Jewish Observer of January 8, 2015

17 TEVET 5775 • JANUARY 8, 2015 • VOLUME XXXIV, NUMBER 1 • PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID, SYRACUSE, NY

Super Sunday is January 25 – answer the call

By Marianne Bazydlo The 2015 Annual Campaign of the Jewish Federation of Central New York is now under way. The first communitywide event, Super Sunday, will be held on January 25 from 9 am-3 pm, at the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse, where volunteers will reach out to approximately 2,000 members of the Jewish community to ask for their pledge.

A team of returning and new leadership is working to make this year’s Super Sunday successful. The Super Sunday cochairs are Orit Antosh, Karen Beckman, Mara Charlamb, Joel Friedman, Diane Kuppermann, Liza Rochelson, Nitzah Santiago-McRae and Cindy Stein.

Campaign Chair Philip Holstein said, “This year’s campaign theme is ‘Touching People’s Lives in Central New York and Around the World.’ We believe that it is important for our donors to remember that their contributions travel from their hearts to other people’s hands, both in Central New York and where Jews are in need anywhere on the planet. Please join us on Super Sunday, our biggest Campaign event of the year!”

Phil Holstein, 2015 Campaign chair, worked the phones on Super Sunday last year.

Federation President/CEO Linda Alexander said, “We need your help! Please stop by the JCC that Sunday and have breakfast with us... make your pledge, make a few phone calls or stuff a few envelopes... and stay for lunch. Bring your cell phone to make calls or we’ll provide one.”

The Super Sunday co-chairs agreed, “Responding to the call on Super Sunday is an opportunity to help those in need here in Syracuse, as well as throughout the world. Our community is like a large family and, like a family, we have to look out for one another. So please answer

the phone when your Jewish community calls you and continue the tradition of preserving Jewish identity and helping those in need with a pledge to the 2015 Annual Campaign.”

Super Sunday will be a day of tzedakah.

There will be a collection of items for the food pantry at Temple Concord, and the Super Sunday teen co-chairs will collect items for students in the Syracuse school district alternative education program.

Alexander added, “And please answer the call when a volunteer phones to ask

for your pledge. If we don’t reach you by phone that day, we will mail your pledge card.”

To make a secure online donation to the 2015 Annual Campaign before Super Sunday, visit www.jewishfederationcny. org and click on the tzedakah box on the home page.

To volunteer or for more information, contact Marianne Bazydlo at 445-2040, ext. 102, or mbazydlo@ jewishfederationcny.org, or visit www. jewishfederationcny.org.

Super Sunday teen mitzvah project to help children

By Marianne Bazydlo The 2015 Super Sunday Teen co-chairs are organizing a community mitzvah project, along with helping to coordinate the event and volunteering themselves that day. This year’s teen co-chairs are Eric Antosh, Ian Beckman, Rachel Beckman, Brian Charlamb, Jake Charlamb, Leah Kuppermann, Adena Rochelson, Corey Stein and Emma Stein.

During Super Sunday on January 25 at the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center, the teenagers will collect items for the students in the McCarthy @ Beard program of the Syracuse City School

District. (See list of requested items below.) The Pomeranz, Shankman and Martin Charitable Foundation has made a donation to support the project through trustees Sheldon and Mateele Kall.

The co-chairs said, “We encourage you to volunteer on Super Sunday. We need people to make phone calls and help with other jobs that make the day a success. We plan to raise a lot of money for our Jewish community and all the Jewish agencies and programs that the Federation supports. We see the importance of tzedakah on Super Sunday and we invite others to be a part of it with us.”

The McCarthy program is an alternative school serving 50-70 students in kindergarten-12th-grade. The program provides specialized services for students with social, emotional, behavioral and academic concerns that require resources beyond those of regular schools. At the end of each week, students at McCarthy @ Beard attend an assembly and choose an item from various levels on a cart as a reward for achieving goals in a corresponding level in the program.

Last year the teen co-chairs delivered the items and attended the weekly assembly. The group plans a visit again in 2015. They said, “Visiting the school, meeting the students and sharing in their accomplishments was so meaningful. It’s great that we were able to make a positive difference in their lives and help them succeed in school. We look forward to helping them again this year.”

The following items were specifically

requested by the teachers at McCarthy @ Beard for their students: Hair accessories such as scrunchies, headbands or barrettes in bright colors Bottles of body wash or hand sanitizer Shampoo and conditioner gift sets Hand and body lotion Children’s toothbrushes or toothpaste with sports themes or child-friendly characters Nice hair brushes and combs Coloring books, boxes of crayons and colored pencils Colored chalk Packs of cards and card games Craft kits (friendship bracelets or “loom band” bracelets) Board games and puzzles Gift cards and movie tickets Balls of all types and sizes, foam or rubber, including footballs and basketballs T-shirts and sweatshirts, youth large to adult XXL

Items requested by teachers for their students at McCarthy @ Beard

Among the callers were (sitting, l-r) teenagers Leah Kuppermann, Erin Abbiento and Cory Stein. Standing: David Antosh, Matt Wasserstrom and Emma Stein.

Members of Congress warn of repercussions for Palestinian ICC move WASHINGTON (JTA) – Republican and Democratic lawmakers said there would be repercussions for the Palestinian Authority in the wake of its joining the International Criminal Court.

“Congress must do everything in its power to block funds to the P.A. and to any U.N. entity that recognizes a non-existent state of Palestine to make it clear to Abu Mazen that there will be consequences to his schemes at the United Nations and other international organizations like the International Criminal Court,” Rep. Ileana Ros-

Lehtinen R-FL), the chairwoman of the U.S. House of Representatives Middle East subcommittee, said in a December 31 statement.

Abu Mazen is the nickname of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who signed the treaty on December 31.

Joining the court is a step toward allowing the investigation of alleged Israeli war crimes.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said the move “deeply frustrated” her.

See “ICC” on page 3

C A N D L E L I G H T I N G A N D P A R AS H A January 9..................4:30 pm........................................................ Parasha-Shemot January 16................4:38 pm............................................................Parasha-Vaera January 23................4:47 pm.................................................................Parasha-Bo

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Health talks

In the Diaspora

News in brief...

Na’amat will host a women’s Argentine immigrants fuel a Palestinians plan to resubmit health talk; the JCC is offering a Jewish revival in Spain; French statehood bid at U.N.; aliyah hit a Jews see a future in Montreal. health class for pre-teens.

10-year high in 2014; and more.

Stories on page 8 Stories on page 5 Stories on page 12

PLUS A Matter of Opinion............... 2 Calendar Highlights............. 10 D’var Torah............................. 10 Obituaries................................11

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ january 8, 2015/17 TEVET 5775

a matter of opinion After Salaita: How professors can better protect their Jewish students

By Miriam Elman Originally published on December 14 in The Times of Israel blog, reprinted with permission.

Steven Salaita loves boycotts.

Long before his antisemitic statements on Twitter cost him a tenured job at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, Salaita wrote the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions how-to playbook for boycotting Israel’s entire system of higher education.

And ever since his Illinois job offer was withdrawn four months ago, he’s been backing a boycott of that university too.

Now that the fall semester is over, the Illinois faculty are taking stock of the damage done to their university by this unjustified collective punishment – the same kind of indiscriminate blacklisting that Salaita and his BDS supporters think Israel’s academic institutions deserve.

In a recent letter addressed to Timothy Killeen, the university’s newly appointed president, 34 department chairs and program directors describe how thousands of academics are refusing to visit the Urbana-Champaign campus, resulting in the cancellation of dozens of previously scheduled guest speaker events, colloquium series and conferences. Faculty searches have been jeopardized, as promising candidates aren’t even bothering to send in their applications. And graduate students are frightened that their own job prospects are being compromised.

You’d think, given this litany of woes, that Salaita would call off the boycott, empathizing with the students, faculty and staff of a university that he’s now suing.

Not a chance.

Like most ideologues, Salaita and his BDS buddies aren’t very self-critical and they’re only prepared to see intimidation when it’s allegedly being practiced by the other side: Israel and its supporters.

Now it seems that the Illinois faculty are fed up with all the ostracism, scolding and shunning, and are more than ready to move on – without Salaita. The Illinois faculty aren’t asking President Timothy Killeen to give Salaita back his job. Recent interviews show that most of the faculty there want to “heal divisions” caused by the Salaita case and be “forward-looking.”

A new Faculty Senate Resolution even distances the Illinois campus from Salaita’s loathsome tweets. Dozens of responses to the university’s handling of the Salaita case have chastised its administrators for characterizing his tweets as “uncivil” and for months Salaita’s advocates have doubled down on civility as a “front for censorship.” Salaita himself thinks that civility is “a word whose connotations can be seen as nothing if not racist” – a “deeply violent word” and “the language of genocide.”

The Illinois Senate Resolution’s retort to this is both obvious and compelling: “civility” isn’t some vague, dangerous or arbitrary standard, but an “important and laudable norm for public discourse.” When scholars speak out on contentious topics, they should be rewarded for well-reasoned argument, not sensational invective.

Nothing could be more contra Salaita or his fellow Israel haters, who believe that the more offensive, injurious and insulting you can be, the better.

For the more than 1,000 Illinois students who signed a petition back in August against Salaita’s appointment, finding out that their professors are now having second thoughts about Salaita’s bid for reinstatement must come as a huge relief. These Illinois college kids are pretty bright. They knew immediately that “hate speech is

never acceptable for those applying for a tenured position.”

Salaita’s popularity at Illinois is hitting rock bottom; but, as Martin Kramer correctly observes, he’s already been “enshrined as a symbol” of the trouncing of academic freedom and the trampling of shared governance protocols, and his case will continue to cast a long shadow in American academe.

On my campus this semester, and on many others across the country, Salaita garnered considerable sympathy from colleagues who are justifiably peeved over the erosion of academic freedom, transparency and shared governance on their own campuses. And come next semester, there will be lots of new resolutions that reassert faculty freedom to endorse a full spectrum of ideas without the fear of arbitrary retribution, disciplinary action or the threat of censorship by campus administrators.

These will be laudable documents, and I suspect that they’ll easily garner unanimous support in faculty deliberative bodies. But it remains to be seen whether they’ll take an explicit stance in opposition to hate speech – like Salaita’s tweets about Israel and Jews.

Antisemitic hate speech is not “in the eye of the beholder” or an “ever-shifting goal post,” as some of Salaita’s defenders have argued. Nor should it be wielded as a blunt weapon to silence political or intellectual critics. Most – even the most intemperate – critical statements of Israel’s government or society are not antisemitic.

Criticism of Israel is antisemitic when it expresses an utter hostility to Jewish peoplehood and self-determination or projects the negative stereotypes of the Jew onto the Jewish-majority state.

Because antisemitism has a precise definition with specific manifestations, not every one of Salaita’s hundreds of angry tweets rises to antisemitism. But the vast majority of them are textbook instances of both classic and contemporary antiJewish prejudice.

Salaita’s shocking antisemitism operates on two levels: he can imagine Jews as parasites and sexual deviants, “scabies” that “burrow under the skin” and “bloodletters” that “murder children” to make “necklaces from their teeth” and as sinister money-grubbers and power-grabbers, like the “Zionist donors” who he insists robbed him of his job.

As the British writer David Baddiel recently notes, Jews are the only people on the planet for which racism has this kind of low and high status – Jews are perceived as vermin, but also as wealthy and secretly in control.

In the coming months, will faculty resolutions that vigorously defend academic freedom also say that disparaging and bullying speech like Salaita’s contradicts our professional obligations and responsibilities?

Let’s hope so, because for Jewish college kids, an inclusive campus discourse can’t come soon enough. Not a week goes by without another appalling antisemitic incident on some American campus (see the latest at the University of Pittsburgh and Cornell). Some Students for Justice in Palestine campus chapters are making a habit of disrupting Jewish student events.

More than 40 percent of Jewish American college students report that they’ve experienced harassment or intimidation, or are aware of antisemitism at their schools. And Cary Nelson, the former president of the AAUP from 2006-12 who defended his university’s decision not to hire Salaita, observes that it’s becoming harder to find an academic space grounded in an empathy

for both Palestinians and Israelis.

It’s too bad that we need clauses in resolutions to remind us of what the chaplains on my campus view as a given – that no student, regardless of religious or political identity, deserves to be judged or labeled negatively by a higher education professional.

But these resolutions are necessary, because if faculty resolve to model “appropriate restraint and respect for the opinions of others,” as called for by the American Association of University Professors, the central policy-making and norms-enforcing body for American academics, then maybe students will also begin to show a greater tolerance for one another.

Want to know how America’s professors can better protect their Jewish stu-

dents and foster a safe and welcoming campus for all? The answer is simple: They can stop hiring unabashed racists and stop making bigoted remarks themselves.

Avoiding Twitter might also be a good idea.

Miriam Elman is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and research director, international and intra-state conflict and collaboration, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration. She is also the author of two books published by Syracuse University Press: “Jerusalem: Conflict and Cooperation in a Contested City” and “Democracy and Conflict Resolution: The Dilemmas of Israel’s Peacemaking.”

Overview of Salaita case

By Miriam F. Elman Steven G. Salaita, a Palestinian-American academic and formerly a tenured associate professor of English at Virginia Tech, was hired in 2013 to teach in the American Indian Studies program at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.

In early August [2014], some months after Salaita had resigned his position at Virginia Tech, he was informed by UI-UC Chancellor Phyllis Wise that she would not forward his contingent letter of offer on to the Board of Trustees for its final approval of his contract, as is common practice for new university hires.

The board subsequently voted to cancel Salaita’s appointment.

Several e-mailed letters from the chancellor and the trustees sent to the UIUC community in late August and early September, which were subsequently made public, noted that Salaita’s job offer was being rescinded because of a series of “uncivil” anti-Israel statements he had posted on Twitter in the months prior to and during the Israel-Hamas war this past summer. The withdrawal

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of Salaita’s job offer has generated debate both within and outside the U.S. academic world.

The controversy and subsequent developments at UI-UC, including efforts by some faculty and students to have the administration’s decision reversed, have been reported on in the U.S., Israeli and European media. Salaita and his supporters, including a number of professional organizations representing academics in diverse fields of the humanities and social sciences, maintain that, in rejecting his appointment, “key principles” of shared governance and academic free speech were violated. By contrast, a number of UI-UC students and faculty, along with major Jewish-American organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, continue to insist that administrators made the right decision to reject Salaita as a faculty member because his hundreds of anti-Israel tweets crossed the line into antisemitism.

Currently, the university has indicated that it is trying to reach a financial settlement with Salaita.

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AROUND CENTRAL NEW YORK Acclaimed artist to accompany Hawthorne Quartet

By Stewart Koenig Combining two distinct art forms, painter Jim Schantz and the Hawthorne String Quartet will perform a musical piece composed by Hans Krása before he was deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp. The event will be held on Sunday, January 25, at 1 pm, at Syracuse University’s Newhouse 3 Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium. Admission will be free and open to the public, and free parking will be available at the Waverly lot.

Schantz, a Syracuse University graduate, says his work serves “as reminders of transformative moments found with the spiritual guidance of nature. These works are moments caught in time.” He will paint while the

Hawthorne String Quartet plays Krása’s work. Krása, who enjoyed critical acclaim as a composer in Europe and North America before being deported to Terezin, died in Auschwitz at age 44.

Alan Goldberg, professor emeritus at Syracuse University and the event coordinator, said, “Combining concurrent painting and this moving musical performance will no doubt create an emotional experience that involves the totality of art.” A piece by Victor Ullmann, another composer sent to German concentration camps, will also be performed.

Donations are being accepted for Syracuse University’s Holocaust Education Project at the School of Education.

Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center senior dining menu January 12-16 Monday – chicken rollatini Tuesday – goulash Wednesday – pulled barbecue chicken on a bun Thursday – sliced turkey Friday – roast beef January 19-23 Monday – eggplant Parmesan

ICC

Continued from page 1 “This move only sets back the peace process even further,” Gillibrand said in a December 31 statement.

“I will work with my colleagues in Congress to make it clear to the Palestinian Authority that they will be held accountable for these kinds of actions.”

The Obama administration has said it was “deeply troubled” by Abbas’ action, calling it counterproductive.

On January 1, Canada called Abbas’ move “dangerous.”

“Such a provocative decision only furthers the divide between Palestinians and Israelis, and will carry unfortunate consequences,” John Baird, the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, said in a statement.

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Tuesday – chicken piccata Wednesday – tomato soup and grilled cheese Thursday – shepherd’s pie Friday – herb-encrusted chicken The Bobbi Epstein Lewis JCC Senior Adult Dining Program at the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center offers Va’ad Ha’ir-supervised kosher lunches served Monday-Friday at noon. Reservations are required by noon on the previous business day and there is a suggested contribution per meal. The menu is subject to change. The program is funded by a grant from the Onondaga County Department of Aging and Youth and the New York State Office for the Aging, with additional funds provided by the JCC. To attend, one need not be Jewish or a member of the JCC. For more information or to make a reservation, contact Leesa Paul at 445-2360, ext. 104, or lpaul@jccsyr.org.

There will also be a drawing to win Schantz’s painting.

To make a donation, or for information on the drawing, call Heather Waters, assistant dean of advancement at the School of Education, at 443-7773.

The Hawthorne String Quartet will also present a free concert at Temple Concord on Thursday, January 22, at 7 pm, as part of the Goldenberg Cultural Series; and on Saturday, January 24, at 7:30 pm, with Symphoria at the Civic Center. For ticket information, visit www. experiencesymphoria.org.

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ january 8, 2015/17 TEVET 5775

congregational notes Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas CBS-CS Hazak presents Sue Jacobs and the Seneca String Quartet Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas Hazak will present Sue Jacobs and the Seneca String Quartet performing “Ruach and Reggae” on Sunday, January 18, at 11 am. The quartet’s program will include swing, blues, groove, Klezmer, Yiddish and Ladino music. There will also be a surprise guest appearance.

Refreshments will be available at 10:30 am. For more information, contact the CBS-CS office at 446-9570 or office@ cbscs.org. The program will be free and open to the community.

New adult education class in prayer book Hebrew Temple Concord and Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra-Shas are collaborating to offer a class in prayer book Hebrew for adults and teenagers. The 12-session class, which was scheduled to start on January 5, is open to the community and is held Mondays from 7-8 pm at Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas. Jessie Kerr-Whitt teaches the class, which focuses on letters and sounds and will progress to simple reading and vocabulary.

Enrollment is free to CBS-CS members. There is a charge for non-members.

The textbook is available for purchase.

Pre-registration is requested and may be made by contacting the CBS-CS office at 446-9570 or office@cbscs.org. There is a required minimum enrollment for the class to run. For more information, contact KerrWhitt at kerrwhitt@gmail.com or Sarah Saulson at sfsaulson@twcny.rr.com.

Torah chanting class begins January 12 Cantor Paula Pepperstone will teach a class on Torah chanting beginning on Monday, January 12. Basic Hebrew reading proficiency will be required, and musical ability will be helpful. The class will be held at 7 pm for eight Mondays.

For more information, contact Pepperstone at canterpepperstone@gmail.com.

To register, contact the Congregation Beth

Sholom-Chevra Shas office at office@ cbscs.org or 446-9570.

Mussar Rabbi Ira Stone, head of the Philadelphia Mussar Institute, visited Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas for a weekend last November. He spoke about how the practice of Mussar has the potential to be “a transformative experience” for individuals, as well as for a community.

The congregation is now forming a Mussar group or Va’ad, which will meet weekly for 13 weeks, starting in January, at a time to be determined by the participants.

Mussar is a literature and a vocabulary of spiritual practices that may help individuals live a more ethical life. Each participate chooses a character trait or behavior he or she wishes to improve upon and uses the techniques and discipline of Mussar practice to work to improve him- or herself.

The congregation is seeking people willing to make a daily time commitment to doing this work. Expectations of being part of a Va’ad include spending 10 minutes daily doing some simple journaling, reading assigned selections weekly, meeting with a study partner – a chavruta – for 30 minutes weekly and coming to a weekly Va’ad meeting, which will incorporate study with a Mussar instructor and other aspects of Mussar practice. Each session will last two hours. Possible meeting times include Sunday afternoons or Monday or Tuesday evenings. There will be a charge for the program.

For more information or to become part of CBS-CS’s first Va’ad, contact Rabbi Andrew Pepperstone at rabbi@cbscs.org or 446-5125.

Third World dinner and Broadway concert The Congregation Beth SholomChevra Shas Men’s Club will sponsor a Third World dinner and concert on Saturday, January 31, at 6:30 pm. Each participant will buy a numbered ticket for the event, for which there will be a cost.

When participants attend the dinner, the See “CBS-CS” on page 6

Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas Hazak presented the program “How to Lie with Statistics and Math for Fun and Profit” by Sherman Chottiner, professor emeritus of quantitative methods at Syracuse University, on December 14. The event was attended by 50 people. L-r: Steve Jacobs, Sid Lipton, Donna Lipton, Marge Hill, Carol Chottiner and Sherman.

L-r: Sammy Kuss, Sivan Juran (in the background), Jamie Kuss, Gil Juran and Rachel Pettiford ate the cookies they decorated at the Congregation Beth SholomChevra Shas Religious School Moon Celebration. They wore t-shirts they decorated for their birthday month as part of learning about the Hebrew calendar.

Temple Adath Yeshurun RECC Family Movie Night at TAY

By Alicia Gross Families at the Temple Adath Yeshurun Rothschild Early Childhood Center will gather for the first of two family movie nights on Saturday, January 10, at 6 pm.

The family movie night is one of several family events that the RECC parent advisory council has planned and organized throughout the year. “The Croods” will be projected on the big screen in the TAY ballroom, and snacks will be available.

There will be a minimal charge per family. The second family movie night will be held on Saturday, March 7.

The events have been designed to provide activities that connect families and build the RECC community. For more information about the event or the RECC, call 445-0049 or e-mail recc@ adath.org.

See “TAY” on page 7

L-r: Maxine Malloy and Rosalie Young discussed where to place an item during Temple Adath Yeshurun Sisterhood’s “super sorting Sunday” for the TAY rummage sale, which is volunteer- and donation-driven. It was held December 14-16 and was chaired by Robyn GilelsAiello.

L-r: Bess Greenberg, Ellen Weinstein and Temple Adath Yeshurun President Howard Weinstein shredded potatoes for latkes in preparation for the TAY congregational Chanukah dinner held on December 17 and hosted by the TAY Mishpacha Committee.

Approximately 130 people attended the dinner. Participants lit the second candle of Chanukah.

Temple Concord Cinemagogue to present “Joachim Prinz: I Shall Not Be Silent”

By Drew Lovejoy Temple Concord will feature a story of civil rights activist Joachim Prinz as part of its Cinemagogue Series on Saturday, January 10, at 7 pm.

After being expelled from Nazi Germany in 1937, Prinz, a young rabbi, came to the United States. He immediately began advocating not only for the rights of the Jewish people, but for the rights of African-Americans as well. Prinz spoke at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, directly before Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, where he warned that “bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.”

Temple Concord’s Cinemagogue series offers a variety of films with Jewish themes, Israeli filmmakers and JewishAmerican stars.

The program intended to be appropriate for all ages. Admission is free and open to the public. Donations are welcome. For more information, contact the synagogue at 475-9952 or office@ templeconcord.org.

Scholar Series present Leonard Newman talking about genocide

By Drew Lovejoy Leonard Newman, an associate professor of psychology and director of the social psychology program at Syracuse University, will speak about “How ‘Normal’ People Become Perpetrators of Genocide,” on Tuesday, January 13, at 7 pm.

Newman will teach attendees how

circumstances such as government and peer pressure can turn ordinary people into perpetrators of genocide. His previous work has been acclaimed, drawing support from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health.

Temple Concord’s Scholar Series brings Syracuse University professors and experts from around the community to speak on a variety of topics relevant to the Jewish community.

The program will be appropriate for all ages. Admission will be free and open to the public. Donations are welcome. For more information, contact the synagogue at 475-9952 or office@ templeconcord.org.

Regina F. Goldenberg Cultural Series to host Hawthorne String Quartet

By Drew Lovejoy The Hawthorne String Quartet, a critically-acclaimed group composed of members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, will perform at Temple Concord on Thursday, January 22, at 7 pm.

The Hawthorne String Quartet plays a variety of pieces, from the 18th century to contemporary. However, it specializes in playing pieces by composers who were interned at the Terezin Concentration Camp during World War II, including Gideon Klein, Viktor Ullmann and Hans Krása.

The cultural series is in its 13th year of bringing music and the performing arts to Syracuse.

The program will be appropriate for all ages. Admission will be free and open to the public. Donations are welcome. For more information, contact the TC office at 475-9952 or office@ templeconcord.org.

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JEWISH OBSERVER

Na’amat “Bones, Balance and Exercise” by women’s health specialist Karen Kemmis Na’amat’s next local event will be one of several on the chapter’s programming theme of women’s health.

SUNY Upstate Medical Center’s Karen Kemmis, PT, DPT, MS, GCS, CDE, will be Na’amat’s guest speaker when she presents “Bones, Balance and Exercise” on

Sunday, January 18, at 10:30 am, at the Syracuse home of Alice Pearlman.

Kemmis will share her knowledge and experience. The event will include light refreshments. The community is welcome and there will be no charge to attend, but

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reservations are required by Saturday, January 10.

To make a reservation or for more information, contact Karen Roberts at 446-2306 or karher5757@aol. com. She can also provide the address and directions to Pearlman’s home.

JCC of Syracuse launching free “healthy lifestyles” class for pre-teens

By William Wallak The Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse is offering a weekly healthy bodies class for fifth and sixth grade pre-teens starting on Tuesday, January 13, at 3 pm, at its location, 5655 Thompson Rd., DeWitt. The hour-long co-ed classes, part of the JCC’s after school program, are designed to engage fifth and sixth grade students, or “tweens,” to help them acquire and maintain healthy lifestyle habits through good nutrition and fitness.

Enrollment in the classes is free, due to a grant from the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation. The program can accommodate up to 30 participants and will run through May. The Jamesville-DeWitt school district provides busing directly from Jamesville-DeWitt Middle School. Busing also may be available for students from east-area city of Syracuse schools and eastern-suburb public and private schools.

Mick Hagan, the JCC’s director of children and teen services, said, “In general, children in the U.S. today are less physically active and gaining more weight than ever before. We want to take some positive steps here in our community to change this trend. That’s why we’re really excited to be able to offer this program to help kids develop good eating and exercise habits now so they’ll be more likely to continue these healthy behaviors as adults.”

During each weekly class, the children will participate in healthy nutrition and physical fitness activities. The class will set nutrition and physical activity goals, and

measure its progress toward these throughout the fivemonth program. The physical activity will include walking or running on the JCC Sports and Fitness Center’s indoor track. There will also be opportunities for the participants to socialize and discuss their ideas on being healthy. In addition, a special session will be held during one class each month to focus on a special interest area, which may include a fitness class; guest speakers, such as a nutritionist or other healthcare professionals; and a cooking class on preparing healthy meals and snacks.

Marci Erlebacher, JCC executive director, said, “Supporting middle school students and being a positive influence on their health and well-being during such formative years is very important these days. We’re extremely appreciative of the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation’s support for our Healthy Bodies Program and helping us be a force for good in children’s lives.”

For more information or to sign up for the JCC of Syracuse’s Healthy Bodies Program, contact Erin Hart at 445-2040, ext. 133 or ehart@jccsyr.org.

JCC’s 13th annual Battle of the Bands on January 17

By William Wallak The Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse will hold its 13th annual Battle of the Bands concert on Saturday, January 17, at 7 pm, at The Syracuse Project 4 Our Teens, the JCC’s teen center in ShoppingTown Mall, DeWitt. Admission to the show is open to the public and there will be a modest charge. For every high school student admission, the JCC will donate $1 to his or her school district’s music department.

The JCC is again expecting a crowd to cheer on the half-dozen high school bands slated to play. The winning

band will receive a $200 cash prize and eight hours of studio recording session time with More Sound Studio of Syracuse. Last year’s winner was pop-punk band Home Court Advantage from Marcellus High School.

This year’s Battle of the Bands judges will be Ryan Gorham from Gorham Brothers Music, Syracuse; Chris Baker, music and entertainment reporter for The Syracuse Post-Standard; and Scott Dixon from 95X radio.

For more information about the 2015 Battle of the Bands, contact Erin Hart at 445-2360, ext. 133, or visit www.jccsyr.org.

Join Us on Super Sunday!

How much impact can we make?

It’s your call. Please volunteer.

Sunday, January 25 - 9 am to 3 pm at the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center

Drop by to make a few calls or stuff a few envelopes…

Bagel Breakfast • Grilled Cheese Sandwiches & Hot Tomato Soup just like Mama used to make for lunch Training offered throughout the day Teens welcome – get your volunteer hours and help the Jewish community!

Super Sunday Mitzvahs: • Donate items for McCarthy @ Beard students.

• Bring a donation for the Food Pantry at Temple Concord.

• Drop your loose change in a Tzedakah Box to support our Jewish community.

Stop by to pledge in person and join in the Super Sunday fun!!!

Questions or to Volunteer: Contact Marianne at (315) 445-2040, ext. 102 or mbazydlo@jewishfederationcny.org

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ january 8, 2015/17 TEVET 5775

JCC celebrated Chanukah

The menorah in front of the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse was lit on December 23, the last night of Chanukah. Included in the ritual were the children from the JCC’s after school program.

During Chanukah, Rabbi Evan Shore spoke about the holiday on his visit with preschool students in the Jerome and Phyllis Charney Early Childhood Development Program.

Jewish Federations thanks President Obama for supporting Israel and lasting peace On December 30, the Jewish Federations of North America sent the following to President Barack Obama: In response to the rejection of a flawed resolution at the United Nations Security Council on Palestinian statehood, The Jewish Federations of North America praised President Barack Obama and his administration for its commitment to the security of Israel. Michael Siegal, chairman of the JFNA Board of Trustees, issued the following statement: “The dangerous resolution put forth before the United Nations Security Council today would only have caused further, perhaps irreparable, damage to the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. We at the Jewish Federations applaud President Barack Obama, U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, Secretary of State John Kerry and the entire Obama administration for their dedication in ensuring that this flawed effort would

CBS-CS

Continued from page 4 ticket – available only in advance – will be entered into a drawing. One-third of the tickets will be drawn out and the recipients will receive a two-course pareve and dairy meal. All others will receive a bowl of rice and a glass of water. Attendees can watch those at the top table try to take food to those with the rice.

All proceeds will be donated to the Temple Concord food pantry. To accompany the event, the Syracuse Chorale Chamber Singers will sing a program of Broadway and Jewish music.

Tickets went on sale on January 1. Reservations are required. There is a form for tickets at http://cbscs.org, in the lobby of CBS-CS, by e-mail at office@cbscs.org and at http://tinyurl.com/3rdworlddinner. All tickets must be purchased by Friday, January 23.

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not succeed. It was the United States’ vote against the resolution that ensured its rejection and we are deeply grateful for this administration’s efforts in defense of the Jewish state of Israel.

“As Vice President Joe Biden said before thousands of

representatives from Jewish Federations across the country less than two months ago, ‘There is no friend of Israel like the United States of America and Israel has no friend like the United States.’ Today we yet again saw how truly profound that promise and commitment remains.”

With French ultimatum, European votes on Palestine recognition gain traction

By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA) – When Britain’s Parliament voted in favor of recognizing Palestine in October, Elie Barnavi, a former Israeli ambassador to France, dismissed the motion as mere symbolism. Reflecting many Israelis’ view of the string of nonbinding motions on Palestinian statehood adopted by European parliaments in recent weeks, Barnavi said the vote should be seen as a gesture of growing impatience with Israeli settlement policy and Jerusalem’s perceived responsibility for failing to reach a peace agreement.

But in at least one country, the trend appears to be having an impact. In the run-up to the French parliament’s vote urging the government to recognize Palestine on December 2, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced a two-year deadline for the successful conclusion of peace negotiations, after which France would recognize a Palestinian state.

In recent weeks, Fabius has promoted the initiative in talks with other European Union member states, which also forms the basis for one of two draft resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict now being prepared for a vote at the United Nations Security Council. “We do not want a symbolic recognition of a virtual state,” Fabius told French lawmakers on November 28, just days before the vote. “We want a real Palestinian state.”

Israel has long suffered in public opinion across Europe, where it has struggled to stave off mounting calls for divestment and the labeling of goods produced in its settlements. But since October, there have been signs that governments are beginning to embody those sentiments in legislation. The French vote follows similar measures undertaken by the parliaments of Britain, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Sweden, and comparable steps are pending in Denmark and Slovenia.

The European Parliament recently voted to recognize Palestinian statehood “in principle” and called for the advancement of peace talks. Hours later, 126 countries meeting in Geneva at a summit organized by the Swiss government condemned the occupation of Palestinian lands. The same day, a European Union court removed

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French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, left, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to Israel in November 2013, said France does not want “a symbolic recognition of a virtual state” of Palestine. (Photo by Kobi Gideon/GPO/FLASH90) Hamas from the EU list of terrorist organizations, citing a legal technicality.

“The [parliamentary] votes were the opening shot for a host of events singling out Israel for criticism,” said Zvi Mazel, a former Israeli ambassador to Sweden, which in October became the only European country to formally recognize Palestine. “With every parliament that joins, the motion’s effect is compounded and this creates an anti-Israeli atmosphere where each element fuels the other.”

None of the relevant governments adopted their parliaments’ calls to immediately recognize a Palestinian state co-existing peacefully with Israel and sharing Jerusalem as a joint capital, as doing so would have closed the door on the commitment by those governments to facilitate a negotiated solution. But it doesn’t mean the motions are falling on deaf ears.

Daniel Shek, a former Israeli ambassador to France, said the move by Fabius essentially was a tradeoff offered to lawmakers eager to punish Israel. Rather than recognize Palestine outright, France would push again for peace talks – but this time with a clear deadline. “France’s government would try again to encourage dialogue,” Shek said, “but unlike previous times would not make it open-ended.”

The decision by Sweden to unilaterally recognize Palestine did little to change diplomatic relations between Stockholm and Ramallah, as Sweden in 2012 had already upgraded the level of Palestinian diplomatic representation in the kingdom from mission to embassy. But it did prompt criticism from other European leaders, including Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, who in November said recognizing Palestinian statehood right now would not help jump-start peace talks.

See “French” on page 8

JANUARY 8, 2015/17 TEVET 5775 ■

Faces of the Oaks 2014

By Deborah Ellis The Oaks at Menorah Park will host an art opening and artist talk on Monday, January 12, at 3 pm, to celebrate its newest exhibit, “Faces of the Oaks, 2014.” All of the art was created by Barbara Baum, a “realistic-style” painter who uses oil media on canvas. The portraits were designed to be shown as one installation.

For years, Patricia McGreggor, The Oaks’ social director, has arranged for local artists to exhibit their works on the large atrium wall. Residents and staff have felt that this has “ enhanced” the lobby area by creating “an interesting and stimulating environment” at the living facility.

This exhibit will be unique in that all of

the paintings are images of people living at The Oaks.

Baum said, “I wanted to create a series of portraits that depict one special community. I know most of my subjects, so it has been a joyful project to work on.” When not painting pictures of her grandchildren, Baum generally features people living in the Syracuse area. She also paints animals and pets, rarely painting landscapes or still life. She populates her canvases with people she knows and exhibits regularly at the Manlius Library with the group Associated Artists, and has been active in the community presenting paint parties, where small groups get together to paint a picture and have fun.

IDF withdrawing troops from Israeli communities near Gaza border

By JTA Staff JERUSALEM (JTA) – The Israel Defense Forces will withdraw its troops from southern Israeli communities near the Gaza border that are not directly adjacent to it. Soldiers will remain on guard in the three communities adjacent to the border with Gaza, the IDF announced on December 28. The new rule was to go into effect on January 1, the IDF said in a statement.

“The move was made after an evaluation of the security situation, with the understanding that the protection the IDF

TAY

offers to residents of Gaza border communities is optimal, and in coordination with the heads of the communities,” the statement said.

The communities are calling for a more sophisticated border fence between Israel and Gaza to prevent the infiltration of terrorists.

The forces were deployed to the southern communities during Israel’s operation last summer in Gaza.

The IDF deployed two Iron Dome anti-missile batteries near southern Israeli cities the week of December 26.

“I am aware that older adults seldom enjoy seeing images of themselves, but found myself challenged to capture these beautiful faces. I may not always get an exact likeness,” said Baum, “but I do aim to express the essence of a personality or present an expression that may be familiar. Now that I have completed several works, I am eager to hang them up to share and to see [people’s] reactions and hear comments.”

For the last two years, Baum has been a monthly volunteer at The Oaks, showing images of paintings and talking about fine art. After an Oaks resident asked her about the art of Grandma Moses, Baum did some research, gathered several images to project on a screen and led a group conversation. “As the former volunteer coordinator of the Menorah Park campus, I needed to set a good example and volunteer,” said Baum. “I found, as do most volunteers, that I am personally enriched by my experience.

I really look forward to preparing for, and then leading, the art conversations each month.”

Throughout the course of two years, the monthly group has explored many artists, visited several virtual museums and shared their taste in art. “All of the

participants know that I like portraits and that I am not exactly Rembrandt,” said Baum.

The community has been invited to attend the art opening, or to visit at another time. The exhibit will be available until Sunday, February 8.

Alison Bronstein and her daughter, Elizabeth, lit the candle for the second night of Chanukah during the Temple Adath Yeshurun congregational Chanukah dinner. The dinner was hosted by the Mishpacha Committee, for which Alison is a co-chair with Joan Lowenstein. open to the public. For more information, contact the synagogue at info@adath.org or 445-0002.

Temple Adath United Synagogue Youth hosted a Chanukah game night for teenagers on December 13. Students were able to have snacks, play games and socialize.

L-r: Ellie Anbar, Annie Weiss, Eli Weiss, Tal Frieden, Molly Kantrowitz and Ari Jaffe. For more information about USY and its events, e-mail Brianna Smith at usy@adath.org.

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“Helen, Faces of the Oaks 2014,” by realistic-style artist Barbara Baum, who has painted portraits of residents at The Oaks and will exhibit her art there until Sunday, February 8.

Continued from page 4

Book discussion hosted by TAY Sisterhood The Temple Adath Yeshurun Sisterhood will host a book discussion on “Little Failure: A Memoir” by Gary Shteyngart on Sunday, January 25, at 9:30 am, in the Muriel and Avron Spector Library at the synagogue. In the book, Shteyngart shares his family’s immigration experience from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg, Russia) to the United States.

The story begins in the 1970s, when Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev made a deal to exchange tankers of grain for safe passage of Soviet Jews to America.

The book follows Shteyngart from Hebrew school to his first love and then to a return visit to a home that is no longer his own.

“Little Failure” has been named a New York Times bestseller, one of Time magazine’s “Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Year” and has received other accolades. The book discussion will be

JEWISH OBSERVER

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ january 8, 2015/17 TEVET 5775

New Jewish homes in the Diaspora

Argentine immigrants fueling Jewish revival in Spain

By Cnaan Liphshiz ROTA, Spain (JTA) – While setting up a synagogue at the American naval base where she works, Ahuvah (Amanda) Gipson made something of a bitter-sweet discovery. Rifling through a storage area at the sprawling American-Spanish military complex Naval Station Rota in 2012, Gipson, a former naval outreach professional who now teaches off base, found three dusty Torah scrolls and a dismantled 4foot Chanukah menorah. The objects were all that remained from a community that American Jews serving at Rota established many years ago, but which fell apart after they shipped out.

Setting up a durable congregation on a military base is difficult because of frequent turnover, but nearly three years later, Gipson’s 15-member Bet Januka community – a name referencing the found menorah – is still going strong, largely because many congregants now are local Jews. “We’re small, but we’re here to stay,” Gipson said. “It’s kind of like the bigger story, but on slightly smaller scale.”

The bigger story is the rapid growth of Jewish life in Spain, once home to one of the world’s largest and most accomplished Jewish communities, but which has had only a modest Jewish presence since the expulsion in the 15th and 16th centuries. Nowhere is the growth felt more strongly than in Madrid, home to Spain’s largest Jewish community of some 12,000 members, where six of the capital’s seven synagogues have opened in the last decade. Bet Januka is one of six Reform communities founded across the country since 2007. “[It’s] a phenomenal regeneration not only in interest in Judaism, but also in the level of encouragement from the government,” said Leslie Bergman, president of the European Union for Progressive Judaism.

Locals say the process is being driven by a number of factors, including a supportive government and the arrival of thousands of Argentine Jews who were driven to Spain by the financial crisis of the 2000s and earlier by the Dirty War, the reign of political terror in the 1970s.

Prior to their arrival, the Jewish community was constituted overwhelmingly by a small group of Orthodox Jews of Moroccan descent.

“The small community of Moroccan Jews that lives here and runs the Orthodox synagogue is pretty low-profile,” said David Pozo Perez, president of the Reform congregation Beit Rambam in Seville,

who was born in Spain and is married to an Argentine. “They aren’t very big on the cultural activities that Argentinian Jews are used to from home. And so the Argentinians’ desire to re-create such an environment gave a big push to setting up social frameworks, activities and also Reform synagogues.”

But Spain’s so-called Jewish revival is also being fueled by processes outside the Jewish community. Following Portugal’s lead, Spain this year introduced legislation that may make many Jews of Sephardic descent eligible for citizenship, a measure officials described as a form of atonement for the expulsion of Jews during the Inquisition. Along with a host of public initiatives to celebrate Spain’s rich Jewish heritage, the law has helped foster the growth of local Jewish communities.

“It isn’t affecting the growth of communities directly, [but] it certainly helps generate a climate that is more positive to Judaism and conducive to strengthening communities,” said David Hatchwell, president of the Jewish Community of Madrid. “When rural municipalities with hardly any Jews celebrate Sukkot and Chanukah in festivals, it encourages Jews to also celebrate their tradition more proudly than before.”

In addition to encouraging Jews to celebrate their faith, the initiatives to highlight Spain’s Sephardic heritage is drawing out the anusim, the descendants of Jews forced to convert to Christianity during the Inquisition. While only some of them formally convert, many more attend and even organize Jewish-themed events in the Spanish and Portuguese countryside.

The rural festivals have also made it easier for small Jewish communities like Rota’s to access municipal resources that facilitate community-building. Rota’s municipality, for example, allows Bet Januka to make use of a community center in the city’s center, which is more convenient than dealing with security procedures at the base.

All the processes reshaping Jewish life in Spain were on display during a recent Havdalah ceremony at the center.

“This scene probably wouldn’t have been possible 15 years ago,” said Jose Manuel Fernandez, a retired police officer who converted to Judaism with his wife after learning he was descended from anusim.

“The Argentinians were not here yet,” he said, “and I’m not sure the municipality would’ve necessarily let us be here.”

Ahuvah (Amanda) Gipson, left, and other members of the Bet Januka congregation located at Naval Station Rota in southern Spain on July 30. (Photo by Cnaan Liphshiz)

French

Israeli leaders have roundly condemned the Swedish move and the votes taken in other European parliaments, with some like Mazel even suggesting that they could spark Palestinian violence.

But Shek says the votes may in fact have

Continued from page 6 a silver lining. “While they place Israel in an uncomfortable situation, they also reaffirm support for the two-state solution at a time when it is being eroded,” Shek said. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing for Israel.”

In Montreal, Jews from France see a future for themselves

By Josh Tapper TORONTO (JTA) – When Dan Charbit and his wife, Gaelle Hazan, moved to Montreal from Paris two summers ago, it was meant to be a temporary fix – a year-long attempt for Charbit to reboot his stalled career as a special-effects artist in Quebec’s thriving film and television industry. They agreed to fly home if the experiment failed.

Fourteen months after arriving in Canada, the couple has no desire to return to France. The 43-year-old Charbit, who won an Emmy earlier this year for work on the fourth season of the HBO show “Game of Thrones,” started a new job in October as a supervisor at Mokko, a Montreal-based special-effects studio serving the film and television industries.

Hazan, 39, has found employment as a construction project manager.

Charbit and Hazan are part of a new wave of French Jews who have resettled in French-speaking Quebec, fleeing France’s dismal unemployment rate, which hit 10.5 percent in September, as well as the shock of antisemitism that has reverberated throughout the country in recent months and crested over the summer during waves of anti-Israel demonstrations.

France’s Jewish Community Protection Service reported 527 antisemitic incidents in the first half of 2014, compared with 276 in the same period last year. In recent months – and especially in the wake of the most recent Gaza war – there have been incidents of Jews being harassed, even physically assaulted, in the streets, and synagogues and Jewish-owned stores and restaurants being torched. And notably, in 2012, four people, including three children, were killed during a shooting rampage at a Jewish school in Toulouse.

While Israel remains the destination of choice – 5,063 French Jews made aliyah between January 1 and September 30, according to the Jewish Agency for Israel, the most from any European country – Quebec, and its largest city of Montreal in particular, is quietly becoming a popular alternative for emigres.

“I hear and I know of young couples moving to Quebec,” said Serge Cwajgenbaum, the Lyon, France-born secretary general of the European Jewish Congress.

“The reason is not necessarily related to the rise of antisemitism, but it’s more to find a proper future, in terms of good work, good salaries and a cheaper way of life.”

There are some 90,000 Jews in the Montreal metropolitan area.

Jews are not the only French citizens resettling in Canada. Overall French immigration to Quebec has skyrocketed since 2011, when Canada last conducted its National Household Survey. The French consulate in Montreal told the Canadian Press in early November that 55,000 French citizens had notified it of their residence in the city, a 45 percent increase from 2005. Since immigrants are not required to register upon arrival, the consulate estimated the actual number of French citizens in Montreal could be as high as 110,000.

Although up-to-date data on French Jewish immigration does not exist, Monique Lapointe, director of Agence Ometz, Montreal’s primary Jewish social services and resettlement organization, told JTA she has noticed a significant increase in newcomers, especially over the past year.

Inquiries, Lapointe said, have poured in through Ometz’s e-mail system and Facebook page, including from French Jews currently living in Israel. “I wouldn’t say it’s a huge number of [immigrants],” Lapointe said. “But it’s a trend. We’ll be anticipating more.”

Lapointe described the average immi-

Julie and Nathanael Weill with their sons, Eytan and Lior, in 2013. grant as single, between the ages of 25 and 35, “very well educated and looking for a new kind of life.” The wider Montreal Jewish community, Lapointe said, is now in the early stages of crafting a coordinated approach to handle the inflow. Thus far, it has been difficult to track newcomers, she added, partly because French Jews keep looser ties to Jewish community organizations than do their North American counterparts. “In France, people don’t talk about Jewishness,” Lapointe said.

“They’re not used to community organizations. Some will never come to see us.

They don’t have this reflex.”

Montreal’s cheaper rents and relatively low cost of living are as much a draw for French Jews as the familiar language and secular Francophone culture. In a focus group of French nationals conducted last year, Ometz identified four reasons Jews were moving out of France. The new immigrants pointed to a higher quality of life in North America, a greater openness toward immigrants and shrinking job opportunities for a younger generation of French citizens back home. Families with children also reported a fear of antisemitism, and anxieties about their ability to practice Judaism safely amid a rise in antisemitic rhetoric and attacks.

For Julie Weill, a 31-year-old mother of three, the decision to leave her home in Strasbourg five years ago was prompted by the increasing sense of unease she and her husband, Nathanael, felt as Jews in France.

While the modern Orthodox couple was never victimized by antisemitism, they heard stories from friends and family, and it was considered dangerous, Weill said, to walk around downtown Strasbourg wearing a yarmulke.

When it came time for Nathanael to choose a post-doctoral fellowship in bioinformatics, the Weills declined compelling offers from European schools and instead chose McGill University, in Montreal. They found the prospect of raising a religious family in Europe too unsettling. “We wanted a place with a strong Jewish community, with Jewish schools, a place you can practice freely, where you feel safe,” said Weill, whose synagogue in Montreal is run by another French immigrant from Strasbourg.

Quebec has struggled with its own, albeit minor, resurgence of high-profile antisemitism. During a provincial election campaign last spring, Louise Mailloux, a candidate from the separatist Parti Quebecois, publicly dredged up the longstanding “kosher tax” canard, claiming that kosher-certified products are sold at higher prices on supermarket shelves, with Jewish interest groups collecting the surplus. And in August, Gilles Proulx, a Montreal columnist and television host, told a local radio station that Jewish communities worldwide “provoke the hatred” of their host countries.

Cwajgenbaum also noted that Quebec’s Muslim population – roughly 221,000 of the 3.8 million residents in the Montreal See “Montreal” on page 12

Chicago Symphony to join Adamah, a three-month farming fellowship and leadership program, and his parents decided to pursue a more sustainable path for the acreage of farmland next to their family business that had been rented to a corn farmer. “They wanted to do something gentler on the earth than corn farming,” says Margulies.

Margulies’s parents created garden plots for people in the family business and other community members, and developed a Jewish education project in Chicago as part of their farm. They brought chickens into synagogues, and at the farm had people milk goats, go on walks to gather wild edibles, make cheese and ginger beer, and “do Jewish crafts as a way of allowing Jews to develop a connection with the earth,” Margulies says.

Leah Koenig, author of “The Hadassah Everyday Cookbook: Daily Meals for the Contemporary Jewish Kitchen,” defines the Jewish Food Movement as “the place where Jewish values and contemporary food ethics merge.”

“In recent years food has been a rallying focal point where the environmental and justice movements intersect,” she says, adding that because Judaism has a rich agricultural history, “the connections feel exciting to make because they come from a place of authenticity.”

Koenig got involved in the Jewish Food Movement while working for Hazon from 2006-2009, eventually running its CSA initiative, the annual Food Conference and other food programs. She says the Food Conference serves as a time to push meaningful conversations forward, citing the slaughtering of three goats at an early conference “with the hopes of teaching about the kosher laws, animal welfare, vegetarianism and sustainable meat consumption.” This was a controversial move, even causing some people to boycott the conference, but Koenig says that for her it was “a very powerful experience” and started “some really important conversations.”

Also active in the Jewish Food Movement is the Leichtag Foundation in Encinitas, CA, whose mission is “igniting and inspiring vibrant Jewish life, advancing self-sufficiency and stimulating social entrepreneurship in coastal North San Diego County and Jerusalem.” Two years ago, the foundation acquired 67.5 acres of agricultural property for a community educational farm and has already donated about 3,000 pounds of organic vegetables grown at the farm to the local food bank.

Leichtag also seeks to educate people from disadvantaged communities on basic gardening and cooking skills.

See “Food” on page 12

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Staff and participants of the Adamah Jewish farming program washed the harvest in Falls Village, CT, in 2010. (Photo courtesy of Hazon)

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By Michele Alperin JNS.org In December 2007, leaders of the Hazon nonprofit drafted seven-year goals for what they coined as the “Jewish Food Movement,” whose emergence has led to the increased prioritization of healthy eating, sustainable agriculture, and food-related activism in the Jewish community. What do the next seven years hold in store?

“One thing I would like to see happen in the next seven years is [regarding] the issue of sugar, soda and obesity, [seeing] what would it be like to rally the Jewish community to take on this issue and do something about it,” says Nigel Savage, Hazon’s founder and president. Additionally, Savage predicts that Jewish food festivals “will grow the way Jewish film festivals grew” and a generation from now “will be some of the biggest events in American Jewish life.”

Hazon was scheduled to host its eighth annual Food Conference from December 29-January 1 at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT. This year’s conference focuses on the theme of “Poultry, Pollinators and Policy,” exploring the topics of ethical eating, the sources of food and ecosystems, and food activism and policy.

Savage notes that, so far, the Jewish Food Movement has bolstered initiatives and trends including Jewish community supported agriculture (or CSA), Jewish educational farms, Jewish food education as a discrete discipline, a Jewish working group on the U.S. Farm Bill, new ethical practices in the kosher meat business and serious consideration of what observance of the sabbatical (shmita) year might mean.

The annual Hazon Food Conference, Savage says, “is a celebration of everything to do with Jews, food, and contemporary life, to bring people together across difference.”

“Look at the people [attending the conference]: they are literally kids to 80-somethings, Orthodox rabbis, hippies and people not involved in Jewish life,” he says. “Food is capable of separating people and also of bringing us together.”

The food conferences have proven to significantly influence the career paths of many participants. Elan Margulies – the director of Teva, whose programs use experiential education to help participants develop a meaningful relationship with the natural world and deepen their connections to Jewish tradition – recalls that his immediate family members made life-changing decisions after visiting the 2007 Hazon Food Conference. His sister left her job in music administration at the

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“Jewish Food Movement” comes of age

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Prices effective Sunday, December 28, 2014 thru Saturday, January 31, 2015.

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Calendar Highlights

To see a full calendar of community events, visit the Federation's community calendar online at www.jewishfederationcny.org. Please notify jstander@jewishfederationcny.org of any calendar changes.

Saturday, January 10 Temple Concord Cinemagogue presents “Joachim Prinz: I Should not be Silenced” at 7 pm Monday, January 12 TC board meeting at 7 pm Syracuse Hebrew Day School Board of Directors meeting at 7:30 pm Tuesday, January 13 TC Scholar Series presents Leonard Newman at 7 pm Thursday, January 15 Temple Adath Yeshurun board meeting at 7 pm Saturday, January 17 JCC Battle of the Bands at 7 pm Sunday, January 18 Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas Hazak presents Sue Jacobs and the Seneca String Quartet in “RUACH and Reggae” at 11 am Na’amat program “Bones, Balance and Exercise” at the home of Alice Pearlman at 10:30 am Tuesday, January 20 Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse Executive Committee meeting at 6 pm, followed by Board of Directors meeting at 7 pm Wednesday, January 21 Deadline for the February 5 issue of the Jewish Observer Federation Board of Directors meeting at 5:30 pm CBS-CS Board of Trustees meeting at 7:15 pm Thursday, January 22 Hawthorne Quarter Holocaust remembrance concert at Temple Concord at 7 pm Saturday, January 24 Hawthorne String Quartet joins Symphoria for a Masterworks Concert, AThe Promise of Hope,@ at the Crouse Hinds Theater, John Mulroy Civic Center at 7:30 pm Sunday, January 25 Federation of Central New York Super Sunday at the JCC, from 9 am-3 pm Hawthorne Quarter presents free public concert at Syracuse University’s Newhouse 3 building at 1 pm

d’var torah Safeguarding our heritage

By Rabbi Irvin Beigel Rabbi Yose teaches us in Pirke Avot, a tractate of the Mishnah (2:17), “Prepare yourself to study Torah for it does not come to you as an inheritance (yerusha).” A yerusha is something that has come into our possession without our effort from a loved one no longer living. In parasha Vaera, when the Torah relates God’s promise to give the land of Israel to the Jewish people, the verse says, “I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and I will give it to you as a morasha; I the Lord.” The Torah uses the word morasha, rather than yerusha.

There is one other time that the Torah uses the word morasha to describe an inheritance. Toward the end of Deuteronomy, we are told: “When Moses charged us with the Teaching (Torah), the (morasha) of the congregation of Jacob.” (33:4, JPS translation) Here, JPS translates morasha as “heritage.” The teaching of Rabbi Yose suggests an explanation for the use of morasha, rather than yerusha, in these two instances. Neither Torah nor the land of Israel is properly a yerusha since they come to us from those living today, as well as from those who have passed from this world. We call something a yerusha only when it becomes ours. An heirloom left to us by a parent or grandparent is a yerusha, Torah and Israel are more like a winning lottery ticket that has to be claimed. They require our effort and involvement for them to become our possession.

Along with worship and good deeds, Shimon the Righteous tells us in Pirke Avot (1:2) that Torah is one of the pillars on which the entire world depends for its existence. Judaism without the values and substance of Torah is an empty shell, a pale imitation of the larger society in which we live. A Torah-less Judaism can add no uniquely Jewish meaning to our lives nor offer a uniquely Jewish insight to the world. Torah becomes valuable to us only when we spend time engaged in Jewish learning.

The importance of Israel is also embedded in the Jewish consciousness. Wherever we are in the world, we pray for rain and dew when the land of Israel needs them. As the center of Torah learning, Israel gives life to Isaiah’s prophecy: “For out of Zion shall go forth Torah...”

(Isaiah 2:3) The state of Israel has rescued Jews facing danger in the Arab countries and the Soviet Union, and it has developed technology that has saved the lives of Jews and non-Jews.

Modern Israel has not come to us as a yerusha. The third Jewish state in the land of Israel came into being and is strong today because of the heroism and sacrifice of many. For it to remain a beacon of light in a world of darkness, we must actively support it. Jews who live in Israel have demonstrated the commitment to make

business brief JCC of Syracuse brings a new chef into the kitchen

experience in the food industry.

“It is such a pleasure to welcome Donna aboard and to benefit from her vast experience and knowledge of kosher dining,” said Marci Erlebacher, JCC executive director.

“The variety and quality of her cooking has been a welcome addition to the JCC, and the rave reviews from many satisfied diners just keep pouring in.”

Carullo earned her associate’s degree in both Donna Carullo culinary and pastry from the Culinary Institute of America. She also has experience working in senior and healthcare facilities. She was previously with Walden Place in Cortland, and prior to that worked for Sodexo for nine years.

“It’s great to be here at the JCC and to be able to touch From JTA people’s lives through food,” said Carullo. “Being half ISIS-linked terror cell arrested in Italian and half Ukrainian and raised in a multi-genHebron erational family, the culture of kosher cooking is very Israeli security forces arrested three Palestinians close to the way I was raised. Cooking is my passion belonging to a terror cell linked to the Islamic State in and serving others here through old-world style food that Hebron. The cell members were arrested in November satisfies the soul is such a good fit for me.”

The JCC’s senior meal program is the only kosher by the Shin Bet, the security service said in a statement dining program available in upstate New York serving released to the Israeli media for publication on Jan. 4.

It was the first known Palestinian cell discovered to be kosher meals five days per week. The program offers linked to the Islamic State, the jihadist group also known seniors age 60 and older a kosher lunch on weekdays at as ISIS or ISIL. The cell planned to kidnap and kill Is- noon. It is funded in part by a grant from the Onondaga raeli soldiers and civilians in the West Bank. It failed in County Department of Aging and Youth and the New an attempt to detonate a bomb against Israeli soldiers. York State Office for Aging.

For more information, call 445-2360 or visit www.

The arrested men, all in their 20s, admitted to the plots jccsyr.org. during interrogation.

By William Wallak The Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse recently announced the appointment of Donna Carullo as chef of the JCC’s kosher kitchen. Carullo, a Syracuse resident, manages the JCC’s Va’ad-supervised kosher kitchen to provide food services for the Early Childhood Development Program, senior meal program and the Syracuse Hebrew Day School. She has been a chef for 20 years and has more than 30 years

NEWS IN bRIEF

Israel theirs, but those of us in the Diaspora can also share in making Israel a morasha for our people and a continuing source of strength and inspiration for each of us. We do so when we accept responsibility for its well-being by defending it from unfair criticism, when we can contribute to worthy Israeli causes, and when we choose Israel as a vacation spot over other places in the world.

Torah and Israel are blessings. May we all be worthy to make them ours.

Rabbi Irvin S. Beigel, a member of Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation of Syracuse, is the Jewish chaplain at Crouse Hospital, Hutchings Psychiatric Center, Loretto, and an associate chaplain at Upstate University Hospital.

Do You Know?

By Jackie Miron Editor’s note: Jackie Miron has run a home-based business tutoring mathematics and SAT preparation for the last 15 years.

As the running columnist for The Syracuse Post-Standard, she had her own column for nine years until January 2013. In addition to being a CPA, she has worked as a math teacher and recently wrote her first Jackie Miron book, “Running for Your Life: The Lopez Lomong Story.” Currently a running coach for Gazella Fitness and Training in Skaneateles, she works with local runners and writes about their successes in the newsletter. She has also been published in Running Times Magazine and SELF Magazine.

She has been a member of the boards of the Syracuse Hebrew Day School, the Manlius Library and the Museum of Science and Technology. She raised funds to upgrade the facilities at the Jewish Community Center of Syracuse’s preschool, the Early Childhood Development Program; secured funding to enhance the curriculum of the math program at SHDS; and started a science club there.

She is married to Steve; is mother to Jim, a junior at the University of Michigan, and Dan, a freshman also at Michigan. Her interests include reading, fitness and cooking. She travels often, documenting her experience in journals, and volunteers at various local organizations.

Anyone who has taken a class at the Jewish Community Center may have met Paula Pacini, who has been teaching there for more than six years. Like other instructors, she has taught at many gyms and fitness centers in Central New York, but she has really found a home at the JCC, and her love of the place and the program goes back more than a dozen years to when her daughter attended swim lessons there.

Pacini has been the JCC’s exercise coordinator for four years and has helped the program increase to more than 50 classes per week. In addition to adding classes, the membership and the size of the classes have also increased.

She is enthusiastic about the offerings and quick to list the variety encompassed by the program to include the most popular and up-to-date fitness classes anywhere in Central New York. The JCC offers everything from yoga to Pilates to Zumba; senior classes and the newest bikes for teaching spinning. TRX and Piloxing round out the most recent classes added so as to be on the cutting edge of popularity.

Pacini describes the JCC fitness classes as “more than a place to get a workout.” It is a group of people who get to know one another and call it a second home.

Friends are made, and members enjoy the kind and warm See “Know” on page 11

Paula Pacini, exercise coordinator at the Jewish Community Center of Syracuse Sports and Fitness Center, led a senior strength and balance class. L-r: Class participants Mary Ann Delaney, Dorothy Schlein, Lillian Gale, Julie Zdep, Esther Hurwitz and Pacini.

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obituaries Lois Glazier Binenkorb

Lois Glazier Binenkorb, 89, died on December 13 in West Orange, NJ. Born in Syracuse, she was predeceased by her former husbands, Robert R. Harris and Alan Binenkorb; her parents; and a brother, Jesse Glazier.

She is survived by her children, Carl (Sally) Harris and Fern (Joe) Allen; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a sister, Francis Grabos.

Burial was in Poiley Tzedek Cemetery, Syracuse. Birnbaum Funeral Service Inc. had charge of local arrangements.

Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. 

Jeremy A. Blumenthal

Jeremy A. Blumenthal, 45, died on December 18 in Sharon, MA. Formerly of Sharon, MA, he was a law professor at Syracuse University. He was a member of Congregation Beth SholomChevra Shas.

He was predeceased by his grandparents, Evelyne Wersted, and Eli and Esther Blumenthal.

He is survived by his parents, Peter and Mollyann (Wersted) Blumenthal, of Sharon; his wife, Judy Bernstein; his children, Daniel, Rebecca and Matthew; his siblings, Joshua Blumenthal, of Chestnut Hill, MA; Rafi (Elysa) Blumenthal, of Astoria, NY, and Lani Blumenthal, of Sharon, MA; his grandfather, Saul Wersted, of Sharon; and two nephews.

Burial was in Sharon Memorial Park.

Schlossberg-Solomon Chapel had arrangements.

Contributions may be made to the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, 125 Wells Ave., Newton, MA 02459; or Syracuse Hebrew Day School, 5655 Thompson Rd., Syracuse, NY 13214. 

Richard Earl Gordon

Richard Earl Gordon, 82, died on December 18 at Crouse Hospital.

Born in Watertown, NY, he had been a Syracuse resident since 1956. He was a graduate of Watertown High School, class of 1950; Cornell University, class of 1954, and Cornell Law School, class of 1956. He served as the confidential law clerk for Richard Aronson, justice of the New York State Supreme Court. He was a founding partner of Rauch, Gordon and Huffman and then later founded Gordon and Morawski. In 2006, he was honored by the Bar Association in recognition of the 50th anniversary of his practice of law. He was an avid skier, kayaker and runner.

He was predeceased by his wife, Carole, in September 2011.

He is survived by their children, Nancy Gordon Alderman, Stephen (Lorraine) and David (Kim); their 10 grandchildren; his brother, Edward (Helene) Gordon; his sisters-in-law, Ellen Cramer and Doris Root; and an extended family.

Burial was in the Adath Yeshurun Cemetery. Sisskind Funeral Service had arrangements.

Contributions may be made to the Foundation of Menorah Park, 4101 E. Genesee St., Syracuse, NY 13214 or The Natural Heritage Trust to benefit Green Lakes State Park: www.nysparks.com/ parks/172/details.aspx.  Please support our advertisers & tell them you saw their ad here in

Betty Brody Lourie

Betty Brody Lourie, 85, died on December 9 from complications associated with Alzheimer’s disease in Burlington, VT. Born in Savannah, GA, and raised in Charleston, SC, she attended the University of South Carolina and Duke University. She and her late husband lived throughout the South, from Durham to St. Louis, before settling in Syracuse, NY, where she raised her four children and resided for more than half a century.

After her husband’s murder in 1987, she continued living in Syracuse, where she maintained a balance caring for her family and serving her community. She immersed herself in the cultural and political community of Syracuse, where she was an activist and artistic patron. She ardently supported Syracuse Stage, where she was a member of the “Stage family” for more than 30 years. She served as a trustee on the Stage board from 1995-2011, was a member of the Syracuse Stage Guild, attended each show at least once and read every play before it appeared on stage. She also supported the Syracuse University drama department.

When she wasn’t in Syracuse or taking family trips to Pawley’s Island and Kiawah, SC, she traveled the world. She was a lifelong supporter and advocate for causes ranging from environmental protection to women’s rights. She donated generously to help those less fortunate and supported numerous charities, including Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, the League of Women Voters, People for the American Way, the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Southern Poverty Law Center. She received The Post-Standard Achievement Award, the Hannah G. Solomon Award given by the National Council of Jewish Women and the Onondaga County Medical Society Alliance Community Service Award.

She was predeceased by her husband, Herbert, in 1987.

She is survived by her children, Karen Blanchard, of Philadelphia, PA (Michael, deceased); Gerald (Kylee) Lourie, of Denver, CO, Gary (Yvette) Lourie, of Atlanta, GA, and Suzanne Lourie, of Charlotte, VT, (Steven); seven grandchildren; one greatgranddaughter; and her brother, Marvin (Goldie) Brody, of Maryland.

A. Stephen Gregory and Son of South Burlington, VT, had arrangements. Details about a memorial service will be published at a later date.

Contributions may be made to Syracuse Stage, 820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse, NY 13210; Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York, 1120 E. Genesee St., Syracuse, NY 13210; and the Alzheimer’s Association, Central New York Chapter, 441 W. Kirkpatrick St., Syracuse, NY 13204. 

Know

Edward Markson

Edward Markson, 90, died on December 29 at Menorah Park.

Born in Syracuse in 1924, he was a life resident of Syracuse. He was a World War II veteran and served in the U.S. Army stationed in Aberdeen, MD. He was an instructor of instrument repair, then was one of the directors responsible for tracking enemy aircraft. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1948 with degrees in accounting and business. While at SU, he was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, where in 1947 he “pinned” his future wife Lucille. After graduating, he joined his family’s business, Markson’s Furniture Co. where he was a vice president. In 1961, he joined Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, where he was the general agent for the Syracuse office. In 1968, he earned his CLU, chartered life underwriter certification, and enjoyed a long and successful career in the insurance industry.

His wife, Lucille, died in July 2013.

He is survived by their children, Margie (Robert) Johnson, Melissa (Scott) Ellsworth and Jonathan (Samia) Markson; seven grandchildren; and his brother, Richard (Judith) Markson.

Burial was in the Temple Concord section of Woodlawn Cemetery.

Sisskind Funeral Service had arrangements.

Contributions may be made to Temple Concord, 910 Madison St., Syracuse, NY 13210. 

Ida Menter Sargoy

Ida Menter Sargoy, 103, died on December 17 in Santa Monica, CA. Born in Syracuse, she graduated from Syracuse University in 1933. In the late 1930s, she moved to New York City, where she raised her family, earned a master’s degree in psychology and worked as a school psychologist for many years in the New York City school system. She moved to California in the late 1970s.

She was predeceased by her husband, Milton, in 1983, and her siblings, Marvin, Dorothy Soloway and Sidney.

She is survived by her son, Kenneth, of Los Angeles; two grandchildren; her daughter-in-law, Joan; her sisters, Margaret Garfield and Elaine Katzman; and several nieces and nephews.

Burial was at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Fairview, NJ. Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills had arrangements.

Contributions may be made to a favorite charity. 

Thank you for your trust and loyalty, since 1934 When that difficult time arises, you can rely upon our experience.

1909 East Fayette St., Syracuse, NY 13210 • 315.472.5291 • 1.800.472.5182 Martin J. Birnbaum* Elaine R. Birnbaum* Joel M. Friedman * Also Licensed in Florida

Cont. from page 10

atmosphere. Pacini thinks of it as a family atmosphere in a boutique-style setting.

Pacini started dancing at age 3, and her passion and love for movement, the people and the JCC as a whole are obvious. She is passionate, hard-working and quick to compliment the welltrained instructors. There is definitely room to grow, but members know how good they have it with the intimate atmosphere and high-level fitness at their disposal.

PEXTON MEMORIALS (FORMERLY GROSKIN MEMORIALS) MONUMENTS, MARKERS, CEMETERY LETTERING, PLANTINGS ARRANGED

Established 1970

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Gloria E. Tobin

Gloria E. Tobin, 90, died on December 10 at University Hospital in Syracuse.

Formerly of Boca Raton, she moved to The Oaks of DeWitt, NY in 2012.

She was predeceased by her husband, Joshua S. Tobin, in 2012.

She is survived by their children, Nat (Eileen Lowell), Bruce (Lori) and Gary (Joyce); eight grandchildren; and one great grandson.

Burial was in Florida. Sisskind Funeral Service had arrangements. 

Call for appointment 697-9461

Visit the JO online at jewishfederationcny.org and click on Jewish Observer

email: birnbaumfs@cnymail.com www.birnbaumfuneralserviceinc.com

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ january 8, 2015/17 TEVET 5775

NEWS IN bRIEF Abbas: Palestinians will resubmit Israel balks at tax transfer in response statehood resolution Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said to Palestinians’ ICC bid From JTA

Israel froze some $125 million in Palestinian tax revenue in response to the Palestinian Authority’s request to join the International Criminal Court. The move over the Jan. 4 weekend followed the P.A.’s request on Jan. 2 to join the court as well nearly 20 other international treaties and conventions. The tax money, which is used to pay public sector employees, was to have been transferred to the Palestinian Authority on Friday. Israel has frozen P.A. tax revenues before as a retaliatory measure.

On Jan. 4, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will not sit idly by” in the wake of Palestinian efforts to join the ICC. “The Palestinian Authority has chosen confrontation with Israel,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting. “We will not allow IDF soldiers and commanders to be hauled before the International Criminal Court in The Hague. It is the Palestinian Authority leaders, who have allied with the war criminals of Hamas, who must be called to account.”

The P.A.’s requests were signed by President Mahmoud Abbas earlier that week after the United Nations Security Council failed to pass a Palestinian statehood proposal.

Israel also is looking to take Abbas and other Palestinian officials to court in the United States and other countries to be tried for war crimes, according to reports citing unnamed Israeli officials.

Montreal

Continued from page 8 metropolitan area – as a cause for concern; France’s Muslims, of which there are roughly six million, compared with 500,000 Jews, are routinely fingered as culprits in the upsurge of antisemitism.

Cwajgenbaum said the integration of immigrants from the Arab world has been more successful in Quebec than in France, but speculated that the province may one day face similar problems from its swelling Muslim minority.

When a delegation of Quebec Jews visited Paris nearly a decade ago, searching for prospective immigrants, Cwajgenbaum told them with metaphorical flourish, “To transfer a sick man from one hospital to another one will not cure the sickness.”

The data, however, suggests that Quebec antisemitism is on the wane. Last year, the province saw its number of reported antisemitic incidents fall to 250, a nearly 26 percent drop from 2012, according to B’nai Brith Canada, which tracks antisemitic activity across the country.

Weill still finds it difficult to let her two boys, who attend a Sephardic Jewish day school, wear yarmulkes in public, an old habit from the family’s life in Strasbourg. But the concern, she acknowledged, is largely “irrational.”

Charbit and Hazan, both non-observant, have also felt a difference in how Quebec society treats its Jewish community. “In France, you don’t put your mezuzah outside,” Charbit said. “Jewish life in Montreal is safer.”

the Palestinians will resubmit a statehood resolution to the United Nations Security Council. “We will go back to the Security Council until it recognizes our rights,” Abbas said on Jan. 4 in Ramallah, in the West Bank, Reuters reported.

“We are determined to join international conventions and treaties despite the pressure. We didn’t fail, the U.N. Security Council failed us. We’ll go again to the Security Council, why not? Perhaps after a week.” Jordan, which submitted the resolution that was defeated on Dec. 30 in the Security Council, will remain a member of the council.

Several countries seen as more sympathetic to the resolution were rotated on to the body at the beginning of the year. In the Security Council vote, eight countries backed the resolution, five abstained and two – the United States and Australia – were against. Nine votes were needed for passage. The United States has said it cannot support the proposal and could use its veto power to quash it. Abbas signed 20 international treaties on Dec. 31, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, following the resolution’s defeat.

Jordan suspends talks on $15 billion gas deal with Israel

Jordan suspended negotiations with Israel on a $15 billion deal to import natural gas. Jamal Gamouh, the head of the Jordanian House of Representatives Energy Committee, told the Israeli business daily Globes that there can be no deal until it is clear who will own the Leviathan gas field, from where the 45 billion cubic meters of gas will come. The gas from Leviathan, one of Israel’s largest gas reserves, will be sold over 15 years. A letter of intent on the deal was signed in September. In December, Israel’s Anti-Trust Authority recommended the breakup of a consortium of two energy companies developing Israel’s largest gas fields, including Leviathan.

Jerusalem Unity Prize established in memory of kidnapped Israeli teens

Aliyah reaches 10-year high in 2014

Immigration to Israel reached a 10-year high in 2014.

Approximately 26,500 new immigrants arrived in Israel last year, according to figures released Dec. 31 by the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption. The number marked a 32 percent increase in worldwide aliyah over the previous year, which saw about 20,000 new arrivals. For the first time, according to the Jewish Agency, more immigrants came from France than from any other country. Nearly 7,000 French immigrants arrived in Israel in 2014, double the 3,400 who came in 2013. Aliyah from Ukraine was up 190 percent over the previous year, with 5,840 new immigrants, compared to 2,020 in 2013. The increase is due primarily to ongoing instability in the eastern part of the country, according to the Jewish Agency. Aliyah from Western Europe as a whole rose 88 percent to 8,640 new immigrants in 2014.

In addition to the significant rise in arrivals from France, 620 immigrants came from the United Kingdom, 100 more than the previous year, and 340 came from Italty, roughly double the previous year’s figure. Some 11,430 immigrants arrived from the former Soviet Union, an increase of 50 percent over last year, with most coming from Ukraine.

Some 4,830 immigrants came from Russia, Belarus and the Baltic states. Aliyah from Latin America remained stable, with the arrival of some 1,070 immigrants, similar to the previous year. About 3,870 immigrants came from North America compared to some 3,600 last year. The number of arrivals from Eastern Europe dropped from 270 last year to 232, and 190 came from South Africa, the same as last year. Some 200 immigrants came from Australia and New Zealand, compared to some 260 in 2013. Tel Aviv received the highest number of new immigrants, followed

by Haifa and Jerusalem. More than half the immigrants who came to Israel in 2014 were under the age of 35. The oldest immigrant, from France, was 104.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat announced the creation of a prize in memory of three Israeli teens who were kidnapped and murdered by Palestinians. The Jerusalem Unity Prize, which was announced on Jan. 1, will honor the spirit of unity that existed across Israel in the days following the kidnapping of Gilad Shaer, Eyal Yifrah and Naftali Fraenkel in June. The prize was developed in partnership with the families of the three teens and the Jerusalem-based organization Gesher. In a video announcing the prize, the teens’ mothers call on Jews “to take a deep breath [and] bridge the gaps that divide us.” Winners of the award, which carries a $25,000 prize, will be chosen by a committee chaired by Barkat, the parents of the three teens and dignitaries from Israel and the Diaspora, organizers said in a statement. “While grappling with the unknown question of the fate of their sons, the Yifrah, Shaer and Fraenkel families taught the

Antisemitic graffiti at Venezuelan shul

Tamar Yunger – acting executive director of Bela Farm, a Jewish farm in Hillsburgh, Ontario, Canada – worked at the farm in front of the scaffold for what has become a structure called “Dinah’s Tent.” (Photo courtesy of Bela Farm)

Continued from page 9 ity of sending their kids to Jewish day school. “We got married in 2009. That winter we realized there are a lot of organic vegetable farms, but what there is a lack of is sustainable kosher meat, raised outdoors with room to move around,” Anna Hanau says.

In 2010, the couple started Grow and Behold, which originally only provided kosher chicken, but later added beef, lamb, turkey and duck. The business works with farmers to give chickens access to the outdoors, so that their manure fertilizes the ground rather than polluting streams. The Hanaus are also committed to raising meat near slaughterhouses, limiting gas usage and reducing stress hormones in the animals during shipping. Grow and Behold tries to help its customers understand that while its meat is more labor-intensive and therefore pricier, it is also “better for you, for the earth, and for farmers,” says Hanau.

Becca Weaver, the farm and sustainability director at the Boulder JCC in Colorado, is behind the ongoing project to build a community farm next to the JCC’s new facility. The site is a former agricultural property that includes goat and chicken coops in outbuildings.

Though the farm is still in the idea stage, it has set at least one concrete goal. “We will grow enough food to be able to donate and make an impact on food insecurity in Boulder,” Weaver says.

The JCC’s resident goats, meanwhile, have already been a hit with the synagogue across the street. “Last Purim, one of the goats was giving birth during the party.

Almost every single kid got to leave the synagogue and watch the goat being born,” says Weaver. Fittingly, the newborn goat was named Vashti, after the first wife of the Purim story’s King Ahasuerus.

Food

“Our work is about breaking that cycle of poverty and helping people reach a higher level to maintain jobs, family, and food security, looking at the systems and organizations that are addressing some of the root causes,” says Naomi Rabkin, the foundation’s director of strategic initiatives.

Rabkin got her start in the Jewish Food Movement at the first Hazon Food Conference and chaired the gathering in 2010. The first conference “really opened my eyes to the way that sustainable agriculture and food could bring together a community,” she says.

Rabbi Andy Kastner, former director of the Jewish Food Justice Fellowship, points to the Jewish Food Movement’s connection of sacred and agricultural rhythms, which he says enables communities “to put dirt back under their fingernails and engage in a Jewish life that is active, doing and reactive” to agricultural practices.

Shamu Sadeh, cofounder of the Adamah fellowship and an environmental educator for 25 years, takes people into the forest and the mountains to try to connect them “to hemlock trees, salamanders, the life out there.” That is often “a leap for a lot of people, especially in this culture,” says Sadeh.

“Entering into the gateway of food is more immediate,” he says. “It gives you a connection to the world, how your action affects a hundred different people... It is a perfect nexus. The Jewish Food Movement is about bringing people together who are somewhere in that web of food issues and Judaism.”

Anna Hanau – a former Adamah participant and Hazon staffer, and cofounder with her husband of an ethics-focused kosher meat business called Grow and Behold – claims to be the only person who has attended

entire world a remarkable lesson in courage and showed us that unity is a value that enables us to overcome even the greatest challenges,” Barkat said. “The Jerusalem Unity Prize will spread this message from Jerusalem across the world and become the eternal legacy of these three remarkable young men.” In addition to the prize, a Unity Day is being planned for June 3 in Jerusalem where the awards will be presented alongside programming to promote unity initiatives. The event is scheduled to be held on the one-year anniversary of the teens’ deaths.

The prize is funded by Ira and Ingeborg Rennert, Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein, Robert and Amy Book, David and Sarena Koschitzky, and UJA-Federation of New York.

every Hazon Food Conference. She says a critical aspect of the conference is combining hands-on activities with the exploration of ideas, citing a bread class on using a sourdough starter that went beyond the practical details to examine the “slow food” movement, which uses traditional approaches to make food that might take longer but can be healthier. “The Food Conference was the place where these two things were coming together: exploring and doing/making,” she says.

Hanau and her husband, who she met at Adamah and who is trained in shechita, first thought they would be organic vegetable farmers – but they revised that idea when they started to think about the costs and feasibil-

Vandals marked the wall of a synagogue in Venezuela’s capital with a swastika and the number “6,000,000” with question marks. The black spray-painted graffiti was found at the AIV del Este Sephardic synagogue in Caracas on the morning of Dec. 30, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which reported the incident, including a photograph. A number of Jewish organizations have raised alarms recently about antisemitism in Venezuela.