August 9 Edition of New York Jewish Life

Maxine Dovere Profiles the JNF and KKL Pgs. 10 & 11

Camp David: Serving Coffee, Startups and Success at Industry City

Arne Duncan on Trump Ed Cuts: “I Think That’s Blood Money”

“Israel Story” Is One of Six Jewish Podcasts on Love

VOL. 1, NO. 21 | AUGUST 9-15, 2017 | NEWS THAT MATTERS TO JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN THE NEW YORK CITY METROPOLITAN AREA | NYJLIFE.COM | FREE

Taking the Temperature on de Blasio Among Brooklyn’s Orthodox

BY AARON SHORT, SPECIAL TO NYJL

Michael Tobman: Malliotakis Deserves Your Time Our Q&A with Council Candidate Kalman Yeger

…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 | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

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

Nicole Malliotakis Should Be Taken Seriously Nicole Malliotakis, Republican candidate for New York City mayor, should be taken seriously. Despite the massive voter enrollment advantage Democrats have in New York City, and despite the damage President Trump has done to the Republican brand, Assemblywoman Malliotakis is a formidable candidate. Tireless, media savvy, unafraid and public minded, Malliotakis—regardless of party—is precisely the type of elected official who should be aiming big.

Heavyweight Democrats citywide ducked challenging incumbent Bill de Blasio in a primary, all of them bowing out once criminal investigations did not yield City Hall indictments, but Nicole is sticking with the old saying, “Ya gotta be in it to win it.” November is still a long way off, and while maybe nothing happens between now and then to dramatically alter the electoral calculus in favor of de Blasio, maybe something will happen. Fortune favors the bold.

Nicole already chased off another Republican challenger who had spent a fortune early in the race, mostly by simply being more present and active.

She seems to be everywhere, and that counts for a lot. Every day, those who pay attention to these things see her sitting with seniors in the Bronx, visiting public housing in Manhattan, talking with parents in Brooklyn, singing with church crowds in Queens and shoring up her base in Staten Island. Being there matters.

The de Blasio administration can, and should, take credit for well-earned victories in early education, affordable housing development and public health initiatives. The mayor has particularly distinguished himself in committing

New York City to supporting those struggling with mental health issues and addiction.

But it’s also true that his City Hall has been plagued by high-stakes and highprofile missteps in vital relationships with Albany, clumsy favors for clumsy campaign donors, thinly veiled arrogance and dismissiveness, and testy dealings with the press. While the numbers can be read several ways both positively and negatively, depending on what type of crimes you’re highlighting (and that matters a lot), there is also a widespread perception that the city is less safe.

In terms of overall tone, there is something to the criticism that City Hall now favors those who are organized in ways consistent with how the mayor and his team consider activism, at the expense of a citywide rising tide lifting all boats. And with regular forays into national and international stories, it cannot be reasonably disputed that the mayor’s attention often seems to be in places other than here in New York City.

All of which presents Assemblywoman Malliotakis—standing on her own as a candidate, and in opposition to the mayor—with openings to make appropriate criticisms and contrasts, while distinguishing herself as more George Pataki than Donald Trump, more Marty Golden than Mitch McConnell and more New York moderate than DC radical.

A Staten Island daughter of immigrants, Malliotakis should engender enthusiasm from independent-minded voters who value women-in-government, and is no stranger to the biases against strong

women who speak their mind. She has committed to “Mayor Bloomberg-like” professionalism and accountability in staffing city agencies.

Aaron Short’s excellent piece in this issue paints a fair and realistic picture of the incumbent mayor’s campaign strategies and strengths. Specifically, de Blasio appears to be employing a “Rose Garden strategy” of sorts, using the prestige and trappings and advantages of office to run an arm’s-length campaign, all while giving the illusion of being up close. New York City’s Jewish communities, in all their diversity, are a snapshot of the differences that will be playing out in demographics throughout the five boroughs, posing challenges and opportunities for the incumbent and his challenger.

The de Blasio administration has, from day one, been upfront in seeing government as a constant social movement. While I see the hows and whys of that, sometimes government is just government. Recall that last year’s presidential election clearly showed that many feel alienated by the constant aggressive activism. There seem to be a lot of people who are “wrong” on the other side of the mayor’s proposals, and lecturing rarely goes over well with the electorate.

That leaves Nicole Malliotakis—with her energy, no-nonsense approach and pledge to reprofessionalize City Hall— as an alternative. The next couple of months should be interesting.

Michael Tobman, Publisher

BUSINESS Michael Tobman PUBLISHER

Andrew Holt SENIOR PUBLICATION ADVISOR

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, Aug. 11 Candles: 7:41 p.m.

Shabbat Ends: 8:42 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 18 Candles: 7:31 p.m.

Shabbat Ends: 8:31 p.m.

AUG. 9 – 15, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 3

BDSWatch

Gillibrand Bails on Bill WASHINGTON (JTA) — In a rare move and after facing criticism at town hall meetings, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, withdrew her sponsorship of an anti-BDS bill.

A search of the congressional website on Wednesday showed that Gillibrand withdrew her sponsorship. Asked for a comment, her spokesman, Glen Caplin, said Gillibrand remains opposed to the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel, and supported the bill’s intentions, but is concerned that its critics are concluding that the bill would impinge on civil liberties.

She wants the bill to remove those ambiguities, Caplin said.

“She wants to see the bill rewritten to see those concerns addressed,” he told the JTA in an interview.

He referred to her comments earlier last week at a town hall meeting in Queens in which she said she was withdrawing support for the measure

4 | NYJLIFE.COM | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

and seeking a modification of the bill to address civil-liberties concerns.

“I’m going to urge them to rewrite it to make sure it says specifically this does not apply to individuals,” Gillibrand said at the time, describing her reaction after a meeting with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which had objected to the bill.

She did not agree with the ACLU’s reading of the bill, but believed the group had come by it honestly, and was concerned that others would draw the same conclusion.

Gillibrand said her principal concern was that the bill could be interpreted as targeting individuals who participate in the BDS movement.

“This is only applying to companies,” she said. “This applies to those working to undermine foreign policy. It has to be very specific that someone who is in favor of BDS can speak their mind and somebody who is against BDS can

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand speaking at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol, March 14, 2017 PHOTO BY JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

speak their mind, but you are always allowed to speak your mind. So I’m going to try and get the bill revised so there’s no ambiguity—that it’s just an extension of this foreign policy, which I think does make sense.”

Activists at multiple town halls had confronted Gillibrand over her support for the bill. Some of the questions were organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, which backs BDS, and the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, among other groups.

Critics, including the ACLU, say the bill—which expands 1970s-era laws targeting the Arab League boycott to include boycotts initiated by international organizations—would inhibit free speech. Another objection from the left is that the bill encompasses boycotts of settlement goods.

Defenders of the bill say its ambit is narrow, and that it only addresses active cooperation with boycotts initiated by foreign governments and international organizations, and would not extend to general declarations of intent to boycott Israel or its settlements.

Most recently, Amnesty International has come out against the bill.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), is co-sponsored by nearly half the Senate. A similar bill is under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives.

SCHUMER IN THE NEWS

Senate Panel Advances Bill that Would Penalize Palestinian Authority for Payments to Attackers’ Families

BY RON KAMPEAS

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A key Senate panel has advanced a bill that would reduce U.S. payments to the Palestinian Authority if it continues to pay subsidies to the families of Palestinians jailed for or killed in attacks on Israelis.

The Taylor Force Act, named for an American who was stabbed to death in a 2016 terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, was approved Thursday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a 17-4 vote. It had bipartisan support after being softened to attract backing from Democrats as well as centrist pro-Israel groups.

Instead of broadly cutting all assistance to the Palestinian areas, the measure would withhold assistance that directly benefits the Palestinian Authority and its programs unless the payments end.

Humanitarian assistance would be left in place.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which endorsed the bill this week following its modifications, praised the passage and urged the full Senate to follow suit.

“The legislation does not affect U.S. funding for security cooperation, nor does it cut humanitarian programs if the U.S. government can certify that the PA [Palestinian Authority] is taking credible steps to end violence against Israelis and Americans,” AIPAC said in a statement.

The Palestine Liberation Organization said the bill would undercut efforts by the Palestinian Authority to tamp down extremism among Palestinians.

“President [Mahmoud] Abbas is committed to a final political settlement and to nonviolence, including building national institutions, maintaining security and stability, and fighting terrorism in the region,” said the statement by the PLO envoy to Washington, Husam Zomlot. “The bill provides fuel for violent extremists who seek to expand into our backyard.”

Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, had said at a Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Conference last month that Israel did not oppose the bill. (CUFI activists, in the thousands, lobbied for the bill.) However, Israeli security officials reportedly had been concerned that gutting assistance to the Palestinian Authority could destabilize the West Bank, a factor that kept Democrats and AIPAC from backing the bill’s earlier incarnation.

The more restrictive version could conceivably have cut up to $300 million in U.S. aid to the Palestinians; it’s not clear yet how much may be cut under this version. Both versions left in place about $60 million that goes directly to funding Palestinian security forces.

Also praising passage was the Orthodox Union (O.U.), which had lobbied for the measure since the original version was introduced earlier this year by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). It thanked the committee chairman, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), and its top Democrat, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), for advancing the bill; Cardin had resisted full endorsement until the changes were made.

The O.U. said the bill was “long overdue” and that the committee took a “significant step toward thwarting Palestinian terrorism.”

Dovish pro-Israel groups were split on the bill. The Israel Policy Forum in a statement backed the revised version, saying it made a “commonsense distinction... between aid that directly benefits the P.A. and aid that supports ordinary Palestinians.”

J Street praised the changes in the bill moderating its reach, but expressed concerns.

“The bill’s language is vague in places, making it unclear as to whether this vital assistance would continue depending on how narrowly the language is interpreted by the current U.S. administration or by future administrations,” the liberal Israel lobby said in a statement.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) reportedly shared similar concerns. He voted against the measure after colleagues rejected his proposed amendment to grant the president discretion in making cuts.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an attorney who represents victims of terror, also complained—from a different perspective—about the bill’s vagueness.

She was concerned that too much funding, in the name of preserving humanitarian assistance, would be left to the discretion of State Department officials, and that the bill did not account for the possibility that the P.A. might still offer the payments through a front group.

It’s possible, said Darshan-Leitner, who is with the Israel Law Center/Shurat HaDin, that “we will not achieve the goal of the act, which was to prevent the Palestinian Authority from paying terrorists and their families.”

SCHUMER CO-SPONSORS BIPARTISAN TAYLOR FORCE ACT NEW YORK, NY — U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer announced Sunday that he plans to cosponsor the bipartisan Taylor Force Act. The legislation is named for an American graduate student who was tragically killed in a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv last year. The legislation ‎would restrict U.S. funds to the West Bank and Gaza that directly benefit the Palestinian Authority (PA) until the Secretary of State can certify that the Palestinian Authority has terminated payments to individuals, or family members of individuals, who have conducted and been tried and imprisoned for acts of terrorism. It further revokes any law, decree, regulation or document authorizing or implementing the payment system for terrorists, and is taking credible steps to end acts of violence against Israeli citizens and United States citizens perpetrated by citizens under its jurisdictional control.

Currently, the Palestinian Authority provides stipends to terrorists and their families. Schumer says this legislation makes clear to the PA that they must end this disturbing practice.

“President Abbas must be held accountable for the Palestinian Authority’s record of incitement and must stop subsidizing terror. It’s abhorrent that the Palestinian Authority provides payments to terrorists and families of those who have committed terrorist violence against Israelis and Americans and others,” said Schumer. “I am a proud co-sponsor of the Taylor Force Act because it aims to put an end to this disturbing practice, which only perpetuates the cycle of violence and undercuts the drive to peace. This bill will also honor the memory and sacrifice of Taylor Force.”

Taylor Force, of Texas, graduated from West Point and served in Afghanistan and Iraq. As part of his studies as a graduate student at Vanderbilt University, Force visited Israel last year. In March, Force was fatally stabbed by a terrorist in Tel Aviv, and others were injured. The assailant’s family has been rewarded by the Palestinian Authority for his terrorist act and is being paid a monthly stipend under the Palestinian Authority Martyr’s Fund.

While the United States does not provide direct budgetary support to the Palestinian Authority, it does pay certain debts and funds programs for which the Palestinian Authority would otherwise be responsible.

AUG. 9 – 15, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 5

Taking the Temperature NYJL TAKES THE TEMPERATURE OF BROOKLYN ORTHODOX COMMUNITY ON BILL DE BLASIO

Exclusive

BY AARON SHORT

On a balmy evening in June, Mayor Bill de Blasio and first lady Chirlane McCray feted about 500 ganze machers at his annual Jewish Heritage Reception at Gracie Mansion.

The party isn’t a campaign event, but it may as well have been.

De Blasio begged his audience to tell state lawmakers to renew mayoral control; touted his pre-K program in yeshivas; praised a dozen elected officials and mayoral liaisons in attendance; vowed to stamp out anti-Semitism; decried the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement; and pledged to uphold the city’s “special bond” with Israel.

“When it comes to the Jewish community, I get a window into all the amazing aspects of the community, all of the extraordinary neighborhoods, every corner of Jewish New York,” he said. “And, I have to tell you, this is a place that is so great because we respect each other; we honor each other. We honor every faith here in this city—this is part of our magic.”

The Jewish community is extraordinarily diverse, but de Blasio knows he can count on one of the most conservative groups to support his reelection this November.

Brooklyn’s Hasidic Orthodox community is one of the most reliable parts of his electoral base, along with outer-borough progressives and African American and Latino families, who propelled him from the public advocate’s office to Gracie Mansion four years ago.

Facing only nominal opposition in the Democratic primary and a Staten Island GOP assemblywoman in the general, de Blasio can campaign with little effort and still, barring scandal or other revelations, win reelection, political consultants say. But he isn’t taking any of his constituencies for granted as his GOP opponent, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, is proving to be energetic in highlighting the incumbent’s shortcomings and demeanor which, many say, presents as arrogant.

“We are proud of our strong support in the

6 | NYJLIFE.COM | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

Orthodox community and we will fight for every vote there and across the city,” said campaign spokesman Dan Levitan.

The appearance of a big tent, with Hasidic Jews making up the conservative corner, is good political optics, consultants say.

“De Blasio treats the City Council base as his mayoral base, and for whatever reason he’s stayed loyal to everybody he has considered part of his base,” said consultant Menashe Shapiro. “Even

though he doesn’t need them he has a maddening penchant to sticking with them, and I don’t see them losing access if he gets reelected.”

But the community has given the mayor several headaches as the end of his first term approaches.

Two Orthodox Jewish businessmen who raised tens of thousands of dollars for the mayor, Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, became key focal points of a sprawling federal investigation into de Blasio pay-to-play schemes after investigators found they bribed high-ranking cops for favors and sought help from the mayor and his aides for real estate problems.

The feds reportedly questioned other Orthodox leaders about an array of other favors the mayor’s office provided the community—including the reopening of a religious girls’ school that had been shuttered for safety violations—before letting de Blasio off the hook in March. Rechnitz pleaded guilty to the bribery charges while Reichberg was arrested and faces trial.

City Hall also took criticism for rolling back a Bloomberg-era requirement that parents sign a consent form before allowing a rabbi to perform a controversial circumcision ritual that some in the Orthodox community consider a foundational religious practice.

It’s all water under the Williamsburg Bridge, de Blasio allies insist.

“I don’t think the headaches are that much different from his friends in the affordable housing community or other folks he’s been close to,” said

Mayor Bill de Blasio and first lady Chirlane McCray with Rabbi Joseph Potasnik at Gracie Mansion PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NYC MAYOR’S OFFICE FLICKR ACCOUNT

A Brief Q&A with Kalman Yeger

BY MAXINE DOVERE

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NYC MAYOR’S OFFICE FLICKR ACCOUNT

one campaign loyalist. “This is a community he’s dealt with since his time in City Council; they vote in a bloc and they still deliver votes. There have been isolated incidents but in general they have specific asks and don’t venture outside of those asks.”

This year, and for the foreseeable future, the Orthodox community’s top issues are affordable housing with more than two bedrooms for larger families, aid for tuition-paying families, expanded half-day pre-K for religious schools and public safety.

“People want a better quality of life, people want the city to be safe, but people are happy with the mayor,” said Ezra Friedlander, CEO of the Friedlander Group, a political consulting firm. “I like him, a lot of my friends like him, a lot of the community at large likes him.

The mayor is very responsive to the community.”

But will the community respond to the mayor on Election Day? In the November 2013 mayoral election, de Blasio stomped his Republican challenger Joe Lhota 74 to 24 percent in Hasidic Williamsburg, where 3,023 people cast ballots.

The race in Borough Park was more competitive—Lhota edged de Blasio 50 to 47 percent and 11,396 people voted, according to city Board of Elections records.

But voter turnout in Borough Park was 67 percent higher during last year’s presidential election—when 18,979 people went to the polls— and more than four times as high in 2012, when 58,491 people voted.

Williamsburg’s turnout was slightly higher in 2016 with 3,505 people voting, and double in 2012, when 6,153 voters hit the polls, records show.

And the real race back in 2013, many say, was the September Democratic primary, when other candidates with their own electoral bases were pulling votes citywide.

Still, turnout in the 2017 general election could be abysmal despite a smattering of competitive City Council seats. And Malliotakis, de Blasio’s savvy GOP opponent, could make inroads in modern Orthodox enclaves such as Far Rockaway, Riverdale, Midwood, Rego Park and the Upper West Side, which have voted increasingly conservative in recent years.

Thanks to the Hasidic bloc, de Blasio isn’t sweating the contest.

“The most accurate predictor of how the Ultra-Orthodox communities will vote is the standings in the polls of the candidates. They generally vote for a winner,” said Jewish Community Relations Council Associate Director David Pollock. “It is likely to be less this time, but that amplifies the vote of anyone who does turn out.”

NYJL sat down with Kalman Yeger, a candidate to replace David Greenfield on the City Council, to ask him about his candidacy. The following is a transcript edited for space and clarity.

people together in a very diverse community. If people are looking for a different style of government, they’re not necessarily going to find that. It’s about good government, about honor and integrity.

NYJL: Why are you running for City Council?

KY: I have the great honor to run in a community that I love, that I have known for a long time. I’m going to work every single day for my community, for my neighborhood and for the people that I love. Being a city councilman is about spending every waking moment thinking about how can you make the lives of the people you serve better.

NYJL : You have 17 years of experience on your Community Board, working with elected officials from Latino, Caribbean and Jewish backgrounds. How will this help your candidacy?

KY: Bringing people together is the story of my life. If I have the opportunity to serve, I look forward to continuing to do so on the City Council.

NYJL: What types of changes will the people of Council District 44 see if you are elected?

KY: The neighborhood will not see something that is that different from what they see now—the support of an elected official who adores going to work every day. I intend to be the representative of the entire community. It’s what I’ve done my whole life. I’ve worked on bringing

NYJL : Do you see national or international affairs having an impact on your ability to protect and serve the diverse communities in CD 44?

KY: I’m going to channel Fiorello La Guardia. A council member’s job is to get the garbage picked up, and get it picked up on time. I’m not running for secretary general of the United Nations!

Council candidate Kalman Yeger (right) with Councilmember David Greenfield PHOTO BY MAXINE DOVERE

AUG. 9 – 15, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 7

German Project Working to Reunite Books Stolen during the Holocaust with Rightful Heirs

President Macky Sall of Senegal meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in Monrovia, Liberia, June 4, 2017 PHOTO BY KOBI GIDEON/ISRAELI GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICE

In a First, Senegal and Guinea Send Ambassadors to Israel (JTA) — Senegal and Guinea are sending ambassadors to Israel for the first time.

The two predominantly Muslim countries in West Africa were to present their credentials to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin yesterday, The Times of Israel reported.

The two will serve as nonresident ambassadors. Senegal’s Talla Fall, who also represents the country in Egypt, will work from Cairo, while Guinea’s Amara Camara will be based in Paris, according to The Times of Israel.

Amid increasing criticism of Israel’s right-wing government from Europe, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made improving ties

8 | NYJLIFE.COM | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

with African countries a priority, visiting the continent twice in the past 14 months.

Israel’s diplomatic ties with Senegal and Guinea have not been without bumps in the road.

In June, Israel and Senegal announced “an end to the crisis between their two countries.” Three months earlier, the Jewish state permanently downgraded ties with Senegal when the latter co-sponsored an anti-settlement resolution in the United Nations that passed.

Last year, Israel and Guinea reestablished diplomatic ties after 49 years. Guinea had broken off relations following the Six-Day War in 1967.

BERLIN (JTA) — A new search in Germany for books stolen from Jews during the Third Reich is beginning to bear fruit.

Recently, a man in California who was the only survivor of the Holocaust in his family received a book from Germany that had been dedicated to him by a teacher. The only other things he has from his childhood are a piece of clothing and one family photo, the Deutsche Welle news agency reported.

Last fall, it was announced that 500 books from the library of Jewish department store owners Edith and Georg Tietz had been rediscovered in the city library of Bautzen.

The “Initial Check” project— dedicated to finding stolen books and their rightful heirs—is a relatively new part of Germany’s governmentsponsored search for stolen art, coordinated by the Magdeburg-based Lost Art Foundation. For over a year, three provenance researchers have been searching through libraries, starting in the former East German state of Saxony-Anhalt. In all, there are some 6,000 libraries that eventually will be examined by researchers, Uwe Hartmann, head of provenance research at the Lost Art Foundation, told Deutsche Welle.

The successes may not be as sensational as the returns of paintings

by famous artists to heirs. But according to a report in Deutsche Welle, the return of a book can be just as meaningful to the family involved, as in the case of the Holocaust survivor from California.

According to Hartmann, the Nazis began confiscating books from Jews in Germany after the so-called Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938. Some Jews fleeing Germany sold their books and other belongings for far less than they were worth. Other books were looted from homes and collections in Nazi-occupied areas during the war.

One source of information for provenance researchers is a list of books kept by the Reichstauschstelle, an office of the interior ministry that was created in the 1920s. The Nazis ultimately used it as a resource, essentially making stolen books available to help restock German libraries that had been damaged in the war.

But for the most part, the researchers rely on help from local librarians, who are familiar with the contents of their shelves and have picked up clues over the years.

In addition to books and paintings, the Lost Art Foundation is seeking to reconnect musical instruments, furniture, household articles and even cars with their proper heirs.

The “Initial Check” project—dedicated to finding stolen books and their rightful heirs—is a relatively new part of Germany’s government-sponsored search for stolen art, coordinated by the Magdeburg-based Lost Art Foundation.

Haredi Orthodox Party Proposes Plan for “Kosher” Electricity JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Haredi Orthodox United Torah Judaism party has proposed a plan to deliver so-called kosher electricity to largely Orthodox areas on Shabbat.

Under the plan submitted Sunday, small power stations would be built to power the cities and towns and would be disconnected from the national grid on Shabbat, Ynet reported.

The haredi Orthodox community has been uncomfortable with the delivery of electricity from Friday night until Saturday night for some time, saying that even if the electricity in their homes is controlled by a timer, there are Jews working at the

power stations and on the natural gas stations that produce the electricity on Shabbat.

Under the plan, the plants would be powered by compressed natural gas and would be manned by non-Jews.

Among the cities that would benefit from the plan are Elad, Bnei Brak, Beitar Illit, Beit Shemesh, Jerusalem and Modi’in Illit.

Ynet cited an unnamed source as saying that because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to maintain a stable government coalition while he is under several corruption investigations, the plan is likely to be approved.

Police in Southern Sweden Investigating Anti-Israel Protest for Anti-Semitism (JTA) — Police in southern Sweden are investigating an anti-Israel protest to determine whether the crowd chanted anti-Semitic epithets.

The Swedish-Palestinian Centre in Helsingborg held several anti-Israel protests last month while tensions were running high at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, The Local-Sweden reported.

But at least one of the protests may have degenerated into the use of antiSemitic chants, including one that called Jewish people the “offspring of apes and pigs,” according to The Local, which said videos of the protests have gone viral on social media.

“We can see that there are elements in these protests that are worrying and serious because they contain antiSemitic insults and anti-Semitic claims in combination with a violent rhetoric, in a really unfortunate way,” Jewish Community of Northwest Skåne chairperson Josefin Thorell told the Swedish broadcaster SVT Helsingborg, according to The Local.

The Jewish community reportedly is also preparing a report to submit to the police.

The Swedish-Palestinian Centre said the chants at the protests were aimed at Israel, not the Jewish people as a whole.

STOCK IMAGE VIA WIKIMEDIA CREATIVE COMMONS

AUG. 9 – 15, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 9

Russell Robinson, CEO of the Jewish National Fund, has led the environmental and development organization since 1998.

PHOTO BY MAXINE DOVERE

Go North! Go South!

Build the Land and the People NYJL LOOKS AT BOTH THE JNF AND KKL AND THE WORK THEY ARE DOING IN ISRAEL

BY MAXINE DOVERE

On a chamsin—desert hot—July day, New York Jewish Life had a unique opportunity to meet with Daniel “Danny” Atar in the Tel Aviv office of Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael (KKL), the Israeli cohort of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Atar was elected director of KKL Worldwide in 2015, charged with overseeing the land-reclamation organization founded in 1901. Known in Israel as “KaKal,” it works in close coordination with the New York-headquartered JNF. Two weeks later, in his office in New York, JNF CEO Russell Robinson told NYJL, “The two organizations have the same narrative—a shared history—the same vision for Israel that Theodor Herzl had—a dream to secure the land of Israel and the Jewish people. The story of JNF-KKL is not about tanks and planes. The story of JNF-KKL is the repurchase of the land….We could have made a good case for possession based

10 | NYJLIFE.COM | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

on biblical ownership. We took the harder route: to repurchase the land that would result in Israel.”

Despite the distance, Robinson is very “hands on” with JNF projects, traveling to Israel almost every month; Atar is on the ground on a daily basis. Seated at his desk one floor below the conference room where David Ben Gurion held Israel’s first cabinet meetings, the recently elected KKL world director is a figure of strength and dedication.

In our exclusive interview, Atar defined Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael as an “organization for the whole of the Jewish community. Our audience is the Jewish people. Our mission is to enhance the connection between every Jew and the state of Israel....We at Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael get the idea that brothers should not be separated. Keren Kayemet works to strengthen the Jewish people, to receive everyone and

not enter government politics.”

Atar is a Zionist. His Moroccan-born parents made aliyah in 1956. A sabra, he served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

He was a delegate to the Gilboa Regional Council from 1994 and was elected to Knesset on the Zionist Union List in 2015. He resigned his seat upon being elected KKL director. Atar is married to Chaya, an artist, and is the father of three.

He told NYJL, “We are a small people. We cannot afford to throw any part away. It’s a catastrophe,” he said, referring to studies suggesting that, should current trends continue, 700,000 Jews will leave the community by 2025. “We must do all that we can so that these 700,000 Jews won’t leave the culture.”

He expressed hope that each person could find an “individual way but remain part of the Jewish people.”

Atar is dedicated to significantly increasing the Jewish population in Israel’s northern and southern regions. KKL plans to bring half a million new residents to the Galilee and one million to the Negev, areas the director categorized as “the weakest points in Israel....If Israel doesn’t strengthen the Galilee and the Negev, it will be difficult to protect Israel.

Encouraging the young to stay in the Negev and the Galilee is essentially good for the state.

“There is much to do, much to do. We are beginning a major project for the Jewish world in the Galilee and the Negev. Everyone must understand all that is occurring. We want to bring the young [Israelis] back.

Every project Keren Kayemet undertakes will be in the Galilee and the Negev.”

Atar said that there has been “good progress” in the South. “Now, it’s important to bring the energy to the North.”

“The question,” Atar posed somewhat rhetorically, “is what do I say to the youth in the United States? I say it’s most important to be part of the Galilee and the Negev. KKL seeks the best method to connect, to bring youth to visit Israel. Each one who comes becomes a shaliach—an emissary.”

KKL brings delegations of professionals to Israel and organizes special trips for teachers from secular and Christian schools. “The Christians,” he noted, “understand that there is much to do.”

In coordination with the Jewish National Fund, KKL is active on university campuses. Following its historic approach, it builds support person by person, group by group, from the small group to the larger one to the general population.

Those who “lead the academic world are leaders around the world,” said Atar. “If you build on campus today, you build for the future. We want to bring knowledge of what we do to the campuses.”

He stressed the importance of telling students the truth about Israel. “The only negative stories they hear are about Israel. No one speaks about Syria, Yemen or Lebanon. Keren Kayemet will work on the campuses, independently and in cooperation with other pro-Israel groups, to tell the real story.”

In its early years (KKL-JNF was founded in 1901), communication between America and Israel was difficult, explained Robinson in New York; it took six weeks for a letter to be delivered. In America,

representatives would talk to small groups, asking people to believe in a dream—and to fill the iconic blue boxes, a means of fundraising to achieve the Zionist mission of establishing the Jewish state.

“We’re still telling the story,” Robinson said. He reflected Atar’s words, saying, “That story now has a new direction—actually two new directions: north and south, the Galilee and the Negev. KKL-JNF is working to increase the Jewish population in these areas by encouraging regional development, improving transportation and providing subsidies to companies that move to Israel’s north. Today, it’s a new world. Connectivity is the whole difference.

“Donors used to ask, ‘Why drag people to the desert?’ Eighteen years ago, suggesting an investment in the desert caused laughter. Beersheba was a wild dream. Even sophisticated philanthropists laughed. They don’t laugh any more. We’ve gone from laughter to ‘wow.’”

Among its projects in the south, the JNF funds infrastructure investments in the Arava, the central Negev area that, despite receiving only about two inches of rain annually, has become Israel’s garden, producing prize-winning wines, melons, tomatoes, peppers and other export-quality agricultural products.

With KKL-JNF assistance, the area’s population has increased by 50 percent in less than a decade—from 5,000 to 7,500.

Atar told NYJL that increasing the Jewish population and maintaining the Jewish identity in the Galilee region is a primary concern. The last time there was a Jewish majority in all of what is considered the northern portion of Israel “was towards the beginning of the 1970s,” said Ofir Shick, CEO of Lev BaGalil— Heart of the Galilee—which is dedicated to preserving a Jewish majority in the Galilee. Shick noted that most Israelis consider the area as the “bed and breakfast of the country; only for vacations, but not a place to live.”

KKL is working to change that perception. Providing housing, enhancing economic development and creating support services that attract new residents is an integral part of KKL’s program.

Seventeen community centers— the first scheduled to open in Nazarat Elite in December 2017—“will provide the best possible resources of Israel without cost to the participants,

concerned and connected he replied. “Our stars are in the Negev, to today’s Jewish life and from Beersheba to Eilat, making 50 Jewish opportunities. The percent of the land come alive!” last 10 years have witnessed Robinson noted the culinary a change in participation. constellation that the JNF is fostering JNF is helping to keep the in the upper eastern part of the Galilee: story of the Jewish people of “We’re changing the Galilee into the today and tomorrow alive. culinary capital of the world! It will be It’s learning how to partner. a center for food technology. The world Israel is part of Jewish life.” is going to come to Israel’s North for Echoing the words of the finest food in the world.”

Danny Atar, Robinson He next referenced the Alexander stressed that there is nothing Muss High School, a JNF partner. The political about it.

Kfar Saba school offers a “semester Asked what he saw as abroad” program for American high the JNF’s most significant school students. Participants receive challenges, Robinson said full academic credit in their home ‘”It’s conveying the positive schools. Robinson called the program story. We have to keep “an integral part of connecting Jews to Danny Atar, world director, Keren Kayemet telling the positive story the Jewish community.”

L’Yisrael, in his office in Tel Aviv, emphasized the and assure that we talk Since 2012 when Muss and the JNF importance of Jewish peoplehood. about the successes. When partnered, the program has almost including internships and mentoring. Jewish papers—our primary means of doubled, increasing from 800 to 1,500 It’s a project every community in the communication—are constantly trying students. The JNF looks forward to world can adopt; everyone must know to rip the Jews apart, that’s a challenge. increasing the number of participants English, math, chemistry, physics,” Atar The challenges are for us to express to 5,000.

“These kids will be the leaders of said, inviting every Jew in the world to with as much excitement and fervor about how our team is winning!.... investment in Israel for the next 60 help.

“If we begin a specific project Nobody has given this world more than years,” Robinson said. “They have now, it takes about two years’ work the Jewish people….The real challenge self-selected themselves as leaders. to complete,” he said. He described is partnership, not being deterred or After 12 to 16 weeks they come back a “twinning” structure that makes detoured by conversations of nonsense as ambassadors. The Muss experience helps participants get into the best it possible to support a personal or worse.”

Robinson recalled the words of colleges. They are shining stars—the project from small enterprise to major educational effort. “Everyone can come Martin Luther King Jr.: “In the midst of next generation. They’ll look back and and help within the framework.” He the worst time, King said, ‘I have dream,’ say, ‘Wow! We built the movement of noted that Israeli Arab students are not a nightmare. At JNF, we have a the Jewish people connected to the dream that started 116 years ago.” land of Israel—with all due respect to eligible to participate.

NYJL asked Robinson to list some Herzl!’”

At its New York headquarters, KKL-JNF also effects positive NYJL asked Robinson how the JNF of the “shining stars” in the JNF change outside Israel. Atar told NYJL is engaging the demographic groups firmament.

“Our stars are a community of young that Argentina has requested KKL’s termed Gen X and Millennials.

“Bringing them closer to the land— people in the North—the next leaders help in solving its water problems. closer than ever—telling the story, of Israel—Jews who have a connection Assistance will be provided to that educating, involving, being part of with the Diaspora, eyeball to eyeball,” government through the local Jewish community, through Israel. JNF is sending what Atar described as hundreds and hundreds of both a technical and a 25–40-year-olds to Israel diplomatic approach. every year.”

In a throwback to its Israel is part of Jewish early roots, KKL-JNF life. The JNF conveys its will open its newest message through a range of field office in April 2018 contemporary activities. in Poland, home to “Our Shabbat-in-theearly halutzim pioneers, Park/Desert/etc. programs among them a young are always oversubscribed,” oleh (immigrant) named said Robinson. “Shabbat David Grun, soon known dinners at home often gather as Ben-Gurion. more than a hundred— “The fallacies of our mostly young—people from demise are overstated every religious background. and not true,” noted It’s young people meeting Wine production in the Arava is benefiting from JNF investments Robinson in a nod to young people.

T h e in infrastructure and water technology.

Mark Twain.

Millennials are deeply PHOTOS BY MAXINE DOVERE

AUG. 9 – 15, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 11

Democratic Socialists of America Passes BDS Motion against Israel at Convention (JTA) — The Democratic Socialists of America voted to endorse a BDS motion against Israel at its biannual convention in Chicago.

The vote, which took place on Saturday, passed with 90 percent approval of the 697 delegates from 49 states.

The motion read, in part, “Democratic Socialists of America declares itself in solidarity with Palestinian civil society’s nonviolent struggle against apartheid, colonialism, military occupation and for equality, human rights, and selfdetermination; Democratic Socialists of America responds to Civil Society’s call by fully supporting BDS….”

The statement from the resolution was tweeted by an attendee, the Legal Insurrection website reported.

12 | NYJLIFE.COM | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

According to its website, The Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, “is the largest socialist organization in the United States, and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International. DSA’s members are building progressive movements for social change while establishing an openly democratic socialist presence in American communities and politics.”

The organization also says, “We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo.”

“We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane international social order based both on democratic planning and market mechanisms to achieve equitable distribution of resources, meaningful work, a healthy environment, sustainable growth, gender and racial equality, and nonoppressive relationships.”

The organization reports that it has about 25,000 dues-paying members nationwide, up from 8,000 in recent years.

While the movement is not officially associated with Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, DSA is aligned with her, according to The Jerusalem Post. DSA was an official participant in the Women’s March in January 2017, of which Sarsour was a co-organizer, The Post reported.

Appeals Court Gives Control of Touro Synagogue, Oldest in US, to NY Trustee

A view inside the Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

(JTA) — A federal appeals court ruled that a synagogue in New York is the owner of the country’s oldest synagogue building and its set of historically significant silver bells that are used to adorn Torah scrolls.

Last Wednesday, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled in favor of Manhattan’s Shearith Israel, which is the oldest Jewish congregation in the country, giving it control of the 250-year-old Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., the religious home of Congregation Jeshuat Israel.

The decision also gives Shearith Israel ownership of bells, called rimonim, which are late-18th-century finials handcrafted by Myer Myers, one of the most prominent silversmiths of the colonial era. The rimonim are valued at $7.4 million.

Shearith Israel has served as trustee of the Touro Synagogue dating back to the early 19th century.

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter serves on the appeals court panel of judges.

In May 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Jack McConnell ruled in favor of Jeshuat Israel, granting it control of Touro Synagogue, including its claim of ownership of the silver rimonim.

In his decision that traced the history

of the Newport Jewish community and its relationship with Shearith Israel, McConnell revoked Shearith Israel as the trustee and instead named Jeshuat Israel trustee of the building.

The current dispute began in 2012, when Congregation Jeshuat Israel, which holds regular services at Touro, attempted to sell the silver bells to establish an endowment to maintain a rabbi and care for the building, which was designated a national historic site in 1946. Shearith Israel sued to stop the sale and attempted to evict the 120-family congregation from the building.

The rimonim have been on loan from the Touro Synagogue to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which had made an offer to purchase them. The museum has since rescinded its offer.

The Touro building was consecrated in 1763, when the town had one of the largest Jewish populations in the American colonies, but stood empty in 1776 when most of the city’s Jewish population fled at the start of the Revolutionary War, Reuters reported.

Members of the synagogue then shipped the rimonim to the New York synagogue and asked its leaders to act as trustees for the temple. Worshippers returned by the 1870s.

NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County Saves Patient with New Cutting-Edge Procedure THE NEW PROCEDURE, MECHANICAL THROMBECTOMY, IS AN EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR SEVERE STROKE CASES (BROOKLYN, NY) — NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County’s award-winning stroke center has added a cutting-edge, minimally invasive surgical technique to treat acute ischemic stroke, and the first patient to undergo the procedure—“mechanical thrombectomy”— has been successfully treated.

Mechanical thrombectomy is an option for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke, a type of stroke that occurs when a blood vessel carrying blood to the brain is blocked by a blood clot.

The treatment involves inserting a catheter through the patient’s groin and threading it into the artery where the blood clot is located.

A device called a stent retriever is then inserted to trap the clot and pull it out through the catheter.

“For the most severe cases of ischemic stroke, mechanical thrombectomy has an 80 percent chance of success, whereas the use of bloodthinning medicine by itself has a 40 percent chance of success,” said Donnie Bell, MD, director of Neuro-Intervention at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County, who performed the hospital’s first procedure. “This technique was recently designated an effective treatment of choice for certain cases.”

He added that current guidelines indicate the procedure is most effective when administered early, preferably within the first six hours after the stroke. However, new studies show stroke victims may have as long as 24 hours.

“The doctors here gave me my life back,” said Kelvin Bryant, a Brooklynite who was the hospital’s first patient to undergo the life-saving procedure. “When I came in, I had no power.

Today, I can walk, and I won’t take anything for granted.”

“NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County cares for some 500 patients experiencing acute stroke each year, and we are committed to providing the best care to everyone who comes through our doors,” said Ernest J. Baptiste, CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County. “Our doctors are some of the best in the country, and our community benefits.”

The stroke center at NYC Health + Hospitals/ Kings County is widely recognized for its

high-quality care, having received awards from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for the past six years. The stroke center offers a comprehensive program that includes both inpatient and outpatient services. The inpatient program integrates radiology and neuroscience, among other services, to provide acute stroke neuroimaging (CT scan and MRI), IV thrombolysis, acute stroke nursing, neurosurgery and a 24/7 stroke team. The outpatient program includes a stroke clinic, neuropsychological assessments, nutrition and diabetes education, home health aide/nursing care and transportation arrangements for those in need.

“Our care is a team approach, reflecting close collaboration among the departments of quality improvement, nursing, emergency medicine, critical care, neurosurgery, and neuroradiology, and this collaboration is a key to our success” said Susan Law, MD, director of the NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County Stroke Center. “While we continue to expand our treatment options, we always want to remind people who experience warning signs of possible stroke to get to the emergency room as soon as possible.”

The warning signs of stroke can be remembered by the acronym FAST: Facial weakness or asymmetry Arm or leg weakness or numbness Speech—slurred or unintelligible Time—time loss is brain loss Stroke is the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States, as well as a leading cause of disability. Risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, smoking, poor diet and lack of physical activity.

NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County is also engaged in research to develop breakthroughs in the treatment of stroke. It is partnering with New York-Presbyterian Hospital to pilot a program that educates adolescents about stroke and its signs and symptoms. And it is collaborating with SUNY Downstate Medical Center and NYU Langone Medical Center on research projects.

Brooklyn-Based Maimonides Leads in Healthcare Information Technology as “Most Wired” Hospital

(BROOKLYN, NY) — For the 17th time, Maimonides was recognized as one of the nation’s “most wired” hospitals, and has been commended for using advanced technologies to enhance care delivery. Maimonides has been placed on the 2017 “Most Wired” list by Hospitals & Health Networks, a journal of the American Hospital Association.

“Investment in information technology has benefited our patients and physicians in so many ways,” said Kenneth D. Gibbs, president and CEO. “Our commitment to utilizing the most advanced technologies has strengthened communication, improved patient safety and enhanced the quality of care we provide at Maimonides.”

“Our clinical specialists are part of the team that designs our systems,” explained Walter Fahey, chief information officer.

“This allows us to transform care delivery, while customizing the experience to meet the needs of our patients.”

The “most wired” designation is given to hospitals and health systems across the country for effectively using innovative information technologies in critical areas of care, including clinical quality and safety, administrative management, infrastructure and clinical integration across all services. “Most wired” hospitals like Maimonides use mobile devices, telehealth and remote monitoring systems to create more ways to reach patients and provide services.

The “most wired” recognition reflects the commitment at Maimonides to use emerging technologies as a tool for accessing health services, capturing health information and reducing medical errors. Maimonides continues to be an industry leader in utilizing computerized technologies and expanding the capabilities of electronic medical records.

Maimonides Medical Center is Brooklyn’s preeminent healthcare provider, nationally recognized for clinical excellence across all major specialties. Its physicians are known for innovation, major achievements in advancing medical science, and strengthening our teaching and research programs. With 711 beds, the medical center is dedicated to bringing patients the most advanced care available anywhere. Maimonides continues its efforts to grow in response to evolving models of care that better serve patients and families, and is an affiliate of Northwell Health.

AUG. 9 – 15, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 13

“I promised them I’d bring in the snacks and let them have a go at them,” Bisnowaty said.

He hopes the matzah will help him do more than ingratiate himself with his teammates. Bisnowaty was a four-year starter at the University of Pittsburgh, his hometown school, and is projected to snag a spot on the Giants roster this season—but nothing is certain.

Some say he could be an immediate starter; others say he might make the team but not be active, or listed as eligible to play, for most games.

The beefy lineman is among several 300-pounders tasked with blocking defenders from hitting veteran quarterback Eli Manning, a two-time Super Bowl MVP and brother of future Hall of Fame signal-caller Peyton Manning. Heading into April’s NFL draft, scouts said Bisnowaty compensates for a lack of raw athleticism with his size, strength and positive attitude. The Giants traded up to select him in the sixth round.

Like most professional sports leagues, the NFL is not exactly full of Jewish players. Brothers Mitch and Geoff Schwartz—both offensive linemen—were in the league at the same time from 2012 to 2016. Mitch is a Kansas City Chief; Geoff, who played for the Giants in 2014 and 2015, retired in 2017 after seven seasons in the league. Bisnowaty said some of his teammates like to say, “We got another Schwartz in here!”

Other notable active Jewish players include star wide receiver Julian Edelman—who in recent years has embraced his Jewish background—and backup safety and special teams ace Nate Ebner, both of the Adam Bisnowaty at a New York Giants training camp practice at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., July 30, Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

2017 What makes Bisnowaty even more of an NFL PHOTO BY EVAN PINKUS aberration is his Israeli heritage. His father grew up in the Jewish state and ended up staying in the United States in his late 20s after having a kidney transplant

BY GABE FRIEDMAN there. Bisnowaty’s uncle David is the first Israeli to become an elected parliament member in the southeastern African nation of Malawi.

Although the family celebrated the major Jewish The Jewish food company Manischewitz heard NEW YORK (JTA) — As a rookie in the National Football League, New York Giants offensive lineman about Bisnowaty and sent him an array of snacks, holidays growing up, the divorce of Bisnowaty’s parents along with his time-consuming interest in Adam Bisnowaty is splitting most of his time before from boxes of matzah to potato pancake mix. football eventually pushed Judaism mostly out of his The matzah provoked curiosity in his teammates. the season starts in September between grueling life. He told the JTA he wants to rekindle his interest practices and long team meetings. in the religion, and he may have a bar mitzvah To lighten the mood, veteran players ask at some point. the newbies each preseason to sing in front Football, especially at the college level, is of the team. Bisnowaty figures that when heavily influenced by religious Christianity, it’s his turn, he’ll go with “Dreidel, Dreidel, including coaches and ministries that cater Dreidel.” to athletes. But Bisnowaty said he has never Bisnowaty, 23, is Jewish—a rarity in been the target of anti-Semitic slurs or professional football—and comfortable bullying in his football career. As he sees it, talking about it with his teammates. players’ asking him to wear a yarmulke to “One of the first things I tell people is that team meetings are just breaking the ice and I’m Jewish,” he told the JTA. “People don’t having a good time. meet a lot of Jewish football players, so I Still, Bisnowaty was aware of how rare always like to bring that out and just open a Jewish football player is when he got the up, so it’s nice and easy.”

Hebrew tattoo. He said it was an opportunity Bisnowaty—who stands 6-6, weighs about for him to show his Jewish pride.

300 pounds and sports long, curly brown But flashing a tat in the locker room is one hair—has become a minor celebrity in Jewish thing. It took a bit of courage to show it off in circles after a New York Post article from last another setting. month revealed that he has a large Hebrew “I wanted to hide it from my mom,” he said tattoo on his left arm. The tattoo translates Adam Bisnowaty at a minicamp practice at MetLife Stadium in East with a laugh, “so she didn’t find out about it to “I am what I am,” a phrase God says to Rutherford, N.J., May 25, 2017 right away.”

Moses when the latter asks what to call him. PHOTO BY EVAN PINKUS

THIS NEW YORK GIANTS PLAYER SHOWS HIS JEWISH PRIDE ON AND OFF THE FIELD

14 | NYJLIFE.COM | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

Serving Coffee, Rodney Dangerfield Startups and Success

Finally to Get Some Hometown Respect (JTA) — The late Jewish comedian and actor Rodney Dangerfield will get some respect from the New York City neighborhood where he grew up.

A plaque honoring Dangerfield, whose birth name was Jacob Cohen, will be unveiled Friday in a garden in Kew Gardens, Queens, next to the building that Dangerfield lived in as a child, The New York Times reported.

Dangerfield died in 2004 at 82.

A local historian and teacher, Carl Ballenas, told The Times that the standup comic’s self-deprecating style came from his upbringing in Kew Gardens, where he lived with his mother and sister and worked menial jobs such as delivering groceries to wealthy neighbors, and was subjected to anti-Semitism.

Ballenas told the news website DNAInfo that a group of his students in the Aquinas Honor Society of the Immaculate Conception School in Jamaica Estates came up with the idea to

honor Dangerfield when they worked on a book about the history of Kew Gardens.

Joan Dangerfield, the comedian’s widow, worked with them on the project.

The students also collected memorabilia related to Dangerfield that will be displayed at a nearby bar, Austin’s Ale House.

Dangerfield was best known as a standup comedian, but achieved his widest fame in the early 1980s with his roles in the comedies Easy Money, Caddyshack and Back to School.

Dangerfield occasionally came back to visit the old neighborhood, especially Bailey’s, the bar that preceded Austin’s Ale House in the same building, according to The Times.

The plaque will include a reference to his catch phrase, “I don’t get no respect!” It will be unveiled during the opening events for the 10-day Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema. No Dangerfield films will be screened at the festival, however.

Rodney Dangerfield performing for the inmates at Rikers Island Jail, New York, circa 1969

PHOTO BY SUSAN SCHIFF FALUDI/THREE LIONS/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

CAMP DAVID CO-WORKING SPACE AT INDUSTRY CITY IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS

BY ANDREW HOLT

Startups are exciting, like planning a European vacation. Possibilities are endless. A jaunt to Sarajevo from your relaxing poolside manse in Croatia sounds doable. Riding the Frecciarossa from Rome to Milan for a quick day trip? Piece of cake! There and back!

Then you find yourself lost in Sutjeska National Park hours from civilization and realize you may have bitten off more than you can chew.

This is how many startup companies, and I’ll include independent consultants, dive into their new enterprises. Bright-eyed! The world is their oyster.

Then reality strikes. You find out you have to pay to advertise in your local newspaper to actually form a business in New York. The creative team behind your branding and website is weeks late with its deliverables. Your first big order of bespoke tote bags fell through.

The costs are always higher, processes more complex, people more difficult.

And without a home base—aside from your actual home—to keep spinning all the various plates startups need to spin, you become overwhelmed.

This is where Camp David, a new coworking space at Industry City in the Sunset Park area of Brooklyn, comes in.

Camp David is an oasis within an oasis, with mid-century décor that serves the single-desk startup or the dozenperson incubator equally well.

The location is key. Industry City has become a diverse and accessible hub of innovation, creativity and networking.

The food court boasts some of the best fare in Brooklyn; courtyards serve sunbathers and working groups alike; and dancing and live-music events are held seemingly every other day. Camp David clearly saw the wave of interest and individuals involved in this local boom, and is filling a very real void.

It is a stylish, affordable co-working and meeting space for Brooklyn’s creative classes and professionals to operate around like-minded folks in a comfortable environment.

As you enter the sprawling firstfloor space off 36th Street between highway overpass and harbor, there are several defined areas for each style of worker: a mini-bullpen of desks to your immediate right backed by a smartly curated 20-foot bookcase with low library lighting; café seating just beyond for the casual meet-and-greet; and long, mid-century mod couches for late-afternoon strategy sessions, which were popular among some of the early adapters to Camp David.

A long bar in the back serves patisserie and cold brew in the A.M. and proper drinks in the P.M. Conference rooms of varying sizes run along a wall of windows overlooking a neatly manicured courtyard with picnic tables perfect for lunch in the sun. Chet Baker, Beach House and the like layer in just the right amount of color to the typical co-working white noise.

On a recent day, a nearby table hosted an Orthodox man sipping tea with a colleague speaking in Hebrew.

Another group took over a six-top to discuss strategy around an app-based startup.

On another day, a Brooklyn resident who runs a family olive company based in Tunisia was talking with a colleague in Sousse about his next shipment. A weekly newspaper publisher consulted on an upcoming piece of reporting.

Manufacturers worked in the lower level of Camp David on new designs.

Writers zoned out with earbuds in, sipping on cortados. Meetings ran in the glass-walled, but still private, conference rooms.

The scene is diverse— suits mixed with runway alongside denim and tattoos. These are the people you want to be around, in the environment you have been searching for months to find.

For more information and to sign up visit TheCampDavid.com.

AUG. 9 – 15, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 15

COURTESY OF LIOR ZALTZMAN

Six Jewish Podcasts that Will Make You Rethink

BY LIOR ZALTZMAN

(JTA) — Sunday evening marked the beginning of Tu b’Av, a minor holiday that celebrates the wine harvest. It is considered an auspicious day for matchmaking and thus has been dubbed “The Jewish Day of Love.”

Let’s face it, though: Days of love are not for everyone. Some of us may be happily alone; some recently heartbroken, broken up or widowed. Some couples may be going through a rough patch.

So instead of obsessing about your relationship—or lack thereof—you can spend next Tu b’Av listening to other people’s stories about love. Even those in happy partnerships may learn a thing or two from these six Jewish podcast episodes.

1. “Death, Sex and Money” — Ellen Burstyn

16 | NYJLIFE.COM | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

interviews Gloria Steinem In this episode from a podcast about—you guessed it!—death, sex and money, Gloria Steinem talks with Ellen Burstyn about living alone and deciding not to get married when she was younger. Burstyn also dishes about her three-year marriage, at age 66, to activist David Bale, and about how caring for him as he died helped her come to terms with how she could not care for her ailing mother when she was a child.

The intimate conversation between the famed actress and the iconic Jewish feminist is incredibly insightful and moving, and you’ll feel as if you’re sitting in the room with these two larger-than-life women.

2. “Strangers” — The Waxing Virgin, Then and Now

This episode of “Strangers”—a podcast about the amazing things that happen when strangers meet—is about Becca, a Persian Orthodox Jew. An aesthetician, she sees people’s most intimate parts on a daily basis—and she’s also a 30-year-old virgin. Lea Thau, the host of “Strangers,” interviews Becca about how she reconciles her upbringing with her desire for love and partnership and with her job. It’s a gripping and brutally honest story that’s definitely not suitable for the squeamish or young children.

3. “Why Oh Why” — Deep in the Woods “Why Oh Why” is a podcast all about relationships and technology hosted by the charming Andrea Silenzi, who often features her enchanting grandma, Phyllis. In this episode, Silenzi shares an experiment she did on live radio at WFMU: She had her grandma call into her radio show and go on an “audio date” with her friend Jim Perle, who was in the studio. The two pretended they were at a fancy restaurant; Phyllis even ordered lobster. Afterward, we hear Phyllis spin an enchanting and heart-wrenching tale of true love, opera and loss.

4. “This American Life” — Infidelity This episode of the iconic program hosted by Ira Glass is all about infidelity. Not every story in the episode is Jewish, but it features an evocative short story from Etgar Keret about the aftermath of an affair called “The Man Who Knew What I Was About To Say.” It also includes a chapter from Jewish writer Dani Shapiro’s memoir “Slow Motion,” about her own destructive affair with a married man.

5. “Israel Story” — Love Syndrome A nice Jewish girl from a Conservadox family in New York finds love in Alaska. But when the couple’s sixth child is born with Down syndrome, things become complicated. Their journey to build a home for their child takes the family from Fairbanks to the Israeli city of Safed, and from casual observance to Orthodoxy. This episode of the Israeli podcast will make you reconsider so much about love, from the unconditional love mothers have for their children to the romantic lives of those with Down syndrome.

This is a wonderfully spun tale that at times is unbelievable—but trust me, you will not regret taking this journey.

6. “Where Should We Begin?”

Esther Perel is a rock-star psychotherapist. The daughter of Holocaust survivors from Belgium who went to Hebrew University, Perel has a viral TED talk about sex in long-term relationships and a bestselling book, Mating in Captivity. But what’s really revolutionary—and revelationary—is her approach to therapy: Perel meets with couples in crisis for a onetime, three-hour session; each session is recorded and edited into a podcast of 30 to 50 minutes. Listening to the sessions will teach you so much about relationships and how to make them work.

The podcast episodes are available for purchase on Audible, but before you commit, you can listen to this incredible session in which Perel tries to help a wife salvage her marriage to a husband who had cheated on her for 20 years (he’s repentant). It’s a teachable moment for anyone who is or hopes to be in a relationship.

Brisket Pad Thai Recipe This dish hits all the right notes: sweet, savory, spicy and totally satisfying

BY SANDY LEIBOWITZ

Considered the national dish of Thailand, Pad Thai is a favorite among many because it hits so many of the basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty and umami, pronounced “ooh-ma-mee” (I know; it’s fun to say).

Umami, or savory, is considered one of the five basic senses. I think of it as more of a mouth-feel and a deepness of flavor. You can find a variety of different Pad Thai dishes that include chicken, beef and seafood, but the main ingredients remain the same: noodles, palm sugar/brown sugar (sweet), tamarind/ lime juice (sour), fish sauce/soy sauce (salty/umami) and chili pepper (spicy).

When I think of my Jewish heritage, I think of a good braised brisket. Brisket is that cut of beef that just works so well as a canvas to take on whatever flavors you add to it. Since Pad Thai can be made with beef, why not add a little Jewishness to it? I made this on a weeknight for dinner, so I didn’t have the time to dedicate to a proper braise. Instead, I did the next best thing: I used my crockpot. If you don’t have one, you can wrap the brisket and marinade tightly in foil and cook it at 350° F for approximately three hours, or

until it is fork-tender (that is, after piercing it with a fork, the fork slides out easily).

Pad Thai almost always has scrambled egg in it. I omitted it, since my youngest daughter has a mild allergy, but I encourage you to try that. In fact, add whatever vegetables you like. Essentially, it is the main ingredients that give this dish the ultimate flavor. There is a pleasant chewiness to the brisket that works so well against the noodles and the sauce; • • • •

Ingredients

For the brisket: • 1 small second-cut brisket (1-2 lbs) • ½ tsp red curry powder • 1 Tbsp minced ginger • 5 garlic cloves, smashed • 4 scallions (white parts only, reserve green parts), sliced lengthwise and smashed • 1 Tbsp LaChaal olive oil • 1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce • ¼ cup cold water For the Pad Thai: • 1 Tbsp minced ginger • 1 Tbsp minced garlic • 1 Tbsp LaChaal olive oil • 1 large carrot, peeled and julienned • 4 scallions (green parts) sliced on the bias

¼ red pepper, 1-inch julienne 1 cup green beans, sliced in thin rounds 2 bundles (half a box) of brown rice noodles, cooked according to box directions 1-2 eggs (optional)

For the sauce: • ⅓ cup brown sugar • ½ cup low-sodium soy sauce • ⅛ cup rice vinegar • 2 Tbsp fish sauce (or liquid aminos) • 2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil • juice of ½ lime For serving: • 1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro • ¼ cup raw, unsalted peanuts, rough chopped • 1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. To make the brisket: Mix together curry powder, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, olive oil, and water and pour over brisket. Place garlic cloves inside slits of meat. Marinate overnight, or at least two hours.

2. Place the fat facing down directly in a crockpot vessel if using. (I set my crockpot for 10 hours.) You

it’s like a party in your mouth! Make it for Shabbat and wow your guests. I am sure this would even be delicious at room temperature.

I like to think of recipes like this separated into different parts: your marinade and your brisket, the base which contains the noodles and vegetables, and the sauce to tie it together. Garnishes help to enhance the dish and bring more texture. I wrote out the recipe in this manner to make it easier to follow. can also wrap brisket and marinade tightly in foil and place on a sheet pan for about 3 hours in the oven at 350° F, or until fork tender.

3. Let cool and shred. Reserve for when assembling the Pad Thai.

4. To make the Pad Thai, combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

5. In a large pan over low heat, sauté ginger and garlic in olive oil until soft and fragrant. If adding eggs, scrambl​e in a separate cup and ​​pour into the pan, stirring continuously until they start to come together, about 20 seconds (they will continue to cook). Add the scallions, carrot and red pepper on high heat and cook for two minutes.

6. Add green beans​ and stir while cooking for approximately one minute​and immediately add the reserved shredded brisket and combine well.

7. Add the cooked noodles and the sauce ingredients and combine thoroughly.

8. The sauce should slightly thicken, but keep in mind that the noodles will absorb more sauce as it sits, so a little looser is good for rewarming.

9. Once everything is warmed through, the dish is ready to be garnished​ and served​with cilantro, peanuts and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

AUG. 9 – 15, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 17

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sits with schoolchildren.

PHOTO BY KAYLEIGH SKINNER

“Blood Money” ARNE DUNCAN: CHARTER LEADERS SHOULD REFUSE TO ACCEPT FEDERAL MONEY DESIGNATED FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS IF TRUMP’S CUTS TO EDUCATION WENT THROUGH

BY MATT BARNUM

(CHALKBEAT) — For left-of-center education reformers, the proposed Trump budget amounted to a devil’s bargain.

They could support the budget plan, which would give hundreds of millions of dollars to charter schools.

But they would have to do so knowing it slashed education spending across the board, including money meant for poor students.

Around 25 leaders talked over the dilemma at a previously unreported meeting on March 16— coincidentally, the same day the initial budget plan was released. There, former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made a provocative suggestion: Charter leaders should refuse to accept federal money designated for charter schools if Trump’s cuts to education went through.

Duncan called those funds “blood money,” according to two attendees who spoke on the

18 | NYJLIFE.COM | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

condition of anonymity because the meeting was intended to be private.

The meeting, originally called to discuss the broader question of how progressive education reform should survive in the age of Trump and the new secretary of education Betsy DeVos, points to the widening fault lines within that movement.

The gathering included another former education secretary, John King, as well as leaders of groups such as Teach for America and Democrats for Education Reform and from the Achievement First and Uncommon charter networks.

Duncan declined to speak about the meeting, but he reiterated his view to Chalkbeat in an interview.

“If [DeVos] is cutting money for traditional public schools and putting money into charters…I’ve told them not to take the money,” said Duncan. “I think that’s blood money.”

“We all [have] got to be thinking about not just the kids we serve directly, but all kids,” he added.

The deep cuts proposed by the administration are not seen as likely to make it through Congress; a House budget bill released last month would reduce education spending by $2.4 billion, not by the Trump plan’s $9.2 billion. Duncan emphasized that the cuts—and thus a potential response from charter leaders—are still hypothetical.

Liz Hill, the Department of Education press secretary, sharply criticized Duncan’s suggestion to charter leaders.

“Make no mistake: Following this approach would hurt students. It’s an insult to the millions of students and parents benefiting from charter schools, and the millions more on waiting lists trying to get into a school that better meets their needs,” she said in a statement. “It’s especially sad to see such a misguided effort advanced by a former secretary of education.”

The left-of-center charter school advocates who held sway in the Obama administration have a complicated relationship with DeVos, who backs charter schools but also private-school vouchers and, as a member of the Trump administration, is viewed skeptically by many.

Some, including Success Academy founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz, a former Democratic New York City council member who was briefly considered for education secretary, have praised DeVos. (Moskowitz was not at the March meeting.) Other Democrats, such as Duncan, King and Shavar Jeffries, the president of Democrats For Education Reform, have been far more critical.

The overarching question at the March discussion, organized in part by Jeffries, was how education reformers should respond to the Trump and DeVos administration, including on issues beyond education.

(Jeffries declined to comment, saying the meeting was private.)

“There was a broad consensus that we need to expand our view of what it is to be about kids,” said one person present. “It’s not just about accountability or school choice or things like that; it’s also about protecting the civil rights of our children and protecting our immigrant kids.”

This perspective was strongly articulated by John King. (A spokesperson for the Education Trust, where King is now president, declined to comment.)

“There was a sincere tension between people feeling like they’d be abandoning kids if they just joined the general political fight…and a sincere belief that this Trump administration is going to destroy the country and part of that, destroy the lives of many kids,” said the attendee.

There was some disagreement on the issue of school vouchers—DeVos’ signature idea—though few participants were strongly in favor of the policy.

Jonah Edelman, who runs the advocacy group Stand for Children and attended the meeting, would later pen an essay with American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten calling vouchers “bad for kids, public education and our democracy.” (Edelman did not respond to a request for comment.)

“This funding is vital”

Two attendees said Duncan’s idea of declining federal charter funds received mixed reactions, though most in the room were not charter leaders— that is, those who would have to make the difficult decision not to accept federal money.

“There are some people who wanted to take this more punchy, assertive approach and there were some people…who were less inclined to do that,” one said.

Duncan, for his part, said he had “had that conversation with some charter network leaders”— though he declined to get into specifics—and said the idea was not dismissed out of hand.

“Some people it really made them stop and think, and others I could tell were already thinking along those lines,” he said. “This is my best thinking: They are ultimately going to make their own decisions.”

None of the three high-profile charter networks contacted by Chalkbeat endorsed Duncan’s suggestion. Achievement First, KIPP and Uncommon all have previously received millions of dollars from the federal Charter School Program, which supports the expansion of existing charter operators.

Steve Mancini, a spokesperson for KIPP, said CEO Richard Barth was present for part of the March meeting but left before Duncan arrived.

Both Mancini and Barbara Martinez, the chief external officer of Uncommon Schools, emphasized their organizations’ strong opposition to the Trump budget, but declined to take a position on potentially refusing charter-school funds.

In a statement, Dacia Toll, who is the president of Achievement First and was at the March meeting, sounded a skeptical note on declining federal dollars, while reiterating her “firm opposition to a federal budget that hurts our students, families and communities.”

“We, like virtually every school district in this country, will accept federal funding because we depend on this money to provide our students, especially our highest-need students, with the services they need,” Toll said, noting that Achievement First won a multiyear federal grant in 2015. “This funding is vital.”

National charter-school groups have tried to walk a careful line with the new administration. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools praised the additional money for charter schools requested by the Trump administration, though criticized other aspects of the budget.

Meanwhile, at the meeting, frustration with the Trump budget was palpable. Many present believed that there needed to be a firm and public denunciation of the proposal.

Some two weeks after the meeting, on March 29, USA Today published an op-ed by the heads of Achievement First, KIPP and Uncommon Schools and endorsed by a number of other charter-school leaders.

“We cannot support the president’s budget as proposed,” the op-ed read, “and we are determined to do everything in our power to work with Congress and the administration to protect the programs that are essential to the broader needs of our students, families and communities.”

TFA Sends Teachers into NYC

BY ALEX ZIMMERMAN

(CHALKBEAT) — After falling to its lowest recruitment rate in more than a decade, Teach for America (TFA) is slated to increase its presence in New York City classrooms this fall.

About 265 corps members are set to enter city schools this year, according to tentative numbers released Friday. That’s up from 200 last year, the smallest number since at least 2005.

Charissa Fernández, executive director of TFA’s local office, said the uptick was partly the result of a more streamlined process, shorter applications and earlier recruitment. But she also suspects that college students may now be more inclined toward public service.

“I don’t have any proof of this yet, but I think part of it is the change in our political climate,” she said at a TFA event Friday, which was also attended by schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. “People are realizing it matters to get involved; that we all have a responsibility.”

TFA, which is known for placing new teachers in hard-to-staff public schools, has previously said its recruitment problems reflect national dropoffs in enrollment in a wide range of teacher-training programs. Officials have also pointed out the

organization faces strong headwinds—a rebounding economy, for instance, and a polarized conversation around education reform.

Those winds might be shifting: Across the country, TFA received 49,000 applications this year, up from 37,000 the year before. But despite the increase, TFA’s local presence is still less than half of what it was in 2008, its peak over the past dozen years.

The increase in recruitment comes on the heels of a tumultuous period for the national organization, which significantly cut its staff and gave local chapters more autonomy. In New York, that has meant the six-week summer training—known as “institute” in TFA parlance—is now conducted by New York staff in partnership with local schools. The summer institute also now counts as credit toward a master’s degree, offered through the Relay Graduate School of Education, which for the first time helped run its summer training program.

Of this year’s corps members, roughly 55 percent will teach in traditional district schools, 35 percent in charter classrooms and the remaining 10 percent will be placed in community-based organizations that focus on early childhood education.

Pilot Program Allows Israeli High School Students to Graduate a Year Early JERUSALEM (JTA) — A new program in an Israeli school network will allow its students to graduate a year early if they agree to perform an extra year of community service or continue immediately to higher education.

The program by the Israel Sci-Tech Schools educational network adds an extra month to each school year beginning in eighth grade and covers all the same subject matter. The pilot program at two of the Sci-Tech schools will begin this school year, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.

This is a boon to its students who must serve in the Israeli military, allowing them an opportunity

to perform a year of volunteer national service or get a headstart on their higher education.

“If we can ignite our students’ drive for improvement and social responsibility, and help them down a path where they can contribute to society at large, then everyone will benefit, including us,” Israel Sci-Tech Schools Director General Zvi Peleg said in a statement.

Sci-Tech is made up of 207 schools serving 100,000 students. The school prepares students for future careers in the high-tech Israeli economy and reaches out to potential students from disadvantaged and underserved social groups, such as haredi Orthodox and Bedouin communities.

AUG. 9 – 15, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 19

OPINION

WAS A JEWISH SUMMER CAMP PC IN RAISING A PALESTINIAN FLAG—OR IN LOWERING IT?

BY ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL

A Palestinian flag flying in Gaza City in 2015 PHOTO BY MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

BY ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL

NEW YORK (JTA) — I don’t know if there is a Yiddish or Hebrew version of “more Catholic than the pope.” “More machmir than the rebbe”? “More kosher than glatt”?

If there is such an expression, this weekend’s convulsion over a Washington State Jewish camp’s raising of a Palestinian flag deserves it. The angry reactions, and the camp’s apology for having raised the flag next to the Israeli flag, suggests oddly that American Jews are stricter than Israel and the United States when it comes to granting the Palestinians a national identity.

Camp Solomon Schechter sent a note to parents over the weekend, explaining that it had flown the Palestinian flag as a sign of “friendship and acceptance” for the Muslim and Christian children, some from Jerusalem, who were visiting the camp as part of Kids 4 Peace, a coexistence group. They also hoped it would help develop “empathy” among campers and staff.

The reaction was swift and negative, and the camp backtracked, explaining that all the flags on display— American, Canadian, Israeli and Palestinian—would come down before Shabbat “to relieve the sadness and anger that some feel by the site [sic] of the flag.”

Critics demanded to know why a Jewish camp would want, as one put it on Facebook, to instill “empathy” for “terrorists who want to stab Jews and destroy the State of Israel.” An Israel-based columnist wrote, “When a Jewish day camp in America flies the Palestinian flag as Palestinians are killing Israelis, you

20 | NYJLIFE.COM | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

know that PC in the US has gone off the cliff.”

Even Israel, however, doesn’t hold Palestinians to such a standard.

The Jewish state lifted its ban on flying the Palestinian flag in 1993, after Oslo. The Palestinian flag first flew in the Knesset in 1999, although it would be another 14 years for a repeat, according to The Jerusalem Post. In 2006, when then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met at the prime minister’s residence, Palestinian flags flew there for the first time. There were Palestinian flags at the Knesset in 2013 when a Palestinian delegation visited. And as recently as 2016, at a ceremony thanking all those who helped douse raging wildfires in Israel’s north, the Palestinian flag waved at an Israeli airbase next to flags from Turkey, Russia and Greece.

Granted, Israel blows hot and cold on this issue depending on the state of its relations with the Palestinian Authority, and currently they are at a low point. But the Israelis’ willingness to display the flag suggests they view it not as an anti-Israel or terrorist symbol, but the colors of a political entity with which they must and do cooperate at various levels— militarily, diplomatically, economically.

The White House also flew the Palestinian flag when Abbas met there with President Donald Trump—again, not an endorsement of Palestinian statehood or the Palestinians’ anti-Israel policies, but a recognition that Palestinian peoplehood is an actual thing, the Palestinian Authority is just that and the

flag is a symbol of both.

Some of the objections on the camp’s Facebook page, which has been taken down, said it wasn’t the place of a Jewish camp to acknowledge Palestinian peoplehood or engage in “dialogue”—as if these principles hadn’t been established in Israel. However, you can revile many of the positions taken by the P.A., and be disgusted by the uses to which many Palestinians and their supporters put the flag, but it’s an anachronism—at least since Oslo—to say that Zionism means a rejection of the very notion of a Palestinian people and a Palestinian government.

Israel recognizes the Palestinian Authority, however strained their relationship. The governments in Jerusalem and Ramallah are barely talking at the moment—publicly anyway—but that recognition hasn’t been suspended.

As one Facebook commenter noted, “Honoring Palestinian children and their identity and loving Israel and being Zionists are not mutually exclusive.”

What seemed to have sparked the anger and the backlash was the sense that flying the flag was indeed “honoring” the Palestinian cause—a cause that has been co-opted for too long by leaders who encourage violence, followers who carry it out and enablers who reject the very idea of Israel as a Jewish state. As a Seattle woman told the blogger who first reported the story, “The time to raise the Palestinian flag over our summer camps is when they stop burning the Israeli flag at theirs.”

But there is another way to look at it: The Muslim kids who were willing to dialogue with the Jewish Israeli and American kids represent the kinds of partners Israel wishes it had. After all, they were coming to a Jewish summer camp, one that flies the Israeli flag and calls itself “unabashedly proIsrael,” and bringing with them a message about the possibilities for peace. If those kids don’t deserve a little honor for their participation, what does it say about the Jewish community’s willingness to be part of a solution?

Tu quoque, or “the shoe’s on the other foot,” arguments only go so far, but imagine how the Jewish community would have responded had a Christian or Muslim camp invited Jewish or Israeli kids and refused to hoist the Israeli flag. Except you don’t have to imagine it. Last month, Jews were justifiably and almost unanimously outraged when the Chicago Dyke March banned three Jewish women who waved a rainbow flag bearing the Star of David. They explained that the women were welcome to join their progressive cause, but the march was officially “anti-Zionist” and the message of the flag might upset marchers who identify the star with Israel.

I hesitate to compare the two incidents, but in both cases, ideological voices insisted that a national symbol shouldn’t be seen because the people and political reality it represented were offensive, undeserving and antagonizing.

Who’s being PC now?

Holy Roller: The Tale of a Nice Jewish (Roller Derby) Girl

BY JENNY POWERS

She blocks. She passes. She scores.

She also speaks Hebrew, went on Birthright Israel and sports a Star of David painted over her eye during exhibition derby games, a less-than-subtle nod to her Conservative Jewish upbringing.

Born Dara Fineman and blessed Dorit Chanah at her baby-naming, these days the 28-year-old West Coast transplant is mostly known by her derby name, Hebrew Ham Lincoln (“Hammy” for short). In fact, even her parents have taken to calling her Hammy on occasion.

If you’ve been wondering where all the nice Jewish girls are, you may be looking in the wrong places, as more and more of them can be found on roller derby tracks across the globe. According to the official women’s derby name registry, Hebrew Ham Lincoln is in good company; the league is also home to Fatal Dreidel, Matza Ball Breaker, Mazel Tov Cocktail and Matza Brawl. Referees include Jew’d Law and Manny Schevitz.

There is even a private Facebook group exclusively for Jewish Derby players, both male and female, which, according to its founder, is “a safe space for us to gather in a tumultuous political climate and share our love of derby and how it intersects with our Jewish identities.”

Fineman, who lives in New York, plays blocker for the Gotham Girls, five-time champions of the Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby Association, which launched in 2003.

What initially led her to the track six years ago was twofold. She was seriously lacking in two critical areas of her life—fitness and community.

“I was getting unhealthy and having trouble moving my body. As an overweight, uncomfortable, unfit 22-year-old, I needed some type of exercise but I couldn’t just jump into a sport,” Fineman explained.

“Then one day I was listening to the radio and I heard a commercial for women’s roller derby saying, ‘We will teach you how to skate’ and I was like, ‘OK, why not?’”

“But when I heard the ad, I decided to show up to a practice. They lent me skates and I pretty much fell down for two hours straight,” she confessed.

The first time Fineman laced up a pair of roller skates she was six years old. It didn’t go exactly as planned. After falling down a lot, she wound up not being able to walk for a few days, which was enough to turn her off to skating for the remainder of her childhood and adolescence.

This time, though, she wasn’t scared off. She went back again and again, learning to skate and eventually to play the fast-paced sport of women’s roller derby.

In addition to getting into shape, the California native who was miles from home also gained a builtin community from roller derby.

“As I got older and moved, I wasn’t so close to the chavurah anymore. I remember thinking if something happened to me, who would I call? Who would bring me food if I was sick? Normally I would call my parents, but they live in Florida now and I’m here in New York. Becoming part of the derby community gave me the support I needed. I can go anywhere in the world and find somebody who plays derby that’s willing to give me a couch to sleep on.”

So while Jewish girls may seem an unlikely fit for roller derby, Fineman claims it makes perfect sense in her head.

“Jewish women are taught to be independent, to say what we want and to be strong, and derby is all of those things. Jewish women, at least the ones I grew up with, were a bit of a bunch of bruisers. So just put those strong Jewish ladies on roller skates and you’ve got yourself a derby,” she laughed.

“If you’re Jewish, you can go to services in another country and even though people may be speaking another language, you can walk into a synagogue and the Kaddish still sounds the same and it makes you feel at home in a faraway place.

Derby has that ability too. Anywhere you go where Derby is played, no matter the language spoken, you just put on roller skates and play. At the end of the day, the concept is pretty much the same,” Fineman said enthusiastically.

“People say, ‘Roller derby saved my soul,’ and for me, it really did. It gave me a place to be healthy and proud of every curve I have,” she said, referencing her 13-plus hours of

training a week. “I just ran a 10K. I lift weights, run, skate and crosstrain like crazy now. I definitely don’t need to worry about the fitness portion any more,” she said.

“The downside of coming from such a strong Jewish community is that it sets the bar pretty high.

You need community to survive and thrive and community building is something you have to do; it doesn’t just happen. I still miss the cultural part of being Jewish, but derby gave me an outlet to show my Jewish pride and create strong ties to strong women.

Derby is a DIY sport, done completely out of love for the sport. I love it; we all love it. That’s why we do it. The sea of differentness makes it so special.

Everybody has something to bring to the plate—all of us, the players, the officiating crew and the referees,” Fineman shared.

“I can’t even imagine how different my life would be if I’d started earlier,” said Fineman. If I could have started when I was 8 or 10 and been surrounded by this culture, it would have been amazing. My brother and I never played sports as kids but now that I play derby, my dad is out there screaming and yelling on the sidelines and he says, ‘I never thought I was going to be like those soccer dads, but then I watched you play and I was like, “I get it now.”’”

The 2017 NYC Women’s Roller Derby Championship is the evening of Saturday, Aug. 26, in Manhattan. For more information, visit http://www. gothamgirlsrollerderby.com/events/

AUG. 9 – 15, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 21

22 | NYJLIFE.COM | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

CLASSIFIEDS HEALTH SPEECH THERAPY

REAL ESTATE REALTOR

ELDER CARE

JERRY FINK BEST REAL ESTATE AGENCY

MEDICAID PROFESSIONALS

HEALTH PHYSICAL THERAPY

UNABLE TO TRAVEL TO PHYSICAL THERAPY? “We Come To YOU!!”

Medicare Covers the Services!

Schedule with a Licensed Physical Therapist Call for a FREE Consultation Offer!

IN HOME PHYSICAL THERAPY

800-803-3385 www.iasorehab.org

• Over 18 years experience filing Medicaid Home Care and Nursing Home applications • Protect your income, home, life savings • Apply for Medicaid, Jack Lippmann medical assistance

FREE Consultation

www.eldercareservicesny.com

718-575-5700 108-18 Queens Blvd. Suite 801, Forest Hills, NY 11375

TO PLACE AN AD

929-274-0762

GENERAL

DJ SERVICES

AZAMRA Your Premier Jewish DJ AzamraDJ.com 516-771-9388

HELP WANTED POSITION WANTED

WOMAN SEEKS POSITION

To Care For Elderly Mon-Fri

EXCELLENT REFERENCES Call V: 516-943-3172

GENERAL PERSONALS

Attractive Jewish Female

70, Widowed, Retired Math Teacher, Seeks JEWISH ONLY, Widower, 67-75, College Educated, For A Long Term Relationship

718-763-8919

WANTED TO BUY

Old Clocks & Watches Wanted

By Collector, Regardless of Condition - Highest Prices Paid

917-748-7225

DRESSES FOR SALE 2 DRESSES WORN BY TULULAH BANKHEAD Appraised by Antique Road Show & Insured Serious Inquiries Only

334-564-1035

R E A L E S TAT E

2.5% LISTING SPECIAL Call For Details

HOWARD BEACH

Totally Renovated Hi-Ranch, 3BR, 2Bth, Open Floor Plan, Raised Ceilings, SS Appli, Granite Counter-Top, Deck Leading To Bkyd.

Surround Sound, Security & Alarm System, 3 Skylights.

Hardwood & Tile Flrs, Cac, Anderson Windows, Radiant & Cast Iron Radiators, 3 Heating Zones, Paved Bkyd w/ Beautiful Pond w/ Waterfall, Pvc Fence. MUST SEE!

OFFICE 718-766-9175 • CELL 917-774-6121

EMAIL: Jfinkre@yahoo.com • www.jfinkre.com

GENERAL TRANSFER SERVICE

DONT Lose Your Memories Convert Your Vinyl Records & Cassette Tapes to CD's ARNIE

917-825-4235

WANTED TO BUY

Old Records 33 - 45 - 78

• Doo-Wop • Rockabilly • Rock & Roll • Heavy Metal • Punk • Disco • Latin • Soul • Jazz • Blues • Gospel • Reggae/Calypso • Ethnic Music • Classical • Soundtracks • No Pop Music Charlie

516-612-2009

ABE BUYS ANTIQUES Silver, Paintings, Rugs, All Furniture till 1960.

Estates & all contents from homes!

Looking for antiques & Modern Designer Names also, Lucite & Chrome, Iron Garden furniture.

718-332-9709

AUG. 9 – 15, 2017 | NYJLIFE.COM | 23

NEED A RIDE? Book your trip with the Free Carmel Limo App

3 EASY WAYS TO CARMEL IT! DOWNLOAD THE APP

get car cash, airline miles & more!

CALL 1-212-666-6666

www.CarmelLimo.com

c.

Sv

LOG ON

Car & Limo e d

World w i

cars are standing by in 300+ Cities Worldwide

Available at:

3

36

App comes with

$

CAR CASH

4

BOOK IT NOW! • 212.666.6666 • www.CarmelLimo.com

BOOK IT NOW! • 212.666.6666 • www.CarmelLimo.com

$

$

OFF

Book It Now!

ANY TRIP To The Airport

Must get code #__________________ upon reserving.

Valid for NYC trips only. One coupon per trip. Expires 12/31/17. 11 24 | NYJLIFE.COM | AUG. 9 – 15, 2017

OFF

Book It Now!

ANY TRIP

From The Airport

Must get code #__________________ upon reserving.

Valid for NYC trips only. One coupon per trip. Expires 12/31/17. 12