The Jewish Advocate

See Page 11 See Page 11

See Page 12 See Page 12

Spicing it up.

Focus on Brookline

Cooking

See Page 15 See Page 15

Movies Separating art from its creator.

See Pages 12-15

See Page 10

See Page 18

Only human Rabbi Elchanan Poupko writes that members of today’s human-rights community need to re-examine themselves and their motivations.

See Page 7

Established 1902 Vol. 204 No. 28 Q 5 Av 5773 — July 12, 2013 Q www.TheJewishAdvocate.com Q $1.50

Berry exciting

Hub to host genealogy conference

This week’s Parenting column tells the story of Harold Berry, who traveled to Israel with his son in the wake of the Six-Day War. See Page 9

International Jewish event arrives Aug. 4-9

Common good Researchers have discovered that a common food supplement delays advancement of Parkinson’s disease and familial dysautonomia.

See Page 17

By Alexandra Lapkin Advocate Staff

W

In the kitchen Kitchen memories from his childhood were the inspiration behind actor Rick Moranis’ new CD My Mother’s Brisket & Other Love Songs.

See Page 19

Super save Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman’s Jewish creators, were nearly homeless until an industry colleague offered to help them.

See Page 20

PHOTO/EPA

Israeli soldiers secure the construction works Sunday as Palestinian and foreign activists protest against the opening of a new street from the Israeli settlement Karyat Arbaa to the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Locals to compete at Maccabiah Games Area participants who made the cut will head off to Jerusalem

By Alexandra Lapkin

SHABBAT CANDLE LIGHTING TIMES

Advocate Staff

PARSHAT DEVARIM

BOSTON FALL RIVER LOWELL SPRINGFIELD WORCESTER PORTLAND, MAINE MANCHESTER, N.H. PROVIDENCE, R.I.

ERUV STATUS: BOSTON MALDEN SHARON

8:03 PM 8:02 PM 8:05 PM 8:09 PM 8:06 PM 8:05 PM 8:07 PM 8:06 PM

781-446-9797 781-322-5686 781-695-0505

E

very four years, the allure of the Maccabiah Games entices the fastest, strongest and most skilled Jewish athletes from around the world to compete in Israel.

The 2013 games, which start in Jerusalem on July 18, will feature more than 9,000 participants from 71 countries, including a number of athletes from Massachusetts.

Olivia Sinrich, 14, looks forward to taking part in the event known as the “Jewish Olympics.” The Worcester resident has been doing gymnastics since she was 3 years old. She just graduated from Mountview Middle

School in Holden and attends Prozdor School of Hebrew College. Sinrich has been training with Mihai Brestyan, the coach who worked with Aly Raisman, the captain of the gold-winning U.S. women’s gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Sinrich said she is “thrilled” to be going to Israel this year.

“Competing is so much fun in general and competing with other Jewish kids around the world – it’s amazing; there isn’t anything like it,” she said.

“I don’t think I’ll [get a chance] to do anything like this again, unless I particiLasell College senior Chelsea Zeig will pate in the next four years.” participate in track-and-field events at this year’s Maccabiah Games.

Continued on Page 3

Jewish Genealogy: A Comprehensive Introduction bu.edu/professional/jewish-genealogy

July 29–August 2, 2013

ith the advent of the Internet, many immigration, census and other records have become digitized and are now readily available online, contributing to a rise in the popularity of genealogical research.

Meanwhile, research of Jewish genealogy has gained momentum since the breakup of the Soviet Union, when the Iron Curtain no longer prevented academics and laypeople from going to Eastern European countries to dig through historic records.

Continued on Page 5

City’s best, brightest go global Young innovators reflect about Jerusalem summit

By Ian Thal Advocate Staff

S

ome 150 young Jewish innovators, activists and entrepreneurs from 37 countries traveled recently to Jerusalem to participate for five days in the ROI Community Global Summit.

The ROI Community was founded in 2006 as a partnership between the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, and Taglit-Birthright Israel, to network young Jews doing innovative work across disciplines ranging from arts and culture, to Continued on Page 4

NEWS

2

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

The Jewish World

Ambassador Oren to step down this fall Michael Oren, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States since July 2009, announced last Friday that he plans to step down from the position this fall.

“IsMichael Oren rael and the United States have always enjoyed a special relationship and, throughout these years of challenge, I was privileged to take part in forging even firmer bonds,” Oren said in a statement on his Facebook page.

Oren, who grew up in New Jersey, is Israel’s first Americanborn Ambassador to the States, and his replacement could be the second. In late June, Army Radio reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would appoint his close aide Ron Dermer, a native of Miami Beach, Fla., as Oren’s successor. ( JNS.org)

Hezbollah asks Iran for more fighters Pressure from stalwart Lebanese opponents of Hezbollah’s increasing involvement in Syria has prompted the terrorist organization to send a delegation to Iran to ask the Islamic Republic to shoulder more of the burden in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Sunday. Mounting casualties among Hezbollah fighters in Syria has led some of the organization’s Lebanese supporters to petition its leaders to scale back its involvement in the Syrian conflict, the Saudi paper reported. Saudi Arabia supports the more Sunni-extremist Islamic elements fighting to topple Assad’s regime, elements that are also directly confronting Hezbollah’s Shiite fighters in Syria.

Apology seen as unjustified Seventy-one percent of Israelis believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the May 2010 Gaza flotilla incident was unjustified, a new poll revealed. The poll, commissioned by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and conducted over the phone from June 16 to 19, found that 85 percent of Israelis say their chances of going on vacation to Turkey in the near future are very low. Only 28 percent of Israelis believe that relations between Israel and Turkey under Erdogan will improve in the near future, while 42 percent think relations will stay the same and 30 percent believe they will deteriorate further.

Israel casts eyes on Sinai region

July poll question:

The summer traveling season is in full swing. How many times have you been to Israel?

A. Never B. Once C. Twice D. Three times or more Tell us what you think at www.TheJewishAdvocate.com

June Poll Results The group Women of the Wall has been in the news a lot lately. What are your thoughts?

62%

Israel OKs equal-service bill 18%

18% 1%

A

Israel should do all it can to help the new secular government in Egypt beat the Muslim Brotherhood, even if that means amending the Military Annex of the Camp David peace accords to allow more Egyptian military assets into the Sinai Peninsula, the former director of the Israeli Counterterrorism Bureau in the Prime Minister’s Office Brig. Gen. (Res.) Nitzan Nuriel told Army Radio on Sunday. A new Islamist terrorist group in the Sinai calling itself Ansar alShariah announced its formation last Friday, the newspaper Israel Hayom reported. The group, in a statement posted on an online forum for terrorists, said it would gather arms and start training its members. Israeli Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman (Likud-Beytenu) warned over the weekend that jihadists in the Sinai are taking advantage of the current turmoil in Egypt to stage attacks on Israel. The Sinai-based Sunni terrorist group Jamaat Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis took responsibility for a rocket attack on Eilat on July 4.

B

C

D

A. They should be allowed to worship however they choose.

B. They should worship by following traditional customs.

C. Nontraditional worship should be in the Wall’s less-public area.

D. I’m not sure.

A bill requiring fervently Orthodox men who are eligible to report for military duty or civilian service in Israel was approved in a 14-4 vote by the Israeli cabinet on Sunday. The bill, proposed by a committee headed by Israeli Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri, states that starting in 2017, all eligible charedi men over the age of 18 will be expected to report at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) induction centers for enlistment, excluding 1,800 students who will be granted exemptions. The proposal allows for a

© Copyright 2013 by Jewish Advocate Pub. Corp. All rights reserved.

Published weekly on Friday by The Jewish Advocate, Inc. Publisher: Grand Rabbi Y. A. Korff, Zvhil-Mezbuz Rebbe, Chaplain, City of Boston, The Zvhil-Mezbuz Beis Medrash. Congregation Bnai Jacob of Boston and Newton.

The Jewish Advocate, The Jewish Times, The Boston Jewish Times, and The Jewish News of Western Massachusetts are trademarks registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Periodicals Postage is paid at Boston, Massachusetts.

ISSN 1077-2995. (USPS-275-020).

The Jewish Advocate assumes no responsibility for typographical errors in advertisements, nor for the kashruth of any foods or facilities advertised.

Advertisements for foods or facilities which do not include a notice or symbol of rabbinic kashruth supervision should be presumed to be not kosher.

The Jewish Advocate • 15 School Street, Boston, MA 02108 Fax: 617-367-9310 • Tel: 617-367-9100

three-year deferment of service, after which each individual will have to decide whether they wish to serve in the IDF or a civilian program.

Casspi will play for Rockets

Students win robotics contest

Omri Casspi, the first Israeli-born basketball player in NBA history, has agreed to terms on a two-year, $2 million contract with the Houston Rockets, who will be his third NBA team, the Houston Chronicle reported. A 6-foot-9 forward whose four NBA seasons have been split between the Sacramento Kings and Cleveland Cavaliers, Casspi averaged career-lows of 4.0 points and 2.7 rebounds per game last season for the Cavaliers. His best season came as a rookie in 200910, when he averaged 10.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game for the Kings. Casspi will be joined in the state of Texas next season Omri Casspi by the second Israel-born player in NBA history, 6-foot-3 Israeli point guard Gal Mekel, who has reportedly agreed to a three-year contract with the Dallas Mavericks.

A team of 9th-graders from a high school in Rehovot, Israel, won the RoboCup 2013 international robotics competition in Holland with their robotic re-enactment of a Jewish wedding, returning to Israel on July 3 with the first-place trophy. The competition included contestants from more than 40 countries, including the United States, Australia, Slovenia and Turkey.

The students had been tasked with creating robots to act out one of three scenarios: A soccer match between a pair of two-person robot teams, a choreographed dance, or a rescue robot that can identify victims at disaster scenes and navigate to safety. “[The students and I] built bride-andgroom robots that, using sensors, know to enter the wedding canopy and start dancing,” said Sarit Zaltsman, the teacher in charge of the robotics division at the high school, according to Israel Hayom.

Yovchev: Hezbollah behind bombing

Camping gift breaks record

Tsvetlin Yovchev, the new Interior Minister of Bulgaria, said “further evidence had been added” to an investigation implicating Hezbollah in the July 2012 bus bombing in Burgas (Sarafovo) that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian driver.

There has been “no change” in Bulgaria’s view – as expressed by former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov – that there is a “justified assumption” that Hezbollah was behind the Burgas bombing, Yovchev said July 4. “There is no change in the Bulgarian position regarding the terrorist act in Sarafovo,” he said. “I am familiar with all the facts and the investigation conclusions up to this moment. My expert opinion is that the assessment and the statement that followed are correct.

I support them.”

The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest NJ ( JCF) announced July 3 that it has received a $5 million Jewish camping gift, representing a record-breaking amount for North America. Given in support of a permanent Jewish camping fund, the gift “will create the first endowed full-time Jewish camp position in a federation in North America,” according to a press release from the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, of which the JCF is the planned giving and endowment arm. “[The gift] will also provide ongoing support for several related programs: as many as 250 incentive grants for first-time overnight campers each summer, more affordable camp options for families, a ‘pipeline’ program to encourage Jewish day campers to transition to Jewish overnight camp, and ‘innovations: funding for programs that bring the power of Jewish camp to the community year-round,’” the press release said.

Fatah hopes Hamas is ousted In wake of the ouster of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-controlled government and President Mohamed Morsi, Fatah officials express hope that the Palestinians living in Gaza will oust Hamas from power there. Hamas, which began as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood more than 25 years ago, is the Islamic terror organization that has controlled Gaza since its overthrow of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) in 2007. “Now it’s Gaza’s turn to get rid of the Muslim Brotherhood branch,” said one Fatah official, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“The dark era of political Islam has ended. The era of hypocrisy and lies has ended and Gaza will soon witness its own revolution against Hamas.”

Attack rocks Eilat Two powerful explosions echoed through the Red Sea resort town of Eilat on July 4, shortly before 10 p.m. A Color Red alert did not sound beforehand. The Sinai-based Sunni terrorist group Jamaat Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis took responsibility for the attack. “Jews, enemies of Allah, are those who are responsible for what is happening in Egypt and their long arm is to blame for the

Editorial: J. Michael Whalen, Editor, Ext. 132 Alexandra Lapkin, Reporter, Ext. 133 Ian Thal, Community Editor, Ext. 147 E-mail: Editorial@TheJewishAdvocate.com CommunityNews@TheJewishAdvocate.com Production: Mary Ann Maynard, Production Director, Ext. 142 Judy Gabriel, Production Coordinator, Ext. 129

current situation,” the group said in a statement, Israel Hayom reported. “We bombed them to scare them and let them know that Allah is with us.”

Subscriptions: Ext. 120 E-mail: Subscriptions@ TheJewishAdvocate.com Advertising: James McManus, Account Executive, Ext. 144 John Postol, Account Executive, Ext. 126 E-mail: Advertising@TheJewishAdvocate.com Classifieds@TheJewishAdvocate.com

To purchase reprints contact SharonH@TheJewishAdvocate.com

Amy Winehouse exhibit opens The London Jewish Museum has opened a new exhibit on British-Jewish singer Amy Winehouse, who died in 2011 at the age of 27. “Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait” displays items from Winehouse’s Amy Winehouse childhood and drama school years, as well as her years in the music industry. In the last years of her life, Winehouse may have been better known for battling drugs and alcohol than for her singing, but she was also “simply a little Jewish kid from North London with a big talent,” her brother Alex said. Visitors to the exhibit will see the singer’s school uniforms and “Dr. Seuss” books, and learn that her hobbies included reading Charles Bukowski and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, solving Sudoku puzzles, and more. The exhibition opened July 3 and will run through Sept. 15.

CONTENTS ARTS . . . . . . . . .18-20 HEALTH . . . . . . . . . .21 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . .22 MARKETPLACE. . . .22 COMMUNITY . . . . . .11 OPINIONS . . . . . . . 6-7 COOKING. . . . . . . . .10 PARENTING. . . . . . . . 9 CROSSWORD . . . . .23 SENIOR . . . . . . .16-17 DIRECTORIES . . . . .23 TORAH . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

NEWS

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE JULY 12, 2013

Local athletes will head off to Israel for the quadrennial Maccabiah Games Continued from Page 1 When she learned a few months ago that she would be competing at the games, Sinrich celebrated with the other girls who made the cut for the U.S. gymnastics team. “It was really special,” she said.

Sinrich’s already demanding training regimen became more taxing in the past several weeks, since school got out. She spent six hours at the gym, five days a week, with no complaints.

“I want to look back on the experience when I get to Israel and not have to say, ‘I wish I worked harder.’ That’s the worst feeling, knowing that you could have worked harder,” she said.

“It’s more pressure; the coaches have been pushing me,” Sinrich added. “It’s a lot of hard work, but I know it’s worth it.”

The Maccabiah, held under the auspices of the Maccabi Federation and affiliated with the Maccabi World Union, is open to Jewish international athletes as well as Israeli participants, regardless

The Original

The

3

The Only

BUTCHERIE Over 40 years in Brookline

New England’s Award Winning Kosher Super Market of their religion.

First held in 1932 in Tel Aviv during the British Mandate of Palestine, the Maccabiah was interrupted by the rise of Nazism, and World War II, after the second games in 1935. In 1950, the third Maccabiah Games brought 800 athletes from 20 countries to the newly formed State of Israel.

The “Jewish Olympics” keep growing and every four years bring in top Jewish and Israeli athletes – Olympic gold medalists, world champions, and record breakers. This year’s games, the largest in the Maccabiah’s history, will be hosted in Jerusalem, with the opening ceremony held at Teddy Stadium. Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to welcome the athletes during the event.

Lauren Battista, a 20-year-old senior at Bentley University, will be going to the Maccabiah with the U.S. women’s basketball team.

The Easton resident has been attending her older brothers’ sporting events for as long as she can

Fourteen-year-old Olivia Sinrich of Worcester will compete in this year’s Maccabiah Games as part of the U.S. gymnastics team.

remember. Their games “sparked her interest,” Battista explained, and she began to play once she was old enough to dribble a basketball. By 7th grade, when she made the basketball team at her junior high school, “I knew it was a game I liked,” she noted.

“It feels cool” to be going to Israel, she said. “It will be a great experience. I am excited to meet new girls, people from other countries – I am looking forward to it.”

Battista has set some high goals for herself and her team.

“I’d like to win the gold medal,” she said. “It’s at the top of my list, and I know it’s doable. We have a good team, we play well together.”

She also hopes to enjoy her time in Israel: “I’m looking forward to the opening ceremony. I heard that the ceremonies are extravagant. It will be cool to march in our U.S. gear.”

Chelsea Zeig, a senior at Lasell College in Newton, will participate in track-and-field events at the Maccabiah. Originally from West Nyack, N.Y., Zeig has been involved in track and field since she was in the 10th grade. She said it was her college coach that “makes me love the sport that I do.”

Zeig said when she found out that she was going to the games, it felt like a dream coming true.

“I’m completely honored,” she said. “I’m in awe because I wasn’t chosen at first; I was an alternate, so when they gave me the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself, I honestly was speechless.”

Since May, when she first received the good news, Zeig has been putting in additional hours at the gym, working on her cardio and resistance training, with virtually no days off. She specializes in the field events of hammer throw, javelin throw, and shot put.

Zeig said shot put is her favorite sport and the one that she has been doing the longest.

“One thing I am looking forward to the most is meeting people and making lifelong friends, but a goal of mine is to hopefully set a personal record in one of my events,” she said. “My summer’s been committed to improving myself … and if I happen to get a medal on top of that, it’s a winwin situation.”

To Zeig, who has never been to Israel, going to the Maccabiah holds special meaning. She has heard stories about Israel from her father and grandmother, and visiting the Holy Land has always been on her “bucket list.” She plans to dedicate her performance at the games to her grandmother, Sylvia Zeig, who died two years ago.

“She is the one who always told me to chase after my dreams,” she said.

428 Harvard St. - 617-731-9888 Sun. 7am-4pm • Mon. & Tues. 7am-6pm • Wed. & Thurs. 7am-8pm • Fri. 7am-4pm

Sun. July 14 - Fri. July 26

• At Our Service Deli Counter • Roast Beef slow cooked on rotisserie .........................lb $15.99 Israeli Salad ........................................................................lb $5.99 Grilled Eggplant w/Tomato Sauce ....................lb $7.99 Forbidden Rice Salad ..............................................lb $6.99 • Foods Prepared in House • Split Pea or Squash Soup parve .......................Quart $4.39 Chicken Pot Pie w/white breast meat........................lb $7.99 Moroccan Chicken Salad or NEW Spicy Cashew Chicken ......................lb $9.99 Asian glazed Salmon w/Spanish rice ................ pkg $7.99 Other signature fish dishes are also available Baked fresh daily

Artesian French Baguettes ............................loaf $3.99 • Frozen Specials • Macabee Bagel Pizzas plain or vegetable ......6 pack$4.49 3 Pack Individual Pizzas Macabee ...........9oz box $3.99 Puff Pastry Sheets Pepperidge Farm .............17oz pkt $5.99 Dr Praeger’s Fish Sticks family pack.......24oz box $6.99 Now Available Gluten–Free Beef Knishes homemade • Refrigerated Specials • Shredded Muenster Cheese Nat & K....2lb Bag $7.99 From Grass-fed cows -- hormone free $ Red Heifer .......................8oz chunk Imported from Israel -500 gm tub (17oz) $ @new everyday low price ..................

7.99

Cheddar Cheese

Achva Hummus 5.99 Jack’s Gourmet Sausage .............................12oz pkt $7.99 Chicken or Turkey Franks Aaron’s ......16oz pkg $3.29 • Grocery Bargains • Macaroni & Cheese Fould’s .............................7oz box 99¢ North African Couscous Osem ............12oz box $1.59 Petit Beurre Cookies Osem ............8.8oz pkg 4 for $5 Popcorner’s Popped corn chips ...................5oz bag 2 for $3 Alfasi Wines all varieties $ .99 750 ml bottle 8 Case of 12

$

100

4

NEWS

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

Boston’s best and brightest recall the ROI Global Summit Continued from Page 1 media, to social-justice work, to education from across the globe.

ROI is both an acronym for “Return on Investment” – a reflection on its historical relationship with the Birthright program – as well as a play on the word “ro’eh,” which is Hebrew for “shepherd.”

Six delegates from the Boston area – Guy Ben-Aharon, founder and Producing Artistic Director of Israeli Stage; Helen Bennett, Lead Organizer at the Moishe Kavod House; Benjamin Davies, Deputy Director of the Satellite Sentinel Project at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative; Matti Kovler, Artistic Director of Jewish Music Theater; Arianne Mandell, author of youngadult novels; and Jordan Namerow, Director of Public Engagement and Strategic Content at American Jewish World Service (AJWS) – attended the 2013 summit.

Bennett is one of four organizers who live at the Moishe Kavod House, a nondenominational, home-based community for Jews in their 20s and 30s who are involved in social-justice work and affiliated with the international Moishe House network. She said that she and her colleagues endeavor to identify people who “have a drive and a fire for an issue or a problem,”

so that they may “connect those folks with each other around related issues and help build a team,” and coordinate with the various teams that work out of the Moishe Kavod House.

Moishe Kavod partners locally as a member congregation of Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, and City Life of Urbana Vida. Bennett also works at Jewish Organizing Institute and Network ( JOIN) for Justice.

Ben-Aharon, an Israeli who was raised in Brookline, started the theater company Israeli Stage while attending Emerson College, in order to introduce American audiences to work by contemporary Israeli playwrights.

“Over the past three years,” BenAharon said via email, “we have presented half-a-dozen American premieres and one world premiere” in the form of staged readings.

Kovler, founder of the Bostonbased company Jewish Music Theater, is a Muscovite who made aliyah at the age of 10. Coming from a secular background, he was introduced to “niggunim,” the wordless melodies offered in prayer by Israeli musicologist and composer Andre Hajdu. As a composer in his own right, he has been awarded fellowships at Tanglewood and the Aspen Music Festival, as well as a com-

Matti Kovler, Jordan Namerow, Helen Bennett and Guy Ben-Aharon are all smiles at this year’s ROI Community Global Summit. mission from Carnegie Hall.

In Boston, Kovler founded Jewish Music Theater. “We [ Jews] have it in our cultural DNA,” he noted, “the genre of musical theater.” He added that the cantillation in reading the Torah is “about using music or musical inflections to reveal … dramatic narrative; to propel the action forward.”

Kovler was also recently selected for the Asylum retreat for Jew-

This summer discover heartfelt Jewish learning, culture and inspiring coastal scenery on Cape Ann! Come for Shabbat or for a beach weekend!

Scholar in Residence, July 19-21: Rabbi Art Green – Rector of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College High Holy Day Services: Beginning September 4 - Open to All Temple Ahavat Achim is a century-old congregation in a glorious new seaside building.

Visit www.taagloucester.org or call (978) 283-0739 Rabbi Green’s visit and this ad are sponsored by the Paulson Family Foundation

ish artists sponsored by the New York-based Six Points Fellowship.

Six Points folded in May after the United Jewish Appeal - Federation of New York, withdrew its financial support. The smaller, Los Angelesbased Six Points Fellowship is still in operation, but its future is uncertain.

“There is very little funding for Jewish artists,” said Kovler, who opined that a disproportionate amount of Jewish institutional support is for Judaica-inspired work or a nostalgia for “the world of the shtetl.”

“I’m very fortunate to be sitting in the New Center [for Arts and Culture], which is very different,” Kovler said after his return from Israel. The Boston-based New Center has supported his work by providing him with office space.

Namerow’s work at the AJWS often places her as the public face of the human-rights organization.

She writes editorials, letters to the editor and blog posts documenting the AJWS’ work.

“Our mission is to end poverty and promote human rights in the developing world,” said Namerow.

That mission includes supporting grassroots activists and local leaders working to improve the conditions of women, girls, LGBT individuals, refugees and ethnic minorities. Namerow noted that in developing countries, especially those recovering from such cataclysms as civil wars, “These are communities that are very marginalized and do not have access to the same rights.” AJWS was a cofounder of the Save Darfur movement and has had a leadership role in fighting the practice of female genital mutilation.

Kovler found simply arriving in Jerusalem for the summit invigorating, recalling the opening remarks that were addressed to all attendees: “We want to thank you for the work you’re doing. You might not receive the fellowship from your own communities but it’s important [work.]”

For Namerow, encountering her colleagues from other parts of the world impressed upon her that “people who work internally within the Jewish community are very plugged into larger social movements and larger human-rights efforts.”

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the summit, Bennett observed that “it expanded a lot of our perceptions of what the young Jewish world is doing and what the young Jewish world can be doing.”

“There was a collection of closely related passions,” said Kovler.

“It was not about the discipline; it was about the passion. Each person they selected was someone who tried to make change in their communities.”

“I loved meeting the Jerusalemites,” wrote Ben-Aharon, whose family lives in Tel Aviv. “I was so impressed with their numerous initiatives to keep young people living, working, creating and connecting in the nation’s capital.”

Ben-Aharon added, “As for the Diaspora, hearing about their problems made me realize most of us face the same issues in our Jewish communities,” both organizationally and culturally. “Israelis don’t have to ‘occupy’ themselves with the Jewish issue as much as Diaspora Jews have to – Israelis are inherently Jewish by their environment.”

Kovler, citing his frustration with established institutions, said, “If I want to do something with Jewish culture, perhaps I should create my own route.”

“It’s very important to be listening and not assuming what young people want to be doing in Jewish communities,” said Bennett. “That framework is what the future of the Jewish community needs.”

“The cross-pollinating of all that work in one space is very powerful,” observed Namerow, “giving me a more holistic sense of the dynamics of the Jewish community, the problems that we’re all trying to solve, and the level of creativity that we bring.”

NEWS

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE JULY 12, 2013

5

Jewish genealogy conference coming to Hub in August Continued from Page 1 This year’s 33rd annual International Conference on Jewish Genealogy will take place in Boston from Aug. 4 through Aug. 9.

The conference will be co-hosted by the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) and Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston ( JGSGB).

JGSGB President Heidi Urich, a Cambridge resident, and Jay Sage of Newton will co-chair the conference, which will host more than 1,000 genealogists from all over the world.

When Urich attended her first IAJGS conference, which was held in Boston in 1996, the first person she met was someone from her father’s hometown in Poland.

“Jewish genealogy is a way for us to connect to our past,” she said.

Urich, a daughter of Holocaust survivors, had known very little about her family history and very few family members, and was driven to meet other surviving relatives. At the conference, she “learned that there were other people around who shared my interests and could help me,” she said.

The conference provided her with an opportunity to attend programs with genealogical experts who directed her to the appropriate resources. Since then, Urich has found family members all over the world, from Mexico to Israel, and even her mother’s cousin in Newton, whom she had never met previously.

Plymouth resident Meredith Hoffman, a professional genealogist who specializes in 19th and 20th century Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe, has been involved in research since the mid- 1980s and has witnessed the transformation of the field.

“When I first started, only a half a dozen books were available,” she said. “It was all in books or you went to archives, and that was it – no other way to do it. …I can now, in two hours at 2 in the morning, do more research than I used to be able to do in a week 20 years ago.”

The topic of Jewish names, and their transformation when immigrating from the Old Country to the United States, is of particular fascination to Hoffman. “My academic background is linguistics,” she said. “So I have an interest already about how language works and when I first started doing the research, early on I started discovering that there are a couple of places where … Jewish genealogists have some particular issues with names.”

Hoffman went on to explain that up until early 20th century, the spelling of names, including American names, was not

standardized. People wrote their names the way they sounded – and at a time when illiteracy rates were high, they would not be able to correct a clerk who recorded a death or a birth. Matters became more complicated with Jewish genealogy, because when first-generation immigrant ancestors addressed a clerk who was not familiar with Yiddish and Hebrew names, names would usually be recorded incorrectly.

Jewish immigrants also Americanized their names; they usually did not go through the legal name-changing process or follow a standard set of rules. In her own family, Hoffman came across an ancestor with five different versions of his last name and four versions of his first name.

Hoffman will give several lec-

Heidi Urich and Jay Sage are co-chairs of the 33rd annual International Conference on Jewish Genealogy. added up and Kogan decided to publish them as a book titled “The Family Album: End of 18th Century - Beginning of 21st Century.”

Now in its seventh edition in Russian (and sixth edition in English), the Kogans’ family book contains letters and testimonies of many family members who descended from their Kaushany ancestors and now have spread all over the world.

the group at the conference, teach a computer workshop on conducting genealogical research for Bessarabian Jewry, and read another lecture on Jews in Kishinev, the capital of Moldova.

Aaron Ginsburg became involved in researching his ancestors due to a completely unexpected turn of events. Although various family members began contacting him as a result of their own research, it was not until 2006, when a district in Belarus was in the process of digging up a road, and more than 100 Jewish tombstones were discovered, that he became deeply interested in genealogy.

The Dokshitzy district in Belarus sent out a letter to the descendants of the Jewish families who used to live there, informing them that the Jewish cemetery was destroyed in 1965 and that the

Newton resident Yefim Kogan (in striped shirt) has been researching his family’s past since he attended his first genealogical conference four years ago in Philadelphia. tures at this year’s conference, from computer workshops on using social media and genealogical databases for conducting research, to talks titled “Immigration Networks from Vilna Gubernia to Providence, Rhode Island: A Case Study” and “Who the Heck is Ida Gerskill: Some Challenges of Researching Jewish Names.”

Newton resident Yefim Kogan has been researching his family’s past since he attended his first genealogical conference four years ago in Philadelphia. “It’s a really great place to communicate with other people, to discover things for your research,” he said. But his interest in genealogy began many years before, when he emigrated from Moscow and came to the United States in 1989.

Kogan’s mother also left the former Soviet Union and settled in Israel. Although they regularly spoke on the phone, he asked her to write letters. Kogan suggested that she write about her youth, what life was like growing up in Kaushany, a shtetl in Moldova, which was predominantly Jewish, and how she and her family survived the war years.

The letters and photographs

“At first [my mother] didn’t understand why I am doing this, why in the world I’m collecting this information,” Kogan recalled.

“After a while, she saw … people are interested. Now we have stories in French, in Hebrew, some translated in Russian – it’s a continuing process.”

Eventually, as he delved deeper into research, Kogan learned that both his mother and father’s families have lived in Kaushany for many generations. He was able to trace their families back 200 years. “They survived by working in commerce, buying and selling [goods]; some of them were Rabbis, but most of them were small shopkeepers,” Kogan said.

Genealogical research sparked his interest so much that in 2012, Kogan earned a master’s degree in Jewish liberal studies at Hebrew College. At the conference, he will read a lecture titled “Jewish Life in Bessarabia through the Lens of the Shtetl Kaushany,” the subject of his thesis.

Kogan also founded Bessarabia Special Interest Group for the website www.jewishgen.org, a database for Jewish genealogical research. He will hold a meeting of

district’s government would like to rebuild the cemetery without inadvertently disrespecting the deceased and their families. “That grabbed me right away – the fact that they wanted help to restore it,” Ginsburg said. “I don’t know if it’s unique or not, but to me it was unique.”

He created an online nonprofit organization, Friends of Dok-

shitzy, at www.jewishdokshitsy. org, in order to raise money for the restoration. Ginsburg organized a worldwide fundraising campaign that attracted descendants of Dokshitzy families. In 2008, only two years after he received the letter from Belarus, Ginsburg traveled to the town where his father was born, for the dedication ceremony of the restored cemetery, in addition to the three new monuments commemorating about 3,000 Jews killed in Dokshitzy in 1942.

“When we were having a tour of the school museum given by the school principal,” Ginsburg said of one of the events planned for that day, “he paused in front of some of the pictures of the Jewish area that probably came from Yizkor books [which document Jewish life before World War II, first-hand Holocaust accounts, and lists of victims] and said, ‘I know there’s an untold story here and we intend to complete it.’”

Ginsburg has been grateful for the local government’s efforts to help restore the memory of the Jewish community in Dokshitzy, and he has made a film about the experience that will be shown at the conference. But there is still much work to be done. Many municipal governments in Eastern Europe do not take the same kind of initiative to commemorate remnants of Jewish life that were destroyed by the Nazis and the Soviet government.

After having restored one cemetery in Belarus, Ginsburg does not consider his work done. “[ Jewish tombstones] are constantly turning up [in Eastern Europe],” Ginsburg said. “There are many cemeteries that are in great danger.” During the conference, he will participate in a panel discussion on Jewish cemetery restoration and preservation, and will hold a meeting of the Friends of Jewish Dokshitzy.

Visit www.iajgs2013.org and www.jgsgb.org for more information.

Reserve Your Transport South NOW And...

OR

ENDS OFFER 15!

T S AUGU ROUND TRIP

ONE WAY

• Guaranteed Prices • Guaranteed Pickup Date • 100% Satisfaction YOUR RELIABLE RESOURCE SINCE 1980 All Major Credit Cards Accepted

A+

1-800-800-2580 • www.shipcar.com

OPINIONS

6

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

W

Founded in 1902

Kerry’s critics are wrong

J

ohn Kerry is getting roughed up unjustifiably over where he was (his yacht) and what he was wearing (a polo shirt) during the latest upheaval in Egypt. This follows a week in which the peripatetic Secretary of State suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous pundits for trying to pump some life into IsraeliPalestinian peace Charles prospects.

Radin The critics are wrong.

The United States currently has no cards to play in Egypt. Even before the fall of Hosni Mubarak, it was the kiss of death for democracy activists to be picCommentary tured as cozy with American diplomats, or to be accepting funding from Western non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This reality has not diminished in the post-Mubarak era. Similarly, American backing of the generals who ousted Mohamed Morsi is probably the only thing that could unite the increasingly splintered Islamist and secularist sides in Egypt.

Nor is there anything to be gained from threatening to withhold the $1.5 billion in aid the United States sends Egypt annually. That money is part of a deal that has kept peace between Israel and Egypt for decades; withdrawing it could open the way for an Islamist demagogue or a young colonel a la Gamal Abdel Nasser or Muammar Qaddafi to create a lose-lose situation for everyone. (There probably is some benefit in making sure the generals know that U.S. law requires withdrawal of aid to countries in which the military removes a democratically elected president. This should motivate them to hold new elections swiftly.)

Friends I was with when the media piled on Kerry for being on his boat while Egypt burned did not dispute this analysis. They did note that, if it had been Hillary Clinton, she’d either have been in her office making calls or her people would have made sure to keep her location under wraps. Kerry has a certain arrogance, or indifference to appear-

ances, that surely was a factor in his unsuccessful run for the White House, and it was in evidence here.

On the other hand, it might have been just the right signal to send to the various parties in Egypt for whom the United States can do no right. Keeping our diplomats’ and intelligence agents’ eyes and ears wide open there and letting the various factions know that we are willing to help if they want us, but that we’re not dying to butt in, is not a bad posture.

The other front on which Kerry is catching flak is his shuttle diplomacy between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Kerry’s play, according to his critics, is a remake of an old story, with old actors, and himself cast in the role played in earlier versions by Henry Kissinger and James Baker. Jimmy Carter, rather than a Secretary of State, also starred at one point.

What the critics seem to be ignoring is the context in which progress was made in the past: It has always occurred when there has been something of a balance between the fears and insecurities of the two sides, never when one side was feeling much stronger and more secure than the other. This was especially evident in the talks that produced the Camp David Accords of the early ’90s, when the Palestinians were fresh from their disastrous alliance with Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War and the Israelis were just getting over the First Intifada.

There are clear reasons now for leaders on both sides to explore possibilities of stabilizing and reconciling the situation. Israelis well understand that a Third Intifada is brewing and that, no matter what happens in the struggle between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, it could erupt sometime soon. The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has felt the hot breath of Hamas on its neck for several years, and understands that Hamas’ Muslim Brotherhood allies in Egypt and Hezbollah allies in Lebanon are not going to be of much help for a long time.

With all that said, the path to a settlement will be terribly complex and difficult to negotiate. So what else is new? Kerry correctly perceives that the conditions are right for giving it another try.

Charles Radin works for Brandeis University and is a former Boston Globe foreign correspondent.

hen King Hussein of Jordan died in early 1999, Israel mourned him, as veteran journalist Eric Silver pointed out at the time, “as one of its own.”

Flags on public buildings flew at half-mast, memorial candles glimmered in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, and newspapers carried headlines such as “Shalom, King.” At the King’s funeral, Ben an Israeli delegaCohen tion that included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the then Mossad chief, Ephraim Halevy, mingled openly and cordially with Arab leaders.

In that short moment of remembrance, the Middle East was provided with a brief glimpse of what life would be like should a genuine peace with Israel be achieved – not a mere cessation of hostilities, but the type of friendly, cooperative peace that prevails among the countries of Europe and North America. Yet Silver – one of the most perceptive reporters to ever cover the region, who sadly is no longer with us – also observed, “Anxiety sits on the shoulder of Israel’s grief. Is it all too good to be true now that Hussein has gone, and his 37-year-old son, Abdullah, an unknown quantity, has succeeded to the throne?”

Fourteen years later, King Abdullah remains on his throne.

Only the most churlish would deny that this in itself is an achievement, given Jordan’s history of surviving, against the odds, as a sovereign state.

For this small desert kingdom carved out by the British has been forced to contend with many enemies, internal and external, throughout its short existence. From the Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1960s, through the radical Palestinian terrorist factions in the 1970s, to the Syrian butcher Bashar al-Assad now, Jordan and its ruling Hashemite monarchy has faced its fair share of close shaves.

And while the goodwill that prevailed between Israel and Jordan at the time of King Hussein’s death has dissipated somewhat,

Why the Jordanian model still needs to be preserved Israel’s strategic interest in stability and continuity on the East Bank has remained solid. What has changed, though, is the nature of the threat.

The belief that Jordan would be undone by the Palestinians was once commonplace, which partly explains why “Jordan is Palestine” used to be a popular slogan on the Israeli right. Today, the Palestinians are far from being the main challenge to Jordan’s survival, so much so that even the achievement of that elusive final agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) would still leave Jordan painfully vulnerable to other dangers.

The country’s economy is in an awful state. Unlike many of its Arab neighbors, Jordan does not sit on huge oil reserves, and is completely dependent on imports to meet its energy needs. Recent cuts in food, fuel and electricity subsidies resulted in angry protests on the streets of the capital, Amman, and in other cities too. Inflation has climbed by three points in the space of a year, to 7.1 percent, while unemployment hovers at a perilously high 13 percent.

These factors have further alienated that sector of the population known as “native Jordanians” – Arabs long settled on the East Bank of the Jordan River who have traditionally been the principal source of support for the monarchy – from King Abdullah. Given the country’s already scarce resources, the enormous influx of refugees into Jordan over the past decade, as a result of regional conflicts, is another source of tension.

The 2003 war in Iraq that unseated Saddam Hussein’s regime brought thousands of Iraqi refugees into Jordan. Many of them remain unable or unwilling to return to Iraq, and are living in abject poverty. To their number we can now add the approximately 450,000 Syrians who have arrived in Jordan fleeing Assad’s massacres. Around onethird of those refugees are living in the squalid conditions of Zaatari, a

Write to us!

The Jewish Advocate welcomes Letters to the Editor. They should total no more than 350 words in length and be submitted by the Friday prior to the following week’s publication date.

Letters may be edited for clarity and/or length, and we cannot guarantee that every submission will be published. Personal attacks are not allowed.

Letters may be emailed to J. Michael Whalen, Editor, at MichaelW@thejewishadvocate.com or mailed to The Jewish Advocate, 15 School St., Boston, MA 02108.

PUBLISHERS OF THE JEWISH ADVOCATE 1902-1917 JACOB De HAAS 1980-1984 1917-1952 JOSEPH G. BRIN 1984-1990 1917-1980 ALEXANDER BRIN 1990-

JOSEPH G. WEISBERG BERNARD M. HYATT GRAND RABBI Y. A. KORFF

King Adbullah of Jordan, seen here with his wife Queen Rania, ascended the throne in 1999.

makeshift refugee camp close to the Syrian border that didn’t even exist one year ago.

From the Jordanian point of view, the worst aspect of the refugee crisis is that there is no end in sight. The bloodbath in Syria persists. And no one can rule out the possibility that worsening political conditions in Iraq or Lebanon will propel another desperate flood of refugees seeking a modicum of respite in the relative calm of Jordan.

More pressing than even the refugees, though, is the future of the Syrian conflict. Over the last few weeks, the Arab press has reported extensively on how the outcome of the civil war there will impact Jordan. Writing in The Arab News, Osama al Sharif portrayed Jordan as being caught between a rock and a hard place.

“If the Syrian regime manages to quell the opposition and wins, it will seek reprisals against states that stood against it. Jordan, which shares hundreds of kilometers with Syria, is the most vulnerable among Damascus’ neighbors,” al Sharif wrote, referring to Assad’s ire against the jihadi fighters who have passed through Jordan on their way to Syria. He added, “If the [Syrian] regime falls, Jordan will worry about geopolitical, demographic and economic changes. The fact that there are many radical Islamists associated with the [Syrian] opposition, such as Al-Nusra Front, may bring sectarian violence closer to home.”

Jordan, then, is an emerging front in the epic struggle between Sunni and Shi’a Islam that has engulfed the Middle East. But rather than despair at the raucous unpredictability of the region, American policymakers should feel a certain relief that there is one tangible goal to pursue: keeping Jordan alive and intact.

After all, this is one matter upon which both Israel and the Palestinian Authority can agree. More importantly, Jordan at present is neither a prisoner of the Shi’a mullahs nor of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, and there is a pressing need to keep it that way.

In the Arab world, the Jordanian model has historically been an attractive one: politically moderate, more democratic than its neighbors, proudly Islamic yet amenable to good relations with western nations and with Israel. After seeing the bloodbath in Syria, and the ugly battle between the Egyptian military and Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi (who was ousted last week), the reasons why that model should be preserved are, one would hope, self-evident.

Ben Cohen is the Shillman Analyst for Allston-based JNS.org. His writings on Jewish affairs and Middle Eastern politics have appeared in many publications.

OPINIONS

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE JULY 12, 2013

T

he Israeli-Palestinian conflict has sharpened the challenge of balancing human rights with security needs to the point of agony.

The Israeli government has faced the challenge time and again, in increasingly complex and difficult ways, of properly balancing the human rights of Palestinian civilians with the need to assure Israeli security Rabbi against Palestinian Elchanan militants who do Poupko not hesitate to target Israeli civilians while using their Palestinian civilians as human shields. Meeting this challenge was not left to the Israelis alone; many human-rights organizations made it their vocation to protect the rights of Palestinian civilians from Israeli intrusions.

In their zeal to protect and assure the human rights of Palestinians, they repeatedly denounced Israeli violations in severely judgmental ways: accusations of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.” In many cases such accusations became lethal narratives, weapons used by Palestinian militants to justify their targeting Israeli civilians, to feed their rhetoric of genocidal hatred.

Among many such examples, consider the events in the spring of 2002 when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) besieged the Jenin refugee

ewish families all over the United States joined the rest of the country last week in staring up in wonderment as the sky lighted up in an explosion of colors during Independence Day celebrations. Fireworks – like so many things in life – are transient and inevitably dissipate. Yet for those fleeting moments in which they light up our world, they also shed light on that which is wrong with it.

Simon America’s Klarfeld Declaration of Independence sought to rectify those wrongs.

It sought to create a country in which all men are created equal, in which every person has the freedom to pursue his or her inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

For its own part, Israel’s Declaration of Independence just more than a century and a half later articulated many of the same aspirations. Israel promised to “uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens” and “guarantee full freedom of conscience.”

It is perhaps no coincidence, then, that the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pa., the iconic symbol of American independence, is engraved with the biblical passage

J

Human-rights organizations must re-examine themselves camp, the central operations of the campaign of suicide bombings that had killed hundreds of Israeli civilians in the previous year-and-a-half and showed no sign of abating. Palestinians accused Israel of massacring hundreds, something both the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the mainstream news media repeated. In fact, only 52 Palestinians died, the vast majority of whom were combatants, and 23 Israeli soldiers died trying to keep the casualty figures for the Palestinian civilians as low as possible. What anti-Zionist forces speak of to this day as the “Jenin Massacre” was actually the most exemplary (some would say insane) sacrifice of one’s own soldiers’ lives to spare enemy civilians, far beyond the highest demands of warfare under the Geneva Convention.

More than one person has noted this extraordinary “double standard” whereby the global human-rights community accuses Israel of terrible failings – racism, apartheid, war crimes – while somehow falling silent before excusing Palestinians for violating even the most elemental standards of decency, not just to Israelis, but in their treatment of their own people. Those who note this disturbing pattern justifiably ask why Israel has become the “chosen” villain, the most loudly criticized

country in the global human-rights scene. Some wonder aloud whether their motivation might be more a desire to attack Israel rather than to protect innocent Palestinians.

But even as pro-Israeli activists scream about double standards and Jew-hatred, those they criticize insist it’s just Israel’s way of shutting up “any criticism.” While those who are more self-critical might admit that they “expect more of Israel” (and don’t expect anything from the Palestinians), almost all would deny the (subtle) racism that reveals about the base moral standards to which they hold Palestinians. Overall, on the contrary, they insist: “We are not singling out Israel, and any attempt to argue a double standard is just an attempt to change the conversation.”

Now, we have a litmus test to resolve this debate between Israel and her “human-rights” critics, a way to determine whether it’s concern for the victim or hostility toward the (perceived/accused) victimizer. For more than two years, a civil war has wracked Israel’s neighbor, Syria.

There we find “violations of human rights” beside which even the worst Israeli violations pale. There, in two years, more people have been killed than in 65 years of ArabIsraeli wars; far more civilians have been killed and more than double

the number of refugees have been driven out in a “nakba” (catastrophe) of immense proportions. Both sides of the conflict have shown not just contempt for civilians’ lives, but even targeted civilians. They are unquestionably guilty of war crimes – and even crimes against humanity.

Anyone with genuine concerns for the hundreds of thousands killed, maimed, murdered and raped, driven from their homes, left to die, would surely see this as a far greater “humanitarian catastrophe” for the poor Syrians than any momentary crisis the Israelis have caused in their short military operations. All but the Syrians in the most protected pockets of their land would consider life in Gaza or the West Bank an immeasurable improvement over the terror that rules their land and their lives today. And yet, in comparison with the “flotillas” of human-rights activists eager to shield Palestinians from Israelis, we somehow find little compassion expressed for Syrians, much less activists putting their bodies on the line, to protect Syrian civilians.

Could it be that their empathy for Arabs who are the victims of Arabs, no matter how severe the victimization, is less meaningful to them than Arabs who are victims of Israelis, no matter how trivial?

This suggests that the humanrights community, at least those who are sincere members of it, need to examine and re-examine themselves and their motivations. They need to ask themselves if their agenda has

7

not been hijacked by people with an obsession over blackening Israel’s face, who have abused the language of human rights and the denunciations of its violations – not out of some overzealous but understandable humane concern for those who suffer, but rather motivated by a political agenda that may well be both dishonest and hypocritical, and that has blinded the global community to far more serious problems than those of Israel, one of the most highly selfregulating countries on the planet.

Declining to do so would constitute a double failure and a double loss to the world: It would be a tragedy for the people who are literally dying for help in Syria and Jordan and Lebanon and Turkey (and elsewhere in the world, like Sudan), and it would strengthen the cynical and manipulative abuse of human rights, and weaken the noble, respectful and moral effort to establish and defend them around the world.

Let the many human-rights organizations that have done so much to battle, delegitimize and criticize Israel start giving just some of their time to Syria, a people eager and desperate for help. Let them give the Syrians a moment; let this be the moment of truth.

Rabbi Elchanan Poupko is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Research in Jewish Law at Yeshiva University and the founding editor of the university’s Lamdan-The Wilf Campus Torah Journal.

Land of “herut” and home of the brave from Leviticus that introduces the concept of freedom: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Both nations champion freedom. In the modern body politic, freedom became the guiding principle of democracy that is so cherished by both nations.

In Hebrew, freedom is translated in one of two ways: either as “hofesh” or “herut.” The first definition, hofesh, denotes freedom from external restraints, or the freedom that a slave acquires when he is released from bondage. The second definition, herut, is liberty’s higher register. As Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, posits, “Freedom in the sense [of hofesh] can never be the basis for a free society, for an obvious reason. Sooner or later, my freedom will conflict with yours.” Rabbi Sacks goes on to explain that only with the acquisition of herut – a “constitution of liberty” in which the rule of law is operational – can a society enjoy true freedom.

Herut is what the signatories of both America’s and Israel’s declarations of independence had in mind for their respective nations. Herut makes it possible for my freedom to respect yours.

Yet for all their similarities, there is one startling discrepancy between the two declarations.

America set out to define its vision of independence for all its citizens. Israel, on the other hand, included even those who are not its citizens – namely, the rest of the Jewish people. Israel makes an impassioned plea to Jews from all over the world to “rally to our side in the task of development and to stand by us in the great struggle for the fulfillment of the dream of generations – the redemption of Israel.”

As Americans, Independence Day marks the freedom we gained to pursue our inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But as American Jews, we feel a sense of freedom not only because we are American, but because a Jewish state exists. In this sense, then, it is possible for both the American dream and the Zionist dream to work in tandem. It is a covenant that Diaspora Jews and Israelis entered into on the 5th of Iyar, 1948, and one that we are still bound by today.

It is up to those Jews in America and elsewhere to assist Israel in meeting the impossibly high standards that it set for itself in its declaration – namely, to ensure that the dream of redeeming Israel is fulfilled.

PHOTO/JAMES EMERY

Israel and the United States both champion freedom.

The redemption of Israel is a shared expression that is not based on where someone happens to live.

Israel’s Declaration of Independence proclaimed to the world that its dream concerned far more than just a physical location. Even in the United Nations, Israel reiterates time and time again that its responsibility lies not just with Israelis, but with the Jewish nation as a whole.

And just as Israel will preserve the liberation, well-being and security of a Jew whether he sits in Texas or Tel Aviv, that same Jew shoulders the responsibility to help Israel realize its dream of redemption.

Americans may not have a Diaspora to take care of, but they assume responsibility in other avenues – one being the responsibility toward children. As future inheritors of this planet, Israel shares America’s core values regarding the education of its children. We share the com-

mitment to endowing our children with the knowledge and capacity to improve that inheritance. Educators from both sides of the ocean must “rally by each other’s side” to realize the vision that was defined by the founding fathers and forefathers, respectively – helping the generations that follow us leave the world a better place.

So when we hold our children in our arms and think about the Fourth of July fireworks they enjoyed with us, let’s be sure to instill in them that as free Jews and free Americans, it is up to them to take an active role in making that fleeting light last. ( JNS.org) Simon Klarfeld, formerly a lecturer at Brandeis University with a course on Jewish concepts of freedom and liberty, is the Executive Director for Young Judaea, the oldest Zionist youth movement in the United States.

8

TORAH

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

PARSHAT DEVARIM

How the ninth day of Av became a festival

(Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22)

By

Rabbi

Shlomo Riskin

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace.’” (Zechariah 8:19)

TEMPLE EMETH

194 Grove Street, Chestnut Hill (617) 469-9400 www.templeemeth.org Fri., July 12 Kabbalat Shabbat at 6:00 P.M. Sat., July 13 at 9:30 A.M. and 8:10 P.M. Sun., July 14 at 8:30 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. TISHA B’AV SERVICES Mon., July 15 Reading of Echa at 8:10 P.M. Tues., July 16 at 7:00 A.M. Tisha B’Av Special Mincha at 1:00 P.M. Mincha and Maariv at 8:10 P.M. Daily Services at 7:00 A.M. and 7:00 P.M. All Are Welcome Rabbi Alan Turetz Rabbi Navah Levine, Rabbi-Educator Michael McCloskey, Cantor-Educator Gennady Konnikov, Music Director Samara Katz, Dir. of Congregational Learning Amy Salinger, Nursery School Director Cynthia C. Levitt, Executive Director

T

his week, I would like to explore a number of difficult issues concerning Tisha b’Av. Firstly, the prophet Zechariah, cited above, optimistically declares that our fast days will one day become “joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals.” He therefore cautions us to “love truth and peace.”

We give credence and added strength to this prophecy by changing and lightening the foreboding character of Tisha b’Av by rising from our shivah stools (we must sit on the ground on Tisha b’Av) at mid-day. Likewise, adult males put on their tefillin for the post midday afternoon prayer – despite the fact that Tefilin is called an adornment (“pe’er”) by the prophet Ezekiel. How can we change the character of a day and date of historical destruction, doom and gloom? In every other instance of a festival, the manner in which we celebrate the Kedushat HaYom (sanctity of the day)

ASK THE

REBBETZIN By

The Rebbetzin KORFF

Friday Night 6:30 PM

Kabbalat Shabbat

Saturday 6:45 AM

Morning Minyan

9:30 AM

Shabbat Morning Service & Chapel Minyan

10:45 AM

Family Shabbat Service

11:00 AM

Tot Shabbat (Pre-K)

8:00 PM

Mincha Service

All are Welcome Temple Emanuel Wesley Gardenswartz, Senior Rabbi • Samuel Chiel, Rabbi Emeritus • Michelle Robinson, Rabbi • Elias Rosemberg, Hazzan • Daniel Nesson, Hazzan Sheini 385 Ward Street, Newton, MA 02459 617-558-8100 • www.templeemanuel.com

Welcome people to your synagogue by placing your service times in The Jewish Advocate Call the advertising department today!

617-367-9100 ext.126 or advertising@TheJewishAdvocate.com

Shuls shouldn’t be denigrated Dear Rebbetzin, In my line of work, I visit many different shuls. One day, when I was talking to an officer at one shul, I heard vaguely denigrating comments about the

is determined by the miracles of G-d performed on that day. What miracle occurred on Tisha b’Av that enabled it to become a festival in the future?

Even more paradoxically, it was specifically in the late afternoon of Tisha b’Av, the ninth day of Av that the actual burning of the Holy Temple commenced continuing into the next day, the tenth of Av (B.T. Ta’anit 21a). How can we alleviate the heavy atmosphere of our observance of the day precisely at the time when the destructive flames were beginning to envelop the Temple?

Finally, our biblical reading for Tisha b’Av is taken from the Biblical portion of Va’etchanan, which will be read next week on the Sabbath known as the Sabbath of Comfort (Shabbat Nahamu). Indeed, although the passage opens with a brief description of the corruption of the Israelites and the eventual destruction which will occur after they enter the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 4:2528), it then speaks of the miracle of Jewish survival and the ultimate beginning of Israel as G-d’s elected nation (ibid 29-40). Would not a reading from either of the two biblical portions of Chastisements (Tochechot – Leviticus 26 or Deuteronomy 28) have been more fitting for Tisha b’Av, the day of utter calamity and loss of national sovereignty?

My revered teacher Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik answers these

questions – as well as an edifying insight into the significance of Tisha B’Av – in a commentary on one of the fast day dirges (“kinot”) – “How the Rose of Sharon sat alone,” written by Rabbi Elazar HaKalir. On the words, “The enemy stretched out his hand against the Temple, for we deserved extinction no less than the generation of the flood.” The Rav explained that while the suffering on Tisha b’Av was grievous and horrific, the day also contained an important element of G-d’s “chesed” (loving kindness): The Almighty chose to express His wrath against the corruption and insensitivity of the nation Israel by destroying the inanimate stones of the Holy Temple; G-d razed the Temple to the ground, but He allowed His nation Israel to live.

Israel “deserved the punishment of extinction no less than the generation of the flood,” but G-d chose to destroy His earthly throne, the Holy Temple, as substitute or collateral for Israel. In this manner, G-d demonstrates the eternality of His covenant with Israel; Israel may be punished but we will never be destroyed. Israel remains G-d’s covenantal nation; Israel will ultimately repent and Israel will ultimately be redeemed and will redeem the world. (Kinot in the Tradition of the Rav, Lookstein Edition, OU –Koren Press pp. 282-3) This is the force of the biblical reading from Va’ethanan on Tisha

people at another about a mile up the road. I have met those people and they seemed perfectly kind.

I understand that people are proud of their own shuls, and that’s why they choose to belong to one and not another. But I was shocked that a leader in the community would make such an expression of personal dislike for a whole congregation. I felt as if I was being asked to take sides! I still don’t know what to make of it. What do you think?

SHOCKED

dition, not in keeping with either the letter or the spirit of Judaism, and very wrong for anyone, never mind leaders of any synagogue or the community.

Dear Shocked, Unfortunately I’m disappointed but not at all surprised, since I am aware that this happens fairly often and regularly.

It is obviously against our tra-

Singles can’t avoid unwanted questions Dear Rebbetzin, I am in my late 20s. All of my friends are married or getting married, but I am in a happy, committed relationship and feel secure even without the ring on my finger. I don’t want to rush things and simply want to enjoy my life right now. The only thing that bothers me is pressure from everybody else. Friends constantly list acquaintances who are getting engaged/married, and family members ask when

b’Av. After the text states that because of Israel’s perverseness and idolatry she “will be destroyed – yes, destroyed” (Deuteronomy 4:25), the very next verse lightens the punishment to exile and dispersion, promises that Israel will seek out G-d and repentance, and declares that our G-d of compassion will never forsake or destroy us; He will never forget the covenant He swore to our fathers. (ibid 4:29-32) It is this Divine guarantee that emerges from Tisha b’Av that enables the Ninth Day of Av to become a festival (“mo’ed”) once Israel learns to appreciate the lesson of the day and becomes worthy of the fulfillment of the Cove-

Our G-d of compassion will never forsake or destroy us; He will never forget the covenant He swore to our fathers. nant. And this is why it is precisely when the flames were devouring and destroying the physical stones of the Temple, but not wiping out the Jewish people, that Jewish law alleviates the somber and burdensome atmosphere of the day by allowing us to rise from sitting on the ground and to adorn ourselves with the tefillin.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is Chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone and Chief Rabbi of Efrat, Israel.

I’ll be ready to start having children.

I know such questions are a common problem, especially for women. A man my age would not have to put up with such treatment, and the double standard is irritating. Is there a way to ward off these unwanted questions without upsetting anyone?

HAPPILY SINGLE Dear Happily Single, No, unfortunately there is not.

The best you can do is to just smile and move on. Or perhaps tell them that the Torah teaches us that we can only do what we can do – and, ultimately, these things are all in G-d’s hands and will happen when the time and timing is right.

Serving the needs of New England’s Jewish Community.

Visit The Jewish Advocate’s website today.

www.TheJewishAdvocate.com For advertising information please call (617)367-9100 x126 or x144 Email Advertising@TheJewishAdvocate.com.

PARENTING

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE JULY 12, 2013

9

On the knife edge of history: the story of Harold Berry [Editor’s note: The following story told by Harold Berry, which has been edited slightly to conform to The Advocate’s style, is an excerpt from Debra B. Darvick’s book “This Jewish Life: Stories of Discovery, Debra Connection & B. Darvick Joy.�]

F

rom the time I was I was 6 years old, my Hebrew teachers continually impressed upon my classmates and me how great Israelis were. By the time we were teenagers, we had grown weary of their claims of greatness. “If they’re so great,� my friends and I would mutter to one another at the back of the classroom, “why do they need our help so much?�

Our sarcasm was rooted in adolescent cynicism – and perhaps faint resentment, as well, of the large amounts of time our fathers spent in helping the Jewish homeland become a state.

Over the years, however, my teachers’ refrain took root in my psyche. Coupled with the fact that my mother, father and grandparents raised me on the Zionist dream, I became unabashedly committed to the idea of the restoration of the Jewish people in Israel. The dream didn’t become reality until I was in my early 20s, coincidentally the age my son was when he and I journeyed to Israel in the wake of the Six-Day War. Our trip was a two-week whirlwind sponsored by our local federation. By the end of those 14 days, we knew just how great the Israelis were. On the go from sunrise to sunset, we saw Israeli flags every-

where. We saw the carner, I glanced into the nage in the wake of the doorway of a barbershop battle, the total ruination in the Arab quarter of that drove home what the Old City. An Israeli the Israelis had actually soldier was slouched in done when confronted by a battered wooden chair a crisis of survival. I will getting a shave. What never forget the spirit of an element of trust there life and relief that perhad to be for an Israeli meated the air. The state soldier to have laid his riwas suffused not with the fle by his dusty boots and glory of might but the exposed his throat to the glory of life-affirming blade of an Arab barber. survival. Everywhere we It was the kind of mowent, from the Sinai to ment when something El Arish, from the West cataclysmic could have Bank to the Galilee in happened and didn’t. the north, Israelis were I didn’t realize it at the gathering up captured time, but that knife and tanks, loading them on the scene framing it in flat railroad cars. It was the dusky alcove in the a flash of history that Old City epitomized the many do not see. Unbeentire span of events of knownst to us, there was the next 40 years, as if in an event of even deeper the aftermath of the Sixhistorical significance yet Debra B. Darvick wrote “This Jewish Life: Stories of Day War, all of Israel’s Discovery, Connection & Joy.� to come. fate was on the knife Although we couldn’t edge of that blade. wait to wash away the grit of the around and head in the general diTo be in Israel at the time my road when we arrived in Jerusalem rection of our hotel. son and I were there, was to be in late afternoon, I felt it was only Then I caught the phrase in a country at a fluid time in its right to go to the Wall first. We “Tishah B’Av� in the blur of a history. At that point, the Arabs joined the throngs of people mak- passing Israeli’s Hebrew and un- were in complete shock over all ing their way to the plaza where derstood why there were so many that had happened. The Israelis’ the last remnant of the outer wall people shoving to be close to the victory had not only stunned the of the Second Temple still stood. Wall. Tishah B’Av acknowledges Arabs but the Jews as well. Who Mind you, there wasn’t this nice, the destruction of the First and the hell had expected the Israelis sanitized plaza and neat little Second Temples. As it happened, to win? Despite what our teachers checkpoint booths you see today. my son and I were present when, had told us year after year, despite Instead of modern lighting, bare for the first time in nearly 2,000 all the prayers and Bunyanesque bulbs had been strung up catch- years, the Wall was under Jew- rhetoric of 10-foot-tall Israelis, as-catch-can, nothing permanent ish sovereignty on the eve of this they were mightily outnumbered or secure looking about any of it. mournful holiday. We, sons and and outgunned. Yet in a desperWe tried to get close enough to grandsons of passionate Zionists, ate move of self-preservation, they touch the Wall, but it was impos- were present on the very twilight had charged the door and the door sible. We were just two hungry and when the Jews’ holiest site was had come right down. I think the tired specks in a mob of sweating, once again in Jewish hands.

Israelis were as astounded as the pushing people. We were so worn On the way to our hotel, ready Arabs when the door collapsed. It out that all we could do was turn for a good shower and some din- was as if in those early days the Is-

raelis were saying, “Well, what do we do now?�

Right after the war the situation was liquid, like molten steel before it hardens. You would have hoped something could have been reshaped. The tragedy was the Arab reaction. I always had the feeling the Israelis would have gladly given back something had someone reached out in peace. There is historical precedent for the exchange of populations after war. The Arabs’ reaction was, “No recognition. No peace.� So the situation hardened and Israel has since been faced with this decades-long occupation. People think life goes on.

Well, it does, but not always as well as it could have. Once you lose an opportunity, that molten moment, it is gone for good. Such possibilities don’t come around too often.

And today, three decades later, what Israel is left to work with is steel.

I often think back on that evening when my son and I were two mere specks in a crowd we later learned was 30,000 strong. It occurred to me the next morning that I had been present at something as historic as witnessing the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, as defining as being upon the grassy knoll on Nov. 22, 1963. And because I was there, my zeide was there and so was my bubbe and my parents and all the teachers whose arrogance I now realize was an unfulfilled hope, that one day the world would see them as they saw themselves – victorious, independent, and ten feet tall.

Debra B. Darvick’s essays and feature stories have appeared in dozens of publications. She can be reached at www.debradarvick.com.

How to avoid massive student loan debts Experts say fiscal responsibility needs to be taught to students at early age

By StatePoint Media

W

ith college costs skyrocketing, more students and their parents are waking to the realization that they are trapped under massive debts. It doesn’t have to be this way, say experts.

The numbers are staggering, as 65 percent of student loan borrowers misunderstand or are surprised by aspects of their student loans, according to studies. And student loans account for the most common form of increasing debt among ages 18 to 24, with 60 percent of students graduating with an average of $24,572.45 in student loan debt.

Students are not being taught enough financial responsibility, according to experts at Lexington Law, a leading provider of consumer credit correction services.

Only four states require a class in financial education. As such, many educators are urging greater financial education requirements.

In the meantime, there are things students can do to avoid getting buried under debt. A recent survey revealed that one in three graduates would have pursued one of the following, if they could do it all over again:

• Scholarships. • Financial aid. • Started saving earlier. • Pursued higher paying majors. • Worked while in college.

Parents and students can access free financial education tips and services at www.lexingtonlaw.com.

Remember, a little knowledge can help secure your wallet.

ation Applic ne d Dea li

5th July 1

A Weekend Outdoor Adventure in the Blue Hills 6:00pm Friday July 19th Sunday noon July 21st Day-Only OR Overnight Tent Camping Option Join Temple Shalom of Milton, Temple Beth David of the South Shore & Mosaic Outdoor Mountain Club Hiking, Biking, Swimming, High or Low Ropes Course, Games & Activities for Adults and Kids, and much, much more!

Registration Required: Go to www.TempleShalomOnLine.org for more information and to complete the online application (or call the Temple office 617-698-3394 to have information sent) PHOTO/LEXINGTON LAW

Student loan debts are a problem for parents and students across the country.

This program is supported in pa

10

I

COOKING

do not understand why people like – or, should I say, love – super-hot and spicy foods.

I have watched TV shows during which people eat foods that are so hot, the peppers that provide the heat must be handled with gloves.

Those who star on such shows earn money for their daring eating habits, but regular folks just get Joni their pictures on Schockett a wall for burning off their taste buds, breaking into a cold sweat, and (sometimes) feeling so miserable they even cry. It’s strange.

Still, almost everyone I know loves these delicacies, so I comply and make everything from hot and spicy baked potatoes to red-hot chicken, as well as other sauces and rubs, for everyone’s heat-loving taste buds. Personally, I am one of those who play it safe with my mouth and keep things on the mild, not wild, side. But why is that?

There are plenty of reasons why people love (or hate) spicy foods.

And, surprisingly, there are many scientific studies about who likes heat-infused food and why.

Studies have shown that many people who like hot foods are also risk takers – a lot of the same people who like to bungee jump, for example, also like hotter and spicier foods. The risk of eating a spicy food and not knowing just how hot it may be is akin to the adrenalin rush of a bungee jump or roller coaster. Conversely, risk-averse people tend to like their foods mild and prefer to keep their heart rates much slower.

Cultural norms are another reason people like hot foods.

People from certain cultures give their children spicy foods at a very young age, so those foods become the norm for their taste buds and do not elicit the extreme responses that come from one not used to such spices.

Genetics also play a role in whether one will like heat in their foods. Taste receptors on our taste buds are, to some degree, inherited.

So if your parents love hot peppers, you are more likely to love them also. But just how hot is hot?

The Scoville Scale is an index the measures the heat of certain peppers. Bell peppers are the least hot and do not even register on the scale while the hottest, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper, registers a whopping 2 million Scoville units.

(The Scotch Bonnet, which is so hot that one must wear gloves when handling it, doesn’t even come close at 150,000 to 325,000 units; this is the same pepper often found in those eating contest sauces.)

So, if roasted red bell peppers is about as high as you want to travel on this scale, take heart: Most people can eat only about 10,000 to 20,000 units, the measurement of straight tabasco sauce, before feel-

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

Spicing it up

ing some effects of the heat.

Enjoy the heat of July with some heat in your food! ***

Hot Southwestern BBQ Chicken (Meat) This is typical Southwestern fare.

It’s hot, spicy and pungent.

***

Jerk Chicken (Meat)

• 2-3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil • 1 large onion, shopped • 4 cloves garlic, finely minced • 1-1/2 cups ketchup • 1/2 cup pineapple juice (from can of chunks) reserve chunks • 2-3 tbsp. light corn syrup or golden syrup (pure cane syrup) • 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce • 2 tsp. chili powder • 1 tsp. cumin • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Be warned: This is hot, hot, hot!

Jerk Chicken

Optional: For more heat – Tabasco sauce, to taste 3-4 pounds chicken pieces, skin on Extra-virgin olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste Heat a medium saucepan and add the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until lightly golden, about 7-10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Stir frequently and simmer until slightly reduced and thickened, about 4-7 minutes.

Wash and pat the chicken pieces dry. Rub with olive oil and place on a hot grill, breast side down, thigh side down. Let cook for about 10 minutes or until the chicken easily releases. Turn the chicken and immediately baste the top of the chicken with the hot sauce and continue basting throughout the rest of the cooking time. Baste more frequently during the final 15 minutes of grilling. Place the chicken on a platter and baste once more or drizzle the rest of the sauce over the chicken.

Garnish with pineapple chunks.

Serves 6.

pepper, chili powder, cayenne and chives. Mix well.

Place the butter on a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap in a log about an inch in diameter. Roll the plastic wrap over the butter and twist and at both ends to form a log.

Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Brush each side of the fish with canola oil, and season with salt and pepper. Grill to desired degree of doneness and place on serving plates. Top with pats of the pepper butter and let it melt over the hot fish. Serves 6.

***

Optional: 1/4 - 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, to taste (You can adjust the amounts of garlic and ginger, to taste. Use elephant garlic because it is a gentler, milder garlic flavor which allows the ginger to come through.)

Using a microplane grater, grate the garlic and ginger into a medium bowl. Add the brown sugar and mix into a paste. Add the apricot jam and juice and mix well. Transfer into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 3 minutes and turn off heat. Use half to baste the chicken after it has been turned once.

(Because of the sugars, the sauce will burn if you put it on too soon) Use the rest as a condiment. Serves 5-7.

Grilled Halibut with Roasted Red Pepper Butter (Dairy or Pareve) • 1/2 stick butter or trans-fat free pareve margarine, softened • 6 tbsp. chopped, roasted red pepper • 2 tsp. chili powder • 1/4 to 3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper • 2 tbsp. fresh snipped chives • 6 halibut steaks, about 6-8 ounces each • Canola oil • Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Roast the red peppers over an open flame until charred on all sides.

Place in a paper bag, close the bag tightly and set aside for about 15 minutes. When cool, remove the pepper from the paper bag. The charred skin will peel off easily. Discard the skin, cut the pepper in half and discard the seeds and white pith.

Dice the red pepper and set aside.

Place the softened butter in a small bowl and mix. Add the red

oncini, cucumber slices, and tomatoes evenly on each plate. Sprinkle crumbled feta cheese on each salad.

Place a grilled salmon fillet on each plate and place pepper strips over the salmon. Drizzle with dressing of your choice. Serves 4.

***

Hot Apricot Ginger Sauce for Chicken (Pareve) This is delicious with or without heat, but even I like a little heat in this.

Keep it refrigerated for up to a week.

It’s great on cold chicken sandwiches.

• 2-3 pounds chicken pieces, skin on • 1 large clove elephant garlic • 1- 2- inch thumb of fresh ginger, peeled • 1 jar apricot jam or preserves, about 10-12 ounces • Pinch salt • 2 tbsp. light brown sugar, to taste • 1/4 cup orange juice

***

Hot and Spicy Steak and Burger Rub (Pareve) • • • • •

1 tsp. onion powder 1 tsp. chili powder 1 tsp. black pepper 1 tsp. white pepper 1 tsp. cayenne pepper

• • • • •

2 tsp. ground ginger 1 tsp. kosher salt 1 tbsp. garlic powder 1 tbsp. paprika 2 tbsp. dark-brown sugar

Mix all ingredients and rub on both sides of steaks (or burgers) 10 minutes before grilling. You can adjust the heat by cutting down the amounts of black and white pepper and the cayenne. Or, conversely, you can increase the heat by increasing any of the peppers. Makes about 1/2 cup. ***

Cajun Mediterranean Salmon Salad (Dairy) We had this in a beachfront restaurant and enjoyed it tremendously. We came home and recreated it fairly well.

You can make it with plain grilled or poached salmon.

• 4 salmon fillets, about 6-8 ounces each • 6-8 cups mixed field greens • 2 roasted red peppers, • 2 roasted yellow peppers • 1 jar pepperoncini peppers • Grape tomatoes • 2-4 small pickling cucumbers, sliced • Feta cheese • Olives • Greek dressing Cajun Rub for Salmon: • 1 tsp. garlic powder • 1 tsp. onion powder • 1 tsp. paprika • 1/2 -1 tsp. cayenne pepper • 1/2 tsp. black pepper • 1/2 tsp. salt • 1/2 tsp. thyme • 1/2 -1 tsp. sugar

Mix all rub ingredients together and rub on both sides of the fish 10 minutes before grilling.

Roast the peppers or buy jarred, roasted peppers. To roast the peppers, brush the outside with oil and place on a foil-lined cookie sheet.

Roast at 400 degrees until charred on all sides. Remove and place immediately in a paper bag. Fold the bag closed and leave for about 1525 minutes. Peel the charred skin off the peppers and cut the peppers into strips, discarding the seeds and white pith. Allow a half pepper of each color per person.

Divide the greens evenly among 4 plates. Arrange olives, pepper-

• 1/3 cup pineapple juice • 1/4 cup orange juice • 3 cloves garlic, minced • 2 tbsp. dark-brown sugar • 1 tsp. salt • 1 tsp. cinnamon • 1 tsp. allspice • 1 tsp. cayenne pepper • 1/2 tsp. ground thyme • 2 tbsp. hot pepper sauce (more to taste) • 1/2 cup onion, minced • 4 scallions, minced • Juice from 1 lime • 3 tbsp. Canola oil • 2 pounds chicken pieces, even sizes (cut breasts in half) or use all legs and thighs or all breasts, boneless and skinless works well also.

Optional: 1 can pineapple chunks, 1 lime for garnish.

Mix all the ingredients together, except the chicken. Divide the marinade in half. Place half in a large glass bowl and add the chicken. Toss to coat all the pieces.

Cover and refrigerate for about 1-3 hours. Reserve the rest of the marinade in a small glass bowl, cover and refrigerate.

Grill the chicken until cooked through. Discard any marinade the chicken was in.

Bring remaining marinade to a boil and boil for 3-5 minutes.

Place chicken on a platter and garnish with lime slices and pineapple chunks. Serve hot marinade as a sauce for rice or even for mashed sweet potatoes. Serves 4-6. ***

Spicy Grilled Eggplant (Pareve) 2 globe eggplants (use regular eggplants if you cannot find globes) 6-8 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 3-5 cloves garlic, finely minced 1 tbsp. red-wine vinegar 1/2 to 1 tsp. red pepper flakes 2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley Slice washed but unpeeled eggplants about 1/4-inch thin.

Salt slices and place in a colander to drain for about 30 minutes.

Rinse completely and set aside on paper towels.

Brush each side of each slice of eggplant with olive oil. Reserve the rest of the olive oil.

Grill until you have nice grill marks and the eggplant is tender, about 5-6 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, mix the remaining olive oil, garlic, wine vinegar, pepper flakes and parsley together and whisk to blend.

Place the eggplant on a platter and drizzle with the dressing.

Serve with crumbled feta cheese or garnish with olives. Serves 4-6.

COMMUNITY EVENTS/CALENDAR/CELEBRATIONS

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE JULY 12, 2013

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’ Through 7/21: Based on the stories of Sholem Aleichem. Featuring Scott Wahle and Donna Sorbello. Directed by Kirby Ward.

At the Reagle Music Theatre in Waltham.

Visit www.reaglemusictheatre.com or call 781-891-5600.

ASSAF KEHATI TRIO & NICK GRONDIN GROUP 7/14: 12:30 p.m. At Lily Pad in Cambridge. Visit www.lily-pad.net.

‘MAGIC CAMP’ 7/14: 2 p.m. Documentary about a magician camp for children. Q&A with director Judd Ehrlich. Presented by the Boston Jewish Film Festival and the Outside the Box Festival. At Emerson Paramount Center in Boston. Contact jremz@bjff.org.

HANDEL’S ‘ESTHER’ 7/14-16: 8 p.m. Performed by Jessica Cooper, Erika Vogel, Von Bringhurst, Yakov Zamir, James Dargan, Thomas B. Dawkins, and members of Koleinu. Presented by the Sons of Liberty Festival. At The Church of the Covenant in Boston. Visit www.brownpapertickets.com or www.artsboston.org for tickets.

‘THE GATEKEEPERS’ 7/16: 7 p.m.

Interviews with six former heads of Israel’s internal security service. At the Falmouth Jewish Congregation Community Center in East Falmouth. Visit www.falmouthjewish. org or call 508-540-0602.

DI BOSTONER KLEZMER 7/18: 6:45 p.m. Featuring Cory Pesaturo (accordion), Richie Davis (drums) and Dena Ressler (clarinet.) At Payson Park in Belmont.

Contact klezmer@yiddishmusic.com or 877-YIDDISH. KLEZMER CONSERVATORY BAND

7/18: 7 p.m. Under the direction of Hankus

Netsky. Part of Yidstock Festival of New Jewish Music. At the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org/ yidstock.

‘ALIYAH’ 7/18: 8 p.m. Parisian drug dealer contemplates a new life in Tel Aviv.

Presented by the Boston French Film Festival and Boston Jewish Film Festival.

At Remis Auditorium at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Visit www.mfa.org or email jremz@bjff.org.

YIDDISH FOLK DANCE 7/19: 3:30 p.m. Workshop with instructor Steve Weintraub. Part of Yidstock Festival of New Jewish Music. At the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst.

Visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org/yidstock.

INSTRUMENTAL KLEZMER 7/19: 5 p.m. Workshop with Brian Bender of Yiddishkeit Klezmer Ensemble. Part of Yidstock Festival of New Jewish Music. At the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org/ yidstock.

GUY MENDILOW ENSEMBLE 7/20: 2 p.m. Performs ‘Tales from the Forgotten Kingdom: Ladino Songs Renewed’ in a free concert. Presented by the New Center for Arts and Culture as part of the Outside the Box Festival. On the Boston Common. Visit www.ncacboston.org.

KLEZPERANTO AND MARGOT LEVERETT AND THE KLEZMER MOUNTAIN BOYS 7/20: 7 p.m. Two bands that fuse klezmer with American folk traditions. Part of Yidstock Festival of New Jewish Music. At the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org/ yidstock.

WHOLESALE KLEZMER BAND 7/21: Noon. Family concert. Free admission for children under 12. Part of Yidstock Festival of New Jewish Music. At the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org/yidstock.

BRASS KHAZONES 7/21: 2 p.m.

Trumpeters Steven Bernstein and Frank London play cantorial music. Part of Yidstock Festival of New Jewish Music. At the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Visit www. yiddishbookcenter.org/yidstock.

GOLEM 7/21: 4 p.m. Punk-klezmer from Brooklyn. Part of Yidstock Festival of New Jewish Music. At the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org/ yidstock.

SHY BEN TZUR & THE RAJASTHAN GYPSIES 7/21: 4 p.m. American premiere of Israeli and Indian ensemble that fuses Hebrew poetry and India’s Qawwali tradition of devotional music. On Boston City Hall Plaza. Presented by Boston Jewish Music Festival as part of the Outside the Box Festival. Visit www.outsidetheboxboston.org.

SOUTH SHORE BLUES FEST 7/21: 5 p.m. Featuring Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Toni Lynn Washington, Boston Baked Blues, with the Temple Horns. At Ahavath Torah Congregation in Stoughton. Contact office@ atorah.org or 781-344-8733.

YIDSTOCK ALL-STARS 7/21: 7 p.m.

Jam session including musicians from many of the bands playing Yidstock Festival of New Jewish Music. At the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org/yidstock.

‘KISSING JESSICA STEIN’ 7/22: 7 p.m. Part of the Images of Jewish Women in American Film. Presented by the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, JCC of the North Shore and North Suburban JCC. At Aviv Centers in Peabody. Contact sfeinstein@rilcf.org or 978-740-4431.

‘HOW TO RE-ESTABLISH A VODKA EMPIRE’ 7/24: 7 p.m. Documentary filmmaker Dan Edelstyn investigates his Jewish-Ukrainian heritage and reopens his great-grandfather’s vodka distillery. At the Falmouth Jewish Congregation Community Center in East Falmouth. Visit www. falmouthjewish.org or call 508-540-0602.

YIDDISH SING 7/25: 7:30 p.m. Informal gathering to sing Yiddish folksongs. Musical instruments are welcome. At the Workmen’s Circle Center in Brookline. Call 617-7760448.

CHALLAHPALOOZA: THE BERKSHIRE JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL 7/28: 7 p.m. Featuring Sam Glaser. At Duffin Theatre at the Lenox Memorial High School in Lennox. Presented by Chabad of the Bershires.Visit www.jewishberkshires. com or call 413-499-9899.

TEN PAINTINGS BY NERI AVRAHAM Through 7/29: Israeli-born artist living with autism meditates on the distinction between house and home. “Meet the artist” event on 7/24 at 3:30 p.m. At Hebrew SeniorLife in Roslindale. Call 617-363-8000.

‘BEYOND GENOCIDE’ Through 8/17: Illuminated manuscripts by Amy Fagin.

At the Old Academy Building Museum and Cultural Center in New Salem. Visit www.20thcenturyilluminations.com.

‘DEAD SEA SCROLLS: LIFE IN ANCIENT TIMES’ Through 10/20: At the Museum of Science in Boston. Visit www. mos.org.

EVENTS SHABBAT EVENING SERVICE WITH BRYNA TABASKY AND THE TEMPLE CHOIR 7/12: 7 p.m. At Temple Tifereth Israel in Malden.

BOOMER SHABBAT 7/12: 7:30 p.m.

Shabbat service with live music from the repertoire of CSN&Y, James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and others. At Falmouth Jewish Congregation in East Falmouth. Visit www.falmouthjewish. org or call 508-540-0602.

JEWISH BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS HOME RUN DERBY 7/14: 2 p.m. Sponsored by Temple Israel. West School Softball Field in Stoughton. Contact Nathan@jbbbs.org.

SUMMER OF SERVICE KICKOFF: COMMUNITY SERVICE OPEN HOUSE 7/17: 7 p.m. For young adults seeking volunteer opportunities in July and August. Presented by The Network and JCRC. Contact jeffg@cjp.org or call 617457-8666.

KABBALAT SHABBAT WITH PROJECT REPAT 7/19: 7 p.m. Friday-night services with talk by founders of Project Repat, who “upcycle” T-shirts into blankets.

Dinner served. Presented by Havurah on the Hill. At Vilna Shul on Beacon Hill. Visit www.vilnashul.org.

GOSPEL KABBALAT SHABBAT 7/19: 7:15 p.m. Featuring the Boston Community Choir. At Ahavath Torah Congregation in Stoughton. RSVP for Shabbat Dinner: office@atorah.org or 781-344-8733.

CONSERVATIVE/MASORTI MEN AT THE CROSSROADS: RESPONDING TO A CHANGING WORLD 7/24-28: Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs Biennial Convention. At the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel Boston North Shore in Danvers. Visit www.fjmc.org.

EXCURSIONS JEWS IN THE WILD 7/19-21: Camping in the Blue Hills. For adults and families. Live music. Sponsored by Temple Shalom of Milton, Temple Beth David of the South Shore, and Mosaic Outdoor Mountain Club of MA, with support from CJP. Call 617-319-9267.

40+ SINGLES TRIP TO MYSTIC 8/10: Chartered bus to Mystic and Legends in Concert in Foxwoods. Buffet included.

Couples welcome. Contact datemeimjewish@gmail.com or 508-333-1466.

FAMILY CIRCUS SMIRKUS 7/13-14: Youth circus presented by Worcester JCC. At Wachusett Mountain in Westminster. Visit www.Worcesterjcc.org.

SHABBAT-THEMED STORY TIME WITH DEVORAH BUSH 7/18: 10:30 a.m. Songs, stories, and challah for children ages 3 and up. Co-sponsored by Chabad Chai Center of Brookline. At Brookline Booksmith in Brookline. Contact devorah@ getchai.com.

P.J. LIBRARY GOES TO THE BEACH 7/21: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Bring a dairy picnic lunch. At Powisset Pond at JCC Grossman Camp in Westwood. Register at bostonjcc. org/pjbeach2013 or call 617-558-6587.

P.J. LIBRARY HOT DIGGETY DOG SHABBAT 7/26: 5:30 -7 p.m. Families with young children invited. Shabbat service. Kosher hot dogs. Vegetarian food also available. Sponsored by the Lappin Foundation, CJP, Temple Ahavat Achim and Temple B’nai Abraham. By the lake at Camp Menorah in Essex. RSVP: posher@ lappinfoundation.org or 978-749-4404.

LECTURES & READINGS HEBREW NATIONAL SALVAGE: REDISCOVERING LOST MUSICAL TREASURES 7/19: 1 p.m. With musicologist and NEC Professor Hankus Netsky. Part of Yidstock Festival of New Jewish Music. At the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org/ yidstock.

ROCKIN’ THE SHTETL: THE ESSENTIAL KLEZMER 7/19: 2 p.m. With author and critic Seth Rogovoy. Part of Yidstock Festival of New Jewish Music. At the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org/ yidstock.

NEW RIFFS: IMPROVISING A CONTEMPORARY YIDDISH CULTURE 7/20: 4 p.m. With Yiddish Book Center founder Aaron Lansky and critic/author Seth Rogovoy. Part of Yidstock Festival of New Jewish Music. At the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org/ yidstock.

ADULT LEARNING SERIES Thursdays until 8/15: 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Topics range from the Roaring Twenties, Golda Meir and Renaissance Art. A program of the Ryna Greenbaum JCC Center for the Arts. At Temple Beth Avodah in Newton.

Registration: seniors@jccgb.com or 617558-6443.

MIND & BODY SHABBAT AFTERNOON MEDITATION RETREAT 7/13: 1:30-5:30 p.m.

Led by Yoheved Sheila Katz and Bobbi Isberg. Theme: Parashat Devarim and Shabbat Chazon. Kosher snacks provided.

At Temple Beth Zion in Brookline. Cosponsored by Nishmat Hayyim. Contact isberg@comcast.net.

11

MWJDS names new Education Director FRAMINGHAM – The MetroWest Jewish Day School (MWJDS) board of directors has announced the appointment of Rav-Hazzan Scott Sokol (pictured), Ph.D., as Director of Education. “As an educational innovator and implementer, Dr. Sokol has a vast array of qualifications that make him uniquely qualified for this position,” said Dr. Barry Ruthfield, Co-President of the MWJDS board of directors. Sokol will co-direct MWJDS with the Director of Institutional Advancement. In addition to dual ordination as a Rabbi and Cantor, he has spent 25 years in the fields of psychology and education, both secular and Jewish, as a licensed psychologist and board-certified pediatric neuropsychologist with expertise in child development and learning. Dr. Lindsay Farrer, Co-President, MWJDS Board of Directors, said, “These structural changes will continue to provide an even more exciting and engaging individualized educational program for a wide range of learners.”

Technion Alumni head visits Hub BOSTON - Eyal Kaplan (pictured), partner, Walden Israel Venture Capital, and head of the Technion Alumni Association in Israel, met with Technion supporters during his recent visit to Boston. Kaplan met with Aaron Kleiner, Kurzweil Technologies’ co-founder, Vice Chairman and CFO. He dined with Boston-area younger alumni and with Newton residents Ruth Fax (a New England Region board of directors member) and Jeffrey Borenstein. Kaplan also spoke for the Technion Business Council, hosted by PTC.

Logins welcome son Dylan Joel Adam and Melanie (Shain) Login announce the birth of their son, Dylan Joel Login.

Dylan was born June 8 at 2:52 a.m. He weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces, and measured 20 inches long. He is the grandson of Lesley and Michael Shain of Canton, and Sandy and Elyse Login of Fort Lee, N.J.

TISHA B’AV TISHA B’AV SERVICES AND FILM SCREENING 7/15: 9 p.m. At the Chai Center in Brookline. Visit www.getchai.com.

MIXERS MIDSUMMER NIGHT ROOFTOP WHITE PARTY 7/22: 7:30 p.m. Tu B’Av Party for singles. Cash bar. At Bliss in Boston. RSVP: www.GetChai.com/WhiteParty.

Deborah Shain engaged to Dustin Worthington Lesley and Michael Shain of Canton are happy to announce the engagement of their daughter Deborah Shain to Dustin Worthington, son of Marci and Randy McCabe of Port Byron, Ill., and Bill Worthington and Debbie Blair of Des Moines, Iowa.

Deborah is presently studying to become a nurse practitioner and Dustin is a superintendent at Turner Construction.

The couple met in Mississippi while volunteering for Hurricane Katrina relief. They are planning a fall wedding on Cape Cod.

RECORDS MANAGEMENT 15 Corporations Seek Partners/Investors For National (3000+Offices In USA) International-Israel Expansion • Unique Industries! • No Competition!

• Earn Pot'l 3 Million$ To 20 Million$ Per Year • Investment $299k Down/Terms-Financing Available

1-877-359-3444

12

FOCUS ON BROOKLINE

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

Focus on Brookline

For agency owners, helping travelers is a Bler Couple’s business has now operated on Brookline’s Harvard Street for two decades

By Jonah Naghi

for planning trips to Israel, but they actually plan trips all over the world for individuals, families, groups, corporations and synagogues. A portion of their income also goes to the Libi Fund, which benefits the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). “[Libi] is a fundraising organization for the Israeli army,” he said.

“Part of the income goes to support Israeli soldiers.”

Erenfeld touted the advantages using travel agencies instead of booking a trip over the Internet. If something goes wrong with someone’s travel plans, for example, that person can turn to an agency representative for assistance – a luxury the Internet doesn’t always provide.

“Once you book a trip, things change,” he said. “The airline cancels the flight, train changes the

time, things happen and then you need somebody who can rearrange all those things. …We save people thousands of dollars when it comes to those kinds of situations.”

Erenfeld said ticket prices at travel agencies are also, on average, cheaper than those found online. He added that one of the first questions that he and his wife ask customers is the amount of their budget.

“Our approach was always to find people the most convenient, the most beneficial [plan] and, from a budget point of view … to build them a package that really meets their need,” he said. Bler Travel also provides its clients with pre-packaged or customizable arrangements, and help them not only find the best deals for tickets, but arrange plans for hotels and rental cars.

Popular destinations vary from year to year, season to season, or the past 20 years, Bler Travel and holiday to holiday, has served customers who stop but for Jews it seems by its location at 420 Harvard to be mainly Europe.

St. in Brookline.

Erenfeld said Jews President and owner Shimenjoy traveling to and shon Erenfeld moved from Israel witnessing their anto America in 1982. He “reopened” cestors’ lands, usually the travel agency in 1993 with his in the eastern part of wife Rima after having experience in Europe. customer service at a high-tech com“Many Jews love to pany in Israel. go to Europe and to go Bler Travel has been located at 420 Harvard St. “We took it over, but it used to on the footsteps of their in Brookline for 20 years. be another agency,” he said. “We just ancestors; they call them reopened it, re-managed it. …I was ‘heritage tours’ – just to visit the plac- the right choice, Bler Travel does involved in costumer service before es where their family came from,” he its best to bring them back earlier in high-tech companies, so it was a said. than scheduled. good opportunity because of the exWhile Europe remains consisOne of the problems is keeping perience.” tently popular with Jews and non- kosher for Passover. Keeping koThe Erenfelds are best known Jews alike, one non-European coun- sher isn’t much of an issue at any try that Erenfeld cited as being quite a draw is Costa Rica. People like it, he said, because “you can hike, you can see a volcano, and then you can rest on the beach.”

Bler Travel even helps with planning to travel to Muslim counRebates up to $4,500 (gas) or $2,250 (oil) 84 months at 0% Interest to pay tries, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey. Seasonally, other popuMaximize your savings by lar destinations include the Caribreplacing your OLD boiler now: bean in the winter and Alaska in Shimshon Erenfeld is the President the summer.

• One year free service contract • Rebate up to $4,500 $ (gas) or $2,250 $ (oil) with of Bler Travel in Brookline.

0% Įnancing and extended payment terms of 84 months* Although problems will arise *Old Boiler is over 30 years old and new one installed, occasionally, Erenfeld advises cus• $200 Free Oil Delivery Discount Coupons this oīer is exclusive of any other, restricƟons, (Oil accounts only, on automaƟc delivery) limitaƟons and qualiĮcaƟons apply. tomers to be flexible. Sometimes other point in the year because they things can go wrong, he said, but know many places where you can travelers shouldn’t think the rest keep kosher. of the trip is automatically going “There are more and more opto be bad – they can still enjoy the tions for kosher [food], which was remainder of their vacation. But if more difficult to get 10 to 15 years a customer really thinks it wasn’t ago,” Erenfeld said. “It costs more to 508-653-5050 • 800-262-6462 • www.coanoil.com put it together, but we have access to many, many kosher places.”

However, Passover proves to be CALIFORNIA FAUCETS a little bit harder, but the Erenfelds know “business personals” – travel/ marketing companies that take over a whole or part of a hotel and plan kosher meals for special occasions such as Pesach. “They make the kitchen FIND THE kosher for Passover and bring in koDORNBRACHT sher food,” he explained. “Also, there are sometimes cruises that are parPERFECT tially converted to kosher services.”

Theft is another issue. Erenfeld REFLECTION OF noted that while someone’s personal property can be stolen anywhere in YOUR STYLE. the world, statistics indicate that it seems to happen more often in cenGROHE tral Europe, in countries such as Italy and Spain. He recommends that travelers take some common-sense precautions: They should always be aware of their surroundings, avoid Since 1981, Monique’s Bath Showroom’s professional design staff has been putting all of their money in their delivering the highest level of service to our client base of architects, builders, wallet and watch out for pickpockets. interior designers, plumbers and homeowners. We believe service means Ultimately, he said, the benefits of more than just offering products from top manufacturers. We’ll work with traveling outweigh the drawbacks. your design and installation teams to make sure you get exactly what you “I hope people will continue to want on time and free of defects. At Monique’s, we stand by our commitments. travel, because travel, by nature, promoniquesbathshowroom.com vides the people with a lot of different things,” he said. “One is, of course, reIn order to best serve your needs we suggest you call ahead to 123 North Beacon Street laxation; No. 2 is opening themselves make an appointment. 617-923-1167.

Watertown, MA 02472 to other cultures. I hope people will continue to do it for ages.”

Special to The Advocate

F

Save $$$ by reducing your Energy Consumption

OLD BOILER REPLACEMENT SPECIAL!

Limited Ɵme oīer!

ROHL

TOTO

DURAVIT

FOCUS ON BROOKLINE

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE JULY 12, 2013

13

Goldstein turns passion for community into a job The hard-working Selectman talks about his past and present ties to the town of Brookline

By Alexandra Lapkin Advocate Staff

K

enneth Goldstein is a self-described “product of Brookline.” This is the town where he was born, attended the public schools and, after a brief stint in Lexington, came back to work and raise a family.

Goldstein lives in the Fisher Hill neighborhood with his wife, Demee Gambulos, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for a digital publishing company called iMerus, and two daughters: Elena, 16, a student at Brookline High School; and Jillian, 13, who attends Runkle School.

In addition to being a senior partner at the law firm Goldstein & Herndon in Chestnut Hill, he serves on Brookline’s Board of Selectmen, a role that was motivated by his “love of the town, a love for people and politics,” he said. “A feeling that I could add a voice to the town that would be unique and valuable.”

Goldstein specializes in real estate law, land use and litigation, in addition to tax law, probate and estate planning, so his work as a Selectman is very much within his professional turf.

Since he was elected, Goldstein has already made some waves. But he was also careful to add, “I’m not an ideologue and I didn’t come to the job with a notion that I would make radical changes in the way things are done in Brookline,” he said. “I’m much more about preserving the balances that have worked so well for the town over the years than I am about bringing a new, overarching vision to it.”

Goldstein said his work as a Selectman is not “terribly significant” and the changes he’s instituted are not “monumental.” Nonetheless, the town’s very own poet laureate program is a result of his efforts.

In 2012, the Brookline Commission for the Arts appointed Brookline resident Judith Steinbergh for the job. As part of her two-year term, Steinbergh –a published poet, teacher and scholar – is involved in public performances and outreach to schools and community centers in an effort to promote an appreciation of poetry in the town.

Some of Goldstein’s other work on the Board of Selectmen reflects his business experience.

“I’ve always been focused on improving the ability to sustain small business in Brookline and I’ve done a few things to keep our small businesses viable,” he said.

“Our commercial area is one of the things that Brookline should be most proud of.”

Goldstein added that Brookline has a very low vacancy rate in its commercial storefronts and has vi-

brant commercial districts. For instance, “[In] Washington Square, not just on Friday and Saturday night, but on any night, you’ll see a lot of people of all ages enjoying what’s available there,” he said.

In order to keep these commercial areas lively, Goldstein initiated legislation that would allow smallbusiness tax exemptions in order to provide tax incentives for local shops, restaurants, and other local entrepreneurs. According to Goldstein, the legislation currently on the books does not work for many communities in Massachusetts.

Before Goldstein became a Selectman, he served on the town’s Planning Board for 15 years and as its Chairman for five of those years. He described the Planning Board as “ground zero” for landuse development in Brookline.

“As a result, I’ve become very aware of the places in the town that are in need of better development and better use,” he said. “I’ve worked and tried for those places to get developed in the most appropriate sense, in the method that is most conducive to good neighborhoods [while] maintaining a good, healthy tax base.”

Goldstein, who was born in 1959 and spent his childhood in Hancock Village, a community of residential townhouses bordering Chestnut Hill and West Roxbury, has witnessed Brookline’s gradual evolution over the past 50 years or so.

Although he said the town hasn’t gone through any major changes, he noted, “When we were growing up, South Brookline seemed very much an enclave and even to some extent, an enclave of the Jewish community. The town of Brookline has [developed] less identifiable characteristics of its various neighborhoods [in recent decades] … I think we’ve become more homogenous in the very best way and I think it’s less of a divided demographic community.”

Goldstein and his two younger brothers were the first generation to grow up in Brookline. Harvey Goldstein, their father, was the President of Temple Emeth on Grove Street in Chestnut Hill. “I was very much aware that our family roots were Devon Street and Washington Street in Roxbury,” the Selectman said, “and I heard a lot of stories about those days [when I was] growing up.”

The Goldstein boys attended Baker School, from kindergarten through 8th grade, when the town and the rest of the country experienced the radical social change of the 1960s.

“Baker School had a really ‘old-school’ principal, a real disciplinarian and a very strict man – his name was Dr. Robert Newbury. He was an influence not

just on my life, but on all the kids who grew up in South Brookline,” Goldstein said.

While students in other Brookline schools were given the freedom to wear jeans and chew gum in the hallways, Newbury “did his utmost to keep a lid on things,” Goldstein said. At the time, he added, students found those policies “terribly

“I think [Brookline has] become more homogenous in the very best way.”

Kenneth Goldstein

unfair,” but in the long run, he and his classmates benefited from resisting the more tempting aspects of the ’60s and ’70s.

After graduating from Brookline High School in 1977, Goldstein went to on study at Connecticut College and then at Boston University School of Law. In 1988, he and has father founded a law firm, Goldstein & Goldstein, on Union Wharf in Boston’s waterfront area.

When the Big Dig construction project began several years later, the Goldsteins’ clients complained about the traffic and parking problems. The father and son decided to look for a new location for their firm.

“We started looking all over the place – Cambridge and Brighton and Soldiers Field Road – and one day it was like an inspiration came to me,” Goldstein said. “We both live in Brookline, we both know Brookline, [we’ve] been here for a lot of years. Why don’t we make our office in Brookline?” Goldstein & Goldstein moved to Beacon Street in Washington Square and “that was another decision I’ve never regretted,” he said.

After his father died, Goldstein founded the law firm on Boylston Street in Chestnut Hill where he currently works.

Raising a family in Brookline also was not Goldstein’s initial idea, but it came to him in a similar epiphany. When he and his future wife, who moved to Boston from Oklahoma City, began to look for a town in which to settle down, Goldstein would have been happy to stay in Lexington, where he lived at the time.

But Demee, who moved to the

PHOTO/ALEXANDRA LAPKIN

Selectman Kenneth Goldstein sits in his Brookline law office. area for a job at The Boston Phoenix, preferred to live in the city.

“We kind of compromised on Brookline,” he said. “It was a very easy compromise to make. I grew up here and always loved the community,” Goldstein said. And there were other reasons they selected the town: “It combined the urban access and the public transportation availability with the lessstressful density.”

Dissatisfied with your current financial advisor?

It’s time for a second opinion.

If your financial advisor isn’t prescribing the right financial plan or providing you with the personalized attention you deserve, you may want to consider making a switch.

At B.O.C. Financial Services, we’re fully invested

Call 888.828.1690 today!

in your financial health. We have knowledgeable advisors who listen to you, understand your goals, and can create a truly customized financial plan to meet your needs.

For a free second opinion on your financial portfolio, call 888.828.1690. We’ll be happy to meet you at a location and time that is most convenient for you.

BOC FINANCIAL SERVICES Brian J. Allsop Investment Executive

Susan Harkin Investment Executive

Investment and insurance products and services are offered through INFINEX INVESTMENTS, INC. Member FINRA/SIPC. B.O.C. Financial Services is a trade name of Bank of Canton.

Infinex is not affiliated with the bank. Products and services made available through Infinex are not insured by the FDIC or any other agency of the United States and are not deposits or obligations of nor guaranteed or insured by any bank or bank affiliate. These products are subject to investment risk, including the possible loss of value.

www.ibankcanton.com · 557 Washington Street, Canton · 888.828.1690

FOCUS ON BROOKLINE

14

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

Everything is just kosher at Cheryl Anns’ Bakery Family-run operation in Brookline is renowned for its challah and other tasty offerings

By Jonah Naghi Special to The Advocate

C

heryl Anns’ Bakery is said to have the best challah in Brookline, and perhaps even in all of Boston.

The family-run business – located in South Brookline, in The Shops at Putterham – has won “Best of Boston”

for challah twice. It also has an interesting history that revolves primarily around its co-owners, sisters Cheryl and Ann Moore.

The Moore sisters have enjoyed baking ever since they were little.

Cheryl told their story during a recent interview with The Advocate.

“We grew up in a bakery,” she said.

“I went off to school in California, but

while I was in school I was working at a bakery and I ended up working full time in a bakery. My sister [Ann] went to Dunwoody [Institute of Baking] – that’s in Minneapolis. My grandfather went there; my uncle went there. My uncle took over my grandparents’ bakery … basically we’ve been doing it forever. My mother has; all my aunts [have].”

Hospice of the Good Shepherd t Rabbi to consult with clients & families t Hospice staff & volunteers trained in Jewish beliefs and cultural values

The bakery Cheryl and Ann practically grew up in was their grandparents’ in Brockton, which opened in 1942. Working in the family business got them interested in baking professionally, but what they also liked about working there was seeing the smiles on customers’ faces every day. Cheryl said that besides the smell of fresh bread, that’s what she loves most about working in a bakery.

“When you walk into a bakery everybody’s smiling, and I love that part about it,” she said. So in 1985, after Ann finished college at a baking school, their mother helped Cheryl buy the kosher bakery in South Brookline.

Cheryl said they chose the bakery in Brookline because of the location.

The family kept it kosher because it had been a Jewish bakery for 40 years before they owned it and they knew it was a Jewish neighborhood. Additionally, Cheryl said she loves kosher food, such as the challah: “I eat challah every day; I love it. I don’t see the difference, really – it’s not that hard to be kosher.”

She also likes Brookline itself.

“I love this community,” she said.

“They’re very good to me; they’re very loyal to me.” Cheryl added that the business also attracts non-Jewish customers on occasion: “I’ve seen all kinds of kids come through here.”

Over the years, the sisters have supplied their challah to local markets such as BJ’s, Shaw’s, Roche Bros. and, more recently, Stop & Shop. The Stop & Shop chain contacted the bakery to order the challah after word got around that it was so good.

The bakery also supplies local temples that request their challah, such as Temple Emeth in Brookline, and Temple Emanuel, Temple Reyim and Congregation Shaarei Tefilah in

Newton. The same goes for Jewish day schools, including Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston in Newton, Rashi School in Dedham, Kehillah Schechter Academy in Norwood and Maimonides School in Brookline.

Many people may wonder: Since challah is just bread, how can it be something special? How can one challah be different or better than any other? Cheryl explained that her bakery’s challah is “super eggy, and sweet and very soft.” She gave her sister the credit for coming up with the recipe.

“She’s very creative,” said Cheryl. “[She] does it all the time. …A lot of recipes [of ] my grandfather’s, she’ll tweak [them] to make [them] her own. She’s a great baker.”

However, their challah isn’t the bakery’s only product. It also offers a variety of treats. Cheryl and Ann’s sister Joanne, who is the manager of the bakery, and some of the other staff say that some of their more popular products are cinnamon raisin babka, frozen dough (cinnamon rolls), marble sponge cakes and rugelach.

“It’s really homey-tasting and looking,” Joanne said of the bakery’s products. “[Our food] is eggy, soft and cakelike.”

Nevertheless, there are challenges that need to be met. Cheryl said “consistency” is the most challenging aspect of working in a bakery – the staffers have to be consistent with how they bake their bread.

But though it may be challenging, she added, there are also a lot of advantages to operating a family business. Cheryl said those who work in a family-run operation can really depend on each other, an advantage that she summed up in one word: “loyalty.”

And it’s in that same spirit that they dutifully bake for their customers, each and every day.

t Russian Program to support Russian-speaking clients & families

We are a non-profit, community-based home care hospice agency caring for the greater Boston Jewish community since 1978.

(617) 969-6130 ~ www.hospicegoodshepherd.org

Cheryl Moore is co-owner of Cheryl Anns’ Bakery in Brookline.

Cheryl Anns’ Bakery, located in South Brookline, can be found in The Shops at Putterham.

FOCUS ON BROOKLINE

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE JULY 12, 2013

15

Local website battles media giant Brookline.com goes toe-to-toe with town’s Patch site

By Ian Thal Advocate Staff

D

oug Tanger started Brookline.com about 18 months ago out of an office in his home.

The Brookline resident is an experienced businessman. Still, he said, the site is different from his other ventures. “I own other businesses, but this was very personal for me,� he said.

Tanger felt that the town, where he has lived for 17 years, needed an online source for information. “Here we have this community of 60,000 or so that are very active politically,� he said. “A lot of folks like to speak their minds but there isn’t always a place to do it.�

He added that since he launched the website, which serves as a platform for local bloggers, news and a community directory, “The community really did embrace us.�

In May, Brookline.com reported 19,000 page views per month.

A year ago, Tanger estimated, the website had between 300 and 400 pages of content. “We now have [about] 1,200 pages of content,� he said.

The growth of content, created both by local residents whom he describes as “people who love to write� and interns drawn from local colleges, has allowed the site to address some of Brookline’s specific needs. It has thus been tailored to particular groups within the community.

Tanger said the staff is mostly part time and that many of the writers are motivated by the experience of being published. Many contributions are voluntary.

The extensive collection of restaurant reviews and local food includes a subsection on kosher dining and markets. The page on Russian Life in Brookline, which is focused chiefly on Jews from the former Soviet Union who immigrated to Brookline, came about as a suggestion from an advertiser who served that population.

Information on the religious life of Brookline is sparser. “We’d like to find somebody who could undertake an effort to further populate that page,� Tanger said, although he added, “We do have some clergy who have blogged for us.� Other pages serve neighborhoods within the city.

Tanger’s past media experience consists of work in the radio industry. “I owned [stations in] a number of different formats, but the one I spent the most time in, as an owner, was classical music,� said Tanger, who owned the Gloucester-based WBOQ from 1988 to 2003. “I don’t know a lot about classical music, but I do know a lot about running classical music radio stations because I had to learn.�

Tanger, who identifies himself as “middle-aged,â€? added, “Radio station owners from my generation were very, very into – for regulatory reasons ‌ serving the community.â€?

Tanger explained that WBOQ’s audience was “extremely loyal.â€? He noted, “You put an ad on a classical radio station ‌ the advertiser tends to do well because [listeners] recognize that [advertisers] are supporting their local community.â€?

Tanger viewed the situation as analogous to Brookline.com: “Provide a product to the community and you go out and sell advertising, and the advertisers support the product.�

Doug Tanger With commerce comes competition, and in running a website covering Brookline on a daily basis, Tanger is going toe-to-toe with a big player in the form of AOL. com’s local news platform, Patch. com. Patch Media, founded in 2007 by Tim Armstrong before he became President of AOL, is a platform for covering local news.

Select towns (and, in some cases, neighborhoods in larger cities) that might not get extensive news coverage are assigned a dedicated subdomain – in this case, brookline. patch.com. The website has a local editor. Patch Media’s website claims that it serves “over 1,000 communities,� although other sources place the figure between 800 and 900.

After the AOL acquisition in 2009, the local Patches were granted generous budgets for hiring both full time and freelance reporters, and focused on generating local coverage in underserved but economically affluent markets. More recently, with AOL’s acquisition of The Huffington Post and Ariana Huffington’s ascendancy, some have charged that there has been a greater standardization of content.

Patch.com has not yet proven profitable for AOL. Armstrong has expressed confidence that the venture will soon turn a profit.

While not saddled with the expense of paying a full-time staff, Tanger , who as President is the only full-time employee, said that in competing with Patch Media, “The biggest advantage we have [is that] we have the pure domain name, Brookline.com, and there

is an enormous significant upside to having Brookline.com, as opposed to having ‌ a subdomain [name].�

He explained, “The person who owns the pure name has a tremendous advantage. Citing the example of a hypothetical reader user typing “Brookline� into a search engine, he noted, “You get a lot of the default traffic.�

This past May, according to the website similarweb.com, Brookline. com began to receive more traffic than Brookline Patch. By contrast, neither site receives nearly as much traffic as the online edition of the weekly paper, The Brookline Tab, published by GateHouse Media. “We can’t track who they are,â€? said Tanger, speaking of the readers, “but we can track the towns they’re coming from. These are all local people ‌ or they’re people who are visiting Brookline [restaurants] or people looking to move to Brookline. “Our real estate section is very popular.â€?

The revenue, as is the case with many media organizations, comes through advertising. And as with many websites, there is advertising in the sidebar – but in some cases, articles, and even directories are sponsored by local businesses or organizations. Tanger is experimenting with other possibilities, including becoming a service provider by allowing Brookline residents to have their own brookline. com email address.

Tanger’s company Kirkland Holding LLC – through which he owns Brookline.com – has also been developing other domain names such as “Brooklinerestaurants.com, Brooklinemortgages. com [and] Brooklinefirst.com,â€? he explained. “We have a lot of variations ‌ for competitive reasons.â€?

The other “geo-pure� domain name he has been developing through Kirkland Holding is Cambridge.com – which, though it has a similar format, is chiefly oriented toward serving tourists and other visitors to the city on the other side of the Charles River. “We’re building out a site for Cambridge, U.K.,� Tanger explained. “We’re doing one for the University of Cambridge next in our growth, because we did a study of how many people were coming to Cambridge.com who wanted Cambridge, U.K., and the university – it turned out to be pretty significant. I would call it a ‘brand extension.’�

But while he hopes to develop the Cambridge sites further, it’s Brookline with which he’s most concerned “I feel a genuine obligation to serving the community, and making the site look really nice,� he said. “I hope you like the way it looks. We work very hard at it.�

420 Harvard St., Brookline, MA 02446

DAVID’S

Custom Framing A framed memory is the most important piece of furniture in your home or office. It is the one piece of furniture that is uniquely personal to you. A frame is the only furnishing in your home that truly does last a lifetime.

Mention this ad and get

1006 West Roxbury Parkway Brookline, MA 02467 Tel: (617) 323 6600 davidscustomframing@gmail.com

Davidscustomframing.com

35% OFF Custom Framing

"SF ZPV FNQMPZFE BOE IBWF BSUISJUJT BOPUIFS SIFVNBUJD DPOEJUJPO PS DISPOJD MPX CBDL QBJO "SF ZPV BSF DPODFSOFE BCPVU ZPVS BCJMJUZ UP XPSL OPX PS JO UIF OFBS GVUVSF EVF UP ZPVS IFBMUI :PV NJHIU CF JOUFSFTUFE JO B #PTUPO 6OJWFSTJUZ SFTFBSDI TUVEZ PO XBZT UP SFNBJO FNQMPZFE 5P mOE PVU NPSF BCPVU UIF i8PSL *Uw TUVEZ DBMM PS FNBJM XPSLJU!CV FEV

Only Jewish owned Funeral Home BROOKLINE • NEWTON • WORCESTER David Brezniak • Richard Perlman • George Rodman

16

SENIOR PAGES

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

Aging Well

Elegant Senior Living

The many advantages of an improved diet plan

Just Became More Affordable!

Here is health advice from experts at Hebrew SeniorLife:

With affordable, all-inclusive pricing, elegant Independent and Assisted Living at Boylston Place is within your reach!

Model Apartment Now Open!

Contact Dawn Johnson today to schedule a personal tour.

617-244-6400 | dmjohnson@epochsl.com Valet Parking Available.

615 Heath Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

www.boylstonplace.com (Mass Relay 711)

GREAT NEWS!

Reaching seniors just got smarter • 2 Pullout Sections a year PLUS • A twice a month in-paper Senior Section with supporting editorial.

To advertise in these special sections, please contact our advertising department 617-367-9100 ext. 126 or ext. 144 Advertising@TheJewishAdvocate.com

Q: At my last doctor’s appointment, my physician urged me to reconsider my diet plan. What can I gain from improved eating choices?

A: Summertime brings about a lot of grilling, eating and drinking, but it also tends to stir up conversation about healthy food choices and getting in tip-top shape for the warm-weather months. The truth Ruth is, healthy eating Silah shouldn’t be limited to a particular time of year – it’s a lifestyle and one that is incredibly important as one ages.

While proper nutrition can positively impact energy level and mood, it can also address specific diseases and injuries that seniors often face.

Ruth Silah, RD, LDN, CNSD, Clinical Nutrition Manager & Dining Services at Hebrew SeniorLife, explains that seniors who consume higher levels of dietary protein are less likely to suffer hip fractures than seniors whose dietary protein intake is less. Good sources of protein include meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, nuts and legumes.

Since vitamin D deficiency appears to increase the risk for fractures in seniors, Silah encourages seniors to include sources of vitamin D in their diets. Good sources of vitamin D include dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt or fortified juice – and, if necessary, you can also include vitamin D supplements. Talk to your primary care physician about vitamin D supplementation.

Seniors are also at higher risk for developing diabetes, heart disease and hypertension, especially if they struggle with their weight. Nearly 90 percent of diabetics are overweight and studies have shown that weight loss is an essential element in controlling blood glucose levels. A well-balanced diet that is low in fat is an important step in preventing and controlling diabetes and heart disease. It is also important in controlling cholesterol levels, which is a challenge for many seniors.

Increasing fiber in your diet can also be beneficial in controlling blood glucose. Other fiber benefits include bowel regularity and decreasing the bad cholesterol in your blood, hence, decreasing your risk for heart disease. Examples of high-fiber foods include fresh fruits instead of juice, vegetables, salads, and whole grains.

Staying active and incorporating exercise into your lifestyle also promotes weight loss, and helps maintain bowel regularity, good blood glucose and a healthy heart. It is recommended that you drink at least six to eight cups of water (with other beverages) daily to prevent dehydra-

tion and promote bowel regularity.

Cooking nutritious meals can be a daunting task. While canned (especially soups) and pre-packaged foods may simplify the process, some are also loaded with sodium (salt).

Try to keep sodium intakes to less than 2,300 milligrams (one teaspoon) per day. Make it a priority to buy fresh produce, and fresh or frozen vegetables. If you do use canned goods, go with the lower-sodium versions. Make it a consistent routine to read labels. Cook in larger batches and freeze leftovers for nights when cooking is too much. You will be glad when there’s a healthy and easy option in the freezer.

The bottom line is proper nutrition can be a powerful prevention tool for health problems in seniors, as well as the key to being energized and productive for years to come.

Q: After the extreme heat and humidity we’ve been facing, I’m feeling sluggish and dehydrated.

What are some tips I can follow to make sure I’m getting enough fluids?

A: It’s one of the simplest but most important things you can do for your body: Drink plenty of water.

It makes up nearly 70 percent of the human body and plays a vital role in nearly every bodily function, including regulating temperature and carrying nutrients throughout the body.

Ruth Kandel, Dr. Ruth MD, Hebrew SeKandel niorLife geriatri-

cian and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, explains that untreated severe dehydration can lead to seizures, permanent brain damage, and even death.

Seniors must take extra precautions because their thirst mechanism is not as sensitive as it once was and they are often not aware that they have become dangerously dehydrated.

Kandel offers the following hydration tips to ensure seniors are getting enough fluid during the day: Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of liquid every day. This may need to be modified based on certain medical conditions, how much you exercise or the environment.

Limit caffeinated and alcoholic beverages, which increase your body’s fluid needs.

Drink throughout the day, not only when you are thirsty.

Carry bottled water with you if you’ll be outdoors for an extended period of time.

Drink water before, during, and after physical exercise to offset the fluid your body loses through perspiration.

Keep track of your fluid intake throughout the day to ensure you stay properly hydrated.

Kandel notes that though it is easy to reach for a glass of water when you feel thirsty, thirst is actually a sign of mild dehydration. Drinking fluids throughout the day can ensure you never reach that point. Staying hydrated can also help with digestion and energ Visit www.eldercare.gov for more information.

It’s important for people to practice healthy eating as they get older.

Seniors need to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.

SENIOR PAGES

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE JULY 12, 2013

17

Common food supplement fights degenerative brain disorders Phosphatidylserine delays advancement of Parkinson’s and familial dysautonomia, Israeli researchers discover

By Abigail Klein Leichman ISRAEL21c.org

M

any older people already take the compound phosphatidylserine to improve cognition and slow memory loss.

And now, there is more good news about the natural food supplement, coming out of an Israeli university: Phosphatidylserine appears to improve the functioning of genes involved in degenerative brain disorders, including Parkinson’s disease (PD) and familial dysautonomia (FD).

Produced from beef, oysters or soy, and already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, phosphatidylserine contains a molecule essential for transmitting signals between nerve cells in the brain.

A team headed by Professor Gil Ast and Dr. Ron Bochner of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Human Molecular Genetics decided to test whether the same chemical, which is naturally synthesized in the body and known to boost memory capability, could impact the genetic mutation that leads to FD – a rare genetic nervous system disorder that affects Ashkenazi Jews.

When the supplement was applied to cells taken from people with FD, and to laboratory mice with FD, the gene function improved, and the cells began producing the key protein that FD patients lack. The Israeli team’s findings were published earlier this year in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.

Most medications enter the body through the bloodstream,

but cannot get through the barrier between the blood and the brain.

That is what makes this discovery especially significant.

“That we see such an effect on the brain – the most important organ in relation to this disease – shows that the supplement can pass through the blood-brain barrier even when administered orally, and accumulate in sufficient amounts in the brain,” said Ast. Ast and Bochner’s team applied a supplement derived from oysters, provided by the Israeli company Enzymotec, to cells collected from FD patients. Seeing successful results, they then tested the same supplement on mouse models of FD, engineered with the same genetic mutation that causes the disease in humans.

The mice received the supplement orally, every two days for a

Retirement plan tips for thrifty savers Expert advice on managing an employer-sponsored account

By StatePoint Media

W

hether you’re a risk taker or a more conservative saver, retirement planning should be a top priority.

Taking charge of your savings, regardless of your life stage or savings style, can help to ensure you get “to” and “through” retirement and live the lifestyle you think is right for you.

If you have an employer-sponsored retirement plan, experts say that you can benefit by taking a closer look at your account to explore ways to combat risk and protect savings for the future.

“No matter what kind of saver you are, connecting with a retirement consultant or financial professional can help restore confidence in your retirement plan,” said Chuck Cornelio, President of Retirement Plan Services at Lincoln Financial Group. “These individuals will review your risk preferences, as well as what’s available within your plan to help you map out a path to retirement that is right for you.”

Consider the following five tips that can help you manage risk and volatility within an employer-sponsored account, such as a 401(k) or 403(b): • Know your plan: Many options within an employer-sponsored plan are designed to offer capital protection and volatility management. Some can accommodate changing market conditions, seeking to protect growth as the market fluctuates and defend against losses. Knowing what investment options are available to you is the first step to protecting your savings.

A supplement derived from oysters, beef or soy may improve the condition of people with degenerative brain disorders such as Parkinson’s. period of three months. Researchers then conducted extensive genetic testing to assess the results of the treatment.

“We found a significant increase of the protein in all the tissues of the body,” said Ast. “While the food supplement does not manufacture new nerve cells, it probably delays the death of existing ones.”

Not only did phosphatidylserine impact the gene associated with FD, but it also altered the lev-

el of 2,400 other genes – hundreds of which have been connected to Parkinson’s disease in previous studies.

The researchers believe that the supplement may have a beneficial impact on several degenerative diseases of the brain. Between 7 million and 10 million people worldwide are living with PD. While the much rarer FD affects less than 1,000 people, about one-third of them live in Israel and another onethird in the New York area.

+96 +:55 @>6 a non-profit senior residence

Modern, Independent Living shaped by a Century of Tradition

781-933-0248 74 Elm Street, Woburn, MA 01801

tiddhome@comcast.net • tiddhome.org

People should ask their employers about retirement planning education, online tools or one-on-one support.

• Consider lifestyle options: Your risk tolerance may change over time based on how many years away you are from retirement. For example, investments known as target date funds are designed to manage risk over time without moving assets out of a retirement portfolio, so participants always stay invested.

The flexibility of such funds can cover a broad range of risk tolerance.

• Explore in-plan guarantee options: Some features in today’s retirement plans include guaranteed income options that can provide savers with a steady income stream in retirement while also offering protection against downturns in the market.

• Review your investments: Ask your employer about retirement planning education, online

tools or one-on-one support to get a better handle on whether your investment strategy is in line with your overall retirement goals, as well as your risk tolerance. Take advantage of all the resources available to you.

• Stay the course: A common mistake people make is letting their emotions lead to actions.

Resist the temptation to move out of your investments into areas you think are more stable.

The best way to prepare for retirement is to ride the market’s waves and remain invested for the long term.

More retirement planning information and tools can be found at www.lincolnfinancial.com.

If you’re enrolled in your company’s retirement plan, remember to stay on track to be better prepared for the years ahead.

18

ARTS

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

Remembering the music and anti-Semitism of Richard Wagner Documentary with Stephen Fry examines the legacy of a creative but deeply flawed man

By Daniel M. Kimmel

O

ne of the difficulties of being a critic – or, indeed, of being someone who appreciates any creative endeavor – is separating the work from its cr eator.

There are filmgoers who refuse to see movies by, say, Woody Allen or Mel Gibson because of things they have done in their private lives.

Philip Roth is one of the greatest novelists of his generation, but if his ex-wife actress Claire Bloom is to be believed, not the most pleasant of husbands.

Finding dirty laundry in the biography of the great creators is usually not difficult and unless someone crosses a bright line – say, for example, football star turned actor O.J. Simpson – most members of the audience usually can appreciate the work even if they would not desire the social company of its creator. It is in this context that we have to consider the reputation and works of 19 th century composer Richard Wagner.

Director Patrick McGrady’s “Wagner & Me,” released in 2010, is a documentary featuring Stephen Fry in which the British comedian, actor and author struggles with his love for Wagner’s music. Fry is Jewish and tells us he lost family in the Holocaust. He

PHOTO/WAVELENGTH FILMS

Stephen Fry stands on the stage at the Bayreuth Festival Theatre in Bayreuth, Bavaria, Germany, in a scene from the documentary “Wagner & Me.”

is well aware that his love for Wagner was shared by none other than Adolf Hitler.

If that was all that existed in the case against Wagner, it could be brushed aside. Wagner was a 19 th century figure and could hardly be condemned for the atrocities of the Third Reich.

However, Wagner has much

PHOTO/WAVELENGTH FILMS

Actor Stephen Fry listens to a performance of Richard Wagner’s music at the Villa Wesendonck in Zurich, Switzerland.

PHOTO/WAVELENGTH FILMS

“Wagner & Me” star Stephen Fry enjoys the view from Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany.

more to answer for than Hitler’s musical tastes. In revolutionizing 19 th century European opera he was a theorist as much as a composer, speaking out against the forms of the time. During a 12-year exile in Switzerland, one of his most productive periods as a composer, he also wrote an essay titled “Jewishness in Music.”

As Fry observes, “It stains his reputation to this day.”

Fry tries to contextualize it, noting that Wagner’s antiSemitism was perfectly acceptable in 19th century German society, even among those who were politically liberal such as himself. However, he notes, there is simply no excusing the visceral hatred Wagner expresses not only for supposed Jewish influences in music but to Jews in general. Part of it was motivated by his personal jealousy of successful composers who were themselves Jewish or had Jewish ancestry, such as Felix Mendelssohn and Giacomo Meyerbeer.

“It isn’t easy to confront Wagner,” Fry says, pointing out the irony that while his music remains popular, his repulsive anti-Semitism may be what he is best remembered for, overshadowing his artistic achievements. There have been reports that Wagner’s music was played in the death camps (long after his own death in 1883) and, as a result, his music has rarely been performed in Israel. When it has been, it has led to controversy. As recently as last year, a scheduled concert in Tel Aviv had to be cancelled.

In the end, we each have to make our own decisions as to what creative arts bring us joy or make us think. If they cause only painful associations without hope of redemption (say, as a work about the Holocaust might), then who can say it is wrong to avoid them?

“Wagner & Me” is not a plea to rehabilitate the composer’s reputation. History has made its judgment on both the im-

Movie Maven “Wagner & Me” is available through www.amazon.com and http://firstrunfeatures. com. portance of his music and the revulsion one feels toward his bigotry. Fry’s film is about how he has struggled with that, and why he is not willing to give up the music because its creator was so deeply flawed. Those who wonder how to strike that balance will find this thoughtful film worth seeing.

Daniel M. Kimmel lectures widely on a variety of f ilm-related topics and can be reached at danielmkimmel@gmail.com.

PHOTO/WAVELENGTH FILMS

Stephen Fry plays a piano once owned by Richard Wagner.

Patrick McGrady directed “Wagner & Me.”

ARTS

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE JULY 12, 2013

19

Rick Moranis goes from ‘Ghostbusters’ to mom’s brisket Jewish actor/comedian draws on his Jewish roots for new album of 13 original songs

By Matt Robinson JNS.org

W

hen fans picture Rick Moranis, the first things that probably come to mind are comedy and scenes from science fiction movies such as “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” “Ghostbusters,” “Little Shop of Horrors” or “Spaceballs.”

But Moranis’ latest project conjures up an image much closer to home.

Moranis recalls that the smell of his Jewish mother’s home “would get you from five blocks away.”

“The whole place smelled like Friday at 6 p.m., and that was 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year,” Moranis said.

That smell is the inspiration behind Moranis’ new CD My Mother’s Brisket & Other Love Songs (Warner Bros. Records/LoudMouth). Released June 18, the album is comprised of 13 comedic songs exploring the smorgasbord of his Jewish heritage.

Moranis actually started his career not on the big screen, but spinning records at the Torontobased CHUM-FM radio station, accompanying himself on the guitar during his earliest solo comedy routines. In 1982, Moranis and his fictional brother Dave Thomas from the movie “Strange Brew” and the comedy show “Second City Television” scored a Billboard Top 40 hit with “Take Off.” Nearly 25 years later, Moranis hit the charts again, but this time as a country singer on his album The Agoraphobic Cowboy.

This year, Moranis went back to the studio to record a set of songs that he was literally born to play. The result is My Mother’s Brisket, a baker’s dozen of songs that he said even non-Jews can relate to. Moranis had an early inclination to include a glossary for his heavily Yiddish-infused collection of songs, but ultimately decided against the move.

“Other than Gary Schreiner,” Moranis said, mentioning his friend and producer, “almost all the musicians [on the album] were gentile.”

“They completely got everything [in the songs] because it was either self-explanatory, or I would set [the Yiddish lyrics] up with a few lines,” he says.

For example, Moranis said that once he explained that a “zaide” is a grandfather, the song “I’m Old Enough to be Your Zaide” had everyone in the studio laughing.

“And if you don’t know, you can get it from the song,” he says.

Among the other offerings on the album are “My Wednesday Balabusta,” “Belated Haftorah,” “The Seven Days of Shiva” and “I Can’t Help It, I Just Like Christmas.”

Though Jew and non-Jews can both relate to most of Moranis’ compositions, perhaps the most universally relatable tune is the title track “My Mother’s Brisket.”

Asked what it is about brisket that makes Jewish children so loyal to the homes they grew up in, Moranis says he does not know for sure, but calls homemade food the “sensual part” of growing up in a Jewish home.

When it came time to choose a title track for the new album and to take a cover photo, Moranis went back to the home of his mother and his daughter’s “bubbe.”

“That is my mother on the cover,” Moranis explained. “My daughter took the picture!”

Moranis is not sure if his mother’s brisket had any “secret ingredient,” but does recall her roasting the meat “for hours,” then “letting it rest,” slicing it, then finally reheating it “with all the stuff on top of it, so it ended up being more moist than others we came across that might have been cut right at the table.”

PHOTO/WARNER BROS. RECORDS

Actor/comedian Rick Moranis has released a new album of original music. details the denizens of the Russian steam baths.

Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas are known for portraying the fictional brothers Doug and Bob McKenzie.

As happy as Moranis is to see his mother whenever he visits, he said that the rest of his family was always nearly as happy whenever she came to them bearing brisket.

“When my mother walked in a house with the brisket, they were all happy to see her, but some would be happier to see the brisket,” he said.

While his mother’s brisket may have been his true first love, Moranis said he has “always loved making music.” Though many fans think of him as a comedian and actor first, he was actually one of the many kids who “grew up wanting to be The Beatles,” before he was “sidetracked into comedy.”

“Even when I was doing comedy, I wrote [music] all the time,” he said.

On his album “The Agoraphobic Cowboy,” released in 2005, Moranis included a song called “Mean Old Man,” which

“It was about guys who came to school and described their father’s experiences in the steam bath, being whipped with eucalyptus leaves in the plaitza,” Moranis explained, mentioning the famed therapeutic torture that so many have enjoyed at the burly hands of Russian steam bath attendants. “They told about this particular Russian guy who had this great touch with the leaves.”

When “The Agoraphobic Cowboy” attracted wide acclaim, Moranis began looking into other elements of his upbringing for song ideas.

“I started writing more songs that had music I remembered from shul and the Zionist camp I went to as a kid, and the vernacular I grew up with that I was re-encountering in conversation with my family,” he said.

Moranis has collaborated through the years with other

famed comics, such as Steve Martin and Mel Brooks. His songwriting, however, is a more individualistic process.

“Writing jokes is a lot of fun to write with other people, but songwriting alone I like better,” he said.

Nevertheless, Moranis said he runs “everything by friends.”

“I don’t dare publish anything without trusted friends of mine who are writers hearing what it is and giving feedback,” he said.

Among the “editors” for My Mother’s Brisket were Moranis’ sister, a cousin and, of course, his mother.

“I sang some of [the songs]

to my mother over the phone,” he said.

One of the songs that Moranis’ mother may not have heard in advance was “I’m Old Enough to be Your Zaide,” if only because she may not have approved of the premise.

“That was inspired by a little moment I had with a younger woman who I probably could have pursued having an introductory date with, and I asked her how old her father was, and the oldest guy she had dated, and they were both younger than me,” Moranis recalled.

“I thought that, for the betterment of mankind, I would move on and wish her well,” Moranis said. “As I walked away, that song came to mind.”

While there is talk of a possible live tour, the album is currently the closest fans can get to being at Moranis’ mother’s table.

“At the end of the second day, the guys [at the recording studio] said we had to play this live,” Moranis said. “I thought they were kidding, but I find the idea intriguing.”

Moranis originally thought this album would be distributed privately, among friends and family. When he told his attorney that he would record it for just eight people, the attorney thought Jews all over North America would love the album.

Now, deluxe sets of My Mother’s Brisket will even come with an inscribed yarmulke.

“I think people would give it to their cousins,” Moranis said of the album-yarmulke combination. “That is what I would do.”

ARTS

20

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

Up, up and away: Saving Superman’s Jewish creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were nearly homeless until an industry colleague offered help

By Rafael Medoff JNS.org

M

illions of Americans will flock to movie theaters this summer to see “Man of Steel,” in which Superman will once again be called upon to save the world from some menace.

But back in 1975, Superman’s Jewish creators found themselves broke, nearly homeless, and desperately in need a hero of their own.

It’s a story with the pathos and drama of a comic book adventure – and it has a happy ending.

As teenagers growing up in Cleveland’s mostly-Jewish Glenville neighborhood in the 1930s, writer Jerry Siegel and his artist friend Joe Shuster created Superman, the mighty costumed hero who has been a fixture of American pop culture ever since.

Siegel later wrote that he and Shuster were influenced by a combination of “being unemployed and worried during the Depression, and knowing hopelessness and fear,” and “hearing and reading of the oppression and slaughter of helpless, oppressed Jews in Nazi Germany.”

The Superman character emerged from their “great urge to help the downtrodden masses, somehow.”

Comics historians have compared Superman’s origins to both the Jewish immigrant experience and the biblical story of young Moses. With the planet Krypton on the verge of destruction, desperate parents send their infant off in a rocket ship to Earth, where he is raised by strangers – Jonathan and Martha Kent taking the role of Pharoah’s daughter. Whether

Tel-617.731.9888

PHOTO/COURTESY OF THE DAVID S. WYMAN INSTITUTE FOR HOLOCAUST STUDIES

Joe Shuster, Neal Adams and Jerry Siegel shortly after their victory over DC Comics, which has given Superman creators Shuster and Siegel financial assistance, medical benefits, and credit by name in every Superman comic. disguised as the Midwestern newspaper reporter Clark Kent, or as an Egyptian Prince whose Jewish roots are hidden, our hero would prefer to quietly assimilate into his surroundings but his outrage at injustice propels him into the role of rescuer.

Not realizing the fortune Superman would reap, Siegel and Shuster sold their first 13-page Superman comic strip, and the rights to the character, to National Periodicals (later known as DC Comics) for $130.

Within a few years, the character had branched out into movies,

Fax-617.730.5577 Chai Chai Caltering Catering

Catering For All Occasions

We make Simple Affairs Grand and Grand Affairs Simple www.chai-catering.com The Butcherie

Joshua Ruboy

428 Harvard St Brookline MA 02446 617-731-9888 butcherie.com

617-730-5577-fx butcherie@msn.com

cartoons, a weekly radio show and a daily newspaper comic strip. Siegel and Shuster took no steps to reassert ownership of their creation.

They were making a good living as the full-time creative team on the Superman comic book and decided not to rock the boat.

In 1941, Siegel pitched DC the idea of “Superboy,” a series based on their hero’s adventures as an adolescent. DC turned down the proposal. But when Siegel and Shuster returned from service in World War II, they were stunned to find DC publishing a Superboy comic book, for which they received no credit or royalties. They sued DC and won a $400,000 judgment.

But it was a bittersweet victory.

Most of the money was eaten up by their legal expenses, and comic book publishers grew wary of hiring them. By the early 1970s, Siegel was working as a $7,000-a-year clerk and Shuster, who had been working as a messenger but gave it up because he was losing his eyesight, was boarding with relatives.

Enter Neal Adams. Bursting onto the comic book scene in

1967, Adams’s powerful and ultrarealistic style of illustration – rooted in his background in the world of advertising art – quickly won him the admiration of his peers and the adoration of comic book fans.

The innovative and articulate Adams was soon elected President of the Academy of Comic Book Arts. It was then that he learned what had happened to Siegel and Shuster. “It was shocking,” Adams said. “Joe was sleeping on a cot in front of a taped-up window. They didn’t have a proper pension or health coverage. And these were the guys who had basically created our entire industry.”

In one early conversation, Shuster told Adams about a new “Superman” Broadway show. “Joe described to me how he would watch all these celebrities going into see a show based on his character, movie stars and politicians and other famous people – he was so proud and flattered. I asked him, ‘Joe, what did you think of the show?’ and he said, ‘I couldn’t afford to see it; I didn’t have enough money,’” Adams recalled.

Adams knew that from a legal perspective, Siegel and Shuster did not have much of a case for reclaiming Superman; they had knowingly signed away their rights, no matter how a bad a decision that was. “But something doesn’t have to be legal to be right, and it doesn’t have to be right to be legal,” Adams said.

Instead of going to court, Adams decided to go to the court of public opinion. It was not an easy fight, in part because Shuster was not especially forceful in advocating their cause. “Joe was just such a nice guy,” Adams said. “One time he was on the ‘Tomorrow’ show with Tom Snyder, and Snyder asked him how he felt about what had been done to him, and he answered that it was hard to feel bad when millions of children were reading comic books with his character. Which is very sweet, but it’s no way to win a fight.”

Siegel and Shuster needed a strong voice – someone from inside the industry who could also reach out beyond the comics world. Adams, who was the most popular

Celebrations Directory Henry M. Lerner, M.D. Obstetrician-Gynecologist Certified Mohel

30+ years experience doing circumcisions For a meaningful, memorable bris

617 894-1397 hmlerner@henrylerner.com

For more information call John Postol 617.367.9100 ext. 126.

George Reeves portrayed the Man of Steel in a popular 1950s television series.

artist at DC and the cover artist for Superman, became that voice.

Even though it meant going up against his own employer, Adams launched a series of media appearances, press conferences, and meetings to drum up support for the Superman creators.

“It carved four months out of my life,” Adams recalled, “but they were pretty good months.” He was fighting the good fight – and he won. DC finally agreed to provide Siegel and Shuster with financial assistance and medical benefits.

They were also credited, by name, in every subsequent Superman comic. Siegel (who died in 1996, at age 81), and Shuster (who died in 1992, at 78) were able to live their remaining years in dignity.

For Adams, it would be just the first in a series of campaigns for underdogs.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, he won a long battle to convince both major comics publishers, DC and Marvel, to return pages of original artwork to the artists. That reversal of industry policy was a remarkable victory for creators’ rights.

In recent years, he has led the effort to pressure Poland’s Auschwitz State Museum to return portraits painted by Dina Babbitt when she was a prisoner in the Nazi death camp. A comic strip drawn

by Adams about Babbitt’s plight was published by Marvel. Babbitt herself died of cancer two years ago, but her family is still battling for return of the paintings.

Adams is now illustrating “They Spoke Out,” a series of animated shorts about Americans who protested against the Holocaust, with Disney Educational Productions and the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. The first six episodes will be released on DVD this summer by Disney.

Meanwhile, the Superman character’s appeal has remained consistent, from the television series starring George Reeves in the 1950s, to the four films with Christopher Reeve from 1978 to 1987, to the 2006 movie starring Brandon Routh, to the current “Man of Steel.”

Siegel and Shuster created a fictional hero devoted to truth, justice, and the American way, and the film “Man of Steel” is bringing that story once again to movie screens around the world. Neal Adams, for his part, continues to bring those ideals into his own real-world struggles for truth and justice.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies (www.

WymanInstitute.org) and co-author, with Craig Yoe, of the forthcoming book “Cartoonists Against the Holocaust.”

HEALTH

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE JULY 12, 2013

21

Preserving fertility after chemotherapy Breakthrough offers new hope for female cancer patients

By Abigail Klein Leichman ISRAEL21c

C

ancer treatments often damage a young woman’s ovaries – so if the chemotherapy saves her life, she may still face the inability to conceive a new life later on.

Exciting research from Israel now reveals the mechanics of this heartbreaking problem and, more importantly, a long-sought-after way to avoid it.

In a study published recently in Science Translational Medicine (published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science), the authors describe how adding the Israeli-synthesized compound AS101 to the chemotherapy regime successfully prevented infertility.

Doctoral student Lital KalichPhilosoph and senior researcher Dr. Hadassa Roness used a mouse model of a common chemotherapy drug to understand how it attacks the ovaries and the eggs inside them.

Their research was done at the Center for Fertility Preservation at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center - Tel Hashomer Hospital in Israel, headed by Professor Dror Meirow, in collaboration with the Cancer AIDS and Immunology Research Institute at Bar-Ilan University, which is headed by Professor Benjamin Sredni.

Meirow explained that doctors have long believed oocytes (egg cells) were destroyed as a direct result of the toxic chemotherapy.

But the Israelis discovered that the treatment actually triggers an abnormal wave of growth in these dormant cells before killing them.

The result is that the woman’s natural reserve of egg cells is depleted – a condition called ovarian burnout. “This new understanding of the mechanism behind the loss of these cells has allowed us to shift the focus and find a new drug that can prevent the growth of the oocytes,�

Meirow said.

Before this groundbreaking discovery, the only way to preserve fertility in female cancer patients has been to extract and freeze their eggs or ovarian tissue for transplantation after recovery. But that approach cannot be used for every patient.

Moreover, it is invasive, expensive and carries no guarantee of success.

Researchers have long agreed that it would be far better to figure out how to prevent – or at least diminish – the damage and loss of eggs that occurs during chemotherapy. That’s what the new Israeli study has done.

Once they understood what was happening in the ovaries of cancer patients, the researchers experimented with AS101 – a drug candidate developed by Professor Michael Albeck at Bar-Ilan University and now in advanced clinical trials for use in cancer patients – to block the activation and growth of the dormant oocytes.

Egg cells in mice treated with AS101 in conjunction with chemotherapy remained dormant and survived the entire treatment. Later, those test mice had normal fer-

tility, whereas the ones treated with the cancer drug alone had a lower rate of pregnancy and fewer total offspring.

As Kalich-Philosoph explained it, AS101 restores balance in the ovary, preserving the reserve of eggs by acting as an inhibiting factor on the burnout mechanism: “That’s why AS101 is a novelty to preserve fertility to cancer patients.�

Sredni said AS101 has shown “a very safe profile in clinical trials.�

Adding it to the treatment cocktail does not make cancer treatments any less effective. In fact, it may even increase effectiveness by sensitizing tumors to anti-cancer drugs.

Future experiments will seek to translate results from mice into human patients and confirm the effectiveness of AS101 for preserving fertility in women undergoing chemotherapy.

The prize-winning study was supported by grants from the Kahn Foundation, Israel Cancer Association, Israel Ministry of Health, Dave and Florence Muskovitz Chair in Cancer Research, and the Jaime Lusinchi Research Institute in Applied Sciences.

Roness is also Director of Special Projects at Hervana, Israeli developers of a non-hormonal, long-acting and non-invasive birth control solution.

Additional contributors to the study include Dr. Alon Carmely, Dr. Michal Fishel-Bartal, Dr. Hagai Ligumsky, Dr. Shoshana Paglin, Professor Ido Wolf and Dr. Hannah Kanety – all of the Sheba Medical Center.

Show them you care...

Plant a Tree in Memory of a Loved One Take part in a JNF time-honored tradition and plant a tree in Israel as a living tribute of your loved one.

53&& Ţ +/' 03( 1-"/5/08

Video games benefit stroke victims

Researcher says they can be more helpful than therapy

By Viva Sarah Press ISRAEL21c.org

428 Harvard St., Brookline • 617-731-9888

MILTON MONUMENT CO.

N

ew research from a Tel Aviv University study shows that people recovering from a stroke are more physically active during rehabilitation sessions when they play video games than those who rely on traditional motor therapy.

Dr. Debbie Rand, an occupational therapist at Tel Aviv University’s Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, said her research shows that stroke victims who play video games in therapy make more movements overall than those in traditional motor therapy.

In her study, players performed double the number of arm movements during each session compared to patients in traditional therapy, and all of their movements were purposeful or “goal-directed� and not just repetitive exercises.

Granite Memorials Bronze Markers 1060 North Main St. Randolph, MA

PHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK

Stroke victims can play video games as an alternative to traditional therapy.

Beyond the physical advantages, Rand believes that video games could be an excellent alternative to traditional therapy simply because they’re more fun. She says that if patients are enjoying the therapy experience, it’s more likely that they will adhere to the therapy regime in the long term.

The study was done in collaboration with a team from Sheba Medical Center and funded by

the Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant. The results were presented at the Ninth International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies.

Rand now plans to investigate whether the interactive video games will be as effective if they are used independently by patients at home to keep up activity levels – a crucial element of rehabilitation following a stroke.

1-781-963-3660 1-800-244-3660

Homemade traditional foods.

Layer cakes, Babka, Coffee cake, Rugala, Streudel & more.

Rabbi Zalman Krems Kashrus Administrator

Interfaith Sections

22

MARKET PLACE/CLASSIFIEDS

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

MARKET PLACE To place your ad in The Jewish Advocate ® Market Place please call 617.367.9100 ext. 144 AUTO SHIPPING

AUTO SHIPPING

WE’LL

SHIP YOURS LIKE IT WAS OURS

PREMIUM AUTO TRANSPORTING WITHOUT A PREMIUM PRICE A+ Rating • Honesty & Integrity Since 1971 • Prompt Door To Door Service Cars & Trucks Shipped Anywhere In The U.S., Canada, And Overseas • Dealer Swap Experts $ 50.00 OFeF tim • Fully Insured for firstmers • Snowbirds Are Our Specialty custo

295 Union St, E. Walpole MA, Off Rte.1 www.chipstransport.com

1-800-427-2447

P.R.N.

Guaranteed Pickup On Your Schedule!

WHAT WE QUOTE IS WHAT YOU PAY

HOME REPAIRS

HEALTHCARE

U.S.D.O.T. #385723

Experienced in:

• We can make almost any key while you wait.

• Thousands of keys in stock.

• All type keys for every purpose.

• High tech auto keys cloned or duplicated.

• Carpentry • Electrical • Masonry • Plumbing • Tile Work

Hourly/Live-in at Home, Hospital, Asst. Living Caregivers thoroughly screened.

Transportation provided.

Bonded & Insured!

Immediate Response! 24/7! established by licensed PT and OT Serving: • Brookline, Newton...MetroBoston • Needham, Natick, Framingham...MetroWest • Canton, Sharon, Randolph...Metro South Quality Care for over 14 years

BENTON LOCKSMITHS

Handyman

We offer: Companions Certified Home Health Aides Licensed Nursing Skilled Therapy

A+

LOCKSMITH

Buy 1 key get another key of equal or lower value for 1/2 price with this ad

781-762-6947 www.homerepairsbypaul.com

Valid thru 8.31.13

Contact Karen Small

800-800-2580•www.shipcar.com

233 Friend Street near North Station T stop

(508) 951-5222

Call 617-523-0787

www.PRNhealthcare.net

MASONRY & LANDSCAPE

PLUMBING

PAINTING

Plumbing Solutions Inc.

New England’s Largest Jewish Weekly Publication

2013 CALENDAR OF SPECIAL SECTIONS JULY:

Painting & Pressure Washing Contractors

23 • Holiday Food & Gifts

Service and Craftsmanship Residential Plumbing and Heating Serving Needham and surrounding areas

FREE Estimates • FULLY LICENSED and INSURED

781-326-6004

888-966-9274

http://www.facebook.com/MasonworksLLC

www.masonworkz.com

617.828.2733

AUGUST:

One of the most respected painting companies in Boston

STEPS, WALKWAYS, PATIOS, GRANITE AND COBBLESTONE INSTALLATIONS, DRIVEWAYS, RETAINING WALLS, MASONRY, BASEMENT WATER REMEDIATION, STUCCO, BRICK RE-POINTING, BRICK BLOCK AND STONE WORK, DRAINAGE.

JEFF SOUZA

26 Financial Planning

Tim Sullivan

Visit our website:

www.fitzgeraldpaintingservices.com

Master Plumber License # 9032

30 • Holiday Food & Gifts SEPTEMBER: 6 • New Year Greetings 6

The Jewish Guide to Boston & New England*

OCTOBER: 4 • Open Houses & Membership 11 Senior Services NOVEMBER: 1 Wedding & Celebration/Simcha 8 • Thanksgiving Planning/ Chanukah Food & Gifts 15 • Chanukah Food & Gifts 22 • Chanukah Greetings DECEMBER: 6 Charitable Giving

For information on these special issues please contact the John Postol at 617-367-9100 ext. 126 or advertising@TheJewishAdvocate.com www.TheJewishAdvocate.com

CLASSIFIEDS Classified Dept. Call: (617) 367-9100 ext.120, Fax: (617) 367-9310 Classified Line Ad Rates: 1-time $20.30 (per insertion, 15 words), 4-time $57.09 (per insertion, 15 words), 8-time $95.17 (per insertion, 15 words)

TIME SHARE

ANTIQUES

CASH FOR GOLD SILVER JEWELRY ANY CONDITION Will pay top dollar for your gold, silver, and costume jewelry in any condition. Also Sterling and Silver Plate Flatware and Tableware. Antiques and Furniture. Before you sell get our price. You will not be disappointed.

Call Now…SPIVACK’S ANTIQUES Wellesley, MA 781-235-1700

PARADISE FOR SALE FEBRUARY IN ARUBA Deeded weeks 4, 5, 6, 7 in spacious unit at Caribbean Palm Village Resort. 2 pools, hot tubs, fitness center, short ride to beaches.

Sleeps 5, 2 full baths, 1 bedroom. $721/week maintenance fee. $39,500 617-968-3330 Arlene552013@gmail.com

ELDER CARE PROVIDED

Get this app The Jewish Advocate® is now available on your KINDLE, iPad, iPhone or Android.

Looking lively at Limmud

Joyce Miriam Friedman, right, weaved story, song and puppetry into her one-woman show, “Finding Miriam.” In the show, Friedman explores her relationship with her great-grandmother, CREDIT: ROBERT RUSCANSKY PHOTOGRAPHY Miriam, and the Biblical prophetess.

Jewish learning festival draws 850 curious minds

By Elise Kigner

A presenter flexes her body in the shape of a Hebrew letter.

Advocate Staff LimmudBoston drew 850 people for a day of music, dance and learning at Congregation Mishkan Tefila. The beauty of Limmud, though, was not in its size. Instead, it was in the reversal of roles, where rabbis and other professional Jews not only taught classes, but also squeezed into the

kid-size desks of the shul’s religious school – and became the students.

In one session, a text study, my fellow students included several rabbis. In another, two young women gave a lesson on the structure and elements of a good story to a class that included professional storytellers who may Continued on Page 5

The latest in Jewish lit: the New T Brandeis Bible scholar co-edits annotated version

By David Goldberg

ond printing “It’s being broadly

ences a Jewish audience and a

(through Amazon)

Online Subscription The JA is available in digital form!

You get the exact same paper as the printed Advocate®

www.TheJewishAdvocate.com or Call 617-367-9100 x120

CEMETERY LOTS

CNA Five Years Certified Live-in or Hourly Good References 518-366-1141

Sharon Memorial Park Galilee 26 Sect 195 Spaces 3+4 $6400 for both Beverly: 561-951-2899

Sharon Memorial Park Ramah Sect 6 Lot 140 Spaces 1+2 In front near lagoon $5000 for both 510-331-4681

Licensed Nurse/ Home Health Aide/ Companion looking for work. Hourly/ Live-in. Has good references.

781-526-2388

Sharon Memorial Park Guaranteed 50% savings Call Joe Bank - The Lot Broker 508-878-2444

Sharon Memorial Park Gibeon Sect 5 Lot 290 Spaces 1&2 $5800 for both 781-933-1604 chem179@hotmail.com

Sharon Memorial Park Shiloh Sec 35 Lots 83-85 8 spaces, ideal site $2500 each, will divide or B.O. 781-234-2317 jdkaufman@massmed.org

Sharon Memorial Park Galilee Sect 26-A Lot 62 Spaces 1-4 Pay for three, get one free $7,000 for all

508-369-1311

DIRECTORIES/CROSSWORD

THE JEWISH ADVOCATE JULY 12, 2013

Action for Post-Soviet Jewry 24 Crescent St., Suite 306, Waltham, MA 02453 (781)893-2331 ActionPSJ@aol.com www.ActionPSJ.org

AIPAC - The American Israel Pub-

lic Affairs Committee

Boston, MA 02110 617-399-2562 nereg@aipac.org www.aipac.org

American Friends of Magen David Adom, New England 29 Gray Birch Terrace, Newton, MA 02460 617-916-1827 www.afmda.org

AMIT New England

7 Brady Rd., Westborough, MA 01581 508-870-1571 www.amitchildren.org amitboston@charter.net Anti-Defamation League (ADL) New England Region 40 Court St., Boston, MA 02108 617-406-6300

www.adl.org/new-england

BaDaTz Boston Rabbinical Court 15 School St., Boston, MA 02108 617-227-8200 BaDaTz-Rabbinic-Court@ rebbe.org

SYNAGOGUES ACTON Cong. Beth Elohim (I) 133 Prospect Street POB 2218 978-263-3061 www.bethelohim.org ANDOVER Temple Emanuel (R) 7 Haggetts Pond Road Tel. 978-470-1356 info@templeemanuel.net www.templeemanuel.net BOSTON Temple Israel (R) 477 Longwood Avenue 617-566-3960 www.tisrael.org The Boston Synagogue (I) 55 Martha Road, Charles River Park 617-523-0453 www.bostonsynagogue.org office@bostonsynagogue.org Zvhil-Mezbuz Beis Medrash 15 School St. (2nd Flr) 617- 227-8200 Info@Rebbe.org www.Rebbe.org BRAINTREE Temple B`nai Shalom (C) 41 Storrs Avenue 781-843-3687 www.tbsbraintree.com BROOKLINE Minyan Shaleym (I) Weintraub Auditorium, 50 Sewall Avenue 617-731-2860 www.minyanshaleym.org Temple Beth Zion(I) 1566 Beacon Street 617-566-8171 www.tbzbrookline.org Temple Ohabei Shalom (R) 1187 Beacon Street 617-277-6610 www.ohabei.org Temple Sinai (R) 50 Sewall Avenue 617-277-5888 www.sinaibrookline.org CAMBRIDGE Kahal B’raira/Community of Choice, Cong. for Humanistic Judaism 765 Concord Ave 617-969-4596 info@kahalbraira.org www.kahalbraira.org

Combined Jewish Philanthropies 126 High Street, Boston, MA 02108 617-457-8500 www.cjp.org info@cjp.org

NewBridge on the Charles 5000 Great Meadow Road Dedham, MA 02026 617-363-8773

Hebrew SeniorLife 1200 Centre Street, Boston, MA 02131 617-363-8000 www.hebrewseniorlife.org

Ulin House, Leventhal House, Genesis House: located in Brighton Golda Meir House, Coleman House: located in Newton Shillman House: located in Framingham 617-912-8400 info@jche.org www.jche.org

Hebrew Rehabilitation Center 1200 Centre Street, Boston, MA 02131 617-363-8000 Center Communities of Brookline 100 Centre Street (Main Office) 1550 Beacon Street 112 Centre Street Brookline, MA 02446 (617) 363-8100 Jack Satter House 420 Revere Beach Boulevard Revere, MA 02151 (781) 289-4505 Orchard Cove One Del Pond Drive Canton, MA 02021 (781) 821-0820 Simon C. Fireman Community 640 North Main Street Randolph, MA 02368 (781) 986-8880 Temple Beth Shalom (U) 8 Tremont Street 617-864-6388 http://temple.cambridge.ma.us CAPE COD Anshei Chesed Synagogue (C) The Conservative Synagogue of Cape Cod P.O. Box 587 Marston Mills, MA 02648 508-428-0015 CHESTNUT HILL Cong. Mishkan Tefila (C) 300 Hammond Pond Parkway 617-332-7770 www.mishkantefila.org Temple Emeth (C) 194 Grove Street 617-469-9400 www.templeemeth.org EASTON Temple Chayai Shalom (R) 239 Depot Street 508-238-6385 adminasst@templechayaishalom.org www.templechayaishalom.org EVERETT Cong. Tifereth Israel (C) 34 Malden Street 617-387-0200 FRAMINGHAM Temple Beth Sholom (C) 50 Pamela Road 508-877-2540 www.beth-sholom.org HINGHAM Cong. Sha’aray Shalom (R) 1112 Main Street 781-749-8103 www.shaaray.org LEXINGTON Temple Emunah (C) 9 Piper Road 781-861-0300 www.templeemunah.org MALDEN

Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly

Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JF&CS) Headquarters-1430 Main St., Waltham, MA 02451 781-647-JFCS (5327) 617-224-4137-VNA Intake jfcsboston.org Jewish National Fund 77 Franklin St., #514, Boston, MA 02110 617-423-0999 • www.jnf.org sfreedman@jnf.org Jewish Vocational Service Career Moves 29 Winter Street, Boston, MA 02108 617-451-8147 61 Chapel St., Newton, MA 02458 617-795-1964 www.career-moves.org

The David Project P.O. Box 52390, Boston, MA 02205 617-428-0012 www.davidproject.org NEEDHAM Temple Aliyah (C) 1664 Central Avenue 781-444-8522 www.templealiyah.com NEWTON Cong. Bnai Jacob Zvhil-Mezbuz Beis Medrash (O) 955 Beacon Street 617-227-8200 Info@Rebbe.org www.rebbe.org Cong. Dorshei Tzedek (REC) 60 Highland Street 617-965-0330 www.dorsheitzedek.org info@dorsheitzedek.org Temple Beth Avodah (R) 45 Puddingstone Lane 617-527-0045 www.bethavodah.org Temple Emanuel (C) 385 Ward Street 617-332-5770 www.templeemanuel.com Temple Reyim (C) 1860 Washington Street 617-527-2410 www.reyim.org Temple Shalom of Newton (R) 175 Temple Street 617-332-9550 info@templeshalom.org www.templeshalom.org WAKEFIELD Temple Emmanuel (REC) 120 Chestnut Street 781-245-1886 www.WakefieldTemple.org WALTHAM

Cong. Beth Israel (O) 10 Dexter Street 781-322-5686 www.bethisraelmalden.com

Temple Beth Israel (I) 25 Harvard Street, PO Box 540182 781-894-5146 www.tbiwaltham.org

MILTON

WESTWOOD

Temple Shalom of Milton (I) 495 Canton Avenue 617-698-3394 www.TempleShalomOnline.org office@TempleShalomOnline.org

Temple Beth David 7 Clapboardtree Street 781-769-5270 www.templebethdavid.net

Across

Down

1. Gilead medicine 5. Kinetic art pioneer 9. Shertok or Feinstein 14. Richard Tucker specialty 15. Satirical songwriter 16. Swift scribe 17. Rothschild action 18. Son of Gad 19. Partner to 13 Down 20. Shikker’s choice?

21. Congregation response 22. Stieglitz equipment 23. Gadites and Levites 25. “Barney Miller”, __ Linden 26. Pardes part 27. Israelite conquest 28. Woody Allen film 30. Diarist Frank 33. “The Yeshiva”, author 38. Edward Teller project 40. Methuselah 41. Ithamar’s Dad 42. Globetrotters’ founder 45. Jonah’s plant 46. Lassos 47. Enjoyed cholent 49. Resort 52. Prayer for dew 53. Fantastic Four creator 57. Scrolls 59. Political party 60. Vase 61. Moses on the mount 62. Mt Hermon climate 63. Negev climate 64. Shakespeare’s Shylock 65. Third dynasty king 66. Plague?

67. Ibn Gabirol specialty 68. Wilder or Hackman 69. Cowardly actor?

1. Balaam’s boss?

2. Son of Gad 3. Not mixed with wool 4. Meshugge 5. Kaddish language 6. Bridge maven 7. King of Judah 8. Fehr show, “Presidio __” 9. Jewish Polenta 10. Israeli food corp.

11. Four to a dreidel 12. Shema starter 2wds 13. Wise elder 21. Jonas Salk’s Org.?

22. Smooth 24. “Jerusalem of Gold”, songwriter 25. Wasserstein’s chronicles 28. Mall jewelers 29. Idol, __ image 30. Seder sounds?

31. Casspi and Farmar league 32. Anti-Semitic Polish org.

34. Pritzker fortune, Hyatt _ 35. Fleischer, former Press Secretary 36. Rickles or Adams 37. Ashdod to Jericho (dir) 39. TV psychologist 43. Ein Gedi et al 44. “Black Swan” star. __Portman 48. Torah breastplate 49. Chasidic feet 50. Cured by Salk’s vaccine 51. Made aliyah 53. Like Samson’s hair 54. Zohar author 55. Fromm or Segal 56. Next year in Jerusalem!

58. Issachar city 59. Few 62. Sprocket 63. Every

SOLUTION TO THIS WEEK’S CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ORGANIZATIONS

23

24

FEATURES

JULY 12, 2013 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

In the heart (and head) of the Forgotten Kingdom Guy Mendilow brings his exploration of Ladino song to Boston’s Outside the Box Festival

By Ian Thal Advocate Staff

G

uy Mendilow has been a fixture on the Boston’s world music scene for many years, as both a composer and a performer of original arrangements of traditional folk repertoire, with an interest in the sounds of many continents.

His most recent project, “Tales from the Forgotten Kingdom: Ladino Songs Renewed,” is focused on the traditional Ladino folk songs of the Sephardim. His band, the Guy Mendilow Ensemble, has been presenting the program (named after a 2012 live album) in concert.

The group will perform the program as a free concert presented by the New Center for Arts and Culture. It will take place Saturday, July 20, at 2 p.m. on the Boston Common as part of Boston’s Outside the Box Festival.

Ladino – also known as Spaniolit, Djudeo-Espanyol, Judezmo and other names – is the vernacular dialect of Castilian, or Spanish, spoken by the Sephardic Jews both before and after their Expulsion of 1492 by the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella on the day before Tisha b’Av. While different dialects emerged in the Sephardic Diaspora, the now-endangered language is also looked upon by scholars as providing clues about the medieval Spanish tongue.

“I’ve had a lot of interest in different folk traditions, but one thing they’ve all had in common is that they come from places where

I’ve lived,” said Mendilow, whose family once lived in a predominately Sephardic neighborhood in Israel.

Mendilow holds U.S., British and Israeli citizenships, and the ensemble’s members hail from Argentina, Japan and Palestine, as well as the United Kingdom and the United States.

“There are two halves of me,” Mendilow explained, offering a common analogy, “half in the head and half in the heart. The head part really values the research; I studied ethnomusicology in college.

It’s pretty important to spend time with these field recordings and to really get to know them and know the context.”

However, his heart and his head are not opposed but unified. “The simpler answer is just that I love the music,” he said.

Mendilow added, “With the case of Ladino, because of some defined moments in history, it’s easier to look at this because it’s a little less fluid; it’s a little more forced in some ways beginning with … 1492, but also with periods of migration and of course ending – not quite ending – with the shift that happened in the second world war.”

The Holocaust looms large in the project, as Mendilow was drawn to a great extent to the songs of the Sephardic communities of the Balkans – specifically to those of Solonica in Greece, and Sarejevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Very often when we think of Jewish communities, we think

PHOTO/CRAIG HARRIS

Guy Mendilow of an insular model – a model of separation clinging to tradition, clinging to identity,” explained Mendilow. He noted, however, that the Jews of Sarejevo, who at one point made up about one-fifth of the population “along with the Serbs, along with the Croats, along with the Muslims, saw themselves not just as Jews … but as citizens of a vibrant, intellectually alive, culturally alive, city.”

During a March concert at Temple Emunah in Lexington performed as part of the Boston Jewish Music Festival, and in the upcoming live album Tales from the Forgotten Kingdom: Live at the Red House Arts Center, Mendilow and his group recast a medieval song about a broken heart, “Adiyo Querida” (“Goodbye, My Love”) as a song about the deportation

of Sarajevo’s Jews to the camps.

While the song tells the story of one abandoning an insincere lover, it has been reimagined as the Sephardim’s feelings of betrayal by their beloved city.

Many of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust in Yugoslavia, including massacres and deportations, were not committed by German forces but by their local allies, the Croatian Utashi – people who were not alien to Sarajevo.

The most recent census of Sarajevo’s Jewish population now estimates a community of around 700.

“It’s even more poignant,” said Mendilow, “it’s even more heartbreaking.”

Such reimagining of traditional songs is partially how Mendilow sees himself as an artist. He described it as a tension like a tightrope stretched between two poles: “On the one, is the pole of the curator …whose job it is to represent tradition as cleanly, as clearly, and as authentically as possible,” citing Judith Cohen and Susana WeichShahak as two ethnomusicologists on that pole whose work has been essential to his exploration of Ladino music.

On the other pole are composers of new music.

“Anyone who is working with traditional music is walking that tightrope, and you have to be careful how you walk it and be deliberate,” he said, noting that walking the tightrope attracts controversy.

“You can find yourself in the middle somewhere but the truth is [that] traditions are much bigger than any individual musician.”

While he spends a great deal of time listening to field recordings and researching historical and cultural context before he introduces a song into the ensemble’s repertoire, he noted, “I long ago made the decision that I was not going to be a curator; the creative part of me needs to have a voice … in the way I approach these songs, often I think of them as stories or movies.”

In reimagining the setting, characters, action and colors, Mendilow composes new material as if he were scoring a soundtrack to the film in his head.

“The fact that we’re setting it at all is a step away from tradition,” he explained, adding that traditionally, much of the repertoire was sung a cappella by women in the home.

“They weren’t even meant for the stage, and sometimes it means a more radical recomposing.”

He suggests some of the questions he asks himself when he recomposes the old songs: “How do I use the expertise of the musicians in my ensemble? Each one of these is a master of his or her craft.

And how do I use my own skills to make it as visceral and vivid as possible?”

In thinking about the migration of the Sephardim from one end of the Mediterranean to the other, he returns to matters of the heart.

“This is also my story because I am also a transplant,” he said. “Actually, everybody in the group is a transplant in one way or another.”

Visit www.guymendilow.com for more information.

Germans, Jews thinking outside and inside the box

The quest for open dialogue results in a controversial exhibit at the Berlin Jewish Museum

By Jeffrey Barken JNS.org

I

n Berlin, there is a simultaneous sense of urgency and growing patience. While Germans embrace the cultural history of the Jewish people, whom they persecuted during the Holocaust, they are seeking additional forums through which they can break down barriers to dialogue with Jews in their communities today.

This quest can lead modern Germans to challenge what is considered politically correct. The most striking recent example of this trend is “The Whole Truth,” a controversial current exhibit at the Berlin Jewish Museum that confronts many Germans’ shame about the Holocaust as they explore their own curiosities about Judaism and the Jewish people.

Subtitled “everything you always wanted to know about Jews,” the exhibit employs a large glass box installation positioned in the center of the hall. Each day, one or more Jewish guests volunteer to sit in that box, fielding questions about their identity as museum patrons pass by.

“Germany needs a lot of boxes,

because different groups of people don’t have the chance to meet and mingle as much as they should,” said Bill Glucroft, an American Jew living in Berlin who has volunteered to sit in the box on several occasions.

The exhibit, which opened in March and will close in September, is now about halfway through its scheduled run time. Michal Friedlander, its curator, believes a misinformed press has hyped up controversy about the exhibit, but is pleased by what she says is the overwhelmingly positive experience most American visitors report after touring the museum.

“The harshest criticism initially came from the U.S., where there was some misunderstanding about the exhibition concept,” Friedlander said. “It is very important to understand that the showcase with the Jewish guest is not an exhibition in isolation.” She explained that the box with a live person in it “is situated within the context of an entire exhibition and is a response to just one of over 30 questions which are posed throughout the show.”

The immediate question posed by the exhibit – “Are there still Jews living in Germany?” – is answered resoundingly by the presence of resi-

dent German Jews who volunteer to sit in the box. The span of religious devotion among the volunteers runs from the totally non-observant Jew to the ordained Rabbi.

“They are simply people who happen to be Jewish,” Friedlander said.

This personal and private interaction between museum visitors and volunteers who sit in the box fulfills the museum’s primary goal of introducing Germans who may never have met a Jewish person before to a real and approachable member of their society.

Asked how he conducts himself while in the box, Glucroft says, “I’m just myself. I answer questions to the best of my ability. If visitors expect some grand answer to their questions, then they don’t understand Jewish culture – the best answer to a question is another question.”

Critics have labeled the exhibit as “dehumanizing,” believing that the show made a spectacle of a human being and stirred up distasteful memories and vulgar stereotypes of a past era. Stephan Kramer, General Secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, rhetorically asked when the exhibit opened, “Why don’t they give him a banana and a glass of water, turn up the heat and

make the Jew feel really cozy in his glass box?”

But exhibit organizers are seeking to move the display past its inflammatory image, and hope for it to be regarded as an important and positive teaching tool. The box toys with memories of Germany’s troubled past, with the goal of provoking new honesty and open dialogue.

That being said, volunteers like Glucroft proceed with a certain level of caution.

“When the young groups come by – the student groups – you want to be on your best behavior,” Glucroft says, admitting to some trepidation before greeting different audiences while in the box. “Teenagers are so impressionable, and who knows what lasting effect the experience may have on them?”

Neverthless, openness remains the prevailing theme of the exhibit, according to Friedlander.

“One day I got a call from the information desk – a Holocaust survivor was on the line,” Friedlander recalled. “He told me that he’d seen the exhibition showcase empty and offered to go immediately and sit in the box. From his perspective, it was imperative that we make the most of the opportunity for Jews to interact with non-

Jews, and he was prepared to share his story.”

Bold techniques that force public dialogue will be successful as long as the discussion “is self-generated and not imposed by some government office of integration,” Glucroft said.

Despite the growing interest and enthusiasm surrounding the exhibit, it may be important that the display not overstay its welcome in Berlin, noted Glucroft, with an eye on the exhibit’s scheduled closure in September.

“The exhibit is meant to be in your face and controversial, and that sensation rubs off after a while,” Glucroft said.

Until September, the exhibit will continue to pursue its objective of fostering a larger dialogue on the moral imperative to engage and accept minorities worldwide. But for those who sat in the box, a different process is under way. Glucroft seems emotionally exhausted from the experience, and needs time to reflect on the questions he was asked by museum visitors before being able to ask new questions himself.

“My Jewish identity ebbs and flows,” Glucroft concluded after his third and final stint in the box. “At the moment, I’m actually getting a little tired of talking about and debating this.”