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2 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
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KFC set to relaunch in Israel
l The American fast food chain KFC is recruiting staff
because it plans to restart operations in Israel, the
business daily Globes reported.
The company announced six months ago that it
would relaunch in Israel for the fourth time.
Kentucky Fried Chicken opened in Israel in the
1980s and closed there in the ‘90s, and then remained
open between 2003 and 2012.
In KFC’s last incarnation in Israel, franchise owner
Udi Shamai’s eight locations went kosher after the
Page 3
company allowed him to switch the milk powder in
the crispy coating to soy and to use kosher-certified
chickens instead of those provided by the company.
“The moment we switched to kosher, sales began to
plunge, and it was no longer economically viable. The
product was less good, whereas things had gone fine
with un-kosher chickens,” Shamai told Globes.
KFC has 45,000 outlets in more than 135 countries,
and six outlets in three West Bank Palestinian cities.
JTA
CONTENTS
NOSHES���������������������������������������������������������4
BRIEFLY LOCAL���������������������������������������� 18
EVENTS & CELEBRATIONS ������������������21
JEWISH WORLD���������������������������������������35
COVER STORY�������������������������������������������36
OPINION����������������������������������������������������� 48
D’VAR TORAH������������������������������������������ 54
ARTS & CULTURE�������������������������������������55
CALENDAR�������������������������������������������������56
THE FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE��������������59
CROSSWORD PUZZLE���������������������������59
OBITUARIES����������������������������������������������� 61
CLASSIFIED ADS��������������������������������������62
REAL ESTATE���������������������������������������������65
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Israeli court nixes U.S. ambassador

Sperminator donation jams in Jerusalem
l Israel’s Supreme with sperm he donates l U.S. Ambassa-
Court has ruled that an free of charge—New dor David Friedman
Israeli woman cannot York’s tabloids call him tweeted a video
get pregnant with the the Sperminator. The of himself playing
sperm of an American married father of three Lynyrd Skynyrd with
man who has been already has given former Arkansas gov-
identified as a serial sperm to six Israeli ernor Mike Hucka-
donor. women; reportedly the bee in Jerusalem last
Ari Nagel visits the Tel
The court dismissed Israeli Health Ministry week.
Aviv port, June 27, 2017.
the request of the didn’t know about that Friedman played
unidentified 42-year- until later.  RENEE GHERT-ZAND/TOI
guitar to the band’s
old woman who had Sperm donation in 1974 classic “Sweet Home Ala- covers and has opened for Willie
asked a private clinic Israel is required to be dren he has fathered. bama” in front of an enthusiastic Nelson, Grand Funk Railroad, and
to allow her to use done anonymously, un- In an interview with audience at a dinner. Huckabee is Percy Sledge.
frozen sperm that less the donor officially the New York Post a longtime musician who formed Huckabee, a Republican and
CUNY math profes- agrees to co-parent more than two years his band with members of his evangelical Christian, first visited
sor Ari Nagel sent her. with the mother. ago, Nagel said that staff in 1996, shortly after becom- Israel in 1973 and has become a
The clinic said it could The Health Ministry his relationship with ing governor. He plays bass in prominent backer of the settle-
neither store nor use has said about Nagel his wife has not been the group, called Capitol Offense ment movement there. He filmed
Nagel’s sperm because that his “claim of an romantic in years and because most members worked segments for Fox News while in
it would violate Health intention to perform that they sleep in sepa- in the state capitol. Israel this week.
Ministry requirements true joint parenthood… rate bedrooms. He has “Just some guys going down to He is a supporter of President
and Israeli law. is not sincere or rea- been successfully sued the basement of the governor’s Donald Trump, and his daughter,
Nagel, 42, fathered sonable,” based on the for child support five mansion and jamming,” Hucka- Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is the
at least 35 children sheer number of chil- times. MARCY OSTER/JTA bee told the Washington Post. White House press secretary.
The band performs classic rock TIMES OF ISRAEL

Candlelighting: Friday, February 22, 5:21 p.m. Call 201-837-8818 or bit.ly/jsubscribe

Shabbat ends: Saturday, February 23, 6:21 p.m. for convenient home delivery.

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 3

 JS-4*

Noshes “I can’t tell if he was answering a question

or reading his Torah portion.”
— Steven Colbert, mocking President Trump’s “sing-song”
intonation while announcing his border emergency last week.

Jacoby often only 2,000 survived.

screens these films for
WHAT A CARD: Jewish, Christian, and
interfaith groups and
From Hollywood they appear to be very
useful in opening inter-
A sitcom, “Workin’
Moms,” also will start
of February 22. This
series premiered on

to RBG: Get well! esting discussions.

the CBC in Canada
in 2017 and has been
renewed for two more
seasons there. In Jan-
The Hollywood know RBG is a huge Over on Netflix uary, Netflix picked
Reporter did a movie buff — from big “The Photogra-
it up as an “original
nice piece on Hollywood epics to pher of Mau-
for worldwide dis-
February 14 about a small indie films — so thausen,” a
Julie Cohen Catherine Reitman tribution.” The show
get-well card that we thought she’d get feature film about
features four friends
Justice RUTH BADER a kick out of a get-well Francisco Boix, a
who deal with the
GINSBURG, 85, got on card from some of the photographer who
challenges of being
Valentine’s Day. Last biggest names in the managed to survive
working mothers.
December, as everyone film world.” the Mauthausen Nazi
One of the mothers is
heard, the justice had They got the celebs concentration camp,
played by CATHERINE
surgery for lung cancer to sign by toting the will premiere on Netflix
REITMAN, 37, who also
and missed a month of card to all the ce- on February 22. Boix
co-created the series.
oral arguments at the leb-filled award events was able to take 2,000
Reitman is the daugh-
Supreme Court as she that Cohen and West photos inside the
ter of famous director
recovered. The card attended in the last camp and hide the
IVAN REITMAN, 72
was signed by nearly few weeks (Screen negatives. These
(“Ghostbusters” and
three dozen Hollywood Actors’ Guild Awards, negatives played a
other hits) and the sis-
A-Listers, including Critics Choice Awards, decisive role in the
Ivan Reitman Jason Reitman ter of director JASON
STEVEN SPIELBERG, Oscar nominees lun- Nuremburg trials.
REITMAN, 41 (“Juno”
72, Bradley Cooper, cheon, etc.). Spike Lee, After the fascists
Jewish-Christian rela- and other hits).
Lady Gaga, Quincy a lifelong Brooklynite, War II. Much of the film won the Spanish Civil
My gut says that
Jones, Spike Lee, Glenn referred to the Brook- tions, and all are worth is about Gino Barta- War in 1939, tens of
Phillip Sternberg, Re-
Close, Stephen Colbert, lyn-born Ginsburg as seeing. They include li, a Tour De France thousands who sup-
itman’s husband and
and Helen Mirren. “the Judge of Brook- “Constantine’s Sword” bicycle champion who ported the Republic
the father of their two
The card was the lyn” in his get-well (2008), which was used his celebrity to fled to France. A dis-
children, is Jewish —
idea of JULIE COHEN, message on the card. based on the best-sell- bike around Nazi-oc- proportionate number
but I haven’t con-
54, and Betsy West, By the way, I want- ing book of the same cupied Italy without of these refugees were,
firmed that. Sternberg
who are Oscar-nom- ed to add a bio note name by James Car- being challenged. He like Boix, Catalans from
was a successful TV
inated for “RBG,” a on Betsy West here roll, a former Catholic carried fake identifica- the Spanish province
producer when they
documentary they because it is a bit afield priest. The film traces tion papers in his bike of Catalonia (its capital
met. They married
made about the justice to include in my Os- the very long history of frame and delivered is Barcelona). Most
in 2009 at her par-
(see my special Oscars cars article. West, 67, anti-Semitism and the them to Jews in hiding. Catalans, including
ents’ California home.
article on page 55). isn’t Jewish. However, church’s role in Jewish In Jacoby’s 2004 film, Boix, were supporters
Sternberg is the
Cohen and West told her husband, OREN persecution. It is a very “Sister Rose’s Passion,” of the Republic. After
co-creator and main
the Reporter, “After JACOBY, 63, is the son Jewish-friendly film. he profiled the late the Nazis occupied
producer of “Workin’
Justice Ginsburg’s of a Jewish father and Another Jacoby film, Sister Rose Thering, France in 1940, they
Moms”. His wife gave
surgery in December, a non-Jewish mother “My Italian Secret: The the American nun who arrested thousands
him his first acting gig:
pretty much every (he’s secular). Jacoby Forgotten Heroes” combated anti-Sem- of Spanish refugees,
he plays Catherine’s
actor or filmmaker we has made a series of (2015), is about Italian itism from her home including Boix. The Na-
husband, Nathan Fos-
met would ask us to documentaries (with non-Jews who helped base at Seton Hall zis imprisoned 7,500
ter, in “Workin’ Moms.”
pass on their personal West co-producing) Italian Jews hide from University in South Republican refugees
–N.B.
good wishes to her. We that have illuminated the Nazis during World Orange for decades. in Mauthausen alone;

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

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

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 JS-6*

Local
‘Oslo Diaries’ screens in Tenafly
Remembering the secret Israeli-Palestinian talks and what came afterwards
LARRY YUDELSON

G
idi Grinstein will introduce the “Oslo Dia-
ries” at the IAC Cinematec at the Kaplen JCC
on the Palisades in Tenafly on Sunday night
(see box), but really, his starring role would
be in the sequel.
The “Oslo Diaries” is a 2018 documentary about the
Oslo negotiations, the back-channel peace talks that led
to the signing of the declaration of principles between
Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization on the
White House lawn on September 13, 1993. (That declara-
tion is known as the Oslo A Agreement.)
Mr. Grinstein heads the Reut Group, a think tank
devoted to 21st century Zionism, focusing on Israel-di-
aspora relations and on fighting the delegitimization of
Israel and the BDS movement. In 1993,
he was a captain in the Israeli navy. But
when he returned to civilian life in 1995,
Mr. Grinstein started working in what
seemed to him the most exciting place in
Israel: the Economic Cooperation Foun-
dation. Behind its nondescript name,
the ECF had been at the center of Israel’s
back-channel negotiations with the Pal-
estinians, Jordan, and even Egypt. These
negotiations, which the ECF’s founders,
Dr. Yossi Beilin, Dr. Yair Hirschfeld, and
the late Dr. Ron Pundik, began three Gidi Grinstein
years earlier, are the center of the story
the movie tells through interviews and re-enactments.
After the Oslo A Agreement was signed, the founda-
tion continued to play a leading role in its implementa-
tion and Mr. Grinstein came on board to coordinate that
effort. Four years later, in 1999, he became the secretary
of the official Israeli delegation for the negotiations with lis and Palestinians could build joint
the PLO, including at the renowned Camp David Summit
of July 2000 and the Taba talks.
“I found myself a central player in the dramatic period
of history-making,” he said. “I was the youngest and most
junior member of the team, but practically I was like a
quarterback. Almost everything went through my laptop.”
The terms of Israel’s economic relations with the new
Palestinian Authority were set by an agreement signed in
May 1994, called the Paris Protocol, which was one of 11
official agreements signed between Israel and the Pales-
tinians during that period. But it was the ECF that led the
implementation.
“Our goal was to effectuate the agreement,” Mr. Grin-
stein said. “We established 11 working groups across dif-
ferent areas of economic relations, like taxation, banking,
What: IAC Cinematec featuring
“The Oslo Diaries” and guest speaker Gidi Grinstein
Where: Kaplen JCC on the Palisades,
411 East Clinton Ave., Tenafly
When: Sunday, February 24, 7 p.m.
How much: $14 in advance, $12 for JCC members.
$17 at the door.
6 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
President Bill Clinton presides at the White House lawn ceremony marking the sign-
ing of the Oslo Agreement by Israeli President Yitzhak Rabin, left, and PLO chairman
Yasser Arafat on September 13, 1993.
and industrial cooperation. We had
teams of Israeli, Jordanian, and Pales-
tinian experts working together to build
and strengthen economic relations in
these different areas.” The discussions
“covered anything from connecting the
banking systems, to suggesting tax
arrangements to the governments,
to bringing together industrialists to
develop industrial zones where Israe-
ventures.”
As of late 1996, Mr. Grinstein coor-
dinated the ECF’s efforts to prepare
for the negotiations on a permanent
status agreement, which was sup-
posed to be achieved by May 1999.
Those preparations involved dozens
of experts in many working groups.
“We identified all the key issues out-
standing between Israel and the Pales-
tinians,” he said. “These included such
questions as Palestinian statehood,
Palestinian refugees, security, water
rights, economic relations, and the status of Jerusalem.
“For each of these areas we created a team of top
experts, former government officials, generals, ambassa-
dors, leading people from academia. Each team worked to
define Israeli interests and suggest future negotiating posi-
tions. The teams also engaged with Jordanian, Palestinian,
and Egyptian counterparts in order to have a better sense
of the so-called Zone of Possible Agreement.”
When the official actual negotiations began in July 1999,
Mr. Grinstein was recruited to work within the prime min-
ister’s office, on the condition that he bring this entire body ment, there were also very powerful forces within the
of work that had been created over the previous three years
with him. His official title was secretary and coordinator of
the Israeli delegation for the negotiations with the PLO. He
oversaw both official and unofficial, back-channel negotia-
tions that were, in many respects, the continuation of the
secret negotiations that began the Oslo process and are the
subject of “The Oslo Diaries.”
Fairly soon, it became clear that fail-
ure was a real possibility. “As of April
2000, we began to anticipate that the
Palestinians were not interested in a
comprehensive permanent status agree-
ment that resolved all of the outstand-
ing issues and brought an end to the
conflict, which was the agreement we
wanted to sign,” Mr. Grinstein said. This
assessment was based on intelligence
reports and the discussions them-
selves. “The spring of 2000, following
the unilateral withdrawal from Leba-
non and the collapse of the negotia-
tions with Syria, turned to be a period
of stagnation in the negotiations with
the Palestinians,” he added.
In July 2000, President Bill Clinton
summoned Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak to Camp David for a summit
modeled after a similar summit in 1979, when Israel and
Egypt hammered out their historic peace treaty. Mr. Grin-
stein was one of 11 Israelis who made up the delegation.
But this time, Israel and the Palestinians failed to reach
an agreement.
“In many ways, the outcome of Camp David and the
negotiations that followed were not a surprise,” he said.
“While Chairman Arafat was not interested in an agree-
SEE DIARIES PAGE 54
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7 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 7
 JS-8*

Local

A trip to Odessa
Rockland girls learn, grow, and teach in Ukranian orphanage setting
LOIS GOLDRICH

Learning to appreciate what you have,

and gaining an awareness that we are
responsible for Jews all over the world,
are valuable lessons. Learning that while
helping others and forming lasting rela-
tionships is even more precious.
That’s why the 11th-graders at
Ateres Bais Yaakov Rockland in New
Hempstead visit Odessa, and why they
come back with a heightened sense of
purpose.
Rabbi Aaron Fink, the dean of the
school since its founding, said he got the
idea for the visit from another school
that sent students to the former Soviet
Union. “I saw the impact on the commu-
nity and the kids,” he said.
His school, founded in 2000 and serv-
ing some 430 students, began by send-
ing the girls to Kiev, “but after a while
they couldn’t support our school pro-
gram,” Rabbi Fink said. “We have certain
parameters — for example, a dormitory
setting rather than private homes. When
Kiev began not to fit, we found Tikva in
Odessa. It’s a phenomenal organization
doing amazing work.” The Bais Yaakov
girls have worked in the orphanage
there for the last 10 years.
According to its website, “Tikva is
a rescue aid and educational organi-
zation saving the lives of at-risk Jew-
ish children and relieving the suffer-
ing of impoverished Jewish families in
Odessa, Ukraine. [It] has also been a Students from Ateres Bais Yaakov Rockland in Hempstead, N.Y., pose with their charges at the orphanage run
pioneer in the revitalization of Jewish by Tikva in Odessa, Ukraine.
life in Odessa, reaching into the heart
of the Jewish community to rebuild that all Jews are family is a big deal.”
Jewish identity destroyed by decades His goal in creating the program was
of persecution and communist rule.” for the girls “to begin to create a real-
The site goes on to note that “Thou- ity of what they’ve already learned — to
sands of Jewish children, even those transform the academic and give it prac-
living in supportive family settings, go tical and relevant meaning. They know it
hungry every day in Ukraine. Given the but now have a chance to put it to use,”
extremely low wages (the average being combining both their intellectual knowl-
$50 per month) and lack of extensive edge and emotional sensitivity.
social safety nets like those of Western “They become the teachers, taking
Europe, many parents cannot cope and their own knowledge and making it
abandon their children out of sheer des- real,” he said.
peration. It is estimated that approxi- When they return from Odessa, the
mately 2,500 Jewish children are still girls discuss their experiences at a full
orphaned or homeless in Ukraine.” assembly — “what they accomplished,
These are the children rescued by Tikva. what they gained, gave, and saw.” They
This year, 16 Rockland students went also create a web group to maintain con-
to Odessa for two weeks, from late Jan- Bais Yaakov 11th-graders gather at one of the Jewish holy sites in nections with the children they visited.
uary to early February. Most of the cost Ukraine during the two-week visit. In addition, the orphanage runs a day
is borne by the students themselves. camp in late June, and many of the girls
“They stay in the orphanage with the also bring a lot of ruach.” for the worldwide interconnectivity of go back to work as counselors.
girls there,” Rabbi Fink said. “They do When the girls return home, they Jews,” he continued. “They gain a sense During their two-week visit in January,
teaching, provide extracurricular activ- bring with them “an appreciation for of responsibility for Jews across the the girls take a trip to visit holy places
ities, and serve as role models. They what they have here and an appreciation world. These are family. Understanding in Ukraine, including the graves of the
8 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
 JS-9*

Local
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(former interior designer of model
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Bar-Ilan University
Making an Impact
Bais Yaakov students enjoy fun moments
with youngsters at Tikva in Odessa.

Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, and

Rabbi Nachman of Uman. “They make a pilgrimage
of prayer,” Rabbi Fink said. “They also go to some
Holocaust shrines where Jews were murdered.”
In an email sent to parents on “Day 5!” by Bat-
sheva Fink, the rabbi’s daughter — who was part of
the two-week trip — the girls’ enthusiasm is palpable:
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We had yet another

incredible day! In
the morning we went
to school and your
daughters went into
the classroom and
played games, did
crafts, activities and
gave love to the kids. Dr. Amos Danielli

“We had yet another incredible day! In the morning

we went to school and your daughters went into the
classroom and played games, did crafts, activities
and gave love to the kids. They really saw the fruits
of their labor. The Tikva girls loved every minute of
it. Their hard work really paid off and they should be
proud! After school we went to the shul for lunch.
NEUTRALIZING
B TERROR TUNNELS
ar-Ilan’s Dr. Amos Danielli has developed a device that reduces time to
While we enjoyed grilled cheese, we heard from a At Bar-Ilan, our Robotics and Artificial Intelligence researchers collaborate with the IDF in developing
diagnose these emergencies. It measures concentrations of the
Tikva graduate, Marina. Marina spoke to us about
theprotein Troponin,
technology a heart
for remarkable attack
robots indicator,
that scour Hamasdirectly fromalong
terror tunnels blood
the samples.
Israel-Gaza With
border.it,The
what it meant to her when the Ateres girls came and
what an impact it makes on the girls. Marina ended doctors
robots gather precisecan confirmanda utilize
intelligence heartexplosives
attack intotwoto tothe
topple three hours
Hamas and
tunnel can --
network
off by telling us she is now married, with a good job, immediately
a high-tech startis restoring
solution that blood-flow
keeping Israel safe and itstosoldiers
prevent
soldie fromfurther heart damage for
harm’s way.
and part of the community, and how Ateres girls hundreds of thousands of patients.
helped to bring her to where she is today.”
Also, Batsheva wrote, “We went to visit two homes
of the mothers of kids in the dorm. What we saw was Tel: 212-906-3900
a shack with a bed, an outdoor fire pit, an outdoor 160 East 56th Street
bathroom — it was something we never could’ve New York, NY 10022
Samuel.Konig@afbiu.org
imagined. To see where these kids come from gave us
AFBIU.org
a much deeper appreciation for what we have, and a
greater desire to give.”
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 9
 JS-10*

Local

Old? Who said?

Two Teaneck women throw stereotypes out the window
LOIS GOLDRICH

Anyone who thinks 100 is old has not

met Ruth Davis. And for goodness sake,
don’t make the mistake of telling her
she’s sharp as a tack.
“I don’t like to be compared to a tack,”
she will tell you.
Ruth recently went up for an aliyah
at Teaneck’s Congregation Beth Sholom
in honor of her 100th birthday. Another
congregant, Eva Liebmann, also was on
the bimah, celebrating her 90th. Both
ascended the bimah under their own
steam, spoke loudly and confidently,
and indisputably disproved every ste-
reotype of “old age.”
Asked how things have changed since
she was young, Ruth — amused, gra-
cious, but firm — said “I didn’t live in
horse and buggy days.” She did note,
however, that cars are quite different
today. The major change is in the inter-
net and telephones, she said. “They’ve
changed our society, not necessarily for
the better. We’re not communicating
with each other. It’s very distressing.”
Ruth spent many years at the now-de-
funct Congregation Beth Israel of North-
ern Valley in Bergenfield. She spoke
fondly of her late rabbi, Dr. Jerome
Blass, the synagogue’s longtime religious
leader, family counselor, and former col- Ruth Davis celebrates turning 100; she is flanked by her son Sam Davis, left, and Sam’s law partner, Garry Salomon.
umnist for this newspaper. Describing The two were Hebrew school classmates at the Bergenfield Dumont JCC.
herself as a traditionalist, Ruth said that
at first she wasn’t happy with the music mother’s birthday cake recipe. Ruth closer to home, citing drives she ran
in her new synagogue, but has come to had three sons. Her oldest son, Fred, an for the March of Dimes and for mental
love the service. She fondly remembers orthopedic surgeon, died last year. Her health. “It was a big part of my life,” she
winters in Florida, where “you could youngest son, Dan, who lives in Sharon, said, adding that the secret to a long life
walk into any Conservative shul and hear Mass., is the VP of human resources for is to have a daily glass of wine, along
the same thing. It’s no longer that way.” MetLife in New Hampshire. When we with “laughing, loving, and giving — to
Ruth was born in West New York spoke, Sam was in Israel. The founder friends, and as volunteers.”
on January 29, 1919. She grew up in and CEO of BAN, the Burn Advocates Because she has limited mobility,
Haworth, where she taught for many Network, his group runs three “Burn nowadays Ruth spends a good deal of
years. “I started out teaching in Bergen- Camps” for children who have been time listening to audiobooks. “It’s won-
field in 1940, then in Dumont, and then severely injured in a fire or explosion. derful,” she said, and you can listen
in Haworth,” she said. “I loved it. I have “I have a very close and wonderful on Amazon’s Alexa. “When my grand-
such wonderful memories. I looked for- relationship with my grandkids,” she daughter Alexa is here, that makes it dif-
ward to going to school each day.” She said. “They’re all in Manhattan, except ficult,” she joked. She recently listened
recalled having her students, around 10 for one in Idaho. We speak frequently.” to the book “Yiddish for Pirates,” which
years old, line up and dance to a refrain She has one grandson and five grand- she summarized in detail, pointing out
she sang to me. It was a tongue twister, daughters. “I wanted a daughter so that “It’s about a young man, adopted
but she had no trouble reciting it. As for badly,” she said. “Then when I kept get- in Europe, who becomes a pirate inad-
the dancing, “the little boys hated it.” ting granddaughters, it was like manna vertently. The parrot is the narrator. It
“I gave it up to be at home when from heaven.” speaks Yiddish.
I got married,” said the former Ruth Ruth said that she spent a good deal “My own Yiddish is quite adequate
Kaufman, who married a family physi- Eva Liebmann of time in Boca Raton. During that time, now,” she said, although it used to be
cian, Dr. Harold Davis. That marriage she did volunteer work at a childcare better. She attends a Yiddish club once
lasted for 39 years. up the law and do party-planning.” Sam, center for indigent children. “I’m still a month in Paramus.
For her 100th birthday, “I had a she said, created a newspaper detailing in touch with the personnel there,” She also enjoys the books of Alexan-
bang-up party,” she said. “My son Sam the story of her life, recalling songs she she said. “They were such wonder- der McCall Smith, though she prefers
is a lawyer in Teaneck. He should give sang to her children and including her ful years.” She also did volunteer work SEE OLD? PAGE 12
10 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
JS-11

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 11


Local
Old?
FROM PAGE 10
his Scotland Street stories to the Botswa-
na-based detective series. “I especially
enjoy the books about the German pro-
fessors at Heidelberg who are just crazy,”
she said
A serious dog lover, Ruth said she
was not surprised at the results of the
Westminster Dog Show. “The judge had
entered several terriers he had trained,”
she said, so choosing a terrier as the win-
ner came as no surprise. She has a Malti-
poo, “seven pounds of love. You’ve seen
his picture on so many greeting cards.”
Another “love of her life” is the music
of Gilbert and Sullivan, which she sang at
William Paterson College, then a teacher’s
college, when she was a student there.
She had no trouble reeling off the names
of their operettas, stumbling only once
when she forgot “Ruddigore.” (Learning
that this correspondent also had sung
Many things have changed
over the last nine decades,
and Eva has changed with
them — although she admits
to being stumped by the new
melodies attached to old
prayers, and so she is content
to hum them. “It took me so
long to learn what I knew.”
Gilbert and Sullivan in college, she said
how wonderful it was to meet “a fellow
Savoyard.” The name is derived from the
Savoy Theatre, which Richard D’Oyly
Carte built to house the works of Gil-
bert and Sullivan.]) “At one point I could
sing whole operettas,” she said. “When I
would go to a doctor’s office and sit and
wait in an exam room, I would start at the
beginning of an operetta and sing until
the doctor came.”
Her love of music has continued. When
she needs a burst of energy, “Every so
often I ask Alexa to play ‘Flight of the
Bumblebees’ or ‘The Typewriter,’” she
said. Sometimes, however, she will ask for
Brahms. “I sing at home all the time,” she
said. “I’ve always loved music.” She also
composes verse, she said, reeling off sev-
eral of compositions from memory.
Ruth goes to Hazak meetings twice a
month. “It’s a delightful group, with var-
ied programs,” she said. “I like the peo-
ple there,” guessing that many were “80-
ish. They have klezmer now and then, or
a movie or speaker. We’re going to have
chair yoga.”
Eva Liebmann was born on Febru-
ary 1, 1929. She is 90. She is a mainstay
12 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
JS-12
of Teaneck’s Congregation Beth Sholom,
and arguably she is as active today as she
has ever been.
Many things have changed over the
last nine decades, and Eva has changed
with them — although she admits to being
stumped by the new melodies attached to
old prayers, and so she is content to hum
them. “It took me so long to learn what I
knew,” she said.
Eva remembers the Great Depression
clearly. “It certainly helped form me,” she
said; it strongly influenced her attitude
toward money, material things, and fam-
ily life. “I once asked my father for a nickel
for ice cream and he said no. At that time
you could buy a loaf of bread for a dime.”
But she did get that ice cream after hav-
ing her tonsils removed. She also got 10
cents for the movie theater, right around
the corner, “where I could watch two
movies, one or two serials and maybe
cartoons, the news, and coming attrac-
tions. The first 50 children to enter the
movies got a free comic book. I always got
a comic book.”
Her parents came here during World
War I. The countries they came from are
in some doubt, she said, because the bor-
ders shifted so frequently. When ques-
tioned, her mother would say, “Polish?
Russian? German? The hell with all of
them. We were Jews.”
Eva remembers that when she was a
child, “we didn’t have a television, a tele-
phone, or a refrigerator or freezer. My
mother shopped almost every day. When
my uncles in Brooklyn wanted to speak to
my father, they called the candy store on
the corner. The candy store owner would
find someone to ring our bell. My father
would have to walk down three flights of
stairs and walk to the candy store to answer
the phone. When we finally got a phone, it
was a party line, which was awful.”
Eva, who was born in Brooklyn and
raised in the Bronx, met her husband,
Lee, in 1951. It was a double blind date,
and Lee was not her date. He was born
in Germany, got out soon before Kristall-
nacht, and went to England, where he
waited until 1946, when he was able
to get to the United States. Raised in a
“European-oriented home, I always liked
European boys,” Eva said. “I preferred
them to American boys.”
Eva and Lee moved to Teaneck in 1959
and started to attend Beth Sholom right
away. (Eva has lived in the same house for
60 years.)They became dues-paying mem-
bers in 1960. Lee died in November 2016.
In 1959, Beth Sholom was small. “The
congregation had bought a small church
when it started,” Eva said. “The sanctuary
was a long narrow room with two pews on
either side of a center aisle. There must
have been about 20 rows with seats for
about 200 to 230 people.” Congregants
decided to expand the building; they met
in a storefront on West Englewood Avenue
during construction.
“We had a Hebrew school, and my chil-
dren received a good Jewish education,”
Eva said. And with many business peo-
ple and manufacturers in the congrega-
tion, “every year we had a huge bazaar.
Everyone donated the goods. I remember
tables with large bolts of fabric, handbags,
etc. It was a big fundraiser.” Oh yes, she
recalled, the annual gala featired women
in evening gowns and men in tuxedos.
The band played mostly ballroom music.
It is clear from her recollections that
Beth Sholom’s ongoing musicality can be
traced to the leadership of founding rabbi
Barry Schaeffer. “The rabbi had an oper-
atic singing voice, and he was also the can-
tor,” Eva said. “His wife was a musician,
and she led a choir that sang during the
high holidays. She also wrote and directed
plays for the Hebrew school that were
performed before the entire congrega-
tion. They had Saturday night musicals at
their home and invited members of the
congregation to join them in listening to
beautiful music.”
If kiddush was a simple affair — the
children had juice and cookies, enjoyed
in a separate room — it nevertheless was a
time to connect with other congregants,
“and because it was a small congregation,
everyone knew everyone.”
Yiddish was Eva’s first language — to
her regret, she no longer speaks it — and
“I was raised on European fairy tales, as
well as stories of pogroms,” she said. She
also learned about her incredible grand-
mother, who supported an underground
effort to help Jewish boys avoid conscrip-
tion into the Russian army.
“A bed was made for my mother and
aunt with a false bottom beneath the top
mattress where a man could hide and
spend the night. If the police came look-
ing for someone, my grandmother would
say, ‘Look wherever you like; just don’t
disturb my children because you will
frighten them.’”
Her family’s religious observance was
strict. “We couldn’t play ball or cards on
Shabbat and I went to synagogue with a
hankie safety-pinned to my dress,” she
said. Her mother was so cautious that she
made her father paint the cabinets each
year before putting in the Pesach dishes.
Eva’s two children, both writers, no
doubt were influenced by their mother’s
passion for books. “I love books,” she
said, adding that she spent many hours
during her youth in the New York City
public library system. Indeed, her first
volunteer stint at Beth Sholom involved
books. “The rabbi had a small room with
books, totally disorganized, so I organized
them.” She also became the synagogue’s
first librarian.
Also in the early days, “When the orig-
inal building was going to be renovated,
the younger members in the congrega-
tion wanted to get rid of all the plaques in
the shul. I and another woman physically
took the plaques off the pews. We also
rescued one pew, part of a stained glass
window, and the ner tamid. All the things
we saved are now in the Heritage Room in
the synagogue lobby.”
While she has had various careers, Eva
worked primarily in the field of interior
design. When she moved to Teaneck, she
got a degree in education and taught part-
time in Teaneck for six years. In 1973, she
started teaching full time in Haworth and
got two master’s degrees — one in special
education and one enabling her to be a
learning disabilities consultant.
In 1988, she had an adult bat mitz-
vah. Afterwards, “several women and I
decided we wanted to study more, so we
started a class in Tanach. We started with
Bereshit, finished the Tanach, and kept
going for 14 years, meeting every Tuesday
evening. We had the same leader for 13
years. He was a volunteer and a member
of the shul. He was a wonderful teacher.”
When she retired in 1990 — having
taken what she calls a hiatus from vol-
unteering at the shul — she turned her
attention once again to the synagogue. “I
co-chaired the Dinner Dance for over 10
years and the chesed committee for about
13 years. I have been on many nominat-
ing, social action, and other committees.”
In addition, she is a lifetime member of
the Board of Trustees and received the
Shofar Award in 2008 for service to the
congregation.
Eva is particularly proud of the Kristall-
nacht remembrance programs she has
run. She chaired her first such event
in 2008, marking the 70th anniversary
since Kristallnacht. “It was held in the
sanctuary, and the entire community
was invited. We had a very good turnout.
We’ve had a program every year since
then. This past year, we commemorated
the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht
under the auspices of Hazak. People were
moved to tears.”
She now is working on a new project,
“an intergenerational program where
teenagers meet with seniors once a
month for discussion and dinner. We
SEE OLD? PAGE 34
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 13


Local
Easy on the senses
River Edge shul arranges Shabbat for people with processing disorder
LARRY YUDELSON
Rachel Schneider was 27 when she was
diagnosed with sensory processing dis-
order back in 2010. And suddenly her
life made sense.
“It explained my entire childhood,”
Ms. Schneider said.
“I was always a very sensitive kid.
Things made me cry that shouldn’t have.
I was bothered by things
other people wouldn’t
notice. I lived a very
uncomfortable life.”
Since the diagnosis, she
has blogged about sen-
sory processing disorder;
written a book for adults
and a book for children;
and now worked with
Rabbi Paul Jacobson to
design a sensory-friendly
Shabbat service for Tem- Rachel Schneider
ple Avodat Shalom in
River Edge. (See box.) Rabbi Jacobson
had reached out to her after reading her
book for adults, “Making Sense: A Guide
to Sensory Issues.” “Our goal is to create
a comfortable worship experience for
adults and children who face sensory
processing concerns,” she said.
Ms. Schneider compares her sensory
processing issues to a computer with too
many windows open: “It will crash.”
When her senses overload, “My eyes
can see but I’ll see every little line. I’ll issues,” she said.
see very tiny pieces of the pattern, but
I have trouble seeing the whole. I’ll see
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you, but my brain will be almost fighting
to make sense of every tiny detail.
“If we’re overloaded with sensory
information, we can have a meltdown
or a shutdown. It’s a very intense tear-
ful event where you kind of lose connec-
tion to what’s around you and just break
down and cry.”
People with autism often have sensory
processing disorder — but there also are
people like Ms. Schneider,
who have sensory process-
ing disorder but do not
have autism.
“Last night, I was cut-
ting salmon for dinner,”
she said. “In the middle of
cutting, I felt as if my hand
was not connected to my
body. My eyes could not
make sense of my actions.
My brain couldn’t process
it comfortably. I had to
physically walk away and
take a break.”
Since childhood, her history with
Shabbat services is “kind of mixed. I find
them too loud. There’s a lot of move-
ment. That’s a lot of sensory changes
that happen.”
So she’s very excited about helping to
design a synagogue service for people
like her. “Our goal is to create a comfort-
able worship experience for adults and
children who face sensory processing
She has been working with Rabbi
Jacobson and Barbara Haber, Avodat
Shalom’s educational director.
The first difference that regular wor-
shippers will notice is that the service
is not in its usual place. “They walked
me through the temple on Skype,” she
said. “We picked a room that’s normally
a classroom, that has a lot of natural
lighting.
“It’s in a smaller room, as opposed to
a very loud echoing room,” she said. “I
If we’re
overloaded
with sensory
information,
we can have a
meltdown or a
shutdown.
like that the room is carpeted. Carpet
absorbs sound. It’s easier to connect to
the ground.”
The room’s chairs will be set at tables.
“I don’t like sitting in a loose chair. It can
feel very disorienting,” she said.
“We went through the different senses
and thought out, how can we do it so
someone who is particularly sensitive to
input can feel part of a service.”
Visually, “it needs to be a more sim-
ple space, rather than the more complex
sanctuary. We are going to be mindful of
sounds. It’s going to have a guitar rather
than anything louder. There will be no
microphones. No cantor. I love cantors
but sometimes it’s hard to process the
strong voice that comes out of them.”
There will be ear plugs available. And
there will be a separate room set aside as
a quiet space if the service gets too over-
whelming for anyone.
Even the kiddush is being planned for
people with sensory processing disor-
der; organizers are paying attention to
the texture of the food they will serve.
“There are people in every congrega-
tion who have sensory sensitivities,” Ms.
Schneider said. “I want to go to temple
more regularly. I like services but they
can be hard for me.”
Ms. Schneider grew up in Manhattan’s
Brotherhood Synagogue and now lives
in Riverdale, N.Y. “Museums are starting
to do things like this,” she said. “It would
be really wonderful if other synagogues
and congregations want to try this out.
What should people do if they think
they might have a sensory processing
disorder?
“The best option is to see an occupa-
tional therapist,” Ms. Schneider said. “It
can be challenging to find somebody to
evaluate you as an adult” — the condi-
tion was first and still is most commonly
identified in children.
“Take a week and look at your eight
senses,” she advises. Yes, eight — the
familiar five senses of sight, sound,
smell, taste, and touch, but also the
vestibular system, which contributes to
balance; proprioception, which detects
where your body is in space; and intero-
ception, which detects internal body
states like hunger and thirst.
Ms. Schneider said her proprio-
ception sense can be overwhelmed,
leading her to bump into furniture.
“Notice when you feel like you’re
about to have a shutdown,” she said.
“What’s happening at that time?
Notice what’s your pattern.”
She said that the STAR Institute for
Sensory Processing Disorder is the cen-
tral clearing house for the condition.
“Many doctors still see this as some-
thing only children have,” she said.
“Some doctors see this as made up. It’s
certainly not made up. I can tell you
from experience.”
Occupational therapy is the best
approach for treatment, she said. There
are a little things that she does that
makes a difference.
“We like to fidget. People with SPD
like to play with a pen or squeezy stress
balls,” she said.
Weighted blankets made a differ-
ence for her, helping anchor her sense
of proprioception. “I did not sleep well
for most of my life,” she said. “One
day someone asked if I had tried a
weighted blanket. Now I sleep under a
17-pound weighted blanket and I sleep
wonderfully.
“The goal is to live with this. If you
have visual sensitivities, you can put
on tinted glasses. I was prescribed blue
tinted glasses.
“People think you go to occupational
therapy and it gets fixed. We’re not
broken, and there’s no fixing. We live
with it.”
What: Sensory Friendly Shabbat
Experience
Where: Temple Avodat Shalom,
385 Howland Ave., River Edge
When: 10:30 a.m., Saturday, March 2
JS-15

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 15

Local
Fair Lawn shul collects diapers
Young parents’ need for the basics
spurs drive by energized couple
BANJI GANCHROW
A
nyone who has ever had a baby
knows how important diapers are.
(Even if haven’t had one, probably
you can guess.)
Unfortunately, one in three families cannot
afford diapers. In order to send your child to
daycare while you work, you need to be able
to supply diapers for your child. If you cannot
afford those diapers, you cannot work. Public
assistance might cover formula and other baby
accoutrements, but it does not cover the cost
of diapers.
Kira and Andrew Wigod, long-time Fair
Lawn residents, know about these heartbreak-
ing and distressing facts and statistics. Kira
Wigod, who is a licensed clinical social worker
in the Bronx and in Teaneck, has seen how
financially demanding costs can have a detri-
mental effect on families. She and her husband
decided that they wanted to help do something
about the problem.
“As a mom of a 2-year-old, someone who goes
through a lot of diapers, it hit me really hard
to learn how many people cannot afford this
basic necessity,” Ms. Wigod said. “Andrew and
I decided that we needed to do something, and
then we decided that tying a diaper drive with a
children’s event would be the best way to start
making a difference.” So, putting their thoughts
into action, they sponsored a show with the Liz-
ard Guy, paired with a diaper drive.
As they planned, they decided to reach out
to the Fair Lawn branch of the Jewish Family
and Children’s Services of Northern New Jer-
sey, because the agency is local and it has food
pantries that distribute diapers and other baby
items. (One of the pantries is in Fair Lawn, and
16 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
From left, Rabbi
Ely Shestack of
Ahavat Achim
and Andrew and
Kira Wigod
stand in front
of a stack of
donated diapers.
the other is in Teaneck.) “We wanted to make this
a local cause and that is why we chose to have
the event itself at Ahavat Achim,” Ms. Wigod said.
(Ahavat Achim is an Orthodox synagogue on Sad-
dle River Road in Fair Lawn.) For the week before
the February 10 show, participants were encour-
aged to donate diapers, and the Wigods coordi-
nated with JFCS to have the diapers brought to
the food pantry. Admission to the show was a
sealed pack of diapers. More than 4,000 diapers
were collected, and more than 150 people from
all over Bergen County showed up so see the Liz-
ard Guy — and to donate diapers.
Michael Dworkis is a member of Ahavat
Achim and he was the Wigods’ contact person
at JFCS. He and his family attended the event.
“ “This diaper donation will help hundreds
of JFCS families keep their children comfort-
able while allowing parents to put their dollars
towards more pressing needs such as food and
healthcare costs,” he said.
The Wigods were “overwhelmed with the
turnout and the amazing generosity” of their
congregation and the community, and they
hope to turn this one-time diaper drive into an
annual event. But the most important thing,
they felt, was shining a light on the very import-
ant issue at hand. That’s the fact that families
who are struggling to survive economically
often can’t afford to pay for diapers, and that
can and does affect their children’s health and
well-being. Wigod also pointed out that “when
your child outgrows a size of diapers, you can
always donate the remaining sealed packages to
the food pantry because they are always looking
for donations.”
People are invited to drop off sealed pack-
ages of diapers to the food pantry on 17-10 River
Road, Fair Lawn.
From left, Latvian high school principal Nora Shnepste,
Preili Museum of History director Tecla Bekesha, Ludmila
Prakhina, and master of ceremonies Elly Lerner
‘Gone’
Local students win Prakhim
award for keeping memory
of Stalinism, Nazism alive
ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN
W
ith every passing year, the challenge of keeping
alive the memory of victims of the Nazi and Stalin-
ist regimes grows more difficult, and the promo-
tion of tolerance more urgent.
This is why Ludmila Prakhina of Fair Lawn and her two sons,
Boris of Paramus and Michael of Glen Rock, established the Pra-
khin International Literary Foundation in 2006.
Ms. Prakhina’s parents were arrested and exiled by the Stalinist
regime in a 1941 mass deportation from Moldova.
The foundation provides “financial and moral support to authors
engaged in the global fight for democracy, peace, equality of all
races and cultures, and the suppression and eradication of fascism
and anti-Semitism.” The foundation also runs an annual student
competition recognizing works of art, prose, poetry, journalism, or
scholarship about that tragic period of European history.
This year, the foundation received 45 submissions from schools
that use a curriculum, “Stalin and his Repressive Regime,” created
by the Prakhin Foundation in conjunction with the New Jersey
Commission on Holocaust Education and Genocide.
Three New Jersey high school students received prizes for their
writing at the Prakhin Foundation’s 12th Annual Student Literary
Award Ceremony, held January 31 at Bergen Community College.
The winners were Daniel Mezhiborsky of Fair Lawn High School
for his poem “Gone” (see box); Chloe Yang of Weehawken High
School for her poem “Black smoke filled my lungs”; and Aditi
Fair Lawn High School
teacher Suzanne
Gons reading Daniel
Mezhiborsky’s winning
poem, “Gone.”
PHOTOS BY BORIS KJ
 Local

Desai of Livingston High School for her article “Equity.”

And my sister’s shaking calmed.
Daniel, a student in Fair Lawn High School’s elective ‘Gone’ But then, a shout — and another hand pulling on my
course on Holocaust and genocide taught by Henry Van
By Daniel Mezhiborsky sister’s arm.
Kooy, was unable to attend the ceremony because of
I didn’t have time to scream before he had her
an injury. In his absence Suzanne Gons, the supervisor
My sister — Before the guard took her away.
of social studies, art, and technology in the Fair Lawn
Where is my sister? But make no mistake. It came soon after.
school district, read his winning poem to the audience.
We stepped off the railcar like they said I screamed like I have never screamed before.
Talking to the Jewish Standard afterward, Daniel
We waited in the long line and smelled the smoke I looked to see my sister —
explained that his poem was motivated by his feeling
My mom cried. On her face I saw the most excruciating of
that many people, especially in the United States, don’t
My arms ached expressions,
know much about Jewish culture.
And the people all around were quiet. The most cursed of looks,
“I was born in Israel, and I’m a Jew,” he said. “My par-
Where is my sister? The most painful of cries.
ents are European Jews, and so Jewish culture is a large
She’s here. I can see her. In her eyes I saw fear,
part of my life. I believe that one of the most important
I hold her hand. She’s shaking. I saw confusion,
things I can do is to help people to remember the trag-
The line is narrowing I saw sorrow,
edy that happened during the Holocaust.”
And I see the man in the white coat. I saw pure terror.
He stressed that the poem is fictional; he has an older
My sister’s crying But then the crowd closed around them
sister but wrote the piece as if he were an older brother.
And I stop to hold her. And I was left standing alone.
“I wanted to imagine what I would be thinking or
“Bewegung.” Move, the guard says. The world around me moved, but I stood still.
going through if I were in that situation,” he said. “That’s
Our mother’s behind us as we step up to the man. The pang of uselessness, the surge of anguish that
where it stemmed from. There’s not always a huge
He points to one of the lines behind him. flooded me... I felt my soul
opportunity to express these kinds of things, so I wanted
Where’s my sister? I feel her hand. crumble. My knees weakened. I fell.
to take the opportunity when it came up in class.”
We walk carefully to where the man pointed Gone.
Daniel, who is almost 18, has lived in Fair Lawn
for nearly five years. He hopes to become an electri-
cal engineer. He has not yet visited the sites of former Šņepste and Tecla Bekesha, director of the Preili His- addressed the gathering.
death camps in Europe but he hopes to do so. tory and Applied Arts Museum in Latvia. Fair Lawn’s Bernhard Storch, a 96-year-old Polish-born Holo-
The Prakhin awards program was highlighted by Mayor Kurt Peluso and a Holocaust survivor and moti- caust survivor who participated in the liberation of
presentations from Latvian high school principal Nora vational speaker, Sami Steigmann of New York, also SEE GONE PAGE 54

Eternal Flame and B"H

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remarkable experience as a Sergeant in the US Army
participating in the liberation of the Mauthausen Concentration
DOORS OPEN: 6:30PM | PROGRAM: 7:00PM Camp in Austria, where over 90,000 Jews were killed.
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 17

Briefly Local

Jewish federations combine

under a new umbrella group
Say goodbye to the New Jersey State Asso- along collective issues,” Jason Shames
ciation of Jewish Federations. said. Mr. Shames is the CEO of the Jewish
That umbrella body, which led federa- Federation of Northern New Jersey. “Ide-
tion lobbying in Trenton, is being replaced ally, it can get sophisticated enough one of
by a new group called New Jersey Jewish these days to talk about how we collectively
Federations. This new group will represent market.”
the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jer- Mr. Shames said the change, which takes
sey and five other federations in the state; effect with the new fiscal year on July 1,
other federations are expected to sign up reflects “a need to refocus and make a little Lisa Beth Meisel Jen Maxfield Ostfeld
before too long. more streamlined and try to improve some and Greg Meisel and Scott Ostfeld
Unlike the state association, which had efficiencies. The federation execs have rec-
its own governing board, the new body will
report directly to the participating federa-
ognizes that we’re in a different era right
now and need to be a little more nimble.
Two couples chosen for honors
tions. And its scope is planned to extend With the rise in hate and bias crime, work- by Temple Emanu-El of Closter
beyond government relations. ing more closely with Trenton makes a lot Temple Emanu-El in Closter is cele- at Rockleigh, and he also has sat on
“It will be convening the federations of sense.” brating its 91st year with its annual many JCC committees. At Emanu-El,
celebration, “Making a Difference he’s been on the board, treasurer of
Together,” on Saturday, March 2. It the executive board, first vice presi-
will honor Lisa Beth Meisel and Greg dent, and president.
Local shuls join processional Meisel with the Founders’ award and Jen Maxfield Ostfeld and Scott Ost-
of Torahs surviving Holocaust Jen Maxfield Ostfeld and Scott Ostfeld,
with the Young Leadership award. The
feld have been members of Temple
Emanu-El for six years. They have been
On February 5, Temple Emanu-El gala begins at 6:45 p.m. with Havdalah involved in projects both at the shul and
in Manhattan, in partnership with and the program; the strolling dinner in the larger Jewish community, includ-
Memorial Scrolls Trust of London, is at 8; a live auction at 9:45, and a ing the American Jewish Joint Distribu-
held a processional with 75 Torah silent auction throughout the evening. tion Committee. In 2017, Jewish Women
scrolls from Czechoslovakia that Lisa Beth and Greg Meisel moved International selected Jen as a Woman
survived the Holocaust. It was to Tenafly and joined the Kaplen JCC to Watch. The Ostfelds support Bet Elaz-
timed to mark the opening of a new on the Palisades. Lisa Beth, now a vice raki Children´s Home in Israel and are
exhibit in the shul’s museum called president on the executive board, was sponsoring college scholarships for IDF
“The Guiding Hand: An Exhibition on the JCC board and chaired many and lone soldiers who have completed
of Torah Pointers, Past and Pres- committees. She is on the Jewish Fed- their service.
ent,” which will display 200 Torah eration of North America’s Young Jen has been on the board at the
pointers of all styles and national Leadership Cabinet, and has gone with Center for Food Action and is a vice
origins, some up to 400 years that group to Russia, Berlin, Poland, president of the board at the Elisabeth
old. The exhibit will be on display and Israel. She also has received the Morrow School. Scott has been on the
through May 30. Jewish Federation of Northern New board of the Opportunity Network for
Rabbi Steven Sirbu of Temple Jersey’s Rising Star award. Greg has over a decade. Jen and Scott met at
Emeth in Teaneck held led many missions to Israel over a Columbia University, and they both
the shul’s Holocaust Rabbi Steven Sirbu 10-year period; two were for Temple remain active there. Jen is on Columbia
Torah, which was res- of Temple Emeth in Emanu-El and the local community. College’s board of visitors and Scott is
cued from the city of Teaneck. COURTESY EMETH He also organized and led JFNNJ’s on the board of Columbia University’s
Plseň. largest family trip; 325 people, 80 Richman Center for Business, Law, and
Jean and Charlie Ticho, from Temple Emanu-El, who went to Public Policy.
members of Temple Israel together. Greg has been on the For more information, call (201) 750-
Emanuel of the Pascack board of JFNNJ and the Jewish Home 9997 or go to TempleEmanu-el.com.
Valley in Woodcliff Lake
for 53 years, were invited
to attend the Manhattan Rebbetzin’s
gathering to bring the
shul’s Torah scroll from 31st yahrzeit
the destroyed Jewish is observed
community of Pribram.
After the Nazi army Recently, women gathered at Bris
invaded Czechoslovakia in Avrohom to mark the 31st yahrzeit of
March 1939, they ordered Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneer-
all Jewish congregations to Jean and Charlie Ticho PHOTOS COURTESY TEPV son. Esther Sternberg, who took
ship their possessions to care of the rebbetzin for more than
the Jewish Museum in Prague. There, to the Westminster Synagogue in Lon- 30 years, told inspirational stories
more than 1,800 scrolls were care- don, where they were cleaned, and about her and the lessons to emu-
fully inventoried and tagged by Jew- some were restored for kosher use. late from her life. The gathering was
ish scholars. Then they were uncer- The scrolls were made available as a organized and hosted by Shterney
emoniously stored in an abandoned memorial for safekeeping in Jewish Kanelsky of Bris Avrohom in honor
synagogue. After the war, a donor and non-Jewish institutions all over of her birthday.
bought the scrolls and brought them the world. Esther Sternberg and Shterney
Kanelsky COURTESY BRIS AVROHOM

18 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019

 Briefly Local

Reproductive health care access

will be discussed in West Nyack
Susan Tuchman Acacia Bamberg Salatti, vice president
talks to BCHSJS of external affairs at Planned Parent-
students and hood Hudson Peconic, will discuss
their parents. health equality and access to reproduc-
tive health care at a meeting of the Rock-
land section of the National Council of
Jewish Women on Wednesday, March 6,
at 7:30 p.m.
During the Obama administration,
Ms. Salatti was the director of the
Center for Faith-based and Neighbor-
hood Partnerships at the U.S. Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services,
where she worked to educate the public
about the Affordable Care Act.
The meeting will be at the JCC Rock-
land, 450 West Nyack Road, in West
Nyack. Refreshments will be served. For
information go to ncjwrockland.org.

BCHSJS students

PHOTOS COURTESY BCHSJS

meet ZOA leaders
Last week, the Bergen County High School of
Jewish Studies held a breakfast for BCHSJS seniors
and their parents. The guest speaker was Susan
Tuchman, director of the ZOA’s Center for Law and
Justice, who discussed “Anti-Semitism and Israel
Bashing on Campus: What You Should Know and Alan Jay of ZOA, left,
How You Can Fight It.” Afterward, parents met for and Fred Nagler,
bagels and schmoozing; Ms. Tuchman and Alan Jay,
the ZOA’ executive director for its northern New
BCHSJS principal.
It’s a wrap
Jersey region, joined them. Ms. Tuchman will be the L’Dor V’Dor honoree at the Congregants of Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in Woodcliff Lake
Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies annual gala on June 5. participated in the annual World Wide Wrap on February 3. COURTESY TEPV

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 UPCOMING AT KAPLEN
Art Gallery Tours
WITH TOBI KAHN
Be inspired as Tobi leads you to the most interesting
art exhibits and galleries in Manhattan. Group meets
in NYC. Registration required.
8 Tuesdays, Mar 26-Jun 11, 11 am-1 pm, $320/$395 or
8 Thursdays, Mar 28-Jun 13, 11 am-1 pm, $320/$395
THE LEONARD & SYRIL RUBIN NURSERY SCHOOL
Open House & Magic Show!
3 Months-Kindergarten
Tour our preschool while your kids enjoy a fantastic
and exciting magic show! Parents will learn what
makes our nursery school progressive, academic as
well as play based, and how we incorporate Jewish
values into our classrooms.
Sun, Mar 3, 10-11:30 am
Register: jccotp.org/nsopenhouse
One parent is required to stay with their child during
the magic show.
COMMUNITY
Join the Fun at the Rubach
Family Purim Celebration!
Bring your children in their favorite Purim
costumes to enjoy junior bounce and moon
bounce, slides, games, prizes, life-size cartoon
characters, snacks, and more. Suggested
entrance donation: $1 per person or non-
perishable food item to be donated to the
Center for Food Action. Purchase tickets at
jccotp.org/purim for expedited entry. All ride &
game tickets sold on $25 cards for 30 tickets.
Mar 17, 1-4 pm; Opens at 12 pm for families
with children with special needs.
PA Program offered as part of the JCC Patron of the Arts
Program. Find out more at jccotp.org/patrons.
KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades TAUB CAMPUS | 411 E CLINTON AVE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
20 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
JCC on the Palisades
KIDS
Neil Klatskin Summer Camps
REGISTER FOR ANY CAMP BY MARCH 31
AND SAVE $25/WEEK*
Our camps offer incredible indoor and
outdoor facilities, onsite swimming, and
dynamic programming taught by the best
specialists around. Lunch, snack, and towel
service are included. Transportation, extended
care and Hebrew immersion options available.
Visit jccotp.org/camps
DAY CAMP: Age 3–Grade 2
June 24-Aug 16, 9 am-4 pm
SPECIALTY CAMPS: Grades 3+
June 24-Aug 30, 9 am-4 pm
*Restrictions apply. Call for details.
Purim Feast—
the Whole Megillah
WITH JOJO RUBACH
Join JoJo as he creates a hearty
vegetarian feast fit for “the Queen.”
Some of the flavorful dishes you’ll
indulge your taste buds on are
Shakshouka, Falafel, Pomegranate
and Pistachio Nut Salad, Mejadra,
Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Fresh
Figs, Quinoa and Tabbouleh. And,
to complement the meal, JoJo will
serve Pomegranate Margaritas, a
perfect drink for this joyful holiday.
Thur, Mar 14, 7-9:30 pm, $65/$78
ADULTS
Sunday of Strong Women PA
Come together for a day of laughs, lunch and loads of
inspiration as three female authors share their ideas.
Authors include: Angela Himsel: A River Could Be a
Tree; Susie Orman Schnall: The Subway Girls; and
Alexandra Silber: White Hot Grief Parade.
Event sponsors: Kim & Marc Harrison, Lisa Beth & Greg
Meisel, Eileen & Brian Pleva and Julie Segal & Mark
Warner. Supported in part by the James H. Grossmann
Memorial Jewish Book Endowment Fund
Sun, Mar 24, 10:30 am-1:30 pm, $38/$46
TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFO
VISIT jccotp.org
STAY IN THE KNOW! LIKE US ON
facebook.com/KaplenJCCOTP
E VeNT S

AND CELEBRATIONS
S-22 Jewish Standard WINTER 2019 EVENTS & CELEBRATIONS

FIRST place
KOSHER CATERER
 Jewish Standard S-23

Beautiful contracts........................24
Artists create custom ketubahs

Milestone with Mickey..................26

Marking the big 8-0 birthday at Disney World

More into the big day...................27

Go for the gusto for the wedding

Office party...................................28
Corporate events big and small build the team

Milestone celebrations..................29
Marking key birthdays, anniversaries and more
Out and about...............................30
Fun times help bond employees

Entertain in Style...........................31
Old Fashioned in style..................32             
The cocktail still makes spirits soar

Wedding planning 101..................33


 
 


 




Mitzvah
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S-24 Jewish Standard WINTER 2019 EVENTS & CELEBRATIONS
Dori, from Teaneck, and Matan Cohen, from Glen Rock,
who recently got married, had a ketubah made using a
design by artist Britt Yudell. Below, one of her designs.
Beautiful
contracts
Artists create custom ketubahs
Heidi Mae Bratt
I
was very excited to get married to
Jeff more than 19 years ago, and
likewise excited to shop for the
elements that were part of our
traditional Jewish wedding. There
were large glass candleholders
carried by our parents as they escorted
us down the aisle. There was the plate
(not to be confused with the glass) bro-
ken during the tanaim, which set down
the “conditions” of the marriage. There
was the crisp, white kittel, or robe, worn
by Jeff under the chuppah.
And of course, there was the ketubah,
the ancient marriage contract read under
the chuppah in its original Aramaic. I
shopped carefully for that document,
which details the groom’s responsibilities
toward his future wife after marriage that
include his providing her with a home,
clothing, food, and marital relations.
Under Jewish law, the traditional
wedding ceremony process starts with
the signing of the ketubah, Hebrew for
“written thing.”
I searched the Judaic stores and
found a very pretty print for our
ketubah. But if you asked me today
what it looks like, I don’t remember
because once signed, sealed and deliv-
ered, I put it away in a drawer. Had I
known then what I know now…
Two Brooklyn-based artists with ties
to Bergen County have used their tal-
ent to create ketubahs that not only are
extremely display-worthy (many peo-
ple actually do frame and hang their
ketubahs) but that are unique pieces of
beautiful and meaningful art.
David Master, artist and owner of Time-
less Ketubah (timelessketubah.com),
grew up in Teaneck and got his BFA at
Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers
University and later an MBA at the City
University of New York Baruch College.
He worked for a company in the
 Jewish Standard S-25

social services sector, but his love of art,

especially his affinity to creating three-
dimensional art and sculptures, was his
passion. It wasn’t until he was to marry
his wife, Elana, a musician and music
teacher originally from Pomona in Rock-
land County, that they started the search
for their own ketubah, that they decided
to create their own.
“It all started when my wife, Elana,
and I were planning our own wedding,”
said Mr. Master, 34. “With her keen eye
for style and color and my background
in fine art and design, we worked
together to create original elements for
our wedding.” They wanted to include
meaningful traditions and rituals in a
unique way that would highlight them
individually and together as a couple.
Thus, his first sculptural ketubah was
born. Displayed at their own wedding at
The Rockleigh in Rockleigh, the piece of
art/ketubah was admired by his family
and friends.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Mr. Master creates the sculpture from
a clay mold initially, and fills it in with
resin. He then finishes it with a patina
that resembles bronze. (Actual bronze
sculptures are available as well, but they Artist Britt Yudell at work.
are heavier and costlier.) The text is cus-
tomized as well and couples can choose
more traditional texts, more modern
versions, and even have their own words
displayed on the ketubah, which takes
about three months to complete.
“They are fully customized,” said
Mr. Master. “They could have anything
they like.”
Mr. Master has even create anniversary
ketubahs, which mark the milestone of a
wedding taken place years early.
“It really personalizes the wedding
day and the couple has a keepsake that
they can display and remind them of
their wedding and marriage.”
For artist and designer Britt Yudell,
who grew up in Israel, her ketubah art-
istry and then business (britcolors.com)
also began when she wanted to give a Artist and owner of Timeless Ketubah, David Master, at
special gift to very dear Canadian friend work creating his three-dimensional works. At left, one of
who was getting married about five David Master’s Timeless Ketubahs.
years ago.
Her friend asked her to make a
ketubah for her home. The concept of
displaying a ketubah was quite foreign So using colored cotton threads, Ms. In addition to the embroidered Ms. Yudell said it is an honor to be
to Ms. Yudell because, in Israel, she Yudell created her first embroidered ketubahs, she is a self-taught painter part of a couple’s wedding in such a way
explained, the tradition is for the bride’s ketubah. and makes custom designed watercolor as to create their ketubah.
mother to get the ketubah after the wed- Ms. Yudell got the creative gene. Her ketubahs. It takes about eight weeks for She also noted that her name Britt
ding and put it away. father is the well-known Israeli ceramist her to complete a custom-made ketubah. (brit) is translated from Hebrew to mean
“The bride’s mother puts it in a Mark Yudell and her mother is jeweler “Now I really believed that they covenant or alliance, so it is fitting for
drawer,” she said. Ruthie Anchelovici. Ms. Yudell studied should be hung on the wall,” she said. her to do this work and to be part of a
“This was my first ketubah, and a gift, interior design at the Holon Institute of She will use her talents for her own couple’s union.
so I had to make it very special,” said Ms. Technolo�y. June 27 wedding in Israel, when she mar- “To be part of the couple’s lives, and
Yudell. “I had this idea to embroider the “I get a lot of inspiration from my ries fiancé Adir Cohen, a musician and to be able to use my art and be part of
ketubah because I had never seen an father and his colorful artistic sculp- social worker, whose father, who made something so special is really some-
embroidered ketubah before.” tures,” said Ms. Yudell. aliyah, hails from Glen Rock originally. thing,” she said.
S-26 Jewish Standard WINTER 2019 EVENTS & CELEBRATIONS

Milestone with Mickey Kingdom Lodge. Its vast interior was

Marking the big 8-0 birthday at Disney World
Ed Silberfarb
ist, was able to ease some of the pain by
fashioned like the headquarters of a
royal African chieftain. Carved pillars
of polished wood adorned the huge
atrium. Tribal masks and other Afri-
Our son, Jake, a Marine Corps reserv-
can-style decorations were displayed
the Disney light parade with floats twin-
kling in phantasmagorical designs down
Main Street of the Magic Kingdom.
Overriding all was the birthday,
not only my 80th, but also nephew
Michael’s 50th. He and his family and

T
he big 80th birthday was in the
not-too-distant future. My plan
was to go quietly into that ninth
decade, maybe with a glass of
scotch and early to bed. My wife, Sha-
ron, thought otherwise.
“Let’s take the whole family to Disney
World,” she said.
“By that you mean air fare, hotel,
food, and theme park tickets for 11
people?”
“Right. We must start planning now.
It’s just six months away.”
Immediately three problems came to
mind: (1) the calendar, how to go when it’s
not too hot, too expensive, too crowded,
and the grandchildren are free from
school; (2) food that is certified kosher not
only by a mashgiach but also by my son,
Yossie; (3) and, oh, yes, money.
We ruled out July and August because
of Florida heat, vacation mobs, and high
season expense. We finally settled on
June, when the scorching weather and
massive crowds are just beginning and
the school absences would be minimized.
getting military discounts for the hotel
and tickets to the theme parks.
Arranging meals was like planning
the Allied invasion of North Africa. We
agreed breakfast would be juice, cold
cereal, fruit, yogurt, milk, and coffee in
our rooms, which would have refrigera-
tors and coffee makers. For lunch every-
one would be on his own, because we
learned that each of the theme parks
had at least one eatery that offered lim-
ited kosher food.
We would regroup for dinner, the one
time each day we would all be together.
Disney can provide full kosher meals on
request, and a great cloud of concern
was lifted when we learned that the Dis-
ney kosher caterer was a friend of Sha-
ron’s nephew, Michael.
However, eating kosher food in a non-
kosher restaurant created the wrong
impression, said Yossie, so our dinners
together were either in secluded cor-
ners or, on two occasions, in elegant
private rooms.
Our hotel would be the new Animal
throughout the lobby. But the most dra-
matic sight was when we entered our
beautiful room. Outside our windows
were giraffes, zebras, and long-horned
deer. Granddaughter Alina, then age 3,
thought they were pictures until she saw
them move.
Our first day we went to the Magic
Kingdom, the jewel of the Disney
crown, where Cinderella’s castle looms
above and tourists swirl about to await
Peter Pan’s Wild Ride, to join Pirates of
the Caribbean, and to learn that “It’s a
Small World After All.”
Granddaughter Devorah announced
that I was to be her escort throughout Dis-
ney World. I was flattered until I learned
that my movements would be restricted.
She rejected Splash Mountain, where a
harrowing roller-coaster ride ended in
a cold-water dunk, refreshing for a hot
day. Instead we experienced more sedate
activities like a concert by animated bears
playing country music instruments and
singing in a western drawl.
But nothing could match the charm of
Sharon’s sister, Joan, joined us for part
of our stay. Disney anointed me with
a saucer-size Mickey Mouse “Happy
Birthday, Ed” button that evoked greet-
ings from all passersby. Loneliness was
never a problem when I wore it.
We ordered massive birthday cakes
with suitable decorations for each of
the four celebratory dinners, marking
my 80th, Michael’s 50th, and the bar
and bat mitzvahs of the grandchildren.
After sunset the EPCOT lagoon was
the scene of exciting fireworks, but
before sunset there was another activ-
ity. Yossie and Michael rounded up a
minyan for mincha behind the Canada
pavilion. There is, after all, a higher call-
ing that surpasses even Disney World.
Ed Silberfarb was a reporter for the
Bergen Record in New Jersey, then the New
York Herald Tribune where he was City
Hall bureau chief. Later, he was a public
information officer for the New York City
Transit Authority and editor of one of its
employee publications.

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Photo courtesy of Getty Images / Source: eLivingToday.com
More into the big day
Go for the gusto during the wedding
A
wedding day is filled with
symbolic tradition, from var-
ied religious customs to the
never-ending circle reflected
in the rings and the types of flowers
accentuating the celebration. Even
with all the traditional rituals to con-
sider, nearly every bride and groom
can find ways to give their special
day some unique touches that reflect
their personality and love.
Music sets the mood for every
wedding, and it’s an easy place to
put your own spin on the celebra-
tion. Whether you forgo the tradi-
tional bridal march entirely or sim-
ply look for an arrangement that
gives an updated twist to the classic
version, let guests know this isn’t
your average wedding by setting the
festivities against a soundtrack that
lets your true character shine.
The wedding party is intended to
be a collection of those nearest and
dearest to the bride and groom, who
help ensure the day goes off without
a hitch and who lead fellow revelers
in celebrating the start of the new
couple’s life together. That being
said, there’s no reason this group
must be limited to women on her
side and guys on his, or even that
it’s limited to humans — a beloved
pooch can make for an adorable
ring-bearer, after all.
Photography is an essential ele-
ment of your big day, but think
beyond the images you’ll capture
throughout the wedding and recep-
tion. Photos lend a personal touch,
no matter what your color scheme
or theme. Integrate photos of the
Jewish Standard S-27
Book your next
event with us!
two of you at various stages of life, For more information, call 201.568.6867 or
together as a couple and with loved email info@templesinaibc.org
ones (perhaps even some you’re
honoring in memoriam). You can
display these at a table with the
guest book, as part of the table cen-
terpieces, or even on the gift table.
Or take things digital and load all
your images into a slide show set to
music.
Make favors meaningful. Forgo
more common items like bubbles
and chocolate, and instead send
a little of yourself home with your
guests. Maybe it’s a memento from
a place with special meaning to you
both, or a bottle opener shaped like
a bicycle to represent the way you
met. Just think about the moments
and things that define you as a cou-
ple and do some searching online.
You’ll probably be surprised by how
quickly the options pile up.
Serve up a menu that shows
guests more about your life together.
Your loved ones can order basic beef
or chicken anywhere. Instead, give
them a glimpse into you. Make your
main course the same food you
enjoyed on your first date or dur-
ing another monumental moment
in your courtship. Or plan the entire
menu around a region that you hold
close to your heart.
Weddings are filled with tradi-
tions, but that doesn’t mean you
can’t put your own touches on the
day for a special event filled with
memories that are uniquely your
own. Find more advice for life’s spe-
cial moments at elivingtoday.com.
Family Features
1 Engle St, Tenafly, NJ 07670 | templesinaibc.org
S-28 Jewish Standard WINTER 2019 EVENTS & CELEBRATIONS

Office party
Corporate events big and small build the team
Heidi Mae Bratt Later, you also have to take into account
the attributes of your target audience,

S
tarting to notice droopy shoul-
ders around the office? It might
be time to plan a team outing or
a corporate event to boost spirit,
morale, and insert some new vigor into
the workplace.
Team outings are a great way to facili-
tate bonding, reduce employee stress,
and give employees a chance to get to
know one another outside of their cubi-
cles. The event could be as simple as a
lunch at a local restaurant or as elabo-
rate as an evening soiree, replete with
entertainment, in a venue or hotel.
In addition to the workplace benefit,
these corporate events are fun.
How to get started?
Set your goals clearly
That has to be the first thing on your
mind, to have clear objectives. Depend-
ing upon goals that are to be achieved
with the event, you can decide what
kind of an event would be suitable.
the impression you want to create, and
what can you attendees gain from your
event.
Team up
For small business owners and start-
ups, events can be a little heavy on your
pockets. So, you could collaborate with
similar businesses to share the work-
load, expenses, and of course, the ben-
efits. You could even hire a professional
event organizer to make sure the event
is a memorable one. Also, ensure that
the marketing needs of each of the busi-
nesses are met during the event.
Ask for help
If this is your first time at organizing an
event, you need to ask for help. Most
people do not realize how much effort
goes into making a corporate event,
even if it lasts a few hours. Setting a date,
finding a venue, organizing a team and
allotting tasks, finding caterers, putting
up decorations, sending invites — it’s a
seemingly endless list. Don’t panic. Ask
event organizers or those who have done
it before to help you out. In such cases,
collaborations can be highly beneficial.
Promote it
More than what you say or how you say
it, the right kind of promotion relies on
where you say it. Once you know who
your target audience is, you’ll be able to
find out their online and offline hang-
outs, and carry out promotional activi-
ties there. Facebook, Twitter, email,
blog posts are regulars when it comes
to social media. Apart from these, you
could go up to your customers and cli-
Make attendance attractive
Even after the right kind of promotion,
you might want to be on the safer side
and ensure attendance by offering the
right kind of incentives. A remarkable
guest speaker, a quirky theme or venue,
interesting interactive sessions, all pose
as points that intrigue attendees and
make them register for events. In fact,
they might even recommend your event
to their friends, increasing your ticket
sales and filling up your venue.
Get feedback
Where there is scope of being better,
there is scope for growth. Getting feed-
back from your attendees is extremely

Having ents and get the word out about your

event face-to-face, encouraging your
team members to do the same, too.
important so that you can figure out
your flaws and correct them, and polish
the things you did right.

an affair? Powerhouse Studios Paramus

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Accessories, too! in the bar/bat mitz-
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room. Stop by and meet their emcees, the perfect party. The Pellegrinos
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 Jewish Standard S-29

Milestone celebrations fundraiser. More than 300 people are

expected, said Mr. Friedman.

Marking key birthdays, anniversaries, and more “This will be a blown-out affair,” said
Mr. Friedman, “with party planners,
beautiful decorations, lighting, and all
Heidi Mae Bratt events because it has so many different Thanks for the memories our specialties, including drinks, sushi,
spaces within its facility. From its Skybox Imagine a 50th wedding anniversary Peking duck and the best food. It’s going

L
ife is full of events that mark mile-
stones. From a birthday, anniver-
sary, graduation or retirement to a
new job, each is a rite of passage to
be acknowledged and celebrated.
How we choose to mark these life
events is wide-ranging and depends on
who we are and what we are celebrating.
The celebrations can range from global
travel to small parties to large-scale
event extravaganzas.
Off to the races
At Meadowlands Racing & Entertain-
ment in East Rutherford, the milestone
celebrations that have taken place run
the gamut.
“We do milestone everything,” said
Andrea Lokshin, vice president of sales
and marketing for Meadowlands Racing
& Entertainment. They specialize in bar
and bat mitzvahs, weddings, retirement
parties, birthday parties, anniversaries,
corporate events and more.
Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment
is especially well suited for a variety of
Suites, six individual suites overlooking
the race track, which can be configured
to accommodate up to 200 guests, to
The Backyard, its sprawling 2 ½ acre out-
door dining and entertaining section that
can accommodate up to 10,000 people
for events and festivals, Meadowlands
offers much in the way of space.
What is most unique and a big draw
for many who choose to celebrate at
Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment,
Ms. Lokshin said, is the horse racing
itself. Celebrants can “name a race”
if they wish, to mark their day. That
race would be dedicated to their event.
Where else could a bar or bat mitzvah
get his or her logo emblazoned on a
JumboTron or someone turning 50 get a
shoutout in lights for his or her birthday?
“This is something that no other place
can offer,” said Ms. Lokskin. “You can
watch the race at trackside next to the
racing action, dedicate that race to the
honored guest, and take photos in the
winners circle. It’s a great way to mark
your special milestone.”
for a couple, taking place at a venue
where their daughter got married sev-
eral years ago? That’s what is on the
calendar at Northern Valley Affairs at
Temple Emanu-El in Closter, said owner
Les Friedman, who creates memorable
affairs with manager Marty Maged.
The 50th wedding anniversary party
in June will have 125 guests. It will be
filled with new memories and old. The
staff will recreate the couple’s original
wedding cake and put their original
topper on it. In addition, said Mr. Fried-
man, the couple will have a “first wed-
ding dance” and invite their friends who
attended their wedding 50 years ago and
who will be at the party to join in.
“What better place to celebrate this
milestone anniversary than at the place
where your daughter got married?”
asked Mr. Friedman.
Northern Valley Affairs will put
together another milestone celebration
on March 2 when Temple Emanu-El,
which was originally located in Engle-
wood, celebrates 91 years at its annual
to be like a wedding.”
Go with the glow
Over in Waldwick, Glow Party Venue
is the perfect place to host a birthday
party, retirement party, or holiday party.
The venue supports all kinds of events,
including bar and bat mitzvahs, sweet
16s, retirement parties, anniversaries,
you name it.
The venue prides itself on its conve-
nient location and in offering entertain-
ment and a unique party experience.
Glow Party Venue has several party
rooms for exclusive use of the entire
facility for up to five hours for teen and
adult parties, corporate events, and fun-
draising events.
Another plus: there is no need to
travel into New York City because Glow
Party Venue physically resembles some
of the “cool” city spaces with it ware-
house, club-like space. Glow Party Venue
is conveniently located near many high-
ways, across from The Superdome, and
next door to Waldwick Indoor Tennis.

y
ou’
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ted
Sunday,March 10, 2019 1pm-3pm
to debut Our New ly
Renovated event space
Hollywood Ballroom
@ Powerhous eS tudi
os Paramus
Food * Fun * Entertai nment
& More * Bring The Fami ly!

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o many Pos
sibi
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o much fun.
..
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49 E.Midland Avenue
Paramus,NJ 07652
w w w.
powerhous estudi
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1-800-287-4613
S-30 Jewish Standard WINTER 2019 EVENTS & CELEBRATIONS

Out and about

Fun times bring out the best in employees
Heidi Mae Bratt Trampoline Park

C
Who says trampolines are just for kids? Take the team
reative ideas abound for corporate outings.
to a trampoline park for some jumping fun and a
Sometimes you don’t just want to get out of the
chance to work off the day’s stress. Many cities have
office, but into an adventure. Here are a few
local places with trampoline activities like dodge ball
ideas to consider.
and other sports that are played on the up and down.

The Best Selection of

Scavenger Hunt Indoor Rock Climbing
Find a beautiful day, break everyone out into groups,
Talliot and Scaling the heights is the goal in business. Employees
Kippot anywhere. and have a scavenger hunt around the city. You can
can try to scale the walls — the heights — at an indoor
Exquisite Styles organize one yourself, or use an app like Stray Boots.
for Women, Men, rock-climbing venue. It is fun and great exercise. You
Your team will feel nice and rejuvenated after some
Bar and Bat Mitzvah can make a competition out of it as well. Many places
fresh air and fun challenges. Be sure to take plenty
Mention this ad for typically host parties and events so party rooms are an
of silly pictures, you can even have a slideshow when
10% OFF everyone regroups at the end.
option for a meeting or a meal in between climbs.

Beautifully Beaded, Crystal, Improv Workshop

Crocheted, Suede, Lace Go-Kart Racing Comedy and improv events are fun, interactive experi-
Kippot, Tallit Clips There’s nothing like a little competition to bond a group
ences that will have your employees roaring with laugh-
together. An adrenaline-pumping event like go-kart rac-
ter while teaching them useful communication and soft
Lisa Prawer ing is a great way to get employees to interact with one
skills, like focus and trust. Depending on your budget,
Convenient Bergen County Location · 201-321-4995 another in a totally new and fun way. Just make sure
you could do anything from simply playing improv
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games with your employees to bringing in profession-
of these places have separate party rooms for you to
als to run competitive, fast-paced activities.
hold a meeting or have some food in between your race
Cantor time. Laser Tag
Barbra Karaoke Night
Another great way to get your adrenaline pumping?
A good-old game of laser tag. Not only is it great fun,
0002441714-01.qxd Lieberstein
10/15/08 5:09 PM What1better way to get your employees to break out
Page
of their shells than to have them get up and sing some
it’s also an opportunity for employees to exercise their
strate�y and logic skills, as well as
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 Jewish Standard S-31

Entertain in style
I
t’s never too early to plan ahead, lanterns if you are enter-
especially when you are expect- taining outside. Make sure
ing guests in your home. Your it’s bright enough so every-
family and friends know and one can see, but dimmed
might love your style, but it can be enough to set the mood for
important to spice things up now and the evening’s events.
again to impress your visitors. Fac-
tors such as lights, music, and food Set the mood
can affect your guests’ experience in with music
your home. Pick music that matches
To remain stylish and keep your your theme and inspires
party going, consider these tips for that same feel throughout
fun and festive home entertaining. the house. If you’re going
for a fun, energetic atmo-
Back to basics sphere, try something
Staying organized is key while enter- with a quick tempo, such
taining guests. Try to plan out every as pop. If you’re wanting
detail before the big event, which can to relax, go for subtler,
allow things to go more smoothly on soothing tones. Try mak-
the big day. As you think out your ing your playlist before
plan ahead of time, making lists can you entertain and listen to
be a helpful way to stay organized it a few times through, that
and ensure you get everything done. List out your theme-related dishes. One way to show your theme is way you can know what to expect and how guests will
guests, what needs to be picked up from the store, and through decorations. Placing them throughout your react to your music selections.
possible decorations you might need to buy or craft home can give the party some life and help guests get
yourself. The possibilities can seem endless, but it’s into the overall theme of the party. Enjoy it
important to have a plan in place before you start put- Through all the anxiety and stress of entertainment
ting things together. Light up the party planning, make sure you take time to enjoy yourself
Transforming your home can be made simpler by during the time guests are in your home. Some guests
Think about theme changing the lighting. It’s typical for lights to be will notice if you’re not having a good time. Smile and
There are numerous ways your style can be shown dimmed for parties to set a more relaxed mood. Other remember to be present in the moment.
while entertaining. One way is to pick a theme or ideas include using candles, lamps, or even hanging Find more entertainment tips at eLivingToday.com.

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 S-32 Jewish Standard WINTER 2019 EVENTS & CELEBRATIONS

Old Fashioned in style

0003574344-01_0003574344-01 10/4/13 4:12 PM Page 1
The cocktail still makes spirits soar and bitters are better

C
ocktail trends may come and go, traces its roots as far back as the dawn of Classic Bourbon
but one staple remains a fixture on the Old Fashioned and has been closely Old Fashioned
drink menus two centuries after intertwined with the history of the cock- 2 ounces bourbon
its invention — the Old Fashioned. tail ever since. 1/4 ounce Demerara syrup
There are many competing stories Dr. Johann Siegert, the bitters’ inven- 2 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters
1 dash Angostura orange bitters
about the origins of the “first” true tor, created the elixir in 19th-century
1 splash water
cocktail recipe, but nearly all agree Venezuela while serving as a doctor to
ice
that the modern-day cocktail was first soldiers in Simon Bolivar’s army. By long orange peel, for garnish
mixed in the early 1800s, and the rec- 1824, he perfected the formula for “ama-
Courtesy Getty Images Source: Angostura In rocks glass, stir bourbon,
ipe was generally the same Old Fash- rgo aromatico,” which he initially used
Demerara syrup, water, aromatic
ioned recipe still mixed in bars around to help alleviate the stomach issues of created almost 200 years ago.

GRAND OPEN
the world today: liquor, sugar, water
and bitters.
Bourbon is traditionally the spirit of
choice for an Old Fashioned, but con-
temporary versions may substitute vir-
tually any type of liquor, from rye whis-
key to tequila to rum. Yesteryear’s sugar
cube, served as a lump doused with
bitters, has given way to simple syrup,
which mixes more easily when served. A
twist of citrus zest, or a dark cherry are
common garnishes in today’s Old Fash-
ioned renditions.
No matter what spirit or style you pre-
fer, there’s one constant that’s crucial
to any drink bearing the Old Fashioned
name: bitters. For a truly authentic expe-
rience, look to incorporate an option like
Angostura bitters — an iconic brand that
ailing soldiers.
By the mid-1800s, cocktails were
steadily gaining favor, and nearly all the
early recipes called for bitters. Siegert’s
sons seized the opportunity and astutely
developed a following for their formula
among cocktail lovers.
Today, Angostura aromatic bitters are
a classic and versatile ingredient in bars
and kitchens alike for their flawless abil-
ity to balance a range of cocktails. Bitters
provide layers of flavor and complexity
through their expertly crafted combina-
tion of aromatic herbs, bark, roots and
other botanicals. When it comes to the
ingredients in Angostura’s aromatic
bitters, the exact formula is unknown,
as the recipe has remained a closely
guarded secret since the bitters were
Consider these tried-and-true takes
on the Old Fashioned with four recipes
ideal for sipping. The traditional version
features bourbon, while three twists on
the timeless classic highlight alternative
liquors: the Tequila Old Fashioned, the
Rum Old Fashioned and the Wisconsin-
Style Brandy Old Fashioned.
Serving an authentic Old Fashioned
requires more than just the right ingre-
dients. You need the proper bar glass,
too. An Old Fashioned is almost always
served in a rocks glass, which is a short
glass, often with a weighted bottom,
designed to hold a shot or two of liquor
over ice (or “rocks”). Also known as a
lowball, whisky or (aptly named) Old
Fashioned glass, the rocks glass typically
holds 4 to 10 ounces.
bitters and orange bitters with ice to
incorporate ingredients.
Add ice to fill glass to top. Garnish
with orange peel.
Tequila Old Fashioned
Ice
2 ounces reposado tequila
1/4 ounce Demerara syrup
2 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters
grapefruit swath (narrow strip of
peel) or wedge, for garnish
In ice-filled mixing glass, stir tequila,
Demerara syrup and aromatic
bitters. Strain into ice-filled
rocks glass.
Squeeze grapefruit swath over glass
and insert into drink.

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0003574344-01_0003574344-01 10/4/13 4:12 PM Page 1
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 Jewish Standard S-33

Wisconsin-Style
Brandy Old Fashioned
3 ounces, plus 1 splash, lemon-lime
soda
1 Demerara sugar cube
5 dashes Angostura aromatic
bitters, divided
3 maraschino cherries
1 orange slice, plus peel, for garnish
ice
2 ounces brandy
1 dash Angostura orange bitters
skewered maraschino cherry,
for garnish
In rocks glass, muddle splash of
lemon-lime soda, sugar cube, 2
dashes aromatic bitters, cherries
and orange slice.
Add ice and brandy then fill with
remaining lemon-lime soda.
Add remaining aromatic bitters
and orange bitters. Garnish with
skewered cherry and orange peel.
Rum Old Fashioned
1 Demerara sugar cube
4 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters
2 dashes Angostura orange bitters
1 splash soda water
ice
2 ounces Angostura 1919 Rum*
orange peel, for garnish
Place sugar cube in rocks glass.
Wet cube with aromatic bitters,
orange bitters and soda water. Using
muddler, crush sugar cube.
Add ice, pour in rum and stir.
Garnish by squeezing orange peel
over glass.
Simple Syrup at Home
A wide range of cocktails call for sweet
syrup to enhance the flavor of the liquor,
and one variety in particular lends a
rich molasses note to drinks. Demerara
syrup is made using Demerara sugar, a
special variety of raw, unrefined cane
sugar with large grains and a golden
amber hue.
The sugar, which traces its origins to
the South American country of Guy-
ana, can be used in place of brown
sugar. Though similar, Demerara gen-
erally lends stronger caramel, toffee,
and molasses notes than traditional
brown sugar.
If you don’t have any Demerara syrup
around, it’s quite easy to make at home
and can be used to naturally sweeten a
number of drinks, from coffee to cock-
tails. If Demerara isn’t on-hand, swap
for turbinado sugar, brown sugar, or
table sugar.
Demerara Syrup
1 part Demerara sugar
1 part hot water
Stir to dissolve. Let cool before use.
Family Features
Wedding planning 101
First comes the proposal then comes
the wedding planning. There are doz-
ens of decisions that need to be made
before it’s time to walk down the aisle,
which can be overwhelming for brides
and grooms.
To help make it less stressful, these
tips from Macy’s can help couples
through the entire wedding-planning
process, from on-trend apparel and
accessories for the entire wedding
party to all the essentials to create a
perfect registry.
Dressing the ladies
When it comes to bridesmaid dresses,
the mix-and-match approach is trend-
ing in popularity. Start by deciding on
a color palette, such as lilac, cham-
pagne, and petal pink. Then have each
bridesmaid choose her favorite style
within that range of hues. Bring it all
together by choosing a uniform look
for makeup, shoes, and accessories.
There is no better time to thank the
ladies than the morning of the big day.
A few thoughtful gifts can go a long
way, such as matching robes, tumblers
to stay hydrated throughout the day,
and cosmetic cases to stow makeup
essentials.
Dressing the gents
Similar to bridesmaid dresses, grooms-
men attire can be dependent on the
venue and overall event aesthetic.
While a suit can fit the bill for a coun-
try club wedding, a city affair may call
for the sleek finishes of a tux. Tuxedo
accessories, such as cuff links or bow
ties, make great groomsmen gifts and
are classic pieces they can use time
and time again.
Creating the
perfect registry
When building a registry, it’s never
too early to start. People want to give
gifts as soon as they know a couple is
engaged. Start by taking inventory of
what you already have, what you need
,and what you want to upgrade. It’s
also recommended to update the reg-
istry regularly so there are enough gifts
to choose from, especially if there is an
engagement party and bridal shower
coming up. To get started, some pop-
ular registry items include stand mix-
ers, craft beer glasses, Dutch ovens,
bath towels and vacuums. For extra
guidance, couples can speak to advi-
sors who can help with the full registry
building process at Macy’s stores
Family Features

PARTY ROOMS · CATERING · DINING

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Local/Jewish World

children to shul on Shabbat in strollers.”

Old?
FROM PAGE 12
hope to continue this program next
year.” Also, under the auspices of the
Adult Education Committee, “I have just
started a program to share adult educa-
tion programs between Congregation
Beth Sholom and Congregation Gesher
Shalom in Fort Lee.
Are synagogues the same today?
When she was young, “There were
no social activities in the synagogue,”
she said. “It was strictly davening and
Hebrew school,” which she hated, fright-
ened of the rabbi who carried, and used,
a ruler on students’ knuckles. “I think
synagogues are better today, and I think
it’s good that we’re in the suburbs,” she
said. “It’s different from a shtetl. We
have a greater sense of the synagogue as
a community — not just a place to daven,
but a community.” Because she has lost
many friends, “most of my social life
now is with people in the congregation,
despite an age difference.”
She noted as well that when she was
growing up, she never saw a stroller or
very young children at services. “Now
we have young families who bring their
Beth Sholom, in particular, also is
different in many ways.
“Beth Sholom has a large number
of members who have gone through
day school and are knowledgeable in
Hebrew learning,” Eva said. “That was
not the case in the beginning. Women
could or could not read Hebrew, but
many did not know what they were
reading.” Today, she said, women have
equal roles in the synagogue service.
Also, while many members in the past
were manufacturers and business peo-
ple, today, “many are rabbis, teachers,
lawyers, social workers, and doctors.
The number of rabbis is amazing!
“The congregation is wonderful,” she
continued. “It takes seriously tzedakah
and chesed, and that’s more important
than anything. If we’re not good people,
then all the prayers in the world don’t
mean a thing.
“My mother was a devout Jew and
my father was a socialist. My mother
stressed tzedakah and chesed and my
father stressed social justice. To me,
they are the same. It is important to me
that the Beth Sholom community share
these values as well.”
BRIEF
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end of 2019, its CEO, Kare Schultz, said.
“When the device’s approval was
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Mylan, which was subject to back-
lash for drastically increasing the
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The U.S. EpiPen market is valued at
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After a several-year delay, Teva
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34 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019

 JS-35*

Jewish World

Another fight over Holocaust interpretations

threatens warming ties between Israel, Poland
SAM SOKOL
JERUSALEM— It was meant to be a diplomatic triumph
for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — a much-
touted diplomatic summit here with four Central Euro-
pean states last Monday.
Instead, harsh words from Israel’s acting foreign minis-
ter opened a diplomatic rift threatening to severely dam-
age Israeli-Polish relations, and the summit was canceled.
Warsaw decided to pull out on the day of the meeting.
That came after Yisrael Katz, citing the late Prime Min-
ister Yitzhak Shamir, told Israel’s Channel 13 that morn-
ing that Poles “suckle anti-Semitism with their mother’s
milk,” causing a national furor in both countries.
Netanyahu has been promoting the meeting of the
so-called Visegrad Group — an alliance of Hungary, the
Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia that represents the
nationalist and conservative wing of the European Union
— as heralding a nationalist bloc within the EU that sup-
ports Israeli policies more strongly than many western
governments do.
He also has come under harsh criticism from domestic
critics on both the right and the left, however, who have
alleged that Netanyahu has shown an overly solicitous
attitude toward Israel’s Eastern and Central European
allies. According to this view, Jerusalem has downplayed
concerns over anti-Semitism and Holocaust memory in
favor of closer engagement.
Poland’s decision to pull out, which effectively canceled
the summit and caused the other Visegrad, or V4, nations
to downgrade their diplomatic visits to merely bilateral
ones, came after several days of furious denunciations and
diplomatic scrambling. The controversy began on Friday,
when the Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu, in War-
saw for a conference on the Middle East, accused “the Pol-
ish nation” of collaborating with the Nazis. Netanyahu later
clarified that he had not implicated the Poles collectively.
The Post subsequently amended its story and initially it
appeared that the crisis had been averted.
Katz’s comments, however, revived the diplomatic crisis. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right,
“I am a son of Holocaust survivors, and I was even with President Andrzej Duda of Poland at U.N.
born and grew up in a community made up of Holocaust headquarters on September 26, 2018. Netanyahu has
survivors,” said Katz, a senior Likud minister just tapped cultivated relations with Israel’s Eastern and Central
by Netanyahu as acting foreign minister. “The memory European allies over objections he downplayed anti-
of the Holocaust is something we cannot compromise Semitism concerns. GPO
about. It is clear and we won’t forget or forgive.
“In diplomacy you try not to offend, but nobody anti-Semitism with their mother’s milk.”
will change the historical truth to do something like Poland’s ambassador to Israel, Marek Magierowski,
that,” he continued. “Poles collaborated with the tweeted that he was astonished that Katz had uttered “such
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Cover Story
‘This is a different Russia’
Shterney and Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky
return to the land of their hard childhoods
JOANNE PALMER

T
hose of us lucky in our births
— lucky, that is, in being able
to choose to stay in the coun-
try where we were born,
maybe in the same state or at least in the
same metropolitan area — can revisit our
childhood haunts easily.
We might not be able to walk through
the houses where we grew up, but we
can walk the streets where we played, go
past our friends’ houses, drive through
the neighborhood, pass by the school,
go to the supermarket. It’s no big deal.
But if you grew up in the former
Soviet Union — if you were the child
of a chasidic family, growing up in the
former Soviet Union, if your childhood
resembled a Jewish version of a bleak
Russian novel, all claustrophobic dark
rooms and gray days with police whis-
tles and wolf howls in the distance — it
would be neither easy nor appealing to
go back home again. Even for a short
visit. It would be a major big deal.
So when Shterney and Rabbi Morde-
chai Kanelsky — the Chabad rebbitzin
and rabbi who live in Hillside and run
Bris Avrohom, which has branches all
over New Jersey, including in Fair Lawn
and Jersey City, as well as in Brooklyn
and Ukraine — went back to Moscow late
last year, it was the result of a difficult
decision, head fighting heart, and then
heart catching up.
Their story does not begin with their
trip to Moscow. Like any Russian novel,
it begins before. Well before.
Rabbi Kanelsky has major yichus in
the chasidic world. On his father’s side,
he said, “I am the eleventh generation
from the Baal Shem Tov,” the founder of
chasidism, and “the eighth generation Rabbi Mordechai and Shterney Kanelsky stand in front of the family house in Malachovka, outside Moscow.
from Reb Nachman of Bratslav,” another
seminal chasidic figure. “And on my actively forbade the practice of religion businessman who used to buy and sell seventh daughter, so she was called Bat-
mother’s side, I’m seventh generation — the family faced frequent danger. sugar and flour before the Revolution.” sheva,” daughter of seven.
Lubavitch.” Rabbi Kanelsky’s mother’s grandfa- It was a wealthy family. “My mother’s And then the Russian Revolution
As prominent Lubavitchers in the ther came from a town in White Rus- grandfather had 11 children, four sons changed everything.
Soviet Union — as publicly religious peo- sia that was 90 percent Lubavitch, he and seven daughters. My mother’s In 1927, the Lubavitcher rebbe sent Bat-
ple in a state that not only scorned but said; “my mother’s grandfather was a mother was the youngest child and the sheva’s husband to Georgia “to spread

36 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019


yiddishkeit,” and the KGB arrested him.
Influential Georgian Jews were able to
free him, “but he had to run to Mos-
cow.” In 1940, he was jailed in Moscow;
the Russian army impressed him into
service in 1940, he was wounded, then
discharged at the war’s end. Mean-
How would we
find a teacher, a
real Lubavitch
chasid, who
would be ready
to sacrifice his
life to teach a
child Torah?
while, his wife took their two daughters
and fled to Uzbekistan; eventually her
husband found her, and they had three
more daughters. Soon they moved
back to Moscow.
“My grandmother did not know
any compromise,” Rabbi Kanelsky
said. “She and her five daughters —
none of them ever disgraced Shabbes.
Everybody” — every Jewish body, that
is — “knew that if you are coming to
Moscow, if you need a place to sleep, a
place to eat kosher, you go to the house
of Batsheva Chein. My grandfather had
a textile store — he sold shmattes — but
he was a rov, a dayan, a mohel, a sho-
chet, and a soyfer” — he was a rabbi, a
rabbinic decisor, he did ritual circum-
cision and ritual slaughter, and he was
a scribe. “He was a person also who
did not know any compromise.”
Rabbi Kanelsky’s parents — Nos-
som Kanelsky and Rochel Laya Chein
Kanelsky — had 10 children, five boys
and five girls. Mordechai is the oldest,
born in 1961; he and a brother were
born in Russia.
Cover Story
Mordechai Kanelsky, his parents, and his younger brother sit for a
In 1963, the Kanelskys became
photograph just before they leave Russia.
refuseniks; because Nossom’s father,
who had escaped from a concentra-
tion camp and become a partisan
during the war, had moved to Israel,
the family even had some hope that
they could get out. But it took years.
“My father changed jobs 18 times to
not have to work on Shabbes,” Rabbi
Kanelsky said; it was forbidden not to
work on Shabbat, so when his father
did not show up for work, he’d be
fired. He was a tailor. Eventually, he
found an employer who was kind, and
did not care when the work was done
as long as it was done.
“When I was 3 ½, my father taught
me how to daven,” Rabbi Kanelsky said.
But there was much more that Nossom
wanted his son to learn. “My father’s
work was a half hour walk from our
home. There is an obligation that every
single Jew, every single father, has to
The Zaltzman family, including Shterney, moved from Samarkand to Israel.
think about the children’s Jewish edu-
cation, and on my father’s walk every
single day he was thinking about how
to get a teacher to teach me.” It was for-
bidden to teach Jewish texts. And even
if he could find a teacher willing to risk
his freedom, “how are we going to pay
that person? And how would we find a
teacher, a real Lubavitch chasid, who
would be ready to sacrifice his life to
teach a child Torah?”
But they found someone. Rabbi Shterney Zaltzman
Beryl Rickman “learned with the fifth stands in her
Lubavitcher rebbe, and as a child we backyard in
learned in the cheder with our rebbe. Samarkand,
And he came to teach me every day. then part of the
“The secret was so great that even Soviet Union.
his wife did not know he was doing
that. I know that because in 1971,
he came to Israel and settled next
to our home, and my father told me
that my teacher was there, and I was
so excited that I ran over there and
hugged him and kissed him and I said
‘My dear teacher!’ And his wife said
to him, ‘Beryl, what is this?’ And then
he could tell her the truth. She hadn’t
known that he was teaching me for
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 37
Cover Story

four years.”
Rabbi Rickman started teaching little Mordechai when
the child was 5. The first two years were relatively easy.
“The only burden on my father was how to find the
money to pay him,” Rabbi Kanelsky said. But school was
mandatory for 7-year-olds, and home schooling was not
an option. “If you didn’t send a child to school, that was
child abuse, and you could be arrested.”
But Nossom Kanelsky found a doctor, “who for a lot of
money said that I wasn’t healthy enough to go to school,
and that I needed one more year home with my mother.”
That bought another year.
“So in 1968, I was 8 years old, and there was no choice.
I had to go to school.
“My father gave me a choice. I could go to school, and
my father would find a doctor who would write that for
medical reasons I had to cover my head, and he would buy
me some earplugs so I will not hear anything except for
subjects that are permitted, and every Monday he will have
to find an excuse for why I was not in school on Shabbat.”
Not an appealing choice. So what was the alternative?
“My father’s second option was that he would say that
I don’t live at home. That they sent me to live with family
in Samarkand. And that means that I will not be able to
walk outside until the day we leave Russia, because if I do,
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someone will see me and give my name to the authorities.
“This is the choice that an 8-year-old had to make. Does
he want to hide in a cellar for an unknown number of
years until he is able to leave Russia, but to study Torah
with his teacher? Or to go to school.
“To clarify, we are not talking about not seeing friends.
I had no friends. I had no childhood.
“So I said that I have to think about it, and then I
decided that I will stay home and study Torah with my
teacher, and I will not go outside. I was ready to give up
the luxury of seeing the sunshine until the day we leave.”
How can a child possibly make a decision like that?
“I remember what it felt like,” Rabbi Kanelsky said. “I
am telling you about it, and I am reliving the moment. It
was an event that left a mark in my life forever.
“Every child can run around when he is 8. I could not.
I had no friends. No games. No nothing. I was sitting in a
cellar, hiding and studying Torah with a teacher. Picture
yourself giving that choice to your children.
“From time to time I would say to my children — not
now, they are adults now, but when they were children
— they would say ‘We’re bored,’ and I would say ‘You are
not spending two years in a cellar. Take a book.’ And they
would answer ‘We don’t live in Russia anymore.’
“And one hundred percent they were right.”
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During that time, his father would go to the
Russian agency that handled visa requests and he
would be denied. “One day they waved the papers
in front of his eyes, and they said ‘You are going to
die here.’”
In 1969, the Russian government did a census.
“They came to our house to search for me,” Rabbi
Kanelsky said. “They asked how many people live
there, and my mother said three people, me, my
husband, and my young child. They said that’s very
nice, but we have papers that show that there is a
boy who was born in Moscow. Where is this boy?
And my mother said he’s in Samarkand, and they
said okay, we will search for him.
“And they started searching the house, and my
mother and my grandmother were speaking to each
other in Yiddish, really loud, and my grandmother
really was telling me, in Yiddish, they are hot, now
they’re cold, and I was running from the attic to the
garage back to the house to the cellar, and thank
God, thank God, thank God they did not find me.
“It was terrifying.”
And then, in February of 1970, “we got a tele-
gram from the Russian government. It said take 36
rubles and leave Russia within eight days.
“The joy was great. Nobody understood why or
how but that’s what happened. We took the first
plane, my father, my mother, my brother, and me.
“I remember sitting on the plane, my mother
was pregnant, and I was watching my father’s eyes
and his face. His face was as white as the Shab-
bes tablecloth. The plane took off, and when they
announced that we were landing in Vienna his face
still was white, and when we landed it became
more pink and slowly turned normal.

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38 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
— I always told them everything that was taught in class
— and my parents started to talk to me, to take out those
words of avodah zera, the opposite of our emunah” —
faith — “and to put my thoughts in the proper place.”
Little Shterney was the fourth of seven children;
she had two older sisters and an older brother. The
three sisters went to school — their parents could not
hide all those children — but each went to a different
school. Each always was out on Shabbat — that’s why
they went to different schools, so that the pattern of
Saturday absences would be a little less glaring — and
every Monday the girls and their parents would have
to come up with another, increasingly elaborate or
unlikely, reason for that absence. “It’s a good thing
we have 248 limbs in our body,” she said. “It gave us
enough excuses for four years.”
She was the only Jewish girl in her 500-student
school, she said; she tells a story that happened when
she was 9 1/2. “I remember like now, one day someone
came from the board of education, a high authority,
and she said ‘Okay, we are going to go from the first
row to the last, and everyone will have to rise and say
his last name and his ethnicity.’ And she was writing it
in her notes. So I was starting to think, my goodness,
what will I say? I am Jewish, and we are taught to say the
emes, the truth, but I am putting myself and my family Rabbi Mordechai and Shterney Kanelsky are surrounded by their children and grandchildren.
in danger. But what am I going to say?
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 List price List
Cover Story
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couldn’t look at her. My eyes were down at my desk. So I
said it quickly and dropped down on my chair.
“So that authority person stretches out her right hand
across the class, with a pointy finger, and says ‘Zaltzman,
you are Jewish.’ I almost stopped breathing. How did they
know? What did I do wrong?
“They continued for another row, for the few other
names that were left, and then that authority person left
the classroom. A few minutes later, recess was about to
begin, and a boy sitting behind me — I even remember his
name, Yury — took a wooden ruler, made of pure wood,
thick and heavy — and he took that ruler, and he hit me
on my back, and he said ‘Zhidovka.’ Bastard Jew. ‘You
have been hiding all these years.’
serious had happened at school, and she tried to calm me
down, but I wasn’t ready to talk.
“After a while I did come back to myself, and I told
my mother the whole story, and she calmed me down,
hugged me, kissed me, gave me good food and sweets. I
said ‘I am not going back to school tomorrow. I am done.’
But I knew very well that I had to keep that extra day for
Shabbat, so I had to go back.
“I looked at my back with a mirror. It was bruised.
I was bleeding. The skin came off. And that is how life
continued.”
Meanwhile, her parents’ problem about what to do
with her brother became even more acute. That’s because
boys had to wear a kippah and tzitzit, so it was harder to
small seedless grapes, large purple grapes, red
grapes, just plain grapes. The children were going
up there with baskets.” It sounds idyllic; you could
wander off into the woods and sate yourself on
fresh sweet fruit. “It was a blessing,” she said.
Also, “the KGB weren’t as active in Samarkand in
those years,” she said. “And my house was always
open for guests, and it was open three times a day
for minyan, even though people were coming in at
different times and through different doors so the
neighbors didn’t realize anything.”
There was at least once when her brother, like
her husband, was almost caught. Officials came to

DURING DURING
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“I fall from the chair, my pain was so big, and then
other boys tackled me. They were beating me. And then
quite a few girls starting throwing them off me, scream-
ing ‘What are you doing? So what if she’s Jewish? She has
always been a good friend of ours. How can you do that?’”
The beating stopped, “then there was another class
period, and then we were dismissed. There was no staff
present, and the children did not call anybody for help.”
When she got home, “I walked in and I took the brief-
case off my back and I threw it across the living room
like a Frisbee, with so much anger and pain. And then I
fell on the floor and I was crying for almost two hours. I
could not talk, because of the physical pain, and the emo-
tional pain. My mother understood that something really
hide their level of observance, and also because chasidic
culture expects their boys to spend all day studying Jew-
ish texts. You can’t do that if you have to spend hours at
a secular school. So what to do? Shterney’s father consid-
ered taking his son on the road, traveling endlessly, catch- home, my mother was home, and my brother was
able at no local level, but her mother pointed out that it
would be nearly impossible for her and her daughters to
survive if they had no source of income.
So instead they decided to hide him. The story is strik-
ingly similar to Rabbi Kanelsky’s, but, Ms. Kanelsky said,
on the whole it was a less harsh experience. Their house
in Samarkand was huge, she said, and it was surrounded
by land, woods, apples trees, and grape vines. “There
were seven kinds of grapes,” she said. “Black grapes,
search for a boy who they knew existed but did not
go to school.
“I was 5 ½,” Ms. Kanelsky said. “I’m four years
younger than my brother. When they came in, I was
playing in the backyard. They said that they’d come
to search for a boy named Yossi, who is not attend-
ing any school. Where is he?
“My mother became white. She said ‘He is not
home.’ ‘Where is he?’ ‘In Moscow.’ And they said
‘We do not believe you.’ So they searched for him.
“And they came in, and they were going from
room to room, going through every single closet,
drawer, shelf, looking for him. The house was big.
Much to their disappointment, they did not find
him. He was in the backyard, and he stayed out.
“As the search began, my mother gave me a very

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40 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019

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Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher rebbe, greets the Kanelskys.
was 1971, and she was 10. “I will never
forget the excitement, the screaming
from joy, the tears, the crying from
laughter. We were all running around
hugging, kissing, thanking Hashem,
being thankful, thanking God for the
kindness, for being able to leave Rus-
sia, for very soon having everything
behind us.
“We went through Vienna. They had
to do tests, bloodwork, I don’t know
why; checking every item we had, shak-
ing it out, checking our bodies, looking
in our mouths, maybe looking for gold
under our tongues? It was disgusting. It
was humiliating.
“And then we landed in Israel. We
got out of the plane and touched the
ground of Israel, bent to the ground
and kissed the asphalt.
“We did not believe that after so
many years of being physically and
emotionally abused, we were in Israel.”
Like her first cousin, Mordechai
Kanelsky, and his family, Shterney
Zaltzman and her family moved to
Nachlat Kfar Chabad; their shared
grandparents lived there already. “The
simcha, the happiness, was endless,”
Ms. Kanelsky said.
Her father opened a dry cleaning
business, but he continued to sing, and
to do outreach with Russian Jews, and
“he was captivating the crowd, and
bringing so many Jews closer to yid-
dishkeit.” Given his charisma, his effec-
tiveness at outreach, and his strong
generations-long relationship with
Chabad, eventually he was “asked to
move to Los Angeles to serve as spiri-
tual leader for the Russian Jewish com-
munity there as a cantor,” Ms. Kanelsky
said. She was 20; she went with her
family, and worked as a nursery school
teacher; her youngest brother, who was
3, was one of her students, adored her,
insisted on calling her Morah Shterney
even at home, and wanted no one else
but her to take care of him.
A year and a half later, Shterney
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chai’s mutual grandfather, watching all
this, suggested to his daughters that
perhaps their children could find hap-
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Without knowing this, the two, who
found themselves together at many hol-
iday meals, because after all they were
first cousins, found themselves drawn
to each other. Once Shterney heard
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Russian Jews, which he had just begun,
she was so moved that she wrote him
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ding was in front of 770, and the reb-
be’s window was a little bit open,” she
said. That wasn’t what usually hap-
pened. “So the rebbe heard the wed-
ding.” The wedding happened to be
on one of the nights that the rebbe saw
the people who stood on line waiting
for his advice and blessing. So after the
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 41
Cover Story
a blessing. And then we stood aside, and the rebbe spoke
again.
“Till now when I retell the story I feel like the blessing
of the rebbe is existing and alive and blessing our out-
reach work.”
The Kanelskys started Bris Avrohom, doing outreach
work with Russian Jews, in their tiny Brooklyn apart-
ment. Later they moved to Hillside, had children — now
they are grandparents many times over — and became
increasingly successful with their outreach work. There
are many stories about that work, but not for here.
What is relevant here is that the chief rabbi of Russia,
Berel Lazar, had sent groups of young Russian Jews to the
United States twice a year. “The highlight of the trip was
to come to visit the headquarters of Bris Avrohom, and
we would speak about the hardships of our childhood,
and how we kept yiddishkeit strong, and how lucky they
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42 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
were to be in Moscow now,” Ms. Kanelsky said. “They can
practice yiddishkeit publicly, there are 32 shuls in Mos-
cow, children are walking on the street with peyes, with
yarmulkes, with tzitzit. We’d say how lucky they are, that
they don’t have to go through these hardships.”
Those groups haven’t come for the last year or so, she
added; “Russia is giving them a hard time, not giving
visas. Many people cannot leave Russia now for a visit.
It is a change, and I think it’s not just Jews, but that the
government is doing it in general.” But still, Rabbi Lazar
urged the Kanelskys to come to Russia.
“So he said ‘I will arrange a visa for you. You are Amer-
ican citizens. I want you guys to come here.’ It’s been
220 years since the liberation from prison of the first
Lubavitcher rebbe” — it’s a traditional day of celebration
for Lubavitchers — “and he was planning a big event. He
asked my husband to be the keynote speaker, and to talk
M O T Z E I S H A B B AT
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about his childhood.
“But we were afraid to go,” she said. “Because of
the stories I’ve told you. Because of what we had
gone through. We didn’t know what would happen.
“We didn’t trust them.”
Rabbi Kanelsky has a brother who moved back to
Russia to do outreach, and he assured his brother
and sister-in-law that they’d be safe. “Nothing has
happened to me,” Ms. Kanelsky recalls him saying.
“But my husband was saying no, and I was saying
that they might recall my last name, and my parents
had an underground yeshiva. Who knows? Maybe
they found this out later. We are parents of chil-
dren, and we were really afraid.
“But our own children said ‘Why are you afraid?’
“They are American. They grew up on
chocolate.”
So in the end, Shterney and Mordechai Kanelsky
went back to Russia. “They arranged visas and tick-
ets and hotels. Between me and my husband, we
did 17 lectures in six days. We had not time to be
afraid or to think that we were in Russia. We were
taken from one place to the next. A car was already
there to take us someplace, and a few hours later a
car took us somewhere else.”
But even with all that hectic activity, Rabbi
Kanelsky wanted to see the house where he’d
grown up, and where he’d spent two years in hid-
ing, venturing out only in moonlight. Ms. Kanelsky
wanted to see it too; she and her family had escaped
the summer heat in Samarkand during some of her
childhood summers by spending it with their cous-
ins in Moscow. In that house.
“It is in a suburb of Moscow, about a 45-minute
drive,” Ms. Kanelsky said. “We were driving closer
and closer, we see it’s the right address, but the
house has an eight-foot fence around it, and we
cannot see through it. We cannot see anything.
“And we were standing there and talking, and
dogs started to bark. The driver said that if they are
not opening the door, that means that they don’t
want you. And it is very dangerous.
“This was Russia, after all. If you go and knock on
the door and they don’t want you, they can set the
dogs on you. My hand was about to ring the bell,
but the people said ‘Please don’t,’ and my husband
got so scared that he ran to the car and begged me
to get in too. I was crying. And then we went on to
the next destination.
“I couldn’t stop crying. I was so sad, to come
all this way. The house meant so much to my
husband, and also to me. It was the house of our
bubbe and zayde.” They were so close, but they
just couldn’t get in.
One evening, though, toward the end of the trip,
Rabbi Kanelsky’s brother pointed out that the vis-
itors had not gone out for a meal. They went to a
kosher restaurant, “we were eating and talking and
having a good time, and all of a sudden one lady
turns to me and says ‘Are you Mrs. Kanelsky from
New Jersey?’ And I said ‘My goodness, I come here
to Russia, and they know who I am? Was I right to
be scared to come here?’
“I am looking at her, thinking that she is a Jewish
lady in a kosher restaurant, but who knows? This
is Russia! But then she said ‘I heard you talking. I
was with a bunch of ladies in your synagogue three
years ago, and I heard how you were speaking with
your husband, and told us the stories of all that you
had gone through in Russia. Was that you?’
 Cover Story

“So she recognized us!”
As it turned out, she lived in the suburbs where
the Kanelskys’ house was; when Ms. Kanelsky
described the house, and their unsuccessful
attempt to go inside, “she said ‘That’s not a prob-
lem.’ And I jumped off the chair, and said ‘What
do you mean?’ And she said ‘My husband is on the
town housing commission. He knows every house
in town and who lives there. It’s not a problem. Let
me call my husband right now.’
“I am looking at my husband and crying and I
said ‘This is my dream come true.’”
The next day, they put off all their planned activ-
ities, and went to the house.
“We walked there, and we were shaking,” Ms.
Kanelsky said. “My husband burst into tears right
away. He said ‘This is the place where I was walking
positive,” Ms. Kanelsky said. “So many good outcomes told me, ‘Don’t’ worry. Today is Shabbat, so no lights are
for the people we lectured for. And the whole experience activated. Everything is off today because it is Shabbat.
of Russia was transformed to something so positive. We You can go right through.’
are thankful to God that we went. “So I pinched myself. I am dreaming. I walked out and
“People are asking when we are going again, and I the guard tells me to go straight and then to turn. I contin-
think that now we could go again. We broke the ice. ued, but I still didn’t believe that I wouldn’t get stopped. I
“Before this, we lived constantly with fear. When we kept looking behind me.’” But she was safe.
went to shul on Shabbat there, I was so scared. It was “This shul had seven floors, and to my surprise there
my experience. I kept looking back to see if anyone was was someone on every floor with a gun. They were pro-
following me. tecting the shul. With guns. And children with peyes.”
“I had to go through a security booth, and I was afraid. I (Rabbi Lazar has “a close relationship with Mr. Putin,” she
stopped right away. I was afraid that the lights were going said; she thinks that explains the high level of protection.)
to go on.” She worried, in other words, that her entrance “And I said to myself, ‘Wow, this is a different Russia
would trigger automatic lights, and thus break Shabbat. that we have come to visit.”
“I see four guards sitting there, and to my surprise, they A very different Russia.

LAST CALL!
at night with my grandfather. This is the path. And
then he took us into the house, and asked if there
is a cellar. There was a door in the floor, and then
there were steps down. And he moved the table — it
was under the table — and we picked up the door,
and my husband’s face was rolling with tears.

DON’T MISS THIS SALE

“He couldn’t go down. It was too much for him.
“I walked in there, I was crying, talking on a
video for my children, saying this is the real liber-
ation of yud lev Kislev” — 19 Kislev, the day of the
rebbe’s liberation in 1798. “We came here in free-
EVERY SUIT IS BEING SOLD AT OR

80OFF
BELOW COST!
dom. There is no KGB. We are not afraid.
“It looked amazing. It looked almost the same.

%
It was emotional. And then we went into the attic,
where my bubbe hid chasidim when the KGB was
after them.
“And we saw the well where my zayde took water
for baking matzah. It was all there. UP TO
“We were crying, we were laughing, we were
looking around. We didn’t know how to thank that
gentleman who got us in, and he was so happy that
he made us happy.”
Both Kanelskys are very glad that they decided to
go back to Russia.
“The whole experience turned out to be

4 LAST
DAYS LEFT
DAY TUES. FEB. 26th

OPEN THIS SATURDAY NIGHT*

FEBRUARY 23rd 7:30 to 11:30
*Msrp.

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Sunday & Legal Holidays 10 - 6, Sunday & Legal Holidays 10-6, Sunday & Legal Holidays 10-6, Sunday & Legal Holidays 10-6, Mon.-Thurs. 10 - 9, Friday 10 - 2
Mon. - Wed. 10 - 7, Thurs. 10 - 8, Friday 10-2 Mon. - Wed. 10-7, Thurs. 10-9, Fri. 10-2 Mon., Tues. & Thurs. 10-7, Wed. 10-9, Fri.10-2 Mon. - Thurs. 10-7, Friday 10-1:30 Closed Saturday & Sunday

Rabbi Kanelsky points down to the cellar in Due to nature of this sale we will not be offering alterations even with a charge. No phone orders please.
the house he grew up in outside Moscow.
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 43
Jewish World
BRIEFS
Ilhan Omar apologizes to Jewish groups for tweets aimed at AIPAC’s integrity
In a brief confidential conference call with Jewish
organizations, Representative Ilhan Omar apolo-
gized for any hurt caused by her tweets suggesting
that AIPAC pays politicians to support Israel.
“Let me reiterate my sincere apology for any actual
hurt my words have caused,” Omar, a freshman Dem-
ocratic congresswoman from Minnesota, said on
Tuesday afternoon, according to someone present
on the call. “I know there are a lot of people who in
the last weeks have expressed support in trying to say
this isn’t anti-Semitic or this shouldn’t be looked at in
that way.”
44 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
Omar came under fire last week for posting suc-
cessive tweets suggesting that the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby, pays
politicians to be pro-Israel. Democratic and Republi-
can leaders condemned the tweets as echoing anti-Se-
mitic stereotypes about Jews, money and power. The
allegation is also false, as AIPAC does not donate to
candidates or endorse them.
Omar subsequently apologized for the tweets.
The call included a range of centrist and liberal Jewish
groups including the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish
Democratic Council of America, the refugee resettlement
agency HIAS, Americans for Peace Now, and Bend the Arc.
Omar kept her remarks brief but promised to meet
face to face with the groups in the near future.
She said the call was an opportunity “for you all
to directly hear from me how I feel about my actions
and for us to start the process of not only healing but
building a relationship and getting to the process of
politicking on our viewpoints on this.”
Omar said it is up to the Jewish community to
define anti-Semitism. “I do not want to give space or
energy to anyone who wants to minimize the hurt,”
she said. JTA WIRE SERVICE
NJY camp board resigns
over handling of director’s
predatory behavior
The entire board of a Jewish camps association in
New Jersey voted to suspend itself, after an investi-
gation found that it had failed to address the preda-
tory behavior of its former executive director.
While a publicist for NJY Camps said that “almost
all board members had no knowledge” of the for-
mer director’s actions, “and that no board member
had knowledge contemporaneous to when an inci-
dent happened,” the members agreed to step down
in the camps’ best interest.
The New York Jewish Week reported in Decem-
ber that Peter Horowitz, the then-president of NJY
Camps, urged all 60 members of his board to join
him by resigning from the board for allowing the
former executive director, Leonard Robinson, “to
operate for far too long without any real oversight,
creating an environment in which his abuse of oth-
ers was allowed to go unchecked.”
The allegations involve complaints by female
staffers about unwanted sexual advances and abu-
sive behavior before and after NJY Camps hired
Robinson in 1993. Robinson was forced to resign
from his position at NJY Camps — which operates
various Jewish summer camps — in April 2018,
after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced.
An independent investigation into the allegations
was completed in September, the Jewish Week
reported, but its conclusions became public only
when the head of a large New Jersey Jewish fed-
eration read the report and called on the entire
board of NJY Camps to resign.
The board of directors said last week that the vote
to suspend itself was unanimous and that it had
enlisted the help of two organizations with which
the camp is affiliated, JCC Association of North
America and the Foundation for Jewish Camp, “to
assist in assembling an entirely new board, with a
transitional board as a first step.”
Horowitz thanked his colleagues on the board for
the “seriousness with which they have approached
this crisis in our community.
“While most of us were blindsided by the alle-
gations against Len Robinson, we quickly came
together to take decisive action and ensure no one
else would be subjected to sexual harassment or
assault at NJY Camps,” he said.
 JTA WIRE SERVICE
JS-45

Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 22, 2019 45

 JS-46

Jewish World

Poland
FROM PAGE 35
a shameful and racist remark.” The Polish Foreign Ministry
reprimanded Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Anna Azari, and
is reported to be considering withdrawing Magierowski from
Tel Aviv in protest.
Katz was unapologetic, telling i24 News that “no one
will tell us how to express ourselves or how to remember
our fallen.”
By early afternoon in Jerusalem the summit had been
canceled officially. It was a stunning reversal from last
year, when Netanyahu had appeared to endorse a Polish
narrative of the war years and released a joint statement
with his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, defend-
ing Poland’s wartime record. That statement was itself an
effort to repair ruptured ties after Jerusalem condemned
Poland for a controversial law that made it a crime to hold
Poland responsible for Nazi crimes.
The release of the joint statement led to an unprecedented
rebuke of the prime minister from the usually apolitical Yad
Vashem Holocaust memorial. It termed the joint statement
“an offense not only to the historical truth, but also to the
memory of the heroism of the Righteous Among the Nations.”
Yad Vashem has recognized more than 6,800 non-Jew-
ish Poles as Righteous Among the Nations for having
risked their lives to save Jews — far more than from
any other country.
Netanyahu’s joint statement with Morawiecki last
year also seemed to equate anti-Semitism with animus
toward Poles; it went from a condemnation of anti-Sem-
itism straight to the statement that “both governments
also express their rejection of anti-Polonism and other
negative national stereotypes.” Later the Polish press
reported that Morawiecki had emphasized that the
declaration was the first that put anti-Polonism on the
books as a recognized form of discrimination.
“One should read the current Polish reactions to
Israeli expressions in this context,” said Havi Dreifuss,
a historian of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe at Tel
Aviv University. “Polish officials stated it is racism,
since for them Israel confirmed that anti-Polonism
and anti-Semitism are similar fundamental hatreds.
This is just one problematic practical consequences
of the joint declaration.
“Yet one should also note that much of what was said
lately in the Israeli media is far from being accurate. The
fact that many Poles took part in harming Jews doesn’t
mean that all Poles killed Jews. And the Holocaust was
first and foremost the product of Nazi Germany and its
murderous ideology. Moreover, anti-Semitism was one
important motive for Polish readiness to harm Jews,
but was definitely not the only one. Updated research
and the vast documentation available exposed how
alongside Polish anti-Semitism, Jews were harmed for
“We saw the dynamics last year, so we know how
it works more or less,” Pankowski said. “It’s a kind of
spark that activates the kind of prejudice and rhetoric
that is ready made.”
Pankowski rejected the equivalence of anti-Sem-
itism and anti-Polonism, saying that he had “never
heard about anyone in Israel believing there is a Pol-
ish global plot against the Jewish people, but I’ve
heard many times in Poland people [saying] that
there is a global Jewish plot against the Polish people.”
While acknowledging the complicity of “a num-
ber of Poles” in the Holocaust, the Union of Jewish
Communities in Poland responded harshly to Katz’s
words, saying in a statement that “accusing all Poles
of anti-Semitism offends the righteous; it also offends
all those who today want to see in them the true rep-
resentation of Polish society. And it also offends us,
Polish Jews, who are a part of that society.”
“One does not clarify lies by another set of lies,” Pol-
ish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich said. “It is not honest
and it is not moral to fight lies with another set of lies.
“What do you want?” he replied when asked about
the uproar in Poland. Katz “functionally said that
all Poles are anti-Semites. So how do you expect the
Poles to react? There are irresponsible people on both
sides, and when an irresponsible statement is made it
empowers other irresponsible people to react. This in
no way justifies anti-Semitism in Poland, just as it does
not justify distortion of the truth by Israeli leaders.”

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Efraim Zuroff, a
harsh critic of Poland’s attempts to whitewash its com-

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and Polish-Jewish relations in the Holocaust in a much plicated historical record, likewise reacted harshly to
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alization that should never be made.”
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While the Polish people also were victims of the
Nazis, “they also had many Poles who were involved
saying that the issue had been “definitely resolved.”
According to the World Jewish Restitution Organi-
Exp. 2/28/14.
th. OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK in anti-Semitism,” Bennett told members of the zation, Poland is the only European Union member
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish without such legislation.
Organizations. He went on to describe how his wife’s “Jewish and non-Jewish rightful owners and their
OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK grandfather’s mother and brothers were murdered families have been waiting for many years for Poland
by a gang of Polish teens near the end of the war. to pass legislation to provide them some measure of
According to Rafal Pankowski, a Polish academic justice for the property wrongfully taken from them in
and the founder of the Never Again Association, Poland,” the WJRO said in a statement. “We urge Prime
recent days have seen an uptick in anti-Semitic sen- Minister Morawiecki and his Government to seize this
timent in Poland that appears to mirror the atmo- opportunity to do justice for those who lost so much.”
sphere that prevailed last year during the previous Addressing the Presidents Conference on Monday

TIAL EXAM diplomatic crisis. During that period, local media

engaged in rhetoric that many observers considered
evening, Netanyahu did not acknowledge the dip-
lomatic breakdown that led to the canceling of the

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to be anti-Semitic. Pankowski cited recent statements V4 summit, instead praising himself for expanding
by journalist Rafał Ziemkiewicz, a host on state tele- Israeli diplomatic relations around the world while
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response” because this is what they want.
Another state TV personality, Jakub Pacan, said he
Poland remained on the map.
“There has been a tremendous change in Israel’s
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years of friendship with Israel.
FIUGGI (ROME), ITALY
Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Mark Sofer, was in
parliament to hear the leaders speak of the relationship
between the two countries.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that Israel is “a
beacon of democracy in the Middle East.”
He said that though Australia chaired the 1947 U.N.
Committee, which voted to divide the territory of Man-
date Palestine, the country will be “standing by Israel
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Editorial
Walls and bridges
KEEPING THE FAITH

The danger in stumbling

A over pathways to the truth
s we read the rhet- the same building but through
oric and listen to our networks of friends and

arguments about
building walls, I
keep thinking about bridges.
Listening to Rabbi Mordecai
Kanelsky and his wife, Shter-
ney, talk about their child-
hoods, it’s hard to stop think-
ing about walls.
They were walled in. They
and their families were not
free to leave the Soviet Union,
and they were not free to live
as they chose within that huge
umbrella country, made up of
many different cultures but all
of them oppressed. The more
Jewish they wanted to be —
and even those of us who are
not and never will be chasidic
recognize that chasidim are
visibly, unmistakably Jewish in
ways that the rest of us are not
— the more they boxed them-
selves in. Walled themselves in.
Walled themselves off, in ways
that were neither healthy nor
pleasant. As Rabbi Kanelsky
said, “I had no childhood.”
When the Kanelskys went
back to Russia, though, among
the rush of experiences that
greeted them was meeting a
woman who first had met them
in New Jersey.
That was a bridge, one of the
many connections that link us.
I have friends — including
one who is a columnist for
this newspaper — who seem
to know at least every other
Jew born in the last, say six
decades or so, and who are
related to at least half of them.
I know people in my Upper
West Side apartment building
who know people I know in
Bergen County, and who know
me not through our living in
T
relatives and acquaintances.
Jewish geography is a very real
thing, and now we can add to it
Jewish genealogy. Just send off
some spit — not random spit,
spit collected in a 23 and Me
vial, grossness notwithstand-
ing — and you’ll get back a huge
list of surprising cousins. Some
might even turn out to have
been friends.
Soon you realize that one of
the reasons that we all seem
to know each other is that in
truth we are a very small peo-
ple. But it doesn’t matter. It still
brings real joy.
I think about these bridges
between people, and the wall
that we are asked to want to
build, to keep people out.
I am eternally grateful to
the United States for allowing
my grandparents and great
grandparents in, for not mak-
ing the end of their arduous
(and details-lost-to-history) trek
across Europe and then the
Atlantic end in rejection, fear,
and quite possibly death, with
no place left to go, no place to
turn, no welcome anywhere.
I am eternally grateful to the
Jewish people for intertwining
all of us so tightly and surpris-
ingly, for making a pattern full
of brightly colored surprises.
I am glad that so many of us
have managed to escape from
those walls that kept us in, and
to evade those walls that are
meant to keep us out.
I hope that other people —
other huddled masses yearn-
ing to be free — also find their
way over or around or through
the walls, so that they too can
become free. —JP
he Torah prohibits us from putting “a Deuteronomy 22:11). Even though the prohibition
stumbling block before the blind.” The does not apply to the non-Jew, he or she may resell
commandment appears as a simple the garment to a Jew, who is forbidden to wear it.
phrase in Leviticus 19:14, but its implica- Even though that would not have been not a first-
tions are far-reaching. hand sale, a stumbling block was created by the
On its face, the commandment appears to be original otherwise legal sale.
unnecessary. Other mitzvot regarding how we are Another indirect stumbling block is discussed
to respect and care for each other cover such a in BT Bava Metzia 75b, where the rule is applied,
circumstance more than adequately. More to the among other things, to lending someone money
point, the Torah forbids creating an obstruction outside the presence of witnesses, or at least with-
that in turn creates a public hazard (the “open pit”; out some provable document testifying to it. If the
see Exodus 21:33-34) — and putting borrower subsequently denies ever
an obstacle in the path of a blind receiving the loan, this could cause
person fits that bill perfectly. others to think ill of the lender. That,
The Torah does not aimlessly pro- in turn, would cause them to violate
nounce do’s and don’ts, however. If other Torah laws (especially Exodus
the “stumbling block” is there, there 23:1, which prohibits both uttering
must be a reason. To understand and receiving a false report, as inter-
that reason, we need to understand preted in BT Pesachim 118a).
what the Torah means by a “stum- The stumbling block also pro-
bling block” and by “blind.” scribes deceptive business practices
According to the Babylonian Tal- Shammai in general. BT Bava Metzia 59b-60a,
mud tractate Pesachim 22b, putting Engelmayer for example, prohibits diminishing
temptation before someone that in some way the quality of a wine,
leads him or her to sin is “putting or mixing higher quality produce
a stumbling block before the blind.” The exam- with a lesser quality, then selling the altered prod-
ple cited there is handing a Nazirite a cup of wine, uct to a merchant who unwittingly resells it at a
presumably implying that he is permitted to drink higher price, causing the “blind” merchant to sin
it, which he is not. by unwittingly deceiving the buyer.
The stumbling block does not even have to be first We find yet another kind of stumbling block
hand, however, as we see in BT Avodah Zarah 14b- in BT Kiddushin 32a. It begins with a discussion
15b. For example, it says, while it is legal under Jew- about how far a person must go to honor a par-
ish law to sell a weapon or its accessories to some- ent, with the specific example given of a parent
one who is permitted to buy such things, it is not doing something in front of his or her child that
permitted to do so if the seller merely suspects the diminishes the value of an eventual inheritance.
buyer might resell the purchase to a suspected thief, Because that act could anger the child, leading
say, or to a person suspected of having violent ten- him or her to violate the Torah’s thrice-repeated
dencies. (It is not a stretch to see the need for back- “honor/revere” commandment (Exodus 20:12,
ground checks for gun buyers here.) Leviticus 19:3, and Deuteronomy 5:16), it is put-
The item sold does have to be dangerous, how- ting a stumbling block before the blind. BT Moed
ever. BT Avoda Zara 65b forbids selling clothing Katan 17a goes even further. It says the father
to a non-Jew if it contains wool and linen that are who strikes his adult son violates the stumbling
so interwoven that the strands are indistinguish- block, because the son might curse his father
able and unidentifiable. The Torah prohibits Jews (violating honor/revere), or worse, strike him
from wearing such garments (the law of shaatnez, back, a capital offense according to Exodus 21:15.
Shammai Engelmayer is rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisades, now in Fort Lee.

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48 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019


The Sifra, the extra-talmudic halachic midrash collec-
tion on Leviticus, in Chapter 3, Section 2:14, adds another
layer of explanation: The stumbling block commandment
forbids giving someone bad or even uninformed advice.
This commandment comes in five simple Hebrew words
(nine in English translation), but those words provide the
foundation for a virtual library-full of laws that all too often
go ignored in our society.
Manufacturers, for example, have their stumbling block
in what is known as “planned obsolescence.” Webster
defines this as “the practice of making or designing some-
thing (such as a car) in such a way that it will only be usable
for a short time so that people will have to buy another one.”
Some greengrocers mix older greens in with fresher
ones and sell the package as fresh, or use stale greens in
their salad bars. Supermarkets spray their produce with
water, presumably to keep them fresh, but also to give
the impression they were washed beforehand. Some
supermarkets also cover 21 fruits and vegetables with
some type of wax to provide them with a more beauti-
ful, fresher appearance. (The wax may be legally applied
to apples, avocadoes, bell peppers, cantaloupes and mel-
ons, several citrus fruits, cucumbers, eggplants, parsnips,
passion fruits, peaches, pineapples, pumpkins, rutabagas,
squashes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and turnips.)
Politicians, of course, routinely place stumbling blocks
before us by misrepresenting facts, or distorting them
beyond any semblance of truth.
Sadly, the media, whose task it should be to report facts
as disinterestedly as possible, have become part of the
problem. There was a time when the first rule for report-
ers was this: “State the facts devoid of spin, avoid code
words of any kind, and never let your politics show.” We
need only watch MSNBC, CNN, or FOX News to realize
how that rule is unabashedly abused.
I believe President Trump is guilty of many things,
including promoting the current climate of hate in Amer-
ica. I see him, also, as the master of putting stumbling
blocks before us by his repeated lies and distortions.
The media, however, by failing to observe that first rule,
create their own stumbling block. A specific instance came
in the last few weeks, when the media jumped to conclu-
sions about an alleged hate crime incident before all the ver-
ifiable facts were in — and we are still awaiting those facts.
A television actor claimed to police that two racist,
homophobic Trump supporters viciously attacked him in
front of a Chicago hotel on January 29. The actor, who is
gay and black, and his claim received a great deal of air
time and printer’s ink, and he, his interviewers, and other
commentators used the incident to attack hate in gen-
eral (usually a good thing to do) and Trump in particular
(appropriate only if facts support it). Police subsequently
arrested two men believed to be the attackers, but then
suddenly released them late last week. This week, Chicago
police say they are investigating whether the actor hired
the two men to stage the attack.
Too many people in America believe the increase in hate
crimes is fake news, and so is the claim that Trump’s rhet-
oric contributes to it, although the facts say otherwise in
both instances. While it is the media’s job to report the
facts of a hate crime as they are known at the time (or the
unadulterated facts about anything else, for that matter),
finger-pointing before all the verifiable facts are in only
serves to lend credence to the fake news claims.
Beyond bringing reports of hate crimes in general
in disrepute, doing so also lends credence to all the
fake news claims coming from the White House and
the radical right, to the detriment of the truth, to our
safety, and to our democracy.
Opinion
Surviving the dog daze
L
una is curled up on the top
of the couch like a furry
croissant.
Just now, she is gazing at
me resentfully. She has just watched me
remove the knob of challah she had so
carefully tucked into a crevice between
two seat cushions, nosing imaginary
earth over it so no one would find it.
“Sorry, girl,” I apologize, trying to Helen Maryles
explain my heartless actions. “This will Shankman
be a mess to clean after it dries up. That
means crumbs inside the couch. And
Pesach is coming.”
Luna glares at me balefully. She is not convinced
by my logic.
Some dogs love squeaky toys or belly rubs. My
dog loves food. She will do anything, learn any trick, couch. Luna is right there, trying to help in her own
attempt whatever her human family asks of her, as
long as there is a Pup-Peroni training treat at the end
of it. Luna is 100 percent certain that she must put
food by for some forthcoming doggie apocalypse,
when there will be no kibble available from Petco,
and she will have to rely on her wits and the chunks
of challah she has stored in our sectional.
To be completely
truthful, I must also tell
you that introducing
a dog to your home is
like having a 2-year-
old tottering around
your house without
a diaper. The energy
that has no off switch.
While watching Luna hoard bread like she
expects that war is coming is hilarious, it’s also fas- through it? Will we be okay?
cinating. Delicately holding her treasure in her lips,
she carries it from the dining room to the living
room, then leaps on the couch. On her comically
short legs she paces back and forth, searching for
exactly the right crevice to conceal it in. With her
sharp snout, she pushes it out of sight between the
folds of her bed, behind throw pillows, under our
butts. Though she is a corgi, a breed that has been
domesticated for over 1,000 years, her wild, wolf-
ish instincts compel her to go through this activity
again and again, despite the fact that she has never
had to fend for herself, and the closest she gets to
nature is running around the yard to bark at squir-
rels and the occasional deer.
I am continually struck by how human her
actions are. She uses her paws like they are tiny,
The opinions expressed here 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.
stub-fingered hands, gripping her
stuffed pizza while she concentrates
on ripping the squeaker out of it, or
holding her pigskin chew toy while
she gnaws on it. (Or sometimes, less
adorably, our shoes, a kippah, the
mail, hats, flipflops, reading glasses. A
passport, once.)
While I straighten up the living
room, she watches me collect her
tennis balls, her pink piggie, and her
knotted rope from the carpet and put
them in her bed. After I’m finished,
she deliberately and meticulously moves all the toys
back onto the carpet, where she feels they belong.
Smacking my toe against a chair that is in the
wrong place, I yell out in pain and hobble over to the
doggie way, by urgently licking my face.
At night, in bed, I open my eyes to find Luna’s foxy
face next to mine, her soulful brown eyes watching
me. Silently, she gives my face a sleepy lick — “Oh
goody, you’re alive!”— then tunnels her way down
the bed to settle in a comfy spot down at our feet.
In the morning, Luna sings out her joy at see-
ing us, which in corgis is a sound that falls some-
where between a howl and a yodel. Then she per-
forms an elaborate bow-and-stretch combination,
an invitation to her humans to pet her and give
her scritches.
To be completely truthful, I must also tell you
that introducing a dog to your home is like having
a 2-year-old tottering around your house without
a diaper. The energy that has no off switch, the
potty training, the teething, the putting delicate
things out of reach, the need to set rules and be
firm — it’s all there.
Why do we do it? It’s a lot of extra work. It’s a lot
of aggravation. It’s a lot of poop. Not to mention the
costs. What do we get out of it?
Life is full of anxieties. Will people like us? Will we
get into the school we dream of? Will we get the job,
the house, will we be able to pay the bills, will they
love us, will we say the wrong thing, will we have
children, will we get sick, will we fight, will we get
And there is your dog, searching your eyes, fran-
tically trying to figure out what’s wrong and how to
help, gazing at you like you are the only thing that
matters in the whole wide world. When you are
petting your dog, everything seems a little more
manageable.
Why do we do it? For the fun. For comfort and joy.
And for love. Endless, unconditional, uncomplicated
love. Is there anything better than that?
Helen Maryles Shankman of Teaneck is an artist
and writer. Her work appears in many fine
journals, including The Kenyon Review, Gargoyle,
Jewishfiction.net, and Cream City Review. Scribner
recently published her second novel, “In The Land
of Armadillos.”
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 49
Opinion

Explaining the RCBC’s decision

to allow only male synagogue clergy

H
aving been on both sides
of the synagogue pulpit, as
well as a member of local
and national rabbinical
boards, I thought I might shed light on
why the Rabbinical Council of Bergen
County recently codified and enforced
a rule clarifying that it will accept only
men in the clergy, without leaving fur-
ther room for debate. This is a rare phe-
nomenon in American Orthodoxy, and
it’s worth considering, particularly in
light of complaints making their rounds
from Teaneck congregants and bloggers.
To understand this decision, some
background is in order. After the Reform
and Conservative movements began to
ordain women as rabbis, the male com-
position of Orthodoxy’s clergy became
an additional dividing line between the
Jewish denominations. When Rabbi
Avi Weiss’s Yeshivat Maharat adopted
this practice, the Rabbinical Council
of America unanimously resolved in
a member resolution that it would not
accept women rabbis, “regardless of
title.” When Yeshivat Maharat and its
supporters ignored this and a subse-
quent 2013 resolution, in 2015 the RCA
formally banned its members from
ordaining or hiring women as clergy or
religious teachers in Orthodox institu-
tions, specifically mentioning Yeshivat
Maharat so there could be no mistake.
The Orthodox Union followed suit
more recently.
There are a number of reasons for the
Orthodox opposition to clerical egalitar-
ianism. They are too complex for a short
op-ed, and they have been rehashed in
print for years. They include biblical,
halachic, sociological, communal, and
practical considerations, all of which
have been thoroughly debated. What
is important to understand now is why
Orthodox Judaism, which normally is
characterized by a robust debate (as
the joke goes, when there are two Jews,
there are three opinions), is pressing for
uniformity on this issue.
The first point to address is how Jew-
ish communal decisions are made. At
the local level, every rabbi, and ulti-
mately the congregants who abide by
their rulings, decide most issues. But
there also are greater rabbis who have
appellate-like force, as well as customs
spanning across the Jewish nation that
sometimes establish set-
tled law. Historically, these
authorities and practices
were important when it
came to the integrity of
Jewish tradition. In the
land of Israel and in Bab-
ylonia, where large Jewish
communities lived, some
degree of uniformity was Rabbi
important so Jews could Dr. Mitchell
live together. Uniformity Rocklin
was less important in the
broader diaspora, where
many relatively isolated communities
created their own customs. (Although it
should be noted that many communities
still pursued uniformity on important
matters, either by appealing to recog-
nized rabbis like the gaonim of the Mid-
dle East, or by following codes of law like
that of Maimonides.)
Greater uniformity made a comeback
with the development of American and
Israeli Orthodoxy. While Orthodox Jews
have embraced the diversity of customs
created in the diaspora, the need to
maintain common basic standards has
led to a lot of streamlining. In America,
these include the spread
of the Young Israel move-
ment’s uniform prayer
style, as well as the accep-
tance of a common start
time for Shabbat (despite
old debates about pre-
cisely when it begins). In
Israel, the streamlining
includes Rabbi Ovadia
Yosef’s forging of a Sephar-
dic identity from different
eastern Jewish customs,
as well as the establish-
ment of communal kashrut standards.
Uniformity is particularly important for
prayer and kashrut, since it is extraor-
dinarily difficult for Orthodox people to
live together without being able to pray
and eat together.
Indeed, prayer and kashrut standards
were the focus of American Orthodox
associations for decades. For instance,
swordfish became uniformly unaccept-
able in Orthodox circles, even though
there was room to argue that it was
kosher. In the synagogue, mechitzah
partitions became a requirement, even
though the Jewish legal literature is

Lessons learned from mincha in midwinter

W
ith the shorter days
of midwinter, saying
mincha, the afternoon
prayers, can be a chal-
lenge. The afternoon can zip by, and dusk
approaches all too soon. Under normal
conditions, mincha in the winter is an
exercise in mindfulness, but when you
are saying kaddish for a family member,
it takes on an urgency.
A number of years ago, while I was
serving as the rabbi of a Conservative syn-
agogue in northern New Jersey, I faced
this reality when my mother passed away.
With the development of the internet,
finding a minyan was a much easier exer-
cise than it had been for a previous gener-
ation. Online minyan maps and websites
allowed me to find minyanim throughout
the metropolitan area, easing the sense
of urgency, while opening me up to other
opportunities.
Throughout my year of saying kaddish,
I found myself in all types of minyanim. I
prayed in synagogues and offices, in fac-
tories and lobbies, with egalitarian min-
yanim and with chasidim, at day schools
and yeshivot, among Ashkenazim and
Sephardim.
Depending on the service, the words
of the kaddish changed. I learned to add
words when praying in Sephardic min-
yanim, to say it faster in some minyanim
and slower in others. I remember feeling
a sense of awkwardness, the first weeks I
was saying kaddish. I attributed most of
it to the loss of my mother, but some of
it was due to praying in different venues
and with different communities.
Years later, I find myself on a somewhat
similar, but different journey. My moth-
er-in-law recently passed away, and now
my wife is saying kaddish. If I found the
responsibility of finding a mincha service
to say kaddish daunting, it would be dou-
bly so for my wife. Ours is an egalitarian
Conservative shul, so even if she were the
only one saying kaddish, the community
would respond amen. But we do not have
a daily mincha, so saying kaddish means
finding a minyan that would welcome her.
Based on my previous experience say-
ing kaddish, I didn’t know what to expect.
A little over a year ago, we relocated
to Montebello, N.Y., in our commonalities. We see
Rockland County. Monte- each other’s shortcomings,
bello is part of the town glancing over each oth-
of Ramapo, and it borders er’s gifts. It seems that we
Monsey. Rockland is a have lost the ability to see
unique place. I knew that the Jewishness, if not the
from my first visit to buy humanity, in each other.
kosher meat. There are With this all this in mind,
other communities that I began to look for a min-
have a large kosher super- Rabbi Joshua yan for mincha. While the
market with a butcher sec- S. Finkelstein robust Jewish community
tion and cooked meats, but made it easy to find a min-
most don’t have so many yan, the nature of the com-
offerings. Driving through Rockland and munity made me question if I could find
shopping in Monsey, it is apparent how one where a woman could say kaddish.
different the demographic makeup of In the past, I would find a minyan,
Rockland County is from my previous show up, and begin praying. Now, want-
communities. While there is a plethora ing to avoid discomfort for my wife, me,
of kosher foods and a deep Jewish infra- and anybody else, I decided to call first.
structure here, there is also a deeply The calls were an exercise in engagement.
diverse Jewish community that often As I explained our need, I was met with
seems to live in parallel worlds, even as quizzical questions. “You know we are
they drive on the same streets. an Orthodox minyan?” “Would you be
We share the same history, read the saying kaddish, too?” In a call to a phone
same Torah, and pray to the same God, number I was asked if I could wait while
but we often look at each other as the he checked with the rabbi. One rabbi told
other. We focus on our differences, not on me it was not their custom, but a woman

50 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019


sparse when it comes to this issue. If you
cannot eat and pray together, it’s hard to
maintain a denomination. This unifor-
mity is just as important as a common
Jewish calendar, which was repeatedly
the subject of debate but always had to
be resolved with one common decision,
even as late as the 10th century.
Today, when the RCBC enforces the
RCA’s and OU’s standards concerning
women rabbis, it is simply ensuring
that American Orthodox Jews can pray
together, just as it supervises restau-
rants in our community so that we can
eat together. Not everyone is happy with
the standards, but this does not lessen
their necessity.
This raises the question of why some
Orthodox Jews seem trapped, unable
to accept communal standards in good
conscience, yet unwilling to move into
one of the more liberal denominations.
It may be that they feel comfortable with
most Orthodox practices, and because
Orthodoxy has been the most success-
ful of the denominations, as the recent
Pew Report’s demographic numbers
highlighted.
The problem is that it is impossible to
separate Orthodoxy’s success from its
opposition to the very egalitarian trends
that supporters of women rabbis wish to
embrace. Across the United States, egali-
tarian trends have had a deleterious effect
would be welcome as long as a man would
say kaddish with her.
From the onset, we had known that we
would make compromises to find places
to say kaddish. While we are egalitarian in
practice, my wife values her obligation to
say kaddish. Though our preference is not
to daven with a mechitzah, and we count
women in our minyan, we accept the real-
ity that not every Jew does, and not every
community is like ours. While some peo-
ple didn’t fully understand why a woman
would feel obligated to say kaddish, there
was an acquiescence as we began to find
places where she could say it.
At one business, the owner welcomed us
into his office. When we asked about help
to find a minyan for another day, he gave
us the name of a place in Monsey. In Mon-
sey, we were told woman don’t usually say
kaddish, but there was a women’s section
in the back. Over the past weeks, our dis-
comfort melted away, as people would nod
and greet us, accepting us, as we accepted
them. Orthodox congregations opened their
doors, and shop owners made accommoda-
tions. Through conversations, barriers came
down and defenses were lowered. We are
not the same, but we do have much in com-
mon. While our accents, pronunciations,
on religious communities in general, and
Judaism is no exception. The reasons why
are unclear. Perhaps by disincentivizing
men from seeing public worship as pri-
marily their responsibility, it has been
the cause of a dramatic drop in non-Or-
thodox synagogue attendance. Perhaps
by prioritizing careers over the raising of
children, it has contributed to the non-Or-
thodox birth rate becoming the lowest of
any group in America. Indeed, Pew has
found that modern Orthodox Jews have
far fewer children than charedim, and a
recent survey by Nishmat found that the
more progressive portions of the modern
Orthodox community have lower birth-
rates than the community’s more tradi-
tionalist elements. But it’s hard to know,
and the latter survey was unscientific.
Regardless of the precise causes,
however, the general picture we have
is that egalitarianism does not seem to
be “good for the Jews.” That does not
mean that there is no place for it. The
SEE RCBC PAGE 52
Rabbi Dr. Mitchell Rocklin is a
postdoctoral research fellow at Princeton
University’s James Madison program. He
is also a chaplain in the Army National
Guard and has served as a pulpit rabbi
and on the executive committee of the
Rabbinical Council of America. He lives in
Teaneck with his wife and two daughters.
and even prayers differ, and some pray from
a Sephardi prayer book and others from an
Ashkenazi one, our belief in one God and
our shared history bind us together.
We acclaim our shared belief in one God
twice a day, when we say “Shema Yisrael”
— “Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord
is One.” It is that core belief that is found on
every mezuzah that is affixed to the door-
post on every Jewish home and is inscribed
on the tefillin worn when we pray each
weekday morning. In the Talmud (Brachot
6a) our rabbis speculate about “God’s
tefillin” and say that in God’s tefillin is the
verse, “who is like your people Israel, one
nation on the earth.”
We will not always agree. We do not
practice the same way or live similar lives.
Our choices will differ and our lifestyles
diverge, but in spite of all our differences,
what we share is greater than what sepa-
rates us. As Jews, we are at our best when
we remember that we are one people wor-
shipping one God, a lesson learned long
ago and relearned saying Mincha in the
middle of winter.
Joshua S. Finkelstein is the rabbi of the
Montebello Jewish Center, an egalitarian
Conservative synagogue in Rockland County.
Opinion
Fighting Holocaust
distortion and hate
in Ocean County
I
s there a greater it was clear to all that
moment than what would be pro-
holding your new- tected would be hate
born son for the speech. Posts on the
first time? Jackson Strong site
Just days ago, I expe- put up shortly after
rienced that wondrous the council meeting
event. Yet Wednesday attempted to falsely
evening, instead of being reverse the evening’s
home preparing for the Michael proceedings by writ-
brit (circumcision) of our Cohen ing “unfortunately
baby boy, I found myself there was zero time
sitting at the Jackson for the residents of
Township Council meeting in southern Jackson who wanted to rebut what was
New Jersey, more than an hour and a being said.” Parliamentary procedure
half away from my home. embedded in the New Jersey Open Pub-
I was sitting with a local African lic Meetings Act requires equal time
American community leader, Colin for all who want to address the rele-
Lewis, and a member of the Toms River vant governing body on any issue, with
Jewish Community Council. We felt the exception of matters dealing with
compelled to be there, together with current municipality litigation or that
a multitude of other community, reli- could incite violence or breaking the
gious, and political leaders, to support law. In fact, throughout the meeting, to
a resolution the governing body was the credit of the City Council President
considering for inclusion on the council Robert Nixon, he not only made clear
agenda. The resolution condemned the that anyone could address the govern-
use of offensively distorted Holocaust ing body, but on many occasions he
imagery and the unapproved photos made a point to invite anyone attending
of elementary school yeshiva children; to come to the podium to be recognized
they were used by a group that opposes and heard. As one person after another
the expansion of a Jewish presence in voiced support for the resolution in
that part of New Jersey. question, full access certainly was pro-
We were buoyed by the outspo- vided for the expression of opposing
ken leadership by the Rev. John P. points of view. Apparently, these bullies
Bambrick of Jackson’s Saint Aloysius chose to hide in the anonymous shad-
Church, representing 6,300 hundred ows of social media instead of stepping
local congregants, asking to “raise up” up to the public microphone.
Ocean County and oppose a divisive The resolution at hand is narrow
video by an organization calling itself and specific. The language says only
“Rise Up Ocean County.” that the actions of a particular group,
Municipal council meetings often in these particular instances, should
can run late into the night. That gave be wholly condemned. Our reason
me ample opportunity to do what any for being present at the Jackson City
proud new father does — to show off Council meeting on this cold February
photos of my newborn. More signifi- evening was simply to ask the govern-
cantly, it provided time to realize that ing body to say publicly that Holocaust
those of us, like me, who are fortunate distortion is simply and unequivocally
enough to represent institutions such wrong, whatever the cause.
as the Simon Wiesenthal Center, are My hope, prayer, and commitment
blessed with the distinct opportunity to my family and neighbors is that the
to do my share in trying ensure a bet- Simon Wiesenthal Center will con-
ter future for my newborn son and tinue to work with people of good will,
all his neighbors, young and old, in whatever their background, ethnicity,
New Jersey and beyond. Standing up or religion, to marginalize bigotry in
for the sanctity of the words of Pastor our midst.
Martin Niemöller meant that we were
protecting a core lesson from the Nazi Michael D. Cohen of Englewood is the
Holocaust by not allowing anyone to eastern regional director of the Simon
pervert the pastor’s anti-Nazi message. Wiesenthal Center. He represents his
Certainly there were those at the city’s Second Ward on Englewood’s City
council hearing who attempted to make Council, and he belongs to Congregation
the standard free speech argument, but Ahavat Torah there.
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 51
Opinion
Supreme Court hastily executes a ruling
I
n a 5-4 split decision on February
7, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court
allowed a Muslim man to be exe-
cuted in Alabama without an
imam at his side.
The decision raises serious concerns
about our country’s commitment to inter-
faith chaplaincy and the way the First
Amendment is understood.
Dunn v. Ray was a case about Domin-
eque Ray, who was executed by the state
of Alabama later in the evening of Febru-
ary 7 for the murder of three teenagers
in 1999. Dunn v. Ray was not about Ray’s
trial and conviction, although his lawyers
made many arguments over the years
since his conviction. This case was about
the application and interpretation of the
First Amendment’s protection against
“establishment of religion.”
Alabama had a chaplain who was per-
mitted in the execution chamber. But
that chaplain was Christian, and Ray
requested an imam. The state said no,
that it did not have an imam chaplain, that
an imam could give counsel to Ray before
the execution and could be present in
the observation room, but because of the
concern for prison safety he could not be
present in the execution room itself.
While the Appeals Court for the Elev-
enth Circuit in Atlanta had ordered a
stay of execution so the claim concern-
ing the Establishment Clause could be
heard, the Supreme Court vacated the
stay and permitted the state to proceed
with the execution.
The reason the Supreme Court per-
mitted the execution to go forward
without hearing the arguments about
establishment of religion had to do with
timing. On November 6, 2018, the prison
scheduled Ray’s execution for February
7, 2019. On January 23, Ray requested of
the warden that an imam be permitted
at his side for the execution, a request
that the warden rejected. On January
28, Ray’s attorneys filed the complaint
that his First Amendment rights had
been violated, and on February 6, the
day before execution, the appeals court
issued the stay to hear the arguments.
RCBC
FROM PAGE 51
liberal denominations and non-de-
nominational Jewish organizations
have embraced it, and they offer
many opportunities for Orthodox Jews
looking to make a difference in the
broader Jewish community. But it also
is understandable that some find wis-
dom in Orthodoxy’s refusal to adopt
52 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
The Supreme Court’s decision did not
address whether there was any merit to
Ray’s claim. That is, there was no ruling
on whether or not Alabama was correct
to deny the request to have an imam by
Ray’s side in the execution chamber. The
decision was based on precedent that the
court could deny a claim to stay an execu-
tion when the claim was of a “last-minute
nature.” Ray should not have waited until
January 28 to protest the warden’s decision
to not have an imam at his side. The impli-
cation is that a last-minute claim indicates a
final attempt to prevent an execution from
going forward rather than a matter of sub-
stantive concern to the individual convict.
The concern to prevent endless challenges
to executions took precedence over hear-
ing the merits of the claim.
In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan, rep-
resenting the four justices in the minority,
argued that the argument over timing was
not convincing because there was no way
for Ray to know, between November 6
and January 23, that the warden would
reject his request. Since the prison had a
chaplain who could enter the chamber,
and since that chaplain was Christian,
why could Ray not request a Muslim chap-
lain, and how could he have known that
only a Christian chaplain would be per-
mitted in the execution chamber?
The real question, which the Supreme
Court did not allow the Eleventh Circuit
to hear, was whether the state has the
right to permit only a Christian chaplain
in the execution chamber. According to
Alabama’s policy, as argued by Justice
Kagan, “a Christian prisoner may have a
minister of his own faith accompany him
to the execution chamber to say his last
rights. But if an inmate practices a differ-
ent religion — whether Islam, Judaism, or
any other — he may not die with a minis-
ter of his own faith by his side.” That is the
crux of the Establishment Clause, that the
state may not establish any one religion
over another.
The interplay between religion and the
state is complicated. While we often hear
it said that the Constitution requires a sep-
aration between church and state, that
egalitarianism. And the existence of
a growing and vibrant Orthodoxy is
not something we should tamper with
lightly if we are concerned with Jewish
continuity.
Ultimately, this all will sort itself
out. If Orthodox people want female
rabbis, they will have them. There is
plenty of non-Orthodox Jewish money
that continues to flow into the epicen-
ter of open Orthodoxy at its Riverdale
separation does not have
to be the “wall of separa-
tion” that Thomas Jeffer-
son wanted to construct.
Indeed, earlier presidents
also tried to build walls.
Jefferson’s, if it exists in the
land of constitutional the-
ory, is porous. The state
does permit a legal role for Rabbi Dr.
the church. David J. Fine
Unlike in countries
where there is a more
complete rule of separation, I, as an
ordained rabbi, am permitted to sol-
emnize marriages, and those marriages
have the force of law in New Jersey,
and by extension, almost everywhere
else. The concerns of the Establishment
Clause are upheld because New Jersey
does not restrict the power to solemnize
marriages to, for example, Episcopal
priests. In Dunn v. Ray, the issue, never
fully entertained by the courts, was
whether Alabama was correct in permit-
ting full access to the execution chamber
only to a Christian chaplain.
Alabama’s defense — that only the staff
chaplain could be permitted in the exe-
cution chamber because of safety con-
cerns — was rightly challenged by Justice
Kagan. All the state had to do was to allow
a Muslim chaplain onto the prison staff.
The additional time for whatever training
and certification was necessary is all that
it would cost before the execution could
be rescheduled. The argument for prison
safety is not the issue. Just as any hospital religion and defense of diversity and free-
needs rules on who is allowed in an oper-
ating room, certainly a prison should have
the same type of regulations. The prob-
lem is that Christian prisoners are offered
a religious service that non-Christian pris-
oners are not.
Chaplaincy is a challenging and reward-
ing interfaith project. Prison chaplains,
hospital chaplains, military and police
chaplains, and university chaplains all
are asked to serve a broad range of peo-
ple, crossing denominational and faith
boundaries. Alabama’s prison chaplaincy
program would not have satisfied every
campus, enabling it to provide substan-
tial fellowships to educate open Ortho-
dox men and women for the clergy.
What the RCBC and umbrella Orthodox
organizations like the OU and RCA are
doing, along with Agudath Israel and
the National Council of Young Israel, is
saying that just as the mechitzah syn-
agogue partition served as a dividing
line between the Orthodox and liberal
denominations, so too the composition
Christian denominational
need. But the chaplaincy
ideal is committed to offer
reasonable clergy services
to those to whom the chap-
lain’s care is entrusted.
Interfaith chaplaincy seeks
a delicate balance between
asking chaplains to serve a
broader population than
they might in a denomi-
national setting, while at
the same time seeking to
provide the right chaplains for those
who need them. A private hospital may
have the resources only for a single staff
chaplain. Hospitals often will call on local
clergy to help their chaplains with specific
patients. A prison, as a state institution,
has an additional burden to avoid estab-
lishing one religion over another.
Every year in rabbinical school we
would hear a military chaplaincy recruiter
explain how in the United States rabbis and
other clergy become officers, emphasizing
how committed the military is to interfaith
chaplaincy. I have great respect for those
of my colleagues who put on the uniform.
And I am grateful that my country recog-
nizes the importance of religion while pre-
serving religious diversity and freedom.
We live in a time for growing political
polarities. Issues like these should remind
us that the complexities of a balanced
centrist approach are in need of commit-
ted engagement and passionate defense.
Finding the balance between respect for
dom is a difficult project.
I was sad that it was not as important to
our Supreme Court as the timely execu-
tion of Domineque Ray.
Dr. David J. Fine is the rabbi of Temple
Israel and Jewish Community Center
in Ridgewood and president of the
New Jersey Rabbinical Assembly. He
holds a doctorate in modern European
history and is an adjunct professor
of Jewish law at the Abraham Geiger
and Zacharias Frankel colleges at the
University of Potsdam in Germany.
of clergy is a dividing line today. If
demographics are any indication, the
minority of Orthodox Jews who dis-
agree with the RCA, OU, and RCBC will
agree to accept their communal stan-
dards, or join the liberal denomina-
tions, or become non-denominational,
or establish their own small denomina-
tion. As Jeremiah told the Jews of Egypt
during Israel’s debate over how to han-
dle the exile, only time will tell.

Pushed to the edge
The February 15 edition of the Jewish
Standard troubled me. I am not yet a
member of the Jewish Democratic Coun-
cil of America, but the Standard might
very well push me over the edge into
declaring my support.
There were two troubling pieces in the
issue that spark this letter.
In his op-ed column, Rabbi David-Seth
Kirshner wrote about supporting Donald
Trump for comments made during the
State of the Union address (“Not every-
thing fits neatly into a box). In so doing,
Rabbi Kirshner creates some sort of
moral equivalence between Trump and
his critics (of whom I am one). I reject
that assertion.
I find it difficult to disassociate char-
acter from beliefs and actions. Trump is
a man who has had a lifetime record of
sexually questionable behavior. He most
recently (falsely) claimed that the Japa-
nese prime minister nominated him for
the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel com-
mittee has rejected two former nomina-
tions, in 2017 and 2018, as forgeries.
As for beliefs and action, Trump has
never repudiated the “very fine peo-
ple” in Charlottesville, and has fueled
anti-Semitism with his consistent sup-
port of white nationalism. And despite
a great deal of hype over the past 15
years, none of Donald Trump’s real
estate plans in Israel ever have resulted
in a brick or golf course being built.
Trump has never visited Auschwitz,
and after a visit to Yad Vashem, he left
a guestbook message that many found
outrageous. At one of his rallies, a sup-
porter was videotaped shouting, “Go to
f…ing Auschwitz” at protesters.
Trump has abandoned the Middle
Eastern peace process, with the result
of chaos in Yemen and Syria, an empow-
ered Hezbollah, and an Iran vowing to
go nuclear with its hardliners vindicated
by rejection of the JCPOA. And this past
summer, Israel suffered the greatest out-
break of violence on its southern border
since 2014. Against the background of
all of this evidence, a few well-scripted
words at an address before Congress are
little more than window-dressing.
The second piece in the February
15 issue was a letter to the editor. The
writer criticized former Representative
Steve Rothman for not condemning the
anti-Semitic views of two current mem-
bers of Congress (“Rothman should
attack Democrats”). So far, so good. But
he then goes on to excoriate the entire
Democratic Party for being anti-Israel.
He cites a recent Anti-BDS bill passed
in the Senate, with 22 Democratic votes
in opposition. But what he fails to
mention is that the opposition (which
included Rand Paul) was not based on
support of the BDS movement. The bill
had broad bipartisan support, except for
a provision empowering state and local
governments to ban BDS protests. There
is a constitutional concern. The First
Amendment prohibits government from
restricting citizen’s speech. U.S. judges in
Kansas and Arizona struck down similar
state laws in 2018. In addition, the bill
also ran into opposition, as it was passed
during the government shutdown.
With all due respect to Rabbi Kirshner
and the February 15 letter writer, Donald
Trump does not deserve support for one
brief moment of political grandstanding.
And, the Democratic Party is not anti-Is-
rael; it never has been and never will be.
Eric Weis
Wayne
Why fund hatred?
Rabbi Meir says he loves the Land of
Israel “from Mount Hermon to the
beaches of Eilat and everything in
between” in his op ed, “The faith of a
liberal Jew” (February 15).
Unfortunately, he belongs to a group,
the New Israel Fund, that funds organi-
zations that accuse the Israel Defense
Forces of war crimes and wants to give
up the in between to Palestinians who
still teach Jew hatred, venerate terror-
ists, and kill fellow Palestinians for the
horrific crime of selling land to Jews. I
have a suggestion: Why don’t you join a
group that seeks to change Palestinian
society so that an accommodation can
someday be contemplated, instead of
afflicting a war-weary Israeli public with
funding from groups that seek its harm?
Michael Milchen
New Milford
Holding the line
I take the opportunity to respond to Mr.
Joseph Kaplan’s February 14 column,
“When our leaders fail us.”
Mr. Kaplan opens his column by recall-
ing his participation in Lincoln Square
Synagogue’s search committee for Rabbi
Riskin’s successor. Mr. Kaplan notes the
comments of two of the candidates (both
more to the religious right than the shul)
regarding the “role of women in Ortho-
doxy.” Mr. Kaplan uses these comments
to launch his criticism of the decision
by the overwhelming majority of Ortho-
dox rabbis to not permit the ordination
of women. It is thus noteworthy that
Rabbi Saul Berman, the successor to
Rabbi Riskin at LSS, has recently pub-
lished a back story on “Rabbi Soloveit-
chik’s Opening Shiur at the Stern College
for Women Beit Midrash.” In the article,
Rabbi Berman writes that he specifically
undertook to make clear that the intent
of the program was not “the first step in
YU’s broader plan to ordain women.”
Mr. Kaplan then describes the issue
that has arisen between the Rabbinical
Council of Bergen County and one of
its members, Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot.
Because Mr. Kaplan claims that the
controversy affects the “entire com-
munity,” he complains that the RCBC’s
bylaws and proceeding have not been
made public. As any organization, the
RCBC is 100 percent within its rights
to establish criteria for membership;
the organization’s members can then
either conform and continue mem-
bership or not conform and end mem-
bership. Notwithstanding the public-
ity and the ensuing commentary, this
issue does not affect the “entire com-
munity”; rather this is between the
RCBC and Rabbi Helfgot (and, indi-
rectly, Netivot Shalom). As Rabbi Helf-
got is a member of the RCBC, he does
have access to the bylaws and proceed-
ings; there is no basis for Mr. Kaplan’s
complaint regarding the RCBC’s proce-
dural processes.
In substance, the RCBC is aligning
itself with the position adopted by the
Orthodox Union following the halachic
decision of a rabbinical panel of seven
leading rabbis. In a thoughtful state-
ment accompanying the decision, the
OU described the panel being made up
of “rabbis each enjoying an exceptional
national reputation for scholarship and
integrity, each a significant, recognized
talmid chacham; individuals to whom
large segments of our communities’
rabbis routinely turn for psak on issues
of significance and who have, as a con-
sequence, dealt with national issues in
communities both large and small, and
both homogeneous and heterogeneous
in hashkafa.”
The conclusion of the OU’s rabbini-
cal panel should come as no surprise.
I have no doubt that all of the rabbis
named in Mr. Kaplan’s article regard Rav
Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l as a towering
figure and authority for centrist/modern
Orthodoxy. In 2010, Rav Aharon disap-
proved of ordination for women. “The
thornier problem is of course the issue
of conferred or legislated leadership. In
practice, this issue decomposes into two
separate problems — the role of officer in
a shul and semikha for women…. I am
convinced that most of the points raised
with regard to the first area are readily
soluble. That is not the case, however, as
regards the second, which touches upon
elements long abjured by either funda-
mental Halakhah or minhag Yisrael. This
relates, of course, to the formal spiritual
status and not to administrative roles of
different character. As regards the for-
mer, holding the traditional line is, for
us, very much in order.”
Indeed, in a 2010 blog entry, Rabbi
Helfgot describes himself as a student
of Rav Lichtenstein and, while defend-
ing the halachic basis for the point of
view to allow the ordination of women,
Rabbi Helfgot expresses his personal
view against the ordination of women.
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 53
Letters
“My own view, which I have expressed
elsewhere, is that taking into account
the practical sociological-communal
realities, a move perceived as ordaining
women at the present moment is pre-
mature.” (Yes, Rabbi Helfgot continues
to suggest that “as time passes there
will be more receptivity to opening up
more to areas of spiritual leadership
for women.” With the overwhelming
consensus of modern Orthodox rabbis
against the ordination of women, that
future — the ordination of women — has
not yet arrived.)
Mr. Kaplan is concerned that this
is causing a rift in the community and
will alienate “a segment of the younger
generation who, unlike some of their
elders, are completely comfortable
with women in Torah leadership roles.”
I think it appropriate to reflect on the
famous words of Rabbi Soloveitchik zt”l
in remarks made at the 1975 RCA con-
vention in the context of another chal-
lenge facing the Orthodox community.
“I want to be frank and open. Do you
expect to survive as Orthodox rabbis?
Do you expect to carry on the mesorah
under such circumstances?... I know
that modern life is very complex…. We
are confronted with horrible problems
— social, political, cultural — and prob-
lems of the family, of the community,
and of the society in general. We feel,
and I sometimes feel like you, as if we
are swimming against the tide; the tide is
moving rapidly, with tremendous force,
in the direction opposite of the way in
which we are going…. We are facing an
awesome challenge, and I am mind-
ful of all that…. What can we do? This
is toras moshe; this is surrender; this is
kabalas ol malchus shamayim. We sur-
render. The Torah summons the Jew to
live halachically…. We surrender to the
will of the Almighty…. The halachah has
its own orbit, moves at its own certain
definite speed, has its own pattern of
responding to a challenge, its own crite-
ria and principles.”
Finally, Mr. Kaplan’s article has been
entitled with a phrase that reflects Mr.
Kaplan’s characterization of the RCBC
decision as a “blunder.” I wonder how
that fits within the spirit of Beit Hillel and
Beit Shammai’s mutual respect that Mr.
Kaplan calls for at the end of the article.
It seems to me that in this area, the OU,
the RCA, and the RCBC have acted with
leadership, sensitivity, and nuance.
Continuing Mr. Kaplan’s analogy,
this is a case where between Beit Hil-
lel and Beit Shammai “nimnu v’gamru”
(see Shabbat 13b) — “they counted
and decided”. From the OU rabbini-
cal panel — “we believe that a woman
should not be appointed to serve in a
clergy position.”
Yisrael Gottesman
Teaneck
D’var Torah
Ki Tissa: Same goal, different strategy
I
opened up my Tanach this week to review
parashat Ki Tissa and I immediately began to cry.
Inside was a bookmark, a bright fluorescent one
that was greenish and yellowish in color. On the
bookmark, which was actually the size and shape of a
Post-It note, was a cell phone number, the name of a doc-
tor, and the phrases “strokes on both sides,” “heart rate
dropped,” and “CPR.”
I must have been reading Ki Tissa when I got a call from
the hospital 12 years ago that my father was not doing
well. I remember the conversations that we had after
that. Doctors were trying to tell my family to remove the
life support. We were just not ready.
Ki Tissa contains the story of the “golden calf.” The
Israelites, impatient for Moses to come down from the
mountain, decided to take matters into their own hands.
They wanted to worship God, but couldn’t wait any lon-
ger. Aaron advised everyone to make contributions to
build a molten calf. And so they did. And then they wor-
shipped it.
In Judaism, the sin of building this calf is severe. It vio-
lates one of the most important mitzvot (if not the most
important mitzvah) in the Torah — the commandment
of “not worshipping other gods.” As a rabbi, as a Jew, as
a person reading this section of the Torah, I could say:
“how dare they!” I could say: “how impatient!” I could
say: “boy, things haven’t changed.” After all, we all build
metaphoric idols in our lives — those things to which we
have grown attached or addicted, whether it is success,
money, our jobs, or our cell phones.
But this year, as I crack open my Tanach, I read it with
different eyes, with an open heart.
Recently at a professional development conference,
I attended a session on how to interact with “difficult
Diaries
FROM PAGE 6
Palestinian leadership that were pushing very hard to
seize that opportunity for their people and secure an
agreement with Israel.”
In December 2000, as a last-ditch effort, Mr. Clinton
offered the parties a set of principles for the resolu-
tion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, now known as
the Clinton Ideas. The Israeli team recorded them on
Mr. Grinstein’s laptop. Within a couple of weeks, Israel
accepted those principles with reservations. The Pales-
tinians rejected them. With the Second Intifada under-
way since September and Mr. Clinton’s presidency
drawing to an end, the peace process also ended.
Meanwhile, key aspects of the Oslo Agreements remain
in effect today.
In hindsight, was the Oslo process a mistake?
Mr. Grinstein says that it was not.
“The structure of Oslo process, based on an interim
period of five years of capacity-building toward a ‘per-
manent status,’ was based on the agreement signed by
Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Likud in 1979,” he
said. “It is a general agreement in Israeli politics today
54 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
people” with whom we do not see eye-
to-eye. I learned the importance of stand-
ing back and giving someone the bene-
fit of the doubt. I realized the difference
between the difficult person’s “goal” and
their “strategy” for reaching that goal. The
presenter made me realize that often we
do not disagree with the final goal, but we
do disagree on the path to get there. And
somewhere, within that disagreement, lies Rabbi
our major tensions, judgments, and annoy- Jennifer
ances. We dismiss people. We label them. Schlosberg
We tune them out. Glen Rock
Everywhere I look — social media, the Jewish Center,
press, our schools, our synagogues — peo- Conservative
ple argue about so many things. Do we
have lox at Kiddush or not? Do we hire more staff or not?
Do we pay for extra security or not?
But these questions only divide us because they repre-
sent the strategies, not the greater, lofty goals that we are Hashanah. And eventually — when his body took one
trying to accomplish by using those strategies.
I hope that we can agree that we want a world free of
gun violence. I’d like to think that we can agree that we
want a world where people have access to good health
care. I pray that we can agree that a world where all peo-
ple have access to food, clothing, shelter, and education
is a world in which we all deserve to live.
But we get so caught up in the “how to get there.” We
get so caught up in the strategy.
What was Moses’ goal and the goal of the command-
ments? To connect with God.
What was the goal of the Israelites? To connect with
God. Their goal was the same, but the strategy that they
used to get there was what created a divide and would
— left, center, and even among the right wing — that
Israel cannot and should not control the Palestinians.
Most right-wing parties today do not call for the rein-
stitution of Israeli control over the Palestinians in Gaza
or the West Bank through the so-called civil adminis-
tration. So in this respect, Oslo must have been right.
“However, the fundamental logic of Oslo anticipated
that the interim period between 1994 and 1999 would
become a period of confidence-building, which would
bring Israelis and Palestinians closer to the ability to
sign a final agreement. That logic was disproved.
“The most important creation of Oslo is the Pales-
tinian Authority, which has basically assumed respon-
sibility for the Palestinian population in the West Bank
and Gaza. Its continued existence has been supported
by all governments since 1994, mostly by Likud-led
ones, and is clearly a national security interest. A
disbanding of the Palestinian Authority would be a
major economic, diplomatic, and security setback for
the State of Israel.
“Israel’s taking full responsibility for the Palestinian
population in the West Bank would be a bigger chal-
lenge than for the United States assuming responsibility
for the population of Mexico.”
have lasting ramifications on the future of
our Jewish tradition. Don’t get me wrong.
They sinned. But if we muster up — from
the depths of ourselves — a little compas-
sion, can you see the good things that they
were trying to accomplish?
Twelve years ago, when I got that phone
call from the doctors, it was difficult for me
to listen to them. It was painful for me to
hear their medical suggestions as ones that
were done with my father’s best intentions
in mind. If they had my father’s best inter-
ests at heart, wouldn’t they want to give
him more time? Wouldn’t they want to
keep him on the respirator? Wouldn’t they
want him to… live?
Eventually, my father would wake up and naturally
get off the respirator on his own. Eventually, he would
celebrate one more birthday, Father’s Day, and Rosh
more severe turn — his body would succumb to what God
had planned for him — only after, we, my family, would
finally listen to the doctors and affirm his life by actively
enabling his death.
The Israelites wanted to be in relationship with God.
They just didn’t know how to accomplish it.
The doctors wanted to affirm my father’s life. I just
couldn’t see it.
This year, the story of Ki Tissa is a bit different for me. It
reminds me to be open-hearted. It encourages me to hear
the difficult person before me. It reminds me to focus
on the well-intentioned goals of others and our mutual
desire — despite our differences in strategies — for reach-
ing God and all that is sacred.
Gone
FROM PAGE 17
four extermination camps as a soldier with the Polish
army, and spelunker Chris Nicola, co-author of “The
Secret of Priest’s Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story,”
were the guest speakers. Mr. Nicola’s book is about
his discovery of the West Ukrainian caves where two
Jewish families hid during the Nazi occupation.
The Bergen Community College Center for Peace,
Justice and Reconciliation and its Office of Multicul-
tural Affairs were among the event’s co-sponsors.
“We used to do the ceremony at the Museum of Jew-
ish Heritage in in Manhattan, but in the last two years
we have held it at Bergen Community College to make
it more convenient for local adults and children to
attend,” Ms. Prakhina said.
She always makes sure to involve young people,
and this year the program included musical and
dance performances by children and teens as well as
by Dr. Tamara Reps Freeman, a Holocaust ethnomu-
sicologist who performs Holocaust-era music on her
1935 Joseph Bausch viola.
For more information about the foundation and the
awards, go to www.prakhin.org.

The Tribe goes to the Oscars — 2019 edition
NATE BLOOM
T
he Oscars awards ceremony
will be held on Sunday, Feb-
ruary 24 on ABC at 8 p.m.
Here is a list of the confirmed
Jewish nominees in all but the technical
categories.
Honorary Oscars were awarded in
November. One went to LALO SCHFR-
RIN, 86. Born in Argentina, he moved
to the States in 1963. He was Oscar-nom-
inated six times. His most famous works
include the theme for “Mission: Impos-
sible” and the scores for “Bullitt” and
“Cool Hand Luke.”
Acting: RACHEL WEISZ, 48, sup-
porting actress for “The Favourite.”
Weisz already won this Oscar for “The
Constant Gardener,” so given Oscar pol-
itics, she’s unlikely to win again. She did
just win the British equivalent of the
Oscar for “The Favourite,” but being a
Brit, she had a hometown advantage.
Her Hungarian Jewish father, an engi-
neer, settled in the U.K. in the 1930s.
Her mother fled Austria for England in
1938. Rachel’s mother was the daugh-
ter of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish
mother; she formally converted to Juda-
ism when she married her husband,
Rachel’s father. My sense is that Weisz
isn’t religious, but she has played Jewish
characters several times (a Soviet sol-
dier in “Enemy at the Gates”; historian
DEBRA LIPSTADT in “Denial”; and the
rebellious lesbian daughter of an Ortho-
dox rabbi in “Disobedience”).
Honorable Mention (Acting): Melissa
McCarthy is nominated for best actress
for playing the late LEE ISRAEL, a
journalist-turned-celebrity-letter-forger,
in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”; Adam
Driver is nominated for best supporting
actor for playing a Jewish police officer
who infiltrates the Klan in “BlacKKKlans-
man,” and Glenn Close is nominated for
best actress in “Wife,” which is based
on a novel of the same name by MEG
WOLITZER, 59.
Music — best original score: NICH-
OLAS BRITELL, 38 (“If Beale Street
Could Talk”) and MARC SHAIMAN,
59 (“The Return of Mary Poppins”).
Britell’s two Oscar nominations (his
other was for “Moonlight” in 2016) are
for films featuring African-Americans
that were directed by Barry Jenkins, an
African-American. Best original song:
MARK RONSON, 43, and DIANE
WARREN, 62. Ronson co-wrote “Shal-
low” from “A Star is Born.” Warren
wrote “I’ll Fight,” a song used in “RBG,”
a documentary about Justice RUTH
Arts & Culture
BADER GINSBURG, 85. I’m sad to say
that I don’t think Warren, who has 10
best song Oscar nominations, will win
her first Oscar this year. I think Ronson,
who was born in the U.K., but raised
mostly in the States, has momentum on
his side.
Adapted Screenplay — (1) “The Bal-
lad of Buster Scruggs,” written by JOEL
COEN, 64, and his brother, ETHAN,
61. This anthology Western is a Netflix
original. The brothers Coen already
have won four Oscars in various cat-
egories. (2) “BlacKKKlansman.” The
original film script, based on a nonfic-
tion book about a police department
taking on the Klan, was written by East
Brunswick natives CHARLIE WACH-
TEL and DAVID RABINOWITZ, both
32. In real life, the white police officer
who infiltrated the Klan was not Jewish,
but the writers made him Jewish in their
script so, as they put it, the officer had
“some skin in the game.” They sold their
script to “Klan” director Spike Lee. Lee
and Kevin Willmott made some changes
and they are co-nominees for this Oscar.
Lee and Willmott actually enhanced
the original script’s Jewish content. (3)
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” co-written
by NICOLE HOLOFCENER, 58. She
is best known for writing and directing
her own films (Google her!). “Can You”
is based on a memoir by the late Lee
Israel. And (4) “A Star is Born,” which
was co-written by ERIC ROTH, 73. Roth
won this Oscar for “Forrest Gump” and
his many famous movie scripts include
STEVEN SPIELBERG’s “Munich.”
Animated Feature: This Oscar cat-
egory includes as nominees the film’s
writers, main producer, and directors.
SCOTT RUDIN was the producer of
“Isle of Dogs,” a nominee. RODNEY
ROTHMAN, 45ish, was a co-writer and
co-director of another nominated film,
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Ani-
mated Short Film: “Animal Behaviour,”
co-directed by DAVID FINE, 58, is about
a group of animals who meet each week
for group psychiatric therapy. This is
the second Oscar nomination for Fine, a
Canadian, and his wife, Alison Snowden.
They won in 1993 for “Bob’s Birthday.”
Documentary — feature length:
“RBG,”, co-directed and co-produced
by JULIE COHEN, 54, and Betsy West.
As noted above, this film is about Jus-
tice Ginsburg. It’s turned out to be the
surprise hit of the year and has a good
chance of winning. Cohen has the right
background for her film’s subject mat-
ter — she has masters’ degree in jour-
nalism from Columbia and a masters’
degree in legal studies from Yale. Her
brother, BRUCE COHEN, 57, is a top
Hollywood producer who won a best
picture Oscar for producing “American
Beauty.” If Julie Cohen wins, she and her
brother will be the 10th pair of siblings
to be Oscar winners; five of the previous
nine are/were Jewish.
Documentary Short: (1) “Black Sheep”
is a film about the effects of racism on a
young black man in England. It was pro-
duced by JONATHAN CHINN, 50ish.
The Chinns are a prominent U.K. Brit-
ish family. SIMON CHINN, 50ish, Jon-
athan’s cousin, has produced two Oscar
winning-documentaries and works with
Jonathan. Simon’s father, Sir TREVOR
CHINN, 83, is a very successful busi-
nessman and a key figure in U.K. Jewish
communal organizations. And (2) “End
Game”, a film about end-of-life care
that was co-directed and co-produced
by ROB EPSTEIN, 63, and JEFFREY
FRIEDMAN, 67. Epstein already has
won two Oscars for his documentaries
“The Times of Harvey Milk” and “Com-
mon Threads: Stories from the Quilt.” He
shared the latter Oscar with Friedman.
Live Action Short film: “Skin,” which
was co-produced by actress JAMIE RAY
NEWMAN, 40, and her Israeli hus-
band, GUY NATTIV, 45, who directed
“Skin.” Newman has had a good career
for the last 15 years with leading parts in
quite a few TV series (‘“The Punisher,”
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 55
“Eastwick”). A full-feature version of
“Skin,” identically named, got good
reviews at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival
and was picked up for national distribu-
tion sometime this year. The full-length
version stars Jamie Bell as a neo-Nazi
skinhead who risked his life to leave a
white supremacist group. It’s based on
a true story. By the way, Newman and
Nattiv wed in Tel Aviv.
The best film Oscar goes to the
film’s principal producers. The only
nominated producer this year I’m
sure is Jewish is JASON BLUM, 49
(“BlacKKKlansman”).
Honorable mention: Marshall Curry,
48, directed a best short documentary
nominee, “A Night at the Garden.” He
hunted for and found all the available
footage of a notorious 1938 Madison
Square Garden rally put on by the pro-
Nazi German-American Bund. “Cold
War” is an acclaimed Polish language
film that is a best foreign film nomi-
nee. The director/producer of the film
is Pawel Pawlikowski. He had a Jewish
paternal grandmother who died in the
Holocaust. And “Vice” is a best picture
nominee. Adam McKay is nominated as
one of its producers and he’s also a best
director nominee for that film. His wife
is SHIRA PIVEN, 57, the sister of actor
JEREMY PIVEN, 53. Their two daugh-
ters were raised in their mother’s faith.
Fun trivia coda: The Jewish siblings
who have each won an Oscar(s) are:1)
Ethan and Joel Coen: best original
screenplay for “Fargo” and best pic-
ture, best directors, and best adapted
screenplay for “No Country For Old
Men.” JULIUS and PHILIP EPSTEIN,
identical twins, for their script for
“Casablanca” (with HOWARD KOCH).
3) ROBERT and RICHARD SHERMAN
(jointly) for best original song and best
original score for “Mary Poppins.” 4)
JAMES and WILLIAM GOLDMAN;
James for his screenplay for “A Lion
in Winter” and William for his screen-
plays for “All the President’s Men”
and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid.” And (5) JOSEPH and HERMAN
MANKIEWICZ; Herman for his script
for “Citizen Kane” (with Orson Welles).
Joseph won four Oscars — two for “All
About Eve” (wrote screenplay and
directed) and two for “A Letter to Three
Wives” (wrote screenplay and directed).
Non-Jewish sibling winners are actors
Ethel and Lionel Barrymore; actors
Ben and Casey Affleck; actress Shir-
ley MacLaine and Warren Beatty (for
directing); and actress Norma Shearer
and film sound expert Douglas Shearer.
Calendar
FEB. The United
Synagogue of
23
Hoboken hosts
“Speakeasy,”
starring Joshua Nelson, known
as the Prince of Kosher Gospel,
at 8 p.m. The intimate candlelit
setting includes curated wines,
beer, and snacks served during
performances. 115 Park Ave.
(201) 659-4000 or office@
hobokensynagogue.org.
be the scholar-in-
Friday  residence on Shabbat
at Temple Emanuel
FEBRUARY 22 of the Pascack Valley
in Woodcliff Lake.
Tonight at 8 p.m.,
he will ask “But is it
humor? — the Torah
and the origins of
Jewish comedy.”
During Saturday
services at 9:30 a.m.,
the topic will be “But
is it Jewish? Is there
such a thing as Jewish
Zach Mann humor?” After lunch,
the discussion will
Shabbbat in be “But is it good for
Woodcliff Lake:
the Jews? Evaluating
Dr. Zack Mann will
56 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
Jewish humor.” All with music and a
welcome, but an
RSVP is required.
Thursday  story instead of a
sermon. Juice and
87 Overlook Drive. FEBRUARY 28 challah for children;
(201) 391-0801, or wine and cheese for
www.tepv.org. adults. 585 Russell
Ave. (201) 891-4466 or
Saturday  www.bethrishon.org.
FEBRUARY 23 Shabbat in Closter:
Temple Beth El offers
Film in Wayne: In
Talent show/ a classical Shabbat
conjunction with
Chinese food: The service led by Rabbi
Jewish Federation
JCC of Paramus/ David Widzer and
of Northern New
Congregation Beth Cantor Elizabeth
Jersey’s “One Book
Tikvah has a talent Dr. Monika Rice Goldmann with
One Community”
show by congregants, Jim Rensink on the
program, the Wayne
7:30 p.m., with a YMCA screens the
Author in Mahwah: organ, 7:30 p.m. 221
Chinese food buffet. Dr. Monika Rice, Schraalenburgh Road.
documentary “From
304 East Midland director of Holocaust (201) 768-5112.
Swastika to Jim Crow,”
Ave. Reservations, and genocide studies
6 p.m., for viewers 13 Shabbat Across
(201) 262-7691. programs at Gratz
and older. The movie America in Fair Lawn:
College in Philadelphia,
shows similarities Temple Beth Sholom
discusses her recently
between anti-Semitism and the Fair Lawn
published book, “What!
in Nazi Germany Jewish Center/CBI
Still Alive?! Jewish
and racism in the participate in National
Survivors in Poland
American south. The Jewish Outreach’s
and Israel Remember
Metro YMCAs of the Shabbat Across
Homecoming” at
Oranges is a partner
of the YM-YWHA of
Ramapo College, in the America at Temple
H-Wing Auditorium Beth Sholom. Service
North Jersey. 1 Pike led by Rabbis Alberto
(H-129), noon.
Drive. (973) 595-0100
Sponsored by Ramapo (Baruch) Zeilicovich
Sinai Sessions or hchizever@
metroymcas.org.
College’s Gross Center and Keven Friedman
for Holocaust and and Cantor Andrew
Music in Tenafly: Sinai
Genocide Studies. Schultz, 5:30 p.m.
Sessions — first-string
musicians who also are
Monday  505 Ramapo Valley Traditional Shabbat
Sinai congregants — FEBRUARY 25 Road. (201) 684-7409. dinner catered by
Kosher Nosh, including
performs in concert at Reform Judaism: a vegetarian option
Temple Sinai of Bergen Book club: The Janet DiNardo White and a children’s entree.
County’s annual coffee Montebello Jewish
house, 8 p.m. Temple Center’s sisterhood
concludes a series,
“Reform Movements,”
40-25 Fair Lawn
Ave. Reservations,
Sinai’s rabbi, Jordan will discuss A.J. Finn’s for the CSI Scholar (201) 797-9321.
Millstein, will perform
with them. Coffee and
novel “The Woman in
the Window,” 7:30 p.m.
Fund of the JCC of
Fort Lee/Congregation Shabbat Across
desserts. 1 Engle St. 34 Montebello Road, Gesher Shalom with a America in Bayonne:
(201) 568-3035. Montebello, N.Y. discussion, “The Rise Congregation B’nai
(845) 357-2430 or Jacob of Jersey City
of the Abolitionist
Sunday  www.montebellojc.org. Movement.” joins Temple Emanu-El
FEBRUARY 24
Refreshments at in Bayonne for SAA
Wednesday  12:30 p.m.; lecture at
1. 1449 Anderson Ave.
at Emanu-El. Service,
6 p.m.; dinner at 7.
Irving Berlin in FEBRUARY 27 (201) 947 1735. 735 Kennedy Blvd.
Tenafly: Marty Schneit (201) 436-4499.
talks about Irving Book club in Closter:
Berlin at a Temple The sisterhood at Friday  Shabbat Across
Sinai of Bergen Temple Emanu-El MARCH 1 America in Paramus:
County Renaissance meets for a discussion The JCC of Paramus/
meeting for people of Tara Westover’s Congregation Beth
Shabbat in Wyckoff:
55+, 1 p.m. Dessert “Educated: A Temple Beth Rishon Tikvah participates in
and coffee. 1 Engle St. Memoir,” 7:30 p.m. the annual SAA. Family
hosts Shabbat Kulanu
(201) 568-3035. 180 Piermont Road. on the first Friday of friendly services,
Julia, (201) 750-9997 6:30 p.m., led by Rabbi
each month at 6:13 p.m.
or buchert@ Led by Rabbi Beni Arthur Weiner and
Cantor Sam Weiss,
templeemanu-el.com. Wajnberg and Cantor
followed by kiddush
Faith Steinsnyder,
 Calendar

and catered dinner.

304 East Midland
H.I. Miller Cantorial
School at the Jewish
from Yesterday to
Today,” 11 a.m. Ms. Valley Chabad program to hear
Ave. Reservations,
(201) 262-7691 or
Theological Seminary,
faculty member at
Aroeste weaves
stories and songs a soldier’s story of camp liberation
www.jccparamus.org. Hebrew Union College- from her Sephardic Alan Moskin of Nanuet Mr. Moskin, who
Jewish Institute of family in a multimedia will tell his story of tak- has two daughters
Religion, and cantor presentation.
of Shaarei Tikvah in Viewpoints is a shul ing part in the libera- and seven grandchil-
Scarsdale, N.Y., is the committee that was tion of a concentration dren, is a vice pres-
Adele Rebell Memorial formed to celebrate camp, Mauthausen, at ident on the board
scholar-in-residence the diversity of the Valley Chabad’s Eternal of the Holoc aust
at Temple Israel and Jewish community.
Flame program on Sun- Museum and Center
Jewish Community 1666 Windsor
Center. Services, Road. Reservations, day, March 3, at 7 p.m., for Tolerance and
6:30 p.m., dinner, and (201) 833-1322. in Woodcliff Lake. Education in Rock-
a talk, “Congregational Mr. Moskin, who was Alan Moskin land County. In 2014,
Rabbi Lindy Henry Melodies: A History of Discussing co-
occurring disorders: born in Englewood, he was inducted into
Goodman Your Tunes (and Some
Others).” On Saturday, The Montebello started at Syracuse University before the New York State Senate Veterans
COURTESY TEMPLE SINAI
during “Concert Hall Jewish Center offers he was drafted; he returned to grad- Hall of Fame and the next year the
Shabbat in Tenafly: and Opera Stage” “A Community uate in 1948. He was a member of the Veterans Coordinating Council in
at 7:30 p.m., he will Conversation on Co-
The sisterhood of 66th Infantry, 71st Division, part of Rockland County elected him as the
Temple Sinai of Bergen perform and lead a Occurring Disorders,”
discussion of American for teens and adults, General George Patton’s Third Army. 2016 Veteran of the Year.
County in Tenafly leads
services, 7:30 p.m. Jewish music, followed led by Stephanie His outfit fought through France, Ger- Eternal Flame, a project of Val-
Guest speaker Rabbi by dessert. 475 Grove Marquesano of many, and Austria, and he was pro- ley Chabad, is supported by a grant
Lindy Henry Goodman St. Dinner reservations, The Harris Project, moted from private to staff sergeant. from the George and Martha Rich
will discuss “Women (201) 444-9320. 10:30 a.m. the Harris
project is the only non- Later, he practiced law in Englewood Foundation.
of the Wall: Thirty
profit advocating for and Hackensack for many years, and For more information, call (201) 476-
Years and Still
Singing.” 1 Engle St.
Sunday  teens and young adults then moved to Rockland County. 0157 or go to eternalflame.org.
(201) 568-3035. MARCH 3 with co-occurring
disorders (mental
Speaker in Wyckoff: health challenges/
Rabbi Amichai Lau- substance misuse).
Lavie is the guest for 34 Montebello Road,
the Distinguished Montebello, N.Y.
Speaker series at (845) 357-2430.
Temple Beth Rishon.
A founding spiritual
leader of Lab/Shul
NYC, and the creator of
In New York
“Storahtelling,” he will
Justice Richard H. discuss “Interrupting Friday
Bernstein the Bible: Five tools MARCH 1
COURTESY OJC
to reinvent the
Jewish story — Can
ASL Shabbat Across
Shabbat in monotheism’s oldest
America in NYC: Town
Orangeburg: As storytelling ritual
& Village Synagogue
part of Orangetown bridge the growing
in Manhattan holds
Jewish Center’s gap between modern
an ASL-interpreted
observance of Jewish generations and our
Shabbat service and
Disability Awareness, ancient legacies?”
dinner, as part of
Acceptance, and Buffet breakfast,
the National Jewish
Inclusion Month, the 9:45 a.m.; presentation
Outreach’s Shabbat
shul welcomes its at 10:30. 585 Russell
Across America, 6 p.m. From left, TAS sisterhood president Liz Dunkelman, sisterhood trustee
guest speaker, Justice Ave. (201) 891-4466.
Dinner reservations, Margie Gelbwasser, Catherine’s Closet shul donation coordinator Nilene
Richard H. Bernstein, (212) 677-0368V, www.
the first blind person Purim run in Fair Chase, sisterhood treasurer Sari Erdos, sisterhood immediate past
Lawn: The Sisterhood tandv.org.
ever elected to presidents Cheryl Jaffe and Barbara Starr, and sisterhood member
the Michigan State of the Fair Lawn Jewish
Center/CBI hosts its Jacki Raider. COURTESY TAS
Supreme Court, who
will ask “Is Justice annual Purim 5K run/1 Singles
Blind?” Services, mile walk, beginning
and ending in the shul
River Edge sisterhood joins
6 p.m., dinner at 7. 8
Independence Ave. parking lot, 10 a.m. Thursday  Catherine’s Closet to make
Proceeds benefit the FEBRUARY 28
Dinner reservations,
(845) 359-5920 or Tikvah program of
Camp Ramah, an
prom dreams come true
www.theojc.org. Bereavement support
overnight camp for in Paramus: Brightview Catherine’s Closet, a nonprofit that Since then, Catherine’s Closet has
children with special Senior Living begins collects and distributes prom gowns to distributed 16,000 donated prom
needs. Music, snacks, a complimentary
and prizes for top three teens and women who need a gown or gowns in the New York/New Jersey
bimonthly support
finishers. 10-10 Norma group for seniors, semi-formal attire, recently partnered area. The organization has also given
Ave. Registration, led by Vicki Sherman with the sisterhood of Temple Avodat more than $40,000 in scholarships.
(201) 796-5040. Doueck, LCSW, 10 a.m. Shalom in River Edge to host a gown Gowns cost $10, purses and shoes
Ladino music in The group is designed collection. Congregants generously are $5, and jewelry is $3.
for people mourning
Teaneck: Temple donated to the drive. Teenagers who need prom gowns
Emeth’s Viewpoint a death that has
happened in the last Catherine’s Closet was founded by and accessories can shop on April 13
Cantor Gerald Cohen group sponsors a
five years. 396 Forest Sandra Kessler in memory of Cather- and May 11 at 550 Broad St., fourth
program featuring
Shabbat in singer/songwriter Ave. Mary or Marianne, ine Johnson, a senior at Clifford J. Scott floor, in Newark. For more infor-
Sarah Aroeste’s (201) 957-1955. High School in East Orange, who was mation, call (973) 616-2060 or go to
Ridgewood: Cantor
Gerald Cohen, assistant presentation, “Ladino killed in 2002 by a 14-year-old in a sto- catherinescloset.org.
professor at the Music Transformed len vehicle.
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 57
Calendar

Wayne Y hosts genealogy meeting

The Jewish Genealogical Society of
North Jersey holds a two-part meeting
on Sunday, February 24, at the YMCA of
Wayne, 1 Pike Drive, in Wayne. Part I, at
1 p.m., is “Jews Clues: How One Book,
Two Authors, and a Few Good Clues
Can Jumpstart Your Jewish Genealogy
Quest.” Caryn Alter and Steve Cohen will
lead. They also will discuss their recently
published book, “What’s in a Name? A
Young Person’s Jewish Genealogy Work-
book.” Part II, from 2:15 to 3, will be
“Questions and Answers — A Time to Ask
the Experts.”
Everyone is welcome and refresh-
ments will be served. For more informa-
tion, email Susan Kobren at President@
jgsnj.org, or call (732) 752-3384.

Historian returning to BCC

Rabbi Beni Wajnberg greets a Shabbat Kulanu participant at
Temple Beth Rishon.
Shabbat Kulanu in Wyckoff
Temple Beth Rishon hosts Shab-
bat Kulanu, a new Shabbat experi-
ence for all, on Friday, March 1, at
6:13 p.m. (The time symbolizes the
613 mitzvot.) The program contin-
ues the first Friday of each month
and is led by Rabbi Beni Wajnberg
and Cantor Faith Steinsnyder; it
GBDS Spring Fling tickets available
The Academies @ GBDS in Oakland
holds its first annual “Spring Fling,” a
tricky-tray auction and wine tasting,
on Sunday, March 24, at Temple Israel
& JCC in Ridgewood. Doors open at 5
p.m.; drawings begin at 6:30.
for baseball, politics lectures
Dumont historian Dick Burnon will — “Memorable Baseball Teams” and “A
return as a lecturer at the Lois E. Mar- Volatile Mix of History and Politics.” He
shall Institute for Learning in Retire- also is a frequent lecturer at the Kaplen
ment at Bergen Community College JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly. For
in Paramus. He’ll teach two courses
in March on Monday afternoons
more information, call (201) 447-7156
or email ilr@bergen.edu.
will include music, and a story will
replace the sermon. Juice and chal-
lah are served for children; wine
and cheese for adults.
The shul is at 585 Russell Ave.,
Rep. Gottheimer
in Wyckoff. For more informa- to address rise
tion, go to www.bethrishon.org or
call (201) 891-4466
in anti-Semitism
New Jersey Congressman Emanuel of the Pascack
Josh Gottheimer (D-5th Valley in Woodcliff Lake.
Dist.) discusses the rising For information, go to
tide of anti-Semitism on www.tepv.org or call
Sunday, February 24, at (201) 391-0801.
10:30 a.m., at Temple
Rep. Josh Gottheimer
Tickets — $36 if bought by February
28 and $45 afterward — include one
sheet of tickets, hors d’oeuvres, and
dessert; no outside food permitted.
For information, call (201) 337-1111 or
go to SSNJ.org/SpringFling.

Auditions for ‘Rent’ in Englewood

Local singers can audition for “Rent
— The Musical: Concert Version Per-
formance,” on March 1 and 2 at the
Performing Arts School at bergenPAC.
Performances will mark National Men-
tal Health Awareness Month and will
be at Englewood Health from May 17 to
19. The director, Alexander Diaz, and
the musical director, Glenn Gordon,
for characters they wish to be consid-
ered for. A piano accompanist will be
provided. Call (201) 482-8194 to sched-
ule an appointment.
“Rent,” set in Manhattan’s East
Village, is about falling in love, find-
ing your voice, and living for today.
The show won the Tony Award for
best musical and the Pulitzer Prize The string quartet Ethel  MATTHEW MURPHY Julia Wolfe  PETER SERLING

are looking for a diverse cast of 12 to
15 people, 16 years old and older. All
roles are unpaid and everyone must
be available for all the performances.
Auditions will be held at the Per-
forming Arts School, 1 Depot Square,
in Englewood. Hopefuls should bring
a headshot and resume to the audition
and be prepared to sing a song in the
style of the show, along with two songs
58 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
for drama. It has become a pop cul-
tural phenomenon with songs and a
story that resonates with audiences of
all ages.
Rehearsals will be held at Engle-
wood Health on May 15 and 16 from 4
to 8 p.m., with additional rehearsals at
the Performing Arts School. For more
information, call (201) 482-8194 or
email education@bergenpac.org.
String quartet Ethel to entertain
at Manhattan’s Jewish Museum
Bang on a Can and Manhattan’s Jew-
ish Museum’s concert season, which
focuses on pioneering female artists,
continues with a performance by the
acclaimed string quartet Ethel per-
forming work by Pulitzer Prize-winning
composer Julia Wolfe. The concert is on
Thursday, February 28, at 7:30 p.m., in
the museum’s Scheuer Auditorium.
For more information, call (212) 423-
3337 or go to TheJewishMuseum.org. The
concert includes museum admission.

The Frazzled Housewife
My super power
W
hen I was about 5 or 6
years old, I had a friend Superman, Batman , Ironman, Wasp
who was obsessed with
Spider-Man.
He wore his Spider-Man pajamas to
school (it was only kindergarten, and
even if it hadn’t been, there were no
dress codes all those years ago.) He
taught us all the theme song to the
Spider-Man cartoon; he was constantly
shooting webs from his wrists like the
real Spider-Man does.… Like I said, he
was obsessed. I was never really into
the whole superhero thing. I mean,
Wonder Woman was cool because she
could use her jewelry to evoke her
various super powers, but I was never
obsessed with the whole
thing. Though, Christo-
pher Reeve, who played
Superman, was extremely
handsome, and I could
never figure out how they
cast Margot Kidder as Lois
Lane because she wasn’t
anything spectacular to
look at.
In any event, fast for- Banji
ward to my being a mom Ganchrow
of three little boys, and
for some reason, super-
heroes were never in their vernac-
ular. I don’t even think we had any
superhero figurines. We had lots of
beanie babies, courtesy of my mom,
who was always teaching them about
the different kinds of animals. (And
also when one brother threw a beanie
baby at another brother, it didn’t leave
a mark.) We had a ton of Legos-non-
choking hazard size all the way down
to some that were so small that even
if they did swallow it they wouldn’t
choke. (Please don’t try this at home.)
Games, puzzles, a miniball pit and, of
course, lots and lots and lots of balls.
But no superheroes. Or Barbie dolls.
Not that there is anything wrong with
little boys playing with Barbie dolls.
Why am I talking about superhe-
roes? Thanks for asking. The other
day I was babysitting for two little
kids. The boy is 5 and the girl is 2. Of
course I was intimidated by the little
girl as I have no idea what to do with
girls. (That includes changing their
diapers. Is it front to back or back to
front?) But I was ready for the boy.
Boys are my jam.
So I meet these kids, and they are
adorable and I am on the floor play-
ing with them (note to the mom, if you
hear your little girl say “oy vey” she got Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck would
that from me, as it is the thing I exclaim only wear a superhero costume that is
every time I get up from the floor) and
all of a sudden the boy starts talking
JS-59*
Kosher Crossword
“Synagogue Sights”
By Yoni Glatt, koshercrosswords@gmail.com
Difficulty Level: Challenging
about superheroes. Spider-Man,
(no clue), Antman (who is that?), the
Hulk, and so on and so forth. “Do
you like any baseball teams?” I asked,
hopeful that we could get into a con-
versation about the future of the Mets,
but no. We were going to talk super-
heroes. Even the little girl knew every
single one of them and probably knew
their superpowers, but I was totally
powerless. Though by the time I left, I
was well versed in conversation about
the Man of Steel and his minions.
But it got me thinking about super-
power. If you grow up learning about
superheroes, do you think that you
are gifted with your
own superpower? I
have often referred to
husband #1 as “Minyan
Man,” able to locate
a minyan no matter
where he is or what he
is doing. Extra-innings
baseball game in the
middle of a tornado in Across Down
Kansas City? We have 1. Cautious (of)
5. Raiders tosser
1. Rum and Silicon
2. Solo
a Chabad! Lightning 9. Skater Cohen 3. Laker’s guard
storm in Pittsburgh 14. Skin care staple 4. “Smallfoot” animal
before a game? Two 15. Chemical in fertilizer 5. Mark
shuls within a 10 mile radius. That is 16. 11-year-old, e.g. 6. Rest area?
his superpower. 17. Words that might come before “... 7. Pose once more
but, I messed up...” 8. Blip producers
As for my superpowers? I am not
19. Dismantle sail supports 9. Like Pharaoh, in Exodus
sure that sarcasm or grudge-holding 20. Home of the Bnei Menashe 10. Barley beard
is considered a superpower, but if I 21. Letters identifying the four voices in 11. Napkin, to an Aussie
could choose one superpower, well, a choir 12. Ocean activity?
the corny choice would be able to 23. Sch. near the Appomattox River 13. Black meat
heal anyone who is sick. That would 24. Google letters 18. Cabo’s peninsula
25. Animals with one sign of kashrut 22. Cheap Evian alternative
be amazing. My more realistic choice,
29. ___visit 26. Some are nervous it might do them
since this discussion is based totally on 30. Bit of pollen harm
reality, would be to be invisible. How 31. ‘49 alliance 27. 24-pack, perhaps
many times, when you leave a room 34. ___air 28. Settlers of Catan resources
and you know there are people talking 36. Contort 29. Grosse ___, Michigan
39. An alternative title for this puzzle 31. Major degree
about you, don’t you just want to hear
42. Palindromic prophetess 32. “Here it is!”
the conversation? And clearly you can- 43. Make a stink? 33. Some bikes
not do that if you are standing there, 44. Historic character created by Siegel 35. Academic basics, briefly
visibly in the room. I would like to be and Shuster 37. Sacker of ancient Rome
invisible, to get into someone’s house 45. Pharaoh withheld it, in Exodus 38. Hatzalah worker, for short
and hear the real conversations, not 47. Agents 40. They were once used to “prove”
49. Nostalgic item for some authors unicorns existed
the fake-fluttering stuff. I want to hear
52. Fifth word of the lyrics to “American 41. Put out
the really nitty-gritty and then not use Pie” 46. Candidate who benefitted from
it against them, because that would be 55. Lawyer’s girl? Roosevelt getting shot
evil and I want to be a good guy, not a 56. Light ring 48. Rabbinic ruling
bad guy, 57. “Just ___ like one of us” (Joan 49. “___-rene” (“Women’s Bible”)
But although probably it is more fun Osborne line) 50. Harari of note
59. “..., not ___ mouse” 51. History, for Harari
to be a bad guy, I choose to remain vir-
61. Like some Manischewitz products 52. Mrs. Begin
tuous, because that’s just the kind of 64. Rafa of note 53. Muppet in love with a chicken
super chick I am. 65. Peanut and olive 54. Delivery letters?
What’s your superpower of choice? 66. British rocker whose real first name 58. Go through mud
Let me know. I am quite curious. is John 60. Aviation group: Abbr.
67. Belonging to the Queen of 62. Clay’s new name
Arendelle 63. Blogger’s feed, initially
68. “JAG” spinoff
69. Talmudic scholar, perhaps
modest and baggy. because she wants
her boys to respect her character. The solution to last week’s puzzle
is on page 62.
Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 22, 2019 59

Jewish World
Like rest of Venezuela, Jews wait and watch
Shiryn Ghermezian
The economic and political unrest cur-
rently taking place in Venezuela has left
the country’s Jewish community in a
wait-and-see mode, as residents hope
for an end to the political crisis that will
result in improved living conditions.
Juan Guaidó, the president of the Ven-
ezuela National Assembly, declared him-
self the interim leader of Venezuela on
January 23, after President Nicolás Mad-
uro was sworn in for a second term that
month, in what widely was believed to
be a fraudulent contest. Under Maduro,
the country has fallen into turmoil, with
inflation expected to rise to 10 million
percent this year. Venezuela also has
been undergoing a humanitarian crisis;
there are shortages of food and medi-
cine. The economic and political calam-
ity has caused 3 million people to flee
the country as migrants and refugees,
according to the Washington Post.
Measles and diphtheria — diseases
once controlled in Venezuela — have
re-emerged, and Venezuela now is the
only country in South America to have
regressed to the infant mortality lev-
els it had in the 1990s, according to
new research published in the Lancet
Global Health journal. Jenny Garcia, the
lead researcher on the study, blamed
the regression on government cuts to
health-care funding.
Those problems are only the tip of the
iceberg, said Alex Rosenberg, a Venezu-
elan Jew now living in the United States.
“It is years of corruption,” he said.
“It’s years of failed economic policies,
it’s printing money, it’s regulation that
strangles businesses, or rather, any
business that is not government-owned.
Most businesses are not thriving or doing
well right now. Employment is low; peo-
ple are leaving for security and business
reasons. I saw people who really strug-
gled and needed social services from the
community to put food on the table.”
He added, “It’s been 20 years of a sin-
gle party ruling and a single government
ruling the country. At this point, even if
it wasn’t for these failed policies and the
authoritarian rule and everything else,
a change of government should have
happened already. It’s like the old say-
ing that politicians are like diapers; they
should be changed often and for the
same reason.”
Born in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas,
Rosenberg came to the New York 3 1/2
years ago to have surgery for a sports-re-
lated injury. He ended up staying after
the rehabilitation process took longer
than expected and he got the opportu-
nity to get a green card. He also met his
60 Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 22, 2019
JS-60*
Food is scarce throughout Venezuela. Citizens suffer widespread malnutrition and lack of access to health care.
The Jewish Cemetery of Coro, established in 1832, is the oldest Jewish
cemetery in continuous use in the Americas.
wife in the United States. Many of his
relatives still live in Venezuela, including
his mother, older sister, brother-in-law,
aunt, uncle, and cousins, and he said he
still has what remains of a clothing busi-
ness in his home country.
In late January, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu threw his support
behind Guaidó, making Israel the first
Middle Eastern country to recognize
him as Venezuela’s new leader. A grow-
ing list of nations followed, including the
United States, Canada, and most Latin
America countries, such as Venezuela’s
neighbors Brazil and Colombia.
Guaidó welcomed Netanyahu’s sup-
port on Twitter, writing that “74 years
ago the Auschwitz extermination
camp was liberated, and today, as our
Wikimedia Commons
country fights for its independence, we
are thankful for the support we received
from the Prime Minister of Israel Benja-
min Netanyahu.”
“Anti-Semitism was used as a political
tool in the past by Chávez and continued
with Maduro, particularly in the official
media,” said Dina Siegel Vann of the
American Jewish Committee.
Rosenberg said that under Guaidó’s
leadership, “I do think that freedoms
would be a lot better, respected, [and]
I think that there would be no more
rhetoric of dismissiveness with the Jew-
ish community or any other religious or
national group as it has been during the
last 20 years. With the current [Mad-
uro] government, they do have a pol-
icy of dismissive language [towards the
Wikimedia Commons
Jewish community].”
Maduro and his government have
been accused of promoting anti-Semitic
and extreme anti-Israeli views. The coun-
try has been expanding relations with
the Iranian regime, which dates back to
Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chávez, as
well as with Iran’s terror proxy Hezbol-
lah. Until recently Israeli officials have
kept silent on the unrest in Venezuela,
fearing that it might backfire and end in
violence toward the Jewish community
in Venezuela after Maduro broke off dip-
lomatic ties with the United States.
“So far, the 6,000 Venezuelan Jews
who remain in the country” — from an
original estimated 25,000 — “are safe,
but affected like the rest of their fellow
citizens by the same political, economic
and social ills haunting the country as a
whole,” Dina Siegel Vann, director of the
American Jewish Committee’s Arthur
and Rochelle Belfer Institute for Latino
and Latin American Affairs in Washing-
ton, D.C., told JNS. “The lack of rela-
tions with Israel since 2009, the use of
anti-Semitism as a political tool resulting
in violence against institutions in the past
and attacks in the media created a deep
sense of vulnerability resulting in the
exodus of two-thirds of the community.
“In the current environment, with so
much confusion and possible changes
on the horizon, the community remains
in a wait-and-see mode, with active
channels of communication to the
many domestic and international actors,
which can ensure its present and future
safety and well-being. AJC remains in
close contact with our institutional
See venezuela page 63
 JS-61

Molly Goldfarb
Molly Goldfarb, née Yarmush, 94, of East Hanover died
February 14.
She was a longtime sales associate at B. Altman and
Company.
Predeceased by her husband of 60 years, Leon, she
is survived by children, Marcia Postelnek (Michael),
Reva Gomer, (Stuart), Sandra Goldfarb ( James
Murphy), and Alan (Dawn Perdon); siblings, Doris
Elkin, and Marvin Yarmush; six grandchildren, and two
great-grandchildren.
Donations can be sent to Compassus Hospice, Toms
River. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel,
Fair Lawn.
Doris Kessler
Doris Kessler, née Frushtick, 89, of Ridgewood died
February 10.
She was a longtime member of Barnert Temple in
Franklin Lakes, originally in Paterson.
Predeceased by her husband, Robert in 2004, she
is survived by children, Mitchell, Neil, Jeffrey, and
Stacy. Donations can be sent to Barnert Temple, Jewish
Federation of Northern New Jersey, or PBS Jewish
programming.
Arrangements were by Robert Schoem’s Menorah
Chapel, Paramus.
Diane Mannie
Diane Mannie, née Honigfeld, 73, of Flemington,
formerly of Wayne, died February 15.
Predeceased by her husband, Louis, in 2000,
she is survived by children, Jason Stucker (Tami) of
Phillipsburg, and Michelle Stucker of Flemington, and
five grandchildren.
Arrangements were by Robert Schoem’s Menorah
Chapel, Paramus.
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 JS-63

Jewish World

Venezuela
from page 60
partners from CAIV [Federation of Jewish Communi-
ties of Venezuela] to understand developments on the
ground and to ensure the community’s well-being.”
Israel’s war against the Palestinian terror group
Hamas in the Gaza Strip in the winter of 2008-09, also
known as “Operation Cast Lead,” was a turning point for
the treatment of Venezuela’s Jews, Rosenberg said. They
faced discrimination from anti-Israel activists in Venezu-
ela, and synagogues were vandalized.
Rosenberg recalled the largest and oldest Sephardic
synagogue in Caracas being ransacked and desecrated
in 2009. He said people automatically assumed that it
was a government-sponsored attack; evidence later was
found showing that the government was trying to extort
the Jewish community in some way.
The prejudice against Venezuela’s Jews spiked when
then-President Chávez, known for his pro-Palestinian
sentiments, demanded that the Israeli ambassador leave
Venezuela over the “Holocaust that Israel was perpetrat-
ing in Gaza.” Since 2009, Venezuela has had no diplo-
matic relations with Israel.
“Chávez used to come on TV, and he once cursed
the State of Israel, on national television,” Rosenberg
remembered about Chávez’s rule. “At another time,
he said those who killed Christ were the same ones
who killed [former Venezuelan military and political
leader] Simón Bolivar, who is viewed locally in Ven-
ezuela as some sort of God. Many other things, too,
but basically he had a strict alignment with Iran and
Palestinian causes.”
Siegel Vann said that “until Chávez’s arrival, anti-
Semitism in Venezuela was negligible, and remained
either in the margins and/or was considered politically
incorrect. Attacks in the official media allowed for the
permanent and systematic channeling of anti-Israel and
anti-Jewish diatribes. And vandalism against Jewish insti-
tutions has been used as measures of intimidation. Ven-
ezuela’s severing of relations with Israel in 2009 brought
this chapter to new heights.
“Anti-Semitism was used as a political tool in the past
by Chávez and continued with Maduro, particularly in
the official media. Israel has been linked together with
the U.S. with conspiratorial implications. With Iran and
Venezuela entering a strategic relationship in 2005, Jews
and Israel became the focus of systematic attacks.
“Today, these attacks have diminished as the gov-
ernment’s attention is focused on survival, and it does
not want to open a new front by being accused of
anti-Semitism.”
Rosenberg noted that he thinks the government
discourse against the Jewish community has not died
down, but simply that Jews in the country are forced to
“play nice because most of the kashrut-related imple-
ments and food that is imported for Pesach and other
holidays has to be authorized by the government.”
Venezuela’s small Jewish community continues to live
in a besieged state, and are sometimes targeted because
it may appear as if it is doing well economically, even
though it is suffering like the rest of the country, said
Rosenberg. For example, Jews who dress well to go to
synagogue on Shabbat fear being robbed or kidnapped,
an unfortunately common occurrence in Latin Ameri-
can and South American countries.
The younger generations tend to leave Venezuela after
they graduate high school if the family has the economic
means to support them abroad; they go to Europe, the
United States, or Israel, Rosenberg said. His sister is a
doctor and not licensed to work outside Venezuela. If
she decides to leave the country, like so many others she
will have to start her career from the beginning, includ-
ing re-doing her residency. So for now she has decided
to stay in her home country, though she made sure that
her two college-aged children left.
Rosenberg said “most families don’t want to worry
about their kids’ well-being, opportunities, and safety
because of the turmoil that is constantly happening and
brewing, and so they send the kids away. Everybody
sends their kids away.”
With the Jewish population in Venezuela constantly
shrinking, the community is looking more and more
“lifeless” and “empty,” he said, as they wait for a politi-
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Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 22, 2019 63

Jewish World
Meet the Jewish undocumented immigrant
who’s a big man on the biggest college campus
BEN SALES
ORLANDO, FLA. — Growing up, Josh
Boloña was just like a lot of kids in South
Florida.
He was a Latino immigrant, from Ecua-
dor, in an area with a lot of Latino immi-
grants. He was a Jewish kid in an area with
many Jews. He was a soccer player in a
place where plenty of kids played soccer.
Then he tried to get his driver’s permit.
Boloña had an inkling a year earlier that
his immigration status was complicated.
A friend had invited him on a Caribbean
cruise, but his mom told him he couldn’t
go. She said it had to do with immigration,
and they left it at that.
But before he turned 15, his parents
explained the issue: He was an undocu-
mented immigrant.
“A week before my birthday, I asked
my parents to get it and they again said I
can’t,” he said about the permit. “So then
they started explaining more in depth my
status, and saying what I can and can’t do.
Then, the following year, we were thinking
I would have to leave the country because I
didn’t have any means to apply for college
because I was undocumented.”
Shortly before, though, President Barack
Obama instituted Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, a policy that
allowed undocumented immigrants who Josh Boloña sits in the campus library. He is the president of the Student
had come as children, like Boloña, to stay Government Association at the University of Central Florida.
in the United States. DACA recipients can
get drivers’ licenses, attend school, and work.
So Boloña was able not only to go to college, but to
rise to the top. He is now the student government pres-
ident at the University of Central Florida, the biggest
undergraduate program in the country, with more than
50,000 students. The Student Government Association
there manages a budget of nearly $19 million.
“I’ve always had a passion for servant-leadership
and problem solving,” he said. “I figured that in SGA,
that’s really what you do: You lead a group of fellow
classmates — not with authority, but more with vision,
which was nice. And ultimately you get to solve issues
for students.”
Sitting at the UCF library, near a gushing fountain
on the school’s sprawling campus here, Boloña looks
and sounds like any student. The campus, replete with
crisscrossing pathways, imposing classroom buildings,
and a bunch of parking garages, is buzzing with stu-
dents at 9 p.m. on a balmy night in February. Many are
wearing the school colors, black and gold, while dis-
playing their pride in the Knights’ elite football team,
whose 25-game win streak ended at the Fiesta Bowl on
New Year’s Day. The library is crowded and not that
quiet — that is to say, like a normal college library.
Boloña’s social media feeds feature plenty of photos
of him looking official at school events, with a jacket
and tie. On this Wednesday night, though, he is wear-
ing a black-and-gold T-shirt from Phi Delta Theta, his
fraternity. Like many senior men about to graduate, he
has a beard.
64 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019
A day earlier, Boloña was lobbying with other stu-
dent officials in Tallahassee for internship opportuni-
ties. Now he’s on his way to a study group upstairs;
there’s a test the next day.
He doesn’t make a big deal of his immigration sta-
tus or what it means for a DACA recipient to become
student president of the biggest school in one of the
most politically divided states. If people should know
one thing, Boloña says, it’s that DACA recipients are
regular people — many of them, like him, leaders of
their communities.
“If you really look at it from a logical way and you
really try to understand who these people are, there
really is no reason for it to be used as politics rather
than fixing what should be fixed, which is the immi-
gration system,” he said. “If you want to talk about it,
let’s do it. With our generation, I know Republicans that listens, he’s able to take ideas and state them clearly.
support things like DACA.”
Boloña is originally from Guayaquil, a city of more
than 2 million people. His father was born in Ecuador,
too, and his mother in Venezuela, and his three older
brothers also were born there. The family moved to the
United States just as he was about to turn 7 to seek a
better life for the brothers, Boloña said.
His involvement in politics started in high school,
where he served as junior class president of Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, graduating four
years before the mass shooting there last year.
Boloña has fond memories of the school, and he
went to the student-organized March For Our Lives
against gun violence last March in Wash-
ington, D.C. He’s pushed for a safety fea-
ture on the UCF student app. “Over the
past year there’s been a lot of hard times,”
he said in a later interview, a day after the
shooting’s first anniversary. “School safety
has always been a priority. You can’t get an
education without peace of mind.”
Aside from security, Boloña’s priorities
as president have been expanding mental
health care and career opportunities for
students, as well as broadening legal coun-
seling for students to include immigration
questions. He and his running mate, Jad
Shalhoub, won a runoff election last year
against another DACA recipient, Karen
Caudillo, with 56 percent of the vote.
Shalhoub, who like Boloña is an indus-
trial engineering major, met Boloña in a
statistics class when Boloña was soliciting
signatures for a student senate campaign.
The two had seen each other around the
school’s Greek life, so Shalhoub, sitting in
the front row of the classroom, decided to
mess with him.
“I was pulling his leg, and I said out loud,
‘Don’t sign this guy’s petition!’” Shalhoub
said. “I didn’t know how he would take it.
He’s like, ‘You sit in the front? Nerd!’ At
that moment, I knew we could tolerate
each other.”
Boloña maintains a crammed sched-
ule. The day after our interview, he would
BEN SALES attend a UCF pedestrian safety meeting
with county officials, an interview with a
candidate for the chief justice of the student court, a
senate session, meetings with a school senator, an engi-
neering group, and the Student Athlete Advisory Coun-
cil — and class.
He does find time to unwind, playing the video
game Mario Party with Shalhoub or watching any-
thing from science programming to sports on TV (he
calls himself “an addict”). He’s also found time to
meet every few weeks with Yisrael Abisror, an Ortho-
dox rabbi at the school’s Hillel, and discuss Jewish eth-
ical texts. Shalhoub and Abisror both describe Boloña
the same way: level-headed, thoughtful, laid-back,
easy to get along with.
After graduation, Boloña will take a job with Accen-
ture, the consulting firm, in Atlanta.
“I heard he was a guy to know,” Abisror said. “He
He’s patient.”
Boloña occasionally goes to Hillel and Chabad and
said that being Jewish has provided him with a moral
framework in leadership and life. It’s also given him
guidance in specific ethical dilemmas, like when his
roommate found a few hundred dollars in cash and
called Boloña to ask what to do. Boloña relayed a les-
son he remembered from Hebrew school.
“He was like, ‘What do I do?’” Boloña recalled. “I
was like, ‘First, try to see if someone’s around, whose
it may be — making sure it’s actually theirs. If not, it’s
all right to keep it for yourself. If you want to do a mitz-
vah, feel free.’” JTA WIRE SERVICE
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An anonymous father of four went viral last year (Office) 201-794-7050 · (Cell) 201-819-2623 548 Standish Rd. $599,000 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
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There are creative solutions for affordable Jewish Prime W. Eglwd. Compl Renov. LR/Fplc, FDR, Sky Lit Great Rm, New
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 22, 2019 65
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