. Yet unlike Bennett and Shaked’s faction, Jewish Power makes no pretenses of trying to fit in among polite company. It supports not only annexation but expelling Palestinians from Israel and the West Bank as well. The party, which is predicted to secure five seats in this Knesset, is comprised of acolytes of the late extremist rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kach and Kahane Chai movements are banned and classified as terrorist organizations by Israel, the United States and the European Union. The Union of Right-Wing Parties leader, Rabbi Rafi Peretz, plans to request the Justice Ministry, giving him the ability to advance the same antijudicial agenda that Shaked hoped to push. The racist and homophobic Bezalel Smotrich, No. 2 on the list, has his eyes on the education portfolio. Without a Netanyahu-brokered agreement, it is possible that neither party would have made it into the parliament. Netanyahu took these dramatic steps, including elevating Jewish Power, in an effort to build an ideologically pure rightist coalition. This may be the only route for Netanyahu to legislate immunity for himself in the face of pending indictments in three corruption cases. From Netanyahu’s perspective, this could be achieved by passing the French Law, which stipulates that the prime minister cannot be prosecuted while in office. Even if the law is not passed, Netanyahu will not risk a unity government with Blue and White, which can be guaranteed not to insulate the prime minister from prosecution. Instead, he will likely rely on the 14 seats held by the haredi Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties as well as See NETANYAHU on Page

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Judaism

Is ‘Goy’ a Slur? By Andrew Silow-Carroll (JTA) — My seders, like most, drew to a close with the annual cringe-fest known as “Sh’foch Hamatcha,” in which everyone stands up and urges the Almighty to “Pour out Your fury on the nations [goyim] that do not know You.” The section is a justifiable reflection of historic Jewish anger and wishful thinking, especially during the Middle Ages when the biblical verse was added to the Haggadah. But PC it is not.

Is the Hebrew word “goy” a slur when used today? (Pixabay)

The word “goyim” sits there like a stray bone in the homemade gefilte fish, inevitable and undigestible. In this case the word means nothing other than “nation,” counting the Jews as one among many “goyim” out there. But the verse plants the seeds for how we’ve come to think of “goy” and “goyim”: as designations for any individual or collective who simply are Not Us. But is goy necessarily disparaging? I saw the point being debated on Twitter last week. The writer Ariel Sobel insisted in a tweet, “Goy isn’t a slur. If you think it is, you are a goy.” She fleshed that out in a separate

tweet: “Being called not Jewish is not a slur. The absence of Judaism does not make someone vulnerable. Having a term to describe it is not a slur, it just discomforts people because it subverts them as the labeless norm.” A lot of the Jews who responded begged to differ, saying that while some Jews use the word as a fairly neutral or even affectionate term for a “non-Jew,” the word has taken on disparaging connotations. Others pointed out that it creates a binary that is particularly hurtful to interfaith families and converts. “As a Jew married to a Jew by choice, I definitely see goy as a slur — seldom used as a compliment, and never used in the presence of a non-Jew,” wrote Nahma Nadich, the deputy director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston. “That’s a good litmus test: if you wouldn’t use a word in the presence of someone you’re describing, good chance it’s offensive.” Sobel explained that she was reacting to white supremacists who have embraced the word “goyim,” partly to accuse Jews of promoting their own brand of ethnic chauvinism and partly as a badge of twisted honor. But she also thanked those who responded for changing her thinking about the term. “Goy can be weaponized to hurt interfaith families, converts, and patrilineal Jews,” she wrote. “We all have unique relationships to the

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term shaped by our experience. So grateful to have had so many people jump in on the conversation and tell me about theirs.” I have a hard time seeing “goy” as anything but offensive. In my day job I often find it necessary to distinguish between Jews and non-Jews, as in “What it’s like to be a non-Jewish counselor at a Jewish summer camp” or “In Moscow, a non-Jewish physicist recalls helping build the Soviet Union’s only yeshiva.” But the word “goy” has too much historical and linguistic baggage to be used as casually as “non-Jew” or “gentile.” It starts with the obvious slurs – like “goyishe kopf,” or gentile brains, which suggests (generously) a dullard, or “shikker iz a goy,” a gentile is a drunkard. “Goyishe naches” describes the kinds of things that a Jew mockingly presumes only a gentile would enjoy, like hunting, sailing and eating white bread. But even in its plain sense the word is a weapon in what the Yiddishist Michael Wex calls the “vocabulary of exclusion.” “Differences between yidish and goyish, sacred and profane, proper and improper, are built into the structure of the language,” he writes, using “yidish” to mean Jewish. How that came to be is the subject of a fascinating discussion in the current online edition of the scholarly journal Ancient Jew Review (the best name of any Jewish publication ever). The occasion is the publication of a new book by the Israeli scholars Adi Ophir and Ishay Rosen-Zvi titled “Goy: Israel’s Multiple Others and the Birth of the Gentile” (Oxford University Press). In it they argue that while the word “goy” is common in the Torah, it was only in the later rabbinic literature (starting say, in the first and second centuries CE) that “goy” acquired the status of the absolute Other. From then until today, the word not only distinguishes what makes a gentile different than a Jew, but – and this is crucial — what defines a Jew as being different from a gentile. The authors suggest that it was the lapsed Jew and Christian apostle Paul who got the ball rolling in his letters by emphasizing the distinctions between the Jews and the followers of Jesus. Ophir and Rozen-Zvi note that the rabbis don’t just distinguish between ways of religious thinking, but divide the world into a binary Us and Not Us. “In contrast to earlier attempts to

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grapple with threatening foreign groups, the generalized and abstract rabbinic Goy has no other quality besides his being a non-Jew,” writes Yair Furstenberg, of the Talmud Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in a response to their book. Is that necessarily a bad thing? We make distinctions all the time. Many of our identities are based as much upon what we are not as what we are. The challenge is what you do with those distinctions. In another response to the Israelis’ book, Cynthia Baker, a professor of religious studies at Bates College, aligns with those who believe that Jew-goy divisions “distort, deform, and diminish the full personhood of most of this world’s human inhabitants.” Ophir and Rozen-Zvi also suggest that the Us and Them thinking of the rabbis tends to reinforce a sense of superiority among the Jews, and assigns to goyim qualities that, as Baker writes, “mark their lack of worthiness – and … none that are genuinely positive.” At the very least, the idea of undifferentiated goyim shows an incredible lack of curiosity of the ways that non-Jews might differ among themselves, let alone how they differ from Jews. Jews are hardly alone in this exclusionary thinking. The Jewgoy distinction was born at a time when Jews were themselves excluded from the “nations,” and could barely imagine a society where people of various faiths and religions could live side by side on equal terms. That doesn’t argue for getting rid of the “Pour out your fury on the goyim” section of the Haggadah. I’m a big believer in wrestling with the more difficult parts of the tradition rather than censoring them. But perhaps we should read such language with empathy for the Jewish condition at the time it was written — and acknowledge the ways our own conditions have changed. Today we have the luxury and ability to think about the Other in ways that honor the Jews for their differences without disparaging others for theirs. We can do better than “goy.” 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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Why Is Holocaust Fiction Still So Popular? By Emily Burack This article originally appeared on Kveller.

If you take a look at bookstore shelves and best-seller lists, it seems that readers continue to seek out stories about the Holocaust. This is in no way a bad thing — more people should learn about the Holocaust, not fewer. Among recent buzzy Holocaust novels are Julie Orringer’s “The Flight Portfolio” (May 2019), which tells the tale of Varian Fry, who helped thousands of Jews flee occupied Europe and became the first American to be named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum. Georgia Hunter’s “We Were the Lucky Ones” (2017) is the fictionalized story of the author’s Polish Jewish family surviving against all odds. Similarly, Eduard Halfon’s “Mourning” (2018) is an autobiographical novel translated from Spanish that dives into the legacies of the Holo-

caust based on Halfon’s family. These books are all undoubtedly worth reading. And yet, is it just me, or does it feel weird that the Holocaust remains so popular? Why do readers continue to seek out stories of the most traumatic event of the 20th century? How are 19 of the top 20 best-sellers in Jewish literature and fiction on Amazon all Holocaust fiction? With more questions than answers, I set out to understand why readers in 2019 keep Holocaust stories — which I define loosely as either works of historical fiction set during the Holocaust or that deal with the legacies of the Holocaust — at the top of the charts. I came to understand that Holocaust fiction remains popular for four key reasons: a mix of who is telling the story (the third and fourth generations), the types of stories (not straightforward, but morally ambiguous), the historical truth at the heart of all these novels and our current political moment. Let’s dive in. Once you start seeking out Holocaust fiction, you see it everywhere. However, as Jewish Book Coun-

Kveller cil editorial director Becca Kantor explained, the amount of Holocaust fiction books that are being published are “not necessarily increasing, but it’s certainly not decreasing, either — which, as more time passes since the Holocaust, in itself seems quite significant.” “Although we’re moving further away from the Holocaust, we only find out more about it as time goes on,” Kantor said. “As writers from the third and fourth generations after the Holocaust begin to address this history in fiction, they often look at it more dispassionately than previous generations.” Author Georgia Hunter echoes this sentiment. As the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor — she didn’t discover this until after her grandfather died — she set out to research her family’s history, which she eventually turned into the best-selling novel “We Were the Lucky Ones.” In

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as $150,000 to eligible nonprofits at risk of terrorist attacks. The nonprofits use the funding to acquire and install items ranging from fences, lighting and video surveillance to metal detectors and blast-resistant doors, locks and windows. The Poway suspect, a 19-yearold nursing student, is believed to have posted an online manifesto on a forum popular with the “alt-right” that said he was inspired by the Tree of Life synagogue gunman in Pittsburgh and the shooter who killed 50 at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The suspect also called President Donald Trump “Zionist, Jew-loving, anti-white.” Masters said that following Pittsburgh and Poway, the conversation surrounding future attacks has changed. “We used to say it’s a question of ‘not if but when,'” he said. “Now we say ‘not when, but when again?'” (Gabrielle Birkner contributed to this report from Poway.) 

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SHOOTINGS Continued from Page 1 communities, like the Squirrel Hill neighborhood in Pittsburgh or Poway, 20 miles north of San Diego, are more vulnerable. “Ten years ago they probably wouldn’t be identified as targets of this kind of attack,” Friedman said. “Now due to these homegrown violent extremists, they’re able to attack more locally with a focus on their own locale.” Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the federal government has made more money available to houses of worship, especially synagogues and mosques, and other vulnerable institutions. This year’s spending bill included $60 million for fiscal year 2019 to fund the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which helps synagogues and other houses of worship, religious day schools and a variety of nonprofits improve the security of their buildings. The Department of Homeland Security, which administers the program, awards grants of as much

an interview with Kveller, Hunter explains that as a third-generation survivor, she feels like there is an influx of stories being told now. “Second-generation [survivors] were born right after the war ended, and everything was still so raw,” she said. “A lot of times, that generation was protected, and these stories were not shared; these kids were cocooned, in way, from the experiences that their parents had endured. Being one generation removed from that gives us — as grandchildren of some of these survivors — a little bit more freedom to ask the questions that maybe our parents never felt comfortable asking. And along with that, those survivors maybe are a little bit more willing to share as they get older.” That last point is key: The number of Holocaust survivors who are

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FICTION Continued from Page 21 still with us is shrinking. So there’s a push by their relatives, and by writers, to document their stories before it’s too late. Holocaust fiction that remains popular is more nuanced than portraying “Jews as good” and “Nazis as bad.” Rather they paint complex pictures of deeply conflicted individuals. Varian Fry, the protagonist of Orringer’s “The Flight Portfolio,” has to decide who is worth saving. Fry is sent to Vichy France by an organization called the Emergency Rescue Committee (it actually existed) to help rescue artists and writers. But Fry is faced with a choice: Does he help rescue the talented refugees he was tasked with saving or just “regular” refugees? This moral ambiguity of Holo-

caust fiction is not new. As scholar Emily Millner Budnick argues in her 2015 work “The Subject of Holocaust Fiction,” “If the Holocaust narrative becomes simply about the Jewish (or gypsy, or homosexual, or handicapped) victim, who is good, and the German (or Nazi, Polish, or anti-Semitic) victimizer, who is bad, then the story of the Holocaust becomes simple and straightforward.” Orringer echoed this idea — that stories of the Holocaust aren’t just straightforward, but contain nuance and depth — when we spoke. “Despite the fact that there are certain elements of [Holocaust fiction] that have become familiar to us — descriptions of the camps, people being rounded up, being taken out of one’s home and sent into a kind of unimaginable existence — those larger tropes of Holocaust literature,

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they are composed of individual stories, and the number of individual stories is millions,” she said. “Anytime a writer can explore a particular story and bring it alive with some poignancy, readers will just continue to be amazed by people’s fortitude, by what people are willing to do for others, or by the ways that that unimaginable adversity tests us and changes us. And I don’t think that can ever be exhausted.” The successful works of Holocaust fiction I read for this piece make sure to note that they are “inspired by true events.” They remind you, the reader, that this really happened, even if it didn’t happen exactly as the writer is about to describe. As scholar James E. Young argues in “Holocaust Documentary Fiction: Novelist as Eyewitness,” Holocaust fiction writers are “forcefully compelled” to remind readers that there is a factual basis underlying their stories. “By mixing actual events with completely fictional characters, a writer simultaneously relives himself of an obligation to historical accuracy (invoking poetic license), even as he imbues his fiction with the historical authority of real events,” he wrote. Hunter believes that Holocaust fiction should always be rooted in true events and real people. “There’s no more important time than now to be remembering these stories,” she said. ” And whether it’s based on the era, or based on a very specific person and what they experienced, it’s a chapter in our history that needs to be told and retold again and again in order for us to never forget what happened.” When I asked Hunter why she decided to write her family’s story as historical fiction, not memoir, she explained that while the narrative is “absolutely based on truth,” what was missing was “the colorful human aspect,” aka what makes a book readable. “What were my relatives thinking and feeling and saying and wearing? What was the weather?” she asked. “I wanted to honor the story truthfully and to honor the family’s experience of what they went through at the time, but I also wanted it to [be a book that] my kids could pick it up and almost feel as if they were there.” By fictionalizing details (like Fry’s lover that Orringer invents in “The Flight Portfolio”), it allows the reader to be in the moment with the characters. It allows them to understand the Holocaust not as

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something that happened long ago, but as something that happened to real people. And maybe these stories are staying popular because of what’s happening in the world today. “The Holocaust also continues to compel readers and writers because it seems so unfathomable but, at the same time, is an embodiment of our fears,” Kantor of the Jewish Book Council said. (Just think back to summer 2018, when the separation of families at the U.S. border with Mexico were being compared to the early stages of the Holocaust.) “Do you remember when you were a kid in Hebrew school?” Orringer asked. “You were told the horror, and that you should never forget. And it seemed kinda distant at the time. Under the current administration, that hasn’t been the case. What seemed like a pretty abstract principle is no longer an abstract principle.” Orringer said she wanted to tell Fry’s story because “I want [readers] to know about how much difference a single person can make. “I think that in the face of our country’s current official xenophobia, it’s easy for us to feel really disempowered,” she said. “And I think a story like Varian Fry’s reminds us that despite our limitations, we can make a difference individually, and the difference we make can change hundreds or thousands of other lives.” Hunter echoed this sentiment — her book was released weeks after Trump’s inauguration, even though she had started it nearly a decade earlier. His election coincided with a rise of anti-Semitism on the right and the left in North America and Europe, and prompted accusations that he and his supporters either embraced white supremacism or did too little to condemn it. “When I set off to write my book, I never thought it would feel so relevant and so timely. The themes of the Holocaust and antiSemitism and survival against all odds and perseverance in the face of adversity …” she trails off. “Look where we are today, it’s scary. We live in a world where the number of survivors is shrinking, and yet anti-Semitism seems to be on the rise in a lot of places. Maybe that’s part of what’s inspiring writers to write these stories down.” And that’s possibly the most compelling reason for why we keep reading them.

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Israel Issues Strong Warning Against Travel to Sri Lanka By Marcy Oster

A soldier speaks with a man as he enters a mosque that had been used as a shelter by Muslims fearing reprisals following the Easter Sunday attacks on churches and hotels, in Negombo, Sri Lanka, April 25, 2019. (Carl Court/Getty Images)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel issued a travel warning of a “high and concrete (terror) threat” in Sri Lanka. The warning issued by the Israel National Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau on Thursday, four days after a terror attack at eight churches

and hotels in three cities in Sri Lanka killed at least 359 people and injured hundreds, called on Israelis already in Sri Lanka to leave as soon as possible and for those planning trips to cancel or delay those plans. It is the bureau’s second highest warning. The decision to issue the warning came in consultation with representatives of Israeli security organizations and the Foreign Ministry, according to the Counter-Terrorism Bureau. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Easter Sunday attack. Two Jewish teenage siblings from London, who were dual citizens of the United States, were among those killed in the attack. 

Israel Under Radar

Jerusalem Lights Its Notre Dame With French Colors in Solidarity With Burned Paris Cathedral By Josefin Dolsten

Jerusalem lit up its Notre Dame with the colors of the French flag in solidarity with the burned cathedral in Paris, April 18, 2019. (Arnon Bosani)

(JTA) — Jerusalem projected the colors of the French flag onto its Notre Dame compound in solidarity with the burned cathedral in Paris. The Israeli capital’s mayor, Moshe Lion, extended sympathy to Paris, which saw significant portions of the landmark church destroyed this week in a fire. Paris

prosecutors say the blaze was likely an accident. Lion announced Thursday that the Jerusalem municipality would project the French colors onto the building for 24 hours. Jerusalem’s Notre Dame, located just outside the Old City, is owned by the Vatican and serves as a guesthouse and pilgrim center. “The city of Jerusalem and its residents are saddened by the difficult events that took place at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,” Lion said Thursday in a statement. “We extend our sympathies, and are sending a warm embrace to the French people from our capital, Jerusalem.” 

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US and Israel Launch Reciprocal Investor Visa Programs By Marcy Oster Jerusalem (JTA) — The United States and Israel have launched a reciprocal policy allowing major investors to reside in each country. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Tuesday that it would grant investor visas permitting U.S. citizens, including vital workers and their families, to reside and work in Israel on a temporary basis for the purpose of managing

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and developing a business venture. The visas are in response to an announcement earlier this month by the U.S. Embassy in Israel that it would grant U.S. E-2 investor visas for Israeli nationals that allows them to invest in the U.S. economy and send qualified employees to the United States to develop the enterprise. Both countries’ investor visas will be implemented starting May 1. 

other Saturday night. “The idea was to create more Israel-oriented programming for kids who really want to be there outside of school hours,” Avital said. The emissaries also send a monthly Israeli newsletter for students and their families that includes riddles, short quizzes and a color-by-Hebrew-letter drawing exercise for younger students. A section for middle schoolers includes articles about famous Israeli figures like founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion and the late astronaut Ilan Ramon. “We really dedicate a lot of time to thinking and planning programs,” Avital said. “We meet with the kids and understand what they want.” Rabbi Moshe Margolese, principal of Ohr Chadash Academy, said the shinshinim have helped shift the school’s mindset on Israel education, making it much richer and more varied. The emissaries’ touch is everywhere, he said. “They’ve created lunch placemats with Israeli trivia and labeled everything in the hallway in Hebrew: desk, door, bulletin board,” he said. “They’re teaching without taking away from class instruction time.” Margolese said the shinshinim also serve as role models. “These are young adults who are openly proud to be Jewish. They infuse the atmosphere with a love of Torah,” he said. “They’ve had a considerable impact on our stu-

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dents’ education.” In Fairfax, Virginia, community emissary Noy Peri divides her time between a local synagogue and the pluralistic Gesher Jewish Day School. She recently organized an activity related to Israel’s 1976 rescue of the kidnapped Jewish hostages in Entebbe. “This isn’t an event that many American kids know about, but it was one of Israel’s biggest military operations and I thought it was important to talk about it,” Peri said. When she works with young students at the school, Peri does interactive activities like create puzzles with pictures from big moments in Israeli history. For older kids, she recently did a class about Mizrahi music in Israel and taught how Mizrahim — Jews from North Africa and the Middle East — had to struggle against the dominant Ashkenazi culture to get their songs played on the radio. The goal, Peri said, is to teach students “not just to love Israel, but to know Israel.” This article was sponsored by and produced in partnership with the Avi Chai Foundation, which is committed to the perpetuation of the Jewish people, Judaism and the centrality of the State of Israel to the Jewish people. In North America, the foundation works to advance the Jewish day school and overnight summer camp fields. This article was produced by JTA’s native content team.  THE

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NOAH'S WIFE Continued from Page 8 you were told now you’re gonna make a boat for three to five years of your life, and then live on it for a year, and then start from scratch, I would be like, ‘I’m gonna be older by then! I don’t know what I’ll be like, or capable of, or what hormonal situation I’ll be in!’ [Laughs] But I do like how that adds to the magical nature of it — of everyone just being like, yeah, sure, we will do all of this, and we’ll do it in the time it takes, and we won’t stress about how long it takes, and we’ll just keep walking away from our life to build this giant ark, and return to people that we know are going to die. The whole time, did they not tell them they were going to die? There are still questions that I feel like I really didn’t get to answer that I want answered myself. What was your research process like? I did re-read Genesis more times than I can count. And I researched animals a lot, and I researched things as they came up. So, a lot of it would be extrapolations on better documented periods of history, like Sumerian culture and Egyptian culture. But mostly: I didn’t research too much, because I really wanted to have the freedom to give her what she needed and focus more on her emotional life. I tried to be just more faithful to Naamah herself, and what I thought she might do. You write, “The longer she is on the boat, the less she trusts Him, and His feelings toward her, and His choice of her for matriarch.” I never really thought too deeply about the story of Noah’s Ark, that his wife would be the matriarch for everyone in the future. Can you talk a little about this, and how the idea of ‘matriarch’ weaves through the story? It was hard to imagine being the woman that would be told all of the rest of the world, for the rest of time, would be able to trace back to you. I mean, that is insane! That seems insane. It seems when it happens to other people — in stories, in mythical tellings — it’s less pronounced than it was here. Here, they were pulled away from everyone else, watched everyone die, got stuck on water, and didn’t know how long that would last. And then they knew that from there, it would be their job, and if they didn’t create all of life, that would be it. So it’s this incredible drive to want to create people, but THE

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also know that as you did, you were remarkable as well. But yeah, I can’t answer that going to create a world that had question too well. In talking about begun with you. I was really taken by Naamah’s retellings recently, I realized I relationship with Bethel, her lover haven’t read too many retellings before the flood. Why did you outside poems because I’ve been a choose to include that story and poet for so long. I do know a lot of [poetry] retellings, like Marie create that character? I was really taken by the idea of Howe’s work, a series of poems in everyone being hundreds of years “The Kingdom of Ordinary Time,” old. They’re not as specific about about Jesus’s mother Mary. And [age] with Naamah, but they are with then her newest book of poems is Noah, [who is] around 500 or 600 called “Magdalene,” about Mary years old [Genesis 5:32]. So, I Magdalene. A. E. Stallings does assumed that she was, too. And I these great poems about the Greek assumed their marriage was probably myths, and so does Louise Glück centuries old. Because the other little and Rita Dove, and there’s all these detail you get [is] that after the boat, amazing persona poems that are you find out that [their son] Shem, often giving voice to character when he has his first son, is 100 you’re somewhat familiar with. [Genesis 11:10]. Which meant that in Like Carmen Jiménez Smith takes their terms of thinking, that is young- on some of the fairy tales. So the ish. So, that implies to me that Naa- poetry world I feel like is what got mah and Noah had probably been me poised to really think about married since around 100 years old. retellings. I’m just usually thinking Now you’ve got a marriage that’s about them happening much more centuries old. And, to me, it seems quickly than a 300-page novel. quite natural that marriage was The novel feels a lot like prose PLEASE CHECK YOUR going to mean something different, poetry, it flowed so beautifully. I and that other seriousAD relationships noticed your previous books are all CAREFULLY FOR PLEASE CHECK YOUR would probably come in and out poetry; SPELLING & GRAMMAR, AS what was this transition like PLEASE AD CAREFULLY FOR during that time period, andCHECK that YOUR for you, from the world of poems WELL ASthing, ACCURACY OF ADwouldn’t be a horrible but and shorter AD CAREFULLY FOR SPELLING & GRAMMAR, AS works to a novel-length PHONE NUMBERS just an inevitableDRESSES, thing. story? SPELLING & GRAMMAR, AS& WELL AS ACCURACY OF ADBethel I saw asOTHER one ofVITAL Naamah’s It was shocking to me, actually. INFORMATION. WELL ACCURACY AD-& as part of the creative PHONE most recent loves.DRESSES, And IAS didn’t talkNUMBERS InOFcollege, DRESSES, PHONE OTHER VITAL INFORMATION. about whether [Naamah and Noah] writing & minor, I had to write short Your ad willNUMBERS run had more over theOTHER years,VITAL and who stories and I was dreadful at it. I INFORMATION. AS-IS unless changes ad my will run those would’ve been, Your but in just avoided fiction. I took a lot of are made and head, they had existed. Bethel arose classes in grad school studying Your ad willchanges run AS-IS unless really naturally to approved me in undershort stories as a form; I loved to with your AS-IS changes areunless made and standing just the Account length ofExecutive time read them and write essays about by are made and approved with your [before the flood]. I fell in love them and how they work and all approved with yourbycraft choices and putting them with Bethel. I thought she was a their Account Executive really necessary character to put a in Account Executivethe bycontext of their time — I love little bit of release on the tragedy all of that. But I just avoided writthat was the flood; it was some- ing them forever, because I just thing that Bethel wasn’t terrified didn’t understand prose. about. If you only had it from NaaMy mother would always say, mah’s perspective the whole time, I “Just wait ’til you’re older.” I didn’t think the flood would’ve this know why she had such confiAfterbeen this deadline, one-faceted tragedy that I’d always dence, but she did! [Laughs.] the only thischanges deadline, imagined it as, and After I wanted the And then, in 2016 with the elecflood to have a little more depth. Itmade tion, I was feeling kind of lost. I that After thisbe deadline, the may only changes still confuses me, the ways in which was working on these persona are toa good correct the changes may be made some people thought itthat wasonly poems, and I had already written a that beERRORS. made thing. God obviously PUBLISHER’S thought few poems about Naamah. And a aremay toit was correct the right thing… I was really drawn friend had asked me to write a short are to correct PUBLISHER’S ERRORS. This is a low-resolution to all of that. screenplay, just to see what that PUBLISHER’S ERRORS. PDF proof of your How do you seeThis your story fitwould be like, and I sent it to her, is a low-resolution ting into other feminist retellings of and that was about Naamah. I just advertisement This is a low-resolution PDF proof of your the bible? Anita Diamant’s The Red couldn’t get her out of my head. (may not beproof true to of actual size). your advertisement Tent immediately camePDF to mind for And I [thought], I’m just gonna isbeproperty of advertisement me. have (mayItnot true to actual size)to . sit down and let whatever I know, and I have read “The comes Renaissance Publishing (maytoIt not true to actual isbeproperty of size).out, come out. I poured out a Red Tent“, I can’t(orbelieve I haven’t few thousand words of writing the Itoriginal creator) and is property of Renaissance Publishing read it! I know it’s about Dinah, pretty quickly. And I was like, oh cannot be my gosh, Renaissance Publishing the original creator) and I think I’m writing prose, and I’ve written a(or few poems about reproduced, Dinah — and I think story is (or thethat original creator) andI just kept making time for cannot be and then

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it as my son was in school, or at the Y doing classes. I fell in love. I wanted to spend time with Naamah every day, and that meant writing this novel. She took me through a time of feeling really hopeless and unsure of how to move forward, unsure of what to look at and tell my son about what was happening. Naamah helped save me, it felt like. Besides Naamah, what’s your favorite biblical story or heroine? As a high schooler, I became quite obsessed with “Jesus Christ Superstar.” My mother always was playing soundtracks. We had cassettes, and I think I wore out my “Jesus Christ Superstar” cassette until it didn’t play anymore … One side of my family is very Jewish, and one side is very Catholic, but neither of my parents were interested in having religion inside the house. We celebrated the holidays. And we had a lot of Jewish dinners. Because it was through the dinners, my experience of Judaism was the ritual. I saw more of the prayers, the seders — I didn’t get the stories until later. Obviously, Eve is amazing. And See NOAH'S WIFE on Page

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NETANYAHU Continued from Page 19 smaller right-wing parties like Kulanu, Yisrael Beiteinu and the pro-settler Jewish Home party. These small parties will yield outsize influence in the next Knesset. Each will have an opportunity to play kingmaker, as Netanyahu will have to accede to their individual demands and build a government with a slim majority if he does not want a broad national-unity government with Gantz. The haredi Orthodox, who saw a better performance than in the last election, will be able to continue blocking any religion and state reforms. Some of the parties Netanyahu is trying to woo may demand plum ministries. Foreign affairs and defense are traditionally the most coveted. Before the election, Bennett was

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expected to demand the Defense Ministry, which would make him de facto governor of the occupied territories and grant him an influential perch from which to advance his agenda of West Bank annexation. Though Bennett’s new party apparently did not secure enough votes for him to remain in the Knesset, it does not mean the proannexation movement lost any momentum. While far from being the central question of the campaign, which focused on Netanyahu’s fitness for office, annexation went from being a fringe topic in Israel to the heart

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of the national agenda in recent months. In the lead-up to the election, all the Likud candidates endorsed this platform to some extent. Jewish Home, Jewish Power, the New Right and Zehut each endorse officially absorbing all or part of the West Bank. While Moshe Kahlon of Kulanu and Avigdor Liberman of Yisrael Beiteinu are not themselves annexationists, they are unlikely to risk another round of elections so soon after they barely passed the threshold. Annexation may be a price they are willing to pay. The official integration of the West Bank into Israel would have fatal consequences for the prospects of a two-state solution, as land intended for a Palestinian state becomes sovereign Israeli territory. Given the Trump administration’s cozy relationship with Netanyahu, the U.S. administration will likely go on providing cover for annexation without protest. If the White House ever releases its peace plan, it is almost guaranteed to contain generous territorial provisions for Israel. But the Trump plan remains perpetually a few months away. None of this bodes well for the relationship between Israeli and American Jews. Jewish Americans vote overwhelmingly Democratic (71 percent voted Democratic in the last presidential election) and a majority believe in a two-state solution. As Netanyahu enters his second decade in office, the community will be faced with uncomfortable choices about the future of Ameri-

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can policy on Israel. There are still some reasons to retain cautious optimism. This election is likely to be Netanyahu’s last. The Israeli Supreme Court would likely contest the French Law (if passed). The prime minister could last a few months or a couple of years, depending on how adeptly he plays the system. On the flip side, Gantz’s Blue and White won more seats than any previous Netanyahu challenger, and simultaneously joined Likud this year as the first two Israeli political parties to ever secure over 1 million votes. The question now is how supporters of two states, democratic norms and the U.S.-Israel alliance ride out the remainder of Netanyahu’s time in office. If there is no mainstream opposition in Washington to annexation, the field will be completely ceded to those who see growing opportunities to formalize a Greater Israel reality. As Netanyahu enters coalition negotiations in the months ahead, he and his partners in the White House will be looking for signs of exhaustion from their political opponents on both sides of the Atlantic as an opening to advance their platform. The key is not to show them what they want to see or let up. 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. 

NOAH'S WIFE Continued from Page 25

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I really enjoy Dinah’s story. I really enjoyed rewriting Lot’s wife in poems. [In my poem “Lot’s Wife”] I have it that she turned into salt, but that was like just for a minute, and then she turned back again, and she just runs away from everyone. As an adult, I’m realizing that some of the reasons I was less interested in [biblical stories] was me making assumptions that I think were kind of passed down through the patriarchy. If I actually look at those stories with my own contemporary feminist understanding, they are women I can identify with. It kind of made the Bible open up to me in a whole new way, to realize those stories can look very different. But I would say in my childhood growing up, I just loved Judas. I’m sure that’s “Jesus Christ Superstar”

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talking, but who doesn’t want to sing all of Judas’ parts really badly?! Last question: What do you hope readers take away from “Naamah”? I hope it’s a really empowering and joyful experience. I’ve been thinking about that a lot, especially as I start new projects: If I’m gonna write novels, which is totally new to me, and have this totally different relationship to a reader than I’ve had before, what interests me the most? For me, I think it is joy and empowerment. I don’t ever want to break a reader’s heart. Not that there can’t be heartbreaking things, but I don’t ever want to do that. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed. This article originally appeared on Alma.  THE

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THE

JEWISH LIGHT

www.thejewishlight.org

Israel @ 71

A Breakthrough Solution for Optimal Performance at any Age

WHY WAIT?

“Guys have a tendency not to talk about erectile dysfunction. I’d recommend anyone in their 50s or older to look into GainsWave, and not wait until they’re 62 like me.” -Alan, 62, Lawyer “In under 30 minutes, the O-Shot uses a woman’s own plasma to help overcome urinary incontinence and low libido!” -Megan, 38, RN

New Orleans Age Management Alan Arrington, MD 8422 OAK ST. • 504-662-9584 NEWORLEANSAGEMANAGEMENT.COM