March 5 Jewish News by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater

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Southeastern Virginia | Vol. 56 No. 12 | 18 Adar 5778 | March 5, 2018

Parkland shooting Jewish victims,

6 VCIC honoree: Bill Nusbaum Thursday, March 22

survivors, and activists

Gil Troy Tuesday, March 13

39 Israel Story Sunday, April 15

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Published 21 times a year by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

Call for Israel stories

s you’ve probably heard by now, Israel turns 70 years old in April. To commemorate this milestone, the April 9 issue of Jewish News will feature all things Israel, including articles about the p in 1974. at a Gadna Cam , tiny nation’s beginning, it’s technological, Tide water teens enoff Feierstein, Bobby Morell es ty Standing: Lisa Br Berger, Roger Leibowitz, Mar medical, agricultural, and art achieveer Judy Marcy Gold stick ner. Front row: Phyllis White, ld , ments and contributions to the world, as Einhor n, Kim Go rr i Denison, Jonathan Leavitt cus. ar M gie Rosenblatt, Te ar M , well as Tidewater’s role throughout it’s Jeff Goldman relatively young life. Many of these articles we have or can source from the Hal Sacks Jewish News Archives. What we need from you, our readers, are your personal stories, memories, anecdotes, and photographs. Do you remember your or your family’s reaction to the declaration of Israel’s statehood? When was your first visit? What about any trip that was particularly impactful, inspiring, or just plain fun? What did you do, here, in Tidewater to help promote and preserve Israel, maybe during one of its difficult wars? Art and Steve Sa ndler at the Wes ter n Wall in 20 If you are willing to share, please 06. email or mail your story (100–200 Right: Tom and Marcia Hofheimer words) or photograph to: tdenison@ujft.org planting a tree in Israel, Summer, 1968. or Jewish News, 5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Virginia Beach, VA, 23462 by Friday, March 23. We will use as many stories as possible, and if the paper runs out of room, we’ll include some on our website. Thank you in advance for sharing!

Terri Denison, Editor

Terri Denison, Editor Germaine Clair, Art Director Sandy Goldberg, Account Executive Marilyn Cerase, Subscription Manager Reba Karp, Editor Emeritus

Marilyn Goldman, an Israeli Colonel, Mindy Futterman, and Bootsie Goldmeir on a UJA Mission in 1969 near the Suez Canal.

Upcoming Deadlines for Editorial and Advertising Issue Date March 26 April 9 April 23 May 7 May 28 June 11 June 25

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Topic Deadline Camp March 9 Israel @ 70 March 23 Women April 6 Home April 20 Healthcare May 11 Men/Fathers’ Day May 25 Senior Living June 8

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Quotable Passover 5778. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Passover to Israel recipient encourages others to follow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Teens bond with seniors in Better Together Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VBPD goes to Holocaust Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aaron David Miller on the future of the Middle East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth El’s Manicure and Mitzvahs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth El’s Bingo night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What’s Happening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mazel Tov. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jewish music for hospice patients. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Black Panther’s originators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater John Strelitz, President Alvin Wall, Treasurer Stephanie Calliott, Secretary Harry Graber, Executive Vice-President www.jewishVA.org

For subscription or change of address, call 757-965-6128 or JewishNewsVA email mcerase@ujft.org.

Ashley Zittrain, Jenny Sachs, Risa and Evan Levitt, Jonathan Muhlendorf, Jeff and Monique Werby, Erinn Portnoy, Greg Zittrain.

Contents Up Front. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Briefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Torah Thought. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Bill Nusbaum to receive VCIC Award. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Florida Shooting: Why we report on Jewish victims. 7 Florida shooting’s Jewish victims remembered. . . . 10 A letter to campers after Parkland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Parkland students begin to heal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Trump administration to move US Embassy. . . . . . 13 NRA chief singles out Jews as socialists. . . . . . . . . . 13 Poland’s wants to ban term ‘Polish death camps’. . . 15 National audience for What We Carry . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Jewish camp in Hungary introduces some to Judaism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Grants for first time campers to Jewish overnight camps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

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“BDS has a powerful impact on Middle East peace—it derails it.” —page 38

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briefs Teen survivors of Parkland shooting draw 2,100 to NJ synagogue rally Teen survivors of the school massacre in Parkland, Florida, were the keynote speakers at a gun control rally at a New Jersey synagogue. On Sunday, Feb. 25, more than 2,100 people packed the sanctuary of Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston to hear remarks by U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and students who survived the Feb. 14 shooting that took the lives of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The rally, organized by the Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, comes as local Jewish federations debate whether they should be supporting specific gun policies in the wake of the Parkland shooting. As the Forward noted last month, Jewish Federations of North America, the national umbrella group, issued a memo to its members that left it up to individual federations to decide whether they would make specific public statements on the shootings and gun policy. The statement noted that JFNA has not made a statement on the shootings because “gun control is not part of our established domestic public policy priorities.” Federations, which raise money for Jewish education, social services, and Israel, often seek to avoid advocacy issues seen as deeply partisan. However, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, whose 125 constituent community relations councils are often funded in whole or part by the local Jewish federations, issued a statement supporting various gun control measures. Dov Ben-Shimon, executive vice president/CEO of the MetroWest Jewish Federation, defended his federation’s decision to support the call for “common sense gun legislation.” “If there’s any issue that’s truly bipartisan and Jewish, it’s this: saving and protecting the lives of our children,” he wrote on Facebook. “This issue goes to the heart of our essential and critical work as a Jewish Federation: taking care of the vulnerable in our midst and building community.”

Near Parkland, the Jewish federation that covers the area issued a statement calling for raising the minimum age to buy guns, banning devices that convert semi-automatic weapons to automatic weapons, expanding background checks, improving school safety and increasing funding for mental health services. “The horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland demands bi-partisan action by us and by policymakers at all levels,” the statement by the Jewish Federation of Broward County reads. “Students should be guaranteed safety and security as they learn to be responsible, productive citizens of tomorrow.” (JTA)

‘Righteous’ Poles ask Israel and Poland to return to ‘path of dialogue and reconciliation’ A letter signed by a group of 50 Poles honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations has appealed to the governments of Israel and Poland to return “to the path of dialogue and reconciliation.” “Please do not write the history anew,” reads the letter sent to the prime ministers of the two countries. “The greatest tragedy in the history of both our nations was once and for all recorded during the dark night of the Nazi occupation, the victims of which we are still all of today,” wrote the group, also known as Righteous Gentiles. They acknowledged that “as in everyone, also in our nation, there were wicked people, [who] acted on their own behalf, not on behalf of the Polish state.” Signatories of the letter stressed that those people were members of Polish nation. “We were also afraid of them,” they said. The letter was signed by the members of the Polish Society of the Righteous Among the Nations, a nongovernmental organization founded in 1985 on the initiative of people honored by the State of Israel as Righteous Among the Nations for saving Jews during World War II. The society aims to preserve memory and spread knowledge about the Nazi occupation in Poland, about the Holocaust and about people who risked their lives saving Jews.

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Its letter follows the enactment of a new law in Poland that criminalizes those “who, in public and contrary to the facts, imputes that the Polish Nation or the Polish State was responsible or co-responsible for the Nazi crimes committed by the Third Reich or for other crimes against peace, humanity or war crimes, or otherwise grossly diminishes the responsibility of the actual perpetrators of these crimes, shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment of up to 3 years.” The law has triggered protests from Holocaust survivors and Israeli leaders, as well as researchers, historians, journalists and Jews around the world. Now the Righteous are urging “our two nations, united by a nearly 1,000-year-old common history, to build a covenant and a future in Poland, Europe, Israel and America, based on friendship, solidarity and truth.” (JTA)

Martin Luther King Jr. made ‘I Have a Dream’-style speech at a synagogue in ‘61 Audio tapes of a speech delivered by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at a Massachusetts synagogue in 1961 were heard in schools across the country this year for Black History Month. The reel-to-reel recordings of the speech at Temple Emanuel in Worcester, about an hour from Boston, were rediscovered in 2013 by Laura Klein-Weiner, the granddaughter of Rabbi Joseph Klein, who invited King to speak there. The speech uses phrases and themes from King’s “I Have a Dream” address delivered two years later in Washington, D.C. Scholars say the tapes, which have been described as a “historical gem,” show a different side of the civil rights leader. “I guess I had heard that he had come to the temple, but I didn’t know that the tapes existed,” she told the Boston public radio station WBUR. Klein-Weiner, who lives in the Los Angeles area, took the tapes to Northwestern University to have them digitized and put on compact discs, then uploaded them to Soundcloud, a free audio host website. A former Worcester resident, Mark Epstein, heard the recording there and

set out to have the recordings available to be played in public schools in the Charleston, South Carolina, area where he currently lives, and in Worcester. The recordings were used as part of the Black History Month curriculum for middle- and high school classes in the Charleston County School District, Epstein told the newspaper. They reportedly also found their way into high schools across the country. Shelby, a professor of AfricanAmerican studies and philosophy at Harvard, told WBUR that after the hourlong speech, King answered questions on topics including black nationalism, interracial marriage and economic inequality. “You get a feel for what was often reported by his friends, that he had a great sense of humor, was really good with jokes and quick to make you laugh,” Shelby said. “You don’t always get a feel for that in his speeches, when he’s much more austere and restrained.” (JTA)

Jewish Tennis Star reaches top 20 in world tennis rankings Argentine Jewish tennis star Diego Schwartzman won the Rio de Janeiro Open, raising his ranking to 18th in the Association of Tennis Professionals, or ATP. It is the first time that a Jewish player is among the top 20 in the ATP rankings since 1990, when American Brad Gilbert was fourth. In 1987, Israeli Amos Mansdorf also was ranked 18th. On Sunday, Feb. 25, Schwartzman defeated the Spaniard Fernando Verdasco of Spain, 6-2, 6-3, in the final of the Rio Open, the biggest tournament of South America in prize money and ranking. “I’m very happy to break into the top 20,” Schwartzman, 25, said in an interview on the tournament website. Schwartzman grew up in a Jewish family in Buenos Aires and rose as a tennis player in the Hacoaj JCC sport club in the Argentine capital. His entire family, including his grandmother, Celia, attended the Buenos Aires Open tournament to cheer him on. Last season, Schwartzman broke into the Top 25 in the ATP rankings for the first time and earned more than $1.5 million in prize money. (JTA)

Torah Thought Why Passover is about a lot more than good food

Joshua Ratner

(My Jewish Learning via JTA)—What is the essence of Passover? On the one hand, it seems obvious: Passover is about gathering together with loved ones to recall, through sumptuous home rituals, the exodus from Egypt. We gather round our seder tables and quickly become engulfed in the warmth of family and friends, the culinary delights of a delicious meal, and the comforting, vaguely familiar words and songs we recite year after year. Passover is, indeed, a beautiful opportunity for rejoicing and celebrating. But it also can be much more. When looking closely at the Passover Haggadah, we can see that the rabbis who crafted it did not choose to make Passover a holiday solely focused on celebrating the past. Like the Fourth of July (or Hanukkah), Passover could have been a day to recall passively our independence from an oppressive regime as a historical remembrance; to commemorate the past and salute our Founding Fathers (or Maccabees). Instead, Moses (as Founding Father of the Israelites) is largely shut out of the story—he appears but once. While remembrance of the Exodus— from the enslavement of the Israelites to the Ten Plagues to the crossing of the Red Sea—forms a major portion of the content of the “Maggid” (retelling) section of the Haggadah, that remembrance is but a means to a larger ends. The end of the Maggid section reveals why. It says: “In each and every generation people must regard themselves as though they personally left Egypt, as it says, ‘Tell your child on that very day: “This is what God did for me when I left Egypt.’” The Holy One of Blessing did not redeem only our ancestors, but God even redeemed us with

them, as it says, ‘God brought us out of there in order to bring us to and gave us the land that God swore to our ancestors.’” The seder specifically and Passover more broadly are about remembering God’s deliverance of the Israelites not as a one-time, historical event, but as something that is perpetually happening in the present. Redemption from slavery to freedom is intended to be an experience that we, too, can and should have during our seders. But why? I believe that the seder is a literary means of experiential education. The Haggadah wants each of us to recall that we were once estranged, disenfranchised, and marginalized, so that each of us will cultivate a sense of empathy for the estranged, the disenfranchised, and the marginalized in our society today. We honor our past by acting in our present. So as we get ready for Passover, cleansing our houses of hametz, preparing our Haggadah selections and invite lists, may we also take action to cleanse our society of poverty, bigotry, and hatred. There has been an explosion of new and creative social justice-themed Haggadahs and seder inserts created in recent years. Last year alone, there were new additions about global justice (American Jewish World Service), LGBTQ rights (Keshet), hunger and military families (Mazon), wealth inequality (RRC), racial justice (RAC), mass incarceration (T’ruah), and refugees (Repair the World/HIAS), to name but a few. So please consider using any of these, tweet at #ActOnPassover or make use of other resources that speak to you and help you concretize our ongoing mandate to seek out freedom and redemption for all of God’s children. And may each of you be blessed with a happy, fulfilling and meaningful Passover. Chag sameach (happy holiday)! Rabbi Joshua Ratner, Congregation Kol Ami in Cheshire, Connecticut. Rabbi Ratner also worked as an attorney for five years prior to entering rabbinical school. This piece originally appeared on the Rabbis Without Borders, a dynamic forum for exploring contemporary issues in the Jewish world and beyond.

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TIDEWATER

VCIC to honor William L. Nusbaum with Humanitarian Award Thursday, March 22, 5:45 pm The Westin, Virginia Beach Town Center

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he Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities has selected William L. Nusbaum to receive a prestigious Humanitarian Award at their 54th annual dinner this month. The Tidewater chapter of VCIC will recognize Nusbaum for his longstanding commitment to promoting respect and understanding among people of all racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. He is the third generation (and fourth member) of his family to receive this award. “I am really humbled to receive such a meaningful recognition, and it wouldn’t be possible without the dedicated colleagues and in many cases, staff, of the various organizations that I’ve been privileged to work with over the years,” says Nusbaum. “I’ve just been fortunate to lead some really good teams at these organizations, and their work is what enabled the organizations to flourish and prosper. “Personally, it’s gratifying to learn that my community involvements are viewed on a par with the great accomplishments of my grandmother, Justine and my uncle, Pooch (honored jointly with this award in 1968), and my father, Bob (honored in 2013). But I find it particularly humbling to read the inspiring achievements of the others being honored with me at the dinner, and yet to find myself privileged to share the evening’s recognition with them,” he says. “We are very proud that Bill is being recognized by VCIC for his dedicated humanitarian work in both the Jewish and general communities,” says Harry Graber, executive vice president, UJFT. “He is certainly deserving of the honor and his work as co-chair of the UJFT Community Relations Council was indicative of the values and leadership skills uniquely possessed by all the honorees.” A partner at Williams Mullen, Nusbaum has held prominent positions with many civic and religious organizations in Tidewater, including serving

as past president, honorary director, and trustee of Ohef Sholom Temple, past co-chair of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s C o m m u n i t y Relations Council’s William L. Nusbaum legislative committee, past vice chair of the Virginia regional board of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, past board member of The Norfolk Forum, past president and honorary life director of the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia, past chair (2 terms) of the Harvard Schools Committee for Southeastern Virginia, past chair (2 terms) of the Norfolk City Democratic Committee, past vice-chair of the Third Congressional District Democratic Committee and member of the Democratic Party of Virginia State Central Committee. In addition, he is the immediate past chair of Opportunity Inc. (the Hampton Roads Workforce Development Board) and its related nonprofit, the Hampton Roads Workforce Development Corporation. He also serves on the Norfolk Airport Authority Board of Commissioners and as a board member of the Rumi Forum Hampton Roads Advisory Board. Other Tidewater Humanitarian Award recipients this year are Kim W. & Valerie K. Brown, Cathy M. Lewis, Lemuel E. Lewis, and Angela D. Reddix. Eggleston will be presented with the Distinguished Merit Citation. To attend the dinner or purchase a table for a business or organization, visit www. inclusiveva.org, or call 804-515-7950. To purchase a seat at the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater/Tidewater Jewish Foundation table, contact Tammy Mujica at tmujica@ujft.org or 757-965-6124.

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Ruth’s Life Said a Lot About Her

Florida Shooting Note to readers

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Jewish victims, survivors, and activists

he school shooting in Parkland, Florida last month has impacted and mobilized the Jewish community from Florida to Massachusetts and beyond. Consider: • Five of the 17 killed were Jewish. • The Sheriff leading the investigation is Jewish. • The Congressman representing the district is Jewish. • Youth groups from the Modern Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform movements are signed onto the gun control campaign. • Hillels are sending students to the March in Washington.

OP-ED

Here’s why we report on the Jewish victims of general tragedies Andrew Silow-Carroll

(JTA)—In the many years between my first job at JTA and returning as its editor in 2016, I would joke about a headline it published in 1999: “Two Turkish Jews killed in quake.” Perhaps you’ll remember that 17,000 people died in the Turkish earthquake that year. That headline seemed to represent all that was strange and wrong about a narrowly ethnic news service. If they hadn’t identified those two Jewish victims, would the Jewish news service have covered the quake at all—unless to report that “Giant quake narrowly misses Israel”? Of course, now I am in charge, and we do our version of “Two Turkish Jews” all the time. Last month, following the massacre of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, our reporters hit the phones, reporting on the victims and survivors who happened to be Jews. We wrote about the two first-year girls who were remembered as sweet and easy-going. The hero teacher who spent his summers at a Jewish camp and died while making sure the last of his students was safe inside a classroom. We wrote about one of those students, a Jewish boy who recalled being the last kid to make it inside before that same teacher was hit and fell bleeding in the doorway. This practice of identifying the Jewish

8 | Jewish News | March 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

• Congregations in Washington are working to provide food and lodging for marchers. • A nd finally, thousands upon thousands are grieving for the loss of all of the victims, including for the families, friends, and communities they were a part of. Life for the survivors will never be the same. Following, are several pieces from various perspectives on the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. —Terri Denison

victims of a greater disaster makes a lot of people uncomfortable, including some of my colleagues. They worry it signals that tragedies only matter to the degree to which they involve a Jew. That it erodes empathy in a diverse world by suggesting that the only thing that matters is tribe. That it makes us look small, in more ways than one. I share those misgivings but also can defend our search for the Jewish angles, to any general story. First, it is not only the Jews who look for a sectarian connection to any major news event. Maybe we do this more publicly and consistently than other groups, but I doubt it. (Broadway composer Dave Yazbek has a song that asks, “Is it good for baseball, is it good for the Jews?”—it neatly sums up the American Jewish experience in 11 words.) Every local newspaper and television station makes news decisions based on their definition of hometown news. If a plane crashes in Indiana, then it’s news in Chicago if a local person is among the dead. When 230,000 people died in the 2004 Asian tsunami, the BBC took note of the 149 Brits among them. In a sense I view JTA as a hometown news service, and define the residents of that town not by geography but by their connections to and interest in all things Jewish. Sometimes this localism lapses into chauvinism—like network Olympics

“It’s natural to give first thought to those closest to us.”

coverage that lasers in on American athletes and ignores the compelling stories of all the other competitors. Or reductio ad absurdumism—like the article I found in an old Billboard magazine pondering the impact of the civil rights movement on pinball machine profits. But if handled sensitively, localism can also tap into basic human instinct in order to foster a wider appreciation for humankind. That’s the point of perhaps the bestknown saying of the first century C.E. sage Hillel: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” Rabbi Yitz Greenberg suggests that Hillel’s first clause—“If I am not for myself, who will be for me?”—is one of Judaism’s greatest teachings. “Repair of the whole world starts with my country, my city, my neighborhood first,” writes Greenberg. “Self-interest is legitimate. People work harder and produce more in an economy built on private

Florida Shooting property. Loved ones or family first is the natural, more human way to operate.” But Hillel didn’t stop there. Instead he adds, “If I am only for myself, what am I?” Greenberg explains that concern for family and heritage “should grow and extend to the rest of the world,” and gives a trenchant political example: “If policy concern stops right at the border, then it becomes the isolationist, regressive ‘America First’ of Charles Lindbergh—a political grouping that turned a blind eye to tyranny and refused to hear the cry of the downtrodden.” It’s natural to give first thought to those closest to us: family, friends, neighbors, coreligionists. It is also our business model. There are plenty of news outlets that will give a general accounting of any major event. Specialty media like ours supplement these reports by giving a narrow view of the same event with an eye toward the particular interests of particular readers. But it is dangerous and inhuman if that focus stops there—if we are only for

ourselves. I would hope that in identifying Jewish victims we don’t foster parochialism. I hope instead that by bringing a story home, we remind readers not just of the Jewish players but also of the Jewish obligations to a wider world—expanding what the sociologist and Holocaust scholar Helen Fein calls our “universe of obligation.” Maybe you can’t relate at first to those thousands of Turks who died in an earthquake. But you can relate to the Jewish victim, and from there find it easier to expand your universe of obligation to include the non-Jews alongside whom they died or suffered. “Traditionally, our sense of involvement with the fate of others has been in inverse proportion to the distance separating us and them,” writes Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of Great Britain. The goal of much of our reporting is to close that distance.

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Andrew Silow-Carroll is the editor in chief of JTA.

Teacher Scott Beigel did not want to be remembered as a hero

undreds of family, friends, students and colleagues attended the funeral on Sunday, Feb. 18 of teacher Scott Beigel at Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, Florida, that was live-streamed on the synagogue’s website. Beigel, 35, a geography teacher and cross country coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, saved students’ lives by opening his classroom door and ushering the students in. He was shot while closing the door behind them. He reportedly told his fiance, Gwen Gossler, who he met at Pennsylvania’s Camp Starlight when they both worked as counselors seven years ago, that if he ever was the victim of a school shooting that she would not talk about the “hero stuff.” They had been watching news coverage of a similar school shooting on television at the time, she said during the funeral. The Sunday, Feb. 18 funerals for students Jamie Guttenberg and

Alex Schachter were moved to a Fort Lauderdale hotel to accommodate more than 1.000 mourners. The funeral for Alex Schachter, 14, who was a member of his school’s marching band, was closed to media. The Miami Herald reported that remembrances at the funeral “focused on his love for movies, his humor and his passion for the high school’s marching band, in which he played trombone,” as well as the secret ingredients in his special smoothie. The teen’s family set up a GoFundMe page in his memory to fund a scholarship program to “help other students experience the joys of music” as well as fund increased security at schools. Mourners who attended Jamie Guttenberg’s funeral wore orange ribbons in her memory, which stood out against their black mourning clothes. Orange was her favorite color. Funerals were held on Friday, Feb. 16 for Alyssa Alhedeff and Meadow Pollack. (JTA)

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Florida Shooting

Florida school shooting’s Jewish victims remembered for their kindness Ben Sales and Josefin Dolsten

(JTA)—They volunteered. They played soccer. They went to camp. They were sweet, mature, and easygoing. They were just beginning their lives, or helping others on their way. And one may have died so that others could live. Jewish students and staff were among the 17 people who were killed when a gunman entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday, Feb. 14 and began shooting. Among the Jewish victims are first-year students Jaime Guttenberg and Alyssa Alhadeff, senior Meadow Pollack and Scott Beigel, a geography teacher who saved students’ lives by closing a door as he was shot. “It’s chaos here and devastation,” Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan of the local Temple Beth Chai told JTA on his way to console bereaved parents in his congregation. “Everyone is just waiting and praying. No words can describe what happened here.” Jaime Guttenberg and her brother Jesse were students at Stoneman Douglas High School. While her brother managed to escape the school, Jaime was killed. “My heart is broken. Yesterday, Jennifer Bloom Guttenberg and I lost our baby girl to a violent shooting at her school,” her father, Fred Guttenberg, wrote on Facebook. “We lost our daughter and my son Jesse Guttenberg lost his sister. I am broken as I write this trying to figure out how my family gets through this.” Guttenberg and her brother were volunteers at The Friendship Initiative, a program that pairs neurotypical students like them with special needs kids. Another volunteer at the center, Gina Montalto, also was killed in the shooting. Jeb Niewood, president of The Friendship Initiative, remembered Guttenberg as a genuine person who loved helping others. “Jaime was quite an amazing human being, she had a maturity and compassion far beyond her years, she had an aura, a

glow, that radiated from her smile and her eyes, she was beautiful in every way,” Niewood says. Niewood says the Guttenberg family had faced tragedy just months earlier when her paternal uncle, a first responder, passed away from complications of an illness contracted during the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York. In her free time, Guttenberg also loved to dance, and she was involved with a local dance studio, according to Facebook posts. “Her huge passion aside from helping people was dance, and [she was an] extremely dedicated and talented dancer,” Niewood says. “She’s the daughter that everyone wanted.” Guttenberg’s cousin, Marc Pollack, says his family was reeling from her death. “My heart is broken from the loss of this awesome young girl and the pain that our entire family is enduring,” Pollack wrote in a Facebook post. Alyssa Alhadeff was a mature, laid back girl who loved soccer and made friends easily. She played midfield for the school soccer team, earning newspaper coverage for her achievements on the field. “She’s the sweetest,” Alhadeff’s grandmother, Vicky Alhadeff, told Miami’s Channel 7 News. “She’s a big soccer player, very smart, she’s in track. She’s very popular, a very beautiful girl. Oh my God, she’s my life. How could I not love her? She’s my granddaughter.” Alhadeff had attended Camp Coleman in Georgia, a Reform Jewish camp, for one summer, and was planning on returning this year. Staff there remembered her as being “like an angel,” always happy to help out and quick to adjust to a new environment. “She was one of the easiest campers, very mature,” says Lotem Eilon, Alhadeff’s unit head. “She was very friendly and didn’t have to deal with drama per se. Alyssa was very mature and friendly and fit into camp right away, even though she came in older.” Camp director Bobby Harris

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the door was still open and remembers Alhadeff as the shooter probably didn’t a sweet girl who was a know we were in there pleasure for the counselbecause Mr. Beigel was ors to supervise. Several laying on the floor,” she of Coleman’s campers of the 17 told ABC. “If the shooter go to Stoneman Douglas killed in would have came into the High School. Parkland Florida room, I probably wouldn’t “She was a very were Jewish be speaking with you right sweet camper,” Harris now.” says. “Her counselors Friend calls Beigel “a always said she did really amazing teacher.” exactly what she was “He would explain told to do, always helped things easier to a lot of us out whenever she was in the classroom,” she says. needed to help out. She “It was just easier to comwas like an angel. She prehend the subject when was just a bright light he taught it.” and was very positive.” Beigel was a staff member at Camp Meadow Pollack, a senior, had gone Starlight, a predominately Jewish summer missing and was confirmed dead the camp in Starlight, Pennsylvania. In a morning after the shooting. In a photoFacebook post, the camp called him a graph posted on Facebook, she is wearing “beloved friend and hero.” a cap and gown in preparation for gradua“[H]e was someone who could make tion. She planned to go to Lynn University you laugh in any situation and those kids in nearby Boca Raton next year. were very lucky to have him as a teacher Another victim was Alex Schachter, and protector,” Liza Luxenberg, a friend Congregation Beth Am wrote on Facebook. from Camp Starlight, wrote to JTA. “I He was a member of the school’s marcham not at all surprised to hear that he ing band. endangered his own life to save others. Scott Beigel was reported to have been He has always been a hero to me as a shot as he shut the door to protect stufriend and now unfortunately the rest of dents from the gunman, expelled student the world gets to learn of his heroism in Nikolas Cruz. One of the students in this tragedy.” his class, Kelsey Friend, recounted how Other campers also shared fond memBeigel, 35, let her and other students into ories of Beigel. his classroom and then attempted to lock “Today is a really sad day as we learn the door. about your passing Scott Beigel,” Adam “I had talked to my teacher and said Schwartz, a Starlight camper, wrote in ‘I am scared.’ And then we all heard guna post. “You were one of my favorite shots, and he unlocked the door and let us counselors growing up and my Olympics in. I had thought he was behind me, but General my senior year. Those kids were he wasn’t,” Friend told ABC News. “When incredibly lucky to have you, you are a he opened the door, he had to relock it real hero.” so we can stay safe, but he didn’t get the Melissa Strauss wrote: “A man with chance to [stay safe].” strength and wisdom has died, protecting Friend saya she would likely not be his students during the school shooting alive had Beigel not opened the door for in Florida yesterday. Scott Beigel was not her. only a teacher and a counselor but he was “I’m so thankful that he was there to the biggest role model.” help everybody who did live in that classroom because he was in the doorway and

Florida Shooting This post was originally published in Bossier Magazine, and on the Religious Action Center’s and Union for Reform Judaism’s blogs. It is republished here with the author’s permission.

A Letter to My Campers After Parkland Madeline Budman

To: G4A, G3B, the Tsofim unit, and all of URJ Camp Coleman: After 17 people were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14th, including one of your fellow campers, I haven’t been able to think of what to say except for “I am so sorry.” I am. I am so, so sorry. I’m sorry that you lost a friend, and that two of you lost a sister. I’m sorry that some of you were in the school when it happened, and that one of you had to watch. I’m sorry that you do not feel safe. I’m sorry for all of the horrible things that you are feeling. I’m sorry that I can’t get in my car right now and go on a road trip to Charleston, and Atlanta, and Athens, and Tampa, and Miami, and Parkland, so that I can hug each and every one of you and tell you that it will be okay. I also thought to myself: I’m sorry that we failed you. I’m sorry that at camp, for one or two months of the summer, we were unable to prepare you. I wrote programs for you about self-care, but I talked to you about eating healthy and managing stress, not about remembering to eat when you’re overwhelmed by grief or managing earth-shattering trauma. I’m sorry that I didn’t talk to you about writing letters to your Senators, or talk to you more about tikkun olam, repairing the world. But you are seventh graders. You spent the summer worrying about who would be color war captain, or who your buddy would be at the water park. During your free time, you traded gum and worked on your friendship bracelets, not organizing a march on Washington or writing poetry in memory of one of your bunkmates. I wrote programs for seventh graders: I wanted to educate you on body image,

and Jewish identity as you prepared for your Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. I wanted you to learn how to meditate and see the natural world around you anew. I led all of you to a campfire in the woods so that you could write down your greatest insecurities on paper and then burn them to make them disappear. From the bottom of my heart, I prayed that your biggest fears could vanish as quickly and easily as paper burns in a campfire, providing kindling for s’mores. I’m sorry, instead, for sending you back into this world. At camp, you are safe. You go to bed each night in a cabin surrounded by your closest friends, and you know that your counselors are sitting on the porch, helping you feel protected and loved and secure as you fall asleep. You get to try out new things in a supportive environment, whether it’s auditioning for the musical or playing roller hockey or hiking to a waterfall. I was starkly reminded this week that camp really is a bubble, an out-of-time reality that only exists for two months every summer. When we send you home, we don’t know what’s waiting for you when you get back, and it’s so hard to let you go. I could not have imagined this past August, though, that this is what we were returning you to. Your country has failed you. Adults have failed you. We have failed you. We didn’t make this world safe enough for you. My hope for you is that your schools will feel as safe as your camp cabins. I want you to be able to run, laugh, play, learn, and grow as freely as you could at camp, where your biggest fear is falling and skinning your knee. I want you to not have to question whether or not the next time you talk to your friends will be the last time you’re able to. I want you to be active and engaged citizens, like we teach you to be at camp, but I want you to do

Campers preparing for Shabatt at Camp Coleman, 2017.

this out of a desire for good, not out of trauma and necessity. Most importantly, I want you to just be kids. I want you to not have to worry. I want you to have a childhood that lasts as long as possible, free from fear, free from pain, and free to always be as happy as you are at 201 Camp Coleman Drive. And I promise, that for the rest of my life, I will fight for your safety. I will fight for your freedom from fear. I will fight in memory of Alyssa Alhadeff, and in honor of all of you, her peers who are so precious, loving, and good. I will make make this world better for you. Madeline Budman is a senior at Georgetown University, where she is majoring in English and double minoring in Women’s and Gender Studies and Jewish Civilization. This past summer, she was the programmer for the

The author poses with two campers at URJ Camp Coleman.

Tsofim unit at URJ Camp Coleman, where she designed a curriculum for more than 150 campers entering 7th grade surrounding selfcare and Jewish identity. In the summer of 2016, she was a participant in the Religious Action Center’s Machon Kaplan program, where she interned at the National Council of Jewish Women.

jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 11

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Parkland students begin to heal at Jewish conference in New York Ben Sales

(JTA)—Seven survivors of the Parkland school shooting were among thousands of Jewish high school students who attended the annual conference of the Chabad movement’s youth group. Responding to the Feb. 14 shooting became an impromptu theme of the conference, which was hosted in New York City by CTeen, the teen arm of the Hasidic outreach movement. CTeen, which has 100,000 members worldwide, has eight chapters in the South Florida area surrounding Parkland. The shooting, which killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, has galvanized a youth-led movement for gun reform. But the students at the conference, each of whom had taken part in previous local Chabad activities, say they appreciated the opportunity to grieve and be comforted. “We all have been feeling better because we’ve been with other teens who have been supporting us,” Marc Susskind, 14, says. “They’ve been checking in on us, keeping us company.” On Saturday night, Feb. 24, the conference held a moment of silence in Times Square for the murdered teens, and the next day began a campaign for members of the youth group to fulfill one Jewish commandment, or mitzvah, in the teens’ memory. The group also called for schools to institute a moment of silence at the beginning of the day. Both the mitzvah campaign and the idea of a moment of silence in public schools—in place of prayer, which is prohibited—are longtime Chabad causes. The movement often encourages doing Jewish rituals, such as lighting Shabbat candles or laying tefillin, as a response to tragedy. Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, CTeen’s president, says the group tries to avoid political issues like the gun control campaign, but acknowledges the power of the Parkland students’ activism. “Teens are the leaders of today, not the leaders of tomorrow,” he says. “Many of

them are embracing that. The Parkland event is something that brought this onto the national stage. Teens might be getting a bump in being able to mobilize because a lot of people are looking toward them and seeing what they’re going to do.”

The teen arms of the Reform, Conservative, and Modern Orthodox movements have all signed onto the effort.

Other Jewish youth groups are explicitly supporting the gun control campaign. According to the New York Jewish Week, the teen arms of the Reform, Conservative, and Modern Orthodox movements have all signed onto the effort. “Never before have students across the country mobilized like this, and never before have the eyes of the nation been so closely trained on us as we fight for change,” Zoe Turner, a member of the Reform movement’s National Federation of Temple Youth in Florida, wrote in an essay last month. “A country-wide call to action roars loudly in all of our ears, and NFTY is heeding the call.” The students at the CTeen conference, which drew 2,500 attendees, say they would also be engaging in activism, including a march in Washington, D.C., scheduled for March 24. But for the weekend in New York, Parkland survivors say, they were just grateful to be among friends who comforted them. “Everyone knows about the incident and everyone is going to help reconnect,” says Maverick Reynolds, 15, who heard gunshots while hiding in a nearby classroom. “We knew it was real and it was very scary.”

Nation NRA chief singles out George Soros and Michael Bloomberg as ‘socialists’ WASHINGTON (JTA)—Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, told a conservative conference that three liberal philanthropists were funding a socialist takeover of the United States. “Every time in every nation in which this political disease rises to power,” LaPierre told the CPAC conference on Thursday, Feb. 22 describing socialism, “its citizens are repressed, their freedoms are destroyed, and their firearms are banned and confiscated, and it’s all backed in this country by the social engineering and the billions of people like George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Tom Steyer and more.” Soros is a hedge fund trader who has been prominent in backing Democratic policies, but also is known for promoting free markets overseas, particularly in formerly communist countries. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, has taken a lead in recent years in promoting gun control, but also has a pro-business reputation cultivated through his eponymous news service. Steyer, also a hedge funder, for decades has been involved in Democratic politics, with much of that focus on the environment. Last year he launched a movement to impeach President Donald Trump. All three are Jewish, although Steyer, whose wife is Episcopalian, attends a church in that denomination. LaPierre painted an apocalyptic picture of the challenges he said are facing conservatives. “Their goal is to eliminate the Second Amendment and firearms freedom so they can eliminate all our freedoms,” he said of gun control activists. “Saul Alinsky would be proud” of gun control activists, LaPierre said, referring to the Jewish community worker who authored a how-to book on social activism. Despite being dead for decades, Alinsky remains a byword for radicalism among some conservatives.

ISRAEL Trump administration to move US Embassy to Jerusalem in May, Israel’s 70th birthday Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON ( JTA)—The Trump administration will formally move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in May to coincide with Israel’s 70th anniversary. “We’re planning to open the new U.S. Embassy to Israel in Jerusalem in May,” a State Department spokesman says. The spokesman did not reveal a specific date, but May 14 would mark 70 years since Israel’s establishment. The spokesman says the embassy would be located in a southern Jerusalem neighborhood on the side that Israel held before 1967 but running along the seam of what was then the border. “The Embassy will initially be located

in Arnona, on a compound that currently houses the consular operations of Consulate General Jerusalem,” he says. Building a new embassy will take at least three years, and the spokesman suggests that at least for now, much of the daily operation of the embassy would remain in Tel Aviv. “At least initially, it will consist of the Ambassador and a small team,” the spokesman says of the Jerusalem operation. Trump administration officials had said previously that the embassy move would take place in 2019. President Donald Trump has heralded his Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as one of the highlights of his administration. He earned lengthy applause from

the CPAC annual conservative conference in Washington when he mentioned the Jerusalem recognition. Another source apprised of the move provided JTA with a timeline for the move: In the first phase, starting in May, Ambassador David Friedman and some staff will begin working out of the consular section at a cost of about $300,000 to $500,000. In the second phase, by the end of 2019, an annex on site will be constructed for a more permanent working space for the ambassador, staff and a classified processing site. That will cost $10 million to 15 million, and the security arrangement will cost at least $45 million. The third phase, the site selection and construction of a new embassy, will take up to nine years.

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europe

Poland wants to ban the term ‘Polish death camps’ Cnaan Liphshiz

(JTA)—The Polish parliament’s bill to criminalize the use of the term “Polish death camps” prompted an avalanche of criticism in Israel by officials and individuals who warned that it is excessive and risks stifling research on the Holocaust. Following the bill’s passing in the Sejm, or the lower house of the Polish parliament—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the bill “baseless.” Historians, including some from Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial museum, joined him in opposing it. In a statement, Yad Vashem said that whereas “there is no doubt that the term ‘Polish death camps’ is a historical misrepresentation,” the intended law nonetheless is “liable to blur the historical truths regarding the assistance the Germans received from the Polish population

during the Holocaust.” Less guarded protest in Israel alleged that some of Poland’s critics of the term Polish death camps are blurring historical truths, and that there is a need for better understanding of sensitivities around the issue in Poland, Israel and beyond. Israeli centrist politician Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid opposition party— and according to recent polls, the lawmaker likeliest to replace Netanyahu if elections were held now—had a lot to say on the topic on social media. In a series of posts, Lapid said, “There were Polish death camps and no law can ever change that.” He added: “Hundreds of thousands of Jews were murdered without ever meeting a German.” “Poland was a partner in the Holocaust,” Lapid also wrote. His statements were historically inaccurate on several levels, according to

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Efraim Zuroff, a prominent historian on the Holocaust and the Eastern Europe director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “I understand his anger, but Lapid fell in the trap that the Poles made for him, in a sense,” Zuroff said. The claim that there were Polish death camps is “misleading,” Zuroff said. The statement is true only in that there were Nazi death camps on Polish soil. “Polish individuals may have been responsible for the death of many thousands of Jews,” he said, “but Polish state apparatuses were not integrated into the Nazi machine of genocide against the Jews, and in that Poland is actually an exception to many other countries in Nazi-occupied Europe.” Claiming that “Poland was a partner in the Holocaust is also untrue,” Zuroff said, because “there was no Poland” under German occupation. Polish sovereignty

was dismantled and the country’s territory was co-opted under Nazi rule. He said the claim that hundreds of thousands of Jews died in Poland without seeing a German is “absurd,” adding “I don’t know where Lapid got that figure from.” According to Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich, no more than 2,500 Jews died at the hands of Poles during the Holocaust or immediately after it. Zuroff disputes the estimate: He believes the correct figure is “many thousands” of people, including in at least 15 towns and cities in eastern Poland, where non-Jews butchered their Jewish neighbors. Zuroff said Lapid’s claim is also offensive to many Poles because in addition to killing 3 million Polish Jews, the Nazis killed 3 million Polish non-Jews. The remaining millions of Jewish Holocaust victims were either killed in the former

europe Soviet Union or camps outside Poland. “The Nazis considered the Poles lesser humans,” Zuroff said. Which is part of the reason that the “Polish opposition to the term Polish death camps in justified,” he added, though he also said he does not support criminalizing it. So why are Israeli politicians and authorities on the Holocaust so outspoken in opposing it? The reason, according to Zuroff, is that the bill is part of a larger effort by Poland’s right-wing government, led by the right-wing Law and Justice party, to dismiss “any criticism of how Poles behaved during the Holocaust.” According to Zuroff, with the exception of the Netherlands, Poland was the only country in occupied Europe where resistance activists set up a special organization dedicated to saving Jews. But at the same time, Polish resistance groups, such as the Home Army, refused to accept Jews in many cases—and in others killed them. “Everybody knows that many, many thousands of Poles killed or betrayed their Jewish neighbors to the Germans, causing them to be murdered,” Zuroff said. “The Polish state was not complicit in the Holocaust, but many Poles were. The country was a hotbed of anti-Semitism before the Holocaust, too. It’s foolish to ignore it.” If that’s true, it hasn’t stopped Polish historians and official from doing just that. In 2016, a year after Law and Justice’s big election win, Polish Education Minister Anna Zalewska said there are “different scenarios” about what happened in Jedwabne, a town in eastern Poland where in 1941, locals butchered 1,500 to 2,500 of their Jewish neighbors, reportedly without interference from the Germans (revisionist historians in Poland have disputed this for decades). In 2001, the publication of a book on Jedwabne by Princeton historian Jan Gross triggered a public debate on the issue. In 2016, he was summoned to appear before police for saying that Poles killed more Jews than they did Germans during the Holocaust. Gross was suspected of

The bill is part of a larger effort by Poland’s rightwing government, led by the rightwing Law and Justice party, to dismiss “any criticism of how Poles behaved during the Holocaust.”

insulting the honor of the Polish nation, which is illegal in the country. In a separate but not entirely unconnected debate, some leaders of Polish Jewry have accused the Law and Justice party of ignoring the rise of ultranationalists in Poland, which they said creates a security concern for the community and a “low point” in its history. Other Polish Jewish leaders have dismissed the claims as part of a “political war” against the government. “Before Law and Justice won the election, there was a feeling that progress had been made, with successive Polish heads of state recognizing that, alongside the heroism of some Poles who saved Jews, others murdered them and betrayed them,” Zuroff said. “But it seems that now the Polish government is reversing course and it’s generating a lot of anger, as is visible in Lapid’s reaction.” Poland’s embassy in Israel, for its part, quoted on social media what they called Lapid’s “unsupportable claims.” They show, an embassy spokesman said, “how badly Holocaust education is needed, even here in Israel.”

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TIDEWATER

A national audience for What We Carry

lose to 200 people interested in seeing the three newest films of survivor Alfred Dreyfus, liberator William Jucksch, and rescuer Dame Mary Barraco, attended a screening last December at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

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survivors and heroes. The films were created by award-winning filmmakers Janice Engel and Amber Howell of Los Angeles; and the vintage suitcases by Perry Deglandon of Virginia Beach. Following the film presentation, Brad Pomerance, host of Jewish Life TV, moderated a question and answer session with Engel and Howell. Both Pomerance and the audience were visibly moved by what they had just witnessed and asked questions about the filmmakers’ involvement with the program, what they learned from the experience, and their message for future audiences. In 2010, like communities around the world, the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater was faced with the sad and impending reality that Holocaust survivors, liberators, and rescuers were aging and passing away. The Commission wondered: How will the lessons learned from their harrowing stories of survival be kept alive? How will future generations know the names and faces of these local survivors and witnesses of war? How will students and adults be led, by the examples of these heroes, to be upstanders, rather than bystanders, in the face of evil and hatred? The concept of What We Carry was Tidewater’s answer to these daunting questions. Survivors willingly sat through hours of filming, re-living their horrific memories, and re-telling their painful stories of survival because “nobody should be discriminated against because of their religion,” as survivor David Katz, of blessed memory, said. They entrusted the Commission with their stories and were promised that they would be used to reach the broadest possible audience. For years, the Commission’s Speakers Bureau of survivors personally shared their moving stories with students, the military, and the community-large. They felt it was their duty to share the horrors they experienced and witnessed, so they would not be repeated. These films could not have come at a better time, as David Katz and Hanns Loewenbach passed away shortly after their pieces were completed. In the summer of 2017, Mickey Held

and Deb Segaloff were named co-chairs of What We Carry National, keeping the promise of spreading these stories beyond Tidewater. Many communities had active Speakers Bureaus for years, but most had not developed a format to bring the stories to audiences once their survivors no longer could. UJFT’s Holocaust Commission hopes to provide What We Carry as that format. Ronnie Jacobs Cohen, director of the Holocaust Commission from 2003 through 2010, is serving as national strategist for a sixmonth period—tasked with exploring interest, regionally and nationally, and seeking future funding for the stories of local survivors, rescuers, and liberators to be heard beyond Tidewater. So far, the What We Carry films have been shown to UCLA Hillel students and faculty and received critical acclaim. Three presentations are planned for Jacksonville, Florida in April, in commemoration of Yom Hashaoh. Links to the films have been shared with Federations throughout the nation and a great deal of interest has been expressed. Outreach is being made to museums, synagogues, and churches for future presentations. The community is being asked to share contacts outside of Tidewater—museums, schools and universities, civic groups, synagogues and churches—that might consider bringing What We Carry to their community. For this endeavor, future funding is also being sought. To learn more about the What We Carry National program or to share contacts, contact Ronnie Jacobs Cohen at rcohen@ujft.org. In light of recent school shootings and hate crimes, these incredible films and suitcases are extraordinarily relevant in teaching respect for all humanity. The Commission is passionate about making sure the message of survivor Hanns Loewenbach, of blessed memory, is never forgotten—“Evil does not need your help, just your indifference.”

europe

Jewish camp in Hungary is first introduction to Judaism for some campers

very summer, 1,500 Jewish campers from more than 20 countries attend Camp Szarvas in Hungary. Funded in part by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the camp’s mission is to create an opportunity for young Jews from around the world to meet, celebrate, and explore what Judaism means to them. Each session is comprised of campers from Eastern Europe, South America, parts of Asia and Africa, USA and Israel; and while their camp experiences are shared, they all take away something personal and unique. Last month, Slavyan Kanovski, a 20-something young man from Sofia, Bulgaria, visited the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater with Sandy Katz, director of strategic relations with the JDC. While in Virginia Beach, Kanovski shared the impact that his summers as a camper and counselor at Camp Szarvas

had on him and his family. Raised by a single mother following the passing of his father when he was just nine years old, Kanovski learned he was Jewish when his grandfather suggested he and his brother enroll in a Jewish day school because the education and facilities were better due to outside funding. Kanovski’s grandfather had never spoken about or shared Jewish history, traditions, or culture because he was conditioned to hide his identity for so long. The combination of the Holocaust and Communism had created a climate in Eastern Europe where the expression of Judaism meant death or imprisonment. During World War II, Jews like Kanovski’s grandfather were often isolated and betrayed by leaders of their resident countries. However, this was not the case in Bulgaria where the native community, despite the alliance between

the Kingdom of Bulgaria and Germany, rose and convinced their king to not hand over their Jews for deportation and certain death. The Bulgarian Jews were, however, placed in work camps, had their homes confiscated, were prohibited from voting, holding office, and government positions, and from serving in the army—among other restrictions. At the end of the war, 48,000 Bulgarian Jews, the fourth largest group from Europe, emigrated to Israel—fleeing communist oppression. The remaining Bulgarian Jewish population, like those of other Eastern European Communist controlled nations, became known as the “Stolen Generation” and were left with little to no understanding of their Jewish identity. Thanks to JDC scholarship funding, Kanovski connected with his Jewish identity at Camp Szarvas, where he learned to practice and celebrate his religion. Filled with

his new information and fueled by a passion for his faith, Kanovski brought Judaica, such as his new Camp Szarvas Shabbat prayer book, home to his family, sharing his new knowledge. As a result, Kanovski was able to establish a continuity of Jewish identity his family had never known. Through UJFT’s generous partnership with JDC, young Eastern European Jews like Kanovski are connecting with their Jewish identity through many programs, including Camp Szarvas, youth programming at the New Bucharest JCC, and summer camp in Cristain, Romania. Plus, the poorest Jews are living with dignity because Tidewater’s support provides essential services such as food, heat/electricity, home care visits, medicine, and more. Finally, these programs are creating a cadre of proud Jews prepared to lead in their home countries and communities and to love Israel.

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www.CommonwealthSL.com jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 17

TIDEWATER

Grants available for first time campers to Jewish overnight camps Barb Gelb

lijah Arnowitz is a seventh grader who is already dreaming about camp this summer, which will be his fifth, at Camp Ramah New England. “It’s torturous to think about it because I miss it so much!” Elijah says. What does he like about camp? “Bunk activities, Shabbat and canteen, as well as “chugs” or elective activities—such as flag football, basketball, cooking, and videography.” Elijah also raves about the camp food, especially Shabbos brownies and Color War cupcakes. Elijah’s mother, Tami Arnowitz, adds, “Elijah is the best version of himself when he is at camp. Jewish overnight camps are wonderful in that they encourage independence and allow children to explore who they are. I love sending my children somewhere that being Jewish is infused

into everything that they do, where being Jewish is joyous and fun.” She adds that in five years of camp, Elijah has made friends in Massachusetts, Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Connecticut and those friendships are so meaningful that they have made the effort to take long drives to attend B’nai Mitzvot. Leila Abrams, a sixth grader who will attend Capital Camps for her fifth summer, says she loves camp because it gives her a chance to spend more time with her friends and get closer to them. Leila says she would encourage kids to go to camp because “It’s really fun and you make a lot of friends there.” One of her favorite things about camp is the lake, which has a trampoline, a cliff, and lots of other very impressive lake toys. According to Rachel Abrams, Leila’s mother, “The biggest gift my parents gave me was sending me to Jewish camp. Just

Camp strengthens Jewish identity and commitment to Jewish life and community.

going to Hebrew School doesn’t cut it. At camp we learn the fun side of being Jewish, integrating Jewish values into activities. It also made me proud of being Jewish.” Tidewater Jewish Foundation has partnered with The Foundation for Jewish Camp to provide grants for first time

campers at Jewish overnight camps through the One Happy Camper program. Scott Kaplan, TJF president and CEO, says, “Our hope is to encourage and enable more parents to send their children to Jewish camps where they can experience all of the wonderful things that an immersive Jewish camp experience provides. Camp strengthens Jewish identity and commitment to Jewish life and community. This is essential for our future.” As one parent says, “Going to Jewish overnight camp literally changed the course of my life, in a positive way. I want the same for my children, and for as many children as possible. It can make the world better.” For more information about Jewish camps or how to receive a grant, visit www.onehappycamper.org or contact Barb Gelb at bgelb@ ujft.org.

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this way to BFFs At Jewish overnight camp, kids discover who they are—and who they want to become—while having the time of their lives. They race across ziplines, jump into lakes and learn important life skills. And they create enduring friendships. For more information or to apply, contact Barb Gelb 757-965-6105 or bgelb@ujft.org

18 | Jewish News | March 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

r e v o s s Pa 8 7 57

Supplement to Jewish News March 5, 2018 jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Passover | Jewish News | 19

PASSOVER BRINGS THE FAMILY

together

MAY YOU ENJOY THE TRADITIONS AND TOGETHERNESS OF THIS HOLIDAY. Kroger is pleased to help you and your family enjoy the tastes and traditions of Passover. With a complete selection of Kosher foods, you can stock up on all your favorites for less.

FIND THE THINGS YOU NEED FOR YOUR PASSOVER SEDER TABLE AT KROGER

20 | Jewish News | Passover | March 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Passover Dear Readers,

assover is one holiday that very few people are ambivalent about. There are those who dread it because of the food and hours of preparation, and then there are those

who love it for that same food and preparation. Usually those in the positive camp also appreciate the traditions of the seder and the feelings of being part of a universal Jewish community. Our Passover section offers articles that should appeal to both groups. An article on page 28, for example, addresses that aforementioned preparation work.

Wishing you peace and happiness at Passover

My primitive Passover scavenger hunt is certain to make anyone who has ever shopped for Passover smile, if not laugh out loud. Did you know that kosher suits are tailored specifically for Passover? We’ve got a blurb on a tailor in New York that has created more the 15,000 since 1978. Page 22. Every holiday has its little-known facts. On page 24, we share nine about Passover. I only knew one before reading. What’s your score? We have other articles, too. One is on Moroccan Passover traditions, and one on new children’s books for the holiday. My personal favorites, however, are the Passover Memories shared by locals Adi Abramov, David Proser, Allison Cooper, Joan Joffe, and Jeremy Krupnick. From seders

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on a kibbutz to Chad Gadya props to special tables to cats to fish in bathtubs, their stories demonstrate the myriad ways this holiday commemorating the story of Exodus is observed, celebrated, and remembered. However you acknowledge the spring festival, we wish you a wonderful and meaningful holiday, beginning on Friday evening, March 30. Chag Samaech!

Terri Denison Editor

jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Passover | Jewish News | 21

Passover Kosher suits for Passover NEW YORK—New York custom suit maker, Mohan’s Custom Tailors, has created more than 15,000 “kosher suits” since 1978, says owner Mohan “Mike” Ramchandani. “As we get closer to Passover, many of today’s businessmen are ordering specialized ‘kosher suits’ free of a linen-wool combination, called shatnez in Hebrew,” says Ramchandani. “Our suits are custom made and with our testers, we can assure that the production of the garment is in 100% compliance with Jewish law.” Mass produced suits often list on their fabric labels only the materials that are predominantly used—possibly omitting those that would identify the garment as containing this prohibited combination. After purchasing the garment, the buyer must have the suit checked by a special shatnez tester, and if a linen and wool

mix is detected, the garment needs to be fixed by removing the linen portion. The “kosher suit” eases the entire process for the buyer. The Torah teaches about the power of combinations and warns against mixing the wrong things together. One of these is the prohibition against wearing a mixture of wool and linen in the same piece of clothing. “You shall not wear combined fibers, wool and linen together” (Deut. 22:11). Mohan’s Custom Tailors works with a Brooklyn-based shatnez tester to assure clients that all suits are, indeed, kosher. Mohan’s Custom Tailors boasts a client roster nearing 59,000, including stars such as Walt Frazier, Mario Manningham, Patrick Ewing, Bernie Williams, Jose Reyes, and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani.

Pa s s ov e r M e m o r i e s

Seder at the Kibbutz.

Kibbutz seders were fun! Adi Abramov

very year for Passover, my family would drive 90 minutes to attend a seder at my aunt and uncle’s kibbutz. They lived on Kibbutz Beth Alpha, near Jordan, and we lived in Haifa.

Hundreds of people attended, filling many long tables. The kibbutz created their own Hagaddah, focusing on the spring and harvest. It was not at all a religious service. The kids always performed a show, usually based on the story of the goat—Had Gadya.

best wishes for a

It was always a lot of fun—sitting with everyone—especially with my cousins, whom I’m still close with to this day. By the time we left to go home, it was very late. My parents brought pillows

passover

and blankets for my older brother and I, and since seatbelts weren’t required then, my parents reclined the back seats to a flat position and we slept on the way home. It wasn’t until I was in high school that we went to my father’s family for the holiday and I experienced a real seder.

22 | Jewish News | Passover | March 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Passover Westbury Market/Apothecary

Pa s s ov e r M e m o r i e s David Proser A Great Passover Memory

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nly one?? Impossible! I have so many great Passover memories because it has always been my favorite holiday, starting as a child sitting around my Aunt

Florence’s dining room table in Baltimore with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins on my father’s side. I can’t believe how many of us fit around that table, but my grandfather would always say “Plenty Room-Plenty Room.” One of our customs was chicken soup at the first seder and a beet soup, called rossel, at the second. We would sing all of the songs in Hallel—and all those at the end too. (I had a very musical family). Right after the meal, before continuing with Bircat, we always got a call from my Uncle Carl, who had moved his family to South Carolina. I continue that custom by still calling his daughter in Atlanta at the same time during our

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seder. For many years after we moved to Virginia, we would go back to Baltimore for seders, even though much of the family had passed or dispersed across the country. This picture, taken in 1977 (as you can tell by the hair), shows me holding our daughter Michelle at the last seder at Aunt Florence’s. Since that time, we have built new memories at our own seders with our KBH family and friends. I hope that we have provided the same memories for our children that my family provided for me so many years ago. By the way, Aunt Florence’s table is now in our dining room, and our daughter, Maura, has already claimed it.

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jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Passover | Jewish News | 23

Passover Nine things you didn’t know about Passover MJL Staff

(My Jewish Learning via JTA)—Here are nine things that many likely wouldn’t know about the Festival of Freedom: 1. In Gibraltar, there’s dust in the charoset. The traditional charoset is a sweet Passover paste whose texture is meant as a reminder of the mortar the enslaved Jews used to build in ancient Egypt. The name itself is related to the Hebrew word for clay. In Ashkenazi tradition, it is traditionally made from crushed nuts, apples, and sweet red wine, while Sephardic Jews use figs or dates. But the tiny Jewish community of this small British territory at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula takes the brick symbolism to another level, using the dust of actual bricks in their recipe.

2. Abraham Lincoln died during Passover. The 16th American president was shot at Ford’s Theatre on a Friday, April 14, 1865, which coincided with the fourth night of Passover. The next morning, Jews who wouldn’t normally have attended services on the holiday were so moved by Lincoln’s passing they made their way to synagogues, where the normally celebratory Passover services were instead marked by acts of mourning and the singing of Yom Kippur hymns. American Jews were so affected by the president’s death that Congregation Shearith Israel in New York recited the prayer for the dead—usually said only for Jews—on Lincoln’s behalf.

3. Arizona is a hub for matzah wheat. Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn have been increasingly sourcing wheat for their Passover matzah from farmers in Arizona. Excessive moisture in wheat kernels can result in fermentation, rendering the harvest unsuitable for Passover use. But rain is scarce in Arizona, which allows for a stricter standard of matzah production. Rabbis from New York travel to Arizona in the days leading up to the harvest, where they inspect the grains meticulously to ensure they are cut at the precise moisture levels.

4. At the seder, Persian Jews whip each other with scallions. Many of the Passover seder rituals are intended to re-create the sensory experience of Egyptian slavery, from the eating of bitter herbs and matzah to the dipping of greenery in saltwater,

24 | Jewish News | Passover | March 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

which symbolizes the tears shed by the oppressed Israelites. Some Jews from Iran and Afghanistan have the tradition of whipping each other with green onions before the singing of “Dayenu.”

5. Karaite Jews skip the wine. Karaite Jews reject rabbinic Judaism, observing only laws detailed in the Torah. That’s why they don’t drink the traditional four cups of wine at the seder. Wine is fermented, and fermented foods are prohibited on Passover, so instead they drink fruit juice. (Mainstream Jews hold that only fermented grains are prohibited.) The Karaites also eschew other staples of the traditional seder, including the seder plate and charoset. Their maror (bitter herbs) is a mixture of lemon peel, bitter lettuce, and an assortment of other herbs.

6. Israeli Jews have only one seder. Israeli Jews observe only one Passover seder, unlike everywhere else where traditionally two seders are held, one on each of the first two nights of the holiday. Known as “yom tov sheni shel galuyot”—literally “the second festival day of the Diaspora”—the practice was begun 2,000 years ago when Jews were informed of the start of a new lunar month only after it had been confirmed by witnesses in Jerusalem. Because Jewish communities outside of Israel were often delayed in learning the news, they

consequently couldn’t be sure precisely which day festivals were meant to be observed. As a result, the practice of observing two seder days was instituted just to be sure.

7. You’re wrong about the orange on the seder plate. Some progressive Jews have adopted the practice of including an orange on the seder plate as a symbol of inclusion of gays, lesbians, and other groups marginalized in the Jewish community. The story goes that the practice was instituted by the feminist scholar Susannah Heschel after she was told that a woman belongs on the synagogue bimah, or prayer podium, like an orange belongs on a seder plate. But according to Heschel, that story is false. In that apocryphal version, she said, “a woman’s words are attributed to a man, and the affirmation of lesbians and gay men is erased. Isn’t that precisely what’s happened over the centuries to women’s ideas?”

8. “Afikomen” isn’t Hebrew. For many seder participants, the highlight of the meal is the afikomen—a broken piece of matzah that the seder leader hides and the children search for; the person who finds the afikomen usually gets a small reward. Most scholars believe the word “afikomen” derives from the Greek word for dessert. Others say it refers to a kind of postmeal revelry common among the Greeks. Either theory would explain why the afikomen is traditionally the last thing eaten at the seder.

9. For North African Jews, after Passover comes Mimouna. Most people are eager for a break from holiday meals when the eight-day Passover holiday concludes. But for the Jews of North Africa, the holiday’s end is the perfect time for another feast, Mimouna, marking the beginning of spring. Celebrated after nightfall on the last day of Passover, Mimouna is marked by a large spread of foods and the opening of homes to guests. The celebration is often laden with symbolism, including fish for fertility and golden rings for wealth.

Passover Pa s s ov e r M e m o r i e s

Passover

A time to celebrate family, friends, and freedom

Miro, Ada, and Stacy Weinberger, Harlan and Bev Sherwat, Li Lin Weinberger, and Nathan, Jeff, Ryan and Allison Cooper. Ryan Cooper.

Allison Cooper Our burnt Haggadah, gefilte fish that attracted neighbors, and puppets

y family has incorporated different Haggadot versions over the years, but we are always sure to use my Grandpa Jack’s original Haggadah, which has a burnt cover from when he nodded off

during the seder and accidentally singed the book edges in the table candles. I love that the seder can host both millennia old traditions of the Jewish people and also bring it to the present and reflect the realities of our family’s

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life stage. Some years when it’s only adults at the table, we’ve had epic philosophical discussions on holiday themes. When we have the kids, it’s finger puppets and plague masks. Proving that the seder can be home to both the ancient and the modern.

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On a very different note, when my mom makes her delicious gefilte fish from scratch, it’s quite a treat. One year, she had the windows open to understandably get fresh air—which attracted our neighbors. We turned to the back door to see our neighbor’s two cats desperately hanging by their claws on the screen, unable to resist the smell of the gefilte fish!

jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Passover | Jewish News | 25

Passover Moroccan Passover Traditions Natasha Cooper-Benisty

(My Jewish Learning via JTA)—The seders of my adult life are quite different than those I experienced in my youth. The main reason for this is that I am married to a Moroccan Israeli who has his own rich traditions from which to draw. Early in our marriage, my husband experienced his first Ashkenazic seders at my parents’ home. However, once we decided that we were ready to host our own seders, we happily merged customs from both of our backgrounds to create our special family experience. Perhaps the most unique Moroccan custom of our seder occurs early on when the head of the household—in my husband’s family, his mother would do this—holds the seder plate over the head of each guest separately and chants the following: “Bibhilu yatsanu mi’misrayim, halachma ‘anya bené horin.” This roughly translates to the following: “In haste, we went out of Egypt with our bread of affliction and now we are free.” I have taken on this unusual ritual, which has become one of the highlights of our seder. Our Ashkenazic friends love this tradition, and with a glass seder plate it is even more entertaining! One interesting take on the ritual is that is it connected to Kabbalah. It is believed that Rabbi Isaac Luria, who is known for revolutionizing the study of Jewish mysticism through Kabbalah, connected the various items of the seder to the 10 kabbalistic sefirot, the mystical dimensions that described the divine attributes of God, and so the seder plate became a sacred symbol of God. In this sense, when raising the seder plate, one is being blessed by the Shechina (the

Talmud defines the Shechina as the divine that lives within the world, on earth with the Jewish people, and accompanies them when they are exiled), in addition to enjoying the Shechina’s presence at your seder table. Another interesting difference is the ritual accompanying the recitation of the Ten Plagues. Instead of the Ashkenazic finger or a knife dipping, Moroccans fill a large bowl with water and wine (two different glasses pour the liquids into the bowl as each plague is recited). The idea here is that one can see the effect of the first plague as the Egyptians witnessed their precious Nile River become contaminated with blood. Perhaps the biggest misconception when it comes to Sephardic Jews is that they all eat rice on Passover. Like anything else in Judaism, there are myriad customs and traditions depending on where your family lived in the old country or even from where they originated generations before they ended up in that particular city. Moroccan Jews, for example, are a diverse group with different customs depending on their ancestry. There are those that came after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and settled among the Berbers. Others came in 1492 from Spain and Portugal like my hu sb a nd ’s f a m i l y. Most

26 | Jewish News | Passover | March 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Moroccan Jews do not eat rice on Passover, but they do eat other kitniyot including legumes, fresh beans, and fresh peas. In researching this piece, I came across a quote by a man who said that his father had told him that the reason that the Spanish Moroccan Jews ate this way was because Spain was close to Ashkenaz (the area along the Rhine River in northern France and western Germany) and the gzeira (edict per Jewish law) regarding kitniyot crossed the border and both Sephardic Jews and Jews of Spanish origin accepted the decree. In general, Moroccans eat differently on Passover than Ashkenazim. Their reliance year-round on a variety of salad dishes translates well for Passover, and I often feel as if my diet during the holiday is not so different from our normal fare— with the exception of matzah, of course. However, during the seder itself there are some differences, no doubt due to the availability of vegetables in Morocco. For example, romaine lettuce and not horseradish is used for maror and parsley, not potatoes, for karpas. The haroset is also noteworthy with the absence of apples. I have included a traditional recipe for Moroccan Haroset adapted from Claudia Roden. I have also made haroset without any spices using only dates, walnuts, wine and raisins. For those who are nut free, the haroset can

Moroccan Haroset Ingredients 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped ½ teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 grind freshly ground nutmeg 1 pound dates, pitted and chopped 1½ cups grape juice

Directions Put the dates into a pan with the wine, cinnamon and cloves, then simmer, stirring occasionally, until you have a soft paste. Put through the food processor if you want a smoother texture. Let it cool and stir in the walnuts.

also be made without the walnuts. This haroset, especially when using raisins, is quite thick and thus can last throughout the entire holiday and be enjoyed as a snack with matzah. Betai’avon (Bon appetite)! Natasha Cooper-Benisty has been a Jewish educator in both day school and religious school for the past 10 years. She enjoys educating her students about Moroccan Jewish culture and creating Moroccan feasts for her Ashkenazic friends. This piece appeared originally on Jewish&, the blog of Be’chol Lashon. http://bechollashon.org/

Passover Pa s s ov e r M e m o r i e s

Joan Joffe’s grandsons: Evan Rossen, Clay Rossen, Morgan Rossen, Ari Simon, and Nate Simon.

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Joan Joffe Making it fun and meaningful for the younger generation

very year I am reminded of the enthusiastic and spirited seders we had in South Africa with our extended family. Most of these family members are now dispersed around the world.

We have five grandsons for whom I create fun and meaningful seders. This includes Passover Bingo and trivia games, puzzles, and also props for Chad Gadya, etc. While reading and singing from the Haggadah, we discuss how modern day issues compare to the time in Egypt.

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Sharing the story of Pesach with our grandchildren is the essence of L’Dor V’Dor.

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Passover My primitive Passover scavenger hunt Linda Pressman

(Kveller via JTA)—When I see the giant gefilte fish and matzah display at Costco in late February, it sends me into a panic. I think, is it time for gefilte fish already? I think that finding the holiday foods, including that gigantic jar of gefilte fish, is not easy and maybe I should stockpile now. I start thinking about how many people I’m having for Passover—a lot or a little? One manageable table or an impossible four? Most of the year I’m a pretty normal American woman. I look normal. I dress in a fairly normal manner. I walk in grocery stores and have a vaguely normal shopping list. Yes, there are certain Jewish holidays here and there where I’m maybe shopping for 20 pound bags of potatoes in the winter, apples and honey, round challahs, and smoked fish in the fall, or poppy

filling in March. All a little odd. But then there’s Passover. Costco, of course, can only satisfy a few needs for this holiday. Though I’m willing to bounce back and forth between its kosher smoked fish case and the Passover display, both forming a miniature Pale of Settlement in the store for Jewish shoppers to cling to, eventually I must venture out to the Jewish section of the regular grocery stores, to their Pesach tables, and to the kosher stores to get everything else I need. Shopping for Passover is like being on the worst scavenger hunt ever. My grocery list looks like it was written in medieval Poland. I need a really big brisket. Like maybe an entire cow. And chicken livers. Like the whole chicken. And maybe 10,000 eggs. I need horseradish—red and white. I need fish and potatoes, matzah, and

parsley. Coconut and carrots. Apples and walnuts and honey and wine. Oh, and they wouldn’t happen to have four shankbones hanging around, would they? One time when my mother was alive, she had a craving for real kishke. I went to the store with her instructions: I needed rendered fat and casings. The butcher seemed mystified. How did I become my mother? Or, rather, my grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, all the way down the line? How did I get so fascinated with the butchers at all the grocery stores in town, interrogating the staff about their briskets, their chicken livers, the weights and when they’re expected? When I’ve bought everything on my list, I start cooking very meticulously. I cling to the idea that if I’m organized about this, I can be ready. I can’t really be ready.

Sometimes while I’m out shopping, I run into the rest of the world. There they are, happy normal people, out shopping for regular groceries, like bread, or in the Easter aisle buying chocolate eggs, squishy Peeps, and giant chocolate Easter bunnies. I’m somewhat surprised that the world is just ticking along as normal, and there’s not an emergency in their kitchens like there is in mine. Because no matter how far ahead I start, no matter how much I’m sure I’m finished the night before, it never fails that two hours before the seder I have to call my sister for emergency backup, for parsley sprig placement or peeling boiled eggs. Back at the store, I find the last thing on my list, horseradish root for the seder plate—a gnarled, primitive-looking thing that I grasp in my matching gnarled hand —and I head home.

There are lots of ways to eat matza. And lots of ways to be part of the community. To make matza taste better — you can try hundreds of things. To make someone’s life better — give to United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and the Simon Family JCC. You’ll be helping your community at home and around the world. In lots more ways than we can count. #lotsamatza

28 | Jewish News | Passover | March 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Passover

Pa s s ov e r M e m o r i e s

Here are some new children’s books for Passover Penny Schwartz

(JTA)—A talking parrot saves the family seder and a moose-musician is eager to host his perfect first Passover meal in a pair of delightful new children’s books for the holiday, which this year begins on the night of March 30. A third book celebrates the rich diversity of the Jewish people through photographs. Paulie’s Passover Predicament Written by Jane Sutton; illustrated by Barbara Vagnozzi Kar-Ben; ages 3–8 Paulie is a guit ar-pl ay i ng moos-ician who is hosting his very first seder and wants it to be just perfect. At the grocery store, he piles his cart with boxes of matzah, candles and lots of grape juice. But Paulie’s guests—a porcupine, bear, bunny and others—giggle and poke fun at his seder plate with its really big ostrich egg, saltwater with pepper, and pine cones rather than walnuts for the ceremonial charoset. Kids will get in on the action when Paulie sets out to search for the hidden afikomen—until the basement door closes shut behind him. Paulie ingeniously solves the problem and later leads his friends in a rousing rendition of Dayenu; especially grateful for his freedom. Jane Sutton’s playful story, enhanced by Barbara Vagnozzi’s bright illustrations, captures the excitement of celebrating Passover with a tender touch that reinforces the importance of being kind to friends. The Passover Parrot Evelyn Zusman; illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker Kar-Ben; ages 3–8 Lily lives in a brownstone in Brooklyn with her parents and six brothers and sisters. She loves swinging on a tire swing that hangs from a large tree in their New York City backyard. As the family prepares to celebrate Passover, a neighbor who

is moving drops off her pet parrot as a gift that delights Lily—her mom, however, doesn’t share the excitement. The parrot’s name is Hametz, the word for bread and other leavened food that is not eaten during Passover. Lily is determined to recite the Four Questions in Hebrew at the seder, but everyone is too busy to help her practice. Except Hametz, that is, who repeats the questions back to Lily. With a houseful of guests for the seder, Lily’s father is not amused when Hametz chimes in with Lily and he banishes the parrot to the girl’s room. Will the seder be ruined when Lily discovers Hametz and the afikomen missing from her room? This is a newly illustrated 35th anniversary edition of this story by Evelyn Zusman, who was a Hebrew school teacher in New York and Los Angeles. Colorful illustrations are by Canadian artist Kyrsten Brooker. We Are Jewish Faces Debra B. Davick Apples & Honey Press; ages 5–8 This joyful collection of colorful photographs conveys the rich diversity of Jews today, with the faces of Jewish children and teens with their grandparents, friends, brothers and sisters. While the recommended age range is 5–8, the lively but simple photographs will appeal to even younger ones, who will be fascinated by the smiling, cheerful faces of other kids. The settings traverse the globe and the Jewish life cycle and calendar, from blowing the shofar, eating matzah and lighting a Hanukkah menorah to graduations, bar mitzvah celebrations and other milestones. Kids are dressed in contemporary and traditional elaborately decorated Yemenite clothing.

Jeremy Krupnick Gefilte fish and the bathtub

ne of my favorite memories of Passover is hearing my grandfather tell stories about how

his mother used to make the gefilte fish. I assumed like all families that they just went

Rachel and Jeremy Krupnick and their boys.

to the store and bought theirs. He explained to me that on the morning of Passover my great grandmother would go down to the market and get a live Carp. Then she would bring it home, and let it swim in the bathtub all day until she was ready to make the gefilte fish. I was certain he wasn’t telling me the truth, and it took me asking several other family members to convince me that it was in fact a real story. After that I would ask my grandmother each year if she could please get a live Carp so it could come swim in her bathtub. Needless to say she was much more comfortable getting her gefilte fish out of a jar.

Wishing you a joyous Passover Offices in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake & Norfolk (757) 481-4383 www.allergydocs.net

jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Passover | Jewish News | 29

Celebrate Passover with

Joan Nathan & Whole Foods Market! Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve partnered with Jewish food authority and James Beard award-winning cookbook author Joan Nathan to bring you a delicious Passover dinner inspired by flavors from around the world using recipes from her latest cookbook, King Solomonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Table.

Joan Nathan Passover Meal for 8 Includes these cooked and ready to heat items:

Brazilian Haroset with Apples, Dates & Cashews | Double-Lemon Roast Chicken Fried Artichokes Jewish-Style | Tunisian Carrot Salad with Cumin, Coriander & Caraway Sicilian Eggplant Caponata Jewish-Style | Spinach with Pine Nuts & Currants

For more Passover meals and menu items, visit us in store, at shop.wfm.com or call 844-936-2428

30 | Jewish News | Passover | March 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

tidewater

Passport to Israel recipient encourages teens to go to Israel Barb Gelb

igh school junior Sophie Waldman received a Simon Family Passport to Israel Grant to spend the semester in Israel attending the Union for Reform Judaism’s Heller High School. Sophie says she wanted to go to Israel to experience Jewish culture there, and that she feels more connected to Judaism through the secular activities in Israel. One thing Sophie says she is surprised about in Israel is the food. “There are no salad dressings, and it’s super easy to find vegan ice cream. Ice cream is everywhere, but it’s harder to find falafel than I thought. I’ve been here for three weeks and I’ve only had it once. Hummus here is so much better, too.”

How will YOUR story be told to future generations?

So far, Sophie is enjoying her time in Israel and encourages all teens to go “as soon as you can and for as long as you can. Israel is amazing. It’s interesting to learn about King David when you are seeing the city of David.” Tidewater Jewish Foundation offers needs-blind grants through the Simon Family Passport to Israel program to help teens go to Israel. As a grant recipient, Sophie says she is very fortunate and “it makes the financial aspects much easier.” For more information and to apply, visit http:// jewishva.org/tjf-passport-to-israel or contact Barb Gelb at bgelb@ujft.org. Applications are due by April 1, 2018.

Happy Passover from your Tidewater Jewish Foundation

Call Barb Gelb at (757) 965-6105 to learn how YOUR legacy can live forever.

www.JewishVA.org/TJF All Legacy Donors, please join the Tidewater Jewish Foundation for our

YEAR ONE celebration of

LIFE & LEGACY

Monday, March 19th at 5:30 P.M. Sandler Family Campus 5000 Corporate Woods Dr. Virginia Beach, VA 23462

Cocktail Party with Heavy Hors d’oeuvres Presentation of Incentive Grant Checks email your response to aswindell@ujft.org

HEBREW ACADEMY OF TIDEWATER

LIFE & LEGACY™ is jointly funded by the Tidewater Jewish Foundation and the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 31

tidewater

Teens bond with seniors in Better Together Program Leslie Shroyer and Robyn Weiner

hough Leia Morrissey is in eighth grade, she knows she can make friends with anyone at any age. It’s a skill she picked up by participating in Better Together, a program that brings teens from area synagogues together with seniors at Beth Sholom Village. Now in its second year, the program has grown to include not just teens from Ohef Sholom Temple, but also participants from Temple Israel and Temple Beth El. Once each month, the teens travel to the senior home for Sunday lunch and discussions. Ten seniors regularly welcome the teens, greeting with hugs and handshakes, a sign that they have gotten comfortable with each over the past months.

Leia shared her experience in February during a Friday night Shabbat at Ohef Sholom Temple where the service honored elders. “People would see these two groups as very distant from each other, but this program changes that assumption,” Leia said. “Just because people are older or younger doesn’t mean that they can’t share in each others’ company. We bond with the seniors and make lasting connections with them.” She’s not the only one who’s learning from her Sundays at Beth Sholom Village. “Better Together has widened my perspective on the world and given me the opportunity to collaborate with someone I now call a friend,” says Lizzy Goldstein, another middle school student. “It doesn’t even feel like community service, but rather sitting down for lunch, getting to know someone.”

Lizzy has formed a strong bond with Joe Horowitz, celebrating his 98th birthday with him, even though his birthday was not on a Better Together day. Knowing that he collects stamps, Lizzy took one of their photos together and had custom stamps made. Aiden Allen and Lizzy Goldstein share Valentine’s cards Parents of the and memories with Joe Horowitz. teens agree that the children, Nathan and Elianna, are new to chance to bond with these seniors has the program this year. “They recently lost been a valuable experience. their grandfather whom they visited sev“I believe the program has provided eral times a week. Having the opportunity an opportunity for teens and seniors to to connect with a senior at Beth Sholom connect,” says Bethany Prince, whose

Stein Family College Scholarship The Stein Family College Scholarship is an annual grant for Jewish students in the Hampton Roads area that provides a scholarship of up to $10,000 a year for college.

Eligible Applicants Must: • Be Jewish students graduating high school this Spring, entering a degree-granting institution for the first time as a full-time, degree seeking student • Be current residents of Hampton Roads • Applicant must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 • Demonstrate academic ability, concern for school, Jewish & general communities • Show substantiated financial need (as determined by FAFSA) The Stein Family College Scholarship is dedicated in loving memory of Arlene Shea Stein.

Application Deadline: March 30, 2018 For more information, guidelines andapplication, visit www.JewishVa.org/tjf-stein

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it’s a wrap

tidewater

“Just because people are older or younger doesn’t mean that they can’t share in each others’ company.”

has helped them to heal, while giving back to the community.” Naomei Lidman, another teen in the program, says, “Better Together is a great experience allowing me to connect with people who have many stories and words of wisdom to share. My senior is

Norma—she is very sweet and reminds me of my grandmother who passed away in 2012. Norma and I connected instantly and after two hours of talking, she said ‘I love you’ as I walked her to her room.” The teens will have an opportunity to document their experiences when they compete in a local essay contest that will net the winner up to $8,000 for either a summer at Jewish camp, a semester in Israel, or other Jewish experience allowed by the grant. The winner will then have the chance to compete nationally for an even larger prize. The essays will also be shared at the end of the year banquet on April 29 at Beth Sholom Village. The program’s third year begins in September 2018. Any interested Jewish teens who want to earn community service hours, form lifelong friendships, and learn more about their Jewish identity, should contact program coordinator Leslie Shroyer at lmshroyer@cox.net.

VBPD visits Virginia Holocaust Museum

he Virginia Beach Police Department continued their commitment to “Never Again” by taking another group of recruits to visit the Virginia Holocaust Museum. After walking through the museum, the recruits continued their conversation with museum staff linking the German police to the SS. Organized by the Virginia Beach Law Enforcement Training Academy, Sergeant Bryan S. Marshall says the recruits “had their eyes opened to the actual involvement of the police with the atrocities of the Holocaust. The recruits believe that education is the key to understanding and the prevention of such events on a modern day scale.” For the past six years, the Community Relations Council and the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater have supported

Recruits watch presentation linking the German police to the SS. The recruits believe that education is the key to understanding and prevention of such events on a modern day scale.

the Virginia Beach Police Department in their Holocaust education training by providing lunch for the attendees while at the museum. To learn more about the initiative or to support the effort, contact Wendy Weissman, assistant CRC Director at WWeissman@ ujft.org.

Providing Excellence

5 Stars in quality measures and health inspection www.medicare.gov

Recognized for attaining four critical AHCA Quality Initiative Goals including low hospital readmissions after short-term rehabilitation and high patient functional improvement www.ahcancal.org

Whether it’s our parents or ourselves, at some point we’ll need the services of trusted senior care providers. Fortunately, in our region, we have Beth Sholom Village offering home health to rehab, assisted living to skilled nursing and hospice. As health care has evolved, so has BSV, and we have the awards and thankful families to show for it. • Lee H. and Helen Gifford Rehabilitation Pavilion • Berger-Goldrich Skilled Care • Terrace Assisted Living • Generations Home Health • Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care • Kosher Food and Daily Religious Services For admission information, call Dawn Orcutt (757) 420-2512.

Top Performing www.usnews.com

www.bethsholomvillage.com | 6401 Auburn Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23464 jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 33

it’s a wrap Aaron David Miller discusses the future of the Middle East

Aaron David Miller and Joel Nied.

Raizy Cook

or Aaron David Miller, any opportunity to get out of Washington is appreciated, but on Monday, Feb. 12, the treat was for the Tidewater Jewish community. In a packed room, Miller, the vice president of New Initiatives at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, shared his view on the role of the U.S.A. in the Middle East and the lessons he learned while navigating the negotiators highway. Miller is also an author, columnist, and frequent commentator on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR, as well as a former analyst, negotiator, and advisor to the Middle East. He has served under both Republican and Democratic Secretaries of State. One of the strong points that he emphasized was the importance of understanding location. “Where you stand in life has everything to do with where you sit,” says Miller, who went on to explain that while the U.S.A. and Israel have many shared values and goals, the two have dramatically different interests when it comes to the Middle East because of living in different worlds. Miller recounted a

conversation he had while working on negotiations with an Israeli diplomat who turned to him and said, “Don’t lecture me about security. You live in Chevy Chase, Maryland. I live on top of a volcano.” The United States has unprecedented security, explained Miller. To the north and south of the country are non-predatory neighbors, and to the east and west are “liquid assets.” This impacts the nation’s foreign policy tremendously and, in many cases, can taint it with naivety, idealism, and arrogance. The other important point Miller made was the significance of understanding history. “Any time we’ve failed in diplomacy, it was because we acted on the belief of what the world should be, and didn’t look at what it was,” says Miller, “It is a balance to appreciate where we stand and mesh that with what we want it to be. We need to be idealistic without illusion. It is okay to aspire, but it is important do it with eyes wide open to reality. The line between being dumb and being smart is defined by our understanding of history and our gauge of reality. Without this, foreign policy is almost guaranteed to fail. If forcing peace is ineffective, what does Miller suggest the U.S. foreign policy

Sofia and David Knockoff.

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should be in the Middle East? To transact, not transform. This is how the only other peace deals with Egypt and Jordan have succeeded, and, according to Miller, it is the only way for the U.S. to succeed in the future.

The Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC, along with community partners, present Israel Today @ 70. For more information and to RSVP for upcoming events, visit JewishVA.org/IsraelToday.

Aaron David Miller speaks as part of Israel Today.

Bonnie Brand, Alan and Beverly Frieden.

it’s a wrap Beth El Sisterhood

Manicures and Mitzvahs highlights Dress for Success

Celebrating our 10th year with a

Silent & Live Auction Join us for a day of fun while supporting the museum.

Roseanne Simon, Kim Gross, Alicia Friedman, Marilyn McWilliams, a representative from Dress for Success, Lisa Roesen, and Ashley Zittrain.

Shelley Frazier

eth El Sisterhood hosted Manicures and Mitzvahs at Changes Salon Thursday, Feb. 8 in support of Dress for Success. Twenty women enjoyed pampering, socializing, and a delicious food spread. Francesca Litow says it was a “Wonderful opportunity to pamper ourselves, visit, and contribute to a very worthy cause supporting women returning to the workforce.” “It was a wonderful event! I really enjoyed hearing the board member from Dress for Success speak about her journey,” says Kim Gross. “She was so passionate about what the organization did for her by supplying a suit, encouragement, and resources to help her start a new life. It is exciting to think that the many suits that were brought in for the Beth El event will hopefully do the same for other women in need of a new beginning.”

Many Sisterhood members who were not able to attend emptied their closets, as well as bought clothes to help these women. More than $100 in cash was also donated. “It was really nice to unwind and socialize with friends and as equally rewarding to participate in the service project, while gaining more understanding of the needs of those who struggle,” says Roseanne Simon. “The sad realities of single women in poverty, victims of abuse, human trafficking, and circumstances unlike our own, brought an increased awareness to many of us in attendance,” says Simon. “It was powerful to hear about one woman’s story: her rise from poverty and abuse to gainful employment and empowerment through the resources and mentoring she received through Dress for Success. She is now an active board member and mentor for other women, giving back to the organization that gave her clothing and hope.”

Sunday, March 25 4:00-7:00pm Uno’s Chicago Grill & Pizzeria 5900 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard at Janaf in Norfolk

$25 in advance • $36 at the door Tickets entitle you to admission, all the food you can eat, and one complimentary alcoholic beverage.

Flat Screen TVs • Specialty Gift Baskets Nascar Weekend Skybox Package • Personal Services Children’s Reading Corner • Home Security System

Music by Bob & Jeanne Zentz

For tickets visit www.jewishmuseumportsmouth.org, email jmccportsmouth@gmail.com, or call 757-391-9266. The Jewish Museum & Cultural Center is a 501 (c)(3) Non-Profit Organization.

jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 35

it’s a wrap

#JCampTV at the Simon Family JCC TV

Traditional summer day camp with weekly TV-themed activities, including

Field Trips − Overnight add-on nights (optional) − Swim lessons � Age-driven programs, events, & activities � Counselor-in-training opportunities

Ben Gordon family members.

Big prizes, big fun at Beth El’s annual Ben Gordon Family Bingo Night Mark Kozak

our players went home Saturday night, Feb. 10, with large, smart TVs, including Cantor Elihu Flax, who beamed over his 55-inch television that marked the midpoint game of Congregation Beth El’s 19th annual Ben Gordon Family Bingo Night. But the TV winners and many others who went home with a variety of game and door prizes, including hotel stays, restaurant coupons, and jewelry, weren’t even the biggest lucky players. Deb Segaloff, a longtime sponsor and supporter of Men’s Club activities, had the winning ticket for the 50/50 raffle that Bill Nossen worked hard all night to push to a value of $1,020. Becky Matteson, an employee of Laurent State Farm Agency, another bingo sponsor, won the evening’s final $500 blackout game. Wayne Mitnick’s Affordable Mobile TV Repair was the night’s gold sponsor,

generously donating the flatscreen TVs. In all, more than 200 in attendance won some 80 prizes gathered by Men’s Club board members from hotels, restaurants, clothiers, grocers, sports outlets, and other area businesses—many of them owned by members of the Jewish community. Proceeds from the evening, thanks to nearly 50 cash sponsors, will be devoted to the synagogue’s Sunday School education and to summer camp scholarships. The all-volunteer effort, under the leadership of Men’s Club President Howard Horwitz, was produced by Mark Kozak, Norman Soroko, and Alex Pomerantz, with major assistance from caller Eric Mazur, emcee Gary Kell, kitchen-crew chief Michael Efland, check-in chief Ron Gladstone, and popcorn maven Jody Wagner. Pam Gladstone and Beth El’s office staff, plus Mario Cuffee and his kitchen and set-up crew, also helped make the event possible.

what’s happening Leon Family Gallery, Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus

14th Annual Grieving Children’s Art Show

ALUT—Courageous Expressions

March

April

In observance of Autism Awareness Month

magine being a child and learning that your mother was killed in a car accident. Who can you talk to about this sudden tragic loss and who will understand? Although family and friends of all ages are impacted when a loved one dies, sometimes there is uncertainty of how to reach out to children and teens. Jewish Family Service counseling staff, through the Dozoretz Center for Healing and Jessica Glasser Therapeutic Pavilion, specializes in helping individuals of all ages cope with loss and grieving. One component of this program is a free support group for children, teens, and their families who have experienced the death of a loved one: Peace by Piece. This program is facilitated by Edmarc Hospice for Children, in collaboration with JFS. JFS and Edmarc co-sponsor an annual art show—now in its 14th year—that displays the creative drawings and words of local grieving children and teens. This is an opportunity for children and teens to share their feelings and to learn that they are not alone. The art show is open to any schoolaged youth in Tidewater who has experienced a loved one’s death. Over the past 13 years, more than 350 images have been submitted. After the Grieving Children’s Art Show, artwork will be displayed for one night only for Peace by Piece families on May 31. Then, the artwork will return to either JFS or Edmarc for display throughout the year. For more information on the exhibit, program, or services offered by JFS, contact Debbie Mayer, LCSW, at JFS at 757-459-4640 or DMayer@ jfshamptonroads.org.

ourageous Expressions, an original and captivating art exhibition that serves to champion self-expression, particularly as a powerful tool of connectivity for those lacking alternative modes of communication, will be on exhibit and available for purchase. Courageous Expressions is a mixed media, group exhibition based on a variety of works created by untrained artists from the Israeli Society for Autistic Children (the ALUT Institute), a leading care provider for individuals with autism in Israel. Exhibited works are derived from either the ALUT Institute’s occupational homes or care centers, which deliver services to those with autism who need fulltime or daily supervision. The exhibition’s body of work is both uniquely beautiful and interestingly abstract, while individual works are supremely complex in depicting the expressive voice behind each piece. Often the artist’s only or more comprehensive voice, each piece warrants a narrative depth far beyond what meets the eye. This exhibition seeks to inspire ongoing creativity and authenticity, honor the courage of all artistic expression, and stimulate unbridled acceptance. In addition, the exhibition emphasizes autism on a global scale, as well as provides a platform for Israeli art that differs from mainstream narratives too often found among current TJF has funds ready to help you get there. events of the region. Apply at www.jewishva.org by April 1st, 2018. Courageous Expressions hopes to promote access to the untapped, organic, and powerful voices of the ALUT Institute’s many talented artists. All pieces are for sale and can be purchased at the Simon Family JCC Front Desk. Proceeds will go towards additional art classes in the For more information contact Barb Gelb at bgelb@ujft.org or 965.6105. ALUT employment centers for young adults with severe autism in Israel, as an additional means of therapy and rehabilitation.

ATTENTION STUDENTS: Do you want to go to Israel?

For more information about this exhibit or future exhibits, contact Melissa Eichelbaum, program department associate, at MEichelbaum@ujft.org or 321-2304.

Simon Family Passport to Israel jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 37

what’s happening Israel Today

Gil Troy to speak on his latest book, The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland Tuesday, March 13, 7:30 pm Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library, 4100 Virginia Beach Blvd, Virginia Beach Free and open to the community with RSVP required to JewishVA.org/GilTroy CRC, Simon Family JCC, Virginia Beach Public Library, and community partners present Israel Today with Gil Troy, historian, political commentator, author and a History Network “Top Young Historian.”

Center Field: Why BDS deserves a Nobel Peace Prize Gil Troy. Gil Troy Reprinted with permission from the

Jerusalem Post

nominate BDS for the Nobel Peace Prize to expose this (dis)honor for what it has become. A radical Norwegian MP has nominated the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement for a Nobel Peace Prize. Bjornar Moxnes says BDS uses “strictly legal and non-violent means to advance a legitimate agenda that is perfectly in line with international law and universal human rights.” Moxnes is onto something. As an academic who, like legislators and judges, can nominate candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize—I second the nomination. Indeed, BDS—more accurately called Blacklist, Demonization and Slander—is “perfectly in line” with what “international law and universal human rights” have become: travesties, Orwellian betrayals of their actual meaning and founding mission, and battering rams against Israel. Last year, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed five times more resolutions condemning democratic Israel than any other country. I nominate BDS for the Nobel Peace Prize to expose this (dis)honor for what it has become. It’s the prize of Yasser Arafat, the grandfather of modern terrorism. He showed how to boost your cause by killing Olympic athletes, slaughtering school kids, blowing up buses, wiping out three generations of one family sitting at a café—and getting away with it as long as you target Jews. It’s the prize of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Human Rights Hypocrite. After years of

celebrating democracy when she lacked power, now that she has power her silence as soldiers rape, massacre and exile Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, her country, teaches that if your people perpetuate crimes like ethnic cleansing, keep quiet or, if pressed, blame violence on “both sides.” It’s the prize of Jimmy Carter, the Dupe of Despots. The ex-president is the oppressor’s enabler, soft on Arafat, on Hamas, on Hafez Assad, Syria’s old autocrat, soft on tyrants in North Korea and Haiti too. Carter demonstrates a great way to earn a Nobel Peace Prize: suck up to dictators. The BDSers fit in with these scoundrels. Like Arafat, they justify terrorism, encouraging the Palestinians’ sick fantasy of destroying Israel. Their demonization of Israel draws on traditional antisemitism, treating Israel as the collective Jew threatening innocents—and green-lighting Palestinian violence. Read their founding call of July 9, 2005, caricaturing Israel as “colonial,” practicing “racial discrimination” and being “built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners.” Those lies delegitimize Israel, justifying Israel’s destruction. True, BDS has a powerful impact on Middle East peace—it derails it. It encourages extremists who fear any two-state compromise, while sabotaging liberals trying to build ties. To skeptical Israelis, BDS proves that anyone who hates us so much they wish to quarantine us can’t be trusted, won’t ever compromise and seeks our annihilation. Palestinian calls for anti-normalization have undermined people-to-people projects that had Israelis and

38 | Jewish News | March 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Palestinians cooperating—and of course, has most hurt lovely left-wingers—Israeli, Palestinians, Europeans, Americans, trying to build bridges. And BDS, with its antisemitism-masquerading-as-anti-Zionism, has unleashed harsh Jew hatred on campuses worldwide. No wonder Bassam Eid, the Palestinian human rights activist who, seeking a real Palestinian civil society, bravely criticizes Palestinian corruption, autocracy and terrorism, fears: “BDS tactics are a prelude to the destruction of the Palestinians.” So yes, if the Norwegian Nobel Committee wants to continue awarding sinners and suckers, give the BDS people the prize. But first, be honest. Stop the charade. Call the (once) Nobel Peace Prize, the Ignoble War Prize. Meanwhile, good, sane people who want to help Palestinians, Israelis, and advance peace should award Bassam Eid for his courage; honor the women Zionists of the Hadassah Medical Organization for creating hospitals which are healing spaces where Jews and Arabs work together to serve humanity; or consult the speaker’s list at yesterday’s tenth annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. Twenty-five authentic human rights NGOs assembled a galaxy of human rights superstars, who aren’t politically correct. They’re simply morally upright, confronting dictators—even if the UN excuses their commandant-in-chief. Speakers included Antonia Ledezma, a Venezuelan opposition leader who fled political imprisonment; Asli Erdogan, Turkish novelist, former political prisoner; Farida Abbas Khalaf, freed Yazidi Islamic State slave, author of The Girl Who Beat

ISIS; Kasha Jacqueline, Ugandan LGBT activist; Julienne Lusenge, Congolese women’s rights champion fighting rape as a weapon of war; Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary tortured by North Korea; Maziar Bahari, journalist and filmmaker tortured by Iran; Maryam Malekpour, the sister of Saeed Malekpour, imprisoned in Iran for “spreading corruption on earth.” At the conference, once again protecting the world’s rejects, defending beaten, oppressed, never-quite-silenced democratic heroes who risk everything for ideals we take for granted, was my McGill colleague Prof. Irwin Cotler, former Canadian justice minister and MP, now heading the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (where I am a senior fellow). If he won a Nobel, Cotler’s record would Make that Peace Prize Noble Again. Of course, BDS’s liars and spin doctors are hailing the nomination as a moral victory. Zaki Bani Irsheid of the Islamic Action Front claimed the nomination indicates “growing support of the Palestinian cause in western communities” and proves “the Zionist lobby’s influence is breaking down.” Such hype overlooks Moxnes’ marginality, chairing as he does the ultra-left Red Party, holding one seat in Norway’s 169-person parliament. It overlooks the fact that tens of thousands of no-name academics like me could nominate anyone from Bart Simpson to O.J. Simpson for the prize. Being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize truly is meaningless. The committee has until October to decide if the prize itself has become meaningless too.

what’s happening

Coming up: Israel@70! Israel Story Sunday, April 15, 7:30 pm, the Gallery at Waterside Tickets: $35

srael Story, the award-winning radio show and podcast, kicks off it’s U.S. tour and debuts a brand new multi-sensory live show celebrating Israel’s 70th anniversary. Mixtape—The Stories Behind Israel’s Ultimate Playlist—explores seven decades of Israeli stories and songs, in celebration of the nation’s milestone birthday. Mishy Harman and his friends will take the audience behind the scenes of some of Israel’s most iconic (and obscure) songs as they unpack the dramas, complexities, social tensions, and humor of life in Israel. Members of the Israel Story Podcast. In a magical blend of live storytelling, music, and dance, along with video and art, all 11 members of Israel’s most popular podcast bring to life the stories of regular and irregular Israelis—illustrating the ethnic diversity, shared and differing beliefs, and contrasting ideas which comprise Israel’s cosmopolitan, chutzpa-filled, old and new society. Prepare for an unforgettable, fun evening of phenomenal stories told through Israeli tunes. And, more than anything else, experience the surprising brand of Israel story which has millions of devoted listeners around the globe, and what public radio icon Ira Glass calls “the Israeli ‘This American Life.’” For more information, contact Melissa Eichelbaum at MEichelbaum@ujft.org or 757-321-2304.

Photo by Avishag Shaar-Yashuv

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Virginia Arts Festival present a live multimedia event featuring Michael Laubach & Robert Cross

SCHEHERAZADE, AND A PHILIP GLASS FANTASY

Mar. 9-11, 2018 | Newport News, Norfolk, Virginia Beach Eric Jacobsen, conductor Barber: Adagio for Strings Michael Laubach, timpani Philip Glass: Concerto Fantasy for Robert Cross, timpani Two Timpanists and Orchestra Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

Join guest conductor Eric Jacobsen (conductor and co-founder of the out-of-the-box orchestral ensemble The Knights) for a contemporary masterwork by Philip Glass, featuring two of the VSO’s beloved principal players, Michael Laubach and Robert Cross. This performance will thrill audiences in substance and style with its fantasy for two timpanists.

Simon Family JCC and the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, along with community partners, present

Israel Today@70 with Eyal Rob Screenwriting professor by day, Tel Aviv DJ by night

Thursday, April 19, 6:30 pm, Congregation Beth El

CARMINA BURANA, PLUS A WORLD PREMIERE

From Holy Land to Club Land: The Evolution of Israel through Music

elebrate Yom Ha’Atzmaut with the co-founder of Israel’s first music television channel, Israeli journalist and culture critic, Eyal Rob as he brings the Tel Aviv music scene to Tidewater, reflecting the Jewish nation’s songs through wars, peace, struggle, and hope, combining his unique style for an interactive Yom Ha’Atzmaut Israeli DJ, Eval Rob. celebration for all ages. Minimal ticket cost to cover food. For information or RSVP, visit www.JewishVA.org/IsraelToday, or contact Melissa Eichelbaum at MEichelbaum@ujft.org or 757-321-2304.

The Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, the Simon Family JCC, and community partners present:

Israel Fest, A community-wide celebration of the State of Israel Sunday, April 22, 11 am–4 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus

April 6-8, 2018 | Newport News, Norfolk, Virginia Beach JoAnn Falletta, conductor Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus Robert Shoup, chorusmaster The ODU Diehn Chorale Virginia Children’s Chorus Michael Daugherty: Night Owl for Orchestra (World premiere) Orff: Carmina Burana

The VSO’s Classics season closes with one of the most recognizable works of all time – Carmina Burana. Also on this dynamic program is a world premiere of Michael Daugherty’s Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by Susan and David Goode and inspired by the steam locomotive photography of O. Winston Link. Our partners for this production include the Virginia Museum of Transportation and the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke. April 6 concert sponsored by

elebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s 70th birthday, experience Israel through art, education, culture, food, and entertainment. Activities for all ages. Free and open to the entire community. (Tickets required for some experiences and food.)

April 7 concert sponsored by Helen G. Gifford Foundation

Norfolk Classics Series

! now VirginiaSymphony.org | 757.892.6366 Reserve the best seats

For information, contact Melissa Eichelbaum at MEichelbaum@ujft.org or 757-321-2304. Israel Fest 2017, Congressman Scott Taylor and Jay Klebanoff, immediate past UJFT president.

jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 39

what’s happening Nefesh Mountain Community Shabbaton

Israel Fest

Tidewater Umbrella Project— Celebrating Israel @ 70

s the worldwide Jewish and pro-Israel communities prepare to celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is offering a range of celebratory opportunities with hopes of stretching the community’s imagination through art, by way of connection to Israel. Based on an installation of umbrellas adorning Yoel Moshe Solomon Street in the historic Nachalat Shiva district of Jerusalem during the summer of 2015, the Community Relations Council will launch a similar exhibit in the Simon Family JCC’s Cardo. The colorful umbrellas are certain to delight attendees of Israel Fest, Tidewater’s celebration of Yom HaAtzamut, Israel’s Independence Day. All local artists in grades K-12 are asked to join in the Tidewater Umbrella Project. Artists should consider: What does

Israel look like—a landscape, people, or food? Make some “rough drafts,” then decorate the umbrella. The rough draft template, paints, and white umbrellas will be provided by the CRC. Umbrellas will hang in the JCC’s Cardo throughout April. Umbrella submissions are due no later than Friday, March 30 so they may be put in place prior to Yom Ha’atzmaut, and Israel Fest on Sunday, April 22. To participate, contact the CRC for umbrellas and supplies. Submissions may be dropped off at the UJFT office on the second floor of the Sandler Family Campus, 5000 Corporate Woods Drive, Virginia Beach by Friday, March 30 at 4:30 pm. For more information and to participate in the Tidewater Umbrella Project, e-mail WWeissman@ujft.org or AAbramov@ujft. org or call 965-6107.

Friday, March 9—Sunday, March 11 Simon Family JCC and Ohef Sholom Temple present Nefesh Mountain Community Shabbaton* — Open to the Entire Community Friday, March 9

Saturday, March 10

Ohef Sholom Temple Shabbat for Everyone

O’Connor Brewing Co. in Ghent

5:45 pm Family friendly Bluegrass Kabbalat Shabbat 6:30 pm Community dinner and teen social, $10, <age 13 no charge RSVP 7:15 pm Encore children’s concert with Mama Doni Saturday, March 10

Ohef Sholom Temple 10:30 am Shabbat morning musical worship with Nefesh Mountain, Rabbi Roz and Cantor Jen 11:30 am–1:30 pm Spirituality through Bluegrass, free Lunch and Learn, RSVP

Sunday, March 11, event preview: 2 pm; auction: 3 pm, 952 Indian Lakes Blvd, Virginia Beach

uctioneer Rick Brandwein of Marlin Admission is $7.50, with baby-sitting Fine Auctions and Creative Events will available. Join Kempsville Conservative bring a variety of media to meet everyone’s Synagogue for an enjoyable afternoon of pocketbooks and wall space for the 18th art, camaraderie, and fun. Hors d’oeuvres, annual Matinee Art Auction sponsored wine, and dessert are included with admisby Kempsville Conservative Synagogue. sion. Major credit cards will be saccepted for uvre s e e o ’ z events included Marc Artists from previous art purchases. sD Pri Hor e or Win Chagall, Avi Ansell Adams, Do Ben-Simhon, & ee f f e o l Visit us at www.kbhsynagogue.org C including ff Disney Animation, and music For more information, sponRa and sports sert www.facebook.com/KempsvilleArtAuction/ Des in the auction memorabilia. sorships and advertising Fam miss the Silent While at the event, don’t catalogue, contact the synagogue at 757i Child lies Wel Sittinof allcokinds, me. Auction. Specialty gift baskets 495-8510 or KempsvilleArtAuction@gmail. g Av ailab le including Chocolate Lovers, Garden Party, com. Additional information can be found at Kitchen Gadgets, and many others will be www.facebook.com/KempsvilleArtAuction. 952 Indian Lakes Boulevard, Virginia Beach available for bidding. Event Admission: $7.50 per person

SUNDAY, MARCH 40 | Jewish News | March 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

11, 2018

PREVIEW: 2:00PM AUCTION STARTS: 3:00PM Featuring Art in all media & price ranges

Ohef Sholom Temple 11 am PJ Library and Ohef Sholom present Wiggles & Giggles, with Mama Doni, for infants, toddlers, and caregivers 12:45 pm Teacher training, music and spiritual education, $25 vegetarian lunch included, RSVP RSVP by March 7 to select events at reservations@ohefsholom.org. *made possible in part by a grant from the Tidewater Jewish Foundation

Sunday, April 22, 11 am–4 pm

Matinee Art Auction Kempsville Conservative Synagogue

Sunday, March 11

All members of community needed for creation of large human Israeli Flag at Israel Fest

18th annual Kempsville Art Auction Gala

Sponsored By

7 pm Brews and Bluegrass Concert, co-sponsored by YAD, no cover charge, Taste of Asia food truck

Joel Rubin

srael only turns 70 once. That’s why organizers of Israel Fest at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus are working to make this year’s event one of the most memorable ever—and they need help! How? With authentic Israeli food and music, shopping, family activities, and more, along with a community-wide project that will demand everyone’s attendance. At Israel Fest, on a field behind the Simon Family JCC, the community plans to create perhaps the largest human flag of Israel in the area, if not the nation’s, history. Dimensions and other details are being worked out now, but the most important element is YOU. Bring everyone and be ready to stand together with family,

friends, and neighbors of all faiths, to hold up your share of blue and white (which will be provided) to be a part of a large community photo and video sharing with the world, just how much Israel means to Tidewater. What happens to the image? It becomes Tidewater’s signature salute to the Jewish State on its 70th Anniversary. For more information about Israel Fest, including volunteer opportunities, vendor applications, or other ways to get involved with this big celebration of Israel’s 70th anniversary, contact Melissa Eichelbaum, Simon Family JCC program associate, at 321-2304 or MEichelbaum@ujft.org.

what’s happening Art for Understanding

Art For Understanding events An Evening of Empathy and Understanding at Kingsmill Resort Wednesday, March 14

March 9–March 16

or more than 20 years, Richmond Ballet’s Minds In Motion program has brought students from across Virginia and from all walks of life, to perform together on stage and share the joy of dance. Nearly a decade ago, the program traveled to Israel, and since then, Jewish-Israeli and Arab-Israeli students have performed a Minds In Motion experience for their families and schools. The result is inspiring. More than 70 artists and guests from Israel will travel to Virginia for Art For Understanding this month. This collaboration and cultural exchange connects students from Minds In Motion in Virginia with Matter of Color, a group of artists from Israel. As part of this exchange, Matter of Color artists created a special exhibition of more than 100 paintings tied to the theme of empathy and understanding. The paintings are now available for bid. Through March 15, the artwork view may be viewed online or at several locations throughout

Virginia. Four pieces of art are currently on display in the Cardo of the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. To learn more about Art For Understanding and its related events or to explore and bid on a painting, visit richmondballet.com/a4u. All proceeds from the auction and related events will support the Minds In Motion programs throughout Virginia, as well as the Jewish and Arab communities in Israel.

Art For Understanding Exhibit Thursday, March 15 A celebration of Israeli art and culture, at Binns of Williamsburg.

Matter of Color Artists in Israel

themes through their art. The painters have traveled on A Matter of Colors missions throughout the world, benefitting children in places such as China and Bulgaria.

For tickets and information, contact the Richmond Ballet at 804-344-0906 or richmondballet.com/a4u.

About Minds In Motion

Art For Understanding is sponsored by Binns of Williamsburg and the Virginia Israel Advisory Board.

ringing the joy of movement and performance to students since 1995, Minds In Motion is the cornerstone of Richmond Ballet’s Outreach programming. Nearly 2,000 students annually are rapidly transported into the world of dance through the curriculum brought to them through professional teaching artists and musicians. The program in Israel is supported through the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Israel and Overseas allocation, through the annual campaign.

About Matter of Color

eaded up by their instructor and curator, Bruria Hassner of Tel Aviv, Matter of Color artists have been painting together for more than two decades. The group comprises approximately 120 women and a few men who paint together several times a week and explore a variety of

Learn at Lunch Thursday, March 15, 12 pm, MacArthur Center’s Live 360 Join the Community Relations Council for a discussion on bringing empathy and understanding to art, with the visiting artists. To reserve a seat (required by March 12), contact MEichelbaum@ujft.org or 321-2304.

Beautiful Terri Denison

Photo By Matthew Murphy

eautiful, The Carole King Musical, tells the inspiring true story of Carole King’s (Carol Joan Klein) amazing rise to stardom…from being part of a hit songwriting team with her first husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and

best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history. I saw the show a few months ago on Broadway. Starting in the opening scene with King as a shy young Jewish teen in her home in Brooklyn—Beautiful chronicles not only King’s life, but also the world of pop songwriting in Manhattan in the 1960s. While the storyline has some stressful and uncomfortable moments, watching King’s evolution—as a musician, young woman, wife, and mother—and, of course, hearing her music, is as Entertainment

Photo By Matthew Murphy

Tuesday, March 13–Sunday March 18, Chrysler Hall

Carnegie Hall. Sarah Bockel (“Carole King”).

Weekly noted, “a joyous celebration.” Featuring myriad beloved songs written by Gerry Goffin/Carole King and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil, including I Feel The Earth Move, One Fine Day, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, You’ve Got

A Friend and the title song, Beautiful, the show earned two 2014 Tony® Awards and a 2015 Grammy® Award. Carole King made more than beautiful music, she wrote the soundtrack to a generation. You’ll leave the theater singing, for sure. At least, I did!

“The Locomotion.” The Touring Cast of Beautiful—The Carole King Musical. jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 41

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Don't wait! Applications accepted TODAY! 42 | Jewish News | March 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

what’s happening Seniors Seder Wednesday, March 21, 12 pm

imon Family JCC and Joseph Fleishmann Memorial Fund of the Tidewater Jewish Foundation present Seniors Seder. Rabbi Israel Zoberman and Cantor Elihu Flax will lead the senior community in a traditional Passover Mini Seder at the Simon Family JCC. The event is open to the entire senior community. Tickets are $10. For more information, contact Naty Horev, senior program director, at NHorev@simonfamilyjcc.org or 757-452-3186.

Seniors decorate umbrellas for Yom HaAtzmaut Thursday, March 29, 12:30 pm Sandler Family Campus

ased on an installation of 1,000 umbrellas adorning Yoel Moshe Solomon Street in the historic Nachalat Shiva district of Jerusalem during the summer of 2015, UJFT’s Community Relations Council is launching a similar installation in the Simon Family JCC’s Cardo to delight attendees of Israel Fest, Tidewater’s Jewish community celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. Join the seniors at the Simon Family JCC to decorate an umbrella to be included in the installation. Coffee and desserts from Custom Cake will be served. RSVP (required) by March 26 at JCC Front Desk. For more information, contact Naty Horev, senior program director, at NHorev@simonfamilyjcc.org or 757-452-3186.

Seniors Celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut Wednesday, April 18, 12:30 pm, Simon Family JCC

eniors are celebrating Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, with DJ Eyal Rob of Tel Aviv. As a young thriving nation, Israel has been through radical social transformations in its 70 years. The changes in Israeli culture will be explored. Following Israel’s timeline from 1948 until the present, Rob will examine 10 milestones songs that reflect the young Jewish nation through wars, peace, struggle, and hope. This event is open to the entire senior community. Lunch is $6. RSVP (required) by April 13 at JCC Front Desk. For more information, contact Naty Horev, senior program director, at NHorev@simonfamilyjcc.org or 757-452-3186.

mazel tov to

Achievement Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman, founding rabbi of Congregation Beth Chaverim, whose article God’s Divinity and Human Dignity Are Indivisible, is included in a newly published book, Sacred Journeys: Ecumenical Perspectives on Spiritual Care. Edited by Dr. Michael J. Kurtz, the book is published by WestBow Press in both hard and soft cover. Zoberman is the only rabbi to earn a doctoral degree in Pastoral Care and Counseling from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, USA. Mazel Tov submissions should be emailed to news@ujft.org with Mazel Tov in the subject line. Achievements, B’nai Mitzvot, births, engagements and weddings are appropriate simchas to announce. Photos must be at least 300k. Include a daytime phone for questions. There is no fee.

Employment Oppor tunity

Calendar

Director of Summer Day Camp & Children/Family Programming

March 9, Friday—March 11, Sunday What do you get when you mix the 96th Psalm with banjo, fiddle, bass, mandolin and the clear mountain vocals of one of the hottest husband and wife duos in contemporary Jewish American music? You get Nefesh Mountain bluegrass band bringing their national “Beneath the Open Sky” tour to Tidewater. The weekend will be filled with events from Shabbat services at Ohef Sholom Temple, to concerts, workshops, and more—all in partnership with the Simon Family JCC and open to the entire community. For more information or to RSVP, contact Ohef Sholom Temple at 757-625-4295 or email reservations@ohefsholom.org. See page 40. March 9, Friday Tidewater Chavurah’s Second Friday Shabbat Service. At the Bayside home of Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill and Spencer Gill, 4661 Priscilla Lane, Virginia Beach. 7 pm. Rabbi Ellen JaffeGill will lead the service. An Oneg will follow. For event information, email carita@verizon. net or dlqt@cox.net or call 499-3660 or 468-2675. Check out www.tidewaterchavurah.org or Tidewater Chavurah Face book page for upcoming events. March 11, Sunday 18th annual Kempsville Conservative Synagogue Art Auction Gala. 2 pm. 952 Indian Lakes Blvd, Virginia Beach. $7.50. 757-495-8510 or KempsvilleArtAuction@gmail.com. See page 40. March 13, Tuesday Visions for the Jewish Homeland—Then, Now, Tomorrow. CRC and the Simon Family JCC and community partners present Israel Today featuring Gil Troy at the Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library, 4100 Virginia Beach Blvd, Virginia Beach. 7:30 pm. Free. For more information or to RSVP, visit JewishVA.org/IsraelToday, or contact Melissa Eichelbaum at 757‑321‑2304 or MEichelbaum@ujft.org. See page 38. March 22, Thursday VCIC to honor William L. Nusbaum with Humanitarian Award. Virginia Beach Town Center, 5:45 pm. 757-965-6124. See page 6.

The Westin,

March 25, Sunday Jewish Museum and Cultural Center celebrates 10th anniversary at Uno’s Pizzeria, 5900 East Virginia Beach Blvd, Norfolk. 4–7 pm. Tickets are $25 in advance and $36 at the door. For more information, call 757-391-9266. APRIL 15, SUNDAY United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Virginia Arts Festival present Israel Story, the award winning radio show and podcast. Kicking off a brand new live multimedia event celebrating Israel’s 70th anniversary, Israel Story will be at The Gallery at Waterside, Norfolk. 7:30 pm. Tickets $35. For more information, contact Melissa Eichelbaum at 757-321-2304 or MEichelbaum@ujft.org. APRIL 22, SUNDAY The Simon Family JCC’s annual Israel Fest welcomes the community to celebrate Israel’s 70th birthday with Israeli music, food, games, and more at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. 11 am–4 pm. For more information or to RSVP, contact Melissa Eichelbaum at 757321-2304 or MEichelbaum@ujft.org.

Send submissions for calendar to news@ujft.org. Be sure to note “calendar” in the subject. Include date, event name, sponsor, address, time, cost and phone.

Seeking an energetic, organized, and articulate individual with excellent people skills to oversee and coordinate the Summer Camp and Children/Family Programs at the UJFT/Simon Family JCC. Independent judgment, initiative, and creative program planning skills required. The ideal candidate enjoys interacting with children and is dedicated to promoting an appreciation for Jewish culture and values. Must be proficient in preparing yearly budgets, maintaining fiscal responsibility, and administrative management with willingness to work evenings, weekends, and holidays. Experience in hiring, training, and supervising summer camp and volunteer staff, required. Qualifications include, but not limited to: BA/BS degree from an accredited college or university; 3-5 years proven leadership experience directing a Summer Day Camp and Children & Family Programs; Detail-orientated; Ability to communicate to Jewish, Interfaith, and general audiences; and Strong proficiency in the Microsoft Office Suite. Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. Complete job description at: www.simonfamilyjcc.org.

Submit cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to: resumes@ujft.org The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater/ Marilyn and Marvin Simon Family Jewish Community Center is firmly committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity for all qualified persons without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, non-disqualifying disability or veteran status.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Marketing Employment Oppor tunities United Jewish Federation of Tidewater/Simon Family JCC seeks qualified individuals for these positions:

Senior Marketing Manager

Candidate should have proven managerial leadership and experience executing strategic marketing plans to create, implement, and oversee marketing campaigns (internal & external). This position provides direction to marketing staff, supports the agency’s strategic and operational marketing goals and objectives and provides oversight of daily production timelines. Position requires hands-on experience in the coordination and use of all creative, visual, graphic, and written materials required to meet objectives of marketing and communications.

Content Marketing Coordinator

Candidate should have an extensive content writing portfolio, with a well-versed knowledge of current consumer content marketing trends, and be an excellent communicator. This position requires a high level of creativity, extensive proofreading/copy editing experience; exemplary writing skills; ability to write in brand’s voice and tone; acute attention to detail and project management skills. Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. For detail job descriptions, visit www.jewishva.org.

Submit cover letter, resume and salary requirements to: resumes@ujft.org. Submit by mail to: Simon Family JCC / United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Attention: Human Resources 5000 Corporate Woods Drive Virginia Beach, 23462 The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater/Simon Family JCC is firmly committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity for all qualified persons without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, non-disqualifying disability, genetic information or military status.

Equal Employment Opportunity jewishnewsva.org | March 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 43

Hospice

obituaries

Bringing joy and therapy to hospice patients through Jewish music Sarah Seltzer

NEW YORK—It’s a bitterly cold winter morning in Brooklyn, but Brenda, a 101-year-old woman in a Jewish hospice facility suffering from severe short-term memory loss, has a special group of visitors show up in her warm room. Joelle Missry, a creative arts therapy intern, arrives with her guitar slung over her back and with her licensed music therapy supervisor by her side. She sits beside Brenda’s bed. For the next 20 minutes, Missry holds Brenda’s hand and sings a combination of old Yiddish songs with help from her team and Brenda’s home health aide, who has learned some of the songs. But Brenda is largely sleepy and unresponsive, despite Joelle’s best efforts. After going through a songbook that ranges from You are My Sunshine to the Yiddish favorite Tumbalalaika, the group gets up to leave. Just as they’re about to exit, however, Brenda’s eyes pop open. Suddenly fully alert, she begins to croon the Yiddish standard Bai Mir Bist Du Shoen, looking straight at Missry. She goes through the song a few times, tapping her feet and looking very pleased. This is the kind of moment for which the music therapy program at MJHS Health System, a Jewish health care service provider in New York, was designed. Hospice care, which is playing an increasingly central role in end-of-life arrangements, isn’t just about administering palliative medical care and

making sure loved ones are comfortable. It’s also about relieving patients’ pain through meaningful interactions and experiences. Proponents of music therapy say singing has medical benefits while also enhancing patients’ social and emotional health. Music therapy is considered so important that MJHS Hospice now employs five full-time music therapists, as well as interns and part-time workers, all trained in a songbook that covers many of the languages and cultures in New York’s five boroughs. For aging Jews, that means the Yiddish and Hebrew songs that bring back warm memories. The MJHS songbook ranges from American standards like What a Wonderful World to Hebrew songs like Jerusalem of Gold and Hatikvah. The therapy itself is considered an “integrative therapeutic intervention”— non-medical treatment that can have therapeutic results. Studies show that a joyful singing experience can ameliorate pain and a patient’s symptom burden without the use of drugs. It has an exercise component, encouraging healthy physical movement, such as feet-tapping and hand-waving. Hospice workers say it also can help relax patients before treatments, like a blood draw or IV infusion, that might cause agitation or anxiety. A growing body of scientific evidence supports the use of music therapies in various medical settings, from neonatal intensive care units to end-of-life and palliative care situations. For Alzheimer’s patients specifically,

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a program called Music and Memory, featured in the documentary film Alive Inside, shows that music therapy can decrease medication usage in patients. The theory is that music can trigger a kind of deep right-brain response, something beyond the reach of linear memory, so that even a patient who can’t string a sentence together might be able to remember or at least respond to lyrics from a song. Music therapy isn’t just about singing old songs. The therapists are trained to deal with issues like hearing loss or agitation, as well as cultural sensitivities. For some of the elderly Jewish patients under the hospice care, there’s an extra benefit to the treatment. “Often with Holocaust survivors there is a reticence on the part of patient and on the part of family members to allow pain medication,” says Toby Weiss, director of cultural sensitivity and Jewish programming for MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care. “There is a lack of trust and there is a prior history of trauma when it comes to medical issues and health care interventions. So when a patient is experiencing pain, as an example, if a music therapist starts to play a Yiddish song or a lullaby or something else from the patient’s childhood, the vital signs change, their affect changes.” Beyond easing pain, the experience of bringing a patient some music from their early life can be powerful bonding tool, allowing a potentially tense family to come together—part of the core mission of hospice care. Charla Burton, a music therapist with MJHS Hospice, says the music sometimes induces primal emotions, catharsis and joy that makes the experience especially meaningful for patients and their families. “Some people will respond to hearing Hava Nagila as if they’re at a bar mitzvah or wedding!” she says. This article was sponsored by and produced in partnership with MJHS Health System and UJA-Federation of New York to raise awareness and facilitate conversations about end-of-life care in a Jewish context. This article was produced by JTA’s native content team.

Judith Stiefel Schapiro Norfolk—Judith Stiefel Schapiro died Saturday, February 24, 2018. Judith, who was born on May 19, 1928, was the daughter of Adolph and Laura Stiefel. She was predeceased by her loving husband, Herbert Schapiro. Judith received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Hunter College, her Master’s in Education from the University of Florida, and when she received her Doctor of Education from Memphis State University in 1969, she was the first woman at the university to obtain a doctorate degree. Judith was a lifelong educator. She retired as a professor emeritus from Old Dominion University having been full professor of special education. She was a member of Congregation Beth El in Norfolk Those left to cherish her memory are her sister, Corine Gold; her son, Mark Schapiro (Susan); and her daughter, Mona (Jeffrey); and her fiercely loved grandchildren, Andrew Schapiro, Adam Schapiro, Laura Schapiro, Harris Flax and Jeremy Flax. A funeral service was conducted at the Norfolk Chapel of H.D. Oliver Funeral Apartments. Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitz and Cantor Wendi Fried officiated. Interment followed at Forest Lawn Cemetery. The family suggests that memorial donations be made to either Eastern Virginia Medical School or Congregation Beth El in Norfolk. Online condolences may be sent to the family at hdoliver.com. Monte Z. Rosenberg Norfolk—Monte Z. Rosenberg died Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at home after a long illness at the age of 89. Monte met the love of his life, Carole, and they were happily married in 1954 for 63 years. He was a long time resident of Norfolk and Virginia Beach. He was predeceased by his parents, Bess and Alan Rosenberg, his brother Ira Rosenberg, and his lifelong friend, Joe Goodstein. He is survived by his loving wife Carole, his devoted children Jo (Shari), Paul (Stefan), Lesley and his adored and

obituaries adoring grandchildren Elizabeth and Jacob and several nieces, nephews, sisters-in-law, and many friends who are like family. Monte graduated pharmacy school in 1957 and owned the first discount pharmacy, King’s Pharmacy, in the area. Throughout his career, he was known for his integrity and professionalism. He trained many new pharmacy graduates to do the job “properly” who went on to manage their own pharmacies. Monte was a snazzy dresser and his grandchildren knew him for his unusual taste in socks. He was known for his love of children, basketball, fast cars, golf, and sailboats. For years he went to the NCAA tournament with multi-generational family members. Monte looked forward to his Wednesday lunches with the “Romeos.” Funeral services were held at Altmeyer Funeral Home, followed by a graveside service at Forrest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk. Donations can be made to the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia or Temple Israel. Condolences can be left for the family at www.altmeyerfh.com.

Billy Graham, who championed Israel in public and derided Jews in private Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON ( JTA)—Billy Graham, the giant of American evangelism who was exalted by Jews for his championing of Israel at its hour of need and then condemned when a nasty anti-Semitic streak was revealed, died Wednesday, Feb. 21. Graham, 99, died at his home in Montreat, North Carolina. He was a counselor to Democratic and Republican presidents and, with his massive arena appearances, was a precursor of the Protestant televangelism that helped reshape the American religious and political landscapes. His son, Franklin, is one of President Donald Trump’s highest-profile religious supporters. The elder Graham was an early and avid backer of Israel. A tour of the country in 1960 raised the country’s profile among American evangelicals, establishing the

seeds of strong pro-Israel support that persist in that community until now. In 1967, he urged Israeli leaders not to yield to diplomatic pressures that could endanger the country’s security; such entreaties, commonplace now on the American right, were unusual at the time. He made a film, His Land, about Israel that continues to be screened among pro-Israel evangelicals. Graham also was a champion for the Jews persecuted in the former Soviet Union and counseled his evangelical brethren not to proselytize Jews. “Just as Judaism frowns on proselytizing that is coercive, or that seeks to commit men against their will, so do I,” Graham told an American Jewish Committee delegation that met with him in 1973. He received awards from the organized Jewish community and was so beloved in its precincts that in 1994, when H. R. Haldeman, a former top aide to President Richard Nixon, revealed Graham’s lacerating anti-Semitism expressed in private talks with Nixon, the Jewish community dismissed Haldeman’s account out of hand. Tapes from the Nixon Library released in 2002 validated Haldeman’s account, however. “A lot of Jews are great friends of mine,” Graham told Nixon in 1972. “They swarm around me and are friendly to me. Because they know that I am friendly to Israel and so forth. But they don’t know how I really feel about what they’re doing to this country, and I have no power and no way to handle them.” Graham also said that the Jewish “stranglehold” on the media “has got to be broken or this country’s going down the drain.” In 2002, Graham apologized for the remarks, and Jewish community leaders accepted his apology—but the relationship would never again be the same. “We knew that Nixon was an anti-Semite,” Abraham Foxman, then the Anti-Defamation League’s national director, told JTA at the time, whereas Graham is “a guy we all felt comfortable with. And he was so infected with this virulent anti-Semitism.” Rabbi A. James Rudin, the AJC’s senior

interreligious adviser, wrote in a statement that Graham regretted his remarks about Jews and Judaism. “He publicly apologized for them and asked for forgiveness during his 2002 ‘Crusade’ in New York City,” Rudin wrote. “I had a private conversation with him at that time, where he expressed deep personal remorse and asked me to convey his sincere apologies to the entire Jewish community.”

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ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT

(JTA)—If you have checked in on the pop culture zeitgeist at all last month, you know that the film Black Panther is breaking box office records and Hollywood assumptions about race. The well-received Marvel flick was written and directed by AfricanAmericans (co-written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, and directed by Coogler) and features a mostly AfricanAmerican cast anchored by Chadwick Boseman in the title role as a black superhero. But some fans might not realize that the original Black Panther character was actually created by two white Jews. The superhero was the brainchild of writer Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber) and artist Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg), who already were veterans of the comic book industry when they started working together at Marvel at the dawn of the 1960s. The first comic book series they produced in tandem was the Fantastic Four in 1961, but they would go on to create a slew of beloved superhero characters, from the Hulk to Iron Man to the X-Men. Lee and Kirby’s Black Panther character debuted in July 1966, in a Fantastic Four comic strip (he would get his own series later in the ‘70s). The leader of the fictional African country of Wakanda was the first black superhero featured in a mainstream comic book. In addition to having supernatural physical abilities (granted in part by a heart-shaped herb he eats), the Black Panther is a scientist with a degree from Oxford University. In the Marvel universe, Wakanda, which resisted Western colonization, is also the most technologically advanced nation on

earth—a concept meant to shatter stereotypes about Africa. Besides being a pop culture milestone, the Black Panther’s debut came at a crucial juncture in black-Jewish relations. The years after World War II and up to about 1966 (yes, that exact year, as explained below) have been referred to as a “golden age” in the relationship between the two groups. American Jews, who empathized with blacks as they themselves struggled to fit into white American society before and after the war, participated in the civil rights movement to an outsized extent, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. often praised them for their activism. Jews “demonstrated their commitment to the principle of tolerance and brotherhood not only in the form of sizable contributions, but in many other tangible ways, and often at great personal sacrifice,” King said in 1965. However, relations strained over time, as Jews found their way into the upper echelons of America, while blacks remained stifled in comparison, even after the passage of multiple civil rights bills in the ’60s. In October 1966, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale formed the Black Panther Party (which did not take its name from the character), and kick-started the Black Power movement, which scrutinized the ways that any white—Jews included— interacted with blacks. The aftermath of Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War subtly added to the groups’ separation. After Israel repelled attacks from many of its Middle Eastern neighbors, it took control of the Arabs living in the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and territory known as the West Bank. It was a turning point in the way that many groups—including blacks, who sympathized with other groups they

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considered oppressed—viewed Israel, and in turn some American Jews. In their eyes, Israel became another unjust colonial regime. Jews felt betrayed, as did blacks when some major Jewish groups began to oppose affirmative action. So perhaps Black Panther represents an opportunity for healing. The film’s creators and a number of black writers have been praising Lee and Kirby for reaching out to non-white audiences and imagining an empowered African culture free from colonialism. Coogler called them “amazing” in an interview last month. Reginald Hudlin, who over a decade ago wrote a Black Panther TV series, called the duo’s character “perfect.” Stephen Bush, writing in the New Statesman, called them “genius.” As for Lee, who is now 95, he has been rooting for the Black Panther film for a while. “Congratulations @marvelstudios, #RyanCoogler, and the entire cast & crew on the soaring success of Black Panther! What a thrill it is to be able to witness all the records this dynamic, thoughtful movie is smashing,” he tweeted. So perhaps it’s time to celebrate the message of reconciliation that Black Panther represents, just like Kirby— who passed away in 1994—might have done. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Kirby’s family compared him to Bernie Sanders, saying that he would have been delighted to see the character empower such a wide audience. “A black superhero with both amazing mental as well as physical powers, from a technologically advanced society in Africa, sends as strong a message now as it did over 50 years ago. Today, my grandfather’s message will reach tens of millions of people of all races and nationalities, a

Jack Kirby, 1992.

Photo by Gage Skidmore

Gabe Friedman

Photo by Susan Skaar.

Why ‘Black Panther’ might also be a milestone in black-Jewish relations

Stan Lee, June 8, 2014.

concept my grandfather could never have conceived of,” Kirby’s granddaughter Jillian said in a separate interview cited by THR.

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