14 SIVAN 5777 • JUNE 8, 2017 • VOLUME XXXVIII, NUMBER 12 • PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID, SYRACUSE, NY
Jewish Music and Cultural Festival chai year fund-raiser The Jewish Music and Cultural Festival fund-raising party will be held on Sunday, June 25, at 4 pm, at the Syracuse home of Richard and Neva Pilgrim. Musicians Bonnie Abrams and Allen Hopkins will
play songs in Yiddish and English. JMAC will be held on Sunday, September 10, at the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse. The fund-raiser helps keep JMAC free. JMAC
updates can be found at www.syracusejewishfestival.org. There will be a charge to attend, and reservations have been requested by Thursday, June 15.
For more information, to make a reservation or for information on festival sponsorships or vendor opportunities, call Judith Stander at Jewish Federation of Central New York at 315-445-2040, ext. 114.
To celebrate its Campaign 1252, SJFS is bringing StoryCorps to Syracuse July 16-18 BY DEBORAH ELLIS To celebrate its Campaign 125 2, Syracuse Jewish Family Service is bringing StoryCorps to Syracuse from Sunday-Tuesday, July 16-18, in partnership with WRVO Public Media. Community members with a story or experience they would like to share have been invited to apply for one of 30 available time slots. StoryCorps’s mobile recording team will conduct 15 primary interviews, from July 16-18, at WRVO’s studio
at the SUNY Oswego MetroCenter in Syracuse. SJFS will facilitate and WRVO will record interviews, with 15 alternates, during the following weeks. Those selected will have 40 minutes to talk to a partner – a friend, family member or colleague – about a story or topic of their choice. WRVO will edit the sessions down to 3-4-minute stories, which it will broadcast locally and place on the WRVO website. All interviewees will receive copies of their interviews. The 15 primary in-
terviews will also be archived with the StoryCorps recordings at the Library of Congress. Bill Drake, WRVO station manager, said, “We share a strong affinity with both StoryCorps and SJFS to tell the stories of the human experience. We’re looking forward to helping bring this experience to Central New York residents.” To request an interview slot, members of the community have been invited to submit the application form on the
agency’s website at http://sjfs.org/ campaign125squared.php. The form is also available in hard copy at Menorah Park and other Jewish community locations; it can be scanned and e-mailed to info@sjfs.org, mailed to SJFS, 4101 East Genesee St., Syracuse NY 13214, or dropped off at SJFS. The application deadline is Friday, June 16. Those selected will be notified on or around Wednesday, June 28. For more information, contact Deborah Ellis at SJFS at 315-446-9111, ext. 234.
Trump’s pullout from Paris climate accords blasted by Jewish groups BY JTA STAFF (JTA) – President Donald Trump on June 1 said he will withdraw the United States from the landmark 2015 global agreement to fight climate change, earning statements of dismay from critics, including Jewish groups who regard the pullout as a diplomatic and environmental disaster. Speaking that day at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said the so-called Paris accords, signed by every country except for Syria and Nicaragua, place “draconian” financial and economic burdens on American businesses and taxpayers and give other countries a trade advantage over the United States. “As someone who cares deeply about our environment, I cannot in good conscience support a deal which punishes the United States,” he said. “The Paris accord is very unfair at the highest level to the United States.” Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued a statement on behalf of the Reform movement saying the announcement was “an abdication of responsibility to address global climate change and is both physically dangerous and morally reprehensible. “The decision disregards vitally important environmental efforts to protect both our planet and the population, with consequences that will reverberate for generations,” wrote Pesner. “Reneging on the agreement diminishes U.S. lead-
ership and undermines longstanding alliances, placing an undue burden on other nations to address climate change.” American Jewish World Service, which advocates for people in developing nations, said such countries would bear the brunt of the severe storms, flooding, droughts and famine that a scientific consensus regards as the already apparent signs of the effects of man-made global warming. “The longer the U.S. denies climate change and fails to take responsibility for its outsized contribution to global warming, the greater the risk posed to the entire world, especially the poorest people on Earth,” said Robert Bank, president and CEO of AJWS, in a statement. Added Bank: “We stand proudly as Jews who cherish the Earth to object in the strongest terms to the president’s shortsighted and damaging decision. As American Jews, we will continue to raise our voices in solidarity with the people worldwide who have done the least to cause global warming but who suffer the most.” Following Trump’s announcement of the pullout, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that his foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, would be donating $15 million to the United Nation’s Climate Secretariat, which aids implementation of the Paris accords. The donation replaces the money the United States would have contributed. Bloomberg, the world’s 10th richest
person, serves as the U.N. secretary general’s special envoy for cities and climate change. In that capacity, he is coordinating climate efforts among local governments, including an American group of 30 mayors, three governors, more than 80 university presidents and more than 100 businesses that will submit an independent pledge to be included in the Paris accords, according to The New York Times. Vatican officials also signaled their dismay with Trump’s decision. The Catholic church “strongly supported” the climate accords. In May, the Union for Reform Judaism, AJWS and the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life joined 20 other religious groups in urging Trump to adhere to the agreement, which was reached in 2015 and signed in 2016. The 195 countries that signed the Paris Agreement pledged to adopt nonbinding plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Republicans largely applauded Trump’s decision to pull out of the accords, although reports indicated that there was opposition among some of his closest advisers, including Gary D. Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council; Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and unpaid adviser; and Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson.
Neither Ivanka Trump nor her husband attended the announcement ceremony, which fell on the second day of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. Both are observant Jews.
2017 Federation Annual Campaign Goal: $1,200,000 $1,215,692 as of June 5, 2017 E IT! D A M WE
To make a pledge, contact Jessica Lawrence at (351)445-2040 ext. 102 or jlawrence@jewishfederationcny.org.
C A N D L E L I G H T I N G A N D P A R AS H A
June 9............................... 8:25 pm...........................................Parasha-BeHa’alotcha June 16............................. 8:28 pm.........................................Parasha-Shelach Lecha June 23............................. 8:30 pm......................................................Parasha-korach
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Congregational notes
SHDS and veterans
Community Guide
PLUS
Awards and an upcoming dinner SHDS students placed U.S. flags The annual Community Guide is D’var Torah............................... 2 are announced by local synagogues. on the graves of Jewish veterans. included in this issue. Calendar Highlights............... 3 Story on page 3 Story on page 2 Stories on pages 1A-20A Obituaries................................. 4