July 2019

The Voice of Greater Rhode Island’s Jewish Community

JEWISH

JULY 2019 | TAMMUZ 5779

JEWISHRHODY.ORG

R H O DE I S L A ND

Reflections on the moon Community leaders recognized at Alliance meeting

This summer Temple Emanu-El takes to the Rhode

Congregation Beth David celebrates 40 years

Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island’s

Classic

34th Annual Dwares JCC

GOLF Dwares Rhode Island

Double Eagle Sponsors

Bonnie & Donald Dwares

Eagle Sponsors

Par Sponsors

Additional Thanks To:

Patty & Mel Alperin Pamela & Jeffrey Vogel Robbie & Judy Mann

Jeffrey Savit & Family David R. Katzen, M.D. | Adult & Pediatric Allergy

Ahava Catering Arden Manufacturing Atlantic Paper & Supply Bank Newport Brier & Brier Chace Ruttenberg & Freedman, LLP City & Estate Gardener Collette Travel Jeanie & Wayne Charness Kitchen Center of RI Law Offices of Ronald C. Markoff M&G Materials Handling Co.

Matrix Fitness McShane Home Improvements, Inc. Mills Coffee Roasting Co. New England Marketing Consultants, Inc. Pawtucket Credit Union PMA Industries Quality Fruitland R & M Electric, Inc. Residential Properties Rick Granoff and Randy Shatz-Cannabis Dispensary Stupell Industries LTD, Inc.

JULY 2019 | 3

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

JEWISH RHODE ISLAND

EDITOR Fran Ostendorf DESIGN & LAYOUT Leah Camara ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Peter Zeldin pzeldin@jewishallianceri.org 401-421-4111, ext. 160 Karen Borger ksborger@gmail.com 401-529-2538 CONTRIBUTORS Cynthia Benjamin, Larry Kessler, Michael Schemaille COLUMNISTS Michael Fink, Geraldine Foster, Patricia Raskin, Rabbi James Rosenberg, Daniel Stieglitz

VOLUME XXVI, ISSUE VII

No summer break for Jewish Rhode Island SURPRISE! WE’RE HERE IN JULY! That’s right. There’s no more summer break for your Jewish Rhody team. When Jewish Rhode Island switched to a monthly publication, we also decided to publish year-round. I thought the word had gotten out.

But many people have asked if we’d be publishing during the summer.

We hope it’s a pleasant surprise to receive your paper this week.

Here at the paper, summer has always offered us time for planning and reflection. And it gives us a chance to catch up on vacations, as well as work on the Guide to Jewish Living, our annual guide to all things Jewish in Rhode Island. We are still doing all that. It’s just a little more hectic than we’ve come to expect. But that’s okay.

Publishing in July gives us a chance to bring you news you might not otherwise see until later in the summer, including school graduation photos, featured on page 29, and the hap-

penings at synagogues across Rhode Island.

At the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center, our home, we are happy to hear the enthusiastic voices of children at J-Camp and see the activities that continue around the building. As we are out and about, we get ideas for future stories.

Are you traveling this summer? Don’t forget that you can check on the latest Jewish Rhode Island news at jewishrhody.org. And remember to take along a print edition to snap a photo for our “We Are Read” feature. We love to know what you are up to and where your travels take you.

Send photos to editor@jewishallianceri.org. Or you can upload photos and news directly to our website at jewishrhody.org/post.html. We’d be happy to print or post your photo in an upcoming issue of Jewish Rhode Island, in our newsletter or on our website.

Enjoy the lazy days of July. We’ll be back on Aug. 2!

Fran Ostendorf, Editor JEWISH RHODE ISLAND (ISSN number 1539-2104, USPS #465-710) is published monthly.

Peter Zeldin joins Jewish Rhode Island staff

BY JEWISH RHODE ISLAND STAFF

PERIODICALS Postage paid at Providence, R.I. POSTMASTER Send address changes to: Jewish Rhode Island, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, RI 02906.

PUBLISHER

The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, President/CEO Adam Greenman, Chair James Pious, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, RI 02906.

401-421-4111; Fax 401-331-7961 MEMBER of the Rhode Island Press Association

PETER ZELDIN is the new advertising director for Jewish Rhode Island. He will be leading our efforts to help businesses connect to our readers.

The East Greenwich resident has more than 25 years of experience as a sales and account executive with Cox Media. A New York native, Zeldin has lived in New England for many years.

“Jewish Rhode Island and jewishrhody.com are essential for bringing relevant content and advertising messages to the local community, and I am delighted to be the new advertising director,” he said.

“We are excited to have Peter join our team as Jewish Rhode Island moves forward with its new design and format,” said Fran Ostendorf,

editor. “He and ad representative Karen Borger will take our story to more Rhode Island businesses as we look toward the future. Growing our advertising revenue and engaging more businesses is essential to the continued success of the paper.”

Zeldin replaces Chris Westerkamp, who is retiring.

“Chris originally joined our team on a temporary basis to help us when our previous ad director left, and ended up on the team for well over two years,” said Ostendorf. “His commitment to the paper and his willingness to stay on much longer than he intended was a great boost to the paper and our community. We really appreciate that.”

Advertisers can reach Zeldin at pzeldin@jewishallianceri.org

Peter Zeldin

BUSINESS 24-25 | CALENDAR 7 | COMMUNITY 23 | D’VAR TORAH 5 FOOD 15 | OBITUARIES 26-27 | OPINION 8-9 | SUMMER 18-21 | SIMCHAS & WE ARE READ 30 COPY DEADLINES: All news releases,

photographs, etc., must be received on the Wednesday 10 days prior to publication. Submissions may be sent to: editor@ jewishallianceri.org.

ADVERTISING: We do not accept adver-

tisements for pork or shellfish. We do not attest to the kashrut of any product or the legitimacy of advertisers’ claims.

THE MISSION OF JEWISH RHODE ISLAND is to communicate Jewish news, ideas and ideals by connecting and giving voice to the diverse views of the Jewish community in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, while adhering to Jewish values and the

professional standards of journalism.

ALL SUBMITTED CONTENT becomes the property of Jewish Rhode Island.

Announcements and opinions contained in these pages are published as a service to the community and do not nec-

essarily represent the views of Jewish Rhode Island or its publisher, the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island. We reserve the right to refuse publication and edit submitted content.

ON THE COVER: July 20 marks the 50th anniver-

sary of the first moon landing. For local thoughts on this historic moment, see pages 16 and 17.

PHOTO | www.canstockphoto.com

4 | JULY 2019

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

UP FRONT Jewish Rhode Island recently spoke with Rabbi Satlow at her UMass office: You grew up in the New York area, but you’ve lived in Rhode Island for 16 years. Do you consider yourself more of a New Yorker or a Rhode Islander?

The house I’m living in now I’ve lived in longer than any other house in my life, so I guess I’m a Rhode Islander.

What have you found surprising or interesting about Rhode Island?

There are three seasons where I love the weather; winter isn’t that great. I love living near the ocean, and I love living on the East Side, because we’re walking distance to the JCC [the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center], Brown, Beth-El, Emanu-El and Beth Sholom [temples].

Rabbi Jacqueline Romm Satlow

Rabbi Satlow is doing her part to educate the next generation

BY MICHAEL SCHEMAILLE

R

ABBI JACQUELINE SATLOW, her husband Michael Satlow and their three children moved to Providence 16 years ago, when Michael became a professor of Judaic Studies and Religious Studies at Brown University. The couple’s son Donnie just graduated from Brown, while daughter Penina has completed her first year there.

Son Jeremy will be a high school senior in the fall.

RABBI JACQUELINE ROMM SATLOW is the Jewish culture coordinator and director of the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She was born in Yonkers, New York, and lived there until the age of 10, when her family moved across the Hudson River to Westfield, New Jersey. After earning degrees from Barnard and Hebrew Union colleges, Satlow spent five years studying in Israel.

Why did you decide to join the rabbinate?

In New Jersey, we belonged to a very active Reform synagogue. I was drawn to the youth group, and teachers, rabbis and advisers gave me a wonderful spiritual base. I was looking for a way to bring together my love of Israel, spirituality and Jewish texts, and the rabbinate was a natural way to bring all of those things together.

So you identify most with the Reform movement?

Of course, because in a way they created me, but I’ve had the chance to study with many different people and appreciate the diversity of Jewish life.

What are the responsibilities of your position as Jewish culture coordinator?

I’m the faculty adviser for UMass Dartmouth Hillel, which is mostly student-run. I bring Jewish cultural events to campus. The more money the organization has, the better programming we can do.

And what about your work as the director of the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life?

I’ve been in that position for a bit more than three years. I oversee and coordinate all of the campus clergy, and interface between them and the university. We have a priest, deacon, swami, pastor, and we’re always looking to bring more clergy in. I have a series of lectures on religious diversity, and help to educate literate members of society. My favorite

thing is teaching, and learning from everybody – but making sure that each group is having their needs met can be a challenge.

Why did you choose to work with students?

I think it’s a great stage of life.

I enjoy working with students as they’re trying to set up their lives. When I moved to Providence with three small kids, working with students seemed like a great fit.

What’s your favorite thing about working with students?

I really like teaching in a college classroom. I like doing my part in educating the next generation [so they] can think critically and ask questions.

I like helping them emerge as well-rounded, thoughtful and well-educated citizens.

What do you find rewarding about your work?

I don’t just work with students; I do a whole bunch of Jewish programming. We’ve had visits from [novelist] Jonathan Safran Foer, [philosopher and novelist] Rebecca Goldstein, [novelist] Tova Mirvis. Jewish culture is really fascinating – that’s one thing I enjoy.

What sorts of challenges do you face in your work?

There’s a very small Jewish population here. I do a lot of interfaith work, and just a little piece with Jewish students.

What sorts of students do you work with? Is there much diversity?

In general, I work with a lot of first-generation college students and Americans, but I’ve had students whose parents were Russian, Israeli, Argentinian … that’s a little unusual for the American Jewish community in this generation.

We have students from all backgrounds – Conservative, Orthodox, Reform and some that don’t really know that they’re Jewish, or they know they’re Jewish, but that’s all they know. I’ve worked with people who’ve discovered they’re Jewish, and helped them to figure out where to go from there.

What sort of religious programming have you done on campus?

Recently, we had a program co-sponsored by Hillel and [global education provider] CONTINUED ON PAGE 23

JULY 2019 | 5

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

Pittsburgh Jewish federation gives more than $650,000 to Christchurch victims

BY MARCY OSTER

Lessons from a failed rebellion in the desert IF YOU HAVE BEEN keeping up with our weekly Torah portions, you know that we are now following the adventures of the ancient Israelites as they travel the Wilderness of Sinai. Moses, as leader and chief honcho of the 12 tribes, must bear the constant murmurings and rebelliousness of the people.

In this week’s portion, called Korach, we read about the most celebrated rebel in the Bible – namely, Korach.

Korach, who happens to be Moses’ cousin, tries to usurp Moses’ authority by claiming that he, Korach, has as much right to lead the people as Moses does.

In addition to his words, Korach relies on his two cohorts, Datan and Aviram, who, as members of the eldest tribe, Reuben, claim that they too deserve to take on leadership roles, since they are descendants of the firstborn son of Jacob.

This rebellion was the most serious that Moses and Aaron had to face in the entire 40 years that they wandered in the desert. And, like so many other rebellious efforts, this one ends in failure.

God comes to the rescue of the good guys, and the bad ones are dramatically destroyed. Some are literally swallowed up by the earth. Others are burned, and still others are struck with a plague.

Oddly, the Torah is silent about the true motives for Korach’s rebellion. Aside from his obvious desire to participate in leading the people, or his finger-pointing attitude that seems to say to Moses, “what makes you so high and mighty?,” we know little about what drove Korach to challenge Moses’ leadership.

AR

What we do know is what Korach actually said: “Since all the community is holy, and the Lord is in their midst, why then do you [Moses] raise yourself above the Lord’s congregation?” In other words, if we accept for the moment that Korach is posing a legitimate question, he is saying the following: “Moses, here is a challenging thought – if God is indeed everywhere, and thus by definition within our midst, then whoever happens to be the leader will have God’s support.

“In addition, if all of us are in fact holy, why do we need someone like you to instruct us in the laws, which we don’t RABBI ETHAN need since we are all holy anyway?”

ADLER If we stop and think about it, and give Korach the benefit of the doubt, it is a fair question, one that begs for a meaningful answer.

Martin Buber, the great Jewish philosopher, proclaimed that Korach posed an insoluble contradiction – that we are all supposed to be holy, yet, alas, we will never truly be a holy people.

Rashi, the famous interpreter, seemed to think that Korach was not so ingenious. He argues that when Korach said “we are all a holy people,” he simply meant that since the entire congregation witnessed the giving of the Torah at Sinai, everyone should have equal rights in assuming the leadership.

Still, there are others who try to paint a better picture of Korach. They interpret his words as: “Moses, since we are all bathed in the holiness of God, why do you assume the leadership to yourself? Let us, who are also holy, help you.”

TO R A

H

JTA — The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh will give more than $650,000 to victims of the Christchurch terror attacks on two mosques that left 51 worshippers dead.

More than $60,000 of that total was raised by the Tree of Life congregation, which was targeted by an anti-Semitic gunman five months earlier on Oct. 27, 2018.

“After the March 15 attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, we feel compelled to come to the aid of those communities, just as our Jewish community was so compassionately supported only a few short months ago by people around the world of many faiths. We recall with love the immediate, overwhelming support Tree of Life received from our Muslim brothers and sisters in Pittsburgh,” the congregation wrote on the GoFundMe page it set up two days after the Christchurch attack in order to raise funds for the Federation’s effort.

The money will be transferred to the Christchurch Foundation, and will be used for counseling and other support services, education and vocational training, medical treatment and financial planning for the victims and their immediate families, the Federation announced on June 28, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The money also will be used for programs that bring the Muslim and Jewish communities together, according to the report.

D’VAR TORAH

D’ V

NEWS

So, was Korach being rebellious, or was he merely questioning? Was he genuine, or was he a phony? Was Korach on God’s side or was he on Korach’s side?

Whatever we ultimately conclude, one thing is for sure – the challenge that Korach presented was not so much in what he said, but in how he said it.

(As it happened, Korach’s family did continue to serve with high distinction, and one of his descendants was the great prophet Samuel. Ten of the 150 psalms are attributed to the sons of Korach, and many of his offspring continued to function in the temple court.)

That Korach’s actions resulted in a great punishment reflects the way he went about letting Moses know his thoughts. It seems that the process was punished, more than his actual words.

There are some terrific lessons here: • Korach spoke up, which is good; but he only spoke up for his own benefit, which is not so good.

• Korach associated himself with members of the community, which is good; but these members were not community-minded, which is not so good. As someone once said, your companions are a good reflection of who you are.

• Korach established himself as a spokesman for the people, which is good. But most people ignored him, and his words, which for him was not so good.

Korach forgot, or did not know, a basic law of community: Leadership is not something you just ask for and are given. Just as the man on TV used to say, “You have to earn it!”

ETHAN ADLER is rabbi of Temple Beth David, in Narragansett.

Shavuot celebration brought community together

Candle lighting times in Greater Rhode Island

July 5

8:05 p.m.

July 12

8:02 p.m.

July 19

7:58 p.m.

July 26

7:52 p.m.

Aug. 2

7:44 p.m.

PROVIDENCE – On a beautiful June 9, more than 70 moms, dads and children gathered at the driveway of Jonah and Rashmi Licht for ice cream sundaes and root beer floats. It was the holiday of Shavuot and traditionally dairy dishes or milk products are specifically enjoyed on this holiday.

As everyone was enjoying their dairy treats, Rabbi Noach Karp of Shoresh RI engaged the kids and some of the adults in a discussion

about the holiday and why we eat dairy.

With much excitement, the children shared their knowledge and learned some new ideas about the dairy connection to the holiday.

Rabbi Karp asked “does anyone know what the largest living organism is in the world?” Different options were tossed around, including the blue whale, the Redwoods and dinosaurs.

However, the answer is the Aspen tree. If you look at

this tree it’s not very large, but if you look beneath the surface you will find that the entire Aspen forest is connected via its common roots. So when a tree at one end of the forest is hurting, the trees miles down at the other end of the forest are hurting, too.

This, Rabbi Karp suggested, is a perfect analogy for the Jewish people and the holiday of Shavuot, when we became one big family.

Our bubbies and zaydes, savtas and sabbas, all stood

around Mount Sinai and became like one nation with one heart, one big family, he said. And this is the real reason we all got together on Shavuot.

The children broke into groups to play some holiday-themed games. The adults enjoyed root beer floats that make you “float,” and some of the high school girls from New England Academy of Torah read books with the toddlers in the group.

Submitted by Shoresh RI

6 | JULY 2019

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

New head of the Alliance’s board has a vision for R.I.’s Jewish community

BY FRAN OSTENDORF

S

pend some time talking to Jamie Pious and you can understand how he has landed as chair of the board of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

The Barrington resident is full of enthusiasm and hope for the Jewish community. And he’s accustomed to volunteering when he sees a need.

He’s pretty confident, too. Rabbi Andrew Klein, of Temple Habonim, introduced him at the Alliance’s annual meeting and, among other things, mentioned that Pious enjoys doing crossword puzzles – with a pen!

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve this community,” Pious said in a recent interview. “I’m doing this for the opportunity to pay it forward.”

Pious has already held many volunteer and leadership positions in the Jewish community. A longtime member of Temple Habonim, in Barrington, he started volunteering there on the education committee; moved on to the board, where he served during the congregation’s building expansion; and helped with the inaugural Gift of Israel program. He has also served on the board of the Bureau of Jewish Education and in volunteer positions for the then Jewish Federation of Rhode Island.

He and his wife Lezli live in Barrington. He grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, and she is from Fall River. They were married at Temple Emanu-El in Providence, and have two adult sons, Dan and Jordan. Dan is maried

to daughter-in-law Jamie, Pious said with a chuckle, since many people call him Jamie.

He said the whole family is supportive of this commitment.

After more than 15 years of volunteering and leading, Pious knows a little bit about the community and the Alliance.

“Taking care of people from birth through the senior years is important,” Pious said.

“We have to modify with the times,” he said.

“We can’t do the same old, same old.”

The community needs new programming, new approaches to fundraising and new ideas to engage the next generation, he said.

And he wants to finish some of the things that his predecessor, Mitzi Berkelhammer, started, including an ongoing examination of the allocations process.

“We have a terrific staff and a loyal core of volunteers that we need to grow,” he said.

“I know there are more people out there who want to help,” he said, and he wants to find ways to get them involved.

Echoing what other leaders have been saying lately, Pious said it’s important to recognize that there’s more to Rhode Island’s Jewish community than what happens on the CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

Jamie Pious

Community’s accomplishments are the highlight of the Alliance annual meeting

BY FRAN OSTENDORF PROVIDENCE – More than 120 people attended the eighth annual meeting of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, on June 12. They gathered to honor members of the Jewish community with awards, recognize the accomplishments of the past year and transfer the leadership of the board of directors.

After a three-year term as chairwoman of the Alliance’s board, Mitzi Berkelhammer passed the gavel to James Pious, who has served the community in many volunteer leadership roles.

Berkelhammer was honored by her friend and past board chair Sharon Gaines, who spoke of her “warm and generous philanthropy.”

“You taught us how one gives from the heart to help Jews here and worldwide,” Gaines said.

“Your strength and leadership have moved this community through good times and trying times,” she continued, “you are leaving the Jewish Alliance stronger, healthier and more dynamic than when you arrived.”

Berkelhammer reflected on her term as chair, saying, “This has been a time of change personally and for the Alliance.” (Read Berkelhammer’s full statement on page 9.)

In his remarks while installing Pious as chair, Rabbi Andrew Klein of Temple Habonim in Barrington said, “I’m here to tell everyone present that at the start of this new chapter in the life of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, you have chosen a leader who will make a great trumpeting sound with his voice, with his clear thinking and with his courageous and visionary leadership.”

In his remarks, Pious said, “Today we face a lot of challenges, but those challenges are also opportunities.” He said he is looking forward to working with the professional staff and lay leadership.

Klein also installed new members of the boards of the Alliance, the Jewish Federation Foundation and Alliance Realty, Inc. During the event, held at the CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Mara Ostro and Mitzi Berkelhammer

PHOTOS | JEWISH ALLIANCE

JULY 2019 | 7

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

UP FRONT | CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS FOR COMPLETE MONTHLY LISTINGS, VISIT JEWISHRHODY.ORG

Ongoing

Alliance Kosher Senior Café.

Kosher lunch, program weekdays.

Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Noon lunch; 1 p.m. program. Information or RSVP, 401421-4111, ext. 107.

West Bay Kosher Senior Café.

Kosher lunch, program Fridays.

Temple Sinai, 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston. 11:15 a.m. program; noon lunch.

Information or RSVP, 401-421-4111, ext. 107.

Duplicate Bridge. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Mondays noon-2 p.m.: 0-20 masterpoint game for less-experienced players. $5.

Tuesdays and Fridays 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.: open stratified game, all levels. $7. Thursdays 1:30-3:30 p.m.: Guided play. $6. Information, abarton295@ aol.com or 401-390-9244.

Blackstone Boulevard Walk.

Wednesdays 9:30-11 a.m. Thru 8/28.

Meet at Three Sisters, 1074 Hope St., Providence. Chat with Temple Emanu-El clergy and staff, stroll the boulevard and get some exercise. Information, Sharon Sock at sharon@teprov.org or 401-331-1616.

Game Night: Mah Jongg. Wednesdays 6-8 p.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich.

Lessons available. Free. Information, Torat Yisrael office at 401-8856600.

Mussar Living with Rabbi Gavi Ruit. Wednesdays 7-8:30 p.m. Thru 8/14. Temple Beth-El, 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Mussar sages believed that in order to achieve greater Shalom (peace) in life, we must strive for greater Sh’lemut (wholeness). TBE members: $100 | Non-members: $125. Information, Jenn Thomas at jthomas@temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070.

Children’s Shabbat Programs and Kiddush. Shabbat mornings 10-11:30 a.m. Congregation Beth Sholom, 275 Camp St., Providence. For ages 2 to 12. Free. Information, office@ bethsholom-ri.org.

Sunday | July 7

Temple Emanu-El Hike with Us! 10-11 a.m. Wolf Hill Forest Preserve, Waterview Drive, Smithfield.

Information or RSVP (appreciated), Sharon Sock at sharon@teprov.org or 401-331-1616.

Tuesday | July 9

Bornstein Holocaust Education Center Game Day. 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Ledgemont Country Club, 131 Brown Ave., Seekonk, Mass. Information, May-Ronny Zeidman at May@ BornsteinHolocaustCenter.org or 401-453-7860.

Thursday | July 11

Wrestling with Faith. 6:30-8 p.m.

First of three sessions of an interactive course by the Jewish Learning

Institute. Upcoming dates: 7/18, 7/25.

Suggested donation: $10 per lesson, $20 to keep textbook. Information, Rabbi Yossi Laufer at rabbiwarwick@gmail.com or 401-884-7888.

“Providence Lost”: An Interfaith Pre-Screening. 7-9 p.m.

Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Nonfiction film follows a family undergoing eviction and searching for a new home. Followed by a panel and public conversation.

Sponsored by Jewish Alliance of Greater RI, RI Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty, RI State Council of Churches. Free. Information, Stephanie Hague at shague@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 127.

“The Jewish God Question.”

7:45-9:15 p.m. Congregation Beth Sholom, 275 Camp St., Providence.

Three-session mini-course based on Prof. Andrew Pessin’s new book, “The Jewish God Question: What Jewish Thinkers Have Said About God, the Book, the People, and the Land.” Cost: $15 (or $40 for all three sessions, includes copy of the book).

Upcoming dates: 7/18, 7/25. Information, www.andrewpessin.com.

Friday | July 12

Temple Emanu-El’s Rabbi Talk.

2-3 p.m. Tamarisk Assisted Living Residence, 3 Shalom Drive, Warwick. Meet, learn and nosh with Rabbi Michael Fel. Share your wisdom/history about Jewish life in Rhode Island with our new head rabbi. Information, Sharon Sock at sharon@teprov.org or 401-331-1616.

Temple Emanu-El’s Shabbat in the Park. 5:30-7 p.m. Tot Lot, Summit Avenue and 9th Street, Providence.

Welcome Shabbat with songs, a story and a bring-your-own picnic dinner. Look for us in aqua-colored “Temple Emanu-El On the Rhode” T-shirts. RSVP appreciated at summer@teprov.org.

T.G.I.F. – Thank G-D It’s Friday.

5:45-7 p.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich.

Shabbat songs and story with Rabbi Aaron Philmus followed by a potluck dairy meal. Information or RSVP, Torat Yisrael office at 401-8856600.

Kabbalat Shabbat Service. 7:30-9 p.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich.

Service followed by Oneg. Information, stephanie@toratyisrael.org or 401-885-6600.

Saturday | July 13

Taste of Shabbat. 9-11 a.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. 9 a.m. Torah discussion; 9:45 a.m. service and light Kiddush.

Information, stephanie@toratyisrael. org or 401-885-6600.

Monday | July 15

Summer Blast Sale. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

The Miriam Hospital Gift Shop, 164 Summit Ave., Providence. The Miriam Hospital Women’s Association and the Gift Shop will be holding a sale from 7/15-7/26 with most items 10%-75% off. Information, vickie.scott@lifespan.org.

Four Faiths Four Landmarks Walking Tour. 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Touro Synagogue, 52 Spring St., Newport. Tour historic houses of worship (Touro Synagogue, the United Baptist Church, Newport Congregational Church and Channing Memorial Church) that symbolize Newport’s commitment to freedom of religion and religious diversity. Cost: $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students. Information, 4faiths.org.

Wednesday | July 17

Temple Emanu-El’s Ice Cream & 80s Band Concert. 5:30-8 p.m. Sundaes, 775 Oaklawn Ave., Cranston. Meet at Sundaes for ice cream and schmoozing followed by an 80s-themed concert at 6:30 p.m. at Garden City. Look for us in the aqua-colored “Temple Emanu-El On the Rhode” T-shirts. Information, Sharon Sock at sharon@teprov.org or 401-331-1616.

Thursday | July 18

Wrestling with Faith. 6:30-8 p.m.

Interactive course by the Jewish Learning Institute. The second of three classes. Final class: 7/25. Suggested donation: $10 per lesson, $20 to keep textbook. Information, Rabbi Yossi Laufer at rabbiwarwick@ gmail.com or 401-884-7888.

“The Jewish God Question.” 7:459:15 p.m. Congregation Beth Sholom, 275 Camp St., Providence. Second session of mini-course based on Prof. Andrew Pessin’s new book, “The Jewish God Question: What Jewish Thinkers Have Said About God, the Book, the People, and the Land.” Cost: $15 ($40 for all three sessions, includes copy of book).

Final session: 7/25. Information, www.andrewpessin.com.

Friday | July 19

Temple Torat Yisrael Beach Shabbat. 6-8 p.m. Goddard Park, 1095 Ives Road, Warwick. Informal, interactive family service with lots of great singing . Potluck dairy picnic to follow service. Bring a beach chair.

Information, stephanie@toratyisrael. org or 401-885-6600.

Congregation Beth David Beach Service. 6:45 p.m. Narragansett Town Beach, Narragansett. Enjoy the second of three Friday night Narragansett beach services. Information, Jerry Kasten at 401-885-1296.

Shabbat under the Stars. 7-8:30 p.m. Temple Beth-El, 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Gather together on the Julie Claire Gutterman Biblical Garden patio to greet Shabbat with

song and stories. Enjoy special summer treats following the service.

Information, Kim Campbell at kcampbell@temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070.

Saturday | July 20

Classic Shabbat Service. 9-11 a.m.

Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Service followed by a Kiddush luncheon.

Information, stephanie@toratyisrael. org or 401-885-6600.

Sunday | July 21

Temple Emanu-El’s PawSox Game & Tailgate Party. Noon-5 p.m. McCoy Stadium, One Columbus Ave., Pawtucket. Begin with a tailgate party and Touch-A-Truck in the parking lot, then head into the stadium for the game at 1:05 p.m.

Cost: $18 (includes game ticket, tailgate food and Touch-A-Truck event). Game only: $12. Information, Sharon Sock at sharon@teprov.org or 401-331-1616.

Monday | July 22

Temple Emanu-El’s Stroller Walk.

10 a.m.-noon. Roger Williams Park Zoo, 1000 Elmwood Ave., Providence. See the animals, and enjoy a cold beverage on Temple Emanu-El. Bring your zoo membership if you have one; we also have guest passes. Meet at zoo entrance; we will wait 10 minutes for everyone to arrive. RSVP (appreciated), summer@teprov.org.

Temple Beth-El Summer Celebration. Noon-8:30 p.m. Agawam Hunt, 15 Roger Williams Ave., Barrington.

Golf tournament, tennis clinics, mah jongg, canasta and bridge groups.

Supervised activities for children, including swimming, cornhole, lunch, dinner party and video. Event ends with dinner and live auction. Golf: $350 per person; additional fees for other activities. Information, Ruby Shalansky at rshalansky@temple-beth-el.org.

Tuesday | July 23

Building through Connection Series: “Good Times, Bad Times – Putting a positive spin on the Jewish journey through history.”

7:30-8:45 p.m. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Presented by Rabbi Tzvi Gluckin. For adults. Suggested donation: $10, $5 students and young professionals.

Information, Naftali Karp at naftalikarp@gmail.com, or 401-632-3165.

Temple Emanu-El’s Providence Ghost Tour. 8-9:30 p.m. Prospect Terrace Park, Congdon Street, Providence. 90-minute walking tour traveling in the footsteps of literary giants, artists. Wear comfortable footwear. Bring a camera. Information, Sharon Sock at sharon@teprov. org or 401-331-1616.

Wednesday | July 24

Cranston Senior Guild Bus Trip to Foxwoods. 9:15 a.m. Rhode Island Mall (near Burlington Coat Factory), 650 Bald Hill Road, Warwick. Trip includes roundtrip deluxe motor coach and buffet or $10 food coupon to any restaurant at Foxwoods. Cost (due 7/6): $27. Depart Foxwoods at 3:15 p.m. to arrive back at 4:15 p.m.

Information, Sunny at 401-785-0748.

Thursday | July 25

Wrestling with Faith. 6:30-8 p.m.

Final class of this course by the Jewish Learning Institute. Suggested donation: $10 per lesson, $20 to keep textbook. Information, Rabbi Yossi Laufer at rabbiwarwick@ gmail.com or 401-884-7888.

“The Jewish God Question.” 7:459:15 p.m. Congregation Beth Sholom, 275 Camp St., Providence. Final session of mini-course based on Prof.

Andrew Pessin’s new book, “The Jewish God Question: What Jewish Thinkers Have Said About God, the Book, the People, and the Land.”

Cost: $15 ($40 for all three sessions, includes copy of book). Information, www.andrewpessin.com.

Friday | July 26

Kabbalat Shabbat Service. 7:30-9 p.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich.

Service followed by Oneg. Information, stephanie@toratyisrael.org or 401-885-6600.

Saturday | July 27

Taste of Shabbat. 9-11 a.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. 9 a.m. Torah discussion; 9:45 a.m. service and light Kiddush.

Information, stephanie@toratyisrael. org or 401-885-6600.

Sunday | July 28

Temple Emanu-El’s Community Bike Path Ride. 9-11 a.m. Barrington Bike Path, Barrington. Meet at the bike path at 9 a.m. Information and RSVP (appreciated), summer@ teprov.org.

Temple Emanu-El’s Pop-Up Kickball Game. 3:30-5 p.m. Field behind Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Come with a team or join a team when you arrive. Bring the family to watch or play on the playground nearby. To sign up, email summer@teprov.org.

Monday | July 29

Building through Connection: “A Woman’s Ticket to Eternity: Inner strengths that you didn’t know you had.” 7:30-8:45 p.m. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence.

Presented by Mrs. Chana Silver.

Light refreshments. For women only. Suggested donation: $10, $5 students and young professionals.

Information, Naftali Karp at naftalikarp@gmail.com or 401-632-3165.

8 | JULY 2019

LETTER

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY VOICES | OPINION

Rising anti-Semitism

Nina Tannenwald Providence, R.I.

Filmmaker shows that Iranians are not all that different from us

IT S E

ONLY A HANDFUL OF AMERICANS – outside of a small but dedicated circle of cinema aficionados – have ever heard of Asghar Farhadi. I learned about him quite by accident.

In searching for foreign films to add to our Netflix queue, a 2011 Iranian movie, “A Separation,” sparked my interest. The blurb announced that the film centers on a middle-class couple’s marital tensions, provoked by the husband’s desire to remain in Tehran to take care of his elderly and demented father while his wife insists that they leave the country to provide a better life for their 11-year-old daughter.

My wife, Sandy, and I found ourselves totally immersed in this drama, which details the ways in which three generations of a family are torn apart after being subjected to unexpected external stress.

So I looked for other works by the same director and screenwriter, who turned out to be Asghar Farhadi.

The second Farhadi film that we chose to view was his 2016 “The Salesman,” which takes its title from the play within the film, “Death of a Salesman,” by the highly respected American playwright Arthur Miller.

In an interview included on the DVD of “The Salesman,” Farhadi reveals that he wanted to bring the play into his film so that he could explore the complex interrelationships between actors on the stage, actors in film and the “real” lives that they live beyond the gaze of a paying audience.

As with “A Separation,” “The Salesman” explores the dynamics of a disintegrating middle-class marriage. In the aforementioned interview, Farhadi explains that as a filmmaker, he is drawn to the experi-

ence of married couples who, on the surface, seem to be working through their difficulties, but then the stress of unforeseen events pushes them over the edge.

Farhadi uses the image of throwing a stone into the calm water of a pond and watching the resultant ripples spread out, perhaps in unpredictable ways. In “The Salesman,” the stone thrown into the pond is this: having been forced out of their apartment, because the building is in immediate danger of collapse, a young couple relocates to a RABBI JAMES space whose ROSENBERG previous tenant was a prostitute. This prostitute “haunts” them in profoundly disturbing ways.

But in both “A Separation” and “The Salesman,” Farhadi is not content to stop at domestic drama; through evolving complications of character and plot, he compels his viewers to ponder age-old questions on the balance between justice and mercy: When does justice devolve into vengeance? When does mercy descend into a betrayal of justice?

A significant aspect of Farhadi’s genius is that at the end of both movies, he leaves his viewers in a state of disturbed but exhilarated moral ambivalence – not knowing what to think or how to feel.

Yet another dimension of Farhadi’s cinematic art is his implied criticism of the more rigid aspects of Iranian society, on both cultural and political levels. In his Jan. 22, 2017, article in The New Yorker, film critic Antony Lane comments on Farhadi’s

S TO M M E

E

I would like to thank the editor of Jewish Rhode Island, Fran Ostendorf, for publishing views on both sides of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) debate. This is a controversial topic. It is important that we hear all points of view.

In her letter (June 7) responding to the opinion piece by the pro-BDS Jewish students, Jane Arnold expressed concern that criticizing only Israel for its human rights abuses when many other states commit human rights crimes is unfair and “opens the door to attacks by anti-Semites.”

This is certainly a legitimate concern. There is little evidence for this argument, however.

The steep rise in anti-Semitic incidents over the last two years, as recorded and analyzed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the leading watchdog of anti-Semitism, has little connection to criticism of the Israeli government. Instead, it is almost entirely driven by right-wing, white-supremacist ideologies. At a panel on anti-Semitism at the JCC on May 30, Robert Trestan, the New England director of the ADL, presented its analysis of anti-Semitic incidents over the last few years. These include vandalism of cemeteries, harassment of Jews and Jewish institutions, anti-Semitic incidents at schools and colleges, and, of course, the horrific shootings in Pittsburgh and Poway. The vast majority of incidents were driven by white supremacist motivations. Very few were due to either “Islamic extremism” or left-wing criticism of Israel.

People who are concerned about rising anti-Semitism should be primarily concerned about right-wing white supremacism and growing intolerance of “the other” in general, whether that “other” is Jewish, Muslim, a person of color, gay, disabled or anything else. As Trestan noted, the shooter in the April 2019 Poway synagogue killings was inspired by the massacre of Muslims a month earlier at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. On its website, the ADL encourages people to “speak out against hate and extremism – particularly from the far right.”

One may disagree with campus criticism of Israel, but it is not a primary cause of rising anti-Semitism.

ability to be critical with impunity, to develop seemingly inoffensive stratagems to avoid official censorship.

With regard to “The Salesman,” Lane writes, “We don’t see a single cop, let alone a lawyer or a cleric, yet by their very absence we sense their clamp on society: a clever move

by Farhadi, who shows nothing that could vex Iranian censors but whose intent is nonetheless caustic and precise.”

What I find remarkable and inspiring in Farhadi’s films is that his portrayal of middle-class domestic life in Tehran is instantly recognizable. Though women are in head scarves and street signs are in Farsi, kitchens are well-stocked and filled with gadgets, high school students are armed with picture-taking cellphones, and men and women are struggling to make a living, to do what’s best for their kids. The people we observe in Farhadi’s films are clearly not their government; they are us.

As the movie critic Roger Ebert put it, “Farhadi tells his story with a fair and even hand. His only agenda seems to be to express empathy.”

I suppose it is Farhadi’s ability to spark a profound empathy in those who see his films that has drawn so many to his work.

It was only after we had seen both “A Separation” and “The Salesman” that Sandy and I found out that each film had won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Obviously, we are not the only ones to have been deeply stirred by Farhadi’s work.

JAMES B. ROSENBERG is rabbi emeritus at Temple Habonim, in Barrington. Contact him at rabbiemeritus@templehabonim.org.

Paris now has a ‘Jerusalem Square’

BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ JTA – Paris inaugurated a square named for Jerusalem, sparking protests by pro-Palestinian protesters.

Several dozen people staged a protest rally June 30 in Paris’ 17th district as Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon and Jewish community leaders applauded the

unveiling of the sign honoring the Israeli capital.

Paris used to have a Jerusalem Square until 1893, when it was renamed.

Joel Mergui, president of the Concictoire Communal Jewish organization, requested the municipal naming committee to rededicate a square for Jerusalem. The committee

voted in favor of the move in April.

Following the approval, the city council members of the France Unbowed far-left movement demanded it be annulled, arguing that naming a square for Jerusalem at present does not advance a vision of the city serving as the capital of a Palestinian state as

well as Israel.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo rejected this argument.

“Amid this resurgence of racist and anti-Semitic violence, it’s good to recall the ties between Paris and the Jewish community and to celebrate the friendship that unites Paris with the State of Israel,” she said in a statement.

Jewish Rhode Island publishes thoughtful and informative contributors’ columns (op-eds of 500 – 800 words) and letters to the editor (300 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 Jewish Rhode Island or the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

Send letters and op-eds to: Jewish Rhode Island, 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).

JULY 2019 | 9

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

Outgoing Alliance chair reflects on past three years

BY MITZI BERKELHAMMER This speech was presented June 12 to the annual meeting of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

The remarks have been edited for publication THIS IS MY FINAL PRESENTATION to you as Chair of the Board of the Jewish Alliance. I want to thank the past presidents of the Jewish Federation and Jewish Alliance for serving as my role models and mentors for the past three years. I would like to also thank my rabbis, Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman and Rabbi Sarah Mack, for their continued support.

This is an evening of change as I step down and Jamie Pious takes over as the new Chair of the Board.

There have been many changes in the last three years. In my personal life, a wedding, a funeral and the birth of two granddaughters.

At the Alliance, we have also had many changes. Here we are in this beautifully remodeled building, which reopened during the time I was Chair and has continued essentially nonstop renovations over my entire term. The restoration of this building has helped create a more desirable anchor for our Jewish community.

Of course, the change in Executive Directors, which I did not anticipate when my tenure began, has created new challenges and opportunities as Adam Greenman has put his own stamp on the organization.

Trine Lustig, our Chief Development Officer, moved on to other opportunities, but we were fortunate to hire Sara Masri, who worked for the Jewish Federation early in her career and is very knowledgeable about our organization and community. I am confident Sara will be a very capable addition.

Another big change is that our $60 million endowment is now being managed by the Rhode Island Foundation. We still retain the same controls, but have the benefit of a steady and professional oversight. I look forward to working with the Rhode Island Foundation in my new role as Chair of the Jewish Federation Foundation.

On a personal note, one of the highlights for me was attending the Lion of Judah conference in Florida. A number of us had the pleasure of making our daughters members of the Women’s Alliance Endowment Fund, hopefully to encourage the next generation to stay involved and see how difficult our allocation process is. At one point, I had a conversation with staff as to whom

the community would miss us the most if we ceased to exist. Would it be children in our Early Childhood Center, or would it be the students at the Athens Greece Jewish Day school, the children at Camp JORI, or the young people in the summer camps in the former Soviet Union who have two weeks a year to learn about their Jewish roots and keep alive their Jewish identity?

Would it be college students attending Hillel, who are trying to figure out their Jewish identity as adults on their own, or young adults in Berlin and Budapest who have just realized that they have Jewish ancestry? Would it be seniors at lunch in our building or Holocaust survivors living in an assisted living center in Israel.

These are the people that need us.

Locally, and in Israel and the entire world, Jewish community does rely on us. We feel the pressure of serving them and encouraging the community to continue its financial support so we don’t let them down.

Thank you to Jamie Pious, our campaign chair. Of course, I also want to thank Jamie for taking on the challenge of Board Chair and wish him well.

I want to thank all of you in this room who contributed to the 2019 campaign. As part of the Federation umbrella, we touch more Jewish lives on the planet than any other organization.

Many of you contribute to the campaign without thinking where your money goes. Next time you have a free moment, call us at the Alliance and we will arrange a visit with a core agency so you can see firsthand the work we do locally.

And if you are lucky enough to be on a trip to Israel or some other part of the world where Jews live, we can help you plan a visit to a Jewish site that received our services.

I would like to thank the Board of the Jewish Alliance, and the executive committee for all of its support and work this year. It was a pleasure working with all of you and I have learned so much from all of you. You have been an amazingly supportive team.

A special thank you to Adam Greenman. These are times of change in demographics, and how people interact with charitable organizations overall, and these changes raise a new set of challenges. Adam has worked to ensure that we deal with our challenges and opportunities. His is not an easy job!

I also want to thank the entire Alliance staff. My work with you has been a high point in my years

Mitzi Berkelhammer as Chair and many more as a volunteer.

Last October, after the incident at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, someone commented to me how it is terrible that the children have to see police as they come into school every morning. I answered no; my granddaughter always gives a little wave as she walks by.

Unfortunately, this is the reality of our life and I want to thank the Providence Police for being such a positive force.

And a special thank you to Gail Putnam, you have been my Alliance rock for all these years. You are the best; truly a woman of valor.

To Sharon Gaines: to anyone who has listened to me talk, they know Sharon and I share the same birthday. Recently, I was speaking with someone who was also a Gemini and she said to me a Gemini needs their special Gemini twin, Sharon, that is you.

Finally, to my family. My husband, Bob, has supported me in all my endeavors. And to my husband and my parents of blessed memory, whose generosity has allowed me the time and resources to focus on the work of the Alliance and other worthy activities. To my children, thank you for being you. I hope I am a good role model.

And finally, to the five most special people in my life: Sidney and Ida in Seattle, Aurora in Chicago, and especially Maya and Louisa here in Providence. Thank for your being there. I do this for you in the hope that there will remain a strong Jewish world for you to grow up in.

MITZI BERKELHAMMER served as chair of the board of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island from 2016-2019. She now serves as chair of the Jewish Federation Foundation board.

LETTER Misplaced blame?

I am responding to the recent letters that are critical of the two Brown students who wrote an editorial concerning Israel and the BDS campaign against it (June 2019). While I certainly support the students’ right to express controversial viewpoints about Israel in our Jewish paper, their arguments were rightly analyzed and subjected to critical review by the readership. However, I think the critics are missing the boat in addressing the real concerns.

It is easy to call these students “arrogant” and insulated from the real world in their ivy cocoon. Further, the critics are attempting to draw some conclusion that Brown is a hotbed of anti-Zionism and promotes a leftist agenda. Let me say outright that I am pro-Zionist and am horrified and dejected by the BDS proponents and their positions. But, one should consider two things before railing against Brown and the “arrogant” students.

First, Brown as an institution, through statements made by its forceful JEWISH president, (yes, Christina Paxson is Jewish) did not adopt the BDS referendum and has made it clear that such efforts to singularly punish Israel will not be tolerated from an institutional position. It is important and heartening that Brown would show this level of support.

Second, who is modeling this behavior for the students? Many of these students think that being critical of Israel is really expressing their love for Israel.

Sound familiar? This is the mission of J Street. J Street supports a critical “tough love” approach toward Israel. The Zionist Organization of America, led once by the great Louis Brandeis, comments frequently how J Street is anathema to the Israeli state. If a widely supported organization like J Street (particularly by members of Providence’s own clergy) is generating negative publicity against Israel, why do we foist so much blame on these students?

Maybe they are just an easier target to hit.

Bruce Lipsey Sharon, MA

10 | JULY 2019

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY VOICES

An unsung American journalist is Righteous Among the Nations

BY GERALDINE S. FOSTER Originally this article was due to appear in May at the time of Yom Ha-Shoah. The press of important news necessitated using the space for current events and delaying the article for a month. During May, the front page of the New York Times Book Section carried a review by Cynthia Ozick of Julie Orringer’s novel “The Flight Portfolio.” It a work of historical fiction. A major character was Varian Frye, the subject of my article. Here, was Cynthia Ozick telling a good part of his amazing life story, and it sounded very similar to what I had written.

Lest there be any thought of plagiarism, I put the article away, but then I changed my mind. Varian Frye was a hero, a part of our history that must not be forgotten.

THE ARTICLES in Remember the Past have always had some link to the history of the Jews in Rhode Island. This article does not, nor does the person about whom I am writing. Yet, because he acted with such moral courage in the face of depravity, he deserves to be remembered, especially in these perilous days when heroes are in short supply.

It was Berlin 1935. While on vacation in the city, a young American journalist, Varian Fry, witnessed a brutal attack on a group of Jews by Nazis.

Deeply affected by what he saw, he became, as he said, “an ardent anti-Nazi.”

With written and spoken words, Fry tried to awaken the free world to the threat posed

by Hitler’s regime. He also began raising money to support anti-Nazi organizations in Europe.

When France fell in June 1940, the Germans demanded, as a part of the armistice agreement, that the French government in Vichy turn over all the people on the Gestapo’s wanted list – artists, intellectuals, outspoken anti-Nazis, both Jews and non-Jews – who had sought safety in France.

A few days after the fall of France, the Emergency Relief Committee (ERC) was organized in New York with the mission of aiding the desperate refugees. It was founded on the initiative of Paul Hagen,

Ingrid Warburg, Varian Fry and the presidents of several American universities. Among its major financial supporters were the art collector Peggy Guggenheim and the heiress Mary Jane Gold, who lived in France. Another supporter was Eleanor Roosevelt, who persuaded her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to pressure the reluctant State Department to issue 200 visas.

The ERC sent Fry to Marseilles, France, to act as its agent. Marseilles was the port city where many refugees had arrived in hopes of finding some way to a safer haven.

Fry had studied the classics in college, which did little to prepare him for the kind of situation he would face.

With $3,000 hidden on his person and a list of 200 names, he arrived in Marseilles and set about trying to establish contact with those on his list and arrange for their travel to the U.S. As word of his mission spread, hundreds of people lined up at his hotel to beg for his help.

Fry soon realized that the American consulate was not going to assist in any way – and certainly not in providing additional visas once the original 200 were exhausted.

Faced with the overwhelming need, he sought alternate ways to help those in the most immediate danger. He rented an office and, with a group of associates – American expatriates, including Gold, French citizens and refugees – he founded the American Rescue Center.

Each day, the office was filled with desperate people.

Fry appealed to other consulates for visas. He learned how to trade American money on the black market for a better rate of exchange. He developed an underground operation. A refugee cartoonist was hired to forge documents.

Many refugees were smuggled over the Pyrenees Mountains through Spain to Portugal, often with Fry himself as their guide. Others, disguised as demobilized soldiers, traveled on French warships bound for North Africa.

Despite a police raid on his office and a brief imprisonment to serve as a warning, Fry remained in France and

continued his work, even after Jukowsky, was a professor of his passport had expired. archaeology at Brown UniverArrested once again, in sity.

August 1941, he was given Documentary films are one hour to pack and leave available on the lifesaving for Spain under guard. The work of the Sharps in American embassy had agreed Czechoslovakia and France to the expulsion order.

Upon his return to the U.S., Fry found himself the target of surveillance by the FBI. Former colleagues and friends avoided him.

Although Fry was responsible for rescuing 4,000 people, he was haunted by the thousands he could not save. He died alone in 1967 at age 59. A simple gravestone marks his burial site in Green-Wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, New York.

On July 21, 1994, Varian Fry was recognized

by Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to the Holocaust victims, as Righteous Among the Nations, the first American so named. In his home country, his single acts of moral courage are unmarked.

If you’ve been moved by Marc Chagall’s art, puzzled by the cubist sculptures of Jacques LipPHOTO | US HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM chitz, aggravated COURTESY OF ANNETTE FRY by the writings of Hannah Arendt, Varian Fry in Marseilles. France, 1940–1941. or healed as a result of knowledge gained through Otto Meyerhoff’s research, during World War II, and thank Varian Fry. Roddie Edmonds’ courage and Four other Americans have defiance while a prisoner of since been honored as Righwar in Germany. teous Among the Nations: Lois GERALDINE S. FOSTER is a past Gunden Clements, Waitstill president of the R.I. Jewish Sharp and Martha Dickie Historical Association. To Sharp Cogan, and Master Sgt. comment about this or any Frederick “Roddie” Edmonds.

RIJHA article, contact the Martha Sharp Cogan was RIJHA office at info@rijha.org born in Providence, she and or 401-331-1360.

Waitstill Sharp were married in Providence, and their daughter, Martha Sharp

JULY 2019 | 11

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

Reconnecting to Providence from Israel Aliyah – 12 Years Later

BY DANIEL STIEGLITZ

I

love feeling nostalgic. The connection to the past is one of the many reasons that I have been writing this column for almost 12 years. I am able to connect this home,

Israel, that I chose over a decade ago, with the home that I come from, Providence, Rhode Island.

Of the many fond memories I have of growing up in Providence, a high number of them come from the Providence Hebrew Day School (PHDS), which I attended from kindergarten through eighth grade.

By the time I reached eighth grade, my class was a mere 11 students, myself included. In all of the years that I attended PHDS, this was my favorite. The 11 of us were a tight-knit group of friends. This year, two of my former classmates – Yoni Halper and Rivky (Rubenstein) Weiss – joined me in Israel after making aliyah with their respective families.

The last time the three of us were all together was probably soon after eighth-grade graduation almost 25 years ago. Fast forward to a few months ago, when I had a chance encounter with Yoni in Jerusalem. From that encounter came the idea for this 12th aliyah anniversary article.

Now that over 25% of our class is here in Israel, I thought I should celebrate this milestone. Trying to get three adults together is easier said than done. So, our reunion took place via video conference.

Both Yoni and Rivky described the journey that led them to bring

The three friends talk via Skype.

their respective families to Israel this past year. After getting married, Yoni worked at various Jewish Federations in the United States until he eventually decided to start his own business – a fundraising strategy and project-management firm.

One thing we have in common is that we have both published books.

Yoni’s book is titled, “Date Your Donors.” Yoni and his wife knew that aliyah was a common goal. They got the wake-up call they needed when one of their recently-retired neighbors died soon before his planned aliyah. They realized that they should not wait any longer to make their dream come true.

Rivky made aliyah while single, after coming to Israel for posthigh school seminary. She and her husband stayed in Israel for a few years and then decided to temporarily return to the United States.

Rivky became a professional dog trainer.

After 13 years back in the U.S., the puzzle pieces fell into place, and they decided to return to Israel.

Both Yoni, Rivky and their families live in Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph. Their eldest daughters are

Dani Stieglitz and Yoni Halper met recently in Israel. Below right, pages from the PHDS eighth-grade yearbook. in school together and are good friends, so a Providence friendship has truly carried on to the next generation here in Israel. Both families are in agreement – “We all love Israel!”

Of course there were times in our conversation that brought us back to the Providence connection. Yoni and Rivky compared life in Israel to life in Providence in terms of the freedom we had as kids in relation to the freedom their kids now have in Israel. Back in the old days, if we couldn’t find a parent to drive us to the movies, we’d just hop on our bikes and ride to the movie theater in East Providence. Here in Israel, that kind of freedom works to a higher degree, since you know that your child is being watched over by all the moms who are looking out for your kid as much as their own.

Yoni added that he gave up a bigger home in the States where his children stayed inside playing video games, for a smaller one in Israel where they’re outside playing with their friends more. In fact, friendship for the children carries a whole new weight to it. Yoni’s eldest son describes the stark contrast between friendships in the U.S versus those in Israel. “When you fall down, you aren’t laughed at. You’re helped up.”

We also reminisced about our years together in Providence and at PHDS. There were times when we laughed about the past more than we talked about our present lives here in Israel. It gave me that boost of nostalgia I always crave.

Israel is my home, but Providence, Rhode Island, will always be where I’m from. Nothing will ever change that.

DANIEL STIEGLITZ (dstieglitz@gmail. com) is a certified Life Coach who lives in Jerusalem. His collection of short stories, Tavern of the Mind, is available for paperback and Kindle purchase on Amazon. www.amzn.to/2Izssrz.

12 | JULY 2019

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

Dwares JCC Golf Classic raises $63,000

BY SETH FINKLE

Left to right: David Epstein, Gail St. Pierre, James Galkin, Donald Dwares

Left to right: Susan Dewsnap, Cindy Popovic, Claire Perlman, Linda Miller

CRANSTON – On June 3, golfers arrived at the beautiful Alpine Country Club to a shining sun, warm weather and a bit of wind for the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island’s 34th Annual Dwares JCC Golf Classic.

Chaired by Cindy and Mark Feinstein, the event grossed approximately $63,000 to support programs at the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center, in Providence. Sponsors included nearly 40 local businesses and individuals, with Double Eagle Sponsors Bonnie and Donald Dwares and The Miriam Hospital.

The Dwares JCC is a central hub for education, wellness, and cultural and engagement programming for the local Jewish community and beyond. Donations support scholarships for children to attend the David C. Isenberg Family Early Childhood Center and J-Camp, as well as other initiatives such as PJ Library, the Eides Family J-Space Afterschool Program and a range of social programs for seniors.

Golfers enjoyed lunch, a round of golf, on-course contests and a dinner/awards ceremony.

Before the tournament started, Adam Greenman, president and CEO of the Jewish Alliance, welcomed guests and shared the importance of the tournament and the Alliance’s work. During dinner, Mark Feinstein talked about the importance of the Alliance’s PJ Library program and the impact it has on the community, children and early literacy.

Following these introductions, Michelle Cicchitelli, senior director of youth and family engagement, gave an overview of PJ Library – this year’s Fund A Need

beneficiary – and the importance of increasing its funding.

“For only $40, one child can have the joy of receiving books for one year. Children love receiving their books in the mail. This is something they look forward to each and every month. PJ Library serves nearly 650 children in Rhode Island each month, which translates into 80,000 books distributed to children in Rhode Island since the program began,” Cicchitelli said.

Jamie Pious, the soon to be installed chair of the board of directors, concluded the remarks on PJ Library by asking participants to consider donating to the program so more children can receive books and enhance their love of reading.

Congratulations to the tournament’s winners: 1st Gross: Rick Granoff, Andy Wielder, Howard Lazarus 1st Net Men: Rob Sherwin, Dan Hamel, Steve Wolf, Manny DeRosa 2nd Net Men: Tom Humphreys, Scott Bielecki, Michael Friedman, Richard Mittleman 3rd Net Men: Jamie Pious, Daniel Pious, Michael Evans, Matthew Plosker 1st Net Mix: Donald Dwares, David Epstein, James Galkin, Gail St. Pierre 2nd Net Mixed: Mark & Cindy Feinstein and Bob & Cathy Oresman.

Closest to the Pin, Men: Mike Evans.

Longest Drive: Cathy Oresman Hit the Green: Bob Vetromite Putting Contest: Steven Deware SETH FINKLE is manager of development at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

Left to right: Andrew Robinson, Ralph Posner, Russell Robinson, Stanley Wachtenheim

Left to right: Alan Litwin, John Galvin, Mike Tousignant, Patrick Rogers Left to Right: Rich Dunn, David Ruggieri, Steve Russell, Scott Lajoie

JULY 2019 | 13

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

An unexpected adventure leads to a treasure chest

SKE

T

THAT OLD COASTAL POSTAL ROAD along the way to the Towers in Narragansett: it sums up the history of South County, as it is commonly called in the towns with their wee shopping centers.

Once in a while during antique auto shows, I spot a very early motorized fire engine, an elegant miniature marvel!

Or a fine roadster proudly maintained by its current chauffeur, who drives the sporty masterpiece of yore.

Well, the other day I came upon an unexpected adventure after opening up our summertime retreat in “Middlebridge,” our section of Narragansett. We took a jonnycake break from our tasks of getting rid of the signs of mice indoors and the weeds choking the garden treasures outdoors.

Next door to the restaurant/cafe, there’s a parking lot with a few rocking chairs and toy chests in front.

Indoors reigned ... The Twilight Zone!

A sturdy chap named Richard greeted me and encouraged my tour of the inner sanctum. The entire saga of this glorious seaside region is contained among the neat clutter of this treasure chest of a store, freshly opened the day before we found it.

Maps of Narragansett Bay, newspapers dating to the late 19th century, carefully wrapped and preserved, some framed. Ancient volumes of for-

CH

gotten lore, some damaged, but some in perfect condition.

Large, locally crafted sculptures of native birds, and tiny models of longago playthings. Every item personally chosen, hoarded respectfully and displayed proudly.

“Gee, I should leave the complete contents of my loft, studio, garage, cellar, closets, attic to you to care for, honor, sell or just enjoy. How did you decide to open your business/ museum here, of all MIKE FINK places?” I said.

Richard’s answer astounded me. It turns out he had come full circle.

“I graduated from the University of Rhode Island, which explains the logo on that black rocking chair in front on the sidewalk. I was an athlete, a runner, and was sent with a team to Israel,” he said. “The kibbutz I stayed at wanted me to make aliyah, but I wanted to see more of the world. And somehow I won a prize that made it possible to fly from one airport to another before getting back to campus here. I sort of ran around the globe like a giant track!”

I’m not usually nosy with strangers, but I made like a real reporter and asked questions with focus.

“Do you have children?”

“Yeah, three, and my daughter is

BOOK

A surprising summertime treasure SPEAKING OF SOUTH COUNTY and its surprises, I launched the summertime with “Love and other Fables” at Theatre by the Sea in Wakefield, and found a Jewish element within its musical tragic-comic premiere performance.

“Love and Other Fables” gave me much to mull over. How “Aesop” is a variation in the spelling of “Ethiope.”

He was a “Falasha” slave who survived in chains after the defeat of Queen Judith’s aristocratic African and Jewish realm through his skill at weaving fables.

He hid his human and humane hopes for freedom, peace and love within the disguise of animals he knew from those Semien Mountains near Eritrea, the lions and the baboons.

Many a true word is

said in jest, the privilege of all clowns in court. He brought the Torah and its wisdom into tale-telling.

I thought back to my boyhood: unlike our neighbors, we lit logs in our fireplace, which was surrounded by built-in bookcases. My mother would take down the Aesop section of the red, leather-bound Harvard Classics and read to us. I turned away from the lessons in common sense but later rediscovered their magic and their melancholy.

The actual Aesop was executed for his revolutionary ideas by being thrown from a cliff, a fate he predicted among the “tales.”

Not in the pleasant play, among the tended and exquisite garden paths in Narragansett.

It is turned into a love

story. Like most of us fellows, “Aesop” falls in love with a slave-girl who is instead drawn to a pleasantly foolish, tall and “handsome” fellow slave who later becomes reliant and dependent upon his romantic rival who can liberate him through, wit, brains, and the power of poetry. The ancient wisdom of the Fables seeps through the script by means of the flawless and zestful performances.

I add this postscript as an alternative to Channing Gray’s rather harsh critique of the play: I thought it was charming, nostalgic and even inspiring. Like that antique-shop Twilight Zone, our “Kent County” zone has a touch of Eden before the fall!

Mike Fink

the manager right next door,” Richard said.

Was it at Meldgie’s brunch place, where we had just had biscuits and mugs of java, or at Brickley’s, where I chose a kiddie-box of blueberry ice cream? I don’t know which was the correct “next door,” but I went on with my curiosity quest for more information about this great collector, like a magical figure of folklore.

“Any grandchildren yet?”

“Yes, and they’re even easier to love than your kids!” he declared with enthusiasm.

Now, I am of a generation that doesn’t like to announce a group identity – it somehow seemed un-American to declare or display your religion. (I’ve changed my mind

But I was blunt with Richard. I made so bold as to ask the classic question, “Are you Jewish?” I asked it with almost a Yiddish rhythm, as in “Bis du ein Yid?”

about this, but it has become a habit, maybe with a mix of fear along with courtesy.)

But I was blunt with Richard. I made so bold as to ask the classic question, “Are you Jewish?” I asked it with almost a Yiddish rhythm, as in “Bis du ein Yid?” Richard responded with a nod and a smile.

It seemed to me that Richard had made this place across from the ferry to Newport and Touro Synagogue his own Israel, and Rhode Island his aliyah to freedom, to “run” a store – the American dream – to transform URI into an alma mater spiritually as well as intellectually.

“By the way, my dad, who is 93, has a place a few blocks from here ... he’s doing pretty good, and it’s not New York, but Providence and Narragansett are perfect places for us and for all these treats gathered here from the past and into the future,” Richard said.

As I proceeded to the door, I pledged to return when we finally settle down for the summer months, and he followed my footsteps and handed me the front page of an old Narragansett Times as a gift and a reminder to keep that promise to come back to narragantiques collectionZ … and urge others to pop in.

MIKE FINK (mfink33@aol.com) teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Alex Bregman aims to repeat as All-Star Game MVP after being elected a starter

BY MARC BRODSKY JTA – Alex Bregman will have the chance to make it two in a row as Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game MVP. The Houston Astros’ Jewish slugger was elected the starting third baseman last week to start the July 9 game in Cleveland, easily outdistancing Hunter Dozier of the Kansas City Royals and Gio Urshela of the New York Yankees with 49 percent of the fans’ ballots.

Bregman as of the weekend had a batting average of .266 with 22 home runs and 52 runs batted in to help power the Astros to first place in the American League Western

Division.

In last year’s AllStar affair, Bregman snapped a 10th-inning tie with a two-run homer to give the A.L. an 8-6 victory over the National League in Washington, D.C. Playing in his first All-Star game, he was the first Jewish player to win the Most Valuable Player award since it was instituted in 1962.

In March, the 25-year-old, playing in his fourth season after being a No. 1 draft pick out of Louisiana State, agreed to a six-year, $100 million contract with the Astros – one of the largest deals ever for a professional Jewish athlete. He’s already won a world title with the Astros and also

was a member of the U.S. team that took the World Baseball Classic title in 2017.

One Jewish player who was in contention for an All-Star slot but came up short was rookie pitcher Max Fried of the Atlanta Braves. Fried, a 25-year-old lefty starter for the first-place Braves, failed to crack the 11-man staff assembled by a vote of players and the Commissioner’s Office despite a record of 9-3, one win behind the N.L. leader.

His earned run average of 4.04 is good but perhaps not enough for the midsummer recognition.

His hero, according to forbes.com: Sandy Koufax, of course.

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Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

The Afro-Semitic Experience brings new musical to WaterFire Arts Center on July 23

BY MICHAEL SCHEMAILLE IN THE EARLY 1990S, composer John Zorn began to ask, “What is Jewish music? What is its future?” Those questions

gave rise to the Radical Jewish Culture movement, whose goal is to explore what Jewish music can be.

By blending jazz and klezmer with other genres,

Zorn inspired other musicians to do the same. One of those musicians is David Chevan, a Connecticut-based bassist.

In the 1990s, Chevan shared the stage at Foxwoods Casi-

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no with African American pianist Warren Byrd. During that performance, Chevan joined Byrd in a jazz rendition of “Soon and Very Soon,” an African American church hymn.

Playing that song got Chevan thinking about how he could bring Jewish music into the mix, which led to a conversation with his cantor.

That talk led to an invitation for Chevan and Byrd to play at the synagogue’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day event The set was so successful, Chevan says, that “by the end of the Oneg, we already had other gigs.”

And so, The Afro-Semitic Experience band was born.

Since 1998, Chevan and Byrd have added to their band and expanded the boundaries of Radical Jewish Culture.

As Chevan says, “What was supposed to be a one-time experience has turned into a lifelong experience.”

The band’s website, at www. afrosemiticexperience.net, describes The Afro-Semitic Experience as “an intricate tapestry of spiritual, worldbeat, funk, jazz, cantorial, gospel, salsa, swing … soul-driven music. Their concerts are celebrations where they play great music, tell stories, and offer a positive and meaningful message: Unity in the Community.”

Storytelling is at the heart of Chevan’s latest project,

“Letters from the Affair,” which premieres on July 23 at Providence’s WaterFire Arts Center. A multimedia musical, “Letters” takes place in France at the time of the Dreyfus Affair; it explores the

relationship between Jewish Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro and his artist peer Edgar Degas, and the collapse of their friendship due to Degas’ anti-Semitism.

Chevan based “Letters” on exhaustive research (in his own words: “I worked my tuchis off on it!”) of letters written between Pissarro and his son, and between Pissarro and Degas. Chevan explained that “all of the songs in the work are carefully taken from the letters … there is a bit of fiction, but really as little as possible.”

“Letters” will premiere on Tuesday, July 23, at 8:30 p.m. at The WaterFire Arts Center, 475 Valley St., Providence.

The play will be performed

by The Afro-Semitic Experience, along with two cantors chosen by Chevan to portray Pissarro and Degas: Cantor Malachi Kanfer, of Congregation B’naJacob in New Haven, Connecticut, will play Pissarro, and Cantor Martin Levson, of Sinai Temple in Springfield, Massachusetts, will play Degas.

Tickets are $15 and are available at afrosemiticexperience.net/shows or at the theater on the day of the show.

MICHAEL SCHEMAILLE writes for Jewish Rhode Island and the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

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jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

FOOD

Why you should be grilling like an Israeli this summer

BY RACHEL RINGLER ISRAELIS LOVE THEIR BARBECUE. They do it on the beach. They do it on their hikes. They grill whenever and wherever possible – empty parking lot? Let’s do it! When that smoky aroma fills the air, you know a celebratory meal is underway, filled with kebabs, grilled vegetables, pita, salads and hot sauce.

Where Israelis generally don’t barbecue, however, is in their own backyards. That’s because most Israelis don’t have backyards – most live in apartments. When they grill, they need to bring their grills with them, wherever they go. Their barbecue, called a “mangal,” is small, portable and generally modest: a metal box with a grill that fits over the charcoal briquettes and wood chips that will be set aflame to cook the food. Throw it in the back of your car and set it up wherever you settle on your “tiyul,” or trip.

The size of the average mangal informs the meal itself. You won’t expect to find a big, thick cowboy steak – easily portable kebabs are more like it. Thread ground beef or lamb mixed with garlic and herbs on metal skewers, along with chunks of onion, pepper and tomato. Chicken is also popular: thighs, livers, hearts – all manner of small cuts that cook quickly.

So why the fascination with food cooked, as they say in Israel, “al ha-esh,” on the fire?

“Grilling is very Levantine, it is part of Middle Eastern food culture,” said Janna Gur, doyenne of Israeli cuisine and author of the iconic cookbook “The Book of New Israeli Food.” “There is something primal about it.

And grilling makes sense because everyone spends so much time outdoors, so you can plan a bonfire or a picnic or a hike and make your meal wherever you stop.”

Since vegetables take center stage in Israeli cuisine, grilling is not for meat only.

“The best way to cook an eggplant is to burn it,” Gur says. “It can be cooked in a taboon oven, on a mangal or on top of the stove, placed on the oven’s flame.”

Cooking eggplant directly on fire, resulting in a smoky flavor, is popular throughout the Middle East. (If you opt to burn your eggplant at home, on top of the stove, buy yourself a “chatziliyah,” a special dish made to hold the eggplant and capture the drippings that emerge from it while cooking.)

This summer, if you can’t make it to Israel, bring Israeli cuisine to wherever you are. Buy a brazier, some long metal skewers, prepare some ground meat or chicken kebabs, and then assemble the other requisite elements of an al ha-esh meal: fresh pita, hummus, tahini, pickles, vegetable salads and a selection of hot sauces. You can even make a beautiful, smoky and quick salsa by blackening tomatoes over the fire, then smashing the cooked tomatoes and mixing with salt, pepper and olive oil.

Flame-Roasted Eggplant

Roasting eggplants on an open flame can be messy, but it is definitely worth the effort.

Ingredients Whole eggplants

Directions

1. Line stovetop with aluminum foil. Place a

PHOTO | ISTOCK

whole eggplant (or more than one, if you are confident) on a rack over the open flame and roast, turning occasionally, until the skin is scorched and blackened and the flesh feels soft when pierced with a wooden skewer or a fork. The eggplant can also be broiled in the oven or grilled on a charcoal barbecue.

2. Cool slightly (to avoid burning your hands) and peel, carefully removing every last bit of scorched skin, or cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh with a wooden spoon.

Roasted eggplant ideally should be served shortly after roasting and seasoned while still warm to ensure optimal absorption of every spicy nuance.

3. If you need to store the eggplant for later, drain the roasted flesh of excess liquid, cover with oil and refrigerate. Season before serving.

Recipe excerpted with permission from The New Book of Israeli Cooking by Janna Gur. This story originally appeared on The Nosher.

Mark your calendar for the return of

KOSHER RHODE ISLAND

CHILI

COOK-OFF June 7, 2020

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Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

The moon landing seen t

BY LARRY KESSLER

T

he first moon landing was a singular moment in history, and one that brought the

country and world together, if only for a fleeting moment. If you were alive on July 20, 1969, you almost certainly remember where you were and how you felt when Apollo 11 touched down in the Sea of

Buzz Aldrin

Charlotte Sheer

Erez Kaganovitz

Tranquility.

To gain perspective as the landing’s 50th anniversary approaches, Jewish Rhode Island conducted email interviews with seven people about the watershed event and where we are a half-century later. As you will see, those who witnessed Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind” by and large were awestruck, while younger respondents take it all for granted. Their edited comments follow. To read more of their responses, go to jewishrhody.org.

Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser, 56, of Temple Sinai in Cranston Reflections: Putting human beings on the moon and bringing them safely back to Earth was, in my mind, the greatest technological triumph in human history. I find it extraordinary that I got to watch it happen. Paradoxically, though, instead of making humanity feel bigger, it has made us feel smaller.

In the image of the Earth rising over the lunar horizon, we came to see that everything we know, everything we have experienced, everywhere we have been as a species has been limited to one rather small rock in the vastness of space. It has awakened our awareness that the universe is mysterious, awe-inspiring and magnificent beyond our ability to understand, and yet we are a part of it.

Spiritual aspects: The moon landing certainly has spiritual lessons to teach us, if we will just open our minds and hearts to hear them. We can know with greater clarity than ever that all of humanity shares this bit of rock orbiting the sun.

Memories: I was 6 on July 16, 1969, when Apollo 11 lifted off the launch pad from the Kennedy Space Center. I remember the day with great detail. I was a complete science geek as a kid and I followed the mission step-by-step.

My parents, knowing my excitement, told me to go to our neighbor’s house to watch the launch because they had a big 22-inch color TV; we only had a small black and white. I don’t remember watching Armstrong and Aldrin first stepping onto the surface of the Sea of Tranquility five days later; it happened way past my bedtime. But I do remember seeing the images from the moon that arrived over the next few days.

In particular, I remember seeing the photo of Buzz Aldrin that Neil Armstrong took, in which you could see the reflection of one leg of the lunar module and the reflection of Armstrong taking the picture in Aldrin’s gold-tinted helmet. I could not help but see myself in that reflection as I, too, gazed at the sight of a human being on another world.

Stuart Skerker, 63, of Attleboro, a computer analyst Reflections: The moon landing did great things for humanity. Think about it: We had to develop from beyond the slide rule to the very compact computers to fit in spacecraft – and all of the [other] advances that were perfected to help put people into space and onto the moon. Science in the 10 years from the time [President John F.] Kennedy

said we were going to the The Harvest Moo moon and the Sept. 14, 2019 at actual landing really accelerated.

Lessons: The universe has shrunk. Whoever thought anyone could reach the moon in less than a week?

When Israel launched its first moon craft, Beresheet, on Feb. 22, I became impatient and couldn’t wait for it to attempt its landing, which was April 11. [The journey] took more than a month. In my mind, a lunar launch and landing shouldn’t have taken more than a week. Talk about being spoiled.

Memories: I would have been around 13 and at summer camp in western Massachusetts. I recall the camp being ushered into the dining hall late at night with a couple of black-andwhite TVs set up to broadcast the big event. They weren’t very big, and the picture was very grainy, and we weren’t sure what we were looking at. But it was exciting.

We all had maps of the moon. We learned the major craters. And yes, we all dreamed about one day going to the moon and about going to Mars. Of course we are going to Mars, we thought;

JULY 2019 | 17

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

through the lens of time 1969 lunar mission began to open people’s minds to ideas of eventual colonization or commercial travel to places beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. But that summer, as I prepared to head off to college, I still found it hard to visualize such science-fiction-like activities in my lifetime.

Now: When I look up into the night sky, the moon looks a little different to me, ever since the day I watched the first human beings bounce-walk on its surface.

on: next on 12:35 a.m.

that’s why the movie “The Martian” was such a huge hit.

Charlotte Sheer, 68, of Plymouth, a retired educator and founder of the Holocaust Stamps Project at Foxboro Regional Charter School: Reflections: The courageous men and women astronauts, scientists and engineers committed to the pursuit of space-based goals have breathed a new kind of hope into humanity’s outlook for the future. The results of their work have redefined the universe from the unknown, frightening frontier I perceived as a child to an exciting learning laboratory.

Memories: I was an 18-yearold counselor at a Jewish overnight summer camp, watching the event on a blackand-white TV in a barn, surrounded by dozens of young campers who had limited, if any, knowledge about the significance of previous launches into space.

I had grown up surrounded by images of, and conversation about, America’s space race with Russia, and the success of the

Erez Kaganovitz, 36, an Israeli photographer-journalist and founder of the Humans of Tel Aviv photo project Reflections: The fact that humanity actually managed to send a spacecraft to the moon changed the way we perceived our human boundaries. After that, the phrase “The sky’s the limit” got a whole different meaning.

Literally.

Lessons: The moon landing showed us what imagination combined with resilience can actually achieve. It made us more spiritual, not in the religious way, but rather more open-minded to what the future might hold for us. Who knows?

Maybe 100 years from now, humans would be able not only to visit but to live on the other side of the moon.

Future: I hope that the next frontier in space exploration will be to find proof that we are not alone in this universe. That would be mind-blowing. If that comes along, I hope that the “newcomers” will come in peace and that we could learn from them if “42” is the real answer “to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything” [From “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” by Douglas Adams].

Rabbi Leora Abelson, 33, of Congregation Agudas Achim, in Attleboro, who shared the questions with Jewish millennials in their mid-30s at a Shavuot lunch.

Reflections: Several of us have noticed a generational gap – people who were old enough during the first moon landing seem to have experienced it as a life-changing moment. Those of us who were not yet alive simply do not have a strong emotional attachment to that historic event.

Our relationship to – and perception of – space exploration is still significant and spiritual, but we didn’t experience a radical shift in perspective; rather, the ability to travel in space, to observe Earth from space, and to have a conception of how tiny the Earth is relative to the cosmos, has always been a part of our world view.

Spiritual aspects: I don’t think the moon landing made us more spiritual beings, but I certainly think it had a spiritual impact on people who experienced it, and I think the questions of why and how humans explore space contains profound spiritual themes.

Lawrence Goodman, 48, Rhode Island playwright Reflections: Perhaps because I was not old enough to witness it on TV, I am somewhat skeptical about the moon landing. It was part of a long-term effort to put human beings into space that proved costly, provided little scientific information and was extremely dangerous and even fatal.

Satellites, probes and telescopes have been far more scientifically beneficial and cost much less.

The moon landing was primarily a TV event. It shouldn’t be necessary to inspire a daily sense of awe and amazement.

Lessons: I can stand and look up at the stars and feel wonder. I can read a Wikipedia article about quantum mechanics and marvel at how the universe works at the subatomic level.

Neil Armstrong

Jeffrey Martin Jeffrey Martin, 69, Roger Williams University theater professor and director Memories: The moon landing had very little immediate effect on my life. At the time I was 19. Having just completed my freshman year, I was spending the summer working seven days a week as a technician and crew member at the Tufts Summer Theatre. We were aware of the landing, but we didn’t have a television readily available in the dorm.

Reflections: The scientific and human and national achievement was extraordinary, but was undercut by the use of former Nazi scientists at the heart of the missile program and neglect for praise for any who did not fit our white, male, Protestant projection of American identity.

LARRY KESSLER (lkessler1@comcast.net) is a freelance writer based in North Attleboro.

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Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

SUMMER Carousels, kites and critters: There’s plenty to do in R.I. this summer

BY MICHAEL SCHEMAILLE WHEN I FIRST MOVED to Rhode Island, I was fascinated – this small state has so much to offer, along with some unique quirks (party pizza, clear chowder, the accent … and I still don’t know where the old Almacs used to be!) Now, many years later, I consider myself an official Rhode Islander – but I still regularly find myself surprised and delighted by new discoveries.

I also love to share my finds, so it gives me great pleasure to offer the following summertime suggestions.

These events and activities are (mostly) unique to Rhode Island, and have been selected for being both affordable and having all-ages appeal. Did I miss anything? Let me know at mschemaille@jewishallianceri.org!

HOP ABOARD THE R.I. CAROUSEL TRAIL Rhode Island has seven notable working carousels, and it’s possible to ride them all in a single day – reach for that brass ring!

Slater Park Looff Carousel A Rhode Island fixture since 1910 and the fastest carousel ever built by renowned master carver Charles I.D. Looff.

426 Newport Ave., Pawtucket. Daily 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 50 cents a ride.

Roger Williams Park Carousel This modern carousel is surrounded by all Roger Williams Park has to offer.

1000 Elmwood Ave., Providence. Daily 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. $2 a ride.

Crescent Park Looff Carousel Featuring over 60 handcarved animals, this was once the site of Looff’s showroom.

700 Bullocks Point Blvd., Riverside. Weekends noon-6 p.m. $2 a ride.

Easton’s Beach Carousel A Newport attraction since 1952, featuring metal horses and beachfront views.

175 Memorial Blvd., Newport. Daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $2 a ride.

Adventureland This modern ride features animals not often seen on carousels, such as anteaters and penguins!

112 Point Judith Road, Narragansett. Daily 10 a.m.-10 p.m. $2 a ride.

Atlantic Beach Park Carousel This carousel, which features an eclectic mix of horses, used to be at Rocky Point Amusement Park.

321 Atlantic Ave., Westerly.

Daily 11 a.m.-10 p.m. $2 a ride.

Flying Horse Carousel

invites you to attend our 9th annual Hadassah Medical Organization Fundraiser and

Sally Koslow

Mary Morris

Nancy Falchuk

This may be the oldest continuously operating carousel in the country. Adults are not allowed to ride.

151 Bay St., Westerly.

Weekdays 11 a.m.-9 p.m., weekends 10 a.m.-9 p.m. $1$1.50 a ride.

Bonus: Fall River Carousel A hand-painted masterpiece from the 1920s.

Battleship Cove, 5 Water St., Fall River. Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. $2 a ride.

Please note that most carousels close after Labor Day; find more details online.

NO. 1 FUNKY SHOPPING SITE The Fantastic Umbrella Factory is unlike any other place in Rhode Island. Chickens, ducks, emus and goats wander the grounds, which are landscaped with perennials and rare plants. Specialty shops across the property sell art, plants for home and garden, jewelry, clothing and a mind-boggling array of eclectic gifts.

The property is open yearround and has an organic café. No amount of description can do the umbrella factory justice; you’ll have to see it for yourself.

4820 Old Post Road, Charlestown, www.fantasticumbrellafactory.com. Daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is free.

GO FLY A KITE, R.I. STYLE Brenton Point is situated at the southern tip of Aquidneck Island, guaranteeing sweeping ocean views and plenty of strong winds. That makes it the perfect location for the Newport Kite Festival, July 13-14.

Other activities include music, food vendors and a kite-borne candy drop.

Even if you can’t make it to the festival, Brenton Point is always worth a visit, and you’re likely to see kites aloft there – or bring your own.

Ocean Drive, Newport, newportkitefestival.com.

Daily dawn-dusk. Admission is free.

ANIMALS GALORE AND MORE The Washington County Fair will return to Richmond Aug. 14-18. The fair, now in its 53rd year, has everything you’d expect from a large county fair, including farm animals, entertainment, rides and fair food, plus plenty of special attractions for kids.

78 Richmond Townhouse Road, Richmond, www.washingtoncountyfair-ri.com. 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Adult admission, $11; free for children under 10. Admission fee does not include rides, food, etc.

VISIT JAPAN AT HOME The Japan-America Society of Rhode Island will host the 36th Annual Black Ships Festival on Aug. 9-11 in Bristol. Described as a “celebration of the friendship and culture between Japan and the United States and the trading treaty negotiated by Rhode Island’s own Commodore Matthew C. Perry, USN, over 150 years ago,” the festival brings Japanese art and culture to these shores. Adults can enjoy the formal gala and Sushi Sake Sail events (tickets required), while everyone can enjoy the Aug. 10 Arts & Crafts and Martial Arts Fair at Independence Park.

Independence Park, 419459 Thames St., Bristol. For a full schedule of events and times, go to www.blackshipsfestival.com.

A LITTLE HIDDEN BONUS The Purple Ape beach shop, in Westerly, hosts hermit crab races every Wednesday evening in July and August, and all reports indicate that it’s a great, wild time.

17 Winnapaug Road, Westerly, www.purpleape.com/ mobile.html. Registration starts at 7 p.m., races begin at 8. Admission is free.

MICHAEL SCHEMAILLE (mschemaille@jewishallianceri.org) writes for Jewish Rhode Island and the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

JULY 2019 | 19

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

PawSox president reminds fans: The team is still swinging at McCoy

BY LARRY KESSLER PAWTUCKET RED SOX President Dr. Charles Steinberg has a message for PawSox fans who have been agonizing over the loss of the team to Worcester: he feels your pain.

“I understand that. I feel like I empathize” with fans, said Steinberg, 60. He said he realizes that many Rhode Islanders grew up at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket.

“You celebrated birthdays, you watched other families” sitting near you at the ballpark each summer, Steinberg said in an interview during a morning game in early June (the PawSox beat the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, 7-5).

Steinberg cut his baseball teeth during a 19-year tenure with the Baltimore Orioles, starting in 1979, when he met his longtime mentor and friend Larry Lucchino, now the PawSox CEO. While at the Orioles, Steinberg served in many capacities, including the club’s dentist. (He earned a doctorate from the University of Maryland’s dental school, and in 1982 he was a founding and charter member of the Academy for Sports Dentistry.)

He followed that up with stints at the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and the baseball commissioner’s office, and is now in his fourth year with the PawSox. While chatting, it became apparent that Steinberg – who frequently walks around McCoy to talk baseball with the fans – has heard an earful about the move, which was announced late last summer and will take place after the 2020 season.

“I understand the anguish people felt” upon learning that the team was leaving for Worcester, he said, drawing on his love of the Orioles’ longtime former home, Memorial Stadium, as a big reason for his empathy.

Steinberg explained that, like many Baltimore fans, he was initially hesitant to leave the park, where he saw many memorable games, including one in 1975, in which future Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, at the end of his career, was the Milwaukee Brewers designated hitter.

But after Camden Yards (now called Oriole Park at Camden Yards) was built in 1992, “it had the effect of soothing their angst,” he said

of the fans. Steinberg said he, too, eventually embraced Camden Yards, but that didn’t dim his memories of Memorial Stadium, including two he vividly recalled: the first one involved him and his buddy mistakenly exiting the park, and then having to buy bleacher seats to get back in.

The story might have ended there, except for a sympathetic member of the public relations department, who gave them tickets to another game.

The second memory was a game he couldn’t attend, because it fell on Rosh Hashanah. He might have dropped the matter, but he wanted the free back-to-school book covers that were being given out. So he called the Orioles’ offices to explain that the game conflicted with the Jewish High Holy Days, and “one week later, a big manila envelope arrived in the mail with the Orioles’ logo. That was as exciting for me as the book covers” inside, he said.

Steinberg used the anecdotes to stress that the PawSox have long put a premium on taking care of families, going back to the days of the late owner Ben Mondor, who resurrected the struggling franchise in the ’70s. He said that this commitment won’t change over the last two Pawtucket seasons.

“We have tried to preserve that,” he said over the screams of thousands of students who were enjoying the game on this day.

Steinberg especially wants PawSox fans still upset about the move to know that after the proposal to build a new stadium at the former Apex site in Pawtucket was altered in the Rhode Island House to the point where it didn’t work for the team, the club had offers from outside the region.

But Lucchino vowed not to leave the area, Steinberg said, noting that Worcester is in the Blackstone Valley corridor.

Steinberg nonetheless realizes that not everyone is on board with the move, and from his conversations with fans, he broke down their responses into three categories: Some are “frustrated and wounded” that the team will leave Rhode Island; some are taking a wait-and-see attitude about what will be built in Worcester; and some are already sure that “I’m with you in Worcester.”

Steinberg pledged that one

PHOTO | PAWTUCKET RED SOX

Pawtucket Red Sox President Dr. Charles Steinberg, left, and PawSox Vice Chairman and member of the team ownership group Mike Tamburro pose with two youngsters from the Pawtucket Boys and Girls Clubs who went to the World Series last October thanks to the PawSox. thing that won’t change is the team’s commitment to the community. In fact, he said, the PawSox increased the club’s community outreach this year, thanks to Lucchino, who insisted that charitable endeavors be expanded. That led to the creation of the team’s “50 Acts of Kindness”

initiative, which was launched to celebrate the 50 years of the Boston Red Sox-Pawtucket Red Sox affiliation.

In Steinberg’s words, the effort has included diverse “mitzvahs” spread out across the Ocean State.

Steinberg hopes that local fans will continue to flock

to McCoy this summer and next. If they do, they’ll likely see many PawSox executives rooting on the team.

“We are fans. We have always been fans” of baseball, he emphasized.

LARRY KESSLER (lkessler1@ comcast.net) is a freelance writer based in North Attleboro.

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Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

Strategies for a conflict-free summer

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fulfill our promises, and not to deceive others.”

Through my work and experiences, I’ve developed five ways to deal with challenging people using these concepts in Jewish law: • Understand the behavior: It is not easy to be kind and understanding when people close to you hurt, annoy or anger you.

This is where you can use your objective view and see them from a distance, through an unemotional lens. This PATRICIA will help to depersonalRASKIN ize the behavior, even though it affects you.

• State your truth: In a kind way, say how these behaviors and words affect you. Use “I” statements instead of blaming the person. Let them know how you feel, but not in anger – do this for you to stay in your truth.

• Accept that the behavior may not change: This is a tough one, but when you accept the behavior, you avoid being triggered and taking it personally. However, this does not apply to abusive behavior. In those cases, you may need to get professional help.

• Change your perception, attitude or situation: When the behavior is not abusive or destructive, change how you view it. Become an observer. Ask your-

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FOR MOST OF US in New England, summer means more time outdoors, vacations with loved ones, and spending time with friends and family, perhaps at a pool, beach, cookouts, fairs and festivals, or outdoor concerts: there are so many choices.

But, as you probably already know, all this togetherness can lead to conflicts. So in this column, I’ll explore how to bring harmony to challenging relationships.

On her website Judaism 101, Tracey Rich talks about love and brotherhood in the commandments for kindness.

She writes, “Jewish law includes within it a blueprint for a just and ethical society, where no one takes from another or harms another or takes advantage of another, but everyone gives to one another and helps one another and protects one another. Again, these are not merely high ideals; the means for fulfilling these ideals are spelled out in the 613 commandments. …

“Entire books have been written on the subject of Jewish laws against wronging another person in speech.

We are commanded not to tell lies about a person, nor even uncomplimentary things that are true. We are commanded to speak the truth, to

self, is this affecting me long-term? Is this annoying to me but not hurtful?

Can I learn to accept that this behavior is the way that this person copes with anger and fear? Can I accept that this is part of their personality? And, lastly, can I change my view so that I can be with this person without triggering them or being triggered?

Also ask yourself what you can learn from them to help you deal with other, similar situations.

• See the person in the best light: Remember times when this person has been at their best and try to create

those types of situations when you are with them. That means avoiding statements and actions that you know will trigger the behavior you want to avoid.

These steps have helped me tremendously in dealing with difficult moments with the special people in my life, and have allowed me to appreciate their good side.

PATRICIA RASKIN, owner of Raskin Resources Productions, is a media host, coach and award-winning radio producer and business owner. She has served on the board of directors of Temple Emanu-El, in Providence.

If we don’t take care of our future, who will?

When you create a Jewish legacy, you take an important step toward strengthening Jewish life for generations to come. Planning your gift now will help ensure your children and grandchildren can enjoy the same rich traditions and closeness of community that have given your life so much meaning and purpose.

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For more information about legacy giving, please contact Trine Lustig at 401.421.4111 ext. 223 or tlustig@jewishallianceri.org

JULY 2019 | 21

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

Just in time for your summer reading, 7 new books by Jewish authors loss, beginning in 1950s Detroit and continuing through 65 years of American societal and social change. The story centers on two very different sisters, Jo and Bethie Kaufman, and their struggle to find their places as women in this shifting landscape.

“Mrs. Everything” has been praised for its realistic portrayal of the sisters’ stories, as well as for its timeliness in

BY MICHAEL SCHEMAILLE IT’S NEVER A BAD TIME to pick up a book, but summer might be the best time; that’s why “summer reading” lists are so popular.

We’re pleased to do our part by offering the following list of new books by Jewish authors.

Fleishman is in Trouble, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Random House.

Brodesser-Akner is wellknown for her celebrity profiles in the New York Times.

In this, her debut novel, she tells the story of newly separated Toby Fleishman, who finds himself trying to juggle family, work and dating while also trying to figure out his wife’s mysterious disappearance. The book has been praised for its humor, insight and intelligence.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

With this book, bestselling author and psychotherapist Gottlieb offers a memoir of her work, both as a therapist and as a patient. People magazine described the memoir

as funny, riveting and transformative, and called it “an addictive book that’s part Oliver Sacks and part Nora Ephron.”

this #MeToo era.

The Queen, by Josh Levin.

Little, Brown and Company.

In 1976, Ronald Reagan popularized the term “welfare queen,” referring specifically to Linda Taylor, who was alleged to have defrauded the government of more than $150,000 in a single year.

Levin’s book represents six years of research, tracks the politics of the time while also

providing an exhaustive look into Taylor’s life and crimes, which included kidnapping, fraud and allegations of attempted murder.

MICHAEL SCHEMAILLE (mschemaille@jewishallianceri.org) writes for Jewish Rhode Island and the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

Lady in the Lake, by Laura Lippman. William Morrow (publication date: July 23, 2019).

The latest entry from crime novelist Lippman is set in 1960s Baltimore and focuses on Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz. Maddie, having just fled her marriage, becomes a newspaper reporter and begins to investigate the murder of a young African American woman. Kirkus Reviews called the book “a stylish, sexy, suspenseful period drama.”

Strangers and Cousins, by Leah Hager-Cohen. Riverhead Books.

Ron Charles, of the Washington Post, called this novel “an unusually substantive comedy … funny and tender but also provocative and wise.” While the story focuses on the lead-up to Clem Blumenthal’s wedding, and the family chaos that surrounds that event, controversy is brewing in the background.

As ultra-Orthodox Jews begin to buy local property for a new Haredi community, swastikas appear on a construction trailer, forcing the people of Rundle Junction to make some difficult moral decisions.

The Flight Portfolio, by Julie Orringer. Knopf.

In 1940, American journalist Varian Fry traveled to France with $3,000 and a list of writers and artists he hoped to save from the Nazi regime, including philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt and artist Marc Chagall.

In “The Flight Portfolio,” Orringer tells a fictionalized story of Fry’s efforts, include a forbidden-love subplot.

Reviews have praised the beauty of Orringer’s prose, as well as her scrupulous research.

Mrs. Everything, by Jennifer Weiner. Atria Books.

Weiner’s latest novel is a sprawling tale of love and

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Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org FROM PAGE 6 Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center, several community members were honored.

The Reisman Leadership Development Award was presented to Mara Ostro, who serves on the boards of the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island and the Alliance. In presenting the award, Berkelhammer spoke of Ostro’s willingness to take on leadership roles in the community. Berkelhammer also pointed out that a number of current community leaders are past recipients of the award, which includes a trip to the annual Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly.

The Norman D. and Flo Tilles Community Relations Council Award was presented to Cara Mitnick. In presenting the award, Richard Glucksman, chair of the Community Relations Council, said “we at the Alliance have benefited from your work.”

Mitnick, an attorney, served on the Alliance board, serves on the board of the University of Rhode Island Hillel, and is on the executive committee of the Community Relations Council. Glucksman cited her work in helping to bring a national environmental sustainability program to the community.

The Lea Eliash/Grinspoon Award for Excellence in Education went to Marsha Gibber. Gibber, a teacher at the New England Academy of Torah and the Providence Hebrew Day School since the mid-1980s, was recognized by presenter Sharon Gaines for outstanding teaching and opening her home to students over the years.

A special Community Recognition Award went to Marisa Garber and Jeffrey Padwa of Jewish Collaborative Services.

“To succeed where others have failed is truly an accomplishment,” said Richard Licht, a member of the JCS board and former chair of the Alliance board when presenting them with the award. “It takes persuasion and perseverance.”

Garber had been chairwoman of the Jewish Family Service board and Padwa was chairman of the Jewish Seniors Agency board. They worked together to merge the two agencies into one.

Licht, who served on the merger

James Pious and Rabbi Andrew Klein.

Richard Licht, Marisa Garber and Jeffrey Padwa.

Richard Glucksman, Cara Mitnick and Adam Greenman.

PHOTOS | JEWISH ALLIANCE

partnership committee of six, pointed out that both had shown great leadership in keeping the committee moving and on target. Padwa is now chair of the JCS board and Garber serves as vice chair.

Also honored was Gail Putnam, chief administrative officer at the Alliance, for her 40 years of service to the community in a variety of professional staff positions at the Alliance, and, previously, at the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island. Putnam arrived at the then-JFRI in 1979.

“Gail knows everything about the Alliance. Gail is our Alliance Google,” said Berkelhammer. “If you have a question, you ask Gail.”

She said to Putnam, “You help us to be better people and better volunteers.”

Gaines announced the establishment of an endowment for professional development in Putnam’s honor. Created by the past presidents, chairs and presidents, “the Gail A. Putnam Endowment for Professional Development will be awarded annually so that she and her coworkers can grow in their positions,” said Gaines.

At the beginning of the program, Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman, of Providence’s Temple Beth-El, offered an engaging d’var Torah. He told the audience that “in a time when we have minimal contact with our neighbors … our home here serves as Rhode Island’s Jewish living room. … The Alliance lifts us up as no other Jewish agency can.”

Adam Greenman, president and CEO of the Alliance, spoke toward the end of the evening. He outlined the highlights of the past year, including the relaunch of the Community Relations Council.

“Together as an agency we’ve raised more than $3 million,” he said.

He said that the Alliance will continue to act with decency, kindness and respect in engaging the community and working toward a thriving Jewish life.

“The Alliance recognizes that communities are constantly evolving, which makes the work of building a strong, vibrant community an ongoing effort. This is our challenge and our charge,” he said.

FRAN OSTENDORF is the editor of Jewish Rhode Island.

Mitzi Berkelhammer, Gail Putnam and Sharon Gaines.

JULY 2019 | 23

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

COMMUNITY

OBITUARIES 26-27 | BUSINESS 24-25 | SIMCHAS & WE ARE READ 30

Temple offers trial membership

Trivia night at Snookers.

Emanu-El planning events across R.I. all summer THIS SUMMER, Temple Emanu-El is going out into the community with its Emanu-El on the Rhode series.

A full calendar of events is planned all over Rhode Island, with something for everyone.

Events include a beach day in Narragansett, hikes in Smithfield and North Kingstown, a concert featuring hits from the 1980s, a Jewish

walking tour in Newport and a Providence Ghost Tour.

There will also be stroller walks and rabbi talks.

Emanu-El on the Rhode is one way that Temple Emanu-El, of Providence, is welcoming its new head rabbi, Michael Fel, to Rhode Island. The series will give him many opportunities to explore the state and meet members of the Jewish

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

urging Americans to leave the country. Neither of us did, and we met at a Shabbat dinner held for the remaining Americans that our host knew.

Today, we definitely share many intellectual interests.

We discuss modern Jewish thought, social justice and Israeli politics over the dinner table.

Navitas, and we did a Passover seder on the theme of being a stranger in a strange land. We had students from China and Pakistan, and it was wonderful being able to teach them something about Jewish culture.

Your husband’s academic specialty is Judaic Studies. Is there any crossover in your work?

How did you meet?

We met in 1990, when we were both studying in Jerusalem. Iraq had invaded Kuwait in August, and things got more and more tense. In January, there was an advisory

Do you have a favorite Jewish word?

I think my favorite Jewish word is mensch. My son Jeremy is finishing 11th grade at Classical High School. He plays football, and the coach spoke about creating people of character and integrity.

community.

“It was important for us to provide an opportunity for people across Rhode Island to socialize and get to know each other, as well as Rabbi Fel, Rabbi Rachel Zerin, Cantor Brian Mayer and the rest of our staff,” said Sharon Sock, EmanuEl’s advancement and membership coordinator.

Most events are free, while That’s so meaningful to me, and I’d like to add the component of Jewish literacy, which is so important to me.

What about a favorite Jewish food?

At the moment, latkes are sounding really good to me. Other than that they’re fattening, they’re my favorite.

And a favorite Jewish holiday?

Shabbat. I love taking the time regularly to step away from the incredibly rushed nature of the world we live in to take time to reflect and rest.

Which three people, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party?

a few have a fee of no more than $20. All Emanu-El on the Rhode events can be found in Jewish Rhode Island’s community calendar, both in print and online (www.jewishrhody.com), as well as at Temple Emanu-El’s summer webpage, www. teprov.org/summer.

Submitted by Temple Emanu-El

Emma Goldman [political activist, writer], Rosa Luxemburg [Polish philosopher, political activist] and Trotsky [Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician], because I’m attracted to the radical nature of their ideas. But I’m not sure how pleasant or charming they’d be to sit with, so my answer gives me pause.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

You know, when I was a new mother, my mother said to me, “Whenever the baby goes to sleep, you should sleep.” That was enormously useful.

Temple Sinai in Cranston believes that if people give membership a try, they will like it. So the congregation is offering a free membership for six months from July 2019 to the end of December.

“For many people, especially those who have never been a member of a Temple, making a financial commitment seems like a big risk,” says Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser. “We understand that many people want a chance to get to know a congregation first.”

The offer of free membership includes tickets to the congregation’s High Holy Days services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. New members are still required to pay tuition for Religious School for their children from the beginning of the school year.

“We are living in a new era,” says Goldwasser. “Once upon a time, Jews joined synagogues just because it was ‘what you are supposed to do.’

Those days are over. Jewish families and individuals want to know that being a member is going to improve the quality of their lives. They want to experience being part of a real community, engaging in real learning and attending services that are meaningful and fulfilling.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION on Temple Sinai, contact the congregation at 401-942-8350 or dottie@templesinairi.org.

Submitted by Temple Sinai Please share a recent experience that you found impactful.

Part of my current practice is to choose one word from the liturgy and focus on it. Lately, modim [prayer of thanks] has been speaking to me, to remember where Judaism and positive psychology come together with gratitude, and to keep that in mind.

MICHAEL SCHEMAILLE (mschemaille@jewishallianceri.org) writes for Jewish Rhode Island and the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

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BUSINESS

Don’t wait until it’s too late to plan for long-term care AR

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WE ALL KNOW ABOUT SAVING for retirement, but how many of us plan for when we can no longer take care of ourselves? While many of us have concerns about health as we age, most of us simply do not want to think about this issue. Few of us are planning for the eventual need for long-term care – for ourselves or our parents.

Even though people are living longer, they are not necessarily living longer in perfect health. And the costs JASON E. of long-term health care, SIPERSTEIN both financial and personal, can be high. Proper planning and open discussion among family members is essential. It can promote effective financial planning, ensure that the best options for care are chosen, confirm that everyone understands the plan of action and their responsibilities, and help loved ones avoid being caught unprepared.

Not too long ago, long-term health-care choices were limited: you either lived in your own home,

moved in with your kids, or moved to a nursing home. But in the past decade or so, there has been an explosion of new housing and care choices. And while expanded choices are good overall, it does complicate the decision-making process.

With so many new choices available, you now need to think through not only the financial implications of your decision, but also your actual needs in terms of living, health care and lifestyle. Longterm health care can be as minimal as help with errands, or as extensive as moving into a nursing home.

Community services that help supplement longterm care by family members can include visiting nurses, home health aides, friendly visitor programs, home-delivered meals, transportation and chore services. In addition, state governments and the federal government offer additional programs, such as tax incentives, direct caregiver payments, family leave, respite care and specialized caregiver programs.

For more extensive care, a nursing home is no longer the only option. New choices include continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), assisted-living facilities,

Buenos Aires to host 2023 Pan American Maccabi games

BY JTA STAFF BUENOS AIRES (JTA) – Argentina will host the 15th Pan American Maccabi games in its capital city Buenos Aires.

Every four years, the Maccabi World Union organizes the Pan American Maccabi Games held in South America, that gathers Jewish delegations from the continent and other invited countries.

The announcement that Buenos Aires would host the games in 2023 was made on June 21 at the ceremony to present Argentina’s athletes and coaches for next month’s edition of the games, in Mexico. Mexican President Mauricio Macri recorded a greeting to the Argentinean delegation of 480 people heading to the games in Mexico.

The government of Argentina also published in its official bulletin that the games have been declared of “national interest,” which means symbolic support at the top governmental level, but without any budget to go with it.

Peru was also interested in holding the 2023 games but the Argentina´s capital was chosen by World Maccabi.

Monica Sucari, president of FACCMA, the Federation of Argentine Jewish centers, told JTA that the Buenos Aires games will be “huge” and include

sports and cultural activities throughout the country.

“It is a sport event,

but also a Jewish, Zionist, event to celebrate our heritage with pride,“ she said.

FACCMA, the largest member of the Latin American branch of the Maccabi World

Union, has 55 affiliates and a network of 50,000 members.

The 2023 host city, Buenos Aires, has some 159,000 Jewish inhabitants according to a 2018 report by demographer Sergio Della Pergola, making it the 16th largest Jewish populated city in the world.

Athletes from 19 countries –15 from the continent, plus Australia, Hungary, Israel and the United Kingdom, will participate in the games in Mexico City July 5-14. It is the third time that Mexico has hosted the games, including in 1979 and 1999.

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And the options don’t end there – which is why it’s so important to get organized and understand the decisions you face and the available choices.

A Certified Financial Planner can help guide you through the maze of long-term health-care planning, saving you time and money and reducing anxiety.

Most people put off long-term health-care planning as long as they can because it’s such an uncomfortable topic. It forces us to deal with difficult issues that we might not feel ready to contemplate: the realities of aging, the decline of our health, and the loss of our independence. Yet by planning, we can place all of these difficult questions on the table now, when we can best deal with them, instead of waiting until it’s too late.

JASON E. SIPERSTEIN, CFA, CFP, is the president-elect of the Financial Planning Association of Rhode Island and president of Eliot Rose Wealth Management. He can be reached at jes@eliotrose.com.

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Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY | OBITUARIES Gerald Broman, 89

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PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. – Gerald I. Broman died June 6 at Memorial West Hospital, holding hands with his beloved wife, the late Rose Cohen Max Broman, who passed away only minutes prior. They were married for 64 years.

Born in Providence, a son of the late Irving and Rae (Rabinowitz) Broman, he had lived in Pembroke Pines for 25 years, previously living in Warwick.

He was a linen and domestic buyer for various Rhode Island department stores for 15 years and was an agent for New York Life Insurance Co. in Rhode Island for 25 years, retiring in 1994. Gerald was a WWII Army veteran, serving in the Far East Special Services shows.

He was known as “Balancing Broman, the Human Seal” in the show On The Midway.

He was a member of Touro Fraternal Association, a former member of Temple Torat Yisrael, and a member of the Repertory Theater Club of Century Village in Pembroke Pines.

He was the father of Stephen Broman of North Kingstown and Donna Goldstein and her husband, Richard, of Bonita Springs, Florida. He was the brother of Rhoda Zaidman and the late Arline Greenberg.

He was the grandfather of Sydney, Robert and the late Mark Goldstein.

Contributions may be made to the Remarkable Music

Rose Broman, 84 PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. – Rose Cohen Max Broman died June 6 at Memorial West Hospital holding hands with her beloved husband, the late Gerald Broman, who passed away minutes after. They were married for 64 years.

Born in Providence, a daughter of the late Simon and Pauline (Greenberg) Cohen, she had lived in Pembroke Pines for 25 years, previously living in Warwick.

Rose was a former member of Temple Torat Yisrael. She was a bookkeeper throughout her career and volunteered her skills in retirement.

She was the mother of Stephen Broman of North Kingstown and Donna Goldstein and her husband, Richard, of Bonita Springs, Florida. She was the sister of Arnold Max of Brooklyn, New York, and the late Lewis Cohen, Jerry Max, Irwin Max, Lee Zawatsky, Brenda Barr, and Darline Conklin. She was the grandmother of Sydney, Robert and the late Mark Goldstein.

Contributions may be made to any battered women’s shelter or to the Remarkable Music Room & Resource Center, c/o House of Hope CDC, 3188 Post Rd., Warwick, RI 02886 or Camp JORI, Wakefield, RI.

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Abbott Cutner , 87

COVENTRY, R.I. – Abbott S. Cutner died June 28 at Respiratory and Rehabilitation Center of RI. Born in Newport, a son of the late Alec and Anne (Delerson) Cutner, he had lived in Coventry, previously living in Warwick, Costa Rica, and California.

He was a printer at Mountain Bike Magazine for 35 years, retiring in 1995. Abbott was a Korean Conflict Navy veteran, serving in Europe and the Mediterranean.

He was the father of Steven Cutner and his companion, Jane, of Tempe, Arizona. He was the brother of the late Rene Erdogan. He was the cousin of Leah Roiff of Cranston and Rosalie Goldman of Newport. He was the uncle of Ken Erdogan and his wife, Jennifer, and their children, Dylan and Mia. Contributions may be made to your favorite charity.

Gerald M. Deitch, 97 PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Gerald M. Deitch died June 22. He was the husband of Patricia (Smith) Deitch. Born in Middletown, Connecticut, he was a son of the late William and Rose (Berman) Deitch.

Mr. Deitch was a WWII veteran, serving in the US Army 102nd Infantry Division in Europe. He attended the University of Rhode Island and worked in the retail furniture business throughout his career. He was an avid, lifelong golfer.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, Clifford (Sandra) of Narragansett and daughters, Leslie Gomes of Barrington and Stacy Deitch of Sandpoint, Idaho; stepdaughters, Ericka Ross of Providence and Lisa Ross of Seekonk, Massachusetts; and by his grandchildren, greatgrandchildren, nieces and nephews. He was the brother of the late Elaine (Deitch) Stone and Perry Deitch.

Donations may be made to Button Hole Golf or Shriners of RI.

Selna Deitch, 90 Selna Deitch died On June 7.

She was born May 29, 1929, in Providence to Anne and Irving Konovsky.

She attended Hope High School and graduated from Brown University. She went on to earn a master’s degree in Social Work at Boston Univer-

sity and devoted the next 30 years as a special education social worker for the Providence School Department.

Selna enjoyed reading and her book club discussions.

Over the years, Selna and her husband Perry found time to travel to many national parks.

Selna will be remembered by her children, David Deitch of Long Island, New York, Judy Pozzi of Madison, Connecticut; her daughter-in-law, Eve; son-in-law, Anthony; and her grandchildren, William, Leah, Matthew and Sarah.

Phyllis Dutwin, 83 WICKFORD, R.I. – Phyllis Dutwin of Wickford, died June 25. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she lived in South Orange, New Jersey, before moving to East Greenwich in 1975 and later to Wickford in 1994.

She was a longtime author of educational books.

“Grammar in Plain English,” is now in its 4th edition.

She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, a master’s degree from the Kean University in reading and English, and a second master’s from the University of Rhode Island in business and English.

She is survived by her husband, Marcel Dutwin of Wickford; sister, Ruth Schachter of Riverside; son, David of Merion Station, Pennsylvania; daughter-inlaw, Betsy; and grandsons, Aidan and Elias.

Contributions can be made to the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, RI 02906.

Harriett Goldstein, 78 PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Harriett Mae Goldstein, of Providence, died May 25. She was born in Providence to the late Alfred and Beatrice (Mittleman) Venetsky.

Harriett is survived by her children, Rabbah Arlene Berger and her husband, Warren Berger, of Rockville, Maryland, Jill Goldstein of Pawtucket, Debra Goldstein Baril and her husband, David Baril of Cumberland, Robin G. Jones and her husband, Hugh R. Jones III, of Wayland, Massachusetts; five grandchildren, Jennifer Berger, Alexander Berger and his wife, Madeline Berger, Hugh Jones IV, Tucker Jones and Eden Jones.

Contributions in her

memory may be sent to the American Lung Association of Rhode Island, 260 Exchange St., Providence, RI 02903 or to: www.lung.org.

Myer Grossman, 94 WARWICK, R.I. – Myer Grossman died June 6 at Tamarisk. He was the husband of the late Anna (Malachowsky) Grossman.

Born in Providence, a son of the late Joseph and Esther (Lieberstein) Grossman, he had lived in Warwick for over 20 years, previously living in Providence.

He was a produce manager at First National Stores for 40 years, retiring in 1986. Myer was a WWII Army veteran, serving in the European Theatre and in the 5th wave at Normandy Beach. He was a member of Temple Torat Yisrael and an honorary member of its board of directors. Myer was also a member of Touro Fraternal Association since 1954.

He was the father of Paul Grossman of Cumberland, Virgiania, Anita Olinsky and her husband, Alan, of Cranston and the late Maurice Grossman and his surviving wife, Felicia, of Teaneck, New Jersey. He was the brother of Emma Cohen of Delray Beach, Florida, and the late Dora Galer, Samuel Grossman, Sarah Zenofsky, Florence Sarenson, Bertha Grossman and Miriam Kalmick. He was the grandfather of Benjamin (Elissa), Reuben (Alice), Hannah, and Erin. He was the great-grandfather of Lela June.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich, RI 02818.

Arnold J. Herzog, 80 PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Arnold J. Herzog died June 20. He was the husband of Stella (Silverstein) Herzog. He was born in New York, a son of the late Harold and Sophye Turetsky.

He earned a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a professor at Georgetown in Washington, D.C., and the University of Maine.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children Benjamin, Jonathan, Adam, Renana, Chava and Nadav Herzog; siblings Marlene

JULY 2019 | 27

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island Honig and Michael Herzog; and five grandsons.

Contributions may be made to Israel Friends of Technion, www.technion.ac.il.

Harriet Keir-Klein, 94 PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Harriet Keir-Klein died June 13 at Hallworth House. She was the wife of the late Herman Keir and the late S. William Klein.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, a daughter of the late Jacob and Mary (Parnass) Cutler, she had lived in Providence since 2015, previously living in Warwick and Florida.

Harriet spent her early retirement years in the Berkshire Mountains, Massachusetts, and while there, volunteered at Hancock Shaker Village and Tanglewood.

While raising her children, Harriet conducted telephone surveys for the American Research Bureau. She was later a bookkeeper and accountant, She attended Boody Jr. High School, Erasmus High School, Brooklyn College, and earned a bachelor’s degree at the age of 52 from Empire State College. She raised her family in Jewish conservative traditions and was a member of Midway Jewish Center in Syosset, New York, and was active in its sisterhood, and was later a member of Temple Sinai.

Harriet volunteered and donated to many nonprofit organizations, including JAFCO and Hadassah. She was also a member of the Eastern Star and Mensa. She enjoyed reading novels, live theater, opera, traveling, playing cards, and keeping in touch with her many friends.

She was the mother of Michele Keir and her husband, Richard Blackman, of Warwick, Jeffrey Keir of Foxboro, Massachusetts, and the late Wendy Keir, Ph.D. She was the sister of the late Lillian Bassett, Ruth Bloom and Vicky Silver. She was the grandmother of Benjamin Keir Blackman, Ph.D., and Rachael Keir Blackman, M.D., Ph.D. Contributions may be made to American Parkinson’s Disease Association, PO Box 41659, Providence, RI 02940 or Hadassah, 17 Pocahontas Dr., Middletown, RI 02842.

Irwin Levy, 88 PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Irwin Levy died on June 21. He was the husband of Dorothy (Saval) Levy; they were married for 63 years. He was the son of the late Leo Levy and Ida (Raitman) Levy Weiner of Lynn, Massachusetts.

He is survived by two daughters Jill Levy Sorota

and Lauren Levy Brodie along with her husband Todd Brodie; grandchildren Michael, Allison, Lindsey, Jacob, Andrew, Andrea and Rachel; great-granddaughter Amelia; daughter-in-law Caroline Carrigan; stepbrother Bernard Weiner; and many loving nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his son Steven Levy and stepbrother David Weiner.

Irwin served with the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. After his discharge, he was active in youth sports as a player and referee in Lynn, Massachusetts.

He received a BS degree in Management from Boston University (1957) and an MBA from Northeastern University (1985).

He worked in various management positions for RCA, Raytheon and Lightolier before starting his own consulting firm, Management Engineers, where he worked for 30 years. He was an avid fan of all Boston sports teams.

He was a longtime member of Temple Emanu-El and a member of the Redwood Masonic Lodge. After retiring in 2009, he and his wife became duplicate bridge enthusiasts.

Contributions may be made to Temple Emanu-El, 99 Taft Ave., Providence, RI 02906 or Philip Hulitar Hospice Center, 1085 North Main St., Providence, RI 02904.

Sydney Levye, 100 POMPANO BEACH, FLA. – Sydney Levye of Pompano Beach, Florida, died on May 1.

Born in Providence, he was the son of the late David and Frances Levye and brother of the late Robert Levye. He was the husband of Rosella Levye, the father of Rhonda Levye and Marc Levye, wife Judith and grandfather of Anya Levye-Dudek and Jennifer Teshira-Levye.

A longtime resident of Cranston and Warwick, he was a former Marine and was stationed at Pearl Harbor during the attack in WWII. He was an avid sports fan and, in his younger days, an accomplished athlete.

For years, he owned and operated both a fabric store and restaurant in Warwick.

Leon S. Mann, 96 PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Leon S. Mann died June 4. He was the husband of the late Muriel

(Hassenfeld) Mann and the late Inga B. (Freudenberg) Mann. He was born in Albany, New York, a son of the late Dr. Abraham and Rose (Silberg) Mann.

He proudly served in the Army during WWII. Leon spent his entire career at Hasbro, retiring as Senior Vice President of Operations.

He enjoyed traveling, was an avid golfer and an active member of the Ledgemont Country Club community.

He is survived by his children Carol Mann of West Bloomfield, Michigan, Robert (Judy) Mann of Providence, Joan (Lou) Chesner of La Jolla, California, and Susan (Bill) Fink of Boston, Massachusetts; sister Natalie Rosenstock; grandchildren Max and Zachary Mann, Jonathan and Michael Chesner, and Andrew (Amelia) and Lauren Fink; great-grandson Teddy Fink; and sister in law Helen Grossman. He was the brother of the late Dr. Jay Mann.

Contributions may be made to The Miriam Hospital, Development Office, PO Box H, Providence, RI 02901.

Betty Plotnick, 84 MIAMI, FLA. – Betty (Kadsivitz/Kay) Plotnick died June 20 in Miami.

Born in Providence to the late Charles and Sarah (Aronovich) Kadsivitz, she was one of eight siblings.

Betty graduated with honors from Hope High School in 1953; she then embraced life as a single working woman, traveling with girlfriends and eventually working as a paralegal in Washington, D.C. She defied convention by waiting to marry until her mid-20s. She settled in Rockville, Maryland, to raise her children. Betty later relocated to Boca Raton, Florida, where she enjoyed many years volunteering at the community hospital, art museum and police station, playing bridge and dining out.

Her lifelong comedic sensibility served her well, whether joking about her paltry cooking skills or relying on a mix of dark humor and courage to face her health issues.

Betty is survived by her children Stephen Plotnick (Lynessa) of Newport News, Virginia, Courtney Plotnick (Peter) of Tucson, Arizona, and Whitney Zimet (Marc) of

Miami; sisters Molly Granoff of Warwick and Rose Sagan (Lester) of Barrington; sistersin-law Nanci Kay (the late Harry Kay) of Milford, Connecticut and Robin Montgomery Kay (the late Nathan Kay) of Palm Springs, California.

She will be missed by her grandchildren Andrew, David, Benjamin, Lola, Ava and Henry; as well as many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. She was predeceased by brothers Sam, Bob, Harry and Nate Kay as well as sister Sylvia Greenfeld (the late Harold Greenfeld) and nephew Neil Greenfeld.

Contributions in her memory may be made to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund of Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts.

Laura Schiff, 89 PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Laura Helen Schiff died June 11. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she was the daughter of the late Louis and Ida (Appell) Seiker.

She is survived by her son David Schiff, his wife, Dana, and grandson Harrison Schiff.

She was the sister of the late David Seiker.

Contributions in her memory may be made to the American Cancer Society, 931 Jefferson Blvd #3004, Warwick, RI 02886.

James Williams, 86 WARWICK, R.I. – James L. Williams died June 19 at Embrace Hospice. He was the husband of Phyllis (Labush) Williams for 55 years.

Born in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, a son of the late Harley and Dorice (Bickford) Williams, he had lived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Warwick for over 20 years, previously living in Connecticut and Providence.

He was a manufacturing specialist for IBM. James was a Korean Conflict Army veteran, serving stateside.

He graduated from University of Maine with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and from Bentley University with an ABA. He was the uncle of several nieces and nephews.

Contributions may be made to the charity of your choice.

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Congregation Beth David celebrates its 40-year history and its future

BY FRANK PROSNITZ WHEN THE 60 OR SO JEWS who summered in Narragansett began to gather for Shabbat services at the home of Charles and Sarah Koffler, they couldn’t imagine that over time their devotion would evolve into a year-round synagogue serving the spiritual, social, educational and cultural needs of a vibrant Jewish community.

In 1961, the congregation built a permanent structure, and 18 years later turned that building into a year-round house of worship for hundreds of Jews living in and around Narragansett.

On June 21-23, members of Congregation Beth David celebrated 40 years as a year-round synagogue by honoring its past presidents and by celebrating the past, the community and synagogue’s vision through a film.

On June 21, the congregation recognized a long continuum of strong leaders, from its first president, the late Joe Block, to the current president, Harris Chorney.

At a Sunday dinner event on June 23, at Kinney Bungalow, in Narragansett, the congregation viewed a film featuring Beth David members and leaders, from teens to seniors. They remembered the past, celebrated community and spoke about a growing congregation.

In addition, Yarden Fanta, an Ethiopian, told Presidents, left to right: Rabbi Ethan Adler, Meri Kaufman (2012-2013), Walter Horowitz (2007-2010), Honorable Edher story, a journey to find freedom and opporward Newman (1984-1986), Stanley Barnett (1986-1989), Harris Chorney (2014 - present), Robert Babat (2010-2012), tunity. She spoke about her childhood in a reand Alvin Gabrilowitz (1989 - 1993; 2013 - 2014). Not pictured: Joe Block (1980-1982), deceased; Bruce Jacober mote Ethiopian village, walking with her family (1982-1984), deceased; Michael Hoffer (1993-1998); Sheldon Slomowitz (1998-2001); Sara Nelson (2001 - 2002; 2004 more than 450 miles to flee Ethiopia, spending a - 2007); Steven Poulten (2002-2004) year in a Sudanese refugee camp, and eventually arriving in Israel.

In Israel, Fanta pushed against popular opinion to rise from an illiterate Ethiopian girl to become the first Ethiopian woman to earn a Ph.D. in Israel. Today, she serves as president of the Empower Boston Immigrant Center, and shows the same determination and perseverance that helped a group of South County residents create a vibrant congregation that serves the needs of a growing Jewish community.

FROM PAGE 6 East Side of Providence at the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center.

“Every community has challenges,” he said. Among the many challenges our community faces is that “our own children aren’t coming back [to Rhode Island].”

“I want nothing more than a vibrant Jewish community that is welcoming and

engaging,” Pious said.

He’s looking for ideas from the community, too.

“This isn’t my Alliance.

This is our Alliance. It isn’t just for my ideas,” he said. “If we are successful, then we are successful together.”

FRAN OSTENDORF is the editor of Jewish Rhode Island.

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Eighth-graders graduate June 19 from Providence Hebrew Day School

GRADUATING GIRLS sitting (left to right) are Leah Schwartz, Gittel Golden, Leah Zimmerman, Rivkah Taitelbaum. They will be attending the New England Academy of Torah next year.

PHOTOS | JCDSRI

Jewish Community Day School graduation AT GRADUATION on June 14, fifth-graders and their families stood under the huppah they made

GRADUATING BOYS (back row) Benjamin Buchman, Shmuel Rosenthal, Aharon Eliezer Karp with Rabbi Scheinerman.

In the front row are Nesanel Lewin, Ezra Weiner and Yehoshua Hack. They will all be attending Yeshiva High Schools out-of-state next year.

in kindergarten at the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island in Providence. Above, some of

the fifth graders sing their class song (left to right): Eli Woda, Ella Sinel, Yael Greenberg and Dave Pessin.

30 | JULY 2019

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

TMH Women’s Association holds 2019 Annual Meeting THE MIRIAM HOSPITAL Women’s Association held its 122nd annual meeting June 5 at Ledgemont Country Club, Seekonk. The event included installation of new officers.

Pictured (left to right) are: Marianne Litwin (treasurer); Eleanore Koo (co-VP membership); Robin Engle (installing board member); Susan J. Guerra (president); Barbara Horvitz Brown (co-VP program development); Marilyn Myrow (co-VP program development); Rosina Volpicella (recording secretary). Not pictured: Judy Siegel (co-VP membership) and Sue Enzer (corresponding secretary).

BBG Regional Board (from left), Samara Quintero, Dora Friedman, Abby Avin, Lila Caplan, Dora Elice, Bella London.

AZA Regional Board (from left), Ben Gribov, Reese Sock, Josh Erani, Joseph Rasamat, Amit Fudim.

Local teens elected to BBYO board ON MAY 27, AT THE MILTON ARTS CENTER, in Milton Massachusetts, Dora Elice, a rising senior at Moses Brown School, from Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and Reese Sock, a rising junior at Classical High School from Providence, were installed as BBYO New England Regional Mazkirah and Shaliach for 2019-2020.

Dora and Reese join nine others as regional leaders for BBYO New England Region. At the event about 100 teens played Spikeball, frisbee, and completed end-of-the-year superlatives.

BBYO is a Jewish youth organization for post- B’nai mitzvah high school teens to meet new people and find new connections with their Jewish faith. Rhode Island’s chapters Judy Ann Levin 531 and Dave Hochman AZA 2469 hold varied events.

For more information contact Samantha Walsh, regional director at ner@bbyo.org.

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jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

COMMUNITY | SIMCHAS & WE ARE READ

MAZEL TOV – Daniel Pickar graduated cum laude from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine on May 19 and was inducted into the Omicron Kappa Upsilon National Dental Honor Society. He is the son of Nancy and Myles Pickar of Cranston. Dr. Pickar is doing a one-year residency at the Providence VA Medical Center beginning July 1.

WE ARE READ in Peru –Mollie Westrick of Lincoln recently studied abroad in Cusco, Peru for the month.

WE ARE READ at Disneyland Paris – Debbie Rich of Warwick celebrated her recent birthday by visiting Paris, France with her niece Tara Buckler. They are pictured at Disneyland.

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