OurChildren FRISCH ALUMNI WRITE TO JARED KUSHNER page 6

About
EVENTS & TEANECKS BNAI YESHURUN ADDRESSES MENTAL ILLNESS page 7
Useful Information for
the Next Generation
of Jewish Families
CELEBRATIONS PLANS BEING LAID FOR NEW JEWISH HIGH SCHOOL page 12
ROCKLAND TO HOST JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL page 18
UE WILL JEWISH OSCARS MAKE A MINYAN? page 50
IN THIS ISS
Oh, Baby, Baby!
Taking Care of Your Pregnant Self
Camps Galore
Supplement to The Jewish Standard March 2017
A SUPPLEMENT TO THE JEWISH STANDARD WINTER 2017 FEBRUARY 24, 2017
VOL. LXXXVI NO. 21 $1.00 86 2017
7

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Her
fathers
voice
Fair Lawn writers YA novel
tells story of life after
liberation from the camps
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2 Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017


Ikea Israels special
woman-free charedi catalog
l How do charedi Jews do hygge, the
Nordic coziness concept that infuses
Ikea? Judging from the pages of the
catalog recently made expressly for
the design giants Israeli ultra-Ortho-
dox clientele, they do it without a
woman in sight.
The catalog, which Ikea Israel says
was produced by popular demand,
features the same Ikea classics weve
all come to love (or loathe), but in a
Jewish, entirely male domestic space.
The brands customizable wardrobes
are filled with pressed by whom,
we wonder? white shirts and black
dress pants. Billy bookcases strain un-
der volumes of the Talmud, and boys
with payes eat breakfast at a sister-
and mother-free table.
Israels charedi community has
come under fire before for its pen-
chant for erasing women from photos,
but theres fresh irony in intentionally
staging a Jewish home without wom-
en for the benefit of men. (Ikea since
has distanced itself from and apolo-
gized for the catalog, explaining that
it was made by the Israeli operation,
without consulting HQ.) Inadvertently,
though, men photographed pouring
juice in their Sektion kitchens almost
seem to volunteer to take on more
responsibility at home.
Perhaps all the Jewish women are
just on vacation. Cue a parallel, wom-
en-only edition shot in Ibiza, complete
with the Applaro deck furniture col-
lection? Leah Falk/TheJewniverse.com
Page 3
Pekiin at history
l Youve made your generous donation. The synagogue con-
struction has been completed. Your name has been inscribed
in a dedication stone. You feel you have made a small mark in
Jewish history. And as you take in the honor at the dedication
ceremony, you wonder: Will people long remember?
A partial answer to this question has surfaced for the long-
dead Jewish donors who dedicated an ancient synagogue in
Pekiin, a town in the western Galilee.
This week, the Israeli Antiquities Authority reported that
reconstruction work in an ancient synagogue revealed 1,800
year old Hebrew inscriptions on what had been the top of a
pillar.
These inscriptions will add an important tier to our knowl-
edge about the Jewish settlement in the village of Pekiin dur-
ing the Roman and Byzantine periods, the Antiquities Author-
itys Yoav Lerer said.
While the latest version of the synagogue dates only to 1873,
it stands on the site of one that was toppled
by the earthquake of 1837. Earlier archaeo-
logical finds found at the site include two
1,800-year old stone tablets likely to be from
the ancient synagogue. One is engraved with
a menorah, shofar, and lulav, and the second
shows a Torah shrine.
The Talmud tells of a Jewish community in
Pekiin, and says that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yo-
chai taught there.
Restoration work has been underway to
upgrade the visitor center in Pekiins ancient
synagogue and nearby Beit Zinati for the
last year. It will tell the story of the Jewish
presence in the town over the last 2,000
years through the history of the Zinatis,
the towns oldest Jewish family. Margalit
Zinati, the last member of the Zinati fam-
ily, still lives in a house next door to the
synagogue. She is the last Jewish resi-
dent of the town, which now is predomi-
nately Druze.
Oh, and about the ancient donors: Per-
haps because an analysis of the inscrip-
tion has not yet been formally published,
their names were not announced by the
Antiquities Authority. What a fleeing
thing is fame.
Larry Yudelson & Israel21c.org
Candlelighting: Friday, February 24, 5:24 p.m.
Shabbat ends: Saturday, February 25, 6:24 p.m.
For convenient home delivery,
call 201-837-8818 or bit.ly/jsubscribe
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Jewish Standard february 24, 2017 3
Noshes
NEW TO VIEW:
Premium shows
feature comics
and lawyers
Crashing, an HBO
series co-created
by comedian Pete
Holmes and JUDD
APATOW, 49, debuted
on Sunday, February 17.
Holmes plays Pete, a
sheltered suburbanite
who married his child-
hood sweetheart and
dreams of making it as a
stand-up comedian, but
his world unravels when
he finds out his wife is
cheating on him. He
decides to pursue his
dream and plunges into
the rough New York
comedy scene. The
eight-episode first
season features a
number of real-life
comedians and actors
using their real names
and playing versions of
themselves. Episodes 2
and 3 feature T. J.
MILLER, 35 (Silicon
Valley). Also in Episode
3, GINA GERSHON guest
stars as herself. SARAH
SILVERMAN, 46, will
guest star in episode 6
(airs March 26).
The hit CBS series
The Good Wife,
has been rebooted
with a spin-off, The
Good Fight. Wife this omission.
co-star Christine Baran-
ski returns as lawyer
Diane Lockhart. Financial
reversals force Diane to
join another existing
Chicago law firm. The
first episode aired on
CBS on February 17. This
episode and nine more
Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard
4 JEWISH STANDARD
32130 Jan CPO Strip Ad.indd 1FEBRUARY 24, 2017
(one per week) can be
seen on the new premi-
um streaming service,
CBS All-Access. JUSTIN
BARTHA, 38, co-stars as
Colin Morrello, another
lawyer at Lockharts new
firm. JERRY ADLER, 88,
will appear in a recurring
role as Howard Lyman.
Fans of The Good Wife
know that Lyman was a
partner in Lockharts old
firm, and his addled ways
frequently provided
comic relief. Adler still is
best known for playing
Jewish mob associate
Hesh Rabkin on The
Sopranos.
Good Fight pro-
ducers say that Wife Justin Bartha
star JULIANNA MAR-
GULIES, 50, may make
a guest appearance at
some point. They are still
in discussions with her
about that.
In a recent column
item about Jews
in the NHL, I
accidentally omitted
MICHAEL CAMMALLERI,
34, a star left wing who
now plays for the New
Jersey Devils. Thanks to However, in a recent
the Standard reader
who pointed out
door a crack by ac-
Matrimony has not
gone well for
actress SCARLETT
JOHANSSON, 32. Her
2008 marriage to actor
Ryan Reynolds ended in
2010. Her second, to
French ad man Roman
Duriac, ended in Decem-
Holy Name Hospital Ad 6x2
There is a cow in each and every one
of us. An animal that looks to eat and run wild.
Our purpose is to tame it and channel its power.
Lubavitch social media editor Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone, responding on
Twitter to reports of a cow wandering the streets of Queens on Tuesday after
escaping a slaughterhouse. The cow died after being tranquilized by police.
for amFAR, the founda-
tion for AIDS research.
Johansson, who has
raised mucho money for
amFAR, told the audi-
ence that her mothers
best friend died of AIDS
T.J. Miller Gina Gershon Sarah Silverman
in 1983. LENA DUNHAM,
30, was supposed to
host the event, but she
was ill. No doubt, look-
ing after Dunham was
her boyfriend of 5 years,
rock guitarist JACK AN-
TONOFF, 32, who grew
up in Bergen County and
went to the Solomon
Schechter Day School
of Bergen County. Fun
fact: Antonoff dated
Johannson when they
Jerry Adler Michael Cammalleri were teens.
As I was thinking of Jo-
ber after two years. that monogamy may raised by her mother, hanssons marital woes, I
(They have a daughter, not be natural. But if in pretty tight financial chanced to read a Febru-
ROSE, now 2 years old.) you read the whole in- circumstances. In the ary 14 Variety interview
Both divorces came terview, which is online, Playboy interview, Scar- with JAKE GYLLEN-
without any preliminary that comment was part lett describes her father HAAL. 36, in which he
media information that of several long thought- as kind of a dreamer. said he would like to play
the marriages were in ful answers about mar- Unlike many former Teyve in Fiddler one
trouble. Nor did Reyn- riage. That quote was child actors, she praises day. (Hes just opened
olds, Johansson, or bookended by her say- her mothers manage- in a Broadway revival of
Duriac (so far) give ing (Im paraphrasing) ment of her acting ca- a STEPHEN SONDHEIM
details about why the that an ongoing, faithful reer (from the time she musical, Sunday in the
marriages ended. marriage is a beautiful was about 8 years old Park with George.) If I
thing and that a long- until she was in her late were Yetta, the Fiddler
Playboy interview, term marriage is a beau- teens). She says: My matchmaker, Id fix Scar-
Johansson opened the tiful responsibility. mom is very ambitious, lett up with Jake. Theyre
As Ive noted be- and shes also good at both musical, great
knowledging that fore, Johansson is the multitasking. She has a looking, Jewish, and part
marriage is hard work daughter of an Ameri- lot of life force, my mom. Scandinavian. Plus, if you
and implied, perhaps, can Jewish mother, I definitely inherited that combine their names,
that she or her husbands MELANIE SLOAN, and from her. Its no sur- you could come up with
had a problem with Karner Johansson, an prise, then, that Sloan nice combos, like Johall
doing the work. architect originally from was her daughters which is a lot better
Most media picked up Denmark. Her parents date when Scarlett than ScarJo, a media
one line in the interview. split up when she was was honored on Febru- moniker that Scarlett
Johansson told Playboy quite young and she was ary 7 at a gala benefit says she hates. N.B.
California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at
Middleoftheroad1@aol.com
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 5
Local
Dear Mr. Kushner
Frisch alums write to fellow graduate Jared Kusher about immigration ban
JOANNE PALMER
T
he Frisch School in Para-
mus, an Orthodox high
school, draws students
from all over the area, and
its graduates often retain a strong bond
to the school and to other graduates.
They also graduate the school, they
say, with a strong understanding of Jew-
ish values and a deep connection to the
Jewish community.
Graduates leave the school and go on
to life in the wider world with a wide range of
political beliefs and affiliations.
One of the schools most well-known
recent alumni is Jared Kushner, who grew
up in Livingston and graduated from high
school in 1999, going on to Harvard College,
NYU Law School, the New York Observer, real
estate investments, and eventually the White
House, where he is a senior adviser (at 36
these things are relative) to his father-in-law,
President Donald J. Trump. (Had he been a
few years younger, he probably would have
gone to the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School
in Livingston, funded by his family and
named after his grandmother, but it did not
open in time for him.)
Some other Frisch graduates (although cer-
tainly not all of them statistics are not avail- nections, in some way, when I read profiles
able) see Mr. Trumps presidency as a direct
contradiction of many of the Jewish values
they were taught and by which they have
chosen to live. They are most upset by the
presidents executive order, which attempted
to keep out visitors from seven Muslim-major-
ity countries indefinitely, other immigrants
for various periods of time. It has been called
a Muslim ban, caused havoc and great
fear at the nations airports, and was both
stayed and then withdrawn. On Tuesday, the
Department of Homeland Security issued
new rules that if left untouched will lead to
more restrictions and deportations.
Mr. Kushners Frisch classmates were not
the only ones to have been taken aback by
his father-in-laws policies, and most par-
ticularly by the immigration ban. One of his
classmates at Harvard, like Mr. Kushner the
grandson of Holocaust survivors, wrote an
open letter to Mr. Kushner, asking him to use
his influence to help repeal the ban. That
open letter went viral and amassed many sig-
natures very quickly.
One of those graduates, Nava Friedman,
who grew up in Teaneck, where her parents
still live, and was in the class of 2008, wrote
a similar open letter to Mr. Kushner. Where
the Harvard letter drew on American values,
however, hers drew its inspiration from the
Jewish tradition.
I just starting thinking that here is
6 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 201
Nava Friedman Gabrielle Kaplan
someone who is an alumnus of our school
and it is not a huge school, Ms. Fried-
man said. This is someone who has had
the opportunity to get into the highest level Frisch School graduate Jared Kushner serves as a senior adviser to his father-in-
of government, and have the kind of influ- law, President Donald J. Trump.
ence that very few of us have. So how can we
harness this connection that we have, in this into each other at various meetings and ral- refugees into the country. Those things are
political atmosphere, to provide a message lies. Ms. Kaplan thought the letter was a great connected. As a people who have a personal
that we feel needs voicing? idea; she, Ms. Friedman, and other friends all connection to refugee status, it is something
In the particular moment, we were par- posted it. In a week, it amassed almost 200 impossible to overlook. Its not just in history
ticularly concerned with the immigration signatures, mostly from alumni, most of them books. We have seen it ourselves, and so we
and refugee ban, she continued. It seems Mr. Kushners age or younger. Some former have to take a stand.
like a really good opportunity to make our teachers, administrators, and parents signed Its not just something that can happen,
voices heard, and particularly because they as well. There also are some oxymoronically or that might happen. Its something that has
are coming from a community that has ties anonymous signatures. happened to us, and so we are in a unique
to Jared. We wanted to get our values across, and position to raise awareness of it.
Aside from all the glamour and the con- they come straight from the Torah, Ms. There are some groups in the Orthodox
Friedman said. It talks about how we are community, defined broadly, particularly
of Jared, I feel like I recognize him, she said. supposed to care for the stranger. Our coun- in the Northeast, that are working on ways
He is representative of us in some ways, so try took care of our parents and grandparents to oppose harsh treatment of refugees and
I think it behooves us to make this kind of who came here, and then there were the oth- immigrants, she added.
statement. ers who didnt and suffered horribly because Ms. Friedman, Ms. Kaplan, and their
The letter is polite, respectful, and short. It of it. That made us particularly concerned friends were able to find some of Mr. Kush-
does not mention Mr. Trump by name, and about what is going on. ners email addresses, although no one knows
talks only about the immigration ban, and The Jewish education I received both at if he still looks at any of those accounts. Mr.
how it conflicts with Jewish values. home and at school always had as one of its Kushner, unsurprisingly, has not responded
Ms. Friedman talked about the letter with most fundamental elements the idea of lov- to the open letter from Frisch graduates, any
some Frisch friends, including her class- ing the stranger, Ms. Kaplan said. It is all more than he has to the one from Harvard
mate Gabrielle Kaplan, who also grew up in over the Bible. That is part and parcel of why grads. But, the signers think, maybe there is
Teaneck. Ms. Friedman and Ms. Kaplan both we are taking a stand against the executive some chance that it might make a difference,
live in New York now, but they kept running order and coming out in favor of welcoming and they are obligated to try.
This is the letter that Frisch alumni sent to fellow graduate Jared Kushner, class of 1999
Dear Mr. Kushner, fresh in our minds as we see refugees from some of the most
It is a rare opportunity to have you, a fellow member of the
war-torn countries on this planet barred from entering our
country.
Frisch School community, play such a critical role in guiding
The Torah repeatedly teaches us to love and welcome the
the future of our country.
stranger, for we too were once strangers in Egypt. In fact,
As fellow graduates, students, parents and educators of
the central holiday on the Jewish calendar is dedicated to
the Frisch School and proud members of the American Jew-
commemorating this fact. We implore you, as a Jew and as
ish community, we are alarmed by the Presidents Executive
Order barring immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim
a graduate of an institution that instilled you with Jewish
values, to exercise the influence and access you have to an-
majority nations. Your family and all of ours know too well
nals of power to ensure others dont suffer the same fate as
what can happen when America shuts its doors to those
millions of our co-religionists. We ask you to ensure they gain
most in need.
the second chance our grandparents received to succeed
Like you, many of us are the children, grandchildren and
and thrive in America.
great-grandchildren of those who escaped to this country
when the lands of their birth promised almost certain death;
Respectfully,
like those of your grandparents, many of their parents, sib-
lings and extended families did not make it to our shores and The Undersigned Members of the Frisch School Community:
perished in the Holocaust. The memory of the St. Louis rings [A list of names follows]
 Local

Taking courage
Bnai Yeshuruns Project Ometz aims to help families facing mental illness
Banji Ganchrow
Mental illness has never been an easy
topic.
Although many people suffer from
mental illness, the stigma attached to it
prevents people from discussing it with
others. As a result, not only is mental ill-
ness devastating, it can be isolating to both
patients and their families.
Rabbi Ari Zahtz, the assistant rabbi at
Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, an Ortho-
dox synagogue in Teaneck, is trying to
change that.
Together with other members of the
community and guided by mental health
professionals, Rabbi Zahtz has started
Project Ometz, with the goal of changing
the way our community views mental ill-
ness. (The Hebrew word ometz translates
to courage, in acknowledgment of the tre-
mendous courage it takes to come forward
to ask for help.) The goal of Project Ometz
is to pair parents who have been successful
in navigating the process of getting their
children help with their able to discuss what has are supported by their mental health pro-
mental illness with parents worked for them. Rabbi fessionals, but parents often do not have
who are starting that painful Zahtz also was very clear anyone to support them. Parents are reluc-
process. in saying, We will only tant to discuss their own struggles, often
After speaking to many match up people whose focusing only on the needs of their child.
local day school principles children already are under As a community, if we dont know what
and mental health profes- the care of a mental health is going on with the family, we cant help
sionals, and learning that professional. The parents them, Rabbi Zahtz said. But the fact that
many children are affected, seeking support whose Parents are slow and hesitant to come
Rabbi Zahtz recognized that children do not have to forward, really illustrates the need for a
something had to be done. be getting counseling, program such as this one.
The bigger picture is open- although one hope is that On Monday, February 27, Dr. David Pel-
ing the conversation and they will consider the ben- covitz, a well-known child psychologist,
addressing the stigma, he Rabbi Ari Zahtz efits of such professional will speak at a teleconference, open to
said. One day, we are hop- help eventually will go the public, sponsored by Congregation
ing it wont be so hard to be open. Though to the website and detail their situation. Bnai Yeshurun, called You Are Not Alone
he knows that Project Ometz isnt the only They then will be paired with parents who Parenting a Child With Mental Health
solution, he is hoping it will be a positive are under the care of a mental health pro- Challenges. Dr. Pelcovitz is an instructor
step forward. fessional but want to lend support. And in in pastoral counseling at Yeshiva Univer-
Project Ometz will provide a nonjudg- the process, it will give them courage to sitys Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological
mental ear; parents will know that some- find the strength needed to support, help, Seminary, and the director of psychology
one will listen to them and help them and heal their child. at North Shore HospitalNYU School of
devise strategies to cope with everyday Rabbi Zahtz thinks that support from Medicine. He has worked with Jewish com-
living. Parents who have and continue to other parents is a good first step in help- munities in the United States, Europe, and
live with a child with mental illness will be ing these families. As the patients, children See Courage page 59

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Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017 7

Local
Enemy of the people?
Journalism professor Ari Goldman to speak in Wyckoff
LARRY YUDELSON
T
he New York Times hadnt yet
been designated an enemy of
the American people by the
president of the United States
when I spoke to Ari Goldman last week.
Mr. Goldman, a professor of journal-
ism at the Columbia School of Journal-
ism, is a former religion reporter for the
New York Times. Next Sunday morning,
March 5, he will speak at Temple Beth
Rishon in Wyckoff about how the Times
and other news organizations cover
Judaism and Israel.
Complaining about the New York
Times long has been a hobby for Jews and
others. Donald Trump, however, broke
new ground in taking his media criticism
to the White Houses twitter bully pul-
pit (Richard Nixons attacks on the press
were shared only with confidantes, the
underlings who compiled his enemies
lists, and his recording system) and in
borrowing harrowing language from such
successful foes of the press as Joseph Sta-
lin and Joseph Goebbels.
Now more
than ever
people have to
understand the
importance of
getting facts.
In the wake of the presidents Friday
Twitter attack against the New York
Times and four television networks, Mr.
Goldman emailed that the New York
Times is the best friend the country has.
It is far from perfect, but it serves as an
essential check on government abuse
and corruption.
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8 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017
Ari Goldman
in the Constitution, he suggested that in
a sense the New York Times is a public
trust. Only someone who doesnt under-
stand its role would call it the enemy.
Mr. Goldman said his talk will not be
political. But the political environment,
he said, is proving good for his profes-
sion and for his journalism school.
People are energized to follow the
news more and to want to change the
world and they believe they can do that
through journalism, he said. Thats
helping our enrollment numbers.
Recent years have seen a decline in
the number of journalism students,
matching the steep drop in journalism
jobs. Tens of thousands of journalism
jobs have been lost, he said. Its cer-
tainly impacted our school.
Mr. Goldman is a graduate of Yeshiva
College and Columbia Journalism
School. He started at the Times as a
copy boy. For much of his two decades
at the Times, he covered religion for
the papers Metro section. Until very
recently, editing at the paper was
divided between foreign, national, and
metro desks. Now, the whole operation
The New York Times is
the best friend the country
has. It is far from perfect,
but it serves as an essential
check on government abuse
and corruption.
has changed radically, he said. They
just got rid of their regional copy desks.
Now, they organize by things like break-
ing news and features.
The Times is a whole new entity from
what it was even five years ago. The focus
is no longer on the paper. The focus is on
the web presence. Far more people read
it on the web than in the paper. he said.
But the changes dont alter the core
principle of the Times: Now more than
ever people have to understand the
importance of getting facts, he said.
The biggest responsibility of journalists
is to tell the facts accurately. Thats the
bread and butter. People have to know
the difference between truth and lies.
Ultimately, you cant get away with
lies forever, Mr. Goldman said.
And what about the realm of reli-
gion, which relies on the evidence of
things not seen, as Hebrews 11:1 puts it?
How do you cover religion for a secular
newspaper?
As it happens, Mr. Goldman teaches a
class on just that topic.
Theres a great term that I use:
empathetic objectivity, he said. Jour-
nalists are supposed to be objective, to
just tell the story down the middle, to
tell both sides. When you write about
religion you have to add a heavy dose
of empathy. You have to understand the
believers point of view even if it its not
provable by facts, statistics, or data.
If someone says this piece of bread
becomes the body of Christ, I cant say
Youre wrong, its not true. I have to be
empathetic to their point of view.
When someone says Time changes
for me when I light the Shabbat can-
dles, I can sort of prove that it doesnt
actually change. Its the same as it was
before and after. But if youre willing to
add empathy and see the world from
the point of view of the believer, you
can tell their story better. Empathy is
a value in all reporting, but I think its
of greater importance when you write
about religion.
Religion isnt always provable, and
its not always backed up by facts. Its
a point of view, and you want to allow
people to have their point of view. You
can question it but you have to see it
from the point of view of the believer,
he said.
Are there limits to such empathy?
Yes, Mr. Goldman said. I think
if someone is doing harm, if a certain
practice is harming people, you would
still try to see it from the believers
point of view, but you have to call out
the abuse.
Who: Ari Goldman
What: All the religion thats fit to
print: How The New York Times
and other news organizations cover
Judaism and Israel.
Where: Temple Beth Rishon, 585
Russell Ave., Wyckoff.
When: Sunday, March 5, 9:45 a.m.
How much: $15 members, $20
nonmembers. Includes breakfast
buffet.
RSVP: (201) 891-4466.
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 9
Local

Kabbalah
revealed
JTS scholar presents
mysticism webinar
Joanne Palmer

S
o what is kabbalah, really?
Is it a spiritual fad that cycles in and out of fash-
ion, catching on in the non-Jewish world, snaring
celebrities like Madonna before they discard it for
the next thing?
Is it the subject of scholarly tomes that are groundbreak-
ing in the academic world, full of extraordinary historical
detail and insight, but far too dry for the mass market?

Courtesy of the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary

Is it a spiritual practice that allows unscrupulous practi-
tioners to separate fools from their money?
Or is it possibly a practice that can change hearts, and
lives, and that an academic, grounded in intellectual
rigor, can teach both as an abstraction and as a spiritual
discipline?
Dr. Eitan Fishbane of Teaneck, an associate professor of
Jewish Thought at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Man-
hattan, is a firm believer in the last possibility offered here.
He teaches kabbalah both as an academic subject and as
a spiritual practice to rabbinical students; he has written
books about it and is at work on another, Poetics of Zohar,
to come from Oxford University Press, and now hes offer-
ing a condensed look at it online, as the third in a series
of three-session courses that JTS has opened to the public.
Dr. Fishbane is excited about the format, but he is even
more excited about the content. There is a powerful and
renewed thirst for spiritual meaning and understanding in
our time, he said. There is a new curiosity about what
the mystical dimensions of Juda-
ism have to offer both for our
historical understanding of Juda-
ism, but also for the insights it
can offer contemporary Jews
into their own spiritual lives,
theology, and relationships to
the divine.
I very much feel that this
body of ideas and literature has a
great role to play in offering new
inspiration in our day.
The minicourse will be Dr. Eitan Fishbane
designed to offer a window into
the mystical tradition, first through setting the stage histori-
cally, to where kabbalah in particular and mysticism more
broadly fits into the large spectrum of the Jewish experi-
ence, he said. More particularly, it will show people some
of the essential features and characteristics of Jewish mysti-
cism, and will be framed by a broader understanding of it as
a kind of spiritual awareness, a way of understanding real-
ity, God, and human nature, a way of interpreting the Torah
and the life of the mitzvot. It seeks to discover the ways in
which divinity and divine meaning is to be found beneath
the surface of ordinary perception. As Heschel thats the
20th-century theologian and JTS professor Rabbi Abraham
Joshua Heschel articulated it, this world is an allusion to
the deeper mystery of existence.
Certainly the Conservative movement, long known for
its dedication to rational, logic-based scholarship, has
not been a hotbed of spirituality. But I think that there
has been among Conservative synagogues, and at JTS
B (NS) K90, an amulet for the protection of a mother and her newborn child, Italy nineteenth century.
I very much feel
that this body of
ideas and literature
has a great role to
play in offering new
inspiration in our day.
in particular, a new openness and a desire for spiritual
meaning and growth.
Dr. Fishbane is a member of the rabbinical school coun-
cil, where he acts as a spiritual mentor to aspiring rab-
bis, reflecting on their spiritual goals and questions, and
engaging in both group-based and individual mentoring
about their spiritual introspection and reflecting on ways in
which these mystical or spiritual themes can be integrated
into their rabbinates.
He has undertaken similar if less long-term projects when
he teaches at synagogues. I see it as part of a larger mis-
sion, to do my part to contribute to the spiritual reinvigora-
tion of Conservative Judaism, and a spiritual renaissance in
the Jewish community.
Dr. Fishbane grew up in the Conservative movement his
family belonged to a Conservative synagogue, he was edu-
cated in a Solomon Schechter school, and he spent his sum-
mers at Camp Ramah but he came to his new worldview,
where he integrates the academic and the spiritual, when
he began to teach at JTS 11 years ago. Before he made that
choice, he said, his career could have gone in a more con-
ventional academic direction, although its seeds were
planted early in his college life. He earned his doctorate at
Brandeis under the guidance of Professor Arthur Green,
whose connections to Jewish mysticism, both as a scholar
and as a person, are deep. He taught at a secular university
Carleton College in Minnesota before he moved to HUC
in Los Angeles and then to JTS. My role at JTS, especially
interacting with rabbinical students, has cultivated my com-
mitment to the spiritual dimension of guidance, he said.
At JTS, I can also be engaged in scholarship, teaching in a
way that is academically rigorous.
This is a new chapter in the history of JTS, where the
spiritual and pastoral growth of rabbinical students has
been deepened, he said. And now the seminary has a
broader mission of community learning. My contribu-
tion is to try to bring the spiritual Torah inspired by the
language and ideas of Jewish mysticism to the Jewish
What: The Jewish Theological Seminary offers a
webinar on kabbalah, Kabbalah Revealed
Who: Taught by Dr. Eitan Fishbane of Teaneck
When: On three Thursdays, March 16, 23, and 30, from
noon to 1 p.m.
Cost: $60
To register: Go to www.jtsa.edu/kabbalah-
revealed-2017 or just google Eitan Fishbane and
kabbalah revealed

10 Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017

 Sandi M. Malkin, LL C
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surprisingly different
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God and theology in a more meaningful, relevant way
than many contemporary Jews can imagine, using the
Courtesy of the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary

ideas of the Jewish tradition.

So what about the webinar? The first of the three
sessions will bring the surprisingly different and even
radical theologies of Jewish mysticism to bear on con-
temporary Jewish experiences of God and faith, Dr.
Fishbane said. One example of it is the understanding
of Jewish mystical theology as a theology of radical one-
ness, of understanding the whole of being, the whole of
reality, as unified and as one with the divine self. Thats
as opposed to the framework thats more common in
the liturgy, as God of judgment, of kingship, a patriar-
chal god who is father to understand God as the great
energy force of life that infuses the entire universe, as
the vitality that streams through the world, through the
very core of our souls and bodies.
Early modern kabbalah is very focused on God as
the ultimate, endless source, he said. The Ein Sof that
flows through reality as an endless series of emanations,
sometimes as light. Therefore the human experience of
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her role as the director of JTSs community engagement
department. Online learning for rabbis isnt new at the
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The format shows the teacher and also can focus on
text and illustrations, as it did in Rabbi Visotzkys lec-
Closter Englewood
ture. People can choose how much they want to par-
ticipate, Rabbi Andelman said. They can ask ques- Montvale Teaneck
tions, although of course the more people there are
watching online, the less opportunity there is for any
one of them to do so.
The seminary now has a video recording studio that
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Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017 11
Local
New school in town
Planning enters the serious stage for a coed Idea High
LARRY YUDELSON
I
f Tikvah Wieners hopes come to
fruition, a new modern Orthodox
coed high school will open in Ber-
gen County in September 2018.
Its a school that aims to answer the
question: What if school was more likelife?
Life, after all, does not come in 45- or
90-minute periods. Life does not sepa-
rate out the language-based aspects of
your activities from the mathematical,
your secular activities from your reli-
gious identity.
Life is often a group activity.
Ms. Wiener, who lives in Teaneck, is
a former head of the English depart-
ment at the Frisch School in Paramus,
now the countys only coed Jewish high
school. She is now finishing up her
third year as chief academic officer at
the Magen David High School in Brook-
lyn. Magen Davids director of instruc-
tional technology, Rabbi Michael Bitton
of Lakewood, will be her partner in the
venture. When this school year ends,
they will leave Magen David to devote
themselves full time to creating what
theyre calling the Idea School. Idea
is an acronym for innovation, design,
entrepreneurship, and the arts.
The current
model of
education was
created about
125 years ago. It
hasnt really
changed since
then. It was a
factory model of
education.
As readers of her columns in this
newspaper have come to learn, Ms. Wie-
ner is passionate about making students
passionate about learning. She is a devo-
tee of a technique called project based
learning and has organized a network
of schools devoted to the technique.
She and Rabbi Bitton have begun
to gather support for their idea. That
includes an endorsement from the Jew-
ish Federation of Northern New Jersey.
Jason Shames, the federations CEO,
said that Tikvah is bringing something
unique to the table. A new model for Jew-
ish education is coming to town. Its not a
duplication of whats being offered.
12 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017
Tikvah Wiener
He said that with a growing number
of students in the day school system,
theres enough demand. I think theres
room for four great high schools in our
community, each with its own position.
Its good for the marketplace. Hopefully
what it does is it makes all the products
even better.
We want to be part of the community
and contribute to the community, Ms.
Wiener said. To that end, she has been
meeting with principals of day schools
that will feed into the school, and of the
high schools with which it will compete.
The school will not neglect content and
skills and traditional types of text acqui-
sition, Ms. Wiener said. There will be a
beit midrash, the traditional study hall.
But the twist she is excited about is a
focus on interdisciplinary teaching, with
teachers teaching in teams, where his-
tory and English, for example, would
not be demarcated as separate subject.
A study of Greek history might lead to a
study of philosophy, which might lead to
going out and interviewing people about
their values. She has seen that model
used in some of the non-Jewish schools
she has studied, most specifically High
Tech High in San Diego, Calif. The next
step for her school would be to bring in
the Jewish counterpart to the philosophy.
You should always be thinking about
what it means to be Jewish, no matter
what class youre in, rather than this
bifurcated schedule where Im in Eng-
lish class and I dont think about what it
means to be Jewish until Im in Talmud
class, she said.
The current model of education was
created about 125 years ago, she said. It
hasnt really changed since then. It was a
factory model of education. Look at the
way schools are set up: You go from one
room to the next. Here Im going to learn
math, there Im going to learn science.
In the end, youre going to learn all this
Rabbi Michael Bitton
stuff. Youre the product.
Ms. Wieners partnership with Rabbi
Bitton began years ago, long before she
went to Magen David, when he called to
ask about the interdisciplinary work she
was doing at Frisch.
At the Idea School, they will be co-
heads of school.
We chose that title deliberately,
she said. One of our aims is to create
a collaborative environment. We want
teachers to be co-teaching. So our lead-
Hebrew
acquisition is
going to be a
major focus of
the school. Well
be building
chesed into the
school day.
ership model is a collaborative one. The
fact that he is a man and I am a woman,
and that we fall on different parts of the
Orthodox spectrum its nice to model
the different ways we want our students
to get along and to respect each others
opinions.
Ms. Wiener said what might seem to
be an untraditional model for educa-
tion actually is rooted in the Jewish tra-
dition. Were moving the school away
from standardized tests testing for one
answer because life is about learning
that answers are complex, she said.
You might do one thing in one situation
and another in another situation. Thats
part of what the Talmud is about.
She promises the new school will offer
a very personalized way of learning
Raz Haramati
and a very meaningful way of learning.
The day is going to be divided into lon-
ger blocks of times, giving kids a chance
to really get into their learning, whether
Judaic studies or secular. Theyll be
able to make things that are important
for them, whether art or STEM that
stands for science, technology, engi-
neering, and math or other projects
they want to create.
Hebrew acquisition is going to be
a major focus of the school. Well be
building chesed into the school day,
she continued.
One of my concerns is how are we
honoring and protecting our kids child-
hood and adolescence. When we think
about how kids learn and how people
learn, should it be in a very high anxiety
environment? The system weve created
for our kids seems to be really anxiety-
producing. The panic over the resume
building to get into college. I have to
be this all-around fantastic person at
age 16, they think. I have to save the
world. Were really looking at the whole
person, being mindful to give kids time
to be kids, not overscheduling them,
so theyre not coming home and doing
another day of school after school.
Raz Haramati of Englewood comes
from a family of Jewish educators. Both
of his parents taught at the Yeshiva of
Flatbush for decades. He chaired the
board of the Yavneh Academy when his
four children were younger. Now he has
joined the board of the startup school.
Im excited by the thought of doing
something different, he said.
He has known Ms. Wiener for many
years, and invited her to sit on the
Yavneh board. When she told me that
she was thinking about opening up her
own school, my first reaction was, How
can I help you?
He said Ms. Wieners ideas of what
and how students should learn align
 @
Free! Open to the Public!

s a t h t e r
d ay h e c
S u n S c
Were looking for
skills such as
teamwork,
collaboration,
iteration towards a
solution, pulling in
from diverse areas of
knowledge and
ability. These need to
be primary skills.
with his experience in the business world, where
he works in finance. Were looking for skills such
as teamwork, collaboration, iteration towards a
solution, pulling in from diverse areas of knowl-

u m
edge and ability, he said of his workplace. These
need to be primary skills. People are driven by fol-
lowing their passion. Thats something that should

on i
e m
be central.

nd S
Hes excited by the idea of a Jewish school taking

a e S SD
a holistic and integrated view of the world, and not

P
only from the skills-versus-compartmentalized-knowl-

i m
edge perspective. When we talk integration, it isnt
!
just integrating your language arts with your history
to get a holistic view; its understanding that modern
Orthodox Judaism is not two separate spheres of Juda-
P u r w i t h t h
dTe a c h e r s
ism and the secular world. Integration needs to occur
o o
there as well. Fundamentally we believe the study of
dh h il
science and the discovery of the world is part of Gods

r l y C
mission of creation and the continuation of the cre-
ation process. Its not just a secular activity. Its funda-
mentally a religious activity.
E a
You need to imbue students with knowledge and
skills, but it all needs to be done from an integrated
Jewish perspective, one that will lead to students more
passionately connected to their Judaism. Solomon Schechter
He said such a model is rare in Jewish education.
In fact, theyre studying a Presbyterian school
Sunday Day School of
geared around design thinking and passionate
learning for an idea of how such an integrated reli-
March 5 Bergen County
gious perspective might work.
Tikvah and Michael are the leaders, they have
the vision of where they want it to go, he said.
10 11:30 am 275 McKinley Avenue,
New Milford, NJ 07646
They need help with getting the Jewish commu-
nity behind them. RSVP
We want to bring Jewish education into the 21st
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century. The big challenge is lay support to get
behind this initiative. We need more people step-
ping up with their checkbooks and their time to
bring this idea to fruition.
Find out about our inquiry-
based approach and warm,
More than 407,000 likes.
inclusive community!
Like us on Facebook. For more information or to schedule a personal tour,
email us at admissions@ssdsbergen.org
facebook.com/jewishstandard

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 13

Local

Feeling like youre home

Local women join Heart to Heart federation trip to Israel
ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN

F
ive Bergen County women vis-
ited Israel earlier this month as
part of the Jewish Federations of
North Americas Heart to Heart
mission. The mission included 68 women
from 19 communities across the country.
In addition to four packed days visiting
projects funded by JFNA and partner orga-
nizations such as the Jewish Agency for
Israel, World ORT, and the Joint Distribu-
tion Committee, some of the local partici-
pants spent time in Nahariya, the Jewish
Federation of Northern New Jerseys P2G
Partnership City in the north.
It was a special visit, as we were able
to spend some quality time with the folks
on the ground who run the programs that
are directly supported by JFNNJ, said
Dana Post Adler of Tenafly, a board mem-
ber of JFNNJ and the National Womens
Philanthropy Board of Jewish Federations
of North America and co-president of the
Womens Philanthropy Board of JFNNJ.
We had an emotional visit at the train-
ing center within Nahariyas firehouse,
where we presented one fireman, Gil Bar-
sano, with a photograph and plaque of his
son Adar, who was killed in action during
Operation Protective Edge and who had
also been a volunteer firefighter in Naha-
riya, Ms. Adler reported. The training cen-
ter was funded by JFNNJ.
We visited Bayit Cham Warm House
where we met two successful young
women who had used the services of the
home when they were considered youth
at risk during their teenage years. We met
with a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who
told us her story at the survivors group
that our dollars support, and we toured
a small food pantry and thrift shop for
needy families. Having lunch by the Medi-
terranean with the P2G leadership and the
deputy mayor, my friend Orna Starkmann,
is always a special treat.
Ms. Adler recruited the other local
participants. One of them, Lisa Hecht of
Tenafly, had never been to Israel before.
The best part of the trip for me was
seeing Israel through my dear friend
Lisas eyes for the first time davening at
the Kotel, walking through the Old City,
and soaking up the connection that we
all have to the history of our people,
Ms. Adler said. I also hope that she was
impressed by all the good work we do
through our federation.
Ms. Hecht said she indeed was
impressed by projects such as Masira,
a JDC program to help integrate and
empower disabled Arab-Israelis in their
communities; the Ethiopian National
Project, which runs a variety of support
programs for Ethiopian-Israeli youth and
From left, Gale Bindelglass, Suzette Diamond, Dana Post Adler, Franci Steinberg, and Lisa Hecht overlook Jerusalem.
adults, and JAFIs emergency assistance
to families in the Jerusalem area who lost
their homes in the November forest fires.
I got to see and do many things, and
meet many people that I wouldnt have
had I been on a tourist trip, she said.
Being with Dana on this very special
journey was like having my own personal
scholar in residence.
Ms. Hecht said her most moving expe-
rience was being asked to lead the She-
hecheyanu prayer with three other first-
timers as their bus reached Jerusalem
at sunset. I will always remember that
moment: my first trip to Israel, arriving
in Jerusalem the City of Gold and
reciting this ancient prayer surrounded
by so many amazing women.
It was the fifth Heart to Heart Mission
for Gale S. Bindelglass of Franklin Lakes,
and her 13th trip to Israel in 11 years. She
said that on every trip she comes away
thoroughly impressed by the spiritual,
agricultural, and technical wonderment The women attended the group bnot mitzvah of these Ethiopian girls. They
of Israel and feels romantically in love have come a long way in their lives and it was so wonderful to share this day
with this complicated and glorious land. with them and their families, Franci Steinberg said.
On last years mission she marked
her adult bat mitzvah alongside Russian the Holocaust Memorial Committee, and Iraqi dishes for needy neighborhood
women who spent a lot of their lives board member of JFNNJ and Jewish Fam- children, a program the federation sup-
not even knowing they were Jewish, she ily Service of Northern New Jersey. She ports through JAFI and JDC.
said. This year she held one of the four built a teaching kitchen in her home to While enjoying the lunch we all
poles of the chuppah over a group of host outreach events for the Jewish com- made together, quite to my surprise
Ethiopian-Israeli bnot mitzvah. munity revolving around her philosophy after spending real quality time talking
Ms. Bindelglass has many communal of food, love, and gratitude. with the chefs running the event I was
affiliations: past co-president of Womens Thats why one of her favorite experi- tapped on the shoulder, asked to stand
Philanthropy, immediate past chair of ences during Heart to Heart was cook- up, and they bestowed me with their
the Jewish Community Relations Coun- ing alongside grandmothers in Petach apron, Ms. Bindelglass said. I was basi-
cil, past chair of the Brotherhood Sister- Tikvah who earn an income preparing cally named Top Chef of a group of 70
hood Interfaith Committee, member of traditional Moroccan, Tunisian, and women, and they asked me to go home

14 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017

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forest fires, providing
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to my teaching kitchen, cook in their apron, and
email them photos. To me, this was very exciting
and affirmational.
Franci Steinberg of Tenafly, a member of the Wom-
ens Philanthropy Board, said she saw Heart to Heart as
an opportunity to visit Israel not as a first-time visitor
or to see the usual sights, but to see Israel from another
viewpoint and to see how Jews in America help Israel.
Ms. Steinberg said one highlight was watching the
parents at the Ethiopian group bat mitzvah. These
families were beaming with joy, and I will never forget
the pride and smiles on their faces as they watched
their daughters, she said. They have come a long
way in their lives, and it was so wonderful to share
this day with them and their families.
Suzette Diamond of Cresskill, a JFNNJ board mem-
ber, said she participated in Heart to Heart to see the
impact of donor dollars firsthand, and she was not
disappointed.
Our first morning in Jerusalem we visited an oncol-
ogist at what used to be his home before a forest fire
over Thanksgiving weekend completely burned every-
thing they owned, Ms. Diamond said. They are three
generations living in one home he and his wife,
daughter and son-in-law, and their two children. Luck-
ily they escaped without injury, but also with no time
to take anything with them, including their shoes.
By the Monday morning after the fire, funds col-
lected by JAFI from partners including JFNA were pre-
sented to this physician and about 600 other families
affected by the fires.
With hugs and checks, federation was physically
there for our Israeli brothers and sisters who suffered
in these forest fires, providing love and money to buy
immediate necessities, Ms. Diamons said. Once you
travel on a mission, you realize the impact we have in
other communities.
Ms. Adler noted that even a short mission like Heart
to Heart is enough to dispel mistaken impressions
about Israel.
Israel is so many wonderful things, and unfortu-
nately what we read and see in the news is often dis-
torted and wrong, she said. My biggest message is to
go, and go often. See for yourself what the country is
like, learn the precarious geography, sample the fabu-
lous food, speak to the people.
Trust me, youll feel like youre home.

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 15

Briefly Local

Teen conference will focus

on Jewish campus issues
The Jewish Federation of Northern New Anti-Defamation League, Hasbara Fel-
Jersey hosts iCan Answer Now, a teen lowships, Rutgers Hillel, Israeli Ameri-
conference, at the Hasbrouck Heights can Council, Jerusalem U, StandWithUs,
Hilton on Sunday, March 5, from noon Zionist Organization of America, and
to 5:30 p.m. Teens will learn about Israel Israel Action Network.
and Jewish issues on campus. Sponsors include the sisterhoods of
Speakers include Chlo Valdary, direc- the Fair Lawn Jewish Center/CBI, Temple Bruce Ritholtz, zl Suzanne Cohen Diane and Rabbi Daniel Cohen
tor of partnerships and outreach at Jeru- Emanu-El of Closter, and Temple Sinai of
salem University, the comedian and
actor Jon Rudnitsky, and Shahar Azani,
Bergen County, along with many fami-
lies. For more information, call (201) 820-
Maayanot scholarship dinner March 4
the executive director of StandWithUs. 3944 or go to www.jfnnj.org/iCAN. Maayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls co-director of Israel guidance.
Partnering organizations include the holds its annual scholarship fund dinner Lori and Elliot Linzer are dedicated
on Saturday, March 4, at Congregation to Jewish education and involved in all
Keter Torah in Teaneck. aspects of life at Maayanot. Lori Linzer is
This years dinner is dedicated to the a vice president on the schools executive
Speaker to highlight memory of Bruce Ritholtz. The school
will present his wife, Michelle, and their
board, a member of the board of trustees,
and has served on Maayanots education
Israeli village for disabled children, Annie, Dani, and Talia, its Beer and dean of students search committees.
In honor of National Disabilities Awareness Month, Avnet Torah Memorial award. Suzanne Cohen In addition to being strong financial sup-
Kleiner, a member of Jewish National Funds speakers will receive the Teacher of the Year award, porters of the school, the Linzers have
bureau, will speak at Temple Israel & Jewish Community Cen- the Amudei Maayanot awardees are Lori hosted many Maayanot events, including
ter in Ridgewood on Sunday, March 5, at 10:30 a.m. and Elliot Linzer, and Diane and Rabbi Friday night onegs, parlor meetings, and
Mr. Kleiner is director of development for Aleh Negev- Daniel Cohen will be honored as Parents the Maayanot book club.
Nahalat Eran, a pioneering rehabilitation village in Israels of the Year. Diane and Rabbi Daniel Cohen are dedi-
Negev that provides severely disabled children and adults Avnet Kleiner The Beer Torah award commemorates cated to the values of community, Jewish
with a comprehensive framework for life. He also is a founder the impact that Bruce Ritholtz had on the education, and personal development, as
of two nonprofits, ALFA, which works to advance the rights of Israeli Holocaust sur- Maayanot community, by sitting on its is shown in their work as senior rabbi and
vivors, and WhatIsrael, which promotes constructive conversations about Israel on board of trustees and executive board, and rebbetzin of Congregation Agudath Sha-
university campuses worldwide. For more information, call (201) 444-9320 or go to by serving as a driving force for the found- lom in Stamford, Conn. They host shab-
www.synagogue.org. ing of the schools development commit- batonim and have served on educational
tee. To commemorate his exceptional panels.
devotion to Jewish education, Maayanot All funds raised at the dinner will benefit
also will name its Thursday evening mish- Maayanots scholarship program, which
mar program The Bruce Ritholtz Mish- awarded more than $1.4 million to families
Hadassah to learn more mar Program.
Suzanne Cohen has taught Tanach at
in financial need this fiscal year.
For information or to register, call Pam
about a new national park Maayanot since 2003. She also is the chair Ennis at (201) 833-4307, ext. 265, or email
Robin Gold, program director for the Hamilton Partnership of the Tanach department and the schools ennisp@maayanot.org.
in Paterson, speaks at a meeting of the Fair Lawn chapter of
Hadassah on Monday, February 27, at 1 p.m., at the Fair Lawn
Jewish Center/CBI. The Hamilton Partnership is the official
nonprofit partner of Paterson National Park (which includes
the Great Falls). Ms. Gold will discuss the historical aspects
of this newly designated national park, which is close to Fair
Lawn, and the activities the partnership has planned to make Robin Gold
it a place for everyone.
Her presentation will follow a brief business meeting. Refreshments will be served.
For more information, call Leslie Felner at (201) 873-2476.

Menendez is guest at Norpac meeting

Gail and Benjamin Rieder of
New Milford welcomed Sena-
tor Robert Menendez (D-N.J.),
and 98 others for a Norpac
brunch on February 12 to sup-
port the senators re-election Cantor Sarah Silverberg, left, with Herb and Theda Teddy Fine and Rabbi Noah
campaign. Guests included Fabricant, sing the Shehecheyanu prayer together. COURTESY TBO

officials from Bergenfield, New

Milford, Teaneck, and other
localities, as well as former
Congressman Steve Rothman
and freshman Congressman
Josh Gottheimer. For informa-
tion, email Avi@NORPAC.net
or call (201) 788-5133.
A musical library rededication
at Beth Or in Washington Twp.
Earlier this month, Temple Beth Or rededicated its library and joined in song to honor
Theda Teddy Fine for nearly 50 years of devoted and cheerful service. The library is
Senator Robert Menendez with Gail and Bin- now named for her. Her husband, Herb, is a former TBO president.
yamin Rieder COURTESY NORPAC

16 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017

 JCC Rockland 14th Annual International MARCH 5 -
JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL
JCC Rockland
APRIL 5

OVERALL SPONSOR

ATOMIC FALAFEL

The Womens Balcony

A Film by Emil Ben-Shimon and Shlomit Nehama

FEVER AT DAWN

THE WOMENS
BALCONY
North American Distribution:
Menemsha Films
2601 Ocean Park Blvd, Suite 100
Santa Monica, CA 90405
Tel: 310.452.1775
Fax: 310.452.3740
neilf@menemshafilms.com
www.menemshafilms.com

FIRE BIRDS

ON THE MAP

WUNDERKINDER

Film: The Last Blintz

Tuesday, April 4, 7:30pm
NOT THE LAST
BUTTERFLY

THE LAST BLINTZ

TICKETS ON SALE jccrockland.org/film-festival or 845.362.4400 THE FRISCO KID

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 17

Rockland
Jewish film festival
is varied and vibrant
J
ews make movies, and people make movies
about Jews.
It seems to be an immutable law, going back
to the very beginning, in Hollywood and even
earlier, in Astoria and Fort Lee (although they
were far more self-conscious and discreet
about it then).
For 14 years, JCC Rockland has been celebrating those
films, filmmakers, and stories with its international film
festival. This year, the festival, sponsored by Lia Toyota,
offers 18 films from eight countries. There are 21 oppor-
tunities to see these films, at the Regal theaters in Nan-
uet and the Lafayette Theatre in Suffern, from March 5 to
April 15, and movie buffs from Bergen County, as well as
from Westchester and Orange counties and New York City,
are expected to join the crowds from Rockland.
The movies touch on issues of culture, identity,
Scenes from, top, Womans Balcony, left, Cloudy Sunday, and A Grain of Truth.
18 Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017
diversity, complexity, and history through a Jewish lens,
its longtime chair and guiding force, Micki Leader, said.
Some of the films have been nominated for Golden Globes
and Ophir awards.
Question-and-answer sessions will follow many of the
screenings; audiences will be able to listen to and ques-
tion filmmakers, actors, directors, and critics, as well as
experts in law, culture, sports, and the Holocaust, who
will be able to put the films in context.
The festivals goal is to create a unique opportunity to
address challenging issues, while fostering greater under-
standing of the world around us, the history that brought
us here, and to help us build bridges of friendship for the
future, Ms. Leader added.
For the full list of films and synopses, go to jccrockland.
org. To buy tickets, call (845) 362-4400.
Here are some of the films you can see.
The Womens Balcony
March 5, 7:30 p.m., at the Lafayette Theater,
and March 21, 1:30 p.m., at Regal Cinemas
Directed by Emil Ben-Shimon Hudson Valley Premiere
Israel, 2016 Feature, Comedy, Family, Marriage,
Traditional Jewish Life, Wives vs. Husbands 96 minutes
Nominated for five Ophir awards
In this rousing, good-hearted and joyful tale about
women speaking truth to patriarchal power, an accident
during a bar mitzvah celebration leads to a gender rift in
a devout Orthodox community in Jerusalem. When the
womens balcony in an Orthodox synagogue collapses,
leaving the rabbis wife in a coma and the rabbi in shock,
the congregation falls into crisis. Charismatic young
Rabbi David appears to be a savior after the accident, but
slowly starts pushing his fundamentalist ways and tries
to take control. This tests the womens friendships and
creates an almost Lysistrata-type rift between the com-
munitys women and men.
A Grain of Truth
March 13, 7:30 p.m., at the Lafayette Theater
Directed by Borys Lankosz Hudson Valley Premiere
Poland, 2015 Feature 110 minutes
Based on the best-selling Polish novel, A Grain of Truth
is a masterfully constructed whodunit that pits the forces
of enlightenment against anti-Semitic myths. Once the
star of the Warsaw prosecutors office, Teodor Szacki
has left his career and marriage to start a new life in a
close-knit Polish town. As an outsider he faces resistance
when called on to get to the bottom of the brutal murder
of a well-known social activist whose body is discovered
outside a former synagogue. As the trail of victims grows
and the killer remains elusive, clues point to a connection
with the myth of blood libel. Aided by a veteran police
detective, a reluctant prosecutor, and a local rabbi, Teo-
dor must solve the case before public and media hysteria
undo all the progress the country has made in shedding
its xenophobic past.
Abulele
March 14, 7:30 p.m., at Regal Cinemas
Directed by Jonathan Geva
Hudson Valley Premiere Israel 2016 Feature
96 minutes Nominated for two Ophir awards
Abulele is a fast-paced upbeat modern family story
about children dealing with loss in their lives. After his
older brother is killed in a car crash months ago, Adam
struggles with grief and guilt, with his teacher, with bul-
lies in school, and with his distracted parents. But every-
thing changes the day he meets an Abulele huge ancient
monsters that can make themselves invisible. Local legend
says they are extremely dangerous, which explains why a
Special Forces unit is combing Adams neighborhood in
pursuit. But in fact, they are quite friendly to children in
need. With the Special Forces closing in, its up to Adam
to ensure Abuleles safe return to his clan.
See film festival page 48
 Rockland

Malcolm Hoenlein to speak in Monsey

Twentieth annual Israel and Pearl Stern Memorial Lecture to focus on U.S.-Israel relations
LOIS GOLDRICH for him. He came up with the idea for a of Presidents of Major American Jewish

T
lecture series. Organizations. Mr. Hoenlein, a repeat pre-
wenty years ago, while he was The idea was readily accepted. Indeed, senter, spoke in 2010. The talks title then
sitting shiva for his father, Israel on March 19, the Israel and Pearl Stern was Assessing U.S.-Israel Relations: Is the
Stern, Jules Stern of Spring Val- Memorial Lecture series will present its Special Relationship Still Intact?
ley received a visit from Rabbi 20th annual speaker. (When Mr. Sterns Thats the same thing hell be speaking
Moshe Tendler, the religious leader of his mother, Pearl, died some nine years ago, about this time, said Mr. Stern. He and his
late fathers synagogue, the Community her name was added to the program.) wife, Lila, are affiliated with Shaaray Israel,
Synagogue of Monsey. The series, funded by the Stern family, formerly the JCC of Spring Valley. The
My father had been a longtime mem- has brought the community many dis- only difference between the last talk and
ber and president of the congregation, tinguished speakers. This years talk will the upcoming one is the Roman numeral
Mr. Stern said. I asked Rabbi Tendler if feature Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive II in the talks title. Well hear what
he could suggest a continuing memorial vice chairman and CEO of the Conference has taken place in the seven years since
the first lecture, Mr. Stern said. Gener-
ally, about 150 people attend each lecture,
Who: Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman and CEO of the Conference of hailing not only from Rockland County but
Presidents of American Jewish Organizations
from northern New Jersey, Westchester,
What: Will speak on Assessing U.S.-Israel Relations II: Is the Special Relationship and Long Island as well. Malcolm Hoenlein
Still Intact? His father clearly made a mark on the
When: Sunday, March 19, at 10:15 a.m. community, Mr. Stern said. In May 1997, Schreiber Hebrew Academy of Rockland,
Where: At The Community Synagogue of Monsey, West Maple Avenue at the an op-ed in the Rockland Jewish Reporter full of beautiful things about my father. As
corner of Cloverdale Lane was basically an obit of my dad; and it happens, Rabbi Muschel was the third
Why: For the 20th annual Israel and Pearl Stern Memorial Lecture after dad died I got a letter from Rabbi speaker in the lecture series.
Nachum Muschel, principal of the Adolph SEE MALCOLM HOENLEIN PAGE 20

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Rockland

Malcolm Hoenlein David Harris of the American Jewish

FROM PAGE 19
Mr. Stern chooses the speakers. I choose
two types of speakers for the series peo-
ple who are deeply involved in the rabbin-
ate and in religion, prominent names in the
community and worldwide; and people
who can give us a broad feeling with refer-
ence to Israel and the Jews at large. The lec-
tures draw attendees from all streams of the
Jewish community, he said.
A list of past lecturers reads like a
Whos Who of the American Jewish
community, including such noted rab-
bis and scholars as Rabbi Tendler, as
well as his son, Mordecai; Richard Joel,
former president of Yeshiva University;
Rabbi Meir Yaakov Soloveichik, and
Rabbi Abraham Twerski. (I remember
that when Rabbi Twerski walked into
the room with his black suit and long
beard everyone thought he would
speak Yiddish, Mr. Stern said. But he
spoke the Kings English.)
Committee, Wall Street Journal writer
Brett Stevens, and Rabbi Abraham Coo-
per, the associate dean of the Simon
Wiesenthal Center, have represented
other parts of the wider Jewish com-
munity. After each lecture, which is fol-
lowed by brunch, Mr. Stern conducts a
survey to see what people thought of the
presentation. At least once, a speaker
was so popular that he was invited back
the following year.
We do everything we can to attract
as great a number of people as pos-
sible from the community at large,
Mr. Stern said. Thats what my father
was a community person. A Jew was
a Jew, and a human being was a human
being. Among his other efforts, Israel
Stern was a founding member of Good
Samaritan Hospitals Foundation for
Better Health. Twenty-five years ago,
Jules and Lila Stern dedicated a Jew-
ish meditation room at the hospital in
honor of his parents.
Rockland mitzvah project yields
a trove of recycled stuffed bears
Rabbi Claire Ginsburg Goldstein, who
has brought more than 172,500 recy-
cled stuffed toys to children in Israel
through her Bears from Bergenfield
program, worked with bat mitzvah
girl Ilyssa Cohn of New City on her
bear collection. Rabbi Daniel Per-
nick of her shul, Beth Am Temple in
Pearl River, oversaw the mitzvah proj-
ect. The organization collects gently
used stuffed animals and toys and
flies them to Israel for children of all
faiths who have been traumatized by
war and illness.
After the bears were sorted,
washed, and counted, Ilyssas
mother, Dawne Cohn, bought Bears
from Bergenfield ribbons to tie on the
bears she was collecting to donate.
The toys are for Bayit-Cham in Naha-
riya, Bat Melech-Miklat, and Meir
Medical Center in Kfar Saba. Ilyssa Cohn

Community Synagogue of Monsey & The Stern Family

Cordially Invite You to Attend
The Annual
Israel and Pearl Stern
Memorial Lecture
Guest Speaker:
Malcolm I. Hoenlein
Executive Vice Chairman/CEO

L Shana
of the Conference of Presidents of The new Torah scroll is received by members of the Chabad of Suffern.

L Shana
Major American Jewish Organizations
New Torah for Chabad of Suffern

Tovah!
Topic: Assessing U.S.-Israel Relations II: The Chabad of Suffern, led by Rabbi Torah was welcomed at the shul, and

Tovah!
Shmuel Gancz, recently celebrated hakafot and lunch followed.
Is the Special Relationship Still Intact? receiving a new Torah scroll at a dedica- The Jacobs, Chen, and Chichinashvily
tion ceremony. The celebration began at families donated the Torah in memory of
Sunday Morning March 19th 2017 at 10:15 AM the Gancz home in Montebello and then their husband and father, Yaakov Chichi-
the scroll was danced to the Chabad nashvily. For information, email rabbi@
Community Synagogue of Monsey
House on Haverstraw Road. Next, the jewishsuffern.com.
89 West Maple Ave Monsey N.Y. 845 356 2720
Wishing you a sweet newa sweet
year. new year.
Brunch Following LectureWishing
No Charge you
Jamie and Steven Dranow Larry A. Model Harvey Schwartz
Gregg Brunwasser Jamie and Steven
Michael Dranow General
L. Rosenthal, Larry A.Manager
Model Harvey Schwartz
Gregg Brunwasser Michael L. Rosenthal, General Manager
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20 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017

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Reducing stress and anxiety
On the first Wednesday of the month,
Rockland Jewish Family Service offers
a mindfulness and meditation class led
by Carole Brill, who offers techniques to
reduce stress and enliven our lives.
RJFS is at 450 West Nyack Road in West
NCJW offers lecture on healthy skin
Dr. Fayne Frey, a board-certified derma-
tologist, presents a program on myths
and truths about anti-wrinkle creams and
other skin care regimens for the Rock-
land section of the National Council of
Musical family services in New City
Temple Beth Sholom holds musical ser-
vices for the whole family, called Rock
My Soul Shabbat, at 6:30 p.m. on the
first Friday night of the month. Services
Yom HaShoah commemoration
invites author on Holocaust
Dan McMillan, author of How Could
This Happen: Explaining the Holocaust,
is the keynote speaker at a community-
wide Yom HaShoah commemoration
on April 23, at 5 p.m., at the New City
Womens group to meet writer
Jewish Federation & Foundation of Rock-
land Countys Womens Philanthropy
group plans a meeting with best-selling
author Jennifer Weiner on Thursday, May
From My Hero Brother
Reel Abilities film fest at JCC Rockland
The JCC Rockland will host the Reel Abili-
ties film festival as part of the New York
Disabilities Film Festival. It is a celebra-
tion of diversity, inclusion, and the arts.
Among the films are My Hero
Brother, directed by Yonatan Nir, set
for Thursday, March 2; Swim Team,
directed by Lara Stolman, on Tuesday,
Rockland
Nyack. The next classes are on Wednes- WISHING YOU
days, March 1, April 5, May 3, and June 7,
at 11 a.m. All proceeds support RJFS mis-
sion. For more information, call Carol King
PURIM LAUGHTER
at (845) 354-2121, ext.142, or email her at
cking@rjfs.org.
AND JOY
COME HEAR THE MEGILLAH
MARCH 11 6:45 PM
MARCH 12 8:45 AM
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Jewish Women on Wednesday, March 1, at
Call us: 845-359-5920 or Visit: www.theojc.org
7:45 p.m. The program will be at the JCC
Rockland, 450 West Nyack Road, in West ORANGETOWN JEWISH CENTER
Nyack. Refreshments will be served. For 8 Independence Avenue, Orangeburg, NY
information, go to ncjwrockland.org. Rabbi Craig Scheff Rabbi Paula Mack Drill
Rabbi Ami Hersh President Lloyd Fishman
Wishing the
continue March 3, April 7, May 5, and
June 2. The synagogue is at 228 New
Hempstead Road in New City. For infor-
Jewish community
mation, call (845) 638-0770. of Rockland a
Happy Purim
Jewish Center. It is hosted by the Holo-
caust Museum & Center for Tolerance
Temple Beth Sholom
and Education in Suffern. For more Come Celebrate With Us!
information, call (845) 574-4099 or go to 228 New Hempstead Rd. New City, NY
holocauststudies.org. 845-638-0770 www.tbsrockland.org
Rabbi Brian Leiken Cantor Anna Zhar
18, at the Rockleigh.
Call Beth Weiss-Dunn at (845) 362-
4200, ext. 121, or email bweiss-dunn@
jewishrockland.org.
Caf & Bakery
Come to the Challah Fairy to satisfy all your Purim needs
170 N. Main St., New City, New York
(845) 323-4582 www.thechallahfairy.com
Open Mon-Thurs 6:30-6 Fri 6:30-4
Under the supervision of Rabbi Zushe Blech-Chlov Yisroel
From Swim Team
March 7, and The Rebound, directed
by Shaina Allen and Dancing on
Wheels, directed by Qingzi Fan, both
on Wednesday, March 8. All films begin www.thejewishstandard.com
at 7:30 p.m.
For information, email Liz Rosenblum
at elizabethr@jccrockland.org, go to
JCCRockland.org, or call (845) 362-4400.
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 21
Cover Story
After
the war
is over W Fair Lawn author
writes about how her
father rebuilt his life
22 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017
JOANNE PALMER
e can get all pompous, or
mealy-mouthed, or vague,
or windy, about the mys-
teries of the human condi-
tion, but in the end they remain mysterious.
In the face of pain, trauma, grief, fear,
unimaginable evil, how do people go on?
How do they keep going? How do their
hearts keep beating? How do some of them
eventually love, laugh, not forgive, not for-
get, but regain some measure of joy?
Yes, faith is an answer, but that just kicks
the question back one step. If its faith,
where does that come from?
If there is any one answer, its that there is
no one answer. Just as each story of trauma
is different, so is each response to it.
When it comes to the Holocaust and
yes, of course, thats where we were going
the fact that anyone was able to go on and
live is astonishing. How did they do it? This
area has been home to many such survi-
vors, each with a terrible story, a miracu-
lous escape (because everyone who sur-
vived had a miraculous escape), and a new
life. Of course its unlikely that anyone was
able to shed the past fully all that pain,
all that loss, all those figurative nightmares
that for so many people became literal
nightmares, every single terrible night. But
so many survivors still managed to rebuild.
One of those survivors was Hirsch Dor-
bian, who settled in Fair Lawn with his wife
and children, and lived there until he died
in 2010. His daughter, Iris, an actress-turned-
journalist, who grew up in Fair Lawn and
returned to live there recently, has turned his
story into a lightly fictionalized young adult
novel, An Epiphany In Lilacs.
As its title suggests, the book is a story of
hope.
Hirsch Dorbians story began in Liepaja,
Latvia; he was born in 1930, arrested on
erev Yom Kippur in 1944, sent first to Kai-
serwald, then to work camps, including
Stolpe, and liberated from Stutthof in 1945.
He wasnt yet 12 when he was arrested,
and he was 14 when he was liberated, Iris
said. His father already had died of natural
causes by the time the Nazis got the rest of
his family; his mother and two sisters were
arrested with him but they were separated.
All of them survived, although Hirsch didnt
learn that until later. My father didnt like
to talk about that part of his life very much,
Iris said. He didnt like to talk about the
camps but he loved to talk about the
He didnt like to
talk about the
camps but he
loved to talk
about the
aftermath.
aftermath. The survivors were all broken
and adrift but they were all alive. They
didnt know why they survived my father
did have a little bit of survivors guilt but
they were alive.
Hirsch had been in the camps with an
older cousin, who worked hard to protect
him. The cousin made it to liberation but
died a week later. But Hirsch and later
the fictional Daniel in his daughters book
was liberated by British soldiers, who
brought this almost dead boy back to life,
Iris said. Daniel, like Hirsch, was befriended
by a non-Jew who also was being nursed
back to functionality by the Brits; this man,
older, mysterious, not completely hon-
est, and kind, was central to Hirschs story
and even more to Daniels (because fiction
works that way).
In real life, it was ORT that shaped the
rest of Hirschs life. When he was in a DP
thats where he went from the hospital
ORT workers taught him the rudiments of
tool and die fabrication.
Hirsch had a cousin in Paterson, so he
landed there when he was 18; one of his sis-
ters, her husband, and their mother went
there as well. His other sister was in Brazil.
Of course, in 1948 there was a draft,
and the Korean War was brewing. Hirsch

took an Americanization program at East
Side High in Paterson, joining a crowd of
Holocaust survivors. He couldnt exactly
be drafted, because he wasnt yet an
American citizen, but he was told that he
didnt have to be drafted, but that doesnt
mean we wont start the deportation pro-
cess against you, Iris quoted her father as
saying. So he went to the recruitment cen-
ter in Times Square, and literally, some-
one from the Marines comes and says, I
need a few good men. Hirsch Dorbian
was one of them.
He had another stroke of ironic luck.
He was on weekend leave, and he was at
home when his unit shipped out, Iris said.
His captain said Youll go with the next
group. But the war ended, and there was
no next group and many of his friends in
his original unit never made it back home.
After he was honorably discharged,
Hirsch went back to the tool and die busi-
ness. He had had enough of being regi-
mented, Iris said.
Hirsch Dorbian who adopted the
first name Harry but always really was
Hirsch threw himself into the busi-
ness of becoming American. He worked
very hard and successfully to lose his
accent. He adored Edward R. Murrow,
and modeled his accent after the broad-
casters, Iris said. An accent was a stigma,
and he wanted to assimilate.
He saw anti-Semitism in his adopted
country, although of course it was muted.
He would see ads for boarders in the local
Paterson paper, saying things like Chris-
tian couple is looking for same, Iris said.
And he was a Marine the year that Tru-
man integrated the Marine Corps, but it
was still the Jim Crow south. Dad saw it,
and he was appalled. It brought back very
bad memories.
Hirsch was in his mid 20s, not married
but settled in Paterson, when he took
a trip to Israel. Thats where he met his
wife, the formidable and charming Esther
Yoselevich Dorbian, although certainly he
had not been looking for her.
Esther was born in Palestine; her father,
Eliyahu, a committed Zionist, left Latvia
Cover Story
in the late 1920s. Her mother,
Mina, was born in Latvia to a
mother who died in childbirth
and a father, a rabbi, who died
a few months later. Mina had
a Dickensian childhood, Iris
said, shuttled from one abusive
relative to another. There was
nothing for her in Latvia, Iris
added, so her grandmother,
who had joined a Zionist youth
group not out of conviction but
because they were nice to her,
went to Palestine safely before
the Holocaust, joined a kib-
butz, met Eliyahu, and even-
tually had Esther.
So now its 1956. Hirsch was
in Israel, visiting his cousin,
Reuven, heading off together
to a memorial for Latvian
Jews. On the bus, they started talk-
ing to a woman sitting nearby it was a
long ride and eventually they learned
that she, too, was going to the memorial.
They established that all of them were
Latvian. They got off the bus together,
started walking together, and when they
were about to say goodbye she asked my
father if he knew this woman. She asked
what became of Hannah Dorbian? Is she
still alive?
Shes still alive, my father said. Thats
wonderful! she said How do you know?
Because shes my mother, Dad said.
So Mina invited Hirsch and Reuven to
her house, but my mother, who was
worried that her mother was trying to
make a match, fled the premises. Her
own father, Eliyahu, had just died, and
she was still mourning. Hirsch Dobian as a Marine, and Esther and Iris today, at home in
But she was young, and it was spring- Fair Lawn.
time, and happiness broke in. My father
and his cousin rented a car Reuven moved to Fair Lawn. cheap. Shed be clutching me and haggling
wanted to show Dad Israel and my moth- Esther Dorbian, who has a huge person- with the vendors.
ers mother encouraged my mother to go ality and a great sense of style, owned a Joan Hefler Goldstein, who also grew up
with him. And thats when sparks flew. clothing store in town for 45 years; Esthers in Fair Lawn and lives there as an adult,
Months later, they got married and closed only last year. Before that, she sold remembers Esthers with great fondness;
moved back to Paterson. Elliot was born, from the house, Iris said. When I was a in fact, she remembers it with love. She
and a few years later, in 1960, Iris followed. kid, shed take me to the Lower East Side, had great stuff, but it was also the kind of
When the children were young, the family where she would get these clothes for place where youd go just to talk, Joan
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 23
Cover Story

Hirsch Dobian sits on his mothers lap, flanked by his sisters, Reva and Cilla. All
Hirschs parents, Channah and Mendel Dobian. survived the Holocaust.

Esther and Hirsch Dobian
said. You could spend an entire after-
noon there, just talking with Esther and
the other ladies. Esther has charisma,
she said, and a great nose for stories.
Iris grew up with these larger-than-
life parents, went to local public schools
and to the Fair Lawn Jewish Center, and
then to college at NYU. There, I discov-
ered the downtown New York City club
scene, she said. It was the 1980s, and
I have no regrets. My best friend and I
would study, and then at night wed go to
dance, at Danceteria or the Ritz, where I
later worked as a cocktail waitress, or the
Pyramid, or the Peppermint Lounge. We
would be out all night, until it closed, at
3 or 4 in the morning, and then I would
have a Shakespeare class at 9.
You can only do this when youre
young.
Iris wanted to be either an actress
or a journalist; for reasons she can-
not explain now she thought journal-
ism would be more intimidating, so
after a solo vacation in England that
took her to just about every club and
other music venue in Great Britain but
afforded her the time to see nothing
else, including any standard tourists
sites she followed that dream. She
was mildly successful she got some
acting fellowships, was accepted into
a theater company at Vassar College,
and another in the Barter Theatre in
Virginia, and earned an Equity card.
I knew that in the theater there was a
premium on youth, she said, and she
was young. (And also very attractive,
but that she didnt say.) She also wrote
lyrics for musicians, but there are a lot
of sleazebags in the music industry,
she said.
But journalism always beckoned, so
eventually Iris applied and was accepted
to journalism school at Columbia
partly on the basis of pieces shed writ-
ten in the Forward and then became
the editor of Stage Directions, a journal
aimed at theater professionals. She was
using the expertise shed gained in the-
ater but her parents background was
lying fallow.
In 2008, Iris wrote a book called
Great Producers. Its a combination
of interviews with successful Broadway
producers, including Cameron Mack-
intosh and Michael David, and descrip-
tions of the work of either recently dead
ones, like Joe Papp and David Merrick, or
longer-dead ones, like Florenz Ziegfeld.

Hirsch stands at his cousins grave in Neustadt-Holstein,

Germany. The two survived the camps together, but
Hirsch Dorbian, right, and a fellow Marine. Aaron died the week after he was liberated.

24 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017

 More
Cover Story

Esther and
her children,
Elliot and Iris,
for Mom.
for Dad.
at Rockefeller
Center on a
day in early

for You.
spring.

What makes our day program special?

(For the Ziegfeld piece, Iris was able to
interview the 100-year-old Doris Eaton
Travis, a onetime Ziegfeld girl, who was
spry then, Iris said, and lived for another
five years.)
But the publishing world is not ter-
ribly secure, and the journals Iris used
to work for were sold and resold, and
her positions would vanish, reappear,
and vanish again. Its a hard life. Iris
had to reinvent herself and she did.
She now is a business journalist, work-
ing for Buyouts Insider PE Hub, writing
about private equity and venture capi-
tal, living in Fair Lawn after 30 years in
Manhattan.
Hirschs story has always been with
Iris. Her relationship with her father
was unusually strong, and his story was
vivid. And as a creative person the
acting, the writing, the journalist came
Its simple. We offer more.
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from the desire to create she increas-
ingly felt the need to tell it.
When her father died, she began to
write personal essays. It was therapeu-
tic for me, Iris said. Her first one, called
A Prayer in Times Square, told about
an experience shed had when her father
was deathly ill. There was a Christian
caravan there, and they said that theyd
offer up prayers for you, she said. A
young guy walked over to me, and said,
Do you want a prayer? and I said yes,
and he offered a prayer.
He said, Lord, please let Hirsch Dor-
bian go quickly, but please let the family
have some time.
She wrote about that experience while
it was still raw; a week later, she sent it to
online Jewish literary journals, including
Blue Lyra Review, which accepted it. She
also remembered a story shed written
years before, from a teenaged Holocaust
survivors point of view, telling what
basically was her fathers story.
Out of those fragments of experi-
ence and art An Epiphany In Lilacs
emerged.
So much is written about the Holo-
caust, but so little is written about the
aftermath, she said. About the DP
camps. About coming to America. I
think that this fills a necessary gap in
knowledge.
It is not about the horror, she added.
201.750.4238
It is about how you move on after most
of your family has been destroyed, and Call now for your trial day. Its on us!
you dont know if anybody is alive. You
Y
NG UNT
are trying to move on. You have to try
to move on. SI
What about the books title? BU D CO
H
My father loved flowers, Iris who IT N
is named after a flower, after all said. W KLA
W C
He loved lilacs. He used to tell me about
NO RO
how when he was in the hospital, heal-
ing, he had to walk outside. He just had R OM
F
to get outside, to be in the air, in the sun,
with the flowers.
The British medics would tell him to
A Member of The Jewish Home Family
be careful when he went outside. They
were always watching him, she said. Read the reviews at:
And why? Where they being abusive?
Domineering? Oh no, she said. They did
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out of love.
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 25

Jewish World
Jewish groups seek action from Trump
to match his words on anti-Semitism
RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON He hates it, he really hates
it. Now whats he going to do about it?
President Donald J. Trump capped three
weeks of missed opportunities to condemn
anti-Semitism by doubling down on Tuesday
with a statement unequivocally condemn-
ing it.
The anti-Semitic threats targeting our
Jewish community at community centers
are horrible and are painful and a very
sad reminder of the work that still must be
done to root out hate and prejudice and
evil, Trump said after touring the National
Museum of African American History and
Culture in Washington.
Message back from a Jewish community
longing to hear these words: Great. Now how
do you plan on dealing with the problem?
Glad @POTUS stated #antisemitism is hor-
rible, Jonathan Greenblatt, the Anti-Defama-
tion League CEO, said on Twitter, using the
acronym for president of the United States.
Now need @whitehouse to share plans on
how to stop it. ADL ready to help.
Greenblatts whaddya got posture per-
vaded the organized Jewish community.
David Harris, the American Jewish
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26 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017
Committees CEO, explained why Jewish
groups that otherwise might have welcomed
a simple statement of intent to combat anti-
Semitism were sounding a more skepti-
cal tone.
To date, the administrations response
has been disappointing, to say the least,
Harris said. Weve only just reached the
stage today thankfully, if belatedly of
hearing President Trump acknowledge
the issue and call it by its rightful name
anti-Semitism.
For reasons that escape me, until now its
been about generic words like hatred and
intolerance, or about the president defend-
ing himself against non-existent charges that
hes an anti-Semite. Its elementary: to com-
bat a problem you first have to define it, and
the definition of this particular problem is
anti-Semitism, pure and simple. Then you
need a robust plan of action. Lets hope it
will be forthcoming and soon.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which
has been supportive of Trump, called on
Attorney General Jeff Sessions to establish
a task force to track down the perpetrator
of bomb threats against Jewish community
centers, and said Trump must outline his
administrations plan to combat surging
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President Donald J. Trump speaks at the National Museum of African
American History and Culture on February 21. 
anti-Semitism.
Of the major groups who commented,
the Orthodox Union seemed the most
inclined to declare case closed.
We appreciate that President Trump
spoke directly to this matter, the OU
said in a statement about Trump and the
bomb threats. The words of a president
of the United States carry great weight
and it is important that Mr. Trump
addressed the American Jewish com-
munity and all our fellow Americans at
this time. We appreciate that the FBI
and Department of Justice are investi-
gating these incidents and the possible
civil rights violations they entail. We
also appreciate the work of the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security that sup-
ports the safety of our Jewish commu-
nity institutions.
The Jewish community has been grap-
pling with how the new president deals
with anti-Semitism since January 27,
when the White House marked Interna-
tional Holocaust Remembrance Day with
a statement that noted victims, survi-
vors, heroes of the Holocaust, but did
not mention the Jews.
What at first seemed like an oversight
soon calcified into suspicion that it was
part of a world view, as White House
officials doubled down on the omission,
condescending to explain to their crit-
ics that it is necessary to be inclusive in
marking an event that uniquely targeted
Jews for elimination.
Officials calling critics of the statement
asinine and pathetic didnt help, nor
did the revelation that a bid by the State
Department to mention Jews in a state-
ment was rebuffed by the White House.
Fueling suspicion that there was more
to the omissions than clumsy oversight
was the presence on Trumps staff of
KEVIN DIETSCH/POOL/GETTY IMAGES
top advisers like Stephen Bannon, Ste-
phen Miller, and Sebastian Gorka, who
emerged from a political culture of Euro-
pean-style nationalism that rejects what
it terms identity politics and argues
that minority complaints about discrim-
ination are overstated.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahus visit to the White House
last week presented an opportunity to
make amends, and at first it seemed that
Trump was game.
The State of Israel is a symbol to the
world of resilience in the face of oppres-
sion, Trump said in prepared remarks
at a joint February 15 news conference
with Netanyahu. I can think of no other
state thats gone through what theyve
gone and of survival in the face of
genocide. We will never forget what the
Jewish people have endured.
So there it was: genocide and Jew-
ish people adjacent. All was good.
For about 20 minutes.
An Israeli reporter asked Trump about
the spike in anti-Semitic incidents in the
United States, and whether the presi-
dent believed it had anything to do with
Trumps rhetoric.
Trump replied by noting the breadth
of his Electoral College victory over Hill-
ary Clinton and a statement expressing
love for his Jewish daughter, Ivanka;
her husband, Jared Kushner, and
their grandchildren.
It became weirder the next day at
a news conference when a friendly
reporter, Jake Turx from the cha-
redi Orthodox Ami magazine, reas-
sured Trump that no one in his com-
munity thought the president was an
anti-Semite.
Turx went on to ask what Trump was
planning to do about the waves of bomb
 Jewish World
407,000 likes.
threats against Jewish community centers that have
severely disrupted Jewish life in North America.
Trump would not allow Turx to complete his ques-
tion and launched a broadside against the baffled
reporter and anyone else who suggested that he was
anti-Semitic. Trump called Turx a liar and said he
hated the question.
What turned Trump and led to his Tuesday morn-
ing statement?
His spokesman, Sean Spicer, would not say, except
that Trump thought a tour of the African-American
museum was an appropriate occasion to expound
against hate and discrimination. Trumps remarks
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were prepared.
Two precipitating factors may have been the fourth facebook.com/
wave of bomb threats on Monday against JCCs, cou- jewishstandard
pled with massive vandalism at a St. Louis-area Jewish
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off a new round of criticism that it was ignoring anti-
Semitism, especially as Jewish groups were heading to
Twitter with impatient calls for a strong denunciation
from the president.
Another factor may have been Ivanka. Whereas the
press offices initial statement Monday night on the
JCC threats again omitted any mention of Jews, Ivanka
Trump followed it up with a tweet that at least alluded
to Jews, adding to her call for religious tolerance the
hashtag JCC.
Trumps erstwhile targets also sensed an opportu-
nity to hit back: Clinton, who infrequently pronounces
on issues of the day and has been oblique when she
does pronounce directly challenged Trump on Twit-
ter to speak out. Muslim groups, targeted by Trumps M A AYA N OT Y E S H I VA H I G H S C H O O L F O R G I R L S I N V I T E S T H E CO M M U N I T Y TO O U R
rhetoric, raised funds for a reward for the perpetrator
of the threat and to repair the toppled headstones at
the cemetery.
A N NUA L S C H O L A R S H I P D I N N E R
Calls by Jewish groups for actual plans, and not S AT U R DAY N I G H T, M A R C H 4 , 2 0 1 7 | 8 : 3 0 PM | CO N G R EG AT I O N KE T E R TO R A H
statements, were not the only sign that Trumps
remarks were unlikely to allay tensions.
Spicer opened his briefing with reporters on Tuesday WE A R E G R AT E F U L TO H AV E T H E O P O R T U N I T Y
by repeating Trumps words, and delivering an impas-
sioned plea for Americans to visit the African American TO D E D I C AT E T H I S Y E A R S D I N N E R TO T H E
museum and its National Mall companion, the U.S. Holo-
caust Memorial Museum. He then turned combative. M E M O RY O F B R U C E R I T H O LT Z , Z L .
Is he going to denounce this one, is he going to
denounce this one? he asked, mocking reporters. At We are honored to present to his family our
some point the question is asked and answered! Beer Torah Memorial Award.
(Spicer also responded to the U.S.-based Anne Frank
Center for Mutual Respect, which issued a statement
mocking Trumps statement as a pathetic asterisk
of condescension. He said of the group: I wish that I N A D D I T I O N, PL E A S E J O I N U S I N H O N O R I N G :
they had praised the president for his leadership in
this area. And I think that hopefully as time continues
to go by they recognize his commitment to civil rights,
to voting rights, to equality for all Americans.)
Trumps Democratic critics werent letting go either.
Representative Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), running for the
chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee,
peppered his Twitter feed with follow-up questions
for Trump.
Why has it taken @realDonaldTrump so long to even
say the word anti-Semitism? Ellison wondered. Per-
LO R I & E L I OT L I N Z E R R A B B I DA N I E L & D I A N E CO H E N M R S . S U Z A N N E CO H E N
haps it has something to do with placating his base? A M U D E I M A AYA N OT H O N O R E E S PA R E N T S O F T H E Y E A R T E AC H E R O F T H E Y E A R
Representative Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), whose bid
earlier this month to force a vote on his resolution
emphasizing that the Holocaust targeted the Jews was For information on donation opportunities, or to RSVP for the Dinner, please contact
blocked by Republicans, said Trump needed to be Pam Ennis, Director of Development, at ennisp@maayanot.org
more consistent in his condemnations.
Trumps statement is long overdue and doesnt
begin to scratch the surface of what needs to be done,
Maayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls
he said in a statement. 1650 Palisade Avenue | Teaneck, New Jersey | 07666 | www.maayanot.org
JTA WIRE SERVICE

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 27

Jewish World
ANALYSIS

Trump, Jews, and

the weaponization
of anti-Semitism
Andrew Silow-Carroll anti-Semitism after being asked about it

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Was that so hard?
At some point in the last week, it looked
like President Donald Trump was never
going to use anti-Semitism in a sentence.
It took a fourth series of hoax bomb
threats at JCCs around the country and
imprecations from Jewish groups across the
ideological spectrum for the president at last
to use the A word.
Anti-Semitism is horrible and its going
to stop, and it has to stop, Trump said on
Tuesday morning. The anti-Semitic threats
targeting our Jewish community and our
Jewish community centers are horrible, are
painful and they are a reminder of the work
that still must be done to root out hate and
prejudice and evil.
That it took so long for Trump to condemn
twice last week, and coming on the heels
of a White House International Holocaust
Remembrance Day statement that some-
how omitted any mention of the Jews, was
mind-boggling to many groups, including
the Anti-Defamation League, which said so
in a tweet.
It had reached a point that I already
started imagining a White House Passover
greeting that didnt mention the Jews.
Starting at sundown, the world will come
together to remember certain events in
Egypt, it would begin, and end with, Ive
made it clear that all plagues are horrible.
What made Trumps demurrals stranger
is that denunciations of anti-Semitism are to
presidential declarations what kosher sym-
bols are to supermarket goods: It doesnt
hurt to have one, and usually only Jews
Stephen Bannon listens at a White House news conference on February 16.
notice it. ADL, the group most identified with
So why did it take the administration combating anti-Semitism, for repeatedly
five tries to get it right? I am counting calling him and his campaign out for
the two news conferences, in which either ignoring or encouraging intoler-
Trump basically punted on the question ance. Maybe Trump saw CEO Jonathan
from two Jewish reporters; a statement Greenblatts February 17 column in the
from the White House on Monday that Washington Post recalling how the
denounced hatred and hate-motivated Trump campaign repeatedly tweeted
violence of any kind without mention- and shared anti-Semitic imagery and
ing Jews or anti-Semitism, and daughter language, thus allowing this poison to
Ivankas tweet saying We must pro- move from the margins into the main-
tect our houses of worship & religious stream of the public conversation.
centers. #JCC. The JCC hashtag was The most ominous explanation,
a nice touch, but not exactly a Queen offered by Bradley Burston from the
Esther-style declaration of co-religious left-wing Haaretz newspaper and a sur-

Purim is right
solidarity. prisingly outspoken Chuck Todd of NBC
Pundits spent the past week trying to News, was that Trump was throwing a
explain Trumps hesitation. Peter Bein- bone to or at least trying not to alienate

around the art blamed narcissism, using the theory

that when Trump hears anti-Semitism,
the alt-right trolls who formed a small
but vocal part of his winning coalition.

corner
he cant help but take it as a personal
attack that he must fend off. I wondered
if it was simple belligerence that the
more you ask this president for some-
SINAI Purim thing, the more he is likely to say you
cant make me.
cards are on Or maybe he was just annoyed at the
Mr. President, we believe you and
many other Jews believe you, so please
make it clear that not only are you not
an anti-Semite but that you reject people
who are even if they did vote for you,
Todd said last week.
If Trump had been struggling with

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About 100 people demonstrated
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the Kiriya, during the sentencing. Among
their chants: The people of Israel do not
abandon soldiers and Weve come to
take Elor. The soldiers father, Charlie,
thanked the protesters and urged them
to remain calm. All of the soldiers here
are our sons. So I request everyone show
restraint, he said.
In their sentencing decision, the
judges stressed that the severity of the
it took place in an active combat situa-
tion. This was a key component of the
defenses case.
The judges also found, however, that
Azarias actions did harm to societal
values and said that Azaria violated the
Israeli armys rules of engagement and
values. They also criticized the army for

28 Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017


a political calculation, it was reminis-
cent of one that played out in the 2008
campaign, when then-candidate Barack
Obama was being pressed to disavow
an endorsement from Nation of Islam
leader Louis Farrakhan. When he was
asked about Farrakhan during a debate
with fellow Democratic contender Hill-
ary Clinton, you could almost see the
thought bubble over Obamas head as
he weighed rejecting Farrakhan without
Mario Tama/Getty Images
alienating supporters who considered
him a hero.
Obama answered by reiterating his
denunciation of Farrakhans anti-Sem-
itism, leading to a semantic debate with
Clinton over the distinction between
denouncing and rejecting. Eventually
the ADLs then national director, Abe
Foxman, declared that Obama had
cleared the Farrakhan hurdle.
If Trumps allergy to the A word is a
political calculation, what would it be?
He knows that three out of every four
Jews didnt vote for him, and perhaps
someone is whispering to him, a la James
Baker, that he gains no advantage by cav-
ing to a special interest as liberal as the
Jews.
Trumps critics pin the issue on his
chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, who
came to the Trump campaign after
steering Breitbart News, which he him-
self called a platform for the alt-right,
among other right-wing movements. In
turn, Bannons defenders note that Bre-
itbart is enthusiastically pro-Israel and
often keeps tabs on anti-Semitism.
But search anti-Semitism at Breitbart
and a pattern emerges a pattern that
could explain the week that was. The site
seems most exercised about Jew hatred
when it is committed by Muslims, mem-
bers of the left wing in Europe, and far
left and anti-Israel activists on American
college campuses. When it does report
on hate crimes in the United States, its
not taking better care of the soldiers
family and the defense minister for his
interference in the case.
Azaria, a medic in the elite Kfir Brigade,
came on the scene following a Palestinian
stabbing attack on soldiers in Hebron in
the West Bank on March 24, 2016.
One assailant was killed, and Abdel
Fattah al-Sharif was injured. Minutes
later, while Sharif was lying on the
ground, Azaria shot him in the head in a
shooting that was captured on video by a
local resident for the Israeli human rights
NGO BTselem. Azaria was arrested the
same day and indicted nearly a month
later. Autopsy reports showed that the
shots by Azaria killed Sharif.
Before shooting Sharif, Azaria had
cared for a stabbed soldier.
The case has been controversial in
Israel, with some on the political right
calling for solidarity with Azaria and oth-
ers, including military leaders, suggesting
Jewish World
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highlighting hate-crime hoaxes or
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quoting those who deny that there has
been a surge in hate crimes here or in
Britain since the U.S. elections or Brexit.
This week, when much of the press
corps was focusing on how and whether
Trump would denounce anti-Semitism,
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Joel Pollak, a senior editor-at-large at Bre-
itbart, was accusing the media of hyping
fears of anti-Semitism. Pollak blames an
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ongoing pattern of false hate crimes
and the medias reluctance to report on
left-wing anti-Semitism. But mostly he
blames general anti-Trump hysteria.
Trumps critics seem to want to
believe false accusations of antisemi-
tism, which justify their hatred of him
and maintain a sense of outrage and
unity among activists, Pollak writes.
For Pollak and other Breitbart contrib-
utors, the reporting and denunciation
of anti-Semitism is a partisan weapon
wielded by the left to discredit the
right. ( Just as Trump asserted that its
a charge wielded by a dishonest media
to discredit him.) Of course, Breitbart
also politicizes anti-Semitism, using it as
a scarlet A to be worn, almost exclu-
sively, by Muslims, campus radicals,
self-hating Jews, and European leftists.
In fact, it has become an increasingly
familiar trope both on the left and the
right that the other is more anti-Semitic.
At least both sides agree that anti-Sem-
itism is bad, even if they hesitate to take
responsibility for the version that metas-
tasizes among their ideological allies.
They want to target the Jew haters but
are wary about friendly fire.
Maybe the mistake of Jewish groups in
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Following the announcement of the
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Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017 29
Jewish World

Meet the gonzo Jewish filmmaker

behind Trumps fake news on Sweden
Cnaan Liphshiz attack had taken place there the previous immigrant crime debate, which Horow- have the first few seconds of the attack,
day or even recently. itz has spent considerable and contro- Horowitz, a Los Angeles native who
Pressed to explain his false claim that some- Karl Bildt, a former prime minister of versial efforts investigating. lives in New York, told the Daily Mail.
thing terrible had happened in Sweden last Sweden, wondered on Twitter what Trump In his Fox News interview, Horowitz, a They repeatedly punched, kicked and
week, President Donald Trump traced the is smoking, and a newspaper, Afton- former investment banker turned activ- choked me as a number of bystand-
canard back to the reporting of Ami Horow- bladet, ran a daily roundup from Friday ist with a camera, claimed violent crime ers watched. Eventually they dragged
itz, a gonzo Jewish-American filmmaker who featuring nothing more sinister than a small by refugees was out of control in Swe- me into a building, which at the time I
talked about Swedens problem with Muslim northern avalanche. den, and that the Swedish government assumed was to finish me off. Horowitz
immigrants on Fox News. Later Saturday afternoon, Trump indi- is covering up reports of rape to protect ultimately was released.
Last Saturday, during a campaign-style cated that the only thing that happened Fri- vulnerable migrants. On Monday, violence erupted in
speech in Florida on border security and day is that he caught Horowitz talking about Coming amid a polarizing debate another no-go zone, Rinkeby, where
immigrants, Trump urged listeners to look Sweden on Fox News. about the millions of immigrants arriving locals torched several cars after police
at whats happening last night in Sweden, The presidents reference arguably was in Europe from the war-torn Middle East arrested a man there, a daily newspaper,
leading to widespread puzzlement and a breakthrough for Horowitz, focusing and Africa, Trumps comments touched Dagens Nyheter, reported.
mockery from Swedes who said no terrorist rare international attention on Swedens off a discussion about the presidents Horowitz, a vocal critic of Trump dur-
shaky handle on the facts. ing the campaign, describes himself as
But, Horowitz said, it also put a at times conservative, at other times lib-
spotlight on the main issue: Swedens eral. He said the incident in Husby was
problems with immigration and crime. not his first close call while making films
Which is positive. that offer a hard look at liberal causes or
Horowitz also has reported on what he defend Israel.
and others call Swedens no-go zones In 2016, he took an 11-hour road trip in
areas that are densely populated by the West Bank to counter claims that Israeli
mostly Muslim immigrants from Africa security forces restrict movement there. At
and the Middle East, neighborhoods that a crossing point into Israel, an adrenaline-
many native Swedes, and Jews especially, filled Horowitz was filmed throwing rocks
avoid for fear of harassment and robbery. back at Palestinians who hurled them at
A 43-year-old father of two, last year him and others waiting to enter.
Horowitz went to a no-go zone in the In 2009, while filming a prickly docu-
Stockholm neighborhood of Husby, mentary about the U.N. double standard
where he recorded an alleged assault on on Israel and other issues, he traveled to
What Life Is Like at Brightview Tenafly himself by several Arab speakers who
objected to his filming on the street.
war-torn Cote DIvoire to investigate inci-
dents in which U.N. soldiers opened fire
It is a full day to look forward to. My c rew ran off when they on unarmed demonstrators. In the same
approached, but since I was miked we film, Horowitz seized the microphone at
Rediscovering favorite pastimes. Sharing meals with friends. Enjoying the privacy
to hear yourself think.
Brightview Tenafly is filled with people who are comfortable, who feel at home,
who are rejuvenated and gain the energy to pursue their passions.
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 Jewish World

the controversial 2009 Durban Review Conference in
Geneva, telling attendees that they should be embar-
rassed and ashamed by their anti-Israel bias. The inci-
dent also was captured on tape by JTA.
And in 2015, he sailed with Syrian immigrants infil-
trating Europe across the Aegean Sea, reporting that
he saw an ISIS recruiter attempting to recruit some of
the would-be newcomers.
In 2014, he filmed the reactions of students at the
University of California, Berkeley, as he variously
waved Israeli and ISIS flags on campus; students are
shown ignoring the ISIS flag but reacting angrily to
Israels. In another film he asked New Yorkers to sign
a petition titled Cops Lives Matter.
Initially, Horowitzs no-go experience in Sweden
generated little attention in the country, where main-
criminal activity, said he edited their answers manipula-
tively. Horowitz denied the charge and attributed their reac-
tions to pressure from their superiors.
In an op-ed published by the Svenska Dagblade earlier
this week, Linda Nordlund, a former chairwoman of the
Liberal Youth of Sweden, criticized Horowitz for relying on
anonymous sources in asserting that a majority of women
waiting at a police station were there to report rape. She said
Horowitz is known for his xenophobic views and that his
report is full of inaccurate statistics and innuendo.
But in that same op-ed, Lund also said that Trumps
false claims and Horowitzs fake news eclipse a nec-
essary discussion on real problems including the undis-
puted overrepresentation of foreigners in criminal activity.
Authorities in Sweden do not publish precise data on the
nationality or ethnicity of perpetrators, and the media also
squelches that information.
Lund also noted an increase in sexual harassment in
public swimming pools, though she wrote that Horowitzs
claims that rape is increasing are false.
Still, while there was a dip in the number of reported
rapes in 2015, the average has risen in Sweden by 18 percent
from 2011 to 2016. They now average 6,341 cases annually,
compared to 5,260 cases in the years 2006 to 2010, accord-
ing to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.
(Some attribute that to a change in the types of acts that can
be classified as rape.)
Theres been a lot of discussions about statistics, a lot of
back and forth, Horowitz said of the effects of his report-
ing in Sweden. Theres a lot of disinformation, but on the
whole, this overdue discussion is a good thing for Sweden
and Europe. JTA Wire Service

stream media tend to not report the ethnicity of per-

s %
1.50 %
Sweden had been k e t Plu
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one of the most n ey M %
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petrators of crimes, according to an employee of the

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country of 9 million and its admission of more than

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tries, since 2013.

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Sweden had been one of the most welcoming

Do
nations in Europe to refugees, but in 2016 it drastically
cut back on asylum quotas. The government said the
cutback was over housing issues.
Some observers have cited Sweden to defend
With
Trumps executive order limiting immigration from some brokerage
seven predominantly Muslim countries. Some
regard Sweden as an inspiring role model for its
rms and banks paying
efforts to resettle asylum seekers. But others see it 0.05% or less there isnt much to add.
as a failed experiment, and say it has contributed
to an unprecedented rise in the popularity of far- If your money market account is barely adding
right anti-Islam parties that are riding a wave of dis-
content over the arrival of unskilled immigrants at a
anything to your balance, come to Kearny Bank.
time of economic stagnation. Well put your cash to work in our competitive
As for Swedens 20,000 Swedish Jews, they have Tiered Money Market Plus Account and you can
seen an explosion of hate crimes against members of
their community in recent years. Dozens of incidents watch the returns grow.
are documented annually in Malmo alone, a southern
city with only 1,000 Jews. One third of Malmos popu- At Kearny Bank the numbers
lation of 300,000 are Muslims.
Trumps remark also exposed Horowitz to criticism add upfor you.
for his gonzo style of journalism, which owes more to
Michael Moore and The Daily Show than to CNN. In
the past he has filmed interviews without permission,
provoked onlookers reactions with outrageous stunts,
and edited footage to ridicule interviewees. Horow-
itz defends his methodology as accurate, though he
admits it is confrontational and provocative. 42 Banking Oces 1-800-273-3406 kearnybank.com
On Monday, two police officers he interviewed for *APY=Annual Percentage Yield. APYs in effect as of 2/01/17 and subject to change without notice. Minimum daily balance of $100,000 is required to earn interest and avoid a
his Sweden documentary, in which Horowitz claimed monthly service fee of $25. Fees could reduce earnings. Transaction limitations apply. Deposit limits may apply. Accounts earn a blended rate based on the tier requirements. New
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Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017 31

Jewish World

Missouris governor, Muslim activists launch
efforts to repair vandalized Jewish cemetery
The Jewish governor of Missouri, Eric Greitens, said he
will volunteer to help repair a St. Louis-area Jewish cem-
etery where at least 170 gravestones were toppled during
the weekend.
Meanwhile, two Muslim activists have launched a crowd-
funding campaign to raise $20,000 for repairs. The drive,
started by Linda Sarsour and Tarek El-Messidi, brought in
Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey
$17,750 as of Tuesday afternoon.
The activists said any funds remaining after the cemetery is
restored will go to repairs for other vandalized Jewish centers.
Through this campaign, we hope to send a united mes-
sage from the Jewish and Muslim communities that there is
no place for this type of hate, desecration, and violence in
America, they wrote. We pray that this restores a sense of
security and peace to the Jewish-American community
who has undoubtedly been shaken by this event
Greitens cited the concept of tikkun olam, or repair
of the world, and asked helpers to bring rakes, garbage
bags, wash rags, and more cleaning supplies. My team
and I will be there tomorrow, and Id invite you to join
us, he said.
The governor already had condemned the vandal-
ism on the Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery in University
City and called on people to fight acts of intolerance
and hate.
Disgusted to hear about the senseless act of desecra-
tion at the cemetery in University City. We must fight
acts of intolerance and hate, Greitens wrote in a tweet
Monday evening after the vandalism was discovered.

JCRC State Legislative

The attack on the cemetery took place sometime
between Friday night and Monday morning.
Chesed Shel Emeth Cemeterys executive direc-

Advocacy Day tor, Anita Feigenbaum, told the New York Times that
between 170 and 200 headstones were toppled. Some
were broken. The headstones are in the cemeterys
oldest section, dating from the late 1800s to the mid-
A chance to meet with state legislators in 1900s, she said.
I just am quite shocked it affects so many people,
Bergen, Hudson, Passaic counties so many families, so many generations, Feigenbaum
told the Times. This cemetery was opened in 1893.
to discuss key issues. In an interview with the Huffington Post, Lt. Fred-

rick Lemons of the University City Police Department
declined to classify the vandalism as a hate crime.
Right now, everything is under investigation, Lem-

Including
ons said. Were looking into all possible leads. The
Racism, Anti-Semitism and Security police are reviewing cemetery surveillance cameras,
according to the report.

Senior and Adult Disability Services Greitens, a former Navy SEAL whose military awards

include the Bronze Star, was elected the first Jewish gov-
Educational Funding Parity ernor of Missouri in November.
In a post on Facebook he called the vandalism a

Israel Solutions: NJ Water despicable act of what appears to be anti-Semitic
vandalism.

Tuesday March 21, 2017

We do not yet know who is responsible, but we
do know this: this vandalism was a cowardly act. And
we also know that, together, we can meet cowardice
with courage, he wrote. Anyone who would seek

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Questions? Contact David Silverman
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to divide us through an act of desecration will find
instead that they unite us in shared determination.
From their pitiful act of ugliness, we can emerge
even more powerful in our faith.
Immediately after the announcement of the vandal-
ism, the Chesed Shel Emeth Society, which owns the
cemetery, posted a message on Facebook informing
families with relatives buried there that it is assessing
the locations and damage and will post names that are
affected as soon as we are able. Many monuments are
facing down and we wont be able to read the names
and see if there is any damage until we lift the stones.
In an update on Tuesday afternoon, the society said a
local monument company had begun to put the monu-
ments back on their bases. It said it would try to have a
comprehensive list of the toppled monuments posted
by Wednesday.
A local church, the All Nations Church, launched an
appeal to help repair the damage caused by the vandals.
The church said on its website that it would match up to
$500 in donations to the cemetery.
Destruction of Jewish headstones is a painful act of
anti-Semitism, said Nancy Lisker, director of the Ameri-
can Jewish Congress in St. Louis. We feel the pain of the
families whose grave sites of loved ones were desecrated
and look to the authorities to apprehend and bring to
OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
justice those responsible for this heinous act.
JTA WIRE SERVICE

32 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017

 Jewish World

French Jewish scholars hate speech trial

leaves anti-racism activists bitter, divided
CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
The hate speech trial of a prominent
French historian charged with calling Arabs
innately anti-Semitic is dividing French
Jews and sowing dissent within the local
equivalent of the Anti-Defamation League.
It is all happening over just two words:
mothers milk.
Georges Bensoussan, one of the worlds
leading experts on Jews in Arab lands,
used the two fateful words during a radio
interview in 2015. Citing the work of an
Algerian sociologist, he asserted that in
The verdict in Bensoussans trial, which
began last month, is expected to deter-
mine boundaries of free speech in aca-
demia in a country where moderates fear
both radical Islam and the surge of xeno-
phobia it is triggering. Georges
But the trial already is pitting anti-rac- Bensoussan,
ism activists against one another, includ- right, at a talk
ing within LICRA. One of Frances most with Mino Chamla
revered thinkers, the philosopher Alain in Milan, Italy, on
Finkielkraut, resigned from its honorary September 16,
board in protest over what French media 2014.
are calling lAffaire Bensoussan. MOKED/
Long frustrated over what they regard as FEDERICO VALENTE

Arab families in France and beyond, every-
body knows but will not say that anti-Sem-
itism is transmitted with mothers milk.
Bensoussan later insisted he meant this
as a metaphor for culturally transmitted
bias. Nevertheless, his words prompted
both the Collective Against Islamophobia
in France and the International League
against Racism and Anti-Semitism, or
LICRA, independently to initiate a crimi-
nal trial against him for allegedly inciting
racial hatred.
politically correct censorship, right-lean-
ing French Jews reacted with outrage over
Bensoussans prosecution, using language
even more heated than the hyperbolic
rhetoric common in their favorite media.
Former Le Monde reporter Yves Mamou
called the prosecution a jihad against the Anti-Semitism, condemned the prosecu- said that people whose origins are in
truth and Frances new Dreyfus trial, in tion as shocking. Muslim countries have been responsible
reference to the wrongful conviction of a I think its deplorable how LICRA has for most of the hundreds of violent anti-
Jewish army captain for treason in 1894. lowered itself into this quagmire of a trial Semitic incidents recorded in France in
Sammy Ghozlan, founder of the center- against telling the truth, he added. recent years. At least eight people were
right National Bureau of Vigilance Against Ghozlan, a former police commissioner, murdered since 2012 in jihadist attacks on

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d Jewish World
Jewish targets.
Discontent over Bensoussans prosecution spread to more
centrist circles, exposing the left-leaning LICRA to criticism
by Finkielkraut.
Last year, Finkielkraut received the countrys ultimate
academic distinction when he entered the Academie Fran-
caise, the countrys pantheon of great thinkers. On January
29, Finkielkraut, a member of the dovish JCall a group
of French Jews who oppose Israels settlement policy
announced he would resign from LICRA over its decision
3 34 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017
to sue Bensoussan.
The move dishonored LICRA, he said during an inter-
view with RCJ radio, accusing LICRA of opting for inquisi-
tion against Bensoussan.
I call on all activists, followers and sympathizers to draw
their own conclusions [about LICRA] from this ignominy,
he said. Finkielkraut called the prosecution of Bensoussan
an exceptionally grave event politically, judicially, and
historically.
During the interview, Finkielkraut noted that in 2015
Bensoussan was paraphrasing the statements of the
Algeria-born sociologist Sman Laacher, a non-Jew
who said that anti-Semitism in Muslim areas is in the
air that one breathes.
Laacher and Bensoussan were using metaphors,
Finkielkraut argued, and neither speak of any biologi-
cal dimension to the culturally transmitted phenom-
enon they describe. That refutes the incitement to
racial hatred charge, he said.
But in an election year with the far-right National
Front group leading in the polls, this technicality soon
was eclipsed in the media by the trials broader impli-
cations on free speech and race relations.
The trial is a way of avoiding investigative thought
and any public expression on Islam except for praise,
Finkielkraut said in the RCJ interview.
In a scathing op-ed in Marianne, a weekly, colum-
nist Martine Gozlan called the trial shameful and an
attempt to silence free thought.
Its a recurring accusation by advocates of several
French thinkers, Jews and others, who have paid a
personal and public price recently for speaking out
against Islam or in defense of Israel.
The list includes Michel Houellebecq, who has
received death threats for writing a novel critical of
political Islam; Bernard-Henri Levy, who is reviled by
many members of his left-wing circles for defending
Israel, and Finkielkraut himself, who was ejected vio-
lently from a public gathering recently because he is
a Zionist.
Gozlan also noted that LICRAs fellow plaintiff, the
Collective Against Islamophobia, has been accused
including by LICRA itself of propagating anti-Semitic
disinformation against Prime Minister Manuel Valls,
whose wife is Jewish.
On February 2, Philippe Karsenty, a French Jewish
activist who is deputy mayor of the Paris suburb of
Neuilly-sur-Seine, echoed Gozlans sentiment in an
op-ed he wrote with lawyer Pierre Lurat.
How could a group established to defend Jews
come to assist a judicial jihad waged against a Jew-
ish intellectual specialized in the history of the Holo-
caust? they asked.
It was a withering attack on LICRA, a group founded
by a Jewish journalist in 1926 in an effort to defend
a Jew charged with the Paris killing of a Ukrainian
nationalist. The Ukrainian was responsible for
pogroms in Ukraine in which the Jewish killers rela-
tives died.
Amid growing criticism, the head of LICRA, Alain
Jacubowicz, who is Jewish, broke his silence about the
affair. In an op-ed published earlier this month, he
accused Bensoussan of benefiting extremists with
his statement on Islam.
Jacubowicz had a point.
Bruno Gollnisch, a Holocaust denier and European
Parliament lawmaker for National Front, embraced
Bensoussans cause. In a January 25 op-ed published
on his website, Gollnisch equated Bensoussans trou-
bles to those of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was sidelined
as the National Fronts leader after many convictions
for hate speech against Jews and Muslims.
There are truths were forbidden to speak, Goll-
nisch wrote about both men.
Bensoussan in turn broke his own silence on the
affair and replied to Jacubowicz in an open letter pub-
lished Monday.
Turning Jacubowiczs claim against him, Bensous-
san wrote that the popularity of a populist, anti-immi-
grant party like the National Front is being fueled by
a denial of reality, a suicidal strategy of blindness and
silence. JTA WIRE SERVICE
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 35
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Teens get ready for BBYO International Conventions opening ceremony on February 16.

At Olympic-style confab, BBYO teens

showcase energy and international flair
JACOB KAMARAS

DALLASMy interview with Aaron Mantell, 16, and Dan-

ielle Wadler, 17, two teens from Long Island, is drowned
out by a parade of chanting students passing us by.
Welcome to the BBYO International Convention.
Until this point, my experience at the Jewish plural-
istic teen organizations convention in Dallas consists
largely of navigating a venue whose every inch is lined
with teens, and giving up on any notion of using the
hotel elevators. But now I understand and feel the true
nature of this gathering of 5,000 people including
2,500 Jewish teens from 48 states and 30 countries.
Its a little overwhelming, but it always ends up being
really really fun, Danielle said. Like you get past the
overwhelming, and you get used to a thousand people
screaming at you all day.
Its really impressive, Aaron added. Its always mind-
blowing. These people fly around the world to get here
and have the most energy Ive ever seen in teenagers.,
The enthused BBYO delegates who interrupt my talk BBYO top leaders, International Nsiah Ellie Bod-
with Danielle and Aaron, en route to the conventions ker and Grand Aleph Godol Aaron Cooper, at the
opening ceremony on February 16, are just the tip of the international convention. JASON DIXSON PHOTOGRAPHY

iceberg. The festivities are nothing short of the opening

ceremony at the Olympic Games. The many American
and international delegations are outfitted with hats,
capes, and athletic jerseys, chanting fight songs. Pop
music blasting from the loudspeakers. Students danc-
Sign up for the ing and singing on stage. Picture a rock concert, summer
camp color war, and high school football game, all put
Jewish Standard daily newsletter! together and multiplied by 10.
Its hardly my first major Jewish conference, but the
Visit www.thejewishstandard.com energy is incomparable.
and click on SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY I have not been in a room in my entire life with so
many teens, so much energy and so much hope. Thank
you for the hope! We need this gathering! the Jewish
Theological Seminarys chancellor, Arnold M. Eisen,
JewishStandard
N E W J E R S E Y R O C K L A N D
But the BBYO convention is about more than energy
and hope its also about vision and resolve. For five
days, the student-led youth organization and its dele-
gates come to hear prominent speakers at plenary ses-
sions and hold smaller breakout discussions, sharpen-
ing their leadership skills and grappling with hot-button
issues facing both the Jewish community and society at
large. The ultimate goal, according to this years conven-
tion tagline, is Changing the Game.
The theme of the conference comes from our desire
to put teens in control of their own destiny, to let them
know that not only can they shape the Jewish commu-
nity, but they can shape the world, Matt Grossman,

said at the opening ceremony, apparently agreeing with BBYOs CEO, said. In so many teen settings, theyre
my sentiment. SEE BBYO PAGE 39

36 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017

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38 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017
 Jewish World

BBYO
FROM PAGE 36
listening to adults tell them what they can do and what
they cant do, and theyre bound by different rules. Here,
we put them in charge, we tell them that the future is
theirs, and they respond in very powerful ways.
In an increasingly borderless world, one of the hall-
marks of both the 2017 BBYO convention and the organiza-
tions growth trajectory in general is international expan-
sion. This years gathering saw delegates from Austria and
Poland for the first time.
The power of the BBYO movement comes from the
connectivity that exists between the teens, and a lot of
that connectivity starts at the convention, Grossman
said. The global nature of what we offer is a differentia-
tor in their lives. Theres nowhere else, or very few places,
where a teen from Dallas, Texas, can find a best friend
from Slovakia. But they come here and they can find that
best friend, and then they can see them again during the
JASON DIXSON PHOTOGRAPHY

summer experience, and they can connect with them

online while they work on a project together. And that

JASON DIXSON PHOTOGRAPHY

whole notion of connectedness is tied in a very real way
to the notion of Jewish peoplehood.
Fittingly, the youth movements top leaders Interna-
tional Nsiah Ellie Bodker of BBG, the girls group, and
Grand Aleph Godol Aaron Cooper of AZA, the mens
division have spent their gap year between high school
and college visiting BBYO communities in North America
and around the world in order to strategize on growth and
SEE BBYO PAGE 41 Enthusiastic teens show their feelings at the opening ceremony of the BBYO International Convention.

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 39

 ATLANTA, GA March 24

40 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017

 Jewish World

BBYO
FROM PAGE 37
inspire the local chapters.
Aaron, 18, of Winston-Salem, N.C., is particularly
moved by seeing BBYOs operations in Hungary,
whose estimated Jewish community of 100,000 is
down from 800,000 before the Holocaust, but is
thriving.
Seeing our program there, and seeing that its
been so successful, and its only been there for a
year. I think its super beautiful and amazing and
something we take pride in, Aaron said. Its amaz-
ing to see us be a part of vibrant Jewish communi-
ties, but also the ones that still have the remnants
non-religious way, Noga Vieman, a Maccabi Tzair staff
member, agreed.
International Nsiah Ellie Bodker, who will attend Syra-
cuse University in the fall and hopes to major in informatics,
said that I really found my voice through BBYO.
I think a lot of eighth-grade girls start out really shy and
uncomfortable with BBYO, but the idea that people were
listening to me and I could say whatever I wanted, and run
a program on whatever topic I felt I was passionate about,
was really appealing to me, she said.
Before their international leadership tenures are com-
plete, Ellie and Aaron who will begin at Brown University
in the fall and hopes to go on to law school from there
want to help BBYO meet its goal of surpassing 20,000 mem-
bers around the world.
Its a special moment in Jewish history that 2,500 young
people from across the globe can come together at the con-
vention and celebrate what it means to be Jewish, Gross-
man said. This is a place where they can be hopeful, they
can be bold, and they can be community-builders. JNS.ORG

Cocktail Evening
of awful tragedy lurking in the back of their heads.
After spending six weeks abroad in Europe and
Israel, Ellie and Aaron are set to visit South America
in the spring before their tour of duty ends in May.
We have this global platform to run programs and
inspire Jewish teens, that the more we see whats
out there, the more were inspired to dive into
these issues and take action and get our task forces
for Healthcare Professionals
involved in whats going on around the world, Ellie,
18, of Kansas City, Mo, said.
This year especially, were so focused on the
global aspect, and incorporating people talking
In Support of
their native languages a little more, and embracing
the diversity and unique-ness in the room has really
been a focus, she said. Jewish Federation
OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
The need for Jewish connectivity also can exist in
places where you might not think such connection is
lacking. Daniel Segal, 18, a youth leader for Maccabi
Tzair, an Israel-based sister organization to BBYO,
explains that the 25 to 30 different youth movements
all cater to specific populations, except for Maccabi
Tzair, whose pluralistic nature mirrors BBYOs.
Daniel said that he started Maccabi Tzair in third Keynote SpeaKer
grade, and there he learned how to manage work-
ing with people. By eighth grade, he was not only Amir Sagie
part of a team, but the head of teams, and that posi-
tion gave me skills for life, he said. Today, he oversees
Deputy Consul General of Israel in New York
the efforts of 60 youth coordinators and 200 Maccabi
Tzair program participants from third to 12th grades.
The fact that you have many Jews [in Israel] Thursday, March 23
doesnt mean its not necessary for them to get in-
formal education after school, Daniel said.
We help them meet Judaism in a way that is Temple Emanu-El of Closter
proper to their life, where they can relate to it in a
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Make your reservations online at www.jfnnj.org/healthcare
For more information please contact arielle Kuzdral
The British delegation is on stage during BBYOs 201-820-3911 or ariellek@jfnnj.org
opening ceremony. JASON DIXSON PHOTOGRAPHY

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 41

Editorial
Saying no to
anti-Semitism
W T
hat is going on here?
All of these can
be isolated inci-
dents, all happen-
ing within the last few weeks, but
they are starting to add up.
There have been threatening
phone calls to JCCs and other Jew-
ish institutions, mainly but not
entirely in the United States. There
have been four waves of those
calls so far; twice, the Kaplen JCC
on the Palisades in Tenafly has
received one of those calls.
Thankfully, no one has been
hurt. The calls have been hoaxes
although that is perhaps the
wrong word, implying as it does
some element of teasing fun.
These calls have been cruel tricks,
designed to instill fear. They have
sent children out coatless on
unusually cold days. They have
disoriented fragile old people.
They have unnerved the com-
munity by their pointless, stupid,
unmistakable hatred.
There was vandalism in a Jew-
ish cemetery in suburban St. Louis
this week. About 180 headstones
were toppled. Again, no one was
hurt at least physically. Josh
Marshall, a journalist who created
and edits Talking Points Memo,
writes that his mother was buried
in that cemetery. She was born in
the United States, the daughter of
Jewish immigrants, lived free of
anti-Semitism but sometimes felt
guilty about that freedom, a con-
tinent away from the Holocaust,
and died young, many years ago.
He still misses her.
This barbaric and pointless van-
dalism hurts, he says.
Stones can be replaced and
the dead are dead, Mr. Marshall
writes. But it strikes hard against
something deep inside of me,
something even over the decades
still umbilically connected to her,
Jewish Editor
Joanne Palmer
Standard Associate Editor
Larry Yudelson
1086 Teaneck Road
Community Editor
Teaneck, NJ 07666
Beth Janoff Chananie
(201) 837-8818
Fax 201-833-4959 About Our Children Editor
Heidi Mae Bratt
Publisher
James L. Janoff
Associate Publisher Emerita
Marcia Garfinkle
thejewishstandard.com
42 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017
to think that this barbarity which
she was free from in her life, at
least physically, would lap up
against her in death, even in this
very, very muted way.
We live in troubled times, he
continues. Hate and barbarity
are always with us. But today they
are being granted permission to
act.
We must fight it, he adds.
It is important that we realize
that we are not the main targets
of this hate. We are not Mexican,
or Muslim, or visibly foreign. Most
although not all of us are white.
We blend. But we have to realize
that hate is alive once again not
that its ever been dead and that
we can hear its dread footsteps
shaking the earth, if we listen.
We have to listen. We cant
afford not to listen.
We dont know why President
Donald J. Trump has been so
opposed to naming and condemn-
ing anti-Semitism, giving it two
sentence fragments in a talk at the
National Museum of African Amer-
ican History and Culture. Most of
the time he does not denounce
anti-Semitism, as opposed to
intolerance in general, despite
being urged to do so by a gamut of
Jewish leaders, including not only
the ADLs Jonathan Greenblatt and
the American Jewish Committees
David Harris, to name just a few,
almost at random, but also the
ZOAs Morton Klein, who gener-
ally has been loathe to ask for such
statements from the president.
We know that forthright denun-
ciations of anti-Semitism, like
forthright denunciations of rac-
ism, misogyny, and other forms
of hatred, are necessary. Hatred
grows in the dark. Slime accumu-
lates in shadows. Lets bring it out
into the light and disinfect it. We
cant afford not to. JP
Correspondents
Warren Boroson
Lois Goldrich
Abigail K. Leichman
Miriam Rinn
Dr. Miryam Z. Wahrman
Advertising Director
Natalie D. Jay
Classified Director
Janice Rosen
KEEPING THE FAITH
Jewish law and Mideast peace
hat thorniest of all issues, the Israeli- Shulchan Aruch, he wrote, adding that Karo
Palestinian conflict, is on the front meant to adopt the amendment to the Bar Pappa
burner, so a review of Jewish law on ruling.
the subject is in order. In any case, all agree that settling the Land of
Granted, halacha is not monolithic, and it is Israel is important enough to set aside even Shab-
not closed to interpretation. Different people see bat rules.
the law differently. This is as true in this case as On the other hand, there is biblical evidence
in any other. One thing is not open to interpreta- to suggest giving up land is not so great a sin, or
tion, however: We are commanded to settle the may not be a sin at all, if the price is right. Solo-
Land of Israel all of it, not just a piece of it. mon gave 20 cities in the Galilee to Hiram, king
So important a mitzvah is this that there even of Tyre, yet the biblical text offers no condemna-
is a rabbinic ruling allowing Shabbat to be vio- tion, probably because of what he got in return:
lated in order to buy property in the Land of The building materials for Gods House and his
Israel. According to the Babylonian Talmud trac- own. (See 1 Kings 9:11.)
tate Bava Kamma 80b, a member of In the current case, trading land for
the Bar Pappa family decreed, the peace would be worth the price,
deed of sale may be written even on too, if the peace offered is a true
Shabbat. peace, one that battles terrorism
This offended other sages, who with vigor; that includes all of the
attempted an amendment by ref- states now opposed to Israel; that
erencing a ruling made by another has a system that puts peace into
sage in a different context. While it practice through such means as
is not permissible for a Jew to make trade and tourism.
the transaction on Shabbat, they Entering into this consideration
said, he or she may ask a non-Jew to Rabbi are two sins I discussed exten-
act in his or her stead. While to do Shammai sively in my January 8 column:
so in other cases violates a rabbinic Engelmayer pikuach nefesh (threat to life) and
prohibition, the mitzvah of settling shfichut damim (the needless spill-
the Land of Israel takes precedence. ing of blood). Pikuach nefesh is considered to be
That amendment failed to satisfy two of the pre-eminent in religious Judaism. Almost nothing
most authoritative codifiers of Jewish law, who not even Shabbat or the laws of kashrut takes
often take opposing views: Rabbi Joseph Karo precedence when life is threatened.
(author of the Shulchan Aruch), and Rabbi Moses Expropriating Palestinian land to build new
Isserles (the Rema, author of a halachic gloss to settlements puts the lives of the people who
Karos work). move into those settlements in danger. Almost
Ruled Karo, It is permissible to acquire a certainly violence will erupt, and blood almost
house in the Land of Israel from a non-Jew on certainly will be spilled. Thus, both pikuach
Shabbat and to sign and register it. (See Shul- nefesh and shfichut damim are halachic factors
chan Arukh, Orach Chaim, 306:11.) that must be taken into account.
The Rema agreed, but only if the document The same, obviously, is true of a one-state solu-
was written in a language other than Hebrew. tion, which carries with it the necessity of deny-
That is because writing on Shabbat in a language ing to the Palestinians living in such a state equal
other than Hebrew is only a rabbinic prohibi- status under the law. (Anything else risks having
tion, which is trumped by the biblical impera- the Palestinians become the majority and vot-
tive to settle the Land of Israel. ing Israel out of existence.) Aside from the many
This scandalized Rabbi Yechiel Epstein, author times the Torah requires that there be one law
of a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch. A for citizen and all other residents (see, especially,
grave error occurred in the printing of the Exodus 23:9 this Shabbat, and also Leviticus
19:34 and 24:22), the Torah also requires Israel
Shammai Engelmayer is the rabbi of to act morally, or risk losing its right to the land.
Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisades in Explained Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, in
Cliffside Park. commenting on several verses in Leviticus 18:
Advertising Coordinator
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Just as the people is the people of God, so is the
land, too, the land of God....The flowering of the land
is dependent on the moral flowering of the people....
It is for the fulfillment of Gods will by men of moral
purity that each seed germinates, each flower blooms,
each fruit ripens....
Hence, if the society that lives in this land subverts
the purpose of its existence by social and moral cor-
ruption, the land, too, loses the reason for its exis-
tence..., and, in that case, the land will vomit out that
society even as any organism will reject an element
that has become incompatible with it.
Finally, even if halacha would seem not to support
trading land for peace, we have the word of the Tal-
Just as the people is
the people of God,
so is the land, too,
the land of God....
The flowering of the
land is dependent on
the moral flowering
of the people....
mud that sometimes the law must be set aside in order
to protect the national interest. The consequences
of an action must always be considered. (See Rabbi
Yochanans statement regarding the destruction of the
Temple in BT Gittin 55b-56a.)
Some early rabbinic commentators suggested that
settling the Land of Israel outweighs all other com-
mandments, but our tradition does not agree. As we
recite each morning as a reminder, the study of Torah
stands above all other commandments. (See Mishnah
Peah 1:1.)
The Torah is clear on life-and-death issues. As Leviti-
cus 18:5 tells us: You shall keep My laws and My rules,
by the pursuit of which man shall live. Said the Tal-
mud, shall live by them, not die by them. (See BT
Yoma 85b, BT Sanhedrin 74a, and BT Avodah Zarah
27b, or the Mishnah in BT Makkot 23b for discussions
of and exceptions to the meaning of the verse.)
As Samson Raphael Hirsch explained, there are
grave consequences when the Torahs moral laws are
ignored: The land will vomit out that society.
The opinions expressed in this section are those of
the authors, not necessarily those
of the newspapers editors, publishers, or other
staffers. We welcome letters to the editor.
Send them to jstandardletters@gmail.com.
Opinion
A season of scenarios
J udging by the topsy-turvy nature of the Trump adminis-
trations first few weeks in office, youd think that Purim
has come early this year. Except for the fact that the
story of Purim is something of a farce, albeit one that
involves narrowly avoiding a tragedy, while the Trump presi-
dency, many of us fear, is a farce that may, or will, or already
has become a tragedy the likes of which even Shakespeare
could not have imagined.
Before looking ahead to what may come to pass, let me
begin by noting that as far back as the autumn of 2015 I started
saying that Trump was going to be our next president. This
was not an act of prophecy, I hasten to add, but rather an exer-
cise in the sort of futurism that Alvin Toffler made popular
with the publication of Future Shock back in 1970. What this
requires is a careful review of history and attention to patterns possibility of some form of poisoning, a time-honored staple
and trends of the past.
In this instance, I noticed the parallels between the reality- undoubtedly would come to mind. The more straightforward
TV-star-turned-candidate and our first (and so far only) movie
star president, Ronald Reagan. As different as
their demeanors and even their messages may
have been, both were masters of the electronic
media. For Reagan it was radio and television;
for Trump it is TV and Twitter. And both exhib-
ited that Teflon quality, whereby scandals and
accusations that would sink anyone elses politi-
cal career seemed to bounce right off them. I
was sure enough of the outcome that I bet a
colleague $100 that Trump would be our next
president, and did so at a time when it didnt Dr. Lance
Strate
even seem likely that he would gain the Repub-
lican nomination.
When I was making my prediction, some
thought it meant that I wanted Trump to win. I most certainly
did not. For me, the point was to analyze the facts objectively
and draw a logical conclusion. I stress this because now I want
to make it clear that what I think may come next is based on
the same kind of analysis. I am not absolutely certain about
this, but I do believe there is a better than average, maybe
even a good chance, that Trump will not finish his term.
I want to emphasize that I am not predicting that this will
happen. I simply am noting that there are four distinct ways in
which Donald Trump could be the first president since Nixon
to serve less than the full four years to which he was elected.
The first possibility, and the one on everyones minds, is
impeachment. It is nothing short of astounding that the pos-
sibility was being discussed even before the election took
place. I wont bother to list the many reasons why the House
of Representatives might vote to bring articles of impeach-
ment against Trump, and a trial leading to conviction and
removal from office might take place in the Senate. I only want
to note that the possibility exists now, even with Republican
majorities in both chambers, and would become even more
likely if midterm elections gave the Democrats full control of
Congress.
A second possibility is resignation. Recall that Nixon
was the last (and only) president to resign, and he did so to
avoid impeachment. Trump might follow the same course if
impeachment seems likely, or he faces some other legal action
regarding his finances. And while many believe he has the
kind of personality that would lead him to hold on and fight,
everything about him as a politician has been characterized
as unprecedented, so is it really unimaginable that he might
decide that being president isnt worth it to him, that walk-
ing out would be just like declaring a bankruptcy, and that he
could do so while pinning the blame on the media, his politi-
cal opponents, and anyone else he deems an enemy?
A third possibility is based on the fact that at the age of 70, communication and media studies at Fordham University in
he is the oldest person to move into the Oval Office, which
means that his future life expectancy is limited. It follows that Adas Emuno in Leonia.
there is a chance he might die in office, or be otherwise unable
to fulfill his responsibilities due to medical disability. Despite
claims of good health, little about his medical history has been
released to the public. Even if he has no pre-existing condi-
tions, there is no getting around the fact that he was born in
1946; as an any insurance agency would explain, its all a mat-
ter of statistical probabilities. (Im not including the possibil-
ity of incapacity due to psychological issues here, because all
but the most extreme forms of mental incapacity are difficult
to prove.)
No doubt, even if it was clear that disability or death were
due to natural causes, conspiracy theories about assassination
attempts would abound. And given the friction that seems to
exist between Trump and the intelligence community, the
for monarchies, dictatorships, and film and TV melodramas,
forms of assassination would also constitute a fourth possi-
bility. The last president to get shot was Reagan, a
little more than two months into his first term.
Gerald Ford was the victim of two assassination
attempts; both times the shooters missed.
It would be only natural to assume that any
attempt on Trumps life would come from
someone on the left, or perhaps an angry
Muslim or Mexican. But I think it might well
come from one of those alt-right types or Sec-
ond Amendment people that Trump has been
courting throughout his campaign and first
weeks in office. If he doesnt come through on
the promises he made to them, or that they
think he made to them, we can only imagine
the kind of anger that a sense of betrayal would produce in
extremists of that sort. As the prophet Hosea observed, they
that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind.
I want to stress that I am not wishing for any of these out-
comes, and certainly not advocating for them. Any one of
them would constitute a national trauma, and leave the
United States even more divided into hostile camps than ever
before. And after all, wouldnt it be better still if Mr. Trump
had a change of heart, and mind, and became the kind of
president we all would hope for?
For this reason, let me outline a fifth scenario, and lets call
it a Purim scenario, with Trump in the role of the foolish king,
Ahashverosh. We have some good candidates for the part of
Haman in his administration, most notably in his senior coun-
selor, Steve Bannon. Melania Trump has pulled a Vashti by not
joining her husband at the White House. To select a replace-
ment, Ahashverosh held what is sometimes considered the
very first beauty pageant Trump has had a long history with
such events but if anyone can play the role of Esther in this
scenario, it would be his daughter Ivanka, a Jew by choice,
who has been acting as a de facto first lady. Trump actually
has said that he would want to date Ivanka if she wasnt his
daughter, and some find these and other comments hes
made about her creepy, but then again the traditional Purim
story does not quite fit modern standards of propriety when
it comes to attitudes toward women.
The important point is that Ivanka is known to be a moder-
ating, even progressive influence on her father, and she is in
the perfect position to play the role of savior in the manner of
Queen Esther. All we need now is a Mordecai to help to moti-
vate her. With Purim almost upon us, hope (and hopefully
humor) springs eternal.
Dr. Lance Strate of Palisades Park is a professor of
the Bronx, and the president of his synagogue, Congregation
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 43
Opinion

I am woman, hear me roar (against sharia law)

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an pretend
Cause Ive heard it all before
And Ive been down there on the floor
No ones ever gonna keep me down again
Oh yes, I am wise
But its wisdom born of pain
Yes, Ive paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman
I Am Woman by Ray Burton
and Helen Reddy
marrying Don Hollinger, her ever-present
fianc. Finally, women had real choices.
Someone once said, Culture is the mem-
ory of the food you ate when you were very
young. For most girls growing up then,
freedom to live our own lives and be what-
ever we wanted to be was the food we were
nurtured on. We embraced the fact that
each girls future was dependent on only
one person herself.
This thought came to me as I marveled
at the tremendous numbers of women and
their families who showed up across our
country and the world at the Womens
March on January 21. And though there has
been much discussion from all kinds of
media outlets about what this march really
strong supporter of Keith Elli-
son as chair of the Democratic
National Committee. She also
was an Obama White House
champion of change. What
is not so well known, how-
ever, is that she is a champion
of sharia.
My first memory of hear-
ing the term sharia law was Martha
in 1989. On Valentines Day, Cohen
the Ayatollah Khomeni of Iran
declared a religious edict, known as a fatwa,
demanding that death be imposed on the
author Salman Rushdie and all involved
with his book The Satanic Verses, for its
perceived blasphemy against Islam. What
apartment in Milan. And that
was not all. William Nygaard,
the novels Norwegian pub-
lisher, was shot three times
in the back and left for dead
outside his Oslo home, Hitch-
ens wrote. The fatwa is still in
force today, although it is said
not to be actively supported
but no one really knows.
What was perplexing for
many of us at the time was
that there didnt seem to be any tremen-
dous outcry against this fatwa by the world
community. Shock, yes. A chill in the air,
definitely. However, I dont recall any ral-
lies, and there was definitely no sustained

N
o one who was living in the
1970s can forget this song, the
way Helen Reddy sang it, and
the impact it had on the young
girls who heard it.
It was an anthem, something that dove-
tailed perfectly with Mary Richards (aka
Mary Tyler Moore), who we watched launch
a successful career as a single woman. Or
Anne (aka Marlo Thomas) living alone
in New York City and having the audac-
ity to end her series, That Girl, without
meant and what will happen in the future,
it delivered one message that no one can
deny. Women are empowered and deter-
mined to keep it that way.
Helen Reddy was right. No ones ever
gonna keep me down again. No, never.
And so I was filled with great sadness
and trepidation when I saw that one of the
marchs key organizers was Linda Sarsour.
Some of you may recognize Sarsour as the
executive director of the Arab American
Association of New York, as a surrogate
for the Bernie Sanders campaign, and as a
most of us recall is Mr. Rushdie going into
hiding for many years, only seen on rare
occasions, with bodyguards in tow. What
many people do not know is the fate of oth-
ers who were involved with the publication
of his novel.
According to a piece in Vanity Fair by
the late Christopher Hitchens, in addition
to Iranian attempts on Rushdies life over
the years, Hitoshi Igarashi, the novels Japa-
nese translator, was stabbed to death on the
campus where he taught. The novels Italian
translator, Ettore Cariolo, was knifed in his
movement decrying this evil measure,
focused on killing those whom the ayatol-
lah deemed unfit. After all, Rushdie was no
warlord but a writer of fiction.
Since that time, we have become increas-
ingly familiar with the impact of sharia
law, especially when it comes to killings
of women who shamed the family honor
by simply living their own lives. Remem-
ber Noor Almaleki? Her father intention-
ally killed his daughter in Arizona in 2009
because she had become too Western-
ized, he said, and brought disrespect to

The gifting winds of change

R
ecently, my wife and I spent
a wonderful Sunday attend-
ing a conference sponsored by
the Jewish Orthodox Feminist
Alliance.
It was a long day that began with a 9 a.m.
plenary and lasted until 5:30, when the sixth
session concluded. It was chock full of pre-
sentations on, for example, womens Torah
learning, ordination and leadership roles,
agunah, conversion, mental illness, sexual
abuse and Women of the Wall. And thats just
what was offered in the first of the six equally
diverse time slots.
This wasnt the first JOFA conference
we attended. Nineteen years ago we spent
Presidents Weekend at the Second Interna-
tional Conference on Feminism and Ortho-
doxy, sponsored by JOFA, Drisha, Ohr
Torah/Midreshet Lindenbaum, (the late and
lamented) Edah and the Womens Tefillah
Network. (Historical aside: the First Interna-
tional Conference on Feminism and Ortho-
doxy, held the year before, was not spon-
sored by JOFA because it was that conference
that led to JOFAs creation.)
I was quite moved by the 1998 confer-
ence and wrote an article about it called
An Orthodox Jewish Feminist. Unfor-
tunately, I couldnt get it published not
even in the Jewish Standard (with a differ-
ent editor). Rereading it this year, I found
some interesting comparisons and contrasts
between then and now.
For example, while nine speakers made
presentations at both conferences, by 2017
one of the female speakers sported the title
of rav and another of rabbi. Sadly, a num-
ber of 1998 speakers have gone to their
eternal reward. In this regard I note princi-
pally, but not exclusively, the serious loss of
Rivkah Houpt, Belda Kaufman Lindenbaum,
Shaindy Rudoff, Honey Rackman, and espe-
cially R. Emanuel Rackman, who I referred to
in my unpublished article as the grand elder
statesman of Modern Orthodoxy. Our com-
munity deeply misses them.
Others have changed roles. Blu Greenberg,
who as president of JOFA chaired the earlier
conference, now bears the title of founding
president. She was acclaimed at the opening
plenary as the dreamer who laid the ground-
work for the Orthodox feminist movement,
lauded as someone whose moral leadership,
tenacity and gentle chutzpah have shattered
the traditional limits for women and created
undreamed of possibilities, and honored
with the presentation of a scholarly Fest-
schrift. (In addition to all of Blus wonderful
contributions to Orthodox feminism, she was
my babysitter back in our early Far Rockaway
years, and Im honored that weve remained ference in many ways. Thirteen women with
friends ever since.)
Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus, a speaker at the
closing plenary on Feminism There also were wonderful pre-
as Tikkun Olam 19 years ago, sentations on women rabbis (a
now is president of JOFA. And delightful neologism), both in
other earlier presenters, like a stirring presentation at the
R. Yitz Greenberg and Esther plenary by Rabbi Lila Kage-
Krauss, were simply attendees dan, the first woman to use the
this time, sitting in the audi- title rabbi as a member of the
ence among many who most clergy in a modern Orthodox
likely had no idea how impor- synagogue, and an eye-open-
tant to the Orthodox feminist Joseph C. ing scholarly session on Past
movement their neighbor was. Kaplan as Prologue: Ordaining Women
Some of the sessions this Rabbis and Their Discontents
year focused on topics that simply werent led by Dr. Pamela Nadell and R. Dr. Zev Eleff.
on anyones agenda in 1998, primarily Yael (21st century aside: Dr. Eleff was one of five
Ukeles and R. David Bigmans very personal virtual friends I finally was able to meet and
exploration of When Plan B Becomes Awe- chat with in person at the conference.)
some: Jewish Single Motherhood by Choice. But even more touching than the speakers
And two other sessions discussed Orthodoxy and presentations was the unscripted and
from a 21st-century vantage point Drs. Syl- moving moment during the plenary, when
via Barack Fishmans and Jerome Chaness one speaker asked all the women in the room
academic yet engaging and impressionistic who had ordination or were studying for the
analysis of Somewhere A Place for Us? Per- rabbinate to stand. More than 20 women,
sonal, Societal, and Institutional Changes for stood to thunderous applause.
Orthodox Women in America and Israel, In light of the recent unfair, poorly thought
and an exciting SRO discussion among Dr. out, and unnecessary paper issued by a
Yehuda Kurtzer, Dena Weiss, R. Shmuel Hain, seven-man rabbinical panel declaring women
and R. Ethan Tucker on Blurred Boundaries: rabbis beyond the pale in Orthodoxy, and
Post Orthodoxy. giving an at best lukewarm endorsement of
Ordination was a major topic at the con- yoatzot halacha, it was heartwarming to hear
R. Herzl Hefter, the founder and rosh beit
some type of ordination and title (rabbi, midrash of the Harel Beit Midrash in Jeru-
rabba, maharat etc.) were listed as speakers. salem, gently correct someone who asked

44 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017

 Opinion

the family. He now is serving time. Or the
2008 murders of Anna and Sarah Said,
Texas teens who were shot many times by
their father because they would not agree
to forced marriages. This case is still open,
because their father left their lifeless bodies
in a car and ran.
And what about the case cited in Sar-
sours 2012 CNN piece, called My Hijab
is My Hoodie? Sarsour asserted that the
murder of Shaima Alawadi in San Diego
that same year was a result of Islamopho-
bia. However, the facts found that her hus-
band killed her after finding out that she
was going to divorce him. He is now serving
a 26-years-to-life sentence.
And what about female genital mutila-
tion? This is when a girls clitoris is cut so
that she cannot have any sexual pleasure in
order to keep her honor. Though the figures
are not completely reliable, because of the
sensitivity of the subject, this heinous ritual
is happening in America. It even was dra-
matized in an episode of Law and Order.
Sarsour is not only a supporter but a
cheerleader of sharia. One tweet from
2015 says, Youll know when youre living
under Sharia Law if suddenly all your loans
& credit cards become interest free. Sounds
nice, doesnt it? Another interesting tweet
from 2014 seems to imply that following
sharia is simply about following a certain
diet. @RobertWildiris I dont drink alco-
hol, dont eat pork, I follow Islamic way of
living. Thats all Sharia law is.
Yet she avoids mentioning the basic fact
that women are not free under sharia. Dis-
sent is not tolerated. Women are not even
allowed to leave their house unaccompa-
nied by a male family member. It is not
about a diet, loans, or credit, it is about the
subjugation of women. As Pakistan-based
journalist Khadija Khan writes, How come
she forgot to mention that in Saudi Arabia
and many other Muslim states, her kind of
activism would cost a woman her family,
her honor and probably her life?
And dont think that Sarsour believes in
civility toward those with whom she dis-
agrees. A particularly cruel tweet focused
on Brigitte Gabriel and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, both Helen Reddy in 1973
fighters for freedom and against sharia.
Sarsours desire? I wish I could take their why a march dedicated to the empower- And why not a womans rally against
vaginas away they dont deserve to be ment of women would embrace a woman honor killings and female genital mutila-
women. For those who dont know, Ayaan who believes in and is actively working to tion? As Helen sang, I am woman, hear me
is a victim of female genital mutilation. Defi- subjugate them to the men in the world. Lets roar.
nitely no sisterhood here. debate those like Sarsour, but lets not lend
Ive been down there on the floor, no them the spotlight in events that are antitheti- Martha Cohen is an award-winning
ones ever gonna keep me down again. This cal to their mission so they can fool the unin- producer and creative executive. She lives in
lyric keeps ringing in my ears as I ponder formed in an effort to return to the Dark Ages. Fort Lee with her husband and son.

about his ordination of women. I dont ordain women,

he said. I ordain people.
And one personal note. At these types of conferences
I always loved meeting friends I hadnt seen for a long
time. That didnt seem to be the case for me at this one
until the lunch break, when I saw a female friend I had
known in college. We were having a lovely chat when
another female friend, this one from high school, joined
us. Then the high school friend, who obviously knew the
college one, turned and asked her with some surprise:
How do you know Joseph? I jumped in and answered:
I know you the same way. I went out with both of you!
Ah, to feel young again. (My wife of almost 47 years and
my children approved this story.)
I began my earlier essay by noting that at Jewish
gatherings where participants introduce themselves,
I would often describe myself, with a certain existen-
tial loneliness, as an Orthodox Jewish feminist. I wrote,
though, that after that first conference, I will continue to
describe myself as an Orthodox Jewish feminist. But now
I wont feel so alone.
In 2017, however, I know that not only am I not
alone, but I also am part of a movement that is grow-
ing larger and stronger and having a positive impact
on the lives of thousands of women and men by
expanding the role of Orthodox women in ritual,
Torah learning, and leadership roles. Its a brave new
world were living in, and I pray it will even be braver
for our children and grandchildren.
Joseph C. Kaplan, a regular contributor, has been living in
Teaneck and practicing law in Manhattan for many years.
Letter
Senator Robert Menendez true
friend of Israel, Jewish community
A recent op-ed by Carolyn Glick in the Jerusalem Post levied
erroneous accusations of anti-Semitism against Senator Rob-
ert Menendez (D-N.J.) during the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee hearing on the nomination of David Friedman.
These accusatory remarks, based on a question of Friedmans
adherence to his prospective duties as ambassador, are gross
distortions of Senator Menendezs stance on Israel and his
relationship with his Jewish constituency.
The senator was questioning whether Mr. Friedman, who is
personally passionate about a particular issue Israel would
be able to make the transition from private citizen-advocate to
an official representative of the United States government. In
policy making and diplomacy for any issue, personal passions
must often be put aside.
Senator Menendez has a long history as one of the staunch-
est supporters of the Jewish community and the state of Israel.
He was among the first members of his party to publicly
denounce the 2015 Iran deal, a deal that Ms. Glick also lam-
basted, and he has been either the author or a leading sponsor
on almost all bipartisan pro-Israel legislation. He has regularly
fought to promote the safety and security of Israel, even at
times against his own party leadership, which entailed signifi-
cant personal risk and cost. The largest Jewish newspaper in
Bergen County appropriately labeled Senator Menendez the
Father of the Iron Dome. In battles large and small, he has
fought for Israel as the one true democracy in a sea of autoc-
racy, to use a phrase he often favors.
Senator Menendez speaks out, constantly and consistently,
in public and privately with foreign and domestic leaders,
against discrimination aimed at Jews and in favor of support
for our ally Israel. Hes been a fierce critic of BDS and of anti-
Semitism in Europe, the Middle East, and on college cam-
puses right here at home.
In my personal capacity as the national president of Nor-
pac, and as a board member of many major Jewish organiza-
tions, I have found no stronger and consistent advocate on our
issues than Senator Robert Menendez.
We must take care about against whom, and when, we
level accusations of anti-Semitism. This accusation is care-
less, improper, and hurtful against someone who has been
a champion on U.S.-Israel relations. In a different gener-
ation, someone like Robert Menendez certainly would
merit a place among the Righteous Among the Nations
at Yad Vashem.
I respect Carolyn Glick. We met when I chaired a dinner at
the ZOA when she was honored. While she is usually on tar-
get, on this matter she was incorrect and owes the senator and
her readers an apology.
Ben Chouake, M.D.
Englewood
National president, Norpac
(Norpac is Americas largest pro-Israel political action committee.)

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 45

Opinion

Trump-Netanyahu meeting shatters

Palestine First regional peacemaking strategy

T
he morning after
Israeli Prime Minis-
ter Benjamin Netan-
yahus first official
meeting with President Donald
J. Trump last week, many head-
lines proclaimed that the two-
state solution whereby an inde-
pendent, sovereign Palestinian
state would be created alongside Ben Cohen
the state of Israel within agreed
and final borders was if not
quite dead, fast approaching deaths door.
I want to suggest that those who interpret the outcome
of the Trump-Bibi meeting in that manner should dig a little
deeper.
There is something of a revolution in thinking and approach
going on, and whats being overturned is what you might call
the Palestine First strategy of regional peacemaking. But
that doesnt have to mean that a solution involving Palestin-
ian sovereignty has been extinguished.
The idea of Palestine First was rooted in the mid 1960s,
just before the Six-Day War, when Yasser Arafat and his com-
rades in the Fatah movement took over the Palestine Lib-
eration Organization. Until that point, the PLO had been an
instrument of the Arab League. By asserting Palestinian inde-
pendence from Arab collective decision-making, Arafat set the
stage for a violent struggle against Israel in the name of Pales-
tinian return, and full sovereignty from the Mediterranean
Sea to the Jordan River.
It took thousands of deaths and several bitter wars for Ara- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald J. Trump at the White House on February 15.
fat to realize that his armed struggle was doomed to failure. AVI OHAYON/GPO

In 1990, the Palestine First strategy took a heavy blow when

Saddam Husseins Baathist regime in Iraq invaded Kuwaitan
intra-Arab dispute suddenly toppled the Palestinian issue in
the hierarchy of Arab priorities. Following the First Gulf War,
Israels representatives met face to face with the Arab states
and the PLO in Madrid, launching a lengthy, inconclusive
peace process.
In parallel, however, the Palestine First strategy was res-
urrected when the Norwegian government opened a secret
channel between the Israelis and the PLO, resulting in the
1994 GazaJericho Agreement a follow-up treaty to the 1993
Oslo Accords which created the Palestinian Authority and
was designed to set the Palestinians on the road to full state-
hood. More than 20 years and one brutal civil war later, the
Palestinians still are ruled by a divided leadership and do not
live in a unified state.
That period includes, of course, the eight years in which
President Barack Obama was in office. In marked contrast to
his predecessor, George W. Bush, Obama elevated the Pales-
tinian issue to the center of Middle East politics, further antag-
onizing Israel by rehabilitating Iran, which explicitly seeks
the elimination of the Jewish state, as an international actor
through the 2015 nuclear deal. But neither Obama nor sec-
retaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry could deliver
on Palestinian statehood, and the Palestinian leadership
embarked on an international campaign to seek unilateral
recognition of their independence in various United Nations
and international agencies.
That embittered and failed strategy, which saw Palestinian
Palestine First
never meant simply
that the Palestinians
should rank at the top
of the Middle Easts
myriad national and
religious struggles.
evidenced on a minute-by-minute basis in Palestinian school
textbooks, on Palestinian TV, and across the internet.
This is the environment that Trump walked into when
he became president. Were Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) or
Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), or Hillary Clinton, in the White House,
Id wager that they all would conclude as Trump has, in the
language that makes the most sense to him that the cur-
rent version of the Palestine First playbook should be tossed
aside. Im looking at two states and one state, and I like the
one that both parties like. I can live with either one, Trump
said on February 15.
Palestine First never meant simply that the Palestinians
should rank at the top of the Middle Easts myriad national
The Middle East has gone through several extraordinary
transformations in the last 20 years, whose cumulative
effect has been to question whether the state system in the
region as it today even can survive. Nobody can seriously
make the argument that creating a Palestinian state in this
context would be a boon for peace, either with Israel or
more broadly. Nobody save, perhaps, for a racist could
argue that the Palestinian birth rate poses a greater threat to
Israels existence than do Iran and its Hezbollah ally in Syria
and Lebanon. Nobody can make the moral or strategic case
that resolving the question of Palestinian independence is of
greater import than, say, that of Kurdish independence, or
the profound lack of religious freedom, or the crying need
to generate economic and educational opportunities for the
youth of the Arab world.
The regional approach to peacemaking outlined by
Trump and Netanyahu, grounded in a partnership between
Israel and the Sunni Arab states, is foremost recognition that
there are grave problems that run across the borders cre-
ated in the aftermath of World War I. If Israel is to achieve
peace with the Palestinians, and if the Palestinians finally
are to turn their Authority into something resembling a
functional, accountable state, then those Arab states that
are yet to make their own peace with Israel have to lead the
way. Doing so will finally unravel the illusion that, just by
existing, Israel is the source of the regions crisis.
Should that moment arrive, I hope that everyoneArabs
and Jews alikewill find it liberating. JNS.ORG

representatives verbally assaulting the historical and religious
connections of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and the land
of Israel, is the principal memory of the Obama years when
it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian dimension of the regions
many conflicts. It didnt deliver for anybody, and served
only to deepen Israeli fears of Palestinian eliminationism, as
and religious struggles. In addition, it meant acknowledging
that the absence of full Palestinian sovereignty, and the unful-
filled demand for the return of all the Arab refugees of the
1948 war and their descendants, lay at the heart of the regions
ills. It is that assumption that was so dramatically exploded by
the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu.
Ben Cohen, senior editor of TheTower.org and the Tower
magazine, writes a weekly column on Jewish affairs and Middle
Eastern politics. His work has been published in Commentary,
the New York Post, Haaretz, the Wall Street Journal, and many
other publications.

46 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017


Mishpatim: Discerning justice
P
arshat Mishpatim
blesses us with
the power of dis-
cernment, as we
attempt to live our lives in
balance with Divine justice
and love. We are blessed with
the holy task of being pres-
ent, vigilant, and kind, that
our actions might be in agree- Rabbi
ment with the vision of whole- Shefa Gold
ness and connection that we Jewish Renewal
received at Sinai.
We embark upon this holy
task in the context of the value system of our tance of staying alert and aware of the con-
particular culture, time, and place. The Torah sequences of ones actions. Every word and
gives us an example of a people struggling to
express a loving and exacting justice in their welfare of the whole must be considered.
world. In order to follow the example of our
ancestors, we must discern the principles of
justice and apply them in our own lives and
in our own world. For instance:
If you take a neighbors garment as a
pledge, you must restore it to him before
nightfall because thats his only covering
and where is he going to sleep? When he
cries to me I will hear, for I am gracious.
(Exodus 22:25-26)
In other words, kindness supersedes the
rules of property. Empathy for the neigh-
bor who might shiver through a cold night
is what is really important. We are given the
assignment of being Gods ears as we listen
for and respond to the cries of the poor and
BRIEFS
Orthodox reporter
seated by Trump
During a contentious press conference
at the White House last week, President
Donald Trump told an Orthodox reporter
to sit down after the reporter asked a
question about the uptick in anti-Semitism
across America.
Jake Turx, from Ami Magazine,
responded to Trumps call for a friendly
question by saying that nobody in his
community has accused you or anyone
on your staff of being anti-Semitic and
that we understand that you have Jew-
ish grandchildren, you are their zayde
(grandfather).
What we are concerned about and what
we havent really heard being addressed is
an uptick in anti-Semitism and how the
government is planning to take care of it,
Turx continued, referring to recent inci-
dents such as bomb threats at JCCs.
Trump interrupted Turx and accused
the reporter of being dishonest and
insulting.
See, he said he was going to ask a very
simple, easy question, and its not....Not a
Dvar Torah
oppressed. Whenever we
resort to the logic of whats
mine is mine, God reminds
us that All the Earth is Mine.
Mishpat is usually trans-
lated as rule, judgment, or
ordinance. When I encoun-
ter this word, I understand it
as impeccability. When the
Toltec Shaman, Don Juan,
cautions Carlos Castaneda
that he must be impeccable,
he is trying to impress upon
his student the utmost impor-
deed ripples out to affect the whole so the
This consideration extends through time
as well as space. How will my actions benefit
or harm generations to come?
We are blessed with the responsibility of
being scrupulous with what we consume,
what we waste, and how our lives impact
the planet. This responsibility helps us to
stay awake and aware of our potential to
destroy as well as create. Mishpatim strips
us of any excuses for cruelty or apathy. Even
our enemy may count on our help when she
is in need.
When a mitzvah is repeated in the Torah,
its a sign to pay close attention. When it is
repeated 36 times, we know that not only
is that mitzvah important; but it stands as
simple question. Not a fair question. Okay,
sit down. I understand the rest of your
question, Trump said, before calling him-
self the least anti-Semitic person that you
have ever seen in your entire life.
When Turx attempted to interrupt the
president, Trump told him to be quiet.
You should take that instead of getting
up and asking a very insulting question,
he said.  JNS.ORG
Netanyahu declares
pivot to Asia during
Singapore visit
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan-
yahu said that Israel is pivoting toward
Asia during an official visit to Singapore.
Netanyahu enjoyed a state dinner Mon-
day with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong. Both leaders praised the
nations strong bonds and similarities. Lee
talked about Israels assistance in build-
ing Singapores armed forces, and said his
country believes a two-state solution is the
only way to achieve peace between Israel
and the Palestinians.
a central spiritual challenge on our jour-
ney. We are commanded not to wrong or
oppress the stranger. This mitzvah appears
twice in Mishpatim. The first time we see
this commandment we are charged to keep
it because we ourselves were once strangers
in the land of Egypt.
This reasoning does not quite hold.
Those who suffer oppression often them-
selves go on to oppress others. Whatever
hurt I suffer becomes the source of my
destructive powers. The wound that is
layered over with scar tissue makes me
insensitive to the suffering of others. To
acknowledge the pain of others, I would
once again have to feel my own.
Parents who abuse their children have
most likely been abused themselves. The
chain of suffering continues. Each subse-
quent generation seeks revenge for the mis-
fortune it has endured. We inherit the myth
of good guys and bad guys so that we
know exactly who to blame. The stranger in
our midst is always a likely target. We are
caught in this cycle of oppression in which
our suffering festers and grows inside us,
becoming a weapon of continued blame
and retribution. Yet the spiritual challenge
remains: How can I transform my suffering
into compassion for the stranger?
We receive this commandment again in
the very next chapter; this time it comes
with further clarification. Do not oppress
the stranger, for you know the soul of the
Israel is pivoting toward Asia in a very
clear and purposeful way, Netanyahu,
who was making the first visit to Singapore
by an Israeli prime minister, told Lee at the
state dinner. Next month Ill go to China;
somewhat later this year Prime Minister
[Narendra] Modi of India will come to visit
Israel. Perfectly poised between China and
India is Singapore, and Im not [saying
this] merely in the geographic sense, Im
saying that as a gateway to Asia, Singapore
is a perfect partner.
In the past, Israeli-Singaporean relations
were relatively discreet, partly due to Sin-
gapores large Muslim population. Netan-
yahus visit, therefore, marks a significant
warming of relations between the coun-
tries.  JNS.ORG
New app helps
Jewish students find
roommates who meet
their needs, interests
The Jewish pluralistic teen movement
BBYO introduced a mobile app to help
Jewish high school seniors and college
stranger, for you too were strangers in the
land of Egypt.
The clarifying phrase ve-atem yedatem
et nefesh ha-ger (for you know the soul of
the stranger) gives me the key to the door
of compassion. The verb yada (to know),
signifies intimacy. When I encounter the
stranger, I am commanded to know her
soul, to step inside her skin, to see that his
pain, his joy, is not different than my own.
This moment of knowing breaks the chain
of oppression.
When I encounter the suffering of the
stranger it can be an opportunity for me to
approach and begin to heal the place inside
myself that remembers suffering. From
that place of newfound wholeness I can
then work for justice and become a healer
of the worlds pain. The secret ingredient is
profound connection with the other. Gazing
into the soul of the stranger, compassion is
born. This compassion embraces your own
suffering as well as the strangers. Remem-
bering what it was like to be the stranger,
the spiritual challenge is to let your heart
open first in compassion for yourself, and
then expand to encompass the reality of the
stranger who stands before you.
Rabbi Shefa Gold, a native of Paramus,
now lives in New Mexico. She is the
author of Torah Journeys: The Inner
Path to the Promised Land, from which
this is adapted.
students find roommates.
Joomie which was launched during
the BBYO International Convention in
Dallas last weekend prompts users to
answer questions on their Jewish youth
group affiliations, levels of Shabbat and
kashrut observance, music preferences,
sleeping habits, and more. After answer-
ing the questions, students can see profiles
of other users who have downloaded the
app, are planning to go to or already are
at the same institution, and might match
their needs and interests.
We believe that usage of Joomie will
help facilitate the transition to college for
many students, and ultimately promote a
greater engagement in Jewish life in cam-
puses across North America, Matt Gross-
man, BBYOs CEO, said.
The idea for the app was formulated
during a hackathon sponsored by the
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family
Foundations ROI Community, in which
teenagers brainstormed ways to use tech-
nology to connect with BBYO or summer
camp friends while they transition to col-
lege. Joomie can be downloaded in the
Apple app store or Google Play.  JNS.ORG
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 47
Rockland
Film Festival
from page 18
On the Map
March 15, 7:30 p.m., at Regal Cinemas
Directed by Dani Menkin
Hudson Valley Premiere Israel 2016
Documentary 78 Minutes
Still demoralized after the 1973 Yom Kip-
pur War, Israel was hungry for something
good to happen. On The Map is a fast-
moving, emotional, and awe-inspiring
documentary, telling the story of the 1977
Maccabee Tel-Aviv basketball team, the
one that that toppled the four-time defend-
ing European championship Soviet team,
brought the first European Cup to Israel,
and became The Team of the Nation.
Featuring interviews with the Jewish-
American athletes who made history, com-
bined with the pulse-pounding action of a
high-stakes game, the film captures the
spirit of a nation triumphant and victori-
ous against all odds.
The Law
March 19, 7:30 p.m.,
at the Lafayette Theater
Directed by Christian Faure
Hudson Valley Premiere
France 2015 Feature 90 minutes
The art of legislative deal-making becomes
riveting political drama in The Law, the
true story of Simon Veil, who survived
Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen to become
the first elected president of the European
Parliament. She is seen leading the impos-
sible struggle as health minister in 1975 to
legalize abortion on behalf of all French
women suffering and dying from back-
alley procedures. Tirelessly addressing and
balancing demands from the many oppo-
sition parties, the Catholic Church, and
even factions in her own party, she refuses
to be distracted by stinging personal and
anti-Semitic attacks. The unflappable Veil
will not let this landmark opportunity for
justice for women slip away. In memory of
Congressman Ben Gillman
Cloudy Sunday
March 20, 7:30 p.m., at the Regal Cinemas
Directed by Manoussos Manoussakis
Hudson Valley Premiere
Greece, 2016 Feature 116 minutes
Winner of three Hellenic Film Festival
and two Italian Film Festival awards
Based on the book Ouzeri Tsitsanis,
Cloudy Sunday portrays the destruction
of the vibrant 500-year-old Jewish com-
munity of Thessaloniki during the brutal
German occupation of Greece. A love story
and the early years of one of the greatest
Greek composer/ librettist/singers of the
20th century, Vasilis Tsitsanis, deepen the
story. In fact the title refers to his beloved
classic Synnefisameni Kyriaki, one of the
songs featured in the film, and the Resis-
tance anthem in WWII. In the small tavern
where Vasilis performs, German officers,
Greek collaborators, black marketeers,
and undercover Resistance fighters min-
gle. Giorgos, Vassilis young brother-in-law,
48 Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017
is secretly a radio operator in the Greek
Resistance. After a beautiful Jewish girl is
assigned to be his assistant, their forbid-
den love blooms. But the persistent hunt
for the Jews inexorably spreads and sud-
denly simple choices become life-and-
death decisions.
Fever at Dawn
March 21, 7:30 p.m., Regal Cinemas,
and again at 7:30 p.m. on March 28
Directed by Pter Grdos Hudson Valley
Premiere Hungary, 2016 Feature
110 minutes
Based on the novel, Fever at Dawn is a
life-affirming story of love against all odds
set against the backdrop of the immediate
post-Holocaust world. The characters are
Jewish concentration camp survivors with
fresh mental and physical wounds. But
they do not let these wounds define them.
In 1945, after having been freed from Ber-
gen-Belsen, Miklos, a 25-year-old Hungar-
ian man, is being treated at a Swedish hos-
pital with many other Holocaust survivors.
The doctors diagnose him with a severe
lung disease and tell him that he has
no more than six months to live. But he
refuses to give up. He wants to find a wife
with whom he can start a new life, and
sends letters to 117 Hungarian girls who are
also being treated in Sweden. One of the
girls is 19-year-old Lili, who likes Mikloss
letter, and they start corresponding.
Moos
March 22, 7:30 p.m., at Regal Cinemas
Directed by Job Gosschalk
Hudson Valley Premiere
Netherlands, 2016 Feature 91 minutes
After her mothers death, a young girl
named Moos stays home to take care of
her father instead of following her dream
of acting school. Moos is an inspiring
story of a young Jewish womans search
to find her voice. Its about friendship,
laughter, love, and over-devotion to fam-
ily. Its Chanukah evening and everything
is just the same as its always been for
Moos. But when her longtime childhood
friend Sam surprises her by returning
from Israel to live again in Holland, Moos
gets the jolt she needs to examine her
life and the choices shes made. So she
begins, with comic, romantic, hectic, and
poignant results.
Wunderkinder and Ed France/Belgium, 2016
March 26, 7:30 p.m., Lafayette Theater
Wunderkinder: Directed by Marcus O.
Rosenmller Hudson Valley Premiere
Germany, 2011 Feature 96 minutes
Winner of eight film festival best film
awards
Set in Ukraine in 1941, this World War II
drama from the producers of Europa,
Europa tells the story of three children
brought together by their love of music,
and torn apart by a world gone mad.
Siblings Abrascha and Larissa Brodsky
are Jewish musical wunderkinder (child
A scene from Abulele.
prodigies) living in Ukraine under Rus-
sian rule. They befriend a young German
girl, Hannah Reich, and the three become
inseparable friends. Their world is one of
curiosity, joy and talent. When Germany
declares war on the Soviet Union, the Jew-
ish Brodskys help the German Reich fam-
ily to hide. Quickly, though, the German
Army arrives in town, and now its the turn
of the Reich family to try to save their Jew-
ish friends. Due to the insanity of grown-
ups, at home and abroad, the childrens
world is turned upside down.
Ed: Directed by Marcus O. Rosenmller ing scene, his daughter Julies bat mitz-
Hudson Valley Premiere USA, 2016
Documentary 12 minutes
Ed is a film about Rocklands Edward
Simons violinist, violin teacher, conduc-
tor, and inspiration. Ed, who is 100 years
old, wakens with a vitality driven by his
passion for music. He played violin in the
Pittsburgh Symphony, was conductor of
the American Ballet Theater, and had a
long career conducting on Broadway. Sixty
four years ago he founded the Rockland
Symphony Orchestra, for which he is still
music director and conductor. He helped
establish the Community Music School,
now the Rockland Conservatory of Music.
Fannys Journey
March 28 at 7:30 p.m. and again at April 5
at 1:30 p.m. at Regal Cinemas
Directed by Lola Doillon
Hudson Valley Premiere
Feature 94 minutes
A group of Jewish youngsters flee Nazi-
occupied France and Italy in the inspired-
by-fact WWII poignant drama Fannys
Journey. A beautifully shot and acted
period piece, the film is a tale of bravery,
strength, and survival. In 1943, 13-year old
Fanny and her younger sisters were sent
from their home in France to an Italian
foster home for Jewish children. When
the Nazis arrive in Italy, their caretakers
desperately organize the departure of the
children to Switzerland. Suddenly left on
their own, Fanny is instructed, If you are
scared, pretend otherwise for the sake of
the others. These 11 children will do the
impossible to reach the Swiss border in
order to survive.
The Pickle Recipe
March 29, 1:30 p.m., at Regal Cinemas
Directed by Michael Mannaseri
Hudson Valley Premiere USA 2016
Documentary 97 minutes
Joey is a divorced father and king of Detroit
party MCs on the wedding and bar mitz-
vah circuit. He loses his sound equipment
in a freak accident in the movies open-
vah is only weeks away, and shes count-
ing on him to MC her party. With no other
options, Joey turns to his shady Uncle
Morty, who agrees to give him the money
on one condition he must steal his
grandmother Roses top secret dill pickle
recipe. Responsible for the success of the
deli she started with her late husband, its
a recipe that she has vowed to take to her
grave. But she has a soft spot for Joey, so
the game is afoot.
Fire Birds
March 29, 7:30 p.m., at Regal Cinemas
Directed by Amir I. Wolf
Hudson Valley Premiere Israel 2016
Feature 105 minutes
Nominated for 10 Ophir awards,
won for best supporting actress
The Fire Birds is a murder mystery
that enticingly entwines past and pres-
ent with a smart mix of humor, charm
and melancholy. When the body of
an 80-year-old man is found with stab
wounds and a number tattooed on his
forearm, the case is assigned to a down-
on-his-luck Israeli detective who has
returned to duty after a lengthy suspen-
sion. The investigation leads him to a tat-
too parlor and a club of Holocaust survi-
vors with a zest for life, who seek solace
in romantic recollections of their prewar
world. As the plot rewinds through the
victims final months, a story of deadly
dalliances, desire, loneliness and rejec-
tion emerges.

If I Forget
tackles tough questions about heritage
Miriam Rinn
S
teven Levensons Jewish family
drama If I Forget, now at the
Roundabouts Laura Pels The-
atre, asks several difficult ques-
tions: What is the significance of heritage?
Do we know who we are without it? Who
gets to determine that heritage?
While it is not entirely successful, the
play bristles with provocative declama-
tions on American Jewish life, Holocaust
politics, gentrification, academia, parent-
hood, parnassah, and other aspects of
middle-class angst. Its often very funny,
and highly intelligent throughout.
Spanning the summer of 2000 to the
winter of 2001, the play opens at Lou
Fischers house in northwest Washington
D.C., at a party for his 75th birthday. The
guests include his son Michael ( Jeremy
Shamos), a Jewish studies professor, and
Michaels wife, Ellen (Tasha Lawrence), a
social worker. Michael is deeply worried
about their daughter Abby, who is on a
Birthright trip, or as Michael describes it,
a 10-day bus ride through a war zone.
Ellen is much more supportive of Abbys
visit, which she sees as a spiritual jour-
ney, something that may help Abby cope
with her psychological struggles. Michael
and Abby have just bought an apartment
in Park Slope on the strength of Michaels
recommendation for tenure at his small
liberal-arts college, and he is both ner-
vous and excited about the publication of
his latest book.
Michaels sisters, Sharon and Holly,
Hollys husband, lawyer Howard (Gary
Wilmes), and her irritating teenage son
Joey (Seth Steinberg) are the other guests
at the party. The youngest of the three
siblings, Sharon (Maria Dizzia), lives in
the house with Lou since their mothers
recent death and is the sort of woman
who feels that the world takes continuous
advantage of her. She recently broke up
with her boyfriend, whom she caught in a
compromising position with her cantor
on her recently dry-cleaned duvet, no less
and she cant stop reminding her siblings
of how little they do compared to her own
sacrifice. Holly (Kate Walsh), the oldest, is
hostile and undermining in her own way.
Wealthier than her siblings, she subtly
carps at what they do, especially picking
at Michaels writing. Its too obscure, its
too boring, and its too unsuccessful.
One of the strengths of the play is the
interplay between these three; they feel
like people who have known each other
long enough to understand just how to
wound. Levenson is part of the team
responsible for the hit musical Dear Evan
Hansen, and he is sensitive to the slights
and injuries siblings can inflict.
Arts & Culture
When Lou (Larry Brygmann) comes on
stage, one of the plays central metaphors
reveals itself. Lou inherited a clothing
store from his in-laws in a poor section of
Washington, an area that is now gentrify-
ing. Sharon is particularly fond of Lous
current tenants, Latinos who have paid the
same low rent for many years. Holly has
a plan to take the space over for the inte-
rior-design business she wants to establish.
Whether this ambition is anything more
than a bored housewifes fantasy is debat-
able, but Holly has a clever name and busi-
ness cards, so she figures shes ready to go.
All she needs is the space.
The Fischers struggle with who the store
belongs to and what its heritage means to
them individually. Does Lous dream that
his children will take over the family busi-
ness bind them together or drive them
apart? How realistic is it that a Jewish father
wants his kids to take over a dollar store in
a rundown neighborhood? Not very. Most
Jewish merchants sent their children to col-
lege in order to avoid such a fate.
The more effective metaphor in the play
is the uproar over Michaels book, Forget-
ting the Holocaust. Theorizing that Ameri-
can Jews have embraced the Holocaust as
their true heritage, Michael argues that the
communitys obsession with the Shoah
and its commensurate knee-jerk support
of Israel is a symptom of its abandonment
of the legacy of social justice that inspired
generations in the first half of the twentieth
century. That is the heritage that Michael
claims as his own, the one that marks his
Jewish identity. When Sharon accuses him
of attacking their family and all it stands
for, he cannot understand her anger. A
further irony is that Israel may be the only
place where a secular Jew can live the fully
engaged Jewish life Michael so admires.
What does Jewish heritage and identity
mean in an open, assimilationist society to
someone who is not religious? These quan-
daries seem ever more confounding next
to the brazen anti-Semitism of some of the
fans of the current administration.
The second act brings alterations to
everyones situation. Lou has had a stroke
and is much frailer; his children have to
come together to deal with his care. Michael
has experienced a dramatic setback and the
others have their own issues as well.
If I Forget is a recipient of an Edger-
ton Foundation New Play Award, and it
certainly merits attention for its complex
family and political dynamic. While the set
design awkwardly emphasizes the Fischer
familys separation, Daniel Sullivans brisk
direction keeps the focus on the social cur-
rents underlying the time just before the
September 11 attacks, which would change
so much in the countrys psyche. An engag-
ing play for open-minded theatergoers.
Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017 49
Oscars
Kenneth Lonergan, right, gives directions to Manchester-By-The-Sea stars Lucas Hedges, left, and Casey Affleck.
The tribe goes
to the Oscars, 2017
NATE BLOOM
T
he 89th Academy Awards will
be presented on Sunday, Feb-
ruary 26 on ABC, starting at
8:30 p.m. Jimmy Kimmel will
host. This year, like other recent years,
the honorary Academy Awards were
presented in a separate ceremony, but
will be noted at the televised ceremony.
Documentary filmmaker FREDER-
ICK WISEMAN
WISEMAN, 87, received an hon-
orary Oscar. A former law professor,
he became a full-time filmmaker in
1967 and his so-called observational
films usually are studies of institu-
tions (schools, prisons, hospitals),
presented without narration. A
partial exception is his latest film,
In Jackson Heights (2015), which
showed a diverse New York City
neighborhood in Queens, to
be precise through local
meetings (at a mosque,
synagogue, etc.).
The following are my
confirmed Jewish nomi-
nees in all but the tech-
nical categories.
Best picture
Here are the Best Picture
nominees with a producer Im
50 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017
sure is Jewish: Arrival (SHAWN LEVY,
48, and DAVID LINDE, 56; Levys best
known as the director of The Night in
the Museum films. Lindes paternal
grandfather, a lawyer, fled Nazi Ger-
many. His father, HANS LINDE, 92,
became influential nationally while
serving as an Oregon Supreme Court
justice); Fences (SCOTT RUDIN, 58);
Hacksaw Ridge (DAVID PERMUT,
62); Hell or High Water (JULIE YORN,
50); La La Land (MARC PLATT, 58
father of actor BEN PLATT, 23; and
GARY GILBERT, 52, a co-owner of the
NBA Cleveland Cavaliers); and Moon-
light (JEREMY KLEINERS, 41).
Acting categories
Lead actor: ANDREW GARFIELD, 33,
Hacksaw Ridge. As Ive noted in my on that idea in a future column. Mean-
column, Garfields father is Jewish and
his mother isnt. Twice, in the context
of defending Ridge director Mel Gib-
son, Garfield said hes Jewish. Other
times, he edges off that self-description.
Like many celebs, he calls himself spir-
itual, but isnt a member of an orga-
nized religion. Recently, Ive thought
that there may be a Jewish upside to
working with Gibson it probably
forced Garfield to think seriously about
what being Jewish means and maybe
thatll lead to something of benefit to
the Jewish community. In any event, in
2016 Garfield firmly established himself
as an A-list dramatic actor (Hacksaw
and the Scorsese film Silence) and
well be seeing him in top films for a
long time to come.
Lead actress: NATALIE PORTMAN,
35, Jackie. Its unlikely that Portman,
who won the lead actress Oscar in 2011
(Black Swan) will win this year. Vot-
ers figure shes already won one; shes
young-ish; and theres no tidal momen-
tum for Jackie, the film, now. Still, I
think Portman and the script captured
Jackie Kennedys sense of vulnerability
about her place in the world. I believe
that exact vulnerability later led Jackie,
her sister, and perhaps her daughter as
well, to seek out Jewish men. Ill expand
while, the odds favor a win in this cat-
egory for French actress Isabelle Hup-
pert (Elle). Like Portman, she was in
every scene in her film. Unlike Portman,
she has never won an Oscar and shes
63. Voters likely figure its high time
to honor this universally acclaimed
actress. On February 17, talking to the
Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, Hup-
pert gave the first detailed interview
about her Jewish background. She said
that while she was raised Catholic, she
identifies as half Jewish. She said her

Justin Hurwitz
Jewish father survived the Holocaust by
hiding in North Africa, but many of his
relatives died. Her husband is Jewish, and
she said shes visited Israel four times for
film screenings. I think it is a wonderful
country, she said.
Musical categories
The best original score nominees are
NICHOLAS BRITELL, 36, Moonlight,;
and probably MICA LEVI, 30ish, Jackie;
and JUSTIN HURWITZ, 32, La La Land.
Britell, 36, is a Juilliard graduate, whose
first film work was an original composi-
tion for Natalie Portmans first directo-
rial effort, the short film Eve (2008).
Since then, he contributed consider-
able original music to 12 Years a Slave,
scored Portmans first full-length film
(the Israel-set Tales of Love and Dark-
ness), scored The Big Short, and pro-
duced the short and long film versions of
Whiplash. Ironically, Whiplash (2014)
made director/writer Damien Chazelle a
star who could get financing for La La
Land, and that film almost certainly will
rule the musical categories. I say prob-
ably about Mica Levi because like many
Brits, her background is hard to ferret
out. Shes had two parallel careers since
2008. Under the stage name Micachu,
she and her band have had success play-
ing her experimental pop music songs. As
Mica Levi, her first film scoring was for
Under My Skin (2014), a sci-fi film star-
ring SCARLETT JOHANSSON. The score
won the European Bafta awards. Levis
father, Erik Levi, is a music scholar who
specializes in the history of music in Nazi
Germany. I couldnt confirm that he was
Jewish, however, and my educated guess
Natalie Portman in Jackie
is that Micas mother isnt Jewish.
Hurwitz met Damien Chazelle while
both attended Harvard and there they
helped form Chester French, a successful
rock band. He scored Chazelles Whip-
lash. He also composed the music for the
two La La songs nominated for best orig-
inal song: City of Stars, which won the
Golden Globe, and Audition. The lyrics
for those songs were written by nominees
BENJ PASEK, 31, and Justin Paul. Pasek
met Paul at college. Both come from reli-
gious families of different faiths (Pasek
is Jewish and Paul is Christian). Their
works include a hit Broadway version of
A Christmas Story (words & music). (See
sidebar story about Hurwitz.)
All other categories
Director/Original screenplay: KENNETH
LONERGAN, 56, is the only Jewish nomi-
nee in these categories (Manchester-By-
The-Sea). He was raised on Manhattans
Justin Hurwitzs proud mother speaks
Aided by an interview I did with Jus-
tins mother, GAIL HALABE HURWITZ,
I learned much about Hurwitzs fam-
ily since he won two Golden Globes
(score for La La Land and best song, went to a top conservatory. His only
City of Stars). Heres what Ms. Hur-
witz, a registered nurse, told me about
her family and Justin. Gail comes from
a Sephardi family and Justins father,
KEN, a writer, comes from a Rus-
sian/Polish Jewish family with ties to
the Milwaukee area. Gails father was
born in 1903 in Aleppo, Syria, and her
mother was born in 1915 in Beirut,
Lebanon. Her parents came to the
States around 1920 and settled in Los
Angeles. Ken and Gail were wed in
1983 in a Los Angeles Sephardic syna-
gogue, and Justin was born in 1985.
She says that Justin started piano
lessons at age 6 and it was clear very
early that he had an aptitude for this
instrument a devoted student [who]
progressed rapidlya piano teacher
introduced him to composition and
[we] bought him a synthesizer and at
Upper West Side by his Jewish stepfather
and Jewish mother. Both were secular and
both were psychoanalysts. His late father
was Irish Catholic. Lonergan (who says
hes an atheist) told The New Yorker that
he was about 8 years old when he finally
realized that everyone wasnt Jewish. He
grew up in an affluent (but not super rich)
world of mostly liberal, mostly Jewish pro-
fessional folk and their offspring. Not sur-
prisingly, most of his works plays and
films have featured mostly Jewish or
half Jewish people from this milieu. (The
1996 play This Is Our Youth and the films
Margaret and You Can Count on Me.)
Its strange that no critical piece Ive read
notes that Manchester is his Irish-side
film. The central character, Lee, is Irish
Catholic, and his life is virtually destroyed
by alcohol the so-called curse of the
Irish. Manchester is Lonergans break-
through film, and I hope it finally prompts
a film version of Youth.
age 10 he composed his first tune.
The family lived in southern Cali-
fornia before moving to a Milwaukee
suburb in 1998. In Wisconsin, Justin
sibling, HANNA HURWITZ, 31, is a very
accomplished classical violinist. Gail
told me that although he never had
a chance to take a Birthright Israel
trip, Hanna did, with much joy. Gail
added: We have a very large family
on my mothers side living in Israel,
because all of her family moved there
from Lebanon and remained there
throughout their lives. I would say
that both my children are very proud
of their Middle Eastern heritage and
culture.
Gail said that Justin was very close
to both his grandmothers Gails
mother died in 2015, at about 100,
and his paternal grandma, who lives
in Wisconsin, is alive and 100! (By the
way, Gail and Ken now live in the San
Francisco Bay area.)
Gail says this about Justins college
Oscars
Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge
Animated film, feature length: OSNAT
SHURER (Moana). Shurer, 46, the films
producer, was born and raised in Israel
and served in an IDF intelligence unit. Doc-
umentary film, feature length: Life, Ani-
mated. While I wasnt able to confirm that
the films producer, Julie Goldman, is Jew-
ish, I mention it because it based on a 2014
book of the same name by journalist RON
SUSKIND, 57. The book and film chron-
icle Suskinds efforts to assist his autistic
son. Documentary, Short Length: Joes
Violin (directed by KAHANE COOPER-
MAN, 52; co-produced by Cooperman
and RAPHAELA NEIHAUSEN. Both live
in Montclair). Cooperman, long a Jon Stew-
art Daily Show producer, became head
of the New Yorker magazines video wing
(Screening Room) a few years ago. She
heard a 2014 radio story about a Holocaust
survivor who had responded to a radio sta-
tion appeal to donate his used instrument.
Cooperman tracked down the survivor,
JOSEPH FEINGOLD, now 92, and made a
New Yorker film about his life and the life
of the poor Bronx girl who received his vio-
lin. (You can see it now on YouTube. Just
enter the title). Also in this category: DAN
KRAUSS, 40ish, the director of Extre-
mis, a Netflix original film about the grim
realities of end-of-life care that was filmed
in a California hospital.
years: Justin went to Harvard in 2003
to study music. There he met Cha-
zelle. Both played in Chester French
for one year, dropped out, and began
rooming together and collaborating
on what would become their first full
length film (Guy and Madeline on a
Park Bench). It got a distributor and
was released. Near the end of his time
at Harvard, Justin was part of Harvard
Lampoon. After college, both Justin
and Damien moved to LA with the
intention of making films. But it was
a slow start, and to make a living in
LA Justin got jobs writing comedy.
( He wrote for The League, wrote a
Simpsons episode, etc.).
Gail then related the path to La
La Land Guy and Madeline
was well-enough liked that Chazelle
got funding to do a short version of
Whiplash. It was a hit at Sundance,
and a full-length version of the film
was funded and it was a surprise big-
market hit. Whiplash led to funding
for La La Land. NB
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 51
Calendar Tikvah, noon. Bring lunch. programs and services
950 Preakness Ave. for senior adults in the
(973) 595-6565. community. Michal
Kleiman, (201) 408-1412,
mkleiman@jccotp.org,
or www.jccotp.org/
lavishlunches.

James Polk
Election consequences: Christina Kamilaris
The JCC of Fort Lee/
Purim cooking in
Congregation Gesher
Paramus: Christina
Shalom hosts visiting
Kamilaris, the registered
scholar Janet DiNardo
dietitian at ShopRite
White as part of a
of Paramus, offers
series, Elections Have
a Purim cooking
Consequences, a CSI
demonstration and
Scholar Fund program,
recipes, noon-2 p.m., in
1 p.m.; refreshments at
the kosher department,
12:30. The discussion
under OU kosher
is on James Polk.
supervision and with the
1449 Anderson Ave.
stores mashgiach. 224
(201) 947-1735.
Route 4 East and Forest
Avenue. (201) 638-8514.
Wednesday
MARCH Safam, the Boston-based band that has helped shape the MARCH 1 Friday
Jewish music scene in America since 1974, will perform at MARCH 3
5 Rutgers on Sunday, March 5, to benefit the new 40,000-square-
foot Eva and Arie Halpern Hillel House, set to open on the
Game night in Paramus:
Womens Philanthropy
of Jewish Federation of
Shabbat in Jersey
City: Bnai Jacob hosts
Rutgers Universitys Wilf Family Campus, 70 College Ave, in April. (Safams Northern New Jersey
The Shabbat Project:
holds game night, an
vocalist, Dan Funk, is a Rutgers alumnus, and his father, Rabbi Julius Funk, opportunity to try
Millennial Edition,
for Jewish millennials
was the founding director of Rutgers Hillel.) Go to www.rutgershillel.org and mah jongg or canasta,
(professionals, singles,
follow the links to the concert. Guided tours of the building for sponsors will 7-9:30 p.m. Wine,
couples, and friends,
cheese, and crudits. 50
begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by dinner with Safam; general tours begin at 6; Eisenhower Drive. www.
20s-40s), with food,
conversation, and
doors open for the concert at 6:30; it begins at 7. jfnnj.org/gamenight.
celebration, led by Rabbi
Aaron Katz, 7-8 p.m.
Congregation Bnai Israel, the author of A Guest at
Thursday 176 West Side Ave.
MARCH 2 (201) 435-5725 or www.
Saturday 7:30 p.m. Sponsorships
available. 10-10 Norma
the Shooters Banquet.
My Grandfathers SS
Monday bnaijacobjc.com.
FEBRUARY 25 Ave. (201) 796-5040. Past, My Jewish Family, FEBRUARY 27
A Search for the Truth, Saturday
Shabbat in Wyckoff: Mah jongg in Closter:
Temple Beth Rishon Sunday 10:30 a.m. 115 Park Ave.
(201) 659-4000 or www. The Sisterhood of
MARCH 4
offers services led FEBRUARY 26 hobokensynagogue.org. Temple Beth El of
Shabbat opera in
by Rabbi Ziona Northern Valley begins
Zelazo, including a fundraising series, Teaneck: Temple
Casino trip: Hadassahs Emeth offers Shabbat
meditations with music Fair Lawn chapter takes a Mah jongg...The Fun
and self-reflection, Continues, 7 p.m. Also services at 10:30 a.m. At
trip to the Sands Casino 1 p.m., a film of Giacomo
10-11 a.m. 585 Russell Resort in Bethlehem, March 6, 15, and 20. 221
Ave. (201) 891-4466 or Schraalenburgh Road. Meyerbeers opera,
Pa. Bus leaves the Fair LAfricaine, starring
bethrishon.org. Lawn Jewish Center/ (201) 768-5112 or www.
tbenv.org. Shirley Verrett, Ruth
CBI at 9 a.m. Breakfast Ann Swenson, Placido
Israeli wine tasting:
on board. $30; includes Domingo, and Justino
Lauren and Greg
Sandler host an Israeli
$20 slot play money and
$5 toward food. Checks
Tuesday Josh Capon Diaz, will be screened,
wine tasting for adults, Professor Sarah Rindner FEBRUARY 28 with introduction by
payable to Hadassah. Lavish lunch program: Mark Shapiro, music
particularly Temple  MICHAEL LAVES
Bring a valid ID. 10-10 The Kaplen JCC on the director of Cecilia Chorus
Beth Tikvah religious
Norma Ave. Varda, Book discussion: The Palisades in Tenafly of New York and artistic
school parents, led by
(201) 791-0327. Jewish Center of Teaneck hosts its annual Lavish director of Cantori New
a wine expert from
Kedem Winery, along continues Leaves of Lunches, a culinary York. Desserts and
with appetizers and Faith book club with a adventure beginning beverages. 1666 Windsor
desserts, at their Wayne discussion of Sherwood with a light breakfast Road. (201) 833-1322.
home, 7:30-10:30 p.m. Andersons stories in at the home of Alissa
Proceeds benefit TBT Winesburg, Ohio, and Zachary Epstein of Casino in Hoboken:
religious school and 8 p.m. Discussion led Tenafly, 10:15 a.m., with United Synagogue
family programs. by Sarah Rindner, who a culinary presentation of Hoboken holds its
teaches English literature Rabbi Meeka Simerly by seasoned executive annual Casino Night
Rescheduled program.
Greg, (201) 704-3768. at Lander College for chef Josh Capon. Next, fundraiser, 7-11 p.m., at
Loving liturgy in the Hoboken Elks Club.
Women and has taught participants choose
Rita Gabis Wayne: Rabbi Meeka Proceeds benefit the
Music in Fair Lawn: English at Maayanot from a selection of
Simerly begins Hoboken Homeless
River of Dreams, a six- Brunch with author: and SAR high schools. lunches, served in local
Exploring the Jewels of Shelter, Hoboken
piece Billy Joel tribute The United Synagogue 70 Sterling Place. homes and venues at
our Liturgy, a course for Emergency Food Pantry,
band, performs at the of Hoboken hosts a (201) 833-0515 or jcot. 12:15 p.m. Proceeds will
adults, Tuesdays through and Jubilee Center.
Fair Lawn Jewish Center/ brunch with Rita Gabis, org. support a range of JCC
March 14, at Temple Beth
52 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017

1005 Washington St.
(201) 659-4000 or www.
hobokensynagogue.org.
Bucky Pizzarelli
Concert in Closter:
Temple Beth El of
Northern Valley
continues MusicLAB
(Live at Beth El), a new
series underwritten by
Whole Foods Market,
with Bucky Pizzarelli and
Friends, 8 p.m.; doors
open at 7:30. Bucky
will be joined by his
performance partner Ed
Laub, Buckys son, Martin
Pizzarelli, and violinist
Aaron Weinstein. 221
Schraalenburgh Road.
(201) 768-5112 or tbenv.
org/musiclab.
Stephanie Prezant zl
Tribute concert in
Tenafly: The Kaplen JCC
on the Palisades presents
the 5th annual Music
She Loved tribute
concert in memory of
Stephanie Prezant, 8 p.m.
Live music performed by
family, guest musicians,
and vocalists, including
Jonathan Prezant,
vocals and piano;
Jeffrey Prezant and Udy
Kashkah, guitar and
Beach Boys billed at bergenPAC
The Bergen Performing Arts Center, at 30 North Van Brunt St. in Englewood, presents
the Beach Boys on Wednesday, March 29, at 7:30 p.m. Captained by Mike Love, the Beach
Boys play about 150 shows a year. Buy tickets at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling
bergenPACs box office at (201) 227-1030. VIP upgrades are available at https://mikelove.
com/shop.
vocals; Ronen Mikay,
saxophone; Diane Honig,
piano; Liat Tretin, Ayelet
Horn, and Daphne and
Sharon Amir, vocals; with
Victor Lesser, musical
director, Manhattan City
Music. Ms. Prezant died in
a rock climbing accident
in 2012. Funds raised will
support local families in
crisis through the JCCs
Stephanie I. Prezant
Community Support
Fund. 411 East Clinton
Ave. Robyn Rosenfeld,
(201) 408-1429,
rrosenfeld@jccotp.org, or
www.jccotp.org.
Sunday
MARCH 5
The news: Ari Goldman,
Columbia University
journalism professor
and former New York
Times reporter, discusses
Right Off The News for
the Food for Thought
Distinguished Speaker
series at Temple Beth
Rishon in Wyckoff,
9:45 a.m. Sponsored by
the Fred Emert Memorial
Adult Education Fund
with TBR patron
support. Breakfast
buffet. 585 Russell Ave.
(201) 891-4466 or www.
bethrishon.org.
Purim pandemonium in
New Milford: Solomon
Schechter Day School
of Bergen Countys
Sunday @ Schechter
Series presents Purim Israel on campus: Jewish
Pandemonium, an
interactive experience
with Schechters Early
Childhood Troupe,
10-11:30 a.m. 275 McKinley
Ave. www.ssdsbergen.
org/schechter-rocks.
(201) 262-9898, ext. 213.
Purim run in Fair Lawn:
The Sisterhood of the
Fair Lawn Jewish Center/
CBI hosts its annual
Purim USATF-certified
5K run/1 mile walk,
beginning and ending
at the shul, 10 a.m. Race
proceeds benefit Camp
Ramahs Tikvah program, Palisades, continues with
an overnight camp for Farewell Baghdad,
children with special
needs. Music, snacks, and
T-shirts for the first 125
registrants. Costumes
encouraged. 10-10
Norma Ave. Registration,
(201) 796-5040 or
RFlanzman@aol.com.
in Manhattan for a
followed by lunch at
Book discussion in
Paramus: As part of
the One Book One
Community project
sponsored by the Jewish
Federation of Northern
New Jersey, the JCC
Paramus/Congregation
Beth Tikvah offers a
discussion by Carolyn
Kaufman on this years series Top Films You
book, Let There Be May Have Missed. An
Water by Seth Siegel, Orthodox girl in Tel Aviv
10:30 a.m. 304 East
Midland Ave. Refreshments.
(201) 262-7691 or www.
jccparamus.org.
sister dies in childbirth.
She helps to care for
Federation of Northern
New Jersey hosts iCan
Answer Now, a teen
conference, at Hasbrouck
Heights Hilton,
noon-5:30 p.m. Teens will
learn about Israel and
Jewish issues on campus.
Chlo Valdary, director
of partnerships and
outreach at Jerusalem
University, will speak.
(201) 820-3944 or www.
jfnnj.org/iCAN.
Israeli film in Tenafly:
IAC Cinematec, a
series of Israeli films at
the Kaplen JCC on the
Seforim Sale, North
7 p.m. Series with English
subtitles continues
May 28 with Is That
You? 411 E. Clinton Ave.
(201) 408-1409.
Monday
MARCH 6
Museum trip: Jewish
Federation of Northern
New Jerseys Reach for
the Pomegranate travels
to the Tenement Museum
docent-led tour, 11:30 a.m.
Reserve Cut Kosher
Steak House. Bus service
available. Minimum gift
to JFNNJ required. www.
jfnnj.org/pom.
Feature film: The Kaplen
JCC on the Palisades
in Tenafly screens the
Israeli film Fill the
Void, 7:30 p.m., for a
is looking forward to an
arranged marriage to
a young man she likes.
On Purim her older
the new grandson and
soon her father asks
her to marry her sisters
husband. Commentary
by Jim Coble, coffee, and
snacks. 411 E. Clinton Ave.
(201) 408-1493 or www.
jccotp.org.
Cuddle up with Sharsherets gift
Sharsheret is selling cozy
Sherpa blankets as gifts
for anyone looking for a
way to provide support,
comfort, and warmth to
a loved one as they navi-
gate breast or ovarian
cancer. It also is a way
to introduce the recipi-
ent to Sharsherets per-
sonalized support and
resources.
The blanket will be
sent in a private package,
and your friends contact
information will be used
only to mail this special
gift. For information, call
(201) 833-2341 or go to
www.sharsheret.org.
Calendar C
In New York Singles
Sunday Sunday
FEBRUARY 26 FEBRUARY 26
Seforim sale: Yeshiva Seniors meet in Suffern:
Universitys students Singles 65+ of the JCC
continue the 30th annual Rockland meets for lunch
at Sutters Mill, noon. 214
Americas largest Jewish Route 59, Suffern, N.Y.
book sale, in Belfer Hall, Individual checks. Gene,
2495 Amsterdam Ave., (845) 356-5525.
on YUs Wilf Campus
in Manhattan. www.
theseforimsale.com.
Friday
MARCH 3
Tuesday Teaneck Shabbaton: The
FEBRUARY 28 Shidduch Project hosts
a pre-Purim Shabbaton
Purim to Pesach: for modern Orthodox/
Drisha faculty members, machmir professionals,
including Wendy 23-40, at Congregation
Amsellem, Miriam Keter Torah. Includes
Gedwiser, Jon Kelsen, three interactive meals,
Aaron Koller, David oneg with speakers,
Silber, and Devora cocktails, and speed
Steinmetz, teach (Dis) dating; musical
order, Service, and Havdalah and kumsitz,
Freedom: The Spiritual and housing. Hosted
Transition from Purim to by Rachel Ruchlamer
Pesach, for a seminar and Dr. Shani Ratzker.
through April 4, at Shidduchprojects@
the Drisha Institute, gmail.com or call
7-9 p.m. Drishat Shalom (201) 522-4776.
Fellowships are awarded
to outstanding young
women and men who are
Sunday
in college or beginning MARCH 5
their professional or
graduate careers, and Pre-Purim benefit:
who seek to join a Frum singles, 30-45,
cohort of dedicated meet at Marine Park
peers to engage in Simcha Hall in Brooklyn
deep, meaningful for dinner, sushi and
Torah learning. 37 West wine bar, music,
65th St., Fifth floor. comedy, shadchanim,
(212) 595-0307 or www. and facilitators, 6 p.m.
drisha.org/drishatshalom. Proceeds benefit Project
Mazon. Baila Sebrow,
(516) 849-5863 or
Bsebrow@aol.com.
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 53
r Calendar
Benefit boutique in Wyckoff
Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff hosts the
Ladies Night Out Boutique to benefit
Zahal Shalom on Tuesday, March 7, from
6 to 10 p.m. It will offer jewelry, gifts, sta-
tionery, active wear, childrens clothing,
scarves, accessories, personalized gifts,
macarons, handbags, porcelain dollars, a
book signing, and more.
For 25 years, Zahal Shalom has hosted
groups of 10 disabled Israeli veterans each
spring. It is a heartening experience for
Job hunters attend a previous job fair at Yeshiva University.
YU and Touro to host Jewish job fairs
Yeshiva Universitys Center for the Jewish
Future and the Azrieli Graduate School
of Jewish Education and Administration
will host the annual Jewish Job Fair on
Thursday, March 1, at the Max Stern Ath-
letic Center on YUs Wilf Campus, 2501
Amsterdam Ave. at 185th Street, in Man-
hattan. The fair is free and open to the
public from 7 to 9 p.m., with priority
admission for YU students and alumni
beginning at 6.
In addition to showcasing a variety of
professional opportunities at Jewish day
schools, organizations, and nonprofits,
the fair provides a networking opportu-
nity for job-hunters seeking information
on careers in the Jewish community.
Sign up for the FREE
Jewish Standard
daily newsletter!
Visit www.thejewishstandard.com
and
click on SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY
3 54 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017
the soldiers as well as for the Americans
who host them. A bond of friendship and
love develops during the veterans short
stay here, which can last a lifetime, and it
helps every participating family develop a
connection to Israel.
The shul is at 585 Russell Ave., in Wyck-
off. The boutique costs $18 in advance and
$25 at the door and includes shopping,
food, and wine. For reservations, call (201)
783-4522 or www.zahalshalom.org.
COURTESY YU
More than 60 Jewish day schools from 15
states and organizations from North Amer-
ica and overseas will be there to meet and
conduct interviews with candidates.
To book appointments with day school
employers in advance and to receive
email updates, register at www.yu.edu/
jewishjobfair/video.
Touro students and alumni in all majors
and professions are invited to attend
Touro Colleges Career Fair on Wednesday,
March 1, from 1 to 4 p.m., in Manhattan.
Participating employers will interview for
available jobs or internships. Online regis-
tration is available at www.touro.edu. For
information, call (718) 535-9375.
Crossword
COUNTRYMEN BY YONI GLATT
KOSHERCROSSWORDS@GMAIL.COM
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: CHALLENGING
Across
1. Be petulant (after losing a game of
Shesh Besh, perhaps)
5. Foe of a pauper voiced by Scott
Weinger
10. Aid for a shochet
14. Baruch follower
15. Make like Judah (but not Jonathan)
Maccabee at getting captured
16. Comic actor Eugene
17. Great African writer?
19. Challah need
20. What a Talmud has that an iTalmud
does not
21. Secular texts? (Abbr.)
23. Biblical, e.g.
24. David was anointed with it
25. Classic rap group managed by Jerry
Heller
28. Eastern European Chief Rabbi?
30. Lo and no (in a vote)
32. 2003 James Caan comedy
34. Most in need of a massage and a
shvitz
35. Roman or Khazarian
38. Simmons and others
39. Central European Tennis player?
41. Jewish Jr.
43. Grande who studies Kabbalah
44. But ___ after twenty-five years its
nice to know. (Tevye & Golde)
46. Tannaim needs?
47. Agitated state (of Saul when dealing
with David)
51. Western European Prophet?
53. Rugrats dad
55. Work a chuppah
56. What blows up in a tent?
57. Marvel of a name?
59. Arch for Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel &
Leah?
61. Molding that sounds like a synonym
for oy vey
63. Western Asian diplomat?
66. Sabbath command
67. Kaplan and Kapler
68. Wicked adviser to Saul
69. Retired fleet that didnt have regular
flights from TLV
70. Make like the rock at the Caesarea
Amphitheater
71. How a reliable Baal Koreh reads
Torah
Down
1. Not one for a haircut
2. 49- Down, to an idealistic Zionist
3. Idly (like an uninspired schlub)
4. Great foe of Kirk
5. Talking Bush?
6. Rabbi Weiss of note
7. Guides for the perplexed; Abbr.
8. No such thing as ___ question
9. Pieces from a Spielberg classic?
10. Hamas rival; Abbr.
11. Rabbis Sunday counterpart
12. Share a pair of tefillin to the point of
deterioration
13. Descendants of David, once
18. Most Western Wall prayers?
22. Make Israel Great Again, e.g.
26. And the children of Israel ___ for
Moses (Deut. 34:8)
27. Shulem Shtisels secretary
29. Romema and Menora Mivtachim
31. Stereotypical skill of many a bubbi
33. Strasbourg sibling
36. Little lady after a chupah
37. Heatherton and Andrews
39. Most like the figures of 37-Down
40. 65-Down, e.g.
41. Ones forgiven in a jubilee year
42. Makes like Johanssons Black Widow
45. Power problem thats no problem
for the Ultimate Power
48. Mashugana
49. Home of the countrymen
50. Doodad
52. Actress Debi
54. Thurman with 52-Across in 2005s
Be Cool
58. Last stop for Moses
60. Show with a Pharaoh
62. (9-Down) belonging to this little fel-
low
64. ___ Heifer
65. Illness related to 64-Down: Abbr.
The solution to last weeks puzzle is
on page 59.
 Gallery
1 2

3 4

n 1 Rebekah Adelson, the Jewish National Funds 5

Israel Programs admissions director, receives let-
ters from Shomrei Torah sixth grader Noah Golden.
He and his classmates wrote notes of encour-
agement to Israeli firefighters who fought the
recent widespread fires in Israel. COURTESY ST

n 2 On February 5, Temple Beth Tikvah in Wayne

celebrated Tu bShvat with a seder led by Rabbi
Meeka Simerly and Cantor Charles Romalis. It in-
cluded the four questions, song, dance, fruits, a bagel
brunch, and childrens craft session. COURTESY TBT

n 3 Rabbi Aaron Katz of Bnai Jacob in Jersey City,

standing to the statues left, delivered the invocation
and benediction at the 87th annual wreath-laying cer-
emony at the Abraham Lincoln statue in Lincoln Park
in Jersey City. John Hallanan, a Jersey City Council
member and president of the citys Abraham Lincoln
Association, is at Rabbi Katzs left. Honor guards were
provided by the Jersey City Fraternal Order of Police
and the Hudson County Sheriffs Office. PHOTO PROVIDED

n 4 Elaine and Michael Padva, left, with Wendy

and Ken Zuckerberg, Saige Siskin, Sam Rak, Barry
Blecher, and Karen Albert, all members of Temple
Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in Woodcliff Lake,
were among the many participants at Sweet
Tastes of Torah, the community-wide celebra-
tion of learning on February 11. PHOTO PROVIDED

n 5 Hazak Senior members from Temple Emanu-El in

Closter enjoyed a morning of song with Cantor Israel
Singer, accompanied by pianist Shira Shaked. The
group also celebrated the 90th birthday of Martin
Breit, front, wearing a white vest. COURTESY EMANU-EL

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 55

Jewish World
A compelling documentary probes Holocaust tourism
GABE FRIEDMAN
H
ow do people behave
when they visit a concen-
tration camp or a Holo-
caust memorial?
Do they act as if they are in a place of rev-
erence or mourning? Or do they behave as
crowds do at any tourist attraction tak-
ing selfies, goofing around, snacking and
drinking as they amble along?
Just what constitutes appropriate behav-
ior at a Holocaust memorial site has been a
hot topic recently. Last month, the Israeli-
German writer and satirist Shahak Shapira
reignited the public debate about Holo-
caust tourism with a website shaming tour-
ists who appear in flippant selfies taken at
the Holocaust memorial in Berlin. Shapiras
site, titled Yolocaust, superimposed smil-
ing tourists with gruesome images from the
Holocaust, such as piles of corpses.
I find it dangerous that this is becom-
ing normal, Shapira told a German news
program shortly before shutting down the
project, saying it had served its purpose. It
kind of suggests that people are not dealing
with the real purpose of this memorial.
Last summer, the smartphone game
Pokemon Go raised eyebrows for guiding
some of its users into the Auschwitz-Birke-
nau Memorial and Museum as well as to
the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in
Washington, D.C. This followed a few
years after an American tourist took a smil-
ing selfie at Auschwitz, drawing outrage
on Twitter and calling attention to other
online chronicles of inappropriate selfie-
taking, such as the Facebook group With
My Besties in Auschwitz.
And now the behavior of tourists at
Holocaust memorial sites and the tough
questions surrounding it is explored in
a probing documentary film, Austerlitz,
by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa.
The film just had its U.S. premiere at the
Museum of Modern Arts Doc Fortnight
festival in Manhattan, but it garnered
praise last year, after it was shown at major
international film festivals in Toronto
and Venice.
Presented without commentary, the
90-minute black-and-white film is a series
of long, lingering shots of tourists walk-
ing around Dachau and Sachsenhausen,
a former concentration camp near Ber-
lin. Loznitsa placed stationary cameras
around the camps, capturing thousands of
visitors sauntering in and out of the frame.
It is unclear whether Loznitsa hid his cam-
eras, although the tourists seem oblivious
to them.
Most of the visitors seem as if they are
walking in a shopping mall or perhaps an
art museum. They mostly look aimless,
restless, tired, and bored. Some laugh and
smile as they file into a room, like they are
headed to a party. Some stand because of
their unfortunate sartorial choices one
56 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017
Sergei Loznitsa set up stationary
cameras in two former concentration
camps.
wears a T-shirt with an image of a skull,
another with the phrase Cool story, bro.
Some take smiling selfies or lighthearted
group photos in front of Sachsenhausens
Arbeit Macht Frei gate.
Despite its lack of narrative or plot, the
A scene from Austerlitz, a documentary that chronicles the tourist experience
in two former concentration camps. 
The tourists in Austerlitz are oblivious to Sergei Loznitsas cameras
film is oddly compelling. The disconnect
between setting and character provokes a
range of feelings. The sight of crowds pour-
ing into a room is creepily reminiscent of
Holocaust prisoners being shepherded
into train cars or gas chambers. Footage of
visitors trying to get their tour headphones
to work is amusing until it isnt. The fact
that some visitors joke around or act like
theyd rather be anywhere else inspires
feelings of anger (at least in this viewer).
The people who came to these places
40 years ago came with a different pur-
pose than people now, Loznitsa told the
New York Times last year. Now people
dont remember, and sometimes I think
they dont even understand where they
are and what the places are about.
The film takes its title from German
writer W.G. Sebalds final novel, Auster-
litz, about an eponymous academic whose
parents were killed in the Holocaust. The
protagonist visits the Theresienstadt camp
in the Czech Republic to learn more about
his parents deaths, ruminating there on
memory and history. Loznitsa has said his
documentary is a variation on the novel. disappears almost entirely from view
(The filmmaker was traveling this week and
declined a request for an interview.)
The only dialogue comes in a few scenes
involving tour guides in the first, about
PHOTOS COURTESY OF AUSTERLITZ/LOZNITSA
25 minutes in, a Spanish-speaking guide
at Sachsenhausen begins to tell a group of
tourists about the camps prison-within-a-
prison system used to interrogate Jews.
But shortly after he starts his talk, a
group of English-speaking tourists crowds
the screen, obscuring the Spanish group.
A British voice overlaps with the Span-
ish one. As the English group grows, one
young woman balances a water bottle on
her head. Eventually the Spanish group
The people who
came to these
places 40 years
ago came with a
different
purpose than
people now.
shrouded by the nonchalant, English-
speaking crowd even though the viewer
continues to hear parts of the guides talk.
The scene represents what could be
seen as Loznitsas powerful thesis: Its
easy to be swallowed up by the tourist
experience and forget to engage with the
significance of a place even at sites that
commemorate one of historys most hor-
rid tragedies.
Still, none of the tourists captured by
Loznitsas cameras are blatantly disre-
spectful. Nonchalant, yes, and somewhat
self-absorbed in the 21st-century way.
There are plenty of selfies in Austerlitz
(including one particularly funny one
involving an overweight man slowly rotat-
ing a selfie stick); even a man wearing a
kippah happily poses for photos in front
of the Arbeit Macht Frei gate.
By the end of Austerlitz, most viewers
are likely to feel conflicted about how to
judge these unwitting tourists. After all, is
it fair to judge someone by how they are
captured on camera for a few minutes?
And shouldnt Jews be encouraged by
the fact that Holocaust sites continue to
draw record crowds? Doesnt that signal
increased interest in learning about Holo-
caust history?
Loznitsas point, however, is not about
individual tourists, whether they choose
to take a silly selfie or to reflect deeply
throughout their visit. The message, he
has said, is that visiting a concentration
camp should not be presented like any
other mundane tourist experience.
I think it must be like a church, he
told the Times. If you want to pray for
the souls of all the people who are in the
ground in this place, then come.
 JTA WIRE SERVICE

Stanley Bard
Stanley Bard of Boca Raton,
Fla., 82, died February 14.
He was the manager and
co-owner of the historic
Chelsea Hotel and was
known as a benefactor to
the artistic and cultural
community.
Predeceased by his wife,
Alice, and a brother, Mil-
ton, he is survived by his
children, David and Debbie
Bard and Michele and Mat-
thew Grabell; sister-in-law,
Sylvia, and grandchildren,
Allison, Justin, Benjamin,
Amanda, and Myles.
Services were at Temple
Emanu-El of Closter.
Arrangements were
by Gutterman Musicant
Jewish Funeral Directors,
Hackensack.
Sidney Cohen
Sidney Cohen, 86, of Wayne
died February 14.
A member of the Air Force
Reserves, he owned Nicolas
Associates in Westwood.
Predeceased by his sis-
ter Rose Gordon (the late
Abe), he is survived by a
nephew, Harold Gordon
(Fran), nieces Helene Scott
(Howard), and Gail Weber
(Howard), and great-nieces
and great-nephews.
Arrangements were by
Louis Suburban Chapel,
Fair Lawn.
Jack Elinson
Jack Elinson, 99, of Teaneck
died February 13.
He was the founder of
the department of medi-
cal sociology at Columbia
University.
Predeceased by his
wife of 68 years, May, ne
Gomberg, he is survived by
children, Richard (Lynn),
Elaine (Rene Ciria Cruz),
Mitchell (Sande), and Rob-
ert (Cecelia); grandchildren,
Alex, Sarah, Morgan, Blake,
Matthew, Zusha, and Sara,
and great-grandchildren,
Max, Zane, Keira, Mace, and
Stella Mae.
Arrangements were
by Gutterman Musicant
Jewish Funeral Directors,
Hackensack.
Sharon Scholack
Sharon I. Scholack of Fair
Lawn died February 15.
Arrangements were by
Louis Suburban Chapel,
Fair Lawn.
Karl Shaw
Karl R. Shaw, 84, of Engle-
wood died October 18.
He was an insurance
agent for Berkshire Insur-
ance Group in Massachu-
setts and a member of
Chavurah Beth Shalom in
Alpine.
He is survived by his wife,
Lynn, ne Kersch, children,
Mark of California and
Donna Shalek of Manhat-
tan, and five grandchildren.
Arrangements were by
Eden Memorial Chapels,
Fort Lee.
Alfred Targovnik
Alfred I. Targovnik, 93, of
Fort Lee died February 14.
Born in Brooklyn, he
owned Kings Choice Tie
Shop in Manhattan before
retiring. He was a member
of Congregation Gesher
Sholom/JCC of Fort Lee.
He is survived by his wife,
Rose, ne Weiniger, sons,
Brian of Englewood and
Harris of Marlboro, and two
grandchildren.
Arrangements were by
Eden Memorial Chapels,
Fort Lee.
Harold Wahl
Harold I. Wahl, 97, of Fair
Lawn died February 18.
He was a U.S. Army
World War II veteran and a
retired IRS accountant. He
was a founding member of
Shomrei Torah Orthodox
Congregation of Fair Lawn
and Brotherly Benevolent
Association Linas HaZedek
of Hudson County.
Predeceased by his wife,
Libby, he is survived by his
children Steven of Roseland
and Barbara Halenar of
Ridgewood; a sister, Shirley
Edelman of Midland Park;
A Traditional Jewish Experience
Pre-Planning Specialists Graveside and Chapel Services
Obituaries
two grandchildren, and one and Workmens Circle
great-grandchildren. branch in Jersey City. Obituaries are prepared with information
provided by funeral homes. Correcting errors is the
Arrangements were by Predeceased by her
responsibility of the funeral home.
Eden Memorial Chapels, husbands Louis Weiner
Fort Lee. and William Chait, she is
survived by her children, 201-791-0015 800-525-3834
Sylvia Weiner Stuart Chait of Pennsyl-
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grandchildren, and seven
Graveside services at all NJ & NY cemeteries
died February 18. great-grandchildren. Prepaid funerals and all medicaid funeral benefits honored
She was longtime mem- Arrangements were by
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ber of the Jewish Educa- Eden Memorial Chapels,
tional Center in Elizabeth Fort Lee. 13-01 Broadway (Route 4 West) Fair Lawn, NJ
Richard Louis - Manager George Louis - Founder
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Frank Patti, Jr. - NJ Lic. No. 4169 ALAN L. MUSICANT, Mgr., N.J. LIC. NO. 2890
Arthur Musicant - NJ Lic. No. 2544 MARTIN D. KASDAN, N.J. LIC. NO. 4482
Frank Patti, Sr. Director - NJ Lic. No. 2693 IRVING KLEINBERG, N.J. LIC. NO. 2517
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at Our Funeral Home or in Your Own Home
327 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ GuttermanMusicantWien.com
201-947-3336 888-700-EDEN
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 57
Classified
Help Wanted Help Wanted Co-ops For Sale
(201) 837-8818
Crypts For Sale Situations Wanted Situations Wanted

DAUGHTER
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interest and resumes to: trustworthy person seeking part errands, Drs, etc.
time work. Weekends OK. Meal
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Maayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in Executive Assistant/Bookkeeper Experienced References
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Antiques Wanted We pay cash for Antiques

Modern Furniture & Art Sterling Associates Auctions

WE BUY Judaica Art SEEKING CONSIGNMENT AND OUT RIGHT PURCHASES

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58 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017
 Classified

personals driving serviCe

PARTY
Solution to last weeks puzzle. This weeks puzzle is
on page 54.
JOIN US!
Chapter 3 Offers retirement age
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women the opportunity to stay SERVICE
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connected and engaged with
peers to share information,
skills and knowledge relevant
and enriching for this stage of
our lives. Whether formally re-
tired or still active in the work-
place, this is a chance to make
new friends, hear speakers on
a variety of topics and enjoy
dinner.
Meetings are the last Wednes-
day of the month at 5:30 pm,
Rudys Restaurant,
Hackensack, N.J. Cost is $27.
For further information and to
be put on our email list, please
call Susan 201-343-8374
Natalie 201-265-2087
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 24, 2017 59

Real Estate & Business

Teaneck Chamber to host seminar for homeowners Millenial Shabbat

On Thursday, March 30, Teanecks
Chamber of Commerce will host a
homeownership seminar for current
homeowners as well as those who are
thinking of selling their property in the
near future at the Five Star Residence,
650 River Road, Teaneck.
Topics will include discussion on
increasing your homes value, building
permits and COs, mortgages and home
improvement loans and the process of
listing your home for sale.
Moderated by Wendy Dessanti
(Weichert Realtors), the panel of
speakers will include Barbara Ostroth
(Coldwell Banker), Michael Baer (attor-
ney), Liz Santos (Residential Home
Funding), and Kesha Davis (KD Relo-
cation Solutions) who will provide
timely information and tips on the
many factors affecting selling and
maintaining your home. Come with
your questions.
The session will run from 7 to 8 p.m.
Refreshments will be served. Your
RSVP is appreciated but not required to
attend. For more information, contact
Wendy Dessanti at (201) 310-2255 or
email wendydess@aol.com.
in Jersey City
On Friday night, March 3, from 7 to 8 p.m.,
Congregation Bnai Jacob Jersey City will
host The Shabbat Project: Millenial Edi-
tion. Professionals, singles, couples, and
their friends in their 20s to 40s are invited
to enjoy food, conversation, and celebra-
tion. Dress casual. The synagogue is at 176
West Side Ave., Jersey City. RSVP rabbi-
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Mobileye develops camera-based systems that help drivers keep passengers
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Israeli camera-based Advanced Driver Assist System
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Israel21c staff
Israels Mobileye will introduce Global
RoadBook, its road experience manage-
ment data-generation technology, in
newly developed BMW Group models
entering the market in 2018.
The technology will provide real-time
information on traffic density, potential
road hazards, weather conditions, on-
street parking, and other data.
This agreement to crowdsource real-
time data using vehicles equipped with
[Mobileyes] camera-based Advanced
Driver Assist System (ADAS) technology
is a critical enabler for autonomous driv-
ing through next-generation high-defini-
tion (HD) maps aimed at making driving
safer and more efficient for consumers,
according to a joint statement.
ADAS is already used by more than 25
automakers in 313 models.
Camera-based ADAS systems are
already making the roads safer. Global
RoadBook is an initiative to utilize data
from these cameras to create the high-
definition maps required to make the
next generation of autonomous driving
a reality, in an inclusive way which will
create an industry standard, said Dr.
Amnon Shashua, chairman and CTO of
Mobileye.
In addition, Mobileye technology to
support sensing, mapping and driving
policy is integral to its partnership with
BMW and Intel to produce fully autono-
mous vehicles planned for 2021.
In other Mobileye news, the company
recently installed its collision-avoidance
technology in 4,500 for-hire vehicles
(such as those available through popu-
lar apps including Uber and Lyft) in New
York City.
In addition, Mobileye will outfit pub-
lic buses in Columbus, Ohio, the winning
city in the U.S. Department of Transpor-
tation Smart City Challenge, with its
Shield+ vision-sensor system for pedes-
trian collision avoidance in public transit
systems.
Israel21c.org

60 Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017

 Real Estate & Business

Take it easy in Israels Valley of Springs TM

An antidote to fast-paced life, slow tourism

offers vacationers a more leisurely travel experience.
Viva Sarah Press A concept from Italy
The concept of slow tourism originated in Italy, where
The Valley of Springs Regional Council of Israel has local communities and tour operators set into motion
announced its second annual Slow Tourism initia- a new kind of travel experience aimed at putting
tive, calling on travelers to leisurely enjoy the hik- lesser-known locales on vacationers itineraries and
ing trails and natural springs in the area. giving local cultures more exposure and opportunities
Slow tourism, like slow food, is a new and more for hospitality. TENAFLY TREASURE $1,199,000
unhurried way to travel, enabling visitors the The concept translates well to the 16 kibbutzim and Classic Dutch colonial built in grand style has been restored & expanded
opportunity to enjoy in-depth experiences and to six moshav communities in the Valley of Springs area, w/abundant architectural detail & custom cabinetry, large rooms make it perfect
for entertaining, 6 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2 fireplaces, set back
interact with a location and its residents. which are only too happy to be added to the local on almost acre park-like East Hill property.
This is the time to take it slow and really enjoy tourists schedule. These communities make for great ALPINE/CLOSTER
TENAFLY RIVER VALE ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS TENAFLY CRESSKILL
the Valley of Springs at its best. The valley is green, places to visit or sleep over. Orna Jackson, Sales Associate 201-376-1389
894-1234
768-6868 666-0777 568-1818 894-1234 871-0800
the rivers and springs are in full flow, and the wild- The slow tourism concept strengthens the regional
flowers are beginning to bloom making for gor- tourism economy by enabling visitors to stay in this
geous scenery, Osnat Betzer, tourism manager of region and get a better understanding of the area, says
the Valley of Springs Regional Council, says. Betzer. We are sure that whoever comes to the Valley
The Valley of Springs bordered by the Jezreel
Valley to the west, the Lower Galilee to the north,
of Springs region will return time and again to these
special tourist attractions to the natural springs and
OPEN HOUSES
the Jordan River to the east, and the Jordan Valley to the trail walks. Israel21c.org t TEANECK t
to the south holds many of Israels gems includ-
ing more than 40 natural springs, birdwatching
spots, historical sites, fabulous bridges, and beau-
tiful flora and fauna.
Through March 4, local tour guides and vol-
unteers will take visitors along segments of the BANK-OWNED PROPERTIES
85-mile-long Valley of the Springs Trail. The entire
route takes six days to complete so the Regional
High-Return
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Real Estate & Business
El Al luxurious winter escape
SELLING YOUR HOME? includes Hilton Tel Aviv and
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Passengers may enjoy the six night hotel
stay during their visit in Israel any time
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2017 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.
An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Owned and Operated by NRT LLC. Busy Israeli mom develops
the organization app 24me
NVE-3312 Warmth Mortgage Ad 5x6.5_NVE-3305 Warmth Mortgage Ad 5x6.5 1/13/17 10:49 AM Page 1 Liat Mordechay Hertanu and husband
Gilad had three kids within four years.
Their multilingual personal assistant
aids busy people like themselves.
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you can really warm up to. whelmed with daily life management,
she said.
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2.625 2.704
you need to do but allowing you to pay
% % bills, check in with social networks and
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Relax. NVE has great rates, Rate APR*
And because Israelis arent the only
great service, and lots of options. Rates valid on Loan Amounts
busy people, 24me is available in 31
Up To $1,000,000
languages.
When it comes to purchasing a new home or refinancing your
Last October 10, Hertanu was one
current mortgage, NVE offers a full range of flexible mortgage
of four accomplished Israeli business-
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you, every step of the way, to ensure a smooth process and women honored by the America-Israel
speedy closing. Friendship League at the 10th annual
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Call today at 201-816-2800, ext. 1230, or apply online at nvebank.com
Exchange.
The biggest challenge in time man-
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happens since were overwhelmed
NMLS #733094 with dat a, Her t anu says from
*APR = Annual Percentage Rate. APR is accurate as of 1/12/17 and may vary based on loan amounts. Loans are 24mes offices in Or Yehuda, where
for 1-4 family New Jersey owner-occupied properties only. Rates and terms are subject to change without
notice. As an example, the 7-year loan at the stated APR would have 84 monthly payments of $13.05 per she handles marketing and business
thousand borrowed based on a 20% down payment or equity for loan amounts up to $500,000. Payments
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be greater. Property insurance is required. Other rates and terms are available. Subject to credit approval. With so much information com-
Bergenfield I Closter I Cresskill I Englewood I Hillsdale I Leonia I New Milford I Teaneck I Tenafly ing from different resources of data,
62 Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017
now through March 23. Price is based
on per person, double occupancy, and
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El Al offers the most nonstop flights
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managing day-to-day life becomes
more challenging and its hard to set
priorities when so much is happening.
We felt you need a central dashboard
for your life.
Hertanu emphasizes that 24me isnt
just a mommy app. Its really inter-
esting to see we have 50-50 male and
female users, from all age groups,
though the main age group is 21 to 34,
she says.
Hertanu is a graduate of the com-
puter science school at IDC Herzliya
and was among the first cohort of
IDCs Zell Entrepreneurship Program.
She began working at startups dur-
ing college and went on to positions
with several successful technology
firms and Fortune 500 companies in
North America.
We traveled to the U.S. when I was
pregnant with our first child, Daniel.
I was working with a startup and my
husband joined a full-time M.B.A. pro-
gram at Washington University in St.
Louis, says Hertanu. She enrolled in
an executive international MBA pro-
gram at the school.
Entrepreneurship seems to be a
genetic thing for Hertanu, who was
born in 1978 and raised in Yavne by
a teacher (mom) and computer engi-
neer (dad). She and her three sisters
were encouraged to excel in science
and technology.
My uncles were involved in making
businesses, and that set an example
for me from an early age. I remember
as a child doing entrepreneurial stuff
and trying to make small businesses,
she says.
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Teaneck: 201.992.3600 Maywood: 201.636.7200 LINKSNJ.COM

Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 24, 2017 63