The Voice of the Lehigh Valley Jewish Community
www.jewishlehighvalley.org
| Issue No. 471 | December 2023 | Kislev 5784 AWARD-WINNING PUBLICATION EST. 1977
Women’s Philanthropy hears former shlicha tell her 10/7 story, and makes and sells bracelets for the Israel Emergency Campaign. p6
Chanukah is coming. May it bring hope and some respite. See our special pullout section.
FROM THE DESK OF JERI ZIMMERMAN p3 WOMEN’S PHILANTHROPY p6 LVJF TRIBUTES p9 JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER p14-15 JEWISH DAY SCHOOL p16 JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE p17 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p23
LV community joins 290,000 at March for Israel
By Carl Zebrowski Editor
Almost 150 people filled the three buses in Allentown JCC parking lot early on November 14. Their destination was Washington, D.C., and the March for Israel. It was a monumental day for members of the Lehigh Valley Jewish community, students at the local colleges and others who were making the trip to the National Mall to join an estimated 290,000 people demonstrating their support for Israel and the return of the hostages taken by Hamas. “I was in Israel October 7 for the beginning of the war. I have children in Israel,” said Mark Notis of Allentown. “It’s a life-changing time for every Jew in the world to
experience what happened, but it’s also heartwarming to see so many people come together in unity. We pray for peace.” Lehigh Valley media, too, realized the importance of the march. A cameraman for 69 News was at the JCC filming as people boarded the buses. And inside one of those buses was a reporter from the online Lehigh Valley News, going along to get an up-close view of the Valley group on the 2-mile-long strip between the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol. After five hours of riding the buses and navigating crowded Metro stations, Lehigh Valley community members were on the mall and listening to the first speaker pump up the crowd on behalf of Israel. “My name is Tovah
Feldshuh and my Hebrew name is Tovah Feldshuh,” said the actress who began her performing career as Terri Fairchild. The crowd roared. She reminded everyone that Hamas murdered, tortured and made hostages of Jewish civilians of all ages “only because they were Jews.” The rally, she said, was about making a collective statement against this barbarity and against antisemitism of all sorts. “We stand here to say, ‘Enough!’” she said, kicking off another round of cheers. The march came only a month after the attacks, but it felt like a long wait. “Watching the numerous proPalestinian rallies has truly frightened us and created a lot of anxiety regarding our safety as Jews,” said Cherie Zettlemoyer of Allentown.
gathered to support Israel and the hostages taken by Hamas. A good number of the people from all corners of the country who stood and sat on the grassy mall were young. It was an encouraging sign for a community that worries (as all communities of all sorts worry!) that the youngest generations may not be as involved or committed. In my own wanderings around the mall and through security into the gated, restricted area that led up to the main stage, I had many
brief chats with youths in the crowd. All were exceptionally courteous and more than one thanked me for being there to back the cause. Joseph Wolf was among the Muhlenberg students who made the trip from Allentown. “It was an amazing experience and quite jawdropping to see that many Jews in one place (ironically, someone in line to enter the restricted area was complaining he could not find a minyan),” the class of 2024 member said, referring at the end to the minimum of 10 adults required for public prayer. Hana Feig of the Muhlenberg class of 2027 appreciated the feeling of unity, matched in her memory only by the feeling she had when visiting Israel. “As a college student and a young Jewish American, I think that it’s more important than ever to show up for Israel, the place and people that I love and feel so strongly connected to,” she said. “I put two flags in my hair — a pride flag and an Israeli flag
“Attending this pro-Israel march and the coming together of hundreds of thousands of Jews was just what we needed to alleviate our fears and be at one with our fellow Jews.” Feldshuh continued with the kind of talk Lehigh Valley community members had
been exchanging since the first week of October. It was, in fact, the kind of talk that Jewish communities all over the United States had been exchanging. Now, here they all were standing shoulder-toshoulder, facing toward the Israel rally Continues on page 4
Hillel students also travel to DC for this ‘historic family reunion’ By Carl Zebrowski Editor
So many Lehigh Valley college students wanted to be part of the November 14 March for Israel in Washington, D.C., that overflow from their bus spilled into one of the other buses in the JCC parking lot. A large part of that group came from the Muhlenberg College Hillel. Lehigh University sent a bunch of Hillel members too. A handful of hours after departing Allentown, they were all on the National Mall among the estimated 290,000 people
Non-Profit Organization
of the Lehigh Valley 702 North 22nd Street Allentown, PA 18104
of the Lehigh Valley
of the Lehigh Valley
of the Lehigh Valley
U.S. POSTAGE PAID Lehigh Valley, PA Permit No. 64
— and I wasn’t the only one. Despite what anti-Zionists say, intersectionality can and does coexist with Zionism and Judaism, and I aim to continue to demonstrate that with as much pride as I can.” One of the topics raised multiple times during the rally was the pro-Palestinian protests happening at colleges across the United States. The initial wave of support for Israel after the attacks had given way to criticism of its response. Wolf said he was keeping up with anti-March for Israel commentary coming from campus during the day. “It was sad to see the reaction from some at Muhlenberg,” he said. “There were many students posting on social media that the rally was for genocide in Palestine and that they were ashamed to see Muhlenberg students going. In addition, there was a member of the faculty who posted on Instagram that there should be a worldwide intifada (the post has since been deleted).” Those who marched
on Washington obviously disagreed strongly with these stances on the march. Ira Blum, director of the Muhlenberg Hillel, touted community-wide healing as one of the benefits. “Over the last few weeks, the fear, despair, and pain that I’ve absorbed in so many conversations have revealed a deeper sense of loneliness and worry of being alone, ignored and isolated,” he said. “What I hoped to find, and what I was grateful to find, in D.C. was a family reunion of sorts. I think showing up for family and community, on campus, in America, Israel, Europe, wherever, is so crucial right now, in the face of fear, violence and loneliness. “I am grateful to the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley (sponsor and organizer of the bus trip) for bringing so many together from across the Lehigh Valley to be part of this historic family reunion.”