North Jersey Jewish Standard, January 30, 2015

Our
OurChildren
About
TALKING TABERNACLE IN FRANKLIN LAKES page 6

THE RABBI WHO MET KING ABDULLAH page 8
A SWEET TASTE OF TORAH IN FAIR LAWN page 12
THE PILOTS WHO FLEW ABOVE AND BEYOND page 39
Useful Information for the Next Generation of Jewish Families
Maza!l IN THUIES
Tov ISS
On YOUR BAR/BAT miTZVAH
A supplement to
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Tu BShevat Crafts and Food
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JANUARY 30, 2015

VOL. LXXXIV NO. 19 $1.00
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Page 3
AS SEEN ON TV
Nightline: Jewish Standard rocks

ABCs Nightline ran a feature the
other night on Bergenfield native

and Solomon Schechter alumn Jack
Antonoff.
Mr. Antonoff is newsworthy for
having found success in the music
business first with his group fun.,
and now with his group Bleachers
as well as for the company he keeps:
His girlfriend is Girls creator Lena
Dunham, and he has written songs
for and with Taylor Swift.
Nightlines Dan Harris traveled
back with Mr. Antonoff to his
childhood home in New Jersey,
which he only left two years ago,
when he was 28. We were tickled
to see among the childhood toys
and teenage posters a copy of the
Jewish Standard, with his first band,
Steel Train, on the cover. So too was
the Nightline correspondent, who
seemingly couldnt believe that a
Jewish newspaper would put a rock
and roll act on its cover.
Which reminds us: If your children
have moved out, thats no reason for
JS-01
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JERSEY
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Vol. LXXX No. 5
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JSTANDA RD.COM
On the fast track
Local musicians ride

the
Steel Train express
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at editor@jewishmediagroup.com.
Maybe theres a story there for us.
LARRY YUDELSON
Israeli busted for hacking

Material Girls material
Back in December, rough tracks from
Madonnas forthcoming album were
leaked on-line. A furious Madonna
responded by releasing the finish cuts
and moving up the release date for the
album, Rebel Heart, and scheduled it
for a March release.
Guy Oseary, Madonnas Israeliborn manager, hired an Israeli private
detective to investigate. Last week,
Israels Lahav 433 unit the equivalent
of the FBI arrested Adi Lederman,

39, and accused him of hacking into
Madonnas computers, and those of
other musicians.
Mr. Lederman is no virgin to the world
of music; he auditioned for the Israeli
talent show Kochav Nolad.
Meanwhile, Madonnas mood had
already lightened. As she posted on
Instagram a month ago: Shabbat
LY
Shalom from this #rebelheart.
LETTERS, P. 20
As we read the Song of the Sea this Shabbat, may we

remember Debbie Friedman.
RABBI NEAL I. BOROVITZ, RIVER EDGE
Israel remembers the white stuff

One towns fizzle is another towns
blizzard.
While the couple of inches of
snow we received this week was
a let down after the promised
snowpocalypse that closed roads,
bridges, and work places, Israel still
remembers the snow that fell in late
January and early February 1950.
After all, measurable snowfall in Tel
Aviv is one for the record books
and the photo albums.
Ten minutes of snow
in Tel Aviv, reported
a newspaper, Al
Hamishmar, on January
29, 1950. Look, its
really snow! Tel Aviv
passers-by greeted
one another with these
cries of wonderment
on Friday at 8:15, as
thick snowflakes began
falling on the city. The
snow was an especially
pleasant event for
the Sabras and the
schoolchildren who had
never before seen live snow.

Sadly for the delighted children,
after 10 minutes the snow turned
into ordinary cold rain.
A week later, though, the cold
spell returned this time dropping a
respectable 7 inches on Tel Aviv.
The record of this event is
preserved at Israel Revealed to the
Eye, which collects and displays old
Israeli photos at israelalbum.org.il.
LARRY YUDELSON/RACHEL NEIMAN/ISRAEL21C.ORG
Candlelighting: Friday, January 30, 4:53 p.m.

Shabbat ends: Saturday, January 31, 5:55 p.m.
For convenient home delivery,

call 201-837-8818 or bit.ly/jsubscribe
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editorially. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. 2015
CONTENTS
NOSHES ...................................................4
OPINION ................................................ 18
COVER STORY .................................... 22
GALLERY .............................................. 36
TORAH COMMENTARY ................... 37
CROSSWORD PUZZLE .................... 38
ARTS & CULTURE .............................. 39
CALENDAR ..........................................40
OBITUARIES ........................................ 43
CLASSIFIEDS ......................................44
REAL ESTATE...................................... 45
JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 30 2015 3
Noshes
How big is that lizard in New York?

Negev resident Shimshon, 4, after his grandmother Pam Machefsky, formerly
of Englewood, told him that his cousins in New York were going to be getting
a big blizzard this week.
SUPER SUNDAY:
Jewish Connections
The Seattle
Seahawks play the
New England
Patriots for the NFL
championship on
Sunday, February 1 (NBC;
kick-off at 6:30). By
chance, Boston has all
the big Jewish connections: the teams longtime owner, ROBERT
KRAFT, 73, is an observant Jew whose many
charitable projects
include the Kraft Family
Stadium in Jerusalem
and support of the Israel
Football League (which
plays American football).
His son, JONATHAN, 50,
is president of the
Patriots. Meanwhile, on
the playing field, the
Patriots have the only
Jewish player in the
Bowl: NATE EBNER, 26,
a safety who carved out
a solid place on the
roster with outstanding
special team play. His
late father was the
Sunday school principal
at the familys Ohio
synagogue. Also worthy
of note: the Patriots
famous quarterback,
Tom Brady, who played
college ball for Michigan,
is the brother-in-law of
now-retired Red Sox star
KEVIN YOUKILIS, 35.
Youk is married to
Bradys sister, and the
couple has a son.
By the way, Patriots
wide receiver Justin
Edelman has a Jewish
father and a non-Jewish
mother and the Pats
press office says he
was raised Christian. In
a 2013 interview Edelman referred to himself

as Jewish, but that response may be a tonguein-cheek jokey comeback to a question about
Christmas presents. (The
reporters were hoping,
as a Christmas present to
them, that unlike Pats
coach Bill Belechik he
would answer their questions fully. If you saw
Belechiks deflated footballs press conference
as usual he was stingy
with his answers).
On the sidelines: IDINA
MENZEL, 43, who unexpectedly has become
almost a household
name because of her
voice role and singing in
the mega-hit Frozen,
will sing the national
anthem. The half-time
entertainment is being
provided by Katy Perry
and Lenny Kravitz. Perry
has resumed her onand-off romance with
singer JOHN MAYER,
37, a ladies man who
is the son of a Jewish
father and a non-Jewish
mother. In recent years,
he has said things like he
is attracted to Judaism.
Kravitz has the same
background as Mayer,
except he opted decades
ago to be a non-denominational Christian.
Nice to note: Kravitz did
attend the March 18, 2014
White House ceremony
in which his namesake,
Pvt. LEONARD KRAVITZ,
his fathers brother, was
awarded the Medal of
Honor for heroism during
Robert Kraft
Idina Menzel
Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen
John Mayer
Al Michaels
a Korean War battle that

cost him his life.
AL MICHAELS, 70,
will be in the broadcast
booth calling his ninth
Super Bowl as the playby-play announcer. In
March 2011, Michael accompanied Robert Kraft
and Krafts wife, MYRA,
to Israel to visit the Kraft
Family Stadium, which is
the home to three teams
in the Israel Football
League. (Myra died of
cancer a few months
later.) Last November,
Michaels autobiography,
You Cant Make This Up:
Miracles, Memories, and
the Perfect Marriage of
Sports and Television,
was published. Its full of
interesting sports anecdotes.
MIKE BINDER, 56,
is the director and
writer of Black
and White, which stars
Kevin Costner as the

grandfather of a biracial
girl who vies for custody
of the child with the girls
African-American
grandmother (Octavia
Spencer). Binder, who
also acts, has a mixed
record as a filmmaker.
Two of his better films
are The Upside of
Anger, which also
starred Costner, and
Reign Over Me, in
which ADAM SANDLER,
48, gave a good dramatic performance as a guy
emotionally destroyed
by the deaths of his wife
and daughters in the 9/11
attack on the Twin
Towers. (Opens Friday,
January 30.)
Also opening on the
30th is Project Almanac, is about a brilliant
high school student
(Johnny Weston) and
his friends, who uncover
No time to waste for

Carrie Brownstein
Seattle native CARRIE BROWNSTEIN, 40, is one
busy artist. Her hit IFC show, Portlandia, began its
fifth season on January 8. Guest stars this season include
JEFF GOLDBLUM, 62, VANESSA BAYER, 33, PAUL
SIMON, 73, and NATASHA LYONNE, 35. Brownstein
also moonlights as a recurring Jewish character on the
hit Amazon show Transparent. On top of all this,
Sleater-Kinney, the Portland-based all-woman feminist rock band that made her famous in the 90s, has
reunited with its first new CD since 2006 (No Cities to
Love) and soon begins a live tour. The band is Brown N.B.
stein, JANET WEISS, 49, and Corin Tucker.
plans for a time machine.
The machine may put
their lives in danger.
Co-stars include SAM
LERNER, 22, who has
been acting steadily
since he was 11. In a re-
cent profile, it was noted

he worked in his acting career while going
to school and Hebrew
school, and that he acted
in plays at his synagogue.
N.B.
California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

Middleoftheroad1@aol.com
Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard
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Jewish Standard JANUARY 30, 2015 5
Local
Build me a sanctuary
Franklin Lakes shul to examine the Tabernacles specs from many directions
Joanne Palmer
Planks of acacia, two and a half
cubits long, a cubit and a half
wide, and a cubit and a half high,
formed into an ark.
Gold overlay on the planks, on
both sides.
Gold molding around them.
Gold rings, one for each side.
Acacia poles.
Instructions for inserting the
poles into the rings, and the rings
into the ark.
Thats just the very beginning
of the multitude of instructions
for building and furnishing the
ark the mishkan, the portable
tabernacle that the Israelites carried with them in the desert. The
lists go into painstaking detail
about what to build, how to
build it, what to use as construction materials, and what colors

to use.
Coming as they do in the
middle of the book of Exodus,
in parashat Trumah (read this
year on February 21), these
lists of largely unrecognizable
things can seem like a thudding
anti-climax. We have just gone
through the stirring high drama
of the crossing of the Red Sea
and the giving of the Torah on
Mount Sinai and then the reading
of the Ten Commandments; now
all of a sudden we are in a Home
Depot, and all the signs there are
in a foreign language.
In fact, Rabbi Joseph Prouser
of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey in Franklin Lakes said, when
rabbinical students are assigned
This reconstruction of the mishkan stands in Israels Timna Park.

Rabba Kaya
Stern-Kaufman
Bob Goldberg
parashat Trumah for their senior

sermons, as he was during his
last year at the Jewish Theological Seminary, they despair. Parashat Trauma, they call it. He
knows that from personal experience 27 years ago, that rabbinical student facing a shul full of
his peers, professors, family, and
Rabbi Joseph
Prouser
friends, trying to talk about dolphin-skin hangings, lampstand

bases, and blue, crimson, and
purple woolen loops, was him.
Ever since then, I have had a
sensitivity to these several weeks
in the annual Torah-reading cycle,
and the need to breathe some relevance and light and excitement
into the reading, he said.
On Sunday, Rabbi Prouser is
offering a program, Beyond
Parshat Tr(a)uma, that will, as
its subtitle says, offer a way to
find spiritual meaning in the
biblical blueprints of the Jewish
peoples first sanctuary.
How?
By bringing in people who
are accustomed to looking at
building and furnishings from an
entirely different direction than
a typical pulpit rabbi would, and
asking them to lend their expertise to the study of these texts,
he said.
Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman
(and yes, her title, which she
chose when she graduated from
the Academy for Jewish Religion
in Yonkers, N.Y., is rabba), the
keynote speaker, is uniquely
situated for the subject. Before
her ordination, she was a clinical social worker and a feng shui
consultant, so she knows a great
deal about spaces, about people, and about the interaction of
the two. She is the founder and
executive director of Rimon:
Resource Center of Jewish Spirituality, and she teaches about
Jewish mysticism, a subject that
deeply engages her passion.
There is a very clear sense
that there is a message here, in
parashat Trumah, that is being
communicated through the use
of space. Decoding it is our
challenge.
Throughout the development of rabbinical commentary

on the Torah, it seems to be that
very few commentators have
an understanding of the energetics of space. There are many
wonderful commentaries on
this parsha, but none of them
deal with the ancient universal understanding of how space
itself affects consciousness.
A lot of the material that I was
reading in the Torah was leaping off the page to my feng shui
understanding, she said. I was
seeing connections between the
way the mishkan was developed
and some theological ideas that
were present at the time and were
parts of ancient Israelite culture.
Every culture would say
that a sacred space is meant to
be a vehicle for communication between humanity and the
Divine, she continued. Pressed
for an example, she talked about
how in ancient times, the world
was understood through the lens
of the four primary elements
fire, water, air, and earth. They
play a strong part in ancient Jewish mysticism, so within the Tabernacle itself, we have the four
elements. There is the menorah,
which is carrying fire; burning
incense, creating a cloud, which
is air; the altar table, which has
12 loaves of bread, a function of
the earth, and vessels that hold
water. So you have all elements
right there, in the kodesh section
the holiest section.
Each is placed in a different
direction; the fire is on the south,
the air element, the most ephemeral, in the west, where the
Shechina the feminine aspect
of God resides. The earth and
water are in the north, and the
entrance is in the east, where it
faces the rising sun.
Those directions are shared
with other cultures, Rabba
Stern-Kaufman continued.
Imagine that you are in a desert culture, as both the Israelite
and Native Americans were. It
is hot. So very hot. The heat of
the sun is most oppressive from
the south; sunset, the coolest and
most comfortable time of day, is
in the west. You will experience
relief and a sense of beauty, so
the Shechina is connected with

that part of the landscape.
The relief from the sun is not
like the total darkness from the
north, that place of dark and
heavy shadow. But you can really
feel the presence of God coming
in, as we do in Kabbalat Shabbat, when we sing Lecha Dodi.
We are bringing in the Shechina,
the feminine, soothing presence,
that is associated with the western direction.
Not only are these principles
useful as we try to understand
our past they also can be used
for inspiration when we create sacred spaces or synagogues
today, Rabba Stern-Kaufman said.
Thats very much where I want
to take the conversation how do
we orient our buildings? How do
we incorporate or not incorporate
natural elements? There are synagogue spaces that we create that
facilitate a spiritual experience, a
sense of connection and others
that we create that make it more
difficult for us to connect.
A good model for connection,
she said, is the way in which
the Israelite camp was set up in

the desert, essentially in a circle
surrounding the mishkan. There
was God at the center. It is a perfectly egalitarian experience. The
Levites were the closest to the
center they served there but
no other tribe had an advantage
over any of the others in terms
of access to the Divine. Each was
equally close or equally far.
That arrangement speaks to
the possibility of creating a synagogue space in the round, as
opposed to the theater model,
with an audience, and the performance going on up front. That
brings up all sorts of problems
related to class. Changing the
seating arrangement will change
the quality of the experience of
the people who are sitting there,
and their relationship to each
other as a community.
Bob Goldberg, the president of
Temple Emanuel, is an engineer
and the editor of a section of an
engineering journal, the IEEE
Instrumentation and Measurement Magazine. He is fascinated
by the parsha because he finds
meaning in Trumah.
In a way, I planted the seed
for this last year, Mr. Goldberg
said. When Rabbi Prouser read
the parsha last year, he talked
about how difficult it was partly
because the Hebrew is hard, and
partly because the message is
hard to find. While it might be
hard to chant the Hebrew to the
trope, there is a lot of message
in it, Mr. Goldberg recalls having told his rabbi; in fact, his
journals overall editor, Shlomo
Engelberg, wrote a column on
the subject a few years ago.
Modularity is important in
making products successful,
Mr. Goldberg said. Mr. Engelberg
pointed out that the mishkan
could be taken apart, moved,
and put back together. It goes
back several thousand years, and
it is a concept that engineers are
still wrestling with today.
Another modern concept the
importance of each of the building blocks that make up a product and are necessary for its ultimate success also comes up in
the parsha. Each one of them
should be optimized, so when

you put it together you have the
best possible product, and if
there is a problem you can find
it and fix it.
There really are a lot of engineering concepts here in terms of
product development.
He does understand why some
people find the parsha less than
compellingly interesting. If you
were to buy a piece of furniture to
put together, you dont really want
to read the parts list out loud,
he said. But when its all put
together, its a wonderful thing.
Another speaker, Don Argintar,
also is an engineer, and according
to his bio, he is a flight instructor
as well. He declined to talk about
his take on parsha Trumah.
Rabbi Prouser sees even more

value in the program than the
insights it will give into the mishkan in particular and sacred
spaces in general. For me, personally, this program is very
much in keeping with the way
I try to tap into the talent in the
Jewish community, he said.
Often, talented people dont
have the chance to apply those
talents to the study of Jewish
texts in a serious way. But we
have such a diverse, well-educated Jewish community.
I see a big part of my job to
be motivating people to use their
own education, experience, and
perspective to broaden our view
of what Jewish tradition has to
offer, he said.
Who: Rabbi Joseph Prouser, Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman, Robert Goldberg, and Don Argintar will present
What: Beyond Parashat Tr(a)uma: Finding Spiritual Meaning in
the Biblical Blueprints of the Jewish Peoples First Sanctuary
When: Sunday, February 1, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Where: Temple Emanuel of North Jersey, 558 High Mountain
Road, Franklin Lakes
For information: Call (201) 560-0200 or email rabbi@tenjfl.org.
TRADITION. EXPRESSION. REFLECTION.
this
is
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Jewish Standard JANUARY
30, 2015
Local
Where no rabbi has gone before

Interfaith activist to speak at brotherhood breakfast
Larry Yudelson
Rabbi David Rosen brings a unique perspective when it comes to evaluating
Saudi Arabias late King Abdullah.
Abdullahs supporters note that in
the 20 years that he led his kingdom, he
sided with America against Al Qaeda,
proposed a peace plan that would recognize Israel, and let women serve as supermarket cashiers.
Detractors note that women in Saudi
Arabia still cant drive, Christianity is
banned, and the kingdom flogs wayward
bloggers.
Count Rabbi David Rosen among those
praising the Saudi glass as half full.
As the international director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish
You can see

the enormous
advances
in interfaith
cooperation.
There is in fact less
conflict today than
in the past.
Rabbi David Rosen
Committee, he was among the Jews and

the sole Israeli invited to the unprecedented interfaith meeting Abdullah convened in Madrid in 2008.
And when Abdullah institutionalized
his interfaith dialogue with the formation
of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and
Intercultural Dialogue in Vienna, Rabbi
Rosen was named as one of its nine board
members, serving with representatives of
the Vatican, the Church of England, the
Orthodox church, and Muslim scholars
from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Iran.
Rabbi David Rosen meets with King Abdullah as part of an interfaith delegation at the royal court in Saudi Arabia.
For the King of Saudi Arabia to have

an Israeli rabbi on its board is very significant, Rabbi Rosen said Saudi Arabia,
after all, is home to Islams holiest places.
What was remarkable about Abdullahs
interfaith initiative was precisely that it
came from the ultraconservative Muslim
heartland and made dialogue kosher, or
halal, in the Muslim world.
Rabbi Rosen will be the featured
speaker on Presidents Day at the annual
Bergen County Interfaith Brotherhood/
Sisterhood Breakfast, which brings
together eight faith communities. This
year, the Jewish community is hosting.
Rabbi Rosen said that the Saudi interfaith initiative had one of its most important moments late last year, when it
brought leaders of Sunni and Shiite Islam
together with some leaders of the Yazidi,
a religious sect that had been targeted
for genocide by ISIS, and issued a joint
Rabbi David Rosen with South African Archbishop Thabo Cecil Makgoba at Davos.

Valeriano DiDomenico/ World Economic Forum
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declaration condemning Al Qaeda and ISIS and the
abuse of religion.
Its very important psychologically for the minorities to have that kind of support, Rabbi Rosen said.
He acknowledged that there are always problematics involved in cooperation with countries or
religious communities that might not fit our standards with civil liberties. But its better to take the
hands that have been stretched out. I saw an opportunity for progress.
Rabbi Rosen grew up in England, where his father
was a prominent Orthodox rabbi. After high school,
he studied in Jerusalem at the Mir yeshiva, where he
received rabbinic ordination. But he left the charedi
yeshiva to enlist in the Israeli army. For a time he
served as an IDF chaplain in the Sinai. Then, in the
early 1970s, he went to South Africa. He was hired to
be a campus rabbi and then South Africas largest
congregation, an Orthodox synagogue with ten thousand members, hired him.
It was in Cape Town that Rabbi Rosen discovered
interfaith cooperation.
I came to it from a commitment to social justice.
It was one of the few ways to bring people together
across racial separations during the apartheid
regime, he said.
His activism made older congregants nervous. It
also brought death threats against him and his children. And it led the government not to renew his
visa.
A stint as chief rabbi of Ireland introduced him to
the world of Catholic-Jewish relations. You cant be
chief rabbi of Ireland and not relate to other faiths,
he said.
Based in Jerusalem, Rabbi Rosen has represented
both the Israeli government and the chief rabbinate in interreligious dialogue and in the negotiations
leading up to the Vaticans recognition of Israel.
Last week, he was in Davos, Switzerland.
The World Economic Forum understands that
religion has consequence for religious and economic
interests, he said. He appeared on a panel about
religion and violence with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the archbishop of South Africa, and
the founder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, the first
Muslim liberal arts college in America.
Rabbi Rosen points to the enormous advances
in the constructive use of religion. You can see the
enormous advances in interfaith cooperation. There
is in fact less conflict today than in the past.
Whats striking in interreligious work is that the
divisions are often not between religions as within
religions; they are instead between those who are
open-minded, embracing, welcoming, and those
who are insular, isolationist, and only inward looking, he said.
Rabbi Rosen said that he is optimistic about prospects for interreligious dialogue with Muslims.
Save the Date

When: Monday, February 16, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
What: The 29th Annual Bergen County Interfaith Brotherhood/Sisterhood Breakfast
After all, he said, the greatest interfaith success of our

time is probably the transformation with the Catholic
Church. But for Jews, that was probably the worst religion historically.
We never had as bad a relationship with Islam as with
Christianity. Islam never taught that God has spurned the
Jewish people and replaced it with another, cursed the Jews
to wander forever, and in effect said we were in league with
the devil. Thats what the church taught. The pope rejected
Theodor Herzl, saw Zionism as anathema for rejecting the
doctrine that Jews had to wander forever, he said.

Now the relationship between Judaism and Catholicism
is such that Rabbi Rosen has been named a knight of the
church, was invited to the installation of Pope Francis,
and has hosted a Shabbat dinner inside the Vatican, where
cardinals sang Shabbat zemirot with a visiting delegation
from the American Jewish Committee.
If we can transform that relationship into such a positive one, there should be no relationship that is beyond
transformation, Rabbi Rosen said.
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Local
Fighting for the rights of survivors

and their heirs
Cresskill couple gets SSA to clarify statute on exemptions
Lois Goldrich
arbara and Michael

Lissner have a
mission.
Its who we are
what we do, said Mr. Lissner,
who has spent practically his
entire life witnessing and furthering efforts to help Holocaust survivors get the benefits
to which they are entitled.
The couple, partners in the
New York law firm Lissner &
Lissner LLP, are both children of
survivors.
Michael Lissners father, Jerry,
started the firm, which soon
came to win the trust of the
tightknit community of German
Jews living in Manhattan and
Queens, the son said. He was
an incredible man, able to help
people in a very knowledgeable
and calming way. He became a
tall pillar in the community.
Mr. Lissner, who formally
started working with the firm
in 1983 but had been around
the firm my whole life, was
able to maintain the trust of that
community.
Ms. Lissner was no stranger
to survivors unique needs. Her
parents were from Poland her
father was on Schindlers list,
while her mother survived in
Eastern Russia. Both lost many
relatives.
After Jerry Lissners death in
1987, Ms. Lissner came to the
law office to help Michael get
through this period, but we really
were able to work well together
and had common spirits, she
said. That spirit is manifest in
the couples advocacy work for
the rights of survivors and their
heirs. Indeed, that has been their
primary focus since 1992
We had a shared history and
commitment to those people
who lost so much and were confronted with so many new things
a new language, filing requirements, what claims could be
filed, Ms. Lissner said. Naturally we made this our focus. Its
part of who we are.
Apparently, the Lissners commitment has reached the next
generation. Their daughter,
Eliese Lissner, actively volunteers
not only with Blue Card, Inc., an

organization that helps needy
Holocaust survivors, but with
Zahal Disabled Veterans FundBeit Halochem, which helps disabled veterans in Israel. Their
son, Sam Lissner, who graduated
from Harvard with a concentration in near eastern studies, is
a Lipper Fellow at the Museum
of Jewish Heritage and has spoken at several venues about his
experiences as a grandchild of
survivors.
According to Mr. Lissner, 1992
was a pivotal year for the couple,
setting the direction for what
they would do over the next few
years.
That year, Elie Wiesel gave a
moving speech in Washington,
D.C., and had a display with a
map of [train] depots and concentration camps, he said. In
an imagined conversation with
President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Mr. Wiesel relayed the American
leaders negative response to
the plea that the military bomb
those depots. Mr. Roosevelt considered this diverting military
equipment to an unnecessary
non-military intervention. In
other words, Mr. Wiesel said,
Barbara and Michael Lissner
In other words, those payments

were excluded from income and
resources for the purpose of
establishing eligibility for federally funded programs.
Following that acts passage,
the Lissners spent the next three
years trying to understand the
history and intent of the legislation, Mr. Lissner said, accepting
invitations to share that knowledge throughout the country.
We realized this meant not
just current monies coming in
from Germany and Austria but
that it also protected accumulated resources received as a
We had a shared history

and commitment to those
people who lost so much
and were confronted with
so many new things.
Barbara Lissner
summarizing the presidents

position, Let the Jews take care
of themselves.
That speech moved a lot of
people, Mr. Lissner said. Everyone said, What now?
One tangible reaction was the
passage of the Nazi Persecution
Victims Eligibility Act in 1994.
Through that act, any payments
made to people because of their
status as victims of Nazi persecution were disregarded (that is,
were considered exempt) by the
Social Security Administration.
result of Nazi persecution, he

added. There was a real value to
this legislation, and it could really
help survivors.
The couple worked until we
had comfortably understood the
act and how to apply it, he said.
At the time, we had a lot of survivors going into nursing homes,
requiring long-term health care
and spending down their money.
Many were alone. It was a miserable way for them to age. The act
was on the books, but not being
paid attention to.
The first step was to figure out

what kinds of payments could be
protected.
We read the statute as much
broader than actual payments
they received today, but also to
include all payments spouses
may have received and that they
inherited, he said. We read
the act to include any and all of
the payments received because
they were victims of Nazi
persecution.
This would include payments
made by Germany and Austria
since the early 1950s as well as
by any other countries making
restitution to victims including restored property, artwork,
looted assets, anything related.
In the mid-1990s, the Lissners developed an asset protection plan and created the Victim
of Nazi Persecution Restitution
Trust, through which eligible
people are able to identify, separate, and preserve a significant
portion of their assets if they
require long-term health care as
well as other federal benefits.
In an email, Ms. Lissner said
that the trust was utilized to
properly identify and protect the
totality of funds received by survivors as a result of their persecution so that these funds would be
properly treated as exempt assets
for the purposes of receiving federally financed programs such as
Medicaid.
The couple noted that survivors and their families throughout the United States have benefitted from this trust, and that its
importance was recognized by
the Library of Congress, which
requested information about

establishing such an instrument,
as well as by Jewish Family Services, attorneys, and advocacy
groups throughout the country.
While the Lissners mapped it
out and showed how to calculate
restitution so it would be a slam
dunk in dealing with federal
officials, they encountered some
difficulty in making their findings
known to survivors.
Most survivors are not on the
internet, and no one can fully
understand the small type, Ms.
Lissner said.
Now, she said, it is more important than ever to spread this
information not just on behalf
of the survivors themselves but
for their heirs. As a result of ongoing advocacy efforts, the Lissners
have secured recognition from
the Social Security Administration that heirs of survivors who
have received funds as a result
of their status as victims of Nazi
persecution also are entitled to
protection.
They did reference heirs
in the statute, she said, even
though they were not necessarily receiving money. We had to
figure out how to make sense of
who is an heir and what the statute was [saying]. In addition to
the legislative history of the 1994
act making a reference to heirs,
we were also assisted in our
efforts by a 1947 German law that
recognized children of survivors
as, themselves, being victims of
Nazi persecution.
Children of survivors do suffer and have needs that are not
met, she continued. Sadly,
some social service agencies that
help survivors dont help their
children.
Nearly two years ago, there
was a case that threw the issue
into sharp focus.
Approximately a year and
a half ago, the Social Security
Administration stopped payments that had been properly
paid to one of our clients, a child
of survivors, because, according
to the SSA, inherited funds that
had been received as a result of
Nazi persecution were, they said,
available resources to him. The
SSA took the position that since
Local
he had not directly received these funds and since
these funds were only inherited by him, he could not
receive SSI benefits until he spent down these alleged
available resources.
The Lissners filed a lawsuit, and won but the government appealed, and the decision was reversed.
Then our daughter was helping to run a young leadership event for Blue Card, and the guest speaker was
Aviva Sufian, the governments ombudsperson for Holocaust survivors, Ms. Lissner said.
We swarmed her, Mr. Lissner continued. She
didnt know what hit her. She listened and said she
would try to help.
She subsequently connected us with the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, who
later sent us a letter thanking us for raising the issue. On
December 16, the SSA issued an emergency declaration.
That declaration excluded inherited funds from
income and resources if the funds were inherited from
or can be traced back to an individual who received the
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Our message for

survivors and their
families is that
our government
is encouraging
people to take
advantage of
this law. Its not
something to
mistrust.
Michael Lissner
funds as payments because of his or her status as a victim of Nazi persecution; the funds were or would have
been excludable under the Victims of Nazi Persecution
Act for the original recipient; the funds are identifiable
as reparation payments; and the funds are unspent.
Many children of survivors will never need assistance,
said Barbara, but I know from our practice that there
are certain damages that children suffer. It may render
them unable to complete their education or take care of
themselves. They may be caretakers, not free to focus
on their own lives.
While some survivors are more able to leave horrors behind and focus on new families, not everyone
can do that.
The Lissners are hoping to spread the word about
the SSA exemptions to survivors, their children, and
their lawyers.
Were hoping the benefit will be understood and
utilized, they said. If people wait too long, it will be
more difficult to recreate what their parents and grandparents received. Even grandchildren are affected, she
said. The legislation didnt put a limitation on who was
defined as an heir. They broadened the definition to say
its not the heir that is the issue but the money. Once
you have identified the money and shown that it was
exempt, that exemption is retained.
Our message for survivors and their families is that
our government is encouraging people to take advantage of this law. Its not something to mistrust, Mr. Lissner said. The government is making an amazing effort,
a gesture. It is, he said, an apology for what was not
done to save Jewish lives during the war, a way to say
were sorry and have you age with more dignity.
Local
At night of learning,
NJBR revisits Sinai
Community rabbis will take us back to the mountaintop
Lois Goldrich
ow in its sixth year, Sweet

Tastes of Torah a project of
the North Jersey Board of Rabbis remains committed to its
original goal.
The Bergen County Jewish community
is siloed in many ways, said Rabbi Steven Sirbu, religious leader of Teanecks
Temple Emeth and president of the NJBR.
Were attached to our synagogues. We
identify with our municipalities. Its difficult to realize were part of a greater Jewish
community.
One reason to sponsor the annual night
of learning, he said, is to emphasize that
we are much more when we connect with
other communities.
Apparently, this message resonates with
its intended audience.
Every year the community shows up
and participates, Rabbi Sirbu said. The
feedback has been one of gratitude.
This years program Sinai Revisited:
Views from the Mountaintop will bring
together 20 rabbis from Bergen and Passaic
counties, who will explore the topic from a
variety of perspectives.
As always, said Rabbi David Bockman,
religious leader of Congregation Beth Shalom in Pompton Lakes who, according
to program coordinator Nicole Falk, is the
driving force behind the program
the group tried to choose a canvas wide
enough for individual rabbis to choose
some aspect of it. There will be a lot of different angles.
Some are going with modern things, saying, Look, were here. What is it about Sinai
or about the Torah that speaks to us now?
One session New Songs of Revelation:
Mount Sinai in Modern Poetry, offered by
Rabbi Noah Fabricant of Temple Beth Or
in Washington Township will explore
modern poetry that has to do with Sinai.
Another Increasing Happiness: Clues
from the Peak, led by Rabbi Cathy Felix of
the Jewish Center of Sussex County will
look at the peak experience of receiving the
Torah for clues to increasing happiness in
our own lives.

Rabbi Joseph Prouser of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey in Franklin Lakes will
look at a more recent experience of entering into the covenant, as he discusses the
Conversion of the Abayudaya Community of
Uganda: A First-Hand Account. Another session Looking at Leviticus: Still a Relevant
Revelation?, taught by Rabbi Neil Tow of
the Glen Rock Jewish Center will explore
material in Leviticus that is still current, as
well as rituals no longer practiced today.
Seizing on an issue much in the news
lately, Rabbi Adina Lewittes of Shaar Communities will lead a session called Should
a Rabbi Perform Intermarriages? Rabbinic
I-Dos and I-Donts. Rabbi Benjamin Shull,
Its an important
way we give back
to the Jewish
community for
their support of
us as their rabbis
all year.
Rabbi Steven Sirbu
the immediate past president of NJBR and

chair of the Sweet Tastes of Torah committee, will speak on the different ways in
which Jews and Christians interpret the Ten
Commandments, and Rabbi Debra Orenstein of Congregation Bnai Israel in Emerson will explore When Sinaiand Therefore
WhyWe Stood at Sinai, exploring different traditional ideas, within the Torah and
rabbinic literature, about when revelation
occurred at the mountain.
I think there will be a spectrum of views,
Rabbi Bockman said. Some will say that this
is really a defining moment for us as Jews, and
others will say that it seems like an outmoded
way of dealing with things. We can relate to a
piece of it, but it was too far away.
Still, he added, there is always an impact
What: Sweet Tastes of Torah: A community night of learning, presented by the

North Jersey Board of Rabbis
When: Saturday evening, February 7. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; Havdalah at 6:50 p.m.
Where: Fair Lawn Jewish Center/Congregation Bnai Israel, 10-10 Norma Avenue, Fair Lawn
Cost: $15 per person, pre-registered by February 4; $20 at door. Register by credit card at www.
sweettastesoftorah.weebly.com, or send a check, payable to North Jersey Board of Rabbis, to 32
Franklin Place, Glen Rock, NJ 07452
For more information: call Nickie Falk at (201)-652-1687 or email sweettastesoftorah@gmail.com
exerted by a major event, whether it occurs

in history or in our personal lives.
It affects you later on, even if it is not
present in your life, he said. For example,
if you went through a trauma, perhaps in
a war, even if you dont re-experience it,
the choices you made following that event
changed your life.
His own class Geological Spirituality:
Mountains of Revelation will be a bit
different.
I always give the rabbis a few topics
and let them choose ideas, then I choose
something different, he said. Noting that
he took some geology courses in college,
Rabbi Bockman said he will talk about how
mountains are formed and what they are
about geologically.
Youre driving and you see a mountain,
he said. Do you ignore it, or do you ask
what it tells you about the place youre in
and its history? You can use that as a template for drawing a geological map of your
spiritual self, your experience of the world,
and transcendence.
Rabbi Bockman explained that the NJBR
always tries to tie the learning program into
that Shabbats Torah portion. Usually, that
portion is Yitro, where we read about
Sinai.
It also opens us up to other possibilities, he said, suggesting, for example, that
ties can be made to Dr. Martin Luther Kings
last speech, popularly called Ive been to
the mountaintop.
To me, Sinai is a symbol of what binds
the Jewish community together, Rabbi
Sirbu said. And since we will have just
read about the experience that morning in
synagogue, this is a perfect opportunity to
explore the nuances of what that symbolism means to us.
His own topic is The Twenty Commandments: Comparing and Contrasting What
We Are Told in Exodus and Deuteronomy.
He will look not only at the difference but at
how they have influenced Jewish practice.
Its part of examining the nuances, he
said. Was Sinai, at its heart, a revelation of
commandments? Or was it at its heart the
beginning of a relationship with God that
takes on many permutations? Well try to
answer that in the program.
This is our only annual public program,
he said of the NJBR. Its an important way
we give back to the Jewish community for
their support of us as their rabbis all year.
Were trying to present something for
everybody, from the beautiful Havdalah
service at the beginning, to the different
options for learning at the heart of the evening, to the socializing that will conclude
our time together.
David Bockman
Noah Fabricant
Adina Lewittes
Debra Orenstein
Steven Sirbu
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Local
The Jewish Life Coast to Coast group stands together at the Temple in Atlanta.
Transformative learning
Local YU students learn about service from the Joint
Abigail Klein
Leichman
People think Jews only give to
Jewish causes, so its important
to immerse ourselves in different cultures to learn about them
and to show that Jews are there to
help everybody, said Yoni Mintz
of Fair Lawn.
Mr. Mintz, 20, is a second-year
psychology and business student
at Yeshiva University. He had just
returned from a winter-break
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee program, the
Insider Service Trip to Haiti. On
that trip, 15 Y.U. students collaborated on several humanitarian
projects and met with JDC partner organizations. They learned
about the ongoing difficulties
Haiti has faced as a result of the
massive earthquake there five
years ago.
Mr. Mintz said that he was
proud to learn that the Israel
Defense Forces sent one of the
first delegations that reached
Haiti to provide disaster relief.
Galila Shapiro, an Englewood
senior at Y.U.s Stern College for
Women, was taken aback to see
how much the Haitians appreciate help they continue to receive
from Israeli and American Jews.
We saw a water tower
painted with the Israeli flag;
that was one of the first projects
JDC did when they first came
to Haiti, she said. In the Haiti
State University Hospital in Portau-Prince, we saw a rehab clinic
that had been totally destroyed
in the earthquake and rebuilt
by the JDC. It has a Magen David
painted on the door. It made me
so proud of the concern Jews
show for the global community.
I never appreciated how unique
that is.
For three of the days between

January 10 and 18, the students
planted trees and refurbished
communal areas outside a school
and community center established by the Foundation for
Progress and Development (PRODEV) in the city of Zoranje. They
also led educational and enrichment activities in the school.
Participants met with representatives from Zanmi Lasante
(Partners In Health), an organization that provides healthcare
services to the poor; Heart-toHeart International, which provides emergency medical care
services to populations in crisis;
and a team of Israeli and Haitian medical professionals treating amputees at the renovated
rehab center.
Y.U.s Center for the Jewish
Future traditionally runs servicelearning trips such as these during school breaks. The primary
goal of all CJF programming is to
inspire our students to become
agents of change in their communities and the world at large, said
CJFs Dean Rabbi Yaakov Glasser,
who also is the rabbi of the Young
Israel of Passaic-Clifton.
While pitching in to help
rebuild the lives of the Haitian
earthquake survivors, our student leaders will undergo an
expedited process of growth
and self-discovery that will lay
the foundations for their future
soc ial-justice engagement ,
including opportunities for public speaking, writing, advocacy,
and volunteer service, Rabbi
Glasser said.
Mr. Mintz said he gleaned an
important takeaway message
from the experience. I really
learned that when hearing about
a tragedy, not to look for a second, feel bad, and walk away, he
Y.U. students, From left, Michelle Levine, Aaron Miller, Esther

Kazlow, Yoni Mintz, and Elisheva Jacobov make volcanoes with
pupils in Haitis Zoranje School.
said. Wherever theres a story,

there are people whose lives
have changed. On the positive
side, he added, We have a perception of Haiti as a devastated
place, but we saw great beauty
and people who are making a difference in society.
Four Teaneck residents were
among the other Haiti mission
participants: Esther Kazlow, Ariella Levie, Michelle Levine, and
Zev Rosenbaum.
Meanwhile, another Y.U.
group of 20 students was gaining new insights into the history,
strengths, and challenges of
Jewish communities in Atlanta,
Charleston, Richmond, and Baltimore. This experiential mission aimed to broaden their
horizons through meetings, volunteering, and interactions with
local rabbinic and lay leaders as
well as with residents in schools,
synagogues, and community
centers.
Engaging Jewish communities
across North America will open
our students to the diversity and
vibrancy that permeates Jewish
life outside the New York metropolitan area, said Aliza Abrams,
director of the universitys Office
of Student Life and Jewish Service Learning.

Yosie Friedman of Teaneck, a
second-year student, reported
that in Atlanta he was impressed
to see how the rabbi of the historic Reform synagogue called
the Temple and the Orthodox
rabbi of the 10-year-old Young
Israel of Toco Hills have so much
respect for each other and try to
find areas of common ground,
like social-action projects.
At the Atlanta Jewish Academy
high school, the visitors from Y.U.
led an educational session about
Jewish leadership. When we
asked them to define what makes
a Jewish leader, many of the kids
stressed that they thought it had
to be someone who not only
leads and organizes but also is a
good, honest person, Mr. Friedman said.
In Charleston, they visited
Addlestone Hebrew Academy.
Its a community school, so its
nondenominational, with a carefully designed curriculum thats
Jewish but accommodating of different beliefs and ways of practicing, Mr. Friedman said.
In Richmond, the students
formed an assembly line to help
organize the annual Jewish Food

Festival, a major fundraiser for
the Orthodox synagogue Keneseth Beth Israel. Unlike a typical
shul dinner run by a committee, the entire shul participated
by cooking, transporting food
or setting up, Mr. Friedman
said. I found it inspiring; a nice
model that communities in other
places, especially in the New
York metropolitan area, could
try to emulate.
Reflecting on what he learned
from the overall experience
down South, he said, Jews
across the spectrum have more
similarities than differences, and
if we focus on areas where all
denominations agree, we can try
to bring people together. We saw
this in action, and Id love to see
communities in metro New York
do this too.
Were delighted that our five
year partnership with Yeshiva
Universitys Center for the Jewish Future has engaged their rising Jewish leaders with global
Jewish issues from Kharkov to
Port-au-Prince, Naomi Sage said.
Ms. Sage is the managing director
of JDC Entwine, the JDCs young
adult movement.
These transformative service-learning experiences truly
shape young Jews worldview
and commitment to pressing
challenges in Jewish communities and beyond, she continued.
We look forward to continuing
our relationship with Y.U. and
to working with their students
as they bring this experience
home.
Other local participants in the
Jewish Life Coast to Coast mission
were Ayala Carl, Daniella Marcus,
Elliot Shulman, and Rebecca Van
Bemmelen, all of Teaneck, and
Adeevah Goldstein of Passaic.
Local
Were Here To Help You

Strength Core Balance
Are you
a good Berrie Fellow?
MS
Federations leadership program

is recruiting a new class
All in the comfort of your home!
Sinai in Tenafly, credits the Berrie Fellowship

o you have
for expanding her perwhat it takes
spectives on the Jewish
to step up to
community.
the plate and
I became much more
help lead the Jewish comfamiliar with the wider
munity of northern New
Jewish community, she
Jersey? Are you between
said. I was functioning in
the ages of 32 and 52? Are
my Reform Jewish world.
you now a volunteer with
I didnt have connections
a synagogue, school, or
with any other denominaother Jewish organization
tions of Judaism.
Ilana Matteson
She became friendly
in Bergen County?
with Lee Lasher, a fellow
The Berrie Fellows
Berrie participant who
Leadership Program is
is president of Congregation Ahavath
accepting applications for its next set of
Torah in Englewood, a nearby Orthofellows.
dox synagogue. Together, the two
Since its founding by the Jewish Fedplanned for their synagogues to work
eration of Northern New Jersey and the
together on a project for the federaRussell Berrie Foundation back in 2004,
tions Mitzvah Day.
the program has trained three groups of
As part of her fellowship, she created a
20 people. Participants have gone on to
program modeled after Berrie for Sinai,
head the Jewish federation, area synacalled Hineini. One of the sessions I
gogues, and day schools.
hold close to my heart is where I bring
Now, theres one week left to apply to
in four other Berrie fellows from differjoin the fourth cohort.
ent denominations, she said.
We need to continue this stream of
Gil Makleff agreed that the Berrie felleaders into our community to keep it
lowship was a great experience. It was
vibrant, said Laura Freeman, the proa really powerful program.
grams director.
Mr. Makleff is now president of the
The Berrie Fellowship is an 18-month
Solomon Schechter Day School of Bercommitment. It will start with a threegen County.
I definitely would not be in Jewish
leadership without Berrie, he said. If
you feel you would like to apply your
leadership skills to Jewish issues, its a
great environment.
Ms. Freeman, the Berrie director, said
the program takes three critical components of leadership development in
the Jewish community and weaves them
together.
The components are: leading through
a Jewish lens; personal leadership development, focusing on understanding
LAURA FREEMAN
your blind spots, opportunities, and triggers; and tactics such as board management and difficult conversations.
day retreat, include a trip to Israel next
Participants will also get private coachsummer, 10 evening sessions, and four
ing from an organizational psychologist,
further overnights.
she said.
It includes leadership training and
More information and the nomination
Jewish study.
form are at www.jfnnj.org/berrie.
Ilana Matteson, president of Temple
Cognitive Fitness
1 on 1 Training
(Couples Welcomed)
Call to Schedule Your Personal Evaluation
201-937-4722
LARRY YUDELSON
We need to
continue this
stream of
leaders into our
community to
keep it vibrant.
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SUNDAy, feBRUARy 8th & moNDAy, feRUARy 9th 2015
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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 30, 2015 15
Local
Community beit midrash
Yeshiva Universitys Center for the Jewish Future opens the spring semester of
its Community Beit Midrash program on
February 3 with a series of talks by two
distinguished members of YUs faculty
Ambassador Danny Ayalon, Rennert visiting
professor of foreign policy studies, and Dr.
David Shatz, university professor of philosophy, ethics, and Jewish thought. The program, which will explore Jewish ethics and
Israels foreign policy, is open to the community and runs for six consecutive Tuesdays at the Yeshiva University Museum, 15
West 16th St., in New York City.
The first lecture, Mr. Ayalon on Israels
Foreign Policy: Diplomacy in Practice,
will be at 10:30 a.m. The second lecture,
at 11:45, by Dr. Shatz, will be Pursuing
the Right and the Good: Themes in Jewish
Ethics.
Danny Ayalon
Rinats annual dinner

set for February 21
David Shatz
PHOTOS COURTESY YU
For information or to register, go to www.

yu.edu/beitmidrash. For weekly sponsorship opportunities, email Julie Schreier, the
director of the Long Island region, at julie.
schreier@yu.edu or call her at (516) 9722920, or email program coordinator Aryeh
Czarka at aryeh.czarka@yu.edu or call her
at (212) 960-5400, ext. 6826.
JFSNJ bereavement group

for widows/widowers
The Jewish Family Service of North Jersey will begin a bereavement group at its
Wayne office on Monday, February 2, at 2
p.m. The group is for anyone who has lost
a spouse or significant other.
Melanie Lester, LSW, will facilitate the
six-week group. Each participant will meet
privately with Ms. Lester before the first
group session. The cost is $15 per session
and reservations are required.
For information, call her at (973) 5950111 or email her at mlester@jfsnorthjersey.org. JFSNJ bereavement group for
widows/widowers
The Jewish Family Service of North Jersey will begin a bereavement group at its
Wayne office on Monday, February 2, at 2
p.m. The group is for anyone who has lost
a spouse or significant other.
Each participant will meet privately
with Ms. Lester before the first group session. The cost is $15 per session and reservations are required.
For information, call her at (973) 595-0111
or email her at mlester@jfsnorthjersey.
org.
NJOP celebrating 27 years

of achievement
NJOP, formerly called the National Jewish
Outreach Program, will hold its annual
dinner at the New York Hilton Midtown
on Tuesday, February 3. The dinner celebrates the organizations 27-year history,
honors community leaders, and coincides
with Tu BShevat.
Michelle Domb will receive the inaugural Elli and Israel Krakowski Memorial
award, named in memory of two of NJOPs
longtime friends and supporters. Rabbi

Greg Wall, a spiritual leader and musician
known as the Jazz rabbi, will receive
the Leslie Nelkin Special Service award.
Rachel Gutman and Chava Maccaba will
receive the Carl and Sylvia Freyer Young
Leadership award.
For information, call Emma Lebowitz
at (646) 871-0111, email her at elebowitz@
njop.org, or go to www.njop.org.
Tefillin wrap in Fair Lawn

Temple Beth Sholom of Fair Lawn will
be participating in the 15th annual World
Wide Wrap on Sunday, February 1. During
the service, which begins at 9 a.m., Rabbi
Alberto Zeilicovich will teach participants
how to put on tefillin, and talk about some
of the traditions that surround it. A bagel
breakfast sponsored by the synagogues

mens club will follow. The community
is invited to participate and should bring
their tefillin. Temple Beth Sholom is at
40-25 Fair Lawn Ave. For more information, call (201) 797-9321.
Congregation Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck is holding its annual dinner on February 21. This years
guests of honor are Barbara and Simcha Hochman. Sandra and Joseph Greenberg will receive
the Sruli Guttman Service award, and Jennifer
and Aaron Hoffer will be honored with the Young
Leadership award.
The Hochmans have been members of Rinat
since 1991. Barbara has served as co-chair of the
Aveylut committee for 10 years, and prepares
almost all seudot havraah (first meal eaten by
Simcha and Barbara
the mourners when they return home from the
Hochman
funeral). She has managed the mishloach manot
project for the last 14 years and is part of Rinats
security team, boutiques, and the board nominating committee. Simcha, a member of Rinats
executive board since 2005 and the shuls financial secretary, has served on many Rinat committees and projects, including the assistant rabbi
search, contract negotiations, and the recent
Wandering Que BBQ event.
The Greenbergs have been members of Rinat
since 2002. Sandra has been involved in crafting Rinats visual image, including its redesigned
Joseph and Sandra
logo, Weekly Brief, shul flyers, and website.
Greenberg
Joseph has been the gabbai of the Yamim Noraim
minyan and the long-time gabbai sheni of the
Beit Midrash minyan. He also has been a technical resource for Rinats office staff and has been a
member and officer of the board. Joseph helped
with the shuls remodeling project, including
inventory and organization of its seforim and
design of the low-voltage systems. Most recently,
he led the transition of the website and operations to the ShulCloud platform.
The Hoffers have been members of Rinat since
2008. Jennifer ran the Nerot Shavuot bake sale
Jennifer and Aaron Hoffer
and volunteered for various Nerot events and
programs. In 2011, she became Nerots first ever
vice president; next, she served as its co-president. She has managed many events, programs, and committees, and has been a
board member for two years. Aaron is active in Rinats youth committee and was
instrumental in the success of the House Duty program, which arranges for parent volunteers during weekly youth group meetings. He also plans youth events and special
programs. Through his company, MD Respiratory Services, he makes sure the shuls
oxygen tanks are always filled and available for emergencies.
To make reservations and donations, go to www.rinat.org or call the shul office at
(201) 837-2795, ext. 101.
Ohel and JFS bringing Sibshops to NJ

Ohel Sibshops will be coming to Clifton/Passaic, through the partnership
of Ohel and Jewish Family Service of
Clifton-Passaic.
SibShops is a unique program that
provides fun, support, and inspiration
for siblings of people with developmental disabilities. There are activities and
discussions and the opportunity for siblings to discuss their feelings, have their
questions answered, and learn more
about their siblings disabilities, and
what the future holds.

The Passaic-Clifton sibshops group will
be co-led by facilitators from Ohel and
JFS, who were trained by Don Meyer, the
creator of the Sibshops model. The first
New Jersey group will be for 9- to 13-yearold girls.
For information, call either Ohels NJ
Sibshop coordinator, Leah Elyakin, at
(862) 686-7205 or the director of JFSs
Parent Resource Center, Suzanne Miller,
at (973) 777-7638.
Like us on Facebook
16 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 30, 2015
upcoming aT
Kaplen
JCC on the Palisades
Teen Mission to Washington, DC:

panim el panim seminar
for graDes 10-12
Panim el Panim is a three-day seminar and volunteer

opportunity in Washington, DC where you will explore
todays hottest issues with leading experts, volunteer in
the community and lobby state representatives about the
issues that matter most to you. For more info, contact
Michal at 201.408.1469 or mgreenbaum@jccotp.org.
Sun-Tue, Mar 29-31, $500/$600.
Final application due by Feb 3
Major discounts available for teens currently enrolled in
the JCC Teen Department programs.
Transitions:
oil painTings by JuDiTh brice
An abstract expressionist, Judith Brice spent ten years

studying art appreciation by attending gallery tours
offered at the JCC. Her compositions explore color
and evoke an inner emotional landscape.
On display throughout February
Meet the Artist Reception: Thur, Feb 5, 6 pm
JCC Saturday
Night Events
for graDes 3-8
Laser Tag!
Indoor laser tag, cookie decorating,

hot chocolate and supervision at the
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades.
Feb 7, 7:30-10 pm, $30/$35
Trip to Bounce! Trampoline
Experience the latest and most exciting trend

in Americamassive courts of interconnected
trampolines! Space is limited!
Mar 7, 7-10 pm, $35/$42
To register, please visit
www.jccotp.org/special-events.
family
support
Baseball & Bagels
Alzheimers
Support Group
peTe rose-an american Dilemma

WiTh auThor KosTya KenneDy
Calling all baseball fans to join us for a bagel

brunch as we explore the life and times of
Pete Rose, one of the most provocative
and fascinating athletes of our generation.
Kennedy will examine the moral questions of
how Roses gambling led him to be barred not
only from the game but from baseballs Hall of
Fame. Should he be forgiven? For more info &
family discount, call Kathy at 201.408.1454.
Sun, Feb 8, 10:30 am, $15/$20
Kaplen
These support groups provide an

opportunity for caregivers, families and
friends to learn more about Alzheimers
disease, share their feelings and concerns,
and support each other in coping with
the effects of the disease. For more info,
contact Judi Nahary at 201.408.1450
Groups meet monthly:
2nd Monday of the month, 7 pm
4th Tuesday of the month, 10:30 am
for
all
Tu Bshvat Celebration
in the Lobby
Join us in the JCC lobby for a fun and meaningful celebration

to mark the new year for the trees in the land of Israel. You
will learn about the 7 species of fruits and grains traditionally
associated with Israel and other fun things.
Wed, Feb 4, 3-5 pm, Free
To regisTer or for more info, visiT
jccotp.org or call 201.569.7900.
JCC on the Palisades Taub campus | 411 e clinTon ave, Tenafly, nJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
Editorial
Standing with Sinai
t should be easy to decide to send a

child who is a candidate for the education it offers to Sinai Schools.
Developmental disabilities are a
fact of biology, not morality. Children do
not act in ways that differentiate them
from most of their peers for fun, or out
of laziness, wickedness, or lack of caring.
Children with development disabilities
are just children in fact, they are our
The Sinai Schools, founded by parents

who refused to let their developmentally
disabled children slip away from them
through neglect or purposeful blindness,
is an extraordinary institution. It not only
educates its own students, paying them
the sort of close attention that leads to the
right and singular education for each one,
it also allows them to stay in the outside
world. It also lets the other students in the
schools where Sinai houses its programs

learn not to fear the developmentally
disabled, or to shun then, but to accept
them simply as other human beings, other
schoolmates, other Jews.
We think that Sinai Schools is simply
amazing, and we wish it every success. We
hope that anyone in the community who
can support it will consider doing so.
But together, as a community of tens

of thousands, we are much richer, much
stronger, than any of our components.
And we therefore are richer and stronger for programs that weave us together
into one community.
This week we write about two such
community-wide projects. On page 12,
we report on the Sweet Taste of Torah
study evening organized by the New Jersey Board of Rabbis. And on page 15, we
discuss the Berrie Fellows Leadership
Program, which offers participants both
Jewish and management training. More

than that, though, the Berrie Fellowship
is community development in action.
The fellowship brings together 20 people each a leader in his or her own local
organization or synagogue and builds
a community of camaraderie and friendships that reaches across the county
and spans the denominations. Having
launched more than a decade ago, its
earliest alumni are now leading institutions such as the Jewish Federation of
Northern New Jersey, a co-sponsor of the
program along with the Russell Berrie

Foundation.
At the same time it empowers people to
step up to the challenge of leadership, it
also encourages them to think about the
larger Jewish community.
The Berrie program is recruiting its
fourth group of fellows now. If you think
you might want to step up to the challenge or if you know someone who
might be willing you can nominate
yourself or others at www.jfnnj.org/
berrie
LY
and live longer now that weve discovered

penicillin. Headaches that could kill your
spirit are vanquished by a simple aspirin.
Wounds no longer fester. Jane Austen heroines could stay for days in near-strangers
houses because they got caught in the rain,
which could lead directly to death, but we
have to find other responses to our romantic dilemmas.
But science, as Oscar Wilde said about
truth, is rarely pure and never simple.
Medicine is science but it also is art, if
not mere craft, as you will discover if you
are unlucky enough to develop a serious

illness. There are many medications that
we know work but we havent the slightest idea why. (And please note that by
we I mean scientists, not editorial writers. Its a very expansive we.)
And so is weather forecasting, as it turns
out. Its not that the forecasters got it wrong,
as they and the snowed-in sufferers on
Long Island or in Boston can tell us. Its
just that there were more details to the forecast than they deigned to share with us
and the devil clearly was in those details.
So the governors of New Jersey and New

York basically closed their states highways, and New Yorks Andrew Cuomo shut
down the citys subways as well. All of that
made sense. The blizzard of the century
was possibly headed our way, and safe, we
are told, is so much better than sorry.
But to go on about the blizzard of the
century well, whoops.
Its funny to watch politicians wipe the
egg off their faces. But the problem is that
the next time they declare Snowmageddon, no one will take it seriously.
JP
children. And when they grow to be adults,

they are still part of our community, and
of our world.
But there still is a stigma attached to
many kinds of differences, including this
one. Parents often are loathe to admit that
their children need any kind of special education, even as their lack of special education makes their families lives a nightmare
of chaos, anger, and resentment.
JP
Better together
ometimes the notion of the Jewish community of northern New

Jersey feels very abstract.
We are but one corner of a metropolitan area. Our counties are but afterthoughts when weather maps plot the
promise of life-disrupting, potentially historic blizzards.
And most of our institutions cover
only a small slice of northern New Jersey.
Eighty synagogues scattered across many
towns divide us into different regional and
denominational groups.
Let it snow?
y the time you read this, most

likely you already will have
forgotten this weeks snowocalypse, the big snowstorm that
couldnt. And wouldnt. And didnt.
Its funny, our automatic assumption
that if something sounds authoritative, it
must be right. But guess what? Thats not
necessarily so.
When objective science as we know it
was newer, it all seemed so straightforward. Better living through chemistry! And
its true, as far as it goes. We are healthier
Jewish
Standard
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Ceil Wolf (1914-2008)
Editor Emerita
Rebecca Kaplan Boroson
keeping the faith
Snow way to live Jewishly
hen a man
That brings us to Maimonides
opens a pit,
(the Rambam). In his Mishneh
or digs a pit
Torah, the Laws of the Murderer
and does
and the Saving of Lives 6:4 and
not cover it, and an ox or a she-donkey
6, he puts it this way:
falls into it, the one responsible for the pit
There is a person who kills
must make restitution.
unintentionally, whose acts
Ive never seen an ox in my life, except
resemble those willfully perpetrated. Specifically, these acts
in movies. Or a donkey, for that matter, he
Shammai
involve negligence, or that care
or she. Face it, rabbi. The Torah is full of
Engelmayer
should have been taken [with
such useless pronouncements.
regard to a certain factor] and it
Too many people make that argument.
was not....
To them, I offer one word: Snow.
We will return to this in a moment.
Yes, snow. With all the snow we had last year, a
The laws regarding the goring ox that immedifriend asked whether the Torah has anything to
ately precede the discussion of the open pit (Exosay about clearing away the snow from walkways
dus 22:28-32) make clear the need to anticipate
and sidewalks. This friend also wanted to know
hazards. If a person knows that his ox is prone to
what a person must do if he or she is not home
harming people or property, but he does not take
during a winter snowstorm.
preventive measures, he is as responsible as the ox
I provided an answer in a column published last
for any damage, and even must pay with his life if
February 28. I am revisiting these questions in the
life was taken.
wake of this weeks storm, and the probability of
In other words, if you know that a problem is
more snow falling before winters end.
likely to occur, you have to take precautions.
My answer to the first part is to quote the very
Which brings us to the parapet. If a person
same open pit law of Exodus 21:33-34. My answer
decided to leave the snow zone and winter in Florto the second part is to cite a verse often quoted
ida, say, that person must nevertheless arrange for
here in different contextsthe Law of the Parapet.
snow removal back home, especially in any part
Let us deal with the open pit first. It has less to
of his home to which the public could gain access,
do with whether an animal falls into an open hole,
such as sidewalks and even pathways to the house.
and more to do with whether we create an obstruction of some kind that creates a public hazard.
(Neither snow nor sleet must deter a mailman, but
To dig into this pit a bit more deeply, we turn
he or she does not have to slip and slide to deliver
to a discussion in the Babylonian Talmud tractate
the mail.)
Bava Kama 52a:
Torah law requires that when a person is building a house, he must build a parapet around the
According to the Mishnah, If [the owner of a
roof, that you should not bring any blood upon
pit] covered it properly and an ox or a she-donkey
your house, if any man falls from there. (Deuter[nevertheless] fell into it and was killed, he would
onomy 22:8)
be exempt from penalty. The pit owner, after all,
This law is subject to the broadest interpretation
took all the necessary precautions.
possible, as rabbinic decisions make clear. Thus, we
Except for one thing: To the rabbis of the
are told in BT Bava Kama 15b that a person may not
Gemara, the Mishnah has a huge open pit of its
even keep a damaged ladder in his home because
own. But if he covered it properly, how did an
of it.
animal fall [into the pit]? the Gemara asks. Said
In addition to the Rambam passage cited earRabbi Yitzchak bar Bar Chana: [The cover] rotted on its underside [and thus wasnt visible to
lier that care should have been taken, other
the owner]. In other words, since he took every
commentators also note, as does Rabbi Samson
precaution, yet could not see that anything was
Raphael Hirsch, that this Torah law even requires
wrong, he is exempt.
local civil authorities to intervene to have anything at all that might be dangerous removed from
Wood, however, rots. A reasonable person needs
a persons home.
to inspect a cover made out of wood every now
Finally, there is the question my friend did not
and then to be certain it is still in good condition.
ask: What if the snow falls on Shabbat?
So the Gemara needs to find another reason for the
There is a complicated road that leads to a simapparent contradiction.
ple answer: Snow may not be removed on Shabbat
An anonymous sage therefore asks, What if he
from any areas around the home where it does not
had covered it in such a way that it was able to hold
create a safety hazard for anyone. If the snow (or
[the weight of ] oxen, but not of camels, and camels
ice) does pose a safety hazard, Preservation of life
came by first and weakened the cover, and oxen
takes precedence even over Shabbat. (See the disthen came and fell into it [the pit], then what?
cussion at BT Shabbat 132a.)
Comes the answer: It all depends on whether
There is nothing anachronistic about the Torahs
camels are normally found in the area. If camels
laws. There is much wrong in thinking that there is.
used to pass from time to time, he was certainly
careless.
Shammai Engelmayer is rabbi of Temple Israel
Obviously, then, if camels are rarely seen in the
Community Center | Congregation Heichal Yisrael
area, or are never seen there, he probably was not
in Cliffside Park and Temple Beth El of North
careless.
Bergen.
In other words, it is a matter of anticipation.
Opinion
The trees know

How Israeli spy Eli Cohen offers
lessons in renewal on Tu BShvat
u BShevat, which
begins this year on
the evening of Tuesday, February 3, is
the day on the Jewish calendar
that marks the beginning of a
new year for trees.
Not surprisingly, planting
trees is a typical feature of most
celebrations of the
day. So are eating
certain fruits and
preaching the virtues of environmental awareness.
These are, each
and all, an occasion to show appreciation for the relationship between
Dr. Lee
Igel
people and nature.
While that is an
important emotional draw for many people,
it is also as good a time as any
to bring to mind somethingor,
actually, someonehaving to do
with the practical nature of the
relationship between our lives
and our work.
Its about a person who
scribbled on his prison cell
wall that his only regret was
what he could have done and
didnt have the chance to do.
Its about a person who risked
his lifeand ultimately surrendered itin the interest of his
people, so that they could live
their lives in a free and functioning society. Its about a person whose actions in a present
time had a meaningful impact
on the future.
Who is this person? There
may be one or two candidates
running through your minds.
But rather than run a straw poll
among readers and wait for the
results, check whether your

mind settled on this person:
Kamel Amin Taabet.
Taabet came from a family
of Syrians who had emigrated
to Argentina, where they built
a successful family business. In
the 1950s, he caught the attention of members of the community when he
announced hi s
intentions to live
in Syria and bring
inherited wealth
with him. With
introductions
to some of the
highest ranking
members in the
H.
Baathist regime
ruling Syria during
that time, Taabet
made his move.
By the early 1960s, he was the
life of the party. He circulated
among the Syrian elite, and
that gave him access to some of
the most exclusive people and
places.
But, it turned out, Taabet
wasnt really who he purported
to be. That wasnt even his real
name. Kamel Amin Taabet, in
fact, was Eli Cohen.
Cohen was an Egyptian-born
Jew whose parents fled Syria
when they were children. During his youth in Egypt, Cohen
got connected to the Haganah, the clandestine paramilitary organization of the Jewish
community in pre-1948 Palestine. That set him on course to
become an Israeli spy. His particular aim was to gather intelligence by infiltrating the Syrian
high command.
Cohen managed to keep up
See trees page 20
Lee H. Igel, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Tisch Institute and

co-director of the Sports & Society Program at New York University.
His teaching and writing focus on behavioral insights and decisionmaking. Dr. Igel lives in Bergen County.
Opinions expressed in the op-ed and letters columns are not

necessarily those of the Jewish Standard. The Jewish Standard
reserves the right to edit letters. Be sure to include your town.
Email jstandardletters@gmail.com. Handwritten letters will not be
printed.
Opinion/Letters
LetteRs
Sweet Taste of Torah
Id like to offer a correction to Dont bogart that joint at least not on Shabbat,
( January 8). The program that inspired
the format for Rabbi Wallace Greens evening of learning was in fact Sweet Tastes
of Torah, a program of the North Jersey
Board of Rabbis, which is co-sponsored by
several local synagogues. This years Sweet
Tastes of Torah program will take place on
Saturday evening, February 7 at the Fair
Lawn Jewish Center / Congregation Bnai
Israel, with the theme Sinai Revisited:
Perspectives from the Mountaintop. (See
story, page 12.) I wish my colleague Rabbi
Green and Congregation Shomrei Torah
great success with their Torah, Text and
Tradition program, and I invite the community to join us at Sweet Tastes of Torah
the following week. For details, go to
sweettastesoftorah.weebly.com.
Rabbi Steven Sirbu
President,
North Jersey Board of Rabbis
Thank you, federation
I want to thank the Jewish Standard for

the wonderful article (Helping, sharing,
learning, January 16) that describes the
two trips, to New Orleans and Israel, made
over winter break by our Bergen County
High School of Jewish Studies students.
It was a wonderful way to share with the
community the ways in which BCHSJS
learning transcends the classroom and
that is key to the development of each
teens Jewish identity.
I want to add an important fact that was
inadvertently left out about the Israel trip.
Without the financial support we receive
from the Jewish Federation of Northern
New Jersey through our work with Partnership2Gether, the trip to Israel and the
Young Leadership program here and in
Nahariya would not be possible.
trees
FrOM page 19
appearances for some time. But his espionage activities were ultimately discovered
and he was hanged in 1965. His remains
have yet to be returned to his family and
homeland.
Today, unfortunately, the road to
Damascus isnt any less treacherous than
it was in Cohens time. Actually, conditions in Syria are so grave that you probably arent thinking much about traveling there any time soon, even if youre
Since the overarching goal of the Young

Leadership Course is for students to be
prepared to take on Jewish communal
leadership roles from high school through
college and into adulthood, what better
role models do they have than the leadership and those that support JFNNJ, giving
them this life-changing opportunity?
Bess adler
Principal-Director, Bergen County High
School of Jewish Studies
Democratic party.
It is so sad and disheartening to read
how the Jewish Republican donors
dont care about people, just about their
pocketbooks.
Sandi kleinman
Old Tappan
Remembering Debbie
Friedman
Regarding Its electability, stupid ( January 23) the key word here is stupid. It is
stupid of Jewish Republicans to back candidates solely on the Israel perspective and
it is truly stupid to think Obama and Hillary dont care enough about Israel. There
are several issues here:
1. In typical anti-Obama, Republican
fashion, the current administration is
criticized for its handling of Israel-U.S.
relations, but they do not provide a solution, alternatives, or any ideas about what
a Republican candidate would do or have
done differently. Obama made a mistake
in not sending someone to Paris, but he
apologized. It is not a sign of anti-Israeli
support. We have accepted many apologies from Republicans over the years.
2. The fact that Republican donors could
possibly back Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, Rick
Santorum or Mike Huckabee, just because
they are pro-Jews, is sickening. They are
particularly anti-women, against separation of church and state, against health
care for all citizens, pro NRA, and definitely Christian right wing. They dont give
a damn about Israel, except to court the
Jewish vote.
Democrats have always been the biggest supporters of civil rights, womens
rights, equal education, and opportunity
for all. That is why Jews have embraced the
Our Torah reading this Shabbat includes

the Song at the Sea, the poem sung by
Moses and the Israelites after they traverse the Sea of Reeds unharmed. The
Zohar, the mystical commentary on the
Bible, examines the moment in the story
just before the sea opens up the moment
when the Israelites are trapped between
the Egyptian army and the sea.
The Torah text, in Exodus 14:10, says:
Pharaoh drew near and the Israelites
caught sight of the Egyptians, advancing
upon them. Greatly frightened, the Israelites cried out to the Lord.
The Zohar (2:47a) goes beyond the
simple meaning of the verse and explains
that Pharaoh drew near really means
that Pharaoh caused the Israelites to draw
near. Draw near to whom? To God. The
Zohar draws a lesson from this interpretation: that the Jewish people draw near to
God only when they are in distress and
it suggests a parable. The Jewish people
are like a dove who is trying to escape
a hawk. Seeking refuge in the cleft of a
rock, she finds a serpent there. The dove,
caught between these two enemies, flaps
her wings and cries out to the owner of the
dove to come to her rescue.
The Zohar is correctly describing the
nature of most people. Most of us turn to
God only when we personally or perhaps
when we, communally, are in trouble. Debbie Friedman, whose fourth yahrzeit we
commemorate this Shabbat, was a women
looking for some excitement in your life.

That goes double no matter how seriously your reading of Daniel Silva or John
le Carr novels gets you thinking that you
just might take to a little spycraft now and
again.
So, then, why orient yourself toward Eli
Cohen, especially at this time of year?
During his time hobnobbing with the
Syrian military brass, Cohen learned
that troops were suffering from and complaining about the effects of heat. He suggested that a good way to both give them
some relief and boost morale would be

for the military to plant eucalyptus trees
near the fortifications and installations
where they were stationed. Syrian decision-makers, who at the time couldnt
seem to get enough of their friend Kamel
Amin Taabet, thought it a great idea and
approved it straightaway.
What they hadnt anticipated was a
serious, unintended consequence that
would hit them hard in the next handful
of years: during the Six Day War in 1967,
two years after Eli Cohen was hanged,
Electability, stupid
Like us on Facebook
20 Jewish standard JanUarY 30, 2015
who taught a generation of American Jews

to Sing unto God, in good times and in
difficult moments in our personal or communal lives. Through her songs and her
soul, Debbie Friedman transformed Jewish worship in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Debbie was a woman who confronted
her physical infirmities, with which she
wrestled for the last 30 years of her life, by
using them as an inspiration to help others cope with our own physical spiritual
and emotional disabilities and infirmaries.
Her own illness led her to write the Misheberach prayer of healing that thousands
of Jewish communities use in our worship
services. Her faith in God and in humankind was often challenged but never broke.
She truly prayed, and taught us to pray as
well, as if everything depended upon God.
Through her acts of loving kindness, she
taught me and all who knew her that we
must act as if everything depends upon us.
As we read the Song of the Sea this Shabbat, may we remember Debbie Friedman,
and may we all sing her words in support of all those who are in need of physical healing. May we also hear in Debbies
Misheberach a challenge to heal the spiritual wounds in our nation that lead us to
apathetically continue to ignore the dangers of guns, to abdicate responsibility for
the mentally ill, and to abuse our right of
free speech by seeing it as license to spew
hatred.
As I look back upon the life and death
of Debbie Friedman, I realize that Debbies
life with all of its trials was a resounding
affirmation that in both good times and difficult moments it is our responsibility as
well as our right to sing unto God.
Rabbi neal i. Borovitz
Rabbi Emeritus
Temple Avodat Shalom
River Edge
those trees served as target markers for

the Israel Air Force.
If there is one lesson those of us leading everyday lives can take from Cohens
example, consider that it may be about
actions in the present always having a
meaningful impact on the future. Productive people often find themselves constantly thinking through what has to be
tackled today to make tomorrow. They
and the treesknow that the start of a
calendar year isnt the only time to make
sense of and act on renewal.
Opinion
Je suis Charlie?
It depends on
what is is
t says much about the age that

we live in that so many of us first
learned of the terrorist attacks in
Paris on January 7th through Twitter, and that the slogan that came to represent much of the international response
to the massacre originated as an image
tweeted by French artist and music journalist Joachim Roncin, and soon morphed
into a hashtag that rose to the top of the
days trending topics, and has become one
of the most popular hashtags in the history
of that social network.
Demonstrators carrying a sign reading We Are Charlie march in a Paris square
I am referring, of course, to Je suis Charduring a unity rally following the recent terrorist attacks in the French capital on
lie, or in hashtag form, #jesuischarlie, and
January 11.
Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
its English version, #iamcharlie.
Some followed up on this
after President John F. Kennedys famous
while a British member of
formula with the variations Je
quote, part of a speech delivered in West
Parliament tweeted Je suis
suis Ahmed or Je suis Ahmed
Berlin in 1963, in response to the buildPalestinian. A less extreme
Rabet, to acknowledge the
ing of the Berlin Wall by the Communist
expression of disagreement
Muslim police officer who
government of East Germany: Ich bin ein
has been the hashtag #JeNwas so brutally murdered in
eSuisPasCharlie, meaning,
Berliner, meaning, I am a Berliner. The
the attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo,
I am not Charlie. This counambiguity about what exactly is meant by
terslogan has been used to
and as a subtle reminder that
the verb to be is what gives this declaration its powerful effect, but it is that same
express the view that Charthe terrorists are not representative of Muslims in genDr. Lance
lie Hebdos publication of
ambiguity that Brooks calls into question.
Strate
eral. Others added Je suis Juif,
cartoons making fun of the
It is an ambiguity that brings to mind
meaning I am Jewish, to recall
Islamic prophet Muhamanother famous quote from an American
mad was disrespectful to Muslims, withthe fact that four hostages were murdered
president, Bill Clinton: It depends on
out necessarily condoning the terrorists
in a kosher supermarket, in addition to
what the meaning of is is. This was said
violent response to it. It has been used by
the 12 killed at the offices of the Parisian
in defense of his earlier statement about
news organizations to justify their decision
periodical. (Several of them also were JewMonica Lewinsky: Theres nothing going
ish.) Members of the Jewish community
not to republish or display those cartoons.
on between us. (That is arguably true if
in France and abroad were encouraged
And it also has been invoked as a protest
is is limited to the present moment and
by the appearance of Je suis Juif signs and
against the fact that so many other acts of
not inclusive of what was going on in
hashtags, especially as the slogan was disviolence and bloodshed occurring outside
the past.) In the context of a grand jury
played by some French Muslims, although
the West have been ignored by journalists
investigation, the remark came across as
there has also been some criticism that it
and social media participants.
invoking nothing more than a legal techniIn a New York Times op-ed called I am
cality, but in fact it reflects one of the most
was not shared widely enough.
Not Charlie Hebdo, David Brooks argues
problematic elements of our language.
Another variation on Je suis Charlie,
In the approach known as general
that if anyone had tried to publish the concoming from the far right in France, was
tent of the satirical newspaper on any U.S.
semantics, the problems posed by the verb
Je suis Charlie Martel. The reference is to
campus today, it would have been accused
to be long have been acknowledged.
Charles Martel, the leader of the Franks
of engaging in hate speech and shut down
Simply put, the word is tends to imply
and the grandfather of Charlemagne,
by the universitys administration. Morea relationship of identity, of interchangewho introduced the stirrup and with it
over, Brooks points out that it is inaccuability, projecting all of the characteristics
mounted shock combat (of the sort used
rate for most of us to claim, Je Suis Charlie
of one thing onto another, which is why
by knights in armor on horseback wielding
Hebdo, or I Am Charlie Hebdo. Most of us
Brooks objects to the slogan Je suis Charlances). That innovation allowed his outnumbered army to resist an invasion from
lie. Holding the emotional impact aside,
dont actually engage in the sort of deliberately offensive humor that that newspaper
the Islamic empires Umayyad caliphate
it would be more accurate to say that I
specializes in. While characterizing the
back in the 8th century. Considered the
sympathize with the staff of Charlie Hebdo
magazine as sophomoric, indeed juvenile
savior of Christendom and a progenitor
and their families, I grieve for the victims
in its humor, and puerile and insulting, he
of the feudal system that brought order to
of the terrorists attacks, and I unequivocally support freedom of speech and the
maintains that ridicule and provocation
Europe in the wake of the decline of the
press. Because we tend to respond to
play an important role in any community,
Romes imperial authority, he was given
the word is as if it means equals, as if
and that healthy societies should be tolerthe cognomen Martel, the French word
ant of all forms of speech. They should not
it means the same thing as one plus one
for hammer, after his victory, following the
adopt codes of political correctness, as
is two, some general semanticists have
archetype of Judah Maccabee.
many of our institutions have, he says.
suggested avoiding the verb to be altoOutrage against the attacks has not
As Brooks suggests, taken literally,
gether, with all tenses and traces of the
been universally shared, however, and
Je suis Charlie seems a bit absurd, but
verb eliminated. While this may seem like
some have shown their support of the terrorists with the Twitter hashtag #IamKof course the slogan is not meant to be
an extreme measure, substituting verbs
ouachi, in reference to the brothers who
taken literally. It is an expression of suplike sympathize, grieve, and support for is,
port and solidarity, no doubt fashioned
carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack,
am, and are does result in more accurate
statements. It also generally yields better writing, forcing us to use more active
verbs. This is not to discount the simple
power of the ich bin/je suis/I am quotes,
but to understand that they are the exception rather than the rule.
To say that the Kouachi brothers are terrorists is to imply that that is all we need to
know about them. We absolutely must condemn them as terrorists, and do whatever
is in our power to prevent such acts from
occurring again. But we do ourselves a disservice by reducing them down to a simple
label and a simple equation, when we desperately need to understand the complexities of such violent activities. In the aftermath of the attacks, the statement that Islam
is a religion of peace has been repeated
countless times, and while we may applaud
the sentiment behind it, it is as misleading
as saying that Islam is a religion of violence,
as misleading as making similar statements
about Judaism, Christianity, or Buddhism.
Substituting other verbs, such as preaches
and promotes, would be helpful, but general semantics also would recommend dealing with more concrete terms. Islam is an
abstract concept (so is Judaism, Christianity,
or Buddhism), and it helps to use more concrete terms, to refer to specific individuals
and groups, statements and texts, and especially, actions.
Modernity, and with it the establishment
of the State of Israel as a Jewish homeland,
has led to much agonizing over the question of who is a Jew. And while there are
issues we grapple with concerning Jewish
identity, to a significant degree, the problem may be in our verbs, not ourselves.
The answer to the questions of Who
is a Jew? and Who is Charlie? would
depend on what the meaning of is is.
It is significant to note that this is a problem that does not exist in the Hebrew language, at least not in the present tense.
There are no words for is, am, and are,
and the verb lihiyot, to be, is conjugated
only in the past and future tenses. It is a
quality that Hebrew shares with several
other languages, including Arabic. While
it is far from a cure for our many linguistic maladies, it should serve to point us
in the right direction. And it is consistent
with Jewish ethics to say that what really
matters is not so much what someone is,
but what someone does. And that includes
standing up for the right of free expression
and religious affiliation. And that includes
defending the right to live in peace and
free from terror.
Dr. Lance Strate of Palisades Park is a
professor of communication and media
studies at Fordham University in the
Bronx and president of his synagogue,
Congregation Adas Emuno in Leonia. He is
the author of Amazing Ourselves to Death:
Neil Postmans Brave New World Revisited.
Cover Story
Inclusion by design
Sinai Schools honors
Holy Name Medical Center
for community partnership
Joanne Palmer
magine that you see a small group

of students working with an art
teacher, concentrating, creating,
learning.
Add the understanding that these children have developmental disabilities, and
that the art teacher is in fact an art therapist. Be sure, though, that when you add
this knowledge, you do not because you
should not let it detract from the clear
truth that there is joy in this learning, and
learning in this joy.
And then pull your gaze back to see that
these children are in a larger school, where
they have their own individualized learning programs but also sometimes mix with
more standard-issue students. You realize
that each group can learn from each other
without being overwhelmed by the others
very different needs, abilities, or interests.
And then pull back yet again, to see that
all this is in a Jewish environment, where
students of every ability are surrounded

by the sounds, sights, calendar, and passions of their people. Of our people.
Pull back just once more, and you see
love.
Thats the Sinai schools at work.
Sinai, which does not have its own facility, instead places students in two elementary and three high schools. Those three
high schools include two in Teaneck the
Torah Academy of Bergen County and
Maayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls
as well as the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High
School in Livingston.
Students are placed in the high school
that meets their needs, and although they
may enter when they are 14, they can stay
until they are 21. Kushners Sinai students
are more academically oriented, and the
focus is on preparing them for college or
other post-high school studies. But the
two schools in Teaneck the Rabbi Mark
and Linda Karasick Shalem High School at
Torah Academy of Bergen County and the
Cover: A student at Sinai at Kushner

works on his reading. Inset: Holy Names
Michael Maron recently visited Sinai at
RYNJ. Left: The billboard on Route 4.
es
Cover Story
Rabbi Mark and Linda Karasick Shalem

High School at Maayanot Yeshiva High
School offer boys and girls more of a
practical education in life skills, Sam Fishman, Sinais managing director, said.
All of our educational methods are
research-based, and we are moving more
and more toward cutting edge, Mr. Fishman said. What makes us unique is
our inclusive model. There arent other
schools that I know of that serve the population that we serve within the context of a
regular school.
Although the schools in which Sinai is
set are Orthodox, not all Sinai students
are. We have children from families that
are barely or not at all affiliated; we have
families that are Conservative or Orthodox; we have Ashkenazim and Sephardim;
There arent
other schools
that I know of
that serve the
population that
we serve within
the context of a
regular school.
SAM FISHMAN
we have a segment from the Syrian community that comes from Brooklyn. We are
inclusive. The question for us is just who
can we help, Mr. Fishman said.
Students at the Sinai schools come from
across the tristate area and throughout
New Jersey, he added. Some commute
from New York Citys five boroughs and
Rockland and Westchester counties.
Every year, families relocate from across
the country to be able to send their children to one of our schools. In the last few
years, theyve come from Florida, California, and the Midwest. One family came
back from Israel in order to be able to send
a child to Sinai next year.
Right now, Sinai has 130 students in its
five schools.
This year, at its annual dinner (see box on
page 27), Sinai is focusing particularly on its

vocational program. Among its honorees is
Michael Maron, the president and CEO of
Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck. Representing the medical center, Mr. Maron
is to receive the Community Partnership
award in recognition of the jobs, support,
and care it has provided Sinais students
over the course of many years.
We thought that there could be no
better time than now to celebrate brotherhood, the universal value of helping
others, tikkun olam, helping to make the
world a better place, Mr. Fishman said.
This is a community partnership, rooted
in faith. (That faith, in Holy Names case,
is Roman Catholic.)
In fact, Holy Name has a huge electronic
billboard on Route 4. One of the photographs in the rotating display includes the
logos of both Sinai and Holy Name. and
you can see that when you drive, larger
than life, Mr. Fishman continued. We are
recognizing Holy Name as a good neighbor, and as a partner in recognizing the
needs of our community.
We call it a partnership because our
relationship with Holy Name goes back
more than 15 years. Sinai is 33 years old.
It began with an elementary school program, but grew with its students. The need
for a program for preteens and teenagers
soon became clear. It was shortly after
we established a high school that we had a
need for work/study and vocational placements, Mr. Fishman said.
Holy Name was one of our earliest
vocational settings, he continued. Over
the years, Holy Name has made students
welcome at a variety of jobs, things like
transporting supplies and mail from one
area to another within the hospital, transporting patients for discharge, stocking the
bikkur cholim room, and so on.
We have found that our students have
always been so comfortably and so warmly
welcomed.
Now, perhaps at least in part as a result
of Holy Names example, places across
Teaneck have welcomed Sinais students.
So many businesses and organizations
and schools and shuls have embraced our
students, and provided settings for them
for the work/study and vocational training, Mr. Fishman said.
And beyond the specifics, we wanted to
Children feel great about

themselves when they are
successful at a task. Here,
students at Sinais two elemetary school programs,
the Rosenbaum Yeshiva
of North Jersey and the
Joseph Kushner Hebrew
Academy, beam with pride
as they display their work.
PHoToS ProVIDeD BY SInaI SCHoolS
Jewish standard JanUarY 30, 2015 23
Cover Story
A few years ago, a Sinai student at

a vocational program at Holy Name
pushes a wheelchair.
take the opportunity at the dinner to recognize the role that Holy Name plays in our
local Jewish community. Even though it is
a Catholic institution, Holy Name makes a
point of reaching out to members of the
entire Bergen County community at large,
making sure that people of all faiths feel
welcome. And Holy Name is a strong supporter of Israel, has a Shabbat room available, does so much for the community.
Just in terms of anecdotal proof, we
hear about how our supporters feel about
Holy Name. The outpouring of warm
responses weve received in response to
the dinner has been beautiful.
With all the horrors in the world right
now, the timing seems right, Mr. Fishman said. Shevat achim gam yachad
thats the second line of Hinei Mah Tov,
the beginning of Psalm 133. In English, its
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
for brothers to dwell together in unity.
Je suis gam yachad, Mr. Fishman said,
evoking the catchphrase Je suis Charlie
Hebdol that resulted from the massacre
at the magazines office in Paris and giving
it a Jewish twist.
Rabbi Mark and Linda Karasick of
Teaneck were among the four couples
who founded Sinai, and their passion for it
and its mission is as strong as ever. Rabbi
Mark Karasick is our chairman today, Mr.

Fishman said. Mark and Linda really are
the heart and soul and face and builders
of Sinai.
They are the parents of four sons, two of
whom were Sinai students.
Their connection to Holy Name is strong
as well. It is physical they are neighbors.
It is emotional the hospital has provided
medical care to the extended family. And
it dates back to the beginning of the hospitals vocational program with Sinai. The
first student we placed at Holy Name was
Avi Karasick, Mr. Fishman said.
We have found that Holy Name always
has been respectful of us, and our respect
for them has grown considerably over
time, Rabbi Karasick said. We have
accepted them as a neighbor, and we have
respected their growth. And they have
respected us. They dont tell us what to do.
For maybe close to three decades,
a group of people from our shul, Beth
Aaron, goes there every Shabbes for bikkur cholim, to visit Jewish patients there,
Rabbi Karasick said. They were always
greeted warmly by the staff and by the pastor who acts as chaplain there.
Sinai placed the Karasicks sons in different environments. Avi and Yacov are
two sons of the same parents, but they
are as different as any kids are different

from their siblings, Ms. Karasick said.
Avi needs more structure, but you cant
put him down at a desk, putting pieces of
things together.
He worked at Holy Name delivering
mail. He is very gregarious, and it gave him
the opportunity to talk to people.
I remember Avi coming home with his
Holy Name nametag. It said Avi Karasick.
Staff. I think he even had a blue jacket that
had his name on it. He was so proud.
Yacov Karasick worked in a number
of different places, Rabbi Karasick said.
The longest was in Maadan. That was
maybe six years ago, and to this day, every
time I walk in there Im Yacovs father.
The friendships and the relationships that
started there are maintained.
Teaneck really all of Bergen County
is an unbelievable community, Ms. Karasick said. The fact that we are able to go
into businesses and establish relationships
in places that are not Jewish I always
marvel about Holy Name. It has crosses!
We dont expect that such places will
embrace our kids but they do.
Why? Well, its not all pure goodness,
although its also goodness, she said. The
benefits go in both directions. Its win-win.
See Sinai page 26
Cover Story
Sweet Boy
A look at stigma, finances, and Sinai
Joanne Palmer
Why do parents send their children to
Sinai schools?
Because the schools innovative program allows developmentally disabled
Jewish children to develop the skills
they need to live in this world, to make
friends, not to define themselves by their
disabilities. Because the school pays
close attention to each child and spends
a huge amount of time, care, experience,
and love in tailoring a program that gives
each child what he or she needs to live
as independently as possible and as joyously as anyone else.
Why do parents not send their children to Sinai Schools?
Ah, that is an easier question to answer
in some ways, but the answers to this one
are devastating.
Finances and stigma.
Thats according to Sam Fishman, the
schools managing director.
He tries to help solve the first

problem and defuse the second at the annual dinner, itself
Sinais biggest fundraiser, by
creating a video that looks at the
very human dynamics behind a
familys decision to send a child
to the school. This years video,
Sweet Boy, looks at the Leiter
familys decision to send their
son Binyamin to Sinai.
Finances first.
It is extraordinarily expensive to provide the level of personal attention that
Sinai gives each child. Our uniqueness,
and the length to which we will go to
craft a program, costs a fortune, Mr.
Fishman said. Our costs begin at about
$70,000 per child per year, and go up
from there. There are few families that
can afford anything close to that.
Thats what our dinner is about. One
of the beautiful things is that people get
it. They understand that it is a fact of life
that there is a certain percentage of children born into this community who have
this need.
If you are blessed with a child with
this need, the chances are that you wont
be able to do it on your own, so we are
able to say that we are here.
As an admittedly extreme example,
he talked about a 5-year-old boy who
was admitted to Sinai. He is brilliant,
on the autistic spectrum, and legally
blind, Mr. Fishman said. You have the
combination of a kid who is locked into

his own world and who has a soaring IQ
he was doing sixth-grade math at 5.
Creating a program for him was a challenge bringing in a teacher for the visually impaired to teach him Braille, keeping him intellectually challenged, and
teaching him boundaries and the social
skills that any kid with hyperactivity and
autism has to learn.
We undertook this as a challenge.
Programming for this child costs us
over $100,000 to do this. There is no
ability within his family to meet this.
We view it as our mandate and our mission. Where else is this child going to
turn? We are thrilled to put something
together for him.
And then the stigma.
Its real, Mr. Fishman said. It has
existed as long as I can remember. I faced
it personally. When he was that age, my
own son, who went to Sinai, didnt look
See sweet boy page 27
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Cover Story
Sinai
from page 24
These two young violinists, Sinai students at Kushner, have just finished a concert
for their class.
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They are high-functioning kids. They are

extremely reliable, honest, and dependable. They can be tremendous workers,
and they enjoy their work. They can do
the most menial jobs stocking shelves,
putting together pieces of something
and they will do it very conscientiously.
They show up on time, they dont
steal, and they are cheap to employ.
But still the fit has to be right.
For example, she continued, Downs
kids are comforting, warm, cheerful,
nonjudgmental. They can deliver mail
working with supervisors, where there is
not much chance for error. On the other
hand, other Sinai students are capable
of doing computer work. They are at all
different levels.
We are very blessed, Ms. Karasick
said. You know the saying that it takes
a village? It has taken a village and we
have a village.
You cant do it yourself. She and her
family didnt have to, and now they are
making sure that others can have the
support that they had.
Esther Klavan is the director of the
Sinai school at TABC.
The vocational component of our
high school is fundamentally important to many of the families, to the point
where, when I interview prospective
kids and their families, they say they
think its the most important, Ms. Klavan said.
Families are intrigued; they know
that their children will be excited about
starting a job when they start high
school, and they are excited to know that
they will have multiple and varied experiences in the workplace.
Because a students stay in high school
can be as long as seven years, that
means seven different work experiences, with gradually increasingly independence, she said.
When they start at 14, their work time

is limited to an hour and a half a week.
Generally there is one job coach to two
students. Gradually, over the course of
their time with us, we increase the duration and decrease the support, as we see
that the student is capable and the location encourages it.
The program is tailored personally to
each child. When we get new students,
we dont always know their strengths and
interests, although extensive interviews
with new students and their families are
designed to draw out as much as is possible in that fairly abstract setting. We
do our best, based on what we know. The
more we learn, the more it changes.
What we really strive to do here,
because of the nature of the students,
is to provide a functional academic curriculum, combining the life skills and
academic skills they need for their lives.
We work on What does this individual
student need to know to be able to have
a budget, open a bank account, travel to
and from his job, be as independent as
he can be in this world?
We teach them life skills, shopping,
food preparation. And it is all within a
Jewish environment that allows them to
embrace their Judaism and foster their
social skills and opportunities among
Jewish high schools boys and girls.
Thats the balance. We could do any
of that in a box but we do it in someone elses box. In other words, instead
of trying to keep the students cocooned
in a world where everyone else is just
like them, they are provided with a balance of that safety and a chance to interact with others, who are less like them,
in a larger but still safe world.
I have learned over the years that
what my students contribute to that box
is as significant as what they gain from
it, Ms. Klavan said parenthetically.
Back to Holy Name, it was a trendsetter, she said. A decade and a half ago,
A Sinai Kusher student uses magnets as she learns to read Hebrew a task
that often challenges children with language-based disabilities.
Cover Story
they welcomed our young men with disabilities, at a time when it was not popular to do so. Now you can walk up and
down Cedar Lane or West Englewood
Avenue, or even go to Party City or Modells or Staples, and see people with disabilities as workers.
Nowadays its very typical and
expected for individuals of all abilities
to be working, either as volunteers or
as employees, but then it was much less
popular. But Holy Name welcomed us.
She talked about a student of hers who
worked there a few years ago. They welcomed him, and he was independent
there, she said. I would just drop him
off, and he would go to the volunteer
service lounge, where the volunteers
often retired people would wait to be
called. He would sit with the other volunteers, and accept any task.
I visited him there, and saw that he
was warmly welcomed by the other volunteers as an equal. We worked hard to
get him there, because we felt that once
we did, it would pay off. And it did!
Michael Maron said that Holy Name
does not work with developmentally
disabled people just out of charity, but
because it is mutually beneficial. The volunteers and employees do good work.
Beyond that, It is a good reminder to us
all of who we are and why we are here,
he said. It keeps everybody a little more
tuned in and little more on their toes as
to the purpose of being.
Mr. Maron believes that the Sinai
schools and Holy Name Medical Center
are profoundly similar. For me personally, and for us as a whole, we applaud
Sinai for being a beacon of light for
Sweet Boy
from page 25
that different from Binyamin.

He remembers how hard it was in
shul, the comments he overheard,
the worldview that excluded his son,
somehow seeing his behavior as a
result of moral weakness.
The sad result is that we see parents who delay in seeking our help,
who have their children in other
schools in the community, who fight
with their schools. Educators often
tell them that this is a kid who would
do better at Sinai, but the parents
fight it. They say, I think that she can
get by for another year, if I just throw
a shadow on it. If I just do this, if I
just do that.
I hear them say I think the kid can
get by. That is a very low standard.
In the video, the Leiters talk about
the stigma. Life was hard at home
before Binyamin entered Sinai; his
three siblings couldnt invite friends
home, the family could not go to
other peoples Shabbat dinners,
everyone else was dependent on his
everyone else to see, he said. We, too,

are a faith-based organization providing
services. Their services are to the misfortunate and educationally needy. Ours
are to the sick and infirm. And so we are
in parallel.
The passion we both bring to what
we do, and the deep reason for why we
do it, are both based in our faith, so partnering will show the community what
unites us rather than what divides us.
He is touched by the way the school
integrates its students with those in the
larger school. That is incredible, he
said. If we could incorporate that spirit
more into our daily lives, that would
make this a far better world.
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Who: Sinai Schools

What: Annual dinner
When: Sunday, February 8; dinner at
4:45, program at 6:30
Where: Teaneck Marriott at Glenpointe Hotel
Why: To support Sinais work
Honoring: The Community Partnership award will be presented to
Teanecks Holy Name Medical Center,
with CEO and President Michael
Maron accepting on behalf of the
hospital.
Also honoring: Shelley and Ruvan
Cohen of Manhattan; Dr. Elie and
Nancy Elmann of Englewood; Rabbi
Brian and Laurie Gopin of Bergenfield; Rabbi Shimshon and Ashley
Jacob of Jerusalem, formerly of
Livingston; and Judy and Nathan
Rephan of Fair Lawn.
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For more information and reservations: or (201) 833-1134.
moods. Life was chaotic.

Binyamin went to schools that were
not right for him, including a public
school. Nothing worked, and he did
not fit in. Still, his parents hesitated.
As they talk about it on the video,
you can see it in their faces, in their
voices, in the way that they look at
each other. The emotion is unmistakably real as they talk both about the
chaos of life before and the safety and
relief of life now.
To some extent, Mr. Fishman said,
the resistance to accepting the need
for special education is generational
the idea that acting out is the kind
of misbehavior that merits punishment. I think that our community
has come a long way in accepting
and including individuals with special needs but we have a long way
to go, he said.
Sweet Boy, like the other videos
Sinai has produced, humanizes the
problem. It is meant not only as a fundraiser but as a consciousness-raiser
as well. It will debut at the Sinai dinner, and then will be available online.
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Auschwitz 70 Years Later
Survivors return to Auschwitz

determined to share their stories
On Tuesday, in a tent set up around the
gaping entrance to Birkenau, the concentration camp that was next to Auschwitz,
survivors and their companions were
joined by dignitaries from more than 40
countries for ceremonies that may well
mark the final time that so many Auschwitz survivors are together here again.
Halina Birenbaum, who survived Auschwitz as a child, described to the crowd of
3,000 her impressions of the Nazi camp 45
miles east of Krakow, calling it a bottomless pit of hell that I could not get out of.
All around us was electric barbed wire,
she said. Rows of barracks, stinking mud
a disgusting mass of people all in lousy
wet rags, with numbers and shaven heads.
Those gray faces with legs like sticks,
wearing those muddy clogs. Nothing
reminded you of anything human.
Roman Kent, president of the International Auschwitz Committee, which was
founded by a group of Auschwitz survivors, said his experience in the camp was
Toby Axelrod
KRAKOW, Poland What kept you
alive?
Did your non-Jewish friends reject you?
Could you ever forgive?
Those were some of the questions Jewish young adults posed to Holocaust survivor Marcel Tuchman on Monday at the
Galicia Jewish Museum here.
What kept me alive was having my
father with me, said Tuchman, 93, a physician from New York who was born in
Poland and survived several concentration
camps, including Auschwitz. And another
thing was the hope I had that one day I will
be able to tell the story to the likes of you,
so you can tell it to the next generation.
His meeting with young Jews was one of
many such encounters taking place in and
around Krakow on the 70th anniversary of
the Soviet armys liberation of Auschwitz,
where an estimated 1.1 million people were
murdered, many of them gassed.
Auschwitz survivor Marcel Tuchman, 93, meets with Jewish students in Krakow
on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the camp by Soviet soldiers on January 26.
Courtesy of Jeffrey Tuchman
more than enough to keep me awake at

night until the end of time.
He added: How can I ever forget the
smell of burning flesh that permeated the

air or the cries of children torn from
their mothers arms.
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While survivors cannot forget, others simply must
remember. Otherwise, Kent said, the conscience of
mankind would be buried alongside the victims.
Tuesdays memorial was sponsored by the World
Jewish Congress, the USC Shoah Foundation, and Discovery Communications, whose subsidiary, Discovery
Education, is working with the Shoah Foundation to
develop digital teaching materials about Auschwitz. It
also featured the screening of a short documentary,
Auschwitz, co-directed by the famed filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who started the Shoah Foundation.
In a moment of disequilibrium, survivors watched
the film about their former place of imprisonment, sitting in front of the very gate through which cattle cars
once passed, delivering so many Jews to their deaths.
Just outside the tent, a light snow fell on the remaining barracks of Birkenau, surrounded by barbed wire.
Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, addressed the crowd.
Auschwitz never goes away, he said. This awful
place stands as a reminder that propaganda leads
to anti-Semitism ... that anti-Semitism will grow if
nobody speaks out.
Anti-Semitism, he said, leads to places like
Auschwitz.
He added: After the recent events in Paris and
throughout Europe and around the world, I cannot
ignore what is happening today. Jews are targeted in
Europe once again because they are Jews.
The ceremony was the culmination of several days
of events and meetings attended in total by some 300
Holocaust survivors. Few of them actually were liberated at Auschwitz, but all had passed through its gates.
Today they are in their 80s and 90s, and fit enough
to have traveled from Israel, America, Argentina, and
elsewhere.
A group of survivors who was to visit the Auschwitz
exhibit on Monday never got beyond the infamous
gate, marked Arbeit Macht Frei, so crowded was this
threshold with eager journalists who had come from
around the world. And yet the hubbub didnt seem to
faze them a bit. In fact, most of the visitors seemed
determined to tell their stories to all who inquired.
I know that were getting old and have to make sure
that the memory doesnt die with us, said Irene Weiss,
84, of Fairfax, Va., who traveled with her daughter
Lesley. Her key message to todays youth: Dont be
deceived by demagogues.
On Monday at a ceremony for visiting survivors,
Spielberg, whose Oscar-winning movie Schindlers
List was filmed partly in Krakow, told the survivors,
I found my own voice and my own Jewish identity
thanks to you.
Spielberg, whose USC Shoah Foundation has interviewed

more than 50,000 Holocaust survivors since it was founded
21 years ago, said he was first confronted with the Holocaust
when he was a child, reading the numbers on his grandfathers arm.
Edgar Wildfeuer, 90, came here this week from Argentina with his daughter, Doris Wildfeuer, wanting to show
her both the camp he survived and city where he grew up:
Krakow, with its parks and market squares, its church spires
and streetcars. They planned to visit the street where he
had lived and the synagogue where he had his bar mitzvah.
Wildfeuer, who was deported to Auschwitz in 1944, lost
32 relatives.
I was the only one left, he said.
Still, his daughter said, He wanted to show me not only
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that place but the place where he grew up and was happy.
Tuchman, too, recalled a happy childhood in Poland. But
when the question of forgiveness came up before the youthful crowd on Monday evening, he paused.
Forgiveness is a very complicated thing, said Tuchman,
who came with his son Jeffrey. After the war, he testified on
behalf of a German engineer who had overseen slave laborers, including Tuchman himself, in Auschwitz.
But Tuchman also dealt out his own justice. In postwar
Germany, he and a fellow survivor spied a man who had
tortured them.
He was a sadist: He pounded on our stomachs when we
were sick with diarrhea, Tuchman recalled. We recognized him on the street and grabbed him, and beat the hell
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Mordechai Ronen, who was a prisoner at Auschwitz when he was 11 and lost his mother, father, and sisters
there, breaks into tears as he walks through the camp, which is now a museum, on January 26.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Politics, Putin cast shadow over

Auschwitz liberation anniversary
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PRAGUE When they announced the ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,
Polish officials insisted that at this years event, the eyes
of the world will be focused on about 300 Holocaust
survivors whose presence Tuesday at the former Nazi
death camp near Krakow may be the last gathering of
its sort.
The generation of Holocaust survivors, after all, is
dying out.
Yet critics are charging that politics and tensions
between Russia and its neighbors nonetheless are eclipsing the focus on the survivors, and even muddling the
historical record. Many believe that behind the main
event, at Auschwitz, was an organized effort to discourage Russian President Vladimir Putin from attending a
reprisal of sorts for Russias annexation of Ukrainian territory last year.
In 2005, during his earlier stint as president, Putin
attended the 60th anniversary ceremony. This time,
a tentative invitation was extended to the Russian
Embassy but not to Putin directly.
An attempt to keep out Putin was a serious failure in
commemoration because it was Russian troops who liberated the camp, said Efraim Zuroff, the Israel director
for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the human rights organization. This attempt to erase the Russian peoples
contribution to defeating Nazism is casting a shadow on
this commemoration, and creating a vacuum in which
untruths flourish.
One such distortion: On January 21, Polish Foreign
Minister Grzegorz Schetyna told a local radio station that
Ukrainians, not Russians, liberated Auschwitz, citing
the fact that the Red Army unit that reached Auschwitz
was called the First Ukrainian Front. And on January 8,
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that
the Soviets invaded Ukraine and Germany, when, in
fact, it was the Germans who invaded the Soviet Union.

His spokesman later explained that Yatsenyuk had the
carving up of Poland in 1939 by Germany and the Soviet
Union in mind.
These historical inversions show the level of hatred
that exists for Russia for the moment, said Peter Feldmajer, a vice president of the Hungarian Jewish umbrella
group Mazsihisz.
In addition to the event in Auschwitz, the camps liberation was scheduled to be commemorated in Prague
on January 26 and at the United Nations General Assembly on January 28.
But Putins presence would have been an especially
sensitive matter in Poland, where anger over Russian
aggression in Ukraine is mixed with bitter memories of
Russian domination during and predating the Soviet era
and fears of its return.
Polish officials denied that Putin was deliberately disinvited or discouraged from attending, noting that no
other head of state had been invited officially, because
of the policy of focusing on survivors.
Many, however, doubted this argument, as the list
of attending dignitaries at the Auschwitz event grew.
Among others it included French President Francois
Hollande and his German and Ukrainian counterparts,
Joachim Guack and Petro Poroshenko, as well as the
Dutch and Belgian premiers, Mark Rutte and Charles
Michel.
Putin, however, had been invited to attend an event
near Prague co-organized by the European Jewish Congress, which brought hundreds of Jewish community
leaders and dignitaries to commemorations of the Auschwitz liberation and to the nearby Terezin Memorial for
the Theresiendstadt concentration camp.
EJCs Russian-born president, the industrialist Moshe
Kantor, set up the event near Prague with the Czech government to provide a commemoration ceremony where
Putin would feel welcome, according to Peter Brod, a

board member of the Jewish Community
of Pragues foundation.
The feeling was that the Russian contribution to the liberation should be honored and commemorated in some way,
and this led to the event, said Brod, a
former BBC journalist.
But Arie Zuckerman, a senior EJC official, said the event near Prague which
featured debates about anti-Semitism
today and legislation to curb it never
was meant to serve as an alternative to
the Auschwitz event, which, unlike our
event, is only about commemoration.
Marek Halter, a well-known French
Jewish author who survived the Holocaust in his native Warsaw before escaping to Russia, said he and his generation
have a responsibility to protect [the]
historical record for as long as we can.
The record, he said, is in danger of
being lost in the politics of the new cold
war we are entering between the United
States and Russia.
Putins attendance at Auschwitz, he
added, should have been facilitated to
defend against this sort of obfuscation.
Serge Klarsfeld, a Romania-born Jewish Nazi hunter who survived the Holocaust in hiding in France and whose
father died at Auschwitz, said he could
understand the Polish state of mind
regarding Putin, but that he should have
been invited.
Its not, as some Poles claim, that the
Russians liberated Auschwitz because it
was en route to Berlin, he said. They
came to free Auschwitz, and the survivors will never forget the Red Armys
arrival there.
Still, Halter said he could think of no

place more appropriate than Prague and
Terezin to commemorate the Holocaust.
Prague was the only old Jewish city
that the Nazis left intact, because they
wanted to turn it into a Jewish Jurassic
Park, a museum to an extinct people,
he said. Convening hundreds of Jewish
community leaders and dignitaries is a
powerful response.
But how the message is carried is
changing as the last generation of Holocaust survivors passes on, Frans Timmermans, a vice president of the European Commission, said in an interview
at the Prague Municipal House, where
Czech President Milos Zeman welcomed
leaders of European Jewry and politicians with a brief address.
We are at a critical point in European history because living memory is
becoming history, Timmermans said.
Soon there will be no more people with
numbers on their arms to tell the story,
and the tendency to beautify a terrible
record is tempting.
In Auschwitz, one of the survivors
who is still telling his story is Ernst
Verduin, 87, who lived in hiding in the
Netherlands before he was deported
to the death camp with his family. Verduin arrived at Auschwitz suffering from
a severe lung infection and was sent
immediately to the gas chambers.
As we said goodbye, my sister wished
me a quick death, recalled Verduin,
who survived because he left the gas
chamber group and snuck to the group
of men sent to work.
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Holocaust survivor Marek Halter, left, and Cantor Joseph Malovany with performers at a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz held at the Terezin Memorial near Prague on January 27.
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Jewish World
Netanyahus planned speech

roils pro-Israel community
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WASHINGTON When Israel wants something from

the United States, it typically makes three stops: the
pro-Israel lobby, Jewish members of Congress, and the
White House.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored all three
when he accepted an invitation from House Speaker
John Boehner (R-Ohio) to address Congress about U.S.
Iran policy.
Neither congressional Jews nor the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee were notified of the speech,
much less consulted. The White House found out three
hours before Boehner announced the address on January 21.
The result: Muted yet palpable discomfiture among
the three sectors that Israel relies on to ensure continued support from Washington.
Israeli officials say the need to influence the United
States on an issue of existential importance overrides
the need for niceties in this case. But congressional staffers and pro-Israel officials say such niceties are critical if
Israel is going to be persuasive.
Ken Goldstein, an expert on congressional politics and
the pro-Israel community at the University of San Francisco, said Netanyahu and his U.S. envoy Ron Dermer
put Jewish lawmakers most of them Democrats in
a tight spot.
I will agree with Ambassador Dermer that this is a
phenomenally important issue. Given that, is this the
best strategy? Goldstein said. It puts everyone in a difficult position, and doing your job is not to put someone
in a difficult position.
The White House reaction to last weeks announcement was public and sharp, describing the speech as a
breach of protocol and saying that Obama and other top
officials would not meet Netanyahu during his visit. In
his State of the Union speech, which he gave the day
before Boehners announcement, Obama had promised
to veto any new Iran sanctions legislation. Netanyahu is
expected to lobby in favor of such sanctions during his
U.S. trip.
The reaction from the pro-Israel lobby and the Jewish congressional caucus has been more muted, at least
on the record, but sources close to both said bypassing
them undercut their effectiveness and made little longterm sense for Israel. Jewish lawmakers are traditionally
the first address for pro-Israel lobbying on Capitol Hill,
reflecting a tradition of deferring to lawmakers belonging to the ethnic and regional minorities most vested in
a particular issue.
The bottom line is, it would have been smarter to
consult, said a source close to AIPAC.
Other sources said that Dermer, who is suspected of
helping to orchestrate the Boehner invitation, also bore
some responsibility.
Netanyahu is not being well served by who he sent
here, said one Democratic congressional staffer.
Ron Dermer, Israels ambassador to the United

States, defended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus decision to address Congress on Iran in
March.
EMBASSY OF ISRAEL
The Israeli embassy did not reply to requests for comment, except to note that Boehners official invitation
was made in the name of both parties. Top Democratic
officials say Boehner did that without consulting them.
Boehners office has not responded.
In a speech to a State of Israel Bonds gala in Florida
on Sunday, Dermer said getting the Iran message across
was too critical to reject Boehners invitation. He also
lauded Obamas defense and intelligence cooperation
with Israel and said bipartisan support for Israel was
appreciated.
The prime ministers visit to Washington is intended
for one purpose and one purpose only to speak up
while there is still time to speak up, Dermer said. To
speak up when there is still time to make a difference.
Netanyahus speech, which is scheduled for March 3
after being bumped back quickly from its original February 11 date coincides with AIPACs annual policy conference in Washington. It also comes two weeks before
Israeli elections.
Netanyahu supports Republicans and a number of
Democrats who argue that more sanctions will increase
Western leverage on Iran. But Obama has countered
that increasing sanctions now would drive Iran from the
current negotiations with world powers over its nuclear
program.
Right-wing groups including the Zionist Organization of America, the Emergency Committee for Israel
and the Republican Jewish Coalition have defended
Boehner and Netanyahu, as did the sole Jewish Republican in Congress, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.).
Inviting the prime minister of Israel to address
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Jewish World
Israeli left resurgent as campaign rhetoric escalates

Ben Sales
TEL AVIV Stav Shaffir was angry.
The 29-year-old firebrand is known
for her outbursts, which have gotten her
kicked out of many Knesset hearings in the
past year. But when she rose in the Knesset on January 21 to answer Jewish Home
party leader Naftali Bennetts charge that
she is post-Zionist, her shrill rebuttal went
viral.
True Zionism, friends, is to distribute
the budget equally among all citizens,
Shaffir said in an impassioned speech
that has been viewed online more than
300,000 times. True Zionism is to be
concerned for the weak. True Zionism is
solidarity not only in war, but in the day
to day, to watch out for one another. This
is Israeliness. This is Zionism.
Israel is no stranger to heated political
rhetoric, but already the campaign for
the March 17 elections is shaping up to be
a particularly fierce one, with the leading parties taking aim not merely at their
rivals policies but at their very commitment to the ideals of the Jewish state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
Stav Shaffir makes a point at a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee in

Jerusalem in September.
Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90
facing the first serious challenge to his

leadership since 2009, has attacked the
Labor Party the faction of Israels founders as anti-Zionist. Labor has shot back,
branding its recently forged alliance with
the Hatnuah faction as the Zionist Camp
and presenting itself as a bulwark against

the right.
The two rivals even have the same campaign slogan. Likud banners read Its us
or them. Zionist Camp ads proclaim Its
us or him.
The Labor Party chose an extreme leftist and anti-Zionist list, read a message
posted on Netanyahus official Facebook
page following the January 14 Labor primary. Theres no meeting point between
the nationalist and responsible Likud outlook, and the irresponsible leftist list.
In the last round of legislative balloting, in 2013, Netanyahu won reelection by
a wide margin, taking 31 seats 12 more
than his nearest rival. This time around,
Labor, which had just eight Knesset members as recently as two years ago, has seen
a resurgence, with polls showing its joint
slate with Hatnuah tied with Likud at 24
seats apiece.
Labor began the election season in
December with a bombshell, merging with
the centrist Hatnuah led by former Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni. Livni and Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog, presenting themselves
as the anti-Netanyahu ticket, have hit the
prime minister especially hard on foreign
affairs, pledging to mend fences with the
United States and Europe.
After Netanyahu pushed his way to
the front of a January 11 Paris rally that
See israeli left page 34
Jewish World
Israeli left
from page 33
the French premier didnt even want him to attend, Zionist Camp activists mocked him with a video game in which
the object is to navigate the prime ministers character past
other heads of state to the front of the procession.
When U.S. House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu last week to address a joint session of Congress in an
apparent breach of diplomatic protocol, Zionist Camp leaders accused him of playing with the U.S.-Israel relationship
for political gain.
The fact that Netanyahu walks the streets of Paris with
the leaders of the world doesnt mean those leaders are with
him, Herzog said on January 15 in a speech in Haifa. The
essential alliance with the U.S. has great influence in the
world. Its on us to tighten it, strengthen it. The Americans

demand mutuality, trust and partnership. Red lines have
been crossed crudely.
Netanyahu has gone tit for tat in the debate, portraying
himself as standing up for Israels interests against enemies
like Iran and frenemies like the French government and the
Obama administration, with whom he has had strained relations. His address to Congress is scheduled for March 3, giving the prime minister a prominent podium to represent
Israel internationally just two weeks before Election Day.
But even if Netanyahus popularity is floundering just
42 percent of Israelis think hes suited to be prime minister,
according to a recent poll there is safety for him in numbers. The party that stands to gain the most in the election is
the pro-settler Jewish Home, which has run this years most
energetic campaign and risen to third in the polls.

More conservative even than Likud, Jewish Home is
almost certain to join a Likud-led coalition.
Its clear Ill support the leader of the right, Bennett said in a January 24 interview with Israeli Channel 10. The question is whether it again will be as if
[the coalition] will be right wing but will really be led
by the left.
Founded as a modern Orthodox faction, Jewish
Home has broadened its appeal by downplaying its
opposition to social reforms like same-sex marriage
and naming several high-profile secular hawks to its
list. The party also has latched on to Likuds effort to
challenge Herzog and Livnis Zionist credentials, running with the slogan We dont apologize.
Like Likud and the Zionist Camp, Jewish Home portrays itself as a broad party for Israelis of all stripes.
But Israels political map remains as fragmented as
ever. Likud and Labor both are slated to win about 24
of the Knessets 120 seats, while polls predict Jewish
Home will take 16. Contending for the remaining spots
are a handful of centrist parties eager to distinguish
themselves from each other while still staying open to
joining whichever party comes out on top.
Pop-up centrist parties are a trend in Israeli elections. In 2006, the newly founded Kadima was the
Knessets largest party. In 2013, it was Yesh Atid. Now
Kadima has disappeared entirely, and Yesh Atid is middling in the polls.
In their place is Kulanu, a new centrist party
founded by former Likud minister Moshe Kachlon that
pledges to reform Israels economy. Kulanu, Hebrew
for all of us, has focused its messaging on breaking
Israels bureaucratic state monopolies, but it also has
bolstered its diplomatic and security credentials by
placing Yoav Galant, the former commander of Israels
Southern Command, and former ambassador to the
United States Michael Oren on its list.
Kachlon has avoided branding the party as left or
right, saying hell join any coalition that shares his economic goals. Kulanu is polling at around nine seats
less than 10 percent of the electorate but in Israels
chaotic political scene, that could be enough to give
Likud or Zionist Camp the votes necessary to form a
government.
In a jab at Yesh Atid, currently the largest party in
the Knesset, Oren said this month that being big is no
guarantee of effectiveness.
That they didnt deliver was not a function of size,
JTA Wire Service
Oren said.
Israeli Religious Services Minister Naftali Bennett, right, and Deputy Minister Rabbi Eli BenDahan unveil a series of reforms in religious services in Israel at a news conference in Jerusalem
in 2013.
Flash 90
Jewish World
World Zionist Congress elections: a voters guide
others, this group is focused in part on institutional reform.

It wants to review the focus and structure of the congress
and create direct elections for chairman, priorities and budget. It also wants to encourage the cultural and political
conditions under which secular & religious expressions of
Jewish identity can flourish.
Western Wall plaza to allow for egalitarian prayer. Its slate

includes movement leaders.
American Forum for Israel
What is it?
Mercaz USA: The Zionist Arm of the

Conservative Movement
Promotes the Conservative movements interests, including advocating for state acceptance of all conversions and
weddings performed by Conservative rabbis; state funding for non-Orthodox rabbis; and redeveloping the entire
URIEL HEILMAN
orld Zionist Congress elections began
earlier this month and run through
April 30. Heres a primer on what the
congress is, the logistics of voting,
whos on the ballot, and why you just might want to
sign up for PayPal before casting your vote.
The World Zionist Congress is a 500-person representative body of the Jewish people that wields substantial control over three key institutions with significant
assets at their disposal: Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, or
the Jewish National Fund, which owns some 13 percent of Israels land; the Jewish Agency for Israel,
which deals with immigration and absorption, as well
as Zionism education, and has a $475 million annual
budget; and the World Zionist Organization. The congress helps formulate the organizations policies,
appoints some of their leaders and has a say in how
their money is spent.
When was it established?

Founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897 to help bring about
the establishment of a Jewish state, the World Zionist
Congress was conceived as a parliament for the Jewish people. Now that Israel exists, its de facto significance is its control over the aforementioned Zionist
institutions.
Who is in the congress?

Of the 500 representatives, 190 come from Israel, 145
from the United States, and 165 from the rest of the
world combined. The process for choosing representatives differs in each county. In America, Jews over
age 18 who pledge fealty to certain Zionist principles
are eligible to vote for the party of their choosing
each party has posted its election slate of representatives. In Europe, some communities hold elections
while others appoint their representatives. The Israeli
representatives are allocated according to representation in the Knesset.
Among the Americans, the parties that correspond
with the major religious denominations typically wield
the most power.
How do I vote?
Online. To register, go to Myvoteourisrael.com. Registration will require paying a $10 processing fee ($5
if youre under 30) to the American Zionist Movement and clicking off a box that affirms that you support certain basic Zionist principles called the Jerusalem Program. You can pay via credit card, PayPal,
or eCheck.
Whom should I vote for?

Whoever best represents the values you hold dear,
because the next congress will, in theory, allocate
resources and endorse policies in line with those
values.
Whos running?
In America, 11 different parties:
Zionist Spring: Restoring Vision to

World Zionism
Backed by the youth movement Young Judaea, among
Alliance for New Zionist Vision

With a slate limited to young activists, this party focuses on
the battle for Israels legitimacy on college campuses.
Affiliated with the American Forum of Russian Speaking

Jewry, this nationalist faction believes Israel is Americas
only reliable ally, Jerusalem should never be divided and
the Israel Defense Forces should be strengthened. Its slate
SEE ELECTIONS PAGE 42
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February 2015
i
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W
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t
Y
v
o
A
J
T
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Gallery
1
n 1 Teacher Chana Zinstein is with third graders at Temple

Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in Woodcliff Lake during a challah-baking workshop led by congregant Susan
Liebeskind. Amy Goldstein, Lainie Miller, and Tracy Materetsky were among the parent volunteers. COURTESY TEPV
n 2 During the all-day professional development day on

Martin Luther King Day, Solomon Schechter Day School
faculty and administrators packaged weekend snack-packs
for Bergen County kids receiving support from the Center for Food Action. Shop-Rite in New Milford partnered
with the school for the chessed project. COURTESY SSDS
n 3 Members and friends of the National Council of Jewish Womens Bergen County section assembled more than
400 snack packs for the Center for Food Action at a recent
meeting. The packs will provide food to children in four local elementary schools for the weekends, when the federal
school lunch program is not available. COURTESY NCJWBCS
n 4 Melanie Lester, the Jewish Family Service of North
Jerseys community coordinator, center, presented Norman Baron, right, with a silver cup at a recent JFSNJ
board meeting. The honor was for his 21+ years volunteering as a Kosher Meals on Wheels driver for homebound seniors in Fair Lawn and Elmwood Park. His wife,
Zehava, is pictured with them. COURTESY OF JFSNJ
n 5 By making a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, students at the Academies at the
Gerrard Berman Day School in Oakland could wear
their pjs to school for Pajama Day. ELISA BERGER
Dvar Torah
Bishalach: Music to our ears
ike many couples, my wife

and I have a song. When the
song (Peter Gabriels In Your
Eyes) comes on the radio,
I always pause to give reflection on the
liminal moments in our lives where that
song helped relieve a stressful moment
for us as a married couple or served as
a reminder of the initial days of courtship on my part. At that moment, I am
reminded of the expression that something can be music to my ears.
As we exit Egypt this week, we recite
Shirat Hayam, a Torah passage which
is one of the few sections with its own
distinct poetic format in the scroll and its
own distinctive melody.
Why does this particular passage merit
these special modifications?
Perhaps the answer to this question
can be found in a biblical passage that we
recite early in the Shabbat morning service. In Psalm 136, we recite the words,
lgozer yam suf leegzarim, ki lolam
chasdo for the God who split the sea
Let each of us
imagine how our
ancestors set
forth a path for
our survival and
freedom.
into parts, Gods kindness lasts forever.
A close reader of this verse would ask
why it suggests that God divided the Sea
of Reeds into multiple sections (gzarim)
when we famously understand it to have
been divided in half.
The midrashic works Pirke de Rebbe
Eliezer and the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan interpret that the plural gzarim,
sections, refers to the division of the
Sea of Reeds into 12 distinct sections
corresponding to the 12 tribes of Israel.
Through this midrash, we

merit of their ancestors
can imagine an incredible
was sufficient to divide the
moving moment as each
sea. Therefore Rashi brings
family finds a distinct path
the 12 pathway midrash
across the dry ground, singin order to imagine that the
ing in gratitude and joy,
individual tribes needed
recalling as a tribe their
to march as one in order
ancestors initial beginto recall how each of them
nings and travels as they
and their ancestry was
Rabbi Fred
revel in being rescued from
essential to the process
Elias
the hands of the pursuing
of survival, freedom, and
Solomon Schechter
Egyptians.
redemption.
Day School of
Rashi questions the order
This Shabbat, as we hear
Bergen County,
of events in the story. Why
the recitation of Shirat
New Milford;
Congregation Kol
does God tells Moses to
Hayam and participate in
HaNeshamah,
speak to the Israelites to
the communal reading, let
Englewood,
direct them to move on,
each of us imagine how our
Conservative
and only then is Moses
ancestors set forth a path
told to raise his hand over
for our survival and freedom and how we will in
the sea in order to split it?
their merit continue to ensure that our
Shouldnt the command that the Israelites move follow the splitting of the sea?
community in a united fashion will proliferate through the experience of limRashis answer is that the Israelites
inal moments of holiness together. That
were commanded to proceed because
would certainly be music to all our ears!
the sea could not stand in their way. The
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Purim cards available

Celebrate Purim with festive cards that help support Reuths facilities in
Tel Aviv. Proceeds will benefit patients at the medical
center, the largest rehabilitation facility in Tel Aviv,
and the elderly in Reuths
senior homes and subsidized housing units. Cards
cost $18 for 5, $36 for 10,
$72 for 25, and 50 for $136.
For more information
or to buy cards, call American Friends of Reuth
at (212) 751-9255 or go to
reuthpurimc ards2015.
charityhappenings.org.
Jewish Family Service
of North Jersey is selling
cards for Purim, which
is on March 5. The proceeds will support JFSNJs
professional services to
strengthen family life and
enhance the welfare of the
North Jersey community.
A packet of 10 cards costs
$18. To order, call JFSNJ at
(973) 595-0111. Cards are
available at JFSNJs Wayne
and Fair Lawn offices and
at the Image Gallery in the
Berdan Shopping Center in
Wayne.
Sharsheret, a national
not-for-profit organization
supporting Jewish women
and families facing breast
and ovarian cancer, offers
Purim cards. A package of
12 costs $36, with an additional $3 per order charge
for shipping and handling.
They can also be picked up
through March 4 in Teaneck at Sharsherets office, 1086 Teaneck Road, Suite 2G. They
are available at the Judaica House in Teaneck and in Bergenfield at the Grand and Essex
Market. Call (866) 474-2774 or www.sharsheret.org.
For over 75 years, Reuth, one of Israels oldest and most respected
social welfare and healthcare non-profit organizations, has provided
rehabilitation and long-term care for children, wounded soldiers,
victims of terror, and the elderly, as well as subsidized housing for
holocaust survivors and older immigrants. At the Reuth Medical
Center, the largest rehabilitation and chronic care hospital in Tel Aviv,
inpatients and outpatients benefit from services that range from
state-of-the-art pain management to quality-of-life therapies, including animal, music, and art therapy.
American Friends of Reuth Medical and Life Care Centers

4 West 43rd Street, Suite 402, New York, NY 10036
Tel: 212.751.9255 Fax: 212.751.9259 info@reuthnyc.org
www.americanfriendsofreuth.org
www.sharsheret.org | 866.474.2774
Learn more about our services and programs or make a donation
at www.sharsheret.org.
and ovarian cancer, and we are the only organization that specializes
We understand that young Jewish women have unique concerns
when it comes to breast

in serving them.
programs for women and families to improve their quality
the way that feels most

We help women and families connect to our community in
or treatment, as well as
comfortable, taking into consideration their stage of life, diagnosis,
resources, offer specialized
their connection to Judaism. We also provide educational
cancer, and create
support to those facing ovarian cancer or at high risk of developing
of life.
breast
Sharsheret supports young Jewish women and families facing
before, during, and after diagnosis.
cancer at every stage
North American Inclusion Month is now

February is the fifth annual North American Inclusion Month. Yachad will expand
its programming to promote awareness
and sensitivity for those with special needs
and work to establish inclusion as a mindset in the larger Jewish community.
NAIM is an initiative of Yachad/the
National Jewish Council for Disabilities,
the Orthodox Unions agency dedicated to
enhancing the opportunities of individuals
with disabilities As part of the month-long

initiative, a nation-wide Shabbat BYachad
will be held on Saturday, February 7, Parshat Yitro.
The official NAIM website, which will
list events as they are added, can be found
at www.naim4inclusion.org. The website
provides easy access to program ideas and
resources provided by Yachad.
www.jstandard.com
Across
1. Like some Talmudic references
8. Not Kenny Gs usual instrument
12. Big first for little Moisheleh
16. Harry Connick Jr., e.g.
17. Custard dessert, often made kosher for
Passover
18. Pepsi Max is a popular one in Israel
19. Star who played an archaeologist in
67-Acrosss 1981 film
21. Dead sea, or at least one moving in that
direction
22. Friday night gathering
23. How an Anglo poet might say laila
24. Blintz, essentially
25. Star who played an oceanographer in
31. Three rhyming sources of damage in the
Talmud: bor (pit), chamor (donkey), and
___ (ox)
32. One of 131 Righteous Among the
Nations from a major Balkan country
33. Balaams donkey, perhaps
34. Place to get some shekels
37. Branch out on Sukkot?
40. Friday, to Shabbat
42. Star who played a sidekick in a 2008 film
by 67-Across
45. When very thankful, say it after todah
49. The one for To Tell the Truth often
included Kitty Carlisle
50. Einstein and Salk, e.g.
51. Stereotypical sleep sound for Zaidy
52. Make like a gonif
53. Star who played a nightclub singer in a
1984 film by 67-Across
56. Empire in the Western Hemisphere during Torah times, approximately
58. Location of one of nine Chabad centers
in the Caribbean
59. The Sinai has few (abbr.)
60. The Chazon ___
63. I ___ Extremes (Billy Joel song)
65. Costa ___, the only nation with an
embassy in Jerusalem
67. Subject of this puzzle
72. A Koufax rookie card compared to a
Kershaw
73. Cable sta. where Goldberg would fight
74. Dynamic start for some IDF vehicles
77. 03 is this kind of code for Tel Aviv
78. Star who played a mathematician in
83. Like ISIS
84. Ingredient in some Ahava products
85. Critic Kael
86. The Jewish ___ (photography curriculum)
87. Way to work for many Five Towners
88. One rushing to make it home before
Shabbat, perhaps
The solution to last weeks puzzle is

on page 45.
Down
1. Bris numero
2. Raisin cereal thats kosher but not for
Passover
3. Egypt compared to Iraq, after losing in
1948
4. Breed of dogs owned by a monarch who
lives near Golders Green
5. Brandeis or Bar Ilan, to an Aussie
6. Mantis Vision, Israeli-made Hi-___ 3D
scanner
7. Primo Levi said I was this way
8. Killed, as Solomon did to many of his
enemies
9. Bar Refaeli and Marilyn Monroe
10. Item that helped save Danish Jewry in
1943
11. Vzot Habracha, in terms of Torah portions
12. Chow (down) at a siyum
13. Dominated at the Maccabi games
14. Pass, as six hours before milchigs
15. Most similar to Winona Ryder
20. Chanukah candle
24. Location of JDate
26. David to Goliath
27. Jewish jig
28. Many a Middle Easterner
29. Sight in Eilat waters
30. Make the wrong bracha, e.g.
34. Snakes that were staffs, maybe
35. Improve, as Netanyahu-Obama ties
36. ___-me (rival of Seth Greens character in
the Austin Powers movies)
38. Hindu psalm
39. Major line in Ashers lev?
41. Sheruts
43. Frat rushed by many Jews
44. Shyster, perhaps
46. Notable Niels
47. City near the Dead Sea
48. Carves commandments into tablets, say
53. Actress Dennings and others
54. Feature on the side of a chasidic childs
face
55. Earlier name for the springtime month
of Nisan
57. Bugsy Siegel or Mickey Cohen
60. AKA Jacob
61. Really, really fast?
62. Part of the sefer Im holding
64. Choose, as the Jewish people
66. Fallow, as land during shmita
68. Meats that are kosher but controversial
69. Use clues, as to guess if someone is
Jewish
70. Lang. often spoken in Raanana
71. Like Ben & Jerrys
75. Letter chiseled on a tablet, perhaps
76. Forty-niner?
78. El Al alternative
79. High Priest with wicked sons
80. Gadsar, Israeli special ___ unit
81. Race unit for Mark Spitz
82. Like some dates?
Arts & Culture

Above and Beyond
ERIC A. GOLDMAN
Every once in a while, a filmmaker captures the essence of what the State of Israel
means to the Jewish people in general and
to Americas Jews in particular.
Above and Beyond provides a remarkable look at the birth of Israels air force.
Perhaps more importantly, it considers
the ways in which Israel can affect the lives
of Jews in America.
On one level, this is a film about a group
of veteran World War II pilots and navigators who volunteered to fly airplanes
for Israel during the 1948 War of Independence, when Israels enemies had air
power and Israel did not. This story has
been told on film before, but after she saw
the obituary of Al Schwimmer in 2011, pro-
ducer Nancy Spielberg decided to provide

a broader look at the band of brothers
who changed the course of Jewish history,
and who indeed may have saved Israel at
a time when its very existence was at risk.
Al Schwimmer, often called the father of
the Israeli air force, was a flight engineer
during World War II who later worked for
TWA. When he learned that Israel needed
aircraft for the new nation, he managed
to find surplus planes and smuggle them
there. He also helped recruit many of the
Americans who would pilot and navigate
those planes during the early months of
the 48 war.
Most of the men who volunteered to fly
for Israel were there because of a sense
of adventure, a desire to find the next
challenge, or simply to meet women. Leon

Frankel, a bomber pilot in the Pacific during World War II, won the Navy Cross.
Coleman Goldstein, George Lichter, and
Gideon Lichtman flew for the U.S. Army
Air Corps and Milton Reubenfeld did the
same for the Royal Air Force. In the film,
they are joined by other men, now in their
80s and 90s, who tell the story of how,
when Israel declared its independence
in May 1948, the country was ill prepared
to fight its enemies and desperately in
need of airplanes. Each mans story, what
brought them to Israel, and how their
service for the new state would not only
change their lives as men, but as Jews, is
remarkable. Their recollections are candid and frank, and boy do they know
how to tell a story. Recreations of flying

sequences, so ably undertaken by director Roberta Grossman, make their stories
even more dramatic.
This film is clearly about the volunteers
who came from abroad, as Mitnadvei
hutz laAretz Machal to help Israel in
its fight for independence. Producer Spielberg, writer Sophie Sartain, and director
Grossman wanted the story of these surviving men to be the focus of this movie.
Their escapades, whether in the air or on
the ground, hold our attention throughout. In the course of the mens narrative,
we learn about how pilots were trained
abroad, how second-rate aircraft caused
unnecessary death, and how random air
attacks by Israeli aircraft could alter the
course of a battle and change the outcome
of the war. One recreation shows how the

Egyptian army, just 30 miles from Tel Aviv,
stopped its advance when it was attacked
by just a few aircraft. We also come to
understand how important the activities
of fundraisers, both here and in Europe,
were in permitting the purchase of the
weapons and equipment without which
Israel might not have survived. Historians
Benny Morris and Derek Penslar help provide a framework for these stories.
The filmmakers do such a superb job
in bringing us in that I wanted to know
more about the other flyers, in particular
the native Israelis who joined these men
in training and in the air. We hear from
former U.S. marine Lou Lenart about
Americans and their unique story.

It was Al Schwimmers life story that
sparked producer Spielbergs interest.
But she shied away from telling about his
indictment for breaking U.S. law by smuggling aircraft to Israel, and chose not to
touch on his trial and his loss of U.S. citizenship; Schwimmer stayed in Israel,
founded Israel Aircraft Industries, and
later was pardoned by President Clinton.
The producer said that she omitted those
details because there simply were too
many stories to tell for one film, and that
Schwimmer no longer was around to tell
his story. Understandable, but I encourage
you to simply read more!
how he trained to be a pilot with several

Israelis near Prague. When he heard that
two Egyptian planes had bombed the Tel
Aviv bus station, killing 42, the Israelis
cut their training short and headed back
to Israel to provide some resistance in
the air. Three Israelis Modi Alon, Ezer
Weizman, and Eddie Cohen returned
with Lenart. We learn a great deal about
Alon, who assumed command of the air
squadron, and whose widow and daughter
describe later his plane crash at a landing
field weeks later. But I wanted the story
of the birth of Israels air command to be
rounded out, particularly with inclusion
of its Israelis one of them, Weizman,
years later would command Israels Air
Force and become the seventh president
of Israel. The filmmakers, however, said
that they wanted to concentrate on the
From left, the films cast and crew,

on location in Duxford, England;
surviving pilots, relatives, and the
producer; Nancy Spielberg and
George Lichter.
We must be thankful for how exquisite a

film Above and Beyond is. It is an amazing story about men who risked both their
citizenships and their lives by fighting in
the armed forces of another nation. It is
also a heartfelt reminder of how special
the State of Israel is to us as Jews. This is
a film that should be seen, not only in theaters but on college campuses.
The film opens today in New York at Village East Cinemas.
Eric Goldman is president of Ergo Media
and teaches at Yeshiva University.
Calendar
Friday
Sunday
JANUARY 30
FEBRUARY 1
Shabbat in Wayne:
The Chabad Center of
Passaic County hosts a
pre-Super Bowl Shabbat
dinner, hosted by
Hebrew school students,
6 p.m. Childrens
program included. 194
Ratzer Road. Chani,
(973) 694-6274 or www.
jewishwayne.com.
Games in River Edge:

Temple Avodat Shalom
hosts a Jewpardy
Breakfast, 9:15 a.m.
$7 for breakfast. 385
Howland Ave.
(201) 489-2463
or administrator@
avodatshalom.net.
Shabbat in Closter:
Rabbi David S. Widzer
and Cantor Rica Timman
join Rinat Beth El Junior
Choir for a family-friendly
service, 6:45 p.m. 221
Schraalenburgh Road.
(201) 768-5112.
Shabbat in Wyckoff:
Temple Beth Rishon
offers Shabbat Shirah,
a service in song,
7 p.m. Led by Cantor
Ilan Mamber and
featuring the Kol Rishon
Choir with soloist JoAnn Skiena Garey
and cantorial intern
Summer GreenwaldGonella; instrumental
accompaniment by Ilan
Mamber, Itay Goren, Mark
Kantrowitz, and Jimmy
Cohen. Dessert and
coffee. 585 Russell Ave.
(201) 891-4466 or www.
bethrishon.org.
Shabbat in Tenafly:
Temple Sinai of Bergen
County hosts Sabbath
of Song with composer/
pianist Ronn Yedidia,
jazz flutist Itai Kriss, and
percussionist Yuval Edut,
7:30 p.m., 1 Engle St.
(201) 568-3035.
Shabbat in Ridgewood:
Temple Israel and Jewish
Community Center
offers tot Shabbat,
led by Cantor Caitlin
Bromberg on her guitar,
11 a.m. Youngsters, with
their families, join the
service in the sanctuary
for concluding hymns,
followed by kiddush
lunch. 475 Grove St.
(201) 444-9320 or www.
synagogue.org.
Bob Klapisch
Baseball columnist in
Teaneck: Bob Klapisch,
The Kaplen JCC

on the Palisades in
Tenafly presents
Baseball & Bagels, a
bagel brunch and discussion with
Kostya Kennedy, author of Pete
Rose An American Dilemma,
Sunday, Feb. 8, 10:30 a.m. Cosponsored with the James H.
Grossmann Memorial Jewish Book
Month. Family discount available.
411 E. Clinton Ave. (201) 408-1454.
FEB.
Super Bowl special

needs program: The
Chabad Center of
Passaic County offers
Saturday Night Live,
a Super Bowl-themed
program for children
with special needs and
their siblings, 7 p.m. Sub
sandwiches served. $10
per family. 194 Ratzer
Road. (763) 228-8570 or
jewishwayne.com.
Shabbat in Fair Lawn:

Congregation Shomrei
Torah hosts Torah,
Text, and Tradition: An
Evening of Learning and
Sharing, 7-9:45 p.m.
Three sessions, three
choices per session, no
speeches. 19-09 Morlot
Ave. Rabbi Wallace
Greene, wmg14c@gmail.
com or (201) 791-7910.
Kol HaNeshamah in
Englewood assembles
mishloach manot
packages for lone
soldiers in the Israel
Defense Forces, at
St. Pauls Church,
2-4 p.m. (201) 816-1611,
tikkunolam@khnj.org, or
www.khnj.org.
Monday
FEBRUARY 2
Israeli elections: Political
analyst Michael Tuchfeld
discusses the upcoming
Israeli elections at a
lunch and learn at
Young Israel of Fort Lee,
noon. 1610 Parker Ave.
(201) 592-1518 or yiftlee.
org.
Blood drive in Teaneck:
Saturday
JANUARY 31
Mishloach manot for

the IDF: Congregation
David Nesenoff
COURTESY CHABAD
Havdalah in Haskell:
Filmmaker/musician/
author Rabbi David
Nesenoff presents A
Funny Thing Happened

to me at the White
House at Chabad of
Upper Passaic County,
7:45 p.m. Havdalah with
guitarist Jeff Goldstein.
1069 Ringwood Ave,
Suite 101. 201-696-7609
or info@JewishHighlands.
org.
the Records baseball

columnist, speaks at a
mens club breakfast
at Congregation Beth
Aaron, 9:30 a.m. He
will preview the 2015
baseball season, discuss
A-Rod returning to the
Yankees, whether the
Mets can be competitive,
and the Hall of Fame
vote; q-&-a session
follows. Breakfast served.
950 Queen Anne Road.
(201) 836-6210 or.
Used book sale: The

Fair Lawn Jewish
Center/Congregation
Bnai Israel holds a sale,
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Childrens
books, 50 cents; adult
paperbacks, $1; and
hardcover books, $2.
10-10 Norma Ave.
(201) 796-5040.
Zumba in Tenafly:
The Kaplen JCC on
the Palisades hosts
a 75-minute Zumba
Fitness Party with exotic
rhythms, high energy
Latin and international
beats, and easy-to-follow
moves, for those 12 and
older, 8 p.m. 411 East
Clinton Ave. Barbara,
(201) 408-1475.
Film in Teaneck: The

Jewish Home Family
centennial celebration
continues with a
screening of Ill Be
Me, based on Glen
Campbells battle with
Alzheimers disease, at
the Teaneck Cinemas,
11 a.m. 503 Cedar Lane.
Free. Reservations,
(201) 750-4231.
Holy Name Medical

Center holds a blood
drive with New Jersey
Blood Services, a
division of New York
Blood Center, 1-7 p.m.
718 Teaneck Road.
(800) 933-2566 or www.
nybloodcenter.org.
Tuesday
exotic salads, chocolate

fondue fruit fountain,
and a Tu BShvat seder.
$5. 194 Ratzer Road.
(973) 694-6274 or
jewishwayne.com.
Friday
FEBRUARY 6
Shabbat in Fort Lee:
JCC of Fort Lee/
Congregation Gesher
Shalom offers a Tu
BShvat Shabbat a
seder and supper and
a Shabbat Together
musical service,
beginning with dinner,
6 p.m. 1449 Anderson
Ave. (201) 947-1735.
Shabbat in Teaneck:
Temple Emeth offers
services for families with
young children, 7:30 p.m.
1666 Windsor Road.
(201) 833-1322 or www.
emeth.org.
Shabbat in Woodcliff
Lake: Temple Emanuel
of the Pascack Valley
offers Shabbat Tikvah,
a service of inspiration
and renewal, 8 p.m.
87 Overlook Drive.
(201) 391-0801 or www.
tepv.org.
FEBRUARY 3
Saturday
Hebrew reading in River

Vale: Rabbi Shelley
FEBRUARY 7
Kniaz begins a beginner

Hebrew reading course
at the Jewish Home
Assisted Living, 11 a.m.
Co-sponsored by Temple
Emanuel of the Pascack
Valley in Woodcliff Lake.
$20 donation for the
textbook. 685 Westwood
Ave. (201) 391-0801 or
gail@tepv.org.
Wednesday
FEBRUARY 4
Caregiver support in
Rockleigh: A support
group for those caring
for the physically frail or
people with Alzheimers
disease meets at the
Gallen Adult Day
Health Care Center at
the Jewish Home at
Rockleigh, 10-11:30 a.m.
Topics include long-term
care options, financial
planning, legal concerns,
and the personal toll
of caregiving. Shelley
Steiner, (201) 784-1414,
ext. 5340.
Torah and tea: The

Chabad Center of Passaic
County offers a Tu
BShvat womens Torah
and Tea in memory
of Rashi Minkowitz at
the Chabad Center
of Passaic County in
Wayne, 7:30 p.m. Wines,
Shabbat in Englewood:
Congregation Kol
HaNeshamah offers
prayers, songs, stories,
and crafts for 2- to
6-year-olds, led by early
childhood teacher Leona
Kleinstein, 11 a.m., on the
premises of St Pauls, 113
Engle St. Also March 7.
(201) 816-1611 or www.
KHNJ.org.
Community Torah
learning: Sweet Tastes
of Torah, concentrating
this year on Sinai
Revisited: Perspectives
from the Mountaintop,
is a community night of
study, discussion, music,
and fun, presented by
the North Jersey Board
of Rabbis with support
from local synagogues.
Fair Lawn Jewish
Center/Congregation
Bnai Israel. Havdalah,
6:50 p.m. Choice of
more than 20 classes.
Snow date February
8. (201) 652-1687,
sweettastesoftorah@
gmail.com, or
sweettastesoftorah.
weebly.com.
Calendar
FEBRUARY 8
Blood drive in
Englewood:
Congregation Ahavath
Torah holds a blood drive
with New Jersey Blood
Services, a division of
New York Blood Center,
9 a.m.-3 p.m. 240 Broad
Ave. (800) 933-2566 or
www.nybloodcenter.org.
Super Sunday in West

Nyack: The Jewish
Federation of Rockland
County will hold Super
Sunday a day of
fun and fundraising at
the Rockland Jewish
Community Campus,
9 a.m.-3 p.m. 450
West Nyack Road.
(845) 362-4200 or www.
jewishrockland.org.
Toddler program
in Tenafly: As part
of the shuls Holiday
Happenings program,
Temple Sinai of Bergen
County offers music,
stories, crafts, and
snacks, with a Purim
theme, for pre-k students

and their parents,
9:30 a.m. 1 Engle St.
(201) 568-3035.
Book club: The JCC of

Paramus/Congregation
Beth Tikvah holds its
monthly book club
with a discussion of
Rebecca by Daphne
Du Maurier, 10 a.m.
Light refreshments.
304 East Midland Ave.
(201) 262-7691 or www.
jccparamus.org.
Concert in Wayne:
The YMCA of Wayne
continues its Backstage
at the Y Series with
the Matt Daniel Band.
Daniel, a pianist, and a
drummer perform new
interpretations of wellknown Jewish songs in
Yiddish and Hebrew, and
his own compositions,
which draw upon his
Jewish roots, 11:45 a.m.
The Metro YMCAs of the
Oranges is a partner of
the YM-YWHA of North
Jersey. 1 Pike Drive.
(973) 595-0100, ext. 257.
Holocaust program in
Wayne: The Chabad
Center of Passaic County
hosts a Holocaust Night
for teens, parents,
and friends, with a
discussion by two
Holocaust survivors, a
screening of The Book
Thief, and a dessert
bar, 7 p.m. 194 Ratzer
Road. (973) 694-6274 or
Chanig@optonline.net.
In New York
Wednesday
FEBRUARY 4
Author in NYC: Elana
Sztokman and Nancy
Kaufman, CEO of the
National Council of
Jewish Women, meet
for a discussion of
Sztokmans new book,
The War on Women
in Israel: A Story of
Religious Radicalism
and the Women
Fighting for Freedom,
at the Museum of
Jewish Heritage
A Living Memorial
to the Holocaust,
7 p.m. 36 Battery Place.
(646) 437-4202 or www.
mjhnyc.org.
PHOTOS COURTEY RCNJ
Sunday
Singles
Wednesday
FEBRUARY 4
Senior singles meet for
dinner: Singles 65+, a
group that meets at the
JCC Rockland, goes to
dinner at Hogans Diner
in Orangeburg, N.Y.,
6 p.m. Individual checks.
Reservations to Gene
Arkin by Feb. 2, (845)
356- 5525.
Sunday
FEBRUARY 15
Senior singles meet in
West Nyack: Singles
Paul Haidostian
Khatchig Mouradian
Christian genocide in the

middle east
The Gross Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
at Ramapo College of New Jersey will host a conversation between Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian and Khatchig
Mouradian on The Scourge of Genocide: A Century
of Angst in the Middle East. The discussion, which is
free and open to the public, is in the Trustees Pavilion
at Ramapo on February 10 at 7:30 p.m.
For information or reservations, go to www.ramapo.
edu/holocaust or call (201) 684-7409.
65+ meets for a social

bagels and lox brunch
at the JCC Rockland,
11 a.m. 450 West Nyack
Road. $8. Gene Arkin,
(845) 356-5525.
We welcome announcements of upcoming events. Announcements are free. Accompanying photos must be high resolution, jpg files. Send announcements 2 to 3 weeks in advance.
Not every release will be published. Include a daytime
telephone number and send to:
Jewish Media Group
NJ
pr@jewishmediagroup.com 201-837-8818
and StandWithUs Present:
FEATURING:
THE GLOBAL
TO THE U.N.
This World: The Values Network
ISRAELI
FIGHTING AMBASSADOR
DEMONIZATION
RON
PROSOR
THE
OF
JEWISH
STATE
Feb. 17TH 2015, 6:30PM
THE GREAT HALL OF COOPER UNION
7 EAST 7TH ST. NEW YORK, NY
ASTOR PLACE STATION ON THE 6 TRAIN
GENERAL ADMISSION: $10
FREE WITH A VALID STUDENT ID
REGISTER AT THISWORLD.US
Jewish World
Elections
FROM PAGE 35
includes a host of Russian-American Jewish community leaders.
World Sephardic Zionist

Organization Ohavei Zion
Established four years ago at the request of
the late Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia
Yosef, this group aims to strengthen the
voice of Sephardi Jewry, with an emphasis
on Jewish education.
ARZA: Representing Reform

Judaism
The Reform movements faction is focusing its campaign on promoting womens rights, gender equality, religious
equality and a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The slate consists of Reform movement leaders.
promotes equal rights for all Israeli citizens,

recognition of all religious streams and refugee reform. Its slate includes the leaders
of Americans for Peace Now, the New Israel
Fund, J Street U, Habonim Dror and other
like-minded groups.
Herut North America

The Jabotinsky Movement
This group bearing the name of the late
Revisionist Zionist and nationalist Zeev
Jabotinsky is dedicated to Jewish unity
and the territorial integrity of the land of
Israel.
Zionist Organization
of America
This faction promotes ZOAs wish list:
strengthening West Bank settlements,
fighting the BDS movement and anti-Semitism worldwide, and freeing Jonathan
Pollard.
HATIKVAH
The Progressive Zionist
Voice
This group aligned with Ameinu in the
United States and the Meretz party in Israel
wants Israel to freeze all settlement activity
until it reaches a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians. Hatikvah also
Religious Zionists: Vote

Torah for the Soul of Israel
This faction promotes Orthodox interests
in Israel, is aligned with Israeli religious
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on commercial orders or previous purchases. Tax and shipping not included. Available only at Sears Appliance & Hardware Stores. Family & Friends offers valid for all stores all day Sunday, 2/1 and Monday, 2/2/15. APPLIANCE OFFER: (3) Advertised savings are
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Zionists, and is backed by the central

institutions of Orthodox Jewish life in
America, including Yeshiva University, the
Orthodox Union, the National Council of
Young Israel and the Rabbinical Council
of America. Its agenda includes securing
funding for Orthodox educational and outreach programs, ensuring the security of
a united Jerusalem and promoting aliyah.
Green Israel: Aytzim/Green

Zionist Alliance/Jewcology
Focused on environmental issues, this faction wants to improve Israels air quality,
address Israels stray-animal situation,
and boost Israels recycling, organic agriculture and sustainable building practices.
The slate is topped by the president of
Aytzim: Ecological Judaism.
Netanyahu
FROM PAGE 32
Congress should never be viewed as undercutting

Americas foreign policy, Zeldin wrote in an email.
When that is the case then there is something wrong
with Americas foreign policy.
Most Jewish Democrats confined their criticism to
Boehner.
Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East,
deserves our continued bipartisan support and the
prime minister is always welcome, said Rep. Nita
Lowey (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House
Appropriations Committee. Moving forward, the
speaker must improve his coordination with the president and minority leader.
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), the top Democrat on the
House of Representatives Middle East subcommittee,
accused the speaker of political gamesmanship.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), who for years has
backed strong Iran sanctions, said one problem was
a breakdown in communications between the White
House and the GOP leadership.
It was not what would have occurred if the legislative branch and the executive branch worked better
together in general and on foreign policy in particular, Sherman said. Those of us in the pro-Israel community dont want to see Israel be a partisan football.
The closest thing to criticism of Netanyahu personally came from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who
wrote legislation enhancing U.S.-Israel security cooperation last year. A staffer wrote in an email that Boxer
feels the same way about this invitation/speech that
she felt about Netanyahus comments before the 2012
U.S. election.
Two months before the 2012 vote, Netanyahu said
Obama did not have a moral right to keep Israel
from acting on Iran. In response, Boxer wrote to
Netanyahu and said he had injected politics into one
of the most profound security issues of our time.
JTA WIRE SERVICE
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Obituaries
Bertha Berkowitz
Bertha Berkowitz, ne Azarkowitz, 98, of Fort Lee,

formerly of Bayonne and Fair Lawn, died on Jan. 25.
Born in New Brunswick, she was predeceased by
her husband, Emanuel, in 1979, and is survived by a
daughter, Elaine Shore (Ivan) of Englewood; a sister,
Tillie Schustrin of Pennsylvania; and two grandchildren.
Arrangements were by Eden Memorial Chapels,
Fort Lee.
Ileen Greenberg
Ileen R. Greenberg, ne Schwartz, 74, of Fort Lee,

died on Jan. 21. Born in Brooklyn, she was a retired
bookkeeper for Elliot Salon in New York City.
A daughter, Liza, of Leonia, survives her.
Fort Lee.
Leyb Katsyv
Leyb Katsyv, 88, of Clifton, died on Jan. 22.

Born in the former Soviet Union, he was a retired
engineer.
He is survived by his wife, Antonina, ne Yadykh; a
daughter, Galina Mankovetskiy; and a grandson, Boris.
Fort Lee.
David Landau, Haaretz editor

and long-time JTA Israel bureau
chief, dies at 67
David Landau, a British-born Israeli journalist who held
top positions at several English-language publications,
including JTA, has died.
Landau died of brain cancer in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
He was 67.
Landau, who made aliyah in 1970, served part-time as
JTAs Israel bureau chief for many years while also working
as a diplomatic correspondent at The Jerusalem Post. He
later was promoted to managing editor of the Post. In 1997
he founded Haaretzs English-language edition and served
as the newspapers editor in chief from 2004 to 2008. He
wrote columns for Haaretz until last year.
In choosing to work for JTA, Landau demonstrated his
strong commitment to educating diaspora Jewry about the
intricacies of Israeli politics and Israeli life, said Lisa Hostein, JTAs editor from 1994 to 2008.
Top Israeli journalists in Israel would respond with
disbelief when they discovered I had the audacity to edit
and even challenge David, who was known as a tough
journalist and editor in his own right, said Hostein, who
now serves as executive editor of the Jewish Exponent in
Philadelphia.
He was an Orthodox Jew whose commitment to an
open and moral democracy in Israel drove his work as
a journalist, she said. May his memory be a blessing.
Landau wrote and ghost-wrote several books, including
a biography of Ariel Sharon published last year.
David Landaus untimely death is a very great loss,
not just for his family and his many friends, but also for
Haaretz and for journalism in general, said Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken in an obituary published in that
newspaper.
Former Israeli President Shimon Peres, who collaborated with Landau on two memoirs, told Haaretz that Landau was a rare combination of an individual religious in
JTA WIRE SERVICE
depth and liberal in breadth.
Dr. Lewis Lipman
Dr. Lewis E. Lipman, 85, of Oradell, died on Jan. 25.

An Army veteran, he was a 1953 NYU College of
Dentistry graduate and attended Rutgers University. A
self-employed dentist in Englewood, he was an active
member of the Kiwanis Club.
He is survived by his wife, Edythe; children, Joseph
(Elise), and Linda, all of New York City, and Shelley
(Michael) of Howell; brothers, Alan and Ken; three
grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.
Arrangements were by Gutterman and Musicant Jewish Funeral Directors, Hackensack.
Irving Schlein
Irving Schlein of Fort Lee died on Jan. 25.

He is survived by his wife, Gene, and daughters Danielle
and Paulette. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban
Chapel, Fair Lawn.
Obituaries are prepared with information
provided by funeral homes. Correcting errors is
the responsibility of the funeral home.
Edward Miller
Edward Arthur Miller, who lived in Wanaque, Montvale, and

Wyckoff, died on Jan. 18.
Born in Passaic, he was an Army Signal Corps World
War II veteran, receiving the Army Good Conduct, World
War II Victory, and American Service medals. He attended
Pace University and New York University, and was a liquor
distributor.
He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Bella; children,
Eileen, Diane, and Glenn (Lisa); and one grandson.
Contributions can be sent to the Wounded Warrior Project
or K9s For Warriors. Arrangements were by Gutterman and
Musicant Jewish Funeral Directors, Hackensack.
Kenneth Gold
Kenneth Gold of Little Falls, N.J., died Jan. 24,

2015, at age 94. He was born Oct. 17, 1920, to
Abraham and Rose Gold and grew up in and
around New York City.
He helped pay for college by working nights at
his parents restaurant on the Upper West Side.
He graduated from New York University with a
bachelors degree in accounting, magna cum
laude. He then served as a Sergeant in the U.S.
Army during World War II.
He married Gladys Petrokofsky on July 28,
1945. They raised their two children in Brighton
Beach, Brooklyn. Later they moved to Little Falls,
where they were active in the local Democratic
Party. He was also an active advocate of a
womans right to choose. He was respected and
well-liked by his neighbors and work colleagues.
Mr. Gold was a certified public accountant in
private practice with a career stretching from the
1940s into the 21st century. His clients included
children and grandchildren of his original clients.
His wife died in 1998. He is survived by a son,
Lawrence Gold, and his partner, William Carroll,
of Washington, D.C.; a daughter, Victoria Gold, of
Boston; his companion of 16 years, Ruth Lipset,
of Little Falls; granddaughters Emily Boutilier of
Amherst, Mass., and Rebekka Gold of Astoria,
N.Y.; great-granddaughter Samantha Boutilier;
grandson-in-law Robert Boutilier; sister-in-law
Rose Petrokofsky of Moorestown, N.J.; and
several nieces and nephews.
Donations may be made in his memory to
Workmens Circle, 247 West 37 St., 5th Floor, NY,
NY 10018.
A funeral will be held at the Goldstein Funeral
Chapel, 2015 Woodbridge Ave., Edison, NJ, at
noon on Friday, Jan. 30.
Robert Schoems Menorah Chapel, Inc

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Real Estate & Business

How to replace hardwood
flooring in older homes
Accessing developmental
disability services
JAMES DULLEY
A community conference
Q: I just bought an old house and the hardwood floors

look terrible. Some are buckled, cupped and have large
gaps between the pieces. How do I repair these problems,
and can any of this be saved? - Emma T.
A free seminar on developmental disability services will

take place at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly on
Sunday, February 15. Registration begins as 8:30; sessions
start at 9 a.m.
Keynote speakers include State Senator Loretta Weinberg; Elizabeth Shea, assistant commissioner of the
New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities; Tom
Toronto, president of United Way of Bergen County; and
Gail Levinson, executive director of Supported Housing
Association.
Sessions will include discussions of employment, SSI/
Medicaid, advocacy for parents, and life care planning and
support.
Attendance is free. Registration is now open.
For more information and registration please contact
the Ohel Teaneck Mental Health Center at 201-692-3972.
A: Dear Emma: When installed and maintained properly, there is nothing more attractive and homey than
hardwood flooring. On the other hand, when it has
some of the problems you have described, it can make
the entire house look bad. If some of the cupping and
buckling is really severe, it can actually be hazardous
to walk on and can cause someone to stumble.
Most of your hardwood flooring should be able to
be saved, but probably not all of it. Your first step is to
try to determine the cause of the problems. Hardwood
flooring is not difficult to install, so most likely, it was
installed properly and there are some other reasons
for the problems.
The cupping and buckling are usually related to
moisture issues - either too much or too little. The
humidity level in homes can vary significantly from
January to June. Even though the hardwood seems to
be sealed with a durable urethane coating, moisture
will get into the wood.
As the moisture content of any wood increases, the
wood expands. When it dries, the wood contracts.
This is the primary cause of cupping. When the
underside of the wood is more moist than the top
surface, the bottom expands and the top contracts,
and the hardwood cups.
It is important to find the source of the moisture
under the hardwood and block it as much as possible.
Dont just take a sander to the installed cupped
hardwood and sand it flat. It may look good for a
month or two, but when the moisture level changes,
it may end up being crowned instead of cupped.
To solve the cupping, you will have to remove the
hardwood. Apply some type of film or spray-on sealer
to block the moisture source from beneath. Once this
is done, reinstall the hardwood and give it several
months to stabilize. In either the spring or fall when
the humidity levels are often in the mid-range, sand
the hardwood flooring to make it level.
Buckling of a hardwood floor is also related to
moisture issues. Usually, the hardwood flooring was
installed when it was too dry and in its contracted
size. When it adjusted to its normal moisture level,
it expanded. As it expands, the gap between the
pieces shrink until it they are gone. At this point, the
hardwood has no place to go other than buckling up.
As with cupping, remove the hardwood and apply
a moisture seal on the subfloor. Allow the hardwood
to acclimate to the normal room humidity, and then
reinstall it. Unless the tongue-and-groove edges
were damaged when it buckled, the floor should lay
reasonably flat.
Uneven gaps between the pieces of hardwood mean
that some pieces are expanding or contracting more
than others because of moisture changes. Areas with
wide gaps are often located over a heating duct, which
warms and dries the hardwood. If you have access
to beneath the floor, lower the heating duct and put
reflective foil insulation over it. Give it several weeks to
stabilize and add slivers of wood in the extra wide gaps.
James Dulleys weekly column, Heres How, can be
CREATORS.COM
found at creators.com.
Solution to last weeks puzzle. This weeks puzzle is

on page 38.
ANNIE GETS IT SOLD
TEANECK
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E-mail:
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Bergenfield I Closter I Cresskill I Englewood I Hillsdale I Leonia I New Milford I Teaneck I Tenafly
The Art of Real Estate

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Broker/Owner
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TENAFLY
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T: 212.888.6250
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LIF
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Fabulous southeast views of NYC skyline.
Northbridge Park. Large 1 BR unit. $132K
Sought after 2 BR/2 BTH unit. 1,088 sq. ft.
Phenomenal 3 BR corner unit. $418K
MIDTOWN WEST
PARK SLOPE
BEDFORD STUYVESANT
MIDTOWN EAST
2 BR/2 BTH w/balcony & W/D. $1,450,000
5 BR/3.5 BTH Triplex. $8,995/month
Garden duplex plus rental apartment. $980,000
Great unit. Breathtaking courtyard. $340,000
CHELSEA
UPPER WEST SIDE
EAST VILLAGE
GREENWICH VILLAGE
Grand 3,000 sq. ft. corner unit. $22,000/mo
Studios, 1 & 2 BR. From $2,400/month.
The Hamilton. Gorgeous alcove studio.
TH
E5
05
J
SO UST
LD
!
The Greenwich House. A Chelsea gem.
PA
ST SLO RK
UN PE
NE
R!
AP TH
TH E
RO
P
BR REN
OW OV
NS ATE
TO D
NE
!
RO THE
BY
N
DO
ST ORM
UD A
IO N
!
J
SO UST
LD
!
Contact us today for your complimentary consultation!
www.MironProperties.com
Each Miron Properties office is independently owned and operated.
STORE HOURS
646 Cedar Lane Teaneck, NJ 07666
SUN - TUE: 7AM - 9PM

WED: 7AM - 10PM
THURS: 7AM - 11PM
FRI: 7AM - 2 HOURS
BEFORE SUNDOWN
Tel: 201-855-8500 Fax: 201-801-0225

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Fresh
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89
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$ 99
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18.7 OZ
5.96 OZ.
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16 OZ
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6
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99
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99
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$ 99
$ 99
$ 99
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CEDAR MARKET HAS

ALL YOUR PARTY NEEDS
$ 99
$ 99
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Fresh
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201-855-8500 Fax: 201-801-0225
www.thecedarmarket.com
info@thecedarmarket.com
Red Delicious
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Bone In
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Iceberg
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89
99
2/$
Fresh
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Wings
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lb.
MARKET
Organic
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201-855-8500 Fax: 201-801-0225
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info@thecedarmarket.com
Cedar Markets Meat Dept. Prides Itself On Quality, Freshness And Affordability. We Carry The Finest Cuts Of Meat And
The Freshest Poultry... Our Dedicated Butchers Will Custom Cut Anything For You... Just Ask!
Fresh
2/$
Fresh
lb.
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99
79
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TERMS & CONDITIONS: This card is the property of Cedar Market, Inc. and is intended for exclusive
use of the recipient and their household members. Card is not transferable. We reserve the right to
change or rescind the terms and conditions of the Cedar Market loyalty program at any time, and
without notice. By using this card, the cardholder signifies his/her agreement to the terms &
conditions for use. Not to be combined with any other Discount/Store Coupon/Offer. *Loyalty Card
must be presented at time of purchase along
with ID for verification. Purchase cannot be
reversed once sale is completed.
CEDAR MARKET
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`
Cinnamon
Loaf
Babka
EA.
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4
$ 49
5
$ 49
18 oz
16 oz
12 oz
PROVISIONS
Aarons
Classic
Franks
$ 99
1.68 LB
Tirat Zvi
Turkey
Slices
$ 99
9.5 OZ.
We reserve the right to limit sales to 1 per family. Prices effective this store only. Not responsible for typographical errors. Some pictures are for design purposes only and do not necessarily represent items on sale. While Supply Lasts. No rain checks.

North Jersey Jewish Standard, January 30, 2015

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JANUARY 30, 2015

Supplement to The Jewish Standard February 2015

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