The June 28th Edition of New York Jewish Life

A Q&A with the New York “Cosmos’ New Israeli Midfielder Kobi Moyal

The Best Jewish Food at Wegman’s Supermarket

Our Review of Oliver Hirschbiegel’s New Movie 13 Minutes

VOL. 1, NO. 17 | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NEWS THAT MATTERS TO JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN THE NEW YORK CITY METROPOLITAN AREA | NYJLIFE.COM | FREE

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY

A BETTER WAY?

Our interview with Ambassador David Friedman

…25,000 owners of 1 million rent-stabilized apartments in the five boroughs…

• The largest providers – the backbone – of quality, affordable housing in New York City.

• In good times and bad, a vital economic engine for New York City – we pay hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes and water rates that help fund police, fire, sanitation, public education and other municipal services.

• A vast majority of small owners have buildings with 20 apartments or less – many of them immigrants, and all of us committed to providing quality, affordable housing to our tenants.

• We put the rent money back into our buildings for repairs, maintenance and upgrades – that’s the formula to maintaining and preserving affordable housing for New Yorkers.

Owners of Rent-Stabilized Apartments…

Good for Neighborhoods, Good for Tenants, Good for Affordable Housing

WE HOUSE NEW YORK 2 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017

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

BUSINESS Michael Tobman PUBLISHER

Andrew Holt The mother of a friend of my son, a French woman with educational and professional accomplishments to her credit, was faced with a move from Brooklyn Heights to Montreal. She was a bit anxious, even though that Canadian metropolis was a linguistic fit for her and her family. I expressed excitement and optimism for the change.

“You are so American!” she exclaimed. “Who said change is good?

Why can’t things stay as they are, at least for a long while?”

I’ve certainly been called worse.

American indeed.

Americans are optimistic, even in the face of difficulty, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable facts to the contrary. We are defiantly hopeful. Concerning Israel, Palestine, diplomatic negotiations and the hubris of presidential administrations, hope springs eternal in American diplomacy. From Jared Kushner to John Kerry, from Bill Clinton to Jimmy Carter, and from Truman to Nixon— presidents, special envoys, powerbroker diplomats and special interests have all tried to create their version of a better way. It’s a seemingly intractable quagmire, wrapped in a conundrum, with deep layers of history, violence, security, regional politics and faith.

New York Jewish Life believes that

international pressure on Israel to pursue diplomacy that compromises its security and self-determination should be a nonstarter, but it’s always fascinating to watch American presidents try. There are obvious and important areas where changes need to be made, and the constant conversation is healthy, and the hopeful efforts of new presidents always make for a good read. And who knows? Perhaps some good will come of it.

This week’s issue has an exclusive interview with the U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman. His words inspire hope. We will watch, assess and look forward to speaking with him again soon.

Our NYC bureau chief, Maxine Dovere, who seemingly knows everybody everywhere, will be in Israel for the next week, meeting with government officials, advocates, social service providers, educators and friends. She’ll be traveling throughout the country, sending back interviews, stories and profiles. We wish her safe travels, and are very jealous.

I remember a column then-assemblywoman, nowCongresswoman Grace Meng wrote on her return from a trip to Israel several years ago, some of which is still very trenchant:

The proud dedication of Israelis to their government, people and culture— obvious to anyone who cared to look for it or even casually notice—has encouraged me to work at being a better American.

The Israeli love of public life, their paperthin and transparent separation between personal and public, showed me how we can love America just a little bit more and take our participation more seriously.

I don’t believe it can be argued that we take our liberties and government for granted, or that, over time, we have come to treat privileges as rights. Worse, we have become increasingly apathetic about this all….

At Yad Vashem—one of the world’s most significant Holocaust memorials and education centers—I read a quote

by Kurt Tucholsky: “A country is not just what it does; it is also what it tolerates.”

As Americans and New Yorkers, we live the good and the bad sides of that insightful comment.

Israeli regional politics is not for the faint of heart, but must always be engaged by the well-intentioned. And French mothers in Brooklyn Heights sometimes need to move to Montreal.

It’s the way of the world.

Michael Tobman, Publisher

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

Send tips and editorials to news@nyjlife.com. For more information on advertising and sponsored content, email sales@nyjlife.com.

CANDLE LIGHTING

Friday, June 30 Candles: 8:13 p.m.

Shabbat Ends: 9:21 p.m.

Friday, July 7 Candles: 8:11 p.m.

Shabbat Ends: 9:19 p.m.

JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 3

BDSWatch

SCHUMER IN THE NEWS

PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS DISRUPT RADIOHEAD AT GLASTONBURY

Thom Yorke performing with Radiohead in Sydney, Australia, Nov. 12, 2012 (MARK METCALFE/GETTY IMAGES)

(JTA) — British protesters disrupted the performance of the band Radiohead at a popular festival in Britain over its upcoming performance in Tel Aviv.

As Radiohead performed Friday as the headliner at the Glastonbury Festival in South West England, some protesters waved Palestinian flags and raised a banner reading “Israel is an apartheid state. Radiohead, don’t play there,” the London-based website Jewish News reported. Some members of the audience also shouted “Free Palestine.”

The band was greeted with applause as it took the stage, according to the report.

Dozens of high-profile artists signed a letter sent to Radiohead in February urging the band to cancel its July performance in Tel Aviv. Earlier this month, Radiohead singer Thom Yorke said the letter was “offensive” and called out its signers for assuming the band is not informed on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.

Pro-Palestinian advocates have since ratcheted up their protests against Yorke and the group. The activist group London Palestine Action gathered outside the office of Radiohead’s accounting firm last week with posters accusing the band of “supporting Israeli apartheid.”

Dozens of high-profile artists signed a letter sent to Radiohead in February urging the band to cancel its July performance in Tel Aviv. Earlier this month, Radiohead singer Thom Yorke said the letter was “offensive” and called out its signers for assuming the band is not informed on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

4 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017

Over $16.5 Million in National Endowment for the Arts Funding for New York State For more than 50 years, the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities have provided vital support and resources to endeavors in the arts and humanities across the country.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the arts-and-culture sector is a $704 billion industry, accounting for 4.2 percent of the nation’s GDP. WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced on June 23 $16,523,220 in federal funding through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17). This funding will support 549 NEA projects around New York State in the arts and humanities.

“An investment in the arts is an investment in Upstate New York’s future, as both a tourist destination and a vibrant place to live. This federal funding will help regions across the state encourage the growth of artists and programs that will help New York benefit from the creativity they bring,” said Sen. Schumer. “This is great news for Upstate New York, and I will continue to fight hard for programs that support our artists, foster creativity and give our communities more opportunities to experience the arts in a diverse number of ways.”

“These funds are a major investment for local organizations to advance art, music, dance, language and literature programs in our communities,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Because

of the National Endowment for the Arts, our cultural institutions reach more families and communities with programming that enriches, educates and inspires. The arts define who we are as a nation and are pivotal in the advancement of our education and economy. I will continue working with my colleagues in the Senate to fund the arts and humanities in New York.”

In February, Gillibrand led a bipartisan letter to President Donald Trump urging the administration to keep federal funding accessible for the arts and humanities for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

In FY17, the NEA and NEH have a budget of $149.8 million each. President Trump’s recently released FY18 budget proposes to zero out funding for both of these institutions.

In 2016, New York institutions were awarded 538 grants from the NEA, totaling more than $17 million. New York received 111 grants from the NEH the same year, totaling more than $12.6 million.

An Exclusive Q&A with Ambassador David Friedman Exclusive

BY MAXINE DOVERE

This year’s Young Israel of Jamaica Estates Coalition for Israel Action L’Chaim 5K Run/Walk was different from the previous 16. As always, the benefit, honoring the memory of Chaim Bohorozaner, was sponsored by his widow, Helen, and the Bohorozaner family. And, as in previous years, the family’s machatunim—in-laws— have also participated. But this year, an extended family member, a gentleman involved in community affairs and politics, had recently gotten a new title: “Ambassador.”

On the morning of Sunday, June 18, David Melech Friedman, ambassador of the United States to Israel, came to New York City’s eastern borough. “Queens is a very special community,” he said with warmth, “a great little pocket of support for Israel—always appreciated. I come to the run every year.”

With family and bodyguards around him, Ambassador Friedman melded local pride with national politics. “It’s great to be back in the old neighborhood of Donald Trump,” he said, reminding everyone—who didn’t need reminding—that Trump’s red brick, colonnaded boyhood home was only about a mile from the synagogue. Friedman offered a yasher koach—a “go with strength”—to the assembled runners, walkers and supporters, calling the day “a great mitzvah for the state of Israel.”

“A year ago,” the ambassador confided, “I was hanging out with [Dr. Joseph] Frager, speaking about what could be if there was a Republican president.

What a difference a year makes!”

Ahead of the day’s main event, he continued, “Speaking as United States ambassador to the state of Israel, we are trying to turn the page, if not close the book, on the policies of the United States towards Israel over the last eight years. “[Trump] is the first sitting president in United States’ history to visit the Kotel—the Western Wall—of King Solomon’s Temple, one of the holiest sites for Jews and Israelis.”

Commenting on the United Nations, Friedman referred to the “unconscionable resolution passed in 2016 which decrees even the Kotel is occupied territory.” He called U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley “the greatest advocate for Israel that the United States has ever had,” encouraging his audience to watch Haley on YouTube. “There’s a new sheriff in town,” Friedman declared.

Friedman has raised official American visibility in Israel. He is the first U.S. ambassador to attend the

opening ceremonies of the Celebration of the Reunification of Jerusalem.

“There has been no United States representation at the event for 49 years!”

Friedman exclaimed.

He promised “more good news on the horizon,” saying the Trump administration has “completely turned the page on the policies of the past, and is just getting started on the mission.”

He categorized the relationship between Assemblyman David Weprin and City Councilman Rory Lancman with Ambassador the United States and Friedman Israel as “extraordinary.”

The following is a transcript, edited for length and opportunity to serve the country of which I am a clarity, of the exclusive conversation between New citizen in connection with the country to which I am emotionally and religiously bound. I appreciate the York Jewish Life and Ambassador Friedman.

NYJL: How does the United States expect the opportunity to connect and encourage Israel.

NYJL: What do you say to those who reference “the Palestinian Authority to respond to the constant terrorism targeting Israel, specifically the recent hyphen,” or accusations of dual loyalty to the United murder of 23-year-old border policewoman Hadas States and to Israel?

Ambassador Friedman: There is no hyphen.

Malka, killed at the Damascus Gate on June 16?

Ambassador Friedman: The Palestinian Unfortunately this question is asked of many Jews. It is Authority’s response to date is unacceptable. The an unfair question. Jews have served the United States attack should be condemned. We expect the PA to with distinction. We’re all American, all of those who condemn all acts of terror against Israelis—against serve the United States. There is no daylight between the United States and Israel. It is my intention to anyone!

NYJL: What changes can we expect in the pursuit strengthen and fortify that relationship in any and of peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority? every way. President Trump is very serious about the Ambassador Friedman: It’s too soon to really say. commitment of the United States to Israel, and about The president wants an agenda of peace, but never strengthening our alliance in new and different ways, allowing that agenda to compromise Israel’s security, taking it to a level that is superior to what has been or force Israel’s government to take any action against done in the past.

NYJL: Some are questioning the president’s ability the will of its people.

NYJL: How has your new role as ambassador most to make progress in the Middle East given the multiple crises affecting his administration in Washington. Is changed you?

Ambassador Friedman: It’s a tremendous this an issue?

Ambassador Friedman: What’s happening inside responsibility to have this role of maintaining and increasing the relationship between the United States the beltway is confined to the beltway, and will and Israel, a country I have cared about my entire life. eventually be cured. There are only so many bullets I am somewhat awestruck. I absolutely love it—the Democrats can fire.

JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 5

Lawmakers Urge Trump to Appoint White House Jewish Liaison

President Donald Trump, left, with senior adviser Jared Kushner during a meeting in Rome with Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni of Italy, May 24, 2017

PHOTO BY MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

(JTA) — A bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling on President Donald Trump to appoint a White House liaison to the Jewish community.

Reps. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) and Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) are asking members of Congress to sign a letter to the president. Rosen and Zeldin are Jewish.

“While it is still early in your

6 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017

term, increased anti-Semitism in the United States, the rise of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and persecution of religious minorities across the globe create an urgent need for a designated point of contact to work with and provide outreach to the American Jewish community,” the letter reads.

The Jerusalem Post reported last week that the White House did not

have plans to appoint someone to serve in the position. For 40 years, U.S. presidents of both parties have appointed liaisons to the Jewish community.

The role is not the only one related to the Jewish community that Trump has yet to fill.

On June 22, the JTA reported that the State Department’s office to monitor and combat anti-Semitism

will be unstaffed as of July 1.

Congressional lawmakers from both parties have pressed the Trump administration, in letters and proposed bills, to name an anti-Semitism envoy and to enhance the office’s status.

They have noted that unlike other envoys, whose positions were created

by Trump’s predecessors, the office of the envoy on anti-Semitism is a statute and requires filling.

Israel Breaks Ground on First New Settlement in Decades

Construction beginning on a new Israeli settlement called Amichai, meant for the evacuees of Amona, in Shilo Valley, West Bank, June 20, 2017 PHOTO BY YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel broke ground on a new West Bank settlement—its first in more than two decades—to house the evacuated residents of an illegal outpost.

Preliminary work began this week on Amichai, meaning “my nation lives,” for the residents of Amona, who were forced to leave in February. Some 100 housing units are planned.

But plans for actual building must go through several more steps before they can begin, The Times of Israel reported.

It is not known when the community will be ready for residents.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the news of the groundbreaking on

Twitter.

“After decades, I have the privilege to be the prime minister who is building a new community in Judea and Samaria,” part of the tweet said in Hebrew.

Israel has not established a completely new settlement since the early

1990s, though existing settlements have expanded and once-illegal outposts have been retroactively recognized.

President Donald Trump said in February that he would like to see Israel “hold back on settlements a little bit.” Trump has said that settlement expansion “may not be helpful” in achieving peace.

Amona’s former residents are currently living in a field school in the Ofra settlement. They have been pressuring the government to move forward with the new settlement, which will be located near the existing communities of Shiloh and Eli, north of Ramallah.

Sheldon Adelson to Give $20 Million for West Bank University’s Expansion WASHINGTON (JTA) — American billionaire Sheldon Adelson will provide about $20 million for the major expansion of a West Bank university.

Ariel University, located in the settlement of that name, plans to double in size within the next five years, according to a plan promoted by Education Minister Naftali Bennett.

Part of the project, which includes an additional 10 to 12 facilities, is to build a four-year medical school to be named after Adelson, who owns the Israel Hayom newspaper, and his physician wife, Miriam. It would be the sixth medical school in Israel.

The estimated cost for the entire project is approximately $113 million.

According to Haaretz, though the plan has the support of the finance subcommittee of the Council of Higher Education, it “still needs the approval of the full council” before new faculties can open.

The university, which is expected to go from about 56,000 square yards to about 125,000 square yards, has already begun construction on some of the buildings.

Since the university shifted from a college to a university in 2012, it has been granted extra funding by the state of about $4 million. With the expansion, the state would have to further increase its funding, Haaretz reported.

The expansion will include buildings that will be dedicated to the natural sciences, social sciences and community health, as well as a faculty of Jewish heritage.

JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 7

British Jewry Feels Left Behind amid the Election Turmoil

BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ

(JTA) — Nearly 50 years after she left her native South Africa for Britain to escape apartheid, Sharon Klaff again is finding herself unable to imagine a future for her family in her country and society because of racism.

And this time, the problem is hitting closer to home, said Klaff, 69, a yoga teacher and Jewish mother of two.

Troubled by the Labour Party’s recent electoral successes despite its perceived failure to tackle anti-Semitic vitriol in its ranks, Klaff felt even more concerned on June 18 when London Mayor Sadiq Khan—a Muslim Labour politician who on his first day in office reached out to the city’s Jews—allowed hundreds of protesters to march that Sunday at an anti-Israel event with flags of the Hezbollah terrorist group.

“There probably isn’t a place for me here as a Jew,” Klaff, who attended an unauthorized counter-protest against the annual Al-Quds march, told the JTA. “And I’m kind of wondering where’s the place of anyone who belongs to Western, democratic civilization?”

In the Jewish media, few spoke out quite as pessimistically as Klaff about the march or Labour’s performance in the June 8 general elections, when the party gained 29 seats rather than suffer the collapse anticipated by critics of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

But amid record levels of anti-Semitic hate crimes, these events nonetheless compounded for many British Jews a growing sense of isolation and the polarizing effects of terrorism on a society that already was struggling with its impending divorce from the European Union.

Corbyn, a far-left politician, ascended to leadership of Labour in 2015. Last year a parliamentary committee of inquiry determined he was not doing enough to curb the growing prevalence of anti-Semitic hatespeech in his party.

The British media gave unprecedented coverage to Labour’s anti-Semitism problem under Corbyn.

Critics say he has failed not only to prevent hatespeech against Jews and Israel in his party’s ranks, but also to punish anyone responsible for it.

A record-high 1,309 anti-Semitic incidents in 2016 and growing anger over Islamist terrorism further highlighted the party’s perceived failures.

Subsequently, Jonathan Arkush, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said last year in

8 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017

an unusual statement for his nonpartisan group, “Frankly, most people in the Jewish Jeremy Corbyn, left, speaking to faith leaders at the Finsbury Park Mosque on June community can’t 19, 2017, after worshippers were struck by a hired van as they were leaving following Ramadan prayers trust Labour.”

The rare rebuke PHOTO BY STEFAN ROUSSEAU/WPA POOL/GETTY IMAGES was cited frequently by pundits who said Corbyn’s Labour was unlikely participants to say they support Hezbollah’s political to threaten the ruling Conservative Party headed wing but not its military one. The distinction is

by Theresa May, who called an early election. May rejected by Hezbollah itself, although the European was seeking a public reaffirmation of her leadership Union in 2013 classified only the armed wing as a after replacing David Cameron as prime minister; he terrorist group.

In 2002, Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said resigned after a majority of voters supported leaving Israel’s creation was the expression of Allah’s will the European Union.

Her gambit backfired spectacularly. May lost her to “gather the Jews in one place” for “the final and party’s absolute majority in Parliament, forcing it to decisive battle.”

The United States, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, form a coalition with a smaller party from Northern Ireland and handing Corbyn an important success the Netherlands and several other countries regard all of Hezbollah’s organs as belonging to the same that shocked British Jews.

Prior to the election, 77 percent of Jewish voters terrorist entity.

The refusal by police and the city of London to said they supported May’s Conservatives and only 13 ban the march, and their action against counterpercent backed Labour.

“We were unable to stop anti-Semitic politics’ being protesters, drew harsh condemnations by critics from normalized on the left, and we were unable to stop the Jewish community in an apparent reflection of it from moving into the mainstream,” David Hirsh, a growing exasperation.

Hezbollah “seeks the genocide of Jews worldwide,” British Jewish columnist and prominent sociologist at the University of London, wrote in a column in The Gideon Falter, chairman of the Campaign Against Jewish Chronicle titled “Antisemitic Politics Is the New Antisemitism watchdog, wrote in a scathing statement. “As Britain mourns those we have so Normal.”

To Klaff, “Corbyn’s success, the acceptance of recently lost to Islamist terrorism,” he added, police Hezbollah flags on the streets of London, it’s the “permitted Hezbollah supporters to mount a show culmination of something that I first started noticing of force through the heart of London. This is the about seven years ago, I guess, that is making me feel reality of the supposed crackdown on extremism and terrorism.” increasingly uncomfortable in the United Kingdom.”

Jack Mendel, a journalist who covered the march She cited a conversation that she had recently with a yoga student of hers, a housing union activist in his for the Jewish News of London, made light of the situation on Twitter, where he wrote about a photo 20s who supported Corbyn.

“I told him that Corbyn is responsible for anti- he took of three marchers draped in Hezbollah’s flag.

“Awkward! Three people came in the same terror Semitism. He wasn’t interested,” Klaff recalled.

Corbyn did not participate in the Al-Quds march flag,” he wrote.

Mendel also noted in a column published June over the weekend. But he had attended several previous events, including in 2012 when he was 19 that whereas police ignored the flags, one officer photographed smiling in front of a Hezbollah flag held advised him to be careful not to hurt his toes after by an Al-Quds marcher. The photographer who took noticing Mendel was wearing flip-flops.

“There’s a certain sense of helplessness when the picture said Corbyn may not have been aware of Hezbollah’s terror flags fly in my city, and police are the flag in the background.

At June 18’s event, organizers instructed more concerned with my well-being,” Mendel wrote.

Women of the Wall members bringing Torahs to the Western Wall, Nov. 2, 2016 SCREENSHOT FROM TWITTER

Suspension of Western Wall Deal Leaves Jewish Leaders Feeling Betrayed

BY BEN SALES

(JTA) — They’ve tried strongly-worded statements.

They’ve tried private meetings with the prime minister. They’ve tried negotiations, protest and prayer.

But for the past five years, despite broad internal consensus and consistent pressure, the American Jewish establishment has been unable to persuade Israel’s government to create an equitable space for non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall.

The latest setback in that fight came Sunday, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the suspension of a 2016 agreement to expand the holy site’s southern section—used for egalitarian prayer— and appoint an interdenominational commission to oversee it. The compromise was a result of three years of negotiation among the Jewish Agency for Israel, non-Orthodox leaders, the Israeli government and the Western Wall’s Haredi Orthodox management.

Work to expand the egalitarian section will continue during the suspension. But a new agreement will now be negotiated by Israel’s Cabinet, and will need to come to a new vote before moving forward.

The suspension is a result of pressure from Netanyahu’s Haredi Orthodox partners, who allowed the compromise to pass last year but have since railed against it, blocking its implementation. American Jewish leaders had hailed the agreement last year as a step forward for Jewish pluralism, and at the time, Netanyahu called it a “fair and creative solution.”

Now, the American Jewish leaders who pushed for the agreement say they feel betrayed by Netanyahu.

They will be meeting in Israel this week to discuss a response, and the Jewish Agency will hold a special session Monday to discuss the issue. But no leaders committed to concrete plans for a response, beyond continued vocal protest.

“It’s deeply troubling and very disappointing that they would suspend the implementation of this resolution,” Jerry Silverman, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, told the JTA Sunday.

“We are going to be assertive in asking what’s next.”

Various advocates for the agreement have warned of a crisis among American non-Orthodox Jews should the compromise collapse. Last year, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said the collapse of the deal “will signal a very serious rupture in the relationship between North American Jewry and the state of Israel.”

On Sunday, Jacobs expressed strong disappointment in the suspension, but did not say it would lead to any concrete loss of support for Israel from the Reform movement. He included it in a list of recent Israeli government decisions the Reform movement opposes, including recent legislation to bar supporters of Israel boycotts from entering the country, and another law legalizing Israeli settlements’ appropriation of Palestinian land.

“This decision screams out that when all is said and done, the state of Israel and government of Israel is willing to sell our rights and our well-being for coalition politics,” he told the JTA. “This does not add up to be a compelling example of what all of us understand Jewish life to be, and if there’s growing dissonance between those who lead the state of Israel and those who lead American Jewry, the consequences are serious.”

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, said the best way forward for non-Orthodox leaders may be Israel’s Supreme Court. A court petition filed by a range of Israeli pluralist groups in 2013 seeks to compel the government to provide for non-Orthodox prayer at the wall, but had been tabled while the 2016 agreement was being negotiated and implemented.

Now that the agreement is suspended, Schonfeld feels the Supreme Court may rule favorably on the petition, forcing the government to accede to nonOrthodox demands.

“The Israeli Supreme Court seems to be the only governmental venue that appreciates the long-term impact of Israel advocating its role as the home for all Jews,” she said. “Inevitably, we will find our way back to the courts. We will continue to protest.”

A range of other groups has also criticized Sunday’s decision, including the American Jewish Committee, the Women of the Wall prayer group, the Israel Democracy Institute think tank and the Jewish Agency, whose chairman, Natan Sharansky, was one of the architects of the 2016 agreement.

“After four years of intense negotiations, we reached a solution that was accepted by all major denominations and was then adopted by the government and embraced by the world’s Jewish communities,” Sharansky said in a statement. “Today’s decision signifies a retreat from that agreement and will make our work to bring Israel and the Jewish world closer together increasingly more difficult.”

Non-Orthodox leaders also decried the Israeli government’s advancing a bill to centralize authority for Jewish conversions under the Israeli chief rabbinate, a Haredi Orthodox body. Silverman compared the bill to a 2010 bill on conversions in Israel, which American Jewish groups also opposed because they argued it would delegitimize nonOrthodox conversions.

“The conversion bill that was approved by the ministerial committee and Knesset is one that definitively changes the status quo in conversions,” Silverman said. “This is something that almost every 10 years comes up, and would have a dramatic effect on who is a Jew, which obviously has a significant impact.”

JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 9

State Dept.’s Anti-Semitism Monitoring Office to Be Unstaffed as of July 1

BY RON KAMPEAS

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. State Department’s office to monitor and combat antiSemitism will be unstaffed as of July 1.

A source familiar with the office’s workings told the JTA that its remaining two staffers, each working half time or less, would be reassigned as of that date.

The Trump administration, which has yet to name an envoy to head the office, would not comment on the staffing change. At full staffing, the office employs a full-time envoy and the equivalent of three full-time staffers.

The State Department told the JTA in a statement that it remained committed to combating antiSemitism—and cited as evidence the tools, including the department’s annual reports on human rights and religious freedom, that existed before Congress mandated the creation of the envoy office in 2004.

“We want to ensure the department is addressing

anti-Semitism in the most effective and efficient method possible and will continue to endeavor to do so,” the statement said.

“The Department of State condemns attacks on Jewish communities and individuals. We consistently urge governments around the world to address and condemn anti-Semitism and work with vulnerable Jewish communities to assess and provide appropriate levels of security.

“The department, our embassies, and our consulates support extensive bilateral, multilateral and civil society outreach to Jewish communities,” the statement continued. “Additionally, the State Department continues to devote resources towards programs combating anti-Semitism online and off, as well as building NGO coalitions in Europe. We also closely monitor global anti-Semitism and report on it in our Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

A view of the State Department building in Washington, D.C. PHOTO COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

10 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017

and International Religious Freedom Report, which document global anti-Semitism in 199 countries.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Congress in testimony earlier this month that he believed special envoys were counterproductive because they provided an excuse to the rest of the department to ignore the specific issue addressed by the envoy.

Congressional lawmakers from both parties have pressed the Trump administration, in letters and proposed bills, to name an envoy and to enhance the office’s status. They have noted that unlike other envoys, whose positions were created by Trump’s predecessors, the office of the envoy on antiSemitism is a statute and requires filling.

“As the author of the amendment that created the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat AntiSemitism, I remain hopeful that these critical positions will be filled,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who authorized the 2004 law, said in a statement to the JTA. Jewish groups have lobbied President Donald Trump to name an envoy, saying that despite Tillerson’s testimony, the position has been key to encouraging diplomats and officials throughout the department to focus on anti-Semitism. Hannah Rosenthal, a special envoy on anti-Semitism in the Obama administration, instituted department-wide training on identifying anti-Semitism.

“The idea of having a dedicated envoy who can travel around the world to raise awareness on this issue is critical,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told the JTA in an interview.

“That doesn’t mean there isn’t value for all ambassadors and every embassy in addressing issues of anti-Semitism and bigotry in countries they operate,” he said. “But if the administration is truly committed” to combating anti-Semitism, “maintaining the special envoy for anti-Semitism seems like a no-brainer.”

The Anti-Defamation League, coincidentally, launched an online petition June 22 to the White House to fill the position.

Officials of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which has enjoyed a good relationship with the Trump administration, said that if the unstaffing was coming ahead of a reorganization of the office, that was understandable. But positions remain unfilled in all of the major federal departments and agencies since Trump took office.

“However, we are almost in July and there is still no one of proper rank at the State Department whom the Wiesenthal Center and others can work with to re-activate US leadership in the struggle against anti-Semitism at a time when global anti-Semitism is rising,” said an email from Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the center; and Mark Weitzman, its director of government affairs.

Jason Isaacson, the American Jewish Committee’s director of government and international affairs, said the position was essential.

“It’s not as though the need for a special envoy has diminished,” he told the JTA in an interview. “If anything it has increased.”

“We are very happy to add Kobi to our roster.

Besides his experience, he brings a contagious passion for the game that will help the team continue to grow.”

- Cosmos head coach and sporting director, Giovanni Savarese

Kobi Moyal with Cosmos head coach and sporting director, Giovanni Savarese PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NEW YORK COSMOS

Cosmos Sign Israeli Midfielder Kobi Moyal

BY STAFF

The below is a question and answer between New York Jewish Life and Kobi Moyal. It has been edited for space and clarity.

NYJL: When did you first know you wanted to be a professional footballer?

Moyal: Ever since I was five or six years old I knew that I wanted to play football, and I was going to make it my profession.

NYJL: Where is your family from in Israel?

Moyal: We are from a small city five minutes from Jerusalem.

NYJL: Do you have family or close friends based in New York? And is there any place in New York where you are looking to visit or spend time?

Moyal: No family, but I have a lot of friends in Manhattan and New Jersey, most of whom are Jewish. One of the first things I did when I got here was visit the grave of Rabbi Melovavich, who is a very important character in the Jewish community. It was very important for me to go there.

NYJL: The New York Cosmos have a tremendous history, boasting worldclass players from Pele to Beckenbauer, and more recently Raul. Do you have a personal favorite among Cosmos alumni?

Moyal: The Cosmos have had amazing players over the last 45 years.

Pele and Beckenbauer are incredible, but I would have related more to the Cosmos’ last Israeli player, Motaleh

Spiegler, who was a team member in 1975.

NYJL: As a defensive midfielder, do you have a player you have styled yourself after? (We’re thinking of players like Daniele De Rossi, Xabi Alonso, Schweinsteiger or even from your youth.)

Moyal: I have been compared to Gennaro Gattuso. I really liked him when he played from Milan and watched him there. A more current player I like would have to Xabi Alonso, one of the best midfielders in the world. And of course, Claude Makélélé—he is also known as one of the best midfielders in the world, but he is of a different style and quality than the others. He changed the position.

NYJL: You have some caps with the Israel national team. Do you think Israel has a chance at international glory in the near future?

Moyal: In Israel the goal is always to keep developing and moving forward at the National Level. I really hope that we can do a good campaign and make it to the UEFA European Championship.

NYJL: On a lighter note, do you have a message for our readers about why they should support the growth of soccer in the United States, and more specifically support the Cosmos?

Moyal: In Europe and Israel, soccer has been the most popular sport for many years and generations. With that being said, I am aware that the growth of the sport in recent years has been tremendous. In the past, the focus has been on American football, basketball and baseball, but it really feels like in the last few years, soccer is becoming a big part of American culture. I hope that people will continue to take an interest in soccer—that the fan base will keep growing, especially for the Cosmos.

NY Federation Asks Public to Vote on Next “Big Idea” NEW YORK (JTA) — New York’s Jewish federation is launching a “Big Idea” contest, asking the public to vote for the recipient of a $250,000 grant.

The contest, whose voting opened June 21, will fund a nonprofit with the best idea for making the Jewish community more welcoming and inclusive. Four finalists were chosen from 32 proposals.

“As our second century unfolds, we know that it will take innovative, daring ideas to move us forward,” Deborah Joselow, chief planning officer of UJAFederation of New York, said in a statement.

The federation is marking the 100th anniversary of its founding.

The four finalists and their “Big Idea” are: • 70 Faces Media: Chosen , a multimedia web series comprising essays, videos and podcasts spotlighting Jews who “defy expectations, conventions and stereotypes” (70 Faces is JTA’s parent company.)

• Central Synagogue: Center for Exploring Judaism, a program at the Manhattan synagogue of classes and counseling for families, individuals and couples, as well as conversion if desired for anyone interested in living Jewishly • Friedberg JCC: Camp Ga’avah (Pride), a summer day camp based on Jewish values for LGBTQ youth and their allies, proposed by the JCC in Oceanside, New York • The Reut Group: Tikkun Olam Makers, an Israel-based community of innovators bringing affordable solutions for the needs of people with disabilities and the elderly to New York Members of the public can learn more about the proposals and vote for their favorite at ujafedny.org/ shape-your-jewish-new-york/.

JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 11

Sarah Mulhern, a recent graduate of Hebrew College, with her husband and newborn baby PHOTO COURTESY OF MULHERN

Most Rabbinical Schools Lack Parental-Leave Policies

BY BEN SALES

NEW YORK (JTA) — A few weeks after her first daughter’s due date, Catherine Clark was set to begin her fifth and final year at the Jewish Theological Seminary’s (JTS) Conservative rabbinical school.

Clark was excited to graduate and ecstatic to become a mother at age 40. But because the school has no policy for parental leave, she was left to juggle a full-time academic schedule, two part-time jobs at Conservative institutions and a newborn. So on the first day of class, after Labor Day in 2011, she was there four weeks after her baby was born ready to start what she called “a really difficult year.”

“I was so relieved to be able to have a child and so thrilled to have a child at the time,” Clark told the JTA. “That sustained me for how difficult that was, but that was a really hard year. Everyone was always so excited for me, but there wasn’t any structural support.”

12 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017

Rabbinical students across denominations in the United States echo Clark’s experience: When they became parents, there was plenty of goodwill from fellow students and staff, but almost never a clear policy to follow. Across eight rabbinical schools, ranging from modern Orthodox to Reform, only two liberal Orthodox institutions had policies of any kind for new parents. The other six have general leave-ofabsence policies—usually a semester—but nothing specific to new parents.

Instead, students are left to make arrangements by themselves, professor by professor, and hope the baby comes at a convenient time. While most of the current and former students who spoke with the JTA said they had positive experiences as new parents at rabbinical school, they added that they wished there were an established framework to follow.

“Nobody was really clear what the average was or what the policy was, so that, for me, created a certain amount of stress because I didn’t have a clear sense of what to expect,” said Rabbi Sarah Mulhern, a recent graduate of the nondenominational Hebrew College in Boston. “But on the other hand, that created flexibility. Because there’s no written policy, people were able to be generous with me.”

Students and administrators across schools acknowledged that there are differences between a workplace—where employees are concerned about their job security and compensation—and a university, where students are paying tuition for a course of study that they, and the institution, expect to be finished on a schedule. And Jewish institutions aren’t unique in this regard. The Duke Divinity School, which trains Christian ministers, is working on a policy, but currently also asks students to work individually with faculty.

But the Princeton Theological Seminary, also Christian, does have a lengthy policy specific to new parents that allows students to reduce their course load for one semester. New parents can attend class but delay submitting major assignments, while retaining whatever benefits they receive as students.

During the past couple of years, Jewish Theological Seminary student Katie Greenberg has worked with the school’s administration to craft an overall familyleave policy for medical issues as well as childbirth.

Greenberg isn’t pushing for a months-long leave that would disrupt the academic schedule. But she does want to create a standard road map and guidelines for expecting parents to follow, and to allow students to telecommute to class. And she’d like to to make it easier for expecting parents to receive financial aid for summer school, allowing them to take fewer classes during the year.

“People didn’t necessarily know where to go first, who can help you if you’re having an issue,” said Greenberg, who’s now pregnant herself and will graduate next year. “In my ideal world, I wish all professors would be open to that, to Skype or come in with a kid.”

A few rabbinical students interviewed by the JTA said the absence of a parental-leave policy is particularly glaring given the American Jewish community’s longtime emphasis on family and fertility.

Two years ago, JTS trumpeted a new policy of offering up to eight weeks of paid parental leave to staff. In an email announcing the policy, JTS Executive Vice Chancellor Mark Gary wrote that the policy “reflects our values as an institution.”

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College also offers four weeks of leave to staff, but has no parental-leave policy for students.

“There is a tension between Jewish communities wanting to support families and the reality of institutions where we don’t have policies in place that help support people during those times,” said Lindsey Healey-Pollack, a JTS rabbinical student who gave birth two years ago, during her third year in the program. “For me it did all work out, but we would benefit from having a clearer articulation of a policy.”

Along with the JTS, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Hebrew College, the Reform Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC), the Conservative Ziegler School and Yeshiva University’s (YU) modern Orthodox seminary all lack specific parental policies.

Professors in many of those schools will allow students to participate in class remotely via video, or to take incompletes and finish coursework during breaks.

The only schools with policies are Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT), a liberal Orthodox rabbinical seminary for men, and its companion school for women, Yeshivat Maharat. They are also the only schools of the eight in which students receive stipends rather than pay tuition, though Y.U.’s school is free. Men at YCT receive two weeks of leave, and women at Maharat six weeks.

“We’re trying to balance being supportive and helpful to the student with the academic requirement that our accreditation body requires,” said Cheryl Peretz, Ziegler’s associate dean. “So we can’t simply say, ‘Oh, you’re done with the semester.’ We end up working individually with each

student.”

The majority of HUC’s rabbinical students are women, while women made up approximately 40 percent of the most recent graduating class at JTS. Students have figured out myriad ways to manage a newborn and their classes. Some finished final papers over the summer. Another did her best to give birth soon after the academic year ended. Another brought a babysitter to watch her child in the school’s breastfeeding room. Another completed work before the semester began and arranged with professors to take a month off. Y.U. student Matt LeVee took his baby to Talmud class in

a carrier as his friend snapped photos.

“If someone has a child or just got married, it’s OK if they’re not [keeping up] with the class material at that moment,” LeVee said. “Given the circumstances, they’re trying to work with you.”

At Yeshivat Maharat, Tali Schaum Broder said being in all-women classes made the post-birth experience especially positive. Students visited her during her six weeks off, at times Skyping her into class or reviewing the material with her afterward. Students supported her when she nursed her daughter in the classroom. Rabbinical students at other schools also said

Rabbi Catherine Clark and her family—Clark had her first baby while studying at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

PHOTO BYSTEVEN JACK

classmates were supportive when they brought babies to class.

“When she cried, I would nurse her,” Schaum Broder said. “Everybody was totally great about it. It kind of lent itself to a very loving type of encounter with all of us, and having the baby added a light to the ‘beit midrash,’” Hebrew for house of study.

Still, several rabbinical students noted that the schools’ lack of policies isn’t particularly surprising, since the United States is the only developed nation not to mandate paid leave in workplaces. That hit home for Clark soon after she graduated and took a pulpit in London, Ontario, where Canadian policy dictated that mothers could take up to a year of paid leave.

She had her second daughter in 2014 and took off 12 weeks before returning to work, which was near her daughter’s day care.

Though Ontario was just over the border, it was a world away, she said, from her experience in rabbinical school.

“This particular situation was perfect,” Clark said. “I could run over to daycare and feed my daughter. The first year of her life was really wonderful.”

JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 13

THE BEST JEWISH FOOD AT WEGMANS SUPERMARKET We can’t get enough of its rugelach, challah and hummus.

Poppy-Seed Rugelach Wegmans’ bakery section has everything from classic chocolate-chip to decorated sugar cookies.

But it is also carrying several varieties of rugelach (uniquely spelled “rugala” there) including poppy seed—a somewhat rare flavor I didn’t expect to find so far away from Brooklyn or other traditional enclaves.

Challah Gorgeous, glossy loaves of challah are ready for your Friday-night dinner or Sunday French-toast needs, and are made fresh at its own bakery.

BY SHANNON SARNA

Cream Cheese and Lox Are you a fan of Wegmans yet? If you’ve never heard of Wegmans, let me enlighten you a bit. It’s a familyowned regional supermarket chain that was started in 1914 in Rochester, N.Y. Since then it has expanded throughout western New York and into Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.

It currently has over 90 stores, with more opening in multiple locations in coming months.

I’ve had many friends over the years wax poetic about what a great supermarket it is, which I never really understood until I visited. It’s true: It’s pretty awesome. Its bakery is topnotch; it offers a beautiful, uncramped shopping experience (thank you, suburbs);

and it is completely up on trends: An entire section in its produce department is devoted to spiralized veggies and finely chopped veggies for easy dinners.

The only other supermarket where I have seen this is Whole Foods, yet Wegmans’ prices are far more akin to a normal (affordable) supermarket.

And of course, most importantly, Wegmans carries an impressive variety of Jewish foods and kosher products. Here were some of the most exciting finds from my recent excursion. (Please note: I visited the Wegmans located in Woodbridge, N.J . Products will vary from location to location.)

Wegmans really outdoes itself with the variety of options for cream cheese and lox. Flavors like honey pecan, vegetable, scallion, lox, blueberry and strawberry cream cheese are conveniently located adjacent to the fresh bagels, as is a wide selection of lox and lox spreads.

Bagels No reason to have dozens of cream cheese flavors without house-made bagels—all the flavors you would expect, plus my personal favorite: salt bagels.

Hummus I’ve never been so overwhelmed by a selection of hummus. Not only does Wegmans carry national brands like Sabra, but it sells its own line of hummus in flavors such as roasted eggplant, sweet potato and cilantro jalapeño.

Chopped Liver and Herring Chopped liver and herring aren’t exactly suburban supermarket staples, but there they were, right next to the lox and honey-pecan cream cheese. Wegmans apparently really wants you to put out an appetizing spread to make even your bubbe proud.

14 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017

Carmen Fariña Wants to Help NYC Teachers Get Better at Teaching But some of her own reforms are getting in the way

BY CHRISTINA VEIGA

CHALKBEAT NY — It was a Monday afternoon and school was out at P.S. 294. But there was plenty of learning happening inside the blue-and-yellow building in the Bronx.

Teams of teachers were gathered in classrooms on almost every floor. One group discussed a recent math lesson on how to identify patterns; another analyzed which questions had stumped students during recent statewide tests.

A third was thinking about new ways to encourage discussion in the classroom.

In each huddle, they were learning a valuable lesson from each other: how to become better teachers.

What’s happening at P.S. 294 is what Carmen Fariña envisioned when she became chancellor of the country’s largest school system. Among the veteran educator’s most deeply-held beliefs is that school improvement starts in the classroom—by helping teachers get better at teaching.

“To me, everything that happens in the classroom is the most crucial thing in the building,” Fariña told Chalkbeat.

Many of Fariña’s reforms reflect that vision, including the city’s contract with the teachers union, which carves out time for professional development each week. But another set of changes Fariña made—overhauling the education department bureaucracy— has sometimes worked at cross purposes, taking power away from those who know schools best.

Strapped superintendents and staffers sidelined in support centers now oversee much of the training teachers encounter. Fariña herself acknowledges it has sometimes been a struggle to meet the diverse needs of schools under the new system.

One Bronx principal said he sees that struggle firsthand.

was in charge again. With 50 years of experience in New York City classrooms, she was the first chancellor in more than a decade who didn’t need a waiver, which the state requires when a school leader does not have the experience set by law for the job.

“When de Blasio named Fa r i ñ a chancellor, it was a Principal Daniel Russo (center) working with the math message,” said Norm team at P.S. 294 Fruchter, a researcher PHOTO BY CHRISTINA VEIGA at New York University “What some people call ‘supporting who previously served as a de Blasio instruction with professional appointee to the Panel for Educational development,’ other people would call Policy. “The pendulum was going to ‘bloated bureaucracy,’” the principal shift back towards valuing instruction.”

In one of her first moves as chancellor, told Chalkbeat. “I have no interest in their professional development, and Fariña helped hammer out a contract with the United Federation of Teachers, they don’t know my school.”

Like much of what has happened the union that had clashed for years at the education department under with Bloomberg and Klein. Among the Mayor Bill de Blasio, the chancellor’s contract’s most significant changes was emphasis on teaching the teachers giving teachers 80 minutes after school marks a radical shift from the preceding every Monday to work on improving their craft. The contract also created administration.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg new leadership positions that gave extra and Chancellor Joel Klein wanted pay to skilled teachers who agreed to great teachers in every classroom, take on coaching roles in their schools.

Taken together, those moves helped too. But their position was that it was easier to hire top talent than cultivate create a structure for helping teachers it. Instead of pouring resources into improve within their own schools.

“The thing with the most value in teacher improvement, they set about measuring teachers to weed out those schools is time,” said Phil Weinberg, deputy chancellor of the department’s who were ineffective.

“Joel didn’t believe in professional Division of Teaching and Learning. development at all,” said Eric “The biggest thing that we’ve done is Nadelstern, who served as deputy to honor the fact that learning has to chancellor for school support and happen by creating time.”

In the education world, there instruction under Klein. “His question was, ‘Is it easier to change the teacher— is much debate around whether or to change the teacher?’” Klein himself professional learning really works. did not agree to be interviewed for this Plenty of research suggests that typical models do not. Educators have their story.

When Fariña took the helm, own disparaging vocabulary to describe educators took heart that one of them those models: “drop and go,” “spray

and pray,” even “drive-by professional development.” The idea is that oneoff lectures and workshops are rarely effective in changing teacher practice, let alone improving how much students are learning.

However, recent research suggests there are ways to get it right. A review of 35 different studies, released in June by the Learning Policy Institute, found common themes in professionallearning programs that actually improve student performance. Those programs provide coaching, are collaborative and typically happen on the job—much like what’s happening at P.S. 294.

P.S. 294 The Walton Avenue School serves students who are traditionally among the city’s lowest-performing— those who are homeless, learning English or have disabilities. Yet it outperforms the city average on standardized tests.

The school has taken on Algebra for All, a de Blasio initiative that helps schools change the way they teach math. P.S. 294 also has teacher leaders paid to share their knowledge with teams of their colleagues. Those teams then work together in the 80 minutes each week reserved for professional development. All of that comes together under a principal, Daniel Russo, who makes sure teachers get the feedback they need to improve their practice.

“We come back every couple of months and say, ‘How are we doing on this? What fell by the wayside and what are ways that we can do better?’” Russo said. “Everyone is going to contribute to, and benefit from, the greater knowledge that there is in the room.”

For all its ambitions, the 80 minutes don’t always work as planned. In about a dozen interviews with teachers and principals, many school staff said they appreciate that the Monday sessions have provided time and space to think continued on page 16

JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 15

CARMEN FARIÑA from p15 about their practice. But others said that time can feel wasted or forced.

“Everyone is very busy at our school, and that’s just another meeting that has to take place to plan more meetings,” a Bronx high school teacher told Chalkbeat. (The teacher, like many educators interviewed for this story, agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity.)

“A lot of times we’re not really sure what we’re going to do on a given day,” the teacher said. “It’s not very focused throughout the year.”

Why, then, are some schools making good use of the new training time and at others, teachers feel like it’s being frittered away?

One factor: changes to the way principals are supervised and how schools get support.

Under Bloomberg and Klein, principals who needed help turned to dozens of “networks” scattered throughout the city. Principals opted into networks based on their school’s needs, regardless of where the school or network was located in the city.

The network providers were expected to solve problems for schools, or principals could vote with their feet and join different networks.

As chancellor, Fariña took a different approach. She promptly rebuilt the department’s Division of Teaching and Learning, which had been dissolved after she left the DOE in 2007. Once again, there was an office at the Department of Education’s central headquarters dedicated to actively helping schools decide what and how to teach.

She also empowered superintendents, calling them the “instructional leaders” of their districts, and upped the years of experience required to land the job.

Superintendents evaluate principals, but are also responsible for making sure schools get the support they need.

In place of networks, Fariña opened “field support centers,” which serve hundreds of schools but don’t hold supervisory power. Unlike networks, most centers only work with schools located in the same borough.

Superintendents and support centers are expected to work together to help schools improve teaching.

Crucially, that doesn’t always happen.

The result can work against the 80 minutes by distancing decision-making about professional development from

schools—and complicating it, too.

Our principal is “held with her hands behind her back,” said Corey Taylor, a music teacher at P.S. 33 in the Bronx.

“She has to do what she’s being told by her higher-ups.”

Now, principals are expected to ask their superintendents for help, who then turn to field support centers.

Some principals and support centers do work directly together, though Deputy Chancellor Weinberg said that’s not the preferred system.

“The ideal thing is that you’re in constant conversation with your superintendent,” he said. “It would be hard for each borough field support center to hear 145 different requests every day, from each of their schools.”

Relationships between superintendents and support centers don’t always run smoothly, and both are tasked with overseeing many schools.

Superintendents have staffs of around six people, yet may be responsible for dozens of schools. Support centers work with up to 323 schools, with an average caseload just below 200.

With superintendents acting as a filter between schools and support centers, many principals report a divide between what they’re offered and what they want to learn.

“There’s a disconnect between the reality of what’s going on in classrooms and the offerings,” one Manhattan principal told Chalkbeat. “It usually comes down to: Teachers need to learn, very specifically, techniques,

16 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017

In her office, Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña looks over a card from students.

Teachers at a training session for Computer Science for All, a citywide initiative PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA VEIGA

tips, philosophies that affect their own practice.”

When they work well, support centers might send staff to a school to provide targeted help requested by its principal.

But faced with heavy caseloads, the centers often respond to schools’ needs by creating boroughwide professionaldevelopment sessions that can vary in quality. In the city’s most recent survey of principals, only 73 percent said they were satisfied with the support they get from the centers.

One Manhattan teacher said she went to sessions offered by the support center last year and was disappointed with what she found. The presenters led a lesson on “guided reading,” a technique that includes introducing vocabulary and breaking students into groups, but they seemed fuzzy on how to execute the practice in the classroom.

“Teachers were actually correcting them,” the teacher said. “They’re removed and they forget what it’s like to be a teacher.”

*** Despite Fariña’s emphasis on classroom-based learning, many of the support centers’ professionaldevelopment sessions are happening outside schools, while class is in session. At three separate support centers, almost all the trainings for teachers offered during the month of May were held during school hours.

That wouldn’t have happened under Bloomberg, according to Nadelstern, the former Klein deputy. He said his policy was that teachers and principals should not be pulled away from schools while students are in the building.

“That’s the systemwide idea of support now: taking people away from kids,” said David Baiz, the former principal of Global Technology Preparatory in East Harlem. “That’s not really the best way that adults learn—to sit in a meeting away from the context of their work environment and then try to come back and incorporate it.”

In addition to out-of-office professional development, superintendents host monthly meetings, pulling principals out of their schools for the entire day. In some cases they include meals paid for by vendors who present professionaldevelopment sessions based on educational products they’re selling.

“There’s just this feeling among almost every principal that I know,” a Bronx principal told Chalkbeat. “Like meeting after meeting after meeting and requirement after requirement are being added, and really drowning out the time needed for real collaboration.”

In an interview with Chalkbeat, Fariña admitted that professional development run by outside vendors is “not that effective.” She also acknowledged that there have been growing pains as the superintendents continued on page 17

CARMEN FARIÑA from p16

and field support centers try to meet the needs of all the schools they serve.

“It’s been more of a struggle in some places where there was a more-diverse need,” she said.

To address that, Fariña said the centers have been working on “modules” based on different areas of need. A module may highlight effective strategies for teaching students who are learning English, for instance, and come with a series of professionaldevelopment courses that can be run over a period of multiple weeks.

“Each principal can adapt it as they see fit,” Fariña said. *** Weinberg said it is easy, in a system as large as New York City’s, to point to “random” weak points.

“What our real goal is, is continuous improvement,” he said. “I think that we make mistakes, oftentimes, by looking at one anecdotal example as a way of disproving a larger movement.”

Michael Mulgrew, president of the teachers union, said the department needs to pay closer attention to how schools are using the resources that are now available. While the 80 minutes of professional development time is a game-changer, he said, it can also vary in usefulness depending on school culture, principal leadership and how well superintendents and the field support centers can provide help.

“We’ve set aside the time. We’ve set up the space. Can we just manage it?” Mulgrew said. “The fact that the chancellor made this a priority when she came in is the reason why you see the school system moving forward. My fear is, have we reached a plateau?”

It may be tricky, however, to balance the kind of oversight that Mulgrew envisions with the personalization that teachers and principals say is necessary for effective professional development.

But the city is evaluating its own work to make sure it’s hitting the mark for teachers and schools.

“Teaching is really fascinating and difficult work,” Weinberg said. “We need to approach this hard job with the humility that says we have the ability to learn more—and we want to learn more.”

Chalkbeat reporters Monica Disare and Alex Zimmerman contributed to this report.

Mayoral Control of City Schools in Limbo

BY MONICA DISARE

CHALKBEAT NY — The final day of New York State’s legislative session has come and gone—but there’s no final deal on mayoral control of city schools.

Lawmakers wrapped up the legislative session late on June 21, though they could return to address mayoral control of New York City schools at a later date. But blowing the session’s deadline takes state officials one step closer to letting the mayor’s governance lapse.

“This evening, the state legislature will adjourn its 2017 legislative session,” Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan said in a statement. “We would have preferred to have tied everything up with a nice, neat bow and returned to our districts with nothing at all left on our plate, but under the circumstances, that just wasn’t possible.”

He also suggested that he supports mayoral control of city schools, as long as it comes with help for charter schools. “I support the renewal of mayoral control, as do my Senate Republican colleagues,” Flanagan said.

Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie admitted this outcome wasn’t perfect. “Sometimes in politics you don’t always get what you want,” he said on June 21. He also reportedly said he had “no intention of coming back.”

For the past two years, Mayor Bill de Blasio has secured only one-year extensions of the policy, thanks largely to his fraught relationships with Senate Republicans and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

(Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg received a seven- and then a six-year extension.)

Without mayoral control, New York City schools would revert to a system with 32 community school boards—something even Mayor Bill de Blasio’s opponents do not support. Yet lawmakers are stuck in a deadlock over

whether the extension should come with concessions, such as eliminating New York City’s charter-school cap.

Mayoral control has lapsed before, providing a blueprint for what it might look like if it happened again. In July 2009, under Bloomberg, its expiration caused a brief reconstitution of the city’s Board of Education. But it took only a month before lawmakers returned to Albany and passed a multiyear extension.

The relatively small disruption caused by the lapse in 2009 leads some observers to conclude that letting the law expire will cause little harm to schools, teachers or students. That’s a far cry from the “chaos, gridlock and corruption” predicted by New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña.

But the first scenario assumes the law will be reinstated as quickly as it was in 2009, said Tim Kremer, executive director of the New York State School Boards Association. Every year is different, and this one is marked by “deep-seated” policy and personality conflicts between the mayor and Albany lawmakers, Kremer said. Also, notably, the Senate was in the midst of a leadership crisis when lawmakers failed to renew mayoral control in 2009.

“I think people are taking false comfort in saying ‘Listen, we blew through the deadline last time and nothing happened; we can do that again,’” Kremer said. “They really are playing a little bit with fire.”

So what exactly would it look like if mayoral control lapsed? Chalkbeat spelled that out in a step-by-step guide back in 2009, informed in part by a memo sent by Bloomberg’s staff outlining how they saw the transition at the time.

First, city officials would have to reconvene a citywide Board of

Education with five appointments made by borough presidents and two by the mayor. That board would have the power to select a chancellor. The city followed that script in 2009, which resulted in a unanimous vote to retain Joel Klein as chancellor.

Some observers, like David Bloomfield, a professor at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, feel confident the same would happen this time around.

“I fully expect that to go without any problem and that they will proceed to appoint Carmen [Fariña],” Bloomfield said.

To test his theory, Chalkbeat reached out to all five borough presidents earlier on June 21. Officials from three offices responded. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s director of communications said she is committed to keeping Carmen Fariña as chancellor.

Officials from Borough President Eric Adams’s office said he was focused on renewing mayoral control. Officials from Queens Borough President Melinda Katz’s office did not commit to keeping the chancellor.

“The only commitment Borough President Katz will make at this time is to appoint a representative to the reconstituted Board of Education,” officials wrote in an email.

If mayoral control lapsed for more than a month, New York City would head into uncharted territory. The city is required to revive the community school boards, but those elections wouldn’t be held until the spring of 2018.

That leaves months of limbo. In 2009, there was some discussion of whether the chancellor could appoint trustees to community school boards in the interim.

But a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio said he interprets the law to mean there would be no community school boards until the following May. That means no community input, no ability to appoint a permanent superintendent, and likely no rezoning votes, she said.

Even though there’s only a slim chance this fight will last until May, de Blasio said he doesn’t want to take any chances.

“When you open up Pandora’s box,” the mayor said at a press conference June 21, “you don’t know what happens next.”

JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 17

Stories of Strength at Parker Jewish

BY MAXINE DOVERE

“Stories of Strength,” a Holocaust remembrance program, was hosted by the Parker Jewish Institute (PJI) in its New Hyde Park facility on June 15.

The agenda focused on the memories of survivors of the Nazi horror, with commentary by Beth Lilac, director of the Holocaust Memorial Center in Glen Cove, Long Island.

Lilac discussed the importance of remembering. Initiating her comments with a portrait of a comic “Jewish dinosaur,” she said that Holocaust education is neither exclusively Jewish nor “so old it’s a dinosaur.” She stressed the responsibility of all citizens to be aware of the “red flags” once raised by Nazism and the responsibility to call out any similar red flags that are raised in contemporary society.

“It is important to speak about the Holocaust in light of the Jewish refugees turned away,” Lilac said.

She noted that when President Franklin D. Roosevelt convened a conference in Evian, France, in July 1938, only the Dominican Republic agreed to take Jewish refugees; the remaining 31 countries that had sent delegates to the conference did not.

The Holocaust, said Lilac, must be taught in schools to avoid divisions among Americans.

“One of the first methods the Nazis used was to divide, denounce and dehumanize people. You can justify anything by dehumanization….Jews can teach other groups how to handle their own holocausts,” she said.

Introducing the three panelists at the program, Lilac said, “You are looking at survivors; you are looking at miracles.”

Chana Pfeifen recalled sitting at her family’s Sabbath table in Romania when Nazi soldiers burst into their home. Everyone was marched to the local court. The community’s men were taken away, killed and thrown into a pit. Women and children were to be burned alive, but instead were marched

18 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017

to Moldavia and crossed the Dniester River. Then, in pouring rain and with little clothing, they were shipped to Ukraine in an animal boxcar, finally arriving at a ghetto near the infamous Babi Yar. “There was no food, no clothes.

When a local woman left some borscht for the children, it was too frozen to eat,” she said.

Pfeifen described the 1944 arrival of a group of partisans and her family’s eventual liberation by the Russians.

“People were kissing the boots of the Russians. We had survived,” she said.

There was, however, no place to which to return. When people tried to return to their homes in 1945, they were threatened and forced to leave, fearing the Ukrainians would kill them, according to Pfeifen.

Driven by her desire for education and to “find a good life,” she tried to make Aliyah—to “go up” to immigrate to Israel. She returned to Transylvania, joined B’nai Akiva and finally received permission to go to British Mandate Palestine.

“We went to Bulgaria. The Bulgarians were kind,” she recalled.

After weeks at sea, they arrived at the port of Haifa, where they were captured by the British, taken to Cyprus and held for eight months. Golda Meir came to the camp, and Pfeifen begged for help to get to Israel.

“The Brits finally let us out,” said Pfeifen.

In 1947 the survivor arrived in Israel, and despite continual Arab bombardment, returned to school “driven to live.” In 1948 she joined the new Israeli air force and was able to welcome her family. The 1956 Suez Crisis, romance, marriage and finally arrival in America followed. She is the mother of two sons and grandmother of five.

Alice Tenenbaum survived Auschwitz.

“I was told to say I was 16,” she said.

After the first “selection,” she landed in a barracks of a thousand women. She was saved multiple times by a nurse working for the infamous Dr. Angelico; the nurse thought Tenenbaum looked like her sister. Tenenbaum described standing outside her barracks for four hours of “counting.”

“I wore the same dress for years— no underwear, winter or summer. On a death march to work camp, 40,000 became 5,000,” she reported.

She survived work camp and finally Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated by the British.

“More people died that day than on any other day. They died from eating,” she said.

Tenenbaum had a brother in America and was able to immigrate. She made her home in Manhattan, earning two degrees in art history and two in family therapy. She went on to marry and is a mother and grandmother.

With great emotion and more than a few tears, Mia Feuer spoke on behalf of her survivor husband, a Parker Jewish Institute resident. Imprisoned in a Transylvanian ghetto, he and his parents, brothers and sisters were taken to Auschwitz.

Despite the horrific experiences, “he survived and became the nicest person on Earth. We tried to have a beautiful family,” Feuer said.

The couple had one son and now have grandchildren.

“He is the most wonderful person,” said Feuer of her husband.

Rabbi Dr. Hillel Fox, the PJI chaplain, closed the program with words of solace and prayer.

“Survivors,” he said, “put human faces on this unprecedented time of human suffering. They are a reminder of the strength of the human spirit....Their stories of courage and perseverance must be shared, especially with the younger generation.”

“Memories,” said Director Lilac, “may be painful. They are important.”

In following issues, NYJL will explore the effects of the survivors’ experience on their children, the “second generation.” Recent studies indicate a continuing “legacy” that is both psychological and physical.

“Genetics are not destiny,” said expert on the second generation Dr. Eva Fogelman. “We are at a preliminary stage of understanding how trauma affects cortisone levels and the ability to deal with stress.”

She told NYJL that “preliminary studies show [survivors’] genes are somewhat transformed by stress, and such deformed genes can be passed to the next generation....The problem is not universally applicable….

The compromised gene may not be dominant.”

Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation says it has a “pioneering spirit and unwavering commitment to superior patient care in a warm and supportive environment.”

The institute was founded in 1914 as the Harlem House of the Daughters of Israel, a single room in an East Harlem house.

It moved to a 119th Street house, and, in 1925, to an eight-story building at 1260 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Residents were often immigrants and others needing assistance.

By 1943 it cared for older, more infirm residents, and changed its name to the Home and Hospital of the Daughters of Israel. It was supported by private contributions.

As medical needs increased, an institution that would be “an inspiration to continued life” was planned to serve patients’ needs and function as a research and educational center. An eight-story facility near the Queens/Nassau border opened as the Jewish Institute for Geriatric Care in 1972, and was renamed Parker Jewish Geriatric Institute in recognition of the contributions of the Parker family. In 1997 the current name was adopted.

Brooklyn Hospital Recognized Nationally TEN PUBLIC HOSPITALS RECOGNIZED BY AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION/AMERICAN STROKE ASSOCIATION FOR IMPROVING QUALITY OF CARE AND PATIENT OUTCOMES

NYC Health + Hospitals has received national recognition awards for 10 of its hospitals for implementing specific quality improvement measures related to the treatment of patients suffering from heart failure, cardiac arrest and stroke. The awards from the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association recognize the consistent application of best-practice, research-based standards of care, which reduce recovery time, disability and mortality rates for stroke patients, and reduce hospital readmissions for heart-failure patients.

“Across NYC Health + Hospitals, staff continue to push the mark each year to meet the guidelines set by the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association,” said Machelle Allen, M.D., chief medical officer of NYC Health + Hospitals. “Our patients should be reassured to know that, when they come to NYC Health + Hospitals, the care they will receive is nationally recognized for its high quality.”

NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County received two “Get with the Guidelines” (GWTG) awards: the GWTG-Heart Failure Silver Award for cardiac-care excellence and the GWTG-Stroke Gold Plus and Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll Award. Kings County has received the Stroke Gold Plus Award for the past six years, and recently launched a new state-of-the-art procedure for stroke patients who can benefit from a mechanical thrombectomy to remove blood clots on the brain. Eight sister hospitals received the highest award for excellence in stroke care, and six received high honors for excellence in heart-failure care; three received awards for excelling in both.

“I am very proud of the lifesaving care provided by our stroke team, which enables many patients to have the best possible outcomes,” said Ernest J. Baptiste, CEO, NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County.

“The quick response of our clinical teams has made it possible for many patients to resume their daily lives. The additional recognition for cardiac care underscores the priority we place on providing stateof-the-art treatments for our community.”

“As part of a safety-net hospital, the stroke center is dedicated to provide the highest-quality stroke care to everyone,” said Dr. Susan Law, director of the Kings County Stroke Center. “The success of our stroke center is a collaborative effort from nursing, education, emergency medicine, critical care and neuroradiology departments. Our recent award by the

Members of NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County Stroke Team

AHA/ASA is a true testament to our teamwork.”

According to the American Heart Association, about 5.7 million adults in the United States suffer from heart failure, with the number expected to rise to eight million by 2030. Statistics show that each year about 870,000 new cases are diagnosed and about 50 percent of those diagnosed will die within five years.

However, many heart-failure patients can lead a full, enjoyable life when their condition is managed with proper medications or devices and with healthy lifestyle changes.

The awards recognize success in meeting or exceeding standards established by the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association through their GWTG program. To earn recognition in stroke care, the standards include aggressive use of medications such as clot-busting and anti-clotting drugs, blood thinners and cholesterolreducing drugs; preventive action for deep-vein thrombosis; and smoking-cessation counseling. To earn the award for excellence in heart-failure care, standards include the proper use of medications and aggressive risk-reduction therapies; provision of

educational materials to patients on managing heart failure and overall health; and scheduling of followup visits. To earn recognition for resuscitation, the standards include adopting protocols for patient safety, medical emergency team response, effective and timely resuscitation, and post-resuscitation care.

Most of the awards received by NYC Health + Hospitals also featured add-on “Elite” and/or “Plus” recognition, indicating that additional rigorous criteria had also been met—criteria such as, for stroke, “time to intravenous thrombolytic therapy: 60 min.”

Nine of the public health system’s hospitals, including NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County, are designated stroke centers by the New York State Department of Health. Trained in stroke diagnosis and treatment, dedicated stroke teams are committed to providing patients with rapid diagnosis and effective treatment.

To receive more information or get connected to care, visit nychealthandhospitals.org to find a public hospital in your community.

JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 19

OPINION

Leaning In

BY JENNY MAENPAA

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg became a household name in 2013 when she wrote Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, sparking conversations about shattering glass ceilings, sup porting other women and the role of privilege in upward mobility. Sandberg released her second book—Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy—earlier this year, after her husband, Dave, died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 2015.

Following her husband’s death, Sandberg became a very public face of grief. One of the most persistent criticisms she faced after the publication of Lean In was how privileged her perspective was, particularly on the subject of choosing a partner. In the book, Sandberg advised readers that choosing a partner is the most important professional choice a woman will ever make.

Criticisms of Lean In challenged Sandberg’s assumptions that women, and particularly mothers, will always be in a partnership; and that it’s as easy as pointing a finger and deciding someone is going to be on your team for life. In Sandberg’s current book, Option B, she tackles what happened when her plan for Option A, a long life of coparenting with her husband, was taken away from her.

Sandberg is still a billionaire, so her specific experiences do not mimic most women’s in many ways. But the unexpected loss of a partner cannot be mitigated by money, and in this way, Sandberg’s book provides validation for anyone grieving in a way that is confusing to others or even herself.

In a 2012 speech at Harvard Business School, long before her loss, Sandberg admitted, “I’ve cried at work. I’ve told people I’ve cried at work….I try to be myself.”

Some 41 percent of women say they’ve cried at work, compared to

20 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017

9 percent of men, according to Anne Kreamer’s book, It’s Always Personal: Navigating Emotion in the Workplace.

Kreamer writes, “In spite of the cathartic physiological benefits, women who cry at work feel rotten afterward, as if they’ve failed a feminism test.

[Women] feel worse after crying at work, while men feel better.”

According to a Time magazine article on why we cry, humans are the only creatures whose tears can be triggered by their emotions.

In fact, it seems that crying provides catharsis primarily in relation to who sees you do it. An American Psychological Association study found, “Overall, participants were more likely to feel better if they cried alone or around one other person, but felt worse or didn’t experience a mood change if they were with two or more people.”

Women are called hysterical and emotional when they express frustration, sadness or anger through tears. So what should you do when you are experiencing grief or loss and do not have the luxury of an extended leave from work?

You can choose which information

you share with others, and how you share it. You can enlist a trusted coworker to act as a buffer for you, answering awkward questions. Keep tissues with you at all times—you will tear up without warning. Engage in regular self-care, even if that means using an app on your phone to meditate and breathe for 10 minutes a day. Honor your loved one’s memory and your own experience by forgiving yourself for whichever way grief shows up for you.

Sandberg writes, “For a lot of people, post-traumatic growth is about a stronger sense of meaning in life—having a purpose, which is often about helping people in the way that you suffered, which not only gives your life meaning but gives your suffering meaning.”

Once again, she opened a thoughtful and nuanced conversation for working women about challenges many face and few talk about. Both of her books were written to help women by telling a personal story that could provide insights and resources to many.

Sandberg’s life may not look like every woman’s, but her experiences navigating a male-dominated workforce, and facing sudden grief, sadly do.

OPINION

Here’s How We Can Preserve the Dignity of Aging Holocaust Survivors

BY TODD MORGAN AND MARK WILF

(JTA) — Nazi death marches crippled Mr. Cohen’s knees. The 94-year-old who survived Auschwitz now felt defeated trying to climb the stairs to his walkup condo. He and his wife of 66 years used to be highly active in the Holocaust-survivor community and frequently spoke at schools, but the onset of her dementia, and his now-frequent falls, have stopped him in his tracks.

But thanks to a grant from the Jewish Federations of North America’s (JFNA) Center for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care—and the commitment of his local federation—Mr. Cohen’s Jewish family service agency hired a nurse to come to the couple’s home. While the nurse could help Mr. Cohen bathe and dress, she struggled to understand why putting on his special compression stockings and shoes made him so anxious.

With further help from the JFNA grant, the nurse received training in Person-Centered, TraumaInformed (PCTI) care, which helped her to better understand the unique psychological and emotional sensitivities of Holocaust survivors and adapt her

Todd Morgan

Mark Wilf

COURTESY OF MORGAN

COURTESY OF WILF

care accordingly. Through the training, she came to understand how important Mr. Cohen’s feet were to him—the feet that carried him miles and miles through snow and mud.

Now that his nurse knows to take special care with his feet, Mr. Cohen no longer struggles to leave his home. He can remain part of the community and avoid social isolation.

The Cohens’ story is one of over 8,000 success stories made possible by JFNA’s Center for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care and local federations.

Powered by a federal grant and money raised by federations across the country, JFNA’s program is revolutionary both in its national reach and its use of PCTI techniques.

PCTI care promotes the dignity, strength and empowerment of trauma victims and helps caregivers respond to Holocaust survivors in culturally appropriate ways. Since the program’s launch, it has trained 2,000 professional caregivers in PCTI techniques and supported 300 family caregivers.

Thanks to the PCTI The Flatbush Jewish Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., hosts gatherings for Holocaust model, more Holocaust survivors and volunteers who provide companionship and support. survivors are receiving PHOTO BY STEPHEN SHAMES/JFNA the care and support they

need, like the 80-year-old man in California who is discovering the wonders of yoga for relaxing his mind and easing his back pain. Or the survivors in Kansas who are spirited away to happier times with concerts of old Yiddish songs. Or the man in Florida who, thanks to the therapy he received, was able to recognize that his anxiety attacks were being triggered by fears that his declining vision left him vulnerable to capture by wartime enemies. PCTI care can help survivors deal with the triggers associated with aging.

Innovative programs supported by the center, shared with a vast social service network, are also helping people beyond our community. Besides Holocaust survivors, PCTI techniques can help other aging, traumatized people such as veterans, refugees and victims of abuse.

Though we celebrate the center’s tremendous impact during its first two years, we dare not rest. As co-chairs, we are deeply aware that for every survivor we help, there are dozens more who need these services. Of the 100,000 to 130,000 survivors in the United States, many are in their upper 80s or older, and one in four lives in poverty. As a group, survivors are at a significantly higher risk of depression, social isolation, declining health, and the negative outcomes associated with institutionalization, where unfamiliar showers, uniforms and accents, and regimented schedules, can trigger traumatic experiences.

The center’s proven effectiveness in helping survivors is why Congress recently approved funding for a third round of grants guaranteed to keep this work going for another two years—but it isn’t enough. And thrilled as we are that federations have successfully met the preliminary $45 million fundraising goal, it must only be the beginning. Holocaust survivors in poverty need food, medical help, dental care, hearing aids and housing assistance, none of which the federal grant is authorized to provide. And as survivors grow older, their needs grow greater with each passing day.

As Jews, we are charged with respecting the elderly and caring for the most vulnerable. Especially with Holocaust survivors, who have known unfathomable cruelty, it’s incumbent on us to let them know they will never be forgotten or abandoned. Each of us has something to contribute.

Contact your local Jewish family services or nursing home for volunteer opportunities to work with Holocaust survivors. We know that for many survivors, nothing makes their day like a visit or a phone call from a friend. Contact your local federation or family service agency to learn about your community’s Holocaust survivor fund, or consider donating to the Center for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care. The center is currently accepting applications from local service providers.

These heroes deserve to live with dignity. It’s up to us to act quickly.

Todd Morgan and Mark Wilf are the co-chairs of the Jewish Federations of North America National Holocaust Survivor Initiative.

JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 21

Bruce Ratner, chairman of the Board of the Museum of Jewish Heritage; Zalmen Mlotek, artistic director, National Yiddish Theater; and Jerry Levin, former national president, Jewish National Fund, were instrumental in the success of the event.

THE YIDDISH SOUL AT SUMMERSTAGE STIRS THE HEART

BY MAXINE DOVERE

JM in the AM host Nachum Segal was master of ceremonies for the 2017 National Yiddish Theatre klezmer concert at SummerStage in Central Park.

22 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017

The third annual “Yiddish Soul: A Concert of Cantorial and Popular Contemporary Chassidic Music,” produced by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, rolled out the musical red carpet June 14 at Central Park’s SummerStage. An array of vocal and instrumental music of Yiddish (Jewish) heritage was presented, ranging from traditional klezmer to cantorial melodies to a variety of Yiddish musical styles.

Enjoyment and emotion overflowed in an audience of some 5,000 multigenerational fans. They sang along, clapped the rhythms and raised swaying points of light to illuminate the night.

Museum of Jewish Heritage Board Chairman Bruce Ratner welcomed the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene to its new home; Nachum Segal, host of the JM in the AM radio program, served as master of ceremonies.

Featured artists included the Grammy Award-winning band the Klezmatics; Zusha, a Chassidic/jazz/hipster band; the a capella Maccabeats; cantors Chaim David Berson of the Manhattan Jewish Center and Yanky Lemmer of Lincoln Square Synagogue; and surprise guest songster Daniel Kahn.

Changing the Tide: Elser’s Attempt to Assassinate Hitler

BY MAXINE DOVERE

13 Minutes tells the compelling story of Johann Georg Elser’s attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler on Nov. 8, 1939. Starring Christian Friedel, the 110-minute film explores the political climate in 1930s Germany, and one man’s desperate attempt to change history. The film was written by Leonie Claire and Fred Breinersdorfer, whose parents were Nazi supporters, and produced by Boris Ausserer. Oliver Hirschbiegel directed.

Nov. 9, 1939: By order of the Nazi government, Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, ripped across Germany.

The infamous attack on businesses and buildings owned by Jews—and attacks on the wider Jewish community—left little doubt about Hitler’s intentions towards the Jews of Germany and, by extension, all of Europe.

Had Elser—carpenter by trade, ladies’ man by inclination, musician and critic of German realpolitik—succeeded in his November 8th assassination attempt, Kristallnacht, and most of the subsequent events of World War II beyond the German invasion of Poland, might not have happened.

13 minutes invites the viewer to interwar Germany. The Nazi industrial war machine had created virtually full employment, displayed German modernism at the 1936 Olympics, and witnessed a rebirth of German pride and an acceptance of Hitler.

It was a unique moment in German history. In comparison to life a decade earlier, Germany was experiencing an economic boom. The average German may have been aware of “the Jews” and knew about the infamous yellow star and limitations decreed by Nazi

laws. But many Germans knew few Jews personally, and were probably not unhappy to be able to express deepseated, generational anti-Semitism.

Event by event, 13 Minutes reveals cracks in this portrayal of German life at the end of the 1930s. Alcoholism, infidelity and difficulties running business are realities. Lakeside outings, concerts, campaign-style rallies and a façade of economic well-being mask undercurrents of social upheaval and anxiety. Society is dedicated to and dominated by a seemingly unstoppable, unrelenting Nazi propaganda effort.

Elser was one among a minority of Anti-Nazis willing to stand against German social norms. He witnessed the demise of German democracy and families afraid of their own children, taught by the Nazi Youth movement to spy on parents on behalf of the Führer. Voices raised in dissent landed their owners in jail, or worse. The Nazi machine was in full operation.

Elser’s Nov. 8, 1939, attempt to assassinate Hitler was itself filled with symbolism. The date marked the Nazi’s first attempt to overthrow the German government, on November 9, 1923.

That failed putsch landed Hitler in jail.

By 1939, with the Nazis’ rise to power complete, the date had become an important political anniversary. Hitler was scheduled to appear at the Munich Beer Hall and then fly to Berlin. Had his original schedule held, the course of history would have been changed.

Hitler would probably have died.

Instead, on the evening of Nov. 8, 1939, man and nature combined to prevent that scenario. Heavy fog closed the Munich airport, so Hitler was

rescheduled to take the train following a beerhall commemoration. To make the train, he began his speech 30 minutes earlier than scheduled.

Elser’s bomb was hidden in a column behind the podium where Hitler spoke.

It exploded at 9:20 p.m. Eight died and many were wounded; Hitler was already en route to the train station.

Elser tried to cross the Swiss border at 8:45 p.m., but was arrested by customs agents, as he was carrying evidence of bomb-making that condemned him.

Interrogation and threats to his family followed. He eventually confessed.

During the ensuing six years, some 50 million lives, including the majority of European Jewry, were destroyed.

How would those 13 minutes in a changed schedule have changed history?

Would Auschwitz, Dachau, Pleshko and Bergen-Belsen have become historical familiars? Would different weather or a changed train schedule have made a difference? Would the Holocaust have occurred?

Elser was a series of contradictions: He voted for the KPD (German Communist Party) and was a member of an anti-democratic combat unit, yet attended church and sought democracy.

13 Minutes follows Elser to SS headquarters in Berlin, where he was tortured by the Gestapo. Nazi leadership refused to believe he had acted alone. Finally convincing his

How would those 13 minutes in a changed schedule have changed history?

Would the Holocaust have occurred?

captors that the attempt involved no one else, Elser was sent to Dachau Concentration Camp. In April of 1945, he was shot to death on the explicit order of Adolf Hitler. The film ends with his murder.

Elser was forgotten for decades.

After the war, he was accused of having been a Nazi agent killed to maintain his silence. He was accused of having been part of a sham, some claiming the attempted assassination was a Nazi propaganda trick designed to enhance Hitler’s image of immortality.

There were 42 attempts to assassinate Hitler. Only Johann Georg Elser, a carpenter; and later Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a military officer, came close to succeeding.

A memorial has been established in Elser’s hometown of Königsbronn.

JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 23

24 | NYJLIFE.COM | JUNE 28 – JULY 4, 2017