August 21, 2015

Volume XXI, Issue XV | www.thejewishvoice.org Serving Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts

6 Elul 5775 | August 21, 2015

JEWISH WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Team RI, left to right, Gabe Mernoff, Josh Litmanovich, Angela Sullivan, Jake Hammarstrom, Natalie Westrick and Julia Keizler.

Rhode Island is a winner!

PHOTO | IRINA MISSIURO

Deb Norman holds an original menu.

Deb Norman, pioneer restaurateur Rue de l’Espoir owner bids adieu

BY IRINA MISSIURO imissiuro@jewishallianceri.org Deb Norman, owner of the East Side staple, Rue de l’Espoir, the restaurant she just sold after nearly a 40-year run, didn’t get where she is with small talk and shyness. Through the years, she succeeded despite changing tastes, economic hardships and tough competition because she was fearless. Unafraid to go after what she wants, to say what she means and to do whatever it takes. When she states, “I am self-made, possessed with a great deal of creativity and

chutzpah,” she’s not being coy.

When she admits, “I have never been short on confidence and have always believed I can do whatever I set my mind to,” she means it.

Norman says she moved from cocktail waitress to bartender to management by being “bossy and organized.”

She declares, “I am a trailblazer,” referring to the fact that she was a female restaurant proprietor in the 1970s.

To illustrate, she tells a story about a liquor salesman who NORMAN | 19

Team RI joined Team Springfield (Massachusetts) for the 2015 Maccabi Games and Artsfest in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Aug. 9-14. The combined group was 65 teens

strong.

With only five athletes, Team RI brought home a total of 12 medals in swimming, tennis and table tennis! Congratulations to all

the athletes. The community looks forward to bringing another team to the 2016 Games and Artsfest in Stamford, Connecticut.

For New Orleans Jews, Katrina still fosters communal bond

BY JOSH TAPPER

NEW ORLEANS (JTA) — One rainy afternoon earlier this summer, Rabbi Gabe Greenberg stood on the backyard patio of the new Beth Israel synagogue telling the story of the deluge that destroyed the Orthodox congregation’s Lakeview neighborhood building. Most of the now 111-year-old synagogue’s possessions were ruined by the 10 feet of water that filled the premises when Hurricane Katrina triggered massive flooding a decade ago this month.

The remains of more than 3,000 of its holy books are now bur-

ied under a mound of dirt at the nearby Ahavos Sholem cemetery.

Stacked on top of each other in a nearby grave are the disintegrated parchments of seven Torah scrolls that didn’t survive the storm.

Those traumatic memories haven’t faded for this aging congregation. But as Greenberg was quick to point out, the view from the patio tells the story of how it survived. In 2012, Congregation Beth Israel erected a new building in the northwest suburb of Metairie. Visible beyond the backyard fence is Gates of Prayer, the Reform synagogue

that lent the congregation prayer space during its seven years of homelessness. And etched into the patio bricks are the names of synagogues and Jewish organizations whose donations kept the congregation afloat as it regrouped.

In a sense, Beth Israel is emblematic of how New Orleans’ small Jewish community recovered from Katrina, rebuilding from the ground up in the face of colossal property damage and population decline.

As Greenberg, a 33-year-old

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The Jewish Voice

INSIDE Books 23 Business 22-23 Calendar 10-11 Community 2-6, 11, 21,24 D’Var Torah 7 Food 12 Jewish Women in Business 16-20 Kids 27 Nation 13, 24 Obituaries 25 Opinion 8-10 Simchas | We Are Read 26

M

ore than 100 people attended the Screen on the Green End of Summer Party on Aug. 16 at the Dwares JCC. Activities included facepainting, fall class previews, gaga games and dancing. The Maccabi athletes were recognized, and the night was capped off with an outdoor screening of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

World 25 PHOTOS | BRIAN SULLIVAN

THIS ISSUE’S QUOTABLE QUOTE “It’s also important to give to the community you are a part of.”

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August 21, 2015 |

Dedication scheduled for Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial

BY MICHELLE CICCHITELLI

mcicchitelli@jewishallianceri.org

It is thrilling to announce that the creation of a Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial – a process that began more than 10 years ago – has finally been accomplished. This memorial has been a labor of love, and collaboration between the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and the Holocaust Education Resource Center of Rhode Island, under the guidance of the Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial Committee.

According to community records, nearly 200 survivors settled in Rhode Island in the postwar years, arriving from numerous places in Europe.

After starting over in a new country and becoming active participants in the vibrant Rhode Island Jewish community, these survivors have never forgotten their roots, nor their family and friends who were lost during the horrific events of the Holocaust.

It is these survivors, as well as those who were lost, that this memorial was designed to honor – a tribute for, on behalf of, and with the collective input of Rhode Island’s remaining Holocaust survivors. Plans are in the works to amend one of the memorial’s pathways to further recognize the local survivor community, giving them the opportunity to have names engraved to be remembered.

The physical work of building the memorial may be completed, but the job is far from finished. It is now the community’s duty to use it as a conversation starter among children and students to continue to tell the story long after the last of

The new memorial awaits dedication. the survivors has passed into history. A smartphone app has been created, with thanks to students in a directed work study program at Johnson and Wales University, to help navigate the memorial site and provide further information about its symbols. Information will also be available on a website dedicated to the Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial (riholocaustmemorial.org), designed

by Steve Ide of Idesigngraphics.com. This site will also feature the stories of survivors in the community.

On Aug. 26 at 4 p.m., there will be a public dedication ceremony of the Rhode Island Holocaust Memorial, located on Providence’s River Walk, appropriately alongside the WWI and WWII Memorials, on South Main Street.

PHOTO | BRIAN SULLIVAN

MICHELLE CICCHITELLI is chief program officer at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island. For more information about the memorial or dedication ceremony, or to share a survivor story, please contact her at 401-421-4111, ext.

178 or mcicchitelli@jewishallianceri.org.

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The Jewish Voice

Dreary weather not ideal, but perfect for a good book

BY FRAN OSTENDORF fostendorf@jewishallianceri.org MIDDLETOWN – It wasn’t much of a beach day. But it was a good day for a book. And about 125 people came out for Hadassah’s fifth annual Books on the Beach event at the Atlantic Beach Club on Aug. 11.

Now a much-anticipated tradition, Books on the Beach raises funds to support the work of the volunteer woman’s organization. Each year, two or three authors are invited to speak about their books, themselves and the writing process.

This year’s choices, Rabbi Susan Abramson and Hank Phillippi Ryan, did not disappoint. Both proved to be dynamic speakers, making the

PHOTOS | IRA ASHER

serving woman rabbi in Massachusetts, now beginning her 32nd year at Temple Shalom Emeth in Burlington.

She introduced herself, saying she always wanted to be a writer but rebelled by becoming a rabbi. She has a doctor of divinity from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

But her son was her inspiration to actually start writing.

lar children’s series). “I did a survey of Jewish children’s literature and found nothing that would engage him.”

So the Rabbi Rocketpower series was born. Abramson and her son (who’s now 20) started to write the series, based on the Jewish holidays, when he was in kindergarten. The whole family appears in the book as super heros, even the cat. The books “teach children about the Jewish holidays without them realizing it,” she said. “There are no bad guys, no tragedy.”

The books sat on her comput-

She said she wanted to do everything to make sure he stayed Jewish as he was growing up.

Part of that was getting him to read. “But he only wanted to read ‘Captain Underpants,’ ” she said (referring to the popu-

er for a number of years until congregants offered to help get them published. There are four in the series and more to come.

She’s now working on a Purim book, she said.

Her latest book grew out of

Rabbi Susan Abramson

Hank Phillippi Ryan

crowd forget all about the rain outside.

Rabbi Susan Abramson is the author of the “Rabbi Rocketpower” children’s series and “Challah: A Chewish Guide to the Torah.” She’s the longest

ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Tricia Stearly tstearly@jewishallianceri.org 401-421-4111, ext. 160 EDITOR Fran Ostendorf CONTRIBUTING WRITER Irina Missiuro EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS Irina Missiuro | Judith Romney Wegner DESIGN & LAYOUT Leah Camara

Karen Borger ksborger@gmail.com 401-529-2538 VOICE ADVISORY GROUP Melanie Coon, Douglas Emanuel, Stacy Emanuel, Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser, John Landry, Toby London, Mindy Stone COLUMNISTS Michael Fink, Rabbi James Rosenberg and Daniel Stieglitz

weekly challah baking. She would try to shape the challah to represent the important part of the weekly Torah portion. Then she’d cover it and reveal it at Shabbat. There was the mystery and the guesswork that made it exciting, “a taste of the Torah.” It took three years to get an entire set of all the portions in challah, she said.

“You can appreciate this book on many levels and by all age groups.”

The Bedford resident recently organized a mass challah baking in reaction to anti-Semitism in her hometown.

Hank Phillippi Ryan has a pretty exciting “day job” as the on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s NBC affiliate. She’s been in broadcast journalism for more than 30 years. But in the last 10 years, Ryan also has authored seven mystery novels including her latest, “Truth Be Told.” She has won 33 Emmys, 13 Edward R. Murrow awards and dozens of other honors for her groundbreaking journalism. She’s also won a number of awards for her crime fiction, including Agatha, Anthony and Daphne awards and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. And the main character in her latest crime novels is an investigative reporter.

She told the audience that she is the poster child for following dreams at midlife since she didn’t start writing the novels till late in her career.

She had been interested in writing and books from her early years in rural Indiana where she said she used to ride a pony

THE JEWISH VOICE (ISSN number 15392104, USPS #465-710) is published bi-weekly, except in July, when it does not publish.

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to the library. She’d bring books home and read in the barn. Why did it take her so long to start writing? “I never had a good idea,” she said. Finally, she had the idea she liked and the books flowed from there.

She’s also been driven by the desire to make a difference. She tried politics first, Then talked her way into a radio reporting job and eventually landed doing what she’s doing. And, she says, the investigations she’s been involved in have made a difference, from catching mistakes in the 911 system to changing the types of tests done on infants in Massachusetts.

She said she’s lucky that she can take her daytime experiences, tweak and polish them, and use them for her books.

“You never know what’s around the corner,” she said, encouraging everyone in the audience that great things could still be around the corner.

“That’s been my whole life.”

The afternoon started with the recognition of donors at special giving levels in Rhode Island Hadassah. Attendees also heard remarks from Susan Shikora, president of the Southern New England Region of Hadassah.

And, of course, there was an opportunity to purchase books and get a signed copy from the authors. So the crowd hardly noticed that the weather was less than ideal.

FRAN OSTENDORF is editor of The Jewish Voice.

COPY DEADLINES: All news releases, photographs, etc., must be received on the Wednesday two weeks prior to publication. Submissions may be sent to: editor@jewishallianceri.org.

ADVERTISING: We do not accept advertisements for pork or shellfish. We do not attest to the kashrut of any product or the legitimacy of our advertisers’ claims.

All submitted content becomes the property of The Voice. Announcements and opinions contained in these pages are published as a service to the community and do not necessarily represent the views of The Voice or its publisher, the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

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August 21, 2015 |

5

Temple Beth-El’s new rabbi settles in to life in the States

BY FRAN OSTENDORF fostendorf@jewishallianceri.org Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman is in a good place.

He feels honored and blessed to take over stewardship of Temple Beth-El in Providence, with its 170-year history and remarkable sense of self and stability.

He’s happy to be in a place where Reform Jewish values are preeminent and people are secure in those values.

And he is “absolutely thrilled to be back near our family,” he says.

Voss-Altman became the senior rabbi at Temple BethEl in July when Rabbi Leslie Y. Gutterman retired. He and his wife Annie and their three children, Adi, Judah and Emilie, moved to Providence from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where he had been rabbi of Temple B’nai Tikvah for 13 years.

Now, he’s ready to get to know the congregation and the community.

“The most important thing I can do during my first 18 months is meet people and share stories,” he said.

“I feel blessed to be able to follow as beloved, as caring a mensch as Rabbi Gutterman,” Voss-Altman said. “Rabbi Gutterman has done an extraordinary job of establishing a culture of caring.

That’s an inspiration.”

In a wide-ranging conversation recently in his office at Beth-El, the soft-spoken rabbi talked about life in Canada, his family and the importance of the personal connection in a congregation such as Temple Beth-El. After more than a dozen years in Canada, the Englewood Cliffs, N.J., native has the boxes of his professional life stacked in his office, and he says the family is still unpacking at their nearby East Side home.

Annie, who has been a Canada Crown prosecutor, grew up in Missouri. They met at Washington University in St. Louis while she was an undergraduate and he was in law school,

explaining that the country is traditionally Orthodox and Conservative due to the lack of German Jewish influx in the 19th century as there was in the U.S. “Reform Judaism fits in with the American ethos,” he said, explaining that in the U.S. you can live proudly as a Jew with an American identity. “Canadians want to maintain their [distinct Jewish] identity.”

At times, he had to remember to focus on Canadian issues, especially at the beginning of his tenure there. He moved to Canada from a congregation in the

Chicago area.

And so, he is looking forward to the collegiality, once again, among Reform colleagues in the U.S. And he’s looking forward to helping build on Beth-El’s strong supportive community, especially in the area of adult education and attracting young families.

What else is he looking forward to?

“Surfing,” he said. “I love the beach. I love to surf.”

FRAN OSTENDORF is the editor of The Jewish Voice.

Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman and they have been married for 24 years.

Big film fans, they met over their mutual love of the movies. She ran the Washington University film society. He had done the same at Duke University where he’d gotten his undergraduate degree so he decided to check out the Wash. U. group. The rest is history.

The irony is that Voss-Altman said he was not happy as a law student or a lawyer. Annie, on the other hand, worked as a paralegal helping to put him through rabbinical school and decided she wanted to go to law school. That happened in Canada, and she graduated in 2011. After the family settles in, Voss-Altman said Annie plans to take the Rhode Island Bar. Voss-Altman did use his degree, clerking in New Hampshire for two years before practicing law in New York and St. Louis. Ultimately, though, he found his calling at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. “I feel so blessed, that every day I get to help serve and shape a community of Jewish meaning,” he said.

Their three children are adjusting to their new lives: Adi will attend seventh grade at Lincoln School; Judah will be in 10th grade at Classical High School and Emilie will be a sophomore at Queens University in Canada.

Voss-Altman says that everyone is enjoying the ability to get in the car, drive a few hours and spend the weekend with family.

“Everything is just so close,” he said.

“We are a road trip family.

But in Canada, when we took a road trip, we’d drive five hours south, and we’d be in Great Falls, Montana.” Here, they can drive five hours and be in Washington, D.C., or three hours and be in New York. Trips to see his family in the New York area or his wife’s family in Missouri are no longer 2,000-mile endeavors.

Canada was a growing experience for the Voss-Altman family. “It brought us closer together as a family since we had no other family nearby.”

And it was a very different experience for an American Reform rabbi. “Jewishly, it’s a world away,” he says of Canada,

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2015-2016 Officers and Board of Directors – Row 1: Barry Rose, Susan Vederman, Financial Secretary, Ross Feinberg, Treasurer, Murray Gereboff President, David Weiss, 1st Vice President, Fred Raisner, 2nd Vice President, Susan Feldman. Row 2: Steven Sholes, Ralph Rottenberg, Sam Mendelowitz, Ronald Freeman, Harvey Michaels, Michael Penn, Reid Redlich, Cantor Remmie Brown. Row 3: Bruce Wasser, Joel Gerstenblatt, Barry Forman, David Bojar, Gerald Sherman, Edward Fink.

Chesed Shel Amess Association installs new leaders

BY GERALD SHERMAN On June 14, the Chesed Shel Amess Association – Lincoln Park Cemetery held its 103rd annual election and installation brunch at The Phyllis Siperstein Tamarisk Assisted Living Residence in Warwick.

Cantor Remmie Brown gave the invocation. Outgoing President Barry Rose recognized and thanked Beth Veltri, executive director; staff, officers and the board of directors for their hard work and dedication.

Brown then installed the

newly elected officers to their positions: President Murray Gereboff, First Vice President David Weiss, Second Vice President Fred Raisner, Financial Secretary Susan Vederman and Treasurer Ross Feinberg.

The board of directors

was then installed for their respective terms. Welcomed as new board members were Lee Lerner, Bruce Wasser, Ronald Freeman, Charles Blackman, Steven Hershey, Rabbi Aaron Philmus, Reid Redlich and Michael Penn.

Gereboff asked all to carry on the hard work.

Prior to adjournment, Cantor Miriam Silva led the assembled group in song.

GERALD SHERMAN is publicity chairman of Chesed Shel Amess Association.

Touro Fraternal honors new officers, board members

BY BRUCE WEISMAN CRANSTON – Touro Fraternal Association, the largest independent Jewish fraternal order in New England, currently in its 99th year, honored and installed newly-elected 2015-2016 Lodge officers and association board members on May 20.

With a renewed level of commitment and a focus on future organizational growth, officers and board members officially assumed their leadership roles at the association’s annual installation dinner held at Touro headquarters, 45 Rolfe Square Installing Officer Peter Hodosh and Master of Ceremonies Michael Smith conducted the evening’s program. “Each of the men who stands before you tonight is here as a volunteer. Please appreciate what that com m it ment means.

It goes beyond just showing up to monthly meetings, but extends to charting the future course of Touro,” Hodosh said in opening remarks.

Board Members Jed Brandes, Andrew Lamchick, Nathan Lury, Robert Miller, Barry Schiff, and Bruce Weisman were sworn in to serve three-

LEFT , TOURO FRATERNAL ASSOCIATION DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS 2015-2016 – First

year terms.

Andrew Gilstein, the final board member to be sworn, fills the balance of a two-year term.

Touro’s two lodges, Harmony and Friendship, also took part in the evening’s ceremonies. The officers of Harmony Lodge who were sworn in for a one-year term are: Michael Levin, president; Barry Ack-

erman, vice president; Steven Hopfenberg, secretary and Peter Silverman, treasurer. The officers for Friendship Lodge are: Andrew Liss, president; Max Guarino, vice president; Jeffrey Stoloff, secretary and Jason Golditch, treasurer.

The association’s organizational board meeting was held on June 10. Jed Brandes was reelected as chairman and Alan Lury was re-elected vice chair-

man. Both will serve a third term. Brett Boisvert was elected association secretary, and Steven Waldman was re-elected association treasurer. Stuart Solup was appointed inside guard, and Judah Rosen was appointed association chaplain.

All will serve one-year terms.

BRUCE WEISMAN is a board member of Touro Fraternal Association.

Row: Steven White, Nathan Lury, Andrew Gilstein, Michael Smith, directors; Max Guarino, vice president, Friendship Lodge; Barry Schiff, director; Judah Rosen, association chaplain.

Second Row: Peter Silverman, treasurer, Harmony Lodge; Reid Redlich, Adam Halpern, directors; Alan Lury, vice chairman, board of directors; Jed Brandes, chairman, board of directors; Robert Miller, chairman emeritus, board of directors; Barry Ackerman, vice president, Harmony Lodge; Jason Golditch, treasurer, Friendship Lodge.

Third Row: Andrew Lamchick, director; Stuart Solup, inside guard; Andrew Liss, president, Friendship Lodge; Steven Hopfenberg, secretary, Harmony Lodge; Steven Waldman, director and association treasurer; Jeffrey Davis, Bruce Weisman, directors; Michael Levin, president, Harmony Lodge; Norman Dinerman, director.

Not Shown: Arthur Poulten, chairman emeritus, board of directors; Brett Boisvert, association secretary; Stevan Labush, Barry Shaw, directors, Jeffrey Stoloff, secretary, Friendship Lodge.

D’VAR TORAH

thejewishvoice.org

August 21, 2015 |

7

From Shoftim to Bal Tashchit and beyond Parashah Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9)

This week’s portion is called Shoftim, from the first two words of the Parashah, Shoftim VeShotrim meaning “Judges and Officers.” In the narrative, Moses is reminding the Children of Israel to appoint judges and officers, so that all matters of life can be dealt with, utilizing the strictness RABBI ETHAN of the officers, yet in concert ADLER with the fairness of judges.

This portion is heavy duty, with enough laws, statutes and commandments to keep us busy until next week’s reading.

Somewhere toward the end of the reading, Moses expounds on the value of saving trees, and this is what he says: When you besiege a city a long time, you shall not destroy fruit-bearing trees by wielding an ax against them. You may eat from them, but you may not cut them down.

For, after all, it is not the trees that you are fighting. However, trees that do not yield fruit, those you may cut down and destroy, as long as it is essential for continuing your siege strategy. This is not a direct quote from the Humash, but close enough.

So, what do we have here – a simple injunction against destroying fruit trees, even in times of war, when life and limb depend on pulling out all stops. Quite a statement, to be sure. And a commandment that we believe was actually in force as the Israelites entered Canaan and faced many battles, for many generations.

Although, truth be told, we do have a documented case when this actually was not followed.

In the book of Kings II, we find the ancient Israelites fighting the Moabites, a long-standing enemy. In Chapter 3, verse 19, we read, “You shall conquer every fortified town, and every splendid city; you shall fell every good tree and stop all wells of water.” (Bold added). Many interpreters understand that by “good” the text meant fruitbearing. Scholars indicate that since these words were actually delivered by God, this exception to the rule is, of course, acceptable.

You may be interested to know that many authorities believe that this law was introduced to further explain another commandment made earlier in the Torah. In Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 28, God tells Adam and Eve to Pru Urvu, Umil-u Et Ha’aretz, VeChivsha – “Be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it.” Lest we think we can subdue the land

willy-nilly, we are reminded that even in the fiercest of battles, fruit trees are to be left alone. As the saying goes, when a tree is cut down, its voice of pain resounds throughout the world.

Now, as with everything else, the rabbis and teachers of old were not happy to just simply let this commandment exist as it is. Their understanding was, and always has been, that from a few words in the Torah, we can “derive” much more than the literal reading. So, from this prohibition of cutting down trees, Jewish tradition has developed a precept called Bal Tashchit – meaning “Do not destroy.” Of course, Bal Tashchit goes beyond trees and expands into other areas, such as the willful destruction of natural resources, vandalism, etc.

According to Bal Tashchit, one must not destroy anything that may be useful to others.

The Talmud states, “One who tears his clothes, or smashes his household furniture in a fit of anger, or squanders his money is likened to an idolater.

The Shulchan Aruch, a compilation of Jewish law, states that “Whoever breaks a utensil, or spoils any other thing that is for human enjoyment, breaks the commandment of ‘You shall not destroy.’ ” Other sources warn against putting bread on the ground where it may be

stepped on, or throwing away any food that is edible. So, when your parents were telling you to finish your vegetables, they were knowingly or unknowingly carrying out the mitzvah of Bal Tashchit. And taking things just a step further, we find opinions that we should refrain from eating expensive foods, when cheaper food is just as good and healthy.

We see then, that Judaism is concerned with more than the protection of humans and animals. Our texts teach us that ultimately, we really do not own anything; everything that we possess rightfully belongs to God – even our food and our clothing. All of our possessions have been given to us on the condition that we make wise use of them. Psalm 24, verse 1 reflects on this theme. “The earth is the Lord’s and all that

it holds; the world and all its inhabitants.” In a sense, we do not even have exclusive rights to our bodies. Thus, we may not take our own lives, or abuse our flesh in any way. Bal Tashchit also speaks against destroying flower gardens, defacing art objects, tearing pages from a book and, in general, destroying any object from which we or other people may derive pleasure or instruction.

So, when all is said and done, Bal Tashchit calls for lofty ideals. Creation is an ongoing process, and humans at all times have been partners with God, in safeguarding its potential.

As someone once said – the world is God’s gift to us; what we do with it is our gift to God. RABBI ETHAN ADLER is rabbi of Congregation Beth David in Narragansett.

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August 28

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OPINION

Mazal Tov! When I started as editor of The Voice, there was a small staff already in place. Leah Camara had years of experience working for the Federation, and then moving to The Voice where she has been in charge of layout and design.

For me, her knowledge of the ins and outs of the c o m m u n i t y, and the paEDITOR per, immediately became invaluable FRAN along with her OSTENDORF ability to put together the puzzle that is each issue.

Tricia Stearly, advertising manager, put everything she had, and a knowledge of small newspapers, into helping advertisers understand the value of reaching our audience, despite questions about the future of print newspapers in general. Karen Borger, our part-time sales representative, and an active member of our community, coupled her enthusiasm with a journalism background in every business contacted. Together, they demonstrate every day that print advertising still works, especially advertising that reaches a specialized and committed audience like our Voice readers. It’s hard to say “no” to this crew.

And then there’s our parttime reporter, Irina Missiuro.

She doesn’t work in the office, I was told. She doesn’t have to; she lives right across the street! Irina hadn’t been working for the paper for long – only a few months. But she was rapidly establishing herself as an invaluable member of our devoted team. She stepped up to work full time during the search for a new editor that resulted in my hiring. In addition to covering the community, she came in and proofread pages. She ensured that the

calendar was complete each issue (though she hated that job). Newspaper background?

No. She has a bachelor’s in English and writing from PC and a master’s in English and American literature from BC. But she embraced the newspaper and learned the ropes.

I quickly discovered that you could give Irina any assignment and, though she may not have been enthusiastic about them all, she gave each and every one her best. And, really, who is enthusiastic about everything?

She wrote articles about new staff and programs at the Alliance. She tackled interviews with older members of the community. Business profiles?

No problem. Profiles of women in business? She could do that.

And I started to hear that her profiles of people in the community were sensitively done and well thought out.

I had to agree.

We take photos here at The Voice, too. I don’t think Irina thought she could do much of that. But she has learned to take pictures with our slightly complicated staff camera. And she does them well. Perhaps none of us will ever win a photo award, but we know readers love seeing lots of pictures.

As an editor of a small paper, I tell everyone who steps in our office that you cannot turn down an assignment just because you don’t like it. You have to try everything at least once. We are too small to be picky. Irina will tell you she’s heard that more than once.

You have probably guessed there’s a reason for this “Ode to Irina,” and there is. Monday she starts a new, full-time job at Hasbro. She’ll be “editing toy boxes for the European market,” she tells us. You will still see her byline from time to time as she is launching a fitness journey at J-Fitness and will be writing monthly about her progress.

We are very excited for her, and we wish her well.

Do you have a story to tell?

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Would you like to share your opinion, family stories, recipes, wedding or phylanthropy stories? Funny. Sweet. Old. New. Are you willing to be a voice in the newspaper?

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The Jewish Voice

How to talk about the Iran deal

On June 9, the Israel Task Force of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island sponsored an interactive program titled “Can We Talk About Israel.” According to promotional material, the purpose of the program was “to help strengthen our community ... by encouragcivil disIT SEEMS ing course, mutual respect TO ME and tolerance for our diverse RABBI JIM points of view; ROSENBERG to help ensure that our love for Israel unites us more than divides us; and to build more community participation on Israelrelated issues.”

Almost every one of the 56 attendees – the goal had been 36 – would agree that the program achieved its goal. Supporters of AIPAC, J Street, StandWithUs, and other national and local proIsrael groups sat down to listen and to learn from each other.

I had the privilege of moderating one of the roundtable discussions. While the six of us at my table expressed a variety of often-conflicting opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, our give-and-take remained civil throughout. Rather than talking at each other, we continued to listen with open minds and open hearts, with concern and with compassion. As one of the participants put it, the aim of our discussion was to “detoxify” deeply held feelings of “I am right, and you are wrong.”

Ever since President Obama announced the historic nuclear agreement between Iran and the United States – along with China, Russia, Great Britain, France and Germany – we American Jews have been engaged in a profoundly difficult and emotionally charged debate about whether or not to support the deal, despite its obvious shortcomings. The question boils down to this: Do the risks of supporting the deal outweigh the risks of opposing it? For those who oppose the deal, what do they consider a better, safer alternative?

We Jews in the United States are deeply divided on this issue. Like many of my fellow Rhode Islanders, I have called

the Washington offices of Senator Jack Reed, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative David Cicilline in order to urge them to support the agreement.

On the other hand, I am well aware that many of my fellow Jews are urging our congressional delegation to join in an effort to nix the deal.

Of course, nobody possesses a monopoly on the truth. Because I believe kol Yisrael arayvim zeh bazeh, that all Jews are responsible for each other, I feel the need to make known my views on issues that affect my fellow Jews in Israel; but as a non-Israeli, I affirm that only Israelis should decide what is best for them. By the same token, no Israeli – and that includes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – should claim to know what is best for the United States in general or for Jewish Americans in particular.

It seems to me that our local Community Relations Council (CRC), under the able leadership of Marty Cooper, continues to be acutely sensitive to the diversity of opinion within our Jewish community. While the CRC’s widely distributed email of July 14 expressed concern “that today’s deal may not achieve the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring and developing nuclear weapons,” it has not – in contrast to some other CRCs – taken a stand either in support or opposition.

I am proud to be part of a local Jewish community that, for the most part, celebrates our diversity; there are many other Jewish voices of tolerance and mutual respect throughout our land. However, some prominent Jewish supporters of Israel have chosen to adopt a far more strident stance. Toward the end of July, for example, I received in my inbox a column by Charles Jacobs and Elliot Hamilton (of JNS.org) with the inflammatory title, “It’s time to evict J Street from the Jewish communal tent.”

The opening paragraph reads: “The recent announcement of the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran has sparked deep concern and even outrage in the Jewish community. In an almost unprecedented moment for American Jewry, the majority of prominent Jewish organizations have lined up to combat the deal.

This includes AIPAC, the ADL, and various Jewish Federation chapters, including those in

Boston and Miami.

This historic display of Jewish unity comes because of a clear belief that Israel and the Jewish people have been placed in a lifethreatening situation.”

What the authors of this misleading paragraph fail to say is that the majority of American Jews support the deal, that hundreds of American rabbis support the deal and that most Jewish organizations – including the majority of Jewish Federation chapters – have withheld either a Yes or a No on the deal.

They prefer to study the intricacies of this complex agreement rather than rushing to judgment. Since Jacobs and Hamilton posted their column on July 24, five U.S ambassadors to Israel have lent their support to the deal. Most significantly, on Aug. 4 the online Jewish Forward wrote that “nearly 70 former Israeli top security officials urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to treat the Iran nuclear agreement as a done deal and to repair relations with the United States.”

The names of all of these security officials appear in an ad they placed in the Aug. 4 issue of the Jerusalem Post. Perhaps they know something that Netanyahu doesn’t know … or doesn’t want to know.

Clearly Jacobs and Hamilton are less interested in the facts than in delegitimizing J Street.

They conclude their screed with: “Pro-Iran J Street – which is spending millions of dollars to promote a deal that threatens Jewish life, receives considerable sums of cash from antiIsrael and anti-Semitic sources to promote pro-Iran causes, and dangerously undermining the collective Jewish unity needed to block the deadly Iranian threat – should be drummed out of organized Jewish life. It is time for J Street to go.”

Orwellian irony of ironies: Charles Jacobs is president and Elliot Hamilton is research associate of Americans for Peace and Tolerance.

Tolerance?? Those of us who have the good fortune to live in the Jewish community of greater Rhode Island still know how to demonstrate the meaning of the word.

JAMES B. ROSENBERG is rabbi emeritus of Temple Habonim in Barrington.

Contact him at rabbiemeritus@ templehabonim.org.

COLUMNS | LETTERS POLICY The Jewish Voice publishes thoughtful and informative contributors’ columns (op-eds of 500 – 800 words) and letters to the editor (250 words, maximum) on issues of interest to our Jewish community. At our discretion, we may edit pieces

for publication or refuse publication. Letters and columns, whether from our regular contributors or from guest columnists, represent the views of the authors; they do not represent the views of The Jewish Voice or the Alliance.

Send letters and op-eds to: The Jewish Voice, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, RI 02906 or editor@ jewishallianceri.org. Include name, city of residence and a contact phone number or email (not for publication).

OPINION

thejewishvoice.org

August 21, 2015 |

9

Consider Israel as a family member in need of protection

BY RUSSELL D. RASKIN ESQ. Congress is presently deliberating over a proposed nuclear arms agreement. This is a historic vote, as it affects the safety and well-being of not only America but also of the entire world. Israel is especially threatened by a nuclear Iran, as Iran openly avows Israel’s destruction. The world, the United States and Israel need our elected representatives to show leadership by declining to support the Iran nuclear deal.

Our Jewish members of Congress have a special responsibility to protect America and to stand up for Israel. Every ethnic group votes to protect those ideals it holds dear. There is no ideal the Jewish community feels more strongly about than Israel. If a Jewish member of Congress – who everyone expects will do his or her utmost to protect the Jewish people from threats – votes for this agreement, it makes it easier for those on the fence to do so as well. As Benjamin Franklin so

famously said, if we do not hang together, we will certainly hang separately. But the decision should not be difficult. Israel’s and America’s security interests converge when it comes to Iran, which considers both countries to be satanic.

“While we must defer to experts when it comes to nuclear proliferation, as Jews, we have our own expertise at discerning dangers to Israel and the Jewish people.”

A Jewish person in a high government position wears many hats: to serve his or her country’s interests while protecting the Jewish people and Israel. Fortunately our Jewish congressmen and women have

Jewish history to guide them.

Almost 2,500 years ago a Jewish woman in a high government position was faced with a similar existential threat to the Jewish people. She was asked to intervene with the government.

When she protested that there was little she could do, she was told the following: “Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, ‘Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?’ ”(Megillas Esther 4:12) While we must defer to experts when it comes to nuclear proliferation, as Jews, we have our own expertise at discerning dangers to Israel and the Jewish people. Expert opinion so far admits that the agreement is a risky gamble for the United States and the world, but especially for Israel. The enforcement mechanisms in

the deal are toothless, and Iran will receive millions of dollars to threaten world stability even further. But even if the terms of the agreement were ironclad – and it is universally acknowledged that they are not – any good lawyer would tell you that no agreement is worth the paper it is written on if one’s adversary does not intend to keep his word. The amount of evidence we have that Iran does not intend to keep its word – as judged by years of cheating up to this very day and its bellicose rhetoric – is mountainous. For Israel, the consequence of getting this wrong is, as they so politely say, existential.

I would like to suggest an apt analogy: A man is in jail after being convicted of abusing his wife. He comes up for parole. He asks to be released, but states unequivocally that he continues to wish the death of his ex-wife, and he makes no effort to hide his intention to do everything he can to harm her if he is released. His lawyer argues, however, that it is nevertheless safe to release

him, as he has agreed to wear a location monitor so the police can intervene before he takes action. His ex-wife, of course, protests that an unrepentant hatefilled person – highly motivated to do harm – can easily overcome such a hindrance, and the consequences of guessing wrong will be catastrophic for her. Better to leave him in prison where he is incapable of harming her.

If the ex-wife in this story were a member of your family, how would you vote?

If we consider that Israel is indeed our family, then we must protect her by voting “no” on the Iran nuclear proposal.

Do not allow Iran to escape from the pressure of sanctions to carry out its murderous intent. Encourage your elected representatives and local Jewish organizations to vote “no” on the Iran nuclear deal.

RUSSELL D. RASKIN Esq. is a member of Rhode Island Lawyers and Judges for Israel.

Keeping the congressional delegation informed

BY MARTY COOPER mcooper@jewishallianceri.org The Iran nuclear agreement is perhaps the most talked about subject in the news today. Congress will decide whether or not to approve it with a vote in September. But Iran’s quest to become a nuclear power is certainly not new to anyone. For several years, the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island (CRC) has been actively advocating to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear entity. This includes legislation passed in 2013 by the Rhode Island General Assembly to divest Iran funds and to prohibit contracts with companies who have dealings with Iran.

On the federal level, CRC

members have traveled to Washington, D.C., to tell our elected officials that Iran should not become a nuclear power.

The CRC supported legislation for sanctions on Iran. In each instance, the Rhode Island delegation heard us loud and clear.

They voted for sanctions, as did most of the members of Congress. Once the sanctions were in place, the CRC advocated to keep the sanctions in place, to increase further those sanctions and to help members of the Rhode Island delegation understand the concerns of Israel when it comes to Iran. The CRC also expressed concerns about the proxies of Iran who perform terrorist activities not only in the Middle East but also globally. Every time we have met with our Rhode Island delegation,

Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse along with Reps.

James Langevin and David Cicilline, we have come away knowing they fully understand the situation and our concerns as a community.

In the last year, the CRC increased its advocacy efforts on this issue. The CRC has made phone calls to the members of the delegation and has had multiple meetings with our congressional delegation both in D.C. and R.I. During these meetings, members of the CRC, along with other community leaders, have been briefed on the agreement and strongly voiced concerns of the community. This was especially true shortly before the Iran Framework Agreement came to fruition in April, when the

Iran nuclear agreement was about to be announced as well as now. At the same time, our congressional delegation frequently has sought out the Jewish community for input on this issue.

The CRC has kept the community informed about the situation via mass emails and through the CRC’s Facebook Page. (News and views from the global media are frequently posted as well as information from President Obama and the Israeli government.)

As the deadline for Congress to vote on this issue comes closer, our delegation will more than likely issue a public statement on how they individually will vote. It is apparent that the Rhode Island delegation has listened to advocates both for and

against the current agreement.

It is also apparent that they know the ramifications of their vote. Not the political ramifications, but rather moral and humanitarian.

The CRC will continue its advocacy role to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear power now and well into the future. This will include ongoing meetings with our delegation in Washington and in Rhode Island. We will also increase our advocacy efforts to minimize terrorism not only in the Middle East and the United States but globally as well and to keep Israel safe and secure.

MARTY COOPER is the Community Relations Director for the Jewish Alliance.

A JOINT STATEMENT ISSUED AUG. 18:

Reed and Whitehouse announce support for Iran nuclear agreement PROVIDENCE – After numerous public hearings, classified briefings, consultation with nuclear experts and discussions with Rhode Islanders, U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today announced their support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear agreement.

This agreement, reached by the United States and five partner nations (the United Kingdom, China, France, Russia and Germany) and Iran, would prohibit Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and place its nuclear program under strict and comprehensive international

monitoring. The agreement between the P5+1 and Iran ensures no sanctions relief is provided unless the Iranian government undertakes a series of significant steps. The JCPOA also ensures the international sanctions regime against Iran can be quickly restored if the Iranian government fails to honor its commitments.

“I support the JCPOA because it cuts off Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon and gives international inspectors unprecedented access to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and supply chains,” said Senator Reed, the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“It establishes strong enforce-

ment and vigilant verification mechanisms that – in combination with our intelligence capabilities, and those of our allies – increase our ability to detect covert activity. No one assumes Iran will change its stripes, which is why the agreement is built on a foundation of intrusive inspections and constant verification.

If Iran cheats, they will be isolated, international sanctions snap back, and we will have better intelligence, a broader coalition, and a stronger case for swift, forceful action. But if Congress derails the Iran nuclear agreement it could be a costly, strategic mistake that would likely end

strong international sanctions and leave Iran’s nuclear ambitions unchecked.”

While the JCPOA is focused solely on preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and does not resolve the many other important regional security challenges, Reed emphasized opportunities to strengthen security cooperation between the U.S., Israel and other regional partners, stating: “The narrow focus of this agreement requires us to deepen and expand our ongoing security relationships, assistance, and capacitybuilding activities with our allies and partners, particularly Israel. Enhancing their capabilities is critical to defending

effectively against Iran’s destabilizing activities across the region.”

Reed, who voted against the Iraq war, which empowered Iran and continues to destabilize the region, concluded: “As this debate continues, I urge Americans to pay less attention to overheated rhetoric and, instead, listen to our leading scientists, active and former military officers, diplomats, Nobel Peace Prize winners, and nonpartisan experts who’ve studied the facts and concluded that this agreement is ‘stringent,’ ‘technically sound’ and ‘the most effective means available STATEMENT | 10

10 | August 21, 2015

OPINION | CALENDAR

The Jewish Voice

Ongoing

LETTERS An Iranian friend went to Tehran to visit her mother.

When she returned her face was swollen, lips cut and nose fractured. She was set upon by the “Morality Police” in Tehran for not wearing a hijab.

When they discovered she had been living in the U.S., they beat her and raped her for three days. Her family had no idea where she was or what was happening to her.

Amnesty International wrote of a “staggering execution spree” in Iran in which 700

It is important for the safety of Israel and the world to pass the Iran deal. No achievable alternative has been proposed, and the current sanctions will fall apart if the deal is rejected. We should listen to former top officials of the Israeli security services and military – men like former Mossad Chief Efraim Halevy and former Shin Bet director Ami Ayalon.

They know that Iran is a “bad guy.”

However, they still believe this deal makes Israel safer.

Why? Because under it, Iran will not be able to develop a nuclear weapon for at least 15 years and probably much longer. “In the Middle East, 10 to

Re: Iran agreement

people were executed in just over six months. Death sentences in Iran are invariably imposed by courts completely lacking in independence and impartiality for vaguely worded offenses.

A report from Human Rights Watch said Iran’s legal system retains stoning as punishment for women and permits execution of child offenders.

President Barack Obama admitted Iran supplied explosives to kill our military in Iraq and Afghanistan. He

Re: Iran agreement

15 years is an eternity,” Ayalon said in an interview with the Forward. “And I don’t believe that 10 or 15 years from now the world will stand by and watch Iran acquire nuclear weapons.”

I am haunted by the thought that without the deal, Iran can have a nuclear weapon within a year.

The American Jewish community is struggling with this issue. Millions of dollars are being spent by both sides to lobby Congress. A recent survey conducted by an independent, nonprofit company shows that 49 percent of American Jews support the deal

went on to say that they’re doing that anyway so what difference does it make? As a veteran, it was a staggering slap in the face to every military family who’s had a loved one killed or maimed by Iraniansupplied ordinance.

Do not lift the non-nuclear arms embargo on Iran; strengthen it. If Congress approves Obama’s capitulation to Iran, it will have blood on its hands.

Ron Stuart Warwick

with Iran, while 31 percent oppose it. The same survey revealed that 53 percent believe Congress should approve the measure.

I am in that 53 percent, and my thinking has been buttressed by articles in the New York Times and The Washington Post. They are “must reads.” You can find them online: Thomas Friedman, “If I Were an Israeli,” New York Times. Aug. 12, 2015.

Fareed Zakaria, “The Real Gamblers on Iran,” The Washington Post. July 23, 2015.

Eleanor L. Lewis Providence

Re: To fight BDS, focus on teens (Aug. 7)

We are in full agreement with Bryfman and Cohen that, to fight BDS on the college campuses, we must also concentrate on high school students.

On Sunday, Nov. 1, StandWithUs RI is sponsoring an educational program for high school students titled “What You Don’t Know About Israel ... And SHOULD.” Teenagers need the facts to develop a positive Jewish identity, and there are plenty of good reasons to be proud to be a Jew AND support the state of Israel.

We were disappointed that the authors neglected to mention that much of what is blasted in the media

FROM PAGE 9 |

about Israel is untrue; what’s more, positive news about Israel typically fails to make the headlines.

To elevate our youth to Israel advocacy, they must first learn the history of the creation of the state in order to understand the struggles Israel faces today. Recent history recounts numerous futile attempts to offer land for peace to the Palestinians, only to be rejected.

The youth of today aspire to promote democratic values and human rights to make this world a better place. There is no better example than the land of Israel to teach these values. Israel is a democracy that values

life; offers freedom of speech and the press; gives rights to women, gays, and even Arabs; and contributes to the betterment of the world.

Not a perfect society, but better than most and far better than the murderous, nonlife-affirming states that surround it.

Regina Schild and Judi Dill, co-chairs, SWU RI high school committee To learn more about upcoming programs for students, contact Judi at dilljudic@yahoo.com.

For more information about StandWithUs, check out standwithus.com or facebook.com/ standwithus.

Alliance Kosher Senior Café. Kosher lunch and program every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Noon lunch; 1 p.m. program. $3 lunch donation from individuals 60+ or under 60 with disabilities. Neal or Elaine, 401421-4111, ext. 107.

West Bay Kosher Senior Café. Kosher lunch and program every weekday. Note new location: Temple Sinai, 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston. 11:15 a.m. program; Noon lunch. $3 lunch donation from individuals 60+ or under 60 with disabilities. Steve, 401-743-0009.

Through August 20 Top Drawer at the Brass. Works from the nonprofit visual art center providing programs for adults with developmental disabilities. The Gallery at Temple Habonim, 165 New Meadow Road, Barrington. Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and by appointment. For information, email office@templehabonim.org or call 401-245-6536.

Friday | August 21

Temple Beth-El Shabbat Barbecue and Worship Service. 5:30 p.m. Activities for children, ice cream social Oneg. $5 members, non-member guests free. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence, phone 401331-6070. Please let us know how many guests you will be bringing, and how many would prefer a vegetarian dinner option. Rain or shine.

Saturday | August 22 (401)j Shabbat in the Park. 12:30 p.m.

Lippitt Park, Hope Street and Blackstone Blvd. Come join us in Lippitt Park for a (401)j BYO picnic. (401)j is a group of dynamic Jews, ages early 20s to mid-40s, who are dedicated to building a thriving Jewish collaboration in the “401.” Through a variety of programs including social, cultural, educational and advocacy, young Jews continue the tradition of community. Professionals, grad students, those just starting adult lives, or those who are married and have children, stop wandering. (401)j is your destination. For more information, contact Erin Moseley at 401-4214111, ext. 108 or emoseley@jewishallianceri.org.

Sunday | August 23

West Bay Havurah Relaxing Sunday Morning Jazz Brunch. 82 Rolfe Square, Cranston Sunday morning brunch with free jazz music at Theater

82/Characters Café. 9:30-11 a.m. The menu is reasonably priced, the service unhurried and friendly, and the music mellow. Enjoy good times and pleasant, engaging conversation with new and old friends. Seating limited to 14. RSVP to Mark Sweberg at 401-248-5010.

Sunday | August 30

Congregation Agudas Achim Open House. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Learn about the community and meet the new education director, Annette Lawson, and current members. A holiday themed craft will be available for children, and refreshments will be served. Congregation Agudas Achim is affiliated with the Reconstructionist movement with members from northern Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. 901 North Main St., Attleboro, Mass.

West Bay Havurah Pool Party/Potluck/ Live Music Bash. 1-5 p.m. Relax at an end-of-summer pleasant party in lovely Edgewood. Listen to a live musician perform from 2-3:30 p.m. Bring a pareve dish for five people according to the first letter of your last name: A-F: Cold Drinks (no alcohol), G-L: Main Dish, M-R: Dessert, S-Z: Appetizer. Bring bathing suits and towels; changing room available. Limited to 25 people; first come-first serve. RSVP to Mark Sweberg at 401-248-5010 for address.

Donation of $5 requested at door. Check the forecast; rain, strong threat of rain, cancels event.

Thursday | September 3 Food for Families (Session 1). 7-9 p.m.

Dwares JCC. Andrea Wool, a functional wellness practitioner specializing in fitness and nutrition, will give a two-part educational series to help families answer the age-old question: How can I cook quick, healthy meals that the whole family will enjoy? Session One, will focus on what it means to eat “healthy.”

What are the essential “go-to” foods that you should always have on hand?

What do the food labels really mean, and what should you look for? Learn all this including serving sizes, dealing with allergies and more. Session Two on October 15, will discuss healthy snack and meal ideas that your family will surely love. In addition, you will learn various recommendations about how to find healthy recipes, how to shop for healthy products and how to transition your family into a healthier lifestyle.

This workshop will provide you with practical tips that you can incorporate into your daily habits easily and quickly.

Ages: 18+. Price each session: $10 | Dwares JCC Members: Free. For more

STATEMENT

to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.’ Ultimately, implementation and enforcement will be key. There must be rigorous commitment to the letter and spirit of the JCPOA from all parties or it will unravel. The big historic advancements this agreement has the potential to make will not occur overnight. They will be made, and verified, one day – and one inspection – at a time.”

Senator Whitehouse stated: “I thank the many Rhode Islanders who have contacted me on every side of this question. I ap-

preciate their thoughtful input.

I’ve decided to support the P5+1 agreement with Iran, not because it assures anything on its own, but because – with persistent watchfulness and effort – it could open a new doorway in the precarious Middle East. I do not see a better credible option.

Whitehouse continued: “Short of war, with all its dramatic uncertainties and terrible costs, I do not see another pathway to impose a nuclear weapons-free Iran. I have heard the unified commitments of all the other involved governments that

they will be strong partners to enforce this nuclear weapons agreement and to ramp up enforcement under other international agreements against Iran’s terror activities. I have no reason to disbelieve all five governments speaking together. I have heard their warnings that if we walk away from this agreement before even giving it a try, the prospect of further multilateral negotiations yielding any better result is ‘farfetched.’

“If, within Iran, a freer and more liberal society can emerge

from the grip of the ayatollahs and if strong international pressure can be brought to bear to contain Iran’s continuing mischief in the surrounding Middle East, there is at least the prospect of this becoming a historic turning point. But our vigilance and pressure must be unrelenting, and the outcome is far from sure, so our support for Israel must remain unswerving – which may include additional U.S. support for Israel through the uncertainties of compliance and enforcement ahead,” Whitehouse concluded.

Both houses of Congress are expected to vote by midSeptember on a “resolution of disapproval,” expressing that Congress “does not favor the agreement.”

This measure would then be subjected to a Presidential veto, meaning it would require a two-thirds majority of both houses of Congress to override the President.

So a total of at least 34 U.S. Senators will have to vote in support of the JCPOA or the agreement could collapse.

CALENDAR | COMMUNITY

thejewishvoice.org information, please contact Michelle Cicchitelli at 401-421-4111 ext. 178 or mcicchitelli@jewishallianceri.org.

Friday | September 4

Rosh Hashanah Party Kosher Senior Café. 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Goddard State Park Carousel Pavilion. Lunch is served at noon. Live music provided by Susan McLeod. Transportation provided. Bus leaves Dwares JCC at 10 a.m.; Temple Sinai at 10:30 a.m. Bus returns to Temple Sinai at 2 p.m.; Dwares JCC at 2:30 p.m.

Saturday | September 5 Temple Sinai Brotherhood “breakfast”.

9 p.m. This social event precedes the Selichot service which begins at 10 p.m. Shireinu, the community chorus of Temple Sinai, will participate in the service.

Monday | September 7 Shofar Factory. 10 a.m. Fashion your very own Shofar from a real animal horn as you learn the entire process from the cooking to the final polishing. Chabad of West Bay. 3871 Post Road., Warwick. RSVP to rabbi@rabbiwarwick.com or 401-884-7888.

Wednesday | September 9 Fall Holiday Crash Course. 7-9 p.m.

Dwares JCC. Autumn is filled with a variety of Jewish holidays, but do you know what they are and why we celebrate them? Join members of The Mothers Circle and the entire community as we prepare for all the fall holidays, including Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. Learn the basics behind each holiday, or refresh what you already know. Appropriate for members of all faiths looking to learn more, will engage participants in a variety of hands-on activities including cooking, crafting and more. For more information, contact Sara Foster at 401-421-4111, ext.

184 or sfoster@jewishallianceri.org.

Ages: 18+. Free.

11

Friday | September 11 PJ Library Story and Play Time. 10-11 a.m. Dwares JCC. Come spend some time in the Alliance Family Room Parenting Center to hear stories, play games and make new friends. We will read various PJ Library books and sing songs about different Jewish holidays throughout the year. Children will also be able to make a craft. Ages 5 and under. Free. To RSVP or for more information, contact Michelle Cicchitelli at 401-421-4111, ext. 178 or mcicchitelli@jewishallianceri.org.

Sunday | September 20 March of the Living 2016 Open House.

5 p.m. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Come hear about a two-week trip to Poland and Israel in May 2106 for high school juniors and seniors. Parents also invited to learn about this transformative, educational experience that strengthens Jewish identity and builds leadership skills.

Thousands of students from all over the world take this journey every year. Join the New England region and March With Us. For more information contact Jana Brenman at Jbrenman@jewishAllianceri.org.

Saturday | September 26 Kids’ Night Out. 5-10 p.m. Dwares JCC. Once a month on Saturday. September 26 | Rock and Roll. October 17 | Under the Sea. November 21 | Food Frenzy.

December 19 | Glow in the Dark Party.

Kids’ Night Out is a chance for children to spend the evening with their friends in a fun and safe environment. Each month children will be entertained with a variety of themed activities ranging from sports, crafts, swimming, and more. A pizza dinner and snacks will be served, and the evening will end with a movie.

This is also a great opportunity for parents to have a night out “kid free!”

Ages 5-12. Price: $35 | Members: $25 | Siblings: $15. For more information or to register, contact Shannon Boucher at 401-421-4111, ext. 147.

Teachers can use die cut, other machines during drop-in hours The Ellison die cut, laminator and binding machines will be available during drop-in sessions for teachers. Families preparing sukkah decorations are also welcome.

Many teachers use what they create with these machines to decorate classrooms, make games and displays, and create other instructional materials.

Two sizes of Hebrew letters and many Judaic die cuts as well as English alphabets and other symbols are available.

They will be available during the following hours at the Dwares JCC building in the Gallery (401) space:

August 21, 2015 |

Sept. 2: – 2 – to 5 p.m., 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

The Klezmer Company Orchestra

Back to shul at Temple Emanu-El

Temple Emanu-El’s Back to Shul BBQ has a special flavor this year. The BBQ, which will take place on Aug. 30, welcomes new members, and gives everyone a chance to catch up and meet new people, while enjoying a delicious BBQ. This year’s event includes a special performance by the Klezmer Company Orchestra (KCO).

KCO was founded by Aaron Kula in 1997. The ensemble performs a unique blend of ethnic orchestral jazz, classical and musical theater. In 2009, KCO released its award winning CD “Beyond the Tribes,” which was selected by the Library of Congress to be included in its music archives. In March 2012, a second studio produced album “Klezmerology” was released. KCO is the professional ensemble-in-residence at Florida Atlantic University Libraries. The library’s vast historical print music collections serve as source material for new compositions, taking the music from “shelf to stage.” In 2014, KCO

toured Canada as invited performers of the Ashkenaz Festival in Toronto and the Montreal Jewish Music Festival with their innovative Latin-Klezmer program,¡JubanoJazz! Find out more about the Klezmer Company Orchestra and hear clips of their music at their website. klezmercompany.com.

The BBQ begins at 5 p.m. The concert is at 6:30 p.m. BBQ or concert alone, $10, BBQ and concert $15. To purchase tickets call the Temple Emanu-El office at 401-331-1616, or visit their website, teprov.org

Sept. 3: – 2 to 5 p.m.

Sept. 24: – 2 to 5 p.m., 6:30 to 9:30 pm There is a nominal charge for materials, such as paper, card stock, laminate, binding coils and Velcro, but there is no charge for use of the machines.

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12 | August 21, 2015

FOOD

The Jewish Voice

Challah hot dogs hit the spot

BY SHANNON SARNA (The Nosher via JTA) – It’s officially hot dog season, if ever there was one, and I freely admit: I love hot dogs. I have even found a way to combine a love of hot dogs with a love of challah with my famous challah dogs.

What are challah dogs, you might be wondering? Well, it’s my answer to the bagel dog or the pretzel dog. And one of the great things about this recipe is you can use any challah recipe you prefer. The key is rolling your challah into roughly 3-ounce pieces and then snaking it around the hot dogs. I brush them simply with a beaten egg before adding toppings.

The challah dogs are all about fun toppings. I like making an “everything bagel” topping by combining 1 tablespoon each of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried garlic (whole pieces, not garlic powder) and dried onion (whole pieces, not onion powder) and 1/2 tablespoon thick sea salt and then sprinkling it on top.

You can also top with poppy seeds, black sesame seeds or even caraway seeds.

These are such a fun appetizer for your summer parties, Shabbat dinners, game-watch-

bleached flour (preferably King Arthur flour) 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 tablespoon salt 3/4 cup sugar 2 eggs 2 packages kosher hot dogs (we prefer using Abeles & Heymann) 1 egg + 1 teaspoon water Optional: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, black sesame seeds, caraway seeds and thick sea salt

Directions:

ing nights or even kids’ birthday parties. Make a big batch and don’t count on leftovers.

Can you make them and reheat them? You can. They are always better immediately out of the oven, but I have also served them several hours later either reheated or at room temperature.

Challah Hot Dogs

Yields 14-16 challah dogs Prep: 4 hours

Ingredients: For the challah dough: 1 1/2 tablespoons dry active yeast 1 teaspoon sugar 1 1/4 cup lukewarm water 4 1/2-5 cups all-purpose, un-

Make your challah dough: In a small bowl, place yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar and lukewarm water. Allow to sit approximately 10 minutes, until it becomes foamy on top.

In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, salt and sugar. After the water-yeast mixture has become foamy, add to flour mixture along with oil. Mix thoroughly.

Add another 1 cup of flour and eggs and mix until smooth.

Switch to the dough hook attachment if you are using a stand mixer.

Add another 1 1/2-2 cups of flour, mixing thoroughly, and then remove from bowl and place on a floured surface.

Knead remaining 1/2 cup

flour into dough, continuing to knead for around 5 minutes (or however long your hands will last).

Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with damp towel. Allow to rise at least approximately 3 hours, punching down at least once if possible.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

After dough has risen, start cutting it into 3-ounce pieces (I like using a small digital scale for this task). Wrap dough around each hot dog, pinching ends under and placing on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat baking mats.

Whisk 1 egg with 1 teaspoon water and brush each challah dog with egg wash. Top with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, black sesame seeds, thick sea salt or caraway seeds if desired.

Bake for 18 minutes or until puffy and golden all over.

Serve warm with mustard.

SHANNON SARNA is editor of The Nosher. The Nosher food blog offers an array of new and classic Jewish recipes and food news, from Europe to Yemen, from challah to shakshuka and beyond. www.TheNosher.com.

Cooking for parents and kids (StatePoint) – Food brings family together. And time spent in the kitchen is how cooking traditions and those secrets behind the best dishes get handed down from generation to generation.

Following is a recipe for parents and kids to make together.

“Whenever my mom offered to make something special, the answer was always French toast casserole,” writes Katie Meyers, on “Meyers Styles,” her lifestyle blog. “When I heard Pyrex was commemorating its 100th anniversary, I couldn’t resist raising my measuring cup with my daughter, and toasting a kitchen icon with this treat.”

Maple Pecan French Toast Casserole Ingredients

5 cups bread cubes 4 eggs 1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 cup white sugar, divided Pinch of salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1 tablespoon butter, cut up 1 cup chopped pecans 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon Optional ingredients: maple syrup, raspberries, powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly spray an 8×8 inch pan with cooking spray. Line bottom of pan with bread cubes.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt, almond extract and vanilla. Stir in pecans. Pour egg mixture over bread. Dot bread mixture with butter and let sit for 10 minutes.

Combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. Bake about 35 to 45 minutes, until top is golden.

Dust with powdered sugar and a few raspberries, then drizzle with maple syrup. Serve immediately.

Jamaican Banana Fritters

BY MILLIE LAWSON (David C. Eisenberg Family Early Childhood Center)

Ingredients: 5 medium bananas, mashed 3 tablespoons brown sugar 1 ⁄4 teaspoon nutmeg 1 ⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon 1 ⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract Pinch of salt 1 cup flour 1 ⁄4 cup cooking oil

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Mash bananas with sugar and spices 2. Heat oil and then spoon batter into pan 3. Fry fritters until crisp and brown 4. Remove from pan and place on paper towel 5. Sprinkle with white sugar and enjoy!

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thejewishvoice.org FROM PAGE 1

KATRINA

Rescuing the Torah at Beth Israel. of recovery, Katrina, and the feeling of trauma and profound loss it still evokes, is an inextricable part of communal identity. And it carries a complicated resonance as Jews here look to the future.

For newcomers like Jessie Wilson, 28, the way forward is tricky to navigate.

When she came here in 2012 from College Station, Texas, after her husband, a petroleum engineer, was hired by Shell, she said she felt disconnected from the loss-and-renewal narrative, especially at Beth Israel, where she is a member.

“I wish there could be more of a sense of why the community needs to be here outside of the context of Katrina,” she said from her living room in Metairie, down the street from the Chabad synagogue, where her husband sometimes worships.

G

Still, Wilson acknowledged that those who lost their homes and possessions “get a tremendous amount of strength from remembering what they went through,” and she, in turn, takes great comfort in knowing that if New Orleans’ Jews withstood disaster once, they can do it again.

When Greenberg interviewed for the Beth Israel job in 2013, the hiring committee, he said, was insistent that he understand how much Katrina was still a part of the congregation’s identity. He likened some of the elderly members to grandparents reminiscing about the old country, not over the agony of displacement necessarily, but the fond nostalgia for how life used to be.

“There is a generation gap. It really is a schism in their history,” he said of lifelong New Orleanians. Newcomers, he added, are

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“respectful and honor Katrina.

But it’s not a part of their narrative.”

The gap can hardly be described as a conflict, but it has left some, including Wilson, slightly unclear about how Jewish New Orleans will choose to portray itself as more and more newcomers assume leadership roles in the community. Like the bulk of New Orleanians, everyone who lived here in 2005 has a Katrina story of evacuation, property damage or worse, and often both.

“Nobody wants to sit back, nobody wants to mourn, but nobody wants to move on,” said Weil, the federation chief.

Bradley Bain, a 37-year-old software engineer, grew up in New Orleans, attended college at the University of Texas, Austin, and moved back to his hometown three years ago as part of the newcomers program. He marveled at the surge in Jewish engagement — his wife, for one, is involved with Hadassah and sits on the board of Chabad’s Torah Academy — but worried about the repercussions of placing the Katrina experience at the center of New Orleans Jewry.

“People are scared about losing something that can galvanize the community as effectively as it did,” he said. “We need to shift our energies from Katrina recovery mode to community building without a crisis.”

Perhaps, he wondered on a rainy Thursday in Metairie, if New Orleans’ Jews willfully close their Katrina chapter, the community’s raison d’etre would vanish. Beth Israel’s 10-year Katrina anniversary event on Aug. 23 appears to be an effort to turn the page: It’s called “10 Years Forward.”

!

Massachusetts native who began his tenure last year, said: “There’s a lot of pride.”

Ten years on, many parts of New Orleans still bear scars left by the storm. After the levees were breached on Aug. 29, 2005, flooding swallowed neighborhood after neighborhood, causing a reported $100 billion in damage and displacing more than 400,000 people. Most devastating, though, were the deaths of 2,000 people across the Gulf Coast region.

Today, the Lower Ninth Ward, a low-income and historically black neighborhood where hundreds of blighted homes were demolished, dozens of hauntingly vacant lots have been claimed by overgrown flora. The city’s population, about 465,000 before mass pre-storm evacuations, is now about 384,000, despite a positive growth rate since 2005.

No Jewish deaths were reported as a direct result of Katrina, but more than 80 percent of Jewish homes were battered and damages to communal institutions totaled $20 million. Most of the city’s 9,500 Jews fled New Orleans, seeking shelter with family and friends in Baton Rouge, Houston, Atlanta and other cities across the country.

For New Orleans’ Jews, the havoc was compounded by an already sagging community infrastructure that had been deteriorating for years before the storm, plagued by unmet fundraising goals, a steady outflow of young people and a struggling day school, Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans executive director Michael Weil told JTA. Katrina brought several years of uncertainty as the Jewish population plummeted to 5,200 in January 2006, and it was unknown if the thousands who left would ever return.

As the Jewish community marks the 10th anniversary of Katrina, that anxiety has largely faded. There are now an estimated 10,000 Jews in the city, about 2,000 of whom moved here after 2007, when the New Orleans federation introduced a program offering $1,800 grants to newcomers, 81 percent of whom were under 40. They helped offset the 1,800 or so people — mostly elderly evacuees — who did not return.

The retention rate, Weil wrote in a 2013 report, is more than 70 percent. Since Avodah, a national service organization that coordinates nonprofit internships for 10 college-age Jews each year, opened a New Orleans branch in 2007, “some 75 percent of its alumni” stayed in the city after their program ended, according to the report.

Other young adult-oriented groups such as Moishe House, an international organization that funds Jewish-themed communal housing, and the Limmud Jewish learning festival have expanded a tight-knit Jewish landscape of nine synagogues, two Jewish community centers, two day schools and four kosher restaurants, including a waffle bar that opened last year in the

neighborhood.

Many agree that piecing the community back together fostered a newfound spirit of collaboration across institutions and denominations in this Reformdominated city. As Cait Gladow, a New Orleans federation spokeswoman, put it: Katrina has had a “lemons to lemonade” effect.

During summer months, the local Reform synagogues — Touro, Temple Sinai and Gates of Prayer — rotate hosting Saturday morning services for the three congregations. With Chabad overseeing the city’s lone mikvah, Greenberg told JTA that there is talk of Beth Israel and Shir Chadash, a Conservative synagogue in Metairie, joining forces to build an alternative.

Allan Bissinger, who was the federation’s president in the aftermath of Katrina, noted that among New Orleans Jews, “there still is a lingering sense of community — that’s one of the legacies of Katrina.”

Most of the city’s Jewish institutions have recovered fully or continue to make headway. In Metairie, the Chabad-run Torah Academy, wrecked during Katrina, opened a $5.7 million facility last year. A few blocks away, the Community Day School, which occupies a wing of the GoldringWoldenberg Jewish Community Center and features a kosher cafeteria, is expecting a student body of 37 in September. Enrollment falls far short of the 90 who attended when Katrina hit, but it’s still a 37 percent increase from 2013, when “Jewish” was removed from the school’s name in a controversial bid to recruit students from less-observant families.

While a 2010 federation survey found that 85 percent of New Orleans Jews belong to a synagogue — nearly three times the national average reported in the 2013 Pew survey — attendance remains a glaring source of concern for rabbis of the Crescent City. David Polsky, the energetic 37-year-old New York-born rabbi at Anshe Sfard, an Orthodox congregation in the historic Garden District, said younger downtown Jews have become regulars in recent years, though Shabbat attendance peaks at 30 or 40.

Beth Israel hasn’t staged a daily minyan since Katrina and draws a group of about 30 on Shabbat, but the congregation’s “pulse is good,” said Greenberg, who spent a year at the Hillel of the University of California, Berkeley, before landing in New Orleans In an effort to reach those young, unaffiliated Jews, many of whom live in New Orleans proper, Gates of Prayer, which dropped to 450 member families after Katrina from 480, is moving to decentralize the synagogue experience by hiring a Tulane University and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion graduate named Alexis Pinsky as assistant rabbi to hold roving Shabbat services in coffee shops, restaurants and bars across the city.

While Jewish leaders have turned their attention to more quotidian concerns, like synagogue attendance, after a decade

August 21, 2015 |

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14 | August 21, 2015

The Jewish Voice

thejewishvoice.org

August 21, 2015 |

15

16 | August 21, 2015

BY HILLARY SCHULMAN

JEWISH WOMEN IN BUSINESS

The Jewish Voice

Lisa Davis and Ava Anderson – A Perfect Balance

hschulman@jewishallianceri.org

In the fall of 2013, Lisa Davis made a life change. After a skin cancer scare, Davis decided to detoxify her home and become more conscious about the personal care products she and her family were using. She turned to the wellness company Ava Anderson Non Toxic. Davis became a representative for the company, and quickly became an executive, now managing a team of 35 representatives across the country.

Ava Anderson Non Toxic was started in Rhode Island by then 15-year-old Ava Anderson and her mother Kim in 2009. Based in Warren, the small, direct sales business started with just six skincare products and an idea to provide the safest, healthiest, natural and nontoxic products in the country.

In the past month, they have moved to the American Tourister Building in Warren, where about one-third of the 90 products in the line are formulated and manufactured. The company now has more than 8,500 representatives throughout the U.S. Ava Anderson comprises many different lines, including skin care, hair care, essential oils, body care, sunscreen, bug spray, makeup, pet care, children’s products, baby care and housecleaning products.

Within Ava Anderson, Davis has found more than just a job – she’s found her passion.

She is driven to share the important health message behind

Lisa Davis and family. the company and quotes Ava herself, “We do not share this message about toxic chemicals to sell products. We created the products to share the message.”

She shares this idea at all of her avaHOURS. “An avaHOUR is just that – an hour in which someone hosts some friends and family members, and I share the health message. I do a presentation with wonderful products that everyone gets to try,” says Davis.

In her avaHOURS, she also has the opportunity to put her teaching certification to good use by teaching guests how to become “ingredient detectives.” Davis explains, “I teach

people what to look for in their labels and what to avoid … the idea is that you are trying to lessen your toxic burden by reducing your lifetime exposure to harmful chemicals, which have been linked to endocrine disruption and many serious health issues.”

Davis combines her passion for Ava’s health message with her other passion – giving back.

Some of the proceeds of many of her avaHOURS go to charities such as the Autism Society or the Susan G. Komen Foundation. She also feels that being able to make a difference in the lives of women and their families is another way to give back.

A heartfelt thank you, to our Congregation Am David family!

“Women really make the purchasing decisions for their homes, so if I can reach these w o m e n and young moms and explain the issues with the personal care products they’re buying and how it affects the health of their families over time, and show them that even small changes can make a big difference, I know that I’m helping them.”

Davis also is very involved with the Rhode Island Jewish community, meshing her own philanthropic ideals and the “Ava Culture,” which includes philanthropy, trust and respect. “I’ve always wanted to have a Jewish connection wherever we lived … even though we live here in the suburbs of Barrington … we go to our synagogue in Providence, our kids know they’re Jewish, they’re all going to Hebrew school, Sunday school, they’re all being raised as Jews … I think it’s also important to give to the community that you’re part of.”

Davis has been volunteering at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island for more than 20 years. She and her husband Larry are part of the newly

formed Double Chai Society, and she is currently chairing the Jaffa/Pomegranate Division of the 2016 Annual Campaign. She is on the Sisterhood board at Temple Beth-El and on the social action committee. “I have met some of my best friends through volunteering,” Davis said.

She said is trying to instill her philanthropic ideals in her children. She has been busy helping with her children’s Bar Mitzvah projects, and Davis remarked that her middle son is starting to understand the importance of philanthropy. “I think he can see that you can enjoy yourself, you can give to others, you can do something for other people, but you can actually have fun while doing it and be part of something bigger than just yourself.” She wants her children to see her as an empowered woman running a business and giving back to the community of which they are a part. “It’s just such a nice balance for me. It’s a little hectic, but … this really works for me.”

Lisa Davis – a strong, empowered, Jewish woman in business with a philanthropic mind.

How does she do it? “…for me it’s all about staying positive, sharing the health message, and giving back to the community. It’s the perfect balance for me and my family.”

For more information on Ava Anderson Non Toxic, you can contact Lisa at ldavis@ avaandersonnontoxic.com or visit her website avaandersonnontoxic.com/lisa HILLARY SCHULMAN is a development associate at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

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JEWISH WOMEN IN BUSINESS

thejewishvoice.org

17

Bari Harlam works hard and cares much

BY IRINA MISSIURO imissiuro@jewishallianceri.org Bari Harlam, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for BJ’s Wholesale Club, learned to strategize early in life. When she was a teenager, she used to babysit for three girls who lived across the street. That’s when she discovered the power of fun. Harlam figured out that if they all had a great time together, they would later listen to her when she needed to discipline them. By developing a relationship with the children, she opened up the possibility of strictness when needed. To this day, she continues to perfect her relationship with colleagues and students.

To say that Harlam’s career is impressive would be a gross understatement. Her accomplishments fall into the world of business and academia.

Harlam’s resume boasts such roles as senior vice president of marketing at CVS Caremark, professor at the University of Rhode Island and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and board member of Eastern Bank. She is planning to teach a course at the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business, as she did last year, traveling there one day a week. She enjoys being a professor; after all, before she entered the corporate world, she was a full-time academic for 13 years.

Harlam insists on juggling multiple positions because she thinks that “it’s good to do different things.” Often, she says, ideas from one field are relevant to other areas, fostering sharing, innovation and application of elements. For instance, she brings up the fact that a bank has a retail focus. The concern of improved delivery to consumers applies to her job at BJ’s as well. Similarly, when she taught a retail course, she invited guest speakers from the business world. In turn, while working with the same students on applying the concepts they were learning, she picked up some tips for her BJ’s job. Harlam says she’s able to do what she does because she works with great teams of people. Collaboration allows her to achieve synergy across different disciplines.

Such was the case when she joined CVS while on a sabbatical from URI. Harlam’s research area was loyalty programs. At the time, CVS was testing the ExtraCare Rewards Program. While the idea was already in existence, Harlam helped shape it, testing various options and settling on the best model. Ultimately, she ended up leaving the academic world to join the company in leading the launch. She stayed for 13 years, taking on more responsibilities and observing the improvements in the program.

Her typical goal is to figure out how to deliver what consum-

no choice. What’s more, she believes that they benefited from engaging in her work through discussion and from doing things on their own that she might have done for them had she been a stay-at-home mom.

Now that her youngest is leaving for college this summer, Harlam is somewhat sad to have an empty nest, but happy and proud at the same time. But just because the kids are out of the house doesn’t mean that

“Besides working and playing hard, they try to structure their lives according to tikkum olam.”

Bari Harlam ers want and to solve problems encountered when she’s trying to make their wishes come true.

This can involve helping store employees understand why it’s valuable to do what she’s asking them to do. Harlam loves working with other people, helping her team members grow and learning from others.

She, too, had a mentor who shared some valuable advice with her. He said, “Take the ball, but don’t wait for somebody to pass it to you.” Harlam elaborates, “Just being good and waiting is not enough.”

At the same time, just counting on hard work is insufficient as well. Whenever she’s interviewing a candidate for a position, she asks the same question, “Do you consider yourself to be a lucky person?” Harlam looks for someone who understands that not everything is about working hard and recognizes that good fortune and luck play an important part in success.

Harlam considers herself to be an extremely fortunate person who benefited from many favorable circumstances in life.

She is thankful to her parents, “amazing teachers,” for making it possible for her to grow up in a great family, saying, “The heart of my being lucky stems from them.” She acknowledges that her success has something to do with the fact that she never had to worry about being hungry, safe or educated. Harlam visits her parents, Jack and Paulette Abrams, who now live in Florida, a few times a year.

She’s grateful that, at 85 and 80, respectively, they are healthy and can travel to Rhode Island for important occasions such as grandkids’ graduations.

Harlam says that another large part of her achievement is her “talented and generous husband Alan.” She describes him as a very successful man, a great father and husband, say-

ing that she wouldn’t be able to succeed without his partnership and support.

Because both she and her husband were dedicated to their careers, Harlam says that, at times, she wondered whether her three children were getting enough support and attention.

She questioned her decision to work, but ultimately decided that she would not have been a better mother had she stayed at home. Harlam thinks that her kids have become more independent because they had

she and her husband won’t be seeing a lot of them. The family is big on vacations together – whether scuba diving or skiing, the parents travel with their children as much as they can.

Besides working and playing hard, they try to structure their lives according to tikkun olam – getting involved in nonprofits and helping friends and family whenever possible. Harlam says she fi nds these activities rewarding and satisfying, “It feels right. It’s great to do.”

Offering aid to loved ones and being able to deliver value to companies and communities go hand-in-hand for Harlam. She enjoys making positive impact, saying “I wish I could do more

and enable others to do more.”

So far, she says she’s been able to accomplish much by working hard, caring about everyone she works with and being lucky. Yet, her flourishing career doesn’t exclude challenges.

Harlam says she stumbles all the time. She calls making mistakes and learning from them “the essence of ongoing success.” Some time ago, she even had a sign above a light switch that said, “Make better mistakes tomorrow.” She placed it there because it inspired her, setting an important tone. Harlam says that the saying applies to all the teams she works with.

“You can’t be perfect.”

At work, she interacts with many analytical people, often sharing the wisdom with them that “Being vaguely right is much better than being precisely wrong.” Harlam found the quote in Professor Leonard Lodish’s book, “The Advertising and Promotion Challenge: Vaguely Right or Precisely Wrong?” According to Lodish, who was her dissertation advisor at Wharton, it’s important not to get caught up in precision; otherwise, you might end up disregarding the main problem you’re trying to solve. According to Harlam’s resume, she knows how to see the forest for the trees.

IRINA MISSIURO is a writer and editorial consultant for The Jewish Voice.

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JEWISH WOMEN IN BUSINESS

The Jewish Voice

Lynn Taylor paves the way for women physicians

BY IRINA MISSIURO imissiuro@jewishallianceri.org Lynn Taylor, M.D., FACP, is an assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious disease at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine and the director of Miriam Hospital’s HIV/Viral Hepatitis CoInfection Program. Honored as the 2014 Physician of the Year by the Rhode Island Medical Women’s Association (RIMWA), she never planned to enter the medical field. In fact, the bookish daughter of a Brooklyn, New York, English teacher and a librarian said she perceived doctors as “pretentious,” thinking pre-med students were simply following their parents’ persuasive arguments to choose the prestigious world of medicine.

Taylor, on the other hand, wanted to pursue a life dedicated to social justice. Growing up in a tiny house filled with books, music and art, she yearned to make a difference. Decades have passed since Taylor’s high school graduation, and yet her goal, already achieved, remains the same.

Even though liberal arts played a huge part in her upbringing, math and science fascinated Taylor, who attended a public school where girls weren’t encouraged to advance in those fields. When Taylor wanted to join the math team, she was told to bake some cookies for the team instead. Her parents decided to give their daughter a chance to follow her interest by signing her up for a girl’s math and science program jointly sponsored by Radcliffe College and Harvard Summer School. The decision turned out to be pivotal.

Taylor savored the experience, calling it “eye-opening” and “extraordinary.” She was surrounded by teens who were just as excited to learn the history and cultural context of science, to study astronomy and geology. The girls examined such subjects as the atomic bomb and nuclear warfare and went on weekly field trips to meet women scientists.

Afterward, Taylor understood that there was more to the world than she had realized. Her senior year dragged on while she graded math papers and waitressed. Taylor knew she wanted to do something worthwhile and continue studying. After visiting the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she left disenchanted with the “heavily male-dominated” environment.

Thirsty for knowledge, she chose to attend Harvard University – “an intellectual playground.”

In her late teens, Taylor didn’t feel at ease in social situations.

To shield herself, she took on multiple jobs that provided responsibility and distraction.

Among them were: stints at a

Lynn Taylor in the lobby of the Miriam Hospital. flea market, babysitting, leading bike tours for the 92nd Street Y in NYC, working for a jeweler and cleaning bathrooms with a college dorm crew. The latter led to the more high-status role of a bellhop, a position that allowed for some great tip money during reunion weekends. Earning was important because Taylor always financed her education independently, feeling it was her responsibility to be self-reliant.

Cutting up rocks with a circular saw in the geology department, Taylor had an inkling that this was not the safest job for her. When a friend suggested that she work in the community, Taylor began counseling at a Brookline woman’s center for $5 an hour. As she learned about unwanted pregnancies through sexual assault, Taylor wanted to do more and decided to volunteer at a rape crisis center. Finding out about infections, she became interested in women’s health and switched her major to study history of women’s health in America and geology – a dual-focus history and science program.

New friends followed, leading Taylor to an epiphany that, despite the horrible stories she heard working at the center, “most people are good people.”

Ruth Hubbard, a Holocaust survivor and a professor who taught a seminar on biology and women’s issues, reinforced that notion. Taylor considers Hubbard’s class a crucial influence on her career. Encouraged to pursue independence and individuality, she signed up for Operation Crossroads Africa and traveled to Sudan during the summer after her junior year in college.

There, Taylor fell in love with the Arabic language, which felt similar to Hebrew. After gradu-

ation, she took a class in it, but didn’t think she learned enough.

To master the language, Taylor found work at a restaurant in Somerville, Mass. There, she was the lone waitress, working among Palestinian men. Even though she was an outsider, Taylor says she “was family in five minutes.” She believes that the two cultures are “much more the same than different.”

While Taylor felt like a minority in a “WASP-y Harvard environment,” she immediately identified with the dynamic in the Middle Eastern restaurant, which reminded her of her Yiddish-speaking family’s ways.

After the blond-haired Taylor overheard a fellow waiter making an anti-Semitic remark, she became afraid, realizing she’d been naïve. Wanting to speak out, she revealed her religion to a coworker and watched the news spread. It wasn’t until a band performed Hava Nagila that night that Taylor received a response to the news. She felt elated as everyone put their arms around her and danced.

Taylor hoped that her disclosure proved to her coworkers that Jews were regular people – friends, not foes. She still has the number of one of those waiters on speed dial.

To pay off her school loans, Taylor added other jobs to her resume. She catered at clam chowder festivals and worked for a district attorney’s office on domestic violence cases. After she moved to Woburn, Mass., Taylor became an advocate in a child abuse unit, helping families through the criminal justice process. Seeing many cases of HIV acquired through sexual assault, watching acquaintances die of the disease, she wanted to combine her love of science with her strong adherence to the notion of tikkun

olam through public health.

Taylor found work as a research assistant at the Massachusetts Department of Health.

Leticia Davis, epidemiologist, public health researcher and advocate, suggested that she give medical school a chance, saying that it could be a vehicle for social justice. Taylor listened, completing the prerequisites at Tufts University while still working at the Health Department. When she applied to medical school, Taylor was an investigator of traumatic workplace fatalities. Even though it had been five years since her graduation, she was able to convince the admissions committee at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine that she could commit despite having held multiple positions in various industries.

In retrospect, Taylor feels it was the way to go for her – she “got a lot out of [her] system” and was ready to devote herself to study.

Taylor applied to the National Health Service Corps, making a commitment to provide medical care to underserved populations in exchange for a two-year scholarship, book costs and a $1,000 monthly stipend. Because rent was high, Taylor ate cereal and bagels, supplemented with apples and carrots, for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, she “treated” herself to pasta or rice. When the first financial aid ran out, Taylor applied for more – a Harris Foundation scholarship allowed her to continue her rigorous education.

It was during her first year in medical school that Taylor met her future husband – both were swimming laps in a pool.

Boris Bally was a Swiss metal artist who was big on recycling.

The two hit it off instantly and were married three years later – in 1997 – by another swimmer who worked as a rabbi when

not swimming. The bride wore a pragmatic brown dress, purchased to be worn repeatedly to fancy occasions, and the groom a colorful jacket his mother crafted for him out of Salvation Army ties. To celebrate the occasion, the happy couple went backpacking in Costa Rica, a vacation spot they revisited years later with their family of three children.

Because they wanted to be in a “friendly” city, they moved to Providence, where Taylor did her residency at Brown from 1997 to 2000. Doing research training at the Miriam Hospital with 10 other women, she was inspired by their “great sisterhood.” While her husband was practicing his motto, “Use it up, wear it out. Make it do. Do without” in his studio, Taylor was following it with her fellow residents. The women shared maternity clothes, information, car seats, pediatricians and study notes. They prepared for board exams together. Eventually, Taylor and Carolyn Blackman cofounded MomDocFamily – mentorship for women physicians raising a family and building a career. Currently, their confidential and free Listserv boasts roughly 400 Southern New England doctors. Its goal is to “keep women in medicine through the rough early years.”

Taylor wants to make female physicians’ lives easier. She reminisces about pumping breast milk in bathrooms and storage closets. Now, the Miriam Hospital has three lactation rooms. Her new battle is to convince insurance companies to pay for electric breast pumps.

After all, time is of the essence for busy doctors.

The day after our interview, she organized many events for World Hepatitis Day, which honTAYLOR | 19

FROM PAGE 1

NORMAN asked her, “Where’s your husband, honey?” She told him, “You are looking at him.”

Norman graduated from University of Rhode Island with a major in psychology and a minor in music (she played trumpet). After learning at her first job interview that she would be making $100 a week, she retreated to her mother’s Rhode Island house, discouraged and “depressed.”

Trying to raise her spirits, her older brother suggested that she check out “a new hip bar,” The Incredible Organ.

Hired as a cocktail waitress, Norman says she fell in love with the business’s energy.

A quick study, she ended up working at the owner’s two other establishments. After a while, she wondered why she was working so hard for someone else and decided to open up her own place.

Teaming up with a friend, Norman borrowed $5,000 from five people and obtained a bank loan to found a restaurant. The two bought David’s Potbelly, which – she says – was housed in a beautiful Victorian with bay windows.

During renovation, three weeks before the opening, the building caught on fire, stalling the project for a year. The cause was never discovered.

The Rue was finally opened in May of 1976. Norman says they marketed the restaurant as a quiche and crepe place be-

FROM PAGE 18 |

cause they saw a void for such cuisine in the area, where steakhouses, pizza joints and Chinese restaurants dominated. Through the years, they had to adjust to shifts in preference, reinventing the menu. Norman found herself frequently using the tagline, “The only thing French about us is our name.” Influenced

by French, Italian and Asian cooking, the restaurant ultimately became an American bistro.

Norman figured out that her strength lay in management and stopped cooking after three years, hiring a chef who worked at the Rue for the next three plus decades. (She still loves making simple yet tasty dishes at home, where she entertains friends and family.) Norman bought out her partner after five years and focused on the administrative tasks of running a restaurant, such as consistently providing high-quality cuisine and service. At one point, Norman was managing a staff of 25.

At the time, she owned three restaurants, including Baker Street Rue, which she sold; it is now called Baker Street Café. Norman still owns Rue Bis, a place in the Jewelry District she’s had for 15 years.

While Shakespeare has said, “All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players,” Norman chooses to see the restaurant business in a similar light.

She thinks that the word “theater” encompasses the aura of a restaurant, with wait

TAYLOR

ors the birthday of Nobel Prize winner Baruch Blumberg, M.D., who developed the vaccine against the Hepatitis B virus, saving millions of lives. Taylor shares that he was motivated by the Jewish belief that when one saves a life, one saves the world.

She also has been working on “RI Defeats Hep C,” a project that aims to make Rhode Island the fi rst state to eliminate Hepatitis C. On Aug. 1, C is for Cure: a WaterFire Lighting for “RI Defeats Hep C” reinforced her work with a second awareness-

raising event, following last year’s, attended by 65,000.

Even when she’s talking about doing something for pleasure, Taylor still has good causes in mind. This September, she is planning to do an ocean swim in Provincetown with her husband. She had done it before as a student and will now be fulfi lling an earlier promise to return. We wish her calm waters.

IRINA MISSIURO is a writer and editorial consultant for The Jewish Voice.

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staff acting as players; tables, glasses and silverware – as props; and food – as the star, the main attraction. After 39 years, Norman is leaving the set because she feels that she has done everything she wanted to do. She says, “I knew I was ready to be done.” She has experienced owning “the date restaurant,” as the place was known in the ’70s and the early ’80s, the hot brunch spot

and the Brown University goto place. Norman says, “I feel fortunate to have been in this business at this time in this town. I am grateful for all the people who have made the experience possible.”

Because many customers feel like family to her, Norman admits that it gets harder to say goodbye as the closing time approaches. On the restaurant’s website, regu-

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lars leave notes in a Memory Book. For instance, Stephen Berenson wrote on July 14, “The neighborhood will never be the same without Deb, the Rue and the staff!” But she’s done her diligence, paid her dues. She survived the brutal pace and the ruthless hours, the high attrition rate, the bank and credit union collapse, the recession, the ’80s restaurant explosion. And she’s had fun along the way, “I love feeding people, the satisfaction it brings.”

Norman is ready for some relaxation. The day after our interview, she left on a 10-day trip to Barcelona and the south of France with her wife. When she returns, she will run the restaurant for one more week, until Aug. 9.

Afterward, the new owners, reportedly Pane e Vino, will perform extensive renovations and open up sometime in the fall with a new concept.

But don’t dismiss Norman just yet. Even though she has no concrete plans in store, she was intrigued by a friend’s idea to buy a food truck – a venture she “has been thinking about forever.” Norman says that something about short-order cooking appeals to her. So, if you come across a Mexican food truck (her favorite cuisine), don’t say we didn’t warn you.

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August 21, 2015 |

JEWISH WOMEN IN BUSINESS

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JEWISH WOMEN IN BUSINESS

20 | August 21, 2015

The Jewish Voice

What a woman should know when starting a business According to the National Women’s Business Council, there are approximately 8 million women-owned busi nesses.

Many of these businesses started small, begun by women BARBARA seeking the exciting and KENERSON potent ia l ly rewarding experience of “being their own boss” while doing something they enjoy. If you’re thinking about starting your own business, you’ll need a sound plan, a little creativity, personal dedication and probably some form of financial investment.

Personal investment

Why do you want to start a business? For the most part, you should believe you have a great idea that you are passionate about. Giving your business a chance to be successful will require a personal commitment and probably some sacrifices.

Are you prepared to invest the time, money and personal resources to get your business started?

As you might imagine, there’s a lot that goes into starting a business. You’ll have to do some market research to determine the potential size of your market, identify the competition and set the price of the goods or services you’ll offer. You should develop a written business plan, research the best legal entity to use for your business and understand what licenses and/or permits you’ll need. And you’ll have to figure out how much capital you’ll need to start your

business and where that capital will come from.

What kind of business do you want? Do you have a unique idea, or do you want to get involved in a type of business that already exists, like a franchise?

What products or services will your business provide? Have you identified your target market? Who is your competition, and what will separate your business from your competition? Depending on the type of business, how long will it take before your products or services are available to your target market? How big and how quickly do you want your business to grow?

The type of business you choose should not only match your talents, abilities and interests, but it also should have a viable place in the market, based on your competition and the potential demand for the products or services your business will offer. Getting this information will take some time and effort, but many businesses fail simply because they’re in the wrong market or the competition is too strong.

successful business venture, but also if you’re going to seek financing for your business, you’ll almost certainly be asked for a business plan. There’s generally no set form to use in developing a business plan, but most plans cover these essential elements: • An executive summary, which briefly describes your business as a whole and touches on your business’s profile and goals • An in-depth explanation of the history and development of your business • A summary of the products and/or services you offer • A customer description, market analysis and competitor analysis • A description of your business’s legal entity (e.g., corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship) and management organization • An explanation of your marketing plan and sales strategy • A capitalization plan including projected revenues, cash flow projections, pro forma financials and an explanation of how you’ll use funds

It’s one thing to have a great idea for a business, but it becomes much more real when you put it down on paper. A business plan is essentially the story of your business: the name of your business, what your business does, how you came up with the idea for your business, what markets you serve, what differentiates your business from the competition, where your business is now and where you see it in the future.

Not only should your business plan serve as a road map to a

One of the first decisions you’ll need to make is what form of legal entity your business will take. If you’re starting a business from scratch (as opposed to buying an established business), your options are many. The type of entity you select is important because it can determine the types of permits you’ll need, where and how your business should be registered, the extent of protection from personal liability you’ll receive, and the amount and form of taxes that may have to

Type of business

The business plan

Selecting a business entity

be paid. While it’s a good idea to consult a financial or legal professional before selecting the type of entity for your business, the more common forms of business structures are:

• Sole proprietorship • Partnership • Corporations

Financing your business

Your business plan is in place. Now you have to figure out where you’ll get the funds to set your dream in motion – and sustain it. The first step in determining your financing needs is to develop a line-item budget projected over a period of months and/or years.

Next, you’ll need to figure out how to finance your business.

The two general categories of financing available for businesses are debt and equity. Debt requires repayment of a loan.

Equity involves raising capital by selling parts of the business to investors.

You can apply to banks or credit unions for loans. The Small Business Administration has a website devoted to womenowned businesses at www.sba. gov/content /women- ow nedbusinesses. There you can find

resources to help you start and finance your business. Also, your local chamber of comIlanbeDavis: merce may able to refer you I love J-Camp to state and local agencies that because we get to provide financial assistance to new businesses located within play games! your geographic area.

Ilan is in Anything else? first grade

There are plenty of other things to consider, such as taxes, licenses, fees and permits.

You’ll need to think about where to locate your business and how you’ll market it. Will you have employees? Will you add a retirement plan? If so, you’ll have regulatory requirements and tax responsibilities, as well as possible workers’ compensation to consider. But you don’t have to go it alone. There are experts available to serve as mentors or counselors. Check the Women’s Business Resources section of the Small Business Administration website at www.sba.gov for information on locating a mentor.

BARBARA KENERSON is First Vice President/Investments at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC and can be reached at BarbaraKenerson.com.

Goldie Steinberg, reportedly the world’s oldest Jewish person, dies JTA – Goldie Steinberg, reportedly the world’s oldest known Jewish person, died at age 114.

Steinberg, according to Chabad.org, the ChabadLubavitch movement’s news site, died Aug. 16 at the Grandell Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Long Beach, New York. She was two months away from her 115th birthday.

Steinberg was born in 1900, one of eight siblings. As a child, she survived the 1903 Kishinev pogrom, in what is now Moldova, in which 49 Jews died and 500 were injured over two days.

In 1923, she moved to the

United States. Steinberg lived in New York City, where she married and had two children.

She worked as a seamstress until retiring at age 80, and lived independently until age 104.

“My grandmother’s life – surviving the pogroms, losing siblings in the Holocaust – it was a history lesson,” said Peter Kutner, Steinberg’s grandson, according to Chabad.org. “She was a very selfless person; she always thought of others.”

Steinberg is survived by her two children, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

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COMMUNITY

August 21, 2015 |

Woodcraft Rangers and the Great Spirit

BY GEORGE M. GOODWIN When growing up in suburban Los Angeles during the 1950s, it would have made some sense for my twin brother and me to join Cub Scouts. But our parents were concerned about uniforms and other signs of regimentation. Additionally, Teddy and I could not wait until we turned 8 or 9 to enlist. Our Reform congregation did not sponsor a Cub pack or a Scout troop, and we were not aware of local or national Jewish youth organizations. Thus, Woodcraft Rangers made a lot of sense.

Dad was almost always toiling in his law office, so in 1955, when we were only 7, Mom volunteered to become the after-school leader of our grade school’s first Woodcraft tribe. Although Teddy and I had begun Saturday morning religious school at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in kindergarten, we were probably unaware of Israel’s Twelve Tribes.

We named our tribe King Snake, and Mom made a cloth replica, wrapped around a stick, for us to parade aloft. There were 15 to 20 boys, perhaps half the sons of Jewish professionals and businessmen, who met once a week, often in a city park, for a range of playful and wholesome activities. These usually began with a council meeting around an unlit but symbolic campfire.

Founded in 1902 in Cos Cob, Connecticut, by Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946), a Canadian naturalist, illustrator and author of children’s books, Woodcraft was more than a way for mischievous youngsters to blow off steam. Inspired by Indian lore, it sought to transmit practical skills and lofty values while often invoking the power of the Great Spirit.

As a child or young adult I never remember hearing the word halacha, but Woodcraft had its 12 “laws,” perhaps resembling the 12 steps of any self-help organization. We recited these weekly after the first chief called a council meeting to order and asked the fire keeper to strike the ceremonial flame. I remember many laws, including, for example: “Understand and respect your body; be the friend of all harmless wildlife; be kind, be helpful and be joyful.” After extinguishing the fire at the close of each council meeting, we recited the “Omaha Tribal Prayer,” beseeching Wakonda, the Great Spirit, to “guide our footsteps here again.”

I especially liked council meetings because we often decorated the ground with Navajo-inspired sand paintings. Obtaining charcoal from our outdoor barbecue was no big deal, but Seton’s Woodcraft handbook, “The Birch Bark Roll,” instructed us to gather, grind and sprinkle many other kinds of natural materials. We suburban kids had no clue where to find them, however. Instead, we used detergents, other household products and, at least occasionally, flour, cornmeal, sugar and salt. Ants

and other critters were always grateful.

Between meetings, Rangers were expected to earn brightly colored “coups.” These felt feathers, the equivalent of merit badges, were sewn on “honor bands.”

Such orange sashes were worn diagonally across one’s chest and beneath an orange neckerchief, which was secured by a handmade decoration.

Woodcraft operated three summer camps, which were also used occasionally for weekend outings. Teddy and I had attended a day camp for several summers before departing, in August 1956 (at nearly 8 years of age), for our first week at Woodcraft’s Lake Arrowhead Camp, east of Los Angeles. (I have letters to and from home verifying the date.) This was probably the first time that the two of us had seen mountains, touched pinecones or slept out-of-doors.

(Eventually, our younger sister, Betty, would sleep in our backyard with the Camp Fire Girls, which Mom also led.)

By our suburban standards, Arrowhead was a rugged experience, which included not only lots of swimming, hiking, trailblazing and archery, but cold showers. New culinary experiences included meat loaf, chipped beef, shepherd’s pie and “bug juice.” There were of course nightly council meetings, which featured truly frightening stories about wild animals as well as lost campers and vengeful ghosts. But Teddy and I much enjoyed Arrowhead and returned the following summer.

I am not quite sure how our parents expressed it, but they wanted us to meet kids from different backgrounds at camp and at Woodcraft’s citywide gatherings. (At one such “pow-wow,” we met a true Indian, Iron Eyes Cody, whom we recognized from TV.) Teddy and I participated in Woodcraft through grade school and kept up with many of those friends. After our summers at Arrowhead, we went on to other summer camps. Between our junior and senior years of high school, moreover, I became a counselor at its Stanley Ranch Camp, north of Los Angeles, and returned the following summer.

Never having become athletic, I taught a Jewish subject, arts and crafts. But I did like “setting an example” for younger kids and making friendships far beyond my boarding school chums. Even while a graduate student, I helped out occasionally at the Lake Arrowhead camp.

As political liberals and as liberal Jews, we thought that this was one way of practicing tikkun olam.

Meanwhile, our mother became ever more devoted to Woodcraft. In 1962 she became the first woman (and Jew) elected to its board; eight years later she became its first woman (and Jewish) president. In 1974 (under the Second Sun of the Hunger Moon), Mom received an extraordinary honor – an In-

dian name, “Hohiyo” – which, fortunately, nobody ever called her. Ironically, she had never received a Hebrew name. Mom stayed active on the Woodcraft board for a half-century, and on June 17 we three Goodwin children and our spouses gathered in Los Angeles when the Rangers honored her memory.

Perhaps she heard Teddy and me recite: “Lo-lo-mi, lo-lo-mi; may the Great Spirit guide our footsteps here again.”

GEORGE GOODWIN, a member of Temple Beth-El, has edited “The Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes” for more than 10 years.

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BUSINESS

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BOOKS | BUSINESS

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August 21, 2015 |

23

The chronicles of Tuvia Tenenbom’s ‘Catch the Jew!’ are troubling at times

BY SHAI AFSAI In “Catch the Jew!” (Gefen Publishing House, 2015, 467 pp.), playwright and journalist Tuvia Tenenbom chronicles the seven months he spent traversing Israel, the West Bank/Judea and Samaria in 2013-2014.

During this time, he met with Jews, Druze, Palestinians and a whole lot of Europeans. His assignment, as given to him by his editor, was to conduct a walking study of Israel – which he had left 33 years previously and then visited “only sporadically” and “for extremely short durations” – including its diverse people and their most intimate thoughts.

Tenenbom goes to Israeli cities and towns, Palestinian cities and refugee camps, remote Bedouin encampments and isolated Jewish settlements where he encounters an impressive array of characters from prostitutes and stray cats to Israeli members of the Knesset and Palestinian Authority officials.

Though always informing those whom he interviews that he is an author and a journalist, Tenenbom assumes different accents and adopts various personas depending on his audience, and presents himself at times as Tuvia, Tobi or Tobias and as a Jew, German or an Austrian.

He is an idiosyncratic and amusing narrator, and for the most part maintains a sense of

humor even while describing very troubling matters. Perhaps the most troubling and eye-opening sections of “Catch the Jew!” surround some of the more than 100 European and European-funded Israeli non-government organizations (NGOs) operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories that are dedicated to the ArabIsraeli confl ict. The primary function of most of these NGOs, Tenenbom contends, is to catch Jews doing something wrong and then broadcast that fact to the world.

His conclusions are somber and depressing. He fi nds that “the inexplicable hatred of the Jew refuses to die” and in the end leaves Israel dismayed and in despair: “Witnessing the tremendous investments and endless attempts of the Europeans, not to mention the Germans, all geared to undermine the Jews in this land, in Israel, was an extremely unsettling experience.” Not only that, he fi nds that often the inexplicable hatred is helped along by the Israelis themselves. “If logic is any guide, Israel will not survive,” he predicts. “Besieged by hate from without and from within, no land can survive for very long.”

It is in chronicling this besieging hatred of Israel today that “Catch the Jew!” makes its most valuable contribution to understanding the realities of the Arab-Israeli confl ict. For

example, Tenenbom accompanies young Italians, brought to Israel by the EU-funded NGO Casa per la Pace Milano, on a trip to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial museum. The NGO has hired Itamar Shapira, an Israeli citizen and self-proclaimed “exJew,” as its guide. He is a guide with a clear agenda: Holocaust inversion, i.e., por t ray i ng today’s Jews as yesterday’s Nazis.

“In Israel today, Africans are being put into concentration camps,” Shapira tells the Italians.

Reaching a section of the museum on the Final Solution, Shapira explains to them: “What you see here is all from the eye of Jewish victims, this is after all a Jewish museum. But what you see here, with the Nazis and the Jews, is also happening today, in Palestine. What happens here in Israel is a Holocaust.

Today, the Israeli army is doing the same thing, and the American army too.”

African concentration camps in Israel? Holocaust in Pales-

tine? Israeli and American Nazi soldiers? Could the Italians possibly believe this? But Tenenbom observes: “When you walk with Itamar, seeing the dead of Auschwitz but hearing the name of Palestine, watching a Nazi officer on a video but hearing the name Israel, you can’t deny how effective Itamar’s propaganda is.”

M a j o r General Jibril Rajoub – former head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Force and current head of the Palestinian Football Association and the Palestine Olympic Committee – also realizes the effectiveness of that propaganda, and he makes use of it in his lengthy conversations with Tenenbom, whom he thinks is a German gentile. Rajoub tells Tenenbom that if Hitler woke up from his grave and saw Israel’s brutality, he would be shocked and that Hitler could learn from Israeli soldiers.

Holocaust inversion, as Jewish British author and journalist Howard Jacobson has ex-

plained, is “the latest species of Holocaust denial.” But the older species certainly haven’t died out. In Jenin, Tenenbom (presenting himself as a German gentile) joins Atef Abu a-Rub, a Palestinian journalist and a top researcher for the Israeli NGO B’Tselem, to visit Bedouin encampments. At one encampment, the topic of Germany’s murder of Jews during WWII comes up. Atef Abu a-Rub offers his “historical” opinion of the assertion (“what they say”) that millions of Jews were killed: “This is a lie. I don’t believe it.”

B’Tselem eventually fi red Atef Abu a-Rub due to Tenenbom’s exposé.

Tenenbom makes clear Israel’s very difficult situation, but there is room for more than despair and dismay. As one reads “Catch the Jew!” one is appreciative of the book’s idiosyncrasies and humor, and is grateful to its colorful author for the time and effort put into bringing many troubling truths to light. There is even some room for optimism. Its contents may yet lead to more than just the fi ring of Atef Abu a-Rub. SHAI AFSAI (ggbi@juno.com) lives in Providence. For his complete review of “Catch the Jew!” see New English Review’s August 2015 issue.

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24 | August 21, 2015

Returning to our roots Over the summer, Diana Douglas, mother of Michael Douglas and fi rst wife of Kirk Douglas, passed away.

She left a special legacy and remained on amicable terms with Kirk throught her life. She PATRICIA even appeared RASKIN with him in several movies, i nclud ing her last fi lm, “It Runs in the Family” (2003), which also starred Michael Douglas and one of her grandsons, Cameron.

What interested me about remembrances of Diana Douglas’ life was the reminder of Kirk Douglas’ life and legacy. He returned to his Jewish roots with a second bar mitzvah while in his 80s, following a helicopter crash in 1991 in which two men died. He said he believed he was spared because he had not yet come to terms with Judaism or what it meant to be Jewish. He became a conscientious Torah student.

I applaud Kirk Douglas’ return to Judaism and can relate to it since my father, who would have been exactly Kirk Douglas’ age, was the lay leader of his synagogue in Marco Island, Florida, for 13 years in his retirement.

My father led all religious services and performed religious ceremonies – and I believe that his faith was one of the core

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COMMUNITY | NATION

values that kept him going for 95 years. The only time he did not go to services was in the last month of his life, when he was too sick to get out of bed. I knew then that the end was near.

I understand the passion and drive that directs us zealous individuals and especially those of us who are Jewish. Somehow the value of learning and education has been engrained in our gene code and its strength has carried us through the good and the bad.

I was given very strong roots and I can feel them in my bones through the legacy of past generations. I’ve had many opportunities in both my personal and professional life to call on the strength of those roots.

There has always been a voice calling to me from somewhere that has said, “You can do this.

You can make it. You are here to make a difference.”

To quote King Solomon, Proverbs, 24:16, “A righteous man falls down seven times and gets up.” That has carried me through.

As Diana Douglas returned to her heavenly roots, and Kirk Douglas returned to his Jewish roots, and my father returned to both, we all seem to fi nd or return to our roots.

PATRICIA RASKIN is an award-winning radio producer and talk-show host. The Patricia Raskin Show airs on WPRO. She is a board member of Temple Emanu-El. She can be reached at patriciaraskin.com

What it means to be a Jewish family in rural Maine

BY COURTNEY NALIBOFF (Kveller via JTA) – For many Jewish parents, the challenges they face raising their children include choosing between Jewish and public schools, planning bar and bat mitzvahs and staying sane while planning big Shabbat dinners. But for parents like me, raising Jewish children in rural areas, without a cohesive community around them, just having our identity recognized and honored by neighbors is often the first challenge.

Maine thinks of itself as a homogenous state. Despite increasing populations of immigrants from around the world, despite thriving Jewish communities in 10 areas, the prevailing mindset, particularly in the small towns and rural areas, is that Maine is lily white, with the most exotic influences coming from our robust French-Canadian populations.

I was pleasantly surprised this past winter to receive an invitation to speak at the Maine Conference for Jewish Life, a fairly new event on Colby College’s campus. Based on my writing for this esteemed website, the organizer, Rabbi Rachel Isaacs, a Colby professor and chaplain, invited me to speak about how important it is to change that lily-white mindset and highlight diversity.

I spoke on the final day of the conference and had previously attended a presentation on the Documenting Maine Jewry project. It drove home just how

scattered the Maine Jewish population is – there were 10 active Jewish communities identified in the state, with just 16 synagogues.

After lunch, I sat in a plush leather chair at the head of an enormous conference table.

Eight other women, plus my husband, sat around the table with me. I told the story of my family, my ancestors escaping wave after wave of European anti-Semitism by moving to America, to the cities and then the suburbs, working as peddlers and store owners and doctors and lawyers as the generations stayed and thrived.

I told the story of my parents’ meeting, friends introducing them because they were “short, funny and Jewish,” and of their unlikely move to Oklahoma and then rural Maine. I told the story, as I have here on Kveller, of the ignorance in rural Maine that fuels teasing and bullying based on whatever difference a person admits, and to the unwitting exclusion perpetuated by classroom Christmas parties and chorus songs about Jesus.

I talked about how it might seem easier to hide one’s identity, but when diversity isn’t acknowledged, those inclined to use the language and symbology of hate have carte blanche because they assume no one within earshot will be hurt. I talked about how good it felt to no longer be an ambassador for Judaism when I went to college and then graduate school, and I talked about how it felt to resume that role upon moving to an island off the coast of Maine.

Heads nodded around the table. I heard small sounds of sympathy. I talked about my daughter, the island’s first Jewish child, and how I am arming our friends to be able to defend

her if needed, to speak knowledgeably about what it means to be Jewish, how I’ve shared our holidays with them in hopes that they can be our advocates.

When I was done telling my story, the women around the table shared theirs. Most had raised or were raising Jewish children in small Maine communities. Ignorance and exclusion were common themes, but there were triumphs, too: a young boy standing up to a bully; a vice principal considerate of scheduling testing on the Sabbath; a “Christmas in July” parade float revamped to include all the winter holidays.

Small victories adding up to patches of light shining where before there had been darkness.

Even Maine’s smallest towns are home to the whole palette of humanity. My hope, and the hope of all of those seated around the table that afternoon, is that everyone speaks up about who they are – their race, religion, everything – and makes diversity a vibrant piece of Maine’s culture, and of small communities across the country.

When the majority sees the minority around them teaching, building, cooking and growing up with their kids, ignorance turns to knowledge and acceptance, and everyone is enriched.

COURTNEY NALIBOFF lives on North Haven, an island off of midcoast Maine. Her writing can be seen in MaineBiz and Working Waterfront. Kveller is a thriving community of women and parents who convene online to share, celebrate and commiserate their experiences of raising kids through a Jewish lens. Visit Kveller.com.

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Herbert L. Emers, 85 PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Herbert L. Emers died Aug. 14. He was the husband of Jill Brody. Born in Providence, the son of the late Charles and Nathalie (Hirsch) Emers, he was a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, a Korean War veteran and President of Herbert L. Emers Inc., an insurance agency which he ran with thoughtful humanity.

Deeply rooted in Providence, it gave him great pleasure to live within walking distance of the Emers Building, which was built by his grandfather in Wayland Square.

Besides his wife, he is survived by his children, Michael (Joan Hornig) Emers of Fairbanks, Ark., Dara (Manfred) Emerson of Vienna, Austria, Charles (Anne McPherson) Emers of East Hardwick, Vt.; his stepchildren, Jhennah Sinclaire of Los Angeles, Nola (Torrance) Kopfer of Milton, Mass., and David (Luna) Riedel of New York City; and his grandchildren, Gibran (Lakshme), Ram, Ellen, Madolyn, Natalie, Alex, Cassia and Annelise.

Contributions in his memory may be made to the Star Island Scholarship Fund, 30 Middle

OBITUARIES | WORLD St., Portsmouth, N.H. 03801.

Pauline Feinstein, 86 WESTPORT, MASS. – Pauline (Liss) Feinstein died Aug. 16.

She was the wife of Elliott Feinstein for 64 years. Born in New Bedford, a daughter of the late Joseph and Bella (Davidow) Liss, she had been a resident of Westport for 25 years.

A graduate of Flora Stone Mather College at Western Reserve University, she had been a teacher for children with learning disabilities and later became the head of the learning disabilities department for the New Bedford school system.

After retiring from the school system, she joined her husband at the long running family business, the former Tropical Tea & Coffee Co. A member of Tifereth Israel Congregation, she enjoyed a long life centered on family, cousins, friends and community.

Besides her husband, she is survived by her children, Jonathan Feinstein and Elissa Fein-

stein, both of Westport; nieces and nephews, Jeffrey and Debbie Mann, Edward and Jeryl Mann, and Susan and Robert Bain; and several great nieces and nephews. She was the sister of the late Florence Mann.

Contributions may be made to the charity of your choice.

Sarah Y. Greenfield, 93 DELRAY BEACH, FLA. – Sarah Y. Greenfield died July 21. She was the daughter of the late Rose and Morris Presel.

She was formerly from Cranston and Newport. Sarah was pre-deceased by her husband, Daniel Greenfield, and sisters Ruth and Helen Presel. She is survived by her brother, Donald Presel, sister-in-law Arlene Presel of Delray Beach, Fla., her sister, Marilyn Factor, brotherin-law Alfred Factor, nieces Robyn Forte and her husband William and great-niece, Jaime of Cranston and Ronna Haynes and her husband Lawrence; great-nephews, Jared and Mitchell of Trumbull, Conn., nephews Jeffrey Factor and his wife Susan and great-nieces, Rebecca, Alyssa and Lauren of Avon, Conn., and Alan Presel of Charlotte, N.C. She worked for Quonsett Point Naval Shipyard in Rhod

Island until her position was phased out. She graduated from the University of Rhode Island and taught English as a second language. She enjoyed traveling and attending shows.

She was devoted to her family.

She helped her nieces and nephews in their youth and her help continued to her great-nieces and great-nephews.

She will be greatly missed by all of her relatives and friends.

Pauline Penn

DELRAY BEACH, FLA. – Pauline Penn died Aug. 15 surrounded by her family. She was preceded in death by her husband Julius Penn and was the companion of Leon Sloane.

She was born in Providence, the daughter of the late Elizabeth and Samuel Bernstein, and relocated to Florida in 2001.

Devoted mother to Craig and Wayne Penn and his wife Karen. Dear sister of the late Jack, Milton and Jeanette Bernstein and Mildred Stern. Loving grandmother to Geoffrey and Brian Penn and aunt to many nieces and nephews.

Contributions in her memory may be made to your favorite charity or to the American Heart Association.

August 21, 2015 |

25

Sophie Waitsman, 92

PROVIDENCE. R.I. – Sophie Wa i t s m a n passed away Aug. 6. She was the wife of the late Morris Waitsman. Born in Providence, a daughter of the late Frank and Celia (Rifkin) Levin, she was a lifelong resident of Providence and a part-time resident of Fla. She was a former owner of Adam’s Furniture.

She was a member of Temple Beth-El, Haddassah and the R.I. Bridge Club and a former member of the Ledgemont Country Club.

She was a loving mother of Kenneth Waitsman and his wife Sharon, Carol Stanger and her husband Dr. Jeffrey, and Diane Waitsman Zophin; devoted grandmother and of Brad, Montana, Cerissa and Lauren and dear great-grandmother of Joshua, Kai, Olivia and Julia.

Contributions in her memory may be made to Home and Hospice of R.I., 1085 N. Main St, Providence, R.I. 02906 or to the Alzheimer’s Association of R.I., 245 Waterman St # 306, Providence, R.I. 02906.

Lithuania’s chief rabbi fired amid dispute over construction on former cemetery JTA – The Jewish community of Lithuania fired the country’s chief rabbi amid his objections to the government’s plan to build on an area that used to be a Jewish cemetery The dismissal of Rabbi Chaim Burshtein, an Israeli who has served as Lithuania’s chief rabbi for 11 years, was announced Aug. 14 by Shmuel Levin, chairman of the Vilnius Jewish Religious Community, which is a part of the Jewish Community of Lithuania under Community President Faina Kukliansky.

“The Vilnius Jewish Religious Community resolved that after the current contract with Chaim

Rabbi Chaim Burshtein Burshtein ends, it will not be extended, and that Shmuel Yatom

is to perform the function of rabbi temporarily, until a new rabbi is found,” Levin said in a statement, which did not specify the reason for the discontinuation of Burshtein’s contract.

Yatom is the community’s cantor, according to Dovid Katz, a scholar of Yiddish and owner of the defendinghistory.com news and commentary site on Lithuanian Jewry.

Burshtein told JTA he would no longer be chief rabbi as of September. His dismissal follows his public criticism in February of Kukliansky, a former state prosecutor and police officer. Burshtein accused her of resorting to

authoritarian tactics in running the community.

She denied the claims and said she had no conflict with Burshtein but added that the community’s board was considering firing him.

Earlier this month, Burshtein announced that he would form a new organization, Beyachad.

He also suggested that Kukliansky was using her contacts with officials to have him deported,

though she denied this.

Burshtein said Kukliansky had approved, over his objection, a government-led plan to build a conference center atop a dilapidated building that Soviet authorities constructed over what used to be a large Jewish cemetery.

Kukliansky defended the plan, saying it did not disturb any human remains of Jews.

26 | August 21, 2015

SIMCHAS | WE ARE READ

The Jewish Voice

BIRTH – Simon Hirsh Michler was born on April 23. He is the son of Penina Goldstein and Robin Michler; his grandparents include Beth Goldstein (formerly of Warwick) and Raphael Finkel. Simon has six great-grandparents, including Sidney and Alice Goldstein of Warwick. Sid and Alice are delighted to add Simon, their fi rst great-grandchild, to the family tree.

WE ARE READ – The Rich family (Harlan, son Ilan, wife Bev, daughter Samantha, and son Cole) during a recent visit to Italy, in front of the Great Synagogue of Florence.

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MILESTONE – Lisa and Rob Schwartz of East Providence enjoying some sunshine and incredible views during their 25th wedding anniversary in Italy. During their trip, the couple spent some relaxing time in Cinque Terre, Scapoli, Florence, and Venice. Rob made it a point to carry the Jewish Voice everywhere they went until they found a ideal spot for a snapshot.

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KIDS

FUN AND FAC TS FOR KIDS

August 21, 2015 |

27

Sponsored by the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association | info@rijha.com | Written by Ruth L. Breindel

Did you know: CHEDER

In Europe in the late 1700s and continuing until the Holocaust, the cheder was the main school for many Jewish boys. They began school between 3 and 5 years old, and studied Hebrew in order to read the Torah. In Orinin, in the Ukraine portion of Russia, the local rabbi was usually the teacher. Children came to his house to learn Hebrew, and he was paid by the parents. Girls did not go to school with boys; they were only taught the rudiments of Hebrew but did learn to read and write Yiddish (the common language spoken then, a mixture of Hebrew, German and the local language of the area). If you want to learn more about the education of children, check out the article Orinin, My Shtetl in the Ukraine by Beryl Segal, Rhode Island Jewish Historical Society Notes 6.4, pp. 553-556 at: www.rijha.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/6-4Nov-74-525-565.pdf

Make your own Do Not Disturb Sign

Back to school in September – whether secular or religious, students come prepared to study and learn.

Here, in this picture from 1974, Jenny Klein is showing the students the Torah scroll at Temple Emanu-El.

1. Take a piece of cardboard or heavy paper 4” x 6” or so 2. 1.5” from the top and left side, write DO NOT DISTURB 3. 1.5” from top and right side on the other side of the sign put the picture of the book 4. punch 2 holes into top of sign: 1” from each corner and ½” down from top; put string or ribbon through to make a strap to hang on the doorknob 5. decorate it as you like and hang on your door

Riddles:

1. What part of the fish weighs the most?

2. What has 4 legs, a foot and a head?

1. The scales.

2. A bed.

Answers

DO NOT DISTURB

There is something very special about the High Holy Days It’s a time for you to nourish your Jewish identity - to connect to the community and feel welcome.

The Jewish Alliance and area synagogues are partnering for the fourth year to open their doors for the High Holy Days.

Tickets are now available for the following High Holy Days: Erev Rosh Hashanah, September 13 First day of Rosh Hashanah, September 14 Second day of Rosh Hashanah, September 15 Erev Yom Kippur, September 22 Yom Kippur, September 23 Who is eligible?

• New community members • Community members currently unaffiliated with any synagogue and have not yet been affiliated to the synagogue they wish to attend for 4 or more years • Community members who have never participated in this program

Tickets will be available through September 10.

For more information contact Wendy Joering at 401.421.4111 ext. 169 or wjoering@jewishallianceri.org.

Please note: This offer is valid for family members residing at the same address.

Individuals age 25 and older must apply for their own tickets.

Participating Congregations: Congregation Agudas Achim, Attleboro Congregation Beth David, Narragansett Congregation Beth Sholom, Providence Congregation B’nai Israel, Woonsocket Congregation Sha'arei Tefilla, Providence Congregation Mishkon Tfiloh, Providence Congregation Sons of Jacob, Providence Newport Havurah* Temple Am David, Warwick Temple Beth-El, Providence Temple Emanu-El, Providence Temple Habonim*, Barrington Temple Shalom, Middletown Temple Sinai, Cranston Temple Torat Yisrael, East Greenwich Touro Synagogue, Newport United Brothers, Bristol West Bay Community Jewish Center, Warwick *All of Temple Habonim and Newport Havurah High Holy Day services are open to everyone.

‫שנה טובה‬

28 | August 21, 2015

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Let us help you unlock the answers to these questions and more.

A Living on the Edge Initiative • Providing a Safety Net • Promoting Self-sufficiency • Increasing Access to Jewish Life

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Welcome to AccessJewishRI.org—an Information & Referral website that brings people and services together, combined with personalized, confidential phone assistance. It is a single point of contact to access the multitude of services, activities, and resources provided by the Jewish community as well as social services, health care, and government agencies in greater Rhode Island.

We are the friendly voice at the end of the phone, a loving embrace, and a helping hand.

401.421.4111 ext. 411

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