HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY The Voice of the Lehigh Valley Jewish Community
APRIL 2013 |NISAN/IYYAR 5773
A nation, a life, forever linked PHOTO BY HANS PINN AND COURTESY OF GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICE OF ISRAEL
Educator goes ‘beyond the numbers’
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MORE SENIOR SERVICES Find out how the strategic plan and community look to meet needs. See page 3.
Sheila Goldberg (inset, shown with daughter Julia) was among the celebrating crowds on May 14, 1948. Above, a crowd of cheering citizens in Tel Aviv stands across the road opposite the Tel Aviv Museum while, inside, David Ben Gurion reads the declaration of independence of Israel.
By Jennifer Lader Editor, HAKOL For Sheila Goldberg, life has always centered in some way on Israel. Born in England in the 1920s, she soon set her sights on the land that was at the time called Palestine. An adventurer, she made sure she was there on that day 65 years ago when the votes were counted and Israel became a state. Journey started with Pioneers “From the age of 10, I was always a member of a Zionist organization,” Goldberg said. However, her family emigrated to Canada. She furthered her desire for aliyah by again joining every group that was available to her. She was active in Young Judaea and, while in Vancouver, joined a Pioneer group of Zionists in hopes of getting to a kibbutz in the land that was then under British colonial rule.
HOMES AND GARDENS Welcome spring with ideas from this special section. No. 355 com.UNITY with Mark Goldstein 2 Women’s Division
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Israel Continues on page 16
Yom Hashoah Continues on page 17
Obama, Netanyahu find common ground By Ben Sales Jewish Telegraphic Agency President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it’s safe to say, haven’t always been the best of friends. The leaders of two closely alNon-Profit Organization
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A point of light Kfar Darom was established in 1930 as a fruit orchard on the site of a Jewish town of the same name mentioned in the Talmud.
During the Arab revolt against the British Mandate in 1936-39, it was destroyed. Then in 1946, it was resettled as one of “11 Points in the Negev,” Jewish settlements in that region peopled particularly by immigrants, most from Hungary and some Israelis for protective purposes. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations announced Resolution 181, a partition plan to divide Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state when the British colonial mandate ended on May 14 the following year. Violence erupted immediately after the announcement, with Arab attacks on Jewish settlements, much fighting and massacres of Jewish settlers. “The government decided to get us Americans and Canadians out [of Kfar Darom] because they
How can one begin to grasp the horrors of the Holocaust? It may involve trying to comprehend an almost impossible number -- six million. It may also include the blackand-white photographic images ingrained in our minds -- photos that tell a story the Nazis wanted to tell, or one the Allied liberators wanted to tell. On April 7 and 8, Rachel Korazim, a freelance Jewish education consultant specializing in curriculum development for Israel and Holocaust education, will address the Lehigh Valley community on looking beyond the numbers and the photos. In an interview with Donald Harrison in the San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage, Korazim said, “None of the photos tell the story Jews and other victims need to tell -that every one of the persons who died in the Holocaust was a unique individual with a rich heritage. You need to think whose eyes are behind the camera? Who is taking the pictures? Who has the ability to walk with a camera in hand in a ghetto or in a death camp?” Korazim says the photos of pre-Holocaust Jewish life are what really tell the story. She will present her talk, “Beyond the Numbers,” at the JFLV/Holocaust Resource Center’s Yom HaShoah commemoration event at the JCC on Sunday, April 7 at 7 p.m.
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lied countries, they've have had a relationship described more often as tense than anything else. But on the first day of Obama’s first presidential trip to Israel, the president and prime minister were all smiles, handshakes and hugs. Netanyahu couldn’t stop thanking Obama for his support on a range of issues. Obama, for his part, attempted a few sentences in Hebrew, quoted the Talmud, and complimented Netanyahu’s wife and children. Obama has been to Israel twice before, most recently as a presidential candidate in 2008. Rather than signaling the launch of a new push for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, this trip appeared to be an effort by Obama to win over the hearts and minds of Israelis. “I see this visit as an opportunity to reaffirm the unbreakable
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PURIM ACROSS THE VALLEY See highlights of congregations’ Purim celebrations. Pages 12-13
At that time, Israel (still called Palestine) was wofully short of guns and wartime supplies. Goldberg and a friend from Montreal became active in transporting guns to New York, for shipment to Israel. “We would hitchhike together, always on 18-wheel trucks with our guns secreted in our baggage,” she said, because Customs was more lenient with large truckers. In 1947, following World War II, Goldberg was able to travel to Israel, under the auspices of Young Judaea, to a kibbutz in the Negev, Kfar Darom. Speaking from her home in Easton, Goldberg said of her group: “There were three or four Canadians, several Americans and a man from Holland. We came in as ‘archaeologists.’”
By Monica Friess Special to HAKOL
President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak at a news conference in Jerusalem on March 20. bonds between our nations, to restate America’s unwavering commitment to Israel’s security,” Obama said upon his arrival. “It makes us both stronger. It makes us both more prosperous. And it makes the world a better place.”
The initial agreeability between Obama and Netanyahu also extended to policy. The two
Obama Continues on page 5