October 10, 2014

Volume XX, Issue XXXIX | www.thejewishvoice.org Serving Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts

16 Tishri 5775 | October 10, 2014

SENIORS and ELECTIONS

OLDER AND WISER

THE SHABBOS PROJECT AIMS TO UNITE

Twice a year, The Jewish Voice devotes a portion of our issue to seniors. Pages 19 to 27 are fi lled with information by and about the seniors in our community. Read about interesting community members and topics of interest to seniors and anyone involved with them. And, really, that’s all of us, isn’t it? Enjoy!

BY FRAN OSTENDORF fostendorf@jewishallianceri.org Imagine celebrating Shabbat as an entire community, not just in one synagogue or congregation. That’s the vision of the Shabbos Project, a global grassroots movement whose organizers hope to encourage Jews of all ages and from all traditions to experience a “complete” Shabbat together SHABBOS | 33

PHOTO | FRAN OSTENDORF

Neal Drobnis chats with participants at the Alliance Kosher Senior Café recently.

Information about statewide referenda and candidates for U.S. Senate and House seats.

See pages 12-13, 26

5774: The year in review

BY JTA STAFF (Part three of three parts) NEW YORK – Read about the highs and lows of the last part of 5774.

May 2014

New York’s 92nd Street Y, a Jewish center for arts and culture, names its fi rst non-Jewish executive director, Henry Timms. Shortly afterward, Sol Adler, the previous longtime executive director, who was

fi red after revelations that he had a long-term affair with his assistant, hangs himself in his Brooklyn home.

An Anti-Defamation League anti-Semitisim survey fi nds “deeply anti-Semitic views” are held by 26 percent of 53,000 people polled in 102 countries and territories covering approximately 86 percent of the world’s population. Critics say the survey’s 11 questions are not accurate gauges of antiSemitism.

Novelist Philip Roth receives an honorary doctorate from the Jewish Theological

Seminary. Now considered one of the greatest living American writers, Roth had caused outrage early in his career with his sometimes stinging portrayals of Jewish life. In 2012, Roth announced he was retiring.

Maccabi Tel Aviv wins the Euroleague basketball championship by beating favored Real Madrid, 98-86, in overtime.

YEAR IN REVIEW | 16

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INSIDE Arts 32 Business 28-29 Calendar 8 Classified 29 Community 2-6, 8-9, 33-34 D’var Torah 7 Elections 12-13, 26 Food 14-15 Obituaries 31 Opinion 10-11 Seniors 19-25, 27, 30 We Are Read 34 World 16-17

THIS ISSUE’S QUOTABLE QUOTE “Wise people tend to be humble and able to communicate their insight.”

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Another view of Sukkot Gilor Meshulam, Israeli shaliach (emissary), shared these photos of the sukkah of one of his army colleagues. Hadar Marhiv, a Samaritan from Holon, Israel, offers the following explanation: “These days are very special for the Samaritans throughout Israel. We are preparing ourselves for Sukkot – which will be, by our lunar year (Samaritan calendar) on Oct. 15 this year. The Samaritans don’t consider themselves Judeans – but the sons of Ephraim (and not Judah). We have been living in the Land of Israel for more than 3,000 years – and we never left. Beginning in the 16th century, many Samaritans were killed by Crusaders, swordsmen and Muslim armies that conquered Israel. Therefore, we had to build the sukkah inside our homes. And we are still building the sukkah inside our homes – as you can see in the pictures. I would like to wish all my Jewish brothers and sisters across the world a great and meaningful Sukkot – and hopefully, we can continue to live as brothers as we have for more than 3,000 years, since we left Egypt together. Chag Sameach!”

PHOTOS COURTESY | HADAR MARHIV

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Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards accepting nominations for 2015 JTA – The Helen Diller Family Foundation is accepting nominations for the 2015 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards, which recognize Jewish teens for their leadership and innovative social action projects.

Fifteen teens, up to five from California and 10 from communities throughout the United States, each will receive $36,000 for the award, which recognizes the teens’ philanthropic efforts.

The deadline for nominations is Dec. 14.

The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards have granted more than $2 million to 55 U.S. Jewish teens. Last year’s recipients came from California; New York; New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; Maryland; Massachusetts; Georgia and Illinois.

Past recipients have made their mark through projects including building soccer fields and water wells to bring people together in war-torn regions of the world; donating textbooks and school supplies to fi nancially strapped schools in California and around the globe; collecting and distributing shoes to homeless children so they can participate in life outside their shelters; and raising awareness and changing attitudes about bullying and autism through peer-to-peer programs.

Nicholas Lowinger from Cranston won the award in 2013 for Gotta Have Sole, an organization that collects and donates

teens to build future generations of strong Jewish leaders,” said Helen Diller, president of the foundation. “It is our hope

that the awards will not only validate the social efforts of a generation of Jewish teens but empower them to continue on

their philanthropic journeys to repair the world.”

With reports from The Jewish Voice.

HOLIDAY CRAFTS At drop-in crafting Oct. 1 at the Dwares JCC, two young crafters make decorations for the sukkah. On a rainy afternoon, a good time was had by all. And some pretty decorations were readied for the sukkah.

Nicholas Lowenger children’s shoes to homeless shelters. What started as a bar mitzvah project in 2010 has grown into a foundation that donates new footwear across the United States. It’s donated to more than 7,000 children in at least 12 states to date.

The awards is one of a number of projects funded by the Helen Diller Family Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties, to develop leadership in teens and enhance Jewish education.

“The Foundation believes in the importance of shining a spotlight on exemplary Jewish

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Statement of Ownership

The Jewish Voice statement of ownership, management and circulation fi led with the United States Post Office at Providence RI in accordance with the provisions of the Act of October 23, 1962: section 4369, title 39, United States Code. The Jewish Voice is the official newspaper of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, the owner and publisher, at 401 Elmgrove Avenue, Providence, RI, and is published bi-weekly, except in July, when it does not publish. The editor is Fran Ostendorf.

Circulation: (A) Average number of copies each issue during the preceding 12 months, ending September 12, 2014, (1) net press run 9,405 (2) paid circulation to term subscribers by mail carrier delivery 6,585 (3) free distribution 2,720 (4) copies not distributed 100 (5) total 9,405 (B) Single issue nearest to fi ling date September 12, 2014 (1) Net press run 9,400 (2) paid circulation to term subscribers by mail carrier delivery 6,541 (3) free distribution 2,759 (4) copies not distributed 100 (5) total 9,400.

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PHOTO | IRINA MISSIURO

The fitness team, left to right, Luke Brookner, Heather C. Stearns, London Blake and Angela Sullivan

Members will notice improvements to J-Fitness

BY IRINA MISSIURO imissiuro@jewishallianceri.org J-Fitness has recently undergone some changes, and the team members want you to know what’s going on at the center. Initially, Heather C. Stearns came on board as aquatics director, and now she is the general manager of J-Fitness.

Overseeing the restructuring of the department, Stearns is refi ning ways to accommodate members’ needs.

Recently, she hired London Blake, “the missing link to our team,” to fi ll the role of aquatics director and head coach of the TigerSharks.

H a i l i n g f r om D over, Massachusetts, this graduate of Whittier College brings 17 years of swimming and nine years of coaching experience.

The center’s children and adolescents will benefit from Angela Sullivan’s transition from a fitness professional to youth sports manager. Stearns said she saw a need for youth-ori-

ented sports programming and decided that Sullivan would be a great candidate for the role.

Sullivan will be able to rely on her internship at the Springfield JCC, where she developed youth programs, for inspiration. Both Stearns and Sullivan are looking forward to collaborating with Michelle Cicchitelli who oversees youth programming. Stearns says, “The ability to work more closely with Michelle Cicchitelli, director of Jewish Life, is something I am very excited to be able to do. We share a similar vision in wanting to bridge our departments to create better services, experiences and programs for our members.”

Luke Brookner’s role change completes Stearns’ plan to “lay the groundwork for a fresh start, new programs for all ages and demographics and strive for stronger communication with the community.”

Brookner’s position as fitness manager has been expanded to oversee group exercise classes,

manage personal fitness trainers, maintain fitness equipment and work in partnership with Stearns to develop specialty fitness programs.

Brookner loves offering fitness tips to members and enabling them to reach their goals. This allows him “to vicariously share in the sense of accomplishment that accompanies reaching a fitness milestone.” Brookner believes that one of J-Fitness’ strengths is the powerful sense of community that members, instructors and trainers value. He says, “As we begin to build exciting new programs and redesign our facility, it will be important to ensure that these relationships, and the shared commitment to overall health and wellness that has grown out of them, serve as the foundation of a familiar, but revitalized, fitness center.”

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

Temple Habonim adult education kicks off Two upcoming programs launch a full year of adult education at Temple Habonim in Barrington. On Oct. 19, Professor Lyle Goldstein will lead a program on the current tensions in U.S. relations with Russia and China, “Cold War Revisited? Coping with New Challenges from Russia and China.”

The current strains in U.S.-Russian relations concern the fate of the Ukraine. Meanwhile, China’s rapid economic rise makes it very likely that its economy will surpass that of the U.S. in aggregate size in the very near future. Goldstein, a temple member, will address the capabilities and intentions of both Moscow and Beijing, the potential for conflict or compromise, and the related implications for world order and the future of American national security.

Goldstein is an associate professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College, and was its founding director. He was recently awarded the Superior Civilian Service Medal. He is also a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University.

His recent research has focused on various quandaries in U.S.-China relations and the imperative to enhance maritime cooperation.

On Oct. 23, Dr. Stephen Kaplan will teach the “story behind the story” of Columbus’ two voyages of discovery in “Jewish Perspectives on the Voyages of

Lyle Goldstein

Stephen Kaplan

Discovery.”

Kaplan, a researcher of Jewish history, will focus the discussion on Columbus’ connections with the great Jewish minds of the time and their contributions to other voyages of discovery. These events and accomplishments not only changed all of human history, but the history of the Jewish people and their survival to this day.

Kaplan is a past president of Temple Habonim.

For the past 25 years he has researched Jewish history and thought as his avocation.

Both programs are free and open to the community. They take place at 7 p.m. at 165 New Meadow Road, Barrington. For more information: www.templehabonim.org or call 401-245-6536.

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Elizabeth Green offers hope in ‘Building a Better Teacher’

BY JILL DAVIDSON Measuring teacher effectiveness is a subject that many of us have a stake in and an informed opinion about. Nearly all of us are products of many years of formal education. We’ve all logged many hours in the classrooms of dozens of teachers. It’s reasonable, then, for each of us to have understanding that supports our opinions about teacher quality. We know from our own experience whether or not individual teachers are great.

But it’s likely that we don’t fully comprehend why. This is the terrain of Elizabeth Green’s “Building a Better Teacher”.

Green explores these essential questions: what does research tell us about the craft of teaching, and how can we disseminate superb teachers’ knowledge, skills and attitudes?

The opening pages of “Building a Better Teacher” take us into a teacher’s brain as she moves a fifth grade class through a math lesson. Green’s portrayal of the resulting complexity, informed by dynamic, moment-to-moment decisions based on students’ voiced comprehension (or lack thereof) revealed by their questions and comments, reminds us that skillful teaching is hard work that demands powerful intellectual and emotional capacity.

In a few pages, Green conveys teaching’s challenge and complexity in a way that makes a potent contribution to public discourse, which all too often seems to evince the belief that teaching is easy.

As “Building a Better Teacher” unfolds, Green examines several, often competing, sometimes intersecting, theories about the factors that support teachers to improve their practice in order to be great.

Practice is the key word. Green dispels the notion that there are “natural-born teachers.”

Indeed, research clearly leads to the conclusion that good teaching is the result of study, refinement and collegial support. But our desire for quick results as well as the culture of many schools unaccustomed to providing time and support for building a collaborative

professional community have presented obstacles to widespread implementation of this approach.

The issue of professional working conditions arises as a frustrating challenge. Short school days combined with intense demands make for often defeating conditions in which it’s nearly impossible to initiate, scale, and sustain improvement. Teachers function in a policy environment based – somewhat misguidedly, as Green describes – on the notion that a great teacher can surmount hugely significant factors in students’ lives such as health, economic status, housing and family support. This is coupled with demands that teachers demonstrate results more or less immediately, with no change in working conditions or meaningful professional development. Nationwide, we’re wrestling with not only how but also why we should evaluate teachers. Are we evaluating teachers to support their work in systematic and thoughtful ways? Or are we doing so to reveal and discard the putative “bad apples?” Most state and district approaches have been muddled at best, contributing the heat of anxiety without the light of understanding. The very fact that we acknowledge teachers’ importance has contributed to making it much less likely that they’ll be able to do their work effectively.

However, “Building a Better Teacher” also gives us real hope, as it shares what a range of practitioners and researchers have come to understand about the alchemy of a successful classroom. Descriptions of the language that has been developed to describe teaching and learning provide real thrills, particular as Green reveals the thoughtfully collaborative approach of Japanese educators’ jugyokenkyu, or lesson study, and the compelling, though easily misinterpreted, taxonomical approach of Uncommon Schools’ Doug Lemov.

Readers gain a sense that we know what constitutes the basis for powerful teaching and learning, even if we don’t yet

have the patience and appropriate professional conditions for that understanding to be implemented widely. When teachers have the conditions and passion to dig deeply into the process of teaching and learning in a supportive professional culture, they can consistently produce amazing results.

CONTRIBUTING WRITER Irina Missiuro

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Touro Fraternal Association and The Jewish Voice announce the

HANUKKAH 2014 Art & Writing Contest What’s the Contest About?

Students in grades 1-4 are invited to DRAW or PAINT a picture and; Students in grades 5-8 are invited to write a SHORT ESSAY on either of these themes: • My Family at Hanukkah • What Hanukkah Means to Me

JILL DAVIDSON is a resident of Providence and the director of publications and communications at Engaging Schools. She is the mother of three sons in the Providence Public Schools.

Who’s Eligible?

Jewish students grades 1 thru 8.

Are there Prizes?

Prizes will be awarded in each category: First Prize - $108 Second Prize - $72 Third Prize - $36 First prize winner’s school or synagogue will receive a technology-related gift valued at approximately $720 (ex. laptop, computer station, camera...)

Entry Details • • • •

Elizabeth Green

Annual conference focuses on what makes a great teacher Everyone agrees that a great teacher can have an impact but we still don’t know exactly what makes a teacher great.

Does great teaching come naturally or does it take something more? Join special guest Elizabeth Green, author of “Building a Better Teacher,” at the Sanford z’’l and Elaine Kroll Educators Conference on Oct. 26. Registration and a light breakfast begin at 8:30 a.m. The conference starts at 9 and ends at noon. Green will focus on important questions for teachers and parents. This event, at the Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, is open to all educators and parents and is free. RSVP to Lynne Bell at 401-421-4111, ext. 156 or lbell@jewishallianceri.org.

ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Tricia Stearly tstearly@jewishallianceri.org 401-421-4111, ext. 160 EDITOR Fran Ostendorf

October 10, 2014 |

Karen Borger ksborger@gmail.com 401-529-2538

EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS Irina Missiuro | Judith Romney Wegner

COLUMNISTS Dr. Stanley Aronson, Michael Fink, Rabbi James Rosenberg and Daniel Stieglitz

DESIGN & LAYOUT Leah Camara

MEMBER of the Rhode Island Press Association

Visit thejewishvoice.org or tourofraternal.org Download entry form Include name of school or synagogue on entry form Submit hard copy of drawing or essay with entry form to: Entries must be Subject: Hanukkah Contest postmarked The Jewish Voice no later than 401 Elmgrove Avenue November 23 Providence, RI 02906

Winners Announced...

• A panel of judges will be chosen by Touro Fraternal Association and The Jewish Voice • In celebration of Hanukkah and to present the prizes to the winners, Touro Fraternal Association will host a Hanukkah party December 14

45 Rolfe Square, Cranston, RI www.tourofraternal.org

Touro Fraternal Association reserves the right to determine the range and scope of gifts.

ENTRY FORM IS ON PAGE 6

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

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

PUBLISHER The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, Chair Sharon Gaines, President/CEO Jeffrey K. Savit, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, RI 02906.

Phone: 401-421-4111 • Fax 401-331-7961

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

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

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

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Miriam Hospital staff gathered in the main lobby the week of Sept. 22 to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with a blowing of the Shofar. Jeffrey Brier, chair of the hospital’s Jewish Tradition Advisory Committee and past chair of The Miriam Hospital and The Miriam Hospital Foundation boards of trustees, and Rabbi Avraham Rosenthal from The Miriam Hospital’s Spiritual Care department are pictured.

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BROWN UNIVERSITY – PROGRAM IN JUDAIC STUDIES ELGA K. STULMAN LECTURE

Zionism, Palestinism, Post-Diasporism: New Forms of Polish Jewish Political Thinking in the 1930s

SPEAKER: KENNETH B. MOSS, PhD is the Felix Posen Professor of Modern Jewish History at the Johns Hopkins University. His first book Jewish Renaissance in the Russian Revolution (2009) examines the idea of a modern Jewish culture and its relationship to Jewish nationalism and socialism through the lens of Hebrew and Yiddish cultural life during the Russian Revolution. Jewish Renaissance was chosen as a co-winner of the 2010 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Moss is now working on East European Jewish political culture and political thought in the age of the nation-state, in a book provisionally entitled The Unchosen People. His work has appeared in Journal of Modern History, Jewish History, Jewish Social Studies and Journal of Israeli History, among other venues.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 20 |5:30 PM |PETTERUTI LOUNGE FAUNCE HOUSE, 75 WATERMAN ST., PROVIDENCE

D’VAR TORAH | WORLD

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7

Our imperfections help make us whole

BY RABBI SARAH MACK Our Torah reading for Hol haMo’ed Sukkot records one of Moses’ biggest blunders – the breaking of the first set of tablets in anger. Our text continues with the giving of the second set of tablets and a list detailing God’s 13 attributes of mercy.

I am always amazed at how much time our ancient rabbis devoted to discussing the broken pieces of the first set of tablets. One midrash teaches that these shattered remnants were

as valuable as the whole tablets – likening them to jewels. Another rabbi taught that the Israelites carried the broken pieces throughout the wilderness in their very own Ark. Our tradition emphasizes that the broken pieces of the luhot (tablets) still have value as a gift from God. How true of our own broken pieces as well. Even as we enter this bright new year, each of us has an ark of our own, which houses our insecurities, suffering and pain. Our rabbis seem to understand that these imper-

fections endow us with humility, grace and sensitivity. As a modern Jewish sage, Leonard Cohen, wrote: “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”

I grew up reading Shel Silverstein’s book, “The Missing Piece.” A circle with a wedge missing rolls all over the world singing “… and am looking for my missing piece.” As it turns out, after the circle finally finds the exact-size wedge that fits it, it realizes that it can no longer do the things it used to enjoy do-

Dutch police said to cite vandalism risk in opposing sukkah THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) – Dutch police advised a municipality to forbid the public display of a sukkah out of concerns that it would be a target for vandalism, a Jewish resident said.

Fabrice Schomberg applied last month for a permit to erect a sukkah, a hut designated for meals during the holiday of Sukkot, outside his home in the predominantly Muslim neighborhood of Schilderswijk in The Hague.

On Sept. 30, city official Karin Wilthagen told Schomberg that the police advised the city against allowing him to build the sukkah, warning that it could be vandalized, he told JTA. Despite the objection from police, the city approved his request last Oct. 3.

Police declined to comment on the case and declined to say whether they considered Jewish symbols and the people who display them as being es-

pecially at risk. A city spokesman told JTA that Schomberg’s application was being processed.

In recent weeks, Schomberg has been featured in a series of articles about a Jewishowned housing project of 200 apartments located among one of the Netherlands’ largest concentrations of Muslim immigrants. He is among only a dozen Jewish residents in the complex.

In one item, a news crew filmed Schomberg being verbally abused on the street outside his home because he put on a kippah. He usually conceals it to prevent such incidents.

Three times over the summer rioting took place in Schilderswijk, near the Jewish-owned area, and on each occasion there were flags identified with the ISIS Islamist group. Two of the rallies also featured calls to kill Jews, and in the third protesters hurled

rocks at police and used municipal flowerbeds to barricade the neighborhood’s main street.

The rallies took place amid a series of attacks on Jews in the Netherlands in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Two people were physically assaulted for displaying an Israeli flag.

Separately, a Jewish man in the eastern city of Arnhem and identified in Dutch media only as Nathan was beaten on the street by seven men who heard him speaking on his cell phone in Hebrew, the De Telegraaf daily reported.

He told the daily he would not speak the language in public again.

ing, like singing or rolling slowly enough to enjoy the company of a worm or butterfly. It decides that it was happier when it was imperfect.

Author Anne Roiphe wrote a book review in the New York Times for “The Missing Piece” when it came out in 1976. She wisely counseled: “This fable can also be interpreted to mean that no one should try to find all the answers, no one should hope to fill all the holes in themselves … because a person without a search, loose ends, internal conflicts and external goals becomes too smooth to enjoy or know what’s going on.”

Perfection can limit us. It is our flaws, our “growth experiences,” and even our flat-out failures that enable us to nourish our souls with the hope of something better. Even as we value our imperfections, the rabbis teach that we may not

use broken pieces of branches for the s’khakh (the roof) of our sukkah. Our lulav and etrog must likewise be unblemished.

Our tradition teaches us that we are guided by our mistakes but not defined by them. As we yearn for a brighter future, built upon the scars of the past, we go forth hopefully and with a whole heart.

Reading these words on Sukkot reminds us to be gentle with ourselves for our past mistakes as well as those we will make in the coming year – for very few of us will “get it right” every time. The Torah’s words are an inspiration to go forth with hope for the future of a world made whole by our strivings.

RABBI SARAH MACK (rabbimack@temple-beth-el.org) is rabbi at Temple Beth-El in Providence and president of the Rhode Island Board of Rabbis.

Candle Lighting Times Greater Rhode Island Area Oct. 10 .............................. 5:52 Oct. 15 Shemini Atzeret.5:44 Oct. 16 Simchat Torah... 6:46 Oct. 17............................... 5:41 Oct. 24............................... 5:31 Oct. 31 .............................. 5:22

8 | October 10, 2014

CALENDAR | COMMUNITY

JCDSRI celebrates double chai anniversary

CALENDAR Ongoing Alliance Kosher Senior Café. Kosher lunch and program every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Noon lunch; 1 p.m. program. $3 lunch donation from individuals 60+ or under 60 with disabilities. Know Your Candidate series: Oct. 20. 1-1:30 p.m., Ernie Almonte, candidate for treasurer; 1:30-2 p.m., Alan Fung, candidate for governor; 2-2:30 p.m., Catherine Taylor, candidate for lieutenant governor. Oct. 27. 1-1:30 p.m., Seth Magaziner, candidate for treasurer; 1:30-2 p.m., Buddy Cianci, candidate for mayor of Providence; 2-2:30 p.m., John Carlevale, candidate for secretary of state. Neal or Elaine, 401-421-4111, ext. 107.

Am David Kosher Senior Café. Kosher lunch and program every weekday.

Temple Am David, 40 Gardiner St., Warwick. 11:15 a.m. program; Noon lunch. $3 lunch donation from individuals 60+ or under 60 with disabilities. Elaine or Steve 401-732-0047.

Through Oct. 17

Monsters who don’t know they are monsters. Gallery (401). Local artist Jason Freedman’s first solo exhibit showcases 50 colorful character portraits from his folio of more than 1,000 monsters… who don’t know they are monsters. Wine and light snacks served. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Information, call Erin Moseley, director of Arts & Culture and NextGen Engagement, 401-421-4111, ext. 108.

Through | Oct. 30 Traditional Works and Photography.

Gallery at Temple Habonim. Lynne Mehlman works in oils and pastels. Bonnie Jaffe captures moments in photography.

Marc Jaffe shows the uniqueness of people through photography. Gallery hours are Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and by appointment. 165 New Meadow Road, Barrington. Information, call 401-245-6536 or email gallery@templehabonim.org.

Monday | Oct. 13 Sukkot Celebration. Chabad House. 6 p.m., special performance for children.

5:30-7:30 p.m., dancing in the streets.

Sukkah Pizza “Hut” including the brickoven kosher pizza and Israeli-style pita and falafel. Near the corner of Olney Street. Information, 401-273-7238.

Tuesday | Oct. 14 Lunch and Learn. 12:15-1:15 p.m. Study a bit of Torah with Rabbi Naftali Karp over lunch in a one-hour session to explore relevant Jewish topics using ancient wisdom as the guide. Bring a brown bag lunch; be prepared for

The Jewish Voice

a lively discussion. Weekly sessions through Dec. 9. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. RSVP 401632-3165. Drop-ins welcome.

Sunday | Oct. 19

Narragansett Bay Symphony Community Orchestra. 3 p.m. First program of the season. Bernstein Overture to Candide; Mozart, Violin Concerto No. 5 with soloist Rhiannon Banerdt; Dvorak Symphony No. 9 “New World.” Benjamin Vickers, music director. Tickets: $15, general admission; $5, seniors and students. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Information, call Amy Goldstein, 401-274-4578 or amgold@ aol.com.

Monday | Oct. 20 Jewish Philosophy Book Club. 8-9:30 p.m. Congregation Beth Sholom. Rabbi Dolinger leads a guided discussion engaging Judaism’s most important topics and questions. Open to men, women and teens. Participants are responsible to order the book: “Lonely Man of Faith” by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. Rabbi’s Study, 275 Camp St., Providenece. Information, 401-6219393.

Thursday | Oct. 23

Gold, Paper, Scissors. Opening reception for exhibit by Naomi Geller Lipsky. 7 p.m. gallery (401). Naomi uses quilling, gilding, painting and other techniques to create artistic designs, inspired by her love for Jewish heritage.

Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Wine and light snacks served.

Information, Erin Moseley, director or Arts & Culture, 401-421-4111, ext.

108, emoseley@jewishallianceri.org.

Saturday | Oct. 25 The Edwards Twins. 8 p.m. Temple Torat Yisrael. 2 brothers – 100 stars. One Night Only! General admission, $35; VIP seating with meet and greet after the show and wine, cheese, dessert and a CD, $75. 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Call the office for more information, 401-885-6600.

Sunday | Oct. 26 Kroll Educator’s Conference. 8:30 a.m.–noon. Dwares JCC. What Makes a Great Teacher? Special guest Elizabeth Green. Open to all educators and parents. No charge. RSVP to Lynne Bell at 401-421-4111, ext. 156 or lbell@ jewishallianceri.org.

Wednesday | Oct. 29 R.I. Friends of Israel. 7-9 p.m. Program introduces Stand with Us, a new proIsrael voice in Rhode Island with Avi Posnick, representative. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Register at StandWithUs-RI.eventbrite.com.

Calendar Submissions Oct. 24 issue, BAR & BAT MITZVAH – must be received by Oct. 15 Nov. 7 issue, TRAVEL – must be received by Oct. 29

SEND ALL CALENDAR ITEMS TO: editor@jewishallianceri.org with the subject line “CALENDAR.” Calendar entries may be edited for content, length and relevance. Please submit two weeks prior to issue of publication.

BY ALISON WALTER September marked the 36th anniversary of the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island (JCDSRI). The community will celebrate the school’s milestone on Nov. 16 at Brown RISD Hillel with a Double Chai Benefit, including cocktails, dinner, dancing and a silent auction to honor the school’s success and celebrate its future.

The journey started at the Providence home of Sheila and Paul Alexander. While their children played upstairs, the Alexanders hashed out a bold idea with three other couples – also parents of preschoolers – Rabbi Alvan and Marcia Kaunfer, Joshua and Penney Stein, and Chuck and Ada Beth Cutler. They wanted a liberal, egalitarian school that provided a strong Jewish foundation for their children. They planned to open a Schechter Day School in the fall of 1978. As Penney Stein recalled, “We were young and crazy enough to think we could pull it off.” It helped that Alvan Kaunfer, the assistant rabbi at Temple Emanu-El, had been head of the Judaic studies department at Toronto’s Schechter school. Ada Beth Cutler’s teaching career began at a New York Solomon Schechter and Penney Stein herself was an educator with a Ph.D. Over the years, the enthusiasm of the founding families has remained. Co-chair and current parent, Rashmi Licht said, “While the name has changed, the substance of the school has remained intact – the amazing teachers and staff

Involved with JCDSRI are, left to right, Rashmi Licht, Sally Rotenberg, Marni Thompson-Tilove and Alison Walter. continue to nurture the student body in hopes of making them into the best that they can be while providing the fundamentals of Jewish education.” The Double Chai Benefit will be honoring the first graduating class, their families, and the first teacher for the visionary leadership which is the foundation for the school.

Today, JCDSRI’s mission is to prepare confident, collaborative, critical thinkers for the 21st century. The school not only provides a top-quality education, it also offers families a strong sense of community. “As a new parent, I was quickly embraced and welcomed with love into this school and so was my family. There is a magical feeling about JCDS,” stated Marni Thompson-Tilove, current parent and co-chair, “I’ve never encountered such a nurturing and attuned school, and devoted parent body. I feel lucky to have my son attend.”

JCDSRI’s longevity is due to the strong support it has always

received from the local Jewish community. Community supporters like Sally Rotenberg, alumni parent, board member and event co-chair, have come forth to ensure the evening’s success. “Alperin Schechter was our support system, our village, our community, helping raise our three sons,” she said. “Those friends are still our closest ones today. I am passionate about continuing the school. The positive energy at JCSDRI is contagious.” The Double Chai Benefit will help JCDSRI ensure a sustainable future. All proceeds raised at the event will go to JCDSRI’s new Fund for Excellence, which will provide funding for innovative programs and facilities.

ALISON WALTER is development director of the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island. For more information, contact her at awalter@jcdsri.org or 401-751-2470.

COMMUNITY

thejewishvoice.org

Jewish Family Service celebrates 85 years of service to the community Calvin Coolidge said, “No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.”

This year, as Jewish Family Service (JFS) celebrates its 85th anniversary of service to the community, the agency will be honoring two exceptional individuals who give so generously to the agency: Peri Ann Aptaker and David C. Isenberg.

The celebration will be held on Nov. 2 starting at noon at Ledgemont Country Club in Seekonk, Massachusetts. Activities will include a brunch, raffle, entertainment by a cappella groups Pastrami on RI from 401j at the Jewish Alli-

Jewish Family Service of Rhode Island ance of Greater RI, and the Alef Beats from Brown RISD Hillel.

Tickets for the event are $75

each. Contact JFS at 401-3311244 or visit the agency website at jfsri.org for more information.

Israel study/travel grants and We are Family!

Jewish scholarships available The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island is making it affordable for Jews in high school, gap year, college and post-secondary programs (through age 26) to experience meaningful trips to Israel, thanks to the generosity of donors.

The Rhode Island Jewish community supports an Israel experience as an integral part of a student’s education and growing Jewish identity. Applications are available online.

To find out if you’re eligible and apply, visit jewishallianceri.org Submission deadlines are Oct. 31, 2014, for winter programs, Dec. 2, 2014, for spring programs, and March 16, 2015, for summer, fall and yearlong programs. Applications received after the deadline may be considered, pending availability of funds.

For more information, contact Elanah Chassen, ext. 140, echassen@jewishallianceri.org

Bake a challah with Jews worldwide The Great Rhode Island Challah Bake will take place Oct. 23 in the Dwares JCC Social Hall, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Each challah making station will receive all the ingredients to make a challah and a prepared amount to create a braided challah. Men, women and children are invited to participate and learn.

Cost is $10 per challah making station; 200 people will be admitted. This is part of The Shabbos Project 2014, a worldwide event to keep Shabbat in unity, taking place Oct. 24-25.

Challah bakes will take place worldwide on Oct. 23. To register, send fees to The Shabbos Project RI-JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, R.I. 02906.

October 10, 2014 |

SEEKING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Tifereth Israel Congregation, a 325 family Conservative congregation in New Bedford, Massachusetts, is seeking an Executive Director to oversee the operations of the synagogue ensuring that the organization runs smoothly and meets organizational objectives. The Executive Director should demonstrate a track record of successful organizational management, programming expertise and staff supervision in a collaborative organization. We desire an experienced candidate with excellent interpersonal skills, is flexible, diplomatic, efficient, skilled at prioritizing and problem solving, enthusiastic, and highly motivated. The ideal candidate will have the skills to ensure that our established congregation continues to thrive and serve the needs of our membership.

The Executive Director must possess: 1. Excellent skills in interpersonal relationships and communication 2. Flexibility to meet the changing demands of the congregation and the position.

3. A solid foundation in fiscal and facilities management.

4. Background in managing/mentoring personnel and human relations.

5. Comfort with synagogue’s technical, computer, telephone systems and web presence.

For a complete job description, additional information or to submit your letter of interest, please email office@tinewbedford.org.

genealogy

Genealogist Jay Sage will present on Jewish genealogy and accessing your family tree on Oct. 27 from 7-8 p.m. at Congregation Agudas Achim in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

Jay served as co-president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston (JGSGB) from 2000 to 2003. He is currently co-editor of the Society’s journal, Mass-Pocha.

He served as a director of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) and was co-chair of the international Jewish genealogy conference held in Boston in 2013.

Jay took early retirement from MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, where he worked as a physicist, to devote more time to genealogy work.

The public is invited. Congregation Agudas Achim, 901 North Main St. (just off exit 5, Rte. 95), Attleboro, Massachusetts. Questions? Contact office@agudasma.org or 508-2222243.

9

celebrations 2015 January 25, 2015

10 | October 10, 2014

OPINION

Why not put it in writing?

When I was growing up, I remember those discussions after services during the High Holy Days. The conversation inevitably turned to the rabbi’s message.

What was it? Did you like it?

Did you agree … or disagree? Was it too political; not political EDITOR enough; too controversial?

FRAN First the discussion took OSTENDORF place among the grown-ups. And eventually my peer group was old enough to take part. I moved away, but I know those kids are still having those conversations today as adults. And I still have them with my parents, although the hundreds of miles separate us.

I was thinking about this during in the week between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because I kept hearing about Rabbi Leslie Y. Gutterman’s final Rosh Hashanah message to Temple Beth-El. I heard many congregants talking about it. It even spawned an excellent commentary in the Providence Journal Oct. 1by Gerry Goldstein. There was nothing controversial about it, from what I can gather. I didn’t hear a negative word from anyone. Across the board, there seemed to be agreement that it was a wonderful sermon.

We live in a community with about as many points of view as there are members of the community. And people are certainly not hesitant to express those opinions: in

person, in a small group, in a crowd.

That’s one of the things I like so much about my job.

I get to hear a wide range of viewpoints and opinions. And often people want to hear mine. It’s a never-ending backand-forth; an insightful give and take. It’s only a negative when the rhetoric becomes angry or mean-spirited. That has no place in the discourse in our community. But overall, there’s not too much of that. We are, in general, a polite, well-behaved community.

So it’s remarkable to me that everyone was in agreement about a High Holy Day message.

We’d like to see more of that great dialogue find its way into the pages of The Voice. So often, I am prepared for a deluge of letters, or, well, even one or two. Our pages are the perfect place to express yourself.

Based on my completely unscientific, but tireless research (which involves paging through back issues), I find there seems to be fewer and fewer letters coming into The Voice inbox and mailbox. And the responses when we ask for contributions to themed special issues, are down as well.

I know you are reading us because I get a lot of phone calls.

I know you have opinions because you stop by the office, or phone, or tell me at meetings.

So I’m challenging you – one and all – in this new year.

Write a letter to the editor. Offer an opinion. Send a question to Ask Wendy. Send a photo.

Contribute a story. Write an op-ed. Let’s make this the year you contribute to The Jewish Voice.

We really do want to know what you’re thinking!

LETTER

Re: The Girls in the BBYO (Sept. 12)

In the mid-forties, I was president of the JCC BBG group, first where it met on Benefit Street. It was totally shocking to me that a girlfriend my age, Judy Ann Leven, should be very ill and then die of leukemia. I asked our chapter to rePhoto that ran in the Sept. 12 name our group in her issue of the BBYO girls. memory. It was heartwarming to know that the Judy Ann Leven BBG still exists and carries her name for remembrance some 65 years later. Thank you.

Caryl-Ann Miller Nieforth Barrington, R.I.

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.

The Jewish Voice

Report on annual POTUS High Holy Day call This past Sept. 18, AT&T Connect Event Services sent the following confirmation to my inbox: “You have registered to attend Annual POTUS High Holiday Call with Rabbis on Sept. 22, 2014, at 3 p.m. Eastern time.” POTUS: President of the United St ate s. Such p o w e r, s u c h potency in the acronym.

On the Monday afternoon before Rosh IT SEEMS H a s h a n a h , I was one of TO ME about 900 American rabRABBI JIM bis who spent 30 minutes ROSENBERG on the phone with Barack Obama in what was his sixth annual nonpartisan High Holy Day conference call with American rabbis.

Once again, Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center in Washington, D.C., coordinated the complex logistics.

As was true of a similar POTUS call for which I was registered two years ago, only four rabbis were given the opportunity to speak: leaders of America’s Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist movements.

Rabbi Jason Klein, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, had the honor of offering our nation’s president a warm welcome and, on behalf of the hundreds of rabbis on the call, a “thankyou-for-taking-the-time-out-ofyour-busy-schedule-to-speakwith-us.”

Obama, as in years gone by, extended a Shanah Tovah to all of us and then offered an introductory statement of about 15 minutes; given his audience and the current headlines, he focused almost entirely upon the Middle East. He insisted that “we can’t stand idly by” as ISIL (ISIS) conducts a violent and vicious campaign of destruction throughout Syria and Iraq. Shifting to Iran, Obama made clear that any final agreement regarding their nuclear energy program must be completely verifiable; “we’re not going to accept a bad deal.”

Turning directly to Israel, Obama reiterated the right of Israel to defend itself. In particular, he commented on the manifest success of the Iron Dome defense system and his

administration’s continuing funding of the program during the Gaza conflict. He went on to observe that at least some of the rabbis on the call had personally witnessed the Iron Dome in action during this past summer.

Before taking the first of two questions, Obama ended his introductory statement by expressing his deep concern for the rise of anti-Semitism throughout the world – especially in many of the European countries.

Rabbi William Gershon, vice president of the Conservative

“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledg of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, asked the first question: What is the administration doing to take positive advantage of the shifting alliances in the Middle East in response to the ISIL (ISIS) threat? Obama gave a rather long, thoughtful, but somewhat rambling response to the effect that democracy has not flourished in the wake of the “Arab spring” because most Arab societies have not had the prerequisite experience of government of the people, by the people and for the people. In some areas of the Middle East, the Sunni-Shiite split has become more consequential than the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Our president segued into his relationship with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Obama admits that he and Netanyahu have their disagree-

ments about tactics, but their long-term strategic interests are congruent. Obama clearly sees the “two-state solution” as the vehicle for Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. From Obama’s perspective, both sides need to “stretch;” both sides need to make “some difficult compromises.”

The second and final question was asked by Rabbi Leonard Matansky, president of Rabbinical Council of America, a major Orthodox organization: Hamas has grossly misappropriated construction materials for civilian purposes in order to build about 30 tunnels to be used for attacking Israel. In addition, Hamas has been able to smuggle large numbers of rockets from Iran. What is the United States going to do to make sure that Hamas becomes and remains demilitarized?

Obama’s view is that Hamas does not speak for most Gazans.

Part of our country’s goal is to help Gaza’s citizens to reject the extremist ideology of Hamas.

That is to say, in the long run the solution for Gaza cannot be military; the solution must be political. Israel and her allies need to find a way to provide the Gazans with some sense of hope.

Rabbi Steven A. Fox, chief executive officer of the Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis, concluded the conference call with a brief benediction, ending with the words of Isaiah 11.9: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Given the fact that Commander-in-Chief Obama knew that in about five hours United States warplanes, drones, and Tomahawk missiles would be attacking ISIL (ISIS) positions in Syria, I wonder whether or not he felt the profound irony of Isaiah’s words.

JAMES B. ROSENBERG, rabbi emeritus at Temple Habonim in Barrington, can be contacted at rabbiemeritus@ templehabonim.org.

DO YOU HAVE A FAMILY HERO?

Let us know about him/her, why that person is your family hero and perhaps include a photo. We may feature that person in an upcoming issue.

Send your information to: fo s t e ndor f@

jewishallianceri.org, or mail to: The Jewish Voice, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, RI 02906.

Enclose self-addressed envelope for photo return.

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

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

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

OPINION

thejewishvoice.org

October 10, 2014 |

11

Amid drought, Jewish groups push conservation agenda

BY ANTHONY WEISS LOS ANGELES (JTA) – Devorah Brous’ San Fernando Valley home is shaded by green trees, studded with 19 fruit trees and patrolled by a pair of affable chickens that strut around the backyard. But at the moment, she is eager to show a visitor her dying lawn.

Comparing the withering grass to a thriving orange tree a few feet away, Brous, the founding executive director of the Jewish-led interfaith environmental and food justice network Netiya, says, “It’s survival of the fittest.”

For Netiya – Hebrew for “planting” – and other Jewish environmental groups, California’s debilitating drought has tied together a number of issues that have been gaining prominence in the Jewish activist community: sustainability, social justice, and ethically and environmentally responsible food production. Their efforts range in size and scope.

In San Diego, the local branch of Hazon is having children paint rain barrels that will capture rainwater for irrigation as part of the environmental group’s Sukkot festivities.

Meanwhile, in Pescadero, south of San Francisco, the group Wilderness Torah, a Jewish community and education nonprofit focused on connecting Jewish ritual with the outdoors, is hosting a panel discussion on water usage as part of its annual Sukkot on the Farm festival. After the panel, there will be a ceremony based on an ancient Temple rite in which the high priest would draw water from the spring and offer it

at the altar in hopes of bringing seasonal rains.

Participants circling around a fountain “will bless the waters of the world and call in the rain,” said Suzannah Sosman, festivals manager for Wilderness Torah.

Last year’s Sukkot festival came amid a downpour; organizers are hoping for a similar result this year.

But the main thrust of the work of Jewish groups working on drought relief is water conservation, capture and reuse.

“I don’t think people are necessarily aware of how to save water other than turning off their faucets when they’re brushing their teeth,” Sosman said.

Netiya, which organizes religious communities to create sustainable gardens on underused institutional lands, has installed gardens at 11 congregations around Los Angeles, including at Ikar, where Brous’ sister, Sharon, is the founding rabbi. All the gardens include drip irrigation, a technique invented in Israel to conserve water during the irrigation process.

This summer, Netiya conducted a series of five workshops focused on water conservation and gardening. At a recent workshop, volunteers helped install a water-capture system that will disperse rainwater on the grounds of a Los Angeles church.

At another Netiya event, attendees helped put in place a greywater irrigation system at the home of Devorah Brous that recycles used water from her washing machine and funnels it to her herb garden.

LETTER Re: Brown University teach-in panel (Sept. 26)

I would like to add a few points to Marty Cooper’s report on the forum held at Brown on the Gaza war.

I was one of the speakers on the panel. Marty referred to tension in the room but neglected to mention its source.

The one moment of disruptive behavior at the forum was provided by an older couple, who began yelling at the moderator from their seats in the second row. They demanded an immediate answer to a question, even though the format was to collect four questions from the audience, then turn back to the panel. When told that the question would be answered in turn, but not immediately, they escalated their yelling, then stood up, announced loudly they were leaving, and stalked out of the auditorium. It almost had the feeling of being staged. It is true that they did not get an answer to their question; they did not stay to hear it.

As a faculty member at

Brown, where we have been grappling with free speech issues recently, I was glad that the only bad behavior at the event came from adults in the community (who should have known better). As a member of the Jewish community, however, I was sad that it was Jewish adults who put on this display of immature behavior for my students (and for my colleagues, who asked me later with dismay who these people were).

As a result of this disruption, at the next event on Israel-Palestine, a talk by the PLO ambassador sponsored by Jewish students and Hillel, only students were allowed to pose questions during the Q&A period. It went off very smoothly.

Nina Tannenwald Director, International Relations Program Watson Institute for International Studies Brown University Providence, R.I.

Devorah Brous, founding executive director of Netiya, is a community organizer with Masters degrees in Development Studies and Israel Studies from Hebrew University.

“Every time I turn on the faucet, I’m thinking about all the water that’s not going back into my landscape,” Ashley Sullivan, who is Jewish and who attended the greywater installation, told JTA. “We use so much perfectly good water once, just rinsing our hands.”

For other organizations, water conservation is not simply a response to the drought but a perennial concern.

Urban Adamah, an urban

farm and educational center in Berkeley, not only uses drip irrigation but also began roughly a year ago to grow some of its plants using aquaponics, a system that utilizes 80 percent less water than conventional agriculture.

“Even though we’re in a drought now, we’re sort of in a perpetual state of drought in California,” said Adam Berman, the executive director of Urban Adamah. “Our mission

is to teach sustainable agricultural practice, of which water conservation is a key part, even in good years.”

Brous, in turn, hopes to spark a broader conversation in the Jewish world about the relationship between food and the environment. In the process, she plans to reach out to Stewart and Lynda Resnick, billionaire residents of Beverly Hills, in a bid to bring them into a conversation about food and resources.

The Resnicks are among the largest landowners in California’s Central Valley, as well as among the largest growers of water-intensive crops such as almonds, pistachios and pomegranates. (A JTA request for comment placed with the Resnick-owned Roll Global Corp. was not returned.)

“Are these boutique perennial crops things that we should be growing in California, or should we grow something else?” Brous asks rhetorically.

“There are questions we should be asking.”

Judaism originally grew out of the life of a desert people, and though much of Jewish life has long since moved into towns and cities, its foundational texts still speak of ethical principles for caring for land and water.

Brous begins her workshops with relevant readings from the Torah, as well as the Quran and the Christian Bible, and she hopes that they can serve as the basis for a renewed Jewish conversation about water, food and environment.

“It’s still in the text,” she said.

“It’s extraordinary spiritual soil to grow from.”

The Community Relations Council and the Rhode Island State Council of Churches respond to the Ebola crisis

BY MARTY COOPER The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is forecasting 1.4 million people will be infected with Ebola in West Africa by January 2015, a conservative prediction, and 700,000 or more deaths. Due to the Ebola crisis, virtually every aspect of daily life has been affected. One of the most urgent needs is for basic food items, such as rice and beans.

Rhode Island has one of the largest populations of Liberians in the U.S. Reverends Naomi Smith and Matthew Kai are two Liberian pastors who serve congregations in Providence. Recently, the Governing Board of The Rhode Island State Council of Churches (RISCC) initiated an effort to raise money for food for the people of Liberia. They, along with other members of the Rhode Island Liberian community, continue to have frequent contact with their family and friends in Liberia.

Upon learning of the initiative by the RISCC, Rabbi Wayne

Franklin of Temple Emanu-El contacted me to get the Jewish community involved with this endeavor. The Community Relations Council is working with the RISCC to raise funds to help feed the people of Liberia. Area synagogues and agencies are now promoting this worthy program. A “Help Liberia Fund” box is available from the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island as an option for collection.

The RISCC has created a plan to help the people of Liberia: As money is received by the Council, it will be sent to the Generations for Christ Mission Church in Sinkor, Liberia (a suburb of Monrovia). That church will purchase food items in quantity and distribute the food through other congregations in the area.

“We realize that our efforts are limited, but they will make a difference in the lives of those who receive this food,” said the Rev. Betsy Garland, president of the RISCC Governing Board.

The Rev. Dr. Don Anderson, RISCC’s executive minister, stat-

ed “this is only one of many efforts to bring aid and support to the people of affected areas. Our effort is intended to utilize grassroots connections to get food into the hands of hungry people in the shortest time. We expect to have food being distributed by mid-October at the latest.”

When Smith was told by Anderson that congregations, including synagogues, were participating in this program, Anderson said “the Reverend was so grateful that it brought a tear to her eye. She said, ‘How can people who are not Liberian care so much for the people of Liberia when they do not know them?’ ” As of Oct. 9, RISCC has sent over $1,000 the church in Sinkor.

People who would like to make a contribution can send a check directly to the Rhode Island State Council of Churches. Checks should be made out to RISCC with a notation for the Ebola Fund and mailed to RISCC, 100 Niantic Ave., Suite 101, Providence, R.I. 02907.

ELECTIONS

12 | October 10, 2014

BY MARTY COOPER mcooper@jewishallianceri.org Every few years the Jewish High Holy Days coincide with the election process. Like the holidays, we have a few days that allow us just enough time to reflect and consider our options and direction for the next cycle.

A few weeks ago, Rhode Islanders chose their candidate in the primary election to represent their party in the general elec-

The Jewish Voice

2014 Voter Information Handbook

tion. On Nov. 4, Rhode Islanders, like our counterparts across the nation, will vote for candidates and decide on important issues in the general election. This election, like previous elections, will be of historic importance.

We will choose who will serve in the Senate and House. On the state level, we will elect a new governor to lead our state.

We will also elect a new lieutenant governor, general treasurer,

secretary of state and attorney general. And, of course the citizens of Providence will be electing a new mayor.

Rhode Islanders will have the opportunity to vote on seven statewide issues as well as local issues in many communities. The Secretary of State’s office has created a “2014 Voter Information Handbook” that provides detailed information about the statewide issues. Ac-

cess it at http://sos.ri.gov/documents/elections/ElectionCalendar2014.pdf The Community Relations Council of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and The Jewish Voice asked candidates to provide a statement and answer one question: As a leader, how will you use your leadership skills to improve our state and country? The answers will be published in a two-part series

with minimal editing. In this issue the response from candidates for the congressional seats are published. Also, listed are the seven issues Rhode Islanders will be asked to decide on Nov. 4.

The second part, to be published Oct. 24, will focus on candidates running for statewide office and mayor of Providence.

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

The issues: Statewide questions on the ballot Question 1: AUTHORIZING STATE-OPERATED CASINO GAMING AT NEWPORT GRAND

Shall an act be approved which would authorize the facility known as “Newport Grand” in the city of Newport to add state-operated casino gaming, such as table games, to the types of gambling it offers only and exclusively at the facility located at 150 Admiral Kalbfus Road, Newport?

A vote to “Approve” this question means you wish to approve the act authorizing Newport Grand to add state-operated casino gaming, such as table games, to the types of gambling it offers only and exclusively at its facility located at 150 Admiral Kalbfus Road in the City of Newport in accordance with the provisions of such act.

A vote to “Reject” this question means you do not approve the act authorizing Newport Grand to add state-operated casino gaming, such as table games, to the types of gaming it offers only and exclusively at its facility located at 150 Admiral Kalbfus Road in the City of Newport in accordance with the provisions of such act.

Question 2: AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE – RESTRICTION ON GAMBLING

Approval of the amendment to Section 22 of Article VI of the Rhode Island Constitution set forth below

will provide that no change in the location of gambling permitted in a municipality would occur without the further approval of the majority of those electors voting on said proposed location change in a referendum within said municipality: A vote to “Approve” means that no change in location of gambling permitted in a city or town by approval of a referendum in such city or town on or after November 4, 2014 would occur without the further approval of the majority of those electors voting on said proposed location change in a referendum within said city or town.

A vote to “Reject” means that a change in location of gambling permitted in a city or town would occur without the further approval of the majority of those electors voting on said proposed location change in a referendum within said city or town.

Question 3: CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION – Shall there be a convention to amend or revise the Constitution?

A Constitutional Convention is an assembly of delegates or representatives of the people of the State for the purpose of amending or revising the Rhode Island Constitution. A Constitutional Convention, if held, could propose an entirely new Constitution for adoption or rejection by the State’s electors; it could propose individual amendments to the Constitution; or it could re-write the basic document while presenting

As a leader, how will you use your leadership to improve our state and country?

G

Jack Reed – (D) Senate

rowing up in Cranston, my parents constantly emphasized the importance of hard work, character and perseverance.

My father was a World War II veteran and school custodian. My mother was a homemaker. They didn’t have the opportunity to go to college themselves, but were determined their children would. Their example, commitment and sacrifice led me to the United States Military Academy. The education I received from West Point and the opportunity to command fellow paratroopers strengthened my resolve to serve others.

I believe we all have a duty to serve, not as soldiers, but as United States citizens: defending our rights, but also shouldering our responsibilities, being part of our community, using our talents and ambition to get ahead, but not ignoring those who might be left behind.

Today, I’m running for the United States Senate because I want to ensure everyone has a fair shot at building a better future. Because if you give people a fair shot, there is no limit to what they can achieve.

That is one of the reasons I am passionate about issues like student loan fairness and investing in our schools. Instead of the government profiting off of student loans, we need to get back to the idea that helping Americans afford a college education is fundamentally in our national interest and a smart investment in our economic future.

And I’m proud of the federal support I have delivered to accelerate economic growth, and the laws I have written to stand up for Main Street and increase accountability on Wall Street.

I have worked to strengthen our transportation network – from our roads and bridges, to expanding the runway at T.F. Green and increasing capacity at Quonset Point. These investments will better link our state to the global economy, and help create good-paying jobs.

And after years of hard work on the Armed Services Committee, we’re building 10 new world-class submarines right here in Rhode Island, providing thousands of new jobs over the coming years and enhancing our national security.

Our better tomorrow begins with hard work and careful planning today.

Because the truth is: a stronger economy, a safer world, a better life for our children, none of it will be handed to us. Achieving these goals takes hard work, smart investments, and strong leadership.

what appears to be the most controversial issues to the electors in the form of supplemental amendments, thus allowing individual decisions on each.

If a majority of the State’s electors vote to hold a Constitutional Convention, then it will be the responsibility of the 2015 General Assembly to enact legislation determining the method of election of delegates, setting forth an election schedule, and appropriating funds.

The number of delegates shall be equal to the number of members of the House of Representatives and shall be apportioned in the same manner as the members of the House of Representatives. The parameters of a Constitutional Convention would be decided by the General Assembly and the elected delegates to the Convention.

The last Constitutional Convention was held in 1986.

A vote to “Approve” means you would like to see a Constitutional Convention called to amend or revise the Constitution.

A vote to “Reject” means that you are opposed to a Constitutional Convention called to amend or revise the Constitution at this time.

Question 4: HIGHER EDUCATION FACILITIES BONDS $125,000,000

Approval of this question will allow the State of Rhode Island to issue general obligation bonds, reISSUES | 26

As a leader, how will you use your leadership to improve our state and country?

T

Mark Zaccaria – (R) Senate

he gravest present threat to the United States, in my opinion, is the terrible condition of its finances. Perpetual deficits, spending by continuing resolution rather than by budget, and reliance on the Federal Reserve to artificially depress interest rates is no prescription for prosperity.

If I am lucky enough to be your senator next January, I expect to go to Washington as part of the majority team in the Senate. There, I anticipate joining forces with existing senators of both parties who understand the financial crisis we face. I trust we will enforce a mandate from you that we control spending. That means I will work to achieve consensus on creating and using an actual budget for the United States. I will similarly work to bring about a hiring freeze in the federal workforce – including consultants, thank you. We need to reassign existing staff to fill positions that open up in any department, rather than continuously increasing staff (Read: Expenses). With a hard budget we can hold federal managers to the metrics of the parts of that budget under their jurisdiction. This will permit us to enforce small but immediate reductions across the board, not just in defense.

The importance of budgeting and trimming the federal colossus is that it will cost less, thus costing you less in taxes and allowing you greater transparency in determining the value you get for your money.

The senate also has an important role in advising the administration on matters of foreign policy. In this arena, America has recently abdicated the responsibilities it had traditionally assumed since WWII. I mean to be part of counselling the administration to step up and reassert this country’s position as a leader in world affairs. In the past few years we have poorly treated our allies, Israel first and foremost among them. We must rebuild the trust we once had with all our allies by supporting them to our joint benefit.

For years we have led those who yearn for freedom, both at home and abroad.

Today we must rededicate ourselves to reassuming and continuing that position of leadership. I hope my candidacy will be a single step on that long American march.

ELECTIONS

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October 10, 2014 |

13

As a leader, how will you use your leadership to improve our state and country?

As a leader, how will you use your leadership to improve our state and country?

W

I

David Cicilline – (D) Congress | District 1

Cormick Lynch – (R) Congress | District 1

hen I announced I was running for Congress, I promised to work with anyone with a good idea and to put aside partisan politics to get things done for Rhode Island. I have broken through the gridlock and worked with colleagues across the aisle.

My work has focused on rebuilding the middle class and creating jobs. I fought to protect investments in education, from Head Start to Pell Grants, and for workforce training resources. I co-sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act because women deserve equal pay for equal work. I am fighting for an agenda to jumpstart the middle class by raising the minimum wage, rebuilding our infrastructure and reforming the tax code so the wealthiest Americans pay at least the same rate as middle-class families.

One of my top priorities in Congress has been to revitalize American manufacturing and bring good-paying jobs back home. This includes moderni zing Buy American laws and ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, while creating tax incentives for companies that create jobs here. I authored legislative language that would direct the U.S. Department of Defense to develop plans to engage American manufacturers in opportunities to secure military contracts in Afghanistan that are funded by American taxpayers.

The special relationship between the United States and Israel is critical. I am a strong supporter of Israel’s right of self-defense, an original co-sponsor of the Iron Dome Support Act, and I voted for legislation to provide additional support for the procurement and enhancement of additional Iron Dome defense systems. I signed on to a letter to the U.N., asking it to formally recognize Gaza’s rockets as barriers to regional peace, and to make their removal a top priority. I have also pushed to strengthen Iran sanctions policies, including co-sponsorship of the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act, as well as a letter to the president urging him to consult with Congress regarding nuclear negotiations with Iran.

I’ve fought to defeat proposals that would hurt Rhode Islanders. I led 116 of my House colleagues in successfully urging President Obama to abandon his plans to use chained CPI to calculate cost-of-living and inflation adjustments to Social Security. I opposed Paul Ryan’s plan to turn Medicare into a voucher, and rejected the across-the-board budget cuts, which would have hurt Rhode Island.

I hope to continue to fight for Rhode Island.

am a native born and bred Rhode Islander with a deep concern for the current state of our state and the future direction of our country. From the onset of my youth, I realized that success is met with adversity far before it is met with optimism, that there will be hardships and obstacles, trials and tribulations, but the steady hand of leadership can traverse the most troubled waters.

From my military service in a combat zone, I crafted my leadership by the notion of “Ductus Exemplo,” meaning lead by example. You should never request anyone to do something you yourself are unwilling to do and you should be the agent of change you wish to see in the world. It is these characteristics, cultivated by my experiences in the private and public sectors thereafter, that distinguish me from my opponents. Over the course of these junctures, I have learned that leadership is doing things that are right but unpopular, it’s taking the path of long-term sustainability over short-term appeasement. In order to fix our state and country, we must elect leaders who assign responsibility rather than politicians who cast blame.

Today, our great state faces serious challenges. We have the highest unemployment rate in the country. Rhode Island was ranked the 49th most trustworthy state government by our own Providence Journal; CNBC ranked us the least competitive state in the country for business and Forbes has also rated Rhode Island the worst state for conducting business. America has the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world. Red tape and high taxes have had devastating impacts on our economy, especially small businesses. It will take leadership from both parties in Washington to enact significant reform and solve these problems, but we cannot elect the same individuals and expect a different result.

As President Clinton said, “there is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.” In a day when politicians peddle problems and point fingers, we are in desperate need of leaders who can be frank with the American people, who have the courage to confront the issues of our time, the integrity to influence them and the creativity to solve them. In conclusion, this election is about change or more or the same – the old, familiar road or the better, more honest path. Let’s cure America, by taking the better path.

As a leader, how will you use your leadership to improve our state and country?

As a leader, how will you use your leadership to improve our state and country?

O

Jim Langevin – (D) Congress | District 2

ur country is facing unprecedented challenges, but regardless of the goal, from confronting adversaries abroad to putting Rhode Islanders back to work at home – the solution will always require bipartisan collaboration and leadership. I am proud to be a Democrat, and I believe strongly in my party’s priorities, including equal pay for women, comprehensive immigration reform and access to affordable health care and education for all Americans.

But in every issue I tackle, I work hard to find a partner across the aisle with whom I can communicate and collaborate.

As co-chair of the bipartisan Career and Technical Education Caucus, I believe that workforce development is key to strengthening our economy. I work closely with my cochair, Congressman GT Thompson (R-PA), to support programs that empower young people to pursue careers with high-growth potential. Together, we helped secure a $52 million increase for Perkins Act career training programs this year alone.

When I am working on national security, I collaborate with Chairmen Buck McKeon (R-CA) and Mike Rogers (R-MI). I am a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and a national leader in efforts to secure our technology infrastructure. I take those roles very seriously. The safety of our nation is paramount, and partisan politics should never stand in the way.

Despite the challenges we face, I am hopeful for the future. I see momentum building – momentum to change the negative attitudes about our state and to capitalize on our opportunities. If we want our state to grow stronger, we must play to our strengths. There are several areas with growth potential, including biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and the food economy. We have world-class universities here feeding those fields with highly skilled talent. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to visit often with business leaders in these growing industries, and they too see a brighter future.

Like my constituents, I have been frustrated by partisan gridlock in Washington. In order to break this cycle, we all need to be willing to work together and find common ground. No matter which side you are on, I think we can all agree that we owe our constituents a transparent debate on critical issues. This is what democracy is, and this is what I will keep fighting for in Washington and in Rhode Island.

I

Rhue Reis – (R) Congress | District 2

am running for the U.S. Congress for RI’s 2nd District. I have lost faith in government, so much so that I have decided to take on the challenge of removing from office a 25-year professional politician who is in the top 1 percent of Americans. Well, I am soundly rooted in the 99 percent of Americans who are struggling to get by. I can assure you that I will proudly represent the 99 percent by making decisions that solely have us in mind, not big business and special interest groups, or most of all not the professional politician who makes decisions, purely based on politics and getting re-elected.

I promise to serve not only you, but also future generations, to make decisions that will best serve the country, not a political career. I would work to simplify the tax code by eliminating tax loopholes and instituting a flat tax so that everyone pays their fair share. This would significantly reduce the size of the IRS, and also take the government out of the picking winners and losers game, which it fails miserably at.

I would focus on re-defining our defense initiative to align more closely with need as opposed to politics. Taking into consideration the advancements in defense technology, I would evaluate the necessity of the many enormous defense appropriations for savings on overlapping and outdated programs. I would determine which of the many global military bases are truly necessary, and thereafter establish a long standing presence in Iraq to better safeguard the world from developing terrorist threats. The region is of great strategic importance, and is the ultimate breeding ground for terrorism.

If ever there was an area of the world that justifies a strong U.S. military presence, it is the middle-east. For the world’s sake and for Israel’s, we must re-establish and maintain a long standing presence there.

The leadership I would employ to accomplish these difficult tasks, first involves establishing relationships with what promises to be a significant freshman class in Congress. I would reach out to new members from both sides of the isle to establish a Coalition for Responsible Government. Where we put politics aside and reach accord based on thorough analysis of the implications and ramifications of each bill and appropriation that comes across our desks. By pooling our legislative resources we not only can accomplish this end, but we will also be a force to be reckoned with in Congress.

14 | October 10, 2014

FOOD

The Jewish Voice

Judy Schoenfeld, front, and Judy Tedeschi prepare platters.

PHOTO | JESSE A. DUGAS

The buffet lines opens.

PHOTO | CYNTHIA BENJAMIN

Congregation gets a true feeling of community in the kitchen

BY CYNTHIA BENJAMIN Congregation B’nai Israel, like many synagogues in Rhode Island, has a long tradition of communal cooking, for Shabbat, kiddush, bar and bat mitzvahs, holidays and many other events. At CBI, in Woonsocket, the biggest event of the year is often the break the fast following Yom Kippur. And while catering the meal would be a lot easier on our congregant-cooks, it cannot replace the delicious feeling of community and connectedness created by cooking together.

So, while children scampered through the kitchen and a man occasionally poked his head in to see if he could lend a hand, the CBI cooks were hard at work last week preparing a traditional break the fast of bagels, cream cheese and chive cheese, noodle kugel, cheese, sliced vegetables, fruit salad, tuna salad, egg salad, several types of fish, and desserts.

The break the fast menu is

tweaked slightly every year, and sometimes a new item or two are added, but May Levinson’s much-anticipated noodle kugel has remained a favorite for decades. A new favorite is my mini cheesecakes – topped with fruit for the adults and plain for the kinder.

These recipes are so good, it would be a shame to only prepare them once a year, so they are offered here – enjoy!

Noodle kugel

1 stick of butter 1 pound noodles, any size from thin to extra wide 1 pound cottage cheese 1 pound sour cream 1 cup sugar, divided 6 eggs 3 cups milk Vanilla Salt Add 1 teaspoon salt to a pot of water and bring to a boil. Put butter in a lasagna-size pan and place on top of pot so butter

Kugels ready for baking. melts while the water is heating. Remove pan. Add noodles to boiling water and cook just until al dente.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Drain noodles, stopping while a little water remains on noodles; transfer to a large bowl. Mix in cottage cheese, sour cream, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt. Place in pan over melted butter.

In another bowl, beat eggs

Topping the mini cheesecakes. with milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla. Pour on top of noodles.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour, or until brown on top and set in the middle. Serve warm with sour cream and strawberries. Regardless of portion size, this recipe will feed a crowd.

Mini cheesecakes

Box of vanilla wafers, crushed 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 2/3 cup sugar 2 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt Fruit toppings Line mini muffin cups with paper baking cups; if you do not have a mini muffin pan, it is okay to just place the muffin cups on a cookie sheet. Place about 1/2 teaspoon of crushed wafer in bottom of each muffin cup Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. FILLING: Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and salt; beat well.

Pour mixture over crumbs in muffin tin and bake 22 to 25 minutes or until centers are almost set.

Cool in pan on wire rack.

When completely cool, add toppings, such as canned cherries, berry and apricot fillings.

Refrigerate before serving.

Makes several dozen.

CYNTHIA BENJAMIN is a writer, editor and chef, and a member of Congregation B’nai Israel.

Nibblers will want to sample more than 25 noshes prepared

by Temple Beth-El members at the “World Series of Jewish Noshes” on Oct. 26 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. A judges’ panel will award the title of “Best Nosh” and attendees will choose the winner of the “People’s Choice Award.”

The event, a fund-raiser to benefit the Temple Beth-El Religious School Scholarship Fund, follows last year’s “World Series of Jewish Desserts,” the 2012 “World Series of Kugel” and the 2011 “World Series of Brisket.” Each attracted more than 150 attendees and raised $7,500

October 10, 2014 |

FOOD

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15

Nibble and nosh and Temple Beth-El

to assist member families with school tuition costs.

This year’s judges will be Deb Norman, owner of Rue de L’Espoir on Hope Street; Anita Solomon, lifelong member of Temple Beth-El; and Josh Willey, owner of The Pizza Gourmet.

Admission is $10/adults; $5/ children over 5; children under 5 are free and a maximum of $25/family. It is open to the public.

Raffle tickets are selling for $10 each, or three for $25, and offer the chance to win prizes such as a $250 gift certificate to Cardi’s Furniture, a yoga party for 15 children at OM Kids Yoga

Anita Solomon

Deb Norman

Josh Willey

Center or a $100 gift certificate to the Warwick Mall.

For more information or to purchase admission or raffle

tickets, contact Ruby Shalansky at 401-331-6070 or rshalansky@ temple-beth-el.org.

Repurposing your lulav and etrog

BY BINYAMIN KAGEDAN JNS.ORG –Why not stretch the value of your lulav and etrog this year with a little creative repurposing post-festival?

When they can be shaken and blessed no more, try one or all of these suggestions for getting the most out of your four species.

Lulav

The lulav bundle, including the palm fronds after which it is named, twigs of myrtle (hadasim), and willow branches (aravot), has customarily been put aside after the Sukkot holiday and saved until Passover time.

Having by then dried out, they are used to fuel the fi re that burns the chametz found during the fi nal cleaning of home, or as

kindling in a wood-fi re oven being used to bake matzah. Some also have the tradition of using the dried lulav palm as a broom to sweep up those last bits of hidden chametz. These ritual uses are considered a respectful way to dispose of the lulav, which has the status of a sacred object in Jewish law.

For something new this year, consider nourishing your creative side by exploring the art of palm weaving. The individual leaves of the lulav can be twisted and braided into variety of beautiful patterns, or folded into shapes like origami.

Chabad.org recommends weaving palm leaves into a basket that can be used to hold spices for havdalah. Check the Web for

helpful instructions and inspiration – there are a number of sites devoted to the craft.

As for the hadasim, while still fresh they have a sweet and delicate fragrance, and can also be used for havdalah purposes. The oil of myrtle plants is known to have a variety of medicinal properties, although extracting it is not exactly a DIY project. Aravot, which tend to dry and fall apart rather quickly, don’t lend themselves as well as hadasim to repurposing. Those who observe Hoshanah Rabah toward the end of Sukkot, however, will be familiar with the custom of whacking bundles of aravot against the ground, a mysterious and ancient ritual marking the mo-

For use against a white or light background

ment that we formally retire the lulav and etrog for the year.

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For use against a black or dark background

Etrog

The etrog (citron), the most aromatic of the Four Species and the only edible one, offers the most possibilities for efficient and enjoyable repurposing. One familiar strategy is to push whole cloves into the fresh etrog’s peel, fi lling up as much surface area as possible. The etrog will eventually dry out and shrivel up, but the cloves, now held in place in the shape of the fruit, retain their delectable scent and can be used for years to come as b’samim for havdalah.

Etrogim can also be boiled and turned into jelly, sliced and candied for a tangy dessert, or

steeped in vodka for a citron liqueur. You can fi nd a post on the blog Shivimpanim.org containing simple step-by-step instructions for each of these preparations.

The blog’s most original contribution by far, however, is reincarnating the etrog as Mr. Etrog Head, an adorable (and fragrant) take on everyone’s favorite customizable root vegetable. Who knows – if properly refrigerated, he just might save you some money on this year’s Hanukkah gifting!

BINYAMIN KAGEDAN has an MA in Jewish Thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

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16 | October 10, 2014 FROM PAGE 1

WORLD

YEAR IN REVIEW

The Jewish community of Sharon, Mass., is shocked as the rabbi of Temple Israel, Barry Starr, resigns amid allegations that he used synagogue discretionary funds to pay about $480,000 in hush money to an extortionist to hide a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male. Starr apologizes to the congregation in an email.

Far right parties make gains in European Parliament elections, including Greece’s Golden Dawn.

The European Union says it has banned the import of poultry and eggs produced in West Bank settlements.

A gunman kills four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels. Several days later, Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French national of Algerian origin, is arrested in connection with the attack.

Pope Francis travels to Israel and the West Bank, visiting the Western Wall, Yad Vashem and the West Bank security fence, among other sites.

June 2014

Rep. Eric Cantor, the majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives and the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history, is upset in the Republican primary for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District by a Tea Party challenger. Dave Brat, an economics professor, wins handily after attacking Cantor for drifting from conservative principles. Days later, Cantor resigns his post as majority leader.

Former Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin of the Likud party is elected president of Israel, defeating Meir Sheetrit of Hatnua in a 63-53 runoff vote. Rivlin formally succeeds Shimon Peres and becomes Israel’s 10th president in late July.

Weeks after leading Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Euroleague title, David Blatt becomes the head coach of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Blatt had played for an Israeli kibbutz team in 1979 after his sophomore year at Princeton and then competed for the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the 1981 Maccabiah Games. He returned to play nearly a decade later professionally in Israel.

Three Israeli teenagers, later identified as Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach, are kidnapped in the West Bank from a hitchhiking post. Israel responds with three weeks of intensive searches, including mass arrests in the

The Jewish Voice

West Bank of Hamas members and the rearrest of dozens of Palestinians released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisonerexchange deal. Three weeks on, Israeli authorities fi nd the teens’ bodies and announce that the boys were believed to have been killed the night they were kidnapped. The incident sparks the revenge killing by Jews of an Arab teen, riots and a surge of rocket fi re from the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces respond by launching Operation Protective Edge – Israel’s deadliest foray into Gaza since its 2005 withdrawal – on July 8.

New York Jewish teenager’s raunchy stand-up routine on “America’s Got Talent” cracks up the judges, but his Orthodox day school isn’t tickled.

Israel announces that the suspect in the April 14 killing of Israeli Police Superintendent Baruch Mizrachi is Ziad Awad, a West Bank Palestinian released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) votes 310-303 to divest from three American companies that do business with Israeli security services in the West Bank. Heath Rada, the moderator of the assembly, says it’s not a “reflection for our lack of love for our Jewish sisters and brothers,” but Jewish leaders say it will have a “devastating impact” on their relations with the church.

July 2014

Rabbi Zalman SchachterShalomi, the father of the Jewish Renewal movement which sought to introduce more music, dance and meditation into prayer and Jewish life, dies in Boulder, Colo., at age 89.

Israel launches its third major Gaza operation in six years.

Dubbed Operation Defensive Edge, the campaign begins with 10 days of intensive airstrikes in Gaza. After several failed cease-fi re attempts, a ground invasion of Gaza follows. Hamas fi res thousands of rockets into Israel, striking as far away as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and a Haifa suburb. In four weeks of fight-

ing before a 72-hour cease-fi re in early August, some 1,800 Palestinians are reported killed.

Israel comes under heavy criticism for attacks that kill children, strike U.N. facilities and damage civil infrastructure.

Israel blames Hamas for using civilians as human shields and schools, hospitals and U.N. facilities as weapons depots. The death toll in Israel includes 64 soldiers and three civilians.

Several of Israel’s casualties are due to Palestinian infi ltrations of Israel through tunnels burrowed under the Israel-Gaza border. Israel’s prime minister says destroying the tunnels is one of the war’s main objectives.

A riot outside a French synagogue is one of several incidents related to the Gaza war that threaten Jews in Europe.

The riot by Palestinian sympathizers outside the Synagogue de la Roquette in central Paris traps some 200 people inside the building. A street brawl ensues between the rioters and dozens of Jewish men who arrived to defend the synagogue.

Most foreign airlines suspend fl ights to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv after a Hamas-fi red missile strikes nearby. The suspensions, prompted by a fl ight ban issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, last two to three days.

Iran and the major powers, led by the United States, agree to extend negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program for another four months, citing progress in a number of areas.

YEAR IN REVIEW | 17

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WORLD

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FROM PAGE 16

YEAR IN REVIEW

But the potential deal breaker remains: Iran does not want to reduce its number of its centrifuges, and the world powers say they won’t accept Iran maintaining its existing capacity for uranium enrichment.

August 2014

As the fighting in Gaza wanes and Israeli troops begin to pull back, Israel experiences several terrorist attacks inside the country perpetrated

by West Bank Palestinians, including a tractor attack in Jerusalem.

The 72-hour cease-fire that brought Operation Protective Edge to a halt expires, and Gazans resume intensive rocket fire against Israel. The Israeli military responds with airstrikes inside Gaza. The sides then agree to another 72-hour cease-fire.

The University of Illinois rescinds a job offer to Steven Salaita, a professor of American Indian studies, following a series of anti-Israel tweets

by Salaita, including missives comparing Israel to the Ku Klux Klan. Following a public outcry, university chancellor Phyllis Wise relents and submits Salaita’s candidacy to the university

board while making it clear that she does not support his hire. In September, the board votes 8-1 to reject Salaita’s hire.

Salaita threatens to sue.

Joseph Raksin, an Orthodox rabbi from Brooklyn, is shot and killed on his way to Sabbath services in North Miami Beach. Some activists say the murder was a hate crime, but more than a month on, police still have no arrests and say the motive for the killing remains unclear.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House took the extraordinary step in July of halting the Pentagon’s delivery of U.S.-made Hellfire missiles to Israel in the midst of its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

The denial came as the Obama administration urged Israeli restraint in its Gaza operation and days before Israel rebuffed a cease-fire proposal from Secretary of State John Kerry. A State Department spokeswoman denies any change in policy, saying, “Given the crisis in Gaza, it is natural that agencies take additional care with deliveries as part of an interagency process.”

In a rare instance of violence from the Gaza conflict reverberating in New York, a Jewish couple is accosted by pro-Palestinian assailants on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

The incident prompts Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, the head of a prominent modern Orthodox day school in the neighborhood, Ramaz, to consider instructing students not to wear their kip-

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pahs in public. He later changes his mind.

Celebrants rededicate Nariman House, the reconstructed Chabad house in Mumbai that was closed after Pakistani terrorists killed six people there, including Chabad emissaries Gabriel and Rivky Holtzberg, as part of a massive attack in November 2008 that left 166 people dead.

completed and a 4-year-old boy killed shortly before the truce.

Brokered by Egypt, the ceasefire stipulates that Israel and Egypt open all border crossings to allow international humanitarian aid and construction materials to enter Gaza. In Israel, the verdict is mixed over whether the Israeli operation achieved its aims.

Israel sets off international condemnation with its announcement that it is appropriating nearly 1,000 acres of West Bank land near the Gush Etzion bloc. Peace Now says it is Israel’s largest West Bank land grab since the 1980s.

September 2014

Writer and liberal activist Leonard Fein dies at age 80. Fein had founded Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger and the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy, and cofounded Americans for Peace Now and Moment Magazine.

A few weeks later, Fein’s older brother, Rashi Fein, a Harvard professor known for his contributions to medicine and social policy, dies at age 88.

Hamas and Israel agree to a cease-fire that ends their 50day war. In all, the war leaves an estimated 2,200 Palestinians dead. Sixty-seven soldiers and six civilians are killed on the Israeli side, including two soldiers who die of their wounds after the cease-fire is

Joan Rivers, a Jewish comic who broke barriers for women in comedy and on television, dies at age 81.

Jewish journalist Steven Sotloff, an American-Israeli who had been taken captive while covering the Syrian civil war, is beheaded by ISIS, the outlaw group that has declared an Islamic state in parts of Iraq and Syria. ISIS published video of Sotloff’s beheading and that of another American and a Briton, fueling the U.S. decision

October 10, 2014 |

17

to expand its airstrikes against ISIS and enlist other countries in the cause.

Rabbi Brant Rosen decides to quit his 17-year pulpit job at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Ill., after his outspoken criticism of Israel becomes too divisive for his congregation. Rosen is one of the leaders of the rabbinical council of Jewish Voice for Peace, a group listed by the Anti-Defamation League as one of the top 10 anti-Israel organizations in the United States.

A group of 43 reservists from the Israel Defense Forces’ famed 8200 intelligence unit causes a stir by publicly vowing to stop collecting information on Palestinians. “The intelligence gathered harms innocents and is used for political persecution and for invading most areas of Palestinians’ lives,” the reservists write in their public letter to Israel’s prime minister and IDF top brass. “Our conscience no longer permits us to serve this system.” The IDF says it will take disciplinary action against the reservists.

Four Ohio University students are arrested when a fracas erupts during their protest over the Student Senate president’s “blood bucket challenge” of Israel in which Megan Marzec filmed herself dousing herself with a bucket of fake blood to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. Her video echoes the ALS “ice bucket challenge” campaign designed to raise money for and awareness of ALS.

18 | October 10, 2014

SENIORS

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SENIORS

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October 10, 2014 |

19

Arthur Richter, not a ‘senior’

This LLC fiction and arts coordinator has theater in his blood

BY IRINA MISSIURO imissiuro@jewishallianceri.org If you ever fi nd yourself chatting with Arthur Richter, a youth in his mid-70s, refrain from asking about his senior status. He’ll just look at you, dumbfounded, and shrug his shoulders, “Oh, I’m not a senior!” Richter, who says he feels like he’s in his 40s, will make you guess his age. Then, when you err by 10 years in his favor, he’ll smile victoriously, as if to say, “I told you so.”

Talking with Richter is a bit like trying to catch a fly. As soon as you think you’ve got it, it fl ies off to descend somewhere else, somewhere much higher and barely reachable. The man has more ideas and stories than Scheherazade, and sadly, we did not have 1,001 nights to talk.

Once he starts on one topic, he remembers a relevant story and launches into that tale. Fortunately, Richter is adept at backtracking, revealing the original point and sharing the ending.

The students at Brown’s Lifelong Learning Collaborative (LLC) are able to enjoy Richter’s stories on a regular basis.

Retired after a career as an independent import and export professional, he spent the fi rst two years of freedom keeping busy. Yet, he doesn’t remember anything he did during that unstructured time. This is

partially why Richter considers his foray into the LLC lifechanging. He started out as a student and, after two sessions, transitioned to coordinator.

Since Richter is happiest with a full schedule, he revels in being able to peer-teach three times a week. Crediting LLC for opening new doors and introducing him to “wonderful people,” many of whom became friends, he’s thrilled that he’s fi nally able to do what he enjoys.

A patron of many local theaters including the Wilbury Theatre Company and the Gamm Theatre, Richter sees many productions in addition to those he attends for the class he teaches at the LLC. In fact, theater is in his blood – Richter says that his uncle was one of the founders of Trinity Repertory Company, which Richter has been patronizing for 50 years. Richter would have loved to have worked in the arts, but until his retirement, the field has been a joyful outlet rather than an occupation. A father of two, he thinks it’s interesting that both of his sons are in the entertainment industry. One of his sons is Miley Cyrus’ business manager, while the other is production manager for the band REO Speedwagon. Asked about his children’s reactions to his post-retirement teaching career, he says that they’re happy when he’s happy.

COURTESY | ARTHUR RICHTER

Arthur Richter with his grandson Max. Divorced since 1980, Richter values family time. He loves hanging out with his three grandchildren. In fact, it was when he was watching them one evening that he stumbled onto a new talent – writing stories. Putting the children to sleep, Richter was telling them a tale, which he was making up as he went along. The story

grew into a book, now in the editing stages. “The Adventures of Majaty” – an acronym composed out of the kids’ names: Max, Jake and Tyler – the book features a mouse that comes to Provincetown, Massachusetts, on the Mayflower.

Provincetown holds a special place in Richter’s heart. He and Peter, his partner, have a sum-

mer house right on the beach there. Every year, they help out with Provincetown Harbor Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, a fundraising event that benefits AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, Helping Our Women, Soup Kitchen of Provincetown, Outer Cape Health Services and The Provincetown Rescue Squad. Richter says that, last year, they raised $200,000 from 400 swimmers. Swimmers who raise the most receive prizes.

His job is to collect all the prizes throughout the summer.

If you think that Richter is content to limit himself to the event’s administrative duties, you couldn’t be more wrong.

For many years he’d ferry the swimmers from the boatslip to Long Point, marveling at their stamina. In 2008, an 82-yearold who completed the swim inspired him to compete. Richter knew that if a man who requires a walker can challenge himself to a 1.4-mile swim, he could do it too. After all, he did work as a lifeguard in his teen years. Richter and his grandson Max began training to prepare for the race, which they fi nished proudly in 2009.

Last year, the duo swam again, despite the fact that Richter had torn his rotator cuff.

Undeterred by the setback, he’d perfected a one-arm stroke, RICHTER | 30

Laurelmead Celebrates its 20th Anniversary In the fall of 1994, a group of residents sold their beautiful houses on the tree-lined streets of Providence’s East Side and moved into a new retirement community located off of Blackstone Boulevard. This community is Laurelmead Cooperative.

Twenty years later, on October 16th, many of these same residents and hundreds of their new neighbors will be enjoying a lovely evening of fine food and entertainment as they celebrate this exceptional organization’s 20th anniversary.

From its inception, Laurelmead has been known as the only community of its type in Rhode Island. This unique feature is its ownership. Laurelmead residents are actually shareholders/owners of the community. The pride often shown by owners of a business known for its excellent services will certainly be on display by those planning to attend this gala celebration.

Some of Laurelmead’s original residents, referred to as the pioneers, who have been enjoying events like this for 20 years will be honored at this event. One of these pioneers, Isabella Carter, can often be heard saying, “I remember when this building was full of construction workers and dust when I first moved in.

Seeing us prepare for this event in all its splendor, I am so glad I chose to buy into Laurelmead.”

Jeff Freymann M.D., Laurelmead’s Board President said, “this is a community where any resident can have a say in how we do things. These past few years we have been welcoming the next generation of Laurelmead residents and their ideas have already been incorporated into our operation.”

The Gala is the celebration of Laurelmead’s first 20 years, but it will also be the beginning the next 20 years. As Craig Evans, Laurelmead’s Executive Director says, “we are always looking for new prospective residents/owners of Laurelmead, and we expect this next year to be very busy as a nice inventory of apartments becomes available.”

Anyone interested in learning more about “life at Laurelmead” should contact the Sales office at 401-273-9550 or sales@laurelmead.com.

Want to learn about Laurelmead’s affordable apartments?

Want to meet current residents and get first-hand experience of what Laurelmead has to offer?

Then you are cordially invited to attend our 20th Anniversary Gala Event!

RSVP to April Z. at 401.273.9550 x102 Festivities include cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, music and more!

Laurelmead Cooperative 355 Blackstone Boulevard Providence, RI 02906

20

t h

Anniversary Laurelmead Cooperative A Retirement Living Cooperative

Est. 1994

20 | October 10, 2014

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The Jewish Voice

Martha Sharp’s legacy lives on Heroic woman dedicated her life to the welfare of others

BY IRINA MISSIURO imissiuro@jewishallianceri.org Martha Sharp, a Providenceborn philanthropist, never saw an obstacle she couldn’t overcome. When her parents placed her in the care of her aunt and uncle, she devoted herself to them, bringing lunch to her uncle at work every day. When her aunt expected her to give up education and contribute a steady paycheck, Sharp chose to go to Pembroke College (now Brown University) on a full scholarship. She picked up the box of belongings her aunt threw out of the window and never looked back. When she was about to marry Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister from Wellesley, Massachusetts, Sharp’s future mother-in-law ripped a pearl necklace off her neck, barking, “You’re not worthy of my son!”

The bride proceeded to walk down the aisle alone. When, in 1939, Everett Baker, Unitarian church leader, invited her and her husband to travel to Europe to rescue refugees from the Nazis, she agreed to leave her two small children in the care of her husband’s parishioners and join him on the trip.

These are just some examples of Sharp’s determination. Misha Joukowsky doesn’t exaggerate when he pinpoints his grandmother’s essence, “Her whole life was about active decisions.”

When the idea of traveling to Prague was first presented to her, Sharp weighed the choice to leave her children, the youngest of whom was 2, against the effect her refusal to engage in the fight with fascism would have on refugee children’s fate.

She knew that Czechoslovakia was in the midst of destruction.

Anxiety permeated the air as Jewish kids were being stoned on their way to school, houses were being ransacked and people were being beaten. Sharp also knew that 17 other couples had already said no to the mission. She chose to be one who said yes.

Undeterred by the lack of compensation, Sharp and her husband sailed from New York to London. When they finally arrived in Prague on Orient Express, they started providing material relief right away. Refugees required help with exit visas, job placements and places to live. These goals were nearly impossible to accomplish as the Gestapo monitored all mail, so letters had to be smuggled.

If the situation was dire when they landed in Prague, it became even worse after the Germans crossed the border, occupying all of Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939. Jews felt scared and lost. Joseph Ben-David, a survivor, shared in “Two Who Dared: The Sharps’ War” (a documentary by the Sharps’

Martha and Waitstill Sharp, departing for Europe in February, 1939 grandson and Misha’s brother, Artemis Joukowsky III) that the trauma of the proceedings caused his father to die of a heart attack on the day of the occupation. Those who lived on adapted to their new existence by adhering to the nighttime curfew, pulling down their shades and burning all of their papers. The Sharps did the same; very few records survive out of the 3,000 or so refugee case files they started during that trip.

Sharp, along with her hus-

band, undertook tremendous risks to bring anti-Nazi leaders to the British Embassy. During one operation, she managed to lose one Gestapo agent, only to find herself safeguarding Mr. X, the man she was tasked with accompanying, from three more. Mr. X was just one of the multitudes who attempted to escape the colossal wave of antiSemitism and anti-immigrant sensibility that crashed down on Europe. Since their visas permitted them to take short trips, the husband-and-wife

Let him be the

reason

team traveled to London, Geneva and Paris to help escapees. Had they been caught, they would have gone to prison.

Backing out was never an option. Instead, Sharp constantly found herself in trying circumstances, such as riding on the same train with an SS agent and being separated from her husband, who had gone to Paris to raise funds for the operation.

The two carried on as long as they could. It was only when Sharp once again found her belongings out on the street and their office locked by the Germans that she decided it was time to return. Barely escaping arrest, she met her husband in London, and the two traveled back to the United States aboard the Queen Mary.

As the resettled refugees faced further threats in France, the Sharps were asked to make a second trip to Europe. Despite her hesitation, Sharp went ahead with the plan. They arrived at Lisbon’s Hotel Metropole during the mass exodus of French and Belgians who fled to the south. Since Germans had cut off all supplies to the south of France, Sharp arranged a train delivery of powdered milk with Nestle; the deal saved many malnourished children. Sharp’s other memorable accomplishments during the second trip included SHARPS | 21

Planning for tomorrow isn’t easy.

But it’s a must.

And planning for the next generation is precisely what ensures that the foundation for our Jewish life remains strong.

When you leave a bequest or a planned gift at the Jewish Federation Foundation, you touch each one of us. You leave your children and grandchildren a precious inheritance and a lasting testimony to your love and values.

For more information on establishing your Jewish legacy, please contact Trine Lustig, Vice President of Philanthropy at 401.421.4111 ext. 223 or tlustig@jewishallianceri.org.

There are many ways to create your legacy.

Let us show you a few.

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thejewishvoice.org FROM PAGE 20

SHARPS rescuing 29 children and Lionel Feuchtwanger, a writer who was on the Germans’ list of Jewish refugees.

Three months after her husband’s return home, Sharp arrived in the U.S., saying that she believed anybody would have done what she did. Sharp didn’t stop there, however. Along with her husband, she traveled the country, sharing her experiences and ultimately becoming a passionate Zionist. Sharp went on to work with Hadassah to bring Jews to Israel and ran for Congress in Massachusetts despite daily threats that her daughter would be kidnapped.

During that time, Martha Sharp Joukowsky, the daughter whose childhood was sacrificed to the higher good, would be moved from one family to the next to ensure her safety. Unlike her brother Hastings, who was out of the house by then, she was forced to take on the role of the woman of the house, cooking and taking care of her father, with whom she lived. A retired Brown University archeology professor, she still lives in Providence, where her mother was born. When pressed, she admits she was resentful at her mother while she was growing up. Sharp Joukowsky says, “The only thing in the refrigerator was a corsage.” Meetings, travels and talks dominated her mother’s life. While Waitstill Sharp wanted domesticity, his wife longed for activism. In retrospect, their daughter is proud of her mother’s forceful

Martha Content Sharp, Martha and Waitstill’s daughter as a young girl

Martha Sharp at home with her young son Hastings creation of her own space in society. Sharp Joukowsky says, “Underneath it all was a very strong will.” Sharp stayed true to herself, even if the choice possibly led to the dissolution of her marriage. In 2006, seven years after her death, Sharp was recognized for her efforts in social justice and democracy as the only American woman to receive the honor of “Righteous Among the Nations.”

Sharp Joukowsky describes the ceremony, which included lighting the Eternal Flame at Yad Vashem with Eva Rosemary Feigl – one of the “saved children,” – as incredibly emo-

tional. Speaking about her mother, Sharp Joukowsky says, “You just wish she could have known that love that was transferred onto me.” The daughter was overwhelmed by the gratitude of the survivors.

Like the award ceremony, “Two Who Dared” honors the two people who never sought out recognition. Misha Joukowsky explains that the family participated in the fi lm because of the impact the Sharps’ story would have on the viewers. He says, “If it could inspire other people to walk in the opposite direction of the crowds and make a difference in somebody’s life,

it would be wonderful.” As a small child, he often had to answer his grandmother’s question, “What great thing are you going to do for the world?” It stayed with him, encouraging him to choose honesty, integrity and kindness.

This is how he was raised, and this is how he raised his children. Growing up, Joukowsky watched his mother follow in his grandmother’s

October 10, 2014 |

footsteps by engaging in philanthropy, creating the fi rst nondenominational school in Italy and helping Jordanian women gain independence. He too lives a life devoid of passivity – a fact that’s evident in his efforts to improve the lives of disabled individuals. Joukowsky says, “We all have a gift to give to each other.” He clarifies that he’s not referring to charity but talking about offering support, refusing to be a bystander. A great example of this quality is his grandmother’s founding of Children to Palestine in 1943 to raise funds for orphaned Jewish youth. Her legacy lives on with the members of her family, as well as with the viewers of the documentary.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Those interested in seeing “Two Who Dared” can do so at a screening that will be held at Brandeis University on Oct. 18, 7:15 – 9:30 p.m., Wasserman Cinematheque.

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

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The Jewish Voice

Far more than the Meals-on-Wheels man: An hour with Neal Drobnis

BY JENNIFER ZWIRN “I can’t tell you why they hired me but they did, and it’s changed my life.” That’s what Neal Drobnis says about joining Jewish Family Service of Rhode Island in 2009. Drobnis runs the Kosher Senior Cafes at both the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and Temple Am David with the dedication and support of countless volunteers and irreplaceable fellow team members, Elaine Shapiro, meal site assistant at the Alliance and Temple Am David Site Manager, Steven Tragar.

The meal sites are open to seniors and disabled adults from all walks of life and all faiths, though over 90 percent of participants are Jewish, says Drobnis. They fill a void for the community’s Jewish seniors who keep kosher and would not otherwise be able to participate in a traditional senior center or Meals-on-Wheels program.

Jewish seniors and disabled adults are less likely to be affiliated with a synagogue than younger families with children who are often enrolled in Hebrew school. The opportunity to share in communal Jewish activities at a meal site is a huge benefit to this population and encourages participation in the program.

According to recent JFS reporting, social isolation can decrease the appetite and contributes to poor nutrition in this vulnerable population.

The opportunity to take part in communal Jewish activities while also enjoying lunch feeds the soul far more than any hot meal can, and while a suggested donation of $3 covers just the meal itself, not the additional expense of serving kosher food, the time Drobnis spends with the seniors is priceless.

PHOTOS | FRAN OSTENDORF

“Our seniors are such an inspiration.They give our lives meaning. They’ve lived full lives, and they want to share what they’ve experienced. And they say what’s on their mind.

It’s a wonderful thing,” he shares.

“Our seniors are such an inspiration. They give our lives meaning.”

Meals-on-Wheels of Rhode Island and Blackstone Health, JFS partner agencies, cannot absorb the full costs associated with kosher catering. The Jewish Alliance funds a large portion of this program to offset

the expense of the kosher food, as well as other critical programs offered to seniors communitywide.

The Kosher Senior Cafes are lifelines for so many. A variety of social programming is offered weekly, including educational activities, lectures, exercise and entertainment.

The seniors make fast friends, swap stories with one another of days past, and look forward to tomorrow – together.

“Retired doctors and once self-employed individuals with great entrepreneurial spirit are part of our bunch. I believe in them. We all have to. There is a true sense of community and belonging here,” Drobnis says.

A native of Newton, Massachusetts, Drobnis is also a world-renowned master artist of glass and is qualified as a lead inspector and energy auditor, though he admits he is truly motivated by his direct service with seniors. “I’ve learned the importance of working hard from them. It promotes creative energy, and as an artist, I am grateful for that. I am grateful for them.”

JENNIFER ZWIRN is in grants and planning for the Jewish Alliance.

Among the many activities at the meal site is the popular Know Your Candidate series, top. Above, Neal Drobnis works in the kitchen.

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Winter tips for seniors As the cold weather approaches it is good to start preparing.

Here are some easy tips that can make you safe and ready for the cold winter days and should be on every senior’s to-do list.

• If you are ASK using a porWENDY table heater, make sure that WENDY there is nothing around it JOERING and that you plug it directly into the outlet – it is not safe to use extension cords when using portable heaters.

• To avoid slips and falls, wear nonskid boots or shoes.

Keep your feet dry and have a pair of shoes or boots with good traction.

• Keep at least two flashlights with extra batteries, one near your bed and one in your kitchen.

• Have a plan for a neighbor or relative to shovel and de-ice your sidewalks. Keep a bucket of de-icing compound and a scoop near the front door.

• Layer up! When going outside, make sure you dress in layers and always try to cover your head. Make sure scarves are not too long and do not interfere with walking especially if you use a cane or walker.

• Make sure the thermostat is always set above 65 degrees.

Seniors have a more difficult time regulating body heat.

• Make sure all prescriptions

are filled routinely so you have enough at all times.

• Keep a list of current medications (a good idea to always keep that in your wallet!!).

• Have a full first aid kit at home.

• Keep canned soups and beans on hand as well as energy bars – make sure you have a good nonelectric can opener.

• Keep a minimum of a three-day supply of water in your home: at least one gallon of water per person per day.

• If you have pets have enough water and food for them.

• Have a battery-powered radio on hand with backup batteries.

• Socialize!! Wintertime can lead to isolation and depression. Come to the meal sites at the Dwares JCC or Temple Am David for a nutritious hot meal and entertainment For information about the Dwares JCC meal site, Temple Am David meal site, or kosher Meals on Wheels, call Neal Drobnis at 401-421-4111.

For information on the kosher food pantry please call Susan Adler at Jewish Seniors Agency, at 401-351-4750.

For information to see if you qualify for heating assistance, call Jewish family Services at 401-331-1244.

I am here to answer your questions – if I do not have the answer I will do my best to find one!!

Send any question directly to me at wjoering@jewishallianceri.org.

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October 10, 2014 |

23

New York women boycotted kosher butchers

BY TOBY ROSSNER When the Jewish women of South Providence went on strike against kosher meat markets in 1910, there was precedence in the well-publicized 1902 Lower East Side housewives’ boycott of Jewish butchers.

In May 1902, the retail price of kosher meat on the Lower East Side of New York jumped from 12 to 18 cents per pound in response to escalating wholesale prices charged by America’s cattle barons. Jewish butchers boycotted, and for a week the small retail kosher butchers of New York refused to sell meat.

Their boycott failed to bring the wholesale prices down.

So the homemakers took charge. Fanny Levy and Sarah Edelson began a door-to-door campaign to persuade their neighbors not to buy kosher beef. The May 15 newspapers reported that 20,000 women on the Lower East Side broke into kosher butcher shops, carried meat into the streets, soaked it in gasoline and set it on fire.

The protesters also confiscated and burned the meat packages of women coming out of butcher shops. One of these women complained that her husband was sick and needed to eat beef to recover. A protester wearing a traditional sheitel shouted, “a sick man can eat tref meat.” By the end of the day, 70 women had been arrested. The Herald reported that the women “were pushed and hustled about (by the police), thrown to the pavement…and trampled upon.”

One of the victims slapped a

police officer in the face with a moist piece of liver.

The Yiddish press supported the protest. “Bravo, Bravo, Bravo, Jewish Women!” read the headline in the Forward.

But the New York Times called for the repression of this “dangerous class…especially the women (who) are very ignorant (and) …mostly speak a foreign language.” A few mainstream “muckraking” journalists were more sympathetic, cheering the boycott for exposing the excesses of industrial monopolies.

The boycott spread from the Lower East Side to Brooklyn, Harlem, Newark, Boston and Philadelphia and from the streets to the synagogues. One protester ascended a bima while men were praying and urged, “For once, let the men use the power of ‘And he shall rule over her’ to the good by seeing to it that their wives refrain from purchasing meat.”

A week after the arrests, the

Retail Butchers’ Association aligned itself with the boycotting women. By June 9, the retail price of kosher beef had dropped back to 14 cents a pound, and the boycott began to lose steam.

The example set by the kosher meat boycott was emulated a few years later in rent strikes and in food boycotts. Many of the daughters of the kosher meat boycotters would become the backbone of New York’s labor and suffragette movements.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Source used is Paula Hyman, “Bravo, Bravo, Bravo, Jewish Women! The Kosher Meat Boycott of 1902,” American Jewish Historical Society, Chapters in American Jewish History.

TOBY ROSSNER (tobyross@ cox.net) was the director of media services at the Bureau of Jewish Education from 1978 to 2002.

24 | October 10, 2014

SENIORS

The Jewish Voice

Have you voted yet?

REMEMBER THE PAST From the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association

BY GERALDINE S. FOSTER The question was never, “Are you going to vote?” For my parents, Beryl and Chaya Segal, and their circle of friends (most of them naturalized Ameri-

cans), not to vote was disgraceful and a neglect of their duty as Americans. And – heaven forbid! – to ask, “For whom are you voting?” was unthinkably rude.

Was not the ballot SECRET? My parents did not wait for

school to teach us about civic responsibility. They had taken to heart those lessons taught in their Americanization classes and passed them on to us early in our childhood. I was 3 years old when my father took me by the hand and said, “We are going to vote.” It was a long walk to our polling place in Rochester, where we lived then. The site itself was dark and smokefilled – hardly inviting. My father entered the booth. I had to wait in the big room. When he emerged, I shared his sense of a job well done. We had done our civic duty. We had voted.

Some two decades later, there was another generation to whom the lessons must be imparted. Judith Foster described her first venture in voting: “My Bubbie Chaya donned her clip-on pearl earrings, smoothed her hair and adjusted her bun. Then out came the hat carefully stored in tissue paper and a box labeled Cherry & Webb. As my bubbie put on her immaculate white gloves, my mother joined us. No, we weren’t going to a Pioneer Woman meeting or to services at Temple (our more usual dressy venues). …but to the fire station on Rochambeau Avenue to vote! I was just a little girl, but from my bubbie’s choice of outfit, I understood both the festivity and gravity inherent in this outing as I skipped alongside.

“Friends and acquaintances were warmly greeted, and news was shared as we waited in line for our turn to express ourselves as citizens, to participate in civil society for the betterment of the lives of all people.

Finally, it was our turn to go behind the curtain. I waited as my mother turned the small black knobs that marked her choices.

Then it was my turn. I grabbed that big lever with both hands and pulled it to the side. With a satisfying and serious grinding noise, it moved and opened the curtain. I felt a sense of accomplishment! I had voted!

“Election days and many years passed, 30 of them, and it was time to repeat the ritual again,” Judith continued, “No more hats and gloves, and a public school in Brooklyn, New York, replaced the fire station on the East Side of Providence.

But still a child, a little boy named Beryl, skipped alongside his mother as we made our way to vote. We once again greeted neighbors and hailed friends as we waited in line, and once again, a child was inducted into the adult world as an apprentice voter, pulling the lever to help realize a vision for the common

good.

“That is what I thought about yesterday, after another 30 years, when I went once again on Election day to discharge my responsibility as a United States citizen. Times have changed and so has our electoral structure. Instead of the debates and lectures and rallies my grandparents attended, there are all sorts of media funded by Superpacs and corporations from everywhere in the country.

“I bubbled in my choices on a sheet of paper and then fed it into a computerized machine that appeared more like an ATM than a proper voting apparatus. I wondered about the next generation. How will they experience and measure the significance of civic responsibility without the levers and buttons and curtains and accounts of the old country where all of this was impossible?”

GERALDINE FOSTER is a past president of the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association. To comment about this or any Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association article, email info@rijha.org.

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October 10, 2014 |

25

The welfare of the many or the liberty of the few?

Leviticus, the third book of the Bible, provided the ancient Hebrews with an instructional manual during their years of wandering. Some of these g uidelines per tained to ways of m a i nt a i n ing the health and integ rity of this nomadic community: OF SCIENCE proscribed foods, dis& SOCIETY tinctions between clean and STANLEY M. unclean ARONSON, M.D. things and preventive health measures.

In Chapter 13 comes a statement concerning individuals with certain diseases (called tsara’at, a complex of ailments loosely translated as leprosy).

“Being unclean he shall dwell apart; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” The indicted person, when eventually found free of disease, was then allowed to return.

To understand this uncompromising action, four assumptions are made: First, these nomadic Hebrews believed that certain diseases could be passed from afflicted to unafflicted solely by touch or by close proximity. Second, isolating a person with the disease will diminish the likelihood of

contagious spread to the larger community. Third, contagiousness in the afflicted does not go on indefinitely but may abate with time. Fourth, there is a moral basis for placing the welfare of the many over the liberty of the few.

Forcibly detaining persons with alleged contagions was commonplace in many cultures, but it was not until the bubonic plague epidemic in 14th century Europe that a restrictive policy was formalized, and isolation procedures were widely undertaken. Since plague generally entered countries through their seaports, seafaring nations detained arriving vessels for extended intervals. The presumption was made that a shipboard pestilence, if present, would burn itself out during the weeks of detention. Adriatic ports, such as Venice, designated small offshore islands (called lazarets, named after the Biblical character Lazarus who had allegedly suffered from leprosy) where incoming ships were required to wait for 40 days until clearance was granted. This practice was called quarantine, from the Italian word quaranta, meaning 40. In medieval law, quarantine also designated the 40 days during which the widow may remain in her recently deceased husband’s home.

Why 40 days? The number 40 is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures as a symbolic interval of fulfillment (the duration

of the flood, Moses’ 40 days on Mt. Sinai, King David’s regal tenure, Christ’s 40 days of temptation in a Judean wilderness site called Quaratania).

By the 19th century, every maritime nation had its own body of quarantine legislation and its own list of specific diseases warranting exclusion. To enter the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, for example, an immigrant had to be visibly free of tuberculosis, trachoma, venereal diseases and a number of specified communicable diseases.

International commerce increased so dramatically during the 19th century that nations began to view quarantine as an impediment to trade. Furthermore, when commerce had been conducted by sailing vessels, the transit time between ports was often measured in weeks or months, and an epidemic illness aboard ship would surely have made itself evident before landfall. But as steam-powered vessels replaced sailing ships, the interval between ports was reduced to days. Thus, for example, a person who recently contracted smallpox (with an incubation period of about 14 days) might embark in England and land 10 days later in New York without showing evidence of the disease until he was days beyond the quarantine station.

Great Britain’s General Board of Health, in its 1849 report to Parliament, declared quaran-

tines and sanitary cordons to be signal failures, particularly since diseases such as yellow fever and cholera did not seem to be communicated by touch, as with smallpox.

The Board noted that cholera had arrived in Great Britain despite stringent quarantine.

“There is a moral basis for placing the welfare of the many over the liberty of the few.”

Furthermore, they observed that none of the nurses or physicians tending the many cholera victims contracted the disease. They also could not explain the mysterious paths taken by cholera in its spread through the cities of Britain.

“Great epidemics,” declared the Board, “are governed by laws over which quarantine can exercise no control.” The true protection against pestilential disease, they declared, was not quarantine regulation but sanitary measures. Quarantining had neither scientific nor humanitarian merit and should be abandoned.

The lengthy 1849 report can best be appreciated by placing it in the context of medical knowl-

edge at that time. The germ theory of disease had not yet been advanced. Epidemics were thought to be the consequence of noxious atmospheric irregularities (miasmas) combined with ill-defined individual susceptibilities. The answer, they declared, rested in improved hygiene and community sanitation. Although their reasoning was faulty, their health-protecting measures turned out to be reasonably successful.

It would be years before the mechanism by which these diseases spread was understood.

Cholera was eventually shown to be disseminated not by touch but by contaminated drinking water, typhus – by the interpersonal migration of body lice, and yellow fever – by the intercession of a mosquito carrying the virus from the afflicted to the susceptible.

Only after quarantine had been discredited did the nations of the world finally agree, in 1909, to form an international office to monitor transnational interventions designed to suppress epidemics. It took centuries to learn that germs are not intimidated by national boundaries.

STANLEY M. ARONSON, M.D. (smamd@cox.net) is dean of medicine emeritus at Brown University.

A word to the wise

BY ERIN GISHERMAN MINIOR, LICSW I have had the opportunity on several occasions to engage in a discussion on aging with groups of individuals of various ages. When asked what comes to mind when they think about older adults, a number of unflattering words are usually mentioned such as frail, forgetful, slow, failing, demented and disabled.

Adolescents were generally serious and pensive with their considerations of these words.

Adults, particularly those who were middle-aged or older, were often good-humored with their deliberations. However, author Robert J. Sternberg in his article “Older But Not Wiser? The Relationship Between Age and Wisdom,” indicated that when people were asked to name individuals who they thought were wise, older people such as Mother Theresa, Confucius, Socrates, Queen Elizabeth and the pope were referenced repeatedly. Fortunately, Sternberg’s exercise clearly supports the idea that many believe older people are indeed wiser despite the stereotypical descriptions used by the people to whom I have spoken.

What is wisdom? Wisdom is hard to describe because the concept is somewhat intangible,

however, “Wikipedia” defines wisdom as the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight with good intention. What better way to gain these attributes than through life experiences? And the longer we live, the more experiences we encounter. That is

“So in times of uncertainty, seek out older people for encouragement and lessons learned from their life experiences.

They understand the challenges you are facing because they have already walked down similar roads.” not to say that only older people have wisdom.

As we go through life’s journey and face some of the major trials and tribulations that it has to offer, we gain greater perspective. We realize that our way of thinking is not always the right way. As a result,

we learn how to better manage conflicts and we “get” the bigger picture. Things that we thought were so important to us in the moment, we realize are really not that vital. As Dr. George Vaillant, author on aging and wisdom stated, “Everybody’s definition of wisdom will be different in the words; but the melody, I suspect, will be the same.”

Wisdom has both cognitive and emotional components.

Simply stated, this means if we are wise, we understand and are empathetic. Wise people tend to be humble and able to communicate their insight. So in times of uncertainty, seek out older people for encouragement and lessons learned from their life experiences. They understand the challenges you are facing because they have already walked down similar roads. They have endured and survived life’s difficulties and can share their wisdom with you. Learn from them how to age wisely because, as Theodore Roosevelt said, “Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.”

ERIN GISHERMAN MINIOR, LICSW (erin@jfsri.org), is CEO of Jewish Family Service.

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26 | October 10, 2014 FROM PAGE 12

ELECTIONS

ISSUES

funding bonds, and temporary notes in an amount not to exceed one hundred twenty-five million dollars ($125,000,000) to construct a new College of Engineering building and undertake supporting renovations.

The new building will anchor the northwest corner of the Engineering Quadrangle on the Kingston Campus and provide contemporary and state-of-theart instructional and research facilities. As part of this project, outdated engineering buildings will be taken out of service and razed.

Question 5: CREATIVE AND CULTURAL ECONOMY BONDS $35,000,000

(a) Cultural Arts and the Economy Grant Program: $30,000,000 Provides funds for 1:1 matching grants for a new Cultural Arts and the Economy Grant program to be administered by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts for capital improvement, preservation and renovation projects for public and nonprofit artistic, performance centers and cultural art centers located throughout the State of Rhode Island as follows: 1. Trinity Repertory Company: $4,647,750 2. Rhode Island Philharmonic: $2,390,250 3. Newport Performing Arts Center: $4,216,800

4. United Theater/Westerly Land Trust: $2,369,440 5. The Chorus of Westerly: $1,054,200 6. The Stadium Theater Conservatory in Woonsocket: $2,108,400 7. 2nd Story Theater: $1,054,200 8. AS220: $2,108,400 9. WaterFire Providence:

$3,162,960 10. Other funds to be allocated by RISCA:

$6,887,960 (b) State Preservation Grants Program

$5,000,000 Providing funds to cities, towns and non-profit organizations to preserve, renovate and improve public and nonprofit historic sites, museums, and cultural art centers located in historic structures in the State of Rhode Island to be administered by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission.

Question 6: MASS TRANSIT HUB INFRASTRUCTURE BONDS $35,000,000

Approval and issuance of these bonds will provide funds to the Department of Transportation for enhancements and renovations to mass transit hub infrastructure throughout the State of Rhode Island, which is intended to improve access to

The Jewish Voice multiple intermodal sites, key transpor tation, healthcare, and other locations. The availability of these funds may also provide leverage for possibly securing additional revenue for the mass transit infrastructure projects from federal and private partners.

Question 7: CLEAN WATER, OPEN SPACE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITIES BONDS $53,000,000

Approval of this question will allow the State of Rhode Island to issue general obligation bonds, refunding bonds, and temporary notes in an amount not to exceed fifty-three million dollars ($53,000,000) for environmental and recreational purposes, to be allotted as follows: (a) Brownfield Remediation and Economic Development: $5,000,000 Provides up to eighty percent (80%) matching grants to public, private, and/or non-profit entities for brownfield remediation projects. Brownfield remediation projects involve the environmental clean-up and reuse of contaminated properties. (b) Flood Prevention:

$3,000,000 To provide grants to public and/or non-profit entities for project design and construction grants for repairing and/or removing dams, restoring and/ or improving resiliency of vulnerable coastal habitats, and restoring rivers and stream floodplains.

(c) Farmland Acquisition

$3,000,000 Will be used to provide funds to protect the state’s working farms. The Department of Environmental Management will use the funds to purchase farmland in danger of converting to non-agricultural use, then restrict and affordably sell or lease the land to qualified farmers. Funds from sale of the land to farmers will be returned to the program account for re-use in new projects. These funds may also be used for the purchase of development rights to farms by the Agricultural Preservation Commission. (d) Local Recreation Grants

$4,000,000 Provides up to eighty percent (80%) matching grant funds to municipalities to acquire, develop or rehabilitate local recreational facilities to meet the growing needs for active recreational facilities. (e) Roger Williams Park Zoo

$15,000,000 Provides funds for improvements and renovations to the Roger Williams Park Zoo (f) Roger Williams Park

$3,000,000 Provides funds for improvements and renovations to the Roger Williams Park. (g) Clean Water Finance Agency

$20,000,000

Looking to do a mitzvah?

Looking for a ride to your polling place?

The Community Relations Council and the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island want to make sure you vote this Election Day, Nov. 4. If you need a ride, please let us know by contacting Wendy Joering at wjoering@jewishallianceri.org or call 401-421-4111, ext. 169.

Please provide your name, a phone number where you can be reached and your address. If you need additional assistance, please let Wendy know. We will do our best to find you transportation.

To help people get to the polls, we would like to ask you to consider volunteering. Please let us know the area of the community where you can assist as well as the best times.

Contact Wendy Joering at wjoering@jewishallianceri.org or call 401-421-4111, ext. 169.

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Memories of Yom Kippur in Hamburg, Germany

BY HELEN KAGEN While temporarily living in Bremerhaven during the autumn of 1960, my husband Everett and I realized that the Rosh Hashanah holy days would soon be approaching.

Our concern was, where do we spend Yom Kippur as we found out that there were no synagogues in Bremerhaven. We asked several of our neighbors living in the American Government Complex, and they all suggested that we go to Hamburg, which wasn’t too far away. So we booked our train reservations for the morning of Kol Nidre, and we were off to spend the Holy Day in Hamburg.

We arrived at the City Hotel, and, after checking in, we asked the concierge if he could give us directions to the nearest synagogue. The City Hotel is centrally located in Hamburg, and we figured this would be the most convenient place to stay. The concierge had no idea where a synagogue was, so he asked several of the clerks at the desk, and they had no idea either. No one in the lobby had heard of any Jewish house of worship in Hamburg. So we started to leave the hotel and go elsewhere to ask.

As we were about to reach the door, a middle-aged man approached us, took us by the arm and said “come up to my room and I will look up the address in the telephone directory.” With a bit of trepidation, we followed him. He told us that he was Jewish so we felt a bit of relief. He was a jeweler from Johannesburg, South Africa, who was on business in Hamburg. To prove he meant what he said, he opened two briefcases fi lled with gold and diamonds and showed us the most beautiful jewelry I had ever seen.

He checked the phone directory and found an address for a synagogue, wrote it on a card and gave it to us. He told us that it wasn’t too far and said that if we gave the card to the taxi driver, he could get us there in a very short time. We thanked him for his help.

We hailed a cab and gave the driver the card with the address of the synagogue on it. When we got out, we saw a block of brick

apartment buildings. There must be some mistake; there couldn’t be a synagogue at this address. I walked toward the door and next to the bell was a tiny business card with the words, Judische Gemeinde in the smallest print I had ever seen. I rang the bell several times but no one answered. As we stood there not knowing what to do, a young man of college age, wearing a yarmulke, approached us and asked what we were looking for. After we explained the situation to him, he told us that he can take us to the person in charge of services and that he lives only a short block away.

We followed him and went into an apartment building where we met the man. He led us to

“…turn your tallis back with the star of David to face you, not the outside of the street. Don’t you know that this is Germany and not America, so be careful.” his upstairs apartment and introduced himself. He was a rug merchant from Iran who dealt in Persian rugs. When we entered the apartment, I saw rugs piled up almost everywhere – on chairs, tables, sofas and across the banister. I never saw such beautiful carpets – all Oriental of different sizes, colors, shapes – like witnessing a scene from the Arabian Nights. I was speechless.

We told him why we were in Hamburg and that we hoped he could help us with the situation.

He told us that he was living in Hamburg temporarily, and that his two school-age daughters were in the next room with a German tutor, and that we must only whisper when speaking of things Jewish. He said that he didn’t want the tutor to know that he and the girls were Jewish.

He brought us sliced melon, peaches, pears and other foods.

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He brought in tea and lemon.

But I refused his offer, telling him that we had just eaten. I didn’t feel comfortable taking anything from him, and my husband, seeing I refused, also did the same.

He gave us the times for Kol Nidre and for the Yom Kippur services for the following day.

We thanked him and left.

We attended the services that evening, and when the rabbi spoke, I was able to translate much of what he said. I grew up in a Yiddish-speaking home and knew the language well.

The next morning, we arrived in time for the entire service.

During the break, we went outside for some fresh air and while we were enjoying the fall weather a woman came over to us and started to speak to us in English. She was from Scotland and was visiting relatives in Hamburg.

After the closing of the Yom Kippur service, one of the congregants grabbed my husband by the arm and shouted to him, “turn your tallis back with the star of David to face you, not the outside of the street. Don’t you know that this is Germany and not America, so be careful.”

As I reflect on this experience, my regret is that I didn’t accept the hospitality of my Persian host. The fruit looked wonderful, as did everything else. I know I hurt his feelings, but under the circumstances I hope he understands.

HELEN KAGAN lives in Providence and is a member of Temple Emanu-El. She is a retired high school teacher and is involved in the Harvard Lifelong learning program and on the Committee for Teaching and Learning at Harvard. She lived in Europe and Morocco for more than two years in the ’60s.

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Knowledge is the first step to a solid financial plan Should I be investing more aggressively?

There’s no way to know the answer to that without reviewing your individual circumstances and financial goals. However, if you are investing too conser vat ively, BARBARA it can have a KENNERSON profound effect on your long-term financial security. That’s particularly true for women. According to a U.S. Department of Labor study (“Women and Retirement Savings,” October 2008), women often start sav-

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How you should be investing depends on many factors, such as: 1) How able are you to tolerate risk? 2) How soon do you hope to achieve your financial goals? 3) How much will you need to save for important goals such as retirement? 4) What rate of return would you need to try to reach your goals?

5) Is income, growth or safety most important to you?

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Jewish groups file brief in Muslim woman’s headscarf appeal to Supreme Court WASHINGTON (JTA) – Two Jewish groups joined a brief on behalf of a Muslim woman whose right to wear a headscarf in a retail job is under consideration by the Supreme Court.

The court on Oct. 2 agreed to hear the case, Politico reported.

The American Jewish Committee and the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism joined a friend-of-the-court brief with Christian, Muslim and Sikh groups. The Anti-Def-

amation League and the Orthodox Union also are considering amicus briefs.

The federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission brought the suit against Abercrombie & Fitch on behalf of Samantha Elauf, who had been recommended for hiring at an outlet in Tulsa, Okla. The outlet subsequently reversed its recommendation.

A lower court, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver,

ruled against Elauf, saying that she needed to give “explicit notice of the conflicting religious practice and the need for an accommodation for it, in order to have an actionable claim for denial of such an accommodation.”

That decision described Abercrombie & Fitch’s “Look Policy,” which, the court said, the retailer considers “critical to the health and vitality of its ‘preppy’ and ‘casual’ brand.”

Elauf contends that wearing

the headscarf during her interview and communications with managers through a friend who worked at the store was sufficient.

The friend had checked with one manager who, citing the case of an employee who had worn a yarmulke, said there should not be a problem.

Elauf interviewed with another manager who was not certain of the policy and after consulting with her superiors dropped

her initial recommendation to hire. Elauf did not explicitly raise her faith as an issue during the interview.

The religious groups argue in their brief that requiring an explicit notice of religious requirements is overly stringent.

“Hiring processes are often technologically structured in a way that precludes the employee from even raising the issue during the application process,” the brief argues.

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The Jewish Voice

APPRECIATION

Remembering Ralph Goldman

BY ALAN H. GILL

Arthur Richter FROM PAGE 19

PHOTO | IRINA MISSIURO

RICHTER

dismissing the advice of family and physical therapists, choosing to rely on the cortisone shot he received a week before the swim. Terrified not of worsening his condition but of coming in last, Richter was dismayed to learn that he indeed was the last swimmer to finish. It wasn’t until he took some time to reflect that he allowed himself to feel proud of completing the swim under such challenging conditions, ultimately regarding himself as a winner for having done so.

Richter has always had a knack for competitions. When he was a student at Boston University, he entered the annual Stunt Night contest. As a freshman, Richter placed third for the play he wrote. His senior year, he won the top prize – an accomplishment unheard of for a business student. Richter’s studies with Marian Strauss, who mentored him at Hope High School, solidified his interest in the theater and polished his playwriting. Aware of his aptitude, Temple Emanu-El asked him to direct “Milk and Honey.”

He says the production, which employed 100 people in the cast, was very well-received. Later, when Richter was a member of Temple Beth-El, he oversaw the synagogue’s youth group and directed various plays and small-scale productions, which included “Tevye.” He says long-

ingly, “Theater has always been my love.” Ever since his acting debut as Tommy Marlowe in “Good News,” in a 1955 JCC production, he has been hooked.

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Co-coordinating the class with Sheila K. Lawrence and Stephanie Sullivan, Richter sees himself as “a shepherd” rather than an instructor, enabling the students to absorb information through presentation and discussion. He prefers taking the group to brunch with actors and director to lecturing. It’s hard to argue with LLC’s description of Richter, “a man of boundless energy.” So, if you’ve ever dreamed of writing a novel (Richter also co-coordinates Fact or Fiction, LLC’s creative writing class) or learning about the Rhode Island arts scene, let Richter be your guide. You might not get published or become famous, but you’ll have fun trying.

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

JTA – Most Jews have never heard of, let alone ever met, Ralph I. Goldman.

But for countless numbers of us throughout the world, Ralph – a former chief executive of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) – played a role in our freedom, our positive Jewish identity, our dedication to the neediest among us. He was also instrumental in the State of Israel’s birth, its growth and success, its cultural and educational institutions, and its strong social fabric.

Indeed, he was one of the greatest advocates for the Jewish people and Israel, their constant companion in times of need, and their warmest compatriot in times of elation.

They just didn’t know it.

Why? Because this 100-year old man, who passed away in Jerusalem on Oct. 7, was more focused on our well-being, on creating opportunities for us to embrace our Jewish identity and on Israel’s bright future than on bolstering his own reputation.

And his life’s work and ongoing legacy are reasons to pause, and celebrate, even as we mourn his passing.

Ralph, who was born in Ukraine in 1914, was an early builder of the State of Israel – a brave and deliberate Jewish leader who cracked open communist Europe to revive Jewish life in places where the Soviets strived so very hard to eradicate it.

He also worked with a full heart to strengthen ancient Jewish communities in places from Morocco to Mumbai.

Ralph, who at the time of his death remained an honorary executive vice president of JDC, was the living embodi-

COURTESY | JDC

Longtime JDC leader Ralph Goldman dies at 100 ment of the Talmudic precept that “all Jews are responsible for one another.”

He was a trusted adviser and friend to Israeli leaders, including David BenGurion, Shimon Peres and Teddy Kollek. He encouraged, trained and guided hundreds of Jewish leaders who have taken leading roles in their communities from America to Ukraine to Hungary.

Ralph also was a mentor to many young Jewish innovators. He took delight in forming strong bonds with the distinguished cohort of Ralph I. Goldman Fellows – people working in Jewish communities around the globe to better lives and influence our collective Jewish future. And I was personally privileged to have Ralph as a mentor for the last two decades.

He was a father, a husband, a grandparent, a dear friend and in his iconic bowtie the consummate gentleman.

We live in a world today where giants of Ralph’s stature are few and very far between. He possessed a quiet determination that put action and deed before rhetoric and

people ahead of propaganda.

Nowhere can that been seen more poignantly than in a legendary photograph of Ralph and Ben-Gurion that for decades has delighted all who see it. It shows Ralph, a close adviser to the first Israeli prime minister, humbly helping him into his jacket before attending a meeting in New York in the 1950s.

Today that gesture seems foreign and perhaps even a little old-fashioned, but it was Ralph to the core. He was always there behind the scenes, pushing forward to ensure the best interests of a people and a state that were central to his being.

So as we celebrate Sukkot in the coming days, I urge us all to take a moment to remember the man who provided shelter, joy and encouragement to so many, even if they never knew his name. We are his legacy, an everlasting monument to his boundless devotion.

Thank you, Ralph.

ALAN H. GILL is CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Ancient mikveh, World War II-era graffiti found near Beit Shemesh JTA — A highway expansion project in Israel has led to the discovery of a nearly 2,000-year-old mikveh.

The ritual bath was discovered at Ha-Ela Junction, near the city of Beit Shemesh, during archaeological excavations conducted prior to widening Highway 38, the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a news release.

In addition to the 1,900-yearold mikveh, archaeologists discovered fragments of pottery vessels and a large 1,700-yearold water cistern whose ceiling bore graffiti engraved by two World War II-era Australian soldiers.

Assaf Peretz, an archaeologist and historian with the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the soldiers

left their names – Cpl. Phillip William Scarlett and Patrick Raphael Walsh – serial numbers and the date, May 30, 1940. They belonged to a division that was stationed in prestate Israel during the British Mandate and training for combat in France, but France surrendered before the troops were ready and the soldiers were ultimately sent to Egypt in October 1940.

The Australian unit would have fought at the front in the Western Desert, Peretz reported after researching the names in the Australian government archives.

“If the relatives of these people are acquainted with the story, we’ll be happy if they contact us, and we’ll share with them the warm greetings

left behind by Scarlett and Walsh,” the news release said.

Yoav Tsur, excavation director on behalf of the authority, said in the release, “The finds from this excavation allow us to reconstruct a double story: about the Jewish settlement in the second century CE, probably against the background of the events of the Bar Kokhba revolt, and another story, no less fascinating, about a group of Australian soldiers who visited the site c. 1,700 years later and left their mark there.”

At the authority’s request, the Netivei Israel Company, which is widening Highway 38, has agreed to alter the construction plan in order to preserve the finds there and rehabilitate them.

OBITUARIES

thejewishvoice.org

Erna Goldstein, 76

NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Erna (Roth) Goldstein passed away Sept. 11. She was the wife of Abbott Goldstein for more than 54 years. Born in Germany, a daughter of the late Xaver and Catherine (Wildmoser) Roth, she lived in Rhode Island for 35 years. She was a very loving and caring wife, mother, grandmother and aunt. She loved people, nature and animals.

Besides her husband, she is survived by her son Robert Goldstein; her grandchildren Danielle and Josh; her greatgranddaughter Marley; her sister-in-law Rosalyn; and her nieces and nephews Allen, Jeffrey, Jonathan, Bonney, and Rita. She was the mother of the late David Goldstein and sister of the late Franz Roth and Elsa (Roth) Ortner.

In lieu of flowers contributions in her memory may be made to the Rhode Island SPCA, 186 Amaral St, Riverside, R.I. 02915; St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Pl, Memphis, Tenn. 38105; or Shriners Hospital for Children, 51 Blossom St, Boston, Mass.

Marion Greer, 86

FALL RIVER, MASS. – Marion (Clarich) Greer died Sept. 24.

She was the wife of Dr. David Greer; they were married for 64 years. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., the daughter of the late Joseph and Anna (Grabelsky) Clarich, she had been a resident of Fall River since 1957.

She was educated in the New York City public schools and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education from Brooklyn College. She had continuing education at the University of Chicago, Univer-

sity of Massachusetts and Bristol Community College. From 1949 to 1979, she taught at elementary schools in New York, Midlothian and Chicago, Ill., Hamden, Conn., and Fall River.

Her voluntary community activities during the last 30 years are too numerous to list, but several warrant special mention. For 25 years, she gave weekly lessons on the hospital and health professions to first graders in Fall River and regional schools, starting with a personal introduction in the classroom, followed by a nonthreatening tour of the hospital. More than 25,000 children, spanning three generations, benefited from this program, becoming familiar with admissions procedures, the emergency room and other areas that they might encounter as patients in the future. National attention was brought to this program as a result of an article in a magazine published by the American Hospital Association. Consequently she was appointed to the Auxiliary Advisory Council of the Massachusetts Hospital Association and served as Health Education Chair of the Charlton Memorial Hospital Auxiliary. She also chaired many hospital fundraising events.

She served on the Board of Directors of more than 20 other local and regional organizations.

Notably, she was a member of the Board of Bristol Community College for 10 years, Family Service Association, the John E. Boyd Day Care Center, Hospice Outreach, Plymouth Bay Girl Scout Council, Temple Beth-El, and the Fall River Jewish Home. She is a former President of the Hebrew Ladies Helping Hand.

Accompanying her husband, she traveled extensively, visiting medical and educational facilities worldwide. She remained active in many organizations, but in recent years found more time to enjoy recreational activities with her husband and visit with her two

grandchildren.

Besides her husband, she is survived by her daughter; Linda Greer and her husband Mike Tilchin of Bethesda, Md., her brother; Daniel Clarich and his wife Eleanor, her grandchildren; Ross and Carla Tilchin, her daughter in law; Nancy Smith Greer, and her sister in law; Joyce Stern. She was the mother of the late Jeffrey Greer, and sister-in-law of the late M. Philip Greer.

In lieu of flowers contributions in her memory may be made to Bristol Community College, 777 Elsbree St, Fall River, Mass. 02720

Marion Harrison, 91

WARWICK, R.I. – Marion Harrison, of Barstow Road, died Sept. 29 at Rhode Island Hospital. She was the beloved wife of the late John L. Harrison. Born in Providence, a daughter of the late David and Anna (Cooper) Uffer, she had lived in Warwick for 44 years.

She was a laboratory administrator at Rhode Island Hospital and later worked in the credit department of the former Shepard’s Department Store.

She was a former member of Temple Am David and the former Congregation Sons of Abraham/Shaare Zedek Synagogue.

Devoted mother of Dr. Joel Harrison and his wife Caron of Warwick, Harold Harrison and his wife Claire of White Plains, N.Y., and Barry Harrison and his partner Neil of San Francisco, Calif. Dear sister of the late Bernice Uffer. Loving grandmother of Andrew, Analeah, Emily-Anne and Zachary. Cherished mother-in-law of Shirley and Cathy Harrison.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 20 Hemingway Dr., East Providence, R.I. 02915.

Mollie Jacobs, 94

DARTMOUTH, MASS. – Mollie (Epstein) Jacobs died Sept, 26. She was the wife of the late Sam Jacobs. Born in New York City, a daughter of the late Eliezer and Mildred (Patera) Epstein, she had been a resident of the New Bedford area since 1936. She was a member of Tifereth Israel Congregation and its Sisterhood, and Hadassah.

She will be remembered lovingly by her nieces and nephews and her sister-in-laws Sara Epstein and Sara Braham. She was the sister of the late Hyman Braham, Jesse Epstein and Rebecca Mendes.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the charity of your choice.

Irving Lipschutz, 72

FALL RIVER, MASS. – Irving Lipschutz died Sept. 25. Born in Lynn, Mass., a son of the late Rabbi Benjamin and Miriam (Garber) Lipschutz, he had been living in Fall River since 1944. He was a graduate of BMC Durfee High School and was a member of Congregation Adas Israel.

He is survived by his brother, Rabbi Yacov Lipschutz of Monsey, N.Y., and his sister, Anne Weinberg of Seattle, Wash.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Fall River Jewish Home.

October 10, 2014 |

31

Norma Spungen, former archivist CHICAGO (JTA) – Norma Spungen, former archivist at the Chicago Jewish Archives at Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, has died.

Spungen died Oct. 5 at the age of 87.

As the archivist at Spertus from 1986 to 1996, Spungen curated and assisted with several major exhibits mounted at the institute dealing with many important themes in Jewish history. She later was named archivist emerita and served on the board of directors of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society.

Her professional work included an interest in Jewish women who were active in social service and philanthropy.

Spungen’s research appeared in articles in the Illinois Library Journal and Jewish Social Studies, and she lectured widely on topics in Jewish history.

The recollections by Brikmann and Block were included in a statement issued by Spertus.

Spungen is survived by her husband of 61 years, Kenneth; by her children and their spouses, Elisa and her husband, Robert Bildner; Charles and his wife, Amy; Jeffrey and his wife, Joni; and Andrea; and by 11 grandchildren.

OBITUARIES We print death notices of approximately 300 words for people with ties to our circulation area. There is no charge. We will print a photo if submitted and a small flag for veterans. Please submit obituary and photo to editor@ jewishallianceri.org and indicate if a photo and/or a flag should accompany the obituary.

32 | October 10, 2014

ARTS

The Jewish Voice

Woonsocket’s Peter Tedeschi comes home for Ocean State Theatre

BY SETH CHITWOOD WARWICK – Former Woonsocket resident and member of Congregation B’nai Israel is back in Rhode Island to perform onstage as Alfred P. Doolittle in Ocean State Theatre’s production of “My Fair Lady.”

Since leaving Woonsocket to pursue a journalism career, Peter Tedeschi is returning to his birth state to perform for the first time after a decade of success in the theater.

Upon graduating from Marquette University, Tedeschi quickly climbed the ranks as a producer and freelance journalist for CNN. His career there included working on the “Larry King Live” show. He developed and was the executive producer of Noticiero CNN, which later became CNN en Espanol. He also served as the senior executive producer for CNN Financial News. However, he soon discovered that his true passion was on the stage.

“Human beings are allowed to have more than one skill,” Tedeschi says. A journalist is drawn to tell different stories, he says. He has the same interest but in the theater domain.

“It’s about being an all-around storyteller.”

After being forced to take some vacation time by CNN, he spent two months working with the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California. This helped to spark his interest to pursue a new career in theater arts.

Feehan High School graduate worked closely with Rabbi William E. Kaufman. Now he returns to Woonsocket yearly for High Holy Day services.

Since taking the big step into the world of theater, Tedeschi never had the opportunity to perform in his home state until now. “My Fair Lady” tells the story of Eliza Doolittle, a flower girl, who takes speech lessons from a professor to rid herself of her lower-class cockney accent so she can pass as a proper lady. The 1956 Broadway production was a giant hit and set the record for the longest run on Broadway for its time. It was later turned into a film staring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. Tedeschi plays Eliza Doolittle’s cunning father.

“It’s poetic for me.” Tedeschi admits, “It’s nice to be performing in my home state. It’s like coming home.” He left to pursue journalism and now has returned as a successful actor. It’s quite the achievePHOTO | MARK TUREK ment.

Peter Tedeschi, left, as Alfred P. Doolittle performs “With a Little Bit of Luck” My Fair with Harry and Jamie portrayed by Jonathan Olivera and Daniel Larson in Lady is being presented at Lerner and Loewe’s Broadway classic, “My Fair Lady,” being presented at Ocean State Ocean State Theatre in Warwick through Oct. 19.

Theatre in He went on to W a r w i c k Taking the risk to change ca- Mellon University to get a Masthrough Oct. reers, he applied to four differ- ter’s Degree in Fine Arts. “It attend the Mos19. For tickent acting schools. He decided was a huge surprise when I got cow Art Theatre ets, call (401) would make the career change in,” he says. Surprisingly, CNN Institute in Rus921-6800 or if he were to be accepted to one. was nothing but “gracious and sia. Some of his visit www.

He was accepted to Carnegie supportive” about his depar- favorite perforPeter Tedeschi ture and allowed him to return mances include O c e a n S t at e to a freelance position after he John Adams Theatre.org. graduated. in “1776,” Benedick in ShakeHe was reporting on Wall speare’s “Much Ado About Street in New York when the Nothing,” and being a part of SETH CHITWOOD is a Rhode first tower was hit on Sept. 11 the original 1852 rendition of Island College graduate with a and was one of the first people “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” in which double major in Film Studies to broadcast live footage of the he played several roles. and Theater Performance. He tragedy. After almost everyOutside the theater, Tedes- is the co-founder of the producthing settled, he made the deci- chi is very vocal in the Jewish tion company Angelwood Picsion to leave freelancing behind community and continues to tures and is the recipient of sevto dedicate his time to theater. be a large part of Congrega- eral awards for his numerous “There was no way you could do tion B’nai Israel. Growing up web series. To learn more, visit both,” Tedeschi adds. in Woonsocket, the 1981 Bishop www.angelwoodpictures.com.

COURTESY | TEMPLE HABONIM

Cory Pesaturo, left, and Fishel Bresler are Brez and Pez.

Brez and Pez play klez Noted clarinetist and mandolinist Fishel Bresler and worldchampion accordionist Cory Pesaturo are joined by klezmer percussionist Michael Goldberg in a program of klezmer music on Oct. 26 at 2:30 p.m. at Temple Habonim, 165 New Meadow Road, Barrington.

The music of Brez and Pez combines their love of jazz, European café and traditional

Jewish and Italian music. Their presentation will be a rollicking, moving and breathtaking experience, guaranteed to lift the spirits of young and old alike.

This program is free and open to the community.

For more information go to templehabonim.org or call the office at 401-245-6536.

COMMUNITY

thejewishvoice.org

33

tradition in Narragansett.

Like others who were asked about the event by The Voice, she believes, “The Shabbos Project is a wonderful movement that has the worldwide potential for uniting Jews… to possibly bridge or lessen the gap between us all.”

FROM PAGE 1

SHABBOS Oct. 24-25.

The movement originated in South Africa in 2013. And it’s grown from there. The expected participation this year includes Jews from 212 cities in 33 countries around the globe.

In South Africa, the event was promoted by the chief rabbi, Warren Goldstein, and it took hold of the community like many grassroots events where it was promoted as a one-time commitment. Reports say that a majority of the country’s 75,000 Jews participated. Many people celebrated Shabbat for the fi rst time ever. The event worldwide is being organized from a central office in South Africa.

In the U.S., there are groups participating from cities including San Diego, California; Chicago, Illinois; Savannah, Georgia; Memphis, Tennessee; and Annapolis, Maryland.

Here in Rhode Island, a group is working to organize community events to give this worldwide celebration a local spin.

“This is a community project,” said Rabbi Raphie Schochet, who has been helping to organize the event and get the word out. “This is an opportunity for Jews across Rhode Island to be a part of something bigger.

“Nobody’s looking over your shoulder,” he said. “At least commit to doing something that you’ve never done before.”

Locally, on Oct. 23, there will be a Challah Bake where up to 200 people will gather in the social hall of the Dwares JCC

October 10, 2014 |

More then 3,000 women and girls gathered Oct. 10, 2013, in Johannesburg to make their own challot at the Great Street Challah Bake. to learn to bake and braid challot. Community member Elissa Felder is coordinating a committee to make the event happen.

Roberta Schneider, who’s helping with that effort, said the idea that the small Providence community could be part of a worldwide event is exciting. “Observing Shabbat takes discipline and belief in something larger than the self.” So, she said, on Oct. 25, “our cell phones will be off … and work set aside for the other six days of the week.”

And that’s what the organizers are hoping will unite Jews of all observance. At sundown

Oct. 24, participants are asked to consider celebrating a traditional Shabbat. Attend a Shabbat dinner, go to a service that you might not have attended otherwise. Turn off the cell phones and put away the electronics. On Oct. 25, plans are in the works for a community third meal or se’udah shelishit and a possible havdalah concert, both on the East Side of Providence.

“I’m totally excited about this event,” says Meital Cafri. “I’ve been keeping Shabbat for over a year now and it’s exciting to see what they did in South Africa.

Shabbat is a peaceful break from my routine. I’m excited to

get more people to participate in the wonderful Shabbat tradition.”

And in the southern part of the state, plans are in the works for options to participate in The Shabbos Project as well. Denise Rubin, a member of Congregation Beth David in Narragansett, said that although there hasn’t been much formal interest in her community as a whole, she and her husband will participate. “Since learning that Shabbat is really about the home, we are leaning more toward welcoming in the Shabbat Queen with dear friends in a comfortable atmosphere fi lled with love and joy of family and

“This is an opportunity for Jews across Rhode Island to be part of something bigger. Nobody’s looking over your shoulder, at least commit to doing something that you’ve never done before.”

For more information on The Shabbos Project worldwide, or to register, go to theshabbosproject.org. The website has links to informational YouTube videos that show last year’s celebration in South Africa and interviews with participants as well as Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein.

For local information, email rhodeisland@theshabbosproject.org or call Rabbi Schochet at 401-935-6867. Additional information is available at facebook.com/shabbosprojectpvd FRAN OSTENDORF is editor of The Jewish Voice

I’m running for Mayor because Providence is on the wrong track.

Let’s make Providence work again.

cianciformayor.com Paid for by Friends of Buddy Cianci, Charles R. Mansolillo, Treasurer

COMMUNITY | WE ARE READ

34 | October 10, 2014

COURTESY | GALLERY (401)

Hineni by Naomi Geller Lipsky

Next at Gallery (401) The next exhibit at Gallery (401) features artist Naomi Geller Lipsky and Gold, Paper, Scissors.

Naomi uses quilling (the art of coiling and shaping narrow paper strips to create a design), gilding (the application of gold leaf), painting and other techniques to create her artistic designs. She is inspired by her love for Jewish heritage and fi nds joy in commissions that express what others cannot put into words.

The public is invited to an opening reception on Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. Wine and light snacks will be served. The exhibit runs through Dec. 5. Free programs such as these are made possible by the generosity of donors to

the Jewish Alliance who deeply believe that there should be community places, spaces and experiences that are accessible to everyone.

Want more? Join Naomi for a special Quilling 101 workshop on Nov. 6 from 6-9 p.m. Discover the art of quilling, learn how to shape paper stripes into a vast variety of designs and take home your own piece of art!

Cost is $25 or $18 for members, including all supplies. Pre-registration is required.

The gallery is at the Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. For information or to register, contact Erin Moseley, director of Arts & Culture at 401-421-4111, ext. 108 or emoseley@jewishallianceri.org.

The Jewish Voice

MAKING MEMORIES – Above, Ida and Tom Brown of Hopatcong, N.J., center, (Ida is originally from Rhode Island) just shared a very special week at Disney’s Aulani Resort in Ko Olina, Hawaii with their family, daughter Jennifer Brown from Dover, N.J., nephew Marc Bochner from Cranston, and son Tom Brown Jr. from Hopatcong. It was a true family gathering. The Voice and Herald had a great trip, too!

OFF TO VEGAS – Right, Lowell Lisker and Bruce Wasser were in Las Vegas in September working at a trade show at the Sands Expo. Of course, they brought along The Voice.

Welcoming Your Baby into Your Interfaith Family Join us for a practical discussion of Jewish ceremonies for welcoming and naming a child. We’ll explore meaningful ways that Jewish rituals can honor and respect parents and grandparents from other faith traditions and cultural backgrounds. We will discuss opportunities to express gratitude for the blessings of parenthood that will enhance your growing family.

Taught by Rabbi Sarah Mack & Kit Haspel, PhD

OCTOBER 28, 2014 7:00pm Temple Beth-El | 70 Orchard Ave., Providence $18 per family and pre -registration is requested.

Each registered family will receive a copy of “Blessings of a Skinned Knee” by Dr. Wendy Mogel For more information or to register, please contact Rabbi Sarah Mack at 401.331.6070 or rabbimack@temple-beth-el.org

illu

Jody W n by stratio

heele

r

Mothers Circle is a program of the Jewish Outreach Institute funded locally by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

This program is par tly funded by the Women’s Alliance Endowment Fund.

TEMPLE BETH-EL

October 10, 2014 |

thejewishvoice.org

“I used to be the one who helped others; now I need the help.” —Stacey | Warwick, RI

Let’s change the world together.

To learn more about Aaron & Stacey and how your generosity through the Alliance Annual Campaign has helped them, scan here: or visit jewishallianceri.org/our-impact/2015-annual-campaign/

Research shows that half of the Jewish households in communities served by the Alliance face economic difficulties.

Raising funds to help support these families is a critical charge for the Alliance and the Jewish community.

Contribute to the Annual Campaign and you’re helping to care for our entire Jewish community—at home, in Israel, and around the world. To learn more or to donate today, visit us at jewishallianceri.org or call 401.421.4111.

Be part of our vibrant and thriving Jewish community by donating to the 2015 Annual Campaign.

Be part of the greater good.

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

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36 | October 10, 2014

The Jewish Voice

The Orchard Avenue

Sukkot Harvest Festival Sunday, October 12, noon to 4 pm Artisan Sukkot! Music by Brez &Pez! on the front lawn of Temple Beth-El 70 Orchard Avenue, Providence

Sukkot by Artists Jonathan Bonner, Wendy MacGaw & Nora Rabins on view October 8-17, 2014

This event is free of charge, family-friendly, and open to the public.

For more information, phone Temple Beth-El at 401-331-6070, email info@temple-beth-el.org, or visit our website,www.temple-beth-el.org.

The Rhode Island Foundation and Residential Properties have generously provided funding for this project.

Concept by Howard Ben TrĂŠ.