June 7th Edition of New York Jewish Life

Celebrate Israel Parade Wrap-Up

Exclusive Interview with Rabbi Lookstein

Get Ready to Road-Trip for All the Brisket You Can Eat

VOL. 1, NO. 14 | JUNE 7 – 13, 2017 | NEWS THAT MATTERS TO JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN THE NEW YORK CITY METROPOLITAN AREA | NYJLIFE.COM | FREE

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Publisher’s Note News that matters to Jewish communities in the New York City metropolitan area

BUSINESS

Strongmen and Straw Men I suppose it should come as no surprise. Despite geographic proximity to us, their American neighbors, recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU)—those who lived in Eastern Europe or Asian republics in the years after glasnost, during Yeltsin and in the Putin years—have a vastly different view of the world that informs most everything. When I first read a draft of Danielle Tcholakian’s feature story in this week’s issue, my first thought was, “We were silly to think it would be anything but this.”

That Danielle’s piece is as readable as it is is a credit to her talent, experience and sense of story. I compliment her because, I must share, the interviews and views she recorded left our heads spinning. Kudos also to Andrew Holt, Marjorie Lipsky and other friends for their editing.

This was not an easy piece to report on. Fast-moving current events clouded conversations and created preconceived notions that needed to be checked. We also needed to understand generational differences, and withstand no small amount of hostility.

I’m 44 years old, so my experience with Russian Jewry is very different.

My paternal grandparents were farleft Lower East Side, then Brooklyn, immigrants typical of the time. My Russian classmates were Soviet Russians fleeing persecution. We learned about the Jewish visas traded for massive grain exports and the plight of refuseniks, and Jewish groups of the time were active in causes to help bring families to America.

The Berlin Wall fell while I was in high school, so college was spent

learning about the hows and whys of the collapse of the Soviet Union while it happened. If you want to be bored to tears, I’m happy to talk about the role of the permanent administrative state in subverting glasnost—the topic of a senior-year thesis.

The Yeltsin years, as we know, saw the rise of privateering robber barons, and the humbling of a superpower. The Russian president, remember, attacked parliament with artillery while former Soviet republics spun out of control, still with massive weapons stockpiles.

It was inevitable that a reconsolidation would happen. Things simply couldn’t continue as they were. Putin was the right strong leader at the right time, and then he defined the times, and still does.

Russian Jews from this glasnostYeltsin-Putin era have a very different relationship with the state, with authority, from Soviet immigrants of years earlier. Libraries are filled with the role and impact of the Soviet state on people’s lives and families.

There was no official private life, so a black-market private space needed to be made. The state was everything, including the market.

In post-Soviet life, the market is everything, and the state has recaptured it from the privatization cronies. It is raw capitalism, favoring the connected and wealthy close to the state, at the expense of regular folks either still stunned by the past two decades or too young to have experienced anything but this.

They know the fix is in, but still respect the strongman talking tough about their place in the world, shared

nationalist sensibilities and anger towards elites who condescend. They agree with the media machine built around delivering that message in ways both subtle and obvious. Sound familiar?

Contrast all of the above with the solidarity on display at this past Sunday’s Celebrate Israel Parade. This was an actual event—a crowd, floats, bullhorns, schools marching, music, spectacle in celebration—not false news, not defiantly held opinions opposite reality, not fake facts. There were disagreements on display at Sunday’s parade, but within the context of a shared understanding. There was a physicality to the day, nothing virtual.

Russia is again a powerful world actor. Putin, and by extension his admirers there and here, see themselves as realists. They thought Obama and Hillary Clinton were naive for supporting the Arab Spring, and—not without reason—blame the horrific slaughter in Syria on American do-goodism. What we see as strengths—diversity, argument, opposition, organizing, the overall messiness of democracy—modern Russia (and perhaps Russia always) sees as weakness. This worldview fits with Trump’s bluster, though of course Putin is a far more sophisticated thinker.

All in all, Danielle did a masterful job conveying all the above.

Michael Tobman, Publisher

Michael Tobman PUBLISHER

Andrew Holt SENIOR PUBLICATION ADVISOR

Liza Kramer DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE

Kim Rosenberg Amzallag ADVERTISING CONSULTANT

EDITORIAL Maxine Dovere NYC BUREAU CHIEF

Lucy Cohen Blatter Jenny Powers Tammy Mark CONTRIBUTORS

Marjorie Lipsky COPY EDITOR

LETTER7 DESIGN

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CANDLE LIGHTING

Friday, June 9 Candles: 8:08 p.m.

Shabbat Ends: 9:17 p.m.

Friday, June 16 Candles: 8:11 p.m.

Shabbat Ends: 9:20 p.m.

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SCHUMER IN THE NEWS

The 50th Anniversary of the Reunification of Jerusalem SCHUMER SPONSORS SENATE RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING ANNIVERSARY (NEW YORK) — U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer introduced a Senate resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. The resolution reaffirms the United States’ longstanding policy, under the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the state of Israel and a united city in which all religious faiths are respected and protected. The resolution reaffirms the Senate’s support for Israel’s commitment to religious freedom and support in strengthening the mutually beneficial AmericanIsraeli relationship.

Schumer said, “I am proud to sponsor this resolution, which reaffirms the Jerusalem Embassy

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Act of 1995 that states Jerusalem should remain an undivided city and Israel’s capital—in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are celebrated, valued and protected. This year’s Yom Yerushalayim celebrates the semicentennial of the reunification of Jerusalem, an important milestone for Israel and Jewish people across the globe given that Jerusalem has been a focal point of Jewish life for thousands of years. The resolution also affirms our longstanding policy to achieve peaceful coexistence via direct negotiations that achieve a two-state solution.”

The resolution has passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and now moves forward for a vote in the Senate.

•

This June marks the 50th anniversary since the Six-Day War and the reunification of the city of Jerusalem.

•

Schumer says the resolution reaffirms the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which states that Jerusalem should remain the undivided capital of Israel in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected.

•

Schumer: The semicentennial of the reunification of Jerusalem is an important milestone for Israel and Jewish people across the globe.

American UN Ambassador Nikki Haley to Visit Israel on Wednesday NIKKI HALEY, THE U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS, SPEAKING AT A SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING IN NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 12, 2017 SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES

JERUSALEM (JTA) — U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will visit Israel, including the Old City of Jerusalem and the Western Wall.

Haley will arrive in Israel on Wednesday, according to Israeli news reports.

She is scheduled to meet with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as senior Palestinian officials, The Times of Israel reported.

Haley is scheduled to fly over the country’s northern and southern borders in a helicopter, visit Tel Aviv and lay a wreath at Yad Vashem, accompanied by Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon. Her visit to the Old City of Jerusalem and the Western Wall are being billed as “private and religious,” however, and she will not be accompanied by Israeli officials. President Trump, on his recent visit to holy sites in Jerusalem, was also unaccompanied by Israeli political leaders.

In an interview in May with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Haley said that the Western Wall belongs to Israel and that Israel’s capital is Jerusalem.

“I don’t know what the policy of the administration is, but I believe the

Western Wall is part of Israel and I think that that is how we’ve always seen it and that’s how we should pursue it,” Haley said. “We’ve always thought the Western Wall was part of Israel.”

The comments came in the wake of reports that a Trump administration official, responding to a request that Israeli officials accompany the president when he visited the Western Wall, replied that the Western Wall “is not your territory; it’s part of the West Bank.”

In the interview, Haley also reiterated her support for moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

“Obviously I believe that the capital should be Jerusalem and the embassy should be moved to Jerusalem because if you look at all their government is in Jerusalem,” she said. “So much of what goes on is in Jerusalem, and I think we have to see that for what it is.”

As a candidate, Trump promised to move the embassy. But last week, Trump signed an order renewing the six-month waiver that allows the U.S. embassy to remain in Tel Aviv.

An act of Congress in 1995 required relocating the embassy to Jerusalem, but successive administrations have delayed the change with a series of sixmonth waivers, citing national security concerns.

Dutch Defender of Israel Publishes Harassing Voice Mail by Dutch-Muslim Politician AMSTERDAM (JTA) — A local Muslim politician from The Hague is accused of making misogynistic threats against a woman who criticized his anti-Israel statements.

In a series of voice messages, Abdoe Khoulani, who represents the Islamist Party of Unity on the city council of The Hague, repeatedly insulted Anneke Brons. Brons has defended Israel on social media and had criticized a comment by Khoulani last week on Facebook calling Israeli high school students who visited The Hague “Zionist terrorists in training” and “future child murderers and occupiers.”

“Anneke, go learn how to write Dutch, you blonde bitch,” Khoulani said in one of the messages. “With your anti-Semitic and scandalous foreigner.

You showed you’re a retarded dumb broad. You know what’s disgusting?

That face of yours. That’s disgusting.

That ugly, ugly, white face of yours.”

Khoulani continued: “And you know what you should do, Anneke?

You should leave the Netherlands immediately and go live in an Israeli colony. Happily steal Palestinian land

and see Palestinian children being shot dead. That’s what you should do. You belong there. With the Zionist scum.”

The youth movement of the Reformed Political Party, which hosted a visiting Israeli “Young Ambassadors” program, said it would file a complaint with police against Khoulani for hate speech. Facebook has removed his post.

In a separate incident, the Belgian anti-Israel activist Dyab Abou Jahjah accused a Jewish journalist from Antwerp of being “paid by Israel” after the journalist criticized him. Abou Jahjah—a Lebanon-born supporter of Hezbollah who was fired as a columnist for the daily De Standard this year for praising the slaying of Israelis by a terrorist in Jerusalem—told Gazet van Antwerpen that the Jewish journalist, Michael Freilich, was an Israeli agent.

“This is propaganda disseminated by some who is paid by Israel,” Abou Jahjah said of criticism leveled at him

by Freilich, editor-in-chief of the Joods Actueel Jewish monthly.

Freilich said he is neither paid by Israel nor a citizen of the country.

The Hague

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British Chief Rabbi Urges Lithuanian Jewish Countrymen to Stay Tolerant in Leader Sorry for Insulting RussianFace of London Bridge Attack Speaking Jews

(JTA) — British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis Mirvis called on his speaking at a National countrymen to remain Holocaust Memorial Day event committed to the in London, Jan. 26, 2017 values of peace and tolerance in the wake of a terror attack in London that left at least seven people dead.

A white van rammed i nto pedestrians on London Bridge Saturday night. Three men reportedly exited the van and began stabbing the bystanders on the bridge and in Borough PHOTO BY JACK TAYLOR/GETTY IMAGES Market near the bridge. The attackers were shot and killed by police.

“Unfortunately, once again London has been hit at “In the wake of yet another attack, of more loss of its very center by a barbarous and repugnant terrorist life and of more families devastated by terror, every killing spree. This strike, timed for just before the one of us will once again feel the now too familiar general elections, was meant to cower and instill fear sense of horror and helplessness. After Westminster in a great democracy,” Moshe Kantor, president of and Manchester we stood together defiant. Yet it the EJC, said in a statement. “However, we saw the seems the terrorists believe that where they have resilience of the British people last night and we know previously failed to poison our communities, with it will continue as the government and police will do their destructive ideology of hatred and prejudice, its utmost to find those behind these slayings.” they can succeed with still more bloodshed and It is the third terror attack in the United Kingdom murder. But we must not let them,” Mirvis said in a in as many months. In March, a car ramming and statement on his Facebook page. knife attack in Westminster left five people dead, and “We will not be cowed or intimidated nor will we two weeks ago, a bombing outside an Ariana Grande allow our commitment to the values of peace and concert in Manchester killed 22 people, including tolerance to be diminished,” he continued. “In the young fans. face of every attack, however devastating, we must A benefit concert by Grande and several other continue to cleave ever closer to these values because heavy-hitting music stars was held Sunday night in ultimately they are what will defeat the evil of terror.” Manchester.

London Metropolitan Police have labeled the van Grande’s manager, Scooter Braun, had said Sunday and knife attacks “terrorist incidents.” The stabbers morning in a statement that the concert would go were wearing fake explosive vests, police said. on “with greater purpose. After the events last night Eyewitnesses told the BBC that the stabbers in London, and those in Manchester just two weeks shouted “this is for Allah” as they attacked. ago, we feel a sense of responsibility to honor those The head of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, lost, injured and affected. We plan to honor them Gillian Merron, in a statement condemned the attack with courage, bravery and defiance in the face of fear. and praised the emergency services who came to the Today’s ‘One Love Manchester’ benefit concert will aid of the injured. “People of all faiths and none must not only continue, but will do so with greater purpose. come together to defeat this evil,” she said.

We must not be afraid, and in tribute to all those The European Jewish Congress (EJC) expressed affected here and around the world, we will bring our “horror and sadness” over the attack. voices together and sing loudly.”

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(JTA) — The contested leader of Lithuania’s Jewish community apologized for the publication of an article on the community’s website accusing her opponents of being Russians claiming to be Jews.

The apology Friday by Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman of the LZB umbrella group of Lithuanian Jewish organizations, followed the publication Wednesday, May 31, of an article on the LZB website about an election that day for the board of the Jewish community of Vilnius, the capital—LZB’s largest affiliate. Kukliansky declared the election void after a critic of her administration, Simonas Gurevicius, won the vote in Vilnius.

The LZB website referred to people who voted for Gurevicius as “mainly Russian speakers calling themselves Jews, with only a minority of people with Litvak blood.” The statement said the vote took place while “military exercises are currently underway rehearsing the scenario of Lithuania and Poland under attack”—a clear appeal to Lithuanian nationalism amid fear of Russian expansionism. The statement angered many Russian-speaking Lithuanian Jews.

Some of them said it reinforced a recurrent claim popular among anti-Semites who contend that Lithuanian Jews are Russian stooges.

Kukliansky on Friday said in a statement, “We apologize for the appearance on the community webpage of a hasty, unedited news item.”

In 2013, Lithuania’s Jewish community began receiving $41 million in restitution funds for communally owned property stolen during and after the Holocaust.

On Friday, Kukliansky won a separate election for the leadership of LZB. Gurevicius told the Lithuanian media he will contest the result in court, citing a controversial and last-minute change to the voting procedures. The change last month, which assured Kukliansky’s victory, gave Vilnius delegates on the LZB board the same electoral weight as any other municipality despite the fact that the vast majority of Lithuania’s 3,000 Jews live in Vilnius.

“Why doesn’t anyone complain that the United States only has one vote at the U.N., the same as Lithuania?” Kukliansky told the Lrytas news website in defending the change. She said opposition to her was motivated by greed and thirst for power.

Notwithstanding, Kukliansky made another statement that many members of her community interpreted as alluding to foreign involvement in favor of her rival.

“I believe Gurevicius’s true and powerful supporters still haven’t shown themselves,” she told Lrytas.

Freedom of Expression?

Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports Miri Regev at the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Jan. 29, 2017

BY ANDREW TOBIN PHOTO BY OHAD ZWIGENBERG/POOL/FLASH90

TEL AVIV (JTA) – Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev last week issued her latest warning to artists in the Jewish state.

Ahead of the start of the annual Israel Festival, the country’s largest multidisciplinary arts event, she declared that her office would no longer fund performances that include nudity. Two performances this year include full-frontal nudity, and in Regev’s view, they harm the country.

“A performance in full nudity, even under the cover of art, is contrary and detrimental to the basic values of the Israeli public and Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, and hurts the feelings of the wider public,” Regev said in a letter Tuesday to the festival’s director general, Eyal Sher.

Sher vowed not to change the festival, saying Israelis could decide for themselves which kinds of art they wanted. But Sher and others in Israel worried that Regev and her right-wing government would still have a chilling effect on artistic expression.

Held in Jerusalem since 1979, the Israel Festival features dozens of performances by international and local artists. This year, the event runs between June 1 and June 18. About one-fifth of the festival’s some 10-million–shekel budget comes from the ministry.

Sher, who is helming the festival for the third straight year, told the JTA that funding from the Culture Ministry is “critical,” allowing him to focus on artistic rather than commercial considerations.

But he said he would never allow the government to dictate to him.

“There’s no chance this will affect us directly or indirectly,” he said, referring to Regev’s letter. “We’re proceeding as planned, and sticking to the very basic values of democratic society—freedom of speech, freedom of labor and so on.”

Sher said he had never faced political pressure on the festival before, but he was not surprised when it came. Every government tries to “instill a certain narrative,” he said, and this one has been unusually overt in its promotion of Jewish nationalism.

“The difference is what’s happening now is very overt, very blunt, very in your face. It’s sort of spreading fear, and it has a divisive effect instead

of a unifying impact,” Sher said. “It’s not that we’re not fazed, but we’re not giving in to it either. So it’s just a question of whether democratic values will be crushed.”

Regev, who served as the Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman and censor before being elected to the Knesset with the Likud party in 2009, has made a name for herself with populist attacks on Israel’s creative class, which she has called “tight assed” and “ungrateful.” She has threatened to defund cultural productions and organizations that she deems disloyal to the state, including for their associations with Palestinian nationalism and opposition to Israel’s West Bank settlements.

In September, Regev stormed out of the Ophir Awards, Israel’s version of the Oscars, during the performance of a poem by Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish. When she returned to present the top award for the Bedouin drama “Sand Storm,” she was heckled by the crowd of industry bigwigs. Two Palestinian actresses from the film refused to take the stage with her.

“What have we sunk to?” Regev said at a press conference she called the next day. “In an official award-giving ceremony, to hear a poem by a poet who calls for the destruction of the state of Israel? This is not about left and right; this is about preserving our very existence here.”

Regev’s campaign against supposed subversion has so far been mostly rhetorical. In 2015, Deputy Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Dina Zilber said in a legal opinion that the minister could not condition funding on content. Last year, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein thwarted Regev’s plans to cut off funding to cultural institutions she deemed “unpatriotic,” saying it “limited artistic freedom of expression.” And the bill Regev subsequently proposed to advance to the same end was never finalized.

Still, Sher said Regev’s words alone could serve as a restraint on the many Israeli artistic organizations and productions dependent on the government’s goodwill.

“The biggest danger is a process wherein people

self-censor. They think, ‘Why do I need to take on this battle right now?’” he said.

Haaretz made a similar case in an editorial Friday, and the sentiment was echoed on social media. Among the few who came to Regev’s defense was Shlomo Puterkovsky, a columnist for Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, who wrote on Friday that free expression is not an absolute right.

“Nude shows are not a Jewish thing,” Puterkovsky said, and “clearly damage Jewish values.”

The Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker group performing at the Israel Festival (Courtesy of

the Israel Festival) Some see the government’s attempts to influence culture as part of a larger crackdown on freedom of expression. In 2015, Israel’s Education Ministry banned a novel about a romance between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man. Last year, the Knesset passed a law that had the effect of requiring financial disclosures by left-wing NGOs. And last month, the government launched a new public broadcaster without a news division for fear of critical coverage.

“It’s part of a bigger picture of nationalism—trying to beat the left and the Arabs as much as you can,” Amir Fuchs, a researcher with the Israel Democracy Institute think tank, told The Atlantic. “It’s populism, which is a popular thing right now, and not only in Israel.”

Some of these efforts have been largely symbolic or even counterproductive. The book Borderlife went from relative obscurity to a bestseller in Israel, recently garnering a review in The New York Times. And even the NGO law’s harshest critics acknowledged that it had little practical effect.

But as an example of the real-world impact of Regev’s rhetoric, some point to the Acre Fringe Theater Festival, whose steering committee recently blocked the inclusion of a play called “Prisoners of the Occupation,” which deals with the stories of Palestinian prisoners. In response, the festival artistic director, Avi Gibson Bar El, resigned, and six of the eight troupes scheduled to perform subsequently said they would not participate unless the play was allowed.

The management of the festival, which has been held in the mixed Jewish-Arab city in northern Israel since 1979 and is funded by the Culture Ministry, blasted Gibson’s resignation.

“Gibson’s decision that year after year the main topic would be terrorists with blood on their hands is evidence of a fixation and inability to diversify,” it said.

An actor in one of the troupes boycotting the festival told Haaretz the plan was to perform elsewhere.

“This year Acre will have the Miri Regev festival,” he said. “The Fringe Theater Festival will take place in a city that understands freedom of expression.”

JUNE 7 – 13, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 7

Touching the Void

Making Sense of Russian Jews’ Views on Russian News Exclusive

BY DANIELLE TCHOLAKIAN

DONALD TRUMP AT A CAMPAIGN RALLY AT THE AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER IN DALLAS, TEX., ON SEPT. 14, 2015 (TOM PENNINGTON/GETTY IMAGES)

In largely blue New York City, two voting blocs turned out heavily for Donald Trump in 2016’s presidential election: culturally conservative Jews and Russians. Trump won 84 percent of the total Russian vote in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn; swept the Hasidic neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Borough Park and Crown Heights, and the Orthodox neighborhoods of

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Midwood and Mill Basin; and took more than half of the votes in the Russian areas in Rego Park and Forest Hills, Queens.

Soviet immigrants tend to favor the Republican party in national elections, balking at the “big government” elements of the Democratic platform that resemble socialism—welfare, immigration,

access to healthcare and education. Love of Trump, as a paragon of free-market capitalism, makes sense.

But how is that reconciled with those same immigrants’ distaste for Russian President Vladimir Putin, especially amid news reports of his close relationship with Trump and members of Trump’s administration—not to mention the reported Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election?

Searching for Sources: a Former Elected Official, Facebook, “Mr. X” and the FSB? When I set out to speak with Russian Jewish supporters of President Donald Trump about Trump’s relationship with Putin and Russian meddling in the election, I went out to Brighton Beach, or “Little Odessa” as it is sometimes called. I went to a bustling grocery store and a local park speckled with posses of elderly friends, but was met with wariness and suspicion, even after I said I was writing for a Jewish publication. A grocery-store employee who didn’t want to speak while on the job told me “everybody” in the community supported Trump. However, the only person who would speak with me was an elderly man who wanted to be identified as “Mr. X” and informed me that “there’s no relationship” between Trump and Putin.

I took to Facebook next, putting out a call for contacts. Someone I didn’t know commented, “Why is this a thing? Does no one care that Russian immigrant community is actually pretty diverse and that many don’t support Trump and that Brighton beach does not represent Russian community as a whole?”

This was fair criticism, and my reporting bore out the notion that the community is not a monolith. Even among Russian Jewish Trump supporters, rationales and opinions varied. Defenses of Trump generally had more to do with Trump voters’ general concerns about

immigration, distaste for “political correctness” and the Democratic party, and mistrust of the media than with the supporters’ ethnic identities as Russian Jews.

“Under Obama, I felt like I’m supposed to care more about people that I have no business to care about,” registered nurse Alex Trofimov, 44, of Midwood, Brooklyn, told me. “My taxes are going somewhere that I’m not really feeling like they have to be going. And for some reason, instead of caring about me, my family, my immediate friends or my immediate circle, I have to be thoughtful about people thousands of miles away.”

I found Trofimov—or rather, Trofimov found me— after a high school classmate who immigrated to the United States from Ukraine as a child posted my request in some closed Facebook groups for Russian Jewish Trump supporters. The requests were deleted within minutes, but not before multiple comments were left.

“Tell your reporter not to look for a fake news, but report the Truth about was is in reality going on with the

country,” one commenter suggested.

Another asked why I didn’t engage with the group myself, joking, “No one here works for FSB [Russia’s principal security agency] lol but the reporter welcome to come and talk to us to gauge our opinion” and “If she is so reputable, she needs not talk to us. we are all crazy russian jews lol.” In a jab at my former classmate, the same commenter added, “i do not believe someone from Ukraine representing ‘some reporter’ has an impartial view of Russia! or Trump as a matter of fact! if you came here to dug up some dirt on Trump and Putin, you are at a wrong address!”

“Wrong group honey!” another wrote.

And yet another commented, “They are all in hiding with Trump regrets, or should be.”

But they’re not—at least not the ones I spoke with, including Trofimov.

Trofimov had commented, “Nah…If this reporter is as Liberal as you are, it’ll be a very short conversation.”

He then added, “Everyone knows each other’s views and preferences. It’s just I don’t believe a Liberal reporter will wright an unbiased article, therefore it’ll be a waste of everyones time.”

But he emailed me nonetheless. He was friendly and helpful. When I got him on the phone and asked what he liked about Trump, he replied, in lightly accented English, “Nothing in particular.”

Trofimov came to the United States in the 1990s from Odessa, Ukraine (then the Soviet Union) at age 22. Like the others I spoke with who came here as refugees or the children of refugees, Trofimov believes there’s a stark difference between himself as a refugee and those whom Trump wants to ban today.

“Nobody helped me when I came to this country,” he insisted. “The reason most of us came to this country is just to prove yourself and make something

continued on page 10

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TOUCHING THE VOID from page 9

out of yourself. That’s what America is all about.

America is all about individuality.”

“We Are Not Those Nutjobs Who Just Want to Come Here and Live off Welfare” Yuriy Khasidov, 28, is a Bukharian Jew who works in the Diamond District and lives in Forest Hills, Queens.

The New York City blog Gothamist wrote about him previously when he sparred with anti-Trump New Yorkers at a pro-diversity rally in Queens.

His parents legally immigrated here from Tajikistan in the ’90s, and he claims to have volunteered with Trump’s campaign and to have met the man himself.

He is fiercely pro–free-market capitalism, antiregulation and anti-immigration, referring frequently to “illegal aliens” who are both stealing jobs and attempting to live off welfare.

“We came from a Communist country. Today, we are very close to that. Too much socialism,” he said when we met one evening in a Forest Hills Starbucks.

He arrived wearing track pants and a gray tank top, and explained his love of Trump to me over an iced latte, making sweeping statements about other ethnic communities in Russian-accented English.

Khasidov sees no disconnect between his family’s background as refugees and his desire for stricter immigration policies. He fervently believes coming to America is the best thing that ever happened to him, but responded with incredulity when asked if that isn’t what today’s refugees feel as well.

“No, they don’t,” he protested indignantly. “They come for the free stuff. We are not those nutjobs who just want to come here and live off welfare. We don’t rip the government off. My parents pay taxes. We don’t do what 90 percent of the immigrants do that come from certain places, especially the ones that come from those Muslim countries.”

Khasidov also seemed to push back on the idea that Trump is using his new presidential power to enrich himself and those around him. He ardently maintained the commonly held opinion on the right that Hillary Clinton is corrupt.

“Trump has $10 billion,” Khasidov scoffed. “I don’t think he’s here to make money. If Clinton was so corrupt and was able to then acquire $300 million, I think Trump would say, ‘Yeah, I don’t need the corruption. I don’t need the $300 million. I’d rather just do it the legit way.’ I don’t believe Trump has any intentions of making money.”

Mistrust of Muslims and the “Whole Crimea Thing” Julia Gorin—a writer and former conservative stand-up comic who lived in New York for 14 years before moving to Las Vegas in 2005—doesn’t

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understand why Americans are viewing Russia as an enemy. She singled out “Muslims” in general as a more rational enemy.

“When Obama was about to be president, everybody was happy and hopeful because he had experience and ties with the Muslim world. He could be like a bridge.

This could lead to greater understanding and peace,” she said. “And Muslims actually were and are killing Americans…when a Russian hasn’t killed an American in 30 years.”

She added, “When you’re in the middle of jihad and people are actively plotting your death every day, I don’t think it’s wise to look for an enemy you don’t have to have.”

Both Khasidov and Gorin see Trump’s relationship with Putin as a positive thing, even going as far as to say it will prevent a third world war.

Khasidov’s take on Putin is that he’s “corrupt as hell, but that’s where his negativity ends. If you hate everyone who’s corrupt, you might as well hate all of Russia. Yeah, he’s corrupt. But he is fighting for his own national interests. You gotta respect any leader

who fights for his national interests; that’s exactly what their job is.”

Gorin’s family came to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1976 as “refuseniks” (a term used for people in the Soviet Union who were refused permission to emigrate, particularly Jews attempting to immigrate to Israel). She believes that “on the international front,” Putin is “a lot less destructive than Washington has been,” though she wouldn’t want to live under his regime.

“It’s one thing to talk about, would we want to live under a system like Russia has? No, we would not like that,” she said. But she was quick to add that you could “find a country detestable without it being dangerous to you.”

As far as Gorin is concerned, in the decades since the Cold War, Russia has been the victim and the United States the bully.

“Russia’s been looking to cooperate with us since we won the Cold War,” she insisted. “They’ve basically done everything we’ve told them to do while we’ve reneged on one agreement after another. We’re being

sore winners.”

Gorin believes there are “a lot of Americans” who have more respect for Putin than for the U.S. government because Putin “works in the interest of his country.” But Gorin says these Americans “sort of whisper” about this, “because it’s almost like the McCarthy era—they’re going to be accused of disloyalty.”

“I’m surprised Russia and Putin have been as restrained as they’ve been with all the havoc we’ve been cooking up,” she said, referencing “the whole Crimea thing,” the expansion of NATO and U.S. intervention in Kosovo.

“Not only were we creeping toward him with NATO; we outright got the whole world to freaking bomb their neighbor,” she said. “What interest did we have in severing Kosovo from Serbia and gifting it to the Albanian nationals?”

She allowed that “he might have killed political enemies,” speaking of Putin. “There might be an itemized list of people who have died by his hand. But if you look at the death that Washington has caused….

If they get us into a nuclear war with Russia, they are much more deadly, these Washingtonians, than Putin.”

A Former Elected Official’s Perspective David Storobin, 38, is a former Republican state senator who represented Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn.

He admits he has his issues with Trump, but still favors him, mainly for his combative outspokenness at a time when Storobin sees worrying efforts “to suppress people’s minds, not just speech.”

“He’s willing to stick a finger in the eye of people who are trying to do a 1984-style rebranding of the English language,” Storobin said, referring to the George Orwell classic. “Somebody needs to say something that’s politically incorrect just for the sake of being politically incorrect.”

Storobin fears people who tout “political correctness” and “safe spaces,” and is frustrated by the sense that “most journalists” see those concerns and ask, “What about the real issues?”

“No Republican speakers [are] allowed to speak on campus [at colleges] anymore,” he said. “That is a real issue—the fact that freedom of speech is being taken away.”

Storobin was born in the Soviet Union and came to the United States legally in 1991 at the age of 12.

He’s admittedly “not the biggest fan” of Putin, but sees “a lot of what is being brought up” as a new form of McCarthyism, referencing the “Red Scare” period in U.S. history when Sen. Joseph McCarthy accused many of treason and espionage with thin, if any, evidence.

Moreover, like Khasidov, Storobin believes that

Trump’s wealth makes him impervious to corruption.

“When they’re talking about him being an asset of Putin, an asset does it for the money. How much does Trump, who is a billionaire, need to be paid to be an asset?” Storobin asked.

The reports of Russian meddling were, in Storobin’s eyes, a “way for Democrats to blame someone else for the fact that Hillary Clinton was an incompetent candidate.”

He went on to say that Trump “really had no business being within 10 points of Hillary. And the fact that she lost should be a point for the left to reflect on itself, but instead they come up with this Russia idiocy. It’s really just idiotic.”

Khasidov had no problem with the hacking because he thinks the Democratic party is corrupt, while Trofimov both didn’t think it was effective and thought it was justified.

“Whatever they did, I don’t think it’s really benefited anybody,” Trofimov said. “And if they wanted to help him, the WikiLeaks stuff….They’ve just exposed the corruption and all of the negativity that was going on.

So, you know, enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Gorin, too, maintained that even if the election meddling did happen, “I really can’t be angry with Russia for saving us from Hillary Clinton.” She characterized the election as a choice between two people where “one wanted more beheaders in the country; one wanted fewer beheaders.”

Even after seemingly daily new revelations, from the suspiciously timed firing of FBI Director James Comey to the reports that Trump shared classified intelligence with Russians visiting the Oval Office, the Trump supporters I spoke with were undeterred— and in some ways even more devoted to the man and angry with the media.

New Allegations and Reactions When I checked back in with Trofimov after the Comey and classified-intelligence news broke, he maintained that the Comey firing was “poor timing but a right decision,” and said the news reports on the intelligence leak he read lacked “proof.”

“It was a meeting between, like, four people. How does anyone know what’s been said?” he asked.

He also expressed doubt because the story was broken by The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, an “ultra, ultra liberal person.”

“Especially if you don’t have to reveal your sources, how do we know whether it’s true or not? The Washington Post is just keeping everything secret and it doesn’t sound credible anymore,” Trofimov said. “I lost my trust in news sources, whether it’s on the left or right. The stupidity on Fox News is the same that’s going on on CNN.” For his part, Storobin simply doesn’t believe Trump

leaked any intelligence.

“From what I understand, both people who were in the room denied that it happened,” he said. “I don’t know why we’re bringing this up besides the fact that the media is trying to attack over everything.”

He pointed to a CNN story on Trump’s ice-cream– eating habits as an example of how the media have “really been an unbelievable embarrassment.”

Gorin, too, believes that the recent reports were “more of the usual nonstop exaggeration and drama,” and defended Trump’s telling Russian officials confidential intelligence “given that Russia is basically the one doing battle with ISIS while we’re just talking about it.”

She added, “If he had heard vaguely some plot that ISIS was hatching, I could understand where he would just sort of off the cuff mention it. He didn’t do anything illegal; he just didn’t do it with the usual protocols of sharing.”

And she defended Comey’s ouster on the grounds that he was “just, like, too public a guy.”

“He would just go to the media,” she said. “The leaks were coming from people in the FBI. To me, he looked like he was going to be a problem for this president.”

As a reporter, I found this distaste for the media and acceptance that leaks must be quashed to be jarring. I had the sense of being at an impasse, of asking questions carefully and then wondering if I should have pushed harder. It was clear my subjects and I were consuming markedly different news.

I had nothing to say in response to being told that Secretary Clinton was under “10 different investigations,” other than to point out that Trump was also being investigated. But Trump’s investigations were unfair, my subjects told me. They were fueled by the media, by an establishment who loathed the maverick that was Donald Trump.

The only common theme among the people I spoke with was hatred for Hillary Clinton and the conviction that they had suffered through eight years of President Barack Obama to finally get their turn, only to be thwarted and mocked by soft, elitist media eager to obsess over nothing.

My attempts to understand the hatred for Clinton were met with incredulity. How could I not recognize her corruption, her hawkishness, her warmongering?

How could I not see that she was inextricably tied to the sins of her husband? How did I not know how many people the Clintons had outright murdered?

At the Starbucks with Khasidov, I balked at one of his accusations against the former secretary of state.

“After what her husband did? To go get a—sorry for my [language]—a blowjob in the Oval Office from a 22-year-old? I think is disgusting.”

“But that was her husband,” I replied. “That wasn’t her.”

“And guess what she did?!” Khasidov retorted. “She destroyed those women’s lives.”

JUNE 7 – 13, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 11

Celebrating Israel This past Sunday, tens of thousands of revelers joined prominent officials, celebrities, New Yorkers, Israelis and others to show support for Israel at the annual Celebrate Israel Parade. The threat of bad weather didn’t seem to dampen the support on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

New York Jewish Life was on hand to capture the event.

PHOTOS BY MATEUS LAGES

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Tens of Thousands “Celebrate Israel” in NYC Parade (JTA) — Tens of thousands of people lined Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue to show their support for Israel.

The “Celebrate Israel” parade was held on Sunday afternoon, under the banner of “Celebrate Israel All Together.” The parade also recognized 50 years of the reunification of Jerusalem.

Nine members of Israel’s Parliament were scheduled to march in the parade, as well as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also marched in the parade. Some 30 floats and 11 marching bands were scheduled

to be part of the parade.

Former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber joined Barkat and kosher chef Jamie Geller as honorary grand marshals.

Cuomo was joined in the parade by Chemi Peres, son of the late former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres; prior to the parade Cuomo declared the day, and every first Sunday of June, Shimon Peres Day in New York.

The parade was protested

by IfNotNow, the Jewish antiestablishment group, which attempted to block the parade route carrying a sign reading “No Celebration of Occupation.” Police intervened, walking between the marchers and protesters.

JUNE 7 – 13, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 13

Lookstein Leads NYJL TALKS WITH THE 2017 GRAND MARSHAL OF THE CELEBRATE ISRAEL PARADE

BY MAXINE DOVERE

“The Celebrate Israel Parade is very important,” shared Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, grand marshal of the 2017 march. “It’s the one opportunity—especially for our children—to stand up and say, in the most public way, ‘We are Jews, we are proud and we love the state and the people of Israel.’ There is no other opportunity to do that. This is ‘Solidarity Sunday’ for the state and people of Israel.”

New York Jewish Life asked the rabbi how he was chosen to marshal the 2017 procession. “I didn’t apply—I’ve been marching since the beginning, after the Six-Day War.” How he planned to dress for the June 4 march was still a question, he said. “Some say, ‘Wear your threepiece shabbos suit, with the striped trousers.’ The real question is whether I wear a Mets hat or a Ramaz hat!” Underneath either, he assured us, “will be my red, white and blue kippah.”

Lookstein, now 85, was for decades “young Rabbi Lookstein” of Kehilath Jeshurun Synagogue in Manhattan. After graduating from the Rabbinical Seminary at Yeshiva University and receiving ordination, he became assistant to his father, the late Rabbi Joseph Lookstein.

“There were very few positions available in 1958,” the rabbi told us. He had considered a pulpit in Detroit.

“I was 26, unmarried and afraid there were no Jewish girls in Detroit.” With a smile, the Rabbi noted that his son, Joshua, head of the Westchester Hebrew Day School, had completed that circle, marrying Georgina (“Georgie”), “the absolutely greatest” Jewish girl... from Detroit.”

The rabbi had also considered leading a new Sephardic congregation in Cedarhurst. “There were no Sephardim in the town. Driving on Shabbat would have been necessary. First, I wasn’t Sephardi, and second, I was uncomfortable, knowing I would be in a congregation where everybody had to drive on Shabbat.”

At Kehilath Jeshurun, the young assistant rabbi was at home. Almost 60 years later, now Rabbi Emeritus Lookstein told NYJL, “It worked out, thank G-d!”

He described his father, considered by many to be “the absolute king of Modern Orthodoxy”: “My father was very involved with form and dignity. I’m more flexible—a bit loosey goosey. He gave me the opportunity to try things that he might have thought were bordering on the outrageous. My father was the best mentor anyone could have in a rabbi. I wish I had him for five minutes to listen to a sermon and correct it.”

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In 1979, following his father’s death Haskel Lookstein became senior rabbi of the congregation.

His has been an illustrious career. He has been a leader in the Struggle for Soviet Jewry; active in the United Jewish Appeal (UJA); and involved with the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Jewish Federation of North America (JFNA) and the New York Board of Rabbis. He served as principal of Ramaz, the school founded by his father in 1937.

“I was passionate about the civil rights movement,” said Lookstein, noting that his uncle, lawyer Bernard Fishman, had been very involved in the movement

and a tremendous influence on him.

“My uncle told me, ‘Make the most of your passions—it could change your life.’”

“My life changed after 1972 when I became an activist, involved with every aspect of the Struggle for Soviet Jewry. Ramaz, our school, also became very involved. I have a philosophy,” the rabbi told NYJL. “Never let school interfere with education!”

The Struggle for Soviet Jewry became Lookstein’s passion. In 1970, Malcolm Hoenlein, “the most outstanding Jewish public servant,” was head of the New York Coalition for Soviet Jewry. He told Lookstein, “We need young rabbis.”

In 1972, Lookstein traveled to the Soviet Union, a trip planned with the help of the Israeli consul for Cultural Affairs—“a euphemism,” noted Lookstein, “for consul on Soviet Jewish matters.” Meetings took place in synagogues and the homes of dissidents. Assuming he would be followed and his conversations monitored, the rabbi studied Yiddish to communicate safely. “I understood, but I had to learn to speak it.”

In total, Lookstein made four trips to the Soviet Union. He visited in 1987 specifically to meet noted protester and dissident Natan Sharansky; and to encourage another celebrated “refusenik”—a person in the former Soviet Union who was refused permission to emigrate—Vladimir Slepak, not to give up.

“Elie Wiesel told me to convey hope,” Lookstein reported. Slepak got his visa later that same year.

By 1989, with the advent of glasnost—a general loosening of government control—the Soviet Union, “a prison where one had to watch every word, became, relatively, a Garden of Eden—probably much more free then than now,” commented Lookstein with a bit of sadness.

The 1987 meeting with Sharansky resulted in a

lifelong friendship. “We became very close. Natan told my wife and me that ‘I loved the two of you immediately; you’re the only other couple I know where the wife is taller than the husband!’”

“I consider Natan Sharansky to be possibly the most principled person I know,” Lookstein said. “He lived his belief fully—not only principled in the Gulag, where he would not bow to the KGB. Even as he left Russia, he ignored the instruction to ‘walk straight’ and instead zigzagged across the bridge to freedom.”

“Sharansky,” said the rabbi, “is even more heroic as a free man. He resigned from the Israeli government twice over principle. To be a hero when powerless is great; to be a hero putting principle over power is to be a true hero.”

New York Jewish Life asked the rabbi whom he sees in his mirror.

“Fundamentally, I am a rabbi in a synagogue, devoted to the members of my congregation. My father would say, ‘A rabbi is a servant of the servants of the Lord.’ It’s not a job; it’s what I do. I always have a card with a list of projects: to visit the sick, to visit the school. That’s my life and what I want to do most.”

Asked what keeps him amused and involved, he quickly responded, “Ramaz. That keeps me amused. I love education. I love teaching.” The rabbi is an active teacher at Ramaz, teaching sophomores about Jewish sexual ethics. “I guess I’m the sex-ed teacher in Ramaz,” he said with a bit of a chuckle. “It’s very important that they understand the Jewish approach.”

What else do senior rabbinical people do? If it’s Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, he may be found on stage at Carnegie Hall as part of a barbershop quartet—or on the mound, throwing the first pitch at a Mets game.

“I’m a big fan!” he almost shouted.

In May 2006 and again in May 2017, the rabbi threw the first pitch of a game. “At 85, I threw a perfect strike!! At 85, you need an arc. At 85, you throw it high!!

Nothing in my life was so unnerving as those two pitches.”

Retracting a bit, the baseball-fan rabbi conceded that, perhaps, landing in Soviet Moscow with soldiers then surrounding the plane may have been a a bit more stressful. “It was at dusk, and my wife, Audrey, asked me, ‘What did

we get into this time?’ There’s nothing like seeing a police state in action.”

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein is one of the most highly respected rabbinical leaders of Modern Orthodoxy. He is a scholar; an educator of generations and of other Orthodox rabbis. His wisdom is revered in virtually every religious and secular situation—with the exception of the Rabbinical Court of Petach Tikva, which in June of 2016 voided a conversion he had supervised.

The Petach Tikva decision was met with public outcry. At a rally in Jerusalem, Natan Sharansky led the call for support of Lookstein. Lookstein characterized this as one of the ironies of life, remembering when he had led rallies in support of Sharansky. “It’s a power struggle—very much so,” he said.

Rabbi Seth Farber, a specialist in resolving religious law issues, advised Lookstein to “go public,” and leaked the story to The New York Times. The story went viral, “and that was very good,” according to Lookstein.

NYJL asked Lookstein to voice his thoughts about women clergy in the Modern Orthodox world. His response, while reflecting current Modern Orthodox mainstream opinion, appears to leave room for development.

“At the present time, the Modern Orthodox community—most, at least—are not ready to have an official rabbinic title for women. What will be in 10 years I don’t know. I don’t think we should be making a big issue of this.”

He noted that there have been women scholars, women teachers and women who have delivered sermons.

“It’s something that’s going to come.

I don’t think we should be excluding congregations that have women ‘clergy.’”

While Lookstein is “still not comfortable with a woman at the helm of most congregations,” he feels that “it should not be the defining principle of who is Orthodox and who is not. The point is whether the community is ready or not. Some are; some are not.”

Acceptance—or not—of women in the rabbinate has been a multigenerational discussion in the Lookstein family. Rabbi Haskel offered a story about Rabbi Joseph, his father, who, when initially asked about accepting Rabbi Sally Priesand, the first woman to be ordained by the Reform movement, as a member of the New

York Board of Rabbis, stated he would no longer participate were she to be accepted. Upon further analysis of her ability to fulfill the duties of a rabbi in the Reform movement, Rabbi Joseph relented. He remained a member of the board—in concert with with his new colleague, Rabbi Priesand.

“I’m very bullish on Modern Orthodoxy,” said Haskel Lookstein “There are many, many more involved Jews in 2017 than in 1937. Synagogues, yeshivot have experienced tremendous commitment. Will Modern Orthodoxy be as I think it should be in 20 years?

I’m not a prophet, but I am very hopeful and fully expect there will be a vibrant, centrist, committed community.”

Lookstein has been a rabbi of outreach among congregants and colleagues. “When I was involved with the New York Board of Rabbis, I had many friends in different movements. I still feel close to rabbis of different denominations, and value opportunities to associate and learn.”

New York Jewish Life asked Rabbi Lookstein what the fulfillment of his

dream for the future would be.

“We are very blessed,” he began. “We have four children, 15 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. My dream is that they would live committed Jewish lives, observant and loving all Jews: Ahavat Yisrael—the love of Israel— one of the overarching needs of our community is to love all Jews, especially those with whom you disagree!”

Closing our conversation, Lookstein confided, “None of whatever has been in this community would have been possible except for the fact that Audrey Katz agreed to marry me 58 years ago.

June 21 is our anniversary. It was easily the most important decision in my life.”

Katz, a member of the first graduating class of Stern College, was a teacher at the Ramaz School and holds a master’s from Teachers College at Columbia University. She is a wife, mother, rebbetzin and adjunct professor of English as a Second Language.

“She has helped me to live life for 58 years and has been totally devoted to serving this community. Ours has absolutely been a partnership.”

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All the Kosher BBQ Festivals This Summer, from Vegas to Memphis GET READY TO ROAD-TRIP FOR ALL THE BRISKET YOU CAN EAT

BY YOSEF SILVER | The Knosher

BBQ fever is overtaking the country. Jewish communities all across the nation are gathering their carnivorous men and women to dedicate a Sunday to the precious and delicate low-and-slow art of the perfectly smoked brisket. Whether you’re looking for your local BBQ festival or want to plan your summer road trip around Jewish BBQ events, you’ve come to the right place.

This guide outlines the 12 BBQ events that will be hosted by Jewish communities this summer. Five of them are officially sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS), which means they are held to the highest standards of judging and follow the same format as traditional BBQ circuit events.

1. ST. LOUIS KOSHER BBQ COOKOFF JUNE 25, 2017—KCBS SANCTIONED After attracting more than 500 visitors in its first year, Congregation Nusach Hari B’nai Zion is proudly hosting its second annual BBQ competition this month. St. Louis offers cash prizes for the grand champion and the winners of each category. The St. Louis competition attracts teams from across the country, with a team called “Five Dudes and a Vegetarian” representing Chicago and one called “SephardiQ” representing Kansas City.

2. CINCINNATI RIVER CITY KOSHER BBQ CULTURAL FESTIVAL AND CINCINNATI KOSHER BBQ COOKOFF JUNE 25, 2017, AUGUST 6, 2017—SANCTIONED Cincinnati is playing host to not one, but two, BBQ events this summer. The first, taking place on June 25, is the Inaugural River City Kosher BBQ Cultural Event, a perfect chance to enjoy brisket and chicken without the competition. All proceeds from

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the River City Kosher BBQ Festival will support Northern Hills Synagogue and the community projects it supports. The second event for Cincinnati is the Cincinnati Kosher BBQ Cookoff and Festival, the city’s first foray into the competitive kosher-BBQ circuit. Like that of St. Louis, the Cincinnati cookoff is offering cash prizes to winning teams. There are also

opportunities to sign up to judge the event for those who can commit to becoming KCBS-certified.

3. COLUMBUS KOSHER BUCKEYE BBQ AUGUST 20, 2017 The second Columbus Buckeye Kosher BBQ may be the only kosher BBQ festival to feature a rock-climbing wall and inflatable-obstacle course.

Award-winning pit master Max McGarity will be selling ribs, drumsticks, chili and more. Musical guest Bill Foley will provide entertainment.

This event is a celebration of kosher BBQ, but it’s not a competition.

4. PHILADELPHIA HAVA NAGRILLA SMOKE BBQ FESTIVAL AUGUST 27, 2017— SANCTIONED The Hava NaGrilla Festival, Philadelphia’s first sanctioned BBQ event, is hosted by the

top-10 cities in the United States for BBQ, Kansas City has risen to fame for its dedication to “burnt ends,” which are made from the ends of smoked brisket, smoked on hickory wood and served with a liberal amount of a tomato-based BBQ sauce. In previous years, Kansas City has played host to celebrity judge Simon Majumdar, of Food Network’s “Iron Chef ” and “Cutthroat Kitchen.”

8. ATLANTA KOSHER BBQ FESTIVAL OCTOBER 22, 2017 The fifth annual Atlanta Kosher BBQ Festival is hosted by the Hebrew Order of David International and raises funds for charitable causes. Last year, the festival hosted 25 teams.

judged on their ability to make, form and cook hamburgers.

Men’s Club of Temple Beth HillelBeth El and will include live music, a pickle-eating contest, balloon artists and mechanical bull riding. The event will also feature a craft-beer garden. Ari White of Wandering Que and the 2016 Brisket King of NYC will be offering Texas-style BBQ for purchase. James Beard award-winning chef Alon Shaya from New Orleans will also make an appearance as a guest judge.

5. LAS VEGAS JCC BBQ SEPTEMBER 4, 2017 The Las Vegas BBQ Festival, hosted by the JCC of Southern Nevada, is in its fifth year. As at the Memphis competition, food is not the only thing being judged. Best team name and best booth are also up for the taking.

Of particular note is that children ages 7-12 can compete in the Kids Que competition, in which teams will be

6. CHARLOTTE KOSHER BBQ CHAMPIONSHIP SEPTEMBER 4, 2017 The Charlotte Kosher BBQ Championship features a BBQ festival, pickle-eating contest, watermelon-eating contest, live music and concessions from Sauceman’s Bar and Grill available for purchase. In addition, the event is asking guests to donate two cans of food for the Jewish Family Services Pantry.

7. KANSAS CITY KOSHER BBQ FESTIVAL SEPTEMBER 10, 2017—KCBS SANCTIONED The Kansas City festival, now in its sixth year, attracts upward of 4,000 visitors each year. As one of the

9. MEMPHIS 29TH ANNUAL WORLD KOSHER BARBECUE CHAMPIONSHIP OCTOBER 22, 2017 Memphis holds the title for hosting the oldest kosher BBQ festival in the nation. The Anshei Sphard Beth El Emeth Congregation-hosted event is now in its 29th year. Trophies will be awarded for the overall grand champion and first, second and third place in the following categories: best beef brisket, best beef ribs, best team name, best team booth and best beans. Memphisstyle BBQ typically focuses on heavy smoking and dry rubs. In this part of the country, BBQ is either served “wet” with a sweet, tangy BBQ sauce or “dry” to emphasize the flavor that goes into the spice rub.

10. DALLAS KOSHER BBQ CHAMPIONSHIP OCTOBER 29, 2017— SANCTIONED Now in its third year, the Dallas Kosher BBQ Championship is hosted

by Congregation Beth Torah Men’s Club.

11. SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, KOSHER BBQ CHAMPIONSHIP™ NOVEMBER 12, 2017 And the last kosher BBQ event of 2017 will be taking place in San Antonio, Tex. This event is actually the only kosher BBQ festival to include a fish as well as the traditional brisket and chicken categories. Teams will also be judged on their baked beans. In true Texas style, belt buckles will be awarded to winners.

Entertainment will include live music and a Kiddie Corral.

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Brava has astutely used the resources of the Free Synagogue of Flushing to ensure its solvent financial future.

His challenge now is to rebuild and reestablish a fully functional congregation. The religious school, which had no students, now has 35. The school attracts young families from the areas surrounding Flushing, including Jackson Heights and some towns to the east.

“The younger people want their children to have a Jewish education, to understand the culture. The parents are not equipped to teach. At the Free Synagogue they can come and join their children,” Brava said.

He continued, “All of our Jews ran away and left this gorgeous edifice. We have the responsibility to make sure it is revived and exists for another 100 years. I looked at rebuilding this congregation as my professional mission— the final chapter of my career.”

To provide an endowment for the congregation and cover the upkeep costs of the sanctuary, an unused classroom building, dormant since the demise of the religious school, was recently sold. The revenue from the sale “will guarantee the existence of this congregation and its sanctuary for another hundred years!” said Brava. He noted that the c o n g re g a t i o n plans to codevelop a building now used for administrative offices.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FLUSHING FREE SYNAGOGUE Brava emphasized Jew, told NYJL, “My entire life has the need to reach out to all Jews “to show them Jewish values for their revolved around the synagogue.”

At the Flushing congregation, he is children. I want to find a way to bring diligently working to revive the once- them back—to show them it’s fun to vibrant congregation, and making plans be Jewish! Not just the unaffiliated; to restore the historic building. The we are welcoming to the whole family, synagogue, which opened in 1923, was providing an environment that is built at a cost of $250,000. Today, the nonjudgmental. Some are intermarried, building and its irreplaceable stained some nontraditional. Membership glass are insured for many, many in the Free Synagogue of Flushing is based on the desire to enhance your multiples of that amount.

“Maintaining the building,” said observance. Everyone is welcome.

Brava, “is extremely expensive. Just At the Free Synagogue of Flushing, repairing the defunct pipe organ would prejudice and xenophobia are not on our agenda. The challenge is to figure cost more than $100,000.”

Preserving, Persevering: Free Synagogue of Flushing Builds for the Next 100 Years

BY MAXINE DOVERE

The nearly 100-year-old sanctuary of the Free Synagogue of Flushing, a New York City landmark, was a featured stop on the May 21 Queens Sacred Sites Tour.

Visitors were invited to view the structure and its extraordinary stainedglass windows. A detailed history of the priceless artifacts was offered by the synagogue’s director of community affairs and archivist Souksavat Soukhaseum. The synagogue’s history was told in a timeline display placed in its lobby. This is the first year in the tour’s seven-year history that the synagogue has been included in the annual event.

The sanctuary of the Free Synagogue of Flushing houses 12 stained-glass windows representing each of the 12 tribes of Israel. It is topped by a huge glass dome designed in the pattern of the Mogen David—the Star of David.

“The dome,” Executive Director Alan J. Brava told New York Jewish Life (NYJL), “was once so brightly lit, pilots approaching LaGuardia Airport used it as a guide star.”

The Free Synagogue of Flushing, a liberal, progressive congregation, was founded in 1917 by five women. Its philosophy and practice were modeled on the teachings of Rabbi Stephen Wise, a leader in the Reform movement and founder of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan. From its earliest days, the Flushing synagogue was known for its social action and community outreach activities, traditions it continues as it approaches its 100th anniversary.

The 700-seat sanctuary has not been fully utilized for decades. Brava, who grew up as a Conservative, traditional

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out where people are Jewishly and help them get to where they want to be.”

Ever the teacher, Brava continued, “The Torah is a commentary on contemporary issues. The ancient texts are applicable to our lives today....If you have any desire to live an ethical, moral life—whether your concerns are social action, humanitarian causes or simply a good, moral life—the Torah is a guidebook on how to take care of all individuals.”

Classes are held twice a month; topics vary. One class may be on Shabbat and the concept of rest, another on Kosher practice and a third on basic Jewish concepts. There is history and information, “but no political discussion. I teach basic tradition to those who want to know,” said Brava.

Some who want to know are not even Jews. Members of the surrounding community, largely Chinese, are welcome to join the learning sessions.

“There is a difference between teaching and instruction,” said Brava.

“My job is to transmit—to be like a salad bar with five different types of tomatoes. I attempt to bring contemporary values to contemporary lives, both to the people of the Torah and the wider community.”

He added, “Whether it’s a 60-yearold rediscovering or a 6-year-old just beginning the Jewish journey, the synagogue is an amazing place for liberal Jews.”

Jews want to understand their culture, according to Brava. He teaches family education because the synagogue does not currently have a rabbi. As children grow, he prepares them for bar or bat mitzvah as a cantor.

(He is a trained cantor.)

Brava told NYJL, “I wear many yarmulkes....My job is to transmit.

Parents can learn together with their children. My students decide what part of Judaism they want to bring into their lives....I want to be a Jewish role model—a Jewish role model who’s relevant today.”

During the fall and early winter, the congregation will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

“We will celebrate with the congregation, our neighbors and the people of Queens,” said the multifunctioning executive director.

“It is important for the synagogue to have the ability to serve the needs of the Jewish people in Queens and to be available to our neighbors, especially the Chinese community.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio, flanked by Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña and UFT chief Michael Mulgrew, announced an expansion of the city’s communityschools program at Brooklyn’s I.S. 155.

PHOTO BY ALEX ZIMMERMAN

New York City Has Doubled Down on Its Approach to High-Need Schools. A New Study Says That Bet Could Pay Off.

BY ALEX ZIMMERMAN, CHALKBEAT NY

Mayor Bill de Blasio has staked a large portion of his education agenda on turning around the city’s low-performing schools by flooding them with extra social services—a strategy supported by a new study released Monday.

The report, from the Learning Policy Institute (LPI), looked at 125 studies on the impact of community schools and found that in many cases, the programs are correlated with improved student outcomes.

“Usually you initially see improvements in attendance,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, the think tank’s president and CEO. “You begin to see improvements in behavior […] and graduation rates— and over time you also see improvements in test scores and other types of academic indicators.”

The study comes less than a month after the mayor announced a significant expansion of New York’s

community-schools program. Starting next fall, the program will grow to include 215 schools citywide— the largest such program in the country, officials said.

Though the latest report from LPI paints a generally rosy picture of the research on community schools, other studies have suggested more tepid results.

Whether New York City’s version of the program is paying off has been contested, and there has not yet been an independent evaluation of the city’s community schools.

The LPI report argues that nationally there has been enough research on the approach to justify community schools as a useful strategy for highpoverty schools under the Every Student Succeeds Act, a federal law that requires interventions to be “evidence based.”

In New York City, the approach varies by school,

but always includes an hour of extra learning time, efforts to engage families and boost attendance, and an additional staff member to help coordinate partnerships with nonprofit organizations that offer services such as mental-health counseling or dental checkups.

While some argue those services are badly needed in high-poverty schools, it’s less obvious whether they lead directly to academic gains. In the context of de Blasio’s Renewal program—which uses the model to help stoke academic improvements at lowperforming schools—the evidence based on the city’s own metrics has been mixed.

Darling-Hammond acknowledged that there might be variation in school-by-school outcomes depending on how well the program is implemented, and emphasized that “most intensive changes require three to five years.” (De Blasio’s Renewal program is less than three years old.)

She also pointed to other factors such as teacher turnover or the quality of a school’s leadership that can make it “hard to get traction as quickly.”

A key question about community schools is whether they must show academic gains to justify the approach, or whether providing extra social services to high-need students is enough.

Darling-Hammond said the community-schools model can be a turnaround strategy if it is well executed, but that test scores should not be the sole litmus test.

“In the long run you’re going to get a payoff of all different kinds,” she said, pointing to graduation rates and employment opportunities. “Even if you haven’t seen big test-score bumps, that’s the biggest indicator of life success.”

JUNE 7 – 13, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 19

OPINION

“Never Again” Means Taking Action Now

BY MEREDITH ROSE BURAK, CHAIR OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS OF THE SURVIVOR INITIATIVE; and NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL MEMBER RAFAEL L. ESPINAL

“From firsthand experience, I can tell you that hate, racism and anti-Semitism lead to destruction,” said Sonia Klein, a Holocaust survivor. She stood on the steps of City Hall with us back in 2015 as we called on the city to heed the needs of the tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors living in poverty.

Klein was only 14 years old when Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939. She survived 10 years in a Warsaw ghetto, four concentration camps and a death march while the rest of her family perished in the Holocaust, along with 12 million others, six million of them Jewish.

Klein was one of the lucky ones—not only because she survived, but because she is in a position to advocate on behalf of the city’s 30,000 impoverished Holocaust survivors, who face their remaining days alone, fearful and hungry. Today, 60,000-70,000 Holocaust survivors continue to live in New York City, the embodiment of remembrance we should treasure.

Sadly, nearly half of them are living at or below the federal poverty line.

On a daily basis, these survivors are forced to decide whether to pay their rent, fill a prescription, get transportation to a doctor’s appointment or buy food.

Survivors have an average need of around $5,000 per year to cover financial gaps and healthcare costs.

Studies have found that survivors face a higher rate of chronic and acute illness, including cancer and heart disease, from years of exposure to severe famine and stress during the war. Despite a subsequent life out in the world, working and raising families and being active in civic life, survivors’ old age presents difficulties different from those of their peers who have not endured the horrors of so many years ago.

Given their average age of 85, we cannot delay in helping them because there is no time left.

To make the needs of survivors a priority for our city, we established a public/private partnership between the Survivor Initiative—a national volunteerled effort that reaches across generations to raise awareness and funds for impoverished Holocaust survivors—and the New York City Council to secure $1.5 million from the municipal budget for the city’s survivors living near, at or below the poverty line. This funding was spread across 15 nonprofit organizations throughout the five boroughs—groups

20 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 7 – 13, 2017

Meredith Rose Burak

Rafael L. Espinal

on the frontlines providing critically important basic services to as many survivors as possible.

We are proud to report that due to the great success of the program in N.Y.C. and our continued advocacy to do more for survivors, we have been able to continually increase funding since the start of the program. Since 2015, this funding has increased year after year, with $2.5 million secured in FY2017. In this year’s budget we were able to increase the funding to $3 million—for a total of $7 million allocated to these survivors—to finally help give them the break they so rightfully deserve, and to let the world know that, here in New York, we don’t stand idly by; we take action.

Addressing the needs of impoverished survivors is the moral thing to do, and also makes our society safer. We cannot change the past. However, we correct past horrors by helping the living while honoring the dead.

The process of helping the living also reminds us about what humanity is capable of, especially in the face of neutrality, as dangerous a space as hostility itself. Now more than ever, local individuals and groups must collaborate to stand up against injustices—both at home and abroad—and to address our community’s most pressing issues:

Think global; act local.

New York is an axis on which the world moves.

Many great cities are. As such, we have to act as a shining light of the nation on all matters of justice, from the environment to the treatment of our immigrant communities and everything in between.

Aiding impoverished Holocaust survivors sends a message to the world that when we say “Never Again,” we mean it. As a nation, we have a responsibility to protect those most vulnerable among us. These survivors—after their incarceration, after their displacement, after experiencing unspeakable horror—surely meet that definition.

“Never Again” must be an aspiration that the representatives of this country embrace and make their own. We can either see it as “each against each,” as the Nazis saw it, or we can be “each for each and all for all.”

We don’t have much time to provide the necessary basic assistance for these aging survivors. We need leaders, non-Jewish and Jewish alike, from the private sector and from all levels of government, to be a voice for these voiceless citizens, so they may spend their remaining days in peace and with the dignity they deserve.

OPINION

Trump’s Post-London Attack Tweets Are Chilling—and Counterproductive

BY ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL

BOCA RATON, Fla. (JTA) — In It was a typical week of his presidential popular myth, South Florida was campaign boiled down to a few hours of ground zero of the Great Email 140-character messages.

Explosion of 2008.

“We need to be smart, vigilant and That was the year your great-uncle or tough,” tweeted a president whose long-lost cousin couldn’t resist passing administration is woefully understaffed on rumors, hoaxes and conspiracy and whose top law-enforcement agency theories about Barack Obama, Hillary lacks a director. “We need the courts Clinton, Sarah Palin, the true causes to give us back our rights. We need the of 9/11 or the insidious Travel Ban as an extra nature of Islam. It wasn’t level of safety!” the invention of Fake This came even News, but it provided “Whatever the before he extended the template for how to the United States can condolences social media users in 2016 victims of the London would ignore obvious red do to help out in attack or offered flags to pass on bogus support to London and the America’s stories that confirmed Britain and its leaders: U. K., we will be “Whatever the United their worldviews.

What happened to that there—WE ARE States can do to help elderly snowbird, who out in London and interrupted his nonstop WITH YOU. GOD the U.K., we will viewing of Fox News be there—WE ARE BLESS!” only to fire off angry WITH YOU. GOD messages and unfounded BLESS!” rumors about The Other?

That out of the way, Apparently, we elected him president. it was back to politicizing the attacks: In the hours after Saturday night’s “We must stop being politically correct terrorist attack in London, the and get down to the business of security president sent off a series of tweets for our people. If we don’t get smart it that transformed the kind of event that will only get worse.” usually unites the West in grief and It’s not clear what Trump had in determination into yet another episode mind other than the court case over his of “Trump vs. World.” attempt to ban travelers from several Somewhere between citing an predominantly Muslim countries. early Drudge Report link on the That’s the problem with Twitter and, London Bridge killings and calling out increasingly, the Trump administration: London’s Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan, Even on points where both sides the president used the killings to ostensibly agree—protecting citizens defend his travel ban, toss scorn on gun from terror—the president governs by control and decry political correctness. slogans, not policy. Some might argue

that is a good thing: If his policy-making were as impulsive as his tweeting, who knows what kind of global mischief or military disaster he might lead the country into?

But like those emails from Florida, Trump’s tweets derail serious policy discussion. The talking heads line up on cable news, the editorials get written, and we’re no closer than we were before to understanding what really needs to be done in times of stability or crisis. Instead we talk about Trump.

“He isn’t acting presidential!” “He’s using disaster to score cheap political points!” “He’s still campaigning!”

This sounds like a partisan gripe, although for the life of me I can’t figure out which side wins when Trump gets into Cranky Grandpa mode. Even his supporters argue that the daily crises of his own making are distracting from his broader agenda.

Perhaps most disturbing of all his tweets over the weekend was his unfounded but completely characteristic attack on Khan, by all accounts a popular mayor and real mensch. “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’” Trump tweeted Sunday morning, accusing Khan of being blasé in the face of the attacks.

Perhaps Trump misunderstood what Khan had really said. The mayor, soon after the attack, told the BBC that he was “appalled and furious that these cowardly terrorists would target” innocent civilians. He vowed that “we will never let them win, nor will we allow them to cower our city.”

He then assured London residents who would see an increased police presence around the city, “No reason to be alarmed. One of the things the police, all of us, need to do is make sure we’re as safe as we possibly can be. I’m reassured that we are one of the safest global cities in the world, if not the safest global city in the world, but we always evolve and review ways to make sure that we remain as safe as we possibly can.”

In other words, “Keep calm and carry on.” If this were World War II, Trump might have accused Churchill of cowardice.

Except Churchill wasn’t a Muslim.

There is no reason to give Trump the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Remember the way he fired back at another Khan during the Democratic National Convention last year. When

“At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’”

Khizr Khan, whose son died fighting for the United States in Iraq, criticized Trump’s policies and statements about Muslims, the then-candidate immediately played the religion card.

Instead of defending his own policies or ignoring the remarks, Trump suggested that the dead soldier’s mother had not “been allowed” to speak at the convention, presumably for religious reasons. It was a chilling echo of a mindset that Jews find all too familiar, one that slots minorities, religious people and other “ethnics” into neat, defining categories. Muslim mom?

Oppressed. A Muslim mayor? He must be soft on Islamist terror.

When Trump insists that we “must stop being politically correct,” he is defending this discredited worldview.

Leaders from Paris to London to Washington, D.C., are aware that there is a radical Islam problem, and say so.

The issue is not identifying the problem by name, but coming up with real-world solutions to a vicious offshoot of a vast religion. Critics of the travel ban aren’t pro-terrorism; in fact, many believe the ban is counterproductive precisely because it plays into ISIS’s notion of a world that hates Islam.

It has been tempting to dismiss Trump’s more Archie Bunker-ish tendencies as a generational thing, just as we joked about those “Florida” emails as the work of retirees with too much time on their hands and too much Fox on their televisions. But a president has a responsibility to rise above petty prejudices and knee-jerk reactions and act—to use a by now tired word—presidential. That’s all the Jewish community was asking for during the spate of JCC bomb hoaxes and the weird Holocaust memorial contretemps, and what so many Americans are seeking in the face of the horrors in England; France; and Portland, Oregon.

It’s not too much to ask for.

JUNE 7 – 13, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 21

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