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December 5, 2014 • 13 Kislev 5775

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HS kids hear LI woman’s tale of Holocaust escape

Holocaust survivor Evelyn Pike Rubin, of Jerico, speaks at a public high school in Merrick. Scott Brinton

By Scott Brinton After more than 75 years, the train trip still haunts Evelyn Pike Rubin, who recounted for students at Sanford H. Calhoun, a public high school in Merrick, her family’s escape from Nazi Germany on the eve of the Holocaust. It was the winter of 1939. Pike Rubin, an only child who was 8½ at the time, was steaming from Breslau, in Nazi Germany, to Naples, Italy, where she was to board a cruise ship, the Hakusaki Maru, bound for Japanese-occupied Shanghai. First, however, Pike Rubin and her observant Jewish family had to get past the Gestapo, which had positioned guards at border crossings along the train route. She said she would never forget the terrifying moment when a guard approached her mother and father as they waited pensively aboard the stopped train to cross from Austria into Italy. “My mother told me you have to be very, very quiet, do not look up and don’t move,” recalled Pike Rubin, who is now 84. She kept her eyes trained on the floor, and saw only the guard’s shiny black boots as he shuffled back and forth. He let the family go, the train continued on its way, and the dozens of Jewish refugees crowded aboard it erupted in applause as they passed into Italy. Continued on page 17

Sandy-felled trees are scalped Chop-chop on Peninsula in W’mere By Vanessa Parker Nassau County is cutting down and removing approximately 75 trees along Peninsula Boulevard in Woodmere that died as a result of saltwater intrusion from Hurricane Sandy flooding. The catastrophic damage from Sandy, which struck on Oct. 29, 2012, continues to impact the Five Towns. “After the hurricane, it was a question of just how long they’d live,” said Howard Carter, a Woodmere resident who lives on Peninsula. “A county arborist assessed the trees and determined they were damaged by

storm water,” said Nassau Department of Public Works spokesman Michael Martino. “They could cause serious harm to pedestrians and motorists once they rot.” Gary Caparelli, a Lawrence resident who created his own water recycling system on his property, watched as trees were removed. “Salt can crystallize around roots and prevent the natural osmosis, or absorption of water, through the roots,” he said. According to George Hudler, professor of plant pathology at Cornell University, Continued on page 5

Long Beach victims sue over Sandy insurance By Anthony Rifilato Attorneys representing a group of Hurricane Sandy victims who contend that their claims were denied by their insurance company based on “doctored” dam-

age reports filed a federal class-action lawsuit, alleging that the Wright National Flood Insurance Company conspired with engineers and adjusters to commit fraud. The lawsuit was filed on Nov. 21 in

U.S. District Court in Central Islip under RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act, a statute most often used in cases involving organized crime. Continued on page 5

PROJECT:365

Off to the races: Bibi starts clock By Tia Goldenberg, Associated Press JERUSALEM — Israeli lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a motion on Wednesday to dissolve the Knesset, paving the way for early elections after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to iron out differences with coalition partners. The government has been riven by divisions since it took office in early 2013. On Tuesday, Netanyahu fired two rebellious Cabinet ministers and called for elections, plunging the country into a bitter campaign set to culminate in polls expected to be held on March 17, two years ahead of schedule. Early polls show Netanyahu’s Likud party leading with about 22 seats. Wednesday’s vote in the 120-member Knesset, which passed 84-0 with one legislator abstaining, was an initial step. Further votes are expected next week that will officially disband the parliament and usher in new polls. If the upcoming parliamentary votes pass as expected, the current legislature will have served for one of the shortest periods in the country’s history. Continued on page 2 For free bulk delivery to your Long Island shul or business, email EWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com

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December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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Ex-Bibi ally termed possible kingmaker JERUSALEM (AP) — Even before Israel’s hastily called election campaign kicks into gear, a former ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is shaping up as a significant force. Moshe Kahlon was a popular minister in Netanyahu’s previous government, drawing wide appeal for his working-class background and for pushing daring reforms. But prior to the 2013 election he abruptly quit politics over differences with Netanyahu. Kahlon announced in a speech to university students on Wednesday, “I am returning to the political arena.” He has taken hard-line positions toward Palestinians, but recently expressed support for a territorial compromise that would establish a Palestinian state. However, his agenda has focused much more heavily on economic and cost-of-living issues. A strong showing by Kahlon could give Netanyahu the breathing room he needs — in return for a top Cabinet post. Or he could crown an alternative if Netanyahu can’t muster a majority on his own, said Avraham Diskin, a political scientist from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.

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a party supportive of the settler movement; and Yisrael Beitenu, a nationalist party that seeks to redraw Israel’s borders to rid the country of many Arab citizens. Netanyahu’s own Likud party is divided between more-centrist old timers and a young guard of hard-line ideologues.

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Continued from page 1 “The coming elections are about one question, who will lead the government amid the huge challenges that Israel faces,” Netanyahu told a Likud party meeting. “The Likud is the only party that should be considered.” Opposition leader Isaac Herzog said his center-left Labor party would “do everything to bring change and hope to Israel.” Labor, a traditional force in Israeli politics that has lost support in recent years, is poised to pull in 13 seats, according to the early polls. The polls were conducted separately for Israeli Channel 2 and Channel 10 on Tuesday. The Channel 10 poll surveyed 545 people and had a margin of error of 4.3 percent. The Channel 2 poll asked 500 people and had an approximate margin of error of 3.4 percent. Netanyahu’s fractious center-right Cabinet has been bickering for weeks over the budget, a housing tax break and a bill that would enshrine into law Israel’s status as a Jewish state. Rising violence between Palestinians and Israelis has also been an issue, as have the government’s settlement policies. The friction came to a head on Tuesday with the dismissal of Netanyahu’s finance minister, Yair Lapid, a major coalition partner, and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. Netanyahu accused the two of levelling unwarranted criticism at him and of orchestrating a “putsch.” The coalition includes Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid, which rose to power with promises of economic relief for Israel’s middle class; Livni’s Hatnuah, focused on reaching peace with the Palestinians; Jewish Home,

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THE JEWISH STAR December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775

MAGA9014-42 Green Acres Hanukah Jewish Star 10_25x12_75.indd 1

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Merrick Chabad builds community center, mikvah Chabad purchased the 24,380-square-foot office building at 2174 Hewlett Ave. for $2.75 million in December 2011. Donors provided $1.75 million; the rest was mortgaged. A fundraising campaign and construction are now under way to complete the project. “We were approached by friends in the community who shared our vision of creating a place where all the diverse programs, services and activities of our growing community can come together, a home where people feel welcome,” Rabbi Kramer said. “It was our vision to establish a center to serve the material, spiritual and social needs of the Jewish community, to connect each individual, regardless of commitment and background.” The mikvah, which Chabad is building in conjunction with the Mikvah Committee of Merrick-Bellmore, is “really a great accomplishment,” Rabbi Kramer said. “According to Jewish law, a mikvah is so important that if a community doesn’t have the funds, they are required to sell a Torah scroll” to finance one. The community center will offer educational programs and social services, catering to local residents of all ages and from all walks of life, the Kramers said, including an activity zone for afterschool clubs and physical-fitness programs; an adult education study hall and library and media center; a sports center; a kosher café; centers for job placement and senior services; the Setton Family Kosher Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry; and a guest apartChanie and Rabbi Shimon Kramer outside the building Chabad ment associated with the mikvah. The current tenants of 2174 bought for $2.75 million. By Julie Mansmann As the number of Jewish residents in the Merrick area continues to grow at a rapid pace, the Chabad Center for Jewish Life of Bellmore-Merrick and Wantagh is moving to meet their religious needs, advancing plans for a community center and a mikvah, the ritual bath that is central to any observant community. A UJA-Federation study found that 7,900 Jews moved to Merrick, Bellmore, East Meadow and Massapequa from 2002 to 2011, the largest Jewish population increase in southern Nassau in the past nine years. Since Rabbi Shimon Kramer and his wife, Chanie, founded the local Chabad in 2006, the couple have hosted events in either rented or borrowed rooms or their house. Now, Chabad plans to build a community center in downtown Merrick, beside a newly refurbished Stop & Shop and just north of Merrick’s Long Island Rail Road station.

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A rendering of the new Chabad community center in the heart of Merrick. Plans were developed by Bahary Architecture of Great Neck.

Hewlett Ave. will remain in a section of the building called the Merrick Professional Centre. One of them is Frank Gencorelli, the building’s former owner. Another is Merrick Park Homeowners Association President Barry Fox, a college financial planner whose business has been in the building since 2004. Fox said he thinks the Jewish Community Center will be a positive addition to the neighborhood. “It was very much needed, and everyone seems thrilled,” he said. “I also hope this center will lead to more people shopping in the downtown area.” Rabbi Kramer noted that the center would have a different entrance than the professional building. The Kramers said that locals expressed excitement about the community center and wanted to help. They offered thanks to the founding donors who made the purchase of the building possible. Chabad began basic renovations in October, to allow the group to offer some services immediately. Two sections of the building are being demolished and rebuilt; Bahary Architecture, of Great Neck, designed plans for the new community center pro bono. Renovation work should last six months, at an estimated cost of $800,000. “The center will be a warm, inviting place where everyone … can come and be a part of, like a second home,” Rabbi Kramer said. “Whatever they need, they can turn

to Chabad, whether [it’s] social services or spiritual guidance or health concerns. We don’t promise to have all the answers, but we’ll definitely provide an ear to listen and do what we can to help.” Currently, Chabad’s local activities include adult education classes, hospital and nursing home visits, Shabbatons, holiday celebrations, crisis counseling, teen programs, and children’s educational programs One of the group’s youth programs, the Jewish Early Learning Center, was awarded a state grant last summer to offer full-day prekindergarten classes for 4-year-olds, in addition to programs for children as young as 18 months. “I am looking forward to seeing the preschool set up in the community center,” said Chanie Kramer, the JELC director. “We want to be able to cater to more families.” In addition, Chabad founded Circle of Hope, a nonprofit group that offers resources for cancer patients, or any patients suffering from serious illnesses, as well as their families. The group provides financial assistance, emotional support and health seminars. Chabad has launched a fundraising campaign to cover the full cost of construction. Dedication opportunities are available. For more on giving, go to chabadjewishlife.org. Julie Mansmann is a reporter for the Merrick Herald Life, where a version of this story first appeared.

Cedarhurst ‘madness’ draws 10,000 to Central Avenue

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By Vanessa Parker More than 80 Cedarhurst merchants participated in the Business Improvement District’s Black Friday and Midnight Madness weekend sale event, with the largest shopper attendance coming out on Saturday night after Shabbos. Cedarhurst BID Executive Director Teri Schure estimated that almost 10,000 shoppers were out on Saturday night alone, starting around 7 pm, with “scores of people still shopping close to midnight.” She gave an example of noticing that at 7:20 p.m. there was a long line of almost 50 people outside of Jildor, waiting for them to open at 8 pm. At 100% Kids, a women’s and girls’ fashion boutique that sells brands like juicy Couture, Hard Tail and Wildfox, the line at the cash register was at least 10 people deep, wrapping around the racks and seating area in the center of the store, every time one looked. Alexandra Skidell, daughter of store owner Alyssa Rappaport, said the items in back of the store were included in a super sale, marked at 50 percent off discount. Down the street at Goldmine Jewelers, Howard Chait said that their top-selling item this year was their earrings, with their pendant selection drawing more customer inter-

est up from last year. Hollyworld custom-made dresses are the big draw this year, according to Infinity owner Holly Green. A Cedarhurst retail staple for 44 years, Green said that her store specializes in the dresses and winter party favors. “Everybody seemed happy, wanting to shop,” she said. “We were busy all week. I think we did about the same as we did last year. It was a great year for sales for us.” At Morton’s Army Navy store, Lawrence residents Adam and Joseph Schwartz had fun with their two friends who visited from East Brunswick, Israel Gulko and his brother, Leo, trying on Sesame Street character hats at the front of the store. According to Schure, the entire weekend event generated significant revenues for the Cedarhurst Village store owners. “Part of the magic of Midnight Madness was that it was not only a shopping event, but it was also clearly a major social event,” she said. “I met and spoke to people not only from the local community, but shoppers came in droves to Cedarhurst from all over Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens and beyond.” Vanessa Parker is a reporter for the Nassau Herald, where a version of this story first appeared.

Continued from page 1 “The evidence that the changing of engineers’ reports to deny our clients coverage is pervasive,” said Long Beach attorney Denis Kelly, part of the legal team that filed the suit. “We allege that the defendants conspired to change those reports.” Kelly reports finding “preliminary evidence that it may include carriers other than Wright.” After the suit was filed, “we’re hearing from a lot more people about what may have happened regarding engineers and their reports,” he said. Even though the National Flood Insurance Program backs insurers, the RICO allegations claim, “The common goal was to reduce payments on legitimate insurance claims, drive up costs of claims handling and investigation of these claims. This generated profits for the enterprise as a whole and for participating individuals. Defendant Wright also benefitted by avoiding a government audit through inflating costs and reducing claims paid.” The suit was filed shortly after U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Brown ruled that an engineering company hired by Wright, U.S. Forensic, “unjustly frustrated efforts” by two Long Beach homeowners, Deborah Raimey and her father, Larry Raisfeld, who sought a damage claim after their rental property was destroyed. Brown concluded that an engineer’s report — which initially attributed the damage to the storm — was secretly altered in an attempt to prevent a larger payout to the homeowners. “Worse yet,” Brown wrote, “evidence suggests that these unprincipled practices may be widespread.” On Nov. 7, Brown ordered Wright — which is licensed to write federal flood insurance policies across the country — and all insurers named as defendants in Sandy cases to release all reports and documents within 30 days. Brown also blocked Wright from using any expert testimony other than that of the engineer who wrote the ini-

tial report, George Hernemar. Wright President Neal Connolly told Newsday that his company closely adheres to federal guidelines when awarding settlements. He denied that engineers falsified documents. Wright has appealed the order — which it called “clearly erroneous” — and asked the court to reverse it, saying that an Oct. 16 evidentiary hearing “conclusively proved that Wright had no role at all in changing any reports.” “Furthermore, the hearing conclusively proved that the on-site engineer knew and approved of the changes in his report resulting from the peer review process in which he participated,” attorneys for Wright said. FEMA is also appealing Brown’s ruling, stating that it did not have an opportunity to be heard or weigh in on the issues addressed at the evidentiary hearing in the Raimey case. Raimey was told by U.S. Forensic that a home she rented out at 24 Michigan St. was so damaged that it was deemed unsafe to live in by city building inspectors. Though she received a report in January 2013 stating that Sandy did not cause the damage, it was discovered that an initial report, written a month earlier by Hernemar, said that the home had in fact sustained structural damage caused by the storm’s “hydrodynamic forces.” Brown concluded that the original inspection report had been secretly rewritten by another engineer, Michael Garove, who had never inspected the home, had based his findings on Hernemar’s photographs, and had reversed the original report’s conclusion to indicate that the house had been damaged not by the storm but rather by long-term deterioration. The original was never provided to the homeowners “in an effort to conceal their fraudulent scheme,” the lawsuit claims. Wright said that that report was a draft and

tim,” the lawsuit states. “Garove, without ever visiting the property and observing the damage firsthand, authored, signed and sealed an engineering report concluding that the home was not structurally damaged by Sandy. “Using the same boilerplate language and cut and paste tool, the U.S. Forensic enterprise fraudulently manipulated the engineering analysis and Wright Flood wrongfully denied Mr. Seemann’s claim.” Seemann turned to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer for help, and Schumer contacted FEMA to inquire about the denial. “In response to Sen. Schumer’s inquiry, FEMA parroted the fraudulent findings of U.S. Forensic and Garove,” the lawsuit claims. Anthony Rifilato is editor of the Long Beach Herald, where a version of this story first appeared.

Sandy-felled trees… Continued from page 1 when salt in the soil dissolves, it separates into sodium and chloride ions, which damage the trees. “In early spring, the chloride ions can be taken up by the roots, enter the sap, concentrate in the shoots and prevent buds from opening,” explained Hudler, who conducts outreach and research programs focusing on tree pathology and produces a biweekly pest management newsletter, Branching Out. “Later, they can be transported to actively growing leaf margins, causing leaf scorch, curling or death. Sodium ions travel the same ‘chemical route’ as necessary tree nutrients. Those ions tie up the plant’s shuttle system and restrict uptake of magnesium and potassium, two chemicals that are essential for making chlorophyll.” Hudler said that potassium deficiencies are common in plants suffering from salt injury, and that salt in the soil causes drought. “Brine near underground tree roots can be a more concentrated solution than the sap in the roots,” he said.

“The roots therefore can’t take in water through osmosis. Water is so unavailable to salt-stressed trees that they are actually dying of thirst.” Liz Carter, Howard’s wife, remembers how poorly the trees fared after Sandy. “After the storm, they really didn’t seem the same,” she said. “Even in the summer, the trees would sprout brown leaves. We had these brown leaves all over the ground in our yard. Then the county came around and started marking trees for removal.” The county contracted with Harder Tree Service, a Hempstead-based tree removal company, to do the work, at a cost of approximately $85,000. Once the trees are removed, the regrowing process will begin, according to Martino. “All locations will be replaced with new trees,” he said. Referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he added, “FEMA reimbursement will be sought.” Vanessa Parker is a reporter for the Nassau Herald, where a version of this article first appeared.

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5 THE JEWISH STAR December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775

Sandy insurance suit…

attributed the change to a peer review process, an explanation that Brown did not accept. The suit lists four other Long Beach residents who claim they were also wrongfully denied claims based on “fraudulent” engineering reports. Among them are Michael Seemann, a city building inspector and volunteer firefighter who owns a home on East Fulton Street destroyed by Sandy. According to court documents, Seemann received a “substantial damage” letter from the City of Long Beach, along with a demolition permit. He filed a claim with Wright, which hired U.S. Forensic to perform the engineering analysis. U.S. Forensic, in turn, assigned an engineer who was not licensed in New York to inspect property. “Shortly thereafter, the unlawful enterprise created by defendants claimed yet another vic-

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How are we doing? Let us know! EWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com Vol 13, No. 47

Friday Dec. 5 • 13 Kislev 5775

VaYishlach Friday Dec. 5 Candlelighting 4:09 pm Shabbat ends 5:20 pm

Mizrahi refugee woes emerge from shadows BEn CoHEn Viewpoint

o properly understand how the Holocaust has been seared onto Israel’s collective consciousness, one should visit the country on the 27th of Nisan, a date in the Hebrew calendar that falls in either April or May in the solar one. On that day, Yom HaShoah, the unsuspecting visitor is dumbstruck by the sight of an entire country coming to a halt. At 10 am on the dot, a siren sounds across the country. Schools, hospitals, trading floors, garages, news rooms, tech start-ups — all these and more freeze exactly where they are as Israeli citizens observe a minute of silent contemplation. Both the stillness and the weeping siren suggest that this is not an act of anger against the outside world, but a humbling opportunity for all Jews, regardless of background or religious observance, to pay tribute to the 6 million who perished. It’s a spectacle that also confirms the Holocaust, rightly so, as the most destructive episode in the history of Jewish tragedies. Other persecutions are remembered respectfully, but it’s likely only those with a penchant for history who will learn about the pogroms in Kishinev or Damascus, or the expulsion from Spain. Everyone, on the other hand, knows the scale of the Holocaust. In that environment, it has been difficult for Jews of Mizrahi descent—those, like my family, who originate from communities in the Middle East and North Africa—to get the State of Israel to properly recognize the tragedy of their dispossession. The point wasn’t so much competition with the Holocaust, but the bald fact that the Holocaust was a civilizational convulsion without peer. And in any case, how many times each year can a nation pause and weep? Another factor was politics. Israeli leaders for many decades were reluctant to acknowledge that the expulsion of the Jews from Arab countries, following the creation of the Jewish state, meant that there were not one, but at least two, refugee populations in the Middle East. Only in the last few years have

prominent Israeli politicians emphasized that focusing solely on the Arab refugees from British Palestine in 1948 is a distortion of both history and morality. It’s interesting, perhaps, that the further we get from those torrid years of Mizrahi Jewish suffering, the more Israel has embraced the memory of what happened. Maybe we’ve gotten to a point where there’s space to remember more than one Jewish tragedy, and without the raw emotion that inevitably marked commemorations during the latter half of the 20th century. Whatever the explanation, this past Sunday, Nov. 30, marked the first instance of an annual remembrance day in which Israel commemorated, thanks to a Knesset bill passed in June, the “Jewish refugees from Arab lands and Iran.” Remembrance ceremonies were held, special classes were conducted in schools, and Israeli diplomats raised the issue with their interlocutors. (In tandem, the Mizrahi Jewish advocacy organization JIMENA held special events in North America and around the world.) ommenting on the Knesset bill after it was passed, MK Shimon Ohayon noted that “we have finally corrected a historic injustice and placed the issue of Jews who were expelled or pushed out of the Arab world in the last century, on the national and international agenda.” Elaborating, he added, “In Israel, the history of the Jews who originally came from the Middle East or North Africa, who make up around half of the population, was ignored for too long. This is a vital part of our fight against those internally and externally who delegitimize our presence here and claim we are somehow foreign to the region.” He’s right. The theme of “indigeneity” — that those deemed to be native to a particular territory have supreme rights over it — has been a core element of the Palestinian and Arab campaign to portray Israel as a colonial interloper, and an alien presence in a Muslim-Arab region. But Jews lived in the Islamic world for thousands of years, just as they did in the land that is now Israel. In that sense, there is a political goal behind the commemoration day, and it’s nothing to apologize for. Almost 70 years after Jews were stripped of their citizenship and

2002 — A front page column is titled, “Lessons learned from a jelly donut; Sweet on the other side of bitter.” 2003 — Police probe bias crimes in the Five Towns and Oceanside. 2006 — Touro College discussed plans to open a women’s college on part of the White Shul’s property in Far Rockaway. 2007 — I&D Glatt, a new butcher in West Hempstead, hailed by a local Realtor as “the greatest thing that’s happened to this neighborhood,” is said to “need increased community support.” 2008 — Page one reports on the terrorist attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai, India, that claimed more than 170 lives. A community-wide memorial was scheduled in the Five Towns, and a Woodmere student recounts the three Shabbatot she stayed with Chabad in Mumbai. 2009 — It’s the “season to be wary,” headlines The Star. “Home invasions, burglaries frighten in Five Towns.” Also on page 1: “Asking the right question about secular college.” 2010 — Chabad of The Five Towns opens the Levi Yitzchak Library on Central Avenue in Cedarhurst. The children’s venue was named in memory of Levi Yitzchak Wolowik, son of Rabbi Zalman and Chanie Wolowik. 2011 — A cover feature suggests that America should copy Israel’s “start up nation” approach to entrepreneurship. 2012 — Shalhevet alumni stage their first reunion in Israel. 2013 — Chabad of Hewlett’s celebration of Chanukah in Grant Park was capped by the lighting of a menorah. An ice menorah.

property by avowedly anti-Semitic regimes, their fate remains largely hidden from the gaze of historians and journalists. In part, that’s because these refugees didn’t stay refugees for very long. The majority were absorbed in Israel, still others went to Europe and the Americas, all of them got on with their lives. But fundamentally, the injustice remains unaddressed. There’s another reason, though, why I think the commemoration day is so important—and it relates directly to the torrid period in which we are living. In recalling what happened to the Mizrahi Jews, we are compelled to focus on the religious and ethnic persecution that continues to disfigure the Middle East today. Kurds are repressed by Syrians, Iranians and Turks; Yazidis and Christians are ethnically cleansed and massacred by Islamist barbarians in Iraq; Sunni and Shi’a terrorists target each other’s mosques; Bahai’s are incarcerated in Iran. It’s a depressing list that could go on and on. But the point is this. What Israel has shown—for all of the imperfections it shares with other democracies—is that a multicultural and multi-faith society is possible in the Middle East. And that is the message that should ring loud and clear from all these commemorative events, whether we are mourning the Holocaust or the expulsion of the Mizrahi Jews. Ben Cohen is the Shillman Analyst for JNS. org.

RabbI bInnY FReeDman The hearT of jerusalem

abalya. Anyone who has been there has no desire to go back. A nasty piece of real estate in the Gaza strip, Jabalya is a densely overpopulated refugee camp that is always waiting to explode, which is exactly what happened back in 1987, when an Israeli truck driver ploughed into a crowd of Arabs, killing three and wounding many more. The subsequent rioting that eventually spread all through Gaza, Judea and Samaria, has since become known as the Intifada, and in the spring of 1988, on my first reserve duty, we were smack in the middle of it. The Israeli Army was completely unprepared for this type of warfare. How do you deal with women and children throwing Molotov cocktails and heaving cinderblocks off of apartment buildings? You never knew what was waiting for you around any given street corner, and you were as concerned about not ending up in military court for giving the wrong order as you were about ending up in a hospital for the same reason. One morning, we were on a twelve-man patrol in the heart of Jabalya, trying to get through another day. We were maintaining day distances (about 40 feet between each man and the man behind him, to prevent anyone taking out an entire patrol with one volley or one grenade) in two columns of six men, traversing both sides of the street. To this day, I am not sure how he sneaked up on us, but the only warning we got was the “Allah’hu Akbar” (“G-d is great”) scream yelled by the terrorist wielding an axe as he jumped on one of the men in the rear of the column. It seemed certain that Shmuel, a father of three, was about to die. But at the last minute, Shmuel, who was carrying a ten-liter

jerry can on his back, bent forward to avoid the axe, and it embedded itself in the jerry can. As the water exploded in all directions, and this Arab terrorist attempted to pull the axe back out for another swing, he was surrounded and overpowered by the soldiers on either side. Standard operating procedure at the time was not to publicly arrest, handcuff and blindfold a suspect in front of everyone on the street, for fear of starting a riot. So we took him to an alley off the street to tie his hands, blindfold him, and wait for the battalion vehicle that would come and take him off our hands. So there we were in an alley in the middle of the Gaza strip, with an Arab terrorist, blindfolded (so he wouldn’t see details of the army base he would be driven to for holding) and hands tied behind his back, waiting. Then one of our guys went nuts. He walked over to this terrorist, sitting on the ground and started screaming at him: “Kill my buddy? Make his children orphans? Tell us whether we can live here? I’ll show you what it means to kill an Israeli soldier!” And, before I could do anything, he raised his arm and brought his open palm down hard on the head of this Arab terrorist. And then, yelling, he raised his hand to do it again, and I grabbed his arm. Now, don’t misunderstand: I not only understood this soldier; I empathized with him. This Arab, sitting on the ground looking so innocent, had just tried to kill his best buddy with an axe. I was new to this unit (it was my first reserve duty), but these men had served together since before the six-day war, so I un-

derstood what was challenging this guy. But not on my watch. The rules couldn’t be clearer: You can use whatever force is necessary to subdue a terrorist, even kill him if your life is in danger; but once he’s captured and bound, the law protects him. So I grabbed this guy’s arm, and a small argument ensued (remember, I was new to this unit, but in the end the responsibility for what might have happened would have been mine), a couple of the guys backed me up, and everyone calmed down. No, so many years later, you wonder, who was right? s the community in Har Nof recovers from what effectively amounts to a pogrom in Jerusalem that saw four rabbis killed in their Tefillin and prayer shawls, leaving 23 orphans, you wonder, where is that axe-wielding terrorist today? Why do we follow rules of civilization with terrorists? Maybe we should play by their rules? There is a desire for retribution, a need to ensure that what goes around comes around, and yet, we are better than that, aren’t we? This struggle, of course, is not a new phenomenon; Yaakov and his children were grappling with the same issues four thousand years ago, in this week’s portion of VaYishlach. “And Dinah, daughter of Leah who bore her for Yaakov, went out to see the daughters of the land.” (Genesis 34:1) Dinah sets out for a day’s outing, and Shechem, son of Chamor,(a local prince) kidnaps and possibly rapes her and then (apparently) falls in love with her. (34:1-3) So he asks his father (Chamor) to arrange

There comes a time when a person loses the right to talk, when their words ring hollow when held against their deeds.

for him to marry her, and Chamor indeed comes to negotiate a dowry with Yaakov. Of course, Yaakov’s family is outraged (34: 4-7), and deeply saddened by what has befallen their sister. Chamor, however, is seemingly oblivious to how his son’s behavior is being perceived and he suggests a match — and not just Dinah and Chamor, but: “…And give her, please, to him [Shechem] as a wife. And marry us; give us your daughters, and we will give you ours, and dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Dwell in it, and trade and take hold of it.” (34: 8-10) Chamor is suggesting much more than just a marriage. This will be the glue around which our people’s destinies will be bonded together in this land. What so terrible? Let’s turn a wayward act, an unfortunate episode, into something positive. Yaakov and his family have a number of options, but the one they choose seems to be way out of left field. Their issue is that Shechem and Chamor —indeed their whole town — are not Jewish (they aren’t circumcised). But if they agree to be circumcised, the children can marry (34: 13-17) and we’ll all live together and the Canaanites will become Jewish to boot! Incredibly, Chamor and Shechem love this idea (34:18-24) and immediately go back to their hometown and convince all the men to actually do this, and they all get circumcised! As the Talmud (Yevamot 46a) makes clear, a man must be circumcised to convert to Judaism. What an incredible moment for Yaakov, as he sees the unfolding of his grandfather Abraham’s dream before his eyes — the world is finally seeing the light, and an entire Canaanite town is ready to join the Jewish fold. But something goes terribly wrong. Because on the third day after their circumcision (34:25-29), when the men are at their weakest, recovering from the operation, two of the brothers, Shimon and Levi, come back and massacre the entire town. They kill all the Continued on page 8

Yaakov’s greatest fear: the unknown RabbI avI bIllet Parsha of The week Yaakov sends messengers to Eisav telling Eisav his story about having lived with Lavan and having amassed wealth. Perhaps Yaakov is indicating his intent to put the past behind them. “I am happy to share my wealth with you, and I hope you are well. I am your servant.” It could be Yaakov hopes not to see Eisav at all. The messengers come back with the news that “we ‘came’ to your brother, to Eisav, and he is ‘going’ to you accompanied by 400 men.” Alshikh explains “coming” implies closeness (how Yaakov’s servants intended to approach Eisav), while “going” implies distance, perhaps the attitude Eisav was bringing to his encounter with Yaakov. Where was Eisav coming from? Some suggest he was at home, with no intent to come until he heard Yaakov was on his way (Sforno, Ibn Ezra). But his intent is unclear: he’s simply “coming” (Ramban); he’s coming to fight because he hates you (Rashi and many others); he is happy about your return and is bringing 400 men to honor you (Rashbam, Chizkuni). The indication of the verse is that Rashbam and Chizkuni are correct, and that the fear of battle was all in Yaakov’s mind. The encounter reflects no ill intentions — Eisav

greets Yaakov warmly with hug and kiss, he is gracious and magnanimous. Why then was Yaakov afraid? As Rashi and others suggest, Yaakov was concerned either that he would be killed or be forced to take a life in self-defense. But G-d had promised him that He would protect him and return him home safely! Where is Yaakov’s faith in G-d? If Adino HaEtzni (Shmuel II 23:8) killed 800 men by himself, why should Yaakov, who fought with an angel, be afraid of 400 men? (R Chaim Paltiel) The Midrash tells in the name of Resh Lakish and Rav Yanai that each of the 400 men was a “man” like Eisav — each was in charge of 400 men. This suggests he had to face at least 160,000 people, providing a legitimate cause for concern. There are other suggestions of why Yaakov feared: Eisav had merits from honoring his father, Yaakov hadn’t fulfilled his promise to tithe in Beit El, or what Toldot Yitzchak suggests, that if Eisav seems to be coming to attack Yaakov, it must mean Yitzchak is dead. The fear that Yaakov is then

experiencing is that he will never see his father again. Of course, the most likely reason for Yaakov’s fear follows that of the Chizkuni (the fear comes from the unknown); Yaakov did not know if Eisav’s intentions are good or bad. This confusion is noted in Yaakov’s language when he says, “Please save me from my brother, from Eisa,v” meaning, he is pretending to be my brother, but he remains Eisav the hunter and trapper. I don’t think we have to look at Yaakov’s fear from the perspective of the numbers. On paper, Goliath should have defeated David. On paper, Israel should not have defeated Arab armies in most of the wars they fought. And yet, the unexpected happened, and the underdog emerged victorious in the conflicts. Fear doesn’t come from numbers, it comes from the unknown. Eisav may have nice intentions, and maybe, in the end, the niceness comes out. But the bottom line is that it cannot be assumed. Preparation needs to be made for the worst. Because, too often, the worst turns out to be

when those we encounter harbor hatred in their hearts, it is our challenge, like Yaakov’s, to be prepared for the worst, while we continue to hope for the best.

the reality. Eisav, unfortunately, is unpredictable. We don’t know what he is thinking. We may be “coming” with love and with the dove of peace, but Eisav may still be “going” to his own destination, irrespective of where we stand on that journey. When random people are murdered or stabbed simply because the attackers view all Jews as aggressors who deserve this physical assault, the fear that emerges among those at a bus station or a train station is that of the unknown. Will anything happen today? For the sake of survival, our brothers and sisters in Israel and around the world must subscribe to the fear Rashi ascribes to Yaakov, “That I will be forced to kill someone in self-defense,” as Golda Meir articulated when she said, “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but we can’t forgive them for forcing us to kill their sons.” The rule of “when one comes to kill you, you must rise to kill him first” is essential for survival. Without it, we are all sitting ducks. The Kli Yakar summarized Yaakov’s thought process: “May Hashem be with me and protect me from those who show themselves to be helpers and loved ones but who truly have hatred embedded in their hearts.” Facing the unknown can be frightening, even for the G-d-fearing, and even for those who are righteous in their ways. But when we feel those we encounter harbor hatred in their hearts, it becomes our challenge, like Yaakov’s, to be prepared for the worst, while we continue to hope for the best.

THE JEWISH STAR December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775

With Dina capture, Israel’s future lies in balance

Facing terror as a daily event

December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

AlAn JAy Gerber Kosher BooKworM

ast month witnessed a steep uptick in the number and frequency of terrorist incidents in both Jerusalem and the country at large. These acts of terror are true to their title, terror, in terms of the very nature of the acts — the element of surprise, the use of concealed weapons, use of cars, and the use of venues normally devoid of any suspicion of acts of terror. Several literary items relating both directly and indirectly to terror will be the focus of discussion in this week’s essay. Recently, Gefen Publishing in Jerusalem released a work entitled, “Living Beyond Terrorism: Israeli Stories of Hope and Healing,” by Dr. Zieva Konvisser. It deals with first 48 hand experiences of terrorism in such varied venues as buses, cafes, cars and pizzarias. Graphic are the descriptives of the reaction of the victims, including details of the healing experiences, the optimism that many still held to as an inspiration to others. Each story is testimony to the majesty of Jewish survival against all odds, a victory of the human spirit over the degradation that envelops those who regale in their acts of terror. The author writes with a deep respect for the victims and much sensitivity to the cause that they

defend by their very presence and loyalty to Israel in these trying times. While the time frame in this work spans from 2000 to 2006, a reading of today’s headlines give this work a feel of current events. One major aspect of this book’s composition is the detailed research methodology employed in its findings, an aspect rarely presented by most authors today. Also, this work includes a full chronology of major events, a listing of organizations supporting terror survivors and their families, and a thorough glossary and index. Covering just about the same the time span of the previously cited work, a 24 page paper was issued and authored by Yisrael Medad of the Begin Center in Jerusalem entitled, “Jerusalem’s Temple Mount: A Jewish– Muslim Flashpoint,” goes into great detail concerning the historical events and ideological and religious components that gives the reader a comprehensive view of what motivates and inspires the contemporary terrorist to go about his task of murdering civilians of all ages and in all venues, from homes, to train tracks, to stores, to synagogues during prayer. Only this time, a decade later, the method is one of pure thuggery, a jihad by mugging. All pretense at respect for the sacredness of the Har HaBayit is totally subsumed with criminality. This historical review by Medad is a must read that can be found on a Google search and warrants your reading so as to enable you to be better informed as to the background of

My mom’s success Peter Funt

set out to write an obituary about my mother, who died Nov. 15, and was taken aback by how much she never accomplished in her 94 years. At least that’s how it seemed when her life was viewed in contrast with that of my better-known dad, Allen Funt, who invented “Candid Camera” and whose numerous accomplishments have been well documented. Evelyn Funt never graduated from college, because she couldn’t afford the tuition at Northwestern University and too often found herself falling asleep on the bus heading to and from evening classes after working all day to support her family in Chicago. Yet, her quest for knowledge was remarkable. At age six she showed up in an elementary school classroom despite having been told she was too young to attend — and somehow persuaded the teacher to let her stay. Learning became a passion. She read more books and newspapers, completed more crossword puzzles, visited more museums and attended more scholarly lectures than anyone I know. Her first significant job, at the Chicago American newspaper, was doomed from the start. She was hired during World War II with the understanding that whenever the man she had replaced returned from military service, she would step aside — no matter how accomplished her work — and give him his job back.

She was a skilled painter, who never took an art lesson. She was a talented writer, who was never published. She was a spiritual person with little interest in organized religion. She was a volunteer for numerous worthy causes, yet her name never appeared on lists of philanthropists. Mom was a progressive thinker and gave her time to campaign for local politicians, but she was willing to lick envelopes and knock on doors. She didn’t give speeches. During 18 years of marriage she lived in the shadow of my famous father. She put personal aspirations aside to raise three kids and support whatever dad was doing. It is fashionable nowadays to define successful women by relatively new standards involving achievements in business, politics, sports and things often lumped together as feminism. My mother was measured by the metrics of a different era. Mom wasn’t a lot of things, but she was this: the nicest person I’ve ever met. I don’t recall her doing a single mean-spirited thing in her life. Ever. She was fond of a passage attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson (although the credit is not entirely clear) called “Success.” It says, in part: “To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons … to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others.” And, most of all: “… to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition.” Perhaps in those words you see some of your mother. And, like me as I consider the life of Evelyn Funt, you conclude: Oh, my. My mom accomplished so much!

current events and for you to hopefully share this document with others for their edification. Also, please note the following. Dr. Rafael Medoff, the renown scholar of Holocaust studies whose work appears frequently in the pages of The Jewish Star, has written numerous essays on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ attitude to the Holo-

caust experience. He teaches us much about Abbas’ little known work, “The Other Side: The Secret relationship Between Nazism and Zionism,” a rabidly bigoted and terrorist oriented work will give you a good foundational understanding of the sickening mindset of this man who pretends to be a political moderate among murderers. His having earned a Ph.D. from a Communist-sponsored college in the USSR only further attests to Abbas’ true loyalties to totalitarian rule and collectivist governance. Any work by Dr. Medoff is worth your attention. FOR FURTHER STUDY A good reading of the recent essays by Rabbi Marc Angel,Rabbi Berl Wein, Rabbi Menachem Genack, Marissa Newman, and the “INSS Insight No. 633” entitled, “Terrorism in the Synagogue: From National Struggle to Religious War?” by Udi Dekel will surely give you further and enhanced understanding of the recent tragic events. Also, please note that the continued Saturday Priority One Winter Navi Shiur, now in its 19th year, for both men and women, is once again being given at 7 pm at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst. This series from the Book of Micha will this week be hosted by magid shiur Rabbi Yosef Goldberg. Next week, Dec. 13, Rabbi Pinchas Chatzinoff will be lecturing on chapter 4, and on Dec. 27, Rabbi Yaakov Feitman will lecture on chapter 5. On Jan 3, 2015, Rabbi Eitan Feiner will be hosting a lecture on chapter 6. All are welcome.

With Dina capture… Continued from page 1 men and loot the city. And Yaakov, so it seems, cannot believe it: an entire city, butchered while they lie, essentially, in their hospital beds, and the dream lies in tatters on the blood soaked Canaanite earth. Indeed, at the end of his life, some 25 years later, Yaakov will remember this moment, and curse the brothers Shimon and Levi for this deed: “Arur Apam Ki’ Az” (“Cursed is their anger which is strong”). (Genesis 49:6) And yet, despite this terrible deed, Shimon and Levi are not excised from the family, and in fact their tribes become the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people. The tribe of Shimon produces the Roshei Yeshivot, Torah leaders of the institutes of learning, and Levi is the tribe that will merit serving in the Temple. From this tribe will come the Kohanim, the priests, who also are the teachers and role models of the nation! What is going on here? Perhaps the clue to this question lies with Dina. Where was Dina when all this was going on? Only after the brothers lay waste to the entire city does the Torah tell us, “and they (the brothers) took Dina and left” (34:26). In other words, all the while Yaakov is negotiating with Shechem and Chamor, Dina is still being held captive in the Canaanite city! Perhaps Yaakov and his sons simply represent two different approaches to a very challenging situation. Yaakov wants to negotiate, his sons want to fight. Yaakov is ready to live with these Canaanites, Shimon and Levi want to destroy them. Maybe what the brothers perceive is that there is a lot more stake here than what might become of their sister. Yaakov had made a treaty with the Canaanites, rightly or wrongly, and the name of Israel hung in the balance. But Shimon and

Levi’s point was that it shouldn’t come cheap. If we are negotiating while our sister is being held in Shechem’s palace, something is wrong; and if we sit quietly today, our way of life will disappear tomorrow. We have to remain open to all the possibilities, but must be sure we are seeing the reality around us. our thousand years later, Shechem and Chamor are still holding Dina hostage, and the future lies in the balance. We still struggle with the dream of finding a real partner for peace and with the reality of those who are before us. Maybe the State of Israel, responsible to hold up the name and reputation of the Jewish people, needs sometimes to be willing to sit and talk. But Shimon and Levi, with the facts on the ground, need to be sure we do not pay a price too steep for that negotiation. And isn’t it powerful that Yaakov curses not the actions of his sons, but their anger, which in the end is the greatest danger. When we look around and see the horrible images of mothers and babies lying in pools of blood on the streets of Israel’s cities, we need to find the strength to consider, to think, and to decide how to respond, and we need to take great care that anger does not engulf us. At the same time, we must take care not to spend so much time at the table that the battle is lost. At the end of the day, Chamor does come to talk, and Yaakov listens. But there comes a time when a person loses the right to talk, when their words ring hollow when held against their deeds. Sometimes, it is not words that will bring peace, but actions. May Hashem bless those who are entrusted with the awesome responsibility of making these crucial decisions, with the wisdom and strength to find the path to peace, with all the difficult and painful decisions it entails. Shabbat Shalom, from Jerusalem.

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46 deaf children sign ‘Mazel Tov’ in Israel IYIM They came from Beerhseva in the south through to Haifa in the north. They came to celebrate their Bar Mitzvahs and their Bat Mitzvahs, to commit themselves to their people and to their heritage. What made this celebration unique was that each celebrant was born deaf. Today they still have major hearing and educational issues. The event at the Young Israel of North Netanya (YINN) was organized by the International Young Israel Movement (IYIM) in close partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel and the National Deaf association. The celebrants and their parents were addressed by Dr. Avital Laufer, Deputy Mayor of Netanya; Rabbi Natan Morowitz, YINN Rav Emeritus; and Rabbi Chanoch Yeres, Director, Deaf programming, IYIM. After receiving gifts of Tallitot, Shabbat candles, and

watches presented by YINN Chairman Gordon Weinberg and his wife, the boys were called for aliyot to the Torah and the girls were called up on the bimah to recite Shema. This was followed by dancing and a seudat mitzvah held in the shul hall. The large group then continued on to Beit Hatfusot — the museum of the Jewish people — where they learned about Jewish history and Jewish continuity in the diaspora. “The amount of emotions and tears in the synagogue underlined the importance of this event,” said IYIM Executive Director Daniel Meyer. “For the parents, it was a day many could not have believed would happen when these special children were born. For the children, it was an opportunity to experience an important Jewish milestone just like their hearing peers and siblings. We wish them all a big Mazal Tov.”

Lev Leytzen students get citations Malave Malka Nassau County Legislators Denise Ford and Howard J. Kopel presented Legislative Citations to student participats in Lev Leytzan, a Woodmerebased group that trains teens in the art of therapeutic medical clowning, and organizes performances to lift the spirits of hospital patients and nursing home residents. Pictured with the students and Legislators Ford and Kopel is the organizations founder, Neal C. Goldberg, Ph.D.

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By Michael Weissenstein, Associated Press HAVANA — Five years to the day after his arrest in Cuba on espionage charges, former U.S. contractor Alan Gross is threatening a hunger strike, refusing almost all visitors and predicting he will die in prison if he isn’t freed by his 66th birthday in May, relatives and backers said Wednesday. “He hasn’t been seeing anyone for a while,” said David Prinstein, vice president of the Havana-based Jewish community association. Prinstein said he hoped Gross would accept a visit for Hannukah celebrations this month. “We maintain our hope that he will see us and keep his Jewish faith alive, and his faith that maybe this coming year he can return to his country,” Prinstein said. It’s impossible to measure the gravity of Gross’ threat, but it’s clear he is essential to any detente between Cuba and the United States. On Wednesday, the White House called on Cuba to release Gross, with press secretary Josh Earnest saying in a press release that the U.S. remains “deeply concerned” about the American’s health. Earnest said Gross’ release “would remove an impediment to more constructive relations” between the two countries. Cuban officials have linked the fate of the agents to Gross, who was detained in December 2009 while setting up illegal Internet access as a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development. “There seems to be a growing sense in this country that resolving both situations would be constructive,” said Richard Klugh, a lawyer for two of the jailed Cuban agents, Antonio Guerrero and Gerardo Hernandez. “That is an atmospheric change that gives one hope that the political will is there to follow through.” In his first term, Obama loosened restrictions on Cuban-American travel and money remittances to Cuba, and he has advocated further changes in his second. Now, with host Panama having invited President Raul Castro to become the first Cuban leader to attend the Summit of the Americas, an annual meeting of Western Hemisphere nations, many see the time leading up to the April 10-11 meeting as a time for any U.S. action on Cuba. The U.S. keeps Cuba under economic embargo and lists it as a state sponsor of terrorism. U.S. prisons also still hold three of five Cuban intelligence agents given long prison sentences after being convicted for operations on American soil — a topic of constant, outraged commentary in state-controlled Cuban media. As he recently did on immigration, Obama could move without congressional approval to relax U.S. rules that require most Americans wanting to visit Cuba to go on expensive, organized trips with U.S.-approved agendas. Such a change could generate hundreds of millions of dollars a year for Cuba’s centrally planned economy, which is struggling for cash in the absence of major expansions in foreign investment or private economic activity. Cuban authorities this week sharply downgraded their prediction of 2014 growth to 1.3 percent, nearly a point lower than expected at the beginning of the year. Observers in both countries warn, however, that expectations of imminent progress have come and gone before without real change to relations that have been tense for more than five decades. “We won’t make enough progress obviously until he’s home,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said of Gross on Tuesday. “His continued incarceration

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13 THE JEWISH STAR December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775

Jewish contractor from US ends 5th year in Cuban jail

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‘Like Dreamers’ author speaks at HANC HS

Jewish Star Schools

HANC Juniors, seniors, and the HANC High School Israel Advocacy Committee heard author Yossi Klein Halevi speak about Israel and his book, “Like Dreamers,” the story of seven paratroopers who fought for the liberation of Jerusalem in 1967. Halevi spoke about his book’s characters and the situation in Israel today. His message to American teenagers involved the importance of unity among all Jewish people as he compared being at the Kotel in 1967 to receiving the Torah at Har Sinai. The floor was then opened for questions prepared by HANC’s AIPAC committee, moderated by chairperson, Elizabeth Frenkel. After the assembly, Yossi Klein Halevi met more intimately with the Israel

advocacy members who were able to ask questions and discuss the author’s

views regarding Middle East issues. Klein’s sister and brother-in-law, Ka-

ren and Glenn Cohn, parents of junior Jordy Cohn, helped arrange this event.

Open house at new Brooklyn day school

Molly Feder recruited her friends to assist in her Bat Mitzvah chesed project — the bagging of Chanukah gifts for children at OHEL.

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Under the auspices of Chabad Lubavitch of Brooklyn Heights, the BHJA will be the neighborhood’s first Jewish day school, offering a comprehensive Jewish and general studies curriculum supported by extra-curricular activities. The school’s curriculum takes a holistic integrated Torah perspective; secular units such as math and science are taught alongside Torah themes

BHHA The Brooklyn Heights Jewish Academy, a new co-educational Jewish day school in Brownstone Brooklyn, will host an open house on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 10:00 am. Prospective parents are invited to meet the head of school, Mrs. Faigy Spritzer. Childcare will be available and light refreshments will be served.

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Continued from page 1 The memory was among the numerous wartime experiences that Pike Rubin explored with for students in Calhoun’s Voices of the Past class during an hour-and-a-halflong talk. She was among the roughly 18,000 European Jews who survived World War II by hiding out in Shanghai, which, despite occupation by Japanese forces, was open to war refugees from around the globe. Bringing history to life Taught by social studies teacher David Goldberg and English teacher Julie Rosslee, Voices of the Past is a yearlong elective that looks at history through primary-source documents and literature. Rosslee said that a visit by a Holocaust survivor such as Pike Rubin brings history to life for students. “It takes it off the page,” she said. “It makes it very real for them.” Pike Rubin chronicled her wartime experiences in her book “Shanghai Ghetto,” which was first released in 1996. In the late 1930s, Jews were still allowed to leave Nazi Germany, but had to surrender their businesses and belongings. Then came Kristallnacht, on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938. In a coordinated attack, the Sturmabteilung, a Nazi paramilitary force known commonly as the “brown shirts,” ransacked and burned Jewish homes, schools and businesses. Kristallnacht is German for Night of Broken Glass, referring to the windows that looters smashed that night. Jewish men were

Pike Rubin with her parents before World War II.

Students at Calhoun High School in Merrick listened intently to Evelyn Pike Rubin’s talk.

arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps. Pike Rubin’s father was among them. He was sent to Buchenwald, but was released three weeks later, with the understanding that his family must leave Germany or they would be killed. Pike Rubin’s parents, uppermiddle-class business owners, had already applied for asylum in France, Brazil, Cuba, the U.S. and British-controlled Palestine, but their anxious pleas for refuge were declined. They had heard that Shanghai, some 8,000 miles away, would take in most anyone, so they sold nearly all of their belongings for next to nothing, cobbling together enough money to afford the months-long trip by train and boat. Holed up in Shanghai It was a bold move. Shanghai, Pike Rubin said, was a remote land, “virtually unknown” to most Jews. “People were afraid,” she said. “If you go to Shanghai, you might as well take your coffin with you,” they were warned. At first the family lived in the city’s French quarter, a middle-class district with tree-

Scott Brinton

lined streets that were clean and safe. Pike Rubin’s father started a moderately successful typewriter repair business, but he died in 1941, at age 43, of an old stomach wound he suffered while fighting for Germany in the World War I. The stifling heat and humidity caused it to act up, Pike Rubin recalled. Then, in 1943, the Gestapo arrived in Shanghai, pursuing Jewish refugees. The Nazis pressured the local Japanese vice consul to exterminate Jews, either by shooting them or sending them out to sea in a boat with no provisions, Pike Rubin said. But the Japanese saw no reason to kill Jews. Instead, they rounded them up and moved them to the city’s slums, which, Pike Rubin said, were rat-infested, dark and dank, flooded by sewage when the monsoonal rains came because local peasants fertilized their crops with human feces. Children played in that water, Pike Rubin noted. Cholera, typhoid and smallpox were rampant. Pike Rubin became thin, emaciated even. She had but a spoonful of peanut butter a day and whatever other meager rations

she could scrape together. She slept in a tiny room with a cement floor, one bed and little light in a crumbling tenement house. There was no bathroom. Her mother tried to eke out a living with the typewriter repair business, but she brought in little money. Free again On or around May 8, 1945, word spread in Shanghai that Allied forces had defeated Germany. Adolf Hitler was dead. Then the stories of the Holocaust, Hitler’s Final Solution, trickled in: the slave-labor camps, the extermination chambers, the mass graves. Despite the hardships that Pike Rubin had endured, she said, she realized that she was fortunate to be alive. Victory Over Japan Day was declared on Aug. 15, 1945, but Pike Rubin and her mother could not leave Shanghai until 1947. With assistance from a Jewish relief organization, they came by ship to San Francisco, passing under the Golden Gate Bridge at 3 am. “We were free once again,” she said. Eventually, they made their way to New Jersey and New York. Pike Rubin, who spoke German, French and English, became a multilingual secretary. She married and settled in Jericho, where she has remained for 55 years. She has four children and 12 grandchildren. Her mother lived to age 93, and Pike Rubin still carries her wedding band, which the Nazis overlooked and failed to confiscate on the train ride to Italy. “I treasure this a lot, as you can imagine,” she said. She returned to Shanghai twice, in 1995 and 2006, and plans to go again, with family. She has done several book signings at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Calhoun senior James Carville said he liked Pike Rubin’s story because it gave him hope. “I thought it was a different view, [seeing] how someone escaped” the Holocaust, he said. “You could sync with her teachings and her experiences at that momen,” said junior Sofia Hassan. “Any horrific experience, you can overcome it. Definitely, you can overcome it.” Pike Rubin’s book can be purchased directly from the author, who can be reached at evandlenrubin@aol.com. Scott Brinton is Senior Editor of the Merrick Herald, where a version of this article first appeared.

An exhibit of Holocaust forgiveness, in Terre Haute By Arthur Foulkes, The Tribune-Star TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — Terre Haute’s CANDLES Holocaust Museum is burning more brightly than ever with the opening of a dynamic, thought-provoking and inspiring permanent exhibit. “We hope it will be a game changer,” said Eva Kor, a Holocaust survivor and founder of the educational organization and museum at 1532 S. Third St. The museum will lift the veil from the new exhibit, “Choices: The Holocaust Through Eva’s Story,” with a grand opening this week. The exhibit starts figuratively in the village of Portz, Romania, Kor’s home village. From there, visitors experience the incremental rise of the National Socialist Workers Party, better known as the Nazi party, to total power in nearby Germany, a fact that eventually engulfed most of Europe, including Kor’s home village. Designed by artists at Blustery Day Design, the exhibit traces how, between about 1933 and 1939, the democratically elected party of Adolf Hitler came to dominate all aspects of life in Germany, while systematically excluding, isolating and later murdering Jews, Gypsies, unfavored religious groups and others. The apex of the exhibit is a massive photograph showing a railway entrance to one

of the Nazi extermination camps, Auschwitz, where Kor and her twin sister, Miriam, last saw their parents and other family members who were murdered there. That was 1944, and Eva and Miriam were 10. They would spend the next year as subjects in experiments

overseen by Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. A full half of the exhibit traces Kor’s life, post liberation, a year later by Soviet forces. This side of the exhibit underlines the hopeful side of Kor’s personal style and philosophy, which is one of determination, forgiveness and

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progress. The exhibit explains Kor’s discovery of a form of forgiveness later in her life that freed her from the burden of hating the people who murdered her family and imprisoned her and her sister. It is a forgiveness that vows never to forget the wrong but unlocks the victim from the bonds of victimhood. It is a forgiveness more for the forgiver than for the forgiven. “Anger is a seed for war. Forgiveness is a seed for peace,” as Kor has stated. The designers of the exhibit, which was largely funded by a $20,900 grant from the 100 + Women Who Care, clearly aimed at much more than placing artifacts on stale display. Interactive videos, designed by Indiana State University students, bring images and stories to life. In her own words, through these videos, Kor relates many critical moments in her story. More importantly, the exhibit draws in the visitor by revealing the importance of personal choices, even choices we all make every day. Visitors are asked: “What would you do?” in situations faced by individuals in the 1930s or by school children who see bullying in 2014. Some Holocaust museums leave the visitors only depressed and sad, Kor said. The new, permanent exhibit at CANDLES takes the view that “remembering is not enough,” she said.

THE JEWISH STAR December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775

From Germany to Shanghai on Holocaust eve…

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By Jacob Kamaras, JNS.org Settlements or Jewish communities? West Bank or Judea and Samaria? East Jerusalem or eastern Jerusalem? Those are some of the language choices that journalists covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are faced with each day — and those choices should not be taken lightly, experts say. “It’s the terminology that actually defines the conflict and defines what you think about the conflict,” says Ari Briggs, director of Regavim, an Israeli NGO that works on legal land use issues. “Whereas journalists’ job, I believe, is to present the news, as soon as you use certain terminology, you’re presenting an opinion and not the news anymore.” “Accuracy requires precision; ideology employs euphemism,” says Eric Rozenman, Washington director of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA). At the conclusion of his famed essay, “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell argues that writers have the power to “send some wornout and useless phrase— some jackboot, Achilles’ heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno, or other lump of verbal refuse—into the dustbin, where it belongs.” Many Jewish leaders, organizations, and analysts wish to do just that with the following terms, which are commonly used by the mainstream media in coverage of Israel. West Bank Dani Dayan believes the “funniest” term of all that are used in mainstream coverage of Israel is “West Bank.” Dayan is the chief foreign envoy of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization representing the municipal councils of Jewish communities in an area that the Israeli government calls Judea and Samaria, in line with the region’s biblical roots. Yet media usually use “West Bank” to describe the area, in reference to the bank of the river situated on its eastern border. “[The Jordan River] is the only river on planet earth that on its good days is a few feet wide, and people claim that it has a bank 40 miles wide [spanning across Judea and Samaria],” Dayan tells JNS.org. “There is no other example of such a thing in the geography of planet earth. That proves that West Bank is the politicized terminology, and not Judea and Samaria, as people claim.” Member of Knesset Danny Danon (Likud) calls it “ridiculous” that West Bank — a geographic term that once described half of the Mandate of Palestine that the British government promised to the Jewish people — has “taken on a political meaning that attempts to supersede thousands of years of Jewish tradition.” “The correct name of the heartland of the Land of Israel is obviously Judea and Samaria,” he tells JNS.org. CAMERA’s Rozenman, the former editor of the Washington Jewish Week and B’nai B’rith Magazine, draws a distinction between

Palestinian and Jewish communities in the area. “If I’m referring to Palestinian Arab usage or demands, I use West Bank,” he says. “If I’m referring to Israeli usage or Jewish history and religion, etc., I use Judea and Samaria. Israeli prime ministers from 1967 on, if not before, used and [now] use Yehuda and Shomron, the Hebrew from which the Romans Latinized Judea and Samaria.” West Bank is fair to use “so long as it’s noted that Jordan adopted that usage in the early 1950s to try to legitimate its illegal occupation, as the result of aggression, of what was commonly known as Judea and Samaria by British Mandatory authorities,” he adds. Dayan, meanwhile, prefers to call Palestinian communities in Judea and Samaria exactly that. “The area is Judea and Samaria, and in Judea and Samaria there are indeed Palestinian population centers, and that’s perfectly okay,” he says. “We cannot neglect that fact, that yes, we [Jews] are living together with Palestinians. And in Judea and Samaria there is ample room for many Jews, for many Palestinians, and for peaceful coexistence between them if the will exists.” Settlements Judea and Samaria’s Jewish communities are often called “settlements,” a term that some believe depicts modern-day residents of the area as primitive. “[‘Settlements’] once referred in a positive manner to all communities in the Land of Israel, but at some point was misappropriated as a negative term specifically against those Jews who settled in Judea and Samaria,” Danon says. “I prefer to use ‘Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria’ when discussing the brave modern-day Zionistic pioneers.” Dayan believe “settlements” is not pejorative, but still inaccurate. He analogizes the Israeli city of Ariel, home to one of Israel’s eight accredited universities, to the American municipality of Princeton, N.J., home to the Ivy League school of the same name. While Ariel is labeled as a settlement, nobody would give such a label to Princeton, Dayan argues. “It’s a politically driven labeling in order to target those [Israeli] communities,” he says. “Most communities in Judea and Samaria are not different from any suburban or even urban community in Europe, in the United States, in Israel itself, or elsewhere.” Green Line/1967 lines The Israeli government’s decisions to build housing units beyond the 1949 armistice lines between Israel and Jordan are commonly defined as construction projects across the “Green Line.” But that term is a relic of the 1960s, according to Dayan. “The Green Line ceased to exist in 1967 [during the Six Day War],” he says. “The moment the Jordanian army, with the Palestinians, joined Egypt and Syria in attacking Israel, they shattered the Green Line and that very moment the Green Line ceased to exist.”

The Jordan River is “the only river on planet earth that on its good days is a few feet wide, and people claim that it has a bank 40 miles wide [spanning across Judea and Samaria],” says Dani Dayan, chief foreign envoy of the Yesha Council. Beivushtang via Wikimedia Commons

The eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya. References to “East Jerusalem” with an uppercase “E” imply the area is a different municipality than the undivided Israeli capital. Faigl.ladislav via Wiki Commons

“1967 lines” are another popular term to describe the same entity, yet those lines “do not signify a political border between two political entities, and they never did,” says Dayan. “I am always puzzled by the sudden sanctity that [the ‘1967 lines’] gained. “In the [1949] ceasefire agreement between Israel and Jordan that was signed in the Greek island of Rhodes, it was stated very clearly by an Arab demand that those lines are devoid of any political significance. They’re only a reflection of the military outcome of the [1967] war. Suddenly today we see that people say that east of the ‘Green Line’ is not part of Israel, it’s ‘Palestine,’ etc. That’s nonsense.” East Jerusalem Though Jerusalem is the undivided capital of Israel, some refer to the city’s Arabheavy portion as “East Jerusalem”—with the uppercase “E” implying that the area is its own municipality. “There is a typo here,” says Danon. “There is the western part of Jerusalem and the eastern part of Jerusalem, but there is only one capital city of the State of Israel. … We should treat and invest in all parts of the city equally and make sure the world understands that Jerusalem will forever remain united.” Even if spelled with a lowercase “e,” Dayan notes that the area media call “east Jerusalem” actually comprises the eastern, northern, and southern parts of the city. “Take for instance the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo in Jerusalem, it’s not in east Jerusalem, it’s in south Jerusalem. Or take for instance Pisgat Ze’ev—it is in north Jerusalem and not in east Jerusalem,” he says. Rozenman says, “One day an Israeli-Palestinian agreement might establish a new ‘East’ and ‘West’ Jerusalem… but until then, journalistic usages of ‘East Jerusalem,’ let alone ‘Palestine,’ are prejudgements.” Militants By describing Palestinian terrorists as “militants,” newswire services such as the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters set the de facto industry standard, as their coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is reprinted by their numerous client newspapers. After the Nov. 18 attack by two Palestinian terrorists on a Jerusalem synagogue, numerous headlines in major newspaper who ran the AP story read something along the lines of, “Palestinian militants kill 5 in Jerusalem synagogue attack.” The impact of not describing terrorists as “terrorists” is destructive, Danon says. “Any news outlet that uses ‘militants’ to describe the savages who brutally murder Jews at prayer is dishonest and possible even anti-Semitic,” he says. “This attempt at moral equivalency does no one justice and only

serves to encourage violent terrorism.” The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) issued an Aug. 20 press release on media usage of “militants” to characterize members of Hamas, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Islamic State, and Hezbollah. “These groups intentionally murder innocent Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and others across the globe. … To call them ‘militants’ greatly understates and minimizes the horror of their vile actions and may even camouflage the appropriateness and the imperative of those who fight them,” ZOA said. Palestinian Bedouin Bedouin, in its simplest form the Arabic word for “nomad,” can turn into a charged term depending on what comes after it, according to Regavim’s Briggs, whose NGO’s stated mission is “ensuring the responsible, legal and environmentally friendly use of Israel’s national lands.” In United Nations documents’ description of land disputes related to Bedouins living in Israel, Briggs sees a trend of “trying to connect what is a local problem to a larger national problem.” “Ten years ago they spoke about Israeli Bedouins, five years ago they spoke about Israeli Arab Bedouins, three years ago they spoke about Bedouins living in Israel, and now they talk about Palestinian Bedouins,” he tells JNS.org. “And they’re talking about the same Bedouins. What you find is that to try to politically charge an issue, or to try and connect what is a social, local, limited geographic issue to a larger national conflict, you need to change the terminology used, and that’s why we’ve see this shift.” Haram al-Sharif Briggs also notes the Arab push to have the United Kingdom-based BBC stop using “Temple Mount” to describe the Jerusalem compound on which the first and second Jewish Temples were built. Instead, “Temple Mount” opponents promote the usage of the Arabic term “Haram al-Sharif,” which translates to “noble sanctuary.” But if media abandon “Temple Mount,” not just Jewish history is rewritten, Briggs explains. “What’s most interesting there is that a lot of Christianity is based on these stories of Jesus clearing out the money-changers standing at the entrance to the Temple, and if the Temple never existed as [media are] now being told, then what does that do to Christianity?” he says. “The journalist has to understand that when they use certain terminology, when they remove certain terminology from the lexicon, then they’re impacting things a lot bigger than just a news story,” adds Briggs. “They’re impacting a religion.”

THE JEWISH STAR December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775

How words define Israeli-Palestinian conflict

December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

Jerusalem Post Puzzle By David Benkof

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1. West of Hollywood? 4. Desirable etrog 8. The sabbatical year once wiped it out 12. Attitude of many Jews toward Christian Zionism 13. Ladino love 14. “Bekex” is the slang Hebrew term for your car’s back one 15. Something to do at a break-the-fast 16. Entebbe’s was called Thunderbolt 18. Kind of denial 20. Nonna ___ (kosher restaurant in Rome nothing’s better) 21. Synonym for the Hebrew-origin word brouhaha 22. Airport for Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) 23. Symptom of tzaraat, the Biblical malady sometimes translated as leprosy 24. “Hello, ___” (TV catchphrase) 26. Where to find a mohel 28. Ingredient in bamba 29. “Lend ___ to my prayer...” (Psalms 17:1) 30. Warner ___ Studio 31. Ari Gold of “Entourage” and others (abbr.) 32. She sang “O Little Town of Bethlehem” on her 1967 Christmas album 35. Tikkun Olam is a Jewish one 38. Second person in Israel? 39. Cuts back on restrictions regarding Jewish immigration to Canada 43. It helps Jewish communities in the FSU 44. ___ Chatimah Tovah (May you be sealed in the Book of Life) 45. Four-foot-seven advice-giver of note 46. They’re found all over the Temple on Purim 48. Marked shiva 49. ___’arim (Women’s College in Jerusalem) 50. Many a JDater, once 51. Guest band? 54. Mike Nichols or Harold Ramis 56. Lamentations? 57. Jews ate Hydrox instead before it became kosher 58. 2013’s Thanksgivukkah was surrounded by it 59. Bane of today’s Middle East 60. The Lesser Crested type has been known to fly over Eilat 61. Observed 62. Place for Daniel

1. Christopher who wrote the 16th-century play “The Jew of Malta” 2. Film Ben Affleck should watch again, given his recent comments 3. The Hebrew one has an aleph on top 4. Wallenberg who disappeared in 1945 5. Some Isaac Bashevis Singer creatures 6. Emma Lazarus or Allen Ginsberg 7. Put your tallis on backwards 8. People in their twenties go to shadchanim to get them 9. What yordim are doing to Israel 10. “You shall ___ the memory of Amalek” (Deuteronomy 25:19) 11. Some Jewish farmers in the Byzantine period 12. Some mezuzahs 15. African country where the “House of Israel” of the Sewfi tribe built a synagogue 17. Saperstein and Vigoda 19. Conservative Coulter who said Jews need to be “perfected” 23. “House” actress Edelstein 25. Something for Purim or Halloween 26. Jane Yolen’s young adult novel “___ Rose” 27. Place for a kippah 30. It comes betwen Zeta and Tau on some campuses 31. On the 7th of this month, Moses was born - and died 33. They were once offered on Yom Kippur 34. It never goes out 35. You can find them opposite Rashi 36. Place to put your kittel 37. Meara’s partner in work and love 40. Root meaning of the verb “V’kiyemanu” from the Shehecheyanu 41. Coen and Zohn 42. Feels nachas 44. Eur. country of “yekkies” 45. Son of Jacob and Bilhah 47. Rossitano worked for her on “30 Rock” 48. In Jerusalem, it indicates Shabbat is coming 51. Former teen idol Ione 52. Skunk voiced by Mel 53. Experience a war like Egypt did in 1967 55. Toronto, Ont. multi-campus day school

Last week’s answers on page 17

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By Sean Savage, JNS.org A growing number of European countries have expressed frustration with the status quo and began sidestepping the diplomatic process between Israelis and Palestinians by recognizing Palestinian statehood in the hope of sending a clear message to Israel. On Tuesday, the French National Assembly has voted 339 to 151 in favor of urging its government to recognize a Palestinian. The Danish government will vote on the issue in early January, while Sweden officially recognized Palestine at the end of October. Symbolic votes also took place in the parliaments of Britain, Ireland, and Spain. A vote by the European Parliament on the recognition of a Palestinian state is expected in mid-December. These votes are taking place despite the recent terrorist attacks across Jerusalem, in which Israeli civilians have been killed, and continued infighting between Palestinian factions. “Europeans may have nothing but good intentions, but recognizing Palestine without the PA [Palestinian Authority] first achieving a settlement with Israel is ultimately misguided. It would be a setback for the quest for real peace and the establishment of a real Palestinian state,” Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Transatlantic Institute in Brussels, told JNS.org. With peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled since last spring, European leaders have increasingly become impatient and “the predominate perception in Europe still blames Israel for the lack of progress for peace, not the Palestinians,” said Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. In early November, the European Union’s new foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini visited Israel, as well as Gaza and the West Bank, declaring a real “urgency” to end the conflict and reiterating that one of the EU’s top foreign policy goals was the establishment of a Palestinian state. “We need a Palestinian state — that is the ultimate goal and this is the position of all the European Union,” Mogherini said during her visit to Gaza. Ottolenghi believes that European motivation “is a rather skewed view of the realities on the ground and what is driving the conflict,” he said. “There is an inclination to excuse the Palestinians for their actions while over emphasizing the role that the [Israeli] settlements play in the conflict.”

EU flags in front of the European Commission building in Brussels. Amio Cajander via Wikimedia Commons

Nonetheless, there have been key differences in each of the resolutions. While Sweden has officially recognized Palestinian statehood, the resolutions passed by the U.K. Parliament, Irish Senate and Spain’s Congress of Deputies have all been symbolic and do not officially change the government’s policy regarding diplomatic status with the Palestinians. The decision by the French National Assembly is also symbolic. In Spain, the ruling center-right Popular Party added a last minute change to the resolution insisting that any recognition of a Palestinian state “should be promoted in a coordinated manner within the EU, in the framework of a final settlement in the Middle East.” In France, the resolution proposed by the ruling Socialists and backed by other left-wing parties asked the government to “use the recognition of a Palestinian state with the aim of resolving the conflict definitively.” Ahead of the French vote, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had declared that he supports a two-year timeframe to relaunch and conclude negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians with the support of the U.K. and Germany. “If this final effort to reach a negotiated solution fails, then

France will have to do what it takes by recognizing without delay the Palestinian state,” Fabius said, AFP reported. “Israel is committed to the two states for two peoples approach to conflict resolution, as are the Europeans,” emphasized Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson. However, Hirschson was critical of the approach of many European nations, which by unilaterally recognizing Palestinian statehood will make it more difficult to get the Palestinians back to the negotiating table and make the necessary compromises needed for a lasting peace. “To give them the impression they can get what they want without compromises, which both parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict are going to have to make, makes it more difficult for the Palestinians to undertake those compromises they (too, as will Israel) have to make,” Hirschson added. At the same time, the souring political relationship between Israel and the EU may also spill over to the economic realm. The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner with total trade around $37 billion a year. Israel also has an Association Agreement with the EU that covers cooperation in trade, science and culture. For many EU states, Israel is an important source of high-tech, scientific and defense technology. “It is very hard to undo such a complex commercial and economic partnership between nations. I‘m just not sure how the EU could cherry pick what it decides to do without causing serious political damage,” Ottolenghi said. “The EU is bound to lose as well if they target Israel with sanctions. The EU is aware that they will lose critical economic ties [as well as] what little leverage it has over Israel politically if it wages economic war on (the Jewish state).” Schwammenthal pointed out that “as a community of law, the EU would set a dangerous precedent by recognizing a state that clearly doesn’t fulfill the established international law criteria for statehood, such as control over a defined territory. The recent Gaza War underscored that the PA has no control over Gaza.” For both Israelis and Palestinians, the EU’s unilateral efforts may ultimately derail what little hope there is for peace. “To the Palestinians such a move signals that they don’t have to make the necessary compromises in peace talks and that it is even ok to circumvent such direct talks altogether. To the Israelis, recognition suggests that Europe is not an honest broker,” Schwammenthal told JNS.org.

Islamic State slave trade highlights broader issue By Ksenia Svetlova, Israel Hayom Every evening, silence reigns in the Khanke refugee camp near the Kurdish city of Dohuk in northern Iraq. Winter has already arrived, bringing with it rain, mud, and cold. A fire has been lit for warmth, but the flame is potentially dangerous. A Yazidi family is crowded into each tent. The tents afford no protection from the rain, and if any of the structures catch fire, they can turn into death traps. About 60,000 Yazidis live in this camp. Last summer, they managed to survive and escape Mount Sinjar, which was taken over by the Islamic State terror group. Every person at the camp knows someone who was either killed or wounded, or is currently missing. Every refugee has a sister, wife, or daughter who was kidnapped and raped. Some of them have already seen the video footage on YouTube showing the modern slave markets in Syria and Iraq, and the women who have fallen into bondage. According to these video clips and the accounts that are trickling out of Raqqah, the Islamic State “capital” in Syria, and from Mosul, its stronghold in Iraq, the women are sold at auction to the highest bidder. Prices vary—virgins are worth $100, while women who have borne children fetch roughly $10. The jihadists of Islamic State, using passages from the Koran as their justification, regard the Yazidis as idol-worshippers who may be bought and sold like sheep. The situation is growing worse in regions taken over by Islamic State. Public executions and amputations mandated by Shariah, the Islamic system of religious law, are carried out every day just a few miles from the Turk-

ish border. Children under 10 years old train with live ammunition, and thousands of Yazidi and Kurdish women are enslaved. The Muslim world looks on in silence—almost no condemnations are heard, perhaps because some of the norms of the Islamic caliphate established by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are customary in other places in the Middle East. “Saudi Arabia, which says it uses … the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam as the predominant law for its country, the only difference between them and ISIS (Islamic State) is that [Islamic State] is public and brazen about what it does,” Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), told JNS.org. Some of the women enslaved by Islamic State managed to escape, including by contacting their families to convey ransom demands from the terror group. The ransom in certain cases is as high as $5,000 for a young woman or teenage girl, and very few families are able to raise that sum. According to reports, the Kurdish government has already paid Islamic State more than $1.5 million in ransom for male and female Yazidi captives. A woman who manages to escape continues to live in fear of Islamic State terrorists, and in fear of rapists and murderers in Syria and Iraq. These women have made long journeys on foot to find that they don’t have a home to return to—Mount Sinjar, the place where the Yadizi community lived for thousands of years, is under Islamic State control. Now, the women are living in Erbil, in Dohuk, and in refugee camps set up by the Kurdish government. They are lonely, col-

In 1949, a Yemenite Jewish family walks through the desert to a refugee camp set up by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in the city of Aden. Kluger Zoltan, Israeli National Photo Archive

lapsing under the trauma they have suffered. Paulo Kosaka, a well-known Portuguese politician who visited Erbil, described his meeting with one of the Yazidi teenage girls who managed to flee captivity. “When the girl was kidnapped and handed over to one of the members of Islamic State in Raqqa, Syria, she was forced to convert to Islam and pray five times a day. She was forcibly married, and her husband abused her,” he said. In tears, the Yazidi girl told Kosaka about where she lived in captivity for several months. It was across the street from

a mosque, and the call to prayer was what frightened her the most. “During the conversation, as she told about the experiences she had undergone, she fainted from the pain, and after that she did not speak anymore,” said Kosaka, who has learned that slavery is more widespread than U.N. experts who visited the region last summer estimated. “At least several thousand women were enslaved overnight,” he said. “In many cases, these are very young girls, only 11 or 12 years old.” Read more at TheJewishStar.com

THE JEWISH STAR December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775

Frustrated Europe embraces statehood move

For Chanukah, smile and say cheese! Judy JoSzeF who’s in the kitchen

k, we had a one meal holiday, Thanksgiving. You should have all aced that one. As I said last week, it was child’s play after Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot. Now back to what we’re used to: a holiday that lasts longer than a week. Since this is my third year at The Jewish Star, I simply cannot write about the miracle of the oil burning for eight days, potato latkes, fried doughnuts and chocolate coins anymore, I need something new — but what? I decided to surf the Internet, which I found stories about giant menorahs being lit, giant doughnuts being fried, and there was even a fictional character on SNL called Chanukah Harry, who lived on Mount Sinai and was the Jewish version of Santa, traveling through the air in a cart pulled by three donkeys named Moishe, Herschel and Shlomo. Just as I was about to give up, something caught my eye. It was an article written about dairy food being the food of choice for Chanukah, which made sense as potatoes weren’t introduced in Europe until hundreds of years later. It spoke about why cheese ingredients were used because of a story involving a Jewish heroine named Judith. My interest was piqued at this point and I wanted to find out if this was actual fact or folklore. he story is told of a beautiful woman named Judith who volunteered to go to the general of the Assyrian army, General Holofernes, and offer to give him information about the Jewish army and what they were planning. In reality, what she was really doing was trying to get inside info from him to pass along to the Jewish army. She brought along her own

included in the apocrypha. They have also been cited as valuable by the Rishonim, and later by midrashim that report that Judith killed the Assyrian General, which galvanised our people to muster the requisite courage to defeat a threatening enemy. She was a devout religious woman who risked her life to save our people. Most importantly, to me, Judith highlights the critical role women have played in achieving the redemption of the Jews throughout history. In honor of Judith and the history of Chanukah, give these cheese pancakes a try. They’re super easy to make and they’ll melt in your mouth. And of course a few fried potato latkes and sufganiot wouldn’t hurt either. Enjoy! After all, it will have been almost three weeks since we will have stuffed ourselves silly, so make up for lost time! Cheese pancakes Ingredients: 2 cups hoop cheese. I like to purchase mine from Neal at Brach’s. 4 extra large eggs 1 cup milk 2 tablespoons grated fresh lemon peel 1 1/2 cups flour 4 tablespoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt Unsalted butter or canola for griddle or pan Directions: 1. Combine the hoop cheese, eggs, milk, and lemon peel in a bowl. 2. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix to combine ingredients. 3. Heat a griddle or pan over medium heat and add a small amount of butter or oil 4. When the butter is melted or oil is hot, pour about 1/4 cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Only fit as many in griddle or pan as will fit leaving ample room to flip. 5. Cook the pancakes for about 2 minutes per side, or until they are golden brown, adding more butter or oil to the pan as necessary.

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‘Sturgeon Queens’ airs this Sunday WLIW21 “The Sturgeon Queens,” a documentary that follows four generations of the Jewish immigrant family that started Russ & Daughters Appetizing in 1914 and still owns and runs the business, debuted last week and will air this Sunday at 9:30 am and 7 pm on WLIW21 (and at 2:30 pm on WNET13). The film traces the family’s progression from the early 20th century, when Joel Russ came from a shtetl in Eastern Europe to a tenement in New York and began selling herring from a push cart, to today, when two of his great-grandchildren preside over a thriving store and café praised by critics and an adoring crowd of Jewish and gentile foodies. The film features interviews with prominent customers including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, actor Maggie Gyllenhaal, chef Mario Batali, journalist Morley Safer and writer Calvin Trillin. The film is built around a poignant, feisty, often hilarious, side-by-side interview with Hattie Russ Gold (who passed away April 2014) and Anne Russ Federman, two of the original daughters for whom the store was named — at the time, a radical move in a city of businesses passed down to sons. Rather than a traditional narrator, six longtime customers in their 80s and 90s sit around a table, reading the script — but they are not just script readers but characters in and of themselves.

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food because she kept the laws of kashrut. The General was smitten by her and she shared her food, which is said to have included a salty cheese which made him thirsty so that he would drink wine and become drunk. When he passed, she took his sword and beheaded him. The Israelis then launched a surprise attack on the leaderless Assyrian army and were victorious. As much as I loved the story and the outcome, I was a bit apprehensive to use it in my article, as I had never heard about the book of Judith. I did some additional research from an article by Mrs. Deena S. Rabinovich, director of Legacy Heritage Foundation Scholars Program at Stern College, I learned that Judith and Judah the Maccabee have each been associated with the story of Chanukah. Maccabee 1 and 2 as well as the book of Judith, have identified them as Jewish heroes. With further research I also learned that while each of these works are not included as part do the mesorah of consecrated Jewish works, they are

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December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

23 THE JEWISH STAR December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775

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December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775 THE JEWISH STAR