L’ Shana Tova
5775
Supplement to Jewish News,| September September 8, 2014 jewishnewsva.org 8, 2014 | Jewish News | 17
Dear Readers, In this, the first of our two special High Holiday sections, we devote lots of pages to recapping the events of the worldwide Jewish community of 5774. What a year
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it was…from the death of Ariel Sharon to the discovery of art confiscated from Jews in Germany to Operation Protective Edge. Don’t worry, we’re not forgetting about all that has happened this year in the
Terri Denison, Editor Germaine Clair, Art Director Hal Sacks, Book Review Editor Sandy Goldberg, Account Executive Mark Hecht, Account Executive Marilyn Cerase, Subscription Manager Reba Karp, Editor Emeritus
Tidewater Jewish community. Our final edition for 2014 will review those notable events.
Miles Leon, President Stephanie Calliott, Secretary Harry Graber, Executive Vice-President
On a lighter, tastier note, we’ve got some great, simple recipes for Rosh Hashanah on page 30. And, Hal Sacks’ book review in the main section of the paper on page 39, also offers a recipe that can be used during this season…perhaps best for Sukkot. Speaking of notes, there’s an interesting piece from Los Angeles about the daily blowing of the Shofar in the month
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of Elul, prior to Rosh Hashanah. In still another twist for the holidays, for those who tend to communicate digitally, we feature an article about reflecting online. With the holidays arriving late this
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year (Remember how early they came last year? Will they ever be on time?), our second High Holiday section on Monday, Oct. 6 will provide still more great dishes, locals’ favorite parts of the holidays and additional ways to observe and celebrate. L’ Shana Tova,
Terri Denison Editor
18 | Jewish News | September 8, 2014 | jewishnewsva.org
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5774
Year in Review
NEW YORK (JTA)—Read about the global highs and lows of 5774—and everything in between.
Meanwhile, in a meeting with U.S. Jewish leaders, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he is more hopeful now for peace than he was in the mid2000s.
children as Jews. The survey also estimates the U.S. Jewish population at 6.8 million, roughly the same estimate arrived at by Brandeis University researchers analyzing 350 separate population studies.
September 2013
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by JTA Staff
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The United States and Russia reach a deal to rid Syria of its arsenal of chemical weapons, promoting Jewish groups to suspend their efforts lobbying for U.S. strikes against Damascus.
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Rabbi Philip Berg, founder of the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles and teacher of Jewish mysticism for A-list celebrities, dies at age 86.
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William Rapfogel, the ousted leader of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty in New York, is arrested on charges of grand larceny and money laundering. Investigators later say the scheme involving Rapfogel netted $9 million in illicit funds, including $3 million for Rapfogel himself. Rapfogel pleads guilty the following April and is sent to prison in July for three-anda-half to 10 years.
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In his address to the U.N. General Assembly, President Obama says the U.S. focus in the Middle East will be keeping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace.
The Foundation for Jewish Culture, a 53-year-old organization dedicated to promoting Jewish culture and the arts, announces it is closing.
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Larry Ellison, CEO of the technology company Oracle, is ranked as the richest Jew in the United States, according to the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans, which puts Ellison at No. 3. Other Jews making the top 20 are Michael Bloomberg (10, $31 billion); Sheldon Adelson (11, $28.5 billion); Sergey Brin (14, $24.4 billion); George Soros (19, $20 billion); and Marc Zuckerberg (20, $19 billion).
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg becomes the first
U.S. Supreme Court justice to preside over a same-sex marriage, the wedding ceremony of Michael Kaiser and John Roberts.
October 2013
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A landmark study of U.S. Jews by the Pew Research Center finds the Jewish intermarriage rate has risen to 58 percent and that among the 22 percent of American Jews who describe themselves as having no religion, two-thirds are not raising their
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a pan-European intergovernmental organization, overwhelmingly passes a resolution calling male ritual circumcision a “violation of the physical integrity of children” and putting it in the same class as female genital mutilation. Israeli President Shimon Peres joins the chorus of voices protesting the decision. In November, the group’s leader assures Jews that the council does not seek to ban Jewish ritual circumcision.
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A day after meeting with President Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the U.N. General Assembly that Israel is ready to go it alone against Iran should it come close to obtaining a nuclear weapon.
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Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the Israeli sage who founded the Sephardic Orthodox Shas political party and exercised major influence on Jewish law, dies at age 93.
• New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
is named the first recipient of the Genesis Prize, a $1 million award for a renowned
professional capable of inspiring young Jews. The prize is funded by a consortium of Jewish philanthropists from the former Soviet Union.
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Arieh Warshel, a U.S. professor born and educated in Israel, and ex-Weizmann Institute professor Michael Levitt are among the winners of the 2013 Nobel Prize for chemistry.
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Two Orthodox rabbis from the New York area and two accomplices are arrested for allegedly kidnapping and beating men to force them to grant their wives religious Jewish divorces, or gets.
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Israeli forces discover a “terror tunnel” running from Gaza to an Israeli kibbutz. The tunnel is full of explosives and ends near an Israeli kindergarten.
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Janet Yellen is named head of the U.S. Federal Reserve, becoming the third American Jewish central banker in a row and the first woman to hold the post.
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Movement leaders at the centennial conference of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in Baltimore agree that significant rejuvenation is needed if Conservative Judaism is to reverse its negative trajectory.
jewishnewsva.org | September 8, 2014 | Jewish News | 19
L’Shana Tova Best wishes for a happy and healthy year with shalom. BRESS PAWN & JEWELRY 721 Granby Street Downtown Norfolk Free Parking 757 625 4228 www.bresspawnshop.com
5774 November 2013
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Semen Domnitser, the former Claims Conference employee who was found guilty of leading a $57 million fraud scheme at the Holocaust restitution organization, is sentenced to eight years in prison. The scheme entails falsifying applications to two funds established by the German government to make restitution payments to Holocaust survivors.
The Union for Reform Judaism announces at its biennial conference in San Diego that it has sold off half its headquarters in New York and is investing $1 million from the proceeds to overhaul the movement’s youth programming.
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In a survey of 5,847 European Jews, nearly one-third of respondents say they “seriously considered emigrating” from Europe because of anti-Semitism.
• German authorities begin taking steps to
identify the provenance of more than 1,400 works of Holocaust-era art found in the Munich home of Cornelius Gurlitt.
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Joseph Paul Franklin is executed for killing a man at a St. Louis-area synagogue in 1977. Franklin, 63, shot Gerald Gordon outside the Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel synagogue as Gordon left a bar mitzvah. Franklin also is convicted of seven other murders throughout the United States and claims credit for 20 deaths between 1977 and 1980.
• Forty families belonging to the haredi
Orthodox extremist group Lev Tahor consider fleeing their Quebec homes out of fears that Canadian welfare authorities are poised to seize their children.
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International’s guidelines prohibiting partnerships with groups it deems hostile toward Israel. Hillel boards at Vassar and Wesleyan soon follow suit.
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The United States and a coalition of world powers reach a six-month agreement with Iran to curb the country’s nuclear program in exchange for some sanctions relief while negotiations for a final settlement on Iran’s nuclear program are conducted. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pans the deal as a “historic mistake.” The deal goes into effect on Jan. 20.
December 2013
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The membership of the American Studies Association endorses a boycott of Israeli universities. The controversial decision comes after months of debate and prompts several American schools to withdraw from the association in protest and dozens more to condemn the move.
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Jacob Ostreicher, a New York businessman held in Bolivia since 2011, returns to the United States, in part thanks to efforts by actor Sean Penn. Ostreicher was managing a rice-growing venture in Bolivia when he was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and accused of doing business with drug dealers.
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The Native American and Indigenous Studies Association becomes the third U.S. academic body in less than a year to recommend that its members boycott Israeli universities.
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After being pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is released from prison and leaves Russia, where he spent 10 years behind bars.
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Philanthropist Edgar Bronfman dies in New York at 84. An heir to the Seagram’s beverage fortune, Bronfman was a longtime advocate on behalf of Jewish causes, serving as the head of the World Jewish Congress and financing many efforts to strengthen Jewish identity.
• Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress who is a for- •
mer Miss Israel, is cast as Wonder Woman in the film Batman vs. Superman.
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Swarthmore’s Hillel chapter becomes the first to join the so-called Open Hillel movement, which challenges Hillel
Amid a public debate in France over an allegedly anti-Semitic gesture called the quenelle, the French media publish a photo of a man performing it outside the Toulouse school where four Jews were murdered. Several French cities later announce they have banned performances by the
5774 comedian who popularized the salute, Dieudonne M’bala M’bala.
January 2014
and Oxfam have “a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.”
• The Israel Air Force is accused of attack• Brooklyn Hasidic real estate developer ing a warehouse of advanced Russian-made
Menachem Stark is kidnapped, his lifeless body later found in a dumpster. The New York Post provokes outrage among many Jews with a cover calling him a slumlord and a headline asking, “Who didn’t want him dead?” Months later, a construction worker is arrested for the killing.
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Ariel Sharon, the controversial warrior-turned-statesman who served as Israel’s prime minister from 2001 until 2006, when he was rendered comatose by a stroke, dies at age 85.
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JTA and MyJewishLearning, which includes the popular parenting website Kveller.com, announce their intention to merge.
• The Israeli government announces that
it plans to invest more than $1 billion over the next 20 years to strengthen the Jewish identity of Diaspora Jews, particularly young Jews, but the details remain fuzzy.
• The Chief Rabbinate of Israel reaches
an agreement with the Rabbinical Council of America to automatically accept letters from RCA members vouching for the Jewish status of Israeli immigrants. The agreement follows a temporary suspension by the Chief Rabbinate in accepting such letters from at least one well-known RCA member, Rabbi Avi Weiss of Riverdale, N.Y.
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Two modern Orthodox high schools in New York stir controversy with decisions to allow girls who wish to lay tefillin.
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UJA-Federation of New York, the largest Jewish federation in North America, names attorney Eric Goldstein as its new CEO and successor to longtime CEO John Ruskay.
• Actress Scarlett Johansson comes under
criticism for serving as a spokeswoman for the Israeli company SodaStream, which has facilities in the West Bank. Johansson, who is Jewish, stands by SodaStream and resigns as a global ambassador for the British-based charity Oxfam, saying she
S-300 missiles in the Syrian port city of Latakia. Israel declines to comment on the attack.
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A federal judge tosses out a $380 million sexual abuse lawsuit filed against Yeshiva University by 34 former students of its high school for boys. The suit alleged that the university ignored warnings of assault by two faculty members between 1969 and 1989. In dismissing the lawsuit, Judge John Koeltl rules that the statute of limitations has expired.
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Longtime California congressman Henry Waxman announces his retirement. Waxman had represented California’s 33rd District since 1975 and was considered the dean of Jewish lawmakers.
• Jewish philanthropist and humanitarian
Anne Heyman, founder of the AgahozoShalomYouthVillage in Rwanda, dies during a horse-riding competition in Palm Beach, Fla.
February 2014
• The government of Spain approves a bill
to facilitate the naturalization of Sephardic Jews of Spanish descent.
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Staff at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem go on strike as the hospital, facing a huge deficit, teeters on the edge of bankruptcy and fails to pay its workers.
• Abraham Foxman announces he is step-
ping down as national director of the Anti-Defamation League after 27 years in the post. Foxman, a child survivor of the Holocaust one of the highest profile American Jewish leaders, says he will step down in July 2015.
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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, top the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of the top 50 U.S. donors to charitable causes in 2013. In December, the couple gave 18 million shares of Facebook stock, valued at more
than $970 million, to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
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Alice Herz-Sommer, the 110-year-old Holocaust survivor and concert pianist whose life is the subject of a documentary that a week later would win an Oscar, dies.
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The Giymat Rosa Synagogue in Zaporizhia, in eastern Ukraine, is firebombed, sustaining minor damage. The attack comes amid growing turmoil in Ukraine following the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych.
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5774
L’SHANA TOVA
THE TIME IS RIGHT TO FIND YOUR FLORIDA HOME
March 2014
country’s four major newspapers.
AIPAC leaders emphasize bipartisanship and mutual respect at the group’s annual policy conference in Washington. The conference follows a bruising period in which the pro-Israel lobby had championed a new Iran sanctions bill, only to back down when it becomes clear the bill lacked the necessary support from the White House and congressional Democrats to pass.
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In one of many low-level skirmishes over the course of months, Israeli aircraft strike several targets in the Gaza Strip after Palestinians fire rockets into Israel, sending Israelis into bomb shelters.
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David Hellman, a New York personal trainer, pleads guilty to using violent means to force recalcitrant husbands to give their wives a Jewish writ of divorce, or get. Hellman, who faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, was one of 10 men arrested in October 2013 in an FBI sting operation.
• Yeshiva University is at risk of running
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out of unrestricted cash in the near-term future, warns Moody’s Investors Service, which says deep and growing operating deficits are likely to continue at the university due to “poor financial oversight and high expenses.” In May, Y.U. will announce that the Montefiore Health System is assuming operational control of Y.U.’s Albert Einstein School of Medicine.
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Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is found guilty of accepting bribes in the corruption case involving the Holyland real estate development in Jerusalem. Olmert, who is convicted of receiving about $150,000 in bribes through his brother, Yossi, becomes the first former Israeli prime minister to be convicted of taking a bribe. The crime carries a possible sentence of 10 years in prison.
April 2014
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Casino magnate and conservative backer Sheldon Adelson buys another Israeli newspaper, Makor Rishon, making him the owner of several of Israel’s major right-wing media outlets and two of the 22 | Jewish News | September 8, 2014 | jewishnewsva.org
Mobilized by the death of Samuel Sommers—the 8-year-old son of Rabbi Phyllis and Michael Sommers whose struggle with leukemia was documented on a popular blog called Superman Sam -- 73 rabbis shave their heads to raise $600,000 for pediatric cancer research.
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American-Jewish contractor Alan Gross goes on a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment in a Cuban jail and the lack of American assistance. Later in the year, in ailing health and with no prospect of release, Gross bids goodbye to his family during a prison visit.
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White supremacist Frazier Glenn Miller, 73, kills a man and his grandson outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City and then shoots to death a woman at a Jewish assisted-living facility a few blocks away. None of the victims are Jewish, highlighting the diverse constituency served by America’s Jewish institutions.
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After weeks of near breakdowns in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Israel suspends all negotiations after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party signs a unity accord with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. President Obama responds by saying it may be time for a pause in Middle East peacemaking. Kerry later expresses regret for saying that Israel risks becoming an “apartheid” state or a non-Jewish one if the two-state solution is not implemented. U.S. negotiators blame Israel for the talks’ collapse.
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Gennady Kernes, the Jewish mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, is shot in a suspected assassination attempt, leaving him in critical condition. The shooting comes amid growing violence between Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists in eastern Ukraine and forces loyal to the new Ukrainian government in Kiev. Kernes is airlifted to Israel for treatment.
• The Conference of Presidents of Major
5774 American Jewish Organizations rejects J Street’s bid for membership. J Street, the liberal Washington group that lobbies for increased American pressure to bring about a Mideast peace deal, lost its bid for membership in the main communal group on foreign policy issues by a vote of 22-17, with three abstentions. J Street needed the support of two-thirds of the conference’s 51 members to gain admission.
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Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is banned from the NBA for life and fined $2.5 million after being caught on tape making racist comments to his girlfriend. He is heard saying that his views reflect the way the world works, and as evidence he says that black Jews in Israel “are just treated like dogs.” His girlfriend is heard countering that as a Jew, Sterling should know better than to advocate discrimination, citing the Holocaust as an example of where racism can lead.
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An arm of the private equity firm Bain Capital purchases the Manischewitz Company, the iconic producer of kosher packaged goods, for an undisclosed sum. According to The New York Times, the new owners are expected to promote kosher as an indication of quality food rather than just a religious designation.
• Genealogical research reveals that the
late archbishop of New York, Cardinal John O’Connor, technically was Jewish. O’Connor’s mother, Dorothy Gumple O’Connor, was born Jewish but converted to Catholicism before she met and married O’Connor’s father.
May 2014
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New York’s 92nd Street Y, a Jewish center for arts and culture, names its first non-Jewish executive director, Henry Timms. Shortly afterward, Sol Adler, the previous longtime executive director, who was fired after revelations that he had a long-term affair with his assistant, hangs himself in his Brooklyn home.
• An Anti-Defamation League anti-Sem-
itisim survey finds “deeply anti-Semitic views” are held by 26 percent of 53,000
people polled in 102 countries and territories covering approximately 86 percent of the world’s population. Critics say the survey’s 11 questions are not accurate gauges of anti-Semitism.
• Maccabi Tel Aviv wins the Euroleague
basketball championship by beating favored Real Madrid, 98-86, in overtime.
• Novelist Philip Roth receives an honor-
ary doctorate from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Now considered one of the greatest living American writers, Roth had caused outrage early in his career with his sometimes stinging portrayals of Jewish life. In 2012, Roth announced he was retiring.
• The Jewish community of Sharon, Mass.,
is shocked as the rabbi of Temple Israel, Barry Starr, resigns amid allegations that he used synagogue discretionary funds to pay about $480,000 in hush money to an extortionist to hide a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male. Starr apologizes to the congregation in an email.
• Far right parties make gains in European
Parliament elections, including Greece’s Golden Dawn.
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The European Union says it has banned the import of poultry and eggs produced in West Bank settlements.
• A gunman kills four people at the Jewish
Museum of Belgium in Brussels. Several days later, Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-yearold French national of Algerian origin, is arrested in connection with the attack.
• Pope Francis travels to Israel and the
West Bank, visiting the Western Wall, Yad Vashem and the West Bank security fence, among other sites.
June 2014
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Former Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin of the Likud party is elected president of Israel, defeating Meir Sheetrit of Hatnua in a 63-53 runoff vote. Rivlin formally succeeds Shimon Peres and becomes Israel’s 10th president in late July.
• Rep. Eric Cantor, the majority leader in
the U.S. House of Representatives and the jewishnewsva.org | September 8, 2014 | Jewish News | 23
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May we all enjoy a year of health, happiness and peace.
5774 highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history, is upset in the Republican primary for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District by a Tea Party challenger. Dave Brat, an economics professor, wins handily after attacking Cantor for drifting from conservative principles. Days later, Cantor resigns his post as majority leader.
• Weeks after leading Maccabi Tel Aviv to
the Euroleague title, David Blatt becomes the head coach of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Blatt had played for an Israeli kibbutz team in 1979 after his sophomore year at Princeton and then competed for the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the 1981 Maccabiah Games. He returned to play nearly a decade professionally in Israel.
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Three Israeli teenagers, later identified as Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach, are kidnapped in the West Bank from a hitchhiking post. Israel responds with three weeks of intensive searches, including mass arrests in the West Bank of Hamas members and the rearrest of dozens of Palestinians released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner-exchange deal. Three weeks on, Israeli authorities find the teens’ bodies and announce that the boys were believed to have been killed the night they were kidnapped. The incident sparks the revenge killing by Jews of an Arab teen, riots and a surge of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces responds by launching Operation Protective Edge—Israel’s deadliest foray into Gaza since its 2005 withdrawal—on July 8.
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Israel announces that the suspect in the April 14 killing of Israeli Police Superintendent Baruch Mizrachi is Ziad Awad, a West Bank Palestinian released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.
Shanah Tovah from our family to yours! 422 Shirley Avenue • Norfolk, VA • 757-625-7821 • www.bethelnorfolk.com Artwork by Congregration Beth El members.
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The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) votes 310-303 to divest from three American companies that do business with Israeli security services in the West Bank. Heath Rada, the moderator of the assembly, says it’s not a “reflection for our lack of love for our Jewish sisters
and brothers,” but Jewish leaders say it will have a “devastating impact” on their relations with the church.
• New York Jewish teenager Josh Orlian’s
raunchy stand-up routine on “America’s Got Talent” cracks up the judges, but his Orthodox day school isn’t tickled.
July 2014
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Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the father of the Jewish Renewal movement, which sought to introduce more music, dance and meditation into prayer and Jewish life, dies in Boulder, Colo., at age 89.
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Israel launches its third major Gaza operation in six years. Dubbed Operation Defensive Edge, the campaign begins with 10 days of intensive airstrikes in Gaza. After several failed cease-fire attempts, a ground invasion of Gaza follows. Hamas fires thousands of rockets into Israel, striking as far away as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and a Haifa suburb. In four weeks of fighting before a 72-hour cease-fire in early August, some 1,800 Palestinians are reported killed. Israel comes under heavy criticism for attacks that kill children, strike U.N. facilities and damage civil infrastructure. Israel blames Hamas for using civilians as human shields and schools, hospitals and U.N. facilities as weapons depots. The death toll in Israel includes 64 soldiers and three civilians. Several of Israel’s casualties are due to Palestinian infiltrations of Israel through tunnels burrowed under the Israel-Gaza border. Israel’s prime minister says destroying the tunnels is one of the war’s main objectives.
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A riot outside a French synagogue is one of several incidents related to the Gaza war that threaten Jews in Europe. The riot by Palestinian sympathizers outside the Synagogue de la Roquette in central Paris traps some 200 people inside the building. A street brawl ensues between the rioters and dozens of Jewish men who arrived to defend the synagogue.
• Most foreign airlines suspend flights to
Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv after a Hamas-fired missile strikes nearby. The suspensions, prompted by a flight
5774 ban issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, last two to three days.
• Iran and the major powers, led by the
United States, agree to extend negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program for another four months, citing progress in a number of areas. But the potential deal breaker remains: Iran does not want to reduce its number of its centrifuges, and the world powers say they won’t accept Iran maintaining its existing capacity for uranium enrichment.
August 2014
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As the fighting in Gaza wanes and Israeli troops begin to pull back, Israel experiences several terrorist attacks inside the country perpetrated by West Bank Palestinians, including a tractor attack in Jerusalem.
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The 72-hour cease-fire that brought Operation Protective Edge to a halt expires, and Gazans resume intensive rocket fire against Israel. The Israeli military responds with airstrikes inside Gaza. The sides then agree to another 72-hour cease-fire.
High Holidays in Tidewater The Jewish community offers a multitude of places and events and ways to observe and celebrate the holidays. For details from each synagogue, go to www.jewishnewsva.org, click on the Guide to Jewish Living and go to page 33 to find specific contact information.
L’Shana Tova!
May the sound of the shofar herald health and happiness for your entire family, and the promise of a secure and lasting peace in Israel.
& Mrs. Scott Rigell
Congressman
jewishnewsva.org | September 8, 2014 | Jewish News | 25
Beyond the synagogue, a shofar’s call makes connections by Edmon J. Rodman
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—In preparation for the High Holidays last year, my community sent its shofar blower on the road. During the month of Elul, in the runup to Rosh Hashanah, we are supposed to hear the shofar blown every day except Shabbat. Traditionally this is done in shul. But our small, lay-led congregation does not meet on weekdays. So my wife, Brenda, who blows the shofar for the Movable Minyan, as our congregation is called, offered to visit member’s homes to perform the ritual there. “It will be more personal,” I remember her saying. Wanting to see how personal, I offered to be the chauffeur, scheduler and emcee. Once the show went on the road to our approximately 20 households spread throughout Los Angeles, I called ahead to work out the times. Even though we had announced the shofar calls would be on Sundays, I still received a few incredulous “you’re coming to do what?” kind of
26 | Jewish News | September 8, 2014 | jewishnewsva.org
responses. Undaunted, we hit our first location in the Hollywood hills. We were welcomed in and escorted to a back outdoor deck overlooking an oak and chaparral-filled canyon. In front of the family group that had gathered, I tried out my explanation as Brenda readied the small shofar she had been using for several years. “The shofar is blown to remind us that the High Holy Days are approaching and that we should start thinking about repentance and spiritual repair,” I said, suddenly aware of how personal this all was. “Elul can be seen as an acronym for ‘ani l’dodi v’dodi li’—‘I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me,’ ” I said, cribbing from something I had studied. “During the year God may call to us, but during Elul we must call to him—or her.” Then Brenda, who had learned to blow the shofar as the result of playing trumpet in junior high school, recited the blessing and blew. Hearing the shofar in their homes struck people in different ways. One woman, with her cat following, took us out to her back balcony to make sure her neighbors, some of whom were Orthodox, also would hear the sound. At another home, a seven-year-old proudly brought
open 7 days a week out a full Yemenite shofar and blew it along with Brenda, much to the delight of his father. At several homes, neighbors, as well as their children, extended family and even a boyfriend, had been invited over to hear the call. One woman placed small figurines that she had inherited from her grandparents around the living room in hopes that the sound would reach across the generations. A member in her 90s smiled and showed her appreciation by handing us a donation for the minyan. At the home of a rabbi, it seemed the sound of the shofar was a kind of alarm, alerting her to the time she had remaining to complete writing those services outlines and sermons for the nearing High Holidays. At a condo not far from the ocean, Brenda demonstrated the shofar’s sounds and I explained what they were: Tekiah, “the longest sound, calling us together,” I said. The Shevarim: “three broken sounds resembling sighing.” And the Teruah: “nine rapid sounds that can be thought of as a kind of wailing.” On the way out, the man of the house, perhaps thinking that the mobile shofar blower needed to get around in better style, showed us his classic car and hinted that it was for sale. When we visited his home, Stuart Ziff, a neon artist, asked Brenda if she wanted to blow the shofar in front of one of his works. The spiraled glass contraption,
looking like something from an old Buck Rogers movie, had at its core a Jacob’s Ladder, a device that sends a crackling high voltage arc traveling upward between two wires. As Brenda blew the shofar, Ziff joined in by pushing the “on” button, enveloping the room in a soft pink glow. Savoring the moment, he invited us to sit down for a bowl of homemade ice cream. There were other surprises. Driving up to one location, we couldn’t believe how close it was to our home; it was like finding a new neighbor. Then there was the unexpected audience. After sounding the shofar at a downtown condo and walking back to the car, we spotted a beautiful, long, curvy shofar in a music store window. On an impulse we walked in. With me egging her on, Brenda asked to try it out, and to the amazement of the store’s mostly Latino customers and personnel who had gathered around, blew a long beautiful Tekiah. “I can give you a very good price on the shofar,” the salesman said. As we walked down the street, recounting the ways her shofar had reconnected our community, she explained why she didn’t go for the one in the store. “I don’t need it,” she said. “This one works fine.” —Edmon J. Rodman is a JTA columnist who writes on Jewish life from Los Angeles. Contact him at edmojace@gmail.com.
May you and your family have a Healthy and Happy Rosh HaShanah!
FOR YOUR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION First cut Kosher Briskets (frozen) Kosher Chickens (cut up or whole ) Kosher Turkeys Benzi Gefilte Fish (roll)
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New High Holiday children’s services and activities at Ohef Sholom Temple
T
his year, Ohef Sholom Temple will introduce new children’s services and activities for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The programs will run simultaneously with each of the early morning services from 9 until 11 am. During this time, two separate programs will take place for children so that parents can participate in the adult worship in the sanctuary. Children ages 3 to 6, will take part in a service especially designed for very little ones, while children in first through fourth grades will be able to participate in their own interactive service with songs, movement and a big screen digital
component. In addition, there will be crafts, games and holiday-related activities for both groups. These separate age-appropriate children’s programs and Ohef Sholom’s historically beautiful and meaningful adult services will ensure that the entire family experiences a positive and meaningful High Holiday. This year, throughout all services, childcare for infants and toddlers will also be available, as well as activities for older children (through age 10).
Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill
serving Tidewater’s unaff iliated Jews and spiritual seekers as
Lifecycle Officiant Jewish Educator & Tutor rabbicantorejg@gmail.com 215-359-7806
jewishnewsva.org | September 8, 2014 | Jewish News | 27
Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Take a reflection online with 10Q New York, NY—Almost everything is now online, from newspapers and books to TV shows and community, so it makes sense that in today’s world, reflection should go digital. During the traditional period of reflection during the Jewish High Holidays this month, Reboot’s 10Q project responds to online needs by meeting people where they are, sending more than 20,000 people a question a day through email for 10 days, offering a modern way for people to reflect about their lives. The questions from 10Q (www.doyou10Q.com) which start Sept. 24, 2014, are not religious in nature and are focused on life, goals, plans for the future, relationships and more. 10Q is an ambitious online effort to
reverse the trend of living only for the moment from status update to status update, from tweet to tweet, which has taken over the notion of long-term reflection. Individuals’ answers are sent into a digital vault at the end of the process and a year later the answers are returned and the whole experience begins again. The idea is for participants to make an annual tradition of answering the questions, building a personal archive for future years. “In an era when what you posted on Facebook and Twitter yesterday has already disappeared into the ether, there’s something very beautiful about getting an opportunity to visit with your last year’s self year after year after year,” says playwright Nicola Behrman, one of the creators of 10Q. “It’s a way to look from a
Temple Israel is a vibrant, egalitarian, multicultural and multigenerational Conservative synagogue.
Join us for twice daily minyan services, weekly Join Temple Israel for the Holidays! Shabbat services, or any of our many special programs.
In addition to our sanctuary services, we offer:
November 4: Tim O’Brien Concert to benefit The Dwelling Place, a family shelter, and ForKids shelter Two LeveLS of ChiLdren'S ServiCeS, PLuS BaBySiTTing November 16: Shabbat Sign Language KoL nidre ServiCeS feaTuring a Services Pre-ServiCewith PerforManCe By CeLLiST Interpretation LeiLei Berz AprilCoMMuniTy 21: Blessing the Animals BreaKoffaST May 10: Service Under the Stars with a cookout and softball game
Call the Temple AIsrael Office for More Information! MONG MANY OTHER OFFERINGS We are proud of our military families. We offer affordable and flexible membership options for those who serve our country.
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28 | Jewish News | September 8, 2014 | jewishnewsva.org
very different perspective at where you’ve been, where you are and ultimately where you’re going.” The project was founded in 2008 by Reboot, a Jewish cultural organization that seeks to reinvent and re-imagine Jewish rituals and traditions, along with writer Ben Greenman, Behrman, and Reboot associate director Amelia Klein. In past years, it has attracted luminaries such as the governor of New York, the president of New York University and writer Amy Sohn. 10Q resonates with an ecumenical, multi-generational audience with participants ranging from teenagers to grandparents. Although the project is rooted in the Jewish idea of ethical wills and reflection, teshuvah, and occurs during the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur, it has attracted people of all backgrounds and denominations, including Catholics, Episcopalians and Buddhists. Founded in 2002, Reboot engages and inspires young, Jewishly-unconnected cultural creatives, innovators and thought-leaders who, through their candid and introspective conversations and creativity, generate projects that impact both the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds. Reboot has been responsible for producing influential and innovative Jewish books, films, music, websites and large-scale public events. These projects include the National Day of Unplugging, Unscrolled, Sukkah City, 10Q, Sabbath Manifesto, Beyond Bubbie, the DAWN Festival and the Idelsohn Society of Musical Preservation. Find out more at www.rebooters.net.
Ohef Sholom’s annual cemetery service Sunday, Sept. 21, 1 pm, Forest Lawn Mausoleum
T
he community is invited to join Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg and Cantor Wally Schachet-Briskin for Ohef Sholom Temple’s beautiful and moving cemetery service. Held each year prior to the High Holidays, the service honors the memories of departed loved ones with
prayers, meditations and hymns. This is a meaningful way to frame personal annual pre-High Holiday visits to family members’ and friends’ burial places. For more information, contact Sara Bachman at 625-4295 or sara@ohefsholom.org.
Sample 10Q Questions Question 1 Describe a significant experience that has happened in the past year. How did it affect you? Are you grateful? Relieved? Resentful? Inspired? Question 2 Is there something that you wish you had done differently this past year? Alternatively, is there something you’re especially proud of from this past year? Question 3 Think about a major milestone that happened with your family this past year. How has this affected you? Question 4 Describe an event in the world that has impacted you this year. How? Why? Question 5 Have you had any particularly spiritual experiences this past year? How has this experience affected you? “Spiritual” can be broadly defined to include secular spiritual experiences: artistic, cultural, and so forth. Question 6 Describe one thing you’d like to achieve by this time next year. Why is this important to you? Question 7 How would you like to improve yourself and your life next year? Is there a piece of advice or counsel you received in the past year that could guide you in this project?
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Question 10 When Sept. 2015 rolls around and you receive your answers to your 10Q questions, how do you think you’ll feel? What do you think/hope might be different about your life and where you’re at as a result of thinking about and answering these questions?
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Question 9 What is a fear that you have and how has it limited you? How do you plan on letting it go or overcoming it in the coming year?
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Question 8 Is there something (a person, a cause, an idea) that you want to investigate more fully in 2015?
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jewishnewsva.org | September 8, 2014 | Jewish News | 29
Save the stress Here’s an easy and pleasing Rosh Hashanah menu by Shannon Sarna
(MyJewishLearning.com)—When the Jewish New Year comes around, many people stress for weeks leading up to the holiday and break out their most complicated recipes to impress guests. But when I entertain around the holidays, I prefer to rely on a few go-to dishes that are simple to prepare, pack a delicious punch and still impress my friends and
Sweet n Spicy Sweet Potato Soup Ingredients 10 medium sweet potatoes 3 tablespoons olive oil plus extra 1 medium onion, diced 2 carrots, diced 2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock 1 14-ounce can coconut milk ¼ cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon paprika 2 teaspoon coarse sea salt 2–3 dried chili peppers (small; if using medium-sized dried chilis, just use one) Creme fraiche (optional) Olive oil for finishing (optional) Candied pecans or walnuts (optional)
Preparation Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix brown sugar, cayenne pepper, paprika and salt in a small bowl. Cut sweet potatoes in half and place on foil-lined baking sheet. Spread brown sugar spice mixture all over sweet potatoes and drizzle with olive oil. Roast sweet potatoes for 35–45 minutes or until completely soft. Set aside and let cool. In a medium to large pot, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil and saute onions and carrots until translucent and soft, around 4–6 minutes. Add 2–3 cups of stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Add sweet potato flesh and using an immersion blender, blend all vegetables until smooth. Add remaining stock and dried chilis. When the soup is heated through and flavors have blended, around 20–30 minutes, add coconut milk. Remove the dried chilis before serving. Note: the longer you let the chilis sit in the soup, the spicier the soup will be. If you are making this soup dairy, you can serve with a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream. If you are serving this soup pareve, drizzle with good quality olive oil and some chopped candied pecans or walnuts. Yield: 6–8 servings
family despite my lack of stressing. Forget the chicken soup and start the New Year on a sweet note with this Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potato Soup. It doesn’t require a million ingredients or lots of time, but people will be asking for the recipe as soon as they taste it. Made with dried peppers, coconut milk and roasted sweet potatoes, this soup is one of my favorites to make, serve and eat. A perfect roasted chicken marinated with citrus and herbs is a wonderful counterpoint to a rich brisket on the table. Marinating for at least several hours will ensure a moist chicken everyone will talk about. And while challah should be served to start the meal, Balsamic Apple Date stuffed challah is so delicious you may want to serve it as the grand finale. Rosh Hoshanah has a late start this year, so enjoy those last few weeks of late summer, don’t stress about menu planning and instead make a menu of simple, delicious delights that people will only think consumed your September. —Shannon Sarna is editor of The Nosher blog on MyJewishLearning.com, where these recipes originally appeared.
Shannon’s Perfect Roast Chicken Ingredients 1 whole chicken, rinsed 1 orange, zested and sliced 1 lemon, zested and sliced 1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary 6 cloves garlic ½ tablespoon fresh chopped thyme 3 tablespoons olive oil ¼ cup white wine Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation In a small mixing bowl, whisk together rosemary, thyme, olive oil, wine, orange zest, lemon zest and the salt and pepper. Add the chicken to a large plastic bag that seals, and pour the wet mixture over the chicken. Add the orange and lemon slices, as well as the whole garlic cloves. After you seal the bag, make sure the entire chicken is covered with the marinade. Refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours before roasting. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you like, you can stuff some of the garlic cloves and citrus slices under the skin or in the cavity of the chicken. Roast the chicken for 45–55 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. Yield: 4–6 servings
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Balsamic Apple Date Challah Ingredients For the challah dough: 5 cups flour ½ cup sugar 2 tablespoons honey ½ tablespoon salt 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 teaspoon cinnamon ¼ teaspoon nutmeg ¼ cup vegetable oil 1½ tablespoons yeast 1 teaspoon sugar 1¼ cups lukewarm water 2 whole eggs 1 egg yolk
Preparation
For the filling: 3 gala apples, peeled and diced 1 cup pitted dates, chopped ½ teaspoon salt 1 cinnamon stick ¼ cup water ¼ cup red wine 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon sugar
For top of challah: 1 1 1 1 1 2
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pu re & natu ra l ho ney
pu re & natu ra l ho ney
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egg teaspoon water teaspoon honey tablespoon sanding sugar tablespoon thick sea salt teaspoons ground cinnamon
In a small bowl, place yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar and lukewarm water. Allow to sit around 10 minutes, until it becomes foamy on top. In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, mix together 1½ cups flour, salt, sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. After the water-yeast mixture has become foamy, add to flour mixture along with oil. Mix thoroughly. Add another cup of flour and eggs until smooth. Switch to the dough hook attachment if you are using a stand mixer. Add another 1½ cups flour and then remove from bowl and place on a floured surface. Knead remaining flour into dough, continuing to knead for around 10 minutes (or however long your hands will last). Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with damp towel. Allow to rise 3–4 hours.
pu re & natu ra l ho ney
To make the filling, place apples, dates, salt, cinnamon stick, water, red wine and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Continue to simmer on medium heat until the mixture is reduced. Add the balsamic vinegar and simmer another 2–3 minutes. The mixture will cook around 10–15 minutes in total. Remove from the heat and allow to cool 5 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick. Place mixture in a food processor fitted with a blade attachment and pulse until smooth. After the challah is done rising, cut the dough in half. To be as precise as possible, use a scale to measure the weight. Roll out the first ball using a rolling pin into a rectangle. Spread around half, perhaps slightly less, of the apple-date mixture in an even layer, leaving ½ inch all around without filling. Working quickly, start rolling up the dough toward you. Try and keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Pinch the end when you finish. Create a pinwheel shaped-challah by snaking the dough around and around in a circle around itself. When finished, tuck the end under the challah neatly and pinch lightly. This doesn’t have to be perfect—remember, as long as it tastes good, almost no one (maybe except that judgmental great-aunt) will care what it looks like. Repeat with other half of dough.
NOW MORE THAN EVER, IT’S TIME TO LOOK BEYOND OUR LABELS With the crisis in Israel foremost in our minds, this Rosh Hashanah takes on an even deeper significance. And so does our unity. Because no matter how we may label ourselves—we are all Jews. That’s what matters. Now more than ever. This Rosh Hashanah, let’s make it a sweeter new year by standing together. You can do that by giving generously to the Federation. Your gift helps support our brothers and sisters in Israel and in our entire global community.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Allow challahs to rise another 30–60 minutes, or until you can see the the size has grown. Beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon water and 1 teaspoon of honey. Brush liberally over each challah. Combine sea salt, sanding sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over challah. Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until middle looks like it has just set, and the color is golden.
YOUR IMPACT IS IMMEASURABLE. IT ALL STARTS WITH ONE.
www.JewishVA.org
Yield: 2 medium loaves
jewishnewsva.org | September 8, 2014 | Jewish News | 31
Wishing you a
Ha y & H lthy
Rosh Hashanah!
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