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8 KISLEV 5777 • DECEMBER 8, 2016 • VOLUME XXXVII, NUMBER 24 • PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID, SYRACUSE, NY

Teen Funders make grants to charities

BY ANNIE WEISS The B’nai Mitzvah Teen Funders, a youth philanthropy group that is part of the Jewish Community Foundation, held its second semi-annual meeting in October. Representing various areas of the local Jewish community, the participants allocated money for local, national and international causes. A total of $2,004 was divided among the organizations requesting donations.

The grantees and their respective awards are Habitat for Humanity ($450); AccessCNY ($400); American Friends of Orr Shalom ($400); the Upstate Foundation-Golisano Children’s Hospital ($304); WCNY ($250); and Yachad, the National Jewish Council for Disabilities ($200).

As a senior, I have only one more

Front row (l-r): Ella Kornfeld, Nathan Sonnenfeld, Edwin Hirsh, Colby Porter, Rachel Scheer, Rebecca Blumenthal, Peri Lowenstein and Elise Beckman. Back row: Matthew Lynne, Alethea Shirilan-Howlett, Caleb Porter, Annie Weiss, Sophie Scheer, Abigail Charlamb and Alana Jacowitz. Missing from the photo, but also contributing to these grants, were Rachel Beckman, Allison Bergman, Max Charlamb, Rachel Elman, Adam Kiewe, Julie Silverman and Max Schulman.

meeting in my Teen Funders “career.”

Throughout the past five years, I’ve come to appreciate the amazing platform that Linda Alexander, Nancy Belkowitz and now Jeffrey Scheer have provided to Jewish youth locally. This program gives students an opportunity to learn leadership and compromise, as these skills are key to deciding where our money goes.

Throughout my time in the organization, I’ve seen once-timid participants increase their confidence, as they become the students leading the discussion. This is why I am optimistic for the future of the Teen Funders. Even after this year’s seniors have left for college, there will be a terrific group of informed, respectful and caring teenagers who will lead the group into the future.

Jewish community Mitzvah Project to benefit Samaritan Center

BY KATHY SCOTT The Syracuse Samaritan Center is a local organization that serves the hungry and those in need in the local community.

The Center has requested donations of men’s white tube socks and disposable hand warmers for their guests.

The collection is a combined community effort of Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas, Temple Adath Yeshurun and Temple Concord. Items will be collected at the individual synagogues in a designated collection area until Friday, December 16. Pairs of

As your menorah glows with light, may all eight days be warm and bright!!!

crew socks and a set of hand warmers will be wrapped together in individual packages at Temple Concord and tied with a ribbon.

Organizers hope that there will be volunteers from each synagogue to help

deliver the packages to the Samaritan Center on Wednesday, December 21. For more information about this project or to volunteer to deliver the packages to the Samaritan Center, contact Kathy Scott at 857-6620 or Kim Smolen at 350-0197.

More than 600 rabbis, cantors sign pledge to hold Trump administration accountable for human rights

BY JTA STAFF More than 600 rabbis and cantors have signed a pledge to hold the Trump administration accountable for protecting the human rights and civil liberties of all people. T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights is circulating the pledge, which was posted on the organization’s website two weeks ago. It had garnered 635 signatures as of the morning of November 30.

“As rabbis and cantors, we fervently pledge to raise our voices, and those of our communities, to hold the new administration accountable for protecting the human rights and civil liberties of all people as precious creations in the divine image,” the pledge reads. “Jewish history has taught us that fascism arrives slowly, through the steady erosion of liberties.

And we have learned that those who

attack other minorities will eventually come to attack us. To our great dismay, we learned this truth again when, during this election campaign, antisemitism rose to the fore, along with racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, misogyny and homophobia.”

The group criticized other Jewish organizations that offered early congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump and others who “have accommodated him by looking beyond” his rhetoric.

“For some Jewish leaders, there will be a temptation to accommodate the new administration in the hopes of protecting our own community’s ‘interests,’” the pledge says. “As Joseph learned long ago, and as the Jewish community has learned time and time again, proximity to power does not guarantee protection in the long run. Nor can we ignore the fact that our See “Pledge” 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 December 9..............4:12 pm........................................................ Parasha-Vayetze December 16............4:13 pm....................................................ParashaVayishlach December 23............4:16 pm..................................................... Parasha-Vayeshev December 30............4:21 pm.......................................Parasha-Miketz-Chanukah January 6..................4:27 pm......................................................Parasha-Vayigash

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Kids at the JCC

Chanukah

Going underground

The JCC will offer a Kidz ‘N Motion Local Chanukah celebrations are Israel’s new state-of-the-art class as well as a winter vacation announced; recipes; kids’ holiday central blood bank will be built books; and more. camp for school-aged children. completely underground.

Stories on pages 8, 10-12 Stories on page 5 Story on page 13

PLUS Chanukah Greetings....... 10-11 Healthcare Greetings........... 13 Calendar Highlights............. 14 Obituaries............................... 15

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777

One hundred antisemitic incidents following presidential election

BY JTA STAFF One hundred antisemitic incidents occurred in the 10 days following the presidential election, representing about 12 percent of hate incidents in the U.S. recorded by a civil rights watchdog.

The report released on November 29 by the Southern Poverty Law Center looked at 867 hate incidents that occurred in the 10 days following the election of Donald Trump. The incidents targeted various minority

groups, including Jews, immigrants, African-Americans, Muslims and the LGBT community. Incidents counted had been submitted through the watchdog’s website or reported in the media.

Of the 100 incidents classified as antisemitic, 80 were “vandalism and graffiti incidents of swastikas, without specific references to Jews,” while others targeted Jews more overtly, such as the harassment of individuals or vandalism of a synagogue, the report said. Many of the

vandalism incidents included references to Trump, the nonprofit said.

The report referred to an attack prior to the election on a historically black church in Mississippi as “a harbinger of what has become a national outbreak of hate, as white supremacists celebrate Donald Trump’s victory.”

JTA has reported on antisemitic incidents following the election, including acts of vandalism featuring swastikas and Trump-related themes left in public

areas as well as on the homes of Jewish individuals. Earlier in November, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, said anti-Jewish public and political discourse in America is worse than at any point since the 1930s.

The election season saw the rise of the “alt-right,” a loose far-right movement whose followers traffic variously in white nationalism, anti-immigration sentiment, See “Antisemitic” on page 6

A MATTER OF OPINION My trip to Amsterdam, Münster and Berlin

BY RUTH STEIN Having recently returned from a trip to Europe, I wanted to explain and describe some of my experiences. Tirza, my Israeli cousin; Maya, my Canadian cousin; and I wanted to spend time together and give Maya an opportunity to visit Germany for the first time. We met in Amsterdam with the intention of staying there for a few days and then take a train to Münster, Germany, where our grandparents had lived until they were deported; and where my mother and Tirza and Maya’s father had grown up. Tirza and I had been there before, but this would be Maya’s first trip to Germany. Their father (my uncle) had left Germany in 1935 to become a pioneer in Palestine.

We stayed in an Amsterdam bed and breakfast that overlooked a canal and started with a walking tour of the city led by an Australian guide. He pointed out Rembrandt’s house and also where the Jewish section of the city had been. It was destroyed during World War II and was never rebuilt. On Friday night, we attended services in the Portuguese Synagogue, an Amsterdam landmark. The service was held in a small chapel, so we and several other visitors were disappointed that we didn’t get to see the interior of the main sanctuary. We also visited the Rijksmuseum, home to many famous Dutch painters; the National Holocaust Memorial; and the Dutch Resistance Museum. Since my mother had hired smugglers who bicycled with her into Holland from Germany in 1939, these sights were particularly meaningful. She was in Holland illegally for six months until her brother, who was already in the U.S., sent money for her passage. She was on the ocean liner S.S. Volendam when the Germans invaded Holland. Seeing the Resistance Museum made me realize again how very fortunate she was.

On our fourth day, we took a three-hour train trip to Münster, Germany. Gisela Möllenhoff met us at the train station.

She and Rita Schlautmann-Overmeyer are members of the Society for Christian and Jewish Cooperation and had spent 17 years doing meticulous research on the Jews from Münster, publishing several books, including “Jüdische Familien in Münster: 1918-1945 Biographisches Lexikon.” Gisela helped us get a taxi to our rented apartment, while she rode her bicycle there. She kindly provided a variety of foods to help us feel at home, and we had dinner together while discussing plans for our stay in Münster. Gisela also talked about her father’s background and how that prompted her to do research for the books. Maya later said that it really impressed her and brought to light the guilt Germans have regarding what happened during the Nazi years.

In the morning, Rita picked us up in her car. She first drove us to the Jewish cemetery where we met Gisela on her bike (as she had a key to the cemetery gate). We found the grave of our great-grandfather,

L-r: Ruth Stein and her cousins, Tirza Galpaz and Maya Willis, stood by the grave of their great-grandfather, Hermann Herzfeld, at the Jewish cemetery in Münster, Germany.

Hermann Herzfeld, who had lived with the family after his wife had died. He died in 1935. Rita then drove us to the center of the city, where we visited the Stadtmuseum and saw my mother’s original passport on display. It struck me that the life of our family – what our parents had endured – was now history in a museum.

We later walked around the Principalmarkt and then visited the synagogue, which had been rebuilt after the war. Now, its members are primarily Russian. We next walked to the Max Heindorf Schule, which today serves as a home for older Jewish residents. It originally was the Hebrew school that my mother and her siblings attended. It was also the last place where our grandparents lived before they were deported. Later, Rita drove us north to her home in Ibbenbüren, where her husband had prepared a gourmet dinner for us before we took the train back to Münster.

The next day, Gisela’s husband met us at the Lamberti Kirche and told us about the architecture of the church. He took us up more than 300 steps into the spire of the church, where we had a 360-degree view of Münster by walking around the outside edges of the steeple. After descending, we walked to 10 Roggenmarkt, where our grandparents had had a store, lived upstairs and raised their family. We then walked to Rudolph von Langen Strasse, where our grandparents had lived when they were forced to give up the store. Our grandmother cooked lunch for people to earn some money while they lived there.

On the sidewalk in front of the house were two stolpersteine (cobblestone-size concrete cubes bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of Nazi extermination victims) in memory of our grandparents, Carl and Henny Waldeck.

On our final day in Münster, we took the “hop on hop off” bus tour that reinforced

what we had seen during our visit. After the tour and lunch, we boarded the train to Berlin, where Simone Schmieding, a friend of Maya’s, met us and helped us find the correct train to her house. We each had our own bedroom, quite a change from the other places, where we had all slept in the same room or two rooms.

The next day we started by taking the “hop on hop off” bus tour of Berlin. We got off at the Berlin Wall (Martin Gropius Bau), where we could see the wall’s remnants, and we also toured a museum that described the Nazi leadership during the war. Again, I was struck by the idea that this was old history for most visitors who rushed to areas such as Czechoslovakia, Denmark and Austria. From there, we walked to the Brandenberg Gate and then saw the Holocaust Memorial, which consists of an entire city block filled with various-sized concrete blocks that look like nameless caskets. Visitors are encouraged to wander among them. There is also an underground museum that is part of the memorial, but there is only one small sign explaining that this is the Holocaust Memorial. I was told that the artist did not want to influence anyone’s perceptions.

The following day, we took the train to the Jewish Museum Berlin, which was designed by Daniel Libeskind. The design consists of angles, slanting walls, light,

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emptiness and three axes: the “Axis of the Holocaust,” the “Axis of Exile” and the “Axis of Continuity” – a very powerful combination. We spent five hours in the museum and saw only a small part of it. One interesting section focused on “German and Jewish at the Same Time, 1800-1914,” an exhibit that depicted how Jews saw themselves as both German and Jewish, and then how Hitler ended this notion. We felt we could spend days there, trying to absorb everything the museum had to offer.

On our final day in Berlin, we went to the East Side Gallery to see paintings on the Berlin Wall where, in 1990, artists from all around the world had conveyed their ideas about freedom with their paintings.

By the end of our trip we were exhausted mentally and physically. Yet, the warm welcomes we had received made the stress of visiting Germany worthwhile.

It is clear that the Germans are trying to educate themselves and visitors about the Nazi Era. They are not trying to hide or erase their past.

Ruth Stein is the chair of the Jewish Federation of Central New York board.

She most recently served as vice-chair of the board and chaired the Federation’s Communications Committee. She has been an active member of the Federation Board of Directors since 2007.

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DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777 ■

JEWISH OBSERVER

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AROUND CENTRAL NEW YORK Drumming, yoga, painting to wrap up Family Time with the Family Service series on December 11

BY DEBORAH ELLIS Syracuse Jewish Family Service will conclude its fall 2016 “Family Time with the Family Service” series on Sunday, December 11, at 12:45 pm, in the main-floor dance studio at the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse, 5655 Thompson Rd., DeWitt.

The event will be a free “grand finale,” reprising all three of the activities featured in the fall series of events. DrumQuest’s Jimbo Talbot will work with JCC yoga instructor Linda Santanam to lead an integrated “drumming-yoga experience,” and replicas of many of the paintings created in the three painting sessions under the tutelage of Barbara Baum will be on display.

The Family Time event will end at approximately 2 pm. To make sure enough drums are available, reservations have been requested and can be made by calling 446-9111, ext. 234, or by e-mailing EllisD@sjfs.org.

Snacks will be available for purchase.

At right: Attendees at the second family painting event in Syracuse Jewish Family Service’s Family Time with the Family Service series showed off their work, but agreed that “the process was even better than the products.” Four mother-daughter teams, including one two-daughter trio, and one married couple helped make it “a real family event,” and participants noted that there was “a sense of community engendered by the activity” among relatives and those unrelated.

JCC to offer adult dance classes starting January 5

BY WILLIAM WALLAK The Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse’s Neulander Family Sports and Fitness Center will hold adult ballroom and Latin dance classes on Thursdays starting January 5. Ballroom dance will begin at 6:30 pm, with Latin dance at 7:30 pm. There will be one low price to attend both classes at the JCC, 5655 Thompson Rd., DeWitt.

No experience will be necessary to take the introduc-

tory-level classes. Although suitable for all skill levels, the classes are primarily geared toward beginners. Ballroom dance participants will learn the waltz, foxtrot and nightclub two-step. The Latin dance class will include the cha-cha, rumba and East Coast swing.

Attendees have been encouraged to wear dance shoes, although they are not required. Shoes with smooth soles were noted to be “more than adequate.” The instructor for both classes will be Maria Cirino, who has been dancing

Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse senior dining menu DECEMBER 12-16 Monday – tuna salad on rye Tuesday – baked ziti Wednesday – chicken rollatini Thursday – meatloaf Friday – turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce DECEMBER 19-23 Monday – tomato basil soup and grilled cheese Tuesday – Hawaiian chicken Wednesday – hot corned beef sandwich Thursday – stuffed cabbage Friday – Chanukah celebration – brisket DECEMBER 26-30 Monday – Teriyaki crispy baked chicken wings Tuesday – Marsala meatballs Wednesday – vegetable lasagna Thursday – split pea soup and hamburger on a bun Friday – New Year’s Eve celebration – honey-glazed chicken

Pledge

JANUARY 2-6 Monday – sweet and sour meatballs over egg noodles Tuesday – chicken fried rice Wednesday – cheese quiche Thursday – chicken rollatini Friday – fresh salmon with dill The Bobbi Epstein Lewis JCC Senior Adult Dining Program at the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse offers Va’ad Ha’ir-supervised kosher lunches served Monday-Friday at noon. Lunch reservations are required by noon on the previous business day. 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 Cindy Stein at 445-2360, ext.

104, or cstein@jccsyr.org.

and teaching dance locally for more than 25 years.

For more information about the ballroom and Latin dance classes, contact the JCC’s Sports and Fitness Center at 234-4522 or visit www.jccsyr.org.

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777

CONGREGATIONAL NOTES Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas in late March. The class is a continuation CBS-CS OFFERS NEW CLASSES IN of Hebrew II, and students will continue JANUARY In addition to ongoing classes, Con- skill-building in siddur Hebrew reading gregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas will proficiency, comprehension, vocabulary offer new ones in the new year. Regis- and grammar. New students will need tration can be made by contacting the to order a copy of the book “Aleph Isn’t synagogue at 446-9570 or office@cbscs. Enough.” For more information, contact org. There will be a minimum registration Saulson at 449-9423 or sarahsaulson@ for each class to run. The classes will be gmail.com. free to CBS-CS members, with a fee for JUDAICA SHOP SALE The Sisterhood of Congregation Beth non-members. Prayer book Hebrew I will Sholom-Chevra Shas will hold its annual have a book fee as well. gift shop sale through Saturday, December In the megillot trope workshop, students will learn to chant the megillot of 24, starting with a display of merchandise Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and the Book on Sunday, December 11, from 9 am-3 pm.

The CBS-CS Sisterhood Judaica Shop of Ruth with Cantor Paula Pepperstone.

There will be eight classes on Sundays, has merchandise for Chanukah in addition beginning on January 22, at 7 pm, lead- to ritual items for the year for personal use ing up to Pesach so that students can and gift-giving. Gifts for adults and children participate in the reading of the Song of will be displayed, including a collection of Songs on Shabbat Chol Hamoed Pesach children’s Chanukah books from a local retailer on Thursday, December 22. on Saturday, April 15.

Among the artists whose works are In the haftarah trope class, participants will learn to chant haftarah with Hanita available are Tamara Baskin, Emanuel, Blair. The class will meet on Sundays at Patrick Meyer and Gary Rosenthal.

The CBS-CS Judaica shop is open 9:45 am, beginning on January 8, and run Sunday mornings during religious school until March 26.

Jessie Kerr-Whitt will teach prayer from 9 am-noon; by appointment with book Hebrew I, which will again be of- Linda Herman; or during the week from fered on Mondays at 7 pm, beginning on 9 am-5 pm.

January 9. It will cover basic letters and HAZAK PRESENTS A PROGRAM sounds, core vocabulary from the siddur ON “WHERE COGNITION and practice reading. The CBS-CS office MEETS QUALITY OF LATER LIFE: Jewelry, Pyrex is ordering books for the class.Antiques,THOUGHTS FROM RECENT Sarah Saulson will teach prayer book RESEARCH” Cute and Curious Gifts Hebrew III, which is open to new students, At her Hazak Congregation Beth Shoas well as returning students. The class lom-Chevra Shas presentation on Sunday, will meet on eight Mondays, from 7-8 pm, December 18, at 2 pm, Judith Huober, the beginning on January 9 and concluding See “CBS-CS” on page 6 Joanne Snook Samantha Snook Herron Proprietors

Wishing you a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful Passover

Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation

heckled_hen@msn.com

Two great locations two blocks apart in the Village of Manlius!

107 Fairgrounds Dr. & 131 W Seneca St. • 682-1602 Open Tuesday - Friday, 10:30am - 5:30pm • Saturday 10:30am - 5pm titled “Halachah and Dealing with SHAAREI TORAH ORTHODOX Dementia.” The second in this seCONGREGATION OF SYRACUSE ries will be on Sunday, January 8, at TO OFFER MONTHLY LECTURE 3:30 pm. The topic is “Rationing of SERIES ON ETHICS Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congrega- Medical Care vs the Cost of Choostion of Syracuse will offer a monthly ing Life.” The free series is open to ethics lecture by Rabbi Evan Shore the public.

Antiques, Jewelry, Pyrex Cute and Curious Gifts

Joanne Snook Samantha Snook Herron Proprietors

Wishing you a Happy, Healthy and Sweet New Year heckled_hen@msn.com

Two great locations two blocks apart in the Village of Manlius!

107 Fairgrounds Dr. & 131 W Seneca St. • 682-1602 Open Tuesday - Friday, 10:30am - 5:30pm • Saturday 10:30am - 5pm

Antiques, Jewelry, Pyrex Cute and Curious Gifts

Joanne Snook Samantha Snook Herron Proprietors

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy Chanukah

Temple Adath Yeshurun TAY MEN’S CLUB AND SISTERHOOD SPONSOR BLOOD DRIVE The Temple Adath Yeshurun Men’s Club and Sisterhood will sponsor a blood drive through the American Red Cross on Thursday, December 22, between 1:30-6:30 pm. The event will be held on the stage side of the ballroom at the synagogue, 450 Kimber Rd., Syracuse.

Men’s Club President Jeff Joseph said, “Temple Adath is again proud to join other institutions in the area as a blood drive host for the American Red Cross,

especially during the holidays when blood is of critical need. We encourage and welcome anyone able and willing to sign up today to donate blood for this most important cause.”

While supplies last, donors will receive a free long-sleeve Red Cross t-shirt when donating between December 22-January 8. To make an appointment, call Joseph at 885-0384, or visit www.redcrossblood.org and use the sponsor code “templeadath.”

Appointments are preferred, but walk-ins will be welcome and may have to wait for an available donor slot.

Several Temple Adath Yeshurun members had a light brunch, which was followed by a lecture by Alan Rothschild, an author and inventor. Rothschild is the author of “Inventing a Better Mousetrap: 200 Years of American History in the Amazing World of Patent Models.”

Temple Concord “SON OF SAUL” AT TEMPLE CONCORD CINEMAGOGUE

BY CHANA MEIR Temple Concord’s Cinemagogue Series will present “Son of Saul” on Saturday, December 10, at 7 pm.

Called a “searing” and “thought-provoking” drama, the film follows Saul Auslander, a Hungarian inmate of Auschwitz-Birkenau, in October 1944. As a member of the Sonderkommando, tasked with disposing of the human remains from the gas chambers, Saul becomes convinced that one particular dead boy is his son, and obsessed with the idea that he must find a rabbi to recite Kaddish and give the boy a proper burial.

Saul is played by first-time actor Geza Rohrig, a Hungarian poet who teaches Jewish studies at a school in Brooklyn and volunteers with the chevra kadisha (burial society) there. The debut film of Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes, the picture won the grand prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Cinemagogue events are free and open to the public. Donations are welcome. For

more information, contact the TC office at 475-9952 or office@templeconcord.org.

ARTIST ARCHIE RAND TO REFLECT ON PAINTINGS DEPICTING MITZVOT

BY STEWART KOENIG In 2000, painter Archie Rand embarked on a project of depicting each of the 613 Jewish mitzvot in a painting. Rand will share his art and thoughts about his “commandment” paintings on Sunday, January 8, at 11 am, at Temple Concord’s Scholar Series.

Rand, a Brooklyn-born painter and muralist, as well as presidential professor of art at Brooklyn College, has exhibited his works around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Scholar Series events are free and open to the public. Donations will be welcome. For more information, contact Temple Concord at 315-475-9952 or e-mail office@templeconcord.org.

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Bishop Robert J. Cunningham and the People of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse Greet our Jewish Friends and Neighbors in Your Holy Season

May Our Friendship be a Blessing for All

heckled_hen@msn.com

Two great locations two blocks apart in the Village of Manlius!

107 Fairgrounds Dr. & 131 W Seneca St. • 682-1602 Open Tuesday - Friday, 10:30am - 5:30pm • Saturday 10:30am - 5pm

May We Give Our Common Voice to the Ancient Promise of Shalom

DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777 ■

JEWISH OBSERVER

JCC of Syracuse to hold Winter Break vacation camp Dec. 26-Jan. 2

BY WILLIAM WALLAK The Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse will offer a winter break vacation camp for school-age children in kindergarten-sixth grade from Monday-Friday, December 26-30, and on Monday, January 2, from 9 am-4 pm, at the JCC, 5655 Thompson Rd., DeWitt. Half-day programs and early and late care to extend the day from 7 am-6 pm will also be available.

Organizers hope that a variety of age-appropriate indoor and outdoor activities each day of camp will keep the children “busy, entertained and having fun.”

Activities will include sledding, making snowmen, arts, crafts, sports and local field trips. Among the trips planned are the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology and Bowl Mor Lanes.

“We can’t wait to make this winter break fun and exciting for the children,” said Mick Hagan, the JCC’s director of children and teen services. “We have great activities and field trips planned to make each day a total blast.”

Campers should bring winter clothing for daily outdoor activities, weather permitting, including waterproof pants, coats, hats and gloves. Sneakers

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are required to play in the gym.

The camp’s half-day options, when available, will run from 9 am-noon and 1-4 pm. Full-day campers will be asked to bring a non-meat lunch. An afternoon snack will be provided.

Early registration pricing and a discount for siblings is available through Wednesday, December 14. Registration is discounted for JCC members; however, membership or JCC program enrollment is not necessary for a child to attend the winter break vacation camp.

For more information or to obtain a registration form, call 445-2360 or visit www.jccsyr.org.

New Kidz ‘N Motion class starts January 5

BY WILLIAM WALLAK The Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse’s Neulander Family Sports and Fitness Center will offer its new Kidz ‘N Motion class on Thursdays, starting on January 5, from 3:30-4:30 pm. The class, for children in third-sixth grade, will run through February 9 and meet in the fitness center at the JCC, 5655 Thompson Rd., DeWitt.

Experts have noted that helping children acquire healthy habits at an early age can lead to positive

behaviors as adults. To assist school-age children in this, the eight-week Kidz ‘N Motion class has been designed to “inspire children” to live a healthier lifestyle. They will learn the basics of fitness, nutrition and healthy living through hands-on demonstrations, exercise sessions and fitness games. It is hoped that participants will learn that “fitness can be fun.”

Experts have said that increased physical activity and healthy lifestyle choices have been shown to help children improve their confidence, cognitive

function and energy level.

“This class is ideal for helping children get started on a fitness routine and for children who are already active and want to take their activities to the next level,” said JCC Sports and Fitness Director Patrick Scott, M.S., CSCS. There will be a nominal fee for children to enroll in the class, which is discounted for JCC members.

For more information or to enroll a child, contact Scott at 234-4522 or pscott@jccsyr.org.

Bradley Raphael and Lisa Fasolo Frishman selected for 40 Under FORTY group

BY BETTE SIEGEL Bizeventz, a company in the Business Journal News Network, recognized the 40 under FORTY class of 2016, an awards program that recognizes young professionals in the Central New York region for “excelling in the workplace” and “for giving back to their community.”

The event is in its 19th year.

Past 40 under FORTY winners are said to represent “a cross-section of up and coming Central New York leaders” in the business and nonprofit sectors. They are chosen by a panel of past recipients and community leaders. A luncheon honoring the recipients was held on November 16. Among the 40 young leaders were Lisa Fasolo Frishman, of the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York, and Bradley Raphael, an orthopedic surgeon with Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists.

Frishman is a senior program officer with the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York in its Syracuse office at the Central New York Philanthropy Center. In her role, she oversees the foundation’s work in capacity building, public policy and leadership.

She serves on the board of Camp Cory, a branch of the YMCA of Greater Rochester; the Leadership Council for the Women’s Fund of Central New York; and the Community Investment Committee at the United Way of Central New York. Her previous volunteer experiences include the Women’s Bean Project; the Reisher Family Scholarship Program; the Helen M. McLoraine Scholarship Fund for Foster Care and Emancipated Youth; Colorado Planned Giving Roundtable; Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation; Colorado Common

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Bradley Raphael was one of this year’s 40 Under FORTY class of young community leaders. (Photo by Jerry Klineberg)

Lisa Fasolo Frishman was also named a member of the young leadership class.

Grant Application and Final Report Redevelopment Taskforce; Stepping Stones of Denver; and Rose Community Foundation’s Research and Development Team for Young Adults.

Frishman holds a master’s degree in social science from the University of Colorado and a bachelor’s degree in history from William Smith College in Geneva. She said, “I am humbled and honored to be recognized for the 40 Under FORTY award along with my fellow recipients and those that have been honored in years past. I have been a proud member of the Syracuse community for nearly four years now and it is a special place to live, learn and play.”

Raphael is a board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon specializing in arthroscopic and ligament reconstructive surgery of the shoulder, elbow, knee and ankle. He is a team physician for Syracuse University, State University of New York at SUNY Oswego, Cazenovia College and various local high schools.

He is a graduate of Yale University School of Medicine and completed his orthopedic residency at the Hospital for Special Surgery following a surgical internship at Cornell-Weill Medical School in New York City. He then performed a sports medicine fellowship at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in Los Angeles. Raphael

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777

Top U.S. firefighters “dropped everything” to help Israel battle the blazes

BY ANDREW TOBIN (JTA) – Call them Israel’s American volunteer fire brigade.

Dozens of firefighters from across the United States put their lives on hold – leaving behind jobs and families – to help subdue the wildfires sweeping Israel throughout the week of November 25.

While they all are said to share a love of Israel, only a handful of them are Jewish.

“We’re just firefighters. When guys hear about a situation like this one, where the Israelis are working as hard as they can, they want to come help,” said Billy Hirth, a Protestant who retired last year after a 24year career as a firefighter in Arlington, TX, and has been coordinating the American effort from Jerusalem. “It’s a brotherhood.

Firemen are firemen,” he said.

Hundreds of fires flared up in Israel starting on November 22, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee. Some 32,000

acres of forest and brush burned, along with hundreds of homes and businesses.

Israeli authorities said the fires started because of an unseasonably long dry spell and high winds, and then were exacerbated

by Palestinian and Arab-Israeli arsonists with nationalist motives.

On November 25, Israel’s Public Security Ministry formally requested firefighting help from the Emergency Volunteers Project, a network of more 950 American volunteers and professional first responders.

By the next evening, with the fires coming under control, the firefighters started arriving at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, from where they were brought to overstretched fire departments across the country.

Some went to work battling the remaining wildfires and those that flared up on November 27, while others chipped in with routine firefighting. The Israeli stations remain on high alert, with firefighters having

ISRAEL21C seeks digital ambassadors The ISRAEL21c Digital Ambassadors is a program for college, graduate and post-college students, aged 18-25, from North America, who wish to learn about “the intricacies and strategies” of social media while “doing something for Israel.”

The activities are said to be apolitical and require about two-three hours per week.

Members of the ISRAEL21c Digital Ambassadors program receive a small monthly stipend as well as education during the internship. Work is done on the members’ own computer or device, and within their own schedule.

A description of the organization from www.israel21c.org notes that it is “a non-partisan, nonprofit organization and the publisher of an English-language online news magazine recognized as the single most diverse and reliable source of news and information about 21st century Israel.”

For more information or to receive an application for the ISRAEL21c Digital Ambassadors program, contact Aliza Lieb, ISRAEL21c coordinator of outreach and engagement, at aliza.lieb@israel21c.org.

Applicants must speak English.

Antisemitic antisemitism and a disdain for “political correctness.” Many alt-right members, including white nationalists, have been vocal in their support for Trump, who has called for a ban on Muslim immigration to the U.S. and likened Mexican immigrants to rapists.

The president-elect said the week of November 25 that he did not want to “energize” white supremacists and denounced an alt-right conference held on November 19 in Washington, DC, where speakers

Continued from page 2

railed against Jews and several audience members did Hitler salutes.

The Southern Poverty Law Center report said that the 867 incidents “almost certainly represent a small fraction of the actual number of election-related hate incidents,” citing a Bureau of Justice Statistics estimate that two-thirds of hate crimes are not reported to the police. The document also noted that 23 of the incidents reported were anti-Trump, including harassment of supporters of the president-elect.

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worked grueling shifts throughout the week.

“Many of the firefighters here, including myself, had been working for more than 90 hours straight,” said Oren Shishitzky, a spokesman for Israel’s Fire and Rescue Authority. “Because most of the Americans were trained in Israel, they are familiar with how we operate and they were able to easily relieve some of the burden on the crews, whether with regular fire response in local districts or in extinguishing the remaining wildfires. I cannot emphasize enough our appreciation that these guys dropped everything around the Thanksgiving holiday to come here.”

Adi Zahavi, 39, founded the Emergency Volunteers Project in 2009 after serving as an overwhelmed first responder during the second intifada and the Second Lebanon War. He set out to prepare willing Americans to help in future crises, from wars to terrorist attacks to natural disasters. Training sessions are held in the United States and Israel. The deployment of the volunteers is coordinated with Israeli authorities.

Of the 39 firefighters now in Israel, 33 are full-time, including the first female firefighter the group has brought to Israel, while six are part-time volunteers. Several,

CBS-CS director of Syracuse Jewish Family Service, will pose various questions for discussion.

She will ask, if people had a choice, which would they prefer for their later years: to live life pretty much as they had mapped it out or, independent of how things matched up to their plans, to feel happy with their life as it is? The program will explore what would be more important to people as they age: to retain their cognitive abilities or be people as happy as possible if they couldn’t have both? What else goes into creating a quality of life as people get older, and to what extent might thinking about this in advance actually improve people’s chances of getting their wish when the time comes?

Huober’s topic, “Research on Aging: Cognition and Quality of Life,” will offer attendees the opportunity to learn about research findings from a variety of domains that combine to affect quality of life in older age. With a focus on the impact of cognition and other mental health issues, Huober aims to offer participants the chance to explore their own ideas regarding quality of life in older age, and to consider using practical implications from research to both choose and obtain “satisfying goals.”

Huober has more than 30 years of experience in nonprofit and human services management. She consulted with Menorah Park to launch IMPARA: The Rodney and Marjorie Fink Institute at Menorah Park for Applied Research on Aging, and became its first director in 2010, adding a second portfolio as director of SJFS in 2011. She is interested in the intersection of quality of life and mental health in later life, and has aimed to bring a focus on

including Hirth, also came to Israel during the 2014 Gaza war, when the south and center of the country were bombarded with rockets. Many are now working alongside firefighters, with whom they have built friendships during training.

“The quality of the American firefighters that have arrived is excellent,” Shishitzky said. “They are elite firefighters, with years and years of experience.

Many are veterans who serve in some of the best departments in America. Where there are distinctions in training and practice, those were overcome long ago with the training we have conducted.”

Elan Raber, 42, is one of seven Jews among the firefighters. He flew in the morning of November 27 from Los Angeles, where he works for the city fire department. Raber is familiar with the station he is serving at in Petach Tivkah because he trained there with the Emergency Volunteers Program. He said he has been responding to routine calls, like traffic accidents, elevator accidents and reports of smoke.

“I was here last year and really bonded with the guys, so I wanted to come back.

See “Blazes” on page 7

Continued from page 4

Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas Hazak presented the program “Growing up in London During World War II”

by CBS-CS member Joan Burstyn on November 13. She spoke about the Battle of the Bulge and showed a map of Germany’s thwarted plans to invade Britain at that time, as well as her memories as a teenager at that time of the war. More than 75 people attended. these issues to both agencies. Her accomplishments include creating Onondaga County’s first evidence-based program to reduce depression in older adults, CNY PEARLS (Program to Encourage Active Rewarding Lives) and the BeWell Initiative (Behavioral and Emotional Wellness Empowers Later Life), with both programs now extending into Oswego County with support from the Richard S. Shineman Foundation. Huober helped develop the CNY Geriatric Mental Health Initiative and organized three regional symposia around that theme. She is working toward her M.S. in clinical mental health counseling at Syracuse University.

The program will be free and open to the community. Refreshments will be served.

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Ruth Gruber, journalist who helped Holocaust survivors, dies

BY JTA STAFF (JTA) – Ruth Gruber, an American journalist who escorted 1,000 Jewish Holocaust refugees from Europe to the United States, has died. She was 105. Gruber died on November 17 in her Manhattan home, The Washington Post reported.

She was known for her 1944 journey from Italy to New York aboard a ship carrying refugees from concentration camps. Despite the risk of sailing on waters patrolled by German submarines, then-Interior Secretary Harold Ickes appointed Gruber to travel with the refugees to “hold their hand,” as she recalled him telling her in “Inside of Time,” a book she wrote about that journey.

Aboard the ship, the refugees, some of them too old to walk, called Gruber, then 32, “Mother Ruth,” according to the Post’s obituary of her. Fluent in German and Yiddish, she organized English lessons, cared for the seasick and taught at least one refugee her first English song – “You Are My Sunshine” – the Boston Globe reported. Together, they made the two-week journey without attack, and the refugees arrived in the United States “safe beyond their most roseate dreams,” according to a New York Times account at the time.

Until the end of her life, Gruber remained convinced that the United States could have saved many more refugees.

Gruber worked as a photographer and reporter for the

First person

At the kitchen table with Ruth Gruber

BY LAWRENCE SPIZMAN Our journey toward friendship at the kitchen table with Ruth Gruber started at a chance Shabbat dinner on the campus of SUNY Oswego with then-president of Safe Haven Museum, Scott Scanlon. That Shabbat dinner set in motion four visits of Ruth Gruber to SUNY Oswego and our home. The first was as the keynote speaker in 1999 for Jewish Awareness Week sponsored by the Jewish Student Union/Hillel group of which I was the faculty advisor.

The budget for JSU/Hillel wasn’t sufficient for a hotel room; instead, I asked Ruth if she would mind staying at our home. She said, “Of course not!” This lack of funds led to the most important friendship of my academic and Jewish life.

We picked up Ruth at the airport. After the 50-minute ride to Oswego, we felt as if we’d known one another our entire lives. Upon arriving home, we immediately sat down at the kitchen table for lunch. It was at that table, eating and talking and drinking hot water (lemon and honey for Ruth and tea for us), that contemporary Jewish history came alive.

The Safe Haven story tells about the 998 refugees Ruth brought from Europe after the ravages of World War II to Fort Ontario in Oswego, the only American place where Jews were let into our country. The fact that the fort was literally at the end of the country – where snow in the winter is measured in feet per day – did not go unnoticed.

This was the climate where the 998 Jews sought haven.

The best way to describe Ruth Gruber is to think of her as your favorite aunt. As famous as she was – and in her true journalistic manner – she was interested in our family and our lives in Oswego, and hearing how we kept the Jewish community alive when there were so few Jews. This interest in us was not gratuitous, but genuine.

At several dinner parties in our house with students

Blazes

Continued from page 6 They do have pretty steady action and a lot of equipment to get familiar with,” Raber said. “We’re coming in here while these guys have already been up for three, four days. We can basically help them out and be on standby if the wildfires come back.”

Having been born in Israel and served in the Israel Defense Force, Raber views being there as a part of his “calling. ...Unfortunately, there’s a lot of bad press for Israel, so I hope to show that people are willing to drop everything to show solidarity with the people of Israel. I think people see that, and it’s a good thing. Firefighting was my calling, so I’m happy to help out,” he said.

A fellow Jew on the other side of the country helped bring Raber to Israel on short notice. Eli Row – the Orthodox Jewish owner of Jet911, an air ambulance company based in the Queens borough of New York City – scrambled to arrange flights for the firefighters over Shabbat, something that Jewish law requires if it could mean saving lives. Row landed in Israel on the afternoon of November 28 to thank the American firefighters for their service.

Back in the U.S., 25 firefighters are standing by in case the wildfires again begin to spread. If not, and the weather conditions improve as hoped, the firefighters in Israel were to return home at the end of the week of December 2.

from the Jewish Student Union, Ruth told stories and asked students about themselves as if she was reporting on the event – rather than being the event. This would be a memory etched into the students’ minds for the rest of their lives. At the end of each evening we would return to the kitchen table eating my wife Arlene’s homemade rugelach and biscotti, drinking tea or water with lemon and honey. In those hours at our table, we learned about Eleanor Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir, and the voyage of the Jewish refugees with Nazi prisoners, who were treated better than the Jews. We learned how the State Department was antisemitic and how the refugees created their own community at Fort Ontario; some snuck out of the fort surrounded by barbed wire and were welcomed with open arms into the city of Oswego. All of these things we learned “right from the witness of that era.”

Ruth came to Oswego to celebrate the 60th reunion of the Safe Haven refugees and the opening of the Safe Haven Museum. She spent time with Carol Rosenberg, then-president of Safe Haven and the major force in building the museum. All visits were a whirlwind of events, but started with breakfast and ended with tea, lemon and honey, and baked goods at the kitchen table. Each visit Ruth asked about our two sons (by name), parents and siblings, all with the love and genuine interest of your favorite aunt.

More than 500 people attended her presentation of photos that appeared in her new book, “Witness,” at her last appearance here. She stayed to answer questions and sign books for everyone. Although tired and exhausted (she was over 90 years old), she didn’t cut anyone off and stayed until every book had been signed.

The most memorable experience was when we went to the Tyler Art Gallery at the college to view her photo exhibit. She walked by each image, discussing the people and circumstances of each photo. As if in a time warp, Ruth transformed still imagines into a living statement of each person. It was surrealistic. After the exhibit, we were back at the kitchen table discussing the images.

The last time we saw Ruth was when she gave a talk at the Jewish Museum in downtown New York. It was an opening event for her newest book, “Witness.” We just wanted to see our favorite aunt and hear more of her living history.

Lawrence Spizman is a professor emeritus in economics from SUNY Oswego. He is currently the president and principle of a forensic economics consulting firm. He was also the president of Congregation Adath Israel in Oswego for many years. His wife has owned the Comic Shop in Oswego for more than 20 years.

New York Herald Tribune in 1947, when she became the first Western journalist to visit the Soviet Arctic and the gulag. In 1947, she watched as a ship carrying 4,000 Holocaust survivors and displaced persons was turned away from Palestine. She photographed and later chronicled those events in a book that Leon Uris used to write his best-selling novel “Exodus.”

In her 70s, she was the only foreign correspondent to observe Operation Moses, the airlift of Ethiopian Jews to Israel during famine.

Gruber, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants who settled in Brooklyn, graduated from high school at 15 and from New York University at 18. After earning a master’s degree in German literature, she went to Germany and, at age 20, earned a doctorate from the University of Cologne with a dissertation on the author Virginia Woolf. The New York Times reported at the time that she was the youngest German doctor of philosophy.

Safe Haven

BY BETTE SIEGEL The 998 concentration camp refugees aboard the ship traveling from Italy to New York in 1944 – for which Ruth Gruber was known – were sent to Fort Ontario in Oswego.

In the December 18, 2008, Jewish Observer issue, there was an article about Safe Haven. It mentioned the video “Safe Haven: Story of Hope,” which tells the story of those refugees. It relates a history of the Jewish people in Central New York, as well as a history of “the indifference of the Roosevelt administration to the plight of the Jews.”

In an August 8, 2013, JO article, Judy Coe-Rapoport, then-president of Safe Haven, wrote that the “Safe Haven Museum and Education Center is dedicated to keeping alive the stories of the 982 Holocaust refugees, most of them Jewish, from World War II who were allowed into the United States as ‘guests’of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to escape the Holocaust. They were housed at Fort Ontario in Oswego from August 1944 until February 1946.”

In the video about Safe Haven, Ruth Gruber stated, “People who had been in concentration camps were chosen first. Next, people who could help run the [refugee] camp – doctors and nurses and people with certain skills.”

They came with the stipulation that they would return to their homes in Europe at the war’s end. Fortunately, President Harry S. Truman allowed them to remain in the U.S. after the war ended.

The local Na’amat chapter and national Na’amat were said to be “instrumental” in raising funds for a memorial commemorating these refugees. Three Syracuse women, the late Alice Pearlman, Celia Meren and Belle Shriro, worked with Gruber to achieve this goal. Gruber was the assistant to Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, and had been sent to Italy to accompany the refugees on their voyage to the U.S. on the ship, Henry Gibbons.

The dedication ceremony on October 25, 1981, was called “the capstone” to Na’amat’s goal of a memorial, the only memorial in a national park. More than 600 people attended the dedication. In the spring of 1983, Sunday school students planted trees at the dedication site.

MenorahParkOfCNY.com

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777

Chanukah around the community

CONGREGATION BETH SHOLOM-CHEVRA SHAS Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas will celebrate the final night of Chanukah and New Year’s Eve 2016 at Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas on Saturday, December 31. Participants will begin with Havdalah at 5:30 pm, and then lighting the Chanukah lights. Those attending have been asked to bring their chanukiah and candles. The public is invited to attend some or all of the programs, but have been asked to notify the CBS-CS office when making a reservation so staff can adequately plan.

The event will feature a dairy dinner, after which Aaron Tornberg will once again this year lead Chanukah songs.

When finished singing, there will be games and movies. Participants have been encouraged to bring a favorite board game or card game to share. There will be some games available. At the same time, two movies will be shown. The selections have yet to be determined.

Community members have been encouraged to bring kosher dairy or pareve snacks.

At midnight, there will be a New Year’s toast with alcohol-free sparkling beverages while watching coverage of the ball drop in Times Square. There will also be

No fry latkes

BY JACKIE MIRON Have you tried No Fry Latkes?

With Chanukah around the corner, people’s mouths are watering for latkes. However, deep-fried food is not generally considered good, even on this occasion. With the addition of sugary applesauce or high-fat sour cream, diets certainly suffer, even from this annual indulJackie Miron gence, so they should try cutting drastically on the fat by baking the latkes. Your waistline will thank you, and you won’t be cleaning up splattered oil from every kitchen surface for weeks to come.

2-4 tablespoons olive oil 2 pounds baking potatoes 5 scallions, or other onion, minced to yield about one cup Up to 5 tablespoons flour (rice flour for gluten free version) 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon pepper 1 egg, lightly beaten 1 egg white, lightly beaten Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Brush the baking sheet with olive oil or use a non-stick baking sheet. Shred the potatoes using a food processor or grater. If using a processor, shred the potatoes with the onion to reduce the potatoes from browning too much.

Squeeze out the excess liquid by pressing the shredded potato and onion into a tea towel. Place the potatoes into a bowl with the salt, pepper, beaten egg and beaten egg white; and add flour until desired consistency. Stir to mix.

Form the mixture loosely into patties (about 1 tablespoon batter for each pancake) and gently flatten on baking sheet into disks.

Bake 10 minutes; turn with spatula; flatten again; and bake 6 more minutes or longer if you prefer darker latkes.

Serve the pancakes with light sour cream or plain Greek yogurt for a healthier topping option. Unsweetened applesauce is also a nice addition.

a ball drop video earlier in the evening for those leaving before midnight.

For the final night of Chanukah, instead of presents, attendees have been asked to bring men’s white socks and hand warmers to be donated to the Samaritan Center through the Jewish Community Mitzvah project.

Reservations have been requested and can be made by contacting the CBS-CS office at 446-9570 or office@ cbscs.org.

SHAAREI TORAH ORTHODOX CONGREGATION OF SYRACUSE The annual Chanukah dinner will be held on Sunday, December 25, at 6 pm. Reservations can be made at info@stocsyracuse.org or 446-6194.

TEMPLE ADATH YESHURUN Temple Adath Yeshurun’s Torah Tots program will celebrate Chanukah on Sunday, December 18, from

10:30 am-noon. Participants will learn about Chanukah through stories, songs, projects and treats. Children from birth-6-years-old will be welcome to come with a caregiver. For more information, contact Alicia Gross at alicia@adath.org or 445-0002.

TEMPLE CONCORD CHANUKAH CELEBRATION DECEMBER 23 The community is invited to celebrate Chanukah at Temple Concord one day early on Friday, December 23.

A musical Shabbat service will begin at 6 pm and will feature the Kenesseth Shalom Singers, the synagogue’s volunteer choir. The service will be followed by a Chanukah dinner with latkes made by Temple Concord’s “Latke Brigade.”

The community will be welcome to join, but there will be a fee. For details and reservations, contact the TC office at 475-9952 or office@templeconcord.org.

Israel’s first Chanukah candle factory endures 77-year history in Palestine. Menorah now employs 40

BY JUDY LASH BALINT workers, all residents of Sderot and the JNS.org surrounding area.

SDEROT – The Menorah Candle “We’ve gone through two wars here in Company, manufacturer and exporter the past four years,” noted Ben Moshe, of millions of Chanukah candles worldreferring to Israel’s eight-day Operation wide, is one of the oldest businesses in Pillar of Defense in November 2012 the industrial zone of Sderot, the Negev and 2014’s Operation Protective Edge city better known as a frequent target for in the Gaza Strip. “Sderot is less than a Hamas rockets than for its commerce. mile from Gaza and has been under fire Menorah produces the small, brightfor 14 years, but people here are very blue box filled with 44 multicolored brave,” he added. candles and printed with iconic images On a recent afternoon, Ben Moshe designed by Boris Schatz of the early invited a visitor into the operation and 20th century Bezalel art movement. the large protected area where workers This simple box of candles has been a Chanukah holiday component for Jews A display of Menorah Candle take shelter when Israel’s Red Alert around the world for decades.

Company Chanukah candles. siren gives a 15-second warning of an Today, the factory is run by an idealis- (Photo courtesy Menorah imminent rocket attack. In the 2012 war, Menorah was forced to close for tic CEO, Ilan Ben Moshe, who considers Candle Company) 10 days when the area came under the operation a business and a national frequent bombardment, and anxiety mission. The factory was moved to Sderot from Tel Aviv in 1988 by its previous owner, a Holocaust survivor, among workers was a constant companion. In June 2014, who bought the company from its founders. The original a direct rocket hit on a nearby paint factory was one of business started in 1939 as the first candle manufacturer the attacks that brought Israel into the month-long Gaza War. The factory was completely destroyed in the attack and four workers were injured.

When that happened, Ben Moshe, who makes the 90-minute commute from Jerusalem every day, said he considered moving his factory to the Jerusalem area, but, ultimately decided to “stay here forever. I consider it our mission to be here.”

“Candles have soul,” Ben Moshe asserted. That’s what attracted him and two partners to buy the veteran company in 2012, after a successful career as a vice president of several large Israeli corporations and a brief experience producing candles in Turkey.

Ben Moshe, 44, the son of a Canadian-born mother and an Iraqi father, served as an IDF paratrooper and is the father of four. An observant Jew, he takes pride in providing for the religious needs of Jews worldwide.

He’s quick to note that Menorah has expanded over the Ilan Ben Moshe, owner of Menorah Candle Company, years to produce and export Shabbat candles, memorial in the small synagogue on the factory premises. ( Photo candles, Havdalah candles and, in the last year, individual See “Candle” on page 12

by Judy Lash Balint)

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777

Six new Chanukah kids’ books to help enlighten the holiday

BY PENNY SCHWARTZ (JTA) – From a new audio version of “Hanukkah Bear” – a holiday favorite by National Jewish Book Award winner Eric A. Kimmel – to a novel for young teens set during the Festival of Lights, there is a fresh crop of Chanukah books that are sure to delight young readers of all stripes. The first Chanukah candle is kindled this year on the evening of Saturday, December 24. So if you’re looking to enliven and enlighten your Chanukah – or simply just send the perfect gift to a loved little one – look no further than these six new books.

“Hanukkah Delight” by Leslea Newman, illustrated by Amy Husband (Kar-Ben $5.99), ages 1-4. Toddlers and preschoolers will have fun celebrating Chanukah with a family of bunnies, an owl, kitty and even a friendly alligator in this delightful rhyming board book that’s perfect for introducing young ones to the rituals and traditions of the holiday. Award-winning writer and poet Leslea Newman (“Heather Has Two Mommies”) and artist Amy Husband capture the warmth of Chanukah’s glow with gleaming candles, crispy latkes and “Dreidels spinning through the night, chocolate gelt... come take a bite.”

“Celebrate Hanukkah with Light, Latkes and Dreidels”

by Deborah Heiligman (National Geographic $15.99), ages 6-9. The glow of Chanukah radiates in this global tour

of the Festival of Lights, with stunning photographs from India, Israel, Uganda, Poland and more. The straightforward text traces the ancient roots of the holiday, as well as explains the rituals and blessings said while lighting the menorah. Part of National Geographic’s “Holidays Around the World” series, “Celebrate Hanukkah” allows readers to discover the meaning behind holiday traditions, as well as the ways different families celebrate around the world. In this updated version of the 2008 edition, Heiligman explores the themes of religious freedom and the power of light in dark times.

“Potatoes at Turtle Rock” by Susan Schnur and Anna Schnur-Fishman; illustrated by Alex Steele-Morgan (Kar-Ben$17.99), ages 5-9. In this enchanting fictional tale, Annie leads her family – along with their goat and chicken – on a Chanukah adventure. It’s a snowy winter night in the woods near their farm, and as they stop at various locations, Annie poses Chanukah-related riddles: How did their great-grandfather keep warm during the long winter in the shtetl? (With hot potatoes.) Why is it so dark? (There is no moon in the sky on the sixth night of Chanukah.) What do they use for a menorah out in the woods? (Potatoes!) Along the way, the family lights candles, recites the blessings, enjoys some tasty treats and, in the end, shares a prayer of gratitude for

Raphael

Continued from page 5

has worked in tandem with the team doctors for the Los Angeles Lakers, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Dodgers and the University of Southern California.

When not with his family or on the Syracuse University sideline, he supports the Burnet Park Zoo, Young Jewish Leadership at the Jewish Federation of Central New York and the New York State Orthopedic Society.

Raphael said, “The award was a total surprise to me.

I didn’t even realize I was nominated. It was an honor to even be nominated, let alone selected from such an esteemed group of individuals. I was amazed to hear about all the incredible contributions the recipients had made to the Central New York community. For me, I was fortunate to have exemplary role models in my parents and grandparents, who taught me the importance of civic service and giving back to the community. They also reinforced the significance of supporting our local Jewish organizations.

“Family was also a major reason my wife, Rebecca, and I moved back to Syracuse. I was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of joining my father in orthopedic practice and the privilege of caring for the student athletes at Syracuse University. The winters may be a bit tougher than the beaches of southern California, where Rebecca and I met, but Central New York is a wonderful place to raise a family. We have made great friends and now that we have two children, it makes being near family even more important. Besides, our daughter loves the snow and nothing beats apple picking in the fall!”

Linda Alexander, Jewish Federation of Central New York president/CEO, said, “Both of these young people deserve this honor. They lead not only in the greater Syracuse community, but also in the Jewish community.

We are fortunate to have them as members in the Jewish Federation of Central New York’s Young Leadership program. We look forward to seeing more of their talent in the Jewish community for years to come.”

See “Books” on page 11

Mark & Susan Field

Wishing you a Happy Chanukah!

May your Chanukah be filled with the miracles of the holiday Bonnie Rozen, Advertising Representative

the blessings of Chanukah.

This is the second Jewish holiday book set at Turtle Rock by the mother-daughter team who also co-wrote “Tashlich at Turtle Rock” – both based on the family’s real-life holiday traditions. Aside from being a writer, Susan Schnur is a Reconstructionist rabbi. The book, she told JTA, reflects her conviction as both a parent and rabbi that when children are empowered to create their own rituals, they find meaning in Jewish holidays.

“A Hanukkah with Mazel” by Joel Edward Stein, illustrated by Elisa Vavouri (Kar-Ben $17.99), ages 3-8.

In this heartwarming tale set in the outskirts of an Old World shtetl, a kindhearted, but poor, artist named Misha adopts a cat who turns up in his barn one cold, snowy night during Chanukah. Misha names his new blackand-gray-striped feline friend Mazel – “good luck” in Yiddish. Misha has no Chanukah candles, but he finds a creative way to celebrate the Festival of Lights using his paints and brushes. However, when a peddler arrives at Misha’s home on the holiday’s last day, he recognizes Mazel as his lost cat, Goldie. In the uplifting ending, the two find hope for the future, with the peddler offering to sell Misha’s paintings and Misha taking care of Mazel while the peddler travels. Kids will have fun following the playful Mazel, who turns up in every scene in artist Wishing youvivid a Happy Passover!

Elisa Vavouri’s large, illustrations.

“Dreidels on the Brain” by Joel Ben Izzy (Dial Books $17.99), ages 10 and up. Meet Joel, an awkward yet endearing 12-year-old boy who is looking for Chanukah miracles in Temple City, CA, where he lives with his family. In the opening pages, Joel tries to strike up a conversation with God, looking for some sign of better things to come – his life, so far, has had its share of disappointments and hard times. Author Joel Ben Izzy brings his award-winning storytelling style to this tale Mark & Susan Field that unfolds during the eight days of Chanukah in 1971, as Joel navigates home, friends and school, where he is the only Jewish kid. His Chanukah takes a downward spin when Joel’s family is invited to light a menorah in front of the whole school – he’s worried about being embarrassed, but bigger follow when Joel’s faWishing you worries a Sweet ther is hospitalized. Joel eventually discovers that magic New Year! and miracles may come in unexpected ways. Readers will have fun with the dozens of inventive spellings of Chanukah, including “Chanyukah” and “Kchkanukkah.”

The novel is loosely based on the author’s childhood – Ben Izzy described himself in an e-mail to JTA as a

Mildred Siminoff

Mark & Susan Field

May the Alights of Chanukah Wishing you a shineChanukah in your Happy hearts Steve Stern & forever Fredda Sacharow

May you and your family be blessed during the holiday and throughout the year!

Georgina, Paul, Joshua, Aaron, Gabriel and Laima Roth

From Our Families to Yours, May you and your family be blessed during the holiday and throughout the year!

Happy Chanukah!

The Comminsky & Gatesy Families

DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777 ■

JEWISH OBSERVER

Nine things you didn’t know about Chanukah

BY JULIE WIENER (MyJewishLearning via JTA) – Chanukah, which starts at sundown on Saturday, December 24 – also Christmas eve – is among the most widely celebrated Jewish holidays in the United States. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing new to learn about this eight-day festival. From the mysterious origins of gelt to an Apocryphal beheading to Marilyn Monroe, we’ve compiled an item for each candle (don’t forget the shammash!) on the Chanukah menorah.

1. Gelt as we know it is a relatively new tradition – and no one knows who invented it.

While coins – “gelt” is Yiddish for coins, or money – have been part of Chanukah observance for centuries, chocolate gelt is considerably younger. In her book “On the Chocolate Trail,” Rabbi Deborah Prinz writes that “opinions differ” concerning the origins of chocolate gelt: Some credit America’s Loft candy company with creating it in the 1920s, while others suggest there were European versions earlier that inspired Israel’s Elite candy company. Prinz notes, as well, that chocolate gelt resembles a European Christmas tradition of exchanging gold-covered chocolate coins “commemorating the miracles of St. Nicholas.”

2. The first Chanukah celebration was actually a delayed Sukkot observance.

The second book of Maccabees quotes from a letter sent circa 125 B.C.E. from the Hasmoneans, the Maccabees’ descendants, to the leaders of Egyptian Jewry describing the holiday as “the festival of Sukkot celebrated in the month of Kislev rather than Tishrei.” Since the Jews were still in caves fighting as guerrillas in Tishrei 164 B.C.E., they had been unable to honor the eight-day holiday of Sukkot, which required visiting the Jerusalem Temple. Hence it was postponed until after the recapture of Jerusalem and the rededication of the Temple. Many scholars believe it is this – not the talmudic legend of the cruse of oil that lasted eight days – that explains why Chanukah is eight days long.

Wishing you 3. The books of Maccabees, which tell the astory of Chanukah, were not included in the Hebrew Bible – but Healthy, Happy they are in the Catholic Bible.

There are different theories andexplaining Peacefulwhy the first-century rabbis who canonized the scriptures omitted the Maccabees, ranging from theNew text’s relative Year newness at the time to fears of alienating the Roman leadership then in control of Jerusalem.

Cheryl & Irv Schotz

Kids spun dreidels at the Eldridge Street Synagogue in New York City. The game of dreidel was inspired by a German game played at Christmastime. (Photo

by Stephen Chernin/Getty Images) 4. Marilyn Monroe owned a music-playing Chanukah menorah (the Marilyn Monrorah?).

When the Hollywood star converted to Judaism before marrying the Jewish playwright Arthur Miller, her future mother-in-law gave her a menorah as a conversion gift. The Chanukah lamp, which the menorah’s current owner says Mrs. Miller brought back from Jerusalem, has a wind-up music box in its base that plays “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem. The Marilyn menorah is featured in the Jewish Museum in New York City’s exhibit “Becoming Jewish: Warhol’s Liz and Marilyn,” but sadly you cannot wind it up.

5. The game of dreidel was inspired by a German game played at Christmastime that itself is an imitation of an English and Irish one.

Our Eastern European game of dreidel (including the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hey and shin) is directly based on the German equivalent of the British totum game: N = Nichts = nothing; G = Ganz = all; H = Halb = half, and S = Stell ein = put in. In German, the spinning top was called a “torrel,” or “trundl.”

6. Oily food Greetings (think latkes and sufganiyot) isn’t ChaPassover to you and yours nukah’s only culinary tradition.

Traditionally, Chanukah has included foods with cheese in recognition of Judith, whose liberal use of the salty treat facilitated a victory for the Maccabees.

7. On Chanukah, we celebrate a grisly murder.

The aforementioned Judith had an ulterior motive for plying the Assyrian general Holofernes with

11

salty cheese: making him thirsty so he would drink lots of wine and pass out, enabling her to chop off his head and bring it home with her. The beheading – particularly the fact that a woman carried it out – was said to have frightened Holofernes’ troops into fleeing the Maccabees.

8. The next “Thanksgivukkah” (sort of), is only 55 years away.

In 2013, the convergence of Thanksgiving and Chanukah on November 28 inspired everything from turkey-shaped menorahs to a giant dreidel float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. While experts say a full day of Chanukah won’t coincide with the fourth Thursday in November for thousands of years, the first night of Chanukah will fall in time for Thanksgiving dinner (assuming you have the meal at dinnertime rather than in the afternoon) on November 27, 2070.

9. The largest menorah in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is 32 feet high and weighs 4,000 pounds.

The Shulchan Aruch stipulates that a menorah should be no taller than about 31 feet. Incidentally, Guinness lists at least three other Chanukah-related records: most dreidels spinning simultaneously for at least 10 seconds (734), most people simultaneously lighting menorahs (834) and largest display of lit menorahs (1,000). We’d like to know the most latkes ever eaten in one sitting.

Julie Wiener is the managing editor of MyJewishLearning.

Books

Continued from page 10

“nerdy 12-year-old magician” who was the only Jewish kid in his school.

Hanukkah Bear (audio version) by Eric A. Kimmel, author; narrated by Laural Merlington (LLC Dreamscape Media$14.99), ages 4-8. On the first night of Chanukah, one huge, hungry bear smells Bubbe Brayna frying her legendary latkes. The bear shows up at her door – at the same moment, it happens, that she’s expecting the village rabbi. Thanks to her poor eyesight, a fun-filled case of mistaken identity ensues as Bubbe Brayna thinks the bear is the rabbi; she feeds him latkes and insists he play a game of dreidel and light the menorah. This book won a National Jewish Book Award in 2013 and now young children can snuggle up to this newly recorded audio version.

Cantor Francine & Barry Berg New Year Greetings to you and yours

Happy Chanukah!

Cantor Francine & Barry Berg Ruth & Joel Stein

Ona & Bernie Bregman

Wishing the community a Happy Chanukah!

Chanukah Greetings you and yours Wishing peace,tohealth and Cantor Francine & Barry Berg

happiness to all this Passover

Wishing the community a Happy Chanukah!

Sydney Tenenbaum & Deidre Zehner

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Rabbi Sydney Tenenbaum Zehner Rachel& Deidre Esserman

From Our Family to Yours,

Happy Chanukah!

Steven and Linda Alexander

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777

Here’s a Chanukah menu with a healthy flair

BY MEGAN WOLF (JTA) – Chanukah is a celebration, a joyful holiday with delicious food and family memories. I remember lighting our menorah as a little girl with my bubbe. Now, raising my daughter, I hope to create special memories with her.

Food is typically at the center of our celebrations and this Chanukah, I have created a spinach-focused menu for a delicious and festive meal. Starting with creamy white bean soup, inspired by my mother’s love for soup served in large mugs, this dish sets the tone for a deliciously healthy meal. Warm and satisfying, this dish is topped with jewel-toned sauteed spinach and is pretty enough to serve to company. And its’ easy enough to make on a weeknight.

Most people think about traditional potato latkes on Chanukah. My Spinach, Broccoli and Scallion Pancakes with Poached Eggs are just as delicious – you can serve without the eggs, if you like. Growing up, we would enjoy sour cream and applesauce with our potato latkes. Sour cream (or Greek yogurt) would be a perfect pairing for these light, vegetable-filled pancakes. I like mine with hot sauce.

Spinach Salad with Quinoa, Toasted Pistachios and Cranberries is among my favorite recipes from my cookbook “Great Meals with Greens and Grains,” with

Candle

Continued from page 8

cups of olive oil. Many in Israel prefer to commemorate the Chanukah miracle of a single cruse of oil lasting for eight days in its original form.

Individual oil cups now constitute 15 percent of Menorah’s Chanukah trade, a number Ben Moshe expects to rise as more Jews abroad adopt the olive oil custom.

The company tries to locally source paraffin, wicks, olive oil and dye, all the components that go into making the signature candles.

A parallel part of the Menorah ethos is providing employment and occupational therapy to local people with special needs. Ten of the 40 workers at the 75,000 sq. ft. plant are from the special needs community and are involved in various aspects of packing and shipping thousands of oil cups and candles daily.

Commercial candle making is a relatively simple, but exacting, process using paraffin and oil. The Sderot plant uses machinery manufactured and imported from Germany and China some 30 years ago that still functions well today. The wicks are eight-layers strong to create a steady flame. To create different colors, sizes and shapes of candles, many kinds of paraffin additions are required.

To keep up with demand and an exacting export schedule, production starts four months ahead of the holiday. Menorah’s biggest customers outside of Israel are in North America, France, Australia and South Africa, with business growing an average of 10 percent every year, Ben Moshe said.

One last stop on the factory tour is the small synagogue on its premises that is used for daily Torah study. Ben Moshe reflects on the candle legacy he’s perpetuating and growing bigger.

“God sent me here,” he said with a smile.

its interesting textures, bold flavors, and a bright and balanced dressing. It could not be easier to make and is sure to be a hit on your holiday table.

Here are the recipes for these winning dishes.

CREAMY WHITE BEAN SOUP WITH SAUTEED SPINACH Serves 4 1 head garlic, top quarter sliced off and discarded ¼ cup olive oil, divided, plus more for garnish 1 Tbsp. butter 1 medium Vidalia onCreamy White Bean Soup ion, sliced 2½ cups low-sodium With Sauteed Spinach vegetable stock, divided (Photo by Megan Wolf) 1 dried bay leaf 2 cans (15 ounces each) white beans, rinsed and drained, divided ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese Salt to taste 5 ounces baby spinach Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the garlic on a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Wrap into a pouch and roast for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the garlic is soft and golden brown.

In a large stockpot, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Add 2¼ cups of the vegetable stock, the bay leaf and 1 can of the white beans to the onions. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

Once the garlic is roasted, add it to the soup by popping each clove out of its protective paper. In batches, transfer to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth, then pour the soup back into the stockpot.

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Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place a rimmed baking sheet in the oven to heat.

To make the pancakes: Steam the broccoli until tender but still crisp, about 3 to 5 minutes. While the broccoli cooks, saute the spinach in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a skillet until wilted, about 3 minutes, then remove from the heat and roughly chop.

Spinach, Broccoli and In a large bowl, scramble Scallion Pancakes with the eggs, and then add the Poached Eggs (Photo baking soda, flour, panko and by Megan Wolf) Parmesan cheese; stir to combine. Add the broccoli, spinach and half the scallions.

Mix to combine.

Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven and grease with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. With an ice cream scoop, place pancakes evenly on the baking sheet.

Gently press the top of each pancake to flatten. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for another 2 minutes, or until the centers of the pancakes are cooked through.

To make the poached eggs (start with about 8 minutes remaining on the pancakes): Boil the water in a large high-rimmed skillet. Once the water comes to a boil, crack each egg into its own ramekin. Add the white vinegar to the boiling water, reduce the heat to medium-low and drop each egg into the hot water. Cover the skillet and let the eggs cook for 3 minutes.

Remove the pancakes from the oven and serve two or three to a plate, depending on their size. Top each plate with a poached egg and a sprinkle of the remaining scallions. Serve immediately.

Tip: If poaching all four eggs at once feels too daunting, try two at a time. Eggs cook quickly and this won’t greatly delay your meal.

SPINACH SALAD WITH QUINOA, TOASTED PISTACHIOS AND CRANBERRIES Serves 4 For the lemon vinaigrette: ¼ cup olive oil juice of 1 lemon 2 cloves garlic, pushed through a garlic press or very well minced ¼ tsp. salt (or more to your taste) For the salad: ¼ cup quinoa 1 cup water ½ cup shelled pistachios 10 ounces baby spinach 1 medium Anjou pear Spinach Salad With ½ cup dried sweetened Q u i n o a , To a s t e d Cranberries and ½ cup pitted and sliced P i s t a c h i o s Cerignola Cranberries (Photo by Olives Megan Wolf) Salt to taste To make the lemon vinaigrette: Whisk the ingredients together.

To make the salad: Combine the quinoa and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, turn down the heat to low, cover the pot and cook another 10 minutes, or until the quinoa has softened and the water has evaporated; set aside.

Toast the pistachios in a small skillet over low heat until they are just golden brown and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes; set aside.

Place the spinach in a large bowl. Thinly slice the pear and add it to the bowl along with the cranberries and olives.

Just prior to serving, add the toasted pistachios and cooked quinoa, toss with the lemon vinaigrette and season to taste with salt.

Serve family style or in individual bowls or on plates.

Tip: Getting the garlic really finely minced or crushed will help the flavor dissipate, so that instead of biting into a piece of raw garlic, the salad is nicely seasoned with a garlic essence.

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DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777 ■

Israel’s blood goes underground

BY MARA FAHL JNS.org For most organizations, moving underground would be an ominous decision. For Israel’s National Blood Services Center, it’s an exciting one. November 16 marked the groundbreaking for the Jewish state’s new state-of-the-art central blood bank. Located in Ramla, the facility will be the world’s first completely underground national blood services center. Israel’s reality affects every key aspect of the design of the center, including its subterranean location.

Every day, bright yellow vans traverse Israel to collect blood donations. Many who donate through the vans are simply passing by, and sometimes communities organize blood donor events. Essentially all Israelis are familiar with these vans, which they can’t help but notice. The fully equipped vehicles, which collect 17 percent of Israel’s annual blood supply, are the most visible part of the mobile units of Magen David Adom – Israel’s national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service. The entire system of mobile units gathers 90 percent of the blood that is donated annually.

What happens to the blood after it is collected? That is lesser-known – and it will soon be even harder to see.

Just 15 minutes outside of Tel Aviv, Israel’s technology

A sketch of Israel’s new Marcus National Blood Services Center. (Photo courtesy of Magen David Adom) and culture capital, is the country’s current central blood bank. The National Blood Services Center is a clearinghouse for sorting, packaging and storing blood, which is then delivered to hospitals and critical care units around the country. Of the 280,000 blood units that pass through the center’s doors each year, 250,000 are sent to hospitals around the country as needed. An additional 37,000 liters of surplus plasma are used by MDA’s pharmaceutical plant to prepare products such as Factor VIII, albumin and gamma globulin.

No drop of this resource goes to waste, but because it is concentrated in a single and vulnerable location, there is a risk that major damage to the center could decimate

JEWISH OBSERVER

13

the nation’s entire system of blood resources. In fact, any damage to the center could reverberate throughout Israel if it slowed down or cut off the blood supply for hospitals and emergency centers.

After the Hamas terror group’s rockets rained down on Tel Aviv during the Gaza conflicts of 2012 and 2014, forcing the current central blood bank to operate from what it described as the woefully insufficient workspace of a bomb shelter, the need to secure the country’s blood supply became clearer than ever. Israel has responded by starting the construction of the forthcoming underground blood services center in Ramla. But security is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the carefully considered elements of the center.

While Ramla is not one of Israel’s largest cities, it is one of the country’s most centrally located municipalities and is about 11 miles from Ben Gurion International Airport. Even though Israel is a small country, the new building’s easy access to major highways is considered crucial for the quick delivery of blood to hospitals.

The dangers that Israel faces, meanwhile, are not always related to war and terrorism. Israel lies on two geological fault lines and is subject to small-scale earthquakes See “Blood” on page 15

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JEWISH OBSERVER ■ DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777

Calendar Highlights

Please notify jstander@jewishfederationcny.org of any calendar changes.

Friday, December 9

Congregation Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas new members’ Shabbat with services at 6 pm and dinner at 7 pm Saturday, December 10 Temple Adath Yeshurun Mishpacha Shabbat at 10:30 am Temple Concord Cinemagogue Series to present “Son of Saul” at 7:30 pm CBS-CS Melavah Malka musical good-bye to Shabbat at 7 pm Sunday, December 11 TAY Sisterhood rummage sale from 10 am-3 pm Jewish Community Center teen trip to American Jewish History Museum in Philadelphia Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation of Syracuse board meeting at 9 am TC Sisterhood Chanukah brunch and raffle at 9:30 am CBS-CS Sisterhood gift shop Chanukah sale starts at 10 am Syracuse Jewish Family Service free session featuring drumming, yoga and paintings from previous sessions at 12:45 pm CBS-CS Sisterhood challah baking and movie event at 1 pm Monday, December 12 TAY Sisterhood rummage sale from 10 am-2 pm TC Board of Trustees meeting at 7 pm Tuesday, December 13 Community Rabbis’ Davar Acher class meets at CBS-CS at 6:45 pm TAY Sisterhood rummage sale from 10 am-1 pm Menorah Park Operating Board meeting at 6 pm Epstein School meets at CBS-CS at 6:30 pm Wednesday, December 14 Syracuse Community Hebrew School at TAY from 4-6 pm CBS-CS Bikkur Cholim class at 7:30 pm Thursday, December 15 Epstein School at Wegmans Café at 7 pm TAY Board meeting at 7 pm Saturday, December 16 TAY “Pause Button” and musical Shabbat at 9:15 am Sunday, December 18 TC GAN program from 10:30 am-noon TAY Torah Tots Chanukah at 10:30 am TAY Meet the Text, selections from the Mishnah with Rabbi Paul Drazen, at 11 am CBS-CS Hazak to present Judith Huober in a program on “Research on Aging” at 2 pm Federation holds Chanukah party for community at the Museum of Science and Technology from 4-7 pm Monday, December 19 TC Diaspora dinner at 6:30 pm CBS-CS USY Chanukah party at 7 pm Tuesday, December 20 Epstein School meets at CBS-CS at 6:30 pm JCC Executive Committee to meet at 6 pm, followed by board meeting at 7 pm Community rabbis’ Davar Acher class at CBS-CS at 6:45 pm Wednesday, December 21 Deadline for January 5 issue of the Jewish Observer Lunch and Learn at Bousquet and Holstein, 110 W. Fayette St., at noon SCHS at TAY from 4-6 pm CBS-CS board meeting at 7:30 pm Thursday, December 22 TAY Men’s Club and Sisterhood-sponsored blood drive at 1 pm Epstein School at Wegmans Café at 7 pm Friday, December 23 TC pre-Chanukah service at 6 pm and congregational dinner at 7 pm Saturday, December 24 Erev Chanukah - first candle Sunday, December 25 Chanukah - first day Monday, December 26 TAY Chanukah dinner at 6:15 pm Tuesday, December 27 CBS-CS Kadima Chanukah party at 6 pm Saturday, December 31 Last Chanukah candle CBS-CS Chanukah and New Year’s Eve celebration at 5:30 pm Sunday, January 1 Chanukah - last day Tuesday, January 3 Community rabbis’ Davar Acher class meets at CBS-CS at 6:45 pm Epstein School at CBS-CS at 6:30 pm SCHS board meeting at TAY at 7:30 pm Wednesday, January 4 TC adult education with Rabbi Daniel Fellman on “Death and Dying” at 7 pm SCHS at TAY from 4-6 pm Thursday, January 5 Epstein School at Wegmans Café at 7 pm Saturday, January 7 TC Tot Shabbat at 9 am Sunday, January 8 TC Brotherhood meeting at 9:30 am TC Sisterhood event at 9:30 am TC Scholar Series at 11 am CBS-CS intergenerational ice skating at 1 pm COJO leadership training from 1-5 pm

D’VAR TORAH Take the time to consider your decision’s consequences

BY RABBI PAUL DRAZEN One could feel bad for parashat Vayetze, which is so often in competition with Chanukah for attention. That’s too bad, as parashat Vayetze includes many events and episodes, any one of which could be the text and context for a newspaper column such as this. However, one episode, the one that describes Jacob fleeing from his father-in-law’s home, prompts some surprise because it allows us to see Laban, a biblical character who is rarely seen as a paragon of virtue, as the source of a lesson for personal behavior.

The Torah notes that Jacob left Laban’s home, which had been his home of many years, rather precipitously.

Laban chased after his son-in-law and his rather large entourage. When Laban finally caught up to Jacob, he scolded Jacob for leaving in secret. Laban said, “You did not even let me kiss my sons and daughters good-bye.

Now you have acted foolishly.” This verse befuddled many biblical commentators. How could Laban, nearly always seen as an evil character, be quoted in the Torah berating patriarch Jacob by saying, “you have acted foolishly”?

One commentator suggested that Laban should get credit for speaking as he did. Why? Because Jacob had, indeed, done something foolish. But before we jump to conclusions, we need to investigate exactly what Jacob’s foolish act really was. As the commentator understood the situation, Jacob’s mistake was not what Laban claimed, namely that Jacob left without telling Laban.

Leaving surreptitiously was not a mistake. Throughout the years, Laban had, among other behaviors, lied to Jacob, mistreated him and falsely accused him of cheating. With a history of such behavior, there was more than enough reason for Jacob to mistrust Laban’s words and question his actions. Slipping out of town without making a big deal was an appropriate way of creating a distance from a less-than-honorable person.

What did Jacob do that gave Laban a legitimate reason to call his act foolish? When Jacob left in the middle of the night, he provided all the neighbors reason to believe that Laban was right and Jacob was wrong. After all, what kind of person suddenly disappears in the darkness?

Someone with something to hide. The result of Jacob’s decision to leave as he did gave him a bad name – even though he did not deserve that reputation. Perception becomes reality. In summary, Jacob’s foolish act, leaving in secret, was bad behavior because it created a situation that made Laban look good.

That became the basis of the commentator’s lesson: if patriarch Jacob made a poor decision because he did not contemplate all the ramifications of his decision, then we must learn to be extra careful as we make decisions. Most of us make choices, but we often do so without enough information, without taking the time to consider all the possible results of an action. We rarely look at the full picture, including, “what impression will it leave on those who see it?”

Jewish law incorporates the concept of ma’arit ayin (something doesn’t look right). We must be aware that there are totally innocent actions or decisions that might appear to be less than honorable. Moving too quickly, when speed is not required, can lead to decisions that have significant negative impacts. The message of Laban: we should take our time and consider all the consequences of what we decide.

Rabbi Paul Drazen is the rabbi at Temple Adath Yeshurun.

NEWS IN BRIEF From JTA

After fires, heavy rainfall brings flooding to central Israel Heavy rainfall in Israel’s north and center ended dry weather conditions that had helped spread fires throughout the country, but flooded several residential homes in low areas. The downpour on Dec. 1, the first this winter, caused the Yarkon River to overflow, flooding the Mekorot Hayarkon Park near Rosh Hain some 15 miles east of Tel Aviv.

The downpour resulted in the flooding of several residential homes in the nearby city of Petach Tikvah, whose center is largely blocked for traffic, Ynet reported. The water level in the Kinneret, or the Sea of Galilee, rose by 1.5 inches in the 24 hours that preceded the morning of Dec. 2. In total, the north saw 2.7 inches of rainfall and the center had 3.1 inches, Army Radio reported. The rainfall ended a 10-day stretch during which Israel saw at least 100 fires that ravaged the north and the Jerusalem area, leading to the evacuation of 100,000 people and tens of millions of dollars in property damage. No one was killed in the fires, though several people were injured. A third of the fires recorded in that time frame were deliberately started by arsonists, according to police.

DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777 ■

NEWS IN BRIEF From JNS.org

Israel’s new ambassador to Turkey presents credentials to Erdogan Israel’s new ambassador to Turkey, Eitan Na’eh, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Dec. 5.

Na’eh presented his diplomatic credentials to Erdogan, marking one of the final steps in restoring relations between the former close regional allies. The ceremony, held at Erdogan’s presidential palace, included an honor guard of Turkish soldiers and a rendition of Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah.” Erdogan welcomed Na’eh, who was previously stationed in Ankara in the 1990s, with a smile and handshake. He was reportedly impressed when the Israeli ambassador greeted him in Turkish. The Turkish leader shook hands with Na’eh’s wife and children, as well as the Israeli embassy’s diplomatic staff. Following their meeting, Na’eh said on Twitter that he was “very pleased to present my credentials to President Erdogan and to start a new phase in the relations between the two countries.”

The last Israeli ambassador to Turkey, Gabby Levy, was expelled in 2011 following the May 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, in which nine Turkish militants were killed after they had attacked Israeli commandos aboard a vessel that was trying to breach the blockade on Gaza. Turkey and Israel agreed to normalize relations last summer.

Anti-BDS legislation introduced in NV Nevada Lieutenant Governor Mark Hutchinson and pro-Israel activists introduced a new resolution seeking to counter the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The proposed Senate Bill 26 will seek to counter the discriminatory environment fostered by the BDS movement, according to the Israeli-American Coalition for Action, which is promoting the measure.

Nevada’s anti-BDS resolution will be similar to others passed by more than a dozen U.S. states in recent years.

“We have a unique opportunity in the coming legislative session to send a powerful message that the hateful and discriminatory environment fostered by BDS has no place in Nevada,” said IAC for Action Chairman Shawn Evenhaim. “The IAC for Action is grateful to Lieutenant Governor Mark Hutchison and the state legislators of Nevada for their courageous leadership on this issue.”

Twitter grants Muslim Brotherhood verification The social media platform Twitter recently granted verification to the official mouthpiece of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egypt-based Islamist organization that has been designated as a terrorist organization in its home country since December 2013. The Muslim Brotherhood operates through a website known as Ikhwan Web, which serves as the Brotherhood’s “official” English-speaking feed. Many are critiquing Twitter’s decision to grant Ikhwan Web verification, saying it legitimizes the group’s antisemitic

Blood

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somewhat regularly. Although there hasn’t been a major earthquake in the country in 100 years, earthquakes are a real concern in the Israeli construction industry, and the new center will meet the highest level of safety standards.

When Israel’s current national blood center was built in 1987, the country’s population was just 4.4 million.

Today, it is more than eight million. With MDA supplying blood for both civilians and members of the military in need, capacity is as much a concern as security, said MDA Director General Eli Bin, who told JNS.org that “due to the challenges faced by our country both in terms of security and possible natural disasters, MDA must maintain its high standard and build a blood services center that’s compatible with Israel’s population growth rate as well as the aforementioned challenges.”

The facility will be named the Marcus National Blood Services Center following the Marcus Foundation’s recent $25 million donation toward the cost of the $110 million project. A total of about $74 million has been raised for the project so far, largely as a result of the efforts of American Friends of Magen David Adom, the Israeli organization’s U.S.-based fund-raising arm. Once the center is built, Israel’s current National Blood Services Center will be used as an annex, allowing MDA to expand its services even further.

While the rocket attacks from Hamas-ruled Gaza may have been a catalyst for the project, Professor Eilat Shinar, MDA’s chief blood services officer, said the rockets only confirmed what the organization already knew. “After the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Operation Cast Lead in 2008, and the other conflicts with Gaza in 2012 and 2014, it became very clear to us at MDA that the current National Blood Services Center simply doesn’t cut it,” Shinar told JNS.org. “We realized that if we wanted to prevent a major health crisis in Israel, we must build an improved and highly secured blood bank.”

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JEWISH OBSERVER

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OBITUARIES propaganda. “Verifying the Muslim Brotherhood’s Twitter feed helps further their narrative of civilization-Jihad,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), told the Washington Free Beacon. “This maneuver makes the Brotherhood seem like a legitimate group while providing them cover to spread their radical version of Islam,” Cruz added. “I look forward to working with the new administration to expose the Brotherhood’s efforts to increase their influence in America.” The Muslim Brotherhood is the parent group of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.

U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd says she will spend millions to protect Jews United Kingdom Home Secretary Amber Rudd has promised to spend millions to provide security guards for all Jewish schools and synagogues in the country.

Speaking at a U.K.-Israel conference in the British Parliament, Rudd cited the research of the Community Security Trust, a British organization that monitors and records antisemitic incidents. “Last year, the Community Security Trust received 924 reports of antisemitic incidents, including 86 violent assaults. Let me be clear, any attack of that kind is one attack too many,” Rudd said.

“We are providing £13.4 million (about $17 million) for guarding at all Jewish state, free and independent schools, colleges and nurseries and at synagogues, and to support the continuing efforts of the police to provide security and reassurance to the Jewish community,” she added.

Israeli researchers decipher rare Roman-era artifact found underwater Israeli researchers from the University of Haifa have deciphered a rare inscription found on an underwater artifact. The inscription sheds new light on Roman rule over the province of Judea prior to the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Archaeologists uncovered a massive rectangular stone bearing the name Gargilius Antiques during a maritime excavation at the Tel Dor archaeology site, which is located south of Haifa. The inscription enabled researchers to determine with certainty that Antiques was the Roman procurator who ruled over Judea just prior to the Bar Kokhba Revolt. “Not only did we manage to identify with certainty for the first time the name of the procurator that controlled Judea during the critical years before the Bar Kokhba Revolt, but this is only the second time that a reference to the name Judea was revealed in any inscription from the Roman period,” University of Haifa’s Prof. Assaf Yasur-Landau and Dr. Gil Gambash said in a joint statement. The Bar Kokhba Revolt, also known as the Third Jewish-Roman War, was fought from 132-136 C.E. amid religious and political tensions following the failure of the First Revolt from 66-70 C.E. The latter revolt – led by Simon bar Kokhba, who promised to restore Jewish independence – ended in a crushing defeat for the Jewish people that led to extensive Jewish depopulation in the land of Israel, as well as Roman efforts to erase any memory of Judea and ancient Israel.

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MARLENE LEVY Marlene Levy, 81, of Liverpool, died on October 17.

Born in Syracuse, she graduated from Tully High School. She was employed with Liverpool Central Schools, many local car dealerships and the YMCA in Liverpool. For 20 years, she made pillow cases and quilts for children in children’s hospitals and cancer patients.

She loved helping people any way she could and enjoyed spending time with her family and pets.

She was predeceased by her husband, Paul; and her sons, Michael and Carl Levy.

She is survived by her son, Mitch Levy; one granddaughter; and several nieces and nephews.

Burial was in Woodlawn Cemetery. Thomas J. Pirro had arrangements. 

AUDREY JANE PEPPI-DONALDSON

Audrey Jane Peppi-Donaldson, 48, died on November 30 after a brief illness.

Born in Syracuse, she lived in Manhattan, NY, before moving to Scotch Plains, NJ, in 1997. She held a bachelor’s degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology, class of 1991, and a master’s degree from Fordham University, class of 1996, both in New York City. She first worked in the garment industry in New York City before beginning her teaching career. She taught elementary school in the Bronx for two years and for the past three years, she was a preschool teacher at the Jewish Community Center of Central New Jersey in Scotch Plains.

She is survived by her husband of 21 years, Robb Donaldson; children, Ariana, David, Daniel and Dylan Donaldson, all of Scotch Plains, NJ; as well as her parents, Liliane and David Peppi of Syracuse; siblings, Joelle Peppi (Henry Leibowitz) of Sudbury, MA, and Joe Peppi of Ft. Lauderdale, FL; and one niece.

Arrangements were by Ross’ Shalom Chapels, 415 Morris Avenue, Springfield, NJ 07081. 

MORRIS PFEFFER

Morris Pfeffer,82, died on December 1 at Crouse hospital.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, he had been a resident of Syracuse since 1970. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Syracuse University. He was a technical fellow for Bristol Labs in Syracuse and retired in 1994.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy Gourville; his daughter, Carolyn (Bernard) Johnston; one grandchild, Benjamin; his sister, Roberta Greenberg; and two nephews.

Burial was in the Shaarei Torah section of Oakwood Cemetery. Sisskind Funeral Service had arrangements. 

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JEWISH OBSERVER â– DECEMBER 8, 2016/8 KISLEV 5777