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Useful Information
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WELCOMING REFUGEES IN TEANECK page 6
UNDERSTANDING THE FRISCH THANK YOU FUROR page 12
of Jewish Families

ROCKLAND'S RABBI FINKELSTEIN page 18

A-Camping
‘THE NUMBER ON GREAT-GRANDPA’S ARM’ page 48
WHO IS A JEWISH GRAMMY NOMINEE? page 48
We Will Go

IN THIS ISSUE
Summer Choices
Galore

86
Homemade Purim
Costumes
Taming Tummy
Troubles

JANUARY 26, 2018

WINTER
2018
Supplement to The Jewish Standard • February 2018

VOL. LXXXVII NO. 19 $1.00 2017

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2 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018


Israeli moon mission still on
● The contest may be over, but the Is-
raeli team isn’t quitting the race.
This week, Google announced that
its X Prize contest for flying a space-
ship to the moon and sending back
selfies has ended.
There were no winners.
The contest was announced in 2007.
The deadline was 2014. Then it was
extended to March 31, 2018. But with
none of the five remaining teams of
rocket scientists booked for a launch,
Google announced this week that
there would no more extensions, and
therefore no winner.
“If every X Prize competition we
launch has a winner, we are not being
audacious enough, and we will con-
tinue to launch competitions that are
literal or figurative moonshots, pushing
the boundaries of what’s possible,” the
leaders of Google’s X Prize Foundation
said in a statement.
“Though the prize is coming to an
end, we continue to hold a deep ad-
miration for all Google Lunar X Prize
teams, and we will be rooting for them
as they continue their pursuit of the
Israeli firm seeks to boost aging satellites
● Your communications satellite is
old. It’s running out of fuel. Its orbit
will decay and it soon will crash to
earth, burning up hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars of otherwise sound
hardware.
Who are you going to call?
Effective Space, a new Israeli start-
up, hopes you’ll call it. Headquar-
tered in London, with its research
and design center in Tel Aviv, Effective
Space just signed a $100 million con-
tract with a major satellite operator
to launch two of its so-called Space
Drones by 2020.
The 400-kilogram Space Drone is
designed to dock with an existing sat-
ellite and provide station-keeping and
Diet slimming down Sherman the overweight Israeli hedgehog
● Sherman the overweight
hedgehog, who was put on a
diet at a zoo in Israel, has lost
about one-tenth of his body
weight.
Sherman weighed 3.5 pounds,
double the average weight of
a normal hedgehog, when he
was taken in by the Ramat Gan
Safari outside of Tel Aviv in No-
vember. The Safari announced
this week that Sherman has lost
0.33 pounds.
Sherman is one of 10 hedge-
hogs that were found waddling
through the streets in Israel.
They had eaten so much, mostly
moon and beyond.”
And SpaceIL, the nonprofit Israeli
organization that launched with its eye
on X Prize, will continue its pursuit.
In a press release this week, SpaceIL
confirmed that it still is moving for-
ward with plans to land on the moon
this year. In an interview last year,
Eran Privman, the chief executive of
SpaceIL, told Space News that even
if didn’t win the $20 million prize, the
mission would continue.
“At the end of the day, our main
target is not only the competition, but
putting a spacecraft on the moon,”
he said. “If we feel we are not ma-
ture enough to meet the deadline, we
would be in favor of doing a proper
mission rather than stick to the date of
the competition.”
Three other teams still competing
for the prize were from India, Japan,
and the United States; the fourth was a
global consortium.
To date, only three countries have
landed vehicles on the moon: the for-
mer Soviet Union, the United States,
and China. LARRY YUDELSON
altitude-control capabilities.
Space Drone will use its own elec-
tric propulsion to maneuver into posi-
tion with the target satellite, then take
over maneuvering the satellite itself —
either for the long term or for shorter
activities (such as moving an aging
satellite into a “graveyard orbit”).
cat food that warmhearted Israe-
lis leave on the streets for strays,
that they had problems curling
themselves into balls to defend
themselves against predators.
All the hedgehogs were put on
food and exercise regimens. The
plan is to get them trim enough
to be released by the summer.
The hedgehogs were fed cat
food, but in smaller portions, and
it was supplemented with fruits
and vegetables, the Jerusalem
Post reported. And the food
was placed far from the animals,
forcing them to have to walk for
their dinners. JTA WIRE SERVICE
Page 3
Nathan Goshen
Keeping satellites already in orbit
happy and humming is turning into a
competitive space, so to speak. Space
Logistics, a subsidiary of Orbital
ATK in the United States, expects to
launch its first life-extension space-
craft this year. Space Drone would be
smaller and cheaper than the Space
Logistics model.
As the space around the earth be-
comes more and more cluttered with
satellites, including very small nano-
satellites, making better use of exist-
ing assets may help minimize the very
real potential for collisions with an
estimated 170 million pieces of space
debris floating in the earth’s upper
atmosphere. BRIAN BLUM/ISRAEL21C.ORG
Candlelighting:
Friday, Jan. 26, 4:48 p.m.
Shabbat ends:
Saturday, Jan. 27, 5:50 p.m.
CONTENTS
NOSHES ...............................................................4
BRIEFLY LOCAL ..............................................14
ROCKLAND ...................................................... 18
COVER STORY ................................................ 22
JEWISH WORLD ............................................ 27
OPINION ........................................................... 38
THE FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE ................... 47
CROSSWORD PUZZLE ................................ 47
ARTS & CULTURE ..........................................48
CALENDAR ......................................................50
OBITUARIES .................................................... 53
CLASSIFIEDS ..................................................54
REAL ESTATE.................................................. 57
ON THE COVER: From left,
Abraham Sutzkever, Israel Zeligman,
and Gershon Abramovitsh stand
by a wagon of materials and
objects they recovered after Vilna’s
liberation from the Germans in
July 1944. YIVO INSTITUTE
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The Jewish Standard assumes no responsibility to return unsolic-
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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 3
Noshes
“For the duration of that performance,
adult life didn’t just seem possible;
it seemed like it might actually be fun.”
– Rachel Shukert, in Tablet, writing about how Neil Diamond showed up
unexpectedly in 2002 at her NYU graduation, which had been a grim
affair, overshadowed by the still-raw 9/11 attacks, until he brought them
surprising joy. Mr. Diamond, who has Parkinson’s, has just announced
SKIRTING AN ISSUE:
that he no longer will tour.
The Hasty Pudding
is slow to change
Harvard’s Hasty characters in club shows. anne” ended in 1997
Pudding Theatri- Harvard admitted have flopped. She has
cals club was set women in 1977, when it swung erratically from
to honor PAUL RUDD, merged with Radcliffe, one very vocal political
48, and MILA KUNIS, 34, but men still are play- viewpoint to another
as its respective man ing all the women’s parts (like running as the
and woman of the year in club shows. Pressure presidential candidate
on January 25. The is building fast to let of the leftwing Peace
country’s oldest theater women play women. A and Freedom party
organization — it was star role in a Hasty pro- in 2012 and voting for
founded in 1844 — gives duction can open profes- Trump in 2016).
the award annually to sional doors. Activists Barr recently said the
“performers who have are trying to get Kunis, Roseanne character will
made lasting and among others, to speak Paul Rudd Mila Kunis David Draiman be a Trump supporter
impressive contributions out about this. in the new series. Many
to the world of enter- As I wrote my have said it’s absurd that
tainment.” The honorees Grammys article a feminist character like
are treated to a fun- in this issue (page Roseanne — a supporter
filled parade before they 48), I watched a number of gay rights — would
are presented with the of YouTube perfor- be a Trump supporter.
“Pudding Pot” in Farkas mance videos. Here’s I don’t think the show’s
Hall, the Hastys’ historic four you really should target audience will like
home in Harvard Square. see, and that are easy to this depiction, which
The woman of the find by googling. A Barr is responsible for. I
year award began in video of the band suspect another Barr TV
1951 and the man of the “Disturbed” singing “The failure is looming.
year award began in Sound of Silence” was Most of you know that
1967. Kunis and Rudd released late in 2016. It’s Gilbert has not faded
are the second Jew- sung by “Disturbed” Roseanne Barr Michael Fishman Sara Gilbert into the character actor
ish duo to win in the front man DAVID Twilight Zone. She had
same year. In 1978, the DRAIMAN, 44. The performance in the ally hear “Somewhere” WEISS (1921-2010). a juicy recurring role on
late opera singer BEV- song, written by PAUL official video. Both anew, almost like you’re An eight-episode “The Big Bang Theory”
ERLY SILLS and actor SIMON in 1963-64, has interpretations have hearing it for the first revival of the hit as Professor Leslie Win-
RICHARD DREYFUSS, found a new audience their strong points. time. I found it appropri- show “Roseanne” kle, the sometime lover
now 70, won. As of via the “Disturbed” Israel “IZ” ate a guy named “Israel” will premiere on ABC on of main character Leon-
2018, 13 Jewish men and video and the video has Kamakawiwo‘ole was a is singing a song penned March 27. The entire ard Hofstader (played
10 Jewish women have racked up an astonish- native Hawaiian singer by two Jews. E.Y. “Yip” original main cast will by Johnny Galecki, who
won the award. ing 325 million views to who died in 1997 at 38. HARBURG (1896-1981) return: ROSEANNE played her boyfriend on
The Hasty Pudding date. A video of A video of him singing wrote the lyrics and BARR, 65; John Good- the original “Roseanne”).
club, which is private, Draiman singing “Si- “Somewhere over the HAROLD ARLEN (1905- man, Laurie Metcalf, Even better: Gilbert is the
does admit women. lence” on Conan Rainbow” was released 86) wrote the music. MICHAEL FISHMAN, 36 creator and main pro-
However, to date, no O’Brien’s show has got in 2010 and gradually It’s also easy to find a (as Roseanne’s son), and ducer of “The Talk,” a hit
woman has been cast in another 75 million views became known. To date, medley that seamlessly SARA GILBERT, 42 (as ABC daytime talk show.
a Hasty Pudding show. (also on YouTube). 350 million people have weaves “Somewhere” Roseanne’s young- She also co-hosts “The
Harvard was an all-male Draiman really has a seen the video. Israel’s with Israel K’s version er daughter). Talk.” So you will not be
college when the club great, dramatic voice, sweet high voice and so- of “What a Wonder- Every series and other shocked when I tell you
began, so — understand- and this take on the prano ukulele somehow ful World” on YouTube. project (including reality that Gilbert is a main
ably — men dressed as song on O’Brien is a lot are perfectly matched “World” was co-written and talk shows) Ms. Barr producer of the “Rose-
women played female more laid-back than his with this song. You re- by GEORGE DAVID has done since “Rose- anne” revival. –N.B.

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard Middleoftheroad1@aol.com

4 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 4
 Last year, the #WeRemember campaign
reached 250+ million people around the world.
It was the largest Holocaust remembrance event in history.
Yet, we still have more to do.

In 2017, anti-Semitism grew to record levels…

Holocaust denial is relentless,
and unfortunately, the Survivors among
us are dwindling.

Join JFCS of Northern New Jersey in honoring

International Holocaust Remembrance Day
January 27, 2018.

Post your own photo on social media with the

hashtag #WeRemember.

For our ancestors, and all

subsequent generations –
let us never forget.

Teaneck • Wayne • Fair Lawn

201-837-9090 • www.jfcsnnj.org

JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 5

Local
‘We were strangers ourselves’
Two Teaneck shuls find different approaches to help welcome refugees
LOIS GOLDRICH

O
ver the last several years,
members of Temple Emeth in
Teaneck have grown increas-
ingly concerned about the plight
of refugees.
“I think the issue of refugees came to the
world’s attention around 2013, as we became
aware of the refugee crisis that was generated
by the Syrian civil war,” Steven Sirbu, the con-
gregation’s rabbi, said. “Some children were
losing their lives in perilous Mediterranean
crossings, and countless more were losing
their childhoods in refugee camps. It was the
largest displacement of people since World
War II, and there was something about this
crisis that resonated with me and with others
in my congregation.”
Community events focused on immigra-
tion stirred the synagogue community as
well. And they noticed that the name HIAS
appeared over and over again.
“The 2015-16 selection for JFNNJ’s One
Book, One Community program was ‘A Back-
pack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka: A
Memoir,’ by Lev Golinkin,” Rabbi Sirbu said.
“The author tells his experience leaving the
Soviet Union as a young boy with his family From left, Karen Misler, Joy Sapin, Lee Paskind, Lainie Rosen, Paul Resnick, and Bernie Rous are among the members of
in 1989. HIAS plays a crucial role in their jour- Beth Sholom’s Tzedek Tirdof committee.
ney to the United States.”
“When Temple Emeth held its event about And then last February, members of a neighboring synagogue, Con-
the book, Mark Hetfield, the president and Temple Emeth members gregation Beth Sholom. “While Reform and
CEO of HIAS, was our guest speaker. He Laura and Daniel Kirsch Conservative Jews have disagreements on
began by asking for a show of hands as to arranged for a bus to bring prayer and the role of Jewish law, on the issue
how many people’s families were assisted congregants to lower Man- of refugees, we found common cause,” Rabbi
by HIAS. About half the room raised their hattan for an immigration Sirbu said.
hands.” rally. Both congregations have found ways to
One reason HIAS’s work resonates with so “Temple Emeth has long address the issue of immigration. While
many Jews, “even though we disagree about been in the forefront of the Temple Emeth has joined the HIAS Welcome
so much, is that the refugee experience is so social justice movement, Campaign — on January 26, the congrega-
fundamental to Jewish identity,” Rabbi Sirbu dating back to the civil rights tion will host Rabbi Rachel Grant Meyer,
said. “Abraham and Sarah are wanderers. movement of the 1960s,” HIAS’ director of education, who will speak
Jacob has to leave his home under the threat Rabbi Rachel Grant Meyer Rabbi Stephen Sirbu Mr. Kirsch said. “Many of on Welcoming Refugees: Learning from the
of violence. The Israelites need to escape our members have personal Past, Rising to the Moment — Beth Sholom
Egypt in such haste that their bread does not community to help the vulnerable and to ties to HIAS through their own histories, or has taken another approach and is helping a
have time to rise. And of course the Holo- share our blessings of freedom.” those of family members, and many more specific refugee family.
caust shapes this perception too. Whether Current events have focused the congre- know that they would not be here today if Describing HIAS, founded as the Hebrew
it was the preventable tragedy of the [steam- gation on the immigration issue even more the United States had not admitted refugees Immigrant Aid Society, as a global Jewish
ship] St. Louis or the slanders against Jewish directly. in the past.” organization for refugee resettlement and
refugees who were accused of being danger- “The 2016 election cycle featured the Temple Emeth has signed up as a HIAS wel- advocacy, Rabbi Meyer said the group is
ous anarchists, it is instinctive to the Jewish unabashed scapegoating of refugees,” Rabbi coming congregation. It joins more than 380 “growing a huge constituency of American
Sirbu said. “I could tell that many of our synagogues around the country that have Jews taking action for refugees.” Her talk at
Who: Rabbi Rachel Grant Meyer members were distressed that the United pledged to take at least one action to support Temple Emeth is the synagogue’s first such
What: Will talk about “Welcoming States might shut its doors — doors through refugees. “It’s a way to stand together with action since signing on to become a welcom-
Refugees: Learning from the Past, which our ancestors passed in the last cen- other Jewish institutions against the hateful ing congregation.
Rising to the Moment” tury — to refugees, abandoning one of its rhetoric and attacks against immigrants gen- Is this our grandparents’ HIAS? Yes, Rabbi
When: On January 26 at 8 p.m. central humanitarian programs. I responded erally and refugees in particular, and makes Meyer said. “The work we do today grew out
by choosing HIAS to be the beneficiary of an affirmative statement in support of wel- of the 137-year work we have done bringing
Where: At Temple Emeth, 1666
our Yom Kippur appeal in 2016. One of our coming refugees to the United States,” Mr. Jewish refugees to this country and helping
Windsor Road, Teaneck
members, a Holocaust survivor named Peter Kirsch said. them here. In many ways, the services we
For more information: Go to www.
Adler, spoke about his experience with HIAS To illustrate the importance of unity, are now providing are same ones provided
emeth.org
as his family arrived here.” the synagogue opened up the rally bus to SEE REFUGEES PAGE 8

6 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018

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Local
Refugees
FROM PAGE 6
to our grandparents: job assistance, housing,
vocational training, ESL. Maybe the immi-
grants are from different faiths and places,
but it’s very much the same work.” Even
more important, she added, “It’s rooted in
the same values.”
Most of those immigrants coming today
are not Jewish, simply because there is only a
small number of Jews around the world who
are trying to come as refugees. “For the first
time in history, Rabbi Meyer said, “the Jews
aren’t predominantly refugees.” HIAS’ work
is international. “We help refugees in the first
country they flee to,” she said. “We do local
integration work so they can live in safety and
dignity.
“It is a devastating moment now for refu-
gees,” she continued; at the end of the last
fiscal year, the number of refugees allowed
into the county was lowered to a figure not
seen since 1980. And, she added, “Because
of the temporary ban on refugees from 11
countries, they may not even reach that cap.
The nations included in the 11-country ban
account for more than half of the refugees
resettled last year in the U.S. That’s part of
why we’re so far behind where we should
be. It’s a real betrayal of American values. We
were founded by immigrants and refugees.
And it’s a betrayal of Jewish values.”
Even more devastating, she said, “There’s
never been as much need, factually speak-
ing, with the worse refugee crisis in recorded
history. To see us dial back is tragic and sets
a bad example. The U.S. has always been a
global leader in resettlement. We need to be
a global leader.”
The first thing the Jewish community can
do to address this issue is “advocacy, advo-
cacy, advocacy,” Rabbi Meyer said. “We’re
really in an unprecedented moment. The
policies we set now will have repercussions
for decades. We must continue to raise our
voices” to ensure that the government admits
at least the 45,000 refugees it has agreed to
take in. Whether the action is taken individu-
ally or collectively, “it’s so important to be
vocal about refugee resettlement.” In addi-
tion, synagogues should “make themselves
visible as a congregation who does this, per-
haps hanging a ‘refugees welcome’ banner.
We were refugees too.”
There is also a great need for education so
members of the community can be informed
about what’s going on, she continued.
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8 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018
Refugees are people escaping violence; peo-
ple who are persecuted simply for being who
they are. And “we have to put some myths
to bed,” Rabbi Meyer said “This is a safe pro-
gram.” No one HIAS has resettled has been
part of any terrorist act.
In order to help, people can become vol-
unteers either with HIAS or with one of the
other resettlement programs, such as the
International Rescue Committee. Immigrants
may feel unwelcome in this country. Helping
them integrate would be a big help.
“One note of comfort has been the robust
constituency of American Jews raising their
voices,” Rabbi Meyer said. Jews may not have
been involved in this issue until now, with the
possible exception of speaking out for Soviet
Jewry, she added. “They’re stepping forward
in amazing ways.” That includes participa-
tion in interfaith coalitions, organizing letter-
writing campaigns targeted to members of
Congress, attending rallies, and working with
local resettlement agencies to adopt families
and provide support.
“Unlike the other commandments, we
are given a reason to love and protect the
stranger,” Rabbi Meyer said. “That is because
we were strangers ourselves. We don’t under-
stand the exact situation but we understand
the vulnerability. We have a special responsi-
bility to stand in solidarity with others who
are vulnerable.”
Temple Beth Sholom, also in Teaneck,
has taken a different approach to the issue
of refugees, Rabbi Lee Paskind said. He and
Rabbi Julia Andelman are co-chairs of the
shul’s Tzedek Tirdof committee. Members
of the committee are working with the Inter-
national Rescue Committee to help provide
assistance to a refugee family now living in
central New Jersey.
Like members of Temple Emeth, “I think
initially many of us were deeply moved by the
pictures several years ago showing refugees
from the Syrian civil war washing up on the
beaches of Lesvos in Greece and other loca-
tions,” Rabbi Paskind said. Like Rabbi Sirbu
and Mr. Kirsch, he said that “for many of us,
the identification runs very deep. So many of
us were refugees, or our parents or grandpar-
ents were.
“Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, formerly vice
president of HIAS, put it like this: ‘A cen-
tury ago, we — HIAS — saved them because
they were Jews. Today, we save them
because we are Jews.”
When he was asked if the commit-
tee members had encountered anything
Anonymity is respected.
1485 Teaneck Road, Teaneck
For more information call 201-837-9090 or visit www.jfcsnnj.org
FIRST PERSON
Strange new world
LOIS GOLDRICH
Rabbi Lee Paskind, speaking about his
synagogue’s commitment to help refu-
gees, notes that watching young chil-
dren adapt so easily to a new culture
is both heartening and enjoyable. As a
member of the CBS Refugee Support
Committee, I enthusiastically agree.
But my joy is tempered somewhat
when I see the older members of the
family struggling to adjust to their new
reality: different climate (What is snow,
and what do we wear on our feet when
it is snowing?), strange language, new
customs, new everything. And yet, that
is precisely what our grandparents and
great-grandparents experienced when
they came here from eastern Europe,
knowing they would not — could not —
return to their homes.
I remember a book, “Call it Sleep,”
detailing the plight of families where
parents spoke only Yiddish and young
women worked in sweatshops, subject
to the abuse of the owners. For the first
time, picturing the wonderful young
women I now visit weekly, I can start
to understand the plight of my own —
your own — family, coming here with
only a dream and hopes for a better fu-
ture. They may sorely miss the families
they left behind, even worry for their
safety, but they have done what they
had to do.
And once they were here, our
families also did what they had to do,
whether sharpening knives, selling dry
goods from a pushcart, or doing piece-
work in a dimly lit kitchen for pennies.
They did it for their families — and to-
day, many of those families are thriving.
Now teaching a mother and her el-
dest daughter to speak English, when
they were not even literate in their
native language — the girls were not
permitted to go to school, for safety
reasons — I delight in their willingness
surprising in their work with the refugee
family — which includes providing material
assistance, transportation, and help navigat-
ing the administrative and medical hurdles
faced by all new families, as well as teach-
ing English to family members who may not
have been able to write in their native lan-
guage — Rabbi Paskind said, “What hasn’t
been surprising? Meeting a family from
another culture, with expectations very
to form their mouths into new shapes
and say words that may sound terribly
strange to them. “My dress is purple.”
“It is not snowing outside.” But when
they go out of their apartment and hear
“real” idiomatic English, spoken quickly,
will they understand? Eventually, they
will. But not now. Not yet.
As head of his family, the father must
adjust to many things as well: not being
the family breadwinner, having to rely
on others for help, not being allowed to
drive until he passes a test in another
language — all the while feeling respon-
sible for the well-being of his family and
knowing that he has so much to offer
his new country.
As frequent visitors to their home,
we CBS members are doing our best
to help “our” family meet these chal-
lenges and, I hope, doing it well. But
I can’t help thinking that something
is missing. When we read about our
grandparents, we read about crowded
tenements, teeming with people in the
same situation. For reasons of comfort
and sanitation, that was not necessarily
good. But it did create community. And
even if the existing western European
Jewish community did not necessarily
embrace their eastern European broth-
ers and sisters as equals, they neverthe-
less provided some resources.
Now? With fewer refugees being
permitted into the country, and new
immigrants often feeling more iso-
lated than our own grandparents did,
that peer support is harder to find.
Some fellow volunteers witnessed a
joyful scene in a clinic when members
of “our” family stumbled upon a family
from their own country. Joy, fellow-
ship, laughter — something we had
not yet seen.
I hope that we will once again be-
come a welcoming nation and that this
family, and others, will get the support,
fellowship, and warm embrace that will
so enhance their lives.
different than ours — and without a great
deal of common language — is quite a chal-
lenge. And yet at the same time, some of
the universal facts of life — the curiosity of
the children, their ability to play, to adapt
to very different life circumstances — these
give me hope for them.
“And they are a pleasure for all of us to
get to know.”
SEE REFUGEES PAGE 56
UPCOMING AT KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades
See Phil & Chris Simms Live at the J! 1ST ANNUAL
WEAR YOUR TEAM JERSEY AND JOIN US.
Enjoy a fun evening with strolling dinner and live
auction featuring priceless sports experiences,
awards, and more.
Tuesday, February 13, 6 pm
Don't miss out. Ticket price increases January 31.
Visit jccotp.org/sportsnight

JCC U-Winter Term: Keep Learning

Top professors and experts present on a variety
of subjects.
February 8 Session: Psychiatrist, author and TV TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 6 PM
commentator Dr. Gail Saltz will present The Power of
Different: The Link Between Disorder and Genius; and
Author and Wall Street Journal feature writer Will
Friedwald will present The Great Jazz and Pop
Vocal Albums.
Thursdays: Feb 8 & 22, Mar 8, 10:30 am-2 pm;
1 Thursday $35/$42

F a m i l y IE
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SPONSORED BY NEIL KLATSKIN
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Snow Tubing at Saturday Night Zumba Party Celebrate Tu B’Shvat at the J!

Campgaw Mountain
Come hit the slopes at one of our area’s
top snow tubing destinations for a night of
excitement and good times! It’s fun, it’s easy,
it’s better than sledding! We provide roundtrip
transportation from the JCC to Campgaw
and snack. Contact Leron for more
information at 201.408.1467 or
email lbensoussan@jccotp.org.
Grades 3-7, Sat, Feb 10, 7-10 pm, $50/$55
FOR AGES 12+
Dance to a great line-up of music including
Latin, African, hip-hop, and pop and feel the
exhilaration of a great cardio fitness experience.
Beginners welcome.
Sat, Feb 10, 7:30 pm,
FREE and open to the community
Join us for a fabulous Tu B’Shvat celebration for
families with kids ages 3-8. We’ll have activities
related to the holiday, music, arts and crafts and
holiday treats. In collaboration with IAC NJ, JFNNJ
and Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County.
Sun, Feb 4, 10 am-12 pm,
FREE and open to the community
TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFO
VISIT jccotp.org
STAY IN THE KNOW! LIKE US ON
facebook.com/KaplenJCCOTP

KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades TAUB CAMPUS | 411 E CLINTON AVE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018 9
Local
A Lion of Judah goes to England
Dana Post Adler of Tenafly helps inaugurate women’s philanthropy in London
ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN
D
ana Post Adler of Tenafly was
sitting on a train to Washington,
D.C., when she got a call from
Lesley Burkeman, an old friend
in London. “Dana, have you heard of the
Lions of Judah?” Ms. Burkeman asked.
Ms. Adler smiled as she touched the Lions
of Judah pin on her chest.
Indeed, not only had she heard about the
global Jewish philanthropic organization,
but she already was one of the 17,500 women
around the world who are proud Lions of
Judah. They earn that status by donating at
least $5,000 to their local Jewish federation
every year, funds that go toward charitable
projects at home, in Israel, and in Jewish
communities abroad.
So when Ms. Burkeman told Ms. Adler
that she was involved in the United Jewish
Israel Appeal’s revival of the Lions of Judah
UK chapter, which had been dormant for
a decade, Ms. Adler decided to fly to Lon-
don with her two teenage daughters for the
group’s inaugural dinner, which was held
over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend.
“I wanted to set an example for my girls
about spreading the strength of women and
Joe Taub would have loved it
The Kaplen JCC honors his memory with its Sports Night of Champions
JOANNE PALMER
W
hat does a glittering eve-
ning with leaders of the
Kaplen JCC on the Pali-
sades in Tenafly, the Sports
Night of Champions — which will feature as
its speakers the football legend Phil Simms
and his son Chris — have to do with inner-
city Paterson?
Phil Simms, of course, retired from his
15-year career playing for the New York
Giants to become a football analyst on CBS
and a contributor — talking about football,
natch — to Showtime. Chris Simms was an
NFL quarterback for 8 years, playing for
three teams, and now is a co-host on NBC,
where he talks about — what else? — football.
On Tuesday, February 13, the two
Simmses will be part of a full evening that
includes a strolling dinner, an auction, hon-
ors, and scholarship awards.
So where does Paterson come in?
Here. The evening will include a tribute to
Joseph Taub, who lived in Tenafly and died
on October 27. Mr. Taub, a co-founder of
Automatic Data Processing and a one-time
10 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018
Caroline, Dana, and Eliana Adler celebrate the birth of the Lions of Judah UK at
its inaugural dinner in London.
really taking the future into our own hands,”
Ms. Adler said. “Lions of Judah is about
women empowering themselves by making
a gift in their own name to strengthen Jew-
ish continuity and inspiring others to do the
same.”
Joseph Taub
co-owner of the New Jersey Nets, grew up
very poor in Paterson. Although ADP made
him very rich, he managed not only not to
forget where he came from but to devote a
great deal of money, time, energy, and imagi-
nation to offering children in Paterson oppor-
tunity and hope. “My father-in-law grew up
MARC MORRIS PHOTOGRAPHY
Ms. Adler, her husband, Jim, and their son,
Harrison, went to live in London in 1998.
They stayed there for 4 1/2 years, during
which time their daughter Caroline was born;
Eliana was born once the family came back
to the United States. Ms. Adler became close
in a neighborhood that was very ethnically
mixed,” said Scott Tesser of Englewood. Mr.
Tesser is married to Joseph and Arlene Taub’s
daughter Michelle; Scott and Michelle Tesser
are sponsoring the evening.
“There was a Jewish community and
there was a black community; my father-in-
law grew up next to Larry Doby,” Mr. Tesser
said. Mr. Dobie was the first African-Amer-
ican to play in the American League — he
played for the Cleveland Indians — and the
two men stayed close throughout their lives.
Together, they started the Taub-Doby Bas-
ketball League, among many other philan-
thropic endeavors.
“I know it’s a cliché, but my father-in-law
never forgot his roots,” Mr. Tesser said. “He
always remembered when he had nothing,
and he just wanted to help people in Pat-
erson. Obviously, the community changed
dramatically over the years, but he never
really left it.” In fact, he added, Mr. Taub
often would go back to visit, a dramatically
visible figure, a tall man with a great shock
of bright white hair.
“He obviously had the means to help,
and he did it through a combination of
friends with several Jewish women in Eng-
land — including Ms. Burkeman — through
her involvement in Young Presidents Orga-
nization, a global network of young chief
executives.
“These women became like my sisters,”
Ms. Adler said. “They had a huge impact
on me as a young woman and as a Jew liv-
ing in Britain. They really embraced my hus-
band and me and our son and included us in
their Jewish lifecycle events. In my view, they
never took their Judaism for granted; they
always insisted on Friday night dinners with
family even if they were not religious.”
In 2002 the family returned to New Jersey,
and Ms. Adler was invited to become a Lion
of Judah. At the dinner in London, she talked
about her experiences over the past 16 years,
including the opportunity to accompany 71
Ethiopian Jews on their journey to a new life
in Israel.
“Being a Lion of Judah has taken me on
both a physical and philanthropic journey
that has enriched my life in so many ways,”
she said. “I have been to the exotic reaches
of eastern Africa, met with the Jewish com-
munities of Berlin, Argentina, and Chile,
and have made personal relationships in
Israel and at home. I consider myself so
scholarship and sports,” Mr. Tesser said.
“If you had a certain level of scholarship
— your grades had to be up to a certain
level — and you were involved in sports,
he’d help. He funded programs that got
kids off the streets. And as they moved
up through the ranks, those who excelled
ended up with scholarships to private
high schools or colleges. As they contin-
ued to excel, he wanted to get them out
of the community.
What: The Kaplen JCC on the
Palisades’ first annual Sports Night
of Champions
When: On Tuesday, February 13,
at 6 p.m.
Where: At the Kaplen JCC on the
Palisades, 411 East Clinton Ave. in
Tenafly
How much: Until January 31, it costs
$180 per person; after that, it’s $250
each. Students pay $50.
For more information: Call Michal
Kleiman at (210) 408-1412 or go to
jccotp.org/sportsnight.
 @
Local
Free! Open to the Public!

s a t t e r
y h
lucky to have traveled to see my dollars in action.”
As a board member of the Jewish Federation of North-
ern New Jersey and co-president of its Women’s Philan-

n d a ch e c
S u S
thropy Board, Ms. Adler takes an active role in how Lions
of Judah contributions are allocated. (She also sits on the
National Women’s Philanthropy Board of Jewish Federa-
tions of North America.)
The 44 guests at the dinner in London also heard from
Israeli Lions of Judah Ruth Oren and Sigal Bar-On. The
event raised £111,000, and 37 British women pledged to
form a cabinet of founder members.
UJIA trustee and Lions of Judah UK Chairwoman Karen
Goodkind announced that in its first year, Lions of Judah
UK will fund a UJIA-supported mentoring program in
Israel called Youth Futures, for at-risk children ranging
from 8 to 18 years old. Founding members also will allo-
cate financial support to another project of their choice.
Ms. Adler told them how philanthropic activities far
from home can have a very personal impact. Two years
ago, when her son, Harrison, joined the Israel Defense
Forces as a lone soldier, she was unable to attend his
induction ceremony. So she asked women from the JFN-
NJ’s partner city of Nahariya to go in her place.
“Five incredible women drove to Harrison’s base with
candy, chocolates, smiles, and love,” she said. “They were

a d
able to send photographs and videos in real time, and

he
although I could not be there myself, they made me feel

A
as if I was there. Suddenly I was not just a donor, I was
not just a Lion of Judah, I was a recipient of the incredible

A M sts
strength and power and love of women’s philanthropy.”
ti
E
Some of the Lions of Judah UK leaders may go to the
n
Scie e)
ST
International Lions of Judah conference in Miami next
ou ng
rad
l
January, Ms. Adler said. “We’re hoping we can meet and

l or Y G
u
mentor each other. Who knows what kinds of great things f th
ties h5
F ivi g
can happen if we work together?”
t ou
s- on Ac re-K thr
d or P
Han a t f
“He didn’t talk about it much. The family all knew (Gre
about it, but he didn’t talk about it. He didn’t want any
credit for it. He just wanted to do it.” Sunday
There weren’t very many athletic stars to come
out of this program, Mr. Tesser said. There was Vic- January 28 | 10-11:30 AM
tor Cruz, a receiver for the New York Giants, “and a Stretch your child’s imagination
few basketball players, but that was not a failure of
with these hands-on design
RSVP
the program. He never expected any of these kids to
survive through athletics. thinking activities: www.ssdsbergen.org/sundays
“He wanted to give them a chance to get to the mid-
dle class through scholarships. The sports was just a • Make a density rainbow
way to draw them in.” • Create a glacier with slime Solomon Schechter
The evening also will honor Gordon A. Uehling III
of CourtSense, who will be given the JCC Emerging • Build a popsicle-stick bridge, Day School of
Leader Award, and two students — Tobias Zypman of and more...
Cresskill High School and Alexandra George of North- Bergen County
ern Valley Regional High School — each will get a Director of Academic Affairs
$3,600 scholarship. 275 McKinley Avenue,
Some of the funds raised during the evening will go to
Andrew Katz will lead our family-
friendly Sundays@ Schechter
New Milford, NJ 07646
families who could not afford the JCC’s programs without
the help, and whose children benefit from it. program.
A mother in Ridgefield — she’s the Russian-born sin-
gle mother of two sons — went through an acrimoni-
ous divorce “and not only do I get no support, I have
to acquire a lot of debt to defend myself,” she said. (She
requested anonymity; she does not want her ex-husband Find out about our inquiry-based approach
to read about her online.) and warm, inclusive community. Age three
“My kids are 6 and 7 now,” she said. “They go to school, through Grade 8. For more information or
but when summer came there was a need to put them in to schedule a tour, email us at
camp. I work in the city full-time. I had friends whose kids
went to the JCC, and I looked at it — but it was very expen-
admissions@ssdsbergen.org
sive, and I couldn’t afford it.
SEE JOE TAUB PAGE 56

JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 11

Local
Was a thank-you note a breach of etiquette?
Frisch students asked to email Trump for Jerusalem decision;
not all parents approve, some privately vent their displeasure
LARRY YUDELSON
A
local pro-Israel organization
sent out a call for action — a
request to thank President
Donald J. Trump for recogniz-
ing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
A local yeshiva high school passed it on
to its students.
Nobody involved expected that would
be deemed newsworthy by the Jewish
Standard. Let alone the Jewish wire ser-
vice JTA. Let alone Haaretz. Let alone
Newsweek.
They forgot one thing: In the era of
Trump, everything is different. Even, or
perhaps especially, support for Israel.
Israel advocacy often involves flatter-
ing politicians. But given America’s sharp
political polarization, is it still unquestion-
ably bipartisan to send an email thank-
ing the president for his “faithful service
as our nation’s leader”? Can pro-Israel
engagement with a partisan politician be
nonpartisan in this environment?
So how did a request to send a prewrit-
ten emailing thanking Mr. Trump for his
announcement recognizing Jerusalem
make headlines around the world?
The answer tells much about the ten-
sions roiling beneath the surface of the
area’s modern Orthodox community — and
perhaps the particular perils of being the
Frisch School in this particular moment.
The Paramus high school, after all, is
famous now in the world beyond Bergen
County as the high school of Jared Kush-
ner, the president’s son-in-law, who has
been tasked with solving problems as var-
ied as Middle East peace and the Ameri-
can opioid epidemic. The other Orthodox
Jew close to the White House, Jason Green-
blatt of Teaneck, who heads Trump’s team
negotiating for Israeli-Palestinian peace,
was a board member at Frisch until he
took this post.
But there is a minority of parents who
are, often privately, not on Team Trump.
And to many of them, Frisch crossed the
line from pro-Israel to pro-Trump last week
when Rabbi David Sher, Frisch’s director
of Israel education and advocacy, emailed
students about a campaign launched by
NORPAC, the Englewood-based pro-Israel
political action committee, asking them
“to personally thank President Trump for
his decision to declare Jerusalem the cap-
ital of Israel and to begin the process of
moving the embassy there.
“This move was heavily criticized and it is
therefore important that each person who
believes that the president made the right
decision have their voice heard,” he contin-
ued. “We are therefore encouraging every
12 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018
student who believes that the president’s
decision was correct to contact the White
House with words of support. It will take
approximately 2 minutes of your time.”
The email included a sample letter thank-
ing the president “for the courageous lead-
ership you demonstrated by formally pro-
claiming Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and
initiating steps to move the US Embassy.
This action fulfills the commitment made
by Congress in the Jerusalem Embassy Act
of 1995. President Trump, you have dis-
played leadership and strength among the
nations by formally recognizing Jerusalem
as the eternal capital of the State of Israel.”
The model letter continued, “We appre-
ciate your commitment to follow the wishes
of the American people and your faithful
service as our nation’s leader. We are grate-
ful for your unwavering support of Israel,
America’s greatest ally.”
For Norpac’s president, Dr. Ben Chouake,
the letter-writing campaign simply was
a thank you to a politician who had sup-
ported Israel and a policy that the Jewish
community and Congress had advocated
for more than 20 years. Norpac is nonparti-
san; Dr. Chouake noted that Norpac leaders
serve as finance chairs for both Democratic
and Republican politicians.
“I’m not worked up,” said one Frisch
parent who is opposed to Trump but did
not want his name used. “In all honesty,
schools do this stuff all the time. I remem-
ber being asked to write letters when I was
in high school.”
Frisch’s principal, Rabbi Eli Ciner,
emphasized in a statement to JTA that such
advocacy on behalf of a policy affecting
Israel was standard operating procedure at
the school. (Rabbi Ciner did not reply to the
Standard’s efforts to contact him. Frisch
was closed this week for winter vacation. )
“As a religious Zionist school, we
encourage our students as civic-minded
American citizens to write to the admin-
istration when they agree or disagree with
the government’s policies regarding the
State of Israel,” Rabbi Ciner said in the
statement. “In this particular case, many
of our students strongly supported the
president’s decision recognizing Jerusalem
as Israel’s capital.”
But for some Frisch parents, this
crossed the line into pro-Trump behavior.
One of them posted her upset on a secret
Facebook for Orthodox Trump oppo-
nents. Other parents joined in. Some made
their displeasure known to the Frisch’s
administration.
Ninety minutes after the email from
Rabbi Sher, a second one went out, this
one from Rabbi Ciner, emphasizing that
writing to the White House was “entirely
Dear Students,
The organization NORPAC has launched a campaign that directs individu
als
to personally thank President Trump for his decision to declare Jerusalem
the capital of Israel and to begin the process of moving the embassy there.
This move was heavily criticized and it is therefore important that each
person who believes that the president made the right decision have their
voice heard. We are therefore encouraging every student who believes that
the president’s decision was correct to contact the White House with words
of support. It will take approximately 2 minutes of your time.
Step 1: Follow the link
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Step 2: Fill out the information on the form. Feel free to use your Frisch
email address and the Frisch street address of
120 West Century Road
Paramus, NJ 07652
Step 3: Write a message. If you’d like, please feel free to copy the message
below. Just remember to sign your name on the bottom.
Dear Mr. President,
Thank you for the courageous leadership you demonstrated by formally
proclaiming Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and initiating steps to move the
US Embassy. This action fulfills the commitment made by Congress in the
Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. President Trump, you have displayed lead-
ership and strength among the nations by formally recognizing Jerusalem
as the eternal capital of the State of Israel. We appreciate your commitment
to follow the wishes of the American people and your faithful service as
our nation’s leader. We are grateful for your unwavering support of Israel,
America’s greatest ally.
Respectfully yours,
Students at the Frisch School received this email from Rabbi David Sher,
the school’s director of Israel education, promoting a NORPAC campaign to
congratulate President Trump on his Jerusalem decision.
voluntary and should be done only if you NorthJersey.com proclaiming: “Critics
agree with President Trump.” say Jared Kushner’s Paramus alma mater
That might have been the end of the story ‘unfairly targeted’”
had the anger been shared in emails and The paper quoted Jason Shames, CEO of
private conversations. But Judy Maltz, who the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jer-
is a reporter for Haaretz and also was one sey, as saying Frisch “was unfairly targeted.
of the nearly 2,000 members of the secret The reports in the media were political.”
Facebook group, published a story about But one parent who opposed the origi-
the local controversy, headlined, “Kids at nal email insisted that there was no effort
Kushner’s Old High School Were Urged to to target the school.
Write Letters Sucking Up to Trump — and “Nobody wanted to hurt the school,” she
Parents Are Fuming.” said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
From there, the story jumped to News- “That is why we were having the discussion
week, which beneath the headline “Jared in the secret group. People in the group
Kushner’s High School Is Making Chil- were having a principled discussion about
dren Write Letters Of Support To Don- what to do. That is why we were so upset
ald Trump” referred to the coed, modern the journalist didn’t tell us she was basically
Orthodox high school as “ultra-Orthodox.” lurking in the discussion, taking our com-
The next day came the backlash, with ments without asking us.”

This parent said the outrage at the
letter-writing-request, which she said
extended beyond the people who directly
contacted the school, reflected dismay at
two other recent incidents.
The first was a talk Mr. Greenblatt gave
at Frisch last month, after the Jerusalem
declaration. “It was supposed to be apo-
litical, but it’s hard for that not to look like
Trump support,” she said.
She was particularly offended by Mr.
Greenblatt telling the Frisch students
that “they couldn’t believe everything
they read in the media.” She said that he
repeated the mantra of “fake news” with
which the president has brushed aside
allegations and investigation.
“That really bothered me,” she said.
“He’s just feeding the distrust of the
media that’s part of the president’s pro-
paganda thing.”
And it came, she said, in the “disturb-
ing” context of “the president needing his
ego stroked.”
That context had been set by Rabbi
Yosef Adler of Congregation Rinat Yisrael
in Teaneck. “I did ask my congregants
to thank the president for his Jerusalem
announcement,” Rabbi Adler wrote in an
email. “I believe that despite someone’s
shortcomings, if that individual did some-
thing beneficial for you personally (such
as Rubashkin) or Am Yisrael he deserves
a thank you.
“I heard (though I can’t verify it) that
Jason Greenblatt reported that while Jew-
ish communal organizations were forth-
coming with letters of appreciation, the
president was surprised that individuals
weren’t as forthcoming .
A version of what Rabbi Adler told his
congregation on the subject, posted by
a Trump supporter, said that Mr. Green-
blatt indicated that it is “important to
this president in particular” that people
in the community show gratitude for his
actions.
“It was disturbing, the president need-
ing his ego stroked,” the Frisch parent
said. “What do we have to do, kiss the
czar’s ring?”
But why is it such a big deal to thank
the president for doing something right?
“My question really is, was there a let-
ter-writing campaign to thank President
Obama for the Iron Dome?” the Frisch
mother said. “All I remember from the
Local
Experience Shabbat as
Jason Greenblatt,
right, at the Nahal
Oz military base
near the Gaza
border on August
30, 2017.
ANADOLU AGENCY/
GETTY IMAGES
Obama years was people speaking out
something to stir your soul.
about the Iran deal, criticizing Obama.
“And these are unusual circumstances.
This is not just any president. This is the Join us to celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat and
president who a week ago made these
horrific comments” about immigrants
rejuvenate your spirit as we welcome
from other countries. guest Rabbi Adina Lewittes and
“Schools can’t say we’re apolitical so
we’re not going to address the presi- members of Sha’ar Communities,
dent’s bullying and lying and racism, with live music, and a warm, inviting,
and at the same time ask the kids in your
school to write emails of gratitude for innovative approach to Jewish worship.
faithful service to the country. Some-
thing’s wrong with that. The message ~~~~~~~~~~
to the kids is that all those things don’t
really matter because all we care about is Enjoy time with friends at our
that Jerusalem is the capital. If that’s all
Judaism is supposed to be about for our wine bar & small bites buffet.
kids, we’re really making a mistake. It
has the potential to turn off a lot of kids
from Judaism totally. And a lot of adults,” FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9 AT 7 PM TH
she said.
Rabbi Ozer Glickman of Teaneck agrees
that the original Frisch email was a mis-
take, and he told Rabbi Ciner so. Rabbi
JCC OF FORT LEE
Glickman, a former vice president of the
Frisch board of trustees, is the father of
1449 ANDERSON AVE  FORT LEE, NJ
five Frisch graduates and the grandfather
of a Frisch student. He is a rosh yeshiva, For more information: 201.947.1735 visit us at geshershalom.org
teaching Talmud at Yeshiva University.
“Many Jews argue that it is simply a
matter of hakarat hatov, acknowledg-
ing when someone has done something
good,” Rabbi Glickman said. “I concur
that the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem
as Israel’s declared capital is long over-
due. I believe, however, that the timing
of the letter-writing campaign was unfor-
tunate. It coincided with commemo-
ration of Martin Luther King Jr. during
an episode in which the president was
reported to have used racist speech.
Soliciting students to write letters on
behalf of Israel when many American
citizens are troubled by apparent rac-
ism betrays a certain tone-deafness that
sometimes afflicts the Orthodox com-
munity. It says that we don’t care what
someone says or does as long as they
look out for our interests. That’s a ter-
rible message.
Rabbi Adina Lewittes is a leading teacher, speaker, writer, and
“In conversation, Rabbi Ciner under- creative voice in the reimagination and revitalization of Jewish
stood this point. It wasn’t the school’s life, and founder of Sha’ar Communities.
intention. I believe him and remain
a supporter of the school. I do think,
though, that the school needs to exercise
better judgment in the future.”
JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 13
Briefly Local

MLK Day of Service emphasizes diverse togetherness

On January 15, “We the People,” a non-
profit organization started by Bergen
County Freeholder Tracy Silna Zur,
hosted a multicultural interfaith day of
service at the VFW in Saddle Brook. The
chance to help others brought together
more than 200 students representing
many of Bergen County’s diverse reli-
gious and cultural groups to work on
community service projects and cel-
ebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther
King by giving back to their communities.
Donations for the day of service came
from Inserra Supermarkets, the Jew-
ish Federation of Northern New Jersey,
Learning Express of Ridgewood, Wal- Ezra Shafron, Akmal Pasha, Abdul-
Mart, Costco, Target, and Market Basket. lah Hasan, Ahmar Sagheer, Daniella
“For students and our young people, Atiya and Linda Chiappetta work
this shouldn’t be just another day off,” Middle school students followed volunteer Myah Wolfer’s lead and made on a mosaic project the Glen Rock
Ms. Zur said. “This is a day to reflect hundreds of cat toys for the Bergen County Animal Shelter. Arboretum.
upon the lessons and the legacy of Dr.
children that our diversity is our strength,
King by performing community service projects. We
and that we should be moving past tolerance
wanted to send a message to our young people that
towards understanding each other,” she said.
helping others is something that all faiths and all com-
“That is what I hope these young people were
munities should be doing, and that we are stronger
able to take away from this day — that despite
when we do these things together. “
our different beliefs and traditions, that we
The students worked on a number of projects; they
are all Americans and it’s up to all of us to not
created hygiene kits for the homeless, activity bags for
only build bridges with each other, but to reach
patients at the Hackensack Meridian Health Joseph M.
out a helping hand to help improve the lives
Sanzari Children’s Hospital, cat toys for the Bergen
of others, together, as a community. Dr. King
County Animal Shelter, wrote letters to active duty sol-
said that ‘love is the only force capable of trans-
diers, and packed blankets for seniors at the nursing
forming an enemy into a friend’ and that ‘we
home at New Bridge Medical Center. They also created
may have all come on different ships, but we’re
glass murals to adorn benches to be donated to Spring
in the same boat now,’ and I hope that’s the
House for Women and the Glen Rock Arboretum. The Ahmar Sagheer, Sammy Atyyat, Avi Schneck, Ezra Win-
message that these students were able to walk
students also participated in a “conversation station,” slow and Lilly Harris of Lodi, Teaneck, and Fair Lawn,
away with today.”
where they exchanged stories about their heritage, holi- assembled packets for cancer patients at Hackensack
Ms. Zur said that her favorite part of the
days, and hobbies, and learned about differing tradi- Meridian Health Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital.
day was when the students, some of whom at
tions and shared values. Photos By AMy souKAs
first were reluctant to join groups with strang-
Ms. Zur organized the first day of service last year, as a
ers, exchanged contact information with
response to increasingly divisive rhetoric in the nation.
their newfound friends by the end of the day. “That’s understanding and building friendships, we can only
“This is a time when we should be teaching our
what this day is all about,” she said. “By fostering strengthen our community.”

Family caregivers group to convene ‘Am Yisrael Why?’ Demographer

for initial meeting at Temple Beth Or
In his Rosh Hashanah sermon, Temple Beth Or’s rabbi,
Noah Fabricant, spoke about the challenges and blessings
of caring for an aging or ill parent, spouse, or other family
member, and he announced the creation of a new fam-
ily caregivers group. The first meeting, which will bring
together caregivers in the community to share experi-
ences and support each other, will be on Thursday, Febru-
ary 1, at 7 p.m., at the shul, 56 Ridgewood Road in Wash-
ington Township.
Rabbi Fabricant will lead the new group along with
guest professionals, including physicians, social workers,
tax attorneys, and insurance and other specialists.
For more information, call Rabbi Fabricant at (201) 664-
7422 or email him at RabbiFabricant@templebethornj.org.
will explore changing Jewish world
The community is invited to the concluding program of
this weekend’s Shabbaton at Congregation Beth Sholom
in Teaneck, set for Saturday, January 27, at 5 p.m. Profes-
sor Steven M. Cohen will explore “Am Yisrael Why? How
Mitzvot Became Meaningful, and Jews Became Optional.”
Professor Cohen is a demographer, a professor of Jew-
ish social policy at HUC-JIR, and the director of the Ber-
man Jewish Policy Archive at Stanford University. For
more information, call (201) 833-2620 or go to www.
CBSTeaneck.org.
Rabbi Noah Fabricant Steven M. Cohen

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14 Jewish standard JanUarY 26, 2018
Dr. Arnold Gold
1925-2018
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Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018 15

 Briefly Local
Englewood shul sponsors shelter dinner
Congregation Ahavath Torah in Engle-
wood sponsored its first annual walk-
in-dinner for Family Promise of Bergen
County on January 7. The Kanner family
organized the dinner.
Two shifts of volunteers helped make
the dinner happen. Debbie Billig, Sheri
and Nikki Friedman, Yvonne and Reuben
Kuzniecky, Ezra Mahpour, Nancy Rose,
Daniella Moadab, and Emma, Samantha,
Leslie, and Harry Kanner cooked in the
Solo art exhibit examines racism
Artist Linda Friedman Schmidt
displays her work in “Identity,
Textured,” a solo exhibition at
the Pascal Gallery in the Berrie
Center Art Galleries at Ramapo
College of New Jersey in Mah-
wah. A reception is planned
Wednesday, January 31, from 5
to 7 p.m., and the exhibit runs
through March 2.
Ms. Schmidt was born in a DP
camp in Germany; her parents
were traumatized Holocaust
survivors. Discarded clothing,
her medium, conjures thoughts
of discarded humanity in the
viewer, and her process of cut-
ting or tearing it evokes mourn-
ing, the Jewish funeral custom
called k’riah.
“Becoming White” will
be featured at the Berrie
Center exhibit. The rise of
white nationalists question-
ing whether Jews are white “Becoming White,” 2018, uses discarded cloth-
prompted the creation of ing and remnants. 
Schmidt’s most recent piece, a
work about race created from the “second
skin.” She remembers her refugee parents
and their friends being called “griner,” or
“greeners.” After years of peeling off their
foreignness they finally were transformed
5 16 Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018
Super Sunday: All the details
Jewish Federation of Northern New Jer-
sey holds its annual Super Sunday fund-
raising day on Sunday, January 28. You
can make a donation online or by phone,
and sign up to make calls.
Photo courtesy Ahavath Torah
Fair Lawn Hadassah installing officers
Gail Black, president of Hadassah of
Northern New Jersey, will install new
officers of the Fair Lawn chapter of
Hadassah at the Fair Lawn Jewish
Center/CBI on Monday, January 29, at
1 p.m.
Officers include co-presidents Leslie
R. Felner and Esther Rubinstein, trea-
surer Harriet Premselaar, membership
shul kitchen. Volunteers Emma, Saman- coordinator Joan Rimberg-Goldfarb,
tha, Leslie and Harry Kanner; Gila and
Jon Comet, Shelli and Annabel Kermeir,
Debra and Jerry Lewkowitz, Aimee Gard-
ner, and Rabbi Daniel Goldberg delivered,
set up, and served the food to more than
130 people at the Bergen County homeless
shelter in Hackensack. Butterflake Bakery
Service organizations to convene
and Kosher by the Case were among the The Network of Jewish Human Service
vendors who donated to the meal. Agencies, the leading voice for Jew-
ish human service organizations in the
United States, Canada, and Israel, has
opened registration for a conference,
called NJHSA 2018: Unifying the Human
Service Voice. More than 400 leaders
of the Jewish human service sector are
expected to attend this, the network’s
first conference, from April 29 to May 1,
at the Sheraton Grand in Chicago.
Sharsheret Pink Day is global
Sharsheret’s worldwide Pink Day, set for
Wednesday, February 7, is a day to make
a difference by raising awareness about
breast and ovarian cancer and cancer
genetics. It is also an opportunity to
honor, recognize, or celebrate a special
person in your life.
Everyone, both individually and as a
member of a school, company, or other
Keep us informed
We welcome photos of commu-
Courtesy of the artist nity events. Photos must be high
resolution jpg files. Please include
a detailed caption and a daytime
into white, the greenness exchanged for
telephone. Mailed photos will only
whiteness. The baby in the artwork is the be returned with a self-addressed
artist, once a greener too. stamped envelope. Not every photo
For more information about the exhibit, will be published.
call (201) 684-7147.
Super Sunday is co-chaired by Judy
Taub Gold and Dr. Bram Alster. For more
information, call Laurie Siegel, (201) 820-
3956, email her at lauries@JFNNJ.org, or
go to www.JFNNJ.org/supersunday.
co-programming vice presidents Varda
Grinspan and Liz Gelstein, education
coordinator Tova Miller, book review
coordinator Karen Sapherstein, study
group coordinator Gladys Kaplan,
recording secretary Gerry Stein, social
secretary Jean Cooper, and correspond-
ing secretary Sima Zilberg.
Light refreshments will be served. For
information, go to www.hadassah.org.
“To best serve our communities in
these tumultuous times, human ser-
vice agencies must innovate, collabo-
rate, and advocate to provide the high-
est level of service,” the network’s CEO,
Reuben Rotman, said. “We are proud
that during our first conference our
speakers and hands-on sessions will
focus on these important skills.” To reg-
ister, go to www.networkjhsa.org.
organization, is encouraged to wear pink
as a way to generate conversation, and to
mark the day with a range of educational
and fundraising events.
Feel free to contact Sharsheret for
information on how you can pro-
vide support or go to sharsheret.org/
sharsheret-pink-day.
PR@jewishmediagroup.com
NJ Jewish Media Group
1086 Teaneck Road
Teaneck, NJ 07666
(201) 837-8818 x 110
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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 17
Rockland
Fourth-generation rabbi
Joshua Finkelstein comes to the Montebello Jewish Center with history and hope
JOANNE PALMER

T
here is a stained-glass window at the top of the
wall behind the bima at the Montebello Jewish
Center in Suffern.
It’s round and set deeply into the white of
the wall; there is a foot or so of white surrounding it,
providing it with depth and space, and room for the light
from outside to play.
It’s new, but doesn’t look particularly modern, or par-
ticularly dated, for that matter. Its colors are delicate but
not muted.
It’s lovely.
When you look at it from the back of sanctuary, you see
the whole thing; when you get closer, the view changes.
Joshua Finkelstein, the synagogue’s new rabbi, says that
he understands that people prefer to sit toward the back of
the sanctuary so they can see it in full, but he prefers the
view from up close, and hopes that the congregation will
come closer to it as well. It is in the interplay of the light and
the space, the colors and the light, the permanence of the
window and the shifting of the light, that he can most easily
find God, he says.
That’s another striking thing about Rabbi Finkelstein.
Unlike many rabbis, he talks about
God. He’s comfortable with his faith,
and he wants to inspire others to
explore their own, and in the context Three generations of Finkelstein — Rabbi Louis, not-yet-rabbi Joshua, and Rabbi Ezra —
of the Conservative movement, into sit together.
which he was born, in which he has
generations-deep roots, with whose At first, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein It isn’t as if Joshua Finkelstein didn’t have Jewish connec-
principles he resonates. “served at a congregation in the Bronx, tions. At Columbia, he studied with the talmudist Rabbi
So who is he? off the Grand Concourse,” Rabbi Fin- David Weiss Halivni. And he had his grandfather, who
Joshua Finkelstein is a fourth-gen- kelstein said. “Kehillat Israel. It no lon- had retired by then but still lived in the neighborhood. “I
eration rabbi; he has major yichus ger exists, but it’s sort of funny; coinci- spent every Shabbes at my grandfather’s table for 10 years,
in the Conservative movement and dentally, my wife’s grandfather used to through college and rabbinical school,” except for the year
a 16-year history in northern Bergen daven there.” he spent in Israel, Rabbi Finkelstein said.
County, right over the state line from Joshua Finkelstein’s grandfather was He has many stories from that time of his life. Asked to find
Montebello. not just any Louis Finkelstein, though; just one, he talked about how, on Shmini Atzeret, he would
To begin with his background, “my he was the Rabbi Louis Finkelstein have the talmudist Rabbi Saul Lieberman “come over to cel-
great-grandfather, Simon Finkelstein, Rabbi Joshua Finkelstein who became first an academic and ebrate his coming to America. Every Friday night my grandfa-
came to this country in 1885, from then, for more than 30 years, JTS’s ther would ask me to lead the Birkat haMazon,” the grace after
Kovno, in Lithuania,” he said. “He studied at the Slabodka chancellor. “When he was leaving the pulpit to work full meals, “but he always had Elie Wiesel also on Shmini Atzeret,
Yeshiva,” a prominent and important institution, “and he time at the seminary, his father said to him, ‘What is a rabbi and he would ask Elie Wiesel to lead it that day.
got his smicha from Yitzhak Elchanan Spektor,” the major without a pulpit?’” Rabbi Finkelstein reported. “Elie Wiesel had a beautiful, soulful voice, and when he got
figure who is the namesake of Yeshiva University’s rabbini- Louis Finkelstein’s son, Ezra, perhaps unsurprisingly, to the part of harachaman about Shabbat, he would sing a
cal school, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, also became a Conservative rabbi. His son, Joshua, was wonderful niggun from Sighet,” the Hungarian town he came
perhaps better known as RIETS. “He didn’t get smicha from born in Brooklyn, grew up in Whitestone, Queens, from. “It was a very soulful melody, and it would go on and
the place, he got it from the person,” Rabbi Finkelstein said. where his father was the rabbi of the Whitestone Hebrew on. He would sing it for a long time.” Rabbi Finkelstein sang it;
“He served congregations in Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Syr- Center, and then, when Joshua was going into his junior it’s beautiful and haunting.
acuse, and then, for the last 30 years of his life, in Brownsville.” year in high school, moved to Syosset, on Long Island, “So my grandfather said, ‘You know, I asked Elie Wiesel to
Simon Finkelstein’s son, Louis, who grew up in Brooklyn, to become the rabbi of the Midway Jewish Center. Joshua sing it for you, because it is from Sighet, and I don’t want it to
earned his undergraduate degree at CCNY and a doctorate had graduated from middle school at the Schechter in be forgotten. I know you will be a rabbi, and you will teach it.’
at Columbia University. Those were fairly easy choices, but Queens and was in high school at Bronx Science — a “And I felt the awesome weight of the Holocaust on my
he had to decide where to get smicha — RIETS or the Jew- challenging subway ride from Queens, although he did shoulders. I knew that I would be a rabbi, not a chazzan, but
ish Theological Seminary. “My great-grandfather said to go not make the commute alone, he reported — when he I would go on to teach it, but I always felt that I was failing.”
to JTS,” Rabbi Finkelstein reported -- “because JTS required transferred to Syosset High School. And then Rabbi Finkelstein heard someone else — a
a bachelor’s degree, and at the time YU did not. My great Joshua Finkelstein went to Columbia for his under- song leader in the Reform movement — sing that melody.
grandfather, the Orthodox rabbi, thought it was more aca- graduate degree. He decided not to go to the joint pro- He learned that it’s a standard among Reform Jews. Later,
demically rigorous. He respected that.” gram between Columbia and JTS; “my father said that I after Mr. Wiesel died, a CD of his talking and singing at the
Although the borders were more porous then, JTS was then should be sure what I wanted, because with our back- 92nd Street Y included the melody. It was no longer just
as it is today the flagship institution of the Conservative move- ground, it would be too easy to fall into the rabbinate.” Rabbi Finkelstein’s responsibility to pass it on, and that
ment, as YU is of American modern Orthodoxy. It should be a conscious choice, Ezra Finkelstein said. was a huge relief to him, but it remains his responsibility

18 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018

 Rockland

to continue to teach it, he said. In fact, he’s already
talked about it at Montebello, at Selichot services.
It all goes back to the first time he heard it, at his
grandfather’s Shabbat table.
While his father’s family taught him about Jewish
Emanuel of North Jersey during that time; in fact, he was at
Emanuel when it moved from Paterson to Franklin Lakes.
Their three children, Sarah, now a doctoral student in biol-
ogy at Columbia, Elie, a rabbinical student at Chovevei
Torah, and Rebecca, a freshman at Wellesley, grew up there.
As for the Conservative movement, “I know that people are
wringing their hands about the future of Judaism, and about
the movement, but I also see how other movements are emu-
lating what we do,” he said. “Federations have Havdalah pro-
grams, and Chabad is opening Jewish centers.

L ’ Shana
life, his mother taught him about how to teach and The family moved to central Jersey for some time, but now “People are looking for Jewish connections, for meaningful

L ’ Shana
treat and love children, and how to notice and encour- Joshua and Elana are in Rockland, and it feels like home. Judaism, for a sense of the greater good, and for a sense of God
age their individuality. “My mother, Elaine Samuels The Conservative movement also feels like home for in the world. If we can create a mindful, meaningful Judaism,
Finkelstein, was a teacher in the New York City pub- Rabbi Finkelstein, both for its history and for its promise, where people are reflective about their lives, where they can

Tovah!
lic school system for many years. She taught special he said. It’s not only family history but personal history as create meaning in their lives, and if we can help shape that

Tovah!
education in PS 48 in Hunts Point, in the Bronx, in a well; he practically grew up at Camp Ramah in the Berk- meaning, then this is a vehicle to help them transform their
special state-funded preschool. She used to make sure shires, where his parents worked for many summers. His lives — and transform the world.
that she’d bring us to visit the classroom at least once wife also was a lifelong Ramahnik — but she grew up in “And that brings me back to the Montebello Jewish Center,”
a year. She was very much into early intervention. She Princeton, so she went to Ramah in the Poconos. Her par- he said. “I have come to a place where people are committed
said that we could always make a difference, and that ents were deeply committed to their shul, and thinking and loving. It is a wonderful place.
carried through to all of us and to our children.” about them led Rabbi Finkelstein to talk about how impor- “I believe the focus of the rabbinate is to work with the com-
Rabbi Finkelstein’s father’s father’s family was the
one most people know about, but his father’s moth-
Wishing you a sweetyou
newa sweet
tant lay leadership is. “I have a great appreciation for what
Wishing
they can do to make this world a better place,” he said.
year. new year.
munity, to build the community, and to bring people closer to
God,” he said.
er’s family is notable as well. They were the Bent- Jamie and Steven Dranow • Larry A. Model • Harvey Schwartz
Gregg Brunwasser Jamie and Steven
• Michael Dranow •General
L. Rosenthal, Larry A.Manager
Model • Harvey Schwartz
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Rockland
Shul Israel trip open to community
The Nanuet Hebrew Center is going to
Israel from October 17 to 24. The 2018
Israel Journey includes stays at five-
star hotels, including the Inbal Hotel in
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Jerusalem and the Hilton Hotel on the
beach in Tel Aviv. For information, call
Gary Siepser at (845) 362-4200, ext. 133.
WELCOME CENTER NOW OPEN
Call Cindy to
schedule your visit.
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Ben and Susan Gutmann at Lotem’s ecological gardens.
Shabbat will mark awareness
of Jewish disabilities efforts
The Orangetown Jewish Center will
mark Jewish Disabilities Awareness
Shabbat, working with the Jewish
National Fund, on Saturday, February
3, with services that begin at 9 a.m. The
morning features guest speaker Avnet
Kleiner, JNF’s U.S. director of develop-
ment for ALEH Negev, a rehabilitation
village that provides medical and thera-
peutic care for people with severe dis- is JNF’s major gifts chair and was JNF
abilities. On their yearly mitzvah mis- 2017 national conference co-chair.
sions, OCJ members have worked on Lotem — Making Nature Accessible is
JNF projects in Israel. the leading organization in Israel that
One of JNF’s newest projects was the offers accessible hikes and educational
biblical gardens at Lotem’s ecological nature activities around the country to
farm in Emek HaShalom, dedicated in children and adults with special needs.
December 2017 as a gift by Susan and The OJC is at 8 Independence Ave.
Ben Gutmann of Norwood in mem- For more information, call (845) 359-
ory of their parents. Ben Gutmann 5920, or go to www.theojc.org.
CPR course on Sunday in New City
The Nanuet Hebrew Center offers an Amer-
ican Heart Association’s Family and Friends
The shul is at 411 South Little Tor Road
(just off exit 10 of the Palisades Parkway)
CPR course, coordinated by the NHC Men’s in New City. For more information, call
Club, on Sunday, January 28, from 10 a.m. the shul office at (845) 708-9181 or email
to 1 p.m., for anyone 10 and older. office@nanuethc.org.
Adult Jewish learning scheduled
Registration is open for spring courses,
beginning on February 7, sponsored
Hackell will teach “Science vs. Religion:
Do We Have to Choose?” Other enrich-
by the Jewish Federation & Founda- ing classes will be offered, including an
tion of Rockland County. “The United evening class on Jewish art led by Rabbi
States and the Holocaust,” led by Sha- David Berkman, beginning on March 8.
ron Halper, will explore America’s role For information, call Rebecca at (845)
in World War II through interesting 362-4200, ext. 121, or Roberta at ext. 130,
primary-source materials. Rabbi Jill or go to jewishrockland.org.
Reducing stress and anxiety
Join Rockland Jewish Family Service the Meditative practices have been deeply
first Wednesday of the month for mind- rooted in Judaism for thousands of years.
fulness and meditation, as well as other The next class is February 7 at 11 a.m. RJFS
techniques to reduce stress and anxiety. is at 450 West Nyack Road in West Nyack.
Experience deep relaxation and peace with All proceeds support RJFS’ mission. Call
music, mindfulness, and other simple tools (845) 354-2121, ext.142.
you can use in daily life. All levels welcome.
JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 21
 22 Cover Story

Cover Story
‘I might be its last reader’
In Hoboken, a talk about how Vilna Ghetto intellectuals risked lives, saved books
Joanne Palmer

T
he Nazis seemed to revel in acts
of immense cruelty, even sav-
agery. They did not only want
to exterminate the Jews, along
with other peoples and groups they con-
sidered inferior; it seems that they also
wanted to extract every last drop of extra
physical and emotional pain they could
out of those murders.
Much as they loved their dispassionate
lists of the dead, it seems that they loved
the act of killing them even more.
Some of what they did, though, was a
little more subtle, though not less cruel.
Sometimes, instead of inflicting physical
pain — or before inflicting physical pain —
they demanded soul-wrenching work.
But sometimes the Jews were able to
fight back, and sometimes in the end they
won.
Take, for example, what happened to
a small group of intellectuals who were
herded into the Vilna Ghetto.
Dr. David Fishman, who teaches history
at the Jewish Theological Seminary, special-
izes in eastern European Jewish history.
His latest book, “The Book Smugglers: Par-
tisans, Poets, and the Race to Save Jewish Slave laborers sort through Jewish books for the Nazis. YIVO Institute

Treasures from the Nazis,” published last

year, tells the genuinely thrilling story of
those intellectuals, who were tasked with
sorting through pillaged Jewish textual and
artistic treasures, consigning most of them
to destruction, and saving some of them for
the Nazis’ museum, where it would show
relics of the peoples they had destroyed.
“This is a real story,” Dr. Fishman said.
(It also is a story that he will tell in Hobo-
ken next week; there’s more information
in the box.) “It’s not a novel, though it very
well could be.
“It’s the story of how ghetto inmates in
Vilna rescued Jewish cultural treasures
from the Nazis, and then again, after the
war, from the Soviets.”
That’s the story in his book, which
traces how the precious reclaimed objects
eventually found their way to two places,
YIVO in Manhattan and in Israel. After the
book came out — just last fall! — another
trove was unearthed, this one in some
Lithuanian church basement that had dis-
gorged a smaller one 25 years ago.
The story starts in Vilna, which then was
in Poland, in 1942.
Dr. David Fishman
The Nazis amassed a huge amount of
Judaica. It included material that dated
back to the 1700s and contained manu-
scripts by famous rabbis, the original ver-
sions of their insights into Jewish tradition.
They brought their booty — mainly
works of Jewish culture, but also some in
Polish and Russian — to YIVO, the Yidisher
Visnshaftlekher Institut, which was dedi-
cated to the study of Jewish life in Europe.
In one of many twisted ironies, that build-
ing was home to the attempted ruin of Jew-
ish culture — and also to its preservation.
The Nazis used slave labor; it was cheap
— no, it was free — and most of the time it
was entirely replaceable. But the intellec-
tuals — a group of 40, mostly men but also
some women, including poets Shmerke
Kaczerginski and Abraham Sutzkever, and
Rachele Krinsky Melezin — were a more
select group, with the skills the Nazis
needed. “The Nazis realized that these
Jewish slave laborers were very smart and
capable,” Dr. Fishman said.
“The Nazis believed that they were the
master race, and that everything should
belong to them, and that’s why they looted
it. But they realized that they needed
people with the right knowledge to sort
through it.”
So the slave laborers — the Paper Brigade
— had to work through these vast piles of
precious material. They had to trash most
of it, and send some of it to the Nazis’
never-created museum. But they saved
some of it by secreting it in their cloth-
ing, walking off with it wrapped around
their bodies, going past the guards who
would have had them executed had they
known what was going on literally in front
of them. They brought their rescued rem-
nants back to the ghetto and buried them.
They did that every workday for 18
months.
The emotional strain of that work
must have been overwhelming. “They
were forced to destroy their own culture,
and they resisted and hid whatever they
could, because of their belief in the Jew-
ish future,” Dr. Fishman said. “There are
descriptions of the workers in tears. You
can imagine the bulldozers coming in and
destroying much of this rare and special
material. They felt a lot of guilt. They felt a
lot of emotions.”
Still, the workers continued with their

22 Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018

 23 Cover Story

tasks. Of course, to be realistic, they had
little choice but to show up to the destruc-
tion, but they continued with the very
dangerous work of saving whatever they
could. They did it, Dr. Fishman said,
because “they believed that there would
continue to be a Jewish people, and that
they would need these Jewish treasures.
from the Soviet Union to Poland, and then
eventually it reached the United States
and Israel, so this really is a story about
two rescues.
“The materials that survived are signifi-
cant in two ways,” Dr. Fishman said. “They
are important in their own right. And then
the fact that these materials exist at all is
testimony to the amazing heroism of the
ghetto inmates who risked their lives so
that it would reach future generations.”

They believed They didn’t get to future generations

particularly quickly, though.
that there would Once it was retrieved, the material was

continue to be a divided fairly randomly and sent on to

Israel or New York, in a way that echoed to
Jewish people, some extent the prewar division between

and that they Hebraicists and Yiddishists. “One of the

people involved in retrieving the mate-
would need rial was Abba Kovner, another poet, who The literary group Young Vilna; the poets Shmerke Kaczerginski and Abraham

these Jewish was one of the leaders of the resistance,”

Dr. Fishman said. “When he came back
Sutzkever, members of the Paper Brigade, are in the middle. YIVO INSTITUTE

treasures. after the Holocaust, he was very active in

retrieving material. should end up in Israel, so he took what- new state with some of this Jewish cultural
“As a Zionist, he felt that all the material ever he could there, as part of building the treasure.”
“They were doing it for the future. For
the idea that someday someone would
find it.”
In the end, although far more Jewish
work was destroyed than saved, quite a bit
did survive. “If 20 people smuggle, and if,
say, each of them brings out three items on
their bodies, that is 60 items smuggled out
a day,” Dr. Fishman said. “And they did it
for a year and a half, say that’s 400 work-
days. That’s 60 times 400, which is 2,400.”
It took foresight, steadiness, and pure
courage. And it paid off.
The ghetto was liquidated in 1943, and
most of the people who had been caged
inside it were murdered. Most of the intel-
lectual slave laborers were killed, just like
their families and friends and the rest of
the community.
But some survived, and after the war
they came back and dug up the work they
had saved.
It should have been safe then — but his-
tory continued.
“Vilna — Vilnius as it became — was
under the Soviet Union, and these cultural
treasures were endangered for a second
time,” Dr. Fishman said. “For a second
time, nobody would be allowed to read
them or even to see them. The Soviets did
Po sledamlitovskogo ierusalima

not have a much better view of Jewish cul-

ture and Jewish life than the Nazis did.
“So there was an operation to smuggle
as much of it as they could over the border

Jews, Lithuanians and

Germans guarded the
entance to the Vilna Ghetto.

Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018 23

 24 Cover Story

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DAVID FISHMAN

a National Jewish Book Award, in the

new Holocaust category, took six years

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go back there. YIVO had relocated to
Manhattan, so that’s where the saved
of researching and writing. “Some of
my heroes kept diaries in the ghetto,
at Bergen County’s Premier Compassionate professionals work belonged, they believed. and though they perished, their diaries
deliver our highly specialized Abraham Sutzkever, although he made were discovered,” he said; the memoir-
Senior Living Community dementia care program aliyah after the war and lived the rest of ists saved their own work alongside the
in a state-of-the-art his life in Israel, “was of two minds,” Dr. other buried treasures. “They knew that
Fishman said. “He sent some of it to New this was an enormous historical event,”
neighborhood.
York, and brought some of it to Israel.” Dr. Fishman said.
Once the work was divided, it pretty His book tells the story of some of
much was forgotten, even though it these Paper Brigade members.
Call Mary or Marianne to offered much to scholars; some of it, left “One of my heroes — a central one —
schedule your personal visit. behind in the Soviet Union, was redis- is Rachele Krinsky Melezin, who lived
201.479.9437 covered when that behemoth fell in the in Teaneck from 1970 to the late 1990s.”
396 Forest Avenue • Paramus, NJ 07652 1980s, and YIVO rediscovered its own In fact, Ms. Melezin was the grand-
www.BrightviewParamus.com cache during that same decade. mother of Alix Wall, who was a manag-
“This is one of the great stories of Jew- ing editor of the Jewish Standard in the
ish spiritual resistance in the Holocaust, 1990s, and whose own work about the
JS-1*
and it is largely unknown,” Dr. Fishman Holocaust Larry Yudelson wrote about
said. “There was armed resistance, and in our June 1 issue, in a story called
SWEET TAKES ON THE PROPHETS IN FAIR LAWN page
TALKING NORTH KOREA AT JCC U IN TENAFLY page
ORTHODOX RABBI TO TEACH AT RIVER EDGE REFORM
NEW YORK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL RETURNS page 53
8
6

SHUL page 11

JANUARY 19, 2018

VOL. LXXXVII NO. 18 $1.00
THEJEWISHSTANDARD.COM
NORTH JERSEY
86 7
2017
Sign up for the there was spiritual resistance.” We know
more about the armed resistance — the
“The Song Plays On.”
“She was a very refined woman, who
Vilna Ghetto uprising, for example — had a master’s in history,” Dr. Fishman
Jewish Standard

than we do about the spiritual kind, said. “She was 32 when she was forced
Po sledamlitovskogo ierusalima

because closer to the war’s end there into the ghetto. She was a great lover of
daily newsletter! was a greater need to concentrate on
those stories. Now, though, he sug-
poetry; when the Germans would leave
the worksite for lunch, she would read.
gested, we can be more sophisticated She’d mainly read poetry.”
Visit www.thejewishstandard.com in our understanding of what resistance There is a poignant passage in her
and looks like, and we can understand that memoir, Dr. Fishman said, where she
click on
SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY it can encompass a wide range of activi- says that the one thing that still gave her
A ‘Fiddler’
Sholem Aleichem
could understand ties, some visibly soul-stirring, others satisfaction was reading. “She says, ‘This

JewishStandard
Jewish
N E W J E R S E Y R O C K L A N D

more quietly so. might be the last book that I read in my

Folksbiene to present Yiddish translation
of Broadway classic this summer page 20
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1086 Teaneck Road
Jewish Standard

Dr. Fishman’s book, which just won life, so I want to savor it.

3 24 Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018

 25 Cover Story

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work on astronomy from northern France. DAVID FISHMAN

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“Rachele was the only one of
my heroes who survived Ger-
man concentration camps,” Dr.
Fishman said. “The others either
fled with the partisans, like my
poets, or they went to the camps
or Create Your Own
and were killed there.
“She survived the camps and
the death march. But she was
deeply, deeply depressed. She
didn’t even bother to write to
her brother in New York when
she was liberated. She said that
it didn’t matter.
“What is amazing is how she
gradually pulled her life together
again. She remarried” — she had Fresh and Healthy Garden Salads,
been a widow; her first husband
was a Holocaust victim — “and
Grain Bowls, Soups, and Sandwiches
that was something she thought
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“She said she could never lis- who lived in Tenafly for years, at right, is
ten to people talking about love — with her husband, Abraham, their daughter,
she said, ‘I don’t know what they Sarah, and their granddaughter, Alix Wall.
are talking about, I could never COURTESY ALIX WALL
182 West Englewood Avenue, Teaneck, NJ 07666
feel that again’ — but by the end
201-837-9900
of her life, she is writing to Sutz- “That’s amazing. That is an amazing
kever, and she says, ‘We are the fortunate story of fortitude and rebuilding.” E mail: info@vinaigrette-nj.com
ones. We have had such a long and rich The material Dr. Fishman examined ORDER ONLINE www.vinaigrette-nj.com
and happy life.’ for his book “was very voluminous,” he under supervision of RCBC

Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018 25


Cover Story
said. Despite all the years he devoted to the project, there
was not enough time to read them in depth. “There were
things that were emotionally powerful, like poems by Sutz-
kever,” he said.
And then that big new trove came to light, too late for the
book, but certainly not too late for Dr. Fishman. He went to
Lithuania to look at it — as if anyone or anything could have
kept him away — and “I saw so many things,” he said.
“We found a couple of letters by Sholem Aleichem, one
handwritten, one typed but signed by hand. We found
rabbinic manuscripts. One is from an offshoot of Chabad
Lubavitch” — that is, from one of the three rival sons of the
reigning Chabad rabbi at the time — “and other Chabad-
related manuscripts. We found a manuscript by the rosh of
the Telz Yeshiva in Lithuania.
“We found a script from the Yiddish theater. We found tes-
timonies from survivors of the 1919 pogroms. The list goes on.
“You see all of eastern European Jewish history come
5 26 Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018
26Jewish World
in front of your eyes, period after period, region after
region, theme after theme, every topic, every aspect is in
this material.
“And there is political material, Zionist material. And
there are hundreds and hundreds of photographs, in good
shape, in good condition.
“And there are autobiographies, especially by young
people, teenagers and children. YIVO had asked them to
write them. When you ask a child to write an autobiog-
raphy, it’s going to be mainly about their parents, their
teachers, their school, their family. So they give a lot of
insight into daily life.”
One of his happiest discoveries was “a contract from 1853
between the main yeshiva in Vilna and the Association of
Jewish Water Carriers there,” he said. “There was no run-
ning water, so you had to have professional water carriers.
“The water carriers were too poor to have their own syna-
gogue, so in the contract, they ask for some place where
they can have services. The yeshiva will give them
rent-free room to pray, and in return the water carri-
ers will donate a set of the Talmud to the yeshiva.
“That gives you insight into daily life in the 19th cen-
tury. There are shared values and bonds between the
yeshiva — the top elite — and the water carriers, who
are the poorest of the poor.
“It is very poignant, and very beautiful,” Dr. Fish-
man said.
Much of what the Paper Brigade saved is emotional,
and their story is very evocative. It is also emotional
and evocative for Dr. Fishman. “I became part of the
story, in a sense,” he said. “I became part of the chain
of the people who hid it, the people who found it. I
can be part of it by making it known.
“This story is a metaphor of Jewish life,” Dr. Fish-
man said. “We have to preserve our heritage. We have
to retrieve it. We have to dig into it, we have to get it up
from under ground, and we have to pass it on.
“That’s what they did.
“So it’s not only a great story, it also symbolizes
something about Judaism — preserve, retrieve, and
then transmit. That’s why it talks to us. It is a great
story, and anyone who is committed to Judaism imme-
diately identifies with it.
“It is a story of Jewish spiritual resistance — and we
all should know about it.”
This Yiddish theater script of “The Brothers
Karamazov,” written about 1922, was rediscov-
ered in Lithuania last year. DAVID FISHMAN
Who: Dr. David Fishman
What: Will talk about his book, “The Book Smug-
glers: Partisans, Poets, and the Race to Save Jew-
ish Treasures from the Nazis,” and the new discov-
ery that followed its publication, at a book brunch
Where: At the United Synagogue of Hoboken, 115
Park Ave.
When: On Sunday, February 4, from 10:30 a.m. to
12:30 p.m.
How much: Members pay $18; nonmembers pay
$25.
For more information or reservations: Email of-
fice@hobokensynagogue.org or call (201) 659-
4000.

#PenceFence
Female reporters are segregated
during VP’s Western Wall visit
ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL
Vice President Mike Pence’s private visit
to the Western Wall on Tuesday was at
the center of a very public fracas when
women reporters complained that they
were segregated from their male coun-
terparts and were unable to cover the
event adequately.
Angry at being sent behind a mechitza,
or fence, while Pence prayed at the holy
site, the women reporters created a
hashtag — #PenceFence — and took to
social media to lambaste whoever was
responsible for separating the sexes.
Tal Schneider, the diplomatic and
political correspondent for the Israeli
financial news site Globes, tweeted that
“women [are] stuck in isolation and can
not photograph, work. Women journal-
ists are second-class citizens.”
The Western Wall and the plaza that
abuts it have been the center of a years-
long controversy pitting religious femi-
nists and non-Orthodox denominations
against the charedi Orthodox authority
in charge of the site. The Western Wall
Heritage Foundation essentially runs
the best-known section of the wall as an
Orthodox synagogue and uses fencing
to maintain the separation of men and
women that is standard during Ortho-
dox worship.
Several journalists asserted that there
was no reason to enforce the separation
during a visit by an evangelical Christian
like Pence.
“Factually incorrect to say that ‘keep-
ing with Jewish tradition at the holy site,
female journalists were placed behind a
barrier,’” wrote journalist Noga Tarnop-
olsky, quoting the Jerusalem Post. “I have
covered many visits; this was an aber-
rant first.”
Allison Kaplan Sommer wrote in
Haaretz, “The justification for keep-
ing the genders separate during the
Pence visit was a weak one.” She noted
that the site had been cleared of non-
VIP visitors, and unlike during a previ-
ous visit by President Donald Trump’s
Female reporters cover Mike Pence’s visit to
the Western Wall.  MICHAEL LIPIN/TWITTER
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Stephen Miller, the White House senior adviser for policy, at the White House on December 15, 2017.
 Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

A Jewish journalist confronts

Trump immigration advisers
with their own histories
Ben Sales
During a combative news conference in early August,
White House adviser Stephen Miller told reporters that
the United States should give priority to immigrants who
speak English.
“Does the applicant speak English?” Miller asked,
describing a bill to reduce the overall number of immi-
grants and reform immigration
requirements. “Can they sup-
port themselves and their fami-
lies financially? Do they have
a skill that will add to the U.S.
economy?”
Mendelsohn has performed similar searches for the
immigrant forbears of a handful of President Donald
Trump’s advisers and supporters, seeking hard data to
support the idea that America is a nation of immigrants.
She’s found out about Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s
great-great-grandfather, conservative pundit Tomi
Lahren’s great-great-grandfather, and U.S. Representa-
tive Steve King’s grandmother, who arrived in the United
States from Germany when she
was 4. (“We can’t restore our
civilization with somebody else’s
babies,” the Iowa Republican
tweeted in March.)
On January 9, Dan Scavino,
Courtesy Jennifer Mendelsohn

But if English proficiency had the White House director of

been an immigration requirement social media, called for an end to
a century ago, Miller’s own great- “chain migration,” which refers
grandmother may not have been to immigrants bringing their rel-
allowed into the country. atives to live in the United States.
That’s what journalist Jenni- But Mendelsohn discovered that
fer Mendelsohn discovered that the practice had brought Scavi-
same day while working on a new no’s great-grandfather, Gildo, to
project she calls Resistance Gene- the country.
alogy. Using public records and Jennifer Mendelsohn is a writer; she’s “So Dan. Let’s say Victor Sca-
genealogical websites like Ances- also an amateur genealogist who has vino arrives from Canelli, Italy,
try.com, Mendelsohn wants to been researching President Trump’s in 1904, then brother Hector in
show immigration hard-liners advisers and supporters. 1905, brother Gildo in 1912, sis-
their own immigrant family trees. ter Esther in 1913, & sister Clo-
“When you do genealogy, you’re constantly con- tilde and their father Giuseppe in 1916, and they live
fronted with the reality of our immigrant past,” Men- together in NY,” Mendelsohn tweeted, listing his fam-
delsohn said. “It appears from some of the attitudes ily members. “Do you think that would count as chain
and stances that people are taking publicly that they’re migration?”
forgetting that.” In recent days, with Congress and the White House
In Miller’s case, Mendelsohn tracked down his great- locked in a bitter battle over a federal funding bill
grandmother’s line item in the 1910 census. The entry and the children of undocumented immigrants, Men-
noted that four years after arriving in the United States, delsohn published her research in Politico, was inter-
she spoke only Yiddish, not English. viewed on MSNBC, and was cited in Breitbart News.

28 Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018

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Jewish Standard S-3

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Jewish Standard S-3

The cantor’s daughter..................................... 4

A mother beams from beyond the bima

Legacy gifts..................................................... 6
Meaningful presents for the b’nei mitzvah

The joy of the process..................................... 8

How I loved planning my daughter’s bat mitzvah

Space goes to your space............................... 9

Event company launches an off-site division

Why I cried a
 t your bar mitzvah................... 10
A mother’s revelations as her boy becomes a man

Fash bash for the big mitzvah....................... 11

Mitzvah on Masada....................................... 12
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Places and spaces.......................................... 13         
Area venues give parties pizzazz
Cover photo by Joanne DiStasi of Stolen Moments, Inc.

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 The family gathers for Jordana Fergang’s bat mitzvah

The cantor’s daughter

at Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff. From left: her
mother, Cantor Barbra Lieberstein, brother Joshua
Fergang, maternal grandmother Gloria Lieberstein,
Jordana, sister Sara Fergang, and father, Scott Fergang.
Joanne DiStasi of Stolen Moments, Inc.

A mother beams from beyond the bima

Heidi MaE Bratt cantor colleagues to the bat mitzvah. “She For her part, Jordana, who dances with family struck a more Conservative note

P
oised, pretty and bedecked in a
beautiful black and pink dress,
Jordana Fergang performed
with aplomb. Standing before
family and friends at Temple
Beth Rishon in Wykoff, the sev-
enth grader at Eric Smith Middle School
presided over the Shabbat services. She
led the prayer services, chanted from the
Torah, and read the whole haftorah.
It was a moment of great pride for her
tutor, Cantor Barbra Lieberstein.
It was a moment of great pride for her
mother, Cantor Barbra Lieberstein.
“She did phenomenal,” said Ms. Lieber-
stein, a popular bar and bat mitzvah tutor,
best known as “Cantor Barbra,” who had
the opportunity to teach her own daughter
and prepare her for her recent bat mitzvah
where she recited the Torah portion Lech
Lecha.
“People were so impressed,” said Ms.
Lieberstein, who had invited many of her
practically did the whole service. This
was my last opportunity, my last child,
and my baby. And, this is our last simcha
for a while. I wanted her to be spectacu-
lar. And she was.”
The day was a proud one for the whole
family, father Scott Fergang, who runs
the Paramus wealth management broker-
age firm for Royal Bank of Canada, and
13-year-old Jordana’s siblings, twins Sara
and Joshua, nearly 16.
The service was presided over by Con-
gregation Beth Rishon’s interim Rabbi Ste-
phen Wylen and Cantor Ilan Mamber.
Tutoring your own daughter is not
exactly like tutoring other students, said
Ms. Lieberstein.
“It’s obviously different tutoring your
own child,” she said. “I think there are
more expectations for her. I definitely
think I was a little harder on her than my
other students because I am a cantor and
I knew I would have colleagues coming to
the service.”
a company when she’s not in school, hav-
ing her mother as tutor was great.
“I think it was a lot easier being taught
by my mother than by someone else,” Jor-
dana said. “It wasn’t as nerve-wracking.
My mother helped with highlighting and
color-coding everything. It just made it
easier.
“It was also laid-back and chill. I could
be on my bed in my room and we could
study. She’s my mom and I wasn’t nervous
around her. And if I would forget some-
thing, she was right there to ask for help.
A lot of kids don’t have that advantage. She
would be there and that made it easier.”
Jordana acknowledged that it sometimes
wasn’t that easy.
“It is a challenge,” she said. “You need
to practice. It’s not easy to make a 12- or
13-year-old practice so much, but I did.”
Ms. Lieberstein remembered her own
bat mitzvah, which was held at her fam-
ily’s synagogue, the Orthodox Congrega-
tion Beth Tefillah in Paramus. While the
in their Jewish practice, they joined Beth
Tefillah during the 1970s, and Ms. Lieber-
stein described it as a very “heimish and
warm” place that welcomed her family:
her father the late Melvin Lieberstein, her
mother, Gloria, and her sister Rochelle,
who is five years older.
Her bat mitzvah took place when she
was 12 years old. It was Sunday, Labor
Day weekend, she recalled. She chanted
the “Ve’yahavta” prayer, one of the great
basic principles of the Torah “to love your
fellow as yourself,” spoke about the signifi-
cance of a bat mitzvah and, following the
service, joined the 75 people at her party,
which took place at The Women’s Club
of Paramus for a luncheon with musical
entertainment.
“It was really a no-frills affair,” Ms.
Lieberstein said.
Musical from a young age, Ms. Lieber-
stein played the piano, clarinet and flute,
and she sang. In fact, her name Barbra
– note the missing “a” – was for Barbra
 Jewish Standard S-5

Streisand.
“Yes, my mother named me for her,”
said Ms. Lieberstein “I enjoyed perform-
ing,” and at her bat mitzvah, Ms. Lieber-
stein played the piano and sang Barry
Manilow songs to entertain her guests.
The bat mitzvah was a Jewish girl’s rite
of passage, but at that time she had no
idea about what in fact would become her
life’s work. “I didn’t know how women
could become cantors. I grew up in an
Orthodox synagogue where women were
speaking, sometimes just chatting, behind
the mechitza.”
After graduating Paramus High School,
Ms. Lieberstein attended William Pater-
son College, where she studied music

Joanne D iStasi of Stole n M ome nts, Inc.

management. She thought that she might
work in arts administration. It wasn’t
until she attended a Passover Seder dur-
ing her college years and someone at the
table suggested that she consider becom-
ing a cantor that the thought took hold. A
trip to Israel with her parents soon there-
after deepened her connection to Juda-
ism and her journey began. She joined
the choral society at Temple Emanuel,
which was in Paterson at the time, now Barbra Lieberstein, left, and Scott, Sara, and Joshua Fergang watch as Jordana blows out the bat mitzvah candles.
Temple Emanuel of North Jersey in
Franklin Lakes.
Singing on Friday nights in the beautiful
sanctuary with is high ceilings and beau-
tiful stained glass deepened her desire to
pursue liturgical music and she sought out
her training in earnest. She studied with
the late Rabbi Joseph Rudavsky, who was
the rabbi emeritus of Temple Avodot Sho-
lom in River Edge. Cantor Barbra received
her ordination in 1998 from The Academy
for Jewish Religion, a pluralistic seminary
for rabbis and cantors in New York City.
She is also certified through the American
Conference of Cantors (Reform) and the
Cantors Assembly. (Conservative). She is
a member of the Women’s Cantors Net-
work and had sung with the NJ Cantors
Concert Ensemble.
The work came. She served as a canto-
rial intern and became the cantor in sev-
eral synagogues including Beth Haverim
Shir Shalom, a Reform Congregation in
Mahwah, where she served from 2002 to
Barbra Lieberstein is flanked by her parents, Gloria and the late Melvin, at Barbra Lieberstein with her older sister,
2006. At that time she already had twins,
her bat mitzvah. Rochelle Stern.
Sara, and Joshua, nearly 16, and Jordana
was just a toddler. started advertising on craigslist and got a just right for their big day. As for her own bar mitzvah, Jordana
She left the pulpit “because I wanted to few students. She launched her website in “I am a perfectionist,” she said. said that while she was “so nervous about
watch them grow up.” 2009 and business picked up. She tutors students in their homes in the service and nervous about the party”
From there, Ms. Lieberstein worked Today, Ms. Lieberstein is so busy that Bergen and Rockland counties, and has she felt very good about what she accom-
as preschool music teacher in a few reli- she has a staff of 10 tutors who help her conducted lessons by Skype or Facetime. plished in the synagogue that day.
gious schools. During that time she got a prepare b’nei mitzvah students. But she Typically, she uses the Reform liturgy for “I don’t think that there was anything
call from a former congregant who needed still is very hands on. She meets with the Shabbat morning or Havdalah services, better that I could have done,” Jordana
help in preparing her daughter for her family and the student and comes in dur- but she has also performed in a Recon- said about her bat mitzvah at Beth Ris-
bat mitzvah. So Ms. Lieberstein began to ing the last six weeks before the bar or bat structionist synagogue setting and has also hon. “And I think that definitely it was all
tutor her. She enjoyed it so much that she mitzvah to make sure that everything is done Conservative Havdalah services. because of my mom.”
S-6 Jewish Standard WINTER 2018 BAR/BAT MITZVAH

Legacy gifts
adds meaning to the experience and expands the relation- she asked about or played with during visits? That could
ship between the recipient and the giver in a healthy way. be the perfect gift. Is there something that symbolizes a
turning point in your own life that carries an important
Creating legacy gifts story and that you can give over as a sacred trust? This
Many items in life can become legacy gifts. Even if giving might become the cornerstone of a mentoring moment
a check has to happen because it’s customary or sorely that will long resound within the student’s memory. You
Meaningful presents needed, also consider creating a
special moment to give something
might also find a novel or nonfiction work that relates to
your point. You can then inscribe it, and give it to the bar
for the b’nei mitzvah personal and uniquely memorable.
Start by looking into the contents
or bat mitzvah student as a personal resource to hold on
to until it is fully needed. Jason’s paternal grandfather
of your life. Are there pictures of died before Jason could remember him. His Aunt Wendy
Rabbi Goldie Milgram
great grandparents or other ances- brought him one of his grandfather’s leather books of

D
aniel went home and tors that you can frame with a dedi-
unwrapped his bar mitzvah cation plaque giving their names
presents. His mom found and dates in honor of the bar or bat
him sitting dolefully amid the mitzvah? Do you have stories about
crumpled wrapping paper and open them to share in a one-to-one meet-
envelopes. He was surrounded by ing with the bar or bar mitzvah stu-
many high quality watches, several dent? Also write down the stories
personal music and game players, in your gift note or mount them on
assorted games, 12 gift certificates, the back of the picture.
Brilliantly colorful Ethiopian embroi-
and 36 checks. She wondered at his Consider the picture together
dered bags depicting scenes from the
mood and asked: “What’s wrong, with the student. Gifts become
Torah make a meaningful gift for the
son?” Daniel’s answer: “I don’t know more meaningful to the recipient
bar or bat mitzvah.
mom, but somehow this is disappoint- by the manner in which we convey
ing. This stuff just doesn’t mean anything to me.” Daniel is them. Together, notice details of
absolutely right. There are many ways to give bar/bat mitz- dress, similarities perhaps between the students and the
vah gifts that can touch a person’s spirit, not just by way ancestor(s); if you can, explain the period in which the
of a charitable organization. There is nothing wrong and photo was taken. Is there something around your home
everything right with receiving a physical gift so long as it that has always fascinated the student? Something he or
poems by Walt Whitman; complete with notes Jason’s
grandfather had handwritten in the margins when he was
young. The inside cover contained a dedication showing
that Jason’s grandfather had received the book as a bar
mitzvah present from his father. To Jason, this book is
the greatest treasure he’s ever received. Allison’s grand-
mother noticed a beaded drawstring bag in the back of
her closet. She had the bag repaired and added the words
Allison’s tallit bag in beadwork. She presented Allison with
the tallit bag at the party, with stories about some of the
events that the bag had been through with her. Jenny’s
cousin obtained Hadassah and Life magazines from the
day Jenny was born, thirteen years before that, and thir-
teen years before that. As the cousins pored over the mag-
azines together, they were amazed at the kinds of adver-
tising events, and social changes they read about. Alice’s
mom helped her encase these magazines in sturdy plastic
covers to preserve this unique gift for future generations.

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Adam’s neighbor discovered that Adam loves science fic-
tion. On-line at JewishLights.com he found a series of Jew-
ish science-fiction books and gave Adam three as his gift,
with the suggestion that they both read and discuss the
works. One story discussed whether a nonhuman alien
could convert to Judaism. This problem captured Adam’s
curiosity and led them into a whole new level of explora-
tion. Kerri’s tutor had a big surprise for her. She picked up
a plain beige kippah at the Judaica store and with fabric
paint made a scene of Jerusalem on one half and an image
of an open Torah scroll on the other half. Then, with a
permanent marker, she wrote a verse from Kerri’s Torah
portion on the open scroll and Kerri’s name in the very
center of the kippah. On the inside she wrote, “Love to my
fantastic student forever — your tutor, Dona.
Many Ethiopian Jews participated in an embroidery
project to raise money for food, health care, and educa-
tion, before their immigration to Israel. Their high qual-
ity, brilliantly colored tallitot and tallit and pillow covers
interpret many Torah portions; their mezuzot also make
stunning legacy presents and support their education
and training in Israel. Ari’s classmates and their parents
got together to acquire the series of Ethiopian pillow cov-
ers as a present for him. This proved to be so special that
many classmates are hoping the same gift will be coming
their way, too. It is also possible to twin with an Ethiopian
Jewish immigrant to Israel, to share bar or bat mitzvah
dates, correspond, and one day even to meet. The legacy
of friendship is a very powerful gift indeed. (For informa-
tion, contact the North American Conference on Ethio-
pian Jewry at NOCOEJ.org.)
Special activities as gifts
Consider some activities that you can do together to pri-
vately honor this special time. Ben’s uncle gook him to the
steam room at the Jewish community center and proudly
introduced him to the men who gather there after the
men’s weekly bagels-and-lox brunch. They joyfully wel-
comed him and shared stories of their own b’nei mitz-
vah. Sarah’s mom took her to the Judaica shop to select a
set of candlesticks of her own to light every Friday night.
She told Sara a secret, that whenever she lights candles,
she senses the presence of her own mother of blessed
memory. Also, when she blesses Sara, she senses her own
mother’s hands upon her head. Kate, his mother’s best
friend, brought Max to a ceramics studio so that they could
make a challah plate together in honor of his bar mitzvah.
On the back of the plate, Kate wrote a special signed mes-
sage for her heart that was sealed there for every Shab-
bat to come. Blaine’s grandmother is an excellent needle
worker. When she learned about a German Jewish nee-
dlework tradition called whimple, she and Blaine agreed
that making one together would be very memorable. The
whimple involves creating a Torah belt, to be used only
Jewish Standard S-7
on the special occasions of a person’s life cycle that take
place at the Torah. Traditionally, these would be started in
honor of a birth, and the fabric would be derived from the
baby’s swaddling cloth. The belt is made up of multiple
panels and is perhaps six inches wide. As each major life-
cycle event arrives, each panel of the belt gets decorated
in fabric paint or embroidery with the birth date, name of
child, symbols, and a verse from that week’s Torah por-
tion or blessing. Antique and contemporary examples are
on view at many Jewish museums. Another collaborative
craft project is creating a Judaic blessing quilt. One per-
son sends squares of fabric to friends with instructions
to return the decorated square in honor of the person’s
simcha. Nadine, the yoga partner of Talia’s mom, decided
her gift would be to coordinate such a project. Not being
a quilter herself, she took the squares she had received
from participants to a professional for assembly. Squares
can be decorated with just about any-thing: fabric mark-
ers, buttons, necklace charms, and shells. Messages from
Torah, qualities about the student’s life, or blessings can
be added, too. Some even sew in tiny music chips so
that a melody will emerge when the curious push on the
squares.
From “Reclaiming Bar/Bat Mitzvah as a Spiritual Rite of
Passage” by Rabbi Goldie Milgram (Reclaiming Judaism Press).
Reprinted with permission.
S-8 Jewish Standard WINTER 2018 BAR/BAT MITZVAH

The joy of the process

interfere with their special day. Therefore,
I tried to get everything out of the plan-
ning process so that if the unexpected hap-
pened, I could still say that my daughter’s
bat mitzvah was wonderful.
How I loved planning my daughter’s bat mitzvah 2. Create a meaningful theme
We decided to have a “girl power” theme
Amy Alpert certainly am nothing close to a party plan-
for the party. We found this theme to be
ner), I was nervous that I would not love
The candle-lighting ceremony is a tradi-
tion at many bar and bat mitzvah celebra-
tions where the family chooses 13 differ-
ent people or families to honor by calling
them up to the cake to light a candle. Many
families write poems as a way to call up the
people who are honored.
During the car ride, we all worked
together as a team to come up with clever,

O
ne of the happiest times in my life
was planning my daughter Gabri-
elle’s bat mitzvah. Many people
find this shocking. I was a little
bit shocked, myself. Planning a bar or bat
mitzvah is stressful on many levels. It is
expensive and it is time consuming with
numerous deadlines. But most of all, it is
challenging because all of these things are
happening while managing a hormonal
adolescent.
I knew from the start that I would love
helping my daughter prepare for the ser-
vice. I loved hearing Gabrielle hum her
haftarah portion as she walked around the
house, and I was inspired when we worked
on her d’var Torah together. In addition, I
loved preparing to read a Torah portion
myself during her service. But as someone
who does not really love big parties (and I
inspiring and satisfying. We created the funny, loving poems for the special people
planning the celebration that followed the
logo “Go For It!” with the idea that you in our lives. We laughed about funny sto-
service. But I have to admit, I loved the
should try new things. We wanted the mes- ries we recollected and felt connected to
process.
sage to be that it’s not about being success- our larger community. When it came time
Here are five ways you might love it, too.
ful or perfect; rather, it’s about being brave for Gabrielle to write her poem introduc-
1. Set an intention to love it and putting yourself out there. Gabrielle’s ing my husband Gideon and me, she called
logo was a picture of a girl with a cape and my sister and worked on the poem with
The first thing I did was to buy a bracelet
a ponytail, and we incorporated girl power her over the phone — thus another oppor-
from my sisterhood gift shop — a bracelet
into the event any way we could. tunity to connect.
that said “Joy” on one side and “Simcha”
Creating a theme with a message you
on the other side (the Hebrew word for
believe in is so satisfying and brings a 4. Connect with your friends
joy). This was my reminder that this is a
joyous occasion and to let go of anything
deeper meaning to the party. Our hope and extended family before
was that the girl power message created a the big day
that steals the joy.
positive and inspiring environment to cel- I knew that conversations would be quick
In addition, I knew I could not be miser-
ebrate in together. during the actual day of the event. There
able during the process with the expecta-
tion the wonderful day would make it all would be over 200 people there, so there
3. Involve the whole family was no way I would be able to have the
worth it; as we all know, life is unpredict-
Over our holiday break before the bat deep meaningful conversations I prefer
able. My older brother was sick for his bar
mitzvah we took a three-hour car ride with each of my friends and loved ones.
mitzvah, my cousin had girl drama at hers,
together as a family. During the ride we So I made an effort to connect with people
and plenty of people have had weather
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 Jewish Standard S-9

throughout the process. We asked our guests to RSVP
via email (rather than mail in a response card), and this
inspired conversations. Someone I hadn’t spoken to in
a while would RSVP over email and then I would reply
back, starting a conversation that wouldn’t have hap-
pened otherwise.
A year before the bat mitzvah, Gideon emailed some
long-time friends so they were sure to put it in the calen-
dar. The side benefit to that was that the email chain con-
tinued throughout the year. Many stories and inside-jokes
were shared and recollected, allowing us all to laugh and
share together through cyberspace.
5. Get help
I was blessed with an amazing community of support-
ers who helped us prepare. My friend and party planner
Dayna seemed as excited about the special day as I was.
She would text me pictures of ideas and, as the event got
closer, the excitement grew. We had fabulous Hebrew
tutors for my daughter and our synagogue in general
shared the excitement with me. Even though they have
dozens of b’nei mitzvah students each year, they made us
feel special. Everyone’s enthusiasm was contagious, and
it made the planning all the more special.
Surrounding myself with positive people who shared
my priorities (that the event be wonderful and meaningful
while having fun in the process) was essential. Stay away
from competitive or negative people during this time.
There is too much to be grateful for.
In the end, the day was amazing, but it was no more
special to me than the planning process. Feeling grateful,
acknowledging a milestone, connecting with my family
and larger community, and learning and sharing positive
messages are all meaningful Jewish values, and our bat
mitzvah year reflected that.
Reprinted with permission of
Kveller.com, the Jewish parenting website.

Space goes to your space

Event company launches
an off-site division
Heidi Mae Bratt
First there was Space Odys-
sey, the 26,000-square-
foot destination for kids’
birthday parties. Then (and
now) there is Space Events,
a grown-up version of party
creation with sophistica-
tion. And now, Elvira Grau, Elvira and Jim Grau
owner of Space, and her son, Alec Sikar, are launch-
ing a division of what they already do at their home
base in Englewood, an off-premise party a al Space
Events.
Space Events Off Premise will take Space into your
space.
The new venture, said Ms. Grau whose own rags-to-
riches story reads like a Russian novel — she was a Rus-
sian immigrant who moved from Ukraine to Brook-
lyn at 9 and remembers how exciting it was when her
family received food for Shabbos — was born out of
necessity.
Space Events, said Ms. Grau who is married to Jim
Grau, her business partner, is booked until 2020.
Clients wanted in. There was no space at Space, so
she is giving them what they want. She came up with
the idea to bring everything that Space provides to
any suitable off-premise location.
“There are more Jewish people than available
dates,” she quipped. “And that’s a good thing.”
With the new Space Events Off Premise, “we can
take everything, soup to nuts on the road,” said Ms.
Grau. That includes all event design, production,
planning and entertainment. “We own everything
and have everything from the DJs to the dancers to
the graphics to the LED furniture. We have it all. We
can build and produce everything. We are the source.
It’s like a law firm. If you need a lawyer, we’ll get you
a lawyer.”
Ms. Grau, who appeared on Bravo’s reality show,
“The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” said that it’s a
privilege to create and help people with their simchas.
“They are trusting me with their milestones,” said
Grau, a mother of four. “It’s an honor and a merit for
me to do that.” www.thejewishstandard.com
S-10 Jewish Standard
Why I cried a t your bar mitzvah
A mother’s revelations as her boy becomes a man
Rachel Levy Lesser
O
n the Sunday evening after our son’s bar mitzvah,
the bar mitzvah boy turned to me over brunch left-
overs served as dinner and very honestly and curi-
ously asked me, “Mom, how come you cried at my
bar mitzvah?”
I tried as best as I could on the spot to explain to my
boy-turned-man what I was feeling at services the previ-
ous morning. I gave him a rather canned answer — some-
thing about loving him and being proud of him and miss-
ing my own mother. He nodded and later that night went
back to the business of being a 13-year-old boy checking
fantasy football scores, Snapchat messages, and finishing
up his homework.
As the days and weeks have passed since his bar mitzvah,
I’ve had more time to process that question. Here’s my real
answer for him, or at least as best as I can figure it out:
I cried at your bar mitzvah for the pride that made my
heart swell. As I sat below you in our synagogue seats,
watching you lead the service with such ease and confi-
dence, I felt prouder of you than I had ever felt before. I
Hold a food drive for our food pantry...
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Collect and pack emergency supplies
for Senior Citizens... Volunteer at the
Wheels-for-Meals event... Work with
local synagogues as a Food Pantry
Ambassador...Pack Birthday-in-a-Box
For more information please call
201-837-9090
or visit us at
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WINTER 2018 BAR/BAT MITZVAH
thought back to our family vacation nearly a year ago when
I listened from the slightly ajar door in the adjoining hotel
room as you struggled to put together the words to the
Hebrew prayers you were studying. I stayed up late that
night wondering if you would be able to pull it all together
and become a bar mitzvah. How wrong I was back then,
and how good it felt to see that before my very own eyes.
I cried at your bar mitzvah for all the people we love
who gathered together that morning for a truly happy
occasion. When Dad and I stood next to you on the bima
looking out to the seats below, my mind was flooded with
countless memories of the people who filled them — peo-
ple who have been a part of your life, of my life, of dad’s
life for so many years. I thought of the birthday parties,
the soccer games, the funny stories, and all the laughs we
shared together. I also recalled the sleepless nights, the
long talks, and the tears that we shared with those very — your namesake who you never knew. I imagined how
same people. I felt a bit like I was floating outside of my much he would have loved to know you and what joy you
own body, seeing so many people I love in one place — all would have brought to his life. I comforted myself know-
for you and for our family. ing that he lived a long and full life, still realizing that no
I cried at your bar mitzvah for the people we love who matter how long we have the people we love, it’s never
are no longer with us. I thought of your great-grandfather See why i cried page 14
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S-12 Jewish Standard WINTER 2018 BAR/BAT MITZVAH

Mitzvah on Masada
Tour group offers memorable Israel trip and ceremony
Heidi Mae Bratt

M
asada and its dramatic natural beauty overlook-
ing the Dead Sea is a rugged natural fortress on
which the Judean King Herod the Great con-
structed a sumptuous palace complex in clas-
sical Roman style. After Judea became a province of the
Roman Empire, it was the refuge of the last survivors of
the Jewish revolt, who chose death rather than slavery
when the Roman besiegers broke through their defenses.
As such, it has an emblematic value for the Jewish people,
and Masada has become a must-see stop for tourists and
visitors to Israel.
Several times a year this quiet and symbolic site of Jew-
ish fortitude, resolve, and sacrifice becomes the grounds
on which many teens and their families gather to celebrate
the young men and women’s b’nei mitzvahs, courtesy of
Margaret Morse Tours.
The Masada-top b’nei mitzvah ceremony, a highlight
of the two-week heritage-rich tour, is presided over by a
rabbi, and the youngsters have been prepped for their
big event in Israel. The b’nei mitzvah, held on Mondays
or Thursdays to coincide with the Torah reading, comes a
good week into the tour so the young men and women and
their families, and others who have joined the tour, are all
comfortable and familiar with each other.
“It is a serene and magnificent setting,” said Robyn
Morse, owner of the Hallandale, Florida-based tour com-
pany. Following the b’nei mitzvah ceremony, the group Members of the Margaret Morse Tours enjoy themselves during a visit to the Western Wall.
visits the Dead Sea, and then continue the celebration at a
gala party at a five-star hotel in Jerusalem, said Ms. Morse. The tour operation was founded by her late grand- grandmother, Margaret, the idea to launch the bar and
“There’s nothing more wonderful or meaningful than mother, Margaret, who was 67 and retired, and enjoying bat mitzvah tours.
experiencing Israel like this,” said Ms. Morse, who co-owns life with her third husband, when she took a trip to Israel The two-week tours span the country north to south,
the company with her brother Michael. in 1980. with stops in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Upper Galilee, Jerusalem, and
“She just fell in love,” said Ms. Morse of her grand- if desired, an add-on option for Eilat.
mother’s attraction to Israel, the land, and its people. “Margaret Morse is strictly an Israel tour operator,” Ms.
Margaret came out of retirement and created the tour Morse said. “Israel is too complex a country that having a
Cantor company, which has been shepherding groups to Israel professional and knowledgeable guide will help to give you

Barbra for three generations. In fact, it was Michael Morse’s bar

mitzvah in Israel when he was 13 in 1985 that gave his
a full and great experience.”
Ms. Morse said that there is still availability for summer
0002441714-01.qxd Lieberstein
10/15/08 5:09 PM Page 1 tour departures on June 9, July 21, July 31 and August 14.

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 Jewish Standard S-13

Places and spaces SUITS

Area venues give parties pizzazz

Heidi Mae Bratt
The Edgewood Country Club in River Vale has a storied
past. Once member-owned and exclusive, it is now plan- FIRST PLACE
ning for an exciting and expansive future. MEN’S SHOP
Under new private ownership since 2015, Edgewood
has undergone an extensive renovation that has taken the
facility to a level of “a New York hotel at a resort,” said The finest selection of
Candice Timmerman, event coordinator and sales direc- Italian designer men’s &
tor for the country club.
The main building boasts a ballroom, cocktail area, pri- boy’s suits, sport jackets,
vate wine room, state-of-the-art fitness center, kids enter-
tainment section and more. The spacious ballroom can
coats, car coats, pants,
be expanded through a retractable wall and can host up sweaters, shirts, ties,
to 450 guests, the perfect venue for many types of events,
including weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and other shoes & accessories.
galas. Built in are all the state-of-the-art entertainment
must-haves, including all uplighting, audio and video
equipment, and projectors needed to enhance a simcha,
said Ms. Timmerman. Visit the
Opened with its first event on May 13, 2017, Edgewood SHOES
already has been the site for b’nei mitzvahs. Boy’s Store
“The space is designed with a lot of flexibility so there
are different options,” said Ms. Timmerman. “It is abso- at Emporio
lutely gorgeous, modern and young. It has a great vibe.
Everything is here, so there is not much to do with the
décor because it’s already here.
“We want to be the spot to host any type of personal or
social event.”
At Powerhouse Studios in Paramus there is no need to
plan a bar or bat mitzvah a la carte by hiring a DJ, photo
booth, decorator and the sort, said owner Sam Pellegrino. Scarpa
“This is a one-stop shop,” Mr. Pellegrino said. “Every-
thing you need is here. The venue has the entertainment
themes, such as arcades, casinos, and photo booths.
There is the music; the emcees, and the dancers are all
included,” he said.
For catering, there are also kosher options, or outside
caterers could come in.
“Our atmosphere creates excitement for the overall
event,” Mr. Pellegino said. Powerhouse Studios is hosting
an open house and party showcase on Sunday, January
28, from 1 to 3 p.m. It is located at 49 E. Midland Ave. in BORO PARK: FLATBUSH: LONG ISLAND: LAKEWOOD: TEANECK:
Paramus. 5020 13th Avenue 1505 Coney Island Ave. 467 Central Avenue 1700 Madison Ave. 215 W. Englewood Ave.
For an active and exciting party, Urban Air Trampoline
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and Adventure Park in South Hackensack is the perfect Sunday & Legal Holidays 10-6 Sunday & Legal Holidays 10-6 Sunday & Legal Holidays 10-6 Sunday & Legal Holidays 10-6 Mon-Thurs 10-9
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porate events. The wall-to-wall trampolines offer several
activity areas, including trampoline basketball, trampo-
line dodgeball, foam pit, fitness classes, and more. Urban
Air Indoor Trampoline Parks are suitable for all ages and
fitness levels.
For more physical fun with a party, Lucky Strike in
Events & Celebrations
West Nyack provides an exciting time for groups of all
February 23rd
ages, with kid and teen friendly amenities including 12 Corporate Events · Team Building
premium lanes, six competition ready billiards tables,
and an intimate game room complete with air hockey
Fundraising · New Baby · Sweet Sixteens
and roller ball. Additionally, Lucky Strike features huge Birthdays · Proms · Graduations
projectors and plasma TVs, streaming MLB, NBA, NFL
and others around the clock. Deadline February 15 · 201-837-8818 x 121
 14

Jewish Standard S-14

Why I cried we were to be able to be there right

from page 10
long enough. I cried for your grand-
mother, my late mother, who did not
have the long life I wish she had. I felt
cheated for me, for you, and for her.
I thought of something that a loved
one told me that weekend — how my
mother, more than anything, did not
want to leave us — how she would have
given anything to be able to see you
then. As I watched you read from the
Torah — the very same one that I read
from when I was 13, as did my father
and many other family members — I
felt a connection to the sacred scroll.
I cried at your bar mitzvah for the
passage of time. When the service
was nearly complete and I listened to
the rabbi bless you, I saw a tall young
man before me and wondered who

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more and more.
And so I will, and so I cried.
Reprinted with permission by Kveller.
com, the Jewish parenting website.

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OurChildren
About

Useful Information
for
the Next Generation
of Jewish Families

A-Camping
We Will Go
Summer Choices
Galore

Homemade Purim
Costumes
Taming Tummy
Troubles
Supplement to The Jewish Standard • February 2018
 THE CHILDREN’S CENTER
Now Open
AT CHILTON MEDICAL CENTER

We’re Taking Pediatric ER and Hospital Care to the Next Level

Atlantic Health System has introduced an innovative approach to pediatric care at Chilton Medical Center, the
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2 ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018
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ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018 3

 Musings from the Editor
K
ate Middleton sent royal greet-
ings to me, her birthday buddy,
and extended an invitation for
tea. Hedge fund giant Bobby Axelrod
and his nemesis, U.S. attorney Chuck
Rhoades — the intense characters from
the Showtime series “Billions” — wished
me a happy day. The young and talented
cast of the popular Netflix series “Stranger
Things” joked about the “upside” when
they gave my birthday shout out.
Name dropping, am I?
Nah. Just sharing a bit of the humor
and creativity — and disclosing some of
the shows that I’ve been binge watch-
ing — as these “greetings” from people
real and fictional appeared on signs post-
ed around my home on the morning of my
recent birthday.
Its’ all part of the birthday sign tradi-
tion in our home that started with home-
made ones, very simply hand-drawn in
black Sharpie, scotch taped to the doors
and walls. The birthday boy or girl saw
them first thing waking up.
“Happy birthday Yehuda! 8 is great!
Love, Mom, Dad, and Shaina”
“Wow, double digits! Today you’re 10!
Happy Birthday, Shaina!”
“ W h o’s t h e b e s t d a d ? Ha p -
py birthday!”
Homemade signs became our stan-
dard for feting the birthday celebrant.
Any extra hoopla for the day was nice,
very nice in fact, but at the very least, the
homemade signs were a requisite. Over
the years, and with computer sophistica-
tion, these signs have morphed into clever,
graphically interesting, personal reflec-
tions for the recipient.
Growing up, I remember my birth-
day often played out very low key. Sure,
there was a surprise party thrown by my
friends when I turned 13. And a big ca-
tering hall bash for my Sweet 16. But for
many other birthdays, it was not-such-a-
big-deal. No pity party here (hah, that’s
a way to celebrate!), but I do remember
one birthday that was marked by quite
a makeshift cake. A thick white Shabbos
candle was pushed into a Yodel, smashing
the little chocolate covered roll and nearly
breaking it in half. Yes, that was the cake.
And that was the candle. The birthday
song was sung and I was able to blow out
candle and make a wish.
On another occasion, my dear father,
who meant the world to me, completely
forgot about my birthday:
“Hey, Dad, how are you?”
“Fine.”
“Do you know what today is?”
“Tuesday.”
“Yeah and….”
“Ohhhh. Right. Happy birthday,
Heidi!”
“Thanks, Dad. Thanks.”
So when this last birthday came
around, it really was sweeter than sweet.
The funny and warm birthday signs
decorated the walls. Shaina baked a
“healthy” carrot cake. Jeff bought a beau-
tiful bouquet. And the day began. There
were birthday texts, emails, calls, songs.
Tina left a singing voice email at midnight,
telling me she knew I probably was asleep,
but wanting to be the first to wish happy
birthday. Later that day, Tina and I (who
have shared more birthdays that I wish to
say!) took to our old haunts in Greenwich
Village, ate lunch and walked through the
old nabe. I never know whether to feel
old or young when I return to the Village.
Later that day, we had the cake and din-
ner, in that order.
The birthday celebration continued a
few more days. At a luncheon with col-
leagues, I was surprised by a sparkling
candle gracing the dessert, and wished the
best once more. There were more flowers
and gifts, and oh, I was feeling the love.
Later that day, I got a cryptic text
from Yehuda.
“Look for a sign in the crowd. It’s a
belated birthday present.”
That night, Jeff and I were going to the
kids’ school to watch the grand finale of
the annual Shiriyah event, which caps a
weeklong of intense and creative activity
at Frisch. It is one of the year’s highlights,
and this year I was feeling a bit emotion-
ally because it is Yehuda’s last one at
the school.
Sitting in the bleachers facing the se-
niors in the crowded gym with thousands
gathered for the event, I suddenly see a
sign pop up. Not Kate Middleton. Not tele-
vision stars. Not some funny pun. It was
a large poster that said, “I (heart) YOU
MOM.” It was Yehuda’s present. It was
his sign.
A sign indeed. A sign that maybe,
even with all my mama bumbling and
fumbling, and my not always knowing
what I’m doing, and my making my mis-
takes along the way, maybe, just maybe,
I’m doing something right.
Wishing all a happy and healthy
birthday this year.
Cheers,

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4 ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018

DIY Costumes for Purim
Heidi Mae Bratt
P
urim is around the corner — yes,
right after Chanukah, Purim items
are already lining the variety
store shelves — and the an-
nual question comes up.
Your children ask, “What
should I be this year?”
Why spend money
on an overpriced, leftover
Halloween costume when you
can make memories and make
Purim costumes at home. Here
are a few easy Purim costumes
that you can make with items you
probably already have at home. Check
out these ideas.
Cat
Dress your child in a hoodie, leggings,
and gloves. Cut four triangles out of
dark colored felt or fake fur. Glue two
each together. Cut two smaller triangles
out of lighter color felt. Glue one on
each of the larger triangles. Glue or tape
the ears to the hood. Make paw pads
out of lighter color felt. Glue them to
the gloves. Make a tail out of fake fur.
Tape to the leggings. Use face paint to
draw a black nose on your cat. Use eye-
liner to draw whiskers.
Cookie
Cut two large circles out of brown
poster board. The circles should cover
your child’s entire abdomen. To make
the chocolate chips, cut circles out of
black felt or poster board. Cut two
equal pieces of brown ribbon. Glue
or staple them to each of the cookie
circles. Make sure the circles are both
facing outward with the painted side.
Save the green(backs) and keep the en-
vironment green with these few tips this
Purim. Chag sameach!
A tisket, a basket
What can you do with so many straw
baskets and gift bags? Package your
mishloah manot in useful, reusable
items like storage containers, glasses,
mugs, and pasta drainers.
It’s a wrap
Wrap up your food items in a pretty
Creative, Easy, and Fun
How About a Green Purim?
hand towel, apron, cloth table napkins,
oven mitts or other useful fabric item.
Cloth bags
Follow the trend and give gifts in eco-
friendly cloth bags that your friends can
reuse for shopping.
Sweet, naturally
Replace candy and chocolates with
fresh and dried fruit or fruit leathers,
unsweetened fruit juices, and other
healthy products.
OurChildren
About
Your child can wear the two cookie halves ing these costumes together may end up
like a backpack or “sandwich board.” Ad- being just as much fun as the Purim party.
just the ribbon to fit accordingly. You can Don’t forget to take pictures.
make different types of cookies by chang-
ing the color of poster board you use and Tzedakah Box
how you decorate your cookie. Cut a hole in the box for the child’s arms
and head. Wrap the entire box with sil-
M&Ms ver wrapping paper. Write “Tzedakah” on
Cut poster board in red, orange, yellow, the front with the Sharpie marker. Make
green or brown, into two large circles. “coins” out of gold paper, and glue on the
One is for the front and the other one for front for extra emphasis.
the back. Paint a large white lower-case
‘m’ on the front — or cut it out of paper Doctor or Dentist
and glue it onto the poster board. Put a large white shirt on your child as
a doctor’s white coat. Have him wear a
Ladybug pager on the shirt pocket and hang a toy
Have your child wear the turtleneck and stethoscope from a toy doctor’s kit around
leggings. Cut wing shapes out of red post- his neck. Put the rest of the doctor tools
er board. Draw or paint some large black in a black bag.
circles on them. Add two holes to each
wing and thread the cord through it. Have Heidi Mae Bratt is the editor of About Our
your child wear the wings like a backpack. Children.
To make the antennae, take two pipe
cleaners and wrap one end around the
headband. Glue a pompom on the other
end of each of the pipe cleaners and you
have antennae.
Smiley Face
Cut circles from yel-
low poster board
large enough to cover your
child’s chest and belly. Draw a
smiley face onto the yellow poster board
with a black marker or cut construction
paper and glue it on. Punch two holes
at the top of the poster board to con-
nect them with yarn. This will create a
sandwich-board style costume that will
slip over your child’s head and rest on his
shoulders.
Invite your child to help with making
his or her costume. Spending time creat-
Purim swap shop Recycle
Your son doesn’t want to wear last year’s Making a costume from cardboard box-
cowboy outfit? Many costumes are pe- es, kitchen roll tubes, etc. need not be
rennial favorites. Create a neighborhood old-fashioned. Your child could become
swap shop with everyone’s unwanted, an iPhone, Alexa, or the latest, great-
worn-once Purim costumes. est gadget.
Raid mom or dad’s closet Share the goodies
Introduce your children to the old Purim When Purim is over and you find your-
tradition of creating their own costumes self overloaded with unwanted food
from your (old) clothing, hats, shoes gifts, bring unopened food items to a lo-
and jewelry. cal charitable organization to distribute
to needy families.
ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • JANUARY 2018 5
OurChildren
About
Boys at Camp Veritans in Haledon get ready for some boxing fun. PHOTOS BY LORS PHOTOGRAPHY
Vibrant Camp Veritans:
Where Legacy Meets Modernity
Heidi Mae Bratt
W
hen it comes to summer fun
there was no question in the
mind of Michelle Chessin of
Wayne where her four children, Sidney, 13,
Madeleine, 11, and 8-year-old twins, Con-
ner and Colin, would go.
“I didn’t grow up in New Jersey. I grew
up in Rhode Island,” said Ms. Chessin. “I
didn’t even go to summer camp. But when
it came to my children, my husband and
my mother-in-law had only one in mind.
Camp Veritans.
“I figured if that’s what they do here,
okay. It really was the best decision and
the best thing I ever did. My kids are all
smiles, all summer long.”
Camp is an experience that is unique
to so many children, teenagers, and fami-
lies. Some are lucky enough to love sum-
mertime sports, arts and crafts, color
war, community, and more — being in
6 ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018
the outdoors, being free from school
and its responsibilities — that the sum-
mer camp vacation becomes something
to look forward to. When a camp clicks,
and a tradition of attending that camp
starts for child at a young age, and then
they return year after year because last
summer was so great, so fun, and they
made so many friends, it really clicks.
Children campers become tween camp-
ers, then they become teens that become
counselors in training. And then, when
they are a little older, they become staff.
Then they become parents, whose chil-
dren go to “their” camp. And over again,
the cycle of camp affection and atten-
dance repeats.
This is quite a common arc for camp-
ers who attend Camp Veritans.
Generations of Veritans veterans
make the camp in Haledon a veritable
legacy camp
Grace Blake, a 28-year-old teacher
who lives in Wayne, is a third generation
Veritans veteran. She started attend-
ing the camp when she was 5 years old
and while she spent a few summers at a
sleep-away camp, she returned in junior
high school. She became a counselor-in-
training, counselor, and now works as a
unit head in the camp.
“Since 2006, I have not missed a sum-
mer. I came up through the rankings,”
said Ms. Blake, whose grandmother, Judy
Blake, was a nurse at the camp and whose
father, Jim Blake, went from camper to
counselor and now serves on the Veritans
Club board. Her aunt, Dara Gelerter, was
a dance instructor at the camp.
That kind of real-family connection
helps create a very warm atmosphere at
the camp, one that translates into having
camp friends become lifelong friends, said
people who attended the camp.
“It’s hard to explain,” said Ms. Blake.
“But once you spend a summer there, you
get it. But we welcome everyone new
with open arms.”
They call it the Disneyworld of Hale-
don. A magical place, a name that goes be-
yond the six degrees of Jewish separation.
Carla Rudow, camp director for more
than a decade, said that when she travels
as far as Florida and dons her Camp Veri-
tans attire, she is stopped by people who
fondly remember the camp. They must
talk to her about their generational con-
nection to Camp Veritans, she said.
The camp has an illustrative history.
It is the outgrowth of Club Veritans, a
philanthropic organization established
in Paterson in 1926. This organization
developed the concept of providing and
maintaining the first day camp in the
area. Dedicated to the needs of the com-
munity, the club formed Camp Veritans
in 1950 for the youngsters who needed a
place to play and escape the city during
the hot summers.

Lasting friendships are formed by campers at Camp Veritans.
To this day, the club members push forward,
determined to provide a place where all children
can have a true summer experience in a coun-
try setting.
While its history spans the decades, the
camp, with more than three hundred 4-year-olds
to 10th graders each summer on its bucolic and
sprawling 60-acres, is very forward thinking and
progressive for its 21st century campers.
“We are a traditional camp with family val-
ues,” said Ms. Rudow, the director. “Our goal is
to keep that traditional feel, while still being in
the 21st century. We are a mature camp, but we
have worked very hard to keep up with the mod-
ern era.”
Another thing that is a constant at Camp Veri-
tans is that it is a “whole family” camp.
“When your child comes to the camp we take
care of your child, but we see to it that the whole
family is taken care of. We want the whole family
to enjoy the summer,” said Ms. Rudow. “One way
is family fun night, we have an open door visitor
policy. Parents can come and visit any time. They
just have to give a heads up. We want to keep that
extended family connected generationally.”
And they have.
Lee Ann Beck, 71, who attended the camp
when she was a girl and worked as a junior coun-
selor there and later as a nurse for 31 years, can
write a history of the camp herself. Her father,
Nathan Friedman of Paterson, was part of the
Veritans Club. She sent her two children, Jeffrey
and Susan, to the camp.
In fact, on June 14, 2015, her son, Jeffrey, a
Veritans veteran who came up through the ranks
and worked until he was a unit head, got mar-
ried on the campgrounds. They set up the chup-
pah on the soccer field, and the mess hall was
transformed into a wedding banquet hall. There
was kosher barbecue on the menu and a cupcake
truck for sweet endings to the meal. What fun.
Just like camp.
“There are things that are still the same,” said
Ms. Beck. “The quality of activities, the hot kosher
lunch, the Shabbat service, the camaraderie among
the staff. There is tremendous warmth,” she said. “I
don’t think these things have changed.”
But in summer 2018, there will be changes,
said Ms. Rudow.
This year, the sixth and seventh graders will be
taking weekly trips. The campers can look forward
to a heated pool. And the multi-purpose room
where many indoor activities take place, is now
air-conditioned.
For Ms. Chassin, her four children are look-
ing forward to their return to Camp Veritans
this summer.
The camp gives her children a place to ex-
plore different parts of themselves. For example,
said Ms. Chessin, her girls are involved in soccer
during the school year. Her boys play basketball,
soccer and fly football. But at camp, she said,
her daughters’ inner actors and dancers came
out as they seized the chance to get on stage
and perform.
“In the summertime they starred in the play,”
said Ms. Chessin. “Another side of them came out.
It was amazing to see them up on stage because
they hadn’t done that before. They are normally
shy, but in camp, they feel so comfortable that they
do everything. They feel like it’s home.”
Family is a word that comes up again and
again when speaking to Veritans veterans.
In fact, said Ms. Chassin, when her twins
turned 8 in December, they received a birthday
card from their camp counselor.
The children are third generation Veritans
campers. Their father David Chassin was a camp-
er there. Their grandfather, Neil Chassin, also is a
Veritans alum.
What is it that makes the place so special
that its campers, parents and others speak in such
glowing terms?
“I think a lot of it is in the community of the
counselors and the people who work there,” said
Ms. Chassin. “The community is so welcoming.
They bring out the best in my children. I don’t
know how they do it, but they do it.”
Heidi Mae Bratt is the editor of About Our Children.
OurChildren
About
A Variety of Camping We Will Go
Heidi Mae Bratt
From frolicking with the horsey set to swinging on silks and lyra
doing aerial acrobatics to performing play-by-play sports broad-
casting, the myriad options for summer fun are only as limited as
your imagination.
At the Bergen County Equestrian Center, a multi-service horse
facility at Overpeck County Park in Leonia, a stone’s throw from
the George Washington Bridge, a children’s camp is a summer op-
tion, in addition to its corporate team building, after-school classes,
and equestrian therapy programs. There are more than 75 horses
on its 22 acres of landscaped land. Amenities include three outdoor
riding rings, and two indoor riding rings. Established in 1974, the
multi-service horse facility at the Bergen County Equestrian Center
is a bucolic respite from suburban life and a way to gain skills and
confidence through learning to ride horses.
If skills and performance are what you want your child to gain,
Cresskill Performing Arts in Cresskill has a program replete with
choices that are creative and fun. Cresskill Performing Arts is offer-
ing a springtime camp from April 2 to 6 with dancing, acting, sing-
ing, arts and crafts, gymnastics and more. During the summer, it is
offering three programs for students as young as 3 years old and into
their teens: Preschool Performers, Creative Children, and Preteen/
Teen Exploring Artists.
Future play-by-play sports broadcasters may want to check out
what’s going on at Big Time Sports Broadcasting Camp, which meets
for a week from July 9 through 13 on the campus of Montclair State
College in Montclair. There, youngsters 10 through 18 years old, get
a chance to learn from the pros, meet sports celebrities, and make
play-by-play, sports anchor and reporting tapes. Who knows what
could come from this experience? Campers have gone on to careers
in sports broadcasting.
At bergenPAC Performing Arts School Summer Programs in En-
glewood, camps are offered in musical theater, as well as childhood
music programs for toddlers and preschools. Of course, the session
is capped with a performance by the campers.
Tried and true traditional day camps in the area are also offer-
ing summer fun. In Rockland Country, the JCC Rockland Camps in
West Nyack, New York, provides seven different camp programs
with something for everyone. The JCC Rockland Camps welcomes
campers from all backgrounds and faiths.
At the Neal Klaskin Day Camp at the JCC on the Palisades in
Tenafly, the offerings range from the more traditional day camp and
mini-day camp to a broad range of specialty programs, including
comedy workshops, science intensives, and everything in between.
The JCC on the Palisades program also offers several summer op-
tions for special needs campers, including its Camp Tikvah, Camp
Haverim, On Our Own, a special summer camp for young adults,
Therapeutic Nursery, and a Toddler Socialization Class.
Camp Little Feet at Temple Beth Rishon in Wykoff offers young-
er campers, 2 to 5 years old, a chance to dip their toe into the camp-
ing experience. Swimming and tennis are on the agenda, in addition
to many more activities for those who attend.
Would your child prefer going to a sleep-away camp? Camp
Ramah in the Berkshires celebrates 55 years of camping fun. The
Ramah experience is rich and varied, combining creative and stimu-
lating programs in the arts, athletics, music, outdoor adventure, and
Jewish education. It’s a place of life-long friendships.
Shoring up academic skills during vacation? There is a summer
school that won’t take away your summer fun. Fusion Academy in
Englewood offers one-to-one classes, that is one student and one
teacher per classroom. This allows for a personalized curriculum and
schedule that can work around other summer plans.
Heidi Mae Bratt is the editor of About Our Children.
ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018 7
OurChildren
About
When Tummy Aches
Become Stomach Troubles
Heidi Mae Bratt
H
ear ing “my t ummy
hurts” from a young-
ster can strike fear in
the heart of a parent. Stomach
aches, though, are a common
complaint among children, and
most are completely normal.
They usually suggest that a child
ate too much or needs to go to
the bathroom. But how do you
know when tummy troubles sig-
nal something more serious?
About Our Children consult-
ed with pediatric gastroenterol-
ogists Drs. Katherine A. Orellana
and Diana Volpert of the Valley
Medical Group for some guid-
ance on the matter.
About Our Children: What
are the most common stomach
issues for children?
Dr. Orellana: Constipation,
GERD (gastroesophageal reflux
disease), abdominal pain, feed-
ing issues (poor weight gain,
picky eater), lactose intolerance,
irritable bowel syndrome, and
rectal bleeding.
AOC: When does a garden-
variety tummy ache become
something of greater concern,
and when should a parent seek
emergency treatment?
Dr. Orellana: Any child with
severe abdominal pain, abdomi-
Drs. Katherine A. Orellana, left, and Diana Volpert
8 ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018
nal pain associated with bloody
or green vomiting, persistent
vomiting, and abdominal pain
with bloody diarrhea can be
signs of a surgical condition,
pancreatitis, or inflammatory
bowel disease. Of course, any
swallowed foreign body should
be evaluated in the emergen-
cy department.
AOC: When should a par-
ent go beyond the pediatrician
and seek the care of a pediat-
ric gastroenterologist.
Dr. Orellana: For any chronic
symptoms such as diarrhea for
more than three weeks or poor
weight gain, which can be a sign
of inflammatory bowel disease
or celiac disease. Heartburn or
reflux, which does not improve
with acid suppression medica-
tion, can be a sign of an allergic
condition such as eosinophilic
esophagitis. Persistent vomit-
ing or recurrent vomiting can be
a sign of an anatomic problem,
cyclic vomiting syndrome, or
celiac disease. Rectal bleeding
can be due to a fissure from con-
stipation, polyp or inflamma-
tory bowel disease. Persistent
elevation of liver tests would
warrant evaluation by a pediat-
ric gastroenterologist. With the
increasing number of children
who are overweight and obese,
we are seeing more fatty liver
disease. Also any child with con-
stipation, which is not improv-
ing would benefit from seeing
a pediatric gastroenterologist.
We have more time than the pe-
diatrician to address medication,
behavior modification, and diet
when treating constipation.
AOC: Gluten-free diets have
become popular. What is celiac
disease and how common is it
in children?
Dr. Volpert: Celiac disease is
an immune-mediated condition,
which is incited by ingestion of
gluten-containing foods. Suscep-
tibility to celiac disease is largely
determined by genetic factors,
and tends to run in families.
Within the general population
the prevalence of celiac disease
is 1 in 133 individuals, whereas in
first-degree relatives it can be as
high as 1 in 18.
Celiac disease may be as-
sociated with other condi-
tions, most commonly various
autoimmune disorders. These
include, but are not limited to
thyroid disease and diabetes
mellitus. In younger children,
celiac disease may present with
chronic diarrhea, abdominal for celiac patients, provided that pain can be affected by emotions
pain, or irritability. In older chil- contamination with gluten does or life experiences, and thereby
dren and adults, it may manifest not occur. result in irritable bowel syn-
with constipation, abdominal Adhering to a gluten-free drome (IBS). IBS is characterized
pain, or short stature. diet is often challenging, espe- by abdominal cramping, bloat-
Diagnosis of celiac disease cially since there are many hid- ing, and alternating bouts of di-
begins with a simple blood test den sources of gluten in many arrhea and constipation. Studies
looking for celiac markers. This food products. Therefore, con- have also shown an association
helps doctors screen individu- firmation of the diagnosis is between anxiety, depression and
als who are suspected of having essential prior to committing a abdominal pain.
the condition, and to determine child to this regimen. However, The psychosocial conse-
who needs further work up. failure to properly treat an in- quences for older children who
Definitive confirmation of the dividual with celiac disease car- get into a cycle of emotionally
diagnosis is made by biopsy of ries potential adverse long-term driven abdominal symptoms
the small intestine, which is ob- health consequences. can be quite demoralizing. Par-
tained via an upper endoscopy. AOC: How does stress af- ents can help by being compas-
Once the diagnosis of celiac fect stomach problems and can sionate and understanding of
disease is made, the only treat- you recommend ways to reduce their child’s pain. In addition,
ment is a lifelong, strict gluten- stress in youngsters? parents should also be mind-
free diet. Foods that are harmful Dr. Volpert: There are many ful of sticking to a regular daily
to patients with celiac disease different areas of the brain in- routine for their children. This
contain wheat, rye and or bar- volved in the sensation of ab- includes making sure that chil-
ley. Products made of rice and dominal pain. At least one of dren eat a well-balanced diet,
maize are generally safe to eat, these areas relates to the in- keep active, and get a full night
and are usually used as sub- tensity of the pain, while other rest every day.
stitutes for wheat-containing areas relate to memories and
items. Oat-based products are emotions. Because of this in- Heidi Mae Bratt is the editor of
also normally considered safe terconnection the perception of About Our Children.
 OurChildren
About

How to Deal with an Angry Child

Slovie Jungreis-Wolff listen.” Younger children can be told that We can only appreciate the thrill of ing back and forth. Laugh, smile, and don’t
they can sit in a ‘calm down space’ until success if we sweat, climb and sometimes take everything so seriously. Your child will

T
here are times that we must deal
with an angry child. The harder we
try to inspire and guide, the more
this child seems to pull away. As the gap
between us grows, we find ourselves at a
loss. We confront heavy silences, sudden
outbursts, feeling estranged and a deep
pain as harsh words are flung at us. Often
we want to explode.
Here are 10 practical tips on how to
deal with an angry child.
1. Don’t react to anger with anger.
We accomplish nothing by losing our
temper, yelling, or giving emotional ulti-
matums. When we are out of control, we
say things we don’t mean. Often we are
left with regret. We certainly don’t solve
the problem and, in fact, we may cause
greater damage. Parents who yell encour-
age children to yell back louder or retreat
into a shell.
the tantrum is over. There is no problem
in saying to older children that they obvi-
ously need a breather and you are here
when they are ready to speak. Our goal
is to teach children to find a way to calm
themselves in angry moments.
5. Discover the trigger.
It is a good idea to ask yourself, “What
triggered this outburst in my child?”
Children often explode because they are
feeling embarrassed, left out, anxious,
frustrated or hurt. They respond in anger
because they feel helpless. Anger is an
emotion; what is the source?
6. Create alternative solutions.
Instead of simply criticizing or disciplin-
ing the angry outburst, explore better
responses together. In a calm moment —
certainly not in the eye of the storm — ask
your child for other options besides rage.
fall. Everyone must deal with loss some-
time. We cannot shield our children forever.
9. Communicate love.
Children who feel cared for feel secure
and safe. Even if they are upset, they know
deep inside that they are loved. No mat-
ter what happens in life this is one belief
that will never be altered. Show your child
that you love him by expressing interest in
his ideas and interests. Try to join him at
dinner time whenever possible. Put down
your iPad and phone and really listen.
Share your thoughts with him and talk
about your day. Be involved in his activities
instead of just dropping off and carpool-
enjoy your time together; your connection
will grow and strengthen. Don’t wait for a
gap to form and then wonder how you can
bridge the divide.
10. Role model.
The first nine tips are meaningless if our
children watch us lose control when we are
confronted with frustration or disappoint-
ment. How we deal with our challenges is
the greatest teaching moment of all.
Slovie Jungreis-Wolff is a parenting educa-
tor, a couples counselor and the author of
“Raising A Child With Soul,” St. Martin’s Press.
Aish.com

Why choose
Explain that he can be part of the solution
2. Don’t slap or get physical. and not the problem. But we need to pro-
Many times I receive questions from par- vide the tools. You can role-play or discuss

ents about hitting. Usually it goes some-
thing like this:
“My parents/in-laws/husband/wife/
says that what this kid needs is a good
slap. That was the only thing that worked
when we were growing up and it is the
only thing that will set this child straight.”
Sorry, today this will just not fly. You
will only be teaching your child to hit
when he is frustrated or angered, you will
also begin to notice that your children
are using their hands against each other.
Nothing was accomplished. Ask yourself
how this child will handle his frustrations
as a husband or father one day.
Fusion for
together how this can be handled better
next time.
7. Focus on your own physical
reaction. summer
school?
When we start to pay attention, we rec-
ognize that our bodies give us warning
signals before we reach the explosive ter-
ritory of no return. If we take a step back
we realize that our hearts are racing, we
clench our jaws or fists. We breathe dif-
ferently, narrow our eyes, and become
enraged. As we grow more attuned to
our body’s ‘red flags’ we can learn to step
back at that crucial moment. This can be

3. Don’t give in to nagging.
When a child sees that constant nagging
forces you to retreat from your position,
he learns exactly which button to push.
He comes to understand that whining or
refusing to take your ‘no’ as a final answer
will yield results. Whenever he does not
get his way he will go into tantrum mode
until you surrender. It makes no difference
if you are dealing with a toddler or a teen,
as a parent you cannot be afraid to say ‘no’.
Be consistent and stick to your decision.
4. Wait for calm to talk it out.
Our sages teach us that we should not ap-
proach a person in their moment of an-
ger. Trying to reason with your child in the
midst of his outburst will not cede the re-
sults you are seeking. Use minimal words
and say, “When you are ready to speak
calmly and respectfully, I am happy to
1 2
life transforming as we rid ourselves of
angry, out of control reactions. Customized Summer Scheduling One-To-One Classrooms
Sleep in, go on vacation, start anytime, That’s right, just one student and
8. Allow children to experience fail- and finish early - we work around one teacher per classroom - always.
summer activities. Personalized learning happens here!
ure and frustration.
Too many kids today do not know how to
handle failure and disappointment. They
crumble as they taste defeat. Thinking 3 Get Ahead For Fall
For credit or tutoring, Fusion offers
4 Cool Electives For Fun
Or For Credit
that they are helping, parents intervene three learning levels, essential, Fusion invests in art and music. Our
from the earliest days so that their chil- college prep, and honors. variety of electives easily surpasses
dren can grow up happy and stress free. any other summer school option.
“Won’t that be too difficult for him to
deal with?”
“Won’t she be sad if that happens?” 250+ Classes for Credit | Tutoring/Mentoring | Arts & Wellness
But this is not real life. Instead of Summer Programming | Full-Time Academy
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friends, they grow frustrated and angry. FusionSummerClass.com
10 Sterling Blvd Suite 201
These kids give up easily or wait for their
Englewood, NJ 07631
parents to fix the situation.

ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018 9

OurChildren
About
Matriarchs, Patriarchs, Tribes and Students
Heidi Mae Bratt
W
hat was the weeklong fever
at The Frisch School in which
students worked with excite-
ment and intensity into the night?
It was Shiriyah, a mega, multi-dis-
ciplinary event that not only celebrates
school spirit and Torah knowledge, but
engaged the more than 700 high school
students in grade and school unity by
using art, song, dance, and drama to un-
derscore the school’s values of academic
excellence, religious growth, kindness, and
compassion.
Capped by the finale that took place
on January 11, and which drew thousands
to the Paramus campus — in addition to
scores of alumni who watched the live
stream from universities across the coun-
try and from Israel — Shiriyah 5778 was
another triumph, declared students, par-
ents, administrators, and other fans.
“What do all people that work or
study at Frisch look forward to?” wrote
10 ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018
Power of Unity
Frisch freshman rehearsing for the big night of the Shiriyah performance.
sophomore Ami Ramras in the school
newspaper, “Frisch Bits.”
“If you guessed Shiriyah, you were
right. Why wouldn’t they? Shiriyah fea-
tures a full week of working together with
your grade, using your talents in any way
you can,” he wrote.
After a humorous video announcing
the breakout of the weeklong event, a par-
ody of the popular Netflix series “Stranger
Things,” and the announcement of the cap-
tains and generals, the fever was unleashed.
Then it was all about the competition be-
tween the grades, which this year included
two new contests into mix: the Rube Gold-
berg Machine Competition and the Scav-
enger Hunt.
Every year, each grade is assigned
a Torah or Jewish theme that must be
weaved into every presentation they
produce, which includes a colorful mural
decorating one of the walls of the build-
ing, thematic installations of the school’s
corridors, videos, a stomp (dance with ac-
companying drum beat), and a slow and
a fast song.
This year’s themes celebrated the ma-
triarchs, patriarchs and the 12 tribes, with
freshman assigned Avraham and Sarah;
sophomores, Yitzchak and Rivka; juniors,
Yaakov, Rachel and Leah, and the seniors,
the 12 tribes.
Avraham and Sarah were the para-
Power of Unity continued on page 19

How To Deal Successfully
With Too Much Twos
Adina Soclof
W
hen those terrible twos hit, many parents are
unprepared for the challenge. It seems as if
children are a whirlwind of activity inter-
spersed with meltdowns and even defiance.
As always, parents can better manage their toddlers
if they understand that there are very valid reasons for
their (bad) behavior. Toddlers act in this way because
they have become more mobile. They have moved past
the crawling, cruising stage to the running, climbing
stage. Parents now need to set even more limits: “No, get
down from the counter!” “Move away from the oven!”
This angers children; they can’t take all the “Nos.” De-
velopmentally, they haven’t learned how to handle frus-
tration in productive ways, so they cry and whine and
eventually melt down.
At the same time, children are learning that they are
separate from their parents. They are now starting to un-
derstand that they have their own body, thoughts and feel-
ings. They start to assert their independence. Now they
need to feel in charge of themselves. This is when they start
to say “Me do it!” They get really angry when they are un-
able to buckle themselves into their car seats, or they are
not allowed to walk by themselves in the parking lot.
So now that their behavior makes a little bit more
sense, here are five simple ways that parents can handle
these toddler years.
1. Prevention is worth an ounce of cure:
The most relaxed parents are the ones who set them-
selves up for success. They know that they shouldn’t take
their children on an errand at the end of the day or will
skip the visit to the highly stimulating amusement park.
Most children (and adults) do not work well when they
are hungry, tired, and overwhelmed with sights and sen-
sations, (loud noises and bright lights).
The simplest way to ensure good behavior (or at
least some sort of reasonableness) from your toddler is
to make sure that they are getting a good night’s sleep,
appropriate naps, and are well fed. Although it is not al-
ways possible, it’s best if you take them to a venue that
is age appropriate for them, like parks, mini-amusement
parks, and the baby pool.
Another trigger for bad behavior is rushing. Most
toddlers cannot transition from activity to activity eas-
ily. They need a lot of wiggle room. It is helpful to give
children a lot of advance warnings before you need to
leave home, get them into their pajamas or before putting
them to sleep.
Similarly, if you know your child spends a lot of time
in the bath and hates getting out, make that a part of
your schedule. Parents often know when a temper tan-
trum is coming. Don’t act surprised. Try to schedule in
that inevitable meltdown. So if Eli usually cries when he
has to put on his pajamas and it takes him about 15 min-
utes, until he calms down, schedule in that extra time
during your bedtime routine.
2. Choices:
Since toddlers are experimenting with independence,
they like to feel like they’re in control. Giving them choic-
AOC-11
OurChildren
About
A Reason to Smile
es allows them to assert their autonomy, but safely, be-
cause you, the parent, are still in charge. Choices foster a
sense of self as children come to learn that their prefer-
ences can be communicated and respected.
Some simple choices are:
“Do you want to take your book or a snack to the doc-
tor?” “Do you want me to buckle you or do you want to
buckle yourself? “Do you want the blue or green cup?” “Do
TEANECK DENTIST
you want to put your pants on first or your shirt on first?”
These questions seem as if they can take a lot of time, We put the Care
but can save you hours in avoiding those toddler power
struggles.
into Dental Care!
Richard S. Gertler, DMD, FAGD
3. Humor: Ari Frohlich, DMD
A sense of humor is a must when dealing with toddlers; Sami Solaimanzadeh, DMD
they respond so well to playfulness. When moving children
from activity to activity, parents can make it fun, “Let’s pre-
1008 Teaneck Road • Teaneck
tend that the bath is the ocean and we are dolphins! We
need water to live! Let’s get to the bath fast!” “Let’s pretend 201.837.3000
we are vacuum cleaners and pick up all the puzzle pieces!” www.teaneckdentist.com
Singing is also a great way to help get kids transition, Visit us on Facebook
“We are going to eat dinner, to eat dinner, to eat dinner….”,
“It is time to leave the park, the park, the park…” Most Convenient Morning, Evening & Sunday Hours
parents, when it is time to clean up, have definitely used
the clean-up song to get everyone going.
4. Kids are never too young for empathy:
Enforcing limits time and again can be frustrating for
both parties. However, limits given along with empathy Gymnastics • Silks & Hammocks & Lyra
can soften the blow. It sounds like this:
Cresskill
Dance • Acting • Musical Theater • Voice • Choreography
Fencing • Princess Dance • and more • age 2-1/2 to adults
“You are so sad because your video is over. You want
to watch another video so badly. The rule is one video.”
“It is so frustrating, you wanted to stay longer at the Performing Arts
park. It is time for us to leave.” 300 Knickerbocker Rd · Cresskill
“You sound so mad! You wanted another candy. The
rule is one candy.” Imagine your child
This doesn’t mean that your child will stop resisting. having fun in the arts!
You might have to use these phrases over and over again.
However, it gives parents something to say that is kind
and helpful while enforcing the rules. It often keeps par-
ents calm and can be soothing for children.
5. Patience is physical:
I was complaining to one of my very smart and kind
friends about how tired I was and how I seem to be los-
ing it with more and more with my toddler. “I feel like my
patience is shot!”
She said, “You need a break, you can’t raise a family
if you are not filling up your own gas tank. Patience is
physical, my dear!”
Join us!
She is right. Patience is physical. I have a lot more
Born to Perform April Break Camp
patience with my kids if I have eaten a healthy dinner, April 2–6
had my multivitamin and gotten a good night’s sleep. As Summer Performing Arts Camp
parents we can’t always do that, but we should strive for Weekly, Monthly, All Summer
it. It should be our number one priority. June 25–August 24
Adina Soclof is a parent educator, professional development
REGISTER NOW
instructor, and speech pathologist working with children in a Camps are filling fast!
school setting. She is the founder of ParentingSimply.com and 201 390-7513 • 201 266-8830
delivers parenting classes as well as professional development studio-info@cresskillperformingarts.com
workshops. For more information, asoclof@parentingsimply.com www.cresskillperformingarts.com
or www.parentingsimply.com.
ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018 11
OurChildren
About
Guide
SPORTS BROADCASTING CAMP!
is back for our 13th year
to Summer Camps
July
7 9-13, 2018
4 DAY CAMPS it easy on parents as well. Campers also have
access to transportation and extended care
Camp Little Feet
Boys & Girls 10-18 Nation’s at Temple Beth Rishon
services. JCC membership is required.
The NKDC Experience
Day/Overnight #1 Sports 585 Russell Avenue
Wyckoff, NJ 07481 Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
options available Broadcasting Phone: 201-891-6074 Taub Campus
411 East Clinton Avenue
Camp! Fax: 201-891-0508
www.bethrishon.org Tenafly, NJ 07670
•• Learn
Learnfrom
fromthe
thePros
Pros Ages: 2 – 5 201-567-8963
•• Meet sports celebrities
Meet sports celebrities Session: June 26 – August 18 (Can do any or www.jccotp.org/specialty-camps
all weeks) Sessions: Monday through Friday, June
• Make play-by-play & Cost: $2,700 for 5 days a week, 8 weeks 25 – August 17, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (one week
• reporting
Make play-by-play
tapes
& reporting tapes Counselor to camper ratio: 5 to 1 sessions)
Deadline: None, but first come, first served Grades: 3rd to 5th grade
•• Make
Makesports
sportsanchor
anchortapes
tapes from a
from Swimming at Goldfish Swim School (2x per An incredible variety of specialty camps is of-
aTV
TVstudio
studioand
and much more!
much more! week), Tennis by Teddy Tennis, professional fered for a full day of fun, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
teachers, outdoor water playground, new and are all-inclusive, providing lunch, snacks,
For
For more
moreinfo
infocall
call 800.319.0884 or air-conditioned facility. Please see our ad on daily swim and towel service. Campers also
have access to transportation and extended
800.319.0884 or visit
page 13.
visit www.playbyplaycamps.com Camp Veritans
care services. Disciplines include science, tech-
www.playbyplaycamps.com 225 Pompton Road
nology, fine arts, dance, drama, sports, and
Facebook.com/sportsbroadcastingcamps Haledon, NJ 07508
more. Mix-N-Match your camps for a full sum-
Facebook.com/sportsbroadcastingcamps mer experience or just choose the weeks that
Youtube.com/sportsbroadcastcamp
Youtube.com/sportsbroadcastcamp
973-956-1220
work for you. For camp dates, details, and to
973-956-5751
register, visit jccotp.org/camps. JCC member-
www.campveritans.com
ship is required for campers in third grade
Pre-K – 10th grade
June 27-August 17 through age 10. Not a member? Ask about
Counselor to camper ratio: 1:8, but lower in our $750 camp families summer membership
most cases ($250 for families who are new to the JCC). Are
you simply a camp person? Do specialty camps
Camp Veritans is a summer day camp for chil-
speak to you some of the time, but sometimes
dren entering Pre-K through 10th grade. We
you just want to go to back to the camp you

Your Child’s
offer a variety of fantastic activities on our
grew up in? Enjoy so many of the activities you
beautiful 64 acre campus, including Red Cross
loved in NKDC, and build on that love with the
swim instruction, amazing sports, creative

Summer Memories
NKDC Experience! Get all the fun of NKDC,
arts, ropes/challenge course, in addition to dai-
with the added bonus of weekly field trips,
ly catered lunches, transportation and so much
special workshops, and more.

Start at Camp Veritans

more. Specialized trip and travel program for
eighth and ninth graders and a comprehensive
CIT program for our 10th graders. Please see SLEEP-AWAY CAMP

Day Camp! our ad on page 12.

Four, Five, Six, Seven or Eight Week Sessions Available
Tuition Includes: Wide Variety of Programs:
• Daily Catered Hot Kosher Lunches • Serving Pre-K • Arts & Crafts
• Daily Transportation to 10th Grade • Archery
• Nature • Mad Science
• Low Camper to Counselor Ratio
• Go Karts • Basketball
• Red Cross Instructional Swim • Ropes Course • Cooking
• Extended Day Option Available
4-Year-Old
Program
Available
Call or Email for a
Personalized Tour!
Registrar@CampVeritans.com
(973) 956-1220
Registrar@CampVeritans.com
WeLoveCampVeritans
(973) 956-1220
225 Pompton Road, Haledon, NJ 07508
JCC Rockland Camps
450 West Nyack Road
West Nyack, NY 10994
Phone: 845-362-4400
Fax: 845-362-5107
www.jccrockland.org
Session dates: June 25 – August 17
Cost: $375/$400 per week
Counselor to camper ratio: 1:8
Deadline for registration: Ongoing
JCC Rockland Camps provides seven camp
programs offering something for everyone. JCC
Rockland welcomes all ages, faiths, and back-
grounds. Please see our ad on page 14.
Neil Klatskin Day Camp
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Taub Campus
411 E. Clinton Avenue
• Soccer Tenafly, NJ 07670
• Football Phone: 201-567-8963
www.jccotp.org/nkdc
• …and so
much more! Age 3 – Grade 2
Mon – Fri, June 25 – August 17
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (shorter days available for
preschoolers)
Heated
NKDC offers campers a summer of adventure
pool and and nonstop fun with many exciting options,
air conditioned including Hebrew immersion for native He-
multipurpose brew speakers. Our camps features a beautiful
building 21-plus acre campus with three pools, a sprin-
kler park, sports facilities, a low ropes course
with zip line, indoor rainy-day facilities and
more. Your camper will enjoy the outdoors,
learn new skills, make new friends and ex-
plore their personal interests. With dynamic,
age-appropriate programming that includes
sports, swimming, art, drama, music, Judaic
programming, special events and more, your
camper will experience an incredible summer
to remember. Camper ages 3 to kindergarten
are led by head counselors who are certified
educators. Our day camps are all-inclusive, pro-
viding lunch, snacks, and towel service, making
Camp Ramah in the Berkshires
P.O. Box 515
Wingdale, NY 12594
845-832-6622
www.ramahberkshires.org
Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, located in
Duchess County N.Y., provides transformative
summer experiences for Jewish youth grades
four through 11. Its 200-acre site boasts a
beautiful lake and first-class sports facilities.
The Ramah experience is rich and varied, com-
bining creative as stimulating programming in
arts, athletics, music, outdoor adventure and
informal Jewish education. Children are able
to grow and learn in a nurturing Jewish envi-
ronment surrounded by lifelong friends and
spirited role models. Camp Ramah in the Berk-
shires is infused with traditions and values of
Conservative Judaism and celebrating its 55th
year. Please see our ad on page 15.
ACADEMIC/ENRICHMENT CAMPS
Bergen County Equestrian Center
(at Overpeck Park)
40 Fort Lee Road
Leonia, NJ, 07605
201-336-3370
www.bergenequestrian.com
The Bergen County Equestrian Center estab-
lished in 1974 is a multi-service horse facility
on 22 acres of landscaped land providing a
home for over 75 horses at Overpeck County
Park in Leonia, New Jersey, (minutes away from
the GWB). Amenities include three outdoor
riding rings, two indoor riding rings air con-
ditioned tack rooms, and heated lounge with
a panoramic view of the main indoor arena for
optimum horse show training. Programs in-
clude children’s camp, after-school classes, cor-
porate team building and A Stable Life, which
is an equestrian therapy program for families,
small groups, and individuals looking to heal
their souls with the presence and interaction
of the grace of a horse. Dedicated and fully

12 ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018

 OurChildren
About

trained instructors and therapists work to en-
sure riders receive a positive riding experience
and a unique physical and bond with a horse.
The equestrian is also the home to Columbia
University’s Man of War Program. Please see
our ad on page 15.
Big Time Sports Broadcasting Camp
1420 Walnut Street, Suite 605
Philadelphia, PA
Phone: 800-319-0884
www.playbyplaycamps.com
Boys & Girls Ages 10 – 18
Dates: July 9 – 13
Day/Overnight options available
The Sports Broadcasting Camp, located on the
campus of Montclair State College in Mont-
clair this summer, is celebrating its 12th year.
Learn from the pros. Meet sports celebrities;
make play-by-play, sports anchor, and report-
ing tapes. Participate in mock sports talk radio
and PTI-style shows, and much more. Please
see our ad on page 12.
Fusion Academy
10 Sterling Boulevard, Suite 201
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-431-9554
www.fusionacademy.com
Finally, there’s a summer school that won’t take
away your summer fun. At Fusion, all classes
are one-to-one: one student and one teacher
per classroom. This allows us to personalize
curriculum and schedule around your family’s
summer plans. Sleep in or go on vacation with-
out worrying about when classes fit in. Get
ahead for fall with credits or tutoring. Fusion
offers three learning levels: essential, college
prep, and honors. In addition, there are lots of
fun electives as well as an array of classes in art
and music. Please see our ad on page 9.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CAMPS
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Science Camp (NKDC Specialty Camp)
Taub Campus
411 East Clinton Avenue
Tenafly, NJ 07670
201-567-8963
www.jccotp.org/specialty-camps
Grades 3rd through 6th grade
Mon. through Friday, July 9 – August 9,
9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (one week sessions)
Explore the world of STEAM — science, tech-
nology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.
Each week experienced science teachers will
facilitate a challenging and innovative program
using hands on experiments, projects, and lots
of fun. All-inclusive, providing lunch, snacks,
daily swim and towel service. Campers have
access to transportation and extended care
services. JCC membership required for camp-
ers in grade 3 through age 10.
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Big Idea Hi-Tech Camp (NKDC Specialty
Camp)
Taub Campus
411 East Clinton Avenue
Tenafly, NJ 07670
Grades: 3rd to 8th grade
www.jccotp.org/specialty-camps
Sessions: Monday-Friday, June 25 – August
17, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (two-week sessions
available)
Design your future at our innovative tech camp.
Big Idea is a perfect mix of cutting-edge tech
workshops and outdoor summer fun. Children
get to focus on special projects, including ro-
botics, digital photography, coding, 3D model-
ing, DJ, film production and even fashion, all
taught in hands-on workshops by professional
instructors from Israel and the U.S. Curriculum
developed by Big Idea, the leaders of tech edu-
cation in Israel. All-inclusive, providing lunch,
snacks, daily swim, and towel service. Camp-
ers have access to transportation and extended
care services. JCC membership required for
campers in grade three through age 10.
ARTS, PERFORMANCE
AND MUSIC CAMPS
Art of Excellent Studio
Artist, Rina Goldhagen
Dates: Summer 2018
Ages 7 – Adult
201-248-4779
www.artofexcellencestudio.com
Themed Arts and Craft camps available this
summer. You can email inquiries to artofexcel-
lencestudio@gmail.com. Ongoing lessons and
portfolio classes available. Unlock your creative
with classes in drawing and watercolor. Please
see our ad on page 19.
bergenPAC Performing Arts School
Summer Programs
1 Depot Square
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-482-8194
www.bergenpac.org/summer
Ages: 3 months to 18 years old
Session Dates: Multiple sessions in July and
August
Cost: $800 with early bird discounts
Counselor to camper ratio: 3:15
Deadline for registration: Rolling admissions
through start dates
Camps offered in musical theater with final
performances, as well as an early childhood
music program for toddlers and pre-school
kids. Please see our ad on page 13.
Bounce U
70 Eisenhower Drive
Paramus, NJ 07652
201-843-5880
www.bounceU.com/paramus-nj
www.Facebook.com/BounceUParamus/
424 Market Street
Nanuet, NY 10954
845-623-5400
www.BounceU.com/nanuet-ny
www.Facebook.com/BounceUNanuet/
Create and Bounce Art Camp
A little bit of exercise goes a long way toward
inspiring your artists’ minds. BounceU’s Cre-
ate and Bounce program gives kids a chance
to enjoy physical activity and creative time
in equal doses, offering an experience that’s
healthy, mentally engaging and seriously fun.
Complete with lunch, snacks, and games, it’s
a one-of-a-kind camp experience they’ll never
forget. Please see our ad on page 3.
Cresskill Performing Arts
300 Knickerbocker Road, Suite 1100
Cresskill, NJ 07626
Phone: 201-390-7513
and 201-266-8830
www.cresskillperformingarts.com
Ages: Toddlers – adults (studio)
Ages: 3 – teens (camp program)
Born to Perform April Break Camp is April
2 – 6. Half day and full-day camp available.
Dancing, acting, singing, arts & crafts, gymnas-
tics, silks & hammocks & Iyra, creative Legos,
and more. Be productive, busy, happy and
challenged during the school break. Born to
Perform Summer Camp: 3 programs, 9 weeks,
ages 3 – teens. Preschool Performers. Creative
Children, Preteen/Teen Exploring Artists come
for one or two weeks or all summer. June 25
– August 24. Early drop-off/late pick-up helps

Camp
Little
Feet
Registration Is Open for Summer 2018
Ages 2 – 6 • 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Enroll for the summer or single weeks
• Special themes and events every week
• We bus children twice a week for Goldfish swim lessons
and lunch
• Teddy Tennis once a week
• Bright, enclosed playground with outdoor garden
• Seasoned, kind, and engaging teachers
Pricing Online at:
www.bethrishon.org
Questions: Hillary Posner,
Director Early Childhood Education

Temple Beth Rishon

585 Russell Avenue Wyckoff, NJ
201.891.4466
ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018 13

A PROGRAM OF
92Y
Set on the pristine
Henry Kaufmann
Campgrounds
Jewish culture, jewish music,
Shabbat Programming
Camp Yomi strikes a
harmonious balance between
nature and innovation—and
gives campers access to the
latest resources
Three large pools of varying
depths and an awesome
water slide
Film making, Art, Theater,
jewelry making, ceramics
Virtual reality climbing tower
with zip line
Archery range
Baseball fields, soccer fields,
basketball courts, tennis
courts, floor hockey court,
sand volleyball and 5 gaga pits
STEM programming in
collaboration with New York
Academy of Science
Electives
Weekly special events
And more...
14 ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018
OurChildren
About
working parents, too. Early registration gift;
call 201-390-7513 for details. Please see our ad
on page 11.
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Dance Intensive (NKDC Specialty Camp)
Taub Campus
411 East Clinton Avenue
Tenafly, NJ 07670
201-567-8963
www.jccotp.org/specialty-camps
Grades 3 through 11
Sessions: Monday through Friday, July
30 – August 10, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (two-week
session)
Enjoy two weeks of dance technique that
explores all the latest crazes and new dance
forms. Students take sessions in ballet, jazz,
and hip-hop each day, while working toward an
end-of-camp dance performance on stage and
in costume. Improve skill level, build strength,
and gain more flexibility while having a great
time. All-inclusive, providing lunch, snacks,
daily swim and towel service. Campers have
access to transportation and extended care
services. JCC membership required for camp-
ers in grade 3 through age 10.
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Center-Stage (NKDC Specialty Camp)
Taub Campus
411 East Clinton Avenue
Tenafly, NJ 07670
201-567-8963
www.jccotp.org/specialty-camps
Grades 4 though 9
Sessions: Monday through Friday, June
25 – July 13, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (three-week
session)
This exciting performing experience for be-
ginner/intermediate and advanced actors
combines everyone’s favorite, “Alice in Won-
derland,” and its comic sequel, “Through the
Looking Glass,” to create an incredible high-lev-
el Broadway-style musical with set, costumes,
challenging dialogue, big musical numbers
and solos. Includes daily workshops in acting,
movement, singing and improvisation. Each
student develops immeasurable skills, great
confidence and has the chance to realize their
dreams as a performer. All-inclusive, provid-
ing lunch, snacks, daily swim and towel service.
Campers have access to transportation and ex-
tended care services. JCC membership required
for campers in grade 3 through age 10.
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Broadway Showtime (NKDC Specialty
Camp)
Taub Campus
411 East Clinton Avenue
Tenafly, NJ 07670
201-567-8963
www.jccotp.org/specialty-camps
Grades 5th through 11th
Sessions: Monday through Friday, July
16 – 27, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (two-week session)
A new high-level musical theater experience
for intermediate/advanced students to increase
and refine their skills in singing, dance and
building great characters in a classic and very
funny production of “Fiddler on the Roof and
Friends.” Daily workshops increase skill levels
and jump-start confidence and joy in perform-
ing. Each student will have challenging roles,
and can shine in big musical numbers and solos
in the spotlight. All-inclusive, providing lunch,
snacks, daily swim and towel service. Camp-
ers have access to transportation and extended
care services. JCC membership required for
campers in grade three through age 10.
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Comedic Acting Camp (NKDC Specialty
Camp)
Taub Campus
411 East Clinton Avenue
Tenafly, NJ 07670
201-567-8963
www.jccotp.org/specialty-camps
Grades: 3rd through 6th
Sessions: Monday through Friday, July
30 – August 17, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (one-week
sessions)
Week 1: Comedy Playmaking and Perform-
ing — Students create their own comedy
scripts and put them together for a 5-star per-
formance. Week 2: Comedy Theater — Learn
cool comic skills for sticky situations. Includes
performances for family and other JCC camps.
Week 3: Comedy in Movies — Find out what
makes a movie funny and how to spot and
build on the surprising comic sides of life. Stu-
dents will create and take home the film they
star in with a green screen to make a special
background. All-inclusive, providing lunch,
snacks, daily swim and towel service. Camp-
ers have access to transportation and extended
care services. JCC membership required for
campers in grade 3 through age 10.
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Fine Arts Camp (NKDC Specialty Camp)
Taub Campus
411 East Clinton Avenue
Tenafly, NJ 07670
201-567-8963
www.jccotp.org/specialty-camps
Grades: 3rd though 6th
Sessions: Monday through Friday, June
25 – August 17, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (one week
sessions)
Get creative and have a blast at Fine Arts
Camp. Each week campers focus on a differ-
ent, exciting project that will incorporate new
art skills, methodology and mediums including
jewelry making, painting, textiles, sculpting,
and more. Each session features a visiting artist
who will teach a hands-on workshop in their
craft. All-inclusive, providing lunch, snacks,
daily swim and towel service. Campers have
access to transportation and extended care
services. JCC membership required for camp-
ers in grade 3 through age 10.
SPORTS PROGRAMS/CAMPS
Ice Vault
10 Nevins Road
Wayne, NJ 07470
973-628-1500
www.icevault.com
Summer ice hockey camps include: Erik Nates
Euro Hockey from August 20 through August
24; FUNdamental Camp (Atoms to 10 years
old) from July 2 to July 6; Laura Stamm Power
Skating for 7 to 11 year olds, and 11 to adult,
July 9 through July 12; ProAmbitions from July
23 through July 27. Please check the website for
summer applications and updates. Please see
our ad on page 19.
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Multi-Sport Camp (NKDC Specialty
Camp)
Taub Campus
411 East Clinton Avenue
Tenafly, NJ 07670
201-567-8963
www.jccotp.org/specialty-camps
Grades: 3rd through 8th
Sessions: Monday through Friday, June 25 –
August 17, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (one week
sessions)
Perfect for campers who like variety. This camp
focuses on building fundamentals across a va-
riety of sports, for all skill levels, in a relaxed
and fun environment. Campers will love mak-
ing use of all the courts and fields the JCC has
to offer, while learning and improving their
skills. Includes performance training to build
strength, endurance and flexibility, which in-
creases productivity. All-inclusive, providing
lunch, snacks, daily swim and towel service.
Campers have access to transportation and ex-
tended care services. JCC membership required
for campers in grade three through age 10.
 OurChildren
About

Kaplen JCC on the Palisades ioral and learning differences participate in a

Basketball Camp (NKDC Specialty Camp)
Taub Campus
411 East Clinton Avenue
Tenafly, NJ 07670
201-567-8963
www.jccotp.org/specialty-camps
Grades: 3rd through 8th
Sessions: Monday through Friday, June
25 – August 17, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (one week
sessions)
If you love basketball — this camp is for you.
Our JCC basketball professionals bring their
love of the game and incomparable coaching
skills to teach and enhance your camper’s skills
at every level. Includes performance training to
build strength, endurance and flexibility, which
diverse full-day camp program, including social
skills, sports, arts and crafts, ceramics, music,
adaptive physical education, both instruction-
al and recreational swim, waterpark, petting
zoo, theme days, playground time, carnivals, 40 Fort Lee Road
Shabbat, and more. Small camper to staff Leonia, NJ 07605
ratio to meet individual camper needs with
highly qualified staff. Half-day afternoon (1-4 201.336.3370
p.m.) option available for campers who attend
11-months of schooling (Proof of extended
school year is required). An intake interview is
required for all new campers. Juniors ages 5-9 Bergen County Equestrian Center
(must be 5 by July 1). A traditional camp pro-
at Overpeck Park! Summer Day Camp
gram. Group sizes are no more than six camp-
ers. Teens ages 10-14: A special life skills camp
that helps teens gain the skills and confidence
Boysand
and Girls
7 –713– years
13 years
old old

increases productivity. All-inclusive, providing
lunch, snacks, daily swim and towel service.
Campers have access to transportation and ex-
tended care services. JCC membership required
B
they need to become self-sufficient in activities Campers Learn about horses, Boys Girls
of daily living, while enjoying a full camp expe-
rience. Special attention is given to life skills as
grooming, equipment and how No horse riding experience
well as academic enrichment. Group sizes are to prepare for riding. No horse riding experience
is necessary

at O
for campers in grade 3 through age 10. no more than 8 campers. is necessary
Weekly Sessions:

Ber
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades On Our Own One-hour riding lesson specially
Young Adult Summer Camp June 26
Weekly - August 25
Sessions:
The Michelle Weiss Children’s Tennis tailored to their ability and
Camp (NKDC Specialty Camp) Kaplen JCC on the Palisades June 25–August 20, 2018
Taub Campus
experience
Taub Campus

411 East Clinton Avenue
Tenafly, NJ 07670
201-567-8963
www.jccotp.org/specialty-camps
Grades: 3rd through 8th
Sessions: Monday through Friday, July 23 –
August 17, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (one week
sessions)
Whether your camper has his/her sights on
the US Open or is just looking for some time
on the courts with friends — this camp will
provide a swinging good time. Campers will
enhance their understanding of the game and
build skills and confidence through interac-
tive games and drills, while also increasing
strength, endurance, and flexibility through
performance training. All-inclusive, providing
lunch, snacks, daily swim and towel service.
Campers have access to transportation and ex-
tended care services. JCC membership required
for campers in grade three through age 10.
SPECIAL NEEDS SUMMER PROGRAMS
Camp Haverim
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Taub Campus
at Ove
411 E. Clinton Avenue
Tenafly, NJ 07607 Barn scavenger hunts, Horse
201-408-1489
www.jccotp.org/special-needs-summer-
centric Arts & Crafts
programs
Transitions: ages 15 – 21, Monday through
Friday, June 25 – August 17
Campers Lea
www.bergenequestrian.com
Adults (ages 21+), June 25 – August 10
9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. grooming, eq
Camp Programs, Corporate Team Building and A Stable Life -
On Our Own is a life skills program for teens
and young adults with intellectual and devel-
opmental delays, including autism, who have
Campers Learn
Equestrian Therapy Programs for Families, Small Groups and
to prepare fo
Individuals Looking to Heal Their Souls with The Grace of a Horse.
sufficient communication and self-help skills
to independently participate with a 1:4 staff-
ing ratio. Participants gain the skills needed
grooming, equip
to become self-sufficient in important activi-
ties of daily living. Activities include a wide
range of socialization opportunities, commu-
to prepare for
One-hour ri
rid
nity inclusion/instruction and trips, academic
enrichment, sports, swimming, music therapy,
yoga, specialized art program, dance, cooking, tailored to th
BE A RAMAHNIK One-hour FOR A DAY! riding
computers and more. Trips may include visits
to museums, aquariums, shopping, bowling,
movies, zoos, etc. For the transitions group, On experience
For prospective camperstailored to their
Our Own may be considered as an alternate
placement for extended school-year programs. and families
JCC membership is not required. New partici-

experience
411 E. Clinton Ave. pants must have an intake interview.
Tenafly, NJ 07607
201-408-1489
www.jccotp.org/special-needs-summer-
Therapeutic Nursery
at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Taub Campus
CAMPER 2019 Barn DAYscaveng
programs
Ages: 3 – 21 411 E. Clinton Avenue SUNDAY, JULY centric
8, 2018 Arts &
Sessions: Monday through Friday, August Tenafly, NJ 07607
13 – 24, 9 a.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Where differences are celebrated. A unique
201-408-1489
www.jccotp.org/special-needs-summer-
programs
Barn scavenger
11:00 am – Welcome | 11:30 am – Tours | 12:30 pm – Lunch
two-week camp for children and teens with
autism and other intellectual, cognitive and
developmental delays, with sufficient com-
Summer-only option, space permitting, July
9 through August 17. Monday through Friday,
morning 9-11:30 a.m., afternoon 12:30-3 p.m.
centric Arts & C
munication and self-help skills, and attend 11
months of special schooling. Campers partici- The Therapeutic Nursery is a developmen-
pate in a diverse full-day program, including tal language-based parent/child program for
social skills, swimming and water park activi- children ages 3-6 with a variety of develop-
ties, sports and adaptive physical education, mental difficulties, including language disor-
yoga, academic enrichment, music therapy, ders, ADHD, high-functioning autism, social

Camp Pr
arts, and therapy dogs. Small camper to staff and emotional challenges, as well as selective
ratio to meet camper needs with highly quali- mutism. Camp Tours & Information Sessions for Parents | Enjoy a BBQ Lunch

Equestri
fied staff. An intake interview is required for Toddler Socialization Class Meet Our Staff Mini Camp Day for Prospective Campers
all new campers. State funding and scholarship at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
assistance is available. JCC membership is not Taub Campus

Camp Progr
Individuals
required. 411 E. Clinton Avenue
Neil Klatskin Day Camp: Tikvah Tenafly, NJ 07607

Equestrian
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades 201-408-1489
Taub Campus www.jccotp.org/special-needs-summer-
411 E. Clinton Avenue programs

Tenafly, NJ 07607
201-408-1489
www.jccotp.org/special-needs-summer-
programs
Sessions: Monday through Friday, June
25 – August 17, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Campers with communication, social, behav-
Individuals Loo
Sessions: July 10 through August 9, Tuesdays
and Thursdays, 9:30 – 11 a.m.
For children ages 2 to 3 years who are experi-
encing delays in language acquisition or social-
ization skills. Contact Lois Mendelson, Ph.D., Register online at www.ramahberkshires.org/camper2019 | info@ramahberkshires.org
director at 201-408-1497 email TN@jccotp.org Call 845-832-6622
or visit jccotp.org/tn

ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018 15

OurChildren
About

Gallery

Best Kind of Friendship

Knit One, Purl Two
The Sisterhood of the Jewish Center of Teaneck had its
monthly Sunday Knitting Night recently. It gave teenagers from
Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School in Teaneck the opportunity to
get together and learn the basis of knitting from skilled knitter
Susan Beth Gorden.
Festival Fun in Fair Lawn
More than 50 adults and children celebrated at Bris Avrohom
in Fair Lawn at the recent Chanukah Family Fun Festival with a
hot buffet dinner, latkes, Chanukah booths, crafts, face painting,
music, menorah lighting, and Chanukah gelt.
Teens gathered at Aeon Fitness and Gymnastics
in Hillsdale to participate in Valley Chabad’s
Friendship Circle Sunday Circle 2018 Kickoff
event. Teens pair up with a buddy with special
needs to enjoy an afternoon of exciting activities.

As Graceful as a Swan
Ballet students at the Tenafly-based JCC on the Palisades School of
Dance flitted and floated across the stage in their recent performance
of “Swan Lake.” Test Time at TABC
Students at Torah Academy of Bergen
County in Teaneck wait for the proctor
as they take midterms. Kicking Off Season With a Win
Big smiles from members of the Teaneck Junior Soccer Leagues G15
Flames, the girls team for youngsters 6 to 18 years old. Their team
and the B13 Cyclones, the boys team, won their tournaments at the
Soccer Coliseum in Teaneck to kickoff their winter season.

Ethics of the Students Powerful Virtual Meeting with Survivors

Wayne’s Shomrei Torah third graders learn and then enact-
ed various verses from the Ethics of our Fathers/Pirke Avot.
Here they are discussing “Rabbi Shimon said: There are
three crowns: the crown of Torah, crown of priesthood, and
crown of kingship. And the crown of a good name is superior
to them all because it leads to them all.’’
The pre-bar and bat mitzvah students at Valley Chabad
Hebrew school class recently took a trip to the Museum of
Jewish Heritage in Manhattan for a private tour. The class
took part in a new exhibit where the teens were able to ask
any questions to “virtual” Holocaust survivors.
Send My Regards to Broadway
Students at the Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies
took a trip to Broadway to see “School of Rock.” The musical
was a big hit with the students, as they rocked out to the show’s
upbeat songs and enjoyed its heart-warming story.

16 ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018

 OurChildren
About

TopChoices FEBRUARY 2018

Compiled by Heidi Mae Bratt

Mr. Poppers Penguins

Pop into bergenPAC
Painter and decorator by day, Mr.
Popper spends his time dreaming of
Antarctic adventures. He is astounded
when one day a packing crate arrives
on his doorstep and a penguin waddles
out. With original songs and perform-
ing penguin puppets, this delightful,
action packed adaptation of Richard and
Florence Atwater’s popular book (also
made into a film starring Jim Carrey) is
the perfect family treat. Performances
are February 18 at 1 and 4 p.m. The
show is recommended for youngsters
ages 4 and older.
bergenPAC
30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood
201-227-1030
www.bergenpac.org.

A Journey into Space at Liberty Science Center

Learn about life on a space station in
the newest, “We Explore” adventure for
young learners, “Space Station Liberty!”
Youngsters will be transported to a space
station miles above Earth where they can
become astronauts and space scientists.
They can work on the ship and keep it in
good repair. They can make scientific dis-
coveries in the space station lab. Or they
can dress up like an astronaut, control the
space station, travel in space, and collect
and study space materials. Rocket ships
not required. All you have to do is travel
to Jersey City for the adventure.
Liberty Science Center, Liberty State Park
222 Jersey City Boulevard, Jersey City
201-200-1000
www.lsc.org.

Hello From Japan at Children’s Museum

Children will have fun learning about
life in present-day Japan in “Hello
From Japan,” a returning immersive
exhibition opening February 2 at The
Children’s Museum in Manhattan.
It will transport families to two dis-
tinct areas of Tokyo that exist side by
side: one serene and exquisite, the
other, very cute. Kawaii Central is a
streetscape inspired by Tokyo’s bus-
tling Harajuku district, bursting with
color, trendy shops and cuter than
cute kawaii styles, (pronounced like
Hawai’i). Kids sing karaoke, smile for
the photo booth camera, serve up a
seasonal Japanese meal, and design
adorable mascots for their families.
The exhibit highlights how old and
new traditions coexist in Japan, giving
visitors a family-friendly window into
Japanese culture.
Children’s Museum
212 West 83 Street, New York City
www.cmom.org.

The Pop Ups

Play The Jewish Museum
Catch the high energy of the Grammy-
nominated band The Pop Ups as
they light up the stage at The Jewish
Museum in a special unplugged
acoustic concert with their musician
friends. Experience live drawing with
sound, hilarious puppets, and an epic
costume party just in time for Purim!
Hear favorites from their hit albums
Appetite for Construction, Radio
Jungle, and more. The performance,
recommended for youngsters 3 to
8 years old, will take place Sunday,
February, 25 at 11:30 a.m.
The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue, New York City
212-423-3200
www.thejewishmuseum.org.

ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018 17

 The Good Life With Kids
FEBRUARY
This calendar is a day-by-day schedule of events. Although all information is as timely as we can make it, it’s a good idea to call to verify details before you go.
Sunday, January 28
Tu b’Shvat at Temple Beth Or: Celebrate the
birthday of the trees with crafts, music and more.
Everyone welcomed. 10:15 a.m. 56 Ridgewood
Road, Township of Washington, 201-664-7422,
www.templebethornj.org.
Open House at Powerhouse Studios: There
will be menu samplings, video, photography,
photo favors and more. Plus a live performance of
emcees and dancers at 2 p.m. Open house from
1 to 3 p.m. 49 East Midland Avenue, Paramus,
800-287-4613.
Monday, January 29
Playtime in Englewood: Program for babies and
toddlers, infants to 3 years old, includes free play
with toys and a 15-minute circle time with songs
including Hokey Pokey, Five Little Monkeys and
the Wheels on the Bus. Mackay Room. Englewood
Public Library, 31 Engle St., Englewood. 201-568-
2215, www.englewoodlibrary.org.
Thursday, February 1
Snow Slime Time: Drop-in class to make snow
slime. Join in for another fun slime workshop. 3:30
to 4:30 p.m. No registration required. Charles E.
Reid Branch, 239 W. Midland Avenue, Paramus.
201-444-4911, www.paramuslibrary.org.
Friday, February 2
Shabbat in Closter: Temple Beth El invites the
community to join them for a Shabbat Evening
Service at 7:30 p.m., led by Rabbi David S.
Widzer and student Cantor Julie Staple. 221
Schraalenburgh Road, Closter. 201-768-5112.
Tot Shabbat in Wayne: Open to everyone.
Parents, grandparents, siblings and others. Join the
Tot Shabbat at 6:30 p.m. at Temple Beth Tikvah
with Rabbi Meeka. Located at 950 Preakness
Avenue, Wayne. www.templebethtikvahnj.org.
Family Shabbat Services at Temple Emeth: Join
in with all members of the family. Services at 7:30
p.m. 1666 Windsor Road, Teaneck. 201-833-1322,
www.emeth.org.
Tu b’Shvat in Jersey City: Celebrate Tu b’Shvat
(New Year’s Day for Trees) with a seder, music,
wine, cheese, nuts, fruit and other snacks. 7 –
8:30 p.m. celebration at Hamilton House, 255
Brunswick Street, Jersey City. Rabbi Aaron Katz,
305-607-9062, rabbiaaron1@gmail.com, bnai-
jacobjc.com.
Sunday, February 4
Youth Tu b’Shvat Party at Jewish Center of
Teaneck: Children 3 to 10 years old are invited
to enjoy the event from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. There
will be crafts, music and fun. Weiss Auditorium at
the Jewish Center of Teaneck, 70 Sterling Place.
201-833-0515.
Access to The Jewish Museum: Visitors with
learning or developmental disabilities are invited
to explore the new exhibition, Scenes from the
Collection, and create art inspired by the work.
10:30 for ages 5 to 17; 2 p.m. for 18 and older.
Access programs are free of charge and require
advance reservation. Contact access@thejm.org
or 212-423-3289 to register. 1109 Fifth Avenue,
Manhattan, thejewishmuseum.org.
Wednesday, February 7
Drop-in Craft Club: Youngsters in kindergarten
to third grade work with felt, glue, pompoms, and
more to make crafts. 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. Englewood
18 ABOUT OUR CHILDREN • FEBRUARY 2018
Public Library, 31 Engle St., Englewood. 201-568-
2215, www.englewoodlibrary.org.
My First Book Club: Catering to children in kin-
dergarten or first grade who read on their own,
the club would read a book in preparation for
the meeting, discuss and do crafts and activi-
ties. Advance registration. 4 to 5 p.m. Teaneck
Public Library, 840 Teaneck Road, Teaneck,
201-837-4171, www.teaneck.org.
Friday, February 9
Preschool Storytime: Come and listen to
stories and enjoy learning. 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Children’s Room. Englewood Public Library,
31 Engle St., Englewood. 201-568-2215, www.
englewoodlibrary.org.
Tot Shabbat at Temple Beth Or: Join Rabbi
Noah and Cantor Sarah for song, stories,
service and crafts, followed by dinner for
the youngsters. 6 p.m. 56 Ridgewood Road,
Township of Washington, 201-664-7422,
www.templebethornj.org.
Shabbat in Closter: Temple Beth El invites the
community to join them for a Shabbat Unplugged
Band Service, honoring our music director Jim
Rensink and featuring members of our congrega-
tion and Clarinetist Benjamin Baron, at 7:30 p.m,
led by Rabbi David S. Widzer and student cantor
Julie Staple. Service is preceded by a congrega-
tion dinner at 6:30 p.m. Please call for more
information. Temple Beth El is located at 221
Schraalenburgh Road, Closter. 201-768-5112.
Sunday, February 11
Origami at Congregation Beth Aaron: There will
be a workshop exploring the art of origami. In this
introductory class, participants will learn some of
the basic building blocks in the origami repertoire,
including a box and an action model. The free
class will be taught by accomplished origami artist
and Beth Aaron member Yaacov Metzger. To reg-
ister, please send a note to office@bethaaron.org
950 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck.
Benefit Concert: Tizmoret! at 6 p.m. at Temple
Israel, Ridgewood. Queens College Hillel’s profes-
sional Jewish a cappella group will perform in a
benefit for the 8th Grade Israel Trip at Academies
See Sunday, February 4, Access to The Jewish
Museum
at Gerrard Berman Day School. Tizmoret draws
singers from colleges throughout the New York
City area and has taken Jewish collegiate a cap-
pella to the next level, performing classic Jewish
melodies, American pop music, and contemporary
Israeli tunes. Seating is limited. Tickets: adults $18,
students $10, Five and under free. www.ssnj.org/
tizmoret for tickets. register or contact Whitney
Blom at wblom@ssnj.org for more information.
Yoga Friendship Circle: Bring a towel or mat
to class. This class, taught by Shirley Veale,
is for children with special needs and their
families. From 11 a.m. $5 per class. The Chabad
Center of Passaic County, 194 Ratzer Road,
Wayne. Please register at 973-694-4970 or at
fcpassaiccounty.com.
Monday, February 12
Lego Club in Teaneck: For children 6 and older.
Following a story, build with Legos based on the
book’s theme. The club meets once a month. 7
to 8 p.m. Advance registration required. Teaneck
Public Library, 840 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, 201-
837-4171, www.teaneck.org.
Thursday, February 15
True Crime Book Club: Read true stories about
some of the most notorious crimes and discuss
theories. February’s book is “Killers of the Flower
Moon” by David Grann. 7 p.m. Copies of the book
are available at the circulation desk. Paramus
Public Library, 116 East Century Road, Paramus,
201-599-1300. www.paramuslibrary.org.
Friday, February 16
Shabbat in Closter: Temple Beth El invites the
community to join them for a Kabbalat Shabbat
Service at 6:30 p.m. Temple Beth El is located at
221 Schraalenburgh Road, Closter. 201-768-5112.
Shabbat Music Service at Temple Emeth: Join
Rabbi Steven Sirbu and Cantor Ellen Tilem with
singing and dancing and enjoying Shabbat music
performed by the Temple Emeth Band. Service at 8
p.m. 1666 Windsor Road, Teaneck. 201-833-1322,
www.emeth.org.
Saturday, February 17
Shabbat in Jersey City: Congregation B’nai Jacob
holds a family service, 10:30 a.m. to noon, fol-
lowed by a kiddush, at Hamilton House. Supported
by the Shuster family. 255 Brunswick Street,
Jersey City. Rabbi Aaron Katz, 305-607-9062,
rabbiaaron1@gmail.com, bnaijacobjc.com.
Tuesday, February 20
Family Tour and Art Workshop Series: Art
Explorers invites preschoolers ages 3 and 4 and
their families to view the new exhibition, Scenes
from the Collection, and to engage in gallery
activities and art making. From 4 to 5 p.m. . 1109
Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, 212-423-3200, thejew-
ishmuseum.org.
Family Movie: Join in and watch a family movie
on the big screen. Children 9 and younger must be
accompanied by a caregiver. 2 to 4 p.m. Teaneck
Public Library, 840 Teaneck Road, Teaneck. 201-
837-4171, www.teaneck.org.
Splash of Red: Learn about the American artist
Horace Pippin and create an original work of art
in his style. For youngsters kindergarten through
fourth grade. Registration required. 3 to 4 p.m.
Paramus Public Library, 116 East Century Road,
Paramus. 201-599-1300, www.paramuslibrary.org.
To Add Your Event
to Our Calendar
Send it to:
Calendar Editor
About Our Children
New Jersey/Rockland Jewish Media Group
1086 Teaneck Road
Teaneck, NJ 07666 AboutOC@aol.com
or fax it to: 201-833-4959
Deadline for March issue:
published February 23, Tuesday, February 13
See Sunday, February 25, Bowling and Pizza
Friendship Circle
Wednesday, February 21
Modern Jewish Baker Speaks: Shannon Sarna,
author of the new Modern Jewish Baker, pays
homage to those traditions while reinvigorat-
ing them with modern flavors and ideas, one
kosher dough at a time. 7 p.m. Museum of
Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, Manhattan.
646-437-4202, www.mjhnyc.org.
Storytime in Paramus: Join the readers for a
special storytime and fun-filled activity or craft in
the Children’s Department of Barnes & Nobles.
765 Route 17 South, Paramus. 201-445-4589.
www.barnesandnoble.com.
Chag Purim Special Event: Learn about Purim.
Boo Haman. Make a grogger. Wear a costume. Eat
hamantaschen. For children age 4 to fourth grade.
Registration begins February 5. Paramus Public
Library, 116 East Century Road, Paramus. 201-599-
1300. www.paramuslibrary.org.
Friday, February 23
Shabbat in Closter: Temple Beth El invites the
community to join them for a Kabbalat Shabbat
Service at 6:30 p.m. Temple Beth El is located at
221 Schraalenburgh Road, Closter. 201-768-5112.
Saturday, February 24
Sensory Friendly Kidz Cabaret Series: Turtle
Dance Music aims to spark children’s curiosity
and imaginations through interactive, inclusive
musical performances that use a wide range of
instruments, stuffed animals, games and tech-
nology. The sensory-friendly performance is
geared for Pre-K, grades K-5 and also students
on the Autism Spectrum. 1 and 3 p.m. bergen-
PAC, 30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood.
201-227-1030, www.bergenpac.org.
Sunday, February 25
Purim Carnival at Congregation B’nai Israel:
Annual Purim carnival from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30
p.m. Food, games, prizes and fun. All in costume
receive additional game tickets. 53 Palisade
Avenue, Emerson 201-265-2272, office@bisrael.
com, www.bisrael.com.
Bowling and Pizza Friendship Circle: Join in
a day of bowling and pizza from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
Garden Palace Lanes, 42 Lakeview Avenue,
Clifton. Please register by calling 973-694-4970
or at fcpassaiccounty.com.
Wednesday, February 28
Purim Shpiel and Megillah Reading at
Congregation B’nai Israel: The annual Purim
Shpiel and Megillah Reading will take place at
7 p.m. Refreshments, including hamantaschen,
will be served. Please bring a non-perishable
food item for food drive. 53 Palisade Avenue,
Emerson 201-265-2272, office@bisrael.com,
www.bisrael.com.

The junior mural depicting the theme of Yaakov, Rachel and Leah.
Power of Unity continued from page 10
digms of kindness, and the sole voices
to teach the world about monotheism.
Yitzchak and Rivka were models of in-
ner strength. Jacob, Rachel and Leah
found truth in a complex world, and the
12 tribes demonstrated for future gen-
erations the power of repentance and
redemption that comes from their unity.
For senior Braeden Badner, the fi-
nal night of Shiriyah was “surreal,” he
told Ami. “I always saw the seniors and
thought, ‘Hey they look like they’re
Closter Preschool Takes Applications
Registration for Temple Beth El’s Nursery
School program is now open. Tuition and
fees remain unchanged for the 2018-2019
school year. Incentives such as early bird
discount and a reduction in tuition with
full payment also will be made available
to participating families.
Temple Beth El’s reputation for ex-
cellence in early childhood education,
strong student-teacher ratio, experi-
Hamantaschen Bake-A-Thon Happening
Calling all bakers. Sign up for Temple
Beth Tivkah’s Hamantaschen Bake-A-
Thon on Thursday, February, 1. In addition
to bakers, Temple Beth Tivkah is looking
to collect necessary ingredients and a
large standing mixer, like a KitchenAid, so
having fun, but it was so much more
than that.”
But the best part of Shiriyah, Frisch
officials said, is the part that parents do
not get to see during the finale extrava-
ganza. That is “The sight of hundreds of
kids working together, enjoying one an-
other’s company, helping each other, for
hours each day and night and all day on
Sunday as they prepare.”
Heidi Mae Bratt is the editor of About Our
Children.
enced teaching staff, and secure envi-
ronment has been well known through-
out the community for more than 40
years. Temple Beth El’s preschool is
NAEYC accredited. For an application
and to arrange a tour call 201-768-3726
or email Rabbi Beth Kramer-Mazer at
educator@tbenv.org. Temple Beth El is
a Reform Jewish synagogue located 221
Schraalenburgh Road in Closter.
children can help prepare the dough. No
baking experience necessary.
Temple Beth Tikvah is located at 950
Preakness Avenue, Wayne. Call Marian,
973-595-6565, www.templebethtikvahnj.
org.
OurChildren
About
Simchas
B’nai mitzvah
CLARA HART ALEXIS RICHMOND
Clara Hart, daughter of Karen and Neil Alexis Richmond, daughter of Barbara
Hart of Glen Rock and sister of Isaac, 17, and John Richmond of Norwood, cel-
and Zachary, 16, celebrated becoming a ebrated becoming a bat mitzvah on
bat mitzvah on December 2 at Barnert January 6 at Temple Beth El of Northern
Temple in Franklin Lakes. Valley in Closter.
Girl Scouts S’mores Make Cookie Selling Sweeter
After last year’s 100th anniversary of Girl
Scouts selling cookies, troops in northern
New Jersey are kicking off this season with
the return of Girl Scout S’mores, certified
kosher dairy by the OU and the most
popular flavor to launch in the 101 years
of Girl Scouts selling cookies. Consumers
can fuel transformative leadership expe-
riences and build the next generation of
entrepreneurs in northern New Jersey by
purchasing Girl Scout S’mores and classic ial and business skills that are imperative
favorites like Thin Mints and Samoas. for leadership and future success. Almost
During Girl Scout Cookie season, one million Girl Scouts participate in
each G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk- the cookie program each year. All of the
taker, Leader) sets out to sell delicious net revenue raised — 100 percent — stays
cookies while also building entrepreneur- within the community.
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Invitations for party guests
Pizza and soda
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Birthday child receives FREE Ice Vault T shirt
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Jewish World

EAT-IN,
TAKE-OUT
more than 412,000 likes. Pence’s faith drives
Like us on Facebook. his love of Israel,
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facebook.com/jewishstandard WAShiNGtoN — When Mike and Karen Pence moved
201-384-7100 • Fax: 201-384-0303
to Washington earlier this year, they took with them
a framed phrase that had hung over the fireplace in
their Indiana home for years, and then had hung over
the fireplace in the governor’s mansion in that state.
Now it hangs over the mantle at the vice president’s
residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington D.C.
The words, from the Book of Jeremiah, read: “For I
know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you,
and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope, and
a future.”
The “you” is the people of Israel, and Pence, an
evangelical Christian, makes that clear when he
addresses pro-Israel audiences. “They’re words to
which my family has repaired to as generations of
Americans have done so throughout our history, and
the people of Israel through all their storied history
have clung,” Pence said last August at the annual con-
ference of Christians United for Israel.
Pence took that message to Israel this week, on a
trip ostensibly aimed in part at reviving the prospects
for Israeli-Palestinian peace. He is seen as a key Trump
administration figure when it comes to Israel policy
and reportedly helped nudge the president to recog-
nize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
Pence’s first visit to Israel as vice president led some
to ask to what degree his views — and the administra-
tion’s policies — are shaped by the brand of evangelical
Christianity that invests his faith.
Pence, a convert to evangelical Christianity from
Roman Catholicism, has spooked some liberals with
his insistence on rooting his pro-Israel bona fides
in faith as much as realpolitik considerations of the
United States’ national security. Their fear is that a
messianic outlook might run riot over one of the most
delicate dilemmas facing successive U.S. governments,
namely stability in the Middle East.
“Trump has handed Israel policy to Evangelicals,”
the Forward’s Jane Eisner wrote last week in an edito-
rial as Pence headed to Israel. “That’s terrifying.” Like
many liberals, she worries that policy will be driven by
evangelical beliefs that certain conditions — like Jewish
control over the West Bank and sovereignty in Jerusa-
lem — fulfill biblical prophecies.
Republicans and conservatives say that it is reduc-
tive to believe that Pence shapes his views solely
according to the tenets of his faith.
“They always highlight the fact that he’s an evan-
gelical, as if that’s a pejorative when in fact [Pence and
other evangelicals] are motivated first and foremost by
shared values with Israel,” said Matt Brooks, the direc-
tor of the Republican Jewish Coalition, who has known
Pence for years. “And not just by the shared values,
but the important efforts of collectively standing up
to threats of Iran, pushing back on Isis, and on radical
Islam, or whether it’s being a critical democratic foun-
dation in a very dangerous place. There are so many
places where U.S. and Israel’s interests intersect.”
Pence began his speech to the Knesset by outlining
the shared values Brooks described.
“We stand with Israel because your cause is our
cause, your values are our values, and your fight is

30 Jewish standard JanUarY 26, 2018

 Jewish World

our fight,” he said. “We stand with Israel because we Seidemann said. “Jerusalem has been witnessing over the “The United States decided to go through these hollow
believe in right over wrong, in good over evil, and in last 20 years the ascendancy of faith communities that wea- gestures on Jerusalem rather than advancing its own inter-
liberty over tyranny.” ponize religion.” ests and the interests of Israel and the Palestinians by engag-
But he quickly pivoted to depict support of Israel Pence proudly stood with Trump in the White House ing in a sober attempt to resolve the issue,” Seidemann said.
as both biblical (Deuteronomy 30:4, to be exact) and when the president announced the recognition of Jerusalem Pence’s trip, by including only Jewish sites and skipping
rooted in an American strain of Christianity. as Israel’s capital, and he appears to have accelerated the meetings with other faith leaders, was contributing to the
“Down through the generations, the American peo- planned move of the U.S. embassy. Last week, Trump said weaponization, Seidemann said.
ple became fierce advocates of the Jewish people’s that it would take at least three years to move the embassy, Christian faith leaders declined to meet with Pence during
aspiration to return to the land of your forefathers, to but in Israel this week, Pence said that it would be in place his visits to Egypt and Israel; various reports framed their
claim your own new birth of freedom in your beloved before 2019 is out. See faith page 32
homeland,” he said to applause. “The Jewish people
held fast to a promise through all the ages, written so
long ago, that ‘even if you have been banished to the
most distant land under the heavens,’ from there He
would gather and bring you back to the land which
your fathers possessed.”
Pastor John Hagee, the founder of Christians United
for Israel, described a natural trajectory for evangeli-
cal supporters of Israel from biblical belief to the more
practical modern reasons for supporting the state.
“The promises of the Hebrew Bible are the founda-
tion of Christian Zionism, but our motivations for sup-
porting Israel do not end there,” he wrote in an email.
“We see in Israel a democracy that shares Western val-
ues and is a force for stability in the Middle East. While
standing with Israel is a Biblical mandate, it is also a
moral imperative and in the national security interests
of the U.S. I am confident that all three of these consid-
erations inform the Vice President’s approach to the
Middle East and I believe that is perfectly appropriate.”
Since the outset of his political career, Pence has
made it clear that his support for Israel is grounded
first in biblical precepts. “My support for Israel stems
largely from my personal faith,” he told Congressio-
nal Quarterly in 2002, a year after he was first elected
to Congress. “God promises Abraham, ‘those who
bless you, I will bless, and those who curse you, I
will curse.’”
Sarah Posner, a journalist who has tracked evangeli-
cals for years, said that Pence’s faith seemed to be pre-
eminent in his consideration of Israel. “I don’t think he
is thinking about that in terms of shared democracy or
not shared democracy, he’s thinking about it in provi-
dential terms, that these missions are God’s plans for
Israel,” said Posner, a reporting fellow at the Nation
Institute’s Investigative Fund.
It’s hard not to see Pence’s belief as an impetus
driving Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem, said Daniel
Seidemann, an Israeli expert on Jerusalem who advo-
cates for including all the city’s sects and groupings in
considering its permanent status.
“It would be fine for him to have those beliefs, if
he weren’t the vice president and shaping policy,”

Vice President Mike Pence speaks to the Israeli

parliament in Jerusalem on January 22, 2018.
 Ariel Schalit/AFP/Getty Images

Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018 31

 PICKLES • OLIVES • CONDIMENTS
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 Jewish World
BRIEFS

French official warns

Iran is violating
ballistic missiles limits
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned
that Iran is not respecting international calls to freeze
its ballistic missile development program.
Le Drian called on the Islamic Republic to halt the
development of all ballistic missiles capable of carry-
ing a nuclear payload.
“We will also have the opportunity of underlining
our firmness on Iran’s compliance with United Nations
Resolution 2231, which limits access to ballistic capac-
ity and which Iran does not respect,” Le Drian said SPRING SCHEDULE 2018 Register at lamdeinu.org
during a meeting of 28 European foreign ministers in Parshanut HaMikra, Sefer Bereishit Feb. 5, 12, 26,
Brussels. MONDAY Explore the stories of our nation’s mothers & fathers through the lens of Midrash, as well as medieval, & March 5, 12, 19,
10:15 AM - 12:30 PM modern commentaries. Includes chavruta, shiur, & interactive discussion. Apr. 16, 23, 30,
The French foreign minister’s comments came after May 7, 14
Dean Rachel Friedman, Open to women only, Tuition: $260. New students welcome.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres
Rabbi Hayyim Angel, Open to men and women
warned in mid-December that Iran is defying the U.N.’s
Sefer Divrei HaYamim (the Book of Chronicles):
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Feb. 5, 12, 26,
In a report issued by Guterres to the U.N. Security
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cerns over the Islamic Republic’s behavior. Iran said LEARNING FOR SHAVUOT: ROSH CHODESH SIVAN BOKER IYUN May 15
the new ballistic missile launched in that test success- TUESDAY On God, Humanity and Torah: Between R. Akiva and R. Yishmael
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fully achieved a range of 1,200 miles and could carry 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM Akiva & R. Yishmael on this cosmic question.
several warheads. JNS.ORG Dr. Elana Stein Hain, Tuition: $25
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Israel and Italy finalized a $1.17 billion reciprocal pro- 10:15 - 11:30 AM
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How Can We Come to Know God? From Creation to the Seder March 14
a second advanced reconnaissance jet to the Italian
Air Force. Adoption & Birth in the Passover Story March 21
The deal, originally written in 2012, saw the Israeli
THURSDAY Curious Halakhot of Pesach and Shavuot Feb. 1, 8, 15, 22,
Air Force buy 30 Leonardo M-346 Lavi training jets. Explore halakhot with odd origins and unusual applications, like the definition of matzah & mekhirat chametz. March 8, 15, 22,
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including the understanding on each side of the needs
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and challenges facing the other,” said Dr. Danny Gold,
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Jewish World

From jail, Holocaust historian indicts Austria

for handling of looted Jewish property
Cnaan Liphshiz

VIENNA — If Stephan Templ’s trial and imprisonment in Austria
were meant to silence his criticism of the country’s Holocaust
restitution system, then his prosecution clearly was a failure.
Templ is an Austrian-Jewish historian of the Holocaust who
has written critically about his country since 1995.
In 2015, he was sent to jail for nearly a year on controversial
fraud charges tied to his family’s own claim for compensation.
He spent his time in prison diving even deeper into his area
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DELIVER
of expertise.
The result is a new book that for the first time chron-
icles how modern-day Austria gave its seal of approval
for flawed restitution practices that were overseen by
former Nazis. Those practices, Templ shows, in essence
validated Nazi-era policies that were used to rob Austrian
Jews of what little compensation they sought to receive
for vast assets that they had been forced to sell to Aryans.
“The wrongly imprisoned experience a special kind of
frustration: Your thoughts get into a cycle about where
you are and who put you there,” Templ, 57, said. His sen-
tence was decried as a miscarriage of justice by dozens
of leading Holocaust historians.
Templ was convicted of fraud for not listing an aunt on
his survivor mother’s restitution claim, which he filled
out for her. Neither Templ nor his mother wrote that they
were the only claimants to the property. Austria has no
law requiring restitution applicants to list other relatives.
In previous official correspondence about the claim,
Templ did list his aunt, which he argues means he had
indeed informed the Republic of Austria of her existence.
The 75 historians, including Americans Deborah Lip-
stadt and Michael Berenbaum, suggested in a joint state-
ment that Templ’s prosecution looked like a vendetta by
the Austrian judiciary, which the Freedom Barometer
index of 2016 ranked as the least independent in West-
ern Europe.
The Anti-Defamation League also protested Templ’s
sentence, as did the human rights lawyer Robert Amster-
dam and Stuart Eizenstat, a former U.S. deputy secre-
tary of the Treasury who helped set up Austria’s restitu-
tion system.
Efraim Zuroff, Eastern Europe director for the Simon
Wiesenthal Center, said about the case: “It looks like
revenge, like they wanted to get back at him for his criti-
cism. I’m not a jurist but it looks like an injustice.” Templ
now is facing a civil libel suit by Claire Fritsch, a legal
adviser to the restitution authority who served as the
main witness in his criminal court case. She claims she
was libeled by his defense team’s attempts to undermine
her testimony.
In Templ’s English-language book — which is titled
“Austria’s Living Ghost” and is scheduled for publication
online before International Holocaust Remembrance
Day on January 27 — he examines the work of Austria’s
Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution, a body set up
in 2002 to review the restitution work done immediately
after World War II on properties that were in the state’s
possession in 2001.
Until the 1990s, Austria had claimed that it was princi-
pally a victim, not a perpetrator, of Nazism. No one has
been convicted of Nazi war crimes in Austria for more
than 35 years, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Cen-
ter. And whereas people with a Nazi past were removed
from positions of influence in neighboring Germany,
in Austria they were allowed to serve as judges, teach-
ers, and even restitution officials. (Walther Kastner, for
example, was a former Nazi official who was entrusted
with advising on restitution issues in the 1940s.)
Austria even had a former Nazi, Kurt Waldheim, as its
president until 1992 — the year when Austrian officials
began to drop the victim attitude, which now is described
as a myth on official Austrian government websites.
But that myth has had far-reaching implications for
Austria, said Templ, who led groups around Vienna on
tours of stolen Jewish property in 2001. He pointed out

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Sun-Thur 12-10pm / Sat. Night 6:15-11pm Stephan Templ stands outside a building in Vienna that he claimed from the Austrian state on October
www.estihana.com 27, 2014. Cnaan Liphshiz

34 Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018

 Jewish World

jailed, my criticism of Austria will be seen as — Templ served time in a medium-security

a vendetta,” Templ said. “And I guess I have
an agenda — but the numbers and the facts
do not, and they tell a story that is much big-
ger and more important than my own.”
Queried on these cases, Josef Aicher,
chairman of the Arbitration Panel for In
Rem Restitution, stood by his organization’s
findings.
facility that allowed some inmates brief day
passes — he “suddenly became very aggres-
sive” toward a friend who came to visit him.
“When you see that life goes on while
you’re stuck there, it releases some anger in
you,” he said.
On one of his first days in prison, a long-
time prisoner showed him around the place,

Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Kurt Waldheim in 1971.
building after building, using a loud-
speaker to name the families whose
ancestors bought the assets for a fraction
of their true worth from Jews fleeing for
their lives.
“The lack of de-Nazification is the rea-
son Austria now has in government, for
“To assess ‘extreme injustice’ the Arbi-
tration Panel has developed a complex
case law,” he wrote, based on “restrictions
on freedom of contract and discrepancy
in value: The more the two criteria are
pronounced, the more likely it is that an
extreme injustice exists.”
He added that the arbitration panel so far
has issued 138 recommendations for resti-
tution, with an estimated total value of $59
million. According to Templ, all these rec-
ommendations pertain to only seven assets.
Citing independent appraisals, Aicher
said that “virtually all real estate that had
“So in prison, I set out to review for been confiscated by the state was restituted
myself the claims that the Arbitration in its entirety after the war” as well as 60
Panel had reviewed before me,” Templ, percent of the properties sold under duress.
a bespectacled intellectual with a wry Crunching these numbers allowed Templ
sense of humor and a passion for car- to find purpose and calm his nerves in prison,
pentry, said during a rare visit to Vienna. he said. But it wasn’t easy.
(After he was released from prison in On a rare afternoon off from prison
he recalled. “When we reached the showers,
he told me: These showers aren’t for you
because they have water coming out” — a
remark Templ believes was an anti-Semitic
reference to Nazi gas chambers. Another
prisoner harassed him with reference to
Israel, he said.
But the troubles stopped when Muslim
Chechen inmates, who are known for their
ruthlessness and mob connections, dis-
covered he could speak Russian and could
therefore help them with German-language
correspondence, he said. “As soon as the
other inmates saw me hanging out with the
Chechens, suddenly the behavior toward me
changed.”
Asked whether he considers himself a vic-
tim, Templ said: “Judge for yourself. Victim
is a word with considerable resonance in
modern-day Austria. And a little bit of irony,
too.” JTA Wire Service

the second time already, a party that was
founded by an SS officer,” he said of the
far-right Freedom Party, which joined
the coalition last month.
Austria’s victim myth also tainted how
the Austrian state handled the return of
Jews from concentration camps, pros-
ecuted Nazi war criminals, and settled
restitution issues. Concerns about this
process led to a 2002 review by the
Arbitration Panel, as part of a restitu-
tion treaty that Austria signed with the
United States in 2001.
Thanks to the treaty, Austria has paid
at least $670 million in compensation.
But even that may have been the tip of
the iceberg in a country that had at least
200,000 Jews before the Holocaust,
many of them wealthy.
Templ’s research shows that out of
nearly 2,000 restitution cases handled
in the 1940s and 1950s, the Arbitration
Panel reopened and declared unjust a
total of only nine cases. It intervened in
another 18 cases that had not been the
subject of a claim, he said.
“This seemed to me like an astonish-
ingly low number, considering the preva-
lence of injustice that went on in 1940s
and 1950s restitution,” Templ said.
Take, for instance, the case of Anna
Freud, the daughter of the famed Vien-
nese psychoanalyst. Following her claim
for restitution for a handsome estate that
the Nazis stole from her family in 1938, in
the 1950s she received a sum equivalent
to $80, Templ’s research shows. How-
ever, that property was not reviewed in
2002, because the estate was privately
owned and therefore not in the purview
of the Arbitration Panel on state-held
properties.
2015, Templ has spent most of his time
in his Prague home, in what he terms
self-exile.)
The findings, he said, surprised even
him.
One case deemed fair by the arbitra-
tion panel involved an apartment build-
ing in Vienna’s Alserbach Street that had Adjustment to
been owned by the Stianssy family. The Chronic Illness
Aryan buyers paid only 38 percent of
its real worth in 1939. Of that sum, the Stress Management
Nazi state stole 80 percent through rac- Anxiety
ist “emigration taxes” devised to defund
Depression
Jewish sellers. The other 20 percent went
to a frozen account and from there to the Life Transitions
coffers of the Third Reich, his research Relationship Issues
shows. In 1951, Austrian restitution offi-
cials declined to return the “emigration Conflict Resolution
taxes” to the Stianssy family, essentially Grief & Loss
validating their extraction. Temima Danzig, LCSW Work/Career Issues
Yet in its 2014 review the arbitration
panel said that it “cannot conclude that Psychotherapist Social Challenges
the settlement reached in 1951 repre- LGBT Issues
sents an extreme injustice.” In so doing,
Templ writes, “the Panel confirms the
injustice.”
Leopold Stiassny died in Prague on
Nov. 20, 1939. His wife, Martha Stiassny,
was murdered in Auschwitz. Three of
their close relatives were murdered by
1945.
Among the dozens of reviews flagged
by Templ is a 2012 case concerning the
sale of a forest 45 miles southwest of
Vienna by the Hartenstein family. It
too was not found to be “an extreme 121 Cedar Lane, Suite 2B
injustice,” even though by 1957 the fam-
ily received less than half of the land’s Teaneck, NJ 07666
value, according to the panel. Templ’s
research suggests that they only got 10
TemimaDanzig.com
percent of the property’s real value.
“I expect that now that I’ve been 201.357.5796
Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018 35
Jewish World

At this Holocaust museum in Illinois,

you can talk to holograms of the survivors
ELLEN BRAUNSTEIN

SKOKIE, ILL. — In an otherwise darkened

theater, viewers gasped when they saw
what appeared to be a 83-year-old man,
sitting down, wearing a light green but-
ton-down shirt and khaki pants.
Aaron Elster of Chicago seemed to be
answering questions about his unbeliev-

COURTESY OF THE USC SHOAH FOUNDATION

able escape from the Sokolov ghetto in
Poland as a 10-year-old. Elster was forced
to hide in a dark, filthy attic for two years
during World War II.
“Why didn’t your sisters run away from
the ghetto with you?” asked Suri John-
son, 11, of Wisconsin. A docent repeated
the question into a microphone.
“It was an impossibilit y,” Elster
responded. “There were hundreds of peo-

ple guarded by Ukrainian soldiers with
rifles.… There was no way they could have
run. I crawled behind the people on my
stomach. They didn’t see me.”
The testimony was remarkable. It was
moving. But Elster wasn’t in the room.
Instead the audience was interacting
with a holographic image of the Holo-
caust survivor that had been created two
years before.
The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Edu-
cation Center, in this suburb about 15 miles
north of Chicago, is the first to showcase
the New Dimensions in Testimony oral his-
tory project permanently. The project has
created holographic images from exten-
sive interviews of 15 Holocaust survivors.
They are shown on rotation. Seven of the
survivors are from Chicago.
The images are produced by the Uni-
versity of Southern California’s Institute
for Creative Technologies, along with the
USC Shoah Foundation — a nonprofit that
famed director Steven Spielberg founded
in 1994 to preserve Holocaust and other
Aaron Elster is filmed on a set in Los Angeles.
RON GOULD
COURTESY OF THE USC SHOAH FOUNDATION
Maio, who is married
to Stephen Smith, the
executive director of the
USC Shoah Foundation,
thought that an exhibit
that allowed people to
casually walk up to Holo-
caust survivors and ask
them questions could cre-
ate a powerful experience.
“This kind of visual
imagery and interactiv-
ity will be the norm for
the next generation, and
that’s what we’re prepar-
ing for,” Smith said.
The project took a toll on
Elster, an insurance agency
owner who has lived in
Chicago since 1947. He
RON GOULD
A holographic image of Sam Harris is on
display at the Illinois Holocaust Museum
and Education Center in Skokie, Ill.
Smith said. “But the point to which they
say, ‘So tell me about the psychological
consequences of slave labor,’ or some-
thing like that, then you have a more
nuanced question, for which [the holo-
graphic display] has an answer.”
Elster, now 85, is pleased with the final
product, and he is confident that his tes-
timony will resonate with younger gen-
erations. On its own, the Illinois Holo-
caust museum, the third largest in the
world and created partly in response to
an attempt by neo-Nazis to march in this
heavily Jewish suburb in the late 1970s,
welcomes 60,000 students and educa-
tors annually.
“As survivors, we’re concerned and
afraid that our pain, our loss, our surviv-
ing will be forgotten or homogenized,” he
said. “They’ve created something that’s

genocide survivor testimonies. The
museum’s new $5 million center, called
Take A Stand, opened in October.
(The images now on display techni-
cally are not true holograms — they are
the product of two-dimensional technol-
ogy and a ghost-illusion technique — but
they still are vivid.)
At the Illinois museum, visitors can
find the holographic displays in a theater
dedicated to the exhibit. Before any con-
versation happens, viewers are shown a
five-minute introductory video narrated
by the featured survivor. After the video,
which tells the survivor’s individual story,
the image leans forward and says, “But I
have so much more to tell you. Now I’d
like you to ask me questions.” Then it
switches to interactive mode.
The hologram of each survivor con-
ceivably can answer thousands of ques-
tions. Much like Apple’s Siri technology,
the voice-recognition system responds
had to fly to Los Angeles
two years ago for a gruel-
ing week of interviews, in
Aaron Elster stands in front of his hologram. which he wore the same
clothes every day and sat
to audience questions by picking up on still in a chair for hours at a time under
key words. bright lights and cameras, answering diffi-
After asking her question, Suri Johnson cult questions — two thousand in all — that
said that she found the experience very brought up a painful past.
“cool,” partly because she had no idea “It was very emotional. I cried initially,
how it worked. and I don’t take to crying,” Elster said of
“It enables the most lifelike conversa- the first time he saw his testimony played
tional opportunity that you can possi- back for him.
bly imagine,” the museum’s CEO, Susan Smith said the project could have been
Abrams, said. successful even if each survivor were
The project was envisioned by Heather asked fewer questions. But the compre-
Maio, the managing director of Con- hensiveness gave each testimony extra
science Display, which specializes in character depth.
exhibition design and interactive story- “If you were just going to ask the ques-
telling. Her company typically creates tion, ‘where were you born?’ or ‘what
realistic combat scenes, complete with camps were you in,’ or ‘what did you feel
visuals and dialogue, for military person- like when you were liberated,’ we could
nel to drill with. do that quite easily in 200 questions,”
going to live on much after we’re gone.”
A New York Times documentary about
the project, called “116 Cameras” and
making the rounds of film festivals, shows
the space-age contraption in which they
film the survivors.
The Museum of Jewish Heritage in
Manhattan began piloting the project in
July. Its two holograms will be on display
for the public through April.
Additional pilots, open to the public,
are being tested at the Sarah and Chaim
Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre
in Toronto and the Holocaust Museum
in Houston. The U.S. Holocaust Memo-
rial Museum in Washington, D.C.,
ended its pilot on Labor Day after sev-
eral months. The Candles Holocaust
Museum and Education Center in Terre
Haute, Indiana, also has piloted the
project and plans to install a permanent
display that will open this fall.
 JTA WIRE SERVICE

36 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018

 Jewish World

Americans seem more likely than Europeans

to take a stand against anti-Semitism
Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON — It’s better here.
That was the message of a panel of
experts considering the rise of the
extreme right and of anti-Semitism in the
United States and Europe.
That was the good news at the forum
last week sponsored by Georgetown Uni-
versity’s Center for Jewish Civilization.
No one, however, could quite pin down
why Americans were more resistant to
anti-Semitism than Europeans.
“It’s far from perfect,” said Ira For-
man, who until January was the State
Department’s international anti-Sem-
itism monitor. “We do it now better
than we did 50 years ago, there’s no
51 percent of respondents in Europe said
that wearing Jewish symbols in public
made them feel unsafe. In North Amer-
ica, the figure was 22 percent.
The panelists at the event, which was
held at the National Press Club, noted
that there has been an intensification of
anti-Semitic rhetoric in the United States.
Beirich said she did not anticipate the
virulence of the anti-Jewish rhetoric at
last year’s “Unite the Right” march in
Charlottesville, Virginia.
“The organizations here in the States
are becoming much more Hitleresque,”
she said. These organizations used to
focus more on preserving vestiges From left, Ira Forman, Michael Whine, Heidi Beirich, and Rabbi David Saperstein
of white privilege. “They’re becom- participate in a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., on January 22 about the rise
ing much more focused about ethnic of the far right and anti-Semitism.  Ron Kampeas

guarantee we will continue to do it, and
frankly, we do it better with anti-Semi-
tism than with anti-Muslim rhetoric and
with racism.”
Forman cited American communities
that rallied spontaneously to counter
anti-Semitism in their midst, notably the
cleansing and the Jews, they’re chant-
ing ‘Jews will not replace us.’ That is not
something commonly heard at previ-
ous events.’”
Beirich added that social media and
the internet made it easier to dissemi-
nate hate. Extremists may be based in
Forman noted the violence of the Golden
Dawn, a Greek fascist group, which has tar-
geted mostly Roma. “It has a street mili-
tia,” he said. “Jews haven’t got hit,” despite
Golden Dawn’s anti-Semitic rhetoric. “The
Roma have.”
Rabbi David Saperstein, the former
ambassador-at-large for international reli-
gious freedom under the Obama administra-
tion and the director emeritus of the Reform
movement’s Religious Action Center, moder-
ated the panel. JTA Wire Service

citizens of Whitefish, Montana, who a
year ago demonstrated before a planned
neo-Nazi march targeting the town’s tiny
Jewish community, and Oklahoma civic
leaders who called on a state lawmaker
to apologize for using the phrase “jew
down” in 2013
In those cases and in many others,
he said, the drive to counter anti-Jewish
rhetoric came in communities with few
Jews and seemed driven by non-Jews
who were repelled by the rhetoric.
Heidi Beirich, the director of the Intel-
ligence Project at the Southern Poverty
Law Center, added to that list the nation-
wide drive among Muslims last year to
raise funds to pay for vandalized Jew-
ish cemeteries.
Michael Whine, the government and
international affairs director for the Brit-
ish Jewish community’s Community
Security Trust, said leaders on his con-
tinent were doing the necessary work
in speaking out against bias crimes, but
he agreed with Forman that the mes-
sage was not trickling down to the aver-
age European.
“There are a lot of European states
where civil society is not at all devel-
oped,” he said. This was in part because
in countries that emerged from autoc-
racy just in recent decades, suspicions
of government lingered, and they ham-
pered efforts to join civilians and author-
ities in countering hate crime.
“Often, civil society is reluctant to deal
with the government,” Whine said.
On Friday, the World Zionist Orga-
nization released a survey compar-
ing perceptions of anti-Semitism in the
United States and Europe showing that
Europe, but their messages are getting
through to Americans. “We now have
certain websites that have 750,000 views
a month among Americans,” she said.
The panelists agreed that social media
giants like Facebook and Google had
become more receptive to keeping hate
off their networks, in part because of
laws in some European countries that
hold them accountable for incitement.
“Both France and Germany have prom-
ised to prosecute Facebook and Google if
they don’t act,” Whine said.
Beirich noted that expressions of anti-
Semitism had spiked during Donald
Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and
since he was elected.
Forman, a Democrat who helmed
the National Jewish Democratic Council
for decades, cautioned against making
anti-Semitism a partisan issue. He noted
Trump’s equivocation after the Charlot-
tesville march, which included a deadly
attack by an alleged white suprema-
cist on counterprotesters. But he also
stressed that calls on Trump to speak out
more forcefully came from both sides of
the aisle.
“I don’t want to make it about ideol-
ogy, I don’t want to make it about parti-
sanship — that’s a very, very bad path to
go down,” he said in response to a ques-
tion about Trump’s role in the increase
of biased rhetoric.
It is critical, panelists said, not to treat
anti-Jewish bias in isolation. Whereas
Jews in Europe faced an intensification
of anti-Semitic rhetoric and hate speech,
other minorities in Europe, including
Muslims, Roma, and the LGBTQ commu-
nities, all were facing spikes in violence,

Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018 37

Editorial
Remembering Dr. Arnold Gold
KEEPING THE FAITH

Jerusalem,
W Frisch, and
e all want a doctor who is very smart — scary both their own humanity and the humanity of their patients.
smart — and absolutely up-to-date on the latest To remember that each patient is a human being, and there-
science, diagnostics, and medications. Good,
in the objective sense.
fore each patient is a world, entire and complete, and also a
bridge to other people, other worlds. Jewish law

We also all want a doctor who is kind, warm, open, decent,
and non-judgmental. Good, in the subjective sense.
Today, we mourn the death of Dr. Arnold Gold of Engle-
wood, who was good in both those senses, and who under-
stood the importance of both.
Dr. Gold, a pediatric neurologist (and just think of the tough-
ness and dedication and stomach and love such a career
choice demands) was an extremely well respected physician.
With his wife, Dr. Sandra Gold, another absolute power-
house, he was the founder of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation,
which spearheaded what the Golds call humanistic medicine.
Together, they developed the White Coat ceremony, which
now is practiced in medical schools throughout the country.
In that ceremony, brand new medical students are given not
only their white coats, a physical reminder of the role they are
undertaking, but they also are given a charge, to remember
The students are taught that they will learn awesome
skills and techniques, but that they must never mistake
themselves for gods. Like their patients, they are human
beings. When they remember that, they, their patients,
and the world not only will begin to be cured, they, their
patients and the world will be ennobled by the effort.
Dr. Gold also was a founding member of much of what we
now take for granted in the local community in northern New
Jersey. He and Sandra were in at the founding of just about
everything, Sandra in her big hat and flowing scarves, Arnold
at her side, smiling. And unlike the other community found-
ers, who often hid their goodness under gruffness — and at
times hid it extremely well — Dr. Gold let it shine.
Next week, we’ll write a proper obituary. But we wanted to
write about him as soon as we heard about his death.
We will miss him. — JOANNE PALMER
I
n mid-November 1967, I was features edi-
tor of a weekly newspaper, the Jewish Press.
The United Nations Security Council was
debating Resolution 242 (the post-Six-Day
War resolution designed to achieve “a just and
lasting peace in the Middle East”), and I was asked
to write an analysis of the prospects for peace pre-
sented by the resolution. My analysis concluded
that peace never would be achieved between
Israelis and Palestinians because one key issue
would remain insolvable: the status of Jerusalem.
That conclusion
was true then, and it
remains true today.
Usually, however,
the Jerusalem issue is
shoved off to the side

Can I get dessert? when the media and

politicians focus on the

S
o there we are, dining at the Garden State Plaza some
time ago with Arnold and Sandra, when the manager
approaches our table.
“There is a report of a shooter in the mall and we
are waiting for further instructions from the police.”
Suddenly there are police responding everywhere and the
shades on the restaurant’s windows are closed.
We all look at each other like there is some kind of protocol
for this event.
Arnold to the rescue.
“Can we at least get dessert?” he says to the manager. “If this
has to be my last meal, what better way to go then to be with
my dear friends.”
Arnold could even make a highly stressed manager crack
a smile.
That was Arnold’s power. The world was a better place
when you were in his company. You looked into his eyes
and you would see his beautiful smile. He might even have
grabbed your hand — and you felt at peace.
Sandra often reminded me of how much Arnold loved me
and how much he valued the work we do on these very pages.
He would just call me out of the blue and ask how I was doing.
I would remind him that he was the one in great demand and
that he had better things to do then to check on me. “At this
moment, there is nothing more important than to know how
you’re doing,” he would say.
I never forgot that.
There was always a lesson I learned from our con­versations,
Dr. Arnold Gold and Jamie Janoff share one of their
many meals together.
and no doubt these talks helped shape me into the person
I am today.
Arnold was a giant. We all know that. A gentle giant. He
received countless awards, but he would be the first to tell
you that kind of stuff was part of the package. What was
most important to him was to see the faces of the children he
helped live a better life and to know that doctors were a bit
kinder because of his initiatives for humanism in medicine.
But nothing was more important to him than to know that
he had Sandra by his side. “Jamie, she’s my greatest blessing,”
he would tell me. — JAMIE JANOFF
Middle East. The likely
reason is that they
adhere to the belief Shammai
that if all other issues Engelmayer
are resolved, a solu-
tion to Jerusalem will
present itself.
The issue is front and center at the moment,
however, because of a cynical political decision in
early December on the part of President Trump.
That decision has sparked a myriad of reactions,
everything from a controversial request of stu-
dents at Frisch High School, to a disruptive Knes-
set meeting earlier this week during a speech by
Vice President Mike Pence.
There are halachic issues embedded here, but
before discussing them, I need to clarify three
points.
First, Jerusalem is, was, and always will be the
eternal capital of the Jewish people, and thus the
capital of the Jewish state. That was true even
when the United States did not formally recognize
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. If anything, President
Shammai Engelmayer is rabbi of Temple Israel
Community Center | Congregation Heichal
Yisrael in Cliffside Park and Temple Beth El of
North Bergen.

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38 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018


Trump’s December pronouncement
brought the world’s powers to their
feet in protest of that truth. His deci-
sion also completely derailed any
prospect for a peace process going
forward. Almost certainly, his deci-
sion will cause the various terrorist
entities in the region to rev up their
efforts to take Jewish lives (especially
of young Jews, the Palestinian terror-
ist’s favorite target).
Second, what happened at Frisch —
teachers instructing students to write
letters to the White House supporting
Trump’s action, without their parents’
knowledge or consent — is indefensi-
ble on a number of grounds. No school
has a right to impose political views on
its students, which is why a number of
parents who oppose Trump on moral
and ethical grounds loudly objected to
what had been done.
The parents had every right to
object. Consider the terrible sub-
liminal message that was sent to
the Frisch teenagers in that request.
They were told (albeit obliquely) to
ignore as irrelevant Trump’s behav-
ior toward women, his repeated
lapses into blatant racism, his often
disgraceful tweets denigrating those
who disagree with him (including his
chief of staff and several cabinet sec-
retaries), and his role as dispenser-in-
chief of fake news and false facts. The
students also were told that the only
issue that ever matters is Israel. No
matter how wrong a politician is on
everything else, if he or she supports
Israel, he or she must be supported.
Third, halacha is not monolithic,
and it is not closed to interpretation.
Different people may see a particular
law in contrasting ways. What fol-
lows is my view of the laws relating
to the peace process. Not everyone
will agree with me. I accept that, but
I would hope they would stop and
consider the points I make before
dismissing them.
I begin by discussing one law that
is not open to interpretation: We
are commanded to settle the Land
of Israel — all of it, not just a piece of
it, meaning every inch of it, from the
Mediterranean to the Jordan.
There is biblical evidence, however,
to suggest that giving up land is not so
great a sin, or may not be a sin at all,
if the price is right. Solomon gave 20
cities in the Galilee to Hiram, king of
Tyre, yet neither the biblical text nor
the Sages of Blessed Memory offered
any comment, much less condem-
nation. This probably is because of
what Solomon received in return: the
building materials for God’s House
and his own. (See 1 Kings 9:11.)
Trading land for peace (including
ceding portions of East Jerusalem
to the Palestinians for their capital)
would be worth the price, too, if the
peace offered is a true peace. Any
agreement would have to battle ter-
rorism with vigor, it would have to
include all the states now opposed
to Israel, and it must provide ways to
put peace into practice through such
means as trade and tourism.
Much of this seems unlikely for
now. Nevertheless, Jewish law looks
warily at actions taken that could
endanger even so tenuous a peace
process — including actions regard-
ing the status of Jerusalem.
Entering into this consideration are
two sins often discussed in this space:
pikuach nefesh (threat to life) and
sh’fichut damim (causing the need-
less spilling of blood). Pikuach nefesh
is considered to be pre-eminent in
religious Judaism. Almost nothing
— not even Shabbat or the laws of
kashrut — takes precedence when life
is threatened. Sh’fichut damim runs a
close second.
Putting people’s lives in danger
violates pikuach nefesh. Almost cer-
tainly, violence will erupt and blood
almost certainly will be spilled on
both sides because of the Jerusalem
pronouncement. This is sh’fichut
damim. Thus, both sins are hala-
chic factors that must be taken into
account.
Even if halacha would seem not to
support trading land for peace, how-
ever, sometimes the law needs to
be set aside in order to protect the
national interest. The consequences
of an action always must be consid-
ered. (See Rabbi Yochanan’s state-
ment about the destruction of the
Temple in BT Gittin 55b-56a.)
A s Samson Raphael Hirsch
explained in his commentary to
several verses in Leviticus 18, if the
people of Israel act in ways that are
neither moral nor ethical, “the land
will vomit out that society.”
“The land is meant to be the bearer
of a national life that is exemplary in
moral purity…,” Hirsch explained.
“Hence, a population that is socially
and morally corrupt has no future on
this land.”
We, as a people, are supposed to
adhere to Jewish law. As we will read
on Shabbat next week, our task is to
be God’s “kingdom of priests and
holy nation,” the advocates through
how we live our lives of God’s moral
and ethical code, God’s blueprint for
how all people should live their lives.
Ignoring the ramifications of
pikuach nefesh and sh’fichut damim
is immoral and unethical. We should
teach that to our children.
Opinion
Rutgers student exemplifies
courage and charisma
W
e should all be very proud
and grateful to Miriam
Waghalter.
Here’s why.
Miriam is a student at Rutgers University,
home to Dr. Michael Chikindas, a professor
of microbiology who recently and belatedly
was demoted for his anti-Semitic social media
postings. It also is home to an adjunct pro-
fessor of international law, Dr. Mazen Adi, a
Syrian who had been a spokesman for Bashar
Assad when he accused Israeli officials of traf-
ficking children’s organs. It also is
home to Professor Jasbir Puar,
whose latest book accuses the
Israeli Defense Forces of strategi-
cally maiming Palestinians.
Miriam, a 19-year-old sopho-
more, was not intimidated as
swastikas appeared on campus.
Instead, she stood up to those peo-
ple who were targeting the Jewish
student body — a targeting that we Michael
have seen happen time and again Cohen
on college campuses across the
country. This brave young woman,
along with a small group of her peers whom
she recruited, started a petition to have Chi-
kindas suspended pending an investigation.
She looked reporters in the eye and spoke
directly to the camera, asking what the
response would be from anyone in New Jer-
sey if such vitriol were spewed against their
own communities.
Miriam’s name should be known to us all,
because she has sent a message to Jewish stu-
dents, telling them not to be cowed in the
face of the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rheto-
ric on their campuses.
Just last year Hillel asked me to be the key-
note speaker at the Yom Hashoah program at
a major university. As is my custom, I arrived
early to speak to both students and the direc-
tor, so I could garner a better feel for the local on campus to stand strong.
Jewish student atmosphere. At this particular
institution I was told that the campus, as far as to ask young Jews on campus to be proud of
they knew, had between 800 and 900 Jewish
students, yet only 400 to 500 of them would
admit that they were Jewish in any meaning-
ful way. And half of those students were com-
fortable being seen publicly as active in Jewish
student life.
From colleges with historically signifi-
cant Jewish student populations — within
the CUNY system, that includes Brooklyn,
and Queens colleges, as well as others both
within and beyond that system — we see far
too many Jewish students unprepared for the
ferocity of such attacks, too often preferring
to hide in the shadows when faced with the
likes of Students for Justice for Palestine.
The opinions expressed in this section are those of the authors, not necessarily those of the
newspaper’s editors, publishers, or other staffers. We welcome letters to the editor. Send
them to jstandardletters@gmail.com.
Young activists like Miriam Waghalter are
living proof that standing up for your rights
and dignity, that not becoming invisible is
the best way for Jewish students to defend
themselves.
There are other young leaders worth
knowing about. Isabelle DeBrabanter and
Justin Feldman both were participants in
the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Government
Advocacy Internship Program last summer.
While Justin wrote many editorials relating
to anti-Semitism both at home and on cam-
pus, Isabelle led the charge
to present an anti-BDS reso-
lution from the center at
her hometown, Caldwell; it
passed there this fall. I lis-
tened to Isabelle’s testimony
before the governing body as
she said that knowing that
her own town is on her side
in voicing public opposition
to BDS and to the anti-Israel
and anti-Semitic rhetoric
leveled against her and her
peers on college campuses,
allows her to feel proud and empowered to
do even more.
To help empower the younger generation,
we must support and educate them. My col-
leagues tell me about the reactions on uni-
versity campuses that have hosted the Simon
Wiesenthal exhibit, “Book, People, Land
— the 3,500 Year Connection Between the
Jewish People and the Land of Israel.” The
exhibit ignites a sense of pride in our his-
tory and values and in all of the incredible
feats accomplished in our ancestral home-
land in the modern day State of Israel. I hear
how such demonstrations of Jewish activism
and pride in those very locations where our
next generation is facing daily harassment is
exactly what is needed to encourage students
If we are to build such leadership, if we are
their heritage in public, we must embolden
them not only by recognizing the intimida-
tion they face but also by being there to push
back alongside them.
So the next time we hear of another chal-
lenge or attack on our nation’s campuses,
remember Miriam Waghalter, and encourage
our kids to emulate her example. It will make
them — and us — proud.
Michael Cohen of Englewood is the eastern
regional director of the Simon Wiesenthal
Center. He represents his city’s Second Ward
on Englewood’s City Council, and he belongs
to Congregation Ahavath Torah there.
JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 39
Opinion
Remembering menschlichkeit
T
his week, my family will commemorate the 10th
yarhrzeit of my father, Albert R. Fingerman z”l. to rise to the challenge to remain on task, maintain our
His was a life well-lived. He was a World War values, and do our part to build a better world.
II veteran, an accomplished and admired attor-
ney, a volunteer communal leader, and a loving husband,
father, and grandfather. He worked hard, but he also
enjoyed life immensely, and he did so with a boundless
energy, a cheerful countenance, a calm demeanor, and
contagious enthusiasm. He had a natural curiosity about
life and learned from every experience. He
tried new things and persevered to overcome
challenges. He exhibited humility at his own
achievements and pride at all of ours.
He taught us everything by his actions, not
through his words. Through the daily exam-
ple he set, he taught us about fulfilling famil-
ial, social, and professional responsibilities.
He taught us to be involved in the commu-
nity, to have empathy, and to give back. He
served on boards, commissions, and groups Jeremy J.
throughout his life. He didn’t tell us to volun- Fingerman
teer; he just quietly did his service in a col-
laborative, cooperative way.
He greeted and treated everyone with respect, empa-
thy, dignity, and always with a smile, as he made his way
through the courthouse, the JCC, or the streets of down-
town Cincinnati.
In a word, he was a mensch. And we are living in a time
where we need many more like him.
As we navigate our ways through these very turbulent
times, we each need to be positive role models for the
world we want. Even as we are confronted each morning
Frum kids belong in day schools
I
t was quite distressing reading the article about frum
families having to make the decision to send their chil-
dren to the local Teaneck public schools (“Frum times
in Teaneck High,” January 12). It was distressing on so have been much easier to do so. This response requires
many levels it is hard to know where exactly to begin.
Let me emphasize at the outset three crucial points.
First, as will be established below, I am
uniquely qualified to weigh in on this topic.
Second, this is a judgment-free response.
In no way should anything in this article
be construed as passing judgment on deci-
sions families need to make regarding what
has become an all-too-common phenom-
enon in both Teaneck and other Orthodox
communities. This is an extremely difficult
and often gut-wrenching decision — as it
should be — and I envy no one who has had
to make such a decision, or who currently is
Michael
Rappaport
struggling with this decision. Last, I am not
weighing in on decisions made to send frum
children to public schools because of special education
needs that are not, or cannot, be addressed adequately
by the yeshiva system. That is a stand-alone topic that
also must be addressed, but this response today is geared
Michael Rappaport, who now lives in Highland Park, lived
in Teaneck for nearly 30 years. An attorney by profession,
he now is a general entrepreneur, motivational speaker,
and mediator.
40 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018
with news that can be disruptive and frustrating, we need
Through our example, we model the world for which
we aspire.
Those of us involved in the Jewish and secular educa-
tional enterprise continue to create new and innovative
ways to help inculcate these values of menschlichkeit in
young people. Ultimately these are life skills they will need
to succeed in this ever-changing world.
In my day-to-day life — in meetings and
gatherings at work and in my community —
everyone seems to be focused on this very
challenge. We all are searching for opportu-
nities to provide for our young people that
will build their sense of curiosity and discov-
ery, of community and confidence. We seek
to aid the development of their self-esteem,
empathy, authentic caring relationships, and
a sense of purpose and meaning. According
to research conducted by KnowledgeWorks,
the competencies required for the future of
learning readiness and of workforce readi-
ness will be these very same skills.
More and more, everyone agrees on the need for devel-
oping mensches.
Jewish camps are uniquely positioned as a trusted vehi-
cle for making mensches. My work at Foundation for Jew-
ish Camp inspires me because we are helping camps bring
even more intentionality, meaning, and relevance to each
experience. By creating welcoming, inclusive, and diverse
communities — not by words but by actions — these camps
toward the parents, not the yeshivas.
I write this response under my real name. I am not hid-
ing under the cloak of a pseudonym, although it would
credibility to be effective and the topic is important
enough so I believe it is worth the price of sacrificing my
privacy.
I have been on both sides of the pro-
verbial tracks. When financial times were
abundant, I sat on the board of a local
yeshiva day school and often was tapped
for significant donations to scholarship
funds and other needed projects. I don’t
recall ever saying no when asked to give,
and I gave with great joy, as I was aware of
those who were struggling. I was extremely
thankful for my financial success
Unfortunately, the financial tide took
a 180-degree turn, and then I became the
recipient of massive scholarship funds
(I have five children) as opposed to the donor of these
funds. I was no longer the guy in the back of limo but
rather the guy behind the wheel, lugging suitcases just to
put some money in my pocket. I remember, with some
lingering bitterness, the scholarship interrogation, mak-
ing me feel as if I was trying to game the system, all the
while my house was in foreclosure and my cars were
being repossessed. Didn’t I have some rich relative who
can pay for the kids’ tuition, they wondered. I felt so
set a long-lasting example. By empowering college-aged
counselors with responsibilities, camps help these young
adults refine their leadership and communication skills.
By using FJC’s Making Mensches Periodic Table, camps
across North America are incorporating much-needed
values into daily life at camp.
It is up to each of us to model menschlichkeit in order
to truly make a difference in our rapidly changing world.
Among many things, my father was a prolific letter
writer. As I reflect back, I find it incredible that he made
time every day — years before email, Facebook, or What’s
App — to take “typewriter in hand” and send news,
encouragement, and love. Whether I was away at sum-
mer camp, in college, and even at business school, I had
the joy of a letter from Dad seemingly every day.
In December, I was given a wonderful tool to help make
each day in 2018 count. A Jewish desk calendar called “A
Kindness a Day” — a project of the Teaneck-based non-
profit Areyvut, whose mission is to infuse the lives of Jew-
ish children and teens with the values of chesed (kind-
ness), tzedakah (charity), and tikkun olam (social action)
— highlights a Jewish text for every day a the year. It’s a
text that inspires a recommended gesture of kindness for
that day.
These daily lessons remind me of the way my dad lived
his life. And they remind me of the difference each of us,
behaving like mensches, can make.
Jeremy J. Fingerman is the CEO of the Foundation for Jewish
Camp. He lives in Englewood with his family; he is vice
president of Congregation Ahavath Torah there. Write to
him at Jeremy@jewishcamp.org.
alone and depressed as I figured I must be the only frum
person in Bergen County without a rich relative.
It was frustrating and often demeaning to sit in front
of smug scholarship heads having to explain that I really
didn’t have money or access to money. One of my chil-
It was frustrating and
often demeaning to sit
in front of smug
scholarship heads
having to explain that
I really didn’t have
money or access
to money.
dren was not allowed to return for his senior year of high
school because I owed the yeshiva $5,000 from the pre-
vious year and had no means of coming up with the past
due balance; nor did I have additional funds for his cur-
rent year. So he was forced to get his GED (as I was not
going to send him to public school) and took his SATs
SEE DAY SCHOOLS PAGE 43

What I want to offer God
N
ew York Times op-ed writer
Charles Blow tweeted fairly
recently that if it weren’t so
awful, you’d have to laugh at
racism: the notion that we think less of
people based on skin color is ridiculous.
Except that its effects are all too real,
and pernicious. Even in 2018. Even after
America has had its first black president.
Remember that there were discussions
about whether we were living in a post-
racial world, because Barack Obama had
been elected? Those discussions seem
laughable now. I recently had
a conversation with a Cana-
dian, who shook his head
and told me, “We just don’t
understand you Americans
and racism. It doesn’t make
any sense.”
Last week, Rabbi Daniel
Fridman shared the talk he
gave for Martin Luther King
Jr. Day with the readers of the Tikvah
Jewish Standard (“Bending Wiener
toward justice,” January 19).
His congregation, the Jewish
Center of Teaneck, hosted civil rights activ-
ist Ms. Theodora Lacey, who was intro-
duced by Teaneck’s mayor, Mohammed
Hameeduddin. Rabbi Fridman said that
after the tumultuous week we had had,
“[T]oday let it be said that I am not only an
Orthodox rabbi and a Jew and an Ameri-
can, but on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day,
I am a Haitian and an African as well.” He
cited Dr. King, who famously wrote in his
Letter from Birmingham Jail, “I am cogni-
zant of the interrelatedness of all commu-
nities and states and cannot sit idly by in
Atlanta and not be concerned about what
happens in Birmingham. Injustice any-
where is a threat to justice everywhere.”
In light of Reverend King’s extraordinary
legacy, it might be surprising to remem-
ber that the passage of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 wasn’t without its skeptics. Cor-
nell University’s Roper Center for Public
Research shows statistics on contempo-
d rary public opinion of the act. They show
t that about one third of Americans opposed
the bill in the months leading up to its pas-
g sage; a month after it was passed, a little
s more than 50 percent supported it.
Americans now generally have a favor-
able view of the act, though progress in
e race relations has been slow. A poll from
the National Opinion Research Center,
s 1972-1996, also from the Cornell University
. site, tells that story: As debate over school
integration through busing raged in the
1970s to the 1990s, the number of those
in favor of integration slowly increased.
In 1972, 19 percent of white Americans
Tikvah Wiener is head of school of the Idea
School, a coed Orthodox high school opening
in Bergen County in September 2018. Learn
more at www.theideaschool.org.
Opinion
favored school integration; by 1996, that
number had increased to 35 percent. In the
early 70s, 86 percent of whites opposed
busing; by 1996, two-thirds opposed it. At
the same time, the majority of black Amer-
icans favored busing in nearly every year,
and only 39 percent opposed it in 1996.
The biggest discrepancy between blacks
and whites can be seen in the way they
view employment opportunities. Accord-
ing to Gallup polls from 1978 to 2011 that
asked respondents whether blacks have
as good a chance as whites in a commu-
nity to get any job for which
they are qualified, about 25
to 30 percent of whites felt
blacks didn’t have the same
chances; 50 to 65 percent
of blacks felt they did not.
These statistics show that
bending the moral arc of
the universe toward justice
hasn’t been easy, and more
work still needs to be done.
The literature that black
and white authors are writ-
ing today tells the same tale.
In last week’s Book Review section of the
New York Times, author Jonathan Miles
reviews Sam Graham-Felsen’s debut novel,
“Green.” The book begins with 12-year-old
David Alexander Greenfield, nicknamed
Green, introducing himself as the “white
boy” at Martin Luther King Middle, a Bos-
ton public school. He’s one of two white
boys there, thanks to Green’s progressive
parents, but the other can pass for Puerto
Rican. Green is the only blond-haired,
blue-eyed student, and the book interro-
gates race, imperfectly as the reviewer sug-
gests, but nevertheless in a way that leaves A collage from the projects done at the Idea School’s MLK Jr. program for
the reader with an understanding of how prospective students.
“the force,” as the main character comes
to describe it, works. • Gaza handed over an entire population from My presence, and let Me not hear the
In one scene, Green and Marlon, his trying to escape and delivered them back music of your harps. But let Justice well up
black best friend, decide they will shovel to their country of origin (1:6) like water, Righteousness, like an unfailing
their neighbors’ yards, but Green under- • Tyre engaged in the same behavior as stream.” (Amos 5:15-24)
takes knocking on people’s doors alone, the Gazans, but also ignored the covenant Wow. God here eschews — condemns,
since when Marlon accompanies him, they of brotherhood (1:9) actually — ritual practice in favor of the
tend to get turned down more. Unequal • Edom pursued his brother with the natural welling of justice and righteous-
employment opportunities, indeed.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Idea
sword and repressed all pity (1:11)
• Ammon ripped open the pregnant
ness. How natural is that welling, though?
Rabbi Koslowe shared the interpretation of
School hosted a program for prospective women of Gilead in order to expand its the 19th-century rabbi and biblical exegete,
students. We first examined the text of
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, paying
own borders (1:13)
We can see that God abhors excessive
the Malbim, on the famous verse. The Mal-
bim remarks that humans inherently seek
particular attention to the allusion from cruelty and despises when people repress justice; it is part of our nature and an essen-
Amos 5:24: “Let justice well up as waters,
and righteousness, like a mighty stream.”
their tendency towards mercy and behave
in pitiless and ruthless ways. It seems that
tial ingredient of each society. It therefore
can be compared to a well of water, which
Rabbi Tavi Koslowe, the Idea School’s God wants us to treat our fellow human springs naturally from its internal source to
Judaic studies principal, pointed out that
the book of Amos begins with God’s stating
beings, well, like human beings.
As if that lesson isn’t clear from these
impact its surroundings profoundly.
Righteousness, in contrast, isn’t
that He is able to tolerate three sins, but opening verses of Amos, as we get closer ingrained in us, but is something we
not a fourth. As He chastises the different to the one that King quotes in his speech, have to nurture and develop through our
nations who have sinned, He details what God states, through the prophet: experiences and encounters with God.
those fourth sins are: “I hate and detest your festivals, I will The source of righteousness is external,
• Damascus crushed the Jewish people not delight over [the sacrifices] . . . . If and that’s why it’s compared to a stream,
of Gilead with metal threshing tools [par- you offer up burnt offerings — or your which gathers in mountains and other
ticularly barbaric physical punishment] meal offerings — I will not accept them natural areas.
(Amos 1:3) . . . . Spare Me the sound of your hymns SEE OFFER PAGE 44
JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 41
Opinion
I’VE BEEN THINKING

Teaching our children to fish

I
read the article about Orthodox parents sending
their children to public schools, “Frum Times in
Teaneck High” ( January 12), on the Friday night it
first appeared. To be frank, I didn’t like it, so I reread problems with their financial structure and the burden
it after Shabbat, hoping that I would feel dif-
ferently. Unfortunately, it did not improve
with age.
Before I explain, let me first, in the inter-
est of transparency, lay out some relevant
personal biography, biases, and beliefs.
1. I am the proud product of the modern
Orthodox day school system, from kinder-
garten through my graduation from Yeshiva
College 17 years later. My four children like-
wise are products of that system, from nurs- Joseph C.
ery school through their post-high school Kaplan
gap year in Israel. My two oldest grandchil-
dren have begun their day school studies in
Toronto, and their younger sister soon will follow them.
2. The current vibrant modern Orthodox commu-
nity and its laity, highly literate in both Jewish and
secular fields, in large part owe their existence and
whatever success they may have achieved to the day-
school movement.
3. Day schools are far from perfect; there are serious
that places on families, as well as with certain
educational areas.
4. Although there are many different types
of day schools, they are not able to meet the
needs of all members of the community.
5. Deciding what type of education to pro-
vide for your children is a primary parental
obligation, and it should be based on what is
best for the particular child, not what is best
for the community. And since parents know
their children better than others do, no par-
ent should be criticized or judged by others
or by the community for the educational
choices they make.
6. It should go without saying that no child ever should
be ostracized by others in the community based upon
where they go to school.
With that said, I turn to my reaction to the article.
First, articles of this nature dealing with a highly sensi-
tive subject should be balanced. Unfortunately, this one
was not. It was certainly very important that the parents
quoted had an opportunity to speak publically about this
issue, and I commend the Standard for giving them a plat-
form to do so. But other voices, perhaps of day school par-
ents but certainly those of yeshiva educators who are highly
qualified to speak and most likely have other perspectives,
also should have been heard. Discussing only one side was
not only unfair to the side being ignored but also left read-
ers with a skewed understanding of the issue’s complexity.
Moreover, the entire tone of the article was unbalanced;
“public schools good, day schools not so much.” We were
told that public schools have more academic support and a
higher caliber of education, allow students to have a finer
appreciation of what it means to be a Jew in the real world,
have more professional teachers and a better standard of
what they’re doing, are fairer in the manner in which they
treat all children and parents, have better support and tac-
tics for dealing with kids who have issues, take more respon-
sibility in their dealings with parents, have more respect-
ful students and less bullying, accommodate students’

Islam’s Jewish dilemma revisited

I
n his important book, “Anti-Judaism:
The Western Tradition,” the scholar
David Nirenberg makes the persua-
sive case that Islam has faced similar ered on Friday, December 8, 2017 — the
theological challenges to Christianity in
assessing its relationship to Judaism.
On the one hand, Nirenberg argues,
Islam regards the Jews as enemies of
Muhammad’s prophecy; on the other,
Islam realizes only too well that without
the existence of the Jews and
their practices to begin with,
there would have been no
subsequent prophetic tradi-
tion and faith to follow.
“How to appropriate the
prophetic claims of Jewish
communities without ‘Judaiz-
ing’ Islam?” Nirenberg writes,
summarizing the core of the
Muslim dilemma. “How to Ben Cohen
then unearthed by the Middle East Media
Research Institute. What these sermons
have in common is that they all were deliv-
same week that President Donald Trump
recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. All
of them drew on similar images, themes,
and quotations. All of them used language
and sentiments that would be regarded by
any rational calculation as unambiguously
threatening toward Jews.
The worst example was
the sermon delivered at the
Islamic Center of Jersey City
by Sheikh Aymen Elkasaby,
who told those gathered
for prayers that the Al-Aqsa
mosque in Jerusalem was
“under the feet of the apes
and pigs”—a commonly Sheikh Raed Saleh Al-Rousan delivers an anti-Semitic sermon in Houston on
expressed derogatory term December 8, 2017. MIDDLE EAST MEDIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE

contain or exclude them for Jews, that is based upon

without severing Islam from
its Abrahamic foundations?”
I’ve mused a great deal on this passage
in recent weeks, as I’ve reported on three
separate occasions about anti-Semitic
sermons of varying ferocity at three dif-
ferent mosques in the United States, all
posted on social media platforms and
Ben Cohen writes a weekly column
on Jewish affairs and Middle Eastern
politics. His work has been published in
Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz,
the Wall Street Journal, and many other
publications.
a sura (chapter) in the Quran
that claims that in his anger toward the
Jews, God “made some as apes and swine.”
“So long as the Al-Aqsa mosque remains
a humiliated prisoner under the oppres-
sion of the Jews, this nation will never
prevail…Allah, wreak vengeance upon
the plundering oppressors!” the sheikh
continued. “Count them one by one, and
kill them down to the very last one. Do not
leave a single one on the face of the Earth.”
On the same day, in Houston, Sheikh
Raed Saleh Al-Rousan asserted that Judg-
ment Day “will not start until Muslims fight
the Jews…in Palestine.” Al-Rousan then
quoted a popular hadith (saying) of the
Prophet Muhammad concerning the Jews.
“The Muslims will kill the Jews,” he
recited, “and the Jews will hide behind the
stones and the trees, and the stones and
the trees will say: Oh Muslim, oh servant
of Allah, there is a Jew hiding behind me,
come and kill him, except for the Gharqad
tree, which is one of their trees.”
A version of that hadith also turned
up in the sermon about alleged Ameri-
can and Israeli iniquities given by Imam
Abdullah Khadra of Raleigh, N.C. “At the
End of Time,” as Khadra rendered it, “we
will fight those Jews until the rocks and the
trees will speak: ‘Oh Muslim, this is a Jew
behind me.’”
In the aftermath of all three sermons, I
want to stress, I came across some reas-
suring signs that in America, we deal with
these issues with an honesty that is absent
in much of Europe and certainly the Mid-
dle East. In the New Jersey case, Senator
Cory Booker quickly issued a thundering
denunciation of Elkasaby’s anti-Semitism,
at the same time telling his friend, Islamic
Center President Ahmed Shedeed, to
“publicly and unconditionally denounce
Imam Elkasaby’s hateful rhetoric, which
was delivered at your house of worship

42 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018

 Opinion

particular needs more sensitively, react faster to aggressive
situations, and have better extracurricular activities.
Really? I’m sure some of that is true, but all of it??
Really? Day schools come in second to public schools
in all of these categories? Really? When I practiced as
a litigator, one aspect of my preparation of prospective
witnesses was to advise them to neither gild the lily nor
close their eyes to problems with their testimony. Since
every case has weaknesses, I would explain, overstate-
ments and refusing to confront problems damage cred-
ibility. Had I been asked, I would have given this same
advice to the parents quoted in the article.
My sense of day schools is quite different from the one
presented in the article, based on decades of personal
experience, both as a student and as a parent, in dealing
with yeshiva teachers and administrators (I never missed
a single parent-child conference) and being exposed to the
schools’ curriculum and modes of education. That experi-
ence taught me that our day schools are overflowing with
many superb educators and provide a simply first-rate
education in many areas. It also taught me about the care
they give and sensitivity they show to both their students
and parent bodies. And I was not a macher or big donor
by any standard.
I also know how well prepared my children and many of
their classmates were for the sophisticated and high-level
education they were exposed to, both in their gap years
as well as in college and graduate school programs. While
many factors went into this, the excellent foundation laid
in their day school years was an important element in
their success. Thus, the article presented an at best incom-
plete picture of what actually takes place in day schools.
And you needn’t take only my word for it. Read a
masterful essay by Erica Brown, who attended a “fancy
prep school” until she was 16, called “The Case for Day
Schools,” which recently appeared in the Jewish Week and
the Times of Israel. It makes the case for the excellence of
day schools much better than I.
But perhaps the most critical substantive problem was
the article’s almost complete silence regarding the main
raison d’etre of day schools — teaching Torah and Torah
values to help our children develop into knowledgeable
adults committed to our tradition and community. Public
schools, no matter what their virtues, cannot do this, and
if their students want this knowledge they must go else-
where to obtain it. While that’s not impossible, it’s very
difficult to learn Torah rigorously while attending public
school. As Ms. Brown wrote, the best case for day schools
is “the life it delivers long after graduation.”
Again, let me be clear. I understand that legitimate
reasons exist and sometimes the need to send some chil-
dren to public schools overrides the difficulty, and often
the impossibility, of those students learning Torah on a
high level. And I therefore do not, God forbid, judge par-
ents who make that decision. But at the very least, sacrific-
ing an intensive and meaningful Torah education should
be a significant factor in the decision-making calculus. If
it was, no serious mention of it was made in the article.
And finally, I believe that all members of our modern
Orthodox community, whether or not they personally use
the day school system, need to express hakarat hatov, their
gratitude, for all that these schools have done in making
our community the success it has become.
So I say to the parents quoted in the article, I appreciate
your explanations about why you send your children to
public schools. But don’t belittle the day schools by impli-
cation after implication that they are second rate as com-
pared to the public schools. True hakarat hatov as well as
a commitment to emet — to truth — demand better.
Joseph C. Kaplan, a regular columnist, is a long-time
resident of Teaneck. His work also has appeared in various
publications including Sh’ma magazine, the New York
Jewish Week, the Baltimore Jewish Times, and, as letters to
the editor, the New York Times.

Day schools into something dangerous — which brings me to

before your congregants.” In the
case of Al-Rousan, the Islamic
Society of Greater Houston con-
demned him for making “inflam-
matory remarks about our Jewish
community in a deeply disturb-
ing tone.” In the case of Khadra
in Raleigh, an email exchange
I had with him revealed some
awareness on his part of the neg-
ative impact of his remark, and a
desire to meet with local Jews to
mend fences and restate the non-
discriminatory principles of inter-
faith dialogue.
In each of these cases, I spoke
to Muslim leaders who expressed
some degree of remorse or con-
demnation, and did not deny — as
often would be the case in Europe
— that such rhetoric is judged in
the American context as an actual
threat to the Jews living here, and
therefore a potential threat to
most precious norms and conven-
tions of the nation at large.
That this recognition exists
strikes me as a decent enough
foundation for a more transpar-
ent dialogue between Judaism
and Islam in America. As a coun-
try with no official religion, whose
citizens nonetheless embrace
different faiths in vast numbers,
America is the ideal location for
such a conversation. And it needs
to begin by recognizing that there
is, as Nirenberg says in his book,
a strong message in the Quran
and in other key Muslim texts that
“Islam, like Christianity, staked its
claims in the name of Jewish truth,
but guaranteed those claims with
Jewish falsity.” Hence the temp-
tation for Muslim preachers to
address contemporary issues like
Jerusalem through the filter of
Jewish deceit and Jewish disobedi-
ence — ”they believed, then disbe-
lieved, therefore a seal was set on
their hearts so they do not under-
stand,” the Quran says — that per-
meated the depiction of the Jews
in the early world of Islam.
Nobody can pretend that
these anti-Jewish texts, beliefs,
and traditions do not exist. But
the experience of Jews with the
Catholic Church during the last
half-century — in which fun-
damental doctrines about the
demonic nature of the Jews dat-
ing to the time of St. Paul have
been dispensed with — suggests
that there is very little in this
world that is immovable. Cer-
tainly, those of us who believe
that Jewish-Muslim coexistence
can be achieved only on the
basis of mutual respect, as well
as mutual commitment to civic,
secular government and society,
should aim for nothing less.
JNS.ORG
FROM PAGE 40
and did just fine. The high school refused to
release his transcripts to the college to which he
applied, but ultimately, after the college presi-
dent read his personal statement, the college
accepted him, understanding the situation as
a whole.
I can write a book on my experiences, but
hopefully with this brief anecdotal evidence
I’ve established my credibility to weigh in on
this difficult topic.
I wrote at the outset that I was distressed
reading the article. I was distressed for two
main reasons. Although I suspected it was the
case just by reading the headline, my suspicion
was confirmed — and then some. This article
was written “b’simcha” ( joyfully) and with a
“gotcha” attitude toward the yeshiva system as
a whole. I am the first to acknowledge that the
yeshiva system has its share of problems. What
system doesn’t? Are there problems with the
modern Orthodox system? Of course. Are there
problems with the charedi (yeshivish) system?
Of course. The chassidish system? Of course.
There is a massive divide within the Orthodox
communities between the haves and the have-
nots. As such, there is a growing bitterness and
resentment towards that singular institution
— the yeshiva — that highlights this difference,
more than anything else, with the crushing
yeshiva tuition needs. Of course, house size,
type of cars, vacations, etc. often demonstrate
these differences as well, but none of those are
anywhere as meaningful as yeshiva education.
There is no doubt this is a serious problem
within the Orthodox communities and has left a
lot of genuine and committed families rightfully
jaded. When these feelings turn into an anti-
yeshiva attitude, however, it has then morphed
the second reason for my distress.
In halacha ( Jewish law) there are concepts
called “b’da’avad” and “l’chatchila.” B’da’avad
is doing something in a lesser desirable fash-
ion, while l’chatchila is doing something in the
preferred way. So while someone absolutely
could fulfill a religious requirement b’da’avad,
we strive to the best of our abilities to fulfill that
same requirement l’chatchila.
That is all well and good. The problem
results when one begins to believe that the
b’da’avad is actually the l’chatchila. This is
what I gleaned from many of the comments
from those parents who chose to ditch the
yeshiva in favor of public school for financial
reasons. I am in no position, nor do I have any
right, to judge the ultimate decision frum par-
ents make to send their child to public school.
Sometimes there truly might be no choice. I
strongly caution any parent who has made
that decision, however, or currently is con-
sidering making that decision, to understand
that this is a b’da’avad, not a l’chatchila.
I think one of the great survival skills we, the
Jewish people, have is our ability to make lem-
onade out of lemons. From time immemorial
we have had the ability to make the best out of
bad situations and even to back into a certain
mindset that tells us that whatever is happen-
ing really is what we would have wanted any-
way. It’s a great coping mechanism, but if it is
not sprinkled with a dose of reality could be
dangerous.
I respectfully suggest to these wonderful
parents who have had to make the decision of
foregoing yeshiva education in favor of pub-
lic schools that they should not for a second
believe that this really is the best thing for their
SEE DAY SCHOOLS PAGE 44

JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 43

Letters

Perpetuating the stigma
While Ms. Frolich seemed to take a very
negative view of the article “Frum Times in
Teaneck High” (Letters, “How dare you?,”
January 19, responding to “Frum times in
Teaneck High,” January 12), it was also an
unrealistic one, and as a self-described
educator, she should know better.
She should know that not every Jewish
child fits the mold of a Jewish day school
student. She also should know that the Jew-
ish day school system obviously has flaws
that make it impossible for some children
to flourish as well as impossible for some
parents to afford. The Jewish day school
system may work for most frum children,
but not all, and we should applaud the par-
ents interviewed in the article for doing
what was best for their children.
Ms. Frolich should apologize to these
children for perpetuating the stigma
placed upon them for simply not fitting
the mold.
Beatrice Baum
Bergenfield
Frisch oversteps
its boundaries
I write today to express my shock at the
actions of the Frisch School as described in
a January 17 article in Haaretz, wherein the
school administration orchestrated a stu-
dent letter-writing campaign to President
Trump in response to his decision to move
the American Embassy to Jerusalem. (See
this week’s paper, page 12). As most read-
ers of the Standard know full well, I have
been a longtime advocate of American rec-
ognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and
the relocating of our embassy to Jerusa-
lem. I personally wrote a public statement
applauding this action last month.
However, I am also a passionate advo-
cate for church/state separation. I believe
that religious institutions should refrain
from overt political activity. Moreover, I
am deeply concerned that when a school
administration “suggests” that students
take a political action, going to the extent
of disseminating a draft of a letter, that the
students’ ability to exercise their free will
is severely limited.
The Haaretz article mentioned that
the students were encouraged, but not
required, to write letters to President
Trump. The unstated implication is that
the school did not overstep the boundar-
ies of church/state separation. For me, the
issue is not merely a question of whether
the Frisch School’s action was within the
letter of the law, but rather to raise the
question of whether as American Jews
who have been beneficiaries of the protec-
tion of the American Bill of Rights for the
past 240 years, we do not have a responsi-
bility, in the spirit of Jewish law, to insure
that our communal institutions, be they
synagogues or particularly our schools,
build a fence around this sacred principal
of American life, so that even the appear-
ance of stepping over the line is protected.
Rabbi Neal I. Borovitz
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Avodat Shalom
River Edge
Imagine a unified
nuclear Korea
I was gratified to find an article about Dr.
Tom Grunfeld, an expert on East Asian
studies who has spent time in North Korea
(“Know your enemy,” January 19). Hear-
ing a firsthand account of conditions there
contributes to a better understanding of
the people and culture north of the 38th
parallel and south of the Yalu River.
Dr. Grunfeld’s account of the North
Korean nuclear program jibes with my
experience. I did business with South
Koreans in the nuclear field for many
years, as well as the IAEA in Vienna. The
latter was doing a credible regulatory job
up to the time that President George Bush
Jr. destabilized nonproliferation. In 1992,
the North Koreans veered away from the
NPT framework and started to ramp up
their clandestine development activities.
Meanwhile, there is a well-established
nuclear industry in the South. Twenty-four
power reactors there produce one third of
the country’s electricity. Nuclear medicine
is in widespread use at public and univer-
sity hospitals. The only thing the South
lacks is a nuclear weapons program.
Russia, China, India, and Pakistan have
nukes. Is it so far fetched to imagine a
united nuclear Korea? It is possible that
the games being played in Korea next
month are all about reconciliation of a
people united for the past 4,000 years, and
divided only for the past 73 years. A mere
speck in time. The Koreans want to send a
signal to China, Japan, and the rest of the
world. When you see a Kia or Hyundai on
the road here, think about Korea on a par
with France and England. When Korea uni-
fies, Japan will go nuclear in response.
This genie is not new. America uncorked
the bottle 73 years ago. And we won’t be
able to bully the genie back into the bot-
tle. The only rational way out is talking,
with a renewed focus on global nuclear
nonproliferation.
Eric Weis
Wayne

Offer
FROM PAGE 41
The Malbim adds that the waters of a stream
don’t provide a source for other bodies of water
but are focused internally, showing that the
stream, as a metaphor linked with righteousness,
is about developing your own personal relation-
ship with God and embarking on a personal jour-
ney with the Divine. In this interpretation, the Mal-
bim says, the desired and true purpose of a festival
pilgrimage is not the offerings, the sacrifices, but
the development of justice and righteousness.
It’s not hard to see, even without the Malbim’s
interpretation, the reason that Amos spoke to
Reverend King, and it’s easy to extrapolate as
well the book’s implications for today’s world. In
fact, we asked the students during our MLK pro-
gram to continue Dr. King’s work, and we had
them do so, first by providing different sources
for them to research about racism in America
today. Though we had about six sources the stu-
dents could examine, most gravitated to a JTA
article written about a Jew of color, Ben Fauld-
ing, who goes by the Twitter and Instagram name
@TheHipsterRebbe.
Faulding was wearing noise-canceling head-
phones in a convenience store as he shopped for
conditioner and didn’t hear a cashier address him.
Next thing he knew, two policemen were point-
ing their guns at him. He stayed calm, knowing
that one wrong move might get him killed, and
he shouted for the officers to remove his head-
phones. Though this incident obviously was the
most potentially deadly form of racism Faulding
encountered, according to the article, he also
blogged in 2014 about living in Crown Heights:
“Being a Jew with a black father, living in Crown
Heights is a strange experience,” he wrote. “There
is always a strong undercurrent of racism. You’ll be
moving along just fine and then the ‘S-bomb’ will
come along and just ruin your day, or at the very
least your hour and minute. It’s never nice when it’s
said. No one ever says ‘I had a man do my taxes. He’s
shvartze.’ Nor do they say ‘my son is playing with the
boys next door, they’re shvartze.’ It’s always ‘a shvar-
tze stole my bike;’ or ‘if the shvartzes [take] welfare
why shouldn’t we.’”
When Rabbi Koslowe, Ms. Nancy Edelman, the
Idea School’s head of humanities, and I reflected
with the students at the end of the program, we
asked them what had resonated so deeply with
them about Faulding’s story that they had all used
it in their projects. They told us that the act of buy-
ing conditioner was such a simple one, something
they did all the time. They couldn’t get over the fact
that it had turned so dangerous for someone simply
because he was black.
Rabbi Koslowe remarked that the image of justice
welling up like water and righteousness like a stream
was a powerful one, making him wonder what it
would be like to live in a world where we’re literally
stepping in kindness, awash in it, unable to move
without giving it and receiving it.
I wonder, too. It’s time to end the nonsense that
is racism, to link hands with Dr. King and continue
his work, to continue to honor civil rights activists
such as Ms. Theodora Lacey, and to understand that
it’s not just the job of political and communal lead-
ers such as Mayor Hameeduddin and Rabbi Fridman
to speak and act out against racism. It’s the duty of
each and every one of us toward our fellow human
beings — and it is our offering to God.
Day schools
FROM PAGE 40
children’s continued growth as Orthodox Jews. I respectfully
suggest that while clearly so many Orthodox Jewish values are
indeed learned from the home, the home needs to be a rein-
forcing environment for these values. The home is not a detox
unit for the secular values their child is exposed to for at least
eight hours a day, five days a week, week in and week out.
Will there be exceptions to the rule? Of course there will be.
Nevertheless, parents need to understand that there is no educa-
tional equivalent to, nor substitute for, a yeshiva environment. I
don’t care if it’s a left-wing, centrist, or right-wing yeshiva. While
certainly there may be merit in being exposed to other cultures
and beliefs, there is a time and a place. Elementary school and/or
high school is not — l’chatchila — that time or place.
The 11th mishna in the second perek (chapter) of Bava Metzia —
as well as other places within the Talmud — is remarkably instruc-
tive about the importance of yeshiva education as it tells us that
there are certain situations where someone’s rebbi (main teacher
of Torah) actually takes precedence over his own father.
The value of a Torah environment and education can not
be stressed enough. It is the duty of yeshiva administrators
and the powers that be within the yeshivas to do everything
humanly and financially possible — with tremendous sensitiv-
ity — to ensure that parents are not placed in a position where
they must make these difficult decisions. Parents, on the other
hand, need to bite their collective tongues, grit their collec-
tive teeth, and hold their collective noses at what often is a
demeaning scholarship process. The pain to the ego will be
well worth it.
Parents need to know, at least in their hearts, that all avenues
have been exhausted before they forego a yeshiva education
in favor of public schools. At the very least, parents need to
recognize that while they might have no other choice, this is
a b’da’avad, and such recognition should be conveyed to their
children as often as possible.

44 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018


Foreign or domestic? The bigger terror threat
ADL and Trump administration reports differ markedly in findings
RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON — Two reports on ter-
rorism, 10 pages each and released
within a day of each other, reach
markedly different conclusions.
Over a decade, the Anti-Defamation
League reports, domestic right-wing
extremists carried out 71 percent of
extremist-related murders. Over 15
years, according to the Department
of Homeland Security, foreign-born
culprits committed 73 percent of ter-
rorism-related offenses.
What’s behind the startlingly dif-
ferent conclusions in the reports
released this week? There’s an apples
and oranges factor of course — start-
ing with the differing time spans — but
the Trump administration also is try-
ing to shape the conversation on ter-
rorism to comport with its national
security and immigration objectives.
A protester in Chicago holds a sign commemorating Heather Heyer, who was killed during
Apples and oranges the Charlottesville protests in July.
The ADL report, “Murder and
Extremism in the United States in 2017,” covers a decade’s
worth of extremist violence, from 2007 to 2017, and says
that of the 387 deaths in that period, 71 percent came in
attacks carried out by right-wing extremists. Homeland
Security’s report, “Protecting the Nation From Foreign
Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” encompasses the
period from 2001 to 2016 and counts 549 people convicted
of “international terrorism-related charges” in U.S. federal
courts between September 11, 2001, and December 31,
2016. Of those, 402 were foreign-born.
Including the first six years after the 9/11 attacks would
presumably weight the count toward the foreign-born, as
the Bush administration intensified efforts to track down
bad actors connected to al-Qaida, the terrorist group
behind the attacks. (We don’t know for sure because
Homeland Security does not break down its numbers into
incidents or nationalities.)
This chart from the Anti-Defamation League report shows that 71 percent of extremist-related deaths from
2007 to 2017 were committed by far rightists.
SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
Also, the ADL is counting victims, while Homeland Secu-
rity is counting convicted perpetrators. Those are two dif-
ferent groups.
Most salient, however, is the terminology: The ADL
report refers to “extremist-related killings.” Homeland
Security refers to “international terrorism-related charges.”
Why is the Trump administration making this about
international terrorists and not including domestic
terrorists?
There are two answers to this question, with a key
divider: The election of President Donald Trump.
Before Trump:
Law enforcement long has resisted lumping together
domestic and international terrorism because of the differ-
ent tools each phenomenon requires, so confining a report
to “international terrorists” would not be unprecedented.
ADL
Jewish World
Domestic terrorists often are
right-wing lone wolves who oper-
ate outside the structures of a
terrorist organization. Tracking
them requires community-based
policing, conveying to parties who
might know a potential attacker —
family, friends, colleagues — what
the warning signs may be.
International terrorists often
answer to groups based overseas,
requiring coordination with the
array of bodies that deal with for-
eign policy and national security.
Law enforcement is mind-
ful of the differing prosecution
strategies in pursuing domestic
as opposed to international ter-
rorists. Last week, Thomas Brzo-
zowski, the Justice Department’s
counsel for domestic terrorism,
outlined for the Huffington Post
the difference in strategies in each
case. A tweet supporting a State
Department-designated foreign
terrorist group can count as mate-
rial support and trigger a prosecution. Backing a U.S.-
based extremist organization on social media likely falls
under First Amendment free speech protections.
Since Trump:
The Trump administration perceives the most immediate
threat to Americans as being from abroad.
The Homeland Security report fulfills a requirement in
an executive order issued by Trump on March 6. It was the
second order by Trump seeking to ban travelers from Mus-
lim-majority countries and was issued to withstand the
court challenges that felled his original order, on January
27. Deep in the March 6 order are instructions to Home-
land Security essentially to back up with data, after the
fact, the rationale for barring travelers from six Muslim-
majority countries.
The instructions suggest a preordained conclusion that
foreign nationals are the principal terrorist threat. The
report, according to the order, omits any mention of a need
to identify U.S.-born terrorists (although the report ulti-
mately included these). It requires “information regarding
the number of foreign nationals in the United States who
have been charged with terrorism-related offenses while in
the United States; convicted of terrorism-related offenses
while in the United States; or removed from the United
States based on terrorism-related activity, affiliation with or
provision of material support to a terrorism-related organi-
zation, or any other national-security-related reasons.”
The order also appears to favor identifying not only
actions but a motive identified among some on the right
with the Muslim world: honor killings. It seeks “information
regarding the number and types of acts of gender-based
violence against women, including so-called ‘honor kill-
ings,’ in the United States by foreign nationals.” Research-
ers see “honor killings” as a cultural rather than a religious
phenomenon, and have identified non-Muslim cultures
where it is practiced. In any case, the final report noted
that there is no data breaking down gender-based violence
according to whether perpetrators are foreign born or not.
SEE TERRORIST THREAT PAGE 56
JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 45
Jewish World
This Russian Jewish liberal just became
the opposition’s best hope of hurting Putin
CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
T
he fact that Russia’s main oppo-
sition leader has been barred
from the presidential race there
may be bad for democracy. But
it’s a boon for Grigory Yavlinsky, a Jew-
ish liberal politician who now is emerg-
ing as the main challenger against Vladi-
mir Putin.
Yavlinsky is an economist and former
deputy prime minister whose mother,
Vera Naumovna, was Jewish. Last week,
he took the 100,000 signatures he and his
team had collected — those signatures are
necessary for candidates to amass in order
to enter the presidential race in March —
and he submitted them to the central elec-
tions board
That makes him the only widely rec-
ognized opposition figure in the race,
because last month challenger Alexei
Navalny was disqualified over his 2014
fraud conviction — a conviction that the
top human rights court in Europe said
was trumped up by the Russian judiciary
under Putin.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Yav-
linsky, a co-founder of the Yabloko party,
actually has a shot at becoming president.
Elections are widely considered to be
rigged in Russia, a country that was ranked
more restrictive than Iran and Yemen in
the Freedom House “Freedom in the
World 2017” index.
But Navalny’s elimination does mean
that Yavlinsky, 65, whose best electoral
result was 7.4 percent of the vote in the
1996 presidential elections, now has a
chance of rallying the fractious opposition
behind him. And that may allow Yavlinsky
at least to put a dent in Putin’s near-certain
victory, according to Roman Bronfman,
a prominent Russia analyst from Israel
who, like Yavlinsky, grew up in what today
is Ukraine.
“If Navalny endorses Yavlinsky, he may
well reach an important achievement
in the elections because opposition to
Putin is strong, albeit suppressed,” Bron-
fman said.
Navalny reached such an achievement
in the 2013 Moscow mayoral elections,
finishing second to the ruling party’s can-
didate with 27 percent of the vote. It may
well have been the reason he was marked
for political elimination.
Boris Nemtsov, another Jewish opposi-
tion leader who used to be deputy prime
minister, was killed near the Kremlin in
2015 after saying he would run against
Putin in 2018.
But without Navalny, Yavlinsky is not
likely to attract many votes, according
to Bronfman.
“He’s too liberal,” Bronfman said of
Yavlinsky, who opposed Russia’s war in
46 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018
Chechnya and even traveled to that pre-
dominantly Muslim area of Russia to nego-
tiate a truce in the 1990s — offering him-
self to rebels as a hostage in exchange for
the release of others. “And he’s not char-
ismatic; he has none of the energies that
Navalny has going for him.”
Like Nemtsov, Yavlinsky has been a con-
sistent opponent of Russia’s 2014 annexa-
tion of Crimea. That’s a position that has
earned him death threats from nationalists
who revile him as a traitor. It also makes
it hard for a nationalist like Navalny to
endorse Yavlinsky.
Navalny has shown no intention of back-
ing Yavlinsky. In fact, the disqualified oppo-
sition leader is calling for a protest boycott
of the election — a move that is unlikely to
shake Putin’s absolute
hold on power but has
a very real potential of
crippling the Yavlin-
sky bid.
The boycott call is
dividing the opposi-
tion, according to
Andrey Kalikh, a Rus-
sian p o l itic al an d
human rights activist
and journalist.
“On one side of the
barricades, there’s
the forces who unite
a r o u n d N av a l n y ’s
call” for a boycott, he wrote in an op-ed
published last week on the website Open
Democracy. On the other side, “there’s
the ruling party as well as the liberal party
Yabloko and Ksenia Sobchak,” an indepen-
dent candidate and television presenter
who also has Jewish roots.
Sobchak is among the dozens of people
who have announced their intention to
run for president but have yet to submit
the required 100,000 signatures. They
have until January 31 to do so.
All of the registered candidates chal-
lenging Putin in the elections — including
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who has inveighed
frequently against Jews — have said they
have Jewish roots.
If Yavlinsky’s participation in the vote is
approved, he will become the third regis-
tered candidate in the March election after
the Communist Party’s Pavel Grudinin —
an unlikely choice for many Russians with
bitter memories of communism — and
Zhirinovsky, an ultranationalist provoca-
teur who is equally unlikely to appeal to
freedom-seeking voters fed up with Putin.
Which is part of the reason that Bron-
fman believes that Yavlinsky’s origins
won’t hurt him electorally.
“Although he’s of Ukrainian descent,
although he’s of Jewish origins, so are
many others, on the opposition and on
Putin’s side, so it’s not really a factor,”
ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES
Bronfman said.
That may explain why Yavlinsky is
among many Jewish politicians in Russia
— figures like Yevgeny Roizman, Nemtsov,
and Sobchak — who speak openly of their
Jewish roots.
“I never concealed the fact that my
mother is a Jew,” Yavlinsky said in an inter-
view 2001. “How can anyone renounce
their mother?”
Openness is a trademark of Yavlinsky,
who unusually for a Russian politician
speaks candidly about his childhood and
other aspects of his life.
He is unapologetic about the fact that
both of his sons live in the United Kingdom
— a fact that opponents sometimes cite as a
sign that he lacks patriotism.
In a 2016 interview, Yavlinsky said that
his sons left for security reasons after
the older one was abducted in 1994. The
abductors cut off part of the son’s finger
and mailed it to Yavlinsky with a note read-
ing “Unless you leave politics we’ll cut off
your son’s head.” But they released the
captive, who had the severed part of his
finger reattached.
Yavlinsky also likes to talk about boxing,
a sport he excelled in as a youth, when he
was a junior champion of Ukraine in 1968.
Still, Yavlinsky’s Jewish origins have
been used against him in the course of his
long political career.
 SEFA KARACAN/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
Above, Russian politician Grigory
Yavlinsky at a ceremony for slain
opposition leader Boris Nemtsov
at the Saharovsky Center in Mos-
cow on March 3, 2015. Left, Boris
Nemtsov, shown in 2014, was anoth-
er Jewish opposition leader. He was
killed near the Kremlin in 2015 after
saying he would run against Vladi-
mir Putin in 2018.
At one election rally — Yavlinsky ran
for president in 1996 and 2000, and
attempted to run in 2012 but was rejected
over alleged irregularities in his list of
100,000 signatures — a heckler asked him:
“How does a Jew dare to even think about
becoming the president of Russia?”
A reference to persistent anti-Semitic
sentiments centered on the outsized role
of Jews in the communist revolution and
regimes that followed. It prompted a
response from Yavlinsky that he said was
intended as an attempt at humor.
“‘Jews have done so much harm in
Russia that it is they who are obliged to
take an active role in correcting the con-
sequences,’” Yavlinsky recalled telling
the heckler in the 2001 interview. “Of
course, it was a joke, and the audience
laughed and the atmosphere immediately
became lighter.”
Despite this exchange, Yavlinsky insists
that Russian society is not anti-Semitic
and that his popularity among some vot-
ers proves it.
“After the destruction of the Bolshe-
vik system, it becomes clear that anti-
Semitism in Russia was mainly of a state
nature” and not part of society, he said
in a 1999 interview with CNN. And to the
degree that it does exist, “the creation of
a new strong democratic state will stop
anti-Semitism.”
 JTA WIRE SERVICE
 The Frazzled Housewife
TB Tonya and the
magical airplane
A
irplanes are miraculous
objects.
They fly. How do they do
that? And with all of those
people who aren’t weighed before-
hand…. And when there
is turbulence, what is hap-
pening exactly if you are in
the sky? Invisible potholes?
Things you just don’t want
to think about when you
are flying. I still remember
when my grandparents were
invited to a wedding in Paris
and the hosts of the wed-
ding flew them on the Con- Banji
cord, which was an extra Ganchrow
fast airplane. How did those
aircraft work? Apparently
not too well, because I don’t think there
are Concords anymore. I wonder what
became of those planes.
In any event, as wonderful as airplane
travel is, if you are a germ freak, planes
are not for you. At all. Especially during
flu season. Or any season, for that mat-
ter. If you turn on the news, you hear
how this year’s flu season is the deadliest
it has been in over a decade. Thank you
for letting me know. What am I supposed
to do? I got the flu shot, I wash my hands
as often as humanly possible without
receiving a diagnosis of obsessive-com-
pulsive disorder and I do my best not
to touch any door handles with my bare
hands. I even have a few prescriptions
of Tamiflu in the house from a few years
ago when we went on a cruise during flu
season and I was being a crazy mother.
(Some things never change — now, I just
am crazier.).
But then came winter vacation. We
decided to go visit my in-laws in Boynton
Beach (yes, you read correctly, I went to
visit my in-laws) and in order to get there,
we had to go on a plane. The place where
colds, coughs, and lord knows what else
come to breed. So you do what you can.
I had my Purell, and aside from wearing
a face mask, that was it.
We get on the plane, three of us in
one row and husband #1 on the aisle
across from us. The two seats next to
him were empty. And then came Tuber-
culosis Tonya (not her real name). She
was coughing on her hand. DOESN’T
SHE WATCH THE NEWS?? You are
supposed to cough into your armpit,
because if you cough on your hand and
your hand touches the seat and then
someone else touches the seat, they
will then get sick. No wonder so many
people suffer from anxiety. Does every-
one think the way I do?
Then Tuberculosis Tonya just started
coughing everywhere. Sons #1 and #3
had to physically hold me back from
standing up and screaming, “Hey lady,
stop coughing everywhere. You are
going to kill all of us with your germs!!!!!”
Please tell me that some of you feel this
way too! It cannot just be me. My kids
were laughing at me, but
that is par for the course,
and husband #1 was look-
ing at me with that “What
would you like me to do?”
face. I would like you to
get up and switch your
seat even though Tuber-
culosis Tonya’s germs
already were being recy-
cled through the air of the
entire plane, because even
though airplanes are awe-
some, they still haven’t
figured out a way to open the windows
to get fresh air without sucking people
through those said open windows. Or
how to make a bigger bathroom — appar-
ently either I have gotten bigger since my
last time on a plane or the bathrooms
have gotten smaller. How is a woman
In any event, as
wonderful as
airplane travel is,
if you are a
germ freak,
planes are not
for you. At all.
Especially during
flu season. Or
any season, for
that matter.
of my size supposed to maneuver a toi-
let seat cover and turning around to sit
down without having to grease the walls
of the lavatory with butter??????
Stuck on a plane with TB Tonya, and
several Sneezing Sams (again, not their
real names) I just tried not to breathe.
That doesn’t work. Husband #1 finally
moved to the row in front of TB Tonya,
so hopefully, no damage was done.
Wait, how long is the incubation
period for colds, coughs, and lord knows
what else?
To be continued……..
Banji Ganchrow just watched son #1’s
Vikings get demolished by the Eagles.
Football season is officially over for
the Ganchrows. How many weeks until
pitchers and catchers? Let’s Go Mets!!
Crossword
“A VERY DISNEY TU B’SHVAT”
BY YONI GLATT, KOSHERCROSSWORDS@GMAIL.COM
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: CHALLENGING
Across 4. Many a San Fran worker
1. It’s the truth 5. Drake (not the Jewish man)
5. What many often do in Eilat 6. Vikings family
10. Treif meats 7. “East of Eden” director Kazan
14. Like Haman 8. Zuckerman from “90210”
15. Pooh’s author 9. ___ off
16. It won’t fly on Shabbat?
17. A brother-in-law of Jared
10. It doesn’t exist in Judaism, essentially
11. Bad Bashar
18. Pass over
19. Ayelet (Zurer) played her in “Man of
12. Leaves high and dry
13. Barbecue sides
Steel” 21. Handy to have
20. “Moana” song for Tu b’Shvat?
23. Recurring theme for Berlin
22. Joke response, nowadays
23. 1-Down, e.g.
26. Brian of music, who is a big 35-Across
supporter
24. Blood, in a series
25. Chan. that might air Billy Wilder films
27. Help palindrome
28. “Sleeping Beauty” (or “Maleficent”)
29. Honey or flower
30. Former Giant star Umenyiora
song for Tu b’Shvat?
33. Its value is 40
31. “...it shall be blocked from you for
three years, ___ be eaten” (Lev. 19:23)
34. “Kacha-kacha” 32. “Charlotte’s Web” initials
35. Letters by those who dislike Israel
36. “Frozen” song for Tu b’Shvat?
36. Michele of ABC’s short lived “The
Mayor”
40. Kiryat Moshe to Rehavia dir.
42. “Rabbi, is there a blessing for the
37. Casspi’s team, on the scoreboard
38. One emanating from the face of
___?’ (“Fiddler” line)
43. Caesar known for his strength and
Moses
39. “...who practices witchcraft, ___ who
humor interprets omens...” (Deut. 18:10)
46. “Enchanted” song for Tu b’Shvat? 40. Creator of many gods and monsters
51. Cherubs, on the scoreboard 41. It’s very important in 40-Down’s work
52. Huge Ming 43. Like a diffident maidel
53. Band created and managed by Lou 44. Particle studied by Bohr
Pearlman 45. Mo. that sees a lot of 61-Across, in
54. “The Little Mermaid” song for Judaism
Tu b’Shvat? 47. Norse war-god
59. Opening for a shekel 48. Sect with a schism in 2006
60. “Bambi”, e.g. 49. Greeting from a definitively non-Jew-
61. It proved Elijah to be legit ish character
65. A sukkah is symbolic of one 50. Worthwhile
66. “___ Day’s Night” 51. Disobeys the Tenth Commandment
67. Del Boca Vista condo, e.g. 55. Bluesy James
68. Creator of Genesis 56. Green and Gabor
69. Guns N’ ___, band that rocked Tel 57. What Caleb didn’t do, even in his old
Aviv in 2017 age
70. Einstein locales 58. Baseball team with a previous owner
who had positive words about Hitler
Down 62. “Barefoot” Garten
1. Creation in Genesis 63. 1-Down, once
2. What Aaron might have called his big 64. Some Asimov characters; Abbr.
sis
The solution to last week’s puzzle
3. Judge for 40 years
is on page 54.
JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26 2018 47
Arts & Culture
‘The Number on Great-Grandpa’s Arm’
CURT SCHLEIER

F
or the record, it is A17606.
That literally is “The Num-
ber on Great-Grandpa’s Arm,”
the title and subject of the mov-
ing documentary short that airs on HBO
on January 27, International Holocaust
Remembrance Day.
It is a simple conversation between a
90-year-old camp survivor, Srulek Feld-
man, and his adoring 10-year-old great-
grandson, Elliott, about experiences
Srulek had before and during the war. It
is heartwarming, intelligent, and told in
a way that evokes the suffering without
frightening its intended family audience.
Feldman was born in Sosnowiec,
Poland, in what appears to be a financially
comfortable, Shabbos-observant family.
His father was a milliner who had his own
store, and life was good — until it wasn’t.
He was 14 years old when he and a group
of friends were grabbed up and (although
it’s not entirely clear) sent to a series of
work camps. He never saw his family again. Srulek Feldman, 90, engages in intimate conversation with his grandson, Elliott, 10.
Eventually he ended up in Auschwitz. After
a forced march alongside fleeing German fish market. youngster is a real find, smart, inquisitive, fish store. “If you’re hungry he will feed
troops on a Jewish Trail of Tears, he was The film has a number of really glorious and as much as a 10-year-old can be, a real [you] whether you’ve got money or not.”
liberated by Russian soldiers. elements. First, there is the obvious love history buff. What is particularly unique, though, is
He returned to Sosnowiec after the that young Elliott has for Jack (and vice Another important and fortunate take- the film’s back story. It started with Sheila
war, but knew no one there; all friends versa, of course), which is especially note- away is how willingly Jack responds to Nevins, 78, a long-time HBO executive and
and acquaintances were gone. He ended worthy in a time when older people often Elliott’s questions. Many survivors bur- president of HBO documentaries and fam-
up in a German DP camp, where he met are disrespected. ied memories and were forever changed ily programming since 2004. In that time,
his wife; the two ultimately emigrated to A second is the fascinating way the story by them. Not Jack. He remembers all. He the shows and films she has worked on
the United States, and Feldman, who now is told. It’s not a lecture, but Jack answer- “knows what it means to be hungry,” says have earned her a record 32 individual
called himself Jack, started a successful ing Elliott’s intelligent questions. The an African American man in Feldman’s Primetime Emmy Awards, 42 Peabodys,

The Tribe at the Grammys: 2018 edition

NATE BLOOM
The Grammy awards will be presented on Sunday,
January 28, at 4:30 p.m. James Corden will host. 2018
is the 100th anniversary of LEONARD BERNSTEIN’S
birth, and Andrew Lloyd-Webber will turn 70 this
year. Patti Lupone will honor Lloyd-Webber’s music
by singing “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” from “Evita.”
Then 2017 Tony winner BEN PLATT, 24 (“Dear
Evan Hansen”) will join Lupone onstage and they
will honor Bernstein by singing a song from “West
Side Story” together.
The vast majority of Grammys are not given on
TV. Here are the verified Jewish nominees for the
awards I believe will be presented on TV.
JACK ANTONOFF, 33, co-wrote and co-produced
“Melodrama,” an album by singer Lorde that is nomi-
nated for album of the year. Antonoff is a rock star in
his own right, and he also was known as the boyfriend
of actress and writer LENA DUNHAM, 31 (“Girls”). Sadly,
the couple recently broke up after being together for
five years. It appears to be an amicable split.
BENJAMIN LEVIN, 29 (aka Benny Blanco), pro-
duced “Issues,” a song of the year nominee. A top
producer and songwriter, Levin already has won
three Grammys.
PINK, 38 (aka Alecia Moore) is nominated for best
solo pop performance (“What About Us”). Pink’s
mother is Jewish, and for the first time I know of
she referred to herself this past year as “a Jewish
woman” (following the marches and murder in Char-
lottesville last summer).
MICHAEL SHUMAN, 32, is the bass player and some-
time keyboardist and drummer for the band Queens of
the Stone Age. The band’s “Villains” is nominated for
best rock album. Known as “Mickey Shoes,” Shuman
grew up in the Los Angeles area, where he went to He-
brew school. He had a small part as a bar mitzvah boy
in “The Wedding Singer,” a hit ADAM SANDLER film.
“Queens” was founded in 1996 and Schuman joined in
2007. He replaced Alan Johannes, who left when his
wife, NATASHA SHNEIDER, another “Queens” member,
became ill with terminal cancer; she died in 2008, at
52. Shneider, her brother, and her parents (who were
Soviet-era musical stars) were allowed to leave the
Soviet Union in 1976. An amazingly multitalented musi-
cian, Natasha Shneider remains one of the few women
in a major hard rock band.
The band the National is nominated for best alter-
native music album for “Sleep Well Beast.” The five-
member group includes twin brothers BRYCE and
AARON DESSNER, 41.
BOB DYLAN, 76, is nominated for best traditional
pop vocal album (“Triplicate”) and the late LEON-
ARD COHEN is nominated for best rock perfor-
mance (“You Want it Darker”). Cohen also is nomi-
nated for best American Roots performance (“Steer
Your Way”).
Its fitting that Cohen and Dylan are paired, for one
last time, at the Grammys. They were contemporaries
who had the air of biblical prophets, and of course
they often were called poets who also were song-
writers. Cohen began as a poet, and judging by their
respective work on the printed page, he probably
deserved that title more than Dylan. Nonetheless,
Cohen was very gracious when Dylan won the Nobel
Prize for literature shortly before Cohen died in 2016.
Cohen didn’t became big public famous until his
1984 song “Hallelujah” became a huge hit following
the 2004 release of Jeff Buckley’s version. But Dylan
heard Cohen sing the tune in Paris in 1988, and the
next day he told Cohen that he loved it. Reports say
they met up every few years and that they truly ad-
mired each other’s work and weren’t hesitant to tell
each other that.
Finally, GREG KURSTIN, 48, is nominated for an
award he won in 2017: Producer of the Year, non-
classical. Last year he won mostly for his work

48 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018

 Arts & Culture

and 26 Oscars. friends. That didn’t seem like sufficient

She happened to be at the Museum of
Jewish Heritage in lower Manhattan — “I
was introducing something,” she says — and
went into the museum’s deserted library
beforehand to prepare when she saw a
copy of a book on display. It was called
“The Number on My Grandfather’s Arm.”
“I read it, borrowed it, and thought this
would make a good film,” she said. “I real-
ized that the book was old, so today, it
would have to be a great-grandfather, and
I also realized that there were not going to
be many survivors who fit that category.”
Still, she went to the cocktail party,
made her remarks, and went on a hunt for
women between the ages of 35 and 50 who
might have a grandfather who survived the
war and a son between 9 and 12.
Unbelievably, the first woman she
approached, Stacy Saiontz, fit the bill
perfectly. Though the filmmakers inter-
viewed others, it was Stacy’s son Elliott
who was selected.
Told the project seems bashert, she says,
“I was going to say that, but I was afraid I
couldn’t pronounce it right.”
Repeated for her, she agrees. “It truly
is bashert,” she says. “One minute I’m sit-
ting in a library and my eye catches a book
and the next thing I know I’m looking for
someone to be in my movie.”
Nevins’ lack of familiarity with Jew-
ish words easily can be explained by her
upbringing: “I was raised by communists,”
she said. “I didn’t identify strongly as being
Jewish, partly because I wasn’t allowed to.”
But that has changed, with a jour-
ney that can only be described as, well,
bashert. It began when her son David
approached age 13 and announced that he
wanted to become a bar mitzvah.
When Sheila asked why, he claimed
that he wanted a Las Vegas night like his
reason for the ceremony, so Nevins and
her husband, Sidney Koch, took the boy
to U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washing-
ton, D.C. David apparently was so moved
by what he saw that he wanted to buy a
Magen David to wear. While father and son
headed off to the gift shop, Sheila contin-
ued to tour the exhibits, and came upon a
film of Gerda Weissman Klein talking about
her six years as a victim of Nazi cruelty.
That led to “One Survivor Remembers,” a
film that won both best short Oscar and a
Primetime Emmy.
It started her on the road to recover-
ing her Jewish identity that culminated
with her visits to the Museum of the Jew-
ish Heritage. “I get tearful there,” she said.
“There’s something about looking at the
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island [from
the museum] that reminds you how hard
it is for so many, and about all those who
didn’t survive.
“So for many reasons, I became very Artist Jeff Scher
Jewish. I feel very proud and I feel com- painted over
mitted to telling these stories.” photos of Jewish
She solicited filmmaker Amy Schatz, a ghetto children,
frequent collaborator and multiple award above, and Nazis
winner herself (eight Emmys, five Direc- unfurling flags,
tor Guild Awards, and three Peabodys) to left, in a process
bring the concept to fruition. called rotoscope
“When Sheila came to me with the animation used for
book, I was worried,” Schatz admits. “She “The Number on
always asks for children’s shows that are Great-Grandpa’s
deep and sophisticated and explore some Arm.”
of our most challenging issues.
“This was a difficult subject and I had was so horrifying.” “Do you know the significance of the
to figure out how we could do something So she hired artist Jeff Scher, who used number 18?” Yes, I do.
gentle and yet be real honest.” rotoscope animation — that is, he painted It wasn’t planned that way. Nevins con-
She came up with an ingenious solu- over photos — to provide drawings so tinues. “A man in his 60s came over to me
tion. She filmed Elliott and Jack of course, beautiful that the Heritage Museum is [after an early screening and said] ‘Only
used home movies of the two on vaca- exhibiting through April. you would have known to make this film
tion, and also looked at archival footage “Do you know the film is 18 minutes 18 minutes.’ It wasn’t planned that way. It
of the Nazis and camps. “But that footage long?” Nevins asks. Yes, I did watch it. was bashert.”

producing Adele. This year it is mostly for his work
producing Beck, the Foo Fighters, and Sia. He also is
nominated for producing the best song for a visual
media — ”Never Give Up” from “Lion” (sung by Sia).
The following is a list of Jews nominated for Gram-
mys that probably won’t be given on TV. It isn’t a
complete list, but it covers some biggies and also is
meant to highlight a few Jews in musical genres not
normally associated with Jewish folks.
JERRY SEINFELD, 63, (“Jerry Before Seinfeld”)
and SARAH SILVERMAN, 47 (“A Speck of Dust”) are
nominated for best comedy album. All three albums
nominated for best musical theater album have
Jewish nominees—-”Come from Away,” composed
by DAVID HEIN, 35ish, and IRENE SANKOFF, 35ish;
“Dear Evan Hansen,” composed by BENJ PASEK,
32, and Justin Paul, and featuring the voices of BEN
PLATT and RACHEL BAY JONES, 48; and “Hello
Dolly”, composed by JERRY HERMAN, 86, and fea-
turing the voice of BETTE MIDLER, 72.
Likewise, all the songs nominated for best song
written for a visual media include Jewish nominees:
“City of Stars,” from “La La Land,” was composed
by JUSTIN HURWITZ, 32, Pasek, and Paul; “I Don’t
Want to Live Forever,” from “Fifty Shades Darker,”
was co-produced by JACK ANTONOFF; “Stand up
for Something,” from “Marshall,” was written by DI-
ANE WARREN, 61; and, as noted above, “Never Give
Up” was produced by GREG KURSTIN.
JORGE DREXLER, 53, is nominated for best Latin
Rock, Urban or Alternative Album (“Salvavidas de
Hielo”). Drexler became the first Uruguayan to win
an Oscar when he won the best song Oscar in 2004.
A medical doctor, he has been Grammy nominated
four times before. ANAT COHEN, 38, a clarinetist,
saxophone player, and bandleader, is nominated for
best Latin jazz album (“The Music of Moacir Santos”)
and for best world music album (“Rosa Dos Ventos”).
Born and raised in Tel Aviv, she lives in New York.
NOAM PIKELNY, 36, is nominated for best blue-
grass album for “Universal Favorite.” He’s considered
one of the best living banjo players. He has won
many major bluegrass awards, including the “Steve
Martin Prize” (he played “Dueling Banjos” with Mar-
tin on David Letterman’s show) and 2010 “player of
the year” by the International Bluegrass Music As-
sociation. He’s frequently asked how he, a Jewish kid
from Skokie, Illinois, who went to the modern Ortho-
dox Ida Crown Jewish Academy, got into bluegrass.
He rightly points out that Jews, for whatever reason,
have had an affinity for bluegrass, and there have
been many prominent Jews in the genre (including
ERIC WEISSBERG, 78, who wrote “Dueling Banjos”).
FRED HERSCH, 62, a pianist, is nominated for best
improvised jazz solo (“Whisper Not”). He’s been
Grammy-nominated six times before and the Jazz
Journalists Association named him “pianist of the
year” in 2011. He was diagnosed HIV positive in the
1980s, and had a health crisis in 2008 that put him
in a two-month coma and rendered him unable to
play for several years. He wrote about his life and
that crisis in his 2017 memoir, “Good Things Hap-
pen Slowly.” (Google him for a great interview with
TERRY GROSS of NPR.)
Finally, two very famous Jewish conductors, who
were born within three months of each other in Los
Angeles, go head to head. LEONARD SLATKIN, 73,
the conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,
is nominated for conducting the orchestra’s perfor-
mance of AARON COPLAND’s “Symphony No. 3;
Three Latin American Sketches.” Slatkin comes from
a famously musical family. His father, FELIX, was the
violinist, conductor, and founder of the Hollywood
String Quartet, and his mother, ELEANOR ALLER,
was the quartet’s cellist. He competes in this cate-
gory with MICHAEL TILSON-THOMAS, 73, who con-
ducted the San Francisco Symphony’s recording of
Debussy’s “Images; Jeux & La Plus Que Lente.” Like
Slatkin, Tilson-Thomas comes from a famous Jew-
ish family: he’s the grandson of BORIS and BESSIE
THOMASHEFKY, famous stars of the Yiddish theater.

JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 49

Calendar
Saturday
JANUARY 27
Shabbat in Closter:
Dr. Rachel Korazim is
scholar-in-residence at
Temple Emanu-El, during
services that begin at
9 a.m. She is a freelance
Jewish education
consultant specializing in
curriculum development
for Israel and Holocaust
education. 180 Piermont
Road. (201) 750-9997 or
templeemanu-el.com.
Shabbat in Wyckoff:
Temple Beth Rishon
offers services led by
Rabbi Ziona Zelazo,
including meditations
with music and self-
reflection, 10-11 a.m. Bring
a mat and water; no
meditation experience
necessary. 585 Russell
Ave. (201) 891-4466 or
bethrishon.org.
Tu b’Shvat in New City:
The Nanuet Hebrew
Center has Mincha,
4:15 p.m.; Tu b’Shvat
seder, 4:45; Ma’ariv and
Havdalah, 5:30; screening
of “Sing” movie and
karaoke at 6:30, with
pizza, popcorn, and ice
cream. 411 South Little
Tor Road. (845) 708-9181
or www.nanuethc.org.
Floyd Vivino
Comedy in Ridgewood:
Temple Israel & JCC in
Ridgewood’s Brandeis
Men’s Club presents an
adults-only comedy night
starring comedians Uncle
Floyd, Steve Marshall,
and Inna Swinton,
7:30 p.m. Admission
includes spaghetti dinner.
475 Grove St. www.
synagogue.org.
50 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018
Emanu-El, 2 p.m. In 1994,
Symphony music in
Fort Lee: The Bergen
his 23-year-old daughter,
Alisa, was murdered by
Symphony Orchestra Palestinian terrorists.
presents “A Winter To get justice from Iran,
Promise,”with works which financed the
from Salieri, Beethoven, attack, Flatow fought
and Mendelssohn, at the the State and Justice
Fort Lee High School departments, the courts,
auditorium, 7:30 p.m. and some of Europe’s
3000 Lemoine Ave. largest banks — and he
Snow date, Feb. 3, same won. Light refreshments.
time. (201) 704-7584 or 756 E. Broad St. Conrad
www.bergensymphony. Nadell, (908) 531-8228.
org.
Music in Teaneck: The
Sunday Teaneck Community
Chorus presents its
JANUARY 28 winter concert, “Music
Lessons — Broadway’s
Super Sunday: The Words of Wisdom,”
Jewish Federation of 3 p.m., at Teaneck
Northern New Jersey High School. www.
holds its annual Super teaneckcommunitychorus.
Sunday fundraising day. org.
Make a donation online
or by phone. Sign up to
make calls. Laurie Siegel,
(201) 820-3956, lauries@ Sweet Tastes of Torah, a community night
JFNNJ.org, or www. FEB.
of study and breakout sessions with local
3
JFNNJ.org/supersunday.
rabbis, will focus this year on the “Ethics-
Driven Life.” The evening will concentrate
on what the prophets said about repentance, wisdom,
righteousness, civil disobedience, forgiveness, and
Larry Shafier protest. It’s at the Fair Lawn Jewish Center/CBI; doors
Retirement solutions: open at 6:30 p.m. and Havdalah is at 7. Rabbi Barry
Larry Shafier discusses L. Schwartz, author of “Path of the Prophets — the
“Solutions for Retirement Ethics-Driven Life” and rabbi of Congregation Adas
Planning: Five
Retirement Derailers,” at Emumo in Leonia, the keynote speaker, will discuss
Book club in Paramus: Congregation Beth Aaron “Truth to Power: Prophetic Ethics in Troubled Times.”
Dr. Raisy Weiss discusses in Teaneck, 7:30 p.m. He Israeli folk dancing and refreshments follow. Presented
Ayelet Gundar- has been a chartered
Goshen’s “Walking financial consultant, by the North Jersey Board of Rabbis with support from
Lions” at the JCC of mutual fund counselor, local synagogues, 10-10 Norma Ave. (201) 652-1687,
Paramus/Congregation and life underwriter for
Beth Tikvah, 10 a.m. more than 30 years.
sweettastesoftorah@gmail.com, or sweettastesoftorah.
Refreshments. East 950 Queen Anne Road. weebly.com.
304 Midland Ave. (201) 836-6210 or www.
(201) 262-7691. bethaaron.org.
of Fort Lee/Congregation leader of Bergen
Monday Gesher Shalom presents
Zen master Eran Junryu
Tuesday County’s Ethical Culture
Society and a professor
JANUARY 29 Vardi Roshi, who will talk JANUARY 30 of human rights at
about Zen Buddhism. Columbia University, will
He is the founder and lead a study group, “The
spiritual director of Global Refugee Crisis:
Eiryu-ji Zen Center in Why People Leave,”
Wyckoff . Refreshments for the Bergen County
at 12:30 p.m., lecture at 1. section of the National
1449 Anderson Ave., Fort Council of Jewish
Lee. (201) 947 1735. Women at the Shops at
Stephen Flatow
Riverside Conference
Stephen Flatow in Center, lower level, in
Westfield: Stephen Riverside Square Mall,
Hackensack, 1 p.m.
Flatow tells his story Eran Vardi Dr. Joseph Chuman
to the Israel Support Light refreshments.
Committee of Central Zen Buddhism: The CSI Global refugee crises: (201) 385-4847 or www.
New Jersey at Temple Scholar Fund of the JCC Dr. Joseph Chuman, ncjwbcs.org.
 Calendar
talk by artist Sheryl Yeshurun presents Day perform “The Soap partnership with the
Wednesday Intrator Urman, brunch,
and transportation
“Stayin’ Alive: An
Israeli Comedy Show,” In New York Myth” at the Museum
of Jewish Heritage-A
YIVO Foundation. Also
February 1. Beth Kaplan,
JANUARY 31 and admission to the in English, by Gady Living Memorial to the great-granddaughter of
Jewish Museum for a Weissbart and Noam Tuesday Holocaust, 7 p.m. 36 Jacob Gordin and author
docent-led tour of the Jacobson, 8:30 p.m. 641 Battery Place. www. of “Finding the Jewish
exhibition of Amedeo West Englewood Ave.
JANUARY 30 mjhnyc.org or Shakespeare — The Life
Modigliani “Modigliani Sponsored by Carole (646) 437-4202. and Legacy of Jacob
Unmasked.” Meet at and Jack Forgash. Gordin,” will be attending
the shul at 10:30 a.m. (201) 836-8916 or www. Yiddish King Lear: both performances
You can go to just the bnaiyeshurun. org/ The famous Yiddish and will be talking
lecture and brunch. 240 events. play, “The Yiddish King afterward. 172 Norfolk
Broad Ave. Reservations, Lear” by Jacob Gordin, St. (800) 838-3006 or
starring opera star/actor
(201) 568-1315.
Sunday David Serero, is at the
yiddishkinglear.bpt.me.

FEBRUARY 4 Orensanz Foundation

on the Lower East Side,
Jewish delis: Dumont JNF breakfast in 8 p.m. Staged reading
Ed Asner performed in English,
historian Dick Burnon Paramus: Gil Hoffman,
gives a lecture, “The Rise Jerusalem Post’s political Theater in NYC: Ed featuring classic Yiddish
and Fall of American correspondent and Asner and Johanna songs. Production in
Jewish Delis” and shows author of its Frontlines
excerpts from the film column, is the guest
“Deli Man” at a meeting speaker for the Jewish
of the Senior Activity National Fund’s Paramus
Center at the Kaplen Janet DiNardo
YU community beit midrash
community breakfast
JCC on the Palisades Slavery in America: for Israel at the JCC
in Tenafly, 11:15 a.m. The CSI Scholar Fund Paramus/Congregation
411 East Clinton Ave. of the JCC of Fort Lee/ Beth Tikvah. Breakfast, Yeshiva University’s Center for the
(201) 569-7900, ext. 235. 9:30 a.m.; program at
Congregation Gesher
10. 304 East Midland
Jewish Future will present its commu-
Tu b’Shvat in Fort Lee: Shalom presents Janet nity beit midrash at YU’s Israel Henry
DiNardo; she begins Ave. (973) 593-0095,
Congregation Gesher ext. 823, or JNF.org/ Beren Campus at 215 Lexington Ave.
Shalom/JCC of Fort Lee a series, “Slavery in
America.” Refreshments ParamusBreakfast. in Manhattan. It meets on six Wednes-
celebrates in the Hebrew
school, 5 p.m. 1449 at 12:30 p.m.; lecture, Baseball talk in days — January 31; February 7, 14, and
Anderson Ave., Fort Lee. “Slavery Comes to Teaneck: Bob Klapisch, 21; and March 7 and 14 — with Rabbis
Reservations, (201) 947 America,” at 1. Series formerly of the Record,
continues February 8 and Allen Schwartz and Lawrence Hajioff.
1735. gives a preview of
15. 1449 Anderson Ave., 2018 baseball season, Rabbi Schwartz, the Raymond J.
Fort Lee. (201) 947 1735. discusses the Astros Greenwald Chair in Jewish Studies at
winning the World Series, Yeshiva College, will teach “The Art of Rabbi Lawrence Rabbi Allen
the Hall of Fame voting Biblical Narrative,” and Rabbi Hajioff, Hajioff Schwartz
results, the future of
sports coverage in print a faculty member at Stern College for
media, and then answers Women, will teach “Building Blocks provide us with an extraordinary oppor-
questions for the Men’s of Successful Relationships.” Rabbi tunity to enrich our experience and
Club of Congregation Schwartz will present from 10:30 to 11:30 learning in these two very important
Beth Aaron, 9:30 a.m.
Light breakfast. 950 a.m., and Rabbi Hajioff will present from aspects of our lives: the stories we tell
Nili Couzens Queen Anne Road. 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. ourselves about ourselves and the stories
(201) 836-6210 or www. Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, the CJF’s dean, we tell to one another.”
Key to happiness: Nili Book discussion bethaaron.org.
says that “we can once again bring Torah The beit midrash is open to men and
Couzens talks about “The in Wyckoff: Gail
Key to Unlocking the Lowenstein moderates Saving rare books in and scholarship to the broader YU com- women. Registration is at www.yu.edu/
Happiness You Crave is a discussion of “The WWII Lithuania: The munity through the community beit sternlearn. For information, email Rabbi
Right in Front of You” at Women in the Castle” United Synagogue of midrash. The erudition and scholarship Menachem Lewin at sternlearn@yu.edu
Temple Sinai of Bergen by Jessica Shattuck Hoboken hosts a book
brunch about “The of Rabbi Schwartz and Rabbi Hajioff will or call (212) 960-5400, ext. 6171.
County in Tenafly. It’s for a meeting of the
sponsored by the Jewish Reader’s Circle at Book Smugglers” with
Federation of Northern Temple Beth Rishon, its author, Dr. David E.
New Jersey’s Women’s 7:30 p.m. Refreshments. Fishman of the Jewish
Philanthropy and also 585 Russelll Ave. Theological Seminary,
unites local participants 10:30 a.m. It is the story
Art in Riverdale
(201) 891-4466.
of a November trip to of how ghetto residents
Israel by the Jewish and partisans in WWII-
Women’s Renaissance Friday era Vilna, Lithuania,
The Derfner Judaica Museum at the
Project. 1 Engle St. FEBRUARY 2 hid, smuggled, and
(201) 820-3906 or saved thousands of rare Hebrew Home at Riverdale/River-
melinar@JFNNJ.org. Shabbat in Jersey City: books from destruction spring Health presents “Jerusalem
Congregation B’nai during and after the war. Between Heaven and Earth.” The
Brunch. 115 Park Ave.
Thursday Jacob holds a Tu b’Shvat
celebration with music, (201) 659-4000 or office@ group exhibit for Jewish Art Salon
FEBRUARY 1 hobokensynagogue.org. members opened in Jerusalem for the
wine, cheese, fruits,
nuts, and other snacks, Jerusalem Biennale last year. An open-
at Hamilton House, ing reception is scheduled Sunday,
7–8:30 p.m. Supported
by the Shuster family.
Singles January 28, from 1:30 to 3 p.m.; the
exhibit runs through May 27.
255 Brunswick St.;
building entrance on 10th Sunday The Derfner Judaica Museum at
Street where free parking FEBRUARY 4 the Hebrew Home at Riverdale/River-
is available. Rabbi Aaron spring Health, is located at 5901 Pali-
Katz, (305) 607-9062, or Senior singles meet in
rabbiaaron1@gmail.com.
sade Ave., Riverdale, N.Y. For informa-
West Nyack: Singles
tion, call (718) 581-1596, email art@
65+ meet for a social
hebrewhome.org. Photo ID required
Sheryl Intrator Urman Saturday get-together with
refreshments, at the JCC for entry.
Jewish Museum trip: Dor FEBRUARY 3 Rockland, 11 a.m. 450
L’Dor at Congregation West Nyack Road. Gene,
Ahavath Torah in Comedy in Teaneck: (845) 356-5525.
“Crusader Bible” by Miriam Stern.
Englewood offers a Congregation Bnai

JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018 51

Jewish World
Doctors, pilots and
Holocaust survivors try to
thwart Israel’s deportation plan
Marcy Oster
JERUSALEM — Holocaust survivors and
rabbis, as well as doctors and some airline
pilots, are among the Israelis who say they
will try to thwart Israel’s plan to deport
thousands of African migrants, even if it
means taking them into their own homes.
The latest group to come forward are
hospital doctors and medical staff, who, in
a letter they sent to the director general of
the Population and Immigration Authority
last Sunday, asked the government to halt
the planned expulsions.
As those who are “charged with the com-
mand to ‘save him from all evil and injus-
tice,’ we are horrified by the thought that
instead of absorbing those victims who
came to us fleeing genocide, torture, vio-
lence and rape, we are discussing condemn-
ing them to further harm,” the letter reads.
About 300 of the 400 medical person-
nel who signed the letter are doctors.
At the beginning of the month, Israel’s
Cabinet approved a plan and the budget
to deport thousands of migrants from
Sudan and Eritrea. Before that, the Popu-
lation and Immigration Authority notified
migrants from Sudan and Eritrea that as
of Jan. 1, they must return to their own
countries or to a third nation — reportedly
either Rwanda or Uganda — or be sent to
Holot Prison until they are deported.
Activists working against the deporta-
tion have appealed to airline pilots who
fly out of Israel to refuse to transport the
deported migrants. In response, it was
widely reported on Monday that three
pilots for El Al, Israel’s national airline,
announced on Facebook that they would
refuse a request to fly the migrants out of
Israel. El Al does not fly directly to Rwanda
or Uganda, however.
Last week, a group of Israeli rabbis led
in part by author and activist Rabbi Susan
Silverman called on all Israelis to hide
African asylum seekers in their homes to
prevent their deportation. The effort for-
mally is called Miklat Israel — Miklat means
sanctuary in Hebrew — and informally it is
know as the Anne Frank Home Sanctuary
movement.
Some 130 rabbis met in Jerusalem under
the auspices of Rabbis for Human Rights to
discuss the initiative being overseen by the
organization.
“Anne Frank is the most well-known hid-
den person, and she was hidden so she
would not be sent to her death — and we
have documentation that these people are
facing possible death,” Silverman, the sister
of comedian Susan Silverman, told Haaretz.
A sign-up sheet on Google Docs collecting
names, hometowns and phone numbers of
Miklat Israel supporters asks how many
asylum seekers the person can shelter.
52 Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018
Extending our heartfelt condolences to board member
Dr. Sandra Gold on the passing of her husband
Dr. Arnold Gold
Earlier this week, several Holocaust sur-
vivors told the Israeli Hebrew daily news- An extraordinary man who was committed to
paper Yediot Acharonot that they would the humanism of health care provision
be willing to hide African migrants in their and to his family.
own homes to prevent their deportation.
Some, however, rejected the Anne Frank
comparison, saying the Israelis who shel-
May his memory be a blessing. Our hearts are with you.
ter the migrants do not face being put to
death, as the family who sheltered the Elaine Adler, Founder
Franks did. Charles Berkowitz, Chairman
According to the government plan, Shelby Klein, President/CEO
migrants who choose to leave by March 31 The Board of Directors and Staff
will receive a payment of $3,500 as well as
Members, Families, and Volunteers
free airfare and other incentives, accord-
ing to reports. Security in their home Adler Aphasia Center
country or a third country has already
been guaranteed through diplomatic chan-
nels, Israeli officials have said. The third
country has not officially been identified,
though most reports have identified it as
either Rwanda or Uganda.
Advocates for the African migrants have
said that those who have been deported
have faced robbery, kidnapping and worse
after their arrival.
The Population and Immigration
Authority reported that no infiltrators
entered Israel in 2017 and a small number
in 2016 following the construction of a bar-
rier wall on Israel’s southern border. Israel
already has deported 20,000 of the some
60,000 African migrants who entered
Israel before the barrier was built.
The Officers, Board, and Staff of
In a tweet on Monday, the government
of Rwanda said that “in reference to the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey
rumors that have been recently spread in
the media, the Government of Rwanda is saddened by the loss of
wishes to inform that it has never signed
any secret deal with Israel regarding the
Dr. Arnold Gold z”l
relocation of African migrants.”
A second tweet added that “Rwanda’s
policy vis-à-vis Africans in need of a home,
temporary or permanent, within our
country’s means, remains ‘open doors.’”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Our thoughts and prayers are with
defended the expulsions. “We are not act-
ing against refugees,” he said at the start of Dr. Sandra Gold and the entire family.
the weekly Cabinet meeting. “We are act-
ing against illegal migrants who come here
not as refugees but for work needs. Israel
will continue to offer asylum for genuine
May the Gold family be comforted
refugees and will remove illegal migrants
from its midst.” among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
Israel has granted asylum to fewer than
1 percent of the migrants.
In recent weeks, major American Jewish
groups have called on Netanyahu not to
carry out his plan to deport or jail the tens Jewish Federation
OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
of thousands of migrants. Human rights
groups and Israeli NGOs have also spoken
out against the plan.
On Monday, more than 1,000 African asy- Stephanie Goldman Jason M. Shames
lum seekers, mostly from Eritrea, and about President Chief Executive Officer
100 Israeli supporters protested outside the
Rwanda Embassy in Herzliya against the 50 Eisenhower Drive, Paramus, NJ 07652 | 201.820.3900
planned deportations. JTA Wire Service

Leonard Adler
Leonard Adler, 86, of
Sarasota, Fla., formerly
of Washington Township,
died January 22.
An Army veteran of the
Korean War, he was a law-
yer in Englewood for over
50 years and the lawyer
for Washington Township
for many years. He was
a member of the Bay-
onne Hebrew Benevolent
Association.
He is survived by his
wife, Beatrice, née Fried-
man, daughters, Heidi
Kanevsky of Manalapan,
and Alicia Goodman
of Westwood, and four
grandchildren.
Arrangements were by
Eden Memorial Chapel,
Fort Lee.
Margaret
Hirshfeld
Margaret Hirshfeld, 98, of
Paramus died January 20.
Born in Romania, she
grew up in Vienna and
settled in New York City in
1938. She was a longtime
member of the Ethical Cul-
ture Society in Teaneck.
Predeceased by her
husband, Egon, she is
survived by sons, Stephen
(Stephanie), and Alan
(Alexandra); five grand-
children; great-grandchil-
dren, and caregivers.
Arrangements were by
Louis Suburban Chapel,
Fair Lawn.
Shlomo Imbar
Shlomo Imbar, 73, of Fair
Lawn died January 19.
Born in Iraq, he is
survived by his wife,
Carmela, née Katzar, and
daughters, Shani Ambar
and Sharin Ambar, both of
Fair Lawn.
Arrangements were by
Eden Memorial Chapel,
Fort Lee.
Beatrice Korn
Beatrice Y. Korn, 95, of
Hackensack, formerly of
Fair Lawn, died January 17.
Before retiring, she was
an assistant librarian at
Fair Lawn High School.
Predeceased by her
husband, Joseph, she
is survived by children,
Mitchell Korn ( Jennifer),
Jesse Korn, Linda Schul-
man ( Jonathan), and
Obituaries
Lewis Tiech; a sister, Rita and Ronald (Donna); and and sons, Brett Chassen of
Aronowitz (Marvin); six nieces and nephews, California and Evan Chas-
grandchildren, and two Katie, Emily, Sara, Rachel, sen of Florida.
great- grandchildren. Daniel, Jonathan, and Arrangements were by
Arrangements were by Josh. Eden Memorial Chapel, Established 1902
Louis Suburban Chapel, Donations can be sent Fort Lee. Headstones, Duplicate Markers and Cemetery Lettering
Fair Lawn. to the American Founda- With Personalized and Top Quality Service
tion for Suicide Preven-
Please call 1-800-675-5624
Shanon Pasternak tion. Arrangements were
Shanon Pasternak, 21, by Robert Schoem’s Meno- www.kochmonument.com
Obituaries
of Clifton, formerly of rah Chapel, Paramus. are prepared
76 Johnson Ave., Hackensack, NJ 07601
Hillsdale and the New York
with information
Catskills, died January Ralph Shoiock
provided by
21. A Pascack Valley High Ralph Shoiock, 89, of Boca
funeral homes. Robert Schoem’s Menorah Chapel, Inc
School graduate, he was Raton, Fla., and Fort Lee
attending S.U.N.Y. New died January 18. Correcting errors Jewish Funeral Directors
Paltz. Before retiring, he was a is the Family Owned & managed
Generations of Lasting Service to the Jewish Community
He is survived by his CPA in New York City and responsibility
• Serving NJ, NY, FL & • Our Facilities Will Accommodate
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Vanessa, Vivian ( John), He is survived by his funeral home. • Prepaid & Preneed Planning • Handicap Accessibility From
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Robert, Kenny (Dorothy), wife, Rosalie, née Zaven,
Gary Schoem – Manager - NJ Lic. 3811
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Wishing our deepest condolences 201.843.9090 1.800.426.5869
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Dr. Arnold Gold. serving the Jewish community
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Beloved by all who met him, he was a
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Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018 53
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54 Jewish standard JanUarY 26, 2017

 “ Being hungry affects your
appearance, how you act.
When I’m hungry, I’m not in “
the mood for anything.

Inspired by Jewish values and ideals, MAZON is a national advocacy

organization working to end hunger among people of all faiths and
backgrounds in the United States and Israel.

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Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2017 55

Local
Refugees
FROM PAGE 8
While the fact that the assistance is being
offered by a Jewish group may not be terri-
bly important to the new refugees, he said,
“For us, all our volunteers, I think it has been
central,” though, he admitted, he may simply
be extrapolating from his own feelings. “We
know the Torah’s repeated command to care
for the orphan, widow, and stranger. We have
studied Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ remarkable
teaching that ‘Love your fellow as yourself’
turns out to be relatively simple, for she or he
is usually rather like oneself. But the Torah
commands us to ‘Love the stranger, for you
were strangers in the land of Egypt.’ So we
are to love those who are not like ourselves!
“I think we are all finding this an important
and moving experience.
“I hope it is also important for the fam-
ily we help,” he added. “They know we are
Jewish. Some of our conversations touch
on differences and similarities. I think some
of us may hope that we can be unofficial
Terrorist threat
FROM PAGE 45
The Trump administration’s emphasis
on foreign acts of terrorism is consistent
with its de-emphasis of domestic terror-
ism. Under Trump, Homeland Security has
considered (but ultimately decided against)
renaming its Countering Violent Extrem-
ism program Countering Islamic Extrem-
ism. It defunded an Obama-era program,
Life After Hate, that helped right-wing
extremists detach from radical groups.
A former senior national security
adviser to Trump, Sebastian Gorka, has
said repeatedly that there is “no such
thing” as a lone-wolf attacker, suggesting
it was an Obama administration construct
designed to cover up the role of organized
Coming in February
9 - Finance/Charitable Giving
16 - Healthy Living
23 - Events & Celebrations
23 - About Our Children
23 - Rockland Section
To advertise call 201-837-8818 x 121
natalie@jewishmediagroup.com
56 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 26, 2018
ambassadors of goodwill from the Jewish
community to refugees of other faiths. That
can only be a good thing.”
Rabbi Paskind said people looking to help
must proceed on two levels. “For many peo-
ple on our committee, it was the one-on-one,
hands-on helping of a refugee family that
stood out as what they wanted to do. I believe
that while we can do something really good
for one family, while our country is turning its
back and closing its doors as it did when the
ship St. Louis was forced to turn around and
sail back to Europe, the local mitzvah is only
part of the story.
“I feel called to work to turn around the
xenophobic response that has increasingly
become official policy. If we want to be true
to our history as immigrants, I think we need
to lobby Congress and the White House to
accept more, not fewer, refugees. We need
to support the Dreamers and make them feel
welcome again, not criminalize them and
[chase] them from their homes.
“There’s a lot more we need to do.”
Islamic extremism in advancing terrorism.
Whose numbers add up?
The ADL is painstaking about making
sure that a murder was directly related
to extremism. It omits from its count the
murder of a black student at the University
of Maryland in May, noting in the report
that while the alleged assailant, who was
white, belonged to a Facebook group that
attracted racists, not all of its members
are racists. It also provides an addendum
detailing 34 extremist-related murders
in 2017, explaining why in each case the
attack was deemed extremist-related.
(Breakdowns of previous years appear in
previous annual reports.)
The Homeland Security report includes
Joe Taub
FROM PAGE 11
“But my friend said that maybe I could
apply for financial aid.”
She did. She submitted the documents
requested of her, the request went to the
scholarship committee — and her sons ends
up in camp at the JCC.
“They love it,” she said. “We also are mem-
bers here. This will be our third summer. It is
a very good program, with great counselors.
They spend a lot of energy with the kids.
“My boys are very grateful that they can be
part of the JCC, and enjoy the summer. This
year my older son will be in a specialty camp,
the sports one — he is passionate about bas-
ketball — and there will be some science too.
“There is a great sense of community,”
she concluded. “It is a very happy place. I go
there and feel like my boys are part of a big
family. And there are always kids and elderly
people there. It is very family-centered, and
it is a crucial place for the community.”
A Moroccan-born single mother of an only
details of only eight of the 402 foreign-
born cases. Officials briefing reporters on
the report said more information would be
available in the future.
However, even among the eight there
seemed to be anomalies, at least when
judged against Trump’s original order.
It includes people who planned to travel
abroad to join terrorist groups like the
Islamic State. Nothing, at least in the
report, suggested that these people
planned attacks on U.S. soil.
Ed O’Callaghan, a deputy assistant attor-
ney general, briefing reporters on the
report, said that those people eventually
might return to the United States to carry
out attacks.
“I think that that makes the American
people safer and I know the Trump admin-
istration does,” he said.
Additionally, several of those people are
not from the six Muslim-majority countries
designated in the Trump order. Instead,
the selections appear designed to bolster
changes in immigration policy that Trump
embraced following the March executive
order. Several arrived in the United States
through the visa lottery system, and sev-
eral were here because they were spon-
sored by family. Trump wants to put an
end to the visa lottery system as well as
what he calls “chain migration.”
A reporter at the briefing said he had heard
that among the 402 were terrorists who had
been captured abroad and were brought to
the United States for trial — in other words,
whose “immigration” was entirely a function
of their being brought to justice.
Callaghan acknowledged as much.
“There is undoubtedly, because I’ve
been involved in a lot of the cases, a cer-
tain number of those foreign-born indi-
viduals who have been brought into the
United States by extradition or otherwise
to face charges,” he said.
child, who now lives in Fort Lee, also is grate-
ful to the JCC, for similar reasons.
“I never got any help from my son’s
father, because he moved out of the coun-
try when my son was about 3 1/2, so I was
on my own,” she said. “I try to give my son
everything he deserves, and the JCC has
been very supportive and very helpful, and
without making me feel bad.
“At first, it was very hard to ask for help,”
she said. “It was new for me, having to ask.
But they didn’t make me feel small. They
just understood my situation and they were
very helpful.”
Her son started summer camp when he
was 6 years old; now he’s 12, “and even now,
when he doesn’t have anywhere else to go, he
will just go to the JCC and play a sport there,”
she said. “It is a home away from home.
“It’s just such a special place,” she con-
cluded. “The energy when you walk in is
so very welcoming and warm. And it’s not
just for my son — even for me, when I walk
in I can relax.”
What does this all mean
for the Jews?
Be alert. Michael Masters, the director of
the Secure Community network, the secu-
rity arm for national Jewish groups, said
community protections against either phe-
nomenon — international or domestic ter-
rorists — were essentially the same.
“Recent reports outline the dangers
posed by violent extremists — Islamists,
white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups,
as well as individuals — all of whom
continue to pose a threat to the United
States,” he said. “The Jewish community
must remain vigilant. Our safety and secu-
rity depends on our ability to share infor-
mation, undertake training, develop an
acute awareness of our surroundings at
all times and to report any and all suspi-
cious activity.
“These efforts, when undertaken, allow
us to better prepare for and address the
threats that our community may encoun-
ter, regardless of the ideology that drives
those threats.”
The ADL seemed to want to remind the
Trump administration that containing
foreign terrorism should not come at the
expense of combating extremists at home
and what its national director calls a “new
willingness by racist groups to put them-
selves front and center on the American
public stage.”
“In recent years, much of the public
discussion and the federal government’s
focus have been on the violent threat
posed by extremists inspired by ISIS, while
less attention has been paid to the reality
of right-wing violence,” Jonathan Green-
blatt, its director, wrote in an op-ed for the
Atlantic on Wednesday. “There’s no doubt
that Islamic extremism is a significant
threat, but we shouldn’t ignore any forms
of extremism — we must tackle them all.”
 JTA WIRE SERVICE
 Real Estate & Business

Check it out ‘Peer Gynt’ in Teaneck After wooing and sub-

sequently crushing the
The Black Box Performing Arts Center in Teaneck heart of not one but
presents a production of “Peer Gynt” by Henrik Ibsen three eager admirers,
(author of classic domestic dramas such as “A Doll’s Peer decides that it’s
House” and “Hedda Gabler”). time to “quit this soil”
This new production — presented in special arrange- and pursue a life beyond
ment with Samuel French, Inc. — is directed by BBPAC all that is familiar. An
artistic director Matt Okin, produced by Black Box unprecedented experi-
Studios, and features a cast of BBPAC mainstays and mental rendition of the
newcomers: Brennen Dopwell, Allison Falkenstern, most widely performed
Michael Gardiner, Bishon Prushankin, Joseph Ramon- of all Norwegian plays,
dino, Jake Geary, Savannah Lloyd, Danielle MacMath, which — according to
Ellen Revesz, and Laurence Wallace, with assistant Klaus Van Den Berg —
director/production stage manager Savannah Lloyd. features a “cinematic script [that] blends poetry with social sat-
Investors Bank’s Englewood branch manager “Peer Gynt” will continue to play over the next ire and realistic scenes with surreal ones.” “Peer Gynt” has been
Stacey Goldberg recently hosted a check presen- two weekends through February 4, Thursday described as the story of a life based on procrastination and
tation with pro football and sports broadcasting through Sundays at 7:30 p.m., at Teaneck’s Black avoidance. When all is said and done, will Peer discover “the
star Phil Simms. Investors Bank and the Investors Box Performing Arts Center (200 Walraven Drive, victory only dread can give?”
Foundation presented $25,000 in grants to three just off Palisade Avenue). Tickets are $25 ($20 for students/seniors) available at www.
nonprofits on behalf of Phil Simms. The Simms In Ibsen’s infamous epic, a reckless and egotisti- blackboxpac.com or at at the venue. Call (201) 357-2221 for
Family has assisted each of the nonprofits since cal Peer seeks a life full of adventure and success, but group rates of 10 or more and for box office hours.
he first joined the New York Giants football team without all the not-so-glamorous agony and dread.
as their quarterback in 1979. The grants were
provided to the Matthew Larson Foundation for
Pediatric Brain Tumors (also known the IronMatt TeaneckShuls
Foundation), Wyckoff Family YMCA, and the Dr.
Theodore Atlas Foundation. Front row, from left, leaves YahooGroups
Stacey Goldberg, Wyckoff Y executive director
Joy Vottero, and the Y’s special events director
After 17 years, the more than 14,000 members of the
TeaneckShuls mailing list are no longer exchanging
OPEN HOUSE
Nancy Addis. Back row, from left, Investors Bank messages using Yahoo. Following what moderators SUNDAY, JANUARY 28
assistant branch manager Angelos Kouzinas and reported as the rapid degradation of YahooGroups, t TEANECK t
CEO Kevin Cummings, Teddy Atlas of the Dr. T. the mailing list migrated Tuesday to a relatively new
Atlas Foundation, Simms, IronMatt Foundation service, GroupsIO.
founder Kelly Larson and board member Kirsten The one change required from subscribers, according
Kincade, who is also a Wyckoff Y volunteer, and to the list moderators: When sending a new message for
Investors’ Selena Sustache.  posting, please send it to: teaneckshuls@groups.io
 Photo by Danielle Richards TeaneckShuls subscribers are urged to go into their
email contacts list, delete the yahoogroups email
address, and insert teaneckshuls@groups.io.
Valley Hospital expert
will focus on hand pain
The Valley Hospital will host a free community health
program, Wave Goodbye to Hand Pain, on Tuesday,
Let Us Finance Your
February 6, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at The Dorothy B.
Kraft Center, 15 Essex Road, Paramus.
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Join orthopedic and hand surgeon Dr. Steven B.
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latest treatment options to relieve hand pain and get
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There is no fee to attend this program but registra- Serving NY, NJ & CT Details & Pictures, Visit our Website
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Jewish Standard JANUARY 26, 2018 57
Real Estate & Business

Hampton Inn & Suites and Homewood Suites by Hilton open in Teaneck soon
Two new Hilton hotels will open under
one roof at 1 Glenwood Ave. in Teaneck
this spring, offering leisure and busi-
ness travelers modern new accommoda-
tions in a relaxing environment with easy
access to local businesses and attrac-
tions, and a short ride to New York City.
Hampton Inn & Suites Teaneck/Glen-
pointe and Homewood Suites by Hilton
Teaneck/Glenpointe will provide 1,230
square feet of meeting space that can
accommodate up to 100 people, and 350
sleeping rooms for groups or individual
travelers.
Guests staying at Hampton Inn & Suites
Teaneck/Glenpointe will enjoy such
amenities as a year-round swimming
pool, a 24-hour fitness room and busi-
ness center, free Wi-Fi, and a compli-
mentary daily hot breakfast that includes
eggs, oatmeal, waffles, and fresh coffee.
Homewood Suites by Hilton Teaneck/
Glenpointe will offer all-suite accom-
modations, featuring fully-equipped
kitchens and separate living and sleep-
ing areas. Guests will also receive com-
plimentary daily hot breakfast, evening
socials Monday to Thursday, Wi-Fi and a
grocery shopping service.
The dual-build hotel is ideal for busi-
ness travelers with its proximity to local
corporate offices of major companies in
the Bergen County and northern New
Jersey area. It is also a great choice for
leisure travelers who want to visit area
attractions including MetLife Stadium,
the Meadowlands Complex, and the
future American Dream development
just 10 minutes away — as well as New
York City’s Times Square and Midtown
Manhattan nearby. These two brands
under one roof eliminate the hassle and
prices of New York City, while providing
guests easy access to the Big Apple.
“We are excited to create a bright
new dual-hotel for travelers to Teaneck.
Whether our guests stay for fun or busi-
ness, or a night or a few months, we are
developing this property to accommo-
date their needs. With complimentary
internet access, a daily hot breakfast buf-
fet, a dual modern lobby, and access to
all that northern New Jersey has to offer,
we will provide the perfect mix of ame-
nities that make for a comfortable stay,”
said Mitchell Heymann, director of sales
and marketing for the development.
Alfred Sanzari Enterprises is develop-
ing both properties while White Lodging
will manage the property. Model rooms
are available for tour now by calling
(201) 928-2696.

Learn about fall prevention

SELLING YOUR HOME? at Mahwah Library program
The Valley Hospital will host a free
community health program, Heads Up
Seniors! on Tuesday, February 13, from
1 to 2:30 p.m. at The Mahwah Public
Library, 100 Ridge Road, Mahwah.
If you’re a senior or you’re concerned
about the safety of a loved one, you
won’t want to miss this interactive pro-
gram on how to prevent and avoid falls.
Join exercise physiologist Eileen Emman-
uel to learn about why falls happen, how
to recognize and reduce falling risks and
which prevention strategies are right for
you or your loved one.
A fall can be scary for someone of any
age, but for seniors, they are especially
worrisome and potentially dangerous.
In fact, among older Americans, falls are
the leading cause of injuries and hospital
visits due to head trauma, broken hips,
and more. The risk of falling and fall-
related injuries also increases as we get
older, as about one out of four seniors
ages 65 and older fall every year.
There is no fee to attend this program
but registration is required. To register,
call (800) 825-5391 or visit www.Valley-
Health.com/Events.

Lester Senior Housing Community

in Whippany to host workshop
Call Susan Laskin Today for dementia caregivers
To Make Your Next Move A Successful One!
The Lester Senior Housing Community in chance to tour the community’s home-
BergenCountyRealEstateSource.com Cell: 201-615-5353
Whippany will host a free caregiver work- like Memory Care Suite and learn more
©2018 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.
An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Owned and Operated by NRT LLC. shop on dementia care titled, “Hope for about the activities and services there
People with Dementia: Why Comfort Mat- that promote comfort while also foster-

J J
J
ters” on Thursday, February 15 from 4 to ing opportunities for socialization and

immy im
im
6 p.m. The presenter will be Tena Alonzo, engagement. To reserve a seat at the
director of education and research at workshop, contact David Rozen at (973)
Beatitudes Campus in Arizona and a 929-2725 or davidr@jchcorp.org.
noted leader in dementia care. The Lester Senior Housing Commu-

the Junk Man the

the
Attendees will learn about the Com-
fort Matters approach to memory care,
nity is located at 903-905 Route 10 East
in Whippany, on the Alex Aidekman

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