REMEMBERING IRA SOHN page 6

BENEFIT CONCERT FOR HURRICANE VICTIMS IN FAIR LAWN page 8

HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BIBLE IN FORT LEE page 10
TWO PLAYS ABOUT THEATRICAL MAGIC page 45

NOVEMBER 17, 2017

VOL. LXXXVII NO. 9 $1.00 86 2017
7

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 Page 3
Spiders turn Jerusalem creek into ethereal haunted forest
Millions of tiny long-jawed spiders
have spun enormous cobwebs, turning
a Jerusalem creek into a most unusual
natural spectacle. The giant cobwebs,
spun by spiders called Tetragnathas,
shroud entire trees and envelop the for-
est to create a phenomenon rarely seen
in the Middle East.
The spiders, which usually are soli-
tary creatures who like to live in damp
or swampy habitats, are attracted to
the Soreq Creek for its huge mosquito
population. The creek contains treated
sewage, which is full of nutrients that

PHOTO BY YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90

mosquitoes love. In turn the spiders
love to eat the mosquitoes, and so their
numbers explode.
These vast spider webs wont last
much longer, however. There may be
millions of spider egg sacs and tiny baby
spiders all along the banks of the river,
but temperatures are dropping, and as
they do, so does the mosquito popula-
tion. And as go the mosquitoes, so go
the spiders. NICKY BLACKBURN/ISRAEL21C.ORG

Israel copes with Krembo crisis

Maybe its the talk of Iranian forces country, a spokesperson told Hadashot
near the Syrian border. Maybe its the news.
continuing investigation of the prime One shopper told the news station
minister. Maybe its all the spiders in the that she had been searching every-
forest near Jerusalem (see above). where for a mocha-flavored Krembo,
Whatever it is, something seems to but with no success. I dont know why

Baby bats can learn different dialects be sending Israelis in search of a

It turns out we are not the only
animals in the world who can speak in
different dialects.
Bats can too.
A new study by researchers at Tel
Aviv University finds that young bats
adopt the specific dialect spoken by
their own colonies, even when this
dialect differs from the bats mothers
own native dialect.
The research, which was published
in PLoS Biology, offers insight into
the evolutionary origins of language
acquisition skills, calling into question
the uniqueness of this skill in humans.
The ability to learn vocalizations
from others is extremely important for
speech acquisition in humans, but its
up the dialect vocalized by their sur-
rounding roost-mates.
For the research, Yovels team, which
included students Yosef Prat and Lind-
say Azoulay, raised 14 pups with their
mothers in three different colonies.
In these artificial colonies, speakers
played three specific subsets from a
collection of recordings of natural bat
vocalizations. The researchers exposed
the bats to the recordings over a pe-
riod of one year, until the young bats
reached adulthood.
The pups were raised with their
mothers and could communicate with
them, Prat said. But even though they
were exposed to their mothers nor-
mal dialect, each group instead devel-
sugar rush.
there arent any, she said.
The Feldman Ice Cream
Stores throughout the company, which produces its
country are running out of own version of Krembo, called
the foil-wrapped choco- Manbo, said it has increased
late-coated marshmallow production by 25 percent to
treats known as Krembos. meet demand. Since the be-
Krembo (or Creambo, a ginning of the season, we have
portmanteau meaning cream been delightedly following the growing
inside it) is a popular winter substitute demand for Krembo even though the
for ice cream, sold from October to winter weather is refusing to arrive, a
February. Demand for it increases every company spokesperson told Hadashot.
year. He explained that during the Krembo
Strauss Group Ltd. said that it manu- season, Israelis eat some 50 million
factures hundreds of thousands of the chocolate marshmallows. Thats about
treats daily, and is doing everything it six Krembos per person. Although the
can to meet demand. The Strauss fac- treat comes in a variety of flavors, va-
tory will continue to work around the nilla is by far the most popular, making
clock in order to sweeten the winter up some 60 percent of all sales.
for all the Krembo lovers across the DAVID SEDLEY/TIMES OF ISRAEL

believed to be rare among animals, oped a dialect resembling the one of

said lead researcher Dr. Yossi Yovel of
the School of Zoology and the Sagol
School of Neuroscience at TAUs Fac-
ulty of Life Sciences.
The most common animal models
for this vocal learning are songbirds,
which learn songs from specific tu-
tors, he said. Bird researchers usually
emphasize that a bird learns to sing
from one parent, but we have shown
that bats listen and learn from an
entire colony of several hundred bats,
not just from their parents.
In other words, young bats pick
the crowd it was exposed to through
our recordings.
The difference between the vocal-
izations of the mother bat and those
of the colony are akin to a London ac-
cent and, say, a Scottish accent, Yovel
said. The pups heard their mothers
London dialect, but also heard the
Scottish dialect mimicked by many
dozens of Scottish bats. The pups
eventually adopted a dialect that was
more similar to the local Scottish
dialect than to the London accent of
their mothers. TIMES OF ISRAEL
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call 201-837-8818 or bit.ly/jsubscribe
CONTENTS
NOSHES ...............................................................4
BRIEFLY LOCAL .............................................. 12
COVER STORY .................................................14
JEWISH WORLD ............................................20
OPINION ........................................................... 26
HEALTHY LIVING &
ADULT LIFESTYLES......................................30
DVAR TORAH ................................................ 43
THE FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE ...................44
CROSSWORD PUZZLE ................................44
ARTS & CULTURE .......................................... 45
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Candlelighting: Friday, November 17, 4:18 p.m.
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CALENDAR ......................................................46 unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes
and subject to JEWISH STANDARDs unrestricted right to edit
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JEWISH
JEWISH
STANDARD
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NOVEMBER 3, 2017 3
MARCH 17,
Noshes It was probably the weirdest pastoral
counseling request she ever got.
Jo Pitesky, a science planner for the Cassini spacecraft, on how she asked her
friend Rabbi Deborah Silver for advice on mourning Cassini, which after 13 years
studying Saturn burnt up in the planets atmosphere in September, as reported in
the Los Angeles Times

TO WONDER AT:

Mandy P. takes
a principal role

Wonder is based ing Auggie.

on the best-selling Netflix released the
novel of the same first 17 episodes of
name. August Auggie The Punisher on Daveed Diggs Jon Bernthal
Pullman (Jacob Trem- Friday, November 17.
blay) is a young boy born JON BERNTHAL, 41,
Ezra Miller and Gal Gadot
with a facial deformity. stars in the title role. The
Hes been in and out of Punisher is the alter ego
hospitals for years. His of Frank Castle, and he is
mother (Julia Roberts) a fearsome vigilante. The
and his father (Owen Punisher has appeared in Gal and Ezra return
Wilson) stand by him as
he tries to fit in at a new
Marvel Comics since the
1970s and hes taken on in the Justice League
school, Beecher Prep. just about every group of
Justice League features iconic DC Comic characters.
Advance publicity baddies you can imagine.
Israeli actress GAL GADOT, 38, who played the title
describes Wonder as a It the first season of the
heartwarming comedy- Netflix series, he exacts role in Wonder Woman, an uber-smash last summer,
drama. A trailer featuring revenge on those who returns as Diana/Wonder Woman. EZRA MILLER, 25,
MANDY PATINKIN, 64, killed his family and then Ebon Moss-Bachrach Alma Deutscher had a cameo as the Flash in Batman v. Superman in
lives up to that descrip- uncovers a larger 2016, but League represents his real debut in the part.
tion. Patinkin plays Mr. conspiracy. Girls, where me played poem of his and puts it On the dark side, JESSE EISENBERG, 34, re-appears as
Tushman, the funny, car- EBON MOSS- Desi Harperin, a musi- to music.) Cinderella baddie Lex Luthor.
ing principal of Beecher BACHRACH, 39, has a cian whom main char- opened in Vienna last
The plot is too complex to lay out here, but here are
Prep. When he first major supporting role as acter Marnie was long December and will be
meets Auggie and his David Linus Microchip involved with. presented by a San Jose two fun footnotes: First, last year, it was leaked that the
mother, he makes them Lieberman (often just On Sunday, company next month. script described Barry Allen, the Flashs secret alter ego,
smile by telling them called Micro). In the com- November 5, 60 Alma, who was born as a young Jewish man. About a week ago, though, Ezra
what hes had to put up ics, Micro supplied Castle Minutes profiled and raised in Britain, is Miller hinted that Allens Jewish identity was dropped in
with because of his last with high tech equip- ALMA DEUTSCHER, a the daughter of well- the final film cut. Well see. Second, every member of the
name: Hi, Im Mr. Tush- ment. There are hints 12-year-old music known Israeli linguist (good guy) Justice League except Wonder Woman - Bat-
man and Ive heard it all: that their relationship prodigy. You run out of GUY DEUTSCHER, 47. man, Superman, Aquaman, the Flash, and the Cyb - was
tushie, buttman, butt- may be more complex in superlatives describing Hes a U.K. university
created or co-created by a Jewish writer.
face, Mr. Tucas. Later the series. (By the way, her and her accomplish- professor and amateur
N.B.
in the trailer, Tushman its easy to assume that ments. Shes charming, musician. His British wife,
encapsulates in one line Micro/Lieberman is a upbeat, and insightful. Janie Steen Deutscher,
his plan for Auggie: He Jewish character. I dont She began playing piano Almas mother, also is
cant change the way think that has ever been and violin before she was an academic (medieval
he looks, but maybe we made explicit in the com- 5 and long has been a literature) and amateur
can change the way we ics. Contact me if you virtuoso on both. She musician. I dont know if an educational music
see. DAVEED DIGGS, know me to be wrong.) began composing when shes Jewish. I do know program. She seamlessly Deutscher and 60 Min-
35 (Hamilton), has a Moss-Bachrach has she was 6. At 10, she that Alma has dual Is- moved from Hebrew to utes. To find the Israeli
supporting role as Mr. appeared in many indie wrote her first full length raeli citizenship. I was English as she talked to TV program, enter this in
Browne, a hip English films and TV guest roles. opera, Cinderella. (In charmed by an Israeli the shows hosts. (You the Youtube search box:
teacher who inspires His most high-profile role her version, the prince is TV clip of Alma at 8. She can find the 60 Minutes Alma 8 on Intermezzo
his students, includ- was in the HBO series a poet. Cinderella finds a appeared, in Israel, on story by googling Alma with Arik.) N.B.

Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at
Middleoftheroad1@aol.com

E L E V A T E Y O U R S T A N D A R D S

W h e r e L u x u r y L i v e s

BenzelBusch.com | 201.720.4948

4 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017

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Local
Remembering Ira Sohn
Foundation in memory of Englewood man works for childhood cancer cures
JOANNE PALMER
O
ne of the standard responses
to a death, particularly to a
young persons death, is the
vow never to forget him.
Hell always be in my mind, people
say. Or Shes deep in my heart and will be
there forever.
But people are people, with human mem-
ories and real lives piling new experiences
on top of older ones. Usually they forget.
Ira Sohn, who grew up in Englewood,
died in 1993. He was 29 years old. His
younger brother, Evan, who still lives in
Englewood, along with some of Iras clos-
est friends, decided they would not forget
Ira. They would keep his memory alive. And
they would use his memory to make life bet- Ira Sohn
ter for other people.
That was the genesis of the Sohn Confer-
ence Foundation.
The conferences that the foundation
runs are a logical expression of some of the
passions and themes of Ira Sohns life, his
brother Evan said; theyre a clever way to
capitalize on intellectual excitement and
turn it into effective fundraising.
Ira was diagnosed with cancer five years
before he died. It was a clear cell sarcoma
in his arm that eventually spread to his
lungs, Evan said. It was not a childhood
cancer and he was not a child when it
struck him, but the chemo he received
treatments that were state of the art then,
but far harsher and harder to endure than
the not-for-sissies treatments patients Evan Sohn
endure today was administered at Tomor-
rows Childrens Institute, now part of Hack-
ensack Hospital. Ira liked being around
kids, Evan said. They were always smiling.
They were happy, even when they were get-
Evan, left, and Ira Sohn
ting chemo. They were hopeful, even in the
face of hopelessness.
Ira was a Wall Street trader, Evan said,
and he also was a very nice guy. The people with whom he
worked did not want his memory to vaporize. They wanted
a way to remember him. So his manager and two of his
friends approached the family with an idea, Evan said.
Doug Hirsch, Lance Laifer, and Daniel Nir had an idea, 23
years ago, to have a conference. The format would be that
financial professionals would have 15 minutes to give their
best stock ideas.
The conference is highly prestigious. Leading figures
in the finance world speak; its competitive, and over the
past two decades has gotten to the point where it not only
reports on market movements but causes them. In 2008,
for example, Evan Sohn said, David Einhorn talked about
the problems at Lehmann Brothers; a few months later, the
storied firm had declared bankruptcy.
The conference is not about abstract theories but real
trends, reality-based predictions, and hard-won insights, not
air but tachlis. Its real. Speakers guard their information
6 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017
as children.
and craft it for the day of the speech, Evan said. It is an had a very different ending.
amazing thing. And people come for the content, which is
noteworthy, but they write a check for the charity.
All these luminaries donate their time, year after year,
and it helps the foundation raise money for the cause.
The foundation has an annual conference in New York
and in 10 other cities around the world, in nine countries on
four continents. (Its in New York, San Francisco, London,
Monaco, Zurich, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Sydney, Toronto, Tel
Aviv, and Sao Paolo.) Although the first conference attracted
70 people, and most of them were related to the found-
ers, now we have thousands who attend around the world,
Evan said. The foundation has raised more than $80 million
dollars, he said.
So thats the income side. Where does that money go?
When we started to think about where the proceeds
should go, we thought about pediatric cancers and other
childhood diseases, Evan Sohn said. First, there was the
fact that his brother had loved children and
taken heart from them. Also, we thought
about the impact we could make, from a
financial perspective.
If you look at the money that is raised
for adult cancer, it far exceeds the money
raised for pediatric cancer, so we saw the
opportunity for a more significant role.
For a number of reasons including the
fact that childhood cancers afflict fewer
people than other cancers do, and therefore
there is less impetus to work to counteract
them, and also the fact that the emotional
impact that childrens deaths have on their
families makes it less rather than more likely
that parents would chose to memorialize
them in this way, for a range of emotional
reasons research in childhood cancers is
not well funded. That, in turn, discourages
researchers.
The Sohn Foundation works to coun-
ter that.
It funds scientists at the top of their
fields, and also junior fellowship pro-
grams, Mr. Sohn said. It works with the
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Founda-
tion to provide fellowships, and it invests
in research in both science and technology.
We ran the first international symposium
for pediatric cancer research, which brings
together scientists from around the world,
Mr. Sohn said.
The foundation works with Columbia
Universitys precision medicine program,
where we fund any child in the New York
area who has cancer and wants that test.
A small child on Long Island who had can-
cer was tested; follow-ups showed that
he, his father, and all of his four siblings
had a genetic mutation that could lead to
another cancer that might well have killed
them had it not been detected and preven-
tive measures taken. The family today is
flourishing, and Mr. Sohn is overjoyed to
have been part of a story that could have
The Sohn foundation has partnered with Rockefeller
University, on Manhattans East Side. It is one of the top
research institutions in the world, Mr. Sohn said. If they
were a country, they would have the third most Nobel-prize-
winners. They have 24 Nobel prizes.
On Wednesday, November 15, Rockefeller University hon-
ored the Sohn Foundation for the support it has given in the
advancement of science and technology, which are used, in
all their abstract glory, to help save the very real children
afflicted by cancer.
All this is because of Ira Sohn, Evan Sohns big
brother, always three years older, three years ahead,
three years better.
So who was Ira Sohn?
The son of Judith Silverstein Sohn, who died in 2011, and
Dr. Norman Sohn, the oldest of three (Ira, Evan, and Elana),
SEE IRA SOHN PAGE 49
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Local

For the love of music

Fair Lawn studio to hold benefit concert for hurricane victims
LOISGOLDRICH

M
arina Belkin came here from
Israel with very limited English.
Back in Russia, where she
lived as a child, I learned some
English, she said. But when we moved to
Israel, I had to study Hebrew and English was
kicked out. Now, the musician is fluent in
English but still better in Hebrew.
Ms. Belkin, who is the founder of Fair
Lawns award-winning Believe in Music Stu-
dio, says that the one constant in her life
has been the love of and belief in music.
Its in my blood, she said. She began her
study of piano when she was 5, and gave her
debut performance with Russias Symphonic
Orchestra at 10. Since then, she has appeared
as a soloist on many stages and offered many
workshops. Formally, she received her bach-
elors and masters degrees at the Baku State
Conservatory and a masters in musical cre- Marina Belkin
ative education from Bar-Ilan University. She
also received a certificate for advanced training from the
Center for Music at Princeton.
Ms. Belkin moved to Fair Lawn and created her studio
some 18 years ago. She chose the town because it was
very Jewish, with a lot of synagogues and Israeli people,
she said. We would be among people we could commu-
nicate with. She arrived with her husband, Mark, and
her son, Eugene her older daughter had just graduated
high school and chose to remain in Israel, to serve in the
army and pregnant with her third child, David, my first
American one.
She built her studio little by little, and now has some
60 students who come from towns from Fort Lee to Mah-
wah and range in age from 5 to nearly 80. The studio
offers piano, guitar, and voice lessons. Once a year, dur-
ing winter break, Ms. Belkin takes her students to family-
friendly operas at New Yorks Metropolitan Opera. They
love it, she said. You have to pick a childs first opera
carefully, she added, noting that Mozarts Magic Flute
is a good choice.
Her goal, she said, is to share her love of music. This is
not the first studio she has established. Before moving to
the United States, she founded and directed a music stu-
dio in Tel Aviv. Her passion and pride, she said, is in shap- kin said. Usually, music and art are the last activities to
ing students who have grown up to become musicians or
simply people who fill their lives with the joys of music.
We are proud to send our students to music compe-
titions of all levels in and out of state, Ms. Belkin said.
They emerge with positive energy, dedication, and bright
results. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing the
development of a childs skills, and no greater satisfaction
exists than that of placing a love of music in a childs heart.
But it is not only about music, she added. With the
power of music to unite and sensitize people, Ms. Belkin
and her students have held benefit concerts in the after-
math of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, and are now plan-
ning one, onNovember 24(see box) to help victims of
Hurricane Harvey.
With the spate of recent disasters, Ms. Belkin said, this
was a hard decision. First there was Harvey, then Irma,
then Maria. With her determination to give the proceeds
of the concert directly to victims, not to a middleman,
she said, I couldnt find anyone to work with directly in
Puerto Rico. Every penny counts, and I dont want some
of it to go to someones salary.
As it happened, an acquaintance from the National Fed-
eration of Music Clubs pointed out that school districts in
Texas in smaller towns outside Houston need a great
deal of help. She contacted the towns and they sent pic-
tures of their schools, which Ms. Belkin showed to her
students. They decided that We have to do this, Ms. Bel-
get money. But you have to have music. When you play
an instrument, it helps your mental health. The Texas
schools will direct the proceeds of the Fair Lawn concert
toward a music program of the donors choice.
The studios past concerts have attracted
an audience of about 100, she said, and have
raised between $2,000 and $3,000. She
hopes that this concert will raise even more.
She already has signed up some sponsors,
going on foot to those who know me person-
ally. She noted, for example, that her bak-
ery, Zadies, helped sponsor last years con-
cert and will do so again this year. Also, we
sell tickets, and the parents hold a bake sale,
she said.
Ms. Belkins commitment to help others is
absolutely a Jewish value, she said. Since
her students include people of many ethnici-
ties, I have to explain the word mitzvah. I
think thats what were doing. I tell them
that they are fortunate to have their health,
families, houses, and that they can afford to
have lessons. They run from activity to activ-
ity. They dont know about real life. We teach
them how to help.
Each student at Ms. Belkins studio will
have a chance to play during the first part of the upcom-
ing benefit concert. Her son, David, a freshman at the
University of Rochester, who has performed five times at
Carnegie Hall (and was born on Chopins birthday) will be
featured as well; so too will be an Israeli singer and pia-
nist, a Romanian Israeli opera singer, and ballroom dance
champions.
Weve really put together an amazing program, Ms.
Belkin said. People will get to come together as a com-
munity to help out in a fun and festive way. It will also
showcase the effort of the young generation, who prac-
tice hard and have a purpose. Her students, she said,
absolutely understand the significance of what theyre
doing. This is their time to give, she said.
Who: Believe in Music Studio
What: Will sponsor a benefit concert for the victims of
Hurricane Harvey
When: OnNovember 24 at 2 p.m.
Where: Fair Lawn Community Center, 10-10 20thSt.,
Fair Lawn
Suggested donation: $25
For tickets and information: Call(201) 773-8389. For
more information about Believe in Music Studios, go to
www.believeinmusicstudio.com

Thanksgiving Food Drive

Wont you help ll our food pantry with nutritious food before the holiday?
Items most needed include: canned tuna and sardines, peanut butter, canned beans (black
and red), canned vegetables and fruit, canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, canned soups,
shelf stable milk, dry cereal, oatmeal and white rice.

For more information please call (201) 837-9090 or email info@JFCSNNJ.org

8 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017


Shabbat in Jersey City
Mayor Fulop, outreach organization join for rooftop dinner
JOANNE PALMER
Steve Fulop, Jersey Citys first-term mayor,
just won re-election in a landslide; he got 78
percent of the vote.
Mr. Fulop, a Democrat who was a Wall
Street trader before September 11, and then
joined the Marines, and then became mayor
of the states second largest city, has much
to celebrate. This Friday night, hell cele-
brate something else as well. Shabbat.
Hell be at what is billed as the Rooftop
Shabbat dinner, in a space overlooking
the Jersey City waterfront, as one of many
guests of Mesorah NJ, an outreach organi-
zation with a growing presence among the
Jews moving into the city.
Of course, Mr. Fulop is a natural at a Shab-
bat dinner. Hes the grandson of Holocaust
survivors, the son of an IDF veteran, and a
onetime student at the Rabbi Pesach Ray-
mon Yeshiva in Edison, where he grew up,
and then the Solomon Schechter School of
Union and Essex (although he left for public
school because he craved soccer).
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Today, he said, Im
obviously very secular,
and if anybody reaches
out I go; I have done a lot
of different events with dif-
ferent parts of the Jewish
community.
I do this for a lot of dif-
ferent communities -- not
all of them Jewish but I
am Jewish. My background
is a large part of who I am. Steve Fulop
The city is increasingly
Jewish as well, he said. We have three
synagogues; we have a very large commu-
nity of secular professionals who identify
as Jewish. Many are young, but there are
more families here now. There is also a
growing chasidic presence in southern Jer-
sey City, he added, as families move there
from Brooklyn.
The invitation to Shabbat dinner
which is open to the public (but by the
time you read this its too late to go) says
that it will involve specialty cocktails and
SM
gourmet food. Its aimed
at unaffiliated young
professionals.
Rabbi Yehoshua Lewis
and his wife, Esther, who
live in Highland Park,
founded and run Mesorah
NJ, which focuses on High-
land Park and now on Jer-
sey City as well. We stay in
Jersey City for Shabbat and
do Shabbat dinners there
every five or six weeks,
Rabbi Lewis said. We have a social event
once a month, and a lecture. We have
weekly learning sessions in apartments, or
challah baking. Esther does challah baking
with the women, and I do something with
the guys, Scotch and schmooze and talk
about Torah topics or something about
current events. Last week we talked about
anti-Semitism.
Esther also teaches Torah topics, and
how to make yourself better.
Mesorah NJ also holds events on
OPERATION
FINALE
THE
CAPTURE
& TRIAL OF
ADOLF
EICHMANN
Local
Chanukah, Purim, and Pesach.
Its mostly for people who are unaffili-
ated, Rabbi Lewis said. They dont go to
shul on Shabbes. They are not found in
traditional places. It is my job to connect
them at whatever level they are at.
Mesorah NJ does not list affiliations
with institutions on its website, but it
is Orthodox, and loosely affiliated with
Meor and Aish, Rabbi Lewis said. He
grew up modern Orthodox in Great Neck,
graduated from MTA, Yeshiva Universi-
tys high school, and probably in prac-
tice am what you would call yeshivish or
right-wing YU but that puts me in a box,
and I dont like being in a box, he said.
He began doing outreach at Rutgers in
2005, and then we had so many alumni
in Jersey City, and I realized through
speaking to them that there is nothing
going on there, in Jersey City.
You try to create a Jewish community
in college, and there is a natural commu-
nity there. But when they leave college
SEE JERSEY CITY PAGE 49
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 9
Local
Is the Bible true? Does it matter?
Fort Lee scholar in residence will tackle the hard questions
Lois Goldrich
Few books elicit as much attention, interpre-
tation, and dispute as the Bible.
Should it be studied as a historical text?
A divine revelation? An interesting collec-
tion of stories? Whether your answer is
all, or none, of the above, the Bible still
is worth studying, says Dr. Marc Brettler,
who will be Gesher Shaloms scholar in
residenceDecember 1 and 2.
The Bible is the central Jewish text, and a
text that is too often discussed without being
read, Dr. Brettler said. He hopes that his lec-
tures will encourage people to engage more,
understand more, and then go out and read
more of the Bible in a serious fashion.
Dr. Brettler the Bernice and Morton
Lerner Professor of Jewish Studies in the
Department of Religious Studies at Duke Uni-
versity and former chair of the Department of
Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis
University has taught and written widely on
the subject. Given the Bibles complexity, it is
not surprising that A&E produced a television
series called Mysteries of the Bible. It also is
not surprising that Dr. Brettler appeared on
that show.
A graduate of Brandeis University who has
taught at Brandeis, Yale, Brown, Wellesley,
Laughing matter
Columbia professor to get serious about Jewish comedy in Englewood
Larry Yudelson
Did you hear the one about the Jewish girl
who infiltrated the kings harem and saved
the Jewish people?
Okay, so the story of Esther isnt exactly
a joke.
It is, however, a comedy. And its the start-
ing point for Dr. Jeremy Daubers new book,
Jewish Comedy: A Serious History.
Professor Dauber grew up in Teaneck. He
will speak about his book later this month in
Englewood at Congregation Ahavath Torah
(see box).
This new book grew out of his course on
Jewish humor at Columbia University, where
he is a professor of Yiddish.
Dr. Dauber places Esther as the start-
ing place for Jewish comedy because even
though there are early passages in the Bible
that have elements of humor, biblical humor
before that is triumphant, he said. Jews
conquer other nations. God rules. Those
laughs are unambiguously at the expense of
the gentiles and their idols.
The book of Esther is a different kind of
10 Jewish Standard NOVEMBER 17, 2017
Dr. Marc Brettler
and Middlebury, Dr. Brettler is author or co-
editor of The Jewish Study Bible, How to
Read the Bible, The Jewish Annotated New
Testament, The Bible and the Believer:
How to Read the Bible Critically and Reli-
giously, Biblical Hebrew for Students of
Modern Israeli Hebrew, The Creation of
History in Ancient Israel, and Reading the
Book of Judges.
Dr. Jeremy Dauber Marion Ettlinger
humor, Dr. Dauber said. The Temple has
been destroyed. The Jews are in diaspora, in
a hard situation.
Why is Jewish humor different from all
In the four lectures he will deliver in Fort
Lee, he will explore how the Bible came
about, in what sense it is true, and how works
such as the Dead Sea scrolls have contributed
to our understanding of the text.
Dr. Brettler grew up as a traditional obser-
vant Jew in Brooklyn and the New Testament
was not a part of my life, Im still an observant
Jew but Ive gained an appreciation of the
Christian Bible, he said. Indeed, his firstFri-
dayevening lecture is called How Did a Nice
Jewish Boy from Boro Park Come to Co-Edit
the Jewish Annotated New Testament?
Its one of the most important sources
of Jewish history for the first century of the
Common Era, Dr. Brettler said. If we want
our neighbors to appreciate the Jewish reli-
gion, its important to appreciate their most
central document. The idea for this book
was his a concept he developed while co-
editing The Jewish Study Bible. In his view,
Its important for Jews to have more appre-
ciation for the New Testament and for Chris-
tians to understand the New Testament as a
Jewish book. After all, he explained, Jesus
was Jewish and Christianity developed after-
wards as a movement within Judaism. It was
not in competition.
Dr. Brettler said his studies have given him
a much greater appreciation of the diversity
other humor? Dr. Dauber identifies seven
ways of pinning down its essence and all of
them apply to Esther.
One approach says Jewish comedy is a
response to anti-Semitism, he said. Another
says that Jewish comedy is a kind of satirical
comedy that is trying to take on and improve
the affairs of the Jewish community. A third
sees Jewish comedy as bookish and allusive,
and a fourth describes it as the opposite, pro-
fane and provocative. Jewish comedy can be
seen as metaphysical and dealing with God
and the covenant or it can reflect the folk
and everyday Jewish life. Finally, its about
the blurred and ambiguous nature of Jewish-
ness itself.
Dr. Dauber organized his book with a chap-
ter for each one of these themes. Each chap-
ter reaches back to the Bible hello, Esther!
and forward through the Talmud and the
Middle ages to Yiddish literature hello,
Sholem Aleichem, subject of Dr. Daubers
previous book and then on to America and
finally to the 21st century realm of Twitter.
Along the way there is history, analysis,
and fear not, plenty of jokes and thats
of Jewish practice and belief not just today,
but historically. The academic study of the
Bible encourages me to see diversity within
the Bible, although it is often seen as mono-
lithic and authoritative, he said. Whether in
practice or belief, theres almost no issue con-
cerning which we can say, in one way, The
Bible says
Dr. Brettlers secondFridaynight lecture,
How Did the Bible Become the Bible, will
explore the idea that while Jews agree on
almost nothing, they all share the same Bible.
When we go from one shul to another, we are
reading exactly the same text. In Judaism,
that text has three parts historical, wis-
dom, and prophetic writings. The Christian
Bible with four parts, has things arranged
differently.
On Saturday morning, Dr. Brettler will
Who: Dr. Marc Brettler
What: Will deliver four lectures about
the Bible
When: OnDecember 1 and 2
Where: The JCC of Fort Lee/
Congregation Gesher Shalom,
1449 Anderson Ave.
For information: Call(201) 947-1735or
go to geshershalom.org
even though actual jokes were a relatively
late arrival to the Jewish literary canon. Thats
in contrast to the Greeks, who wrote down
their classical jokes. The Talmud, Dr. Dauber
said, has the genre of smart alecks, scholars
who take a discussion to such a level of absur-
dity that they are kicked out of the study hall.
The medieval period offers books of fables
and stories, many of which are comic, Dr.
Dauber said.
Dr. Daubers own history of Jewish humor
goes back to childhood.
Who: Dr. Jeremy Dauber
What: Talks about Jewish Comedy:
A History in Five Jokes book signing
follows
Where: Congregation Ahavath Torah,
240 Broad Ave., Englewood
When: Monday, November 27, at 7:30
p.m.
How much: No charge
For information and dinner reserva-
tions: Go to geshershalom.org and
click on event flyers
 Sandi M. Malkin, LL C
tackle perhaps one of the most difficult questions raised
about the Bible: Is it true? And, indeed, does that matter?
Ill talk about different types of truth, he said, for exam-
Interior Designer
ple, whether the Bible is historically true. The evidence (former interior designer of model
we have suggests that portions of the Bible are historically
rooms for NYs #1 Dept. Store)
accurate while some are not. How do we balance those
two findings?
Does it matter? Its very complicated in an era of fake
news, he said. Its fine with me if the Bible is simply For a totally new look using
a teaching tool. Understanding it as a history textbook is
fundamentally problematic. In studying the Bible aca- your furniture or starting anew.
demically, I try to be objective to the extent it is pos-
sible, he said, noting once again the complexity of the
project. I realize that there are texts that are problematic.
Staging also available
We have to understand the difference between what the
Bible meant and what it means.
973-535-9192
Dr. Brettler said that many of the perspectives he has
developed in this area can be found on the website TheTo-
rah.com, which he co-founded. It contains both his ideas
and those of others. Among the questions addressed there
are how this academic way of understanding the Bible

GRAND OPENING
!
can fit in contemporary Jewish life. He pointed out that
the emphasis in part of the Jewish world on the historical
truth of the Bible was not originally a Jewish interest but
has been influenced by Protestants.
On Saturdayafternoon, Dr. Brettler will look at the
implication of archeological discoveries and the decipher-
OF OUR NEW SHOWROOM
ment of ancient Near Eastern texts for our understanding
of the Bible, and its truth. Addressing the importance of
the Dead Sea Scrolls, he noted that it really changed our
understanding of how the Bible became the Bible, par-
ticularly as relates to what was included and what was left
out. It [also] changed our understanding of the precise
wording of the biblical texts which words were in and
which were out. It was also a very important source for
how the Bible was interpreted in early times.

I grew up in a house where there was a lot of Jewish

comedy, whether it was watching Mel Brooks and Woody
Allen in the movies, or whether it was reading this book
my dad had, A Treasury of Jewish Folklore, that had all
these wonderful Jewish jokes, or starting to read a little bit
of Jewish comic literature, he said.
Only when I got to graduate school and started teach-
ing did I see this could be something I could be interesting
in teaching and writing about.
Dr. Dauber grew up thinking that Jews were funny, but,
W
sand & r e
he discovered, the equation of Jews and humor is a new
phenomenon. Thats the American experience, he said. e
In Christian Europe, that was not the case. Jews were your exi nish
s
considered melancholy and sad. Why? Largely because hardwooting
they hadnt been saved by Jesus. They missed the boat.
Christians projected that onto the Jews. DIRECT LINE oors!
d

CARPET
It is of course not news that Jews and Christians dont
see things the same way. It is, however, the basis for plenty
of Jewish jokes, including one of Dr. Daubers favorites:
General Eisenhower is taken to see the grave of the
unknown Jewish soldier. (This dates the joke, Dr. Dauber New
interjects.) He goes and sees a monument dedicated to Location! VINYL | CARPET | HARDWOOD
Hyman Goldfarb, furrier.
General Eisenhower turns to his guide. How is that an
unknown soldier? he asks. It says right there, Hyman
Goldfarb, furrier!
His Jewish guide replies: As a furrier, he is famous. As
a soldier, he is unknown.

Jewish Standard NOVEMBER 17, 2017 11

Briefly Local

The members of the Middle States team that evaluated Sinai Schools are,
from left, Rabbi Avi Levitt, principal of Magen David Yeshivah Celia Es-
ses High School in Brooklyn; Jessica Sandle, assistant principal of Kendall
Demonstration Elementary School/Model Secondary School for the Deaf
in Washington; Rachel Goldman, executive director of the Westchester Day
School in Mamaroneck, N.Y.; Eileen Schweitzer, special education teacher
of the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services on Long
Island; and George Vosburgh, MSA ambassador and team chair.
 PHOTO COURTESY SINAI
Sinai Schools receives
Panelists and NCJW BCS members planning the forum, seated from left,
are Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle; Joan Snider, member of the
National Council of Jewish Women; Patricia Teffenhart, executive direc-
tor of the NJ Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and Helen Archontou, CEO
of the YWCA of Bergen County. Standing, from left, are NCJW members
Ina Miller Silverstein and Bari-Lynne Schwartz; Liz Corsini, vice president/
director of programs of the Bergen Family Center; and Elke Stein, direc-
tor of domestic violence and sexual abuse services at Project Sarah at the
Jewish Family Service and Childrens Center of Clifton-Passaic.

reaccreditation support  PHOTO COURTESY NCJW

On November 2, the Middle States Asso-

ciation of Colleges and Schools formally
recommended Sinai Schools for reac-
creditation. Sinai is the only Jewish
special education school to be accred-
ited by Middle States, and it has held
this distinction since 2004. The Middle
States visiting team performed an in-
depth evaluation of Sinai, spending a
week at its facilities and reviewing all
aspects of its educational standards and
practices.
NCJW BCS will host forum
on combatting sexual violence
The Bergen County section of the
National Council of Jewish will hold
Sexual Violence: Changing the Cul-
ture, a community-wide advocacy
forum, at Temple Emeth in Teaneck
at 12:30 p.m. on November 21. A dis-
tinguished panel of counselors and
educators will offer their expertise on
this issue and talk about what they are
doing in their agencies and schools to
change the culture around this per-
vasive problem. For information, call
(201) 385-4847 or go to www.ncjwbcs.
org.

Sammy Bar-Or, center, an FIDF national board member and the

NJ chapter co-founder, with his son, Tal Bar, left, and Lt. Gen.
Gadi Eizenkot, IDF chief of staff. SHAHAR AZRAN
PHOTO COURTESY JANICE PAUL

IDF chief of staff meets in N.Y.

with the leadership of FIDF
Following its recent record-breaking
national gala, which raised more than
$35 million in New York, Friends of the
Israel Defense Forces hosted the Israel
Defense Forces chief of staff, Lt. Gen.
Gadi Eisenkot, for a dinner and meet-
ing late last month. They were joined by
20 of the organizations supporters and
leaders.
During the meeting at a New York
hotel, Gen. Eisenkot gave a broad over-
view of the strategic reality facing Israels
military today. He commended FIDFs
activities, which have an important
Rabbi aids blood drive at shul
effect on Israeli society and IDF soldiers. Temple Beth Tikvahs rabbi, Meeka Simerly, was among the donors at a recent blood
drive at the Wayne synagogue.

12 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017

upcoming at Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Like Father Like Son
Jcc film forum with film critic miKe sargent
This Japanese film explores the lives of two families
whose sons are switched at birth and the tangled web
of social dynamics and family attachments that ensue.
Join prominent radio film critic, TV personality, and
writer-producer-director Mike Sargent for the film and
discussion, and appreciate the perspective of a real
industry insider.
Mon, Dec 4, 7:30 pm, $12/$15
Register at jccotp.org/films

Saturday Nights @ the JCC

Grab a friend and join the fun! All materials
and dinner included.
paint n piZZa for grades K-2
A creative night of artistic fun! Children will be given
step-by-step instructions to paint their own
masterpieces on canvas.
holiday cooKing for grades 3-6
Festive favorites! Children will learn quick, healthful and
delicious recipes and bring home a holiday cookbook.
Sat, Nov 18, 6:309:30 pm, $45/$50 a

Tot Shabbat
ages 9-24 months
Children will enjoy a warm and meaningful
Shabbat experience with music, singing,
movement, stories and lots of fun! Challah and
grape juice provided.
Fridays, through Jan 19, 9:30-10:15 am,
$10 Drop in fee

KIDS ADULTS fAmILIeS

Check Out the New Infant
Program at the J!
going bacK to worK after your
maternity leave? having a hard
time finding a nanny you feel
comfortable with?
Babies enjoy our clean bright space, our
nurturing environment, and our small teacher to
baby ratio. Babies, 312 months, available from
7:30 am6 pm, perfect for busy parents!
Contact Elissa at eyurowitz@jccotp.org or
201.408.1436 to schedule a tour.
SPACE LIMITEDCALL TODAY!
Visit jccotp.org/nursery
Find Your Creative Outlet with
Adult Ballet at the J!
Tone your mind and body! A great way to
find added confidence and strength. Gain
flexibility, poise and grace while learning the
fundamentals of barre, centre, adagio, and
allegro. All levels welcome.
Mondays, ongoing, 9:30-10:30 am, free for
members
Be a guest at your own childs party
with the JCCs Party Spot
We offer fantastic 90-minute themed + custom birthday
parties. Packages include room, setup, balloons, paper
goods, pizza, juice, and cake. Options include Sports
Mania, Dance, Basketball, Hockey, Tae Kwon Do, Soccer,
Pool Party, or Bring Your Own Entertainment.
Prices start at $550. Get your party started!
Call 201.408.1470 today!
to register or for more info
visit jccotp.org
stay in the Know! liKe us on
facebook.com/KaplenJCCOTP

Kaplen JCC on the Palisades taub campus | 411 e clinton ave, tenafly, nJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 13
Cover Story
Making an
institution a home
The Jewish Home at Rockleigh to embark on ambitious new plan
JOANNE PALMER dorm when youre an undergraduate, the idea of aging in place, parts of its property.

H
ere are two truths.
First, home is where you
live, but not all places you live
are home.
Second, most of the time most people
want to live at home.
There are times in our lives when its
fine to live in an institution. Its fun and
broadening, and exciting, and eye-open-
ing, and possibly liberating to live in a
and summer camp is many kids idea of
heaven. But those places are temporary.
When they get old, though, people usu-
ally resist the idea of leaving home to live
in an institution, which, they fear, will
never become home. Institutions, in pub-
lic mytholoy and to some extent in reality
as well, manage to be at once sterile and
dirty; theyre hard-edged and seem fluo-
rescently lit even when theyre not. Many
people maybe most people far prefer
growing old and then even
older at home.
But often the elderly can
no longer live at home. Its
just not possible. They cant
live alone, and either they
cant afford full-time help or
that help no longer would be
sufficient.
Thats when they go to
nursing homes. Carol Silver Elliott
Most cutting-edge nursing
homes belie the stereotypes about them
anyway. But now the Jewish Home at Rock-
leigh, one of those cutting-edge places,
plans to change its residents lives by cre-
ating homes inside the institution, so that
residents can have the advantages of both.
The Jewish Homes leaders have begun
to work on an ambitious multiphase plan
that will begin by updating its rehabilita-
tion services and go from there to recon-
figuring its residential area, and eventually
building more and different kinds of hous-
ing for people with varying needs on other
A nurse works with a resident
at the Jewish Home.
All this began with a study
the Jewish Home Familys
CEO and president, Carol
Silver Elliott, commissioned
soon after she took up her
job there three years ago.
(The Jewish Home Family
is the umbrella organiza-
tion that oversees the Jewish
Home at Rockleigh, the Jew-
ish Home Assisted Living,
the Jewish Home at Home,
and the Jewish Home Foundation.)
It was an analysis of the services we
deliver now, how they impact the commu-
nity, what kind of reception and reputa-
tion we have, and what are the challenges
and opportunities in the community for
us as a Jewish eldercare agency, Melanie
Cohen, the Jewish Home Foundations
executive director, said. She defined the
community as all of Bergen and southern
Rockland counties, and as not only but
specifically Jewish.
Two hundred pages of report later, we
found that we have some wonderful oppor-
tunities, as well as a need for more reha-
bilitation services; our reputation is strong,

Behind the Jewish Homes building, the pond provides a serene place to sit
and think. The pond and green spaces will remain intact after the expansion.

14 Jewish standard nOVeMBer 17, 2017

 A Jewish Home resident watches the solar eclipse this summer.
Teenagers from Nahariya visit residents at Jewish Home Assisted Living She is flanked by recreation director Tracey Coulibaly and
in River Vale as a part of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jerseys assistant director Marina Umansky.
Partnership2Gether program.

and there were places for us ambulance entrance,

to really look forward toward which the building now
growth, Ms. Elliott added. notably lacks; once it
At the same time, they were is built, patients will
confronted with a great piece be spared having to be
of luck. The land just west taken in through the
of the property the founda- main entrance, their pri-
tion already owned came up vacy and dignity com-
for sale, and the foundation promised. (Privacy and
bought it. After a committee dignity are as important
looked at possibilities and set to the elderly as to the
priorities, it accepted a three- Melanie Cohen rest of us, Ms. Elliott and
phase plan. Ms. Cohen said.) On an
The Jewish Home at Rockleigh was built even more practical level, they wont
in 2001. Thats not a long time ago, but both have to be wheeled into the building
technoloy and the underlying understand- exposed to the weather; there will be
ing of how to provide both rehabilitation and an overhang. Some of the changes
services to the elderly is dramatically differ- are on that basic and practical and
ent now. What was state of the art then no necessary a level.
longer is so now. The business of long-term Inside, the new building will have
care has changed, Ms. Elliott said. People rooms for residents; the center pro-
are older, people are sicker, and the technol- vides both inpatient and outpatient
oy and knowledge base have changed. therapy. Now, rehab patients are Rabbi Simon Feld, chaplain at the Jewish Home at Rockleigh, officiates at a
The plan is to build a new rehabilitation housed in the nursing home proper; second wedding for Evalyn and Irwin Brownstein. Mr. Brownstein died soon after
center on the existing buildings east end, the new building will free up those the ceremony. Jewish Home Familys president and CEO Carol Silver Elliott and
toward Piermont Road. It will include an rooms. assistant vice president Robert Bardach are in the background here.

Jewish standard nOVeMBer 17, 2017 15

Cover Story

The new center will

offer not only such nec-
e s s a r y b u t s t a n d a rd
services as speech and
occupational and physi-
cal therapy, but also new
therapies, including warm
water therapy. We will be
adding a large pool and
two individual therapy
pools, Ms. Elliott said.
The therapy pool, which
patients can enter in spe-
cially designed wheel-
chairs that roll in a highly
controlled way on under-
water tracks, comes with Michal Rosenfeld, Shira Rothwachs, and Yonina Segal, students
cameras that can record at Maayanot High School, prepare a bat mitzvah project and Students from Yavneh Academy visit the Jewish
underwater motions. celebration with Jewish Home at Rockleigh residents Mitzie Krampf, Home at Rockleigh as part of the Tech Together program,
It will also include areas left, and Ruth Weiss. in which residents and students exchange experiences.
where patients can practice
the kinds of mechanical skills they will for health care, the rehab center provides to move to there, and that will free up the The Jewish Home will use the Green
have to relearn when they are back at not only rehabilitation to patients but space that will allow the next phase of the House Project model. Its a holistic under-
home. There will be skills practice areas also gives financial stability to the facil- plan to begin. standing of eldercare that reconfigures
set up like an apartment, Ms. Elliott said; ity, and that stability is necessary if it is Phase 2 is transforming our large nurs- space and reimagines the jobs of the peo-
it will include a kitchen and bathroom. to flourish. ing units, with between 42 and 48 resi- ple who work there. It places a living space
The rehab center is not only for the The plan is to break ground on the new dents, to small houses, Ms. Elliott said. It in the center of a group of 10 or 12 pri-
elderly, she added; it is for anyone of rehab center by the end of next summer, is these units these small houses that vate rooms, each with its own bathroom,
any age who has to relearn the taken-for- and to open it by the summer of 2019. are at the heart of the new plan. run by a retrained staff whose members
granted skills of regular life. Once that happens, the rehab patients We want these units to be home, Ms. are assigned specifically to the unit and
Because of the way we as a society pay who live in the nursing home will be able Elliott said. therefore naturally develop long-term

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 Cover Story

to develop toward each other, and toward

Joanie Koch and Harold Cohn wear mortarboards and
robes at the Jewish Home University graduation.
relationships to the residents.
That circle of shared space, private
space opening into it, and a dedicated staff
will turn (and over the course of 20 years
elsewhere has been proven to turn) what
had been long institutional wings into a
series of homes.
Residents will be placed using what Ms.
Elliott and Ms. Cohen call the integration
model. The integration of people with
different levels of cognitive ability works
Jewish Home staff members walk with resident
Harold Cohn.
well, Ms. Elliott said. Instead of ware-
housing people with dementia together,
they will live in the houses, along with
people with physical needs. It is a differ-
ent concept, and much more humane and
more dignified, she said. This model
shows that skills are preserved longer,
both physically and cognitively. The out-
comes are better.
Even family visits are shown to go up,
she said. Thats because it seems more
normal to the extended family, who feel
more comfortable making more than the
absolutely necessary appearances in the
nursing home.
Data shows that there is a lower inci-
dence of incontinence, less weight loss,
and even people who have been eating a
modified diet are able to eat differently in
this setting, Ms. Cohen said. Part of that
is the comfort that comes from the close-
ness the small group of residents is able
the staff. There are only 12 residents, not
42, she said. So if someone, say, sees Mrs.
Schwartz sitting uncomfortably in her chair,
theyll see it and tell someone because they
know what she usually looks like.
When you walk around this building
now, you see a lot of love, Ms. Elliott said.
You see a lot of people who really care.
But its hard to care the same way for 42
people that you do for 12, and its hard to
get around these long hallways.
She and Ms. Cohen had just returned
from a visit to a nursing home that uses
the small house model it was the most
recent of many such visits and you see
everyone sitting around the table eating
lunch together, and you see that they
are family members. They are interact-
ing in a way that feels like having your
extended family around the table. It is
very different from the old institutional/
medical model.
The Jewish Home at Rockleigh is notable
for the light that streams into it; its full of
big, unobstructed windows that almost
seem to attract clear light and eliminate
dark corners. That light will continue to
illumine the small homes, Ms. Elliott and
Ms. Cohen said.
Phase Three will involve new kinds of

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Jewish standard nOVeMBer 17, 2017 17


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18 Jewish standard nOVeMBer 17, 2017
Cover Story
Jewish Home
at Rockleigh
resident Mitzie
Krampf enjoys a
visit from a pet
therapy dog.
building; those plans are fairly vague
for now.
Residents are funded in a variety of
ways, both women said. Many people
who come for short-term rehab are cov-
ered either by Medicare or by private
insurance. Its rarely privately paid for.
Long-term care can be privately paid,
with long-term insurance or by Medic-
aid, Ms. Elliott said.
It is not surprising that the new plan
will cost money. We anticipate that this
will be a $30 million project, and as we
have done in the past we are going to the
community to ask them to invest their
financial resources in this project, and
in the future of elder care in this area,
Ms. Cohen said. And in their own care.
We have been very successful so far.
We have been conducting a campaign,
starting just a little over a year ago, and
so far we have a little over $12.3 million
in commitments. Now, the Jewish Home
is reaching out to the community, and
Ms. Elliott and Ms. Cohen are sure it will
come through.
We are well on our way, Ms. Elliott
said.
Eli Ungar of Englewood is the chair-
man of the Jewish Home Family.
I think that given their druthers,
almost everyone would choose to [stay]
in their own home, with the stuff they
have filled it with for decades, Mr.
Ungar said. With their possessions,
their pieces of history, their shared
memories. But for some people, the real-
ity is that living independently simply is
impossible.
Nursing homes all over the world
have experimented with different ways
of providing care to people in the set-
Shabbat holiday tings they most prefer. The Jewish
meals Home at Rockleigh is wonderful now,
Soldiers homes in many respects, but we have seen and
learned that there are in some aspects
Post-service
even better ways to provide for our
scholarships
seniors. One such example is the Green
and much more
House model.
The Jewish Home was built just
before advances in understanding
were made, he said. A lot of these
new understandings were incubated
and tested and evolved over the last 10
WWW.FIDF.ORG years. When the home opened, it was
a superb example of what was known
and understood then. Today we know
more and understand better and can
learn from the excellent work of others.
To ignore this knowledge would be to
ignore the best interests of seniors, who
rely on us to create the best possible set-
ting for them.
It is not an easy understanding, or
an inexpensive one, he continued. But
having seen what it looks like, to see how
elderly people can experience joy again
in everyday living in such settings, our
conclusion wasnt that we should try to
do this. It was that it is an imperative that
we try to do this.
But will understanding continue to
evolve, so that every decade or so will
see the demand for wholesale and
expensive changes? No, Mr. Ungar said.
Instead, our understanding that elderly
people need more agency in their lives,
just as the rest of us do, and that joy
is available to them, just as it is to the
rest of us, is a philosophical reorien-
tation thats now reflected in this new
way of caring for them once they no
longer can care for themselves. The
model may need to be tweaked, but he
thinks that it will not have to be changed
fundamentally.
Underlying the real estate change is a
more fundamental cultural change, he
said. It moves the senior to the center of
the universe, in terms of decision-mak-
ing and the myriad decisions that go into
a seemingly typical day. I think that this
model will evolve as the decision-maker
is no longer a nursing home administra-
tor or a well-intentioned family member
but the person, him or herself.
Carol Silberstein of Tenafly will be the
Jewish Homes next president.
Her mother, Ruth Krongold, is 97
years old and lives at the Jewish Home at
Rockleigh. Ms. Silberstein, a lawyer with
a local practice, visits her mother ever
other day.
I see so much, she said. I see the
struggle to maintain whatever dignity
and independence you can.
I have to call the current setup dormi-
tory style, with the long hallways. They
did a really nice job at the time, but I see
how the small houses would lead to a
much closer community.
I see the loneliness. There are single
 Cover Story Shop & Dine
rooms now, and that is great and the small houses
will retain single rooms for all residents but she is
locally on
all the way at the end of the hall. Ms. Silberstein often
visits her mother at mealtime, and she talks to other
residents as well; over the years, she has developed
CeDar Lane
relationships with many of them. The small house
model, which would keep a consistent group of resi-
dents together, would make that kind of relationship
in Teaneck
building easier.
It also would help the staff, she said. The aides are
hard working people. Its a hard job. But they cannot
this Holiday
sit at the table with the residents. There is no room for
them. This new concept would allow that.
It also would allow aides to spend more time with
Season
residents because they would spend less time going
from one end of a long unit to the other.
The more she sees, the more exited Ms. Silberstein Dine In Take Out Clothing Jewelry Candy
is about the small house plan. Carole is really vision-
ary, she said about Ms. Elliott. We need a visionary
person. I love working with her.
Salons Gifts Judaica Pickles Movies & More
Carl Epstein of Teaneck was one of the founders A&S Comics Couture de Bride Manor Shoes Repair Sciarra & Company
563 Cedar Lane 406 Cedar Lane 445 Cedar Lane 504A Cedar Lane
of the Jewish Home, and he is looking forward to the
changes. Aaryan Bhavan Veggie Creations Fine Marburn Curtain Shear Design
House Haircutting Inc. Warehouse 738 Chestnut Ave
My approach is a little 561 Cedar Lane 509 Cedar Lane 647 Cedar Lane Shellys Vegetarian
different from the profes- Als Charcoal Pit CVS Pharmacy Marlon by Mishoe Restaurant
sionals, he said. They 540 Cedar Lane 540 Cedar Lane 358 Cedar Lane 482 Cedar Lane
talk about the wonderful Amazing Savings Czin Optical Maum Meditation Signature Appliances
new things, how different 647 Cedar Lane 489 Cedar Lane 475 Cedar Lane 513 Cedar Lane

it will be, all the benefits Angelos Tailor Dance Art Creative Max Dollar and Deals Straight Nappy
358 Cedar Lane Center 493B Cedar Lane 411 Cedar Lane
that go with it. But I take
Annapurna Indian 519 Cedar Lane Mei Salon Subway
it from a more emotional 447 Cedar Lane 559 Cedar Lane
Grocery & Catering Design by Flora
standpoint. From the why 557 Cedar Lane 437 Cedar Lane Mortgage Apples Cakes Sweets on Cedar
of why we do this. Aquarius Health Foods Direct Line Carpet 740 Chestnut Ave 488 Cedar Lane
We have a beautiful 408 Cedar Lane & Flooring Mr. FreshCut T-Mobile
394 Cedar Lane 449 Cedar Lane
facility now. Why do we Carol Silberstein B. Dinelli for Hair 553 Cedar Lane

want to do this?
519A Cedar Lane Dovids Fresh Nail Garden Taipei Noodle House
Back in Touch Massage Fish Market 444 Cedar Lane 483 Cedar Lane
Because we are Jewish, and being Jewish comes
Therapy 736 Chestnut Ave New Asia Tate Academy
with certain obligations that flow directly from our 427 Water Street Chinese Takeout 549 Cedar Lane
Elite Nails
millennia of tradition, and from the requirements Bettinas Boutique 451 Cedar Lane 567 Cedar Lane Teaneck Cinemas
about what we should be doing, and how if we fail 388 Cedar Lane Empire Hunan II New Teaneck 503 Cedar Lane
to do these things we would be negligent. We would Bischoffs Confectionery 444 Cedar Lane Fish Market Teaneck Locksmith
468 Cedar Lane 431 Cedar Lane 509B Cedar Lane
not be fulfilling the spirit of what the Torah tells us we Enterprise Liquors
have to do. Brier Rose Books 441 Cedar Lane New to You Consignment Teaneck Nails
450 Cedar Lane Estihana 457 Cedar Lane 386 Cedar Lane
The Torah is very specific. It is interesting that of
Budget Print Copy 515 Cedar Lane Noahs Ark The Stable
the 10 Commandments, the first four deal with the Center/DP Graphics Fifth Avenue Haircutters 493 Cedar Lane Home and Garden
relationship between God and humanity, and the fifth 426 Cedar Lane 401 Cedar Lane OnPoint Fitness Studio 453 Cedar Lane
is honor thy father and mother. The interpretation is Butterflake Bakery Five Star Coffee Shop 409 Cedar Lane Threading Station
that you honor all fathers and mothers. 448 Cedar Lane 356 Cedar Lane Pickle Licious 433 Cedar Lane

We have a very specific obligation to care for our BV Tuscany Restaurant FrameWorks 384 Cedar Lane Three Star Bagels
368 Cedar Lane 477A Cedar Lane Pizzalicious 402-04 Cedar Lane
elders.
Carlyz Craze IHOP 439 Cedar Lane Tiger Lily by Encke
To be absolutely practical, it is necessary to come 569 Cedar Lane
472 Cedar Lane 610 Cedar Lane Pottery, Paint & Love
up with a facility that will be able to pay its bills. We Castillo Salon International Beauty 502 Cedar Lane UPS Store
must create a financial model that avoids the bane of 398 Cedar Lane Supply and Salon Purple Lily Art Studio 492C Cedar Lane
all nonprofit nursing homes, which is worrying every Cedar Lane Furs 492 Cedar Lane 668 American Legion Dr Veggie Heaven
Rainbow Jewelry 473 Cedar Lane
Thursday morning about how to meet payroll. We 498 Cedar Lane J & J Pharmacy/Liquors
are aware of that problem, and so we put everything Cedar Market 527 Cedar Lane & Watches Verizon Wireless
646 Cedar Lane J R Coiffure Hair Salon 497 Cedar Lane 418 Cedar Lane
into one package. In order to maintain what we have,
Chonji Academy of 443 Cedar Lane Raven Hair Victors Pizzeria
we have to be cutting edge. We have to be way ahead 388 Cedar Lane 540 Cedar Lane
Martial Arts Janet Joyner
of everybody. 424 Cedar Lane Photography Reginas Tailoring/ Walgreens
Everything that we are planning to do is in keep- Club FIT of New Jersey 406 Cedar Lane Bridal Boutique 520 Cedar Lane
ing with those Jewish imperatives, Mr. Epstein 408 Cedar Lane Judaica House 405 Cedar Lane Yarn Dezous
495 Cedar Lane
said. If we dont have the state-of-the-art capabili- Cohen Invitations 478 Cedar Lane Rocklins Paper & Cards
ties, if we can provide quality of life, respect their & Stationery KFC 458 Cedar Lane Yosi Unisex Salon
500 Cedar Lane 585 Cedar Lane Sababa Grill 412 Cedar Lane
dignity and self-esteem and we dont do it, we are
Coliseum Pizzeria Lark Street Music 456 Cedar Lane Zoldans Judaica Center
failing in our mission and our obligation as a Jewish 435 Cedar Lane 479 Cedar Lane Sal & Pimienta 412 Cedar Lane
community. CompuTeaneck Maadan Colombian Restaurant
Mr. Epstein, like Ms. Silberstein, Mr. Ungar, Ms. 569A Cedar Lane 446 Cedar Lane 477B Cedar Lane
Elliott, and Ms. Cohen, is certain that the Jewish Home JS
at Rockleigh will live up to its mission and obligation
as part of the Jewish community to provide the best Support Your Local Merchants
possible care to its residents and rehab patients, and
to enrich their lives. Sponsored by CLMG www.cedarlane.net Always Free Parking
Jewish Standard NOVEMBER 17, 2017 19
Jewish World
NEWS ANALYSIS

Federations rally around pluralism

but wish they didnt have to
ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL
LOS ANGELES Leaders of North Americas Jewish fed-
eration movement kicked off their annual conference here
Sunday with a tribute to the 1987 march on Washington that
brought out hundreds of thousands of people in support of
Soviet Jews.
The film and testimonials by refuseniks were moving, but
felt a little like those perennial tributes by the New York Mets
to their 1986 championship team: a reminder not only of
what was, but whats gone.
The rescue of Soviet Jews and their resettlement here
and in Israel was a high point for the network of Jewish phi-
lanthropies and advocacy groups represented by the Jew-
ish Federations of North America, whose annual General
Assembly ended on Tuesday afternoon.
As Mark Wilf, chair of the JFNAs National Holocaust Sur-
vivor Initiative, said in introducing the 30th anniversary
tribute, it represented what we can accomplish when
we unite.
But its very success posed a dilemma to the Jew-
ish fundraising class. In the three decades since 1987,
organized Jewry has looked, often in vain, for a simi-
larly galvanizing cause around which to rally. With the
resettlement of the Soviet and Ethiopian Jews, there
are almost no imperiled Jewish communities left to
rescue. And Israel has been no help. As it has grown
more prosperous, and more politically divisive among
American Jews, the urgency of uniting around it out-
side of wartime has waned. A system built on fear, res-
cue, and crisis needs a new organizing principle.
Throughout this years G.A., there were reminders
of what the network of 148 local federations can do
when they act in concert. The movement raised and
delivered $15 million for victims of Hurricane Harvey

W I
Dress Coats Car Coats Parkas Suits Sport Jackets
Pants Shirts Ties Shoes Accessories
SALE STARTS
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 22nd.
OPEN THIS SATURDAY NIGHT
NOVEMBER 25th.
N T
E R
L
in Houston in days. Speaker after speaker noted the J
movements support for such high-profile efforts as A
Birthright Israel (free trips to Israel for young people),
Masa (long-term experiences in Israel for the same
cohort), Moishe House (group living for, you guessed
it, young people), and PJ Library (free Jewish books for
families with young children).
But even as they touted these successes, and a
string of relatively healthy fundraising years, a note
of anxiety crept into the proceedings. There were
small-group breakout sessions on differentiating the
umbrella philanthropies like federation in a crowded
Jewish charitable marketplace and turning elusive
millennials into philanthropists. And the speakers
repeated emphasis on unity and the power of the
collective suggested that both were if not slipping
away, then at least under siege.
JFNA CEO Jerry Silverman was blunt in describing
the challenges in his address on Sunday.
You see, it is not that there is no longer the desire
and need for community, he said to the 3,000 del-
egates gathered at the JW Marriott Hotel in downtown
Los Angeles. It is how people define community or
how people choose to engage that has changed.
Silverman described a number of areas around
which a diverse community could rally: lowering
the enormous cost of Jewish day school education,
helping the less fortunate, engaging young people,
and as he put it, meeting the unfulfilled promise of
Israel being the home for all Jews regardless of reli-
gious affiliation.
It was this last point discussed under the rubric of
pluralism in Israel that seemed to dominate this
G.A., or at least the public discussions. It proved an
inspiring rallying cry and sure applause line.
But it is also an issue that the federation movement
wishes would go away.
In a nutshell, Americas non-Orthodox Jewish
majority wants Israel to be a more welcoming place
for Reform, Conservative, and other non-Orthodox
Jewish streams. On Monday morning, the JFNA board
issued an unusual resolution criticizing Israel for freez-
ing a deal on non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall
and for its support for a bill that would give Ortho-
dox authorities in Israel a monopoly on conversion
to Judaism.
Both issues demonstrate to the non-Orthodox estab-

EMPORIO lishment that their rabbis and religious practices

strongly connected to egalitarian religious roles for
women and men have second-class standing in the
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20 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017

 Jewish World

www.thejewishstandard.com
Electrical, Plumbing and All Home Repairs

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti speaks at the

Jewish Federations of North Americas General
Assembly.  COURTESY OF JFNA

inspire donors with its vision as a home for all Jews,

not to tussle with its leadership. The official program
for the convention described what it called one of the
most vexing issues facing Federations today: How do
we balance Federations philanthropic mission with
our role as the communitys central address when
were increasingly drawn into controversial politi-
cal issues?
Pluralism isnt the only such issue a panel discus-
sion sought to heal internal communal wounds over
the bruising Iran nuclear deal fight of a few years
back. But its an issue that not only creates antagonism
between the diaspora and Jerusalem (in his plenary
address, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin implored the
Help Migdal Ohr provide a home,
delegates to have patience with Israels messy democ-
love, and education to thousands
racy, which gives religious parties an outsized say in
religion and state issues) but divides Jews here as well: of poor, orphaned, and at-risk
Orthodox Jews are far less likely to care about the children across Israel. Lift them
issue, and have made that known. from the deepest of despair to a
Federations are much more comfortable, and uni- bright, dignified, and productive
fying, when they stick to what they do best: Richard future. Your donation goes to
Sandler, chair of the JFNA board of trustees, described work immediately to improve
that threefold mission as relief for the needy, support childrens lives. Donate today.
for Jewish education and identity, and inspiring a con-
nection to Israel. Visit migdalohrusa.org/donate
You could sense the release when the public ses-
sions turned to inspiration, not division. Delegates
were wowed by a millennial roundtable featur-
ing three young social entrepreneurs who served up
advice on how to reach their generation.
If you want to engage millennials, said Rachel
Samekh, founder and CEO of Swipe Away Hunger,
you have to be curious about who we are.
There was ecstatic applause for Mohammed Al
Samawi, a Muslim advocate for interfaith relations
who escaped the civil war in his native Yemen with
the help of three young Jewish people he met online.
The convention was roused by a little old-time reli-
gion from Rabbi David Wolpe of this citys Sinai Tem-
ple, who warned that too many Jews are strangers
and immigrants to our own tradition. We dont teach
our children what made our people our people.
But it was another Los Angeles rabbi who captured
the hope and anxiety of this years G.A.
You cant build ... Jewish identity with crisis and
fear, said Rabbi Ed Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom.
Its the wrong language. Lighting the way.
If nothing else, this years G.A. was a search for that
new language.  JTA WIRE SERVICE

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 21

AMFO_NJJewishStandard_HalfPageIsland.indd 2 6/29/17 10:12 PM
Jewish World

Carmen Villanueva Castro is a community leader in Irma Acevedo, who lives in a San Juan nursing home, is This man in Puerto Rico lives in a nursing home that
a neighborhood badly hit by Hurricane Maria.  one of many residents suffering from untreated conditions. has not had power since Hurricane Maria.

These are the faces of Puerto Rico

two months after Hurricane Maria
JOSEFIN DOLSTEN
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO
Feeling lucky today? reads a
flier for a casino tucked into the
seat pocket of Adolfo Vasquezs
car. The car actually belongs to
his wife, Vasquez explains. He
borrowed hers, which is bigger,
to drive a group from the San
Juan Airport to the neighborhood
where they are delivering humani-
tarian supplies.
Since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto
Rico on September 20, Vasquez
only gets about a ride request a
day. After work he goes home to a
dark house. Power has been out for
nearly 50 days, and he doesnt have
a way to refrigerate food. At night,
Vasquez, his wife, and three sons
sleep on the floor, where its cooler UJA-Federation of New York is working with the Afya Foundation and the Greater New York
than in their beds. Hospital Association to deliver supplies to Puerto Rico by way of private jets. 
Like the Vasquez family, the
majority of households in Puerto Rico
are still without power since Hurricane
Maria struck the island, which is home
to 3.4 million U.S. citizens, causing mas-
sive destruction and widespread power
outages. Some havent had power since
September 6, when Hurricane Irma hit.
Many stores and businesses are closed,
leading to shortages in food, basic toilet-
ries, and cleaning supplies.
Puerto Rico is under remodeling,
reads a white flag waving in the wind.
The local Jewish community, which
numbers about 1,000 and whose mem-
bers are mostly well off, did better than
most. Many left the island prior to the
storm, and the majority of those who
stayed behind have generators to provide
power. The Jewish community center in
the capital suffered moderate damage
and has since been repaired.
The community has come together,
with the help of the UJA-Federation of
New York and its partner organizations,
to provide aid to other Puerto Ricans.
We were very concerned about peo-
ple suffering because we saw it and at the supplies onto a Gulfstream 400 luxury jet
same time we understood that as a Jewish
community we had to lead these efforts.
We had to be there, said Diego Mendel-
baum, director of the Puerto Rico JCC. We and hygiene products, along with medi-
call [it] tikkun olam there was no other cines donated by the hospital association,
way for us to go.
UJA-Federation, in partnership with
the Greater New York Hospital Associa-
tion and the Afya Foundation, a nonprofit
that delivers health care supplies, has sent
some 65,000 pounds of humanitarian sup-
plies to the island by way of private jets
lent to them by donors.
Last week, seven UJA-Federation staff
members and volunteers and an Afya rep-
resentative loaded some 2,500 pounds of
provided by an anonymous donor. The
shipment included supplies provided
by Afya, such as water bottles, diapers,
including asthma inhalers, IV fluids, and
pediatric flu medication. It was the 10th
such flight to Puerto Rico since
Hurricane Maria hit. (UJA has
also flown twice to St. Thomas
in the Virgin Islands.)
L o c a l c o m mu n i t i e s a re
depending on aid from nongov-
ernmental organizations to get
by, said Carmen Villanueva Cas-
tro, a leader of the Hill Brothers
neighborhood in San Juan.
The help has not come to
assist us and provide us with the
things we need, so were trying
to obtain that help in a private
manner instead of from the gov-
ernment, Castro said.
Homes in her neighborhood
sustained significant damage
from the hurricane, and many
lack power. Debris has not been
removed in a timely manner.
Community leaders like me
feel frustrated because we can-
not help our people, she said,
describing the delivery as a really big
miracle.
The UJA-Federation delegation visited
two nursing homes in the Hill Brothers
neighborhood to deliver supplies and meet
with residents. Though locals said the
nursing homes were usually in bad con-
dition, the storms had only made things
worse. One small facility, home to about
10 people, had been without power since
Hurricane Irma. They were short on sani-
tary supplies and residents lay in soiled
diapers. Many were weak and unable to
communicate.
At a nearby home, Irma Acevedo, 80,
was one of many residents suffering from
untreated medical conditions. Her foot

22 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017


Michelle Carlo Newman is a Puerto Ri-
can physician helping to provide relief
to those affected by the hurricane. 
was badly infected and appeared to be
suffering from elephantiasis, a disease
that affects the lymph nodes. A represen-
tative from Governor Ricardo Rossellos
office who joined the mission gasped in
shock when she saw the old womans
condition. Yet Acevedo cheered up when
the delegation came to greet her, telling
them that she loved them.
Mark Medin, UJA-Federations execu-
tive vice president of financial resource
development, described aiding peo-
ple affected by the storm an obliga-
tion as Jews, as individuals, and as an
organization.
When you see elderly people in a
state of utter hopelessness and despair,
lying in a bed, unable to leave the bed,
with bodies that are literally skin and
bones, atrophied away, it rips your heart
open and you say, How can I not do
something to provide a small amount of
relief or support, or help or love or care
to these people that are left here with no
support system and in very, very poor
medical conditions? he said.
Providing hands-on disaster relief is
a first for UJA-Federation. The philan-
thropy usually provides aid by allocating
funds to partner organizations, but aid
groups were having trouble dispatching
supplies to Puerto Rico. UJA-Federation
realized it could use private jets pro-
vided by donors to deliver resources
directly to the island, which is about a 3
1/2-hour flight from New York.
We had an opportunity to act,
Medin said.
UJA-Federation and the JCC in Puerto
Jewish World
Opening our doors
in September 2018!
at
Seeking motivated and qualified special education teachers
and therapists to workas part of our highly collaborative
and interdisciplinary team for the 2018-2019 academic year
PHOTOS BY JOSEFIN DOLSTEN
AVAILABLE POSITIONS:
General and Judaic Elementary Special Education Teachers
(Must have Masters in Special Education)
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Part Time Social Worker or Psychologist
Adolfo Vasquez is a cab
driver whose living has been
compromised by Hurricane Maria. We have been leaders in special education for over three decades.
Now, be a part of our newest school from the beginning!
Rico arent the only Jewish groups provid-
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and supplies to villages hit hard by the A Uniquely Special Education
hurricane. www.sinaischools.org
Your neighbors are in need, they need Please email resumes toalurie@sinaischools.org
our help. Its our duty to respond, said Qualified minorities and/or women are encouraged to apply, EEO.
Chabads executive director, Rabbi Men-
del Zarchi. He had just returned from
delivering supplies to some 250 families
in a nearby community.
The Jewish community has been out-
standing, Zarchi said.
Michelle Carlo Newman, a Puerto Rican
The Guide to Jewish Life
physician working with UJA-Federation
to deliver supplies and evaluate medical
needs, said she was proud of the resil-
is coming.
ience people were displaying.
Shes a great example, Carlo Newman
said, referring to Castro, the neighbor-
hood leader. Shes a community leader
that could be crying in her room about
whats going on. You saw her house, its
half destroyed, but shes like, Lets get
people here, lets get help here. Make sure your 2018
But Carlo Newman, a mother of two
who has relied on a generator to pro-
business is included.
vide power since Hurricane Irma, also
expressed disappointment at the lack of Contact Natalie Jay,
response from the U.S. government. 201-837-8818, ext. 121
Last week, the head of a federal control
board that oversees Puerto Ricos finances
told Congress that the U.S. territory still
needs assistance on an unprecedented
scale to restore housing, water and elec-
tric power.
Part of me is sad that were Ameri-
can citizens and we have to live like this,
Carlo Newman said. JTA WIRE SERVICE
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Jewish World

60,000 join Warsaw nationalist march.

Should the Jews of Poland be worried?
CNAAN LIPHSHIZ

T
he sight of far-right activists wav-
ing racist banners and shouting
anti-Semitic slogans during a
nationalist march in the capital
of Poland over the weekend shocked many
around the world.
It was an understandable reaction to
witnessing tens of thousands in Warsaw
marching near what used to be the largest
Jewish ghetto during the Holocaust amid
shouts of Jews out and Remove Jewry
from power.

JAKOB RATZ/PACIFIC PRESS/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES

The march, an annual event that began
in 2009 with 500 participants on Polands
national day, November 11, was not neces-
sarily the largest so far. Similar numbers
of marchers showed up last year. But it
did showcase the rising strength of Polish
nationalists who are feeling emboldened
by the conservative government in War-
saw - and to some extent by the election of
Donald Trump as U.S. president.
Despite its size, the Warsaw gathering
was neither unusual nor even particu-
larly toxic compared to similar gatherings
in other countries in Central and Eastern
Europe. Similar or worse displays have
occurred regularly in other post-com-
munist countries including in Ukraine
earlier this year and annually in the Bal-
tic states where the far right is far more
powerful and violent than in Poland.
In the aftermath of the march, JTA posed
five questions on the situation to some of
Polands leading experts on the issue and
a former leader of its Jewish community.
Does Poland have
a fascism problem?
Despite their growing visibility, ultrana-
tionalist Poles have neither the promi-
nence nor acceptance they seem to enjoy
in Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary and Ukraine.
Still, their popularity among young peo-
ple is seen as a worrisome sign, according
to Rafal Pankowski, co-founder of the Pol-
ish anti-racism group Never Again, who
cited a 2013 survey of high school students
showing that 44 percent would rather not
have Jewish neighbors and more than 60
percent would not want to have a Jewish
boyfriend or girlfriend.
The sociological data shows us that the
younger generation is more prone to xeno-
phobia than that of their parents, which is
perhaps the most alarming aspect of the
phenomenon, Pankowski said.
Though there were certainly racists at
Saturdays march, there were also ordi-
nary people, families who just wanted to
do a patriotic act, which to them is just to
march with the Polish flag, said Piotr Kadl-
cik, the former president of the Union of
Jewish Religious Communities in Poland.
Some of the tens of thousands of nationalists marching through Warsaw on November 11.
And while some shouted offensive slo-
gans about Jews, there were no known
anti-Semitic banners on display, nor was
there rioting or violence.
In a way this is scary, too, because it
shows the far right have their act together
and can demonstrate the discipline of a
political movement rather than a bunch
of hooligans, Kadlcik said. But there was
very little intimidation.
Polish Jews are split on whether anti-
Semitism has increased under the conser-
vative Law and Justice party, which rose to
power in 2015.
President Andrzej Duda in a post Mon-
day on Twitter wrote: In our country,
there is no room, nor is there consent, to
xenophobia, to insane nationalism, there is
no room in our country to anti-Semitism.
Polish Jews agree that racist violence in
their country is relatively rare. Only a few
dozen anti-Semitic incidents are recorded
annually, most of them verbal, though sev-
eral anti-Semitic statements were made by
Polish politicians.
Those are crucial differences, Kadlcik
said, between Poland and other countries
in the region.
In Hungary, activists from the ultrana-
tionalist Jobbik party, the countrys second
largest, rally regularly in the thousands
and sometimes terrorize Jews, as well as
Roma and gays. In Ukraine, synagogues
and Jewish cemeteries are routinely
targeted and activists for the xenophobic
Svoboda party call for chasing Jews out.
In Latvia, veterans of the Nazi Waffen SS
march every year. In Bulgaria, the Lukov
March, named for a Nazi ally, also draws
thousand of participants. And in Lithu-
ania, nationalist marches often feature
swastikas and other fascist symbols.
Things are bad, but theyre not as bad poem Trump quoted during his July visit
as many people think, at least not yet,
Kadlcik said of Poland.
Why is the far right
growing in Poland?
Spared the political instability of war-torn
Ukraine and the financial crisis gripping
Hungary, Polish voters have not displayed
the same penchant for raw nationalism as
some of their neighbors. Law and Justice
is decidedly right wing in that it opposes
immigration from the Middle East, seeks
to limit access to abortion and increase
its control over the media. But the rul-
ing party also has scrapped its plans for
asserting greater control over the judi-
ciary and vocally opposes anti-Semitism.
It also celebrates rescuers of Jews during
the Holocaust.
Pankowski cites a number of factors in
explaining the rise of Polish nationalism.
As citizens of a key NATO ally with bitter
memories of Russian domination, many
Poles have been driven to nationalism in
response to Russian expansionism under
President Vladimir Putin. The rise of the
far right elsewhere in Europe, and the
election of Trump, is also creating a feel-
ing of solidarity, Pankowski said.
The U.S. election is an important fac-
tor, said Pankowski, who noted that the
official banner of the Warsaw march
We Want God was taken from a Polish
to Poland.
Do Jews have anything
to do with it?
Anti-Semitism was neither a central theme
of the Polish far right, nor was it very
prominent at the Warsaw march, observ-
ers said. Most of the focus at Saturdays
rally was Muslim immigration, Pankowski
said. Among the banners on display was
an anti-Muslim caricature drawn by a Dan-
ish cartoonist in 2005 carrying the slogan
Mohammed not welcome.
Nonetheless, Jonny Daniels, founder of
From the Depths, which promotes Holo-
caust commemoration in Poland, filed a
complaint on Monday accusing marchers
of incitement to hate and calling on the
government to identify and punish them
to the full extent of the law. Marchers
found guilty could face up to three years
in prison.
Hatred of Jews remains an element
of the identity of the far right in Poland
even though it has no large Jewish

24 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017


community, and thats what was on display at the
march, Pankowski said.
What do Polish Jews say?
The issue of anti-Semitism in Poland is a contentious one
among its Jews and led to a public row among commu-
nity leaders in August.
Leslaw Piszewski, president of the Union of Jewish Com-
munities in Poland, and Anna Chipczynska, head of the
Warsaw Jewish community, sent a letter to Law and Jus-
tice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski saying that Polish Jews are
increasingly fearful due to government inaction in the face
JAKOB RATZ/PACIFIC PRESS/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES
of rising anti-Semitism.
But Artur Hofman, who runs the countrys largest Jew-
ish cultural organization, TSKZ, dismissed the letter as
stupid and scheduled a meeting with Kaczynski. Dan-
iels and two Chabad rabbis also attended.
Hofman and the rabbis then accused Piszewski and
Chipczynska of exaggerating Polands anti-Semitism prob-
lem as part of a political war against Law and Justice.
Piszewski and Chipczynska dismissed that charge and
claimed the accusing groups are not legitimate represen-
tatives of Polish Jewry.
Sergiusz Kowalski, a leader of a Polish branch of Bnai
Brith and an ally of Piszewski and Chipczynska, called the
four men who met Kaczynski court Jews. And Michael
Schudrich, the chief rabbi of Poland, said in an interview
with the Forward that Daniels has become a supporter of
the ultra-right wing.
Daniels, a frequent target of the far-right online who
has criticized ultranationalism in Poland and Holocaust
denial, has denied this, adding his organization is willing
to participate in intercultural dialogue with a wide range
of partners.
What about Israel?
For the most part, Israel has remained silent about Holo-
caust revisionism and incidents of anti-Semitism in coun-
tries that have friendly ties to the Jewish state. But on
Monday, a spokesman for its Foreign Ministry called the
Warsaw event a dangerous march of extreme and racist
elements, and urged Polish authorities to act against the
organizers.
Last year, Israels ambassador to Poland, Anna Azari,
hosted Tadeusz Rydzyk, a Catholic priest who runs a
radio station that the U.S. State Department has called a
main purveyor of anti-Semitism. She defended the move
as important outreach even as Never Again, Pankowskis
group, called it a big mistake.
Azari did speak out last month against proposed legisla-
tion on restitution, arguing its preclusion of claims by dis-
tant relatives and non-citizens discriminates against Jews
whose families lost property in Poland during or after the
Holocaust. An Israeli restitution official told JTA, referring
to the proposed law: First the Nazis seized private prop-
erty and then the communist authorities of Poland seized
it, when most Polish Jews were already dead.
Ultimately, however, Israels attitude seems to be guided
by comments Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made
in 2013 during the visit by Polish President Bronislaw
Komorowski to Jerusalem. Noting the suffering of non-
Jewish Poles and Jews under Nazi occupation, Netanyahu
observed that Poland and Israel have to support each
other. JTA WIRE SERVICE
Hummus among us: Chefs debate
what makes Israeli food Israeli
RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON - Its
lunch break during a
one-day conference
on Israeli Cuisine as
a Reflection of Israeli
Society so naturally
Im eating lunch.
Everything on my
white plastic plate can
be considered Israeli From left, Michael Solomonov, Mitchell Davis, Lior Lev Sercarz, and Einat
food. There is a burek Admony participate in a panel discussion on Israeli Cuisine as a Reflection of
(which originally her- Israeli Society on November 13 in Washington, D.C. 
alds from Spain, by
way of Turkey), a chopped cucumber and tomato salad
(Israeli or Palestinian, take your pick) and a quinoa
salad (from Ecuador? Peru? Or maybe its Mediterra-
nean). Small triangles of pita surround the centerpiece
of my plate: the controversial chickpea spread known as
hummus, which has engendered endless debate regard-
ing its origins.
Just what exactly constitutes Israeli food and, in
turn, what effects Israeli cuisine has had on Israeli soci- adopted by Israelis that are specifically indigenous to
ety is the reason for the event at American University.
By and large, the conference is celebratory in nature.
The opening session on Sunday night, for example,
showcased Israeli celebrity chefs including Michael Sol-
omonov and Lior Lev Sercarz.
Israel today is not the start-up nation, Michael
Brenner, the director of American Universitys Center
for Israel Studies, told the crowd of some 200. It is
the gourmet nation and a champion of sophisticated,
healthy cooking.
Despite the laudatory feel of the opening night, how-
ever, the sessions throughout Mondays main event
addressed complicated duality that constitutes Israeli
cuisine. On the one hand, theres the celebration of the
commingling of food traditions that Israel a nation of
immigrants eager to join the global community natu-
rally incubates. On the other, theres the anxiety that
these same immigrants may actually be colonialists who
have appropriated an indigenous cuisine.
One panel, for example, Cuisine as an Expression of
Modern Israeli Culture, featured chef Einat Admony,
who owns a number of Israeli restaurants in New York
City, including Taim and Balaboosta. She kept referring
to the miracle of Israeli cuisine in a land that once was and delicious.
a desert enchanting, yes, but also a hoary narrative
that ignores the presence of Palestinians and others in
the region long before the advent of modern Zionism.
Panel moderator Mitchell Davis, the executive vice
president of the James Beard Foundation, visibly
winced at Admonys remarks. He asked other panelists
to address cultural appropriation.
The other panelists, including Sercarz and Solo-
monov, didnt bite excuse the pun but appro-
priation was very much the theme of the next panel,
Israeli-Arab Food Politics.
There is a lot of politics behind the food you eat,
said the moderator, Johanna Mendelson Forman, who
teaches a course at American called Conflict Cuisine:
An Introduction to War and Peace Around the Dinner
Table. The kitchen has become the venue of new for-
eign policy.
The three social scientists on the panel Nir
Jewish World
RON KAMPEAS
Avieli, Ronald Ranta and Ronit Vered, all Israeli Jews
advanced the theme that there was an original
sin to Israeli cuisine: the repression of its origins
among Palestinians.
Some of their arguments were salient and recogniz-
able to anyone who has lived in Israel. For instance,
theres the tendency for Israelis to refer to Arab cui-
sine and not Palestinian although there are dishes
Palestinians, such as maqloubeh, a meat, rice, and veg-
etable concoction. (Solomonov is an adamant exception
and refers to an indigenous Palestinian cuisine that he
has incorporated into his repertoire.)
Other arguments from the academics, however,
seemed a tad overeager to make a point about Israel
and colonialism. Ranta, a lecturer on international rela-
tions at Kingston University in London, decried the
denial of an Arab Palestinian contribution among
Israelis to their cuisine, saying that the argument that
many Jews of Middle East origin were likely to already
be acquainted with the dishes was a glaring example
of this denial.
Avieli, the president of the Israeli Anthropological
Association, said that pizza was the most popular food
in Israel, suggesting it was because Israelis despise their
neighbors and long to be European.
They are in the Middle East, what can you do?
Where they would like to be is southern Italy, he said.
The conclusion baffled Forman, who rejoined that
Americans also tend to favor Italian food, too the
implication being that its not because of a national
neurosis but rather because Italian food is quick
The only chef on the afternoons panel: Osama Dalal,
a Palestinian Israeli who runs Maiar, an upscale, sea-
food-heavy restaurant in Tel Aviv (currently closed as
he seeks a new venue), brought the conversation back
to the natural, logical evolution of cuisine namely, if it
tastes good, make it.
Dalal said that growing up in Acres old city, the site of
his first restaurant, he drew inspiration from his Jewish
neighbors, both Polish and Moroccan.
Being 2017, I can do what I want, he said of
his menu.
In the most vivid account at the conference, Dalal
recalled how as a child, he would lick the walls of his
grandmothers home because they were infused with
the flavors of her cooking.
These days, Dalal makes a custard dish inspired by
his grandmother. But, he added, Custard is not Israeli
or Palestinian.  JTA WIRE SERVICE
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 25
Editorial
At the GA in L.A.
F through a different lens
irst, some alphabet
soup, Jewish style.
For the first time in
many years, the GA
of the JFNA, to which the JFNNJ
belongs, was held in L.A. As
almost always happens, the AJPA
was part of it.
Translation: The General
Assembly of the Jewish Federa-
tions of North America, to which
the Jewish Federation of North-
ern New Jersey belongs, was held
in Los Angeles. (Readers, I know
you knew that one.) The Ameri-
can Jewish Press Association was
part of it.
For the last few years, the GA
was in D.C. (Okay, Ill stop now.)
Washington is a city that looks
like a city, dignified, monumen-
tal, quirky. Downtown L.A. looks
like nothing much unimpres-
sive but tall buildings; big, wide,
unattractive streets, construction.
The first night we were here there
was a game at the Staples Center,
right down the street, so excited
people in full sports regalia were
everywhere. (To a non-sports fan,
the look of adults in full sports
regalia is more puzzling than
appealing, but whatever)
Its always energizing to be at
the GA. So many Jews! Its not as
if there arent many Jews (many
many Jews) at home, but here,
somehow, its different. For
one thing, theres a wide range;
some are clearly observant,
some not visibly so, all identi-
fiably Jewish by the credentials
hanging around their necks.
And so many of them are young.
I was thrilled to be hugged from
behind by a young woman who
had been in school with my
daughter from kindergarten
through 12th grade. Theyre still
good friends, and Jocelyn works
at UpStart, a new Jewish funding
agency, and now there she was.
Beaming. The GA is full of those
Jewish
Standard
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James L. Janoff
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Marcia Garfinkle
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26 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017
sorts of joyous connections.
Its also a place for network-
ing, and you see it happening
all around you. You feel its buzz.
You know its good.
I am avoiding writing about the
content because, well, there isnt
so much. A lot of the point of the
GA is making people feel proud,
vibrant, and connected. This is
a politically divided time not
news! and so there seems to be
more talking around that truth
than addressing it directly.
Not addressing problems
directly seemed to be endemic
this year.
O f te n I s ra e l i p o l i t i c i a n s
address the GA. This year, it was
Reuven Rivlin, the president of
Israel, a teddy-bear-like man
who emanates charm. He gave a
long speech about the tensions
between the American Jewish
community and Israel, tensions
that are new in the relationship,
and that are ominous. He, like
other speakers, mentioned the
failure of the agreement over
the Kotel, whereby non-Ortho-
dox Jews were to be given access
to a distant section of the wall
for egalitarian prayer. He, like
other speakers, mentioned the
problems about the issue of con-
version in Israel that seem to be
growing worse, and to lap even
at the edges of the Orthodox
world outside Israel. But he, like
the other speakers, could offer
no hope and unlike what has
happened in other years, he at
least held out no false promises.
Instead, out of what seemed to
be pain, he suggested that the
American Jewish community
be patient and hope that in the
end, community and good will
can prevail.
So the message at the GA was
mixed. But at least were all talk-
ing to each other, and that is
where the hope comes in.
Editor
Joanne Palmer
Associate Editor
Larry Yudelson
Community Editor
Beth Janoff Chananie
About Our Children Editor
Heidi Mae Bratt
KEEPING THE FAITH
The Torah IS history
I
n recent weeks, a number of articles have history do we find the capital in the Delta: When
appeared once again asserting that the nar- the Hyksos reigned (the improperly named Hyk-
ratives in the Torah especially the ones that sos were mostly Semites from the Canaan region
are now unfolding in the weekly readings on who ruled s large chunk of Egypt for more than 150
Shabbat have no basis in historical reality. years), and when the Ramesside pharaohs ruled
One such article, published in the daily news- from there. Four hundred and twenty-nine years
paper Haaretz, said that despite cutting-edge dat- elapse from when Joseph would have entered into
ing and molecular technologies, archaeologists Egypt and the Pharaoh Merneptahs reign ended
increasingly agreethat generally, the Bible does (he being the most likely Pharaoh of the Exodus).
not reflect historical truths. This is especially true Space does not allow for a detailed discussion,
regarding Israels sojourn in Egypt. Says the Haaretz but here are some points to consider.
article, There is, in fact, no evidence to substanti- Even though the Torah is silent about the
ate [the narratives in the Book of] Exodus. period between Joseph and Moses, we know a
The Torah, however, is a theocentric God-ori- great deal from history about the Egypt of those
ented document. It is a record of events as they years, especially of the 18th Dynasty. There is
happened but as viewed through one segment of this period, how-
a prism in which the Hand of God ever, of serious interest the reign
is everywhere to be seen and felt. It of Amenophis IV. He ruled Egypt
is not literal history, and never pre- from 1352 B.C.E. until 1338 B.C.E.
tended to be. Actual events are dis- A little over four chaotic decades
torted by this prism. A localized later, the Ramesside era will begin.
drought becomes a famine that cov- In his fourth year, Amenophis
ers the whole world. A major regional IV changed his coronation name to
conflict becomes a desert skirmish. Akhenaten and attempted to reform
Naturally occurring phenomena Egypts religion, giving it a universal-
become miracles. Everything is recast Shammai ist tone which has all the trappings of
to make God the central character, Engelmayer monotheism, according to the Egyp-
and Gods will the central theme. tologist Nicolas Grimal.
This does not mean the stories The biblical text makes clear that
themselves are fiction or fable; only that they are Israels time in Egypt was not spent in actual slav-
not meant as literal history. ery until near the end of the 430-year sojourn.
Is there any evidence that a Semitic thirtysome- Assuming the Joseph saga takes place in the years
thing ( Joseph) rose to power in an Egyptian court, before the 18th Dynasty, meaning in the Hyksos
or that his family was well received by the Pharaoh period, something happened during the 18th
and his court, only to eventually be turned into Dynasty to cause a new king to arise in Egypt
Egypts slaves? Is there evidence this family (now who knew not Joseph, and that turned the Egyp-
grown into a nation in number) was freed from slav- tians against the Israelites.
ery following a series of plagues? That something may well have been Akhenaten
There is some evidence to support parts of this and his short-lived religious revolution. Akhenatens
(including all 10 plagues), the Haaretz article and new religion was Atenism, or the worship of one
others notwithstanding, but the evidence is flimsy god Aten, the sun and he was heavy-handed in
and open to interpretation. his approach to it. In the words of another Egyptol-
What is not flimsy and open to interpretation is ogist, Sir Alan Gardiner, In proportion as his power
the actual history of Egypt into which the biblical grew, the stronger the ardour with which he per-
story fits perfectly. Briefly stated, the saga of Israel secuted time-honoured tradition....[Even the] very
in Egypt must begin with the capital city in the Nile word for gods was taboo.
Delta, and must end 430 years later with the capi- Akhenatens religious revolution did not survive
tal again in the same place. Only twice in Egyptian him. The enmity it produced was too strong for his
-JP Shammai Engelmayer is rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisades in Cliffside Park.
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Janice Rosen Tel: 02-6252933, 02-6247919 Ceil Wolf (1914-2008)
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Israeli Representative Rebecca Kaplan Boroson

three immediate successors Smenkhkare, Tutankha-
men, and Ay to ignore or overcome. Their reigns were
brief and suspect, so much so that by early in the 19th
Dynasty, all of the Amarna kings had been removed
from the record, just as their names were erased from
the monuments, Grimal writes.
As far as Egypt was concerned, Horemheb, an army
general with no royal blood who became the last
pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, immediately followed
Amenophis III. He devotes his career on the throne to
wiping out any traces of Akhenaten and his heresy. He
also was a prodigious builder.
If the Israelites were in Egypt at the time, and in one
way or another adhered to monotheistic beliefs or
tendencies, Horemheb surely would have seen them
as a threat to be dealt with in the strongest ways pos-
sible. This would be especially true if their beliefs or
tendencies somehow influenced the hateful heresies
of Akhenaten.
Now here are two facts that admittedly are fanciful
on their face, but because they emerge from annoying
coincidences, beg for illumination nonetheless.
The first involves why the Akhenaten episode is
known as the Amarna period. That is because it was
at El-Amarna that he established his new capital.
Akhenaten, however, never heard of the name Amarna.
The name accrued to the site in the 18th century C.E.
because a tribe known as the Beni Amran inhabited the
area when it was discovered.
Who were the Beni Amran? Other than the tribe
supposedly arrived at the site about 200 years
before the archaeologists did, we know virtually
nothing of it, including how it got its name. Beni
Amran means the children of Amran in Arabic.
In Hebrew, that works out to be the Bnai Amram,
the children of Amram. In the Torah, the children
of Amram are Levites, and their names were Aaron,
Miriam, and Moses. Is there a connection between
the Bnai Amram and the Beni Amran? No one has
studied that, as yet.
As to the second fact, to reach Amarna, you must first
travel to the ancient town of Mallawi, and take a ferry
for a brief ride across the Nile to Amarna on the other
side. Mallawi is derived from Mal-Levi, which literally
means the City of the Levites the city of the family that
gave birth to Amram and Moses, the city of the family
that would become Israels priests.
Could it be that it was the original Beni Amran who
finally drove Akhenaten, who in his early days as king
still showed fealty to Egypts pantheon of gods, to push
Atenism to its limits? Is that why Israel was enslaved?
Very likely, we will never know the answer to these
questions, or even whether they are legitimate ques-
tions to ask.
Can we truly argue, however, that the Torah does not
reflect historical truths if we do not know who the Beni
Amran are, and what a city of the Levites was doing in
central Egypt right where Akhenaten set up his worship
to the one god?
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
View from the pew
Three November dates that changed the course of Jewish history
T
here are three significant anniversaries in Zion-
ist history to commemorate and celebrate this
month.
First, there was the 100th anniversary of the Bal- ter Begins invitation to come to Jerusalem, I felt sure that the
four Declaration, which was signed on November 2, 1917. That
anniversary the centennial of the declaration that became
the legal basis for the creation of a Jewish home in Palestine,
under the protection of a British mandate, has been the sub-
ject of much discussion in both the Jewish and secular media
in America, in Israel, and around the world over the past few
weeks. I am certain that the 70th anniversary of the vote on
the U.N. partition plan that ended the mandate on November
29, 1947, the vote that gave the legal right to create both Israel inactions have proved to be obstacles to the realization of the
and a Palestinian state, will be given similar attention.
The third critical anniversary is of Anwar Sadats speech to
the Knesset, made 40 years ago, on November 20, 1977. That
speech led to a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel and
began a process that has yet to reach fruition .
I fear that third anniversary will receive far less attention
and praise.
As I researched both the texts and the con-
text of these three documents for adult educa-
tion programs that I am leading in number of
synagogues this year, I came to recognize some
important truths that can be lessons for Jews,
both in Israel and in the diaspora, in the century
that lies ahead.
The history of political Zionism, which
began only 120 years ago, is truly amazing.
It deserves our gratitude both to God and to Rabbi Neal I.
the small minority of idealistic Jews who, over Borovitz
the course of 50 years, from the first Zionist
Congress in Basil, Switzerland, in 1897, to the
vote of the U.N. General Assembly on November 29, 1947,
brought the Jewish peoples 1,900 years of exile from the
land of Israel to an end.
The Balfour Declaration and the subsequent British man-
date inspired thousands of young pioneers to make aliyah, as
described beautifully in the latest biographies of Golda Meir
and Shimon Peres. While there is great truth in the fact that
after the Balfour declaration seemed to miraculously reverse
two millennia of exile in a mere two decades, the next 30
years saw the British Mandatory Authority, with the tacit sup-
port of its Western allies, back away from the promises of 1917.
While British restrictions on immigration after 1929 played a
tragic role in closing Palestine as a place of refuge in the 1930s, Platter. There, he proclaims that he and his fellow sol-
policy disagreements in the American Jewish community over
the issue of whether the a Jewish state should be created, and
who should lead it, during the 15 years between the Balfour
declaration and the rise of Nazism, tempered the economic
development of the yishuv and deflated the numbers of Jew-
ish immigrants who went to Palestine during the 1920s.
Although there was no unity about Zionism in the Jewish
community in the decade after the declaration was issued,
the opposite was true later, from the onset of World War II
through the first three decades of Israeli Independence.
American Jewish unity provided political and financial sup-
port that was of immeasurable value to both the issuance
of the U.N. partition plan of November 29, 1947 and Israels
successful defense of its independence in the wars of 1948,
1956, 1967, and 1973. The tragic truth of the months and years
after 1947 was that the Palestinian state that was authorized
by the very same November 29, 1947, resolution never came
into existence, because neither the Palestinian Arabs nor their
brethren in the surrounding Arab states were willing to accept
the opportunity to take responsibility for creating the Pales-
tinian state.
Forty years ago, in November 1977, when I heard Golda
Meir announce at a Jewish Federations General Assembly in
Dallas that President Anwar Sadat had accepted Prime Minis-
promise of a Jewish state in the land of Israel, at peace with its
neighbors as envisioned by both the Balfour Declaration and
the U.N. partition resolution, was about to be realized. Sadats
visit did lead to a peace treaty that has stood the test of time;
those tests included the assassinations of both Anwar Sadat
and Yitzchak Rabin by citizens of their own nations for the sin
of making peace with their enemies.
On both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, both actions and
peace that I and so many others believed was imminent 40
years ago this month.
I have learned a number of lessons from my research of
these three anniversaries. The first lesson I take away from
reading Zionist history of the last 100 years is the crucial issue
of Jewish unity. Rather than just going back to the sloganeer-
ing of the early 1970s, when we proclaimed We
Are One, American Jews, in particular, need to
recognize that we have been most effective in
supporting Israel and Jews across the world
when we have recognized that unity does not
demand unanimity of opinion on all issues. In
fact, when we Jews have been more respectful
and tolerant of our political and religious diver-
sity, we have been more unified and effective
in support of Jewish values and Jewish rights.
I also have found solid proof for a second les-
son I see in the history of Zionism over the last
100 years. Simply put, though its in fact a very
complex proposition, despite my unquestion-
able belief in the justice of Zionism, I realize Israel has made
some mistakes and missed some opportunities in the last 70
years. Many modern Israeli historians share that belief.
A third lesson comes from a statement made by Chaim
Weizmann, a great but humanly imperfect leader who
deserves much, but not all, of the credit he took for the
Balfour Declaration. Weizmann was quoted in the Decem-
ber 15, 1947, edition of Haaretz as saying The state will
not be given to the Jewish people on a silver platter. A few
days later, Natan Alterman, a young Israeli poet and like
all Jews in the Yishuv, a new soldier in the battle for Israel
wrote a poem called Magesh Hakesef The Silver
diers are the silver platter upon which the Jewish people
will receive a state.
As an American Jew who was born in April 1948, just
three weeks before Israeli Independence Day, I look back-
ward and forward this year, realizing that my generation
of American Jews, and the generations of my children and
grandchildren, have been given a great gift to live in this
epic era of Jewish history. To pass this silver platter along
to the future, today we must both count our blessings
and recognize our mistakes. We must seek unity while
acknowledging and celebrating our diversity.
As I reflect upon these three days in November that changed
the course of Jewish history, I give thanks to God and ask all
to join me in recognizing our gratitude to both God and to
the Zionist visionary soldiers and supporters who have, in the
spirit of Shehecheyanu, brought us to this moment.
Neal Borovitz, rabbi emeritus of Temple Avodat Shalom
in River Edge, is a former chair of Jewish Community
Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Northern
New Jersey.
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 27
Opinion
Words from the heart: The ultimate, inclusive balm
I
t was a jam-packed Yomim Noraim/
Sukkot season this year, with three
three-day yom tovs packed into just
over three weeks.
For some (particularly those in the
kitchen), aliyah began to sound a bit more
inviting; Israel had only one three-day
marathon. Shul morphed into meals, then
back to shul, followed by more eating with,
hopefully, a shiur or nap (or both at the
same time) squeezed in. Lots of davening,
lots and lots of family, and lots and lots
and lots of food 18 Thanksgiving dinners
crammed into less than a month.
And then there were the sermons. Hav-
ing grown up in a community led by two
truly outstanding darshanim and having
married another outstanding darshans
daughter, I really enjoy a good sermon.
And in my shul, which had many auxil-
iary services, there were sermons galore
to choose from, given by rabbis, assistant
rabbis, rabbinic interns, guest rabbis, and
even some non-rabbis.
For me, though, two sermons in particu-
lar stood out. In one, the rabbi discussed
the issue of how communities and families
should act toward grown children who no
longer follow the traditions in which they
were raised. What should never be done,
he thundered, is to point fingers assigning
blame for the situation to a specific school,
shul, teacher, or community. Doing so
causes in him the same visceral reaction
he has to those claiming that the Holocaust
was a punishment for Zionism or for the
lack of Zionism. Rather, he emphasized
that both communities and individuals
Beyond turkey and football
Tips for making the all-American holiday more meaningful for kids
W
ho doesnt love
Thanksgiving?
Watching the Macys
Thanksgiving Day parade,
gathering with family and friends for turkey
with all the trimmings, and of course foot-
ball. Finally, an uncomplicated holiday!
For many Americans, Thanksgiving sig-
nals the start of the holiday shopping sea-
son, with Black Friday only a few short
hours away. But before the onslaught
of the gift-giving frenzy is in full swing,
Thanksgiving is an excellent opportunity
to teach our children to have an attitude
of gratitude.
As Jews, this holiday can resonate with
us in a meaningful way, since we are pro-
foundly thankful for the freedoms that
America has afforded us. Thanksgiving
is an opportunity to celebrate alongside
our fellow citizens, and offer apprecia-
tion for neighbor and country, reflecting
28 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017
need to react with warmth and care, while
continuing to impart as much tradition as
possible in a gentle and loving manner.
While I certainly agreed with the senti-
ment, what was especially memorable to
me was the emotion behind his words.
This was not a by-the-numbers sermon, or
even one based on a detailed analysis of
halacha, theology, or parshanut. Rather, it
came from the gut; it was a crie de coeur
that reverberated throughout the sanctu-
ary. Dvarim hayotzim min halev nichnasim
el halev words that come from the heart
penetrate the heart.
In the second, the shuls senior rabbi
explained that the Torah made a point of
specifying a separate mitzvah of joy on
Shmini Atzeret because by that time in the
holiday season its easy to be distracted by
everything else thats going on around us.
Thus, the Torahs specific commandment
of joy refocuses us on the holiday. And the
rabbi, moving from the theoretical to his
congregants real lives, gave examples of
such distractions: the scary world situa-
tion, distressing daily headlines, all the
work being missed and concern for co-
workers required to take up the slack,
and the like. What particularly struck me,
though, was the example he tacked on at
the very end: how the Yankees were doing
in the playoffs (their game against Cleve-
land the night before ended too late for
inclusion in the New York Times.)
The congregation chuckled because we
all knew that the rabbi was not only the
shuls religious-leader-in-chief but also
its Yankees-fan-in-chief. (True story. A
our Jewish values of hakarat hatov and
tzedakah.
Here are three easy things to do with kids
this Thanksgiving to help them celebrate in
a more thoughtful way:
1. Share your personal family stories of
coming to America with your children.
Perhaps we didnt arrive here on the May-
flower, but just as the Pilgrims came to
America seeking religious freedom and bet-
ter opportunities, so too many of our ances-
tors landed on these shores for the very
same reasons. Share the details of how and
when your parents, grandparents, or great
-grandparents were pilgrims, arriving to
this land. Let your children understand how
we can relate to this holiday in a very per-
sonal and authentic way.
2. Show appreciation. During the Thanks-
giving meal, go around the table asking what
everyone children and adults is thank-
ful for. (No need to delay eating for this, but
few years ago when we had
a similar Yankee game situ-
ation, before entering the
shul on Shabbat morning
I asked our crossing guard
who won. After he told me
and I said Im probably not
the first person to ask, he
replied, no, the rabbi asked
already.) Joseph C.
And the rabbi then made Kaplan
explicit what was implicit
from his choice of that exam-
ple; he expressly noted that he was speak-
ing to himself as well as to the congrega-
tion. This reminded me of a masterful 1954
sermon by a young R. Norman Lamm I
recently read called A Credo for the
Pulpit in which he stressed that a rabbi
must not preach at his congregation. He
must preach with them. In his . . . rebukes their own, are the way they are presented,
he must include himself.
While it wasnt the first time I heard a used, the tone, the delivery, the stories, and
rabbi follow this advice, in my experience
its especially unusual when its so crystal sermons, having heard him preach when I
clear that the rabbi is sincerely, and not
simply pro forma, including himself, thus
making the point, in R. Lamms words,
that preaching . . . is a cooperative ven- as he delivered it, with his Baptist preacher
ture by a community of sinners who want
to be saints. And it was this small aspect and higher, experience entirely.
of the sermon that made it strikingly mem-
orable to me.
(A parenthetical note: R. Lamms ser-
mons are archived and available online,
and for the past several years Ive printed Joseph C. Kaplan, a regular contributor, has
one out to read every Shabbat and yom
tov. I highly recommend it.)
rather enjoy this conversation
during the meal.) With the
recent spate of natural and
manmade disasters, its espe-
cially important to acknowl-
edge our blessings.
3. Be generous of your
time with those less fortu-
nate. Together with your
child, donate food and visit a Dr. Tani
food pantry to help stock the Foger
shelves, or ask to help serve a
meal. Children learn best by
doing and what better way for children
to recognize how much they have, than by
seeing how others live with so much less.
As the Chinese proverb teaches, Tell me
and Ill forget. Show me and I may remem-
ber. Involve me, and Ill understand.
Thanksgiving always has held a spe-
cial place in my heart. It is a holiday
without any restrictions that allows us
Many years ago I delivered
a sermon about how powerful
words are, and the power they
have to teach, to inspire, to
comfort, to heal. Or as Chief
Justice John Roberts elo-
quently wrote in the West-
boro Church case: Speech
is powerful. It can stir people
to action, move them to tears
of both joy and sorrow, and
. . .inflict great pain. (Would
that he used his eloquence to
agree more often with the Notorious RBG.)
But in thinking about this past yom tov
season and the sermons that especially
touched me, I realized again that the power
of words is not only a matter of substance,
though that is, of course, of utmost impor-
tance. Equally important, with a power all
the particular words or examples chosen and
the subtexts. While I love reading R. Lamms
lived on the Upper West Side touched me in
different ways. Dr. Kings I Have a Dream
reads magnificently. But to hear his voice
cadences and mellifluous tones, is another,
Dvarim hayotzim min halev nichna-
sim el halev. And they are cherished and
remembered.
been living in Teaneck and practicing law in
Manhattan for many years.
to be fully part of the Amer-
ican experience. Its a uni-
versal holiday that bridges
our differences, empha-
sizes our shared values,
and reminds us that we are
all part of the American
dream.
This year, lets celebrate
Thanksgiving with a mind-
fulness as to how this holi-
day can unite us, regardless
of our political beliefs, and
mark our gratitude and deep sense of
blessings for our freedom, prosperity,
and community, for bountiful food and
family around the table.
From my house to yours happy
Thanksgiving!
Dr. Tani Foger of Englewood is a psychologist
and educational consultant.
 Opinion

Hopes betrayed: A harvest of bitter fruit

The Russian Revolution and the Jews merits a backward look after 100 years

A
nother week,
another centen-
nial. Following the
Balfour Declara-
tions milestone, its now time
to look back on the 1917 Bolshe-
vik Revolution in Russia, where
a communist insurrection in
St. Petersburg, then known as
Petrograd, gave birth to a state Ben Cohen
that caused untold misery to
millions for almost the remain-
der of the 20th century.
Led by Vladimir Lenin, the Bolsheviks the major-
ity faction of the Russian communists were a tight-
knit, fiercely revolutionary group. Its core members had
shared the experience of exile in grand cities like Lon-
don, Zurich, New York, and Paris, as well as the bru-
talities and loneliness of imprisonment or deportation
by the Tsarist authorities. Their organizing principle of
democratic centralism left little room for any dissent,
as Lenins literary eviscerations of his opponents attest.
Had it all remained polemical, history would have
been different. In its Russian setting, though, Bolshevik
rule meant famine, death, and an ever-intrusive police
state. To begin with, Russia was hardly a natural candi-
date for a Marxist revolution, given its lack of industry,
and its large mass of semi-literate peasants steeped in Bolshevik forces marching on Red Square just after the 1917 revolution.
pre-modern superstitions particularly about Jews.
And Jews were a big presence in the Bolshevik Party; shut down.
about one-third of its leadership, in fact. But these lead- Until 1991, when the Soviet Union finally dissolved
ers did not act for Jewish communal interests, nor did
they consider themselves particularly Jewish. It is true
It is true that Lenins following a bitter Cold War of half a century, the seeds
planted by the Bolsheviks Jewish policy continued to
that Lenins nationalities policy enabled Jewish equality nationalities policy bear their bitter fruit.
and a flowering of Yiddish newspapers, theater, and lit-
erature, but it is equally true that he opposed any form
enabled Jewish Jews were banned from emigrating, and those who
wanted to emigrate to Israel were singled out for spe-
of Jewish political self-determination, denouncing with equality and a cial punishment. The anti-Semitic crescendo reached its
equal fervor the separatism of the Zionist movement,
which included Marxist factions like Poale Zion, and that
flowering of Yiddish peak in 1953, with the infamous Doctors Plot of Joseph
Stalins final year; the crescendo never fully dissipated,
of the anti-Zionist, Jewish socialist Bund. Thus Jewish newspapers, theater, with Jews subjected to government quotas in education
hopes were betrayed.
As the revolution consolidated, the Jewish section of
and literature, but it is and jobs. Viciously anti-Semitic propaganda, depicting
Zionists as hook-nosed bankers, was presented as pro-
the Bolshevik Party, known as the Yevsektsiya, enthusi- equally true that he gressive anti-Zionist solidarity with the oppressed, dis-
astically purged Jewish dissenters, clamped down on the
Jewish religion, and banned the teaching of Hebrew at a
opposed any form possessed Palestinians. In the grim years of communist
leaders like Leonid Brezhnev and Yuri Andropov, anti-
time when there were 300,000 registered Zionists among of Jewish political Zionist Soviet academicians became even louder and
Russias Jews. In tandem, the party itself was undergoing
dramatic change, expanding its membership to the point
self-determination. more outlandish with their conspiracy theories, while
the KGB offered generous support to Palestinian terror-
where some of the Jewish Bolsheviks began feeling rather ists as well as an assortment of German, Japanese, Ital-
like the Jewish Christians in the time of St. Paul uncertain left the Bolshevik Old Guard more and more isolated. ian, and other armed revolutionary groups.
about where the revolution they had played such a deci- But none of this ennui gave pause to the partys rapa- For anyone over age 20, there will be a Bolshevik cente-
sive role in launching would take them. cious brutality, on full display when a rebellion of work- nary to anticipate every year, sometimes more than once.
As the late historian Robert Wistrich observed in his ers and sailors in the naval fortress of Kronstadt was For example, next year, the centenary of the Yevsektsi-
fine study of Leon Trotsky, the Red Armys Jewish com- unceremoniously crushed. The centenary of that atroc- yas 1918 founding will be an occasion to commiserate on
mander viewed the growth of the revolutions bureau- ity falls in March 1921. the terrible fate of Soviet Jews under their own regime,
cracy as the revenge of Russian backwardness on a rev- Throughout these early revolutionary years, anti-Sem- many years before millions of them were hunted down
olution that had been isolated from the more advanced itism remained a social force in the Soviet Union, and by the invading Nazis. The overriding point is, hardly any
capitalist countries in Europe. Continued Wistrich, therefore ripe for use as a political instrument should of these occasions will be an opportunity for celebration.
The bureaucratization of the Soviet state was rendered the need arise. Few would doubt Lenins sincerity in That is a reminder of how scarred the Jewish people were
almost inevitable by such factors as crushing material taking the view that it is as one of his British follow- by the twin Soviet and Nazi experiments in totalitarian-
want, cultural backwardness, and the inherited burdens ers memorably put it the nature of the capitalist ism, and why we need to remain vigilant about our liber-
of the Russian past. trap that lies behind the stinking bait of anti-Jew pro- ties in our own troubled century. JNS.ORG

Trotskys biographer, Isaac Deutscher, also noted how
the incorporation of large numbers of ordinary Russians
into the Bolshevik Party a good portion of them com-
pletely baffled by the finer points of Marxist theory, and
often bearing crude social prejudices like anti-Semitism
paganda. But this Leninist critique of the pogromists
delusion did not immunize the communists themselves
from anti-Semitism. Once the Yevsektsiya finished its job
of crushing Jewish self-expression, it too was designated
as a reactionary manifestation of Jewish separatism and
Ben Cohen writes a weekly column for JNS.org on Jewish
affairs and Middle Eastern politics. His writings have been
published in Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz, The
Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 29

Healthy Living and Adult Lifestyles

Englewood Hospital director now president-elect

of Society for the Advancement of Blood Management
Sherri Ozawa, RN, an administrator at
Englewood Hospital and Medical Center,
has been named president-elect of the
Society for the Advancement of Blood
Management. A founding member, Ozawa
has been with SABM since its inception in
2001, previously serving on its board of
directors and as executive director. This
is the first time that a non-physician has
been elected to lead the national medi-
cal society.
Ozawa is currently clinical director of
The Institute for Patient Blood Manage-
ment & Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at
Englewood Hospital and Medical Center,
as well as senior director of patient and
family engagement. As a former critical
care nurse and an ethics committee mem-
ber, she developed an interest in patient
rights early on. This led her to the field
of bloodless medicine in 1995, when its
original intent at Englewood Hospital and
Medical Center was to treat Jehovahs Wit-
ness patients, for whom transfusion was
not an option.
But it expanded far beyond just one
patient population, Ozawa said. Research-
ers, including those at Englewood, found
that patients treated without blood trans-
fusions often did just as well as or better
than those who received them. Blood-
less medicine also reduced the risk of
transmitting infection and disease, among
other adverse outcomes, and significantly
reduced health care costs. We realized
we were clinically doing the right thing for
patients, and we had the obligation to do
that for all patients.
In 2012, the American Medical Asso-
ciation and The Joint Commission listed
blood transfusion among the five most
overused therapies in medicine. Ozawa
said it is exciting to impact care around
the world and make patient blood man-
agement the use of medical and surgical
techniques to prevent anemia, conserve
blood, and improve patient outcomes a
known concept.
She is also eager to draw from her
nursing background to help diversify
SABMs leadership. To date, the major-
ity of its members have been physicians
anesthesiologists, hematologists, and
surgeons. This stems from the organiza-
tions focus on physician education and
the perspective that physicians order
Sherri Ozawa, RN
blood and treatment for patients. In real-
ity, the organization is multidisciplinary,
Ozawa said. The way that we use blood
in the hospital setting touches everybody
nurses, laboratory staff, and the public.
Everybody is a part of this process.
As president-elect, Ozawa will oversee
national and international education ini-
tiatives, including development of online
education tools, and a certificate program
assessing proficiency in patient blood
management. She will also co-chair the
2018 annual meeting, working with Dr.
Aryeh Shander, chief of anesthesiology at
Englewood Hospital and Medical Center
and former president of SABM, to plan a
three-day academic program with attend-
ees from around the globe.
Ozawas goals for the next two years
center on SABMs belief that patient blood
management should be the standard of
care, and the urgency of bringing global
aspects to the forefront. In an effort to
bring best practices together, the theme
of the 2018 annual meeting will be global
patient management, emphasizing learn-
ing in addition to teaching.
For more information about the Soci-
ety for the Advancement of Blood Man-
agement, visit www.sabm.org. For
more information about The Institute
for Patient Blood Management & Blood-
less Medicine and Surgery at Englewood
Hospital and Medical Center, visit www.
bloodlessmed.org.

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30 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017

 Healthy Living and Adult Lifestyles

Activity helps remembering memories

RICHARD PORTUGAL
We are made of memories. Like a high-
rise building, our memories are the floors
upon which we are structured. From our
earliest years, we store stimuli and events
which shape us physiologically and psy-
chologically. We are what we absorb,
using memories to shape our personali-
ties and reactions to life. Without those
memories, we become a mere shell of a
building; if there are no floors, there is
no internal structure. As Alzheimers dis-
ease dramatically demonstrates, those
who lose memories become a mere mem-
ory themselves.
This is a great fear we all have. It is
an existential fear, so grounded in our
experience as to make it life pervasive;
it makes us question the very meaning,
foundation and purpose of our sense of
self. If we cannot remember, we are no
longer ourselves. And that is frightening.
There is a natural memory loss, though,
that accompanies the normal aging pro-
cess. Occurring over a lifetime, there is a
2 percent shrinkage in our brains volume.
The brains contraction interferes with
some brain functions as efficient noun
retrieval, name recognition or recall, inter-
mittent word mispronunciations, momen-
tary spatial confusion, or clumsy word
substitution. These mental mishaps cer-
tainly do not redefine us nor dramatically
change our relationship with the world.
They may cause us to pay more attention
and concentrate more when we meet a
new person, forcing us more to concen-
trate on associations or patterns.
When we drive we may momentarily
forget where we are or briefly fail to
recall a familiar route. When speaking we
may be dismayed when our tongue wags
more quickly than intended and speak
a mispronounced word or unintended
phrase. These mental faux pas are annoy-
ing and quixotic, but by no means cause
for alarm or fear.
Shrinkage of the brain may also cause
other symptoms such as diminishment
of reaction time, of speed, of coordina-
tion and of multi-tasking. These also do
not by themselves indicate a progres-
sive and irreversible decline in mental
and physical abilities. They are indica-
tions of normal aging, not a disease or an
unnamed mental malady. A slight tremor
in the hand may be nothing more than a
slight tremor in the hand, or a misstep
or stumble nothing more than a care-
lessness or tripping over an unforeseen
obstruction. These things are annoying,
but not life altering. And the true won-
der of our brain and our physique is that
our memories, our reaction times, our
coordination, our speed and our ability
to multi-task can be improved at any age.
Our muscles have memory and want
to reclaim their lost strength and speed.
And our neural pathways want to be
more efficient. Exercises that stress your
brain and muscles will bear wondrous
results. The utilization of the C.A.R.
technique (concentration, association,
and repetition) and other helpful aids
will help in memory recall and the occa-
sional mispronunciations. You cannot
reclaim your youth, but you can slow
down, stop, or reverse the natural atro-
phy. We all have an appointment with
our last breath and our minds and bodies
do degenerate. But, their capacity to sup-
port you and perform activities of daily
life lies undiminished.
Be active in mind and body. Aging is
a natural phenomenon, but aging grace-
fully is a misnomer. There is no grace in
not being active and fulfilled. Those who
are healthy and even those who are con-
fronted with disease or bodily injury can
perform daily activities with strength,
purpose, and success. And if you happen
to forget someones name or a certain
noun so what! No one else is going to
remember anyway!
Richard Portugal is the founder and
owner of Fitness Senior Style, which
exercises seniors for balance, strength,
and cognitive fitness in their own
homes. He has been certified as a senior
trainer by the American Senior Fitness
Association. For further information,
call (201) 937-4722.

Discover

at
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to live well
Serving the Jewish community
of Bergen County for 12 years

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1.866.7FREEDOM jewishhomeathome.org
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JH@H Ad 2k16 CL v2.indd 1 8/26/16

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 31
2:14 PM
17, 2017
Healthy Living and Adult Lifestyles
Dental Care for the Whole Family
Achieve the confidence and
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with a beautiful smile. We will
customize your care according
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Specializing in chipped,
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32 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017
Diane Jonas, DMD
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Prosthodontist
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deliver our highly specialized
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neighborhood.
Call Cindy or Mary to
schedule your personal visit.
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396 Forest Avenue Paramus, NJ 07652
www.BrightviewParamus.com
Valley Hospital to open
new fitness, rehab center
You have probably heard that exercise is
good for your health, but did you know
that it can actually help to heal your body?
Understanding the value of exercise is
more important than ever since our nation
is in the midst of an inactivity epidemic.
Life! This inactivity is the fourth leading cause
of death nationwide and is responsible for
3.2 million deaths each year. The financial
cost is also enormous the medical reper-
cussions of inactivity result in $102 billion
of U.S. health care expenditures annually.
Risks of Inactivity
If you are one of the 56 percent of Ameri-
can adults who do not meet the recom-
mendations for sufficient physical activity,
you are putting yourself at an increased risk
for a variety of serious and potentially life-
threatening health issues such as obesity,
diabetes and cancer. Believe it or not, it is
actually better to be physically fit and over-
weight than unfit with a lower percentage
of body fat. This, coupled with that fact
that one third of all cancers may be fat
related, and therefore preventable, means
that all of us should be making an effort
to increase our physical activity, explains
Don Tomaszewski, director of the Valley
Hospital Sports Institute.
Benefits of Exercise
No matter ones age, when combined with
a commitment to healthy eating, regular
physical activity can provide a wealth of
health benefits. Exercise is an essential tool
that contributes to managing weight, build-
ing lean muscle, reducing fat, strengthen-
ing bones and joints, and lowering the risk
of obesity.
By getting at least 30 minutes of moder-
ate intensity exercise at least three days a
week, you can make a positive impact on
both your physical and emotional health,
said Tomaszewski. Some of the many ben-
efits of exercise are:
Emotional benefits:
Improved mood
Decreased feelings of depression
Decreased anxiety
Increased ability to concentrate
Physical benefits:
Decreased risk for developing type 2
diabetes
Reduction in the incidence of heart
disease
Reduction in the incidence of high blood
pressure
Lowered risk of stroke
Improved sleep
Decreased risk for developing
Alzheimers disease
Decreased risk of developing obesity
Increased energy and stamina
Getting Started
The safest and most effective way to get in
shape is to partner with a trained fitness
professional who can assist you with creat-
ing a personalized fitness plan. Your plan
should follow these F. I. T. T. guidelines:
Frequency How often?
Intensity How hard?
Time How long?
Type What mode?
In addition, it is important to choose a fit-
ness facility that will support you and guide
you in reaching your health and fitness
goals. With this in mind, we are excited to
introduce you to Valley Health Systems
new Center for Health and Wellness. Val-
leys unique facility, which is slated to open
in early 2018, combines outpatient medical
and rehabilitation services with LifeStyles,
a world-class fitness center. This integrated
campus will offer a hub for diagnostic,
therapeutic and preventive services in one
convenient location at 1400 MacArthur
Blvd. in Mahwah. All services will be pro-
vided by Valleys award-winning team of
professionals.
For more information about Val-
ley Health LifeStyles and its pre-open-
ing sales membership offer, please call
(201) 389-0839.
 Healthy Living and Adult Lifestyles

Happy holidays Holy Name acts to reduce stress of season

are also for those
with dementia
Thanksgiving is fast approaching and before we know
it the holiday season will be in full swing. While holi-
days can be quite joyful they can also be quite chal-
lenging. This is especially true when celebrating with
aging family members who have dementia or those
who may be overwhelmed with changes in the regular
routine. Below are suggestions that may help family
caregivers in planning less stressful and more satisfy-
ing holiday gatherings:
If possible, limit the number of guests at the meal. Peo-
ple with dementia have trouble processing and tracking
information. A large group may make following a conver-
sation more difficult.
If possible, schedule your family dinner around the
needs of the person with dementia. It may be best to cel-
ebrate earlier in the day as many people with dementia
experience sundowning which leads to increased con-
fusion and agitation later in the day.
Let the person with dementia help in preparing for
the holiday as appropriate, perhaps by stirring a mix-
Holy Name Medical Center is hosting Celebrating You!, latest treatments for varicose veins and holiday eating
an event that aims to help manage holiday stress and strategies that wont sabotage weight loss goals. Vascu-
gear up for the season of giving. The free event will be lar screenings and chair massages will also be available.
held at the medical center on Tuesday, November 28, Food tastings will be provided by Mortons Steakhouse.
from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The event is coordinated through Holy Names Cen-
Attendees are invited to get a jump on their holiday ter for Healthy Living, which offers classes, workshops,
shopping with selected vendors, hear about the latest and support groups that empower people to achieve and
hair and make-up trends, and how to maximize todays maintain good health.
technology. Experts will also be on hand to discuss the For more information, call (201) 833-3336.
Eleonora Teplinsky, M.D.
Director, Breast Medical
Oncology
Passion for medical
research and clinical trials
for womens cancers
Believes strong patient-
doctor relationships are
crucial for healing

Let the person with

dementia help in
preparing for the
holiday as appropriate.
ture or setting a table. Everybody likes to feel useful and
connected.
Make sure there is a quiet space where the person can
go to get away from the commotion. The quiet space
should be a room that is not being used for anything else
n that day.
s Holidays are wonderful times to reminisce. Engage
the person with dementia in discussions about past
n holidays and family exploits but dont ask do you

Proven. Innovative. Here.

remember when.?
Look at photo albums. This is a great activity and trigger
for conversation.
Designate family members (e.g. grandchildren) who
can spend quieter time or take a walk with the person
with dementia.
If you have a professional caregiver, give them as much Valley Health Systems advanced level of breast care is drawing
- information about the day, in advance, so that she can be leading doctors like Eleonora Teplinsky, M.D., to practice here. Her
prepared to help as much as possible. Let your caregiver focus on breast and gynecologic cancer, and her dedication to
take the lead in tending to your loved ones needs, includ- clinical research, advances our goal to provide nationally recognized
o ing getting dressed and ready for the day, getting food, cancer care to women in Bergen County.
s going to the bathroom, and taking breaks as necessary.
If the celebration is taking place outside your family
Heres Dr. Teplinskys story.
n members home, make arrangements for the person to
l go home when needed, even if it is before the celebra- From the beginning, Dr. Teplinsky knew she wanted to dedicate her life to helping
, tion has ended. women with breast and gynecologic cancers. Along with her commitment to giving
Be kind to yourself. Dementia, and life, are unpredict- women access to the worlds latest research, she believes each woman should
, able. It is okay if things dont go exactly as planned. have a voice in her own care. By taking on cancer with Valley and Mount Sinai,
Freedom Home Healthcare, located in Hackensack, Dr. Teplinsky knows she can give her patients this kind of exceptionally advanced
r was founded in 2003 by a group of dedicated and com- care both medically and emotionally.
- passionate experts in geriatrics. They represent more
than 200 years of professional experience in aging; a Learn more about
three-time winner of the national recognition of the Best our Breast Center at
- of Home Care Award (only 1 percent of companies achieve ValleyHealthCancerCenter.com
- this honor) and a CHAP accredited Health Service Firm. or call 201-447-8040.
l For more information, visit www.freedom-homehealth-
care.com or call (201) 883-1200.

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 33

17-VHS-0450 Sub-specialty_Dr. Teplinsky_Jewish Standard_6.5x9.75_v1.indd 1 8/11/17 1:05 PM

Healthy Living and Adult Lifestyles
Two new practices join network of Holy Name Medical Partners
A specialty care office in Oradell and a primary care office
in Paramus are now members of of Holy Name Medical Part-
ners, the medical centers physician network comprising
more than 100 multi-specialty providers with convenient
practice locations throughout Northern New Jersey.
Oradell Specialty Care physicians specialize in the diag-
nosis, treatment, and prevention of heart conditions and
diseases, blood diseases and cancer, and urologic conditions
including kidney stones, prostate problems, and bladder
control issues, among other things.
Our physician network is expanding rapidly to better
meet the needs of our communities, said Dr. Adam Jarrett,
chief medical officer at Holy Name. Oradell Specialty Care
experts offer a high level of expertise with the personalized
Welcome Home
TO
655 Pomander Walk
Teaneck, NJ 07666
201-836-7474
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Choice of 1- and 2- bedroom
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34 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017
care and attention patients deserve.
Oradell Specialty Care is located at 550 Kinderkamack
Road in Oradell. To make an appointment call (201) 379-
5700 or book online at HolyName.org/Oradell.
Paramus Primary Care specialist Dr. Elaine Zhai is board
certified in internal medicine and Dr. Sohee Bido Lee is
board certified in internal medicine and certified in acu-
puncture. Their expertise is in diagnosing and treating
chronic illnesses, promoting disease prevention, and focus-
ing on overall wellness.
Our affiliation with Holy Name Medical Center is an all
access pass for our patients, said Dr. Zhai. It means we
can seamlessly connect them to any of the trusted experts
within Holy Names large network of specialists in addition
Special Pricing!
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cal center provides. Those are huge benefits for our
patients.
Growing our physician network allows us to better
serve our communities by partnering with experts that
help keep people close to home, said Dr. Adam Jar-
rett, chief medical officer at Holy Name. Primary Care
Paramus specialists enhance our mission to provide
high-quality, low-cost, compassionate care.
Paramus Primary Care is located at 30 West Cen-
tury Road, Suite 210, in Paramus and offers evening
and Saturday appointments. To make an appointment
call (201) 632-5057 or book online at HolyName.org/
Paramus.
Social workers help
older adults cope
CAROL SOMERVILLE
Older adults tend to have multifaceted and changing
needs that can increase their risk of emotional challenges.
Social workers can be called upon as the first available
responder in addressing the psychosocial needs of older
adults and their caregivers. Social workers who are spe-
cially trained in the unique needs of this population can
understand and deal with a clients ambivalence, fears,
and resistance, and attain goals that are established with
the client and their family. Social workers perform the fol-
lowing functions:
Identification and outreach
Assessment of needs: functional, biopsychosocial,
strengths, comprehensive intake, and resource/finan-
cial assessments
Planning an intervention, treatment, care, rehabilita-
tion, support, or crisis intervention
Service implementation and coordination including
monitoring service delivery and client support
Advocacy for ones well-being and functioning, liaison
and mediation
Reassessment/evaluation which is monitoring and
analysis
Discharge planning, transfer and termination
One-on-one interaction can help older adults through
feelings of anxiety, loneliness and depression. This can
include direct counseling or dealing with special health
care needs. Social workers can also help the older adult
with decisions on assisted living arrangements or work
with families to plan a loved ones long term care. Work-
ing with the older adult can mean involvement with the
active healthy resident as well as the frail, sick or confused
resident.
The number of aging persons in the United States is
increasing. Americans are living longer while maintain-
ing good health. As a result they face increased diversified
challenges and needs as they age. Geriatric social workers
are at the forefront of developing and providing service to
aging persons.
Carol Somerville, LCSW, is the director of social services
at County Manor Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center
in Tenafly. County Manors complete range of short- and
long-term healthcare services is complemented by an social
services program. For more information please call
(201) 567-7800.
Writing the
A MEMORY CARE
SUPPORT GROUP

Next Chapter.

When: Monday, Nov. 20

5:30-7:30 p.m.
Where: El Cid restaurant
205 Paramus Road, Paramus, NJ 07652
Reservations highly recommended.

Often, friends and family are not able to fully understand

what we truly deal with day to day as caregivers for
loved ones with memory impairment. Join CareOne on
Nov. 20 for Writing the Next Chapter, a support
group led by Kerry Mills of Engaging Alzheimers and
Joan DiPaola of Harmony Village. This support group is

VILLAGE
designed to provide you with the guidance, education and
empowerment you need to feel confident as a caregiver.
at CareOne
Space is limited to just 40 participants. Please RSVP to
John Albanese at 551-275-7213 or JAlbanese@care-one.com
to secure your spot in the group.

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 35

Healthy Living and Adult Lifestyles
The Valley Hospital earns an A
for its emphasis on patient safety
The Valley Hospital is proud to have been recognized with
an A grade in patient safety for the 11th time. Leapfrog
Hospital Safety Grades, which rate how well hospitals
protect patients from preventable medical errors, inju-
ries, infections, and accidents within the hospital, were
announced recently by The Leapfrog Group, a national
patient safety watchdog. Valley was one of 832 hospitals
to receive an A for its commitment to keeping patients
safe and meeting the highest safety standards in the U.S.
We are pleased and proud to once again receive an A
for patient safety, said Audrey Meyers, president and CEO
of The Valley Hospital and Valley Health System. This top
grade is a reflection and a result of our longstanding focus
Engaged living...
At Arbor Terrace Teaneck, were doing away with all of the traditional
stereotypes of senior living. We offer a maintenance-free lifestyle
with numerous amenities and luxury services to fit your every need.
Our community focuses on providing active seniors a comfortable
and inspiring lifestyle. Kosher meals available.
Call or visit us online to set up a tour today!
(201) 836-9260| www.arborteaneck.com
201-836-9260
36 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017
on and commitment to patient safety and quality care.
It takes consistent, unwavering dedication to patients
to achieve the highest standards of patient safety. An A
Safety Grade recognizes hospitals for this accomplish-
ment, said Leah Binder, president and CEO of the Leap-
frog Group. We congratulate the clinicians, board, man-
agement and staff of Valley for showing the country what
it means to put patient safety first.
To see Valleys full grade, and to access patient tips for
staying safe in the hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.
org and follow the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade on
Twitter and Facebook.
Israels radical
new approach to
psychological first aid
Trauma expert Moshe Farchis
model stresses the importance
of cognitive communication to
shift immediate attention
from emotions to actions
ISRAEL21C STAFF
When dealing with someone in psychological trauma,
most people instinctively hold, calm, and soothe the
person.
That may be well-intentioned but its not help-
ful, according to clinical social worker and volunteer
medic Moshe Farchi, whose counterintuitive approach
recently was adopted as the Israel Health Ministrys
national model for psychological first aid.
Farchi is head of Stress, Trauma, and Resilience Stud-
ies at Tel-Hai College, and is teaching and using his
method in several other countries as well.
While serving as a reserve mental health officer in
the Israel Defense Forces over the past decade, Farchi
noticed that the approaches used to help traumatized
soldiers in the field simply werent effective. Then he
began seeing new research showing the scientific rea-
sons for that failure.
He determined to create a new psychological first-
aid model based on the latest science and easily imple-
mented by anyone on the scene, not only by mental
health professionals who arent as likely to be available
immediately.
I wanted to provide something the whole commu-
nity could do, Farchi says.
The program he devised centers on six Cs: cognitive
communication, challenge, control, commitment, and
continuity.
The Six Cs model calls for activating the traumatized
person mentally and physically. Activating might mean
assigning a task, asking the person to take a walk, or giv-
ing them decisions to make. Often those in trauma arent
hurt but have witnessed or otherwise been involved in a
frightening situation.
But even injured people in psychological trauma can
be given small decisions in order to feel in control, says
Farchi. They can be offered a drink of water or asked
to direct first-responders where to stand, for instance.
The success of the Six Cs model has been docu-
mented. For example, in the summer of 2014, residents
of an Israeli town on the Gaza border who were trauma-
tized by rocket fire did not develop post-traumatic stress
disorder if they had been treated on the scene according
to Farchis protocol.
90 seconds
The scientific underpinning of this approach is dozens
of studies demonstrating that the brains center of emo-
tions, the amygdala, has a seesaw relationship with the
brains center of logical actions, the prefrontal cortex.
Activating the amygdala by calming the person emo-
tionally causes the prefrontal cortex to decrease its func-
tion, and vice versa, says Farchi. We need to reduce
the dominance of the amygdala, so actually we should
speak cognitively rather than emotionally.
Emotional communication (Of course youre
scared) only reinforces the persons feeling of
SEE FIRST AID PAGE 38
HER JOY.

In perfect harmony.
YOUR PEACE OF MIND.

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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 37

 A Reason to Smile Healthy Living and Adult Lifestyles

members his method and returned this summer to

First Aid
FROM PAGE 36
helplessness, while cognitive communication shifts atten-
tion from emotions to actions.
Instead of stabilizing the feeling of being scared, we
activate the person. We might say, Tell me how many
people are around you. Can you count them? How many
people are lying down? It takes about 90 seconds to shift
the person from passiveness to a person who can be help-
ful to himself and others, says Farchi, 55.
Since 2013, Farchis Six Cs model has been taught to
TEANECK DENTIST every IDF soldier. In November 2013, Farchi led a dele-
gation from his program at Tel-Hai College to work with
victims of the Philippines typhoon in coordination with
We put the Care Israeli humanitarian organizations Brit Olam and Natan.
into Dental Care! People going through a traumatic event are very con-
fused and cannot synchronize the event in logical order,
Richard S. Gertler, DMD, FAGD and that means the endpoint of the event is also not syn-
Ari Frohlich, DMD chronized, says Farchi, who volunteers for the Golan
Sami Solaimanzadeh, DMD Search and Rescue Unit in Israel.
Subjectively that means the incident doesnt end and
1008 Teaneck Road Teaneck thats why we have flashbacks. A couple of studies showed
that the window of opportunity to resynchronize the
201.837.3000 events is no more than six hours before the memory is
www.teaneckdentist.com stabilized. Thats why we should assist the person to syn-
chronize the event and emphasize that the major threat
Visit us on Facebook
is over.
Convenient Morning, Evening & Sunday Hours After a suicide bombing last May in Manchester,
Farchi immediately flew over to teach community
train first-response trainers.
He went to Argentina twice to train firefighters, and
has taught his method in Haiti and in Germany as a
member of Natans psychosocial team.
All Israeli first responders are now learning the
method, and the Education Ministry will start training
high school students in Farchis method too. I hope
in the next two or three years the whole population
will know how to do this, he says. Training takes only
a couple of hours.
Family therapist and EMT Miriam Ballin, direc-
tor of the United Hatzalah Psychotrauma and Crisis
Response Unit, says that previously, training for the
two-year-old voluntary units 150 mental-health work-
ers and 150 medics was based on World Health Organi-
zation (WHO) psychological first-aid protocols.
We are happy to collaborate with Dr. Farchi
through the Health Ministry to implement his proto-
col and we hope it will allow us to give a whole other
level of care to the patients we meet in distressing cir-
cumstances, Ballin said in August.
She got an opportunity to use the Six Cs method not
long afterward as part of her teams work with Hous-
ton flood victims later that month.
We always like to advance our skill sets. We meet
people on the worst day of their lives and want to do
all we can to ease them through that crisis period,
she says.
 ISRAEL21C.ORG

2016

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CHOICE

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38 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017

 Healthy Living and Adult Lifestyles

YU Parnes Clinic
receives a grant Do You Suffer From
The Max and Celia Parnes Family Psychological and
Psychoeducational Services Clinic, part of Yeshiva
Chronic Pain and or Illness...
Universitys Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology,
has been awarded a grant of slightly more than $1
We are here to help in the comfort of your home.
million from the New York City Capital Budget.
The funding through the offices of Bronx Bor- WE OFFER:
ough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and New York City PERSONALIZED TRAINING
Council members James Vacca and Andrew Cohen
will allow the center to move to a renovated space
MS GROUP FITNESS CLASSES
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The clinic, which is the third largest training clinic
DEMENTIA BALANCE
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TO IMPROVE:
year for approximately 18,000 contact hours. For STRENGTH
more than 45 years, it has provided low-cost, con- STROKE CORE
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At the core of Yeshiva University lies the principle
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service of others, said Dr. Ari Berman, president of
201-937-4722
www.FitnessSeniorStyle.com
the university. The Parnes Clinic educates the next
generation of mental health professionals to direct
their skills and abilities to reach out with kindness
and compassion to all those in need.
We feel so fortunate to have received this capi-
tal funding, said Dr. William Salton, director of the
clinic. The new space will allow us to enhance our
current services and increase our capacity to serve
additional members of the community.
The new state-of-the-art facility will cover 5,000
square feet and include 17 assessment and therapy
rooms, as well as rooms for conducting play therapy
with children, group therapy, a patient waiting area,
and an office for the clinical director and his staff.
The clinic provides training to students, and men-
tal health services to Bronx families, regardless of
their ability to pay. Among the services provided are
psychological and educational testing for children,
adolescents and adults; and individual, family and

Outstanding
couples therapy. Most clients are from the surround-
ing community and all across the Bronx.
It is so important that we provide families with

Rehabilitative
mental health services regardless of their income,
said Cohen, chair of the N.Y. councils Committee
on Mental Health. Identifying mental illness early
is one of the best things we can do to properly treat

Therapy
children and adolescents.
I am pleased to welcome the newly renovated
Max and Celia Parnes Family Psychological and Psy-
choeducational Services Center to Morris Park, said
Vacca. I allocated $287,000 from the capital bud-
get so this center could move into a new space and Providing a full range of WARM & COMFORTABLE ENVIRONMENT
expand their current services to the community.
short-term rehabilitative HIGHLY EXPERIENCED THERAPISTS
nursing care, long-term care, QUALIT Y NURSING
and respite care
More than 214,000 likes.
Like us on Facebook. 133 COUNTY ROAD, TENAFLY, NEW JERSEY | 201.567.7800 | WWW.COUNTYMANOR.COM

facebook.com/jewishstandard
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 39
 Healthy Living
 a pt
of  Fily...

(Resident, Lillian Grunfeld with her daughter,

Dir. of Community Relations, Debbie Corwin)

WHERE OUR RESIDENTS MAINTAIN THE LEVEL OF INDEPENDENCE

THEY DESIRE WHILE RECEIVING THE CARE THEY NEED.
A Breath of Life employee harvesting cannabis in Israel.
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THE PROMENADE
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open its booming medical marijuana
business to international exports. The
market could be worth as much as $4

Wishing you a
Wishing you a
billion a year in revenue.
In the expectation that the proposal
will be approved by legislators, an Israel
company Breath of Life Pharma (BOL)
Happy Passover
Happy Passover
is positioning itself to become the
worlds largest medical cannabis facility.
BOLs new production, research, and
development campus in central Israel
has a 35,000-square-foot plant, an
The Chateau 8,000-square-foot storage room, 30,000
square feet of grow rooms and labs, and
At Rochelle Park a million square feet of cultivation fields.
BOL CEO Dr. Tamir Gedo says his firm Breath of Life CEO Tamir Gedo.

The Chateau
96 Parkway can store enough medical marijuana to
Rochelle Park, NJ 07662 supply the entire United States. Gedo the medical cannabis space dont use
Alaris Health at The Chateau 201 226-9600 estimates that BOL will produce 80 tons
of medical cannabis per year.
the whole plant but instead isolate spe-
cific molecules and turn those into con-
In Rochelle Park - A Five-Star Rehab Facility
96 Parkway
Sub Acute Rochelle
Rehabilitative Park,
Care NJ for
Center 201-226-9600
Hospital After Care
At Rochelle Park
Just dont call it marijuana, Gedo
told a group of visiting journalists under
trolled, consistent drugs.
That can be quite a challenge: Can-
high security (marijuana is, after all, nabis has 142 different cannabinoids
Sub Acute Rehabilitative Care Center for Hospital After Care a controlled substance in much of the active components and each targets
After care is so important to a patients recovery once a patient is released from the world, including Israel). different illnesses.

96 Parkway
hospital the real challenges often begin the challenges they now have to face as they
try and regain their strength and independence.
The word marijuana was used by U.S.
drug enforcement agents in the 1930s to
The two best known cannabinoids are
THC and CBD. The former is the psycho-
make it sound foreign and dangerous. active component responsible for mari-
Rochelle Park, NJ 07662
Here at The Chateau we combine the very same sophisticated technologies and
techniques used by leading hospitals with hands on skilled rehabilitative/nursing care.
Sub Acute care ensures that patients return home with the highest degree of function
Gedo, like most in his industry, prefers
to use the plants real name, cannabis.
juanas high. It also helps with pain
and nausea, which has made it a much
possible.

Our Care Service

201 226-9600 He refers to BOLs business as the grow-
ing, packaging and distribution of med-
ical-grade cannabis (MGC for short).
sought-after medication for patients
undergoing chemotherapy.
CBD, on the other hand, works on
Bikur Cholim Room BOL has no interest in pushing the the autoimmune system and acts as an
Ventilator Care/Vent-Dialysis legalization of recreational cannabis, anti-inflammatory. It is being tested on
IV Therapy Gedo says. Rather, BOL works toward inflammatory bowel diseases (including
Tracheotomy Care
Physical, Speech and Occupational Therapy bringing pharmaceutical-grade quality Crohns and ulcerative colitis) and has
Sub Acute Rehabilitative Care Center for Hospital After Care
Physician Supervised Wound Care
On-Site Internal Medicine Physicians
and delivery systems to purified extracts
of the plant.
shown to be effective with conditions
as diverse as autism, epilepsy, diabetes
24-Hour Nursing Care Because the chemical composition of and heart disease. Moreover, you cant
For more
For more information,
information,or ortotoschedule
schedulea tour of of
a tour Alaris
TheHealth
Chateauat at
The ChateauPark,
Rochelle at cannabis flowers from different branches get high from CBD.
please call
Rochelle our please
Park, Admissions
call ourDepartment
AdmissionsatDepartment
201 336-9317
at 201 336-9317 is not at all consistent, companies in In order to get FDA approval, a

After care is so important to a patients recovery once a patient is released from the
40 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017
hospital the real challenges often begin the challenges they now have to face as they
try and regain their strength and independence.

company like BOL, which was founded
in 2007, must conduct the same kind
of double-blind clinical trials any drug
would go through. Some 120 trials are
currently underway in Israel more than
in any other country.
Gedo says that if even 10 percent of
trials underway at his facility result in a
patentable drug, BOL could be the Pfizer
of MGC. BOLs autism trial, under the
supervision of Dr. Adi Aran, director of
the neuropediatric unit of Shaare Zedek
Medical Center in Jerusalem, will go to
the FDA in 2018. If its approved, a com-
mercial drug could be available as early
as 2021.
Medical cannabis drugs are delivered
via pills you swallow, delayed-release
gel capsules, sublingual tablets, drops,
ointments, transdermal patches, and
metered inhalers. You dont smoke MGC
because that destroys the CBD and other
components aside from THC.
Cannabis-friendly
BOL is building on Israels reputation as
one of the most cannabis-friendly coun-
tries in the world. Israel, which has the
worlds highest ratio of cannabis users
27 percent of the population aged
18-65 used marijuana in the last year
recently reduced penalties for recre-
ational cannabis use to a fine.
Dr. Raphael Mechoulam from the
Weizmann Institute of Science was the
first to successfully isolate THC. That
was in 1964. Mechoulam, now 86, is
still active in cannabis research at the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and is
on the board of directors of BOL.
Testing medical cannabis on human
patients has been part of the research
landscape in Israel for years, but its
nearly impossible to do in the United
States. Only one facility, the University of
Mississippi, is a licensed source for medi-
cal cannabis, and production is limited
to just 650 kilograms per year.
We can produce that amount in half
a day, Gedo says.
Israel is a hotbed of quality cannabis
research, because it has a much more
favorable regulatory climate for doing
serious scientific research on medical
cannabis, says Charles Pollack, director
of the Lambert Center for the Study of
Medicinal Cannabis at Thomas Jefferson
University in Philadelphia.
As a result, companies are increasingly
turning to Israel to conduct their phase
1 and 2 clinical trials. If you can point to
previous studies done overseas, the FDA
is more likely to approve a phase 3 trial
in the U.S. Of the 15 companies signed up
so far to conduct their R&D at BOLs facil-
ity in Israel, at least six are American.
And while importing cannabis into
the United States remains illegal (even
though 29 U.S. states have legalized
medical cannabis), if a product has
FDA approval companies can circum-
vent that ban.
Healthy Living and Adult Lifestyles
Israel is also blessed with a climate
conducive to growing cannabis, BOLs
Gedo said. The many days of sunshine
make it more suitable than many parts of
the U.S. and Europe.
Healthy competition
BOL isnt the only company in Israel
to jump on the medical cannabis
bandwagon.
Tikun Olam was Israels first medi-
cal cannabis distributor and opened
an American subsidiary in 2016. One
World Cannabis Pharmaceuticals is
working on a topical cannabis cream to
treat psoriasis. NASDAQ-listed Thera-
pix Biosciences is deploying THC to
address Alzheimers and Tourette syn-
drome. And there are others.
While Israels medical cannabis indus-
try is targeting the international market,
big changes are afoot domestically. Last
summer, 81 doctors completed a medi-
cal cannabis course from the Ministry of
Health. And the number of licensed cul-
tivators has increased from eight to 60,
including several kibbutzim.
The aim is to open up the Israeli mar-
ket from just a few dispensaries serving
the entire country to allowing doctors to
prescribe MGC preparations that can be
picked up at a local pharmacy.
There are 30,000 patients in Israel Brightview.
getting medical cannabis, ICANs Saul
Kaye said. Most people know some-
one whos getting it. The stigma is being
Bright Life!
removed.
Israel has gone so far as to publish
a Cannacopeia, a guide to the use of
MGC. We call it the Green Book,
quipped Yuval Landschaft, director of
the Medical Cannabis Unit in the Israeli
Ministry of Health. Some 21 countries
have requested a copy.
In 2016, more than $250 million was
invested in Israeli cannabis companies
and about 50 American companies Discover exceptional senior living
have established R&D operations in
Israel or partnerships with Israeli com- for Mom and Dad
panies like BOL.
The medical cannabis industry in Respectful, customized care
Israel may not eclipse high-tech, but
the two share the common root of Cultural and social events
Israeli chutzpah and the belief that Inspiring Experienced associates
Lives
bucking the rules often yields the big-
gest payout.
When Mechoulam first wanted to
Bright Luxury amenities
study cannabis, there was none to be
had. So his boss at the Weizmann Insti- for All Our Gourmet meals
tute called a buddy at the local police Specialized dementia
station and scored a confiscated stash Residents
of 11 pounds of Lebanese hashish (also care neighborhood
from cannabis) that the cops were plan-
ning to burn. Mechoulam hopped on a
bus to pick it up. Call Richard or Gina to schedule
This creative approach jump-started your personal visit.
an entire industry. Now the only ques-
201.817.9238
tion is: how high can Israel leap? Four
billion dollars in potential exports (and 55 Hudson Avenue Tenafly, NJ 07670
taxable revenue) certainly raises the bar. www.BrightviewTenafly.com
For more information, visit bol-
pharma.com. ISRAEL21C.ORG
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 41
 Tr a d i t i o n ! Best Wishes
for a
Happy
Chanukah
May Your Home be

Chanukah Season
Blessed
with Joy and Peace
this

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42 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017

 Dvar Torah
Toldot: The big impact of small choices

A
few weeks ago, my wife and I
watched a documentary about
Elian Gonzalez, the young
Cuban boy who in 2000 was
a lone survivor aboard a raft with his
mother and stepfather and some other
family members. They all sought refuge
in America from communist Cuba. All the
members of the boat Elian was aboard
perished at sea. Miraculously, six-year-old
Elian survived. He was saved by a fisher-
man on Thanksgiving Day and brought
to his relatives who lived in Miami. What
ensued was a six-month standoff between
Castro and Clinton, Elians family in Cuba
and in Miami, and the relentless pursuit
of Elians father to bring him back to Cuba
against the wishes of Elians extended fam-
ily in the United States.
This episode boiled to an eruption
when armed SWAT team members force-
fully took Elian from his temporary home
to reunite him with his father, and then
bringing them back to Cuba.
The documentary con- design or inadvertently is got the better of him when he colluded
cluded with the ripple effect nothing new. It goes back with his mother to trick Isaac into giving
of Attorney General Janet to the Bible. When Joseph his blessing to Jacob?
Renos decision to insist that is sold off into slavery and It is possible that this one moment
the boy be returned to his his brothers go searching forever changed the fate of the Jewish
father, who lives in Cuba. to repatriate Joseph with people, no differently than Elian Gonza-
The 2000 presidential elec- his father, a nameless char- lezs rescue and return to Cuba shaped a
tion took place six months acter is asked, Which way soldiers life in Afghanistan or a random
after thi s ordeal. Many did he go? Were it not for stranger pointing the brothers toward
Cuban dissidents living in Rabbi David- the attention of this charac- Joseph allowed for reuniting and eventual
southern Florida held that Seth Kirshner ter and his honesty, the fate Jewish peoplehood and our Exodus. Our
Vice President Al Gore was Temple Emanu-El, of the Jewish people would lives are shaped by random encounters
Closter,
guilty by proxy for return- Conservative
be forever changed. and events. But, at the same time, they
ing a child to an evil regime. These events affecting the are fashioned by how we act during those
This cost Gore crucial votes direction our history Jew- events and the values we demonstrate.
in Dade and Broward Counties that ish and world leads me to wonder: What Parshat Toldot asks us to consider
ultimately led to swinging the election if Jacob had empathy for Esau instead of our actions and the implications they
toward George W Bush. The intention of contempt? What if when Esau had come will have. It reminds us to favor empa-
the end of the documentary was to illus- in from hunting, Jacob pre-emptively thy over callousness, love over strife,
trate that this event forever impacted the offered him stew instead of leveraging it and compassion in place of conviction.
directions the United States took because to get the birthright he wanted? What if These small characteristics might have
of the implications it had on the election he showed appreciation for his brother been enough to change our fate for the
and the greater world. providing for the family instead of exhib- better today, and can be enough for us
One person changing the world by iting a form of control? What if his guilt to be better tomorrow.

BRIEFS

U.S., Israel near agreement
to waive visa requirements
Israel Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked announced that Israel
is on the verge of finalizing an agreement that would allow
Israeli citizens to enter the United States without obtaining
a tourist visa in advance.
The deal would allow the United States access in some
circumstances to a new biometric database of Israeli citi-
zens who have been convicted of serious crimes.
The United States previously had demanded that it be
allowed unrestricted access to Israels entire biometric
database, but shifted its position after negotiations with
the justice minister.
Shaked is scheduled to travel to the United States
average Israeli salary, according to the Jewish states Cen-
tral Bureau of Statistics.
The average Israeli high-tech employee earns around
$5,940 per month.
Amazons headhunting is creating pressure on local
Israeli technology firms to retain their top employees,
because the countrys high-tech sector is already suffer-
ing from a shortage of programmers and engineers.
 JNS.ORG
IDF deploys Iron Dome amid
Gaza terror group threat
The IDF said it deployed Iron Dome missile defense
batteries throughout central Israel on Monday. That
Israel feels killer quake
along Iran-Iraq border
At least 210 people were killed and more than 1,700 were
injured Sunday night, when a powerful 7.3-magnitude
earthquake struck in Iran and Iraq. Tremors were felt
throughout the Middle East, including in Israel.
The earthquake hit 19 miles from the eastern Iraqi city
of Halabja. It struck along a 930-mile fault line that runs
between the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
The most extensive damage in Iraq was in the town of
Darbandikhan in the countrys Kurdish region. Irans west-
ern Kermanshah province experienced the worst damage
in that country.
 JNS.ORG

to finalize the agreement, which would come into
effect within one to two years. Israels Knesset must
also approve the agreement due to the sensitivity and
private nature of the government data that would be
shared with U.S. authorities.
 JNS.ORG
Amazon spends lavishly
on hiring spree in Israel
The online retail giant Amazon reportedly is in the midst
of a massive hiring spree in Israel and is offering unusually
high salaries to attract top high-tech talent to its new Tel
Aviv-based research and development center.
Some reports state that Amazon has offered prospective
hires salaries as high as $28,180 per month, and is typi-
cally offering salaries of around $16,900 per month, with
additional bonuses, in its bid to lure programmers.
Top programmers in Israel can already earn about
$11,370 per month, which is approximately four times the
was in response to threats from the Gaza-based Pal-
estinian Islamic Jihad. The terrorist group says it will
avenge Israels recent destruction of a cross-border
attack tunnel.
Ten PIJ operatives, including two senior command-
ers, were killed during Israels operation to destroy the
tunnel. PIJ said that Israels threats to target the move-
ments leadership is a declaration of war, which we will
confront.
The terror groups threat came after Israeli Maj.
Gen. Yoav Mordechai warned PIJ not to retaliate for
the tunnels destruction, stating that any attack by the
Islamic Jihad will be met with a powerful and deter-
mined Israeli response, not only against the Jihad, but
also against Hamas, which controls Gaza.
PIJ is Gazas second-largest terror faction behind
Hamas, with an estimated 10,000 armed members as
well as its own rocket arsenal and tunnel network.
 JNS.ORG
IDF downs Syrian spy drone
over the Golan Heights
The IDF said it intercepted and destroyed a Syrian spy
drone over Israels Golan Heights region last week.
The drone reportedly was intercepted with a Patriot mis-
sile over the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria.
It was a reconnaissance UAV and not an attack UAV,
and we are checking whether there is any connection
to Iran and Hezbollah, IDF Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus
told Reuters.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a
statement, We hold the Syrian regime responsible for any
firing or breach of sovereignty and call on it to hold back
all players active in its territory.
The incident follows several previous instances in which
Israel used Patriot missiles to intercept drones from Syria,
including in September, and April and July of 2016.
 JNS.ORG

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 43

Crossword
THE EMPIRES STRIKE
BY YONI GLATT, KOSHERCROSSWORDS@GMAIL.COM
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: MEDIUM
Across
1. Name of a star in 10 or The Ten
Commandments
6. Yam ___
9. Cohn and Jacobs
14. Glazer of Broad City
15. Borei ___ hagefen
16. Reading the Torah with no mistakes, e.g.
17. They conquered the Kingdom of Israel
19. Look closely and you can see the glass
between this snake and Harrison Ford
in Raiders of the Lost Ark
20. Flamethrower fuel
21. Herzl or Sinai
23. ___ ayin hara
24. End of Proverbs?
25. Empire that conquered Judah (and
17-Across)
29. Pais or The Boston Garden
31. El Al competitor, once
32. They allowed the Jews to rebuild the
Temple
35. Husband of Sarai
39. Pasta option
40. Famous ballerina (or a dessert named
after her)
42. Loeb and Bonet
43. Empire the Maccabees fought
44. Casual attire
46. They might have a siddur or kosher app
47. Ryan Braun and Ted Williams, for two:
Abbr.
50. Empire that destroyed the Second
Temple
52. Danny and the Dinosaur author Hoff
55. Aarons son and successor as high priest
58. Candy dish raider
61. Videos counterpart
62. Empire that took control of the Holy
Land after 50-Across
65. Famous Howard
66. Letters that might be forgiven during
the jubilee year
67. Filled pastry shells
68. To the point
69. Site and show thats big on lashon hara
70. Torah and exam
Down
1. 12-Down did not like her
2. Disneys Queen of Arendelle, and others
3. Talks like Harvey Fierstein
44 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017
4. Irish singer who became a star under
Geffen records
5. First name in Communism
6. Carmel Forest, for one
7. Where Jewish remains should not be put?
8. Suspicious
9. Zapped (the cold kugel)
10. Major simcha
11. Chasidic title
12. Rhea Perlmans Cheers role
13. Killed, like Goliath
18. Words from one needing a restful
Shabbat
22. El Al reading: Abbr.
26. Screen legend who married comic leg-
end Mel
27. Some YU degs.
28. What the city of Shechem is called
today
29. Words after Save me or Have
30. Prepare to have bread
32. Seth Rogan to James Franco, e.g.
33. High Priest with disappointing sons
34. Some rural rtes. in the Negev
36. The Eden ___ (hotel)
37. Jewish name or a video file
38. Neumans magazine
40. Salt-N-___
41. Actress Masterson of The Walking
Dead (with a name similar to
14-Across)
43. Card for visiting Israel?
45. Period for each of the empires in this
puzzle
47. ...from the ___ even to the greatest
(Jer. 42:8)
48. Champagne glass
49. Exodus commemoration
51. Comets path
52. Notable Shabbat of song
53. She put the she in yeshiva, according
to Homer Simpson
54. ___ up (make like 53-Across, essentially)
56. Lays out (like cloths in Eilat)
57. An eruv creates one, simply
59. And we held ___ each other like broth-
er to brother. (Billy Joel)
60. David has a famous one
63. ___Hazikaron
64. Ancient Jewish coin
The solution to last weeks puzzle is
on page 51.
The Frazzled Housewife
Facebook follies
L
ast week I spoke about inven-
tions. One thing I didnt men- week I was off Facebook was the week
tion was Facebook which, in
theory, could be considered
an invention. Initially, it was created so do without Facebook? If someone goes
college students could meet each other,
but it has grown to be so much more
than that. There are support groups on
Facebook, there are cooking groups on
Facebook, there are businesses that have
been built solely on Facebook. If you
wanted to, you could spend your entire
day on Facebook. This is a good thing if
you have no place to go, but a bad thing
if you start neglecting your family and
havent showered in a month.
A year ago, my boys
decided that I needed to
go off Facebook. Their rea-
soning was somewhere
between the spending too
much time on it and the not
showering. (To be clear, I
never neglected my fam-
ily or didnt shower. And
if I did neglect my family,
it had nothing to do with Banji
Facebook and everything Ganchrow
to do with the fact that they
take me totally for granted,
but that is for another time.)
It has been almost a year since my
brief stint off Facebook. My kids told me
that it wasnt good for me, which it isnt
in some regards, and they said my dead-
line was right after my birthday. You see, off Facebook. People take it personally
for those of you who arent on Facebook,
or dont know what Facebook is or have
been living in a cave and cant get help
because you have no internet, Facebook
birthdays are the best.
You see, Facebook lets everyone know
that it is your birthday so people wish
you a happy birthday. Some people even
go out of their way to send you a special
message. This is what I try to do for other people realized that I unfriended them.
peoples birthdays. Just a happy birth-
day is very nice, but to spend an extra
few seconds to wish them all the happi-
ness in the world, or say something per-
sonal, really can make all the difference. are doing? How could my day begin
My boys know how desperate I am for
attention and love, so they wanted me
to celebrate my birthday on Facebook,
and then they were making me go off
cold turkey.
People, let me tell you something.
Facebook is an addiction. Like drink-
ing or gambling, you become addicted
to Facebook. I was not happy. Not only
did they make me go off of Facebook,
but they randomly unfriended a whole
bunch of my Facebook friends, figur- reality.
ing that, since I was going off anyway,
it was okay for me to unfriend people.
This did not end well. For many reasons.
The first and most important reason was
because I only lasted off Facebook for a
week and a half. It turned out that the
that my brother surprised me and sent
me to Israel for three days. What was I to
to Israel and doesnt post any pictures,
did they really go to Israel?
Well, it was in the Holy Land that I dis-
covered Instagram. Another addiction. I
would explain it to you, but I as I wrote
last week, I cant because I dont really
understand it. I know people can post
Insta-stories, which are 30-second sto-
ries that disappear after a few hours (or
a few days, I am not really sure). Or you
can post pictures on Instagram. Which I
did, because without Face-
book, what was I supposed
to do?
Yes, I admit, I have a
problem and I am pathetic.
But at least I can admit it.
So I posted on Instagram
and I followed people on
Instagram. Following is like
being someones Facebook
friend. There are celebri-
ties who have thousands of
followers. I am not a celeb-
rity. So I have only a few
followers. And really, who wants to see a
picture of the geese in Votee Park? (That
was my most recent Insta-story.)
Back to what happened that fate-
ful week last November when I went
when you unfriend them. Sometimes I
have valid reasons for unfriending peo-
ple. 1. They arent really my friends and
they annoy me. 2. They express their
political views in an extremely horrible
manner. And 3. I just dont like them. But
when their kids unfriend people at ran-
dom, there is no reason.
And for some reason, a lot of these
And they werent happy. In any event, I
didnt last even two weeks off Facebook.
How could I survive without knowing
what people I have nothing to do with
without seeing pictures of random kids
first day of school, lost tooth, or another
unsuccessful attempt at potty training?
I had the shakes. I just couldnt handle
it. So back on Facebook I went. Maybe
one day I will go off again and realize that
life is about real experiences, not manu-
factured ones
Actually, I do know that, so perhaps
that is why Facebook isnt such a bad
thing as long as you know your own
Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck did have a
wonderful birthday, both on Facebook
and in real life. Nothing like eating dinner
in Washington Heights
 Arts & Culture
Two plays about theatrical magic
MIRIAM RINN

Prague,
1912

T
he worst is yet to come,
warns Jak Lowy as his fel-
low actor and lover takes
the stage at the off-off-
Broadway Theater for the New City. So the
audience is prepared when Mme. Trassek
begins wailing and crying.
The couple are performers in the Yid-
dish theater in pre-World War I Czecho-
slovakia, which means they overact their
way wildly through skits, jokes, and
mangled Shakespeare. Mme. Trassek is
a hit as Queen Leah, for instance, which
loosely follows King Lear. The queen has
three sons instead of three daughters,
and the youngest is her favorite. You get
the picture.
Business is not good for these two, so
Mme. Trassek supplements their income
by selling hot sweet potatoes from a cart.
What they need is a decent script. Luck-
ily, they run into a young man who is des-
perately unhappy selling nuts and bolts on
the road. As he dutifully writes his father,
the act of selling doesnt come naturally to
him, but writing evidently does. When he
signs his letters Gregor Samsa, a twitchy Jenne Vath plays Mme. Trassek in Lu Hausers Prague, 1912.  JONATHAN SLAFF

sense of recognition hits. Isnt that the

character in Franz Kafkas Metamorpho-
sis? Whats he doing here?
Franz Kafka was indeed a fan of the Yid-
dish theater and attended performances at
the Cafe Savoy in Prague, where this play is
set. The late playwright Lu Hauser doesnt
give the audience much information, how-
ever, beyond the characters name, so
there is a sense of avant garde mishmash
in the action between the two middle-
aged actors and the younger writer. When
Gregor tries to convince them that his new
story, The Hunger Artist, would be great
on stage, most people familiar with Kafka
will catch on.
Mme. Trassek spends considerable
time bemoaning her two little daughters,
left behind when she ran away to join the
theater, and Jak Lowy plays the seducer
with broad humor. Of course, Yiddish the-
ater thrived on overacting, on heartrend-
ing stories of lost children and broken-
hearted mothers, on women betrayed by
scoundrels, so Prague, 1912 captures the
tone, albeit with irony. The performances
by Jack Barilla as Jak, Jason Howard as
Gregor, and Jenne Vath as Mme. Trassek
are solid, and Alex Wilborn adds a lot
with his cornet solo. The play suffers from
a confusing, episodic script, but the love
of the theater inherent in any backstage
story comes through.

Illyria
annoying kvetch. went on in Papps first troupe, and his
attempt to start a Yiddish theater.
Set in the 1950s, Illyria puts a large struggle with Robert Moses, who was
The current production at the Pub-

J
ust a few blocks away from the The-
ater for the New City is the much
more famous and established Pub-
lic Theater, founded by Joseph Papp,
the theater giant who brought audiences
A Chorus Line, Sticks and Bones, The theater. Unfortunately, Nelson, whose
Normal Heart, and Talk Radio, among
many, many others. Papp, whose first
language was Yiddish, didnt learn Eng-
lish until he went to school in Brooklyn.
He produced the wonderful Yiddish-lan-
guage Songs of Paradise in 1989 in an
cast on stage and then leaves them there in charge of the citys parks at the time.
lic, Illyria by Richard Nelson, isnt
to chat, gossip, and eat for almost two The minutiae of what happened almost
interested in Papps Jewish heritage. It
hours. For a viewer unfamiliar with Joe 70 years ago is so much inside base-
tells how a young Joe Papp attempted
Papp, the Shakespeare Festival, George ball to an audience today, and Nelson
to bring Shakespeare (in English!) to the
C. Scott, and HUAC, the play would be doesnt bother to show us how Papp
masses in Central Park, free of charge. So,
incomprehensible. succeeded in funding the Shakespeare
its also a story of the magical power of
That is, if they could hear most of it. Festival, which we all know is alive
Nelson believes in conversational the- and well. He doesnt bother to show us
work has appeared at the Public several
ater, which translates into the actors much of anything at all; nothing hap-
times before, manages to drain every bit
speaking in normal tones. Of course, in pens in Illyria except for office politics
of magic out of this tale and somehow
a theater, that means that many people and name dropping.
succeeds in turning Joe Papp, once con-
cant hear them at all. Not that there is Theres not much magic in this theatri-
sidered the towering monarch of non-
much to hear. Much of the dialogue con- cal production, which would be as disap-
profit theater in New York City, into an
cerns the rivalries and backbiting that pointing to Joe Papp as it is to the audience.

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 45

Calendar rabbi. 950 Preakness Ave. Anne Road. Register at
(973) 595-6565 or www. Interfaith Thanksgiving lamdeinu.org.
templebethtikvahnj.org. in Montvale: Members
of Temple Emanuel Interfaith Thanksgiving
of the Pascack Valley in Bayonne: Temple
Saturday and Congregation Beth Am hosts Bayonnes
NOVEMBER 18 Bnai Israel in Emerson interfaith Thanksgiving
participate in the annual service, 7 p.m.
Thanksgiving interfaith Refreshments. 111 Avenue
Comedy in Teaneck:
service, this year at B. (201) 858-2020 or
Congregation Beth
St. Pauls Episcopal templebay111@gmail.com.
Sholom hosts a comedy
Church in Montvale,
night headlining Jonny
7 p.m. Temple Emanuels
Lampert. Doors open
at 6:30 p.m.; show
choir will perform Tuesday
at 8. Refreshments.
with Pascack Valley NOVEMBER 21
synagogue and church
354 Maitland Ave.
choirs. 4 Woodland Sexual violence
(201) 833-2620 or www.
Road. (201) 391-0801 or advocacy: The Bergen
cbsteaneck.org.
(201) 265-2272. County section of the
National Council of
Sunday Monday Jewish Women holds
NOVEMBER 19 NOVEMBER 20
a community-wide
advocacy forum, Sexual
Boutique in Fair Lawn: Violence: Changing
The Fair Lawn JC/
Lunch and learn: Rabbi the Culture, at Temple
Aaron Katz leads a Emeth in Teaneck,
CBI holds a vendor
discussion over lunch 12:30 p.m. 1666 Windsor
boutique, 10 a.m.-2
on current topics at Road. (201) 385-4847 or
p.m., with handmade
Congregation Bnai www.ncjwbcs.org.
jewerly and glass gifts,
Jacob in Jersey City,
hair accessories, Mary
NOV. The Jewish Federation of Northern New Kay cosmetics, hats,
noon. $10. 176 West Side
Friday
Ave. (201) 435-5725 or
Jerseys Israeli Film Festival presents Past custom handbags,

19 NOVEMBER 24
Info@bnaijacobjc.org.
Life at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in specialty socks, Judaica,
and hostess gifts by
Tenafly for the IAC Cinematec Israeli Film participants in the Adler Shabbat in Jersey
Series. The film will be shown on Sunday, November Aphasia Center. 10-10 City: Bnai Jacob
Norma Ave. (201) 796- hosts a potluck dinner
19, at 7:30 p.m., and will include a talk by its producer, 5040. celebrating Shabbat, led
David Milch. 411 East Clinton Ave. (201) 820-3907 or by Rabbi Aaron Katz,
www.jfnnj.org/filmfestival. COURTESY JCCOTP Tricky tray in Fair 7 p.m. Bring a favorite
Lawn: The sisterhood dish; no meat. 176 West
of Temple Beth Sholom Side Ave. Reservations,
holds its annual tricky (201) 435-5725 or Info@
cocktails. 50 Regent St.,
tray auction. Doors open bnaijacobjc.org.
Friday 11th Floor Observatory.
Reservations,
at 1 p.m. Refreshments.
Rabbi Hayyim Angel
NOVEMBER 17 mesorahnj@gmail.com
40-25 Fair Lawn Ave.
Sunday
(201) 797-9321. Jewish learning in
or www.mesorahnj.com/ NOVEMBER 26
events. Teaneck: Lamdeinu,
Klezmer in Franklin a center for Jewish
Lakes: Temple Emanuel Senior residence
Shabbat in Wyckoff: learning that meets
of North Jersey shows open house: The
Temple Beth Rishon at Congregation Beth
a video of a recorded Esplanade at Palisades
offers a music-filled Aaron, begins a five-
concert with the music holds an open house,
Carlebach Shabbat in part series on Haggai,
of American klezmer 11 a.m.-1 p.m. 640 Oak
commemoration of his Zechariah, Malachi: The
pioneer Harry Kandel, Tree Road, Palisades, N.Y.
23rd yahrzeit, 7:30 p.m. David Harris Transition from Prophecy
1:30 p.m. Refreshments (845) 359-7870 or events@
Led by TBRs Cantor Ilan COURTESY TBT to the Rabbinate, taught
and ice cream. 558 esplanadeatpalisades.
Mamber, intern Naomi by Rabbi Hayyim Angel,
Shabbat in Wayne: High Mountain Road. com.
Rogin, Cantor Emeritus 1 -2:15 p.m. 950 Queen
David Harris discusses (201) 560-0200 or www.
Mark Biddelman of
Mayor Steve Fulop* Challenges to World tenjfl.org.
Temple Emanuel of
Pascack Valley, and TBRs Jewry Today: A Film in Paramus:
Shabbat in Jersey Rabbis Stephen Wylen View from the Front
City: Join Jersey City
Mayor Steve Fulop
and Lois Ruderman, with Line for the annual
The JCC of Paramus/
Congregation Beth Announce your events
percussionist Jimmy Rabbi Shai Shacknai Tikvah shows Driving
for a rooftop Shabbat We welcome announcements of upcoming events. Announcements
Cohen. 585 Russell Memorial lecture at Miss Daisy as part of
at Liberty Harbor. are free. Accompanying photos must be high resolution, jpg
Ave. Refreshments. Temple Beth Tikvah, its Jewish Film Festival,
Kabbalat Shabbat files. Send announcements 2 to 3 weeks in advance. Not every
(201) 891-4466 or 7:30 p.m. Mr. Harris is hosted by Cantor
6 p.m., kiddush and hors release will be published. Include a daytime telephone number
bethrishon.org. CEO of the American Sam Weiss, 3 p.m. and send to:
doeuvres, 6:30, then Jewish Committee.
gourmet Shabbat dinner. East 304 Midland Ave.
Shai Shacknai was Beth (201) 262-7691.
pr@jewishmediagroup.com 201-837-8818 x 110
Thanksgiving-inspired Tikvahs first full-time

46 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017


Making blankets for the less fortunate
Second graders in the Howard and Joshua
Herman Education Center at the Fair
Lawn Jewish Center/Congregation Bnai
Learning about the parashat Vayera
The alef class at Temple Emanuel of the
Pascack Valleys religious school, led by
Leah Kaufman, learned about parashat
Vayera. To bring home the lessons in the
Torah portion where Abraham welcomes
More than 214,000 likes.
Like us on Facebook.
facebook.com/jewishstandard
Rabbis Mychal Springer and Naomi Levy
COURTESY FLJC
JTS forum hears author-rabbi
who heads Nashuva community
The Jewish Theological
Seminary in Manhattan
recently hosted Rabbi
Israel made blankets for the needy as part Naomi Levy, a writer who
of Jewish Federation of Northern New Jer- is the founder and leader
seys Mitzvah Day on November 5. of Los Angeles Nashuva
community. Rabbi Levy,
who graduated from JTS
in 1989, also discussed
her new book, Einstein
and the Rabbi: Searching
for the Soul with Rabbi
Mychal Springer, director of
JTSs Center for Pastoral Education.
Nashuva is a Jewish spiritual outreach
movement. Rabbi Levys book was
inspired by a correspondence between
Albert Einstein and a grieving rabbi. It
examines lifes polarities: birth and
visitors to his home, they made invitations
for guests to come to their homes for a
meal, birthday, Shabbat, or just for fun, to
play and share toys.
Art across the generations
Valley Chabad Linking Hearts middle
school volunteers paid their monthly
visit to the Jewish Home Assisted Living
in River Vale. Together with residents
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 47
Calendar
COURTESY JTS
death, love, and loss, faith,
and doubt, writes bestsell-
ing author Jerome Groop-
man, and shows how each
duality is connected by the
vital force we call the soul.
Rabbi Levy is the author of
To Begin Again, Talking to
God, and Hope Will Find
You. She was named one of
the top 50 rabbis in America
by Newsweek in 2010, and has
appeared on the Oprah Win-
frey Show, the Today and NPR. She
was in the first class of women to enter
the JTSs rabbinical school and the first
woman in the Conservative movement
to head a congregation on the West
Coast.
VALLEY CHABAD
they played games and created a tree
made from buttons, decorated with the
residents Jewish names.
Jewish World

Five amazing discoveries from a trove

of documents hidden during the Holocaust
JOSEFIN DOLSTEN
Last month, the YIVO Institute for Jewish
Research made an astonishing announce-
ment: the discovery of 170,000 Jewish doc-
uments thought to have been destroyed
during the Holocaust.
The papers, which date from the mid-
18th century through World War II, sur-
vived destruction attempts by both the
Nazis and the Soviets.
In 1941, as part of program to loot Jew-
ish museums and institutions, the Nazis
raided YIVO, which now is based in New
York but then was headquartered in Vilna.
A group of Jewish slave laborers called the
1. Communal record book,
Lazdijai, Lithuania, 1836:
The book, called a Pinkas, was written
for a Talmud study association and used
to record information about its members,
such as births, deaths and business trans-
actions. It is decorated with ornate illustra-
tions and teaches that in order to be a part
of the group, members must study a full
page of Talmud together.
What you see here in the way its deco-
rated is the pride and the care that they felt
about their life and their desire to memori-
alize it for generations, Brent said.
2. Letter written by Sholem
3. Agreement between a
water carrier union and
the Ramayles Yeshiva,
Vilna, 1857:
In the document, the group of carriers
promises to donate a Torah scroll and raise
money to purchase a Talmud set for the
prominent yeshiva in exchange for using a
room for religious services.
Water carriers, workers who ferried
water to peoples homes, were the low-
est economic rung of society, and the fact
they had a contract with the yeshiva was
significant, Brent said. What this modest
document shows us is that this community Jonathan Brent is the executive direc-
functioned in such a way that the very top tor of YIVO JOSEFIN DOLSTEN

Paper Brigade smuggled some books,
papers, and artwork into the Vilna ghetto
risking their lives in the process. After
World War II, when the Soviet government
acted to strip all religion from the country,
a non-Jewish Lithuanian librarian, Antanas
Ulpis, hid the collection in the basement
of a church.
In 1991, the Lithuanian government
said it found 150,000 docu-
ments that Ulpis had kept in
the church, but the new dis-
covery appears to surpass that
collection both in terms of size
and the condition of the docu-
ments, Jonathan Brent, YIVOs
executive director, said.
Together the two discover-
ies make up the largest col-
lection of material about Jew-
ish life in Eastern Europe that
Aleichem from a health
resort, Badenweiler,
Germany, 1910:
The famed Yiddish author had medical
problems and would spend time in health
resorts far away from friends and family.
In this note, Sholem Aleichem makes fun
of Leon Neustadt, a leader in the Warsaw
Jewish community.
of the community and the very bottom of
the community communicated with each
other and helped each other.
4. 10 poems by Avrom
Sutzkever, Vilna, 1943:
The prominent Yiddish poet wrote
these on top of old documents, creating
a makeshift book for his poems in the
Vilna ghetto, where paper
was scarce. These are the
earliest-known versions of
the poems Sutzkever wrote
in the Vilna ghetto, which he
reproduced several times and
knew by heart. He composed
some of them while living in
Bebe Epstein of Vilna was
12 when she wrote this
autobiography.
the woods as a partisan fighter. Writing
the poems in the book helped give other
ghetto residents greater access to them.
5. Autobiography of Bebe
Epstein, Vilna, 1933-34:
Epstein was 12 when she wrote this book
and submitted it to YIVO for a youth auto-
biography contest. The fifth-grader writes
about the day-to-day happenings of her
childhood, such as dealing with a strict
teacher: At first, he was good to us. Later
he got strict, and even stricter. Epstein
also detailed various illnesses she suffered
from and complained about having too
much homework. Epstein was later forced
to live in the Vilna Ghetto and in concen-
tration camps, but she survived the war
and moved to the United States.
JTA WIRE SERVICE

exists in the world, Brent said

earlier this month at YIVOs
downtown headquarters in
Manhattan. The documents
shed new light on the lives of
Eastern European Jews, whose THOS ROBINSON/GETTY IMAGES FOR YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH

history is often told as a series

of persecutions.
It was nothing but pogroms, Brent
recalled of being taught about Ashkenazi
history as a child. And what this opens up
to is it was so much more than that, that
indeed the Jews had a real civilization that
flourished.
The Lithuanian government found the
documents in 2016 and told YIVO about
them earlier this year. Most of the mate-
rial remains in Lithuania, but 10 items are
being shown through January at YIVO,
which is working with the Lithuanian
government to archive and digitize the
collection.
Here is a look at a handful of the docu-
ments displayed at YIVO and what they
teach about Jewish life in Eastern Europe.

Sholem Aleichem wrote a letter,

center in bottom row, from a
health resort in Germany.
THOS ROBINSON/GETTY IMAGES FOR YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH
48 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017

Ira Sohn
FROM PAGE 6
Ira went to the Moriah School; his
parents had moved to Englewood
specifically so their children could
be educated at the then-fairly-new
institution.
He made an impression on peo-
ple, his brother remembers; he
hears about it still.
His oldest son is spending his
post-high-school year in Israel
now, Mr. Sohn said, and reports
getting a text from friends in
another school. The rabbi there
was telling them a story about
dressing appropriately, and about
how the way you dress affects
the way you feel, and you should
embrace it.
The rabbi said that when he
was in eighth grade, in Moriah,
there was a kid in his class who
always dressed appropriately. He
was always put together nicely.
One day, the rabbi reported and
these girls texted their friend, who
told his father I asked him why
he dresses like that, and he said,
I like the way it makes me feel.
The rabbi included the name of
his eighth grade friend in his story.
It was Ira Sohn.
Wall Street.
That might be what youd expect
a brother to say, but heres a story
that shows that he is not alone in
his assessment.
When he died, Ira Sohn left a
widow and their seven-month-old
baby. (That baby, Gila Sohn, now is
married to Jeremy Levinson. They
live in Manhattan and she is flour-
ishing, her proud uncle reports.)
His cancer started in an arm,
and when it recurred, soon before
Gila was born, Iras arm was
amputated. That was right before
his daughter was born, Evan said.
He was very nervous about it. He
worried about how hed be able to
lift a baby with just one arm.
The family lived in Jamaica
Estates, in Queens; his illness
affected the community. Twenty
years later, I met someone from
that community who found out
that I was his brother, and he just
started to cry, Evan said.
So when the community learned
that Ira was afraid about being
able to pick up his daughter with
just one arm, people figured out a
way to help. People from Jamaica
Estates lined up with their babies,
Obituaries
Terry Friedman
Terry Friedman, 91, ne Baraz,
formerly of Glen Rock and
Elmwood Park, died November Obituaries are prepared with
10. information provided by funeral homes.
Predeceased by her husband,
Correcting errors is the responsibility
Daniel, she is survived by
children, Donna Marks (Andrew) of the funeral home.
and Philip (Emily), grandchildren,
Isadora, Ezra, Jason, and Lauren.
Donations can be sent to Valley
Hospital Outpatient Cardiac
Rehabilitation Center, Ridgewood.
Arrangements were by Louis
Suburban Chapel,
Fair Lawn.
Barbara Rothstein
Barbara Rothstein, ne Itkin, 75,
of Clifton, formerly of the Bronx,
and Fair Lawn, died November 13.
She graduated Mount Sinai
School of Nursing and Marymount
Manhattan College. She worked at
Valley Hospital for 15 years in the
recovery room. She was the VP of
education at Temple Beth Sholom, Robert Schoems Menorah Chapel, Inc
two-time president of Fair Lawn Jewish Funeral Directors
Hadassah, and regional board Family Owned & managed
member of Northern New Jersey Generations of Lasting Service to the Jewish Community
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(How did Ira dress? He was
preppy, Evan Sohn said. Very
preppy. A very preppy kid. I think
he knew how to tie four different
kinds of ties.)
He was well loved. He was in
an industry where you dont usu-
ally find that, Evan said. He had
a nice, warm, friendly personality,
and thats not what you expect on
Jersey City
FROM PAGE 9
and people are not getting mar-
ried any more, and they are sin-
gle into their 30s, and there is no
community so they are floating,
and losing their Jewish identity.
So since September 2015, weve
been in Jersey City. Most of the
people who come to our events
are in their 20s and early 30s.
Last year Mayor Fulop came
to Shabbat dinner, and we had 90
people then. The Chanukah event
had like 130, 140 people. We made
a Chanukah casino.
Mesorahs events are either
small-scale and intimate, meeting
in peoples apartments, or larger
and more glittery, at the Roof-
top, an event space on 50 Regent
Street. Its got a river view, and
you can see the Statue of Liberty,
H
so he could practice holding
them, Evan said.
Often, people who die when
they are 29 leave only vague traces
of their lives 24 years later.
Ira Sohns legacy is life and hope
for children with cancer. They and
their families, like Iras own fam-
ily, will remember him for the rest
of their lives.
Rabbi Lewis said. Theres a beau-
tiful deck, and you can walk out
on it. When its nice out, we do
Kabbalat Shabbat inside and then
go out on the deck for kiddush,
and then come inside for the meal.
We bring a sefer Torah up and
make a Shabbat morning minyan,
which as far as I know, except for
Chabad on the other side of the
city, is the only Orthodox minyan
in Jersey City.
He loves when people come to
his Shabbat dinners, but he also
loves when they graduate from
them. He tells the story of one
man who used to come to dinner,
but then said he couldnt make the
next one. Why? He said, We and
a few other couples are making
our own Shabbat dinner.
Mesorah NJ is at www.meso-
rahnj.com.
husband of 54 years, Joel, children,
Deborah Murman (Neil) of New
York, and Neil (Lisa) of California;
sister, Arlyn Vogel; grandchildren
Lexi, Michael, Sophie, and
Gabrielle, and nieces, nephews,
and cousins.
Donations can be sent to
Temple Beth Sholom of Fair
Lawn, Fair Lawn Chapter of
Hadassah, National MS Society,
or the Mount Sinai School of
Nursing.
Arrangements were by Louis
Suburban Chapel,
Fair Lawn.
Paul Starr
Paul Steven Starr, 68, of
Englewood died November 12.
He is survived by his wife,
Arlene, children, Evan and
Harli; siblings, Deborah and
David (Marilyn); in-laws, Mickey
and Marvin Dickler; brothers
and sisters-in-law, Sue and Alan
Rothstein, Marc and Mindy
Dickler, and Pam Dickler, nieces
and nephews.
Donations can be sent to
Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation International Inc.
Arrangements were by
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Real Estate & Business

10 Israeli advances improving the lives of diabetics worldwide

From an oral insulin capsule to a noninvasive glucose monitor,
entrepreneurs and researchers are making treatments easier
ISRAEL21 STAFF
November 14 was World Diabetes Day and the month of
November is National Diabetes Month in the United States.
While there is not yet a cure for diabetes, many Israeli
researchers and companies offer improved approaches for
avoiding, managing, and treating the condition.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pan-
creas cannot make insulin the hormone that regulates
blood sugar or when the body cannot make good use of
the insulin it makes.
As of 2015, approximately 415 million adults in the
world have diabetes and that number is expected
to rise to 642 million by 2040. At least 90 percent
of cases are type 2 diabetes, characterized by insu-
lin resistance or deficiency. In addition, more than
542,000 children in the world live with type 1 dia-
betes, an autoimmune condition where the body
attacks its own insulin-making cells.
Diabetes is the leading cause of heart disease, stroke,
kidney failure, non-traumatic lower-limb amputations,

IS LIFE
and new cases of blindness among adults. Those with
diabetes have twice the normal risk of death; in 2014,
diabetes was listed as the seventh leading cause of
death in the United States.
Here are some significant diabetes developments

Calling you reported in Israel in recent years.

1. Oramed Pharmaceuticals

to a new
Oramed Pharmaceuticals hopes to revolutionize the
treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes through its

Seat?
proprietary oral insulin capsule developed through
research at Jerusalems Hadassah Medical Center. Cur-
rently, insulin must be injected.
The company has completed multiple Phase II clini-
cal trials under an Investigational New Drug appli-
cation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Oramed CEO Nadav Kidron participated in the 2017
Disruptive Growth Company Showcase NYC Confer-
ence in September in New York City.

2. DarioHealth
Dario makes a personalized, pocket-sized, all-in-one glu-
cose meter coupled with a real-time mobile app to track,
monitor, and manage diabetes from a smartphone.
Last month, this Caesarea-based digital health com-
pany received the CE Mark for its Lightning-enabled
Dario Blood Glucose Monitoring System, which will
enable European consumers, beginning in the U.K.
market, to use the metering device on the latest Apple
devices, including the iPhone 8. The regulatory pro-
cess is now starting in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
The companys new B2B2C platform, Dario Engage,
helps health care providers in all aspects of user
engagement for diabetic patients, including enroll-
ment, coaching and ongoing communication.

3. Betalin Therapeutics
Betalin is developing an implantable engineered
micro-pancreas (EMP) using a natural micro-scaffold
and all the cellular components present in a natural
pancreas. These cells reconstruct the bodys internal
insulin-producing capability in accordance with the
blood-sugar levels. Type 1 and severe type 2 diabetes
patients implanted with the micro-pancreas would no

When youre ready to move,

longer need to monitor their blood-sugar levels.
In preclinical studies in a mouse model of diabetes,

were ready to help!

approximately 70 percent of the mice in which the
Betalin EMP was implanted did not need further insu-
lin injections even for the longest period tested of 90
days after implantation.
This early-stage company, spun out of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, won in the pharmaceuticals
category at the Biomed Startup of the Year competi-
1401 Palisade Avenue, Teaneck, New Jersey 201.692.3700 tion held by the Israel Innovation Authority at MIXii
Biomed 2017 in Tel Aviv last May.

52 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017


4. GlucoTrack
Integrity Applications of Ashdod put
more than a decade into developing
GlucoTrack, described as the first truly
noninvasive system for self-monitoring
glucose levels.
The GlucoTrack sensor clips onto
your earlobe. A patented combina-
tion of ultrasonic, electromagnetic and
thermal technologies works with a pro-
prietary algorithm to measure physio-
logical parameters correlated with glu-
cose level. GlucoTrack users test
Results are displayed within about glucose levels with an ear
a minute on a USB-connected hand- clip attached to a handheld
held control unit, which also stores control unit
and compares previous readings.
The number is announced verbally, facilitating use by
elderly and vision-impaired people with type 2 diabetes
or pre-diabetes.
GlucoTrack is available so far in several European
countries, South Korea, and Israel.
5. Sweetch
The Sweetch app, now in clinical trials at Johns Hopkins
Medical Center in Maryland, predicts personal diabe-
tes risk and encourages long-term behavioral change to
prevent diabetes. According to the Tel Aviv-based com-
pany, 79 million American and 63 million EU adults are
pre-diabetic; 70 percent of these will convert to diabetes
within a decade. However, 150 active minutes per week
has proven, in large clinical trials, to reduce pre-diabetes
to diabetes conversion by 58 percent.
We see very promising initial meaningful clinical
results in all three aspects increased activity, weight
loss, and A1C [average blood-sugar level over three
months] reduction, Sweetch CEO Dana Chanan says.
Sweetch is talking with health care stakeholders in
the United States and United Kingdom regarding future
implementation of the app.
6. Insulog
Many diabetics manually log their insulin injections to
avoid over- or under-dosing. Insulog is a small device
that snaps onto all major brands of disposable insulin
pens to display the users most recent data.
Insulogs smartphone app uses Bluetooth technol-
ogy to store injection history, including number of units
administered, and blood-glucose level. Users can share
this history with their physician.
The company was founded in 2014 in Ramat Gan by
Menash Michael, who has type 1 diabetes. He is develop-
ing the device for delivery in 2018 following a successful
Indiegogo campaign earlier this year. It needs only Class
1 FDA approval with no required clinical trials. We will
market Insulog first in Israel and then on an ecommerce
platform, he tells ISRAEL21c.
7. DreaMed Diabetes
Based in Petah Tikva, DreaMed has two products: Advi-
sor decision-support technology to optimize and fine-
tune patient-specific insulin treatment plans (FDA and
CE approval pending); and Glucositter, the first artifi-
cial pancreas system to receive the CE Mark for sales
in Europe. When integrated with an insulin pump, Glu-
cositter provides round-the-clock monitoring of glucose
levels and precise, real-time adjustment of insulin levels.
8. Nutrino Health
Nutrino Health, the digital health care Biomed Startup
of the Year winner at MIXii 2017, has developed an app
(for iOS and Android) that creates a digital individualized
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9. DayTwo
201-461-6764 Eve
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avoid developing diabetes by predicting individualized Realtorallan@yahoo.com
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(201) 837-8800
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 53
Real Estate & Business

SELLING YOUR HOME?

scientists collaborated with Johnson &
Johnsons Janssen Research & Develop-
ment Company to evaluate DayTwos
platform for the effective interception
of gestational diabetes, type 2 diabetes,
and metabolic syndrome-associated dis-
orders. This resulted in a Series A invest-
ment of $12 million led by J&J.
DayTwo currently is running trials
with the Mayo Clinic and other institu-
tions, while the product is fully commer-
cial in Israel and the U.S. International
Chief Commercial Officer Amir Golan
says that the U.K. and Canada are the
next potential markets. Meanwhile, the
company is working with professional
and is partnering with two diabetes med-
ical centers in Israel as well as dieticians
in Israel and the US.
10. Super enzyme detects
glucose level
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev have engineered a super
enzyme that, if commercialized, could
make blood-glucose checks easier
and more accurate than the standard
method of mixing a protein with a drop
of blood to cause a chemical reaction.
The research was reported in the Jour-
nal of the American Chemical Society in
September 2017. ISRAEL21C.ORG

athletes to control blood-sugar levels

Investors Bank schedules

not-for-profit conference
Investors Bank is presenting the Eighth
Call Susan Laskin Today
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2017 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. speaker is Chris Daggett, president and
An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Owned and Operated by NRT LLC.
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studies on how organizations can think
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Professionals associated with non-
profit organizations in New Jersey are
invited to attend the conference, which
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Lincoln Highway in Edison. The con-
ference is recommended for executive
directors, development staff, board
members, and volunteers within the not-

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key executives at nonprofit organizations:
Linda M. Czipo, president and CEO,
Center for Non-Profits;

2.800 %
Rate 3.250 %
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professionals and board members as
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Kiran Handa Gaudioso, chief operat-
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2.891 %
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APR*
missions. The program is designed to
present strategies that nonprofits can
Jersey;
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use to unleash their full potential dur- Linda Grunin Foundation;
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Jimmy J
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the Junk Man

NMLS #733094
RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL
*APR = Annual Percentage Rate. APR is accurate as of 10/23/17 and may vary based on loan amounts. WE CLEAN OUT:
Loans are for 1-4 family New Jersey owner-occupied properties only. Rates and terms are subject to
change without notice. The 7-year loan at the stated APR would have 84 monthly payments of $13.12
Basements Baseme
Attics Garages Fire Damage
per thousand borrowed based on a 20% down payment or equity for loan amounts up to $500,000. The Construction Debris Hoarding Specialists
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WE RECYCLE
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on a 20% down payment or equity for loan amounts up to $500,000. The 25-year loan at the stated APR
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equity for loan amounts up to $500,000.Payments do not include amounts for taxes and insurance CALL TODAY FOR A FREE ESTIMATE
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Bergenfield I Closter I Cresskill I Englewood I Hillsdale I Leonia I New Milford I Teaneck I Tenafly
We do not transport solid or hazardous waste
We d

54 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017

 You Are
Eligible
To Join

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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 17, 2017 55

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