The Jewish Star

The

Kedoshim

Tears on Yom Hashoah

May 10, 2019 6 Iyar, 5779 Vol 18, No 17

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Serving LI’s Orthodox communities

Students from the HAFTR high school in Cedarhurst hung Holocaust-related art in the lobby of Congregation Beth Shalom for the Five Towns Community-Wide Holocaust Commemoration on May 1. This work is by Lindsay Kalish.

6 candles for 6 million From left: Phyllis Margulies, Frank Berger, Natalie Gomberg. At far right, event co-chair Dana Frenkel reads a biography of each survivor as they light a candle.

From left: Luba Schulsinger, Mel (Mendel) Klapper, Gloria Grossman, lighting yahrzeit candles at the Five Towns Community-Wide Holocaust Commemoration.

The Jewish Star photos by Ed Weintrob

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By Ed Weintrob A packed audience at the Five Towns Holocaust Commemoration was told that “however many times we proclaim ‘never again,’ it is happening again and again and again.”

Attorney Ben Brafman, introducing a moment of silence in memory of Chabad of Poway victim Lori GilbertKaye, worried that “new kedoshim are being slaughtered in the United States, in Eretz Yisroel, and throughout Europe — where anti-Semitism is open and notorious and flourishing in countries where the land is still soaked by Jewish blood.”

Dana Frenkel, co-chair of the annual event at Congregation Beth Shalom, said its purpose was to “remember and remind”: “At a time when anti-Semitism and intollerance are prevelant, where World War II-like propaganda is being published by the New York Times, we must speak out,” she said. “As aging survivors express anxiety about whether the world will remember the Shoah in the future, we must proclaim our guarantee that the world will not forget.”

The May 1 event culminated as six survivors lit yahrzeit candles in memory of the six million Jews lost. Children from the HAFTR choir performed, with several noting that they were named in honor of relatives who perished in the Shoah. (They will not forget.)

The keynote speaker was Judith Alter Kallman, a child survivor who authored “A Candle in the Heart.” with Hamin Health Urgent Care Centers, Achiezer, Hatzalah, Mt. Sinai, SNCH and others. Blood tests will offered to determine one’s level of immunity.

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Nassau leaders mark Yom Hashoah

By Jennifer S. Zwiebel Hundreds of people filled Congregation Shaaray Shalom in West Hempstead for its annual Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) program.

“Our goal is to reflect on the events of the past and ensure a promise for a better tomorrow,“ said Larry Rosenberg, chair of the congregation’s Holocaust Remembrance Committee. “It’s not just about history but events happening today. Today we can embrace survivors who are still alive and remember survivors who are no longer here.”

Along with Holocaust survivors and synagogue members, many community leaders were in attendance.

Arthur Vernon, leader of Shaaray Shalom, set the stage, remarking that it has been 80 years since the outbreak of World War II, a lot of time to gain perspective. “What have we learned?” he asked. “Does it have anything to do with our current reality? What is the significance of the Holocaust to Jewish communities and to other communities as well?

In light of the events that seem to bombard us almost daily, have we learned anything?”

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran spoke next, praising the faith leaders in attendance. She remarked on Israel’s siren in memory of Yom Hashoah and how everyone stops what they’re doing to reflect.

“I’m glad tonight we are taking some time to reflect,” she said. “First, to acknowledge the sober reality. We have not eradicated anti-Semitism in this world. In fact, it is on the rise globally. We must call out and condemn in unequivocal terms the rise of white supremacist violence that is targeting Jews and we must call out those same forces of bigotry using the tools of dehumanization that threaten Jews, alongside immigrants, Muslims, and all other minority groups. Tonight we renew our commitment to say ‘never again’

and to remember that it is up to all of us here to ensure this never happens again.”

The statistics Curran quoted are shocking. “Forty-one percent of Americans and twothirds of millenials cannot say what Auschwitz was. Holocaust denialism remains persistent, and Holocaust skepticism is terrifyingly steadily growing.” She quoted Deuteronomy, saying, “It doesn’t matter what our faith background is or even if we don’t have any faith at all; ‘Justice justice, you shall pursue’.” She asked the audience to repeat, “‘Justice, justice, WE shall pursue.”

New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli spoke about the rise of anti-Semitism. “In 2019, we really have to shake our heads and say, ‘What is going on here?’ We as citizens must speak up and say, ‘It’s starting to happen again and that should scare us’.”

State Senator Todd Kaminsky addressed Vernon’s question: Is there anything to learn?

“There absolutely is,” he said. “There are a few things we have to take away from what we’re seeing in our society now and what we learned from the Shoah. The first is this, if you give hatred room to breathe, it will breathe, it will grow, it will metastasize, and it will take action. People are waiting in the shadows … they have been waiting to take action. That’s why it’s up to every official and every person to stand up and call it out. No matter where it happens … or who is attacked, it has to be called out. And when we call out hatred we are taking a stand that matters.

“Second, the statistics that county executive [Laura Curran] gave are dumbfounding. Twothirds of millennials don’t know what Auschwitz was? How can that be? … We can do better making sure our young people realize what’s at stake, what our past was and where it is. And I think that can be true with our role as Americans and our role in the world.”

Kaminsky spoke about the St. Louis, a World War II ship that was turned away and sent back

to Europe. Most of its passengers were then killed in concentration camps. When we see people trying to come to America to escape persecution, he said, we should take a step back and remember that we were once strangers in Egypt.

“And lastly,” he said, “we must never forget that right after the Holocaust, the world made a determination that Israel would be the Jewish state. It would be the permanent homeland. And yet every day we still find it under attack and under threat and we must always stand by her side to make sure she is free and strong and always there to accept Jews from wherever the world.

“I hope that as we move forward we don’t have another backwards year. That we aren’t talking about a 55 percent rise of anti-Semitic hate crimes in our state, which is the statistic that came out yesterday. That we aren’t talking about young people who don’t know their own history. And we’re not talking about, G-d forbid, people walking into houses of worship and unloading weapons of war on other Americans.”

Police Commissioner Patrick J. Ryder reassured attendees that the Nassau County Police Department “has your back.” “I don’t put my head down on my pillow and treat your children any different than I treat mine. We’re one family in this town. Hatred has no place in Nassau County.”

“Look around the room,” he said. “Recognize there’s no color, no race, no religion. When acts of violence occur, we have to come back and get together.”

The keynote speaker, Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, thanked all the non-Jewish people who came, “because we all need each other.” He shared his background as an only child of Holocaust survivors who had lost five children from their previous marriages during the war.

“It’s important that we look back at what happened then and now,” he said, discussing Amer-

Laura Curran and Larry Rosenberg listen to JoWill Cadena Photography seph Potasnik’s address.

ica’s disapproval of the increased immigration from Nazi countries. He said that at the Pesach Seder, we say that every person is obligated to see himself as leaving Egypt. “I would add that every person is obligated to see himself as leaving Auschwitz.”

When he was younger, Potasnik recalled, during the reading of the Purim Megillah there were people shushing the children who made noise when Haman’s name was called out. “Don’t be a shusher,” he implored. People need to speak up when they see injustice. When the New York Times ran an anti-Semitic cartoon, they apologized because people from both sides attacked the paper. When we unite, we can make change, he explained.

“The shooter in Poway didn’t care that it was an Orthodox shul,” Potasnik said. His late father once told him, “I don’t care about the Judaism you practice; just be proud of the Judaism you practice.”

Do we say ‘Never again’ with a question mark or exclamation mark, he asked the audience.

“We need to make it an exclamation mark.”

To close the program, the audience sang Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, the song of hope, a message of yesterday for today.

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May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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5/2/2019 11:27:16 AM

By Lisa Schiffman A child’s shoe with a sock neatly tucked inside by its owner.

Battered suitcases in a glass case. Letters addressed to loved ones, thrown out of cattle car windows by victims headed for concentration camps. A prisoner’s tallit katan.

These objects are among hundreds of artifacts and photographs from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland that are part of an exhibition that opens May 8 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.”

The exhibition’s opening date marks the anniversary of VE Day, Germany’s surrender to the Allies at the end of World War II in Europe. Opening 74 years after the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops in January 1945, the exhibition is dedicated to the historical significance of the camp, and the memory of the 1.1 million victims who perished there.

Before Auschwitz became synonymous with the Holocaust, a place where one million Jews and tens of thousands of others the Nazis deemed inferior were murdered, it was a Polish town called Oswiecim. The largest of the Nazi camps, Auschwitz was not a single camp, but a vast complex of three main camps and 50 subcamps that functioned as a concentration and death camp.

The exhibition, which runs through January 2020, features over 700 original objects and 400 photographs from over 20 institutions and museums, including artifacts from the AuschwitzBirkenau State Museum in Poland that have never been seen before in the U.S. These include personal items of victims; an original wooden barrack from Auschwitz III-Monovitz; part of the electrified fence; the desk of Auschwitz Commandent Rudolph Höss; and an SS gas mask and metal tin for Zyklon-B. A collaboration between the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, and Spanish exhibition firm Musealia, the New York exhibition was curated by an international team of scholars led by Dr. Robert Jan van Pelt. It traces the development of Nazi ideology and explores the camp’s dual identity, both as the largest mass murder site in history and the ultimate manifestation of human bigotry and violence.

Director of Musealia Luis Ferreiro says he was inspired to develop an exhibition about the history of Auschwitz and its impact in 2009, after reading Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning about his experiences in Nazi concentration camps. Having grown up working for his family’s company, Musealia, says Ferreiro, “I wanted to share that knowledge in the shape of an exhibi-

Freight cars used to transport prisoners to Auschwitz.

Musealia

tion with as many people as possible.” The Auschwitz exhibit was first shown in Madrid in 2017.

Auschwitz did not happen in one day. The exhibit contextualizes how nineteenth-century racist ideology, and political and economic upheaval in Germany after World War I, preceded the rise of Nazism and the “Final Solution” to annihilate European Jewry.

Auschwitz became central to this process. A page from the minutes of the 1942 Wannsee Conference in Berlin showing the number of Jews targeted for extermination in each European country, a map of the deportation routes to Auschwitz from across Europe, and a plaster replica of the camp show the scale of the Nazi’s industrial killing machine.

“This exhibition holds not only the history of the Holocaust and the origins of Nazi Germany, but describes the darkest moment in our history. At a time when anti-Semitism and hate and bigotry directed at Jews and so many other racial, religious and other groups should have been long past, we find we must be vigilant in every kind of way. We need to redouble our efforts to educate, particularly young people, about the Holocaust,” says Bruce Ratner, MJH Board Chairman.

One chilling section in the exhibition contrasts photos compiled by SS officers with those of victims. Blurry photographs of

bodies being burned are shown, taken by sonderkommandos at great personal risk. Another set of photos shows the selection at Auschwitz of a transport of Hungarian Jews. Women with children and the elderly waiting to be gassed sit in a grove near the crematorium, unaware of their impending fate. Other photos show senior SS officers and female staff singing and enjoying themselves at a lakeside retreat a half-hour drive from the camp. On an adjacent wall are prewar photos victims brought with them, of graduations, marriages, celebrations — evidence of lives destroyed. Says Jan van Pelt: “We certainly wanted to put those three collections together, and of course it is a very emotionally charged point.”

A tallit katan that belonged to survivor Mendel Landau, from the Amud Aish Museum, holds a special place of honor, Jan van Pelt says: “After Mendel Landau, a Hasidic Jew from Oswiecim, arrived in Auschwitz, he was stripped and tattooed — basically the Nazis aimed to make him into a number, to take away his identity, to make him forget who he was. When in 1944 a transport of Hungarian Jews arrived, he noticed that a man not stripped of his clothing yet was wearing this tallit katan and Mendel Landau asked this man if he could borrow the garment so he could say his prayers. The man gave his garment to Mendel and an SS guard noticed him doing his prayers wearing it, and beat him almost to death. The guard took the tallit and threw it into the barbed wire.

Mendel retrieved the tallit, determined to return it to his owner, and the owner didn’t want to have it anymore, seeing the incredible risk. So Mendel kept the tallit and brought it on the death march, and ultimately to New York.”

Mendel Landau’s grandson, “came to the exhibition and before he had seen the artifact he told me how much he appreciated that we had shown it, and before Shabbat he sent me the most wonderful email to express his gratitude and admiration for the way we displayed it and told the story of his grandfather.”

Van Pelt hopes the exhibition will inspire people to dig into their closets, where important artifacts like Mendel Landau’s tallit katan could further add to our knowledge of the Holocaust.

The tallit katan also speaks to the remarkable survival of the Jewish people for over 2,000 years, he says, “thanks to people like Mendel Landau in following the commandments to enact their devotions in difficult circumstances like Auschwitz.”

“Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not far away” will run through January 2020 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, New York. Tickets available at Auschwitz.nyc.

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Auschwitz exhibit displays exceptional artifacts

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Instagram Shoah story: Here’s what teens think

By Josefin Dolsten, JTA Eva Heyman is an energetic 13-year-old Jewish girl with a bright smile. Go to her Instagram page and you’ll see selfies of the brown-haired teen with her best friends, videos she filmed while bored at school and her gushing about her crush, a classmate named Pista.

But the girl on the Instagram page, which now has 1.3 million followers, isn’t really Eva. Eva Heyman was killed in 1944 in Auschwitz, and she is being portrayed by an actress as part of a project by an Israeli tech executive and his daughter. For 24 hours on Yom Hashoah, Mati and Maya Kochavi put up a dramatized version of Eva’s life on the social media site called Eva. Stories. The stories are based on a diary kept by Eva prior to her deportation and death.

The Kochavis had hoped their initiative would help spread awareness about Eva’s life and the Holocaust. Their effort, however, sparked some controversy.

Yuval Mendelson, a civics teacher and musician, called it “a display of bad taste” in a column for Haaretz prior to the project’s launch. “[A] fictitious Instagram account of a girl murdered in the Holocaust is not and cannot be a legitimate way” to educate young people about the Shoah, he wrote.

The initiative speaks to a larger conversation in the Jewish community and beyond on the future of Holocaust testimony. With most survivors now in their 80s and 90s, Holocaust remembrance organizations are seeking new ways to tell the story to future generations that will never get to meet those personally impacted by the Shoah. Last year, the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center became the first to permanently showcase a new exhibit that allows visitors to interact with holograms of survivors.

“We have to think of more creative and stronger ways to convey the horrors of the Ho-

locaust to the newer generation that won’t have the chance to speak to a survivor,” Maya Kochavi, 27, told CNN. In real life, Eva Heyman was the only child of a Hungarian Jewish couple, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and after their divorce was raised largely by her grandparents. In 1944, she and her grandparents were forced into the Jewish ghetto in Oradea.

Eva was deported to Auschwitz that June and died there on Oct. 17 of that year.

When I first learned about Eva.Stories, I was skeptical. I found the first few episodes strangely lighthearted for a project on the Holocaust, with the main character dancing, smiling and posting emoji-filled selfies. The actors’ accents also aren’t consistent, and the conceit that social media existed 80 years ago threatens to undermine the veracity of the real-life story.

But as the story continued, I found myself warming up to it. The project not only educates about the history but affectingly shows how events would have felt for a 13-year-old. As the Nazis march through the city, we see Eva running to her frightened mother, the camera shaking. When her mother tells Eva that she has to wear a yellow star on her coat, the teen at first refuses. She doesn’t want to look different and worries that people will make fun of her.

At the end of the story, as Eva is loaded onto a train car to Auschwitz, we see the young girl panicking and on the verge of a breakdown. I struggled to hold back the tears.

At 27, however, I may be a bit older than the target audience, so I spoke to a few teenagers and early 20-somethings.

Gavi Altman, a 14-year-old living in Israel, told me the project was a hit among her friends.

“In our class, everybody was hyped up about when it was going to come out,” she said.

Altman, who asked that her exact location not be used here, said the project helped her

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Eva.Stories is a dramatized version of the life of Eva Heyman, a 13-year-old Jewish girl killed in Auschwitz.

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feel connected to the Holocaust in a way she never had through lessons in school.

“They’re trying to make it that our generation can relate somehow,” she said. “When somebody just tells you the story, then you’re

just thinking ‘Oh, it’s from such a long time ago, it has nothing to do with me.’ I feel like this makes you feel more connected to it.”

Eliana Silver, a 19-year-old student at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland, also found the stories compelling.

“It’s a very real way of seeing,” she said, “because obviously when we watch pictures and videos from those times, you kind of just see it from an outsider perspective. But now it’s like you’re there with the characters. It gave me chills.”

Others had qualms.

Rachel Fadem, an 18-year-old living in Chicago, thinks the project could serve as a way to engage those who otherwise may not be interested in learning about the Holocaust. But she worries how viewers who aren’t knowledgeable about the Holocaust may see it.

“I’m just a bit wary of how some people might take it lightly,” she said.

Aliza Nussbaum Cohen, 20, a freshman at Clark University at Worcester, Massachussetts, also has trepidation about the project.

“The fact that it’s on social media, side by side to such nonsense, and such unnecessary and meaningless content, I feel like that can lead to this also being meaningless in some way,” she said.

Nussbaum Cohen, the daughter of JTA contributor Debra Nussbaum Cohen, also questioned whether Eva.Stories would actually have an impact.

“To know that they put so much money into something that could’ve been spent on Holocaust education in schools or something like that, that’s what hurts me the most about it,” she said.

But Altman isn’t too concerned with those who weren’t fans of the project.

“Maybe people who won’t like it will hate on it,” she said, “but that’s like with everything.”

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“The bloodshed in Palestine and Israel will not cease until the fundamentally unjust existing structure is jettisoned,” he said on Twitter.

“We cannot support a right-wing racist regime committed to annexation and gradual ethnic cleansing. There must be a binational state with equal rights for all.”

Otherwise, the Democratic candidates were silent, from the usually vocal pro-Israel figures like Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who took time out to attend an American Israel Public Affairs Committee event in Boston, to the usually Israel critical, like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who had referred to Gaza the day before hostilities erupted at a town hall in Perry, Iowa. He repeated his call for a more evenhanded U.S. approach to the region.

One likely Democratic candidate, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, sounded a pro-Israel note.

“Innocent civilians lie dead in the wake of Hamas’ brutal rocket attacks in Israel,” de Blasio, who is expected to announce this week, said on Twitter. “It’s an affront to humanity.

This city stands united against this indiscriminate violence and we join the world in mourning the lives lost.”

Congressional leaders across the board were more willing to pronounce on the issue and were overwhelmingly on Israel’s side.

“Hamas must immediately stop launching rockets into Israel,” Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, said on Twitter. “The targeting of innocent communities is never acceptable. The United States Congress, in a bipartisan fashion, stands strongly in support of our ally Israel and its right to protect its citizens.”

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, was as unequivocal.

“Israel has every right to defend itself against the 600 rockets that Hamas has fired during the last 48 hours,” the California Republican said on Twitter. “The United States will continue to stand with our ally Israel and the Jewish people.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate minority leader, told Jewish Insider: “Israel has every right to defend herself from indiscriminate rockets attacks, the same right as any other nation. The United States stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Israel.”

Five Jewish House Democrats, including three committee chairmen, said Israel had a right to defend itself, and praised the Iron Dome system, in part funded through congressional appropriations, for keeping more missiles from hitting targets.

“In response to the continued, indefensible attacks by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups, Israel has a right and responsibility to defend itself and its citizens militarily from further violence. Israel must be able to sustainably protect its people as it continues to pursue a ceasefire,” said the statement

by Reps. Eliot Engel of New York, the Foreign Affairs Committee chairman; Nita Lowey, also of New York, the Appropriations Committee chairwoman; Ted Deutch of Florida, the Ethics Committee and Middle East subcommittee chairman; and Brad Schneider of Illinois and Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey.

One dissenter: Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., a Palestinian American who criticized the New York Times for a headline on a story about the clashes. In suggesting Hamas rockets prompted Israeli retaliation, the headline promotes a “lack of responsibility on Israel,” she said.

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THE JEWISH STAR May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779

By Ron Kampeas, JTA WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump offered a view on the deadly flareup in clashes between Israel and terrorist groups on the Gaza Strip border this weekend.

Of the 21 Democrats running for president, only four weighed in. Three favored Israel’s version of events: Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., while former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel was on the Palestinian side.

Trump’s statement was staunchly pro-Israel.

“Once again, Israel faces a barrage of deadly rocket attacks by terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” the president said on Twitter. “We support Israel 100% in its defense of its citizens.

To the Gazan people — these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery. END the violence and work towards peace — it can happen!”

Hickenlooper sounded a similar note in a tweet, although he urged restraint from “all parties.”

“The random rocket fire by Hamas into Israel must stop,” he said. “My heart goes out to the families of the Israelis killed, and those wounded in these grievous attacks. I call on all parties to show restraint and de-escalate this situation immediately.”

Booker spoke on CBS News.

“We support Israel’s right to defend itself, full stop,” he said. “You have a terrorist organization that actually suppresses its own people, conducts acts of violence and human rights violations against people who live in Gaza. And so Israel has a right to defend itself and it should do that.”

Booker’s comment was solicited by the reporter — unlike Hickenlooper, he did not volunteer a statement — but the New Jersey senator appeared eager and prepared for the question.

On Monday evening, Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, called on candidates to speak out.

“We deeply appreciate the long-time support for Israel of both the Republican and Democratic parties,” Jacobs said on Twitter. “We continue to urge all leaders of those parties, including those Democratic and Republican presidential candidates who haven’t yet spoken to the recent rocket attacks from Gaza, to stand by Israel at this time of need.”

Later Monday and after an earlier version of this story was posted, Bennet posted his comment.

“We stand behind Israel’s right to self-defense against rocket attacks by terror groups inside Gaza,” he said on Twitter. “Launching rocket attacks against innocent civilians is unacceptable and we mourn the lives lost. A cessation in violence is a necessary step toward deescalation and stability.”

Gravel, decades out of office and an outlier among the candidates, called for dismantling

5

Vienna HS recalls harsh Shoah truth

By Toby Axelrod, JTA On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, a public high school in the Austrian capital corrected its own historical record.

Along with a memorial to World War II soldiers, the Gymnasium Kundmanngasse now also has a plaque with the names of all 50 Jewish students expelled from the Vienna school exactly 81 years ago. And the life stories of these pupils — some tragically cut short — are contained in a book written by teenagers now attending the school.

The dedication of the new memorial on April 25 came just as a new survey reveals a disheartening lack of knowledge about the Holocaust among adults in Austria. But the Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Study also found a profound commitment to Holocaust education among Austrians, particularly among younger adults.

The study was commissioned by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and released May 2, Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah.

Among the survey findings: 58 percent of Austrians do not know that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust; 36 percent of respondents said they believed people still talk too much about the Holocaust; 28 percent said they believed that many Austrians acted heroically to save Jews, when in fact only 109 are recognized as rescuers by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and archive.

On the positive side, 82 percent of respondents – and 87 percent of younger ones — said they believe that Holocaust education is important.

Data was collected from a randomly selected, demographically representative sample

Members of the League of German Girls wave Nazi flags in support of the German annexation of Austria, in Vienna, March 1938.

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

of 1,000 Austrian adults. It was analyzed by Schoen Consulting in New York.

“On one hand, there are some troubling, problematic results,” Greg Schneider, the executive vice president of the Claims Conference, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “On the other hand, there is a recognition of the importance of learning about the Holocaust, which is very hopeful. It gives us a road map to ensure that the Shoah is taught in schools and given the proper context and support.”

The first duty of Holocaust education is “to honor the memory of those who were killed,” he said.

Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jewish Communities in Austria and Vienna, said in a statement, “The lack of knowledge among

many Austrians revealed through this study sets a mission for not only teachers and politicians but all society. A sincere handling of anti-Semitic incidents today and misrepresentations of the Shoah is crucial.”

Compared to Germany, Austria was notoriously late in confronting its role in the persecution and genocide of its Jewish population. What might be called willful ignorance changed dramatically in the mid-1980s, when the Nazi past of then-chancellor candidate Kurt Waldheim was put on the table. He was elected despite the questions raised about his role.

In 2000, Austria’s Ministry of Education, Science and Research established a Holocaust education program — errinern.at, or “remem-

brance.at” — that oversees educational projects on the national and state level with help from other foundations. Its programs reach thousands of teachers and students each year.

Today there is a “broad societal consensus that Austria has a responsibility and a share in this history,” said Martina Maschke, chair of errinern.at, in an interview before the Claims Conference survey’s release. Since the Holocaust is a paradigm for genocides, “there will never be enough Holocaust education.”

That’s especially clear today, Maschke said, with the rise of the right wing and an increase in anti-Semitism from migrants “socialized in Muslim countries.”

“Of course, the administration is always one step behind the political factum, and this is something that makes me rather sad,” she said. “But I think that this goes for every society.”

In fact, Schneider said, the results of the survey in Austria are similar to those in recent surveys that the Claims Conference commissioned in the United States (April 2018) and Canada (January 2019). He said they share an “appalling lack of knowledge, and a tremendous commitment to the importance of Holocaust education.”

It was just such a commitment that inspired Katharina Fersterer, a history and English teacher at the Gymnasium Kundmanngasse.

Fersterer, 29, had long been interested in Holocaust history. Austria’s Ministry of Education sent her to a summer program at Yad Vashem two years ago, and she returned determined to add to her school’s historical record in time for its 150th anniversary this year.

“My principal said, ‘Yes, let’s do this,’” Fersterer recalled.

Her students found the names of 50 Jewish students forced to leave the school in April 1938, shortly after Germany annexed Austria.

“But we didn’t stop at that. We wanted to See Vienna on page 18

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Auschwitz shocks Chelsea’s rising stars

7 THE JEWISH STAR May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779

Given soccer’s enormous role in British sociBy Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA OSWIECIM, Poland — On his first visit to the ety, it’s not an unrealistic goal, said Clive LawAuschwitz memorial museum, 17-year-old Ar- ton, a founder of the Limmud festival of Jewish mando Broja already knew a fair amount about learning and a longtime participant in March of the Living. the Holocaust.

“The popular power of the crowd in football The Jewish genocide is taught in schools in his native United Kingdom, and a spate of anti- is much greater than in other celebrity environSemitic incidents at sports matches across Europe in recent years has made it the subject of constant discussion in the world of professional soccer — Broja is a rising prospect with the under-18 division of the Chelsea club.

But that didn’t prepare him for the piles of human hair Players from the New England Revolution MLS team join the Chelsea players at March of the Living that he and five Auschwitz on May 2. other Chelsea players encountered at the museum Thursday, which ments,” making players able to “go right to the also was the day that Jews observe as Holocaust heart of a whole community of ordinary people,” Remembrance Day. The Nazis sheared the heads he said. Soccer is known as football in Europe of women, using their hair as pillow stuffing and and around the world.

Soccer communities in the U.K. and throughpipe insulation, before their executions.

“The room with all the ladies’ hair, it really out Europe have had a dismal record on racism. touched me,” Broja said outside the famous ex- In the 1970s and ’80s, fans would throw banana hibit, which included many long braids of vari- peels onto the pitch and make monkey sounds to ous shades. “It shows you how much, how much insult black players, Lawton said. But that phethey, like, tortured the ladies and what they did nomenon has died down amid criticism. to them.”

“Now the anti-Semitic theme seems to be The players toured as part of Chelsea’s sec- growing and taking the place of the anti-black ond consecutive delegation to the annual March one,” Lawton said. “Holocaust jibes are being of the Living — an event that has brought some heard particularly on the Chelsea terraces. Not 300,000 marchers to Auschwitz since it began in only there but you’re very likely to hear them 1988. Players from the New England Revolution from Chelsea supporters.” of Major League Soccer in the United States also Chelsea fans often emit hissing sounds when participated in the march, which is held on Isra- their team faces the Tottenham Hotspur, who el’s national day of mourning for the Holocaust. their own supporters and rivals view as being The visits and march underline how educa- Jewish for historical reasons. tors are increasingly turning to Auschwitz and “There seems to be a perception, which I other tangible objects and places connected to think is probably right, that soccer matches are the Holocaust as aids for teaching tolerance and fertile ground to do racist recruiting” by far-right the dangers of racism in a world where Holocaust groups, Lawton said. survivors and other witnesses are dying out.

Chelsea players visiting Auschwitz is “a good “It was terrifying to see the amount of hair development,” he said, “but it remains to be seen that was there, to see the amount of people that if they succeed or even make an effort to address died,” added a visibly shaken Jordan Aina, an- the problem.” other under-18 Chelsea player as he exited the Laurence, the Chelsea executive, rejected the exhibition. notion that his team or the soccer world in genTheir shock was just the reaction that Chelsea erally has any inherent racism problem. Chelsea, was hoping to achieve by bringing its promising he suggested, was part of the solution rather young talents here, according to Guy Laurence, than the problem. the London club’s chief executive.

In January 2018, the club partnered with the “Only when you come here you see the full World Jewish Congress for a campaign titled horror,” said Laurence, who is not Jewish.

“Say No to Antisemitism” to educate its players, But the objectives of Chelsea’s participation staff, fans and the wider community about antisince last year’s march go beyond educating Semitism in soccer. merely its players.

“You have to remember that a club like Chel“Anti-Semitism is on the rise today in Europe sea has millions of supporters who cover a full and beyond, and we feel we have a role to play cross-section of society, and unfortunately there in suppressing it, trying to eradicate it by making are elements of that society that hold racist and sure that not just our players understand what’s anti-Semitic views,” Laurence said. going on but that the wider public is, as well,” The reason Chelsea feels “a responsibility to Laurence said. speak out,” he said, is that the fans “do listen.”

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The JEWISH STAR

Wine & Dine

Tasty spring asparagus prepared three ways Kosher Kitchen

Joni SChoCKETT

Jewish Star columnist

T

o me, nothing says spring like fresh green asparagus. The bright green tender shoots that show up in abundance in late March and beyond herald the beginning of the spring and summer harvests that signal an end to the winter blahs.

My dad grew asparagus. It’s a tough little crop to get going and it requires patience — lots of patience. He started his plants from seeds in tiny little bathroom paper cups. The dozens of little cups were placed in trays covered in mulch by a sunny window in our den. Slowly, tiny green shoots popped up.

As soon as the weather was warm, my father chose a spot for the bed and planted them, right next to a fence dividing our yard from our neighbor’s. The fence got full sunshine and lots of water from our nearby swimming pool, though I’m not sure that chlorinated water is the best way to water vegetables.

That summer the crop grew into what looked like thick blades of grass. I wanted to harvest them; my dad would not allow it. So I watched as the tiny stalks turned into tiny fans. In the late fall, my dad cut them back. Winter came and the asparagus was forgotten.

The next summer I was excited when I saw hundreds of little green tips push through the earth again. But again I was told that we could not harvest. Once more, I watched the stalks turn into fans and get cut back. Another winter and another spring.

The third year, the asparagus looked like it had multiplied a thousand times. There were thicker green stalks all over the patch, and a very large crop on the other side of the fence, which our neighbors were grateful for! That year, we harvested asparagus stalks until we could no longer look at them. It seemed the more we pulled, the more grew back. We could have had our own asparagus farm stand. Each year there was more to harvest and to share with family and friends.

That is where patience comes in. For the first two years, asparagus cannot be harvested. After that, the asparagus bed is good for 15 to 20 years of production. My dad planted in 1961 or 62. When he sold the house in 1989, the asparagus bed was still flourishing. Not bad for a 59cent package of seeds.

Asparagus is a great veggie that is versatile and can make anything from soups to showstopping tarts and salads. Even if you do not want to plant your own, enjoy some from the market while it is at the height of the harvest.

Asparagus Cheese Puffs (Dairy) These are delicious and really easy to make.

Kids love them. Serve with a salad for a nice luncheon meal.

1/4 to 1/3 lbs. asparagus, thin, stalks work best 3/4 cup milk, whole or 2% 5 Tbsp. butter, cut into pieces 3/4 cup unbleached flour or half whole wheat, half white pinch cayenne pepper 3 extra-large eggs at room temperature 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup shredded Gruyere, Monterey Jack, or Cheddar cheese Break off the ends of the asparagus. Cut the spears into 1/4-inch pieces. Fill a sauté pan with water and add a pinch of salt. Bring to a full boil and carefully add the asparagus, making sure there is just enough water to cover. Reduce heat to a strong simmer and cook until crisp-tender, about 1 minute. Drain and set aside on paper towels to cool.

Sift the flour and cayenne pepper into a small bowl. Set aside.

Place the milk and butter in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. As soon as the milk boils, remove it from the heat and add the flour all at one. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer into a large bowl.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well with the wooden spoon after each addition. Let cool for at least ten minutes, but no more than 15.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment. Lightly butter the parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray.

Add the well-drained asparagus and the cheeses to the batter and mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto the parchment and put both sheets into the oven at the same time. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool for about 5 minutes and remove from the parchment to a serving dish.

Serve warm. Makes about 3 dozen puffs.

Asparagus Tart (Dairy) 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (about 9.5 inches square) 1-1/4 cup mascarpone cheese 1 Tbsp. unbleached flour, plus more for dusting work surface 1 tsp. kosher salt 1 large egg, beaten 1 Tbsp. finely grated lemon zest 1-1/2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives 1 tsp. fresh parsley, finely minced 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon 1 lb. thin asparagus, bottoms trimmed, washed and dried

1-1/2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil Freshly ground black pepper, to taste OPTIONAL: 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the puff pastry to about 9.5 by 12 inches. Transfer to the prepared pan. Place the mascarpone in a medium bowl and add the Tbsp. of flour, salt, egg, lemon zest, chives, and tarragon and mix well.

Spread evenly over the pastry, leaving a border of about 3/4-inch on all sides. When the cheese mixture is finished, slash the border with a knife in diagonal slashes, 1 inch apart.

Place the asparagus on a plate and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss to coat evenly.

Place half the asparagus in a single layer over half the tart. Place the rest in a single layer in the opposite direction. Drizzle with any olive oil left on the plate. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper and place in the preheated oven.

Bake until puffed and golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. If you like, sprinkle with the grated parmesan cheese for the last 10 minutes of baking. Let cool about 10 minutes and then cut into squares to serve. Serves 4 to 6.

Easy Lemon Garlic Sesame Asparagus and Pea Pods (Pareve or Dairy) 1 lb. asparagus 1 lb. snow pea pods or sugar snap pea pods 5 to 7 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp. butter or pareve margarine 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds 1 tsp. freshly grated lemon zest 1 to 2 tsp. water Extra virgin olive oil OPTIONAL: Garlic sauce or other Asian sauce that you like.

Trim the asparagus and cut each spear into about 2-inch pieces. Set aside. Trim the pea pods as needed, set aside.

Heat a large skillet and add the butter. Add the garlic and mix, stirring constantly just until fragrant. Add the asparagus and pea pods, and 1 tsp. of water, cover and heat for 1 minute, stirring once or twice. Add more water, if the water is gone, and cook for another minute if needed to obtain desired consistency or until just fork tender. Add the lemon zest and stir to heat.

When the asparagus is cooked to your liking, remove from the pan to a platter, Sprinkle with sesame seeds and a tiny drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Serve or place in a covered container, refrigerate and serve cold on salads. Serves 4 to 8.

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Guggenheim helped put modern Israeli art on map

By Karen Chernick, JTA TEL AVIV — In 1952, Israel had its third showing at the Venice Biennale, one of the world’s most prestigious art shows, with an exhibition of three painters — Reuven Rubin, Marcel Janco and Moshe Mokady.

Israeli contemporary art is “as young as the new Jewish settlement,” wrote Eugene Kolb, director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and curator of the 1952 Israeli exhibition, in the show’s catalog. “Artists of Israel seek, through different individual ways, something that is common to them all, to try to represent the characteristic spirit of their country, nature and people.”

Among the visitors impressed by the Israeli showcase was the American Jewish art collector and patron Peggy Guggenheim — daughter of businessman Benjamin Guggenheim, who was killed on the Titanic, and niece of Solomon Guggenheim, who established the eponymous museum in New York City.

She would end up gifting 16 oil paintings and 20 works on paper to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art — her largest donation to a single museum apart from the gift of her entire collection to her uncle’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation upon her death.

The move would help jump-start the Tel Aviv museum’s collection, and more significantly position Israel as a player in the international contemporary art scene.

Guggenheim’s home in Venice was already a fixture by 1952, when Kolb accompanied 54 canvases from Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard along the canals of northern Italian city. Hailing from the established Guggenheim and Seligman families of New York, Guggenheim used her inheritance to amass and exhibit a collection of groundbreaking contemporary art. When she made Venice her permanent home in 1947, she was celebrated for bringing cubism and kinetic sculpture to a city heralded for its traditional Titians and Tintorettos.

Guggenheim moved to an unfinished 18th-century palace along the Grand Canal, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, which quickly became an art destination. As of 1951, she opened her palatial home to the public three afternoons a week from April through October. There they could enjoy the surrealist and abstract paintings, a custom Alexander Calder-designed bed head and an array of sculptures (including Marino Marini’s nude equestrian figure). This schedule continued until her death in 1979, when the palazzo became an eponymous popular museum operated by the Guggenheim Foundation.

And so in addition to ensuring the safe arrival and proper installation of Israeli paintings at the 1952 Biennale, Kolb knew to include a visit to Guggenheim on his itinerary. He went to her palazzo numerous times, and eventually asked the celebrated collector to lend some paintings to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art for an exhibition.

“He asked me to lend him a large number of pictures to show there,” Guggenheim later recalled in her autobiography. “I gave him 34, and later some more.”

What Kolb had conservatively requested as a loan became, at Guggenheim’s initiative, a substantial gift of 36 artworks. In her autobiography, Guggenheim downplays the donation as a convenient way to rid her damp basement of an overflow of paintings.

But that was likely a way to minimize the weight of this deliberate gesture, which linked Guggenheim with her Jewish heritage. “[Guggenheim’s] harrowing experiences fleeing Europe during WWII and the social discrimination she faced in the U.S. both

before and after the war, as well as what we could call the ‘Jewishness’ or Jewish aspects of the avant-grade milieu of her adult life that included many Jewish artists, patrons and collectors, and her lifelong connections to her Jewish family are all elements that speak to Guggenheim’s Jewish identity,” Jill Fields, a history professor at California State University, Fresno, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

During her lifetime, Guggenheim donated artworks to over 20 institutions, mostly in American cities that lacked access to surrealist and abstract artworks, such as Phoenix, Kansas City and Raleigh. But none other than the Tel Aviv museum were located outside the United States.

“Guggenheim made this major gift to an Israeli museum because she was Jewish,” Fields said. “Being Jewish had remained meaningful for her despite her secular adult life amidst the avantgarde art world.”

For the Tel Aviv museum, Guggenheim’s gift was of immense institutional importance. It included three Jackson Pollock oil paintings, three Rayographs by Man Ray, and works by Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Hans Hoffman, William Baziotes, Andre Masson and others. For a fledgling museum with works by mostly local artists, Guggenheim’s paintings helped launch a collection of international contemporary art.

“Your gesture shows real understanding for the needs and troubles of our young institution to get our public acquainted with such important trends of this century’s art,” Kolb said in a 1953 letter thanking Guggenheim now located in the Tel Aviv museum’s archives.

To show off this new boon to the museum’s collection, Kolb curated an exhibition in 1955 showcasing Guggenheim’s gift titled “Abstract and Surrealist Paintings.” The show was the first of its kind in Israel and attracted over 50,000 visitors to the museum’s

original building at 16 Rothschild Blvd. The museum was then unaccustomed to such crowds, except for when its ground floor galleries were used as the site of the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel a few years earlier, in 1948.

“At the time, the museum didn’t have a lot of international works, especially important contemporary works,” Sophia Berry Lifschitz, assistant curator of modern art at the museum, explained to JTA. “It was very important to show Israeli audiences what was happening overseas, both in the United States and in Europe, especially with regards to American abstraction and surrealism.”

Though infinitely smaller and narrower in scope, the 1955 exhibition replicated the Venice Biennale in its presentation of art trends of the moment.

“This is an important exhibition,” concluded a review of the show in The Jerusalem Post, “which should not be missed by anyone desiring to know more of the international art situation.”

Despite Kolb’s repeated invitations to Tel Aviv, Guggenheim herself remained in her adopted home of Venice. Save for a short stopover in Jerusalem in 1924 as part of a larger Middle Eastern tour, she never visited the Holy Land.

“I do not give up hope to see you one day here in Israel,” Kolb exasperatedly wrote Guggenheim in a 1955 letter.

“I’m terribly sorry not to see the show,” she replied. “I wish you great success.”

This year at the Biennale, which opens May 11, the Israeli showcase is “Field Hospital X,” by Aya Ben Ron. It simulates a health clinic where visitors sit in a waiting room before proceeding to watch videos packaged in “care-kits.” Each video addresses a different social injustice through a specific story and contains “second opinions” — commentary by experts in relevant fields.

Its artistic team says the project “is committed to researching the way art can react and act in the face of social ills.” The exhibition will tour internationally following the Biennale.

So even though Guggenheim never made it to Tel Aviv, her gift — which allowed Israelis to glimpse artistic possibilities that cross borders, boundaries and genres — lives on.

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A view of the permanent display of the works from Peggy Guggenheim’s collection at the Yehuda Assia Gallery of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Elad Sarig. Left: Peggy Guggenheim at the 24th Venice Biennale in 1948 with “Interior,” a work by her daughter Pegeen Vail. Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation/Archivio Cameraphoto Epoche

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Gaza fire next time will be worse: Israel

THE JEWISH STAR May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779

Analysis by Lilach Shoval, Israel Hayom The prevailing assessment in the security establishment is that while Israel has restored deterrence against terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, in the absence of a long-term peace deal, the calm will not hold for more than a few weeks.

Although no officials say so, Remembrance Day and Independence Day, as well as next week’s Eurovision competition, were main considerations in Israel’s decision to hold back. The defense establishment was under instructions not to worsen the escalation.

In the past few weeks, IDF forces in the area were warned that Palestinian Islamic Jihad might attempt a large-scale attack near the border fence in the days leading up to Eurovision.

On Friday, PIJ sniper fire wounded an IDF officer and soldier. In response, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi attacked a manned Hamas outpost not on the border itself. The organization responded, an eye for an eye.

It appears that Hamas sought a more limited response, such as a sniper attack or an anti-tank missile, but the rogue PIJ fired on Israel without coordinating with Hamas. Following the Israeli response, Hamas decided to fire its own rockets — heavy barrages for every major Israeli retaliatory strike. That is how some 690 rockets and mortars were launched at Israel in under 48 hours. The number is higher; not all the rockets

13

made it over the fence. Most landed in unpopulated areas, and Israel’s anti-missile defenses intercepted nearly 250. A few dozen landed in populated areas, killing four Israelis, wounding others and causing damage. Hamas and PIJ were warned not to fire at the greater Tel Aviv area to avoid a harsh Israeli response that could drag both sides into full-scale conflict.

Israeli officials think that Hamas wanted an immediate ceasefire to get back to working on an agreement that will improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, but the defense establishment wanted to go far enough that PIJ wouldn’t want to escalate, either. Of 350 or so retaliatory strikes, a few dozen were aimed at PIJ targets.

The 29 casualties included 10 PIJ operatives.

No one in Israel is promising that the calm that will last more than a few weeks, but the the risk of PIJ firing on Tel Aviv during Eurovision has dropped. The IDF will maintain and increase deterrence when it comes to the rogue group.

Israel is refusing to disclose the details of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, but as of 4:30 a.m. on Monday, both sides stopped firing.

Either way, if no political understandings are reached, it’s only a question of time before the next round of escalation, and it won’t be very long before it happens. Battles like this pick up where they left off, so it’s likely that the next escalation will be even more violent.

By Alex Traiman, JNS Within the next several years, Holocaust remembrance will enter a challenging new phase: perpetuating the memory of one of the most heinous crimes in human history — certainly against the Jewish people — without any firsthand witnesses.

The annual March of the Living in Poland last week, which I attended, is one of the most important organized experiences to instill both Jewish identity and Jewish unity.

Following the march, I was asked by many about the most powerful part of the visit. For me, it was simple: interviewing 10 Holocaust survivors on the haunting grounds of the Auschwitz concentration camp and the Birkenau extermination camp, where more than 2 million Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime.

These survivors who had the courage to come back to the scene of horrors to share their stories with the next generation of Jews were beyond brave. Hearing the details of their stories firsthand, but even more than that — getting a glimpse into the memories that could be seen in their eyes is what will remain so haunting … and so lasting.

A look into the eyes of a Holocaust survivor retelling stories of tragedy and survival on the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau gave me greater insight than any words I heard or feelings I could ever conjure.

The survivors were in their mid-80s to mid90s. The opportunities to hear these stories, related directly by those who experienced them, are becoming more precious as they become more limited. Soon, within one generation, they will become a page in Jewish history.

And yet, as anti-Semitism again rears its ugly head across Europe, in the United States and even in Israel, the lessons of the Holocaust remain as important, if not more important, than ever.

The challenge for organizations like March of the Living, Yad Vashem and others will be to increase real knowledge and deep understanding about what happened during the years of World

First Person

War II without the talebearers of those horrors.

One model may come from the Jewish community itself: within the Chabad movement.

With the passing of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson in June 1994, a dynastic movement that had spanned generations lacked a master at its head for the first time. And yet Chabad today is as large and successful as ever, thanks to the spread of emissaries to all parts of the globe.

Rabbi Schneerson seemed to realize that his torch would not be passed to a single leader. But he passed a portion of his light to thousands of others and sent them to Jewish communities around the world, magnifying that light exponentially. Lighting a new candle never diminishes the light of the candle it’s lit from. Together, Chabad emissaries spread more light than a single rebbe ever could.

As Holocaust survivors become fewer in number, there is no choice but to pass the torch to present and future generations that will perpetuate their stories, memories, teachings and understandings. As Elie Wiesel famously stated, “When you listen to a witness, you become a witness.”

Inasmuch as that is one of the most important messages you can give to someone who hears directly from a witness, it can only, of course, be partially true. Despite speaking to many Holocaust survivors, learning as much as I can about the details of the Nazi’s Final Solution and being the grandson of Holocaust victims who survived the tortures of Polish labor and death camps, no one standing before me who hears my explanation of events will ever see in my eyes what I could see in theirs.

Nonetheless, if thousands of second-, third- and now fourth-generation descendants of survivors take the torch from those who survived through great courage and strength — with a true commitment and determination to sharing the light of our brave predecessors — we can succeed in taking the remembrance of the Holocaust and its lessons to even greater distances in the years to come.

Alex Traiman is managing director and Jerusalem Bureau Chief of JNS.

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Keeping Shoah memory alive: A Chabad model

May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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Tiféret Israel Synagogue in Caracas was attacked in 2009. WikiCommons

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Venezuelan Jews hang on amid growing chaos

By Ben Sales, JTA One night years ago, when a Jewish man was driving to his parents’ house in Caracas, Venezuela, two cars blocked off the street he was on and held him up at gunpoint.

He got into their car and began answering questions: who he was, where he lived, how much money he could give them for his release.

After three hours of this interrogation, the kidnappers drove to his house, got $10,000 from his wife through the front door, and let him go.

Although he was wearing a kippah, he doesn’t recall the kidnappers being anti-Semitic.

Such “express kidnappings,” where victims are held for quick ransoms for a few hours, were an occasional hazard for affluent residents of Caracas. But not anymore, the Jewish man said.

“Kidnapping in Venezuela, the business is not so good because there is not cash in the street,” said the man, who is involved in the Jewish community but wished to remain anonymous because he feared repercussions amid the current unrest in Venezuela. “It was a way to make money fast.”

Kidnapping is one of many facets of Venezuelan society that has collapsed over the past few years, as a once-wealthy country has descended into destitution and chaos. This week has seen the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, call for the military to endorse his movement to replace the country’s strongman president, Nicolas Maduro. So far, and despite widespread unrest, the move appears to be fizzling. The United States, Israel and a range of other countries have recognized Guaidó as the legitimate president.

The crisis has also furthered the depletion of Venezuela’s Jewish community. From a height of 25,000 members in the 1990s, it’s down to about 6,000 and shrinking, the rest having fled to the U.S., Israel or elsewhere. Most who remain live in Caracas. Those who have held on depend on each other to survive in an increasingly dire situation.

Widespread crime means people don’t eat out anymore, so people frequently host weeknight dinners at their homes, according to people with knowledge of their situation. Inflation has gone crazy, so people pay for everything — and get paid — in U.S. dollars.

Jewish community members, who tend to be economically comfortable, travel with a driver and sometimes a bulletproof car, and often have security at home. When power went out across the country in March, the Jewish community organized to make sure every community member in Caracas was safe.

People are staying, the community member said, because Venezuela has been their families’ home for generations. Much of the community came after the Holocaust or after many Moroccan Jews emigrated following the 1967 Six-Day War. The community member described Venezuelan Jewry as warm, tight-knit and supportive.

Because there are so few people left, much of the community knows each other by name.

“You have the community, you know every-

one,” he said. “You have weather that is marvelous, wonderful. You have doctors and institutions that you know.”

But staying is still the exception to the rule.

People — Jewish and not — have left less because of the possible coup, Venezuelan Jews say, and more because of economic instability.

“There’s no prospect of being a professional in Venezuela,” said Sammy Eppel, 71, a Jewish journalist and businessman who emigrated to Miami three and a half years ago. “You don’t have a path to prosperity anymore. I think Jews in Venezuela are in the same boat as everyone else in Venezuela. We haven’t been particularly targeted.”

But political persecution does sometimes play a role. Eppel’s writing in El Universal, a major Venezuelan newspaper, often criticized Venezuela’s socialist governments. He owned a call center with clients such as Microsoft and Motorola.

More than a decade ago, the government shut off his phone lines, forcing him to close. After that, he said, groups of people would show up at his building posing as tax collectors, ask his doorman to call him down and then disappear. When they threatened the doorman with a gun, he decided it was time to leave.

“In the eyes of the regime I was an enemy,” he said, recalling that the men approached his doorman and “pulled a gun on him and pointed a gun at this head and said ‘Don’t lie to us. We know he’s in there.’”

The government has also long been staunchly anti-Israel. Maduro, and his predecessor Hugo Chavez, made nice with Israeli adversaries like Iran. Israel and Venezuela do not have diplomatic relations. And in 2004 and 2009, government forces raided, respectively, a Jewish school and Jewish community center.

“When Chavez severed relations with Israel, it sent a message to a lot of Jews that they were not welcome there,” said Dina Siegel Vann, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Belfer Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs. “I think many of them stayed because they thought things would get better.”

Things have not gotten better. But something that isn’t present, she said, is anti-Semitism.

Times of crisis, in other places, have proved fertile grounds for the spread of Jew-hatred. But Siegel Vann said that most significant anti-Semitism in Venezuela has come from the government, not the grassroots. Now that the government is in disarray, anti-Semitism has faded.

“Venezuelans are not anti-Semitic,” she said.

“In Europe, you have historical baggage. In Venezuela, you don’t ... It was promoted from the top.”

As the Jewish community copes with the crisis, the anonymous community member said, representatives have been careful not to take sides. It remains in contact with Maduro, who still holds power, and criticizes his anti-Israel stances.

But he, too, wants to emigrate to Israel. When will he leave?

“As soon as Maduro kicks me out,” he laughs.

15 THE JEWISH STAR May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779

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16

Parsha of the Week

Rabbi avi billet Jewish Star columnist

To kindle a child O

ne of the more strange rituals discussed in Kedoshim is the Molech. There is a debate as to what it was and what purpose it served, but this is how the Torah begins the instructions concerning it.

“If any person, whether a [born] Israelite or a proselyte who joins Israel, gives any of his children to Molech, he must be put to death.

The local people must pelt him to death with stones. I will direct My anger against that person, and will cut him off [spiritually] from among his people, since he has given his children to Molech, thus defiling that which is holy to Me and profaning My holy name.”

(20:2-3) To give both sides: Targum Yonatan is of the view that the goal of Molech was for the child to die.

Noting that Molech was discussed in last week’s parsha (18:21), Rabbenu Bachaye quotes Maimonides (Moreh Nevuchim 3:37), who writes, the following to explain what the Molech ritual was all about - not the death of the child. he passage now presented is the Friedlander translation of the Guide to the Perplexed, p. 33.

Quick disclaimer: It is not the place here to address Maimonides’s anachronistic thoughts about women. There are certainly stereotypes about both genders that continue to be used as generalizations, but as there are many exceptions, and a very different reality in terms of education today, I intend to stick to the basic insights regarding Molech and some superstitious practices, regardless of which parent might or might not buy into it.

“We must also point out that originators of false, baseless, and useless principles scheme and plan for the firm establishment of their faith; and tell their fellow-men that a certain plague will befall those who will not perform the act by which that faith is supported and confirmed for ever; this plague may one day accidentally befall a person, who will then direct his attention to the performance of that act, and adopt idolatry.

“It being well known that people are naturally most in fear and dread of the loss of their property and their children, the worshippers of fire spread the tale, that if any one did not pass his son and daughter through the fire, he will lose his children by death. There is no doubt that on account of this absurd menace every one at once obeyed, out of pity and sympathy for the child; especially as it was a trifling and a light thing that was demanded, in passing the child over the fire.

“We must further take into account that the care of young children is intrusted [sic] to women, who are generally weak-minded, and ready to believe everything, as is well known.

The Law makes, therefore, an earnest stand against this practice, and uses in reference to it stronger terms than in any other kind of idolatry; namely, ‘he defileth my sanctuary, and profaneth my holy name’ (Lev. xx.

See Child on page 18

Traces of this practice have survived to the present day.

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Jewish Star columnists: Rabbi Avi Billet of Anshei Chesed Congregation, Boynton Beach, Florida, mohel and Five Towns native; Rabbi David Etengoff of Magen David Yeshivah, Brooklyn; Rabbi Binny Freedman, rosh yeshiva of Orayta, Jerusalem. Contributing writers: Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, emeritus chief rabbi of United Hebrew

Congregations of British Commonwealth; Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive VP emeritus of the OU. to contact our columnists, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

A bar mitzvah in Bergen Belsen From Heart of Jerusalem

Rabbi biNNY FReeDMaN

Jewish Star columnist

R

ecently, on a Pesach program, an elderly gentleman named Yaakov Gross asked a few of us if he could speak before the Yizkor service. He wanted to share the story of his bar mitzvah in the concentration camps. This is the story he shared: In January of 1945, the Nazis were still trying to convince the world that they were treating the Jews well. So they invited a delegation of the Red Cross to visit Bergen Belsen. As part of the show, they “invited” a few of the boys from the kinder-lager, the children’s barracks, to celebrate their bar mitzvah. For the occasion, they erected a platform (read: bimah) in the middle of the square, where roll calls and hangings were normally held. And — no less incredible — they secured a sefer Torah for the event!

And so 13-year-old Yaakov Gross, along with five other bar mitzvah boys, ascended to receive an aliyah and make a blessing over the Torah scroll in front of thousands of prisoners in Bergen Belsen. he guards gave them a few hours for the ceremony. When they were finished making their blessings and reading from the Torah, there was a line as far as he could see, maybe half a mile long, of prisoners who wanted an aliyah too. One by one, in the bitter cold of January 1945 in Bergen Belsen, hundreds of prisoners made a blessing over the Torah, despite everything they had endured and everything they had lost.

Yaakov Gross paused for a moment while sharing this story. He looked out at us and reflected in his heavy Polish accent: “Can you imagine the kiddush Hashem?”

As a reward for their participation in the ceremony, and to celebrate their bar mitzvah, each boy was given half a loaf of bread. Their daily ration was normally a small thin slice an inch long, and they were all starving, so a half a loaf was an incredible treasure. “People sold apartments in Budapest for a single slice of bread,” Mr. Gross said. “Half a loaf was like getting a million dollars. If you were careful it could last a week; it could save your life.”

But Yaakov’s mother took the half a loaf and bartered it for a smuggled siddur and a tractate of Talmud, so that young Yaakov could learn and daven every day. She gave

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up a half a loaf of bread in Bergen Belsen to daven. Years later, when his mother passed away, he shared this story at her funeral, opining that that siddur and masechta were escorting her into heaven.

But the story does not end there. When Ilan Ramon rocketed into space aboard the ill-fated Columbia, he took with him that sefer Torah from Bergen Belsen.

“The Talmud tells us that G-d Himself reads from the Torah every day,” Mr. Gross concluded. “He has Moshe’s Torah scroll; He can read from every Torah scroll ever written and sacrificed over three thousand painful years of Jewish history.

But He wanted to read from that Torah scroll, from Bergen Belsen.” n the middle of this week’s portion of Kedoshim, which follows last week’s Acharei Mot and the aftermath of the tragic death of Aaron’s two oldest sons, Nadav and Avihu, we find a declarative verse: “And you shall guard all my decrees and my judgments, and you shall do them, and the land into which I am bringing you to dwell will not spit you out” (Vayikra 20:22).

Clearly, the Torah tells us that the privilege of remaining in the land of Israel is dependent upon our living by the code of laws proscribed for us by G-d and given to us at Sinai over three thousand years ago. The Torah is telling us quite clearly that we do not get to decide what is right and wrong, nor do we have to intuit it. Objective laws were given us many millennia ago, to define the parameters of what we can and cannot do and how we are meant to build a moral, ethical society.

Some of these mitzvot are easily understood: a society which does not honor its elders, care for its poor and serve G-d, the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong, will not last. It is no coincidence that the weakening of Western society has been accompanied by a generation increasingly focused on getting rather than giving, and on themselves rather than those less fortunate around them.

But the Torah shares many mitzvot that are more difficult for us to understand: What difference does it make what we eat?

Why is a community that consumes pork less ethical and viable than one that consumes beef? What difference does it make whether stores close or continue business on the Shabbat, our day of rest? And why

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is our Jewish society prohibited from marrying the offspring of an adulterous or incestuous relationship? Why should the children of such relationships suffer the consequences of actions that were not their mistakes?

Yet the Torah makes very clear that these are Divine laws given us long ago, and for those of us who believe the Torah, indeed Judaism itself, to be a Divine work, we don’t get to decide what to do based on what we like. We are challenged to believe in something greater than ourselves, and to accept that with all our technological advances, we are still human, and our understanding will always be limited in the face of Divine wisdom. This is not to say that we abrogate our responsibility to understand all that we do, only that we accept the limited parameters of our human understanding. ecently, the world was witness to a horrific, anti-Semitic caricature in the New York Times depicting the prime minister of Israel as a dog with a collar inscribed with the star of David. Just this week, the Times’s headline described “militants” as having fired hundreds of missiles from Gaza. Not terrorists firing at innocent civilians, attempting to murder babies while they sleep; “militants,” warriors fighting a war.

We live in challenging times. David has become Goliath. If enough people believe that right is wrong and black is white, then so it will be. But three thousand years ago a nation was born out of slavery to teach the world that right is right simply because it is right, and that we don’t get to decide that: G-d does. We may struggle with it, we may not like it, it may even force us to reconsider the path we take in life. But if right and wrong are subjective, then we are only a step away from the abyss of evil.

Firing at babies is wrong just as firing from behind them is, and always will be.

And if the Torah says pork is un-kosher, then so it will remain, no matter how much I like it or want it.

Seventy-five years ago, the Nazis turned the world upside down, determined to make wrong right, and in the midst of all that horror a thirteen-year-old boy read from the Torah the Nazis longed to destroy, as if to say, “What is right will still be right, long after you are gone.”

We are challenged to believe in something greater than ourselves.

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Torah

Rabbi david eTengoff

Jewish Star columnist

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ne of the most celebrated mitzvot of our parasha is “v’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha” — “and you shall love your fellow like yourself” (Vayikra 19:18). Rashi, citing the Midrash Sifra to Sefer Vayikra, notes: “Rabbi Akiva said: ‘This is an all-embracing principle of the Torah’” (19:45, translation my own).

Perhaps it is Rabbi Akiva’s unparalleled intellectual stature, or his heroic gesture of teaching Torah to his students during the height of the Hadrianic persecutions (130s CE), that caused his words to become part of the moral fabric of the Jewish nation. Either way, whenever we think of our personal responsibility towards one

another, the Torah’s verse, and Rabbi Akiva’s expression, are writ large in the collective consciousness of our people.

Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 31a, is one of the bestknown sources in Rabbinic literature wherein we find a restatement and implicit discussion of the phrase “v’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha”: “On another occasion a certain non-Jew came before Shammai and said to him, ‘Make me a convert, on the condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot.’

Thereupon [Shammai] repulsed him with the builder’s staff in his hand. When he went before Hillel, [Hillel] converted him, and said, ‘What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the entire Torah, while the rest is commentary; [now] go and learn it’.”

In his commentary on the Torah, Kli Yakar, Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz maintains that the Talmud’s phrase “what is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor” is

From priest to people Rabbi siR jonaThan sacks

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omething fundamental happens at the beginning of Kedoshim, and the story is one of the greatest, if rarely acknowledged, contributions of Judaism to the world.

Until now, Vayikra has been largely about sacrifices, purity, the Sanctuary, and the priesthood. It has been, in short, about a holy place, holy offerings, and the elite and holy people — Aaron and his descendants — who minister there.

Suddenly, in chapter 19, the text embraces the whole of the people: “The L-rd said to Moshe: Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them, ‘Be holy, because I the L-rd your G-d am holy’” (Lev. 19:1-2).

This is the first and only time in Leviticus that so inclusive an address is commanded. It is the people as a whole who are commanded to be holy, not just an elite, the Priests. It is life itself that is to be sanctified, as the chapter makes clear. Holiness is to be made manifest in the way the nation makes its clothes and plants its fields, in the way justice is administered,

workers paid, and business conducted. The vulnerable — the deaf, the blind, the elderly, and the stranger — are to be afforded special protection. The whole society is to be governed by love, without resentments or revenge. What we witness here is the radical democratization of holiness. ll ancient societies had priests. We encounter four such non-Jews in the Torah: Avraham’s contemporary Malkizedek, Yosef’s father-in-law Potiphar, the Egyptian priesthood as a whole, and Yitro, Moshe’s father-in-law.

Priesthood was not unique to Israel. But here, for the first time, we find a code of holiness directed to the people as a whole. We are all called on to be holy.

This comes as no surprise.

The most explicit hint is in the prelude to the covenant at Mount Sinai, when G-d tells Moshe, “If you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of Priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:5-6).

The first intimation is much earlier, in the first chapter of Genesis, with its assertion, “‘Let Us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness’

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Orthodox Union

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love visiting residences for senior citizens.

For one thing, being around truly older people invariably helps me feel young by comparison. Recently, I was a weekend guest scholar at such a residence. I dispensed with my prepared lectures and instead tried to engage the residents of the facility, not one of whom was less than ninety years old, in a group discussion.

This proved to be a wise move on my part, because I learned a great deal about the experience of getting old. The question that I raised to provoke discussion was this: “What made you first realize that you were getting ‘older’?”

I was taken aback by the reactions of the group, because there were clearly two very different sets of responses.

One member of the group responded, “I knew I was getting older when people started to ignore me. I was no more than a piece of fur-

… So G-d created mankind in His own image, in the image of G-d He created them; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:26-27).

What is revolutionary is not that a human being could be in the image of G-d. That is precisely how kings of Mesopotamian city-states and pharaohs of Egypt were regarded — as representatives of the gods. The Torah’s revolution is the statement that all humans share this dignity.

Regardless of class, color, culture, or creed, we are all in the image and likeness of G-d.

Thus was born a cluster of ideas that led to the distinctive culture of the West: the nonnegotiable dignity of the human person, the idea of human rights, and eventually the political and economic expressions of these ideas: liberal democracy on the one hand, and the free market on the other.

These ideas were not fully formed in the minds of human beings during the period of biblical history. The concept of human rights is a product of the seventeenth century. Democracy was not fully implemented until the twentieth. But in Genesis, the seed was planted.

That is what Jefferson meant by, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” and what John F. Kennedy alluded to when he spoke of the “revolutionary belief” that “the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of G-d.”

The irony is that these three texts — Genesis 1, Exodus 19:6, and Leviticus 19 — are spoken in the priestly voice Judaism calls Torat Kohanim.

On the face of it, priests were not egalitarian.

They all came from a single tribe, the Levites, and from a single family, Aaron’s. So deep is the concept of equality written into monotheism that it emerges precisely from the priestly voice. eligion in the ancient world was a defense of hierarchy. With the development of agriculture, then cities, what emerged were highly stratified societies with a ruler on top, surrounded by a royal court, beneath which was an administrative elite, and at the bottom, an illiterate mass conscripted from time to time as an army or a labor force.

What kept the structure in place was an elaborate doctrine of a heavenly hierarchy, whose most familiar natural symbol was the sun, and whose architectural representation was the pyramid or ziggurat, a massive building broad at the base and narrow at the top. The gods had fought and established an order of dominance and submission. To rebel against the earthly hierarchy was to challenge reality itself.

This belief was universal in the ancient world. Aristotle thought that some were born to rule, others to be ruled. Plato constructed a myth in which class divisions existed because the gods had made some people with gold, some with silver, and others with bronze. This was the “noble lie” that had to be told if a society was to protect itself against dissent from within.

Monotheism removes the mythological basis See Priest on page 18

unanimously supported the position articulated by the oldest person there, who said: “We don’t want gestures of respect. We want genuine respect.” t seemed that the entire group, though appreciative of those who gave up their seats, wanted something more. They wanted their opinions to be heard, their life experience to be appreciated, and their accumulated wisdom to be acknowledged. Symbolic gestures were insufficient, and sometimes even experienced as demeaning.

This week’s Torah portion, Kedoshim, contains the basic biblical commandment regarding treatment of the elderly: “You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old; you shall fear your G-d: I am the L-rd (Vayikra 19:32).”

Rashi’s comments on this verse indicate his sensitivity toward the subtle reactions expressed by the members of my little group. Here is what he says, paraphrasing the Talmudic sages: “What is deference? It is refraining from sitting in his place, and not interrupting his words.

Whereas one might think to simply close his eyes and pretend not to even see the old person,

the verse cautions us to fear your G-d, for after all, he knows what is in the heart of man…”

Interestingly, not sitting in his seat mean much more than just giving him a seat on the bus. It means recognizes that the elderly person has his own seat, his own well-earned place in society, which you, the younger person, dare not usurp. It is more than a gesture. It is an acknowledgement of the valued place the elder has in society, which is his alone.

Similarly, not interrupting the older person’s conversation is much more than an act of courtesy. It is awareness that this older person has something valuable to say, a message to which one must listen attentively.

How well our Torah knows the deviousness of which we are all capable. We can easily pretend not to notice the older person. But He who reads our minds and knows what is in our hearts will be the judge of that. We must fear Him, and not resort to self-justification and excuses. We must deal with the older person as a real person, whose presence cannot be ignored but must be taken into full account in our conversation. abbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, in his commentary on this verse, refers us to a passage in the Midrash Rabba on the weekly portion of Beha’alotecha in Bamidbar, which understands the phrase “you shall fear your G-d” See Respect on page 18

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‘Teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot.’

We are all equal citizens whose sovereign is G-d.

I get no respect!

Rabbi dR. Tzvi heRsh weinReb

a reformulation and, in some ways, an interpretation of “v’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha.” In addition, Rav Luntschitz carefully examines the interaction between Hillel and the would-be convert, and, in so doing, reveals the underlying intent of the latter’s famous words “teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot.” ccording to Rav Luntschitz, the non-Jew who came before both Shammai and Hillel was no prankster or joker — although Shammai apparently viewed him as such. Instead, and this is apparently how Hillel perceived him, the aspiring convert was a potential ger tzedek, a truly righteous individual, who deeply desired to accept the Master of the Universe and His Torah, live according to His mitzvot and join the ranks of our people.

niture to them. Worse, they no longer noticed me at all.”

About half of the group expressed their agreement. They described various experiences of being ignored, some quite poignant and powerful.

One woman even described being present at the outbreak of a fire in a hotel lobby, and the rescue workers “simply did not see me sitting there. That is, until I started to scream!”

But then some of the others spoke up differently. One gentleman said it for the rest of this second group: “I knew I was getting older when passengers on the subway stood up for me and gave me their seat.” That basic gesture of respect conveyed to this group of senior citizens that they had reached the age when they were not ignored, but were the beneficiaries of acts of deference.

Both groups agreed that, while they certainly did not want to be ignored, they also were resentful of these gestures of respect. The group

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‘I knew I was getting older when people started to ignore me.’

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17 THE JEWISH STAR May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779

The essence of the mitzvot

As Rav Luntschitz suggests: “[The potential ger tzedek] absolutely wanted [the essence] of all of the Torah’s mitzvot presented to him in such a manner that they would have one [unifying] principle, and this is what he actually meant by the words ‘on one foot’.”

Rav Luntschitz analyzes the ger tzedek’s ultimate purpose in making his request: “As a result of this [idea] he would be able to understand all of the mitzvot [with particular emphasis upon the proper ethical behaviors that the Torah commands between man and his fellow man]. He desired this so that he would never forget [the meaning of the mitzvot,] since this would be all too easy for a convert who had not studied anything whatsoever regarding the commandments during his youth … Thus, his intention [when he deployed the unusual phrase, ‘teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one See Mitzvot on page 18

May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

18

Readings for Sefirah and summer Kosher Bookworm

AlAn JAy GerBer

Jewish Star columnist

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his year’s spring edition of Ohr HaTzafon,

by Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz of North Woodmere, features a lucid translation and commentary on the Haggadah that is dedicated to the memories and legacies of four educators from this Long Island community. Among them is one gentleman whom I knew personally, and thus my personal interest in this literary work.

Rabbi Chanina Hertzberg, of blessed and sacred memory, received the following most deserved eloquent tribute from Rabbi Lebowitz: “Rabbi Chanina Hertzberg, zt”l, was my elementary school menahel, and we all loved him even more that we feared him. Rabbi Hertzberg taught us how fortunate we are to be Jews, and how proud we should be of being true servants

Vienna...

Continued from page 6 know what happened to them,” Fersterer said.

It turned out that most of the former Jewish students had been able to escape Nazioccupied Austria via the Kinderstransport, a rescue operation that brought Jewish children from Germany, Austria and then-Czechoslovakia to England in 1938-39.

“But some were also killed in concentration camps,” she said.

The students started looking for descendants of the survivors. Ultimately the project, including art and video, involved teachers and students in other departments.

That’s when Elia Ben-Ari of Arlington, Virginia, received her first Facebook message from Samuel, a 17-year-old senior in Fersterer’s class who asked that his last name not be used.

His message came “out of the blue,” BenAri said in a recent interview, “from somebody who said he was a student doing a project about my father. My first reaction was, ‘Who is this person? How do I know this is legitimate?’”

Samuel had chosen to write about two students — Ernst Ratzer, who did not survive the Holocaust, and Martin Buchbinder, who was sent to safety in England in 1939 and later changed his name to Moshe Ben Ari. After living in Israel, he eventually settled on suburban New York’s Long Island with his family.

He died in 2011.

Luckily, Moshe Ben Ari had written an autobiography — “My Pre-American History” — that gave Samuel enough information to go on. But it was just the beginning of his research.

“It was really a surprise to actually find a relative, and when it turned out that she was actually his daughter, I was obviously very excited and happy,” Samuel said.

On April 25, the school held a ceremony and dedication of a plaque remembering the 50 former Jewish students.

“We now have a kind of book with all their life stories,” Fersterer said.

That book sits alongside Moshe Ben Ari’s autobiography for anyone to read, in the room with the plaque, she said.

“There is no question that there are teachers who manage to succeed, who are doing a lot,” said Richelle Bud Caplan, director of the European Department at Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies and a member of the Claims Conference survey task force.

“It doesn’t have to do with funding. It has to do with support from the school administration to create a local momentum, a learn-

of G-d. He taught us the value of honesty and valued the diversity of his students, recognizing that the Jewish people are to be loved regardless of background.”

This heartfelt sentiment is deeply appreciated, and speaks to the literary integrity and high quality of this new work by Rabbi Lebowitz.

Another essay in this anthology is titled Epilogue to the Exodus: Kibbush Haaretz, Then and Now, by Michael Oppenheim, dealing with the Hallel section of the Haggadah and focusing on Psalm 136, particularly the spiritual importance of the Land of Israel. Of special interest is the author’s unique and detailed take in the section titled “Status of Lands Conquered

by Tzahal,” analyzing the legal status in Jewish law of IDF-conquered territory. The essay cites the opinions of Rav Yitzchak Herzog zt”l, Rav Eliezer Waldenberg zt”l, Rav Ben Tzion Uzziel zt”l, Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank zt”l, and Rav Shalom Goren zt”l, among many others.

Of note will be the author’s take on military actions during the Six Day War of 1967, and of the opinions of Rav Avraham Sherman

ing community,” she said. “We very much want people to focus on individual stories, so youngsters can connect,” and understand that “the majority of those who lived during this complex and difficult period did not survive.”

“Our school has a memorial remembering the fallen soldiers of World War II, but it didn’t have one memorial for the Jewish students,” said Samuel, who walks the same halls and climbs the same stairs that they did.

“I can imagine it was terrible,” he said. On the students’ last day, “mobs formed at the entrance of our school, where a few hardcore teachers and students were spitting and shouting names. So it was not a very kind goodbye, as you can imagine.”

As for Ben-Ari, she regrets that she could not attend the dedication ceremony. But “I think my father would have been gratified to know that somebody read his history and cared about it.”

Child...

Continued from page 16 3). The true prophet then declares in the name of G-d that the very act which is performed for the purpose of keeping the child alive, will bring death upon him who performs it, and destruction upon his seed. Comp. ‘And I will set my face against that man and against his family,’ etc. (ibid. xx. 5).

“Know that traces of this practice have survived even to the present day, because it was widespread in the world. You can see how midwives take a young child wrapped in its swaddling-clothes, and after having placed incense of a disagreeable smell on the fire, swing the child in the smoke over that fire. This is certainly a kind of passing children through the fire, and we must not do it. Reflect on the evil cunning of the author of this doctrine; how people continued to adhere to this doctrine, and how, in spite of the opposition of the Law during thousands of years, its name is not blotted out, and its traces are still in existence.” abbeinu Bachaye concludes his remarks, noting, “I’ve already written about this in Vayikra 18:21, that some of the commentators believed that the child was burned when passed multiple times through the fire, until he died. This, however, was not the view of Maimonides, for he believed the child was not burned but was merely passed between fires (and survived).

“According to his words, the verse (Devarim 12:31) ‘Do not worship G-d your L-rd with such practices. In worshiping their gods, [these nations], committed all sorts of perversions hated

by G-d. They would even burn their sons and daughters in fire as a means of worshiping their

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concerning the implications of the military conquest resulting from the conduct of this war, especially the positions taken by the United Nations in this matter.

Also of timely interest is the recent publication by ArtScroll of the Mishnah Elucidated edition of Tractate Avos. Of particular interest is the essay found on pages 4 through 5, titled The Custom to Study Avos on Shabbos Afternoons. This essay teaches us the history and origin of this practice and its practical value to us today, especially in the enhanced application of the numerous commentaries cited in this new edition of this cherished and sacred work.

And, finally, speaking about Pirkei Avos, the recent untimely passing of Joe Bobker z”l prompts me to bring to your attention his commentary, “With a Twist of Humor.” In it, Joe places a well-earned smile on this sacred literary discipline for your spring and summer learning routine.

Do try to obtain these works, and come to further appreciation the sacred teachings of our Sages. gods!’ refers to a different form of idolatry that is not Molech.”

In other words, Maimonides was of the view that there were two different rituals: a passing through to survival was Molech, while the pass through to death was something else, a different kind of idolatry.

The draw to Molech was superstition, and what we now know to be a false sense of security in response to fearmongering perpetrated by the Molech idolators.

If it’s just a superstition and it is meaningless and harmless, then why should G-d be upset about it? Because believing in the god that is Molech in anyway is “thus defiling that which is holy to Me and profaning My holy name” (Vayikra 20:3). Molech thrives on fear.

Franklin Roosevelt famously said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Our decisions and choices should never be driven by fear. Instead, we should find the strength to believe and trust in G-d himself, and pray that He carries us through to the other side, to where we seek to be.

the more impressive to find the most egalitarian sentiments coming from the world of the priest, whose religious role was a matter of birth. he equality we find in the Torah is not an equality of wealth; Judaism is not communism. Nor is it an equality of power: Judaism is not anarchy. It is an equality of dignity.

We are all equal citizens in the nation whose sovereign is G-d.

Hence the elaborate political and economic structure set out in Leviticus. Every seventh day is free. Every seventh year, the produce of the field belongs to all, slaves are liberated, and debts released. Every fiftieth year, ancestral land returns to its original owners. Thus the inequalities that are the inevitable result of freedom are mitigated.

The logic of these provisions is the priestly insight that G-d, creator of all, is the ultimate owner of all: “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is Mine and you reside in My land as strangers and temporary residents” (Lev. 25:23). G-d has the right, not just the power, to set limits to inequality. No one should be robbed of dignity by poverty, servitude, or debt.

What is truly remarkable, however, is what happened after the biblical era and the destruction of the Second Temple. Faced with losing the entire infrastructure of the holy — the Temple, its priests, and sacrifices — Judaism translated the entire system into the everyday life of ordinary Jews. In prayer, every Jew became a priest offering a sacrifice. In repentance, he became a High Priest, atoning for his sins and those of his people. Every synagogue became a fragment of the Temple in Jerusalem. Every table became an altar, every act of charity a kind of sacrifice.

Torah study became the right and obligation of everyone. Not everyone could wear the crown of priesthood, but everyone could wear the crown of Torah. A Torah scholar of illegitimate birth, say the Sages, is greater than an ignorant High Priest.

Out of the devastating tragedy of the loss of the Temple, the Sages created a religious and social order that came closer to the ideal of the people as “a kingdom of Priests and a holy nation” than had ever previously been realized.

The seed had been planted long before, in the opening of Leviticus 19: “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them, ‘Be holy because I the L-rd your G-d am holy.’”

Holiness belongs to all of us when we turn our lives into the service of G-d, and society into a home for the Divine Presence.

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Mitzvot... Respect...

Continued from page 17 foot,’] was for [Hillel] to teach him something that could be said quickly and was comprised of few words. This, then, would be the fundamental concept of the Torah, and ‘the one foot’ that he needed; for as a result of this idea, he would be able to remember [and understand] all of Hashem’s mitzvot.”

In Rav Luntschitz’s estimation, the ger tzedek was driven by the highest religious ardor to appear before Hillel in order to understand the authentic meaning of the mitzvot, and ever remember their paramount importance.

In many ways, therefore, he serves as an ideal role model for us all, since, far too often, we become overwhelmed by the challenges of daily living and forget that the Torah and mitzvot should appear to us as holy gifts from the Almighty.

The ger tzedek helps us refocus our priorities, so that we may redouble our energies and create a vibrant, dynamic and spiritually-infused relationship with the Master of the Universe.

Priest...

Continued from page 17 of hierarchy. There is no order among the gods because there are no gods, there is only One G-d, Creator of all. Hierarchy will always exist: armies need commanders, films need directors, and orchestras, conductors. But these are functional; they are not a matter of birth. So it is all

Continued from page 17 as the consequence of showing deference to the elderly. Thus, if you treat the elderly well, you will attain the spiritual level of the G-d-fearing person. But if you refrain from showing the elderly that deference, you can never aspire to the title “G-d-fearing person,” no matter how pious you are in other respects.

There is another, entirely different perspective on our verse, which provides a practical motive for honoring the elderly. It is to be found in the commentary of Abraham Ibn Ezra, who explains the phrase “You shall fear your G-d” thus: “The time will come when you will be old and frail and lonely. You will long for proper treatment at the hands of the young. But if you showed disrespect for the elderly when you were young, and did not ‘fear G-d,’ G-d will not reward you with the treatment you desire in your own old age.”

As each of us strives to show genuine respect to our elders, we help construct a society in which the elderly have their proper place. That society will hopefully still be there when we become older, and then we will reap the benefits of our own youthful behavior.

Our Torah portion is entitled Kedoshim, which means “holy.” One of the major components of the holy society is the treatment it accords to every one of its members, especially those who are vulnerable. Treating the elderly with genuine respect, truly listening to them and valuing their contributions, is an essential part of what it mean to be a “holy people.”

View from Central Park

Intermountain Jewish News

They can’t break us O

ver the last days of Pesach, I did not access technology for 48 hours. Afterward, I went online with curiosity.

Usually it’s silly things you missed in the interim. This time was different.

A shooting at a Chabad synagogue in Poway, California? Another shul under attack?

Could this be?

A blatantly anti-Semitic cartoon in the vein of Der Stürmer? At first I thought it was some kind of sick meme; I honestly didn’t register that it was an actual, published cartoon, in the New York Times no less. While I’m no fan of the paper, in my worst dreams I would not have believed the Times would stoop to publishing something that so crudely crossed the Rubicon by all definitions.

So, a shul is shot up by a right-wing white supremacist, while a left-wing bastion is purveying out-and-out anti-Semitism. There was no reprieve.

It felt pervasive, coming from everywhere at the same time.

While the two events may not officially be linked, in my mind they are, primarily because of the timing. But also because — make no mistake — normalizing Jew hatred in the Times most certainly does embolden anti-Semitism and potentially lead to bloodshed.

I kept reading about the many heroes of this shul attack, including Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein. Having stood face to face with the murderer, shot at, suffering from a torn-off finger and a bleeding stub, the rabbi, like a true captain of a ship, only thought of others. Corralling kids to safety. Continuing with prayers. Most strikingly, finishing his sermon among the pandemonium, his voice rising above the terror with a piercing message to his congregation in the midst of unfolding trauma: “We are strong! We are united! They can’t break us!”

The voice of this heroic rabbi did not stop; it was he who was shepherding us all.

We all became Rabbi Goldstein’s congregation.

His words of strength, post-surgery, were simply stunning. I get up on a chair, and I scream out loud with my finger dangling and bleeding, and I say the most powerful words: Am Yisrael Chai! The Jewish people lives! The videos so poignant and tragic at the funeral of his dear friend and congregant: Today should have been my funeral. The power of his emotional appeal and message of love, strength and commitment to Yiddishkeit.

You could tell his words sprang from the well of a lifetime of love, humanity and unwavering dedication to Judaism. had barely caught up and processed the post-Pesach news, when suddenly the next morning the ethereal and otherworldly face of the righteous Kaliver Rebbe rose in my feed with the news of his passing.

Because of the Nazi doctors’ experiments, he was unable to grow a beard. This tzaddik dedicated his life to the memory of the Holocaust and to cultivating unity among the See Break on page 22 Jewish people.

Words from the well of a lifetime of love.

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Very different US reactions to Hamas Politics to go

Jeff duNetz

Jewish Star columnist

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he American government’s reaction to this weekend’s Hamas rocket barrage and Israeli self-defense was much different than that of the Obama administration.

The response of the ever-growing list of Democratic Party presidential candidates was also unusual.

The Trump administration’s reaction to the conflict was similar to that of the previous administration, with one significant difference: there was no “but,” “both sides,” or admonitions to “show restraint.”

With each conflict between Israel and Hamas during the Obama administration would come a declaration that the United States supported Israel’s right to defend herself. But it wouldn’t end there; it would add a false equivalency statement inferring that both sides were responsible for the violence.

The 2014 conflict began with a Hamas rocket barrage. Amid the rocket attacks, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told the media, “No country should be expected to stand by while rocket attacks from a terrorist organization are launching into their country.”

She continued, “At the same time, in the secretary’s conversation, in the conversations of all of our senior administration officials, they’ve been encouraging all sides to deescalate the situation.”

That statement neglected the fact that for “all sides to deescalate,” Hamas had to stop firing rockets. his past Saturday, as Hamas fired rockets into Israel, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortega provided a statement to the press: “The United States strongly condemns the ongoing barrage of rocket attacks by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Gaza upon innocent civilians and their communities across Israel. We call on those responsible for the violence to cease this aggression immediately. We stand with Israel and fully support its right to self-defense against these abhorrent attacks.”

Jason Greenblatt, Special Assistant to the President for Special Negotiations, added his two cents on Twitter: “Hamas & PIJ have engaged in yet another deplorable act of terrorism, indiscriminately firing hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilian communities. The U.S. stands firmly in support of Israel’s right to self-defense and we call on the international community to do the same.”

No false equivalency between the two

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sides in either of those statements.

Five years ago, the AP reported that thenPresident Obama “condemned the rocket attacks and said Israel has the right to selfdefense. But Obama also urged both sides not to escalate the crisis and to restore calm.”

Obama didn’t seem to care that only one side could restore calm — Hamas, who started the conflict and continued the violence by firing rockets into southern Israel.

On Sunday, as Hamas launched rockets at Israel, President Trump tweeted a different message. “Once again, Israel faces a barrage of deadly rocket attacks by terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. We support Israel 100% in its defense of its citizens … To the Gazan people — these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery.

END the violence and work towards peace — it can happen!”

Vice President Pence tweeted, “We strongly condemn the attacks in Gaza by Hamas terrorists. Israel has the absolute right to defend itself & the U.S. stands by our great ally Israel.”

Notice what’s missing? A call for “both sides” to restore calm. s of this writing, there are twenty-one Democrats are running for the party’s nomination to face President Trump in 2020. During campaigns, even when candidates aren’t particularly friendly toward the Jewish state, they will usually condemn Hamas rocket attacks and, if necessary for their base, add a false equivalency statement.

Perhaps another indication of the Democratic Party’s distance from Israel is the fact that as of Monday morning, not a single one of the twenty-one candidates mentioned the Hamas rocket attacks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has been silent, as has the Senate Minority Leader, New York’s own Senator Chuck Schumer.

Perhaps Schumer was too busy trying to impeach the president or hold Attorney General Barr in contempt. Maybe he is only trying to impress the mullahs whom he delighted with his support for the Iran nuke deal.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, the Democrat who represents NY’s 10th Congressional District, has also been silent about the attack on Israel.

Nadler’s is the most Jewish congressional district in the country — 38% of his constituents are Jewish — making his silence strange (but then again, so was his vote in favor of the JCPOA).

Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House Majority leader, made a strong statement in support of

Israel that said in part, “Hamas must immediately stop launching rockets into Israel. The targeting of innocent communities is never acceptable, as is the exploitation of protected sites like schools and mosques by Hamas and its affiliates for the purpose of launching attacks. Israel has every right to defend itself against these rocket attacks from Gaza.” ut the new crop of congressional Democrats reflected the Democratic Party’s shift away from supporting Israel, a move that began long before they were elected. Rep. Ilan Omar (D-MN) tweeted, “How many more protesters must be shot, rockets must be fired, and little kids must be killed until the endless cycle of violence ends? The status quo of occupation and humanitarian crisis in Gaza is unsustainable.”

Occupation? Israel left Gaza in August 2005. I can personally confirm that fact because I was visiting Israel at the time. Perhaps Rep. Omar didn’t read the newspapers that day.

There is no cycle of violence. The violence starts and ends with Hamas. Since it took over in 2007, Hamas has turned the Gaza Strip into a staging ground for rocket and terrorist attacks.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) objected to a New York Times headline, “Gaza Militants Fire 250 Rockets and Israel Responds With Airstrikes.” She tweeted out the headline and added, “When will the world stop dehumanizing our Palestinian people who just want to be free? Headlines like this & framing it in this way just feeds into the continued lack of responsibility on Israel who unjustly oppress & target Palestinian children and families.”

If she was impartial, Tlaib would understand that it is Hamas that is oppressing the people of Gaza.

The American administration’s reaction to Hamas rocket launches and Israel’s selfdefense is much different in 2019. There is no equivocation. The Trump administration’s stance is that Hamas needs to stop firing rockets, and Israel’s self-defense is justified — period.

Supporters of Israel who will vote in the 2020 elections should carefully consider the silence of the twenty-one Democratic candidates. Their silence can only mean they are intimidated by the anti-Israel progressives who dominate their party. If they cannot muster a statement about Hamas rocket attacks as candidates, they will, G-d forbid, feel no need to support the Jewish state if they’re elected.

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What’s missing?

A call for ‘both sides’ to restore calm.

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19 THE JEWISH STAR May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779

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May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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Anti-Zionism is more lethal than anti-Semitism david suissa Jewish Journal

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always get suspicious when I hear someone flaunt their pro-Israel credentials by saying, “I firmly believe in Israel’s right to exist.” Gee, thanks. I firmly believe in your right to exist, too.

The real question is: How did the issue of Israel’s “right to exist” ever come up?

We never hear about Syria’s right to exist or Libya’s right to exist or Sudan’s right to exist or Yemen’s right to exist. A country can commit genocide or inflict humanitarian disaster on its people, and no one will ever bring up its “right to exist.”

So why is it OK to single out Israel?

Here’s my theory: If you hate Jews so much that you want to challenge their very existence, your best bet is to go after Israel. Jew haters know they can’t start a movement to eliminate the Jews, so they do the next best thing: they work to undermine the world’s only Jewish state.

A stark example is the Boycott, Divestment

and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a leading global force against Israel. Its very name is misleading.

Words like “boycott,” “divestment” and “sanctions,” which are taken straight from the social justice manual, create a façade of genuine protest to hide a destructive agenda.

This shouldn’t shock anyone who’s been paying attention. In recent years, it has become more and more evident that the BDS agenda is not to criticize Israel but to crush it.

Even prominent BDS activists, like Ahmad Moor, have come clean: “OK, fine. So BDS does mean the end of the Jewish state.” Or activist Anna Baltzer: “We need to wipe out Israel.” Or university professor As’ad Abu Khalil, another activist: “The real aim of BDS is to bring down the State of Israel.”

Omar Barghouti, the founder of BDS, has said on the record: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine.”

To undermine the 3,000-year Jewish connection to the land, Barghouti uses language like “acquired rights” and “indigenized.” His vision in-

cludes “de-Zionization” of Israel and the return of up to five million Palestinian “refugees” to flood the Jewish state. ad BDS called itself the Wipe Out Israel Now movement, no one would have taken it seriously. Instead, it uses the messaging of protest and intersectionality to attract well-meaning activists who don’t want to see Israel wiped out. This subterfuge is their strategy, and for the gullible crowd, it’s working.

It’s working primarily because activists have succeeded in putting Israel’s existence on the table. They are sucking in much of the mainstream media, and others who believe in “two states for two people” and assume that BDS is a way of pressuring Israel to get there.

BDS is far from that. Its mission can be traced back to the founding mission of the PLO in 1964, before any Jewish settlements existed: to eliminate what is still seen as the unacceptable colonialist and sovereign Jewish-Zionist intrusion into Arab-Muslim lands.

This is why, in my eyes, anti-Zionism is more

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Activists put Israel’s existence on the table.

lethal than anti-Semitism: it carries the virus of mass destruction.

As author Gil Troy writes in an email from Jerusalem, “Thousands have been killed and maimed by modern anti-Zionism, which requires the ideological and rhetorical inflammation to get people to blow themselves up and kill innocents.

As a result, not only have we absorbed the notion that Israel’s existence should be up for grabs, but our outrage has been dulled — we accept attacks on Israel as normal.”

Underlying the whole assault on Israel, he adds, “is the rejection of us as a people–we are just supposed to be a ‘nice’ religion confined to our synagogues and JCCs, not a people taking up real space in the international arena.”

In sum, it is no longer enough to argue that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism; in many ways it is worse. Anti-Semitism revolves around an emotion — hate. Anti-Zionism revolves around an action — eradication.

The blatant discrimination against Israel that defines anti-Zionism must be fought on its own terms. In any case, there’s no need to defend Israel’s right to exist. If you want to flaunt your proIsrael credentials, just say you firmly believe in Israel’s right to thrive.

The reality of sirens for Israel’s children deborah danan

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t’s been a surreal few days. On Thursday, I grappled with explaining the Holocaust Remembrance Day siren to my four-year-old. We were in a coffee shop when it blared. I decided I would leave explanations about dead Jews and the people who want them that way for when she’s older. I only warned her in advance what the siren would sound like and told her we had to stand very still.

Today we were in Ashdod visiting her grandmother. Three sirens blared. The first sounded when we were in the playground outside the synagogue. She stood stock-still. Just like I taught her. But this time I yelled: “Run!” There wasn’t a bomb shelter nearby so I scooped up the baby and we huddled by a wall. My four-year-old’s eyes darted wildly from side to side. We heard a boom. Smoke snaked through the sky as the Iron Dome interceptor hit its target. I decided not to tell her about dead Jews and the people who want them that way.

Later on, we went to nap after lunch. Just as I was about to fall asleep, the sky shrieked open as fighter jets tore through it. When the planes get over south Ashdod — where we were — they open their afterburners for the run into the Gaza Strip, and the sound is nothing short of terrifying. And then, a dull thudding in the distance as they reach their target in Gaza, only 17 miles away.

My eyes droop again, but this time it’s another siren that pulls me out of bed. I run to get my four-year-old. Then run to wake the baby. I vaguely wonder how people living in

I decided not to tell her.

Sderot with multiple kids make these decisions about who to run to first on a daily basis.

We cram into the stairwell. There are other families there. They have their phones out.

It is Shabbat so we don’t. But I don’t need a phone to tell me what’s happening. All of us have been here before.

My baby is wide-eyed but calm. My fouryear-old doesn’t look panicked this time. Far from it. This time she laughs and makes a throwaway comment about fireworks in the sky. Then she says, “It’s over, let’s go back inside.” And I marvel at how quickly they adapt.

Deborah Danan is a freelance journalist. She was the founding editor of The Jerusalem Post’s Premium Zone and editor of its op-ed page.

Who’s responsible for stopping terrorism in Gaza?

Jonathan s. tobin

I

sraelis have just endured yet another weekend of terror and the reactions have been predictable. Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched more than 600 rockets into Israel that cost the lives of four Israelis and wounded 10 more.

It’s just one more chapter in the long war being waged by the Palestinians on Israel’s existence. Were they willing to make peace with Israel, there would be no rockets, no terror attacks and no need for Israel to strike back against the rocket launchers and their paymasters.

Abroad, the reaction to the assault has evoked many of the usual expressions of moral equivalence from the Jewish state’s critics. Many countries have followed the lead of the Trump administration in opposing Hamas’s blatantly illegal actions in deliberately targeting Israeli civilians.

But while U.S. President Donald Trump has unambiguously denounced the Gaza terrorists — and expressed total support for Israel and its right to defend itself — others, such as French President Emmanuel Macron and the European Union, have qualified that stand, calling it part of a “cycle of violence” in which both parties were by definition at fault and also mentioning their desire for Israeli “restraint.”

Cheerleaders for the Palestinians were less evenhanded. Representatives Ilhan Omar (DMinn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) took to Twit-

ter to bash Israel. Both treated the rocket attacks as Israelis getting what deserved in return for their treatment of Palestinians.

That Omar and Tlaib are lying about Gaza’s occupation and the suffering there being Israel’s fault gives the lie to their attempt to claim that Hamas is fighting for their freedom. But what else can you expect from supporters of a BDS movement that — like Hamas and Islamic Jihad — seeks the destruction of Israel?

On the Jewish left, the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow also placed no blame on Hamas. Less strident Jewish critics did condemn Hamas, but stuck to the line about a cycle of violence that ignores Palestinian intransigence. n Israel, critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are once again wondering why he allows Hamas to periodically terrorize much of the population of Israel without doing anything to put an end to the problem. It’s hard to argue with their complaints.

The status quo is intolerable. Any time Hamas or Iran (which may be pulling the strings of Islamic Jihad) wants to disrupt Israeli life, they can do so. Israel did hit back with attacks on those shooting the rockets, on Hamas facilities and with targeted strikes on specific Hamas figures, like the operative responsible for funneling money to Gaza from Tehran. Perhaps those moves chastened the Hamas leadership into agreeing to a ceasefire.

But if Palestinian terrorists wish to disrupt Israel’s Memorial and Independence Day holidays or the holding of the Eurovision song contest in Tel Aviv next week by raining down death and destruction on Israeli towns and cities, they can do so.

I

What’s deterring Netanyahu from putting an end to Hamas’s rule over Gaza?

The answers are obvious. The costs in Israeli and Palestinian blood that would be shed in order to rid the area of Hamas would be terrible.

No prime minister — and certainly not one as cautious when it comes to using the military as Netanyahu — wants to send Israeli boys to their deaths in the streets and tunnels of Gaza where Hamas has fortified itself. And he is just as unwilling to be forced to order actions that will result in the deaths of countless Palestinians, who will be staked out as human shields to protect Hamas operatives and leaders.

Just as important in making this decision is that Israel has no desire to rule Gaza, which it would be forced to do if it rid the strip of the terrorist scourge. Nor is the Israeli government eager to go to war in order to try and hand Gaza over to the Palestinian Authority, whose attempts to squeeze Hamas financially is part of the reason the terrorists use these flareups to distract Gazans from their economic woes.

That’s why the status quo in Gaza persists. et what most commentators, both Israeli and non-Israeli, miss about this issue is that it isn’t Israel’s responsibility to save Gaza from Islamist tyranny. It should be up to the Palestinians themselves to do so, and that’s what those who purport to care about them ought to be encouraging.

As long as Hamas is a powerful force in Palestinian life and can use Gaza as a base, any hope for peace is impossible. That’s not just because it means control of the Palestinian population is divided between the Islamists and the Fatahrun P.A. It’s because Hamas acts as a permanent check on any possible tendency among Palestinian leadership to discard their century-old ideology of hatred for Jews and Zionism. While there’s no evidence that P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas would make peace even if he wanted to, neither he nor an eventual successor will ever try while Hamas poses a threat to their power and their lives.

That’s why it’s incumbent on the people of Gaza, their fellow Palestinians and those who claim to wish them well to do everything in their power to aid an effort to overthrow Hamas from within, rather than asking Israel to endure a costly military campaign to do it for them.

Rather than chide Israel for defending itself or Netanyahu from refraining from a bloodbath in order to take Gaza, it’s time for everyone to speak up to demand that the Gazans and other Palestinians overthrow their Islamist tyrants. Given Hamas’s strength and support, that won’t be easy.

But until it does happen, all talk of peace — from Americans, Europeans, Israelis or Palestinians — is just so much hot air.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS.

It isn’t Israel’s responsibility to save Gaza from Islamist tyranny.

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OSCOW — Whether it’s a white supremacist targeting praying Jews, blacks or Muslims, or an Islamic radical committed to killing Christians on Easter Sunday, it has become very trendy to attack houses of worship.

In Europe, synagogues unfortunately have been targeted by terrorists for quite some time, including deadly attacks at the Great Synagogue of Vienna in 1981 and the Great Synagogue of Rome in 1982. In the past 15 years, Jewish institutions have been targeted by Muslim radicals in France, Belgium and Denmark. In my own community, on the eve of Passover this year, a terrorist targeted the Torath Haim Yeshiva in a Moscow suburb, burning down an annex of the building.

As a result of terror attacks against synagogues and Jewish businesses, many of Europe’s Jews have ceased to attend Jewish events or have made aliyah to Israel — something that might happen soon in the United States. In the wake of two synagogue shootings, the situation for Jews in the United States is unfortunately starting to look very much like the situation in Europe, where communities have increased the security of their synagogues, community centers and schools.

But unlike European synagogues, which are secured like fortresses, synagogues in the United States still often have little or no security. If U.S. synagogues want to improve this situation, then either the government or Jewish institutions must rise to the challenge.

Governments don’t always like to help.

In Switzerland, the government balked at the need to chip in, claiming that the Jews are rich enough to take care of themselves. The Conference of European Rabbis had to convene side events at the Munich Security Conference to galvanize European governments into assisting the Jewish communities of Europe with the additional security burden.

In contrast, the United Kingdom, France and Germany have been very helpful to their communities, and others are following suit.

In the United States, the Secure Community Network, run by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, is one Jewish organization attempting to meet this challenge. However, during my last visit to the United States, I was dismayed at the extent to which U.S. synagogues are less secure than European ones.

Often the best security measures and provisions require communal efforts in conjunction with local law enforcement agencies. And while law enforcement officers routinely work with important U.S. Jewish institutions, what is needed is a radical overhaul of all security measures in order to adapt to new realities.

For example, to prevent another Pittsburgh or Poway, the entrance to any Jewish institution should be controlled to make sure that no unknown person can enter.

The liberal gun laws in the United States are part of the problem, but they can also be part of the solution. If one or two armed and trained congregants were on duty inside synagogues at all times, the immediate response to an armed attack might reduce the number of casualties.

If a gunman could be stopped before creating carnage, copycat attackers might be deterred from following through with their murderous intentions. This is the practice in many of Europe’s communities that struggle to come up with the cash needed for security.

Recruiting young professionals to this initiative could help give a sense of purpose and unity to many younger Jews still finding a place in the community, and also will help lower the cost of security for many congregations.

The average cost of providing security eats up nearly 25 percent of the annual budget for a midsize community like Zurich and Munich, up to 50 percent for isolated communities like Helsinki.

I remember arriving in Jerusalem following the attack against a synagogue in the Ramot neighborhood that resulted in terrible carnage. When I prayed in a little neighborhood synagogue and dozens of people gathered for prayers, I always asked myself, “What if one of them takes a knife from his pocket and starts stabbing everyone around him?” When a soldier with a gun joined the prayer, I calmed down.

Of course, a major aspect of security is deterrence and control of who is entering the premises. In the Forward, columnist Peter Beinart recalled how he recently had to recite the Shema in order to enter a synagogue in Amsterdam. I don’t know how many Jews in the United States know the Shema (that’s a separate problem), but having members at the entrance to identify worshippers is a well-practiced tradition in many European communities.

With G-d’s help and the right approach, we can meet this challenge head-on and avert further crises. But it will require a hard look at how we secure our synagogues, and a commitment to investing the requisite time and resources.

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt is the chief rabbi of Moscow and president of the Conference of European Rabbis.

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CAlendar

Send your events to Calendar@TheJewishStar.com • Deadline noon Friday • Compiled by Rachel Langer

Sunday May 12

Project Extreme: Annual scholarship breakfast at the home of Michael & Michelle Edery; guest speaker Don Ghermezian. 9:30 am. 22 Meadow Lane, Lawrence. 516-612-3922.

Measles Testing: Are you immune? Get tested and vaccinated at Young Israel of Woodmere.

Even if you were vaccinated, you may be at risk.

Find out with a simple blood test. Bring valid ID and insurance card; no appointment needed.

Medical halacha shiur and Q&A by Rabbi Aaron Glatt, MD. 10 am to 2 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere.

Language of Life: Hatzalah of the Rockaways & Nassau County dinner at the Sands. 6:30 pm. 1395 Beech St, Atlantic Beach. HatzalahRL. org. $360.

HANC Gala: 66th anniversary gala. Guests of Honor Faige & Akiva Lefkowitz; Grandparents of the Year Joanne & Bill Mlotok; Family Legacy Award to the Rudansky and Wyner families.

Special tribute in memory of Rabbi Moshe Gottesman zt”l. 21 Old Westbury Rd, Old Westbury.

HANC.org/dinner2019. $500 per couple.

Wednesday May 15

Night of Heroes: Friends of the Israel Defense Forces 8th Five Towns & Greater South Shore event at the Sands of Atlantic Beach. Honoring Malky & Jay Spector, and Judith & Zoltan Lefkovits. 7 pm. 1395 Beech St, Atlantic Beach.

646-274-9661; FIDF.org/FTGSS2019.

Women of Wonder: Emunah’s evening of inspiration and celebration, honoring the accomplishments of Shimi Adar, Orly Gottesman, Kim Heyman and Yael Schulman. For men and women. 7:30 pm. 35 E 21st St, ground floor, Manhattan. EmunahWOW.org; 917-287-5846. $180.

Sunday May 19

Jewish Nurses: Annual conference of the Orthodox Jewish Nurses Association. Workshops on many topics including Jewish issues in the field. CME. credit; breakfast and lunch.

227 West 60th St, Manhattan. Register at JewishNurses.org.

Madraigos: Five Towns annual breakfast to benefit Madraigos, a nonprofit organization supporting teens, young adults, and their parents.

Hosted by Dovid and Chavie Klein. 9:30 am. 183 Harborview North, Lawrence. 516-371-3250.

5 Towns 5K: Tenth annual 5K. Run or walk to support Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans at North Woodmere Park. Kids FunRun at 9:30 am; race begins at 10. Register online at 5towns5k.org.

Greek Jewish Festival: Celebrating the unique Romaniote and Sephardic heritage of Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue. Authentic kosher Greek food and pastries, live music, dance, synagogue tours, outdoor marketplace. 12 pm to 6 pm. 280 Broome St, Manhattan.

Kulanu Fair: Face painting, crafts, rides, games, raffles, carnival booths, and more at Andrew J. Parise Park in Cedarhurst. Kulanu is a nonprofit organization serving children with disabilities in our community. 12:30 to 5 pm. KulanuKids.org.

Book Signing: Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County presents “While There’s Life: Poems from the Mittelsteine Labor Camp (1944-1945),” by Ruth Minsky Sender. 3 pm.

100 Crescent Beach Road, Glen Cove. RSVP 516-5718040 or info@hmtcli.org. $10 suggested donation.

Monday May 20

Women’s Leadership Summit: OU Women’s Initiative invites female lay leaders who are impacting schools, synagogues, and other com-

munity organizations to connect, develop, and grow. Presenters include Erica Brown, Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, Leslie Ginsparg-Klein, Allison Josephs, and Chani Neuberger. Space is limited.

Dinner: Mesivta Ateres Yaakov annual dinner.

Honoring Mr. & Mrs. Avi Dreyfuss, Dr. & Mrs. Yechiel Berkowitz, celebrating the Class of 2009, dedication of the Bahn Otzer Haseforim in memory of Dr. Saul Bahn. 7 pm. 1395 Beech St, Atlantic Beach. RSVP Dinner@AteresYaakov.com or 516-374-6465.

Tuesday May 21

Beth Sholom: Sisterhood annual supperette.

Guests of honor Molly Lilker and Carol Small; also honoring Tammy Schreiber with Service Award and Chaya Miller with Special Recognition Award. 5 pm boutiques; 7:15 pm dinner.

Wednesday May 22

YIW Supperette: The Young Israel of Woodmere Sisterhood is proud to announce spring supperette honorees Tova Brown, Enid Gooldstein, and Roberta Warren. Save the date!

Thursday May 30

FD Dinner: Familial Dysautonomia NOW Foundation hosts its 17th annual dinner honoring Jolyn & Lane Sparber. Support research that will drive better treatments and cures for patients with this Ashkenazi Jewish genetic disease. 6 pm. 775 Branch Blvd, Cedarhurst.

Monday June 3

Beth Sholom Dinner: 67th Annual Testimonial dinner to support Beth Sholom of Lawrence. Guests of Honor Phyllis & Philip Kerstein; Lifetime Service Award Pilar & Richie Olmedo.

6 pm. 390 Broadway, Lawrence. 516-569-3600 ext. 21.

Break...

Continued from page 19 He was known for singing the Hungarian song “Szól a Kakas Már,” a melancholy song about a bird yearning for its home, understood to be a metaphor for the Jewish people.

It was the week of Holocaust Memorial Day. Already, even before the day itself, the week was tinged with sadness. So many personal snippets and vignettes began dotting my Facebook feed. “Szól a Kakas Már” became the soundtrack to the week’s sad confluence of events.

Somewhere in the middle of it all, I contemplated going to shul on Shabbat and felt nervous. I told myself, I must review the security procedures before I go.

A constant flow of personal Holocaust memories pass before me every time I turn on social media. “When my zaide was in Auschwitz…” “At the selection…” “The number on my grandmother’s arm…” “The honey cookies my grandmother’s family baked to last them through the ghetto…”

Many of these vignettes are accompanied by haunted photos, vintage black-and-white, exuding pre-World War II shtetl life. Of a time, of a family, gone by. Destroyed and severed against its will.

But as I shuffle through these heartbreaking tales of doom, one after another, the determination and anger begin to rise.

We are not termites. We are not dogs. We will never take this lying down again. Never!

We are as strong as ever!

Rabbi Goldstein’s words, that rang through his terrorized shul, reverberate over all. Am Yisrael is chai! The Jewish peoples lives!

“We are strong! We are united! They can’t break us!”

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note remarks that opened the fourth While Torah is nual an- passed down way for the mesorahforever true, the ideal tive Five Towns Community Collaboraaccording Conference on to be conveyed the time, emphasizing to the middah of children — and Sunday.

“What is the Torah how an everlastingto our that the primary of Torah and the kids need now?” ingredent needed in Yiddishkeit is embeddedlove he asked. “What today’s chinuch simcha. their beings — worked in 1972 is in necessarily changes won’t work today.”

Twenty-six speakers, “You’re still talking over time.

Rabbi Weinberger, about what rebbetzins, educators, including rabbis, for you in 1972 and insisting thatworked d’asrah of Congregationfounding morah ers and community leadwhat should work lecturers that’s Woodmere Aish Kodesh in and mashpia at sue that challengeeach addressed a key isMoshe Weinberger, for your kid,” Rabbi the YU, reminded families and parents Shila”a, said in key- that Torah and educators in attendance frum communities. The event, schools in will not be received the Young Israel hosted at of Woodmere, if it’s not was orgaSee 5 Towns Rabbi Moshe hosts on page Weinberger, of 15 Kodesh in Woodmere, Congregation Aish delivered keynote

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betzin Shani Taragin, 7:53 • Torah columns Tanach coordinator and mashgicha 6:46 pm, Havdalah nika, and Morah”; ruchanit at Midreshet Towns candles Rabbi • Five rah V’avodah, Ephraim 5777 Congregation Polakoff, don’t”; “Miriam: Meyaledet, To• 24 Elul Bais 15, 2017 Rabbi Jesse Horn Tefilah, “Teens Meiech • Sept. technology: What and kotel, of Yeshivat HaNitzavim-Vayeil you know and ognize your bashert”; what you and “Helping children balance ideology Rabbi Kenneth pleasure”; Esther of Congregation Hain Wein, “How to Beth Shalom, rec- A-OK to “When it’s say yes.”

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Arthur James Balfour

t was a minor news story when it broke in the summer of 2016. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced he was suing Great Britain over the Balfour Declaration, issued on Nov. 2, 1917. But as we observe the centennial of the document this week, it’s important to understand that although his lawsuit was a stunt, Abbas was serious. More than that, the symbolism of his See Tobin on page 22

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or the Palestinians, the year zero is not 1948, when the state of Israel came into being, but 1917, when Great Britain issued, on Nov. 2, the Balfour Declaration—expressing support for the establishment of a “Jewish national home” in Palestine.

So central is the Balfour Declaration to Palestinian political identity that the “Zionist invasion” is officially deemed to have begun in 1917—not in 1882, when the first trickle of Jewish pioneers from Russia began arriving, nor in 1897, when the Zionist movement held its first congress in Basel, nor in the late 1920s, when thousands of German Jews fleeing the rise of Nazism chose to go to Palestine.

The year 1917 is the critical date because that is when, as an anti-Zionist might say, the Zionist hand slipped effortlessly into the British imperial glove. It is a neat, simple historical proposition upon which the entire Palestinian version of events rests: an empire came to our land and gave it to foreigners, we were dispossessed, and for five generations now, we have continued to resist. Moreover, it is given official sanction in the Palestine National Covenant of 1968, in which article 6 defines Jews who “were living permanently in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion” as “Palestinians”—an invasion that is dated as 1917 in the covenants’ notes.

As the Balfour Declaration’s centenary approached, this theme is much in evidence.

There is now a dedicated Balfour Apology See Cohen on page 22

YU

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Sukkah To Abbas Largest and Hamas, it was ‘original sin’

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Corbyn boycotts B’four event

Britain Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn— who in 2009 called Hezbollah and Hamas his “friends” — said he would not attend a dinner commemorating the centennial of the Balfour Declaration. Prime Minister Theresa May she would attend “with pride” and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu would be her guest.

“We are proud of the role we played in the creation of the State of Israel and we will certainly mark the centenary with pride,” May said. “I am also pleased that good trade relations and other relations that we have with Israel we are building on and enhancing.”

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By Ron Kampeas, JTA Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and WASHINGTON — For 17 years, the then the wildfires in northern California.

Israeli NGO IsraAID has been performPolizer recalls that he was wrapping ing search and rescue, purifying water, up a visit to IsraAID’s new American providing emergency medical assistance headquarters in Palo Alto on Oct. 8 and and walking victims of trauma back to was on his way to a flight to Mexico to psychological health in dozens of disas- oversee operations after a devastating ter-hit countries.

No 25 earthquake there when he got word of • Vol 16, But no season has been busier than the wildfires. “I literally had Luach page 19 9:15 • to do a Uthis past summer and fall, its co-CEO Yo- turn,” he said Havdalah this week in an interview 8:07 pm, tam Polizer said in an interview — and ting Candleligh at the Israeli embassy in Washington.

Polizer spoke with the exhilaration of an executive whose team has come through a daunting challenge. “We’re the people who stay past the ‘aid festival’,” he said, grinning, describing the See IsraAID on page 5

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May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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23 THE JEWISH STAR May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779

Albany wants to expand NYC’s broken rent system statewide.

Their rent proposals are bad news for our communities.

X They will not create a single new affordable apartment for poor and middle-class families.

X Will make it impossible for many owners to afford to maintain their properties, causing buildings to fall into disrepair.

X Will cost the jobs of thousands of local contractors and small businesses while discouraging investment in new housing.

X Will drive up YOUR property taxes or lead to service cuts if rent regulations expand statewide.

We need responsible rent reforms that protect tenants and our communities.

Paid for by Taxpayers for an Affordable New York

1035334

Call your State Legislators: Senate 518-455-2800 & Assembly 518-455-4100

1033983

May 10, 2019 • 6 Iyar, 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

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