April 6, 2018

Volume XXIV, Issue VII | www.jvhri.org Serving Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts

21 Nisan 5778 | April 6, 2018

Spring Home & Garden

Saudi crown prince says Israel has a right to exist as a state WASHINGTON (JTA) – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Israel has a right to exist as a state, but stopped short of saying it should be recognized as a Jewish state.

The remarks by the prince, Saudi’s effective ruler, incrementally advanced Saudi Arabia’s willingness to publicly engage with Israel.

In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, Mohammed affirmatively accepted Israel’s right to exist as a state, apparently a first for a Saudi leader. The interview was posted on Monday [April 2].

Mohammed avoided Goldberg’s question as to whether he would recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a key Israeli demand of any permanent IsraeliPalestinian agreement.

“I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation,” he

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said. “I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement CROWN PRINCE | 9

T

IT’S SPRING!

he weather may not be cooperating, but spring is here and soon our thoughts will turn to flowers and vegetables and gardens. Check out our home and garden section starting on page 14. And enjoy this beautiful Day Lily photographed by Dave Schwartz.

Israel at 70: How 1948 changed American Jews

BY BEN SALES JTA – One year after Israel’s establishment, in the dead of night, three students ascended a tower at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and raised the Israeli flag.

The next morning, the Conservative rabbinical school’s administration took it down.

That act of surreptitious Zionist protest was one of several at JTS during the years surrounding 1948, when Israel gained independence, Michael Greenbaum wrote in an essay in “Tradition Renewed,” a JTS history edited by Jack Wertheimer. Students supported the new Jewish state. However, the seminary’s chancellor, Louis Finkelstein, opposed American Judaism focusing all its efforts across an ocean, and also needed to appease a board wary of Jewish nationalism.

But the students persisted.

Once, they sang the Israeli anthem “Hatikvah” following graduation ceremonies. Another time, they convinced their colleagues at the Union Theological Seminary, the Protestant school next door, to play the anthem from their bell tower.

Today, nearly all American

Jewish institutions are vocally, even passionately pro-Israel.

But even in the years after the Jewish state won its independence 70 years ago, that feeling was not yet universal.

Before the Holocaust, Zionism itself was polarizing among American Jews. Many, especially in the Reform movement, felt support for a Jewish homeland would cause their loyalty to America to be called into question. The other side was represented by Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Supreme Court justice, who saw no conflict between American values and Zionist aspirations.

By the time Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, American Jews, scarred by images of the Holocaust and Nazism and inspired by newsreels of tanned kibbutzniks, were largely supportive of Zionism. But they were not yet turning out for organized political advocacy and mass tourism to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Instead they were getting used to the idea of a Jewish sovereign state – gradually incorporating it into their culture, prayers and religious outlook.

PHOTO | ZOLTAN KLUGER/ISRAELI GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICE VIA GETTY IMAGES

David Ben-Gurion, who was to become Israel’s first prime minister, reads the new nation’s Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv, May 14, 1948.

“After the mid-1930s, the majority of American Jews had come to be positive one way or another about the idea of a Jewish homeland,” said Hasia Diner, director of the GoldsteinGoren Center for American Jewish History at New York University. “While 1948 on the one hand was very exciting and [had] lots of communal programming and celebrations, it was slightly anticlimactic in the sense that opposition had been gone for at least 10 years.”

North American Jewish support for Israel was turbocharged by the Truman administration’s quick recognition of the state, and by the Israeli army’s victory against the Arab states in its war of independence.

In February of that year, Golda Meyerson (later Meir), raised $400,000 in one day (the equivalent of some $4 million today) on behalf of the provisional state on just one stop in Montreal. In the weeks following indepen-

dence, she started a drive in the United States and Canada for $75 million more (or about $750 million in 2018 dollars).

“There was a sense that once America recognized the state, Zionism had won, and everyone wanted to link with the winners,” said Jonathan Sarna, a professor of Jewish history at Brandeis University. “It was growing very quickly, it took in all of these refugees, which solved that problem.”

1948 | 26

2 | April 6, 2018

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INSIDE Business 22-23 Calendar 10, 27 Community 2, 4-6, 11-12, 17-18, 20-21 D’var Torah 7 Food 13 Home & Garden 14-16 Israel 26 Obituaries 24-26 Opinion 8-9 Seniors 19 Simchas | We Are Read 27

Pesach around town The Voice is highlighting just a few of the many Pesach activities in Rhode Island this year.

At right, Kosher Senior Café guests join in making chocolate matzah at the Alliance’s Jewish Community Center. Below right, a student at the David C. Isenberg Family Early Childhood Center enjoys the class seder. Below, left, for the third year, 130 people attended the second seder at Temple Torat Yisrael in East Greenwich.

THIS ISSUE’S QUOTABLE QUOTE “… Judaism does not hold that we are inherently sinful.”

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The Jewish Voice

Rick Recht to rock the JCC at family concert on April 19

BY JEWISH VOICE STAFF Popular singer and PJ Library spokesman Rick Recht will perform a children’s concert in honor of Yom Ha-Atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) at the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center on April 19.

The fun, interactive “Israel at 70: A PJ Library Musical Celebration featuring Rick Recht” will feature Recht performing songs from his hit children’s albums “Look at Me!” and “Free to Be the Jew in Me,” as well as on-stage participation by local children. Games and activities will start at 5 p.m. and Israeli foods will be available for purchase prior to the 6 p.m. concert.

“One of the things I absolutely love about these children’s concerts is bringing together little

kids, their parents and their grandparents in the same setting and creating a type of musical magic that excites everyone all at once,” Recht said.

Stephanie Hague, a Providence PJ Library parent, said, “My daughter loves listening to Rick Recht! Ever since she got the CD from PJ Library, she continually asks for me to play it and dances around the room.

I can’t wait to experience the concert with her. I know she will be so excited.”

Recht is the top-touring Jewish artist today, performing more than 125 concerts each year nationwide and using Jewish music as a powerful tool for developing Jewish pride and identity.

In addition to being a Jewish performer and educator, Recht

is also the founder and executive director of Jewish Rock Radio, an internet radio station found at www.jewishrockradio. com. He is also executive director of Songleader Boot Camp (w w w.song leaderbootc a mp. com), and leads Jewish leadership training programs and conferences for Jewish educators, clergy, and veteran and new song leaders.

“I believe PJ Library is one of the most extraordinary and effective Jewish family and community engagement opportunities of our time,” said Recht.

PJ Library is a Jewish family engagement program for young children that distributes Jewish children’s literature and music to families in hundreds of communities across the United States and Canada.

Rick Recht “I feel incredibly blessed that, for years, my family has experienced the profound impact of reading and listening to the inspirational and incredibly highquality PJ Library children’s

books and music,” Recht said.

“On the road, many of the families we meet feel equally blessed to receive PJ Library, providing their families with such fantastic resources and experiences.”

The concert, at the JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, is sponsored by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island in partnership with the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island, Congregation Beth David, Congregation Beth Sholom, PJ Library, Temple Beth-El, Temple Emanu-El, Temple Habonim, Temple Sinai and Temple Torat Yisrael. The concert is free but RSVPs are encouraged, as space is limited.

FOR MORE INFORMATION or to sign-up, go to www.jewishallianceri.org/rick-recht.

Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony features ‘Paper Clips’ director

BY LEV POPLOW Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) commemorates the annihilation of 6 million Jews, along with people of many nations who perished in the Holocaust as a result of the extreme racist attitudes, policies and actions carried out

by Nazi Germany and its collaborators.

The day also celebrates the heroism of Jewish resistance during this period.

This year’s commemoration will take place at Temple Emanu-El, in Providence, on April 11 at 7 p.m. This annual program emphasizes the depth of loss that Jews and other groups, including gays, Roma, communists and other political opponents, experienced in the Holocaust. It is a collaboration between the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center, the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, the Greater Rhode Island Board of Rabbis and Temple Emanu-El. The ceremony is multidenominational and all are invited to attend.

The ceremony begins with a deeply moving candle-lighting procession of survivors (including second-generation survivors) accompanied by the reading aloud of the names of family members lost in the Holocaust. All this is set to reflective music performed by noted harpist Judie Tenenbaum.

This year’s featured speaker is Joe

Fab, the Emmy-nominated producer, writer and co-director of “Paper Clips.”

Named one of the top five documentaries of 2004, this film tells the story of The Paper Clips Project in which middle-school students in a small town in Tennessee who studied the Holocaust set out to collect more than 6 million paper clips to get an idea of the scope of the genocide.

Paper clips were chosen, in part, be-

cause Norwegians wore them on their lapels as a symbol of resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II. What started as a project to teach students about tolerance became a worldwide phenomenon when the student collected over 24 million paper clips sent to them by people from 20 different countries.

It resulted in the creation of a museum and permanent memorial in the town of

Whitwell, Tennessee.

Through the One Clip at a Time Foundation, Fab is working with executive producer Matthew Hiltzik and his team on “One Clip at a Time,” a follow-up documentary that looks at what has happened in the years since “Paper Clips.”

The ceremony will also feature the debut of an original piece of music composed by Judith Lynn Stillman, pianist, composer, artist-in-residence and professor of music at Rhode Island College. She has performed throughout the world, including at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood and the Grand Teton Festival. She has been a visiting guest artist at major conservatories in China, Russia and the Czech Republic The annual Never Again Award will be presented by Holocaust survivor Alice Eichenbaum to Arthur Robbins in recognition of his contribution to Holocaust education and commitment to making “Never Again” a reality.

Arthur Robbins has been involved with the Holocaust Education Center from the beginning, said May-Ronny Zeidman, executive director. “He is an all around wonderful human being. The world is a better place because of Arthur.”

LEV POPLOW is a communications and development consultant. Contact him at levpoplow@gmail.com.

This Yom HaAtzma’ut, celebrate red, white, and blue.

Magen David Adom, Israel’s largest and premier emergency medical response agency, has been saving lives since before 1948. And supporters like you provide MDA’s 27,000 paramedics, EMTs, and civilian Life Guardians — more than 90% of them volunteers — with the training, equipment, and rescue vehicles they need. So as we celebrate Israel’s independence, make a difference in the health, welfare, and security of the Israeli people with your gift to MDA. Please give today.

AFMDA New England PO Box 812053 Wellesley, MA 02482 Tel 781.489.5166 • new-england@afmda.org www.afmda.org

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Lyme disease warrior Pamela Weintraub to speak at The Miriam

BY BARBARA HOROVITZ BROWN The Miriam Hospital Women’s Association is delighted that Pamela Weintraub, author of “Cure Unknown, Inside the Lyme Epidemic,” will be the guest speaker at the group’s program on May 1.

Weintraub, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, is the author of 16 books and has been featured on dozens of major radio shows. “Cure Unknown” was the winner of the American Medical Writer’s Association book award (2009) and has won community service awards from the Lyme Disease Association.

As noted on the book jacket of “Cure Unknown,” Weintraub, a science journalist, thought she had found the answer to symptoms that had been plaguing her family for years when her oldest son tested positive for Lyme disease. Instead, she found that she had stepped into a medically controversial area, with more questions than

Pamela Weintraub answers on the cause of the infection, the length and type of treatment, and the kind of medical practitioners that patients need.

On one side of the fight, the scientists who first studied Lyme described a disease, transmitted by deer ticks, that is hard to catch but easy to cure, no matter how advanced the case.

On the other side, rebel doctors

insist that Lyme and a “soup of co-infections” cause a complicated spectrum of illnesses, often dramatically different from and far more difficult to treat than the disease described by the original researchers.

As patients struggled to find answers, Weintraub found that once treatable infections became chronic.

These differing views hit close to home: In the Rhode Island Department of Health alone, there are biostatisticians on opposite sides regarding the use of antibiotics to treat Lyme disease.

Weintraub will detail some of her personal experiences with this quandary, as well as tapping into the science.

May is Lyme Disease Awareness month. May is also when New Englanders begin to spend

a lot of time outdoors, where ticks lurk.

Department of Health workers will attend the May 1 program to share prevention tips and distribute handouts.

Weintraub is the health and psychology editor of the website Aeon, a charity “committed to the spread of knowledge and a cosmopolitan worldview,” and editor in chief of the recently relaunched OMNI Magazine and a series of book-a-zines on psychology, health and science.

She was formerly executive editor of Discover Magazine and has reported on science for national media for over 25 years.

Kaja Perina, editor in chief of Psychology Today, called “Cure Unknown” the definitive book about Lyme disease.

The May 1 meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. in the Sopkin Audito-

rium at The Miriam Hospital, 164 Summit Ave., Providence.

The program is free but RSVP

by April 20, at vickie.scott@ lifespan.org, as space is limited. Light refreshments will be served and valet parking is provided.

The Miriam Hospital Women’s Association raises funds for the hospital and provides educational programs for the community. Marianne Litwin, Sherry Cohen, Marilyn Myrow, Barbara Horovitz Brown and Cynthia Schwartz organized this event. To join or learn more about the organization, contact Vickie Scott at vickie.scott@ lifespan.org or 401-793-2520.

B A R B A R A H O R O VITS BROWN is co-vice president of program development for The Miriam Hospital Women’s Association.

20th Anniversary

Where Healthcare and Hospitality Meet

What’s a milestone if you don’t celebrate with others?

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Attendees listen to a speaker before the screening of “GI Jews: Jewish Americans in World War II.” The community event took place March 28 at the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center in Providence. The film will be premiere on Rhode Island PBS on April 19. Check local listings for times and additional programs.

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Fun and games and lots of learning as Brown design students visit JCDSRI

BY TIFERET ROSE The fifth-graders giggled as they attempted to follow the rules that the visiting students from Brown University had laid out for them. Each student was holding the end of a wooden box that was a game. The rules were to tip the box side to side to move a pingpong ball into the opponent’s goal area while avoiding a few holes in the middle of the game board.

The catch? They were only supposed to tilt the box when the ball was on their side of the court.

The fifth-graders kept raising the game board higher and higher until they couldn’t see over the top of it. Finally, they got frustrated and put the game box on the floor and began blowing the pingpong ball back and forth. The students from Brown looked at each other and then excitedly took notes.

This exercise took place this past month, when the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island welcomed Brown University’s ENGN0930C Design Studio into the fifth-grade Tikkun by Design class. The visit was part of the college course focusing on “Human Centered Design,” in which designers put their users at the center of the design process.

The idea was to enlist the JCDSRI students in the creation of engaging and developmentally appropriate games for children.

But that first class wasn’t all

PHOTOS | JCDSRI

fun and games. Prof. Ian Gonsher started the class by introducing some common design terms, such as iteration, prototyping and critiquing, and he encouraged the fifth-graders to use them in conversation. The students also had an opportunity to share their critiques of the games with the Brown students.

The following week, the col-

lege students returned with new and improved games, while some of the fifth-graders brought in games they had designed and built for the college students.

The Brown students’ designs were sleeker and more refined than they had been the week before. The group that brought the tipping wooden box had changed the game rules

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Fifth graders at JCDSRI work on test games provided by Brown University students. entirely: Their new board sat stably on the floor, and students were told to blow the pingpong ball back and forth, aiming for the opponent’s goal.

This partnership gave the JCDSRI students exposure to col lege -level t h i n k i ng about design, as well as to an authentic design process. They experienced first-hand, the importance of user input and feedback – and returned to the Tikkun by Design classroom with more skills, knowledge and excitement about the design process.

Additionally, as a teacher, I am using ideas that came from our interactions with the Brown students, as well as other community partners, to enhance my own teaching. For example, in my second-grade classroom, we are designing games to play with our 3- and 4-year-old buddies at the David C. Isenberg Family Early Childhood Center at the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center, in Providence.

The second-graders first

played their games with peers, then had an opportunity to incorporate that feedback into a new iteration of the games before they brought them to the preschoolers.

The partnership has also spurred some of the Brown students to seek out more opportunities to work with our pupils.

Several of them will return in April to lead a STEAM Splash workshop. STEAM Splash is a school-wide two-day event that showcases applications of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. The college students will design a workshop around a STEAM passion of theirs and then share it with JCDSRI students in an interactive and hands-on program.

In turn, I will work with the college students to think strategically about their workshop, in addition to providing educational counsel.

TIFERET ROSE is the Design Lab (TikkunXDesign) teacher at the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island.

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April 6, 2018 |

7

The miracle of the goats On seder nights, after the fourth cup of wine, we always try to sing “Chad Gadya.” It’s a silly, deep song about a little goat that my abba bought for two zuzim.

This year, my family was blessed to have not one, but three little goats join us for RABBI the seder. We AARON are kidding for PHILMUS the first time, and we are only in it for the milk. So no, we will not be roasting one on a spit. Incidentally, if we were, it would have been our unblemished male, whom the kids lovingly named Jonnie (see picture).

Why are we raising kids in our backyard homestead by the shul? Well, consider that they provide delicious milk for yogurt and cheese, they love snuggling, they make us laugh every day, they ate up the thorn bushes and poison ivy in the backwoods so the kids can play there, and they provide the best fertilizer for our garden.

Did you know that the Yiddish word “bupkes” (as in “for all my efforts, I got bupkes!”) literally means “goat dung,” because it was everywhere in the shtetl. As it turns out, bupkes is really great for our garden.

This is living proof that you really can get something from nothing (bupkes)! And on top of all of that, goats were the close traveling companions of my ancestors Abraham and Sarah.

When Joseph’s brothers were asked, “What is your occupation?,” they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds,

both we and our forefathers.”

Moshe grew up as an Egyptian prince not a shepherd. He only discovered his roots when he ran off to the wilderness to live with the Midianites. Moshe apprenticed himself to his father-in-law Yitro and learned to herd sheep and goats.

The Midrash says that, “Moshe was herding the flocks of Yitro in the wilderness when a kid ran away. He pursued it until he found a rocky ledge.

After discovering the ledge, he came upon a stream of water beside which the lost kid stood drinking.” At this, he said, “I didn’t know that you ran away because of thirst. You must be tired.” So he carried it back on his shoulders. The Holy Blessed be He, declared, “You have

shown compassion in tending the flock belonging to mortal man. Thus shall you tend My flock [Israel].” (Exodus Rabbah 2:2) To help the Israelites prepare to leave Egypt and return to the shepherding ways of Abraham and Sarah, God instructs every family to roast a whole lamb or kid over the fire and paint its blood on the doorposts of their home. While the Angel of Death skipped over their homes, they ate the Pesach meat with raw bitter greens, wrapped in the humble flatbread of shepherds.

God instructs them to “eat it with your staff in hand, sandals on your feet, and your loins girded.” When they finally left their Egyptian homes, they must have looked back at the blood on the entrances and felt tremendous gratitude to have survived the plagues. It was as if God’s flock was expelled from the narrow womb of Egypt and out through the bloody doorways.

The mystery and wonder of birth is that it really feels like something came from nothing.

On the night that our goat kids

were born, my human kids kept saying, “I can’t believe it! I can’t believe she had three babies!

Before we had two goats and now we have five!” Every year on Pesach, we retell our birth story as a holy nation and we marvel at the constant rebirth and survival as a people.

Why do we dip twice on Pesach night? We dip the karpas in salt water at the beginning of the seder to reenact when Joseph’s brothers dipped his tunic in goat blood. They sold him into slavery and lied to their father Jacob telling him it was Joseph’s blood. The first dipping is in salt water to remind us of the hatred and lies that sent us down into Egypt.

Later, we dip the bitter herb in sweet charoset. This dipping reenacts the night of the Exodus, when we dipped the hyssop branches in goat or lamb’s blood and painted the doorposts to protect from the Angel of Death. This second dipping is bitter dipped in sweet to remind us that our people endured 400 years of slavery in a foreign land and were reborn as a free and holy people on their way home. And then, after too much matzah ball soup, brisket, and wine we get a little silly and sing the song, “Chad gadya, chad gadya! One little goat… one little goat!”

AARON PHILMUS is the Rabbi at Temple Torat Yisrael in East Greenwich.

OPINION

8 | April 6, 2018

The fowl adventure and other seder stories I’ve learned a number of lessons since my last column.

None of them are particularly deep or life changing, but I think each time you learn something, you advance a little.

So I thought I’d share some EDITOR of what I’ve learned here.

FRAN Lesson one: OSTENDORF The task you expect to be easiest sometimes turns out to be hardest.

When it comes to planning our family seder, there’s never a question about the soup. I’ve been making chicken soup for years. No problems. Buy a fowl, and go from there. Not this year. Finding a fowl (also known as a stewing hen) became a major obsession in our house. And at one point, there was concern about whether my soup would make it to the seder table.

Because I was unable to drive due to a knee injury, the shopping duties fell to my husband.

He tried at least a half-dozen stores to find our fowl. No one had a fowl, but everyone had advice on how to make chicken soup and what type of chicken to use.

He talked to butchers who assured him that fowls were unnecessary and to others who claimed they would have the coveted bird the next morning.

Nope. Perhaps I’ll tell about his quest in a future column.

But for now, suffice it to say that if my husband didn’t like my soup as much as he does, we probably wouldn’t have had homemade soup for this holiday.

I wasn’t willing to be flexible when it came to the chicken soup – and a fowl was found in the nick of time.

But I learned this year that flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to almost

everything else. That’s lesson two.

Ours is the house where the family gathers for the holidays.

Despite my broken kneecap, we decided to follow our tradition and open our home again.

After all, nobody is getting any younger, and every family gathering is precious.

To make things easier, we made a list of all that needed to get done, and the whole family pitched in with the cooking and everything else that goes into preparing for and hosting a seder.

As preparations were being completed, we were all looking forward to the arrival of my parents. Until we weren’t.

A health issue forced my folks to cancel at the last minute.

Nothing major, but traveling by plane just wasn’t in the cards.

We were devastated. All preparations stopped. Briefly.

Then we turned around and carried on.

With photos, phone calls, text messages and videos, we kept the parents connected to our planning and seder as best we could. We even included my mother in a rousing rendition of “Chad Gadya,” one of her favorite Passover songs.

And we made plans to celebrate my mother’s birthday, which this year fell just before Passover, another time . With families, you have to celebrate what you can any time you gather. That’s lesson three.

Preparing a seder for 13 while hobbling on an injured knee might not have been the wisest choice. But it all worked out. Our adaptations meant this seder was a lot easier on the hosts. We had a nice, fulfilling family weekend, even without my cherished parents.

We have a new plan for Mom’s birthday. And we are looking forward to all being together for next year’s seder.

We might even make that shared task list a new family tradition. And next year, I’ll start looking for my fowl in February, before Purim!

We stand corrected “In Search of Israeli Cuisine” will be shown at Temple Sinai on Tuesday, April 10.

We incorrectly reported the date in the March 16 story about Michael Solomonov.

In Local Students Join National Rally, (March 16) words were omitted in the quote by Gabe Mernoff. The correct quote is “We need to attack this problem of gun violence at the root…”

OUR MISSION The mission of The Jewish Voice 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.

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The Iago within us I enjoyed reading Kara Marziali’s review of Trinity Repertory Company’s production of “Othello” in the March 2 issue of The Jewish Voice. I read her piece just a day or so after I saw the play, which is performed in the round, upstairs in the Chace Theater. I concur with Marziali’s contention “ ‘Othello’ IT SEEMS that is a prime exTO ME ample of how racism, intolerance and RABBI JIM bigotry foster ROSENBERG a culture of suspicion, antagonism and violence.”

While Marziali looked at the social and cultural themes in Shakespeare’s tragedy, the play forced me to look inward, to confront the evil buried deep within my own soul.

Like many theater-goers, I find “Othello” to be primarily about Iago, the villain, rather than about the noble Moor who gives the play its title. At the recent Trinity production, it was Iago who engaged me most fully; in some sense, I found myself rooting for him. What clever remark was he going to make next? How would his actions turn the plot in new directions?

The great Shakespearean scholar A. C. Bradley (18511935) begins one of his published lectures on “Othello” by stating, “Evil has nowhere else been portrayed with such mastery as in the character of Iago.” Bradley then writes that Iago is one of “the most wonderful characters” in all of Shakespeare, along with Falstaff, Hamlet and Cleopatra.

“Of these,” he writes, “… Hamlet and Iago … are perhaps the most subtle.”

What is it about Iago that has engaged and energized audiences for more than 400 years?

I would suggest that we are attracted to Iago not despite the

fact that he is evil incarnate, but precisely because of what some have called his “motiveless malignity.”

Yes, Iago does claim that he hates Othello because he failed to promote him from ensign (or ancient) to lieutenant; the Moor has instead given the assignment to Michael Cassio, a man far less battle-hardened than Iago. But Iago’s reaction to this “motive” seems wildly out of proportion – in an accelerating rampage, he contrives to deceive and destroy Othello, Othello’s bride Desdemona, the easily duped patsy Rodrego, and even his own wife, Emelia.

Like moths drawn to a flame, we in the audience are drawn to Iago’s manifest joyfulness at his genius for improvisation, his almost satanic ability to invent ways to make life hell for those whom he targets.

As the literary critic Harold Bloom (b. 1930) has written, “Othello’s tragedy is precisely that Iago should know him better than the Moor knows himself.” Indeed, Iago, as cold and calculating as Heinrich Himmler, the former head of the dreaded SS, seems to possess an uncanny ability to read the weakness of others.

During the course of a single scene – Act III, Scene 3 – “honest” Iago is able to transform the once proud, brave, selfdisciplined Othello into a raving lunatic consumed by “the green-eyed monster,” jealousy – a jealousy that leads him to strangle the one he loves.

Just moments before he commits suicide, Othello still cannot see in himself that which was so obvious to Iago; he tells those standing by that he has been one “not easily jealous.”

Not easily jealous? Few characters in all of world literature have been as easily jealous as Othello.

Traditional Jewish psychology can help us better understand the nature of Iago’s malignity. In contrast to the Christian notion of Original Sin, Judaism does not hold that we are inherently sinful.

Rather, for two millennia the

rabbis have affirmed that we are born with two competing inclinations: the yetzer tov, our inclination to do good, and the yetzer hara, our inclination to do evil. The morally healthy individual maintains a balance between these conflicting impulses.

Indeed, with disciplined effort, one can enlist the yetzer tov to tame the yetzer hara, to sublimate it to serve society at large. The rabbis go so far as to say the yetzer hara, often associated with our sexual drive, is an essential aspect of our humanity; were it not for the yetzer hara, we would not establish our families, nor would we do the work of the world.

Iago is a man whose yetzer hara has run amok, for he has lost the yetzer tov to keep it in check. As Bloom states, “Iago has no inner self, only a fecund abyss.”

Lacking an inner self, lacking a yetzer tov to give him a positive sense of direction, Iago is reduced to a chaos of destructive negativity, a defiant no, an untamed urge to do evil. He is a nullity inside, void of all sense of virtue. Since for him there is no God, he feels a terrible and terrifying sense of absolute freedom – a freedom to do whatever he pleases without fear of consequences.

In the very first scene of the play, he defines himself as undefinable: “I am not what I am” – a telling, heretical inversion of God’s reply to Moses at the burning bush: “I am what I am.”

One cannot witness the words and the actions of Iago without pondering the mystery of human depravity.

By the end of the play, many in the audience may have begun to suspect that the reason we find Iago so irresistibly fascinating is that there is more than a little of Iago hidden within each of us.

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

Next time in The Voice ISRAEL AT 70

we’ll tell your story!

Israel is celebrating a big birthday, and we’ll have some interesting stories.

CHICKEN SOUP

Read the editor’s column?

Have a better way to make soup? Let us know and maybe

PETS GALORE

We haven’t forgotten Fluffy and Fido. The pet issue is coming May 25. Start sending those photos and perhaps you’ll make our pages of pets.

COMMUNICATE WITH US

Send your ideas, comments and pet pictures via email to editor@jewishallianceri.org.

Regular mail reaches us at Editor, The Jewish Voice, 401, Elmgrove Ave., Providence, RI 02906.

COLUMNS | LETTERS POLICY

The Jewish Voice 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 The Jewish Voice or the Alliance.

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

jvhri.org

OPINION

April 6, 2018 |

9

Postmemory is more than a simple term

BY HILARY SALK An article in The Jewish Voice (3/2/18), “A Liberator’s Tale: ‘In my nightmares the scenes recur,’ ” has been recurring in my mind. It is the story of Rabbi Bohnen of Temple Emanu-El, who served as a chaplain in the Army, and described in detailed letters to his wife his part in the liberation of Dachau concentration camp. At the end of the article, his daughter Judy (Bohnen) Levitt is quoted: “There are so few survivors left at this point, who is going to be telling this story? If people don’t remember, it could happen again.”

I do not believe we need to worry that people won’t remember. I do worry that it could happen again. Jews,

African-Americans, Muslims, Hispanics, gays, immigrants, and, we cannot leave out, women, have been targeted more than before. Since the current president took to Twitter with his distinctive carelessness, crassness, and demagogue rants, we are experiencing something that is unAmerican. (Just the use of that word un-American brings back another memory of a hate-filled demagogue.)

I have a name for what I experience that relieves me of the worry that people won’t remember. Having heard Marianne Hirsch speak last year at the Pembroke Center Archives Conference, I learned what can happen to children of survivors and to those of us who identify so closely with people who have

experienced the hatred, enslavement, torture and murder of people other than ourselves personally.

She has coined the term “postmemory” to describe how traumatic events live on in the memories of people who have inherited the memories of those who have experienced these events personally.

My novel, “Eavesdropping in Oberammergau,” could not have been written without my postmemories, though until I had this word for it, I did not recognize how the memories of others influenced me. My mother-in-law’s story of the loss of her mother in the 1918 influenza epidemic had been adapted into the story I wrote.

As I realized the number of people I knew who had escaped

Nazi Germany after Kristallnacht, I realized how I had absorbed their experiences, enabling me to write of it in the voice of Stefan Hirsch in my novel.

My identification with Stefan, based on the true story of Peter Max Myer, who lived in Oberammergau in the 1930s and was attacked on Kristallnacht, allowed me to imagine the life of a German Jew who experienced the evolving Nazi nightmare and the collusion of ordinary Germans with the Nazi movement. One of the scariest parts of this identification is to realize how German Jews did not believe it could happen there.

When I wrote “Eavesdropping,” I had no glimmer of a sense that it could happen

here. But now I do. We, of all people, do remember, need to keep the stories alive that have enlivened our memories.

I have heard so many Jewish people say, I don’t want to hear any more Holocaust stories.

Enough already. And it’s true, we have heard much about the Holocaust, and, true, these memories, whether through direct experience or postmemory, are painful. I get that we need to get on with our lucky, lucky lives.

But right this moment, we need to use the memories to awaken our sense of danger for ourselves and for so many others and even for our democracy.

HILARY SALK is a Rhode Island writer.

LETTERS A clarification on ‘A Jewish Forgetting of Ben Franklin’ (Jan. 19) I never used the words “proof” or “evidence” in my recent submission to The Jewish Voice on “A Jewish Forgetting of Ben Franklin,” yet these words suddenly appeared in print beneath my name. There is actually incontrovertible proof and evidence of Franklin’s influence on mussar (Jewish ethical teaching), but I offered none in my brief article. I was also very careful to refer to only “some Orthodox Jews” in my critique, avoiding generalizations. Yet The Voice changed my words to include all Orthodox Jews, and printed: “The Jewish Orthodox response has been to largely write Franklin or Lefin out of the history of mussar.”

That has not, in fact, been “the Jewish Orthodox response.”

It has been, as I stressed in my submission, an apparently anxiety-relieving response of “some” Orthodox Jews. As it happens, I consulted with two of Rhode Island’s haredi rabbis before I began publishing articles in newspapers and jour-

nals on the subject of Franklin and Judaism. Rather than being anxious about Franklin’s contributions to mussar – or about the suggestion that even within the presumably insular world of Eastern European rabbinic Judaism, far from the deism of the trans-Atlantic Enlightenment, the pre-Reform, pre-Conservative version of the Jewish religion was affected by broader currents of thought – they were eager to discuss the matter and offer their perspectives. Likewise, without a hint of anxiety, Providence’s Modern Orthodox Congregation Beth Sholom invited me to speak on this topic as part of a Shabbat dinner.

Shai Afsai Providence, RI Afsai’s upcoming article about Franklin’s influence on mussar thought and practice will appear in The Review of Rabbinic Judaism in 2019. At his request, “A Jewish Forgetting of Ben Franklin” has been removed from The Voice’s website.

Re: Joy and Therapy (March 2)

Thank you for printing the article “Bringing Joy and Therapy to Hospice Patients through Jewish Music.”

We were very happy to see the well-written piece, making more people aware of the therapeutic power of music to uplift, energize or console people in difficult situations, even in cases where nothing else works.

My husband, Fishel Bresler, has been doing this serious work for 30 years, at places like children’s hospitals, clinics, adult programs, special needs schools, etc., playing both Jewish music and popular tunes according to the interests of whomever he was working with. He has seen wonderful

responses, and we have been blessed with administrators at Hasbro, The Miriam, Slater and other institutions who DO see what music does for their patients, as well as staff and families!

Unfortunately the value of therapeutic music in our larger society is greatly underrated or not understood, leading to severe struggles and shortages of funding and/or lack of interest in providing such professional music services, especially to our elders. Maybe more articles like this will inspire the creation of more uplifting programs.

Elianna Bresler Providence, RI

FROM PAGE 1

CROWN PRINCE

to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations.”

Since 2002, Saudi Arabia has embraced the Arab League peace plan, which would recognize Israeli statehood, but conditions such recognition on an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement based on the 1967 lines.

Mohammed also said that Saudis had no religious problem with Israel as a whole, but with the control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a site known to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif that is holy to both faiths, and with Palestinian rights.

“We have religious concerns about the fate of the holy mosque in Jerusalem and about the rights of the Palestinian people,” he said. “This is what we have. We don’t have any objection against any other people.”

Under Mohammed, who last year consolidated his power in Saudi Arabia, longstanding secret ties with Israel have become more open; Saudi Arabia recently allowed flights launched in Israel by non-Israel carriers to travel through Saudi airspace. Saudi Arabia and Israel have long shared intelligence about their common enemy in the region, Iran.

Mohammed said Israel’s commercial ties with Saudi

Arabia and other Arab countries would likely flourish should there be peace.

“Israel is a big economy compared to their size and

“…Saudis had no religious problem with Israel as a whole, but with the control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem …” it’s a growing economy, and of course, there are a lot of interests we share with Israel and if there is peace, there would be a lot of interest between Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and countries like Egypt and Jordan,” he said. The GCC, an economic umbrella led by Saudi Arabia, encompasses most countries in the Persian Gulf.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Mohammed’s father, King Salman, emphasized in a statement distributed through state media “the kingdom’s steadfast position toward the Palestinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

In the Atlantic interview, Mohammed repeated his claim that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was worse than Hitler, a comparison that made headlines when he made it last month in a “60 Minutes” interview.

“I believe the Iranian supreme leader makes Hitler look good,” the prince said.

“Hitler didn’t do what the supreme leader is trying to do.

Hitler tried to conquer Europe. … The supreme leader is trying to conquer the world.”

Hitler’s genocide against the Jews cost 6 million Jewish lives. The war he initiated is believed to have cost as many as 50 million lives.

Last week, Mohammed participated in an off-the-record interfaith meeting that included three American rabbis: Rabbi Steven Wernick, head of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism; and Allen Fagin, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union. He also met separately with the heads of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations, B’nai B’rith International and the Jewish Federations of North America.

Re: Jewish Orphanage (March 2) I read with interest the article

by Geraldine Foster, “The Jewish Orphanage of R.I.: ‘A Cherished Institution’.”

Indeed cherished!

My two uncles, Saul and Nathan Barber, now deceased, were residents of the orphanage when they were very young (about 7 and 9 or thereabout).

Their widowed mother couldn’t support and take care of four children (my mother and my aunt as well as the boys) so, in desperation, she sent the two boys to the orphanage. My uncles were well taken care of at the orphanage and encouraged to excel in school and sports.

Both uncles attended URI, col-

lege and graduate schools. Saul and Nathan always talked in grateful and loving terms about the time they spent at the orphanage on Summit Avenue. I thank Ms. Foster for the article, which brought back fond memories for me.

Sandra Kopel Providence, RI

10 | April 6, 2018

Ongoing Alliance Kosher Senior Café. Kosher lunch and program every weekday.

Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Noon lunch; 1 p.m. program. $3 lunch donation from individuals 60+ or under 60 with disabilities. Neal or Elaine, 401-421-4111, ext. 107.

West Bay Kosher Senior Café. Kosher lunch and program every weekday.

Temple Sinai, 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston.

11:15 a.m. program; noon lunch. $3 lunch donation from individuals 60+ or under 60 with disabilities. Steve, 401743-0009.

Duplicate Bridge. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Mondays noon-2 p.m.: 0-20 masterpoint game.

For less-experienced players. $5 per day. Mondays and Wednesdays noon-3 p.m.: Open stratified game for experienced players at all levels. $7 per day.

Tuesdays and Fridays 11 a.m.-2 p.m: Open stratified game for players at all levels. $7 per day. Thursdays 1:30-3:30 p.m.: Guided play. Beginners and those seeking to hone skills play under the guidance of nationally known instructor Bart Buffington. $6 per day. Information, Bart Buffington at abarton295@ aol.com or 401-390-9244.

Through May 3 Three Creative Approaches. Bunny Fain Gallery at Temple Habonim, 165 New Meadow Road, Barrington. Wednesday and Thursday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and by appointment.

Bob Kemp, Abba Cudney and Mural 5778 by the religious school students.

Information, 401-245-6536 or gallery@ templehabonim.org.

Friday | April 6 Family Shabbat Dinner. 6 p.m. Temple Beth-El, 70 Orchard Ave., Providence.

Pasta, turkey meatballs and salad dinner at 6 p.m. Led by third-grade students. Information, Temple Beth-El office at 401-331-6070.

Kabbalat Shabbat Service. 7:30-9 p.m.

Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Shabbat service followed by an Oneg. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael. org or 401-885-6600.

Saturday | April 7 Children’s Shabbat Program and Jr. Kiddush Club. 9:30-11:15 a.m. Congregation Beth Sholom, 275 Camp St., Providence. Weekly program and Jr. Kiddush Club for children. Activities include prayer, parashah, play time and a special Kiddush. Three age groups: Tots, Pre-K thru 1st grade and 2nd grade and up. Located in Kids Room, Social Hall and Chapel on the lower level. Big kids of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to join prayer services in the main sanctuary. Information, office@bethsholom-ri.org.

Passover and Yizkor Service. 9 a.m.noon. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Passover service with Yizkor. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael.org or 401-885-6600.

Trivia Night. 6:30-10 p.m. Temple Sinai, 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston. Fun night of friendly competition and socializing.

Dinner of pizza, calzones, salad, desserts and coffee. Tickets are $20 at the door. BYOB. Babysitters provided for $10 per child or $15 per family.

CALENDAR RSVP or information, Dottie at dottie@ templesinairi.org or 401-942-8350.

Sunday | April 8 Torah Sprouts. 9:30-10:30 a.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Torat Yisrael’s program for preschool families. Children ages 3-5 sing songs, hear stories, create arts and crafts, and enjoy snacks. A parent must attend. $10 per session. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@ toratyisrael.org or 401-885-6600.

Sisterhood Book Review. 9:30-11 a.m.

Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. “The Secret Chord” by Geraldine Brooks. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael. org or 401-885-6600.

Joanne Forman Film Festival: “The Band’s Visit.” 2 p.m. Temple Beth-El, 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. A band of eight members of the Egyptian police are forced to travel to Israel to play a concert and get lost in the wrong Israeli town. Discussion with Paula DavidsonBodo, educator. Free. Next movie is 4/15. Presented by the Sisterhood of Temple Beth-El. Information, Temple Beth-El office, 401-331-6070.

Monday | April 9 “Remnants.” 6:30-8 p.m. Brown RISD Hillel, 80 Brown St., Providence.

“Remnants” is a minimalist piece that includes the voices of men and women, currently presented as a one-man performance by the author, Henry Greenspan. The play reflects what is now more than 40 years of conversation between the playwright and a small group of Holocaust survivors. 6:30 p.m. reception. 7 p.m. performance and Q & A. Free. Information, Ruchel Playe at Ruchel_Playe@brown.edu.

Poetry Reading: Rabbi Mark Elber and Ada Jill Schneider. 6:30 p.m. Somerset Public Library, 1464 County St., Somerset, Mass. Everyone welcome. Free.

Information, Somerset Public Library at 508-646-2829.

Monday Night Meditation. 7:45-8:30 p.m.

Congregation Beth Sholom, 275 Camp St., Providence. Meditation instruction for all levels. Series focuses on classic and modern Jewish meditation techniques. Open to all. Future dates: 4/23, 4/30, 5/7, 5/14. Free. Advance registration required. Information, rabbi@bethsholom-ri.org.

(401)j D’var in the Bar: Privacy and Social Media Series. 8-10 p.m. Garden Grille, 727 East Ave., Pawtucket. Does Judaism address issues of privacy?

What does it say about sharing personal information? Join the discussion with Rabbi Barry Dolinger. Ages 21+. Free.

Information, Dayna Bailen at dbailen@ jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 108.

Tuesday | April 10 Temple Torat Yisrael’s Lunch and Learn.

Noon-1:30 p.m. Gregg’s Restaurant, 4120 Quaker Lane, North Kingstown.

Each participant orders from the menu, and we study Jewish sources addressing current issues. Open to all. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@ toratyisrael.org or 401-885-6600.

Yoga. 6-7 p.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Cost: $30 for 3 sessions paid in advance; $12 per session at the door. Open to all. Bring a mat. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael.org

The Jewish Voice or 401-885-6600.

Art Workshop: Jewelry Making. 7-9 p.m. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Use a variety of materials to make charms or pendants and string beads to make unique designs. All participants will leave with new skills and a piece of jewelry. Earring posts will be sterling silver. Ages: 16+. Price: $20 | Members: $15. Next art workshop is 5/8. Information, Shannon Kochanek at skochanek@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 178.

Israel at 70: Movie Night at Temple Sinai: “In Search of Israeli Cuisine.”

7-9 p.m. Temple Sinai, 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston. This documentary chronicles the 70+ cultures that make up the Israeli people, each with wonderful and unique food traditions. Follow Michael Solomonov as he visits vibrant eateries, fine restaurants, home kitchens, wineries, cheese makers, organic kitchens an more. Michael Solomonov will appear in person at the Dwares JCC on Wednesday, May 2. This event is part of Rhode Island’s Israel at 70 Celebration sponsored by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and generously funded by the Dr. James Yashar & Judge Marjorie Yashar Fund at the Jewish Federation Foundation. Information, Dottie at dottie@templesinairi.org or 401-942-8350.

Wednesday | April 11 Game Night: Mah Jongg, Canasta and Table Tennis. 7-9 p.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich.

Open to all. Free. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael. org or 401-885-6600.

Yom HaShoah Commemoration. 7 p.m.

Temple Emanu-El, 99 Taft Ave., Providence. Join Holocaust survivors and the Rhode Island Interfaith Community to remember those who perished in the Holocaust. Joe Fab will talk about the 2004 documentary “Paper Clips” and the film’s impact on countering bigotry and anti-Semitism. Information, Temple Emanu-El, 401-331-1617.

“Bridging the Gap” with Rabbi Raphie.

8-8:45 p.m. Kollel Center for Jewish Studies, 450 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Explore the development and refinement of our personalities through the eyes of the Mussar movement. Text is “Bridging the Gap.” Open to all. Free.

Thru 1/30/19. Information, Rabbi Raphie Shochet at rabbiraphie@gmail.com or 401-383-2786.

Thursday | April 12 Delve Deeper: A Program of Intensive Jewish Study. 7-9 p.m. Temple Emanu-El, Bohnen Vestry, 99 Taft Ave., Providence. Thursdays thru 5/10.

Third semester: “The Rabbis and Their Legacy: An Introduction to Rabbinic Judaism” with Professor Michael Satlow. Registration is required, and space is limited. $200 for the semester.

Information, including a link to register, at teprov.org/institute/delvedeeper.

Friday | April 13 Kabbalat Shabbat Service. 7:30-9 p.m.

Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Shabbat service followed by an Oneg. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael. org or 401-885-6600.

Saturday | April 14 Classic Shabbat Service and Bat Mitz-

vah. 9 a.m.-noon. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich.

Shabbat service and Bat Mitzvah followed by a Kiddush. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@ toratyisrael.org or 401-885-6600.

Children’s Shabbat Program and Jr. Kiddush Club. 9:30-11:15 a.m. Congregation Beth Sholom, 275 Camp St., Providence. Weekly program and Jr. Kiddush Club for children. Activities include prayer, parashah, play time and a special Kiddush. Three age groups: Tots, Pre-K thru 1st grade and 2nd grade and up. Located in Kids Room, Social Hall and Chapel on the lower level. Big kids of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to join prayer services in the main sanctuary. Information, office@bethsholom-ri.org.

Kids’ Night Out: Spring Fever. Ages 5-12: 5-10 p.m. Ages 2-5: 5-8:30 p.m. (extended times available). Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence.

Children spend the evening with friends in a fun and safe environment and parents get night out, “kid free.”

Themed activities include sports, crafts, swimming and more. A pizza dinner and snacks are served. For ages 2-5, make sure to send your child with PJs as each evening ends with a movie. Price: $35 | Members: $25 | Siblings: $15.

Information for ages 2-5, Erin Barry at ebarry@jewishalliance.org or 401-4214111, ext. 130. Information for ages 5-12, Shannon Kochanek at skochanek@ jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 147.

Sunday | April 15 Men’s Club Breakfast. 9:30-11 a.m.

Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Our guest speaker will be Fran Ostendorf, editor of the Jewish Voice. Breakfast at 9:30 a.m.; speaking program begins at 10 a.m. Open to all. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael.org or 401885-6600.

Joanne Forman Film Festival: “East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem.” 2 p.m.

Temple Beth-El, 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. In Palestinian East Jerusalem, Israeli singer-songwriter David Boza records an album with American, Palestinian and Israeli musicians in protest of Middle East conflict. Discussion with Professor Mike Fink, Rhode Island School of Design. Presented by the Sisterhood of Temple Beth-El. Information, Temple Beth-El office, 401-331-6070.

Monday | April 16 Rhode Island Interfaith Power & Light Annual Meeting. 5:30-8 p.m. Westminster Unitarian Church, 119 Kenyon Ave., East Greenwich. The Reverend Dr. Jim Antal, minister and president of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ and author of “Climate Church, Climate World: How People of Faith Must Work for Change,” is featured. Open to all. Free. Registration required. Registration or information, Kristen Ivy Moses at kristenivy@ ri-ipl.org or 401-324-9142.

Tuesday | April 17 Alzheimer’s Monthly Support Group.

6 p.m. Tamarisk Assisted Living Residence, 3 Shalom Drive, Warwick.

Robert E.P. Elmer III, master trainer in Alzheimer’s Care, offers a monthly support group. Each session enhances knowledge and understanding of this debilitating disease. Future dates: 5/15,

6/19, 7/17, 8/21. Information, Susan Adler at susana@tamariskri.org or 401732-0037, ext. 104.

Yoga. 6-7 p.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Cost: $30 for 3 sessions paid in advance; $12 per session at the door. Open to all. Bring a mat. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael.org or 401-885-6600.

Yom Ha’Zikaron Ceremony. 7-9 p.m.

Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Yom Ha’Zikaron in Israel is a Memorial Day for those who lost their lives in the struggle that led to the establishment of the State of Israel and for all military personnel who were killed while in active duty in Israel’s armed forces. Gather to honor and remember those who have fallen in defense of the State of Israel or from acts of terror. Information, Tslil Reichman at treichman@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 181.

Movie Night: “A Cantor’s Tale.” 7-9:30 p.m. Temple Sinai, 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston. This charming film features Cantor Jackie Mendelson, who will also be at Temple Sinai for a special weekend 4/27-4/29. Come and meet him at this event. Temple Sinai supplies the popcorn. Information, Dottie at dottie@ templesinairi.org or 401-942-8350.

Wednesday | April 18 Game Night: Mah Jongg, Canasta and Table Tennis. 7-9 p.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich.

Come learn and have fun. Open to all.

Free. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael.org or 401885-6600.

“Bridging the Gap” with Rabbi Raphie.

8-8:45 p.m. Kollel Center for Jewish Studies, 450 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Explore the development and refinement of our personalities through the eyes of the Mussar movement. Text is “Bridging the Gap.” Open to all. Free.

Wednesdays thru 1/30/19. Information, Rabbi Raphie Shochet at rabbiraphie@ gmail.com or 401-383-2786.

Thursday | April 19 Israel at 70: A PJ Library Musical Celebration featuring Rick Recht.

6 p.m. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Musician Rick Recht performs a concert to commemorate Yom Ha’Atzmaut/Israeli Independence, Israeli food for sale at 5 p.m. Games and activities available. Free. Space is limited. RSVP before April 10 to be entered into a raffle to win $50 off a week of camp or a birthday party. See story page 12. Information, Michelle Cicchitelli at mcicchitelli@jewishallianceri. org or 401-421-4111, ext. 178.

Delve Deeper: A Program of Intensive Jewish Study. 7-9 p.m. Temple Emanu-El, Bohnen Vestry, 99 Taft Ave., Providence. Thursdays thru 5/10.

Third semester: “The Rabbis and Their Legacy: An Introduction to Rabbinic Judaism” with Professor Michael Satlow. Registration is required, and space is limited. $200 for the semester.

Information, including a link to register, can be found at teprov.org/institute/ delvedeeper.

Friday | April 20 Shababa Friday/PJ Library Story Time.

10-11 a.m. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Welcome Shabbat CALENDAR | 27

jvhri.org

COMMUNITY

April 6, 2018 |

11

Talk with children about school violence

BY MEGHAN CAVANAUGH, LICSW Recently, stories of school shootings have dominated the news. Jewish Family Service of Rhode Island has received many inquiries from parents who are confused about how to manage this topic with their children. Should parents share news of school shootings with their children? At what age is it appropriate? What should you tell them?

Today’s kids and teens also have unprecedented access to news and information, and it can be difficult to shield kids from news of school violence, or manage what they are being exposed to.

Here are some common questions from parents about how to talk to children about school violence and answers: Q: My second-grader came home from school feeling worried after practicing a lockdown drill. What can I say to help her feel better?

A: Take her feelings seriously. Let her know you understand why she feels scared, and that adults are working to keep kids safe. Remind her that lockdown drills are like fire drills: Schools practice so everyone knows what to do in case of an emergency. Just as it is not likely that the school will catch fire, it is also unlikely that there will be violence there. Remind your child of the safety procedures at her school that are already in place to keep students safe.

Q: I don’t normally let my sixth-grader watch the news, but he found out about a school shooting from friends at school and has questions.

How do I handle this?

A: Thank your child for coming to you with questions instead of relying on his peers for information. Try asking open-ended questions such as: Is there anything particular on your mind? What would you like to understand better?

These questions focus on what is bothering your child and give you insight into how he is making sense of the event.

Keep your talk age-appropriate and contained to what is on his mind.

Q: My daughter is in high school. Her class has been talking about how society should react to school violence, and she is passionate about gun control. Our family has always believed in the right to carry. How can we discuss this without arguing?

A: Be willing to listen to a differing point of view and to approach conversations with curiosity. Make a pledge that you will both try to understand each other’s feelings. You will likely find common themes as you explore. Remember that your goal is not to “win.” You are role-modeling how to engage in difficult conversations with respect.

As overwhelming as it can feel to navigate these talks, most kids will respond well to age-appropriate conversations.

If you are worried about your child, don’t hesitate to reach out for support.

M E G H A N C AVA N AU G H , LICSW, is the clinical director of Jewish Family Service of Rhode Island. She can be reached at 401-331-1244.

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12 | April 6, 2018

COMMUNITY

Berlin-based musician Paul Brody to speak, perform at URI Berlin-based jazz trumpeter, radio documentarian, installation artist and composer Paul Brody will perform and speak about his work with the Semer Ensemble’s project to discover, restore and perform Jewish music from 1930s Germany during an appearance at the University of Rhode Island’s Hillel. The program, on Thursday, April 12, at 7 p.m., is free and open to the public.

Brody’s presentation will include prerecorded musical illustrations, and will feature a live performance, with Christina Crowder on accordion. Light refreshments will be served.

Since 2015, Brody has worked with the Semer Ensemble to find and restore forgotten treasures of Jewish music from 1930s Germany. Brody’s work also focuses on the intersection of spoken language and music, which is reflected in sound installations featured at the Jewish Museum Berlin. (His documentary exhibit, “Voices of Help,” was inspired by people who helped Brody’s mother when she was put on the children’s transport at the age of 13 to escape from Nazi Vienna. Brody’s most recent commission is to produce music based on the voices of the translators at the Nuremburg trials.)

Since moving to Berlin in the 1990s to work as a composer and trumpeter, Brody has produced 10 solo albums, including three for John Zorn’s Tzadik label. He has also performed as a soloist with jazz, pop, klezmer and

Paul Brody other groups around the world.

While originally exploring the crossroads of contemporary jazz and traditional klezmer, Brody’s band, Sadawi, has branched out into what he calls “Indie Jazz cinematic sound.”

His album, “Behind all Words,” featuring Meret Becker, Jelena Kuljic and Clueso, won a German Recording Prize.

The April 12 event will be held at the Norman M. Fain Hillel Center, 6 Fraternity Circle, Kingston.

Brody’s visit is hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences’ Kenneth and Susan Kermes Distinguished Lecture Endowment, URI Hillel, The Harrington School of Communication and Media, the departments of Journalism and English, the Film/Media Program and Department of Music faculty and staff.

Submitted by URI Hillel

The Jewish Voice

URI Hillel’s ‘J-Time’ celebration to feature comedian Joel Chasnoff Jewish comedian, author and former IDF combat soldier Joel Chasnoff is bringing his comedy show “Israel – What’s the Story?” to the University of Rhode Island’s Hillel on Monday, April 23, at 7 p.m.

Chasnoff’s appearance is the culmination of “J-Time: #GetYourJewOn!,” a two-week commemoration and celebration of Jewish life that runs from Yom Ha-Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) to Yom Ha-Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day).

Beginning with the annual planting of the “Field of Flags,” on April 9, which commemorates victims of the Holocaust with a striking visual display, “J-Time” will include film screenings (“The Last Palmachnik” on April 16 and “Ida” on April 18), exhibits, music, a Day of Good Deeds (April 15) and an outdoor Yom Ha-Atzmaut festival (April 19).

In addition to Chasnoff’s performance on April 23, artist Alexandra Broches will speak at 4:30 that afternoon about her photography exhibit, “Letters and Pictures from a Box,” which will be on display at Hillel throughout J-Time.

Chasnoff first appeared at

Joel Chasnoff URI Hillel at the dedication weekend of the Norman M. Fain Hillel Center, in 2010, and is returning to celebrate Israel’s 70th birthday.

Raised in Chicago, and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Chasnoff enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces after graduation. That experience provided a wealth of material for his comedic memoir, “The 188th Crybaby Regime.” He now performs and teaches improv, entertaining audiences all over the world.

Chasnoff has performed at more than 1,000 Jewish events

in North America and Europe, and has appeared on Israeli late-night TV. “Israel – What’s the Story?” uses comedy and characters to create a safe place for healthy discussion about Israel. Portraying different individuals, each with different political opinions and backgrounds, Chasnoff asks the audience, “What does it mean to be Zionist today?” Audience participation is highly encouraged during the show.

The event is free and open to the public. It is co-sponsored by the Office of Community, Equity and Diversity, and the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, with support from a Hillel International Minienu Grant, the Israel Campus Coalition and the Israel Campus Roundtable.

A complete schedule of JTime events can be found on the URI Hillel website (urihillel.org).

URI Hillel is located at 6 Fraternity Circle, Kingston.

For more information about this and other J-Time events, contact Yaniv Havusha at yaniv_havusha@uri.edu or 401874-2740.

Submitted by URI Hillel

Hadassah fundraiser to feature ‘Funny Girl’

BY JANE KONDON “Hello Gorgeous.”

Do you remember these famous first words from a smash hit of yesteryear? They were uttered by Barbra Streisand 50

years ago in the film “Funny Girl.”

In that era, Jewish women were often depicted as dependent upon men, but Streisand shattered that glass ceiling by portraying Jewish women as smart, funny, beautiful and talented.

Today, Hadassah represents “The Power of Women Who Do,” and, consistent with that message, the Rhode Island Chapter is sponsoring a special showing of “Funny Girl” to honor the memory of its very own funny girl, Merry Drench.

Much as Streisand was a star in movies and song, Drench was a star in Hadassah, holding many positions and sharing her own special kind of comedic talent during her decades of service to the organization. Sadly, Drench lost her courageous battle with brain cancer five years ago, and she is missed.

All proceeds from the Merry Drench “Cause for Applause” fundraiser will go to the Leslie and Michael Gaffin Molecular Neuro-Oncology Laboratory, in Jerusalem, where scientists are conducting a number of drug trials on brain cancer and other diseases, including leukemia and lymphoma. A recent finding that the drugs used to treat prostate cancer are also efficient in killing brain tumor cells is bringing

new hope to patients.

The fundraiser, a special showing of the movie “Funny Girl,” will be held on Sunday, May 6, at 2 p.m. at Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. This temple offers the perfect venue to greet old friends and make new ones while supporting the eradication of brain cancer and other deadly diseases.

A dessert reception will follow the movie.

This event would make a perfect Mother’s Day gift. Men are also most welcome!

Tickets start at the double Chai level of $36. Please send your check, payable to Hadassah, to Judy Silverman, 50 Cindyann Drive, East Greenwich, RI 02818.

Additional information can be found on the Hadassah Rhode Island website, bit.ly/2pxAZ30.

If you need a ride, call Barbara Portney at 401-935-2052.

FOOD

jvhri.org

April 6, 2018 |

13

Pecans make heart-smart eating delicious and nutritious FAMILY FEATURES – Keeping your heart in good shape starts at mealtime. Fortunately, there’s no reason to skimp on flavor to spread the love to your heart.

For example, homegrown American pecans are a naturally sweet, heart-smart ingredient you can add to salads, vegetable dishes, oatmeal and other whole grains – or enjoy on their own as a snack. Their unique mix of “good” unsaturated fats, fiber, plant sterols and flavonoids add up to make pecans a powerful, heart-healthy food.

Each 1-ounce serving provides 18 grams of unsaturated fat with zero cholesterol or sodium. In fact, American Pecans are certified as a heart-healthy food by the American Heart Association’s Heart-Check Certification Program. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Admin-

istration, scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts, such as pecans, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease.

Try adding a colorful, flavorful twist to a simple salad by combining crunchy kale with fresh pecans, pomegranate seeds and pears for a tasty, heart-healthy meal you can feel good about.

For more recipes, nutrition information and cooking tips, visit americanpecan.com.

Pecan, Pear, Pomegranate Kale Salad Prep time: 20 minutes Servings: 8 Ingredients

1 bunch kale, stems removed 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons, divided

becomes glossy, deep green and begins to tenderize.

Add pear slices, pecan halves and pomegranate seeds; toss with kale.

Add remaining olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper to canning jar and secure lid. Shake for several seconds until dressing comes together. Drizzle over salad and toss to coat.

PHOTO | AMERICAN PECAN COUNCIL

2 small pears, sliced 3/4 cup fresh pecan halves 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar 2 tablespoons course grain mustard Pinch of Kosher salt Pinch of cracked black pepper

Directions

Chop or shred kale into small pieces and transfer to large bowl. Drizzle 3 tablespoons olive oil on kale. Massage kale about 3-5 minutes, or until kale

Serve immediately, or allow salad to marinate in dressing up to 30 minutes before serving.

Note: Heart-Check certification does not apply to recipes or information unless expressly stated.

Nutritional information serving: 230 calories; 21 g 2.5 g saturated fat; 75 mg dium; 11 g carbohydrates; fiber; 2 g protein.

per fat; so3 g

Dates and nuts make tasty truffles

BY IZZY DARBY The Nosher via JTA – Most of us need few excuses to make a batch of chocolate truffles, especially when coffee is involved.

My take on chocolate espresso truffles combines a velvety chocolate base with just enough espresso flavor to give you your caffeine fix. The fact that this version is vegan, Kosher for Passover and healthy (no added sugar!) is just icing on the cake.

I make these truffles with whatever nuts I have on hand (hazelnuts are to die for and make them taste like Nutella). Roll them in cocoa powder, unsweetened shredded coconut, shaved dark chocolate – or all three!

Dark Chocolate Espresso Truffles Ingredients

1 cup cashews 1/2 cup almonds 1 cup pitted Medjool dates (roughly 10-12, depending on size) 1/4 cup cocoa powder, plus 1/2 cup for coating 1 teaspoon ground coffee

IZZY DARBY is a vegan food blogger at Veganizzm.

The Nosher food blog offers new and classic Jewish recipes and

food news, from Europe to Yemen, from challah to shakshuka and beyond. Check it out at TheNosher.com.

Directions

Combine the cashews and almonds in a food processor and process until very finely ground. With the motor running, add the pitted dates one by one until a consolidated dough begins to form. Add the cocoa powder and ground coffee, and process until fully incorporated.

Working with 1 tablespoon of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls. Pour 1/2 cup cocoa powder into a shallow dish and roll the balls around until coated. Serve at room temperature or place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Makes 15.

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14 | April 6, 2018

HOME & GARDEN

The Jewish Voice

Grow your own pumpkins this spring for a beautiful sukkah this fall

BY MARC RUSSMAN Each day Jews around the world pray for a “sheltering tabernacle of peace” to guard us and Jerusalem.

What a beautiful image! A temporary booth is a metaphor for the fragile nature of life, peace and security.

For me, this prayer takes on a different meaning when we approach the spring planting season. What should I grow this year that, come harvest time, will help to beautify the festival of Sukkot, our Feast of Tabernacles? What better time than now to think about a sukkah decoration that we’ll need in about six months?

Many cultures celebrate the harvest. With the holiday of Sukkot, Jews just get there a little earlier. Sometime before Halloween, Jews in North America wave the and etrog, decorate booths and display the bounty of the season.

In New England, nothing says harvest more than pumpkins.

A popular variety of pumpkin, Connecticut Field, further grounds this squash (curcurbita argyrosperma) as New England’s very own.

Imagine a sukkah in your own backyard that is decorated with a brilliant orange, eye-popping, 100-pound pumpkin that you grew. “ I m p o s s i b l e , ” y o u s a y.

“There’s no way I can grow a 100-pound pumpkin in a small suburban backyard garden.”

Cast away your doubts, oh children of Israel. Yes, you

can! With the right techniques, preparation and timing, you’ll be marveling over your own 100-pounder by Sukkot. Guaranteed! Well, not really. There are no guarantees when it comes to Mother Nature. But, if you follow these instructions and tips, you’ll have a good chance of success.

The foundation: sun, soil and genetics

Pumpkins require a full day of sun – period. But, what is a full day? Ideally, your pumpkin patch should never be in shade and should enjoy the glorious sunshine from sunrise to sunset. Unfortunately, most suburban homes don’t have this luxury. Shade trees and the close proximity of neighbors’ homes may cut your garden’s sun exposure considerably. But, fortunately, a full day of direct sunlight for pumpkin growing can be as little as six or seven hours with a southern exposure, and it’s best from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you can achieve this, everything else is within your control.

Garden size doesn’t much matter. An 8-foot-by-8-foot garden plot with rich, well-drained soil will suffice. This size garden plot will only be able to support one or two plants, but they can produce several pumpkins. (This is not to say that the pumpkin vines will restrict themselves to such a small space, but more on that later.)

The vast majority of your time growing large pumpkins should be devoted to soil prep-

The Russman family with pumpkins. aration in the early spring.

Pumpkin plants have deep tap roots and require about 2 feet of organically rich, loose and well-drained soil. Your biggest challenge may well be removing and replacing much of the existing soil with new material.

Once this difficult task is completed, it will be smooth sailing.

All of the rocks and roots, big and small, should be removed from the garden plot. In my own garden, I’ve given up on using a shovel. I dig with a pickaxe to break through the hard pan and heavy clay soil. Skip the gym for a couple of days while you prep your garden; you’ll get plenty of exercise working your plot to the optimal depth of 2 feet.

When the digging is done,

you’re almost finished with the hard-work part of this project.

The next step is to supplement the remaining soil with as many bags of composted manure, loose topsoil, peat moss and other organic compost as you can schlep from your local garden center. You can’t grow a large pumpkin in shallow or poor-quality soil. Aim for a 50/50 mixture of soil and composts.

Tip: Do the math. If your garden is 8 by 8 by 2, you will need a total of 128 cubic feet of soil/ organic material. Assuming that about half of your plot was rocks that you removed, you would need 2+ yards of replacement soil and organic material.

A typical store-bought bag has 2-3 cubic feet of the good stuff. You may need 25 bags or more to fill your garden. You won’t have to borrow from the kids’ college fund, but this firstyear one-time expense could be $100. The good news is that in subsequent years, you’ll only need to provide small supplements to freshen up your soil mixture.

If your new patch requires more than 2 yards of material, you might want to investigate a bulk delivery of composted manure or screened loam, which is sold by the yard in garden centers.

If you add a high concentration of manure to your pumpkin patch, the soil will probably be fairly acidic. Pumpkins prefer a sweeter soil, so sprinkle some quick release lime on top of the soil.

You could go the scientific route and have your soil tested at an Extension Service, but with a new garden, this level of precision may not be worth the effort. If you live in New England, it’s safe to assume that your soil is acidic.

You’ll be planting the pumpkin seeds in the very center of your patch, so ensure that the soil is deepest there. It’s also good to plan ahead for weed control and varmint protection. With just a few steps in

early spring, your garden will be nearly maintenance-free all summer.

Cover the entire garden plot with black garden fabric, which you can buy in rolls from a hardware store or garden center. It will only take one or two rolls ($15-$20) to cover the whole area. This garden fabric will help control weeds while allowing air and moisture to easily pass through to the plants’ root system.

Tip for the determined grower: Before unrolling the garden fabric, snake a 25-foot soaker hose ($10-$15) throughout the plot. If the summer is dry, this inexpensive irrigation system will get the job done and not waste water. An inch of water a week is sufficient.

If your neighborhood is like mine, there are more rabbits than people. You’ll need a fence to protect the young vines until they reach a length of 6-8 feet.

At this length, the plants are tougher and prickly, and have a slight odor that isn’t appealing to rabbits. At this point, it’s safest to remove your fence and allow the vines to run. (Note: Even a fence is unlikely to stop a groundhog on a mission.)

Don’t be surprised if your vines grow 6 inches or more a day in the heat of July. A healthy vine will run 10 feet or more across your lawn in every direction. Don’t think of pumpkin vines as taking over your lawn: Think of less grass to cut.

Genetics matter. You’ll need a variety of pumpkin seeds that is bred for routinely reaching 100 pounds or more. On the other hand, you don’t want a variety like Atlantic Giant, which is designed to grow pumpkins that exceed 1,000 pounds. These monsters require an entirely different growing culture than a 100-pound pumpkin.

My preference is Burpee Prizewinner. These pumpkins are bright orange, have deep ribs and are fairly round. My experience is that this variety is productive and disease resistant. My largest pumpkin from these seeds exceeded 200 pounds.

Other varieties of field-pumpkin seeds will work as well, but select one with a proven track record of hefty pumpkins. And note that the side of the pumpkin on the ground will be flat due to the weight of the growing pumpkin.

Best practices

When to plant? Wait until the weather is consistently warm.

In New England, that often means sometime after Memorial Day. But don’t wait too long – you’ll need every warm day you can get since large pumpkins require 110 days from planting to maturity. Frost on a pumpkin at any time, spring or fall, is game over.

PUMPKINS | 15

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HOME & GARDEN

April 6, 2018 |

15

Gardening encourages family bonding across geneerations as opposed to in the house,” he said. “A lot of time in PT we’ll have patients walk on a squishy surface to strengthen their balance – which basically simulates walking on grass or a garden bed.”

BY NAOMI FINK COTRONE Anyone who gardens is happily familiar with the welcome sense of calm created by its rhythm, wholesomeness and simplicity. In a world of screens and meaningless “likes” on social media, the results of gardening are wonderfully tangible: You planted those seeds.

You weeded that plot. You watered those saplings. Personally, I garden as a distraction to reduce stress. It’s a welcome departure from my seemingly endless to-do list.

Naturally, it’s a hobby for the ages – and for all ages. So when spring rolls around, I like to encourage my senior clients and their caregivers to get outside and get a little dirty … and to invite the kids! Gardening – in any shape – is the perfect activity for grandparents and grandchildren to do together.

It encourages intergenerational bonding by providing a space and time for storytelling, sharing wisdom and exploring curiosities together.

And the benefits extend beyond the emotional. “Gardening is a beautiful and useful activity for grandchildren and grandparents to share together,”

FROM PAGE 14

said Abbey Brod Rosen, founder and owner of Kids Thrive NYC (kidsthrivenyc.com), a leading pediatric occupational therapy practice in Manhattan. “It uses a variety of sensory activities including tactile (touching and feeling the dirt), proprioception (digging and planting) and olfactory (smelling the flowers and the dirt). It is useful and important to engage these sensory systems throughout the lifespan – both with the children and the elderly – and gardening gives both generations an

opportunity to experience this together in a social and loving environment.”

Pablo Rodriguez, a physical therapist at the Rhode Island Rehab Center at the Dwares Jewish Community Center in Providence, specializes in getting seniors back in tiptop shape after a fall or other injury.

“From a PT perspective, gardening and being outside in general is really good for the aging population because it’s giving them different surfaces to walk on and try to balance,

1: Plant wildflowers. Wildflowers are best planted in springtime, and are perfect for impatient toddlers and seniors alike. You simply scatter them in a sunny patch, stomp all over the seeds with your feet into the dirt, water and wait. The blooms are meant to look gorgeously messy – so you can’t go wrong.

2: Get a birdhouse. It’s not technically gardening, but it is in the garden, so it counts by our (admittedly lenient) standards.

If you’re really crafty, you can make a birdhouse by cutting a used milk carton, or, go to the garden store with the child to pick one out. While you’re at it, grab a bag of birdseed, and voila! Instant gardening project success. Now all that’s left to do is make some lemonade and grab some lawn chairs, and

3: Plant beans by a fence.

Beans are hard to mess up, and grow like, well, a beanstalk.

They’re very thirsty, so water often, then keep an eye out for sweet pods hiding behind the leaves to munch on when you need a snack break from hauling that heavy watering can.

4: Plant tomatoes. Tomatoes are relatively easy to cultivate if you buy a bag of good fertilizer. Have your little one save and rinse out used eggshells to crumble up and mix into the soil; tomatoes love calcium.

Your grandchild will fall in love with tomatoes, which is great, but even greater is the fact that you’re actually planting a seed in their mind to think of you for many years to come. Every time they bite into a gardenripened tomato, it will trigger a memory of this time. And it will always taste sweet.

NAOMI FINK COTRONE runs the Right at Home of Rhode Island agency, which provides care to elderly and disabled adults throughout Rhode Island. When she’s not pouring her heart into her clients, you will find her in the garden.

PUMPKINS

Plant three to five seeds in a hill in the center of your patch.

Once the seeds have germinated (about six to nine days), and the plants are well established (about 25 days), you’ll need to pick just one or two plants to go the distance. Pluck out the rest.

Any more than two plants and the pumpkin size will suffer due to crowding.

Tips

Here are four easy ideas to inspire your next multi-generational day in the backyard:

watch the birds start to flock.

• Speed up germination by soaking the seeds in a wet paper towel inside a plastic bag for 24 hours before planting.

• Plant the seeds directly into your patch with the pointy end of the seed facing down; the

roots will come out of this end.

• Warm, sunny weather will speed up germination. The black garden fabric will help to warm your patch and keep the temperature consistent during cool late spring evenings.

• Keep the soil moist, but not soaking wet, until the seeds germinate. Never over-water.

Rich soil with plenty of peat moss will retain moisture.

Fertilizer

Give your plants the nutrients they need, but don’t overdo it.

Follow a strict regime of fertilizing every two weeks with any rapid release liquid fertilizer.

A fertilizer with a high con-

centration of nitrogen is good until the fruit sets. Liquid fertilizer will ensure that the plants’ root system won’t get burned with an overdose of nutrients.

Apply the liquid fertilizer very early in the morning.

Plants have pores that open to take in the morning dew, but close up as the sun rises to preserve moisture. The best time to fertilize is before 6 a.m.

Give the bees a helping hand with pollination. At about five weeks, you can do some hand pollinating. Peel the petals off a male blossom and twirl it around the inside of a female blossom (with a tiny baby pumpkin underneath it). This will ensure more complete pol-

lination and help out a busy bee. Large pumpkins have four to five ovaries and each needs to be pollinated.

Beetles and other insects can damage your plants. While I really hate using harsh chemicals, I’ve never had much success with organic pesticides or insecticidal soaps. Consult your garden center staff for a pesticide you can safely apply.

And maybe it’s beginner’s luck or just my imagination, but I think first-year gardens are less troubled by insects.

Welcome to the club

You now have the foundation for successfully growing a 100-pound pumpkin. My last

piece of advice is to get to know an experienced pumpkin grower if you can – I’ve never met one I didn’t like.

Pumpkin growers take pride in sharing their wisdom and rejoice in others’ achievements.

They have associations and know a great deal about the genetics of their seeds. Experienced pumpkin growers can be a lifeline for novices.

MARC RUSSMAN has been growing pumpkins on and off for 40 years and his pumpkins have appeared at the Four Seasons hotel in Boston and in The Boston Globe. He can be reached at marc.russman@ gmail.com.

HOME & GARDEN

16 | April 6, 2018

The Jewish Voice

Hope and healing grows in our gardens and nature As I was researching material for this column, I came across a very touching and poignant article in the New York Times, “A Place of Healing,” by Meadow Rue Merrill, about the healing power of gardens and farms.

Merrill, who grew up on a farm, describes how going back to PATRICIA her roots by RASKIN volunteering at a local farm, along with her young children, helped them all heal from the loss of her 7-year-old daughter.

She tells how working in the fields, while her children raced up the rows, searching for eggs from the chickens, watching the farm blossom with flowers, and bringing home boxes of fresh vegetables gave her a renewed sense of life.

It’s true that our home and gardens can nurture us and give us a sense of safety, security and harmony. An article at Aish.com, “Getting Back to

Eden,” by Rabbi Shraga Simmons, discusses the concept behind this idealized state of mankind.

Simmons begins his article with a quote from Genesis: “All the wild shrubs did not yet exist on the earth, and all the wild plants had not yet sprouted. This was because God had not brought rain on the earth, and there was no man to work the ground …. God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden – to work it and to protect it.” (Genesis 2:5,7,15) He then explores the meaning of the quote, saying, “In the Garden of Eden, the ground brought forth ready-made pastry. If you planted a tree, it produced fruit on the first day.

Children were conceived and born on the same day – born with the ability to walk and talk. Year-round, the climate was mild and spring-like.

“So what ‘work’ was involved in the Garden? Perhaps you will say: to prune the vines, plow the fields, and pile up the stalks.

But did not the trees grow of their own accord? Perhaps you will say: There was other work

to be done, such as watering the Garden. But did not a river flow through and water the Garden?

“What then is the meaning of ‘to work and protect it’? To develop it by doing positive mitzvahs, and to protect it by avoiding negative mitzvahs.

Positive mitzvahs are God’s way of directing our thoughts and actions toward building the world and humanity.”

Getting back to nature, especially in the spring, when new growth is emerging, is not only healing but gives us hope and the joy of seeing new life rising right in front of us.

Keeping nature alive in our home and gardens is a reminder of continued growth and new possibilities in all areas of our life.

PATRICIA RASKIN, president of Raskin Resources Productions Inc., is an awardwinning radio producer and Rhode Island business owner.

She is the host of “The Patricia Raskin” show, a radio and podcast coach, and a board member of Temple Emanu-El, in Providence.

Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island’s

Classic

33rd Annual Dwares JCC

GOLF

Monday, June 11, 2018 Warwick Country Club 394 Narragansett Bay Avenue, Warwick

PHOTO | JIM KRUGER/STEVE HERDER, LANDMARK PHOTOGRAPHY/HERDER PHOTOGRAPHY

3 Major home renovations that are worth the effort STATEPOINT – Building a new home? Overhauling an existing one? Here are three renovation ideas that will add beauty and value.

Expand Your Living Space

Don’t let that basement sit unfinished and unused. Substantially expand your home’s livable areas by turning your attention to the bottom floor.

Finishing a basement is an involved project, potentially requiring electrical and plumbing work, insulation, drywall and more – but the end result is worth the effort and expense.

What’s more, some of the less technical aspects of this renovation could even be DIY-ed.

Before getting started, consider what type of space would most benefit your household long-term. You may even be able to recoup some cost of the investment. For example, turning your basement into an at-home fitness center means ditching the costly gym membership. Want to reduce time and money on your commute?

Your basement may just make an ideal home office.

Add a Focal Point

Visit jewishallianceri.org/golf-classic to learn more about the event and available sponsorship opportunities.

Is your interior design in need of a little something? The right eye-catching elements can make a room pop while adding vitality to your living spaces. A fireplace, for example, adds am-

biance and comfort while also creating a natural gathering space.

What’s more, new models pair the charm of a traditional openfront fireplace with the design flexibility of gas models. The Phoenix TrueView from Heat & Glo offers the convenience of gas without the glass, giving homeowners an unobscured view of the flames against the traditional brick or fade-resistant reflective black glass liner.

An optional Bluetooth speaker system allows one to hear the fire as well as see it – making it a focal point for the ears as well as the eyes.

Boost the Backyard

If you find that your household spends very little time in the backyard, figure out why.

Is there a lack of shade? Are there not enough places to sit?

Take a poll so you can diagnose the problem and take steps to correct it. Consider also how to make this space usable for a larger portion of the year, such as adding a fire pit or an enclosed, heated patio. Lastly, consider aesthetics. A bit of landscaping can make your backyard as visually appealing as your home’s interiors.

This season, consider the renovations that will go furthest to boost your home’s livability, beauty and value.

Dwares Rhode Island

401 Elmgrove Avenue | Providence, RI 02906 | 401.421.4111 | jewishallianceri.org

www.jvhri.org Your only Rhode Island Online Jewish Newspaper

Visit it often.

Extend living space when boosting your backyard.

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COMMUNITY

April 6, 2018 |

17

Passover at the Kosher Senior Café On March 23, about 100 people, including seniors, participated in the annual model seder at Jewish Family Service’s Kosher Senior Café at Temple Sinai in Cranston.

PHOTOS | STEVE SHAPIRO

COMMUNITY

18 | April 6, 2018

The Jewish Voice

Sponsored by The Miriam Hospital Women’s Association

Against All Odds Pam Weintraub, a Lyme Warrior, speaks the truth about this devastating disease. Do not miss!

Pam Weintraub, Author of Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic

Tuesday, May 1, 6:30pm The Miriam Hospital 164 Summit Avenue, Providence, RI Limited seating, complimentary valet parking RSVP required by April 20 to Vickie.Scott@lifespan.org

Join science journalist Pamela Weintraub as she speaks about her book, based on her family’s journey through the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.

Attending the recent conference (left to right): Emily Saltzman, Keshet LGBTQ inclusion specialist; Brian Sullivan, Alliance chief brand officer; Stephanie Hague, Alliance community relations director; Daniel Bahner, Keshet national director of education and training and Wendy Joering, Alliance director of membership and community engagement.

Alliance staff participate in year-long leadership project

Lynch & Pine

At t o r n e ys at L aw

BY JEWISH VOICE STAFF

Lynch & Pine Lynch A t t o r n e y& s aPine t L aw Patrick C. Lynch

Attorney General: 2003-2011

Jeffrey B. Pine

Attorney General: 1993-1999

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Criminal Defense • Personal Injury/Serious Accidents • Civil and Business Litigation Divorce/Family Law • Government Investigations • Government Relations

JCC Association of North America and Keshet, the national LGBTQ Jewish nonprofit, have accepted 14 Jewish Community Centers from around the country to participate in the JCC Association-Keshet Leadership Project. The Jewish Alliance’s Dwares JCC is one of the organizations that participated in the kick-off leadership summit recently in New York City.

“We had been in talks with Keshet for some time waiting for their next leadership training to open,” said Chief Brand Officer Brian Sullivan. “Seeing as the Alliance is focusing on openness, inclusivity and transparency as part of our strategic plan, the timing was ideal, and we were excited to be

At t o r n e ys at L aw

chosen as one of the participating agencies.”

The JCC Association-Keshet Leadership Project is a multiservice program that gathers, trains, provides resources for Jewish institutions and supports them to become more inclusive of LGBTQ individuals and families. JCC Association strengthens and leads the JCC movement with the goal of advancing and enriching North American Jewish life.

Keshet works with organizations along a continuum of inclusion, from those that are just beginning to acknowledge their need for improvement, to those who have deep and sustained initiatives in place and that strive to broaden their reach.

Participants in the Leader-

ship Project focus on developing a greater understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) communities, and create an action plan for each JCC to work toward completing over the course of a year to make their community more LGBTQ inclusive. To insure their success, each JCC is supported by a Keshet LGBTQ inclusion specialist who helps each team advance their individual goals.

The JCC Association-Keshet Leadership Project reflects a deepening in the partnership between JCC Association and Keshet so that all JCCs around the country are safe and welcoming for all members, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

Elder Care Services Providing care all over Rhode Island Our mission: To improve the quality of life for those we serve.

From companionship and a little help around the house to 24/7 personal care.

Let us help you navigate the challenging process of providing care for a loved one.

Call (401) 383-1950 or visit RAHRI.com to schedule a free, non-salesy and no obligation family consultation. We'll help you create a care plan tailored to your unique needs.

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Special services for Springtime: companionship in the garden, daily walks, seasonal storage switchover, and transportation to nursery, market or pharmacy.

SENIORS

jvhri.org

REMEMBER THE PAST From the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association

This and that throughout R.I.’s history

BY GERALDINE S. FOSTER When the Spanish explorer Hernan Cortez visited The New World in 1520, he learned about a cold drink made from the cacao bean. Called bitter water, it was spiced with chili and said to be an aphrodisiac.

Cortez brought the beverage back to Spain, where it became an instant hit with the aristocracy, particularly after milk, sugar and vanilla were added to dispel the bitter taste.

When the Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal, they took the secret of the manufacture of this beverage to wherever they found refuge. The secret recipe provided a means of earning a living.

Through the network of Sephardi planters and traders, the chocolate trade and cocoa manufacturing came to Colonial America with the Gomez family of New York and Aaron Lopez of Newport.

Lopez’s chocolate enterprise prospered until the American Revolution, when he and his family left for Massachusetts.

Although he was an ardent patriot, Lopez had this complaint: the shortage of food during the war was a special problem for Jews who tried to continue keeping Kosher.

They were “forced to subsist on chocolate and coffee.” Patriots, of course, no longer drank tea.

(From Moment magazine and other sources).

Postscript: The two families were later related via the marriage of Isaac Gomez and Adelaide Lopez, Aaron’s daughter, in 1790.

Another first

Colonial Newport had the first Jewish doctor to practice in Rhode Island, and probably all of New England, for all the years prior to the Civil War. The Newport Mercury of Sept. 17, 1764, carried this item: “Francis Lucena, Physician from Lisbon “Takes this Method to acquaint the Public that he deigns to practice Physick in this Place. He was once of the Royal Society of Portugal: his regular education, his travels, practice, Experience, have acquired him the Knowledge that enables him to be of service to the Public.

“N.B. Those who shall employ him may depend on careful At-

tendance, and any poor Persons may have his advice gratis. He keeps at the House of Mr. James Lucena. Merchant.”

In February 1761, James Lucena, a converso, applied to the General Assembly in East Greenwich for naturalization, which was granted. One month later, Aaron Lopez and Isaac Elizer filed similar petitions, but were refused because they were Jews.

Lucena did not appear as a Jew, but as a subject of Portugal professing the “Faith of a True Christian.” Not only did he receive citizenship, but he was granted exclusive rights to manufacture Castile Soap, because this would provide employment and a product for export.

Civil War connections

Two members of Congregation Sons of Israel and David, now known as Temple Beth-El, in Providence, served in the Civil War. Amelia Rodenberg (Mrs. Ernest Rodenberg) was a nurse at the Battle of Antietam.

Newman Pincus served in the army.

In 1864, before he was 16 years old, according to family lore, Pincus followed his two older brothers to army camp in New York. He tried to enlist by giving a false age, but his brothers intervened.

Disappointed, he left for home, but when he reached New Haven, Connecticut, he again attempted to enlist, this time as Charles Pincus, age 18.

This time he was successful.

Pincus was honorably discharged at Fort Ethan Allen on Aug. 18, 1865. He was an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, serving as commander of Slocum Post No. 10.

He was in line to become commander of the Department of Rhode Island when he died. (RIJHNotes, Vol. 3)

Today

There are two Jewish commercial lobstermen currently on record, one in Maine and one in Canada. One is my grandson.

GERALDINE S. FOSTER is a past president of the R.I. Jewish Historical Association. To comment about this or any RIJHA article, contact the RIJHA office at info@rijha.org or 401-3311360.

April 6, 2018 |

19

Who is May-Ronny Zeidman?

About 15 years ago, MayRonny made me a stunning tallit bag. Everyone who looks at it is taken by the beauty and handiwork. Since then, she has made one for each of her grandchildren, and she made one for my husband when he converted. Each one is as beautiful, or more beautiful, than the one she made me.

She does needlework constantly, and some of my proudest possessions are the Shabbat and holiday embroidered tablecloths she made several years back, or maybe it’s one of the three afghans she made, or maybe the embroidered pillow.

My father always said that the only thing you really have in life is your name, and MayRonny Zeidman has certainly made one to be proud of, for her, her children, her friends and all of her family.

Who is May-Ronny Zeidman?

She is my mother, and a truly great mother to my brothers, Mason and Garrett Sock, and to me. And she is a wonderful grandmother to Samantha Morrell, Kevin Sock, Rebecca Sock, Reese Sock, Jake Sock and Cooper Sock.

BY JEFF SOCK

When I meet someone in the Jewish community and we start to play “Jewish Geography,” I simply say I am MayRonny Zeidman’s son. Everyone in the community knows her through her volunteering at the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, her work for Israeli bonds and the Jewish Alliance of Greater R.I., and, most recently, her role as director of the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center.

But who is May-Ronny Zeidman?

When we were children, and life was much different, when we went somewhere by car, my two brothers and I would want to sit in the front seat. MayRonny would tell us to pick a went to either Sand Hill Cove, number from one to 10, and Camp Westwood, Lake Mishthen she would tell us who won. nock or, if there were too many Years later, she let us know chores to be done, the little that it had never occurred to lake down the street. Regardher to fudge the result. less of where we went, it was May-Ronny did not keep always an adventure. much cold cereal in the house; Jewish holidays were, and she made a complete hot break- still are, May-Ronny’s favorite fast every day. There were pan- times of the year – Passover cakes one day, French toast the especially. From the time I was next, maybe eggs and toast, hot about 9 until I was 48, she made cereal (even she must have got- both seders, cooking and freezten tired of making breakfast), ing for weeks leading up to the EDITOR’S NOTE: After severof May-Ronny corn muffins or corn bread, deJEWISH ALLIANCE RHODE ISLAND Zeidholiday.

Most years OF the GREATER guest al months man’s column, Jeff Sock asked pending on her mood. list topped AND 35 people, but she present PJ LIBRARY She didn’t go to work outside always made it look easy. I still to guest write her column once the home until I was 15. Every remember the dozens of eggs to explain a little about her. beach day in the summer we stacked up in the den.

JEWISH ALLIANCE OF GREATER RHODE ISLAND AND PJ LIBRARY present

Rick Recht Rick Recht A PJ LibraryA PJ Family LibraryEvent: Family Event: Yom Ha’Atzmaut Musical Celebration Yom Ha’Atzmaut Musical Celebration

Save the Date!

THURSDAY

THURSDAY

April 19, A PJ Library Musical 2018 April 19,featuring Celebration 6:00 PM Rick Recht 2018

Thursday, April 19 | 6:00pm SCAN THIS Join us for music, food, 6:00JCC PM| 401 Dwares Elmgrove Avenue, Providence QR CODE WITH YOUR PHONE for news, events, free music, fun activities, and more!

stories, and family activities

For more information Join us for a fun, interactive concert featuring Rick Recht, one call ofMichelle the Cicchitelli mostat 401-421-4111, ext 178 renowned Library Celebrity SCAN THIS Jewish artists of our time and PJ Join us forNational music, food, QR CODE WITH Spokesperson. He will help us commemorate Israeli stories,Yom andHa’Atzmaut, family activities YOUR PHONE Independence Day, and there will be on-stage participation from local children. for news, events, free music, No fun cost to attend | Food available for Forpurchase more informationat call5:00pm Michelle Cicchitelli at

401-421-4111, ext 178 Register today at jewishallianceri.org/rick-recht

activities, and more!

401 Elmgrove Avenue • Providence, RI 02906

This program is sponsored by: Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island, Congregation Beth David, Congregation Beth Sholom, PJ Library, Temple Beth-El, Temple Emanu-El, Temple Habonim, Temple Sinai, and Temple Torat Yisrael.

RSVP by April 10 for a chance to be entered into a raffle for $50 off PJ Library is a program of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island in partnership with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation a birthday party or week of Summer J-Camp. Must be present to win. www.PJLIBRARY.org • rickrecht.com/pjlibrary • facebook.com/rickrechtworld

For more information, contact Michelle Cicchitelli at 401.421.4111 ext. 178 or mcicchitelli@jewishallianceri.org.

401 Elmgrove Avenue • Providence, RI 02906 This program is sponsored by: Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, Jewish Community Day

This program is sponsored by: Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, Community Day School of Rhode School of Rhode Island, Congregation Beth David,Jewish Congregation Beth Sholom, PJ Library, Temple Island, Congregation Beth David, Congregation Beth Sholom, PJTemple Library,Habonim, Temple Temple Beth-El,Sinai, Temple Emanu-El, Beth-El, Temple Emanu-El, and Temple ToratTemple Yisrael.

Habonim,Temple Sinai, and Temple Torat Yisrael.

PJ Library is a program of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island in partnership with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation

www.PJLIBRARY.org • rickrecht.com/pjlibrary • facebook.com/rickrechtworld

FIND US: WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/JVHRI 401 Elmgrove Avenue | Providence, RI 02906 | 401.421.4111 | jewishallianceri.org

20 | April 6, 2018

COMMUNITY

The Jewish Voice

‘Eavesdropping in Oberammergau’ Local author Hilary Salk at Books on the Square recently, with a good turnout for her discussion of her book, “Eavesdropping in Oberammergau,” a novel set in the German town that performs “The Passion Play” every 10 years.

The next performance of the play, which uses residents to play all the parts, is set for 2020.

Hilary Salk

PHOTO | E. BRESLER

Jewish Unity Live At the annual Project Shoresh and Providence Kollel event, March 11 in Providence (left to right): Rabbi Naftali Karp, Rabbi Raphael Schochet, guest speaker Rabbi Moshe Hauer and Rabbi Noach Karp.

PHOTOS | NANCY THOMAS

Highlights of what we offer: • Functional-Style Classes including TRX, Kettlebells, Battle Ropes & Medicine Balls • Lenny Krayzelburg Swim Academy • Certified Personal Trainers • Indoor Heated Pool • Group Ex • Indoor Cycling • Basketball Gymnasium • Sports Leagues • Pilates Mat Classes • Cardio Machines • Free-weight Area • Teen Fitness Certification • Fit Forever Classes for Seniors • TigerSharks Swim Club and much more!

J-FITNESS

at the Dwares JCC

To learn more about Personal Training, Specialty Group Training or any of our fitness programs, contact Dori Venditti at 401.421.4111 ext. 210 or dvenditti@jewishallianceri.org.

401 Elmgrove Avenue | Providence, RI | jewishallianceri.org

jvhri.org

COMMUNITY

April 6, 2018 |

21

Former Touro rabbi told the truth on game show in 1959

BY SHAI AFSAI When Theodore Lewis, the Dublin-born Orthodox rabbi who served as spiritual leader of Newport’s Touro Synagogue for 36 years, passed away in 2010, obituaries from Colorado to Rhode Island and Ireland noted that among other events in his storied life, he had been a guest on the popular American television game show “To Tell the Truth.”

The episode, sponsored by the cigarette brand Marlboro and hosted by Bud Collyer, aired on CBS on the evening of June 30, 1959. Its celebrity panel, comprised of Jayne Meadows, Don Ameche, Kitty Carlisle and Tom Poston, was tasked with determining which of three guests was in fact “the only Irish-born rabbi in the United States.”

Each of the three men wore a suit and tie, sported a large black yarmulke, and claimed to be Theodore Lewis.

Collyer read Lewis’ signed affidavit aloud: “I, Rabbi Theodore Lewis, was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. I was formerly the rabbi of the largest synagogue in Ireland. I am now the rabbi of the oldest synagogue in the United States,

Touro Synagogue, Newport, VM013_GF4058, Rhode Island Photograph Collection, Providence Public Library, Providence, RI. Rabbi Theodore Lewis is on the far left.

Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island. Our congregation was founded in 1658 and the present building was dedicated in 1763. George Washington visited Touro Synagogue in 1790 and President Eisenhower paid a visit last year.

“Touro Synagogue is designated a National Historic Site by the federal government.

“I originally came to this country to find out why so many Irishmen came to America. This month I became an American citizen.”

After asking the three men

Holocaust and Genocide Education Expo to be held April 8 The Rhode Island HolocaustGenocide Education Committee is sponsoring a Holocaust and Genocide Education Expo at the Warwick Mall’s Center Court on April 8, in recognition of April being Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Month.

The expo will provide information and curriculum resources to enhance teacher instruction on the Holocaust and genocides.

Rhode Island educators who have been successfully offering instruction on the Holocaust and genocides will be exhibiting, along with some of their students. They will provide information on best practices, course benefits and their experiences.

Beginning with this school year, all Rhode Island public middle and high schools are required to provide instruction on the Holocaust and genocides.

It is expected that students will learn the root causes and how to discuss the ramifications of these atrocities in hopes of preventing them from ever happening again.

Exhibitors scheduled to attend include The Genocide Education Project, the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center, Echoes and Reflection, the Choices Program at Brown University and the USC Shoah Foundation. Material will be available from the Anti-Defamation League and the Near

East Relief Foundation. In addition, educators Steve Flynn and Claudia Traub, will be on hand to discuss their lessons on the Holocaust and genocides.

The Holocaust and Genocide Education Expo, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 8, is open to teachers, students and the general public.

The R.I. Holocaust-Genocide Education Committee is working with the Rhode Island Department of Education and other educational institutions in the state to develop strong curriculum materials to assist educators in instruction of the Holocaust and genocides. It has provided the department with material that is currently being developed on the RIDE website and will be available soon.

In addition, the committee has created professional development training and supplements to help educators better understand and teach about the Holocaust and genocides. It also has partnered with several local authorities on these topics, including the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center and The Genocide Education Project, R.I. Branch.

For more information contact Barbara Wahlberg at bwahlberg2@gmail.com or Pauline Getzoyan at getzop@gmail. com.

Submitted by the Rhode Island HolocaustGenocide Education Committee

questions about the Bible, Israel, Judaism, Irish history and Rhode Island geography, all four panelists correctly identified which of the three was “the real Rabbi Theodore Lewis.”

One of the guests had incorrectly cited Deuteronomy, rather than Leviticus, as the third book in the Bible. Another had mistakenly stated that Abba Eben, rather than Golda Meir, was Israel’s foreign minister.

All of the erudite Lewis’ answers, however, were accurate.

Meadows explained her vote by noting that the man who turned out to be Lewis not only “knew where Fall River, Massachusetts was,” but also had “the rosy glow to his cheeks that looked like he might have lived in the Irish Sea for a while.”

Ameche explained his vote by suggesting that the man who turned out to be Lewis had “the

only legitimate Irish accent in the group.”

When Collyer requested that “the real Rabbi Theodore Lewis please stand up,” the tall, thickset Lewis (beside whom the two other guests had seemed especially diminutive) rose, smiling bashfully. After he sat back down, the pair of rabbi imposters flanking him revealed themselves to be Philip Colleck, a New York City antiques dealer and gallery owner, and Sidney Gross, an all-night disc jockey on a New York radio station who was popularly known as “The Voice of the Night” because of the horror and suspense stories he told.

The show’s sponsor, Marlboro, supplied a $150 prize to the three participants, to be split evenly between them, as well as a carton of cigarettes each.

Immensely proud of being Touro Synagogue’s rabbi, and an indefatigable promoter of awareness about its history, Lewis used his television appearance to inform viewers of Touro’s restoration fund, and announced that he would donate his winnings to the synagogue.

“The Touro Synagogue is one of the finest examples of classical Colonial architecture. Currently, we are embarking on a restoration program and we hope to finish the restoration of the synagogue in October,” he explained in his Irish brogue.

“Our aim is to have three hundred thousand dollars, and this will be by public donation and subscription.”

Collyer wished the rabbi success in his fundraising efforts, thanked the three men for participating, and reminded them that “On your way out, you’ll find a carton of Marlboro cigarettes for each of you.”

It is not known if Lewis also donated his tobacco prize to Touro Synagogue.

A hearty thank you to longtime Touro Synagogue member Bailey Siletchnik for informing me that this episode is viewable on YouTube.

SHAI AFSAI lives in Providence. An independent scholar, he is currently researching Irish Jewry and the life of Rabbi Theodore Lewis. Anyone with a story to share about the Irishborn rabbi is welcome to email Afsai at ggbi@juno.com.

22 | April 6, 2018

BUSINESS

The Jewish Voice

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For a list of current homes and condominiums for sale, email me at CMSellsSarasota@gmail.com

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jvhri.org

April 6, 2018 |

23

Due date rapidly approaching for 2017 federal income tax returns As the deadline for filing your 2017 income taxes looms, you’ll want to start pulling things together – if you haven’t done so already.

This includes getting your hands on a copy of your 2016 tax return and gathering BARBARA W-2s, 1099s KENERSON and deduction records.

You’ll need these records whether you’re preparing your own return or paying someone else to do so.

Don’t procrastinate; the filing deadline for most individuals is Tuesday, April 17, 2018. That’s because April 15, the traditional deadline, falls on a Sunday,

and Emancipation Day, a legal holiday in Washington, D.C., is celebrated on Monday, April 16.

Unlike in some years, there’s no extra time for residents of Massachusetts or Maine to file because Patriots Day (a holiday in those two states) falls on April 16, the same date as Emancipation Day. If you don’t think you can file your federal income tax return by the due date, you can get an extension using IRS Form 4868, the Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

This extension gives you an additional six months, until Oct. 15, 2018, to file your return. You can also file for an extension electronically using instructions in Form 4868.

However, filing for an automatic extension does not pro-

vide any additional time to pay your taxes. When filing for an extension, you must estimate the amount of tax you will owe and pay it by the April filing due date. If you don’t pay the amount you’ve estimated, you may owe interest and penalties.

And if the IRS believes that your estimate is not reasonable, it may void your extension.

Special rules apply if you live outside the country or serve in the military outside the United States. In these circumstances, you are generally allowed an automatic two-month extension, to June 15, 2018, without filing Form 4868, though interest will be owed on any taxes due that are paid after April 17.

If you served in a combat zone or qualified hazardous duty area, you may be eligible for a longer extension.

What if you owe? One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not filing your return because you owe money. If your return shows a balance due, file and pay the amount due in full by the due date, if possible. If there’s no way that you can pay what you owe, file the return and pay as much as you can.

You’ll owe interest, and possibly penalties, on the unpaid tax, but you’ll limit the penalties by filing your return on time, and you may be able to work with the IRS to pay the remaining balance using options such as paying in installments.

If you’re getting a refund, most filers should expect a check to be issued within 21 days of the IRS receiving your return. But the IRS is stepping up efforts to combat identity theft and tax-refund fraud and

the new, more aggressive filters may inadvertently delay some legitimate refunds.

BARBARA KENERSON is first vice president/Investments at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC and can be reached at BarbaraKenerson.com.

Supporting our seniors is as easy as (pizza) pie!

BY ERIN MINIOR Post-Pesach, many of us crave chametz and carbs. What’s better than delicious pizza to satisfy that craving? Why not satisfy that craving and help Jewish Collaborative Services (JCS) at the same time?

Flatbread Pizza donates a portion of its proceeds to support worthwhile nonprofit organizations in the community and help individuals in need at the same time. On Tuesday, April 10, from 5-9 p.m., Flat-

bread Pizza, 16 Cushing St., Providence will donate $3.50 for each large flatbread and $1.75 for each small flatbread sold, so bring your hungry friends and family members!

For many years, Flatbread Pizza has hosted a Jewish Family Service of Rhode Island (JFS) night. Last year, funds from the evening’s proceeds enabled JFS to host a fall prevention program. This year, Flatbread Pizza will donate a portion of its proceeds to both JFS and Jewish Seniors Agen-

cy (JSA), which formed JCS. Funds raised will be used to help support the Kosher Nutrition Program, which provides Kosher meals for older adults and those with physical disabilities through the “Kosher Senior Café” as well as Kosher “Meals on Wheels” to homebound seniors and disabled individuals.

When you dine on Flatbread Pizza’s pizza, which is made from local and organic ingredients it’s a win-win-win for all: Flatbread Pizza gains new

customers and welcomes back returning customers; JFS and JSA receive a portion of the restaurant’s proceeds to reduce hunger among those in need; and diners enjoy an evening of carbs and camaraderie, without being asked to make any donations!

For more information, call 401-331-1244.

ERIN MINIOR is the interim CEO of Jewish Collaborative Services.

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OBITUARIES

24 | April 6, 2018

ASK THE DIRECTOR

BY MICHAEL D. SMITH F.D./R.E. Shalom Memorial Chapel

Question: What is the difference between a eulogy, an elegy and an epitaph? I know all three terms are funeral-related somehow.

A.B. New Bedford Dear A.B., That is an excellent question! A eulogy is a piece of writing or a speech that highly praises someone, usually someone who just died. A eulogy is often given by the clergy and/or the family. The “eu-” is a Greek prefix meaning good or well. The suffix “-logy” is also Greek in origin and means “the study of [a subject].”

An elegy (also with Greek roots) is a sad poem or lament, usually for the dead.

An epitaph is a statement or phrase written in memory of someone who has passed away, usually seen on a monument or marker at a grave. This word comes from the Greek epitaphion, roughly meaning “over a tomb.” The prefix “epi-” means upon and the suffix “-taphos” means tomb.” One of my personal favorite epitaphs said, “I told you I was sick.”

QUESTIONS ARE WELCOMED AND ENCOURAGED. Please send questions to: ShalomChapel@aol.com or by mail to Ask the Director, c/o Shalom Memorial Chapel, 1100 New London Ave., Cranston, R.I. 02920.

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The Jewish Voice

Lawrence Bertman, 94

RIVERSIDE, R.I. – Lawrence Charles Bertman died March 24. He was the husband of the late Ruth (Kaplan) Bertman. He was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the son of the late Morris and Ida (Miller) Bertman.

He is survived by his children Eliot Bertman (Maureen) and Joan Levitt (Steven); grandchildren Michelle, Dr. Jonathan, Jackie, Daniel, and Katy; and great-grandchildren Michael, Joshua, and Israella. He was the brother of the late Shirley Howitt.

Contributions in his memory may be made to The Rhode Island Community Food Bank, 200 Niantic Ave., Providence, RI 02907.

Dr. Frances Bloom, 90

NEEDHAM, MASS. – Dr. Frances Bloom died March 13 at home. She was the wife of the late Max Bloom, M.D. Born in Berlin, Germany, a daughter of the late Max and Clara (Scheinman) Feld, she had lived in Needham for three years, previously living in Cranston for more than 60 years. She was a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale Medical School.

She was the mother of Ira Bloom and his wife, Deborah Ebner, of Glenview, Illinois, the late Paul Bloom, and Steven Bloom and his wife, Marti, of Needham. She was the sister of Jack Feld and his wife, Grace, of Los Angeles, California. She was the grandmother of Matthew Bloom and his wife, Aleksandra, Samuel Bloom, Laura Malcuit, Hank Ebner and Alex Ebner.

She was the greatgrandmother of Sophia White.

Contributions in her memory may be made to the Lewy Body Dementia Association, 912 Killian Hill Road, S.W., Lilburn, GA 30047.

Ruth Cerel, 89

WARWICK, R.I. – Ruth (Woodman) Cerel died March 23. She was the wife of the late Daniel H. Cerel. She was born in Providence, a daughter of the late David and Jesse (Resnick) Wood-

man.

She was a member of Temple AmDavid and their Sisterhood.

She is survived by her children Neal Cerel and his wife Diane of Warwick, Debra Cerel of Warwick, and Lon Cerel and his wife Sandra of Johnston; and grandchildren Jacob and Colin Madore. She was the sister of the late Selma Granoff.

Contributions in her memory may be made to the Rhode Island Blood Center, 615 Greenwich Ave., Warwick, RI 02886.

Dr. Elie Cohen

Dr. Elie J. Cohen of Newport passed away unexpectedly in the Caribbean on March 1 with his wife of 56 years, Marcia, at his side.

He was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1931, the first son of the late Joseph and Rachel Cohen. Elie graduated from the Ein Sham University in Cairo in 1955. He was inquisitive, intellectual and scored the top three spot for the entire country’s academic uniform exams. He left Egypt in 1959 and pursued a medical career in the United States. He completed internships at The Miriam Hospital in Providence, surgical residencies at Rhode Island Hospital and Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., and orthopedic residencies at both the University of Maryland Hospital and Kernan Hospital for Children in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Cohen was the first orthopedic surgeon to establish a practice in Newport. He joined the Aquidneck Medical Center in 1972 and set up his private practice. He was licensed to practice in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia. He performed the first arthroscopic surgery, introduced total joint replacement and was

known to stay at the hospital round the clock when a patient was in serious condition.

He was certified by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a fellow of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, Diplomat of the American Board of Forensic Examiners, Diplomat of the American Board of Forensic Medicine and a member of the American Academy of Pain Management. He was also licensed to serve as a physician in Israel in the event of combat.

In addition, he was past president of the Newport County Medical Society, a past president of the Medical Staff at Newport Hospital, a past president of the Medical Legal Committee of RI. He was a member of the RI Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the RI Orthopedic Society, the Boston Orthopedic Club, the University of Maryland Surgical Society and the Eastern Orthopedic Society. Dr. Cohen served as Governor of the Newport HealthCare Corporation, a consultant on the staff of the University of RI Health Services. In 1986 he received the physician recognition award from the American Medical Association. He was appointed to the Workmen’s Compensation Committee by Governor Garrahy in 1978 and to the Medical Examiner’s Committee

by Governor DiPrete in 1987.

Dr. Cohen also received a merit award from the AMA in honor of 50 years of dedicated service to the medical profession.

In 2013, Dr. Cohen retired from private practice. He remained an active senior staff member at the Newport Hospital.

Dr. Cohen had many charitable, civic and sporting interests. He was fluent in English, French and Arabic. He loved spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren. He enjoyed worldwide travel and recently returned from an expedition to the Galapogos. He was OBITUARIES | 25

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OBITUARIES a member of the Newport Lions Club for more than 40 years and received the Melvin Jones Award. He was a member, trustee and Past Squadron Commander of the Newport Sail and Power Squadron, and held a senior navigator certificate for educational achievement and a Past Commander and member of the Navy League.

Dr. Cohen was a lifetime member of the Newport Yacht Club. He was a past president of B’nai Brith of Newport, a member of Congregation Jeshuat Israel of Touro Synagogue and a founding member of the Touro National Heritage Trust. He enjoyed participating in Alliance Francais events and the Retired Dr. Dinners.

Dr. Cohen will be deeply missed and fondly remembered by his wife, Marcia Cohen and three children: Renee Cohen of N. Kingstown, Audrey Pavia (Joseph), of East Meadow, New York, and Lawrence Cohen (Charlene) of Warwick. He is survived by two grandchildren, Gillian and Jolie Pavia. He is also survived by his brother, Jacob Cohen (Odette) of Baltimore, Maryland. He is also the brother of the late Albert Cohen (Lilliane) of Istres, France and Benjamin Cohen of Baltimore, and beloved nephews and a niece.

Donations may be made to Touro Synagogue, Newport Hospital or any charity of your choice.

Philip J. Davis, 95

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Philip Davis passed away March 14.

He was the husband of the late Hadassah Davis. He was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1923, a son of Frank and Annie (Shrager) Davis.

He received both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University in the field of pure mathematics. He was chief of numerical analysis, National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. for five years. In 1963, Davis joined the faculty in the Division of Applied Mathematics at Brown University in Providence.

Davis was a prolific writer. His work in numerical analysis and approximation theory included many research papers and technical books such as “Interpolation and Approximation” (1963), “Numerical Integration” (with Philip Rabinowitz, 1967), “The Schwarz Function” (1974) and “Circulant Matrices” (1979).

His books, “The Mathematical Experience” and “Descartes’ Dream,” written jointly with Reuben Hersh of the University of New Mexico, explored

questions in the philosophy of mathematics, and the role of mathematics in society. The Mathematical Experience received the American Book Award for 1983. “Mathematics and Common Sense: A Case of Creative Tension” appeared in 2006.

Other works included the book, “No Way: The Nature of the Impossible,” with David Park, appeared in 1987. In a lighter vein, Davis wrote: “The Thread: a Mathematical Yarn” (1983), and “Thomas Gray: Philosopher Cat” (1988). “Thomas Gray in Copenhagen,” a sequel, appeared in 1995. A unique blend of biography and autobiography appeared in his work, “Mathematical Encounters of the Second Kind” (1996). “The Education of a Mathematician” (2000) embraced both biography and educational philosophy.

Davis received a Guggenheim Award in 1956. He received the Chauvenet Prize of the Mathematical Association in 1963.

In 1997, he was a doctoral lecturer for Roskilde University in Denmark and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa.

He is survived by his daughter Abby; sons Frank, Ernest and Joseph; and grandchildren Leon, Miranda and Ruthie.

Contributions in his memory may be made to the charity of your choice.

Melvin Levine, 88

NEW BEDFORD, MASS. – Melvin H. Levine died March 19 at his residence surrounded by family. Born in New Bedford, a son of the late Israel Louis and Libby Rose (Epstein) Levine, Mel attended New Bedford public schools, Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Between college and law school, he served two years in the U.S. Army.

While in law school, Mel realized the legal life was not for him. After graduation in 1957, he joined the U.S. Foreign Service. France was his first overseas assignment and that’s where he met Katherine “Kitty” (Vann) Levine from Kerrville, Texas, who was also working at the U.S. embassy. She became his beloved wife of 54 years.

After marrying, they moved to Vietnam for his next diplomatic assignment. In perhaps the most dramatic moment of his career, he was inside the U.S. Embassy in Saigon in March 1965 when a Viet Cong soldier detonated a car bomb that killed 22 and injured 183, including Mel. He made a full recovery.

He also worked in Italy, Taiwan and South Korea, as well as at the State Department in Washington, D.C. In the early

1970s, he was part of Henry Kissinger’s staff at the National Security Council.

Mel retired from the Foreign Service after a 27-year career and returned to New Bedford, where he wrote three unpublished novels that drew on his diplomatic experience: “Dust on the Wind,” “The Darkening Plain” and “By Lost Ways.”

His public pursuits in retirement demonstrate the value he placed on education and lifelong learning. He served as a longtime trustee of Friends Academy in North Dartmouth and as a Library Associate at the Claire T. Carney Library at UMass Dartmouth. He was also the president of the local Harvard alumni association for many years.

Otherwise, he read. A lot. His children often teased him about his choice of reading material, asking, “What boring thing are you reading now, Dad?” It was usually a dense history or philosophy text; never a Tom Clancy novel.

Those who knew him well were impressed by his wisdom, his gentle humor and his good heart. And now that he’s not here, some light has gone out of the world.

Besides his wife, he is survived by his son Tyrrell Levine and wife Kiro; daughter Kara Leibel; son Brian Levine and wife Jane; sister Lillian Shwartz; and grandchildren Timmy Wang and Kayla Levine.

He was the brother of the late Jacob “Jack” Levine.

Contributions in his memory may be made to the Nativity Preparatory School, 66 Spring St., New Bedford, MA 02740 or Our Sisters’ School, 145 Brownell Ave., New Bedford, MA 02740.

Arthur Poulten, 82 BURLINGTON, MASS. – Arthur Poulten died April 1 at Lahey Medical Center, Burlington. He was the husband of Beverly (Snyder) Poulten for 59 years. Born in Providence, a son of the late Ben and Pauline (Chorney) Poulten, he had lived in Burlington for six years, previously living in Cranston for 50 years.

He was a marketing director for Quality Factory Outlets, Fall River, Massachusetts, an advertising and public relations consultant, a general manager for operations at Roitman & Son, Inc., Providence, an account executive for Joseph Maxfield Company, Providence, a director of public relations and advertising account executive for Bo Bernstein & Co., Inc, Providence, and a news correspondent for United Press International in both Boston and Hartford, Connecticut.

Arthur was a graduate of Classical High School, Class of ’52 and earned a Bachelor’s of Science from Boston University, Class of ’56. He was a member, past president and past chairman of Touro Fraternal As-

OBITUARIES sociation, past president of the former Temple Am David, past board member of the Chesed Shel Amess Association, past board member of the Providence Hebrew Free Loan Association, past president of the RI Advertising Club, and past president of the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity, Boston University Chapter.

He was the father of David A. Poulten and his wife, Wanru Tai, of Burlington and the late Barry Jay Poulten. He was the brother of Stephen D. Poulten of Narragansett and Howard Poulten of Cranston. He was the grandfather of Sabrina Elyse Poulten.

Contributions in his memory may be made to your favorite charity.

Andrew Shapiro

NORTH BETHESDA, M.D. – On March 16, Andrew Shapiro died at his home in North Bethesda, after a long, brave battle with Multiple System Atrophy. He leaves his wife, Sharon James Shapiro, RN, and two children, Emmalee and Evan Shapiro.

Andrew was the son of Audrey and of the late Robert J. Shapiro of Cranston and the brother of Steven B. Shapiro of Milton, Massachusetts.

Andrew received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a juris doctor with honors from Duke University School of Law. He practiced law in Houston, Texas, and Washington, D.C., and went on to assume a leadership role as a senior vice president, healthcare, at CNA Insurance Company.

Andy was a sports lover and particularly favored the Boston Red Sox and the Duke Blue Devils Basketball team. He was an avid golfer and an early pioneer of the Fantasy Football movement.

Donations can be made to the Multiple System Atrophy Coalition at multiplesystematrophy. org or MSA Coalition, 9935-D Rea Road, #212, Charlotte, NC 28277.

David A. Shlesinger, 34

CRANSTON, R.I. – David A. Shlesinger died March 27 at Kent Hospital. Born in Warwick, a son of Morton and Merrilyn (Lee) Shlesinger, he was a longtime resident of Cranston. David touched the hearts of everyone who knew him. He truly loved life and those around him.

He was the brother of Edward Shlesinger ( Darlene) and Andrew Shlesinger (Mary). He was the uncle of several nieces and nephews. He was the nephew of Sandra Garfinkel (Richard).

Contributions in his memory may be made to Leukemia Society, 2348 Post Road, #302, Warwick, RI 02886.

April 6, 2018 |

25

Fredlyn Solod, 89

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Fredlyn Kovitch “Fredi” Solod, of Hallworth House, died March 26 at Philip Hulitar Inpatient Center of complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Born in Brockton, Massachusetts, a daughter of the late Irving and Anna (Sobel) Kovitch, she had lived in Providence for nearly 40 years, previously living in Warwick and Morristown, Tennessee.

A graduate of Pembroke College of Brown University, she was a published short story writer and essayist and for years wrote a weekly column for the Citizen-Tribune newspaper of Morristown. Her columns were later collected in a book, “Is Anyone Listening?”

She was an accomplished amateur actress with the Morristown Theatre Guild, a guiding light for the Mutual Concert Series, and an outspoken activist for women’s rights, one of the earliest members of Another Mother for Peace. She also volunteered for the League of Women Voters and the American Red Cross, among many organizations. Upon returning to Providence from Tennessee so that she could be closer to the ocean she adored, she joined the Development Office at Brown University, beginning as a proposal writer and becoming Director of Publications before her retirement.

Solod was a life member of Hadassah and a member of the National Council of Jewish Women. An avid supporter of the arts, Solod was also a member of the board of Friends of Trinity and the Friends of the Rhode Island Philharmonic.

Solod was a world traveler often venturing alone to a host of exotic countries. She was a brilliant amateur photographer, capturing the beauty of every place she visited. She also stunningly captured her three grandchildren in a variety of portraits.

She is survived by her daughters Lisa Solod (husband Dr. Elbert Sholar), of Savannah, Georgia, Margo Solod (wife, Deborah Miranda) of Lexington, Virginia and Nina Solod Brodeur (husband, Mark), of Cuttyhunk, Massachusetts. She is also survived by her sisters Seena Kovitch Dittelman of Warwick and Laya Kovitch of Harwich, Massachusetts, and by her grandchildren Philip and Grace Lambeth, Megan Shaver and Matthew Brodeur.

She is preceded in death by her ex-husband Jay L. Solod of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Contributions in her memory may be made to Alzheimer’s Association, 245 Waterman St., #306, Providence, RI 02906.

William Wexler, 93

BOYNTON BEACH FLA. – William Paul Wexler (Bill) died March 20 in Boynton Beach, Fla. Born in Providence, he was OBITUARIES | 26

26 | April 6, 2018 FROM PAGE 1

1948

After Israel secured its independence, American Jews began to engage with the new nation in small ways. There was no rush of tourism, but American Jews would show their support by purchasing goods from Israel, reading books about Israel or holding Israeli dance classes in their community centers.

“Here’s this new state they had to kind of develop this relationship with, [and] the cultural realm was really the place it was happening,” Emily Alice Katz, author of the 2015 book “Bringing Zion Home,” told the New Books Network podcast. “There were these years in which it wasn’t as much about rallying the troops for these massive outpourings of aid or political influence, but it was more of this coming to know Israel.”

Part of the reticence to sup-

FROM PAGE 25

OBITUARIES the son of the late Lena and Phillip Wexler. He was the husband of Beverly Wexler for 70 years.

He lived in Cranston for many years before retiring to Florida.

William is survived by his children Judy Mittleman (Harry) and Leonard Wexler. He was the brother of the late Joseph Wexler and Saul Wexler. He

ISRAEL | OBITUARIES

The Jewish Voice

port Israel stemmed from the ethos of 1950s America, with its focus on suburban growth, the “melting pot” and assimilation.

Against that backdrop, American Jews were trying to prove they belonged as social and cultural equals in American society.

In a watershed moment, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sent a letter in 1950 to Jacob Blaustein, president of the American Jewish Committee, which for many years had been hesitant to throw its support behind the Jewish national movement. Ben-Gurion pledged not to speak for American Jewry or intervene in its affairs, and to dial down his insistence that American Jews move to Israel. In exchange, Blaustein recognized “the necessity and desirability” of supporting Israel in its nation building.

“The 1950s were the heyday of American Jewish assimilation,” said Sara Hirschhorn, an Israel studies professor at

Oxford University. “It was the postwar era, when American Jews were benefiting from the same things everyone else was benefiting from.”

Nevertheless, Israel began to show up in American Jewish religious practice. A Conservative prayer book published in 1949 had readings about Israel, but not the prayer for Israel that is now standard in many prayer books. Religious schools gradually shifted their pronunciation of Hebrew from European Ashkenazic to Sephardic-inflected Israeli.

The biggest shift, Sarna said, was American Jewry viewing Judaism’s history as one of “destruction and rebirth.”

That outlook posed the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel as its two poles and, Sarna said, remains dominant in American Jewish thinking today. He noted that Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day and its Independence Day are commemorated about a week apart

by design.

“The theme of destruction and rebirth becomes a very important theme in the lives of American Jews,” he said. “So much so that American Jews don’t know the history of Zionism going back, and have bought the idea that it’s all about the Holocaust being linked to the birth of the State of Israel.”

American Jews became more open in their celebration of Israel about a decade after 1948.

“Exodus,” the 1958 novel by Leon Uris that painted Israel in heroic terms, was a national best-seller and was adapted into a popular movie in 1960 starring Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint. In 1961, the Yiddish star Molly Picon starred in a Broadway musical about a visit by American Jews to Israel, “Milk and Honey,” which ran for over 500 performances.

A few years later, the Israel Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair showcased the country’s charms. And as Cold War ten-

sions continued into the 1960s, Israel began to be seen as a U.S. ally against the Soviet Union.

In 1967, Israel’s existence was again threatened by Arab armies. Between the anxious buildup to that war and Israel’s lightning victory, American Jewish acceptance of Israel had turned to adulation, placing the Jewish state at the center of their identity. The few dissenters are found on the non-Zionist left, among various haredi Orthodox movements, and in the grumblings of some mainstream leaders who think the emphasis on Israel has thwarted the development of distinctly American Judaisms.

“Slowly but surely, Israel became more important for American Jews,” Sarna said. “1967 is at once a reflection of Israel’s growing importance, but at the same time it is a great intensification of Israel’s centrality.”

was the grandfather of Lauryn, Adam and Stephen.

William served in Europe during WWII. He retired from The Narragansett Electric Co. after 40 years.

Donations in his memory may be made to Trustbridge Hospice 5300 East Ave. West Palm Beach, Florida 33407.

Frederick Witt of Cuddebackville, formerly of Yonkers, New York, died at his home on March 15.

He was born April 16, 1941 in New York City, the son of the late Norman Witt and the late Mae Klieger Witt. Frederick married his love Sue Ann Weismann on Sept. 10, 1967 in Teaneck, New Jersey. They were married for 50 years prior to her death on Dec. 19, 2017.

He worked as the plant manager for the electronics manufacturing company McNab Inc. in Mt. Vernon, New York. He was involved in many political and civic organizations in both Westchester and Orange counties.

He is survived by son Michael Alan Witt of Cuddebackville; daughter Jennifer Nancy Oelbaum and her husband, Michael, of Lincoln; granddaugh-

ter: Sarah Caroline Oelbaum; brother-in-law: Allan Weissman and his wife, Barbara, and brother-in-law: Frederick Weissman and his wife, Barbara. Also surviving are several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister, Enid Newfeld.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Temple EmanuEl, 99 Taft Ave., Providence, RI 02906.

Frederick Witt, 76

CUDDEBACKVILLE,

N.Y.

–

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Let’s grow together.

jvhri.org SIMCHAS

| WE ARE READ

April 6, 2018 |

27

WE ARE READ IN ISRAEL – Rabbi Yossi Laufer and Barbara Kenerson

in Tel Aviv at WeWork (with one of the directors), an incubation center for tenacious, budding, creative entrepreneurs and inventors, who are challenging convention with no fear of failure and working to develop the next new things. This was part of a Jewish Learning Institute trip that focused on Israel as the StartUp Nation.

WE ARE READ IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS – The Voice travels to St. John with Marla and Wayne Forman of Narragansett as they begin semi-retirement.They were joined by friends Judy and Lou Feinstein.

FROM PAGE 1.

CALENDAR

with singing, dancing, jumping and celebrating as a community. Children and their caregivers are invited to listen to music, gather for stories, play games, create a craft, eat a snack and make new friends. Story time incorporates more music and movement as Dayna Bailen, Shababa song leader, and Shlomo, the sloth puppet, entertain children ages 5 and under. Guest readers bring PJ Library books, and open art studio time is available. All are welcome. Free. Information or to RSVP, Dayna Bailen at dbailen@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 108.

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 free kid-friendly Shabbat dinner. Donations welcome. Information or to RSVP, Torat Yisrael Office at 401-885-6600.

Shabbat Hallelu. 6:30 p.m. Temple Beth-El, 70 Orchard Ave., Providence.

Light refreshments and sangria served at 6:30 p.m., services start at 7 p.m.

Information, Temple Beth-El office at 401-331-6070.

Brotherhood Shabbat. 7:30 p.m. Temple Sinai, 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston.

Members of the Temple Sinai Brotherhood will lead the services. Information, Dottie at dottie@templesinairi.org or 401-942-8350.

Kabbalat Shabbat Service. 7:30-9 p.m.

Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Shabbat service followed by an Oneg. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael. org or 401-885-6600.

Saturday | April 21 Classic Shabbat Service. 9 a.m.-noon.

Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Classic Shabbat service followed by a Kiddush luncheon.

Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael.org or 401885-6600.

Children’s Shabbat Program and Jr. Kiddush Club. 9:30-11:15 a.m. Congregation Beth Sholom, 275 Camp St., Providence. Weekly program and Jr. Kiddush Club for children. Activities include prayer, parashah, play time and a special Kiddush. Three age groups: Tots, Pre-K thru 1st grade and 2nd grade and up. Located in Kids Room, Social Hall and Chapel on the lower level. Big kids of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to join prayer services in the main sanctuary. Information, office@bethsholom-ri.org.

The Miriam Hospital Gala & Auction – Experience the Northern Lights.

5:30-11:30 p.m. WaterFire Arts Center, 475 Valley St., Providence. Benefits The Miriam Fund for a New Generation and advance the palliative care program, part of The Miriam’s oncology services. The grandeur of the Aurora Borealis will awaken your senses.

Mouthwatering delicacies, an array of auction treasures presented by professional auctioneer Paul Zekos and dancing to the sounds of Sweetbeats are guaranteed to light up the sky for an experience you will always remember.

Cost: $250 per person. Information, 401-793-2062 or visit giving.lifespan. org/TMH-Gala.

Saturday Night at the Movies with Rabbi Howard: “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

7 p.m. Temple Beth-El, 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Havdalah, movie (rated PG) and discussion. Information, Temple Beth-El office at 401-331-6070.

Sunday | April 22 Car Wash and Bake Sale. 8:45 a.m.

Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Support the Cohen School students. Car Wash: $10. Information, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael.org or 401885-6600.

Adult Education: Israeli Life. 9:15-10:30 a.m. Temple Torat Yisrael, 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. April topic: “The Situation.” Join Rabbi Aaron Philmus and Dr. Ohad Kott for a discussion on current events and examples of Israelis and Palestinians working together.

Information or to register, Stephanie Reinsant at stephanie@toratyisrael.org or 401-885-6600.

Open House. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tamarisk Assisted Living Residence, 3 Shalom Drive, Warwick. Celebrate Earth Day at Tamarisk. Take a tour, and stroll through the courtyard gardens.

Information, Susan Adler at susana@ tamariskri.org or 401-732-0037, ext.

104.

2018 AIPAC New England Leadership Dinner. 5:30 p.m. Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, 415 Summer St., Boston. Community leaders, members of Congress, state officials and students come together for for AIPAC’S largest gathering of pro-Israel activists in New England. Reception followed by 7 p.m. program. Cost: $300 per person.

AIPAC Washington Club ($1,800) and Capitol Club ($3,600) members receive a discounted price of $200. AIPAC Senate Club ($10,000) members and above receive complimentary seats.

Advance registration is required. Onsite registration not available. Photo ID must be presented at check-in. Information, AIPAC at 617-399-2562.

MAZAL TOV – Glenna (Richard) Hornstein and Anthony DiPieroannounce the engagement of their daughter, Beverly DiPiero, to Skylar Strickland, son of Cindy (John) Sanford and the late Clifton Strickland.

Beverly graduated from Florida State University and is a psychologist with the State of Florida. Skylar graduated from Troy University and the Florida Police Academy.

Beverly is the granddaughter of Sandra and Fred Brown of Boynton Beach, Florida, formerly of Rhode Island. No date has been set for the wedding.

Visit us online:

JVHRI.org

28 | April 6, 2018

The Jewish Voice

For Valeriya Kvasha, an engineer and mother of three who fled war-torn Eastern Ukraine: The Alliance, through our core funding of JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee), afforded her a lifesaving support system. Her family received relocation aid including rental assistance, mental health services and a stocked apartment.

This allowed Valeriya to stabilize her life and she now works to help other at-risk Jewish youth and families transition to safety.

Jewish Alliance 2018 Annual Campaign: Donate. Volunteer. Make a difference.

The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island is dedicated to building a stronger and more inclusive community here at home, in Israel and around the world.

We are fueled by Jewish values and driven by tradition— reimagined for today’s world. Together, with your support, we are committed to strengthening lives and communities everywhere.

With your gift, we continue to bring renewed hope to those who experience hardship, vital assistance to those who have fallen ill, and compassion to those who suffer injustice. No matter our differences, what brings us together is the reality that everyone counts.

everyONE counts

401 Elmgrove Avenue | Providence, RI 02906 | 401.421.4111 | jewishallianceri.org