November 18, 2011 The Jewish Star

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Thanksgiving food collection in Woodmere Page 2 Cheating for our children Page 4 “I survived the Occupy protesters” Page 5 Carlebach impact on Jewish music Page 10

THE JEWISH

STAR

VOL 10, NO 44 ■ NOVEMBER 18, 2011 / 21 CHESHVAN, 5772

WWW.THEJEWISHSTAR.COM

Woodmere shul hosts Shoah researcher priest By Malka Eisenberg Close to two million Jews were shot and thrown into mass unmarked graves in Eastern Europe by the Einsatzgruppen, Nazi mobile killing units, in less than three years during the Second World War. Few survived to tell the tale. A French Catholic priest, in a story worthy of a forensic detective thriller, is returning to the killing fields in a successful bid to find, record and memorialize the sites, restoring names and faces to the countless dead. Last Shabbat, Father Patrick Desbois spoke at Young Israel of Woodmere about his work. “Humanity begins with burying the dead,” said Desbois. One of his cases, in Aug. 2006, Desbois and his team exhumed graves in the Ukraine; the Jewish community had been in existence in that area for 500 years. The pit held 1,700 skeletons. Ballistics experts found hundreds of German cartridges; the skulls had either one bullet hole in the head or no bullet holes in the head indicating that they were buried alive and suffocated. He noted that the digs stopped at the first layer of skeletons “due to Jewish religious constraints.” The mass grave is now marked by a large black Star of David on a white background— the only memorial in the Ukraine. Desbois pointed out that the interviews that he and his staff conducts with the elderly locals are probably the first and last time they are telling what they witnessed. A rabbi is on his Continued on page 3

Photo by Sergey Kadinsky

Rabbi Yeshaya Siff of Young israel of Manhattan celebrates the 100th year of the Young Israel movement alongside Dr. Joseph Frager, Dr. Paul Brody and Drora Brody. The trio were honored for their pro-Israel advocacy at the dinner.

Young Israel marks centennial: An American Orthodoxy By Sergey Kadinsky A reunion of history took place on Sunday, with a long roster of honorees that highlighted the century-old history of the Young Israel movement. Current leaders feasted alongside children and grandchildren of past Young Israel presidents, speaking on the movement’s role in preserving Orthodox Judaism in America and secur-

ing its connection with Israel. The dinner, held at Terrace on the Park in Queens, attracted a capacity crowd that stated with speeches and concluded with dancing, as Young Israel dispatched its 201st sefer Torah donation to the Israel Defense Forces. Rabbi Yeshaya Siff of Young Israel of Manhattan handed the Torah to “Orthodoxy once meant many things,” said Rabbi Meir Bilitzky, senior rabbi of

Young Israel of New Hyde Park, speaking of a time when shuls without mechitzas called themselves Orthodox. “Young Israel set a line that defined Orthodoxy.” A century ago, a typical Orthodox synagogue offered little attraction for the younger generation of immigrants, who were more likely to assimilate or follow the nascent Reform and Conservative

Shabbat Candlelighting: 4:17 p.m. Shabbat ends 5:18 p.m. 72 minute zman 5:47 p.m. Torah Reading Parshat Chayei Sara Thanksgiving is on Nov. 24

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