June 9, 2023

The Jewish Press

Sokolof Awards reception

The Lady in Gold

(Spoiler Alert: She was no lady.)

SHIRLY BANNER

Library Specialist

On June 15 at 1 p.m., the Dorothy Kaplan Book Discussion Group will gather for their monthly meeting. Group members have the choice of meeting either in person in the Benjamin & Anna Wiesman Reception Room in the Staenberg Jewish Community Center or via Zoom. This month they will be discussing The Lady in Gold by AnneMarie O’Connor. New participants are always welcome.

The Sokolof Awards reception was held Sunday, May 21, in the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Community Engagement Venue of the Staenberg Omaha JCC. The reception honored the 2023 recipients of the Sokolof awards:

• The Phil & Ruth Sokolof Honor Roll Merit Scholarships:

• For High School Seniors: Ainsley Meyerson and Lauren Dolson

• For Health Care: Julia Edelstein and Brianna Sadofsky

• The Karen Sokolof Javitch Music Fund Award: Ilana McNamara

• The Phil & Ruth Sokolof Outstanding Jewish Teacher Award: Emily Woods

The awards were created with a bequest from the late Phil Sokolof. Phil and Ruth Sokolof were well known throughout Omaha See Sokolof Awards page 2

911 dispatcher and rabbi take the stand at Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial

RON KAMPEAS

PITTSBURGH | JTA

When Shannon Basa-Sabol was asked to recount the events of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in court on May 30, what stood out was her memory of the death of Bernice Simon.

Basa-Sabol, a 911 dispatcher, took the stand for close to an hour, describing the ins and outs of her job.

But when the crowded courtroom heard a recording of Simon’s 911 call from the Tree of Life Congregation,

Basa-Sabol paused and began to sniffle. She described telling Simon to stay quiet, then hearing multiple gunshots over the phone.

“Are you still with me?” Basa-Sabol said on the recording of the call. “Bernice, can you hear me?”

Speaking on the witness stand on Tuesday, Basa-Sabol said she had realized Simon no longer had “sufficient breathing for life.”

“I was hearing her being shot,” she said.

See Tree of Life trial page 3

If you’ve seen the movie Woman in Gold you might be familiar with part of the story behind Gustav Klimt’s portrait of Adele BlochBauer and the landmark court case brought by Maria Altmann and several other of Adele’s heirs to reclaim the painting. Anne-Marie O’Connor’s book provides one with much more of the background history surrounding the painting. Those involved, both in the past and a century later, include the extended Bloch-Bauer-Altmann familiesAdele Bloch-Bauer herself, Gustav Klimt in the years leading up to the Nazi period, and subsequently Adolf Hitler, Maria Altmann and her lawyer Randal Schoenberg.

Adele’s family traces its roots to Jewish Vienna’s high society in the 1880s where her father was head of both one of the largest banks in the Hapsburg Empire and the Orient Railway. Adele’s beauty captured the eyes of numerous suitors, including Gustav Klimt, who reputedly not only painted Adele but also seduced her. She eventually married Ferdinand Bauer, a wealthy sugar-beet magnate twice her age. The marriage did nothing to end the illicit affair with Klimt.

Klimt was a notorious womanizer who had multiple affairs and a weakness for the ladies whether he was bedding them or painting them. Klimt’s two portraits of Adele reveal two different stages of his relationship with her - the infatuated See The Lady in Gold page 2

Israel advances to the second round of men’s under-20 World Cup Page 2

From My Kosher Jewish Kitchen: Cobbler for Spring Page 7

Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest wins runner-up prize at Cannes Film Festival Page 12

DIANE WALKER JFO Foundation Fund & Scholarship Administrator

Karen Sokolof Javitch, left, Sokolof Award recipients: Emily Woods, Lauren Dolson, Ainsley Meyerson, Julia Edelstein, and Brianna Sadofsky with Gary Javitch.

The memorial at Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, Oct. 27, 2019. Credit: LightRocket via Getty Images

The Lady in Gold

Continued from page 1

man as shown in his painting of Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I and a much-aged and unflattering portrait of Adele as shown in his second work.

Israel advances to second round of men’s under-20 World Cup

JUAN MELAMED

BUENOS AIRES | JTA

In its first-ever appearance in the tournament, Israel’s under-20 men’s soccer team advanced to the second round of the FIFA U20 World Cup with a lastminute goal against Japan on Saturday.

Israel was an underdog going into the match, but the victory was made even more improbable by something that happened in the 68th minute of the game: an Israeli player was ejected after receiving a second yellow card for a harsh foul. Israel proceeded to score both of its goals in the 2-1 win while down a man.

The winning goal was scored in the final few minutes of play. “This is incredible!” exclaimed the English-language announcer.

“This is, maybe, the biggest win in the history of Israeli soccer. Historic, historic,” team manager Ofir Haim said to the Israeli Kan broadcaster after the match, with tears in his eyes.

With the victory, Israel advanced from the group stage into the knockout round, marking the first time an Israeli team has done so in any FIFA World Cup. The Israeli men’s team scored one

Continued from page 1 and throughout the country for their dedication to their community, for their charitable and philanthropic efforts and for their business and personal accomplishments.

This year’s recipients were again some of the community’s best and brightest. All are great examples of the scholarship criteria of scholastic performance, ex-

goal in its only appearance in the general World Cup in 1970.

Jewish Argentines turned out in large numbers — at times in the thousands — to support the Israeli team in their group stage matches over the past week. In their first, a loss against Colombia, some Jewish fans shouted down a group of Colombia supporters who unfurled a Palestinian flag.

Before and during their second match, a tie with Senegal, members of

Sokolof Awards

emplary character, personal achievement, community service and for our Outstanding Jewish Teacher of the Year, exceptional contributions as a teacher and mentor to the education and overall achievements of their students.

Each recipient will receive a $10,000 award.

Ilana McNamara was unable to attend as she is currently finishing her 4th year

the Hasidic Chabad-Lubavitch movement brought tefillin around to Jewish fans in the stands and outside the stadium in La Plata.

“This is for all of Israel, I dedicate this to you. I have no words,” Haim added. The tournament was originally to be played in Indonesia, but FIFA, the international soccer body, stripped the country’s hosting rights after it protested Israel’s appearance in the competition.

Klimt’s works were both praised and criticized by Austria’s art society as being both radical and erotic. Eventually Klimt fell from favor only to return to being coveted as Hitler and his associates took power and were amassing an impressive art collection. As Hitler and his Nazi era began to take hold in Austria, the Bloch-Bauer family’s Jewish roots caused more and more of their wealth and possessions to be taken or to have family members jailed in an attempt to force them to turn over control of their businesses. When Adele BlochBauer I was confiscated by the Nazis, any Jewish identity connection was erased as it was renamed Lady in Gold and displayed in Vienna’s Baroque Belvedere Palace along with other confiscated Jewish-owned art.

In 1998, Maria Altmann who was the niece of Ferdinand and Adele Bauer, contacted Randol Schoenberg, the grandson of her best friend Gertrude Zeisel, in hopes of securing Holocaust restitution of her family’s confiscated Klimt collection, especially the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Randol and Maria’s lawsuit (on behalf of her and the remaining Bloch-Bauer heirs) resulted in an intense landmark legal precedent-setting case.

Please feel free to join us on June 15 in person or via Zoom to find out whether justice prevails and Gustav Klimt’s infamous painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer is returned to her rightful heirs. The Dorothy Kaplan Book Discussion Group meets on the third Thursday of every month at 1 pm. New members are always welcome.

The Group receives administrative support from the Community Engagement & Education arm of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. For information about the group and to join in the discussion, contact Shirly Banner at 402.334.6462 or sbanner@jewishomaha.org

ORGANIZATIONS

The award-winning B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS speaker program currently meets Wednesdays via Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. Please watch our email for specific information concerning its thought-provoking, informative list of speakers. To be placed on the email list, contact Breadbreakers chair at gary.javitch@gmail.com

at Oberlin College and Conservatory. Each year, the anonymous Sokolof Committee, chaired by Jody Malashock, takes on the work of sifting through applications and nominations from phenomenal students and teachers. And each year, the committee is impressed by the caliber of applicants and so proud of their achievements.

INFORMATION

ANTISEMITIC/HATE INCIDENTS

If you encounter an antisemitic or other hate incident, you are not alone. Your first call should be to the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) in Omaha at 402.334.6572, or email JCRCreporting@ jewishomaha.org. If you perceive an imminent threat, call 911, and text Safety & Security Manager James Donahue at 402.213.1658.

B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS

Israel players celebrate after beating Japan at the FIFA U-20 World Cup at Mendoza Stadium in Mendoza, Argentina, May 27, 2023. Credit: Marcio Machado/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

Tree of Life trial

Continued from page 1

Basa-Sabol was the first witness in the trial of Robert Bowers, the man accused of murdering 11 Jews in their Pittsburgh synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. For months, survivors, relatives of victims and the Jewish community of Pittsburgh have anticipated the trial, which began Tuesday, hoping for closure while worrying that the proceedings would retraumatize people, even as no one doubted the culpability of the accused.

As the prosecution and defense gave their opening statements, it was clear that the trial would air graphic details from the attack. But while lawyers and witnesses recounted the events of the day, the courthouse was also the scene of embraces, tears of comfort, discussions of Jewish tradition and even laughter as those who lived through the tragedy connected with and supported one another.

Families of victims and survivors were in the courtroom and monitoring via videolink elsewhere in the Joseph Weis Federal Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh. Social workers and psychologists were on hand to help them through the proceedings. Reporters were asked not to conduct interviews in the building.

At a break, Tim Matson, a policeman injured in an exchange of fire with the suspect, sought out Andrea Wedner, who was shot and whose mother, Rose Mallinger, was killed. They hugged.

Maggie Feinstein, the director of the 10/27 Healing Partnership, which provides post-traumatic therapy for the community, watched closely over the nine or so family members in the courtroom, and handed them tissues.

“Today marked the beginning of a very difficult and painful trial that is the direct result of an incredibly terrible action by one person,” Feinstein wrote in an email after the court was adjourned. “It represented an important step in the process of justice, because these court proceedings are a way for our society to take up the burden of remembering and telling the truth about what happened on October 27, 2018.”

On the witness stand, Jeffrey Myers, the rabbi of Tree of Life Congregation, cried as he described how he recited the Shema, thinking he was about to die.

“I thought about the history of my people, how we’ve been persecuted and hunted and slaughtered for centuries,” he said. “And about how all of them must have felt in the moments before their death, and what they did was recite Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 4, ‘Hear, O, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.”

The defendant is accused of murdering 11 people and wounding six at three congregations that met in the same building, Tree of Life, Or L’Simcha and Dor Hadash. He faces 63 charges, 22 of which are death penalty charges that relate specifically to allegations that he targeted Jews: 11 counts of obstruction in free exercise of religious belief resulting in death and 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death. Prosecutors previously rejected a guilty plea so that they could pursue the death penalty, a punishment that families of victims and congregational leaders have debated.

Jury selection began last month and took three weeks, culminating in the selection of 18 jurors and alternates: 11 men and seven women.

In their opening statements, prosecutors and defense lawyers alike warned that the trial would revisit the attack in horrific detail. Judge Robert Colville emphasized the presumption of innocence, telling the jury that Bowers had a “clean slate” unless the prosecution was able to persuade them otherwise.

He warned jurors to avoid reading about the case in the media, and not to discuss it with friends or even with each other. And he added what he acknowledged was a recent and novel caution: “Persons, entities or even foreign governments may seek to manipulate your opinions,” instructing them not to click through if they saw messages relating to the trial popping up on their computer.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Song Soo’s 31-minute statement, delivered in a steady tone that only occasionally fluttered with emotion, set forth her case in vivid terms: A community that had come together for decades in love and caring for each other, and for Jewish tradition, was shattered by a gunman determined to murder Jews.

“In the Tree of Life synagogue, the words ‘Tree of Life’ are written in Hebrew high above the bookstand that holds the Torah, the holiest book in the Jewish faith,” she said. “The Tree of Life synagogue had anchored the corner of Wilkins and Shady for decades. As they did every Saturday men and women of the Jewish faith made their way to the synagogue to observe Shabbat.”

She noted that the Torah portion that week, Vayera, “was from the Book of Genesis and was about welcoming strangers.” She went on to describe the warmth of those who were killed and dwelled on Cecil and David Rosenthal, men in their 50s with developmental disabilities who loved to greet congregants.

“In many ways, they were like children, childlike because of

their mental disabilities, trusting and pure,” Soo said, adding that fellow congregants would help them “tie a shoe lace, tuck in a shirt, find a page in a prayer book.”

“That morning David Rosenthal stood at the front of the chapel helping to lead the opening prayer” he had memorized, she said. “His devotion to the faith made up for the fact that he could not actually read the prayer book.”

Then, she described the carnage, referring to the defendant’s alleged statements of hate on Gab, a social media platform friendly to right-wing extremists. He allegedly condemned HIAS, the Jewish refugee aid group that partnered with Dor Hadash.

“That same morning the defendant was making his own preparations to destroy, to kill and defile,” Soo said. “He hated Jews, he called them ‘the children of Satan … the most bloodthirsty, evil demons who ever walked the face of the earth.’” She read out the Gab entry Bowers allegedly posted while he was parked outside the synagogue complex. “HIAS likes to bring in invaders that like to kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch our people get slaughtered, screw your optics, I’m going in.”

“And the defendant did go in,” Soo said. She described some of the congregants’ deaths in detail, and concluded by reading out the 11 names of the murdered: Cecil and David Rosenthal, couple Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Rose Malinger, Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Jerry Rabinowitz, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.

The defendant, clad in a green sweater over an open-collared light blue shirt, stared ahead and scribbled notes. He never looked at Soo, who spoke at a podium to his right.

In her opening statement, Bowers’ lead attorney, Judy Clarke, said the defense would not contest the events, or Bowers’ responsibility for them. Clarke is known as “the attorney for the damned” for her determination to keep her clients from execution. She has defended the Unabomber, the Boston Marathon bomber and one of the conspirators who planned the 9/11 attacks.

“This senseless act, the loss and devastation, were caused by Robert Bowers,” she said. “There is no disagreement, there is no dispute and there will be no doubt as to who shot the 11 congregants. On Oct. 27, 2018, Robert Bowers, the man seated at that table, loaded with ammunition and firearms entered the synagogue.”

Clarke suggested that her defense would focus on whether the defendant’s motives met the standards required by the government’s charges, particularly regarding the 22 death penalty charges.

“We can at least do our best to uphold the rule of law by figuring out, to the best of our ability, what were Mr. Bowers’ motives and intent,” she said. She argued that her client’s statements, which focused on his deluded belief that Jews were intent on replacing white people, do not make clear that his intent met the standards enshrined in federal law.

“These statements are outrageous,” she said. “The fact that they were made raises more questions than they may answer.”

Carol Janssen, another employee from a 911 call center, testified, and in the afternoon, for a number of hours, Eric Olshan, a Jewish U.S. Attorney, asked Myers to guide the jurors through a tour of a physical scale model of the synagogue that was brought into the courtroom. Myers described the building, its congregations and the fundamentals of Judaism to an attentive jury.

Shabbat ends “when three stars are in the sky,” said Myers, who wore a black suit and white kippah and delivered his testimony in measured tones. He wore a kippah because “it reminds me that I’m in God’s presence wherever I go.”

Myers occasionally smiled at the jury when he cracked a joke, eliciting laughter, as when he recalled what a SWAT team advised him when they reached him in the synagogue: “Rabbi, run your ass off.”

And, as the defendant stared at him, Myers memorialized his murdered congregants, affectionately recalling their selfappointed roles during Sabbath services. He remembered one of the victims, Cecil Rosenthal, who always beat him to the synagogue so he could be in place to greet all comers. “I would say to him jokingly, ‘Cecil did you sleep here again?’”

David Rosenthal, he said, sang prayers “loudly,” while Rose Mallinger routinely led the prayer for peace, “that all people can live together in freedom and peace.”

As he recalled the moments of the shooting, Myers said, he felt he would not be angry at God, “because it was not God who did this. I was prepared to meet my fate.” He sobbed.

The scheduled Torah reading from Genesis 12, he said, narrates how Abraham welcomes three strangers.

“I was going to talk about the Jewish imperative to welcome all guests whoever they may be,” he said. “But I never gave that sermon.”

The defense declined to cross-examine the rabbi.

U.S. Courthouse and Post Office, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Nov. 16, 2010. Credit: Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images

As The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ends, will its Jewish legacy be more than a punchline?

SHIRA LI BARTOV

JTA

After five seasons, 20 Emmy awards and plenty of Jewish jokes, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel airs its final episode on May 26.

The lauded Amazon Prime show from Amy Sherman-Palladino has enveloped viewers in a shimmering, candy-colored version of New York during the late 1950s and early 1960s — a world in which “humor” has meant Jewish humor and “culture” has meant Jewish culture.

But as it comes to an end, the show’s Jewish legacy is still up for debate: Did its representation of Jews on mainstream TV make it a pioneer of the 2010s? Or did it do more harm than good in the battle for better representation, by reinforcing decades-old comedic tropes about Jews?

The comedy-drama followed the vivacious Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) on a journey from prim Upper West Side housewife — left in the lurch after her husband has an affair with his secretary — to an ambitious, foul-mouthed comic fighting her way through the male-dominated standup comedy industry. Her New York Jewishness colored her jokes, her accent, her mannerisms and much of her daily life.

That’s because the whole landscape of the show was Jewish, from the well-to-do, acculturated intelligentsia (such as Midge’s parents) to the self-made garment factory owners (such as her in-laws). Even the radical Jewish comic Lenny Bruce, a countercultural icon of the midcentury, appeared as a recurring character who propels Midge’s success.

Henry Bial, a professor specializing in performance theory and Jewish popular culture at the University of Kansas, said the emergence of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in 2017 exemplified a shift to more overt portrayals of Jews on TV — especially on streaming services. Although Jewish characters featured in TV shows throughout the 20th century, such as The Goldbergs in the 1950s, Rhoda in the 1970s and Seinfeld in the 1990s, their Jewishness was often more coded than explicit. Network television, seeking to attract the majority of Americans coveted by advertisers, feared alienating audiences who couldn’t “relate” to ethnic and racial minorities.

“If there are only three things you can put on television at 8 o’clock on Tuesday night, then there’s a lot more incentive for networks and advertisers to stay close to the herd, because you’re competing for the same eyeballs,” said Bial. “But when people can watch whatever they want whenever they want, then it opens up for a much wider range of stories.”

Other shows such as Transparent, Broad City and Crazy ExGirlfriend, which debuted in 2014 and 2015, are often cited alongside Mrs. Maisel as part of a new wave of Jewish representation.

Riv-Ellen Prell, a professor emerita of American studies at the University of Minnesota, argued that Midge subverts the stereotype of the “Jewish American princess.” At the start of the show, she appears to embrace that image: She is financially dependent on her father and husband and obsessive about her appearance, measuring her body every day to ensure that she doesn’t gain weight. Despite living with her husband for years, she always curls her hair, does her makeup and spritzes herself with perfume before he wakes up.

“She looks for all the world like the fantasy of a Jewish American princess,” said Prell. “And yet she is more ambitious than imaginable, she is a brilliant comic who draws on her own life. You have Amy Sherman-Palladino inventing the anti-Jewish princess.”

Bial said that Midge’s relationship with her Jewishness defies another stereotype: That identity is not a source of neurosis or self-loathing, as it often appears to be in the male archetypes of Woody Allen and Larry David, or in Rachel Bloom’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Through the spirited banter, the pointed exclamations of “oy,” the titillation over a rabbi coming for Yom Kippur break fast — Midge’s Jewishness is a source of comforting ritual, joy and celebration.

“She has anxieties and issues, but none of them are because she’s Jewish,” said Bial.

Some critics argue the show’s depiction of Jewish culture relies on shallow tropes. In a 2019 review, TV critic Paul Brownfield said The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel repurposed stereotypes to appear “retro chic.” He pointed to a consistent contrast between the Weissmans (the assimilated, cultured Jews of the Upper West Side) and the Maisels (the boorish, money-focused Jews of the Garment District), arguing that these super-

ficial types replace an exploration of what the period was actually like for American Jews.

“However ‘Jewish’ Sherman-Palladino wants the show to be, ‘Maisel’ fails to grapple with the realities of the moment in Jewish American history it portrays,” Brownfield wrote. “Which is ultimately what leaves me queasy about its tone — the shtick, the stereotypes, the comforting self-parody.”

Meanwhile, Andy Samberg took a jab while co-hosting the 2019 Golden Globes with Sandra Oh. “It’s the show that makes audiences sit up and say, ‘Wait, is this antisemitic?’” he joked. Others have criticized the show’s casting: Its titular heroine, her parents Abe and Rose Weissman (Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle) and Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby) are all played by non-Jews. A debate over the casting of non-Jewish actors in Jewish roles has heated up in recent years, taking aim not only at Brosnahan as Midge Maisel, but also at Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader Ginsberg in On The Basis of Sex, Helen Mirren as Golda Meir in Golda and Gaby Hoffmann and Jay Duplass as the Pfefferman siblings in Transparent. Comedian Sarah Silverman popularized the term Jewface to critique the trend.

“Watching a gentile actor portraying, like, a Jew-y Jew is just — agh — feels, like, embarrassing and cringey,” Silverman said on her podcast in 2021.

Midge’s rise as a comedian is interlocked with her ally and one-time fling, the fictionalized Lenny Bruce. His character has a softened glow in the show, but in reality, Bruce was branded a “sick comic” for his scathing satire that railed against conservatism, racism and moral hypocrisy. Between 1961 and 1964, he was charged with violating obscenity laws in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York; and he was deported from England. At his Los Angeles trial in 1963, Bruce was accused of using the Yiddish word “shmuck,” taken as an obscenity to mean “penis.” He incorporated the charge into his standup, explaining that the colloquial Jewish meaning of “schmuck” was “fool.”

Driven to pennilessness by relentless prosecution, police harassment and blacklisting from most clubs across the country, he died of a morphine overdose in 1966 at 40 years old. The real Lenny Bruce’s tragedy lends a shadow to the fictional Midge Maisel’s triumphs.

The United States that he struggled with until his death also looks comparatively rosy through the lens of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, whose protagonist battles misogyny but takes little interest in other societal evils — including still-rampant antisemitism. Some critics have noted that she is oblivious to segregated facilities when she tours with Black singer Shy Baldwin, then nearly outs him as gay during her set.

Mrs. Maisel takes place in a supersaturated fantasy 1958 New York, one where antisemitism, racism, homophobia and even sexism are barely a whisper,” Rokhl Kafrissen wrote in 2018.

Reflecting on the criticism that had piled up by 2020, Sherman-Palladino and her husband Daniel Palladino, also an executive producer and a lead writer for the show, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that trying to appease every Jewish viewer was a futile exercise.

“We knew that if we show a Jewish family at temple — if we show them and talk about Yom Kippur and all those kinds of things — there are going to be people who are going to nitpick at specifics that maybe we didn’t get exactly right,” said Palladino, who is not Jewish. “But a lot of the feedback that we’ve gotten has been ‘Thank you. Thank you for leaning into it and showing Jews being Jewish, as opposed to just name checking them as Jewish.’”

Sherman-Palladino added: “[T]here are many different kinds of Jews! To say, ‘oh, Jewish stereotypes,’ well, what are you talking about? Because we have an educated Jew, we have a woman who was happy to be a mother, we have another woman striking out as a stand up comic, and, you know, Susie Myerson’s [Alex Borstein’s character] a Jew! We’ve got a broad range of Jews in there.”

However The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is assessed in the future, it will remain significant for thrusting a new kind of Jewish heroine into the mainstream consciousness, said Bial.

“Because of its popularity, its longevity and frankly its quality, it’s going to be the example,” Bial said. “In the history of Jews and TV, this is going to be the chapter for the late 2010s and early 2020s — you have to mention Mrs. Maisel. It is very clearly a landmark in Jewish representation, particularly for Jewish women.”

Alex Borstein, left, and Rachel Brosnahan in a scene from Season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Credit: Amazon Studios

A ‘gender-sensitive’ translation of the Hebrew Bible has hit digital shelves. Not everyone is happy.

JACKIE HAJDENBERG

JTA

A new Bible translation that eschews gendered pronouns for God is now available through Sefaria, the online library of Jewish texts, prompting backlash on social media from some who see the change as a sacrilege.

The Revised Jewish Publication Society edition of the Bible, which the 135-yearold Jewish publishing house has released in partnership with Sefaria, is the first major update to the JPS translation of the Tanakh in nearly 40 years. So far, only the books comprising the Prophets, the Hebrew Bible’s second section, are available on Sefaria.

The new English translation refers to individuals with pronouns that are consistent with traditional gender norms. But unlike nearly all translations of the Bible throughout history, the new edition, known as RJPS, does not refer to God with masculine pronouns. It doesn’t use feminine pronouns either: Instead, God is referred to simply as “God” throughout the text.

For example, Isaiah 55:6 reads, “Seek GOD while you can, Call out while [God] is near.” JPS’ landmark 1985 translation, by contrast, reads, “Seek the LORD while He can be

found, Call to Him while He is near.”

“The RJPS makes the case that the art of Bible translation is always a work in progress, and should take into account not only our deeper understanding today of biblical He-

Orthodox rabbis calls for immediate release

of Evan Gershkovich

BEN SALES

JTA

An umbrella association of American Orthodox rabbis is calling on the Russian government to release Evan Gershkovich, the imprisoned Jewish reporter for the Wall Street Journal

tence of up to 20 years in a penal colony.

brew but also the significant changes that have occurred in the use of English over the past decades,” said JPS’ director emeritus, Rabbi Barry Schwartz, in the announcement for the new translation of the Bible.

“Tanakh is the foundational text of the Jewish people, and we share Sefaria’s desire for everyone to be able to access it in language that is appropriate and meaningful for them while remaining faithful to the original,” See Gender-sensitive translation page 7

The Rabbinical Alliance of America said in a statement on Sunday that Russia should “do immediate justice by releasing Evan Gershkovich.” The alliance, also known as the Igud HaRabbonim, says it represents more than 950 Orthodox rabbis and makes frequent statements on public affairs in the U.S. and Israel.

Gershkovich, 31, who is the son of Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union, was arrested two months ago and charged with espionage, an accusation he, the Wall Street Journal and the United States government deny. Last week, his pretrial detention was extended until the end of August, and he faces a sen-

“As Americans, we condemn how our fellow citizen, Evan Gershkovich, has been unlawfully arrested and detained by Russian officials,” read a statement by the group’s executive vice president, Rabbi Mendy Mirocznik. “As Jews, we are offended by the apparent resurgence of governmental Russian antisemitism. As rabbis, we protest this injustice and demand that Russia does the just, moral thing and immediately frees Evan Gershkovich so he can safely return to his family.” Jews in America and around the world have taken action to support Gershkovich since his arrest, with some reviving practices that recalled the movement to free Soviet Jewry during the Cold War. Earlier this month, the Jewish Federations of North America held a rally calling for his freedom.

The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich appears in a court in Moscow on April 18, 2023. Credit: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

A side-by-side comparison of the 1985 edition of the JPS Tanakh and the 2023 gender-sensitive edition demonstrates slight changes in the English translation. Credit: Design by Jackie Hajdenberg

Young Omaha Emerging Leaders event. Above: Front row: Carrie Epstein, left, Daniel Rahav, Lissy Kane Spooner and Sarah Abrahamson. Back row: Josh Sullivan, left, Alan Tipp, Josh R. Cohen, Rachel Grossman, Anna P. Gutnik, Josh M. Cohen, Carlos Gomez and Daniel Grossman; below: Anna P. and Margie Gutnik, left, and Jay Gordman; below: Lissy Kane Spooner, left, Rachel Grossman, Sarah Abrahamson, Josh R. Cohen and Daniel Grossman; and bottom: Josh Sullivan and Josh M. Cohen.

SP O TLIGHT

PHOTOS FROM RECENT JEWISH COMMUNITY EVENTS

SUBMIT A PHOTO: Have a photo of a recent Jewish Community event you would like to submit? Email the image and a suggested caption to: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org

GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY

Above: On May 5, 2023, at the Annual Meeting of the Preservation Association of Lincoln (PAL), preservation awards were presented. On behalf of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, Ellin Siegel, accepted the 2023 Stewardship Award presented by PAL President Kay Logan-Peters. This award recognizes the continuing stewardship of the Temple’s historic building.

Above, left and below: Staff at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home celebrated National Skilled Nursing Care Week, including the special T-shirts for the occasion.

TISH Shabbat Above: Brian Fahey, Sara Cowan and Leora Azriel; below: Ryan Welner and Hilary Rubesin.

Above, below and bottom: Last day of religious school at Temple Israel.

From My Kosher Jerusalem Kitchen: Cobbler for Spring

SYBIL KAPLAN

Walking in Jerusalem’s shuk, the fruits for spring and summer are beginning to appear—apricots, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, cherries and all kinds of apples. Cobblers were said to have originated among the American colonists.

Wikipedia says: The origin of the name cobbler, recorded from 1859, is uncertain: it may be related to the archaic word cobeler, meaning “wooden bowl,” or the term may be due to

the topping having the visual appearance of a ‘cobbled’ stone pathway rather than a ‘smooth’ paving which would otherwise be represented by a rolled out pastry topping.

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist, author and compiler/editor of nine kosher cookbooks. She is a food writer for North American Jewish publications, and she leads walks of the Jewish food market, Machaneh Yehudah, in English.

PEACH COBBLER

This came from an old newspaper.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

4 Tbsp. unsalted pareve margarine

1 large egg

1/4 cup non-dairy milk

5 cups pitted and sliced peaches

4 tsp. cornstarch

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Non-dairy vanilla ice cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a shallow baking dish.

In bowl, mix flour, 2 Tbsp. sugar and baking powder. Cut in margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Beat together egg and non-dairy milk. Add to flour mixture until dry ingredients are moistened and a dough forms.

Put peaches, remaining sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon in a saucepan. Cook until peaches are tender and syrup is clear, thick and boiling (5-7 minutes).

Pour peach mixture into baking dish. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons in six portions over peach mixture. Bake in preheated 400 degree F. oven 20 minutes.

Serve with pareve vanilla ice cream. Serves six.

Gender-sensitive translation

Continued from page 5

Schwartz added. “Tanakh” is an acronym for the three components of the Hebrew Bible: the “five books of Moses,” Prophets and Writings.

The lack of divine pronouns in the RJPS translation comes as non-traditional pronouns — and debate over their use — have become increasingly prevalent in public discourse. A 2021 study by the Pew Research Center found that more than a quarter of American adults know someone who uses gender-neutral pronouns, up eight percentage points since 2018. Meanwhile, many conservatives have decried the use of gender-neutral pronouns, and multiple Republican-led states have passed laws effectively permitting educators to refuse to use the pronouns their students prefer.

The RJPS translation, one of at least 12 available through Sefaria, has sparked backlash online from some Orthodox Jews who believe the new translation is not aligned with their values. Arguing that the translation is an example of progressive political ideology seeping into religion, some have said they will stop using the app over the RJPS translation.

Yehiel Kalish, the CEO of Jewish ambulance corps Chevra Hatzalah, announced last week via Twitter that he had deleted the app. Other prominent figures in the Orthodox world also condemned the new translation.

“Sefaria is a tremendous resource for the [world of] Torah,” tweeted Yochonon Donn, news editor of Mishpacha Magazine, which reaches a haredi Orthodox audience. “Messing around with [holy books] to conform to western ideas of equality is an unacceptable breach. If this is true, I can’t see people learn-

ing from an unholy source.”

Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, a right-wing Orthodox political advocacy organization, tweeted that “to be more inclusive of atheists, they’ll provide a ‘historically accurate translation’ that avoids mention of the Supreme Being. ‘In the beginning, heaven and earth were created.’”

Sefaria has always featured texts relevant to Jews with a range of approaches — a spectrum that has only widened as the digital library has added (and begun supporting the creation of) contemporary texts and translations.

Publishing the RJPS is “about having different translations that are available,” said Sara Wolkenfeld, Sefaria’s chief learning officer. (Sefaria’s CEO, Daniel Septimus, is on the board of 70 Faces Media, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s parent organization.)

“We are always working to include Jewish texts that are studied by the full range of Jewish learners,” she said. “And that’s why we chose to include the newest JPS translation, but among the many other translations that we’ve already hosted in the library.”

Sefaria also has translations from Orthodox-geared publishing houses, such as the Koren and Metsudah versions, and even translations into French and German. Users can select their own preferred English translation, and RJPS is not the default translation for the Book of Prophets.

“People should know that Sefaria is a library for the entire Jewish people,” Wolkenfeld said. “And our mission is to provide access to Torah and to bring Torah into the digital age. That’s really what we’re aiming for.”

Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole.

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Ice cream and waffles

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT

Jewish Press Editor

It’s been weeks, and I still can’t stop thinking about that ice cream truck that was parked outside of Auschwitz.

“Since early May,” Shira Li Bartov wrote for JTA, “an ice cream stand has sat some 200 meters (about 218 yards) from the camp’s red-brick ‘Death Gate’ where double rail tracks led directly to Nazi gas chambers. A photo of the stand circulated on social media, showing a kiosk with a pink logo reading ‘icelove,’ along with signs advertising ‘ice cream’ and ‘waffles’ in Polish.”

It grates at me, because there is a wrongness here that I can’t just ignore. And in true European fashion, nobody can really agree who is in charge, or who can make this thing go away: “Local authorities in Oswiecim are investigating the ice cream stand’s location, according to Notes from Poland. Municipality Mayor Andrzej Skrzypinski announced that it was set up on private property, based on a contract between the owner of the land and the owner of the kiosk. However, it’s still unclear whether the operation is allowed under the local zoning plan, which requires approval from the governor of the province.”

It’s not the first time that bureaucracy superseded common sense. What I want to know: who are these tourists who reinforce the operator of the truck by buying their products? Who are the people who come out of Auschwitz and say, ‘You know what I could go for? A waffle!’ Seriously. If nobody buys anything, that truck would surely disappear

quickly, wouldn’t it?

In 2020, Alex Benjamin published an amazing article in the Jerusalem Post titled The ordinariness of Auschwitz.

“I don’t know what the gates of hell should look like,” he wrote, “but if you, like me, try to imagine it, you don’t picture bucolic countryside surrounding it, a McDonald’s drive-thru close by, parents pushing their children up the street, kids loitering around bus stops trying to look cool and old people chatting outside the shops. As a dear colleague put it, “Where is the monster? It would be easier to deal with if there was a monster here.” That perfectly encapsulates what is so scary and upsetting about the place: there’s no monster. The gates of hell have a parking lot, a pizzeria over the road, and students in tight jeans and Ugg boots chewing gum while waiting to have a look inside. Our Jewish ground zero, literally the site of our worst nightmare, the scar that each and every one carries in our heart, is an ordinary place.”

Benjamin might be on to something; perhaps it’s the ordinariness of the ice cream truck that upsets me. The millions of dead, the endless loss, trauma,

stories about shoes and selection and train tracks, juxtaposed with strawberry and chocolate, or maybe vanilla, and would you like whipped cream with that? Who can visit a place like this and switch their mind set immediately after?

I have never been to Auschwitz. I am too scared of the ghosts who I am convinced hover there. But what feels even scarier is the idea that tourists are capable of walking around, to see the sights, take a selfie and come out thinking about mundane

things like ice cream. Because if they do that, if they can experience the place where such horror happened and their appetite is unaffected, it means they don’t really get it. The experience didn’t truly sink in, and Auschwitz has just become another tourist attraction; a story that happened too long ago to affect us.

KAREN E. H. SKINAZI JTA

On the way home from the hospital where I was given my diagnosis of grade 2 invasive lobular breast cancer, I directed my husband, through my tears, to stop at the kosher store.

“I don’t want to see anyone right now,” I said, knowing the inevitability of running into someone we knew in the small Jewish community where we live, “so can you go in?” He pulled into the parking lot. “We need challah,” I reminded him. It was Thursday, after all. The next evening was Shabbat. Time doesn’t stand still for cancer.

My hospital appointment took place two days after the front page of the New York Times declared: “When Should Women Get Regular Mammograms: At 40, U.S. Panel Now Says.” I was 48. Breast cancer has long been the second most common cancer for women, after skin cancer. It is also the most lethal after lung cancer. Statistically, though, most women affected are postmenopausal, so unless there was a specific reason to test early, women were screened regularly from the age of 50. Now, the advice has changed. Breast cancer is rising in younger women. For women in their 40s, the rate of increase between 2015 and 2019 doubled from the previous decade to two percent per year.

Why is this happening? Air pollution? Microplastics? Chemicals in our food? We don’t know.

In the days following my appointment, there was a proliferation of articles about the topic. Importantly, doctors explained that the cancer women are diagnosed with in their 40s tends to be a more aggressive type of cancer. Cancers in premenopausal women grow faster; many breast cancers, like mine, are hormone sensitive. (Got estrogen? Bad luck for you.)

When I posted the news about my diagnosis — on Facebook, because I’m an oversharing type — I was stunned by the number of friends my age, more discreet about their lives, who sent me messages to tell me they had recently gone through the same thing. Everyone had advice. “If you can do a lumpectomy, you’re very lucky. It’s not a major op-

eration, and you’ll preserve your breast.” “Cut it all off! Immediately! Just get rid of all it and you’ll never worry again! Do you want to spend the rest of your life in mammogram scanxiety?” “Ask plastic surgeons for pictures, and pick the cutest new boobs out there. You won’t regret it.” “The radiation burns—that’s something no one ever tells you. Get yourself some Lubriderm and lidocaine, mix into a slurry, slap it on a panty liner, and tuck it in your sports bra.”

so many blueberries!

Several of the articles that have been published in recent days are emphasizing the particular danger for Black women, with good reason: They have twice the mortality rate of white women. But as I did my research, I realized that Jewish women should also be on high alert. We’ve long known that one in forty Ashkenazi women has the BRCA gene mutation, significantly raising the risk of breast cancer (50% of women with the gene mutation will get breast cancer) as well ovarian cancer, which is much harder to detect and far more deadly. So many of my friends who reached out to me to tell me of their breast cancer experiences are Jewish; interestingly, not one has the BRCA mutation. Are these high numbers indicative or anecdotal? Are Jewish women generally more susceptible to breast cancer? This seems to be an important area of future research.

I’m not sure why I thought I was immune. Or maybe I didn’t — maybe I just never gave it much thought. Even when I found the lump on my breast, I was dismissive. I went to the doctor, and she asked if anyone in my family had had breast cancer. “Oh, who knows? They were all murdered,” I said blithely. Her eyes bugged. “In the Holocaust,” I added. “Your… mother? Grandmother? Sisters?” “Oh! No, no history of breast cancer in my immediate family.”

Add to that, my mother and sister both tested negative for the BRCA gene mutations, and that’s my Ashkenazi side. The thing is, though, most women who test positive for breast cancer have no family history of it.

But also, I’d done everything right! If you look through the preventative measures, I took all of them. I had three kids by 35, and I breastfed them. I have a healthy, mostly plant-based diet; I walk and cycle everywhere. I’m not a drinker or smoker. I eat

For me, that research will come too late — as did the guidance. For now, I have to accept that this cancer diagnosis is part of my life, that just as I will pick up challah every Thursday, I will wake every morning and take my hormone-blocking Tamoxifen. I will lose sleep every night about which surgery to have until I have the surgery, and then I will lose sleep every night about whether it was fully successful. And there’s plenty more in store for me that isn’t pretty; so it goes.

But here’s a good thing that’s already come out of this diagnosis: When the responses to my Facebook post flooded in, they were not only along the lines of “Refuah shleimah” and “I’ve just been through this too,” but also, “Thank you for sharing! I’m going to book my mammogram right now!”

Karen E. H. Skinazi is Associate Professor of Literature and Culture and Director of Liberal Arts at the University of Bristol in the UK. She is author of Women of Valor: Orthodox Jewish Troll Fighters, Crime Writers, and Rock Stars in Contemporary Literature and Culture (Rutgers University Press, 2018).

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.

An ice cream stand sits outside of the former Auschwitz camp in Oswiecim, Poland.

Credit: Dagmar Kopijasz of the Foundation of Memory Sites Near Auschwitz-Birkenau

When a breast cancer diagnosis knocked me down, a network of Jewish women lifted me up

Credit: Getty Images

A manufactured ‘mainstream’ wants the White House to define antisemitism on its own flawed terms

LILA CORWIN BERMAN

JTA

As the Biden administration nears the long-awaited announcement of its National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, tensions have emerged over what definition of antisemitism the White House will use. According to Jewish Insider, “major mainstream Jewish groups” are battling against the “left” to define antisemitism, suggesting that the groups’ preferred definition, that of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, is the mainstream one.

The framing determines a winner before the contest even begins — this is the power play of the term “mainstream.”

Here’s how it works: A purportedly neutral source — Jewish Insider, say, or the Associated Press — names a set of players as the “mainstream.” Without any discussion of method or sources, the characterization produces reality. The self-fulfilling designation allows a select group of organizations to command the center. These groups and their spokespeople then use their “mainstream” power to naturalize and normalize their own agenda, like defining the IHRA definition as the “gold standard” despite concerns that it chills legitimate criticism of Israel, or condemning “progressive” voices for their refusal to conflate anti-Zionism and antisemitism, or chastising Rep. Rashida Tlaib for commemorating the Nakba, the “catastrophe” that befell her people with the creation of Israel. Game on.

The strategy of claiming the center to control it is nothing new. In the annals of American Jewish institutional formation, it’s happened again and again. Just witness the names of organizations: the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the American Jewish Committee, the Zionist Organization of America and the list could go on and on. One after the other, these groups have claimed to be the center, the “mainstream.”

As a historian who has written about many of these groups, I can tell you that every claim to be the united front, the central address, the singular American Jewish organization has rested on the surety that most American Jews believed no such thing. Indeed, words that posture such a “mainstream” are best read as indicators of dissent, debate and fracture.

When it comes to confronting antisemitism, some of today’s Jewish leaders might imagine that American Jews can achieve unity that has long eluded them or Jewish institutional

life. They might be so certain of this vision as to pretend that it is true, with fundraising and media blitzes that appear to speak on behalf of all Jews. Slick advertising campaigns, whether on television and social media or highway billboards, and a hotly contested and poorly constructed yet exclusive definition of antisemitism may make it seem that the Jewish “mainstream” speaks as one, loudly for all Jews and all people who care about fighting antisemitism.

states, that penalize institutions or individuals for engaging in or promoting boycotts against Israel. Or they helicopter onto American college campuses to pressure university administrators to subscribe to the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Instead of arriving at the field ready to play an honest game, “mainstream” Jewish institutions and their leaders want to be the only players. To argue that we must all agree on one definition in order to talk about antisemitism is like clearing the field before the game even begins.

Because this is more than a game — because hatred and bigotry fuel violent crimes at an alarming rate in the United States — Jewish and non-Jewish people who have a stake in the conversation about antisemitism should refuse to play. Publications that insist on anointing a “mainstream” ought to be called out. And the press, instead, should investigate the role that some of its agents play in advancing the power play of the “mainstream” — including, for example, Jewish Insider, which is less than transparent about its own history and sources of funding.

But don’t let the powerplay bulldoze you. Those television and social media blitzes? They are the product of one megadonor’s imagination and thick wallet. The pink highway signs that deliver glib “lessons” against antisemitism in the form of snark? They are brought to you by the same high-networth family that advertised its storage company with similarly cheeky taglines. And even the creation of and campaigns to endorse the IHRA definition have specific histories and funding sources.

None of this is to say that those efforts should be dismissed because they have histories and are tied to narrow but deep pockets of wealth. The problem comes when those histories and sources of power go unacknowledged and instead parade themselves as the “mainstream,” the authentic truth of what all Jews must believe.

In the power plays to claim the Jewish “mainstream,” institutions and their leaders are trying to silence those who disagree with their policies and politics. The term “mainstream” acts as a cudgel against efforts to build solidarity between Palestinians and Israelis who oppose the actions of the Israeli government. Its purveyors vocally and consistently defend harsh anti-boycott laws, on the books in several American

As a participant in one of the “listening sessions” convened by the White House in February of this year, I can report that the scholars who joined me around the table (OK, Zoom screen) had a wide range of perspectives. When asked to share our views on antisemitism, none of us got to call ourselves the “mainstream” expert on the questions. Instead, we identified the methods, sources and theories that authorized our understandings of the roots and manifestations of antisemitism.

I can only hope that the other listening sessions and the White House process has proceeded accordingly, with little reverence for the self-appointed Jewish “mainstream.” A resolve to understand the diversity of views and what led people or groups to them will upset any single view — or definition. A successful strategy will not be cowed by the “mainstream” but instead will highlight the varieties of truly and authentically held ideas that together can animate efforts to stem the tide of antisemitism and bigotry.

Lila Corwin Berman is a professor of history at Temple University and author most recently of "The American Jewish Philanthropic Complex: The History of a Multibillion-Dollar Institution."

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.

The White House intends to fight antisemitism. That starts with a sensible definition.

WILLIAM DAROFF

JTA

In the coming days, the White House is expected to release what President Joe Biden has called “the first-ever U.S. national strategy to counter antisemitism.” It will likely include calls to action by Congress, state and local governments, as well as guidance for technology and other companies, civil society and faith leaders.

In preparation, the Biden administration sought input from a wide range of Jewish community members and stakeholders, including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which I lead. In addition to this engagement with the forthcoming report on antisemitism, I will travel to Cordoba, Spain, next month for the United Nations antisemitism summit, and then to the European Parliament in Brussels with parliamentarians from across the globe convening against antisemitism.

In both settings, the message of world Jewry remains unchanged: Adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, known as IHRA, is an essential and seminal tool to combat anti-Jewish hate Support for adopting the IHRA definition is significant, as seen in a letter last week from over 175 Jewish community organizations around the world, a letter last week from over 600 rabbis from all four Jewish streams and dozens of letters from American Jewish organizations, all making the important case for adoption of the IHRA definition. Members of Congress have weighed in. Mayors have weighed in. Across the board, a strong and clear consensus of support exists for the definition.

The IHRA definition is the most authoritative and internationally accepted definition of antisemitism. Forty-one nations, as well as hundreds of local governments, academic institutions, NGOs and other entities have formally adopted in different ways the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Over half — 31 — American states also adopted it.

Since the Obama Administration, the U.S. Department of State has utilized and promoted the IHRA definition (and previously, its similarly-phrased predecessor from the European Union’s Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia). Both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt are leaders in advocating for its usage around the globe. The U.S. Department of Education also employs the IHRA definition as a tool in determining antisemitism discrimination in Title VI discrimination cases.

that deny the right of the Jewish people to self-determination are among those most frequently encountered by many Jews today, whether or not they are Zionists, as documented in surveys by the Anti-Defamation League and by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights.

The IHRA definition addresses the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, while not conflating legitimate criticism with actual antisemitism. Critics fail to identify actual instances where the IHRA definition suppressed free speech. In fact, over the last 20 weeks, as debates raged around the world over Israel’s proposed judicial reform — with hundreds of thousands of Israelis of all political stripes expressing virulent criticism of the Israeli government’s proposed overhaul — I have yet to hear one individual accuse the critics of being antisemitic. Despite the fact that the IHRA definition is so ubiquitous, legitimate speech that is critical of Israeli government policy is not censored. When put to the test, the IHRA definition does not do what its critics say it does.

The IHRA definition continues to gain significant attention and support among governments and civil society actors. Fifty-one of the 53 member organizations of the Conference of Presidents adopted the definition – a clear recognition from every corner of a disparate Jewish community that we are unified when it comes to applauding the comprehensive approach it provides for labeling and addressing antisemitism.

One particular aspect of the IHRA definition that draws attention — and criticism from some groups — is its treatment of the relationship between anti-Israel bias and antisemitism. For too long, definitions of antisemitism failed to account for how anti-Zionism often serves as a cover for antisemitism. Forms of antisemitism that are masked as “anti-Zionism” and

We at the Conference of Presidents steadily campaign for states, localities, international governments and organizations to adopt the IHRA definition. The Biden administration seems poised to reassert their ongoing endorsement of the IHRA definition, pushing back yet again against those who distort the nature of the definition’s treatment of legitimate criticism of Israel governmental policies.

In a time when antisemitism in the United States has become all too often lethal, this would mean a vital and praiseworthy evolution of policy.

William Daroff is the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. In that capacity, he is the senior professional guiding the Conference’s agenda on behalf of the 53 national member organizations. Follow him at @Daroff.

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.

Credit: JTA illustration by Grace Yagel

Credit: JTA illustration by Grace Yagel

Synagogues

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

618 Mynster Street

Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766

712.322.4705

email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism

14506 California Street Omaha, NE 68154-1980

402.492.8550 bethel-omaha.org

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America

12604 Pacific Street Omaha, NE. 68154

402.556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org

CHABAD HOUSE

An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch

1866 South 120 Street Omaha, NE 68144-1646

402.330.1800 OChabad.com email: chabad@aol.com

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN

South Street Temple

Union for Reform Judaism

2061 South 20th Street Lincoln, NE 68502-2797

402.435.8004 www.southstreettemple.org

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE

Capehart Chapel 2500 Capehart Road Offutt AFB, NE 68123

402.294.6244

email: oafbjsll@icloud.com

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

323 South 132 Street Omaha, NE 68154

TEMPLE ISRAEL

Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)

13111 Sterling Ridge Drive Omaha, NE 68144-1206 402.556.6536 templeisraelomaha.com

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: TIFERETH ISRAEL

Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

3219 Sheridan Boulevard Lincoln, NE 68502-5236

402.423.8569 tiferethisraellincoln.org

B’NAI ISRAEL

Monthly Speaker Series Service, Friday, June 9, 7:30 p.m. with our guest speaker, Bob Goldberg, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Our service leader is Larry Blass. Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel!

For information on COVID-related closures and about our historic synagogue, please contact Howard Kutler at hkutler@hotmail.com or any of our other board members: Renee Corcoran, Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Janie Kulakofsky, Howard Kutler, Carole and Wayne Lainof, Ann Moshman, Mary-Beth Muskin, Debbie Salomon and Sissy Silber. Handicap Accessible.

Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

VIRTUAL AND IN-PERSON MINYAN SCHEDULE: Mornings on Sundays, 9:30 a.m.; Mondays and Thursdays 7 a.m.; Evenings on Sunday-Thursday 5:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Kiddush sponsored by Nate and Hannah Schwalb; Mah Jongg Shabbat following services and lunch; Havdalah, 9:40 p.m. Zoom Only.

SUNDAY: Torah Study, 10 a.m.

THURSDAY: The Needlework Gang, 1 p.m.

FRIDAY-June 16: Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. at Beth El & Live Stream.

SATURDAY-June 17: Shabbat Morning Services, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Kiddush & Kittens following services; Havdalah, 9:45 p.m. Zoom Only. Please visit bethel-omaha.org for additional information and service links.

FRIDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.;

Summer Camp JYE BI 2023, 8:30 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 8:38 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat 10:45 a.m.; Kids Class 7:30 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv 8:30 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity, 9 p.m.; Havdalah, 9:48 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit 9 a.m.; Dreyer’s Farewell Party 5 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:40 p.m.

MONDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.;

Summer Camp JYE BI 2023, 8:30 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 8:40 p.m.

TUESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Summer Camp JYE BI 2023, 8:30 a.m.; Mincha/ Ma’ariv, 8:40 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7

a.m.; Summer Camp JYE BI 2023, 8:30 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 8:40 p.m.

THURSDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Summer Camp JYE BI 2023, 8:30 a.m.; Character Development 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Ari; Women’s

Rosh Hodesh Meeting 7:40 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv 8:40 p.m.; Parsha Class, 9 p.m.

FRIDAY-June 16: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Summer Camp JYE BI 2023, 8:30 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m.; Candlelighting, 8:41 p.m.

SATURDAY-June 17: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:45 a.m.; Kids Class, 7:30 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv 8:30 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity, 9 p.m.; Havdalah, 9:51 p.m.

Please visit orthodoxomaha.org for additional information and Zoom service links.

All services are in-person. All classes are being of-

CHABAD HOUSE

fered in-person and via Zoom (ochabad.com/academy). For more information or to request help, please visit www.ochabad.com or call the office at 402.330.1800.

FRIDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad.com/ Lechayim; Candlelighting, 8:38 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 9:47 p.m.

SUNDAY: Sunday Morning Wraps: Video Presentation, 9-9:30 a.m. and Breakfast, 9:45 a.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Personal Parsha, 9:30 a.m.; Intermediate Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Parsha Reading, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

TUESDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Intermediate Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Introductory Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 7 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

WEDNESDAY: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Mystical Thinking (Tanya), 9:30 a.m.; Introductory Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Parsha Reading, 11:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Parsha Reading, 10 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Advanced Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 11 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Talmud Study (Sanhedrin 34), noon; Introduction to Alphabet, Vowels & Reading Hebrew, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) Class, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY-June 16: Shacharit 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5:45 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ocha bad.com/Lechayim; Candlelighting, 8:41 p.m.

SATURDAY-June 17: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 9:51 p.m. Services facilitated by Rabbi Alex Felch.

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN & TIFERETH ISRAEL

Note: Some of our services, but not all, are now being offered in person.

FRIDAY: Pride Shabbat: Kabbalat Shabbat Service with lay leadership and music by Leslie Delserone and Peter Mullin, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Oneg host: TBD; Shab-

bat Candlelighting, 8:39 p.m.

SATURDAY: Pride Shabbat: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with lay leadership at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Beha’alotcha; Havdalah 9:48 p.m.

SUNDAY: Tifereth Israel Annual Meeting, 11 a.m.; Men’s Bike/Coffee Group meet, 10:30 a.m. at RockN-Joe, just off of 84th and Glynoaks. For more information or questions please email Al Weiss at albertw801@gmail.com; Community Social Action Committee Meeting, 1:30 p.m. at SST; Pickleball, 3-5 p.m. at TI.

MONDAY: Federation Board Meeting, 1 p.m. via Zoom.

FRIDAY-June 16: Kabbalat Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex and music by Nathaniel and Steve Kaup, 6:30 p.m. at SST; Oneg host: TBD; Shabbat Candlelighting, 8:42 p.m.

SATURDAY-June 17: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Alex at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Sh’lach; Havdalah 9:51 p.m.

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FRIDAYS: Virtual Shabbat Service, 7:30 p.m. every first and third of the month at Capehart Chapel. Contact TSgt Jason Rife at OAFBJSLL@icloud.com for more information.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME

The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home’s service is currently closed to visitors.

TEMPLE ISRAEL

In-person and virtual services conducted by Rabbi Batsheva Appel, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin, and Cantor Joanna Alexander

FRIDAY: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m. In-Person; Shabbat B’yachad Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY: Torah Study 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom.

TUESDAY: Temple Israel Annual Meeting, 7 p.m. InPerson & Zoom.

WEDNESDAY: Yarn It, 9 a.m. In-Person

THURSDAY: Thursday Morning Class 10 a.m. with Rabbi Azriel via Zoom

FRIDAY-June 16: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m. InPerson; Shabbat B’yachad Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY-June 17: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. InPerson & Zoom; Tot Havdalah, 4 p.m. RSVP Required.

Please visit templeisraelomaha.com for additional information and Zoom service links.

Israeli minister cancels LA speech due to protests and ‘bad vibes’

BEN SALES JTA

An Israeli government minister canceled a speech in Los Angeles in the face of a protest, in part over what the local Israeli consul described as “bad vibes.”

Ofir Akunis, Israel’s science and technology minister and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, was due to speak on Tuesday at an event at BioscienceLA, a Los Angeles-area center for life science innovation. He arrived in the country ahead of the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City on Sunday, where he will march as part of a delegation of Israeli government officials.

An activist movement led by Israeli expatriates who oppose the Israeli government’s proposed weakening of the judiciary, called UnXeptable, has vowed to protest the parade delegation. A local chapter of that movement showed up at the event in L.A. on Tuesday and, like the anti-government street protesters in Israel, chanted “Shame” in Hebrew.

Akunis did not show up for the speech. After the audience waited two hours, Hillel Newman, the Israeli consul general in Los Angeles, announced that the minister would not be speaking.

“I have to apologize on behalf of the minister,”

Newman said from the podium. “In the end he decided he’s not coming. He said that he felt that his presence here might cause more provocations of

said in a statement that his “successful visit is going as planned.”

“If there is a space for nonviolent arguments about Israel’s internal affairs, it is only in Israel, and as we knew to expect provocations from leftist protesters, we chose not to have them in the international arena,” read the statement, according to Neria Kraus, a reporter for Israeli Channel 13.

UnXeptable has organized protests overseas in solidarity with the mass street protests that have taken place in Israel against the government’s proposed judicial overhaul. Akunis is not the first Israeli government official to cancel a speech to an American audience due to protests. Netanyahu backed out of speaking at a Jewish Federations conference of North American Jewish leaders last month in Tel Aviv because of protests, and the next day, far-right lawmaker Simcha Rothman was repeatedly shouted down at one of the conference panels.

the people outside and the protesters, and he said he didn’t want to bring a bad feeling or bad vibes to anything associated with him and the state of Israel.”

Neither the consulate general nor BioscienceLA responded to requests for comment. Akunis’ office

In a statement following Akunis’ cancellation, UnXeptable said, “We’ve started.”

“Whoever tries to destroy Israeli democracy will not enjoy a quiet visit in the United States,” the statement said. “We will be everywhere that they are, and we will prevent them from spreading lies.”

Ofir Akunis, Israel’s minister of science and technology, pictured in Jerusalem, Jan. 29, 2023. Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

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Goodbye, Kosherfest. Hello, Kosher-Palooza: A trade show swap reveals a changing industry

JACKIE HAJDENBERG

JTA

After more than three decades, an annual trade show of kosher foods that saw the evolution of the cuisine in America grow from gefilte fish and pastrami to “facon,” gluten-free cookies and CBD gum is no more.

“Exhibitors feel Kosherfest has run its course,” the company that organized the two-day event, Diversified Business Communications, announced on Wednesday.

The company’s statement attributed the decision to shifts in the supermarket industry and in how stores display and purchase kosher products. Buyers for supermarkets, it said, are increasingly likely to buy kosher products at general trade shows rather than events specific to kosher food.

“As this buyer is responsible for sourcing and purchasing a wide array of products, they are more likely to attend food events displaying items not just exclusive to kosher,” the company said. “A certified kosher only food show such as Kosherfest is too niche for their attendance.”

The decision to cancel Kosherfest — which has included more than 325 exhibitors displaying their products and has drawn as many as 6,000 attendees each fall — comes as kosher food has gone mainstream. As of 2018, according to the Boston Globe, some 40% of packaged food and drink sold in the United States was certified kosher. Last year, Rabbi Eli Lando, the executive manager of OK Kosher, a certification agency, said Jews make up just 20% of kosher products’ consumer base, according to the publication Food Dive.

At the same time, supermarkets and other pillars of the kosher marketplace have been joined by social media influencers in promoting new food products to Jews who keep kosher. That shift was accelerated during the pandemic, when Kosherfest was suspended for a year before returning to muted crowds in 2021. Recently, it had been showing signs of strain. Last year, the fair was still recruiting vendors just days before its opening. Vendors who had reserved booths for this year will have their payments refunded, the company said.

Some longstanding Kosherfest attendees thought the show had shifted to cater too much to influencers, while some influencers said the show never felt totally accessible to them.

“The food industry has evolved and social media influencers definitely have a voice and a presence and they get products in front of consumers,” said Chanie Apfelbaum, a kosher cookbook author and social media personality under the moniker “Busy in Brooklyn.” “So, it’s definitely something that was necessary that they weren’t really ready to bring to the table.”

Apfelbaum, who said she had been introduced to Korean cuisine after meeting a chef at Kosherfest, will be hosting a cooking competition at Kosher-Palooza, a new event that will take place later this month at the same New Jersey convention center that previously hosted Kosherfest.

Kosher-Palooza is geared to individual consumers, according to its website, with wine tastings, blind taste tests and cooking demonstrations taking place alongside displays of new products.

“You (and your appetite) are invited to a massive celebration of all things kosher with hundreds of food brands, cookbook authors, influencers, and experts, all under one roof,” announced a press release for the event distributed last month.

Among the companies highlighted on Kosher-Palooza’s website is KosherCatch, a New England-based fresh fish company. Its founder, Jeffrey Ingber, said he had been a longtime Kosherfest attendee but thought the show had waned recently.

“Over the past 10 years there was nothing new to see, which is a surprise because there are emerging products and new products and creative products coming out every year by manufacturers,” he said.

Apfelbaum said she had seen the same thing. “Definitely Kosherfest in the last couple of years has been very disap-

pointing for anyone that’s in the industry,” she said. “I just found there weren’t that many vendors anymore. It really had slowed down.”

The demise coincided with a rapid explosion of accessible kosher products — in some ways making the show a victim of the success of its field.

“This year we’re celebrating the centennial of American kosher certification, and efforts by certifiers during that century have left the kosher industry in an excellent position,” said David Zvi Kalman, a scholar at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America who studies trends in Jewish life.

“The fact that there are kosher products up and down the

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supply chain means that manufacturers can easily source kosher ingredients, and ingredient manufacturers have an incentive to certify to stay competitive,” Kalman added. “While effective marketing has been important to the industry’s growth — it saved the [Orthodox Union] from a period of stagnation in the 1950s — there are now strong network effects that encourage companies to certify even without the help of events like Kosherfest.”

In a statement commenting on the end of Kosherfest, its founder, Menachem Lubinsky, said he was proud of the show’s 33-year run. Lubinsky sold the show to Diversified Business Communications in 2004 but remained involved in its production.

“Looking back, I can proudly say that the show was an amazing run and the impetus for a glorious chapter in the growth of kosher and the Jewish community,” Lubinsky wrote.

“The last three plus decades of the show was a period when tens of thousands of products became kosher, dozens of huge modern kosher independent supermarkets were launched, there was an explosion of kosher restaurants of diverse themes, dozens of new kosher cookbooks published, and we witnessed the advent of a new era in social media and the Internet to name but a few of these gigantic accomplishments,” he added. Kosher became popular in every area of life.”

With kosher products readily available in many places, observers said kosher-keeping consumers are increasingly looking for unique or boundary-pushing food experiences — a niche promoted by Fleishigs Magazine, a lead sponsor of Kosher-Palooza. “More than just the authority on kosher cooking, Fleishigs serves up kosher like never before,” the magazine, whose name is a Jewish term for meat dishes, promises.

“Kosher consumers are demanding fresh, new products that we want to see on the market and that’s what we want,” Apfelbaum said. “That’s what we’re looking for.”

One convener of discussion about new frontiers in kosher dining is Elan Kornblum, publisher and president of the Great Kosher Restaurants Magazine and the creator of the Great Kosher Restaurant Foodies Facebook group, which boasts more than 82,000 members. Kornblum will be hosting a meetand-greet at Kosher-Palooza but this week took a moment to lament Kosherfest’s end in his Facebook group.

“In the 20 years I went, I certainly have had great memories, met some great people from all over the world and did a lot of business here,” he posted about Kosherfest. “Sad to see it end.”

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Visitors check out a booth at Kosherfest. Credit: Julia Gergely

Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest wins runner-up prize at Cannes Film Festival

ANDREW LAPIN

The Zone of Interest, a sobering drama about a Nazi commander’s behavior during the Holocaust, won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, as one of several new arthouse films about the legacy of antisemitism that premiered at the festival.

Based on a novel by Martin Amis, the film is a fictional portrayal of the life of Rudolph Hoess, the real-life Auschwitz death camp commandant. It shows his family’s efforts to live blissfully unaware of the atrocities their patriarch is inflicting on Jews a short distance away from them. The movie was directed by British Jewish filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, who has amassed a cult following for cerebral movies such as Under The Skin and Birth.

The Grand Prix is essentially the runner-up prize at the historic film festival on the French Riviera, which this year was bestowed by a jury including Oscar-nominated Swedish director Ruben Östlund and the actors Brie Larson and Paul Dano. The director Quentin Tarantino, who is married to an

Israeli singer and relocated to Tel Aviv during the pandemic, presented Glazer with the Grand Prix during the festival’s awards ceremony.

Observers at the event had thought the movie, which pre-

Glazer shot The Zone of Interest on location at Auschwitz, in German, and he told reporters at the festival that he hoped the film adaptation would “talk to the capacity within each of us for violence, wherever you’re from.”

The film will be released this fall by specialty distributor A24, which is also handling the release of another boundarypushing film about antisemitism that premiered at Cannes: Occupied City, a four-hour documentary about the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen. The film is co-produced by McQueen’s wife Bianca Stigter, who also made the acclaimed Holocaust documentary Three Minutes: A Lengthening

Also premiering at the festival out of the main competition was The Goldman Case, a courtroom drama based on the reallife 1975 trial of left-wing French Jewish radical Pierre Goldman, who claimed he was a victim of antisemitic targeting by police and who was later murdered. Anselm, a 3D documentary about the German painter Anselm Kiefer, who frequently addresses his country’s Nazi past in his work, also debuted at the festival.

Iris Knobloch, the new president of the Cannes Film Festival, is Jewish and is also the first woman to hold the position. Her mother Charlotte Knobloch has for decades been president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria.

miered in competition to rave reviews on the same day Amis died of esophageal cancer, had a shot at the top prize, the Palme d’Or. It was competing against nearly two dozen films, including Kidnapped, a historical drama about the Catholic Church’s kidnapping of Italian Jewish child Edgardo Mortara in the 19th century.

Iris Knobloch told Indiewire at the festival that her parents, both Holocaust survivors, had instilled a love of movies in her.

“My parents went to the movies almost two times a week, because they didn’t have a youth, so it was a way to recapture those moments,” she said, adding that this experience taught her “that cinema is an important opportunity to get to a broad audience with the right message.

The Zone of Interest won the Grand Prix at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Credit: A24/Mica Levi