EMUNAH Magazine Fall 2012

Fall 2012/5773

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

SUPREME COURTS: ISRAEL AND THE US ISRAEL’S NATIONAL PEDAGOGIC CENTER JEWELRY DESIGN IN THE JEWISH STATE

EMUNAH PERSONAL PLANNER 2012-2013/5773

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A

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

EMUNAH

recent article in the Jerusalem Post entitled, “Child Abuse Rates in Israel Now Higher Than in US”, explains that reports of child abuse in Israel have steadily grown over the past three years. In Israel, in 2010, there were 18.9 reported cases for every l,000 children, as compared to 10 for every 1,000 in the US. Additional data from the Ministry of Welfare and Social Services shows that an estimated 150,000 children are considered at-risk.

These “cases,” or more accurately, these Jewish children need you…need us — EMUNAH, to help them reverse these cycles of violence, abuse and neglect.

These children are our future — the future of our Jewish State and the future of the Jewish people. EMUNAH has made great inroads on behalf of the children of Israel, but we need to do more, and we can only do that with your help.

Former residents of EMUNAH Children’s Homes — former “cases”— have gone on to excel in professions, have proudly taken on active roles in Israeli society, have stood under the chuppah as they began to build their own home rich in Torah values, and now have healthy Jewish families of their own. Most importantly, they have broken the cycle! EMUNAH’s “cases”— sent to us by the Ministry of Welfare and Social Services—have learned how to become responsible and loving parents from the years they spent in our EMUNAH homes. Yet, as the article in the Jerusalem Post demonstrates, there are so many more children who need us.

How does EMUNAH break the cycle? First, we make sure that all of these children get the hands-on individual attention they desperately need to help them gain confidence and feel secure in their environment. Second, we provide them with a safe and secure home. Third, we provide therapy to help them deal with their traumas and emotional and physical scars. Fourth, we make sure that all children recognize that they have unlimited potential, and provide them with the tools they need to fulfill their intellectual, scholastic or vocational potential.

Finally, we remain a constant in their lives; we make and participate in all of their milestones, whether it is a birthday party, a bar or bat mitzvah, a graduation ceremony, an induction ceremony for the army, or a wedding. We are their family. You are their family.

We cannot provide all of this without your help. As EMUNAH supporters, you understand their needs and have been generous in your support. As the New Year approaches, we ask all of you to dig a little deeper, to give a little more, and by doing so, save our nation and our future.

Rosh Hashana gives us the opportunity to look not only to the future, but also to reflect on this past year. During the past 12 months, I have had the pleasure of meeting many of our incredible volunteers and professionals, and avid supporters across the country. You all give me such inspiration with your commitment to EMUNAH and to saving our children.

May the New Year bring new joy and love to each and every member of the EMUNAH family and may the upcoming year be filled with health, happiness and success for all of us.

Fran Hirmes EMUNAH National President

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7 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001 212.564.9045 • info@emunah.org www.emunah.org Published by EMUNAH of America, Sister Organization of EMUNAH National Religious Women’s Organization in Israel

Editor-In-Chief Faye Reichwald Art Director Julie Farkas Editorial Assistant Devorah Jacobowitz

President Fran Hirmes Chairman of the Board Mindy Stein Treasurer Heddy Klein Missions Chairman Melanie Oelbaum Missions Co-Chairman Mindy Stein Executive Vice-President Shirley Singer Executive Director Carol Sufian Fiscal Officers Gladys Baruch Shirley Billet Charlotte Dachs Bonnie Eizikovitz Marcia Genuth Eve Groyer Stern Executive Officers Gladys Baruch Debbie Bienenfeld Shirley Billet Charlotte Dachs Bonnie Eizikovitz Sondra H. Fisch Marcia Genuth Elizabeth Gindea Helena Goldstein Anne Gontownik Irene Gottesman Esther Heller Shaynee Kessler Heddy Klein Evie Leifer Melanie Oelbaum Mindy Orlinsky Rosalie Reich Sylvia Schonfeld Beverly Segal Suzanne Segal Arlene Silverstein Eve Groyer Stern National Board Rhonda Avner Shelli Dachs Sheryl Elias Miriam Ellenberg Arlene Fox Renee Greenspan Aviva Gross

Honorary Presidents Eva Adelman* Gladys Baruch Dorothy Bernstein* Lila Bernstein* Shirley Billet Ruth Chernofsky* Chana Cohen Rebecca Cooper* Charlotte Dachs Miriam Federbush* Sondra H. Fisch Sylvia Feine Marcia Genuth Blanche S. Gershbaum* Miriam Karlin* Heddy Klein

Johanna Herskowitz Doris Hirsch Greta Hirmes Annette Kaufman Shelli Kuflik Esther Lerer Chani Lichtiger Lynn Mael Fran Mermelstein Naava Parker Carol Pinewski Lisa Reich Michelle Salig Harriet Saperstein Malkie Scharf Barbara Schreck Karen Spitalnik Amy Spivak Rena Steigman Susan Weinstock Charlotte Liechtung Zaslowsky Myrna Zisman Lest We Forget, Editor Sylvia Rosencranz Jossi Berger Holocaust Study Center Rena Quint, President Anna Grosberg Doris Hirsch Cecelia Margules Young Leadership Board Hila Abenaim Tali Goldberg Susan Nadritch Elianna Sable Collegiate Board Aryana Bibi Mikayla Bibi Adina Eizikovitz Lani Lichtiger Tzippy Quint Michael Reidler Ariella Salkin Rebecca Zagha Director of Communications Rita Goldstone Development Associates Ronnie Faber, Senior Associate Linda Koegel Ayala Naor Pamela Weiss

Esther Maidenbaum Schreiber* Melanie Oelbaum Rosalie Reich Betty Roseman* Sylvia Schonfeld Beverly Segal Mindy Stein Jean Teichman Renee Weiss Toby Willig Honorary Vice Presidents Sunny Alpert* Ruth Aronowitz* Ruth Block Ruth Cogan Miriam Diskind* Molly Finkel*

Yetta Geisler* Anna Grosberg Jennie S. Hall* Eleanor Itzkowitz Lillian Kosowsky* Ann Lipmanowicz Helen Marcus Bernice Mermelstein* Helene Pruslin* Sylvia Rosencranz Roslyn Rothblatt* Ruth Schnall Shirley Silverman Giselle Steigman Rose Templeman Yetta Weg* Honey Weiss Irene Zelikow* * Deceased

All rights reserved. Copyright ©2012 EMUNAH Magazine. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited by law.

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EMUNAH Fall 2012/5773

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IN THIS ISSUE 5 Supreme Courts: Israel and the US

By Amiel Ungar

8 The EMUNAH National Pedagogic Center at Achuzat Sarah

By Gail Lichtman

DEPARTMENTS

1 President’s Message 21 E levating the Culture of Israel: The Florence and Joseph Appleman College 36 Editor’s Choices

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39 EMUNAH News

32

12 Cabbage and the Jews

By Gil Marks

16 EMUNAH College Community Volunteer Project

ON THE COVER

Photo by Win Robins Fall 2012/5773

By Yael Ehrenpreis Meyer

20 EMUNAH Spring Luncheon

By Rita Goldstone

22 EMUNAH Day Care Centers Go Healthy

By Gail Lichtman

24 Safeguarding Our Heritage on the Mount of Olives

By Judy Lash Balint INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

28 Jewelry Design in the Jewish State

By Lili Eylon

SUPREME COURTS: ISRAEL AND THE US ISRAEL’S NATIONAL PEDAGOGIC CENTER JEWELRY DESIGN IN THE JEWISH STATE

32 A One-Of-A-Kind High School

By Lili Eylon EDITOR’S NOTE: The corrected version of “Pioneering Intimacy Education” (EMUNAH Magazine Spring/Summer 2012) can be found at www.emunah.org/magazine. We regret any inaccuracies in the printed article.

Some views expressed in this magazine may not necessarily reflect the policy of the organization, nor do the advertisements represent EMUNAH’s endorsement.

EMUNAH of America is a member of World EMUNAH headquartered in Jerusalem with affiliates in Israel, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Georgia, Gibraltar, Great Britain, Guatemala, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela and Yugoslavia © 2012 EMUNAH. None of the articles or portions thereof contained in this issue may be copied or reprinted in any form without express written authorization from EMUNAH.

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ISRAEL

The

Supreme Courts:

Israel

and the

U.S.

By Amiel Ungar

T

he recently concluded drama over President Barack Obama’s health care policy was very sketchily reported in the Israeli press. We only got the line score of the 5-4 win for Barack Obama at the Supreme Court and the conclusion that it was a political victory. The polemics surrounding the right of the Supreme Court to invalidate a law that was passed by a majority of elected representatives received scant mention.

Problematic for the media were the preemptive assaults on judicial activism — an activism favored by the liberal Israeli media as long as we are dealing with “progressive activism.” The general plot line of a Supreme Court narrowly divided between conservative and liberal Justices, who would frame their opinions according to their ideological proclivities, also created dissonance. This state of affairs did not coincide with the liberal Israeli narrative of how judicial systems are expected to work. Supporters of the Israeli Supreme Court have attempted to persuade the Israeli public that ideology has no bearing on the Court’s judicial decisions.

In the US, each branch guards its prerogatives zealously and will resist attempts to encroach upon its powers

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The tension over the role of the courts has been building since the Labor Movement, which had enjoyed political hegemony since independence in 1948, lost political power for the first time in 1977. With the realization that the government and the Knesset could fall into the “wrong hands,” it became necessary to use the Supreme Court as a counterweight and a bastion of secular liberalism.

The Supreme Court gradually increased its power by altering its role from an adjudicator of disputes (between litigants) to a body that sought to influence the direction of the

for the Court to decide the contours of the security barrier based on its concept of proportionality between Israel’s security needs and the rights of Arab farmers.

Finally, the Supreme Court arrogated to itself the right of judicial review in invalidating Knesset legislation. This ran counter to the judicial tradition that Israel inherited from the British mandate that emphasized legislative supremacy whereby the Court interpreted the law and, if the Supreme Court interpreted things in a way that the legislature did not agree with, the Knesset could pass a new law that

Israel is the only country where serving justices participate in the judicial selection process State. Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court that limits access to appellants and hears only cases involving substantial legal issues that have been litigated through the lower courts, the Israeli Supreme Court (particularly under its other hat as the High Court of Justice) opened its doors wide to petitioners who claimed infringement of abstract rights. If it previously intervened only in cases of illegality, it now substituted the grounds of plausibility and proportionality that are more amorphous and harder to pin down. What is plausible and proportional to an official in the Defense Ministry could be viewed differently by the Court that had no expertise in these issues. This made it possible for petitioners to approach the Court if they felt that the government was not providing enough funds for bomb shelters in the Gaza region or 6 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

definitively settled the issue of interpretation to the Knesset’s liking.

Israel does not have a written constitution; it only has basic laws that prevail in case of a conflict between laws. The use of the basic laws created the infrastructure for the so-called “constitutional revolution” of the 1990s. This constitutional revolution was not preceded by a serious debate reminiscent of the Federalist and antiFederalists’ duel prior to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, but was the product of two basic laws that were passed by the Knesset in 1992.

One measure was the Law of Human Dignity and Freedom that passed the Knesset on March 17, 1992 by a vote of 32 in favor and 21 against with one abstention. The other law was the Freedom of Occupation Law that passed the Knesset on March 3,

1992 with 23 Knesset members voting in favor without any opposed. This meant that the constitutional revolution was inaugurated by a minority of Knesset members participating in the vote and many of those who voted had no inkling of what they were letting loose. Although the Knesset never lost the right to pass legislation countermanding a Supreme Court decision, proponents of “judicial supremacy” derided such tactics as an “anti-judicial detour” and something that was presumably unseemly.

In the United States, the prestige of each branch (i.e. Executive, Legislative and Judiciary) has fluctuated against the other two branches, but each branch guards its prerogatives zealously and will vigorously resist attempts to encroach upon its powers.

If at times politicians fell into disfavor, the antidote in the United States was an aroused citizenry rather than unelected elites.

The courts in the United States have been accused of judicial activism, but what distinguishes the American case from the Israeli one is that these charges are raised during different historical periods by conservatives and liberals. The reason that Americans put up with occasional judicial activism even when they disagree with the rulings is the knowledge that the political balance of the Court is mutable.

Political change in the executive and legislative branches will, via the judicial appointment process, ultimately be reflected in the judiciary as well.

Things don’t work that way in Israel. In an attempt to prevent the politicization of the courts, Israel has a unique judicial selection process. The panel is comprised of three members of the Supreme Court, two members of the Cabinet, one of whom is the Minister of Justice, two members of the Bar Association and two Knesset members, one from the coalition and the other from the opposition. The Supreme Court members vote as a bloc

and they can usually count on support from members of the Bar Association who may find themselves appearing in cases before the same justices. This has awarded the liberal sitting Supreme Court members tremendous influence in shaping the membership of the courts. When a government that shares their ideological views is in power, they enjoy a solid majority. If, as in the current situation, they confront a government with an opposing orientation, they have sufficient power to block the appointment of nominees whom they oppose as seven affirmative votes are required to select a Supreme Court Justice. This results either in a logjam or in horse trading. For example, a District Court Justice favored by Religious Zionists was elevated to the

Supreme Court in return for approving the nomination of a Professor who is identified with the political left. It is important to realize that the same judicial selection panel also selects the Justices for the Magistrates and District Courts. As lower court Justices figure prominently in the pool of potential nominees to the High Court, this magnifies the ability of the Supreme Court Justices to clone their successors.

The judiciary in the United States is selected by a variety of processes, including direct election. Israel is the only country in the world where serving justices participate in the judicial selection process. Proponents of judicial power view this as a source of pride; opponents regard this as an

aberration. The system definitely takes its toll on intellectual pluralism in the judiciary. Judges in America’s lower courts are of course bound by Supreme Court rulings but are otherwise free to develop and enunciate judicial philosophies that may be at variance with the current court majority.

If the Israeli Supreme Court seeks the powers of the U.S. Supreme Court in reviewing the decisions and legislation of other branches, it will have to allow the other branches decisive influence on the judicial selection process. Conversely, if the Supreme Court seeks to retain its current primacy in the judicial selection process, it will have to step back and adopt the policy of judicial restraint that characterized the Court until the 1980s. A

noveMBer 17

eMUnAH

Benefit Dinner sAtUrDAy evening At tHe Brooklyn MArriott, nyc JoHanna Guttman Herskowitz estHer lerer . dinner Co-CHairmen

Fran Hirmes

national President

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Photos by Galia Cohen

ISRAEL

The EMUNAH National

Pedagogic Center at Achuzat Sarah

F

By Gail Lichtman or more than half a century, E M U N A H ’ s C h i l d re n ’ s Homes have been highly successful in giving their children the tools and skills they need to go out into the world. Graduates of our Homes serve in elite IDF units and in the National Service (Sherut Leumi).

Many go on to post-secondary education, university and even advanced academic degrees. They hold down jobs, get married and raise families. As one director noted, “the greatest sign of our success is that the children of our graduates do not end up back here.”

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One of the components of EMUNAH’s success is its innovative Pedagogic Center at Achuzat Sarah, which, for more than two decades, has specialized in developing educational enrichment programs on a wide range of subjects as well as training staff on how to implement these activities. EMUNAH’s Homes make constructive use of the time they have with the children after school and during vacations. “We have to be more than a babysitting service during the children’s free time,” says Shmuel Ron, Director of Achuzat Sarah.

The only Center serving the national religious, secular and ultra-Orthodox populations

“Because we are the real experts and have a proven track record in working with traumatized children through creative means, our Pedagogic Center was chosen a number of years ago by Israel’s Ministry of Social Welfare to serve as a national center for all Homes and boarding schools for children-at-risk under the Ministry’s supervision,” Ron explains. “We are the only national center of this kind in Israel and we cater not only to the national religious population, but also facilities serving the secular and ultra-Orthodox sectors, as well as the Jewish Agency’s Aliyat Hanoar (Youth Aliyah),” he noted.

“We develop informal educational tools that are fun to use,” explains Galia Cohen, the Center’s Director. “We specifically design the material to be attractive to make the children want to take part. We are dealing with children who have huge gaps in both their academic and social education,” Cohen notes.

“We use games and enjoyable activities — including riddles, quizzes, arts and crafts and puzzles — to stimulate them and to make them want to achieve. We have activities for Hebrew language enrichment, basic hygiene, telling time, distinguishing left from right, foods we eat, how to interact socially with others and how to win or lose.”

The Center, which in addition to Cohen, includes Assistant Director Bat El Triker and two Sherut Leumi girls, provides enrichment activities for children in grades one through 12 designed for

Every year, the Center staff chooses a special topic for national religious institutions. This year, the topic is mitzvot ba’ahava (mitzvoth with love) with activities on chesed, charity, pirkei avot and

Israel’s Ministry of Social Welfare chose EMUNAH’s Achuzat Sarah as the national Pedagogic Center for all homes and boarding schools under their supervision learning about Jewish holidays, Judaism and social and educational enrichment.

It is specifically aimed for use in facilities for children-at-risk but can also be used by parents and adults as a creative way of learning. All its activities are documented and posted on its website (www. yeladim-edu.org.il) which is in Hebrew and Arabic, making it a repository for educators, counselors and parents. Most of the materials can be downloaded and printed from the site.

brachot (blessings). Previous topics have included the Hebrew language and the environment.

Once a month, directors and coordinators from facilities all over Israel who work with children-at-risk are invited for a day-long seminar for training on how to use the various activities and games developed at the Center. The seminars are held at Achuzat Sarah in the Batya and Yaakov Roseman Room. emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 9

The Pedagogic Center is utilized by eight facilities serving the ultra-Orthodox, 18 in the secular sector and eight serving the national religious public, plus two facilities of Aliyat Hanoar.

“The Center cuts across all segments of Israeli society. The fact that the Ministry continues to work with us, year after year, attests to how satisfied both the Ministry and the various facilities are with us.”

ing older ones, so it is not the same old, same old.”

Gili Bloch is a counselor at Achuzat Sarah who uses the Center several times a week. “We [the staff] go to the Center to plan our weekly activities with the boys,” Bloch relates. “We look for activities that will provide understanding and knowledge that go beyond the basics. Everything in the Center is organized and accessible. I

We impart to them the concepts they need for life.

“It is much easier to teach the staff once they experience the activities,” Cohen relates. “We usually teach about five or six different activities per seminar, which they then go back to use in their homes or schools. We are constantly inventing new ideas and updat-

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don’t have to start from scratch trying to think up creative activities.”

“It is so important to fill the boys’ time after school constructively,” she continues. “We focus on teaching competition, team work and social skills as well as academic knowledge. The activ-

ities bring them together as a group and teach proper social interaction. We even do activities relating to history and Jewish holidays using quizzes and games that they enjoy.”

Chagit Matoof is the Coordinator of the Chabad Local Educational Center in Kiryat Malachi. “We are a boarding school for boys between 13 and 19 from troubled homes. The boys are referred to us by the Welfare offices and most have behavioral problems.

Since we are the only center of our kind exclusively for boys, we are suitable for the ultra-Orthodox.” Once a month, Matoof goes to the Pedagogic Center to take part in the seminars. “I am always looking for creative ways to work with our boys — to reach them and to impart to them the concepts they need for life. What is great is that the Center makes available to me beautifully prepared materials,” Matoof goes on. “Plus, I can consult with the staff whenever I need advice. I use the materials to teach about holidays and life skills—such as proper nutrition and exercise, organizing one’s room and personal hygiene. I get all the materials and support I need from the Center. Without it, I would have a much more difficult time reaching our boys in such creative ways. The Center is just fantastic.”

Every year, more and more counselors are interested in using the Center’s materials and programs. They have the best available methods to reach children. A

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HOLIDAY FOOD

CABBAGE and the JEWS

By Gil Marks

Stuffed cabbage has become traditional for Sukkot and Simchat Torah, symbolizing the harvest and abundance. Like a Torah scroll, it is rolled up, and resembles one on the plate. And cabbage’s Hebrew name (kruv) is a homonym for cherub, the pair of images hovering over the Ark of the Covenant bearing the tablets of the Ten Commandments.

Cabbage/colewort has been the most widely eaten vegetable and today remains among the world’s top ten most widely grown plants.

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S

ince ancient times, cooks sometimes wrapped foods in large leaves to protect them during cooking, although typically discarding the covering.

The concept of enwrapping a tough leaf around a filling and simmering it in liquid until tender originated nearly a millennia ago in western or central Asia as a way to use otherwise inedible grape leaves. Cabbages were occasionally substituted, but most Middle Easterners preferred grape leaves. The concept of stuffing cabbage leaves eventually spread throughout much of Asia and North Africa, where it became

name in many American cities or neighborhoods was commonly determined by the dominant immigrant group, until the English stuffed cabbage generally supplanted the Old World terms. In modern Israel, it became kruv memuleh.

Stuffed cabbage, served as a meal-inone or an appetizer, became a beloved Ashkenazic dish, favored at most festive occasions or as just a comfort food.

Whereas lamb and rice were the prevalent fillings in the Middle East, Ashkenazim tended to use beef and kasha. Mixing a little or a lot of filler — fillers also lighten the texture and bind

Cabbage is among the symbolic vegetables in the Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot stew known by an assortment of names and, as with other well-traveled dishes, developed numerous variations.

As stuffed cabbage arrived in Europe from the south, the Tatars, who learned of stuffed cabbage from the Persians or Turks, introduced the concept to eastern Europe, where it was whimsically named after the local Slavic words for dove—golub in Russian, holub in Ukrainian, and golab in Polish. Perhaps the rolls reminded them of little birds in a nest or pot and perhaps it also sounded like the Turkish dolma. The name became goluptsi (little doves) in northern Russia, holubtsi in northern Ukraine, halubsy in Belorussia, and goluptshes in Lithuania and northern Poland. In various other parts of Poland it was holishkes, holeptshes, holubtshes, golomkes, galloptchy, and geluptzes. In Galicia many of the Polish names were common, especially holeptshes, as well as teibelekh or tabelakh (“little doves” in Yiddish). The Yiddish

the meat—stretched resources. In America, the proportion of meat dramatically increased and rice or matza meal became the Ashkenazic filler.

Jews from Hungary, Italy, Romania, and northern Poland preferred a savory sauce, Sephardim, a tart one made by adding a little lemon juice, and those from Galicia and Ukraine favored a sweet-and-sour sauce. Few Jews in northeastern Europe used tomatoes, its indicative Yiddish nickname being treyfene epl (unkosher apple), but in America and Israel it emerged as the basis for the sauce.

Some Ashkenazic cooks use sour salt (citric acid) because, unlike lemon juice and vinegar, its flavor does not diminish during long cooking time. And stuffed cabbage needs to cook for an extended period to properly develop the flavor and tenderize the cabbage.

Around 2,000 years ago, the first head cabbage evolved, probably in northern Europe. The now-familiar

RUSSIAN CABBAGE SOUP (6 to 8 servings) In many eastern European homes, cabbage soup, frequently served with boiled potatoes, was daily fare from Sukkot through Passover.

3 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 medium yellow onions, halved and sliced 2 medium carrots, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 quarts beef, chicken or vegetable broth or water 1 large head (3 pounds) green cabbage, cored and shredded 2 pounds (about 4 cups) peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes or ½ cup tomato paste 1 bay leaf About 2 teaspoons salt About ½ teaspoon ground black pepper 1 medium boiling potato, peeled and grated (optional) In a stockpot or other large, heavy pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and garlic and sauté until softened, about 15 minutes. Add broth, cabbage, tomatoes, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and, if using, potato and simmer until cabbage is tender and the flavors melded, about 1 hour. Serve hot. It is delicious made a day or 2 ahead, refrigerated, and reheated.

VARIATION Sweet-and-Sour Cabbage Soup: After simmering cabbage for 1 hour, add 4 to 6 tablespoons granulated or brown sugar, ¼ to ½ cup lemon juice or vinegar or about 2 teaspoons large sour salt, and, if desired, ½ cup golden raisins or 1 peeled and grated tart apple and simmer for 10 minutes.

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STUFFED CABBAGE (16 to 18 servings) White or cider vinegar 1 large (about 3 lbs) head green or Savoy cabbage, cored 1 medium onion, sliced (optional) Stuffing: 1½ lbs ground beef (or ¾ lbs beef and ¾ lbs ground veal) About ½ c raw rice, dry bread crumbs or matza meal 1 large egg ½ c water 1 medium yellow onion, chopped 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced (optional) About ¾ t salt About ½ t ground black pepper ¼ c. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional) Sauce: 2 c. crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce (or 1 c each) 3 T tomato paste 1 c water 2 bay leaves 2 to 8 T white or brown sugar 2 to 4 t lemon juice or white o cider vinegar or ¼ t sour salt (optional) About ½ t salt Ground black pepper to taste ½ c raisins and/or 12 ground gingersnaps (optional)

green cabbage, consisting of a firm, tightly-compacted, light green head with mild-flavored, smooth leaves, first appeared in Germany around the middle of the 12th century. The two other main types of head cabbages are the crinkle-leaf Savoy, with a milder flavor and softer texture, dating to the middle

1. Fill a large pot about three-fourths full with water, add a little vinegar (it helps prevent the leaves from falling apart), and bring to a rapid boil. Carefully place the cabbage in the boiling water and let stand until the outer leaves are pliable enough to roll easily, about 10 minutes. Using a pair of tongs, pull off the supple leaves. Repeat the process until you have 16 to 18 untorn large leaves. Rinse the leaves under cold water, drain and pat dry. Trim the tough center rib of each leaf. Shred any extra cabbage leaves and place in the bottom of a deep heavy pot or baking dish. If using, scatter the onion over top.

2. Combine all stuffing ingredients.

3. Place about ¼ cup stuffing a little off center of each large cabbage leaf. Use 1 to 2 T for smaller leaves. Fold sides of leaf over stuffing, fold over rib end, and roll up. Arrange cabbage rolls, seam side down, in prepared dish.

4. Combine all sauce ingredients. Pour over cabbage rolls. If sauce does not cover cabbage rolls, add enough water to cover.

5. Cover and simmer over a low heat until tender, about 1½ hours.

Or bake, covered, in a 350°F for about 1½ hours, then uncover and bake until the sauce is thickened and the cabbages lightly browned, 30 to 60 minutes. Serve warm. Stuffed cabbage is tasty reheated and freezes well too.

Wild cabbage reached Israel by way of the Greeks around 275 BCE or perhaps slightly earlier from the Phoenicians. Its Hebrew name kruv derived from either the early Greek krambe or Phoenician (the latter may be the source of the Greek name). Cabbage is not mentioned in the Bible, but is

The Mishna includes cabbage among “the six things that heal a sick person” of the 16th century, and the red (actually more purple), first mentioned in Germany in 1150, but as a green cabbage with red veins and edges, and only evolving into the solid purple color (the inside of the leaves is white) in the 16th century. Chinese cabbages belong to a different species.

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recorded in the Mishna, at that point still called colewort. The Talmud specifies “the stalk of cabbage” as a boiled vegetable “from which a person can make a meal.” It notes “kruv for nourishment” and includes cabbage among “the six things that heal a sick person.”

Recorded in a listing of chores that rab-

bis performed to help their wives in the preparation for the Sabbath was “Rav Chisda cut kruv.”

The residents of the medieval Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, who had numerous other vegetables at their disposal, did not rely on cabbage (the warm climates yielding loose-headed versions), although they pickled it (with vinegar) and added it to stews.

Cabbage is among the symbolic vegetables in the Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot stew served atop couscous by Moroccans. Cabbage was more prominent in Ethiopia and India, going into intensely spiced salads and braises. It was in northern Europe that cabbage achieved its greatest importance, serving as a mainstay of the diet, primarily in stews and soups.

Among Ashkenazim—who absorbed the medieval European misperception that vegetables, in particular leafy greens, were actually deleterious— cabbage was among the few exceptions and their predominant vegetable. Cabbage was the most common cooking odor of

the shtetlach. It was festive as well as everyday fare, providing the basis for numerous stews, soups (with flanken and sour salt it became cabbage borscht), and pastry fillings, including strudels, blintzes, piroshki, and knishes.

Cabbage was typically paired with another Ashkenazic standard, the onion.

A popular central European way of preparing cabbage, frequently flavored

brine, while cabbage (it is over 90% water) ferments only in its own juice, extracted by pounding and salt. Cured sauerkraut keeps in a cool environment for three or more months without refrigeration. Pickled cabbage (sauerkraut) was adopted from the Baltic to Romania and traveled westward. It quickly became a mainstay of much of northern Europe. For centuries, each

Cabbage was the most common cooking odor of the shtetlach with caraway, was to mix it with noodles. Some central Europeans offer sweet red cabbage with apples on Rosh Hashanah. Since the prominent Hoshanah Rabbah prayer kol mevasar (“a voice announcing”) sounds like the Teutonic kohl mit vasser (“cabbage with water”), Germans traditionally serve cabbage soup at the end of Sukkot. Not coincidentally, cabbage was abundant in northern Europe at that time of the year.

Sauerkraut Preserving foods with salt is one of the oldest cooking tricks. However, early methods called for a large, unpalatable amount of salt or the addition of vinegar. And vinegar, primarily made from wine, was rare and expensive in northern Europe. Consequently, medieval European pickling methods proved limited. Vegetables were preserved, but did not ferment. Other vegetables, such as cucumbers and beets, require the addition of water to make a

fall as the weather cooled, around the holiday of Sukkot, Ashkenazic households throughout Eastern Europe set aside at least two large wooden barrels or ceramic crocks for fermenting small cucumbers and shredded cabbages (zoyerkroyt in Yiddish). Some families also put up another barrel for beets called rosl.

Zoyers (sours) were characteristic of the eastern Ashkenazic pantry, adding zest and complementary nutrition, including in the case of cabbage, vitamin C, to the bland high-starch diet. In addition, sauerkraut has mild laxative properties, a necessity for a lifestyle in which fruits and vegetables were rare.

Sauerkraut was eaten plain, either hot or cold, as well as substituted for fresh cabbage in most recipes. In many instances, an Ashkenazic winter lunch consisted solely of black bread and sauerkraut. Sauerkraut was also used in more upscale peasant dishes, such as the Alsatian classic choucroute garni, originally made with salted fish and later substituting corned beef and sausages, still an Alsatian Sabbath hot lunch favorite.

In the 20th century, as various modern preserving methods developed, sauerkraut lost much of its status. In addition, most mass-produced sauer-

kraut turns mushy and lacks the oldfashioned flavor. Raw cabbage salads entered the Jewish repertoire rather late, as Ashkenazim once rarely ate uncooked vegetables, and more recently, easier-to-make coleslaw and health salad became widespread for Sabbath lunch. Sauerkraut, once a ubiquitous part of the Ashkenazic diet, is today a rarity. A

GERMAN RED CABBAGE WITH APPLES Rote Kroit mit Apfles (6 to 8 servings)

Red cabbage and apples are natural partners, not only because of the storage capacity of both of them lasting through the winter, but also because tart red apples possess acid which preserves the cabbage’s red color while cooking. ¼ cup vegetable oil 3 to 4 medium tart cooking apples, such as Granny Smith, Greening, Macoun, Macintosh, or Pippin, peeled, cored, and sliced 2 medium onions, thinly sliced 1 medium head (about 2 pounds) red cabbage, cored and shredded 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, 5 whole cloves, or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (optional) ½ cup dry red wine, such as Pinot Noir or Burgundy ½ cup water 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or cider vinegar About ¼ cup granulated or packed brown sugar 1 bay leaf About 1½ teaspoons salt About 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper In a 4-quart saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add apples and onions and sauté until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add cabbage and, if using, caraway seeds and sauté until slightly wilted, about 5 minutes. Stir in wine, water, vinegar, sugar, bay leaf, salt, and pepper.

Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until tender but not mushy, about 30 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

It can be prepared 1 day ahead, refrigerated, and reheated before serving.

emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 15

ISRAEL

EMUNAH COLLEGE

COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER PROJECT

By Yael Ehrenpreis Meyer

WHAT DO THE EMUNAH College Library; Ezer Mizion health support organization; B’Kesher for families of children with special needs; Zichron Menachem center for children with cancer; Yad Sarah services for Israel’s ill and elderly, and the Keren Or center for the multi-disabled blind community, have in common?

16 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

T

hese are just some of the extraordinary Jerusalem institutions where students at the EMUNAH Florence and Joseph Appleman College of Arts & Technology in Jerusalem volunteered their time and energy throughout this academic year.

For 40 years, the EMUNAH Appleman College has provided young women with the opportunity to study, while obtaining an academic degree that enables them to develop their talents into dignified careers. Many potential students are finding it difficult to pay the requisite tuition to attend the College. Michlelet EMUNAH created the Community Volunteer Project, in

B’Kesher needs. Then, these projects become the representative examples of my work to show others. So the more I help them, the more I also help build my own portfolio.” Rinat, who hopes to continue her voluntary work next year, was recently awarded first prize in the poster design category of the Ma’aleh School of Television, Film & the Arts’ competition.

Ora David has been coordinating EMUNAH’s Community Volunteer Project for many years. Each year she works to ensure the perfect fit between the 70-80 annual program participants and the available placements, which vary widely to suit the different time frames, skill sets and interests of the stu-

“There is nothing like the girls of EMUNAH in the world” which students who commit to a designated number of volunteer hours throughout the school year are guaranteed some financial aid. The Project thus enables these women to help the disadvantaged of the greater Jerusalem community while simultaneously helping themselves financially—and professionally.

Rinat Hadar is a perfect example.

Rinat, a wife and mother of a 7-monthold son, is in her third year at Michlelet EMUNAH, studying towards her degree in graphic art. She volunteers her professional services for B’Kesher, an organization located in the neighborhood of the College that offers guidance in parenting special-needs children.

Describing how she both gives and receives, Rinat enthusiastically declared: “I design all of the flyers, posters, disc covers, and other print materials that

dents. These placement options include not only some of Israel’s most respected and challenging support organizations, but also within the homes of elderly men and women in the neighborhood.

There are also girls whose volunteerism stays even closer to home, providing indispensable services within the College itself.

One of these in-school volunteers is Meital Cohen, a native of Be’er Sheva who came north to Jerusalem for the opportunity to study theater. Meital has put in numerous hours this year in the College library. Thanks to her, the library’s daily schedule was extended into the evenings, giving students many more hours each day to make use of the books, computers and quiet study areas.

While her volunteership was not directly related to her studies, Meital, who was just awarded her Bachelor’s

Degree and hopes ultimately to work with autistic children, says she learned valuable lessons working in the library.

This year, Chana Melamed, Honorary Chairman of World EMUNAH and Chairman of the Board of Directors of EMUNAH College, wished to reward the efforts of those who, like Meital, were voluntarily tutoring, providing school services, or otherwise assisting their fellow students. Chana contributed two scholarships which Michlelet EMUNAH awarded on her behalf. “I wanted to help students who are helping other students,” she explained, “and to show how proud I am of the way our girls dedicate themselves to different types of volunteer projects.”

Yiska Shmueli is another participant in the Community Volunteer Project, dedicating herself to caring for children with cancer and their siblings at the Zichron Menachem headquarters, adjacent to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Hospital. Yiska is not a college student — yet. This twenty-two-year-old woman attended a high school where the option to take the national bagrut (matriculation) exams did not exist. But Yiska wants to move forward in her academic and professional life’s journey. So she is now enrolled in her second year at the EMUNAH College Mechina, a special preparatory program that empowers young women to attend college by offering them the opportunity to complete the requisite exams and receive a nationally recognized high school diploma. At the same time, she is also volunteering twice weekly at Zichron Menachem. “I work an eighthour shift. In the mornings, we run a nursery program for sick kids who can’t attend regular preschool because they require special supervision or a medically sterile environment. Then, we offer afternoon activities for children who have seriously-ill siblings or parents. We play, do homework, and have fun with all the kids, up to seventy boys and girls at a time on some days. Next year, I will emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 17

for members of their target clientele, visually-impaired individuals who also suffer from other disabilities, primarily autism. Her passion for the project she undertook is evident: “Together with a fellow EMUNAH student from the drama department, we worked with 12 twenty-to-forty-year-olds—men and women, secular and religious.

mentors and participants, Nechama’s own enthusiasm proved infectious.

Ultimately, her entire “drama troupe” acted in the play, working with their senses of hearing and touch in order to perform. “They loved being a part of it all. I could tell because they would shake their hands and make other kinds of motions to show their joy. We were so

“The more I help them, the more I also help build my own portfolio” Award winning poster by Rinat Hadar

be able to start college and study architecture, but I plan to continue volunteering here,” Yiska is excited to report.

The Jerusalem Foundation (Keren Yerushalayim) was founded by thencity Mayor Teddy Kollek in 1966 to create and nurture philanthropy projects that would enhance the lives of Jerusalem residents. In recent years, the Foundation has turned to EMUNAH to help staff some of its core community programs with caring volunteers. In addition to Rinat Hadar, who is contributing her graphic design services to B’Kesher, Nechama Horowitz is another EMUNAH student volunteering her talents within a Jerusalem Foundation institution. As a theater major, Nechama has chosen to dedicate her creative energies to the very challenging population of Keren Or, running a drama workshop

18 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

Volunteering took time out of my studies and other responsibilities, but you have to have a sense of priorities in life.

I ended up spending far more time than my assigned hours required!”

At the end of the year, Nechama and her classmate decided to hold a “commencement” ceremony by staging a play in which the entire group would take part. “This was a very unusual dynamic,” Nechama emphasized, “because plays, by definition, are for ‘seeing.’ Beyond their vision impairment, they are also autistic, and this added another complex layer to our efforts to draw them out to participate.

It wasn’t easy; we always had to be thinking, ‘how can we present our ideas? How do we empower them to participate?’” Despite the potential obstacles to communication between

excited to see their excitement!”

The uniquely-abled performers of Keren Or were not the only ones to commemorate their year-long efforts with a graduation ceremony. The dedication of the EMUNAH students who volunteered at Keren Or, B’Kesher, and other community service organizations was recognized at a special Jerusalem Foundation graduation at the end of the year. “Throughout the event,” Ora recounted proudly, “the Foundation administrators continued to heap praise upon our volunteers, telling us: ‘There is nothing like the girls of EMUNAH in the world.’”

Every Jerusalemite who benefitted from this year ’s EMUNAH Community Volunteer Project would certainly agree. A

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emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 19

Emunah Spring Luncheon

The Prince George Ballroom in New York City was the venue for the highly successful EMUNAH Spring Luncheon, which paid tribute to ten women — “Mothers and Daughters who make a Difference.” The honorees included Past EMUNAH National President, Dr. Rosalie Reich, her daughter-in-law Lisa Reich; Joyce Levy and her daughter, Susan Franco; Angela Mottahedeh and daughter, Deborah Balakhaneh; Lisa Zaslowsky and her daughter, Amanda Miller; Phyllis Eisenman and her daughter, Sara Schlussel. These outstanding women have dedicated themselves to supporting EMUNAH’s projects in Israel, and its mission of helping the people in Israel, one child, one family at a time.

Noa Attias, a renowned artist and graduate of the EMUNAH Florence & Joseph Appleman College of Art in Jerusalem, addressed the audience. Fran Hirmes, National President, presented each Honoree with a gift of Noa’s beautiful papercut artwork.

The Luncheon committee members were; Bonnie Eizikovitz, Elizabeth Gindea, Sherri Slochowsky, Karen Spitalnick, Rena Steigman, Mindy Stein and Barbara Weichselbaum.

The guest speaker was Sandra E. Rapoport, noted author, attorney and lecturer.

20 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

ELEVATING THE CULTURE OF ISRAEL:

THE

T

FLORENCE AND JOSEPH APPLEMAN COLLEGE

he EMUNAH Appleman College is the only religious educational establishment in Israel for women to study Drama and Theater.

“Women’s place in society” was the focus of an original creative play presented by third year students of EMUNAH’s Sunny and Max Howard School of Drama. The play, entitled, “To Be or Not To Be,” is an original work written for these young women by Iris Shavit which involved a creative process joined by others, including rabbis who deliberated on its concept and enactment. Neither a discussion nor a debate, the play, as described by one reviewer, was “a giant mirror placed in the center of the stage that women were reflected through.”

Thirty young women made up two casts which performed before 700 women at the spacious David Yellin College Hall in Jerusalem.

Parodying Shakespeare, the play reflected his views on women’s duties, on choosing a husband, and on the meaning of couples vs the culture that is prevalent in today’s media. Using masks, music and humor, the players confronted these issues and what Judaism can teach us within this spiritual chaos.

BOOK LAUNCH

F

or many years, the world of the theater was taboo in the religious Jewish community. In recent years, however, it has taken its place in the religious school system as a useful educational tool, provided it is approached with caution and supervision.

Today religious theater groups are on the rise and often play to large audiences of religious women who are seeking religiously appropriate culture. To this end, the EMUNAH College is honored to launch an important new book, “Halachic Responsa in the Field of Drama.”

Rabbi David Avraham Spektor is a lecturer at the EMUNAH Appleman College and a community Rabbi in Bet Shemesh. He specializes in the complex halachic principles of dealing with art, design and drama. He has brought together a well-organized compilation of various sources which offer halachically acceptable answers to a range of issues relating to the realm of Drama and the Theater, covering such subjects as dancing and singing, Shabbat performances, transgender dressing in performances, puppets and modesty. His book fills a much needed lacuna in the contemporary educational world and will help religious educators make critical decisions regarding the teaching of Drama. It is a companion to his previous book, also published by the College, which has become the handbook of religious educators involved in the teaching and practice of art.

emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 21

ISRAEL

EMUNAH

Daycare Centers

GO HEALTHY

L

By Gail Lichtman reality by revamping its menu for all 140 of its daycare centers in the country.

Gone are the once ubiquitous chocolate spread sandwiches and sugary fruit drinks, as well as processed and fatty foods. In their place has come a highfiber, lower-fat diet based on natural foods, proteins, fruits and vegetables.

“In addition to nurturing the spiritual wellbeing of our children, we have also taken a significant step towards ensuring their health at this critical stage of their physical development,” wrote EMUNAH Israel chairperson Liora Minka, and David

Hadari, director general EMUNAH Israel, in a booklet explaining the program to parents. “The children are with us most of the day,” notes Rivka Klein, national director of early childhood education for EMUNAH Israel.

“We are responsible for their development — emotional, physical and spiritual. Not all of our children get a balanced, healthy diet from their parents. The parents are often too tired after a day at work and give in to junk food and sweets. So we developed a menu that meets all the dietary needs of infants and preschool children.”

EMUNAH has enacted a revolution in eating

Photos by Win Robins

ittle Maya is not quite two years old, yet despite her tender age, this Jerusalem native already has high cholesterol, high blood pressure and is extremely overweight.

While an extreme case for her age, Maya is one of a growing number of Israeli children suffering from overweight and obesity, and the complications that arise from them. In 2010, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that 26% of Israeli children are overweight and/or obese. This figure is not as high as the United States, where it is estimated that fully one-third of all children are overweight and/or obese.

EMUNAH, which has been providing premium daycare in Israel for children from three months to three years for decades, has responded to this changing

22 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

Beginning in the 2010/2011 school year, the menu in the daycare centers was upgraded to meet the daily caloric and nutritional requirements for proper development. Working with a dietician and the Israel Ministry of Health, EMUNAH began with a pilot program in a few daycare centers and eventually branched out to all its centers.

The menu is designed for healthy infants and preschoolers but can be adapted, in consultation with medical personnel and nutritionists, to meet the special needs of children with medical problems and/or various allergies. “It was not so simple to change,” Klein continues. “We started with the directors and the cooks. Then we worked with the rest of the staff.”

All food is now cooked fresh on the premises. There is no more processed or ready-made food. Some centers even grow their own vegetables. Since meat is not served, the menu is based on soya, fish, legumes, whole grains, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, and provides all the proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals small children need with very little fat or sugar. “We found that the cost is actually less,” Klein explains. “Ready-made and processed foods turned out to be more expensive than making food fresh.”

“It is important to teach children to like healthy foods from an early age,” says Naomi Kamhine, director of EMUNAH’s East Talpiot daycare center in Jerusalem, which serves 73 children.

“They not only learn to eat healthy food but they also love it.” Leah Tahar, the cook at the East Talpiot center notes that, “The food has to be tasty. I taste everything I cook. If I like it, then it will be tasty for the children. I have four children and eight grandchildren of my own so I know what kids like. I went to a course from EMUNAH to learn how to cook healthier food. I discovered that, when making fish cakes, I could cook them in the oven instead of frying them, thereby reducing the amount of fat. And the kids just love my fish cakes.”

“I eliminated soup powder — it has MSG and high salt content,” relates

Maayan Saada, a clinical nutritionist and the cook at the EMUNAH’s Kiryat Moshe center in Jerusalem, which cares for 125 preschoolers. “I only use natural foods with no preservatives. And I strive for a lot of variety and color to make the food attractive and to expose the children to a variety of tastes and textures.”

Nevertheless, at the beginning of each year, there are always problems.

Some children refuse to eat certain foods with which they are not familiar.

“We do not give up,” notes Yaffa Hayat, director of EMUNAH’s Pisgat Zeev center in Jerusalem, with 77 children. “We try to get them to taste new foods. And then we try again. It is not enough to present something once or twice. You VEGETABLE AND CHEESE BAKE Multiple Servings

2 lbs. mixed vegetables (preferably mixed) 4 eggs 2 containers (2 cups) of cottage cheese 1 container (1 cup) of Israeli white cheese (or low-fat cream cheese) Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1. Cook vegetables — drain and cool.

2. In a large bowl, mix vegetables cottage cheese, eggs and white cheese.

3. Salt and pepper to taste.

4. Oil a baking pan and spread mixture in it.

5. Bake in 350°F oven for 40 minutes.

6. Cut into squares and serve.

have to have it many times and have the children try it again and again before they accept it. It helps that the staff eats with the children and sets an example.”

The change has gone beyond the children. “Parents started to ask us how to prepare the new foods their children were eating,” states Yocheved Amsalem, supervisor of EMUNAH’s northern Jerusalem daycare centers. “So we put out a booklet to expose parents to the new menu and to help them change the foods they serve at home to reflect a healthier approach to eating. You have to tread lightly. Food is a cultural thing and different cultures have different

approaches to it. But I think we have managed to make parents more aware of the health of their children.”

Many centers held an evening for parents in which the importance of healthy eating was explained and where they could ask questions and taste some of the foods their children are eating. What do the parents think? “I did research on various daycare centers and chose EMUNAH because I was impressed with what is being done with the food,” say Michal Cohen, whose year-old son attends the Pisgat Zeev center. “When we come in the morning, the aroma of food cooking is so good it makes me hungry.”

“The food is much better and healthier,” insists Efrat Shrage, mother of four who has two children in the Pisgat Zeev center. “My children are three, and a year-and-a-half. They tell me they love the food. Moreover, we have started eating beets and bulgur — two foods I did not cook at home before they were introduced at the center.”

Lizette Bouzaglo, a mother of three who has a little boy almost two years old in the East Talpiot center, says she is very pleased that the center sends home the menu for the week. “This way I know what to serve for supper to complete what was served in the center. I really appreciate that fact that all the food is cooked fresh and there is no catering.”

Hila Grif, a mother of three whose twoyear old son is in the East Talpiot center, says that she has enjoyed the recipe booklet and the tips it has given her to enrich and upgrade the home menu. “I have gotten ideas I hadn’t thought about and tried new foods. The new menu has given me peace of mind. I know my son is getting fully balanced meals with all the vitamins and minerals he needs.” Grif says that the new healthy eating approach has influenced what she gives her older children for their mid-morning snack. “No more chocolate spread for my daughters. Now I only give healthy foods — like sandwiches with omelets, cheese or hummus.

I include vegetables and fruit. I feel that EMUNAH has enacted a revolution in eating in the most positive sense.” A emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 23

ISRAEL

on the

Safeguarding our Heritage on the

Mount Olives of

F

By Judy Lash Balint or centuries, Jews from every corner of the globe yearned to be buried at the place traditionally revered as the site where the Redemption of the Dead will begin in the end of days, so how is it that, in 2012 there’s been a sharp drop in the number of burials and many Jews are shunning the ancient cemetery?

Like many facets of life in Israel, the answer tragically lies in Arab violence. While the Mount of Olives, directly to the east of the Temple Mount, is de jure under Israeli sovereignty, the day-to-day reality of burials and yahrzeit visits to loved ones in the vast cemetery can be fraught with danger. Numerous incidents of stone-throwing at visitors and attacks against Jewish vehicles going up to the

The Mount of Olives is part of the heritage of all Am Yisrael 24 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

cemetery have been recorded over the past decade. Last March, a bus full of Gur Hasidim on their way to visit the grave of the fifth Gerer Rebbe was attacked by stone throwers.

Daniel Luria, Israel director of Ateret Cohanim, is a frequent visitor to Har Hazeitim. “This 3,000 year-old cemetery, where great rabbis and leaders are buried, has been transformed into a garbage dump by the Arabs, as they stone visitors, firebomb cars, and lead goat herds through it, as well as having donkey races,” he says. That kind of violence along with the willful desecration of dozens of headstones in various sections of the vast burial ground, leads to a situation where

mourners feel it is no longer possible to pay a dignified and meaningful visit to loved ones buried on Har Hazeitim.

It feels unsafe and desolate.

The International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeitim was established in 2010 to try to raise awareness and improve the security situation at the cemetery. Last February, Avraham and Menachem Lubinsky of New York, founders of the Committee, led a delegation of Jewish leaders headed by Malcolm Hoenlein of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, together with two New York area Congressmen, on a fact-finding mission to Har Hazeitim.

EMUNAH’s representatives on that visit

included past President and current Chairman of the Board of EMUNAH of America Mindy Stein, Israel office director Debbie Simantov and Toby Willig, long-time Jerusalem resident and past President of EMUNAH of America.

Arab youth didn’t miss the opportunity to throw rocks at the group and at a mass meeting at Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue a few days later, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) expressed his outrage at the acts and the destruction he witnessed at the cemetery. “Desecration of graves is a crime against humanity,” he declared. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), who accompanied the group, pledged to raise the issue of the destruction of graves in the United States Congress.

“If we do not preserve the past we will lose the future” “ Wh e n th e M o u n t o f O l i v e s Cemetery was under Jordanian control from 1948 to 1967, Jews were not permitted to go there. Now, when Israel is in control of the cemetery, which has been used for 3,000 years, Jews still cannot visit safely and the graves of their loved ones are desecrated. This is something I personally witnessed when I was with the delegation,” says Mindy Stein. “EMUNAH teaches our children that, as Malcolm Hoenlein says, ‘If we do not preserve the past then we will lose the future.’ Our connection to the Mount of Olives Cemetery is an important part of our past that we cannot afford to lose. I believe that the Israeli government should take immediate emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 25

steps to rectify this situation,” she emphasizes.

“Part of the problem is that no one governmental body is responsible for oversight of the cemetery,” says Jeff Daube, Israel Director for the Zionist Organization of America and co-chair of the Israel Steering Committee that is part of the International Committee to Preserve Har Hazeitim. The municipality, Ministry of Housing, police and various Chevra Kadisha (burial societies) all have interests in the area but,

museum and visitor center to make the site a national heritage destination like Mt Herzl on the western side of Jerusalem; complete the restoration of desecrated gravestones; enforce legal action against those who attack Jews or destroy graves.

Jerusalem police have made an effort to reach out to leaders in the Arab community in A-Tur and Abu Dis to influence the young men and high school students in their community who are thought to be responsible for most of

Jerusalem police have made an effort to reach out to leaders in the Arab community despite Israel’s sovereignty there since 1967, no one has taken overall responsibility. According to Daube, the Prime Minister’s Office has allocated 20million NIS to be spent primarily on security, but it seems to be a case of too little too late. Last spring a small new police station was opened just below the Mt of Olives overlook that attracts thousands of tourists every week. Twenty-four officers are supposed to be stationed there working on a 24-hour rotation, in addition to an existing force of several security vehicles operated by the Housing Ministry. Additional security cameras were installed in the cemetery over the past six months and hooked up to the new police station and the restoration of a number of graves has begun. Cameras should be installed on the road through the A-Tur neighborhood where many of the rock-throwing incidents have taken place, he added.

These developments are a step in the right direction, but the Committee has additional specific recommendations to improve the situation: fence off the area; establish a fully operational 26 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

the violence, but the former police commander of the Jerusalem district, Mickey Levy, told a reporter from Yisrael Hayom newspaper that, “Police are understaffed in Jerusalem. When a decision has to be made about where to station available officers—on the way to the Western Wall or on the way to the Mount of Olives—it’s not an easy decision.”

Jewish residents of the Maale Hazeitim complex that sits across from the southern corner of the cemetery have been subjected to increasing levels of violence. Many express concern

over the security situation as well as the expansion of a mosque built in the 1970s on cemetery land. Activist Aryeh King, one of the first people to move into Maale Hazeitim more than 10 years ago, warns that the mosque will become a magnet for hostile Arabs and will further deter Jews from visiting the cemetery.

Besides the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, the ancient burial ground on the Mount of Olives is the oldest and most important Jewish cemetery in the world. With more than 150,000 graves and countless luminaries of Jewish life throughout the ages buried there,— Menachem Begin, S.Y Agnon, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook, the Ben Ish Chai, Henrietta Szold—the Mount of Olives should be a treasure of the Jewish people, one that is visited and hallowed by Jews from all over the world. Every day, dozens of tour buses line the old Jericho road built by the Jordanians through the very heart of the cemetery, but they’re packed with Christian pilgrims coming to visit the Garden of Gethsemane, Mary’s Tomb and the Church of All Nations that sit at the bottom of the Mount.

EMUNAH members are urged to get involved in the struggle to put the issue squarely on the community agenda. “With so many of our ancestors buried there, the Mount of Olives is part of the heritage of all Am Yisrael,” Toby Willig notes. A

Weg Family Dedicates Playground in Gilo

E

dith and Samuel Weg a�h were a couple who had a deep-rooted connection with EMUNAH. In their memory, their children and grandchildren recently dedicated a playground at the EMUNAH Gilo Day Care Center. Thanks to their generosity, the site was entirely refurbished and now offers a modern, safe and exciting place for the children of the Center to enjoy for years to come. Daughter Shaindy and Mayer Rydzinski of Great Neck, New York visited the Center and witnessed at first hand how enthusiastically the children enjoyed the newly refurbished playground.

Edith Weg, with the support of her husband Samuel, was a long-time member of EMUNAH. Originally part of the Yerushalayim Belle Harbor Chapter, she then became an active member of the Deerfield Beach, Florida Chapter, where she motivated many others into becoming active supporters of EMUNAH’s work in Israel.

emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 27

ISRAEL

Jewelry Design Jewish State in the

Gems

By Lili Eylon

from

R

esearchers from Tel Aviv University have recently discovered a collection of gold and silver jewelry, dated from around 1100 B.C., hidden in a vessel at the archaeological site of Tel Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel.

One piece—a gold earring decorated with molded ibexes, or wild goats — is “without parallel,” they believe.

28 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

Israel

Talila Kilemnik

Deganit Schocken

in the hands of men. That something special—necklace, brooch, bracelet or ring—which enhances the appearance of a woman, was the domain of men who both created the pieces and bought them for the women in their lives.

Einat Leader, head of the Jewelry and Fashion Department of the Jerusalem-based Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, recalls that, when in 1988 she came to Bezalel (founded in 1906), there was only woman lecturer in the department. Today in Israel, while an estimated one-third of those engaged in the making of jewels are men and two-thirds women, it is

Jewelry represents a major contribution to Israel’s economic picture.

Since the dawn of mankind, even before the advent of written language, men and women adorned themselves.

Already our primitive ancestors had a need and a desire for beauty. This need and desire have persisted through the centuries, with such ornaments as stones and perforated shells found in nature evolving into jewels made of gold, silver and precious gems — all of these also found in nature. (The word “jewelry” has its origin in the Latin word jocale meaning “plaything.”)

Jewelry design and manufacture in Israel is a relatively young industry, but the contemporary jewelry scene is a lively one. Created-in-Israel jewelry is today displayed, appreciated and bought, in all parts of the world, from the United States to Japan, from Hong Kong to Hungary, from Germany to Russia.

Local jewelry is a growing industry: in 2011 exports brought in some $250 million, gold jewelry accounting for $155,000,000 and silver and fashion jewelry for 50 million each. This is a 10% increase from the previous year.

The United States is the largest single market with $66 million worth of jewels sold to Americans. Italy, Turkey, Spain, Austria, Brazil, China, Hong Kong and Thailand are some of the other countries buying Israel’s sparkles. Thus jewelry represents a major contribution to the country’s economic picture as well as to Israel’s image in the world. Another impressive statistic is the number of jewelry concerns; the Israel Jewelers Manufacturers’ Association (IJMA) contains a list of no fewer than 1500 names!

The surprising fact is that, until some 20-30 years ago, jewelry production and consumption was almost entirely

Dori Csengeri photos: Giora Csengeri

emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 29

Amitai Kav

Deganit Schocken

women who now constitute 90% of students learning the trade.

Israeli jewelry is of great variety; it is both timeless and modern; there is haute couture jewelry, heirloom jewelry, fashion jewelry and trendy jewelry. While most of the jewels are designed for women, some are also for men.

What is being sold in galleries, museum shops, jewelry studios and via Internet (including by means of ebay) is being created not only in the major cities but also in moshavim, development towns like Or Yehuda and Kiryat Gat, in kibbutzim from one end of the country to the other. Some jewel designers are members of 25-year-old family businesses, some employ as many as 35 people and some are suppliers for department stores. Many design and hand-craft one-of-a kind pieces.

“The language of jewelry is beautiful,” asserts Professor Deganit SternSchocken, herself a graduate of Bezalel.

“One can express ideas in the language of jewelry.” Schocken founded the jewelry design department at Shenkar 30 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

Amitai Kav

Women constitute 90% of students learning the trade College in Ramat Gan 15 years ago, was its head until recently and now continues to teach there. This semester, a study course toward a Master ’s degree was established at Shenkar — the only such course in Israel. At the same time, she organized an alumni group of graduates from Bezalel and Shenkar, all of whom are working in the profession, in order to “preserve the intellectual, social and conceptual language they have learned”. This group has already recently exhibited in New

Jersey and the next one will take place in Lisbon, Portugal. Israeli jewelry often has strong Middle East connotations, including, of course, such Jewish symbols as the menorah, the Star of David, the hamsa and pomegranate.

Deganit Schocken’s work is included in permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, New York, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. At the time of writing, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem was exhibiting jewelry by

Shirley ben Amotz who won this year’s Andrea M Bronfman (Andy) Prize.

As in everything else, there are fashions and trends in jewelry design.

Currently popular are chunky rings, flower designs, geometric shapes and jewelry with movable and interchangeable parts. Such one-of-a-kind pieces

Pamela Harari

which can be taken apart to offer multiple looks are a specialty of Talila Kilemnik who resides and works in Jerusalem. She specializes in sculptural jewelry and intricate original pieces which can be taken apart and recombined. Two examples are a ring of seven separate pieces and a brooch which can appear as three different brooches. It is this kind of jewelry which is gaining popularity both in Israel and abroad. “The main theme in my work is the object itself, the forms from which it is composed, the flow and the relationship between the various parts. I enjoy contemplating the interplay among the parts…The form is the subject of my work.”

In addition to form, the choice of materials is another major concern of jewelry designers. Gilli Golan, who teaches jewelry design at Shenkar College, speaks about the constant search for new materials and new combinations along with the traditional ones of gold, silver and diamonds.

Raw, unpolished diamonds, raw turquoise, stones from Jerusalem and the Dead Sea and a crystal mineral which comes in many colors, called tourma-

line, are the favorite materials of Herzlia-born Dorit Rivka Joelsohn who has been working as an independent goldsmith for the last 35 years.

Another jeweler, Dori Csengeri, draws on her love of color, hand embroidery and textile design. “The way I put together the silk cords side by side, with beads, stones, and other material, is my personal language.

Exploring texture, color and movement are essential ingredients in my creation,” she says. “Everything is a question of design,” claims Batya Wang, who has been teaching and working in the field for 35 years. “Tin, plastic, titanium in combination with precious stones — all is permissible. So is the use of computers and lasers.

Everything depends on the design.”

Wang noted that, while some businesses in the country had to close when the price of gold rose from $290 an ounce a few years ago to the current $1700, Israel has now even established workshops in China and Turkey.

In effect, there seems to be no limit on the unconventional material jewel designers choose to work with. Some even combine feathers with traditional gold, silver, precious or semi-precious gems; others have used fur collected from vintage garments or recycled aluminum parts taken from computer innards “Jewelry for which you have to dress up” is the specialty of Englishborn Pamela Harari. Working from her studio in Moshav Kadima, she prefers to use irregular pearls from the Philippines and Indonesia which she sets with 22-karat gold, precious stones and diamonds. Harari, together with Amitai Kav, a native of Kibbutz Negba, were the two Israelis out of six international winners in the 2011 Centurion Competition (considered the Golden Globes of Jewelry Design) taking place in Arizona. Amitai Kav is the designer who created the “Dove of Peace” which became the recognized symbol of the Middle East peace process. The Doves were worn by Reuma Weizman, wife of

the President of the State of Israel and Queen Nur, wife of King Hussein of Jordan, at the historic ceremonial signing of the peace agreement between the two States. During the ceremonies surrounding the signing, Hillary Clinton and Leah Rabin also wore art jewelry created by Amitai Kav. The following year, in the pearl division of the same competition, the Israeli Yvel Jewelry Design Company owned

by Oran and Isaac Levy received first prize for a necklace featuring a 26-yearold baroque pearl from the South Seas set with natural and black diamonds.

The proceeds of a sale of Yvel jewels

by Zadok Jewelers of Houston, Texas, were donated by the two owners to a school in Israel which trains Ethiopian immigrants in jewelry skills like diamond cutting, gold smithing and pearl stringing.

Parallel to gold and silversmiths is an industry devoted to ornaments featuring diamonds. The Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum in Tel Aviv recently showed the work of Israeli designers who draw their inspiration from the Bible, local architecture, even from Israel’s manifold wildflowers. Along with demonstrating the designers’ ingenious original designs, such display showcased as well Israel’s technological expertise in the field of jewelry manufacture.

“Wearable art” from Israel looks like a sure winner! A

Pamela Harari

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By Lili Eylon

Photos by Adele Roffman

ISRAEL

A ONE-OF-A-KIND HIGH SCHOOL N

urit, a woman with a ready smile, used to play the mandolin. Today she hardly touches the instrument because most of her waking hours belong to the unique high school of which she is the principal. Situated in a Jerusalem neighborhood populated by families of relatively low socio-economic status, the unique Marilyn Cole and Francis Zusman Sina EMUNAH Torah and Arts High School (TAHS) was established in 1992. The school, barely 20 years old, has had to face an enormous challenge lately in order to meet new government policy, but has nevertheless managed to win the 2009 Jerusalem Education Prize for “Academic Excellence, Creativity, Social Involvement and Innovation.�

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TAHS was originally founded to meet an unfulfilled need within the religious community. Many artistically gifted girls were thwarted by the lack of a suitable framework in which to develop their talent. They were forced either to give up their artistic aspirations, or attend a non-religious school during their vulnerable high school years. Recognizing that talent is a divine gift and should not be wasted, EMUNAH created the Torah and Arts High School as the first religious high

opened to cater to the special needs of these more vulnerable students, along with an increased number of hours added to the school day.

Three hundred and sixty fortunate girls from Jerusalem and the surrounding area presently attend this exciting school. After the first two years of a high standard of secular and religious education, with emphasis on the arts, students are invited to choose the specific art in which they wish to specialize and to hone their individual talent.

The only school of its kind in all of Israel school in Israel for the arts. Since its inception, it has given thousands of girls the opportunity to pursue and hone their talents and receive a high standard academic education in a Torah-observant environment.

TAHS began as an elite school, with select admission standards. This is no longer the case. In recent years, it has been presented with a new and difficult challenge. The Ministry of Education ruled that the school was required to accept all applicants who wish to attend this stimulating and creative school.

This change in the original direction of the school entailed integrating students from some of the weakest socio-economic backgrounds in the city, including new immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union with limited Hebrew skills. Many have learning disabilities, while others are less artistically gifted. Motivating these students was a challenge which the professional staff undertook with enthusiasm. A wide range of new programs that address the problems posed by such a heterogeneous student population was developed. New smaller classes were

After two more years, they graduate fully matriculated. (See the box for a summary of programs offered.)

Self-Chosen Projects Each year, the school selects a theme to inspire individual creativity. This year, the theme is ‘The Individual and Togetherness.” The students interpreted this theme in a variety of innovative ways. Each one of the girls chose a subject that was close to her heart. An Ethiopian girl created a digital photo presentation with a voice over describing how she had made the choice to go to a religious school and recognized the changes to her life that were involved. Another showed how she had kept a diary since she learned how to write and how it has been a support to her through all her hard times. Another used her digital photo presentation to talk about the problems of being an Ethiopian and integrating into a “white” society. She regretted that she had not taken more initiative in making new “white” friends but instead had taken the easy way of staying with her Ethiopian friends.

FILM DEPARTMENT Film and Media Studies – a 6-year program leading to highest level of matriculation. Affords approximately 200 students thorough grounding in practical skills of film creation and theoretical understanding of media in general and film in particular.

ART DEPARTMENT Plastic Arts through both theoretical and practical studies. History of art, drawing, sculpture, painting, printing and digital photography.

MUSIC DEPARTMENT Performance as solo artists and in ensembles; history and theory of music, modern and classical, western and eastern, Jewish music; composition, singing and instrumental music.

DANCE DEPARTMENT Theoretical studies in history of dance, anatomy and music and practical studies to develop skills in classical ballet, modern dance, movement and jazz.

DRAMA DEPARTMENT Tools for theatrical expression; experiential workshops in acting, production, playwriting and movement. History of Theater, dramatic analysis, Jewish and Israeli Theater.

Using Jewish sources and analyzing biblical Mishnaic and Hassidic sources from dramatic point of view.

BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT Life Sciences encompasses Human Anatomy, Cytology, Ecology, Genetics and Microbiology.

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Liron, a 16 ½ -year-old native of Jerusalem, created an interesting project in order to project an important message to the parents of teenagers.

She selected a phrase from the Bible (chanoch hanaar al pi darko) to urge parents not to allow their children to do whatever they want. “Because I see so much smoking and drinking among the youth in my neighborhood, I really want to tell the parents to assume responsibility for themselves and to teach their children to be responsible.”

She depicted this message in the mode

Challenged by a heterogeneous student population of graffiti, an impermanent art, which she turned into video art. The video shows her spraying images of cigarettes, drinks, nargillah and drugs, first by spraying these objects and then by painting over them at night, and then repeating the undesirable images and then again eradicating them by spraying over them, in this way repeating her message over and over again.

For her individual project, one student used her art work to express the break-up of her family now that her parents are in the midst of a divorce.

The tree is her family and the benches, her parents. Another created a huge zipper made of plaster and cardboard (see photo above) as a metaphor for separation and uniting. It was her way of expressing a crisis in her family; by showing that, even though part of the zipper is undone, part is still united. A girl in the Dance Department choreographed an amazing dance to express her love for her father who had been killed in a terrorist attack. A drama student created a one-act play that dealt with her closest friend moving 34 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

abroad and leaving a void in her life.

Another dance student choreographed a powerful dance for her and a fellow student that dealt with the conflict between religious constraints and freedom of expression in the arts.

Other Challenges Apart from the academic challenges, there are others—often basic breadand-butter needs in the students’ homes. Avital, the Student Counselor, described the situation of Sarit, whose mother is blind and father an advanced asthma sufferer unable to work.

Similar to the situation of many of her co-students, her family is unable to pay any school fees, books or trips and is in need of a full scholarship. Sarit’s home, the counselor learned, lacked food.

Avital’s reaction to this information illustrates the depth of feeling and responsibility on the part of a most devoted staff for each of the students.

They set out to find and achieve a solution to this family’s problems. Avital frequently intervenes with the authorities to try to achieve for her students

what they are entitled to, and privately, solicits funds from friends.

Another recent situation that Avital mentioned was of the mother of one of the Ethiopian girls, four of whose eight children remained behind in their native village. Anxious to see them, she left her home in Jerusalem for a short trip. “During her absence, we organized some of the girls, looked in on the family and did what had to be done — the laundry, the cleaning, the cooking — everything to keep the home going,” she said. That is the spirit which is engendered in this remarkable school.

Nurit acknowledges both the challenges and successes of this one-of-akind school whose aim is to aid the girls in building a positive self-image as a religious Jewish individual; to increase her knowledge and to develop professional abilities in the sphere of the arts, as well as in the preparation for her integration into and contribution to Israeli society.

These adolescents are in constant search of their identity and are at an age where they need to find the medium in which they can express this innermost self. The arts have provided these girls with the solution and should not be seen as frivolous or impractical. On the contrary, they have given these girls a wonderful opportunity to discover themselves. They put in very, very long hours, as they have a full secular program, and an advanced Torah and Judaic program, but they love the school and do not mind. TAHS strives to inculcate them all with Jewish values with a special program tailored to each grade and uses the arts to enhance their Jewish studies and the Jewish studies to inspire their artistic expression. A

NEW books by Rabbi Larry Goldstein Torah from Puerto Rico contains three original thoughts on each of the 54 Torah portions from the Pentateuch. Each thought analyzes a portion of the Torah and provides a message to guide us in daily living with others and with G-d.

Misconceptions in the Bible covers erroneous assumptions and surprising information in the Torah, the Talmud and Jewish practice. Examples include: Are children punished for the sins of their parents? Who in the Torah was left-handed? Does “an eye for an eye” mean gouging out someone else’s eye? Are operations and anesthesia mentioned in the Talmud? Does the Torah refer to retirement?

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emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 35

EDITOR’S CHOICES

WHEN THEY COME FOR US WE’LL BE GONE: THE EPIC STRUGGLE TO SAVE SOVIET JEWRY

By Gal Beckerman Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York

T

he winner of this year’s Sam Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, Gal Beckerman is a young journalist , grandson of Holocaust survivors and a son of Israelis, who had grown up with “tension and uncertainty” about the fate of the Jewish people.

He was not alone in bemoaning the apathy of American Jews during the Holocaust who, reluctant to apply pressure on the government, failed to rescue Europe’s Jews. Once afraid it would appear like “special pleading”, he notes that today Jews wield enormous political power in America, having formed a lobby “whose effectiveness has become the envy of every American minority group.”

How this activitism came about is the underlying theme of this deeply researched history.

Beckerman links American Jewish guilt over their failure to use their power to save Europe’s Jews with their unprecedented activism in the fight to save Soviet Jewry. The mass emigration of hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews was ‘”the culmination of a hard-fought battle; a massive effort to rescue (them) from extinction and also a home-grown social movement that shaped the American Jewish community we know today.”

THE WOMAN WHO CHANGED HER BRAIN: AND OTHER INSPIRING STORIES OF PIONEERING BRAIN TRANSFORMATION.

By Barbara Arrowsmith-Young Simon and Schuster Publishers Reviewed by Annette Goodman

I

n 2005, Rabbi Dr. Heshy Glass became the first principal in the yeshiva world, and, in fact, the first principal in the United States, to implement the Arrowsmith Program, a cognitive program for children with learning difficulties, described in this captivating book. Many Jewish schools followed Rabbi Glass’s lead and this book recounts several stories of young boys and girls whose lives were dramatically changed as a result of the program.

The book combines an interesting mix of neuroscience research, the author’s life story and many cases studies. A poignant story is told of Avital, one of Rabbi Glass’s students, who at the 36 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

age of 7 was lost outside of her own home as she could not remember her last name, street address or telephone number. In school she could not remember her teachers’ names and could not learn to read or write. As a result of Arrowsmith cognitive exercises, today Avital remembers all the lines of a school play and her academic struggles are a distant memory.

Until this program, people with learning disabilities had believed that they would have to live with their deficits. In the late 1970’s, Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, a graduate student in school psychology with a severe auditory processing disability, couldn’t understand most conversations in real time, didn’t “get” jokes, and had great difficulty understanding cause and effect.

Memorization and determination got her through school. In 1977, she began to research the foundations of the science of neuroplasticity, the concept that, through targeted exercises the brain can change. She developed a brain exercise to correct her own disability and once successful, went on to create a suite of exercises that address the most common problems related to learning. Her story as told in this book offers hope to anyone who has struggled with a learning problem and gives the reader a new way of understanding the brain.

The Arrowsmith Program is currently being offered at the following Jewish schools: Bais Yaakov of Boro Park, Beis Chaya Mushka in Crown Heights, Eitz Chaim Schools in Toronto, Jewish Educational Center (JEC) in Elizabeth, NJ, Yeshiva Degel Hatorah in Spring Valley and Yeshiva Tiferes Torah in Lakewood.

BY BLOOD. A NOVEL

By Ellen Ullman Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York

A

disgraced university professor rents an office in an old building in San Francisco where he plots his return to work.

The walls of his office are thin and he is distracted by voices from next door.

His neighbor is a psychiatrist whose sessions with one young woman can be heard from his office. Completely distracted from his plans, he becomes obsessed with her story—conflicts with her adoptive parents, her sexuality, and eventually, her decision to search for her birth mother.

The professor takes up the patient’s quest as his own and his research leads him to the displacedpersons camps of postwar Europe where Jewish

survivors are trapped in a stateless limbo. The patient’s mother’s story unfolds before him, but he cannot contact the patient directly to share his news without revealing that he has been eavesdropping. He invents a way, however, and the patient is energized to seek her beginnings and the facts of her adoption. This quest eventually takes her to Israel where what she finds is heart wrenching. “By Blood” is an engrossing and beautifully written novel.

A LASTING REWARD: MEMOIRS OF AN ISRAELI DIPLOMAT

By Yissakhar Ben-Yaacov. Gefen Publishers

T

his autobiography bears witness to the events that have shaped the history of the Jewish people in the last century.

A native of Germany, Ben-Yaacov served as a representative of Israel’s Foreign Ministry for almost forty years, where he fulfilled a wide range of positions. He describes his life in detail, covering many exciting events — both well-known and not so well-known — events that span several decades and continents. His insightful descriptions of the inner workings of the Foreign Ministry, the calling of an Israeli diplomat, and the interplay beyween his private life and public activities create an emotional reading experience that will move and inspire the reader.

DECEPTION: BETRAYING THE PEACE PROCESS

By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik Palestinian Media Watch

P

alestinian Media Watch (www.palwatch.org) is an Israeli research institute that studies Palestinian society and trends and focuses on the messages that Palestinian leaders convey to their people through education, sermons, publications, social and cultural activities and the media. The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) international standing is based on its public assurances in English that it seeks peace with Israel, but its messages and activities in Arabic demonstrate its all-too-successful duplicity.

This astonishing volume is a catalogue documenting one year—2010 to 2011—of the PA’s incitement to hatred, promotion of violence, glorification of terror and of martyrs and martyrdom, education of children and women’s issues. It

EDITOR’S CHOICES

includes TV shows, children’s songs, sports activities, music videos and cartoons in its drive to eradicate Israel and any Jewish presence in that area.

The incitement to hatred is carried on at the same time as peace talks during which much of the world is led to believe that the Palestinians wish only to live in peaceful coexistence with Israel.

“Deception” does not include the activities of Hamas, but only of the Palestinian Authority to whom Israel is meant to make concessions, cede land, evacuate communities and help build an independent state. The Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation is the official PA government media, and is controlled by “our partner in peace talks”, the Palestinian Authority.

This superbly documented book is not an advocacy treatise. It is factual in its extensive coverage and should serve as a warning that the “peace partner” thrust upon Israel denies Israel’s right to exist and rather than prepare for peace, is envisioning a world without Israel.

HEROD: THE MAN WHO HAD TO BE KING A NOVEL

By Yehuda Shulewitz. Urim Publications

W

e may well wonder what in an historical novel is fictional and what fact. In “Herod”, we may be assured that, although the reader does indeed become familiar with the characters of the tragic period about a hundred years before the Temple was destroyed and before mighty Rome became a subject for history books, the author was adamant in maintaining accuracy.

Yehuda Shulewitz was a respected historian and intellectual. Born in the United States, he made aliyah in 1947 and worked as Editor of English Economics Publications for the Bank of Israel. He wrote “Herod” when he retired and almost finished it before he passed away. His wife, Malka Hillel Shulewitz, an author in her own right and an activist for Jewish refugees expelled from Arab lands, completed his work.

“Herod” is the story of the conflict between Herod, Rome and the Jewish people that takes the reader from the Land of Israel and Jerusalem to the bustle of Rome and the colorful thoroughfares of Alexandria, from Syria to the heart of the Parthian empire, to Babylonia, Idumea and Antioch.

It presents a vast panorama of the Mediterranean region of some two thousand years ago, bringing to life the Great Sages, the High Priest and the Temple service. We meet Alexandra, the proud

Hasmonean and her children and Antigonus, another Hasmonean, contender for the throne of Judea and a bitter enemy of Herod. We get to know Herod, the devoted family man of malevolent moods for whom no challenge was too great or too bloody to reach his goal.

THE SHIDDUCH CRISIS: CAUSES AND CURES

By Michael J. Salamon, Ph.D. Urim Publications

I

t is an open secret that the shortage of marriageable men and the rate of divorce among the Orthodox are issues that are increasingly affecting the Jewish world. The move away from mixed–sex socializing has led to a greater dependence on shadchans. Shadchans often use formulas and questionnaires to pigeon-hole applicants; the criteria they use in determining matches are often missing important elements in the character and personality of each party and parents’ fears that their daughters will “miss the boat” lead to marriages of couples who are too young to make mature choices.

The shadchan is not entirely to blame. The parties themselves, inexperienced and led by their parents, often have their own “list” of what they think they seek in a partner. “At present our world is based on lists…,” writes Dr. Salamon. “Perhaps the most destructive of the items on our lists is the…’Orthodox Observance List’, he says. But the “proof” resides in superficial elements which have little bearing on how a marriage will fail or succeed.

Dr. Salomon suggests ways to go beyond the physical, superficial standards that have contributed to the shidduch crisis and to early divorce.

He advocates an approach whereby a measure of personal maturity is returned to those who are dating and makes the case for alleviating external pressures on the dating couple.

WHY BE JEWISH?

By Doron Kornbluth. Mosaic Press

T

he question in the title seems so obvious to most of us reading this magazine that we wonder for whom this book is written. The unfortunate truth is that the author who taught Talmud, Jewish philosophy and law to Jewish teens and college students, comes across this question increasingly frequently. The questions now asked are becom-

ing more basic and although in most of Jewish history the question was rare, this is no longer the case. Today, many Jews see their Jewish identities as a life-style choice. They can opt in or opt out, select what suits them and rationalize their choices. Although both assimilation and anti-Semitism undoubtedly play a role in their choices, the freedom to choose appears to be risk-free and is today subject to discussion.

The author has chosen a reader-friendly way of answering the title question by taking on the roles of different people and speaking in their voice. The issues of commitment to one’s tribe, spirituality, Jewish humor and food, destiny, non-Jewish views of Jewishness are tackled in a personal way, emphasizing that there is no one reason to be Jewish and suggesting finding one’s own entry point to explore and become inspired.

JOURNEY TO FREEDOM HAGGADA: A HEBREW-ENGLISH HAGGADA THAT CELEBRATES ETHIOPIAN JEWISH CULTURE Koren Publishers, Jerusalem

T

he first-ever Haggada that celebrates Ethiopian Jewish culture, the Haggada includes Ethiopian prayers and commentaries translated from Amharic to English and Hebrew and includes accounts of Israel’s dramatic rescue, with photographs, reproductions of rare documents and original stories. It incorporates the community’s unique traditions into the telling of the Passover story — its own Exodus. The Haggada was edited

by Rabbi Menachem Waldman, a Representative of the Chief Rabbi of Israel’s Committee on Ethiopian Jewry. The book is beautifully designed with artwork, color and photographs enriching each page. It is a fascinating addition to a Jewish library.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Toby Press occupies an interesting niche in publishing. In addition to their discovery of new writing and enduring classics, they have translated and introduced Jewish European and Israeli authors relatively unknown in the USA. EMUNAH MAGAZINE has reviewed many of their books, including Yehuda Avner’s “The Prime Ministers.” Among their latest fiction is Shalev’s “Thera” and Goldberg’s “And This is the Light.” Their new catalogue can be downloaded.

emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 37

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64TH ANNIVERSARY GOLD COIN The Bank of Israel introduced a new 10-Shekel Anniversary Gold Coin called “The Sea of Galilee, 2012/5772.” Both sides of this beautiful coin boasts an EMUNAH connection. Its face value side was designed by Michal Hamawi, a graduate of the Charlotte and Harold Dachs School of Graphic Design in the EMUNAH Florence and Joseph Appleman College of Art in Jerusalem. Michal has become a successful graphic artist and has designed official posters for the government, Bank of Israel, newspapers and various advertising agencies. She insists that she owes her success to the professionalism of the EMUNAH College which taught her the skills she needed to succeed.

The theme side of the coin is designed by our own Meir Eshel, a Senior Lecturer in design at the Charlotte and Harold Dachs School of Graphic Design in the Appleman College of Art and a renowned international artist.

emunahnews

Israel

Designer: Michal Hamawi

Designer: Meir Eshel

"Israel" in English, Hebrew and Arabic, mint year, Israel State Emblem and harp-shaped outline of the Sea of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee as seen from the northwestern shore with palm trees and wildflowers.

Golan Heights in the background.

EMUNAH V’OMANUT END-OF-YEAR EXHIBIT AND PRODUCTION The end-of-year production by the students of the EMUNAH V’Omanut Overseas Program for post-high school girls is always a first-class presentation, and this year’s event did not disappoint. Amos Safrai, Dean of the EMUNAH Appleman College of Art, offered an opening Bracha and Dvar Torah, and called on Rabbi David Debow, Dean of EMUNAH V’Omanut, to present the art exhibit which highlighted high-level works of art by the students.

The school’s music department performed classical pieces and original compositions and the drama department gave wonderful presentations based on original texts from Tanach and Rabbinic literature. Among the several students staying in Israel next year, four will be doing Sherut Leumi, two of them at EMUNAH’s Afula Children’s Center.

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emunahnews

Israel BET ELAZRAKI SUMMER PROGRAM Each summer, EMUNAH’s Bet Elazraki Children’s Home in Netanya welcomes American high school and college students who volunteer their vacation time to work with the children at the Home. This is a unique experience for both the children and the volunteers. Lasting friendships are formed — connections not constrained by distance or time — and the volunteers are afforded a profound perspective on the meaning of giving, sharing and caring for others. For the children, they feel that they have acquired an extended American family and look forward to future visits.

Michael Reidler, a Summer Program Coordinator, along with Rebecca Kirschenbaum and Sarah Struhl, described “graduation night” at the Home for all of the young men and women raised there who have joined the IDF or National Service. The event, attended by hundreds, inspired him to reflect on his reasons for his frequent returns to the Home and to the friends he made there. For the American volunteers, he concluded that “it is easier to believe in yourself when others believe in you.” For the residents of the Home, the message was relayed that they are not alone, that their family extends to our EMUNAH members in New Jersey, Florida, Arizona and California. Yasher koach to our volunteers!

40 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

WESTCHESTER HOSTS AUTHOR OF “HUSH” What happens when you are betrayed by those you trust the most? In June, women in Westchester gathered at the home of Laurie Wolff to hear the riveting life story of Judy Brown, author of the book, “Hush.” Having grown up in a Hassidic community and witnessed sexual abuse at an early age, she was forced to keep secrets. “Hush” details her story, written to bring awareness to an issue affecting the Jewish community. It was an educational and powerful evening and brought women together on behalf of EMUNAH’s children in Israel. Fran Hirmes, National President, updated the guests on EMUNAH’s work in Israel, particularly with victims of sexual abuse.

We appreciate the efforts of Michelle Berman and Caron Gelles who organized this successful event.

GELA FELDMAN SHABBAT TEA

Dyonna Ginsburg

Women from the Englewood community gathered for the Annual Gela Feldman Shabbat Tea honoring Batya Klein at the beautiful home of Thalia Federbush. Guest speaker, Dyonna Ginsburg, fascinated the guests with her inspirational story of how a young woman born and raised in Long Island went on to lead a cutting-edge Israeli nonprofit organization that combines Torah values and social action. She explained how Tzedek and Tikkun Olam can engage the next generation of Modern Orthodox Jews. Once again, the Shabbat Tea was enjoyable as it was enlightening. Many thanks go to the committee; Cheryl Bornstein, Aimee Ciment, Rachel Eisenberger, Ruth Fromer, Chanie Lichtiger, Penny Rabinowitz, Sherri Shemen and Shelly Sokolow and to the hardworking Presidents; Ilana Gdanski, Beth Haimm and Abby Herschmann.

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FIVE TOWNS SHABBAT TEA More than 175 women attended this year's Five Towns Annual Shabbat Tea which honored two remarkable women; Renee Greenspan and Shaynee Kessler. Shaynee's daughter, Alana, spoke with deep emotion as a tribute to her mother. Renee Greenspan's daughters, Rebecca and Sarah Basalely, and daughter-in-law, Daniella Greenspan, also spoke movingly. Both honorees were presented with magnificent Aishet Chayil papercuts created by renowned artist Noa Attias, an EMUNAH Appleman College of Art graduate, a fact which made the gifts even more meaningful. This event was held, once again, in the magnificent home of Deedee and Mark Honigsfeld whose hospitality is unparalleled. The program opened with guest speaker, Jackie Bitton, a noted lecturer and teacher. Special guests from Israel, Shmuel Ron, Director of EMUNAH’s Achuzat Sarah Children’s Home and Yehuda Kohn, Director of EMUNAH’s Bet Elazraki Children’s Home, addressed the guests, giving updates on the activities in the Homes. This highly successfully Shabbat Tea was organized by three dynamic women on the the presidium; Elana Oved, Shari Shapiro and Vice President Bini Dachs. Thanks go to the hard working Shabbat Tea committee, and to Mindy Weinstein and Lori Hershenov, all of whose efforts contributed to bringing this event to fruition.

AVITAL SHABBAT TEA Renowned lecturer, author of 26 books, and founder of Chatzos online support group, Azriella Jaffe was the guest speaker at the Avital Upper West Side Chapter Annual Shabbat Tea in June.

Held at the home of Deveaux Barron, guests heard words of inspiration from Azriella on the topic: “From Chaos to Calm, Transforming Erev Shabbat”— a topic all could relate to so well!

The enjoyable afternoon could not have been possible without the efforts of the Shabbat Tea Chairpeople; Tamar Goldstein, Pia Rubin and Dalia Schwalb. Thank you to Johanna Guttman Azriella Jaffe Herskowitz for handling a myriad of details.

emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 41

emunahnews

United States ALIZA KURTZ SHARES HER BAT MITZVAH WITH CHILDREN AT ACHUZAT SARAH Aliza Kurtz has long known that she wanted to include the girls at Achuzat Sarah Children’s Home in Bnei Brak in her Bat Mitzvah celebration, and that’s just what she did when the time came. Aliza, along with her friends from Passaic, NJ, created designer purses out of duct tape.

Aliza’s grandmother, Judith Pacino, EMUNAH of Canada Past National President, is extremely proud that her granddaughter shares her concern for EMUNAH’s children-at-risk.

Aliza Kurtz with her friends making purses for the girls of Achuzat Sarah

EMUNAH EAST HILL SYNAGOGUE MOTHER AND DAUGHTER MISSION Under the leadership of the Englewood East Hill Synagogue’s Rebbetzen Chana Reichman—a group of Mothers and Daughters traveled to Israel on a Bat Mitzvah Chesed Mission with EMUNAH. A highlight of the trip was spending Shabbat at Bet Elazraki where the Englewood Bat Mitzvah girls bonded with the children who live at this EMUNAH home. There were a myriad of worthy activities the moms and daughters shared on this meticulously planned trip, yet the group still found time for fun and exploration. The Mission was a wonderful opportunity for mothers and daughters to bond at this important time in a girl’s life, and to give the words "Bat Mitzvah" a new meaning.

Back row from left: Elaine Mehler, Bonnie Lieberman, Shelly Sokolow, Cheryl Borenstein, Drorit Ratzker, Stacey Rosenzweig; Front row from left: Batya Klein, Penny Rabinowitz, Yocheved Schwartz 42 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

TELLY AWARD Big Productions, the video company that produced EMUNAH’s feature video shown at last year’s Annual Dinner, recently received the prestigious Telly Award for the film “Emunah of America” — Best Internet/Online Program — Motivational.

Congratulations to Gi Ormon, owner of Big Productions, for their outstanding work on behalf of EMUNAH of America, helping to get our message across to thousands of donors and future supporters.

COCKTAILS FOR KIDS One evening in June, Susan and Brett Nadritch were eating supper with their boys, when suddenly the boys came up with a “sparkling” idea! They felt that if they mixed Sprite and Coke, it would be a tasty drink and could sell well. Following in the footsteps of their charitable parents, they decided to raise funds for EMUNAH’s children in Israel by running a “Lemonade” stand, selling their “cocktail.” The entire family banded together to advertise, post on Facebook, email friends in the neighborhood, post signs and inform schools about the upcoming sale. The children’s teachers at Yavneh Academy announced the drink sale in class—and the turnout was amazing. The boys had a wonderful time, and proudly presented the $134.78 they raised to Fran Hirmes, National President, who thanked them personally!

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From left: Moshe, Mikey and Richie Nadritch

TEENS HOLD BENEFIT CONCERT TO HELP CHILDREN-IN-NEED A group of 15 Bergen County teens ranging in age from 10-to-17 years of age held a very successful Benefit Concert on June 19th in Teaneck, utilizing their talent and love of music to help children-in-need. The concert raised substantial funds for a Music Therapy Program for the youngsters who live at EMUNAH’s Achuzat Sarah and Bet Elazraki Children’s Homes. The band members included; Orly Arbit, Hyatt Aronoff, Jared Auslander, Tzvi Bessler, Lauren Borenstein, David Charendoff, Matias Csillag, Sam Goldberg, Joe Horowitz, Ezra Koppel, Josh Levine, Marni Loffman, Matan Mann, Sofia Schreiber and Tamara Teplow. “When I approached the kids about the project, they were all excited at the prospect of using their talents to help other children in need,” said Ben Hyman, Event Producer. Dr. Abrah Bessler, Event Chair, commented, “An amazing aspect of this concert is how involved all the parents were. It's obvious where the willingness to put in real effort to help others in need comes from in these kids.” Two musicians, David Charendoff and Adira Levine, chose to make raising funds and selling tickets their Bar/Bat Mitzvah chesed projects.

Benefit Concert Band emunah.org | EMUNAH Magazine | Fall 2012/5773 | 43

emunahnews

United States ANNUAL YOM HASHOAH COMMEMORATION On Wednesday, April 18, 2012 EMUNAH of America and the Jossi Berger Holocaust Study Center held their Annual Yom Hashoah Commemoration together with Congregation Ohab Zedek and participating Upper West Side Synagogues. The event was organized by Cecelia Margules, composer and lyricist, and Co-Chairman of the Jossi Berger Holocaust Study Center together with Doris Hirsh. The evening opened with greetings by Rabbi Allen Schwartz, Rabbi of Congregation Ohab Zedek, followed by Fran Hirmes, National President of EMUNAH. The theme of the evening, “Rainbow in The Night,” was a tribute to the courage, hope and perseverance of the survivors, and in memory of those they lost. The Rainbow alludes to the promise of tomorrow, even within the night that was the Holocaust. The recent short film of the same name, produced and composed by Cecelia Margules and directed by talented filmmaker Daniel Finkelman, was debuted at the event, as was a documentary capturing the filming of “Rainbow in the Night” in Krakow, Poland and Majdanek concentration camp. The film chronicles the story of one survivor, together with myriads of Jewish families, as they struggle to survive. He sings the song “Rainbow in the Night”, composed by Margules, expressing his enduring faith and perseverance, even during his darkest days.

Guest speaker, Rachel Bernheim, Chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States, shared the amazing story of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat sent to Hungary at the height of deportation to Auschwitz. He single-handedly succeeded in handing out thousands of safe passes, exempting those recipients from the horror of Auschwitz. As Margules wrote in her song “Wallenberg,” performed by Moshe Hecht, popular folk singer, “the name Raoul Wallenberg shines larger than life, his rising star illuminates the night, wistfully blazing cross the skies, gazing at us with his soulful light.”

A program of original music by Margules highlighted the world-renowned Cantor Yanky Lemmer who sang “Rainbow in the Night” and “Shmor Shearit Yisroel” (Watch over the remnant of Israel), joined by Moshe Hecht and The Sparks Choir, led by Daniel Finkelman.

MAZAL TOV TO REBECCA ZAGHA AND BENJI MARKOFF! The couple met while volunteering at Bet Elazraki four summers ago, both of them with the common goal of helping EMUNAH’s children-in-need. It turns out they had a lot more in common, and Benji proposed to Rebecca this Shavuot with the children of Bet Elazraki all in on the “secret.” It was a simcha for everyone at the home, since Rebecca and Benji are “family” both to the children and the staff at the Home.

We wish a hearty mazal tov to such an amazing young couple and may their lives be filled with happiness — just like the happiness they bring to EMUNAH’s children in Israel.

44 | Fall 2012/5773 | EMUNAH Magazine | emunah.org

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