CT Jewish Ledger • January 15, 2021 • 2 Shevat 5781

Friday, January 15, 2021 2 Shevat 5781 Vol. 93 | No. 3 | ©2021 $1.00 | jewishledger.com

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ALEPH 2021: On Jews, Judaism, and the Pursuit of Social Justice

Thurs. January 21, 2021 Via Zoom @ 7:30pm

Hosted and moderated by

AVINOAM PATT

WINTER 2021

Prof. Aaron Hahn Tapper (University of San Francisco)

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A Pedagogy of Social Justice: Teaching Jewish Diversity, Dismantling the “White, Male Jew” and Social Justice

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$25 for the series; $5 for each program Registrants will receive zoom link the day of WWW.MANDELLJCC.ORG/ALEPH

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What’s New at the Mandell JCC Zachs Campus | 335 Bloomfield Ave. | West Hartford, CT 06117 | 860-236-4571 | www.mandelljcc.org

Jan. 14 | 8:00 pm

Jan. 17 | 8:00 pm

Jan. 27 | 8:00 pm

Jan. 31 | 8:00 pm

The Boys’ Club: A Novel

Hungry Girl Fast & Easy

The Last Trial

American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and The Shadow History of Adoption

Erica Katz Thank You Mandell JCC Partner

Lisa Lillien

Includes Live Cooking Demo!

Scott Turow

Gabrielle Glaser

WWW.MANDELLJCC.ORG/BOOKFESTIVAL Kathy Binder & Kathy Fishman, Co-Chairs 2

JEWISH LEDGER

| JANUARY 15, 2021

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INSIDE

this week

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | JANUARY 15, 2020 | 2 SHEVAT 5781

8 Briefs

16 Milestones

17 Crosswords

18 What’s Happening

The Legacy of Dr. King............................................................................................5 On the eve of Martin Luther King Day, Suzannah Heschel, the daughter of his good friend, Civil Rights activist Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, talks about Black/Jewish relations, then and now.

Jewish Life......................................... 5 Ten years ago, Gary Jones’ dedication to the Jewish community led him to leave his position as an attorney at a top Hartford law firm to become a full-time Jewish communal professional. Now, he is CEO of Jewish Federation of Western CT.

Fighting Antisemitism......................................................................................... 10 Working with allies who have demonstrated their commitment to human-rights values, President-elect Biden can use the new antisemitism ambassador to strengthen American international leadership.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT........... 11 The newly released Pixar film “Soul” isn’t about religion, but it does question the nature and destiny of the soul–which gives us all the opportunity to talk about some big-ticket Jewish questions.

19 Torah Portion

20 Obituaries

21 Business and Professional Directory

22 Classified

CANDLE LIGHTING ON THE COVER:

This week Americans, along with reasonable people everywhere, watched in shock and dismay as our nation’s Capitol was besieged by marauding hordes of homegrown terrorists who violently attacked the very soul of our democracy. Cover photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images. PAGE 12 jewishledger.com

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UP FRONT

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | JANUARY 15, 2020 | 2 SHEVAT 5781

THE LEGACY OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. In Conversation with…Dr. Susannah Heschel

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usannah Heschel is the Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College. Her scholarship focuses on JewishChristian relations in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries, the history of biblical scholarship, and the history of antisemitism. She also serves on the academic advisory council of the Center for Jewish Studies in Berlin and on the Board of Trustees of Trinity College.

Her numerous publications include Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus (University of Chicago Press), which won a National Jewish Book Award, and “A Different Kind of Theo-Politics: Abraham Joshua Heschel, the Prophets and the Civil Rights Movement,” which appeared in the Journal of Political Theology (Winter 2020). She has also edited several books, including Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays of Abraham Joshua Heschel; Betrayal: German Churches and the Holocaust (with Robert P. Ericksen) and Insider/Outsider: American Jews and Multiculturalism (with David Biale and Michael Galchinsky).

Heschel has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Frankfurt and Cape Town as well as Princeton, and she is a Guggenheim Fellow and the recipient of numerous awards and grants, as well as four honorary doctorates. She is currently writing a book on the history of European Jewish scholarship on Islam. In 2015 she was elected a member of the American Society for the Study of Religion.

Susannah Heschel is the daughter of Abraham Joshua Heschel z”l, one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century.

A prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Rabbi Heschel was called “a truly great prophet” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and marched alongside Dr. King and John Lewis on the third Selma to Montgomery march in December 1965.

Susannah Heschel will discuss “Blacks, Jews, and Black Jews” on March 18, 7:30 p.m., as part of the 2021 series of virtual lectures on the theme of “The Jewish Roots of Social Justice,” presented by the ALEPH Institute, a learning initiative sponsored by the Mandell JCC and UConn Judaic Studies. jewishledger.com

BY JUDIE JACOBSON

Movement? Did your father’s activism influence you?

I remember [Dr. King] quite well. My father met Dr. King in 1963 when they were both in Chicago at a conference, and then they just kind of bonded. They started doing lectures together at various places. And so, I met Dr. King several times and I heard him speak. He was absolutely an extraordinary person, and very very inspiring to me too.

He was a great friend of the Jewish people wasn’t he?

PROF. SUSANNAH HESCHEL

Heschel’s lecture will explore three intertwined dimensions of relations between African Americans and Jewish Americans: Jewish involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, Jewish memory of the Civil Rights Movement in recent decades in light of the rise of white nationalism, and scholarship on racism and what they might contribute to our understanding of antisemitism.

In advance of Martin Luther King Day, which is celebrated this year on Jan. 18, the Ledger spoke with Susannah Heschel from her home in New Hampshire, just hours after Georgia elected the state’s first Black and Jewish U.S. Senators. In noting the history-making significance of the moment, Senator-elect Rafael Warnock, speaking on CNN, and Rev. Al Sharpton, speaking on MSNBC, paid brief tribute to the late Rabbi Heschel and Dr. King.

JEWISH LEDGER: It was nice to see the Black community and the Jewish community, celebrating together this morning, don’t you think?

SUZANNAH HESCHEL: Absolutely fantastic. So who knows? Maybe there’s hope. There’s always hope.

What are your memories of Martin Luther King and of your father’s involvement in the Civil Rights

Yes, and Jews supported him very strongly too. There were many Jews who, as you know, when put their lives on the line – put their lives in danger. And also raised funds for the, for the civil rights movement.

What was it that that inspired your father to become so active in in social causes especially the civil rights movement?

It certainly influenced me. My father, and also Dr. King, gave me the sense that religion and racism were absolutely incompatible. And then I became very interested in that issue when I was working on German Jewish history and saw the antisemitism that was coming also from Christian religious thinkers. That shocked me.

I think, for my father, having experienced antisemitism in Europe, growing up in Poland and studying in Germany during the Nazi period, [the notion that religion and racism were incompatible] was very important. And so, to come to the United States and find Dr. King, making the Hebrew bible, the story Exodus and the prophets, central to the Civil Rights movement was something that meant a great deal to my father.

Why do you think that Jews as a people were so active in supporting the Black community, marching with them, protesting with them. What was it that inspired us to step up and take action?

Gary Jones, the new CEO of Jewish Federation of Western CT, is drawn to Jewish communal work

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BY STACEY DRESNER

OUTHBURY – When the board of the Jewish Federation of Western Connecticut was searching for a new chief executive officer, Eric Albert immediately thought of Gary Jones.

“As a member of the search committee, I first reached out to Gary to see if he would be interested in speaking with the committee about this position,” said Albert, a past Federation president. “I have known Gary for many years and I consider him to be an extremely thoughtful and creative Jewish professional with extensive knowledge of the challenges and opportunities facing the Jewish community. Just as important, he is a mensch who has a great way with people.”

The search committee and board agreed and Jones became CEO of the Southbury-based organization in November.

GARY JONES

Jones, a longtime resident of West Hartford, does indeed have extensive knowledge of the state’s Jewish community.

While practicing law in Waterbury and Hartford for many years, he was also a lay leader at several Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford and its

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Jones

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First of all, I think Dr.King made the Civil Rights movement also an ecumenical movement and brought in people from different faiths. The fact is that when he gave his public lectures, he quoted from the Hebrew bible and the prophets, as well as from the New Testament and Jesus. So he tried to be as broad as possible and as inclusive as possible.

I also think that we were as Jews, after the Holocaust, absolutely shattered. And in many ways, Dr. King restored our souls.

He made us proud to be Jews; proud of the bible; proud of the prophets. He gave us a respect and a central role in one of the great religious movements of history, because the Civil Rights movement was very much a religious movement and it meant that to Jews. It meant that Judaism has something to say to the world to give the world. That was very important.

So, I see Dr. King as giving a great gift to us after the Holocaust in helping us heal our souls.

Can you explain what you mean when you say that religion and racism are incompatible and the prophets having much to teach us in terms of social justice?

Well, first of all, for the prophets, what was most important to them were the people living on the margins of society – widows and orphans, for example – that was most important to the prophets, and they were courageous figures who spoke about the importance of justice to people in positions of power – to kings, priests, but also to the entire society. They were strong voices who brought people to repent, who changed people.

As close as the Black and Jewish communities were in the 60s, it seems that relationship has deteriorated in recent years. For example, for awhile the Black Lives Movement seemed aligned with the BDS movement; several Black celebrities have in recent days spewed the hateful rhetoric of Louis Farrakhan, and so on. Is there an explanation for the fissure between the Black and Jewish communities?

I don’t see it that way. In the book by Mark Dolson for Black Power Jewish Politics, he talks about how the Black power movement emerged with black nationalism, at the same time that Jews after the 1967 War became increasingly nationalistic in relation to Israel. So in fact there’s a parallel.

He also demonstrates the many things that Black nationalism gave to the Jewish community. For instance, Black studies was established at universities. And after that came Jewish studies. I actually remember Jewish students saying, ‘Well, if you have Black studies, why can’t we have Jewish studies.’ So Black studies, in many ways, paved the way for Jewish studies, which is my field. I think that Black nationalism also made us feel that nationalism is a good thing, including Zionism.

Now, the problem with nationalism of course is that it is separate. That is, for example, Jews have our nationalism, the French have their nationalism, and so on.

So, it tends to be divisive. But I think we reached that point at the same time and supported one another in our separate ways.

In terms of Farrakhan, he’s loathsome.

And he has been a source of profound trouble for Black Americans and Black leaders.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., (CENTER), AND ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL, (2ND FROM RIGHT), DURING SELMA MARCH IN 1965.

(COURTESY OF SUSANNAH HESCHEL)

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It’s very hard to handle a demagogue.

But then again, plenty of Jews have supported a different demagogue named Donald Trump, who has said horrible things about about a huge number of people – disabled, Black, Hispanic, etc. We’re living in an era of demagogues. We’re living in an era of racists. Now, how do I explain Jewish support for Trump to my black friends? It seems that people are drawn to demagogues. Farrakhan is just a stupid, loud-mouth person in his 80s. Trump became president of the United States.

Going forward, what can the two communities do to come together again?

We can do programs like the [the ALEPH lecture]. We can watch films like “Shared Legacies” by Sherry Rogers; we have lectures; we have plenty of books for people to read. And we have efforts to get away from demagoguery. My own synagogue, for example, established a group to study racism – an orthodox synagogue in Boston that meets every month over six weeks to read, to think, to talk. That’s how we do it.

And that’s how we, for example, change our attitudes about women and women’s right to have a profession. When I was growing up I heard people say for instance, “I would never go to a woman doctor because she would never know what she’s doing.” Now that’s changed and that’s great.

This too can change.

What do you think Martin Luther King would make of the kind of rhetoric coming from Donald Trump and his followers?

Well, I think he would have been horrified.

But I also think he would have been working strongly to try to change hardened hearts and soften them. I think he also always spoke with great dignity and compassion about his opponents. And he would have said, “Look, they’re human beings too. Let’s not denigrate them.” That was part of the whole idea of non-violence; not just about not fighting back, but it was about becoming a different kind of person – a person of dignity, sensitivity and understanding.

Susannah Heschel will discuss “Blacks, Jews, and Black Jews” with Prof. Susannah Heschel, Thursday, March 18, 7:30 on Zoom, as part of the 2021 series of virtual lectures on the theme of “The Jewish Roots of Social Justice,” presented by the ALEPH Institute, a learning initiative sponsored by the Mandell JCC and UConn Judaic Studies. For more information, visit judaicstudies. uconn.edu or mandelljcc.org.

Jewish Community Relations Committee, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and Hebrew Senior Care, formerly the Hebrew Home and Hospital. Today, he is the president of the Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut, which provides advocacy and other services to all seven of the state’s Jewish Federations and their agencies.

In 2010, Jones left his work as an attorney to become executive director of the ADL’s Connecticut office. He also did a stint as interim director of UConn Hillel in 2015, and later helped Hebrew Senior Care through its bankruptcy as its interim executive director.

Last spring, as Covid-19 began its spread, he was asked again to served as interim director of UConn Hillel.

It is Jones’ experience as a troubleshooting Jewish non-profit leader that made him perfect candidate for his new role.

“We are fortunate to have found an individual with such a diverse array of skills and experiences to lead our Federation,” says Pauline Zimmerman, president of the Federation. “We consider it a bonus that his positions as an attorney in Waterbury and as the Regional Director of the Connecticut Regional Office of the Anti-Defamation League have given Gary a very good understanding of our communities and resulted in excellent relationships with many of the leaders of Federation and other Jewish communal organizations here in Western Connecticut.”

“I am honored to have been asked to take on this position,” says Jones. “I am so deeply impressed with the quality and commitment of the Federation’s Board members and look forward to working with the Board and all of the Federation’s supporters and constituents to help ensure that we honor our Jewish values in all that we do.”

Jones gained those Jewish values from his parents, Herbert, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and Vivienne, from Portland, Maine. After relocating to Manchester, New Hampshire for a time, the family returned to Leominster where they were members of Congregation Agudat Achim, where his mother served as principal of the synagogue’s Hebrew school and his father as the shul’s president Jones said he planned to be an attorney early on.

Jones got his BA in politics and American studies at Brandeis University, graduating magna cum laude. He then went to New York University Law School.

After law school, he moved to Connecticut to be in the vicinity of both his friends in New York and family in the Boston area.

He joined the Hartford law firm Schatz & Schatz, Ribicoff & Kotkin in 1980, becoming a partner in 1988. He was a corporate lawyer doing mostly work in corporate and commercial finance. In 1996, the firm closed due to a Hartford’s weak economy, and Jones jewishledger.com

joined Drubner, Hartley, O’Connor and Mengacci in Waterbury as a partner. He later served as a partner of the now defunct law firm Levy & Droney in Farmington for several years.

Five years after arriving in Hartford, Jones married Jill Epstein, a New Haven native whose parents were among the founders of Congregation B’nai Jacob in Woodbridge.

He got involved as a lay leader in Hartford’s Jewish community, serving on various committees and task forces at the ADL, the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, and the Hebrew Home.

“Jewish identity has always been important for my family,” Jones explains.

“I received a lot of great direction from my family and extended family about Jewish causes and Jewish values, so there was no big leap of faith for me to do it. Maybe I got involved in a little bit more comprehensive way than maybe some of the others, but this is something that is important to all of us.”

It was Jones’ extensive involvement in the Jewish community that led to his departure from a full-time law practice in 2010. He had been serving as chair of the ADL’s Hartford County Committee for five years when he got a call one day from David Warren, the director of the Connecticut office of the ADL. “He was calling to give me the news that he was taking a position in the national office of ADL,” Jones recalls. “I was very excited for him and I said, ‘The only thing I feel bad about is that we’ve been doing pretty well in Connecticut under your leadership.’ He said, ‘Well, that was the next reason I called.’

He asked me to consider applying for the position. It took me a little while to think about it, being a lawyer. But I felt like the opportunity to be involved in an organization that I really cared about, and able to really do good things for the Jewish communities, was something that really meant a lot to me.”

Jones said that even though it meant leaving the prestigious – and lucrative – law field, the idea of heading a non-profit organization appealed to him.

“I felt that I really needed to try this. I tried it and I liked it,” Jones says. “And the ADL worked with political issues and Jewish issues which were both meaningful to me.”

When the Hebrew Home and Hospital was without a director and headed for bankruptcy, Jones was called on to serve and offer his nonprofit expertise.

“They needed someone who knew the community and nonprofit management and who was able to sort of help through the bankruptcy and get to the point where a more seasoned healthcare professional would come in at a very difficult time,” Jones says.

He played a similar role at UConn Hillel this past summer – mostly virtually, due to Covid-19.

“They lost their development director or an jewishledger.com

executive director and I think they just needed to have leadership to support them and help them do the great work that they do.”

When contacted by Eric Albert about the CEO position in Western Connecticut, Jones said he knew it would be a good fit.

“I worked in Waterbury as a lawyer for several years, so I know a lot of the people from the community. And, of course, when I was the ADL director I spent time in Western Connecticut as I did in many parts of the state,” he says. “They’re great people and I am excited to be there.”

Since Jones began the new position in mid-November, Covid has forced him to work virtually from home as he tries to get up to speed on the Federation and its needs.

“I think one of the challenges is that for any smaller Federation, the need and the desire to be as comprehensive as possible is still there, but obviously the resources aren’t always available to be able to do everything you would like to do,” he explains. “One of the things we would like to be able to build on is one of the thing things that has happened during the pandemic, which is a lot more outreach, a lot more joint programming and a lot more efforts whereby one Federation makes available its programming or educational opportunities to other Federations. That’s been really good and it is one of the things that I think we’re going to be building on statewide.”

Jones added that his work as president of JFACT will aid in his new position, although he will soon step down from that role.

“I know all the Federation directors very well, some for many years, and I feel really good about the ability for us to continue to work together. That will enable us to do programming and provide opportunities jointly that we may not be in a position to provide on our own as a standalone smaller organization.

“The Federation was operating without an executive director since just before the pandemic broke,” he notes. “We will get up to speed. There are three staff people and ultimately we will see if we do can everything the community needs us to do, or whether we need to expand… That would be one of the goals, but right now the main thing is using what we have to give the community the educational and programmatic opportunities that it deserves. I’m optimistic we can do that.”

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L IKE U S ON

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Briefs Sudan officially signs on to Abraham Accords (JNS) Sudan officially joined the Abraham Accords on Wednesday, Jan. 6, paving the way for Khartoum’s normalization of ties with Israel. It became the third of four countries to agree to normalize ties with the Jewish state, following the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and preceding Morocco, which has yet to sign the accords.

Jordan and Egypt made peace with Israel in 1994 and 1979, respectively. Sudan signed the agreement in a ceremony in its capital of Khartoum.

Sudan, which overthrew dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, announced its agreement in October to join the normalization accord as long as it was removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. A stipulation on the U.S. side meant that Sudan agreed to pay $335 million in compensation to American victims of terrorism. Last month, legislation protecting victims of terrorism and restoring Sudan’s immunity from terror-related lawsuits was included in the must-pass omnibus government spending bill, which also included coronavirus relief, that U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law.

Sudan, an Arab-Muslim-majority country that borders Egypt to the south, has long been viewed as a hostile nation towards the Jewish state. Its rejection of Israel was made famous with the 1967 Khartoum Resolution, issued at the conclusion of the Arab League summit in the wake of the Six-Day War and declaring the “Three Nos”: no peace, no recognition, no negotiations. However, the current government, focused on reforming the economy and expanding international investment, has sought friendlier ties with Israel as a step in improving relations with the United States. Sudan’s western neighbor, Chad, established ties with Israel in 2019, and South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, also has diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

Senator-elect Raphael Warnock: Heschel and MLK ‘are smiling in this moment’ (JTA) – Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel made the news Wednesday morning, Jan. 6, when Raphael Warnock, the Democrat who won one of two Georgia Senate elections Tuesday, invoked the rabbi during an interview on CNN. “I think Abraham Joshua Heschel, the rabbi who said, when he marched with Dr. King, he felt like his legs were praying, I think he and Dr. King are smiling in this moment,” said Warnock, 8

JEWISH LEDGER

who will be Georgia’s first-ever Black senator. Warnock was referring to the 1965 march by civil rights leaders from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Martin Luther King, Jr. invited Heschel to take a position of honor with him at the front of the march, and Heschel later said about the experience, “I prayed with my feet.”

At the time, JTA reported that hundreds of marchers wore yarmulkes out of respect for the rabbis who were participating in the demonstrations. Five rabbis were put in jail for participating in the march, and they recited Hebrew prayers from their cells.

Warnock referred to the march, and the supportive relationship between Jewish and Black Americans that it epitomized, multiple times on the campaign trail, including in an ad produced by the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

“You’ve got a young Jewish man, an African African pastor, running together with shared values, shared commitment,” Warnock said in the campaign ad, which showed footage of him and Jewish Democrat Jon Ossoff campaigning together.

The video also showed 1960s newsreel items, including the murder of three voting rights activists – two Black and one Jewish – in Mississippi.

Later in the day, Ossoff was be declared winner in his race, against incumbent Republican David Perdue, making him Georgia’s first Jewish senator.

“I’m very proud of Georgia right now,” Warnock told CNN today. “That we are sending an African American man, the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King, Jr. served and John Lewis worshipped, and Jon Ossoff, a young Jewish man, the son of an immigrant, mentored by John Lewis, to the United States Senate.”

‘Hitler was right on one thing,’ US congresswoman says at pro-Trump rally (JTA) – Mary Miller, a newly elected Republican representative from Illinois, told a crowd of protesters that “Hitler was right on one thing.” Miller was speaking Tuesday, Jan. 5 in Washington, D.C., to a crowd of Donald Trump supporters, according to Margot McGowan Staebler, who posted the video on Twitter. Supporters of the president, including a range of extremist figures and groups, gathered in the capital for a mass rally to protest the election results as Congress meets to ratify them.

The group went on to violently storm the Capitol.

Speaking in view of the Capitol building, Miller was discussing her emphasis on family values and the importance of convincing voters to elect Republicans when she invoked Adolf Hitler. “Hitler was right on one thing: He said, whoever has the youth has the future,” Miller said. “Fill your children’s minds with what is true and right and noble, and then they can overcome evil

| JANUARY 15, 2021

with good because they can actually discern between what is evil and what is good.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the AntiDefamation League, condemned Miller’s remarks on Twitter. “Hitler wasn’t right on anything – and invoking his name in this or any other context is wildly offensive & disrespects the millions who perished due to the Nazis’ hateful, genocidal regime,” he wrote. “An apology is the least you can do for your constituents & our country.”

Miller, who was elected in November to her first term representing her southern Illinois district, is a farmer who teaches Sunday school, according to her campaign website. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has reached out to Miller for comment.

Merrick Garland nominated as Biden’s attorney general (JTA) – President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Merrick Garland to be his attorney general more than four years after Senate Republicans blocked the judge from serving on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Garland, 68, who is Jewish, currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He is seen as politically moderate. Garland has a respected record within the judiciary but is not always liberal in his rulings. He is more likely to side with police than those accused of crimes, and has sided with the government in cases involving Guantanamo Bay, according to The NY Times. Garland’s March 2016 nomination was blocked by Senate Republicans, who refused to hold hearings while Obama was in office. The episode embittered Senate Democrats against the majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, leading to years of politicized fights over court nominations.

McConnell had claimed that he opposed the Garland nomination because it came during an election year. But last year he approved Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, while votes for the 2020 election were already being cast.

In a speech after being nominated, Garland referenced how his ancestors fled hatred to seek a better life in the United States. “My family deserves much of the credit for the path that led me here. My grandparents left the Pale of Settlement at the border of western Russia and Eastern Europe in the early 1900s, fleeing antisemitism and hoping to make a better life for their children in America,” he said, choking up.

Building bridges: 2020 a successful year for IsraelEurope relations (Israel Hayom via JNS) The past year was relatively successful in terms of Israel’s relationship with Europe, according to a survey presented by Israeli Foreign Minister

Gabi Ashkenazi on Monday, Jan. 4, to the Jewish state’s ambassadors to European countries. Among the accomplishments listed in the study were the ratification of the “Open Skies” agreement between Israel and the European Union; progress in including Israel in “Horizon Europe,” an ambitious E.U. research and innovation framework slated to run between 2021 and 2027; the recognition of Hezbollah as a terrorist group by Germany, Austria, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and the Czech Republic; and the increase in support for Israel by United Nations member states in the international body.

Other items included the visit to Israel during the coronavirus pandemic of 12 European foreign ministers, as well as the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antiSemitism.

In a particularly surprising development, Sweden, widely considered to be the European country most hostile towards Israel, also adopted the IHRA definition. Stockholm has lately been trying to persuade France to agree to reconvene the Association Council, the main body handling relations Israel-E.U. relations, which has not met since 2013 as a form of protest by the E.U. over the lack of progress with the peace process.

A senior ministry official said at the meeting that the Palestinian cause remains the most important for Europe, but that while this had initially colored the European response to the Abraham Accords, there had subsequently been a shift. “They originally had a cold reaction to the peace agreements.

It took a while for them to understand that from their point of view, nothing negative has happened, that the agreements will not lead to the neglect of the Palestinian cause,” said the official.

Israel-Europe relations will be the ministry’s No. 1 priority in 2021, said Ashkenazi.

Biden taps Iran deal architect Wendy Sherman for senior diplomatic role (JTA) – President-elect Joe Biden tapped Wendy Sherman, an Iran nuclear deal architect, to be his deputy secretary of state – a signal of his determination to return to the deal, Politico reported Tuesday. Sherman, who is Jewish, was the lead negotiator for the 2015 pact, which swapped sanctions relief for Iran’s rollback of its nuclear program. She took the lead in advocating for the agreement with the Jewish and pro-Israel communities, later describing tensions with Israel and some American Jewish groups as “very, very painful.” Sherman also played a role in hewing the Democratic Party platform to traditional pro-Israel lines. Politico reported that Sherman was Biden’s pick to be deputy to Tony Blinken, who also is Jewish.

Blinken was a deputy national security jewishledger.com

adviser under President Barack Obama.

Trump quit the Iran deal in 2018, saying it was not sufficiently restrictive and did not address bad acts by Iran unrelated to nuclear development. Biden has agreed that aspects of the deal should be toughened and ancillary issues like missile defense and Iranian adventurism should be addressed, but wants to rejoin the agreement quickly.

He wants to open new negotiations after reentering the deal. Iran’s leadership has indicated it is amenable to reentering the deal, but wants it kept as is.

Five Hebrew U alumni listed as top 10 in their fields (Israel Hayom via JNS) Five alumni of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have been ranked among the top 10 researchers in their fields on a list published by Stanford University. Professor Dror Feitelson of the Rachel and Selim Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering ranked 8th in the group of artificial intelligence researchers.

Professor Emeritus Itamar Willner of the Einstein School of Mathematics was ranked 10th in the list’s nanotechnology group. Professor Emeritus Eric Cohen of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology was ranked 4th in his group, and Professor Yitzhak Marcus, retired from the university’s Institute of Chemistry, was ranked 3rd in the chemistry group.

Professor Steve Weiner, who currently works at the Weizmann Institute of Science, was ranked No. 1 in the world in the field of historical sciences.

‘Blood is on your hands’: Antisemitism Cow returns one final time (JTA) – An anonymous Twitter account that mooed at antisemitic tweeters before quitting the platform returned Monday night to take the platform to task one last time.

“You have failed the people who use this platform,” Antisemitism Cow tweeted, tagging Twitter and its CEO, Jack Dorsey.

“There is no excuse for your allowing Nazis with tens of thousands of followers to run rampant on your platform. You let it happen. Because of that, blood is on your hands. You are depraved.”

In a thread, Antisemitism Cow said no one should use Twitter until the platform addresses the hate on its platform in a meaningful way. ”I am quitting because no one person should subject themselves to witnessing and calling out the hate that you’ve allowed to fester here. This is your job, and until you do it properly, no sane or good person should use your platform,” the account said. Critics have called on Twitter for years to address the antisemitic, hateful and harassing comments that are frequently made on the platform. In October, Twitter jewishledger.com

announced it would ban Holocaust denial on its platform in the same week that Facebook announced the same thing.

But critics have accused Twitter of failing to do enough to ban antisemitism, even prompting a 48-hour boycott by a group of British celebrities.

Since starting the account in July, Antisemitism Cow attracted more than 23,000 followers by mooing at accounts it deemed to be engaging in antisemitism.

Followers often tagged the account in replies to tweets they believed were antisemitic so that Antisemitism Cow could issue its verdict. Antisemitism Cow deactivated in November and, in an interview with Alma, called Twitter “a system that, by definition, creates a poisonous dynamic between people.” As if to prove Antisemitism Cow’s point, an anonymous copycat account called Antisemite Cow launched this month. But rather than calling out antisemitism, the account engaged in it, mooing at Jewish accounts.

Antisemitism Cow ended the tweet thread by signing off the platform for good.

“This account shouldn’t exist because Twitter is not worth fighting for,” it said.

“Twitter is a cesspool of pain and misery.

While you play with cute features to make it seem like you care about ‘positive engagement,’ your body count grows. I’m not playing the game anymore. Bye.”

Teaching assistant at Johns Hopkins threatened to fail pro-Israel students (JNS) Antisemitism watchdog groups are raising alarm over a graduate student and teaching assistant at Johns Hopkins University who threatened to fail proIsrael students, while also making disparaging remarks about Israelis and white people. “We find it alarming that a teaching assistant at a major university is expressing a clear intent to punish students on the basis of their race, Jewish identity or national origin as Israelis – all protected categories under state and federal non-discrimination laws,” Yael Lerman, director of the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department, said in a statement.

In November, the TA, who was identified by StopAntiSemitism as Rasha Anayah, at John Hopkin’s University’s Thor Research Group wrote a series of tweets where she not only threatened to fail proIsrael students. In one tweet, she asked: “Ethical dilemma: if you have to grade a zionist student exam, do you still give them all their points even though they support your ethnic cleansing? like idk.”

Additional tweets from Anayah also included disparaging remarks about Israelis and white people., including: “y’all allah looking out for me. The majority of undergrads in chem here are white and i was blessed enough to be paired w a black woman to mentor who has good race

analysis. Didn’t get pinned with an israeli or some b**ch white boy to have to share my knowledge with.alhamdulilah [Thank God].”

According to Canary Mission, Anayah is also treasurer of Students for Justice in Palestine at Johns Hopkins and was previously a board member for “Bears for Palestine” at the University of California, Berkeley, where she obtained a degree in chemical biology.

While Johns Hopkins has not issued a formal statement on the incident, Sunil Kumar, from the university’s provost office, said in an email to StandWithUs that it is “aware of the incident.” The statement further noted that while privacy concerns prohibit them from providing more information: “We wish to assure you that we take seriously any and all allegations of discrimination, harassment, or other misconduct – including anti-Semitism. Any link between grading and bias runs counter to our values and policies, and we are taking all necessary steps to ensure that does not occur.”

Antisemitic flyers warning of Jewish ‘war’ on white people found in Staten Island (JTA) – A white supremacist group from New Jersey posted more than a dozen antisemitic flyers on Staten Island. The flyers, found over the weekend in the New York City borough, are emblazoned with a Jewish star and falsely claim that Antifa, the loose anti-fascist network, is a Jewish organization that is anti-white. The original Antifa was a Jewish anti-Nazi militia,” the flyers said, according to the New York Post. “There is a war against all non-Jewish European-American nationalists.” The flyers also claim that “600 + Jewish Orgs Support BLM Communist Terrorists,” likely a reference to a statement in support of Black Lives Matter signed last year by hundreds of Jewish organizations.

They were posted by the New Jersey European Heritage Association, which the Anti-Defamation League describes as a white supremacist group that “espouses racism, antisemitism and intolerance.”

British author omits ‘Merchant of Venice’ from anthology, citing antisemitism

that the Nazis used to portray Jewish people in a bad light – that is not something you put in front of an 8-year-old as their first example of an extraordinary group that has contributed so much to the world and suffered so much.”

Morpurgo, the author of War Horse and Kensuke’s Kingdom, was quoted by The Times of London as saying that “The play can be antisemitic … I did feel this was Shakespeare’s play and I could not tell it honestly. It would be offensive.”

He told The Guardian that The Times had played up the weight of antisemitism in his decision. It is “not a play I enjoy myself. I didn’t ‘refuse’ to include the play, no one told me to do it – I sat down quietly and decided the 10 I would do,” he said.

Calling his decision censorial is “completely wrong and a knee-jerk reaction,” he added.

The play is about a merchant who fails to pay back a large loan to a greedy Jewish moneylender named Shylock.

Holocaust survivor pens op-ed about COVID ‘stealing’ her last years (JTA) – When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Toby Levy thought: “I’m a miracle. I will make it. I have to make it.” That’s because Levy, as she explains in a New York Times op-ed published Sunday, Jan. 2, is an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor from what was then Poland and is now Ukraine. She survived by hiding in a cellar and then later a 4-by-5-foot spot in a barn during the war.

As she writes: During the war, we didn’t know if we would make a day. I didn’t have any freedom. I couldn’t speak loudly, I couldn’t laugh, I couldn’t cry. But now, I can feel freedom. I stay by the window and look out. The first thing I do in the morning is look out and see the world. I am alive. I have food, I go out, I go for walks, I do some shopping. And I remember: No one wants to kill me. So, still, I read. I cook a little bit.

I shop a little bit. I learned the computer. I do puzzles. I still sometimes feel that I am missing out. A full year is gone. I lost my childhood, I never had my teenage years.

And now, in my old age, this is shortening my life by a year. I don’t have that many years left. The way we have lived this year means I have lost many opportunities to lecture, to tell more people my story, to let them see me and know the Holocaust happened to a real person, who stands in front of them today. It’s important.”

(JTA) – A popular British children’s author omitted The Merchant of Venice from his adaptation of William Shakespeare plays for young audiences. One reason: antisemitism.

“Yes, there was some worry that this might be the first time an 8-year-old reads about a Jew,” Michael Morpurgo told The Guardian on Jan. 4, about the decision not to include the play in the “Tales from Shakespeare” anthology for children older than 6. “A story JEWISH LEDGER

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9

Opinion

Biden has new tools to fight antisemitism

BY KENNETH L. MARCUS

(JNS) President-elect Joe Biden has two new tools that can help him in his professed priority to strengthen international ties, support human rights and combat antisemitism. The new tools play well to Biden’s foreign-relations experience and enduring belief in internationalism, which favors intergovernmental alliances, democratic cooperation and a liberal rulebased order.

First, in late December, Congress passed legislation elevating the State Department’s special envoy on antisemitism to ambassadorial status. This should enable the Biden administration to fight antisemitism more effectively on a global scale.

The outgoing special envoy, Elan Carr, did a remarkable job raising public awareness about the world’s oldest hatred.

His predecessors in prior administrations– Ira Forman, Hannah Rosenthal and Greg Rickman–were also strong.

The enhanced position should enable Biden to succeed Carr with a highprofile successor who can work even more effectively with foreign peers. The candidates reportedly under consideration are highly qualified, including the AntiDefamation League’s Abe Foxman and Sharon Nazarian.

Second, just today, the European Commission and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) released an excellent new handbook on fighting antisemitism. It presents the IHRA Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, along with its guiding examples and relates those to the contexts of 22 real-world antisemitic incidents and crimes. The European Union had already called on its member states, as recently as December 2020, to use this definition to identify antisemitic incidents.

The handbook is issued to bolster this call within the European Union and to show how the working definition, including its guiding examples, can be used as a powerful defense against antisemitism. Its strength is in its real-world examples and best practices for policymakers.

This European contribution will reinforce longstanding U.S. efforts to make the working definition more widely adopted as the global standard.

The George W. Bush administration had used a predecessor version of the IHRA definition for international affairs. The Obama administration had developed its own, nearly identical definition for this 10

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same purpose. The Trump administration adopted the IHRA definition by executive order, applying it domestically as well as internationally.

While the European Commission’s directives apply, as its name suggests, to the European Union, the United States is an IHRA member-state so the document applies here as well. This gives important elevation to the status of the IHRA definition in this country. While the Trump administration tended to go its own way, asserting leadership through mechanisms such as the Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism, the Biden team gravitates more towards international efforts such as this one.

The handbook observes that the working definition has been used by parliaments, governments, ministries, courts, lawenforcement agencies, city councils, civil-society organizations and (crucially) universities. For U.S. domestic purposes, the most important section addresses higher education, which has been a flashpoint for anti-Jewish incidents here.

It also observes that antisemitism in educational institutions often remains “invisible, unaddressed and unchallenged.”

This is especially true when it is guised as anti-Zionism or criticism of Israel. This is a key reason why definitions are needed.

Notably, the U.S. government began using the Working Definition in its oversight of higher administration during the outgoing administration.

The handbook reveals that the working definition is quickly gaining higher-education traction worldwide. For example, the German Rectors’ Conference, representing 94 percent of students at German universities, adopted the definition, declaring that it “provides a clear basis for recognizing hatred of Jews and is thus an important tool in combating it.” The rectors observed that the definition “takes into account” Israel-related antisemitism. The

| JANUARY 15, 2021

Romanian Ministry of Education promotes the adoption, by universities, of a code of conduct on antisemitism that incorporates the definition. Cambridge University decided, in November 2020, to adopt the definition as a “test to establish whether behavior that is in breach of the University’s rules is antisemitic.”

Although U.S. universities have lagged behind, they are now beginning to follow their European peers. For example, in August 2020, Florida State University’s president publicly endorsed the working definition and its contemporary examples.

And in September 2020, New York University agreed to incorporate the IHRA definition into its revised nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policy as part of its settlement agreement with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. These institutions are overcoming political resistance from critics of Israel, as well as erroneous charges that the definition would stifle free debate. Used properly, the definition can facilitate free speech while educating all participants in the ways that some speech can be hurtful and some conduct hateful.

These new tools can help Biden integrate domestic and international agendas. The former U.S. vice president has spoken passionately about the need to address antisemitism. Working with allies who have demonstrated with this new handbook their commitment to the human-rights values that he champions, he can use the new antisemitism ambassador to strengthen American international leadership.

Kenneth L. Marcus is founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and author of “The Definition of Antisemitism.” He served as Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Civil Rights (2018-2020).

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT HOW PIXAR’S ‘SOUL’ BORROWS FROM AN ANCIENT JEWISH IDEA

BY RABBI BENJAMIN RESNICK

(JTA) – Pixar’s “Soul,” released on Friday on Disney+, is a tender balm of a movie about an aspiring jazz musician who dies on the day he gets his big break. Watching “Soul,” which is set in a richly imagined New York City, as well as in a blissed-out, blue-ish, and minimalist realm of unborn souls, in the final days of 2020 is once elegiac (the riotously crowded New York it depicts sure isn’t there at the moment) and soothing, like applying a poultice to a wound. The New York of our dreams may be in limbo, but there’s still Pixar offering its pastel take JAMIE FOXX VOICES THE MAIN on, well, limbo.

CHARACTER IN “Soul” is the PIXAR’S “SOUL.” first Pixar film to (SCREEN SHOT FROM make its central YOUTUBE) subject a question of metaphysics. Namely, what is the body and what is the soul?

For those of us who take Pixar’s metaphysical questions seriously – and as a Jew, a rabbi, the father of young children, and an adult who remembers being wowed by the first “Toy Story” in the theater, I take these questions very seriously indeed – ”Soul” offers a great deal to think about.

Watching it over the weekend with our two boys gave us a most welcome opportunity to talk about some big-ticket Jewish questions as well as an occasion to sit back and inhabit a lush world beyond the little realm of our apartment.

For a movie about the nature and destiny of the soul, “Soul” is wisely spare when it comes to explicit religious content.

Quite simply, there isn’t any. The abstract beings (all named Jerry or, in one case, Terry) that guide souls in the hereafter and in the Great Before are somewhat godlike, but they certainly don’t seem to be gods. And the subject at hand isn’t why things work as they do, or, really, what the capital-M Meaning of it all is. Instead, the story of Jamie Foxx’s poor Joe Gardner is focused squarely on questions surrounding the nature of his soul’s “spark” (and the spark of one other lost soul, voiced by Tina Fey) and what that has to do with his body and his path through life.

“Soul” offers a variety of sweetly packaged, life-affirming answers to these big questions, answers that have resonances in a variety of world religious traditions.

Certainly, in the Jewish mystical tradition, there is much ado about soul sparks. There are also cognate visions of the Great Before, my personal favorite being the Kabbalistic image of the tree of souls, hung richly with the fruit of future lives, which, when ripe, are blown down to earth by a light wind. jewishledger.com

This particular image doesn’t appear in Pixar’s version of things, but it is certainly of a piece with the gentle realm where new souls are nurtured before birth.

It doesn’t give too much away to tell you that one of the movie’s central messages is that true personhood is rooted in the union of body and soul, that they are both indispensable ingredients of life’s confection. If Joe Gardner’s adventure with an unborn soul named “22” yields any concrete moral, it is that corporeality and spirituality are intimately bound up with one another. Each is incomplete, perhaps woefully so, without the other. And of the many ideas that Pixar gracefully bandies about in “Soul,” it is this one that strikes me as the most profoundly Jewish.

On this very subject, there is a famous midrash, or ancient rabbinic homily, about a body and soul separated by death and standing before God in judgment. The soul, pleading her case, argues that all of her sinful behaviour was caused by the body’s base desires. The body, not to be outdone, makes the point that without the soul he would have been entirely lifeless and therefore unable to transgress. Accepting their arguments, God puts them back together and punishes them in unison.

I have always found this story irresistibly charming (very much like a Pixar movie) not because I am in love with the idea of divine retribution, but rather because, as an embodied soul myself – or, if you like, as a body who happens to be ensouled for the moment – it simply rings true. One of the enduring contributions of the ancient rabbis is their forceful insistence that we are Jews not only because we have Jewish souls (though they did believe that) but also because we have Jewish bodies, the product of Jewish families and pumping with Jewish blood. The human being, in this view, is not a metaphysical construct – as Tina Fey’s character somewhat derisively describes the realm of souls. Nor is the human being only a soft, perishable body. Rather, a human being is a luminous, fragile and ultimately temporary marriage of the two. In “Soul,” it is only when our heroes discover and inhabit this truth that they both get to where they need to go.

In a year in which so many bodies have been ravaged – and in which so many souls have been frayed – you can do a lot worse than sitting back and, for just under two hours, allowing Pixar to offer up some humane and very Jewish answers to some very deep questions. The movie itself is perhaps somewhat slight, given it’s rather weighty subject matter, and the answers it gives may not knock your socks off. But they just might soothe your soul, and, as we close the book on 2020, I say that’s plenty. I give it three out of four sparks.

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JANUARY 15, 2021

11

THE CAPITOL UNDER ATTACK

Orthodox Jewish Trump supporters decry violence but not t that fueled the mob

BY SHIRA HANAU

(JTA) – Heshy Tischler, the pro-Trump provocateur of Orthodox Brooklyn, wasn’t at the U.S. capitol when a mob stormed it Wednesday – but not because he didn’t want to be.

Tischler was one of a throng of Orthodox Jews who traveled down to D.C. to join mass protests of the election results Wednesday, Jan. 6. He had left the city before the protest turned into an insurrection that drove members of Congress and the vice president into hiding, and in which a woman was killed.

But that afternoon, unaware that his compatriots were now occupying the Senate chamber and its environs, he said that he, too, would like to take his complaint straight to the halls of Congress.

“We want to be there,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We just can’t get in.”

On his show Wednesday night, he condemned the violence, and said he would have handled the situation differently. “If I was actually in the front I wouldn’t have stormed, I would have walked in the doors,” he said.

Much of the Orthodox community had lined up behind Trump ahead of the election. Polls showed Orthodox voters supporting him by overwhelming margins.

In the same week that mobs of young Orthodox men burned masks in the streets of Brooklyn in October, crowds of the young men carried Trump flags in their protests against lockdowns.

And on Wednesday, some Orthodox Jews took their support for Trump to the next level, traveling to Washington to participate in the Trump rally that turned into a mob.

Some of the Orthodox Jewish Trump supporters who attended even traveled to the rally on specially chartered buses from Orthodox Jewish communities, some of which were organized in special WhatsApp groups. One person who attended the rally said there were at least eight buses to Washington organized by Orthodox Jews.

Groups were formed for people from Monsey, New York, and Lakewood, New Jersey, two areas with large Orthodox populations. Two buses were reportedly chartered from Brooklyn.

Orthodox Jews were present at the rally where President Trump spoke Wednesday, telling the crowd to “walk down to the 12

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Capitol” and that “you will never take back our country with weakness.” But many Orthodox Trump supporters condemned the violence that followed when protesters stormed the capitol.

For some Orthodox Jews, it appeared to be a moment of reckoning that made them reconsider their support for the president.

But many claimed, without evidence, that the mob was the result of meddling by Antifa or of people who were not really “conservative” co-opting the movement.

Others compared the mob to the Black Lives Matter protests last year.

It was a shameful day, they said, but it did not make them regret their support for Donald Trump.

“Had John Roberts heard that case and legitimately heard that case and Trump would have lost, I probably wouldn’t have gone today,” Nachman Mostofsky said, referring to a petition to the Supreme Court to hear a case over alleged election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The court rejected the petition.

Mostofsky, who serves as executive director of Chovevei Zion, a politically conservative Orthodox Jewish advocacy organization, was in Washington for the opening of the new session of Congress and extended his stay to attend the protests.

He said he left before the storming of the Capitol, and condemned the violence that took place there.

He was also one of a few Orthodox Jews who, speaking to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, appeared to compare Wednesday’s events to the racial justice protests that spread across the country last year.

“No conservative will condone what happened today, the actual storming of the Capitol…it was unpatriotic,” he said. “But we heard for months during the summer when people don’t feel heard, this is what happens.”

Dov Hikind, an Orthodox Jew who represented the heavily Orthodox neighborhood of Borough Park for decades in the New York State Assembly, said he was horrified by the violence and, although he himself questioned the results of the election back in November, called the president’s claims about election fraud “malarky.”

“Biden won by 7 million votes,” he said, noting that virtually all claims of voter fraud brought by the Trump campaign were found

| JANUARY 15, 2021

to be without evidence. “Every single case was almost, without exception, the courts ruled against Trump.”

While Hikind said there was no point in continuing to claim that Trump won the election, he defended the rights of Trump supporters to protest in support of the president. He said Wednesday’s events went far beyond that.

“What happened today was very different, the violation of laws, taking over the Capitol. I mean my god, the irony of this is that the Republicans are the ones who talk about law and order,” he said. “What a contradiction, what hypocrisy.”

But he also said it was hypocritical to speak out about violence at the Capitol after the racial justice protests turned, in some instances, violent.

“As much as what we saw today was an absolute horror especially because it happened at the Capitol, but it was only a short while ago that you had violence all over this country,” Hikind said. “My party, the Democratic party, was not so vociferous and so outspoken in terms of that violence.”

Eli Steinberg, an Orthodox writer who lives in Lakewood, New Jersey and who voted for Trump, called the violence “an awful moment.”

“It’s sad and scary and I’m kind of grappling with what does it mean that we’ve gotten to this point, and what does it mean for what comes next,” Steinberg said.

But he also didn’t see the episode as reason to regret his support for Trump.

“It bothers me that this moment has to be seen that way,” he said. “Seventy-four million people voted for him. 74 million people were not involved in this moment and did not agree to this moment.”

Agudath Israel, an advocacy organization for haredi Orthodox Jews, did not issue a statement. The Orthodox Union, an organization representing Modern Orthodox synagogues, joined the Conference of Presidents of Jewish Organizations, of which it is a member, in issuing a statement condemning the violence Wednesday. On Thursday, the Orthodox Union issued its own statement condemning the violence. “We call upon President Trump to do all that is in his power – and it is indeed in his power – to restore that peace,” the organization said.

The National Council of Young Israel, an Orthodox synagogue association that has

been outspokenly pro-Trump in the past, also “strongly condemned” Wednesday’s events, saying in a statement that “the violent protests and wanton attacks that we witnessed today are deplorable and a dangerous assault on the very foundation upon which this nation is built.”

The Reform and Conservative Jewish movements, which are generally more liberal than Orthodox organizations, both condemned the mob’s actions.

On social media, some Orthodox leaders denounced the violence. Chaskel Bennett, a leader of Agudath Israel, called the violence “reprehensible and frightening.”

Others seemed to downplay it.

Yossi Gestetner, who runs the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Committee, told his followers to “relax” and called the rioters’ actions as entering “a building unauthorized.”

“After 5 years of they and their leaders being violently attacked and also abused by the State via prosecutions, the same side

Jewish groups re DC violence with ‘disgust,’ criticiz

BY RON KAMPEAS

(JTA) – AIPAC hardly ever pronounces on any issue that does not relate to Israel. It’s also loath to criticize a sitting president.

But the preeminent pro-Israel lobby did both on Wednesday after rioters supporting President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop the count of electoral votes that would formalize Joe Biden’s win.

“We share the anger of our fellow Americans over the attack at the Capitol and condemn the assault on our democratic values and process,” AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said in a statement posted to Twitter Wednesday evening. “This violence, and President Trump’s incitement of it, is outrageous and must end.”

The statement, crafted during an emergency meeting of the lobby’s executive committee, was among a host of extraordinary jewishledger.com

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the movement can’t even enter a building unauthorized without being denounced by their own side,” he tweeted.

He tweeted again later, seeming to question whether there were any alternative to violence as a remedy to a “stolen” election. ”What if 30 years down the road the POTUS elections are clearly stolen and nobody (Secs of States, Legislatures and the Courts) wants to stop it and/or they enable it. What’s the remedy? Is that a democratic remedy Who decides when those actions can be triggered?”

Michal Weinstein, a pro-Trump Instagram influencer who organized a proTrump rally in her Orthodox community on Long Island in October, declined to comment on the violence. “I don’t want to be part of something that’s going to paint Trump supporters as evil and bad,” she said.

But her co-organizer of the October rally, Gila Jedwab, went to Washington for the rally, posting a photo of herself in front

respond to h ‘outrage,’ zing Trump

omments on American democracy by Jewish roups, many of which typically steer clear of artisan politics.

AIPAC was not the only mainstream Jewish rganization to speak out on an extraordinary ay that resulted in what once was nthinkable: police spiriting into safe havens undreds of lawmakers while marauders oamed and looted the Capitol. Its statement, afted during an emergency meeting of the bby’s executive committee, also was far from he only one to criticize Trump explicitly.

Trump invited protesters to Washington, .C., and earlier Wednesday urged them to arch on the Capitol. As the situation grew nse, he simultaneously urged his supporters disband and told them that he “loved them.”

The Anti-Defamation League also named rump. “The violence at the US Capitol is jewishledger.com

SECURITY FORCES RESPOND WITH TEAR GAS AFTER THE US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S SUPPORTERS BREACHED THE US CAPITOL SECURITY IN WASHINGTON D.C. ON JANUARY 6, 2021.

(TAYFUN COSKUN/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES)

of the Capitol to Facebook. “We took back our house today,” read the caption.

The WhatsApp groups created to organize travel and meetups for Orthodox Trump supporters at the rally were divided.

Some members condemned the mob, but others thought the violence was worth it.

After one person wondered what the rest of the world must be thinking, another responded: “You gotta fight for freedom.”

Some alleged that the violent protesters belonged to Antifa, a loose network of antifascist activists who sometimes dress in all

the result of disinformation from our highest office,” it said in a tweet. “Extremists are among the rioters in DC supporting President Trump’s reckless rhetoric on America’s democratic institutions.” ADL’s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called on social media to suspend Trump’s accounts; a number of platforms eventually heeded those calls.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for Jewish public policy bodies, also named Trump. “This was a direct assault on our democratic process, and nothing less than an attempt to disrupt the peaceful transition of power in a presidential election and an act of sedition,” it said in a statement.

“We urge in the strongest possible terms that President Trump and others immediately cease incendiary rhetoric and restore order.”

Two legacy groups were cautious and condemned the violence while not directly blaming Trump. The American Jewish Committee called on Trump “to call for an immediate end to the riots and respect the certification process currently underway,” without noting that Trump started the fire, as many others had – including some leading Republicans.

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the umbrella foreign policy group for the Jewish community,

black and engage in street fights with rightwing extremists. Trump and his supporters have sought to portray Antifa, often without much evidence, as a threat to public safety.

One member sent a screenshot supposedly showing an announcement to Antifa members to show up for “election day” wearing Trump gear. One claimed in a voice message, “I bet you right now that people who started the rioting part was Antifa.”

Mostofsky said that even if he didn’t support the violence, the grievances that

did not name Trump at all, although its statement was forceful. “We are disgusted by the violence at the US Capitol and urge the rioters to disperse immediately,” it said in a statement. ”Law and order must be restored, and the peaceful transition of administrations must continue.”

The Orthodox Union weighed in at first by endorsing the Presidents’ Conference statement, but on Thursday morning issued a statement pointedly aimed at Trump and with a tone of relief at the prospect of Trump’s term ending and a new administration incoming.

“We are deeply saddened and shaken by yesterday’s violent events at the U.S. Capitol that have badly upset our sense of peace and security,” the statement said. “There is no place for the kind of outrageous incitement that fed that assault on the pillars of our democracy. It must stop. We call upon President Trump to do all that is in his power – and it is indeed in his power – to restore that peace.”

It concluded: “We pray to the Almighty that He grant strength and wisdom to Presidentelect Biden and Vice President-elect [Kamala] Harris as they lead this great country forward in unity, peace, and security.”

Agudath Israel of America posted on Twitter a statement by its longtime Washington director, Rabbi Abba Cohen.

caused the protest – over what Republicans have baselessly claimed is widespread election fraud – couldn’t be ignored and wouldn’t go away.

“The country is being gaslit by the media and by the courts and by the Democratic Party and by some in the Republican Party,” he said. “What you saw today was frustration, I don’t condone it … but I understand where it came from.”

He added: “This is going to get worse, it’s not going to get better.”

“The U.S. Capitol is more than a majestic building,” Cohen said. “It is the true house of the people and the home of democracy.

It is the hope of the nation. You feel it when entering its doors and walking its halls.

Today, it was a place of shameful violence and tyranny. Stop or we are lost.”

The Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly called on Trump “to defend and uphold the constitution of the United States,” but did not blame him for what it called an “attack on democracy and its institutions.”

The Reform movement’s Religious Action Center was less shy, saying, “The fact that today’s events were encouraged by the President of the United States who has refused to accept his electoral loss is equally terrifying and heartbreaking.”

Liberal groups like the RAC have throughout Trump’s presidency had an adversarial relationship with him, criticizing both his policies, including his antiimmigration policies, and his expressions of bigotry.

It was no different on Wednesday. “Earlier today, an armed seditious mob stormed the Capitol at President Trump’s behest, with the aim of preventing elected Members of

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“This is our worst fears realized” Extremism watchdogs, after months of warnings, watch the violence in DC

BY BEN SALES

(JTA) – They warned us. And warned us.

And warned us.

Extremism watchdogs said there could be violence in the streets. They said minority communities – Jews among them – could be put at risk. They said that the incessant, false claims of a rigged election, of a fraudulent vote, of a conspiracy to bring down the president, could all lead to violence on or after Election Day. All year, and especially after President Donald Trump said he would not accept the election results in November, people who monitor the far right in America warned about where America could be headed.

Officials and analysts worried openly about attacks on police or threats to synagogues or polling places in Black neighborhoods.

One dire document, produced by the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, predicted, among its more extreme scenarios, that conspiracy theorists may “threaten and target federally elected representatives [and] government institutions.”

That language came to life on Wednesday when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Congress, in the middle of a hearing about the election results, escaped into hiding.

Extremists, carrying the symbols of their hate, sat at the dais in the Senate chamber and peered into government computers, abandoned by staffers who fled in haste.

The vice president was rushed to a secure location while the president said “we love you” to the people who forced him to flee.

And someone – so far unnamed – was shot and killed in the middle of a crowd that was forcibly occupied the halls of government.

“Yeah, this is it,” said Heidi Beirich, who’s been monitoring extremists for 20 years, when asked if Wednesday’s chaos is what she worried about before the election.

“This is our worst fears realized.”

“Everyone in my world has been warning of this exact thing,” she added.

Watching their predictions come true on TV, people in the anti-extremism world on Wednesday all said they got no pleasure from saying “I told you so.”

“This seems to be a logical conclusion to so much of what we have seen throughout the year, whether it’s reopen protests and efforts to delegitimize state governments, whether it’s conspiracy theories,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the AntiDefamation League’s Center on Extremism.

“These things have consequences. People pay attention, and they animate those who could care less about their democracy.”

The chaos at the Capitol resembled what happened when white supremacists marched on Charlottesville, Virginia three years ago. That event inspired Joe Biden to run for president, because he didn’t want to live in an America that tolerated “the same antisemitic bile heard across Europe in the ‘30s.” Both were rallies with a lot of extremist groups that included violence.

Someone was killed then, too. Back then, Trump called the extremists “very fine people.” Today, in a video also urging the mob to disperse and “go home,” he told them, “We love you.”

RIOT POLICE PUSH BACK A CROWD OF TRUMP SUPPORTERS AFTER THEY STORMED THE CAPITOL BUILDING IN WASHINGTON, DC ON JAN. 6, 2021.

(ROBERTO SCHMIDT AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

But the analysts said they should not be equated. After all, said Michael Masters, the CEO of the Secure Community Network, a Jewish security agency, “why the protest is occurring is different.” In other words: Neo-Nazis marching with swastikas and chanting “Jews will not replace us” is somewhat different than pro-Trump extremists (including neo-Nazis) storming the Capitol and fighting with police officers.

They’re both really bad, according to these watchdogs, but they’re each bad in their own way.

What unites them, Segal said, is what unites all extremists: a sense of grievance.

They feel that something has been taken away from them, and they want to fight the people who took it. In Charlottesville, the neo-Nazis wanted to fight the Jews for taking away their imagined white societies.

On Wednesday, the mob wanted to fight the government for “stealing” Trump’s (imaginary) victory.

And unlike Charlottesville, the violence

at the Capitol wasn’t really about the Jews – though Orsini said Jews might be more attuned to it than other people. “This resonates more so because we’ve seen this uptick, this rhetoric of antisemitism. We’ve seen violent attacks,” he said.

The difference now is that Wednesday’s mob affected everyone in the country.

“What folks are seeing today, it’s not just a problem for Jews, it’s an American problem,” Segal said.

Extremism researchers aren’t sure what comes next. They want order to return to the Capitol, and they want the new administration to do what this one has not – to urge calm, to call out hate unequivocally.

But mostly, they want people to listen.

“I hoped I’d be out of a job years ago,” said Beirich, who co-founded the Global Project against Hate and Extremism only at the beginning of 2020, after a long career studying hate. “I didn’t want this to keep metastasizing and growing.”

Jewish groups CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

A PRO-TRUMP MOB ENTERS THE U.S. CAPITOL AS TEAR GAS FILLS THE CORRIDOR ON JANUARY 6, 2021.

(SAUL LOEB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

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JEWISH LEDGER

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Congress from certifying the presidential vote in the Electoral College,” said the Israel Policy Forum, a two-state advocacy group. (A staffer describes his experience during the tumult here.) “We unreservedly and wholly condemn this.”

J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, said, “The president repeatedly incited far-right thugs to subvert our democracy, and now they’re trying to do just that.”

“I’m heartbroken for our country,” National Council of Jewish Women CEO Sheila Katz said on Twitter. Hadassah, the women’s Zionist organization, alluded to Trump, saying that “The criminal behavior and events of this afternoon are abhorrent, as are attempts to disrupt democracy with incitement to violence.

As Jews, we know the power of words and demand our elected leaders raise the leve of discourse and lead with civility.”

Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, a group known for its support for Trump’s Israel policies, said on Twitter that the marauding in the Capitol was “thoroughly unacceptable & intolerable” but went on to say, baselessly, that the FBI was investigating a claim that the marauders belonged to Antifa, a catchall term for leftist protesters.

The Republican Jewish Coalition’ on Thursday morning congratulated Biden o winning the election, and in its statement included a plea for a peaceful transition to power.

“After the abhorrent mob attack yesterday on our Capitol, our elected officials went back to work, fulfilled their duty under our Constitution, and certified jewishledger.com

d el

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CAPITOL BRIEFS Reps. Lee Zeldin, David Kustoff condemn rioting… then object to electoral votes

BY RON KAMPEAS

(JTA) – A number of Republicans who said they would challenge the electoral votes in some states providing Joe Biden with a presidential victory changed their minds after pro-Trump marauders tore through the Capitol, attacking police and looting.

The two Jewish Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives did not join those who had a change of heart. Reps. David Kustoff of Tennessee and Lee Zeldin of New York were among the 147 Republicans who objected once Congress reconvened Wednesday night to complete the formal recognition of Biden’s victory. Both had waited until Wednesday morning to say they would object. Once the Capitol was overrun, the two GOP lawmakers took to Twitter to decry the violence.

“There must be ZERO tolerance for violence in any form!” Zeldin said.

“These actions are unacceptable,” Kustoff said. “We are a nation of laws, not a nation of violence.”

They went forward with their challenges based on allegations of voter fraud that have either been debunked or proven to be so minimal they would not remotely affect the outcome of the election. Zeldin spoke Wednesday evening on Fox News as the reconvened vote was underway.

“People are viewing this as bigger than President Trump,” he said. “It’s about our Constitution, our republic, elections and election integrity. We should be having

the results of the 2020 election,” the RJC said. “Now is the time for the same peaceful transition of power that the U.S. has carried out for over 220 years,” the RJC said. The statement made no mention of Trump.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America was scathing, calling for Trump’s removal from power. “President Trump has abused his power, endangered American lives, and undermined our democratic institutions,” it said.

“Today, he intentionally jeopardized security at the Capitol to further his depraved autocratic agenda, risking the lives of the Vice President and Republican and Democratic lawmakers,” the JDCA said. “Donald Trump was impeached by Congress for abuse of power one year ago, and today he should be immediately removed from office for sedition, insurrection, and abuse of power.” jewishledger.com

this conversation to ensure that we are addressing these issues and that we are not cowering from this conversation.”

The host, Laura Ingraham, said the left was exercising double standards by condemning the assault on the Capitol because, she claimed, it had remained silent during anti-racism protests over the summer.

“There are a whole lot of Americans who feel like this government is not hearing them is not representing them,” Zeldin responded. “This isn’t just about the president of the United States, this is about people on the left and their double standards.”

Israeli reporter’s live broadcast interrupted by agitator hurling antisemitic slurs

A PROTESTER HARASSES ISRAELI JOURNALIST GIL TAMARI AND LEVELS ANTI-SEMITIC SLURS. (SCREEN SHOT)

BY LAURA E. ADKINS

(JTA) – A live broadcast from the U.S. Capitol chaos on Wednesday by Israel’s Channel 13 Washington correspondent, Gil Tamari, was interrupted by an agitator who used antisemitic slurs. The protestor, dressed in all black and holding a GoPro, stepped in front of Tamari’s camera midbroadcast.

“I occupy this space, ok?” the protestor says after Tamari asks him to move away, a possible allusion to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.

“I don’t represent… the Israeli government,” Tamari responds.

“I wanna know why…what is a goy?

What is a goy? Tell us what a goy is,” the agitator continues.

“I don’t know,” says Tamari.

“Yes you do, you lying Israeli. They play the pilpul game.”

Pilpul, a method of Talmudic analysis, has been appropriated by antisemites in recent years, including neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin, who uses it in his publication The Daily Stormer to suggest that Jews are nefarious liars.

“You are all goy. Goy are cattle. You are cattle today,” the agitator continued, a possible reference to the cattle cars used to transport Jews to Nazi death camps during the Holocaust.

As Tamari and his co-anchor speak in Hebrew and try to regain control of the broadcast, the agitator steps fully into frame, seen wearing sunglasses and a helmet.

Ran Boker, a journalist for Yedioth Ahronot, tweeted the video on Wednesday with the caption, “the troll that interrupted Gil Tamari’s live broadcast from Washington, and his dignified response.”

The back of the agitator’s jacket displayed a red banner with the words, “DON’T SHOOT. PRESS.”

Ivanka Trump calls mob ‘American patriots’ in nowdeleted tweet (JTA) – As a mob of pro-Trump supporters breached the Capitol, Trumps’s children took to social media to talk to the mob. His

Jewish daughter Ivanka Trump is getting particularly hammered for one of her tweets, in which she referred to the violent rioters as “patriots.” “American Patriots ― any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable,” she wrote Wednesday.

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MILESTONES Hartford’s Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Foundation Grant $600,000 for pandemic-related needs WEST HARTFORD – Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford and Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford have distributed more than $600,000 in grants to individuals, agencies, and synagogues in the Greater Hartford Jewish community experiencing financial hardship due to the pandemic.

The grants were made through the Jewish Hartford Rapid Relief and Recovery Fund (RRR Fund), a joint initiative created in March 2020 in response to the pandemic.

The Federation and Foundation provided $150,000 in seed funding and nearly 500 community members contributed close to $1 million to the RRR Fund, including $300,000 in grants recommended by fund holders at the Jewish Community Foundation.

“Thanks to the generous support of so many, this Fund is providing humanitarian relief and bolstering the financial capacity of Jewish agencies and synagogues so they can continue providing important programs and services to our community throughout this crisis,” says Jacob Schreiber, the Foundation’s president and CEO. To date, the RRR Fund has provided the following grants: $285,000 to 11 local Jewish agencies for emergency operating support, PPE, and need-based day school scholarships related to COVID-19

$227,000 to 17 local synagogues for unanticipated COVID-19 related High Holy Day expenses, operating support, and PPE $88,280 for local humanitarian assistance in the form of emergency food assistance, individual and family financial assistance, and PPE Of the remaining resources, the RRR Fund’s Grants Committee has earmarked $40,000 for unanticipated community needs and $137,000 for future humanitarian needs. $175,000 was designated by major donors to establish the The Federation and Foundation recruited a group of seasoned community leaders to govern the RRR Fund, including a Development Committee chaired by Bruce Fischman and Dana Keller and a Grants Committee chaired by David Rosenthal and Sid Ulreich. All grants from the RRR Fund were approved by the Federation and Foundation Boards.

“The Fund is an apt example of the Jewish value of tzedakah: ensuring that every person’s basic needs are met,” says David Waren, Federation’s president and CEO. “These are unparalleled times, and our community continues to demonstrate extraordinary courage, empathy, and resilience.”

For a comprehensive look at the RRR Fund, visit bit.ly/RRRFundImpactReport.

ELANA MACGILPIN, DEVELOPMENT OFFICER FOR THE JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION, LEFT, AND CARRIE BERMAN, COORDINATOR, EDUCATIONAL SERVICES AND YOUNG EMISSARY PROGRAM OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION, HELP PREPARE FOOD DELIVERIES FOR 125 HOUSEHOLDS IN 19 GREATER HARTFORD TOWNS, AS PART OF THE JEWISH HARTFORD RAPID RELIEF AND RECOVERY FUND TO HELP THOSE IMPACTED BY COVID-19.

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Rachel Dratch Named Next Head of School of B STAMFORD – Rachel Levitt Klein Dratch has been named the next Head of School of Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy (BCHA), it was announced recently by the school’s President David Pikoff and Chairman of the Board of Incorporators Bob Zitter.

Mrs. Dratch will take over as head of the Stamford Jewish day school, which is open to students in preK through grade 12, in August 2021. She succeeds Jacqueline Herman who is stepping down as head of school after 10 years of service.

“When Jackie Herman told us of her plan to retire as Bi-Cultural’s Head of School, we knew how difficult it would be to find the right person to fill her shoes,” wrote Mr. Pitkoff and Mr. Zitter in a letter to the Bi-Cultural community announcing Mrs. Dratch’s appointment. “Under Jackie’s stewardship for the past 10 years, BCHA has developed and thrived as a school known for its warmth and academic excellence. It is with great pleasure that we announce that after a 15-month national search, we have found just that person – Rachel Levitt Klein Dratch.”

Mrs. Dratch currently serves as director of Educational Innovation at Prizmah – The Center for Jewish Day Schools. A national network for Jewish day schools and yeshivas headquartered in New York, at Prizmah Mrs. Dratch was charged with training and mentoring heads of school and senior administrators in day schools throughout the country.

David Abramson named president of Israel Cancer Research Fund NEW YORK, New York – David Abramson has been named president of Israel Cancer Research Fund, the largest nonprofit dedicated to funding cancer research in Israel, effective Jan. 15, 2021. He succeeds Rob Densen who held this position for two two-year terms.

Abramson, a resident of Chicago, Illinois, is chairman of Rapid Displays, a leading marketing and point-of-purchase display firm. He previously served as CEO of the company for two decades before it was acquired in 2019 by Gemspring Capital.

In the early 2000s, he was the chairman of Point of Purchase International, a global non-profit organization, representing 1,800 member companies. He holds an MBA from Northwestern Kellogg School of Business and a BBA from the University of Michigan.

Active in the Israel Cancer Research Fund for more than 10 years, Abramson served as chair of ICRF Chicago for the past seven years. The pivotal moment for him is when he and his wife travelled to Israel on an ICRF mission in 2015.

“The scientists were constantly thanking us for what we are doing for them in raising funds to support their work. I thought we should be thanking them for working in careers that have helped to find new and

more effective treatments in the battle against cancer. When I returned home, I felt more motivated than ever to help them succeed. The simplest way to do that is to raise funds for them to continue their lifesaving research.”

In response to Abramson’s appointment, Dr. Mark Israel, national executive director, noted that his “experience and success as a leader and businessman will undoubtedly bring ICRF to new heights.

His commitment, as evidenced by the outstanding contributions of the Chicago Chapter of ICRF in the past seven years, will bring new opportunities and new resources to ICRF to support the scientific endeavors of Israel’s leading cancer scientists.”

Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) was founded in 1975 by a group of North American physicians, scientists and lay leaders who sought to ensure adequate funding for high-potential cancer research investigations while helping to prevent the loss of Israel’s most promising cancer researchers to overseas institutions due to a lack of funding. ICRF has chapters in Connecticut, Toronto, Montreal, New York, Los Angeles, Palm Springs/Coachella Valley, Chicago, and Jerusalem.

TO date, ICRF has awarded more than 2,500 grants totaling more than $77.7 million. The efforts of Israeli cancer researchers have contributed to some of the most significant cancer breakthroughs of recent years and have resulted in collaborations with major international cancer organizations. jewishledger.com

Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy Prior to that, she served as director of Student Life and Israel Guidance at Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community Day School in Baltimore, Maryland; as High School Dean of Students and Lower School Assistant Principal at the Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, Maryland. She also served in various administrative capacities at several other day schools throughout the country, among them the Maimonides School and the Rabbi Soloveitchik Institute, both in Brookline, Massachusetts, Ramaz Upper School in Manhattan, and Frisch High School in New Jersey.

A graduate of Stern College with a BA in Judaic Studies, Mrs. Dratch holds an MA in Jewish Education from the Azrielli Graduate School for Jewish Education and Administration of Yeshivah University.

Although she will officially come on board at BCHA this summer, according to Mr. Pitkoff and Mr. Zitter, Mrs. Dratch will soon relocate to Stamford with her husband, Rabbi Mark Dratch, and will spend time in the spring working with Mrs. Herman becoming acquainted with students, parents, faculty and prospective families, in order to insure a smooth and seamless transition.

“I am honored and excited to be appointed the new Head of School for Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy. Building upon the vision and success of Mrs. Jackie Herman and Mr. Shuchatowitz,” said Mrs. Dratch. “I look forward to working with the schools’ administrative team, teachers, staff, students, parents, friends, and community members, to prepare our students for the 21st century challenges we may not even imagine yet. As Jews, American citizens and devoted community members who share responsibility and care for our world, graduates of BCHA will be prepared for tomorrow and beyond with strong Jewish identities and knowledge, skills and deep understanding how to navigate the work based on Jewish values, living lives of excellence, curiosity , joy and respect imbuing all we do.”

For now, Mrs. Dratch is preparing to move to Stamford.

“We look forward to Mrs. Dratch joining the Bi-Cultural family and our community. Over the coming months we will be arranging opportunities for her to meet members of our school and community,” wrote Mr. Pitkoff and Mr. Zitter.

“As for our beloved Jackie Herman,” they added, “we look forward to honoring her at our annual Gala on February 28, 2021 with the first ever Walter Shuchatowitz Award for Excellence in Education, as we celebrate all she has done and meant to Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy.”

ANSWERS TO JAN. 8 CROSSWORD

jewishledger.com

THE KOSHER CROSSWORD JAN. 15, 2021 “Something to Show” By: Yoni Glatt

Difficulty Level: Medium

Curbside pick up and local home delivery available!

SHABBAT DINNER TRADITIONAL DAIRY LUNCHEON DELI SANDWICH PLATTER DINNER MENU

Across 1. Skin opening 5. Nickname of a very strong Biblical judge, perhaps 9. It’s a sign 14. Bamba brand 15. Lighten 16. Be gaga over 17. Weapon desired by Lord Voldemort 19. “Seeya” 20. He played Bond, once 21. Rouses 23. “But Sarai was barren; She ___ no child” (Gen 11:30) 24. “___ Anochi” (Benny Friedman song) 26. Partner of desist

28. Bit of hair standing up 31. Settlement south of Jerusalem 33. Push 36. Source of the line “They shall beat their swords into plowshares” 38. Leopold Bloom or Stephen Dedalus, e.g.

40. Shtick 41. What to show those mentioned in 66-Across 43. Back in time 44. Like causing the suffering of living creatures 46. “1-2-3” preceder 48. Times 49. Made a quick stop 51. “___ HaTorah” 52. Fowl place

54. Guess 56. One in gan 58. “Wag the Dog” actress Anne 60. Came back from the beach?

64. Romantic interest of a Shtisel on “Shtisel” 66. Like one at the start of 17-Across and 11 & 30-Down, according to the Torah 68. Biggest human bone 69. Arendelle Queen 70. Young pup 71. “___ pretzels are making me thirsty!”

72. Jonah, e.g.

73. “Scrubs” locale: Abbr.

Down 1. Yehuda Amichai piece 2. Where to get a Nobel Prize 3. Alter the setting 4. Some synagogue figures that are shown great 41-Across 5. Work a line?

6. Chag ___ (Sukkot) 7. “Coffee ___ my cup of tea”: Samuel Goldwyn 8. Government health program 9. Some dip 10. “Rhoda” mom 11. Polite children’s game 12. Certain code 13. Being one is actually kind of

cool nowadays 18. Accelerate in neutral?

22. Not outspoken 25. Practice 27. NFL star Ndamukong 28. Leg bone 29. Taking advantage of 30. Metaphorical figure that catches up with all of us 32. Turn red, perhaps 34. Radio and Lady 35. Son of Seth 37. It’s often wrapped in leather by the observant 39. Amtrak stop: Abbr.

42. Kidnaps

45. Entertain-the-troops grp.

47. Many Jews show it tremendous 41-Across 50. Words from a Jedi 53. Midwest hub 55. Ireland’s ___ Lingus 56. The “biggest” president 57. Kind of korban 59. Ace’s place?

61. NFTY alternative 62. They might be spotted by the Grand Tetons 63. Like Tanya 65. One of the Bielski brothers 67. Boating item

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WHAT’S HAPPENING Jewish organizations are invited to submit their upcoming events to the our What’s Happening section. Events are placed on the Ledger website on Tuesday afternoons. Deadline for submission of calendar items is the previous Tuesday. Send items to: judiej@jewishledger.com.

focusing on regaining your inner calm and connection to people instead of screens.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 19

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28

The COVID-19 Vaccine and Judaism

Celebrate Tu B’Shvat!

Tuesday, Apr. 27 – Best-selling author Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, co-founder of the Happiness Studies Academy who also taught Happiness Studies at Columbia University, will discuss how to achieve happiness and rejoice in life under challenging circumstances.

Celebrate with Rabbi Marisa James, Director of Social Justice Programming at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York City, who leads the High Holiday services as visiting rabbi and cantor of Congregation Or Shalom in Orange will discuss Tu B’Shvat, and its universal message, on Jan. 28. Register at orshalomct.org.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12

THURSDAY, JANUARY 14

“The COVID-19 Vaccine: The Intersection Between Jewish Law, Ethics and Public Policy,” second of a two-part talk presented on Zoom by Young Israel of West Hartford and led by Rabbi Tuvia Brander, on Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. Join at youngisraelwh. org/zoom. For more information or to submit questions in advance, email info@ youngisraelwh.org.

“Poland, the Jews, and My Family” with Dr. Leon Chameides

Speaking of Nobel laureate Louis Gluck

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21

Dr. Leon Chameides will discuss Poland and Polish Jewish history and how members of his family were affected by them at “Poland, The Jews, and My Family,” a virtual talk sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford and CT Voices of Hope, on Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. Dr. Chameides, former director of pediatrics at Hartford Hospital, was born in Poland and spent the war years hidden in a Ukrainian GreekCatholic monastery. He is the author of two books: Strangers in Many Lands, a family history, and On the Edge of the Abyss, essays written by his father, Rabbi Kalman Chameides. For information and the Zoom link, visit jhsgh.org/poland/

Friends of the Library and Sisterhood of Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford will present “A Conversation about Louise Glück, 2020 Nobel Laureate for Literature,” on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. The virtual conversation is presented by CCSU Professor Aimee Pozorski and moderated by Karen Beyard, Learning Center coordinator.

Poems for discussion will be available for pre-registrants. For more information, visit cbict.org/calendar.

Are Your Kids Naked Online? For parents of Elementary School students

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13 Coping with the New Normal: Recover, Recharge and Rejoice Schoke Jewish Family Service presents the 9th Annual Saul Cohen-Schoke JFS Lecture, a series of three online presentations focusing on how to “recover, recharge and rejoice” while adapting to the new normal created by COVID-19. The free lectures are held at 7:30 p.m., and are co-sponsored by UJA/JCC Greenwich, Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County and the UJF Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien, in partnership with the Jewish Book Council.

To register, visit www.ctjfs.org/saulcohen-jfs-lecture. For more info, contact Matt Greenberg at (203) 921-4161 or mgreenberg@ctjfs.org.

Wednesday, Jan. 13 – Jason B. Rosenthal, author of My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me: A Memoir, the response to an essay published in the Sunday New York Times by his wife, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, called “You May Want to Marry My Husband.”

Wednesday, Feb. 10 – Tiffany Shlain, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and author of 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day A Week, will discuss “Tech Shabbat,” 18

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Book Group discussion: Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens Prof. Joyce Saltman will lead a discussion of the novel Where The Crawdads Sing

by Delia Owens, at this new 2021 book group hosted online by Congregation Or Shalom of Orange on Jan 14 at 7:30 p.m.

The book is an ode to the natural world, a heart-breaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder.

Participants need not have read the book to enjoy the discussion. Visit our website www. orshalomct.org to register.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15 Interfaith service honoring Dr. Marin Luther King Congregation Mishkan Israel will celebrate the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at a virtual interfaith service to be held Jan 15 at 7 p.m. On Oct. 1961, Dr. King spoke at Mishkan Israel at the invitation of his friend Rabbi Robert Goldburg invited his friend. The annual service began after the assassination of Dr. King to preserve this historic moment. Keynote speaker at the event is State Representative Robyn Porter. Faith leaders from Jewish, Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Bahai, and Unitarian traditions will join Rabbi Immerman and Cantor Giglio in leading the service, which is free and open to the community. For further information, visit cmihamden.org or call (203) 288-3877.

| JANUARY 15, 2021

Elementary school parent can learn how to protect your children from the dangers of our digital world in this session, to be held Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m., that goes beyond the exploitative world of sexting and social media into darker and more concerning areas of the internet to which young people have free and easy access. Designed for parents and guardians who may not be particularly tech-savvy themselves, Lisa Good will discuss topics such as the dark web, online pornography, cyberbullying and more. For more information: jewishnewhaven.org.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21 Teaching Jewish Diversity; Dismantling the “White, Male Jew Prof. Aaron Hahn Tapper of the University of San Francisco will discuss “Teaching Jewish Diversity; Dismantling the “White, Male Jew” on Jan. 21 at 7:30 on Zoom, as part of the 2021 series of virtual lectures surrounding the theme of “The Jewish Roots of Social Justice,” presented by the ALEPH Institute, a learning initiative sponsored by the Mandell JCC and UConn Judaic Studies. This session offers one way to both teach and deconstruct the dominant stereotypes that Jews reinforce when teaching about Jews and Judaism. For more information, visit judaicstudies.uconn.edu or mandelljcc.org.

COVID-19 Vaccines: The Who, What, When, Where & Why The COVID-19 vaccine provides hope to many, but with its arrival comes many questions. What does history tell us about previous mass vaccination efforts? Who gets the vaccine and when? When will herd immunity be achieved? Join us for a virtual panel at 8 p.m. discussion featuring eight distinguished health care professionals who will answer your questions who will answer your questions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. For information or to register, visit jewishnewhaven.org.

Short Story Coffee Break: We love Anderson Cooper Stories from We Love Anderson Cooper

by R. L. Maizes is up for discussion at the next Short Story Coffee Break on Jan. 21, 11 a.m. Maize will be on hand to answer questions at the Zoom event. Hosted on Zoom by Congregation Beth Israel of West Hartford on the first and third Thursdays of each month “Short Story Coffee Break” is a discussion of short stories by Jewish authors led by Beth Israel’s Learning Center Director Karen Beyard. For more information or to register and receive a copy of the next short story and Zoom link, email kbeyard@cbict.org.

Coming up: Feb. 4 – The Spinoza of Market Street by Isaac Bashevis Singer Feb. 18 – Purim Nights by Edith Pearlman

TUESDAY, JANUARY 26 Are Your Kids Naked Online? For parents of middle & high school students Parents of middle school and high school school parents learn how to protect your children from the dangers of our digital world in this session, to be held Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m., that goes beyond the exploitative world of sexting and social media into darker and more concerning areas of the internet to which young people have free and easy access. Designed for parents and guardians who may not be particularly tech-savvy themselves, Lisa Good will discuss topics such as the dark web, online pornography, cyberbullying and more.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 31 Israel and the Jewish Reform Movement Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) will discuss “The Legal Status of the Reform Movement in Israel” on Jan. 31 at 11 a.m. She will address the challenges jewishledger.com

TORAHPortion

JANUARY 12 – FEBRUARY 28 of having Reform conversions and weddings recognized, equal governmental funding, and the challenges facing Reform congregations. For more information, visit cbict.org/calendar.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2 Virtual Mission to Washington Join the first National Jewish Virtual Mission to Washington – an opportunity for communities across the United States to join together virtually with political leaders and policymakers to advocate for the future of the Jewish community. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about and advocate for laws that fight antisemitism, ensure a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, and provide government resources to keep Jewish institutions flourishing. For more information: jewishnewhaven.org.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7 In the Footsteps of David and Goliath: A Virtual Tour Yoramm Preminger will lead a virtual tour of the Elah Valley, the site of the battle between David and Goliath, on Zoom, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. The biblical text aid in the exploration of the geographical setting for the battle, as participants look at some of the sites mentioned such as Azekah and Sha’arayim. The story opens a window into the important historical period of the early days of the Kingdom of Israel. For more information, visit cbict.org/calendar.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11 “Purim On Tap” for Young Adults The Tribe, a group for adults in their 20’s and 30’s organized by Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford, and JewGood, a branch of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford that empowers young professionals to engage in philanthropy, are hosting “Purim on Tap,” a virtual discussion of the Purim story on Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m., with refreshments. For more information, visit cbict.org/calendar.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18 Jewish Ethics, Social Justice, and the 21st Century Rabbinate Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay of the Jewish Theological Seminary will discuss “Jewish Ethics, Social Justice, Community Organizing and the 21st Century Rabbinate” on Feb. 18 at 7:30 on Zoom, as part of the 2021 series of virtual lectures surrounding the theme of “The Jewish Roots of Social jewishledger.com

Justice,” presented by the ALEPH Institute, a learning initiative sponsored by the Mandell JCC and UConn Judaic Studies.

Rabbi Ruskay will focus on raising the scope and profile of social justice work and community organizing skills in the role of the contemporary rabbi. For more information, visit judaicstudies.uconn.edu or mandelljcc.org.

Beyond the Ghetto Gates with author Michelle Cameron The book Beyond the Ghetto Gates by Michelle Cameron is set in 1796-97, a rare happy epoch in Jewish life when Napoleon marched into Italy and demolished the ghetto gates, freeing the Jews who had long been trapped behind them. This virtual book discussion with Cameron on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m., explores issues the novel raises issue that remain pertinent today, including antisemitism, the conflict between assimilation and religious tradition, intermarriage, and the struggle between love and familial duty. For more information, visit cbict.org/calendar.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28 Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy’s gala goes virtual Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy 65th Annual Celebration Dinner, to be held virtually on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 6:30 p.m,. will honor several community leaders, including: Guests of Honor Stephanie and Josh Bilenker; Young Leadership Award recipients Nicole and Jonathan Makovsky; Doris Zelinsky, recipient of the Morton G. Scheraga President’s Award; and the many school alumni who are currently serving in the Israel Defense Force. In addition, Jacqueline Herman, who will be retiring as Bi-Cultural head of school at the end of this academic year, will receive the inaugural Walter Shuchatowitz Award for Excellence in Education. For more information, call (203) 329-2186 or visit bcha-ct.org.

Looking for God in All the Right Places with author Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin will discuss his book Looking for God in All the Right Places, on Zoom, Feb. 28 at 4 p.m. Rabbi Slakin is well known for his writing, teaching and activism. He has written or edited three Torah commentaries – two of which are for teens. Several of his books have won national awards. His award-winning blog, “Martini Judaism: for those who want to be shaken and stirred,” is published by the Religion News Service. He is currently spiritual leader of Temple Israel in West Palm Beach, Florida. For more information, visit cbict.org/calendar.

Vaera

BY SHLOMO RISKIN

“But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh” (Ex. 9:12)

O

ne of the more difficult theological problems raised in the book of Exodus is precisely this verse, in which the Bible declares that it was God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart to be impervious to the cries of his forced laborers.

To be sure, during the first five plagues, it was Pharaoh himself who was responsible for his stubborn cruelty, who hardened his own heart. Now that we have come to the sixth plague of boils, how can we blame the Egyptian monarch if it was God who prevented him from freeing his Hebrew slaves?!

Such conduct on the part of the Creator of the Universe goes against those very standards by which the world and humanity first came into being. “And God said, Let us make a human being in our image and like our likeness…” (Gen. 1:26), to which Seforno comments that only the human being has untrammeled and independent freedom of moral choice. God is volitional – He cannot, by definition, choose evil, as God is consummate goodness. That means that human beings are created with the capacity to choose to do even that which God would not have wanted them to do.

So how can it be that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, preventing him from hearkening to God, Moses and the Hebrews, preventing him from repentance? Our Biblical text reiterates God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart four more times, with reference to the plagues of hail, locusts, darkness, and death of the first-born. How can God hold Pharaoh responsible for these crime when it was God who prevented Pharaoh from repenting?

Seforno does not believe that God prevented Pharaoh from repenting: “… when God may He be blessed, says, I shall harden the heart of Pharaoh, it merely means that (Pharaoh) will be strengthened by the suffering of the plagues, and not release the Hebrews because of his fear of the plagues….” (ad loc. 7:3) Seforno insists that in hardening Pharaoh’s heart from “running scared” and freeing the Hebrews, God was only enhancing Pharaoh’s freedom to make moral decisions; God was removing the mayhem being wrought upon Egyptian society by the plagues from becoming the cardinal reason for his sending the Hebrews out, which would have made the

decision not at all a matter of morality but rather an issue of political expediency.

On the basis of this commentary, the entire logic of the plagues becomes much clearer. During the second plague of frogs, Moses explains that the reason for the horrific discomfiture, the turn-around of the Nile from being a life-giving god of Egypt into becoming a macabre and ridiculous repository of blood and frogs is “in order that you may know that there is none like the Lord (YHVH) our God” (Ex. 8:6); and the fourth plague of swarms of insects is “in order that you know that I am the Lord (YHVH) in the midst of the land” (Ex. 8:18).

In the beginning of our Biblical portion of Va’Era, God’s opening words are: “I am the Lord YHVH; I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai, powerful God of omnipotence, but with My Name YHVH I did not make Myself known to them. Therefore say to the Israelites: I am YHVH; I shall take you out from under the burdens of Egypt…” (Ex 6:2,3,6).

What is in a Name? It is the most understandable partial definition of a being whose very essence insists that “he” will ultimately remain incomprehensible to mortal humans. The Hebrew letters of YHVH, in accordance with their vocalization, spell out the very “He will effectuate”; given the content, it means that He (God) will bring about redemption – freedom for the Israelites and ultimately freedom and redemption for all humanity.

It is in the future tense because God acts in history and it is open-ended, because the God of history acts in concert with Israel and the nations, and is thereby “limited” by their actions or lack thereof. The root noun HVH, as in ahavah, means love, as our Talmudic Sages understood when they defined this particular ineffable Name of God (the Tetragrammaton) as referring to the God of love and compassion (Hebrewmidat ha’rahamim, Ex: 34:6, Rashi ad loc.). Thus, the God who loves humanity will turn His back, as it were, upon those who exploit, enslave and murder innocent human beings.

This is the lesson that God wanted to teach Pharaoh, totalitarian ruler of the most powerful nation at that time. God, YHVH, who loves His creation, will act in history to free all slaves and redeem all who are oppressed. Hence, it was crucial that God harden Pharaoh’s heart to free him from succumbing to pressure from the plagues; Pharaoh had to free the Israelites only because he recognized the ultimate authority of the God, whose universal laws of freedom must govern the world.

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JANUARY 15, 2021

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OBITUARIES AMKRAUT Mickey (Muriel) Amkraut, 95, of Boca Raton, Fla., formerly of Orange, Conn. and Yonkers, N.Y., died Dec. 27. She was the widow of Lawrence Amkraut. She was the daughter of the late Louis and Rose Lerner.

She is survived by her children, Bruce and his wife Anita, and Lisa; her friend David Maxwell of Chestnut Hill, Mass.; her grandson Eric Amkraut of Orange; her brother Marvin a nd his wife Marilyn of Springfield, N.J.; two nieces and five nephews.

DANSKY Bernard Dansky, 89, of Toms River, N.J., formerly of Edison N.Y., died Dec. 30. He was the widower of Irma (Gitlen) Dansky. He was born in Hartford. He served in the United States Army from 1953 - 1955 serving his country during the Korean War. He was a member of Congregation B’nai Israel of Toms River.

He is survived by his daughters, Janice Bailey and her husband Jim of Warner Robbins, Ga., and Cynthia Schwemer and her husband David of Manalapan, N.J.; his sister Beverly Dajches of Scottsdale, Ariz.; his grandchildren, Eric Bailey, David Bailey and his wife Kristi, Drew Schwemer and his wife Rory, Robert Schwemer and his wife Kate, Jason Schwemer and his wife Kelsea; and two great-grandchildren, Mackenzie Rose Schwemer, and Joel David Bailey.

FELTMAN George Feltman, 63, of Liverpool, N.Y., died Dec. 30. Born in Hartford, he was the son of the late Philip and Frances Feltman. He is survived by his daughter Lindsey Feltman and fiancé Bonita Kristoff both of Syracuse N.Y.; his brother and sister-in-law, Elyse and Steven Feltman of West Hartford; and two sisters Joanne Feltman of New York, N.Y., and Susan Feltman Gaeta of Burke, Va; and several nephews and nieces.

GOLDEN Gerald Seymour Golden, age 87, died Jan. 5. He was the widower of Helen (Pearlstein) Golden and Frances Prague.

Born in Hartford, he was the son of the late Elsie (Brosler) and Harry Golden. He was a founder of Congregation Beth Ahm in Windsor. He is survived by his daughters, Lisa Caron and her husband Denis of Middletown, Nina Krasser and her husband Jerry of Columbia, and Lynne Bower and her husband Michael of Murrell’s Inlet, S.C.; his grandchildren, Arielle Caron, Elyse Caron-Sawyer and her husband Guy, Ian Krasser and his wife Samantha, Alex Krasser and his fiancé Marguerite, Allyson Jenkins and her husband Billy, Jillian Bower; his great-granddaughter Tovah Caron; his sister Valerie (Golden) Gubernick and her husband Barry of Miami, Fla.; and several nieces and nephews.

He was also predeceased by his brother, Edmund Golden.

GOLDSTEIN Ada D. Goldstein, 94, of West Hartford, formerly of Clinton, died Dec. 29. She was the widow of David Goldstein.

Born in Hartford, she was the daughter of the late Samuel Maislen, MD, and Elizabeth Aisenberg Maislen. She was also predeceased by her son, Lawrence Goldstein. She is survived by her children, Richard H. Goldstein and his wife Debra of West Hartford, and Elizabeth A. Goldstein of Clinton; and her grandchildren, Katie and Sarah Goldstein.

JACOBS Stanley “Buddy” Jacobs, 94, died Dec. 31.

He was the husband of Marjorie Jacobs.

Born in New Haven, he was the son of the late Alice and Israel Jacobs. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children, Richard Jacobs,. Lynn Jacobs and her husband Jeremy Hyman of Fayetteville,

Ar., Bruce Jacobs and his wife Irene of New Haven, and Daniel Jacobs and his wife Nancy)of Concord, Calif.; his grandchildren, Kevin (Sara), Allison (Josh) and Jonah; and his great-granddaughters, Mika, Noa and Oren. He was also predeceased by his brother Howard.

LEVINE Lydia (Drabkin) (Olins) Levine, 100, of West Haven and Woodmont, Conn., and Pompano Beach, Fla., died Dec. 28. She was the widow of Bennett S. Olins, Judge Norton M. Levine and longtime companion Ned Herzog. Born in New Haven, she was the daughter of the late Max and Bertha (Niefeld) Drabkin. She was an active member of Mishkan Israel. She is survived by her children, Marc Olins and his wife Nancy of North Haven, and Caryl Olins of Cathedral City, Calif.; her grandchildren, Kimberly F. Olins, and David B. Olins and his wife Lynn; her great-grandchildren, Matthew G. Olins and Samuel A. Mahler; and several nieces and nephews. She was also predeceased by her siblings, Harry Drabkin, Faye (Strachman) Peters, and Dorothy Bruckner.

MEYERS Sylvia Meyers, 98, of Stamford, died Dec. 31. She was the widow of Les Meyers. She was raised in Bridgeport. She is survived by her children, Marty Meyers and wife Suzanne of Middlebury, and Sherry Meyers Meeks and her husband Phil of New York, N.Y.; her grandchildren, Carey Meyers and her husband Steven Kane of Brooklyn, N.Y., Matthew Meyers and wife Fran Lartigue of New Marlborough, Mass., and Chelsea Meeks Kaplan of Bethesda, Md.: and her great-grandchildren, Madeleine and Elliot Meyers-Kane, Mirabelle, Isaac and Quinn Meyers and Zach, Drew and Ben Kaplan..

NATHMAN Richard N. Nathman, 89, of New Haven, formerly of Hamden, died Dec. 30. Born in New Haven, he was the son of the late Jack and Selma Nathman. He is survived by his children, Steven (Grace) Nathman of North Branford, Robert (Keith Proto) Nathman of West Haven, and Susan (John) DeNicola of Hamden; his grandchildren Jacqueline Nathman, Michael Nathman, Andrew Nathman, Jessica Tarducci, Jamie Denicola; and his great-grandchildren, Ashlley Jade Nathman, Levi Norris Nathman and Matea Marie Tarducci.

ROSENBLATT Donald C. Rosenblatt, 98, of Newington, died Dec. 29. He was the widower of Phyllis (Eldrich) Rosenblatt.

Born in Hartford, he was the son of the late Joseph and Mary Rosenblatt. He was a member of Temple Sinai. He served in the Army During World War II in Europe.

He is survived by his son Paul Rosenblatt of Cromwell; and his granddaughter Mary Rosenblatt of Wallingford.

The Ledger prints a basic obituary free of charge. Free obituaries are edited to fit the newspaper’s style.

Obituaries that those submitting would like to run “as is,” as well as accompanying photos, may be printed for a charge. For more information: ­judiej@jewishledger. com, 860.231.2424.

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CT SYNAGOGUE DIRECTORY To join our synagogue directories, contact Howard Meyerowitz at (860) 231-2424 x3035 or howardm@jewishledger.com.

BLOOMFIELD B’nai Tikvoh-Sholom/ Neshama Center for Lifelong Learning Conservative Rabbi Debra Cantor (860) 243-3576 office@BTSonline.org www.btsonline.org BRIDGEPORT Congregation B’nai Israel Reform Rabbi Evan Schultz (203) 336-1858 info@cbibpt.org www.cbibpt.org Congregation Rodeph Sholom Conservative (203) 334-0159 Rabbi Richard Eisenberg, Cantor Niema Hirsch info@rodephsholom.com www.rodephsholom.com Jewish Senior Services Traditional Rabbi Stephen Shulman (203) 396-1001 sshulman@jseniors.org www.jseniors.org CHESHIRE Temple Beth David Reform Rabbi Micah Ellenson (203) 272-0037 office@TBDCheshire.org www.TBDCheshire.org CHESTER Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek Reform Rabbi Marci Bellows (860) 526-8920 rabbibellows@cbsrz.org www.cbsrz.org

COLCHESTER Congregation Ahavath Achim Conservative Rabbi Kenneth Alter (860) 537-2809 secretary@congregationahavathachim.org EAST HARTFORD Temple Beth Tefilah Conservative Rabbi Yisroel Snyder (860) 569-0670 templebetht@yahoo.com FAIRFIELD Congregation Ahavath Achim Orthodox (203) 372-6529 office@ahavathachim.org www.ahavathachim.org Congregation Beth El, Fairfield Conservative Rabbi Marcelo Kormis (203) 374-5544 office@bethelfairfield.org www.bethelfairfield.org GLASTONBURY Congregation Kol Haverim Reform Rabbi Dr. Kari Tuling (860) 633-3966 office@kolhaverim.org www.kolhaverim.org GREENWICH Greenwich Reform Synagogue Reform Rabbi Jordie Gerson (203) 629-0018 hadaselias@grs.org www.grs.org

Temple Sholom Conservative Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz Rabbi Chaya Bender Cantor Sandy Bernstein (203) 869-7191 info@templesholom.com www.templesholom.com HAMDEN Temple Beth Sholom Conservative Rabbi Benjamin Edidin Scolnic (203) 288-7748 tbsoffice@tbshamden.com www.tbshamden.com MADISON Temple Beth Tikvah Reform Rabbi Stacy Offner (203) 245-7028 office@tbtshoreline.org www.tbtshoreline.org MANCHESTER Beth Sholom B’nai Israel Conservative Rabbi Randall Konigsburg (860) 643-9563 Rabbenu@myshul.org programming@myshul.org www.myshul.org MIDDLETOWN Adath Israel Conservative Spiritual Leaders: Rabbi Marshal Press Rabbi Michael Kohn (860) 346-4709 office@adathisraelct.org www.adathisraelct.org

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NEW HAVEN The Towers Conservative Ruth Greenblatt, Spiritual Leader (203) 772-1816 rebecca@towerone.org www.towerone.org Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel Conservative Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen (203) 389-2108 office@BEKI.org www.BEKI.org

ORANGE Chabad of Orange/ Woodbridge Chabad Rabbi Sheya Hecht (203) 795-5261 info@chabadow.org www.chabadow.org

Orchard Street ShulCongregation Beth Israel Orthodox Rabbi Mendy Hech t 973-723-9070 www.orchardstreetshul.org

Congregation Or Shalom Conservative Rabbi Alvin Wainhaus (203) 799-2341 info@orshalomct.org www.orshalomct.org

NEW LONDON Ahavath Chesed Synagogue Orthodox Rabbi Avrohom Sternberg 860-442-3234 Ahavath.chesed@att.net

RIDGEFIELD Congregation Shir Shalom of Westchester and Fairfield Counties Reform Rabbi David Reiner Cantor Debora Katchko-Gray (203) 438-6589 office@ourshirshalom.org

Congregation Beth El Conservative Rabbi Earl Kideckel (860) 442-0418 office@bethel-nl.org www.bethel-nl.org NEWINGTON Temple Sinai Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Bennett (860) 561-1055 templesinaict@gmail.com www.sinaict.org NEWTOWN Congregation Adath Israel Conservative Rabbi Barukh Schectman (203) 426-5188 office@congadathisrael.org www.congadathisrael.org NORWALK Beth Israel Synagogue – Chabad of Westport/ Norwalk Orthodox-Chabad Rabbi Yehoshua S. Hecht (203) 866-0534 info@bethisraelchabad.org bethisraelchabad.org Congregation Beth El-Norwalk Conservative Rabbi Ita Paskind (203) 838-2710 Jody@congbethel.org www.congbethel.org

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Temple Shalom Reform Rabbi Mark Lipson (203) 866-0148 admin@templeshalomweb.org www.templeshalomweb.org

SIMSBURY Chabad of the Farmington Valley Chabad Rabbi Mendel Samuels (860) 658-4903 chabadsimsbury@gmail.com www.chabadotvalley.org Farmington Valley Jewish Congregation, Emek Shalom Reform Rabbi Rebekah Goldman Mag (860) 658-1075 admin@fvjc.org www.fvjc.org SOUTH WINDSOR Temple Beth Hillel of South Windsor Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Glickman (860) 282-8466 tbhrabbi@gmail.com www.tbhsw.org SOUTHINGTON Gishrei Shalom Jewish Congregation Reform Rabbi Alana Wasserman (860) 276-9113 President@gsjc.org www.gsjc.org

TRUMBULL Congregation B’nai Torah Conservative Rabbi Colin Brodie (203) 268-6940 office@bnaitorahct.org www.bnaitorahct.org WALLINGFORD Beth Israel Synagogue Conservative Rabbi Bruce Alpert (203) 269-5983 richardcaplan@sbcglobal.net www.bethisrael/wallingford. org WASHINGTON Greater Washington Coalition Rabbi James Greene (860) 868-2434 admin@jewishlifect.org www.jewishlife.org WATERFORD Temple Emanu - El Reform Rabbi Marc Ekstrand Rabbi Emeritus Aaron Rosenberg (860) 443-3005 office@tewaterfrord.org www.tewaterford.org WEST HARTFORD Beth David Synagogue Orthodox Rabbi Yitzchok Adler (860) 236-1241 office@bethdavidwh.org www.bethdavidwh.org Beth El Temple Conservative Rabbi James Rosen Rabbi Ilana Garber (860) 233-9696 hsowalsky@bethelwh.org www.bethelwesthartford.org Chabad House of Greater Hartford Rabbi Joseph Gopin Rabbi Shaya Gopin, Director of Education (860) 232-1116 info@chabadhartford.com www.chabadhartford.com

Congregation P’nai Or Jewish Renewal Shabbat Services Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener (860) 561-5905 pnaiorct@gmail.com www.jewishrenewalct.org Kehilat Chaverim of Greater Hartford Chavurah Adm. - Nancy Malley (860) 951-6877 mnmalley@yahoo.com www.kehilatchaverim.org The Emanuel Synagogue Conservative Rabbi David J. Small (860) 236-1275 communications@emanuelsynagogue.org www.emanuelsynagogue.org United Synagogues of Greater Hartford Orthodox Rabbi Eli Ostrozynsk i synagogue voice mail (860) 586-8067 Rabbi’s mobile (718) 6794446 ostro770@hotmail.com www.usgh.org Young Israel of West Hartford Orthodox Rabbi Tuvia Brander (860) 233-3084 info@youngisraelwh.org www.youngisraelwh.org WETHERSFIELD Temple Beth Torah Unaffiliated Rabbi Seth Riemer (860) 828-3377 tbt.w.ct@gmail.com templebethtorahwethersfield. org WOODBRIDGE Congregation B’nai Jacob Conservative Rabbi Rona Shapiro (203) 389-2111 info@bnaijacob.org www.bnaijacob.org

Congregation Beth Israel Reform Rabbi Michael Pincus Rabbi Andi Fliegel Cantor Stephanie Kupfer (860) 233-8215 bethisrael@cbict.org www.cbict.org

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